The Kings Creek Podcast
Fueled by our love for God’s creation, we spark fresh and funny conversations that unite listeners through shared passions like the outdoors, golf, and music. Although uncharted waters can be frightening, they also tend to yield the greatest rewards. So, grab your life jacket and hop in the creek... it's a journey worth taking.
The Kings Creek Podcast
Turning Threads into Lifestyle | The Kings Creek Podcast | Trailer
Ever wondered how a clothing brand can evolve into a transparent and serving lifestyle? That's the story of Kings Creek, a brand Jesse and the Strickland family established in 2014. This episode takes you on a revealing journey of the brand's evolution, the pivotal role relationships play, and the balance between personal lives and multiple commitments. We go beyond the clothing line and delve into the heart and soul of our brand, detailing the ethos of transparency and service that fuels us.
Our mantra, 'serve whoever is in front of you', is integral to Kings Creek's approach. This episode also unveils the essence of our podcast, an extension of our brand's ethos, where we engage in candid conversations with guests who embrace the hard life and make tough choices. With a dash of humor and a spirit of connectivity, we aim to serve others through these interactions. Join us, and become part of the Kings Creek community! Every episode is a step towards a lifestyle of transparency and service.
Check out https://kingscreekapparel.com and jump in the Creek with us.
If you're ready to jump in the creek with us, head over to Kings Creek Apparel HERE!
Cue the music. Cue the music. We don't have music yet, but we got an old buddy working on that. It's a good idea. Yeah, welcome to the Kings Creek podcast. The whole goal of this episode is to basically Introduce the podcast, introduce some of the people that you're gonna be hearing from ie, jesse and myself and just kind of give you guys an idea of what to expect moving forward from this podcast. That said, for those who might not know what Kings Creek is, jesse, why don't you take the floor and just kind of introduce Kings Creek again to the listeners and tell them what it's all about?
Speaker 2:well, first office is pretty cool. It's been a long time coming, but you know I still cannot answer what Kings Creek is any better than I could any other time. It's our clothing brand and we started it in 2014 and it was birthed out of our church and Then we decided to take it public and, you know, just go all in with it and it kind of grew, you know, and it's created a lot of great opportunities. We've met a lot of cool people still do meet a lot of cool people, a lot of cool relationships, and it's just kind of created a space for us to To meet neat people and talk about cool, cool stuff and yeah it's.
Speaker 2:It's pretty simple to me. I wish I could hire somebody. That's probably a good thing for somebody like you on the outside to be able to Explain it, because when you're in the middle of it it's so hard to explain. Yeah, I mean, the nuts and bolts are our clothing line. We're in retail stores and online and and you know, it's just kind of our take on all things apparel related.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so from an outsider's perspective. That's, you gave like the humble answer, which is commendable. But the Kings Creek Brand is so much more than just a brand and a clothing line, as you kind of alluded to. It's really about the relationships that you guys have created, whether that's in Nashville, whether that's in professional sports or just locally in hometown. It's really about you know the relationships and connecting with people. Right, and so I'm sorry to interrupt, but you were you were the very first natural like guest on the show that I have for the nation podcast where you weren't like a friend of mine or anything prior Reached out and you gracefully said, yes, sure, let's do it. And from there we've kind of formed a really cool relationship and I've gotten to not only like here in an interview but experience the relationship, building a connection that you guys have so like gracefully Woven into the brand of Kings Creek.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's a go. I mean you really wish that more people would realize that. You know, you try to tell people that, look, it's not about selling hats and stuff for us, it's about the relationships. But it's kind of like when I was in the automotive industry that I Used to tell people, man, I can't wait to this thing tears up and they were just looking at me crazy. They were like what are you talking about, you know, and just kind of joking, laugh it off. But I was like, well then, I mean I can tell you all day long how we're gonna treat you as a customer and the benefits of doing business with us, but until something bad happens, you really don't know. Mm-hmm. And so you know, I can tell you till I'm blue in the face and that's the same thing with our brand and I don't think it's necessary.
