(0:00) Welcome to the BLTNT podcast. I’m your host, Matt Loria, serving up real stories of business, (0:05) life, technology, and transformations. You’ll hear from interesting people about big changes (0:09) from career shifts to life-altering decisions and the innovations that help make it all happen.

(0:14) It’s about sharing those lightbulb moments, pivot points, challenges overcome, and the journeys (0:19) that inspire us to think differently. If you’re on the lookout for insights to propel you forward, (0:23) stories that resonate, or just a bit of inspiration on your next BLTNT move,(0:27) you’re in the right place. Let’s dig in.

Welcome to another episode of the BLTNT podcast, (0:42) where we’re talking about business, life, technology, and transformations. (0:46) And I’m sitting here with my guests, Scott and Chanel, with the biggest, (0:50) longest, last names that I’ve ever seen. Char, pronounce it for them.

(0:55) Schoenberger. (0:56) Schoenberger. Oh, that’s even, that’s easy.

(0:57) It’s not bad, yeah. (0:58) No, it’s just like lots of letters. (1:00) Yeah, okay.

(1:01) If you’re lost in it, just add an E. (1:03) Okay. (1:03) That’s the trick, just keep adding an E.(1:05) What grade did you finally know how to spell your name by? (1:07) It was probably last year. (1:10) Post-graduate work.

(1:12) Post-grad, yeah. (1:13) Oh, I was pretty old. (1:15) You remember? My mom would know that.

(1:18) No, I don’t know. I just know for our kids, it was for both of them. (1:21) I hear there’s so many E’s in our last name.

(1:25) Can we just remove them? (1:27) You guys could. I mean, you could go, and there’s some department you can go to and shorten it. (1:31) I mean, people do that for us all the time.

(1:33) Awesome. (1:34) They leave off the E after the N. (1:35) Perfect. (1:36) Or just like S. (1:38) Yep, that’s awesome.

(1:39) That’s awesome. (1:41) My wife and all of her sisters have typically different names. (1:47) Nadine, Deneen, all the girls are Enes, so they have all these different names.

(1:51) But Deneen, when she goes to a coffee shop, she just gives her daughter’s name, which is Hope. (1:56) Because she’s like, nobody ever gets it right. (1:58) Nadine, whenever she goes to a store, they’re like Nadia.

(2:01) They add letters. (2:03) Natalie, never get it right. (2:06) Well, I’m thankful they gave me a pretty normal first name.

(2:09) Hard to mess that one up. (2:10) Yeah, perfect. (2:12) So Scott was easy.

(2:13) The rest of it was tough. (2:14) But thank you guys for being here. (2:16) So you guys run a really cool experiential technology company, Blue Water Technology (2:23) Group, among some other things.

(2:25) So why don’t we start there, just kind of explain what your guys’ jobs are. (2:30) What do you do? (2:31) And a little bit about the company. (2:33) And then we’ll kind of back into everything and start talking about all the fun stuff (2:37) you’re doing too.

(2:38) Not that that one’s not fun. (2:39) Yeah. (2:40) Where do you want to start? (2:43) Who’s the boss? (2:46) She’s the boss.

(2:47) We work really well together. (2:52) Let’s start. (2:53) So Blue Water is a family business.

(2:56) Chanel and I are second generation in that business. (2:59) Started off a really fun story.(3:01) It was like most great American business stories started in a garage.

(3:06) Perfect. (3:06) And it was renting TVs and VCRs on carts. (3:10) So pretty nerdy at the time.

(3:12) And kind of funny, it was my dad and his uncle. (3:14) And they were renting to Ford Motor Company. (3:17) A little bit later, the buyer asked if they could install that same technology.

(3:21) I said, sure, we can do that. (3:21) So they started installing it. (3:23) And so that’s really kind of the genesis of the company.

(3:25) We would rent equipment and start putting on these events. (3:28) And then we would install equipment for communication. (3:33) I love it.

(3:35) You guys are a little bit younger than me. (3:38) But back in grade school, they used to roll in the TV on the cart. (3:41) That was it.

(3:42) That was it. (3:43) Nailed it. (3:44) We had only 40, 45 kids died in our school from those things falling on top of them.

(3:50) That’s not bad. (3:51) Because the good part is that the cart had a strap. (3:54) So it held the TV tight while the whole thing fell over on you.

(3:59) Without the strap, it was infinitely more dangerous. (4:02) Yeah, yeah. (4:02) That saved everybody.

(4:04) Go rolling down the stairs. (4:06) Yeah, it was terrible, terrible. (4:08) But yeah, that’s kind of where it started.

(4:10) And very entrepreneurial family. (4:12) My old man just never wanted to say no to things.(4:15) Always wanted to see if he could figure it out.

(4:17) And loved connecting people and connecting partners and just connecting different businesses. (4:22) So anytime he came up with an opportunity. (4:24) And there’s probably a ton more we could dive in on that.

(4:27) But we’ll keep it brief for now. (4:29) Maybe we’ll get to some of that later. (4:31) But the company really evolved with the needs or the demands from the clients.

(4:36) And asked from our clients. (4:37) And we really found our niche probably early 2000s in the world of experiential. (4:42) Which wasn’t called that.

(4:44) We had a fun conversation last week just about this. (4:46) Nobody could say experiential back then. (4:48) So just different names.

(4:50) Mobile marketing, digital media. (4:53) Yeah, early 2000s. (4:54) We’ll call it whatever we could other than experiential.

(4:58) So that’s our niche. (4:59) Our niche is kind of the interactive, immersive, highly creative things. (5:04) That happen to need audio-visual canvases.

(5:07) So I think of it like if I’m walking into the auto show. (5:10) And I see a wall of, you know, a curvy wall. (5:13) That’s a big screen.

(5:14) That’s showing me a car or whatever message that I don’t need to see. (5:18) Exactly.(5:18) That’s that kind of stuff.

(5:19) It’s that. (5:20) So we’re doing the CAD layout. (5:22) Making sure that we’re pulling permits for it.

(5:25) Some of these builds are pretty big. (5:27) So you need to make sure you have the right engineering. (5:28) That’s not something you want to fall.

(5:30) No. (5:31) And then we’ll also do the content that goes on it. (5:33) And a lot of times that content becomes interactive.

(5:35) So we have software developers that are making, essentially, we call them throwaway games. (5:39) It’s like we’ll build this really cool game. (5:41) And it’ll get used for an event.

(5:42) And then it might not ever get used again. (5:43) It might get brought back later. (5:45) But, you know, they’re not released commercially.

(5:47) Gotcha. (5:47) Well, and we were at your facility for a tech show this past year. (5:52) And you had a golfing, kind of a golf slash, what was the golf slash ski ball deal? (6:01) Yep.

(6:01) Yeah. (6:02) Perfect example of it. (6:03) Yep.

(6:04) So raised the LED wall up just a little bit. (6:06) So you get a little cavity below it. (6:07) And then we put a putt-putt course in front of it.

(6:09) So you putt the ball in. (6:11) We track the ball on the green. (6:13) As soon as it hits that threshold where the LED wall meets, (6:16) we shoot a virtual ball up on the screen into the ski ball course.

(6:20) Yeah, it’s great. (6:20) We’ll have to show a picture of that. (6:21) Jackie can put one on here.

(6:24) Now, in terms of, and I know I’m digging in here a little bit before we really finished (6:30) your intros, but in terms of the complexities of things, that golf, that golf, ski golf, (6:39) what do you call it? (6:39) Puttski. (6:40) Puttski. (6:40) Puttski.

(6:42) On a one to 10, if 10 is the most advanced type of technology and one is pretty simple,(6:48) where does that lie in the span? (6:50) That’s like a sliding scale. (6:52) I feel like that’s a sliding scale because what might be complicated today will definitely (6:56) not be tomorrow.(7:00) So that’s like probably a four or five.

(7:02) That’s not totally complicated. (7:04) That’s what I was thinking. (7:04) Yeah.

(7:04) Yeah. (7:05) It’s the kind of structural element paired with the canvas. (7:10) But the tracking, it’s all just computer vision, which is there’s tons of libraries.

(7:15) You’re not recreating the wheel on that. (7:17) You’re just tracking a white ball on a green surface. (7:20) There’s a good contrast.

(7:21) So everything you need is kind of inherently designed, and that was intentional, but made(7:26) it easy. (7:27) Yeah. (7:27) Okay.

(7:28) Definitely made it easy. (7:28) Well, we’ll have to talk about some of the things that are six, seven, eight, nine, tens (7:31) too that you guys are working on. (7:33) So finish up explaining.

(7:35) So you did say you’re second generation, but just to be clear, you are husband and wife,(7:39) not brother and sister. (7:42) Oh, yeah. (7:42) I guess we should have clarified that.

(7:43) Because you do have the same last name as it could have been. (7:46) Yeah. (7:46) I do have a sister.

(7:47) She’s not involved in the business. (7:49) Okay. (7:49) Chanel has a brother.

(7:50) He’s not involved. (7:50) So it’s, yeah. (7:51) And yes, we are married.

(7:52) Got it. (7:53) Good. (7:53) Happily.

(7:54) Happily married, yes. (7:55) And also not related. (7:57) Would you say that? (7:57) Yeah.

(7:58) Yeah. (7:58) I mean, as long as you’re beyond first cousin, I think we’re all cool here, right?(8:04) So what are your roles in the organization? (8:08) So I’m the managing partner. (8:09) My day-to-day is generally around what’s next? (8:14) Where are we going? (8:15) How are we going to focus? (8:16) You know, what types of clients do we want? (8:18) You know, what types of work do we want to be supporting them with? (8:22) I assist with the marketing and the brand.

(8:24) Brand is, I’m a very big brand guy. (8:26) I love brand. (8:26) Brand is just the thing that’s working for you 24… (8:29) If you get it right, it works for you 24-7, 365, and just really makes life a lot easier.

(8:33) And then I oversee a lot of our creative efforts, our creative teams, software teams, (8:37) and anything that’s kind of abstract and not what we call bread and butter, which would be…(8:44) We still do rent out a lot of equipment just for shows where we just need equipment (8:48) and maybe some technical… (8:49) Okay, sure. (8:50) And we’ll send that out. (8:51) Or we just need some conference room equipment.

(8:53) You know, that’s not super complex. (8:54) We do that a lot and kind of rinse and repeat type stuff. (8:57) So… (8:57) Got it.

(8:58) And I work mostly on a lot of the culture at Blue Water. (9:01) Okay. (9:01) So trying to keep that family aspect at the core.

(9:04) Okay, great. (9:05) Great. (9:06) Can you spout off vision, mission, values like nobody’s business? (9:09) I can, but not as good as Scott.

(9:11) I’m always like, you run with that. (9:17) She’s too humble. (9:19) I’m picking up.

(9:20) I’m picking up on that. (9:21) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (9:21) Schnell’s our fixer.

(9:22) The silent killer. (9:23) She’s kind of our… (9:24) She’s our fixer, our mechanic. (9:25) Like, she gets put into all sorts of stuff that… (9:29) Which I guess is kind of difficult to classify.

(9:31) Like, I don’t know how you’d qualify the job, but… (9:34) Sure. (9:34) If it’s mission critical, if it’s something that, you know, (9:37) we just need high visibility, she’s almost always going to be involved. (9:40) Great.

(9:40) I’m a very… (9:40) And it’s done. (9:41) It’s done, right. (9:42) So like, Scott will come up with these really fun creative ideas (9:46) and then it’s like, all right, like, I’ll help make that happen.

