Growing Veteran-owned Wagyu Beef Business, KC Cattle Company, with founder Patrick Montgomery. Patrick highlights his journey from military service to entrepreneurship and how he leveraged public relations with Megan Bennett to grow his premium brand while overcoming challenges and embracing adaptability.

Megan Bennet is back on the show, along with one of her Public Relations clients Patrick Montgomery, to share Patrick’s success with building his business, KC Cattle Company, and how he has engaged Megan’s public relations firm to promote and grow his business.

Megan Bennet has been on the Light Years Ahead Public Relations team for over 20 years. Light Years Ahead is a premier full-service boutique public relations agency. Megan started working at Light Years Ahead just a year after college and fell so in love with public relations that she stayed on and helped build the company into what it is today. Her expertise focuses on managing clients, engaging with top national media daily, and securing meaningful media placements. She has spearheaded and implemented countless successful PR campaigns for numerous brands.

Megan was previously a guest on episode 494. On that episode we discussed Public Relations for small business owners.

Patrick Montgomery began his working carrier in the United States Military and was selected and served as a Ranger in the 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. While serving as a Ranger, Patrick completed two combat deployments to Afghanistan. After exiting the military, Patrick completed his Bachelor of Science in Animal Science at the University of Missouri. During his last semester, in 2016, he created the business plan for KC Cattle Company. While building his business, Patrick completed his Executive MBA through the University of Missouri – College of Business.

Patrick is now the Founder and CEO of KC Cattle Company – they sell the highest Wagyu quality Beef through their website KC Cattle Company.com.

Episode Host: Henry Lopez is a serial entrepreneur, small business coach, and the host of this episode of The How of Business podcast show – dedicated to helping you start, run and grow your small business.

Resources:

Books mentioned in this episode:
[We receive commissions for purchases made through these links (more info)].

• Once an Eagle: A Novel by Anton Myrer

Other Podcast Episodes:

Episode 494: Megan Bennett – Public Relations

You can find other episodes of The How of Business podcast, the best small business podcast, on our Archives page.

Sponsor:

This episode of The How of Business podcast is sponsored by Federated Computer.

The typical Federated Computer customer saves 75% or more on their software bill and gets great software, top-notch customer service and support, and a software solution that is uniquely installed for your business without any surveillance or breaches of privacy.

Federated Computer has a special offer for the How of Business listeners – Enjoy 30% off on their already low prices when you use the coupon code “BUSINESS”.

Learn more about the Federated Computer, take advantage of this special offer, and reduce your software expenses, at Federated.Computer.

We have received compensation from this sponsor partner. We only accept sponsorships from companies who we believe provide products and services that are valuable for small business owners.

Transcript:

The following is a full transcript of this episode. This transcript was produced by an automated system and may contain some typos.

Veteran-Owned Wagyu Beef Business:

Henry Lopez (00:15):

Welcome to this episode of The How of Business. This is Henry Lopez. I’ve got two special guests today. Megan Bennett, welcome back on the show.

Megan Bennet (00:23):

Thank you so much for having me back. Absolutely. I’m so happy to be here.

Henry Lopez (00:26):

Yeah, and she’s got her client with us and someone who I’ve not met before. Pleasure to meet you, Patrick Montgomery, welcome to the show.

Patrick Montgomery (00:33):

Thanks for having me on, Henry.

Henry Lopez (00:35):

Absolutely. So Megan is back on the show she was previously on with me back on episode 4 94. She’s also one of my select trusted service providers for anything related to public relations. We’ll talk a little bit more about what she offers there, but she’s back on the show along with Patrick Montgomery, who’s one of her clients to share. Patrick’s going to share his entrepreneurial experience and his experiences with building his business, which is Casey Cattle Company. And so we’ll talk about that and how he’s leveraged public relations in specific to help him grow and promote his business. You’ll find all of the how a business resources, including the show notes page for this episode. And to learn more about my coaching programs, find that all at the how of business.com. I also invite you to please consider supporting this podcast on Patreon and please subscribe wherever you might be listening so you don’t miss any new episodes. So let me tell you a little bit more about Megan. Megan Bennett has been on the Light Years Ahead public relations team for over 20 years now, light years ahead as a premier full service boutique public relations agency. Megan started working at Light Years Ahead just a year after college, which was just a couple years ago, right Megan?

Megan Bennet (01:53):

Yeah, like only about 23 years ago,

Henry Lopez (01:56):

A little bit ago. And she fell so in love with public relations that she stayed on and helped build the company into what it is today. Her expertise focuses on managing clients and engaging with top national media daily and securing meaningful media placements for her clients. She has spearheaded and implemented countless successful PR campaigns for numerous brands, including Patrick’s Company, Casey Cat Company. And again, as I mentioned, she was previously on episode 4 94 and that episode we explored her entrepreneurial journey and a lot more detail about how to use public relations to start and grow a business here. What we’re doing is a case study is what I used to call him, which is an opportunity to get it directly from Patrick, not just how he launched or how he got to launching his business, but how he’s leveraged public relations in specific to grow his business.

