EXPERIENCE 116 | Chris Cox - Plenty Wellness & Buzz Screens - Why’s and Waypoints of an Entrepreneurial Journey

Chris Cox found relief from long-term back pain through use of C B D in 2016, and soon turned his growing knowledge of and passion for holistic medicine into a retail enterprise. Plenty Wellness in Loveland, Colorado. Plenty. Wellness carries the highest quality retail CBD products in the region and has a very education focused and consultative approach. Buzz Greens was founded in 2022 as an efficient way for local businesses to reach community marketplaces. Their screens are located in dozens of locations around Loveland, Wellington, Johnstown, and Bertha, and especially in popular restaurants and taverns. They carry weather, sports, news, and community information and allow businesses to promote their products and service in a non-intrusive way. Chris grew up in Minneapolis, had a career in loss prevention, and later with Avon. He's an idea guy and a lifelong learner. And this episode features great discussion about the why's and the way points that go into an entrepreneur's journey. Chris's businesses aren't just about CBD and promotional TV screens. They're about solving real problems, finding solutions to market pains. He's an authentic guy and a great conversationalist, and so I invite you to enjoy as I did. My conversation with Chris Cox. Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast. My guest today is Chris Cox. And Chris is the founder and CEO of Plenty Wellness in Loveland, as well as the co-founder of Buzz Screens, also based out of Loveland. Correct? That is correct. And, uh, why don't, uh, you just tell people what those two businesses do to start. Let's start with Plenty Wellness. Sure will do. Thank you. Uh, well, plenty Wellness, uh, ended up being the first CBD store in Colorado. Oh, wow. Uh, came from a, it came out of me having severe, severe pain as a result of the pain, anxiety, and depression. Hmm. And really needing a solution. Hmm. Um, I was unwilling to take opiates, take the painkillers, the muscle, relax. I didn't wanna go down that road. Hmm. And so in, uh, early, was this pain from like injury pain or you It was from work. Uh, okay. Multiple injuries From, from work I worked previously with a police department and in, uh, loss prevention. Okay. And so I had some low back injuries Yeah. Which weren't too bad at the time, relatively speaking, but I ended up being in the wrong place three times, uh, and ended up in, uh, multiple car accidents, none of which were my fault, fortunately. But that just compounded the injury made worse. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so you went to the doctor and they said, here have some opiates. That wasn't an option for me. Yeah. I, I, I'd seen too much as far as other people getting addicted and the, the damage that it does. Yeah. And I just wouldn't go down that road. Hmm. And so how did you learn about C B D and, and like, when was this, uh, ci me a little bit. So this was, uh, in early 2016. The pain was just, I, I was living at eight, nine, and 10 on the pain scale day in and day out. Mm-hmm. There was really, Very little relief. Ibuprofen helped, but long-term use of ex Yeah. Stomach problems or whatever else you can do that. That's exactly it. Uh, so what ended up happening is I went to a friend of mine, he's a chiropractor. He was able to give me some input and said, look, um, you are in a lot of pain. Cause my insurance company had sent me to specialist and they had said there wasn't, they didn't see anything. Mm-hmm. They'd almost convinced me I was crazy. Mm-hmm. Uh, but my friend, the chiropractor had said, look, you are in a lot of pain. And, uh, because of what it is and where it, it's gonna take a long time to heal. Yeah. But at least he convinced me I wasn't crazy. Right. Shortly thereafter, I met another gentleman who had recommended something called cbd. I didn't know what it was. Um, I was a little nervous about it because of my background. I've never used marijuana, none of it. But I found a gentleman who was well informed on it, he educated me and got me up to speed. Okay. Told me what it was, and I figured I've got nothing to lose here. And so like, I want to maybe unfold that journey more as we. Jump in the time machine, but Sure. So what went from like, it just changed your life so much. You were like, everybody needs this. Because I remember even back in May call it twenty twelve, twenty fourteen, there were like CBD creams and stuff. You could go to the Nat, not the Natural Grocers, but like the, the co-op grocer and different places and you could get CBD infused products, but not that you were the first actual like specialty store. We were the first specialty store that really focused on education quality products and understanding that the individual matters, that walking into a CBD store and finding any product off the shelf may not be the right fit for you. So much. So we actually ha have proprietary information based on someone's genetic makeup. We actually made custom recommendations based on that information alone. Oh yeah. I remember when we. First talked, you mentioned that if I was like Nordic, then this particular thing might not work as good for me or something like that. Uh, typically Scotch Irish, but, okay. Yeah. Uh, Czechs, Germans, Russians and Dutch, we found out some very interesting information that allows us to truly tailor it to the individual. So it doesn't necessarily, like, things just don't work. It doesn't not work. You just gotta get the right thing Correct. To work. Right. So, so you, so that's, that's a retail CBD education and products store basically? That's, that's right. We do free, uh, one-on-one consultations because again, we don't want people to walk through the door and just guess at what they're purchasing. We wanna make sure it's the right product. Mm-hmm. And as a result, we've been able to help tens of thousands of people since we opened. Wow. And the goal is to make sure that we're always bringing value. Yeah. Fair enough. Yep. Um, so let's talk about buzz screens now. All right. Uh, and we'll come back to both a little bit more, but just to Sure. To set us, set the audience here and who we're talking to. So Buzz Screens is a digital out of home advertising network. Um, we place high quality commercial grade screens into, uh, high traffic locations such as sports bars, restaurants, family fun centers, bowling alleys, you name it. Yeah. Where people dwell. Um, the advertising landscape has changed dramatically and as a retail store owner myself, I've gone down that road. I've spent a fortune on print, on, on other traditional methods, and we needed something that worked. Um, Again. And so do you start doing this for you? That's right. So we, we started it because we had a problem. We, as a small business, we had a problem, but we knew we could solve a solution for others. Yeah. And, and it is taken off like crazy. Well, and you know, sometimes problems can only be solved with large numbers. Right. Like, you can't afford as, as plenty wellness to have a, a digital ad up 24 7 in all these different places. You gotta share that burden, but then it can be something great for 10 people or a hundred people or a thousand, right. Or whatever your rotation is. And that's, that's absolutely true. But we, we want to build a network to be community based where we're bringing value to the community, not just advertisements. Because look, I'm a consumer like every anybody else, I don't like advertisements. Right. We wanted to bring information and education to the. To the community. Oh yeah. So like, uh, the weather updates and different things like that. And, and I think, how did it go? You mentioned that you were talking to a city or something about, so we're working with, you know, how to communicate with their citizens. Like, cuz nobody can get your attention these days. That's, that's right. So we're actually working with municipalities as well because they've got information they're, they're trying to share, whether it be through their police department, the local utilities department. Yeah. Um, local festivals, uh, things that are going on. Right. And we wanna get that information out in a inefficient manner. Yeah. Christmas tree recycling is running only through January 30th. So it's that your tree up front by then or whatever. Right, exactly. And you can kind of hope that word even spreads because people get it in this kind of unconventional fashion and they're like, Hey, I see your Christmas tree there. You should put it out the curb. They'll take it for you or whatever. It's a multiplier effect. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Well, um, I think it'll be fun to unfold both of those, uh, businesses and journeys and how they work and who they serve and get some stories. But I feel like might as well like, get the whole journey, um, and jump in the time machine and, and let's go visit, you know, pre elementary school. Chris, where were you? Wow. Okay. Yeah. Quite the tight machine. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how far we went back, but it was ways. So, um, I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Okay. Uh, grew up in, in south Minneapolis, right around Lake Omas. Um, I've got an older brother, a younger sister, so I of course have all the middle child syndrome issues, which is what, like, uh, I never got enough attention. Peacemaker. Oh, okay. Yeah. Peacemaker. Yeah. Um, you know, my brother, my brother seemed to get everything first. My little sister being the, the little one, uh, the youngest got all the good stuff. She got all the good stuff. Yep. That's fair. Uh, but, but in general, um, I loved growing up in Minnesota. It was, it was fantastic. I, I was exposed to a lot of different things. Uh, while I grew up in South Minneapolis, we got exposed to horseback, riding, fishing, all sorts of sports. Mm-hmm. We spent a lot of time up in the boundary waters, uh, which is the mm-hmm. The properties. Yeah. I've never actually been, but I know many people that have. Oh, it's incredible. And for those just listening, go Google it cuz Boundary waters, it's like, I don't know what, 500 plus square miles of just like little streams and lakes and you got a portage or canoe between different little streams and lakes and it's Yeah. Pristine wilderness. Yeah. Uh, when we like the Everglades of Minnesota. That's right. In a way. So when we, when I, I first went up there, we, we went up, uh, backpacking and we bring inflatable rafts and whatnot just to go out and have fun in the lake. I don't, it's been years since I've been up there, but at the time we were able to drink water right out the middle of the lake. I don't doubt it. It was so clean. So what was the, the background in your family? Was your family from there? Did they move to Minneapolis? So, my father, uh, My father's originally from Jersey. Um Okay. In, in, um, out on the east coast there. Yep. But my mom, she's, she was from Minnesota girl too, central Minnesota. Okay. Grew up on a farm, very, very conservative, uh, growing up the way it was with, with grandpa, no dancing, no, no music, anything like that. Oh, wow. Uhhuh. So, so it was, so that's like the Baptists almost, right. Because, uh, it, it was pretty strict. Yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. Um, and then your dad met her up somewhere and whatever and, and came to Minneapolis and was it a working class family? Were they entrepreneurs? Uh, it was a working class family. My father, uh, if, if I may just real quick. Sure. My father, uh, was, was he had to grow up very, very quickly. Um, yeah. Where he and his brother were homeless. My father was about eight years old. Oh, wow. Looking out for his little brother Stanley. This is in Jersey. I guess this was, yeah. Wow. And, and so dad had to grow up fast. Like their parents died. They were in bad scene. My father's since passed and so I, I don't have a lot of, don't even really know the answer. Yeah. Not a lot. I, I've seen pictures of my grandmother, um, no name's Catherine, but I, I know that it was from passing, um, you know, both parents Wow. Passed. But my father took care of his little brother Stanley and, and, and really, uh, forced education, education that, that was gonna, that's what was gonna take them Okay. Where they wanted to go in life. And around the age of, of 17, my father kind of hit the end of the road. He, he couldn't keep providing for Stanley, and so he lied about his age to get into the military. Uh, he ended up going to Korea, sent money back for Stanley. Wow. Um, and it was, it was really, were they still in the streets or He had found a stable place to live? Kind of. He, Stanley needed to support him and stuff. Yeah. More, more stability. Yeah. But, but the military experience really, uh, Formed my father big time. Yeah, I bet. Uh, you know, blade had no structure. It was just really a free range in the worst way kind of kid. Right. That for the most part, in the best way too. I'm sure he had mentors and influences and stuff, but not much structure. He did. There was some family around and he got some help. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but what was interesting, what I learned about my father, and it explained a lot for me as, as growing up, what I learned is my father called, referred himself as a one man band. Hmm. Because he had his, his, uh, um, what, what are the, the fabric, um, oh, I'm sorry. I forget that the, his jeans would, or his, his pants would be, would be making noise as he walked. His shoes would be flopping because they, they were all all used and, and torn up. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so when he was in the military, he was so proud of that uniform and how he, how sharp he looked. Yeah. From that point on, up until I was in eighth grade, I never saw my dad not where. Suit. Wow. I remember as a kid watching him do plumbing in a suit. He pulled the lawn in August in Minnesota with all the humidity and heat in a suit. Wow. Everything was in a suit. Fascinating. Yeah. Um, and what took him to Minnesota? Was it meeting your mom and or how did, how did that occur? Uh, after the military, I guess After Korea. Fresh start. Yeah. Work. Uh, he, he worked, um, in the military. He was an engineer. Okay. Came out, he became ultimately an electrical engineer. Wow. Yeah. He worked on the, uh, ICBMs. Wow. Um, in development. Very, very, very smart man. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but ultimately he ended up working for a company by the name of Control data. Okay. In Minnesota. That's what brought him there. Yep. And it was, it was really, Uh, inexperience, meeting everyone that worked for my father. Everyone had a very different, sounds like a, a very, uh, fairly eccentric, memorable person with, without a doubt, but very committed to excellence. Very committed to excellence. Yeah. Yeah. He, he had a high, high, high standard. So, um, so you're this middle kid, you're getting into school by now, you're enjoying, uh, are we a good student? It seems likely that, that your dad was pretty poking you if you didn't get good grades and stuff, or Well, you're asking some tough questions here. Yeah. So, um, in general, I was a good student. I wasn't the straight A student, but I wasn't, I wasn't the worst either. Yeah. Um, but you talk about middle school, um, you know, I, for, for years I was very ashamed of this. But, but the truth is, I, I ended up having to repeat seventh grade. Hmm. I was in a, I was at a private school and for a long time I didn't share why, but, uh, a friend of mine that we had met in our neighborhood, Uh, an adult friend, he owned a bar. Hm. And he was actually murdered, um, oh. Within a few weeks of school, starting for seventh grade for me. And I, I went to school all year. Um, but it was very, very challenging for me to focus. Yeah. And I appreciate what my mom was trying to do. She wanted us to get, you know, eight hours of sleep every night. And, and of course, during the day as a student, I had things to distract me, but when I went to bed at night, that's where the quiet became too much. Mm-hmm. That's when I started thinking about my friend and missing him. Wow. And so I went to school all year, but I didn't, I wasn't engaged. You weren't checked in. Not at all. Had, had it been more common in those days and stuff like a therapist would've been super helpful. Absolutely. And that's, again, I, I appreciate what my mom was doing, but at the end of the day, it was, um, It was just too much for me to bear. Yeah. Well, and they probably just didn't recognize it, so Yeah. What got you out of that funk? Or was there something, uh, I would've to say friends, some, some good friends and family that, that really encouraged me and said, you know, that what I was going through at that time was not normal for my age. Uh, which certainly was the case, but they also kinda gave me the choice of being the victim. Yeah. Or taking ownership. Yeah. Seems like you chose Well, I did. So, um, were you an athlete? Anything like this? Is this a, did you go to public schools or was it private schools? Most of your upbringing. So through sixth grade it was public school. Mm-hmm. Uh, seventh, seventh, seventh and seventh. Again, eighth at ninth grade we're all private school. And then I went to charter school after that. Okay. Uh, but yeah, I was a, uh, I was a, a runner. Okay. I was a sprinter and. Ended up getting a little bit of attention in eighth grade when I was running varsity at the high school next door. Hmm. Um, and, and I really enjoyed that. And that ultimately my senior year that translated from sprinting to cross-country skiing. Oh. Uh, and that, that was quite the experience. Interesting. Yeah. Well, I think of cross-country skiing as being much more of an endurance sport. Not the quick twitches necessarily that the sprinters have. You are so right. There were so many days after practice. I don't recall driving home. I was so tired. Really. Um, so wrapping up with high school, uh, any notable things that were formative to you in those years? Or and what did you do right after? Uh, that's a good question. In high school, I, I went to multiple schools, I suppose. Oh. The, uh, Just from private school in ninth grade to a charter school in 10th grade. That didn't succeed after that year. Mm-hmm. Then I went on to, uh, what was the Minnesota Business Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. Interesting. That was very, very formative. Uh, some of our teachers, our instructors, uh, one of our teachers shout out to, uh, Mr. Carlson. He's, um, Being clear once a Marine, always a Marine. But he was a Marine. Yeah. I'll tell you what, he brought that to the classroom, uh, every single day and he really encouraged us to, to bring our best, and he focused on reality. He never used a single textbook. Um, he, he brought out his own checkbook one day and said, guys, I'm gonna teach you how to write a check. Yeah. I remember I was struggling in, uh, maybe second year economics and, uh, cliff Dotz was my professor and he did a, a real life example using marginal costs and diminishing returns and stuff about a keg party. Like how many kegs do you actually wanna buy? Like what's your maximal profit potential here without pissing people off cuz of your runs out too early. That's right. And, uh, it just like that kind of stuff just clicked so much better for me when there could be a story behind it. Yeah. And, uh, not just Sally did this and it's written words and it's not people you can imagine really the same way. And that's, that's exactly what it was for, for me as well with Mr. Carlson. Yeah. Uh, he, he really, uh, left an impression on a lot of students. Yeah. And, and I think drove a lot of us to. Strive for success. Yeah. No matter what we should face. Yeah. Cool. Um, and so same school again for senior year or, yeah. That's good. Same school? Yep. Yep. And then what was next for you? So after that, um, over the summer after graduation, I really kind of took the day off, uh, excuse me, took the summer off. Uh, helped some friends, some family with some work that they were doing. Mm-hmm. And, uh, ultimately at the end of the summer, I, I went over to Best Buy and, uh, took a job, got a blue shirt to mention, actually, a yellow shirt. Oh, yellow shirt at that time? Or is that the bosses or yellow shirts? Floor. People are blue. Uh, security. Yeah. Oh, fair enough. Okay. So, yeah. So you were basically, uh, keeping. Keeping kids from stealing iPads and stuff like that. That's exactly right. Okay. This is a little pre-pa, but Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Back when Best Buy really owned, uh, the consumer electronics world. Right. It was gravy time for them at that time. What was that other one? That was their competition for Circuit City. Circuit City, yeah. Uh, spectacular flame out. Uh, that was incredible. Uh, because of the work that I did, we had some inside information. Circuit City had more product going out the back doors than the front doors during there. Mm. While they were shutting down. I, I mean, just from a moral standpoint, I, I didn't take part in any of that, but we knew that there was a lot of product going out the back door. Interesting. So, uh, so Best Buy for a while. And then, um, you're a married guy now. Were you still single at that time or were you I was in a relationship. Okay. Um, Like some others, you know, it took a while to, to learn to, uh, to really understand what it was I was looking for. Fair in, in my, in my partner and in my in-laws. Yeah. Uh, but I was in a relationship for about eight years. Oh, wow. It just wasn't, uh, ultimately wasn't a fit. Yeah. And then did that then lead into the change of career path? Uh, no. I was still in security and, and loss prevention and I was looking at going full-time in law enforcement. Okay. Uh, but what, what really brought marriage on and everything else? Uh, I met my wife at, uh, Neiman Marcus, Minnesota. Okay. Excuse me. At Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I tend to be a stickler for the rules. Okay. She's not quite so much, uh, I like to say there's suggestions with consequences. There you go. Um, but she. We both clearly liked each other, but she Did you bust her shoplifting? No. Oh, okay. I was just checking. I dunno. She, uh, she actually was pursuing me and, and I can be a little dense when it comes to that relationship type stuff. Fair enough. When she aggressively put her cell phone number in my hand, even I understood, hey, I think she likes me, right? But as far as the rules go in my position, I wasn't supposed to be in any relationship. With anyone in the store. Okay. Um, oh, and she was like a checker or whatever. And your loss prevention at NEA Marcus, and That's right. Yeah. She, she was on the sales floor. Uh, but I'll tell you what it was, it was absolutely worth it. Um, what's her name? Her name is Rachel. Hi Rachel. I'm sure you'll listen. I'm sure she will. So, uh, pretty quickly turned from curiosity to love. Sounds like it really did. I mean, very, very quickly. Um, I'm very, what was it, uh, like why did she, was she that way with all the boys or did she just, uh, find you to be a honed delic kind of guy over there? Or what was that all about? She told me she was looking for a guy that was mature. Hmm. Um, there's seven years difference between us. Okay. Um, and so at that time you were how old? And she was how old? She, she had just turned 21. Okay. So, and I was 27 still. Yeah, yeah. When we started dating. Uh, but was interesting with her. She said she wanted a, a more mature guy. Look, I, Kurt, I'm a child. You're still want I'm, I'm an over No, I'm an overgrown child. So it was all about the Hun Delic ultimately. I, I think so, but fortunately, um, you know, I, I'm an open book, you know, I share with everybody, but the truth is, I'm, I'm pretty emotional, you know, I, I feel people's emotions and I take that very seriously. Yeah. My wife and I were a good fit because she is, she's very, very consistent as far as her emotional status. Yeah. Yeah. Or, or status. And so she and I keep, we, we balance each other very, very well. Yeah. That's interesting. But it was that bit about her personality that really made the difference for me. And knowing that this is a, a genuine relationship. Yeah. Because she doesn't cry. But when she was missing her family, she's originally from Modesto, California. Okay. When she cried and said she misses her family, but she didn't want to. Leave me. I knew this was genuine. Right. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. By the way, for what it's worth, my wife is a lot like yours and, uh, she was 19 and I was 25 when we first met. Uh, and, uh, but I told her she was too young for me and we waited a couple years before we did anything about it. But anyway, so, and kind of for a lot of those same reasons, I was, you know, interesting. More mature. She was already pretty dialed for somebody so young. Uh, anyway, so, so love marriage. Uh, well, right away I was, uh, at the, at the time, this is before I had experience as an entrepreneur and a business owner. Yeah. I figured, you know, it'll take a year. I'll be a millionaire. No problem. I'll have a great wedding. I'll get a big giant ring. Right, right. It took a little while to, to figure out that that wasn't gonna be the case. Yeah, yeah. Um, so, so we didn't get married right away, but when we did, we were so grateful. We had a, uh, a very, very small wedding up in Breckenridge at the Nordic Ski Center. Mm-hmm. And, uh, it, it was just, it, it was, it was perfectly. I was just a Breckenridge for a wedding a couple years ago. My, uh, step sibling. Oh yeah. Got married up there in Breckenridge in some kind of an old factory kind of thing or something like that. Uh, I forget where it was, but it was right there. It's beautiful. No, it was in bra brat. Brat. There's another city. There was that starts with a bee real close to Breckenridge. I'm not real familiar. Yeah. Anyway, Breckenridge is kind of our, our point. That's your place of contact. Oh, yeah. Cool. Yeah. So, uh, so get married and you're still working loss prevention. Um, no, I actually No, you, that's when you made the change. Yeah. You were like, if I'm gonna be married and I'm gonna save for a ring and maybe have babies someday. Well, what, what actually happened is, uh, Oh, geez. Uh, after about a year or so of Rachel and I dating in Minnesota, we moved out to, uh, California. Oh. Uh, to be closer to her family, she, she was missing them. Yep. So we lived in Simi Valley. I stayed in loss prevention there. Mm-hmm. But at that point, I had left the police department. Um, we, we Oh, you were a part of the police department in loss prevention, or I thought you were a store employee. So loss prevention is private. Uh, that was, that was three different retailers. Oh. It's a contractor. So you go to different stores and different places and whatever. I, yeah, I did, but like a contractor, uh, not as much as a contractor. I worked directly for these retailers, Uhhuh. Uh, but I'd move around different experience, different types of, of retail environments. Okay. But at the time, um, I worked for a reserve unit at a police department in Minnesota in the man area. Oh, I see. Okay. And as a, uh, result of that, there was a pretty horrific, uh, line of duty death for a police officer. Mm-hmm. And I was at his funeral and, um, Ended up seeing some things that were pretty heartbreaking. You know, there was another officer that was involved. Hmm. Can you describe it a little more or, sure. You therapeutic or is it Sure. No, we can go into it. Close it, it, uh, it, it, it may be close, but that's okay. I'm willing to share. Okay. Uh, there was an officer, a female officer, um, in one city and, and I'm gonna keep cities and names out, um, female officer in one city. And she had a domestic call, which can be incredibly dangerous. Sure. She got emotions running high, right? Right. Uh, she took this call and it was on a border street with the neighboring city. Okay. No one in her city was able to back her up, which was policy. So an officer from the neighboring city came over to back her up. They were going into an apartment, being a gentleman. He said, let me go first. Really just trying to protect her. Sure. As he went through the, the door, this apartment, uh, a flaming towel was thrown in his face. Oh yeah. And the husband. That was involved in this domestic, started attacking him and ended up getting his gun away from him and shot him and killed him. Oh boy. And the female officer who was behind him, she had also been shot in the arm. It was a pretty, pretty terrible situation. Yeah. And, and she escaped with her life. Did she take the guy out or she she got outta there. She survived. Yeah. Yeah, she survived. But at the funeral, um, typically in those line of duty deaths, there are lots and lots of officers there to Oh sure. Show support of all those thousands and thousands of officers. I ended up seeing the female officer and it was just devastating personally. I mean, I, I'm an empath, I can feel people's emotions. Yeah. And I had never seen a human being that was just a shell. I crushed and it, it really was too much. I, I was dating my wife. Yeah. My now wife at the time, and, Um, I like cop work isn't really gonna be for me. I wanted to be a family man. It was, that was important to me. And because of how emotions impact me, I knew I wouldn't be able to be the man I want, the man I want to be for my wife and for my daughter. Yeah. Um, now, you know, it didn't have her at the time. Yeah. It just wasn't a fit. That's where I had to make a life change. Yeah. And that's what then led you to California and new chapters and all that. That's right. Was your wife, uh, pursuing her own career or was she, um, what was her at that time? She, she was kind of just, just trying to figure it out. Yeah. So you guys are both like, you know, at least you got each other, but you don't have too much in terms of, uh, resources and stuff, you know, young marrieds and, and whatever. Right. I, I'd had a little bit, uh, set aside in, in