Ainsley Toal with The Steel Magnolia Bar and Olivia Newell with Theory Salon

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:24] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio. Stone Payton here with you this morning, and today’s episode is brought to you in part by Woodstock Neighbors magazine, bringing neighbors and business together. For more information, go to Facebook and Instagram at Woodstock Neighbors wbvm. And if you have a heart for community and want to continue to grow your small business, consider joining the Main Street Warriors movement. Go check us out at Main Street warriors.org. All right, now it is my distinct pleasure to welcome back to the Business RadioX microphone with Theory Salon, Miss Olivia Newell. How have you been?

Olivia Newell: [00:01:10] Good morning. I’ve been so good and I’m so excited to be back.

Stone Payton: [00:01:14] Oh, I am delighted to have you back in the studio. You got so much really cool stuff going on. Tell us about what you did a couple of weeks ago and tell us who you brought with you today.

Olivia Newell: [00:01:26] Yeah. I’m excited. So we had our fall market pop up a couple of weeks ago at the salon, where we hosted just about 40 vendors that are local businesses in the area. And today I’m so excited. I brought my good friend Ainsley Toal with me. She was one of our vendors at the event. I’ve been so honored to meet her and get to know her a little bit. I think her business is so cool. So I want to welcome Ainsley today and tell you a little bit about her her business.

Ainsley Toal : [00:01:56] Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it.

Olivia Newell: [00:01:59] So, Ainsley, tell me what’s what’s your business? Give me. Give me some details. What? What is it? What do you do? Why do I love it so much? The listeners have got to know.

Ainsley Toal : [00:02:10] Well, a few months ago, actually, back in April, I started renovating a old horse trailer. It’s a 1970s double horse trailer that I renovated to start a mobile bar business located in Dawsonville, Georgia. But obviously a mobile. I’ll travel wherever I am. Mom and I work full time, and so I just really wanted to do something that was for me and learn a new skill set. And so I’ve always been in the food and beverage industry, hospitality industry. So that’s something that’s been very important to me. I’m passionate about making experiences for people that are memorable, and so I kind of just wanted to get back to that and do something fun and something to bring a little extra income to my family. And so I started renovating this horse trailer. That was an absolute rust bucket. It actually belonged to my husband’s grandmother. She bought it in 1972 when they bought when they moved to Dawsonville, Georgia. And so I just started renovating it and filming myself. And so now I’m up and ready. I’ve done a couple of events so far. I’ve done did Olivia’s pop up event, which was super fun, super successful, and I’ve just had a bunch of fun.

Olivia Newell: [00:03:25] I love it, I love it, that’s awesome. So give me a little bit more of your backstory, because I feel like with your business, there’s lots of elements here. One being for me, the horse trailer itself is so cool, you guys. She did such a good job. I mean, talk about like DIY, I want you to come to my house and everything else. So the trailer itself is so cool. And then there’s that layer of element that you just said about having the hospitality background. I mean, your drinks were killer. So there’s so much that kind of went into it. I want to hear more of, like your story of, I mean, how do you have these skills to be able to build this horse trailer? I saw you out there working. I’m like, dang, girl, she knows how to work a tool.

Ainsley Toal : [00:04:05] Well, I didn’t, so and that was part of this whole journey for me, is that I wanted to learn how to do something. And so I had no idea what to do. I, I watched a couple of YouTube videos, and there’s not really a lot of DIY horse trailer like videos and stuff. So I was like, I don’t, I literally have no idea. So I’ll just get started. And here, here I go. And I spent six weeks just sanding like the dirt and rust away. Like 50 something years worth of oh my gosh, crud. Yeah. And and I just started doing it and I was amazed with myself of what I could do because I’ve never used a power tool. I mean, I can use a screwdriver, but like that’s about the extent of what I can do. And so that was a real fun thing for me to learn is because I wanted to learn a new skill set and have a new hobby. And so that was part of that whole journey for me. But but I’ve always, like I said, been in food and beverage since I was 15 years old.

Ainsley Toal : [00:05:09] We started at Little Country Cafe back home in South Georgia. And then through college I worked at Sea Island Resorts and a bartended at Mellow Mushroom, so I have about eight years experience doing that. Excuse me. And and then post college, I actually graduated with a marketing degree. And so I went to work for Jekyll Island Authority, hosting and putting on events with them. And so I did that for almost four years. The biggest event we did was the Shrimp and Grits Festival, which was 45,000 people. Yeah, that’s so cool. And we did small ones that were just a couple hundred. So that’s kind of my background in doing events and bartending and just giving back to people and giving them experiences and being in the service industry. And that’s something that’s important to me, because just getting to do experiences with people and of all walks of life and getting to know them, and that’s something that’s important to me. And I love talking to people and getting to know people.