Henry Lopez (02:51):

So Patrick Montgomery, he began his working career in the United States military and was selected and served as a ranger in the first Ranger Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment. And while serving as a ranger, Patrick completed two combat deployments in Afghanistan. After exiting the military, Patrick completed his bachelor’s of Science in Animal Science at the University of Missouri. And during his last semester in 2016, he created the business plan for KC Cattle Company. And while building his business, Patrick completed his executive MBA through the University of Missouri as well. And the College of Business. Patrick is now, as I said, the founder and CEO of KC Cattle Company. They sell the highest quality Wagyu. I think I’m pronouncing that right, right, Wagyu.

Patrick Montgomery (03:42):

You got it.

Henry Lopez (03:44):

I had to look it up. Quality, I know what it is, I’ve tasted it. But pronouncing is always tricky, but they produce the highest quality Wagyu beef through their website and now a physical location in Kansas City. I believe. We’ll talk more about that. Alright, with all of that said, Megan Bennett. Patrick Montgomery, welcome to the show.

Megan Bennet (04:03):

Thank you.

Henry Lopez (04:04):

Thanks for

Megan Bennet (04:04):

Having me on, Henry.

Henry Lopez (04:06):

Absolutely. Here’s where I’d like to start. Patrick, I’d like to start with you and I’d like for you to just give us a high level introduction to what is KC Cattle Company, who are your target customers and how do you source and sell your products? That’s a big question. So just give me the high level, explain KC Cattle company to us.

Patrick Montgomery (04:24):

Yeah, I’d say probably the 30,000 foot view and where we got our start and really the brain baby I had we’ll do my undergrad was I noticed this huge gap between the 1% of the population that raises the food for the other 99% to consume. And not only the other 99%, but also about 60% of the world. And there’s all these misnomers out there about food production both on the consumer side and the farmer or rancher side. And I saw an opportunity there to start a business. And so the whole premise was bridging the gap between those two. And why Wagyu in 2016 when I was starting the company, there’s maybe two that were selling Wagyu beef online. Interesting. And I saw a huge opportunity because there’s just a very palatable difference in Wagyu beef versus what you buy at the grocery store.

Henry Lopez (05:15):

Can you briefly explain, I know why, obviously I haven’t read your website, but why is there such a difference in taste and quality?

Patrick Montgomery (05:23):

Yeah, that’s a great question Henry. So we probably, the most common question we get, what is Wagyu beef? Well, it just means black cow and Japanese and more specifically it is a breed of cattle that hails from Japan. But what makes it so special is there’s two mutations within their genome that allow for all that intermuscular fat and also the fat composition for the melting temperature to be about 20 degrees less than what you’d find in a commercial feed yard.

Henry Lopez (05:56):

And when you look at it, and probably you’ve seen it now, people have seen it, it’s more marbleized. But that’s an interesting fact. I didn’t know the melting temperature. That means I don’t have to overcook it for that fat flavor to come out in the meat. Yeah,

Patrick Montgomery (06:14):

Yeah, exactly. Japanese are actually getting real big on testing the genome of that fat composition. How quality is the fat? Not just how much is there, but how quality is that fat composition? It’s pretty interesting to pay attention to.

Henry Lopez (06:29):

And because that fat is interwoven into the meat, it’s not just like the traditional fat on the outside of it, that’s what enhances the flavor, right?

Patrick Montgomery (06:37):

Correct. So there’s called seam fat, which is what you’re talking about that G gristly, hard to chew, really gross stuff. And then there’s muscular fat or marbling would be the layman’s term. And that is what we grade beef on, not only here in the United States, but globally. Is that intramuscular fat?

Henry Lopez (06:56):

Yeah. So now I’m salivating by the way, just so you know, for those of you who can’t see. So who is your target customer for this beef?

Patrick Montgomery (07:05):

Yeah, so you caught us at an interesting time. We just launched a new initiative called Valor Provisions actually at the beginning of this month. So we’ve been hard at it and maybe we will get around to talking to that. But for the Casey Cattle Company side, it is an expensive product. So we have a lot of occasional buyers. We have a lot of very wealthy household incomes that consume our product on a regular basis. It’s all they eat. But the valor provision side, that’s kind of us regaining product market fit. There’s been a lot going on in our industry the last two years and it’s been very well received. And the valor provision side is basically not only Wagyu beef, but all of your protein in one marketplace all produced here domestically in the United States.

Henry Lopez (07:51):

I see you mentioned at the outset that when you started back in 2016, there weren’t that many people, but now when I did a search in preparation for this episode, it may not be the same stuff, but when I searched for Wagyu beef, a lot of options come up online. Right.

