EP-40 Building Community and Business Success

Nadim Ahmed [00:00:00]:
Yeah, I mean, it's like someone who wants to bake a cake should not open up a bakery shop because they'll be doing everything but baking a cake, right?

Dave Quinn [00:00:08]:
So it's.

Nadim Ahmed [00:00:08]:
Unfortunately, that's what happens with businesses. For example, my brother called me yesterday. He's like, he just started a gym. He's also from corporate world and he used to be a consultant for big businesses. But being a consultant and no knock on consultants, but being a consultant and then running your own, like, up and ground up business is two different worlds, right? And he's like, you know, giving him power from presentations of what should be done and the strategies and the finance and pricing strategy, marketing strategy, all that. But him, he's like, I can't even keep track of all the different taxes I gotta pay.

Dave Quinn [00:00:49]:
Welcome to Gone to Texas, the official podcast of the Texas Economic Development Connection. On every episode, we share the stories of business owners and CEOs who have relocated or expanded their business into Texas. Our goal is to use these stories as a guide to help others who are ready to hang a sign on the door that says Gone to Texas. And now please welcome your host, the managing partner and chief inspiration officer for Day One Experts Super Day.

Nadim Ahmed [00:01:22]:
Quinn.

Dave Quinn [00:01:28]:
Howdy, friends, and welcome back to the Gone to Texas podcast, powered by Day One Experts, where we share real stories of business growth, relocation and entrepreneurship in the Lone Star State. Today's episode is sponsored by the Fairview Economic Development Corporation, a community that believes growth should feel personal, intentional, and rooted in deep relationships. Fairview isn't about being the biggest or the loudest. It's about creating space where people can do their best work, build real connections and still feel like they belong. Our guest today is Nadeem Ahmed, owner of the venturex Dallas by the Galleria and venturex Allen Fairview locations. Someone who understands that where you work should energize you, not drain you. This conversation is about the future of work, the power of place, and why Fairview is the kind of community where business doesn't just operate, it settles in. All right, Nadeem, thanks for joining us today.

Dave Quinn [00:02:22]:
Welcome to the show.

Nadim Ahmed [00:02:23]:
Thank you. Thank you for having me today. It's great to be here.

Dave Quinn [00:02:27]:
Well, we appreciate it. Let's give everybody our audience just, you know, that may not know you. They've not, you know, they've not met you yet. Tell us your story. I know you came from an engineering and corporate background. How did that path lead you to owning venturex in the co working world.

Nadim Ahmed [00:02:46]:
I mean, and I could go as deep as you want. To go on that, but depends on, you know, if it's interesting to you or not. But just to kind of touch up on that. It's. My background is like you said, electrical engineering. And well, I also did my mba, so I do understand the business side of it. But yes, my, my brain is wired analytically. But also I guess from the MBA side you, you try, you'd see what's not there.

Nadim Ahmed [00:03:14]:
Right. The engineering is black and white and you see numbers and how they all come together. But. But at the same time there's the opposite side where you create stuff or create products that doesn't exist in the market. So this was, I think, meant to be for me anyway from the beginning. And we could go into my childhood and how I got here, but we.

Dave Quinn [00:03:34]:
Want to know how we get.

Nadim Ahmed [00:03:35]:
Okay. Okay. I guess then I could, I could back up a little bit. But you know, I came. I guess I came to us when I was seven. Okay. Without my parents. My.

Nadim Ahmed [00:03:47]:
It was just my grandmother and you know, it wasn't, it wasn't my choice. It was kind of not to get into like a sob story. But it was like my birthday, I came here, I didn't want to come here, but my parents thought it was a better life for me. Sure. So they sent me here. So I left all my friends, my, my mom, dad, my brothers, my two brothers on my birthday. So I was like, oh, like, why do I have to do this? So then when I came here, I decided, well, if I'm going to be here, I'm going to take life seriously. Like, it's just natural.

Nadim Ahmed [00:04:14]:
Like so I almost feel like a light turned on me when I was seven of like just noticing everything of like everything around me and like. And I want to just have more control of my life and stuff like that worst versus before that. I just was living life. Right? Yeah. Playing with kids. Like whatever came to me, I just experienced it. Now I was like, well no, I have to have more control over life, like if I'm going to do all this. So I did start taking life seriously at that point, you know, and so I took school seriously, you know, and then there was a lot of things that.

