Overseeing a Culture that Delivers Joy with Jim Carpenter

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Zocasz** (0:17)
All right, I was saying, I've got these owls in my yard, I've had them for like six months, and I wanted to know what they're talking about. Jim, you got an idea.

**Jim Carpenter** (0:27)
Right now, they're pair-bonding or they're building a nest, and they're talking about just creating that bond that will create romance and eggs and then taking care of the babies. And so it's a very tight bond. And I know that because we have a barred owl box in our backyard that we stream to the internet. And you can go to our website, and it'll be about a month or so before we start streaming. But right now, the mom is coming into the box, checking it out, nestling in, and then she's inside the box hooting to her mate outside the box and saying, Yeah, I think this is pretty good. I think this will do. And you got to come check it out too.
And then I have an outside cam and I can see them outside in a branch, maybe kind of touching beaks and stuff. So, they're talking to each other and there's going to be food when we have babies. Is this a good place to hunt? And is it safe? All those things, that's what they're all chatting about. And just, I'll speak, you hear the hoots, but there's an awful lot of little noises that they make to each other too that you never hear. But we can hear them because of the camp.

**Stephen Zocasz** (1:47)
I may have to figure something out, a rig like that, because there's a lot of conversations going on. Welcome everyone to the show. Welcome to this conversation. And I'm Stephen Zocasz, joined with my co-host, Mike Lusky. And today we're discussing something that many companies strive for, but few truly master. And that's overseeing a culture that delivers joy. So company culture is more than a buzzword. It's kind of the heartbeat of a business. And it influences customer experience, employee engagement, your long-term success. So we are diving into the topic of delivering joy with our guests today. I'm excited about this one. Mike, why don't you introduce our guests and tell us a little bit more about today's conversation beyond our OWL discussion.

**Mike Lusky** (2:34)
Absolutely. I'm excited to, Steve. Thanks. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Joy isn't just a feel good concept. It is truly a business advantage. I think the studies have proven that. And today with us, we have a guest who's built an entire business on delivering joy. Our guest is none other than Jim Carpenter. He's the founder and CEO of Wild Birds Unlimited, the leading backyard bird feeding and nature specialty retail franchise. Jim's passion for birds and nature led him to create a brand that isn't just about selling products through a retail business. It's really about delivering joy to customers and fostering deep connection with the natural world around us. Under Jim's leadership, Wild Birds Unlimited has grown to a successful franchise with 350 plus locations across North America. This proves the concept that businesses built on passion, purpose and joy can truly thrive. Jim, welcome to the show. We're super excited to have you today with us.

**Jim Carpenter** (3:43)
So happy to be here, thank you guys so much.

**Mike Lusky** (3:46)
Maybe to help us get started, Jim, can you share a little bit in terms of the story behind Wild Birds Unlimited and how perhaps your personal love for nature eventually evolved into bringing this business and deliver so much joy?

**Jim Carpenter** (4:04)
I can't, so it's kind of fun because two and a half weeks ago was the kind of the anniversary of when I opened my little store in Indianapolis and made my first sale. So but it's basically 44 and a half years ago, I was unemployed and I was trying to figure out what to do. But I was a bird watcher and I'd run a little garden center where we sold birds feeding supplies. It was never kind of the right stuff. And so when I left that company and really couldn't find a job or couldn't find one that anybody would hire me for, I just thought I'm going to do a mail order business. And then I quickly found a little spot in town here in Indianapolis that was cheap rent. I had enough money to pay one year's rent. And that was about all I had plus to get a little merchandise in. And I just thought, well, let's go for it. I'm going to sell bird feeders retail. And it was really then my passion is a bird watching person. And I really enjoyed feeding the birds. And I really enjoyed helping people enjoy the hobby of feeding the birds. And so that's really just the first store and how I got started here in Indy. Then people came in and said, hey, I like what you're doing. How do I spend my day doing this? So this first franchise, I said, come back in six months and I'll sell you a franchise. I'd only been open like a year and a half.