EXPERIENCE 11 | Abbie Stout with the Edwards House Inn, Luz en el Cielo, and Cedar & Sage Mercantile

Welcome to the LOCO Experience Podcast with LOCO Think Tank Founder Kurt Bear. Listen in as Kurt digs deep into the business and life stories of business owners and thought leaders at different stages of growth from all walks of life. Launching and growing anything can be a crazy experience, so expand your thinking and level up your understanding of what it takes to find success in the world of free enterprise. Welcome back to the LOCO Experience Podcast. I'm honored today to have a LOCO Think Tank member and the proprietor of the Edwards House in Fort Collins Bed and Breakfast and Conference Center, as well as some other business interests. Abby Stout. So Abby, why don't we set the stage by just sharing what you're up to in business today and then we'll explore your journey along the way. Great. Thanks so much Kurt and thanks so much for having me here. I'm really excited about this. So today I am running the Edwards House Bed and Breakfast here in Fort Collins. We're also at Conference Center and now Wedding venue. And we are just trying to live out COVID at the moment. It's been a really tough year, but we're building up our foundation to hopefully have a very successful 2021 and beyond. It's that skinny times make you stronger sometimes. They do. Turns out it is the LOCO Experience Podcast. That's one of the reasons I wanted to have you on us because your industry has been rocked about as hard as anybody's. So what does that mean? What's the Edwards House? So Edwards House is a small boutique in here in Fort Collins, Colorado. We are located on Mount Avenue. We have eight guest bedrooms that are open for overnight guests. We serve breakfast in the morning. We actually cater in from a local restaurant and serve a really nice full breakfast to our guests. We are also a conference center and event venue. So we get a lot of local businesses or individuals that come and host their own conferences. Exactly. Offsite retreats, that sort of thing. And then the venue event site is for birthday dinners, weddings, baby showers, that sort of experience. Very cool. And it's old. And I noticed you said in not bed and breakfast, even though you're a place to stay that has breakfast. We are. So bed and breakfast is a touchy term these days. Bed and breakfast can be associated with kind of old stuffed animals in the corner. Yeah. Questionable. Not always. It's definitely being revamped recently with kind of a new experience in Airbnb. Sure. But in is a better term for our place. We get both. And it's fine. But in is kind of boutique in is a buzz word. And so we're really trying to push that. People expect to pay more for the boutique in than they do for the bed and breakfast. Absolutely. So let's call it duck a duck here, right? That's one of my favorite things about you is you do call it duck a duck. So so in addition to that, you other have other interests as well. And let's touch base on those before we journey. What kind of interests are you have the the Costa Rica property that you started with? So business interests. Yes. Sure. So I do have a place down in Costa Rica called Lucin LCLO eco-bnb hostel. Okay. And that I started read a college. So that was started in oh not 10. Okay. It was starting 2010 was our first high season down there. And then through COVID and all of this circumstantial chaos. Yeah. That we've been granted over the last year. We started a sustainable home goods business out of the Edwards house. So we're currently in the basement of the Edwards house. Yep. Same staff, same space, same kind of giving them something to do to keep them busy when you're too slow to really make money doing the end. Absolutely. That was the idea. I had last March. I had the best group of employees that I've ever had. And I was so excited to to start the summer season off with this really unique group of employees. And then hope COVID. By April, you had to lay them all off. Well, I didn't. I've kept all of them. Oh, wow. Yeah. So we've thanks to the PPP and some other grants through the city of Fort Collins. We've managed to keep our doors open. But also opening this new business, Cedar and Sage Merkin tile, we've really been able to keep our employees and kind of trucking forward with this. Where did you open for business officially? The Cedar and Sage. Yeah. Officially, we open the end of April. It's kind of when the Web site launched. Okay. That was our official opening because nobody was allowed on premises at that time. The end was actually completely closed. Sure. Even though we are allowed to be open in that first shutdown, we closed just because we had no one to come anyway. And we just, it was, there was so much question as to what was morally correct. What to do. So anyway, the COVID experience here too. I'm sure. Right. We will. So describe before we get too far along on the Costa Rica, maybe describe that property just a bit. Is it, I think it's like a pretty big group. Is it kind of a property or something? Sure. So Lucino Cielo is, it's quite large. We can house up to 45 people on one night. So we have a Siri, we have a few, we have two, two bedroom houses. We have four private cabinas. And then we have 14 to 20 dorm beds, depending on how that's allocated on, yeah, exactly. All in the same facility. Okay. Cool. And so let's, let's get into, now we know, oh, do you want to shout out to your staff that you do? You said you have a unique and wonderful staff. You want to give me a shout out? I would love to. So there's Rebecca Averett. She's my right hand girl. And she is Becca, right? Becca, she does go by Becca. She is a godsend. She has really helped me through this COVID situation. And the fact that I have two kiddos, two small young boys that need me at home, emotionally, probably. Exactly. Well, yeah, fun. They need me to function. I've four and seven. Right. Right. That's maximum need time. Right. And considering the elegance of the Edwards house and the way we do things, I just can't have them at work with me. So Becca's really taken everything on this year. That's so cool. And just dove right in. So Becca is amazing. And then I have Emma Mackie, who's really been amazing as well, keeping house keeping. She's our head of housekeeping and organization. Emma, shout out. Yeah. So those two are really the two girls that have just been with you the whole season here. Yeah. They've been awesome. That's so cool. Yeah. So let's talk about the business journey a little bit. I know that you grew up kind of around here. Is that right? That's right. I grew up in Fort Collins. And I graduated from putter high school in 05. And what's putter high as a mascot in Paulus? The Impala's, yeah. So 2005 graduation. And then you went out to school not too far away for some kind of hospitality, if I remember right. Kind of something. Tell me about your, well, actually before we even get there, mom, dad siblings, things like that. What was your like background from that? We'll get more into family later, but just kind of kind of set the stage of who you were when you were 18. Sure. So mom and dad, dad worked for Celestica, which is a manufacturing engineering company. Sure. And mom was kind of a stay at home mom who dabbled in a little bit of everything, beekeepers, vanish teacher, ski instructor. I love it. Yeah. Great parents. I really am blessed to have the parents I have. I met your dad in the yard briefly one time. Yeah. And dad's full-time maintenance at Edwards House. He's tried to retire several times. You can. I can't find anybody else cheap enough that's good enough to do the work. Exactly. So dad shot out. Yeah. And then my brother Jeff, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts. And he is a medical researcher at the Children's Hospital out there. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. So you graduate. Uh-huh. And then what you. So graduate and go move straight up to Livermore, Colorado and worked on a guest ranch for the summer. Okay. Yeah. Cherokee Park Ranch. Okay. Yeah. And so that was honestly my first dip into hospitality. Was working on that ranch. I loved it. I was a Wrangler. So we were working with the horses and and also guests doing trail rides and stuff like that. Did you have to be trained for that or did that you did that somewhere in your kit? I did that. I did. So I grew up with horses. Okay. Yeah. I had my own horse. I got to bring my own horse up to the ranch and ride on him. Okay. And then that sparked an interest in hospitality, I guess. I suppose. Yeah. That could have been the first double. I know a trip to Ireland when I was in high school was also we started bed breakfast. The entire trip and that was also a little dabble. So I don't know if those. Yeah. Well, it's a whole bunch of things. I've had friends and mentors say, you know, life is kind of like you got a shopping cart and you put all these experiences in and then eventually after usually 30 or 40 years, then you get something good enough to make a fun dinner. There. Yeah. I like that. And you're younger than the many people that have done as many interesting business things as you have. So you go off to learn more about hospitality. It's kind of. So I went to Fort Lewis in Dringo Colorado. Okay. And I actually started as an art student down there. I wanted to go into design, interior design and an architectural design. Yeah. Yeah. So I started in art and I really went to Fort Lewis so I could snowboard. I didn't really want to go to school, but I kind of got away with that. His parents were happy. I was happy. It was affordable. It was absolutely affordable. And honestly, the best college I could have ever asked for. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Fort Lewis. Fort Lewis, Richard and in just such a cool campus, the professors there want to be there. They've worked in the industry, especially which I eventually got into the business department. And I'll talk more about that in a little bit. But the professors want to be there. They've retired from working as CEOs, whatever it is. And they're there to ski and enjoy a beautiful town. Absolutely. And helping people smarter risk on some of their experience. Absolutely. And hands on, I mean, I remember my freshman class was 30. And then by the time we got to senior year in the business, it'd be 15, maybe seven, depending on the class. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. So talk about that transition from graphic designer to business department. Sure. Sure. So that was kind of how I moved my life by the seat of my pants sometimes. I was walking through the business department. And there was a big poster on the wall that said Costa Rica must have been 2006 that summer. Okay. And I thought, oh, that sounds fun. It was a tropical picture. Like Ireland, Ireland, but warmer. Right. Right. So kids in their board shorts, jungle, like that looks nice. So I went and looked for Simon Walls was the professor who was leading that trip at the time. And I he was in his office. I sat down with him. By the time I left his office, I'd switched my major to business. And I was going to Costa Rica that summer. I love it. I love it. So that's how I started in the business world, really. And what was this trip all about? International tourism and foreign relations. Okay. And we dabbled in a lot of international studies and trade. Interesting. Interesting. Okay. So talk to me about where you wound up in that business journey. You finished college? Sure. So after going to Costa Rica the first summer, I realized that business was my jam. Okay. It's just it was easy. And I'm like, who here? This is how I'm going to get through college and not have to do much. I mean, I hate to admit it now, but it has gotten to me, gotten me to the place where I am now, which is amazing. So I didn't switch my major back to art as I'd planned. And I continued in business and and focused in business marketing. That was kind of my niche because I could use my art and that and your creativeness. And so I did graduate Fort Lewis in oh nine with a business marketing degree minor in art. Very good. Yeah. Senior year, I wrote a project so I could go back to Costa Rica that third summer in a row or fourth, maybe it was by then. I wrote a business proposal for a Ben breakfast, an eco lodge in Costa Rica. Okay. And that ended up being my business that I still have down there in Costa Rica. Tell me about that more. Sure. So just kind of ran out of credits going to Costa Rica with the business department. And so I petitioned to write my own credit coursework. I don't remember the exact exactly exactly. They're pretty nonchalant about it at the time. And I wrote a business proposal while I was down there and helped with the groups that were down there studying at the time. And I came back with that business proposal and a property in mind that I wanted to purchase because I actually went and met with realtors and made it really realistic. So maybe one day in the future of dream meets dream and makes a unicorn. I'll be able to do this. It will. That was the approach you took with those real stories and stuff