The Complexity Of Doing Good: Podcasts & Purpose Without Perfection

A ceiling collapsing from years of rain shouldn’t be part of anyone’s “normal,” especially not for an 88-year-old cancer patient living alone. That’s the moment that snaps this conversation from theory into reality, as we sit down with Jacksonville-based connector, recruiter, and media builder, Randall Thomas to unpack what kindness looks like when you stop polishing the plan and start moving.

We talk about the hidden power of storytelling and why entrepreneurs often get emotional when you ask about the early years, the valley before success, the pressure of payroll, and the quiet doubts they buried just to keep building. Randall shares how his podcast became a way to give small business owners something rare: an hour to be seen, heard, and understood. Along the way, we dig into why “distribution” matters, but the experience of being asked thoughtful questions can matter even more.

Then we go deep on the PB and Jax Foundation and the generosity story that feels like a movie. Randall walks us through meeting Emma Jean Wootson, learning about the roof scam that left her home leaking and moldy, and how one roofing company decided nobody would pay a cent. What follows is a wave of community impact in Jacksonville, Florida: electricians, pest control, inspections, security, mold remediation, drywall, painting, and more, totaling over $60,000 in donated work.

If you’ve ever told yourself you’ll give back “someday,” this is your push to set a deadline, build your tribe, and do the first small thing today. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review, what’s one act of generosity you’re ready to take on this week?

About Randall 

A Navy veteran, he serves as a Senior Resource Manager at Kavaliro, where he leads technical placements across Jacksonville, Orlando, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Atlanta. He is also the founder of RTR Solutions Group, where he helps job seekers navigate the recruiting process from the inside out.

Randall hosts the PB & Jax Podcast (Pioneers · Builders · Jacksonville), which spotlights the entrepreneurs and builders shaping Northeast Florida, and he co-founded The PB & Jax Foundation, the show's nonprofit arm serving the local community. He serves as Chief Strategy Officer with The Link and holds board appointments with the PS27 Foundation, the JAX Chamber Arlington Council, and the JAX Business Calendar. He was most recently recognized in the Jacksonville Business Journal's 40 Under 40.

Visit His Website

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randall-w-thomas/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/randythomx/

X: https://x.com/MrRandallThomas

Transcript

Welcome To The Stall

SPEAKER_01 0:01

And I wish I could go back to a time when things were so complicated.

SPEAKER_05 0:06

Welcome to the complexity of toilet paper, the podcast that dives into the everyday moments where we overthink, hesitate, or just get stopped. Through honest conversations, unexpected insights, and a whole lot of humor, your hosts Phyllis Martin, Mark Pollock, and Al Emmerich are here to help you roll with it and make your life a little less complicated. One conversation at a time. Right, dude, the beauty of this is a simplicity. Speaking of which, it's time to enter the stall. Put the lid down or not, depending. Get comfortable and roll with it. Oh, what is not, dear friend? It's really quite simple. This is the complexity of toilet paper. Wham, bam, can I have another?

SPEAKER_06 1:06

Now, you may be saying, what a terrible way to introduce uh the the beauty of the complexity of toilet paper. And right now, if you were looking at this or are looking at this on YouTube, you're seeing Phyllis is just aghast. But what she doesn't know is that I'm talking about the beauty of giving. Meaning in our previous show that hopefully you've listened to, that this is following, we closed with a mic drop. Thank you, Mark. That simply the act of changing one life was another, was enough. And so I don't need another. I don't need to, I don't need to look for more. Although I sure would love that experience again, the experience of giving. This is the complexity of toilet paper. My name is Al

Recapping The Complexity Of Giving

SPEAKER_06 2:00

Emmerich. I'm Mark Pollock.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

And I'm Phyllis Martin.

SPEAKER_06 2:06

Yes. And we have done some two-part shows. Um I think. Have we done two-part shows? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, we talk about it a lot. I don't know that actually did it. But we're actually doing it this time because we just finished um what Mark what Mark said when we finished the show was probably one of the most enjoyable best shows we've done. And that was the show on giving, where we explored um the complexity of giving. But when we got done, all three of us were like, well, what does that look like in real life? What does this complexity look like in real life? Like Mark, walking out of the show that we just we we finished that that's aired already, like what what were you feeling? What were you thinking? And what were you asking?

SPEAKER_02 2:58

You know, it it what was interesting to me, what what I was feeling was I learned a lot just having that conversation around giving. And I don't think that I could have ended with with the question that I ended with I couldn't have pre-planned that. I had to go through that show. I had to listen about you know what giving is and what giving isn't and and and how we give and and give differently. Like I just I was so impacted by that conversation, and I feel like I walked away really learning a little bit more about the complexity of giving. I mean, I think it was a a proper title for the show. I I think it it really has helped me shed some light, and I'm excited about today's conversation, uh, because I think we'll go even deeper into some of the areas that that we discussed uh last time.