investment and, and so Good for you. We, we took that You're saver then. Yep. Try to be. Yep. Um, try to be, but we, we had taken some of that money, a little bit of that money out and went to California, took a little bit of time off, spent time with family and some friends. Mm-hmm. Wow. Uh, but quickly learned California, especially Southern California, wasn't a fit for us. Yeah. Um, we ended up going back up to Modesto to spend even more time with her family. Okay. Uh, cuz when we moved from Minnesota, we went to Is Modesto North California? It's in Central Valley. Central Valley, okay. Yep. When everyone thinks of California, they think of the coast of like kind of south of Sacramento or something. That's right. Okay. Yeah. We, it was surrounded by, um, orchards, right, right. Yep. Yep. Almonds. That's right. I, I met a guy that was totally like a hillbilly style, uh, but. They were almond farmers. They had gotten rid of the dairies and put it all into almonds. Almonds, that's right. Almonds. Yep. We raised those almonds right there. Right there. Next to the blue diamond. Yeah. Plant. Oh, is that right? Yeah, that sounds about right. Yep. So, uh, so back up there and then, uh, Cime. Now is this 20 13, 14. Good timing. Yeah. 2013. Um, again, I was with Best Buy again. And were your car accidents all back there in Cali, in Minnesota? Uh, they were in Minnesota. Okay. Yep. They were all in Minnesota. Lingered, uh, well, we'll just blame it on the weather in Minnesota. Sure. California drivers. Right, right. I was able to avoid most of those. Um, but we, I, I was back with Best Buy in Modesto and that's actually how I got here to Colorado. Oh, really? I, as you can tell, I'm pretty social. I like talking to people. Yeah. And, um, a gentleman walked in the front door and said, Hey, you seem to like talking to people. And he said he's with, uh, Avon products. Okay. And I said, look, I'm not interested in Avon products, cosmetics. I have no interest in it. Right. And he, he quickly stopped me and said, it has nothing to do with that. He said, we are looking for district managers to work with the Avon representatives to help them build their business and, and how to engage with people to grow their businesses. Yeah. I found that interesting. And he said, you know, let's do a ride along. And so about a week or so later, spent a day with him. It was incredible. Huh? The morning started at, uh, a coffee shop. Right. Meeting with a couple of reps. He and I went out, talked a few strangers with a few more reps, which there's really no such thing. Right, right. Uh, met with a few more reps and that was the end of the day. It was incredible. Right. Um, but what was interesting is he asked me, he said, where, where have you always wanted to live? Which no one has ever asked me that before when it comes to a job. Yeah. And I told him I'd heard a lot about, um, lake Tahoe. I said I'd love to go to Lake Tahoe for a little while and then move to Colorado. Cuz Colorado was my ultimate dream. Yeah. Yeah. And he said, well, there's no positions open in Tahoe, but we have a position open in Northern Colorado. Huh. That's how I ended up here. Wow. That's cool. So packed up the U-Haul and moved out here. That's right. And uh, I guess that's probably where we kind of left off a little bit, started having increasing pain from these old injuries and whatever. Yeah. And I think that's kind of what, what brought a lot of that on? Um, with Avon, I had a massive, massive territory. Okay. I had Southern Wyoming, uh, probably the first a hundred miles of Wyoming. Um, I 25 to the Utah border, down to Winter Park. Wow. That was all mine. Yeah. And so I spent a lot of time Yeah. Just road warring it. That's right. Driving in and out of the vehicle and I think that really compounded the issues. Yeah. I'm sure. Yeah. Um, so let's just talk about your experience with that. I mean, was it like, Somebody, your chiropractor introduced you to a guy who introduced you to c d and then it was just like, boom, I feel better. Or was it a journey? What, yeah. Tell me about your experience. Personally. It was very much a journey. Um, you know, since the, since the, the friend of mine that was murdered when I was in seventh grade Yeah. That brought on a lot of depression and I've, I've really coped, dealt with depression my whole life. Yeah. On and off a few antidepressants, and I didn't like them. Um, but the pain was so severe. I, I, I say this gently because we, we Yeah. Have a serious problem in our society right now with, with depression and mental illness. Um, sure. And it is, it is a very real problem. Um, but the truth of the matter is my pain level was so bad in early 2016. I was days away from suicide. Wow. And, and that's, that's really why I do what I do well, is to help people. Because while you can't see the pain, it's very real. You know, I had, uh, I had food poisoning this weekend. Yeah. On Saturday evening and all, you know, most of Sunday morning I felt like warmed up dog poop and, and I still felt kind of crappy yesterday. And, you know, it was just an armory cuss with my wife and my, my, uh, exchange student, uh, daughter in the house. And, and I'm feeling much better today. Uh, but it was, it was just clear to me and obvious how, how much our emotions are impacted by our, like the physical pain and, and whatever, and how just, you know, yeah. I, I was just in a funk all day yesterday and that was the main reason why. Yeah. Without a doubt. I mean, that emotions certainly have their place, you know? Sure. They're useful, they're useful, but it can also have such a, a real physical impact Yeah. In our, in our lives, our daily lives. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's one of the things that, that really changed for me. And so, to answer your question, it's been a journey. Um, When I saw my friend, the chiropractor, and he gave me hope that that was hope. Yeah. But I was still in pain. It didn't, it didn't take the pain away. Right. And because I knew honestly, I was about to throw in the towel. Yeah. Um, I had nothing to lose. Did you have a kid all already then too? No, I did not. Okay. And that was a, that was a big piece of it because I know what kind of man I wanna be to my wife and to my, my daughter. Yeah. And I knew in that kind of pain and that deep depression ongoing, I couldn't do that. And I was unwilling to Wow. To go down that road unprepared. Yeah. Yeah. You're at least the second or third guest that's been on the show, that's talked about, you know, that level of hopelessness that leads to thoughts of what else should I do? Right. Yeah. And that's, I, I mean, it was, it was incredible. And so there was a gentleman, I, I was introduced to him through, through a mutual friend, um, He, he's since passed, but he, uh, he took the time to answer every question I had about cbd, what it is, what it isn't, and how it works. And I would say he's the one that encouraged me to really focus on education when working with others. But ultimately, after three hours of grilling him, he, he offered me a sample. Yeah. And, and I figured I have nothing to lose here. Right. I it with as unbelievable, unbelievable as this sounds, 80% of my pain, the anxiety, the depression was gone in about three seconds after putting what, two drops under my tongue. And again, was that lasting? Like, it was just like, boom. It was, it was incredible. I, I it like, how much of that was in your brain and how much of that was in your body, do you think? Like, was it the hope plus some juice and your brain was like, oh, it's not as bad as I, I think a big piece. It was, uh, let me back up just a little bit. The ibuprofen really, it, it helped, but I was taking upwards of, 800 to a thousand milligrams twice a day. Right. Ugh. And as, can't do that for long. Yeah. Yeah. Well, just walking in here as you'd asked, you know, uh, and, and I'd mentioned I typically don't eat breakfast. Yeah. I have a couple bites for lunch and then I eat dinner. And what I now know is taking 800 to a thousand milligrams twice a day with about a shot glass routine. Well, yeah. About a shock glass of amount of water. You can't do that and be healthy. No, no. You'll have ulcers bleeding out soon or something. That's right. Um, and so, so I know for a fact because the ibuprofen did help, the CBD was more consistent in reducing the inflammation, which was causing the severe pain in my back. Yep, yep. Um, so it was lasting. Well, and I've heard that back pain is kind of mysterious sometimes in that like, it's almost like a what, like an expanding loop, like the feedback loop where. It hurts. So inflame more or almost kind of thing where your own like feelings of pain do things to your body that make it actually physically worse? I, yeah, I would, I would agree. I don't know if that's the case. I, one of our members was talking about his own experience, cuz he's, he's a 38 year old strapping young man that looks like he should be, you know, in amazing health. And he is been mostly a desk and office worker, but is also an athlete. But he just has seasons, uh, sometimes where it's a month or two or something where his back pain is just kind of almost hard to overcome. I, I would completely agree with that. Yeah. That's, that's been. My experience as well, but those seasons of pain and discomfort, they're significantly reduced. Yeah. Um, what I've actually thought, well, I'll set him down to you next time. He, uh, mentions that if he's in a season or maybe even for, actually I presume that c b is not just a miracle cure for problems, but also a, a great preventative kind of thing. Like taking low dose CBDs in certain fashions is like a. Good elixir. Uh, it, it really, really is, I mean, on, on many, many fronts. While it has helped significantly with my low back pain, um, it's really helped with the, the depression and, and I've made jokes with clients in the store when my wife is there saying, well, I don't think she would've married me had I not found C B D and one of our clients, she called me out on it. She's said, Chris, do you really want her to answer that question? It wasn't so funny when she asked that. Right? And the truth is no, I, I didn't want my wife to actually answer it. But the reason I say that is from work in the, in my past and some stuff that happened in my childhood, I now no deal with the level of P T S D, had it not been for that C B D. Allowing me more consistency and level emotion. Uh, more consistent. Yeah. Emotional status. Um, I don't think my wife would've married me, but again, I'm not asking her. Have you, uh, have you tried microdosing with mushrooms yet? So it's interesting you should ask that. We just had some extremely high quality mushroom show up in the store. Okay. We're sampling them right now. We are looking forward to offering this to our clients. Ah, interesting. I, you know, from, I listen to a lot of podcasts and do, you know, my own research and I've eaten mushrooms recreationally a lot, but kind of from the, the background and some of the stressors and different things, and even frankly your, your own kind of, I don't know, I don't wanna say overemotional response sometimes, but definitely challenged. It's kind of, From what I've heard, it's a way to kind of get up in the balcony and observe yourself a little bit better. What, what kind of mushrooms are, are, are you referring to? I mean, I know there's a lot of different psilocybin and Right. Uh, you know, whatever the magic ones, I'm sure there's lots of different varietals and all that. Um, but I'm talking about like the, the mental, like the, the psychedelics. So, no, I haven't, and, and in all honesty, for, for me, my personality, that's, it makes me nervous to, to try the psychedelics. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but with the research that's coming out and the stuff that I've, I've heard about it so far, I'd be open to, to considering that, I mean, especially with, uh, ex-military ptsd, things like that, they're having amazing results. Uh, and by the way, I, on episode 90, Nine, I think with Dr. Heidi. Uh, we did mushrooms. And how did that go? Uh, she was a giggly mess. She didn't drink any of her wine, but it was pretty fun. Yeah, I, I heard a little bit about that from, uh, from someone else, so. Well, shes who sent me to your store. Okay. Ultimately. So, uh, um, well anyway, if you, uh, I'm not a spirit guide or a shaman or anything like that, but if you wanna microdose together sometime I'm game. All right. All right. I'll take, I'll take you up for that. Okay. Yeah, we'll do it right here. I have another podcast. That sounds fun. Let's do that. So I wanna hear a few stories. Um, and actually before we even get into the stories, I'm gonna call a short break. Sure. And we're back. So when we left off, we were getting ready, I was starting to ask you some questions about some success stories. Like I, I can't be all just back pain and whatever. Uh, and we all know that CBD is like the miracle cure for every ailment, but like, what are some of those, like eyebrow raising stories that you can share, uh, that have been part of your experience since you opened the store? So, one in particular that really, really gets to me, uh, there was a, a young boy, he was, he and his family were working through the, um, children's hospital. He had some very significant, uh, emotional imbalances. Okay. And ultimately they had gone through every resource they possibly could and nobody could help him. Uh, that the Children's Hospital actually turned them away. Hmm. And, and that obviously is a pretty serious problem. Right. And what ended up happening is a nurse chased them as they were leaving and said, Hey, look, I don't know if they can help. At the time, our store was Plenty Pharma. Okay. Uh, we've since changed our name to Plenty Wellness, but said, Hey, go there and talk to them, see if there's anything they can do. Hmm. Here's a Sliver of Hope. A sliver of hope. And, and that's, honestly, that's all we needed. Yeah. Um, they came in and at that point we pulled out every stop. I mean, we, we needed to figure out what it was gonna take. And so we actually put products up. We didn't charge them anything. We just needed to find a solution. And then fine tune it once we, once we did that. Yeah. Uh, based on all the questions that we asked. Cause we wanna make sure we're getting the right solution for each. So is there a lot of research in this that you can refer to or There is now, but there wasn't hardly then you were just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stick. There's a lot more now. Yeah. Uh, but I was very fortunate with the research. The people that I had, I had spoken with my uncle, he's a, again, we don't use names, but he's a world renowned surgeon. He's a very, very, very smart man. Yeah. Yeah. And so when we come across something that we don't understand, we're able to bring it to him and he helps us. Right. Nice. Explain what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but what was interesting is with this young, young man, um, unfortunately both sets of biological