like that. Exactly. But I'm doing a student project here. Well, I didn't even say that. I mean, I was down there to do it. And maybe that's what really got me through in the end is my mindset was like, I want to do this. But I don't know how. But I didn't care because I was 20 something years old and very naive, right? Sure. Yeah. That's a diameter. It has started many a business. Yeah. I always say when preparation meets opportunity and like the naivety combined makes the perfect recipe combination. I love it. I love it. So so when did it come real? Right. So I went back, finished my senior year and then my professor Simon Wall, same guy. He called me into his office one day. So I want to talk to you about your business proposal. And I sat there and he said, so you're going to go do this, right? That wasn't exactly the plan, but tell me more. Right. He said, this is a great plan. Your numbers line up, you can work with the we had a, what is it called? A like a liaison down there. Kind of and after you graduate for Lewis, they have this kind of organization. Yeah, alumni. That was the word I was looking for alumni organization in the business department that if you did have a business proposal or a business dream, they'd actually consider investing in your thing. Well, not investing. They just help you. Yeah. So they, I mean, I sat down with the financial advisor and I sat down with the marketing guy and they all did this out of love. And was this just a blank property that you were proposing to buy? Or did it already have some stuff? Yep, it already had some stuff on it. It was a pretty run down hustle. German guy owned it, wanted out, not just drove it into the ground. Yeah. Nobody wanted to see if that guy's hostile. Well, I always joked, like you would have had to pay me to stay there. And I was hustling at her own Costa Rica. It was nasty. Like we couldn't even give away our mattresses to people who didn't have mattresses. We had to burn them quite frankly. It was nasty, but it had good bones. Right. And the property was gorgeous. And it was right in town. And it was price point that I could consider. Right. Right. Anyway, kind of talked to this Simon kind of talked me into going back down there and diving in. And I did just by yourself, I by myself and you're 23 or something. I was 23 when I brought the property. Yeah. That was pretty surreal when I went in and say, and my Spanish at the time was okay. A lot of smiles and hand gestures were getting me by. And I remember the day that I signed for the property with the lawyer. And I had these keys in my hand. And I had a friend come to the neighboring town where the lawyers are and picked me up on their quad. And I showed with this property with these keys in my hand, the guy who sold it to me as a German guy, he'd left his newspaper and coffee out on the table from that morning. Just literally got up and yes, left junk and all gone. And I thought, here we go. And you got like 20, 40 years worth of his junk laid around there that you're burning and throwing away and trying to give away, but mostly not. It was a process. Yeah, it was a process. So did you have capital somehow to be able to make the investments that you needed to get the property up to steam and and and I assume a rebrand and everything became part of your deal. That's a great question. So I really didn't know what I was doing when I took all of that. Just secure the contract and I bought it. I mean, school only gets you so far and then there's real life experiences and learning and that's that's where it all started and that's where I learned pretty much everything I know in business these days. But what was your question? Oh, did you have like money to fix this place up? Oh, right. That was the question. So the funding was interesting. So when I went down there, I applied for several mortgages in Costa Rica and everybody looked at me like I was crazy. Right. Mortgage rates are really high down there. It's not something you do. You're a 23-year-old American. That's a fairly speaks Spanish. Exactly. Yeah, there's lots of reasons. Yeah, there's lots of reasons. So I ended up pulling. I ended up talking my parents. It took me months, but I got my parents on my side to say, hey, this is something I'm really interested in. They ended up co-signing a line of credit out of the US. Yeah. Yeah. So that was... So you just got money from someplace else to buy this property. Yeah, I brought money down from the US. And the little capital available to which they like down there, you're like, hey, yeah, spend some of those green backs here. Kind of. And I also, the other thing that I forgot to mention, I assumed a mortgage on the property. So the previous owner had a running mortgage from the previous owner and I just assumed that. So that helped quite a bit. Yeah, yeah. And he's the previous owner is like, yeah, you got to be better than this dude. Well, that's a whole another story. That's a whole another, yes. So how long was it from when you purchased the property to when you collected some rents and what was required to be able to get from A to B? Sure. That's a great question. I don't remember the timeline. It's all kind of a blur at this point. And you know what this is? What year is this? This is 2010. And what months? We must have been in May, June. And what's the like high season low season and that kind of stuff that element? Yeah. So we're on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, so the western side, western coast. And we get our rainy season is heavy September October, middle of November, usually. Now, weather's been really strange recently. But when I was at 10, 11 years ago, oh, nine, when I moved down there, it was pretty consistent. So our high season starts in November, kind of Thanksgiving. After it winds up there. Exactly. And then we get hit the holidays, Christmas, New Year's. And it runs really high until Easter. And they have something down there called Semana Santa, which is their Easter week. And that's a big blowout party week. And then everything starts to slow down just a little bit. That's funny. It's a little bit like New Orleans. They have like fat Tuesday right before lunch or whatever. It's like blow it out and then be good. Which maybe is we could talk about principles like that sometimes. So you're actually breaking a fairly long, you've been teetoddling by intention lately. But we're drinking rye whiskey right now. We are. Thank you. You're behind me already, by the way. I'm out of practice. So, so we bought this property in May of 2010. And then to finish that question back up, how long and how much did you have to do before you could collect rent from people? Right. So there was a we had to do an extensive renovation on the lodge. So when I took over, we just had this lodge building. That was the building that had the good bones. It was concrete base, which is the only thing that lasts in the humid hot climate with sea air down there. And then there was two cabinas on the property cabins. And they were pretty rundown. I was living in one. And I remember when it was raining, I'd have to move the bed so that I'd miss the drips. So they were, you know, they were livable, but rough. Only if you're tolerant. Right. Only if you're tolerant. So we got at that lodge. I'm pretty much down to the bones, like paint. We repainted. We kind of had to redo with some of the bathrooms. But very minimal. I didn't have much of a budget at all. So it was a lot of sweat work, a lot of sweat equity that went into that. And I had a crew. I went to the beach one day, the campground where a bunch of them, not homeless, but like the people were selecting. If they could make a little money. Yeah. And we got some construction that might help them buy some food while they surf. Right. And I said, you guys want to paint. Do you want to chip paint off the wall? Do you want to sand? And they all came up and we'd feed them lunch and dinner and pay them a little and everybody was happy. And so that's really how my renovation project started on there. So a couple of months turn around. And then I believe we were open, maybe my timelines off. Gosh, it's such a blur. But we're open within a few months. And we caught that first heavy season. High season. Yeah. And I want to say our first high season was 2010. Okay. And we, I mean, we opened our doors. That was before internet down there. I think we are one of the first places to actually have Wi-Fi internet, which was incredible because before that we'd be calling on the pay phone with 16 digits to get out. So we're really marketing like print ads and magazines. Like it wasn't online like it is now. Right. Right. Really word of mouth. People walk it like as if your sign's big and says your name and what you have people come. And what, what's the town? Yeah, that's a great question. Monizuma, Costa Rica. Okay. Oh, yeah, I think we actually went through Monizuma. Okay. Isn't there Monizuma Falls? Yeah, we have some great waterfalls in town. Yeah, I jumped off one of those falls. Oh, nice. Yeah. So you're running the Airbnb here. 23 then you turn 24 and you're rocking along any major kind of business things along that first couple of years. So many. So many some learning experiences. Right. Just cultural experience as well. And employees have rights. Like they do here in the US as well, but they are, I mean, your employee literally has to murder his mother in order to get fired. And not having not have to pay them off some amount. It's in that's that's put pretty harsh for union almost. Very, very. Not even a union. Just everybody has the right to tell you to read more because you couldn't get. You know, I was a terrible employee. You got to keep me because that's your kind. Right. And it's too bad because it is there for some pretty terrible business owners and bosses. And I understand that, but that was an eye opener. And that was a shock. And when I first got down there, I had a security guard that was drinking all night, would lock himself in the bathroom and pass out. And I couldn't get rid of him. Like I had to pay him all this money. I really didn't have yet to get rid of him. Like, like, I guess he'll stay. So just like cost me less to keep you, even though you're totally not doing your job. That's the messed up thing. And rules and regulations and the ministry of workers down there is gotten so much better. But when I first moved down there, it was, I mean, it was a mess. It felt third world. And it was a total mess. And it was who you know. And who you could bribe. But not really. You're an outsider or an outsider. Exactly. You're an outsider for sure. But I know that they are charmed by young ladies and stuff like that and that culture. And they want like I see people opening doors for their, you know, no, absolutely. It's a very, uh, chivalrous kind of a culture. So I imagine that your youthfulness and your femaleness kind of helped open some doors that might have been harder. I think perhaps. Um, I always thought that I might get, um, harassed, right? Because there's also that element of harassment. But I went, and when I went into the government buildings, which is the, the municipality there and, and kind of, you know, when I was looking to build, I remember the first time I went in and asked for building where, what I need to do in order to get building permits and smiling and just being really considerate. Yeah. Go so far in that culture. Totally. And I wouldn't bring gender into that except for the fact that I noticed that like so many doors were opened. Right. Well, and that's a great point. And I think that being a male might have been more difficult to get things done because I, I mean, I was 23 years old. You know, here I am, like smiling, cute, whatever. I don't want to name myself cute. But I'm there, right? And they were so nice. You're like cocky if you're that, try to do that kind of stuff, right? And you probably are. Which means you're not being kind and smiling and asking nicely and stuff too. But yeah. Yeah. I always laugh like smiles and hand gestures get you a long way in the government buildings. Yeah. Yeah. And respect, you know, you come in and in the Latin culture that's a really beautiful thing. You walk in, you say hide absolutely everybody in the room. And if you, if you know them, personally, you give them a kiss on the cheek. I mean, even if they're in a acquaintance. Wow. That is so cool. I can only imagine like if I did that, it'd probably you around downtown for college, you'd be kissing everybody or not everybody, but in every restaurant, you'd be like, oh, I know this person, that person and go in friendly. No, but it would be pretty cool to see that kind of interaction like that. It's a beautiful moment of the culture. Yeah. I would definitely want to spend more time in Costa Rica. So you get kind of moving along. You've figured out your staffing. You're starting to to make a little dough. I assume and enjoying things. You're coming back to the US at all during this time and wintering or summering or anything like that or just rocking that boutique ecological. Yeah. So I was down there pretty permanently for the first three, four years. I did come back for Christmas most years. I'm pretty attached to Christmas in Colorado. It's just not the same without snow. Yeah. And I guess I came back once or twice a year. I had a volunteer program right off the bat down there with college friends. As soon as I got kind of up and running, I had actually had one gal that went down there with me and helped me do the renovation now that I remember. That was pretty awesome. And gal from Japan, she was a study abroad at Port Louis and she came with me. Her name is Hissayo. She ever listens to this. She'd love to hear that. We've done foreign exchange students a lot through rotary and one thing that can't make any income working. Right. I don't know. I don't know. And in Costa Rica anything went at that point. But I ran this volunteer program and it was really great because friends from college didn't really know what they wanted to do but wanted to get some culture. They came down the first couple years. I mean, we lived a party down there. We had this business and party all the time. And that hotel, that business has really grown with me. Any local experiences you'd like to share from that particular period of time there where it was working in party? What kind of local experiences? I don't know. I don't know. What do you think it is? Oh, like local, like Spanish. Oh my gosh. I mean, there's just, I can't even, I can't even tell you this way. Nothing you want your mother to hear. Nothing I'd want. That's some of the Abbey in Costa Rica that stays in Costa Rica. Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay. I mean, it was fun. And I'm so, it was a crazy life and sometimes I wonder how I survived. But it makes me stronger. And man, it was, it was all worth it because I'm sitting here today talking to you. Yeah, I just got the property and all that. Yeah, so seven was the age of your oldest child. And so pretty soon, I think there must be some romance in here. Yeah, there was. Seaky is my oldest son. And I met a guy in Costa Rica. He was Argentinian traveling through. And we had an ups, baby, a blessing really. But that's Seaky. So that happened really fast. And that really changed my life and my outlook on the business. And I, I always say that was like a saving grace. That was like my white flag out because it was, it was, it wasn't responsible now. All of a sudden, my business really had to function and do well because all of a sudden I had to support another human being. Right. And I'm sure you could probably buy diapers with all your booze budget. Right. Exactly. And that goes out the window fast when you find out your pregnant. Sure. So yeah, Ziki came along and that was a blessing really. And like I said, it really helped us buckle down and focus on the business. Cool. And it, and like I said earlier, the business has grown with me, which has been really fun because in the first years, it was definitely more of like a college backpacker, kind of party, hostile. And up to today, we have two bedroom houses. We're family friendly. We have quiet hours. Lots of respect. Forward. Equal forward. Absolutely. Sustainable practices, which also informs your cedar and supply. Yeah. Cedar and sage. So Abby starting to get her, get her stuff together a little bit. Got Ziki at home. And like putting this property kind of in its, through its journey. And so this is when this is probably 2013. Okay. And any notable business changes or events for the next few years before the Edwards House opportunity started coming along. Yes. So really the biggest changes were our additions on the property and renovations. And before Ziki was born, I had built two new private cabinas on the property, which added a really neat element. All of a sudden we could have couples or even we found like older couples coming and staying with us, but wanted to be part of this hostile culture. Sure. And that's kind of when the ideas really started shift day. Like, oh, we don't have to be just like this. We can get some rich people extra to hang out with all these hippies. Right. Exactly. And that's very much what we are today. We are still a hostile culture, which is a really neat, different unique way to travel. You meet the, the characters that you meet in these hostels, even if you're not the owner and sitting there listening to the stories you're traveling. And everybody's interesting at a hostile. Absolutely. And I had a guest at one point, older lady, probably saying one of the cabinas and she said, every day you should write a sentence. And you would have a book or a movie at the end of this. And I should have listened to her, you know, just one about one of our crazy character travelers. Do you want to tell me a story about any of those people that would be honored rather than offended that you shared this story? Two of my very favorite people are actually deceased now, sadly. Well, they won't complain. They won't complain. And Randall was a guy who showed up. He kind of looks like, oh gosh, who's the country singer with the braids gray hair? Oh, Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson. I want you on my podcast. I'd be honored anytime. Abby, you can, you can stay at Abby is a boutique in when you're here. We've actually talked about this before. I haven't wrote it. I'm so scared. What do you still? I mean, the worst you can say is no, right? For sure. Okay. On the two do list. Yeah. Anyway, so Randy. So Randy, Randy Michael shows up and, and he's sitting at the table. I've been out for the day surfing or something. And I came in and he's sitting at the table, smoking a cigarette doesn't stop. Like smokes three or four cigarettes in a row. And I'm looking at one of one of my friends who's working for me at the time. And I said, who check this guy in? First of all, we hear we have this host of all, like young, mainly girls. And there's actually a lot more awesome women travelers than men, younger. Like just these amazing, beautiful, fun girls that come through the hostel. Like my, my male volunteers were in heaven. Right. But here we have this hostel. And I think at the time it was primarily full of women. And then we're here at this maybe 60s, Randy Michaels. Yeah. And I'm just like, are these girls going to feel comfortable? Like, who is this guy? Um, nice guy all over a fun and go. Well, just just this nice guy. And he ended up staying with us for six months. Like he just wanted a lie. Like he just wanted to be there. And he ended up helping out security guard one night because our security guard. Right. And he didn't drink, Randy didn't drink, just smoked all the time. And he would, I mean, I wish I could, I could take hours to explore his character. I mean, just a fun, fun guy. He did. He had, he had some unfinished business in Texas. I think he'd lost his wife several years prior, so he was pretty lonely. He went back, came back and now they're, we just kind of wait for him each year to come back. And then one year he didn't come back and, and some of our volunteers followed him on Facebook or something like that and said, maybe he, he'd passed. I, I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that he's gone today. Yeah. You said you had a couple. A couple. And, and I don't, I don't have to want me to get into all of them. Just a couple. The two, you know, what the couple is too. So, Randy. Right. This other guy, Doug, he showed up also in really rare form. But he was a character. He had also lost his wife and was just kind of traveling for entertainment. Yeah. For companionship. Right. And he, he had an out, he had a problem drinking, but he was entertaining. He played the guitar and he'd have people singing. No, not harmful, except for, at the time, our second floor of the lodge, we have this patio with plank boards. So, there's little spaces in the middle of the boards. And almost every night he'd fall asleep with the glass of wine in his hand and the hammock above on the second floor. And then it would spill on some of the floor. Almost every night we'd have a, somebody would get shot. That's why it was going on again. We're like, oh, dogs, somebody go up and wake him up. I'm like, you did it again. So, Doug was a character. We actually had to ask him to leave at the end. He was having a rough time, but he was fun when he was there. Yeah. Well, God bless you, Doug. Yeah, exactly. So, and then seven and four. So, another, another little boy came along the Renzo. Okay. And we'll talk about Faith Family and Politics at the end of this. So, we can wait to get too much into the description of the family. But so, Lorenzo comes along and only solidifies, I suppose, the need to make the business work good. Yeah, absolutely. At that time, we'd moved, we'd build a house on the property. We'd actually built two houses when we kind of built. So, we'd have a rental house and also a house for family. My parents, primarily when they wanted to come visit. And so, we're on the property. It was really convenient because before I kind of got in the property within three years to run on its own. Like, I really wasn't there much when Ziki was very little. I'm so blessed to have the life I have. And I spent most of my time with Ziki. Yeah. And just being a mom, yet running the business. It could be a state-owned mom. Absolutely. I always say entrepreneurship's more lifestyle choice. Yeah. Right? Well, and there's, I've heard there's two types of entrepreneurs. Those that will work as hard as they must for as long as they must to make the biggest, best business they can possibly do. And those that want to figure out how to work as little as possible and make it look pretty good money. Yeah. And I think your number two. I think maybe. I mean, it's all, I don't need it. We want to make things work good. I want to make things comfortable. But I mean, we only have short lives. Like, I want to enjoy my life. And that's why I always think and threaten like, I'm just going to sell them all and work for somebody. Like, that's my threat to myself when I'm angry at myself. How happy would I be? Right. And I'm like, oh, but then I have to be there at a certain time. And I have to report to somebody else. I really don't know that world. In college, I worked at a bar. And that's the only interview I've ever had. That's so cool. I mean, it's, yeah. You're unavailable now. I'm pretty much unemployed. But I do have good contacts. Yeah. That's my only foot in the door. Yeah. I can have you do some graphic design and stuff for us some day, part time, you know, pretty low pay. I think I'll be okay. Yeah, I think so too. So, um, so you've been able to establish kind of this great, I guess, manager and probably property maintenance systems and things like that. What was the staffing like? And is there anything along that staffing journey that that you really learned from or anybody that was really key during those years? Yeah. My housekeepers are key in both hospitality businesses. I mean, if the place is clean, nobody can complain. I mean, really, the place is clean. There's just a platform to, to the guest, I mean, they don't can't start complaining if it's clean, right? Yeah. That's just my kind of idea behind hospitality. But, and I'm kind of OCD myself like, I'm a cleaner. You've cleaned it twice before I thought it was dirty. Right, right. Exactly. So staffing was, I mean, it's just interesting in Costa Rica. It was hard. I always put too much trust in my employees before they gained it down there. Yeah. And I learned that the hard way. Yeah, usually that's a benefit, but down there sometimes it became sounds like here being in my own culture where I was brought up, I find I make the best relationships with my staff. And maybe I think it definitely is a cultural difference. Yeah. And also there's not, and you're not entitled to your job here. Like you, you are in a way, but you're not at the same time. Like you can be fired because you wore the wrong clothes shirt. Oh, wow. I mean, you can hear here. I mean, you can. Oh, yeah. It's an employment at Will State. Right. Exactly. And down there, I mean, you just, it's not your, the employee has the right all that time. And that changes the relationship for the employee and the manager. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Right off the bat makes a lot of scary to be the owner of a business. Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, um, key employees not really had some great employees and great volunteers. Right now, I have the best team. I'm so satisfied with both my teams in both countries, especially during the COVID crisis. Yeah. We've just, we've been able to hang on to everybody important. And that's really impressive, I think. Yeah. Because I'm sure you're, how much are your revenues off last year? Like 75%. Right. Yeah. And I'm not pulling a salary this year, which helps. Yeah. Well, it helps the business survive, but it doesn't help you buy diapers. It doesn't, but I don't have to buy diapers anymore. It's good. A lot of food now. So, um, it seems like a good time to start talking about the transition back toward Fort Collins based operations. Right. Yeah. Starting to get there. So I kind of started manifesting, not to be too, like, woo, woo, hippie, but I started manifesting a move to back to Colorado after I had the boys. So when I went to Costa Rica, I wanted to move a far away from everything I knew as possible. Sure. And then once I had my boys, all of a sudden family, family, yeah, family was so important. Like, I just needed to be near them. Yeah. And I did, and my, my husband at the time, his family, he's from Argentina. What's his name? Johnny. Johnny. Yeah. And I said, we're either going to Argentina or Colorado. I said, I don't really care. I'm like, we have to go to our family. Yes. Also for your family. My family is pretty awesome. And his family is amazing too. I mean, I was really straight up like, I don't care where we go, but we're going to family because I don't want to do this by myself anymore. Right. It's hard. He's doing down there. He was working at the hotel. Yeah. He was kind of the front of the hotel. So there is a little bit of spite in that direction because that was the dream I created. And I wanted to be there in the front talking to guests and being there. And he really took that over and he's amazing. Like, he's the best face of loose to this day. He's a pretty charming guy. He's a charming guy. Right. The girls love him. He's easy to talk to. Like, it's fun. It's good. It's the perfect job for him. And is that what he's doing now? He's currently right there right now. And I know you guys divorced not too long ago. Do you still own that property together down there? Or how's that? Or did you always, I guess you owned it way before you met him. Yeah. That was that was my baby even before we met. And he he takes it on as his own now because he put in a lot of blood sweat and tears. And so he's down there running it. We won't get too deep into that. But he's happy there. That's his happy place. And I'm just happy to have him there. He knows it better than anybody else. It's a testimony to I think the character of both the music. You can agree to not be married anymore. But to maintain a business relationship and and just positive feelings generally about each other's best interests and best good. Yeah. We're trying. It's every day. It's a struggle. But we're, you know, we're making it work. And it's it's really neat that he's so invested in that business down there. And it's for the kids. Yeah. It would be incredible to have that business for for my boys to go down for the summer and work reception, you know, at a high school or whatever. Sure. Yeah. And their friends want to go down there and volunteer to it. Sure. Right. Is it still a girl centric on the hostile crowd? I guess COVID nation who knows what COVID changed a lot or demographics have changed a lot. But yeah, the it's it's interesting because it is hostels are female heavy. Yeah. And especially guys out there start staying hostels for we need more balance. Well, and it could just be ours. And that's really when I created Lucy Nalcella. It was really that because I visited Monizuma film love with the town. But I stayed at a hotel because the hostels down there were not. They didn't feel safe. Right. And I was to hustling throughout Costa Rica. But in that particular town. Yeah. There wasn't one. I think there's opportunity here. Exactly. And so and I really like the fact that women can come there and travel by their side by themselves and the other women. And it's not all women. But it's we're female heavy because one are cleanliness to our safety. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So you start thinking about Fort Collins. And I had some opportunities open up there. Do you want to tell that story or that beginning of that story? Absolutely. So like I said, I kind of started manifesting Colorado. It was on my radar. And we'd we'd dabbled with the fact that maybe we just buy a classy camper and travel throughout the US and Colorado and just kind of see where we end up. And and Johnny is a really good cook. And so we also thought, oh, we'll open a restaurant in Fort Collins. He keys from Argentina, empanadas are a real hot Argentinian food item. And we actually have a great our empanada shop in Boulder and one in Denver. But Fort Collins didn't have ones. Like this is a great opportunity. Let's move. We'll do something different. No hospitality. And that was hard in regards to immigration, working. You show up in the US. I had no income as an adult ever because I want to go shrink. So I had I couldn't support him on petitioning him into the US. Like he was a mess. So this opportunity came up. We owned a ranch in Wyoming, my family. That was passed down for my grandparents. My dad was tired of going up to the ranch and fixing fences. And we were releasing it. No money and paying. Right. Exactly. We're releasing it at this point. But there were still issues. And at this point, I think all of our horses had either passed or you know, we'd sold them. Yeah. And when Abby wanted to ride horses, that was great to keep the horses and do stuff. But after that, it's like, well, right. Exactly. And that was I mean, my brother was in Boston. I was in Costa Rica. Neither of us had plans to come back. So we had this family talk. Let's find investment property because both my brother and I could really use a little income in these building years of our lives. And so we had this family chat and we're going to sell the ranch. And a couple of days later, we found out that a ranch next door had sold and we we my dad was driving off the ranch and saw a hired a hand from the ranch next door getting a cow off our property. He said, Hey, just you know, we're thinking of selling the ranch. Tell the guy who sold the ranch next door. That we're interested in. And long, long, long story short, we ended doing a swap between our ranch and the Edwards house. It was just this serendipitous situation. My parents called me one day and they said, you wouldn't believe the guy who's buying our property. He owns the Edwards house in four cons. I'm like, what's that? And so I look it up and here it says house. I'd actually worked at Vot Fry Architects in high school right across the street from Edwards house. I don't even know. I never know. Well, it is Learner County public records. So you probably can share. Okay. Okay. I probably can. Um, anyway, you don't have to swap talk about the swap terms, but yeah. So yeah, so crit Richardson, I will shout out to crit Richardson as well, because he really bent over backwards to make this work for us. So he, um, he bought our ranch up in Wyoming and and was asking my dad. He said, you know, and what are you going to do with the proceeds? Because he's a business guy, you know, and just had a curiosity and I meanwhile had been searching for kind of like a rundown apartment kind of home in four cons that I could come up and renovate and turn into Airbnb. Because that's what I did. That's what I knew. It would be easier to make some money. Right. Make money for our family. And I could get my foot in the door and Colorado. And it wasn't full on. I didn't have to commit to moving, but here I was. Yeah. And he said, oh, I own the Edwards house. Like, let's talk. Like, maybe that would be a cool swap. That's so cool. And long, long story short, like, he really made it work for us. Um, there was some confusion and totals and stuff and Kurt, oh my gosh, he, he was really, he kept his word honorable guy, super honorable. And I just can't thank him enough for giving us this opportunity. That's what got our family up here instantly. So that was August and we moved in December. And it's funny. Just a few weeks before I met you, I met the guy that kind of assembled that Edwards house property and brought the back house onto there and stuff. What's his name? Yeah, I do remember his name and it just let my mind awesome guy, um, give me a minute. I'll come. Okay, old age, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And I heard that story about this. It's a great culture. Great. Great. Yeah. Nice to see you, Greg. I look forward to our next coffee or conversation. Yeah. Greg's great. The first week I was there. I took over on the 27th of December. Okay. And we did an open door takeover, which was pretty unique. Like we didn't shut. We didn't turn down any reservation. So if you were a guest on the 26th, yeah, you were a guest of of the prior management. And if you're a guest on the 27th, you were a guest of life and the sky couple days. You figured out how to split the dig. Yeah. Well, and we and we did we kind of staffing and everything just like, right. So I, you don't have to get exactly right. Exactly. Exactly. We, I didn't end up getting to keep any staff. All the staff that was currently working there. They were amazing. I went and hung out with them and trained with them and learned everything they had to share. Sure. Before I took over and they all, they both had a perfect time to part ways with Edward's house. That's a cool. So it worked out really nicely. It was. It really was. And so when is this 27th of December of 18th? This was 17. Okay. Yeah. And so yeah. Yeah. And so I was talking about Greg here. Is there not even a week? And I get this phone call like, Hey, who are you? My name's Abby. I just took over is I know who you are. I'm like, why do I ask, right? Well, I'm Greg Belcher, you know, and I, you know, I owned this property before and I just kind of wanted to know what was going on. And just great conversation. We had some connections in Costa Rica. That's where he got the idea to open a Ben breakfast to begin with. And he checks, he checks in ever so often, I can always call him with questions. So that was a, that's a really near relationship. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If your dad retires, maybe he can be your handyman. Yeah. And he's pretty busy himself, I think dad doesn't get to retire. I need to, I need to write a contract. Right. Life insurance policy out of the shirt. So take over the property and it has things changed much, you know, we'll lead up to the COVID. But tell me about like running that property, I guess, or 18, 19 before 20 comes along. Right. So what a difference in running a business here in the US from Costa Rica. Just so consistent. Anything legally, you need to know you can look up online and there it is. Right. I mean, it was a lot more work because you need to make sure everything's correct. And you're doing everything right. But it's there. The information was there. So what a breath of fresh air, accounting, same thing, all of our systems here link. So all of our techy systems like QuickBooks and payroll and all of it links and and you can use it all together. You can't get that stuff down in Costa Rica. We don't have payment systems that link through the reservation software. It's it's still pretty third world like in that sense. Yeah. So there's just so much more opportunity and tech here in the US. And that makes everything so when it works, it makes it easier. Sure. So the takeover was intense. I was spending 10 to 12 hour days there, just trying to get a feel. Finding things like, oh, where's this cap? I can't remember. I mean, it's a big property that just kind of run into changes. We've changed a law over the last three years. The same principle concept, hospitality. Yes, we can do anything for you. It's still there. And the details we've changed, we've tried to make it a little bit less corporate feeling. And more homey. Yeah. More Colorado flavor. So our Diaz when somebody comes and stays with us, you're getting coffee from Lima coffee roasters that are right here in Fort Collins and you're happy like he's tea and cookies from Mary's Mountain. Snues is our breakfast and even our amenities now are shampoo conditioner. All of that stuff is local. So that's really fun. That's so cool. I love that. Yeah. So kind of the best probably if you want to experience old town, downtown, Fort Collins, Colorado, boutique in like there isn't really a better choice. No, I don't know that there's much of another choice. No, well, the fancy pants boutique in is cross-town now. Pat's property over there. Which, oh, the Elizabeth. The Elizabeth. Totally different experience. And I was actually just talking to visit Fort Collins. A great organization here in Fort Collins. Yesterday, we're not competition. We own completely, in our own, we invite completely different guests. Like the guests that's happy at the Elizabeth might not be the guests that's happy at the Edwards House and vice versa. Yeah. I don't, we probably have a little overlap there, but our guests are really looking for that hands-on experience. That's a experience where they borrow one of your bikes out of the backyard and write it down town and you have dinner and then come back and whatever. And talk to her, I mean, our staff is there in non-COVID times our staff is there all the time. A lot of people just want to have a conversation. Right. What's Fort Collins like? Tell me about this and that, whatever. Where should we go eat? And then we check in. How was that? Oh, that wasn't good. We won't, you know. So there's a little bit of that hostile type experience as far as being a community of the people. And some people are staying there for a night or two. Some people are staying there for a week or two. Yeah, I never thought of it that way, but you're absolutely right. Yeah. Cool. It is kind of that same hospitality and hostile. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. So, making a few changes. Nothing earth shattering necessarily. Is it time now to talk about COVID nation? Anything else that you'd like to observe or special learnings that you had along that period of time? How about running both of the operations? That had to be a little bit interesting. That's hard. I kind of live, I feel like I live in two worlds all the time. And when I'm up here, that Costa Rica seems so far away in surreal. Yeah. Like pinch me really. And then when I'm down there, I actually just got back from Dean down there for a few weeks. And it's like when I'm down there, I can't even believe that I have this beautiful end up here. So I do feel caught between two worlds sometimes. Running both of them is, I wish I could be in two places at once all the time. I love them equally. And they're so different. But you can't go back and forth every week. Yeah, it adds up and kids have school. Yeah, all of a sudden, Ezekiel, it kindergarten, I'm like, wait, we can't travel anymore. Yeah, tougher, tougher. Have you had people stay at both places? I haven't yet. Interesting. I haven't yet. And it's funny because when I have guests here at the Edwards house, and they say, oh, you have a place in Costa Rica. Wow, I can have the garden. I have to prepare them. I'm like, it's not quite this luxurious. It's pretty bearable. And we don't have AC. We have open air houses. Your kitchen opens up to the jungle. And I just kind of prepared them. I've had a lot of interest, but I don't think I've had any complete stays at both of them. Yeah, fair enough. So anything else that comes to mind, or we want to jump into the local experience of COVID nation here. Just running both businesses. Yeah. I just, I'm, what comes to mind is I just love it. It keeps the reason that I'm in business in in in an entrepreneur is because one second, I'm working on my web page. The next I'm scrubbing a toilet, right? I mean, like, those are the two extremes. And it's always different. Every day is different. Every day is creative. Every day is fun. And with the two different properties, I get to do a lot of different things, but overlap. So I overlap the kind of the the technical parts, like the web. I do all my own web pages now, but I can, I get to do them in two different models, right? Two different markets and that's so. We imagine having a third or a fourth eventually, or that depends. I don't know. Kind of depends where Cedar and Sage goes, because now I have this, I joke, I have a hobby business too, because I had all this free time, you know? Right. Right. Yeah, I'm sure. So February of 2020, generally speaking, things are pretty good. You've got the team that you've been looking for. You've got the opportunities. The bookings are pretty good. Looking out in front. Yep. And then what happened? Yeah, and then COVID hit. We were, we were looking at a really good summer reservations were up. I had this great team, fresh, young team. And I, yeah, COVID hit. And then, you know, it didn't quite hit right away. We kind of saw it coming. And there was kind of a pause before the wall started falling down, if you will. Reservations started getting canceled right and left. And that was when all of a sudden it became realistic. What was happening? Refunding, cancellations was a big one for events and conferences. And all of a sudden we're watching our bank account. We're like, oh my gosh, what is going to happen? It hit hard. Nobody wanted to travel. Everybody's freaked out. I was freaked out. I have a brother. I mean, my brother got stuck. He came out for spring break. So we were up at Keystone. My parents were up for a veil resorts. And we go up there often on the spring break and weekends. And we're up there and drove up. And I remember walking into the house. My mom goes, Keystone's closing tomorrow. It was the first day of spring break, right? She's like, get your board and go over there. You have a few hours. Are they closed tonight? Keystone has nice thing. So I did. It was like five or six on the day that they closed. And I went over and found my brother and dad. And we got a few runs and right before they close. And that was the, I mean, that was kind of like the first. Yeah, right. My brother ended up being here until August and him being a medical researcher. I think I even wrote you. I'm like, Kurt, are you sure you're going to have these beatings? Like, this is freaking me out. Right. Right. Like, I don't know what's happening. I have my brother talking to my ear like this by canned food by rice. And we're like, I remember that. Yeah, we know. No. I'm like, I don't know every chapter runs itself. Yeah. I've ever let everybody go. And so, yeah, it was really hard. Yeah. It's, I mean, rush on hotel, 90% loss. And then did you close pretty soon after that? We did close because that was that questionable time period. Yeah. And I didn't want to put any of my staff in danger. And I thought that was the moral thing to do. And we did close for, I want to say two months. Yeah. Yeah. Most of April, most of May kind of thing. And then when, when the guidelines kind of led up a little bit, we reopened, but man, we are suffering. I always try to stay positive. I was like, month, they meant, oh, it's going to come back. Like, no big deal. This is all going to pass. This is all going to pass. And still, here we are in January, 2020. I'm like, this is all going to pass, right? Did you have some okay months there last summer when there was some opening and stuff? Right. Our summer months are high, high season is that summer. So, May, graduation weekend, kind of kicks it off. June, July, August, September, October are our normally kick butt months that get us through the rest of the year. Just in the first two years that I've been here, so this is only our third year open. And honestly, third year, I noticed in Costa Rica, third year was the year that you make a break. Like, if you make it your third year, you're doing pretty good. Okay. And so I was expecting that with Edwards House third year. We are going to end even though it was an established business and we took over a third year under our own management. Right. Like, you make a break. Well, in some respects, even though it was an operating boutique in before you acquired it, it was more almost like a conference center for autobox and people and stuff like that. It wasn't really an attempt to make it really a busy business, right? Right. It wasn't a very successful business. It was more of a hobby. That was a hobby business. Right. It wasn't intention necessarily. Right. Exactly. So when I when I took over, that was a big part of it, like making sure that it actually would be profitable. Right. For me, what does your occupancy rates have to be and things like that? How do you actually make sure we? Right. Yeah, because you got really most of the family wealth tied up in this property. Well, yeah. You know, it's regeneration. Right. Right. And I have, you know, my brother's inheritance. My brother's very, he likes his check. Right. And if he listens to that, he knows this. Like, and he's rooting for us, right? But he does. He likes his check. Like, it's his investment. Three years of covenation and have no check every day. Right. Exactly. So yeah, reservations were down in those high summer months. We were down even 50%. They were better. We had three months that were pretty good. We even hosted a few micro weddings, which is a new niche that we've gotten into. Yep. And we had a little event. Yeah. A little 15 person. That's right. Yeah. Must have been one of the earlier ones that came back when it was allowed. And we had a few of those before the November wave, I guess it was. And we got sure down again. And then it was like deja vu like cancellations again. Conferences events. If you could be open, nobody was coming. Yeah. And we can't really, we couldn't really say, sorry, we're going to hold you to your deposit. Like our policy is such a, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But put a small hotels and restaurants in such a bad place. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, what does that look like now? Like do you, I know it's, it's January 13th today. You know, I don't think most people are seeing, you know, our guessing that April, Matt March, April, maybe things are start going downhill real good again. And we've, we've been on a downhill trend. We've just left red and gone to orange level and, and stuff like that. Are you, do you have like almost no bookings going into the spring here right now, but you're crossing your fingers? Yeah. That's a great question. Um, we are hopeful. We're hopeful for this summer. We are getting bookings. So I get all of my bookings come through my email as well as our guest services email. And I get on my phone. And now we get about a booking a day, which is amazing compared to last couple months. Like, and it's, it's, it's mixed. It's for tomorrow or it's for May or June or July. Sure. So there's a little bit more hope. So you're running once in a while. Like there's still some people coming and staying with you right now. Maybe one or two or three of the rooms are being used on a regular basis or whatever. Yeah. Our weeks are pretty thin this time of year. This is our low. It's January, February, March or just. Anyway, right. And honestly, we're not as we're probably 20% down from a normal January. So that's not bad. But January is slow to begin. Right. So it's like, here we've just gone through the worst summer. And now we're having a pretty slow January. But I mean, it's hopeful. Yeah. Yeah. Things are looking up. We're trying to do creative things like. Well, you mentioned the micro weddings. That's got to be a great opportunity because you know, people could stay and wedding and you know, have a bachelor party at Old Town. Yeah. So we we COVID has the silver lining of COVID for us is our foundation. We've really sunk our feet into the sand. I guess not up here into the mountain dirt. And we've created our foundation for Edward's house. So now we have this great wedding operation system put in place events kind of like all of our operations have been solidified because we've had the time to work on those things. If we're going strong and had a crazy summer just trying to keep up, we wouldn't have had the chance to really put the time into these really important operations that always are functional. But now they're they're secure. And so weddings has been a big one niche wedding or micro weddings and then just weddings in general. We actually just talked to Vicki Woods and and Jody at the Poodle Landmarks Foundation yesterday. And we're going to be working with the Avery House for weddings this summer. So we've just really had to expand our pivot a lot. Insurance in that because weddings are religious services. There's life right. Yeah. You know, and so you don't really want to have funerals there because that might get to break the guests up weddings. No, we do. And I mean, there's going to be some pent up need for weddings. Sure. And so yeah, people have been living in Sin while they waited for me. They're actually somebody I met recently. They were they said a wedding date and it didn't it wasn't convenient for the family and it's the spring. They were getting married in April. And the parents, at least one of the parents from Chicago Land Area was like, that is so inappropriate for you not to consider our feelings. And we're not comfortable with travel yet. But they're like, well, we kind of get married. We're in love. Yeah. So those micro wedding weddings is where that comes from. Yeah. Yeah. Like mom dad. I might have a referral for you. Yeah. That'd be great. And if it's what it's it might be a new trend. Like think you spend a quarter of what you would have spent on your crazy wedding. And so much more intimate and your favorite 30 people are there. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, I'm on board. The micro weddings I think is just a really neat trend. And it was already a starting trend before COVID. Interestingly enough, millennials were starting to realize like, oh, if I don't spend 15 grand on my wedding, I have that my bank account to start off my future. Right. Totally. Wow. Yeah. I think there's one of the cool things about millennials in general is that they they live with a smaller footprint kind of intentionally. Yeah. You know, you don't have to make as much money. And if you want to travel the world as long as you don't have a big overhead, right? Lifestyle. Absolutely. All about that. And I think COVID's really, that's another silver lining of COVID is we've all kind of sat back and be like, what really is important? Yeah. Is it making this this or is it really like, oh, a hike with my dog today? Or you know, like we've really kind of been rubbed to our run. Yeah. And what is really important? Well, I've noticed almost a maybe there's a shift because as you said early on, your your brother was very concerned about this and you wondered if we should be canceling meetings before we did and things like that. And now it seems like you're not as concerned about it as you were before, even though it's decimated the population and it's a pandemic and this and that and 350,000 people have died. I have my own personal views on it. And you don't want to share them too much. I could share them. Well, we're going to get into faith family politics. We'll get into politics. And it's not political. But I think I'm just not too worried. And I think that the people who want to travel and feel safe traveling, especially in our industry, are going out to dinner should be able to. And I've just seen the destruction of small businesses. And it's that's more tragic than anything else. And I realized that people are losing their lives. But there's also a lot more time. How many more times can we do this? Right. Exactly. Right. Like one more time before we're absolutely bankrupt as a nation. Right. And we have another shutdown. It's. Right. It would be all most of those 85 plus year olds that are dying would be so much more thankful if we just let the small businesses keep running and push this through. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know that they think. But I don't know are those those. That is a scary. And I know I know people that are sourcing medical supplies and with full ice use. And so it's hard to know what the right thing is. But it sure is hard to see these small businesses like yours that people have worked a long time for to create jobs and stuff to not know if they can keep those jobs or even keep going. Right. And keep our employees like here we could we create little families as small businesses. Yeah. It's really hard to tell a family member that they no longer have a job. Right. And so And you've got to tell your kid besides I've got to spend a lot more time at the mobile and you're going to have to be with me. Right. And not to miss me. Yeah. Oh, I know we wouldn't even get to get into like kids being at school at home. Home schooling and working. Right. So it's been so hard on so many parents. I've always got to work on the website now. Well, you and I've been we're not we don't know. I don't have kids. So I don't have anything. But but you're a small business owner. You know, you don't have to go work at your job for me to five every day. Right. And expect that the school was going to take care of your kids. Right. Right. I'm I feel very blessed in that. It's I mean, it's hard to do work and have children because you get interrupted about every 15 seconds. One of them is going to say money. Money. And then if you're on a phone call and it's but people are people are great. Like our guests are great. Well, I'm on the phone. I kind of give a disclosure when I call like, Hey, this is Abby from the Edwards House. I was just calling back about your reservation. I am working at home from from home right now. And I have two little boys just in case we get interrupted. It doesn't bother me. Like and they're always like, Oh, no. I love us. Yeah. No problem. I think that's one of the fun things about you is you're just so real. Do you want to expand more on the politics since we're there? Because mask isn't really politics. But what's your what's your journey been there? You're kind of from a from farm ranching kind of background to yourself first. So there might be some hints, but maybe not. I don't know. I'm from I'm from so my family family. They own a small business in Clarenda, Iowa. It's a tool manufacturing business. Lyle tools. Oh, really? Okay. And so that's actually like my that's five generations. Now we've had that business for 125 years. Wow. That is so cool. So they like a machine shop or they make specialty tools for auto mainly in the auto industry. So most of the mechanics probably know about Lyle tools. Interesting. That's so cool. And is that your dad's side mom's side? That's mom's side. Okay. Yeah. Mom's side. And so that's the big deep generational entrepreneurial roots. I think so. Maybe it comes from there. Yeah. Grandfathers were dermatologists on my mom's side. Okay. And my dad's side. My grandpa worked in the four service and for the land management or interior in Washington. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So politics. I don't know. I mean, I I don't really want to get into it. I try not to get into politics with friends or family because I don't really care that much. Right. Yeah. Like that's what comes down to like I love you and I don't really like I care what you think. It's a big world in this room for people that think all the different things. Yeah. I care that you have a different opinion or you have the same and I'm not gonna argue over it. Like I'm it's I think that's the sad thing. What's happening right now is there's such sides. People trying to change each other's minds and things. Exactly. I heard about I heard a quote the other day. They're going to have to reeducate Trump supporters now after this thing. It's like, well, choose your language. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. And I'm not a Trump sport. Right. Right. Right. And I'm a I'm a I don't know if you know any a gram, but I'm a seven. I'm a enthusiast. And so I just kind of want to run around the fire holding hands singing kumbaya. Right. Right. I don't really care. I'm like, and I'm privileged. I get to live in a bubble. Like I have these two great businesses and I've grown up in with a great lifestyle and I know there's there's tough things out there. But at the end of the day, I just want to be friends. Fair enough. I like that. I just want to love you. Like tell me what you can tell me to make me love you. And for you to love me. Right. Right. So that almost gets into that. Well, you can choose faith or family next if you'd like. But you know, it doesn't. My own faith journey. I felt kind of guilty for how many blessings I'd had and how little suffering I'd done. And that was part of my own adventure. And it sounds like to a certain extent, you feel like you've had that kind of open doors and blessed life. And a lot of opportunities, despite being part of lady down there with the hotel when you first got go or this with that. Right. So talk to me about faith. I manifested your trip to Colorado. Yeah, that's a great question. And I'd like to hint on something before I answer that. Just the blessings. I do. I'm such a strong believer in keeping a positive energy and giving the world what you want back. And I do come from a very privileged point of view in that sense. So I got to go to college. You know, I had all these great opportunities. But even being a woman too, like, I really, I feel like whenever I hit a dead end, if I find myself being like, oh, like, why can't? That's so fresh. If I let off, I'm like, you know, that wasn't meant to be. Let's keep trekking another door opens. An example of that is just yesterday. We're trying to open Cedar and Sage at Edwards House. And zoning says, no, no retail. It was like, oh, come on. Like, we're just trying to survive. We're just trying to survive. And it's just temporary, right? And I don't want to argue with them, whatever. And then we got, I won't, I actually won't give away the opportunity yet. But we got a great opportunity. And two days later, I'm like, okay, it's fine. Like, that wasn't supposed to happen. Like, let's keep trekking and another opportunity open. That's even better. And it was like just a reminder. Right. Don't get yourself down. And same with Costa Rica. Like, I felt like I walked on a path that was already predetermined. Like, I really just had to walk and go through the ocean. On paper, you should have failed nine out of 10 times on that Costa Rica product. You know, if you're just on outside or looking in or actually not really because you had professors and mentors and things, you're saying, that's a pretty good idea. Yeah. But you could have a lot of people fail. Right. It's pretty hard business to complicated. Yeah. And I do, I just, and that comes back to like, I mean, that can be tied into spirituality. Like, it's also the people you surround yourself with. So if you have faith, yeah, it's one big part of like just moving forward. I do. I have faith. And I, we, I believe in God who, and I'm not, I'm not religious in the fact that I go. No, I do. I know what to do with Jesus. My dad and my mom raised me in the Orthodox Church. Okay. Um, so Western Orthodox. Western, different than Greek Orthodox. Big fat Greek wedding, Orthodox. Yeah. But the Westerns, the English culture. Same religion. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. And I did, I went to a Greek Orthodox Church. We were back in the day. And a little bit about Orthodox. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Beautiful church. So I was raising that. Had to go to church. We drove to Denver every Sunday. Okay. And I, that kind of ruined me. The praise that that church was not a very nice man, not warm and friendly. Yeah. If you would think. Yeah. But I did get sent to Greece when I was 13 with my younger cousin. We went to Greece together on this trip to a Greek Orthodox kids camp. And it was such an eye opener. And I honestly, if it weren't for that, I'd probably be atheist today. Interesting. Like definitely. Like something from that trip. And you'd be like, yeah, there's a guy. There was nice people there. And like the priests and the spiritual leaders were actually like nights. For sure, meeting Christians has turned more people off to church than anything else. But like just nice and worth and that the things that I actually, right, the thing that the things that I saw with my own eye, like these amazing churches with relics of saints. There's a saint called Saint Dionysius. And he lives on San Quinto's Island in Greece. Okay. If anybody listening knows about Greek culture or saints. And that was my game changer. Like we went in and we were supposed to go into see his relic. They have his entire body there. Oh wow. And he's he's still skinning everything. Like it's this great. And I just got this. He's in a coffin. He's in a coffin and you can kiss his feet. Wow. And like blast him. And the story is that he's the he's the traveling saint of this island. And he's a fisherman. Like you could really kiss his feet. Yeah. Like they're hanging out of his thingy. Yeah. Well, they have like a cloth over it. Right. But still that's pretty well preserved. And his shoes. They the story is they they cut up his cloth shoes to give little pieces to the visitors, the pilgrims that come and visit this him because they get worn out. This is a story. And and I don't know just that experience. It's hard to explain these kind of out of body experiences. But when I was there in that room, I felt something their shift. Yeah. And then being on the we're on the the shore, I guess we're near on the Ionian Sea. But I don't remember the town we stayed at. But that night we were had a campfire on the beach. And there was just like the shift of energy and kind of a visual that happened. There was something. There was something happened. And honestly, like it is kind of woo woo and stuff. But that that kept me hanging on for a while. Yeah. And I don't really love church and religion and just the argument same with Paul. It's the same line as politics. Yeah. The same reason that you don't like Paul. Let's just all love each other and be friends. Like I don't really care which you believe. I don't care which God you believe in. It's all the same God. Right. Like I you know and I but I do believe in spirituality. But I find now my latest shift is it comes from within. Like you really need to put out again, put out in the world. Yeah. What you want to receive. And I and even through trauma and even through terrible events, I do believe that that comes back. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So families left. Family. Yeah. Yeah. I've invited past guests to do a one word description of their children, which I think is kind of fun. Oh, you like to say it just a little something about Ziki and Lorenzo. One word. You can say more of course, but start with one. Ziki is my um sensitive, determined, gentle child. We'll just put that way. This is perfect. If he wants to do something, he's kind of do it. Like he was snowboarding at two years old. Like if he wants to do it, he does it. Um, which is so different than his brother, but he and he's very sensitive. Yeah. Um, Ziki was emotionally intelligent. Very. Ziki was an easy kid. That's where we had another. I was like, what are all these other parents doing? And then Lorenzo came along and was like, oh, like screaming kid in grocery store, I get it. Right. I've seen the parents beat this child before. And Lorenzo is, um, wow. He, we have in in our family, we use the word Dickens a lot. He's a little dickens. Yeah. We have that in my eyes too. Yeah. And he, he's just giving me a random. An intentional troublemaker. Yeah. And he's aggressive. And he's like, he's a boy. You know, what are some of his, like, sweet spots or strengths? What are his strengths? He's, he's funny. He's cute. That's his problem. It's a problem. It's a good way to much. He gets away with everything. He has this little look, you know, and this is all smile. And he's a little turd. Like, he'll punch Ziki in the face and Ziki won't hurt a fly. So he'll just sit there and cry. You know, like, uh, older brother, you normally expect him to punch him back. And sometimes I'm like, come on, Ziki, just get him back, you know? Right. Yeah. Just get him. Right. Teach him a lesson. So I don't have to because I don't know if I can. Right. They're great though. I think that our kids come into our lives. They're little souls that come into our worlds to teach us lessons. Sure. And they're definitely here to teach me lessons. Awesome. Is there any particular lessons that each of them has taught you? Oh, I mean, not particularly. It's just every day's a lesson. Extra patience. Patience, compassion. I can be kind of like somewhat, um, uh, what's the word? Stir not stern. Just stiff with Ziki. He's very emotional. Yeah. And I'm an emotional person, but I hold my, I hold my emotion pretty well almost the time. So yeah, just lessons all the time. I think that they they always come into our kids come into our lives at the right time and for reasons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, any other family that you'd really like to especially talk about during this segment of our conversation? Gosh, I have a wonderful family. Tell me about it. My grandparents are the foundation of our family as they probably would be in most families, but they're just these two incredible on my mom's side. Go shout out my name. Yeah, BB and Max. We don't even call them grandma and grandpa. They're BB and Max. Yeah. And they are very modern. Very modern. Oh, and they are modern. Um, grandma, BB has a cell phone and take, you know, like they're super techie. I think at one point they're, they live in Boulder, Colorado. Yeah. My grandfather, Max Greenley was the one of the first dermatologists in Boulder. Yeah. Uh, and they, at some point they were in a magazine in Boulder for the most techie elders. Oh, so cute. They had smart TVs. And this was years ago. Right. Like, I always, I always joke with my mom. I'm like, you know, BB knows more about her cell phone. Like, can you figure out how to turn it off? Um, but just great. So, yeah. Just the most supportive grandparents. Um, always interested. And we only have four. These are the ones that have the ski, the ski stuff. No, that's your parents. Those are my parents. Yeah. Yeah. So they, so there's four of us cousin. So my, my mom has one brother. Okay. Stephen. And he has two kids. So there's just four of us grandkids growing up together. So they got to concentrate on just four of us. Right. Always supportive and into our lives and asking the right questions. I'm always amazed how they both have a conversation with anybody and are always so interested. That's really a legacy of success, right? Like you can believe in your own ability to manifest and create a good business because of like all that encouragement from somebody that's lived a good life. Obviously was a successful dermatologist. Right. Yada, yada, yada. Right. And they just help you to believe it in yourself. Perhaps. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, if you can imagine, like, choose from a inner city or a Appalachian poor white family or this of that, right? Like, right. Just don't have that example of that. Right. We have an example and an example of a marriage to and a love life that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Right. They are just, they met in elementary school and they're still, like, they're, they're in their 90s now. Exactly. And just still an example of just a solid power couple. That's so cool. And modern in their ways for their age. Yeah. They've seen a lot. Anybody else in the family that you'd like to shut out? What? You've talked about your mom and dad a little bit already. But I think they deserve a little bit more because you think they're pretty darn awesome. They're pretty awesome. Um, dad, we didn't, like, when I was little, dad and I didn't really, we didn't really bond as much. Actually, just today, I said I'm a picture of us at Keystone. I was on his lap with a look like my youngest son, like, Naughty. I'm like, that really? He got it from me, huh? Um, but dad and I really bonded more, like, through high school and as an adult. Um, does the kind of guy you go to and like, when you need to have a serious conversation, but don't want the drama. Yeah. I go to dad because he never says anything he doesn't mean. Right. Sometimes you just won't say anything because you know he doesn't have anything to say that you really want to hear. You really want to hear, right? Um, so dad's kind of like, when I really have a really serious situation, I think I called dad first. Yeah. Um, dad's solid. I mean, he's a cancer for those astrologers. And what are you? I'm a Libra. Libra. What is that? That's fall? That's October. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then seven Libra. Yeah. Seven Libra. I don't know what that means at all. Yeah. Well, look into it. Any drums fun. I'm a, I'm a maverick. So I'm a seven eight, seven and eight shoulder eight within seven shoulder on any gram. Okay. And then Leo. Okay. Yeah. And I don't know much about Leo, to be honest. I know a lot about my things. Is it learn, you know, it's a reflection of you, but I need to learn more. All right. We'll talk about that next time. And then mom's, mom's enthusiastic. She's just, you know, she's the one I remember my friends in high school. Be like, your mom yelled at you and she's still smiling. Like, does she ever stop smiling? Like, she's, she, my mom makes friends with the bagging boy, the girl she started. Like, she loves to talk and I always joke with her. Like, she's my best marketer because she'll just be like, she'll call me like, I ended up three of your business cards at the Nordic Center today. Or like, I met blah, blah, blah, who knows blah, blah, blah. And they know you are. Can I tell you a real quick story? Yeah. I met a young lady. I can't remember her name. Her name is, it's an African sounding name. And she was at the grocery store in up north, King Supers. And she was here for college, but college wasn't what she expected. She's from San Diego. And she wasn't from like an African family. It was just an interesting name. Her mom pulled out, but she was very dark skinned. And we had this conversation about her, her, just life and what she's here from and stuff like that. And toward the end, she was like, it's nice to meet you. Oh, and I told her about local think tank briefly because I was wearing my vest. And she's like, it's so nice to meet you. And she took my hand and she's like working at the grocery store belt. But I was, I was so honored by that that she was like, overcome and like, thankfulness of meeting each other. And I hope I, I'm going to go back there and get a finder and hire her someday in a few years or something like that because she just really impressed me the way she was responding to a new place, a new, whatever. And so anyway, I digress, but it's sometimes you just, yeah, I mean, and just to me, and I feel like you're, you're actually a lot like my mom, like, you'll talk to anybody. Yeah. Oh, that was what I shifted on to that point was just like meeting this person and making an impression. They're like, I like you. Right. Exactly. You'd have to shake hands and go to the nation. I was like, you better, better spray those heads because you're probably not supposed to do that. I'd be honored if somebody shook my hand today. Right. I will. Right. So, your mom is amazing and a manager. Yeah, she's an encourager. Yeah. How about your brother? My brother and I are so different. So I always felt growing up that I was living on my brother's coattails. Like I always was trying to catch up. He's a, he's a very smart man. He got the road scholarship and the bachelor scholarship. Whoa. So he was, yeah, he's kind of big stuff. You can't keep up with him because nobody can. No, nobody can. And then he, he graduated from MIT Harvard's medical. Oh shoot. With, you know, with his PhD. Right, right. I mean, he, he's rocking the 147 IQ and the hard work ethic and all the things. Yeah. And he, he just, he vibrates on such a different. He vibrates on a different frequency. He's honestly a very smart, amazing person as well because he can talk to a five year old and explain something and talk to his colleagues on this totally different level. Right. And, and still, right. So in for somebody with that intelligence, that's a pretty neat trait. No, yeah. With that intelligence, most people are kind of wacky, uncapable of talking with normal people in a way that they can understand. Yeah. Right. Um, and we, I look forward to meeting him. Yeah. Jeff Jeff. Yeah. We're so different. He's six, three blue eyes, you know, like, like we're just complete opposites in every way. Yeah. And I always did. I always felt like I was trying to, you know, impress like he did. And I did in my own way. Sure. Yeah. I kind of did my rebellious business ways. I hope you don't have to say a whole year. We've already talked about when you graduate and stuff. So I'll do that. I'm 34. 34. Yeah. You're such a baby. I know. I was so dumb. I said I had a, I was invited to a political conversation with, uh, with, uh, Sosama Samuel Barrett recently. And, and she's recorded a video series of how to have tough conversations, the politics race, religion. And, uh, in that, and we had a couple of younger people in there. And the comment was made that, hey, we should, you know, open up. We should have city council people that are 23 years old and stuff. So we can get this broad based thing and stuff. And I was like, I, I really respect getting feedback and stuff. But I was stupid until I was 30 or 35. Why would anybody want me on city council before I'm pretty dumb now? And I'm 46, you know? And so you impress for 34 years old. You've done a lot of experiences and you, um, have a pretty good grasp on the way things work in this little world. Thanks, Kurt. Um, anything else that you'd like to comment on, um, like Cedar and Sage does what we didn't really talk too much about that. But we might as well do a commercial for Cedar and Sage as well as micro weddings at the Edward's house. Um, what's Cedar and Sage supplying? Like, uh, you said sustainable products. Yeah. That's a great question. I am really happy to touch on Cedar and Sage because it's kind of where I get jerky nerdy. Yeah. So you're new love. It is. And it's been, it's has been a long new love. Um, we sell sustainable home goods. So anything from bamboo toothbrushes to refillable soap jars. Yeah. Um, everything we sell comes plastic free. It's either re, it comes in like a reusable container or you bring your own jars for refill. So it hasn't, it's been invented. There's sustainable shops in every town, but for cons doesn't have one. Yeah. And I'm right. And I, and I hope that this is our sustainable store. It's for the community. We need it. And I hope that the society is a whole U.S. Colorado in general. We've lived in such a pretty place. Like, let's not trash it. I feel so terrible when I throw it. You know, one of the things about recycling is it's cost people to become more toss away. Yeah. Like they don't care if they throw this paper cup away or this plastic thing as these tin cans or whatever because recycle. Right. But really it's actually probably burned in some island in Malaysia or something like that because China doesn't buy it and do stuff with it anymore. Anyway. So I heard a thing recently you're better off throwing your recyclings in the trash costs the city less. So it's interesting that you brought that up because I recently listened to it must have been a podcast or an interview that the recycling symbol was actually created to make people think that they were buying plastics that could be recycled. So there's just one number you can recycle or it used to be when it was actually created, it was created Rockefeller petroleum created this idea and this was what 40, 50 years ago. Oh, it's just a stimulus for the plastic demand. Yes. And so really the only thing that was really meant to be recycled were milk jugs and soda bottles like the leaders of the bottles. Yeah. Every other kind of plastic you actually couldn't recycle. There have been new invention improvements but still recycling. I agree. Like recycling is kind of a joke. Like if we don't create the plastic to begin with and it's never there. Yeah. And it's just you got me wanting to take my court jars and just go get my laundry detergent from you. Come to us. Yeah. And it's our mind or whatever. Tell me about the product array. Yeah. So our are not all of them obviously. Right. So my objective of the business is our mission is to create this sustainable store that anybody can afford. Now that's really hard because right now we are running all of our products through the EWG which is the Environmental Working Group website. They do a really fantastic job of listing out each ingredient and showing