EXPERIENCE 9 | Becky Lauridsen with IOME

Welcome to the LOCO Experience Podcast with LOCO Think Tank Founder Kurt Bear. Listen in as Kurt digs deep into the business and life stories of business owners and thought leaders at different stages of growth from all walks of life. Launching and growing anything can be a crazy experience, so expand your thinking and level up your understanding of what it takes to find success in the world of free enterprise. Here we are with another episode of the LOCO Experience Podcast. My guest today is Becky Lourdeson, I think, with a tricky last name, but I nailed it. And Becky is a LOCO Think Tank member and her business is called IOME. And Becky, why don't you just share with everybody, like, what's your world today? Yeah, and maybe even contrast it after that with what it looked like pre-COVID, because I'm sure you've had some changes in your industry too. Yep, there's been a few. Honestly, it hasn't looked very much different because we were already set up doing quite a bit of telehealth and virtual appointments anyways. We are doing majority of that now as the main difference, but we still do some onsite therapy with our individual clients or with our employers, so that's all pretty much the same. I'm personally at my home more often, so today actually was like, I went to my office, and I even packed a lunch. It was the first day I packed a lunch in a very long time. And then we get to do this in person. Yeah, what a fun day. Yeah, I'm going to get day two. Yeah, so what is IOME? So it's an IOME instead of an IOU, and our purpose is to create guilt-free self-care. And we do that by being able to just provide quality self-care services or products at a discount for our members, including mental health counseling and everything from your house cleaning, to nutrition support, massages. I mean, anything under the umbrella of self-care, we're really trying to tackle all together. Oh, that is so cool. And tell me about your team, how many people are in your organization, and members, and things like that? Absolutely, so yeah, I have a team of five of us, well six, including me, contracted mental health therapist on board. And then I have two rock stars that help me out with my social media, and one gal that does my email campaigns and all the things. Okay. Breath of Fresh Air to have those helpers. And yeah, I created the business about two and a half years ago now, and it's been, it is young, yeah, but it feels like forever, right? It just feels- It's so much more stable now. It is, yeah, it feels like we've come a very long ways. And it's just been, it's been incredible. So, yeah, the journey in creating this membership program has been all over the place, right? I mean, you learn what to do, you learn what not to do. And I think we're finally in the lane of what to do. Were you in like a traditional counselor for a long time, and you started meeting all these providers of other services? Pretty much. I've got an idea. Yeah, I mean, somewhat. Yeah, it's honestly based on my own personal story. So I am a licensed professional counselor, and right after college, I was the like, a cheaper girl. I'm going to go kick butt in the industry, make all this money, pay off my student loans. No, that doesn't happen, actually. No, no, no. And so I landed what I thought was a dream job up in Cheyenne doing mental health counseling in a group private practice. And quickly, within three years after postgraduate school, I was completely burnt out. And for a variety of reasons, mainly though, that I wasn't addressing my own self-care- The jobless kids have no shoes. Yes, yes, that I wasn't addressing my own self-care. I wasn't addressing my own mental health. And I just wasn't balancing it all at all. And I was dealing with, at that time, I had my first daughter, and I was dealing with some postpartum depression and anxiety after her. Again, I wasn't addressing it, though. So I did what every rational person would do with a mortgage. I quit. I let my license expire. I was done. I thought it was the industry of mental health that burnt me out. I didn't realize all of the things I wasn't doing, right? And so I took a little hiatus. I actually joined a direct sales company of all things. I never would have thought that in a million years. But I did. And it's exactly what I needed. It taught me my business skills, networking, sales, all of the things I had no idea. Did you touch the connections that you would have had? Yeah, exactly. The people I met were amazing. I was able to become pretty successful within it. I earned a few cars and replaced my income. Yeah, I did all right. Okay. But even in that, so that was about a three-year stint. And can you say what direct sales company? It was a Mary K Cosmetics. Okay, sure. Yeah, it was fun. I got to be girly for once in my life. So that was kind of different for me. But we can talk more about that. We will. We will. Yeah. So yeah, so during even within that little period of doing the Mary K direct sales, I still had that yearning and just that deeper calling for mental health. And but more on a preventative scale. Because what I was burnt out from was that traditional mental health world. Because I do feel like it's slightly broken. There's a place in a time for it 100%. But I would see clients coming into the door that were already past their breaking point. Whether that was as extreme as suicidal ideation or major depression disorder, whatever, divorce, domestic violence, they were in such terrible places. And that's what brought them into the door. And looking at their story, there were so many indicators, so many warning signs that led them to that breaking point. Right. Like if they'd got some help three years ago or two years ago. Exactly. Yeah. And that's my purpose and my mission. And so I want to be able to come in at those early signs, even before the signs come up. Right. A two up. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And be able to offer more of a realistic preventative mental health approach. And I do think that we can do it through self-care. And in good quality self-care, not like the fluff stuff. Not just retail therapy. Not just retail therapy. Although that counts sometimes. Right, right. But definitely not always. Fair, fair. So tell me about like the spectrum of things. Well, first, I got to have two questions. Yeah. One, do your other fellow therapists have like the, they do the IO me way as far as the emotional therapy and things like that. And then then tell me more about this network of other providers. Yeah. And maybe if you would, like even how the, the money flows low is a little bit like to pay them to be part of the group. Right. Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, so I go out there and make sure that it's a vetted process. I want to make sure that the therapists that I'm bringing on to IO me have that same belief system that they're going to be awesome, high quality, provide that same belief on preventative mental health and the importance of overall self-care, right? And so yep, I make sure that they are going to be pretty awesome. Because I don't know how many times I've heard somebody say, oh, I went to, I went to counseling and the therapist fell asleep. Or the therapist talked about themselves the whole time. Or I've just heard, I've heard it all. I've heard from like three or four women over the years that the first meeting with the marriage counselor type, the marriage counselor was like, you got to divorce this guy. I was like, I'm trying to see the marriage here. Like he's not that bad. He's really not as bad as those other guys I dated before. I just want to fix it. Yeah, exactly. So it's unfortunate, but it's the therapeutic relationship. So that's why we have a group of six of us. So that way I can make sure when a member comes on board, hey, it sounds like this fit would be really great for you, this person. So that's, I take a lot of pride in that piece. So they're very much passionate about the preventative approach and high skilled and all of that. And then with my business partners, that's just a really fun way. I don't know. I look back and be like, oh, that was a good idea. I don't know that it came. I don't know that I knew it was a good idea in the beginning, right? Right. Just a lot of extra stuff. It was, yeah, yeah. And now we have this group of over 60 local businesses that are partnered with IOMI and what they do is they come on board. They get a landing page on my website. I talk about them are contracted therapists. They talk about them, etc. And we support them and we want to encourage our members to go seek that support in their nutrition or the house cleaning or whatever it is. Because I'm not an expert. It gets 20% on your nails at this place. Exactly. What you really need, you know, you need to go connect with your friend and go have patties together. Exactly. You don't actually have to have that coupon because they know where to find you and stuff like that. Okay, that's really cool. So it's like kind of like membership. So you get your mental health check in every month or every few weeks. Maybe you have different membership levels. But then you can kind of get a discount on all these other partner programs. Exactly. Yeah, because I believe that in order to be in our best physical health, we have to address our mental health and vice versa. Right. And so I know I'm not an expert in nutrition or any of those kinds of things. Right, right. But I partnered with the experts. And so I can come in and support the member with their mental health or the emotional piece or the