CEO To Rainmaker
CEO To Rainmaker
Santa Claus is Jolly and A Businessman Too!
What if the world’s most beloved holiday figure is also one of its sharpest operators? We kick off with Santa’s surprising origin story—from Sinterklaas to the red-suited icon shaped by Washington Irving, Harper’s Weekly, and Coca‑Cola—and then hand the mic to the big guy to reveal the engine behind the magic: a nonprofit built to deliver joy at scale.
Santa breaks down why the North Pole runs as a 501(c)(3), how a roughly $75M annual budget powers thousands of elves and a massive manufacturing footprint, and why early planning is nonnegotiable. We get into the nuts and bolts: vendor networks across business-friendly states, strategies to soften tariff shocks, and a pragmatic backup plan that leans on marketplaces for last‑minute parts. The timeline is tight by design—business plan to donors by March 30, funds wired by April 30—so the factory floor can focus on execution when December arrives.
Beyond the spreadsheets, we explore purpose and resilience. Santa talks candidly about delivery stress, staying fit for chimney duty, and using everyday community touchpoints to keep the brand warm year‑round. He outlines succession guardrails with an active board, admits AI isn’t a factor yet but could reshape his role, and underscores a market definition that keeps the mission clear: children under 12 across the United States. Between laughs and lore, the lesson is unmistakable—clarity of mission, disciplined planning, and flexible operations turn seasonal chaos into reliable delight.
If you love smart storytelling, nonprofit strategy, and the craft of operations, you’ll find a full sleigh here. Listen, share with a friend who geeks out on business and holidays, and leave a review to help more curious listeners discover the show.
Merry Christmas to all the followers of my show. I am so excited about today's holiday podcast, which I am calling Santa Claus is Jolly, but he's also a businessman too. Can you believe it? Today, show will be filled with fun facts, history, a bunch of humor, and a few business tips as well. To make today's show even more exciting, my guest will be none other than you heard it right, Santa Claus. Santa Claus. That's right, our dear Santa. He's flown in via his reindeer from the North Pole to my recording studio. Can you believe that? He agreed to do this because he read on my LinkedIn profile that I support children's causes. He loves kids. He loves to make them happy. And I feel honored that he's here today. But before we bring Santa out, I want to share a little bit of his bio. It's a fascinating journey, and it's all per credible sources via the internet. So here we go. Santa Claus is a direct descendant of Sinterklaas, S-I-N-T-E-R-C-L-A-A-S, which is part of Dutch folklore. Santa Claus was based on a Catholic bishop out of Myrna, Greece in the 15th century called Saint Nicholas. The Dutch Sinterklaas rode on a white horse, was dressed in a bishop's role, a red coat, was skinny, remember that, skinny, very regal, and gave Christmas presents to the Dutch kids. Many Dutch settlers came to New York in the 16th century. The Dutch kids had many English-speaking kids as friends. When Christmas came, the Dutch kids were so excited that when they screened the name Sinterklaas, the American kids thought they were saying Santa Claus. And the name was born. And soon it spread all over America. Interesting, isn't it? And now a little bit about the modern day Santa that you and I know. In 1809, Washington Irving's book, Knickerbocker History of New York, Santa was described as a chubby, not skinny, a chubby, pleasant man dressed in trousers and wearing a wide hat. I don't know what happened to the skinny. Maybe he had too many cookies and milk. Trousers? Huh? Santa in trousers? In 1823, a New York newspaper published the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas and depicted Santa as a chubby, jolly person with twinkling eyes, a red nose, and dressed in a red suit with white fur trimming. He traveled in the sky in a sleigh pulled by reindeer and he delivered presents on December the 24th. Now that's what I'm talking about. That's the Santa I know. Thank you, New York. In 1863, Thomas Hast, a cartoonist with Harper's Weekly, gave Santa his first beard. Wow. Thank you, Thomas. The final stage of Santa's evolution was brought about by the Coca-Cola Company in 1930 when they launched an advertising campaign viewed by millions and millions of Americans, featuring Santa as a cheerful, chubby fellow. Wow. Thank you, Coca-Cola. This is the dude I knew as a kid. All right, that's a wrap on the history. I hope I didn't bore you. Let's bring him out America's most popular figure, Santa Claus. Wow, Santa, I can't believe it is you. My grandkids will think I'm a rock star for having the opportunity to meet and speak with you. Your white bird looks awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, hey Beugene, it's great to see you again. I remember when you were a kid back in Linwood, running the streets, playing basketball, shooting those hoops. You're doing great now. You really came up, and I'm super proud of you. Your parents are super proud of you. And uh it's great to be on the show.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Santa. I appreciate that. You're a funny dude. So, Santa, what do you think of all my research? Were you aware of all these facts? I mean, you are a famous figure in American history.
