EXPERIENCE 19 | Katie Straubel, Founder and Queen Bee of Clean Bees, LoCo Success Story and new LoCo Facilitator!

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. This is your host, Kurt Bear, and I'm here today with Katie Strubble. Katie is the founder, owner, CEO, and queen bee at Clean Bees, a maid services agency based in Fort Collins and serving Northern Colorado. Katie, thanks for coming today. Thanks for bringing me whiskey, and if you would, just set the stage for our listeners about who you are today, what your business does for who, what your team looks like a little bit, just kind of help us ground it. Okay, first, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it, and I am going to resist the urge to be tempted to finish this bottle of whiskey with you today. This bottle? Uh-huh. I thought just the glass was the cold at first. Yeah, I know. The bottle is an option. Can I pick you up? Oh, no. Okay, so we don't have to surprise him. Okay, yeah, I'll text him, or I'll just take a noober. That's okay, too. So, Clean Bees has been around for 20 years. Actually, 20 years this may. Oh, it's kind of crazy. Oh, you have a birthday coming, too. We do. We have a Clean Bees birthday right around the corner. So, um, what was your question? Darn it, I got distracted by the whiskey already. Set the stage, like tell us who you're serving, your commercial residential, I think, a little bit. So, um, yeah, we're a residential housekeeping service. We typically clean for clients in the Northern Colorado area, and we do some small businesses and a whole lot of move out cleanings in the summer. So, we've got a little bit of versatility in the work that we do, but no matter who hires us, we typically are working for the type of client. They really want a job exceptionally well done. So, our mission for our clients is to provide them with something outstanding, something that's not industry. Cleaner than acceptable. I strive for acceptable around here. In fact, you've just been pretty good at her. Um, it looks beautiful, but I did want to clean the front door as soon as I walked in. Yes, I haven't actually cleaned that before. Yeah, I can tell. Probably nobody has. That's okay. I'm bringing my polishing rag next time I come. So, um, no, and we typically work for people who have kind of gone through a handful of cleaning companies and really want something, um, a higher caliber job done. So, that's our niche. Yeah, if nobody's good enough for you, we might be. That's right. So, was that your intention from the start? No, it definitely developed over time. I think that as I, um, you know, allowed the business to kind of unfold. I didn't open with this. Gosh, you know, I think people are so much better at opening businesses than I was 20 years ago. Um, I just kind of fell into it and I allowed it to grow and develop over time. And, um, and the dedication to the caliber of work that we provide, um, only strengthened over time, certainly. Yeah. So, but it's now there's no turning back. You know, that's who we are. That's our niche. That's what we're going to work for. You pay your people too much to give lower pricing. Well, you can only train you, you can't be everything to everybody. So, um, you just can't. And, and for a long time, I, I actually did try, you know, oh, you want to fast cleaning. Oh, you want to, okay, I can do it. You can't. You just have to be one thing. Um, and so that's who we are. Yeah, do one thing do it better than anybody else. That's right. That's right. So, um, let's just jump into the, how did clean bees come to be? Like, give me your place in life, uh, a year before I started clean bees. So, I came to Colorado with my partner, Mike, um, 20 years ago, 20, 20 years ago, um, and when I first moved here, I had a background in fine dining, um, from Orlando, Florida, where I was from. And, um, it's of no surprise to me that the caliber of experience that I want people to have at clean bees, um, very much mimics my food background. Right. So, um, I mean, there were seeds of who I was back then, but certainly not as developed as it is now. But, um, so we, we come to Fort Collins and I quickly realized there is no fine dining in Fort Collins, um, you're like, where am I going to work? Well, none of these, uh, where, where am I going to work? Um, I think there was like one place on Dracon Shields that was trying to do something special and then there was, um, back in the day, I think there was like the catacombs was trying to do something special. Yeah, Niko. Um, Niko's, yeah. So, um, but yeah, it was pretty limited and people didn't go there. No, no. You know, which makes it hard to do something special when all the people in the community are like, nah, we like our meals to be $16 or so. Yeah, and I was like, oh, everybody wears like jeans and sandals all the time. Like I just, I wasn't ready for that. And I certainly had, I, I didn't know where to work. So, um, a friend of a friend, um, was in the cleaning industry and she had to have some surgery on her shoulders and she's like, hey, can you take over for me while I heal up? Um, and I was like, yeah, perfect. I was waiting for in-state residency as a, see a student cash money. And I was like, great, I'm in, um, and by the time she was ready to come back, I had fallen in love with the industry in a very weird way. Like I loved, um, taking care of people's homes. And I really loved feeling connected with their families. And, um, I'm a little OCD, so it came very natural to me. And before I knew it, I was full and, um, literally within months, I was hiring my first set of hands. So did you like tell her this or your, your, your term of service with her, or she healed up, you moved on? And then you were like, I guess, I'm just a friend of a family. So we're still, we're so close. Gotcha, gotcha. So I want to go back a little bit further, even before we unfold the business. So I'm much because we just don't meet that many people from Orlando that move to Fort Collins. You know, and if they do, it's because they already know it's like sandals all year in Blue Gees. Yeah, no. How did you happen to land here? Um, Mike is from here. So, um, he, him and his family are rooted here in Fort Collins. They're a very close-knit family and they all live really close to each other. And, um, he had moved to Florida for a handful of years and then moved back. And when we met, I decided to come with them. So I had no idea that I was going to love it. And this is a super cute town. Why leave? Yeah. I mean, Orlando has got its charms, but I was thinking when we were down there, because we want a couple of years ago on a Disney cruise. Oh, yeah. Time in Orlando. And like the climate and the geography would be like well-suited to like bicycles going everywhere and stuff like that. But you would die. Die. People would kill you with their cars. Like, intentionally if you had the balls to try to ride your bike. I don't know if you've noticed that they have bike lanes, but nobody uses them because it's two. Number one, it's too hot. It's too humid. And you might get, you're like taking your life into your own hands every time. And you are here too, but like in the order of magnitude. No, here, I think there's like, there's enough bike traffic. There's a awareness around bike safety. Like nobody's going to get, I don't, I mean, it's much safer to ride your bike here. And the climate is conducive to that. Yeah. Well, let's do this chapter one. Let's talk about like that first year in business. And then I'm going to bounce us back. Because I want to like learn about this girl that grew up in Orlando and was like Mike a regular fine dining restaurant guy. We're going to unfold that whole story. But let's just unfold chapter one of the business story first. You know, I mean, truly it was 20 years ago. Like I don't know. I'm so glad that I don't have to start another business now. I mean, it seems like. Oh, yeah, we're older now. It's older. It's so much older. You know, I think that what it came down to is I'm really good with the details. And I loved our clients. And to this day, we still clean for some of them. Some of my very first clients have endured 20 years of me growing up, figuring up who we are. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so thankful for you. So thanks for hanging in there with me for 20 years. Do you want to give anybody a shout out by name? Oh, can you? Sure. I won't use last names. Sure, that's for me. Marie and Tom, you guys are the best. So you've started filling up right away. Yeah, totally. It's not hard. That's not particularly difficult. That's not the hard part of running a business. I think, you know, if you're a single plumber or a single electrician or a single housekeeper, I don't think it's particularly difficult to just fill up your schedule. But it's a whole different thing to decide to run a cleaning business where you have to scale and fit. And build a system that... A way more clients. And then in learning how to hand it over to other people that you hire and make a system for everything. And then you're constantly figuring that out along 20 years of business. And so I don't even remember 20 years ago. Do you remember, can you give me like a vex of that first five years or so? Like, did you have three, four girls working for you and you listen to that? And it was kind of just a misorganized mismatch. Yeah, of course it was. Always super clean. Yeah, always. Total chaos, I'm sure. You know, there's so much to learn in business whether you're employing somebody you're bringing on the right client or learning that it's all your responsibility. And I don't know, there's just so many lessons along the way that that first year is I wouldn't have wanted to work for me then. And I certainly wouldn't have wanted to like hire my services. You know, so we've gotten much better at that. Yeah, yeah, I like that notion. So how do you think... Like, how do you think you got into the entrepreneurial bug? Like, you were a fine dining person. Did you have like, imaginations of having a business during those prior days? No. As a matter of fact, I came to Fort Collins thinking I might go to vet school, ended up in the department of history just to figure out how to get out of college. I should have gone for business. Like, now that I know who I really am, that would have been much more helpful in those first handful of years. But, you know, I never really ran my business like it was my... Like it was everything that I'm doing now. I didn't do that until I had graduated from CSU. And even then, God, I was probably... Oh, maybe 12 years in before I was like, oh, wow, I'm running a business. I should really do this really, really well. I mean, I was super small for a number of years. Yeah, talking about that. So you're a CSU student at the time, and a full-time student. Yep. And in a history program that we should compare notes on history some time or... No, that's not. But... And you had a side hustle which was not just you, but also some employees cleaning people's places. There's just a handful of us. And, gosh, I think there was only like four of us for maybe four to six to eight for a decade. I had no ambitions of being a business owner or growing a business or really making that my path in life until much later. But you made a couple thousand dollars a month or three or four probably, which was way more than most of your peers. Totally. And, you know, you hustled. Yeah, I did, yeah. And it wasn't until school was out of the picture. And I was graduated where I said, you know, this is so much my... This fits me. It's all... It is... It allows me to be creative in ways... Like, I've never had the same day at work twice. And it totally fulfills me. But I think I had to finish school because it was such a focus for me, right? And then when you graduate and you have this little business... Like, what am I going to do? What am I? Yeah. And it was great. And I love it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, I want to take us to the way back. Okay. And describe like third grade Katie to me in Orlando, I guess, already. Yeah. So, oh jeez, I grew up with my mom and my sister and my favorite memories are just spending a ton of time at the beach and it was amazing. What did your mom do? My mom was a state home mom for a really long time and then she's had every kind of side job under the sun. And she was my family, my grandfather, and then my mother were both in architects. So, that was the career. I really remember her doing the most. And so my love of houses kind of started there. And your sister is older, younger? Younger, 10 years. Okay. And we'll have a, I don't know if I should share it with you, but we have a faith family politics section at the end. So we'll get more into the family with that. All right, we'll circle back at the very end. But kind of just getting your place in life. So, so you're like in the city growing up in regular school. Like do you remember who your best friends were in third grade? Yeah, oh yeah. Oh, in third grade, yeah, totally. She was French Canadian, her name was Shavan. And I think we were best friends for years because she had the coolest pool out of anybody. And there's a lot of pools in Orlando. She had the best pool. So, did she have an accent, too? No, she didn't. Well, her parents did. Yeah, but she, she, she, she normalized. Yeah, she normalized exactly. So, so she was great. She was a really great friend. So you were that kind of almost a stereotypical Florida family. Yeah, in the water all the time without you dad. Yeah, apparently. Uh-huh. And then off to like college before. Nope, no, you were just came out of high school. Literally came out of high school. Working fine dining. Met Mike. And then my whole life started when I moved here. It was amazing. So let's talk about that met Mike. OK. So because you said you just came out of high school, met Mike, and then things got amazing. So, so let's talk about like let's start like right before met Mike. OK, so I'm working in fine dining. I worked for this great little restaurant. Well, I worked for two business owners that were, you know, small business owners, people who really poured their blood sweat and tears into the businesses, the restaurants that they owned. In two very different ways. One was like a pizza place. And it was amazing. And I loved the owner. And he taught me an awful lot about what it took to run a small business. And I moved to another side of town. And there was another fine. There were now I'm working in fine dining. And again, just about service and about, you know, how food is plated and what is the experience of like of going out to eat and what is it like to work under great chefs. And so it was amazing. And then I think the common denominator I'm hearing there is it was an experience thing. Like a pizza place done really well as an experience of fine dining, you know, a house that's cleaner than you thought it might be. Yeah, it's an experience. Yeah, people don't want to spend their money. I mean, I'm just not the type of person who wants to spend my money on crap. You know, if I'm going to do it, I want to do it well. Like I want to drink good whiskey and stay at the best hotels and eat some of the best food. And I guess I'm kind of a snob like that. You know, at least self-awareness. I always tell people that that's, by the way, I never introduced Katie as a local think tank member. But Katie has a long time local think tank member. Sure. And I didn't mention this on the front end, but that self-awareness. Would you agree with that statement? I say, one of the big things our members get is just a big increase in their self-awareness at the time. I imagine that we're going to go into think tank and talk about what it's like to be a member, and what you get out of it. And yes. This is your story, though. So you're the driver. So I'll fast forward. So I meet Mike and how we're in a restaurant. That's where all good relationship starts. It's some restaurant, right? And so I loved him from the moment I saw him across the room. He had this raspy voice, and he's super charismatic, and he's a really fun guy. And 20 years later, I still feel that way about it. It's true, actually, because you told me I should connect with Mike and meet Mike, and get him into think tank, which I still haven't spiritually done. After tax season, though, he says, turn it up. Right. I'll put him in a headlock. But you were like, he's a nice neat guy, and I met him and I'm like, for an accountant, that guy is really pretty magnetic and interesting. Yes, he is. So he's a great chef and a chef. That's what he was doing? No, no. He was a server like I was. But he's a great home cook, which is probably why our relationship has endured 20 years. Because he cooks for me, and I haven't cooked a meal in 20 years. It's amazing. So I just know that I'm about that way with Jill. Oh, do you have the cook? I'm the cook. Yeah, I cook all the things. Yes. She's not going to let you go. Probably. I hope not. I've given a lot of passes already. That's great. She's not going to let you go. Any man that cooks all the time, that's it. That's what it takes. So he's amazing. He's so much cooler of a person than I am, and he's super well-rounded. I always say that he should be the state-of-home wife, because he's so good at life. Like he's great at cooking and gardening, and he's just super well-rounded. He's outdoorsy, and he's good. So was it just love it that you said you loved him from across the room? I did. Was it that fast for him, too? I don't know. You have to ask him, I hope. What would he say? What would you? You already said kind of what drew you to him, but what drew him to you? He likes tall women. So are you tallers in him, by the way? I think so. Just a little. Don't tell him that. Yeah, at least in a year. He's going to die if he hears that. He's going to die if he hears that. He's going to be like, damn it. Yeah, it's cool. He's not a little guy. No, he's not a little guy. So you guys fall in love. And how long later was it like, I think I'm going to move back to Port Collins? Yeah, it was quick. So here we are. It's like September. I guess it was 20, I don't know, I'm bad with dates. Anyway, so we move here that next spring. I hadn't really only known him a handful of months, and he's like, hey, you want to move halfway across the country with me. I had lived in this really cool town, and I want to be closer to my family. And I'm like, sure, I've never left Florida. That sounds great. Let's do it. Can I ask how old you guys are at this point? Yeah, how old am I? I'm so bad at these questions, Kurt. I'm in my early 40s. And he's in his... So you were like early 20s at this point. You're kind of normal, whatever. You've been bopping around the restaurant scene for a while, kind of thing, and whatever. In fully years outside of high school, yep. And then you're like, yeah, let's just do it. And I'm going to go to college