Speaker 2:You know, I'd like to, as humbly as I can, just say that it's maybe a little bit more in our DNA, mining Melissa's and our families and now what's grown in our business and our employees. It's just kind of a different, an oddball way of thinking about things, but putting other people first and trying to help as many people get what they want on. Our life has become a goal of ours, and then the main thing is is living our life, and then our business is kind of shaped around our life instead of, you know, allowing ourselves to just, you know, give each other what's left over from our career. So we just wanted to have our lives and and do life, and then our career kind of was what got the leftovers right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really like that. One thing that I took almost immediately from our first meeting and Wanted to plug into my podcast immediately was giving greatly. That's kind of like. That's what I termed it, as Obviously you might call it something else, but the idea that if you're gonna do something like you give it your all whether that's financially, spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally like, if you're gonna do something, do it and do it with a good intent, and that's one aspect that I hope definitely it definitely will carry into this podcast. Moving forward, I guess we should introduce ourselves a little bit and kind of talk about ourselves. So you're Jesse Strickland, why don't you kind of take that?
Speaker 2:Well, that's another one. I'm just the hat guy, you know. But I'm married, I have two kids. I say kids, I mean they're young adults. I've got a son, noah, that worked with our company for a long time and he's 22 years old, be 23 in a couple months. And then I've got a daughter that's about to graduate from college and start grad school. She's 21 years old and it's just, we're young empty nesters, you know, trying to just be productive in life, and I mean we're pretty plugged into our community and that's kind of where we get our, I guess, our joy, our fulfillment, trying to get in what I consider to be way too many things.
Speaker 2:I mean we're involved with a lot. You know from time to time that it gets tough to juggle it, but that's just kind of become a definition of our life, just juggling whatever's in front of you and so. But other than that I'm just started this brand. You know, I've got a love for the outdoors and a passion for the outdoors and it's been kind of cool to see how your passions change. You know and it's not that I'm not still passionate about the outdoors, but I realized that what I'm really passionate about is people, and I really enjoy spending time with people from every different walk of life. And if you're not an outdoorsman, that's fine too. I mean, I don't really understand it, probably don't trust you as much as I would somebody else, but and that's obviously tongue in cheek I just enjoy being with people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, noah is a voice that hopefully you guys will hear. I've talked to him about coming on here, so I'll get him on here, don't worry, I'd love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess to piggyback off that, my name is Mike Wojcik. I guess, if you listen to this, the most notable thing about me is that I would have for the nation podcast. But before that, and most importantly, I'm a husband and a father to Jenna Wojcik, my wife, and our son Jackson. He is 17 months as of the time of this recording and is a handful.
Speaker 1:And, if anybody, I guess the big takeaway for parenthood right now is everything that parents told you prior to you having a child, like oh, you'll get it one day and you think you do, until the moment comes and that your world changes in an instant and then you understand For sure I get it. So that's probably my most proud accomplishment as of now. I think Might only be like one of the best accomplishments that you can have as a father's to have have children and and a wife to share that with. Nonetheless, I do have for the nation podcast. That was a show. That's how we got Connected here and that's me, in a nutshell, pretty simple Lucky to be here. Really, I guess that's. That's the main takeaway for listeners.
Speaker 2:I'm the lucky one here, I mean we can argue that, obviously, and the main thing I think that I would like to get across is you know, we're not coming out proclaiming to have all this knowledge and all this revolutionary you know methods of dealing with problems.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right and we just realized that it's got to be done together. And and maybe the difference in our age we're bringing two different, I guess, aspects and two different opinions of things and they're not always gonna be the same. I'm sure you know I haven't met anybody yet, thankfully, that agrees with 100% of what I say. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna continue to try to persuade you right and Convince you that I'm right, but it is fun to have good, healthy conversation and I absolutely love watching you and your family and Raising Jackson and I think, man, if I could just get one more shot. I Just want one more shot because by the time you think you get it figured out and I'm pretty good at it. Now, all of a sudden the kids are grown and I promise you they're not interested in what I have to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You just hope, maybe something stuck from a long time ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's. It's one of those moments. I think that comes full circle, because when the moment comes where they become parents, lord willing They'll understand, and then that Information that you thought you lost becomes a whole lot more valuable.
