Undressed: Gregory Vetter’s Raw Entrepreneurial Ride

Rich & Wendy 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning ten this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared an episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we shared laughs, tears and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next ten years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Today, I'm going to get kind. 

No, no, no. The truth is. 

Rich Bennett 1:00
Today on Conversations with Rich Bennett. I'm honored to have a game changer in the clean food movement. Join us Gregory Vedder. Greg is a visionary entrepreneur who took his mother's homemade salad dressing recipe and transformed it into a national sensation. As the co-founder of Tushy, Mae's, he and his brothers pioneered the clean food category, creating the first Whole30 approved bottled dressings and revolutionizing fresh food manufacturing with their gum free bottling process. Their company became the number one organic salad dressing brand in the refrigerated space in just five years. Not stopping there. Gregory went on to launch the Fresh Food Company. Earning the title a Sam's Club Supplier of the Year and later founded Homegrown Brand Accelerator to help the next generation of brands succeed. His journey, filled with bold risk, tough lessons and major victories, is captured in his bestselling book, Undressed The Unfiltered Story of My Failed American Dream and how it led to Success. And when you see it in the bookstores or online, it's an easy cover to recognize. We'll cover that. So a winner of Ink magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and a TEDx talk speaker. Greg is here to share the highs, the lows and the untold stories behind building a brand from the ground up. How's it going, Greg? 

Gregory Vetter 2:32
Outside of my voice today. It's going great. 

Rich Bennett 2:35
It's our. Singing, right? If you were singing, it would be a different story. 

Gregory Vetter 2:41
Probably still sing anyway, right? 

Rich Bennett 2:44
Well, go ahead. Put that a couple. 

All right. So one of the things I always love people, especially entrepreneurs and all that is. 

Growing up in school. Especially back school. They always told you you had to have a career path. What was your actual career path? What was it you wanted to do? 

Gregory Vetter 3:07
Well, I'll use fifth grade. 

Rich Bennett 3:10
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 3:12
We had to make a poster of what we wanted. And I wanted to be an athlete and an artist. And I drew a poster was split in half. It was a locker room. And then it was like an art studio. 

So I played professional lacrosse for a little bit. So I did do that. And then artistically, we did a bunch of stuff with our 

packaging and everything else that was going on. So I think I accomplished it, but I never. I never really said I want to be a doctor or something like that. 

Rich Bennett 3:53
Right. I heard you played professional lacrosse for. 

Gregory Vetter 3:56
The Chesapeake Bay Hawks. 

Rich Bennett 3:59
A really. Yeah, that's. I think that's a sport that is very 

underrated and needs to be shown a lot more. I'm glad. I'm happy to see it growing, though. You're starting to see more rec cancels and all. 

Gregory Vetter 4:15
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:15
Putting into place and. Wow. I didn't realize that. 

Gregory Vetter 4:20
Yeah. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 4:21
So how long were you playing professional lacrosse for? 

Gregory Vetter 4:24
Three years. 

Rich Bennett 4:25
Three years. It just wasn't paying the bill. So he decided to look for something different. 

Gregory Vetter 4:30
I'm paying the bills. You know, was not getting it done. 

Rich Bennett 4:36
I. So then you decided to, I guess, after school. What was it that you started to do? Did you do sales for a while? 

Gregory Vetter 4:46
Yeah, I was selling insurance. I was. 

Rich Bennett 4:48
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 4:49
Employee benefits to companies. And it just did not feel like a good use of my time. 

Rich Bennett 4:58
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 4:59
You know, you think about your life and there's the rocking chair test. You're 85, you're sitting on your front porch, your grandkids and your great grandkids are there. And they go, Grandpa, I'll tell me what you want. Tell me what you did with your life. 

Rich Bennett 5:15
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 5:15
And at the time I'm like, I cold call for health insurance, you know? So I'm like going I'm going through that test in my head and I'm like, this can't be it, man. This cannot be it. So I was hell bent on trying to find something that was worth doing and. 

Rich Bennett 5:36
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 5:37
Every day I would go home, stand on my head, and literally wait. 

And a neighbor broke into my house, stole the salad dressing my mom made for me. And I thought if a man was going to steal another man's salad dressing, I was going to start a salad dressing company. 

Rich Bennett 6:00
All right. Explain this how into war. Because apparently it had to be some kick ass salad dressing. So how did your neighbor find out about the salad dressing? I think he was over there for dinner before or what? 

Gregory Vetter 6:13
It was just kind of famous within our friends because. 

Rich Bennett 6:17
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 6:18
My mom would bring it to all the lacrosse tailgates. 

Rich Bennett 6:22
Oh. 

Gregory Vetter 6:23
And so everybody was like, everybody's mom has a thing, right? 

Rich Bennett 6:27
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 6:28
In hers was salad dressing. And so. He knew about it. I guess he was Jones in for it one day. He knew how to get into my house and the rest is history. 

Rich Bennett 6:42
So how did you find out it was him that took it? 

Gregory Vetter 6:44
I started calling people because you don't. 

Rich Bennett 6:46
Are you serious? 

Gregory Vetter 6:47
You do not misplace a two liter bottle of salad dressing. 

Rich Bennett 6:51
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 6:52
So someone had to take it. I was 25 at the time. No kids living in a little townhouse with my wife's. So you don't misplace it. So 

Rich Bennett 7:03
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 7:03
someone came in and took it. I was I was going to figure out who it was. So I called everybody that lived near me that I thought maybe know. They came in and took it. 