(9:49) Okay. (9:49) So I can help connect it. (9:51) But Scott’s like a lot of the brains behind it.

(9:53) Okay. (9:54) So you disc profile people? (9:56) Like, do you know what your profile is?(9:59) No. (9:59) You’re the creative and she’s the hard driving.

(10:02) Yep. (10:02) Make sure it all gets done. (10:04) I should take one again.

(10:05) I’ve taken it like too many times to count. (10:07) I can never remember what it is. (10:08) Okay.

(10:09) I definitely lean whatever the creative side of the brain is. (10:12) Sure. (10:13) Sure.

(10:13) You both. (10:14) It’s a nice compliment though for you guys together. (10:17) So you also said that you actually… (10:20) This is very weird in family business that you guys actually get along.

(10:24) Oh, yes. (10:25) So that’s good. (10:27) And you share an office? (10:29) We do.

(10:30) We stare right at each other. (10:31) Like deeply into each other’s eyes all day long?(10:34) Pretty much. (10:34) Yeah.

(10:35) Unless the computer screen’s in the way. (10:37) But there’s a small gap between. (10:40) And yeah, our desks are looking right at each other.

(10:43) That’s fantastic. (10:44) We didn’t until what, maybe like two years ago. (10:47) And it’s just, I mean, we communicate regularly on so many things.

(10:52) And it does work well. (10:54) That’s awesome. (10:55) That’s awesome.

(10:56) We get that question a lot though. (10:57) Oh, you work with your wife? (10:58) Like, yeah.(10:59) Yeah, literally.

(11:00) How is it? (11:00) My dad’s great. (11:01) Wait, you work in the same office? (11:03) You stare at each other all the time? (11:04) Yeah. (11:05) And you’re fine when you go home? (11:06) Yeah.

(11:07) That’s awesome. (11:08) Yeah. (11:08) I mean, the hardest part though, for sure, I think naturally is being able to separate the two.

(11:14) Yeah. (11:14) You know, make sure that you’ve got your quality family life and that you’ve got your quality (11:18) work life. (11:19) And sometimes those intermingle.

(11:22) Just making sure. (11:23) We’re getting better at that though. (11:25) But it’s so easy to come home and just continue a conversation.

(11:28) Oh, yeah. (11:29) And then it’s making sure that the kids are taken care of and that isn’t always our topic. (11:36) And explain family at home.

(11:39) What’s that look like? (11:40) Two kids? (11:41) Two amazing kids. (11:42) We have a daughter, Viola. (11:44) She’s 10.

(11:45) And our son Hendrix is six, about to be seven. (11:48) Okay. (11:49) They’re our world, for sure.

(11:51) Definitely. (11:52) You know, we have our kind of going back to that challenging moments of, I hate to say (11:59) that term of, you know, like finding that balance. (12:02) Because ultimately, I feel like there isn’t really work life balance.

(12:05) No. (12:06) It’s just. (12:07) It’s just life.

(12:08) It’s just life. (12:10) And making the most of that time that you have together. (12:14) Do the kids like to talk about work? (12:19) Do they show any interest? (12:21) They do.

(12:21) So we’ll probably get into this later on. (12:24) But, you know, COVID, having an event business that was very detrimental and happened, you (12:31) know, very quickly, just like it did for several. (12:34) So we had to quickly pivot and figure out a source of revenue, a way to keep our staff.

(12:42) And things. (12:43) And so we started this little brand called Glimmer Trail. (12:47) And our kids are pretty involved in it.

(12:51) And they love it, which is so fun. (12:52) That’s awesome. (12:53) Recently, you know, they’ve started working the concession booths, which they love.

(12:58) I think having that real life experience for them. (13:01) Huge. (13:01) Of like dealing with money and transactions.

(13:04) And people. (13:05) Yeah, yeah. (13:06) So that has been really easy.

(13:09) Yeah. (13:09) Makes us feel good that. (13:11) For sure.

(13:11) They enjoy it and that they see you gotta work hard. (13:14) We go from playing shop at home to like, wait, we can do this. (13:17) We know how to do this.

(13:17) Let us do this. (13:18) Like, okay, here’s how you do it. (13:21) And they actually do better than most of us.

(13:24) They do better than me. (13:24) I’m like, all right, all right, you guys are hired. (13:27) Love it.

(13:28) Get them on the payroll. (13:29) We’ll let them do it for a half hour and then get them home. (13:34) And they love coming to the Blue Otter office too.

(13:36) That’s always fun to them. (13:37) Yeah, I mean, you’ve got a really kind of fun, touchy feely sort of business, right? (13:41) That’s, I mean, experiential, you’re in it, right? (13:43) You’re immersed in it. (13:44) And walking into your office is pretty fun.

(13:46) I mean, there’s things to touch and experience. (13:50) I mean, there’s no other word besides experience. (13:51) You know, you open the door of the one.

(13:54) Oh, the magic doors. (13:56) The magic doors. (13:56) Yeah.

(13:57) You know, it’s really interesting stuff. (13:59) So today we have a XR volume, a giant LED, three walls, a floor. (14:05) And that’s for a pretty large telecom brand.

(14:09) That’s just a demo. (14:09) We’re gonna do a test fit before it goes out to the site. (14:12) But it’s always funny when you walk in and you’re like, oh, here’s this thing.

(14:15) It’s, you know, this massive build and there’s a custom game on it. (14:19) So that was fun. (14:19) Those last couple of days.

(14:20) Very cool. (14:21) You never know what you’re going to see when you walk in. (14:22) Well, you have to share a few pictures so we can share them with the folks that are watching.

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(15:00) You know, it’s funny because I talk to everybody and everybody does have a COVID story, right? (15:06) And it’s like part of me wants to forget that it ever happened. (15:08) And, you know, but it’s kind of part of our life journey, right? (15:13) And it’s so neat how the perseverance of people. (15:18) And you guys are just this, like I said, you’re like this positive pushing force.

(15:22) You know, you kind of just don’t take no for an answer sort of folks. (15:25) And I love, you know, the energy of being around you guys. (15:29) So talk about the whole COVID thing because it did turn into some pretty rough.

(15:35) I mean, it was definitely a rough time for you guys. (15:38) But it was also very enlightening and, you know, pivot filled and wild. (15:46) So we are an event company, half event company, half install company.

(15:51) So obviously half the business just kind of hard stopped in, what was that, March of 2020. (15:58) And that was interesting. (15:59) So we’re all standing there watching our board has all our projects on it (16:02) in the warehouse and they’re just dropping off.

(16:05) Just like, okay, time to do something. (16:07) We got to do something, but we’ll figure it out. (16:10) And we sat around and grew just about every idea we could at the wall.

(16:15) And we came up with quite a few. (16:19) But there was some manufacturing we did.(16:24) We built some seats for light rail trains.

(16:28) That was interesting. (16:30) We built a disinfectant, like a UV disinfectant for shopping carts with a partner. (16:38) That was interesting.

(16:39) It was like no shortage of attempts, right? (16:41) Sure. (16:42) One of the bigger ones though, Parallel Live. (16:45) That was a brand that we started the middle of COVID.

(16:50) We heard from our clients, nope, we’re still going to be doing meetings. (16:54) Now more than ever, we need to get in touch with our clients and our staff. (16:57) And we just need to stay in touch.

(16:58) What are the options? (16:59) So you have a Zoom call, you can have a Teams call. (17:01) It kind of feels like a Zoom call or a Teams call. (17:03) There were some other options on the market.

(17:04) We tried them. (17:05) We didn’t love them. (17:06) They’re not bad products.

(17:07) They just didn’t fit our needs. (17:09) And that’s in the niche of virtual event? (17:11) And it was in the, yeah, virtual event platforms. (17:13) There’s a ton of them.

(17:14) I mean, we could drop names, but you could quick search and there’s a ton of them.(17:18) They’ll pop up. (17:19) And they’re not bad products.

(17:21) They’re great. (17:22) They just, they’re a product. (17:24) They’re baked.

(17:25) You can’t modify them very easily. (17:26) There’s not a quick response time. (17:27) And we customize everything.

(17:29) And so we’d been doing software for a long time, just experiential and whatnot. (17:33) So we said, we’ll just build our own. (17:34) And so that was where Parallel Live came.

(17:36) And so Parallel had kind of on its own this kind of incredible story. (17:40) We launched it, got a bunch of our existing clients on it, using it. (17:46) And then we’re able to secure a bunch of new brands that we hadn’t worked with before.

(17:50) So Ford hosts their very first ever press event virtual. (17:55) My understanding is the very first press event that they ever did was for Essence Festival. (17:59) So we host that on Parallel.

(18:02) Smith & Wesson, they did their very first product launch on Parallel. (18:08) Anheuser-Busch joined on and did some innovation week and some internal meetings on there. (18:12) And then we did the NAACP Image Awards.

(18:15) We actually broadcast the Image Awards, which was wild. (18:19) So that was cool. (18:20) And each of those had customizations done to this platform.

(18:22) So as we add the customization, we bake it in. (18:24) We kind of continue to grow it.(18:25) So this is kind of as organic growth to this platform.

(18:28) And then when things kind of opened back up, we started adding tools to support in-person events. (18:33) So this thing didn’t just go out by the wayside. (18:36) No.

(18:36) It’s still in use today. (18:38) So last year, we did a pretty massive program. (18:41) We had a transportation company.

(18:43) It was a big airline came in. (18:45) They were doing a new uniform. (18:47) And they needed to somehow schedule 45,000 people to get their measurements taken.

(18:50) And they had already negotiated with a really cool high-tech scanning system (18:55) that would take an image of your body. (18:59) But we don’t know how to effectively get around the country, (19:02) or country, around the world and get this done. (19:05) And so, yeah, we can build this feature set into Parallel (19:08) because a lot of what you need is already in here.

(19:10) And so we added the scheduling and a database to store all this stuff (19:14) and integrated with their clothing manufacturer and all that. (19:18) So, yeah, last year, a good portion of the year, (19:20) Parallel was being used to schedule and collect data from around the world (19:24) on this tour that we were supporting. (19:26) So when the airline pilot looks good, it’s due to you guys.

(19:30) Due in part to us. (19:32) Yeah, due in part to us, which is cool. (19:34) So we’ll continue to do that with Parallel.

(19:36) I mean, we’ll continue to develop it and continue to invest in it. (19:39) And it’s just a cool platform. (19:42) All the while that you were working on that, though, (19:44) was revenues were still, overall revenue is still dipping in the organization.

(19:50) So how did you keep that positive, you know, that positive face on (19:55) while you know that bills are stacking up or whatever? (19:59) I don’t know what your financial situation was exactly, (20:01) but sales are plummeting. (20:04) You’re working on this thing. (20:06) Did you, just how did you keep your, how did you keep your? (20:09) We have an incredible team.

(20:10) Your attitude. (20:11) We have an absolutely incredible team. (20:12) So we all sat down and said, what are we going to do? (20:15) And every single person said, well, we don’t know, but we got this.

(20:19) We got this. (20:20) And it was just one step at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time. (20:23) We’ll figure it out.

(20:24) And so we divide and conquer. (20:25) We knew there was going to be some kind of government stimulus. (20:27) We knew that we could work with our banks and figure out some terms with the banks.

(20:30) We knew we could work with other vendors and maybe stretching payments or stretching, (20:36) you know, bills due or whatever. (20:40) And that all played into it. (20:41) And then Chanel and I really focused on kind of some new offerings.