Patrick Montgomery (08:07):

A tremendous amount.

Henry Lopez (08:09):

So the market has now everybody’s entering it. We’ll get into differentiators in a moment, but I want to go back to the sourcing. So where does this beef come from that you sell?

Patrick Montgomery (08:19):

We’re either raising it here on the property that I’m sitting on right now in West End, Missouri, or it’s coming from one of our special operation partner ranches that is raising its start to finish

Henry Lopez (08:32):

In the us.

Patrick Montgomery (08:33):

In the us. Yep.

Henry Lopez (08:35):

I think that’s probably a misconception. I know I probably assumed that Wagyu is all sourced from Japan still, but that’s obviously not the case.

Patrick Montgomery (08:45):

No, a hundred percent. It’s a breed of cattle if you’re talking about Kobe beef. And keep in mind that the USDA doesn’t enforce any of this. So a lot of these terms are thrown around very genuinely I should say. And it has not been good for the Wagyu beef brand in the United States. But Cobe Beef is a region in Japan where they raise Wagyu beef. So if you’re talking about Cobe, true Kobe, it has to come from Japan. I see. If you’re talking about Wagyu, it is a breed of cattle that can be raised anywhere in the world and actually the most Wagyu globally comes out of Australia.

Henry Lopez (09:23):

Oh, interesting. Okay. Alright, great. Thanks for giving us that level set. We’re going to dive in deeper. What I want to take a step back though and begin to unpack a little bit your journey. So just tell me the story of what led up to in 2016, including briefly the highlights of your military career. Is that what you did? Did you go into the military right out of high school or out of college? Tell me a bit more about that.

Patrick Montgomery (09:47):

Yeah, so that dream and really kind of destiny for me started on nine 11. That had a pretty tremendous impact even being in the sixth grade when that took place, I just remember feeling incredibly angry and I made a promise that if I was a fighting age and this war was still going on, I was going to go do my part. I did ROTC for about a year and a half at a smaller college here in Missouri. And I really had that itch to enlist and go do the special operations job immediately. So I did that. I dropped out of school, became a ranger at Savannah, Georgia, and first Ranger Battalion deployed a couple times, did some really cool stuff. And then I was also a very busy time in Afghanistan. And the deployments I’d had definitely took a toll. And so as I was dating my now wife at the time and I was looking at reenlisting or getting out and trying to make that big decision after my four and a half year enlistment and if I stayed in, I was going to go do something even more dangerous than what I was doing currently.

Patrick Montgomery (10:58):

And I had no idea what I wanted to do if I got out. So I’m walking my wife through what it would look like to go do this other job at a different insulation that’s super secret squirrel stuff and do a lot of really cool things globally. And she’s like, huh, well what do you think about becoming a civilian? Being honest.

Henry Lopez (11:20):

And at that point you had no children.

Patrick Montgomery (11:22):

We no children, we weren’t even married. We were dating maybe engaged at this point and the military life being married with kids, I’m thankful I didn’t have to do it because

Henry Lopez (11:34):

It’s tough. Yeah. It’s just a challenge.

Patrick Montgomery (11:37):

And so I made that choice. I spent a little bit of time doing research and soul searching and my big thing was I really just didn’t want a corporate job. That was what I did not want to do when I got out. I loved being a ranger, but I knew I needed to try something else.

Henry Lopez (11:54):

What was it about the more traditional job, corporate route that you knew was not going to be a fit for you?

Patrick Montgomery (12:02):

I think purpose is probably the biggest one there. Henry. I kind of always, growing up, I always assumed I would be in the special operations for almost the entirety of my career as an adult. And things didn’t go like I wanted them to and I had to make this choice to get out and I really didn’t want to. But I also knew staying in might be the death of my soul.

Henry Lopez (12:30):

But again, you went into this very challenging time where now that purpose was gone. Now what am I working towards?

Patrick Montgomery (12:37):

Yeah, exactly. And so I decided on becoming a large animal vet, I figured out I can make it through school without taking out any student loans, which when you’re a little older and you’re thinking about college, those things are incredibly important. And so that’s why I got out, why I went to animal science and why I didn’t become a vet was because that salary really didn’t pencil after paying $120,000 for vet school.

Henry Lopez (13:04):

Okay. So then how do you arrive at this idea for the beef?

Patrick Montgomery (13:09):

Yeah, I was taking a minor in entrepreneurship while I was doing my undergrad and I figured, hey, if I’m going to own my own vet clinic, it probably makes some sense to understand how to read a p and l. And I found this passion for not only large animal medicine for large animal for meat science, but also on the entrepreneurship side. I really enjoyed, it felt like problem solving to me, right? It’s like, hey, you get this p and l and you have to run these ratios and you have to figure out what levers to pull to fix the business. And I thoroughly enjoyed that. And so probably the precipice that pushed me all the way towards taking that leap of faith and becoming a business owner or entrepreneur, I took an interview here in Kansas City with a corporate job after I decided not to become a vet.

