The LoCo Experience Ep 286 | Scott Dillon & James Merkley w/ NoCo's United for Youth

0:00 In today's conversation, I was joined by two highly active representatives from Northern Colorado United for Youth, formerly NOCO Unify. This organization of under 40 business leaders has been among the most active fundraising organizations in Northern Colorado since its founding in 2007. They're the creators of some of the best parties in the region, the Down and Derby Party every May, and the Suitcase Party every August, which we were on the heels of as we recorded this episode. Last year, they brought back the St. Patrick's Day Party, or Parade, to Old Town Fort Collins as well. James Merkley is an active member at Unify, and also CEO and Chief Creative at StoryPath Marketing. He's a local Think Tank member, and we're also both members of a somewhat similar but very different organization, Realities for Children.

0:46 James has a diverse background of his own, largely focused on worship, music, marketing, and storytelling. Scott Dillon is the Business Intelligence Director at Poudre Valley REA, our local electric cooperative, and also serves on the Board of Directors for Northern Colorado United for Youth. Scott's journey helps explain his passion for kids' causes, and his involvement here is just one way he gives back. Storytelling and business intelligence are the sweet spot for these guests, so I know you'll enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Scott Dillon and James Merkley, representing Northern Colorado United for Youth. Welcome to the Loco Experience Podcast. On this show, you'll get to know business and community leaders from all around Northern Colorado and beyond.

1:28 Our guests share their stories. And through it all, you'll be inspired and entertained. These conversations are real and raw, and no topics are off limits. So pop in a breath mint and get ready to meet our latest guest. Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast. I'm here today with James Merkley and Scott Dillon. And James is the CEO of StoryPath Marketing. But more importantly for today's episode, he is a member of United for Youth Northern Colorado, or Northern Colorado United for Youth. And Scott is also a member of that and also on the board of directors for United for Youth. And Scott Dayjob, Business Intelligence Officer for Poudre Valley REA.

2:11 So, oh, and James, not Dayjob at all, but I guess conveniently or coincidentally or not at all, member of local think tank. Yes. So I think that's awesome. I think your organization is amazing in how... Just organic and long-lived already it is. How many years? We just completed our 19th year. Okay. So next year is the 20th year. Yes. More to come on that. Yeah. Shameless plug. Okay. It's going to be big. I remember I was like getting, I was approaching 40 by the time when you guys started.

2:51 And not quite approaching yet, but I thought it was such a cool organization the way you founded it. And were you around right from the start? No. No. You came in new. You're fresher here. Yep. I'm six years in now. So about to embark on my last year. Oh, really? Before I age out. Oh, right. Because when you turn 40, you're out. Yep. Right. I guess I wasn't as old as I thought. I was only like 33 or something at first, but I guess I didn't really learn about it at first. I think there's a lot of that. By the time I really learned about it, I was like 37. I was like, eh, I'm going to be too old pretty soon. It's funny. We talk about this a lot.

3:33 People don't know us as an organization a lot of times, but then when we throw out the events that we host, they're like, oh, that's you guys. It's like, yeah. So it's almost like the derby party. Yeah. The suitcase party. The things we do kind of precedes the organization, which I think is kind of how we want it in some ways to a degree. Yeah, we're kind of like behind the scenes. Do you do stuff beyond those big events? Because I know you raise a lot of money and donate a lot of money, and we can get more into that. But do you guys have monthly meetings and stuff where you're hanging out and doing stuff? I guess, Scott, why don't you set the stage? You're the grizzled veteran.

4:14 Sure, grizzled for sure. And coming off a cold. Yeah, coming off a cold. So if he sounds a little different than dad usually sounds, because you know why. No, this is how I normally sound. Okay, gotcha. Um... No, I think so. Typical membership looks like we meet once a month on the first Monday of every month for about an hour. Usually over drinks. But we talk a lot of business. We try to communicate our needs. Like club business, basically. Club business, yeah. So imagining like a Rotary Club-ish kind of experience, but different, obviously. Yeah, just kind of herding the proverbial cats, if you will.

4:56 Hey, we need four more volunteers. Yes. 24 more volunteers for the suitcase party. Auction items. Guys, it's not too late next year. Get them in. Yep, yep. So we meet once a month. We try to keep it mostly business, but we have a little fun while we do it, kind of like at our events. And then our membership splits into different committees for each event. Um, so we have some expectations that you participate in at least one committee. Yeah. Yeah. Um, those groups tend to meet, uh, once a week for the eight to 10 weeks preceding an event to kind of dot our I's and cross our T's to make sure we're as upright as possible when the day rolls around.

5:44 Um, you guys were working hard at the St. Patrick's Day parade. Oh yeah. Yeah. Uh, I had 28,000 steps that day. Oh. It's like a Disneyland trip. Yeah. Maybe more. Yep. 28,000 steps that day. And then our board of directors meets once a month as well to go over just kind of bylaws and. 30,000 foot view business, if you will. Kind of the logistics, legalities. I imagine even... I don't know who... Like these big events that you do, they benefactor... Like usually like...

6:26 One big one, is it? Or maybe like three different organizations each year? Yeah. Or a handful? Two to three. Is that the executive committee kind of, or is the board of directors kind of? Like who chooses that? That's a big deal, right? Because that's 100 grand or a couple hundred grand for each of them. Yeah. Yeah, James, you speak to that. I'll fill in the... Yeah, so there's a grant selection committee. I'm on that committee and several other guys are on that committee. And the board does a really great job of really handing off the selection of the grants to this committee to kind of sift through. I mean, there's thousands of applications. Everybody wants some of your money. And we have really clear categories and requirements of who we can support, who we can't.

7:13 So that makes it easy on us guys. But also, we get to kind of like play the game of like what are kind of personal affinities or group-based affinities towards certain initiatives. We try not to play favoritism. We try and make sure that there's an equal spread of dollars in different directions. Just positive outlets. Yeah, yeah. For example, we had Debut Theater this year that we supported, which is a youth-based theater organization. And they do a fantastic job of creating programming for kids. So you have hyper- Well, and they're often overlooked because they're not pulling people out of abject poverty necessarily.

7:54 Totally. But they might change somebody's life. Yes. And then you have the opposite side of that with like Sava, which is like sexual assault victims advocacy. So hyper, like really triggering kind of like work that's done over here, really positive work. Both are positive, but it's like different kind of outputs. So it's like we try and make sure we cover a lot of bases. And then I hear kind of almost like if I've been on the board for this organization, I'm a member of United for Youth for seven years, and I'm a – you know, a strong contributor here, and I love this organization. Like, we're probably going to get our at-bat, almost, as long as it's a great cause. Is there some, like, I know you have a selection committee and stuff, but it's got to be a little bit based on where the hearts are.

8:40 Yeah, we abstain from voting if we have a personal connection or affinity to a nonprofit. Yeah, but then everybody's like, yeah, but James really loves this. We can certainly put our thumbs up into the equation. Yeah, yeah. I think it's impossible. I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud about how. But it's awesome because that way those that do the work really invest and they care about something. Yeah. They can really make a difference for those. Yeah. Yeah, it gets – it's a – It's a time-consuming process to narrow down to those nonprofits. My Rotary Club has a scholarship program. Yeah. And we give away – now it's growing to three. Oh, cool.

9:20 Like 15 years ago – well, 12 years ago, we launched the first one, and then we could do two, and then we could do three now. Yeah. college scholarships yeah like being the selection committee for this college scholarships for these outstanding kids which is very subjective you know yes it's about grades and stuff but we're rotary club so mostly more than that we're about giving opportunity to kids that show a lot of promise and they come from a tough cover background yeah you know and and it's hard to be super objective in those kind of criteria Yeah, it certainly is. I mean, there's some objectivity to get, I would say, to narrow down the first cuts.

10:07 Take it from 3,000 to 35. This organization clearly doesn't serve kids, or they're not in Larimer or Weld County. Those are the easy ones to disqualify. But we spent well over 400 hours of... interviewing the different organizations, getting more, like we want to take the dollars and see them spread as far as possible. Wow, that's cool. Whether that's for an immediate impact or it's something that's going to create impact over several years. So we really want to make sure we're being – Like when we ask for your dollars at these big events, you're entrusting us that we're going to make that dollar go as far as possible.

10:51 Yeah. Cool. And hopefully. Can I ask from this suitcase party was just a couple of weeks ago. Mm hmm. Who got the money? Um, so. Or is that like how you do it? Yeah. Well. Like from this event or you guys do a couple of big grants based on all the events or how does that work? Yep. So we actually, we actually, um, make our pledges before any of the events. So, um, basically we decide we're going to allocate this much and then we set out to raise that much for the year. So 23 different organizations this year are the beneficiaries. You don't have the money in the bank before you make a pledge? No. Oh. One day. Yeah. One day.

11:32 Yeah, no. So it's always a sprint for sure. But that's kind of... Well, these days with higher interest rates, it would actually work really good if you could have – maybe – I don't know. This is a big change, but maybe you should save like a third of it so that one day you can actually have the money in the bank ahead of time so you know. I don't know. Maybe that would take the fun out of it. Yeah, I think – The excitement. To a degree, maybe. To a degree. I will say, too, when you're strictly volunteer organization like ours – Yeah. The pressure of having to perform – It's significant. But it's probably kept us above water. The – like, guys, we're not going to make this unless we all do this.