grandparents had gotten divorced. So he had four sets of grandparents. Mm. And he was, his situation was so severe, um, ultimately when we got him on track and got more of a balance for him. Yeah. All four sets of grandparents flew out specifically to meet with us. Wow. Because they had all accepted as much as you possibly can, accepted the fact that this young man was gonna take his life. Wow. And so how old? A young man at the time. 12. Wow. And, and that, in my opinion, that 12 no child Yeah. Should even have a concept of taking their own life. Yeah. Actually I kind of did. Right. Uh, I, because I was, I, I just kind of made a joke about being a late puberty, but I had, uh, an undescended testicle. Oh. When I was 12, they discovered it for a sports physical, and so they did a, a surgery kind of thing, and then it, it didn't work. It didn't hold, it went back up. And so I had to do it again the next year. And, you know, so of course the kids are like one baller and this and that. Oh, sure. And I'm, I came to high school in seventh grade at four foot 11, a hundred pounds. And at the end of 10th grade, I was five one. 106 pounds. Wow. So I was Kurt the squirt, you know, this whole time in the sassy frass and bullied a lot. And yeah. One, I remember one summer I was like, well after football season, cuz I really like football season. Yeah. You know, and so I was, I guess I was ahead of my career as well as this young man and, you know, looking back on it, you know, I can talk about it right now without even being embarrassed or whatever. It did work the second time. It still rides pretty high. Right. But, and then, you know, uh, I was blessed that I, I got to be a tall guy, you know, my junior, senior years of high school, I grew six inches a year and Wow. You know, so I feel like thank you. You know, no offense to the shorties out there, but I, I don't have to get my stool out as much. I do hit my head more, you know? Right, right. So anyway, Andre. Yeah. What a, what a. Fascinating story, um, and really changed obviously was like how did people know he was in such a dark place? He'd been seeing counselors and different things like that. Yeah. It seemed to have, they got a bigger, bigger picture over time as they were trying to figure out what was going on. It was getting worse and worse and worse the more they threw at it. Yeah. Wow. And so for us, I mean, that's really why we do what we do. But just as a side note, we've got a gal, I'm sure I can use her name, uh, she goes by the name Pickleball Mary. Okay. Um, she puts pickle's, not pickleball Mary. Right. Um, She, she's great. She came in, she's, she was brave. Uh, she wasn't quite sure what CBD was gonna do, if anything. Yeah. And she's very blunt in her testimony saying, Chris, I thought you were full of it. Yeah. Completely full of it when we first met. Uh, but I sent her home with a sample and I said, look, put it on, because her knees were so bad, she could barely, uh, get up and down applicable down stairs. Yeah. I mean, and if you, she wasn't pickleball Mary at that time. Well, if you know pickleball, they're very, very competitive. Yeah. Yeah. And nothing will stop'em. So even with her knees, she was still gonna play, but she was having trouble getting up and down her stairs. Wow. Uh, no matter what, no matter what she was doing to try and reduce the pain. Yeah. And so I said, go home, put this on watch, say a 30 minute show. And that's just a, a topical, right. Like a cream Rub it in. Yeah. So in, in some ways it, it seems like, you know, I think about like the icy hots and stuff like that, um, which is more of a, more of like a Tylenol. Through the skin kind of thing in some respects or whatever. It's a drug more than it ist a a kind of a generalist anti-inflammatory actually, that feels like the CBD magic sauce. Uh, let me, let me actually address that. Sure. Um, let me, lemme finish with Mary real quick, so. Sure. Yes, sir. Mary went home. No, you're right. She put it on, she watched a 30 minute show and again, she, she still thought I was absolutely full of it. She got up and was able to run up and down her stairs after 30 minutes of letting it soak in. And, and she, she was just amazed. And so she refers everyone she can possibly talk to, to us. Yeah. Because not only does does CBD work, but she knows that we're gonna take care of the clients. Yeah. I mean, for us, that's what we do. But what's interesting is my buddy, the chiropractor that helped me with my back Yeah. I asked him, I said, what is it about Icy Hot versus cbd? What, what's actually going on here? Yeah. Yeah. And he said, well, this is before I had my daughter. He said, if you have a kid one day and they bump their, their elbow quickly, start rubbing the other elbow. And, and I said, okay, well what's the point? He said, all you're doing is distracting him. You're, you're applying more, it's more information on the other arm. And so that quickly, quickly shifts their mindset from the pain to what you are generating. Interesting. He said that's essentially what it is. It's a dumb technology and, and I wanna be very clear, I'm not a scientist or anything else. Yeah, yeah. Someone may correct me, but he was saying that's what you're doing. You're putting something on there that's so intense that you're, you're focus shifts from the pain Yeah. To the intensity of the icy hot or whatever you're using. Fascinating. That wouldn't shock me. And sometimes when you stop fast focusing on something, it gets better. That's true. Just from the lack of attention. Right. Oh, that's absolutely. It's almost your immune system going, goodness. It's a I got, I hit my elbow, you know? Interesting. That's absolutely true. But what was interesting, cuz I, the reason I asked him about that is one of the products that we still have it, it has a fair amount of menthol in it, so it does have that effect Uhhuh, but that's how they deliberately formulated it. Sure. Is. They were using that as my chiropractor friend would say, the dumb technology just distracting you, that distracts you while the CBD works its way into reduce the inflammation. So by the time the distraction wears off Yeah. You're actually, when your show is done and you're Yeah. When the, when the icy wears off, you're like, oh, actually I'm good. The CBDs actually working. So I want to ask about like, launching this store. Mm-hmm. Um, Like, you need a location, you need inventory. Were you at your current location then? Um, like what, how much planning did you do? Uh, you know, it seemed like you weren't, you know, you didn't have$200,000 to buy inventory with and hire a couple of helpers or whatever. We built it from the ground up. And the truth, the truth of the matter is, is I was so focused on what it did for me and for my father and for other people. To be honest with you, I didn't do any planning whatsoever. Okay. I, I literally fell into it. Yeah. Did you rent a space? So the gentleman who educated me on cbd, he had another business and he wanted to focus more on that, so I ended up just acquiring. What was really more of a head shop at the time. Okay. And, and I didn't wanna focus on any of that. I wanted to focus on health and wellness and the effectiveness of cbd. Oh, so you basically rebranded a a head shop to be a CBD shop? Yes. Instead, yeah. Um, and then, you know, had to get the inventory and built the brand and all that kind of stuff. We just built it over time. Yeah. So, um, what's that, what's the marketplace been like? My guess is that it was probably something where it was more lucrative right away when you were the only game in town. But then as everybody starts the CBD shop, it's more challenging just to set apart. And plus, I know your quality criteria is really high. So is that challenging in terms of margins and stuff? Uh, yes. So all of the above. Sorry, I asked three questions at a time. That's my favorite. You're absolutely right. So it's been, it's been a challenge because initially yes, we were the only, uh, outlet for C B D, and so we, we've fortunately been able to retain our customers Yep. Because of the quality and the customer service that we provide. That's been a huge, uh, game, uh, game changer for us. Yeah. But at the same time, with everyone else jumping into the marketplace, and this isn't the case for everyone, but with so many people jumping in, everyone was trying to race for the bottom of the barrel to sell the cheapest stuff as quickly as possible. Hmm. And I just, I refused to do that. We wanna focus on absolute quality and like you mentioned, our quality standards are, are extremely high. While we take care of our customers, we do not argue with them. We always take care of our customers. That's just what we do. But what's interesting on top of that is I tend to, I've learned, I have a reputation apparently as a bully. Okay. In the industry, when it comes to manufacturers, what they've learned is you need to have your. I dotted and your t's crossed perfectly before you walk in my front door. Hmm. Because I'm gonna grill you on everything. I wanna know where it's from. I want to see lab tests. I'm gonna verify everything. There was even a time when there were so many people in the industry that were questionable. We were running criminal background checks. Wow. Um, on founders of companies. And believe it or not, that was a pretty easy question to filter. Right. Will you let us do a background check? And if they said no Right, we automatically wouldn't talk with them. Yeah. You didn't even have to then spend the money. Right. Um, what. Like what makes the difference? Is it about the base? Uh, cuz I, I assume that CBD is mostly extracted from non t h c hemp then. Is that true? Or like, where does it come from and how do you, how do you separate it? So, and, and maybe you don't know that much about it, you're more about the retail side, but Oh, no, no. We, we, we do seems likely. So for us, really what, what boils down to even before the plant is the field, we want to know where it's coming from. And what most consumers do not know about the hemp plant is it's a bio accumulator. So what that means is if you plant that in a dirty field with heavy metals, pesticides and contaminants like that, it can pick, pull it out of there. Correct. Kind of like fish pulling mercury out of the ocean or whatever. That's exactly right. Mm-hmm. And so that's why we, we, I'm kind of proud of being seen as a bully when it comes to manufacturers. Yeah. I see myself as a shield to protect my clients and I will not let anything through that shouldn't get through as a result of that. Um, we don't carry lots and lots of brands. Because there, there just aren't that many that meet our extremely high standards. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, um, like you said, the base, if you understand that the, the oil is clean and you've, you've got the third party results to prove that that's gonna mean you're gonna get a much higher quality product. And the reason it's so important from a cleanliness standpoint and contaminants, because if those contaminants end up with, end up in your product, it may work for you really, really well. But long term, putting those contaminants in your body, you're gonna have other health issues. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna have like taking Tylenol twice a day for too much. That that's right. But even beyond that is the, the medical expense of correcting the issues that those toxins are causing is gonna be through the roof. Hmm. I mean, Western care is very expensive. Hmm. Fair enough. Yeah. Um, and so, so it, it does come down to the soil, the, the plant, but consistency as well. There have been products that early on I was learning that were not consistent in the potency. Our customers expect us to make sure that they're getting what they're paying for. Yeah. You're like, I did 200 milligrams of this thing and it worked great. 200 milligrams of this other thing didn't work as good. That's right. Or whatevers you just learn through experience and feedback from your customers and stuff. Yeah. And it, and it does come down to the genetics. I had one gentleman come in, let's be honest. We're, we're, as a society, we're, we're kind of from all over. No one is really just one thing. Right, right. Right. From one place. And this gentleman came in, he swore he was German, 100%. He swore up and down and, and being friendly. I said, look, I, I doubt that, but the we'll, we'll, we'll run with it. And he, he swore that he knew which capsules he wanted to use, but based on the genetic information we had, I told him, I said, if you're one, 100% German, these aren't gonna work for you. Hmm. He didn't believe me. He insisted on buying'em. He came back a week later and said, how'd you know? Hmm. And, and, and, He took him and they did nothing for him. So by shifting to a different brand, he noticed a massive change as far as the pain that he was dealing with. And how do you know those markers? Is it just trial and error or is there actual different blendings and d because there's different kinds of CBD even, right? Like there's like CBD A and B and different things too, or there's, there's different mo molecules and, and different, different structures. Um, but what was interesting with, in his case specifically to kind of answer your question, we don't know exactly what it was, but we ask a lot of questions of our clients and this allows us to make more tailored recommendations. But when we ask the question, we don't just say, oh, okay, well that's nice information out the door. You go, we actually sit down as a team and we, we want to analyze that and that's why do all case studies and tracking outcomes and things like that. Absolutely. So. When does the buzz screen things come to be a part of this? We already kind of hinted toward the, the necessity of finding customers better or whatever. Um, talk to me about like that idea and Sure. Where did that grow? So, uh, just backing up a little bit, just myself Sure. As a consumer, like the rest of us, I hate advertising. You know, I, we recently cut our cable at home. Nice. Um, but for probably three years, I never watched anything live. If I knew I wanted to watch something, I recorded it so I could deliberately skip the ads. That's fair. And so, so, you know, we're, we're real people too. We don't expect people to enjoy advertising. Yeah. Um, same thing if I'm listening to streaming audio and I'm not paying for it, I'm getting ads and I don't want to hear those ads. And so that's why as a society, we're paying for. Uh, our streaming services, we have Paramount Plus now we just got connection and so we've got, you know, a few channels that we pay for, but mostly we just kind of rejected the networks and stuff. Yeah. And those sons of bitches are showing us more commercials than the networks were now after I pay'em. And why do you think they're doing that well so they can make more money? I don't know. Because, because the traditional channels don't work anymore. Right. The the, I mean Right. They make more money through advertising than they do through your subscription. Right. And so, and that's one thing that we, we did a lot of research into this and through our store we've spent a fortune on print and other channels that just never paid off. Right. Uh, so what we ended up doing, bus screens actually goes back about 13 years. Oh. Uh, when I was living in Southern California in Simi Valley. Okay. I saw multiple businesses that were putting literally Best Buy retail TVs Sure. In businesses. And they were trying to sell advertising. Right. Right. They were smart in the sense that they knew they needed to do more than advertising. They needed to do content. Yep. But the technology and the solutions were not there at the time to provide pro, um, programmatic content. Yeah. So they spent more time updating their content than selling ads through Right. Right. Their business. Right, right. Fortunately, I noticed that quickly. And so what we've done is we've built a, a solution where we're able to do sports news, trivia, all kinds of content onto our screens, um, programmatically. So it, it updates on its own. We don't have to worry about that, but then we can focus on the local businesses and, and that's really what Buzz Screens does, but how it came about, oh boy. It's a long road. Covid Covid did a lot of damage to a lot of people. A lot of businesses. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, to save everyone the hassle, my business partner and I were focused on automated retail. Kiosks with screens for advertising and then due to supply lines and getting hardware and stuff like that, it didn't make sense to pursue automated retail. Yep. But to pursue visibility for local businesses. Mm-hmm. And so that's really, so you pivot, shortened version. Yep. Yep. And your partner is John? Uh, Dan Porter. Dan. Dan Porter. Yep. And so how do you guys divvy the duties at Buzz Screens and, and what's that look like? Really? I think you're in, what is it, 25 or so? Oh five locations. Uh, locations actually about 20 get back to the office. It might be 30 today. Oh, wow. Not a nice big burst. That's right. Um, so it's really kind a personality, uh, based on personality. It's kinda how Dan and I do that. Okay. Uh, he's an engineer through and through. He is very, very diligent and so, Uh, what we've identified, and I say it's very humbly, but he refers to me as a visionary. Yeah. He lets me set the direction of where we're heading and what we're doing and he makes it happen. Yeah. So as far as the software, you're a key relationships guy and stuff like that? Probably. But actually making it all work. Making it all work, yeah. But at the same time, while I like to socialize with people, I learned years ago that I'm not. People are better to, to meet me in person. Yeah. Rather than email someone very bluntly said, Chris, you are not very pleasant by email. And it's, it's not that, I'm mean, I'm just very to the point. Yeah. I think that's, uh, probably, uh, accurate a little bit. Right. Like even your email follow up, I was like, eh, you know, I'll get to it when I get to it. And, and, and that's cause I, I don't mean to be that way cuz there are times when, uh, depending on what we're doing, cuz right now we're currently actually, uh, interviewing some investors as we expand buzz screens. Um, I needed Dan to sit down and look at the email I wrote this morning to verify it was acceptable. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. We do that a lot around here too. Just for, it's hard to see your own. Mistakes, you know? And so if there's something going out to a broad audience, it's like, you know, part of the rule here is at least one second set of eyes looks over at first to make sure you don't say anything dumb. Well, and that's, that, that's exactly, or just blunt or whatever. Right. Like, you could just say that a little bit nicer. Right. I, I genuinely care, but I mean, I'd rather get onto a phone call or a video call. Yeah. And, and generally care for someone, email makes it very hard for me to express that I'm not a big writer. Yeah. So the vision for Bud Screens would be both to get. You know, get that to become one of the go-to advertising venues for lots of small business. I assume you've got, you know, you could sell twice as many spots as you've sold so far and still be okay on your content wise and stuff. Yeah. So, but then more locations. More locations. So what we've done is. We wanted, we want there to be a balance that's not all ads. Mm-hmm. Um, even otherwise nobody will look at it. That's right. I mean, they'll look at it initially, but they're gonna eventually tune it out. Um, but we do sports news trivia and what's interesting is the way we've designed our content is we, we run content and then we provide our software opportunities to play ads. And so it's not gonna feed oh, 10, 20, 30 ads in a row. We want to just kind of sprinkle it in because again, as a business, we also wanna make sure that our clients that are advertising with us are getting consistent visibility over time. And we're not just dropping it all at once. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, it's about, uh, delivering their message on a regular basis. Well, it's not just a like a one second screenshot either. Right. It's like a 10 up to 32nd kind of a thing. 10 seconds, 15 seconds, and 30. So really what that is, you know, little animations or things even Oh, yeah, yeah. We, we do full, uh, advertising. Uh, it's, it's, we can go as, as high end as a regular TV ad. The only difference is we don't do audio, because that's what I was gonna say. Yeah. No sound. Right? Yeah. Because of where we are, we don't want to compete with the ambiance and whatnot. Yeah. It's about visibility, but the feedback we've gotten from some of our clients is incredible. So one of our, one of our clients, um, he, he hosts one of our screens, but he had opened up a new location, um, about a year and a half ago. And as a result of Covid, people thought his business had gone. Yeah, they didn't get the memo that he moved. They thought he just disappeared. Yeah. And so, I mean, things were very slow for them. So he hosts one of our screens and what we've done with him is in exchange, we run ads for his business. And after a week and a half of only of having our screen in there and running his ad, we went in to, to do a hardware, uh, adjustment and said, guys, if even a quarter of what happened last weekend is from you guys, it's hands down worth it. Oh, cool. Um, because we got his name out there. And let's be honest, for those of us, like myself that are foodies, all you gotta do is just show me a picture sometimes and where to go. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Agreed. And it, it ended up driving a lot of traffic for him. So much so that he is, uh, Purchased a location to expand his operation. Oh, wow. Well, that's awesome. Well, I think it's a good venue, especially for, you know, uh, for me, for local think tank and, and full disclosure, I haven't signed anything yet. I think we're gonna, I'm gonna sharpen his pencil just a little bit, but you'll probably see my ads there before too long. But be, because, you know, you're not in Fort Collins yet, but That's okay. Everybody in Fort Collins has heard of me in Loveland and in Johnstown and in Bertha and in, you know, a lot of places where you have a, the majority of your screens, I'm not famous. And so we'll make you famous. Yeah. And we can advertise the podcast, we can advertise local think tank. You know, we can help people become aware that we exist. And that's, that's really the benefit here, is what, what we'd like to do with our, with new clients is we want to first introduce them to the community. You know, it's not about, Hey, go buy this. Learn who we are, what do we, what, what makes us special in the, so it's all educational, right? There's, there's whether there's sports, there's, Hey, did you know this business does this thing? That's exactly, you might not have known that before. So it's funny you say that. A gal that works for us, she was actually looking at one of our screens for a good 15, 20 minutes and actually asked my business partner, Dan, where are the ads? She didn't, she didn't see any of the ads because they don't feel like ads. We want to deliver the content and information in a way that's informative. Yeah, yeah. You know, because, let's be honest, whether we're listening to music or trying to watch a TV show, it, they, they feel aggressive of, Hey, yeah, it's, it's dinnertime. It's out. Call us right now. We don't wanna do that. Well, I've got a good instinct about it. I, I, I've, as a banker, I was, I was about, I don't know, probably about 95 and two in terms of my win loss records on startup financing. And not that you're looking for financing or whatever, but like I can spot a winner when I see it in terms of a product market fit and somebody that's willing to do the work to make it persevere and get sustainable. Um, you know, in your case it's a lot of upfront investments. Gotta buy a bunch of expensive TVs and they should last quite a while, you know? So if you can get that numbers up and, and get it be a place where the cool kids are advertising there regularly, then gosh, the, the, the operating leverage is huge. Do you wanna be our salesman? I probably should. I could write your emails. There you go. That's, I mean, you, you nailed it. And, and that's the thing for us is there's. I wouldn't say direct competition, but there is a little bit of competition out there. But what they're doing is they're just plugging devices into regular consumer grade TVs that are not built or designed for this. Mm-hmm. And so they fail, they burn out. Right. Our screens, I mean, there's a few locations we've put'em in next to more traditional screens. And, and I, I kind of feel bad because yours look so much nicer. It looks like all these screens are dying. Oh, maybe you should get into a side hustle of just selling new screens for people to, it's, it's not a bad idea. I mean, we, and the reason I assume you got some bulk volume buying opportunities and things like that. Oh yeah. Hookup, insider hookups from Best Buy, stuff like that. We, we, we do use the absolute best, uh, hardware. And that's, that's really what what's key for us is setting the infrastructure. Right. Because. I, I've been an advertiser myself as far as print or whatever. I want to know that whatever channel I'm using, I'm getting the best. Yeah. And that's what we've done. And I, what's incredible is we've got host locations that ask, well, do I have to turn this on? What do I, what's my commitment? Yeah, absolutely. Zero. Our, we, we run such powerful equipment that it turns on. It's supposed to, it turns off when it's supposed to. It will actually notify us if it senses a problem. Hmm. Well that's awesome. Well, good luck on that. I really think there's a lot of opportunity there and, uh, you know, if I had more money, I could be one of those investors potentially, but instead I'll probably just be a buyer first. So. All right. Um, anything like if you were gonna, cause it's been not a long journey for you, I guess about six, seven years, six and a half years probably, since you really had your start in entrepreneurism, um, what would be one or two of the key lessons that, uh, you've come away with, whether you've learned them in an instant or beat your head against that problem for a while and then finally, Always, always, always find a mentor. Hmm. You always need a mentor. Always, always bounce concepts, ideas off of someone who's been there, who's done that. Yeah. That would be it. Trust me, it's gonna save you stress and a lot of money. Well, and you're an idea generator it sounds like, and so you probably have the condition like me, where at least half of my ideas are really either not doable or not prudent right now. I, I would agree with that. Maybe three quarters. Right. But that's, that's where I think loco really comes into the picture for sure. Is, is working with people that, that know that have been there and done that. Because in hindsight, there are so many decisions that I made that I, like you said, it wasn't the right time, it was too expensive. I didn't have the right perspective on it. Yeah. And so by being able to ask other people, What channels to, uh, uh, how to approach it and looking at it different from a different perspective than you. Yeah. Oh man. If I could do things over, yeah. For those listening, this is a pre consummation of Chris becoming a member of local Think Tank as well, so we'll see. That's right. How that conversation goes. But, but I'd like to say, uh, you know, it's nice to learn from other people's mistakes sometimes instead of just your own. And most of us that have made those mistakes, we want to share that. Oh yeah. I don't want anyone to go through what I want. Well, that's why people join Loco Think Tank is to be helped a lot of times, but why they stay is the joy that they feel when they've helped somebody else avoid the same dumb ass mistake that they made twice, you know, or whatever. I completely agree that that would be really one of the biggest things is to always have a mentor, uh, and, and to, to really put them to use. I mean, yeah, I had a gentleman just over the weekend. Uh, reach out to me that I have a lot of respect for. He's offering to mentor me. Nice. And what was interesting is he, he offered it to me through my business partner to make sure he didn't hurt my feelings. And I said, well, maybe you don't know me that well. I will always be a student. Yeah. Fair. That's awesome. Yeah. Um, what, uh, what do you hope happens next for Buzz screen? Sounds like you want to go to a significant expansion with, uh, a lot more hardware and geographic expansion. So we are, we're currently interviewing a couple of, uh, investors that have, that have seen what we're doing. They understand that with our model, it's an upfront investment from that infrastructure standpoint, but after that, right. From their perspective, it, it, it gets very good. Yeah. Um, so that would really be the next steps for us as far is, is finding those new investors or. Securing the ones that we're talking to and expanding across the state. And just before I came in, I was, uh, working on a spreadsheet. We're looking at all, all the states across the country and figuring out what the demand is, what the potential is. Yeah. Um, and being able to put numbers to that. Wow. So you wanna go big? Oh, the US is just the start. Well, uh, God's speed. I hope you can, uh, pursue some of those dreams and make'em happen. Um, are you ready for the closing segments? Sure. Yeah. So, uh, faith, family and politics, we always talk about all three. Um, do you know where you prefer to start in that? Let's start with family. Okay. I think that's gonna lay the, the foundation for, for the rest. Yeah. Fair. Um, so you've talked about, um, your dad and your, your family and, and that background, um, as well as, I'm sorry, I misplaced your wife's name. Rachel. Rachel. Yeah. Um, and your daughter? Grace. Grace. Um, W we might as well just start with the hardest