Epic Entrepreneurs

Ten Years, Two Markets: How Big Frog Turned Branded Apparel into a Community Growth Engine With David Riddell

• Bill Gilliland

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What if your logo could sell for you every day—quietly, consistently, and everywhere your customers go? We sit down with David Riddell of Big Frog Custom T‑Shirts to unpack a decade of growth powered by flexible production, community presence, and relentless follow-through. From single-shirt solutions to thousand-piece runs, David explains why a retail, touch-and-feel experience reduces guesswork, builds trust, and turns branded apparel into a high-ROI channel that outperforms many ads.

The conversation gets real about the financial heartbeat of a small business: cash flow. David breaks down the uncomfortable math of big orders with slow pay, the danger of over-leveraging in good times, and the simple “what if” exercises that protect your runway. We also explore the shift from being known to being chosen—why relationships don’t always convert, how to ask “Why not me?” without losing authenticity, and the importance of finding the decision maker early. If you’re leaving corporate expecting quick parity, this is the frank reset: a business plan, a marketing plan, and capital timing are non-negotiable.

Hiring and culture take center stage as David shares why he screens for service mindset, listening, and multitasking before design portfolios. Skill can be trained; fit and desire move the line. We talk about networking that actually fuels you—be interested, not just interesting—along with gratitude at scale, from personalized gifts to timely thank-yous that strengthen referral loops. And with ten years in and an empty nest, David opens up about stepping back from multiple boards to make space for a more intentional next chapter—mentoring, teaching, or building anew.

If you care about small business growth, brand visibility, and the human side of entrepreneurship, you’ll find practical wins here: model cash timing, hire for fit, ask for the sale, and keep learning in public. Press play, then tell us your biggest takeaway—and if this helped, follow, rate, and share it with a founder who needs a nudge today.

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!

Bill

BillGilliland:

Hey there, everybody. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am super pumped up about our guest today. But before we get that, let me introduce myself. I'm Bill Gilliland, the principal at Action Coach Business Growth Partners, and one of the founders of the Asheville Business Summit. And uh today I'm super pumped. I uh repeat guest. He's been before on the podcast. I've got David Riddell. And David, so tell us a little bit about you and your business and your company and how you serve this community.

DavidRiddell:

Perfect. It's great to be here. I appreciate it. So I own Big Frog Custom T-shirts in Asheville, down in Arden. Um, quite simply, we do everything apparel with your logo on it, keeping you visible, whether it's um uniforms, fundraising, networking, or gifts. We can do one or we can do thousands. We also print six different ways, whereas the traditional printers will um just do screen printing and embroidery. So we have a retail shop. You can come in, touch and feel, sing and dance, find the right solutions for brand style and budget, which matters. Being able to do one, being able to do the many, being able to just understand all of those things is great. December is 10 years open for us, which is a milestone in any business. But in a place that's event-based and marketing based, we made it a year and a half through COVID when there were no events in the trying economic times that there are. We uh uh people will cut marketing first because they can't cut payroll and they can't cut rent. So they cut marketing, of which is apparel. But anywhere you go, your logo is your silent salesperson. It is 100% return on investment. So why not spend some money and give out your brand for people to wear or all of your people wear it? And that's what makes us the experts in the area. And 10 years is is quite again quite the time. We're proud of that because that gives us the longevity and time served. I also have a location in Durham, um, four hours away. So then that gives me two different markets to understand um business and two sets of resources and lots of different people, and we all learn from people. So, yeah, 10 years, big frog custom t-shirts still rolling.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, well, that's exciting. Congrats on 10 years. Let me ask you this if you had to start from square one in business, what would you do differently?

DavidRiddell:

I think um the two things I've always done right is people because that's the background I came from, is always I'm hiring, and you can't have your own people. You can't have people exactly like you. So having a great team and leveraging the community and being more than the name on the door uh are our staples. But if I look back, it's like take it a little slower because the biggest thing in business isn't top line, and it and bottom line matters because that's where you make money, but cash flow matters. So how you spend it, how you hold on to it, do you have it in the crazy times? Um, don't over-leverage yourself, pace yourself. Uh, but I mean that that's always been my biggest issue is those crazy times going, do we have what we need to get through it? But when times are great, I have a great team, and I've always been a part of the community, right? From day one, even before we opened, it was go out and be more than the name on the door and give back and be present and engaged. And that got us through everything. But you always need to make sure that again, I mean, cash flow and and pacing yourself, don't go too crazy. We got the second location in in Durham, probably a little sooner than we should have. But hindsight, foresight, and insight are everything. And if we were all perfect, then uh we wouldn't be having some conversations.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, no, it's good. Yeah, I think that's good. I mean, you yeah, you did a lot of things right. But obviously, uh keep an eye on cash flow. I always say cash flow is the blood of business. You don't have any blood, you can't keep going. So well, starting with our government.