now. Yeah, totally. Interesting, interesting. OK, so what's that look like to you? Like, did he have to get a job? You get a job, or you're just like, we're loading up the truck and we're moving. So he's, oh my god, we moved here. And we're both the type of people who show up to work every day. And it's weird when you're young and to not have a job, to have that gap. We always kind of, both of us have a really great work ethic and not going to work is just not something we do. So within seconds of hitting four columns, we're looking for jobs, right? And he did have to get a job. And we were kind of, you know, we needed to make money. And I'll never forget that I was, I know that you know this, but I was vegetarian for 22 years. And the very first job Mike got offered was, he was like, I've got really great news. I got a job offer. And I was like, awesome. What is it? Yes, thank you. And he was like, I had to turn it down because it was on the slaughterhouse floor in Greeley. I was like, oh, it was terrible. He didn't take it. And he ended up working, you know, a couple restaurant jobs, but then he found himself working at Highline Motors. And sales and finance has launched. Many could have been a waiter or waitress kind of job. Yeah, he worked for Voltwagon for eight years before he in Florida. So it wasn't new to him. It wasn't new to him. But the owner there, Peppy, the DeMarco family is incredible. And he wouldn't have worked for just anybody. And they're again, I think that that love of small business and people who do it right and people who put their heart and souls into any business that they run. Those are typically the people that Mike and I gravitate towards. People who do things with their whole heart, you know. Same. Same. So I think that's probably characteristic of a lot of the membership at Loco in general, because there's a people that I gravitate to, too. And vice versa. So so you guys move out here. And he does not take the slaughterhouse job. Right. Exactly. It's back into the cars scene and you're doing the home cleaner thing, right? Yeah. So I pretty much started cleaning for myself. And again, the business is developing. And I put myself through college. He puts himself through college, goes back for a second career, not in sales and finance, but rather in accounting. And he loves it. And you know, he's able to really spend time taking care of his clients. And he loves that. So it's a good career. It's intriguing. You introduce him as your partner. I do. And like he paid, put himself through college. You put yourself through college and stuff. It's a point of interest that we could get into later. But I want to just maybe ask you about that right now. OK, go for it. Like was that something you guys talked about? You've been committed to one another for a long time, but you're not married. We're not. No. Two kids? One. One child together? Yes, he's amazing. And you're going to be together forever. I think so. As far as you know. Yeah, I hope so. But was that something about either of your past or things like that? Or why did you? I think I'm fiercely independent. And I think it never really mattered to either one of us. It's just not we kind of stopped counting years and started just my philosophy when I first met him was, let's just do this until it's not fun anymore. And he was like, OK, that sounds great. And here we are 20 years later. So no, not married. And I have no real desire to be. And I think I finally broke him down. And he doesn't have any desire to be married either. I think that's cool. Yeah. So I appreciate that. I would suggest that probably you're any less committed than any other couple. No. It depends on if you talk to my grandmother when she was still alive because she was not a big fan of decision. No, no, no. She was very concerned about that. Yes, I'm sure. The longer the child out of wetlocked thing came. Oh, my God. Because she was just like, it's been three years now, Katie. He's still not going to make you an honest woman. Totally. And you know, we didn't have Tristan until we had been together 11 years before we had our son and my grandmother. It was still worried about her. I never buy the cow because the milk for free, Katie. I was like, you know how many people have gotten married and divorced in our family? And we're still having this conversation, grandma. But she was super sweet. So I won't give her a hard time. God bless her. Yes, absolutely. So you guys both kind of like launch in. And what happened like the next five years was there are other things that aren't like blurry, like major milestones in the business journey? Yeah, I mean, I think that I really, I mean, so I graduate from college, my son is born. And I really struggled. Like I felt like, you know, I know I was more than a decade in, but that's the moment that I really was doing it, like it mattered, like it was my career. And I flopped around for a handful of years. And I didn't know if I had clearly defined myself as a business owner or the type of person I was hiring or the type of client we were looking for. And nothing was really, all the pieces hadn't come together yet. And the milestone, yeah, super wing in it. And wondering why it wasn't working. Were you clean bees all for the start? Yeah, for the most part, yeah. And you know, I wasn't, I flopped around for a while and just not understanding how to put all the pieces together. And when I had finally banged my head up against the wall enough, I was like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. This is not, all those pieces aren't coming together. And it's, it's not paying me well enough. I mean, frankly, it was. Well, you're probably, you might have been making more money in college, I know. Like with a handful of girls, but not all this intentionality of building real business. Yeah, totally. That was a hard pill this wallow. Yeah, well, you increase your infrastructure. By the way, you're drinking your water right up, but that whiskey is. I know. I can be fine. I'm gonna call you out of that. So my, my, I think maybe the better part of the story is when I joined Think Tank. And that's, that's the milestone where I felt like, I just needed help to put it together. I just needed help, you know, it doesn't matter how much revenue you're doing. If it, if all those pieces, if you don't feel that sense of joy and you don't feel like it's all coming together and life doesn't feel easy, I really needed help just to put those last pieces together. And it came together like this perfect magical puzzle after I had joined. So I'll let you, I'll let you. I'll let you. Just slightly like, I remember who referred you to Think Tank, but you care to share that, like how you came even aware of Think and stuff. Yeah. I had gone to see a, I was kind of at my wit's end, and I was like, I can't, I don't know. I just, maybe, maybe I'm not good at this. And I had seen a business broker and I had this great conversation with him. And he totally dug in and he was with me for hours on multiple occasions. And he said probably the best thing that anybody could say, which is like, you just, you have something absolutely incredible. I swear I wouldn't say that to just anybody. But I won't, I won't sell your business. I, you just need a little bit of help to see it, but you're almost there. And he referred for me to another one of his clients that was a member of Think Tank. Okay. And that's how I found my way here. Yeah. Yeah. So he's like, I, I can't really sell every business. Yeah. He should work on it. Well, it's funny, because he calls me two times a year. Still. He's like, well, that's good for him. Yeah. He's got a system too. Yeah, totally. People that are building businesses that people might want to acquire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You pay him anything for that six hours of time on the front end. I doubt it. I should set him a car. I do. Yeah. I'll have to say thank you to him. So no, I was really thankful. And I think I just, it was so interesting to me how quickly it started to come together once I, you know, I didn't grow up with anybody who was self-employed. And I never really looked at the financials of a business. And I didn't. I remember the first time I read traction, you know, and I was like, wow, OK, everything is making sense. And then learning how to do our numbers and our books. And then all of a sudden, it like came together perfectly. And then it was easy. Right. It's so crazy how that happens. Economics was the same for me. Like economics 101 and 110 or whatever it was. So hard, I barely got that I had a great professor that pulled it together for me. And then after that, I was like, oh, supply demand. Everything is based on that. Totally makes sense. Yeah. So I just needed somebody to show me the way. But it was great. And think Tank is, you've started something really special. So congratulations. Well, that's one of the reasons you're here is because I like to say one of the things I look for in people is that they seem to have a really high opinion of me. Those are the best interviews. Right. People who are like, you're awesome, Kurt. Send me your reviews. So let's talk about some specific nuts and bolts stuff. And also, before we do that, I want to set the stage on, where's Mike at this point in your trajectory? Was he in the accounting arts by that time? He'd been in what Quetzal and Carr is. He just did that through college. Totally. And so he worked for one of the big firms for five years before he