The Grit Blueprint

Mentorship, Technology, and Transitions: Newton's True Value | Sponsored by Do it Best

• Grit Blueprint

Share episode

Megan Menzer, a fourth-generation hardware store owner of Newton's True Value in Cherryvale, Kansas, shares her journey in the building industry and perspectives on mentorship, technology, and business transitions. Breaking barriers without even realizing it, she discusses how growing up watching her great-grandmother run their hardware store shaped her view that the industry has no gender limitations.

• Fourth-generation hardware store owner whose family business started in 1924 in a small Kansas town
• Never considered hardware as a "male's world" since her great-grandmother ran the store while her great-grandfather handled contracting
• Created mentorship programs teaching basic skills beyond hardware knowledge, including face-to-face communication
• Believes AI adoption is inevitable and will transform the industry at unprecedented speed
• Values authentic human connections that will become even more important as technology advances
• Appreciates industry networking opportunities that allow independent retailers to share knowledge
• Recently transitioned from True Value to Do it Best, finding their member-focused approach refreshing
• Represented the hardware industry during bankruptcy proceedings, gaining unexpected legal knowledge

Ready to turn visibility into growth? Head to gritblueprint.com to learn more and book a call to talk about your growth strategy.


Watch the Video Version

Catch this episode of The Grit Blueprint Podcast on YouTube:
👉 Stefanie Couch on YouTube

Subscribe to Built to Win

Get exclusive insights, tools, and updates from Grit Blueprint, designed to help you lead and win in the building industry.
👉 Subscribe to Built to Win

Connect with Stefanie Couch & Grit Blueprint

Grit Website: GritBlueprint.com
YouTube: Stefanie Couch
Instagram: @StefanieCouchOfficial
LinkedIn: Stefanie Couch
Stefanie’s Website: StefanieCouch.com

👉 What Is Grit Blueprint?

Grit Blueprint is a media and growth company for the building industry. We help ambitious businesses in the building materials and construction industries grow through visibility, storytelling media, and smart systems.

👉 Book a Strategy Call




...
Megan Menzer:

Ironically, I get asked a lot what's it like being a female in a male's world? Yeah, I never once have thought that until I was asked that question.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, You're an award winner top retailer award, young retailer award, top women, all these different things. How are you seeing technology change your business? I think you're going.

Megan Menzer:

I don't think you're going to have a choice. I think you're just going to have to, because you're either going to adapt to the change or you're going to get left behind. And they said so. Ai is teaching you how to use AI. Yes, absolutely it is.

Stefanie Couch:

Then the things that only humans can do, like the face-to-face conversations like this. You could maybe do more of that. Welcome to the Grit Blueprint Podcast, the playbook for building unmistakable brands that grow, lead and last in the built world. I'm Stefanie Couch, the founder of Grit Blueprint, and I'm a lifelong building industry insider. I was raised here, built my career here, and now my team and I help others win here. The truth is, you can be the best option in your space and still lose to someone else who simply shows up better and more consistently. Each week.

Stefanie Couch:

On the Grit Blueprint, I'm going to show you how to stand out, earn trust and turn your brand into a competitive advantage that lasts. If you're ready to be seen, known, chosen and become unmistakable, you're in the right place. Let's get started. I am coming to you live from Orlando, florida, and I'm excited to have a very special guest today here. Thank you for joining me on the podcast, Megan. Megan Menzer is actually a fourth generation hardware store owner. Tell me a little bit about where your store is and exactly what you're doing there. Yeah, absolutely.

Megan Menzer:

So again, I'm fourth generation. My great grandparents started our business in 1924. So we are in southeast Kansas, a little town called Cherryvale and about 2400 people.

Stefanie Couch:

That's amazing. I love the name Terriville. It sounds very Americana and I'm sure it is just as picturesque in person it is. And your family started this, and was it kind of like it is today when they started it, Because I know a lot of people had grocery stores and all these different things? Was it what it is now?

Megan Menzer:

So we actually started out as a contracting company and so my great grandparents started out the contracting business and, ironically, I get asked a lot what's it like being a female in a male's world? Yeah, I never once have thought that until I was asked that question. Yeah, because my grand, my great grandfather, would go out on the contracting jobs and my great grandma actually ran the store, so she was the one that was inside the business and she was the one that handled sales and met with all the clients and so growing up in that, I always just saw the females in the store and so I never looked at it as a gender business.

Stefanie Couch:

So interesting that you say that, because I think I had a similar perception, but I didn't necessarily have a female in my dad's lumberyard, but he always just made me feel like I was just a part of it. So it wasn't weird. And when I got to corporate it's the same thing it was like I was 25 and all of a sudden I started looking around.