Nadim Ahmed [00:04:47]:
So for the listeners, they don't know what, what I do, first of all is I provide full service office spaces called venturex right. At Fairview Town Center. And it, it basically we want business owners when they come here to not worry about things like coffee, Internet cleaning, furniture. You know, we want them to focus on their core business, whatever it is, accounting, marketing, it and let us take care of all your real estate needs. And that's what we want to provide here. The reason I bring that up is I've been wanting to do something similar to that since I was a kid, going back to my childhood. You know, there was a time when I was 12 and I knew I wanted to be an electrical engineer because my uncle at that point worked in the Air Force and I went to the US Air Force Base. He was a lieutenant and he was building the school F15 or 16 jet or something like that.

Nadim Ahmed [00:05:44]:
He was testing and not building it, but testing how it affects your cardiovascular heartbeats or whatever. And I thought that was cool. I was like, oh, this is what I want to do. So I. I knew I wanted to be an electrical engineer then, but then I also started getting into like, how a place makes you feel. I was at one point, for example, like my uncle took me again, I wasn't my mom and dad, they were, you know, back in India. So I grew up with a bunch of my uncles. I had like eight uncles in the US So one of them took me to a Regis, which is a competitor.

Nadim Ahmed [00:06:17]:
I didn't know back then it was a Regis. But when I saw that, I was like, oh, this is really cool. Like all these different businesses here working together. I had no idea what this was. And this was, I think when I.

Dave Quinn [00:06:28]:
Was 12 years old, it was really before co working was the thing.

Nadim Ahmed [00:06:31]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:06:32]:
Regis was a thing. Way before co working was.

Nadim Ahmed [00:06:34]:
Oh yes, Regis. For people who may not know is. Is I guess like the. The original. They started in late 1980s.

Dave Quinn [00:06:43]:
Yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:06:44]:
89 or something. And they were providing full service office spaces. But it was back then it was, you know, more traditional. It wasn't like a community. It was more like each person to themselves. But it was still a great concept for back then. Right. It was full service.

Nadim Ahmed [00:06:58]:
You could have.

Dave Quinn [00:06:59]:
Yeah. For the small business office, one or two people. It was perfect, right?

Nadim Ahmed [00:07:02]:
Yeah, exactly. And so when I went in there, I was like, oh, if I do open up engineering firm, I want to make it like this, where you have labs and you have this. So I would. I would do like blueprints, you know, or even when I'm sleeping at night thinking about like how my engineering lab would look. But anywho, the way it would look like and stuff and how my offices would look, it's just. It's a weird kid. Right, but that's awesome. Yeah, but just unique things like that.

Nadim Ahmed [00:07:29]:
I would do floor plans and stuff like that. When I was a Child. And so I think there was a little bit of influence of all. All these little things. So that was one example of it. Another was like, for example, I used to sell cubicles. We bought cubicles from Taiwan and customized it for people here. Because when after my MBA and I started working in corporate, I was like, oh, this, you know, this could, you could make this better like this.

Nadim Ahmed [00:07:58]:
These offices are kind of just stale. Like we care about our homes, you know, what kind of granite we have and nice flooring and all that. But when you come to offices, it's like people don't take the time to decorate it. It's gray cubicles and it's. But a lot of times it's very functional. Right?

Dave Quinn [00:08:14]:
Functional, which is great.

Nadim Ahmed [00:08:15]:
But we spend a lot of time there. Right. We live, I would say we live in the office and we go home to rest and you know, recovery.

Dave Quinn [00:08:24]:
You survive the office environment.

Nadim Ahmed [00:08:25]:
Yeah, you just go there to survive. And I don't want that to be the case. Right. Why if you. Even if you notice in like this location at Fairview Town center, you know, we have like nap rooms or like these like tree loft looking field things where you could climb up and work up in a little like a child's playground for adults. Right.

Dave Quinn [00:08:47]:
It's a very creative space. Right? Yeah, exactly.

Nadim Ahmed [00:08:50]:
So that, that's what I was trying to do with these cubicles. I was like, well, let's let me supply cubicles from Taiwan to people here. So I did that. I started that business. Did well, like even our first month, we sold $60,000 worth of cubicles. And so that did well, eventually I sold that business off. And this was while I was in engineering. Like I did engineering work.

Nadim Ahmed [00:09:14]:
I worked at pharmaceutical companies, a lot of other corporate work. My last job before I started decided to do this was a children's hospital. I launched their telehealth program or so basically to all Dallas ISDs, like especially the low income schools, we put virtual telehealth kiosks.