SPEAKER_06 3:52

Phil, what was on your mind and what are you excited about for today's conversation?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I think today's conversation is really going to bring it home. It's like a tangible example, a story, or a few stories about the whys and hows of giving and the impact that that can really have on a person and a community.

SPEAKER_06 4:18

I'm pumped for what you're about to hear because uh it's a little bit of a departure from our typical structure, but it's a conversation with somebody who actually stepped right into giving and and is such a representation of the unselfishness, but also just bathing in the experience of one life, of changing one life. Because that's Mark, what you ended the last show with. You were like, if you could just change, right? And this this is a dude who I completely have run into at random and then been reconnected with. He's a podcaster himself, but the framework pardon the pun, you'll know the story why in a moment. The framework of of of what he's done speaks to that voice of one life. And um, and we'll see what he's gonna do with it, uh, because it's pretty special. Um without further ado, let's step into the stall, shall we?

Meet Randall Thomas

SPEAKER_06 5:18

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Complexity of Toilet Paper. We have stepped into the stall today to unearth the complexity of kindness and generosity in a very unique way with our very own guest who is no joke a professional podcaster. His name is Randall Thomas and Randall, welcome to Potty Time.

SPEAKER_07 5:44

Oh, well, first and foremost, thank you. Um, ever since you and I met, I can't look at toilet paper without thinking about how complex it is. And so for us to unpack it, for us to unpack it today is uh is a dream come true, man. I'm honestly uh super pumped. There it is.

SPEAKER_06 6:00

Do you know how invigorating it is? I mean, you do, because you're like, you know, we're gonna unpack your career here, but it is invigorating and quite joyful because you can't have a conversation and say the word toilet paper and not smile. I mean, so uh and it's true. Everybody that's ever done the show says, Man, I go into the bathroom now, and it's like I think of you guys, and that's weird.

SPEAKER_07 6:26

It is and it isn't. I will um little tangent before we get started. Uh for some reason, I feel the same way about the word pumper nickel. And so anytime that there's an event where people are doing wristbands, I tell them that to get the wristband, they have to say the code word, and the code word is always pumpernickel. So anytime somebody thinks about pumpernickel bread, they gotta think about me. I love the name. I the bread's okay. The bread tastes good, but for some reason pumpernickel just itches my brain in a certain way, and and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Pumpernickel. I love it. Pumpernickel. Pumper nickel. Who came up with that word?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Oh, I wonder what the genesis of the word.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I'm gonna take two breads and I'm gonna put them together, and I'm gonna call it pumper nickel.

SPEAKER_06 7:16

All right, so uh why are we uh if you're still with us, we might be down to three listeners now, and they're probably family and our pets. Um, but um, but how did this all come to be? First of all, uh met Randall at an event. What what?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Stop. You have to stop.

SPEAKER_06 7:34

What, Phil? Like, stop recording?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

No, you just have to. I looked up where the word pumpernickel originates from.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

Oh god, here we go. Oh, here it is.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Okay, now look, uh like who knows if this is like I'm like I popped it in and this is what came. The word pumpernickel literally uh translates.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

It's a show with Phyllis laughing about pumpernickel.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

To fart goblin. No, I'm only gonna be able to say pumpernickel or devil's fart in German. This colorful name stems. The the the colorful name stems from a combination of two new high German words. Pumpern, a German verb meaning to break wind or to fart, and nickel, a common name for nickeless, which in older Germanic folklore referred to a goblin, a devil or a malevolent spirit. Okay, that was fabulous. And now I too love the word pumper nickel.

SPEAKER_02 8:51

Fart goblin.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Folks, uh I'm sorry to interrupt. That was wrong.

SPEAKER_07 8:59

That was a perfect introduction.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Okay. Well, folks, if if we go to European Street and order a Rubin on a Fart Goblin, I wonder what they would say.

SPEAKER_07 9:10

Record yourself when you do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah. I'd like the Ruben on a Fart Goblin, please.

SPEAKER_06 9:15

I'd say this show's gone to shit, but we're already there. So anyway. Yeah. All right. So we'll re-cue this until we were so grandios grandiose. Rudely interrupted. Rudely interrupted by fart goblins. Uh I meet Randall and at a charity event, we're like, dude, we should get together. You do podcasts, you do podcasts, boom, boom, boom. Uh, a group of those same people reconnected, literally almost to a year, and uh, we meet in this cigar bar, we're catching up, and we're just there's immediate like connective vibe of like, wow, what a great person. And then he starts to unpack what he's doing in the community, and I was mesmerized. Um, anyway, so Randall, tell us about yourself. What do you want the world to know about you um in uh in all your wonder?