Megan Menzer:

I was like, oh, I'm weird, right, yes, and I can remember, you know, graduating from college and going to the True Value shows and it was really neat because at that time a lot of the men, their daughters, didn't choose to go into the business, yeah, and so they just embraced me. I mean, they were so excited to see me and they mentored me. I still, to this day, I get cards in the mail or I'll get an email from somebody or a phone call, and it's actually been such an extended family for me it's been. It's been really amazing.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, that's a really good point. I think that's something that most people maybe wouldn't think about, and I've had the same experience in my career. I would say, yeah, I've had some amazing women that have helped me, right, but there have been way more men. There just are more men out there, right, but they have really made me who I am, helped me become who I am and also really looked out for me, especially since I've started my own business. Like, I've had some people that have really paved the way for me to get business, to help me get feedback, all those things to get spotlight on certain things I'm doing. How does that work with you? Because I know you are doing so much mentoring and you're helping the industry with programs.

Stefanie Couch:

First of all, let's just go back. You're an award winner. You have done so many amazing things in your actual space top retailer award, young retailer award, top women, all these different things. How are you seeing mentorship? And you've come up that way. Other people are now getting it from you. You've created some programs. So tell me about what you think the next step in getting the next generation is in this industry.

Megan Menzer:

So definitely, I believe, because I was mentored so much and had so many different people and, again, lots of fantastic guys and Linda Johnson I'm going to throw her name out there because she was an amazing woman that helped bring me up through this. But it's my turn now to give back and so, like in our own business, we've started a mentorship program and it's just giving back to being able to give back, and I love that. I love that about our industry, I love that about our business. We're in a prime opportunity. There's just so much of, there's so many people that just don't have any basic life skills and so just giving them the space and having the employees so I have fantastic employees who are willing to step in as well, because it takes the whole team so you know, we'll bring, we'll bring kids in and just teach them how to, how to have a conversation with a person. That's, that's a real thing now.

Stefanie Couch:

I mean, they don't know how to sell hardware or how to sell building products. It is literally here's how you don't text someone and you talk to them with a real conversation face to face yes, which is scary and exciting at the same time. With a real conversation face to face yes, which is scary and exciting at the same time. Right, how do you handle that when people come in, are you seeing these young kids embrace that? Because you're showing them. It's okay that you don't know. We're gonna teach you.

Megan Menzer:

Yes because I think we're very upfront and we say we know that this is different, we know this is difficult, we know that this is gonna be hard, sure, but they're willing to learn and they want to learn and they want to know.

Megan Menzer:

And one of my favorite things is I took one of the girls over to the post office to buy a stamp. It was like the greatest thing since sliced bread, like she had no idea you could buy a stamp and put it on an envelope and send it anywhere in the United States for 75 cents or 70 cents, whatever it is now yes, and she just was like it was like a whole new world to her. And so just to even see their faces or to see them blossom and to see them grow, and it's been neat having people reach back out to me years later and say you know, thank you, you've changed my life or you've helped me do this, or I didn't think I'd ever be able to do something, and and that in itself is just the reward of being in the position that we're in yeah.

Stefanie Couch:

I think that's one of the coolest parts that I didn't quite expect when I started my business because we're three years in now my husband and I and I knew I wanted to have a team, but I had a different experience running a team at corporate. It was just very different, because there's only so much. With a really, really big company, you can only move so much, you can only do so much. And when you have a small team that's agile and you can mentor people, you can form a culture around something that you want it to be a certain way, it's so exciting to watch those people be able to do things. And then my favorite part is when they start to do things that I don't have to be involved in. Yes, exactly.

Megan Menzer:

Yeah, and it just frees you up to do other things.

Stefanie Couch:

They're better at it than they are Right, and that's the thing is like oh, you are way better at this website building or this thing that you know with AI. I know what I think it should be and the problem that needs to solve, but I don't want to be the one in there doing the coding Right Exactly. Yes, yeah, yeah, really fun. And also, with the younger generation, there's a lot of things we can learn from them. We can.

Megan Menzer:

Yeah, yes, my manager, she is fantastic. And I just I will tell her this is something that I want to see us accomplish. And then, before I know it, she's brought it to me and said okay, what do you think? And I'm just like, oh wow, I love this. I mean, she is amazing, that's awesome.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, how are you seeing technology change our business? We talked a little bit right before this started about AI. We're here at a show and you actually went to a session this morning. I spoke yesterday about AI. It's changing every week. How do you see it? Number one, changing our business? And then, do you think people are going to embrace it in our industry, in a very traditional place where people are 100-year-old businesses and they have historically been relatively slow to adopt technology? How do you see that coming into our industry?

