Life Lessons from Pickleball™
Meet Shelley and Sher, the dynamic duo, who found more than just a sport on the Pickleball court - they discovered how Pickleball was weaving its magic, creating connections, boosting confidence, and sprinkling their lives with amazing joy. Inspired by their own personal transformation and the contagious enthusiasm of their fellow players, they knew this was more than a game. Join them on their weekly podcast as they serve up engaging conversations with people from all walks of life, and all around the world reaching across the net to uncover the valuable Life Lessons from Pickleball™.
Life Lessons from Pickleball™
E57: Dill Dinkers: Creating Community Through Indoor Pickleball
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What does it take to turn a pandemic hobby into one of the fastest-growing indoor pickleball franchises in the country?
In this episode, Denise and Will Richards share the story behind Dill Dinkers and how a simple pickleball set picked up during the pandemic led to a shared passion, a bold business idea, and the creation of a thriving indoor pickleball community. They talk about discovering the game together, struggling to find dependable court time in Maryland winters, and realizing there was a huge opportunity to create a better indoor pickleball experience.
Denise and Will also open up about building Dill Dinkers from the ground up, designing clubs that prioritize community, programming, and player experience, and growing from one location to a rapidly expanding franchise brand. Along the way, they reflect on the powerful life lessons pickleball has taught them about belonging, culture, leadership, and the importance of creating spaces where people feel connected, welcomed, and inspired.
This is an inspiring conversation about indoor pickleball, pickleball franchises, community building, entrepreneurship, leadership, Dill Dinkers, business growth, and the life lessons that come from creating something people truly need.
📘 The Expanded Edition of Life Lessons from Pickleball™ is now available on Amazon
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An uplifting collection of short reflections and life lessons inspired by our podcast conversations with people from around the world. Through stories of community, empowerment, and joy, the book offers inspiration both on and off the court. about community, empowerment, and joy through the game of pickleball.
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Introduction to Dill Dinkers' Journey
Speaker 1Hi , I'm Shelly Maurer and I'm Cher Emrick . Welcome to Life .
Speaker 2Lessons from Pickleball where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court .
Speaker 1Thanks for joining us . Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball . We're so delighted you're with us today , and how thrilled are we to have Denise and Will Richards as our guests . They are the dynamic duo behind Dill Dinkers , which is the fastest growing indoor pickleball franchise in the US .
Speaker 2Denise , with over two decades in sales and management , you serve as the heart and soul of Dill Dinkers , ensuring each club operates smoothly and fosters community .
Speaker 1And Will you bring a wealth of experience from your time in the Air Force , domino's franchising and the nonprofit sector , steering the strategic growth of the brand ?
Speaker 2Before we get into talking about Dill Dinkers , how did you first come across Pickleball and how did it become a shared passion ?
Speaker 3I think it was all my fault . So we were . It was the middle of the pandemic , kind of towards the tail end , when people were trying to get out again and we had been locked in the house like most . Our kids were grown so they weren't very entertaining . They were probably I don't even think they were at home . But anyway I was kind of getting a little restless .
Speaker 3I was grocery shopping one day and I saw a pickleball set on the shelf and I thought to myself that's it , that's something we can do during the pandemic and we could do it together . And so I had heard a little bit about pickleball from my friends , but I didn't really know how to play or anything like that . So I picked up the set and brought it home and showed it to Will and said we're going to learn how to play pickleball . And so he was on board and we just called our friend and said , hey , do you know how to play ? And he took us out to the courts . And we just called our friend and said , hey , do you know how to play ? And he took us out to the courts and we started playing . And a fond memory of mine is we went to these courts and a lot of people were . It was only two courts , so a lot of people were there waiting to play and us being brand new , we weren't really ready to go live and play with others .
Speaker 3but they insisted upon us coming out on the courts with them and I said no about three times and they literally pulled me out there and so we played with these people who had been playing for a while and they were so welcoming and so helpful and so patient and that was just the best first experience you could ever wish for it is so typical , don't you feel ?
Speaker 1yeah , with pickleball community so inviting and welcoming . What a sweet story for you to start out that way ben and colin johns .
