Aug. 2, 2025

EXPERIENCE 231 | Exploring Love of Business, Chilean Patagonia, and Strong Relationships with Brian and Mary McKnight, Owners of Turf Tamers Landscaping in Fort Collins

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Season 5

I had an enlightening conversation with Brian and Mary McKnight, the driving forces behind Turf Tamers Landscaping in Fort Collins. Brian shared how he acquired Turf Tamers, initially a tiny business, and grew it from the ground up starting with a few clients in 2001.  Brian shared his background, and the drama in moving from “trendy” California to “cowtown” Fort Collins in high school - but how he soon fit right in and found summer work in landscaping.  Mary, on the other hand, came to CSU from Indiana and studied global tourism. They met at the Rio, and their shared passion for adventure and travel led to a quick connection, and soon jobs and business opportunities in Chile.

They bought property in Chilean Patagonia in 2008, and over the years developed both the property and deep relationships with the neighboring families.  Despite travel challenges and lack of infrastructure - their valley finally got electric power in 2016! - they’ve developed an amazing fishing and recreation property in one of the most unique glacial valleys in Patagonia, and we spend a fair bit of time exploring their valley and the local culture.   

Brian and Mary also shared extensively about their business evolution, particularly how incorporating systems and focusing on quality customer service has been their key to success. Brian appreciated how Mary’s involvement sped their evolution, and how his membership in LoCo Think Tank has broadened his and their perspectives.  For young  people, they emphasized the importance of travel and entrepreneurship, and shared how their focus on values informs their business and family decisions. Our time together was an exploration of building a business and a life with intention and an adventurous spirit, so please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Brian and Mary McKnight.  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:06.730
I had an enlightening conversation with Brian and Mary McKnight, the driving forces behind Turf Tamers Landscaping in Fort Collins.

00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:13.330
Brian shared how he acquired Turf Tamers, initially a tiny business and grew it from the ground up, starting with a few clients.

00:00:13.330 --> 00:00:24.370
In 2001, Brian shared his background and the drama and moving from trendy California to Cowtown Fort Collins in high school, but how he soon fit right in and found summer work in landscaping.

00:00:25.274 --> 00:00:29.364
Mary, on the other hand, came to CSU from Indiana and studied global tourism.

00:00:30.114 --> 00:00:38.164
They met at the Rio and their shared passion for adventure and travel led to a quick connection and soon jobs in business opportunities in Chile.

00:00:39.554 --> 00:00:41.204
They bought property in Chilean.

00:00:41.204 --> 00:00:42.524
Patagonia in 2008.

00:00:42.825 --> 00:00:53.804
And over the years developed both the property and deep relationships with neighboring families, despite travel challenges and lack of infrastructure, their valley finally got electric power in 2016.

00:00:54.234 --> 00:00:59.725
They've developed an amazing fishing and recreation property in one of the most unique glacial valleys in Patagonia.

00:01:00.064 --> 00:01:03.005
And we spent a fair bit of time exploring their valley and the local culture.

00:01:04.415 --> 00:01:12.165
Brian and Mary also shared extensively about their business evolution, particularly how incorporating systems and focusing on quality customer service has been a key to their success.

00:01:13.069 --> 00:01:20.340
Brian appreciated how Mary's involvement sped their evolution and how his membership in local think tank has broadened his and their perspectives.

00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:28.180
For young people, they emphasized the importance of travel and entrepreneurship and shared how their focus on values informs their business and family decisions.

00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:33.900
Our time together was an exploration of building a business and a life with intention and an adventurous spirit.

00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:38.219
So please tune in and enjoy my conversation with Brian and Mary McKnight.

00:02:15.682 --> 00:02:17.652
Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast.

00:02:18.112 --> 00:02:24.252
My guests today are Brian and Mary McKnight, and Brian is the CEO and field ops guy.

00:02:24.353 --> 00:02:32.413
And Mary, the CFO and, uh, keeper of the house at Turf Tamers Landscaping here in Fort Collins.

00:02:32.413 --> 00:02:33.252
So welcome to the show.

00:02:33.423 --> 00:02:33.853
Thank you.

00:02:33.853 --> 00:02:34.133
Yeah,

00:02:34.133 --> 00:02:34.693
thanks Kurt.

00:02:34.793 --> 00:02:35.612
Thanks for being here.

00:02:35.612 --> 00:02:36.092
Appreciate it.

00:02:36.312 --> 00:02:39.133
Um, I guess let's set the stage, uh, turf Tamers.

00:02:39.133 --> 00:02:40.013
It sounds almost like a.

00:02:40.612 --> 00:02:42.943
Like a franchise name, but it's, it's homegrown.

00:02:42.943 --> 00:02:43.342
Is that right?

00:02:43.562 --> 00:02:43.943
It is.

00:02:44.502 --> 00:02:47.143
I actually acquired Turf Tamers.

00:02:47.842 --> 00:02:51.502
It was a, a super tiny little business, uh, years and years ago.

00:02:51.562 --> 00:02:55.502
My dad, uh, when I came back to Fort Collins after high school.

00:02:55.612 --> 00:02:55.902
Okay.

00:02:56.002 --> 00:03:03.423
Um, I told my dad that I was really interested in buying a landscaping business, and we found a couple guys that had this tiny little business called Turf Tamers.

00:03:03.423 --> 00:03:03.582
Okay.

00:03:03.582 --> 00:03:04.543
And I built it from that.

00:03:04.693 --> 00:03:04.983
Okay.

00:03:04.983 --> 00:03:08.223
And a couple of partners and mostly just those two guys kind of going Yeah.

00:03:08.223 --> 00:03:08.263
With

00:03:08.302 --> 00:03:08.823
a few clients.

00:03:08.883 --> 00:03:12.703
It was basically a push mower and a truck, you know, but they had a couple clients Yeah.

00:03:12.703 --> 00:03:15.022
That, uh, that were, you know, worth us actually purchasing.

00:03:15.043 --> 00:03:16.423
And, and then we went from there.

00:03:16.733 --> 00:03:17.022
Cool.

00:03:17.212 --> 00:03:17.502
Yeah.

00:03:17.682 --> 00:03:18.582
And when was this?

00:03:18.842 --> 00:03:19.663
How many years ago now?

00:03:19.842 --> 00:03:20.663
2001.

00:03:21.092 --> 00:03:21.383
Okay.

00:03:21.612 --> 00:03:21.902
Okay.

00:03:22.043 --> 00:03:22.582
So I remember.

00:03:22.582 --> 00:03:23.103
So it's been a little while.

00:03:23.173 --> 00:03:23.462
Yeah.

00:03:23.462 --> 00:03:24.543
Nine 11 was that year.

00:03:24.603 --> 00:03:25.862
It was a wild year for me.

00:03:25.932 --> 00:03:26.223
Yeah.

00:03:26.223 --> 00:03:28.983
What was, yeah, what was going on in your, in your world at the time?

00:03:29.092 --> 00:03:31.263
Like you said you came back from somewhere.

00:03:31.413 --> 00:03:31.703
Yeah.

00:03:31.782 --> 00:03:33.263
I had not left Mary.

00:03:33.918 --> 00:03:36.978
Or I had not met Mary, but I had, uh, left from high school.

00:03:37.038 --> 00:03:40.617
So I came out here from California originally in 13 years old.

00:03:41.448 --> 00:03:47.897
Went to Blevins and Rocky Mountain High School here in Fort Collins and, um, loved it.

00:03:47.897 --> 00:03:49.057
Looking back words.

00:03:49.258 --> 00:03:49.737
I loved it.

00:03:49.837 --> 00:03:54.418
But, uh, of course all my friends from California were like, what are you doing in that podunk little town?

00:03:54.518 --> 00:03:55.138
Oh, interesting.

00:03:55.518 --> 00:03:57.698
So as soon as I graduated, I graduated a little early.

00:03:57.698 --> 00:03:57.978
That's funny.

00:03:58.138 --> 00:03:58.217
'cause

00:03:58.217 --> 00:03:58.538
you seem like.

00:03:59.397 --> 00:04:01.728
More country than the Fort Collins average.

00:04:02.307 --> 00:04:03.848
Anyway, there's a reason for that.

00:04:04.247 --> 00:04:12.087
I, I was basically raised by, uh, my grandfather was like a Mexican charro, so I was raised around horses and raised around, uh, around, yeah.

00:04:12.087 --> 00:04:13.647
The Mexican rodeo stuff and whatnot.

00:04:13.647 --> 00:04:13.807
Mm-hmm.

00:04:13.997 --> 00:04:14.288
Cool.

00:04:15.187 --> 00:04:23.848
So anyway, when I got ba I finally, you know, I took off thinking Northern Colorado was for the birds and California was where it was at.

00:04:23.867 --> 00:04:27.807
And I lasted about a year and a half out there and came back to Northern Colorado.

00:04:27.867 --> 00:04:30.728
Was like, it's really nice out here actually, other than the ocean.

00:04:31.197 --> 00:04:32.007
Fort Collins has a lot.

00:04:32.007 --> 00:04:32.848
Ain't much.

00:04:32.848 --> 00:04:32.927
Yeah.

00:04:32.927 --> 00:04:33.168
Fair enough.

00:04:33.237 --> 00:04:33.528
Okay.

00:04:33.747 --> 00:04:39.807
So, uh, and I had done like a lot of landscaping with local landscaping companies during high school.

00:04:39.807 --> 00:04:40.127
Just as labor.

00:04:40.437 --> 00:04:40.728
Yeah.

00:04:40.728 --> 00:04:41.648
Summer jobs and stuff.

00:04:42.298 --> 00:04:46.447
Everything from balling trees to irrigation, cutting lawns, doing it all.

00:04:46.507 --> 00:04:55.447
So when I got back to Fort Collins, I kind of hit my dad up and said, if there's ever a landscaping company that, you know, I'd be interested in purchasing one, and, you know, yeah.

00:04:55.528 --> 00:04:56.648
Would you help me out kind of thing.

00:04:56.648 --> 00:04:56.767
Yeah.

00:04:56.767 --> 00:04:57.088
Type thing.

00:04:57.088 --> 00:04:57.168
Yeah.

00:04:58.257 --> 00:05:00.437
And we looked for a little while and we finally found some people.

00:05:00.437 --> 00:05:03.478
Obviously we didn't have big buckets all the money Yeah.

00:05:03.497 --> 00:05:04.598
To buy out somebody big.

00:05:04.658 --> 00:05:08.278
But, uh, so we just kind of bought something small and chipped away at it.

00:05:08.338 --> 00:05:10.317
And 25 years later, here we are.

00:05:10.458 --> 00:05:13.637
And, and it had that name Turf Tamers to get back to your original connection.

00:05:13.637 --> 00:05:13.918
Yeah.

00:05:13.918 --> 00:05:14.158
Fair enough.

00:05:14.358 --> 00:05:17.278
Question, when did, when did you enter the scene, Mary?

00:05:18.267 --> 00:05:18.557
Yeah.

00:05:18.697 --> 00:05:21.478
So, uh, in 2001 I was in college.

00:05:21.908 --> 00:05:22.197
Okay.

00:05:22.197 --> 00:05:23.237
And graduated in oh five.

00:05:23.338 --> 00:05:24.317
We met in oh five.

00:05:24.627 --> 00:05:24.918
Okay.

00:05:25.497 --> 00:05:31.278
And, um, three years later got married and then a few years after that I got involved in the business.

00:05:31.278 --> 00:05:34.637
So I've been in the business fully involved in since 2012.

00:05:35.228 --> 00:05:35.517
Okay.

00:05:36.057 --> 00:05:41.598
Um, and at that point, hi, him and his dad were still partners and he was still doing the books.

00:05:41.867 --> 00:05:42.158
Okay.

00:05:42.218 --> 00:05:48.038
And so his dad taught me and I took over the books and the account management of Jeff Tamers.

00:05:48.038 --> 00:05:48.278
Cool.

00:05:48.278 --> 00:05:48.398
Yeah.

00:05:48.398 --> 00:05:48.557
Yeah.

00:05:48.577 --> 00:05:50.317
He was self-taught on the financial.

00:05:51.262 --> 00:05:52.333
Realm completely.

00:05:52.483 --> 00:05:52.773
Yeah.

00:05:52.872 --> 00:05:55.812
Um, it's, but did it better than Brian was doing it right from the start.

00:05:55.822 --> 00:05:56.773
Brian wasn't doing it.

00:05:58.593 --> 00:06:00.173
He was like, we need somebody to do the books.

00:06:00.322 --> 00:06:02.012
It's Brian's responsibility, so

00:06:02.882 --> 00:06:03.372
it's fun.

00:06:03.512 --> 00:06:05.653
Um, you know, jokingly, I think that.

00:06:06.473 --> 00:06:10.252
My father-in-law really wanted to get outta the business so he didn't have to argue with him so much.

00:06:10.262 --> 00:06:10.612
Right.

00:06:10.682 --> 00:06:13.012
They just wanted to have like a good father-son relationship.

00:06:13.333 --> 00:06:18.653
And I said to him, yeah, I'll take over, but you're gonna have to sit down and sit tight at the end of every month to do billing.

00:06:18.932 --> 00:06:21.533
'cause he would be, you know, bouncing around, couldn't sit still to do billing.

00:06:21.992 --> 00:06:25.853
So that was the agreement and it's gone pretty well ever since.

00:06:25.872 --> 00:06:26.293
Really

00:06:26.293 --> 00:06:26.413
cool.

00:06:26.512 --> 00:06:27.093
Really cool.

00:06:27.262 --> 00:06:32.413
We've changed a lot of stuff that used to be pieces of paper crumbled on the bottom of the truck with coffee states on it.

00:06:32.612 --> 00:06:34.773
That's how we figured out our billing at the beginning.

00:06:34.843 --> 00:06:35.132
Yeah.

00:06:35.132 --> 00:06:37.533
You got how many hash marks are there on the Yeah,

00:06:37.762 --> 00:06:38.252
exactly.

00:06:38.312 --> 00:06:39.052
That's how it was.

00:06:39.052 --> 00:06:40.853
There's, there's an evolution in the landscaping.

00:06:41.392 --> 00:06:43.853
In, in the landscaping field, you know, it's well, and as

00:06:44.093 --> 00:06:47.452
you get more employees and stuff, you gotta give them a system to fall into.

00:06:47.452 --> 00:06:49.452
Otherwise they don't know if they're doing a good job or not.

00:06:49.562 --> 00:06:50.372
Systems are.

00:06:51.163 --> 00:06:52.093
Very important.

00:06:52.273 --> 00:07:00.452
And she's the one that really incrementally systemized the office, systemized the pipeline, systemized the field, the bidding process.

00:07:01.122 --> 00:07:01.413
Yeah.

00:07:01.413 --> 00:07:05.413
I know how to get the implement and get stuff done and make it happen.

00:07:05.992 --> 00:07:09.812
Um, but there's a lot of waste if you just go out there.

00:07:10.023 --> 00:07:10.372
Right.

00:07:10.372 --> 00:07:11.973
You just push through, put your boots on.

00:07:12.153 --> 00:07:18.773
So like, getting the systems in and eliminating waste and being more streamlined and efficient is kind of the, what we've been doing the last four, five years.

00:07:18.773 --> 00:07:19.052
Yeah.

00:07:19.052 --> 00:07:29.572
I mean, if you can cut back on your, on your waste 10, 20%, you cut back on your hours expended 10, 20%, now all of a sudden you've got a business that's got a 20% net profit margin.

00:07:29.572 --> 00:07:29.853
Right.

00:07:29.853 --> 00:07:30.932
And hire more

00:07:30.932 --> 00:07:32.093
and invest more into your, you know.

00:07:32.612 --> 00:07:34.322
Waste is huge in our business.

00:07:34.353 --> 00:07:34.642
Yeah.

00:07:34.723 --> 00:07:35.403
I don't doubt it at all.

00:07:35.903 --> 00:07:37.163
So set the stage.

00:07:37.163 --> 00:07:38.642
What's turf Tamers today?

00:07:39.262 --> 00:07:44.002
Um, and was there any other employees or was it just you and your dad when, when Mary came into the picture?

00:07:44.382 --> 00:07:45.642
My dad was only bookkeeping.

00:07:45.882 --> 00:07:46.562
I was Oh, I see.

00:07:46.762 --> 00:07:51.043
I was, uh, pretty much an the head employee and then I had a part-timer with me.

00:07:51.742 --> 00:07:51.963
Um.

00:07:52.827 --> 00:07:54.648
And then when he and occasionally subcontract stuff.

00:07:54.648 --> 00:07:55.007
Well, you

00:07:55.007 --> 00:07:55.367
gotta name him.

00:07:55.367 --> 00:07:56.567
You gotta give a shout out to James.

00:07:56.757 --> 00:07:57.048
Yeah.

00:07:57.098 --> 00:08:02.848
James is a local kid, you know, he, uh, I'm not gonna talk names, but very good guy now.

00:08:02.848 --> 00:08:03.567
He owns a business.

00:08:03.627 --> 00:08:04.807
He actually does screenplay.

00:08:04.807 --> 00:08:05.887
He writes for Hollywood.

00:08:05.987 --> 00:08:06.447
Oh, what?

00:08:06.598 --> 00:08:06.887
Yeah.

00:08:06.947 --> 00:08:07.447
Oh, that's cool.

00:08:07.548 --> 00:08:08.567
Uh, so shout out to James.

00:08:08.627 --> 00:08:10.048
He knows who he is and, um.

00:08:11.098 --> 00:08:22.278
And then, you know, I've had a, just a plethora of characters in my truck with me and all of'em are, I was very fortunate to have really good people all along who helped me out and, you know, scratch each other's back.

00:08:22.538 --> 00:08:22.757
And

00:08:23.177 --> 00:08:26.557
so if you had a big job or something like that, you could bring in some part-time more.

00:08:26.637 --> 00:08:27.677
I would

00:08:27.677 --> 00:08:41.638
just take on what I was able to, I never really stretched myself too far, but, um, you know, I did, I went from like one guy riding with me to two other guys, to another truck to, you know, it just kind of cascaded and um, or grew completely organically.

00:08:41.827 --> 00:08:42.118
Yeah.

00:08:42.577 --> 00:08:43.758
And, um, yeah.

00:08:43.758 --> 00:08:44.557
So, and how many

00:08:44.648 --> 00:08:47.238
crews now, or people are you got in the field of high season?

00:08:47.238 --> 00:08:47.557
We have

00:08:47.597 --> 00:08:49.357
a potential of like four crews.

00:08:49.418 --> 00:08:56.557
You know, we have like 11, 12 guys and then, you know, we go shrink down to, you know, in the winters we're down to like two.

00:08:57.182 --> 00:08:57.602
Oh, wow.

00:08:57.712 --> 00:08:58.003
Okay.

00:08:58.003 --> 00:08:58.923
So we're very small.

00:08:58.923 --> 00:09:01.202
So it's intentionally a cyclical business.

00:09:01.202 --> 00:09:02.123
You don't do snow removal.

00:09:02.342 --> 00:09:05.003
We do do snow removal, but, but even with that, there's always so much snow.

00:09:05.003 --> 00:09:05.363
Keep it small.

00:09:05.363 --> 00:09:06.082
Yeah, we can keep it small.

00:09:06.232 --> 00:09:09.602
Well, plus you guys go like travel in the wintertime too, right?

00:09:09.602 --> 00:09:10.123
Yes, that's right.

00:09:10.582 --> 00:09:11.842
Um, Chile.

00:09:11.972 --> 00:09:12.562
Chile, yeah.

00:09:12.783 --> 00:09:20.163
So very far, you know, it's kind of our, uh, our little vacation place, but it ended up being on the other side of the planet.

00:09:20.383 --> 00:09:21.643
So, uh, how long does it

00:09:21.643 --> 00:09:22.283
take to get down there

00:09:22.982 --> 00:09:23.842
and where's that 20?

00:09:23.842 --> 00:09:27.562
It used to take like four days, but now it's, we've, we've refined it down to 24 hours.

00:09:27.562 --> 00:09:27.722
Now.

00:09:27.722 --> 00:09:27.923
It's

00:09:27.923 --> 00:09:28.322
two whole days.

00:09:28.832 --> 00:09:29.722
Yeah, sometimes.

00:09:29.753 --> 00:09:30.043
Yeah.

00:09:30.113 --> 00:09:30.403
Yeah.

00:09:30.403 --> 00:09:32.363
We go, uh, Denver down to.

00:09:33.347 --> 00:09:35.607
Dallas or Houston to Santiago.

00:09:35.677 --> 00:09:35.967
Okay.

00:09:35.967 --> 00:09:36.567
Which is the capital.

00:09:36.707 --> 00:09:36.927
Yep.

00:09:36.957 --> 00:09:39.567
Then you get in another plane to get to Puerto Mont.

00:09:39.677 --> 00:09:39.967
Okay.

00:09:39.967 --> 00:09:41.288
From Puerto Mont, you have a choice.

00:09:41.347 --> 00:09:50.607
You can either take a puddle jumper with like 12 people in it for like a 45 minute flight over the fjords, or you can get into a ferry boat similar to something you might see in Seattle.

00:09:50.748 --> 00:09:50.967
Mm.

00:09:51.227 --> 00:09:53.727
And that's like an overnight 12 hour drive.

00:09:53.827 --> 00:09:54.248
Oh wow.

00:09:54.477 --> 00:09:56.927
Then you've got a three hour drive to our place and then you're there.

00:09:57.628 --> 00:09:59.567
So this is like far southern chili then?

00:09:59.567 --> 00:09:59.807
Mm-hmm.

00:09:59.807 --> 00:10:00.807
This is Pat Patagonia.

00:10:00.807 --> 00:10:01.087
Pat, yeah.

00:10:01.197 --> 00:10:01.488
Okay.

00:10:01.518 --> 00:10:01.807
Okay.

00:10:01.827 --> 00:10:02.048
So

00:10:02.048 --> 00:10:04.727
we used to run a fly fishing lodge down there on the banks of this river.

00:10:04.727 --> 00:10:05.048
Mm-hmm.

00:10:05.388 --> 00:10:08.207
And like did you take a break from landscaping for this or something?

00:10:08.207 --> 00:10:09.248
We would do there just in the winter.

00:10:09.437 --> 00:10:10.528
It's winter, so there's

00:10:10.528 --> 00:10:10.727
summer.

00:10:11.347 --> 00:10:16.607
So I would leave, I would wrap up my landscaping right around Thanksgiving, fly straight down there.

00:10:16.788 --> 00:10:20.967
I'd be guiding clients from December, January, February.

00:10:21.077 --> 00:10:23.368
We'd leave, like late March, come back here, open up.

00:10:23.768 --> 00:10:23.967
Interesting.

00:10:23.967 --> 00:10:25.168
Start the landscaping all over.

00:10:25.388 --> 00:10:26.207
And when did this start?

00:10:26.317 --> 00:10:27.327
When did the Chilly property?

00:10:27.418 --> 00:10:27.927
Right away.

00:10:28.227 --> 00:10:31.288
So we met in January of oh five and I had.

00:10:32.082 --> 00:10:36.062
My sights fixed on doing an internship abroad in Chile.

00:10:36.163 --> 00:10:36.743
Oh, okay.

00:10:36.743 --> 00:10:37.222
And this is

00:10:37.222 --> 00:10:39.222
before I knew Brian, so I had been to Chile.

00:10:39.222 --> 00:10:40.543
You were already pointing that before I met Brian.

00:10:40.613 --> 00:10:40.903
Okay.

00:10:40.903 --> 00:10:41.143
All right.

00:10:41.202 --> 00:10:43.102
He had to be been to Chile before he met me.

00:10:43.163 --> 00:10:43.383
Oh.

00:10:43.523 --> 00:10:46.982
So we had, our first date was amazing'cause we had so much to talk about, I'm sure.

00:10:46.982 --> 00:10:47.182
Mm-hmm.

00:10:47.263 --> 00:10:47.462
We both

00:10:47.462 --> 00:10:49.423
been to Chile, like, who can say that?

00:10:49.543 --> 00:10:49.783
I don't

00:10:49.783 --> 00:10:53.503
even know if I love one other person that had a chili farm in Chile.

00:10:53.503 --> 00:10:53.743
Right.

00:10:53.773 --> 00:10:54.062
Yeah.

00:10:54.243 --> 00:10:57.903
So, um, oh five, uh, we meet in January.

00:10:58.263 --> 00:11:01.903
I already know that, that following winter I'm gonna go to an internship.

00:11:02.102 --> 00:11:03.102
I just haven't found it yet.

00:11:03.513 --> 00:11:06.702
Found an internship location, um, that summer and I just said to him.

00:11:08.197 --> 00:11:09.628
Brian, I think you should come.

00:11:10.347 --> 00:11:12.148
I think you should find a job down there and come too.

00:11:12.248 --> 00:11:15.427
And he was used to closing down over the winter and taking trips.

00:11:15.557 --> 00:11:15.908
Right.

00:11:16.447 --> 00:11:18.388
So it was like, or like, so easy.

00:11:18.388 --> 00:11:18.587
Yeah.

00:11:18.587 --> 00:11:19.947
It was something that he was used to doing.

00:11:20.018 --> 00:11:20.307
Yeah.

00:11:20.307 --> 00:11:20.548
Yeah.

00:11:20.577 --> 00:11:23.067
Well, and this is, but it's only eight months after you guys met, really.

00:11:23.067 --> 00:11:23.268
Right?

00:11:23.327 --> 00:11:23.788
It was pretty fast.

00:11:24.028 --> 00:11:24.268
Yeah.

00:11:24.327 --> 00:11:25.388
But you were in love already.

00:11:25.687 --> 00:11:26.227
We were in love.

00:11:26.268 --> 00:11:26.988
We knew we were.

00:11:27.168 --> 00:11:29.347
And that trip just solidified it, you know?

00:11:29.347 --> 00:11:29.548
Yeah.

00:11:29.548 --> 00:11:34.307
Like that time together, you know, you spending every day together for four months and it's really remote.

00:11:34.607 --> 00:11:38.748
And we made a, like, lifelong friends that summer that we're still friends with.

00:11:38.847 --> 00:11:39.067
Mm.

00:11:39.067 --> 00:11:39.467
Mm-hmm.

00:11:39.548 --> 00:11:41.628
Keep in mind, that was 20, I wanna down years ago down.

00:11:41.628 --> 00:11:42.028
I don't even care about

00:11:42.028 --> 00:11:42.187
fishing.

00:11:42.248 --> 00:11:44.148
And I come down gotta You gotta come down and, and

00:11:44.148 --> 00:11:48.947
it's a lot like Colorado, so, I mean, you don't have to fish if you're like mountain biking, if you like snowcap peaks.

00:11:48.947 --> 00:11:49.107
Yeah.

00:11:49.248 --> 00:11:50.148
Hot springs, paddleboarding.

00:11:50.258 --> 00:11:50.548
Yeah.

00:11:50.788 --> 00:11:50.868
Whatever.

00:11:51.227 --> 00:11:51.347
Whatever.

00:11:51.347 --> 00:11:51.668
Exactly.

00:11:51.778 --> 00:11:52.067
Okay.

00:11:52.067 --> 00:11:52.307
Yeah.

00:11:52.658 --> 00:11:53.988
Wine steaks.

00:11:54.447 --> 00:11:55.908
Can we lurk here for a while?

00:11:55.937 --> 00:11:57.227
Like, describe this setting.

00:11:57.248 --> 00:12:01.347
Is, is this on the ocean or is it on a river or It's a fishing place, right.

00:12:01.368 --> 00:12:02.388
So it can't be on the ocean.

00:12:03.293 --> 00:12:03.582
Sure.

00:12:03.852 --> 00:12:04.143
Yeah.

00:12:04.143 --> 00:12:07.102
So if you know Chile geographically, there's no east and west.

00:12:07.253 --> 00:12:08.342
It's a north and south country.

00:12:08.352 --> 00:12:08.822
Right, right.

00:12:08.883 --> 00:12:10.342
It big pine in the middle with really

00:12:10.342 --> 00:12:10.863
high mountains.

00:12:10.863 --> 00:12:11.023
Right.

00:12:11.133 --> 00:12:11.423
Very

00:12:11.423 --> 00:12:11.942
high mountains.

00:12:12.123 --> 00:12:17.143
So we're still 1800 kilometers from Antarctica.

00:12:17.243 --> 00:12:17.462
Oh.

00:12:17.472 --> 00:12:17.822
North.

00:12:18.123 --> 00:12:18.702
But we're.

00:12:20.018 --> 00:12:23.177
1800 kilometers south of Santiago, which is in, in the center.

00:12:23.357 --> 00:12:25.857
So how far from the, the southern tip of Chile are you?

00:12:26.278 --> 00:12:27.898
Uh, like two and a half day drive.

00:12:28.278 --> 00:12:30.018
But nobody hardly lives south of you probably.

00:12:30.118 --> 00:12:31.057
No, we're we're,

00:12:31.128 --> 00:12:31.418
yeah.

00:12:31.418 --> 00:12:33.177
There's a lot people live down there, but it

00:12:33.298 --> 00:12:33.498
sparse.

00:12:33.567 --> 00:12:35.778
Have you heard of tourist de Piney?

00:12:35.798 --> 00:12:36.018
Yes.

00:12:36.018 --> 00:12:37.618
It's like a mountain that's very famous.

00:12:37.618 --> 00:12:37.857
Okay.

00:12:37.918 --> 00:12:38.337
Jill's

00:12:38.337 --> 00:12:43.018
been fascinated with Patagonia lately and she wants us to go even though it looks, seems so we're like two days north of that.

00:12:43.018 --> 00:12:43.738
That's, so,

00:12:43.738 --> 00:12:44.857
that's further north from us.

00:12:44.927 --> 00:12:45.217
Okay.

00:12:45.278 --> 00:12:46.898
So there's plenty of things to see.

00:12:46.898 --> 00:12:51.378
There's like, there's weeks worth of vacationing you could do just in the southern tip of Chile.

00:12:51.577 --> 00:12:52.457
'cause there's so much to see.

00:12:52.607 --> 00:12:52.898
Okay.

00:12:53.278 --> 00:12:57.337
My big plan in the future is to, uh, do a giant road trip through there.