SPEAKER_07 10:08

Thank you for letting me be here, and thank you for letting me tell the story of what the past few months have been like.

Finding A Voice Through Podcasting

SPEAKER_07 10:15

Uh, I'm gonna talk about who I am and then what I do. Those are two different things. Who I am is a Texan at heart. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, uh 1987. I spent my first 19 and a half years in Texas, joined the Navy, uh, spent nine years roughly touring the world, fixing airplanes for the world's greatest Navy. And it brought me here to Jacksonville, Florida, uh, where I got out in 2014. Uh, continued to do the work on the base, but decided I wanted to do a little bit more in life. So went down a couple different pathways, uh, which led me into podcasting, which we're going to talk about here in a second. It led me into uh entrepreneurship and the spirit of entrepreneurship, which is very important to me. Uh, and then it led me to the necessity of uh creating positive uh energy and flow on social media in a world that is consistently heavy every time we open up an application. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, it doesn't matter. Gas prices are high. We're very divisive about our government. Uh people are being laid off in droves, we're being replaced by artificial intelligence, and everybody has an opinion about it. So what I wanted to do was find a way to take stories, meaningful stories, specifically around our small business owners, get them out into the universe, and then uh that kind of molded its way into community give back. So, who am I? I am uh a God-fearing Texan who happens to be a Floridian, and I love it. Uh, somebody who likes to speak with entrepreneurs as much as possible, the builders of our of our city, to discuss different topics around small business ownership, what it's like to employ people, the pressure around having to make payroll, and then how can we even out the world for those of us who have been blessed along the way to people who maybe have not been as fortunate due to lack of opportunity or whatever the case may be? That led us to this and uh to this conversation, and I'm very grateful to be here.

SPEAKER_06 12:31

First question. Um did you feel like you found your voice, and if even have you found your voice?

SPEAKER_07 12:42

I'm as close to finding it as I ever have been. Uh we are I I think I'm starting to reach the flow state of knowing what I want my message to be, the things that are most valuable to me, and then making sure that I am as public about them as possible. I do feel like I'm every time that I have a conversation with somebody, I'm speaking from a place of passion and joy, as well as at this point of uh some of knowledge as well. So the podcast is an interesting story. Everything is an interesting story. The fact that you guys have microphones in front of you, you have a journey that led you to this, right? My journey started in 2020. I was dating somebody that worked at Action News Jack. She was a web producer for this show. And I discovered that all of the field reporters had to go out to the places to deliver the news, but they're the ones that came up with the stories. So they're engaging with the community, figuring out what needs to be done, then they're going and reporting on the stories, unless there's a breaking news alert, car accident, fire, at this point, COVID-related issue, um, gun shooting, etc. However, if there's a non-emergency breaking news event, it's their job to pitch the stories. So during COVID, our home was home based for the reporters. We let them come hang out, drink wine, decompress. COVID every day was a heavy story for them to tell. And I discovered that they have to pitch their own stories. So I give them whatever the amount of a buttload is, is the amount of ideas and stories I gave them to go pitch. And all of these magnificent journalists go to the news station and they pitch all these things that I told them about. And the news director said, Nope, can't do it. If it doesn't bleed, if it's not COVID-related, we can't run it. We've got to sell advertising dollars. Uh, we don't have time in our 30-minute show for that. So all of these ideas, all these stories about these business owners who are coming to Florida, this tax-free state, coming to our city with our 900-square mile city with all of this open infrastructure to put down roots and build companies and employ people, we don't want to talk about that. So it took me a little bit from that to me wanting to have somebody else take the take the mount, say, hey, listen, I don't have the voice for this, I don't have the following for this. You do. Let's do this. Like let's you run it with this. I'll feed you the ideas, you go, you know, beat down the doors and tell these stories and get the word out. And nobody would really take up the mantle. So I told myself two things. Number one, if it's that important to you, you're gonna have to do it. And number two, you're gonna have to not be afraid of sucking at something new. You have no idea what podcasting is or interviewing. You didn't go to journalism school, you fixed airplanes. So we have to find a way to put us on a path where this at least comes across professionally and sounds intelligent and it's invigorating enough that people want to listen or pay attention to or root for these individuals that we're interviewing.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Do you feel that after these episodes, and Al asked about getting your voice, do you feel that you're making the impact that you thought

Why Storytelling Changes People

SPEAKER_02 16:08

you would? Or do you feel that you're making a greater impact than you thought you would?