Speaker 4They live , their parents live near us . Oh , we found out later that those two courts for a long time were the only courts in Maryland and Ben and Colin used to practice there way before they became , you know , really popular within pickleball . That was the courts that they kind of got started on .
Speaker 1That is really cool . So you knew them when ?
Speaker 4Well , we actually didn't know them until we became , you know , dildonkers , but they were out there . Their family is from there and that's where they practiced before they became Like the first time we opened up . When we opened our first facility , somebody Brian Lloyd , our director of pickleball , said Colin Johns is coming to teach a class . I'm like who's Colin Johns ? We literally had no idea who these two kids were .
Speaker 3But we do now , as does the world .
Speaker 1How long were you playing
Discovering Pickleball During the Pandemic
Speaker 1before you decided let's start this massive endeavor of dildinkers ?
Speaker 4It was less than six months .
Speaker 1Yeah , what , what .
Speaker 4Really , really .
Speaker 2Six months from when you saw the paddles on the shelf .
Speaker 1Yeah , oh , my word .
Speaker 3Yeah , we started playing in the summer of 2021 and just became so addicted , just like most people , and had this great group of friends and it just kept growing and growing and we had our regular routines going and then when the winter came , it was really hard . In Maryland , the courts , you know , they were open limited hours . I had to stay up till midnight to get courts for the next day and if I waited till 12.05 , they were all gone and it got super frustrating . And when we did get courts , then we had to spend 45 minutes cleaning them off because they were wet or covered in leaves or snow or rain . We'd bring out squeegees and towels and blowers and you name it . We were out there determined , but it was quite a drag . I mean , you never knew when you could play or when the weather was going to get in your way and you were going to be disappointed .
Speaker 4Remember when we played inside on a handball court . We brought in a net and set it up on a handball court and Denise and I would play each other .
Speaker 1That's how desperate we were it was fun yeah , a handball court .
Speaker 3That , echo , must have been pretty wild and you could only do with two people . We were just bouncing off the walls because you know we were surrounded by four walls , so it was interesting , but it was better than nothing .
Speaker 1You know Right .
Speaker 3So Will . Do you want to tell this story about what happened in February in Pennsylvania ?
Speaker 4So we got married with another couple together in the Bahamas many , many years ago . So every February 15th we get together with them and kind of celebrate our anniversary . And they were pickleball players as well up in Philadelphia . So we went to visit them with no intention of playing pickleball , but we started talking about it and Karen Chaplin , our friend , was hey , I know a place we can go . So we booked some courts and we drove out down this long country road . It seemed like to a barn in the middle of nowhere .
Speaker 4And there were . There were five pickleball courts inside this barn , but there was no heat and there was no restrooms . Oh wow , the place was packed . People were playing pickleball with their winter coats on and there was no structure . It was very , but people were having fun . And that's where I got the idea like , wow , we could do this and we could do it better . Just give them heat and restrooms and some rules , and you know , we'll just take it from there . And that's probably the reason why we stumbled upon the idea so quickly . I don't think we ever would have thought about it , unless we went to Doylestown pickleball and experienced that . But it was interesting because , even though they didn't have any amenities other than a barn , people were still enjoying themselves and we had fun too .
Speaker 4And that's when the idea first came to my mind . And that was probably the first time Denise said I was crazy .
Speaker 1Oh my gosh . And
The Barn That Sparked a Business
Speaker 1so tell us what it is . How did you end up designing it and knowing how to do it , and where was your first facility ?
Speaker 3That's a really good question . I mean talk about starting a business from scratch . There was nothing to go on . There was no indoor places in Maryland at all . We were the very first ones . There was a place in Virginia that had opened that we could visit and talk to . But we started from scratch and we just researched a lot of other indoor places online to see what they were doing and what was working .
Speaker 3What wasn't working will did a lot of that research , um , and got on everyone's websites and you know we took those ideas plus our own . We learned a lot from playing on the public courts about what we liked and what we didn't like . An example is we hated that every five seconds somebody's ball was flying in our court and we had to stop playing . We also hated when people had to walk across our court to get to theirs and so , with that in mind as an example , we put private fencing around our courts and private entrances . So people really like that because it's continuous play and very rarely does a ball fly in your court . So it adds to the experience for sure .