Dave Quinn [00:09:36]:
Oh, nice.

Nadim Ahmed [00:09:37]:
So people like kids who don't have health insurance or stuff like that.

Dave Quinn [00:09:40]:
Yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:09:40]:
They could go see a doctor virtually and get prescribed medicine and stuff in Dallas ISD schools. So I did that, but then eventually I quit that. And I quit while my wife was pregnant, which probably wasn't the best timing, ironically, quitting a children's hospital while I'm having a child.

Dave Quinn [00:10:03]:
No stress there at all.

Nadim Ahmed [00:10:04]:
Yeah, maybe for my wife. And then I was like, oh, by the way, we don't have any more health insurance and I don't yeah, I'm going to do this thing where I'm going to invest all my 401k, all my savings into this thing. And luckily she supported me and you know, so I quit that when I opened this. My wife was pregnant. Actually she had our child a week before our grand opening at my other location. And so it. Anyway, that was back in 2017. That was my first location and we could talk more about my journey in Venture X.

Nadim Ahmed [00:10:39]:
But just wanted to give you kind of like my childhood to now how did I get to venturex? Yeah, I think you could go more into that.

Dave Quinn [00:10:47]:
This really aligns with your passion of creating a space for people to thrive when they're at work.

Nadim Ahmed [00:10:53]:
Yes, yes. You know, like how hotel lobbies make you feel or, you know, just for, for, like you have kids. Right, Dave? And then like, you know, is we want to make a nice atmosphere. Our kids like Chuck E. Cheese or all these playgrounds, but for adults, like we don't have those kind of places.

Dave Quinn [00:11:11]:
Where you can grow up and just suffer.

Nadim Ahmed [00:11:12]:
Yeah, yeah, you're done. Like, it's not about you anymore. So, yeah, we wanted to have these creative spaces where you can do your best work and produce and, and we support you as much as we can. You know, eventually there could be a time where we help you with stuff and we are looking into this, like health insurance and you know, like where we help you develop websites and all that. So you, all you do is focus. Like if you're an accountant, you do your accounting and let us help you with all the things around that.

Dave Quinn [00:11:44]:
I hear that so often small business owners get into business, they're passionate about it and then they realize, oh, now I'm the copy boy. I'm the, you know, I'm the IT person.

Nadim Ahmed [00:11:56]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:11:56]:
I had a good friend that, you know, he thought it'd be so cool. He opened up an office, a studio, and then he realized, well, now I gotta, I gotta do all the coffee for my employees. Oh, they need snacks. All they need. You know, it was all these things. And he was like, it was the. He said it turned out to be the worst decision. Right? Like, you know, he thought it would be super cool and cheaper.

Dave Quinn [00:12:16]:
And then he realized, well, then somebody's got to take out the trash, somebody's got to clean somebody's. And he's like, I didn't know. Right?

Nadim Ahmed [00:12:22]:
Yeah. I mean, it's like someone who wants to, you know, there's books on this too, but someone who wants to bake a cake should not open up a bakery shop because they'll be doing everything but baking a cake. Right? So it's. Unfortunately, that's what happens with businesses is like, for example, my brother called me yesterday. He's like, he just started a gym. He's also from corporate world and he used to be a consultant for big businesses. But being a consultant and no knock on consultants, but being a consultant and then running your own, like up and ground up business is two different worlds, right? And he's like, you know, giving him powerful presentations of what should be done and the strategies and the finance and pricing strategy, marketing strategy, all that. But him, he's like, I can't even keep track of all the different taxes I got to pay.

Nadim Ahmed [00:13:08]:
Like, wait, so there's unemployment tax, property tax, franchise tax, quarterly tax, payroll tax. I'm like, let's just focus on the things that's due now and then you can naturally come to you. Yeah, but this is just taxes now. You got websites, marketing and stuff to.

Dave Quinn [00:13:26]:
Keep the lights on so that you can't pay taxes.

Nadim Ahmed [00:13:28]:
Right? Yeah. So there's just, there's a lot running a business and you know, it's, it does fall on your shoulders. Eventually you, hopefully you grow and you can hire the people so you're not wearing all the hats.

Dave Quinn [00:13:40]:
Right.

Nadim Ahmed [00:13:42]:
You do have to start somewhere.