Olivia Newell: [00:06:12] Yeah, yeah, you can definitely see your passion through and through. And you had your husband with you that night, which I thought was cool, and he helped you build the trailer. He had no choice. I love it, I love it, put him to work. Yes.

Ainsley Toal : [00:06:23] I have been putting him to work, so I love it. So he’s he’s like, I’ve always wanted to bartend. And I’m like, well, here I go, making your dream come true. So he’s had fun doing it. And actually, I mean, we did the whole thing ourselves. I mean, from start to finish. There’s nothing that we hired out. So amazing. I did have to have his help toward the end of doing some of the more major power tools and woodworking, and my father in law. But but that’s okay. Yeah, it does, it does. And so and my son was helping me paint and my niece and my other daughter. So like, it was really a family affair. So it’s been so fun for all of us to do it. Yes, I.

Olivia Newell: [00:07:02] Loved following you on Instagram and seeing your whole family out there and your kids. It was so cute. You can just see the passion that you have and it’s just I love like a small business. I love a female owned business. I think that’s so cool. It’s very empowering to see. So tell me so far, what has been probably your most challenging thing that you’ve come across?

Ainsley Toal : [00:07:24] I would say just my, I guess, self confidence of knowing like, you can do this. I’ve never owned a business, I don’t know how to own a business, but I know, I know how to make a drink and I know how to, you know, have help. You have a good time. But the whole. Yeah. So like the behind the scenes part of that, I guess, is been the most challenging for me. And, and just having, being totally transparent imposter syndrome because I look at people and I’m like, I don’t know that I could ever be that good, or I don’t know that I am that good. And you know what I am. Yes. And so I need to believe that in myself and I and I want other women and other business owners to believe that too, is like, you can do this, you can do hard things. You can do things that you didn’t think that you could. And don’t compare yourself to other people, you know. And so that’s that’s been a little bit of a journey for me. And just learning and being confident in who I am and what I’m doing, and I’m getting there and every day it’s getting better. So yeah.

Olivia Newell: [00:08:21] I love that and I love that your kids get to see that too. I think it’s really impactful on the family to kind of, you know, be something more than just your husband’s wife or mom. You know, it’s like you’ve got this whole business that you’ve created and you’re touching lives left and right, picking up power tools, learning how to do it. No YouTube videos. I’m shocked. Like, that’s crazy. I’m you took on a challenge I would be very afraid of early on.

Ainsley Toal : [00:08:43] My son, he he was out there helping me and he came out and he was like, mom, I’m just so proud of you. And I’m like, that’s that’s so that’s what I want you to see. I want you to see that you can do things that you didn’t think that you could. And so that was really important to me. And he has no idea how much that meant to me. He’s seven. And and so I just it just really hit my heart. And I was like, okay, good. He sees this. So I have.

Olivia Newell: [00:09:11] To say that after throwing the pop up event, my son Sullivan, that’s three was at the event with me. And the next morning he said, mom, you’ve thrown a lot of cool parties. But last night was so cool. You did such a good job. So I feel the same way. I’m like, I don’t care if most of the people didn’t have a good time. My son loved it and he said, I did great and I win. That’s all that matters. That is all that matters. So I totally can relate on that. That’s awesome. Let’s see. Well, I feel like we kind of touched on what your most rewarding thing is. It sounds like. Do you have any mentors or anyone that has kind of helped you along to kind of get where you are? Where do you find your inspiration from?

Ainsley Toal : [00:09:49] I see things that I like, and I just kind of like Pinterest and Instagram, TikTok, those sorts of things, those kind of inspire me and just my, my personal what I like. And so I guess that’s kind of my style. And as far as drinks, I like, you know, all over the board and I, I should say also that I don’t want to just focus on on doing alcohol. I want to do mocktails, I want to do kids parties because those I have friends and family that are choosing a sober lifestyle for whatever reason. And just my circle has so many young kids. And so it’s important to me that I focus on doing something that can I can offer experience to someone that no matter their stage or age in life. So that’s something important to me.

Olivia Newell: [00:10:34] You’ve got a good reach there. So that kind of leads me to you. What are your future plans like? Where do you see Steel Magnolia going next?

Ainsley Toal : [00:10:41] Hopefully to your next party. Yeah.

Olivia Newell: [00:10:45] I love that. Yeah. It’s a good reason to have a party. Yeah.

