EXPERIENCE 170 | Cockroach Problem Leads to Launch of a High-Growth National Signing Agency - Autumn Fleck, Founder & CEO of Precision Signing Agency

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A few years into their marriage, Autumn Fleck and her husband Trevor made the decision that they wanted to budget well, save hard, and retire early so they could travel the world and live a life set apart.

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And then one day, she had a cockroach run down her arm.

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And the next day she found a cockroach in her daughter's bed.

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And of course, informed her husband, they needed to call for pest control.

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What are we going to cut from our spend so we can fit that in the budget?

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Was hubby's response.

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I don't know, but we need pest control stat.

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Autumn had been working in the wine industry for years and enjoyed it, but COVID changed her job and industry dramatically, and she had been furloughed to two days a week during the pandemic.

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She took a loan signing course, got her notary public and marketed herself to 50 local real estate mortgage and title offices.

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It was the height of the refinance boom, and in her first month, working three days a week at around 100 per loan closing, she made 10, 000.

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The next month she made 17, 000.

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Pest control budget solved, and wine career officially over.

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Autumn founded Precision Signing Agency in November of 2020, and within 12 months she transformed the business from herself as an independent LSA Loan signing agent to the CEO of a high growth national signing agency.

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In 2023, Autumn and Trevor moved their family to Fort Collins, which she had dreamed of for years.

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And she has continued to grow her client base and HQ team and her network of professional loan signing agents nationwide.

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She's had quite a journey at one point, losing over 50 percent of the revenue overnight, but has grown herself and her company to become one of the fastest growing in our industry.

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She's also smart, sassy, funny, and overall, my kind of people.

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So please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Autumn Fleck.

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Let's have some fun.

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Welcome to the Low Cove Experience podcast.

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On this show, you'll get to know business and community leaders from all around northern Colorado and beyond.

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Our guests share their stories, business stories, life stories, stories of triumph and of tragedy.

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And through it all, you'll be inspired and entertained.

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These conversations are real and raw, and no topics are off limits.

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So pop in a breath mint and get ready to meet our latest guest.

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Welcome back to the local experience podcast.

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My guest today is Autumn Fleck and Autumn is the founder CEO of precision signing agency or PSA for sure.

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For short, that's also short for public service announcement.

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It is just, you know,

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it's on reason for a reason.

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I have a newsletter called my PSA for LSAs.

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LSAs being?

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Loan signing agents.

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Oh, I like it.

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So, thanks for being here.

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Thanks for having me.

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Nice to, uh, have another, like, person coming to this city of choice here in Northern Colorado.

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It is that.

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Because you're about two years in?

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Just a year into your?

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Just a little over a year.

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Okay.

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To be fair.

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I wanted to move here 17 years ago.

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Oh, wow.

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I wish I would have.

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Yeah, certainly would have bought a house then.

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Would you have met your husband?

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Well, I did.

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I met my husband.

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Oh, you already had him.

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Yeah, he's the reason we ended up moving to North Carolina first instead.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Yeah, that's cool.

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So tell our listeners, uh, what does a precision signing agency do?

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Yeah, we, Precision Signing Agency is a nationwide loan signing service.

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So, think of us as a staffing agency for, uh, title companies, escrow, lenders, real estate attorneys.

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Okay.

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We provide the remote notaries across the country for our clients.

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So we service all 50 states and we extend internationally with, uh, RON or Remote Online Notarization.

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Ooh.

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So, basically, if a title company needs to close a loan or whatever, uh, we'll be able They might be short or overvolumed, or they just don't staff that and they can just outsource it instead?

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Correct.

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I like to call it the Amazon effect.

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Everybody wants someone to come to their door in two days or less.

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And so we provide that option.

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And these

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five person title offices are like, we don't really have staffing to like run around the office.

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Well, correct.

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Region.

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Correct.

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And, and some, you know, when people are purchasing a home, a lot of times they might be in the area.

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Sometimes they're moving from out of state, selling homes.

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Most people don't live in those areas, certainly investors.

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And so unless you're actually physically in that particular city, then you've got to use a remote notary in order to close that loan to make sure that it's done properly to prevent fraud.

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So we're providing that opportunity.

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That's where the precision comes in is like not doing it wrong.

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Exactly.

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That is the goal.

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Absolutely.

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What, uh, tell me about your team, like, uh, do you have kind of mostly just people that are, are these remote notary public loan signing agents?

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Is that who your employees are?

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No, so those are our 1099 contractors.

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Oh, okay.

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So none of those work directly for us.

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Well, yes, I end up hiring some of them sometimes to work on our team, our scheduling team directly, but.

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But we're nationwide, we are all remote, and so we're dispersed throughout the US.

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And so I have people that have worked in title, escrow, or as a loan signing agent that are our schedulers.

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And they do the day to day.

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Okay, so you're kind of a logistics company in addition to staffing kind of?

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In a sense, yes.

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Absolutely.

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Making sure that we're making, uh.

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The right decision in choosing which loan signing agent to send out.

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They're not created equally, making sure they're credentialed, making sure that they're going to represent us and our clients in a professional manner.

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They're really high stakes transactions.

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Sometimes the most amount of money, most amount of money most people have ever spent in their life and it can be frustrating and, uh, tedious up until that point.

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And so our goal is to kind of close out the client experience on a positive note.

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And how old is.

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PSA.

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Two and a half years.

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Only two and a half years old.

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Only

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two and a half.

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And you're in like, ten states or eight states or something?

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I forget what you told me.

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We're in all fifty states.

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You're in fifty states.

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Yes.

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How does that grow so fast?

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Like, how do people find you so fast?

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Well, so do you want me to get back into the backstory of how this even started?

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I guess so.

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Yeah, let's do it.

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Let's

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do it.

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That would, that would probably give context of how we, how we grew up.

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Do you want to take us back

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to North Carolina?

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Yeah, we'll go back to North Carolina.

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So, um, I had been in North Carolina On and off for the last 15 years.

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And I had been working in the wine industry.

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Yes.

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Wine.

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Yeah.

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Um, was a really great, fun industry for a long time.

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COVID hit and it started not being so fun.

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Our travel and entertainment budget were cut.

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We weren't allowed to go out and see our accounts anymore.

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Host events.

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And that's really what made it fun.

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And it's really hard to sell wine when you can't actually taste wine at all.

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Well,

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and why do they hire people with great smiles if you've got to be covered with a mask?

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Right.

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Or do all of your, like, meetings via Zoom and it just became I had already started to get a little, I like to call it itchy, a little itchy and ready to, to change and move about the year prior to COVID.

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And so this provided or presented an opportunity to kind of pivot.

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And so I didn't know the year prior exactly what I was going to do and what I remember distinctly telling my husband that I was done.

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He goes, well, what are you going to do?

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I said, I have no idea, but I know that I'm done and I'm going to move on.

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So, I'm going to figure out an exit plan.

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So, fast forward, a few months later, COVID hit.

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Our team was, a vast majority of our team was laid off at the company I was working for.

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And then I was furloughed, like I was only allowed to work two days a week, which is this really weird You had like

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low pay but they kept your benefits in place kind of thing.

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Yeah.

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So,

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Then you had three days a week to work on your business plan or something.

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Well,

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no, I didn't actually have a business plan.

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I actually started with a cockroach.

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Did I tell you that story?

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I

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don't think so.

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We had a short lunch.

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So, um, my husband and I have very different spending habits.

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And this comes into, I promise, I'll go full circle here.

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So, to make both of us more comfortable, we come up with a personal budget every year.

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And so, in that budget, there, obviously, there's sometimes for, you know, there's room for, Right, you got some miscellaneous stuff.

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Right, right.

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However,

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Some contingency.

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Some contingency.

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There was not a contingency for a bug man, and this is important.

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So, I had a cockroach run down my, Arm in the middle of the night

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Okay.

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And I hate cockroaches pretty much more than anything on Earth.

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I know they're not dangerous, but they're just, they're disgusting.

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Yeah.

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No, really don't like them.

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I think they're like the worst one.