(20:46) We got Parallel Launch. (20:47) That was bringing in revenue. (20:48) And then we, I guess that leads into, we launched some other new products like (20:51) Glenmore Trails, which Chanel mentioned, which we didn’t, we didn’t know what to expect.

(20:56) That was just kind of a, I love the way, I’ll let Chanel tell that story. (20:58) Cause that was, that was a fun one. (21:00) Yeah.

(21:00) Let’s get into that. (21:01) I want to ask one other question though on the, on the, the attitude, (21:04) the mental attitude during that time. (21:07) So you, the way you’re saying it is, you know, we had the optimism that banks, (21:12) you know, the stimulus was going to be there in some way.

(21:14) Bank was going to be okay. (21:16) Had some other ways through the, just in general trade to be able to, to sustain. (21:20) Did you ever go to dead in your brain? (21:23) You know, go, oh, this whole thing’s going to crash.

(21:28) Or were you somewhere in, in, in optimistic? (21:31) No, we’re not wired that way. (21:33) Okay. (21:33) And when somebody is down, you, you sense it.

(21:35) So you do what you can to pick them up. (21:37) And yeah, I mean, that’s great. (21:39) We, we have a couple, we have a lot of sayings, a lot of phrases in our family (21:44) and in our business, but you know, the one, one being when one door closes, (21:49) there’s always another that opens.

(21:50) There’s never a time when the doors are all closed and there’s just, (21:53) they’re all closed, right? (21:54) So you just have to be aware and open to finding that door and (21:58) being willing to go through it. (22:00) The other, the other one, I’m going to drop blank on it now, of course, (22:04) because we’re live on the air. (22:05) We’re not live.

(22:06) It’s all recorded. (22:06) We can, we can, we can change this. (22:08) The other one was, I just said it, I just, I just wrote about this.

(22:13) Well, you wrote, so let’s talk about your writing and then, (22:15) cause maybe that’ll inspire the thought to come back. (22:17) You write a, you write to your, to your team. (22:20) Yes.

(22:21) On a regular basis. (22:22) Yep. (22:22) Weekly.

(22:23) Weekly, every Monday. (22:25) And you’ve shared some of that with me. (22:26) I have, I shared all of last year, I think.

(22:28) Yeah. (22:28) I shared this year’s. (22:30) Yeah.

(22:31) Yeah. (22:31) So we’re, we’re, we’re, I don’t have a pull on again. (22:33) I might pull some up and share them.

(22:36) Um, on one door. (22:40) Oh, I remember. (22:41) Okay.

(22:42) I knew you’d. (22:42) Yeah. (22:42) I knew it.

(22:43) Yeah. (22:43) It was just got to connect the threads. (22:44) That’s what we do.

(22:45) Um, the future is unknown and therefore friendly. (22:49) That’s our mindset. (22:50) Okay.

(22:50) The future is unknown and therefore if you go into things thinking, I don’t know what’s(22:54) going to happen and you, you have a negative attitude, you’re going to find a negative outcome (22:57) and you’re always going to find what you look for. (23:00) It’s just a matter of when and timing. (23:01) So business is a timing game largely.

(23:05) Um, and in my mind, like an optimism game, if you’re, if you’re going out there and you’re (23:10) doing the reps and you’re looking for opportunity and you’re building relationships, uh, the (23:16) balance becomes just, can you make sure that the timing stays, the cash coming in, the (23:19) cash going out and the people coming to people going. (23:22) That’s a good point. (23:22) I always say good, clean living pays off over time and it never, never failed.

(23:27) Yeah. (23:28) So, um, so speaking of that, so let’s, let’s talk about, uh, Glenlore. (23:33) Um, I have not been, so you guys invited me and then I got sick back near the end of last (23:39) year.

(23:39) I think it was November or so you guys invited me to come out and, uh, but some of our people (23:44) from Oxium came out and experienced it. (23:46) So thank you for having them, but, um, let’s talk about it. (23:51) Yeah.

(23:51) Um, gosh, so 2020, I mean, that was one of our little side projects and more than anything (23:58) that was, how do we provide something right now? (24:03) That’s nothing.(24:04) Now everybody’s kind of losing their mind. (24:06) Um, and it was one of those, like, you know, fortunately, but unfortunately, um, we had (24:15) our team, our, our live team at Bluewater who available, uh, to assist and it, it came (24:23) together truly because of that.

(24:25) I think having their help and having the creative mindset who was willing to really just jump (24:32) in and what do we do? (24:33) All right. (24:34) Now more than ever, we can do this thing called themed entertainment that Scott has always (24:38) talked about doing, you know, bringing like nature and technology together, but life and (24:44) business, you know, all the other, all these other things, we, we weren’t able to make (24:47) time for it. (24:48) And so this kind of forced us in that situation.

(24:51) And, uh, Scott said one yet, you know, at, at night we try to wind down, we’ll watch just(24:57) a whatever show friends, you know, something that’s just kind of mindless. (25:01) Scott’s like, what do you think about putting a bunch of equipment and doing a light show?(25:07) And I’m like, how high, how high was he when he was (25:10) right? (25:13) Surprisingly not. (25:14) Not good.

(25:15) You would for once you would think. (25:20) And I, you know, I just kind of laughed and I’m like, oh yeah. (25:22) You know, wait, he’s like, no, I’m serious.

(25:26) You know, we have a bunch of equipment right now. (25:29) Kind of, I’ve talked about always wanting to do this, this themed entertainment. (25:33) What if we are able to find the property and our team, we work together, we come up with (25:38) the concepts and create a show that kind of tells the story as you walk through the woods.

(25:43) And I’m like, oh my gosh, we’re going to need, you know, brand ambassadors. (25:47) We’re going to need concessions. (25:48) We’re going to need port-a-johns.

(25:49) And I like go on. (25:50) And then he’s like, hold on a minute. (25:52) And that’s like where I go, right.

(25:53) Is to like making it happen. (25:55) He’s like, hold on, hold on. (25:57) So, um, I mean, literally it felt like it was like the next day went in and Scott talked (26:03) with our creative team and they were super about it.

(26:08) Let’s do it. (26:09) And then live team. (26:11) Same.

(26:12) Need a few volunteers. (26:13) Yeah. (26:14) That was a fun conversation too.

(26:15) There was a lot of scrunched faces. (26:18) You want a what? (26:19) Yeah. (26:20) Is anyone interested in like, it was a surprise.

(26:22) There was a handful of people that were like, yeah, that sounds interesting. (26:24) Like, no clue. (26:25) Like, yeah, sure.

(26:26) Like we’re not doing anything else. (26:27) Like 8% detail. (26:29) And they’re like, yeah, I’m in.

(26:29) Yeah, exactly. (26:31) Sure. (26:31) We’ll figure out the other 92, but I do like, um, your attitude in that.

(26:36) Um, because what I, what I, you know, with this whole kind of, like I said, you guys(26:39) are this kind of positive, uh, force is that you didn’t say, well, we can’t because right.(26:46) We can’t because we’re going to need this. (26:47) And you said, okay, this is what we’re going to need.

(26:50) And then, so you just kind of roll up your sleeves and like go right to operations. (26:54) How are we going to make it happen? (26:55) I always talk about rubber meeting the road.(26:56) So, you know, and, and what’s so challenging is it too many idea people in the same room.

(27:03) Doesn’t, doesn’t serve anybody. (27:04) Yeah. (27:05) Right.

(27:05) Because everything will sound awesome and you won’t get there. (27:08) So you need the, you need the person who’s going to figure out how’s that rubber going (27:12) to meet the road. (27:13) So that’s you.

(27:14) Operation, opera, operationalizing things. (27:17) That’s a, that’s a tongue twister word for me. (27:19) Yeah.

(27:19) I can’t even say the word. (27:20) That’s definitely not my skill set. (27:22) Strong suit.

(27:22) Um, that’s a, that’s a real skill set. (27:23) I mean, pronunciation. (27:24) We’ll give you, we’ll give you a two.

(27:25) Perfect. (27:26) I’ll take it. (27:27) Okay.

(27:27) You’re actually happy with that. (27:29) That’s a good score. (27:29) It’s out of three.

(27:30) You’re doing awesome. (27:30) Oh, I’m doing better. (27:32) I’d say out of 10.

(27:33) Uh, but yeah, that’s, um, it’s a skill set I do not have. (27:37) Chanel does. (27:38) And I envy people that have that.

(27:40) Just being able to mentally break things down into blocks. (27:43) Okay. (27:43) Yeah.

(27:44) Task it out. (27:45) See, I’m an, I’m an MVP guy. (27:47) Like I can come up with the idea and the first thing of just getting a little bit of rubber (27:52) on the road.

(27:52) And then, and then I’m distracted. (27:55) Because I got, I got it started. (27:57) I’m good.

(27:58) Now it’s always with great intention, right? (28:00) I, it’s not like I’m, I’m not going to build something that I know is never going to happen. (28:05) I that’s, that’s why I always, I always joke. (28:06) That’s why I have to have this, this company that’s bigger than I expected or, or, you (28:11) know, we’re building it and building it because, uh, I need the support for the ideas to be (28:17) able to make them come to fruition.

(28:18) That’s how it works. (28:19) You got to surround yourself with. (28:21) You can’t, can’t meet the road.

(28:23) You can’t execute. (28:24) If you don’t have those great. (28:25) Correct.

(28:26) Yep. (28:27) So that’s great. (28:28) Great balance.

(28:28) Maybe that’s why you can look at each other all day is because you know that, you know(28:31) that you need each other. (28:33) I definitely couldn’t do it without you. (28:35) That’s great.

(28:37) That’s great. (28:38) Um, I wouldn’t want to do it without you. (28:40) Well, you know, I’m just going to leave.

(28:42) Okay. (28:42) You guys just, okay. (28:43) Welcome to the Scott show.

(28:46) Some light porn with a BLT and T-bone can. (28:51) Soft, soft porn. (28:52) Sorry.

(28:53) Light. (28:56) Been out of the game for a while. (28:57) Okay.

(28:58) So I don’t know. (28:58) I don’t know the variations as well as I used to. (29:01) That’s the one with the blinds are open.

(29:03) I think so. (29:03) Yeah. (29:04) Yeah.

(29:04) Yeah. (29:04) And 12 people, something like that. (29:07) Okay.

(29:08) This is just worthless. (29:10) Let me get to my notes. (29:11) This would be bad if I keep on that trail.

(29:15) So, um, this episode of the BLT and T-bone podcast is sponsored by Auxium business,(29:20) IT and cybersecurity designed to outsmart chaos. (29:23) Empowered by Juniper networks. (29:25) Automate your network with Juniper networks and the missed AI platform.

(29:28) The world’s first AI driven wired and wireless network. (29:33) What do you guys like to do for fun? (29:36) Let’s see. (29:37) Recently, um, lovely Michigan weather, um, we’ve been snowboarding.

(29:43) Ooh, whereabouts? (29:45) So we actually just took a trip to Vail. (29:48) Got to do some real snowboarding. (29:51) Scott’s a professional.

(29:53) And the kids and I are newbies. (29:56) So that was a really cool experience being there.(30:00) Um, and so, you know, coming back Michigan, but it’s just, just not the same.

(30:05) Well, it’s one of the best places to go out West and learn out there is such a difference(30:09) because you have the ability to actually get into a rhythm, finally get it. (30:13) And then you still have more, more run to, to continue down to perfect it. (30:18) You know, when you’re, when you’re learning in Northern Michigan, it’s, it’s a little bit (30:21) tougher because it’s, and I’ve taught a lot of people how to ski and it’s like, as soon (30:25) as they get it, they’re always at that bottom quarter of the Hill and you’re like, ah, and (30:30) then amnesia occurs on the, on the chairlift.

