On this episode we sit down with Devin Schultz, Co-Owner of The Missouri Generals Football Team, Crocker City Alderman and Owner of Red Carpet Business Solutions. We talk about what it takes to wear a lot of hats and somehow make it all work…and why small towns still need big ideas..
This episode of The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County, TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, Nexthome Team Ellis and Sugarcreek Farm. The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is an O’Quinn Media production.
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Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. I am here with Devon Schultz today and you’re a part of a lot of different things. So we’re going to talk about all that stuff, but welcome to the podcast. I appreciate you coming in.
Devon: Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.
Host: I know you are kind of a go-getter in the community and you have a lot going on. So, we’re going to delve into some of that. But Devin, first, tell me where you’re from.
Devon: So, I am from Crocker. Um, I was born in Maryland, but uh, being a military kid, we kind of moved around a lot. My dad came to Fort Leonard Wood, uh, a little bit before 2008, 2009. And then we kind of moved up here shortly after that and then, uh, we stayed here. He was the head of radiology until about 2012 when he retired. And then, um, all the family moved from across the United States here to Crocker and the surrounding area.
Host: What made you decide to stay here? A lot of military folks decide to stay here and I always love hearing their reasons why.
Devon: This is kind of like a come back to me, um, because I have come and go from Crocker. Uh, I did two years of schooling in Texas for a while and
Host: Gotcha.
Devon: Uh, just kind of, you know, exploring around and being a military, you move a lot, but that’s I guess part of the reason why I did stay is because, you know, when you spend most of your childhood kind of moving place to place to place and going always being somewhere else, it’s it’s nice to have structure and roots.
Host: Right, yeah, those roots are nice. I mean, there’s just a stability, you know, about that. And and you can always travel, right? And come back, you know, so that’s that’s kind of what I like. I have deep roots in the area too and I still love to travel and explore and do things, but it’s kind of nice to come home.
Devon: Absolutely, and it’s good for the kids too. You know, I’ve got two of them and I’d like them to have something when I am not here anymore for them to still have that connection with uh, and that’s something I hope to continue well past me and my kids.
Host: Right, that sense of home and sense of place is just really important. How old are your kids?
Devon: So I have one that is 10 and one that is 11.
Host: So, I’m getting to that age where I’m I’m like, get off my lawn kind of person, and I find myself saying things like, oh, young people these days and you know, all that stuff that old people say. But I have had several guests on lately that have been in their 20s and they’re doing cool things and well, and even younger actually. And I’m just so impressed by some of you that I’ve had on that are younger and it just gives me so much hope and happiness that, you know, future generations are doing great things. And it sounds like you’re preparing your kids to follow right in your footsteps. So I love that you’re a young father and you’re looking out for their future already and you’re doing a lot of cool things, which we are going to talk about. So, first of all, let’s talk about the first thing that you got involved with because several cool things about you and I usually save this for the last segment. But this kind of helps pave the way for where we’re going to go with this conversation. I ask everyone, you know, basically what are some some things about them that people might be surprised to learn? And I ask, you know, what’s your title and your position if you, you know, have a business or whatever. Well, you have three. So, you’re City Alderman for Ward 1 Crocker. You’re the owner and CEO of Red Carpet Business Solutions LLC and you’re the co-owner and media and PR coordinator for the Missouri Generals Football. So when we originally scheduled this, I thought we’re going to mostly talk about the Missouri Generals Football because and I’m thinking, oh boy, I know nothing about sports, what am I going to ask this guy? But now there’s so much more to talk about. So, which one of these things came first? Because that’s where we’re going to start. Were you a an Alderman? Did you start your Red Carpet Business Solutions? Or was it the football?
Devon: So actually the business started first, which kind of I think led to every other step along the way. Um, I’m only been a City Alderman for I think as of this Monday it’ll be officially like a month.
Host: Wow, that’s so exciting. Well, I want to delve into that. That’s really cool. You’re you’re brave. My entire life I’ve had people say, you should get into politics, you should do this. You know, you really care about people. That we need people like. But no way, because the attention, first of all, which it sounds funny because I’m like in the media, it sounds funny saying I don’t like the attention, but I don’t. And so the attention, the negativity, the spotlight and the focus, the keyboard warriors, I could never do it. I would be sick to my stomach all the time. So, we’re going to talk about that part of being an Alderman and being involved in local politics. But first, tell me about Red Carpet Business Solutions.
**Red Carpet Business Solutions**
Devon: Absolutely, um,
Host: Love the name, by the way.