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Just about They're so bad

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and they fly.

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I found out hard.

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Right.

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They're huge.

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They, they fly in Africa, well, in other places too, but we lived over in Africa for a bit and they like flew across the room and they're terrifying.

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So, uh, the next day, my daughter at the time was three years old and she had a cockroach in her bed.

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Mm.

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And

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so I came to my husband and I said.

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We need pest control.

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He goes, okay, so what are we going to do to offset that in the budget?

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Or what are you going to do to earn additional money to pay for this?

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I looked at him just with these like devil eyes.

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I was like, are you serious right now?

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And he goes, yeah.

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I said, oh, okay.

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Well, that loan signing course you told me about a couple of years ago, I'll, I'll just take that loan signing course you told me about.

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I'll get my notary public, and I'll just go out and sign some loans.

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He goes, okay, great.

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So I fully intended on doing like two of these.

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Okay.

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So, it was Because you get paid a hundred, a couple hundred bucks.

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You get paid, yeah.

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A hundred, you know, anywhere from fifty to a hundred fifty, depending if you're working direct.

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And so, I got my notary license.

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I went out marketed myself to 50 of the local real estate attorneys in the Raleigh area, and that first month, I made almost 10, 000.

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What?

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Yeah, as a side hustle.

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And

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how many, so that's like Like at a hundred bucks a pop on average, that's what?

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That's like a thousand?

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No, just a hundred.

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A hundred.

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Okay.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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But that's a lot.

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Yeah,

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I was doing a little less than that because I was getting direct work.

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So they pay a little bit more because you're not paying the signing service.

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Sure.

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A fee.

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And so, It was obviously historically low interest rates.

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People were refinancing sometimes for the third time that year, I jumped in.

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And so I kind of jumped in at this like sweet spot.

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And so from then on, it went from 10, 000 to 14, 000 to 17, 000.

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And this was still my side hustle.

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I could tell no one about this.

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I was like living this double life.

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Did you tell your husband?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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He knew about it.

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Okay.

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My, my family.

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But it was still the middle of COVID.

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I was the only person entering these people's homes.

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And in 10 months, I did 1200 loans.

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And so I realized, wow, I'm making more money doing this than at my full time.

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So, um, I'm going to be talking about the benefits of a job.

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And I love it.

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Like, I get to go out and meet people and have these 20, 30 minute conversations and then leave.

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Right.

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You

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know, and they're

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happy because they're buying a house or selling a house.

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Refinancing at this point.

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Refinancing in many cases.

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And getting this

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like 3 percent or sub 3 percent interest rate.

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And so, So, I had finally figured out, like, that out, although I wasn't going to start a nationwide loan signing service.

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I had a completely different business plan that I had put together, completely unrelated to this.

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And I remember calling my mentor, Mark, who, um, started, uh,

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This was just supposed to be like a bridge.

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Yeah, this was just a bridge.

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And so, you know, I had basically made double the income, you know, that I had earned.

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And so, we had this runway where I could do something else.

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Right.

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And so, I called Mark and I said, Mark, this is Halloween weekend, 2021.

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Right.

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2021.

00:11:33.782 --> 00:11:35.152
I said, I have this great idea.

00:11:35.351 --> 00:11:36.451
Here's my business plan.

00:11:36.451 --> 00:11:37.662
And this is what it's about.

00:11:37.841 --> 00:11:41.562
And I'd already created the website and I'd worked a lot of time on this.

00:11:41.562 --> 00:11:43.142
And he goes, no, you're not.

00:11:43.912 --> 00:11:45.772
And I, you know, just, excuse me.

00:11:46.211 --> 00:11:46.981
And who is this?

00:11:47.052 --> 00:11:49.861
So Mark, Mark Wills started the Loan Signing System.

00:11:49.871 --> 00:11:54.101
He's the one I took the course from to learn how to be a great Loan Signings, um, agent.

00:11:54.111 --> 00:11:56.331
So I said, Oh, what?

00:11:56.731 --> 00:11:58.152
You know, it kind of burst my bubble.

00:11:58.221 --> 00:11:59.902
He goes, well, you haven't dug your well deep enough.

00:11:59.922 --> 00:12:00.101
And

00:12:00.101 --> 00:12:02.951
can you share what this other business was going to be?

00:12:02.951 --> 00:12:03.136
Yeah.

00:12:03.287 --> 00:12:03.576
Um.

00:12:03.626 --> 00:12:03.746
Or

00:12:03.746 --> 00:12:04.106
do you?

00:12:04.106 --> 00:12:05.067
Are you still planning to do it someday?

00:12:05.067 --> 00:12:05.187
I

00:12:05.517 --> 00:12:06.466
might do it someday.

00:12:06.496 --> 00:12:09.006
It has to do with wanderlust and financial independence.

00:12:09.006 --> 00:12:09.366
Okay.

00:12:09.427 --> 00:12:14.486
So that's another passion of mine, global travel and reaching financial independence at an earlier age.

00:12:14.496 --> 00:12:14.527
Okay.

00:12:14.527 --> 00:12:15.517
So, uh, yeah.

00:12:15.527 --> 00:12:16.856
I might do are sometimes

00:12:17.157 --> 00:12:18.006
at odds with each other.

00:12:18.017 --> 00:12:18.567
They are.

00:12:18.836 --> 00:12:19.116
Yeah.

00:12:20.126 --> 00:12:23.037
And certainly the way I prefer to travel, uh, absolutely.

00:12:23.476 --> 00:12:23.836
So.

00:12:23.917 --> 00:12:26.496
So Mark's like, rain and water on your parade?

00:12:26.897 --> 00:12:29.576
This is literally a ten minute conversation and he goes, no you're not.

00:12:29.576 --> 00:12:31.136
You haven't dug your well deep enough.

00:12:31.167 --> 00:12:31.897
You are.

00:12:32.312 --> 00:12:34.451
Going to start your own nationwide loan signing service.

00:12:34.871 --> 00:12:34.932
I

00:12:34.932 --> 00:12:36.692
said, Mark, that's not very sexy.

00:12:36.692 --> 00:12:39.292
Like, I don't know if like that's something I really want to do.

00:12:39.292 --> 00:12:40.942
And what do I know about title and escrow?

00:12:41.001 --> 00:12:44.802
He's like, you have all these amazing relationships on a hyper local level.

00:12:45.072 --> 00:12:46.072
Now go back to them.

00:12:46.371 --> 00:12:47.312
You've already gained their trust.

00:12:47.711 --> 00:12:48.392
They love you.

00:12:48.511 --> 00:12:51.091
Go back and tell them you started your own nationwide loan signing service.

00:12:51.091 --> 00:12:52.201
I'm like literally overnight.

00:12:53.192 --> 00:12:53.562
He's like, yeah.

00:12:54.101 --> 00:13:05.572
So, I sat there and I pondered and I decided to get online and start researching logos, come up with a name, created a website, and literally November 1st, I set out and said, hey y'all, guess what?

00:13:05.572 --> 00:13:07.121
I started a nationwide loan signing service.

00:13:07.542 --> 00:13:14.761
And is there like a Craigslist or a Fiverr or something where you can find all these signing agents that?

00:13:15.211 --> 00:13:19.142
Like, if you get a loan signing in Arizona, like, you can actually do it?

00:13:19.182 --> 00:13:26.081
Yeah, so there's a few major platforms, and I use one of the three major platforms, uh, where it's kind of like an aggregator.

00:13:26.081 --> 00:13:34.392
So when people get into the loan signing, when they go through specialized loan signing, uh, they are, uh, Okay.

00:13:34.392 --> 00:13:37.381
And so, they can work with hundreds of signing services.

00:13:37.461 --> 00:13:37.851
Gotcha.

00:13:37.902 --> 00:13:39.701
But they can all find them in one central spot.

00:13:39.701 --> 00:13:40.881
And so, it's great.

00:13:40.892 --> 00:13:47.861
They text out a message as soon as, like, say, we have one in Gilbert, Arizona, and we need it this time on this date, and here's the pay.