(30:34) So it’s like, Oh man, that was my, uh, I grew up skiing and the family would, we would go(30:39) skiing, you know, as often as we could. (30:41) And, uh, we have a place in the Traverse City area, uh, the Illinois area and, uh, Sugarloaf (30:46) was our, our mouth choice. (30:48) Uh, that’s unfortunately no longer around.

(30:50) Uh, but it was very close to where we, where our cottage was. (30:52) So we’d go there.(30:53) Anytime we were up there, we would go there.

(30:55) And, uh, you know, my dad skied, my sister skied, my mom skied, we all, you know, it’s(30:58) just a family affair. (30:59) So it was, it was fun. (31:00) And I grew up skiing, but not snowboarding.

(31:02) Oh, okay. (31:02) So this was a new. (31:03) Yep.

(31:04) And then I got hooked on snowboarding. (31:06) I actually, my first job before Bluewater was like, I was a ASA certified snowboard (31:10) instructor. (31:11) Oh, no kidding.

(31:11) For a long time. (31:12) And I love it. (31:13) I mean, I just loved snowboarding and I rode aggressively for most of, uh, high school, (31:19) most of college and, and, and after.

(31:21) And then, um, to Chanel’s point, uh, I started going out West. (31:26) Okay. (31:26) And that kind of ruined Michigan for me.

(31:28) And so we’ve been together for 15 years and I snowboard and Chanel’s like, well, you(31:35) never done it with me? (31:36) I’m like, yeah, sure. (31:36) I have. (31:37) We’ve gone and I thought about it.

(31:39) I don’t think I’ve gone in 15 years. (31:40) So we went out, that was really fun going out West to, to, again, it just, it was like (31:45) riding a bike. (31:45) Of course I went straight to the top.

(31:47) It’s like, I’m gonna do the double black. (31:48) Let’s go. (31:50) But he didn’t drag you down that the first run? (31:52) No.

(31:52) Okay. (31:53) Good. (31:53) Nope.

(31:53) We slow and steady, which I’m grateful for because I thought for a minute I broke my(31:59) tailbone. (32:00) Oh, really? (32:01) I’ve since recovered. (32:02) Those, those can be some hard falls when you, when you learn, when you’re learning (32:05) snowboarding.

(32:05) I, I broke my face, uh, snowboarding once. (32:08) So that was fun. (32:08) I’m always been a skier, but, but I was, I was, uh, my early twenties.

(32:13) I said, you know what? (32:13) I’m going to, I’m going to give myself a little challenge to learn how to snowboard. (32:17) And yeah, right. (32:18) One, the, the one day that I thought I was finally, like, I finally had it caught that (32:24) toe edge and boom.

(32:26) That’s what happens. (32:27) I’m committed. (32:28) So yeah, it’s been fun teaching now.

(32:31) We got some instructor out in the West and then I’ve been teaching them since I, I also(32:36) learned, uh, early on, you don’t, you should never teach your family, your immediate family (32:40) or your very good friends. (32:41) You just don’t teach them at least the first go around, like hired out. (32:46) That’s the best.

(32:46) Yep. (32:47) We did that with our, with our boys took them about eight, eight lessons.(32:50) And on the eighth lesson, I got a telephone.

(32:52) We did it up in Northern Michigan and, uh, my cell phone rings and it’s a number. (32:58) It’s an up North number. (33:00) And I’m like, Oh no, somebody’s hurt.

(33:02) And it was this, it was a teacher. (33:04) And he, he also flies helicopters for the coast guard is, is, is his other, uh, job. (33:10) He’s like, Hey man, I think, I think his name was Kevin.

(33:12) Like, Hey man, it’s Kevin. (33:14) He’s like, and I’m like, okay, he doesn’t sound panicked.(33:16) So this is good.

(33:17) He’s like, they just got it. (33:19) And I’m like, what do you mean? (33:20) He’s like, they just, they both just figured it out. (33:22) And he’s like, can I keep him out here for like another half hour? (33:24) I’m like, yeah.

(33:25) Oh, that’s awesome. (33:26) For sure. (33:26) It was like, it was just the best.

(33:28) So, and then they brought us to Kevin. (33:29) That was awesome. (33:30) If, if that’s, if that’s his name.

(33:32) Yep. (33:32) Then thank you very much, Kevin or whomever. (33:35) But no, that was really cool.

(33:37) In fact, we actually had the owner and the, um, general manager, both in episodes of podcasts. (33:44) Yeah. (33:45) So, so, uh, one just, one just, uh, posted the other day and the other is posting this week.

(33:50) So nice. (33:51) So you’ll be able to, so they’ll, they’ll ask me to sanitize the whole Michigan was ruined (33:56) and stuff, but you can still ski in Michigan and find some good stuff. (34:00) We can say some good things too.

(34:01) Northern Michigan is a great place to ski. (34:03) There you go. (34:04) We’re excited.

(34:05) It’s just not, it’s just not for me. (34:07) I think we’re going off this weekend. (34:08) I think we’re going off this weekend.

(34:09) We’re excited about that. (34:10) There you go. (34:11) Yeah.

(34:11) Well, if you do go out to your place in the winter, come up and see us at ours, uh, uh,(34:16) sometime. (34:16) Yeah. (34:16) We’re not too far away.

(34:17) Not very far. (34:18) Yeah. (34:19) So what else we, we, so, uh, we cook a lot.

(34:21) I find it, that to be therapeutic. (34:23) We cook a lot of our meals. (34:24) We’re big foodies.

(34:26) Also enjoy going out to a good restaurant. (34:29) Just like active, healthy lifestyle.(34:31) Anything outdoor.

(34:32) Yeah. (34:33) The summer. (34:34) Are the kids active? (34:35) Oh yeah.

(34:35) Yeah. (34:36) What are they into? (34:37) Sport wise. (34:37) What aren’t they into?(34:38) Okay.

(34:39) What aren’t they into? (34:40) Like the Jim Gaffigan thing we were just looking at. (34:41) Exactly. (34:42) Basketball.

(34:42) Cause that’s where dad’s going. (34:43) Exactly. (34:44) You’re all doing the same thing.

(34:45) Soccer is where we’re at. (34:47) This is their first year with a travel sport. (34:49) Ooh.

(34:50) Okay. (34:51) Soccer. (34:53) Yeah.

(34:53) I mean. (34:54) They’ve done jiu jitsu. (34:55) They liked that.

(34:57) They’re, our daughter’s into reading and into painting and art. (35:01) Our son is into, well, he’s a boy. (35:04) He’s, he’s pure boy.

(35:06) So he’s just anything he can jump off, climb or break. (35:11) Or build. (35:11) Yeah.

(35:12) Awesome. (35:13) We’re big water people too. (35:15) So love to be by the water.

(35:17) Excellent. (35:18) Michigan lakes or the ocean. (35:22) Same.

(35:22) And music. (35:23) Yeah, lots of music. (35:24) Yeah.

(35:24) Okay. (35:24) Love listening to music. (35:25) I love playing music.

(35:27) I got to get the family. (35:28) Right. (35:29) Guitar and bass.

(35:30) Yeah. (35:30) Okay. (35:30) So funny, funny thing about our family.

(35:33) Wake up every morning, 5 30, play music all throughout the house and it’s on until we go to (35:40) bed. (35:40) So we’ll wake up with like, you know, Frank Sinatra or, you know, or Jones. (35:45) Like, you know, something like light.

(35:47) Sure. (35:47) And then it’ll, it’ll kind of shift. (35:49) Progressing to Metallica.

(35:50) I don’t know. (35:52) Request by our son. (35:54) For sure.

(35:54) My wife does that and she’s usually singing to our dog, you know, while she’s doing, doing (35:59) stuff around the house. (36:00) So our bathroom plays different music. (36:03) That’s my favorite part of this, this whole thing.

(36:05) It’s always playing elevator music. (36:07) Okay. (36:08) When you go in, you close the door and you’re like, wait, where did I just transport to? (36:12) That’s fine.

(36:14) So, um, you know, um, the thing that I really think is, is cool is your, your commitment to(36:20) culture, right. (36:22) And that it’s not, it’s not made up or manufactured. (36:25) So I, I, I’d probably didn’t explain this to anybody watching, but I, you know, you and (36:31) we’re, we’re relatively new to knowing each other.

(36:34) Um, but there’s an energy to you guys. (36:36) And I, and I told you this, you know, there’s a, um, there’s kind of a difference when you (36:42) meet you guys. (36:44) Um, and, and I know Scott more than I know Chanel, but, um, uh, so I’ll just assume that (36:49) you’re, that you’re just as good.

(36:50) I’m the nice one. (36:52) Oh, shoot. (36:53) Okay.

(36:53) Okay. (36:53) I will not assume that anymore, but, um, but no, like you and I have gone like into some (36:59) really cool stream of consciousness sort of conversations. (37:02) Um, you know, we’ll, we’ll be on a phone call and you’d be like, Oh, I made, this is what (37:06) I do at my office.

(37:07) And, you know, you sharing with me the stuff that you do with your team and like, where(37:13) did that come from for you? (37:14) Was there an influence in your life that kind of inspired that? (37:19) Or is this just kind of uniquely you as it relates to maybe your family or, or any other (37:24) maybe a little bit of all of that? (37:26) Um, you know, we’ve, we’ve always been, uh, just very, I mean, we’re, we’re Midwest. (37:30) We’re all Midwest here. (37:31) I’m very, very humble.

(37:33) Long goodbyes. (37:34) Yeah, exactly. (37:36) The longest.

(37:38) We’ll do a really good one here. (37:40) Can we, should we start now? (37:41) We’re, we’re already in it. (37:43) Perfect.

(37:43) Beginning stages. (37:44) Perfect. (37:44) Um, I think, uh, you know, just having a respect for, for the people that are working with (37:51) you, they’re working for you.

(37:52) You know, there’s, uh, there’s just this, this kind of necessity to take care of them (37:59) like they take care of you. (38:00) Right. (38:01) And just have, have a high level of respect.

(38:04) Um, I definitely, I definitely was brought up in a family that was, we’re, we’re better(38:08) together. (38:08) Right. (38:09) That’s just how we were.

(38:10) I don’t know. (38:11) Chanel, Chanel’s family was the same, very close, very tight knit, you know, very collaborative (38:15) and just about everything they do, uh, very supportive.(38:19) And so, you know, just, just understanding that we can’t do the things we do without(38:25) everybody.

(38:25) It takes, my dad used to say, it takes all kinds. (38:28) You don’t have to like somebody, but you, but you sure as shit need to show them respect (38:34) because do you want to be doing what they’re doing or can you do what they’re doing? (38:37) Like, well, no, then it doesn’t matter if you like them or not. (38:40) You still should be kind to them and show them respect.

(38:44) Yeah, that makes sense. (38:44) Right. (38:45) That makes a lot of sense.

(38:46) And, uh, I’m sure there was a story to why he was telling me that, but I don’t remember(38:50) anymore. (38:50) But, um, so that, that kind of was, it was a thing. (38:55) Um, and then I come from a really big family.

(38:57) So there’s just always been a lot of people around and we’ve always just taking care of(39:00) one another. (39:01) And, you know, to say it takes a village in our family, that was true.(39:04) It’s like, it takes a village to raise the kids and the village raised all the kids.