Rich Bennett 7:19
That's just funny as hell about. I've heard of people coming in and stealing things, but never salad dressing. 

Gregory Vetter 7:25
Right in. It was a sign. It was a sign. 

Rich Bennett 7:29
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, hell, somebody is going to break into the house for something that my mother made or I made. I know. I'm on the something good. 

Gregory Vetter 7:38
Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 7:40
I better go upstairs and check everything. Make sure my bourbon still there. Are you sure? You're the book Undressed. 

The story begins. Well, actually, you have a simple problem. Really getting kids vegetables, right? 

Gregory Vetter 7:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:56
But it led to an innovative solution. So can you share your thoughts on how small, everyday challenges like that can spark big ideas? 

Gregory Vetter 8:06
Well, I think the ideas are actually really easy, but people make them complicated because we don't accept something simple. It almost feels too easy. 

Rich Bennett 8:22
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 8:22
Like great tasting salad dressing. It's not rocket science. There was five ingredients in it and it just tasted really good. And so everybody else that has a famous salad dressing recipe, they go to a grocery store and they go, Well, mine doesn't look anything like this. Maybe I got to make it more complicated. And in reality, they didn't need to do that at all. And so I think all of those solutions exist everywhere. And we just choose to ignore them. 

Rich Bennett 8:55
So because this has been a I don't even know how to go about doing this. And I think of my great nephew. Whatever we do, he will not eat any vegetables, especially greens. What's the secret? I tried a smoothie. That shit didn't work. 

Gregory Vetter 9:14
Honestly, my brothers and I were the same thing. It was this salad dressing man. It was olive oil, lemons, garlic, mustard and sea salt. And I don't know why it just tastes so good in white. Kids love it. But that was our first dressing. And that's how we built the business on that recipe. 

Rich Bennett 9:36
Okay, so your friend came in and stole the recipe. Was that when the light or the dressing, was that when the light bulb went off in your head and you said we need to somehow or another turn this into a business? 

Gregory Vetter 9:48
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:50
Now, was your mother still alive at this time? 

Gregory Vetter 9:51
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:52
Okay. And what? I'm sure you approached her about it. What was her first thoughts? 

Gregory Vetter 9:56
That's never going to work. 

Rich Bennett 10:00
Okay. So how did you convince her, then? 

Gregory Vetter 10:05
I said, I'll do it with or without you. I just. 

Rich Bennett 10:07
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 10:08
I just need the recipe. 

Rich Bennett 10:11
It? Was it the only. Only the one salad dressing at the time. 

Gregory Vetter 10:15
Yeah, for the first two years. 

Rich Bennett 10:17
Okay, So what was it that you did different or was there anything that you did different before you started selling it? 

Gregory Vetter 10:26
In the beginning, No. 

Rich Bennett 10:28
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 10:29
I realized that we weren't special. We weren't a brand, we weren't a company. We were nothing. All we were was great tasting salad dressing. So how could we deliver that to the consumer on a mass scale? 

Rich Bennett 10:44
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 10:45
And so that's what we spent all of our time thinking about. 

Rich Bennett 10:49
So I'm sure because now it's carried in other stores. 

Gregory Vetter 10:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:56
I think it's even carried down the route in the store. Down the route for me. 

those years you were doing sales, did that help when it came time for you to go out and I guess market the salad dressing? 

Gregory Vetter 11:12
Yeah, because I'm great at cold calling and I don't take no for an answer and. 

Rich Bennett 11:17
Smart. 

Gregory Vetter 11:18
And I'm fine with rejection. 

Rich Bennett 11:22
Huh? Okay, so what was the big. Because before you were doing insurance. But what's the big difference from trying to show the benefits to now you're going into grocery stores to try to get them to carry testing, maize salad dressing. 

Gregory Vetter 11:41
We approached it with a burn the ships mentality. mentality. We were not leaving there there without the yes period. 

Rich Bennett 11:54
I love that. 

Gregory Vetter 11:55
Just period. 

Rich Bennett 11:56
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 11:57
And most sales guys, they hear and know and they're like, Well, come on. The person's like, get out there. Like, okay. And 

Rich Bennett 12:05
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 12:06
and for us, they'd be like, No. And we're like, We're not leaving. 

We're not leaving here without this product being in the store. And so that was our approach. 

Rich Bennett 12:27
How long ago was that? 

Gregory Vetter 12:28
2009. 

Rich Bennett 12:30
2009. Okay. So between 2009 and today, do you think that approach still work or do you feel like you have to build that relationship first? 

Gregory Vetter 12:43
I think it worked for us in that moment. And I. 

Rich Bennett 12:46
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 12:47
Variations of it still work. 

Rich Bennett 12:50
Okay. And with. Once they got carried into, well, actually, what was the first word? It picked it up. 

Gregory Vetter 12:57
Whole Foods. 

Rich Bennett 12:59
Really? So what was your mother's reaction when she found that out? 

Gregory Vetter 13:04
can believe it. She's like, What the hell are you talking about? 

Rich Bennett 13:10
Okay, So then later on down the you changed the recipe. Why did you change the recipe? 

Gregory Vetter 13:15
We were national with a grocery store. We were in 2400 stores and. 

Rich Bennett 13:23
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 13:24
And people didn't realize that olive oil solidified when it got cold. 