00:13:47.881 --> 00:13:49.601
And they can either accept it, reject it, or counteroffer.

00:13:50.547 --> 00:13:54.897
And do they have to, like, upload their certifications or something as part of that, too?

00:13:54.927 --> 00:13:55.177
Yep.

00:13:55.537 --> 00:13:58.246
And then, so we have access to 100, 000 Loan Signing Agents.

00:13:58.447 --> 00:13:58.846
Wow.

00:13:58.856 --> 00:13:59.846
That's a lot of people.

00:14:00.157 --> 00:14:02.807
We probably work with about 1, 200 on a regular basis.

00:14:03.187 --> 00:14:08.017
And, um, through that, we've obviously have our favorites panel, and we're able to mark them as preferred.

00:14:08.256 --> 00:14:08.517
Right.

00:14:08.527 --> 00:14:08.797
And

00:14:08.807 --> 00:14:10.647
leave reviews, see other people's reviews.

00:14:10.647 --> 00:14:15.152
And so, It's sort of like, yeah, not like Craigslist, but it's this internal rating system.

00:14:15.172 --> 00:14:15.701
Right, right.

00:14:15.731 --> 00:14:16.552
So you can kind of calibrate.

00:14:16.552 --> 00:14:16.581
Like

00:14:16.581 --> 00:14:17.412
Uber or whatever.

00:14:17.642 --> 00:14:17.812
Yeah.

00:14:17.812 --> 00:14:18.711
How good did they do?

00:14:18.741 --> 00:14:21.011
Did they give you the right document pack the first time?

00:14:21.182 --> 00:14:22.121
Were they kind?

00:14:22.142 --> 00:14:24.081
And you know, you can block list them too.

00:14:24.432 --> 00:14:25.442
And so it's kind of.

00:14:25.951 --> 00:14:26.711
How wild.

00:14:26.881 --> 00:14:30.922
So you literally have hundreds and hundreds of contractors that have done some work for you.

00:14:31.011 --> 00:14:32.371
Thousands of contractors.

00:14:32.711 --> 00:14:35.162
And then what's your, to go back to today.

00:14:35.736 --> 00:14:38.606
What's your internal team or your headquarters type team?

00:14:38.677 --> 00:14:39.456
Yeah, our headquarters.

00:14:39.456 --> 00:14:41.517
Our headquarters are here in Fort Collins now.

00:14:41.706 --> 00:14:44.096
Yeah, we have our main scheduling team lead, Justin.

00:14:44.106 --> 00:14:45.636
He's out in North Carolina.

00:14:45.746 --> 00:14:45.986
Okay.

00:14:46.017 --> 00:14:49.876
He actually was one of my best loan signing agents and so I poached him.

00:14:50.037 --> 00:14:50.317
Right.

00:14:50.376 --> 00:14:54.067
And I said, Hey, you do a fantastic job and you would really understand this.

00:14:54.067 --> 00:14:57.716
And he was looking for more work too because the interest rates had gone up.

00:14:57.736 --> 00:14:58.376
And so he poached me.

00:14:58.591 --> 00:14:59.302
Joined me.

00:14:59.322 --> 00:15:02.572
And then we've had a few additional hires throughout the country.

00:15:02.851 --> 00:15:04.951
Um, Caitlin is based here in Fort Collins.

00:15:05.251 --> 00:15:06.642
Uh, Rigo's fantastic.

00:15:06.642 --> 00:15:08.292
He's our newest, uh, addition.

00:15:08.302 --> 00:15:10.402
He, uh, is completely bilingual.

00:15:10.432 --> 00:15:13.892
He's a native Spanish speaker, which has been great to grow our business.

00:15:14.221 --> 00:15:16.442
And we're onboarding, uh, one additional person right now.

00:15:16.442 --> 00:15:18.221
And then my husband's our fractional CFO.

00:15:19.142 --> 00:15:32.976
So I think that's one thing that's really interesting about your businesses, like during this time, as you've grown your team, grown your base gone nationwide, interest rates have risen, you know, way up high.

00:15:32.986 --> 00:15:45.226
And so, uh, was that like, it feels like you had to almost grow to maintain that income from before, but also has it been hard in a shrinking market or like, what are you doing better than your competitors to get that?

00:15:45.481 --> 00:15:45.942
Volume.

00:15:45.961 --> 00:15:46.922
Oh, absolutely.

00:15:46.922 --> 00:15:54.142
So, uh, going back to when I started, so I started November 1st, 2021, literally had zero signings, you know, at the beginning of that month.

00:15:54.142 --> 00:15:59.552
I think I did around 40, uh, within six months, we were doing a thousand transactions a month.

00:16:00.072 --> 00:16:00.601
Oh my gosh.

00:16:00.611 --> 00:16:06.812
So we went from, I think I told you, I felt like I was, you know, building and constructing the plane in the air, like mid flight.

00:16:06.822 --> 00:16:07.322
Right.

00:16:07.371 --> 00:16:08.412
I did not.

00:16:08.442 --> 00:16:10.131
I mean, it was crazy to go from.

00:16:10.402 --> 00:16:10.951
Nothing.

00:16:11.042 --> 00:16:13.772
The way that we had to staff up, we actually had seven people.

00:16:13.812 --> 00:16:15.922
All of a sudden, we were hiring two people a month.

00:16:16.611 --> 00:16:18.611
And how do I train these people?

00:16:18.981 --> 00:16:20.162
My husband quit his job.

00:16:20.522 --> 00:16:23.501
Um, he was a contractor anyway, so it was a good, like, segue.

00:16:23.501 --> 00:16:25.042
So he, he quit his job.

00:16:25.062 --> 00:16:25.792
He was our HR.

00:16:26.292 --> 00:16:29.162
A director of operations and CFO.

00:16:29.162 --> 00:16:29.932
And that was interesting.

00:16:29.932 --> 00:16:32.942
We've been together for 16 years now, but we'd never worked together.

00:16:32.951 --> 00:16:33.302
Right.

00:16:33.331 --> 00:16:34.131
We'd worked from home.

00:16:34.142 --> 00:16:34.371
And we

00:16:34.371 --> 00:16:37.162
already know he's the kind of guy that won't let you call an exterminator without

00:16:37.772 --> 00:16:39.331
I, I shouldn't say that.

00:16:39.341 --> 00:16:42.091
He just, you know, he, it's not what we agree to.

00:16:42.091 --> 00:16:42.341
Yeah,

00:16:42.341 --> 00:16:42.831
exactly.

00:16:42.841 --> 00:16:44.221
He was reinforcing the new budget.

00:16:44.417 --> 00:16:44.596
And

00:16:44.596 --> 00:16:57.346
I appreciate everything, you know, we're, we're in a fantastic financial position in part thanks to his efforts and his, you know, his investments and, um, you know, kind of bringing in the, the reins a little bit to, to spending.

00:16:57.346 --> 00:16:57.636
Well, I

00:16:57.636 --> 00:17:05.886
imagine there must be some, like, element of software integrations and things so that you're invoicing the right people and paying the right people the right amount and

00:17:06.507 --> 00:17:07.366
all these dynamics.

00:17:07.497 --> 00:17:08.146
Yes, and you holding

00:17:08.146 --> 00:17:08.507
money?

00:17:08.527 --> 00:17:09.136
No, you don't.

00:17:09.136 --> 00:17:09.731
No, I'm not.

00:17:09.892 --> 00:17:20.332
You don't actually have to hold the wires and stuff, that's the banks and title companies that contract you, so those numbers don't have to, money has to be there though, that's part of your thing too, I suppose.

00:17:20.342 --> 00:17:29.311
Our accounts receivable is ridiculous, and so is our accounts payable, and so making sure, you know, we've made a commitment to pay our loan signing agents by the 15th of every month.

00:17:29.426 --> 00:17:31.846
And a lot of times we haven't been paid by our clients.

00:17:31.896 --> 00:17:37.836
So making sure that we have enough in reserve to make sure that our loan signing agents are paid, because a lot of times these are single parents.