Speaker 4Yeah , there was a lot of research , a lot of measuring and remeasuring .
Speaker 3I remember people like asking me what I was doing with a measuring wheel on the outdoor courts and I like I'm working on something remember when you took the duct tape and you you laid out all the courts with duct tape in this open warehouse , like just to make sure everything would fit properly . And yeah , there was a lot of things that you .
Speaker 4Our first location wasn't even on the market . We found it through a broker who said oh , I know a place , and because I had looked for probably two months and couldn't find anything , and I walked in and like wow , this is it .
Speaker 4And it had a snack bar and it was all ready to go . But when I designed it and I was doing the pro forma on you know the business is this going to work we had to get rid of the snack bar to make room for another court . Yeah , so there was a lot of research and you know , our business backgrounds definitely applied to it Our experience on the outdoor courts , what we didn't like . We just literally just said what are the things that we could add that people want and what are the things that we want to make sure that we don't make the mistakes that other people have made . I mean , there was a lot of research on YouTube and it was a lot , and we came up with a model and a setup that worked and people really enjoyed it .
Speaker 4And our first facility was six courts in Columbia , maryland . And I'll never forget the day we opened and we thought everything was ready and we were ready to roll and there was 40 people in the lobby of our first facility staring at their phones , not knowing what to do next . So it was a lot of learning , for sure .
Speaker 1Did you have a class right away for people , or how did you introduce everyone to ?
Speaker 4what to do . Once they got there , we quickly figured out that we needed to provide more guidance , so we quickly threw together a bulletin board . This is what you do . Et cetera , et cetera , et cetera . And then every club that we opened after their first one went more smoothly . So now , when a franchise opens a club , that's not an issue at all , like they already know in advance what it is they need to do , how to book a court , and we have a whole team of people that train our franchisees . Denise leads the team .
Speaker 1They get a lot of training beforehand .
Speaker 4So when it comes time to open , most of the hiccups that we had are all gone now .
Speaker 3Yeah , it goes a lot smoother .
Speaker 3And also to answer your question a little bit about the programming part of it , Will and I early on realized we don't know anything about pickleball programming and we needed help . So we hired Brian Lloyd to be our director of pickleball at Columbia and he really put together the program that we have today and it's one of the biggest differentiators for us and it's really what helped us to build the business and create community and just bring people together and ensure that the clubs are going to be successful . So a lot of people take that aspect for granted and I think programming is really a key part of being successful .
Speaker 4Yeah , the original plan was essentially just to put some pickleball courts in a warehouse . And then we met Brian Lloyd .
Building the First Indoor Facility
Speaker 4Brian was a professional basketball player . He went to Brown University and he was the pickleball pro at a local tennis club .
Speaker 1just because he loved pickleball .
Speaker 4And he wanted to get out of corporate America and transition into pickleball . And this is funny . When we signed our first lease , we had no idea there was going to be a press release . It was hilarious because we went one day from just being Will and Denise to the following day we were on the evening news . It was crazy .
Speaker 4Our phones were blowing up oh my God , who's going to do that ? Blah , blah , blah . And then Brian Lloyd . He was one of the people that contacted us and he said we need to talk . And I'm like well , what do ? We need to talk about . Then we met him at a Barnes and Noble for , like what I thought was going to be a 10 or 15 minute discussion it turned out to be over two hours .
Speaker 4And we walked away from that like wow , we don't know anything when it comes to programming . So Denise and Brian and I , we look at ourselves as the three-legged stool that is , dildonkers , you know . Take one away and it'll fall over . And Brian is probably one of the main reasons we're where we are today because of what he brought to the table . We each brought something really significant today because of what he brought to the table . We each brought something really significant and , you know , by themselves it wasn't enough , but together it created something powerful .