went out on his own. So now he's been running his own practice for, I think, four or five years now. So he just loves it. But so at that time, when you're like kind of, I imagine, how old was your child at this time when you came to think Tank too? Because you did already have Kristen. Yeah, I did. I mean, maybe he was five. So you're kind of like irritated. Mom of one that is hell bent on figuring this out. And so you show up. And I remember the meeting a little bit when we first dug into your business. Do you want to share anything about this? I don't know. You might remember more than I do. I don't know. OK. Why don't you share what you is? This is your show. So yeah, I mean, I was at Think Tank. And what I really needed help with was, for those of you who don't know, Think Tank, peer advisory group, you sit around with 12 other business owners who are not in your same industry, which was really important to me. I didn't want to, you know, I hate to say that I didn't, you know, there's a lot of people who will start their business and say, OK, well, what is everybody else doing? That's what I want to do. And I never approach business from, well, how do you solve that problem? You're in my industry. Like, I just don't, I didn't, I really wanted to free thinkers. Yeah, I just wanted to develop and grow on my own. And so I loved the concept of sitting around with people who are about your same size and who've been in business about the same amount of time, but aren't in your industry. And all of our businesses are incredibly different. But at the end of the day, we're all pretty similar. We all face a lot of the same marketing and challenging their sales or processes or hiring or exit strategies or acquisitions. I have a, I don't know if you have the same. I'm an unusual cat, perhaps, but I have like a video playback almost. And I remember after you did your presentation and Todd was like, your business is really good. Like, you're training and you're turnover and all these things. You just do a little more revenues. Like, I would trade you. My business makes 100 grand a year for yours pretty much. I know. To me, that was like a turning point. You're like, really? Yeah, yeah, I just needed to hear it. Yeah, I just needed to put it together. So it's kind of crazy because I actually, you know, looked back when I was, you know, every year we have to present in our group. You're kind of your big picture challenge, your big picture idea. What's working on, yeah. And it always feels so hard. Like, what is your challenge? It gives you this moment to like really kind of figure yourself out and not just a small little issue. But, you know, what are your big, what's in your way of where you want to go? And I look back over, you know, five years or six years of presenting at Think Tank. And I was like, wow, every single time I can articulate exactly what my issue was. And having that pure group to come around and really give you their perspective every single year, I look back and I'm like, wow, that was, thank God, I solved that problem. Check, you know, so it was just, it was just when I needed. Yeah. Well, and it was awesome to see, I brought out a card from the archives that you sent us a few years ago. It was like, you know, your business saved my business and look how my revenues have gone and look how much my business life has changed. That's a true story since then. And, but it was all your work. You know, that's one of the things that people have to understand. Everybody, once, people always want to know, what's the return on investment and local Think Tank membership? And it's like, depends on how hard you work at it. You know, what do you bring? How much you bring to it is really going to be how much you get out of it. Yeah. I tell everybody who asks, which is surprising. Not that many people do. No, I know it is. It is actually. It fires some more. You know, I owe an awful lot to Think Tank, not just the other business owners who listen to me struggle and help me put the pieces together. But I thought about, you know, our short-lived book club really challenging me to come and push myself in ways that I hadn't considered. And some of the speakers that have come in have been really amazing in life changing. Can you buy your house from one of your chapter members? And then I'd like to thank Mike LeBae for selling me my house and encouraging me to buy not one, but two properties thereafter. So no, really, I owe Think Tank an awful lot. Yeah. That's awesome. So let's talk about, let's get into the local experience of 2020. No. You want to do that? Sure. Like, because you were, if I remember right, in like January or so of last year, you and I connected and you're like, I'm so bored. I make so much money and we're not to work very hard. That's a true story. So talk to me about, like, what happened? It got real. Yeah, you don't want to clap, clap around that? No, I don't. OK, shit did get real. You know, it did. And I think that that's an honest statement. And my industry was, 2019 was amazing. My best year on record by every mark. Most revenue, most profits. Yeah, not even financial, just like the depth of the team. The great, the great service that we're providing, our training program, our, my office team is amazing. And like, just everything kind of like, ah, ah, and then again, and this is properly placed. Shit got real after January of last year because that's when my industry was shut down in March. Yeah. So, because clearly home cleaners going from house to house is a giant source of COVID spread. Yeah, apparently. So, yeah, I mean, we started off the year really strong. And it was, I was in the best mental head space just around how all of the business was coming together. And yes, I wasn't working very much, and I was paying myself. So it was, it was nice. And, and then I remember in March thinking, it was the first, it was maybe the first week of March. And I had read this article, and I think it was, I don't remember where it was. It was starting to get real. Yeah, and I remember reading this article about how international trade was being forever altered by a shift in markets away from Chinese manufactured goods to Mexican manufactured goods. And I was like, huh, that's really interesting. What's this COVID thing? Or whatever they're talking about this? I remember, oh, wow, that's, that seems serious. And the conversation was about, you know, shifting global markets. And I was like, huh, and then a couple days later, I started to get a couple cancellations. Oh, you know, we're just gonna skip a cleaning. Oh, whatever. And I was like, oh man, it's, it's getting real around here. And then my son's school was like, okay, you're gonna go home for spring break, but instead of going home for a week, we're just gonna have you take a little bit of stuff with you and you're gonna go home for two weeks. And then the bottom fell out. And it was, there wasn't a family in the world at that point. Now we're at the end of March. And you know, the home became a complicated space, right? We're protecting our family. We're asked to stay at home so they can get, yeah, it's the name of the thing. Right, we're asked to stay home until we can get our heads around what's happening here. And I was like, oh man, this is not gonna go well. And it was rough. Yeah. You were gonna break out for a while there too. I have to acknowledge, rightly so. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And it's, I had just, we had just read, oh, what was the book? Oh, a more beautiful question. No, the one before. The obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday and our book club. And I remember thinking, okay, this is all, it's the modern take on the stoic philosophers and how it applies to life about your right perspective and your right actions and will. And it's all about you get to decide the story. You tell yourself. And I would like, if I ever got to talk to Ryan Holiday, I would like to thank him because I literally finished his book, like 48 hours before I had to shut my doors. And it was, it was hard. I mean, I would like to tell you I handled that with a lot of grace, but I think it was like second by second. I mean, I never, I've done a lot in 20 years. There's almost nothing that surprises me or shocks me on the cleaner or client side or running a business. Nothing is all that shocking. I have a good table size book on things that are very entertaining. And I'm totally ready for it. And I was not ready for that. So, you know, I think it was second by second. It was hard, it was really hard. You know, that, that's how I support my family. Right. It was this really difficult moment where, you know, of course, you want to do what's socially responsible and take care of my community and do the right thing. And yet I had 42 people that I had to look at and lay off. And we get to shut our doors. I remember your team was that big. Was because we were kind of gearing up for, we had come out of January and February with unbelievable sales. And we were gearing up for one busy summer. And I like to hire well in advance and get people properly trained. It's really important if you, if you're going to promise to be the best in the... I'll painful that much to bend because you have all these new people. They're the first to go, obviously. Yeah, they were. But then all these long-termers to you're like, so were you like legally shut down or... Yeah. Yes, we were. So there are two parts of clean bees. One is our