DavidRiddell:

I mean, our government and some Fortune 500 companies might look like they have a great financial statement, but they don't have any money and they keep borrowing it, right? And you can't do that. It's like you have to be able, what if machine? I've seen too many businesses go down because they had to buy equipment, or if I get a $20,000 sale and I'm gonna see $10,000 of it, but it's gonna take me four months to get paid. I mean, four or four months rent, I'm gonna get in profit. But how do I cover all of that until until that happens? Cash flow is king, and everybody doesn't learn that quick enough, and then they run out of money, even if business is going well.

BillGilliland:

Yeah. So give us uh well, you've kind of already done that, but give us a maybe maybe one more big learning that you've had as an owner and an employer since you started.

DavidRiddell:

So I've been some of my team will say I'm a salesperson. What I'm not is a cold hard sell kind of guy, and where and I'm never going to be, so always stay with who you are. But within that, the amount of people I've met, and if they reach out to me, then I'll follow up like crazy. But I don't think I've ever had the I don't know, the the the the dark side to look at somebody and go, but I've seen you for five years, and now you're wearing apparel that I didn't quote. So trying to quantify that, I think it's a little bit more aggressive, not in going cold hard sales, but asking those questions, like, why not me? Why, if I did all the right things and I've known you, did you not even put me into the equation? Right. So I think I've missed some opportunities in some businesses that again, they know me. Um, they know everything I am. I've never done anything wrong, but I've never been given the opportunity. Maybe because I didn't ask, right? There's a thing that says, hey, they'll come to me, or I'm doing everything right. But how about you ask a little bit more?

BillGilliland:

Yeah, I like that. Well, yeah, I like I like that a lot because Yeah, I mean, people are happy, people have habits, right? I mean, they may know you, they may like you, they may trust you, and they still buy the stuff from whoever they bought it from last time.

DavidRiddell:

Right. And then trusted trust and referrals, and that's great. The no like and trusting, I'm I'm amazed with. But when people have never had anything, like they've never done those services, so uh you would think you'd go to those people that that you don't know, but the internet must be cheaper, right? It's like, or somebody knew a person, but you know, I mean, right? Somebody in the and and oftentimes it might be somebody in the same business, but uh um the person that I'm dealing with isn't the decision maker, but they didn't go, like I didn't go to them soon enough and say, come on, what about pitch me, pitch me, can you help me out?

BillGilliland:

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's unbelievable. Yeah, it's it's it's good. Well, uh, yeah, you gotta ask. It's a great, that's a great lesson. So what are some what's a common misconception or misconceptions about running a business?

DavidRiddell:

I I think everybody, like I watched a couple people. I'm a president of a business association, and and I watched three businesses last year where they were all over 40, so they left their corporate America job, they came and started their business, and all three of them were doing something that they had they had worked for somebody. So they thought it's easy. I know how to do it, so therefore I'll go into business. And two things went wrong. Two things went wrong. Just because you know it and you're good at it and can follow the leader doesn't mean you can do it. And then within that, you've got a couple of pain points and say, I didn't have a business plan andor marketing plan. My sites were too high because I thought I'd make my corporate America money back. And six months later, you're going, why am I not making the 150 grand from corporate America? Um, and and so then it became what I what I mentioned a few minutes ago, then it becomes cash flow. Just because it's easy for you working for somebody and doing the task does not make you a business owner. I mean, I am not a designer nor a printer, I'm a retail corporate middle manager guy. What does that mean? I understand decision makings and all of the things in my business: the people, the workflow, uh, the the marketing, right? Everything keep going back to everything. People, and if if my my wife knows the books because that was her side and the franchise can teach us, and then we can learn because in in corporate America, you got to keep learning and keep pivoting, and they'll keep beating you down into submission. Um, but I could hire the people that can design because there's a bunch of great people, and then we can learn everything together. But it didn't mean that I had to do exactly what I was doing. I used a skill set and then went a different direction. But if somebody's a plumber, they're great at that. Doesn't mean they can be the business owner of said task or trade.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, I've seen a lot of GMs fail when they bought the business from their from their previous boss. It's pretty interesting. I it's shocking in a lot of ways. I've seen them succeed as well, but a lot of them don't know. They they just don't when it's your own money, uh, you know, it's a different, it's a different deal. So what are you?