Devon: So, yeah, the name is actually kind of the idea, I don’t need a slogan because the name kind of speaks for itself with the business. And uh, it actually started with uh, me being a a media guy for a a car dealership out of Rolla. And when I was doing that, I had a bunch of other businesses come and ask me, um, how I did it and what I did with that and how much they could pay me to do that for them. And after about the fourth or fifth offer is like, okay, well, this is an opportunity that if I keep, you know, shuttering my eyes on it, I’m going to lose out. Um, so I went and I started my business and I’ll be honest, I started with an iPhone 10 and uh, and I and a handheld, uh, system. Now I, you know, I have a new iPhone, a gimbal, I’ve got a drone system and
Host: Oh, you have a drone. That’s so cool.
Devon: It’s a, it’s definitely expanded from where I originally started, but it the the whole idea of Red Carpet Business Solution is in an area like this, where we’re not we’re not as big as Springfield, we’re not as big as Kansas City or places like I’m used to in Texas where I was kind of going to school, um, Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, where you’re talking populations of 25,000 to close to a couple million. The kind of marketing and the kind of advertising and the kind of media coverage that those businesses, even at a local level in those areas provide for themselves, is way more expansive than the system we have here. Um, really a lot of what we have as far as our media, our advertising or just reaching general public, is very archaic, even even for just this area. I mean, it’s it’s it’s just crazy how it feels like sometimes we’re like 10, 15 years behind the curve. And I feel like a lot of these businesses here have great services. They have great products. They have amazing staff. But the one thing that they have a hard time doing is rolling out the red carpet for the customer, so to speak, and providing that top tier service with those lack of resources and structure and media support. And so that’s where I come in and I help them roll out that red carpet, so to speak, and provide five-star service from beginning to end with their business all the way across. Make sure that they keep customer retention. Make sure that the customer knows about new products. Make sure that they’re able to reach and contact people. You know, just keeping in the loop and keeping people involved, how do you have the time to run a business, do your inventory, manage your staff, do your payroll and then also post on social media all the time.
Host: It is so hard. With it being a transient community, it is just super hard for businesses. Sometimes I feel like I’m on a little island by myself with the way that I care so much about small business owners, but I’ve literally had someone that provides a type of marketing service say to me, why do you care so much about small businesses? That’s not where the money’s at. And I wanted to yank all my hair out. I don’t have that much left. But I, you know, because it’s how can you not? How can you not care about these people that have put everything they’ve got into their small business? And maybe that comes from me being raised in a family that where we had a small business. I don’t know, but I just care so much. Not that I don’t care about large businesses too. I just care about the little guy, I guess. And it’s nice to know that I’m not on this island alone that you also care about those small businesses.
Devon: Well, and you mentioned and I think this is actually a big part of why too I care so much is I I did grow up in a family with small businesses. My dad.
Host: So you know the struggle and the heart that goes into everything.
Devon: And a lot of my friends growing up in Crocker also were the kids of families that had a small business. And I’ll be honest, Crocker has had massive shifts in what businesses do or don’t exist and the just the last 15 years of being here. And a lot of what I remember being here as a kid is not here anymore. We don’t even have a grocery store anymore. I mean, we’re we’re to that point with it. And that’s that’s when I look at that and I say, who does that impact? And it’s not just those business owners. This is the entire community that loses that service and they they lose that income. Um, the city loses that income, which means those services provided through the city lose the citizens lose that as well. It it’s it’s a cascading effect. And I’ll be honest, a lot of people, you know, they they’re in a chase for the big money when they don’t realize that long term that big money doesn’t always stay. And what you really need to focus on is being involved with those small businesses to a point where you’re integral to their their function.
Host: Is that part of what made you decide you wanted to go into local politics? Or like what, where did that idea come from?
Devon: Yeah, um, Crocker’s had some issues, uh, inside of it, internally within its city council, um, before this. Um, the current city council, I love them. I love all the members that are on it. But before these current members got on, there were there were significant issues, particularly I know our mayor, uh, was a big part of that issue. And we had a lot of overdosing and we had a lot of businesses closed and we had, um, a lot of a lot of infrastructure fail. Um, and that’s not just, uh, the businesses closing down, but that’s like, uh, roads in the middle of town being torn out and being replaced with gravel.
Host: Oh my gosh.
Devon: You know, and that’s in the middle of the town on the way to the park, um, our, you know, our park structure is collapsing on itself because the the funds weren’t there, the the volunteer efforts weren’t there, despite the organizations trying to keep that up. They just couldn’t keep the people in. And I, you know, the option was I could either sit around and continue to watch this happen, or I can involve myself in it and not only save my business, which relies on there being local businesses existing in Crocker and those businesses doing well. Um, but, you know, like it’s also the community around me. You know, I want my kids to be able to have sports. I want my kids to have the opportunity to get secondary education after they’re finished with their primary. You know, and I want the community to be able to walk to the park. You know, that’s one of my my greatest pleasures is I get to leave my house, go down my driveway, and I can run and take a run all the way to the park and then all the way back because there’s a there’s a sidewalk the entire way there. And, you know, that doesn’t stay if you don’t have that that funding and you don’t have the people advocating. And, um, I while I was campaigning, funny enough, I went to the town hall here in Saint Robert and got to talk with Plasky County Commissioners and people above where my position would be. And I asked a question that that I asked, when was the last time someone from Crocker came and talked to the Plasky County Commissioners about the conditions of our road or came to the County Treasurer and asked about help with financing and balancing a budget. And they said in the last five years, they hadn’t seen anyone come.