residential side and the other is our commercial. And our commercial side, a much smaller in revenues, but lots of small little businesses. But that's an essential business. Yeah, so we were allowed to stay open, but it really wasn't, I mean... Yeah, barely. Yeah, barely. So we were, yeah, we were asked to shut down. And in the cancellations, you know, even if you're a free market person and you believe that, you know, the consumers should have the choice, they were choosing that. Right. You know, it wasn't... Nobody knew really what was going on. Yeah, so it... So it was clear to me that the home had become a sacred space to protect your family. Well, I got plenty of time now. I'm home all the time. I can clean my own house. I don't think anybody wants to clean their own house. Do you clean your own house, Kurt? No. Have you and Jill ever had your house cleaned? Yes, a couple of times. And I... It's actually a family goal. It's a household goal that... Like, we can have enough discretionary income where we can really feel comfortable to allocate several hundred dollars or a few hundred dollars a month to having our house clean. It's amazing. Yeah. I mean, just being able to come home and have your house well cared for, where, you know, everything is cleaned, you know, it's a really great... I don't think people want to do that on their own. They want to take their... I think a lot of people don't mind cleaning, but they don't want to clean as often as cleaning requires. Like, I like cleaning, but I don't want to clean my house every week. You don't want to allocate my weekend to that. It takes a real push every week to keep the house clean. Yes, and I run a cleaning business. Right. And I still have to force myself. No, I get it. Yeah, you know, it's kind of like email. Like, if I ask Jill, what are you doing on Saturday cleaning the house? Oh. Or whatever, a lot of times. Yeah, it's a quite a burden. Yeah. And it's mostly socially unacceptable to live in filth. So most people... It's the easiest thing in the world to hire out. It's really amazing. It's actually better to learn how to cook. Yes. And not go out to eat as much or order in as much. Yes. And then get your house clean. Yes, it's amazing. I would agree. Plus, you'll find more joy in cooking than you will in cleaning. Yes. That's the beautiful... I don't know if Mike still has this. I hope he does. But every time I create a new meal, I have fun with it. Yeah. You know, I like to cook. Yeah. It's not a burden. Right. Whereas even if... It's hard for our families. Even if you really love cleaning. Yes. It is. And you know, I think it's... A lot of people struggle through it because it's just not easy for most people to learn how to clean not just, you know, your tables and chairs and your couches and bathrooms and kitchens and floors. But to really learn how to protect your investment if you're cleaning walls and blinds and light fixtures and doors and door frames, who in their right mind wants to spend their weekend doing that? It's the easiest thing to hire out. So I don't actually think people were canceling during those early days of COVID because they wanted to. I think it became very much... Oh, people saw it cleaner going to their neighbor's house to be like, hey, they're cheating on it. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And we all had that social responsibility. So it got real during COVID. And I'd like to say that I handled it gracefully, but I would be lying. I mean, I think I had every emotion from like panic to fear, to high anxiety, to all of a sudden I went into beast mode and started reading everything under the sun. Like, I'm gonna figure this out. I'm gonna figure this out, right? Well, did it figure out or did it just... Then you learned some things are just out of your control. Yeah, exactly. Sometimes it's just better to just let it go and go with the flow a little bit. So we were shut down for, I think it was 68 weeks. And then we had to, so I've never, in 20 years, never had to shut my business down. That was painful. That was really hard. And I'd like to say that just opening the door makes it all go away, but it being allowed to reopen on the other side of that was not any easier. You know, it's not like May 1st, you're allowed to reopen. Did you read any COVID regulation guidance? Yes, I was obsessed. I was literally obsessed. I was on the CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency. And I went back through all of our material safety data sheets and reread every single product. And I was not gonna open unless I was ready. And to make sure that we were doing it the right way and keeping myself and my family and the people who I employ safe and I don't wanna be part of the problem. And then keeping our community safe and cleanliness is so important when it comes to not spreading germs and bacteria and dirt and grime from house to house. And it is an important service, for sure, not only for your personal sanity, but for, I mean, cleanliness is, it's not. There's actually a reason we don't get it in filth and it's not just social stigma. Right, right. You're healthier and all that. So even when we were allowed to reopen, that took a while. May 1st, you're like, okay, we're allowed to reopen. Your normal cleaning is scheduled tomorrow and they're like, no. I'm not gonna be the first person to let somebody in my house. So I thought recovery would be quick and easy, but like most things, it takes time. Yeah, yeah. So what has that, the rest of this 2020 look like for you? You had some crazy adventuring and made some decision tree stuff. Go on. I was really thankful that when I think the years prior, leading up to 2020, put myself and my business and my family and the people who work for me and it put everything in the right spot. Our policy is in procedures and protocols and our finances and our people and our, everything was in alignment. So everything was good. And I'm so thankful that the work that I had done in the years leading up to being shut down and then reopening or what have you. If you were, when you talked to Jim years ago and the COVID came along, you'd be like, okay, it's over. I'm getting a job at a vet school. Yeah, done, done, right. Just go ahead and keep the lock on the door, you know. But no, clean bees was in a really good state to weather that storm. And we rebounded as quickly as I think we could have. So if it wasn't for having some things in place, I don't think we would have been able to weather that storm. So what did that ramp back up look like from terms of team? I mean, I assume you're still far below 42 staffers now. Yeah, I mean, I haven't counted. Yeah, I mean, there are some aspects of the business that we were able to pivot. We did a ton, we do a ton of move out cleanings. And those are vacant properties. And so thank God we specialize in that cleaning because it saved our butt all summer long, allowing some of our residential families to kind of tip toe back into the market. And then of course, and you know, I think what was really amazing about it was one of our, one of the things that are really important to me is to take care of the families that hire us. And to meet everybody where they're at and to be able to, you know, some people only want you to clean when they're not home. Some people want you to clean. Some people were getting, you know, yelled at for having masks on. Yeah, I was just like, it was all over the place. Yeah, for having masks on or yelled at for taking a mask off to take a sip of your water. Yeah, don't do that. So, you know, it was one of those moments where we were able to kind of come together and take care of each individual family in the way, of course, safety first, but take care of them in the way they wanted. But it did take a while before we were, I think we're still recovering. You know, I don't think our residential housekeeping side is still back up to perfectly where it was. I think we're getting close. But, and maybe we'll be there in the next couple months. But, you know, I wanted it to be like a 90 day turnaround. Yeah, perfect. I was like, okay, let's do this. And then everybody else was like, no, that's gonna take way longer than you had hoped. So, let's talk about some of the real things in business, like from that four or five years ago now, probably when you first joined Think Tank to the point where it had enough depth, the finances were in a place, the systems were in a place where you could weather the storm. Yeah. Like what were some of the actual changes in your business or in the model and the people and the staff? Like what would you say was the like, measurables? Uh-huh. You mean that helped us weather the storm? Yeah, or just that change in that period of time from when you were kind of fragile joined Think Tank and then to, I'm 2020 and I'm gonna get through this. Yeah, right, that kind of five year build up. Yeah, what were those changes that you made in that business? Yeah, everything. So, I think in the last five years after joining Think Tank, some of the key things that we changed or that really honed in on that helped us weather that storm would be number one is in this was when I first joined Think Tank, but really knowing my numbers and know you've got to know them. And I know everybody says that, but man, nothing puts it to the test like needing to say, how do you control your cost of goods sold in your fixed expenses and how do you deal with that when your revenue goes from, you know, 120,000 to 