DavidRiddell:

It's leveraging, but isn't it leverage it's it's leveraging your resources, which is your people, and then they say have the lawyer and the accountant and the business and have have the Bill Gillolands of the world, right? And we don't do it. I know how to do it, so therefore I'll do it. I don't need a coach, I don't need an accountant. And um, oh by the way, I'm I'm great at it. But yes, some have done very, very well and they understand leverage the community. We have, I mean, business organizations and different things. You can learn just by being engaged.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, just show up. Yeah, it's it's it's pretty cool. Yeah, go to things like the business summit and uh other uh any kind of educational business events, just show up. I know you go.

DavidRiddell:

Oh, that's seven hours, right? You walk away from there going, I've heard this all before, but maybe not the way that that Murphy, which is one of the greatest in our area, it's like she says it and you just go, oh yeah, now I get it, right? Like Bob on.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, well, you know, sort of the students ready when the you know, when the teacher shows up. I mean, or the teacher shows up when the student's ready. It's kind of an interesting thing. So yeah, hey, what do you attribute your growth to?

DavidRiddell:

Uh I would say never stopping the grind is a really weird word, but I mean, my wife will keep asking, why am I why why am I looking at the phone at 10 o'clock on a Saturday night? That red dot that you see. I mean, back in the day you saw the cat chasing the red dot on the wall. But I mean, that's kind of what I'm doing. It's like, well, if somebody emails me at 10 o'clock on a Saturday and I'm the first one to email back, maybe they won't ask for any quotes. We're on vacation and I'm still getting up in the morning with a laptop. You could debate the other side of it and say, does Dave have any work-life balance? And and okay, work is my hobby, but there is a grind that says fear of failure. Even when you're doing well, I'll stand in the store saying there's not enough boxes. And they said, but we're ahead. I said, Well, then we need to get behind, right? And so there's this psychological thing that says, I don't want to lose. It's my livelihood. You can lose a house, you can lose everything you've got. You don't want to go back to work for somebody once you have a taste of doing it yourself. So there's this maniacal um drive and grind with an entrepreneur, and you know that it's like you may never make as much as you did in corporate, and you will definitely work more, but it's yours, it's all yours, and don't you don't want to lose it.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. It's just the drive. So speaking of personal life, how do you balance personal life and the demands of running a business?

DavidRiddell:

I mean, well, it's my wife and I in the business, so it's not, I mean, we have to learn to shut it off when we're home. But what you don't want to do is come home and the rest of the family hasn't been involved with and then download it on them, right? So you know how to keep it separate when you're both in it, but we just pick and choose our battles. I mean, a work hard play hard, but our play hard is play hardly. Like we like to rest when we rest, and whether whether our our vice is is the beach or baseball. Um I mean, we're i it's like we just know when to know when to shut it down, but or or take it in moderation, right? It's like as hard as we're working, some of that work is me in a chamber thing or a business thing, which is feeding my soul because it's people and learning. So somebody will go, you spent the whole day working. No, I spent the whole day learning, or oh, you started at an eight o'clock business meeting and you went to a chamber thing till eight. I said, but half of that, is that really work? I mean, it's net work, but if there's still something about it. And so I I always think, I mean, mindset matters is what you'll hear coaches say, and how you go about things. And and the more stress you put on yourself at work, the less you can enjoy the little bit of time you have. So it's uh how you look at things, I believe, is is still a big deal.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that. And if you're um if you're built like you and you enjoy people and networking, then it's not that much work if you yeah, it's networking, but like you said, if if it if it's it it kind of it kind of gets you jazzed up, which is cool. There are other of us who, you know, we're like, man, I don't want to leave my office and go out and hit another networking event. But you know, it's an it's an interesting uh so that's Laney.

