Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be.

Welcome to Boutique Chat, where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek.

We'll hear from product-based businesses of all types, retailers, e-commerce, and wholesale brands,

along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry.

I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the boutique hub, and I can't wait to chat.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the podcast this week.

I am so pumped.

I'm so, I was going to say, excited and pumped. And then I put those two things into one-shed. I'm ex-pumped for you to be here today. Patrick, thanks for joining me on the podcast.

Ashley, thank you so much for having me. I'm such a big fan. So I'm so excited to talk with you today. Well, likewise, when I first got to hear about what you were doing with Heart on Main Street, I felt like, man, are our missions so aligned in just being in service to

others and really wanting to see the best for the future of this industry. So before we get into

all the nitty-gritty details of what you're working on and where this is all headed, take me back.

You've got some

family legacy in this industry. Tell me about growing up in this industry. And then we can talk

about how hard on Main Street really came about. Yeah. So I've really grown up around wholesale

geez, for a long time, we'll say. But some of my first jobs were in showrooms

and painting and setting up and getting things ready

for trade shows.

And I took a hiatus, kind of went off to college.

I did, I had a teaching career,

and really kind of thought that was my path.

And I loved teaching.

I loved being part of helping communities grow and eventually left teaching and came back to

...