SPEAKER_07 16:14

At this juncture, as we're having this conversation, I have made a bigger impact than I ever thought I would. And some of it it could be tied to distribution, some of it could be tied to the storytelling, some of it could be tied to the fact that people are telling a story that they've never told before. They've always wanted to, but they've never been asked that question, or nobody cared enough to sit down and learn it. So I was and if you guys know Eric Ross, he has a podcast in town called What the Health Just Happened. And him and I just so happened to have coffee this morning. We were having this exact dialogue. I'm so glad you brought this up because what I said to him too was some people find so much value in the distribution and the assets. You record the interview, um, you get it posted out, people respond, new people find out about your business or whatever it is your initiative is. And some people care about getting the assets. You take a long-form video, you chop it into short form content, you give it to them so that they can post on their own social media channels. But Eric does a lot in the healthcare space, and he's a Jacksonville heart-centered leader himself. For me, when I talk to these small business owners and entrepreneurs, and I explained them this morning, the value that they get is the experience. They love the distribution and they love the you know, the assets and that they can post these things. But the hour that we're sitting there talking is the most freeing, peaceful, enjoyable thing to them. And to me, that is the biggest blessing in all of this is that yes, I can get the word out, and yes, I can do X, Y, and Z. But you know, we've clipped them with a microphone and put a camera in front of them and asked them meaningful, thoughtful questions. And for them, for them to be able to tell a story about what it was like to build before they got to this moment is an undeniable feeling for me. And it's created so much joy in myself and in my guests. So I would say, in the most long-winded way imaginable, I've I've done more impact than I ever thought I would.

SPEAKER_06 18:13

So we're gonna talk about two lanes of complexity. One is, you know, this podcast and what we're doing right now, kind of getting out of your own way, and then we're gonna get to the nonprofit, which uh is really the the crux of the show, the complexity of kindness. Um But you your show is kindness in its own way, you know, and I love the way you just articulated this. But when you have interviewed folks, um, you know, this show's job is not to solve something. Our our our you know, we're right now we're not as worried about the the viewers, listeners, whatever. I mean, we just we just want to crank the show out until we're ready to push whatever we want to push, right? No monetization, all that kind of jazz. We talked about that off mic. Is that it's the joy of this experience, the joy of talking to Randall. Um, what have you learned about the complexity of people telling their story? Because you're interviewing them, but you communicated it as a story. You're not a new show. I've listened to some of those interviews, and people get deep and emotional, it's similar to some of the things that happen in our show. So, in your perspective as a podcaster, for those people who want to tell their stories, what's what's complex for them in your experience?

SPEAKER_07 19:33

Alf, I'll use you as an example. You specifically have built something. I'm obviously just coming up with a random example here, but let's say you built something that was very meaningful to you. Um, let's say that was to provide opportunity to others, but it took you 10 years to build this thing. This is your thing. And then along the way, you knew what the journey was like to get there, which means any entrepreneur will tell you that they never had it easy, right? There was something in the beginning, and there was definitely something in the middle that allowed them to have what's in the end. And they're in the grind, they are in the motion of building this business and what's the next thing, and how do I capitalize on this? Are my systems in place? Am I hiring the right people? Do I have the right vendors? It's consistently a thing, it's an evolving mechanism that they they have to continue to put all their effort into. Now, I force you to stop and recollect on the early years and say, okay, you have all of this now. You're grateful for it, you're smiling, you you know, maybe you're driving a nicer car, maybe you're taking the vacation you always dreamed of because you finally earned it. But what were you telling yourself at the beginning to convince you that this day would come? And I'm forcing you to relive an emotion that you've buried for a decade. The complexity for them is that I don't think they're expecting it. I think they're here to say, like, this is what I do, this is how I do it, and you know, this is where we're going, and we want people to know about us, or that we want people to get on board with everything. But they're not saying, like, hey man, out of the gate, this blew. Why did it blow? And what did you do to get through the suck? Because it all operates on a J curve, right? You start, you get excited, it sucks, and then it starts to get better, and then it shoots off. But most people can't get out of the valley. So talk to me about the valley. And the valley is the emotional part for them.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

You know, Randall, hearing you say that, it it seems to me, and Al, you're right. There's a we've had several guests on coming to this from different vantage points. Um, but I think there's a truth that sits in the complexity of the build, right? It's it's It's just as you're describing, you're excited, you have a vision, you have all of the passion in the whole entire world and all of the energy. And then the reality, right? The interface with reality, which you aptly said in the beginning, I think you all for all of us who try something new, we have to recognize and own that there's going to be a period of you suck at this. You don't know what you don't know, and you have to be willing to learn. And I think that's where the complexity comes in for people because it comes out of the blue. I'm sure in retelling the story, right, there's the complexity of the emotion of having to go back and relive that, and then listening to you talk about it in this way. I think there's something also, and I'm attaching it to the to the kindness part, right? There's something really complex for me in your guests having to pull that out, to re-pull that out and really examine it and then and then share it. When you were talking earlier, I couldn't help but think, what a lovely gift, not only for the entrepreneurial community, but for all of us who benefit from entrepreneurs. Because we've heard time and time again, and we're hearing it now just in a different, a different way and at a different level, how hard that really is. And yet small business entrepreneurs arguably are the backbone of our communities. And I think it's really important that people understand what that struggle moment to moment, not only during the build, not only during the sucky time, but even on the on the way up, how precarious entrepreneurship really is.