12:17 So there's not really an opportunity to rest on your laurels when you're 40 guys representative each of $10,000 of giving. Is that what you're expected to do? Well, no. No. But when we're getting $400. That's a party. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. When we're handing out $400. No, I know you guys aren't writing $10,000 checks necessarily. Yeah. But you're like on the average, that's how much you got to pull in. Essentially. And that could be – and it's not necessarily you have to raise that much. Sure. Maybe you can give $10,000 in time or you have talent that brings $10,000 to the show. Sure. Connections. Yeah, that was always my gifting is – I never had any money, but I had, I knew people that had money that were cool.

13:02 That's huge. You know, and thought I was cool. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It, I mean, it, it all comes together in a unique way that having the safety net would be great, um, from like a stress level perspective, but it might actually take away from the, yeah. The directness of the mission. That sense of urgency is critical to development. So, James, take me through your calendar a little bit, if you don't mind. Yeah. Like, we just had the suitcase party, which maybe you want to start there and describe, like, what is the general experience of that? I've been a couple times. It's been a few years, if I'm honest.

13:43 Yeah. And so, like, yeah, tell our listeners that haven't been what that experience is like. Kind of think of Premier Northern Colorado event, one of the top listed events in Northern Colorado and probably in the state as a whole. I mean, tickets are like a couple hundred bucks. Yeah. Very bougie affair. Super bougie. Yeah. But you're coming to have a great time. Really, it's like a... And it's not really bougie people. No. It's just non-bougie people that get bougie for a change. Yeah, and you have a wide variety, a wide mix of young, old. It's kind of like a wide grouping there. But people who have a passion for this community, they know kind of the mission of this is to come have a good time for a cause.

14:29 I think part of the ethos of why this party originated was because there's a lot of gala work. There's a lot of like the consistent rhythmic programming in the nonprofit space. But there was really nothing that was like, can we create something that's just strictly fun? Like strictly like let's have a good time. We're not going to try to make you cry. Read your checkbook or whatever. And there's nothing wrong with those activations from those nonprofits. I think they're very valuable and important. My company supports them, you know, in other ways. And we see results from that. But I do think like there's something powerful about – We're showing up. We're having a great time. We're doing a ton of fun. And the reason we call it suitcase is because in tradition, traditional fashion, people literally can win a trip that night that they literally hop on a plane.

15:15 Oh, you don't have to anymore? This year we did it differently. Weather. Weather inclemented. Oh, because it was storms or something? Brutal. Brutal. There were a lot of... It was one of the reasons I didn't come is because we were picking up our exchange student like two days after the party. So it was like – and we had to go down to Denver and pick him up and stuff. And we're like, hey, so sorry, but we're in Vegas or wherever. And you're going to have to get a shuttle home and we'll be there in two days. I don't know. That was part of like what if I would? Yeah. But you didn't have to in this case? Well, so there were a few factors this year. Okay.

15:56 The Fort Collins-Loveland Airport is shut down for runway widening. Oh. So we wouldn't have been able to take off after 8 o'clock. Right from there like they normally do anyway. So we had already arranged for a trip to Hawaii this year from DIA. Okay. Okay. With the anticipation being we were going to leave the next day on a party bus and let our guests enjoy the full night instead of being rushed out of the party. Show up here by noon tomorrow. We'll be fine. So day in the life of a Unify pre-event. We're all kind of setting up Friday during the day. And somebody texts me and says, hey, did you know there's a hurricane in Maui?

16:37 Oh, damn. It was one of our Unify guys. It was there. Yeah. And I go. One of my former, well, the Chiba Hut founder, Scott, lives in Hawaii now. Oh, doesn't he? We were texting him. Yeah. So he, I, no, I had no idea. Right. So we. Might not be the best time to go. So we huddle and start looking at weather patterns because all of us are equipped to do that. Sure. And ultimately decide, you know, it'd be safer to send them the next week. So we hop on the phone. We change the reservations. We get everything pushed a week out. And that's just a standard, like, unify event fire that nobody really sees.

17:24 And then I take a lot of pride in our group being all volunteers that we – You know, we all have frustrations about how things go at the event. We were supposed to have skydivers at this year's suitcase party that landed in the event to determine who won the prizes. Oh. We couldn't. Oh, because of the weather. There were downdrafts all around them to where the plane wouldn't have had anywhere to land. Were you like Random number generator? I jumped off a bus Landed in everybody's arms No I created a virtual prize wheel On the fly You know not as Amazing as skydivers would have been But at the end of the day Everybody has a great time They're there to support the kids And maybe hopefully Have a chance at winning the big prize I will say this though.

18:19 We, we had an opportunity. The skydivers said they would do it. We were ready to roll a helicopter out of that hangar that night in front of all the guests for a plan B and they scrapped it at the last minute. So we are always trying to make the best event possible. So I guess for listeners sake, in the future are you thinking about and it's probably a board meeting level decision perhaps but like it has been one of my hesitancies of like okay I have to be like ready to go at the end of this party if I win You know, I think that is a great question.

19:00 And I haven't always wanted to undergo that. Frankly, I'm not always ready for that. Yeah. Because I probably won't. I've got a 1 in 400 chance to win or something, right? Yeah. I think a lot of people have that hesitancy. And I think this year showed us that... We thought the appeal of the party for a long time was leaving that night. And I think the success of this year with the extreme pivots that we had to make showed us that that's not why people show up. It was a record year. You should do something cooler if you do. Like you should keep it the suitcase party so the experience is cooler if you're just ready to roll and you just roll because that actually...

19:45 is pretty cool. Yeah. Not everybody can. Yeah. Like I got kids and stuff in there. So they're going to call mom and dad Friday night at 11 PM and be like, Hey, we won. Yeah. I know we mentioned this three weeks ago, but yeah, the kids will be at the house. You have to pick them up by 6 AM. Maybe we just include childcare in the package. Maybe. I don't know. We've talked about pet care and childcare. Yeah. I would like to see it kept as a thing where you could. Yeah. But there are just so many people for whom they don't have that. Even my wife and I don't have any kids, but it's still hard to be like, okay, if we win, we're gone tomorrow.

20:29 And if we don't, then we've got this, the week ahead that's our normal life. Yeah. Well, and that event in particular, I mean, there's... It was a weekend? Yeah. This year was, we wanted to. If you're going to Hawaii, you don't want to freaking. Well, Hawaii aside. Four days. If you had to go through security at DIA, we wanted to extend your time. Yeah, yeah. Right. But typically it's a two night, three day thing. Total. It's more of a sprint. Yeah. Historically. But Hawaii is different. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to go to Hawaii for three days. No. Yeah. This was a five day. And the event in itself has so many activations that are so fun beyond just even winning.

21:09 So it's like I think the winning factor of the event is so profound and cool, but that's not what keeps people coming back. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. But it would be cool to keep that front and center. Oh, yeah. 100%. I think that's always going to be the underlying theme. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of history there. I think, you know, one of the beautiful parts about having to pivot this year is it – unlocked some freedom for us to not be handcuffed to this one concept and still find success. So that's great. But to James's point, I think I would guess the vast majority of people that show up to that don't show up to win the trip.

21:50 Right. They show up for the spectacle, the band, the entertainment, the silent auction, the food, the beverages. Yeah. I'm going to bounce it back to James for what's, what's next. Yeah. What committee is up on deck. So technically a grant selection committee is up. Okay. Cause now you raised X money. Yep. You made a bunch of pledges. Hopefully you even made more money than that. Okay. Yep. Yep. So December, right. Is when we open, uh, October, October. Yep. And then, uh, we start combing through and we make our selections and then going into next year, it's pretty hard and fast to commit and, uh, We have a really fun process of delivering the news in person to all the nonprofits we select.

22:34 Yeah. Scott, um, got to trick a bunch of nonprofits this last year, which was hilarious. Why? Yeah. I got to lie to them. We, we were forced to buy the board or something. They think we're showing up to ask them grueling questions about their operations. Deeper into the nomination process. Yeah. So they're all prepared with stacks of documents and we're like, actually we have documents for you. And that's like the, the, Yeah, the selection. Here's a check. Yeah. Here's an IOU, actually. That's probably one of my favorite pieces of the puzzle. But from there, we get into, I don't know what the decision about St. Paddy's Day was, but that's probably going to be our first one of the year if we do it.

23:16 If you do it, okay. It was a beast? Is that... A lot of logistics. Because it was coming back, right? Like, let's touch on the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Because it was gone for a long time. It was gone from. Like, pre-2020? Yeah. It was a COVID casualty? I think 2019 was actually. Oh, even before COVID. Yeah. Um, and unfortunately, um, I know at that time it was canceled due to an unfortunate accident at an unrelated parade, um, locally at the Windsor Harvest Festival. Um, and unfortunately we, we also just recently had a unfortunate event at a parade type affair here in Fort Collins.

23:59 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to weigh things. We're going to weigh things objectively. Yeah, the toilet fat obviously is what we're talking about for those listening. And like Greg was talking about this at the Realities for Children ambassadors meeting recently about just the pressure against organizations to have these kind of events because of the – just the cost and the organizational and the roads are closed and this and that. Like, shit happens and people die. You know? And, like, taking community events away won't make less people die, really.