Rich Bennett 13:30
Oh. 

Gregory Vetter 13:31
And so people thought it was bad. And so the grocery store buyer called us and goes, either fix this problem or you're kicked out. And so we go, okay, we're going to figure it out. It's going to be fixed immediately. So that's that's what we did. 

Rich Bennett 13:50
What was the big change you did then? I didn't realize about that. About olive oil. 

Gregory Vetter 13:54
Yeah, we switched to organic Expeller pressed sunflower oil. That doesn't solidify when it gets cold. 

Rich Bennett 14:04
Isn't that a big taste difference? 

Gregory Vetter 14:06
No. 

Rich Bennett 14:07
Really? 

I'll be darned. I didn't write. 

Gregory Vetter 14:13
Yeah, we tested every oil imaginable. 

Rich Bennett 14:17
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 14:18
And that was the closest to what we were looking for as it applied to a dressing with additional ingredients in it. 

Rich Bennett 14:30
So. All right. Your mother had the one recipe, right? How did you come up with all the different? Because you guys got a ton of different salad dressing. 

Gregory Vetter 14:42
Yeah, the 

first four. We just listen to the customer. People go, You should put balsamic in this. And we go, okay. 

There goes. 

Pepper in this and we go, okay. 

So once once we got past those kind of four new flavors, then we hired hired a really smart product development person that could actually develop recipes because we didn't know what the hell we were doing at all. 

Rich Bennett 15:27
And they're all organic, right? 

Gregory Vetter 15:29
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:30
Oh, awesome. All right. So. And be honest with me. Let's say your mother. 

I don't know if you want to give me an answer for this or not, but what is your favorite recipe? Is it still the original? 

Gregory Vetter 15:46
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:47
Is it okay? 

Gregory Vetter 15:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:48
You don't want to get in trouble, do ya? 

Gregory Vetter 15:50
Oh, I don't care about getting. 

Rich Bennett 15:54
So when you're out there selling 

Woody and I'm sure you're telling stories. So what did you learn about the brand storytelling from those first sales attempts that actually shaped Assamese identity? identity? 

Gregory Vetter 16:10
People want. 

Authenticity. And they want to be a part of a story. And they don't care about salesy bullshit. 

So we would hire, you know, the most experienced sales guy on the planet from. 

Rich Bennett 16:28
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 16:29
From the most magnificent pedigree under the sun. And they couldn't compare to me and my brothers going in there just being like, This is our fricking company. This is our mom's recipe. Everything's on the line. We're not leaving here until you take it, and people can feel that. 

Rich Bennett 16:54
Hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 16:55
Right. And and so that's why we were successful, is because we did not take no for an answer. 

I think so often people are scared. 

Rich Bennett 17:11
Yes. 

Gregory Vetter 17:11
Of burning the bridge. You know, when someone says no, they're like, okay, you know, follow back up with you. And in a month. We were fully prepared, literally, to light everything on fire in the process of of trying to build this brand and company. And I think most people don't have that level of conviction or they're concerned about future reputational damages. If you're an employee of something I always felt like somebody was. They would only take it so far because they wanted to preserve that relationship in case that job didn't work so they could come back with a different brand. We we never took that approach. 

Rich Bennett 18:05
I, I think one of the biggest problems, too, is especially when it comes to other sales people. 

And this is something that I was always taught in sales. No, it's just an objection. 

Gregory Vetter 18:16
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 18:17
Find out what the true objection is. And it sounds like that's what you guys were doing. You know. 

Gregory Vetter 18:22
Who we are. We. We always used to say it's not an O. They don't k A.W. yet. 

Rich Bennett 18:32
Oh, I love that. I love that. Is this your first book that you've written? 

Gregory Vetter 18:38
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 18:39
I see many more coming because I know you can write write more like sales guides and stuff like that. Or do you actually do that when you're out talking? 

Gregory Vetter 18:49
I do a lot of presentations for people and we'll see what actually makes it onto paper. 

Rich Bennett 18:56
Okay. So with the book, what was what was it that made you decide to actually write this book and how long did it take you? 

Gregory Vetter 19:06
Well, the entire dream, right? We built this business to be valued at over $300 million. And then. 

Rich Bennett 19:15
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 19:16
The whole thing came crumbling down. And so there was these unbelievable learning lessons in what I learned building this massive business. And so looking at all of the reflections of how we were so successful for and then also what went wrong, I really felt like entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs could learn a lot from what I had experienced. 

Rich Bennett 19:51
How long did it actually take you to write? 

Gregory Vetter 19:53
Two years. 

Rich Bennett 19:54
Two years. Okay, So now you said with the downfall there was a test. Me? Was it the oil? The oil? That's 

salad dressing company that actually ran into problems with. 

Gregory Vetter 20:10
It was investors. 

Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:15
Okay. So when it comes to investors, I do think a lot of people missed the boat on this. What's your biggest piece of advice you can give to an entrepreneur looking for investors? 

Gregory Vetter 20:32
Be very, very, very selective. 

Rich Bennett 20:35
Hmm. 

That's a good stuff. That's probably the best advice anybody could get when it comes to that. 

Gregory Vetter 20:43
I mean, you know, just because they care and they believe in the mission. 

Rich Bennett 20:49
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 20:51
That's 10% of it. 