SPEAKER_07 23:47

Couldn't agree more for so many reasons. And the the statistic that I read at the time was 54% of everybody employed in the United States is employed by a small business. So over over half of the people who get to pay their rent and put food on the table are employed by somebody who decided to take a leap and start something new.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

So I feel like this is like an amazing segue to the to the kindness part, the other part of the of the story. I feel like these two things are tied.

SPEAKER_06 24:20

Because I'm happy to Yeah, I mean, because that's I mean, that was the that was the trigger triggering moment. Uh, not that the podcast wasn't cool. I mean, this is but when we first talked, but when you dropped this on me and how you were I called it filling in the gray. Um, so take us from there, my friend.

Launching A Foundation With A Deadline

SPEAKER_07 24:37

By trade, I'm a headhunter, I'm a recruiter. So I speak to unemployed people every day. It is a daunting topic. And like I said, some people having a tough time paying bills. And a friend of mine, Clayton King, and I were having coffee, and we just said, we gotta flood the the online world with something so positive. Like, let's reinduce some like serotonin into the world, or let's just get it out there. Love that. And it was on the heels of the Jacksonville Business Journal giving me the blessing of being 40 under 40, which it's right there. It means the world to me. And they announced that on March 4th. So if you know me, you'll know that I have a flair for the dramatic, which is 39 other people are gonna walk up on that stage, accept their award, shake their hand, get their picture taken, go sit down at their table, and then the next day they're going back to work. Randall Thomas doesn't operate that way. So we were sitting down and we said, okay, how do we capitalize on this attention? So we decided if we're gonna do something positive in the community and we're gonna use this as a springboard moment, let's um let's do a big giveaway of sorts to somebody in need. We didn't know what that looked like, but we knew we wanted to do something positive. And it went through some iterations, but we sat down and said, let's we have PB and Jax, let's go ahead and do the nonprofit arm of PB and Jax. And we have it filed as PB and Jax Giving, but I call it the PB and Jax Foundation. So we went out to every entity we could think of to say, give us a list of people who not only need to like have something nice and great happen to them, but somebody that deserves it. For me specifically, I I was really hoping that would be a veteran. I am a veteran and I just see so many of them as afterthoughts when they get home. And those were the people I wanted to give it to the most. But as we engaged with the nonprofits and the churches, we went through the stack and we came across um this lady named Emma Jean Wootson.

Emma Jean’s Home And The Need

SPEAKER_07 26:48

Emma Jean is 88 years young, and she lives just north of downtown, just south of uh the north side, and she's lived in that home for 55 years, and she's been in this city for 84 years total. So she's been a pillar of Jacksonville, she spent a lot of years here. Um, as I unpack Miss Jean's story, widowed, unfortunately, people of that age, it does happen, um, was fighting cancer. Also incredibly unfortunate. But the thing that really got me was all three of her sons have also passed away. So she's alone, she's by herself, she's in this house, which is the only thing that's been consistent for her for 55 years. And she she's having a tough time walking, she's fighting cancer, and she's going through it. And I said, This is the lady we need to take care of. And keep in mind, guys, I still didn't know what that looked like. But I was put in touch with her. We went, we met with her, we found out that a few years ago, some contractors came out and said that they were gonna fix her roof. They royally messed it up, and then they kind of like dashed with her money. Um, when she went to the best, when she went to the better business bureau to try to get in touch with them, the company that was filed under no longer existed, and these guys had skipped town. So for the past three or four years, every time it rains in Jacksonville, which is a lot, water gets in the house. So we have an 88-year-old woman who can hardly move and who's battling cancer, and she's alone, she has nobody to call, and waters get in the house. We walk in the house, the ceilings have been just completely rained through. There's whole there's holes in the ceiling, everything's collapsed. Some of these runes are zoned off completely, can't go in there, and there's a significant mold issue because water's been getting in the house, uh, you know, it gets hot, mold forms, and it grows aggressively. Shoddy electric, etc. So this is where it gets those are all bad stories. Here's the great story. We knew we had to replace her roof. It was a non-negotiable. We had selected her, and we we knew what she needed the most. So we were gonna go replace her roof. We engaged with roofing companies, and our hope, our thought was somebody come do it at cost, somebody give us a break, we'll fundraise the money, we'll pay for the roof. What happened next is unbelievable, and I want to make sure that this goes back to the fact that our entrepreneurs and our small business owners are givers at heart. They built something special so that they could also give back. We come