Speaker 2:I cannot wait for the day they start admitting how right we were for so long. Yeah and how they tortured us for so long and they're a little unappreciative. Selves can, and I'm just kidding, I mean, they're very appreciative and we're grateful for them. But it is kind of neat when you start connecting the dots and those Ding-ding start going off and you're like man, I now I can, I see what they're talking about.
Speaker 1:So yeah, all right, I guess it's important for us to first describe the values that define Kings Creek, and I think you're great to answer that question. So what values do you think transcend the brand of Kings Creek apparel? I?
Speaker 2:mean I think the the shortest list is is To Jesse Strickland and his family. I mean, our faith in God, you know, transcends everything else and we truly have tried to live a life that reflects that and We've tried to stay, not just, you know, in a positive frame of mind regarding that, but we try to live out our lives in worship, not just, you know, turning it on and turning it off you know everything that we do.
Speaker 2:We tried to in its. To me it's a little bit more natural that way you don't have to remember how you're supposed to act from time to time. I mean it's just, it's a true, transparent, you know attitude and we also have seen that you know when you have a some sort of success with a brand and people and are so quick to to pick you up and Put you on a pedestal and things of that nature. So part of the, the goal of our brand, has been just to be transparent, to show the good, the bad, the ugly. You know it's tough running a business. It's tough being married. It's tough. I mean life's tough and we don't. We never want to come across as One unapproachable. That's probably my biggest fear is to be unapproachable.
Speaker 2:But our brand just represents our lifestyle and that lifestyle is is God first and I'm definitely not gonna follow the lead with a lot of people. You know God. Family faith that you know, yeah, but it's, it's to us, it. If we have to say it, then we're failing. It should be evident how we treat people. It should be evident in our business and it's not always the most popular position to be in, but we've been told from the beginning. We know the position that we're gonna be in and we know how we're gonna be thought of, which is fine Accountability is a good thing and consequences to maybe not living up to that, that level of expectations from people.
Speaker 2:You know, I think that's something that's healthy too mistakes, but we, just we have a desire to serve the Lord and we have a desire to serve our community and then, aside from that, we have a desire to serve each other, you know, and to serve is whoever's in front of us, and that's probably the biggest mantra that we've got is just serve whoever's in front of us and keep the main thing.
Speaker 1:The main thing in the words of the great theologian Kirby Smart that's interesting that you would say that, especially being in Alabama family, it's very tough to say that, but I could not.
Speaker 2:I couldn't get around it, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I guess then, the main thing for this podcast is like it's basically an extension of the brand. That's the way I like to think about this in working together with you. My frame of reference is it's extending the brand in the sense of it's conversations, with that transparency that you talked about the good, the bad, the ugly, getting to know our guests, and just conversations, like you said, from your perspective. Then from maybe a younger perspective not saying you're old, but you know what I'm saying, definitely old and just hopefully throw in a comedic twist now and then and just be genuine, just connect with people. I think that's kind of your main goal in this is to connect and serve others through this.
Speaker 1:This is just another arm and extension in doing so.
Speaker 2:Right and I mean I think it's gonna. We're pretty open-minded about it too. You know, it's kind of like when we started the brand, we thought that the outdoor industry was gonna be the. That's the avenue for growth. We were surprised when, you know, we kind of took the Nashville run and Nashville kind of got us to the next level with some friends of ours there. So I'm very hesitant about trying to put too many you know, too much of my opinion of where we should go or where we shouldn't go. We're just gonna go wherever the podcast leads us. We're gonna have some pretty interesting guests on that. I think people will be able to connect with.
