And good evening.

You've got More Than Money, you've Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial adviser and for the next half an hour, I'm at your service, and that's exactly why we invented More Than Money, to be at your service.

So if you're a loyal viewer, you know that we often answer questions about all manner of financial topics, whether they be investments, retirement, income taxes, 401Ks and Roth IRAS, estate planning, whether it's real estate planning, you'll hear why that reference is highlighted here in a moment, or if it's for legacy planning for you and your family and of course, business planning, starting a business, running a business, liquidating a business for maximum benefit to you.

We answer all those types of questions.

We do them by you sending us your e-mails.

You send those directly to me, gene@askmtm.com.

G-E-N-E at askmtm.com.

They come directly to me and either myself or my staff will answer your questions.

We answer every single question that we receive.

Some will appear on future shows.

We simply don't have time to answer all of those live on air, but we certainly will answer all of them directly to you.

So we're very, very happy that you're spending a little bit of your evening with us and perhaps picking up an idea or two along the way, an idea or two.

The world needs so many ideas.

The world is in many ways so chaotic and so disheveled that a lot of folks have said, I'm just not going to listen, I'm just not going to participate.

And in my opinion, that's probably a pretty decent approach because you have dreams that you'd love to accomplish, independent of the silliness in Washington, DC or anywhere else, because there seems to be plenty of silliness to go around.

So if you had a dream, what would those dreams be?

How would you accomplish those dreams?

What kind of guide might you be looking for to get you further down that path towards your dreams?

Well, our very special guests this evening are two folks who have been following their dreams collectively, you'll see why here in a second, in a very, very interesting way.

So I want to introduce to you my friends.

I consider them friends since our they're our neighbors and in full transparency, I've been to their establishment quite often with my bride, Diane, and I and all of our friends from the Blue Ridge Estate Vineyard and winery.

We've got Randy and Tiffany Detrick.

- Hi.

How are you?

- Wonderful.

How are you?

- Fantastic.

- I see we're joined by a very special guest.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yes, her name's Natalie.

- And how old is Natalie?

- She's two years old.

- Well, she's nearly perfect.

I can tell just from a glance.

She's nearly perfect.

And the view behind you is spectacular.

I'm assuming you're right there on the vineyard this morning.

- We are.

Yeah, we're sitting out here, we call it the island, it's part of the turf grass that juts out right into the vineyard.

So you can experience the vines up close and personal.

- Well, experiencing Blue Ridge is for lots of us.

And in the interest of full transparency, again, Diane and I have been there many, many times.

Our friends have been there many, many times.

We've enjoyed every aspect of Blue Ridge.

And if I understand correctly, we've got some new stuff that we're going to experience in the underground here in the near future.

So we're very, very excited to have you as guests.

But, Randy, I got to ask you first, did you always dream about being a farmer?

- Wow.

No, Gene, no, no, no.

Not... No, it wasn't quite like that.

You know, I mean, I grew up in the business world, you know.

I have business degrees and stuff like that, and I've always been in the medical field.

I used to be a medical sales rep. And then Tiff and I own a medical supply company.

And what happened was I also ski raced, and ski racing, a lot of the races are obviously there in the mountains, but in the valleys, there's vineyards.

And one afternoon Tiff says to me, hey, I wonder if we can grow grapes at the farm.

That sentence changed our life, because we come home, we start studying.

Pretty soon we're planting rows of vines.

And away it went.

And, you know, I love it because in the medical field, I used to serve people at the worst time of life.

Now I get to serve people at the best time of life.

The best change ever.

I love it.

- That's a phrase that we're going to hang on to for sure.

So, Tiffany, we're going to blame you for all of this.

- Pretty much.

Mama gets all the blame.

That's awesome.

- Tiffany, your background, medical as well.

But was there any farming in your background?

Where did this inspiration come from?

- Yeah, I didn't have any farming background either.

I used to actually work at Sanofi Pasteur.

I used to do the meningitis vaccine and then we did medical sales and medical business.

- You know, I would say, when it comes to the farming man, a lot of it is just self-learned.