Dave Quinn [00:13:44]:
Howdy, friends. This episode of Gone to Texas podcast is brought to you by the Fairview Economy Development Corporation. Where business owners find more than just a location, they find a community. Tucked into the heart of Collin County. Fairview is a North Texas community offering small and mid sized businesses the space to grow, access to thrive and the quality of life to keep your team inspired. Whether you're expanding, relocating or starting fresh, Fairview has what you need. Shovel ready sites, smart incentives and a forward thinking town that still feels like home. Want to hear more from the folks already making it work here? Tune in to Getting Neighborly, our local podcast celebrating the people, places and purpose driven businesses that make Fairview special.

Dave Quinn [00:14:27]:
Because here in Fairview, Texas, you're not just a business, you're a neighbor. Learn more@fairviewtexased.com Fairview, Texas, where community meets opportunity. So talk a little bit about that. I mean you, you opened a business in Texas, right? That's what obviously our audience is wondering what life is like in. And I always tell people, you know, if you have a. All those challenges exist everywhere. Every business owner has those challenges. What I think changes is the environment you're in.

Dave Quinn [00:15:00]:
You know, plants. It has all the challenges to grow that no Matter where you plan it.

Nadim Ahmed [00:15:05]:
Sure.

Dave Quinn [00:15:06]:
But it thrives based on where you plan. Right. And I think that's what we're offering here in Texas is it's a little. You're still going to have challenges. But I think, you know, and it might talk a little bit about that, your, your experiences opening a business in, you know, in Texas and kind of what that's been like and the networking and that you've plugged into here in the Metroplex region. I think that's probably key. But talk a little bit about that.

Nadim Ahmed [00:15:30]:
Yeah, I mean, I guess to back up a little bit on that. You know, everything I. Every thing I do for the business, it's. It's all logical. Right. There's a reason why I'm here at this location in Texas. And the reason, because I need to be so strategic about it is I'm going to do a product. I used to be a product manager, so I'm not going to do.

Nadim Ahmed [00:15:55]:
We never launch products. That's like a me too. It needs to be top 10% or don't do it. Like if there's competitors that are doing it, I'm not going to launch a product. That's a me too. That does the same thing if my product needs to be the top 10% of the product. So if you pick, if my. Someone comes into my office and looks at our space and look at nine others, we need to be better than all the nine others.

Nadim Ahmed [00:16:17]:
And to do that, everything needs to be strategic from the vendors I pick because that will eventually affect the prices I give to my customer.

Dave Quinn [00:16:26]:
Sure.

Nadim Ahmed [00:16:27]:
And Toyota is a good example. They do just in time delivery. But they require all their vendors to open their books. Like, they're not going to make you their vendor unless you have open book policy with them. They want to see your costs.

Dave Quinn [00:16:39]:
Yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:16:40]:
So you're not wasting it on, you know, snoozing and dining people instead actual products. Right. And that's why. So the vendor keeps their costs low. Toyota will keep their costs low. That's just an example. So we have to look at it from all aspects. Like we want to provide really good cleaning, but make sure our vendor who cleans also does.

Nadim Ahmed [00:17:03]:
You know, it's cost effective and just an example. Right. So. But then going back to your question, even with location. Right. We wanted. All those decisions are logical. So even when I picked a location to come and live, I picked 10 cities that I wanted to be in because I grew up in St.

Nadim Ahmed [00:17:22]:
Louis, did schooling at Purdue, Indiana, and then, and then I worked in Pennsylvania. And then I picked cities based on stats and I picked 10 cities. Ironically, later I found out that those were the same cities that Amazon had picked back when they were looking for offices.

Dave Quinn [00:17:39]:
So I guess I must very little analytical thinking probably.

Nadim Ahmed [00:17:44]:
Yeah, right. I didn't think New York or D.C. like they did and eventually. But. But I did pick like, you know, Riley, Denver, Dallas. So I'm like, well, I'm having a family now. I want to establish what are the cities that makes the most sense cost of living wise. My brother, I have two brothers.

Nadim Ahmed [00:18:02]:
One lives in Los Angeles, other lives in New York City. They will not leave those places. You know, there are people that will not.

Dave Quinn [00:18:08]:
Yeah, yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:18:08]:
And they want the beach or they want the city life. But. And I've tried to explain it, you know, the logics behind it. I'm like most of the time, 90% of your life is in your house and the amount of real estate you get for that money and the convenience of everything being able to go to, you know, HB or a really good hospital. It's all here. The same benefits you get in any big cities. Right?