Patrick Montgomery (14:01):

And it was based on my former military career and it was a lot of out of country work doing security stuff in places like Africa.

Patrick Montgomery (14:10):

And I remember the last question, it was a panel interview and the last question they asked me was, what questions do you have for us? And really my only question was is I don’t understand what the dang job is. Could you please clarify what you do on a day-to-day basis? And they all were taken back a little bit and looked at each other and then they looked at me and their answer was convincing corporate we’re worth the money, they pay us. I remember that the breath just fell out of my lungs. I’d promised my wife, Hey, you got to be the sugar mama. Well I finished school and then we’ll switch places. She always wanted to be a stay at home mom. And yeah, what did it for me, I was either going back in the military or starting a business. And so that two hour drive from Kansas City back to Columbia was where I made that decision.

Henry Lopez (14:59):

Okay. And so how do you arrive at this particular segment of the food industry, right? I mean obviously you had the experience with animals. I get that you were seeing a disconnect in the supply chain and wanting to focus there, but were you a beef lover? What did it come to that said, this is what I want to do specifically?

Patrick Montgomery (15:20):

Well, this is kind of a secret, but I actually, I didn’t like steak before I started the company. My parents were of the generation that cooked everything well done and

Henry Lopez (15:31):

Oh of course cooked all the flavor out of it.

Patrick Montgomery (15:34):

Exactly. And bought the on sale stuff at the grocery store. So I didn’t love steak. But interesting, what I did figure out was my wife was, and this sounds obvious now, I feel like this is a lot more prevalent, but she was really big into organic and knowing where our food came from. And if I’m being honest, I kind of thought it was baloney because I lived on RES for a year and I did just fine. I was still skinny and fit, but I saw this disconnect between the things she was telling me and what I was learning in the classroom, which was a very traditional ag school. It’s where places like Purina and Cargill and JBS and all the big ag in this country hire from. And I saw this huge disconnect between the two. And I came to my own conclusions on the things I agreed with and didn’t agree with. And I just thought there was this opportunity to be very transparent with our practices and explain to the consumer like, Hey, here’s why we’re not organic and here’s why I don’t do these things, that there is no label claim for that the USDA allows me to put on our product.

Henry Lopez (16:39):

Okay, so that’s sparks the idea. How long from that idea to launching the business?

Patrick Montgomery (16:47):

Well, we made a little bit of money selling our house in Columbia. I think that was about 7,000. I had like 8,000 in savings. And I put the business plan together. We applied for USDA grant for, it was half a million dollars for value added in Missouri. And I didn’t get that. And I remember going to my first Wagyu auction about four hours away. My wife told me like, Hey, we live on a quarter acre in Columbia, don’t buy anything. And sure enough, I bought a couple heifers while I was there and that’s where the whole thing started. And had you

Henry Lopez (17:24):

Ever taken care of cattle before?

Patrick Montgomery (17:27):

That’s a lot of what animal science is at.

Henry Lopez (17:30):

So you got that experience there.

Patrick Montgomery (17:32):

Yeah. Yep.

Henry Lopez (17:33):

But growing up you didn’t have that right, did you?

Patrick Montgomery (17:36):

No, I was raised in a rural place, but we didn’t have cattle. We only have five acres, spent a lot of summers like bucking hay and doing things like that for part-time income. But my exposure to the cattle world was pretty minimal.

Henry Lopez (17:49):

Got it. Got it. Okay. So you get the business launch 2016 timeframe, right?

Patrick Montgomery (17:54):

Yep.

Henry Lopez (17:55):

So where did the funding come from then? Was it just what you were able to put together?

Patrick Montgomery (18:00):

That got our start and we started selling a little bit of meat literally out of the back of a pickup truck. And then we were

Henry Lopez (18:08):

Working. Did you show up at farmer’s markets or just roadside or combination? Where were you selling it

Patrick Montgomery (18:15):

Basically? I mean I told this story from the second I decided to do this on social media. And so it was a lot of gorilla marketing on Facebook and Instagram was just becoming a thing at that point. And from the day I decided to start, I was telling the story on Facebook mostly and it was very long form conversations delving into my military experience, why I decided to start this company, what Wagyu beef was, why it tasted different. And we pretty quick, I think the first post I put up got shared like 450 times on Facebook and I just pretty quickly identified that marketing was definitely my strong point much more so than operations. Interesting. And it, it’s been a wild ride and marketing has definitely been one of those things that is the school of hard knocks like it is for most businesses that are D two C, but we were literally putting up a social media post. People would send us a message on there, I’d go meet ’em at their house, they’d buy, I think we had a five stake minimum and that was where we got our start in 2017.