Host: Oh my gosh. Wow. That is crazy. And I know people get involved in their lives and they get busy and they, but why are you in that position if you’re not willing to do that very minimal thing that you just said? You know? And you know, you know as well as I do, the squeaky wheel gets how does that old saying, the squeaky wheel gets the oil or whatever. You know, if if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. And and that goes for marketing or relationships or anything else. So, um, just having a presence there, I’m sure makes a big difference.
Devon: Yeah, um, I know that my plan is to work with the uh Chamber of Commerce here to help involve more Crocker businesses because we used to have a Chamber of Commerce back when I was a kid. I remember because my dad’s business was a part of it. And one of like five businesses, but it was still businesses that existed. And technically I found out it still is there. The 501 and everything to structure it is there, but the the people whose name are on it and everything to get it changed over to make it active again would be it’s just an insurmountable task. I mean, it it just isn’t worth the effort comparative to working with the Chamber of Commerce who is actively, you know, folding us into them and helping us out. If we created a subcommittee with them, again, they still keep the money, we still keep the connection. We can help Crocker grow and we don’t have to try to restructure a Chamber of Commerce specifically for Crocker.
Host: You’re not recreating the wheel.
Devon: Exactly, we’re just using what’s there and then, you know, fixing our stuff until we have enough to go on our own, so to speak. And, you know, that that’s the thing it’s just being involved with those communities. You know, I’ve talked to state legislature at the the House and the Senate about the idea of a grocery co-op across the state because realistically, we are seeing about a 41% rate of bankruptcy amongst farmers in Missouri specifically because they’re just not having the ability to export. And the goal with the co-op would be to fix that. You know, it it’d be locally structured, so each of the cities that this would be involved in, they would be operating that as a subcommittee under them. Um, the the greatest example, honestly, for a grocery co-op, you look at the commissary. You know, they don’t charge tax, they charge a 4% surcharge. Um, you know, they aren’t there to make profit, so to speak. I mean, they make money, but at the end of the year, whatever they have left over needs to be spent back. Um, and it would be the same structure. Exactly the same, but it would also guarantee that, while I don’t mind there being private businesses involved in public resources, I think that public resources need to have public assets as well. So food, water, electricity, those are what I would consider public resources, things that people need access to to just live. And we have electric co-ops. There’s water co-ops. Grocery co-ops are not a new thing here in Missouri or even in the United States literally at all. And there are already some in Missouri that exist that are functional and they work and those communities have shown significant improvement with revenue by having those there. The farmers in those areas are more stable because they don’t have to rely on export crops like soy or corn or any of the other stuff. They can have a a provisional section of their farm set to this that’s contracted with the city to guarantee that they have that money coming into them and they don’t have to worry about, well, our prices aren’t competitive, so now we can’t buy it. They’re they’re staying local to the community, of course those people are going to support their neighbor, you know, their cousin, their brother, their, you know, the family members that grow these farms.
**Missouri Generals Football**
Host: So, we have a lot to talk about. So let’s move on. We’ve talked about your business. We’ve talked about the fact that you are a 28-year-old Crocker City Alderman. But let’s talk about the Missouri Generals. How did you get involved in a semi-pro? Is that the right word?
Devon: Yes.
Host: Football? Like tell me all all the stuff.
Devon: You know, funny enough, I had no intentions or plans. This was something that kind of dropped into my lap that I had.
Host: That’s funny how that works.
Devon: I had reservations about it when I first started it, but now that I’m in it, you know, I can’t even believe I second guess myself when I first started it.
Host: So you weren’t a football fan before?
Devon: You couldn’t even get like maybe I could watch the Super Bowl, but mostly that was for the ads.
Host: Same. Oh my gosh, same thing. That’s why I’ve kind of I wanted to kind of have somebody in to talk about this, but I don’t even know what to ask you because I am not a sports fan at all. I think it’s cool. That’s as far as it goes with me. I don’t know anything about it.