Dave Quinn [00:18:34]:
Yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:18:35]:
So it has all the benefits, but cost of a small city. So it's just the perfect blend. There's other cities like that, but there's only like a handpicked few cities in US that that fit that category. Really meet that name, that meet that need. So Dallas, especially Collin county up north and places that I think are hidden gems like Fairview, where you have these beautiful houses and you're conveniently located front of all these businesses and easy access to highways and not that much traffic like downtown or whatever. You know, it's. It's a perfect place for people to come. And there's a lot of places within Dallas that are perfect pockets for that.

Dave Quinn [00:19:15]:
Yeah.

Nadim Ahmed [00:19:16]:
My other location in Galleria, another. I think it used to be popular in the 80s and 90s, but then it, you know, then people start going uptown or going to Legacy west. And that gallery location is central to Dallas. It's a great place, great location and has an undervalue there. Same thing I'm. It's with this location and Fairview. I think it's a great location. It's a perfect place for people do business.

Nadim Ahmed [00:19:48]:
But it's undervalued, I think at this point.

Dave Quinn [00:19:51]:
So that's the value of the hidden gem, right?

Nadim Ahmed [00:19:53]:
Yeah.

Dave Quinn [00:19:53]:
Because you don't know how valuable it is, which makes it awesome because it is, from a pricing standpoint, wonderful. Especially if you're doing business further north and Melissa Van Austin, Princeton, those sort.

Nadim Ahmed [00:20:06]:
Of areas, Parker Lucas, whatever, you know, all these places. So for those people, like we are providing because I get a better value, because I get undervalued hidden gem space, I'm able to provide good pricing to our customers as well, while also they could just walk out and go to, you know, the revolving kitchen across the street to ghost kitchens, restaurants, whatever they need. Right. Gyms, coffee shops. So, yeah, you know, to answer your question, I think. Well, you have two questions with location wise. This is why I picked this location, why I picked Dallas, and why I picked specific locations in Dallas that are good pockets. And as far as how do they help businesses? Of course, the simple stuff is like, no state taxes.

Nadim Ahmed [00:20:56]:
Right. There is also a good community of entrepreneurs here. Like, even within our Venture X, we hold these monthly meetings, it's called Bond Business Opportunity Network Dallas, where people come in, talk about their issues. They could say, hey, like one example is one guy, he's a member of ours. He's like, hey, I have a website, I have a business card, I have an office, I have llc. I've done it all. He's a corporate background. He's like, but I don't have any customers, you know, so people check the boxes.

Nadim Ahmed [00:21:32]:
But forgetting about what now, what I'm waiting, like, now what do I do? Because I've done everything. I've. And I've checked. I saw his website and business cards. All fancy, beautiful stuff. So, you know, there is some direction that needs to happen with these kind of things. Hindsight, you know, people would say, yeah, like, you should have customers first. But you know, someone coming from corporate who's done it in structured ways, like, what do I need to do? You could chat, gbt.

Nadim Ahmed [00:21:59]:
It's like open a website, do a business card, you know, and he's done all that. So there is some. There's a community here that helps each other out. Right. You know, like, even me and you, we haven't. I. I'm a lot of times in my other location, Galleria, but I've just randomly seen you around and, you know, in networking and just known each other for what, I guess like three, four years. Yeah, we have never worked together, but, you know, it's just.

Nadim Ahmed [00:22:25]:
But it's just still a community one way or another. Right? We try. We will. If I could send business your way, I help you in one way and I'm sure you do the same for me. So, yeah, we're just a small community here and I think that helps with the business because going Back to our original point. There's just so much. You're wearing so many hats. And sometimes you do need the support of, of the state, city, and the community around you.

Dave Quinn [00:22:51]:
Well, I think that's. People don't realize when they start a small business, they don't. I don't think they understand the value of that. Right. You don't feel, you don't realize how lonely being a business owner is because in a corporate setting.

Nadim Ahmed [00:23:04]:
Yeah.

Dave Quinn [00:23:05]:
You know, you have the water cooler, you have different things, and you're talking and chatting. When you're a business owner and you run everything, all of a sudden like.

Nadim Ahmed [00:23:11]:
Like, who are you all just falls on your shoulder.

Dave Quinn [00:23:14]:
And who do you talk to? You're like, you know, back to. If you have a pregnant wife at home, you don't want to stress her out. Right. So you're like, you talk to them some, but makes it worse at the same time. You're like, oh, man, I need, like, I don't know how to do this. I need someone.