A Roofing Company Says Free

SPEAKER_07 29:33

across a Wafford Roofing, which is owned by Jared and Justin Walford, and we tell our story, and we're like, hey, listen, we're just looking to get a deal so that we can take care of this woman and make it like a great deal. We're gonna do it on May 28th, we're gonna give it away on May 28th. It's gonna be a surprise to her. Everybody's gonna think that they're coming to this 40 under 40 celebration, but we're gonna surprise her with a new roof. Give us your best price. And they said, nobody's gonna pay a freaking thing for this. Not one cent. You're not, she's not. We're gonna replace the whole roof for free. We're gonna replace the flat side of the roof that has all the big holes in it. We're gonna do the parts of labor, we'll pay the guys, we'll warranty it for life, and she'll never get wet another day unless she personally brings water in the house.

SPEAKER_05 30:21

Wow. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 30:25

I'm stuck. I mean, this is unbelievable. So it gets really fun, guys. I know it's gonna get long-winded, but I promise you it's worth it. So we go out to Miss Wootson's house. This now we know we've secured the roof. It is in my mind that we have the roof. So at the very beginning of May, we take the PB and Jack's team out there to film some content. And what we're telling her is we're going to film this content, take it to the community, and try to fundraise your roof. But we already had the roof. So we wanted to get some storytelling going. Tell us about the last time it was dry in the home and what's your you know, best memory of the house, and why, you know, how can we make things optimistic for you? And we brought Justin Walford from the roofing company in, but we put him in a PV and Jack shirt and gave him a camera. So I introduced him as Justin Wilson, uh, who's a member of the PV and Jacks podcast. So as she met him, she had no idea who he was or what he did. And he went to go take pictures of the house, but really what he was doing was inspecting the job to see what he had to do. Brilliant. So we get done, yeah. We get done, we package it up, and you know, she's not very believing that we're trying to help her, that we didn't have our own agenda, which I understand. It's a weird circumstance, like, oh, these strangers are gonna give me a roof. Yeah, right. But that's really what we were doing, and we had the date, May 28th. Um, get her get her to the block, get her to like come celebrate the 40 under 40 thing. When I

The Surprise Reveal And Cascade

SPEAKER_07 32:00

go on stage to give my thank you speech, it's really gonna be a speech about her. So we got Miss Wootson out to the block. She dressed nice, and she was like, I can't wait to celebrate you. This is such a great honor. I was like, Oh, thank you so much. So I get on stage, I had this whole slideshow that was dedicated to her, she had no idea. So after it said 40 under 40, we hit the slide and it said, How do we get back? Um, and we launched the PB and Jacks Foundation on the spot, and we had already filed the paperwork, but it was legit, so we announced it to the world. And I said, you know, Miss Wootson, when we met, we knew what you needed, and we went out to go get it. And I want to admit to you right now, we told a couple of lies, but I asked Pastor Williams for forgiveness, who sat next to you, and he gave it to me. So we're in the clear. I said, um, Water's been getting the house for some time. We knew you needed a roof. Two days ago you asked me if I could get you a roof, and I'm here to tell you I cannot get you a roof. But the gentleman that you met, whose name Justin Wilson, to you, is not Justin Wilson. He's Justin Wafford, and he's the owner and CEO of Wafford Roofing. And I do think that he has something he wants to tell you. I got out of the way. Justin came to the mic, said, Your story just really resonated with me. And there is nothing I would love more than to replace this roof for you for absolutely nothing. And we have ordered the roof and the shingles and everything will be delivered on Tuesday, and we're going to replace your roof on Wednesday. And happy to report to you that that roof has been replaced and it is complete and it is warranted, and she is no longer getting water in the house. Um, and it's all a credit to Wafford Roofing for stepping up to the plate and giving back to somebody who was in need in their community. So, when the word got out that we were giving away the roof uh a couple days before, other companies started showing up saying, Well, we want to give her something too. So we didn't just give her the roof. Uh, we gave her a ton of stuff that night. And uh we just kept thumbing through the slides. It was just another company that was showing up. And so Shoreline Electric, I want to give them love. They stepped up to the plate and said they were gonna redo her electric for her. Paul Murray Oil uh donated 300 gallons of kerosene so that she could light her furnace over the next three winters. Florida Pest Control uh is gonna spray her home for the next 12 months on the house. Like on the house is being free, not on her house. Um Pinnacle Communications Group is gonna install home security and do two years worth of monitoring for free. On the level home inspections are kicking in the inspection. Mold medics is doing all the mold mediation to get the black mold out of the house and get fresh drywall up. Uh the painting connectors are gonna go back out there and repaint our house once the new drywall is up. And uh on-the-level inspections, after they do the home inspection, um, KC Insurance Group is gonna ensure the house free of charge. And um, we gave all of that to her. It totaled up to be just just north of $60,000 worth of stuff. And uh it all started, guys, when we're talking about complexity, it all started with this idea that we wanted to do something nice for somebody because we were given an award in a platform that we could do something special. So we wanted to give away the roof, and what it turned into was a freaking movie. So all the credit to those companies, it's important to say $61,000, $62,000 worth of stuff was given. The foundation only had to come out of pocket about $2,400 for that. So all of the companies and all of these business owners deserve 100,000 percent of the credit because they showed up for their for their community and for somebody who was in need. I just nothing but a blessing across the board.