Devon: So funny enough when this the whole reason that I even got involved with this is I was I just gotten some new equipment and I was trying to test it out at a car show. Um, and so I was I just went out there. I was taking pictures and videos, kind of putting stuff together because I was wanted to test the equipment before I went and pitched myself to some car dealerships. And so I made it, I sent it out and I put it in the group and one of the current co-owners with me, Austin, had reached out to me on Facebook and he said, that is a really nice video, contact me please. I was like, well, what’s that about? And I I reached out to him and he had mentioned that he was getting into a football team, he’s getting everything started and was looking for someone to possibly help out with some of the media and the business and kind of that kind of stuff. And he saw my business and wanted to contact and we kind of played phone tag for a week or two and stuff like that. And eventually we sat down at Burger Hut in Crocker and uh, we had a nice little discussion where I, you know, at first I was like, well, let me just see what I can do. Let me see if I can even be involved with this or if this is something that I can even help you guys at all with. I was like, I’m not going to charge you guys, I’m not going to do anything. Just let me figure out if this is viable for me. And so I went to the tryouts and I was honestly a little nervous. You know, there’s a lot of guys, you know, they’re all padded up, they’re getting ready, they’re, you know, there’s a lot of energy in there, a lot of people.
Host: A lot of testosterone.
Devon: And and so I you know, I’m just some guy with a camera, you know, in the middle of the field and they’re like, who is this guy? What is he? No one knows me, no one knows anything about me. And, you know, I’m taking the pictures, I’m doing the stuff and I send it back to them and they’re like, well, how can we keep this going? And I said, well, let me just be involved with this. I said, my goal would be eventually to own a portion of it. I was like, I won’t charge anything if
Host: Wow, that’s really bold of you to just be like, okay, I think I’d like to own a portion of this.
Devon: Well, and I I went and I think that is something with my business that I make very clear to all of my uh customers as well as with this scenario is that my end goal is to be a vested partner in these businesses, which is the whole reason that I I stick with local businesses and I stick with the small guy because I’m going to invest as much time as humanly possible, I’m going to charge them as little as I can while still making enough to keep the doors open.
Host: Right.
Devon: To make sure that these customers are growing and expanding to a point where eventually owning 10% is is a is a monthly income for me.
Host: Yeah.
Devon: I don’t want a majority of it. I don’t even want to have a voting say in most of these businesses, but I want to have that’s my investment is I will give you guys everything I’ve got at the lowest price possible if within five years, I can own 10% of your business.
Host: Wow, what do businesses say when you approach them with that?
Devon: You know, a lot of them are are a little skeptical at first that I can do it.
Host: Right, right, right.
Devon: Um, but I think the biggest thing for them is that I don’t go in there saying that I I want to take your business.
Host: Or.
Devon: Or I want to be an equal partner.
Host: Yeah, I would suggest you don’t do that.
Devon: Which I don’t, you know. Um, but because the thing is is that I you know, to them what I’m investing or what I’m getting them to is more than they can get to and 10% of where they’re at when I’m done with them is worth more than, you know, paying me for, you know, extra for services where they’re at now. And so I I came into it. I said, it doesn’t have to be a right now. But eventually, I would like it doesn’t even have to be an equal share or a majority share. I would just like to have a portion of ownership that way my business essentially can use it as a tax write off. Anything we put we put into it. But they said, okay, cool. Now you’re an owner.
Host: I didn’t know it was that easy. Let’s see. I think I’ll go over to Security Bank and be like, hey, Mike, I would like to have 10%. I’m going to try this out and see how it goes.
Devon: Well, and I honestly didn’t think they were going to give me anything at first. Um, you know, I thought that was going to like I said five years. You know, I thought I was going to have to invest some real time into that, put some real money into this to get that. And they’re like, okay, cool, you’re an owner now. And they’re like, you have a voting say, you’re on the board, we’re good to go. And when they said that, I I was a little nervous.
Host: You’re like, oh, time to put my money where my mouth is.
Devon: Exactly, because I was expecting to work for it. And now they gave it to me and so like there’s no working towards it. I have it now. Now I got to prove that they gave that to me and I was worth giving it to.
Host: Right, because that, yeah, now you’ve got to you’ve got to put up or shut up as they say, right? You’ve got to prove that you can do it. We’re going to take a real quick break here. When we come back, I want to talk more about the Missouri Generals. I also want to uh talk about the things that you think people might be surprised to learn about you, although we’ve covered some of those. And also, I’m going to have you spin the wheel. So we’ll be right back with Devin Schultz in just a minute.
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**Missouri Generals Football (Continued)**
Host: Back with Devon Schultz, and Devon, you have your hands in so many things, it’s hard to just go through one title for you. You are a City Alderman for Ward 1 Crocker. You are the owner and CEO of Red Carpet Business Solutions. And you are the co-owner and media and PR coordinator for the Missouri Generals Football team, which we were just talking about. So, tell me about the football team. It’s a semi-pro sports team. What does that actually mean?