00:17:37.846 --> 00:17:38.977
Sometimes it's a side hustle.

00:17:38.977 --> 00:17:44.517
Sometimes it's a full, full deal, but that a hundred, 200, 300 that we owe them makes a really big difference.

00:17:44.967 --> 00:17:48.727
And so that's been kind of an interesting dynamic, but back to kind of scaling.

00:17:50.196 --> 00:17:51.707
I'll chase some squirrels as we go.

00:17:51.832 --> 00:17:56.902
So we scaled very quickly in part to one client that I had earned at an industry conference.

00:17:56.922 --> 00:17:58.061
And it was really funny.

00:17:58.061 --> 00:18:01.961
I remember the, uh, director of operations had kind of pulled me aside.

00:18:01.961 --> 00:18:03.001
He goes, I'm just so impressed.

00:18:03.001 --> 00:18:06.031
You've been in business for, you've only been in business for like four years.

00:18:06.332 --> 00:18:09.321
I literally have no idea where he got that, that like four years.

00:18:09.321 --> 00:18:17.811
I had been in business for three and a half months, but I certainly was not going to tell him that because, Hey, he thought I had only been in business for four years and he was very impressed by that.

00:18:17.811 --> 00:18:19.501
So I wasn't going to delegitimize myself.

00:18:20.392 --> 00:18:24.412
I actually earned their business, and they had never outsourced their signings.

00:18:24.422 --> 00:18:28.382
They had always had like an internal panel that they had dealt with, and some title companies do that.

00:18:28.761 --> 00:18:33.882
And so they were increasingly becoming this massive goose egg in our basket of chicken eggs.

00:18:34.281 --> 00:18:44.132
They were a large part of our business, and as we saw the interest rates climbing, we I knew this wasn't going to be great, because if we lost them, then we were going to have to lay off a decent part of our staff.

00:18:44.362 --> 00:18:45.951
And we were going to have to kind of restructure.

00:18:45.951 --> 00:18:47.711
So that happened.

00:18:48.102 --> 00:18:50.652
We did have in our contract that we'd have a 30 day notice.

00:18:50.951 --> 00:18:51.632
We did not.

00:18:51.652 --> 00:18:53.412
It was a single day notice.

00:18:53.422 --> 00:18:56.531
And so we had to turn around and lay off a good portion of our staff.

00:18:56.531 --> 00:18:57.126
Yeah.

00:18:57.207 --> 00:18:58.557
And that was incredibly hard.

00:18:58.557 --> 00:19:01.196
That was like, 40 percent of your revenues or something silly.

00:19:01.267 --> 00:19:01.707
Yes.

00:19:02.106 --> 00:19:03.517
I think it was 60 percent of the time.

00:19:03.527 --> 00:19:03.957
Oh, wow.

00:19:03.957 --> 00:19:04.727
So,

00:19:04.727 --> 00:19:08.676
that was a real gut punch, especially because it wasn't something that we had done incorrectly.

00:19:08.707 --> 00:19:09.076
Right.

00:19:09.076 --> 00:19:10.096
It was market dependent.

00:19:10.166 --> 00:19:12.636
And it was something largely I didn't have control over.

00:19:13.136 --> 00:19:15.737
And so, I, honestly, I wallowed for like Now, did

00:19:15.737 --> 00:19:18.211
they just not have any volume to to share anyway?

00:19:18.211 --> 00:19:19.721
Like it wouldn't really matter that much?

00:19:19.771 --> 00:19:19.981
They

00:19:19.981 --> 00:19:22.761
laid off a hundred of a hundred and fifty people in a single day.

00:19:22.761 --> 00:19:22.821
Right,

00:19:22.821 --> 00:19:23.001
right.

00:19:23.001 --> 00:19:26.011
So they weren't having any fun with their decision tree either?

00:19:26.041 --> 00:19:26.852
Absolutely not.

00:19:26.862 --> 00:19:30.801
And they had to bring, um, the service back in house just to retain the employees that they have.

00:19:30.932 --> 00:19:31.311
Right.

00:19:31.491 --> 00:19:33.291
And so it was self preservation for them.

00:19:33.291 --> 00:19:37.811
And I don't blame them for that, but it was, uh, It was a tough hell to swallow, especially as a new business owner.

00:19:37.981 --> 00:19:38.362
Right.

00:19:38.362 --> 00:19:40.061
And having this, like, meteoric rise.

00:19:40.061 --> 00:19:40.531
Right.

00:19:40.682 --> 00:19:40.842
What

00:19:40.842 --> 00:19:45.152
was the span between like the first clients for that customer and the last one?

00:19:45.537 --> 00:19:46.406
Uh, the span,

00:19:46.826 --> 00:19:49.126
like, how long were they with you, that big goose egg?

00:19:49.507 --> 00:19:50.737
Um, about five months.

00:19:50.817 --> 00:19:51.257
Okay.

00:19:51.267 --> 00:19:51.916
Yeah, five, six months.

00:19:51.926 --> 00:19:52.076
So

00:19:52.076 --> 00:19:58.636
it's like, all hands on deck, building and building and building, we got so much to do, and then just a cliff in that revenue and those transactions.

00:19:58.856 --> 00:20:26.781
Weekly meetings, all these crazy asks because they, you know, had, you know, so much volume that we decided to kind of shift and change the way we did things for them and then just Nothing, and so I I did I like I wallowed for about six weeks and I was like, I don't know if I can do this I'm not really sure this is for me like this sucks and you know These were people I cared about that worked for us And so I don't know really what what lit a fire under my ass to get like back into it It was like your

00:20:26.781 --> 00:20:26.987
nature.

00:20:26.987 --> 00:20:27.761
I suspect.

00:20:27.961 --> 00:20:38.567
Yeah, it was like a shape up or ship out sort of moment Like just you know, put your big girl pants back on and get back out there Yeah, and so it was tough for a couple of months And I still wasn't sure.

00:20:38.626 --> 00:20:38.817
Did you have

00:20:38.817 --> 00:20:39.767
to lay off your husband too?

00:20:40.717 --> 00:20:41.747
I think he laid himself off.

00:20:43.217 --> 00:20:44.156
What's his name by the way?

00:20:44.626 --> 00:20:45.047
Trevor.

00:20:45.166 --> 00:20:45.497
Trevor.

00:20:45.497 --> 00:20:46.426
Hey Trevor.

00:20:46.426 --> 00:20:47.047
Um, yeah.

00:20:47.047 --> 00:20:48.926
He actually like quit on me actually at one point.

00:20:49.146 --> 00:20:50.017
That's a different story.

00:20:50.156 --> 00:20:50.886
Maybe we'll get to that.

00:20:50.886 --> 00:20:51.287
Maybe not.

00:20:52.547 --> 00:20:58.021
So, um, What happened when you put your big girl pants on?

00:20:58.182 --> 00:21:02.451
So, I actually reached out to the Small Business Administration and their SCORE program.

00:21:02.501 --> 00:21:02.801
Sure.

00:21:02.811 --> 00:21:06.412
And, uh, that's a free mentorship program for those of you that aren't aware of that.

00:21:06.771 --> 00:21:12.251
And I was so lucky to be partnered with someone who actually had worked in the title industry, and so had worked in my industry.

00:21:12.461 --> 00:21:13.721
Had been highly successful.

00:21:13.731 --> 00:21:17.872
He actually started, uh, housing wire, which was one of the biggest stories, the biggest title.

00:21:18.682 --> 00:21:19.021
You're like,

00:21:19.031 --> 00:21:20.105
I could meet with you

00:21:20.105 --> 00:21:20.689
for

00:21:20.689 --> 00:21:21.271
free?

00:21:21.271 --> 00:21:22.211
He's awesome.

00:21:22.241 --> 00:21:24.432
He's still a fantastic mentor of mine.

00:21:24.761 --> 00:21:37.172
Of course, I moved away from Raleigh, so I don't get to see him in person as much anymore, but he's really just like this no nonsense, tell you exactly like it is, and even if it's maybe harsh and abrasive sometimes, and I think that's what I need.