Rich Bennett 20:53
With that because you have many entrepreneurs. They struggle with trusting in others to run aspects of their business. 

Gregory Vetter 21:02
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 21:03
So how did you learn to delegate, you know, effectively for that? 

Gregory Vetter 21:08
I had two brothers. 

Rich Bennett 21:10
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 21:10
That were very good and one ran sales, one ran operations. Then I had a very trusted quality person, Kristen, who ran product development and quality. And so I have unwavering faith in them, which allowed us to lockstep our goals and move as one. 

Rich Bennett 21:36
Okay. And with the. 

With the business. What was the biggest change you had to make personally to take take test me to the next level? 

Gregory Vetter 21:51
I had to 

constantly stay ahead of our growth as a leader. 

Rich Bennett 21:58
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 21:59
So I basically had to leave the old me behind at every level. So think of it as like a video game. 

Rich Bennett 22:11
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 22:12
To get to the next level, that version of you basically must die, and then you must completely reinvent yourself to continue to lead at the rate in which you need to lead. Which is a lonely journey. Be. 

Rich Bennett 22:29
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 22:30
You can't ask for anybody's help or advice when you're the top dog. 

Rich Bennett 22:38
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 22:39
It's like, Hey, I'm really struggling with the stress. People are going be like, 

Dude, my paychecks tied to you like your stress. 

Rich Bennett 22:54
It was the leadership. What were some of the early leadership mistakes that you made and had? You course correct. 

Gregory Vetter 23:02
Trusting people. Yep. Trusting the wrong people. And. How did I course correct. I mean, you try and fix it, but 

Rich Bennett 23:11
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 23:12
once they're investors, you know, you ain't course corrected. 

Rich Bennett 23:17
That's true. That is true. So with 

the now tested, you still have or did you sell that? 

Gregory Vetter 23:27
We basically gave it away at an auction for nothing. 

Rich Bennett 23:31
What? 

Gregory Vetter 23:32
Yeah. So some private equity group in Chicago has it now. 

Rich Bennett 23:39
Wait, hold up. Last year, you gave it away at an auction. 

Gregory Vetter 23:45
Basically. I mean, it was worth, you know, between 300 and 500 million bucks and the private equity group got it for four and a half million dollars. So it was basically free. 

Rich Bennett 23:59
You're listening in on the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

People that know me know that I love going to Richardson Farms. Not just the store, but even when we do weddings at the barn, the place is amazing. So with the store, whether you're grabbing fresh produce, stocking up on groceries, or indulging in their hot food in Deli, this family owned gym has been a staple of morale for generations. let me tell you, the food. Oh, incredible. I cannot get enough of their smoked barbecue beef brisket. It's tender, flavorful and just melt in your mouth. Pair that with some of their homemade sides and you've got a meal that'll leave you coming back for more. And it's not just about the barbecue. Richardson Farms has fresh, never frozen poultry, daily deli specials and produce straight from their fields. So whether your meal plan for the week, you need catering or looking for something amazing for dinner tonight, stop by Richardson Farms. They're open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Daily. And trust me, your taste buds will Thank you. To find out more, just go to Richardson Farms Dot net. Again, that's Richardson Farms. Dot net. What was it that because autism was sold and now are auctioned off and you decided to start all fresh through company? What made you decide to start that? 

Gregory Vetter 25:37
It was a division of TSC maize 

Rich Bennett 25:40
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 25:41
that during the sales process nobody wanted. So we were making all of the salads for Sam's Club in North America. But. 

Rich Bennett 25:52
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 25:52
But anybody that was going to buy the Tassie Maize brand. 

Rich Bennett 26:00
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 26:01
Didn't want to be in the fresh food space because it's like there's no shelf life. 

Rich Bennett 26:07
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 26:07
We're dealing with farms, you're dealing with whether you're dealing with refrigerated logistics, you're dealing with all types of wild shit. And so nobody wanted it and it was dragging the retail brand down. During the sales process. So to attempt to make Tassie Maes as profitable and valuable as possible, and this is during the supply chain crisis. 

Rich Bennett 26:39
Hmm. Hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 26:40
So it had PAC, a debt, which PAC is crazy. It's the Produce Agricultural and Commodities Act. 

Rich Bennett 26:49
Hmm. Hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 26:49
So it is above the banks. So they if someone owes a farmer money, they can file a claim with PAC and PAC had just come sweeps the bank accounts. 

Rich Bennett 27:06
Really? 

Gregory Vetter 27:06
And then if there's nothing in the bank accounts, they can go and sweep the directors of the board, their bank accounts. 

Rich Bennett 27:16
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 27:17
So we're in the middle of this supply chain crisis right after COVID. 

Rich Bennett 27:21
Uh huh. 

Gregory Vetter 27:22
And ordering is not consistent. All hell's breaking loose. And so that business owed farmers four and a half million bucks. 

Rich Bennett 27:32
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 27:33
So we couldn't even. We couldn't give it away. 

Rich Bennett 27:37
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 27:38
So I decided with my brothers to buy it. So that we could restructure the contracts with the right people or from scratch and potentially save that business. But in doing that, remove all of that debt and overhead from the Tassie Maze entity to make it more valuable. So someone would potentially buy it. 

Rich Bennett 28:06
That's I mean, that's got to be hard. I mean, supplying sounds to the. Yeah, all of North America. 

Gregory Vetter 28:14
It's big. 