(39:09) Um, and so culture was always a really important thing for us when in the family business. (39:13) And, um, we, we call it, so you mentioned the, uh, kind of this positive energy and (39:17) this, this positive push. (39:19) Uh, we always refer to it as, which is funny.

(39:21) This is like a little bit different way of saying the same thing is, uh, gravity. (39:25) So we had this, this family gravity and this, um, this pole, right. (39:29) There was just this pole and we kind of float through space.

(39:31) And as people enter our orbit, they just get sucked in. (39:34) And that is kind of true about all of our family. (39:37) Um, everyone just had this kind of magnetism and they’re just easy to like, uh, easy to (39:42) get along with and, and easy to work with.

(39:45) So, uh, we just embrace that very early on. (39:49) And, you know, that’s, that’s kind of what you’re not charged with, with continuing. (39:53) So we make sure that when we hire people, uh, they’re, they’re very well aware of that.

(39:57) Um, you know, people don’t, if they don’t like it, if they don’t feel like it’s for (40:01) them, they self-select out pretty quick. (40:03) They’ll make their decision that this just isn’t for them. (40:06) But for the most part, people, people come into our orbit and they stay.

(40:10) And when they leave, they come back. (40:12) We have a lot of people that leave and come back. (40:13) I was scrolling here looking for the, um, uh, for the document that you shared with (40:18) me and to see if I could read a couple of those things, uh, out of there.

(40:22) So, sorry, I just interrupted you too. (40:24) No, no, no, that’s fine. (40:24) That’s fine.

(40:25) When they self-select out, that’s the part where I was, I gapped out here on you a little(40:29) bit. (40:30) You said, you said sometimes people leave. (40:32) Yeah.

(40:33) If they don’t feel like that’s right for them. (40:34) Some people just want a very independent, you know, I don’t, I don’t want to be part (40:38) of something bigger. (40:39) It’s too, too touchy feely type of thing.

(40:40) Whatever it might be. (40:41) Yeah. (40:41) I just, I just want to come in and do my job and leave.

(40:43) And I don’t, you know, like that’s fine. (40:44) Just understand that that’s not what, what this is. (40:47) And, uh, it’s usually pretty quick that they’ll figure that out.

(40:50) What’s the statement? (40:51) We never burn bridges. (40:51) I don’t know what, I don’t know what it is, but I know what, I know what it isn’t. (40:55) Yeah.

(40:55) Have you heard that? (40:56) Yes. (40:56) Yeah. (40:57) Um, and it’s funny when, you know, and you can put your finger on when somebody isn’t, (41:01) isn’t really a right fit.

(41:03) You’re like, you know, I can’t exactly say what it is to be one of us, but I know what(41:07) it isn’t. (41:08) Yep. (41:08) You know, have you had some experiences like that? (41:11) Oh yeah.

(41:11) Oh yeah. (41:12) Yeah. (41:12) I think it goes both ways.

(41:14) We always say, I’m sure we’ve had employees say the same thing. (41:18) Want to make sure that like, we’re right for you, you know? (41:21) Right. (41:22) Because it has to.

(41:24) Oh, I mean, I think like, if you just look at, if you look at almost everything in life (41:29) as a marriage, it’s like you’re free to leave. (41:32) Right. (41:33) But you choose to be here every day.

(41:35) It’s, it’s an awesome thing. (41:36) You know what I mean? (41:37) We had one of our, we had our holiday party the other day and I said, you know, you choose (41:41) to come here every day. (41:42) Like that is not lost on me.

(41:44) Every day when I see you come here, once again, you chose, this is awesome. (41:50) 100%. (41:50) Feels good.

(41:51) Feels good to me to know that you’re, you’re choosing Oxium. (41:54) You’re choosing me. (41:55) You’re choosing, you know, this place.

(41:57) So because you’ve, you’ve got a lot of options. (41:59) You know, it’s like at the end of the, I mean, work is work, right? (42:03) Sure. (42:04) At the end of the day, we hope that there’s joy, happiness, even through the tough times, (42:10) because that’s just inevitable.

(42:12) Yeah, that’s the life, right? (42:13) It’s like, it’s the ups and downs. (42:14) You have to be kind of okay with it. (42:17) And I think that’s where the marriage piece, like I, I was, we were talking to a marketing (42:21) firm once and I said, we’re kind of like the army or the military.

(42:27) Oh, what was my Venn diagram? (42:29) It was the, it was the military, a marriage and something else. (42:33) I can’t remember, but it’s like, you know, when you think about things like that, it’s (42:36) like, you’re going to go charge the hill together, right? (42:40) Sometimes you’re going to fight, right? (42:42) And it’s like, if you don’t have that, that bond, you know, it’s not going to work. (42:46) And so, you know, in the respect to, and all of that, you’ll get through whatever the fight (42:54) is, the disagreement.

(42:56) Well, and like you said, you guys have both used the word respect. (42:59) You know, it’s like we had talked about, we were joking about what, what, what profile, (43:06) you know, disc profile or personality profile you might be or whatever. (43:09) And it’s so interesting.

(43:11) Like your dad said, you know, it takes all kinds, right? (43:13) Now he didn’t mean that in a derogatory way. (43:15) He meant that in a way of like, you’re not going to, you’re not going to shape shift (43:20) yourself into every skill set, personality, whatever. (43:24) And, you know, so this organism takes all kinds.

(43:27) And I think when people realize that, I think it’s, there’s, there’s definitely a maturing(43:32) that happens when you realize it. (43:34) Because all of a sudden it’s like, oh, he’s not a jerk. (43:37) I always call it like the idiot asshole, right? (43:39) It’s like, oh, that guy’s an idiot.

(43:40) That guy’s an asshole. (43:41) It’s like, oh no, no, they’re wired different than you. (43:43) And they bring a different skill set, right? (43:46) And, you know, I don’t want a bunch of me’s rolling around.

(43:49) Nothing will get done. (43:50) Yep. (43:52) I feel that.

(43:54) So yeah, there was, I guess one more thing on that. (43:57) So there, there was a, there was, I wish I could remember the article. (43:59) Maybe one of the listeners will, will know this article.

(44:03) I read this forever ago and it stuck with me. (44:05) It was, it was titled something like riding the three headed dragon. (44:09) Okay.

(44:10) Something like that. (44:11) I have not been, I’ve, I’ve searched, I’ve asked, I’ve asked chat GPT. (44:14) I’ve looked everywhere.

(44:15) And nobody knows. (44:15) I can’t find this article. (44:17) It was a HBR, Harvard Business Review or something.

(44:20) And it was all about culture. (44:21) And this was when I was in my undergrad. (44:23) So this was pretty well before culture was something that was talked about a lot.

(44:28) Kind of, you know, mainstream best business practice. (44:30) But in essence on this, this article, it talked about the fact you, you, you cannot (44:36) control it. (44:37) It says three headed dragon.

(44:37) You cannot control it, but you can help guide it. (44:40) And that was really important to me because when you start to try and force it, everyone (44:45) feels it, it feels manufactured.(44:47) So you can’t do that.

(44:48) But the best you can do is guide it and you guide it through. (44:51) They had this, this concept of this article, this concept of like nodes and gatekeepers. (44:55) So it’s really important to understand which of your employees are nodes and which are (44:59) gatekeepers and the role they play.

(45:01) I’ll probably get them backwards in this. (45:04) Did you Google nodes and gatekeepers?(45:05) I did. (45:06) Yeah, I still can’t, I vividly remember reading that.

(45:08) Yeah. (45:08) And just cannot find it. (45:11) I might, I might have to just look through my, I still have one stack of papers from (45:15) college that I haven’t gone through and shred and thrown out or whatever.

(45:18) It might be in there. (45:19) Okay. (45:19) I can picture it.

(45:21) I’m going to be on a rabbit trail the rest of the day here. (45:23) Perfect. (45:24) Googling this.

(45:25) It was a great article. (45:26) I just, I’ve got to find it again. (45:27) All right.

(45:27) I’ll be on pursuit for it. (45:29) But that’s, that goes back. (45:30) So we just, we just be ourselves and just try and be as authentic as we can and, you (45:35) know, put as much of that out into the gravity to just contribute to the force that that (45:40) creates.

(45:41) That’s fantastic. (45:42) So I’m looking at your, I found, I found it. (45:45) Shoney’s weekly message.

(45:46) You want to pick one? (45:51) Go, go for it. (45:52) I can give the backstory while you’re looking. (45:54) I started writing a Monday morning letter to, it was, first, it was just my direct reports.

(46:01) And did that for the whole year. (46:03) And it was a couple, there are a couple of reasons behind it. (46:05) One, I wanted to challenge myself to, to be a little bit more, the word.

(46:11) Just like, punctual, I’d say, and. (46:14) Yeah. (46:14) Consistent.

(46:15) Working on consistency. (46:18) When I’m on, I’m on, when I’m off, I, my mom will tell you that I was, I used to be (46:21) all A’s or all E’s in school. (46:22) It was A’s or E’s.

(46:23) She’s like, cause you were either all in and you just killed it or you didn’t, you (46:28) couldn’t even show up. (46:29) Right. (46:29) Like, like, okay.

(46:31) So it was not, not that that’s carried over that, that much since then, but I feel like(46:35) I can do better and I want to challenge myself and I want to do, do more. (46:38) So I thought I’m going to put some targets in place. (46:39) I’m going to, I’m going to read more because I stopped reading for a while just because (46:42) life gets busy.

(46:43) So I read a book a month now. (46:45) That, that, that is good. (46:46) What are you reading this month? (46:48) Oh, it’s called, I forget, I forget the name of it.

(46:53) I’ll have to send it to you. (46:53) Emotional Intelligence. (46:55) Okay.

(46:56) I think it’s Emotional Intelligence, the name of the book. (46:58) And it’s fascinating so far. (47:00) I’m about halfway through.

(47:00) I got this week to finish it up. (47:03) Otherwise I’m behind, but. (47:04) I’m just finishing up, kick up some dust by Bernie Marcus, the, one of the founders of (47:11) Home Depot.

(47:11) Awesome. (47:12) Yeah. (47:12) That one’s, that one’s pretty wild.

(47:13) We’ll have to trade notes on reading this, but yeah, that one’s, this one’s pretty good.(47:18) But read it, read once a month. (47:19) And then I had challenged myself in the gym to a couple of different things, which were (47:25) active as is.

(47:26) So that was probably a softball that was pretty easy to get done. (47:28) And then the third one was to write this letter. (47:31) I just thought, I love, I love writing and I hadn’t been doing enough of it.

(47:33) So I wanted to put something together. (47:36) At some point I’ll write a book, but I’m trying to navigate, you know, what I want to talk (47:40) about on that or, you know, what I want my, my first book here to be. (47:43) And so I thought I’ll just start by writing these kind of messages to my team, just to (47:46) help motivate them and to help kind of guide the behavior and goes back to culture.

(47:50) And, you know, it’s a lot about our core values. (47:52) It’s a lot about just kind of what expectations we have for, for the job. (47:58) But it’s always framed, not job specific.

(48:00) It’s always framed in stories and antidotes. (48:02) And so I actually have a framework for this now. (48:04) But I did.

(48:05) You have a framework for each, for that each follow? (48:08) Yeah. (48:09) So it’s ARC.(48:10) So I’ll back up to this thing called Spark.

(48:13) So I, I feel it is my purpose to be a spark in the world to bring positive energy. (48:18) It’s funny that you said that is that’s, that’s literally what I feel my purpose is. (48:22) Spark plug does that for a car, right? (48:23) You can’t, you can’t have combustion without a spark plug.