Devon: So, when you have people who go out of college, but don’t go professional, or people who didn’t get the opportunity to get a college sponsorship or go and, you know, play in a D1 division. We offer an opportunity for people to reroute themselves into professional football and get themselves on track for that. Uh, whether that’s professional arena football or whether that is getting into school again. We’ve got, I want to say, at least five to six guys on the team right now who are actively gathering film from our team to reapply for college and get a college degree with football. Um, so semi-pro, while it is not the same thing as NFL, is more focused on the pro part than the semi. Um, we are actually working out after the end of the season, uh, ranked divisions, including a D1 semi-pro division, which we actually have landed ourselves into. Um, but
Host: I do not know what that means.
Devon: So D1 is Division 1. So, basically, your divisions go uh from top to bottom, starting 1, 2, and typically 3. 3 being your um, your developmental teams. So that’s the teams that are usually pretty new, um, maybe low scoring, maybe don’t have as much structure built into them that are getting into football and trying to build their program, um, but aren’t ready to compete at the top level.
Host: Gotcha.
Devon: These are your D1s. That’s that’s the top of the top in your league. So, we’re looking at doing that. But, um, with with the football, really, it’s it’s unique because we’re not an 11-man. What a lot of people used to is 11-man football, which is it’s got your field goals. Um, it’s got your your punt returns on fourth down. Those rules are out the window. This is a very much a a faster paced, it’s a smaller field, it is more offensively driven than your traditional football. And it’s I would say more aggressive, honestly. Um
Host: Sounds like it might be kind of fun to watch.
Devon: Absolutely. I mean, we we do live streams for it. I know I record all of it and I do the highlights at the end of it, uh, for the team and everything like that. But
Host: Where can people find that?
Devon: Uh, so they can find it on the Central Mo General Sports page. Uh, we have a a Facebook page as well as we have a YouTube as well that, uh, all the live streams get put on to. And then also, I mean, if you’re here locally in the area, we play out of Crocker typically. Um, I know that we are looking at renting out the Waynesville Middle School arena because we got rank two in our divisions at the end of our season here. And we are hosting the first game of the championship division here in this area.
Host: Oh, that’s exciting. How many people will that bring to town?
Devon: So, on average, our games in the group stage, which is your pre-divisional games, we were having an average of at least 150 to about 250 people at those games.
Host: That’s exciting.
Devon: Championship games, uh, especially since we’re renting out a full arena and having everything set up and we’re I’m talking to KY3. I, you know, I’ve got, you know, a DJ that’s going to be coming out. I’ve got vendors out the wazoo that are going to be lined up for this. Um, I I’m trying to get at least 500 to 750 people out for this.
Host: That’s exciting. Wow. And you know, I don’t have to tell you, but you know what that means for the community as far as we, you know, we’ve been talking about small businesses this whole time. That’s invaluable to small businesses.
Devon: Well, even beyond that, our sports organization is actually if structured as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. So all of the revenue we make from admissions and all the revenue we make from sponsorships and everything else like that, actually goes back into the community, particularly Crocker, because Crocker allowed us to have field space when we couldn’t get it anywhere else.
Host: Gotcha.
Devon: Um, I mean, it was a struggle. We got ours four days before our season started. Technically, you already had one game in, and we were four days from our our first home game. And I finally got it solidified with the Crocker City Council. Um, but to be honest, if it hadn’t been for that, we wouldn’t have had anywhere to go because no one wanted to no one took us seriously until we started. Um, you know, we hadn’t played a game, we hadn’t, we just set up. We were in existence less than six months at this point. And, um, it’s hard to convince people of things they can’t see. So, when Crocker decided to help us out and give us that space and and work with us on that, our first goal was is how can we use this to allow Crocker to continue to grow and allow their sports organizations to grow? Um, because a lot of the sports organizations are struggling in Crocker right now, with funding, with staffing. Um, and while they are trying their best and there is no dig on the people running it. It really is just a struggle and I I get that because I’m a, you know, an owner of a sports team. I know how that goes.
Host: Yeah.
Devon: It’s a struggle to make sure I’ve got all the guys equipped. It’s a struggle to make sure. I mean, we’ve generated a lot of a lot of money and we still we we need more. I mean, that’s just at the end of the day. No matter how much we’re earning, we need more because we’re always looking to expand. I know right now we’re doing grant writing to get field space installed for a football field in Crocker. Um, so we’re working at doing that. I know that we’re looking at trying to get the fields receded. So we’re we’ll pay for that. Um, the community doesn’t have to pay to have their fields redone. We wanted to do that. Um, you know, so like the the baseball field, the soccer fields and everything like that. We’ll recede it. We’ll aerate the fields. We’ll take care of it. I know I had guys out there de-thatching it early winter to make sure and laying hay down to make sure grass didn’t die. Um, and just these little steps that we want to take to put back into the community. Our goal is within three years to have a youth program that way kids can actually start playing football in Crocker and be competitive with local area that it’s one of the sports that we don’t have that is actually a big driver for why kids don’t go to Crocker out of like places like Sweetberg. Because when you go to school in Sweetberg, you go all the way up until middle school and then you have to choose, am I going to Richland? Am I going to Crocker? Or am I going to Waynesville? And right now we have collected a lot of kids off the FFA program, which is great. Um, but we don’t have that is our one competitive field that we really have that keeps kids going to Crocker versus other places, but we need more if we want to continue that. And and sports like football for the youth is huge. I mean, the scholarship opportunities for them, the, you know, the ability to compete with other schools, the ability for the school and the city to generate the revenue from football. I mean, it is a huge money maker.