10. Like how do you do that? So, I was able to do it really quickly. Yeah. And knowing your numbers that well and being able to like literally bust out a sheet of paper and be like decision made. I like that. I couldn't have done that. I couldn't have done that six years prior. Too many small businesses like how did I do this quarter? Maybe they know that maybe they don't more too many, unfortunately, know like once a year, they're like, all right, Mr. Taxman, how did I do last year? Yeah, that's Mike's life. Right. Mike's like, oh yeah. Is that half his customers, would you say? In the small business realm, unfortunately. Yeah, third. I think that there are a lot of people who will function. It's not that bad, but I exaggerate a bit. But even if it is, even if it is a third of business owners who don't know their numbers, it's either because they make so much money they don't care. Or this is rare. Yeah, everybody does have some of those, right? Like who cares? Thanks for sharing what category those go into, Mr. Mike. You know, they're like, they don't care. But then there's a vast majority of people who just haven't figured it out. You just need to squeeze a little bit more margin out of this for a little bit more cost control out of that. So what you're saying there is like on a monthly basis, you're like, boom, my revenue is going from here to here. And so there for my overhead is this, my staff cost is this. And so I have to change my new overhead to this. Done. Literally on half of a napkin. And you can make that decision really quickly when you know your revenue that's in the pipeline and what's coming up and what have you. But there were all sorts of things that I think we had in place, you know. Jeez, I mean, even things like our sales, our marketing, what were some of the things that we had in place? The big thing was our, we had changed our organizational chart and positions and who was responsible for what, for the growth that we had anticipated. And being able to like rely on the fact that they were experts in their positions and being able to rely on my team was so beneficial when COVID started unraveling a small business. And I think it's the people who were trained and ready to go. They just knew, you know, I could ask them anything and they could just make it happen. Yeah, I'm imagining the, like some of these managers that were now like leaders of people and trainers of people, you're like, hey, I only have enough work right now to keep you guys on if you actually get back into the, the mop outfit, right? Like you actually got to go set them back into the field more or so at least than before or not necessarily. Well, I don't know how your business works in that regard. Well, so, you know, my office team is a, is a group of five women and there's five of us total and, and all their work is non-billable and then pretty much the entire field team is billable. So that's kind of how that splits off. Right, it's like I had quarters and then the actual revenue producing. Yeah, totally. And basically, we made the decision because one of my office staff was literally right in the middle of buying a house and I was like, you, you stay, everybody else has to step aside. But we actually made the decision as a group. Yeah, we actually made the decision. They cared about each other. Yeah, of course. Like for them, that was the greatest good. Yeah, and just, I mean, you know this, but my office team and I have worked together for more than a decade. That's crazy. And we're really good friends and we take care of each other and everybody, you know, somebody said, you know, I know she needs it more than I do and I'd love some time off and I'll take turns and I have such a great team that we made that decision together and we made it all the way down the line and I would say the same was true with the cleaning team as well, you know, how to make some of those hard decisions. We just listened to people. My manager is really good at listening. I'm a talker, she's a listener. And she did a really good job of talking to every single cleaner, how do you feel today? Where are you at? What can I do to help you? Yeah. Let's put safety first and, you know, whatever. So all those things. So I think the people in place that were, you know, knew their roles and their responsibilities and those people who are well-trained and know our company's values and our mission and I don't mean that in a really, like, icky, silly way, but I just mean it like an authentic way. Though having the right people in place really helped us whether the storm and then of course our financials knowing our numbers was huge. So that was everything. And I had just read the obstacles the way which was really, really, really helpful and very timely. It is. It's a tremendous book. I'm imagining since you've had all these, like, decade-long employees, like, they've been with you this last five years and so that had to be a bit of a, like, we've been with Katie forever. So it's your magnetism, your charm, your vision and stuff that got these good people onto the team. Yeah. And now they've kind of seen you transform yourself in your business a bit. Yeah, probably. Yes. And now they're like, oh, yeah, this is my people. I think that they're, we've grown up together and I think that that's really beautiful. Yeah. And we've. Well, they've all changed as well. Yes, of course. We've failed together and succeeded and laughed and cried and laughed and cried some more. And we've just a really good group of people who run clean bees with all their hearts. And I think that we allowed ourselves to grow up and, you know, they wanted a big girl jobs just about the time I decided I wanted to run a big girl business or whatever. So, you know, it was, we just allowed ourselves to grow up together and it's been really, it's a beautiful friendship between all five of us. And so, yeah, yeah, thank God. Obviously, it's easier to you. So we had lunch a few weeks ago and talked a bit, a little bit about the future. Did you want to, like, set that stage just a little bit about talking about? Sure. You know, we're getting a space up and running that we hope to allow people to come together and it's kind of twofolds. One is clean bees is kind of popping out at our seams and we need a little bit more room. But what we're really hoping to do is create a community center where businesses and groups and book clubs can you tell I really want you to turn the book club back on when COVID's all over. The virtual book club was a disaster. No, that's really difficult to do. So, yeah, yeah, I didn't even want to show up to that. But I was crying, so you wouldn't have wanted to see me anyway. But anyway, so we want to create a space so people can come together and enjoy kind of like a, think Airbnb meets business center meets cool private coffee shop bar. Like it. Yeah, I like it too. So, it's going to be awesome. So we'll share more about that in the future as it comes together. But what I've enjoyed about that conversation with you is that it allows you to create something new again. Yeah. Yeah. And you've made clean bees into a really foundational residential cleaning service in this community. I'm sure you've got some X percent of market share. It's more than a few. Yeah. And it's great that you keep so many people in good jobs and that you're building that back up this year. Yeah, I think so. And, you know, the cool thing when COVID hit was that, and you know this about me, I spent a lot of years where my introduction to myself would be, you know, high meat Katie. And then the next sentence was clean bees. And there's, I know there's a lot of small business owners who feel that way that you're just living and breathing and you go to sleep at night and you wake up. And that's all that this like engulfs your identity. And, and, you know, at past recovery of clean bees from COVID, one of the things that is nice now that clean bees is healthy and on track. And is that, I can say, I'm Katie. Hi, I'm Katie. Hi, I'm Katie. And I'm a good partner and a great mom, which I got to be a homeschool mom this year. And I'm definitely not good at that. But, you know, I'm a partner to Mike and a mom and a great friend and there's other. This hobby and that, yeah, and I have other things going on in my life other than, hi, I'm Katie. And I, yeah, I feel that with local think tank, you know, like it's not Kurt's local think tank, it's local think tank. And when it can be that fully, I think that I'll find some joy like you find it. Well, it was nice in 2019, I really stepped away. And I borrowed this from somebody in our business group, but I decided to have one meaningful weekend a year. I mean, a month, every year. Geez, at one meaningful weekend, each month, right? And to really just step away from clean bees for three, four or five days, every single month. And I did it all of 2019 and I took trips with my son and trips with my partner and went to see my friends who were all over, you know, in various places. And I'm really glad that I had started to step back and started to trust my team in ways that, you know, I didn't just show up to work 80 hours a week all the time because then when COVID hit and I was asked to, homeschool my own child, which I'm again, woo, okay, that was tough too. But I could rely on my team. And it wasn't Katie with clean bees. It was clean bees and clean bees as operational and functional without me. And it's not that I didn't have any less passion for my job. It's