Henry Lopez (19:25):

Yeah. How well defined do you think the brand was at that point in time? And by the brand, I mean all of the obvious things, but also I’m hearing so far and based on the research, two key differentiators, the veteran component of it, veteran owned, focused on veterans, employing veterans, and then this transparency on the entire supply chain to put it that way, the quality. Were those things clearly defined for you that that’s how I’m going to differentiate or what else was there at that point?

Patrick Montgomery (19:57):

Not at all. I think if I would’ve actually known what it was going to take to get this business where it is to you would not

Henry Lopez (20:04):

Have done it. Yeah.

Patrick Montgomery (20:06):

I don’t think I would’ve ever done it, but luckily I was young and dumb and naive and

Henry Lopez (20:11):

I’ll interrupt you there because it’s such a huge takeaway, Patrick, that is often the more we know, the more we can find reasons why it’ll fail. And when you just don’t know any better, you move forward and with courage as you did and then you get a couple breaks and here you are

Patrick Montgomery (20:29):

100%, but

Henry Lopez (20:30):

It’s that sheer work effort and getting out there. That’s the other key thing that I’m gathering so far from your story is so often people A, are not willing to start small. B, you got out there and made it happen.

Patrick Montgomery (20:44):

Well, I was definitely always a strong ranger, not necessarily always a smart ranger.

Henry Lopez (20:49):

Yes. Getting out there. Alright, so speaking of marketing, since we’re on that topic, when did you bring in Megan and public relations as part of your outbound marketing efforts?

Patrick Montgomery (21:02):

So I think Megan, correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think that would’ve been the fall of 2018.

Henry Lopez (21:08):

Yeah. Yep.

How did you figure out that you needed that level of help?

Patrick Montgomery (22:55):

I’d kind of, well, there’s a couple things there. First being we were blown through steaks, but we were 70% of when you harvest an animal is what we call trim in the industry. It’s the things you turn into ground beef and burger patties and further processed stuff. And that was killing my cashflow. We were blowing through steaks, but we couldn’t give away our ground beef, which is kind of where Megan and I met through a mutual acquaintance and she’s telling me about like, Hey, here’s what I do as a PR firm. And I’m pretty brash, especially at that point because I’m still a very new entrepreneur and I don’t think I even talked to any other marketing firms or interviewed any other PR. And I’d liked Megan after grabbing lunch with her and I think we hired her on the spot. Interesting.

Henry Lopez (23:42):

And she helped you then further craft this story of who you are, what this business is. Is that fair?

Patrick Montgomery (23:52):

A hundred percent. I think she did a great job at really teasing out some of the finer points that allowed us to distinguish ourselves from competitors

Henry Lopez (24:00):

Because this is a hard thing to do. Right? These things that you’re talking about, there’s a lot of me too. And it’s hard for the consumer to care about that because at the end of the day, this is a premium. So how do you think you’ve stuck to it and not succumbed to pricing or excessive discounting? Do you think you, what has been successful for you to stay on point to stay on your target, to know that you’re not selling to everybody, you’re selling to a specific group of people that can afford and want what you have to offer?

Patrick Montgomery (24:35):

Well, we’ve actually, as of late, we’ve pivoted there. Tell me about that. Inflation in the cattle market for domestically raised beef has been rampant since 2022. And we pretty quickly figured out that not only was this going to become unaffordable for most, on top of that, there were a million other competitors that were popping up and they were doing a worse job, but they had bigger marketing budgets and it’s like they had the louder microphone and a crappier product and we couldn’t get above the fray to stick out. And so we started to really show some problems in the spring of 2022, cashflow wise, sales wise across the board. And we really didn’t figure out the path forward until this year. And for the first time in a year and a half, we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I

Henry Lopez (25:34):

See. How did you financially, did you just make ends meet or did you have to borrow more money or bring in investors? How did you get through that period of time? Financially?

Patrick Montgomery (25:46):

I think all of it, Henry. Yeah, definitely. We took advantage of some of the loan vehicles that came out during Covid. They were really good deals that saved us in 22.

Patrick Montgomery (25:59):

By the end of 22 I was like, we need more money for marketing. That’s our biggest thing that’s killing us here is you had these other competitors that wouldn’t raise money through PE and VC and they might have a crappier product, but they got better packaging, they have better marketing, they have better videographers, they have better photographers, and they’re kicking my butt. And so 2023, I spent almost the entirety of that year trying to raise with the private equity and VC and really even the beginning of this year before I finally put a kibosh to that, we did end up bringing on a couple angel investors though.

Henry Lopez (26:37):

I see. Okay. Alright, thanks for sharing that. Alright, I want to go back now. When you think back to not too long ago enough certainly to remember and as you help other veterans, but what are one or two of those challenges that you had to overcome making that transition from military service to being a business owner?