We went to conventions for years and years and years before we ever planted one vine to learn how to grow a great grape in the Poconos, you know, so, you know, it's just a lot self-taught.

You know, there's really not much farming in our background.

- So let's shift gears just a little bit.

If folks have not yet had the opportunity, the pleasure to be your guest, give them a sense of how many employees do you have in your operation?

What does a typical weekend look like at Blue Ridge?

- Wow.

You want to describe or should I?

Oh, my gosh, so every weekend is a major celebration out here.

Every single weekend.

There's lots of live music.

There's music two times a day, usually early in the afternoon.

And then the evening.

Saturdays we're open until nine o'clock.

Sundays we're open till eight o'clock.

And guys, it is a celebration beyond a celebration.

So there's live music, there's world class wine.

We have wood fire pizza here that rivals the best on the planet.

There's also other vendors that come out with different food options.

There's a chocolate lady that comes out, and, you know, we've designed the winery to sit amongst a valley.

This is the view that you have wherever you're at the winery.

So there is no bad seat at the winery.

And there's also seats right in the vineyard.

You see them back there?

There's seats right in the vines.

So imagine, you come on out on a beautiful Saturday.

You come on out, you grab a glass of wine, you're holding hands with your loved ones.

You're walking down the vineyards, you're enjoying the vine, you're enjoying the wine, you're enjoying the company.

And every evening when it gets dark out, we light the vineyards up.

There are a quarter of a million lights out here.

And if you've never seen lighting of the vineyards, no pictures have ever gave it justice.

It's a sight to be seen.

We do something called Light Up The Vineyards on November 27th.

It's the weekend.

It's the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

And at eight o'clock, it's a whole new world of Blue Ridge, because we are doing something out here that no one has ever done in the history of the world.

Oh, my God.

It's going to be amazing.

- Tiffany, I don't think anybody even having spent just the last few minutes with Randy can doubt his energy, his enthusiasm, his absolute joy at where he is.

Along the way, were there any moments where in your heart of hearts you thought, we've made a huge mistake?

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, yeah.

- I guess I never thought it would be a huge mistake.

I just had a little bit of... - Scared?

- Yes, scared.

We sold the medical business and then right when we sell the medical business, we basically didn't have jobs because we both were working for the medical business.

And then I got pregnant with our daughter, Maggie, and she's seven now.

So that was a little bit scary because we basically put everything that we knew into a new business that we had to learn.

- Oh, my God.

Can I just summarize real fast?

What happened was, truly, back in the day we had a Medicare business when Medicare was going through all the changes with the Affordable Health Care Act.

So a lot of a lot of medical supply businesses were buying each other.

The big guys were buying the small guys.

And we decided, let's move on, because it was a very frustrating world and I wasn't enjoying it anymore.

And you know what, life is about enjoying your life.

If you're not enjoying it, do something different, with your life.

So because we live on the farm, we have planted vines years ago, the house was already a licensed wine cellar, because, you know, because we had to be licensed to do it.

And all of a sudden we go, all right, let's do this.

Let's sell the medical business, build a winery, have a family all in one shot.

- Some would suggest that you're not wired really tight.

- No.

Exactly, right?

I know.

Jump and then build to ground to land on, right?

You know?

There's a lot of truth to it.

- You went from a field that you knew cold to a field that you knew very little about.

Was there a person, a mentor, somebody that you could turn to during those times of fear and anxiety that you could get some guidance along the way?

- Yeah, lots of people, yeah.

I would say, I mean, like, you know, Dominic Strollin, that owns Big Creek Vineyards out here?

Dominic Strollin, Big Creek Vineyards.

It's a it's a beautiful vineyard.

Dominic and his mom, Millie, are just the most wonderful people in the world.

Dominic is my wine dad.

I sat with Dominic for weeks and weeks and weeks talking him about the wine business, and because of his guidance and his directions and the things that he put my head, he was one of our biggest encouragers early on.

Good old Dominic.

I love that guy.

You know, I think of Elaine over \t Franklin Hill.

You know, Elaine's just wonderful.

You know, we can go to her and say, hey, what do you think?