DavidRiddell:

But you're a great, you're a great coach, but you've surrounded yourself with a couple of them that like to be extroverted, go out and get them. I mean, who do you give credit? You didn't say, um, yeah, I put this thing together, this great summit together. Who did you say? She did an amazing job.

BillGilliland:

No, no, yeah. And and look, and I and I've done a lot of networking and I've, you know, and I've and I'm really good at it. I just don't, you know, it's it's at a point. Uh, you know, I think there's people who love it and people who don't, and I'm, you know, I'm extroverted too, but it's again, it's an interesting thing.

DavidRiddell:

It's but there's outsourcing for there's a reasonable. Yeah, yeah. And and so then you can't go by business development.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, I think you're amazing because you go to all I I've I mean, you're at everything. But I, you know, I don't know how you do it because there's uh, you know, I have three other people and they're dividing to try to get to everything, and we don't even hit that. I don't think we go to as many as you do. So, which is pretty, pretty, pretty exciting. Let me ask you something else. Let's change the subject just a little bit. How do you we know I mean, you know, if you really want to learn how to networking, you should emulate David. I mean, it's it's unbelievable. Let me ask you something. When you're looking, and this is something you're you you know, you've like you said, you're a people person. What qualities do you look for in employees? And how do you foster a positive productive work environment?

DavidRiddell:

So everybody says skill set is everything, but fit matters more, desire matters more. There's a theory in football, if anybody remembers Jerry Rice versus Randy Moss, and Jerry Rice is this little dude from the middle of nowhere, Mississippi, who didn't have the natural-born talents but outworked everybody in his hall of fame. And then Randy Moss um was this natural-born talent, and nobody liked him, and they put up with his diva self, but he was amazing. But he didn't work as hard. So when I'm interviewing, somebody will come in and they want they're bringing their resume and all these little internships that they had done, and and they're um let me uh let me show you my portfolio. And I don't ask them design questions because they haven't worked for the client, they've worked for themselves, right? It's like, can you multitask? Do you have the customer service skills first? Do you have multitasking second? Can you listen to a client third? Can you use our software? And and so I think they're disappointed when I'm not talking about their design. But I said, you can clearly design, we'll get there. I need a certain person. So skill set matters, or we wouldn't be talking to you, but I need to know who you are at the core. So I'm asking questions like, why do you work there? How do you like that? Why did you do this? What did you want to be? And um, and then especially when I'm hiring, I don't know, 18 to 30 year olds in this generation, they want to be a part of something, and time off matters. We just spend time talking about my grind, and we all grind, but the grind with this next generation is different. It's like they're not thinking 10 years ahead, they're thinking about Saturday, and so schedule matters, environment matters. I mean, pizza, pizza, t-shirts, tickets to something, because I can only pay them so much. I can't give health insurance and everybody can't make 50 grand, but I can make them feel important. And in my world, they all want to be a designer, either owning their own business or working for some massive company, but they need the resume experience first, which I can give them. And what they don't think they need is the business experience, which I can give them more than I'm not gonna give them design experience ever, if they're gonna get that by hands-on. So feel a part of something and personality and fit matters because when I was working mall retail for 20 years, I could have hired the best manager in the mall. Great, you've got the skill set. I mean, you're you're it. Not if you can't fit the system, not if you can't fit the vibe um and and the flow and the people. So I've always looked beyond the words on the page of the resume.

BillGilliland:

I love it. I love that. I really love that. So, what advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow?

DavidRiddell:

