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Empowering Local Entrepreneurs: Woody Bailey's Tech Vision for Johnston County
Episode 108th January 2024 • Best of Johnston County • Jonathan Breeden
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Join host Jonathan Breeden and his very best friend Woody Bailey, local entrepreneur and owner of Woody's Computing Services, as they discuss the intersection of small-town charm and tech industry growth in Johnston County.

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Jonathan Breeden: [:

around here.

Woody Bailey: Our sweet spot is probably the 25 to 30 employees, but we've got some that have 90 to 100. It's a varying range, but you're not too small.

We got some people who have been with us 20 years, and they got 3 employees and that works for their business model, and we're there to support them.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Woody Bailey: Just like they're

300.

Jonathan Breeden: What is the number one mistake you see small businesses make when they call you to come in and help that you wish that they didn't make?

Woody Bailey: I think the most misunderstood part of a business on any level is file storage. People are not backing the files up correctly. They don't know where their files are saved. You go in the office, and you're looking for something. "Well, I did it in Microsoft Word. I did it in Excel." Well, that's not really where the files are stored at.

you on a journey through the [:

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another episode of the best of Johnston County podcast. I'm your host Jonathan Breeden and we have a great guest here today in my friend, one of my very best friends, Woody Bailey, owner of Woody's Computing Services here in Johnston County. Welcome to the show, Woody. Glad to be here.

This is, uh, I've been looking forward to this. If you and I start talking, it might be. An hour, an hour and a half later. So we're going to try to keep it to a, a reasonable timely, uh, about what's going on. So I guess introduce yourself to the audience. Um, I know you're from Johnson County. Uh, just tell us a little bit about yourself.

now I'm out in the flowers, [:

So we, we love Johnson County.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, that's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, I know. And, uh, I know, um, you, uh, when you left NC state, uh, You came back and you, you, you took some classes at Johnson

Woody Bailey: community. College. Sure. Sure. Yeah. Did a little bit of a networking classes there. Uh, kind of just expanding the horizons, you know, different, different fields are good to know.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, right. And then, um, somewhere along that way, I think, you started Woody's computing

Woody Bailey: Yeh We, you know, I worked at IBM, about eight years as a project manager straight out of state, even during my time at state. And it was just. It was an easy fit to, I saw a void in the community for small businesses that couldn't afford their own IT person.

I found that [:

Now,

Jonathan Breeden: 21 years ago, golly, I tell you what, I mean, you, I met you about 12 or 13 years ago, um, at a, uh, chamber of commerce, um, sort of, I don't know, like a business expo. Sure. Yeah. That's right. And, and I was so happy to meet you because. You had been hired by my client's husband to wipe her computer. Okay, I remember that.

have like all her, all her, [:

And then, um, I hired you almost immediately. And you've been My IT person for the last 12 years. I think

Woody Bailey: time flies. It's really amazing. Yeah, those some of those cases are pretty interesting I can I can tell you a few that would shock About people around the county. It's interesting stuff. Yeah,

Jonathan Breeden: no doubt.

No doubt. So, um, talk about the Services that you do provide through your computer

Woody Bailey: company Well, you know the biggest thing we do is again monthly retainer contracts for small businesses Monthly plans that they can afford and that we come in and we are their I. T. person. No matter how much they use us.

rs, audios TV. If it's got a [:

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. And so, um, and you can help, I mean, you, you, you could help people that are just working out of their house with their home office set up.

Sure. Right. And you can help big business. I know you've worked with Dwayne's and, and a lot of the bigger companies

around here.

Woody Bailey: We've had, we've had a lot of, you know, our, our sweet spot is probably the 25 to 30 employees, but we've got some that have 90 to 100 you know, it's a, it's a varying range, but you're not too small.