Patrick Montgomery (26:57):

I think I touched on it a little bit at the beginning there, but I was very well prepared when I got out. I’d already been accepted to college, I knew how I was going to pay my bills. I had my housing situated, but the part I really didn’t think through, I was pretty disenfranchised when I was walking out the door and I didn’t think I would miss it at all and I was dead wrong there. I missed the comradery and I missed the purpose. And so what I would caution any veteran that is thinking about making that leap, I do think you have plenty to offer the country on the civilian side is to really spend some time soul searching on, Hey, I’m hanging up the uniform and even if I think that I hate this, what is going to make me feel as fulfilled or purposeful as what I do now?

Henry Lopez (27:51):

So that was the camaraderie and then that feeling like that you had this higher purpose, you have to find that and you have to find that perhaps in a slightly different way, if I’m following you correctly,

Patrick Montgomery (28:03):

Maybe the adrenaline, I mean we were chasing down some of the worst people on the planet and so there’s an adrenaline rush that goes along with that. And you do become a little bit of an adrenaline junkie of course. And the business side definitely has no shortage.

Henry Lopez (28:18):

Yeah, that’s true

Patrick Montgomery (28:18):

Of cortisol and adrenal gland dumps.

Henry Lopez (28:21):

Do you do other activities or other things that give you some of that that compliments what you do in the business?

Patrick Montgomery (28:30):

A hundred percent I am. I don’t budge on the fact that my priorities go religion, my family, then the business and then my physical health and everything else is behind that, so I don’t budge on working out. I make that happen five days a week and if I’m not working out or working, I’m with my family. So it’s like people ask about hobbies and stuff like that and it’s like, hey, we’re almost through a really tough couple years for the business and I’ll pick those back up, but sometimes you’ve got to put your nose to the grindstone and get after it.

Henry Lopez (29:05):

Agreed. Agreed. How do you personally manage all of those responsibilities as in had home, your individual health, the business? Do you use a calendar that you have it all on? How do you prioritize and manage where your time is going to go on a weekly basis?

Patrick Montgomery (29:23):

Yeah, definitely. Calendar is huge. If it’s not on my calendar, I’m probably not going to show up or be there. Megan can attest to that,

Megan Bennet (29:32):

Yes,

Patrick Montgomery (29:34):

But that’s probably the biggest, but the second wouldn’t necessarily be a tool, but I’m going to go a little bit of the opposite of the Jocko Willink philosophy here, and it’s to make sure to give yourself grace. If you’re becoming a business owner and you’re a parent, or even if you’re not a business owner and you’re a parent and you’re working hard and all these other things, it’s like, man, you’re going to screw it up and make sure to give yourself grace because that’s the only way that you’re going to be able to persevere.

Henry Lopez (30:03):

I think that’s important in business in particular because I think the assumption is that we’re supposed to get everything, make every decision correctly, and that’s not the case. Hopefully we make more right decisions in wrong, but we just have to have the courage and then give ourselves grace, let ourselves off the hook when we make a mistake and move forward, whether do we learn from it and move forward. Is that fair?

Patrick Montgomery (30:25):

A hundred percent. Yeah. You’re going to screw it up and sometimes those failures are where your best next idea will come from.

Henry Lopez (30:32):

Yeah. From a marketing PR perspective, if you were starting over, what might you do differently?

Patrick Montgomery (30:41):

I definitely spend more time figuring out what our competitive advantage was. You asked about the veteran aspect. We really didn’t figure that out until 20 18, 20 19. I was like, Hey, I had this marketing seminar, this gentleman went around the room, all very successful CEOs except for me. I was invited as a guest and what’s your competitive advantage? And you got the stereotypical buzzer type answers. It’s our customer service, it’s our price, it’s our logistics, it’s our X, Y, and Z, and the guy’s patient and lets everybody finish. And at the end of it he goes, no, these are all the things you have to do in today’s world of Amazon and Walmart and big business to survive because that’s where you’re being compared to your competitive advantage has to be different than that and it has to be more meaningful. And that, I don’t think I teased that out until three, four months later, but I jotted it down on my notes that the veteran owned, we have to be about something bigger than just organic or premium beef. And that’s really what resonated a lot with our customers. It’s just the values that we stand for.

Henry Lopez (31:53):

Well said. Well said, Megan, I’d like to come to you. How have you helped him get that differentiation out? Get that story out?

Megan Bennet (32:03):

Yeah, I mean when I first met Patrick, to me that was the hook is that it was veteran founded, veteran employed. That’s what made it different than other products that I’d worked with in the past. And so we really ran with that more than anything is that it’s somebody that’s a veteran that started this company and used his methodology and his practices to create this line and that there was nothing better. There’s no steak better that you’ve ever tried in the country than this. And really at the time, people didn’t know that much what Wagu was. And so with the veteran angle, the wagu angle and the fact that it tasted so much better and was so much more high-end and you’re supporting veterans when you’re buying this product because veterans work for the company, it was just a pretty easy way to get press. But I mean obviously the food spoke for itself too. People would try it and be like, oh my gosh, this is so amazing. So what we were pitching was actually something that was incredible. And once we got into the ear of the media and tried to pitch both the food story, the product story along with the business story, it all came together and that’s how we started to get so much coverage that the brand became really well known in the category.