Nadim Ahmed [00:23:28]:
Yeah.

Dave Quinn [00:23:28]:
You know, it can be a very lonely thing. And I think that's what a space like Venture X, beyond just the, the reduced space, I mean, the reduced cost of the space and being focused on your business is the community that you're building to be able to say, you're not doing this. Look, you. That's. Other people have faced that same thing. We can address this together. You can be a, A resource to sort of, you know, kind of work through some of those challenges.

Nadim Ahmed [00:23:56]:
Yeah. You know, and I, When I first started this, I, yes, I did it to build a community, but mainly I'm just into like, how a space makes you feel. And it was all about, like, kind of my backstory is like, I wanted a space that feels good to work in, to go 100% live. But then I didn't realize the side effects of that is it did build a community. And there was people. Even though I didn't do this intentionally, people came up and said, you know, like, I was honestly depressed at home. So when I started working here, I'm not trying to plug, because this is not the fact that's going to happen for everyone. But just that one comment, for example, is like, I was depressed at home.

Nadim Ahmed [00:24:33]:
But then once I started working here, it's just. You just feel a certain way. You feel like people know you and, you know, it's just. And it's not like we're sitting down and working with them, but you see them every day. You build that trust. You build, know their Names, you know, what's going on in their lives. And especially these days when a lot of people are working from home and entrepreneurs are doing their own thing and they get lost. A day turns into a week, two months, and they're in their house doing their thing, you know.

Nadim Ahmed [00:24:59]:
So I think it does help in that way in building a community.

Dave Quinn [00:25:02]:
I think there's a, there's a point at which, like even just, you know, it's kind of like, cheers. Right. Somebody knows your name. Yeah, it's. I mean, and that feels like you think that that's not really that important until you become an entrepreneur and, and you do get lost. Like, you start, you wake up, you go to your home office and then you don't come out again until it's nighttime again. You're like, I've. What have I done?

Nadim Ahmed [00:25:25]:
And you may be going the wrong. I mean, hopefully not, but you may be working super hard, but going the wrong direction, like driving the wrong way, you're only going further away from what you need to get.

Dave Quinn [00:25:34]:
Yeah, there's no. Yes. There's no frame of reference. Like you're just doing your thing.

Nadim Ahmed [00:25:39]:
Yeah. So yeah, it's. It does help, it does help with the. Having the community. But. And we, we try to do that over time. We'll be. Will.

Nadim Ahmed [00:25:50]:
Our goal is to be even more helpful, provide more resources, work with, you know, like I said, like health insurance providers and just like marketing vendors. That will help you grow your business too.

Dave Quinn [00:26:04]:
So talk a little bit. I mean, you mentioned this a little bit because of the, the location that we're in. And if you don't know where Fairview is. Right. You're in the heart of Allen. You got Frisco, you got McKinney and Plano, major corporate centers. And the importance of placing your business in that sort of vibrant economy.

Nadim Ahmed [00:26:26]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:26:26]:
It's not just there's a bunch of people, there's a lot of opportunity that exists because of that. Is that something you found or.

Nadim Ahmed [00:26:34]:
I mean, I think Fairview is located, like you said, around a lot of other cities. And it's a good avenue to, you know, it's in a good, nice spot, easy access to all these other cities. But it does focus on small and, and midsize businesses that eventually grow. I think we will get to a point where we'll have the larger businesses, but you know, for the, even for the small and mid size, I think it is set well. And this location does focus on the small and the midsize companies. Right. Whereas I guess my other Location Gin Galleria does more of the enterprise levels and stuff because it's more central. But yeah, I think this place is, it's is a great fit for these.

Nadim Ahmed [00:27:20]:
Like if you're a 10 person company or 20 or even 100%. But. And maybe eventually it'll get to places where we can have, you know, the S&P 500s or whatever. But that's, but that's maybe the future.

Dave Quinn [00:27:34]:
Yeah. Well, they have the, the Billingsley project at sloan corners at 75 121. Obviously that's, that's going on. Yeah, that, that's coming. Right. And it's a couple of years away, but there is that space for that. But again, I think you're right. Their, their philosophy is, you know, this sort of neighborly feel.