How should we do this, you know?

- And Ellie?

- Yeah.

Wow.

There's so many.

Sid and Ellie Butler.

Sid and Ellie, if you if you trace back at the history of all the wineries in Lehigh Valley, Sid and Ellie have something to do with almost every single one of them.

And I'm proud to say that Sid Butler was the first person to ever put a vine in the ground at Blue Ridge Wine.

- Wow.

- Tell me about it.

I'm proud to know the man.

Boy.

- Fantastic.

Everybody, every successful business owner, if they're being honest, have those mentors, those godfathers, if you will, you know why I'm using that name, that allow them to see further down the path than they can see themselves.

You've had a handful.

Is that, do you think, a characteristic of the wine business or is that a characteristic of the people that you've met just because you are who you are?

- I would like to think it's the wine business, you know, I would because, you know, man, you know, in the wine world, I tell people there's this thing called the fax effect that comes into play in the wine business where when a winery is selling wine, it the mission is right, the mission is to add value to the guests that comes to the winery, because people are, they're out for the day.

They want to enjoy their day and they're going to a winery to enjoy their life.

So that's the mission of this company, to add value to people's lives.

And if we truly have that mission in our heart and we want to add value to people's lives, I'm going to educate them on other wineries in the area because it's the fax effect in action.

When people go to a winery, they don't just buy one wine from one, one bottle from one winery, and that's it.

They go to other places just like fax machines.

The first fax machine ever invented was worthless.

There needs to be lots of them to add value to the others.

Wineries can add value to each other by promoting each other, educate about each other and helping each other be successful.

And in turn it adds value to the guests.

- Fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic.

And I can see Natalie is riveted by everything I have to say.

- I'm trying to calm her down.

- She has no idea how big a personality she's actually with.

So I'm getting the same response I get at my own house, which is perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

Tiffany, how do you and Randy break up the responsibilities?

You've got a lot of responsibilities.

Mother of three young children and your home and your business.

How do the responsibilities in the business get delegated?

- I do everything kind of on the back end, like I do everything I do from the house to take care of the children.

I do accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, and together Randy and I work really well together.

As far as with the business.

- Yeah.

You know, Tiff, without Tiff, you know how every single business in the world, it's like an iceberg.

There's this little tiny piece above water that everybody sees, but then there's this giant piece supporting that little tiny piece.

I'm the little piece above water that gets way too much credit.

Tiff?

Tiff's everything else.

Tiff's the one that supports the whole thing.

I love you.

You know, without Tiff doing what she does behind the scenes, there'd be Blue Ridge.

Someone's got to keep track of everything.

And Tiff has been such a wonderful record keeper.

She does... My God.

I wouldn't want to have her job, put it like that.

- So if I were to say it in a slightly different way or phrase that I have shared with many of my friends, and many of my guests, a man's objective in life is to marry way over his head.

Sounds like you were successful.

- I won!

- You won.

There you go.

Randy, you are obviously not just a farmer.

You're obviously not just a business owner.

The word philosophy jumps out from basically every phrase that you offer us.

Where does this philosophical leaning, where does that inclination, where does that originate?

Where did that come from?

- Wow.

It all comes from my mom, Gene.

I was raised by a single mom.

Seven years old, my mom decided to leave and change our life, and Mom changed everything.

You know, the day my mom left my dad, we lived in Easton and she said to my brother and I, she goes, "Guys, that's it.

"Today is going to change our lives.

"Today's the day that if you can think that, you could write "it down.

If you wrote it down, set yourself a goal.

"If you can set a goal, you can achieve a goal.

"That is how we're going to live our lives."

My mom was a force, but my mom also got cancer when I was seven, and my mom was in and out of cancer for 25 years.

And if you all, if you think I'm upbeat, you should have met my mom.

I'm sleeping compared to my mom.

My mom was the most enthusiastic woman you'd ever come across.

Joy bubbling out of her all the time.

I tell people, if you'd have been on the phone with her while she was getting chemotherapy, you'd have sworn she was on a beach somewhere.

Nobody would have known.

And here's what happened.