Speaker 1Wow , so you didn't go into it at all thinking about franchising in the beginning no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no . I only agreed to one Okay . So you created the facility so you'd have a place and your neighbors would have a place . Yeah , and then , what it ?
Speaker 4was very successful and you know , I'm the type of person where if you , you know , give me an inch , I'll take a mile . So we quickly transitioned into wow . This is amazing and you know , part of it was the community that we set up and the impact it had on people's lives . Like Denise can tell you all the stories because she was there more than myself because I was still working my full-time job . Denise quit her job to run the facility , but she would tell me the stories of people that came to her and said you know , this has changed my life , this has impacted , you know , getting me out of the house , getting me healthier , helping me recover from , you know , something terrible that happened in one's life . But yeah , she could tell you more stories than I can . I witnessed one of those stories when I happened to be , by one day , this , this older woman came up and said you know , I'm a widower and this got me off the couch and I just want to thank you .
Speaker 4So there was the business part of it , but there was also the impact it had socially on people that we really liked , and that's kind of how it got started to open more of them so then , we opened three more corporate locations within 10 months yeah all in all in maryland yeah
Speaker 3yeah um prior to us starting the franchising oh , I see you opened them yourselves .
Speaker 1You managed every . You found managers or you managed them yourselves .
Speaker 3We found managers .
Speaker 1Managers . Oh , I see , Wow . And from when you started the first facility to when you finished your third , your fourth , I guess it would be how much time elapsed during all that .
Speaker 4It was about five months .
Speaker 1Are you kidding me ?
Speaker 4No , it was more like seven months . We opened the first one in november and by that was late june we had four open now we would have been we would have had six open but , um , one of the six took a lot longer than we anticipated because it was going into a mall and they had a lot .
Speaker 4it took a year to build that one and then another one . We just couldn't get it done because there was a lot of you know between the landlord and us and it just kind of went off the rails a little bit because the landlord was not being reasonable . In hindsight I'm really glad we didn't open that one , because part of the way of successfully franchising is you open different types and you figure out what works the best and then you run with that one , because it's critical in the franchising world that you set people up for as much success as possible . It's funny because we wound up utilizing the demographics , and the way we did the first one was the way we ran with the whole model .
Speaker 1I'll be darned . Yeah , so you started off right .
Speaker 2That's incredible .
Speaker 1Denise share some of the stories . Will was mentioning that you have
Creating a Community-Based Business Model
Speaker 1stories to share . It sounds very heartwarming .
Speaker 3Yeah , I think I , when I worked in the club for 14 months which was the best thing I could have ever done , just learning how to run a club and just starting from scratch and you know , it really took me by surprise the number of people that would call and say at least five people , I would say called and said they just lost a spouse and they really need a community .
Speaker 3They really need to move forward in their life and , like you , I get a little emotional . But you watch them come in and then you see them like three months later and they're like the happiest person they have all these friends . They're going out to lunch , you know . So that's really really cool to see lunch . You know , so that's really really cool to see . We recently had a husband who lost his wife , and all the players pulled a bunch of money together and put it on his account just to get him out of the house and keep him playing pickleball . I mean , that's the kind of thing that happens . So , but that's , that's a huge one for me . The other thing people always come up like with mental health issues and literally say this saved my life , like you have no idea . So for mental health reasons , it's been incredible for people . You know , loneliness is like such a huge problem and pickleball solves that problem .
Speaker 3It really does , and people tell you about it all the time . Most recently it was my league night . I play league on Monday nights and one of the players walked up to me and said I thank you so much . And I said what are you thanking me for ? And she said I never would have imagined at this point in my life that I would be able to play a sport that I love , that could be so much fun and I could be competing . She's like I just never expected it and if this wasn't here , I wouldn't be doing it . So every day people just share with you these stories . Yeah , it's pretty , it just it makes it all worthwhile . Like it's so much hard work , like you can't even imagine how hard the work is , but but when you get that type of response , it's like super rewarding and makes it all worthwhile and we even get that from the business perspective .