24:44 Right. Like, if you really boil it down, this is not a dangerous thing. Like, stuff happens. It's humans moving around together and stuff. But it's not going to – it will probably decrease. It will probably increase longevity for humans in northern Colorado to keep doing cool stuff like this because it connects us to each other in some capacity. And we're not just all Amazon lifestyle, you know, live at our house maybe with our kids. And we know our Amazon guy and our postman and – you know, our sister or something, but like we need to connect with each other. And so, I don't know. It's a, it's a tough subject for me. Yeah.

25:25 Tough cost. The way. For sure. I think it's, um, it's just one of those things we want to make sure we react to and don't overreact necessarily. So we have the benefit of, well, if I'm invited next year, I promise not to run over anybody this time. You got to be in the parade again. You had one of the best floats, I guess, truck. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's trying to make it fit our mission is the other, I think, big piece. Yeah. It's it's one we don't necessarily have our arms wrapped around on how to monetize. Yeah.

26:05 And so someone actually painted a really nice picture for us visually about it when we were kind of feeling like we didn't really accomplish our mission. And they said that was the single biggest grant. you've ever given this community and the amount of kids that showed up to witness that joy like that's kind of that for me a little bit yeah yeah um which like we hadn't looked at it that way i saw tens of 10 000 kids yeah you know i honked my horn and when they looked at me and did this you So, um, my siren blew it. Yeah. So it's one of those things that it might just be a different type of giving than we've done before.

26:46 Yeah. So it was cool to see, I mean, growing up in Fort Collins, you, you've been here pretty much your whole life, right? Yeah. It's like the staple early twenties. Yeah. The staple of this community that was really tragic to lose when it went away. And so many friends and family members, when I was telling them, Hey, I'm a part of this group bringing this back. They were like, okay. Finally, you know, it's like this like really cool resurgence of something that's really integral to this community. I could come in March. That's mid-March. Right. Or late February, whatever. Whenever St. Patty's Day is, it's kind of random. Yeah. Mid-March. You probably already know. Yeah. The board has already addressed this topic, right? Well, we don't know.

27:26 Weekend before, weekend after. It kind of depends where it fits best. And then you've got the Down and Derby is always like early May. Yep. That's our next big one. May 1st. A lot of fun. Where is that these days? Where is it held? Or do you know where it's going to be next year? Yeah. It's been at the Greenhouse. Yeah, the Rain Dance. Yep. Golf course area there. Yep. It's a great spot for it. Three years. So we'll kick things off and start evaluating derby party and all things kind of next season. We're taking September off and then October we kind of just start the cycle all over again. And is there another event between derby and suitcase?

28:08 Yes. The Kids Classic Golf Tournament. Oh, yeah. Yep. Yeah. Which is probably. When is that? When is the day? What dates do we do that? It's been. It's all over. Yeah. It is whatever Friday between June and July we can get on a private course. Yeah. That's a good course and doesn't have a bunch of other events going on that weekend. Yes. Yes. So we're very fortunate that Greeley Country Club has gifted us their course for the last two years on a Friday. Nice. So that we, you know, I think we get better turnout that it's a Friday event. For sure. People feel like they can maybe let loose a little more.

28:49 You don't have four days of work the rest of the week as opposed to a Monday tournament. Um, it's actually turned into our second strongest event from a net profit standpoint, um, which is great. And I would say if you're a golfer and you've been to our events, um, again, shameless plug, it is, it is our unified parties on a golf course. Yeah. That's great. It's less golf tournament, more party on the green. Yeah. You don't need to be scratch golfer to have fun there. No. That's for sure. That's one thing that's annoying about some golf tournaments anymore is like the top seven or eight, ten teams are like kicking everybody else's ass by like a hundred strokes.

29:33 Yeah. You know, because they're just like ringers. Yeah. Like full of ringers. And the rest of us are just like. Yeah, I golf four times a year. It's cool, you know. Anyway. I think it's pretty cool about that one because we raised so much money in that tournament, and there are hundreds of golf tournaments in this area over the summer. Yeah, for sure. And ours is still consistently one of the top producing. So bring the ringers if you need to, but you'll have fun even if you don't bring the ringers. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, and you've got chances at our events to win like – awesome prizes that aren't necessarily tied to being the best golfer on the course. Yeah, good. So you can walk away with, I mean, like two years ago was like a $6,000 cash prize by way of the helicopter golf ball drop.

30:20 So we're always working on the next new thing. So before we leave, because we're going to jump into the time machine and get to know you guys. Okay. Like going back to like five-year-old people. All right. But before we leave that, I've been involved with Realities for Children for a long time. Kind of a similar cause, but different membership organization and stuff. Are you guys friends with them? Are you competitors? Like they've got a golf tournament. You don't have a motorcycle ride. Like they just had a suitcase party. Similar timing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, they are, I wouldn't call them a competitor by any stretch. Um, very similar organization. They care about kids too. Yeah. Yeah. And have a purpose built around that.

31:02 They have their, they have kind of their niche, I would say. Um, and we have ours and I would say not just realities. Your events are fun. Those are kind of lame. No, I don't think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally teasing Craig if you hear this. Um, it's in that same, uh, there's emotion and I think a direct tie to the specific people that are going to give to that cause are going to be drawn to that cause. Yeah. And they do have kind of some heartstrings stuff related and all that. Yeah. You guys are a little bit more like, hey, we raise, we're having a fun time raising money for kids in a tough spot. Right. Yeah. And I think. And we do it in different ways. Well, and ultimately, if nonprofits that are supporting kids in this area win, who cares?

31:46 Totally. As long as they're all winning, that's good for us. But it's nice to have a niche. Am I kind of correct in that differentiation a bit? And I think where NoCoUnify exists outside of those other nonprofits isn't just in the story that we tell at our events. It's that... Those organizations are going to do well on their own. We're not going to take any supporters away from them. What we actually do is supplement all of their efforts by pulling dollars that wouldn't otherwise get donated. through maybe some younger people that are just getting into film. That's part of the under 40 part. Right. Yeah. Like they're all fighting for the old people's money.

32:27 Or grant dollars. Or grant dollars or this and that. But in some ways you're trying to bring fresh juice into the equation. Exactly. 100%. Yep. So it may be those people that can't give it the $10, $20,000 levels, but they can give it the $10, $20 levels. Right. Or even the $500. Yeah. Yeah. So the lots of those. Buy $200 tickets to a fancy event, but it's worth it because of the experience. Exactly. So kind of more experience motivation in some ways. Yeah. Yeah, and realities has such a good business footprint, I would say. Oh, solid. Unify, it's really a leadership development program. You're never going to find a group of talented A-list dudes that are as sacrificial as the Unify guys, period.

33:09 You won't find that anywhere else. A little bit is kind of like what you're looking for in a Rotary Club or something. Totally. Very more refined where you've got the... the 38 year old guys mentoring the 27 year old guys and stuff and just trying to get stronger. Yeah. I'm just trying to keep up with the 27 year old guys. Right. Well, you can't anymore. You're almost 40 now. Yeah. They move, man. It's true. It's true. Yeah. Well, that helps me actually really understand your place in the marketplace a little bit better and consider you like a friend in that mission much more so than a competitor anyway.

33:51 Not that I ever did, really. I just haven't really engaged in it much. And so... It's like as the tides rise, so do all the ships. Right, right. Well, and as kids suffer less, communities get stronger. Totally. Period. Kind of. Totally, yeah. So I feel like it's a good time for a break, and we'll jump back to the time machine when we come back. Sweet. Love it. Cool. This episode is sponsored by Loco Think Tank. Loco Think Tank provides peer collaboration for business owners. We build smart, safe places to help business leaders navigate every stage of the business journey, and we love what we do and who we do it with. Our model features gift-back-minded business veterans in the role of Loco facilitators, And we're always looking for abundance-minded individuals to add to our membership, facilitator team, local community, or to feature on this podcast.

34:38 Listeners of this podcast who go on to become members of Loco Think Tank get their sixth month of membership for free. Just mention the Loco Experience podcast on your application. To learn more, visit our website at locothinktank.com. That's L-O-C-O thinktank.com. So, you know, since this is a men's organization here, this United for Youth, Northern Colorado United for Youth, will you see my card? Actually, Scott, if you could read my card for me. Scott and James, thanks for being on the Loco Experience. Here's the deal. You two thumb wrestle live for first choice between the local mix or crazy.

35:19 Ginger. Crazy ginger. Hot sauce. Hot sauce. So that's those two there. So Old Town Spice Shop helps us by creating the local mix, everything shake, which is what it sounds like. You shake it on everything and it tastes better. The Crazy Ginger is a peach-based ginger and garlic forward with a heavy habanero hit. Sweet. That sounds good. But it doesn't matter. Like, even if you guys want different things, I want you to thumb wrestle for first choice. I got to stretch out first. And James has got big hands. Yeah. Like, I'm sorry for this. I'm bringing the reigning champions back out of retirement here.

36:02 But Scott is strong. Like, he's a business intelligence officer. I wouldn't put it. Yeah, he'll tactically, like, run circles around my dumb... meat that stick so so winner of this thumb war and it's the standard one two three four i declare a thumb war and then go okay okay on air and then winner claims the spoils we might grab the one that you want we might do this at the next suitcase party right or even deciding about whether or not to do the march uh parade all the unified guys are pretty competitive Someone might get hurt. That's what I assumed. That's what I assumed. That's full contact. That's kind of why I wrote this into the thank you card was because I wanted to.