00:12:57.477 --> 00:13:01.697
We have not, we've kind of been confined to our valley working there and doing in our house being there.

00:13:01.788 --> 00:13:02.378
Right, right.

00:13:02.638 --> 00:13:02.857
Um.

00:13:03.847 --> 00:13:05.388
The southern part is different.

00:13:05.388 --> 00:13:08.148
The southern part is wind swept, kind of like the moon.

00:13:08.148 --> 00:13:11.067
Yeah, it's very, where we're barren plains, kind bar?

00:13:11.067 --> 00:13:11.668
Barren plains.

00:13:11.668 --> 00:13:12.148
Where we're at.

00:13:12.148 --> 00:13:13.508
It's called Northern Patagonia.

00:13:13.778 --> 00:13:16.868
More trees we're in a temper temperate rainforest.

00:13:16.967 --> 00:13:18.307
Oh, coastal.

00:13:18.408 --> 00:13:19.227
And uh, okay.

00:13:19.567 --> 00:13:20.028
So it's

00:13:20.028 --> 00:13:24.628
more, literally more like the, the islands of, of, uh, Washington.

00:13:24.628 --> 00:13:26.268
Washington or something like Thatwhere.

00:13:26.727 --> 00:13:31.908
Um, when I first went to the Seattle area, I said, this is just like Chile.

00:13:32.067 --> 00:13:34.827
'cause I had never been to Northwest, uh, United States.

00:13:34.827 --> 00:13:35.187
Mm-hmm.

00:13:35.268 --> 00:13:35.388
Yeah.

00:13:35.388 --> 00:13:35.508
Yeah.

00:13:35.607 --> 00:13:40.028
Um, but, uh, glacial rivers, is that what the rivers look like in Seattle?

00:13:40.538 --> 00:13:42.427
Outside of Northern Washington?

00:13:42.628 --> 00:13:43.427
Columbia especially

00:13:43.427 --> 00:13:46.067
coming off of Rainier, the Columbia, like giant rivers too.

00:13:46.118 --> 00:13:47.107
Going out to the Pacific.

00:13:47.138 --> 00:13:47.427
Yeah.

00:13:47.427 --> 00:13:48.187
They're just looking outta the Columbia.

00:13:48.248 --> 00:13:48.707
It that

00:13:48.707 --> 00:13:48.988
Right.

00:13:49.018 --> 00:13:52.307
Turquoise, like milky white, glacial rivers.

00:13:52.778 --> 00:13:54.148
Beautiful mountain peaks.

00:13:54.168 --> 00:13:56.587
The mountains are low there because you've gotten so far south.

00:13:56.768 --> 00:13:56.988
Yep.

00:13:57.663 --> 00:14:00.043
Um, but mountainous a lot of, and these are winding up kind of.

00:14:00.062 --> 00:14:00.283
Yes.

00:14:00.283 --> 00:14:01.283
They're, by that time they're, mm-hmm.

00:14:01.363 --> 00:14:01.643
Okay.

00:14:01.643 --> 00:14:02.802
And a lot of different microclimate.

00:14:02.832 --> 00:14:03.682
Microclimates.

00:14:03.682 --> 00:14:03.802
Mm.

00:14:03.982 --> 00:14:06.003
So temperate rainforests near the ocean.

00:14:06.062 --> 00:14:09.243
But since we're a three hours drive in, we're kind of drier.

00:14:09.462 --> 00:14:09.682
Yep.

00:14:09.773 --> 00:14:10.482
Where we're at.

00:14:10.822 --> 00:14:15.763
So it's a similar climate to where we live here, where it's that arid mm-hmm.

00:14:16.182 --> 00:14:22.283
Uh, you know, arid ground, um, except their land, their soil, if you dug the soil up, it would be black.

00:14:22.342 --> 00:14:22.562
Mm.

00:14:22.712 --> 00:14:23.003
It's

00:14:23.322 --> 00:14:24.643
volcanic, very rich soil.

00:14:24.643 --> 00:14:24.883
It's

00:14:24.883 --> 00:14:29.562
like where I'm from in North Dakota, like we get about as much rain in central North Dakota as they do in Sterling.

00:14:29.562 --> 00:14:29.842
Mm-hmm.

00:14:30.143 --> 00:14:34.283
But we grow crops like more than twice as big because its', your soils got rich.

00:14:34.283 --> 00:14:38.923
It's a clay, it's a clay loam soil that's been growing tall grass for generations, you know, and that's it.

00:14:38.923 --> 00:14:40.202
Just all that organic matter.

00:14:40.202 --> 00:14:40.442
Yeah.

00:14:40.998 --> 00:14:41.738
Um, so yeah.

00:14:41.807 --> 00:14:42.097
Okay.

00:14:42.317 --> 00:14:43.457
I'm starting to get the, get the wind.

00:14:43.457 --> 00:14:43.658
One

00:14:43.658 --> 00:14:47.898
more way to set the stage of Chile, just our valley is to explain that.

00:14:48.118 --> 00:14:50.817
Um, they got electricity in 2010.

00:14:51.528 --> 00:14:51.817
Okay.

00:14:51.977 --> 00:14:52.378
I love it.

00:14:52.638 --> 00:14:56.817
Um, when we bought the property, no, it wasn't 2020, it was 2018.

00:14:57.357 --> 00:14:58.857
2016 is when they brought in

00:14:59.258 --> 00:14:59.378
electricity.

00:14:59.538 --> 00:14:59.817
I apologize.

00:14:59.837 --> 00:15:00.778
Oh yeah, 2016.

00:15:00.778 --> 00:15:01.337
Even more recent.

00:15:01.447 --> 00:15:01.738
Yeah.

00:15:01.998 --> 00:15:03.977
So we bought, bought the land.

00:15:04.248 --> 00:15:04.817
Yeah, go ahead.

00:15:04.817 --> 00:15:07.337
2008 2008.

00:15:07.488 --> 00:15:07.778
Okay.

00:15:08.238 --> 00:15:10.258
And they were just building like the road out.

00:15:10.837 --> 00:15:13.057
It was just like a natural dirt road before.

00:15:13.057 --> 00:15:13.258
And

00:15:13.258 --> 00:15:17.738
like you like went down there for this internship and while you're there you're like, yeah, oh, here's an investment opportunity.

00:15:18.048 --> 00:15:19.697
Well, as well we

00:15:19.697 --> 00:15:22.177
went down for an internship and made those amazing friends.

00:15:22.368 --> 00:15:22.658
Yeah.

00:15:23.077 --> 00:15:25.337
And again, still friends after 20 years.

00:15:25.467 --> 00:15:26.738
These are really good people.

00:15:26.837 --> 00:15:28.817
The Chileans are amazing people.

00:15:29.138 --> 00:15:30.057
I haven't met a bad one yet.

00:15:30.357 --> 00:15:31.658
And um, yeah.

00:15:31.668 --> 00:15:32.018
Right.

00:15:32.087 --> 00:15:32.378
Yeah.

00:15:32.378 --> 00:15:32.538
So.

00:15:33.543 --> 00:15:41.842
The thing about, uh, 2005 to 2008, between between oh five and oh eight, we were gonna be married, we were engaged, and, and we got married later on in oh eight.

00:15:42.143 --> 00:15:46.003
We were really serious, but we were also like super serious about how amazing chili was.

00:15:46.342 --> 00:15:50.003
So over those next two few seasons, we were like, we should look at land.

00:15:50.003 --> 00:15:50.643
We just live there forever.

00:15:50.643 --> 00:15:50.842
Yeah.

00:15:50.842 --> 00:15:52.043
We should just like look at land.

00:15:52.153 --> 00:15:52.442
Yeah.

00:15:52.442 --> 00:15:52.602
Yeah.

00:15:52.783 --> 00:15:53.562
And that was the crash.

00:15:53.743 --> 00:15:54.682
So everything was cheap.

00:15:54.682 --> 00:15:55.003
Right,

00:15:55.003 --> 00:15:55.163
right.

00:15:55.222 --> 00:15:55.962
But we were broke.

00:15:55.962 --> 00:15:56.283
Right.

00:15:56.302 --> 00:16:01.923
So, you know, there's that, um, you know, college kids or college age kids without a whole lot going on.

00:16:01.923 --> 00:16:02.163
And what

00:16:02.163 --> 00:16:05.883
did you get into, you didn't join the business until like 2012 or something you said?

00:16:05.883 --> 00:16:06.962
What did you get into after college?

00:16:07.753 --> 00:16:10.562
Yeah, so I was like a raft guide in like a bartender.

00:16:12.222 --> 00:16:14.003
So I worked at Rocky Mountain Adventures.

00:16:14.003 --> 00:16:14.163
Yep.

00:16:14.342 --> 00:16:16.602
And I guided Whitewater, been down those a few times.

00:16:17.062 --> 00:16:18.602
And then I worked at Wanderlust.

00:16:18.842 --> 00:16:18.962
Interesting.

00:16:19.082 --> 00:16:21.202
A Wanderlust adventure, which is under Verns Yep.

00:16:21.302 --> 00:16:22.123
Out there in LaPorte.

00:16:22.182 --> 00:16:22.403
Yep.

00:16:22.403 --> 00:16:22.562
Yep.

00:16:22.702 --> 00:16:23.403
Um, various

00:16:23.472 --> 00:16:24.682
bars around town and I

00:16:24.682 --> 00:16:26.643
worked at restaurants and bars around town.

00:16:26.702 --> 00:16:27.883
Do you remember Stonehouse Grill?

00:16:28.352 --> 00:16:28.643
Sure.

00:16:29.243 --> 00:16:30.283
I definitely, um.

00:16:31.477 --> 00:16:34.687
Learned a lot there and had great managers noticed.

00:16:34.687 --> 00:16:34.807
Yeah.

00:16:34.807 --> 00:16:35.008
Steve actually,

00:16:35.008 --> 00:16:35.447
uh, no.

00:16:35.447 --> 00:16:36.528
Was, it was before Steve.

00:16:36.577 --> 00:16:37.768
Steve made it the east.

00:16:38.307 --> 00:16:39.817
Thing Or the, the Caribbean bar.

00:16:39.817 --> 00:16:40.498
After the stone house?

00:16:40.687 --> 00:16:40.977
Yeah.

00:16:41.248 --> 00:16:41.538
Yeah.

00:16:41.538 --> 00:16:41.697
Okay.

00:16:41.697 --> 00:16:42.097
Um, it

00:16:42.097 --> 00:16:43.097
was, um, the Sutherlands.

00:16:43.128 --> 00:16:43.977
Sutherlands, yeah.

00:16:44.158 --> 00:16:44.577
Oh, okay.

00:16:44.937 --> 00:16:45.097
Interesting.

00:16:45.197 --> 00:16:54.138
Her, her father, back when I was in junior high, her father was captured, uh, an Iranian professor that was captured and held hostage.

00:16:54.317 --> 00:16:54.538
Oh.

00:16:54.758 --> 00:16:59.097
And it was this, then he got released in a hostage release and it was Oh.

00:16:59.317 --> 00:17:00.217
And was from Fort Collins.

00:17:00.457 --> 00:17:00.577
Interesting.

00:17:00.577 --> 00:17:08.458
And he came to Blevins and talked to us, and then she, he has since passed, but his daughter was part owner of Sutherlands.

00:17:08.458 --> 00:17:09.577
I think it was one of her.

00:17:09.577 --> 00:17:09.817
Okay.

00:17:09.817 --> 00:17:11.657
Of Stonehouse of Stone or of Stonehouse.

00:17:11.847 --> 00:17:12.137
Yeah.

00:17:12.137 --> 00:17:12.897
That was probably the.

00:17:13.817 --> 00:17:17.218
Probably the most successful concept in that building, I would say would.

00:17:17.218 --> 00:17:17.857
So they did great.

00:17:17.928 --> 00:17:18.298
They did.

00:17:18.498 --> 00:17:21.897
I mean, honestly, since they, since then, it's been, yeah, tough times.

00:17:22.038 --> 00:17:24.978
And Topanga isn't busy enough to pay the rent there, unfortunately.

00:17:25.008 --> 00:17:25.617
It's a very big building.

00:17:25.938 --> 00:17:28.298
I upstairs can carry some weight, but mm-hmm.

00:17:28.397 --> 00:17:29.018
That's tough too.

00:17:29.238 --> 00:17:30.057
You, it's just a big building.

00:17:30.057 --> 00:17:30.458
Mm-hmm.

00:17:30.538 --> 00:17:30.738
Right.

00:17:30.738 --> 00:17:33.778
A lot of stairs, a lot of wait stuff to keep you strong.

00:17:33.857 --> 00:17:33.978
Throwing up

00:17:33.978 --> 00:17:47.337
in for Collins, I have just noticed, and I'm sure your commercial real estate friends can say this too, but there's some places that just take, and there's some places that are like, it's like there's a curse on the door.

00:17:47.488 --> 00:17:47.778
Yeah.

00:17:47.778 --> 00:17:49.377
I mean the location, like

00:17:49.377 --> 00:17:51.498
think about how much more money the restaurants.

00:17:52.623 --> 00:17:57.442
Or Austin's has made, compared to the place directly across the streets.

00:17:57.442 --> 00:17:57.603
Yeah.

00:17:57.613 --> 00:18:00.803
Which is now its fifth concept, fifth in 12 years or something.

00:18:01.262 --> 00:18:02.482
And probably none of them made a dollar.

00:18:02.553 --> 00:18:02.843
Yeah.

00:18:02.913 --> 00:18:05.042
It's, it went backwards.

00:18:05.272 --> 00:18:05.563
Yeah.

00:18:05.563 --> 00:18:10.803
Every one of'em went backwards while they were open and then they licked their wounds and, and somebody else can try it.

00:18:10.982 --> 00:18:11.403
Mm-hmm.

00:18:11.563 --> 00:18:11.962
I don't know.

00:18:11.962 --> 00:18:12.522
Yeah, you're right.

00:18:12.542 --> 00:18:13.563
It does seem, and

00:18:13.563 --> 00:18:14.482
people, and it's weird.

00:18:14.702 --> 00:18:15.323
And what's the logic, man?

00:18:15.323 --> 00:18:16.123
People come in with Yeah.

00:18:16.123 --> 00:18:19.002
People come in with great ideas and, you know, it's like, yeah, that should fly.

00:18:19.002 --> 00:18:19.242
Yeah.

00:18:19.303 --> 00:18:23.323
And it's just like, I, you know, I don't know if it's'cause people don't like to make a left instead of a right or Right.

00:18:24.982 --> 00:18:27.242
Is there just that much more parking on mountain maybe, maybe

00:18:27.313 --> 00:18:27.762
west of.

00:18:28.188 --> 00:18:29.553
College than there is Eastern.

00:18:29.553 --> 00:18:29.873
Better,

00:18:30.113 --> 00:18:32.952
stronger drinks on the north side of mountain than there is on the south side.

00:18:32.952 --> 00:18:33.353
Have more sun.

00:18:33.833 --> 00:18:34.192
I dunno.

00:18:34.593 --> 00:18:34.992
I dunno.

00:18:35.413 --> 00:18:40.113
Um, okay, so, so you guys buy, was it just a piece of property when you first Yeah.

00:18:40.113 --> 00:18:40.232
So

00:18:40.413 --> 00:18:41.393
let me give you a little more context.

00:18:41.393 --> 00:18:41.633
Sure.

00:18:41.633 --> 00:18:49.032
So we, so we went down there with, she had the internship and then I went actually to work for one lodge and it pittered out.

00:18:49.032 --> 00:18:50.952
Didn't really come to fruition because you

00:18:50.952 --> 00:18:52.792
were already like a passionate fly fishing guy or whatever.

00:18:52.792 --> 00:18:53.553
Yeah, I'd already, I was a

00:18:53.553 --> 00:18:55.353
fly fishing guy up here in Walden, Colorado.

00:18:55.353 --> 00:18:55.593
Okay.

00:18:55.593 --> 00:18:56.833
And, you know, in various places.

00:18:56.932 --> 00:19:01.512
And then, uh, and then when I went down there, I got a job and it just didn't turn out to be anything.

00:19:01.742 --> 00:19:02.032
Okay.

00:19:02.053 --> 00:19:02.553
But I got

00:19:02.553 --> 00:19:08.952
noticed by, uh, this other person that this Argentine man who owned a lodge there, and he's like, well, what are you doing down here?

00:19:09.012 --> 00:19:11.833
I'm like, well, I kind of came down, but I don't even want to tell you what I'm doing.

00:19:11.833 --> 00:19:15.073
And he's like, well, yeah, but you're a gringo in this valley.

00:19:15.073 --> 00:19:15.472
What you doing?

00:19:15.472 --> 00:19:16.553
I'm like, well, I'm a fly fisherman.

00:19:16.553 --> 00:19:17.512
And he's like, oh really?

00:19:17.653 --> 00:19:18.792
And so they had, uh.

00:19:19.718 --> 00:19:24.127
They had closed the lodge down for about a year and a half'cause of a volcano.

00:19:24.667 --> 00:19:24.887
Oh.

00:19:24.948 --> 00:19:27.208
And he was like, I really want to open it up again.

00:19:27.428 --> 00:19:28.928
And he is like, you know, I was like, yeah, but I

00:19:28.928 --> 00:19:30.248
don't really have a good Yeah.

00:19:30.458 --> 00:19:31.048
Guide right now.

00:19:31.048 --> 00:19:31.327
Yeah.

00:19:31.327 --> 00:19:31.768
And he's like,

00:19:31.768 --> 00:19:32.488
I don't have a good guide.

00:19:32.488 --> 00:19:34.367
And I was like, yeah, I mean, if you ever need help, my girlfriend's

00:19:34.367 --> 00:19:36.048
down here and she's got a job, but I don't, yeah.

00:19:36.748 --> 00:19:38.008
If you ever need help, let us know.

00:19:38.188 --> 00:19:42.567
And he's like, well, what about, you know, I hire you, fly you and your wife down here and you run the whole thing.

00:19:42.788 --> 00:19:44.968
And we were like, so sign me up.

00:19:45.617 --> 00:19:45.968
Right.

00:19:46.988 --> 00:19:48.087
The trailhead can wait.

00:19:48.268 --> 00:19:50.847
So that took place and then that set the context.

00:19:51.107 --> 00:19:55.288
So through the course of that, we started meeting all the people in our valley.

00:19:55.387 --> 00:20:00.048
And this is, I mean, you're talking old world here, like old European world, this is right.

00:20:00.347 --> 00:20:01.528
Six families in the valley.

00:20:01.587 --> 00:20:05.488
Our neighbor has 17 children, huge tracks of land.

00:20:05.867 --> 00:20:06.087
Wow.

00:20:06.268 --> 00:20:07.567
And they're estate almost.

00:20:07.567 --> 00:20:08.928
They're all intermarried like estate.

00:20:09.107 --> 00:20:10.248
And they're all intermarried.

00:20:10.428 --> 00:20:11.847
The different families are intermarried, not the same.

00:20:11.847 --> 00:20:12.768
And are these right?

00:20:13.067 --> 00:20:13.407
Are these.

00:20:14.438 --> 00:20:15.768
Spanish families mostly.

00:20:15.768 --> 00:20:16.008
Yeah.

00:20:16.008 --> 00:20:16.847
Or the German families.

00:20:16.847 --> 00:20:17.768
Some of them Cortes.

00:20:17.768 --> 00:20:18.448
Well, we have,

00:20:18.807 --> 00:20:20.448
I think it's, I thinks history.

00:20:20.448 --> 00:20:21.807
There's, you know, a lot of, lot of Spain and Germany.

00:20:21.807 --> 00:20:22.008
Yeah.

00:20:22.067 --> 00:20:22.968
Lot of former Nazis

00:20:22.968 --> 00:20:24.968
went to Argentina and Chile Arg and stuff.

00:20:25.067 --> 00:20:25.288
Arg.

00:20:25.288 --> 00:20:25.448
Yeah.

00:20:25.448 --> 00:20:31.208
So as soon as you go over the border, so we're on a border town, and as soon as you go over the border into Argentina, it looks like Laramie.

00:20:31.268 --> 00:20:31.488
Mm.

00:20:31.667 --> 00:20:31.887
Uh,

00:20:31.887 --> 00:20:33.167
it's dry, it's arid.

00:20:33.347 --> 00:20:34.647
That's the Patagonian step.

00:20:34.718 --> 00:20:36.127
It's kind of like the Colorado, Wyoming border.

00:20:36.317 --> 00:20:37.768
It's, it's, yeah, exactly.

00:20:38.268 --> 00:20:43.847
And uh, there you have the Welch, you have the British, you have the German, and that's when you start to see the blonde hair, the blue eyes.

00:20:43.847 --> 00:20:44.008
Yeah.

00:20:44.008 --> 00:20:44.087
Yeah.

00:20:44.488 --> 00:20:44.567
Interesting.

00:20:44.567 --> 00:20:45.367
All the Nazis.

00:20:45.387 --> 00:20:49.768
And then everybody calls, you know, cake Khin and the post Khin

00:20:49.768 --> 00:20:50.607
is like a German word.

00:20:50.837 --> 00:20:51.407
It's a German word.

00:20:51.627 --> 00:20:51.968
Oh, cool.

00:20:52.198 --> 00:20:53.008
Yeah, Coolen.

00:20:53.198 --> 00:20:53.728
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:53.728 --> 00:20:54.528
We, they're

00:20:54.528 --> 00:20:58.607
using German words and the architecture's hands, the, the architecture looks German, Hans Gretel.

00:20:58.748 --> 00:20:59.968
And it's very interesting.

00:21:00.038 --> 00:21:00.688
It's very interesting.

00:21:00.867 --> 00:21:01.087
Yes.

00:21:01.087 --> 00:21:01.288
Very

00:21:01.288 --> 00:21:02.807
much an influence, I would say for sure.

00:21:02.958 --> 00:21:03.248
Yeah.

00:21:03.248 --> 00:21:03.448
Yeah.

00:21:03.627 --> 00:21:07.768
But our valley, they, they're, they look like they're from.

00:21:08.752 --> 00:21:10.262
South America, they look like they're native.

00:21:10.333 --> 00:21:10.623
Yeah.

00:21:10.623 --> 00:21:10.742
Yeah.

00:21:10.742 --> 00:21:10.903
Okay.

00:21:11.002 --> 00:21:14.542
Um, they're, you know, just quite short, dark hair and yeah.

00:21:14.542 --> 00:21:14.982
A fair amount

00:21:14.982 --> 00:21:17.222
of indigenous mixed in with this original Spanish.

00:21:17.282 --> 00:21:18.143
Yes, I would agree.

00:21:18.143 --> 00:21:18.222
Yeah.

00:21:18.252 --> 00:21:19.343
Like most of Mexico kind.

00:21:19.343 --> 00:21:19.542
Yeah.

00:21:19.542 --> 00:21:19.742
Mm-hmm.

00:21:19.823 --> 00:21:23.022
Did you know that Colombians looked different than other South Americans?

00:21:23.182 --> 00:21:25.782
'cause they wiped out all the indigenous rather than in breeding.

00:21:25.932 --> 00:21:26.222
Yeah.

00:21:26.323 --> 00:21:26.903
Did not know that.

00:21:27.063 --> 00:21:29.143
I learned that on our podcast, uh, last fall, I guess.

00:21:29.212 --> 00:21:29.502
Yeah.

00:21:29.502 --> 00:21:31.022
There was a lot of things that happened.

00:21:31.202 --> 00:21:35.863
Uh, like, you know, we had our atrocities here and we definitely had theirs down there too, too.

00:21:35.863 --> 00:21:36.782
There's been lots of'em everywhere.

00:21:36.893 --> 00:21:39.182
Like that's humans, like human

00:21:39.182 --> 00:21:39.343
nature.

00:21:39.863 --> 00:21:40.742
Anyway, I digress.

00:21:40.742 --> 00:21:41.663
We try to be better than that.

00:21:41.663 --> 00:21:42.863
Yeah, certainly.

00:21:43.002 --> 00:21:46.663
So, so you got, so one more question about the, the geographic setting.

00:21:46.843 --> 00:21:47.782
You mentioned our valley.

00:21:48.682 --> 00:21:52.222
Is there like a dozen similar valleys staggering down here?

00:21:52.363 --> 00:21:54.663
Or is it really a special, unique place, or?

00:21:55.173 --> 00:21:59.942
It's a very unique valley, uh, because it, this river is called the Fu River.

00:22:00.292 --> 00:22:03.903
It's a Mauche word for Bigfoot, which is kind of what Patagonia means as well.

00:22:04.522 --> 00:22:07.303
Um, but, or no, it's for Big River, right?

00:22:07.873 --> 00:22:08.972
Poodle Fu means big river.

00:22:09.153 --> 00:22:09.373
Big

00:22:09.373 --> 00:22:09.532
river.

00:22:09.532 --> 00:22:09.813
Yeah.

00:22:09.813 --> 00:22:09.972
Yeah.

00:22:10.232 --> 00:22:12.053
Uh, Patagonia means big foot.

00:22:12.202 --> 00:22:12.492
Okay.

00:22:12.792 --> 00:22:14.653
Um, and meaning

00:22:14.732 --> 00:22:17.012
a foot be more like a, a step or a, a flat?

00:22:17.012 --> 00:22:17.573
It's, I think it's,

00:22:17.732 --> 00:22:20.053
cause there was Jurassic, there was dinosaurs down there.

00:22:20.053 --> 00:22:20.333
Mm-hmm.

00:22:20.413 --> 00:22:21.292
There's a lot of Dr.

00:22:21.692 --> 00:22:22.452
Dinosaurs in that area.

00:22:22.752 --> 00:22:24.573
Um, anyway, yeah.

00:22:24.673 --> 00:22:29.413
So we have a, a valley with this giant crystal river going right through it.

00:22:29.673 --> 00:22:32.613
And it, it's really famous for whitewater rafting.

00:22:32.613 --> 00:22:32.813
Mm.

00:22:33.153 --> 00:22:38.252
Uh, as far as we, I mean, it's famous in Chile for just being Patagonia green and beautiful.

00:22:38.252 --> 00:22:39.212
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

00:22:39.792 --> 00:22:40.653
But the but among

00:22:40.932 --> 00:22:44.212
raft nerds, I heard about it from the raft ting and kayaking community.

00:22:44.323 --> 00:22:44.613
Yeah.

00:22:44.613 --> 00:22:44.732
Yeah.

00:22:44.732 --> 00:22:44.813
Okay.

00:22:44.913 --> 00:22:45.133
Yes,

00:22:45.173 --> 00:22:45.373
I did.

00:22:45.593 --> 00:22:48.492
That's where I found my internship was at Recommended Ventures.

00:22:48.492 --> 00:22:48.813
Gotcha.

00:22:49.367 --> 00:22:53.748
Um, if you go into that store, there's like a bunch of signs that show, you know, um,

00:22:54.377 --> 00:22:55.147
kind of different, a

00:22:55.147 --> 00:22:57.948
little arrow and how far away how many hundreds of miles or thousands of miles.

00:22:57.948 --> 00:23:02.428
There was an arrow that said Food, la fu you know, five or six or 7,000 miles away.

00:23:03.327 --> 00:23:04.307
And I was like, what's that?

00:23:04.448 --> 00:23:06.387
And so that's how I found out, huh.

00:23:06.597 --> 00:23:08.907
About that place and got an internship that way.

00:23:09.178 --> 00:23:09.468
Okay.

00:23:09.538 --> 00:23:09.827
Yeah.

00:23:09.968 --> 00:23:12.708
And so you're, you're managing this lodge mm-hmm.

00:23:12.788 --> 00:23:13.627
Couple years later.

00:23:13.627 --> 00:23:13.867
Yeah.

00:23:13.938 --> 00:23:14.228
Yeah.

00:23:14.327 --> 00:23:16.548
It like all year you're the managers.

00:23:16.688 --> 00:23:18.067
Are you coming back to run the business?

00:23:18.167 --> 00:23:20.748
No, you just gotta run it for the few months, a year that they're actually open.

00:23:20.748 --> 00:23:23.387
The rest of the year it's cold and nobody comes, couple whatever, seasonal.

00:23:23.498 --> 00:23:23.788
Okay.

00:23:24.067 --> 00:23:24.228
Interesting.

00:23:24.327 --> 00:23:24.748
Mm-hmm.

00:23:24.847 --> 00:23:28.708
Um, and then like through that experience, you learn about.

00:23:29.597 --> 00:23:30.958
Property for sale kind of thing.

00:23:30.958 --> 00:23:31.198
Mm-hmm.

00:23:31.278 --> 00:23:32.278
Is that how this shakes out?

00:23:32.347 --> 00:23:32.637
Yeah.

00:23:32.637 --> 00:23:39.478
We, you know, we used to party with our friends down there and at one point we, I was like, you know, I really, you know, we'd like to buy a piece of property and Yeah.

00:23:39.778 --> 00:23:42.637
Uh, but we don't wanna buy it on these tributary River.

00:23:42.698 --> 00:23:43.917
We wanted water property.

00:23:43.917 --> 00:23:44.077
Yeah.

00:23:44.077 --> 00:23:46.038
And we didn't wanna buy it on these tributary rivers.

00:23:46.097 --> 00:23:49.397
And, and so we just kind of floated it out there.

00:23:49.397 --> 00:23:51.518
If anyone knows anybody, you hear of something wants Yeah.

00:23:51.518 --> 00:23:59.597
And right across the river from the lodge we worked at, our friend was like, yeah, my brother's trying to sell one hectare in our family ranch, right.

00:23:59.597 --> 00:23:59.998
On the river.

00:23:59.998 --> 00:24:01.597
And he wants to move to town, which is like

00:24:01.597 --> 00:24:01.718
10

00:24:01.718 --> 00:24:02.317
acres or something.

00:24:02.428 --> 00:24:04.357
It's like 2.7 acres.

00:24:04.528 --> 00:24:04.877
Acres.

00:24:04.968 --> 00:24:06.758
3.7, 3.7 acres,

00:24:06.758 --> 00:24:09.998
3.75, three and a three and three quarters acres.

00:24:10.018 --> 00:24:11.798
Plenty of land dude riverfront.

00:24:11.798 --> 00:24:12.438
Right, right, right, right.