Host: Well, and aside from that, you mentioned earlier the overdoses. Things like getting involved in a sports team where you feel like you’re part of something helps keep kids away from drugs. And it doesn’t just be sports, it can be music or it can be, you know, it can be anything. But just being a part of something keeps kids on the straight and narrow sometimes, or at least helps. And so, you know, I just see benefits all the way around.
Devon: And no, it’s a good point because I I have a lot of friends that were a part of that group that OD’d. Um, and it was sad because a lot of these guys were people who were a part of organizations as a kid that when they were adults didn’t have that structure, didn’t have that community. They were isolating themselves. They were, you know, involving themselves with uh, people with with issues.
Host: And no direction and no goals, ambitions.
Devon: And so.
Host: And mental health. I mean, exercise is great for mental health, so just getting out there and being part of something and working off that energy and I mean, it’s just benefits all the way around.
Devon: So our goal with the with the football program is to create a cyclical program where from start to finish, you can involve yourself from the the moment that you’re eligible to the day that you die. You are able to participate in this sport and in this community and generate it. You know, you start as a youth and you play your football. You go all the way up and then let’s say you go to college. You play football there. That’s fine. If you don’t play football there and you still want to play with us, you move into our adult league. Let’s say you finish football whenever you are done with college, but you don’t want to play NFL. You were just doing it to get a scholarship for your engineering degree. Well, now you can still play it if you still want to play it with us. We’re not going to, you know, if someone leaves our team at at the youth area to go to college and then comes back, that’s exactly who we want to grab. That’s exactly the person because that person has a degree. That person is going to be generating a lot of revenue for the community as far as taxable income for them. And we draw them back in and then we involve them with this program, which also generates for the community, helps them build a structure and create a support network for themselves. And and like you said, the mental health, the physical wellness of it and everything else like that, you know, they can come back and play. And when they’re done playing in the semi-pro division, we allow opportunities for our semi-pro players to become coaches. So now you’re done playing. Now you can teach the next group of people how to be you. And you can give them all the resources that you had.
Host: I love it.
Devon: And it like I said, it’s a full full circle program.
Host: Yeah, it that’s exact right term, full circle. Well, I feel like we could go on and on and on and on about all this stuff. You have so many interesting things to talk about. Um, unfortunately, we can’t do that because people only have so much time. So will you come back sometime? Because we have so much more to talk about.
Devon: Oh, absolutely.
Host: And I’m not done yet, by the way. Okay, so I asked you, list three things people might be surprised to learn about you. City Alderman of Crocker at the age of 28. We talked about that. Um, pick one goal, one goal. We’re going to just focus on one. As far as being an Alderman, what’s if you could only have one thing that you can accomplish during your time as an Alderman, what would it be? Give me the short version.
Devon: Easy, uh, when I when I started this, I actually created a two-year program like what my goals were for the end of the two years, and that is to generate roughly $150,000 in business grant opportunities for local businesses, as well as the ability to generate, I want to say, my goal was about $10,000 more dollars in annual revenue with the city park.
Host: How’s it going towards that? I mean, I know you just been an Alderman for a month, but.
Devon: So the goal is is I I know right now, uh, business grants is something that I’m working into. Um, I’m still trying to get all those written out. I know I’ve been on grants.gov and every other site known to man, uh, trying to figure out what we can apply for, what’s viable.
Host: It’s kind of complicated.
Devon: Well, and because you don’t just write out, hey, I want money.
Host: Right, right, right, right. I wish it was that easy.
Devon: You have to write out why you deserve it, what you’re going to use it for, how long it’ll take for you to complete your projects, the estimated turnaround time on that, and the impact among the community, which requires a lot of surveys, it requires a lot of assessments, it requires a lot of data analytics, you know, you have to actually provide reasonable and real numbers to them. And it’s so that one is it’s it’s a work in progress, but that one is that’s the bigger goal. The $10,000 in annual revenue for the park. We have generated for each of our games roughly, I want to say it was $500 in admissions for us and each of the, uh vendors who’d came out generated between $3 to $500 for them for their businesses when they came out. And we generated, I want to say, $100 on our first, uh trial charity game for Loving Paws, which is our our adoption center in Crocker.
Host: Oh, yeah.