Ainsley Toal : [00:10:48] I really I would love to have a whole fleet of trailers, but that’s a, that’s a big dream. But I guess for here and right now I really would like to be able to leave my full time job and focus on this so that I can have more time with my family and really put more effort into this business.

Olivia Newell: [00:11:08] So this is your side hustle? I didn’t know that. Okay, so what’s your full time job? Fill me in on that.

Ainsley Toal : [00:11:13] I’m in insurance. Okay. Boring. Well, but I’m like very important.

Olivia Newell: [00:11:18] Well, you know what? I’m just so impressed again, because the way that you run Steel Magnolia, you would think that it’s your full time job. I mean, you just kill it. It’s amazing. You do the social media, you’re booking events, doing a couple a week here and there. You got weddings, parties, holiday events, everything. And then you’re working another job and three kids. Okay, let me just bow down. Hold on. Whoa. That’s awesome. Okay, so tell me a little bit where what is your your next big thing that you have coming up?

Ainsley Toal : [00:11:51] Well, actually this weekend it’s at Theory Salon. So your salon here in Woodstock, I’m super excited. We’re going to do a couple mocktails and just have a good time. And I’m looking forward to.

Olivia Newell: [00:12:03] That’s awesome. That’ll be really fun. Okay, so we have to leave the people all your information so that that way they can find you and hire you for their next event. Because I’m going to book her up guys. So how do they find you? What’s your website?

Ainsley Toal : [00:12:16] I you can find me at the Steel Magnolia bar.com. That’s my Instagram handle, my Facebook and TikTok. Candle. And again, I’m located in Dawsonville, Georgia, but we’re very excited. Thank you.

Olivia Newell: [00:12:29] So much. Yeah. And do they have like you get to do like an inquiry on your website. Yeah, yeah.

Ainsley Toal : [00:12:34] So we have an inquiry form an intake form. Just fill out some basic information about your event. When, where how many people do you expect. And we kind of just take that information and determine a package for you what fits your needs. We can do custom. We do as big as weddings or small little private events like I’m doing tomorrow night, a little Halloween party. So yeah.

Olivia Newell: [00:12:59] And what areas do you really kind of cater to that you will go to literally anywhere.

Ainsley Toal : [00:13:04] Yeah. So mobile I will I will go that’s so cool.

Olivia Newell: [00:13:08] I love it. That’s awesome.

Speaker5: [00:13:09] So I have.

Stone Payton: [00:13:10] A question for you, Olivia. Why are you so invested in giving people like Ainsley a platform to share their story? Why are you so invested in other people? Don’t you have enough on your plate already?

Olivia Newell: [00:13:24] I’m crazy. I’m the problem. Um, no, I just I love, you know, obviously I’ve talked about it on the show the last time. I love what I do so much, and nothing makes me happier than to see, like, boss babes. You know, I love moms and females that do everything. We are like Wonder Woman, you know, speaking of and being that for Halloween. So. But no, I do. I love it and I feel like, you know, I’ve been given some cool opportunities, like I was able to come on this show before. And so I always want to share resources that I have and be able to put it in front of other people. I think we as women, the best thing we can do, especially in 2023, is just unite with one another. We’re more powerful in numbers, and so I just think it’s cool to pass that baton and help each other grow.

Stone Payton: [00:14:15] I think it’s marvelous, and I think there are a lot of people in our community here, particularly in Cherokee County and surrounding counties, that are that are genuinely invested in helping everybody. Right? Not just one of the things I just love about this area. And I got to say, as an entrepreneur, you know, I’m a little longer in the tooth than you two. So I’ve been at it a while and had ups and downs. I think people like for me, they see where we are now with multiple studios around the country. Now they see your renovated horse trailer and all the cool stuff, and I don’t think they necessarily understand, particularly non entrepreneurs, what it took to get there. You guys marveled at the at being able to manage the power tools and restore the trailer and all that, and believe me, that is so far outside my skill set. I got two tools in my house a telephone and a checkbook.

Speaker6: [00:15:00] Oh my God.

Stone Payton: [00:15:02] But but one of the things that occurred to me that the big hairy thing, because I would have never even thought about touching, that I definitely would have hired that out. But weren’t there some hoops you had to jump through to, like, get the right licensing and all to be to serve the alcohol and all that?

Ainsley Toal : [00:15:16] Well, actually, I don’t have a liquor license because in the state of Georgia, if you don’t have a brick and mortar, you can’t have a liquor license. So what I am considered is a dry hire. So you buy the booze and I serve them, but I am fully licensed and insured. I have a pouring license in my county so I can. That’s how I can legally do it, right? But just as most venues they you you purchase the alcohol or private party, you you purchase the alcohol and I provide literally every single thing else except for the alcohol. Right.