00:21:37.652 --> 00:21:40.192
And so, um, I definitely have shiny object syndrome.

00:21:40.231 --> 00:21:45.622
And so I would come to him with all these other business ideas coming up and he's like, Autumn, stop.

00:21:46.241 --> 00:21:48.071
Focus on the bird in hand right now.

00:21:48.071 --> 00:21:48.862
Like, what are you doing?

00:21:48.961 --> 00:21:50.082
Grow this business.

00:21:50.082 --> 00:21:51.471
Get your head back in the game.

00:21:51.821 --> 00:21:54.132
Get back out there and grow this business.

00:21:54.142 --> 00:22:07.896
And what he said to me at the end of last year was, if you can manage to grow your business now in this housing market with interest rates As high as they are right now, granted historically over 30, 40 years, they're actually not that high.

00:22:08.376 --> 00:22:12.797
But right now, if you can grow the business, you're going to be 100 percent fine.

00:22:13.106 --> 00:22:14.269
You're going to make a ton of gravy

00:22:14.269 --> 00:22:16.178
when you get, when the market turns back around.

00:22:16.178 --> 00:22:17.537
It's going to be exciting.

00:22:17.636 --> 00:22:19.656
So I took that and I said, you know what, Richard, you're right.

00:22:19.686 --> 00:22:21.547
Like, I know how to market.

00:22:21.586 --> 00:22:22.547
I know how to cold call.

00:22:22.547 --> 00:22:23.876
That is where I gain my business.

00:22:24.656 --> 00:22:34.017
Literally walk into these title, escrow, or real estate attorney's offices and have 20 seconds max to make my bid for why they should talk to me and not kick me out of their office.

00:22:34.096 --> 00:22:34.517
Yeah, yeah.

00:22:34.886 --> 00:22:35.307
So that's what I do.

00:22:35.307 --> 00:22:35.547
Even if

00:22:36.156 --> 00:22:37.876
they're rocking a no solicitation sign?

00:22:37.916 --> 00:22:38.237
Um,

00:22:38.247 --> 00:22:40.211
they're always rocking a no solicitation sign.

00:22:40.211 --> 00:22:41.527
Are you kidding me?

00:22:41.946 --> 00:22:44.797
I just ignore those, they say that on the office building, they say it everywhere.

00:22:45.497 --> 00:22:50.007
But the funny thing is, they're title companies, they're soliciting to other people all the time.

00:22:50.017 --> 00:22:50.547
Right, totally.

00:22:50.547 --> 00:22:51.727
They're gaining business from realtors.

00:22:51.807 --> 00:22:52.047
I was

00:22:52.047 --> 00:22:52.936
a banker forever.

00:22:52.977 --> 00:22:54.757
Title companies would come in there and schmooze us all the time.

00:22:55.207 --> 00:22:56.267
So they understand the game.

00:22:56.277 --> 00:22:56.527
Right.

00:22:56.527 --> 00:22:56.977
They get it.

00:22:57.406 --> 00:23:03.136
So I don't think I've actually, Ever had anyone say, Oh, did you see the no solicitation sign?

00:23:03.156 --> 00:23:04.317
And think about it.

00:23:04.366 --> 00:23:06.747
When I first started the business, it was the middle of COVID.

00:23:06.936 --> 00:23:08.856
These offices were closed, right?

00:23:08.926 --> 00:23:11.076
Like, no one was allowed in these offices.

00:23:11.076 --> 00:23:14.457
It was like slip this package underneath the, you know, the door.

00:23:14.457 --> 00:23:17.906
And so I devised a plan to, I love to make scones.

00:23:18.166 --> 00:23:30.876
I love to make scones, and they're pretty darn good, and I was like, if I show up with like this handmade, hand baked, homemade good, these people are for sure gonna let me in, and it works.

00:23:30.876 --> 00:23:31.237
Perfect.

00:23:31.297 --> 00:23:32.076
Better than anything.

00:23:32.346 --> 00:23:37.646
I have fancy mugs, I have, you know, all sorts of swag, but people like the scones.

00:23:37.666 --> 00:23:38.126
Nice.

00:23:38.166 --> 00:23:39.560
So, I still do it to this day.

00:23:39.560 --> 00:23:39.958
The personal touch.

00:23:39.958 --> 00:23:40.487
Yep, that personal touch.

00:23:40.487 --> 00:23:40.846
Well, it

00:23:40.846 --> 00:23:51.626
seems to be kind of part of your theme, is trying to have that, you know, Kind people, personal touch, uh, you know, not just done right, but done friendly.

00:23:51.767 --> 00:23:52.487
Exactly.

00:23:53.126 --> 00:23:54.386
And that's part of what sets us apart.

00:23:54.396 --> 00:23:56.606
That's sort of, you know, part of our value proposition.

00:23:56.926 --> 00:23:59.586
So much of this industry, I found out, is not friendly.

00:23:59.696 --> 00:24:00.636
It's not a very fun thing.

00:24:01.507 --> 00:24:02.676
Industry always.

00:24:02.737 --> 00:24:02.886
Hmm.

00:24:03.007 --> 00:24:04.567
Again, there's just so much high pressure.

00:24:04.926 --> 00:24:06.156
That shit rolls downhill.

00:24:06.686 --> 00:24:06.896
right?

00:24:07.136 --> 00:24:08.906
We're usually at the bottom of that hill.

00:24:09.237 --> 00:24:13.707
And so, uh, you know, people can be short and, you know, things are timely.

00:24:13.707 --> 00:24:17.757
There's a lot of pressure to get documents back and, you know, checks and, well, the pressure's

00:24:17.757 --> 00:24:18.596
probably higher than normal.

00:24:19.192 --> 00:24:20.021
Right now too.

00:24:20.332 --> 00:24:21.311
Yes, absolutely.

00:24:21.311 --> 00:24:24.942
Or if someone missed, you know, FedEx or UPS drop, where are our documents?

00:24:24.942 --> 00:24:29.531
How did, how, you know, now that's got a delay funding, you know, our job is to prevent all of that.

00:24:29.551 --> 00:24:31.021
That's part of why they're hiring us.

00:24:31.632 --> 00:24:35.211
And so, um, yeah, having that personal touch in their relationships.

00:24:35.211 --> 00:24:46.156
That's That's really what I built the business on, and so when I go to a new market, I'll target a market based on, you know, maybe where I have family, or where I go on vacation, or where I just know a lot of people are buying and selling a lot of homes.

00:24:46.166 --> 00:24:46.517
Right.

00:24:46.696 --> 00:24:49.967
I'll fly in, and I'll see 60 accounts in three days.

00:24:49.977 --> 00:24:50.477
Wow.

00:24:50.757 --> 00:24:51.717
It's exhausting.

00:24:51.896 --> 00:24:52.237
Right.

00:24:52.267 --> 00:24:53.217
But also exhilarating.

00:24:53.227 --> 00:24:53.396
And

00:24:53.406 --> 00:24:54.227
Trevor and your business.

00:24:54.636 --> 00:24:56.126
Daughter on the beach somewhere.

00:24:56.146 --> 00:24:56.596
No,

00:24:56.626 --> 00:24:58.446
that sounds, I mean, he would love that.

00:24:58.686 --> 00:25:01.567
So I have a daughter and a son, I have a five and a six year old.

00:25:01.826 --> 00:25:05.146
Um, they were three and two when I started this company, which is also crazy.

00:25:05.426 --> 00:25:08.106
I have no idea what I was doing with all my time before they were born.

00:25:08.116 --> 00:25:10.267
Cause that would have been the best time to start this business.

00:25:10.267 --> 00:25:12.946
But you know, that motivation wasn't there, that drive.

00:25:13.406 --> 00:25:15.767
So now he's at home taking care of the home front.

00:25:15.767 --> 00:25:15.896
So

00:25:15.896 --> 00:25:21.071
you're just out there kind of calling on these different marketplaces where you can really get Make gravy.