36:45 Let's do it. Because that's what you raised. How many dollars did you raise last year? 400,000. Right. That's like for 40 people. Yeah. Like 40 members raised 400,000. That's a lot of money. Yeah. And some of them wrote a check for half of that or something. Others activated everybody for that, it seems. Plus, they have events, and everybody works hard. Yep. Yeah. Yep. It takes a lot of effort to raise half a million dollars. Yep. I want to shout all those guys out too because they all have full-time jobs. They're running businesses. They've got families. They're business intelligence officers. Yeah, yeah. They've got families and those commitments that they upkeep, a lot of them are coaches or they sit on boards of other nonprofits in the community.

37:31 So I just couldn't be prouder to be a part of and to know all the guys in this group. yeah do it all right let's do it all right thumb war all right so one two three four i declare a thumb war um so james doesn't really have oversight's thumbs yeah you're gonna gas me out it's like rocky versus the russian yeah i feel like If he dies, he dies. I'm just trying to. We're not going to have a stalemate. He's going to get tired. This is when you pay a lot of money to watch UFC and you're like, why did I pay all that money to watch UFC? You should have timed this.

38:11 Okay, if this is the way the match is going to go, we're going to go. It's over. Poor tactical decision. That's awesome. I thought it was going to be like this grueling match, and then it was over. I was trying so hard. I was trying to grow my thumb to get a little, like, get an inch on it. I'm imp... I get to... You got the hitchhiker. I know. I can just pop it back. Yeah, you do have the hitchhiker. I can just pop it back over there, yeah. It also makes it vulnerable. You are great. Greatest drinks are also abilities. Yeah, I lost all my power after that. All right, Scott, we're going to get to know you here with a jump in the time. Oh, James, choose your – Have you had this one, the everything?

38:56 I haven't. It's so good. You should take that. Okay. whatever dude you won like i have some of that at home but i still have some of it so but you're still you're like minnesota nice you're like i won the better prize but i'm gonna give it to you because you haven't had it yet that's right he hasn't had the hot sauce yet either no that's true that's what we do no co-unify i think no i think that's great yes all right scott you get the you get the shake here we go hot sauce This will make my wife very happy. Both are available for sale. The Crazy Ginger Hot Sauce is from Matador Mexican Grill. You can get it there. The local mix is from Old Town Spice Shop, and you can get it there.

39:37 Nice. On their website or whatever. How did I do with my Vanna White? That was nice. Did I miss my calling a little bit? What do you think about Ginger there? She's real cute. I like her a lot. Her face is a peach. Oh, it's a peach. Because it's kind of vaguely not a person. Yeah, I like it. I see it. I had two real-looking people with crop tops and stuff on before. A crazy Ginger from AI, right? Good old AI. We changed it. Proportions are way off a little bit. They were fine I like Scott We are jumping in the time machine Okay We're back to your earliest memories.

40:22 Oh, boy. Yeah. What do you remember? I've had such a crazy range of, like, when I was a baby or even in the womb up to, like, I don't remember anything before I was eight. Tell me for you. Yeah. Which is surprising to me. I kind of assumed everybody was kind of, like, in that three, four, five range. Yeah. Let's see. Yeah. earliest memories are probably baseball. Oh, really? Yeah. Like eight years old-ish? No, like probably four. Okay. Four or five.

41:02 Your dad was a big baseball guy? No, my... I had the, I guess the fortune to have a bonus dad. Okay. My uncle, my uncle Kenny kind of stepped in and filled a role for me where my dad opted not to. And where were you? In Kansas City. So Independence, Missouri, actually. So a little suburb of Kansas City. Your mom and dad were split up? They were. And your uncle kind of became baseball dad? Yeah. So my mom was terminally ill from my earliest memories.

41:50 And my aunt and uncle. And your dad split? No, they got divorced before that for good reason. But very fortunate to have an aunt and uncle that kind of took me in so that I could stay with her and not have to go live with him until – Um, she passed when I was 10. Um, I did go stay with my, my bio dad, um, after that and survived it. Uh, and, uh, but again, very fortunate to have had such a positive example. Is this your mom's brother or her sister? Um, her sister and her husband. Yeah. Her sister and her husband.

42:30 Yep. And, uh, they had, um, they had a daughter who I call my sister and, uh, Wow. I have a wonderful niece and nephew from her. And how did your mom pass? Was it cancer? She had adult onset cystic fibrosis. Wow. She passed when I was 10. And... hard times for sure sure but uh like i said i i just um family stepped up it sounds like yeah i got to see you know i got to see a great example of the kind of man i did not want to be and i got to see a great example of the kind of man that i did want to be yeah and uh what was your position um my position yeah in baseball Oh, pitcher, shortstop.

43:21 Yeah. Wherever I could get as much action as possible. Yeah, yeah. Third base if they needed you. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I couldn't pitch. Yeah, bench. I played a lot of bench. No, but yeah. Yeah, pitcher, shortstop. But I remember... Just being in the backyard with a wiffle ball bat, like the big yellow wiffle ball bat. What was then kind of Uncle Jeff or something? You want to mention him? My Uncle Kenny. Uncle Kenny? Yeah. Yeah. So just hitting wiffle balls in the backyard until the sun went down. Well, that's cool for somebody not in your household to just come and spend time with you.

44:02 Yeah. Or whatever, like that, that time. Yeah, it was... Shout out to Uncle Kenny. Oh, for sure. Yeah, so many shout outs to Uncle Kenny. And my Aunt Laura, too. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention her. For sure, for sure. But baseball was that memory for you. Oh, yeah. We're going to bounce to you for first memories before you bounce back, James. What do you remember? There was a bright light. And where were you? Yeah. I saw a lot of weird... No, um... Oh, gosh, I don't know. It's funny because baseball is part of my early memories as well. Played a lot of baseball growing up. Probably first memory-wise.

44:43 So my family and I went to Mongolia and lived there for a good stint of time. Oh, really? So a lot of, and it was pretty early. When you were how old? I was four. Oh, wow. So I don't remember a ton before four. I'm sure there's probably some memories of surfers. Some little baggies. Yeah. Right. But a lot of memories from when we were there. Right, because it was all new, so you were probably baking those memories in firmer even than some of the older ones. Yeah, and it's such a, you know, kind of visceral memories. Like, it was pretty third world at that time. Sure. And so... Were there, like, missionaries or something? Yeah, my parents were. Okay. And so we lived in Ulaanbaatar, which is like the... capital city of mongolia now i guess they found oil and it's turned into a oh pretty metro interesting for the most part yeah but then it was like slums you know um pretty shaping well mongolia has such a difficult resource environment yes right like it's like yeah can't grow crabs can't really raise animals yeah can't really like we can live and eat roots and stuff i don't i mean they have more than that but it's Like, it's the step, right?

45:51 Like, it's a very challenging... There just isn't, like, a fountain of dollars, like what a lot of countries rely on. Yeah, before there was oil, there was a lot of nothing, and it was just very impoverished. And now, I guess, my mom went back about 15 years later, and I guess, like, very developed now, which is interesting. But it's still high disparity between... the wealthy and the poor. But I think there's very few places in the world where you see kids who are homeless just in your day-to-day. Wow. So that was pretty shaping, transformative. And it was also like, I would say for my family, Like we didn't have much.

46:35 We had this tiny little probably 600 square foot apartment for two kids and our parents. And we just bonded over things like Legos. And we had this little hallway. I keep knocking that. We had this little hallway where we got some hockey sticks and we would play like floor hockey. Hallway hockey. Yeah. And I just I remember that vividly. And yeah. So some really fond memories of being there. How long did you stay? Close to two years. Yeah, so, yeah, it was pretty transformative. For what it's worth, before I forget, but my mom founded our Little League baseball team in my hometown. Oh, cool. We had a hometown of like 150 people.

47:16 And she founded a baseball team when I was eight, and we took it until I was 11, and then at 12 I could go into the fast pitch league. Nice. And I was likewise a shortstop pitcher, third base, basically. yeah nice oh third base that's a tough position yeah you're just getting beat up my buddy tom get his teeth knocked out on third base that's uh it's a tough spot my brother played that and it was exciting though yeah yeah shortstop is a little more rational yeah a little more time to react yeah right yeah exactly so cool well and we were you know relatively poor as well so it sounds like we've all had some resonant uh baseball and Yeah, what's the deal with that?

47:59 I wonder. I don't think that's the case nowadays in order to play baseball. So bring us back. Yeah, right. You can't even get to play baseball unless your parents are rich and they can spend $40,000 a year on your coach. Travel team. Travel team, yeah. Bring me to high school, Scott. Um, high school was, were you with your dad? Like most of that time I was, um, I was with my dad, um, starting at 10 until 10 until 18. Uh, um, also in Kansas city still. No, this was in a very small town in Missouri called Coal Camp. Coal Camp is known for two things.

48:41 It's known as being the town you drive through on your way to Lake of the Ozarks. Okay. And for having two state highways that intersect, Highway F and Highway U. Okay. And there's a giant sign that says FU right when you drive through. It's meme-worthy. You can look it up. That's awesome. Yeah, that's great. A very small town. Not a high hope society necessarily. Yeah, no. Great town full of great people that kind of took me in and let me be, you know, one of their own. So high school sports, high school activities, as many things as I could sign up for to not be home, I did.