Rich Bennett 28:16
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 28:17
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 28:17
Holly. And you. What do you do? Work with local farmers or farmers around the country, I guess. 

Gregory Vetter 28:22
Well, really out of California. 

Rich Bennett 28:25
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 28:26
So it's in Gonzales, California, which is in the Salinas Valley. 

So I mean, they call it the salad bowl of America. And that's where yeah, that's where we get all of our produce. Millions and millions of pounds of lettuce and vegetables and. 

Rich Bennett 28:46
Holy cow. 

Gregory Vetter 28:47
Yeah, It's crazy. 

Rich Bennett 28:49
Now I take it you do You have a warehouse out there? Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 28:53
There's a whole business out there. 

Rich Bennett 28:56
So you're always traveling, I tell you. 

Gregory Vetter 28:58
Not as much as you would think. Right. My my brothers are still involved. Christian, our chief product officer, is still involved. We have a whole management team out there. So I'm on the phone a lot, but I'm not. 

Rich Bennett 29:12
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 29:12
I'm not traveling like you would think. 

Rich Bennett 29:18
Okay. Now, I want to I got to ask you about the cover of the book. 

Gregory Vetter 29:23
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 29:24
It's freaking brilliant because in a way, he's got I would I think he's got two meanings, but I want your input on this because the book's called Undress and those of you listening, and I'll have the picture in the show notes, but it's basically Greg standing there with no clothes on. 

Holding a box in front of well, in front of where, you know, otherwise otherwise it would be a porno book. A boxer says salad dressing. Who came up with that brilliant idea, because I'm telling you, they say you never judge a book by its cover. But I do believe nowadays it's the cover that will sell the book as well. 

Gregory Vetter 30:08
Yeah, it you know, man, I was I had written the book. I was trying to figure out how I wanted to publish it. And if I wanted to publish it, and I was sitting in the sauna at like four in the morning, and this entire vision popped into my head of the title, the book cover Every color What I looked like, the box, broken bottles, the whole thing. I don't know. 

Rich Bennett 30:42
Wow. 

Gregory Vetter 30:42
I don't know if it was like a gift from God or if I was, like, overheating and hallucinating. 

But but I sat there and I was like, I don't want to make this the cover of the book. You know, I'm debating with myself and. 

I go in and I talk to my wife and I'm like, You're not going to believe this vision I had in the sauna. And she goes, That's got to be the cover of the book. And I was like, I was like, Really? She goes, Yeah, that's got to be it. I was like, Okay. So I had my creative director, Mo Taylor, who's been with us forever. We basically did a photo shoot. He did, you know, the arrows are obviously not real and the bruises are obviously not. 

Rich Bennett 31:38
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 31:40
But the rest of it is real. And so I designed the cover. And then when I was talking to editors, you know, I sat there and I said. This is the title and this is the cover of the book. So if you're not cool with it, I'm not. 

Rich Bennett 31:58
Goodbye. 

Gregory Vetter 31:59
Yeah, I'm not going with you. 

Rich Bennett 32:00
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 32:01
And so I had like a couple of nice offers from publishers. And the one guy that I thought would be beneficial for the kind of growth and sales of the book, he could not get over the cover. He was like, You got to change it. And I was like, I'm not doing it. 

Rich Bennett 32:20
Now. 

Gregory Vetter 32:21
So that's that's what we got. 

Rich Bennett 32:24
A lot of authors, especially, you know, new authors don't understand is sometimes you don't have control of all that. 

Gregory Vetter 32:32
All the time. 

Rich Bennett 32:34
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 32:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 32:35
And good for you, because you know that sales experience comes in again and you're just like, No, this is it. Plain and simple. And it's also in audio version as well, right? 

Gregory Vetter 32:45
Yeah, it's an audio book and I read it with a normal voice. 

Rich Bennett 32:50
But I'm glad that you're reading it, though, because, you know, a lot of books, especially something like this, it makes sense for you to read it. If it's a novel with different characters, unless you do different characters, then yeah, that's a different story. So once the book came out because you're you went through a publishing company, you're not self-published, right? 

Gregory Vetter 33:15
No, I actually found a custom book publishing group. That is the equivalent of a publisher, but it's all a la carte. So they run you through the process. 

Rich Bennett 33:30
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 33:30
You pay for it yourself upfront, but then you own all of the intellectual property. 

Rich Bennett 33:37
Oh, okay. 

Gregory Vetter 33:39
And so I thought that the book was good enough and the story was good enough and my sales abilities were good enough that I definitely needed a guide through the publishing process. 

Rich Bennett 33:54
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 33:55
But if anybody was going to sell it and if anybody was going to turn different aspects of this story into additional products like a TV show or a movie or sequels or whatever, I felt like it was going to be me. And so 

Rich Bennett 34:13
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 34:14
I found a really great group out of Michigan Jenkins Publishing. 

Rich Bennett 34:20
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 34:21
And they were really helpful. 

Rich Bennett 34:24
So do they help you do the marketing or is all the marketing? 

Gregory Vetter 34:28
Yeah. Marketing. 

Rich Bennett 34:28
Yours. 

Gregory Vetter 34:29
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 34:30
All you. What's been the biggest challenge when it comes to marketing the book? 

Gregory Vetter 34:38
I think there's so much information out that. This cuts through really well, but at the same time, everything has its own kind of respective cycle. 