SPEAKER_01:I'm pretty familiar with the facts, G. Well, I uh we're trying to bring the skinny back. If you can see, we're going side to side here. The great thing about it, we got Wigovi is definitely taking care of us now. Thank you, Donald Trump, for lowering the price on that. It's$100 a month. It covers my copay and everything else, so I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00:Santa, you are too much. I didn't know you had such a wicked sense of humor. Yeah, Gene, you have to.
SPEAKER_01:When you've been around as long as I have, you have to have that sense of humor. Mrs. Claws loves it. It leads to a healthy relationship.
SPEAKER_00:All right, Santa. Do you mind if we talk a little bit about business since my show is about combining business education and fun? So I am assuming you are a 501c nonprofit. Why did you pick this type of business entity?
SPEAKER_01:Easy. My annual operating expenses are nearly 700 million or seven, I'm sorry, 75 million when you consider the cost of labor. I have a thousand elves and they aren't cheap. A$25 million square foot toy manufacturing plant in the North Pole, which I have a huge SBA mortgage on. Oh the reindeer costs, you know what, Gene? I breed my own. They are great. These reindeer, these reindeer are top-notch. And the cost of materials is just exuberant to make the toys. So since I don't charge the kids for the toys, I rely on donations, all kinds of from organizations all over the U.S., which include super wealthy individuals: Warren Buffett, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, to cover all the operating expenses. A 501c3 is a type of entity that works best for my donors.
SPEAKER_00:That is amazing. So you're buddies with these three dudes? These are mega rich.
SPEAKER_01:Gee, when I'm giving all these, when I'm giving out toys, everybody's on board. It's all about the kids. It's all about the kids.
SPEAKER_00:Well said. So Santa, has the tariff regulations impacted your raw material costs to make toys?
SPEAKER_01:My raw material costs have risen about 20%, and that has nothing to about. Thankfully, my donors truly understand. They put the rise in the manufacturing costs. I have about 2,500 uh vendors, and these vendors are all small businesses as well. These guys are in Florida, Texas, all small business friendly states. Low tax, Gene.
SPEAKER_00:I love it. I love it, Santa. You're you're supporting everyone. You're doing you're a stimulant to the economy. My god.
SPEAKER_01:Gene, we're thinking about bringing the North Pole to Florida.
SPEAKER_00:What would you call it? The warm pole?
SPEAKER_01:We're gonna call it that. That's a good one. We'll have to look at look at that one.
SPEAKER_00:All right. So what happens, Santa, when some of your vendors are unable to ship exactly what raw material and quantity you need? What do you do?
SPEAKER_01:I do what everybody else does. Amazon. I Amazon Prime, everything. I'm a Prime member. I love the Prime, the Prime days, the deal days. I get all the good stuff. But then that allows me to order the material parts on the on the online. Bezos has agreed to fly the parts from the North Pole on his private jet at no cost. You're kidding me.
SPEAKER_00:How did you swing that?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, where am I?
SPEAKER_00:You're doing fine. You're doing fine. When Jeff was a kid. When Jeff was a kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I heard.
SPEAKER_01:Toys for years. He feels indebted indebted towards me.
SPEAKER_00:Ah, so you gave him good, you gave him a lot of cool toys, and he ponied up and took care of all your airfare and special order, uses private jet. That's pretty cool. See, one hand helps the other. So Nick, um, does Santa Claus make a profit?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, a small one. But as you as you know, it's not subject to tax, and I reinvest all those profits back into my business. My donors liked and are okay with this.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome. Yeah, it's good. So, Santa, um, this may seem like a weird question, but how do you make Christmas in America work so smoothly every year?
SPEAKER_01:Planning, young man. In the spring of every year, I draft my business plan. In the plan, with the help of my elves, I can forecast popular trends, toy trends, demand, the political arena, weather patterns, and all the costs of operating expenses. As I stated, mortgage payment, marketing costs, labor costs, raw materials, reindeer costs, all the administration, straight up costs, and all the others. This is an annual budget in which we send to our donors no later than March 30th. As I said earlier, it totals nearly 75 million. Once approved, we then commence production for uh for that those December deliveries. My donor wire uh my donors wire me the money by April 30th of every year.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that that's fascinating, Santa. Um kind of a weird question, but have your donors ever turned you down?
SPEAKER_01:Never, Gene. They have big hearts, and most of them have young kids who expect to get a Christmas present unless they of course unless, of course, they do not behave.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay, so then in essence, they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they if if they didn't um you know donate money to your cause.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. They text me as they they text me using a secret number.
SPEAKER_00:Really? So that's how you find out who's behaving the best, right? They text you a secret number. Do you have repu you have reception in the North Pole?
SPEAKER_01:Yep, I have a lot of clout in America.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, those fertility companies must really love you. So, Nick, Santa, do you mind if we shift gears a little? No problem. Okay. Why why do you like Christmas so much? Have you ever thought of quitting due to the delivery stress?
SPEAKER_01:Gene, I can't quit. I got all these kids out there, they're dependent on me all year long. I'm eating and I'm eating, gaining weight, trying to look good. I got protein bars, I got protein shakes. I gotta stay in shape for these kids. And then when December comes, the 25th, I get on my cookie bench.