49:23 Yeah. two a day, two a day practices. That's nothing. Give me three. Yeah. All the clubs. So showing up to school at four 30, getting home at 10 o'clock at night. Um, uh, you know, straight A's, everything I could to get, not necessarily out of that town, but just out of that home. Uh, uh, so, uh, did he remarry? Was there, you have other kids or anything like other, uh, step siblings or anything? I have a stepbrother that's significantly older than me that I never really saw. He was already kind of out of the picture. Yeah. I guess he's a half brother. Right.

50:03 And then he never remarried. He had a, I guess, a common law spouse while I lived there. I can't give enough testament to her either for kind of saving my life. Um, and being the, uh, intermediary to take the, the bludgeonings, um, in my stead. Um, so, uh, RIP to, to her, we lost her in 2019, uh, to cancer. Um, so, um, but, uh. Is that part of your driver for this organization, United for Youth and stuff, like that suffering that you silently kind of went through and still got straight A's and was on the baseball team?

50:47 Yeah, you know, I think I was probably always looking for a way to pay pay it back, um, and realize, um, thank you would never be enough. But if I can maybe pay it forward, uh, to those kids that need, need that and don't have it. Um, that, uh, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of situations in life that, things you have to go through and then there are things you get to do.

51:28 And I'm in a situation, uh, by the grace of God and the people that surrounded me that I now get to help those kids. And I'm so, it could, it could certainly be the opposite story. I like to, uh, share just a little reflection on humankind. Sometimes that there's, uh, you know, the fund that you sign up for and oftentimes pay for, you know, going to adventure parks or doing this and that, that you really don't ever remember. But the struggles, the camping trip where it rained the whole weekend, the suffering together. And that's kind of what you're doing with this organization a little bit is like signing up to suffer together a little bit for a good reason.

52:12 Yeah. Yeah, that's good. Sorry to reflect that directly, but. No, it's apt. Sorry. Cool. Well, thanks for sharing that. Yeah, thanks for asking. James, bring me to your middle school or high school or whatever. Coming back from Mongolia must have been different. That was, yeah. Yeah, it was definitely one of those culture shocks, you know, coming back to the States and whatnot. We weren't there long enough. And where had you been? Fort Collins. Okay, you're a townie. Yeah, I grew up here pretty much here my whole life for the most part.

52:52 But yeah, so came back to Fort Collins, kind of just got integrated. And were your, like, set the scene with your parents a little bit for me, if you don't mind. Yeah. Like, you were missionaries, so usually that's like, were they professionals before that? Yeah. And then, like, decided to do this crazy thing and changed their whole life? Yeah, my dad was, like, basically a software engineer, I believe. Okay, back when computers barely... Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and he had a really cush job and just felt like kind of this calling. And my mom felt the same thing, same time. They could probably tell the story a lot better than I could. Sure, sure. They just built it. They're just trying to think about the dynamic a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

53:32 And they just kind of knew we needed to do this. They knew it was going to be a short time period, not like forever. That's still pretty cool. For people to imagine a couple years away from... Americana. Yeah. That's pretty unusual, though. Yeah. So kudos to your folks in that. Yeah. So you come back, and you're where? Back here in Fort Collins. Okay. So, yeah, in high school. A little roll of bringing into the high school, yep. Yep, yep. Just, yeah, went to a small private high school, Heritage Christian Academy. Oh, yeah. My mom taught there, so we were able to get me in there. Yeah, right. She was... I really give kudos to my mom because she wanted to give my brother and I, like, really good education.

54:13 And so she got this job that is an awesome job, but not as high-paying as she could have gotten in the public system. But you get, like, free pass to the school if your mom works there. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, my wife's brother and his family, all their kids went to Resurrection Christian. Yeah. And that is a sacrifice. Yeah. Like, it costs a... grip yeah uh and like and the teachers don't make as much either no such a crazy system we have here where it's like okay you could have a private charter school but you can't have any of the money that we give to all the other schools to do school without the control facet right yeah it's it's so wild like they what is it 25 000 a student 30 000 a student or something like that they just don't get yeah it's crazy Yeah, and Heritage is a fantastic place, like a fantastic institution.

55:06 They've been around for over 50 years now. Is that right? So I'm really privileged. I used to be part of a men's basketball league that played there on Saturday mornings. So you probably – Kevin McGinley and – Yep. Yep, yep. He was my basketball coach. Cool. So, yeah. Yeah, I don't really know how the group was assembled. It was everything from doctors to realtors to – Whatever I was, you know, at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So graduated from there and, yeah, just kind of planted in this community after college. So, yeah. Were you like academic? Were you sporty? What was your kind of, you said baseball a little bit, at least early on? I was the... So I have high-functioning Audi HD, which is a really fun hybrid.

55:51 That's different than ADHD? It's a really fun hybrid of ADHD and autism. It's like this melting pot of the two, and it's great. um not sarcastically but um the the perks of that is that you can kind of they call it chameleoning i guess it's like where you as on the autism side you can kind of flow in and out of every circle um and you can fit in it's not like you're one thing or not another thing so i was in everything i was a nerd i was a jock i was an academic i was i wonder if i've got this Honestly, I think a lot more people are neurodivergent and don't realize it. I definitely am neurodivergent. Yeah.

56:31 I know that part. Yeah. And I only got diagnosed a couple years ago. Interesting. So late stage. Late stage, it sounds like cancer or something. Right. You're not going to die. Late life. But yeah, so had a lot of friends from a lot of different communities. The curse of this is that you never feel like you belong anywhere. Yeah. So you can fit in everywhere, but you don't feel like you belong in anywhere. I wonder if that's... Yeah. Yeah. Part of our affinity even. Yeah, but I've retained a lot of that to this day. I still love playing sports. Well, you can love everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool. And kind of bringing it back to Unify a little bit, the guys are not one-dimensional. There's guys from all different backgrounds, upbringings, cultures.

57:13 Some are business owners, some are professionals. Some never had a tough experience like the one we just described here a little bit. Others went through a ton. Yeah, totally. And it doesn't really matter why you're there. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's really cool. Let's talk about your professional experience early on. Yeah. And did you go to school here too? I went to school in Asylum Springs, Arkansas. Okay. Yeah, I decided to trade a small town for an even smaller town, I guess. don't know the rationale there but um yeah i went there it was a tiny little college called john brown university out there small community um but yeah got a career in a little bit of vocational ministry a lot a bit of music and music professional music around the area so guitar singing primarily yeah a little bit of everything was that part of your growing up years all the whole time too or is that something you picked up later i I picked that up kind of in high school, I think is when I picked up electric guitar.

58:12 Chameleon with the band people? Yeah. I more did it because I thought it would help me pick up the girls. Spoiler alert, it did not. Not even close. You've got to be better looking than that. I bet your wife, and she's really cute. Yeah, it worked out in the end. In the end. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with the music. Yeah. But no, so I learned from their vocals and then kind of all the five-piece band instrumentation. Classic stuff. I can figure all that out. Dig it. Yeah, so I did that for about 10 years before starting StoryPath. Is that right? Yeah. In basically worship ministry kind of a capacity. Yeah, worship, supplementing bands, playing for different studio projects.

58:54 Wow. Just kind of wherever it was needed. Just really piecing it together a little bit at a time. Yeah. So you've never really worked for like a real company. Yeah. I worked for not a huge company, no. The largest, at least local company, would probably be the Matthews House. Wow. Worked for them, but nothing substantial. Did you ever bump into me when you were working there? That's a great question. I don't know, because I was on the board until 2016, but I've been an ambassador forever and have been to a bunch of events and things. We probably did. Yeah, I was a youth advisor there. sure yeah that's what jill started as too my wife uh so anyway yeah really fond memories of that was another kind of like yeah brutally a hard job for no money yeah um but very ethos oh gosh or for sure yeah set your whole life on a different path yeah totally totally scott what was that like when you were 18 and you were like okay i could do what i want now uh Terrible.

59:53 Um, like, uh, the freedom, uh, was not good for me. A little too much freedom? Yeah. Um, like the, Where were you at? Were you still at Kansas City? Uh, actually a small town called Warrensburg. So Central Missouri State University. Okay. Um, they give you a baseball scholarship or whatever? Uh, no, different, some injuries and, uh, but, um, uh, You know, went to college, partied too much, stuff that, you know, I just finally had the – I could take a breath, right, to not. Well, you've been kind of performing at a high level for a long time despite really no support.

1:00:38 So to crash from that is not surprising. Yeah, so it's... So no apologies. Oh, yeah. I mean, hard lessons learned in that realm. So I did that for a couple years. Managed the 2.23 GPA or somewhere thereabouts. Just above the Mendoza line, so to speak. Enough to be enrolled. And had a few losses. My grandma and grandpa and uncle, not my Uncle Kenny, a different uncle, kind of all passed away.

1:01:19 And I just needed a change. So on a whim, kind of came out to Colorado, toured CSU. You're like, I'm flunking out of school. I better go to this more expensive out-of-state school. Exactly. Yeah. I just needed a change. Yeah. To those that know how good I am at directions, I got lost on the tour, if you can believe that. Much to my fortune, I ran into a cute blonde who gave me directions and her phone number. Yeah. um now here we are 17 years later were you playing guitar was that the secret i was not did she have her guitar goggles i was just lost puppy dog see it doesn't work yeah for young people i also had hair then too so that helped what's this young lady's name uh brook um yep she's uh so 17 years uh later we're on our second stint in colorado um we tried it back in kansas city for a few years and um We missed the mountains.