(48:25) I’m not, it’s job is so little. (48:26) It just sends a little spark, sends a little spark. (48:28) It’s not the fuel.

(48:28) It’s not the engine. (48:29) It’s just, it’s just a little spark. (48:31) And most people in life, that’s all they need.

(48:32) They just need a little touch to say, yeah, you got this and you can do this. (48:35) And they might unlock and, you know, achieve unbelievable things, but they just, they need (48:40) that little, that little pulse. (48:41) And so that feels, that’s like a calling for me.

(48:44) It feels very important. (48:45) So everything, everything I’m trying to brand this, this, this package and put the framework (48:49) together. (48:50) So it’s ARC, kind of like a, you know, Spark needs an ARC to jump.

(48:54) So it’s an antidote. (48:55) It’s a radical idea. (48:56) And it’s a challenge.

(48:58) Fantastic. (48:59) Every week. (48:59) So the first ones you have, don’t follow that because I figured this out as I was going.

(49:04) So you want me to go to one of the, one of the. (49:05) Oh, just, you’ll notice it. (49:06) If you go to one of the last ones, I actually just now, I just, I just put in their antidote.

(49:09) You’ll, you’ll see it right in there. (49:12) But I put these out and, and one of the topics that I wrote about, which I thought was, here’s, (49:16) here’s a fun one. (49:17) I wrote about this and it’s fun to see it come to life.

(49:19) So the power of 1%, there’s an infographic I saw somewhere and it sparked this, but it’s,(49:24) if you just put, you know, 1% more every day over the course of a year, it ends up being(49:31) like 37 or something. (49:32) I know the math offhand, but it’s 37. (49:35) Okay.

(49:35) If you go 365 times 0.99, like you give it 1% less and it’s being like one. (49:43) So there’s a huge difference in the level, like just over the course of a year. (49:46) And so after a year, I have 52 of these articles.

(49:49) It was 151 pages. (49:51) It’s a pretty cool volume of work. (49:53) Yeah.

(49:53) I was going to say. (49:54) It wasn’t hard. (49:54) And you have, I mean, so you have.

(49:56) Just consistently showing up. (49:56) You certainly have the musings here of, you know, to, to, you, you could collect this (50:01) and just make this the book. (50:03) Sure.

(50:03) I know you and I talked about that actually. (50:05) It’s funny. (50:06) I’m remembering a conversation because you were like, but I don’t want to just take these (50:09) and make these the book.

(50:11) A listicle. (50:11) Yeah. (50:11) We had a conversation about a listicle.

(50:13) Yeah. (50:13) You didn’t want a listicle. (50:14) And I had that.

(50:14) Nothing wrong with listicles. (50:16) I thought I actually misspelled something in one of my notes. (50:19) I saw it a couple of months ago when I was, when you were first, first supposed to come (50:25) here, but do you like that? (50:27) Yeah.

(50:27) I like that. (50:28) Yeah. (50:28) So for anybody that doesn’t know, this is the longest standing rescheduled, most rescheduled (50:32) podcast in the world.

(50:33) Are we in the Guinness book? (50:35) Did you apply for that yet? (50:36) Yeah. (50:37) There wasn’t even a spot. (50:38) This was easy.

(50:39) It was easy. (50:40) You’re in. (50:40) You won.

(50:41) Yeah. (50:41) So you didn’t want, you don’t want to make a listicle and let’s talk about that. (50:44) Why, why, why not? (50:46) I mean, there’s nothing wrong with listicles.

(50:49) There’s a bunch of great listicle type books that, um, that have been written. (50:52) Um, I just, I just felt compelled to write a book that has a through line. (50:57) So that’s kind of in my mind that the two options you have, I mean, if it’s not like (51:02) an autobiography or something, but you have a listicle, which is 10 best or, you know, (51:05) a hundred ideas or whatever it might be.

(51:08) Or you can have this overarching through line that you then support with all of the research (51:14) and stories and, and so some personal stuff that you can, you can include in there. (51:18) And, uh, that just feels more my style, I guess. (51:21) Have you read, um, um, Mel Robbins stuff? (51:24) Have you read some Mel Robbins? (51:25) Not yet.

(51:26) Okay. (51:26) Not yet. (51:26) I’m familiar with Mel Robbins.

(51:28) We’re in some groups. (51:29) Mine was, uh, the let them theory. (51:32) That’s a new one.

(51:33) Yeah. (51:33) It’s a new, I guess. (51:35) I mean, somebody just told me about it.

(51:36) I downloaded it and went with it. (51:38) And, um, yeah, there, you know, it has that through line. (51:41) Of course, throughout it, there’s other, there’s tips throughout it, but it’s not (51:44) the, you know, the 10 ways to do, to do this.

(51:47) And, um, boy, does it sink in so much better for me when it’s a, when it’s the through line, (51:52) I get lost in the lists. (51:54) I always think that they’re great. (51:55) I write them down.

(51:56) I’ll print them up. (51:56) I’ll stick them on my wall and then never do them. (51:59) Exactly.

(52:00) But the let them, um, for me, that was one that, um, I’ve been trying to let go of cynicism. (52:06) Okay. (52:07) For just a couple of years ago, I just said, hey, I want to, I want to default to, uh, (52:12) a state of empathy and understanding rather than default to what the fuck, you know, (52:17) or whatever the, whatever the, whatever.

(52:19) Emotional intelligence. (52:20) For me, that’s gotta be your next book then. (52:22) Okay.

(52:22) That’s essentially what it’s about. (52:23) I’ve already actually read it. (52:24) I was thinking I should, I should open up my audible and see if, uh, see if.

(52:28) The judge and it’s sabotage saboteurs. (52:30) And then, uh, the sage that ring a bell.(52:32) Oh, it does.

(52:32) You may have read it already. (52:33) I think I might’ve. (52:34) Yeah.

(52:34) Yeah. (52:34) But something about counting on your fingers or pressing your, I haven’t gotten, we haven’t, (52:38) we haven’t, I haven’t hit that part yet. (52:41) He teases it, but that’s cool.

(52:43) Um, which, so, so let’s, let’s see, let’s grab one of these. (52:46) Okay. (52:47) Let’s grab the spark week 28.

(52:49) The spark. (52:50) Is that, is that relevant? (52:51) Sure. (52:52) Hang on.

(52:53) I’m making you remember these. (52:53) I might have to pull it up. (52:54) I can give it right to you.

(52:56) I’ve got, or here’s one. (52:58) This one has, uh, you remember the one with Fred Rogers? (53:02) I love Mr. Rogers. (53:03) So do I. (53:06) That was, uh, can’t be given only earned.

(53:11) Oh, that’s on respect. (53:12) Okay. (53:13) Actually that one’s that one’s yeah.

(53:15) What week was that? (53:16) Let’s see. (53:21) I rephrase it. (53:23) Excellence can’t be given only earned, but yeah, that was one that was, um, (53:27) you’ve been referenced your friend, Josh Linkner.

(53:30) I do. (53:31) Yeah. (53:31) Josh is a mentor, a big brother, a friend.

(53:34) Yeah. (53:34) That’s awesome. (53:35) And that was one of the first, that was one of the first things you told me when we were (53:38) talking about kind of just our passion for culture and understanding people.

(53:43) And you were like, you got to meet Josh. (53:44) Oh, he’s just, yeah. (53:46) I mean, I haven’t met him, but I remember that was one of the first things you told (53:49) me, like just such a 10 minutes of owning it.

(53:51) Yeah. (53:52) He’s just, he’s a, he’s not, you’re talking about gravity and, and, you know, like, oh, (53:55) you’re positive. (53:56) He makes us look like, like jumps.

(53:59) Yeah. (54:00) That’s funny. (54:04) So week 32 was of, of 2024 was can’t be given only earned.

(54:10) This is not respect. (54:11) This is not the respect one. (54:12) This is about excellence.

(54:14) Yeah. (54:14) So honing your skills, for example, can only be earned through the repetition, (54:19) repetition of practice. (54:20) There’s no pill to swallow to unlock your ability to read Mandarin, paint like Picasso (54:23) or bang on the keys like Bach.

(54:25) Right. (54:25) Like I like to talk about things that are relevant to me. (54:31) Yeah.

(54:31) You got to do the work. (54:32) I mean, if you want, if you want the, I mean, honestly, this is the subtext on this is (54:36) about respect. (54:36) If you want the respect, you have to earn it.

(54:37) You just have to do the work. (54:38) There’s, there’s nothing else, you know, no, no way around it. (54:40) If you want to be a legend, if you want to be excellent at something, you got to put in (54:44) the work.

(54:44) Like there’s, there’s just no way it’s not given. (54:46) It’s you can’t walk into a room and expect anyone to just hand it to you. (54:49) That just never happens.

(54:51) Right. (54:51) You got to do the work. (54:53) So, so my, my dad owned a company when we were growing up and do you find, how do you (54:59) find it being, you know, a relative son of the, of the founder of the, of the respect (55:05) piece? (55:06) Like he always said to me, he’s like, you’re going to have to work twice as hard as everybody.

(55:10) I’m going to be 10 times as hard on you as I am anybody else. (55:14) And, and people are still going to want to say you’re the boss’s son. (55:18) This is a good, great question for Chanel as well, because she started, she started (55:24) at the company before we were dating.

(55:26) Okay. (55:27) I think seeing it, you know, you always want to make sure rightfully so.(55:33) I mean, we feel the same with our kids, but that there is never some.

(55:38) And so you really have to be careful how you go about that. (55:41) And while I have seen the difficulty and, you know, coming from a family business, you (55:50) know, Scott and, you know, following in his parents’ footsteps, but trying to do it in (55:55) his own way. (55:58) Definitely some, some difficult times for sure, because you do have to work harder because(56:04) you, you want to make sure that you’ve done this your way and that nothing has ever to(56:12) give to you know that, that you’re working just as hard.

(56:15) And fortunately that’s just ingrained in us, just helpful. (56:19) But, you know, we’ve seen the other side of it too. (56:22) Sometimes I think I would say later on in life, you know, after we had kids, there were (56:28) some difficult conversations for sure.

(56:31) Cause it’s like, when is that not a thing anymore? (56:34) You know, when are we not worried about that? (56:37) What is it going to take? (56:39) And so. (56:39) Are you guys past it?(56:40) Do you think? (56:41) Yeah. (56:41) Yeah.

(56:41) Okay. (56:42) Absolutely. (56:42) Yeah, for sure.

(56:43) You seem very comfortable in, in, in your, in your own shoes. (56:47) But to your point, a hundred percent of you got to work harder. (56:50) You got to own it.

(56:51) And my dad had actually been bitten by it by nepotism. (56:54) His first careers in sales had a team. (56:56) They were doing phenomenal.

(56:57) They were on fire. (56:58) Okay. (56:58) And this was in the eighties and the owner’s son came in from college and had learned all (57:03) sorts of the latest, greatest management and said, well, it’s my team now.

(57:05) And I’m going to, I’m just going to do what I want. (57:06) And so he, my dad made the decision to leave as part of why blue water exists today. (57:10) No kidding.

(57:11) But he said, I’m never going to do that. (57:12) So actually they tried to convince me not to work for the family business, but I’m like, (57:15) I love this, everything about this. (57:17) So if I’m not doing this, I’m going to compete against you.

(57:21) Okay, fine. (57:21) You can work here, but here’s a broom. (57:24) Get in the back.

(57:24) So my first couple of jobs were not glamorous by any means. (57:29) I could type. (57:30) A lot of people couldn’t type back then.