Rich Bennett 34:53
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 34:53
And for the past couple of months, because we launched it November 25th. There was a lot going on with the presidential election. 

Rich Bennett 35:02
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 35:03
Who's going to win? What? And what's going to happen then? And so, you know, cutting through that noise, 

Rich Bennett 35:11
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 35:11
making the story potent and interesting is it's not something that needs to be crafted. But it was something that took a lot of repetition. 

Rich Bennett 35:23
Right. Whose idea was it to actually go on podcast? 

Gregory Vetter 35:27
Mine. 

Rich Bennett 35:29
Really smart move. 

Gregory Vetter 35:31
Thanks. 

Rich Bennett 35:32
Free, free marketing. You can't beat it. 

Gregory Vetter 35:34
Well, and I think the story is interesting enough, and I'm 

Rich Bennett 35:38
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 35:38
honest enough where it doesn't matter. I'm not trying to cover up anything. 

Rich Bennett 35:45
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 35:45
So these kind of open forum type formats where people can ask me whatever they want and get an actual answer works in my benefit. Whereas like the scripted two minute TV show where I'm on something, it. Yeah, those were two. But I think people want to hear the real shit. That's why I wrote the book. 

Rich Bennett 36:10
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 36:10
Because if you're going to follow your dream and risk everything, you want to know what to avoid. You want to know what worked? You want to know how bad it can potentially get so you can prepare. And that didn't exist before this book. And I had been searching for years because I'm, you know, a ferocious reader. And, you know, there's positive aspects of different books and there's learning lessons in everything you do, including the the books that you read. But I never found something that was like. Normal dude from a normal family with no money, no expertise, no trust fund. I'm not some type of a AI tech genius. I didn't invent some crazy biomedical, you know, frickin vaccine or cure for 

Rich Bennett 37:15
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 37:16
cancer. I'm just. I could do that. Wanted to change the stars and was like, I'm doing it through salad dressing. You know, like, I got to do some. It's going to be salad dressing. I don't care how hard it is. I don't care if I fail. I'll figure it out. 

Rich Bennett 37:36
You weren't scared. 

Gregory Vetter 37:37
No, I. 

Rich Bennett 37:38
That's the thing 

Gregory Vetter 37:39
I 

Rich Bennett 37:39
that. 

Gregory Vetter 37:39
was I was more scared of being a total mediocre failure. That was my actual fear. It wasn't this not working. It was me going back to the original thing. I said the rocking chair test sitting there. You know, when I'm 85 years old in my grandkids and great grandkids are like, Hey, Grandpa. Tell us about your life. And I'm like, Nothing. 

Rich Bennett 38:07
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 38:07
I did nothing. I was scared. I was weak. I didn't make any good decisions. I didn't take any risks. I was just mediocre. That was what fueled me because I was like, I'm 25. I don't have kids yet. Which now I have four kids, and I'm willing to risk it all. I'm willing to risk all the money. I'm willing to risk because, I mean, again, I was 25. There wasn't that much money. And and if I failed, am I really a failure at 26? Probably not. 

Rich Bennett 38:48
Right. You're living the American dream, man. 

Gregory Vetter 38:52
That was my pursuit. And my my understanding of the American dream changed. 

Rich Bennett 39:01
Well, I think everybody's meaning of the American dream has changed throughout the years to. 

Gregory Vetter 39:06
Yeah. You know, I thought it was one thing and it turned out to be completely different. 

Rich Bennett 39:11
Right. 

So actually, you explained that you thought it was one thing. 

Gregory Vetter 39:17
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 39:17
What was. 

Gregory Vetter 39:19
I thought it was. Come up with an idea. Build a giant company, sell it, get rich. 

Rich Bennett 39:28
You realize it's what? 

Gregory Vetter 39:32
Come up with an idea, Have courage, 

follow it. No matter how hard it gets, get pushed to the limit without giving up and develop the character you are proud of so that you can lead by example and leave the world better than when you found it. 

Rich Bennett 39:59
I think ads are great. Meaning, man. I love that. 

Gregory Vetter 40:03
And that's how. That's how I look at it. And when I was 25, I didn't think about that. And probably 

Rich Bennett 40:09
Yeah, 

Gregory Vetter 40:10
if somebody told me that, I would have been like, No, it's 

Rich Bennett 40:13
right. 

Gregory Vetter 40:13
getting rich. And getting rich means nothing if you don't have the four things that money can't buy, which is your time, your health, your soul, and your children's love. 

Rich Bennett 40:32
Oh. 

Gregory Vetter 40:34
Because you can't buy that shit. 

Rich Bennett 40:35
No. 

Gregory Vetter 40:37
No matter how hard you try. 

Rich Bennett 40:39
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 40:41
So when you look at that and then you think about, okay, well, what was the purpose of this journey and this pain and this suffering? I mean, 

think about the learning lessons I can give my kids. 

Rich Bennett 40:55
Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 40:57
Like, Oh, yeah, you didn't make the team okay. Did you actually give it everything you could in preparing for that trial? Yes or no? It's binary. I don't want any excuses. 

Rich Bennett 41:10
Mm. 

Gregory Vetter 41:11
Well, no, 

they don't bitch about it. 

Rich Bennett 41:17
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 41:17
Look in the mirror, put in place a plan and start grinding. Because if you do that. 

Anything in the world is yours. Anything. 

Rich Bennett 41:33
They. 