We, we got some people who have been with us. 20 years and they got 3 employees and that works for their business model and we're there to support them.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Woody Bailey: Just like they're

300.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, what is the um, what is the number one mistake you see small businesses make when they call you to come in and help that you wish that they didn't make?

t know where their files are [:

So, explaining that and giving an understanding, trying to educate the employees on how important it is to know. I mean, your, your computer is your filing cabinet. If you don't know where your files are, You're a big trouble. Right, right. And so much stuff is in the cloud now. There's so many passwords and, you know, we all have that problem.

Keeping up with those. That's a, that's a big challenge that I see.

Jonathan Breeden: Right, right. Yeah. Well, I know, I mean, you introduced, I mean, when I got with you, the cloud was, was sort of new and, and, and I'd never heard of Google drive. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, you know, you got me set up with that and man. That's been great, uh, over the years as my business has grown, because I'm not going to outgrow

-:

Woody Bailey: Drive ever.

eDrive. There's many clouds, [:

You just can't be on the local drive anymore. It's, it's

not wise.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, and it also with so many people working from home and stuff like that, I have employees all over the place to for everybody to be able to access those files from wherever they are.

Woody Bailey: Yeah. Well, it's

like the, the, the cloud phones that we had, the ring central phones that we offer when COVID happened, people could take them home.

They could work remotely with Google drive and the systems we set up. You could be here. You could be in Chicago. You can be down in Mexico. And you can work independently as part of that business. And so that is very important in

today's environment.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and I still owe you a debt of gratitude when, you know, when COVID happened, all I needed to transfer my entire law office from in person to virtual.

We had the VoIP phones from [:

I'd never heard of zoom. And so, you know, and we're still able to largely work remote. We have employees, um, you know, that are, that are all remote and, and, and that's, and it, and it, and it's fairly seamless, um, through these products that, that Woody's Computing sells.

Woody Bailey: Yeah. Well, you know, and that's, that's another big challenge right now is finding employees.

I mean, I hear that I talked to this week that are asking me, Woody, you heard of somebody for the front desk or somebody for here or there. And I know you've had to form out some of your, uh, operations down in Mexico, but these technologies make that possible. And they allow us to find workers that are not just 25 miles from the business, but it can be 250 miles from the business.

So we can gain the skillset that that business needs.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. So, um, yeah, no, you're, you're absolutely right.

s? Need guidance to navigate [:

Jonathan Breeden: Um, and let's talk a little bit about your, um, your time. You've been a huge supporter of the Johnson community college or you've been on the JCC foundation board. Tell, tell the listeners about. The JCCC Foundation Board, what it does, what its goals are, how you've been involved with that.

Because I think a lot of people don't even realize that there is a foundation to provide scholarships to Johnson Community

College students.

r a conference room, and you [:

You're supporting the education of the staff. I mean, the staff has to do continuing ed people don't think about. Is that going to come out of their pocket? Is the college paying for that? A lot of times? No, the foundation supported that. So the more of those. Non-scholarship funds we can raise to help with buildings and success.

Those things really add up to the FTE, which is where the college gets the money from the state. So that is a big piece of it.

Johns Community College from:

You were on the foundation board even then? Sure. Um, and, uh, I know we've worked together a lot. Um, while we were doing that. And, um, you know, so, I mean, how much money does the foundation raise and give out every year? Do you know?

Approximately?

Woody Bailey: I know approximately there's about $16,000,000 in there right now, but it's stock based.

[:

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Woody Bailey: Stocks go up, it goes up and down. I think, you know, If I had to be conservative. I would say probably $700,000

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Woody Bailey: A year.

Jonathan Breeden: That's, that's.

Woody Bailey: But, you know, it's got to be, Self perpetuating, right? You want to put that money in and let it grow and let it, let it make money for the foundation.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right. Well, that's awesome.

Woody Bailey: You donate money to that. Your money is, is helping people in perpetuity is, is the goal.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Well, and, and I know they, um, the foundation, they, they, for a long time, they had the, uh, The Neil Lancaster golf tournament and they did that for 20 or 25 years. I know that's gone away now and they sort of replaced it with this casino night.