behavioral piece. And then I can tell them, hey, and go talk to our nutritionist. Are they natural health providers, especially? Not all of them, but most of them are. Yeah. And I like to have a good, you know, diverse. When I suspect you're like me and that you've done a little acupuncture here and there, it got some right key or you've done some massage or. I haven't done acupuncture. But I've done most of the other things. I went to the Semana Float Center. They're one of our new partners. Oh, really? Yeah, I would want to try that. Amazing. Okay. Yes. They're good. It is. Yep. I do consulting at Small Business Development Center. And like three years ago in the span of three months, three different people told me they were going to do a float center in Fort Collins. Oh, no. But then nothing happened for like two years. Yeah. So that's one. Yep, it's great. Well, if one of you guys talked to Kurt Bear at the SBDC, Godspeed, I hope things are going well. Yeah, good. That's super cool. So partners and memberships. So let's talk about kind of the first days of. So you're you were back in business as a counselor before I only formed. Yep. Is that right? So I went through all the headache of getting my licensure back up to date and working for yourself. Yep. And so and so then I did what I called was a pilot program. So it would have been the spring of 2018. And I'm like, I just want to test these waters. Let's see what this is all about. I had like, I don't know, three partners. And just reached out to some of my close connections, you know, within my direct sales and just some friends and family that I knew. And I said, hey, I'm going to try this whole self-care accountability thing. What do you all think? I had people sign up and actually pay money for it, which I was like, wow, this is good. Yeah. And then that was just a three month pilot program. And the results that I was able to hear from our members and the joy that I had in that role was just such a testament of like, all right, game on. We're doing this. And then I officially launched in September. It seems like the logical way almost to approach mental health especially. Because I think, you know, I'm somebody, well, there's family background. And also, you know, my wife and I have been a counseling before. And I've been a counseling just for me. Yeah. And, you know, I went for run this morning. That's when I'm not feeling, but honestly, if I was on a maintenance program, it's probably better for myself, just having that place outside of myself to chat sometimes. Yeah, I sometimes I think that's 90% of why it's effective. Is it is an uninterrupted hour of your time to be able to just talk, to be able to process, to use it as a sounding board, to just be able to check in with yourself, right? Because how often do we sit down and say, hmm, how did that make me feel, right? And so counseling kind of nudges you to do that. And then being with a train supporter like us, or any other licensed mental health provider, we can help guide that and be able to overcome those obstacles or those challenges that you may be facing. So I think that's outstanding. Contrast for me, if you would. Yeah. Like those feels as a comparison to your experience, you've been a member of local thick tank for a year and change now. Yeah, has it been maybe, right? Is that similar kind of a safe place where you, yeah, or we're just not trained. We don't know what we're doing. No, I love it, though. But it is. You're exactly right. It's the intentionality of our think tank meetings, getting together with people, the same people over and over, getting to know them. It's that connection, community. Honestly, that in and of itself, I think is one of the most valuable pieces I get from the local thick tank. And then being able to hear from these businesses that are much more successful long-term, they've gone through so much more than I have. So I get to learn so much from them as well. Well, they're all going nutty. So they're like, hey, there's a counseling here. So then I get to put in my, well, how do you feel about that emotional management, you know, some of that kind of stuff in there? So it's fun. Well, I promise we won't get into local thick tank commercial with this podcast. This is for your story. But I've been, well, and I have to say that, you know, you were referred to LOCO and you and I met. And it was one of the quickest, easiest sales. That I've had. I think just because of that resonance of purpose, kind of our organizations. Yeah, I think it's good for you. It is. It's really good. I know, right? I need my own therapy and that's part of it, right? It's to be able to just talk about business and talk about it with other business-minded people. So how long before the, like, did you have the, like, a whole name change and brand change and stuff like that? No, no, it's been pretty true to what it is. Okay, so you started as I only, when you got back into your own, having your own thing. Yep, I started it and I remember vividly, I sat down with one of my mentors, dear friend of mine and I was just, like, talking about like, I, there's still such a need for mental health and such a need for self-care and I was just brainstorming and I'm like, but there's nothing else like that out there. So I don't want to join, you know, the traditional mental health route. And she simply said, well, what's stopping you? And I'm like, oh, I don't know what's stopping. And so anyways, it was that night that I was tossing and turning in bed and thinking, okay, what is stopping me? Nothing's stopping me. I could do this. And so it was just one thought after the next self-care is so needed. And I wanted to do mental health, but in a very indirect way. And I think that's what we're doing. So yeah, so it was just this play on words and wayam bam. One of my favorite things is finding, like, silver linings out of dark clouds and stuff. And like, all that anxiety that you had back in the day from neglecting that those needs and that postpartum and things like that, you know, especially with your training in the industry. Oh, yeah. I'm sure there were people around you're like, well, they kind of smack you a little bit. But only then did you have the passion formed and the desire to really toss in bed until you could figure out a good name and figure out how that all worked together. So I think that's outstanding. So let's go in the wayback machine. Where'd you come from? Like, where did your mom and daddy live when you were born? Yeah, I was born and raised in Craig, Colorado, so Northwest Corner, over there by Steamot Springs, and asked me how many times I've been skiing. And it's my first time I ever went skiing was in college, and it was in New Mexico. So I get shamed for that quite often. But, but yeah, I was raised a country girl. We grew up rodeoing my whole life and went to college. Where were your ranchers? No, we didn't ranch. Okay. But yeah, just had a horse. Just lived in the town of Craig and had a horse. Yeah, we had some acreage. rodeo scholarship. Did you just rodeo scholarship? I did. I didn't know that existed. Yeah, it was kind of a big deal. So were you a barrel racer? I, yeah, yeah, I was a barrel racer. And I share this because it's just so funny. But I was, in fact, the little bridges world champion in 2003, so kind of a big deal in the rodeo. How old were you then? I was sophomore in high school. Okay, yeah, yeah, well, that's super cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine that's pretty common. Like, there was quite a few rodeo people up in that region, yeah? Yeah, yeah, decent amount. Yeah. And what did your family do in Craig? My dad worked for when he kids do head and for brothers and sisters and stuff. My dad worked for the power plant there in Craig, and he just retired what, maybe five years ago. I hope I'm right on that. And then my mom was worked, always worked in construction, doing accounting for the company there in Hayden. And I've got two older sisters. So yeah, we... We'll get into the family a little bit more later too, but yeah, I'm just trying to zero myself. And so you graduated high school somewhere around 2005 or something like that, six, yep. And then off to college here. So then I went down to Oklahoma Panhandle State University. It is actually the cheapest university. For the rodeo scholarship. For the rodeo scholarship, yep. The cheapest university in the country, and it is all rodeo. And so I think the town, there's not even a stoplight in the town. And we all lived in single-wide trailer houses. I can't even explain. It was, it was an experience. I loved every second of it. So it was like that. Yep, so then I competed on the rodeo. You went on a shout out to anybody. Oh, all of my pro-Panhandle rodeo friends. Every single one of them. I love so much. What was their mascot? We were the Aggies. Yeah. Oh, that makes sense? Yeah. rodeo clowns didn't really fall off the hill. So college and then took a new Cheyenne shortly thereafter. Yeah, so then it got my bachelor's in Panhandle. And then I went on because I got a bachelor's in psychology. And what do you do with a bachelor's in psychology? I usually work in a restaurant. Yeah, exactly. So actually my parents were in the middle of a divorce at that time. And my husband now, we were dating at that time. And he's like, hey, do you want to come to see an Antonio? And I said, sure, I, yeah. Why not? So I applied and got into the University of Texas at San Antonio's master's program. Cool. And got my master's degree in counseling. OK. And is that only a master's program? Yeah, yep. So you can go on and get