00:24:12.438 --> 00:24:13.837
Riverfront, riverfront property.

00:24:13.958 --> 00:24:15.877
I mean, something unveil this would cost me 8 million.

00:24:16.587 --> 00:24:17.917
Nothing on, you know, so.

00:24:18.542 --> 00:24:21.403
But you know, it didn't look like it had, it was still a chunk though, when you bought it.

00:24:21.403 --> 00:24:21.563
Right?

00:24:21.742 --> 00:24:23.002
It didn't look like it had a lot of value.

00:24:23.282 --> 00:24:25.563
'cause you know, there's no electricity or road remember, right?

00:24:25.563 --> 00:24:25.843
Mm-hmm.

00:24:25.982 --> 00:24:28.363
So we were just like, we were smitten.

00:24:28.363 --> 00:24:29.083
We loved it.

00:24:29.303 --> 00:24:32.163
Uh, they let us even stay in the cabin for a weekend, chest it out.

00:24:32.163 --> 00:24:32.643
Oh, it had cabin

00:24:32.643 --> 00:24:34.563
already on it had a little cabin tin cabin.

00:24:34.792 --> 00:24:35.442
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:35.442 --> 00:24:35.522
A

00:24:35.522 --> 00:24:36.282
little tin roof cabin.

00:24:36.702 --> 00:24:39.202
And the bathroom was like an outhouse up the hill.

00:24:39.863 --> 00:24:41.002
You know, the long

00:24:41.002 --> 00:24:44.522
drop dude, deep pit.

00:24:44.702 --> 00:24:44.923
Yep.

00:24:46.942 --> 00:24:47.643
One, two.

00:24:47.823 --> 00:24:49.163
And she did that pregnant.

00:24:49.343 --> 00:24:49.883
She did that.

00:24:50.103 --> 00:24:50.323
Oh

00:24:50.323 --> 00:24:50.442
yeah.

00:24:50.502 --> 00:24:57.722
In the years to come, the stories only get better because I'm going down there at six months pregnant, having to go up the hill to use the bathroom in the rain.

00:24:57.903 --> 00:24:58.482
You are a good

00:24:58.482 --> 00:24:58.762
sport.

00:24:59.823 --> 00:25:00.563
It, it was crazy.

00:25:00.593 --> 00:25:00.883
Yeah.

00:25:00.883 --> 00:25:01.083
Yeah.

00:25:01.303 --> 00:25:05.323
Um, but yeah, I think what we fell in love with was the view, so.

00:25:06.028 --> 00:25:13.032
Imagine you're sitting on, uh, the side of a mountain on a deck looking to the east, and the sun is sitting behind you.

00:25:13.093 --> 00:25:15.712
So the, the mountain range in front is illuminated

00:25:17.022 --> 00:25:17.633
Argentina,

00:25:17.772 --> 00:25:18.633
so it's like pink.

00:25:18.823 --> 00:25:19.113
Yeah.

00:25:19.113 --> 00:25:19.272
Yeah.

00:25:19.292 --> 00:25:19.512
And

00:25:19.512 --> 00:25:19.952
it's gorgeous.

00:25:20.012 --> 00:25:22.992
And that whole section of mountain is a protected preserve.

00:25:22.992 --> 00:25:23.393
Mm-hmm.

00:25:23.573 --> 00:25:26.712
And there's like this huge waterfall coming down in our view.

00:25:27.073 --> 00:25:29.032
I mean, we looked at it and we were like, whoa, should we buy this?

00:25:29.492 --> 00:25:31.232
And then we saw this and much, was it double rainbow?

00:25:31.333 --> 00:25:31.633
We were like

00:25:32.792 --> 00:25:33.272
18 grand.

00:25:33.813 --> 00:25:35.712
And to us, back then, it was like the world.

00:25:35.913 --> 00:25:40.113
I mean, we had to borrow, like, I remember her dad's in real estate, my dad's an attorney.

00:25:40.212 --> 00:25:46.673
And you know, we were like, we're gonna give this guy, you know, we have five grand on us and we're gonna give'em, and then we'll come back next year.

00:25:46.772 --> 00:25:48.712
And yeah, we paid them over time.

00:25:48.932 --> 00:25:50.393
My parents were like, we weren't even married.

00:25:50.393 --> 00:25:50.792
You're crazy.

00:25:50.893 --> 00:25:52.472
You're never gonna get the title for this thing.

00:25:52.573 --> 00:25:53.153
You're nuts.

00:25:53.613 --> 00:25:54.792
You're just throwing money out the window.

00:25:55.113 --> 00:25:57.673
I remember, I remember we came up with this thing saying, you know, we.

00:25:58.357 --> 00:26:00.938
Uh, this little title or little agreement on

00:26:00.938 --> 00:26:02.097
a Hello Kitty notepad.

00:26:02.188 --> 00:26:02.657
Right, right.

00:26:02.657 --> 00:26:02.817
Okay.

00:26:02.817 --> 00:26:06.377
But we came up with ours and we were embarrassed to give it to'em'cause it was like a handshake.

00:26:06.377 --> 00:26:07.218
These are gauchos.

00:26:07.758 --> 00:26:09.897
All they have is their word and their pride.

00:26:09.897 --> 00:26:10.417
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:10.417 --> 00:26:12.978
You know, so we went up, did your family background.

00:26:13.982 --> 00:26:15.393
Help qualify you with

00:26:15.393 --> 00:26:15.553
them?

00:26:15.742 --> 00:26:16.032
Kind

00:26:16.032 --> 00:26:16.153
of.

00:26:16.303 --> 00:26:18.153
Kind of, because I was, she didn't speak Spanish.

00:26:18.432 --> 00:26:20.073
I didn't really speak Spanish, but they liked me.

00:26:20.173 --> 00:26:25.992
You know, I knew, I knew the, I knew the farm life and uh, they, they definitely liked me, but at the same time, it's just business maybe.

00:26:25.992 --> 00:26:26.272
Yeah.

00:26:26.272 --> 00:26:26.833
Maybe they were impressed

00:26:26.833 --> 00:26:28.673
with his riding'cause he is good at riding a horse.

00:26:28.813 --> 00:26:29.192
Oh, okay.

00:26:29.192 --> 00:26:30.113
So that might've impressed them.

00:26:30.113 --> 00:26:30.353
Yeah.

00:26:30.353 --> 00:26:30.472
Yeah.

00:26:30.613 --> 00:26:31.952
But we were friends with the youngest.

00:26:32.518 --> 00:26:37.857
Son, if you, uh, the story was that the youngest son brought us to his brother's place and showed it to us.

00:26:37.857 --> 00:26:38.057
Mm-hmm.

00:26:38.137 --> 00:26:38.218
Yeah.

00:26:38.218 --> 00:26:38.337
Yeah.

00:26:38.357 --> 00:26:39.178
So can you, so I

00:26:39.178 --> 00:26:39.897
didn't really know the brother.

00:26:39.958 --> 00:26:50.258
But anyway, so we make this agreement and then I tell my dad and she and I tell her dad who's a real estate guy out in Indiana, and you know, they're like, well, you're gonna have to sign this agreement and you're gonna have to make sure.

00:26:50.357 --> 00:26:54.137
So we sent, made up this little tiny, like four paragraph thing right.

00:26:54.147 --> 00:26:57.617
About, you know, we'll this, if I pay you this time, if I pay you this, this I'll get you water.

00:26:57.617 --> 00:27:00.897
When my landscaping, or we wanted to make sure we had water always.

00:27:00.958 --> 00:27:01.258
Oh, right.

00:27:01.258 --> 00:27:04.938
Because, you know, if we didn't have the water coming off the hill, the property's pretty much Right.

00:27:04.938 --> 00:27:05.097
Right.

00:27:05.397 --> 00:27:06.417
You can't dip outta the, the water.

00:27:06.417 --> 00:27:07.057
And they owned all around us.

00:27:07.057 --> 00:27:08.577
Don't get access to the water out of the river.

00:27:08.877 --> 00:27:11.978
We do get access to the water out, but it's easier if it's gravity.

00:27:12.478 --> 00:27:14.057
We had a, we had water above us.

00:27:14.087 --> 00:27:14.538
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:14.667 --> 00:27:15.137
Makes sense.

00:27:15.238 --> 00:27:22.097
Anyway, point is, is we brought this, and my one friend was like, I wouldn't even take that to Chocho because you're wor you know, if he's, that's

00:27:22.097 --> 00:27:22.577
the owner at the time.

00:27:22.837 --> 00:27:23.258
Chocho.

00:27:23.258 --> 00:27:23.417
Yeah.

00:27:23.417 --> 00:27:26.337
And, and I was like, okay, but I gotta have some sort of agreement.

00:27:26.337 --> 00:27:28.298
He is like, well, Chilean's are very legal, so.

00:27:28.837 --> 00:27:29.607
Just take it to him.

00:27:29.678 --> 00:27:29.968
Yeah.

00:27:30.387 --> 00:27:31.647
And the worst he could say is No.

00:27:31.647 --> 00:27:31.807
Yeah.

00:27:31.807 --> 00:27:32.728
Just pay me when you get back.

00:27:32.728 --> 00:27:33.087
All of it.

00:27:33.087 --> 00:27:33.327
Yeah.

00:27:33.327 --> 00:27:33.488
Yeah.

00:27:33.488 --> 00:27:34.647
It's because I wanted to pay him some.

00:27:34.647 --> 00:27:34.847
Yeah.

00:27:34.847 --> 00:27:41.167
Then pay him a little bit more when the landscaping started and I got my fee going out here, and then pay him the rest when I got back and we went to the notia.

00:27:41.907 --> 00:27:44.768
So anyway, I bring him this thing and have him sign it and he's like.

00:27:45.337 --> 00:27:45.917
Hm, okay.

00:27:45.917 --> 00:27:46.438
I'll sign it.

00:27:46.438 --> 00:27:51.637
And then he breaks out like this Hello kitty notepad, like as if it's gonna hold up in, in court.

00:27:51.857 --> 00:27:53.357
And he is like, well, you sign this.

00:27:53.417 --> 00:27:54.718
And I was like, sure, sure.

00:27:54.718 --> 00:27:54.958
Yeah.

00:27:54.988 --> 00:27:55.958
This is in Spanish, right?

00:27:55.958 --> 00:27:56.157
Yeah.

00:27:56.258 --> 00:27:58.157
You can't even read it and you can read it.

00:27:58.397 --> 00:27:58.758
I, I

00:27:58.758 --> 00:28:03.357
studied Spanish all through high school and college, so I was pretty much the one doing all the interpreting.

00:28:03.357 --> 00:28:03.877
Yeah, fair.

00:28:04.178 --> 00:28:05.557
It was really stressful, but we got it.

00:28:05.738 --> 00:28:06.157
We got it

00:28:06.458 --> 00:28:10.718
and we sent all the money when we said we would, we got the title, we went to the notary, everything's signed.

00:28:11.178 --> 00:28:11.397
And,

00:28:11.397 --> 00:28:14.117
and what's, if I may, what's the property now?

00:28:14.188 --> 00:28:16.637
Have you built it out some or is it still okay?

00:28:16.637 --> 00:28:16.917
Yeah,

00:28:16.928 --> 00:28:24.317
we've done stuff, we've got three structures on it, and then we got like a little party room down by the river that's got like a chimney because it rains a lot money.

00:28:24.317 --> 00:28:24.837
So like amount of money.

00:28:24.998 --> 00:28:25.157
Families rent

00:28:25.157 --> 00:28:27.278
the whole place a lot of times or people just come and stay.

00:28:27.417 --> 00:28:27.758
Oh, okay.

00:28:27.758 --> 00:28:28.117
No, we

00:28:28.117 --> 00:28:30.077
keep it closed, so it's still kind of Oh, just your place?

00:28:30.157 --> 00:28:30.758
A seasonal cabin.

00:28:31.097 --> 00:28:31.557
Oh, okay.

00:28:31.948 --> 00:28:32.238
Okay.

00:28:32.458 --> 00:28:32.877
So you're

00:28:32.877 --> 00:28:33.637
not monetizing it yet really?

00:28:34.163 --> 00:28:35.462
Really we aren't yet.

00:28:35.843 --> 00:28:37.542
Um, but that's, we got plans too.

00:28:37.542 --> 00:28:40.702
That's because it's kind of complicated, like to get the water is this whole system.

00:28:40.843 --> 00:28:46.222
And then the heat is the califon system, which is that instant hot water system where you run it through the, so

00:28:46.222 --> 00:28:47.742
you're still kind of building the infrastructure to be able to.

00:28:48.542 --> 00:28:49.113
Sort of right.

00:28:49.522 --> 00:28:49.873
Maybe.

00:28:50.063 --> 00:28:50.353
Yeah.

00:28:50.653 --> 00:28:51.432
If we wanted, it's pretty

00:28:51.432 --> 00:28:52.192
great if we wanted

00:28:52.192 --> 00:28:59.192
to do a commercial the way, like we have hot water, we have running water, we have, uh, electricity, refrigerators, microwave, you know, everything.

00:28:59.192 --> 00:28:59.673
But we

00:28:59.673 --> 00:29:00.593
didn't before, but we do now.

00:29:00.772 --> 00:29:05.432
If we, if we wanted to do something commercial, we'd have to, you know, probably put up a really fine structure.

00:29:05.542 --> 00:29:06.432
Yeah, I know, I know.

00:29:06.432 --> 00:29:08.272
It needs to be done in that realm.

00:29:08.272 --> 00:29:10.952
And if you know you're paying top dollar, you're not gonna wanna sleep in a cab.

00:29:10.952 --> 00:29:14.633
Even in today's world, uh, yeah, it's gonna be another half million dollar investment or something.

00:29:14.633 --> 00:29:15.232
Yeah, exactly.

00:29:15.232 --> 00:29:16.353
But to that level, yeah.

00:29:16.452 --> 00:29:18.833
But, uh, yeah, location, location, location.

00:29:18.833 --> 00:29:19.313
Even today's, but

00:29:19.313 --> 00:29:19.992
down there, like mm-hmm.

00:29:20.583 --> 00:29:23.492
50 grand don't go as far as it used to in Chi either, probably.

00:29:23.633 --> 00:29:24.212
No, it doesn't.

00:29:24.553 --> 00:29:28.053
But it's, what it is, is it's big enough to fit our family.

00:29:28.272 --> 00:29:29.093
We can stay there.

00:29:29.353 --> 00:29:34.212
Um, we can open it up for a month and just stay, you know, and use it.

00:29:34.553 --> 00:29:38.333
And then we have, uh, you know, the relationship ended up being amazing with this family.

00:29:38.673 --> 00:29:40.573
So Chocho is like, you know, a brothers to us.

00:29:40.573 --> 00:29:40.932
Us grandpa.

00:29:40.962 --> 00:29:41.252
Yeah.

00:29:41.343 --> 00:29:42.692
Uncle, uncle Chocho.

00:29:42.752 --> 00:29:49.292
Um, their youngest one who's my age, PE Yuka, he's like a dear friend that we've been friends with for 20 years.

00:29:49.393 --> 00:29:54.053
His mother and I were really close and she taught me how to make cheese milk cows and make cheese.

00:29:54.123 --> 00:29:54.413
Yeah.

00:29:54.413 --> 00:29:54.532
Yeah.

00:29:54.712 --> 00:29:56.653
She passed away last year and she'll be missed.

00:29:56.873 --> 00:29:58.972
And so the whole family is super cool.

00:29:58.972 --> 00:29:59.452
They're amazing.

00:29:59.643 --> 00:30:01.292
They invite us to all their barbecues.

00:30:01.323 --> 00:30:02.053
What a neat thing.

00:30:02.153 --> 00:30:04.532
Um, so for two or three months a year, you guys are down there?

00:30:04.712 --> 00:30:05.772
Or not that long usually.

00:30:06.053 --> 00:30:06.492
'cause it's hard.

00:30:06.512 --> 00:30:06.732
It

00:30:06.732 --> 00:30:07.373
used to be longer.

00:30:07.522 --> 00:30:07.813
Yeah.

00:30:07.813 --> 00:30:10.532
But we have teenage kids now, so there's just a lot to that.

00:30:10.532 --> 00:30:10.972
There's

00:30:10.972 --> 00:30:11.452
some resistance.

00:30:11.522 --> 00:30:11.813
Yeah.

00:30:12.133 --> 00:30:13.053
Well, they wanna go.

00:30:13.083 --> 00:30:16.173
It's just a matter of taking'em out during the middle of the school year.

00:30:16.202 --> 00:30:16.492
Yeah.

00:30:17.208 --> 00:30:17.498
Yeah.

00:30:17.847 --> 00:30:19.097
It's more that, um,

00:30:19.478 --> 00:30:22.778
it could be C-F-O-C-I-E and homeschool mom.

00:30:22.837 --> 00:30:23.258
Mm-hmm.

00:30:23.337 --> 00:30:23.458
Yeah.

00:30:23.458 --> 00:30:23.617
It's

00:30:23.617 --> 00:30:23.698
true.

00:30:23.998 --> 00:30:28.498
It could, I did the homeschool thing when we were, when they were little and we were down there.

00:30:28.498 --> 00:30:28.698
Oh, really?

00:30:28.698 --> 00:30:30.057
Second and third grade type of thing.

00:30:30.208 --> 00:30:31.057
It's, it's kind of hard.

00:30:31.377 --> 00:30:31.577
Yeah.

00:30:31.758 --> 00:30:38.218
So if you took away the fly fishing and the lodge and the work and all the romanticism of all that the people down there are Yeah.

00:30:38.518 --> 00:30:41.617
Are what is, so that's what keeps, keeps you coming back life.

00:30:41.617 --> 00:30:41.897
Yeah.

00:30:41.917 --> 00:30:42.778
So, yeah.

00:30:42.778 --> 00:30:43.018
That's cool.

00:30:43.018 --> 00:30:47.577
Even though I haven't been involved commercially down there for 10 years or more.

00:30:47.778 --> 00:30:51.778
I mean, going down there, seeing all now, all of our friends, we used to all be rafting bums.

00:30:51.827 --> 00:30:52.178
Right.

00:30:52.178 --> 00:30:53.938
And now my friend runs a rafting company.

00:30:54.817 --> 00:30:55.698
Somebody else's a restaurant.

00:30:55.698 --> 00:30:55.897
Yeah.

00:30:56.048 --> 00:30:56.738
It's a restaurant.

00:30:57.317 --> 00:30:58.938
All of our friends own businesses now.

00:30:58.938 --> 00:30:59.178
Cool.

00:30:59.178 --> 00:31:00.018
So it's kind of cool.

00:31:00.198 --> 00:31:03.778
And now our kids are getting, like, older, so, um, how old are your kids now?

00:31:04.117 --> 00:31:05.057
12 and 14.

00:31:05.167 --> 00:31:05.458
Okay.

00:31:05.458 --> 00:31:05.657
12

00:31:05.678 --> 00:31:06.218
and 14.

00:31:06.357 --> 00:31:07.458
And so are their kids.

00:31:07.637 --> 00:31:11.577
So some of our dearest friends are raising kids the same age as us, so we go and have.

00:31:12.428 --> 00:31:13.518
They call it a pja.

00:31:14.028 --> 00:31:15.198
It's a pajama party.

00:31:15.557 --> 00:31:19.518
And so we'll go and stay at their house for like the New Year's Day, new Year's Eve.

00:31:19.518 --> 00:31:19.877
Mm-hmm.

00:31:20.057 --> 00:31:22.198
And let the girls and the kids and the boys play.

00:31:22.198 --> 00:31:24.518
And then what a special, we stay up late and have barbecue.

00:31:24.518 --> 00:31:24.998
You know, I dunno, we've

00:31:24.998 --> 00:31:25.238
talked about it.

00:31:25.238 --> 00:31:28.917
But Jill and I host exchange students, Uhhuh, and we'll have our 13th coming soon.

00:31:29.018 --> 00:31:35.317
And so we get these little, you know, three to six to 10 month seasons of having this cultural experience.

00:31:35.337 --> 00:31:46.117
But that durable cultural experience and just long lasting friendships, it sounds like such a different kind of thing than most Americans or even most people, frankly.

00:31:46.117 --> 00:31:46.678
Experience.

00:31:46.907 --> 00:31:47.198
Yeah.

00:31:47.377 --> 00:31:47.758
It really is.

00:31:47.817 --> 00:31:50.157
So kudos to you for cultivating that continuously.

00:31:50.198 --> 00:31:50.998
It's touching for sure.

00:31:51.268 --> 00:31:52.157
Yeah, it's really nice.

00:31:52.307 --> 00:31:55.798
It's nice to to know, uh, these relationships are so strong.

00:31:55.978 --> 00:31:58.798
It had been several years since I had been down there like five Oh wow.

00:31:58.817 --> 00:31:59.198
Or something.

00:31:59.597 --> 00:32:01.317
'cause of COVID, et cetera, et cetera.

00:32:01.317 --> 00:32:01.478
Sure.

00:32:01.698 --> 00:32:03.478
So I hadn't seen a bunch of people in a long time.

00:32:03.478 --> 00:32:06.557
And I get down there, I'm like, man, do are, are they still my friends or am I gonna.

00:32:07.573 --> 00:32:09.313
You know, be, be all alone down here.

00:32:09.313 --> 00:32:10.153
Am I gonna see people?

00:32:10.153 --> 00:32:10.673
What am I gonna do?

00:32:10.813 --> 00:32:11.232
The bored?

00:32:11.423 --> 00:32:14.792
Next thing I know, my entire calendar is full because they've invited me.

00:32:14.792 --> 00:32:16.553
Everybody can't wait to see that something every night.

00:32:16.992 --> 00:32:17.353
It's crazy.

00:32:17.492 --> 00:32:20.113
Um, they're just the most loving kind people.

00:32:20.333 --> 00:32:23.752
And they, they drink mate, and they sit around and talk and they have all the time in the world.

00:32:23.752 --> 00:32:24.032
For you

00:32:24.423 --> 00:32:26.792
mate is a fermented drink?

00:32:27.012 --> 00:32:29.673
No, it's kind of like coffee, but it's they

00:32:29.962 --> 00:32:30.472
yerba mate.

00:32:30.692 --> 00:32:31.073
Oh yeah.

00:32:31.383 --> 00:32:33.272
It's that loose leaf tea's.

00:32:33.272 --> 00:32:33.353
Yeah.

00:32:33.353 --> 00:32:33.553
Yeah.

00:32:33.613 --> 00:32:37.593
And you put it in a little special cup and then you have a special straw with like a strainer at the bottom.

00:32:37.782 --> 00:32:38.073
Okay.

00:32:38.252 --> 00:32:41.553
You pour the water in and you strain, you sip it through the straw.

00:32:42.012 --> 00:32:42.833
So they share that.

00:32:43.093 --> 00:32:43.432
Oh wow.

00:32:43.432 --> 00:32:44.153
They pass it around.

00:32:44.712 --> 00:32:44.833
Interesting.

00:32:44.833 --> 00:32:46.633
There's a person who pours their drink and you fill the

00:32:46.633 --> 00:32:47.553
water back up kind of almost.

00:32:47.573 --> 00:32:48.192
Yes, yes.

00:32:48.192 --> 00:32:48.313
Yeah.

00:32:48.333 --> 00:32:48.553
Fun.

00:32:48.583 --> 00:32:48.873
Yeah.

00:32:48.873 --> 00:32:53.593
And you don't get, you know, a lot of people in North America always think, you know, south America owe drugs and cartels.

00:32:53.593 --> 00:32:54.633
Well, once you get passed.

00:32:55.538 --> 00:32:56.667
Peru and you go south.

00:32:56.667 --> 00:32:58.587
Like there's, I mean, there's drugs obviously.

00:32:58.587 --> 00:33:04.228
Sure you can get whatever you want, but at the same time, you know, there's not the cartel around, there's no culture around it, there's no violence, no crime.

00:33:04.298 --> 00:33:05.387
It's very conservative old world.

00:33:05.708 --> 00:33:08.827
I have a, uh, I have an interesting, uh, offering for you guys.

00:33:08.968 --> 00:33:10.587
Uh, tell me what you think that is.

00:33:10.738 --> 00:33:11.228
Take a sip.

00:33:11.577 --> 00:33:13.067
It's, it's safe, I promise.

00:33:16.327 --> 00:33:18.228
Tomato okay.

00:33:22.867 --> 00:33:23.268
Kombucha.

00:33:23.337 --> 00:33:24.347
Yeah, definitely kombucha.

00:33:24.407 --> 00:33:25.268
It is kombucha.

00:33:25.407 --> 00:33:28.387
And, uh, can you have any hints on what I used?

00:33:28.567 --> 00:33:32.587
Uh, either for flavoring or sweetener in, because sometimes I do brew it with yerba mate, like

00:33:32.627 --> 00:33:34.867
a Chile, like a little chili pepper or something.

00:33:35.248 --> 00:33:44.548
No, but it's intriguing, uh, because it does have a, kind of a funny, it has a kick overlay that's, it's actually, uh, I replaced most of the sugar with black strap molasses.

00:33:44.968 --> 00:33:45.188
Oh.

00:33:45.407 --> 00:33:46.587
So it's like super dark.

00:33:46.587 --> 00:33:46.988
Mm-hmm.

00:33:47.248 --> 00:33:49.948
And, uh, earthy kind of, and I think I used.

00:33:50.863 --> 00:33:53.752
Blueberry herbal tea to give it a little bit more earthy.

00:33:53.752 --> 00:33:56.673
Still it's a little bit rough actually, if I'm being honest.

00:33:57.073 --> 00:33:57.593
I like rough stuff.

00:33:57.772 --> 00:33:58.833
It was in there for a while.

00:33:59.383 --> 00:34:00.633
Some So you're fu kombucha

00:34:00.752 --> 00:34:00.833
maker.

00:34:01.343 --> 00:34:03.712
I've been kombucha for over five years.

00:34:03.732 --> 00:34:04.752
If you want a mother, let me know.

00:34:04.782 --> 00:34:07.232
I've, and I've got all the, all the stuff.

00:34:07.583 --> 00:34:07.992
Yeah, yeah.

00:34:08.012 --> 00:34:10.072
No, I've, uh, in January of 2020.

00:34:10.422 --> 00:34:10.713
Okay.

00:34:10.733 --> 00:34:13.952
So I've been drinking basically a gallon of kombucha every week since then.

00:34:14.552 --> 00:34:15.992
'cause I have two one gallon things.

00:34:16.012 --> 00:34:16.753
So you must

00:34:16.753 --> 00:34:18.072
be a sourdough guy then too?

00:34:18.652 --> 00:34:18.873
No.

00:34:19.103 --> 00:34:19.393
Okay.

00:34:19.853 --> 00:34:20.632
Um, I'm not yet.

00:34:20.632 --> 00:34:23.112
But if you have sourdough, you'd like to trade for kombucha.

00:34:23.112 --> 00:34:23.432
Right.

00:34:23.532 --> 00:34:24.072
I'm your man.

00:34:24.313 --> 00:34:25.672
I was thinking are you in the he mother?

00:34:26.112 --> 00:34:26.793
I would say so.

00:34:27.213 --> 00:34:27.552
At least.

00:34:27.693 --> 00:34:28.793
Uh, I try to be.

00:34:28.862 --> 00:34:29.152
Yeah.

00:34:29.222 --> 00:34:29.512
Yeah.

00:34:29.932 --> 00:34:30.753
She very much is.

00:34:31.833 --> 00:34:32.373
Tag along.

00:34:32.492 --> 00:34:34.492
I mean, I, I'm into health, food, and whole food.

00:34:34.652 --> 00:34:35.092
I, yeah.

00:34:35.452 --> 00:34:38.893
I, you know, I can't say I'm the healthiest either, but I don't eat any junk food.

00:34:38.943 --> 00:34:39.293
Right.

00:34:39.313 --> 00:34:40.572
And out and no sugar pops.

00:34:40.572 --> 00:34:41.693
That's kind of me too.

00:34:41.693 --> 00:34:43.572
Mostly like, I try, but I love to eat.

00:34:43.612 --> 00:34:44.012
I eat a lot.

00:34:44.012 --> 00:34:44.172
Right.

00:34:44.172 --> 00:34:44.893
I eat probably too much.

00:34:45.132 --> 00:34:50.693
I eat occasional pasta and stuff, but mostly we're like salads and vegetables and fruits and meat.

00:34:51.043 --> 00:34:51.333
Nice.

00:34:51.552 --> 00:34:52.132
And that's about it.

00:34:52.193 --> 00:34:52.413
Yep.

00:34:52.603 --> 00:34:54.452
Yeah, she's, and a lot of kombucha.

00:34:54.583 --> 00:34:55.092
She's very

00:34:55.092 --> 00:34:55.652
conscious about this.

00:34:55.652 --> 00:34:55.813
Yeah.

00:34:55.813 --> 00:35:01.813
I wrote a, you, if you've, uh, I have a blog from years ago now, I guess July of 19 probably.

00:35:02.233 --> 00:35:04.132
Uh, give me liberty or give me health.

00:35:04.362 --> 00:35:04.652
Nice.

00:35:04.672 --> 00:35:05.092
Oh nice.

00:35:05.152 --> 00:35:05.373
Uh,

00:35:05.373 --> 00:35:09.572
and it's basically, you know, if you want to have freedom, keep your ass out of the healthcare system.

00:35:09.572 --> 00:35:09.773
Yeah.

00:35:09.853 --> 00:35:15.492
'cause those fuckers will attach their prescriptions to you and their pinchers, and they'll suck you in until you're on eight of them.

00:35:15.492 --> 00:35:22.893
That's, I think, the new healthcare system I'm on, is don't go into the hospital, stay healthy and stay upright as long as possible.

00:35:22.893 --> 00:35:23.172
Yeah.

00:35:23.172 --> 00:35:23.693
Kind of get

00:35:23.693 --> 00:35:26.612
checkups, get checked out, you know, do scans or things.

00:35:26.793 --> 00:35:27.012
I'm.

00:35:28.018 --> 00:35:29.467
Colonoscopy in the fall.

00:35:29.807 --> 00:35:30.027
Ooh,

00:35:31.047 --> 00:35:31.268
yes.

00:35:31.818 --> 00:35:32.347
Love that word.

00:35:32.398 --> 00:35:33.307
50 last year.