SPEAKER_00:What's your favorite cookie?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you got I love the oatmeal raisin chocolate chip. If you're out there, leave those out. Santa loves them.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So, Santa, what do you do on your downtime? I mean, do you have any passionate hobbies?
SPEAKER_01:I just started playing pickleball. Really? Pickleball. Oh, yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_00:Do you play pickleball um very well?
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm not good at all, but I go out there and I fratenize and talk to people, and I get the I just get the sense of you know how everybody's doing, and you know, throw my name out there because you know Santa is all about marketing and it's about shaking hands and kissing babies and being out there and just being a man of the people.
SPEAKER_00:Well put, well put, Santa. So um you mind if I ask you a personal question? Are you married, Santa?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I'm with uh hot little number. Her name is Mrs. Claus. This lady. Oh wow, Gene. She's a 10 of 10.
SPEAKER_00:She's a 10 of 10. Okay. I I'm sorry I'm laughing. Uh Santa. I keep wanted to call you St. Nicholas.
SPEAKER_01:Um that's okay, Gene. Let's keep it fresh. You can call me, just call me. You've been calling me Nick. Let's just keep going with it.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Oh, here's the don't take this the wrong way. Does it get harder to slide down chimneys every year? How do you stay in shape?
SPEAKER_01:Like I said, it's all about thing, it's a it's about mental preparation and trying and seeing that thing and saying, you know what? I said, you know what, Nick, I can do this. I can get down that thing, and I suck it in, and I have to do what I gotta do. Sometimes I, you know, sometimes I leave a mark here on the side, and it's it's it's a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So Santa, what happens? It happens to us all when you can't do the job anymore because of health or age. Do you have like an exit plan?
SPEAKER_01:No, Gene, I'm not going anywhere. You're talking about age discrimination. No, I'm just kidding. Yes, yes, we do. I'm gonna inform my board of directors, it's time for me to retire, and they interview replacements. The interviews and selection process will take about 90 days. Uh, the indeed company does the work, doesn't do the work for us.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, do you you have a board then?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I do, but I can't divulge any of that to you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh well, I bet it's some heavy hitters, though, right?
SPEAKER_01:Gene, are you the FBI? You're asking me a lot of questions about tech stuff, and it's really making me uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, Santa. Um uh I'm very disappointed, but we we're getting close to running out of time. But I have to ask you an important question, Santa. Can you provide a summary statement of our show today that would kind of tie it all up for uh my listeners and viewers?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, be delighted. Behind all the fun and the joy of delivering Christmas presents, I'm a savvy young, uh savvy businessman. I do all the things any great CEO would do: strategic planning, goal setting, forecasting budgets, being a great leader to my elves, creating a state-of-the-art operations, uh operating procedures. My target market are kids under 12 and under years old. And in the market, kids represent 17% of our country's total population of about 345 million or around roughly 55 million children. I could not live live with uh with myself. I brought if I brought sadness to 59 million kids. I love kids, Gene. That's why I strive to be a better CEO every year.
SPEAKER_00:It's for them then, huh? You do it all for them. Absolutely. So um one final question. Um is artificial intelligence impacting your Christmas giving season, or is it a non-factor?
SPEAKER_01:It's a non-factor now, but in a couple years, I'm scared that I might be out of a job. This might I just I might be just a figurehead and somebody else is delivering things and making the decisions. You might be going, I'm gonna have to do what any great small business oper owner operator does. I'm gonna have to roll with the punches, and I'm gonna have to assimilate to whatever happens.
SPEAKER_00:So, so Santa, it is a fair statement to say that you're a jolly person loving kids, but you're also a savvy business guy.
SPEAKER_01:You couldn't have put it any better.
SPEAKER_00:You couldn't pull off what you do in America. We're not talking about the whole world, just America, that's a big enough market, and it's just every year, clickety clack, you just do it, do it, do it. And that doesn't happen by accident. You have some serious skills, sir.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was has been my honor and joy to speak with you, Santa. And thank you, thank you so much for your time. Um, it's time to say goodbye. I appreciate giving me the time during this busy schedule. In fact, I was amazed that you said yes, but I guess we have that commonality. We both love kids. Absolutely, I have eight grandkids, eight grandchildren.
SPEAKER_01:That is that's amazing. You're a lucky man.
SPEAKER_00:I know you should see my stretch marks, anyway. All right, Santa. Uh, I say goodbye to you. Have a uh healthy and productive Christmas for 2025, which I know you will, and in years to come. And I hope that you have you look very healthy to me, and I love your beard, it's awesome. Thank you, thank you. How long does it take you to grow that sucker?
SPEAKER_01:Uh, this this beard is about 320 years.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing, all right. I'll see you, Santa. Thank you again so much.
SPEAKER_01:Have a great day, Gene.
SPEAKER_00:All right, bye bye. Bye bye. To all my followers of my shows. See you next January. Have a happy new year, peace, and blessings. Bye bye now.