a doctorate. It would be more of a research skill base. And I didn't want to do research. Actually, in fact, I really don't like research at all. So I definitely know I wasn't going to do that. There's a side-e program, again, more research-based. But I knew I was good at their master's level. So I can kind of imagine what it looks like to get a master's in engineering or some of those things. But in counseling, like, is it just a whole bunch more psychology, but then a lot of one-on-one incursions and stuff so you can really figure it out? Or talk to me about that experience? Yeah, technically. Yeah, I mean, I worked full time and did night school. And it was just all relationship skills. A lot of the DSM, which is the diagnostic material there. And so personality disorders, depression, what are the indicators? What does it look like? And then how do you treat it? Different types of modality of therapy from cognitive behavioral therapy to person-centered therapy. Yeah, a little bit of all of it, suicide assessments and how to support people that are in crisis. So I mean, that's the main things that I still use at least. Right, right, right. And let me ask you this, are people more or less complicated now that you know more about them? I don't know, I love hearing people's stories. I love it. I do take pride that I don't ever do the comparison thing. You know how people will look at social media and then get bogged down like, oh, I'm not as good as that person or I'm not as successful. But I know that people have stories. And they usually have a lot going on in their heart and in their head and in their past. And so I think I have a big capacity to just listen to whatever their reality is without the social media filter, without the title of the company or the family. Right, and I'll keep it up with the Jones and this office or the Zoom call or whatever, as an intriguing. I suspect that we have that in one of my interesting things and one of the reasons I'm doing this podcast is all my career, I was a banker for a long time. But people have always told me uncomfortably revealing things like when we were first meeting or on our second or third meetings and stuff and you probably get a lot of that. Yeah, I think so. I think I have that ability to just listen well. Yeah, and I really do. I just love hearing people's stories. And typically I'm the one to like pry further. You know, they may tell me that a comic too probably. Yeah, they're usually the ones to tell me, oh, yeah, you know, this, that and the other happening. Well, how do you feel about talking to me? Are you okay? And you know, I tend to overreach there. Well, it's your job, partly. I don't know if your husband always appreciates it. Let's hear the love story. Yeah. So you were in Panhandle and dating this fellow. He also was on a rodeo scholarship. Really? What was his, he was a really good at team roping. Yeah. That's a rope, the horns and grab the heels. Yeah, good job. You know, I've got some rodeo and a special western quite a few times. Yeah, good. Super fun. Yeah, so Tyler actually grew up here in Fort Collins. And then we, so with high school rodeo, we all compete at the same location every weekend. So we would travel to Golden every weekend, you know, whatever the location was. So we, I thought a high school romance, but it's a rodeo romance kind of. Right. Technically, we knew each other through high school, but we never even, I would have maybe said, oh, is that the guy with the glasses? I didn't know who he was. So then we started dating. We ended up going to school there in Oklahoma Panhandle. And then we started dating my, I think it was my third year at Panhandle State. Okay. Yep. Yep. And what's he doing now? Yeah. So he has his own air duct cleaning business. Yeah. He's not a local think tank member yet. I know. He should be. Probably. I even give him my number. Yeah. So, so done with the, oh, we, we, we had the counseling, the masters in counseling. And then there was something before the Cheyenne. Is that right? Is that where we headed? Yeah. So I was working there in Texas full time. I thought we were, we bought a house. I thought we were going to stay down there forever. I really loved it. The, the, our house was beautiful for so, so cheap. Right. So I really liked that part about it. But all of our family, all of Tyler's families here and for Collins. And then a lot of minor in the area too. So it just made sense. We started, we got married, started talking about babies. And it just made sense for us to move back up. And then I, like I said, right after graduate school, I landed what I thought was that dream job. Right. And it was great. It taught me a lot. But it taught me a lot of what I didn't want to do. Yeah. So tell me, tell me a, a crazy story along the way that, that taught you something that about business, that afterwards you were like, oh yeah, duh. Like do you have any big missteps? Yeah. Oh gosh. Do I ever, I mean, because you're a, you're a heart-centered person. I am a heart-centered person. And doctors and counselors and stuff, they're usually terrible business people. Because they make terrible decisions about how much a price and things like that for a while. I think that's probably the biggest learning curve. It's not in charge enough. It is to not allow myself to get walked all over, you know? Whether it's going to be from other colleagues or other people, but to just stand stronger in my own like thoughts and beliefs and do what I believe is right, within the field of IOMI and mental health, even if it doesn't make a lot of sense in the business world. But, but yeah, so I always get really pressured because I would care too much about what other people would say or think or suggest or do. And that can wreck me. And so there's been moments where I'm like, I'm just going to quit. It's not worth it. I'm so over it. And then, but I'm just stubborn enough that I keep pushing. That's the cow girl probably. That's the cow girl in me, yeah. So do you still do stuff with rodeo today? Yeah, so in fact, we are building an arena at our house. So we have about 12 acres out in none. We'll be town. Yeah, yeah. I was just talking about the sporting clays range out by now. Yes, it's so fun. I want to go there. Oh, yeah. Do you have an extra shotgun? Well, no, I don't have a shotgun. OK, well, I'm going to have to find somebody with shotguns. OK, yeah. So it's a none and I'm going to have an arena. Yep, we're building the arena now. I've got a new horse that I'm excited about riding. She's going to be three in the spring here. So we're going to start training her and we're getting a horse into like a reentry for you guys. So Tyler's always been doing it. He's so good at it too. So he's been going hard, well, not hard, I want to say, but he's been going since we've been, since I've known it. Well, he still brings a vehicle home once a while. He has to have fouls taxes on his rodeo income and whatever. Not quite as much as the rodeo medical bills, but yeah, for sure. That's funny. So I'm excited. It, honestly, this is the first year that I've been excited about getting back into it. Because I've really taken a hiatus. I've got two kids now raising babies and just all of that. So I'm like, hey, I think I've got the bug. I think I've got the itch. I really want to go again. That's awesome. I think it's great to have those kind of really intentional activities out there. So are things different a lot in the mental health world? Like you said, your business hasn't been impacted that much because you had a lot of virtual things and stuff like that. But it seems like people have to be having a tougher time, especially people like me because like I've been isolated and I like people and we've had some family challenges and it's always just being my wife and I'm gravitating. Anyway, that has to be tougher for who's the toughest on? I mean, it seems like it's impacting everybody. Every single person, right? We hear that a lot and it's a cliche, but it is. And what I started to see from my business and from I think anyone else is that the employees are really struggling. The ones that are working full time, the ones that are burnt out potentially. On site, especially the nurses and the care providers, the nursing home, certain things like that. Yeah, government workers, exactly. So I was so grateful because I had to establish quite a bit of relationships with like Weld County City of Fort Collins, Lamar County, some other places like that. Before hand, pushing the mental health and talking about in pitching Naomi, yeah, to them. And so it was all great, but then as soon as COVID hit, it was like, hey, we really need you to come in and start talking about mental health, talk about stress management, burnout prevention, all of those kinds of hot topics because it was really prevalent at that time. So, gratefully, I had already done the work, to get there and to be a support for them, right? Yeah, and that's one of the cool things I think about your organization is your intentionality to leverage your impact and be there whenever anybody's gonna need kind of thing. So, talking about like that this mental health season we'll call it, like where people like shocked and really disrupted early on and now it's getting better or is the time actually worse? Like the shock was there and the shocks were enough now and now people are... That's a great question. I think that it's been a roller coaster, but I think what's happening now that I worry about is that people are starting to get comfortable with the isolation, because that makes sense. And people aren't