(57:31) So they put me in a well-timed closet with a, with the mainframe and I took our pink(57:37) slips, which were the orders. (57:39) And I typed them in to our brand new, I think it was a veil. (57:42) It was the software.

(57:43) It was a MS dot. (57:44) It was a prompt based, you know, DOS prompt software is going back. (57:47) So I’d enter all the data.

(57:49) So I did all the data entry for, for two full summers. (57:52) I did all the data entry because they still were capturing it. (57:55) So when I left for, for school again, they’d, they’d, they’d stack.

(58:00) Just stack them up. (58:01) You’ll be back in the summer. (58:02) Don’t worry.

(58:03) Yeah. (58:03) I’m like, you guys can just start putting them in directly. (58:04) That’s the whole point of this thing.

(58:07) And then I, and then I moved through every position in the company. (58:10) I was in accounts receivable and payable. (58:11) I was in IT.

(58:12) I was in sales. (58:14) I was in marketing. (58:15) I was a driver, a truck driver.

(58:18) I was a warehouse technician or a warehouse personnel. (58:21) I was a technician.(58:22) I mean, he really put me around and put me through the ringer and, and definitely made(58:26) it, made it difficult, but I, you know, earned the stripes.

(58:29) And I, I learned a ton along the way. (58:31) I’m not bitter. (58:32) I’m not bitter about it.

(58:33) One day I would, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. (58:35) When Chanel came in, it was kind of similar. (58:37) We had given her an internship and so she came in and everyone just, I mean, you talk (58:42) about somebody that walks in the room and everyone just like, she lights up the room.

(58:45) So she walks in a room and everyone’s just like, who is this? (58:47) I want to, I want to be friends with her. (58:49) I want to hang out. (58:49) I want to talk.

(58:49) Like, this is what happens every time. (58:51) She’s contagious. (58:51) So the teams internally were fighting over her.

(58:55) And so she got a chance to go, you know, throughout the company in a couple (58:59) different capacities and kind of figure out what it was that she liked the most. (59:04) And then, and then we started dating. (59:05) And I remember having a conversation.

(59:06) I was like, I’ll just, you know, that’s how my parents were dating. (59:08) No, you can’t do that. (59:10) I was like, well, why? (59:11) And then I respected it after she explained it.

(59:13) It was, it was like a very legitimate concern and very honest and transparent. (59:17) You can imagine the fear of like, I’m like, I don’t, I don’t ever want to be known as (59:21) like dating the older son. (59:23) Oh, sure.

(59:28) That would have been 15. (59:32) Gosh. (59:33) It’s been married 12 and you got to throw in time for dating and being engaged.

(59:40) It doesn’t feel like that long. (59:43) Well, yeah, that was my, that was my fear. (59:45) And, you know, I was raised, you know, to, to make sure that never relying on somebody (59:53) that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, (59:54) And so that I was just I was terrified that people would look at me different (1:00:00) Luckily, I had been there for a couple years.

So I was able to I I felt okay at least I’ve been (1:00:09) I’m here (1:00:12) And I’m motivated and this just so happens that you know, we go back to like we know each other from high school, too (1:00:18) So it wasn’t like oh great. We met, you know at Blue Water (1:00:21) Knew each other prior to that and he graduated from college and I graduated up (1:00:28) circling back with(1:00:29) dual friends (1:00:31) Rest is history. That’s great to that point.

Yeah, I think both just always been hyper aware of making sure that (1:00:40) We have a purpose here and our humble well and we want to make (1:00:45) There’s never it (1:00:47) Would make anybody bully (1:00:50) Sure, I can’t give you a definitive date of when that I’m just thinking about that (1:00:54) Like do you feel like you’re beyond that and like it? (1:00:56) Yeah, but like when did that happen? Like it just kind of happened. It was probably a probably a some kind of overlap (1:01:02) Yeah, it’d be interesting to if you if you kind of went back in your head and figure that out (1:01:07) We’re like, yeah that kind of I remember asking a guy that was older than me (1:01:12) I (1:01:12) said okay, when when do I finally get to like go out with my girlfriend and this is like I was like in my (1:01:18) like teens to our early 20s (1:01:21) I’m like when do you go out like to a to a restaurant or a bar with your girlfriend where you don’t feel like (1:01:26) You could not that I was a fighter but like that somebody’s gonna try to pick a fight with you (1:01:31) You know like that age and like he’s like like 25. He’s like at 25, you know (1:01:36) You just kind of everybody’s just kind of there, you know, if you’re playing pool somewhere or something(1:01:41) Yeah, they’re all just doing that, you know everything below that’s about right.

There’s always like this angst. It’s like you looked at me (1:01:47) And that always would happen to me like I’d look over I’d laugh because I’d hear somebody say so what are you laughing at like (1:01:53) Well, I’m not trying to get in a fight with you. I can promise you that but but but no that feeling of like again (1:01:58) I don’t know what the definitive date was, but all of a sudden that feeling kind of just goes away and so (1:02:06) There might have been if there is all you know, yeah, you should yeah (1:02:09) I mean just just think about it (1:02:10) but but I mean(1:02:11) I think it all where we were going with this was the was the it can’t be given only earned.

Yeah (1:02:19) and so (1:02:22) What was the what what was the contrast between you had a contrast between Howard Hughes and (1:02:28) Fred Rogers (1:02:31) Do you remember that?(1:02:33) Brilliant guy, but but yeah, so Howard Hughes was it was kind of it was just got you know, I (1:02:40) I mean look at my notes here write so many of these now (1:02:46) So Howard Hughes I (1:02:50) Think was a person that maybe didn’t achieve their full. He didn’t achieve his fullest potential. It’s kind of how I kind of saw that (1:02:56) so like (1:02:58) brilliant in a lot of ways (1:02:59) but also became a recluse and got kind of angry and and nasties and within his older age and very kind of a germaphobe and (1:03:07) As I understand was just very closed off from from the world and so I think that you know, he ended his life in in that (1:03:13) Capacity and and that’s really the mark.

He left. I mean, it’s kind of how people remember like you said here (1:03:18) It’s like that’s the legacy. That’s his legacy.

Yeah, that’s like you forget about (1:03:23) the great achievements exactly because of that and in contrast to that you have you have Fred Rogers who (1:03:30) First of all, it’s just Fred Rogers just who he is. He’s mr. Rogers. Like I always thought mr (1:03:35) Rogers was his character.

He played on TV. It turns out that’s just who he was sure, which is like, okay (1:03:40) That’s like took to me a minute to swallow that pill, right? Like he’s just like that all the time. Mm-hmm(1:03:45) But I caught this video of him in front of Congress trying to get some additional funding and he pleaded his case (1:03:53) and it was just I mean it was just (1:03:55) with resolve and with (1:03:57) humility and with passion and they gave him the full funding and that they’d allowed him to continue his show and you know it (1:04:03) The level of excellence, you know that he that in my mind that he (1:04:10) Kind of (1:04:11) Characterizes just it’s it’s pretty incredible and his legacy.

Yeah for that from that is (1:04:16) One of just helping the world making the world a better place(1:04:20) You know, it’s interesting though to is like what you what you also said here, right? Is that is that consistency? (1:04:27) Matters and right and being himself in every he was his character (1:04:32) He that was him that was him in front of Congress. That was him with you know (1:04:36) Teaching some little kids certain things right and that was just him (1:04:40) and so I think one one thing I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older is that people really respect and(1:04:48) people gravitate towards (1:04:50) Consistent people right even if somebody’s consistently crotchety you might you might be like, okay with that, right? (1:04:56) You know, you’re good, but you know what to expect but you know what to expect right and and you know(1:05:02) having led this business and (1:05:04) helped to manage another one prior to this, you know, the (1:05:09) The the people that don’t work out there. There’s always a consistency problem.

Yeah, right (1:05:15) attendance, you know can be one of those things but then it is reliability and (1:05:20) Just it never it never works, right? And so (1:05:24) Now if you show up and say look like I can only be relied on for these things (1:05:30) You know what? (1:05:31) I’m I might buy that right if if I know that I can get those things from you and I can get something else from(1:05:36) Somebody else and I can you know, it takes all kinds, you know, as your dad said, you know (1:05:40) You can put that together, but you got to be consistent (1:05:43) Even if you’re even if it’s in a in a kind of a strange limited capacity. Yeah (1:05:48) Yeah, 100% yeah, so I just that was a fun one though (1:05:52) I just love the thoughtfulness that you guys put into it(1:05:55) And I also think that it’s cool because you’re you know, you’re a creative right? So like if I had to brand you, right? (1:06:02) You like branding. I love branding.

Okay, so you’re the creative right and the creative is always known as kind of the mad scientist(1:06:09) And the you know, the disorganized one and so (1:06:12) To go through and go. Okay. Hey, look (1:06:14) Sounds just smiling (1:06:16) To go through.

Well, I just got an award at our at our at our Christmas party (1:06:20) That was like a paper plate award for the Bermuda Triangle for things that go to my desk (1:06:26) You know, they never they never seem to I would probably live so I’m better (1:06:31) so so I understand it, but but no I give you a lot of credit because (1:06:35) you know, you’ve (1:06:37) You’ve you’ve you’ve realized like you have to be consistent with something (1:06:41) You have to map these things out. Otherwise, those ideas are (1:06:46) Just farts in the wind, right? I mean, you know, they’re fleeting. They’re not they’re not hanging around and you can’t really (1:06:53) You you can’t transfer it unless you unless you do something with it like this in a consistent way, right?(1:06:58) This helps if nobody can expect when they’re gonna get it.

It’s like well, that was nice (1:07:03) But I never know when I’m gonna show up again, right? Right. So that’s so consistency was was the primary thing and again (1:07:08) I’m not wildly inconsistent, but I feel like I can do better. So this is now building (1:07:13) So this year I decided this was the year to finally clean my inbox (1:07:16) My inbox is the Bermuda Triangle of things that I so I I went to zero inbox (1:07:21) I took the time in January to clean or December.

How would you suggest someone with 40,000? (1:07:27) That was me messages get to zero. So I I (1:07:31) Typed in a little rule that anything prior to January 1st is just gonna get archived(1:07:36) Okay, and I know it’s there if I need it (1:07:39) But I just had to just pick a point in time and just say I haven’t responded to it yet (1:07:43) I’m probably not gonna respond to it. I’m just gonna just I’ll resend those then (1:07:47) Exactly (1:07:50) But now it’s very manageable and I get in there and I actually it forced me to then unsubscribe from the (1:07:55) Relentless junk mail that I get so every day I go through and I take the time to unsubscribe (1:07:59) And so, you know, we’re habit stacking and building building on this this consistency and and I think the team can already feel it (1:08:04) I’m sure that I can already feel it because I’m responding to things quicker because they don’t get lost in my inbox (1:08:07) I think I need you to be my mentor.

I think (1:08:12) I’m on this journey to just you know, get things. I love it. I mean, I don’t have the angst (1:08:18) I don’t want the angst.

I love the constant work though, right? (1:08:20) I mean like like never sitting still but never accepting and saying I’m good enough. That’s all good (1:08:24) You know and not that you’re not that you’re deprecating yourself per se or anything like that (1:08:29) But you’re like I know I can do better. I think that’s a (1:08:34) World that we want to do.

Yeah. Well, I just think that like always wanting to do better (1:08:39) Like I feel like that’ll be forever right? You know, like you’re always learning. Yeah, there’s never a time where I see(1:08:47) No, you like I mean, there’s so many more people out there that have more experience than us (1:08:51) so like if we ever have the opportunity whether it’s through a book or (1:08:55) Chatting with you, you know, whatever it may be.