Megan Menzer:

I think you're going. I don't think you're going to have a choice, I think you're just going to have to. It's going to be one of those things that, um, I think I grew up very fortunate because we became computerized in 1991, which is very, that's pretty early. Yes, it's out. A good analogy in session this morning was you know, six months ago you're going 30 miles an hour and today you're up to 60 miles an hour, and I think in two months you're going to be up to 100 miles an hour. It's not even at the rate of doubling. And so it is going to completely change our industry. Look at fast food. You don't even you don't have anybody take your order today. No, and I think that in the hardware industry, if it's doing inventory with a robot or payroll, I mean just there's so many faucets that's going to be changed and it's going to touch everything that we do.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and I do think that's a really good point about the rapid change, because people compare it to the internet or in industrial I talk about in my speech, I usually open it with the tractor. You know the day the farmer didn't have to use a horse and he could use a tractor. But the difference there is that with the tractor or the internet, there was a ramp up period, right, because people couldn't afford a tractor. They didn't know where to get a tractor. There was still a lot of things that were in between you and a tractor, even with the Internet. You know it took years to get a computer for people. They were expensive. You had to. You know the Internet was slow and today, if you log on to OpenAIcom, you can get a free account in four seconds or whatever it takes you to hit, submit your email and you're on AI and it's the same for that person as it would be for someone who's been on it for a year. The technology is there. The other thing is that AI can teach you how to use AI.

Megan Menzer:

Yes, which sounds crazy, but I started taking classes four weeks ago and that's what somebody asked me today. They said well, are you taking in person or online? And I said no, I'm taking online classes. And they said so, ai is teaching you how to use AI. Absolutely, it is. It is.

Stefanie Couch:

And that's the thing with the internet. If you wanted to do something, code something, build something, you had to find a person who probably was expensive, and then you had to know if you could trust them to tell you how to do it. If you ask ChatGPT how to do something in ChatGPT, it will tell you yes, it's not 100% always right. I won't say that Like full alert. There's still a little bit of hallucinations and things like that, but mostly you can figure it out Right. So I think that's the thing for people listening that maybe are like I don't know if I believe in this or I'm scared of it. That's all could be true. It doesn't negate the fact that it's here and it's exponentially getting quicker every week. There are things that are coming out now that I mean it's unbelievable. Two, three years ago when I started using it, let's write an email it was pretty good. You know, let's do this little thing. It's pretty good. Now it is manually clicking 12 stage task by itself without you touching it, Right, Right.

Megan Menzer:

So what will it be in six more months? Yes, exactly, and I also think I mean, of course, there's downsides to all of it. You know, how authentic are you really? I mean, because if, are you sending that email or is AI sending that email, so am I really getting a chance to talk to you and understand you, or is it just AI? And so I think that you know there's a lot of aspects of it that are. You know, and I also wonder about like we haven't really brought it in, like we haven't brought the robot into our store yet. But once you start bringing that in, how are your employees going to react to that? Are they going to be like, oh, I'm going to go look for a new job because I'm getting replaced, or I better step it up, and what else can I take care of?

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, and that's where I'm curious your thoughts on this, because I think about this a lot and I try to frame it this way for people who are using AI. To frame it this way for people who are using AI. There are so many tasks I think about in my business today. I think about in, you know, my dad's business that we couldn't get to. We were just we knew we needed to. You know, it's like that list 10 through 50 that you just aren't, you never get down to Right. If we could take AI and have them do that stuff, yes. Then the things that only humans can do, like the face-to-face conversations like this, the in-store moments at the aisle with a customer, the you know person events that you come in and have someone decorating a pumpkin or going to a local football game and talking to people. You could maybe do more of that.

Megan Menzer:

Yes.

Stefanie Couch:

So I do think, if you can look at the list of things that you could optimize that you're not getting to, that's where I would start, and then look at where you can get more time back for the things that customers really care about that are human-based. Yes, because we are going to value those moments more, because nothing is going to be real anymore. So I think, if we can look at it, that's also why I love branding so much, because building a brand is really about people. To me, it's about who you really are as a person underneath the layers of a logo. And if we can build a brand that is around people and experiences, that's still superhuman, right. It's not AI, right, and that may give us more time to do it.

Megan Menzer:

Yeah, I have to agree, and I think that people are starting to crave that personal touch.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, for sure, and it's going to get worse because as the AI gets more human, it will be harder to tell. Yes, but I do think there's no way to replace that moment in a store, with a person standing at the aisle with you answering those questions, even if they're using AI to get some of the answers, because they're a 20-year-old kid who doesn't know the answer Right, but they will be able to have that moment. So I also think in-person events are going to get more important. Yes, because we are going to want to have that craving for human connection Right, much like after the pandemic.

Megan Menzer:

Yes, yeah, I agree with you on that.