question in the family segment. Uh, do you have a one word description for grace and can you describe her a little bit beyond that too? Boy, that one word description. That's tough. One word baby, to be honest with you. And I'll explain why the word would be grace. Hmm. Um, sorry, I be just emotional about it. My, my daughter is, is everything to me. What I didn't share earlier, um, about my childhood is I was an abused kid. Hmm. And, um, that, that, that has had a, a huge impact on No, actually it wasn't. And, and that's where, that's why I wasn't quite sure how to word that. Yeah. It wasn't, it wasn't my father. Uh, there, there's, there's a lot of family history there. Uh, my father was a golden gloves champion boxer. Oh wow. Um, As far as what happened between my parents when I was little, I don't know. Um, I know my father would be a very gentle man. Um, I understand My mom was a single parent with three kids. Mm-hmm. My, my, it wasn't, my father wasn't a criminal, it was nothing along those lines. Ultimately, it was claims for my mother that caused Oh, wow. Her family to ask my father to leave. Wow. And my mom, I understand, doesn't justify it, but she was under stress all the time with three kids trying to keep a roof over her head. Food on the table. Sure. Uh, but regardless, I was an abused kid and that's why I wanted to kind of set the foundation from family first. Yeah. Um, my daughter, when my wife and I were talking about names and everything else, I grew up in a, despite the abuse, I grew up in a Christian non-denominational home. Okay. Uh, church, I'll say. And, um, when we were talking about names, And I, I said, well, how about the name Grace? My wife realized very quickly I was not willing to shift on that. So if we have kid number two, I will have no say in that name. I am sure. Fair enough. But the reason I love the name Grace and it suits her so well, is I've been shown so much grace in my life. And, and that's one thing, um, maybe it comes off as selfish, I don't know. But it, it reminds me, despite my upbringing, um, that I need to be very aware of the grace I've been shown. Hmm. And to show that to my daughter. Yeah. Um, because I've had conversations with my mom that she doesn't understand what that abuse has done to me as an adult and how that impacts me. And how I have to work every day to make sure I don't continue that. Yeah. Cycle. Yeah. And it was fortunately one cycle because I know she was not abused. Yeah. And so it's, it's important to, for me to make sure that my daughter has a real childhood. Well, and you know, you were just talking about being suicidal not too many years before she was born and, you know, and so even that grace of her own existence, uh, and having loving parents that are, you know, raising her together and committed. So, um, how old is she now? She's three and a half. Okay. And, and again, it's, it's incredible. And, and one of the things, as you were saying, you know, having parents that are raising her together, that are, that are loving and, and do care for her and provide it, it's difficult, uh, to explain this, but I told my wife, I said, there are times, and I'm sure that. She, she notices it when I almost seem out of body when I'm watching my daughter run around the house and play, because I don't know what that, that freedom and that security is like knowing that I can play and scream and make noise and whatever else, and not get in trouble. Yeah. And so it's, it's, it's interesting for me watching my daughter Grace, live life to the fullest. Yeah. And I don't know what that's like Yeah. At least as a child. Well, and you know, it's even like your dad never knew that either. Right. That's, that's a good point actually. I've never looked at it from that perspective. Yeah. Um, what, uh, is, is your wife a, a stay-at-home mom right now or does she have her own pursuits? Uh, it's a 50 50, uh, a little bit here and there. We we're both. Uh, entrepreneurs. So, okay, so she's a photographer. She owns Lumen Creative. Oh, okay. Um, she does, uh, branding photography for, for businesses and social media management. Oh, great. Did she do all your branding for Pliny Wellness and stuff like that? She's done a lot of it. That's the truth is it'd be, uh, probably some what would look like warehouse shelving and products if it were up to me. She makes you look pretty. That's right. I, I will apologize in advance. We have a lot of fake plants in the store. That's because I can't keep them alive. Yeah. Uh, if my wife were in the store a bit more, we'd have live plants that, uh, that money tree behind you. I, I had a windowless office for two full years and it was only like 16 inches tall. And then I moved into another office that had finally had sun and it sprung up to a six footer. And Well, what you're pointing out is, is I don't have an excuse. I've got so much daylight. You do light in my star. I was store. It's beautiful in there. Well, if I, if you weren't so far away from me, I would offer beer. Your plant tender. But, uh, and it is healthy by the way. You would love the feeling of. Real oxygen generators in your building. So, uh, I think you've convinced me. I'm gonna have to figure it out and, and schedule it on my out calendar. Figure out. We could just get you plants that are very drought resistant and over water resistant. That's perfect. Tell me what they are. I'll get'em. You stick your finger in there and feel how, what the dirt is before you put more on. That's, that's the secret. The, the, the one we just from some people that, that we work with. We do have a few live plants, but one of the things that I do have from my father, he passed in in 2018 is his piece, Lilly. Oh. Those things that's great. Are resilient. They are resilient. They could look like dog crap and you give them some attention for two months in, they're like beautiful again. That's exactly right. That's the one plant I've been able to keep alive. Good job. Good job. That could be a long timer for you. Yeah. Um, what are you guys thinking about, uh, having another one? You're still young enough that's, uh, for a little while. Not my business. I have to be careful. Um, we don't know. Let's, you're down. I, I, I do like the idea of another one. Yeah. Um, but the truth of the matter is just the way everything's been over the last few years, we want to make sure that we have a, a very stable Yeah. Foundation right before we commit to, you guys are both building, you're building something new as well as the existing. So yeah. I feel ya. It's, uh, the challenge. This might get me in trouble, but my wife and I we're gonna circle back around and have a conversation at the end of this year. All right. Towards the end of you. Well, Rachel, I, you know, for what it's worth, uh, the kids are good. Right. So, uh, anything else in that sphere of family sounds like you've had, even though there were some challenges, you know, here and there, you've also have had extended family that loved on you and took you on adventures and different things like that and guided you in the medical areas and Yeah, that's, I've, I've been, I've been very fortunate. I had, I've, I've had a lot of good people throughout the years that have been able to, Guide me and show me what is normal versus what is what, what was normal for, for me in my house. Yeah. Show me what that, that's not normal. That's not Okay. Uh, that have really been there as mentors for me. Um, and, and I'm very humble about it. You know, my business partner Dan, he's a very, very good man. He's got an incredible relationship with his family. I'm not afraid to call him Yeah. At all hours of the night. Trust me, I've done it where I'm frustrated with my daughter or even, even from a marriage standpoint of saying, look man to man, what do I do here? I don't know what to do. Yeah. And I think, uh, collectively, whether it be family, kids, I think if more people are willing to just reach out and ask for help, one of the smartest things you can ever say is, I don't know what to do. And that's, and that's what's great is we, we all need that person. But for me, Dan is that person. I know he's not gonna judge, but he's just there in a very loving way to say, Hey. Maybe try this. So, uh, when we first met and I walked into your store, uh, the first thing I noticed was, uh, that you had a great smile and seemed really friendly. And then I noticed you were a black fellow too, which we don't have that many of here. Is your family are, are both your parents black? No, actually mixed, mixed race. My, my father's, my father was black. My mom is white. Okay. Um, I just real quick, uh, uh Sure. A client that was in the store a number of years ago, my wife was in a back office. She couldn't be seen from the sales floor. Yeah. A gal came in, uh, long story short, she's from North Dakota, grew up most of her life in North Dakota. Okay. Left North Dakota. Went to a store and if you're Norwegian, you should know what LEA is. Oh yeah. Well I'm from North Dakota. Okay. So I've eaten a lot of Lea That's right. So, you know what Lea is? She, she went to a store and, and saw this huge display and thought it was all this lesa. Typically you don't find a lot of lesa anywhere. Right. It's, it's difficult to make. It looks a lot like tortillas though. It looks like tortillas. That's right. And this gal was so excited because she thought it was all left side. Someone said, what's Lesa? Those are tortillas. And she didn't know what it was. And I hadn't told her I was Norwegian at this point. She was just telling me this story. And I started laughing. She said, you know what Lesa is? I said, well, yeah, I'm Norwegian. And she looked me up and down. That's it. That's awesome. You're the most exotic Norwegian I've ever met. And I could hear my wife doing everything she could to, to, to not laugh out loud, uh, in this back office. And wonderful customer. We, we have a great relationship. Um, she ended up leaving and my wife just laughed and laugh. I have five half sisters. Oh, wow. All of which have their own kids. Oh, wow. Some of which have their own kids now. Oh wow. So my wife. With a sense of humor. She has, she decided to tell all of them that I'm super exotic, super exotic Norwegian. Right. So now when I get emails or text messages or, or cards from my family, they all say to the most exotic, Chris Cox. That's awesome. So, um, was that, cuz I'm from North Dakota too. Like we, we, we had like four black people in North North Dakota when I was growing up and we've got like 15 in Fort Collins, so I've only met four of'em so far. Right. Um, but like what was that like in, in Minneapolis? I assume it was probably a nothing burger. It was, it was really, it was really a nothing burger. And for me, my father Oh, over growing up, I mean, was sometimes he was, he lived in Alabama other times. He was in Minnesota. So he was gone. Much of your growing up years? Uh, yeah. I mean he was, he was working and, and building things. Um, but for me specifically, I grew up with my mom on my mom's side of the family. Right. And so race has never really been much of an issue for me. I've never, I guess I've really never not think about within the family. But how about within the, the schools and things, or not necessarily for me personally in this, probably more of a personal, yeah. I'm just curious really, your experience. Yeah. I, I've had, I've been, I've noticed some differences, but I don't let it get to me because of my godmother. Her name is June. She ran a daycare for 40 plus years. Wonderful, wonderful lady. And she, she instilled a lot of things in me and she said, look, she said, how you respond, how someone responds to you is out of your control. Hmm. The one thing you can control is how you respond. I like it. And she, she always hold me very accountable to that. Um, and the truth is, yes, I've been mistreated. I've, I've had different experiences. Yeah. But what's interesting is it's, and this kind of starts moving over into the political stuff, um, There have been experiences where people judge me or make assumptions about me based on the, the color of my skin without any knowledge of my thought process. Sure. My background, what I do, and that's where it gets very, very difficult. Yeah, that's fair. So that's fair. I, I've had a great experience here in northern Colorado and Yeah, it was, I was my, where I went next, like has it been, is your wife white, black, so Asian? Good question. Um, in general, my, my wife is, is white. Okay. Um, but she's actually Filipino. Oh, okay. I mean, just, um, she, she looks white. Um, her mom is, is white. Her father is Filipino, but he's that. Uh, I don't, I don't recall what Dwayne the Rock Johnson is. Oh, he's a Filipino background too. I, something like that. But he's just a big guy. Yeah. Yeah. That's essentially my wife's dad. Oh, is that right? He's a really, really big guy. Interesting. He's, he's almost so more like Samoan, Filipino, something like, there you go. He's something like that. Um, he's one of those guys that he, he doesn't even realize how strong he is. I mean, he's, he's a big guy. Um, my wife is actually Filipino as well, and I will tell you guys this, I hope it doesn't get me in trouble with my wife. Um, there's a new movie out, um, and it's a, it's an adventure and I can't recall who's in it, but they start talking about Magellan. Okay. Apparently my wife learned through some ancestors on her father's side. Apparently it's her ancestors that killed Magellan on the beach. Oh no shit. Hell, you know, it's pretty, I think that's a prideful thing a little bit. I don't know. Well, I, I don't know. I mean, look, I'm married to now. I love my wife very, very much. I'm just saying we're watching this movie and out of nowhere she pauses it cuz they'd mentioned Magellan. She goes, oh yeah, hey, by the way, I learned that my family, so they eliminated Magellan and I sat there kind of in shock, like, really not, you're telling me this now, you could have told me this before the wedding. Like, what did I marry into? Well, you know, and I shouldn't probably give credit for killing of people and stuff. Sure, sure. But like, if you, when I think about Cortez and the Conors and different things like that, like they were, they were real son of a bitches. Right. You know, all across South America and Central America and, and whatever. So whatever I, I'm not just about, I'm just saying maybe Magella was cooler learning that all of a sudden. Caused me to question a few decisions in my life. Fair enough, fair enough. Um, well let's move into politics Sure. A little bit more. Um, how should things be better? Uh, that's a big question, but where are we at in the world? We got, you know, a week ago or so, uh, uh, orange Man was indicted for a bunch of inappropriate payments apparently, and things like that. It's, uh, yeah, considering I'm not a lawyer, I, I, I'll, I'm gonna stay away from that just cuz I, I don't, I don't know. I don't wanna say something wrong. So that's the national stage anyway, and it seems like they're just playing, uh, I think a lot of, gotcha. Exactly. I think a lot