00:25:21.442 --> 00:25:24.842
Anybody could hire you if they just like find your website and contact you.

00:25:25.152 --> 00:25:26.251
And that's starting to happen.

00:25:26.261 --> 00:25:31.461
You know, my, I have people working on my SEO and that's been fantastic cause I am starting to get that referrals.

00:25:31.832 --> 00:25:33.741
Um, are the lifeblood of my business.

00:25:33.781 --> 00:25:40.461
Um, people who already do business that, you know, are fanatics of precision and, uh, that's been great.

00:25:40.461 --> 00:25:43.182
And so I just, I go there where that low hanging fruit is.

00:25:43.192 --> 00:25:47.511
If I have someone that's like, Hey, I have this person to introduce you to, or industry conferences.

00:25:47.521 --> 00:25:47.852
Sure.

00:25:48.122 --> 00:25:48.912
So, yeah, that's.

00:25:49.281 --> 00:25:54.832
Now, in the title industry, there's like only a handful of big brands anymore, right?

00:25:54.832 --> 00:25:56.031
There's a, uh, whatever.

00:25:56.082 --> 00:26:07.382
And then, then there's a bunch of kind of small offices, but they all kind of hang on the same knowledge infrastructure or tell me, tell me, tell our listeners and me like more about the title industry.

00:26:07.382 --> 00:26:11.662
And I'm assuming that like each office kind of gets to decide how they do closings and stuff.

00:26:11.662 --> 00:26:12.211
So it can't just be.

00:26:12.721 --> 00:26:15.362
It's like, bag one big fish and you get the whole platter.

00:26:15.392 --> 00:26:16.092
Yes and no.

00:26:16.392 --> 00:26:20.392
Um, so yes, there are about six or seven major underwriters.

00:26:20.392 --> 00:26:20.422
Okay.

00:26:20.471 --> 00:26:24.872
So when you buy a house, you need title insurance for your house, right, to make sure that the title's free and clear.

00:26:25.211 --> 00:26:27.192
So there's these major title underwriters.

00:26:27.612 --> 00:26:38.031
They then have either satellite offices or what they call agency operations where someone, maybe a real estate attorney is doing the business, but they still need to be underwritten by one of these six or seven underwriters.

00:26:38.031 --> 00:26:38.152
Okay.

00:26:38.301 --> 00:26:38.471
Gotcha.

00:26:38.521 --> 00:26:39.582
Title underwriters.

00:26:39.872 --> 00:26:41.481
And what are some of the familiar names in that?

00:26:41.561 --> 00:26:46.811
Fidelity National Financial, Stewart, WFG, you know, these are some of the big names.

00:26:46.821 --> 00:26:47.821
Old Republic Title.

00:26:47.961 --> 00:26:48.011
Yep.

00:26:48.422 --> 00:26:48.481
Takes me

00:26:48.511 --> 00:26:49.311
back to my banking days.

00:26:49.892 --> 00:26:50.122
Yeah.

00:26:50.521 --> 00:26:54.672
So, so, uh, they're out there and then, uh, like I said, they have direct operations.

00:26:54.682 --> 00:26:58.231
So like, you know, here in Colorado, we'll see Fidelity or Chicago Title.

00:26:58.231 --> 00:26:59.622
Those are all Fidelity underwritten.

00:26:59.652 --> 00:27:00.021
Right.

00:27:00.162 --> 00:27:02.412
Um, our old Chicago Title offices, but there's

00:27:02.602 --> 00:27:03.872
almost like company stores.

00:27:03.932 --> 00:27:04.531
Exactly.

00:27:04.541 --> 00:27:05.876
But all, there's a lot of mom and pop.

00:27:06.277 --> 00:27:06.297
Yeah.

00:27:06.297 --> 00:27:06.457
Pop style.

00:27:06.467 --> 00:27:09.257
Guaranteed title or guardian title or whatever.

00:27:09.376 --> 00:27:09.916
A ton.

00:27:09.926 --> 00:27:11.676
They buy stuff from these other places.

00:27:11.686 --> 00:27:12.227
Exactly.

00:27:12.227 --> 00:27:12.336
Okay.

00:27:12.336 --> 00:27:13.977
So there's thousands of these.

00:27:14.017 --> 00:27:14.176
Like

00:27:14.176 --> 00:27:15.287
an insurance broker.

00:27:15.436 --> 00:27:15.916
Almost.

00:27:16.196 --> 00:27:17.126
A title insurance.

00:27:17.126 --> 00:27:17.346
Instead

00:27:17.346 --> 00:27:18.606
of an agency model.

00:27:18.676 --> 00:27:21.596
And then in certain states, it's real estate, uh, attorney based.

00:27:21.596 --> 00:27:25.537
So in North Carolina, where I got my start, the real estate attorney is making this decision.

00:27:25.537 --> 00:27:29.267
So for me, it was really uncovering who is making the buying decision.

00:27:29.277 --> 00:27:31.666
Who is influencing, who is closing this loan?

00:27:31.957 --> 00:27:33.126
And it's not always clear.

00:27:33.126 --> 00:27:35.412
And so really unearthing that.

00:27:35.571 --> 00:27:41.182
For me, working in attorney states has been really great because they're the owners, they're the real estate attorneys.

00:27:41.201 --> 00:27:42.261
I know how to talk to them.

00:27:42.261 --> 00:27:43.162
I know what they're thinking.

00:27:43.182 --> 00:27:44.692
They're the business owners themselves.

00:27:45.231 --> 00:27:49.291
Escrow and title can be a little bit trickier because they're not usually the stakeholders.

00:27:49.501 --> 00:27:50.912
They're not the ones owning the company.

00:27:51.211 --> 00:27:54.872
Sometimes it's, oh, it's someone far off in Texas that's making this decision.

00:27:54.882 --> 00:27:56.261
Like, oh man, how am I going to get through this?

00:27:56.321 --> 00:27:56.862
I don't even know

00:27:56.862 --> 00:27:57.991
who makes this decision.

00:27:58.011 --> 00:27:58.701
Exactly.

00:27:58.791 --> 00:27:58.951
Or

00:27:58.951 --> 00:27:59.791
like, I'm not sure.

00:27:59.791 --> 00:28:01.231
I think we have a contract, but do we?

00:28:01.602 --> 00:28:04.221
You know, those sorts of questions of like, who's your signing service?

00:28:04.666 --> 00:28:20.436
You know, so and and certainly they're encouraged to go a certain direction depending on who the underwriter is and so again It's another thing that information for me going to these industry conferences are really important Because I can be in a room with hundreds of the decision makers right one time, right

00:28:20.787 --> 00:28:29.487
if you're getting good with Somebody at one of these majors, they can potentially introduce you to some of their operators in different markets, things like that.

00:28:29.507 --> 00:28:29.686
That's correct.

00:28:30.267 --> 00:28:30.676
Cool.

00:28:31.037 --> 00:28:34.257
It's fun, uh, learning about different industries.

00:28:34.257 --> 00:28:37.836
Like, as a banker, I dealt with title a lot.

00:28:37.846 --> 00:28:38.656
You know, I knew what it was.

00:28:38.826 --> 00:28:46.517
Um, I don't know how much it was for, how much it cost, uh, all this, but like really understanding the dynamics behind the industry is kind of interesting to me.

00:28:46.686 --> 00:28:50.656
Well, and two and a half years ago, I had no idea how this works.

00:28:50.757 --> 00:28:51.876
I sold wine.

00:28:51.967 --> 00:29:05.957
Like, this is the funniest part, is like most people have been in this industry for so long, or you know, 20 plus years, they've moved around, worked for all the other writers, and I'm coming in as this, you know, outsider, but I think that brings a different perspective and this fresh perspective, because I'm not jaded.

00:29:06.356 --> 00:29:08.017
I haven't, you know, worked.

00:29:08.182 --> 00:29:08.406
Yeah.

00:29:08.406 --> 00:29:10.201
It's not an old stagnant industry for you.

00:29:10.201 --> 00:29:10.372
It's a

00:29:10.372 --> 00:29:11.882
high growth startup.