that other areas in my life really needed me. And I was so thankful that my team can totally do it without me. And it doesn't need me at all. Angela can do sales and Emily is an amazing general manager and Shay is impeccable as the leader of all of our cleaners. And Chelsea knows what she's doing and they did not need me. And as a matter of fact, there were a couple times where they're like, you're kind of in the way, you know, and I relied on that. Is that beautiful though when you create something that is its own thing? It is its own thing. Yeah. It's like when you send your child off to college and they don't need you anymore. They don't need you anymore. I can like crush a shop for themselves and pay their own bills and do their own thing, right? So they don't need me. I mean, I think they like me. Oh, for sure. They love you still. Yeah, totally. And they need you in some respect. I mean, you'll have to still be there, be the Katie. Yeah, I think so. But it doesn't mean you have to get in the way. No, they're like, you're in the way. Every time you show up, you just give us more. They're like, go, we got this. So it's kind of nice. So it feels like it's kind of time to transition to the faith family politics section. All right, awesome. Do you want to start with families since we've been drifting into there? Or do you want to start with others? I'm going to go quick through your faith and politics. The faith and politics. Because you want to touch us. It's cool. It's actually not that I don't want to touch it. It's that I've actually become very anti-boss of this. No, I've become really moderate. I think as I'm not so fiercely opinionated that I can't listen to other people. And I see the world from more perspectives now than I ever did. And I honor people wherever they're at. Whether it's in politics or faith, and it's kind of a nice place to be less attached to the outcome. Are you talking about, like, compared to Katie from five years ago or something? Yeah, or two years ago? Yeah, yeah. Even I've just kind of mellowed out over the years. And yeah, I've mellowed out over the years. Now I'm not, I'm not, I don't know. I'm OK with wherever anybody's at. Yeah. Well, it's easier to be sure you're right when you're younger, it seems like. Yeah, totally. Maybe this is a sign of getting into my 40s. Is that what happens when you cross over being 40? I think so. Then all of a sudden, you're like, you just be you. I just, yeah. You're just out just going to be me. I don't care enough anymore. I don't know if I care I'm not anymore. So we'll just go over those ones really quick. I'm not fiercely opinionated anymore. Well, you're Florida. Now I like to spend more. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They were crazy down there. Anyway, no, I just, I really, I've become more of a listener when it comes to faith and politics. I'm not an absolutist anymore. I felt like I knew everything when I was younger and I was very opinionated and loud. And now I'm more of, you know, just kind of, I'm OK, where anybody's at. Sorry, open to a faith question. Oh, OK, you can try. Well, because we haven't really explored this much. We've chatted a bit. But was there any faith in the family, any background of anything that? My mom was raised Catholic, my grandmother. Well, you said, and then you just said, yeah. And my mom's philosophy was very much like, you go find what works for you. And I'm thankful for that. What would you think she said about Catholic? Is she still playing Catholic? I think she does. We don't talk about it. But she really allowed me to just find my own way in that. And I'm actually really thankful that I wasn't forced to do anything. And so, no, I didn't grow up with church in my life or with faith in my life, but that doesn't mean I'm anti. You're not like a guy that's dead, suckers, yeah. No, I'm like, you know, I can have a really in-depth conversation. But you haven't really gotten curious before? No, not at all. Like my logical brain takes over. And I'm like, I'm kind of like, oh, that's nice for you, you know? Like, oh, that brings you peace and joy and comfort and a better understanding in the world. And I can have that same thought when I talk to a Buddhist or I can have that same talk. And if I talk to somebody who is a Christian fundamentalist, you know, I think it makes me an easy person, especially, I can get along with a lot of different types of people without feeling overly opinionated about any one topic. So, no, not a lot of faith and not curious at all. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. I can appreciate that perception, except for the one thing I always struggle with is what's truth then. Because I'm always in a search for truth. And, you know, truth can't be found without some faith that seems in this world. Or at least you can't believe in truth. We're gonna have to, then we're gonna leave our interviewing setting and we're gonna take our bottle of four roses and try to figure out all the things. We'll move along. Yeah, no, but as far as family and friends are concerned, you know, I have such an amazing group of people who I'm surrounded by, whether it's in my home life with my partner Mike and my son Tristan or whether it's my best girlfriends in the whole world. Or the women who helped me run my office that it's just, I'm really thankful. I have a really great group of people. And I have a close, meaningful relationships with people and that's everything to me. So. Yeah, no, I think that's, you know, that's one of my favorite things is that people from all different perspectives walks of life, this country bumpkin, Christian dude from North Dakota can like, wanna hug you every time I see you, you know, and not having division because of differences but celebration. Yeah, and I like to listen to people and I didn't used to be like that. You know, I really did. I didn't used to feel that way. Yeah. You know, I didn't understand where people were coming from and I felt like some of those conversations were. Like cover your ears kind of style. Yes, very much. Yeah, and so now I just seek to understand. So. Well, I would, yeah, sometimes we'll have a conversation where I'll share why I believe what I do and have a bunch of whiskey. Okay, that sounds great. And we can get into your faith and your politics. Sure. Yeah, I try not to talk about either one of them. I know. I was gonna turn the tables and start to ask you about your faith and politics. This isn't about me. I know. It's about you. So I wanna jump into family a little more. One of the things I like to always ask is one word descriptions of Mike and of Tristan. Oh, okay, one word descriptions. And I think, yes, Roy is actually here right now to pick up some stuff. So let's pause this and we'll come back. Hey, we were gonna talk about one word descriptions of Mike and Tristan and have you had a time to think, Katie? I think so. What's mine? Okay, so Mike's word, what is one word? I feel like I'm cheating if I say it, but it's true. I'm gonna say he's perfect. Oh. That's his word. He is. Look, he wants to be precise in everything or perfect for you. No, he's just a perfect human. He really is. He's amazing. I would think it'd be taller. Oh. He's not joining now. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, so that's he is. He's a really good person. So that's his one word. Okay, and then my son, gamer. Oh, so what do you think about that? Oh, good question. So I think I wouldn't even own a cell phone if I didn't run a business. I wouldn't own a computer. Like I just, I didn't even own a television before I met Mike. I'm like a like a like a lot. Or like a like a lot. I did hurt or something. I don't know. Right. So are you going to join the armistice? No, no, I just it's called religion there. Yeah, you may be careful. Totally. No, I think sometimes it's like stimulation overload for me. Yeah, like I like a peaceful. Um, yeah, I'm a real peaceful person in that way. So it's too much. Sometimes it's just too much for me. So when my son decided his calling in life has to be a gamer, it was hard. Like he is really good at it. And he has built an entire friend group and an online community of kids that I now know by first name. And you see I'm shooting them on TV at times. Yeah, totally. And it was hard for me at first. And I was like, whatever we have to do to turn this off, that's what we're going to do. That usually works really well. Yeah, no, it doesn't at all. And then when COVID hit, I was really thankful to my perspective kind of changed. We had a community there already. He did. Whereas a lot of kids were dumped out on their ear. They didn't know how to connect with their friends. Yeah. And so he really felt, he never felt lonely. He never felt lacking. And for, you know, we worked from home or homeschooled from March until, gosh, I would say, almost all the way through December. Yeah. And now we're kind of, you know, he's back in a building and what have you. But he never felt like his life was, he never felt lonely. Yeah, it was great. He had his friends. So I think my perspective has changed a little, but only a little. Yeah, it's still rather he got a real job someday. Yeah, totally. He's only 11. But I'm on it, I'm on it. Fair enough. So let's talk about that experience homeschooling, right? Like that I am now a teacher was from our video line and a lot of people and business owners had it better than so many because they at least had the flexibility to work from home a lot of