of things, things right now are politicized that, that really shouldn't, that just shouldn't be across the board. I'm not justifying paying someone off or, or what, whatever it may be. Right, right. But specifically one thing I would like to talk on is, is children, you know. Okay. Children should not be ponds, I mean, Hmm. Speaking for myself between my parents, I was pawn. Yeah. And that just isn't acceptable. Even my wife and I because of, you know, family dynamics on her side. When we started dating and started discussing marriage, we even had that discussion that if for any reason we are having issues, whatever else, our children are not to be a pun. Yeah. Because we, we both went through that. Yeah. Um, and so it's just one of those things. But as far as politics go, and you'd asked about, you know, me being black, um, it's, it's, it's frustrating because in, for myself, I believe everyone should have their own view and, uh, that's quite often built based on their life experiences. Sure. As they've gone through and it doesn't make them wrong. Yeah. In my opinion, what, where, where someone is crossing the line, whether left, right or center, it doesn't matter, is when you start telling someone they're wrong. I think we need to spend more time listening. Then shouting at each other. Hmm. Because years ago I was talking to a gal I worked with and she, and I did not agree politically on anything. Call it God, call it the universe, call it whatever you want. Something told me to just shut up. Okay. Just ask her what her views are and stop talking. And I asked her, and it was incredible. I didn't say a word. And she went on telling me about her childhood, what had happened, how, uh, how the, the state, the government had provided for her and how she got through. Mm. Mm-hmm. And it was a wake up call for me. Like just, yeah. And you're like, uh, yeah. You can't dispute that. Totally. You know, it's someone else's life experience. And I think if we take the time to listen to one another, you don't have to agree with them. Well, I think it's only natural that we would have different values. Right. I was just out in San Francisco with a, a very progressive liberal friend that I've known for 20 years, and, uh, she was talking about how. Basically she was making the claim that, you know, San Francisco having like a ban on all plastic straws was like the right thing for everybody. And uh, and it was started to be sparked by Jill going this fucking paper straw, these things suck you, you can sip it for a little bit, that it collapses and that you don't really have a straw anymore. You gotta drink it for the cup. And I was like, you know, really Laura? Like, we just took a boat ride on this amazing bay here and we're on the ocean. And you know, San Francisco has got enough wealth in all this surrounding region and enough invested to keep that bay amazingly spotlessly clean and, and they can tolerate crappy paper straws that cost 10 times as much because of it in North Dakota. Like the chances of a, of a straw in North Dakota, making it to the ocean in, in California, if it's thrown away properly Right. Is like almost zero. And so why should they have to pay 10 times as much to have a crappier product? And I You don't lead the way. Yeah. And recognize that North Dakota don't wanna buy no paper straws. And and I, and I agree with you and, and you know, as I tell people, look, I would never chain myself to a tree. You know, I, I understand the economics of it, of needing lumber and how, how all that translates. But at the end of the day, we do need to take better care of our environment. Yeah. I'm fully on board with that. But we need to stop with these quick shifts and adjustments of, hey, let's, let's buy these electric vehicles. You might wanna look at the foundation and the infrastructure needed to support that first. Oh, can the grid handle that? Right. Well, and I heard parking garages now too, like if you fill parking garages up with all these. Heavy electric battery cars, they're not gonna be he strong enough. Oh, that's interesting. I know because like a small electric car weighs twice as much as a small gas powered car. It's, it's thinking the stuff through that, you know, I I the unintended consequences of, one of the ways I like to rephrase the, the politics question sometimes is to go instead of left, right, go authoritarian, libertarian, you know, are you the kind of person that would like to see most people just take care of their own business and have a very, uh, small thing? Or do you want to be told what to do if you're gonna ask it that way? I'd say libertarian. I, I'm, I'm of the belief that people can make decisions for themselves. We don't need to be told what to do. And, and that, that goes across so many different, um, so many different categories and subjects. Mm-hmm. That, that, especially over the last few years, but, Most small business owners are doing things right, and, and we've got this there seems Yeah. They have an intention to maintain their reputation to Absolutely. And, and give back. I mean, and genuinely totally take care of people, but we've got so many young people that are of this polita. If you own a business, you're taking advantage of your employees. Right. Try, come on, come on around the counter. You start, lemme show you the other side. Yeah. You know, and what this actually takes, I mean, you know, for, for a very, very long time, and even still to a degree, I take care of, excuse me, let me rephrase that. So as a small business owner, my wife and I could barely put food on the table for years because we're taking care of our employees and as the business grows, we're able to provide a little bit better for ourselves as well. But we always made sure our employees got paid first. There were many, many times that we didn't get a paycheck. Sure. And that's what people don't seem to understand. There's a difference, and I'm not saying go after the large corporations, but there's a difference between a small. Family owned business and a large corporation for sure. You know, and, and they seem to be demonizing everybody and that capitalism is a bad thing. Capitalism, just like any other ism has its problems. Right. Well, and most small business people aren't really capitalists. They're, they're merchants, you know, cuz the capitalists have a lot of capital. That's a very good point. You know, if you've got a ton of capital, if you've got$20 million, you can just buy three apartment buildings and have plenty of cash flow. Know that's 20 million, I'd be out fishing today. Right. Something else other than this. Yeah. Right. Right. But that's when, when, when, when capital really makes a difference, is just by having it, you know, you could just kind of make returns. And, and I, I, I can't speak for every business owner, but one thing that I've learned as a small business owner is there's feast and famine. Sometimes you've got a little extra for food, sometimes you have a hard time putting food on the table. Yeah. But the, at the end of the day, I like the freedom and flexibility to be able to manage my schedule a little bit more. Mm-hmm. And that's why I keep doing it, cuz the truth is, some days it'd be easier just to go get a job. Sure. And you'd probably make more money. Oh, I can tell you I would. Fair enough. Um, anything else in the space of politics that you'd like to spend time on? Um, we've got like the local minimum wage laws coming up for consideration here in Fort Collins. I don't know if you saw that on the radar, but Yeah. We're no, what are, what are they saying in Fort Collins? Uh, they wanna do like a, a li like a 15 to$17 local minimum wage. Um, because it just costs more to live in Fort Collins. And so, to which, you know, the chamber, I read their article response yesterday, which was basically, you know, that sounds really good, but then all the$19 an hour people want 21 and all the 20.$1 people want 24. And it just, there isn't, we can't raise prices. More. Inflation's already bad. And so, right. Do you want us to lay people off? And that's, that's the thing is it's, it's a cascading effect. You know, I, being really blunt, you know, I, I took an employee from I think 14 hour to 18 an hour mm-hmm. Years ago. And, and I'm glad I was able to do that. Um, but in hindsight, the expectation kept becoming more and more and more Right. And more Right. Without them looking behind the curtain and understanding what are my costs well in the marketplace has to factor in. I actually just had a conversation with a friend who parted ways with a fairly, you know, maybe a five or seven, probably a seven year fairly key employee. Mm-hmm. Um, and this person is probably gonna get, find a job for 50 or 55,000 on the open marketplace and was being paid well over 70. Right. And now, uh, they're gonna have a hard time. Matching their income. And so I was like, you know, although I appreciate that you were being generous with your employee and things like that, like in a way it's kind of mean because now you kind of set her up to have to take a much lower standard of living going forward. And then you're, you're absolutely right. And that's, that was the unintended consequence of what I did as well. Is that right? Is I did it to, to be helpful to, to do what, what I could, I mean, you know, one day I walked outta my office and, and my employer was looking at a, a, uh, a paddle board, right. And, you know, I was gonna give her a bonus anyways, but she'd been looking at paddle boards for a while and I said, well, how much is it calculated? The taxes and everything else, and made sure that she could buy her paddle board. And that's the thing is that's what I wanted to do. But the thing is, when the economy shifts, Everyone has to pay for that as well. Right. You know, it's not that I'm gonna not send you your paycheck, but I may not be able to be as generous either. And there's this expectation with these young people of I want more. I want more. All right. Without understanding the actual economics of the business. Fair enough. Um, might as well jump into faith. Sure. Uh, you mentioned you were raised in kind of a non-denominational Christian Church. Yeah. If not household. Yeah. Uh, what has that journey looked like? Is that something that you accepted right from your upbringing, or did you have periods of doubt come back to it? Good, good question. Um, so it, it really set a, a strong foundation for me. Um, I, you know, I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was in fourth grade. I mean, I still remember exactly where I was. Wow. Um, and that was a big deal for me. I mean, it set my morals, my values and, and brought some great people around. Uh, but at the same time, when you ask about challenges or, or questioning it, Uh, when my friend was murdered, uh, ironically, that was in 97. Hmm. And, uh, ironically, my wife, it was, it was literally just over 20 years to the day, uh, when my friend was murdered Wow com relative to when I got married. Um, but something very interesting happened, uh, at that same time. The truth is I had lived quite well for 20 years on hate, anger, rage towards the man who killed my friend. Wow. Um, he ended up getting charged. Um, I, I wouldn't wish it on anybody else, but a fr my friend that was murdered, this gentleman had murdered other people as well. So, personally, the way I feel about it is I didn't get justice for my friend. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I, I just, I don't feel as though that was, that was justice. Hmm. Uh, the man served his time. He was let out and my mom. When I lived in, uh, Southern California, she was visiting and she saw a name and address on a post-it note on my desk. Oh, shit. She knew what it was. Um, and she, she said, why do you have that? I said, I don't know. I honestly didn't know why I had it or what I was gonna do with it. Hmm. Uh, fortunately I did end up disposing of it. Yeah. And not, not reacting to it, but, well, and forgiveness wasn't soaked throughout your person, at least in that space. You, you're absolutely right. And that's, that's what's interesting is in 2017, uh, my mother-in-law came out, didn't look at any descriptions. She just happened to grab a movie from Redbox and it was, uh, the Shaq. Hmm. I'd never heard of it. Never read it. Yeah. Never seen it. Started watching it. And if anyone's familiar with it, have you seen it? Are you I have, yeah. I haven't read the book too. So, at the point where Jesus had changed from, I believe, a woman to a man, and he said, today you need a father, and made him confront what was going on. I'll tell you, that was life changing for me. Hmm. Um, I was watching it and I, I, as it kind of got to that part of the movie, I, I didn't like where it was going. Yeah. Because I truly felt so, God was just, I was taking your head on a little bit, the TV of saying, I'm talking to you. Yeah. Right now, today. And what happened is, I got up, I walked out, I couldn't finish the movie I called. Wow. At the time, Dan wasn't my business partner, but I called my one out to my garage. And I, stan, I, I don't understand why this movie truly feels like God just pointing at me saying, we're gonna deal with this now. And we had a very long conversation, uh, around forgiveness and, um, whether or not I truly believe God's gonna deal with it. Hmm. Uh, so that was life changing for me. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, he says it pretty clearly, you know, he is like, vengeance is not yours. It's mine. So it's, it's interesting you say that. Dan asked me, he said, if we just call it the bat of Wrath. Yeah. He said, if I handed that to you, what would you do to this man? I said, I'd destroy him. Yeah. He said, if you handed it back to God, then what? I said, it doesn't look like I did anything. He said, you need to keep that in mind. He said, you, you're literally drinking the poison. Yeah. Hoping it kills him. So I had anger and that rage, and that was in 2017. I'm still trying to, trying to get through all of this and, and truly forgive the man. But the truth is, at the end of the day, me holding that this anger and this rage isn't going to change anything for him. Yeah, true. It's only gonna impact me, so I'm, I'm getting there. Yeah, it's, it's one of the few things as far as forgiveness I've had on, we'll talk more about it on our mushroom trip. Good call. Um, if there's, cuz we just passed Easter was just, you know, two days ago, um, obviously a very significant holiday for Christians and those who call upon that salvation. Um, I think at the time of the season when a lot of people at least reflect, you know, a lot of people try to just keep God in a little box that. They don't pay attention too much, but sometimes they're challenge on when it's convenient. Yeah. Yeah. Or not at all. Sure. You know? But if there's somebody like chewing on faith or even chewing on unforgiveness in their life, what would you say to that person? Whew. Um, chewing on, do you mind going a little, just ask a little bit. Yeah. I mean, just, you and I both know a lot of people that don't know Christ at all, right. But that know of him and have been wondering, you know, for me, grace, when you mentioned Grace, that was really my first, I had, I had a religious studies major in college, and I went to a church, kind of, but not one where they shared the good news, if you will. Right. And so I, I knew all the different, like, you know, prayers and meditations and different, not, not specifically, but I knew of the different kind of faith backgrounds. But Christianity is separated by grace. You know, it's God's grace, not our works or our sacrifices or our activities, even to a certain extent. I mean, theoretically you can kill somebody and then come to faith an hour later and be good. And a lot of religions can't abide by that. And that's, that's very, even, even for Christians, I mean, that's hard. Hard for sure hard to, to, to reconcile. Uh, but what's interesting is, in the conversation I had with Dan, I think that evening and multiple times since, um, is he said, look, he said, it's, it's a simple gift. It's a gift that's been pr that's been given. All you have to do is accept it. He said, Chris, if you were dying, and I walked from here down to the Amazon jungle, climbed a mountain and picked a single flower and walked all the way back here barefoot, dealing with Jaguars and just every potential risk between here and there and back. Yeah. Yeah. And I brought it to your door and offered you a gift. Would you reject that? I said, well, no, I wouldn't. He said, and it's not, it's not a direct comparison. Yeah, yeah. The truth of the matter is, you, you don't have to accept the gift, but Jesus, Jesus did this for you. He already walked, he paid the price. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and another analogy he had used, he said, if you're in court and there's a fine that needs to be paid, it doesn't have to be your money, anyone in that courtroom can jump up and say, I'll pay it. Yeah. And all, all that has to be done is I have to accept it. And Jesus paid that price for us. And, and I, I do accept it for those that are looking, what I, what I perceive in society right now is that is got Jesus being put out there as judgmental. Mm-hmm. That everything you do is being judged. And Dan and I, we, we tend to spend time looking at, um, people's experiences essentially when they die and, and come back. And it's very, very interesting. Some of'em, one in particular, um, I say one, but a bunch come to mind. Um, it's, it's very interesting. One person in particular, I believe this gentleman served in the military. He was walking, uh, he, he had died and found himself walking next to what he described as an angel. And he was nervous because he was stepping on the grass. He said, in the military, you don't walk on the grass. Mm-hmm. So he quickly looked behind him and was relieved to see that the grass hadn't been pushed down behind him. Mm-hmm. Uh, but he was asking questions and uh, apparently he'd walked with his angel then was talking to Jesus and said, why, why me? Just understanding how imperfect he was at, he was a sinner. Yep. And Jesus said, you clearly haven't spent enough time reading my book, essentially. Yeah. Um, of saying, you have accepted the gift that, that I gave you, and you've been washed, clean, clean as snow. I can't see your sin. But that doesn't mean, in my opinion, that doesn't mean we're not going to. Face judgment, we are all sinners. Hmm. But if you've accepted the gift and the salvation that Jesus has given to us, it's that simple. And, you know, I've got, um, people around me, uh, that, that think it's about being a good person. Sure. It can be a good person all day long, but we are all imperfect. Yeah. It's just that simple. Well, I think the, the societal challenges and the disagreement over what the right values are and things like that is, you know, somebody's quote is, you know, there's a, there's a God sized hole in people's hearts, you know, because they don't have that there. And, um, so yeah, I, you know, I think that's, uh, key to be considered for anybody. I would agree. I, I, I don't exactly understand what has happened over the years as far as. Faith. I mean, I grew up in a Christian non-denominational church, but I went to Catholic school. Oh, you did? Boy, is that a difference? I bet It was interesting. That was like your seventh through nine years there. Uh, correct. It's a private school. I know. Yeah. 7, 7 89. Yeah. So that's right. Seventh, 7 89. Um, you know what, in seventh grade, my first year, I was really shocked. I got home one day and, uh, I was in big trouble with my mom. She was furious. Mm. Saying that I was disruptive in class and that just wasn't me. So I'm panicking, trying to understand what is she referring to. She got a call from the school that, that I was disruptive. Yeah. And we'll come to find out, it was, uh, I won't use a name, but it was one of the sisters Okay. Uh, that had called and said I was disruptive in class and I was panicking again, trying to figure out what I did. I said, no, I was asking questions. My mom quickly thought about it, said, oh, okay. All right. You can ask all the questions you want. And essentially told me to not worry about my, my grades. Mm. In religion class going through Catholic school. And again, I wasn't trying to be disruptive or, or create problems. Yeah. What they were. But you had been taught different. Right. I was trying to understand, and what I ended up learning, um, relatively speaking is in the Catholic Church, from my experience, you don't ask questions you are told. And that's where I've even my transcripts from, from my school years, um, I've had friends ask, how in the world did you get such low grades in religion? You'd think that'd be a straight A class said, honestly, because I was trying to understand, I was raised to ask questions. Yeah. I was trying to understand. Uh, but there was something else that came up. And you'd asked about race as well. Yeah. In eighth grade, I was called down to the parish because the, the church was in the school, um, along with about six or seven other students. Okay. I did notice, and again, I wasn't raised to see race. But I did notice it was all the students, about eight, eight of us or so, all the students that were not white. Right. We had been called down and apparently, if I remember correctly, the parishioners had brought up an issue and they didn't want us taking part in the sacrament, I believe, or communion. Yeah. My church didn't want us taking part in it if we were not, uh, direct members of the church. Well, a lot of the students there I know did not attend. Right. That, that church. Right. But I found it very interesting and, and at the time I just kind of brushed it off like, okay, no big deal. My, I know my church would never say that. My church is very clear of if you understand what it is, you are more than welcome to join us. Yeah. Um, but in hindsight and kind of looking at where society's at and we're talking about race and all this stuff, well, that's kind of a big issue. And, and again, I wouldn't do it to cancel anyone or anything else. Sure. What's a discussion that needs to be had? Yeah. Why all of a sudden were we called down? Were they hiding you? What do you mean? What do you mean? Were they hiding you from other parishioners or something like that? Like they had this private school and we let anybody come, but we'll hide the Hispanics and the blacks when the Well, they just wanted us to just stay in the pew. Yeah. I mean, we still had to attempt, you know, church or mass or whatever Oh, right. When it was going on during school. But we were not supposed to take part in what I would call communion. Yeah, yeah. So, and it interesting. It was just, it was, yeah. And in general, when I've tried to talk to Catholics about it, some are very, oh my gosh, I've, I've heard that before, or whatever else. And others are like, there's no way that happened. Well, I mean, yeah. I, I, I'm not out to defame anybody, it's just I remember it. I, I was there. Yeah. Um, we always close with the loco experience. Oh gosh. Your crazy experience from your lifetime that you're willing to share? Craziest, if you're willing. Um, to be honest with you, I, that, that's been a challenge. So I talked to Dan, he, he recommended something. Okay. He actually recorded it, uh, cuz he liked the story so much. Okay. So And do you agree it? Yeah, it, it's, it's pretty good. Okay. Alright. Let's hear it. So, I actually tried calling my buddy Jake three times on my way up here. We wor both work a lot so he can be hard to reach just to make sure he is okay that I told the story. Okay. Couldn't reach him. I'm gonna tell it anyways. Okay. So, my buddy Jake, we grew up in church together. We're very, very close. Uh, really more like brothers at the same time. Jake's a drinker. Okay. He, he likes to drink. Um, he got married in 2015, um, okay. I believe it was March, end of March, 2015 in Minnesota. And, uh, His birthday's in January. So in general, Jake can drink as much beer as he wants. He's fine. When he drinks, throw some whiskeys in there and it, oh, it gets out, out different. Kinda Jake control. Okay, so he went out for his birthday again, I'm here in Colorado. He was out there, and I remember specifically being at Walmart, I was picking up, uh, dish soap, and so I was in the cleaning, the cleaning aisle, okay. When he called and he, he sounded out of sorts. I said, well, Jake, what's going on? Are you okay? He said, yeah, Ashley's really mad, and this is his fiance. I said, well, what'd you do? He said, dude, I got into a lot of trouble. I said, I, he said he went out, he drank two fish bowls. I didn't know what that was. It sounds like a fishbowl with a straw in it to me of some sort. A lot of liquor, right? He drank two of'em, and I'm like, okay, so what happened? He said, well, I got up in the middle of the night and I peed in the closet. Like a lot. I said, well, Jake, that's, that's not good. But with your wedding coming up and me being your best man, I might have to share, share this. And he said, no, no. Please don't. Please don't. I cannot. If my grandmother knows that I keep in the closet, it's a pretty big problem. All right. All right, Jake. Fine. I agree. I like your grandmother. I won't, I won't do that to you. Well, around comes the, we comes the wedding and the bridal party. I mean, everyone, we were specifically asked by his wife not to drink before the ceremony. Okay. For the most part, we did really, really well till right before one of the other grooms might say, Hey, let's, let's go get a drink or two. We probably took two shots. Click fishbowl. Yeah, just a little bit. Two shots. We, the ceremony went great, but as soon as that was over, we started drinking more. I. Probably had a few long Islands. And I do blame Colorado for part of this, right? Because I had just recently moved here about a year or so earlier. I figured I could handle more alcohol than normal, right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that, that wasn't the case. Um, so we start telling, you know, the, the microphone starts getting passed along the table. Oh boy. It goes down the bride side first, then comes down the groom side. Well, Jake has an older brother, he's also a drinker. Um, a few nights before the wedding we'd been out, we had a good time. And I said, Jason, have we, have, we talked about our speech. What are we gonna say? Cause it was kind of a, a co best man thing. Yeah. Fair. And when we're out drinking, he said, oh, Chris, I've already got it. Don't worry about it. I'll get you, you know, we'll figure out in the morning. I asked him the next morning, I said, Jason, what are we gonna say? He said, uh, he said, well, I don't know. I said, you said last night, you know what we're gonna say? He said, I'm an alcoholic. Don't listen to me. Okay. So we're at the wedding, at the wedding party, and. The microphone comes down to me and I start talking about me and Jake's history. We grew up together. We're very close. Everything else that Jake is just one of those guys, he needs a very special bride to put up with him. Ashley is that special person. But then I go on to say, but you know what? Jake screwed up a few weeks ago, but I won't go into the details and everything else. But ultimately, here we are today again, I've had quite a few drinks. Here we are today, and when the alcoholic brother reaches over to take the microphone from me, you know, you screwed up Uhoh. He said, okay, let's take that away. And so as I realized, Oh my God. I said, Jake screwed up, or, here we are still today at the wedding. As the microphone's getting pulled away from my mouth, I, I shouted into it. Oh, he didn't, she. Cause Right, I'm thinking beat the closet, but what did I say is, and it wasn't with a woman as the microphone and it wasn't with a woman. And everyone goes, oh my God. And everyone was just shocked. And, and at that point it just hits you like a ton of bricks. I'm like, oh my God. Oh wait, I just made it that much worse. I just lost one of my best friends. Like, I'm in so much trouble. I was so scared to look to my right. And as I slowly looked down there, as Ashley was laughing, like, okay, well at least Ashley's laughing. And I looked past her and Jake was also laughing like, okay, so I think we're still friends, so that's good. Well, I sat there so nervous as a result of that, like, what's gonna happen? What's the fallout gonna be? Fortunately, everyone else did their speeches. And after, afterwards both Jake actually approached me and said, that was the best, best man speech ever. I said, well, Jake, what about your grandmother? And he said, oh, she came up to me and she asked, she said, Jacob, what did you do? And he said, I just peed in the closet. He goes, oh, thank God. Right. See? And so apparently I just made pee in the closet. Perfectly acceptable. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. As long as he didn't cheat. Yeah. But especially if it wasn't with a woman, you'd wanna know. And so I was, I was really scared. So Jake looked, he, he called everybody from the wedding and no one recorded it. Oh. Not a single person. And so, I mean, I, I was genuinely scared. I thought I was gonna lose my friend over that. Yeah. That's awesome. So, well, um, people are gonna wanna look me up. Sure. Get some C b, D, get some buzz. Screen action. Um, do you wanna give those. Websites, is that the best way to find you? Sure. So, uh, plenty Wellness is Plenty wellness.com, p l e n t y w e l l m e s s.com. And Buzz screens b u z z s c r e e n s.com. And if I may, can I share my cell phone? Sure, yeah, if you want to. So we do a lot of consultations and we really wanna work with people and it truly is a relationship business for us. Um, I can be reached directly at 9 7 0 8 4 4 9 8 0 7 8 4 4 9 8 0 7. You heard it here. Well, hey, Chris, this has been a fun conversation. Thanks for entertaining, uh, sip and tequila with me and, uh, you know, fixing the challenges of small business and, uh, medical issues and emotional issues around the world. Absolutely. You got speed. Thank you.