Henry Lopez (33:22):

Have you been leveraging, this is always a challenge for business owners and also with branding. Do I put him as the face of the brand or is it the logo or is it the team? What strategies have you employed there? Have you led with him as the face of the business?

Megan Bennet (33:38):

Yes, absolutely. We have used Patrick as the face of the business, and that has really helped as well because there are some brands where there isn’t a face of the business, and so the story is just not as compelling, but all the struggles that he went through in the military and losing his brother-in-law and just his entire story is what sold the products. I think if he wasn’t the face behind it, we would not have had the success that we did.

Henry Lopez (34:03):

And so give me a little bit more about, this is an example of how you help clients get out there, get the PR out there. Here’s a question I have for you that, because I think it’s still as you and I explored on our last episode together, is the difference between marketing and PR and how they work together. Give me just a brief highlight on that. Explain that.

Megan Bennet (34:25):

Yeah, I mean, I always say that public relations is the best bang for your buff because you might spend a certain amount for a monthly retainer for us to pitch you to editors. And basically what we do is we get products into their hands and get them interviews for our clients, and we don’t ever send anything unsolicited, but we really target the media that matters and send a very compelling story to them. And then we get them products and we do extensive follow up until they cover it. So it’s not us paying them to write an article about the brand, it’s us just reaching out to them, they’re interested, they want to cover it in their own, their own perspective, their own third party editorial, and they cover it. And so it’s so much more authentic than let’s say paying for an ad or boosting a post or something because this is something that they want to cover because they like the product, they like the experience. Whereas with traditional marketing and social media and advertising, those are things that are more pay to play. You’re paying to see results and this you’re not, you are putting yourself out there getting products into the samples and then it’s up to the editors and the media to do that for you based on how they feel about the brand.

Henry Lopez (35:40):

Excellent. Excellent. Alright, great. Lemme come back to you then Patrick, as we start to wrap it up here. You opened recently a retail location as well, right? When did that happen?

Patrick Montgomery (35:52):

We opened the retail store in 21. Okay,

Henry Lopez (35:56):

Okay. So quite a while back, why did you decide to have a physical location as well as online?

Patrick Montgomery (36:03):

Shipping a perishable product, especially when you’re small like we are, is expensive. And so we have a huge demographic that wanted to support here in Missouri and Kansas. And so that brick and mortar was twofold. We could offer cheaper prices because we weren’t shipping and it’s also a chance to interact with the brand. So we do actually a lot of cook food and cooking classes and Oh, I see. Drinks and things like that. So you’re not only just buying some beef, but you’re also getting this cowboy vibe of the beef is honestly secondary. Most of the people that walk in off the street, they’re buying a cocktail and they’re trying the world famous hot dog and they’re interacting with one of our employees that works there and at the ranch and can tell the story about what makes the beef so special. It’s a lot of storytelling.

Henry Lopez (36:55):

Yeah. You’re creating now a complete experience and you’re getting that direct feedback from your target customer, which is nothing more valuable than that.

Patrick Montgomery (37:05):

A hundred percent.

Henry Lopez (37:06):

Megan, another I think, misconception people have business owners, small business owners have about pr. It is that it’s a one-time thing. It’s that press release that I do when I launch my business. How are you planning to hopefully continue to work with Patrick to continue to get that story out there?

Megan Bennet (37:25):

And it can’t just be a one-time thing unless I’m promoting an event that’s happening one time. It has to be constant because companies are always evolving and changing. Patrick has new product introductions, new things he wants to promote, and so that’s why every week we come up with a different compelling angle or pitch to send to the media, whether it’s about a new product, whether it’s about something that he’s doing, whether it’s just to profile him as an entrepreneur, you have to continue spinning the story to continue building brand awareness. If you just do a one-time thing, the momentum will not keep going. And so that’s why it’s important to keep PR continuous so that you can keep spinning the story and as the company changes, you can relay those messages to the media as well

Henry Lopez (38:13):

As one of my trusted service partners. I know that your pricing is in alignment for small business owners,

Megan Bennet (38:19):

So

Henry Lopez (38:19):

If somebody who’s listening is interested in talking to you a bit more about what you do and how you might be able to help them, how do they contact you?

Megan Bennet (38:27):

All they have to do is look at our website, light years ahead.com and go to the contact us page, or you can just email me at Megan MEGA [email protected] and I promise I will get back to you.

Henry Lopez (38:41):

Excellent. Patrick, what’s next for Kansas City Cattle Company? What’s the next big thing this coming year?