00:35:33.487 --> 00:35:39.507
And my doctor, I got a new doctor and she was like, what's your excuse for not getting a colonoscopy last year when you turn 50?

00:35:39.527 --> 00:35:41.668
And I was like, I hear they suck.

00:35:44.307 --> 00:35:55.427
I don't want to really, we always joke because whenever we're, we tend to be around our second generation, older than us, the word colonoscopy always happens to come up around the dinner table or something.

00:35:55.498 --> 00:35:57.827
It's like, why do we have to be talking about this right now?

00:35:57.938 --> 00:36:00.827
It's like, can you watch the dog while we go do this?

00:36:00.827 --> 00:36:03.588
It's like, Hey, hey, well, during my colonoscopy,

00:36:05.018 --> 00:36:06.628
nothing like colonoscopy stories.

00:36:06.637 --> 00:36:07.827
Would you like this, by the way?

00:36:07.847 --> 00:36:09.668
If you, if you jive with that or you can have that.

00:36:09.708 --> 00:36:10.708
I, yeah.

00:36:10.708 --> 00:36:11.987
I got a whole jug outside there.

00:36:12.467 --> 00:36:13.027
I have a question.

00:36:13.367 --> 00:36:16.427
You were talking about having 13, uh, exchange students.

00:36:16.427 --> 00:36:16.628
Yeah.

00:36:16.827 --> 00:36:17.188
Exchange students.

00:36:17.188 --> 00:36:17.907
Have you had a Chilean.

00:36:18.603 --> 00:36:19.023
Not yet.

00:36:19.023 --> 00:36:19.222
No.

00:36:19.222 --> 00:36:19.503
Okay.

00:36:19.563 --> 00:36:22.143
But if you've got a family that wants to send us one, we would do that.

00:36:22.603 --> 00:36:24.143
Um, incoming is an Italian.

00:36:24.603 --> 00:36:24.983
Oh, nice

00:36:25.132 --> 00:36:25.742
girl, Sarah.

00:36:25.842 --> 00:36:28.503
And she's the little sister of Enrico who stayed with us.

00:36:29.237 --> 00:36:29.947
Three years ago.

00:36:29.947 --> 00:36:30.228
Nice.

00:36:30.228 --> 00:36:30.927
Oh, that's cool.

00:36:30.992 --> 00:36:31.563
Yeah, so

00:36:31.563 --> 00:36:34.402
it's our first like inter family kind of thing.

00:36:34.402 --> 00:36:34.762
That's cool.

00:36:34.782 --> 00:36:40.563
And so I hope that in the future we'll be able to go to Italy a couple, few times.

00:36:40.623 --> 00:36:41.043
Mm-hmm.

00:36:41.143 --> 00:36:45.523
And, and maybe even host them back here again with their,'cause their parents are our age now.

00:36:45.523 --> 00:36:45.802
What?

00:36:45.802 --> 00:36:45.922
Right.

00:36:46.233 --> 00:36:46.523
Cool.

00:36:46.523 --> 00:36:47.523
Younger a lot of times.

00:36:47.782 --> 00:36:48.443
What's the context

00:36:48.543 --> 00:36:49.003
of the

00:36:49.163 --> 00:36:49.322
exchange?

00:36:49.382 --> 00:36:51.083
Are you, are they going to school at cs u?

00:36:51.302 --> 00:36:52.163
Are they No.

00:36:52.163 --> 00:36:52.963
Hanging, usually hanging out.

00:36:52.963 --> 00:36:53.123
Usually

00:36:53.123 --> 00:36:55.282
we, we've done either Rotary Club or Greenheart.

00:36:55.393 --> 00:36:55.682
Cool.

00:36:55.862 --> 00:36:59.922
And uh, Greenheart is what we've been doing lately, and it's either a semester or a full year.

00:37:00.393 --> 00:37:02.603
Last year we did a full year with a young man from Finland.

00:37:03.032 --> 00:37:04.003
What age are these people?

00:37:04.182 --> 00:37:04.402
Um,

00:37:04.402 --> 00:37:07.762
and they're six, sorry, 16, 15, high, 18.

00:37:07.913 --> 00:37:08.202
Okay.

00:37:08.262 --> 00:37:09.123
So they go to putter.

00:37:09.233 --> 00:37:09.523
Okay.

00:37:09.543 --> 00:37:13.362
Um, Jill and I live on, on LA Port, so it's a mile and a half west by bicycle.

00:37:13.532 --> 00:37:14.362
Where are your neighbors?

00:37:14.862 --> 00:37:16.322
Are you I did, I didn't know if I knew that.

00:37:16.322 --> 00:37:17.643
Overland in Mulberry area.

00:37:17.643 --> 00:37:17.922
Okay.

00:37:17.922 --> 00:37:18.563
Yeah, right down the road.

00:37:18.722 --> 00:37:19.682
Putter's our backyard.

00:37:19.713 --> 00:37:20.003
Yeah.

00:37:20.003 --> 00:37:20.163
Yeah.

00:37:20.262 --> 00:37:20.802
So, uh,

00:37:21.103 --> 00:37:27.922
so yeah, they go to putter high school if they're, if they should be a senior, they can't be a senior anymore, they have to be a junior'cause they don't let'em graduate.

00:37:28.422 --> 00:37:31.123
Mm of whether or not the classes count for some reason.

00:37:31.472 --> 00:37:31.762
Okay.

00:37:31.762 --> 00:37:32.922
So that's annoying.

00:37:32.983 --> 00:37:40.362
And for many kids the classes don't count'cause they're not hard enough to qualify for the Italian school system system or the finish school system System.

00:37:40.362 --> 00:37:40.523
Mm-hmm.

00:37:40.603 --> 00:37:40.643
System.

00:37:40.643 --> 00:37:40.722
Yeah.

00:37:40.722 --> 00:37:48.802
We're both strong believers in, Mary has always said like, as soon as our kids are of age 18, we're setting'em on a backpacking trip through a different country.

00:37:48.862 --> 00:37:49.922
You know, where go.

00:37:50.242 --> 00:38:00.163
'cause we think submersing yourself in those cultures be, you know, experiencing d the way different people live and, and just understanding humanity more is like so important.

00:38:00.233 --> 00:38:00.643
Well, lemme

00:38:00.643 --> 00:38:01.882
know if you wanna get connected with Greenheart.

00:38:01.882 --> 00:38:03.443
They're always looking for kids to send out.

00:38:03.842 --> 00:38:03.963
Absolutely.

00:38:03.963 --> 00:38:05.242
Well, um, and.

00:38:06.253 --> 00:38:08.603
We've decided not to take fifteens anymore.

00:38:08.693 --> 00:38:11.362
We've had a couple of, not quite mature, you know, but mm-hmm.

00:38:11.713 --> 00:38:12.322
They get there.

00:38:12.382 --> 00:38:18.123
But 16, 17 year olds are probably, especially with you guys, dragging'em down to chili all the time and stuff, they're probably ready to go.

00:38:18.233 --> 00:38:18.523
Yeah.

00:38:18.902 --> 00:38:19.523
Um, yeah,

00:38:19.523 --> 00:38:20.523
our kids are pretty well traveled.

00:38:20.672 --> 00:38:20.963
Yeah.

00:38:20.963 --> 00:38:21.963
Doesn't nothing surprise me.

00:38:21.963 --> 00:38:23.563
Should we talk about landscaping at all?

00:38:24.443 --> 00:38:26.202
I guess I'm just kidding.

00:38:27.023 --> 00:38:30.922
So tell me about like, who, uh, who your customers are.

00:38:30.952 --> 00:38:32.282
What do you guys do for them?

00:38:32.463 --> 00:38:33.322
Is it full service?

00:38:33.422 --> 00:38:34.643
Do you do installs?

00:38:34.643 --> 00:38:34.882
Yeah.

00:38:34.882 --> 00:38:35.523
Do you do maintenance?

00:38:35.523 --> 00:38:35.722
Mm-hmm.

00:38:35.833 --> 00:38:36.123
It's

00:38:36.123 --> 00:38:36.523
full service.

00:38:36.702 --> 00:38:41.003
We do install, we do maintenance design too, porting in the winter.

00:38:41.222 --> 00:38:44.802
We do design, we do irrigation, we do snow removal.

00:38:45.463 --> 00:38:56.163
Um, we're kind of trans transforming our business away from, we do some high end residential, but we've really been taking on like commercial properties lately.

00:38:56.193 --> 00:38:56.483
Okay.

00:38:56.483 --> 00:38:57.603
As far as the maintenance goes.

00:38:57.742 --> 00:39:01.963
And that's kind of bled into the, uh, install and construction side of things.

00:39:02.568 --> 00:39:05.108
Um, but we still do a lot of residential stuff.

00:39:05.137 --> 00:39:05.668
Just regular.

00:39:05.737 --> 00:39:06.027
Yeah.

00:39:06.297 --> 00:39:07.387
Regular residential.

00:39:07.387 --> 00:39:08.347
Turn on your sprinklers.

00:39:08.608 --> 00:39:09.228
Mow, mow your lawns.

00:39:09.288 --> 00:39:09.507
Yes.

00:39:09.527 --> 00:39:10.268
Do your fertilizer.

00:39:10.268 --> 00:39:10.628
Mm-hmm.

00:39:10.807 --> 00:39:13.947
Do you do just lawn mow mowing and stuff, or you kind of want more than just

00:39:14.128 --> 00:39:14.987
No, we're full service.

00:39:15.128 --> 00:39:18.427
So when we take on a new client, we like, we'll make a grass look nice.

00:39:18.498 --> 00:39:18.867
Full service.

00:39:20.063 --> 00:39:20.592
That kind of thing.

00:39:20.592 --> 00:39:22.873
It's usually it, we structure it like a year contract.

00:39:22.943 --> 00:39:23.233
Okay.

00:39:23.253 --> 00:39:27.632
So if you're just mowing, um, it'll be like a 30 week contract, you know?

00:39:27.652 --> 00:39:32.193
And then we, some people want full weed service and, you know, gardening.

00:39:32.253 --> 00:39:36.552
And we do five applications a year with a, you know, we do all gardening well.

00:39:36.733 --> 00:39:39.112
So like if I've got a my tomato garden, you guys will come pull.

00:39:39.112 --> 00:39:39.672
We, for me.

00:39:39.672 --> 00:39:46.072
Not that, no keeping, keeping like perennial beds in shape and curb appeal more garden makes garden sense.

00:39:46.072 --> 00:39:46.233
Okay.

00:39:46.822 --> 00:39:49.313
Because I'd love if somebody pulled my weeds in my tomato garden.

00:39:49.422 --> 00:39:50.672
Well, we do actually do some.

00:39:51.487 --> 00:39:56.077
Basic gardening, but you know, it's people, people, some people want basically they don't have the time.

00:39:56.228 --> 00:39:56.518
Yeah.

00:39:56.518 --> 00:39:57.518
They have very nice places.

00:39:57.737 --> 00:39:59.157
And you don't want'em to go Yeah.

00:39:59.157 --> 00:40:05.358
Completely south you and if you're not on top of'em every week, you can't just mow it otherwise it'll go No, you're right.

00:40:05.358 --> 00:40:07.077
So they pay, they pay to keep it mow.

00:40:07.077 --> 00:40:08.197
Especially if you're putting a lot of

00:40:08.197 --> 00:40:11.918
water on it so that everything's voluptuous, then it gets going sideways pretty fast.

00:40:11.987 --> 00:40:12.277
Yeah.

00:40:12.277 --> 00:40:12.557
Okay.

00:40:12.557 --> 00:40:14.838
And is it all custom contracts then?

00:40:14.907 --> 00:40:15.637
Like it's, mm-hmm.

00:40:15.788 --> 00:40:16.077
Okay.

00:40:16.077 --> 00:40:21.358
We've got, your yard is x square feet, this is the suite of services that we're doing.

00:40:21.358 --> 00:40:21.677
Mm-hmm.

00:40:21.757 --> 00:40:23.077
And beep, beep, beep, boop.

00:40:23.177 --> 00:40:23.398
Yep.

00:40:23.547 --> 00:40:24.478
This is your price.

00:40:24.617 --> 00:40:25.677
Yes, it is all

00:40:25.677 --> 00:40:25.918
custom.

00:40:25.947 --> 00:40:26.958
It's based on the house.

00:40:27.027 --> 00:40:30.398
It's based on their, uh, the size of their gate.

00:40:30.458 --> 00:40:31.597
Can we get the bigger mower through?

00:40:31.597 --> 00:40:31.797
Gotcha.

00:40:31.797 --> 00:40:40.878
If we can't, then we have to use the smaller mower, um, what services they do and do not want, but we have kind of a minimum amount of services to provide that turf tamer level of quality, so.

00:40:40.878 --> 00:40:41.398
Right, right.

00:40:41.737 --> 00:40:42.197
Um, yeah.

00:40:42.297 --> 00:40:42.918
And those systems

00:40:42.978 --> 00:40:45.637
is what you've been building the last, uh, 10 years especially.

00:40:45.827 --> 00:40:46.157
Yeah, we

00:40:46.157 --> 00:40:48.958
certainly, we, I would say we pride ourself in like.

00:40:49.918 --> 00:40:51.898
Our customer service right now.

00:40:51.938 --> 00:40:57.338
I mean, we, we provide a great product, but you know, the big thing with landscaping is you can't get ahold of anybody.

00:40:57.338 --> 00:40:57.617
Yeah.

00:40:57.617 --> 00:41:01.057
You know, that's a common, and we, we answer the phone, our guy is, uh.

00:41:01.768 --> 00:41:05.588
Our office manager is amazing and both of the people in our office are amazing.

00:41:06.128 --> 00:41:07.668
And then, you know, it's, it's small.

00:41:07.688 --> 00:41:10.027
So we're able to be, you know, have that point of contact.

00:41:10.057 --> 00:41:10.347
Yeah.

00:41:10.347 --> 00:41:16.507
Right there, you know, and then for our commercial properties, we really do, you know, if water's running, it's a turnaround immediately.

00:41:16.527 --> 00:41:21.427
And then, you know, usually generally within 48 hours we can do just about anything.

00:41:21.427 --> 00:41:22.867
Scramble somebody and Yeah.

00:41:22.867 --> 00:41:23.027
Yeah.

00:41:23.047 --> 00:41:25.507
Get, you know, get'em to a tenant if they have an issue.

00:41:25.527 --> 00:41:25.788
You know,

00:41:25.818 --> 00:41:28.547
that commercial maintenance is kind of a nice baseline revenue every month.

00:41:28.547 --> 00:41:28.668
Exactly.

00:41:28.668 --> 00:41:29.987
You can count on it kind of thing.

00:41:30.277 --> 00:41:33.188
Uhhuh, otherwise it's a little seasonal or quite a bit seasonal, right?

00:41:33.188 --> 00:41:33.507
Mm-hmm.

00:41:33.617 --> 00:41:34.108
Exactly.

00:41:34.137 --> 00:41:34.427
Yeah.

00:41:34.427 --> 00:41:44.228
And we're evening that out with snow removal and um, just winter services for the commercial properties, meaning just going by and picking up any branches and cleaning out the trash.

00:41:44.228 --> 00:41:44.547
Trash in trash.

00:41:44.547 --> 00:41:45.387
The parking lot, whatever.

00:41:45.387 --> 00:41:45.668
Yeah.

00:41:45.668 --> 00:41:46.947
That's like porting we call it.

00:41:47.018 --> 00:41:47.588
It's okay.

00:41:47.588 --> 00:41:47.748
Yeah.

00:41:47.748 --> 00:41:52.148
You go through, you know, say a storm came through and blew a bunch of trash or, you know.

00:41:52.148 --> 00:41:52.387
Yeah.

00:41:52.387 --> 00:41:52.547
Yeah.

00:41:52.617 --> 00:41:57.188
Some high school kids dumped all their right contents of their car out in the parking spot.

00:41:57.668 --> 00:41:58.588
Right, right.

00:41:59.108 --> 00:41:59.188
Homeless.

00:41:59.498 --> 00:42:00.422
People homeless.

00:42:00.422 --> 00:42:00.742
Oh yeah.

00:42:00.963 --> 00:42:01.742
You get to, yeah.

00:42:01.742 --> 00:42:03.382
We actually sometimes had

00:42:03.382 --> 00:42:16.983
some people from City of Fort Collins come and instruct our guys how to like deescalate and, um, and we're really proud of our, our crew, you know, so all of our guys, we do some schools around town, and so all our guys are kind of background checked and, uh, you know, they're good kids to talk to.

00:42:17.163 --> 00:42:21.663
And, and, uh, so we've had people come in and talk about like deescalating homeless situations.

00:42:21.663 --> 00:42:26.943
Unfortunately, it's part of our job, especially in the Metro district in Old Town, Fort Collins.

00:42:27.083 --> 00:42:30.302
Uh, you know, but generally, you know, yeah.

00:42:30.728 --> 00:42:35.612
People are, you know, north college, there's some spots that you can kind of count on Yeah.

00:42:35.693 --> 00:42:36.572
Encountering Yeah.

00:42:36.572 --> 00:42:36.853
So, yeah.

00:42:36.992 --> 00:42:37.333
Oh yeah.

00:42:37.492 --> 00:42:41.853
I mean, don't, don't, don't plow, don't plow'em away if they're sleeping on the side of the road.

00:42:43.353 --> 00:42:43.572
Yes.

00:42:43.682 --> 00:42:45.532
That probably, uh, increase your insurance rates.

00:42:45.822 --> 00:42:46.172
Right.

00:42:46.873 --> 00:42:55.773
Um, and so, so that's kind of a traditional, um, landscaping firm in that regard with, with a kind of a higher touch customer service model sounds like.

00:42:55.773 --> 00:42:56.012
Mm-hmm.

00:42:56.092 --> 00:42:56.253
Mm-hmm.

00:42:56.452 --> 00:42:57.092
I would say, yeah.

00:42:57.253 --> 00:43:02.373
I think what makes this really different, like he said, is we have a very great headquarters.

00:43:02.543 --> 00:43:03.652
We're really responsive.

00:43:03.652 --> 00:43:03.972
Mm-hmm.

00:43:04.052 --> 00:43:04.853
I mean, very fast.

00:43:05.072 --> 00:43:08.052
And even in the busiest time of the year, we're getting back to people day.

00:43:08.052 --> 00:43:08.333
That is

00:43:08.632 --> 00:43:11.052
one difference I hear like already as you describe it.

00:43:11.172 --> 00:43:20.172
'cause a lot of landscape companies with 20 employees might only really have like one office person that's really just sending them out to this and that, whatever.

00:43:20.273 --> 00:43:21.612
And all that is, is traffic control.

00:43:21.672 --> 00:43:25.253
But there is really no, no service element to, and no way to weave it in easily.

00:43:26.083 --> 00:43:26.733
Yeah, yeah.

00:43:26.733 --> 00:43:31.172
We really built out, um, the structure of the company these past few years.

00:43:32.032 --> 00:43:39.052
Uh, meaning we're, we're, the systems are in place and we have this amazing account manager who takes really good care of our customers.

00:43:39.393 --> 00:43:47.253
And then I have a bookkeeper, um, who is wonderful at organizing and taking a lot of the tedious stuff off of my plate.

00:43:47.253 --> 00:43:47.612
Sure, sure.

00:43:47.693 --> 00:43:49.572
I can really have that 30,000 foot view.

00:43:50.052 --> 00:43:51.132
I oftentimes am looking at it.

00:43:51.527 --> 00:43:54.387
Saying, Brian, do you think we should do this instead of this for next year?

00:43:54.458 --> 00:43:54.748
Yeah.

00:43:54.748 --> 00:44:02.228
And kind of trying to really look at the larger picture so that, uh, as the future comes, everything gets smoother and smoother and smoother.

00:44:02.378 --> 00:44:02.668
Yeah.

00:44:02.668 --> 00:44:06.068
Because Kurt, what really matters to us is our quality of life.

00:44:06.097 --> 00:44:06.387
Yeah.

00:44:06.527 --> 00:44:06.748
We

00:44:06.748 --> 00:44:08.068
have a killer schedule.

00:44:08.518 --> 00:44:09.907
Brian and I get off at four.

00:44:10.407 --> 00:44:12.588
We hang out with each other, we chill with our kids.

00:44:12.847 --> 00:44:15.668
We don't work till 8:00 PM we go to the pool and we chill with our family.

00:44:15.737 --> 00:44:16.027
Yeah.

00:44:16.128 --> 00:44:18.507
And, um, we've wanted it that way ever since the beginning.

00:44:19.128 --> 00:44:23.228
Um, and so bringing these people into our office has really kept our quality of life.

00:44:23.338 --> 00:44:23.628
Yeah.

00:44:23.807 --> 00:44:28.947
We can take a vacation to see my family in the middle of the summer, and we're totally confident.

00:44:28.967 --> 00:44:29.188
Wow.

00:44:29.268 --> 00:44:30.027
Leaving everybody.

00:44:30.608 --> 00:44:31.628
Um, we went to, yeah.

00:44:31.628 --> 00:44:32.387
It wasn't always like that.

00:44:32.708 --> 00:44:33.188
I mean, we've

00:44:33.188 --> 00:44:36.668
become that in the last three years, you know.

00:44:36.737 --> 00:44:37.228
Well, I mean,

00:44:37.307 --> 00:44:38.947
I mean, honestly, when you and I met Mary, you were kind of.

00:44:39.648 --> 00:44:40.708
In the earlier year.

00:44:40.858 --> 00:44:41.148
Yeah.

00:44:41.148 --> 00:44:41.347
Yeah.

00:44:41.347 --> 00:44:41.987
Times of that.

00:44:42.248 --> 00:44:49.907
And, uh, it, I have to ask a question here and I hope it's not insulting any means, but you were talking about kind of the 30,000 foot view and stuff.

00:44:49.907 --> 00:44:50.148
Yeah.

00:44:50.327 --> 00:44:55.347
Are you the, the visionary and he's the integrator, more of this power couple in business.

00:44:55.847 --> 00:44:56.068
He

00:44:56.068 --> 00:44:56.947
really has a lot of vision.

00:44:56.947 --> 00:44:57.788
He's a visionary too.

00:44:57.788 --> 00:44:58.947
So you're both visionaries maybe.

00:44:59.168 --> 00:45:00.148
Um, I just

00:45:00.148 --> 00:45:03.027
hear him talking about the getting shit done, kind of part of it.

00:45:03.027 --> 00:45:03.188
Maybe.

00:45:03.188 --> 00:45:04.547
He definitely did get shit done, guy.

00:45:04.768 --> 00:45:09.867
But, but as far, I mean, I have a vision of what, what we wanna do.

00:45:10.128 --> 00:45:15.347
She, uh, definitely is bringing in like the technology and, you know, we have this whole system for training now.

00:45:15.418 --> 00:45:15.708
Yeah.

00:45:15.708 --> 00:45:17.668
And, uh, to keep us all on the same pages.

00:45:18.367 --> 00:45:19.108
But I would say

00:45:19.237 --> 00:45:21.708
she's still in the helper role ultimately to get to that vision.

00:45:22.007 --> 00:45:22.547
Vision, yeah.

00:45:22.847 --> 00:45:24.748
The thing is, is that he's in the middle of.

00:45:25.623 --> 00:45:26.563
All of the operations.

00:45:26.623 --> 00:45:29.003
So he's busier than me by a lot right now.

00:45:29.003 --> 00:45:29.282
Yeah.

00:45:29.282 --> 00:45:29.402
Yeah.

00:45:29.402 --> 00:45:33.362
Whereas I can sit back at the office, finish my regular work, and then start thinking about, yeah.

00:45:33.623 --> 00:45:37.163
And right now I'm working on the 2026 budget, so I'm thinking about the future.

00:45:37.233 --> 00:45:37.523
Yeah.

00:45:37.663 --> 00:45:38.682
In my everyday right now.

00:45:38.713 --> 00:45:39.003
Yeah.

00:45:39.003 --> 00:45:39.163
Yeah.

00:45:39.422 --> 00:45:41.603
And we both kind of like to, well,

00:45:41.603 --> 00:45:42.282
in building a system

00:45:42.282 --> 00:45:43.202
is hard takes.

00:45:43.382 --> 00:45:43.922
It takes some time.

00:45:44.182 --> 00:45:50.802
She likes data and we, and over the last five years with all the input, you know, everything's on people's phone, we're time tracked.

00:45:50.802 --> 00:45:57.322
And so we picture submitted so we can actually look back at the data and use it as a rudder to kind.

00:45:57.322 --> 00:45:57.722
That's so cool.

00:45:57.722 --> 00:45:58.483
Steer the, so

00:45:58.483 --> 00:46:01.722
you can be like, you know, our, our revenue per crew and Oh yeah.

00:46:01.722 --> 00:46:03.123
We have revenue per hour one.

00:46:03.422 --> 00:46:03.842
Mm-hmm.

00:46:03.922 --> 00:46:04.362
Oh cool.

00:46:04.862 --> 00:46:06.483
We can, we can gauge revenue per hour.

00:46:06.492 --> 00:46:06.842
We've

00:46:06.842 --> 00:46:07.643
been really working on metrics.

00:46:07.893 --> 00:46:09.043
We've been really working on,

00:46:09.043 --> 00:46:14.963
uh, all the, all the things you would think of close ratios and profit margins and, um.

00:46:15.967 --> 00:46:16.768
Budgeted hours.

00:46:17.108 --> 00:46:17.327
Wow.

00:46:17.588 --> 00:46:22.887
Um, all of that is just wonderfully dashboarded and in front of my face, and I can use it at any point.

00:46:22.887 --> 00:46:23.168
What

00:46:23.168 --> 00:46:23.927
do you use for software?

00:46:23.947 --> 00:46:25.487
Is it a industry specific thing?

00:46:25.588 --> 00:46:25.807
Yes.

00:46:25.807 --> 00:46:26.047
Okay.

00:46:26.077 --> 00:46:29.168
It's a landscaping software called LMN, landscape Management Network.

00:46:29.318 --> 00:46:29.608
Okay.

00:46:29.677 --> 00:46:33.807
I've been using it for, since, well,

00:46:34.668 --> 00:46:36.248
God, like 2014 I think.

00:46:36.277 --> 00:46:36.568
Yeah.

00:46:36.568 --> 00:46:37.327
Like a lot of years.

00:46:37.327 --> 00:46:37.728
Oh, okay.

00:46:37.728 --> 00:46:37.967
Yeah.

00:46:37.967 --> 00:46:38.128
Yeah.

00:46:38.188 --> 00:46:44.728
And I, I met the owner, we went to these, you know, this, you know, the chief technology, um, officer.

00:46:44.797 --> 00:46:45.088
Okay.

00:46:45.197 --> 00:46:52.807
Also, we went to these conferences and met these people and learned about their systems and they trained all of us and it's a really deep, wide, and huge software.

00:46:53.077 --> 00:46:53.367
Yeah.

00:46:53.387 --> 00:47:00.728
And it almost took me a, a whole season to get through all of the different things that they offer, and they have like, I don't know everything you like,

00:47:00.728 --> 00:47:04.007
which of these things do I want to incorporate into our business at what scale?

00:47:04.007 --> 00:47:04.288
Mm-hmm.

00:47:04.367 --> 00:47:04.648
Kind of thing.

00:47:04.648 --> 00:47:05.007
Mm-hmm.

00:47:05.108 --> 00:47:06.128
So you've got your CRM.

00:47:06.728 --> 00:47:07.708
You're estimating.

00:47:07.978 --> 00:47:11.427
Then you have, uh, all the scheduling on like a cool calendar thing.

00:47:11.858 --> 00:47:13.668
Then the time tracking and the time sheets.

00:47:14.088 --> 00:47:15.387
And those are a, an app Wow.

00:47:15.387 --> 00:47:16.467
That the guys use on their phone.

00:47:16.498 --> 00:47:16.788
Yeah.

00:47:16.788 --> 00:47:16.947
Yeah.

00:47:16.978 --> 00:47:19.148
They can upload pictures, they can leave notes.

00:47:19.327 --> 00:47:22.228
All those notes are accessible by the customer if they sign up for the portal.

00:47:22.608 --> 00:47:22.827
Yep.

00:47:23.128 --> 00:47:25.547
The customer can send in requests through the portal.

00:47:25.768 --> 00:47:25.987
Wow.

00:47:26.188 --> 00:47:27.867
So you can see like, it's amazing you're hitting their

00:47:28.027 --> 00:47:28.748
backyard transform.

00:47:28.748 --> 00:47:32.867
You can kind of see like where we're at on, you know, like a gauge of Yeah.

00:47:32.867 --> 00:47:35.188
What percentage of completion virtually and stuff.

00:47:35.237 --> 00:47:35.907
Scoreboard.

00:47:36.088 --> 00:47:36.387
Oh wow.

00:47:36.527 --> 00:47:36.947
So we have a

00:47:37.168 --> 00:47:37.788
change orders.

00:47:37.927 --> 00:47:42.307
Hey, I know we ordered the gray slate, but now that I'll look at it, I'm really thinking the red slate would be nicer there.

00:47:42.648 --> 00:47:43.068
Mm-hmm.

00:47:43.367 --> 00:47:43.947
Or whatever.

00:47:44.057 --> 00:47:44.547
Exactly.

00:47:45.288 --> 00:47:47.668
And, and also it helps us also.

00:47:48.983 --> 00:47:51.382
L Litigiously, you know, it's like, right.

00:47:51.483 --> 00:47:52.262
You guys didn't do this.

00:47:52.373 --> 00:47:54.143
Well, actually we, here's a picture of it.

00:47:54.202 --> 00:47:54.742
You were at work.

00:47:55.612 --> 00:47:56.222
They were there

00:47:56.222 --> 00:48:02.302
from 1141 to 1257 actually, because they're GPS tracked and they were there and they did this.

00:48:02.443 --> 00:48:02.822
So it helps.

00:48:02.822 --> 00:48:03.463
It's, it's important.

00:48:03.463 --> 00:48:03.702
It's great.

00:48:03.702 --> 00:48:03.983
Yeah.

00:48:04.742 --> 00:48:04.862
Interesting.

00:48:04.862 --> 00:48:09.623
Commercial, I would say for commercial properties is specifically, we don't have to be reactionary.

