One Big Beaver
My God, have you ever been to a Buc-ee’s gas station? Mom took me on Christmas Day. It’s a gas station the size of the Bahamas.
The damn place is 53,000 square feet and has 120 gas pumps. Every redneck in the southeastern United States was there. Including me.
“Let’s stop so you can see Buc-ee’s,” Mom said as I drove us to the beach.
“What’s Buc-ee’s?” I asked.
“You will see,” she smiled. The pain pills were wearing off. Mom broke her back a few weeks ago. No big deal. Let’s go to the beach.
As we ventured inside, there were hordes of people scrambling to buy useless stuff. Fishing shirts, Jesus hats, pocketknives, chicken nuggets. There was a wall of beef jerky at least fourteen football fields long.
“$25 a pound? That is ridiculous!” Mom exclaimed. I had no idea she knew the going rate for beef jerky. I have never seen her eat a piece in her entire life.
In a center of the store was a BBQ island. Six uniformed employees furiously chopped dead pigs into small pieces and packed them up into thousands of sandwiches. People lined up to snatch a few.
There were stuffed beavers, beaver nuggets, beaver signs, beaver foods, and a man dressed in beaver pajamas.
Buc-ee’s, the Walmart of diabetes, also had at least 16 tons of fudge for sale.
I was mesmerized. I kept thinking what genius came up with this concept and convinced investors to open it?
I want to meet that wizard.
Every once in a while, I stumble upon an amazing business concept I wish I came up with. Like this one. The largest gas station in the galaxy.
There is a point of this story.
The greatest businesses find a concept and create the biggest one in the world.
Home Depot did it for hardware.
Walmart did it for everything.
Dubai did it for cities.
Bass Pro Shop did it for, well, bass fishing I guess.
And, Buc-ee’s did it for gas stations.
The lesson?
Go big or go home. The universe doesn’t need you to play small. Nobody likes mice. Be a rat.
What?
Nevermind.
Enough of playing small. That’s boring. Do some outrageous stuff.
Go big in 2022!
Trey
P.S. How do you go big? I am glad you asked…
You take your list of goals for 2022 and burn them and write outrageous ones.
You cancel your vacation to Myrtle Beach and buy a ticket to Scotland and stay in a castle.
You call a headhunter and get a job with Nike or lulu lemon or Snapchat.
You quit dating losers and go for hotties way outside your league.
You don’t lose five pounds, you become a bodybuilder.
You don’t hire a coach, you become a coach. You don’t take yoga, you instruct yoga. You don’t join a small group, you start a small group. You don’t fly on an airplane, you fly an airplane.
See what I am doing here? Think. Much. Bigger.
Grab a friend, take three shots of tequila, and make a list of the most insane ideas and adventures you can possibly think of then circle the craziest one. Invite me and let’s go for it.