willing and ready to push themselves and go do those things that bring them joy, right? Like hanging out with friends or going... For me to go by or go see their grandkids, see the family, see whatever, or even go to the gym or whatever that may be. And so I think people are getting really, really too comfortable with this loneliness. And I've been reading a book on loneliness and it has just rocked my world. It's so powerful, the psychosomatic impact of loneliness. Like it is impacting our physical wellbeing. And so that's just been, I'm really worried about that, to be honest. I think that's the biggest thing. Yeah, loneliness becomes more of like a condition. Like the natural state of too many people, that's not gonna be good for us. Because humanity wouldn't be what we are if we were just all a bunch of individuals, really. Yeah, and it doesn't matter if you're an introvert or an extrovert. Obviously extroverts are struggling a little bit more in this maybe if that's fair to say, but the introvert still needs connection. He or she still needs to have quality conversations. They would just prefer it to be lower scale, right? Right. But yeah, they definitely need that and some of us aren't getting any of that either. So I have a worry about that piece. So tell me about Becky. Like you've probably been through all the different personality profiles of exams and what's your anyogram and your disc or like, like if you were gonna characterize yourself and has that changed? Yeah, that's funny you ask. So we arched transitioning. We did just do a kind of a relaunch of our membership types for the new year and one of our membership types offers the anyogram coaching. So I'm all about it. And I'm in a bit of an identity crisis myself because I always thought I was a two, right? The helper, that's pretty, I mean, that's pretty obvious, I guess. But then the more I dig, the more I think I'm a three, which makes sense. I don't know why I don't want to be a three, but it totally makes sense. Not like me sharing, but Roy is kind of a three, two. Yeah. She's so great. I love her. I don't want to be an achiever. Like I'm more of a helper. I'm like, well, you're pretty concerned with doing it right the first time. You know, and beating everybody else at the game. In hard worker, yeah. Totally, yeah. So yeah, as an employer, I'm like, sweet. I've got a three. You know, a three with a two shoulder, that's perfect. That's a good one. She sent me another one. She's like, I took it a good. I'm a two with a three shoulder. That's great. I don't press. No. But that doesn't surprise me much. Can you guess what I am? Ooh. I really spent a lot of time. Yeah. I don't know. Are you a body? I'm going to call it a maverick. Maverick. Which is an eight with a seven shoulder. Oh, okay. Cool. I was going to show you that. A teenager with a promoter shoulder. Okay. Cool. I don't like that. I don't know. I doesn't change the way I act, but it defines it perhaps. Yeah. Okay. I like it. So where did that come from? If you're looking in the way back, you know, you always that way. I think so. So I'm the youngest and of my two sisters, and I, we were just raised to work hard, you know? Right. I mean, I think that was the lifestyle. And that's why I'm really passionate about raising my girls that same way, because I think that country roadie got to wake up and feed the horses before you eat kind of mentality is great. And so I, yeah, and both my parents taught me to work hard for what you want, and I, and I think that was what was cool about the rodeo sport because in high school, you actually got to, it was an, it was an income. Right. Like you got to earn money. Yeah. Totally. And then the college is one of the only sports that you actually can earn money to. Sure. Oh, really? Okay. I guess why? Why did they do a special exemption? I don't know why. I mean, if I'm an NCAA football player, I'm like, that's kind of bullying me, the rodeo people. That could make a million dollars a year. Yeah. Working for a Alabama. Yeah. I wasn't making a million dollars a year, but, but yeah, so it just taught like you have to practice in order to, you know, win and in order to win, you can earn income and, you know what I mean? So it was just that mentality and, and I've always been the go-getter. Well, this is a funny story. So my dad, he would, he would drink beer regularly, not, he was, he was always, not a heavy drinker, but he would just say, hey, Becky, go get me some beer, you know, and it was always in the outdoor shop fridge. So we had to walk outside, go get it, and we lived in craigs. It was always cold. Right. My sisters, whenever he would ask them, they would just go get the one beer and bring it back. Right. And then I was the smart one. I always joke with them, and I would bring in as many as my hands could hold, and I'd put it in the fridge and then give them one at a time. So, but I feel like that was such a glimpse into who I was, because I was always trying to make things better. I was always trying to be like, like, work smarter, not harder mentality. Yeah. And so I think that does play a lot into what I do these days. Like I want to work smarter and not harder in my business. I still want my butt off, but, but I want to be able to create these passive incomes. Right. Yeah. I have a question for you. There's two kinds of entrepreneurs I'm told, and I think I already know the answer, but there's one that wants to create the biggest, strongest company, and they'll work as hard as they need to to, before as long as they have to to create that company. And then there's one that wants to create a really good company that allows them to not really work at all and make money. Yeah. Yeah. The virtue. Yeah. They're like, right horses more. So if I don't need a ton of money, I just do a good passive money to be able to create. Well, and I'm super passionate. Like I love my parents and they worked so hard, but they, they did. They worked so hard, and it was paycheck to paycheck, and I just wanted to break that cycle. And same with my parent, my husband's family, I wanted to break that cycle to where we can be there for, you know, the thick and the thin through the girls' stuff. We can go and just have that really good work life harmony. I like to say harmony instead of balance, but yeah, for sure. But yeah. And, and I think that has to come with some innovation of how do we create this like passive income? And. Well, cause what is life without work? Oh, yeah. Really? Like, you know, it sounds great to just be on the beach all day and Costa Rica and stuff, but 12 months later, I'm like, I'm kind of bored. Yeah, totally. And I need that. I know I'm the type that needs to have a purpose, and I guess that's the achiever in me too, right? The three. I want goals. I want to be able to strive to make something better. Yeah, yeah. I love it. Yeah. So, tell me maybe I think where one of the people can really gain a lot, like, how do you recognize I need to go have somebody help me look under the hood here a little bit, like in yourself? Cause I suspect that that's probably true that too many people don't recognize within themselves, even like you've been acting out a little bit too much right now, whatever you've been throwing things at your wife again. You know, I don't know what the signs are, but what do you see as some of the common signs that people finally reach a point and are like, I finally decided I'm going to talk to somebody. Yeah. I mean, usually, unfortunately, it's always after that breaking point, right? When they do through a screen or not, not always, like that's what I want to help out listeners identify in themselves, like if you, if you feel like you're creeping up in a breaking point, can you spot it? Yeah. I mean, that's when you got to interact, you know, you got to intervene is when you start to feel those uncomfortable, like, oh, I'm noticing I'm more irritable than usual. And I actually have a little toolkit on this because the most important thing is you have to understand who you are, the self-awareness, right, because for me, my warning signs are I'm more irritable with my family. I can be short-tempered with my kids. I can just be kind of in a funk where I don't want to work, which is such a warning sign for me. So those little warning signs are like, okay, I'm not balanced. I'm not taking care of myself. That's when I need to have that reality check, go talk to my counselor or go on the run or whatever it is to make sure that I'm keeping up with my own self-care. And then, you know, for you, you probably have something completely different, but we have to know what that looks like for each of us individually. And then in our partnership, too, it's really fun to be able to know, like, what, Tyler's warning signs are, hey, baby, you know, you're not what you don't want to go to a rope bean. Are you kidding? Like, something's wrong. So knowing what those are ahead of time and having that conversation with a trusted person and to be able to say, hey, do you see this in me? We call me out. Like, I give you permission. Right, right. I like that. Yeah. So tell me about, I have to think that part of the experience of being married to a counselor is not like, like, if you're married to a massage therapist, you're not like overwhelmed with free massage all the time, probably the same. But has that been a navigation for you guys, like you being in the, in the, in the, in the biz? Yeah. I remember when I was in my master's program and I was so eager and wanting to practice. And he was the worst client you could imagine. I mean, he would make up the most ridiculous stories. And I would always just give up on him. And so, but fast forward, gosh, that's been 10 years ago now. I do find myself being checked out by the time I get home. If, if he wants to talk about something, like, babe, I've been talking about stuff all day long. I'm kind of at my max. Like, I can't, you know, and so I feel like something serious, or even just a check-in about how you're there. Yeah. Sometimes I don't even, and that's, again, warning signs of I'm not having enough balance in my life and enough self-care, but I can, I can find myself doing that. And that's not fair for him. So it's really important to recognize that ahead of time, or we've actually started scheduling in regular date nights, which is critical. So yeah, so I almost go to the complete opposite where I'm like, I'm not, I'm not going to touch that. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to cancel you. Book an appointment with one of my colleagues if you want to talk to somebody about some stuff. Yeah, for sure. Fair enough, fair enough. Do you have any toolkits generally for, for couples to, or even just a checklist, things like that that you should always do? You mentioned going on dates is super important to making space, obviously, especially for those with kids, I imagine, but yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, knowing what you guys need, right? I think the love languages is such a fun assessment. Do you know your love language? Touch. Yeah, okay, yeah. And so knowing that with your partner, I think it's really good, because if you know that your partner's physical touch, words of affirmation, whatever that is, then they can help, right? I know Tyler jokes that I'm all of them, and I'm like, kind of, but quality time is really important. Right. I recognize what that is, and have that conversation with your partner. We do have, actually, we have two really great marriage and family counselors and therapists on board with IOMI. And then next month, we're going to be talking about communication for your partner, because it's so important, the communication piece. For sure. Yeah, you were just making space, intentionally. Intentionally. Talk about stuff. Yeah, exactly. You can go weeks and weeks without saying much more than what you want for dinner and dinner. Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, a lot of weeks and weeks. So let's talk about, what do you want to talk about? I mean, well, I don't know. I love talking about all the things, self-care, and mental health. Yeah, so yeah, do you lead the conversation just for a moment, because I'm going to go refill my drink. Yeah, you're good. You're good. No, I'm good. This is, yeah. So take it where you'd like to. Okay. Okay. I think when I, one thing I wish I everybody would know is the difference between self-care and self-indulgence. And so what most people think is like, oh, self-care, I don't have time for, you know, a spa day. I don't have the money for a spa day. I don't have time for that fluff, and it's so much more than just that bubble bath and a glass of wine. And so there's a big difference between quality self-care and quality, and what would we call self-indulgence. And so quality self-care is going to be that act of protecting your own well-being or happiness. Indulgence is going to be just that self-o, that like quick fix, the instant pleasure, lacking control. That's that self-indulgence, right? And now I'm not saying self-indulgence is always bad. Like there's room for- So a glass of wine might be self-care. Three glasses of wine every night is self-indulgence. Great. Yes, that's a perfect example. Absolutely. And you've got to know what, again, what your self-care is and what your indulgences are. But yeah, I mean, that's exactly it. So the indulgence would be scrolling mindlessly on social media for hours, right? I think a lot of us are guilty of that, or binge-watching Netflix, or whatever that may look like, sleeping in, staying up late, all of that kind of stuff, like, leans on that self-indulgence. At the time, it feels good, right? It's that quick fix. It's the instant pleasure. But long-term, it's not doing anybody good. Exactly. You're going to wake up physically ill or drained, emotionally tired, all of that stuff. In that quality self-care, those are going to be the things that are more uncomfortable, right? It's the waking up an hour early to have your miracle morning. It's going to be, say, no. It's going to be drinking a plant enough water going on that run, right? Going on, like, setting the intentionality of date nights. It's going to be a little bit more challenging and uncomfortable in the moment. But those are the things that are going to add so much value to you in the long run. I have a calendar full of different colors. And like, blue is networking, but light blue is networking kind of stuff that's kind of hard. Green is kind of fun stuff, and light green is fun stuff that's hard. So like going for a run is fun, but it's hard. Right. Yeah. I love that. That's great. That's exactly such a perfect example of self-care, right? Because you're going to feel good afterwards. It's doing good for your body long-term. Yeah. That's great. And mental health counseling, it's uncomfortable at the beginning. It's not easy to make a commitment, time commitment, or the financial commitment, but man, is that going to add so much value in the long run? Totally. And then my caveat is there's room for self-indulgence. There's plenty of times where I eat that slice of cheesecake, or I sleep in, or I binge watch because I just need to check out. But as long as that quality self-care is outweighing the indulgence, that's fine. But so many people, I think, defaults. Yeah, or even as long as that self-indulgent isn't habituated. Yeah. Great point. Like even if you get a bunch of self-care and a bunch of self-indulgence, just because their balance doesn't mean it's really good, right? Yeah, that's great. I'm going to steal that, that's good. So I think I believe that the majority of your clients or females, is that true? Majority are, but I just have to. The boys could be a member, I can sign up now. Yep, I do have plenty of them involved. Yeah. And so we do a few things. I am known to have a lot of irons in the fire, which could be a default, but a negative. But it's fun, and I like it, queues me energized. So we do what's called our on-site mental health support program, and so that's actually where we're on-site with our employees. With the county, you think you were talking about? Yep. And that has just been so beautiful. We get reports back and feedback forms and whatnot. One of our feedback forms said that she would have quit if it wasn't for the IOMI services. So I mean, that could make me cry. Right. Because that helps to justify that employer, so much, especially if they didn't want her to quit. Exactly. Yeah. It would have cost 20 grand, or whatever. Exactly. And somebody knew, right? And so they pay you a few hundred dollars or a thousand dollars a month or something like that. Well, boom. We already paid for it for the next 12 months. Exactly. Yeah. So that's been really fun. And of course, that's going to be anybody and everybody that's employed there at Weld County, for example. And then we do have our private, like the individual memberships and majority are female, but we have several male employees. So is the employer programs become more the focus of your organization in the next month? So again, looking back, I did not know what I was doing, but at the time, I guess I should have said, I don't know what didn't know what I was doing. But looking back, I'm like, oh, it all kind of works out really well. Because now we have our onsite employees and our onsite train supporters supporting the employee. And then all of the employees get access to our partners and our discounts. And then we have the individual support in case those employees need extra support that's outside of the place of employment. So it all works out like really beautifully. So I'm just all about growth, like it doesn't matter where it's coming from. I just want to, like you said earlier, just broaden that reach and horizon of how can we increase mental health awareness and self-care. Like from your perspective, most small businesses, medium-sized businesses, most people with employees would do well to have a contract with IOMI to help provide that kind of. And what's that look like from an employer's perspective? Yep. So it depends on what size and what their needs are. So basically what it looks like is... Small office, but it's crazy that it's going to cost more. Big firm, nervous table. Maybe. I don't know if anybody's stable, but basically they bring me on and it's however IOMI on. It's however many hours a week. So it's five, we have one at eight, we have one at 16 hours a week. Based on their concerns, based on what they see as presenting. Certain things to our, if people can sign up and book four or whatever. Exactly. Yep. And then I go and find the best fit counselor based on what I hear their concerns are. And then that person is either on-site or virtual because of the day in each, yeah. Most of them are actually on-site though. So it's good. All right. Yeah. And then, yeah, it's on-site. Part of that train supporters job is to be there available for, of course, appointments with employees. It's a lot of brief intervention, solution focused. Honestly, what I see, because I was doing it there for a long time, what I see from the employees coming in, is it's a safe space to cuss if they need to cuss, to vent if they need to, to cry, to just be able to get things off their chest. And it avoids them getting that off their chest at the cafeteria or the lunch table or a break room. Right. Right. And so that's been. Well, in these days, I think if something off their chest, there's like three people not in their head and three people shaking their head. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a benefit for the employee individually, but then also for like the HR and supervisors and managers. Right. Because now they don't have to carry that weight. Yeah. It's the hardest. I would say that's one of the hardest things for employers to figure out sometimes is just how to create peaceful work amongst their employees. Yeah. You know, their interactions with their employees are usually pretty positive, but by and between their employees, sometimes that's a shit show. Yeah. Because of that. Absolutely. Yeah. So where we can be trained to be able to support whatever their needs are and then have that follow up too. Right. And so part of that contract, we do monthly webinars or trainings of any kind related around mental health. So it could be like we did a training on overcoming what loneliness, how to cope during a pandemic, you know, stress management, all the things that we're faced with right now. Oh, yeah. So we're going to do a webinar soon. Yes. Talk about that. Like, hey, we got some resources. I'm pretty sure we got some crazy people, little business owners in order to cover every call. We all are, I think. Yeah. We're all going crazy. Yeah. Well, a little bit of time. It's a, I don't know if you read my blog ever, but the walk is kind of a controlled fault. You just put your foot into the right spot. Yeah. That's good. You know, crazy is kind of that way. And to a certain extent, you know, how boring would life be if, you know, if we were in the matrix and everything was just, yeah, happy, happy, joy, joy, no challenges, no, no nothing. Thank you. So talk about where you want to take the business in 2021. Yeah. Yep. So I have some goals. Thanks to local think tank and my group. They're holding a company. Yes, they are. And we got to do this whole strategy thing. And I had to write my goals down because I'm really good at like, just big goals. And I never really set numbers, except for the, this last year, I hit one of my major milestones that I never, I that I always hoped to. But anyways, and so I finally wrote it down. So yeah, I, I want to get on three more contract sites for on site employee and then have a hundred plus I, the community members. So that lower level of our individual membership up to there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That sounds like it sounds like good goals. Yeah. It'll change the, we have to add more therapists and things. But as at this point, I feel pretty comfortable that we're good. Yeah. Um, I am always open like if we get the on sites, then I try to make sure that we have a good fit therapist. And if we don't have that within, then I'll go find someone outside. Right. Now, if we did a, a three year vivid description of, I only is just where I would love it to be in three years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it like, you know, is there like dozens of companies that have on I only on site? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Hundreds even maybe. Yeah. It's like super Cooper. I mean, that'd be crazy good. Yeah. Cause it's just, it's working. You know, um, and I've done my homework as far as I research, right? I don't like research, but I even did my research on this. It shows that it's a four to one return on investment, having an on site therapist. But then what I only is doing is we are bringing a comprehensive approach. So it's not just the therapy, but now we're talking about their self care and we're actually holding them accountable to that. The employees get access to all of our discounts. It's just an extra perk, which is really fun for the employee. Um, and then they have access to what we call as the I only community. And then every month, we have topics and resources on the mind, body and soul. And so, and then a give back portion as well. Um, and it's just simply like a checklist. So people often know they need self care, but they're not really doing it, right? And so this is like, Hey, you know, you need it. So this is the formula to do it. And this is what you have to do this month. And so it's just super simple and making it great. I think that's a really great opportunity and I don't see the reason why you can't do that. So you're the conduit kind of, uh, or I only become the conduit of great providers to get a good needs. That'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. Well, one step at a time, Moses is, uh, your facilitator and he's been a long-term member. Yeah. And he's probably, he's also on my advisory board. You probably don't know that. Yeah. Him and a couple of other guys started advising me for a free, long time ago, and we get this local think tank. I love it. He's, he's the whip cracker. Yeah. It's something to money bear. You know, make sure you make some profits. Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoy him. So, um, let's talk about, uh, we, as I mentioned, we, we're going to dive into family-faced politics a little bit. Yeah. And you just said, what was it? Body, mind, soul. Yeah. And, uh, so we talked to, touch about family already, do you want to jump into that first? Yeah. Um, you know, families, everything, right? And with my, my husband and my two daughters, I think it's so critical that I can lead by example, because I saw some incredible things that my parents taught me and I saw the challenges that they faced too, right? And I want to be able to be the one to create my kids to do what, do it right, right? Don't do as I say do as I do, right? So, I want them to be able to see, do as I do. Yeah. Yeah. To be able to see that and that, that, that moms or women or dads or whoever it is that they don't have to just work because that's what you're supposed to do, that they can do something that they love and they can still earn an incredible income and they can graduate college debt free and, you know, all of these things that I, I feel like I did it overcome younger ages and I wish I would have. So they're, yeah, they're everything and like I said earlier, I mean, I'm so excited about raising them to be country and hardworking and I've got a six year old. So that's Briar, she just turned six and then we have a two year old Bristol who just turned two. And I usually like to look for a one to three word description of each of the children. Oh, man. Bristol's a pistol. I'm still a pistol. She's a firecracker. She's definitely the epiphany of sweet and sour, right? Those commercials. Sure. Yeah. She's turned the love light on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's a firecracker. I love her. And then Briar, she's just so kind and compassionate and also fiery too. Like they definitely have some spirits those two, but she loves her baby sister and she's so empathetic to her. So I was just reflecting on that the other day. It's so cool. They both, well, story, if I have a second, so I was, I was not taking care of myself at the time and very much depleted and all the warning signs were, were very much like full board. And I got pulled over for speeding. Briar was, she was probably maybe three in the back seat. So again, yeah, definitely not good mom move, but I, I was, and I just started bawling. I just started crying like ridiculous. How could this day go? Yeah. Exactly. Yep. And I actually got a warning. So thank you to that police officer for your service and for the warning. But as I'm driving away, I'm, I'm crying pretty hysterically and Briar just asks like, how, what's wrong, mommy? What's wrong? And I was like, no, nothing. I'm fine. Just a bad day. And she said, mama, just breathe, just breathe. And then she goes, and she's showing me how to breathe. And I'm like, whoa, she's learned that for me. That was a pretty cool moment. And so then just the other day, Bristol, the two-year-old Briar was emotionally upset about something crying pretty heavily. And so Bristol sits there and says, sissy, sissy, okay. And then she does this cute little breathing motion with her hand. And so she does the deep breathing for, to, to show Briar how to breathe. It was adorable. That sounds really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Is there like six, two sounds like, you know, could be room for more? Oh, man. Look at her cowboy in an addition to some cowgirls. I mean, that'd be cool, but I feel like we're, we're, we're good. Like, we're just, you know, we're good, we're ready. I'm ready to kind of just kick life's butt. Yeah. And it feels really good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah. And how about Tyler? Tell me about what, what was about him that made you really fall in love? Oh, I've always said it from day one, he, he's allowed me to be my 100% myself since day one. So all my flaws and my quirks and my, you know, insecurities, he has just been there for me through thick and thin, he's, he's incredible in that way. And he's the one that if I say, hey, I'm going to quit on a whim, I don't know how we're going to pay the mortgage. It's okay, honey, if that's what you need to do, let's do it. And so yeah, so he's, he's, he's a seven. So he's my fun guy, he'll, he'll be ready and excited for a good time. Yeah. So what would he say it was about you, oh, I don't know. I don't know. Oh, you don't know. You never asked him. I, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, give me uncomfortable as to talk about myself. Well, just project this upon him. I know. I don't know. I think he, he does appreciate my work ethic, like that I'm, I'm a doer and, and I can get excited about like just a love for life. I am very futuristic. So I can sit there and daydream all day long. And I think he really appreciates that. Well, especially for a promoter, because they want to go through all of that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine us doing all this fun stuff together. Exactly. Yeah. So that's I think a good balance for us. But yeah, I'm trying to think back in the day. I mean, I think it was just, easy to go. I was myself, you know, I didn't, I didn't expect anything different from him either. I allowed him to yourself. Yeah. Well, you couldn't have tested him on that, excepting it just as you are, if you wouldn't have been just as you are. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, talk to me more about family. Is there, uh, grandkids or grand parents in the scene pretty regularly? Yes. Yes. Yes. Tyler's family is still around here. Yeah. So the kids is grandparent. So Tyler's parents live here in Fort Collins still. Yeah. Move your down, your parents down the hill yet from, no, no, my dad still lives in Craig and then my mom lives in Douglas and his parents live here in Fort Collins. So everybody's really close for this drive is four and a half hours to Craig, not bad. And his parents are amazing. They're everything you'd want for a grand parent's for your kiddos. Well, I have to think with a young business and along that way, a new baby. So you were just, you were preggers when you started this. Oh, yes, I was. Yeah. Uh-huh. And my husband was laid off of his job unexpectedly, not at his own fault. It was a new startup company. And we were technically homeless because my, we sold our house and bought that land and none. Um, and we moved in with the in-laws. That's how incredibly they are. They were willing to take us in me. How, I was, what was I, like six months pregnant, seven months, months pregnant. Yeah. So, um, not exactly the start you would think. Well, but it helps your appreciation of money, uh, totally, uh, to, to really walk through some poverty for a while and have that income valve turned off and you're like, okay, what do you really need now? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I wrote a blog about how I reached that goal I was telling you about. So I, I did the math and the numbers in, in 2019. One of my first full year of, um, business, I, I profited $10,000. So and I'm like, I worked so hard for only $10,000. And it made me cringe a little bit. Um, but I had always had this affirmation of a, of being a six figure woman. And so I would say it all the time and I would get sick. I would just, I, there, I was like, there's just no way I have no idea how this is going to happen. But 2020, I actually, um, became true. Whoa. So, yeah. Wow, your business is growing a lot faster than mine. Yeah. Well, and I, and I write in the blog that, um, I have a part time gig and, and that's part of my success story is to be able to have some of that stability and security with that part time job. And, and so that's been a part of it, for sure. You seem like somebody that's going to like invest in real estate. Oh, yeah. Do all kinds of other little things too along the way. I don't know. I don't know. Just the arena. Yeah. The arena. I'd invest in some horses and there you go. Oh, yeah. Well, those are not an asset. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. And they are liabilities. Let's be clear. They're expensive. But they're awesome. Yeah. Uh, we've been watching yellow stone. We just finished the yellow stone. Are you done yet? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My wife and I just finished it last night. That's a good one. Uh, I described it as a lot. The, like, hundreds of thousands of, like, one horse being hundreds of thousands of dollars. As long as you can sell it for that, and you're not going to keep it. Yeah. Once you decide to keep it, then a horse is a liability. That makes sense. And they are liabilities. Let's be clear. They're expensive. But they're awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty intriguing. A lot of drama going on. A lot of drama going on. But still some real cowboyian. It is. And actually, you know, because it's always a pet peeve is to watch these country. The cowboyian shows. And it's like they were in their cowboy hat on backwards or something. Oh. Right. It drives me crazy. But they do a pretty good job. There's been a couple of incidents that were, like, completely not realistic whatsoever. But most of the, most of the time they did pretty good. So what will you do, kind of on this family leg still? What will you do with the rotoing? Like, if that, if you could really draw your perfect scene there, would you be actively competing? Yeah. A dozen times a year or more than that? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. So the cool thing about, so I always used to do barrel racing. Barrel racing is an expensive hobby because you, the, the horse caliber is expensive. And I don't have one right now. That little one that we will hopefully get to that place. But team roping, though, is more affordable. And, and it pays really well too. So you can win some great money at it. And it's, they're everywhere. And so it's great for any skill level. So anyways, long story short. Every little county fair and stuff always has it. Well, they're just at this arena here in, in eaten, not far from our home at all. They do a weekly team roping jackpot. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So Tyler usually goes. And there was one this weekend. He actually won what's called the 13 roping. So did pretty good there. But people come and watch and stuff. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Not really. I mean, is it just like poker? Like, guys mostly just playing against each other. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, where's the money come from? Yeah. So you have an entry fee. Right. Yep. And then, yeah. So it's like poker. Everybody just trades the money. I don't know anything about it. But sure. Well, you know, everybody comes with their hundred bucks. So it would hurt. And then somebody takes home most of the money. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Good point. Yep. Nope. Nope. Just just entry fees. But it's, but you stay practiced up. Yeah. Exactly. It's a great place to do that. So I could see that, you know, Tyler and I could. He's so great. Is there couples team roping? Well, yeah. I mean, you can be. But there's no difference. There's a barrel. Because barrel racing is girls. Just individuals. Yep. Right. I guess. Could you be a dude and do a barrel racing? Technically. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. For the different divisions there. Because I imagine it's a little bit like boxing and stuff. Yeah. But there's some physical things that are just different. Yeah. But then there's also. Depending on the sanction. Like whatever, whatever, you know, sanctioned it is. Whether it's the Women's Pro-Rodio Association. If it's the PRCA Pro-Rodio. If it's the eating arena. Yeah. Exactly. There's no sanctioning at all. Yeah. World Series team roping. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All those kinds of things. So, yeah. Well, that's really because now that we have an arena because I said, I'll be damned if I have an arena and not a horse to go ride and Like a purpose to compete, you know, back in the arena for. So, I think we're we're going to get me a head and horse and start that up. So. Yeah, that's so fun. Yeah. After being on the Yellow Stone series here a little bit, it's just that much more exciting. Yeah. I feel like I understand a little bit more. Totally. A little bit more. Yeah. What do people not know, or what do people assume about rodeo wing or that lifestyle that is just not so? Not so I mean the I think the animal treatment is the first thing that comes to mind I mean these horses and even the cattle and and everybody involved are all animals involved. They are taking well care They're the happiest horses and cows the happiest horses and cows well. Yes well maintained for sure So do like buck and horses get excited to do the thing because you can see if even if like the flank falls falls off They'll still buck yeah, that's just what they're born and raised to do right? It's part of their like like a like a shooting dog wants to go shoot some birds Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So so what's you want to take first phase of politics? I mean I am a faithful woman so I don't mind talking about that at all I do believe that God very much had a plan in this because I always say like I wasn't I'm not that smart You know, I you're going to have figured this out on my own And and God has just been been there through all of this with me from you know my wealth county contract It was a cold call. I just picked up the phone and called and said hey, I'm offering the service and this incredible Galen Kelly. She said all right. Let's let's talk more and it's evolved to that so right so yeah, so my faith That emboldened you to make those phone calls later, right? Exactly. Yeah, so it was just that confidence that confidence booster that I needed especially in the beginning So yeah, I mean we are faithful churchgoers Your husband you shared that before and so I didn't start honestly I didn't start my faith in my beliefs until I was in Mary K So I have I have