1:02:24 We missed the fresh air. We missed, uh, we miss our family there, but, uh, we, we definitely feel like this is home. Yeah. So, so you came to go back to work for, you said somebody that you'd worked for previously in some capacity, uh, but was then a banger at Poudre Valley REA. Yeah. Another, uh, another prominent Ken in my life, uh, had been my boss previously, uh, He funny story about Ken. When I put in my notice at our old company where we were kind of the two two pieces of the glue that held everything together. I told him I'm going to HR after this to tell them I'm putting in like a month's notice. because I'm moving away.

1:03:05 Yeah. Yeah. And he went to HR and put in his notice right before I did so that he got to be the first one. So of course I came clamoring to work for this individual again. Um, but, uh, no, very good mentor. Um, very, uh, very, Very sacrificial. And unfortunately, he no longer works with me, but he left me an amazing opportunity. That's a good organization there. I know that they've had a good reputation for leadership and community engagement for a lot of years. Oh, yeah.

1:03:45 It's totally, it's the first time I've worked for a nonprofit. And they probably let you leave early sometimes to go do United for Youth committee meetings and stuff. They are very supportive of my philanthropic endeavors. Quite frankly, I couldn't have, I couldn't have. done the things I've done with noco unify if it weren't for their support. So, uh, very grateful. I couldn't be sitting here today if they hadn't. Right. You had to get off an hour and a half early just to be here. So yeah, very supportive family of coworkers I've got there. Cool. Yeah. James, let's pick your journey up in a similar timeline. What, uh, so you, you spent 10 years kind of do a little bit of this, a little bit of that kind of right.

1:04:28 Finding yourself. Yeah, a lot of it came down to realizing what was sustainable and what wasn't, and so trying to plant myself in places where sustainable salary would make more sense. Well, you met a woman along the way somewhere, too. I did, yes. I came back from college one summer, and my now wife, Erin, met her at a kind of kids' care camp that I was working at for that summer. Okay. And if you want to meet a person, just spend a bunch of mornings where you're dead tired and you have to deal with little kids for an entire summer. And you'll know if that person's a good person or not by the end of it. Right.

1:05:08 And she was the best. And so I was like, went from friendship to like very quickly like. oh man, I need to ask this girl out. How old a guy were you at that time? I was 19, 20? Oh, wow. Yeah, very young. So she was bopping around with you through all these career phases. Yes. So I pulled the classic bad guy move of asking her out to date me and whatnot, and then I bolted back to college. So we did long distance and like, That was not fun. So when I finally got back and got my first job, we were pretty quickly married after that.

1:05:49 I knew pretty much right away. So you're quite a few years married already. Yeah, we're 11 years going on 12. Wow. That's a young guy. That's pretty impressive. When it works, it works. And what led you kind of along the marketing path? Yeah, so really started visually, just visual marketing, video production. I've always had a fascination with it ever since I was a kid. Talking about initial memories, my summers oftentimes consisted of... my parents' old tape camcorder, and my brother and I filming the dumbest garbage mini films. Dude, we're going to set the ramp up, and you're going to jump your bike over it. Totally.

1:06:30 And we would plug it into the TV and then loop it, and then we rinse and repeat every day. And so getting into my career, I had friends who went into professional film and commercial videography and production. And so anytime- You didn't have any of those kind of experiences really or the education? I really didn't from an educational standpoint. I just asked them, I was like, hey, I'll stand there, I'll hold mics for hours, I'll run coffees. I just want to be in the environment and learn. So throughout college, there was a lot of opportunities to learn and then- And the professional space, you know, now being on that side of the thing, somebody that offers, you know, to do this stuff for free and, you know, doesn't expect pay.

1:07:10 I'm like, are you sure? Yeah, come on in. Yes, we could use more of those. Yeah, totally. So don't recommend that to people, by the way. Your time is valuable. But so I learned School of Hard Knocks and then kind of that led me into the editor chair where I actually developed a lot of my propensities in that realm. It's really vision is where you excel, right? You kind of understand what you want to get to. Exactly. Yeah, building the story and kind of creatively pulling out the good stuff and leaving behind the bads. It's hard. It's very hard. So kind of had an aptitude for that. And then in 2020, a friend of mine who was in the mortgage industry at the time, I think he still is in Tennessee, he hit me up.

1:07:58 He's like, hey, James, I know you're a creative guy. I have this project. I want to highlight the businesses of Windsor that are slowly reopening and having some hard time getting their footing and foot traffic again. And I was like, sure, I could do that. I'll use my camera. Let's do it for the homie hookup, you know. And like, yeah. And we did this project and highlighted these local businesses. Are you talking about Windsor, Colorado here? Yeah. Okay. And I wish I had more business acumen back then to track actual numbers. Right. But according to him, that year, that following year, his business nearly 10xed in terms of the amount of volume he was doing. So this video that you did for him... Brought him all kinds of attention.

1:08:39 Tons. Traffic and whatever. So that impacted him. The businesses that we represented, they're still alive and afloat, even post-COVID, and they're stronger. And they all reported that they were doing really well in terms of traffic and revenue increase and whatnot through a down season. Yeah. And that was the first time I had seen storytelling and marketing like yield results for the community. And so I was kind of like this professional kind of like musicians plus like doing the vocational ministry thing. And I was like, I want to do that. How do I do more of that? So I decided to just kind of plant the business seed in the soil. And I was like, I'm not going to water it. I'm not going to fertilize it. I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to see if it grows by itself.

1:09:20 Because if it does, then I know that I could pour energy into it. And it's probably going to be even better. Yeah. um and sure enough it was just kind of word of mouth especially northern colorado yeah it just like i got to the point in less than two years where i was like i i'm doing 80 hours jobs yeah i either need to quit this and do this or figure this out so yeah i decided the latter i was gonna jump all in and do this and so how long has it been now um it's been six years yeah technically awesome Yeah. And so it's kind of evolved from there. We started just video photo production and then we just saw holes in the market that no one was really filling. And a lot of times we'd be handing off our creative work.

1:10:01 I'm one of those that has paid good money for good videos before and then had lack of skill in distributing it or breaking it up or whatever, using it properly. Yep, yep. And that's the hardest piece. And so we decided let's just cover all the bases if we believe in what we do and our methodology, our ethos of storytelling into the market space. Storytelling-driven, full-service marketing. Is that how you describe yourself? Yeah, I should pay you to market us. Well, you know, the cobbler's kids always never have those shoes. That's right. That's right. I feel like it's a good time to jump into the purpose-driven questions segment, if we may.

1:10:41 Yeah. Thank you to Purpose Driven Wealth of Thriven for sponsoring our Purpose Driven Questions segment. At Purpose Driven Wealth, they believe financial clarity leads to a life of contentment and purpose. Their mission is to help guide clients using a values-driven, stewardship-based approach focused on provision, contentment, and enjoyment. With more than a century of experience, Thriven helps individuals and families navigate life and business transitions and prepare for the future while creating space to live generously and give back in meaningful ways. To learn more about Purpose Driven Wealth, please call 970-330-7411 for a complimentary initial consultation.

1:11:24 And now, on to the questions. So this is thanks to Purpose Driven Wealth for sponsoring the Local Experience Podcast. They've got a list of kind of questions that we might reflect upon. And we haven't really gotten into some of the deeper topics, so I like that. Well, here's one for you, James, since I just talked to you along this line. Can you describe a business decision you've made that didn't make sense on paper? And what was the outcome? Hmm. All of them. Man, to single one out is really hard. I think the pain point of a business owner is that you're constantly making decisions and you have no idea what the outcome is going to be.

1:12:08 But you're like, this is what I feel is going to be best. Fail small. Yeah. Hopefully win big once in a while. and fail forward, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's like, and I think a really crucial one was when I brought in my business partner, Grayson Reed. Tremendous human being. Value him in more ways than beyond just the roles that he covers and the ways he helps me lead our organization. But like, That's scary. For sure. It's scary to jump into a partnership and be like, all right, here's my baby. Do you want to raise this baby with me? Not dissimilar to entering into a marriage or something. Totally. Right. And it's been really effective and good so far. Awesome. And so I would say that's probably the best one.

1:12:49 That's kind of what allowed you to do kind of the full spectrum marketing in some way. 100%. Is that true? Yep. I've got one for you, Scott. Is there a relationship or circumstance that's really having an impact on your sense of purpose and engagement? Either is right now or has. Yeah, I mean, certainly the ones that I talked about already. I think my daughter, Finley, who will be seven soon. My wife and I, my wife, incredibly strong woman.

1:13:32 I've watched her. go through, um, an exceedingly hard time in, uh, getting Finley here first and foremost with three losses before her. Wow. Um, and then since Finley, we've had, uh, we've had three more losses. Um, wow. One, uh, One of which was a stillbirth last August 22nd. Definitely for those six, they couldn't be here. I feel implored to... make sure those kids that did make it here, uh, have really good experience. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that's so cool.

1:14:12 And then we are, God bless her for like, we miss my wife and I miscarried a couple of times and we never really got pregnant again after that. And so we, and we didn't really pursue Ivy or things. We just started taking an exchange to it. It's kind of, you know, I was like, here's that option. But for her to, uh, Like every time you got pregnant, she was facing up to the chance that she knew it might be a miscarriage. Yeah. And that's so admirable. Yeah. Anyway, for what it's worth, I think that's all. And you're pregnant now. We are, yes. We're expecting our second. And knock on all the wood. We are 34 weeks and...