Devon: So it’s it’s getting there. The numbers are already going up, um, and this is during our prime season. And I’ll be honest, prime season is the hardest time to make money because we have a lot of payouts during that time. We pay for refs, we pay for equipment. Um, so our off season is when we do most of the fundraising, like right now we’re doing popcorn sales. And I think we’re at $200 in popcorn sales right now. And all of that goes back into again, paying for the field to be renovated, paying for equipment for players, paying for, you know, the the everything in the park to be improved essentially. So it’s actually a lot closer than I thought it would be. And I think by the end of next year, it should be consistently generating $10,000 across just the sports organizations, not including other things we can use the park for.
Host: Wow. Okay. I was surprised to learn that you make documentaries and comics as passion projects. What kind of documentaries and where can is that something we can find and watch and tell me about that.
Devon: So I actually my first one I ever did and it’s probably my most proud project I’ve ever done. Uh it’s called Iron Will, Lions Club Marathon. And uh, you can find it on YouTube and it it’s about a Iron Man Marathon, which is where every hour on the hour they run a 4-point I want to say it was 4.67 mile loop until there is no one left.
Host: What?
Devon: Oh my gosh. And the last person left has to run, the last person left has to run another lap beyond the last person.
Host: It’s awful. That’s so terrible.
Devon: The last person left has to run.
Host: So it’s not enough just to be the last person standing, you still have to go another lap.
Devon: Yeah, and so I I did a documentary about it because those are the kind of those are the kind of stories that interest me.
Host: How did you hear about it?
Devon: So, funny enough, I had a business partner a while back who kind of ventured off to do his own thing. He’s training to climb Mount Everest.
Host: Of course he is. What the heck? I feel like we could talk about so many different things here.
Devon: But he had uh, he had known a guy who was running the organization and he had reached out to me because my business partner had ran it the year before. Um, so he reached out to me about the possibility of us covering that. And I said, absolutely 100%. You tell me where I need to be and I’ll be there. And it was it was an interesting experience because it was also, I don’t know if you remember in October last year when we had the really, really bad thunderstorms about mid-October. That was when that marathon was going on. So I’m talking pouring down rain, high-level winds and these guys are just not stopping. I mean, we had guys getting just about 100 miles by the time that they were done with it. You know, and it’s and 19 20 laps, it’s just crazy. So, you know, that’s what got me into that. And I’ve always been a big comic book fan, which is where I got into that one.
Host: Yeah.
Devon: And, uh, my whole family is filled with artists. My older sister, my younger sister and I all do art. My younger sister is actually in a studio design program right now up in Illinois.
Host: Wow.
Devon: Graphic design and stuff like that. And so I I just love comic books. Uh one of my favorite series and I bet no one’s ever heard of it before. It’s called the Valiant comic book series and it’s a third party. Uh they made a lot of comics that people aren’t familiar with, but they’re becoming more popular now, which I love that. Their stories are very nuanced. They’re very different than what you see from like DC and Marvel and I just I’ve always been invested in the indie comics personally. Um and so being able to generate comics myself is like I said, I just love drawing and I will spend days on days just sitting there on my my drawing stylist and just drawing stuff for the comics.
Host: Well, I’m glad that you make time to follow your passions because it sounds like you work a lot. So, which you put your passion, you know, your work is your passion as well. I can tell with you, so that’s that’s that’s really good that you still take the time to do the things that you love. Sometimes as we get older, that’s easy to forget to do that. And then at some point, you look around and go, I forgot what I love. I know that probably sounds crazy to you at 28, but at 53, I’m telling you it happens. So, stay close to what you love. I asked you what your favorite thing about the Pulaski County surrounding area is and you said the diverse wildlife and flora as well as the tenacity of a group of people who live in an area mostly forgotten by the people around them and the rich culture it produces. That was an interesting answer.
Devon: While the wildlife and the flora and fauna don’t love me. I take I take allergy shots every week.
Host: Allergies. I know.
Devon: Um, I I’ve always been a big nature person.
Host: Isn’t it just so beautiful around here?
Devon: And we have some of the most diverse wildlife, flora and fauna. I mean, we’ve got more tree types in here than the rest of the combining states around us. Uh and that’s just amazing. Fun fact, all of the Kentucky whiskey that is produced gets all of their aged oak from Missouri.
Host: I didn’t know that.
Devon: All of the white oak that is used for those barrels comes from Missouri.
Host: Are you one of those people that when you read something, you remember it? Okay, cuz you are full of information. I feel like we could sit here and talk and talk and talk. I don’t know how you remember all this stuff. So that’s pretty amazing. I didn’t know that.
Devon: And then as far as the the second point of that, um, it’s crazy how many people don’t know us. Um, even in the sports organization, no one had heard of this area at all. And it it took a lot of
Host: So when you say people don’t know us, you mean the area?
Devon: Yeah, I mean, they don’t know Plasky County, they don’t know Crocker, they don’t know Waynesville. Like when you’re from here, you know it.