Stefanie Couch:

Yeah, what do you love about events like this? I know we're both going to be at the Do it Best Market in September. We're here in Orlando now. What do you love about these events? What's your favorite part?

Megan Menzer:

My favorite part is networking, yeah.

Megan Menzer:

So I was on the NRHA board and I ran into a past board member and we spent 45 minutes, got a hot tea, you know, he got a coffee and we just sat and talked business. But it was really interesting where he is and where he is with his business, where I am, where we are with our business, and just to kind of catch up and network and you know, what are your thoughts about this or how are you handling this situation. And it's definitely the networking, just seeing people that you know and knowing that you're not in it alone, because I think a lot of days when you're in the trenches and it's just, I mean it's harder and harder with, I mean, online sales, amazon, it's just it's difficult out there, and so you feel like you're at it alone, and so you come to places like this and you're reminded that it's not you you are doing the right things, and just to kind of get some better ideas, maybe of hey, have you tried this? Or you know, yeah, definitely the networking. That's, that's my favorite part, yeah.

Stefanie Couch:

I have a mentor that I like and he talks about stealing the 10,000 hours of time and failures from other people. You know how do we pull up time and you don't have to do all those experiments and I think, as a local store owner, for sure it does. I can only imagine it feels lonely. You're up against big giants, right, but things like do it best or true value, or even the IHI they show you that other people have already probably screwed up what you're trying to figure out right and like. I don't know what you guys talked about over breakfast, but I'm sure there was something that was enlightening for one or the other and it's testing in life, but without you having to do it Right exactly. So it's fun to hear those points and also the ideation of what could we be doing different that maybe with AI or with a product line or whatever. I think it's cool how people are open to sharing, so, at the end of the day, like they don't guard all this insider information because you're probably not competing against them?

Megan Menzer:

Right, exactly, and I mean we're you know, we're not both true value, yeah, and so we don't care though, because, like you said, at the end of the day we're independent hardware stores and that's what. We're all under the same independent roof, yeah, and so, yeah, how can we make this better? Right, yeah, how do we not reinvent the wheel? Yeah, for sure.

Stefanie Couch:

Tell me a little bit about your experience, because you have been a true value store. It's pretty openly known that true values had a few very rough years and I can only imagine what it was like being in that environment. But you now have been acquired by Do it Best and the last year I'm sure there's been quite a transition. Tell me a little bit about your experience so far being in Do it Best group as a true value store and what that's been like yeah, so it's been very welcoming.

Megan Menzer:

It's been a fantastic transition. Yes, been true value for a very long time, so I have seen a lot of different CEOs come and go and a lot of downfalls and upswings and so during the transition and the the buyout was, it was very intense. So I actually represented the hardware industry. I didn't represent True Value or a board member. I represented the hardware industry and flew to Delaware and testified in court and so that was very intense. I know more about business bankruptcy and business law than I probably ever want to know, but during all of that it was really rough.

Megan Menzer:

But as soon as it was over and the deal was finalized I will say Do it Best, reached out to me and has been nothing but a fantastic relationship with them, since their heart is definitely in it for their members. It's all about the members. It's not a corporate out for me type of deal and they have really stepped in and any issues they want to know what's happening. They want to know. They want to know what's happening. They want to know what needs to be fixed. So they don't just want to hear the good stuff. Periodically I'll get a text message or an email and, you know, not just with myself, but hey, what have you heard in the industry? What are our weaknesses? What do we need to be fixing, what are we doing wrong? And it's very refreshing because you know, you just, you don't always get that. And so when, when they're willing to say we know we can do better, and where is it that we need to do better? They're wanting to grow, they're not wanting to stay where they're at.

Stefanie Couch:

Well, I think there's a spirit of long term planning with I mean, you're a hundred year old store, yes, you're not worried about tomorrow, you're worried about a decade from now and probably the next generation and how that works for it long-term. And I think they also have that same mentality. And I love that spirit within the home improvement industry independently is that they are thinking about what it's going to do for the business long-term, for the members, long term, and I think that's how you have to run your business, because if you're just thinking about tomorrow, it's really easy to make decisions that are a quick upswing but really end up hurting people and the business. Correct, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm excited to see you at Market and I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me, being with another amazing woman that grew up in the hardware industry and hearing your stories, and I hope that we can spend some time together in Indianapolis. Yeah, I look forward to it.

Megan Menzer:

Thanks so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.

Stefanie Couch:

Thank you for listening to the Grit Blueprint podcast. If this episode helped you think a little differently about how to show up, share it with someone in your building world who needs it. If you're ready to turn visibility into growth, then head to gritblueprintcom to learn more and book a call to talk to us about your growth strategy. Until next time, stay unmistakable you.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Stefanie Couch

Host