Gregory Vetter 41:33
And again, when you only win, you don't learn any of that shit. 

Rich Bennett 41:41
Mm hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 41:42
You only figure out that stuff when you fail or when you lose, or when your first attempt at something doesn't work. And you have to regroup and you have to reevaluate the situation and you have to figure out a different approach and you get humbled. And then you sit there and you overcome your fear. You're like, I don't want to look like an idiot again in front of all my friends. Well, is that more important or is accomplishing the goal more important? Because if it's the goal, guess what? You're not going to give a shit what your friends think. 

Rich Bennett 42:27
Exactly. 

Gregory Vetter 42:29
And so I think that's the kind of the main takeaway from going after the first stream. And what I learned and how I approach that the next couple that I have. 

Rich Bennett 42:46
Right. So you mentioned that you you love to read. 

Gregory Vetter 42:52
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 42:53
Box, which especially if you're a business owner, I think it's important because it doesn't matter what you're doing. The education never stops. 

Gregory Vetter 43:02
Right. 

Rich Bennett 43:03
What's one of the most? Give me two. Two books that really helped you in your journey. 

Gregory Vetter 43:13
I would say it was the first two. That changed my perspective of the world. And then what a journey requires, 

Rich Bennett 43:24
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 43:24
because there's there's probably 

seven that if I only had to make a recommendation, read these seven books in your life will be magnificent. 

Rich Bennett 43:36
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 43:37
The first two would be Napoleon Hills thinking Grow Rich. 

Rich Bennett 43:41
Yes. 

Gregory Vetter 43:43
In. The second one would be The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. 

Rich Bennett 43:48
Oh. 

Gregory Vetter 43:50
Because that book 

showed me 

what journeys actually are. 

And it completely changed my perspective of how long a journey takes. 

Rich Bennett 44:10
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 44:11
And so now as I'm kind of in this other phase of my continued American dream. You know, I look at I reference that book often. 

Rich Bennett 44:27
Mm hmm. I never heard of that one. I'm going to look. I'm going to have to get that one now. 

Gregory Vetter 44:33
It's very good. It's it's like short and sweet. It's a it's kind of a story of this shepherd who has a dream of treasure in the pyramids. But he's got a great life. And everybody thinks he's crazy because he wants to get rid of his herd and go after this dream. He kind of has everything that his little town thinks is is all he needs. 

Rich Bennett 45:04
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 45:04
But he keeps having this dream of this treasure in the pyramids. And so he goes to his family and he's like, I'm selling because he's single at the time. He goes to his parents, he's like, I'm selling the herd, I'm taking the money, I'm going after this dream. And they're all like, This is stupid, man. This is not going to work. So he embarks on this journey, and I'm not going to tell you the whole thing. I'll just kind of tell you the first obstacle. And like, he gets into this village that's going to, you know, this little city and it's going to get him to the pyramids and off top all his money. It's stole. 

Rich Bennett 45:48
Whoa. All right, I got to get this book. 

Gregory Vetter 45:52
So then he's like, was, I suppose, suppose, supposed to this chick? 

Rich Bennett 46:00
Oh, that, Nancy. Now, add that to my list after I finished the law success. I'm going to have to read that one now. 

Gregory Vetter 46:08
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 46:09
I just I think a lot of and the thing and I'm glad you mentioned Napoleon Hills because for some reason I think a lot of people think that the old books like that aren't relevant anymore. 

Gregory Vetter 46:21
He's the O.G.. 

Rich Bennett 46:23
Oh, big time. Big time. Especially when it comes to 

entrepreneurship. Building a mastermind group. Who better? 

Gregory Vetter 46:34
Everybody else. That has that 

Rich Bennett 46:38
Mm 

Gregory Vetter 46:38
has 

Rich Bennett 46:38
hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 46:38
written a book on leadership or achieving goals, has taken a principle from that book and just written a book on it. 

Rich Bennett 46:48
Oh, yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 46:49
Every like if you need one book to figure out that anything is within your reach and a tactical guide of how to set up your brain in your body, in your discipline, in your mind to direct it, direct that energy through obsessional desire to something. 

Rich Bennett 47:11
Hmm. 

Gregory Vetter 47:12
He's your fricking guy. 

Rich Bennett 47:14
Oh, yeah. 

Adele. All right. So 

and I'll let you take as long as you want for this question. Well, it's not really a question. It's comment. 

Explain to everybody, especially entrepreneurs, people that when you get in the business, actually don't even have to be them. But anybody why they need to buy your book undressed. 

Gregory Vetter 47:42
It is the book I needed to read when I was 25. 

It is the book that I I was searching for at 30, and is the book that could have made all of the pain dramatically less 

hurtful 

at the end when I was in my forties. So it is a timeless story of insane journey, but with there's field guide at the end of each chapter of the learning lessons of each phase of this journey. And 

so I was always in search of like, Well, if I have this idea, how the hell do I do something with it? Or I'm in the middle of an idea and I'm trying to scale it. How do I do it? Or towards the end, I'm in a dumpster fire on on the Titanic, and it's going down. How do I approach this and process this? And so I think it is the ultimate pressure pressure test and field guide for anybody going after their dream to say, if this happens, am I prepared? And And if this happens with this idea I have. Am Am I okay with risking everything for. for. In my case, it was salad dressing. My My answer then would have been yes, because I didn't have anything else and I needed something to change my stars. 