Dave Quinn [00:27:51]:
We know each other, we help each other. And you know, where you might get lost in some of the larger cities just because of sheer size and resources and lack of being able to attend to everybody. Right. A lot of times they get overlooked. And so here, that's what we're hoping that, you know, you can help us with, with the Venture X. Yeah. Is obviously providing that space and, and giving that person access to a thriving community that cares about them and then wants them to grow.

Nadim Ahmed [00:28:20]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:28:20]:
That's the hope is that we can help them go from a one person to sort of sitting out in your sort of open space, to needing an office, to needing an office for two people, to needing an office for 10 people. Right. That's what we want to help you do.

Nadim Ahmed [00:28:34]:
I mean, and we want to provide value. Yes. As a business owner, I want it to be sustainable. I need to make money. But for every dollar you pay me, I want to give you a dollar and a half worth of value. Right. So because I'm going to see you every single day I come to the office and I want to be able to face you and say like, yeah, you're, you know, it's not like I'm not a landlord necessarily where you just pay the rent and never see me again. But so I want to be, I am conscious about like are we providing enough value to you? Like are we helping your business grow? Obviously if you grow, we grow with you.

Nadim Ahmed [00:29:07]:
So I think other people have a similar mindset in Fairview because it's a small community. You wanna, you don't wanna lose your, your goodwill or respect for a few dollars. Right.

Dave Quinn [00:29:17]:
So yeah, yeah, it's a long term. It, it's the long game.

Nadim Ahmed [00:29:20]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:29:20]:
And, and I think that's what people who come to Fairview and are successful. And Fairview picks partners like that who are. It's not a transactional one and done. Right. It's like we want a partnership, and we're looking for someone. They understand their. Their value in the marketplace. You know, they love the fact that, you know, the dark skies, the.

Dave Quinn [00:29:42]:
The longhorns and the llamas and the horses that you can have in your backyard, but then you have Whole Foods and Dillards and. And all of the, you know, restaurants and stuff that we have. And so that's really a special place that they're trying to. To maintain and control. Not control is not the right word, but to maintain and grow and sort of manage.

Nadim Ahmed [00:30:00]:
Yeah. Yeah, it is a very. Like you. You see the same people around here, right? I mean, it's a small community, but it also has the amenities of a big city. So you do get to see this similar people, but. But it does have all the amenities. But. So I.

Nadim Ahmed [00:30:21]:
I do like. I do some other stuff too. Like right now, because I'm into how a space makes you feel. I'm actually doing stuff like I'm flipping a house in. In. In Allen right now. And, you know, a lot of flippers would. And I only do it because I.

Nadim Ahmed [00:30:35]:
It's just. I have a passion for it, but a lot of flippers will do it for the money, you know, obviously, like, just put in the cheapest stuff. But yeah, I do want the place to look nice. I did. Just personal pride, maybe also. But, you know, so I do put nice stuff in there. And even if it decreases my. My bottom line.

Nadim Ahmed [00:30:51]:
Bottom line. So it's just because it's. I'm part of the community and I want to make stuff better. Even in the houses that are 20 years old, make them.

Dave Quinn [00:31:01]:
You don't want to see that person at the grocery store and then shake their head every time they're like, oh, like, why?

Nadim Ahmed [00:31:05]:
Yeah, so, you know, I. I didn't. Yeah, I don't want that for a few dollars, so. So I. I try to put that in just like others around here try to put their all into whatever they're providing.

Dave Quinn [00:31:18]:
Let's talk a little bit about that real quick. If. If our audience, you know, there's a business owner out there and they're thinking about coming to Texas. Do you have a piece of advice that you would give someone? Like, it's the main piece of advice you would give someone looking at moving a business. I mean, that's a big undertaking to relocate a business. But when they're Coming into Texas, is there something that you think they should know or think about or understand when they land here?

Nadim Ahmed [00:31:49]:
Well, I mean, and this applies to really any businesses moving anywhere. Right. Know that you really need to know, get to know the people locally. They have grown and they've grown there, born there, they live their day to day. You looking at Excel Sheet is not going to do justice to what's actually there. Right. So you really have to get the skills, the talents and people locally to really know. You just can't.

Nadim Ahmed [00:32:18]:
You can't catch up to that kind of knowledge in a few months of reports or whatever, or even just visiting the place. You really have to live here. And so the only way to do that is to work with the people that live here in Fairview, help them support you and to. To get your goals so from your product, whatever you're trying to sell to this market, get to know the market, get to know the competitors around here. You want to make sure. I mean, my philosophy is if I'm going to do a business, I need to be, like I said earlier, top 10% of that product. Like I need to be better than nine other products that's out there. And I could go into why it says 10, 10%, but that's all statistical.