Speaker 4Um , you know we're very proud of many people in our organization for things that they've done and you know we're not out there saying , you know , become a pro and you know , have this like sleek gym kind of look . We're all about community and we're all about enriching people's lives . So our very first franchisee his name is Steve Ator . He had a well-paying company job but he just wasn't fulfilled in life . So he actually came by very early on in our franchising process and he met me at our Columbia facility and I showed him around and talked to him about it and he wound up becoming our first franchisee to open a location . And he is just hitting it out of the park . He loves it , he's created this amazing community and he's not far from our original location .
Speaker 4So , it's actually enriching people's lives . From a business perspective , if you want to start your own business , we really focus on , you know , having owner operators and family businesses , because it really drives that sense of community and belonging . So that's a focal point of the way we do things . So we're a little bit different than most of the franchisors in the space , because everybody's in it to make money , of course . But , for us , the money comes because of the community and the relationships that are built . So it's a different approach and we really enjoy it .
Speaker 3And .
Speaker 4I think that's what makes us different than most pickleball companies out there .
Speaker 2So that's what was my question is how do you maintain that community feeling that is just so special ? As your friend , you hit more and more franchises , but it sounds like it's mainly in who you pick , who you allow to have a franchise .
Speaker 4And how you train them . We have our discovery days . They're usually every month , where people come out and they play pickleball and they socialize with us for an evening , and then the following morning is when they um go through the , the actual . This is what the business is about , this is what franchising is about , etc . Etc . And our discovery days , it's just as much them scoping us out as it is us scoping them out um you know the .
Speaker 4The conversion rate of people that come to discovery day that actually become franchisees is actually fairly low , but we want it that way because you need to be a special type of person to really be successful in pickleball and we enjoy the way we go about it .
Speaker 2You can learn a lot about people from watching them on the court when you play with people on the court . Yes , I've heard a lot about people from watching him on the court when you play with people on the court ?
Speaker 4Yes , three of our original developers are people that were original members of Dildinkers One group is in Pennsylvania , another group is in Sarasota , florida , and the third group is in Maryland . So this amazing community is spawning healthy lifestyles , relationships , as well as business relationships .
Speaker 1And employment , employing other people at each facility , right ? I mean , you're helping expand the experience , like you said business-wise . Denise , you were going to say something . What were you about to say ?
Speaker 3I was going to say through our Discovery Days and also through our we have a corporate headquarters in Columbia where we do a four-day training for the franchisees . I think with those two experiences they definitely pick up on our culture from meeting our people and that transfers over to when they open their club . I think that plays a big part in it as well .
Speaker 1You have 17 clubs right now . Yes , I just can't even imagine . And then what's your connection with each of your franchisees ? Do you have regular contact with them , or they check in with you periodically , or how does that work ?
Speaker 3We have franchise business consultants and they each have are assigned to the clubs as and helping them to get open , kind of taking them through that journey , of all the steps along the way , and using a project management system , we make sure that nothing falls through the cracks , but they basically shepherd the , the franchisees , through the whole process from start to finish , and we have regular all hands meetings where every department , every week , is on a call with them a month before they open to make sure they're ready and just to talk about what are you concerned about ? What are you worried about ? What do you you worried about ? What do you need ideas for ? So every week prior to opening , all the departments are on marketing
Transforming Lives Through Pickleball
Speaker 3, training , operations , programming , it , finance . We're all there to support them . And then we go to the location , we send a team out for four days and we're there to help train everybody and help them learn how to run the facility . And then , a month afterwards , we continue having weekly meetings with all the departments to to continue supporting and helping them and we'll do that for as long as we feel , until we run out of things to talk about .
Speaker 1So and then they're , and then they're off and running and independent .
Speaker 3Yeah , we do continue to support them . However , yeah , the FBCs will go out once a quarter to visit and continue to have calls with them to review and and eventually they get to once a month , Right now we're on a kind of an every other week cadence for the ones who've been open for a little bit , but as time goes on , we're still there for them . They just need us less .
Speaker 1That's so cool .
Speaker 4Then I'll just randomly show up , and I learned that from my days at Domino's Pizza . Tom Monaghan was the founder of Domino's and he would just randomly show up anywhere in the country to visit a Domino's in the middle of the night , essentially .