00:48:09.682 --> 00:48:10.623
We can be proactive.

00:48:10.623 --> 00:48:10.902
Mm-hmm.

00:48:11.003 --> 00:48:11.222
We

00:48:11.222 --> 00:48:18.302
can go onto the property, take all these pictures, show them through the portal what's going on, and be like, Hey, can you give me permission to go ahead and just take care of this stuff?

00:48:18.432 --> 00:48:18.782
Right.

00:48:18.842 --> 00:48:19.182
And in

00:48:19.182 --> 00:48:20.222
the next visit we can do it.

00:48:20.603 --> 00:48:22.943
So what's it's, and then we can prove what we've done.

00:48:23.003 --> 00:48:24.702
We can show the before and after pictures.

00:48:24.702 --> 00:48:24.862
Mm.

00:48:25.253 --> 00:48:29.353
And a lot we can take pictures of a leak and say, Hey, see how it's leaking.

00:48:29.353 --> 00:48:30.913
Do you want me to, you know, a lot of

00:48:30.913 --> 00:48:33.672
our property owners, commercial property owners are outta state actually.

00:48:33.972 --> 00:48:34.793
So they call us.

00:48:34.853 --> 00:48:36.432
And then we we're actually the eyes and ears.

00:48:36.733 --> 00:48:37.313
We even have people.

00:48:37.313 --> 00:48:38.592
You're also a property maintenance company?

00:48:38.873 --> 00:48:38.992
Yeah.

00:48:39.023 --> 00:48:44.193
Well, we have people, uh, same thing that we have their garage code personal residence, because they're out.

00:48:44.193 --> 00:48:44.632
They're out.

00:48:44.713 --> 00:48:46.313
You know, they spend the summers in a different state.

00:48:46.313 --> 00:48:46.833
Right, right.

00:48:46.932 --> 00:48:50.273
And, uh, so, you know, we are kind of the eyes and ears Yeah.

00:48:50.452 --> 00:48:51.393
For them on their property.

00:48:51.793 --> 00:48:51.913
Interesting.

00:48:52.083 --> 00:48:52.432
Uhhuh.

00:48:52.512 --> 00:48:52.632
Yeah.

00:48:52.632 --> 00:48:52.913
Yeah.

00:48:52.983 --> 00:48:53.273
Okay.

00:48:53.373 --> 00:48:59.072
That's an intriguing, like it's, it's much more than just mow your lawn and fertilizer.

00:48:59.072 --> 00:48:59.713
It is kind of thing.

00:48:59.813 --> 00:49:00.112
It is.

00:49:00.112 --> 00:49:00.672
Comes down to it.

00:49:00.932 --> 00:49:03.753
We, we, you know, I wouldn't say it's

00:49:03.753 --> 00:49:05.632
like white glove for whoever wants it a little bit.

00:49:05.632 --> 00:49:05.913
Whoever.

00:49:05.913 --> 00:49:06.112
Yes.

00:49:06.143 --> 00:49:06.432
Yeah.

00:49:06.432 --> 00:49:08.152
Whoever's willing to pay it's landscaping for, because we're a premium.

00:49:08.152 --> 00:49:08.432
Right.

00:49:08.713 --> 00:49:09.152
We're really,

00:49:09.282 --> 00:49:10.952
we're a high-end landscaping company.

00:49:11.143 --> 00:49:11.432
Okay.

00:49:11.612 --> 00:49:13.913
But we're trustworthy and we do a really great job.

00:49:13.913 --> 00:49:14.193
Yeah.

00:49:14.193 --> 00:49:15.793
And we hire really good people.

00:49:16.063 --> 00:49:16.353
Yeah.

00:49:16.353 --> 00:49:16.512
You

00:49:16.512 --> 00:49:18.672
have a lot of middle income families that choose you anyway.

00:49:18.702 --> 00:49:18.992
Yeah.

00:49:19.242 --> 00:49:19.592
Truly

00:49:19.612 --> 00:49:22.112
our street presence is, you know, our kids are learned to.

00:49:22.902 --> 00:49:24.893
Clean up after every job, every day.

00:49:24.952 --> 00:49:27.213
And we just do a really good street presence.

00:49:27.233 --> 00:49:31.773
And you know, there, there's tiny things that just make a difference that I've learned throughout the years.

00:49:31.913 --> 00:49:35.932
And at that being at that point, there's a lot of other good landscaping companies around too.

00:49:35.932 --> 00:49:36.132
Sure.

00:49:36.233 --> 00:49:39.773
You know, that we, I don't think there's really any sort of competition for the market.

00:49:40.032 --> 00:49:40.253
We,

00:49:40.813 --> 00:49:44.253
I had, uh, Zach George on a few months ago, I don't know if you listen to that episode.

00:49:44.253 --> 00:49:44.813
Yeah, we did listen to it.

00:49:44.813 --> 00:49:45.092
Yeah, we did

00:49:45.112 --> 00:49:45.413
to it.

00:49:45.432 --> 00:49:49.293
He actually, uh, I've never met Zach, but seemed like a great guy in the interview.

00:49:49.362 --> 00:49:49.652
Yeah.

00:49:49.652 --> 00:49:52.532
I mean, his, his team just sent over a couple leads for us.

00:49:52.793 --> 00:49:53.293
Oh, that's cool.

00:49:53.612 --> 00:49:53.733
Randomly.

00:49:53.802 --> 00:49:54.092
Yeah.

00:49:54.092 --> 00:49:55.612
These random, small for us or whatever.

00:49:55.612 --> 00:49:55.853
Yeah.

00:49:55.853 --> 00:49:57.612
It doesn't, our model, it works out.

00:49:57.793 --> 00:49:59.253
We all kind of like scratch each other.

00:49:59.322 --> 00:49:59.813
Well, he was

00:49:59.813 --> 00:50:11.813
saying that it's really hard in your size like that, at least for him, in that kind of 10 to 20 something employees, it was hard for him to have, you know, it seems probably he just didn't build his system soon enough.

00:50:12.157 --> 00:50:13.987
Would be a speculation.

00:50:14.248 --> 00:50:16.588
You know, there's every, there's a, there's just different model, a void

00:50:16.608 --> 00:50:17.547
to be filled anywhere.

00:50:17.608 --> 00:50:21.867
You know, like there is a place for the one guy with the mow and blow Sure.

00:50:21.867 --> 00:50:28.027
And the truck and the trailer and uh, you know, then there's like the midsize guy like me and then there's Zach and Yeah.

00:50:28.088 --> 00:50:32.547
He could pull off much larger progress projects that you could probably, that I would never be able to bandwidth.

00:50:32.547 --> 00:50:32.867
Right.

00:50:32.867 --> 00:50:33.748
That he would, you know?

00:50:33.748 --> 00:50:34.188
Right, right.

00:50:34.188 --> 00:50:35.947
And, uh, so we, we, yeah.

00:50:35.947 --> 00:50:44.748
And again, our focus is, yeah, we can still make a profit doing what we do, and our focus is keeping it so that we can have that quality of life that we're looking for.

00:50:45.007 --> 00:50:47.027
That's kind of our measure of success in the future.

00:50:47.407 --> 00:50:47.628
Ha.

00:50:47.728 --> 00:50:52.547
Go back up to three and a half months in Chile in the winter time instead of just a month and a half.

00:50:52.547 --> 00:50:52.907
Definitely.

00:50:53.047 --> 00:50:53.748
We, I think that

00:50:54.177 --> 00:50:57.708
with some of the, with the technology now, I mean, I could have a, a tourism.

00:50:58.797 --> 00:51:00.708
Thing going on in the winter down in Chile.

00:51:00.788 --> 00:51:02.347
I could have the landscaping up here.

00:51:02.367 --> 00:51:03.307
We also have a fly fish.

00:51:03.387 --> 00:51:04.867
I have a fly fishing outfit here in Colorado.

00:51:04.867 --> 00:51:05.347
Oh, you do too.

00:51:05.367 --> 00:51:05.907
And so we do.

00:51:06.327 --> 00:51:07.947
Do you guide or you have other guides?

00:51:07.947 --> 00:51:09.547
Yeah, I guide I, it's a kind of a personal thing.

00:51:09.588 --> 00:51:10.708
I don't really have employees.

00:51:10.777 --> 00:51:11.068
Yeah.

00:51:11.327 --> 00:51:13.668
If you needed a two boat trip, I could do Okay.

00:51:13.728 --> 00:51:15.148
But I do the North Plat up in Wyoming.

00:51:15.568 --> 00:51:15.947
Oh, cool.

00:51:16.447 --> 00:51:22.507
So I'm permitted to do basically the whole north platform, the Wyoming, Colorado border up by Walden.

00:51:22.507 --> 00:51:22.987
All over the ca.

00:51:22.987 --> 00:51:23.507
You're permitted

00:51:23.507 --> 00:51:25.907
or so you gotta have like a special permit to Oh yeah.

00:51:25.927 --> 00:51:27.188
Do that kind of kind of work.

00:51:27.347 --> 00:51:28.068
I wasn't, I'm not familiar.

00:51:28.137 --> 00:51:29.668
It's a commercial operation I suppose.

00:51:29.668 --> 00:51:30.907
Yeah, just like a rafkin company.

00:51:31.128 --> 00:51:32.628
You pay X amount insurance.

00:51:32.728 --> 00:51:33.867
All of you've been permitted

00:51:33.867 --> 00:51:34.108
since.

00:51:34.963 --> 00:51:37.003
Probably 2007 or eight.

00:51:37.063 --> 00:51:37.282
So

00:51:37.282 --> 00:51:40.123
you take enough clients to pay for the permit and call it pretty square.

00:51:40.302 --> 00:51:41.043
At this point, it's

00:51:41.043 --> 00:51:45.483
kind of more of a hobby, but I do plan on doing it more in, in the future if I, if my body holds up.

00:51:45.512 --> 00:51:45.802
Yeah.

00:51:45.802 --> 00:51:45.963
Yeah.

00:51:45.992 --> 00:51:46.282
Well,

00:51:46.282 --> 00:51:46.483
I mean, if

00:51:46.623 --> 00:51:47.123
that's something

00:51:47.123 --> 00:51:47.722
you find joy in.

00:51:47.793 --> 00:51:48.083
Yeah.

00:51:48.083 --> 00:51:58.202
He has repeat customers, you know, he has these guys who call every year, so he doesn't really even have to look for clientele because there's a loyal clientele base that just comes every time, every season when it's good.

00:51:58.353 --> 00:52:00.682
Some of whom will probably come down to Chile when you're ready to host.

00:52:00.753 --> 00:52:01.043
Yeah.

00:52:01.043 --> 00:52:01.603
Some of'em already have.

00:52:02.262 --> 00:52:02.722
That's true.

00:52:02.722 --> 00:52:02.882
A lot

00:52:02.882 --> 00:52:03.963
of we have, you know, like I said, if.

00:52:04.867 --> 00:52:11.688
If you're, if you're paying big bucks, you want the chocolate on your pillow, but if you're just coming down to party, my house is perfect.

00:52:11.757 --> 00:52:12.047
Yeah.

00:52:12.047 --> 00:52:12.168
Yeah.

00:52:12.168 --> 00:52:12.728
Well, yeah.

00:52:13.507 --> 00:52:17.327
I'm already thinking when Jill and I are ready for our PAG trip, I'll be, uh, checking

00:52:17.327 --> 00:52:17.648
in with you.

00:52:17.717 --> 00:52:18.007
Yeah.

00:52:19.148 --> 00:52:20.128
I'm happy to do an outhouse.

00:52:21.197 --> 00:52:22.407
Well, we don't have an outhouse now.

00:52:22.407 --> 00:52:24.128
We're all, we've got electric.

00:52:24.387 --> 00:52:24.847
We got all stuff.

00:52:25.068 --> 00:52:26.248
Hot shower, all of it, dude.

00:52:27.367 --> 00:52:28.447
Flushing toilets.

00:52:28.447 --> 00:52:29.007
It's divine.

00:52:29.418 --> 00:52:32.688
We'll, uh, I'll give you, uh, a month with the ambulance, camper van.

00:52:32.748 --> 00:52:34.568
Oh, two weeks your cabin.

00:52:34.568 --> 00:52:34.847
Cutting.

00:52:37.268 --> 00:52:39.768
Um, well I wanna go back a little bit.

00:52:40.148 --> 00:52:47.927
Um, I feel like we've kind of touched on a lot of things, but go back to where both of you guys really came from and, and started becoming you.

00:52:47.927 --> 00:52:49.248
But I wanna do it after a short break.

00:52:49.398 --> 00:52:49.688
Sure.

00:52:49.827 --> 00:52:50.608
So we'll be right back.

00:52:50.657 --> 00:52:51.208
Let's do that.

00:53:43.188 --> 00:53:43.847
And we're back.

00:53:44.157 --> 00:53:44.447
Yeah.

00:53:44.668 --> 00:53:46.847
Uh, and we're gonna jump into the time machine.

00:53:47.148 --> 00:53:52.208
Um, back to, you said you were born here and then raised in California some, a little bit Brian

00:53:52.208 --> 00:53:52.487
born.

00:53:52.487 --> 00:53:52.648
Yeah.

00:53:52.648 --> 00:53:53.927
I was born in Burbank, California.

00:53:54.157 --> 00:53:54.447
Okay.

00:53:54.757 --> 00:54:00.768
Came out here in 1990, um, and went to Blevins and Rocky Mountain High School.

00:54:00.768 --> 00:54:01.047
Okay.

00:54:01.077 --> 00:54:02.688
Tell me about little Bryan in California.

00:54:02.958 --> 00:54:04.847
Like, uh, first grader, little Bryan in California.

00:54:04.847 --> 00:54:04.927
Yeah.

00:54:04.927 --> 00:54:05.728
Some of those early memories.

00:54:05.788 --> 00:54:06.007
Wow.

00:54:06.007 --> 00:54:07.208
What was your family setting?

00:54:08.202 --> 00:54:08.492
Well,

00:54:08.603 --> 00:54:10.492
what was the town I was born in?

00:54:10.523 --> 00:54:12.932
Burbank, which is, you know, home of NBC.

00:54:12.943 --> 00:54:13.293
Right?

00:54:13.293 --> 00:54:15.092
Hollywood, Warner Brothers, h Hollywood.

00:54:15.123 --> 00:54:15.413
Yeah.

00:54:15.413 --> 00:54:16.693
My parents went to North Hollywood High.

00:54:17.592 --> 00:54:19.652
My family is, works at Warner Brothers.

00:54:19.873 --> 00:54:25.932
My family is not, not as movie stars, of course, but, uh, my family's involved in the movie industry Okay.

00:54:26.063 --> 00:54:27.052
Since the seventies.

00:54:27.313 --> 00:54:27.532
So

00:54:27.572 --> 00:54:30.333
they went from like rancheros to movie?

00:54:30.353 --> 00:54:30.813
No, my, my

00:54:30.813 --> 00:54:34.413
grandfather was, so my grand, my grandmother remarried.

00:54:34.592 --> 00:54:38.373
Uh, my, my, my grandfather McKnight had passed away before I was born.

00:54:38.483 --> 00:54:38.773
Okay.

00:54:38.873 --> 00:54:39.092
My

00:54:39.092 --> 00:54:40.092
grandmother remarried.

00:54:40.688 --> 00:54:45.628
And she met, uh, a Mexican Charro down in Tijuana with her girlfriend.

00:54:46.057 --> 00:54:46.347
Okay.

00:54:46.487 --> 00:54:50.748
Who turned out to be my grandfather, well, not by blood, but uh, who raised me as my grandfather.

00:54:50.858 --> 00:54:51.347
Yeah, yeah.

00:54:51.418 --> 00:54:51.708
Okay.

00:54:51.927 --> 00:54:56.827
And they got married, he moved back up to southern ca up to Southern California, to Burbank.

00:54:56.827 --> 00:54:58.268
And then he worked at Warner Brothers.

00:54:58.268 --> 00:55:01.628
He was the head of security for the Columbia Paramount lot.

00:55:01.807 --> 00:55:02.027
Wow.

00:55:02.208 --> 00:55:03.108
All the main lot

00:55:03.248 --> 00:55:04.108
so in the industry.

00:55:04.128 --> 00:55:06.347
And then the family kind of followed along a lot of'em.

00:55:06.347 --> 00:55:06.387
Yeah.

00:55:06.387 --> 00:55:06.507
And

00:55:06.507 --> 00:55:10.347
then he was friends with John Wayne and all the, the,'cause he used to raise, raise horses.

00:55:10.538 --> 00:55:10.827
Yeah.

00:55:10.827 --> 00:55:12.588
So he used to raise horses that were in the movies.

00:55:12.967 --> 00:55:13.307
Oh, wow.

00:55:13.307 --> 00:55:13.588
Yeah.

00:55:13.588 --> 00:55:14.228
So he was, uh,

00:55:14.847 --> 00:55:15.228
he was

00:55:15.248 --> 00:55:16.427
pretty linked up with some.

00:55:16.447 --> 00:55:17.788
So what was your family doing?

00:55:17.788 --> 00:55:18.628
Your dad, your mom?

00:55:18.648 --> 00:55:18.867
My

00:55:18.867 --> 00:55:20.788
dad's an attorney and my mom was in banking.

00:55:21.057 --> 00:55:21.347
Okay.

00:55:21.347 --> 00:55:22.507
So they weren't in the movie industry.

00:55:22.538 --> 00:55:23.427
They necessarily, they, they weren't.

00:55:23.427 --> 00:55:24.547
Were just in the movie town kind of.

00:55:24.597 --> 00:55:24.947
Right.

00:55:24.967 --> 00:55:28.188
And then my, like for instance, my uncle worked at Warner Brothers.

00:55:28.208 --> 00:55:29.467
My grandpa worked at Warner Brothers.

00:55:29.467 --> 00:55:30.507
My aunt worked at Warner Brothers.

00:55:30.788 --> 00:55:30.987
Yeah.

00:55:30.987 --> 00:55:31.108
Yeah.

00:55:31.268 --> 00:55:32.108
A lot of other families.

00:55:32.108 --> 00:55:36.947
But my parents personally, my dad had a, a small law firm in Pasadena.

00:55:37.648 --> 00:55:38.387
And my, uh.

00:55:39.083 --> 00:55:42.342
My mom was a banker down in Security Pacific, in downtown la.

00:55:42.342 --> 00:55:42.623
Okay.

00:55:42.623 --> 00:55:43.862
So kind of a standard, uh, yeah.

00:55:44.023 --> 00:55:46.342
Standard upper middle class, family kind, middle class family.

00:55:46.443 --> 00:55:47.782
Uh, other siblings for you?

00:55:47.893 --> 00:55:50.583
Yeah, I have a younger sister who works at New Belgium as a brewer.

00:55:50.652 --> 00:55:50.943
Okay.

00:55:51.242 --> 00:55:52.583
Um, and, and how many

00:55:52.583 --> 00:55:52.983
years younger?

00:55:53.322 --> 00:55:54.342
Uh, five years younger.

00:55:54.492 --> 00:55:54.782
Okay.

00:55:54.802 --> 00:55:58.862
So when you were a little five, Brian, uh, you were just getting a brand new baby sister?

00:55:58.963 --> 00:55:59.182
Yes.

00:55:59.182 --> 00:55:59.382
Mm-hmm.

00:55:59.463 --> 00:55:59.782
Exactly.

00:55:59.922 --> 00:56:04.382
So we, we, and she was born in Burbank, uh, and we both moved out here.

00:56:04.382 --> 00:56:06.943
So Kelly actually went to an elementary school out here.

00:56:07.222 --> 00:56:08.543
I went to junior high and high school.

00:56:08.612 --> 00:56:08.902
Yeah.

00:56:09.322 --> 00:56:10.023
And what did you think.

00:56:11.172 --> 00:56:12.583
When you got here, you kind of like Uhhuh.

00:56:12.603 --> 00:56:14.103
You said your friends were kind of like Yeah.

00:56:14.413 --> 00:56:18.262
Mocking of the you Colorado hick country or whatever.

00:56:18.382 --> 00:56:18.503
I

00:56:18.503 --> 00:56:18.742
was, yeah.

00:56:18.782 --> 00:56:27.023
I was dressed in Quicksilver garb all into skating and surfing and I came down Mulberry at the time and I was like, well, I'm gonna be a shake kicker, you know?

00:56:27.282 --> 00:56:27.623
Oh really?

00:56:27.972 --> 00:56:28.262
Yeah.

00:56:28.463 --> 00:56:30.663
'cause Mulberry, I mean Fort Collins back at the time.

00:56:30.853 --> 00:56:31.302
Yeah, yeah.

00:56:31.302 --> 00:56:33.143
Didn't even start until you got to like Riverside.

00:56:33.213 --> 00:56:33.503
Well,

00:56:33.702 --> 00:56:36.543
Sundance dominated the entry to the town and I was fine as being a

00:56:36.543 --> 00:56:37.023
shit kicker.

00:56:37.143 --> 00:56:40.103
'cause I knew horses and my grandpa roped and I was like, yeah, whatever.

00:56:40.103 --> 00:56:40.382
You know?

00:56:40.452 --> 00:56:40.742
Yeah.

00:56:40.842 --> 00:56:43.822
So this was my new life'cause I had never been to Fort Collins.

00:56:43.882 --> 00:56:46.182
We drove out here with a cat and a dog and Oh dang.

00:56:46.282 --> 00:56:47.103
And what brought him out?

00:56:47.253 --> 00:56:48.422
Like what was the setting?

00:56:48.762 --> 00:56:51.222
My dad, so we, we, this is

00:56:51.302 --> 00:56:51.943
a great story.

00:56:52.092 --> 00:56:52.382
Yeah.

00:56:52.483 --> 00:57:04.463
We were, uh, I was basically, I mean it's not a great story, but you know, I was basically getting ready to start driving and, you know, there was all the gang violence in LA and uh, back Rodney King days and stuff, almost.

00:57:05.452 --> 00:57:07.472
So my dad, my dad loves to fly fish.

00:57:07.492 --> 00:57:08.432
My dad loves to fish.

00:57:08.773 --> 00:57:12.913
His best friend went to CSU for his best friend from Southern California.

00:57:12.913 --> 00:57:13.233
Yeah, yeah.

00:57:13.233 --> 00:57:19.112
Went to CSU and was a, was the head a superintendent over at the hatchery here in, in Bellevue.

00:57:19.182 --> 00:57:19.472
Okay.

00:57:19.472 --> 00:57:20.913
And so my dad was like at Watson Lake.

00:57:21.103 --> 00:57:21.713
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:57:21.773 --> 00:57:30.432
My dad had always threatened to move out of la you know, it's kind of, I think everybody in la So he was like this LA lawyer and he is like, screw I'm gonna go is I'm giving it all up.

00:57:30.432 --> 00:57:33.353
I'm throwing towel fisherman before college for sure, dude.

00:57:33.353 --> 00:57:33.472
And

00:57:33.492 --> 00:57:35.233
that's why, but he still calls it the pit.

00:57:35.413 --> 00:57:36.512
That's what he calls la

00:57:36.663 --> 00:57:36.952
Nice.

00:57:37.353 --> 00:57:39.713
I tell people I spent a month in LA one week.

00:57:40.443 --> 00:57:42.413
Because that's about what it felt like to me.

00:57:42.652 --> 00:57:43.853
I was like, yeah, that's a good one.

00:57:43.882 --> 00:57:45.532
I'll, I'll take prison almost over.

00:57:46.092 --> 00:57:46.373
I don't

00:57:46.373 --> 00:57:47.893
mind LA I have to drive.

00:57:47.952 --> 00:57:50.132
She won't drive in la I will not drive in la Yeah.

00:57:50.132 --> 00:57:50.333
Scary.

00:57:50.452 --> 00:58:03.452
I don't mind la But if you don't, if you just show up as a tourist with a camera around your neck, I mean, you're doomed LA's so big and you, you have to know what you're doing and where you're going and you know what to, what freeways to jump on.

00:58:03.452 --> 00:58:03.932
Well, I was a

00:58:03.932 --> 00:58:16.333
pedestrian there and with my, I, I visited a friend, but she had to work during a lot of the days and stuff, so I'm just, this dude walking 20 miles a day around LA on Sunset Boulevard and you know, you r TD now, you don't wanna do that.

00:58:16.632 --> 00:58:16.853
No.

00:58:16.853 --> 00:58:18.532
There's some good spots and it's fun.

00:58:18.532 --> 00:58:22.333
But like, I'd say six days in LA I'm ready to come back to Colorado.

00:58:22.333 --> 00:58:22.612
You know?

00:58:22.672 --> 00:58:25.132
So, so your dad like gives it all up and like.

00:58:25.927 --> 00:58:26.807
W That's

00:58:26.807 --> 00:58:27.447
a good part of the story.

00:58:27.708 --> 00:58:29.007
His dad, he kept, yeah, my dad did.

00:58:29.007 --> 00:58:29.447
Kept the firm

00:58:29.668 --> 00:58:33.407
big sacrifice and he kept his firm and he moved the whole family out here.

00:58:33.427 --> 00:58:36.047
My mom quit Security Pacific after this giant earthquake.

00:58:36.068 --> 00:58:38.927
She was like in a 70 70 and he's got like another handful of

00:58:39.208 --> 00:58:40.807
attorneys that he had a partner.

00:58:41.768 --> 00:58:41.967
A couple?

00:58:42.358 --> 00:58:42.967
Yeah, a couple.

00:58:43.148 --> 00:58:44.527
So explain how he did the back and forth.

00:58:44.637 --> 00:58:44.927
Yeah.

00:58:45.088 --> 00:58:49.768
And then he, he moved us out here and then he continued his practice and moved back and forth.

00:58:49.867 --> 00:58:50.088
Oh.

00:58:50.088 --> 00:58:50.208
So

00:58:50.318 --> 00:58:52.568
he'd spend a week out there, a back or something,

00:58:52.847 --> 00:58:54.208
a week or two out there and then come back here.

00:58:54.268 --> 00:58:56.608
And he did that for probably five or 10, 10 years.

00:58:56.608 --> 00:58:56.728
Yeah.

00:58:56.728 --> 00:58:58.487
This is Predigital age.

00:58:58.547 --> 00:59:01.407
Making it easier so he could walk onto a plane with a cigarette, you know?

00:59:01.407 --> 00:59:01.728
Right.

00:59:03.807 --> 00:59:04.007
Interesting.

00:59:04.007 --> 00:59:05.487
For how many years did he do that?

00:59:05.788 --> 00:59:07.327
He did it like all through.

00:59:08.322 --> 00:59:11.583
All through my junior high and mostly through my high school.

00:59:11.902 --> 00:59:16.023
'cause I remember I got busted a couple times in high school and it was like when your dad gets back into town.

00:59:17.822 --> 00:59:18.103
Interesting.

00:59:18.293 --> 00:59:18.583
Yeah.

00:59:19.163 --> 00:59:20.702
So, um, yeah, that's kind of my story.

00:59:20.702 --> 00:59:20.862
Huh.

00:59:20.862 --> 00:59:26.103
And then, you know, worked balling trees for just trees and various landscaping outfits here.

00:59:26.103 --> 00:59:26.382
Yeah.

00:59:26.413 --> 00:59:28.543
Here when I was 16, 17, 18.

00:59:28.543 --> 00:59:28.742
And

00:59:28.742 --> 00:59:29.702
then we kind of caught up to where

00:59:29.963 --> 00:59:31.663
dad help me buy the, the landscaping.

00:59:31.663 --> 00:59:31.902
Yeah.

00:59:31.902 --> 00:59:32.342
And then I took off.

00:59:32.463 --> 00:59:33.902
I was like, I'm never coming back to Fort Collin.

00:59:33.902 --> 00:59:34.342
And what did

00:59:34.342 --> 00:59:35.702
you do in Cali for that year and a half?

00:59:36.463 --> 00:59:38.222
I was up in Northern California.

00:59:38.222 --> 00:59:38.822
I was, I started in.

00:59:39.297 --> 00:59:47.847
Santa Barbara ended in, ended up in Northern California, but I had stopped in Santa Cruz and lived, lived with a friend in Santa Cruz for a little bit.

00:59:47.847 --> 00:59:48.527
That's a nice town.

00:59:48.987 --> 00:59:49.608
The very end.

00:59:49.648 --> 00:59:55.007
I was up in like the, on the Humboldt coast and I was, uh, worked on a French boat, boat and marijuana, trim and marijuana.

00:59:55.108 --> 00:59:57.367
Worked on a French, on a, on a little shrimp boat.

00:59:57.628 --> 00:59:58.088
Oh, really?

00:59:58.117 --> 00:59:58.407
Okay.

00:59:58.867 --> 01:00:01.568
At Patrick's point, like we used to go fishing right off Patrick's Point.

01:00:01.677 --> 01:00:01.967
Okay.

01:00:01.998 --> 01:00:02.288
Yeah.

01:00:02.288 --> 01:00:02.927
And, uh, you

01:00:02.927 --> 01:00:04.967
were just kind of living the labor or whatever?

01:00:04.967 --> 01:00:05.168
Yeah.

01:00:05.168 --> 01:00:05.248
I

01:00:05.248 --> 01:00:06.847
don't know what I was actually doing back then.

01:00:07.007 --> 01:00:11.807
I was just, my wings, it was basically the equivalent of a, of a European backpacking trip.

01:00:12.447 --> 01:00:12.688
A different time.

01:00:12.688 --> 01:00:12.768
Yeah.

01:00:12.768 --> 01:00:14.728
Was just trying out my wings and figuring out what was going on.

01:00:14.918 --> 01:00:15.208
Yeah.

01:00:15.208 --> 01:00:17.608
Which I encourage everybody to do, but I, I really didn't have like.

01:00:18.927 --> 01:00:19.507
Big plans.

01:00:19.657 --> 01:00:19.947
Yeah.

01:00:19.947 --> 01:00:22.867
You know, just kind of wearing it out until I came back to Fort Collins.

01:00:22.867 --> 01:00:22.947
Yeah.

01:00:22.978 --> 01:00:23.268
Yeah.

01:00:23.268 --> 01:00:25.748
See if you can find a pretty girl, Mary.