times and stuff. So talk to me about that. You know, when Tristan was born, I only had six to eight weeks before I went back to work. Because CleanBeast was a very young company. It needed you. And it needed me and it totally relied on me. And I think I was the only person who worked in my office at that time. And that's not true. My dear friend Aaron worked and ran my business. And she was my sidekick, sidekick. And then when I had Tristan, she managed. But it couldn't live without me. And I was back to work really quickly. And so when COVID and the homeschooling started, I thought, this is going to be amazing. I'm going to get my time with him. And I am going to love him up. And then I get to be with him. And I was like, we're going to learn how to cook together. And we're going to bake together. And I just had this vision of how my life was going to be. And then I realized he does not want to do that thing. He gave me the big old sifar. He did. And I was like, oh, we're going to do math. And we're going to read. And we're going to snuggle. And we're going to do all these things. And he was like, no. He was like, I want to do as little school from home as humanly possible. And then I want to get right back to my games. So yeah, it was challenging. Was the response the same with Mike? Or was Mike was just like, he's off on the sidelines. Anyway, he's like, whatever, do what you want to do, Katie, if you want to teach that kid, that's fine. No, we kind of tackled it together. We, you know, school was almost over by March. You know, it happened in March. It was almost over May. They called it a couple of certain things. It was just fine. And then in the summer, obviously, no school. And then in the fall, we decided to do all online, which was a terrible mistake on our part. But we were traveling. And we did a ton that we took off. And I was like, well, I can work from anywhere. Mike can work from anywhere. And he's kind of in off season. And Tristan's not allowed to be in the classroom. And so we're going to take off. And we're going to go on the road. And we took a couple big long trips. You buy a camper? Well, we had a camper. We have an RV. And it's not roughing it. Mike knew if he was going to get me into an RV. It better be a decent one. And clean. It's spotless. So anyway, it was nice to travel. And we traveled. We had friends that self-isolated with us almost all summer from Chicago. They were there for, like, four or five months. And then we took off and did long road trips and out in the middle of nowhere. And it was kind of fun. And we had all this technology to keep you connected. Keep us connected. Yeah. That tricky part is finding the national forest or the affordable place where you still have reception. We were out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere, not another human. For the entire month of September, I was back a little bit in October. Then we left again, and we were home for a couple weeks. And we spontaneously decided to remodel our house. And we were going to just do a small remodel that, of course, like all remodels turned out to be a massive project. We're still not done. But that's OK. So we were in and out of the house traveling. And so sometimes school was easy. Sometimes it was easy. And sometimes it was meaningful. But I think I had to remember how much most kids don't. Well, I don't want to say most kids. My child does not want to do school. Yeah. And I was kind of like that, too, when I was his age. I really wanted to sit down and hang out with my mom and do math. Like, now I'm excited. And I'm like, oh, let's do that math. And he has. He's like, no, you know, I had to say it. But at 11, that instinct is only going to get stronger than it's yours. I know, I know. We have a good relationship. I hope it saves us during that school story. Would you like to hear it? Yes, of course. In my eighth grade year, so what, I guess it was 12 or something like that, I broke my arm on the basketball court. Like, somebody stole a ball from me. I tried to like get him at the end. And I ran into the wall at the end of the gym and had a little thin pad. And I broke my arm. And my mother comes running out of the stands. And that's like the last thing a 12 year old boy wants to do is have like 150 people. Watch their mom come and scoop you up and kiss you. Yeah, loving mom. And I actually love you even more because I have that traumatic memory. But it's kind of the same like on the homeschool thing and stuff like that. Like the teenage boy, it's tricky. Yeah. Yeah, actually when it comes to that mic, because my instinct is, of course, to like nurture for him. But he's very independent. I have no idea where he gets that from. But he's very independent. And if something happens to him, like if he's playing baseball or, you know, he did jujitsu for a while. And he does archery with his dad. And if he gets injured, the first thing that happens is Mike is like, don't move. Don't resist all of your natural inclination to go to him. Don't do it. He won't let me. You know, because he knows. And I'm like, what? He's injured. He needs me. He needs me. I need to make sure he's OK. Mike's like, don't move. Don't say anything. Don't don't move. Especially if not if his friends are watching. Right. He's to that age. Such bummer. Is there anything else that we should cover for people listening in on this? We haven't talked a whole lot about like who needs clean bees. We've talked about how everybody needs clean houses and stuff like that. But how do your customers, how would you identify them? Like I was talking about local think tank. How we're kind of free thinkers and abundance mindset and different things in that small business sphere. How do people that want cleaning know that they might be a clean bees person? Well, it's, you know, I think ultimately, whether you are looking for your house or your office or you manage a whole bunch of properties, you know, we're the best fit for somebody who just wants a job well done. And some people pay for us to just come in monthly and do their bathrooms and other people pay for us to do their whole house weekly. Like it's, it's affordable based on how much you have us do and frequency, but no matter what you pay us to do, we're just gonna do it well. And so some people work their way up, you know, they're like, gosh, I just don't wanna clean my bathrooms twice a week and then a couple of years later, they want a little bit more and whatever. So we, I just think it's a, it's a great service for people who just want a job well done. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Parting thoughts, any words of wisdom, we can do a toast as the close of our conversation today. Okay, I like that. So my words of wisdom is most of the audience young businesses, old businesses, I think. It seems like actually there's a mix, it's 30 to 55 is a big part of our demographic. So it seems like kind of the business owner, rather than the pre-business owner is more of our listeners. Yeah. I think for young businesses, you know, I noticed when I was listening to some of your podcasts, how many people already think tank members. And I, and I don't mean to, to, It's not a quick pro quo. Yeah. But I would say, you know, my parting words are find a mentor or a group like think tank. And just be willing to be vulnerable in those groups because you just learn so much. It's, it's, and now I'm just invested in their businesses. Like I could never leave. I need to know what happens, you know, I need to know how the story continues. So, and I hope they feel the same way about me. But am I parting words to anybody who's, you know, running a business or just started one is to, to just go join a group and find your people and they'll help you through it. Cause even if you think you have it all figured out now, you'll hit a hard year that rocks you to the core and maybe it's not COVID, you know, yeah, hopefully, hopefully, we never have to, family tragedy, sometimes it can be anything, it can be a partnership dissolution, sometimes it's a economic crisis. Yeah, it can be anything. But when you have, you know, that muscle memory of, oh, somebody else had to solve that problem a few years ago or gosh, I really need some perspective on this. That's why you have a group like that. So cheers to think tank. Well, I, we'll, I wasn't looking for the commercial on that, but it is because I think you're wise. Mm hmm. And I'll go back to the beginning where you said, you'd like to interview people who think highly of you. Yes, that's right, that's right. We're self, self-fulfilling interview. Katie, I would like to just close this with a God bless you. Oh, thank you. And I just really appreciate you spending some time. And thank you for listening to today's episode of the local experience podcast. This is Kurt Baer, founder of the local think tank and host of the local experience. And I'm here with Murray Sharer, local business developer and host of the local 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 listening to podcasts to get new episodes as they are released. Curious about local? You can learn more about us at localthinktakes.com where you'll find more information about our chapters, business resources, and events for business owners and leaders. 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? Why not? We'll catch you next time on the in-depth local experience podcast with me, Kurt. And with me, Murray, provide size business lessons in the local shorts. Bye. Bye.