Speaker 2:And the main goal. Obviously our business is attached to it, but our main goal is you know the business is a byproduct If we can help the one, you know we're definitely more than willing to leave the 99 to help the one. So, and it's not gonna all be so, just uptight and you know, just very black and white, we're gonna hopefully dive into some things that are you know, there's a lot of situations in life that and is definitely okay to use. You know you can be something and something else. You don't have to be so lying in the sand. You know you're gonna draw that line in the sand and it's just either, or the days of either, or. You know, regarding certain things to us obviously are still relevant, but not in the biggest area of our lives. You know there's a lot of ands.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we just want to give people an avenue to have that conversation. Hopefully that will promote good conversation and hopefully we make some pretty cool people and we bring some pretty cool stories to people that you know aren't the popular stories being told right now within our own community and outside of our community. You know there's a lot of people that have some pretty powerful stories and then there's some hilarious ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're going to sit and rest in a bunch of them hilarious ones too. So I'm just going to be, I'm excited. I think it's going to be pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is an endeavor that I literally could have only dreamed of, and so to be a part of it is pretty incredible when I think to describe our typical guest who would join us on the show. Who would you, if you could build the archetype of that person? Who would it be?
Speaker 2:I think it's going to be somebody that lives the hard life, and the hard life meaning it's, you know, that person that does the right thing, even when it doesn't make sense, just because it's sometimes you got to do the right thing, just because it's the right thing to do. And maybe they haven't always lived that way, you know. Maybe they've been in a pretty tough spot for a long time and now they're on their way out. And some, you know, they got some great tools to get, help, get other people there.
Speaker 2:But you know, the Kings Creek are the unsung heroes, that's the creakers, that's the people that are working behind the scenes that aren't doing it for the glory. They're not doing it because of what notoriety they're going to get, but nothing could start without them and nothing could function without them. And that's the person that I feel like you know, always the real nice looking guy or girl, lady, woman, however you want to say it. You know they're the ones that are out front, just the poster child. But I'm going to tell you there's somebody made that poster and to me that's the one that gets forgotten about, and I just think it's time that we start understanding and recognizing some of those people because they have a wealth of knowledge that we can all benefit from.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I second that to you know, the nth degree. And the other thing I think is important too, for, like some of the more known guests that we might have on, is humanizing them to a sense where it's like, you know, we think that they live a certain way based on what we see on social media, but you know, our goal is to get to connect with that person and level with them on a human to human basis, Like they struggle the same ways that we struggle, maybe in different aspects of their life, but emotions are emotions and we all feel them in a similar fashion.
Speaker 2:Right and I think in any industry that you yourself are the product you know you can. It's very tough to navigate through life because you've got to sell yourself so much that you kind of you lose touch with what's important and you lose touch with the outside world. You know a lot of the guys that we have become close to in Nashville, for example, the music people, music artists. You know a lot of people think, well, once they made it, they've changed dramatically. Well, it's not, they don't change, they're still the same people. But unfortunately the people around them change because as their success grows, you know everybody around them thinks that they need to treat them differently and that, you know, it's just, they're shielded from a lot of things and that's not what they want deep down inside.
Speaker 2:And you know, once you befriend a couple people that are successful in that industry, you start to see that there's an emptiness there there's. You know the most popular people in the world are the a lot of times the loneliest, because it's, you know, we tell our kids all the time we just had a conversation with one of our children that you know it's lonely at the top, but you know the air's cleaner and sooner or later. You just hope that you know more people will come alongside you, but this is a tough world for a young person trying to do the right thing to live in because it's not the. You're not in the cool group anymore, and so it's the same thing with a lot of the guys that we deal with, you know, in Nashville and other cities and of course by saying Nashville we're just referring to, you know, the country music industry. It's just a. It's a tough world. It's a very lonely, a lonely town.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there's, and there's, several songs out there. I can name a few, but the first that comes to my head is Morgan Wallin's song Live in the Dream. I think, yeah, live in the Dream. Basically, the song outlines that exact thing. Like you, it looks one way, but realistically, like I'm lonely sometimes, for sure.