01:00:25.818 --> 01:00:27.268
That didn't happen until later, thank God.

01:00:29.177 --> 01:00:32.628
Back to you, a 5-year-old young Mary.

01:00:33.657 --> 01:00:35.947
Yeah, so I grew up in South Bend, Indiana.

01:00:36.208 --> 01:00:36.628
Oh, okay.

01:00:36.648 --> 01:00:37.827
And the youngest of four.

01:00:37.827 --> 01:00:38.867
So go Hoosiers?

01:00:39.168 --> 01:00:39.668
No, yeah.

01:00:39.668 --> 01:00:40.228
Hoosiers.

01:00:40.288 --> 01:00:43.188
But South Bend, Indiana specifically is Notre Dame University.

01:00:43.657 --> 01:00:44.387
It's go Irish.

01:00:44.768 --> 01:00:44.987
Yes.

01:00:45.128 --> 01:00:45.347
Yes.

01:00:45.458 --> 01:00:45.748
Okay.

01:00:45.847 --> 01:00:46.068
Yes.

01:00:46.217 --> 01:00:48.068
That dominates the, the local culture.

01:00:48.507 --> 01:00:48.668
Probably

01:00:48.858 --> 01:00:49.547
very much so.

01:00:49.547 --> 01:00:51.347
It's very much an Irish Catholic town.

01:00:51.498 --> 01:00:51.788
Okay.

01:00:52.088 --> 01:00:52.547
How big a

01:00:52.547 --> 01:00:52.708
town?

01:00:52.927 --> 01:00:54.228
Couple hundred thousand or something?

01:00:54.228 --> 01:00:54.507
Yeah.

01:00:54.527 --> 01:00:56.027
Not too far off of Fort Collins.

01:00:56.027 --> 01:00:56.307
Okay.

01:00:56.608 --> 01:00:58.628
Um, not a, not even a couple hundred thousand I think.

01:00:58.938 --> 01:01:00.427
Less than, uh, 200,000.

01:01:00.427 --> 01:01:02.307
And what was your, uh, family setting?

01:01:02.748 --> 01:01:04.027
Siblings, parents doing what?

01:01:04.057 --> 01:01:05.268
Yeah, youngest of four.

01:01:05.407 --> 01:01:10.148
My dad, uh, started off as a car salesman and the family car business.

01:01:10.378 --> 01:01:10.668
Okay.

01:01:11.038 --> 01:01:12.628
Which my mom's dad.

01:01:13.327 --> 01:01:14.867
Oh, mom's, dad's dad started.

01:01:15.007 --> 01:01:15.427
Oh wow.

01:01:15.427 --> 01:01:15.628
Okay.

01:01:15.648 --> 01:01:16.387
So we're on the.

01:01:17.248 --> 01:01:19.507
Fourth generation of ownership of one of your

01:01:19.628 --> 01:01:20.347
siblings is now

01:01:21.168 --> 01:01:21.788
one of my cousins.

01:01:21.887 --> 01:01:22.547
Two of my cousins.

01:01:22.547 --> 01:01:22.788
Okay.

01:01:22.788 --> 01:01:22.907
Okay.

01:01:22.967 --> 01:01:24.827
Um, it's Chevrolet and Toyota over there.

01:01:24.887 --> 01:01:25.108
Oh

01:01:25.108 --> 01:01:25.307
wow.

01:01:25.527 --> 01:01:26.307
Oh, that's interesting.

01:01:26.338 --> 01:01:31.668
Yeah, I remember like where I grew up, Toyotas weren't really around until like the nineties almost.

01:01:31.768 --> 01:01:32.188
Mm-hmm.

01:01:32.367 --> 01:01:32.867
Um, probably

01:01:33.338 --> 01:01:35.628
that might have been when the AC acquisition happened.

01:01:35.847 --> 01:01:36.867
It Chevrolet first.

01:01:36.998 --> 01:01:37.507
Right, right.

01:01:37.697 --> 01:01:37.987
Yeah.

01:01:38.487 --> 01:01:39.748
So that's been around for a long time.

01:01:39.748 --> 01:01:47.748
He was a car salesman for a while, but he was a car salesman with like his two brothers-in-law, you know, and so I think he got into real estate pretty quick when he realized Okay.

01:01:47.748 --> 01:01:51.148
He just wanted to kind of differentiate himself and do his own thing.

01:01:51.217 --> 01:01:51.507
Yeah.

01:01:51.507 --> 01:01:54.347
So he was doing commercial real estate for a long time until he retired.

01:01:54.347 --> 01:01:54.547
Okay.

01:01:54.547 --> 01:01:54.748
Okay.

01:01:54.967 --> 01:01:55.907
Really cool guy.

01:01:55.927 --> 01:01:59.668
My dad was a, um, a was a ski is a ski pet.

01:01:59.768 --> 01:02:00.708
He was a ski patroller.

01:02:00.708 --> 01:02:01.188
Oh, fair.

01:02:01.188 --> 01:02:01.427
Yeah.

01:02:01.527 --> 01:02:05.748
Um, on this little tiny ski mountain, there is actually a little tiny ski mountain in Indiana.

01:02:05.748 --> 01:02:06.027
Okay.

01:02:06.027 --> 01:02:06.547
A little ski hill.

01:02:07.458 --> 01:02:09.318
Um, until he was like 75.

01:02:09.438 --> 01:02:11.597
I mean, he skied as a ski patroller until,

01:02:11.597 --> 01:02:15.318
well, so you're so your adventurous spirit to be a raft guide and stuff like that.

01:02:15.418 --> 01:02:16.117
It came from,

01:02:16.557 --> 01:02:17.318
I would say both sides.

01:02:17.318 --> 01:02:17.518
Both sides.

01:02:17.518 --> 01:02:18.077
My mom too.

01:02:18.297 --> 01:02:21.918
My mom still kayaks and mountain and bikes on the road with her girlfriends.

01:02:22.018 --> 01:02:22.677
Um, yeah.

01:02:22.677 --> 01:02:23.557
You know, she's 75.

01:02:23.907 --> 01:02:24.197
Okay.

01:02:24.228 --> 01:02:24.637
He's now

01:02:24.637 --> 01:02:24.918
80.

01:02:25.777 --> 01:02:34.318
Um, and yeah, they, they actually live on a lake now in Michigan, just over the border about 25 minutes from my childhood home.

01:02:34.467 --> 01:02:34.757
Okay.

01:02:34.898 --> 01:02:36.438
And it's just a beautiful place to visit.

01:02:36.498 --> 01:02:45.038
So we love going there in the summer and seeing relatives and there's like a ton of relatives, so we're talking like over a hundred people that we could see in one visit.

01:02:45.217 --> 01:02:45.637
Oh, wow.

01:02:46.018 --> 01:02:50.717
One specifically being my grandpa who is about to be 101 on the 17th.

01:02:50.987 --> 01:02:51.277
Okay.

01:02:51.538 --> 01:02:51.878
Of July.

01:02:52.498 --> 01:02:52.918
Oh wow.

01:02:53.617 --> 01:02:55.557
Um, so yeah, congratulations.

01:02:55.557 --> 01:02:55.757
Yeah.

01:02:55.757 --> 01:02:56.077
We went

01:02:56.077 --> 01:02:59.358
back for my, my, my wife's grandma's hundred and fourth birthday.

01:02:59.387 --> 01:02:59.677
Nice.

01:02:59.708 --> 01:03:00.277
Some years ago.

01:03:00.498 --> 01:03:02.838
She passed since then, but pretty special thing.

01:03:03.018 --> 01:03:03.237
Yes.

01:03:03.478 --> 01:03:04.918
Anything over a hundred, you should do it every year, right?

01:03:05.068 --> 01:03:05.358
Yeah.

01:03:05.358 --> 01:03:05.478
Yeah.

01:03:06.168 --> 01:03:06.518
We've

01:03:06.518 --> 01:03:16.117
been celebrating pretty hard since 98 years old, but at a hundred years old we had a blowout party and he danced with his walker until like 10:00 PM It's funny.

01:03:16.597 --> 01:03:16.998
That's awesome.

01:03:17.097 --> 01:03:18.438
But there was over a hundred of us there.

01:03:18.577 --> 01:03:18.797
Wow.

01:03:18.898 --> 01:03:23.398
Um, celebrating him and, uh, so he got a big party.

01:03:23.538 --> 01:03:24.277
He got a big celebration.

01:03:24.518 --> 01:03:24.757
McKnight.

01:03:24.818 --> 01:03:26.878
Is that a, like a Irish kind of name?

01:03:27.248 --> 01:03:28.358
Irish Catholic background?

01:03:28.358 --> 01:03:29.157
Irish, both of you.

01:03:29.257 --> 01:03:30.998
Is that true or not necessarily?

01:03:30.998 --> 01:03:31.237
Well, I

01:03:31.237 --> 01:03:32.358
didn't, I wasn't raised Irish Catholic.

01:03:32.597 --> 01:03:34.117
I was in that community for sure.

01:03:34.117 --> 01:03:34.478
Gotcha.

01:03:34.577 --> 01:03:38.438
And I went to a, um, I went to a Catholic high school even.

01:03:38.507 --> 01:03:38.797
Okay.

01:03:38.858 --> 01:03:41.277
And, which was across the street from Notre Dame University.

01:03:41.922 --> 01:03:43.623
But we were raised Presbyterian.

01:03:43.733 --> 01:03:44.023
Okay.

01:03:44.322 --> 01:03:45.702
Um, and you were raised Catholic?

01:03:45.702 --> 01:03:46.702
Irish Catholic, yeah.

01:03:46.773 --> 01:03:47.063
Okay.

01:03:47.172 --> 01:03:47.463
Yeah.

01:03:47.963 --> 01:03:51.143
And was that a, a thing for you guys when you started dating or?

01:03:51.253 --> 01:03:54.463
When we started dating, we were kind of, we had kind of like taken a hi.

01:03:54.663 --> 01:03:55.983
I mean, we were very, it was pretty common, right?

01:03:55.983 --> 01:03:56.543
When you're 20.

01:03:56.963 --> 01:03:57.422
We met at the

01:03:57.503 --> 01:03:57.583
Rio.

01:03:57.702 --> 01:04:02.222
I mean, we weren't necessarily, so anyway, in Fort Collins, probably it wasn't a Bible study.

01:04:02.222 --> 01:04:02.503
Yeah.

01:04:02.802 --> 01:04:06.063
So, uh, doesn't everybody meet at the Rio at some point in Fort Collins?

01:04:06.202 --> 01:04:11.342
So anyway, so we, we, once we had kids, we were always really strong faithfully, personally.

01:04:11.342 --> 01:04:11.822
Right, right.

01:04:11.822 --> 01:04:16.143
You know, um, but once we had kids, we both agreed we wanted to raise.

01:04:16.143 --> 01:04:16.503
Once I got

01:04:16.623 --> 01:04:17.782
pregnant, I was like, we gotta find a church.

01:04:18.012 --> 01:04:18.302
Yeah.

01:04:18.302 --> 01:04:19.262
That's how I felt.

01:04:20.063 --> 01:04:20.702
I was raised.

01:04:21.288 --> 01:04:27.467
At a church environment where it felt like a second home, and as a kid you could hide in all the little nooks and crannies of the building.

01:04:27.467 --> 01:04:27.748
Yeah.

01:04:27.748 --> 01:04:29.148
And like run around and chase each other.

01:04:29.487 --> 01:04:31.387
And it was a very welcome place for us.

01:04:31.608 --> 01:04:32.228
And Yeah.

01:04:32.228 --> 01:04:32.387
Yeah.

01:04:32.487 --> 01:04:34.307
You know, just a very inviting place.

01:04:34.447 --> 01:04:35.947
And I was raised and that's what I wanted, like

01:04:36.177 --> 01:04:40.307
terrified being in the church, uh, because Yeah, yeah.

01:04:40.307 --> 01:04:40.347
Yeah.

01:04:41.047 --> 01:04:43.947
So very different how that conversation go with by switches.

01:04:44.038 --> 01:04:44.987
How'd the conversation go?

01:04:44.987 --> 01:04:45.268
Yeah.

01:04:45.418 --> 01:04:46.947
Like how did, he was really receptive.

01:04:47.068 --> 01:04:49.467
I just said, you know, we need to, we need to get going to church.

01:04:49.527 --> 01:04:57.907
We need to, we need to get into the habit of having like that, uh, um, habit of that tradition, of that schedule.

01:04:58.967 --> 01:04:59.987
Um, he, he's really receptive.

01:05:00.018 --> 01:05:00.307
Yeah.

01:05:00.307 --> 01:05:03.867
He wanted to, I might've had to drag him at first, but he really enjoys it.

01:05:03.887 --> 01:05:07.347
He, we have a really, really strong friend community.

01:05:07.378 --> 01:05:07.668
Cool.

01:05:07.668 --> 01:05:08.668
At the church we go to now.

01:05:08.668 --> 01:05:08.987
Awesome.

01:05:09.168 --> 01:05:11.268
And it's the one that our kids have been raised in.

01:05:11.297 --> 01:05:17.467
I've been going there, well we've been going there, but I've been going to like the mom group when the kids are little and you're like talking.

01:05:18.362 --> 01:05:19.512
Since they were born.

01:05:19.652 --> 01:05:20.432
That's really cool.

01:05:20.432 --> 01:05:22.913
And so the friends, my 14-year-old daughter, your relationship there

01:05:22.913 --> 01:05:24.913
are almost as strong and long as the ones in Chile.

01:05:25.213 --> 01:05:25.432
Yes.

01:05:25.492 --> 01:05:25.713
Yes.

01:05:25.813 --> 01:05:27.632
Almost as strong and long as the ones in Chile.

01:05:27.632 --> 01:05:27.873
Mm-hmm.

01:05:27.952 --> 01:05:28.193
That's cool.

01:05:28.293 --> 01:05:30.152
So these kids have known each other since they were little.

01:05:30.452 --> 01:05:33.753
And I jumped off of your childhood a little bit, Mary, but describe Young Mary A.

01:05:33.753 --> 01:05:34.032
Little bit.

01:05:34.103 --> 01:05:37.952
Like were you good student, were you an athlete?

01:05:38.023 --> 01:05:41.072
Were you were the youngest of four, and how much older was the oldest one?

01:05:41.782 --> 01:05:43.603
My oldest brother's eight years older than me.

01:05:43.603 --> 01:05:43.762
Okay.

01:05:43.802 --> 01:05:53.123
I was about the, I'm the oldest of four and 10 years younger is the youngest, so a similar family, uhhuh, but my little brother was spoiled as crap compared to the way I grew up.

01:05:53.702 --> 01:05:56.242
My brother would probably say the same about me.

01:05:56.742 --> 01:05:57.123
She had

01:05:57.123 --> 01:06:01.242
a pretty good, I, I got like a 25-year-old pickup.

01:06:01.943 --> 01:06:06.402
Joe got dad's most recent, almost new pickup when he bought a new one kind of thing.

01:06:06.463 --> 01:06:07.762
But our family was a lot more.

01:06:07.762 --> 01:06:08.123
Mm-hmm.

01:06:08.202 --> 01:06:09.123
Well to do by that time.

01:06:09.233 --> 01:06:09.523
Yeah.

01:06:09.532 --> 01:06:09.882
Right.

01:06:09.943 --> 01:06:11.402
My brother had an El Camino.

01:06:11.592 --> 01:06:11.882
Okay.

01:06:11.902 --> 01:06:12.123
Do

01:06:12.123 --> 01:06:12.603
you know that car?

01:06:12.682 --> 01:06:12.802
I

01:06:12.802 --> 01:06:13.123
go, yeah.

01:06:13.123 --> 01:06:13.322
Yeah.

01:06:13.643 --> 01:06:14.842
I had a Camry, you know what I mean?

01:06:14.902 --> 01:06:15.643
So it was a little nicer.

01:06:15.713 --> 01:06:16.003
Yeah.

01:06:16.003 --> 01:06:16.123
Yeah.

01:06:16.222 --> 01:06:16.443
Um,

01:06:16.443 --> 01:06:18.643
but he was well known for that El Camino in high school.

01:06:18.733 --> 01:06:19.083
Right,

01:06:19.163 --> 01:06:19.322
right.

01:06:19.463 --> 01:06:22.083
He got like nicknamed after that El Camino in high school.

01:06:22.103 --> 01:06:22.603
You know what I mean?

01:06:22.623 --> 01:06:22.842
You

01:06:22.842 --> 01:06:24.083
didn't get nicknamed after the Camry.

01:06:24.143 --> 01:06:24.963
No, that's good.

01:06:25.103 --> 01:06:25.643
That's good.

01:06:25.983 --> 01:06:27.643
So you're a little bit spoiled.

01:06:29.273 --> 01:06:32.373
But kind of a pleaser, probably getting good grades.

01:06:32.373 --> 01:06:33.413
Everybody likes you.

01:06:34.043 --> 01:06:34.333
Sure.

01:06:34.333 --> 01:06:34.532
Yeah.

01:06:34.612 --> 01:06:35.132
I mean, because that,

01:06:35.333 --> 01:06:37.733
I don't know, I'm guessing, uh, I don't really know you at well, well, not

01:06:37.733 --> 01:06:38.532
necessarily a pleaser.

01:06:38.643 --> 01:06:38.932
Okay.

01:06:39.132 --> 01:06:40.373
I was always the one ready to fight.

01:06:40.793 --> 01:06:41.492
Oh, interesting.

01:06:41.492 --> 01:06:43.333
My oldest brother was always there to defend me.

01:06:43.353 --> 01:06:53.333
The two middle siblings were the ones who would beat me up and call me names, and then my oldest brother would come in with his TaeKwonDo black belt experience and just knock'em down.

01:06:53.813 --> 01:06:54.253
Perfect.

01:06:54.402 --> 01:06:56.773
It's always nice when you're a sassy young girl.

01:06:56.802 --> 01:06:58.213
It's always nice to have a protector.

01:06:58.242 --> 01:06:58.532
Yeah.

01:06:59.163 --> 01:06:59.452
Yeah.

01:06:59.472 --> 01:07:00.532
You gotta have some, some of that.

01:07:00.592 --> 01:07:00.813
And

01:07:00.813 --> 01:07:01.733
now she's teaching that to our

01:07:01.813 --> 01:07:01.893
daughter.

01:07:02.563 --> 01:07:03.373
What the sass.

01:07:05.592 --> 01:07:13.773
Um, but yeah, so we had a great, uh, kind of relationship, kind of traditional middle America, very traditional family,

01:07:14.072 --> 01:07:15.893
but very engaged with your church community and stuff.

01:07:15.893 --> 01:07:16.813
Sounds like Totally.

01:07:17.152 --> 01:07:18.893
Um, great church community.

01:07:19.152 --> 01:07:20.012
And, and

01:07:20.012 --> 01:07:21.333
then how did you find CSU.

01:07:22.018 --> 01:07:22.307
Like,

01:07:22.538 --> 01:07:22.827
yeah.

01:07:22.838 --> 01:07:30.027
Again, I think I was just a little bit, I mean, there's probably a lot of people like me who feel just the drive to see something different and be independent.

01:07:30.168 --> 01:07:30.387
Go

01:07:30.387 --> 01:07:30.588
west.

01:07:30.588 --> 01:07:31.668
Young man or young lady.

01:07:31.668 --> 01:07:31.947
Yeah.

01:07:32.177 --> 01:07:32.467
Yeah.

01:07:32.547 --> 01:07:35.867
I most everybody was gonna go to school in Indiana from my high school.

01:07:36.057 --> 01:07:36.347
Yeah.

01:07:36.367 --> 01:07:38.467
And I said, there's got to be something more.

01:07:38.748 --> 01:07:41.268
I looked in Ohio, we looked in Michigan.

01:07:41.268 --> 01:07:43.987
They're like, outta state is really, you wanna do that?

01:07:43.987 --> 01:07:44.668
That's expensive.

01:07:44.768 --> 01:07:46.427
But I'm like, please, I can't.

01:07:46.617 --> 01:07:50.748
Well, we visited my second brother, so not the oldest, but the one below.

01:07:50.768 --> 01:07:50.987
Yep.

01:07:51.208 --> 01:07:52.387
He was out at CSU.

01:07:52.527 --> 01:07:52.748
Oh.

01:07:53.447 --> 01:07:54.068
We did a tour.

01:07:54.822 --> 01:07:57.182
I went on a, like a, like a little just run.

01:07:57.503 --> 01:08:01.943
I went on a run by myself on the sidewalk and I just knew I had to come out here.

01:08:02.822 --> 01:08:09.983
I think people don't realize that when you're south and east of Lake Michigan, that there's a thing called lake effect and you get a lot of clouds.

01:08:09.983 --> 01:08:10.262
Mm-hmm.

01:08:10.262 --> 01:08:11.063
Cloud cover all the time.

01:08:11.063 --> 01:08:11.342
Yeah.

01:08:11.342 --> 01:08:11.503
Yeah.

01:08:11.853 --> 01:08:17.222
Just the sunshine here was a completely different atmosphere from anything I'd ever seen.

01:08:17.643 --> 01:08:19.983
And then we have corn fields that go 15 feet tall.

01:08:19.983 --> 01:08:20.302
Right.

01:08:20.682 --> 01:08:23.582
And so the view here was nothing like anything I'd ever seen.

01:08:23.582 --> 01:08:23.743
Yeah.

01:08:23.743 --> 01:08:23.863
Yeah.

01:08:23.882 --> 01:08:25.983
The sense of space and place, they just

01:08:26.182 --> 01:08:26.382
openness.

01:08:26.382 --> 01:08:26.662
Yeah.

01:08:26.662 --> 01:08:26.983
Mm-hmm.

01:08:27.203 --> 01:08:29.903
So, uh, didn't care what I studied, I just had to be here.

01:08:30.462 --> 01:08:30.863
I dig it.

01:08:31.082 --> 01:08:31.302
And

01:08:31.302 --> 01:08:32.542
I've been here since 2001.

01:08:32.563 --> 01:08:33.063
And what did you

01:08:33.063 --> 01:08:33.222
study?

01:08:33.962 --> 01:08:36.243
I studied in the College of Natural Resources.

01:08:36.422 --> 01:08:38.403
Uh, it's, it was a new major at the time.

01:08:38.403 --> 01:08:39.962
In 2002, they came out with it.

01:08:39.962 --> 01:08:40.842
It's called Global Tourism.

01:08:41.143 --> 01:08:41.483
Oh, yeah.

01:08:41.582 --> 01:08:45.243
So it was a marriage between the business school and the natural resource department.

01:08:45.243 --> 01:08:45.483
Yeah.

01:08:45.542 --> 01:08:46.403
And they were trying to,

01:08:46.653 --> 01:08:50.162
which considering the like future fishing resort I know.

01:08:50.262 --> 01:08:51.042
And that kind of stuff.

01:08:51.042 --> 01:08:51.443
That's crazy.

01:08:51.802 --> 01:08:54.523
I didn't know I was gonna be business realm with Turf Tamers here.

01:08:54.953 --> 01:08:55.243
Yeah.

01:08:55.262 --> 01:09:00.882
So it was, it was like they wanted to, uh, turn out people who were gonna do international business, uh, like tourism.

01:09:01.033 --> 01:09:01.323
Yeah.

01:09:01.323 --> 01:09:01.443
Yeah.

01:09:01.738 --> 01:09:02.943
Tourism really cool.

01:09:02.943 --> 01:09:04.382
So I had to minor in a foreign language.

01:09:04.382 --> 01:09:04.823
Guess what?

01:09:04.823 --> 01:09:08.182
I picked Spanish and then you had to study abroad and internship abroad.

01:09:08.182 --> 01:09:09.743
And I'm like, sign me up.

01:09:09.922 --> 01:09:11.783
Any excuse to travel I will take.

01:09:11.813 --> 01:09:12.103
Yeah.

01:09:12.103 --> 01:09:12.302
Yeah.

01:09:12.302 --> 01:09:14.783
Because I had been a big traveler at 12 years old.

01:09:14.903 --> 01:09:17.182
I had gone on an outward bound trip at 13 years old.

01:09:17.382 --> 01:09:24.262
I had gone to, um, a camp that was like scuba diving in San Diego, outside of La Jolla.

01:09:24.342 --> 01:09:25.662
I don't know how I got my parents to say.

01:09:25.662 --> 01:09:26.422
Because you were spoiled.

01:09:26.613 --> 01:09:26.903
Yeah.

01:09:26.903 --> 01:09:27.422
She was the youngest.

01:09:27.422 --> 01:09:27.903
You were spoiled as crap.

01:09:28.122 --> 01:09:30.182
Her parents were just like, sure, we'll send you away

01:09:30.283 --> 01:09:31.103
and we'll be all alone.

01:09:31.363 --> 01:09:32.023
You're our baby.

01:09:32.243 --> 01:09:33.582
You're never gonna have another child.

01:09:33.823 --> 01:09:34.783
IU Yeah, exactly.

01:09:34.903 --> 01:09:35.983
I went to Australia for three weeks.

01:09:36.103 --> 01:09:38.023
I went to Germany my sophomore year in high school.

01:09:39.143 --> 01:09:40.262
I mean, travel was,

01:09:40.573 --> 01:09:40.863
yeah.

01:09:40.863 --> 01:09:41.903
But something I really liked.

01:09:41.903 --> 01:09:42.582
Very much a family value.

01:09:42.722 --> 01:09:44.222
And you obviously jumped on it too.

01:09:44.292 --> 01:09:44.783
Totally.

01:09:44.863 --> 01:09:45.342
A family value.

01:09:45.563 --> 01:09:47.502
My parents were, were into adventure too.

01:09:47.502 --> 01:09:47.743
Yeah.

01:09:47.762 --> 01:09:48.422
And they still are.

01:09:48.573 --> 01:09:48.863
Yeah.

01:09:48.943 --> 01:09:49.382
I dig it.

01:09:49.382 --> 01:09:49.662
Yeah.

01:09:49.762 --> 01:09:52.342
Um, do you guys wanna do the fun ping pong ball game now?

01:09:52.573 --> 01:09:52.863
Okay.

01:09:52.893 --> 01:09:53.182
Yeah.

01:09:53.332 --> 01:09:55.903
It's, uh, totally random questions.

01:09:56.132 --> 01:09:56.422
Okay.

01:09:58.063 --> 01:09:58.903
I think we'll do.

01:09:59.893 --> 01:10:05.743
Usually I do three questions to my one guest, but I think I'll do two questions or do you want separate questions?

01:10:05.842 --> 01:10:06.943
No, let's do separate questions.

01:10:06.943 --> 01:10:07.182
That's fine.

01:10:07.182 --> 01:10:08.502
So each pick, pick two balls.

01:10:08.773 --> 01:10:09.063
Sure.

01:10:09.363 --> 01:10:10.863
And then I'll tell you what the questions are.

01:10:10.882 --> 01:10:12.502
And if you could just maybe grab that whole thing.

01:10:12.502 --> 01:10:20.703
Mary, I'm reaching here, and so you grab any two balls, reach down to the bottom so we don't get any repeats from recently or anything like that.

01:10:21.472 --> 01:10:22.103
There we go.

01:10:22.523 --> 01:10:23.262
Who wants to go first?

01:10:23.323 --> 01:10:25.262
And Mary, if you'd like, you can hand that back to me.

01:10:25.533 --> 01:10:26.143
I'll go first.

01:10:26.733 --> 01:10:27.023
Okay.

01:10:27.033 --> 01:10:27.382
Brian?

01:10:27.972 --> 01:10:28.262
Four.

01:10:28.733 --> 01:10:29.023
Four.

01:10:32.893 --> 01:10:33.983
This is one of my favorites.

01:10:35.332 --> 01:10:39.422
What would you estimate your burp to fart ratio to be?

01:10:40.222 --> 01:10:40.342
Hmm.

01:10:42.542 --> 01:10:43.262
I would say,

01:10:43.783 --> 01:10:48.823
I think we should ask his children that question because they could probably answer it very well.

01:10:49.783 --> 01:10:53.743
I would say probably zero burps to four farts.

01:10:54.717 --> 01:10:56.097
Really, you barely burp ever.

01:10:56.497 --> 01:10:56.578
Yeah.

01:10:56.717 --> 01:10:57.537
But you're a pretty party.

01:10:57.648 --> 01:10:57.938
Yeah.

01:10:59.478 --> 01:10:59.778
All right.

01:10:59.997 --> 01:11:00.297
All right.

01:11:00.478 --> 01:11:00.898
11.

01:11:01.318 --> 01:11:01.738
11.

01:11:03.568 --> 01:11:07.667
If you could time travel, would you visit the past or the future?

01:11:08.247 --> 01:11:08.908
Why and when?

01:11:10.047 --> 01:11:10.868
Oh, my word.

01:11:10.927 --> 01:11:13.787
That's a cool, that's a great, great question.

01:11:15.028 --> 01:11:15.787
Probably go to the past.

01:11:16.217 --> 01:11:16.507
Okay.

01:11:18.997 --> 01:11:22.988
Australian Outback 1573 Don D way.

01:11:24.097 --> 01:11:24.387
Yeah.

01:11:24.677 --> 01:11:25.707
Chile would be great.

01:11:26.087 --> 01:11:31.627
Uh, but I kind of feel like I've seen the past in Chile because even in the two thousands, like Right,

01:11:31.658 --> 01:11:33.427
they didn't have electricity in 2015.

01:11:33.898 --> 01:11:34.188
Yeah.

01:11:34.287 --> 01:11:39.547
So I would go to, um, I would go to Tonga.

01:11:40.018 --> 01:11:40.307
Okay.

01:11:40.847 --> 01:11:43.988
And it would be in 1890.

01:11:45.608 --> 01:11:49.268
So I confessed to a lot of ignorance about Tonga.

01:11:50.193 --> 01:11:52.082
Like, tell me about Tonga in 1890.

01:11:52.113 --> 01:11:54.722
What was the, the setting there and what is it today?

01:11:54.722 --> 01:11:55.122
How do you help me?

01:11:55.422 --> 01:11:55.643
Why

01:11:56.262 --> 01:11:57.403
I'm, I just answered it.

01:11:57.403 --> 01:11:58.643
I didn't say I was gonna, she's never been to

01:11:58.722 --> 01:11:58.882
Tonga.