SPEAKER_06 36:00

Randall, that is um it escapes definition. I mean, other than to say it is kindness.

Escaping Red Tape To Help Fast

SPEAKER_06 36:08

Um was there a point where it got more complex than you realized? And did you ever figure, wait a minute, this thing's gotten out of hand?

SPEAKER_07 36:18

It was tough to believe it was real. I will say that because everybody just kept saying things and we wanted to see it in motion. I will tell you just for the sake of the show, and we're gonna talk about complexity. Emma Jean Wootson is not special in the fact that she's the only person in Jacksville that needed a roof. There are tens of thousands of people who have the same circumstance she does. The difference between what we were able to do and what these other people are attempting to do is they're going through city initiatives or nonprofit initiatives with bureaucracy and red tape out the yang. Um, they're slow, methodical processes that involve so many layers of complexity and so many signatures and so many approval stages that by the time they get this new roof or they get this new anything, it is so late, and the damage could quite literally already be done. And what I love about what we did was we didn't have to go through any hoops. We said, you need a roof, we got your roof, we installed the roof, we got out of the way, and it just worked, it just happened. So there is a huge complexity in giving because unfortunately you have to go through uh very particular verticals to achieve the giving you want to. But when you don't tie yourself to a specific entity, um just get up and do what you want. And that's that was probably the greatest thing is there's a simplicity in giving as well if you escape the complexity.

SPEAKER_06 37:56

Phyllis, I have been dying to ask you since I first heard this story from Randall. Um, well, first let me just drop this really quick, then I want to get the question to you, Phyllis. What what I what you just said, Randall, there's a simplicity in the giving that this goes back again to a recurring theme of just do it. Like um as big as it is, sometimes it's just a matter of flipping the switch and doing it and and not thinking through all the what ifs, all the, you know, well, it could do this and it could happen this. Um, you know, you just did it. You you just said, okay, I'm gonna take that action, regardless of what the motivation was and how it ended up being. Uh, and I think that's where we overthink all the trying to think of all the angles, all the barriers, what could be, versus just taking that first step.

Phyllis On Action And Agenda

SPEAKER_06 38:46

Um Phyllis, you've worked in community service for so long. Uh, obviously, your years with United Way. Um, when you hear this story, I'm just curious what comes to your mind, because there is a bureaucracy in government. There is sometimes the heavy bureaucracy even in the nonprofit sector and and how the money is distributed and stuff. What is your take on that?

SPEAKER_01 39:11

I think many things can be true at the same time. And there's absolutely no doubt. Um, you know, what I'm hearing you say is there's a and I agree with you, there should be um uh a lot of weight given to action. We should we should understand that there's an urgency when it comes to people and when it and when it comes to need. So it's lovely that there are foundations um and organizations that can react in time in in in in real in real moments when that's needed. So I don't think it's an either-or. I think there are organizations that do what they do in the way that they do it for many reasons, and I hate to say this, but tied back to where they get their funding from. I'm not talking about state or governmental entities, because that, you know, you could do 72 shows on on that. Um, but a lot of times foundations themselves become the problem because they just do, whether they want to see particular outcomes or they have their own particular point of view. So, you know, what I'm hearing in this is um, you know, there's a lot of complexity when it comes to giving. There's the complexity of are you giving because you are you doing something because it's coming from your lens and your vantage point versus asking the person what they need and whether you agree with it or not, making sure that they're getting what they need, which opens up a dot a space for dialogue and conversation that can go in many perfectly lovely, uh uh lovely ways. There's a complexity in giving if you have a particular agenda and think that there's something that's going to come out of that. Um, if if only, I'll do this if only, right? There's a complexity in giving sometimes due to the readiness of the person or individual organization that you that you want to help. And sometimes you have to hang around long enough to suss out what that is. But all of that to say, I'm gonna say two things. You know, in this story, in this instant, there's there was a bias toward action, and that was really, really needed. And it just sounds like that people came together and said, we get it, we see it, we're not gonna tolerate it, not today. And we're gonna find a way, find a way to to actually to actually make that happen. Um, and then I will say again, I think there's a real, this is different from the foundation, but I can't help but really hold on to um the giving that is coming out of the podcast to share those stories is a gift for the rest of us. May not be such a gift, and and ultimately I hope for the people who store who are courageous enough to share those stories. But the only way, well, one of the only ways, in my estimation, to change is that we start to understand one another. And the story and narrative is a direct pathway um to doing that.