1:14:53 No known health conditions to speak of. And, you know, people ask frequently, like, how it's going. It's a marathon of walking on eggshells, I would say. Right. I can only imagine. But feel, you know, fortunate to be in this situation. Yeah, exactly. So definitely. God bless you. I'll be praying. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. But, yeah, they're all my why. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did that. James, we talked already a little bit about your parents were, like, missionaries in Mongolia when you were four.

1:15:36 Tell me about that faith journey for you. And did they have, like, a long-term calling? Were they freshly on fire at the time? Like, what was their circumstance and yours? Because I think that's an interesting... Like faith is a different thing in America than it was 200 years ago, right? Right. And even today it's different than it was 30 years ago when I was a kid. Yeah. 40 years ago when I was a kid. Yeah, my parents are first-generation Christians. Okay. So they definitely raised... So they both came to faith from not in faith. Yeah, yeah, I think in college. Okay. And it was kind of in the Jesus movement days, you know? Yeah, yeah.

1:16:16 And so definitely my brother and I were raised in that culture with that faith orientation. the best way I can describe my faith journey is it's, it's the things that I've experienced that I can't explain away, you know? And, uh, my, my process in faith has always been, um, what have I experienced and what am I supposed to learn from that? And where is it supposed to lead me? Um, and so, A lot of ways, like I said, I thank my parents for setting me up in my faith journey in the ways that they did, teaching me various things that are crucially important for just the development of my own person.

1:16:58 Just the way your curiosity approaches the world in some ways. Yeah, yeah. And they taught me methodology and ethos of how to be a better person than... I probably should be. Would have defaulted to. Yeah, yeah. I think that's kind of part of the goal, right, even of faith of all sorts, but especially Christianity is kind of be a better person than you otherwise would be. Totally, yeah. Yeah, and the rest I've kind of developed on my own in relationship with what I believe to be God and what I believe to be sovereignty. Yeah. it's my own experiences. I could never tell somebody else, this is what you should believe. Sure.

1:17:39 Um, but I, I think some of my favorite conversations in the world are when I get to talk to people who have had their own experiences and we can kind of weigh the notes a little bit. Yeah. It's like, Holy cow. This is, this is crazy how similar they are. And yet we could believe totally different things. Um, So, yeah. Cool. Scott, you carried away on that kind of same general topic. You talked a little bit about thank God and a couple hints toward faith. But, like, what was that for your mom, for your dad, for your Uncle Kevin and your aunt? Like, or is it? Yeah, tell me, if you're willing. In regards to what? Kind of faith. Were you, like, in a church, were you cared for in that way ever?

1:18:21 Um, no, I would say I've been probably church adjacent, but faith heavy. Okay. If that makes sense. Yeah, no, it does actually. Um, I feel like. So even all through those years and then. Yeah. It seems like Missouri to me feels like a little Bible belt ish where most people are kind of expected to go to church. Yeah. And I feel like looking for it kind of, kind of to what James just alluded to those like experiences that felt like they were. Providential. Yeah. Or just like, you know, still still being connected to maybe people that aren't necessarily physically here anymore and seeing little hellos here and there.

1:19:05 Like, hey, I'm taking that from. like grief at first to like a okay maybe I'm supposed to slow down and and pay attention to what's going on around me and practice gratitude for all of my blessings or I'm moving too fast I actually have a Actually have a very recent Third-party example that ties to unify that sure is one of those scenarios, so Life is heavy When you're part of NoCo Unify, you bring real life with you.

1:19:45 And one of the things you gain in Unify is kind of a brotherhood of people that you get to lean on when life gets heavy. A young guy, rotary, but done very well. Yeah. I can speak for personal experience of a tragedy of what that foundation feels like and the support that's there. Yeah. I want to go. We talked time machine earlier. I want to go back into a time machine a little bit with this story. So our most recent suitcase party, the trip was to Hawaii. We had a former Unify president, Jeremy Holt.

1:20:27 I know, Jeremy, he actually recruited me to the Matthews House. Oh, no, really? Way back in the day. So former Unified president, he bought the trip in the live auction. Thank you, Jeremy. We appreciate it. And had the fortune of going with some other past Unified presidents on the same trip. While they were in flight, keep in mind this is a flight. This year? This is this year. To Florida? I'm saying this is a week ago. While they're in this flight that we had to change from the day it was going to leave to a week later. Um, they got to sit next to one of the flight attendants, um, who was just kind of doing a transfer to her next flight and they got to chatting her up and, um, talking about why they were going and why she was going.

1:21:19 And they talked about, they won this trip. in an auction. And she mentioned something that, um, she had maybe kind of heard of this group, no co unify, which is to be on an international flight, highly unlikely, highly unlikely. And she was like, yeah, I feel like it's been a long time, but my dentist, I think used to be in no co unify. And Jeremy during his presidency had become friends, really good friends with a close – with a unified member who unfortunately after the suitcase party in 2016 took his own life.

1:21:59 Oh, wow. Like the night of the suitcase party. So – Like a member of your organization. Yeah. His name was John Nelson. So let this be a shameless plug in September, by the way, for mental health. If you need help, ask for help. There's no shame. But Jeremy was really tight. And that's what NoCoUnify is. So Jeremy took in John's dog. Like, that's how close these relationships are, where John's dog became Jeremy's dog for a long time. But... John Nelson was a dentist and he was this flight attendants dentist.

1:22:41 uh, that was on this flight. And she had heard about, and she had heard about unify through him in the dentist chair, presumably. Yeah. He's like talking about unify while she's getting her teeth checked out or whatever. So, I mean, Jeremy obviously feels the goosebumps, right? That this person knows one of my former best friends, unify member, this connection to unifies there. And, uh, um, it'd been the, actually the day they were on the flight was the anniversary of his death. Um, Oh, wow. So that's one of those like provincial moments. There's things you can't explain. Exactly. Like maybe there's a little God in there somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Kind of a perspective I have as well.

1:23:23 So you're not God dismissing. No. Perhaps God adjacent. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll find you a little closer sometime. Yeah, exactly. So definitely one of those stories that I got goosebumps hearing it. And it didn't happen to me, but it was one that invited me to pause and reflect and feel closer. You guys ready? Ready. I'm ready, yeah. We'll see if I made the right choice. Give this a little dribble. Whoops, a big dribble. There's nothing on that chip right there, which is sad. That's the one I was going to go... Oh, never mind.

1:24:03 So we'll just... I'll pass this over close to you guys. You can... You can swing your microphones a little bit, grab the chip that you prefer. All right. I'm going for the juicy one. I'm going for the juicy one. Well, if you're going big, I'll go big too. All right. There's a competitive landscape here. That's right. And go a little bit away from your microphone while you're chewing. You don't want us to chew these directly into the microphone? ASMR. These are way better than the tostada chips or whatever where they really crunch, crunch, crunch. That's true, yeah. These have gone much faster. Cheers. And what I'm looking for is just some tasting notes. Sell some more crazy ginger hot sauce. You can get this at Matador Mexican Grill. Thanks, Paul and company.

1:24:44 That's good. That is good. I feel like... Spicy. There's a lingering heat. Well, it'll keep going a little bit for a while. Yeah, it's definitely like... It's a creeper, I would say. Yeah. I get the peach, though. Nice. You get the sweetness there. It's definitely... Cabanero's really strong. I'm the worst guy to ask about like salsa tasting. Cause I'm like, it's either spicy or not. Oh, you just have it off on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's on the buttons. It's on for you. Aaron, Aaron loves me. I'm from the Midwest. You want another one? Um, how much more talking do I have?

1:25:26 We've got another 15 or something. Um, It's very good. So after I'm done talking. After we're done. Okay. That's very Minnesota nice. Yeah. Kansas City nice, I guess. It's good. I'm going to let you do the rest of the talking. Yeah. I'm sweating. Okay. Well, we might have a problem that we can only solve with liquor. So I'm going to go grab the Whizcal and we'll sample. And then you guys decide who's going first on the Loco Experience, which is the craziest story that you're willing to share. That was a pretty crazy story, but it's not really your story. Yeah, that's something. So I'm going to give you a pass there. Okay. Yeah. But you guys decide who goes first.

1:26:08 I'll come back with a half shot of Whizcal for each of us or so. Yeah. And then we'll drink that and then we'll tell stories. I feel like that should be our tagline for Unify. There's not a problem we can't solve without liquor. That could be just for board meetings. Yeah, yeah. That's the motto of the board retreat, for sure. Do you want a line for Chaser? Yes, please. Luckily for you guys, I have freshly grown and harvested... Nice, yeah. I know, I was blown away, this guy's ability to grow citrus in Colorado. Yeah, you spent some time in Florida or something?

1:26:49 When you came in, you were like, is that a lime tree growing? Oh, no, I could just see the one. Yeah, I was like, I've just, I don't see those here. Right. No, it's been growing for a few years now, and it has, I've got, this is probably lime number eight right now. Yeah, that's awesome. You guys are going to chase this shot with? What is that, what was that kombucha you made a while back? That was really good stuff. Oh, I've been making that for, ooh, I've been making that for five years, actually. It's basically just sweet tea with a scoby, and it's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah, it's yummy. I just finished my bottle, actually. Who wants the biggest one? Jake.