I feel like any encounter run into it’s like like how yes (1:09:04) You just build that into it’s awesome. We’ve been trying to embrace the the mamba mentality here, right? (1:09:09) Which is Kobe Bryant. Yep his alter ego the black mamba.

Yeah, you know and (1:09:15) Constantly striving to do better and better every day, you know(1:09:18) and then we added to it to be the gold mamba, you know because of our oxygen was the gold right and (1:09:25) and said in service of others right always in service of others and it’s like (1:09:31) You know every day that that you get in the next one I’m sitting here is on gratitude of yours, right? (1:09:37) It’s like, you know the thankfulness of having people that are that are showing up here every day (1:09:43) You know doing the work building the culture with you is just so (1:09:47) it’s just so exciting and especially like when when you (1:09:51) when I have somebody come to me and tell me something that they did and how happy it made the (1:09:55) The other person whether it was another employee or whether it was a client or whatever(1:10:00) It’s like that’s cool. Right like you’re you understand the in-service sort of piece, right?(1:10:07) It’s just laughing at the ungratitude one. I forgot that was the one that I talked about farting.

Oh, and I just I just (1:10:13) Just let one go. No, I mean (1:10:16) No, just let the word fart go a pseudo. Um, so I’m also into photography go figure (1:10:24) To fart (1:10:26) Photography(1:10:28) Yeah, okay.

No, it’s a (1:10:31) Student what I call pseudonym or whatever that so far. It’s a feel assess reframe and take it’s (1:10:39) It’s it’s it’s the best way to take a photo. You first feel the photo(1:10:44) Okay, and you’ll walk by you’ll see something go away.

I’m feeling something then you assess it. Why am I feeling this? (1:10:50) What is it and reframe it into the take it love it. I (1:10:55) Don’t remember exactly why that was in the middle in the middle of this on gratitude one, but (1:11:01) Yeah, this was a this fun story with Rockwell (1:11:06) Yeah (1:11:07) That one was on gratitude that there’s just lessons from my mom.

I learned a lot from my mom (1:11:12) I think we all learn a lot from our mouths (1:11:13) Still with us. Yeah, it’s still both alive. Yeah.

Okay, great (1:11:17) Yeah, so still doing their best to drive us crazy and great. They’re actually a lot of fun (1:11:24) but um (1:11:25) So that was um, my mom is considered a saint by most people that know her like it’s it’s just (1:11:32) It’s your first name. Sue.

See we call her sassy. Sassy. Yeah, and (1:11:37) She’s just always happy (1:11:39) No matter what Wow if the last time I remember and her not happy was the story I wrote in this (1:11:46) I’m gratitude and it was great right at the beginning.

So, um (1:11:51) We have kids we have kids like (1:11:53) They can drive you crazy. You know, you I’ve not noticed that that’s my wife is the one who gets really frustrated (1:11:58) It’s okay. So I know so, you know, so you (1:12:01) Understand what kids can drive you crazy (1:12:05) But for her yeah not for me, but we are patient we (1:12:09) we um (1:12:10) As kids, I mean my sister and I would would drive my mom we’d come in we’d kick our shoes off (1:12:15) We’d kick one at the door walk halfway through the house with the other kick the other it end up on the counter(1:12:19) We take our jackets just throw them on the floor (1:12:21) I mean, we would just strip down as we went and just left it and she’d be so frustrated (1:12:25) Why can’t you just hang your stuff up? Why can’t you hang it up? (1:12:28) And I remember her getting very upset about it one day and then she kind of walked off and I don’t know if she meditate (1:12:32) I don’t know what happened, but she she (1:12:34) found peace with it (1:12:36) Through gratitude, so she didn’t tell me the story until way later, but (1:12:41) We would drop our coats on if we continue doing what kids do and just (1:12:46) crazy and we and she would just come behind us and pick up the coat and she’d hang it on the back of a chair put (1:12:50) it in the (1:12:51) Closet and she’s she’s very spiritual.

So she should take a moment and close her eyes (1:12:55) She said whoever say a little prayer, whatever it was that she was doing. She meditate and (1:13:00) Years later she said yeah (1:13:01) I just I realized that I (1:13:03) Can’t be angry about something that I should be extremely grateful for and so every time you dropped your coat on the floor (1:13:09) I would pick it up and I would say thank you so much for (1:13:13) Allowing us to have a coat because there’s so many people that don’t it’s like when she told me this I cried literally cried (1:13:18) I was like, oh my(1:13:19) So I pick your shoes up (1:13:20) There’s so many people that don’t have shoes and the fact that we are blessed to have shoes like and so that just changed and (1:13:26) Yeah, I don’t I don’t to this day. I don’t think (1:13:29) I (1:13:31) Also like the leader behind (1:13:34) No, you mentioned earlier the future is unknown or friendly.

That’s her. That’s totally (1:13:41) That’s a suism a sassy ism. Yeah (1:13:43) Is that in in here? Can you just it’s in here? That’s a lot of these.

Yeah. Yeah, the future is unknown (1:13:48) Therefore it’s friendly or the future say it again(1:13:51) The future is unknown and therefore friendly and that that largely like you you’re going to decide (1:13:57) You’re gonna find what you look for. Mm-hmm.

And so if you feed, right? (1:14:01) Yeah, and for some people they get they get nervous about the unknown. They get nervous about the future (1:14:06) Her he was why? (1:14:09) You don’t know what the future is gonna bring therefore choose for it to be friendly assume it and it will be (1:14:13) And in her experience in her life, it has been (1:14:16) Which is pretty wild. That’s one of the things Mel Robbins talks about in that in that book is assume.

What is her words? (1:14:23) It’s kind of like that default to empathy (1:14:24) Thing but assume positive assume positive instead of assuming positive intent. Yeah assume positive intent(1:14:30) I think that’s actually the the line I have. Uh, that was one of our isms from forever ago.

I think it’s in here (1:14:35) It’s probably (1:14:37) week (1:14:38) Probably in the first two weeks you thinking she borrowed from you. I hope so. That’d be so cool (1:14:43) Wouldn’t that be awesome? There’s a little credit.

I mean incredible. Yeah every day that I get her (1:14:48) Her email it’s like it shows up in my in my little preview pane (1:14:53) And it’s like Matt something something and I’m like, I get this little like excitement like she wrote (1:14:59) She’s not she’s not but of all the of all the (1:15:04) And I have no reason to believe why she would email me because I’ve never like emailed her or done anything to reach out (1:15:09) But for some reason every time I see it, I think like this little like (1:15:14) That’s so fun. She might be email me (1:15:16) She’s not but I’m gonna email her now and then then I’ll really have a reason to think like that, right? (1:15:22) So that’s that’s all we’re all connected (1:15:25) Through Josh on on that.

She’s uh, oh (1:15:29) She’s you know, it’s connecting a speaker and he knows her well and they’ve all worked together and oh, maybe that’s our Josh now coaches (1:15:35) That’s one of his big things that his group called impact 11 (1:15:37) And okay, they they teach people who have a message that they want to share with the world how to build a business around (1:15:43) You know speaking no kidding, you know being an author whatever it might be (1:15:46) And so we’re lucky to have them as a client and we help them with those these events that they put on(1:15:52) workshops, and they’re (1:15:53) Incredible. They’re probably I mean of all the way we do a lot of events of all the events (1:15:58) We do our team loves them these events the most(1:16:01) Personally, I love these events the most this group is so high energy (1:16:05) They’re just so so passionate about what they do and just being able to help (1:16:10) People build like a better soapbox. Yeah teach you how to get your message out in the world (1:16:14) Really impacting change like in a positive way.

That’s so cool. We just we just interviewed a guy named Sandy genero (1:16:21) And he was a(1:16:22) Professional drummer and he was the drummer for like Cindy Lauper (1:16:26) Oh, it was it was like his was his biggest coolest one. I mean some other people too (1:16:31) I mean(1:16:31) He’s got this whole long list and you’ll see it when we when we post it at the actually that we end the session with him (1:16:37) Playing the drums and all of them kind of really cool in here not in here.

No, it was it was done remotely (1:16:43) Unfortunately, he wasn’t here. But but he was I met him. He was a vista speaker (1:16:47) So he was a speaker, you know to a group of CEOs and he came and did like our annual (1:16:53) bigger meeting, you know all cities sort of thing and(1:16:57) He had this place just going and I mean when you look to them it was he’s the most(1:17:03) unsuspecting (1:17:04) Person to resonate with this group of people and one of my friends that was in the that came as a guest of mine (1:17:11) He’s a he’s a former military pilot(1:17:13) He’s a CEO of a really, you know great fantastic company and he’s a pretty serious guy, okay and (1:17:21) Tears in his eyes banging these drumsticks because he guy had the whole group going and it’s like man, you know (1:17:28) How he figured out how to parlay his message like that.

It was so (1:17:34) It was so amazingly energizing and you know, and he and he wrote a book and it’s funny because the book (1:17:40) Doesn’t almost no justice for what what what you can read in all those pages of his book that you can you can you absorb (1:17:47) So different him, you know with him there is just it’s just unbelievable (1:17:51) So I would encourage you to look him up and definitely watch the episode with him, but he’s just this (1:17:57) hard-looking (1:17:59) Rock-and-roll guy, you know, he’s in his in his hole. Does he know Jackie’s in 70? Do you see it’s 70? (1:18:06) And (1:18:08) Softest man you’d ever meet though like most thoughtful compassionate caring person and you’re like (1:18:14) Wow, if I would have judged that book, right if I would have judged that book by its cover (1:18:19) I would’ve been so rather your people. Mm-hmm (1:18:24) She’s she’s an old soul, yeah that genre of music and (1:18:29) Girls just want to have fun.

Yeah (1:18:38) So, well, hey I could sit here all day with you guys and and chat with you like you great to be around (1:18:46) No, this is I’m starting it. We’ve got 25 more minutes to get to the end. I don’t know (1:18:53) But but no, I really appreciate you guys being here and and hopefully we can share some of these (1:19:00) Some of these weekly episodes with you guys.

I mean, you know, it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s (1:19:02) Messages (1:19:03) Appropriately, you know, we’ll figure out what what’s that’s um good to share (1:19:07) Yeah, we’ll get you like a pre-release on some of them. I’m actually that’s the team up (1:19:11) We’re gonna release them this year. Okay, so I did them internally (1:19:14) Now it’s time to now time to go live send them out to the world and see what happens.

Good deal. Love it (1:19:19) Well, thanks for being here. I’m really happy to have you here(1:19:23) Happy to get to know you guys better and hopefully that keeps growing and yeah get(1:19:28) Get together again soon as long as there’s a neon sign we’ll be there.

I have one everywhere. I go. Perfect (1:19:33) Yeah, it’s not part of your brand.

I would be so upset if we go (1:19:36) No (1:19:36) that was actually so when we went when we went to Northern Michigan and shot six episodes up there Jackie brought all of the equipment and (1:19:43) We did it on the road. Did you bring in yet to have a travel sign? (1:19:46) We don’t have a travel so we get a travel sign. Yeah.

Do you know a guy that can make one of those? (1:19:50) I might okay. I think we know who can hook us up. So, all right.

Well, thank you very much. Thank you (1:19:58) So long everybody this episode of the BLT NT podcast is sponsored by oxium business IT and cybersecurity designed to outsmart chaos(1:20:06) Empowered by juniper networks automate your network with juniper networks and the mist AI platform the world’s first AI driven wired and wireless network