Stone Payton: [00:15:48] But but you knew that. You figured all that out. You had to jump through all the all those hoops. A lot of.

Speaker6: [00:15:53] Research.

Stone Payton: [00:15:55] Absolutely. So how does the whole I guess I’m from the training consulting world, but the sales and marketing thing work for a for a new company like yours, or are you just out there shaking the bushes and meeting people like Olivia? Like, how do you how do you get to work?

Ainsley Toal : [00:16:10] Well, I haven’t really promoted myself yet just because I am so brand new. I finished up the trailer in September for a wedding, but I’ve just been using social media, primarily Instagram and Facebook, and that’s how Olivia found me. And I’ve been so grateful and and just word of mouth and promoting on there. And I’ve reached out to a couple venues that I’m actually on a preferred preferred vendor list. Just saying, hey, I’m in your area, you have this really cool thing. I’m the only one in this area. I’d love to connect with you. And so that’s primarily where it’s been. It’s been with social media. And so once I get some more photos and things like that, I plan on reaching out to more venues, but primarily word of mouth. But that’s that’s gold in my opinion.

Speaker6: [00:16:57] So. And oh, by.

Stone Payton: [00:16:58] The way, I’m a I’m a wife. I’m a mother.

Speaker6: [00:17:01] I’m.

Stone Payton: [00:17:02] In the insurance business. I mean, goodness gracious, I am just in awe. Yeah, I could I could see why you wanted to bring Angelina. Well, we wish every success for you. We’re going to do everything we can to support you. I’ve got one quick idea that I’ll mention to you off air, because I don’t know if I can pull it off. Okay, but at least let you know about it. But, you know, you had.

Speaker6: [00:17:22] Me at bar. Yeah.

Olivia Newell: [00:17:24] Yes, that’s usually a good one. I’m like, where are you?

Ainsley Toal : [00:17:25] Find me.

Olivia Newell: [00:17:26] Mobile bar. Say no more.

Stone Payton: [00:17:29] So I’ll swing back around to you. Because one more time I want to make sure our listeners have your contact info. But, Olivia, where can people reach out and learn more about theory?

Speaker6: [00:17:37] Yeah, absolutely.

Olivia Newell: [00:17:38] So our website is theory dash Salon.com. You can follow us on social media. It’s theory underscore salon and something cool that we are doing for the month of November and December. We are bringing in local businesses to spotlight them and do a shop small Saturday. And instead of just doing it the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I’m going to do it every Saturday in November and December. So you guys come any Saturday, November, December, you’ll find one of our awesome vendors and local business people that were either at our event or I’ve met through some walk of life. We’ve got an alley that’ll be here this weekend with her mobile pop up bar, serving some nice mocktails while you get your hair done next weekend I’ve got some permanent jewelry, some spray tan businesses garnished with Grace, which actually teamed up with Ainsley at our event, which was really cool. She does like.

Ainsley Toal : [00:18:33] Dehydrated fruits and.

Olivia Newell: [00:18:34] Dehydrated fruit that went with her. Yeah, that went with her.

Speaker6: [00:18:37] Like an old fashioned.

Stone Payton: [00:18:38] Like the dehydrated. Oh, baby.

Speaker6: [00:18:40] Okay. Yes.

Olivia Newell: [00:18:41] So the two of them together. Power couple. But yeah, lots of that. So anytime November and December, if you guys are looking for holiday or gifts this is incredible. Please support your local small businesses. We really appreciate it and just come see us.

Stone Payton: [00:18:56] There is a special place in regular heaven, but particularly small business heaven at the right hand of the King himself or herself. For you. Yeah. God, you’re a wonderful person. All right, Ainsley, one more time. Coordinates for our folks to reach out and learn more and have a conversation with you and book you.

Ainsley Toal : [00:19:15] Yeah. You can find me at the Steel magnolia.com or the Steel Magnolia on Facebook and Instagram.

Stone Payton: [00:19:22] Fantastic. Well, it has been an absolute delight having you two in the studio. Thank you both so much and neither of you don’t be a stranger. We’ll have you back. And Olivia, tell her I’m being sincere. Right. I’ll really have you back.

Olivia Newell: [00:19:35] It’s so fun to. He doesn’t know what he got into telling me. I could come.

Speaker6: [00:19:38] Back.

Stone Payton: [00:19:40] Well, thank you both. This has been.

Speaker6: [00:19:41] Fantastic.

Stone Payton: [00:19:43] All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you again on Cherokee Business Radio.