SPEAKER_06 42:15

Um Phyllis and Mark. When I you just said something, Phyllis, there was a bias towards action, which by the way, that's like a frickin' awesome mic drop right there. Um because I've never heard action framed that way. Um I'm thinking about the show that um there's a couple of episodes ago

Three Lessons To Start Giving

SPEAKER_06 42:40

um on someday. Like we we did a show. If you love, if you get a chance, go back to it. We did a show on the the the the complexity of someday. Someday I'm gonna do this. Someday I want to, and all the things that stand in our way. And then when you said complexity of action, Phil, I was like, oh bam, that's was that was at the crux of someday. Um and so question for you, Randall, and then I know Mark has has a has a parting question. Um had this swam in your mind previously, or was there a sense of uh I need to do something someday, or did this just swarm and land?

SPEAKER_07 43:22

I've always had the belief that I needed to do something to give back. So that has always been percolating. Uh the 40 under 40 award gave me a a launch pad to capitalize on the exposure. And the the ceremony, which turned into an after party, gave me, which is probably equally important, a deadline. Which was at any no matter what we do, this thing is happening on the 28th of May, and we're giving away. A pen, or we're giving away a roof. And something's being given away on the 28th, which forced us every week to do something actionable to get us there. So Clayton and I, Clayton, who's the VP of the foundation, we sat down every Sunday at 8 a.m. for two hours. And we said, what do we have to do this week to get us closer to 28? And from Sunday to Saturday, we operated on those things. The following Sunday, we did the next batch. And so yes, there was a bias towards action, and we had a deadline. So if you can self-impose a deadline, I think it'll it'll launch you in that direction to answer your question, though. It would always been percolating, but this kind of took action very quick once the list came out.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Well, I've got a kind of a follow-up question for you based on that, which is um navigating the complexity that we've talked about, navigating those conversations of complexity, then bringing people back to a spot where they had to make difficult decisions, the complexity of of raising money and helping a a fellow citizen. If you were to impart three quick lessons to our audience to say if if you're in this space um or uh in one of these situations, regardless, something that that maybe is even holistic to the entire story, what are three things that you would want our listeners to walk away with from this conversation?

SPEAKER_07 45:28

There's nothing keeping you from doing it. Literally nothing.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 45:34

And it's amazing how we can convince ourselves that there is. It is incredible how easy it is to tell us, yeah, but yeah, I don't have the money. Yeah, I don't have the network, yeah, I don't have the relationships. For every person that's lost a hundred pounds, they started by losing one. So you can just do it. Two, yeah, and I've alluded to this earlier, you cannot be afraid to suck at something at something new. Everything you have ever done in your life, you sucked at the minute you did it. But you did it over and over and over and over again. All of a sudden you became good at it. You read your first book after you wrote your first word. It always was a journey, and you didn't become an expert lacrosse player by you know throwing your first lacrosse stick across the garage. You know, like you had to do it over and over again. It was repetition. And three, you have to build a tribe around you. You have to have unfettered support to get you to where you're trying to go. Could be giving, could be a podcast, it could be a business, it could be whatever. But whenever I decided to post PD and Jax, it was such an emotionally frail place that I and I said, I will do this, but if I get one negative comment across the first 10 episodes, I won't do it anymore. I was that frail. And I just had a tribe of people that were like, we're not gonna let you fail, we're not gonna let you lose. And so every time I posted an episode on LinkedIn, the same like 40 people jumped in to like and comment and talk about how great it was. So you have to, you know, just take the action, build the tribe, and don't be afraid to suck at something new. And um, as long as you're living every day towards your moment that you're trying to go towards, like if you want to build a great following or you want to become a thought leader on something, start with the first post. Um, grow and evolve as an individual, and then you know the content will follow.

SPEAKER_06 47:23

Um Mark Phyllis, doesn't this make I don't know about you, it makes me feel better because I think back to our days and it was like, I just don't want to suck, or we don't, which by the way, um just for the record, there's no episode has ever sucked, okay, Randall.

SPEAKER_04 47:38

I mean, we were perfect, right? Out of the gate. It was glorious. Oh, geez, there it is. I have no doubt. Ear eardrums were blossoming with flowers growing out of skulls. It was beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 47:51

Yeah, that's bumper nickel.

SPEAKER_05 47:54

Even better. And that is the complexity of toilet paper. Did you say toilet paper?