00:29:11.932 --> 00:29:12.432
And it's so

00:29:12.902 --> 00:29:20.152
similar to what I was doing, but you know, it's just a different product, but for me, I also, it's me that I'm selling too.

00:29:20.182 --> 00:29:21.612
It's something, it's my product.

00:29:21.632 --> 00:29:27.102
And I have such a passion for what we've built and I know that we do it better than everybody else in the industry.

00:29:27.122 --> 00:29:29.182
So as far as signing services is concerned.

00:29:29.501 --> 00:29:31.481
And so I think that people can see that.

00:29:31.912 --> 00:29:36.412
And I've never worked harder than I do now in my life, but I also have more freedom.

00:29:36.737 --> 00:29:37.007
Yeah.

00:29:37.166 --> 00:29:37.946
Than I've ever had.

00:29:37.957 --> 00:29:41.997
Did you, uh, did you have trouble selling wine that you didn't really like?

00:29:43.037 --> 00:29:43.467
Uh, yeah.

00:29:44.487 --> 00:29:44.777
So.

00:29:45.047 --> 00:29:45.287
Cause that's

00:29:45.287 --> 00:29:48.166
why I heard you say it, that I could really sell this cause I know we're the best, you know?

00:29:48.257 --> 00:29:50.446
So, I did work for some great brands.

00:29:50.477 --> 00:29:51.277
I will say that.

00:29:51.596 --> 00:29:57.777
I, I personally love a certain type of wine, so if I, you know, if it was a white wine You could still sell Chardonnay.

00:29:57.777 --> 00:29:57.997
Absolutely.

00:29:58.057 --> 00:29:58.636
Absolutely.

00:29:58.636 --> 00:29:59.196
Even if you didn't want to drink it.

00:29:59.196 --> 00:30:00.247
But I had more passion.

00:30:00.317 --> 00:30:00.817
Yeah, right.

00:30:00.836 --> 00:30:02.497
I'm an ABC, I told you earlier.

00:30:02.497 --> 00:30:03.356
Anything but Chardonnay.

00:30:03.987 --> 00:30:13.047
Um, but you know, but I never got a chance to sell sparkling rosé or, you know, I love sparkling wine and champagne, but, but absolutely, you know, I didn't have trouble selling it by any means.

00:30:13.057 --> 00:30:13.277
Okay.

00:30:13.537 --> 00:30:14.717
But I Because, you know,

00:30:14.717 --> 00:30:17.067
wine is different taste for different appetites.

00:30:17.166 --> 00:30:17.946
Absolutely.

00:30:17.987 --> 00:30:18.196
Right.

00:30:18.237 --> 00:30:18.906
Absolutely.

00:30:19.196 --> 00:30:32.717
But having something that I started, that I believe in, and that, you know, we're really Investing in our people and treating them with kindness and kind of changing the way that our loan signing agents or LSAs are treated Yeah, there's nothing better.

00:30:32.727 --> 00:30:33.277
Pretty proud of that.

00:30:33.297 --> 00:30:35.186
Yeah, I never thought I'd be in this industry.

00:30:35.616 --> 00:30:40.237
So, um And we'll go back to your your wine journey here.

00:30:40.237 --> 00:30:47.076
But Have you, uh, managed people extensively in your, in your previous career chapters?

00:30:47.346 --> 00:30:48.007
Not extensively.

00:30:48.007 --> 00:30:48.896
I did have a team.

00:30:48.916 --> 00:30:50.406
I was a regional director of sales.

00:30:50.727 --> 00:30:52.576
Um, and so I did have a team underneath me.

00:30:52.576 --> 00:30:56.487
So I managed a couple of different personalities, territories, et cetera.

00:30:56.487 --> 00:30:59.207
So I had, I had, you know, knew how to onboard.

00:30:59.257 --> 00:31:02.636
I had worked in lean process improvement and led teams within our company as well.

00:31:03.162 --> 00:31:04.102
So, tangentially.

00:31:04.281 --> 00:31:04.582
Yeah.

00:31:04.652 --> 00:31:04.932
Yeah.

00:31:05.071 --> 00:31:09.832
Do you feel like you've, uh, learned anything in the owner's seat here?

00:31:10.942 --> 00:31:16.571
I, I, I feel like I've had the best real world MBA education that one could ever get.

00:31:16.571 --> 00:31:18.382
I didn't pay for it, which was great.

00:31:18.481 --> 00:31:18.801
Right.

00:31:18.852 --> 00:31:25.541
You know, um, I don't think, there's so many lessons learned that you can't teach people until you actually go through it.

00:31:25.721 --> 00:31:34.652
And I have such a profound respect for owners and founders of companies because, you know, We do it all, you know, things that I'm not even good at.

00:31:34.771 --> 00:31:36.751
And this is the funny part when I talk to my team.

00:31:37.041 --> 00:31:38.942
You know, they come to me with a lot of questions.

00:31:38.942 --> 00:31:40.811
I'm like, y'all, I don't know the answer to that.

00:31:41.632 --> 00:31:43.102
I can make one up for you.

00:31:43.321 --> 00:31:54.362
But you know, I think having that grit and resiliency and that drive to like, figure out the answer and unearth it is really what It makes entrepreneurs special and successful.

00:31:54.632 --> 00:31:55.221
I'd agree with that.

00:31:55.301 --> 00:31:55.711
Yeah.

00:31:56.192 --> 00:32:00.902
Um, any, uh, major blenders so far that you'd like to own?

00:32:01.031 --> 00:32:01.791
Major blenders?

00:32:02.132 --> 00:32:07.332
I think some of the best advice I have heard is to hire slow and fire fast.

00:32:07.422 --> 00:32:07.662
Yeah.

00:32:07.961 --> 00:32:10.162
And I think that, that is so true.

00:32:10.211 --> 00:32:17.576
I think trusting my instinct and, and intuition and making, Making sure that I follow through with that, especially in hiring decisions.

00:32:17.997 --> 00:32:22.057
Um, you know, I, I don't regret those decisions because I learned.

00:32:22.356 --> 00:32:23.366
Right, right.

00:32:23.866 --> 00:32:28.247
Um, I think major blender, I, I talked about our, our larger, um, but nothing you can really

00:32:28.247 --> 00:32:28.926
do there.

00:32:28.987 --> 00:32:30.767
No, but, but I think, or

00:32:30.767 --> 00:32:34.606
maybe just getting that big of a customer in the first place, taking so much, so much.

00:32:34.936 --> 00:32:36.747
I would do that again in a heartbeat.

00:32:36.807 --> 00:32:38.126
I would just do it differently.

00:32:38.136 --> 00:32:38.196
Okay.

00:32:38.436 --> 00:32:46.717
I think, you know, we, we've had people ask us to change the way we do things for them and I'm less willing to do so because we have a system and we have a process that works.

00:32:47.136 --> 00:32:50.146
Back then I was brand new and I was like, yeah, sure we can do that.

00:32:50.146 --> 00:32:50.636
We can do that.

00:32:50.656 --> 00:32:51.916
And we were spread so thin.

00:32:51.926 --> 00:32:54.567
Our team did not have a good rapport with them.

00:32:54.896 --> 00:32:57.777
They were not treated kindly from, from this client.

00:32:57.777 --> 00:32:59.876
And so I'm not willing to do that again.

00:32:59.886 --> 00:33:00.217
I'm not.

00:33:00.666 --> 00:33:04.356
sacrificing our ethos and our values to serve someone else.

00:33:04.356 --> 00:33:04.557
You gotta

00:33:04.727 --> 00:33:06.366
be willing to fire any client.

00:33:06.457 --> 00:33:06.696
And

00:33:07.836 --> 00:33:12.886
honestly, the clients, the small handful of clients that we have lost, I don't regret for a second.

00:33:13.326 --> 00:33:18.487
They were the most high maintenance and the ones that just really didn't get it, and it wasn't a great partnership.

00:33:18.497 --> 00:33:19.856
And that's what I like to tell my clients.