My mom was at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and she's going through a stem cell transplant.

And Mom was dying.

My mom died 15 years ago.

And the day that, well, the week that my mom died, my mom truly gave me a good name to live up to, because what happened was, her body crashed and we're in the hospital room and the monitors are going wild.

And doctors come in, they bring her back, her heart starts beating after a minute of working on her.

You got to imagine, my mom's been out for a minute.

We are going to leave oncology and go downstairs to intensive care.

And there's this long hallway, with just the elevator doors at the end, and there goes Mom down on that gurney.

You know, my mom was out for a minute, but the only thing I could see going down that hallway was my mom's big thumb in the air.

I thought, oh, my God, if my mom can hang on to joy in a moment like that, I have no excuse for the rest of my life.

Kick it up a notch, live up to what your mom has put inside of you.

I have a quote on the wall in here, Gene.

The quote from my mom is this - Pursue all your dreams with every bit of imagination that God gave you and then don't ever let the false sense of fear interfere with your life.

So you want know where the motivation came from?

It's the seeds my mom was sowing 20 years ago.

Just trying to do my job.

- Anyone that hears that story about your mom would wish that they had a mom like that, but so much of what she gave you came out of her own pain, her pain of an unhappy marriage, of a separation, of a divorce of battling cancer time and time and time again.

Those lessons must run very, very deep, not just in your business life, but in your family life.

- Oh, God.

Wow.

My mom lived a life where, truly the great grandchildren of her great grandchildren are going to feel the positive impact of her life.

It's that big.

And, you know, things running deep, you know.

My gosh.

Meeting Tiff, one of the best thing that ever happened in my life.

Having our babies, my God.

You know, I can't help but think of how excited and joyful and enthusiastic my mom would be if she could kiss my little girl on the cheek.

- I can tell you, yes, she would be.

- I just look at that face and wish I could kiss her on the cheek on behalf of your mom.

So God bless you.

God bless you both.

From that base, from that philosophy, from that persistence, from that overcoming fear, you've developed a business that is, to be blunt, unlike any other winery, any other state manor that is within distance, within driving distance.

What about what you've learned has given you the opportunity to make Blue Ridge such a different experience?

What was it that you wanted to see happen when you opened for the very first time that would make Blue Ridge different from other wineries?

- Sure.

You want to talk about it?

- You can.

OK, so the mission of Blue Ridge actually has nothing to do with wine.

You think it should, right?

But it doesn't.

It has nothing to do with wine.

From day one, before one vine was ever put in the ground out here on the farm, Tiff and I were up on the front porch up at the house, and we're sitting there going, what is the mission of this company going to be?

And remember, we're coming from the medical field where people are sick and dying and we go, the mission of this company is going to be to add value to people's lives, period.

So when you study that stuff, every single bit of value in your life has nothing to do with things.

So it can't be about the wine.

It's going to be about something else.

But what's more important is the atmosphere, the setting, the view, the feel.

It all adds up.

You know, I teach some wine science classes down in Northampton and I tell people, if you're going to start a winery, everything about your winery is selling your wine.

Everything counts.

Even the driveway, everything counts.

Are there stones out of place?

Everything counts.

You know, there's a saying.

It says, it doesn't matter how much you polish the underside of a banister.

It does in the wine business, because everything counts.

- One of the things, again, full transparency since we've been there so often, that I have taken note of, that I've never failed to drive away from Blue Ridge without turning to Diane and saying, "The people that work there are what make "Blue Ridge so special."

How do you attract employees in a very tough employment market?

How do you attract such good people that clearly share your message and your mission and are literally ambassadors of the company mission?

- Yeah.

Wow.

So, Mama's spectacular and like attracts like, so, you know, I came here to be around Mama, but in all honesty, Blue Ridge, I always tell people when people start working here, there's one major rule to working at Blue Ridge.

If any guests were to ever ask someone to do something that might be out of the ordinary, everyone's going to respond the same way.

They're always going to say something like, you know, we normally don't do that.

But for you?

Sure.

And they're going to try to make it happen.

And if they can't at least the guest is going to see the effort being put forth to make it happen.