it's affect personally and it's affect environmentally. It's more expensive. Exactly. But there are things like baking soda that are very environmentally friendly, very cheap and you can get them by them in huge gallons and refill jars. Things like that are fewer and far between. So what our mission is and when we have the budget to actually buy inventory. Right. We won't have as many especially right now. We are kind of sticking to local Colorado and sustainable but also really pure ingredients. But our long-term goal is to have every line. So you come in and you can't afford the Hoi Di Toi Di Colorado all natural. But you can't afford this more natural much better for the environment product than you have that there. Yeah. Bring in your old ketchup container and fill it with sunscreen. You know, like those are the kind of things like I want any any and everybody to have access. It is. It is. There's the one with the little seal. You know, like the mustard that has the seal. Yeah. Yeah. It's really hard enough. But that's kind of our idea behind that and then another idea and and I hope somebody steals this idea and runs with it because we need it. Hotels. Big markets need some sort of container system that can go back and forth between supplier and business to refill the containers that are being refilled. There's something called like eco washing or green washing. We're like it looks like we're refilled store but really we have gallon plastic containers that we're throwing away, you know. So like we're trying so hard not to do any of that. Oh, supplier needs to have like gas or glass receptacles of some sort or something or refillable aluminum whatever. Exactly. And then they can refill and then even the little tiny bottles that they refill and stuff are they still doing that in the hotel motel industry. You can refill those lotions and different things. I don't know if you can refill them. So Edwards house this year, which I'm really well 2020. I'm really proud of we finally got rid I mean we finally got rid of our mini plastic bottles. Yeah. That was a really hard thing to let go of because there's luxury isn't attached to these refillable bottles in your shower. But it's shifted. Marriott, Hyatt, I think it was. They signed big contracts saying no more tiny bottles. I thought you know what? I know we dry our hands with washable towels and stuff. Exactly. And so we've and that's a really big change to Edwards houses. We've really I mean we have bamboo toilet paper. We do. We have reusable. Just as good as the good stuff. It's so good. It's called who gives a crap too. It's the cutest. It's the marketing. And even like the info on the inside is just it's like a magazine next to the toilet. If I know I'm coming over to your place I'm actually holding it. I've actually had people in conferences stop. I've had people in conferences like with the roll of toilet paper on the conference table like they're going to take it home because it's so freaking cute right. It says who gives the crap like we we can't take our toilet paper like our products are that fun that they're taking home toilet paper like we win. We totally win. That's right. You can take the toilet paper as long as you come back soon. Right. Right. Exactly. So this sustainable business has built out of Edwards house ethos if you wear. Yeah. We're trying in every way like we do a paperless check in. Exactly. Everything's paperless. All of our products are trying to be this reusable equal. Like you said we have cloth drying hand thing towels that we rewashed and and yeah it's just yeah do it right. People write do business right do life right. Right. Exactly. What's right. How do you know why right is right. I don't know. I don't maybe it's terrible but I feel like it's right. My gut tells me it's right. Yeah well the gut's a big important thing in that regard. Like we just need to preserve what we have because it's I mean I talked to my sister in law a couple months ago she's like imagine this our kids might not even be able to see a real live rhino let's air whatever it is because they'll be extinct. Like how crazy is that. I mean how crazy is that right. Yeah. Or fish in the sea when there's a more plastic in the sea than fish. Right. It's a sad day right. You know before we let you go I should I didn't introduce you as a local think tank member and so that's been coming up on is it like two years already. Mm-hmm. Wow. So tell me about that experience. Pat Nicholson is your facilitator and you've been with the chapter for a while at what's that been like for you? Is there any particulars especially this year of COVID nation and pivoting and stuff and I'm sure at times it's been like oh should I really be doing this but. No low codes been great and I'll just rewind there too. I think you came to the Edward's house to look for a location. Yeah. For your upper level group. Yeah yeah yeah and I remember I was in Costa Rica at that time. I had just looked at the Elizabeth and I was like oh god I'm so glad you couldn't because this is what made the connection is Marina was working for me at the time and she said oh it's really like funny guy came in I was looking so nice like talks a lot. His name's Kurt bear. She's like I think you're really enjoy talking to him. He came looking for a conference-based while I'm like okay. I remember that and then I met you and I think that we bonded instantly. It was like this will work. It was and then you invited me to be part of one of the groups and I thought oh maybe and you kind of read off this thing about traits of a- Oh the most familiar perhaps. You got that you got that you got that I'm like maybe maybe I'd be good for this but you had this group for me to meet and I'm pretty sure I showed up for the first meeting that you invited me to and at the time you are facilitating. Oh really we're in a transition period right there okay. I think you'd lost your last facility or you're there for- Sometimes people quit on me right? I don't know. But I honestly that almost made it more comfortable. I'm like well I know you like that that was great. It was investment I think that I was more worried about right and I went to the first meeting and I was sold because like this is and my group is amazing like I don't remember we call ourselves like the think again. Is it think again but we have like a happy we have a snappy name to like the heart throbers or something. Oh the passion players. Yeah everybody's like in love with their business there's like the Porsche guy. Yeah and there's always somebody that like cries in the meeting and we're all they're holding their hand you know like there's always something um and then Pat Pat became our facilitator quickly and that really solidified the group. Pat's just a great guy. Super compassionate, super knowledgeable in a lot of industries and he really talks about his experience in a non-ego way. He always applies it as feedback in the group and he keeps our group under control because we can we can get off but local in general has just been really I mean the investment the investment part that question had faded away quickly. Like that was the best investment I was making one friendships and it's not like friendships that you like getting hang out with all the time but I know any of those people if I called them in a serious anybody in my group those people that's terrible any of my group members. Yeah. If I had like a serious issue and I needed somebody to help I know that any one of those people would be there. Boom. Boom absolutely and um also open the doors to so many different contexts and I know it's not a networking group but it almost like because it's not a networking group it becomes more of a confidence networking group in a way. Yeah. Yeah. Like I know you know who and and we're just here to support each other there's no competition. Yeah. Yeah. And then through COVID I'll go ahead. No I was just going to mentor observe the the regional Kevin. I was right before you I was trying and so I still want to get him. Yes. Kevin from the regional restaurant but it's been a tough tougher time even for restaurants for others but he's become a big uh both provider for events we went to that music show that he catered this uh this last fall and and I know he built a good relationship there not because we were trying to look for referrals but just because we were looking for connections that would be mutual beneficial. Right absolutely and I feel like you do a fantastic job of that is kind of linking like minded people or that connection for example he didn't he didn't become a part of the group he's not part of local but just that connection. Yeah. I mean we have a great business relationship and and we're all just trying to lift each other up. Yeah that's for college in general and then COVID times even more so. Yeah. I'm not proud of that. Yeah. I'm proud of you for college businesses and you Abby for navigating. Is there any last words of wisdom I think we're we're probably down to the home stretch here. Anything that you'd like people to especially know we'll put your links for for both the Costa Rica property and the Edwards House in the in the episode notes and and whatnot but I think it's been a fun to hear your journey and and some of your principles that have driven uh your growth along the way. Thanks Kurt. Any any special things? Yeah just last last last words um I think that I have so many last words. You can take three. But the I think a concept that when I was kind of preparing to come here and honestly didn't prepare much because I'm like uh this is what I've been doing for the last 10 years. I'm going to talk about myself more now um I think if if you are interested in like being an old business owner and you're changing your lifestyle I think that I think you should I think just go for it. I'm kind of sumbling on my words now because I can't really get the point across especially for women um even moms like right now I'm a single mom and and this is the just go for it anything in life just go for it like what do you have to lose like put yourself out there and wake up in the morning and go for it um at least that's what works for me and even on my down days I just need to remember like go for Abby like you've got this like we all have this you have like a little a little Abby on your shoulder that hats you on the back it says go for it Abby. I should and my mere I now have like be positive COVID's been rough yeah it's really like I think there's one we're extroverts right right obviously and so we feed off of like this is pretty energizing for you and for me I suspect it's like the first conversation outside of my home in a long time for very you know from for extended period of time beyond like thanks for filling my grocery cart or whatever yeah right and I also want to say thanks to you Kurt and loco for just all the opportunity I often reflect on my experience here in Fort Collins and oh what if I just sold it and move somewhere else like I a mountain town draws me or your mountain town and I just I don't know that I'd ever be able to replace the relationships that I've made here in Fort Collins between loco and even city of Fort Collins or visit Fort Collins and it's hard to it may be a chapter for you someday and if you want to be a founding member of the winner park there you go there you go bracket ridge or something like that with hot well it's hot cool yeah steamboat springs might be an option there maybe that's your foot in the door up there a little more viable yeah yeah and maybe we are talking third bnv I don't know who knows who knows well Abby um it's just a joy to spend time with you every time and I just want to thank you for serving the public with your boutique in in in conference center in Fort Collins and micro wedding center and for being part of the local experience today uh should we chink glasses one more time to send us off sure and isn't that empty whatever yeah we'll have one after and thank you so much Kurt I appreciate it you and Rory and all of your team at loco has been awesome to be around thank you you really appreciate that guys feed thank you for listening to today's episode of the loco experience podcast this is Kurt Bear founder of the loco think tank and host of the loco experience and I'm here with Rory Shar loco business developer and host of the loco shorts episodes we hope you heard some new ideas and business perspectives in this episode our mission and all that we do including this podcast is to share collaborative business ideas and solutions that uplift the business community subscribe and follow us for you listen to podcasts to get new episodes as they are released curious about loco you can learn more about us at locothinktakes.com where you'll find more information about our chapters business resources and events for business owners and teachers if you're looking for perspective accountability and encouragement along your business journey why not apply for a chapter near you today why not why not we'll catch you next time on the in-depth loco experience podcast with me Kurt and with me Rory for bite-sized business lessons in the loco shorts bye