Host: Right, right.
Devon: But you drive two hours out from here and they’ll be like, where is that at? Is that north? Is that south of here? And I’ll tell them Fort Leonard Wood. And sometimes people know that if they if they’ve got you know, affiliated with the military or whatnot. But outside of that, people don’t know about us, but everyone who’s ever come here and been a part of the community for even just let’s just say three to six months will just tell you how amazing the community. Everyone is so polite. Uh I mean, I can’t tell you how many people just stop and talk with me who don’t even know me. They just just stop and talk, you know, we see each other at the grocery store. We make a small comment and before you know you have a friend.
Host: Yeah.
Devon: You know, and that that’s how easy it is out here. And people the tenacity to exist in an area that does not make it easy to exist, particularly when I’m looking at small business owners. And they they do it and they don’t just do it, they do it well and they they keep involved with the community while doing it. It’s just impressive because in a lot of large cities you don’t see that. You see like internal niche communities and you see a lot of competitiveness, whereas here, there’s more of a collaborative effort because everyone knows that you need to be hand in hand to survive. Even businesses in the same industry will tell you, I absolutely 100% need that other person to exist.
Host: Everything you just said is why I absolutely adore small businesses and small business owners and especially in this area. Everyone’s kind of rooting for each other and I’m going to have you spin this wheel. What do you know for sure? Like one thing, there’s a lot of things you know. I can tell by talking to you this last hour. But what do you know absolutely 100% for sure, no one will change your mind about it?
Devon: What I do know for sure is that our community is best set comparative to anywhere else for expansive growth. And I say that because the numbers don’t lie when you look at potential. Businesses in this area tend to be more responsive. They tend to be more inviting than other places. Um, and you don’t have I find that people here have a better understanding of niches, understanding of community needs. And so when you have that investment into here, that that’s really the biggest issue is that we just don’t have the monetary investments that you would see in larger communities, but for sure the potential for growth here is much much more because there is not as much here. And I know that’s like, well, because it’s not here, how do we know that’s there? because the ability to fill those niches is how businesses develop and how we create curves where we get ahead of them. Um, and we we have the ability to do that and I think it’s just untapped. And I know that for a fact because anytime that it’s being tapped, anywhere that you see it, it shows a significant improvement. I guess one of the best examples of it, and the reason why I I choose football, um, Austin, one of the co-owners, I’d mentioned earlier, came from a place called Peoria, Illinois. And it’s a community much like us. And they tapped into the market of the professional football organizations. And Peoria is a well-known semi-pro team. If you ask anyone in semi-pro football about Peoria football, they they will tell you amazing things about them. That community is an example of our community in a parallel, five years ahead of us. And then they started investing into things like that. Aurora, Missouri, is another example of a community that did not have a lot that they.
Host: Do you have a drive-in? A movie theater, drive-in.
Devon: Exactly.
Host: Been a few times.
Devon: And that’s the thing, uh, Hannibal, Missouri, is another example where there was not a lot there and they invested into the culture and the community and you can see that growth and that potential there. Lake of the Ozarks is one of the hugest tourist destinations in the entire United States with more coastline than California or Florida on the Lake of the Ozarks. You know, that has been something that has developed over years. And those are all examples of what we can do in here because Missouri, I have to say, as much as I don’t like a lot of the political stuff that goes on here, is actually one of the most politically free and economically free places to invest and develop. The cost of living is low here, the cost of property tax is low here. I mean, everything about this is primed and seeded to have potential.
Host: So what you know for sure is that we have a ton of potential. I just took all of that and squeezed it, right? Untapped. Okay. Devin, we have talked about so many things and I know we could go on and on and on. But for people that you have piqued their interest in the football team, in your local work for the city of Crocker, or your marketing business, how can they get in touch with you? What’s the best way for them to keep up with everything that you’re doing?
Devon: So I have a personal Facebook page, I have a business Facebook page, the team’s got a Facebook page, we’ve got a YouTube page. Um, I’ve got my phone number listed as my business phone number because it is. Um, and you can just look up my business and you can find my phone number and you can contact me.
Host: I really, really appreciate you taking time to do this, Devin, and I love your passion. I love your excitement. Take care of yourself and don’t let anyone dampen your spirit because you’re doing good things and you’re making changes for this area. And 10, 20, 30 years from now, it’s going to be a better place because of people like you. So don’t let anyone take that away from the rest of us, okay?
Devon: I appreciate that. Thank you.
Host: All right. Devin Schultz, thank you so much for coming in and being a guest on the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. It’s really been a pleasure to talk to you.
**Outro**
Devon: Thank you.
Host: This episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County. Next Home Team Ellis. TK’s Pizza in Saint Robert. And Sugar Creek Farms, your home for farm fresh pork products. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Owen Media, its hosts, affiliates, or sponsors. Content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Thank you for listening.