01:11:58.882 --> 01:11:59.563
I've been to Tonga.

01:11:59.563 --> 01:12:01.762
It's a tiny little group of islands off the coast of New Zealand.

01:12:01.912 --> 01:12:02.203
Yeah.

01:12:02.422 --> 01:12:04.203
And, uh, yeah, I knew it was somewhere.

01:12:04.203 --> 01:12:06.603
Don't think it's changed much since 1870 either.

01:12:06.912 --> 01:12:07.203
Yeah.

01:12:07.203 --> 01:12:07.563
Gotcha.

01:12:07.823 --> 01:12:10.363
But it's tropical and nice and I bet, uh, and who

01:12:10.363 --> 01:12:12.002
settled it or colonized it or whatever?

01:12:12.002 --> 01:12:14.042
What's the, what's I know it's, what's the local language?

01:12:14.542 --> 01:12:16.563
The local Langu is, is Tonganese.

01:12:16.582 --> 01:12:16.882
Oh, yeah.

01:12:16.882 --> 01:12:17.002
Okay.

01:12:17.002 --> 01:12:17.523
In English.

01:12:17.592 --> 01:12:17.882
Okay.

01:12:17.882 --> 01:12:18.722
Because they get all their supplies.

01:12:18.783 --> 01:12:20.483
So it was an English colony back in the day.

01:12:20.882 --> 01:12:20.922
Probably.

01:12:20.922 --> 01:12:21.962
Like New Zealand was?

01:12:21.962 --> 01:12:23.682
No, actually Tonga is still an ancient kingdom.

01:12:23.983 --> 01:12:24.643
Oh, is that right?

01:12:24.643 --> 01:12:26.922
And they ate everybody that tried to settle them.

01:12:27.063 --> 01:12:27.682
Oh, interesting.

01:12:27.953 --> 01:12:28.243
Yeah.

01:12:28.243 --> 01:12:30.122
So they, yeah, literally eight.

01:12:30.422 --> 01:12:32.002
So you would go there and not try

01:12:32.002 --> 01:12:32.203
to be eaten?

01:12:32.632 --> 01:12:33.643
Yeah, not try to be eaten.

01:12:33.653 --> 01:12:34.162
There you go.

01:12:34.693 --> 01:12:35.563
Could integrate.

01:12:38.752 --> 01:12:40.122
Alright, Brian, what's your second?

01:12:40.302 --> 01:12:41.042
24.

01:12:41.063 --> 01:12:41.762
24.

01:12:44.358 --> 01:12:47.778
What's the most durable business relationship that you've had?

01:12:48.457 --> 01:12:48.578
Hmm.

01:12:49.158 --> 01:12:52.738
The most durable business relationship that I have had.

01:12:53.557 --> 01:12:58.328
Um, durable.

01:12:59.047 --> 01:12:59.568
Probably my wife.

01:13:00.238 --> 01:13:00.528
Yeah.

01:13:01.188 --> 01:13:02.328
You know, because I would

01:13:02.328 --> 01:13:03.328
like to answer that too.

01:13:04.158 --> 01:13:04.648
Sure, sure.

01:13:04.648 --> 01:13:05.047
Is that allowed?

01:13:05.047 --> 01:13:05.448
Please do.

01:13:05.448 --> 01:13:05.688
Yeah.

01:13:05.917 --> 01:13:06.528
There's no rules.

01:13:06.608 --> 01:13:06.807
I think

01:13:06.807 --> 01:13:09.127
Brian and Karen Dunbar have been delightful.

01:13:09.518 --> 01:13:10.887
Like clients of yours or something?

01:13:10.887 --> 01:13:11.207
Yeah, clients

01:13:11.207 --> 01:13:11.488
of ours.

01:13:11.488 --> 01:13:14.247
We, we didn't wanna talk about any names on clients because we have a lot.

01:13:14.247 --> 01:13:14.368
Sorry.

01:13:14.368 --> 01:13:15.087
They're your favorites though.

01:13:15.087 --> 01:13:15.368
Yeah.

01:13:15.557 --> 01:13:19.568
Like you could tell a lot of clients that they're your favorites, but really Brian and Karen Dunbar are your favorites.

01:13:19.568 --> 01:13:19.927
Yeah, they're

01:13:19.927 --> 01:13:26.087
very, very nice people and they give us feedback and they, you know, they're not afraid to tell us when, you know, they're just great people and they're friends too.

01:13:26.307 --> 01:13:28.207
So, but also very early clients as well.

01:13:28.318 --> 01:13:28.608
Very

01:13:28.608 --> 01:13:28.768
early.

01:13:28.957 --> 01:13:29.408
Very early.

01:13:29.497 --> 01:13:29.847
We've,

01:13:29.858 --> 01:13:32.007
we've been in a relationship with them for a long, long time.

01:13:32.007 --> 01:13:32.247
We got to watch

01:13:32.247 --> 01:13:33.167
their landscaping mature.

01:13:33.257 --> 01:13:34.927
We've installed it and we got to watch him mature.

01:13:35.448 --> 01:13:37.287
I wanted to ask you a question that I forgot about Mary.

01:13:37.587 --> 01:13:41.408
Um, but when you started dating Brian, like he's got this.

01:13:42.828 --> 01:13:44.868
A small landscaping business still.

01:13:45.047 --> 01:13:48.228
And he is like, was that normal to you?

01:13:48.408 --> 01:13:52.188
Did you have examples of entrepreneurs in your realm?

01:13:52.347 --> 01:13:55.587
I know there was car salesman, real estate, kind of, but that's a little bit different than,

01:13:56.018 --> 01:14:01.868
well, first of all, I thought it was hot because sexy, all the guys had no clue what they were doing at my age.

01:14:02.078 --> 01:14:02.427
Right.

01:14:02.738 --> 01:14:03.988
He's five years older than me.

01:14:04.087 --> 01:14:04.427
Oh, okay.

01:14:04.427 --> 01:14:12.948
So to meet a guy like that who already had a house and a business and a plan and he was still playing hockey, you know, in in shape.

01:14:13.097 --> 01:14:13.387
Yeah.

01:14:13.387 --> 01:14:13.507
Yeah.

01:14:13.507 --> 01:14:17.387
And taking great care of himself and you know, renting out rooms in his house Yeah.

01:14:17.387 --> 01:14:19.188
And doing the bachelor thing.

01:14:19.347 --> 01:14:20.868
I thought that was really attractive.

01:14:21.108 --> 01:14:25.707
I mean, uh, what he was doing was basically the American dream, but at such a young age.

01:14:25.738 --> 01:14:26.028
Yeah.

01:14:26.028 --> 01:14:26.188
Cool.

01:14:26.188 --> 01:14:27.747
You know, he started at 23.

01:14:27.938 --> 01:14:28.228
Yeah.

01:14:28.847 --> 01:14:29.747
You don't hear stuff like that

01:14:29.837 --> 01:14:30.387
every day.

01:14:30.387 --> 01:14:30.587
Right.

01:14:31.828 --> 01:14:32.228
I like it.

01:14:32.608 --> 01:14:33.908
Um, Mary, what's your second number?

01:14:35.408 --> 01:14:36.948
Uh, 26.

01:14:40.292 --> 01:14:43.512
What's your go-to way to unwind after a stressful day?

01:14:44.252 --> 01:14:45.472
Oh, that's a great question.

01:14:46.063 --> 01:14:51.313
Well, first of all, I love starting my day working out because that sets the tone for my day.

01:14:51.313 --> 01:14:55.712
So exercise is a huge thing for me, um, at the end of my day to wind down.

01:14:55.872 --> 01:14:56.792
I think walking my dog.

01:14:57.448 --> 01:14:57.568
Hmm.

01:14:57.568 --> 01:14:58.847
Kind of another form of exercise.

01:14:58.847 --> 01:14:59.007
Yeah.

01:14:59.028 --> 01:15:05.247
But my, my morning exercise is like weight lifting, so I like to go to the gym and lift weights and set the tone for the day.

01:15:05.988 --> 01:15:09.408
But if I'm stressed out and trying to relax, I usually grab the dog.

01:15:09.438 --> 01:15:09.728
It's

01:15:09.728 --> 01:15:11.167
hard to stay stressed when you're walking the dog.

01:15:11.198 --> 01:15:11.488
Yeah.

01:15:11.488 --> 01:15:11.688
Yeah.

01:15:11.688 --> 01:15:12.688
She also reads books like

01:15:13.078 --> 01:15:13.368
that.

01:15:14.488 --> 01:15:15.207
I do like it.

01:15:15.207 --> 01:15:15.608
I read a lot.

01:15:16.068 --> 01:15:16.608
Not audible.

01:15:16.787 --> 01:15:18.648
You just use the old fashioned way.

01:15:18.648 --> 01:15:19.608
Just I do the old fashion.

01:15:19.627 --> 01:15:20.328
You crush them too?

01:15:20.478 --> 01:15:20.768
Yeah.

01:15:21.467 --> 01:15:22.927
My wife can read like a hundred pages an hour.

01:15:23.228 --> 01:15:25.768
I'm like, I can't even comprehend.

01:15:26.268 --> 01:15:26.488
I'm

01:15:26.488 --> 01:15:29.328
reading a really big book right now, but it'll take, it'll be eight months.

01:15:29.358 --> 01:15:29.648
Yeah.

01:15:31.842 --> 01:15:35.212
Yeah, I can read his eight months probably for me it'd be like a month and a half.

01:15:35.243 --> 01:15:35.533
Yeah.

01:15:35.533 --> 01:15:35.653
Yeah.

01:15:35.792 --> 01:15:36.212
Two months.

01:15:36.523 --> 01:15:36.813
Yeah.

01:15:36.932 --> 01:15:37.372
I feel you.

01:15:37.832 --> 01:15:43.252
Um, okay, so you guys said you were gonna do a small gift to somebody if they write in with the answer to the question.

01:15:43.523 --> 01:15:43.813
Yeah.

01:15:43.912 --> 01:15:48.012
And I think the question I'll choose is where would you move to?

01:15:48.162 --> 01:15:56.493
Just'cause it's easy Tonga 1890 and so the listener that spots this, you're going to get a free, it's called

01:15:56.573 --> 01:16:04.092
a turf builder, which is a dach, an aeration, and then we do a little overs seeding and a granular organic fertilizer.

01:16:04.752 --> 01:16:05.252
One swoop,

01:16:05.393 --> 01:16:08.972
one shot and up to say a 5,000 square foot lot or something like that.

01:16:09.243 --> 01:16:09.693
Yeah, yeah.

01:16:09.693 --> 01:16:11.372
We are not doing the acreage, but yeah.

01:16:12.563 --> 01:16:13.052
Fair enough.

01:16:13.243 --> 01:16:13.733
Awesome.

01:16:14.193 --> 01:16:17.252
So we will set that up and get a post out there after this episode goes.

01:16:17.363 --> 01:16:20.693
It's like our little bribery for listening all the way through and paying attention.

01:16:20.882 --> 01:16:21.172
Nice.

01:16:21.243 --> 01:16:21.533
Cool.

01:16:22.082 --> 01:16:22.533
Love that.

01:16:22.552 --> 01:16:22.773
So,

01:16:22.872 --> 01:16:24.412
and uh, we'll get that to you.

01:16:25.073 --> 01:16:28.292
One question I like to ask often is, um.

01:16:29.967 --> 01:16:40.858
Like you guys were, we were just talking about that era when you were 18, you know, in five years or three years or what, four and six years, I guess, your kids are gonna be kind of drying their wings.

01:16:40.858 --> 01:16:41.818
Is that the term you used?

01:16:41.837 --> 01:16:42.257
Mm-hmm.

01:16:42.467 --> 01:16:43.578
Brian, what?

01:16:43.787 --> 01:16:48.377
Given the world today, like what, what encouragement do you have for that demographic in general?

01:16:48.677 --> 01:16:50.097
Not necessarily your children, but,

01:16:50.637 --> 01:16:52.137
so for youngsters, 18 year olds?

01:16:52.167 --> 01:16:52.457
Yeah.

01:16:52.457 --> 01:16:54.337
16, 17, 20 year olds, whatever.

01:16:54.337 --> 01:16:54.578
Yeah.

01:16:54.578 --> 01:16:56.097
People finding, drying their wings.

01:16:56.247 --> 01:16:56.537
Okay.

01:16:57.018 --> 01:17:01.337
I, I think, and I don't know if it's necessarily the, the right.

01:17:03.257 --> 01:17:14.198
The right thing to tell young kids, but I say have confidence, you know, like try to, uh, because I see a lot of kids, and I'm not saying that you should just be like obnoxious, right?

01:17:14.578 --> 01:17:18.238
I'm saying, uh, but try to have confidence, try to look people in the eye.

01:17:18.297 --> 01:17:18.518
Mm.

01:17:18.778 --> 01:17:22.198
Try to approach and be, you know, human.

01:17:23.018 --> 01:17:24.118
And, and that's hard.

01:17:24.118 --> 01:17:26.358
You, I mean, it sounds like nothing to us, right.

01:17:26.497 --> 01:17:28.238
But just looking somebody in the eye and shaking.

01:17:28.328 --> 01:17:31.917
Trust me, I deal with a lot of kids right now in the demographic of 18.

01:17:31.917 --> 01:17:42.837
You're hiring 18, 19, 20, 25 years old and, you know, it's, there's some social issues going on with, you know, with all the devices and everything like that.

01:17:42.837 --> 01:17:43.118
Yeah.

01:17:43.118 --> 01:17:44.398
Depressions and depression.

01:17:44.618 --> 01:17:44.957
Am I

01:17:44.997 --> 01:17:45.318
a cat?

01:17:45.457 --> 01:17:46.198
Am I a girl?

01:17:46.347 --> 01:17:46.637
Yeah.

01:17:46.658 --> 01:17:48.318
So, you know, I, that would

01:17:48.318 --> 01:17:50.957
say, I would say to try to like, block out the noise.

01:17:51.137 --> 01:17:51.957
Be confident.

01:17:52.057 --> 01:17:53.957
Be confident in who you are as a human being.

01:17:54.148 --> 01:17:54.757
Love yourself.

01:17:54.938 --> 01:17:59.757
You know, like a big part of it is also like you're not gonna be able to love and give yourself.

01:18:00.693 --> 01:18:01.912
Out to other people.

01:18:01.912 --> 01:18:04.993
Accept until, until you've accepted yourself and you're confident and you love yourself.

01:18:05.113 --> 01:18:06.752
I mean, work on yourself continually.

01:18:06.783 --> 01:18:07.073
Sure.

01:18:07.172 --> 01:18:11.512
But at the same time, like be very grateful for what God gives you, even if you have ailments.

01:18:11.592 --> 01:18:13.993
I mean, none of us are perfect, but I would say, I

01:18:13.993 --> 01:18:26.432
think that's kind of one of the missed things from a more and more secular faith is, you know, the Christian faith, or even most any faith says, you know, God created you just the way he wanted you to be.

01:18:26.432 --> 01:18:26.912
Exactly.

01:18:27.023 --> 01:18:27.512
Exactly.

01:18:27.813 --> 01:18:30.393
And so you can have some pride in that and, and

01:18:30.393 --> 01:18:39.592
for you to love somebody else, I, if you don't unconditionally love yourself, then I don't think it's very easy for you to go out and praise other people because it's, it's

01:18:39.672 --> 01:18:39.832
phony.

01:18:39.832 --> 01:18:39.993
Yeah.

01:18:39.993 --> 01:18:41.632
I mean my, I'm my own biggest critic too.

01:18:41.773 --> 01:18:42.113
Me too.

01:18:42.113 --> 01:18:42.432
Right.

01:18:42.432 --> 01:18:44.432
I hate myself more than I hate anybody else For sure.

01:18:44.432 --> 01:18:44.632
Sometimes.

01:18:44.632 --> 01:18:45.073
And I think that's healthy.

01:18:45.632 --> 01:18:46.632
I do think that's healthy, but yes.

01:18:46.632 --> 01:18:49.712
But you do have to have an appreciation for, for that and give yourself grace.

01:18:49.863 --> 01:18:50.512
Yeah, exactly.

01:18:50.573 --> 01:18:51.113
And I dig it.

01:18:51.113 --> 01:18:51.472
Mm-hmm.

01:18:51.552 --> 01:18:53.872
Mary, anything from you for that young demographic?

01:18:54.132 --> 01:18:56.313
Uh, exploring the world, start

01:18:56.353 --> 01:18:56.672
a business.

01:18:57.092 --> 01:18:57.443
Right.

01:18:58.002 --> 01:18:58.682
I don't disagree.

01:18:58.752 --> 01:18:59.042
Yeah.

01:18:59.042 --> 01:18:59.363
Mm-hmm.

01:18:59.443 --> 01:18:59.762
Start a

01:18:59.882 --> 01:18:59.962
business.

01:19:00.182 --> 01:19:02.323
So I'm really proud of what CSU did.

01:19:02.323 --> 01:19:04.082
They did a venture validator program.

01:19:04.393 --> 01:19:05.243
It's totally free.

01:19:05.703 --> 01:19:08.082
You can get online and you can sign up for it right now.

01:19:08.162 --> 01:19:09.162
I mean, there's a class in the fall.

01:19:09.162 --> 01:19:09.762
Yeah, I got an idea.

01:19:10.023 --> 01:19:10.403
Try it out.

01:19:10.542 --> 01:19:10.762
If

01:19:10.762 --> 01:19:11.682
you have an idea, try it out.

01:19:11.682 --> 01:19:11.962
Yeah.

01:19:12.103 --> 01:19:22.643
And it's, you know, this, it seems like this generation really wants to have a great quality of life and there is nothing better than running your own ship and owning your own business.

01:19:22.712 --> 01:19:23.002
Yeah.

01:19:23.063 --> 01:19:27.643
But it takes a lot of work and it's great to flesh out your idea before you get started blindly.

01:19:27.743 --> 01:19:29.323
So use the venture validator program.

01:19:29.453 --> 01:19:29.802
Right.

01:19:29.872 --> 01:19:37.203
Well, and you might have to get some experience, you know, you might to work in landscaping for five years before you're prepared at all, or 10 years landscaper, right?

01:19:37.203 --> 01:19:37.323
Yeah.

01:19:37.323 --> 01:19:37.563
We teach people

01:19:37.563 --> 01:19:37.922
all the time.

01:19:37.922 --> 01:19:39.203
Failure is part of it.

01:19:39.342 --> 01:19:50.882
And, um, you know, but we we're firm believers in entrepreneurialship and we think that like the American dream and I'm not, you know, you're part of a local or you, you own local think tank, which is an entrepreneurial health.

01:19:50.912 --> 01:19:51.203
Yeah.

01:19:51.203 --> 01:19:51.842
That's why we came.

01:19:51.983 --> 01:19:53.722
But um, not.

01:19:54.592 --> 01:20:00.693
Put people that are just employees in any, but there's something unique about being a business owner.

01:20:01.313 --> 01:20:05.212
The schedule you're able to create, how you're able to process your life.

01:20:05.752 --> 01:20:07.972
Um, you really get these buss a lot of decisions.

01:20:07.972 --> 01:20:12.052
There's a lot of headwinds and there's a lot of decisions to make and you are responsible for a lot of other people.

01:20:12.832 --> 01:20:17.653
But at the same time, the blessing of, you know, having your own business and just being able to create your own.

01:20:17.752 --> 01:20:19.252
So being able to go to lacrosse games at four.

01:20:19.313 --> 01:20:24.453
Do whatever you want, whatever you can, fold your business, you can fail, you can do whatever you want, but you can also be successful.

01:20:24.893 --> 01:20:25.453
I have one more.

01:20:25.523 --> 01:20:25.813
Sure.

01:20:26.752 --> 01:20:34.252
So, like our kids, I would love to see 18 year olds grab a ticket and see some of the world before they settle down.

01:20:34.443 --> 01:20:34.733
Yeah.

01:20:34.872 --> 01:20:37.412
Go an exchange semester or something like that.

01:20:37.412 --> 01:20:37.653
Yeah.

01:20:37.653 --> 01:20:38.533
Grab, check it out a flight,

01:20:38.533 --> 01:20:38.773
get a ticket.

01:20:39.693 --> 01:20:41.193
Go somewhere, see some things, go to a summer camp,

01:20:41.252 --> 01:20:42.393
go to Outward Bound, whatever.

01:20:42.823 --> 01:20:43.113
Yeah.

01:20:43.222 --> 01:20:46.193
Have experiences, see the way other people do life.

01:20:46.332 --> 01:20:48.193
But you can see everything on TikTok Mary.

01:20:48.552 --> 01:20:48.792
I know.

01:20:48.893 --> 01:20:50.512
No, I, I want them to get out of the country.

01:20:50.993 --> 01:20:52.313
I want them to go far.

01:20:52.542 --> 01:20:53.033
There's

01:20:53.033 --> 01:20:54.313
videos from outta the country on TikTok.

01:20:54.573 --> 01:20:55.472
Me and Mart always met.

01:20:55.792 --> 01:20:56.073
I, I

01:20:56.073 --> 01:20:57.233
think it was good for me and Brian.

01:20:57.542 --> 01:20:57.832
Yeah.

01:20:57.832 --> 01:21:01.432
We did a ton of traveling before, uh, we met and before we got married.

01:21:01.432 --> 01:21:01.672
Yeah.

01:21:01.672 --> 01:21:10.233
Me and Mary always said, and after we got married, that go, if you're planning on getting married, if you're using the word fiance right now, like get a ticket and go travel together in a different country.

01:21:10.512 --> 01:21:15.672
'cause then you really have to, you're really a team and it's like you're, everyone else speaks a different language.

01:21:15.672 --> 01:21:16.432
You're on your own.

01:21:16.733 --> 01:21:23.472
You gotta like fall into each other and, and then you'll really know like, this is working or Yeah, maybe this isn't working, you know.

01:21:23.493 --> 01:21:23.712
So

01:21:23.762 --> 01:21:25.472
let's talk about your family just a little bit.

01:21:25.472 --> 01:21:26.993
Your, is it boy and a girl?

01:21:27.092 --> 01:21:27.472
Two girls?

01:21:27.472 --> 01:21:27.792
Mm-hmm.

01:21:27.872 --> 01:21:28.073
I forget.

01:21:28.073 --> 01:21:28.313
Mm-hmm.

01:21:28.472 --> 01:21:30.273
I have, uh, yeah, we have a girl and a boy.

01:21:30.533 --> 01:21:34.313
And one of the things I'd like to challenge is a, a one word descriptor.

01:21:35.257 --> 01:21:36.797
Uh, one word description of the children.

01:21:36.898 --> 01:21:38.278
Are you willing to try that game?

01:21:38.278 --> 01:21:38.877
Yeah, sure.

01:21:39.217 --> 01:21:44.757
Um, so the, maybe start with the older or gimme a name and a one word description and a little, uh, little expansion on there.

01:21:45.417 --> 01:21:46.278
Her name's Ava.

01:21:46.337 --> 01:21:46.917
Hi Ava.

01:21:47.297 --> 01:21:48.318
Oh, just like Ava out here?

01:21:48.537 --> 01:21:48.757
Yes.

01:21:48.757 --> 01:21:49.318
Just like Ava.

01:21:49.377 --> 01:21:50.318
We spell it EVA.

01:21:50.377 --> 01:21:50.597
Oh,

01:21:50.978 --> 01:21:51.837
so it should be Eva.

01:21:51.837 --> 01:21:52.198
A little different.

01:21:52.268 --> 01:21:52.557
Yeah.

01:21:52.557 --> 01:21:56.717
But um, you know, we go to Chile, so I like to use the Latina version of her.

01:21:56.877 --> 01:21:57.078
I see.

01:21:57.078 --> 01:21:57.278
I love it.

01:21:57.717 --> 01:21:57.877
Eva.

01:21:58.078 --> 01:21:58.358
I like it.

01:21:58.358 --> 01:21:59.158
Is EVA in

01:21:59.158 --> 01:21:59.318
Spanish?

01:21:59.318 --> 01:21:59.518
Yeah.

01:21:59.518 --> 01:21:59.637
Yeah.

01:22:00.217 --> 01:22:01.238
Um, independent.

01:22:01.497 --> 01:22:02.997
Oh, and she's how old?

01:22:03.398 --> 01:22:03.478
14.

01:22:03.797 --> 01:22:03.917
14.

01:22:04.448 --> 01:22:07.797
She's really got a mind of her own and I just love that about her.

01:22:07.797 --> 01:22:08.158
That's

01:22:08.158 --> 01:22:08.278
awesome.

01:22:08.858 --> 01:22:09.597
And then Van.

01:22:10.028 --> 01:22:10.318
Okay.

01:22:11.097 --> 01:22:11.877
And he's 12.

01:22:12.137 --> 01:22:12.358
Yep.

01:22:12.778 --> 01:22:15.478
And he was named after that grandfather who's turning 101.

01:22:15.497 --> 01:22:15.837
Oh wow.

01:22:15.898 --> 01:22:19.677
His name's Van and, um, genuine.

01:22:20.597 --> 01:22:20.677
Hmm.

01:22:21.368 --> 01:22:21.658
Yeah.

01:22:21.658 --> 01:22:21.898
That's

01:22:21.898 --> 01:22:22.257
a nice flavor.

01:22:22.257 --> 01:22:23.177
Do you agree with those words?

01:22:23.177 --> 01:22:23.457
Yeah.

01:22:23.457 --> 01:22:23.497
Agree.

01:22:23.627 --> 01:22:24.537
Would you like to add some?

01:22:24.537 --> 01:22:24.858
I think

01:22:24.877 --> 01:22:27.898
Van is, is just, uh, he's got a heart.

01:22:28.938 --> 01:22:29.818
I, I think, yeah.

01:22:29.818 --> 01:22:31.537
You know, like he, he's learned, um.

01:22:32.497 --> 01:22:34.078
To just, he's kinda a

01:22:34.078 --> 01:22:36.318
depth of understanding of people.

01:22:36.507 --> 01:22:36.797
Yeah.

01:22:36.797 --> 01:22:37.158
Understand.

01:22:37.337 --> 01:22:37.997
He works with

01:22:38.177 --> 01:22:38.917
all age groups.

01:22:39.018 --> 01:22:43.238
He can talk to an, an, an adult, he can hang out with the little girls in our cul-de-sac.

01:22:43.238 --> 01:22:43.518
Yeah.

01:22:43.518 --> 01:22:43.677
Yeah.

01:22:43.677 --> 01:22:45.438
He's just, he's got a great heart.

01:22:45.858 --> 01:22:56.148
And then Ava, I would say is, um, like, mm, independent, independence's a good word.

01:22:56.177 --> 01:22:56.467
Yeah.

01:22:56.618 --> 01:22:56.908
Yeah.

01:22:57.377 --> 01:22:58.188
That'll do well.

01:22:58.188 --> 01:23:00.387
But she's got so many other words I could describe with her.

01:23:00.667 --> 01:23:02.268
They're both just such great kids.

01:23:02.328 --> 01:23:05.707
And, um, you know, we, we love parenting.

01:23:05.847 --> 01:23:06.787
We love, uh, that's cool.

01:23:06.787 --> 01:23:14.108
You know, of course, being a business owner, you know, sometimes we feel guilty about how much time we talk business and spend, spend time working on the business.

01:23:14.167 --> 01:23:17.068
But, uh, we love parenting and we cherish our kids and, and all their things.

01:23:17.068 --> 01:23:17.347
Do you

01:23:17.347 --> 01:23:18.068
guys, uh.

01:23:18.978 --> 01:23:25.028
Like have boundary lines, like no business talk, uh, at the dinner table or in bed or things like that.

01:23:25.137 --> 01:23:25.427
Yeah,

01:23:25.427 --> 01:23:25.747
we do.

01:23:26.007 --> 01:23:30.627
Um, we've slacked off on those over the years, but the rule is no business in the bedroom.

01:23:30.797 --> 01:23:31.587
Can't talk about it.

01:23:31.698 --> 01:23:31.988
Yeah.

01:23:31.988 --> 01:23:34.148
When, when I'm in the bathroom or in the bedroom.

01:23:34.148 --> 01:23:34.707
Doesn't matter.

01:23:34.858 --> 01:23:35.148
Yeah.

01:23:35.167 --> 01:23:36.587
No tv, no business in the bedroom.

01:23:36.658 --> 01:23:36.948
Yeah.

01:23:36.948 --> 01:23:38.108
We don't have a TV in our bedroom.

01:23:38.328 --> 01:23:38.787
Oh, good.

01:23:39.087 --> 01:23:42.108
Um, and then we try not to talk, to talk about business over dinner.

01:23:42.347 --> 01:23:43.467
'cause the kids are there, what do they care?

01:23:43.467 --> 01:23:43.787
You know?

01:23:43.787 --> 01:23:44.108
Yeah, yeah.

01:23:44.768 --> 01:23:46.948
Um, and but everywhere else that's hard.

01:23:47.097 --> 01:23:47.387
Yeah.

01:23:47.387 --> 01:23:47.787
Everywhere else.

01:23:48.497 --> 01:23:53.427
What was that like for you, Brian, when, when Mary started becoming a part of the business?

01:23:53.497 --> 01:23:55.068
Were you like, sweet, this is awesome.

01:23:55.497 --> 01:23:56.547
Were you kind super

01:23:56.618 --> 01:23:58.467
standoffish still kind of am.

01:23:58.868 --> 01:24:00.988
I don't like to be told by anybody what to do.

01:24:01.997 --> 01:24:03.278
I have it all under control.

01:24:03.557 --> 01:24:04.158
I got it figured out.

01:24:04.457 --> 01:24:04.997
Do the books.

01:24:06.297 --> 01:24:10.198
No, I, I can appreciate her every single day of the week.

01:24:10.438 --> 01:24:12.037
I mean, it's just night and day.

01:24:12.037 --> 01:24:15.557
What, you know, like I said, I had business, you know, shotgun.

01:24:15.818 --> 01:24:16.637
Was the office,

01:24:17.377 --> 01:24:18.358
the shotgun of the truck?

01:24:18.507 --> 01:24:18.797
Yeah,

01:24:19.978 --> 01:24:20.518
all the papers.

01:24:21.018 --> 01:24:23.637
Not literally, but yeah, I mean, I, I, you know, I.