Speaker 2And I kind of learned that from him .
Speaker 4It was funny . Like Sarasota , they had been open I think it was two weeks and they're right near the airport . It's a two minute drive from the airport . So I was on my way to Orlando and I came through there just to see it . And it was about 8.30 , quarter to nine at night and I just walked in and there was our regional developers , tim and Heather . They were in there working their location and they're like well , what are you doing here ?
Speaker 4I'm like no , I'm here to say hi and that's kind of like why I'm in Dallas today . I'm visiting our Dallas location and another potential location that we might be opening , wow , you know it goes back to like the work history that Denise and I have had , like her strength is operations and sales .
Speaker 1What was your job , Denise , before you quit ?
Speaker 3I was in outside sales for 20 years .
Speaker 1Oh , wow .
Speaker 3But I also ran restaurants prior to that and weight loss centers and things like that .
Speaker 1Yeah , oh , and then Will ? You were already doing franchise work as well .
Speaker 4Yeah , I did a lot of franchise work at Domino's and then I actually franchised for Domino's for six years . The career I had before this was nonprofits helping people with disabilities obtain jobs , which was a very rewarding career . You pay a lot but it was fun . So you know all these life experiences we brought to the table . You know , brian Lloyd brought his life experiences . He worked at Xerox . He was a vice president . Our team , our executive team , they're all people that we've known .
Speaker 1Our .
Speaker 4CFO . We knew him for over 30 years . His daughter and our daughter were on the US jump rope team together . Oh , for heaven's sake , we actually went to England to compete at the World Jump Rope Olympics .
Speaker 1Oh my gosh .
Speaker 4Our CTO worked at a company with me many years ago . Our franchise guy . He was the only one that I didn't know for a long time . His name is Ben Litalian . He's the only one of six people in the world that has a doctorate in franchising .
Speaker 4Wow , I didn't know there was such a thing , he's an important member of the team we could have picked a better guy to help us with our franchise journey . So we have just this amazing team . They're all part owners of the company and we're just . You know , we're clicking on not all eight cylinders , we're on seven , but it's , it's we're getting there .
Speaker 1Well , with 17 facilities and you're already looking at new ones that I'd say seven cylinders is doing just fine for y'all .
Speaker 4We have the 17 open . I think over the next three weeks we're opening two more and we have a total of 25 under construction .
Speaker 1Oh my .
Speaker 4So by the end of the year we're going to be between 30 and 40 . We're looking at Because our model is different than most . We have regional developers , so instead of just , you know , one person out there trying to open new locations we're at 25 now it's not all roses .
Speaker 4I mean , some people have become regional developers and they can't find a location .
Speaker 4Because we're very particular about where you go as well , because we realize that , people in business , you have to set yourself up for success . We realized that , people in business , you have to set yourself up for success and you can't sign a lease that gives you no opportunity to succeed . And we've seen a lot of people make that mistake because they feel like , oh , it's a gold rush , it's going to be easy , I'll just get a lease , a 50,000 square foot building and I'll put 20 courts in there and it'll be great . And they don't do all the homework . So one thing that we have is we've done the homework and we've built these locations and we know what works or what gives you the best opportunity for a chance to make it work . So we don't approve every lease . We have a competitor that has opened more locations than us . They had a
Franchising and Maintaining Culture
Speaker 4year and a half head start , so they had that . But also we're very picky about what you sign and where you go , because we don't want our franchisees to be unsuccessful .
Speaker 1Well , you two have had remarkable lives before Pickleball and it occurs to me too Will your work with the disabled community . Pickleball has been such a godsend for so many people with disabilities as well , because they can participate in all different levels . So I love that synergy in that . But in all the time you know that you've before pickleball or since pickleball what are some of the life lessons that either you learned in life , that you're using when you're on the court or maybe even in your business , or that you life lessons that you picked up while playing pickleball and whoa ? I need to put this in my life as well . What are some life lessons you can share ?
Speaker 3One thing I picked up while playing pickleball and while I was running the club is and I think I just took it for granted before but how important it is for people to have a community , to belong to something .