Speaker 1:You got a lot of fake friends, I think, at that point. But to bring it back to a more uplifting and bright sense no-transcript to kind of share our love of God's provision with the listeners and hopefully steward conversations in the best light that glorify him.
Speaker 2:That's right, and I can assure you that my goal is to help other people see that one there's a way out if they're in a situation that's not the best situation ever, because I never want to make light of somebody that's going through a super, you know, real tough time. However, I think that for the majority of us, I think it's pretty easy to see you know the blessings that we've got and how you know we we're overlooking, we're kind of stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. You know we're focusing on some things that we could easily put to bed and move forward, but it's it's always easier to talk about when you're not in the conflict, and so hopefully we can kind of head off some of those before they become a real issue for people.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yeah, and what I wanted to say is people listening. If you want to send in stories or maybe a question that you have many of you might be familiar with the clock Creek and hashtag on Instagram anything that would be kind of like categorized under that, or, like I said, a question, email that to the Kings Creek podcast at gmailcom and maybe we will talk about it on the show and give our two cents on the matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean we're definitely not opposed to hearing about potential guests. If you've got somebody that is that unsung hero that we talk about a lot, that we can get in here and just really dig inside and see what's going on in that brain and try to figure out how we can multiply it and get it out to the rest of the world, because you know, so we could all learn from it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's, that's to me, what needs to be. It's very easy to spread. You know, divisiveness spreads like a wildfire, but you know, those that are connected, those that can with a good sense of humor that can laugh something off that's often not talked about because it's not.
Speaker 2:It's not cool, it's not newsworthy. So we're just gonna try to do our part and get in some of those. So if you know people that would be great guests, we'd love to to hear about them, we'd love to talk to them, and then we'll just go from there with it.
Speaker 1:Awesome, yeah, well, that, I think, kind of wraps up episode one. This is mostly just an introduction podcast, getting you guys primed and ready for what's to come, and I think we are gonna kick this off with the thankful series. It might be called something when we go to kick it off, but that's kind of what we've chalked it up to be now and it's just a series on gratitude and what it means to be thankful, and we just think that's appropriate with the holidays coming up right.
Speaker 2:I mean, especially just start out, I think, by defining it. You know, what is that? What does it look like in your life? And and then, obviously it's gonna be about some people that are very grateful for things and that probably shouldn't be right, and that's the things that we want. On covers that, there's, there's, there is a silver lining, and, and you know, I hope that people will be able to connect with this and really change some people's mentality, maybe the thought process, and that one's gonna be a fun, a fun series to kick it off with absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's someone out there that doesn't look like you, but maybe is going through some similar things, so I would just encourage you to have a conversation, as you all said. It might be it might just be the hat that sparks the conversation, that's to a new best friend.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right, and I couldn't. There's countless stories and I'd love to share some of those stories, and I'm sure we will. And it's just so humbling to me when something as simple as a duck on a hat can create a relationship, and we've got many examples of that if we're just willing to let our guard down a little bit, be vulnerable and look at things from other people's point of view. It's not always treat other people how you want to be treated. You know, a lot of times you just need to treat people for the time being how they want to be treated, and if you concentrate on some of that, then we can get over a lot of these little bitty issues we've got. Get on to some bigger ones like coke or Pepsi that's a good one and it's Diet Coke.
Speaker 1:Dancing answer. It's none of those, that's Diet Coke artificial sweetener. It's good for you yeah, sure, it's alright, we'll die eventually, alright. Well, that'll wrap it up. That's a fantastic one to end it on Diet Coke or Pepsi. Or Coke or Pepsi.
Speaker 2:I don't even think down south, I don't even think it's worth discussing. Yeah, pepsi's for north of the Mason Dixon line, cause it's for humans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is true that is true, alright, guys. Well, until next time, grab a life jacket, jump in the creek. It's a rough ride you.