Nadim Ahmed [00:32:59]:
But anyway, so if you don't think you're. Whatever you're selling here locally is better than what the nine other products that's here locally should probably really study it harder or work on your product. Because end of the day, a business is, like I was saying earlier, if they pay your dollar, you want to give at least a dollar and ten cents worth of product back to them.

Dave Quinn [00:33:22]:
Man, I love that, you know, from. Especially the numbers when you look, I always tell people that one of the things that we do at the Texas Economic Connection is the nuances of the. The location.

Nadim Ahmed [00:33:36]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:33:36]:
So on paper, Collin county is Collin County, Plano, Frisco, McKinney. But if you've been here very long, you realize that people in McKinney are different than people in Frisco, which are different than people in Plano. And these places all touch boundaries.

Nadim Ahmed [00:33:51]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:33:51]:
You wouldn't think that that, that exists away. Yeah, yeah. But it is. It's an extremely important decision because the vibe and the feel and even, you know, you look at the larger Metroplex working on the Fort Worth side versus the Dallas side.

Nadim Ahmed [00:34:07]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:34:07]:
Those are two different vibes.

Nadim Ahmed [00:34:09]:
Yeah.

Dave Quinn [00:34:09]:
And I'm not sure where in the middle that it changes over. You know, it's kind of a gray area there Right. But that is the nuances. I think that working with your local economic developer at the local level can help you sort of. Okay, who, how do I get to know the local business? Well, if they contact me, then I'm going to put them in contact with you because then, you know, 10 different people. And so that is sort of the value of that, I think. I love that statement of it's you got to go beyond the paper and the spreadsheets. Right.

Dave Quinn [00:34:38]:
Because the numbers say what they say and then now you got to really kind of dig into the vibe. So.

Nadim Ahmed [00:34:43]:
No, I agree with that for sure. Sure. Because you know, like you were saying McKinney and Frisco, there's it, it's a. People pick McKinney or Frisco for a reason and it naturally has a little bit of unique. I'm just picking those two cities.

Dave Quinn [00:34:55]:
Sure.

Nadim Ahmed [00:34:56]:
But it applies to any other. It's just naturally has a different vibe for whatever reason. And, and selling a product there is going to require a different pricing strategy versus here, different marketing strategy, all that stuff.

Dave Quinn [00:35:09]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's why I tell people, they say they move to Dallas, they want to move to Dallas. They say they want to be in the Metroplex. Well, there's like 110 cities or something in the Metroplex.

Nadim Ahmed [00:35:18]:
Right.

Dave Quinn [00:35:18]:
And each one of those has the nuances that we were talking about. So. Well, Nadima, really appreciate you spending a few minutes of your time today. Thank you for agreeing to be on the show. We love it. Thank you for what you're doing in Texas and investing and trying to help other business owners. I have a passion for small business owners, obviously, so I started this, this movement in this show and so appreciate what you're doing and how hard it is and so thank you for what you're doing. Real quick, if people are interested in venturex at either location, where do they go to find you and connect with you?

Nadim Ahmed [00:35:52]:
I mean you could, I think just go to venturex.com and then you could find my, my two locations that I own. I used to manage others too. But right now my focus is just the Venture X Dallas Galleria and then also the Allen Fairview and then my contact information there as well.

Dave Quinn [00:36:08]:
Okay.

Nadim Ahmed [00:36:08]:
And thank you for having me here and I am, I'm grateful for what you do for the community for and you know, giving me this opportunity. So I appreciate that.

Dave Quinn [00:36:17]:
All right, man, thanks a lot. Appreciate you being here.

Nadim Ahmed [00:36:18]:
All right.

Dave Quinn [00:36:19]:
Welcome back to the Gone to Texas podcast, powered by Day One Experts, where we share real stories of business growth, relocation and entrepreneurship in the Lone Star State. All right, I'm sorry, Aaron. You're have to cut all that. I'm sorry. I was reading. That's what I'll read after we're done here, so. But I'll do it on a teleprompter.

Nadim Ahmed [00:36:37]:
Aaron does the editing.

Dave Quinn [00:36:38]:
She's our editor. Yeah. All right, so let's just go from here.

Nadim Ahmed [00:36:46]:
All right?