got to think for for that because I Never was raised with it. I didn't really know enough about it and Then I got involved in Mary K. And it was very faithful and I'm like my wonder what this is all about I really like it I got in connection with a couple of of of my old And then there's this church called Northern Colorado Cowboy Church just outside of eat in there north of Greeley And I'm like hmm if I was go to go to a church. I feel like this is the church. I go to So it's great. There's like cowboy church Isn't it outside of leveling on the way up to Estes or something? There's a cowboy church too Yeah, I've never been to like a cowboy church, but it seems like I would enjoy it as well. It's great I love cowboys. Yeah, I'm not really cowboy. I'm a dirt farmer. There you go. That was a dirt farmer And he later got cattle. Okay, so I've been around cows and stuff, but that counts only I wrote a horse in my honeymoon Yeah, like the second day of a honeymoon in which was a bad mistake. Yeah, it's definitely sore And so family faith and and obviously you got the kids in some these cool. Yeah Yeah, they got a church with us that little Bristol she gets at the dinner table and just demands to hold hands and pray And it's just adorable. So it's pretty cool to see that with my kids because like I said, I didn't have that and not by default of anyone Yeah, yeah, but yeah, can you define an aha moment for you where like you said you were with Mary K and stuff and it started to start to Yeah, kind of wonder you're reaching out to some people and then I think I'm gonna show that story You know, yeah, I mean I look back at it and there's been so many indicators, but I I believe that my encounters and my faith with God has been all those big moments where I've had such peace Like I think about when I married my husband. I was so shy like I could not speak in front of a group of people to save my life at that stage And that here I am about to walk in front of everybody and say my vows and you know like that would have been such a Wreck usually, but I just I remember feeling this rush of just calm and peace and and at that time I was I didn't have my faith. So I'm like, well, okay, that's whatever right because that's what you get Yeah, yeah, exactly, but looking back, I'm like, oh my gosh. That was God's God putting his hand on that, you know And same thing with the different relationships and trusting the path that I've been on and going with those those I mean Well, yeah, it's just been a crazy journey and it all made sense and I can't claim to have known that it was all gonna make sense, you know So it was very much very much all of that combined Yeah, just with with with all the blessings that we've had the hardships that we've had to but but to see everything come to fruition I like to call it providence when you see providence kind of working in action It's a changed thing, you know when you see it a few times and you're like, okay, yeah, yeah You got some plan for me. Yeah, I go with that like that just feel good And I I had that one we went to the church there and and just feeling so at peace and and yeah So I think that's kind of what it was. I I talk about this once along my blog and stuff and like well whether you're faithful or not you can kind of recognize when You're kind of with the flow of what the universe is going for you or when you're trying to go cross-curate or trying to go stream And if you just kind of don't kick against it and go with the flow more Yeah, and recognize when you're in it and when you're fighting against it Yeah, it's kind of that self-indulgence. Yeah, yeah, if you're doing that self-indulgence stuff Chances are something in your life in your world is not really flowing right now. Yeah. Yep. Yep. I could see that absolutely If you were definitely a little bit hesitant to take on the faith that like politics, yeah You're like we still don't know who president is, right? Not right. It's not insane. I think I saw there was some shit that went down at the Capitol day. I was hearing something about it But yeah, I was elbow-deep in work stuff. So I didn't even look at I don't care I always joke my husband is the one that knows everything Ever to know like he you ask him any kind of question and it drives me insane because Somebody lost something and he'll bat out an answer and I'm like there's no way you know that and yeah, by gosh He knows it. So he he's I think I would like him. Yeah, I know I feel like yes, you guys really would get along um And so so yeah, I honestly I always just say like I only have so much mental capacity and and only so much mental real estate That I choose what to put into it and not and I usually don't put politics and my mental state A political creature and sort of yeah, um, I do have some beliefs as far as like The way I was raised and that country lifestyle and we my dad Has had an outfitting business his whole life and so we're actually mean my sisters are taking that over So we're going to be owners of an outfitting business and so we believe in That you know the ability to free enterprise and yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and I just got my concealed carry permit And so you know some of those kinds of things that I feel um import I feel value They're a liberty-minded person as well. Yeah, yeah, I think that's uh, that's my main yeah Main politic and in a lot of respects is a big thick liberty stripes from middle of me. Yeah, absolutely So I feel like we've covered a lot of turf We haven't brought out a maybe enough business learnings. Do you want to like let's let's go back in and look local think tank commercial Yeah, like can you think of one or two? Like a ha's from from your chapter meetings at loco where you were like oh, yeah, I would have known that if I did But oh, and I want to give you a compliment your brain. So you get deep with people. Yeah, and So I say about myself that I'm an inch deep in a mile wide like I don't know much about nothing But I got a little bit here there your husband's probably a little more like that killer in a trivia contest But not that you know can't get deep with somebody necessarily, but anyway, I want to compliment you because those are really good deep Make a lot more impact usually. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that means a lot because often I feel like I'm falling short in those other areas And I finally just given myself permission to say I don't I don't I choose not to you know fill up mental state on that. Yeah. No, I think that's That's a I quit the Facebook a few months ago. That's a pretty pretty happy thing. Yeah Because I can't control myself exactly, and that's the best like what what you just said is knowing your own You know, well, it was making me so anxious, you know, and I can't fix the world Even though if they would just listen to me. I would fix it right now That might be the eight in you Right So let's get back to the little thick tank the business learnings from that particular conduit you know I am the type that will say yes, and then figure out how to do it right and so looking back at the journey And that's probably like why I joined local thing tank because I'm like sure. Yeah, I'll do whatever. Yeah, sounds great And then I realized like getting in there. I'm like, oh my gosh I do not know that I'm at the caliber of this table You know, and so I would have oftentimes those like self doubts and yeah But I when I was the one that presented um they were they were just so kind and really Great and giving advice and giving suggestions and solvent problem-solving like well We text you come last year, right? Yeah Yeah, okay. There's a commercial for love that's probably enough So you're 10 x during The accountability and support help it, but you are on your way like I could Yeah, I can spot a talent when I see it. Oh, well, thank you But it I think it that I do put a lot of weight into who you surround yourself with and and being able to be surrounded by these people that are Great business men and women And being able to push my belief barriers and to push my you know, oh, maybe that's a good idea And oh, maybe I could do that too, and so those are those have been like the big nuts and bolts that I've taken away from local thing tank Not and then on top of that the friendships that night now have to which is really cool. Yeah, awesome. Yeah I think we're gonna wrap it up. We're not even gonna take a potty break this time. Hey, yeah, we're good What would you like to do as our send-off should we do a rhyme a song anything like that? No Thank you for listening to today is episode of the local experience podcast This is Kurt Baer founder of the local think tank and hosted the local experience And I'm here with Murray Sharer local business developer and hosted local shorts episodes We hope you heard some new ideas and business perspectives in this episode our mission and all that we do Including this podcast is to share collaborative business ideas and solutions that uplift the business community Subscribe and follow us for you listen to podcasts to get new episodes as they are released curious about logo You can learn more about us at localthinktakes.com Where you'll find more information about our chapters Business resources and events for business owners and If you're looking for perspective accountability and encouragement along your business journey Why not apply for a chapter near you today? Why not why not? We'll catch you next time on the in-depth local experience podcast with me Kurt and with me Murray provide size business lessons in the local shorts. Bye You