And I know you're the title sponsor of that. Tell people about

on your winnings from those [:

So you could win a, cause you would win a trip to my condo. You could, uh, win some jewelry from Evans Jewelers, you know, the places like that around town that, that support.

-:

Jonathan Breeden: I think this year I did really well. I won a facial. I won some, uh, air filters, uh, a pillow, uh, a fall wreath. Uh, so I, I did pretty well with the raffle there.

Uh, unfortunately I didn't win the money. I just won some of the prizes. I can't wait even to call my name for the, for the, for the $5,000 but, but that didn't, um, that, that didn't happen. So I guess, you know, you, you being, um, From here and being a business owner here. Um, what do you love most about Johnston County

Woody Bailey: You

has that hometown feel. It's [:

Uh, you know, we've got a lot of opportunity

here.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And so, um, what, um, I guess what has you excited about the future, whether it be your business, Johnson County in general, both. Well, you know, I, I

Woody Bailey: think probably the thing that I look at when I'm. Looking at growth is where's the restaurants at right?

I'm always looking for the food. I'm a big foodie. Uh, Have a nice meal. So, uh, you know, it's i'm looking for where's the restaurant and I think we're getting some more and there's more More stuff coming certainly here at 40 42 down at flowers We're seeing a lot of growth right and with 540 of the new bypass coming A lot more things coming to this area.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, somebody told me yesterday That there's a mellow mushroom coming to flowers next to Percy flowers store. It is right.

Woody Bailey: Kind of maybe a block or two down from that, across from Bailey's Academy.

utback Steakhouse in Clayton [:

And right next to the Outback Steakhouse is going to be a Popeye's chicken. Although that's a foodie thing, but people do like Popeye's. Uh, and of course they're going to, if part of that same development, they're going to build. I think a home to suites hotel right there. This will all be between what is the fit for life gym there and Wells Fargo, uh, going West into Raleigh on 70 business, uh, across from, uh, I guess that's the church.

Uh, the church is there and the McDonald's, you know, just down from the high school. So for people that know, and that development is just getting started, I've heard. Lots of rumors is what might be coming to the waterfront district at flowers plantation that that Becky flowers and them are doing. Um, I haven't heard anything confirmed.

g name Raleigh Triangle area [:

avorites. The um, out here at:

So, so anyway, what are some of your other favorite restaurants? I'm excited about the Mellow Mushroom.

Woody Bailey: Mellow Mushroom is going to be big biscuit meals coming. Oh, okay. Right beside my house almost. Oh man. I smell the biscuits when I wake up in the morning. You know where I'm stopping

Jonathan Breeden: at man. Well, that's excellent.

during COVID came out here to:

And my friend's grandfather lived in Raleigh and he took us to a biscuit mill. And I thought it was one of the original, one of the first ones. And I thought this is the greatest thing ever made it. We didn't have Bojangles back then. I was like, biscuit mill was awesome. And so I was excited. For 40, 42 to get one.

I'm excited for Clayton to get one, the Southern staple. No doubt. No doubt. Well, that's great. So if any of the listeners want to get in touch with you about what you can provide for their service or any computer services you can provide or help them with, how do they do that? Well,

Woody Bailey: check us out on our website, woodyscomputing.

:

ng us some good advice about [:

And more productive, uh, with some basic tips that that he gave us here today. If you enjoyed this podcast, uh, make sure you like follow or subscribe to it. Wherever you see this podcast, whether it be on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, or you come into it through any of our social media postings, uh, so that you'll be, uh, made aware.

future podcasts. They come out every week. Uh, we have a lot of interesting guests and community leaders and elected officials, uh, that'll be coming on to come on in the weeks before and be coming on the weeks after. You don't want to miss that. If you love Johnson County as much as Woody and I love Johnson County, this is the podcast for you.

Thanks for listening.

t adds another thread to the [:

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.

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