Speaker 3Will and I were both coming out of part of our life where we had raised our kids and so we were all involved in that . And , you know , we really didn't do a lot outside of that . And then we started playing pickleball and just realized how amazing it is to have this community of people that share this , the same interests as you , and that are kind and friendly . And you start to do things outside of pickleball with all these friends and I don't know . And then , being working in the club , I just saw it's so fun to watch it evolve with other people and how they come in by themselves and then , before you know it , they're leaving with 10 people and they're talking in the parking lot for half an hour and then they're going out to dinner together and you know , it's just such a I don't know rewarding experience , but it really I learned a lot about how important community is yeah and I did .
Speaker 3I , I took it for granted before .
Speaker 4So that was one of my big lessons I've worked for a lot of really cool companies in my life and never had the opportunity to be the person to establish the culture of a company and the direction of a company . And very early on we talked about what is ?
Speaker 4our culture going to be , because when you establish a culture of a company you also establish , like , the path of the people that work at the company . And one of the interesting lessons was we established this culture of our company and it kind of permeates all of our locations .
Speaker 4You know this welcoming community based focus and to me , that was probably one of the most exciting things about this was to be able to you know , when I worked at Domino's , our culture was sell more pizza , have more fun , and we would often joke . If you sliced open my veins , I would bleed Domino's blue if you sliced open my veins , I would bleed .
Speaker 4dominoes blue , that was like the culture of the company , this fun , vibrant situation . And then I worked at companies where there was no culture whatsoever or it was very negative and , you know , cancerous in a way . So to be able to do that and , you know , reach out and touch people's lives , both employees as well as customers . It was a bit of a life lesson that anybody can do this if you have the right mindset and you approach it the right way .
Speaker 1And it kind of reminds us that we set our own culture even in our lives and to take that really seriously , that what we're doing in our lives we want to be sure that it is in alignment with the culture that we want to be living . And then you carried that into your business . I think that's just lovely . So , how can people find you and learn about if there's
Life Lessons and Company Culture
Speaker 1a facility near them , or maybe they want to be franchisees ?
Speaker 3So right on our website , dildinkerscom , click on my Locations . You'll see all of the locations and there's also a section for franchising so they can put in an inquiry through the website and then we have a team of people that will get back to them and call them and have a conversation and answer all their questions and invite them to discovery day .
Speaker 4That's where it all starts and sometimes we've even done many discovery days where they are . We recently had in sarasota . We had about six people come to a mini discovery day we call it . One of the things about our company that's also part of our culture is flexibility and making things happen .
Speaker 1Well , this has really been fun .
Speaker 3I know let's keep talking .
Speaker 1I know right , I wish we could and I was telling you before the show that some of our friends learned we're in the West Coast , we're in Seattle area , and one of our friends has family further East and was saying oh gosh , I've heard about Dill Dinkers . I want to hear this podcast episode . So we'll let them know and we'll let you know when this podcast episode airs . But thank you so much . Thank you for taking the time . You guys couldn't be busier and you took time out to chat with us about this . We really appreciate it .
Speaker 3Thanks for the opportunity .
Speaker 1Thank you so ?
Speaker 4much .
Speaker 2And you're leaving everybody with thinking about the culture they set on the court too , with every game you show up on the court . Think about that , right , yeah , absolutely .
Speaker 1Good point , shelly . Thank you for that , and thank you to everybody . Thank you so much for tuning in today . Check out , see if there's a Dill Dinkers right near you and if you're interested in being a franchisee , reach out to them . Sounds really amazing . These two people touched our hearts and we know that it is a wonderful backing for this whole organization to have that as the beginning . Denise and Will , thank you so much . Thank you , thank you and we look forward to a new conversation next week . Bye , bye .
Speaker 2If you love our podcast , we'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball . This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations .
Speaker 1On Apple Podcasts , spotify or wherever you listen , go to the show page and tap the follow button in the top right corner and on YouTube , click the subscribe button under any of the episodes .
Speaker 2Thanks so much . Hope to see you on the court .