1:27:32 Thank you, sir. All right. All right, so, yeah, you could have some tasting notes. Yeah, more chips and sauce if you want. Cheers, guys. Cheers. Salute to good tidings and good fortune. Mmm... That's WizCal. WizCal. So it's like whiskey plus Mezcal. Hybrid spirit. Seed and spirit distilling. Thanks, Seed and Spirit, for being our spirit sponsor. They're opening their tasting room at the former Funkworks in about six weeks.

1:28:13 Okay. Nice. Maybe two months, something like that. So it's very exciting. That was good. That is good. That was really good. Have you decided who wants to go first? I'll let you go first Alright, alright Mine's not that crazy Debating between two I mean like I jumped out of an airplane Perfectly good airplane With a parachute though I think so No, just kidding Someone had a parachute Yeah That one was pretty crazy What's the other one You're choosing between? Um I would say probably airplane is crazier.

1:28:54 Okay. Actually. Let's hear it. The other one is like I stole a Sonic sign from Sonic. Like an actual lit up sign. Yeah. Like drive up his. Yeah. I don't want to incriminate myself though. Is the statute of limitations. Has it been over seven years? Yeah. Yes. Okay. So we're probably good. Yeah. I think I want to hear the Sonic. I think I want to hear the Sonic story. I can't do too. It's just not that luxury. It's not that like zazzy. It doesn't make you look that great. Well, no, it's just not that zazzy. It's like we saw the sign and we stole it. So it's just like late night college drives. All right. Well, let it be known that Mr. Merkley could have been arrested for at least a class two misdemeanor for stealing the Sonic sign.

1:29:35 And where in Arkansas? Yeah. Asylum Springs. So sorry to whoever owns that Sonic. I didn't really. Sonic Corporate. I don't know. Who knows? All right. So the airplane. Yeah, airplane. My brother, my wife, and I, we all went and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. The funniest part about this story is not... Me, like, I was pretty, like, nervous talking the whole time. My wife is, like, cool as a cucumber the whole time. Like, she's not saying anything. She's like, I'm chill. I'm here. The doors of the plane open, and she starts panting like a gorilla.

1:30:17 and gee just it would not stop and she got on the plane after so she had to go first so they get scooched all the way to the doors of the plane she stands up and all i hear is this she's just gone she did it she did it and we're we're going down so i went after that and you were like man i was like it was cool it was yeah but um on the way down i see my wife she lands first and so my instructor is like half my size tandem or something yeah tandem okay yeah and i was like buddy like my wife's down there we gotta land like james bond like i gotta look like a badass in front of my wife he's like nah, dude, we're laying it on our ass first. I was like, come on, you can't do this to me.

1:30:58 And so we come in and just like... So I looked like such an idiot in front of my wife. And is your instructor on you because you're the bigger person? I think I was sitting and he was standing. That's how short he was compared to me. It was pretty bad. But yeah, that was a pretty wild experience. So how long... I haven't done that at all, actually. How long? Is it like five, ten minutes in the air? It's like six minutes. So it's like two minutes of free fall. Oh, wow. I don't know. Yeah, give or take, and then like four minutes of like just... Yeah, just floating and looking around and whatever. There's nothing as blissful as being like parachute opens, and then you're just... Yeah, I'm not going to die.

1:31:40 Yeah. The parachute opened. My instructor kept wanting to talk to me. I'm like, shut up, shut up. I'm just going to take a soak in. But then he's like, hey, do you want to do this maneuver? And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. So he's like, grab one of the handles and just pull it towards your belly button as fast as you can. So you go from here, here's the parachute, here's you, and you pull the ripcore basically. Right. And you go like this to the ground. Oh. So the thing keeping you from falling is here. Sideways. And you're sideways and you do this 360 maneuver. For sure. It was so disorienting. It was cool, but it was so disorienting that like, he's like, you want to do it again? Not if you want me to poop my pants. I can't do this again. Very cool. It was bad. You've actually sold it for me.

1:32:20 It's worthwhile. I've wondered if it was worth the investment kind of. Yeah. I've done plenty of ziplines and different things, but not actually jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. We did it in COVID, so we had to wear masks. This was the weirdest part. We had to wear masks. I'm like, you can't breathe when you're falling. Plus, who else is going to get my bugs? Yeah, exactly. If we're going to die, we're going to die. Fun stuff. Thank you. My turn? Your turn. Would you like another chip before you undertake this? You know what? Sure. There's one without. No, I'll just kill me. Not you. I went heavy.

1:33:03 That is good, though. It is very good. I really like it. Eggs. Like, I want that on eggs. Oh, it's great on eggs. Honestly, it is the best on eggs. Craziest story. Fish tacos, too. Oh, yeah. Killer on fish tacos. That would be good. Now I'm just hungry. It's dinner time. Okay. So my craziest story, let's see. I was working at Sonic and this guy just ripped our sign off. See me out there like, get out, get out. No. So I did work at Sonic for a little bit in college. So college story, first college roommates, we lived in a, Very prototypical.

1:33:49 Close your eyes and you can see this first college house. There's holes in the drywall. I mean, it's a four- How many people living there? Four dudes sharing a three-bedroom house. Right. So the two young dudes have to share a bedroom. Yeah, pretty much. Couching it. Right. And in Warrensburg, Missouri- Occasional kick parties and stuff. You have a house. A lot of people don't even have a house. So, exactly. So, in Warrensburg, it's a college. It's a party college. One street of bars called Pine Street.

1:34:30 And one of our roommates at the time worked at one of the bars. And at the time, Bam Margera and that crew was, like, doing college tours. So, the Jackass crew. Yes. So, Bam Margera, Rab. Yeah. We man, uh, those guys were doing college campus tours and, uh, they wound up in his, in his bar. So Bam Margera and Rab were there and I get a call from, this is circa 2020, 2006, 2006, 2006. Okay. Uh, 2007. Sorry. Um, I get a call, um, from my roommate who's at the bar.

1:35:11 It's like 11 o'clock at night. I've got class the next day I'm in bed and he's like, Scott. Go call everyone we know. Go get the neighbors. Get them to the house. I told Bam Margera we're having a house party. They're coming after the bars. They're expecting us to have a big-ass party there in one hour. So... I did. So I'm knocking on doors all up and down our street. Like, please come to our house. I know it's the middle of the night. It's kind of speculative. Yeah. Like, we don't know. Like, this is pre-iPhone. This is like flip phone, hard texting. Hard text. Yeah. Get to our house now.

1:35:51 A, B, C, go. Yeah. So, yeah. So, they come eventually. No way. Rager, like a couch wound up on the neighbor's roof somehow. How many people? Like what time does the party really get rocking? Probably 1 a.m. Until? I didn't go to class the next day. Sorry, teacher. I partied with Bam. So there were already holes in the drywall. There were body-sized holes in the drywall after this party. From bodies. Like, it was... It was... At the time, you asked about bad business decisions earlier.

1:36:34 That was a bad business decision. It was a bad life business decision. We lost our security deposit for sure. I don't think I can top that. No, Van Margera. What was he like? I never talked to him. I was like hosting. He's like a mythical beast. He was there. I talked to Rab for a second. Matt Damon's cousin, by the way. And like when he tells you that, actually, I've never verified that. But seeing him in person, I was like, oh, yeah, you look like Matt Damon. So that's definitely my – I dig it. My – Yeah, that's on the top of my crazy time. When I was first dating Jill, I started dating her in like May of whatever year that was.

1:37:19 But I was living in the basement with a house where two girls lived upstairs. And we had some guys talk us into hosting their Halloween party. They had like these old school computers with lights that would go to the computers and this huge playlist. And a huge bunch of people had been coming to their parties for years. They just needed a home for it. And somebody brought a luge, a nice luge for our garage, which was really nice. The 47 empty bottles of liquor at the end of the night was impressive. And when I went to go get the third keg, there was all these people at the liquor store talking about this party at my house.

1:38:01 Randos. What? And so we ended up with like 250 people there. Oh, my gosh. And there was like... cocaine in the bathrooms. There was sex, drugs, rock and roll in the basement. There was who knows what. But we sold all these keg cups and stuff, right? Because it was a keg party. So we got five bucks a person or whatever. Nice. And then we rented equipment from Home Depot to clean all the off-white carpets because the luge in the garage caused like mud to be tracked into the whole house for it was tragic and we we made like 25 dollars for like i don't know what like a combined 45 hours of labor to get the place ready and then back to shape For a great time.

1:38:48 It was an amazing time. For a great time, come to the Unify party for $25. Suitcase party. It's only $25. It'll be way better than throwing a party at your own place. You don't have to pay the security deposit. Way better than a good college party. Yeah, they'll pay the security deposit at the hangar. So look for your tickets, I guess, next July, right? Next August is the suitcase party 2027. Yep. Anything else you guys feel like we left out? Oh, man. You want another shot of WizCal? No, man. I, no. We can tell the stories. Well, let's just wrap it up then. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for being here.

1:39:28 Thank you for having us. Godspeed, fellas. Thanks for doing it. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Hi, this is Kurt Baer, host of the Loco Experience podcast and founder of Loco Think Tank. Every week, I explore intimate conversations with business founders and leaders. And so I hope you'll join us this week and every week for a new episode of the Loco Experience.