Um, I I would say it's a marathon, not a sprint, that it's not a get rich quick scheme, definitely. That you will go through every entrepreneur emotion. They've got that cycle and that, and I know you know it, but this upward thing, and nope, it's all over the board. I mean, it is squirrel every five minutes and every day, and how do you pivot? And we don't like that word from COVID, but it is, and so you've got to go into it saying, How am I going to learn every day? Leverage my resources every day, uh, and uh figure out the bumps every day. But I mean, those people, the the marketing plan matters, the business plan, uh, the the the monetary plan and marketing plan matter, and the people around you. It's like I don't think I would have gotten through it. I could, if we had more time, I could name not by name, but by what they did for me, the five most influential people that I don't think they know they're the most influential people. And I'm I my plan is to thank them because I've made it 10 years. So they're gonna know it soon, if they don't already feel it, or if I haven't told them. But some people that you know you didn't pay, they just happen to be there and they happen to teach you something, or you followed their lead. And and if you can recognize those people and those characteristics, but there were people that I mean, outside of oh, the staff that I've had, or my family or my wife, or my my wife because she's in business. There's a there are people in the network, in the community that have given me more than they will ever know. And you need those people. So that's where the getting involved and being present, right? Be interested, not interesting. You don't always have to be the life of the party. You can actually sometimes they they go hand in hand because I'm I mean, because I'm kind of energetic, but if you're there to learn and you're there to take it all in, then being engaged and interested, not being the um the takeover person.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, I I think you can't write enough thank you notes. Um yeah, and it's yeah, it's kind of it's kind of cool. I think you have I think you have a good opportunity because you have some swag and stuff you could send people then you know, thanking them for for being, you know, a big a booster for you. It's an easy, it's an easy thank you. And you you can give them a gift that's kind of cool.

DavidRiddell:

We do that every year. I'll run run a report in October now that'll show me my biggest clients of the year and whether I make them um make them a tumbler or make them a personalized shirt or gift basket. You're right.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, it's it's it's uh it's like wow, you know, it's so it's so it's a wow thing. I love that. What's the big Nick, what's the next big thing for Big Frog?

DavidRiddell:

So the biggest thing, and and it's funny because there are still people that have known me for 10 years that may forget my name. So I get to be the big frog, but the store gets to be the big frog because I'm the face of it, but it's also my business. What's interesting is that we're as we're coming up on 10 years. Our last child went away to college, so now we're empty nesters, and I'm on four servant leader business boards that I'm all for, or or four things that I'm falling off of, all four of them all at once. So by January, you go 10 years, empty nesters, no servant leadership, anything, but my heart and soul won't let me not. So I don't know what that is. What I've told everybody is if you ask somebody the middle of September in 2024 what they were gonna be doing in January, they'd have plans. And we had this storm that changed everybody's plans. And so what I'm going to do in January, I would love to answer, but I'm gonna take the next 90 days and finish out all these obligations and then sit back in January and go, wow, what do we do for the next 10? What do I do to feed the soul? Because the business feeds the family and the servant leadership feeds the soul, and I have to do something, teach something. I don't know. Um, and is it love that is it is it another business? So I don't know. Somebody says time off. I don't know how to do that either.

BillGilliland:

No, that ain't gonna work for you, David.

DavidRiddell:

Correct.

BillGilliland:

Um yeah, yeah, yeah. What I yeah, so all right. So if you're looking for somebody to help you out, a a servant leader, maybe a board position, board chair, board something, or if uh you got an idea for David, uh, what's the best? This is the last question. What's the best way for someone to find or get in touch with you?

DavidRiddell:

Well, we're easy. I mean, Big Frog is very fun, very simple, very Googlicious, right? And so, I mean, you pull up Big Frog, there is a um a nursery, a plant nursery, Big Frog, and I think something else. We are not sweet frog the yogurt place, but if somebody keys in Big Frog, it's right there. It's gonna be Asheville at Big Frog. Um, and and and the website. And I mean, we always say that in business. You don't need to have your phone number on your shirt anymore if you can Google pretty well. So, I mean, Big Frog Custom T-shirts Googles very well. Find me. I see every email on my phone at 10 o'clock at night saying squirrel chasing the red dot. So yeah, it's no thing.

BillGilliland:

I love it. I love it. Hey, look, David, thanks. This has been excellent. This is really gonna help a lot of people. I really appreciate it. This is a uh a servant thing that you're doing here as a to help out our community. We really appreciate it. And uh thanks for being on the podcast again.

DavidRiddell:

Yeah, I always appreciate it. Good to see you and thank you for two weeks of that. I mean, the summit again. If somebody, I mean, start planning next year, you are, but everybody else ought to think about go. Keep going to these seminars. I mean, they cost a little bit of money, but the learnings are uh more than you can get through the dollars.

BillGilliland:

Yeah, you can't. Yeah, every time you every time you invest, you the best place to invest is to invest in yourself. Yep. So no question, no question about that. Hey, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. Hey, and you got you out there. Until next time, all the best.