01:24:24.643 --> 01:24:26.212
Very stern, old school guy.

01:24:26.212 --> 01:24:30.932
So I don't like being told what to do, but I can also appreciate when I'm told something that makes a lot of sense.

01:24:30.993 --> 01:24:33.493
And it's like, yeah, you know, she's got that 30,000 foot view.

01:24:33.592 --> 01:24:38.012
And um, from the day we met at the Rio, we almost didn't meet.

01:24:38.712 --> 01:24:43.693
We, uh, but from the day I met, she's always been like, you know, my better, you know, my, my bellwether.

01:24:43.762 --> 01:24:44.493
What do you mean you

01:24:44.493 --> 01:24:45.372
almost didn't meet?

01:24:45.443 --> 01:24:48.292
Like, well, we all, were you on a blind date or a set or something?

01:24:48.292 --> 01:24:49.292
Or you weren supposed to No, my guys

01:24:49.292 --> 01:24:58.773
were, one of my guys was, uh, we were at the Rio and one of my guys was leaving for California, so we were all partying and I saw her out in front, um, on the street and I started talking to her.

01:24:59.122 --> 01:24:59.412
Yeah.

01:24:59.412 --> 01:25:03.132
And I was like, oh, we, we talked about chi and everything within that like five or 10 minutes.

01:25:03.193 --> 01:25:05.092
And then all of a sudden my guys were like, McKnight, let's go.

01:25:05.393 --> 01:25:06.292
And I just left.

01:25:06.712 --> 01:25:06.932
Oh.

01:25:07.113 --> 01:25:08.653
And I was like, I didn't even get her number.

01:25:08.653 --> 01:25:09.012
Nothing.

01:25:09.172 --> 01:25:09.813
I can't believe it.

01:25:09.813 --> 01:25:16.372
You know what, you know, and I was looking for her, you know, we went to Tony's or whatever and I was like, look, maybe she'll come down the street, you know, I never saw her.

01:25:16.393 --> 01:25:19.733
And then the very next day I was getting off a hockey practice.

01:25:19.733 --> 01:25:20.893
We all went to the pickle barrel.

01:25:21.488 --> 01:25:29.868
And I was sitting outside at the Pickle Barrel and uh, she came walking down the street and I jumped the fence and I was like, you remember me from last night, dude.

01:25:31.948 --> 01:25:32.387
I like it.

01:25:32.417 --> 01:25:32.707
Yeah.

01:25:32.807 --> 01:25:35.148
And were you, uh, happy or were you terrified?

01:25:35.268 --> 01:25:35.868
Slightly terrified.

01:25:36.188 --> 01:25:37.587
I, I wasn't terrified.

01:25:39.328 --> 01:25:41.467
Um, you know, that's kind of like the college thing, right.

01:25:41.608 --> 01:25:44.747
You know, just like, Hey, you wanna come, can I, can I get you a beer?

01:25:44.778 --> 01:25:45.268
Come sit.

01:25:45.268 --> 01:25:45.547
Yeah.

01:25:45.688 --> 01:25:47.108
It was a Friday afternoon after school.

01:25:47.307 --> 01:25:51.667
I just finished my day of college and, you know, all is all is good.

01:25:51.667 --> 01:25:52.547
So he was like, I was just

01:25:52.667 --> 01:25:53.108
checking your shoes.

01:25:53.347 --> 01:25:56.347
'cause I was suspecting that you might be an inch taller than Brian or something.

01:25:56.537 --> 01:25:56.828
Yeah.

01:25:56.828 --> 01:25:56.988
It

01:25:56.988 --> 01:25:57.108
might be.

01:25:57.278 --> 01:25:57.988
How's something like that?

01:25:58.127 --> 01:25:59.387
Was that, was it a problem for you?

01:25:59.568 --> 01:26:00.587
I'm vertically challenged.

01:26:00.887 --> 01:26:01.787
No, definitely not a problem.

01:26:01.847 --> 01:26:02.268
Better.

01:26:02.608 --> 01:26:03.148
He was awesome.

01:26:03.787 --> 01:26:03.988
Yeah.

01:26:04.387 --> 01:26:04.627
I mean.

01:26:06.078 --> 01:26:06.728
What can I say?

01:26:06.887 --> 01:26:07.768
I, I'm attracted to it.

01:26:07.967 --> 01:26:08.728
I took her away in an

01:26:08.728 --> 01:26:12.927
old i, the shorties Blue Ford playing, playing Flip Patsy Klein or something.

01:26:13.047 --> 01:26:13.207
Yeah.

01:26:13.207 --> 01:26:13.688
He was in

01:26:13.688 --> 01:26:16.608
a blue Ford truck paying, playing Patsy Klein.

01:26:16.667 --> 01:26:17.847
I'm like, who the heck is this guy?

01:26:18.627 --> 01:26:25.167
Um, that's just, it was so out of the ordinary to, for me to sit in this big old diesel truck, you know?

01:26:25.408 --> 01:26:25.688
I love

01:26:25.688 --> 01:26:25.768
it.

01:26:25.948 --> 01:26:28.608
Uh, but big strong hands, sexy shoulders.

01:26:28.677 --> 01:26:29.167
I'll take it.

01:26:29.528 --> 01:26:29.967
I dig it.

01:26:30.047 --> 01:26:30.408
I dig it.

01:26:30.467 --> 01:26:36.847
By the way, Brian, I was, I was four foot 11 in sixth grade and then five foot one at the end of 10th grade.

01:26:37.547 --> 01:26:41.167
And so I was curt the squirt all through my, like, growing up years.

01:26:41.268 --> 01:26:41.488
Oh.

01:26:41.488 --> 01:26:43.207
Everybody was so much bigger than me and stuff.

01:26:43.207 --> 01:26:48.087
And then I like sprouted up and got, you know, I went to college at six two, a hundred and thirty pounds.

01:26:48.507 --> 01:26:48.728
Wow.

01:26:48.957 --> 01:26:49.247
Yeah.

01:26:49.887 --> 01:26:51.608
I was always Napoleon complex.

01:26:51.608 --> 01:26:51.847
Yeah.

01:26:51.847 --> 01:26:52.408
I just went white.

01:26:52.488 --> 01:26:52.807
I doubt it.

01:26:52.807 --> 01:26:53.648
White or not taller.

01:26:53.997 --> 01:26:55.648
I've never seen you express

01:26:55.768 --> 01:26:57.127
a bit of a Napoleon complex.

01:26:57.398 --> 01:26:57.688
Well,

01:26:57.847 --> 01:26:58.887
McKnights aren't known for their height.

01:26:59.118 --> 01:26:59.408
Yeah.

01:26:59.917 --> 01:27:00.568
What can I say?

01:27:01.148 --> 01:27:02.688
His dad's about as tall as he is.

01:27:02.717 --> 01:27:03.007
Yeah.

01:27:03.207 --> 01:27:03.528
I, uh.

01:27:05.412 --> 01:27:26.472
I'm, I'm gonna embarrass my wife with this quick story, but, uh, Jill and I were listening to, or actually it popped into my head, and so I started singing, uh, eyeball two pieces and I was singing that old Patsy Klein song and then, uh, got to the second or third verse and Jill was like, oh, sounds like she's like in terrible shape or whatever, like all outta pieces with this guy.

01:27:26.523 --> 01:27:27.752
Every time I hear your name.

01:27:28.332 --> 01:27:29.512
And then I reminded Jill.

01:27:29.672 --> 01:27:41.512
I was like, remember when, when Andrew was telling us about how you were like crying because I hadn't, uh, it, uh, proposed to marry you yet during that few months before I actually did.

01:27:41.533 --> 01:27:42.273
That's what she's talking about.

01:27:42.432 --> 01:27:43.552
That's what she's talking about right there.

01:27:43.773 --> 01:27:45.353
She was like, that's a genre asshole.

01:27:48.432 --> 01:27:49.073
I digress.

01:27:49.073 --> 01:27:49.273
Yeah.

01:27:49.573 --> 01:27:52.113
Um, what took you guys three years, by the way?

01:27:52.292 --> 01:27:53.193
Oh, I think it was perfect.

01:27:53.332 --> 01:27:55.872
We were engaged within two and a half years, and then we got married.

01:27:56.132 --> 01:27:58.073
Um, the timing was great.

01:27:58.372 --> 01:27:59.233
Uh, we were both.

01:27:59.978 --> 01:28:02.863
Coming out of relatively serious relationships.

01:28:03.023 --> 01:28:05.903
I don't think it was super fresh for Brian, but it was kind of fresh for me, Uhhuh.

01:28:06.042 --> 01:28:10.023
And we were much wiser at that point, I think in like the dating sphere.

01:28:10.203 --> 01:28:10.662
So yeah.

01:28:10.662 --> 01:28:10.983
Yeah, yeah.

01:28:10.983 --> 01:28:13.222
We knew that we were serious right off the bat when

01:28:13.222 --> 01:28:21.622
there's something to like being able to be a, a real proper adult before you decide to get married kind of thing.

01:28:21.622 --> 01:28:22.143
Yeah, I agree.

01:28:22.523 --> 01:28:25.143
Um, and so, yeah, it's a, it's a, and I

01:28:25.143 --> 01:28:27.863
think, I think dating is important before you decide to get married.

01:28:27.863 --> 01:28:32.222
Like seeing the different types of people and experiencing relationship in different ways.

01:28:33.228 --> 01:28:35.768
Um, I had a whole list in my CSU agenda.

01:28:36.167 --> 01:28:37.648
Remember those little agendas from CSU?

01:28:37.967 --> 01:28:38.328
I didn't get one.

01:28:38.347 --> 01:28:39.287
I'm a Northwest State guy.

01:28:39.667 --> 01:28:45.688
CS U Agenda for everyone out there who goes to CSUI wrote it down all the attributes I was looking for in a man.

01:28:45.887 --> 01:28:48.328
'cause I was so frustrated with the type of guys I had been dating.

01:28:48.478 --> 01:28:48.887
Yeah, yeah.

01:28:49.188 --> 01:28:49.408
And

01:28:49.408 --> 01:28:52.127
when I met Brian, I went back and looked at the, I still have it.

01:28:52.228 --> 01:28:52.927
That's cool.

01:28:52.927 --> 01:28:58.127
Um, I still have that piece of paper outta my CSU agenda because it meant so much to me that he kind of checked off all the boxes.

01:28:58.387 --> 01:28:59.007
That's really cool.

01:28:59.007 --> 01:28:59.247
Yeah.

01:28:59.247 --> 01:28:59.648
That's really

01:28:59.648 --> 01:28:59.847
cool.

01:29:00.467 --> 01:29:03.807
Um, let's talk about the Loco experience, our namesake segment.

01:29:04.448 --> 01:29:04.688
Absolutely.

01:29:04.688 --> 01:29:04.887
Yeah.

01:29:48.302 --> 01:29:49.193
It's been so amazing.

01:29:49.193 --> 01:29:49.872
Um, is this a

01:29:49.872 --> 01:29:50.993
shared Oh yeah, actually.

01:29:51.382 --> 01:29:52.113
Well, yes.

01:29:52.113 --> 01:29:53.113
Thank you for that too.

01:29:53.212 --> 01:29:56.993
But yeah, you wanted to talk about your experience as a, as a local think tank member.

01:29:57.222 --> 01:29:57.512
Yeah.

01:29:57.592 --> 01:29:59.353
I, um, I've two years now.

01:29:59.868 --> 01:30:00.728
Two years, I believe.

01:30:00.728 --> 01:30:00.887
Yes.

01:30:00.967 --> 01:30:01.488
A year and a half.

01:30:01.648 --> 01:30:01.887
A year.

01:30:01.887 --> 01:30:02.688
Not quite two, three quarters.

01:30:02.688 --> 01:30:02.887
Yeah.

01:30:02.908 --> 01:30:03.448
Not quite two.

01:30:03.877 --> 01:30:04.328
Love it.

01:30:04.518 --> 01:30:04.807
Yeah.

01:30:05.028 --> 01:30:12.127
You know, um, I like my cohort that I'm in with a good group of people and I know there's different cohorts for whatever size business.

01:30:12.238 --> 01:30:12.528
Sure.

01:30:12.627 --> 01:30:13.287
You, you have.

01:30:13.387 --> 01:30:22.368
But uh, you know, I just think it's really important, um, to get other perspectives from, you know, it doesn't really matter what widget you're selling, you know, business.

01:30:22.648 --> 01:30:23.408
Business is business.

01:30:23.797 --> 01:30:29.927
There's some set rules and, and kind of primary physics of it.

01:30:29.948 --> 01:30:32.287
You know, have some margin, have some people skills.

01:30:32.438 --> 01:30:32.967
Yeah, exactly.

01:30:33.028 --> 01:30:39.608
And, and, and be able to listen, you know, be able to hear what your customers want and gravitate towards that.

01:30:39.637 --> 01:30:39.927
Yeah.

01:30:40.307 --> 01:30:40.528
Um.

01:30:41.578 --> 01:30:41.868
Yeah.

01:30:41.887 --> 01:30:50.868
So I, you know, hearing from other people, you know, whether their business is doing goods taking off or slightly slipping, you know, we, you really get the pulse of what's going on.

01:30:50.868 --> 01:30:52.148
You need more encouragement this month or Yeah, exactly.

01:30:52.148 --> 01:30:53.228
Do you need some kudos?

01:30:53.228 --> 01:30:53.387
Yeah.

01:30:53.568 --> 01:31:01.068
And, uh, and then helping other people rudder or, you know, feeding off of their success and, um, just being able to Yeah.

01:31:01.068 --> 01:31:03.347
Be in the pulse, you know, I like being in the pulse of my community.

01:31:03.417 --> 01:31:03.707
Yeah.

01:31:03.847 --> 01:31:05.787
So, and I think Loco really helps me do that.

01:31:05.787 --> 01:31:06.028
Cool.

01:31:06.028 --> 01:31:06.507
And, and cool.

01:31:06.507 --> 01:31:08.507
Of course, I, I, I've gotten to a relationship.

01:31:08.627 --> 01:31:21.547
I also like the, this fact that it's kind of personal, you know, you get to be friends with'em and then you end up, you know, and, and I was told by Pat, you know, the very first time, like, this isn't a business selling thing, you know, but in the end we kind of all like, use each other.

01:31:21.618 --> 01:31:21.908
Yeah.

01:31:21.908 --> 01:31:23.467
And, and it's, it's just a really cool thing.

01:31:23.747 --> 01:31:23.908
I really

01:31:23.908 --> 01:31:24.068
like it.

01:31:24.068 --> 01:31:24.307
Mm-hmm.

01:31:24.898 --> 01:31:28.868
Mary, you were, you were like kind of chiming in already that you've been Uh, yeah,

01:31:28.868 --> 01:31:30.068
because I've been to a bunch of your events.

01:31:30.507 --> 01:31:30.868
Oh, that too.

01:31:30.868 --> 01:31:31.108
Yeah.

01:31:31.127 --> 01:31:31.547
You've

01:31:31.547 --> 01:31:34.307
had wonderful events that I've, uh, attended.

01:31:34.488 --> 01:31:40.988
So, thinker Fest, you're very, uh, involved in in the founded in Foco, and that's where I founded found Loco Think Tank.

01:31:40.988 --> 01:31:43.747
Because you were hosting classes here or?

01:31:43.978 --> 01:31:44.268
Yeah.

01:31:44.268 --> 01:31:45.908
Or there was a speaker that was supposed to be

01:31:45.908 --> 01:31:46.028
here.

01:31:46.037 --> 01:31:47.347
There was speaker that didn't show up.

01:31:47.368 --> 01:31:48.387
Do you remember what the speaker was?

01:31:48.667 --> 01:31:48.988
I can't.

01:31:49.228 --> 01:31:49.547
I don't.

01:31:49.547 --> 01:31:54.587
But I met a, a nice woman there who is a property manager, and we've gotten into a great relationship.

01:31:54.868 --> 01:31:55.948
Very awesome business, you know?

01:31:55.948 --> 01:31:56.427
Yeah, yeah.

01:31:56.807 --> 01:32:00.068
Um, and so that was a good touch point right there.

01:32:00.328 --> 01:32:05.787
And then you invited me to, well, you invited us to, um, yeah.

01:32:05.787 --> 01:32:07.507
Free Freethink or something, a round table Freethink.

01:32:07.528 --> 01:32:07.948
Mm-hmm.

01:32:07.948 --> 01:32:08.667
Which was delightful.

01:32:08.768 --> 01:32:14.587
You know, you provide these wonderful lunches and you give everyone space and structure to discuss a topic.

01:32:14.738 --> 01:32:15.028
Yeah.

01:32:15.028 --> 01:32:21.988
And to me, just like thinking about stuff, talking about stuff, jamming out and having that free flow thinking is really neat.

01:32:22.057 --> 01:32:22.347
Yeah.

01:32:22.688 --> 01:32:25.148
And then we did a weekend No, no.

01:32:25.158 --> 01:32:27.268
There you had a, you had your own event.

01:32:27.347 --> 01:32:27.587
A couple.

01:32:28.533 --> 01:32:29.493
Couple sessions.

01:32:29.493 --> 01:32:29.773
Thinker Fest.

01:32:29.773 --> 01:32:30.217
Thinker Fest.

01:32:30.217 --> 01:32:30.417
Yeah.

01:32:30.417 --> 01:32:30.818
That's what it was.

01:32:30.818 --> 01:32:31.778
Yeah, we, that event in the fall.

01:32:31.778 --> 01:32:31.978
Yeah.

01:32:31.978 --> 01:32:32.137
Yeah.

01:32:32.137 --> 01:32:32.337
That's

01:32:32.438 --> 01:32:34.018
in Loveland and that was really nice.

01:32:34.118 --> 01:32:34.337
And

01:32:34.337 --> 01:32:37.097
you've got a, you'll have a ticket to share for our fall event this year too.

01:32:37.097 --> 01:32:37.698
You can give it to Mary.

01:32:37.847 --> 01:32:38.858
It's not called Thinker Fest this year.

01:32:38.858 --> 01:32:39.057
Correct.

01:32:39.078 --> 01:32:40.457
Aim to Thrive is what we're aim to thrive.

01:32:40.457 --> 01:32:40.618
Yeah,

01:32:40.618 --> 01:32:40.898
yeah,

01:32:40.898 --> 01:32:41.177
yeah.

01:32:41.618 --> 01:32:41.738
I

01:32:41.738 --> 01:32:42.417
really enjoyed it.

01:32:42.438 --> 01:32:43.097
It was so nice.

01:32:43.118 --> 01:32:49.057
And we brought our account manager, which I think helps when you have this vision for your company for.

01:32:49.693 --> 01:32:53.858
People directly involved in what we do to see what we're involved in and how we're, yeah, just walk a

01:32:53.858 --> 01:32:55.457
few steps in your shoes kind of a little bit.

01:32:55.457 --> 01:32:56.377
Yeah, that makes sense.

01:32:56.478 --> 01:32:58.858
And also show that that, that we're like still thriving.

01:32:58.917 --> 01:32:59.217
You know?

01:32:59.217 --> 01:32:59.738
Like Yeah.

01:32:59.877 --> 01:33:05.018
If you're just seditary, it's kind of like your employees are like, well what's the end game here?

01:33:05.018 --> 01:33:05.297
Right.

01:33:05.297 --> 01:33:05.457
Right.

01:33:05.457 --> 01:33:08.938
But if you're evolving and you're like showing that like, yeah, we're trying to add to this.

01:33:09.068 --> 01:33:10.578
We're trying to build this ship as we go.

01:33:10.728 --> 01:33:11.018
Love.

01:33:11.018 --> 01:33:13.097
And people gravitate towards out.

01:33:13.097 --> 01:33:13.297
Yeah.

01:33:13.297 --> 01:33:13.738
You want come?

01:33:13.738 --> 01:33:14.417
Yeah, I want to come.

01:33:14.417 --> 01:33:15.297
Let's see what goes out.

01:33:15.297 --> 01:33:15.337
Right.

01:33:15.337 --> 01:33:17.858
And let's see what other businesses are holding around Northern Colorado.

01:33:17.858 --> 01:33:18.457
So I think that,

01:33:18.688 --> 01:33:18.978
yeah.

01:33:18.997 --> 01:33:22.818
And you know when Brian presented for the group, so each member of the group presents.

01:33:22.818 --> 01:33:23.097
Sure.

01:33:23.662 --> 01:33:30.603
Uh, they meet once a month and when he went to present I was kind of helping him do the technology and getting the computer ready, get the

01:33:30.603 --> 01:33:31.323
slides ready, what done?

01:33:31.323 --> 01:33:31.523
And

01:33:31.523 --> 01:33:32.722
they all gave me permission to stay.

01:33:32.752 --> 01:33:34.122
They were so kind to let me stay.

01:33:34.182 --> 01:33:34.483
Oh, good.

01:33:34.483 --> 01:33:34.563
Yeah.

01:33:34.563 --> 01:33:35.802
And listen to the whole thing.

01:33:36.063 --> 01:33:40.363
And, um, they even bounced some questions towards me since I do more of the finance side.

01:33:40.552 --> 01:33:40.842
Well,

01:33:40.863 --> 01:33:49.002
I'm, I'm thinking probably his cohort members or his chapter members already like, love you just based on the way Brian talks about you, Mary.

01:33:50.203 --> 01:33:52.082
Although sometimes you may say that's less good things too.

01:33:52.082 --> 01:33:52.483
No, she's

01:33:52.483 --> 01:33:52.682
my better

01:33:52.682 --> 01:33:52.882
house.

01:33:53.832 --> 01:33:54.283
Yeah, they

01:33:54.283 --> 01:33:59.882
were all really nice and they had fantastic ideas for our problems, like next things.

01:34:00.073 --> 01:34:00.363
Yeah.

01:34:00.363 --> 01:34:00.802
That's awesome.

01:34:00.802 --> 01:34:04.042
Really great things I've already utilized in the finance side.

01:34:04.042 --> 01:34:04.643
Yeah, that's cool.

01:34:04.743 --> 01:34:06.603
And it was just like kind of a mind blow.

01:34:06.792 --> 01:34:09.042
I've used at least three different ideas that they gave me.

01:34:09.042 --> 01:34:09.563
That's cool.

01:34:09.863 --> 01:34:12.802
Um, since his, uh, turn to present

01:34:13.033 --> 01:34:14.563
just a few months ago here or, yeah.

01:34:14.563 --> 01:34:14.762
Yeah.

01:34:14.762 --> 01:34:14.922
That's cool.

01:34:14.922 --> 01:34:15.523
Yeah, it was in.

01:34:16.403 --> 01:34:16.893
June, I

01:34:16.893 --> 01:34:17.012
think.

01:34:17.233 --> 01:34:27.052
So the, uh, the, the Loco experience that, uh, and I appreciate all that good content there, but the Loco experience, that's the namesake of the podcast is, uh, loco crazy.

01:34:27.603 --> 01:34:30.092
Like, uh, what's the craziest experience mm-hmm.

01:34:30.233 --> 01:34:31.773
Uh, that you've had, that you're willing to share?

01:34:32.592 --> 01:34:34.493
And is that a joint experience for you guys?

01:34:35.033 --> 01:34:40.773
Uh, is it something that you've done together crazy, or do you have se separate crazy experiences that you would share with our listeners?

01:34:41.403 --> 01:34:44.853
Most of my real crazy experiences were like, in a different lifetime.

01:34:45.113 --> 01:34:48.653
You're not gonna let your kids listen to that with the shrimp.

01:34:48.762 --> 01:34:50.893
However, we've had some pretty crazy experiences.

01:34:51.938 --> 01:34:55.318
We went on a really cool, so as you know, we go to Chile.

01:34:55.337 --> 01:35:00.478
So we traveled to Peru first to get down to Chile, and we did three weeks up there and we went to Machu Picchu.

01:35:00.478 --> 01:35:04.917
We spent time in Cousco and we were like, let's save some money and ride buses all the way down to Chile.

01:35:05.148 --> 01:35:05.837
Well, guess what?

01:35:05.837 --> 01:35:06.637
That's really far.

01:35:08.818 --> 01:35:09.877
How far Mary?

01:35:09.877 --> 01:35:10.518
It's like a continent.

01:35:10.578 --> 01:35:11.438
It took like a week.

01:35:12.528 --> 01:35:13.597
Right on stinky buses.

01:35:13.807 --> 01:35:14.797
Right on Stinky buses

01:35:15.337 --> 01:35:15.557
and.

01:35:16.283 --> 01:35:22.422
It was one stinky bus after the other, and it was like the craziest thing that we've done.

01:35:22.563 --> 01:35:25.422
But that trip, it's so funny to say, when

01:35:25.422 --> 01:35:25.743
was this?

01:35:26.762 --> 01:35:28.302
It was, we were married, so this right before

01:35:28.302 --> 01:35:33.222
we got married, I called it, I kind of called it our honeymoon because it was like three weeks together doing like crazy stuff.

01:35:33.273 --> 01:35:33.743
Right, right.

01:35:33.792 --> 01:35:37.103
We're climbing Machu Picchu, we're hanging out in sco.

01:35:37.323 --> 01:35:44.143
Um, we're getting on these crazy buses and the Peru, some of the roads are very steep and sharp and you've got danger like pullout, so

01:35:44.143 --> 01:35:45.143
that two buses could actually pass.

01:35:45.252 --> 01:35:46.783
Yeah, we rafted the, a Permac

01:35:46.783 --> 01:35:46.943
River.

01:35:47.082 --> 01:35:47.302
We

01:35:47.422 --> 01:35:49.422
rafted the, a Permac River that was, which is like the headwaters

01:35:49.422 --> 01:35:50.382
of the Amazon coming out.

01:35:50.483 --> 01:35:53.143
Oh, the backside of the Andes down towards Brazil.

01:35:53.573 --> 01:35:54.063
Amazing.

01:35:54.802 --> 01:36:03.103
Um, but then the, the bus ride was in, I mean our one friend in who also has a place down in Chile, in the same town, he lives in Cusco part of the year.

01:36:03.292 --> 01:36:03.582
Okay.

01:36:04.198 --> 01:36:05.257
No past Nada.

01:36:05.257 --> 01:36:06.257
You just grab, nothing will happen.

01:36:06.328 --> 01:36:06.618
Yeah.

01:36:06.618 --> 01:36:09.257
You just grab a bus ticket, you lay mad, easy, easy.

01:36:09.648 --> 01:36:13.057
He's like, you get full comma, which is like, you know, like the lounge chairs.

01:36:13.127 --> 01:36:18.978
He's like, you get full comma, and then you just sleep for a couple days and next thing you know, you're until, well, it was nothing like that at all.

01:36:19.318 --> 01:36:27.337
It was like 17 bus transfers, 17 bus transfers, like shitters that weren't emptied, flushing around in the back.

01:36:28.057 --> 01:36:30.978
I mean, you name it, dude, I was, it was crazy.

01:36:30.997 --> 01:36:33.497
But those are, you know, like I always say with fly fishing, you know, when the, when the.

01:36:33.887 --> 01:36:34.108
Sky.

01:36:34.108 --> 01:36:35.292
Well, if everything goes right, you'd remember.

01:36:35.292 --> 01:36:42.092
If everything goes right and all you got a picture is this, you never remember it, but when the skies open up on you and hail and lightning are crashing on you Totally.

01:36:42.113 --> 01:36:43.052
You don't catch any fish.

01:36:43.113 --> 01:36:43.932
But everyone's smiling.

01:36:44.143 --> 01:36:50.932
Those are the trips you talk about for like, you know,'cause I take the same guys every year and they always talk about, do you remember that time when we were knee deep in mud?

01:36:51.033 --> 01:36:51.252
Yep.

01:36:51.252 --> 01:36:51.453
Yep.

01:36:51.563 --> 01:36:51.853
Shit.

01:36:51.853 --> 01:36:52.372
Hit the fan.

01:36:52.372 --> 01:36:52.972
It's like, yeah.

01:36:53.122 --> 01:36:53.972
That are the good,

01:36:53.983 --> 01:36:54.932
those are the good ones.

01:36:54.932 --> 01:37:00.172
You know, I have, Jill and I were doing hiking, camping trips years ago, some more regularly, and we went to Missouri Lakes.

01:37:00.172 --> 01:37:00.533
Mm-hmm.

01:37:00.533 --> 01:37:01.693
I dunno know if you, it's up by Lead V.

01:37:01.693 --> 01:37:02.653
Kind of really cool.

01:37:02.962 --> 01:37:07.332
It's, it's like a temperate rainforest, almost like there's big ass mushrooms all over the place.

01:37:07.332 --> 01:37:07.573
Yeah.

01:37:07.573 --> 01:37:07.693
Huge.

01:37:07.842 --> 01:37:10.853
Even though it's like 11,000 feet, it's got this weird stuff going on.

01:37:11.472 --> 01:37:15.613
But it rained all weekend, like it rained on the way up there.

01:37:15.712 --> 01:37:17.052
It rained all weekend up there.

01:37:17.533 --> 01:37:18.533
Anywhere in these little tents.

01:37:18.533 --> 01:37:18.773
Right.

01:37:18.773 --> 01:37:20.252
And we're just wet the whole weekend and cold.

01:37:21.108 --> 01:37:21.488
But I

01:37:21.488 --> 01:37:21.967
sure remember

01:37:21.967 --> 01:37:22.087
that.

01:37:22.328 --> 01:37:22.488
Yeah.

01:37:22.488 --> 01:37:23.847
Those are the ones you remember, man.

01:37:23.868 --> 01:37:25.488
And you never remember when everything goes right.

01:37:25.488 --> 01:37:25.768
Right.

01:37:25.768 --> 01:37:28.368
Like you said, the adventure starts when things start to go south.

01:37:29.518 --> 01:37:33.247
Well, may your adventures continue with, uh, with smiles forever.

01:37:33.618 --> 01:37:34.007
Thank you.

01:37:34.007 --> 01:37:35.728
And uh, thanks for spending time in here with your day.

01:37:35.728 --> 01:37:36.287
Yeah, thanks for considering us.

01:37:36.347 --> 01:37:37.007
Thanks Kurt.

01:37:37.097 --> 01:37:37.847
Great conversation.