Curated Pt. 23

A weekly roundup of stuff I hope you'll like

if you noticed, the background photo changes every post

My Upcoming Events

I’ll be on a panel at Venture Cafe tomorrow with some amazing people including my good friend Michael Ly.

Come and hang out if you have some time.

See the event details here

• Private Terrace Watch Party (3 tickets left)
  Date: May 4
  Location: Phoenix Rising FC Stadium
  Time: 7 PM

  Apply here

• M&A Launchpad Conference (I’m speaking on a panel)
  Date: May 11
  Location: Downtown Houston
  Time: All day
  Learn more - USE CODE “SHAWN” for $200 off

• Business Roulette: Austin & Phoenix Leaders
  Date: May 14
  Location: Virtual
  Time: 9 AM (MTN)
  RSVP here

• Workout + Social (limited to 30 people)
  Date: May 25
  Location: BODI in Scottsdale
  Time: 12 PM
  RSVP here

• Unlisted Run Club
  Date: Every Wednesday
  Location: R.T O’Sullivans
  Time: 6:30 PM
  Details here

For real-time updates and to stay in touch:

• Twitter/X: @shawnwallard

• Linkedin: Shawn Allard

• Instagram: @shawnallard

This newsletter only grows with your help. So if you feel like sharing, here’s the link.

If you're a new reader and want to see where this started, go here. 

Projects

NOVEL ICE CREAM

• Novel #3 (Trailer) is about done. I’m delivering a bunch of equipment to have it installed, and redesigning the wrap over the next week and should have the trailer ready to go within the month. I would like to have it open June 1st but I’ll be gone all month so we’re slating opening day on July 15th.

• Novel #4 (Mobile truck) has a solid layout going. The inventory list is built and we’re ordering everything as soon as the shell is complete. We’re almost ready to build. Once the interior shell is built out, we’ll get equipment in there.

  

• Put up our list of values on the wall at both shops

  

My power list:

• Plan event on May 18th for Novel’s new flavor release and Remix’s opening day

• Drop a limited edition flavor and topping combo (Blue Moon & Nerds Candy)

  • This was pushed to this Friday since we were waiting on our order of Nerds to arrive

• Outline new offerings (exclusive pint flavors, online order pickup, pre-order limited merch)

  • Still deciding whether I want to go this route or not

• Social media strategy (follow us @novelicecream)

  • Finding your voice and building brand is the one of the hardest parts in business

• Interview for new shop crew

  • Brought on 2 new hires in Mesa and we’ll start training our Peoria team in Phoenix starting in late May into June

• New website design

  • Expansion has been VERY expensive so I’m putting this off until more cash if free

• Mentally grasping the $10,000 in sales tax I paid last month.

  • You’re wild if you think business tax rates are reasonable

REMIX COFFEE

• Had my partner - Lance come in and train me on coffee yesterday (I’m very new to this)

  • We tested equipment, made some shots, and set up parts of the coffee station

• The exterior sign is in and it’s going up tomorrow afternoon

I’ll be documenting what I’m doing with the shop and will share more starting this week so go follow @remixphx and check out the janky website I put together at remipxhx.com

• Inventory is in and we’re getting pretty packed out at NHQ (Novel Headquarters)

• Lance is bringing his manager in from Driftwood to help train the team leading up to opening day (I got humbled real fast when he started bringing up origins and the different ways of processing)

We’re still slated for May 18th so keep an eye out for announcements on IG and our website.

There will be an event from 8-10pm with a DJ and all…

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Here’s my power list this week:

• Order over 20 products and supplies that I missed after going through the shop today

• Set the shop up for training week

  • Training will be from the 13th-17th

• Print the final menu and all of the exterior signage

  • See menu in last weeks post

• Build shop opening, day, and closing checklists

  • Will be working on this over the next 2 weeks

• Build a new team member training guide

  • Working on this as we get closer to training week

• Build out drink and food recipe guides

  • Ironing out all of the kinks and building this as we test the menu ourselves

• Make the best uncrustable on the planet

  • I bought a cutout to make the percent circle and square

ACQUISITION #2

Still waiting to hear back on the commercial property in Downtown Phoenix

If you don’t know the details of that deal, go here.

Should have an update for you next week (sorry).

VEER CONCEPTS

Received an email from the city yesterday about moving forward with a formal plan on the 2 concepts below:

1. Wholesale + storefront bakery

2. Wellness center (gym, co-working, and event space)

I don’t have a site plan yet but will dedicate some time after Remix is open to get this into pre-application with the city of Peoria.

You’ll be the first to know as things progress.

COMMUNITY

Michael Ly and I might do a talk on community building soon.

I’ll announce it in the “My Upcoming Events” section when we’ve ironed out the details…

I’m pumped to learn from him.

He’s a really talented networker and community builder.

The talk hopefully inspires you to build a community of your own.

I had some thoughts on this in Pt. 12.

Podcast

Naval is a wizard and more people should know of him.

Check out this episode from 2020…

I’m certain you’ll have some takeaways.

Feel free to share them with me after you listen.

Music

My uncle shared this with me this afternoon and I immediately threw it on.

Shoutout Mikey Mike for putting me onto house music in the first place.

Also, here’s the best Spotify playlist on the planet.

Health

I shared in Pt. 17 about wanting to be 20lbs lighter by the beginning of June…

And I’m way behind.

I’ve given myself every excuse in the book…

Even the “I’ll start on Monday” one.

To be honest, I’m ashamed that food has had this much control over my mind.

It’s out of hand and I’m making a drastic change over the next 30 days…

I hope it starts to reset my relationship with food.

It’s gonna be hard…

But I hope to get back to the level of intensity I had last year.

I’ll get there…

I just need to commit.

If you also said you’d start 17 Monday’s ago…

It’s time.

Start tomorrow.

Check Them Out

Digital Executive - hire the best remote talent from South America. Paris Bland is building a great platform for business owners in all industries. Connect with her on Linkedin or reach out on the website for more info.

Merry Makery - an insightful newsletter with tons of actionable tips to improve personally and professionally. Check MacKenzie Seale out on Linkedin as well. She’s a great writer.

I Can Help

• Buy, rent, and/or lease property in Arizona. Email me.

• Buy, sell, and/or invest in a business. Let’s find you some deals.

• Raise capital and/or debt for your new/existing business. Let’s find you some money.

Talk next week,

Shawn