Patrick Montgomery (38:49):

Well, we are currently in the throes of our two months of busy season. We like to call it our Super Bowl season because of the holidays, I’m assuming because of the holidays, so Cyber Monday was yesterday. That was a smashing hit and we are working on getting those orders out, but really the big focus come January is going to be on ballor provisions and what that means and stands for.

Henry Lopez (39:12):

So tell me a little bit more about that.

Patrick Montgomery (39:14):

Yeah, there’s some crazy things happening in the ag world where we are outsourcing a lot of our protein production to other countries, and you’re seeing the family farm shut down at the most exponential rate we’ve ever seen as a country and valor provisions is our attempt to stave that and provide a viable alternative to the people out there in the United States that are raising protein the right way and get it to the end consumer in a convenient way and be the marketing and operations for these smaller protein purveyors so they can keep their doors open and make some money.

Henry Lopez (39:49):

Got it. Got it. Alright, excellent. Thanks for sharing all of that. I’m always looking for a book recommendation. Is there a book that comes to mind, Patrick, that you would recommend?

Patrick Montgomery (40:01):

My go-to for that question is normally Once An Eagle by an Tom Meyer

Henry Lopez (40:06):

At a high level, why did that book have such an impact? Why do you recommend it?

Patrick Montgomery (40:11):

It is a military book, but I think more importantly it teaches you more so than any of the buzz name authors that are out there, what a good leader actually looks like, which is probably the most important part of being a successful business owner once you pass the sole proprietorship and start bringing on employees.

Henry Lopez (40:31):

I got to think that that’s one of the things that did translate for you from your military career and experience to being a business owner. Is that fair?

Patrick Montgomery (40:40):

It’s definitely fair.

Henry Lopez (40:41):

What else? Is there anything else that stands out to you that, as it turns out, that I learned in the military I’m applying and using in my business today?

Patrick Montgomery (40:51):

Yeah, adaptability would be the second one. Megan, adaptability this one quite a bit, but when that first round goes past your head, you got to be able to adapt even if you had the best plan in the world, and it’s the exact same way in business. If I look at that business plan I made in 2016, I laugh because we’ve become so many different things since then.

Henry Lopez (41:09):

Well said. Love it. Alright, we’ll wrap it up. What’s one thing, Patrick, you want us to take away from this conversation that we’ve had? If I’m someone who’s thinking about starting a business or maybe an existing small business owner, what would be one thing you want us to take from this conversation?

Patrick Montgomery (41:24):

Yeah, I think the biggest would be to get out there and go trust in yourself and at least be the man in the arena, man or woman in the arena, and attempt to start your business because entrepreneurship and starting new businesses and innovation is down roughly 50% over the last 20 years in the United States, so we need more people out there doing it if we want to remain the best country in the world.

Henry Lopez (41:48):

Love it. Megan, I’ll ask you this. What do you want us to take away from how he has Patrick and Kansas City Cattle Company, how he’s leveraged PR and the services that you offer to get that story out and help him grow his business?

Megan Bennet (42:04):

Yeah, I mean, I just think that the power of PR has been so important for this specific client for Patrick because after months and months of doing stuff, we got such a big hit that products got completely sold out and just my advice is to stick with it, stick with the pr. If you have a small budget, spend it on PR to start because that’s how you’re going to build the brand awareness and that’s how people are going to know who you are and learn more about the education of your product. I just think it’s something that’s really important as any entrepreneur builds a business, is to get the brand messaging out there.

Henry Lopez (42:43):

Agreed, and tell us your website again, Megan,

Megan Bennet (42:46):

Light years ahead.com,

Henry Lopez (42:47):

Patrick kc cattle company.com. Correct.

Patrick Montgomery (42:52):

That’s it. I’ll definitely second what Megan said. As far as best ROI we’ve had on, I know she doesn’t consider herself marketing because you have to have a D two C business that’s online and have a really cool story to tell, but she’s hands down, been our best ROI for marketing.

Henry Lopez (43:08):

Wonderful, wonderful. Excellent. Thank you. Excellent. Well, listen, very aware of you to look at that. I mean, the pivots that you had, like you said, that adaptability that has really shown through a lot of business owners either get paralyzed or stuck or are afraid to make those critical changes. You’ve known that you’ve had to even in this sort of a lifespan so far as a business owner, these critical adjustments and that’s what business is all about. Alright, Patrick, thank you so much for taking the time to be with me, for sharing so candidly and answering all my questions. Thanks for taking the time to be with me today.

Patrick Montgomery (43:41):

Thanks for having me on, Henry,

Henry Lopez (43:43):

Megan, as always, my pleasure working with you again. Megan is my trusted service provider for public relations, but thanks again for coming back on the show.

Megan Bennet (43:52):

Oh, thank you so much. It’s always a pleasure to be on your show, Henry. We really appreciate it.