Because in life, you can only give what you have.

And the more you give, the more you have and round and round you go.

And when you do things for people, you're feeling better about yourself and you're feeling better about the person you're doing it for.

And it just keeps building all day long.

You know, every person at Blue Ridge is free to serve the guests to the very best of their ability.

Will we make that decision?

Sure, it's going to happen.

But you know what?

I would rather have all those wonderful little things that we do for people all along the way, all those wins with those couple of things that aren't good.

But, you know, the people that work here, Gene, I can tell you, for years and years, we never ran one ad to hire someone, they just showed up.

You know, Conor is standing here in front of us.

Conor just showed up one day.

He just showed up.

He's been here for years.

You know, Mary, Tina, they just walked in saying, "Hey, you got work?".

And away we go.

You know, it's just, there's something about...

There's something about, you know, I would say if you're pursuing your mission in life, the world will come to you.

That's has a lot to do with it.

- Wow, philosophy once again rears its ugly head as we talk about success.

You've written a book fascinatingly titled Bumblebees, Butterflies and People.

Interestingly enough, aside from the magnificent photography around the vineyard and your beautiful family, the wine piece of it is very modest, very second in priority to your business philosophies, your personal philosophies.

And there's one in there that I have lived since I first heard Zig Ziglar say it many years ago, more than I care to admit, "You can have "anything in this world that you want if you're willing to "serve enough people to have them get what they want."

That seems to be at the heart of what Blue Ridge offers their guests.

- 100%.

- 100%.

I love that.

It's so true.

You can have anything in life you want, if you will, it doesn't matter what field you're in, does it?

You know, we are we are our best version of ourselves when we're adding value to people around us.

And, my gosh, that really does summarize the whole thing.

Really great stuff.

- Tiff, I'm going to send this to you, Randy is a force of nature.

We can see that.

He has given you the credit for being that foundation.

This partnership that you've developed, if you were counseling the wife of another entrepreneur as to how best to make that partnership work, what would one wife of an entrepreneur say to another wife?

- I guess I need to value you a bit more.

- No.

So... Can I tell you what I thought she would say in that second?

In that moment?

- I was going to say, make sure you spend time not working all the time, spend time with your family and your husband.

Right.

One of the things, the reason that Blue Ridge is so, I wouldn't use the word successful, is that a lot of times I'm here running around.

So I'm the eyes on the ground seeing it all.

And then Tiff is doing all the number crunching and all the accounting work up at the house.

When we get together at night, we're talking about, you know, we're bringing the two together and nothing gets past us.

I would like to think.

Because Tiff's got the one side, I got the other side.

So when it comes to managing a small business, what you should do is, man, there's certain things that you should always have a beat on.

Have your thumb on the money, your thumb on the finances.

You know, a lot of times you could be losing money.

You don't even know it's happening until it's too late.

- That's really good.

- And Tiffany, I'm going to take the attention back to you, even though it doesn't seem that you're really liking the attention.

I'll turn it back on you, because I think he's really good.

And I think your answer was so very valuable, as my wife and I are in partnership together and, yes, making sure that we carve out that time that's not business time, been one of the real keys for us, not just to be a successful couple, not just to be in a successful marriage, but to be successful business people because we are role models for the people around us.

And if they see us making that commitment to the people that we love, they'll make the same commitment.

I think you may have had the heart of the matter right there.

Natalie, is a proof positive that that's a philosophy that works.

I'm going to thank both of you and thank Natalie for being part of the show.

And as I turn back to our audience, I want to thank you for being part of the show.

I know you heard a lot tonight that you're going to need to process.

You're going to need to head to Blue Ridge.

You're going to want to buy that book, Bumblebees, Butterflies and People.

You will learn a lot.

I did.

And I've been doing this a long time.

So, again, thank you so much for being with us.

If you have a question for a future show, send that to me directly, gene@askmtm.com, G-E-N-E at askmtm.com, and we'll answer every single question that we receive, and hopefully, perhaps you'll see it on a future show.

Again, thank you for spending your time with us.

We'll see you next time on More Than Money.