Rich Bennett 49:54
You said seven books that people need to have, right? 

Gregory Vetter 49:58
Something around that. 

Rich Bennett 50:00
I think it's eight now. 

Gregory Vetter 50:02
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 50:03
Yours definitely needs to be. 

Gregory Vetter 50:05
Well, you know, I never thought about that. I'll put mine in. 

Rich Bennett 50:09
The Mount Rushmore of book. 

Gregory Vetter 50:12
I will do that. The Mount Rushmore of books. 

Rich Bennett 50:15
All right. So people that want to get your book or actually want to work with you because you do speaking engagements as well, how do they get in touch with you? 

Gregory Vetter 50:23
You can get the book on Amazon and you can buy it. The audiobook on Audible and Apple Books and all that. And then my website is Gregory Vodacom. So if you want me to come speak or you want me to help guide you along your wild journey, you know you can do that on Gregory Vodacom. And then I'm on Social media too. 

Rich Bennett 50:48
Those of you listening when you get the book, not if when you get the book undressed after you read it, make sure you leave a full review, whether it be on Amazon, good reads, actually leave it on all platforms that you can. And purchase it for somebody else, you know, instead of passing it on because. Just like with thinking Grow Rich. This is a book that you'll be able to go back to all the time and reference. So you don't want to get rid of it after you read it. Just purchase another copy for somebody else. So, Greg, before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? 

Gregory Vetter 51:27
Now. I think this conversation was good. 

Rich Bennett 51:30
Well, thanks, man. 

Gregory Vetter 51:31
I would say the only thing that people are going to be surprised about is probably my real voice on the audio book. 

Rich Bennett 51:42
Oh, God. All right, so for my last question, what is the next big thing? A Gregory Vetter. 

Gregory Vetter 51:53
I'm doing leadership retreats at my farm. 

Rich Bennett 51:57
Nice. 

Gregory Vetter 51:58
And so connecting the different aspects of the human existence into into a way to live your most optimal life. 

So I think everybody basically takes one or two of these different components, right? So you've got like your physical wellbeing, you've got your spiritual wellbeing or lack thereof with God, you've got your nutritional health, you've got your family and attention and how you spend your time, kind of the precious present. And then you've got a couple other kind of micro pillars in there and all them produce almost a number. Right. So if you were saying, well, my physical fitness is at 100, but my spiritual health is at three. 

Rich Bennett 53:02
Oh. 

Gregory Vetter 53:02
Right. Like if you're if you're looking at that, that those averages are going to give you a number. That number is the grade that you're going to have for the output of business. 

And I didn't realize that until I got all of them in check. 

Rich Bennett 53:28
Right. 

Gregory Vetter 53:29
And when I got them all in, check, the output because my grade went from probably a 70 to 95. The business output completely matched that number, and I didn't realize that. And I had never heard anybody talk about it because any time you hear anybody talk about stuff like that, they're like, Well, business is business, right? And family's family and this is this and that's that or I can't work out or my sleep's bad or all these different aspects of things. But in reality, all of that produces an output. In that output is indirect correlation to your success in business or life. So that's going to be the stuff we're doing. 

Rich Bennett 54:24
Moins I going to happen. Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 54:26
We'll probably start our first one in April. 

Rich Bennett 54:30
Okay. 

Gregory Vetter 54:30
We're mapping out the kind of the timing of it all, but it's underway. 

Rich Bennett 54:38
This is going to be this is going to be down in Annapolis. 

Gregory Vetter 54:42
West. 

Rich Bennett 54:43
Our West River. 

Gregory Vetter 54:44
Yeah. So a little, little south of I live on what used to be an alpaca breeding farm. 

Rich Bennett 54:52
Oh, wow. 

Gregory Vetter 54:53
Yeah. So it's 120 acres and it's got a whole bunch of cool stuff on it. So it'll it'll be perfect for leadership retreats. 

Rich Bennett 55:03
I was going to say nice place for retreats. I'm definitely going to have to let people in my circle know about that. One of the things we talk about a lot is leadership. I just had a young gentleman on and that's what he's always 

doing, all these seminars and everything on leadership. And I don't even know how we started talking about the mind, the master mind group. Because you don't see a lot of them anymore. 

Gregory Vetter 55:34
No, you don't. 

Rich Bennett 55:35
And so that's something that's one of my goals for this year, is to start a mastermind group. 

Gregory Vetter 55:42
Do. 

Rich Bennett 55:43
Oh, I'm going to we're actually going to be doing a roundtable discussion. On that on on brainstorming in a mastermind group. That's going to be fun. 

Gregory Vetter 55:52
That'll be. 

Rich Bennett 55:53
Those going to be life. So, Greg, I want to thank you so much. The door is open any time you want to come back. I would love to get you on one of these roundtables, too, because you're you have so much to offer. And definitely I might have to get down to this retreat. It's not going to be April 20th is. 

Gregory Vetter 56:15
Now. 

Rich Bennett 56:17
Okay. I might have to. I'm going to have to. Look into that. You know, Thank God it's not in December. Yeah. 

Gregory Vetter 56:25
Yeah. For. 

Rich Bennett 56:26
Yeah, it's too cold. And I always play Santa Claus. So that. 

Greg, thanks a lot. 

Gregory Vetter 56:34
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 56:35
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoy today's episode and learn something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with Rich Bennett dot com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care, be kind and keep the conversations going.