00:33:20.136 --> 00:33:24.146
I know that I'm a vendor at the end of the day, but I truly want to be a partner.

00:33:24.477 --> 00:33:26.257
I don't want to be looked at as a vendor.

00:33:26.272 --> 00:33:27.821
I want you to be invested.

00:33:28.261 --> 00:33:28.481
Yeah,

00:33:28.481 --> 00:33:33.501
and if you have other things that you really need, that we could do, you know, let's talk about it.

00:33:33.592 --> 00:33:34.082
Don't just like

00:33:34.882 --> 00:33:39.491
Don't just go find someone else and, and you know, like I had a client and I said, Oh, well, I found someone that had better pricing.

00:33:39.501 --> 00:33:40.862
I'm like, did you talk to me about that?

00:33:40.971 --> 00:33:43.061
To be fair, I'm not the Dollar Tree.

00:33:43.061 --> 00:33:44.261
I'm not the Walmart option.

00:33:44.271 --> 00:33:45.711
That is not what we're providing here.

00:33:45.711 --> 00:33:49.071
So it wasn't a good fit in the long term, but just have that conversation with me.

00:33:49.082 --> 00:33:49.271
Right.

00:33:49.271 --> 00:33:49.291
I

00:33:49.291 --> 00:33:50.961
wanted to know, don't just surprise me.

00:33:51.051 --> 00:33:52.311
Yeah, I agree with that.

00:33:52.352 --> 00:33:55.372
What, uh, what are you trying to achieve from here?

00:33:55.741 --> 00:34:04.811
Um, and I know there's probably some market dependencies and interest rates and stuff, but what, uh, what would you like PSA to turn into over the next?

00:34:05.311 --> 00:34:06.332
Two, three, four years.

00:34:06.582 --> 00:34:07.442
Oh, great question.

00:34:07.781 --> 00:34:19.702
So right now we're, we're growing very steadily and it's faster than we've grown since the interest rates where they were, which is substantial given the fact that that constitutes almost zero refinances.

00:34:19.702 --> 00:34:23.072
So we're just talking purchases and seller packages.

00:34:23.442 --> 00:34:25.371
So, um, that's huge.

00:34:25.382 --> 00:34:27.161
I've diversified our client base.

00:34:27.271 --> 00:34:28.541
For me, that's what I'm working on.

00:34:28.552 --> 00:34:35.523
It's, So, um, we're just making sure that we have a diversified client base in the sense that we don't have all of our eggs in one basket.

00:34:35.523 --> 00:34:37.264
We have clients all around the country.

00:34:37.264 --> 00:34:38.507
We have real estate attorneys.

00:34:38.507 --> 00:34:39.791
We have escrow and title.

00:34:40.161 --> 00:34:42.101
You know, being smart about who we partner with.

00:34:42.391 --> 00:34:42.411
Yeah.

00:34:42.512 --> 00:34:45.242
Um, I'd like to grow to a couple thousand signings per month.

00:34:45.371 --> 00:34:45.472
Okay.

00:34:45.811 --> 00:34:48.072
Um, and we're steadily each month, like I said.

00:34:48.072 --> 00:34:48.641
Where are you at now?

00:34:48.782 --> 00:34:51.041
Uh, we're at just shy of a thousand.

00:34:51.141 --> 00:34:51.481
Okay.

00:34:52.472 --> 00:34:52.771
So.

00:34:52.811 --> 00:34:56.952
So double over the next couple, couple years or so, but triple even.

00:34:56.972 --> 00:34:57.242
Yeah.

00:34:57.452 --> 00:34:59.452
Triple in the next 18 months, would be my goal.

00:34:59.452 --> 00:35:00.762
Oh wow, okay.

00:35:01.192 --> 00:35:01.402
Yeah.

00:35:01.851 --> 00:35:02.791
Buckle up, buttercup.

00:35:02.791 --> 00:35:03.141
Yeah.

00:35:03.532 --> 00:35:12.291
Um, and is there like additional things that PSA could do, should do, or is it really just get bigger doing the things that you're doing now?

00:35:12.452 --> 00:35:17.601
So I, I always talk about, um, Um, uh, what is the word I'm looking for?

00:35:17.871 --> 00:35:19.001
Scaling sustainably.

00:35:19.001 --> 00:35:19.422
Okay.

00:35:19.422 --> 00:35:21.092
It's a phrase I like to use.

00:35:21.092 --> 00:35:21.161
Yeah.

00:35:21.601 --> 00:35:25.391
I don't ever want to sacrifice what has set us apart in this industry.

00:35:25.632 --> 00:35:29.672
And that's that personal attention, that communication, that care, that connection.

00:35:29.922 --> 00:35:34.922
And so it's this delicate balance, this seesaw, right, of like bringing people on as we increase us.

00:35:35.686 --> 00:36:01.327
Our client base and just making sure that we're scaling at a point that it doesn't make our employees overwhelmed or schedulers overwhelmed And so I think that that that balance is tough one to find but yeah, I think diversifying that base and getting us to a point where I Have a director of operations and I can pull myself out of the day to day Which I largely have of scheduling, but I'm still the fixer.

00:36:01.416 --> 00:36:01.737
Sure.

00:36:01.766 --> 00:36:02.726
You know, when things go wrong.

00:36:03.237 --> 00:36:05.007
Well, and you're still the rainmaker too, sounds like.

00:36:05.166 --> 00:36:05.677
Right.

00:36:05.686 --> 00:36:06.237
As far as business development.

00:36:06.246 --> 00:36:06.577
Right,

00:36:06.586 --> 00:36:06.996
yeah.

00:36:07.007 --> 00:36:08.947
And hiring someone for inside, uh, sales.

00:36:08.947 --> 00:36:10.206
I think you and I had talked about that.

00:36:10.206 --> 00:36:12.177
And having someone help with inside sales.

00:36:12.527 --> 00:36:16.067
You know, so I definitely have a list of kind of my strategic next hires.

00:36:16.067 --> 00:36:16.612
And then what to do.

00:36:17.152 --> 00:36:18.271
Order I can hire them.

00:36:18.302 --> 00:36:18.661
Yeah.

00:36:18.663 --> 00:36:18.842
Yeah, I

00:36:18.842 --> 00:36:24.302
really do love the going out and having the client relationships because that's the part again That's the bread and butter.

00:36:24.302 --> 00:36:25.202
It's what we're built on

00:36:25.302 --> 00:36:25.581
right?

00:36:25.692 --> 00:36:38.967
And so I don't think I ever want to fully extract myself from that But I would love to have some more time freedom to spend more time with my family and right I'll have to travel as much as I do and We'd love to travel internationally, so that's my goal in the next couple of years.

00:36:38.976 --> 00:36:39.117
Well,

00:36:39.117 --> 00:36:44.976
and probably if you travel with your family for work, then there's tax benefits or something too, right?

00:36:45.007 --> 00:36:47.697
There are, and you know, I don't have to ask permission of anybody.

00:36:47.697 --> 00:36:51.367
If I want to go to Costa Rica for a month, I don't have to ask anyone.

00:36:51.686 --> 00:36:52.246
Because guess what?

00:36:52.347 --> 00:36:53.117
I already asked myself.

00:36:53.126 --> 00:36:53.677
She said yes.

00:36:53.757 --> 00:36:57.791
Is Trevor, uh, still with the company now, or back on the team in a

00:36:57.831 --> 00:37:00.822
Yeah, he is our fractional CFO, so he is helping with that.

00:37:00.851 --> 00:37:16.601
We actually are bringing our, kind of repurposing one of our team members internally to help once a month with that, because as a technology forward, as this industry has become, we um, still receive hundreds and hundreds of checks every month, and so it's so laborious.

00:37:17.027 --> 00:37:20.246
The amount of time it takes to scan those in and record them in two different places.

00:37:20.726 --> 00:37:27.427
Um, but back to your original question of like, kind of what's like next or the vision, we do provide ID verification for employers.

00:37:27.467 --> 00:37:35.677
That's something that's really important, especially now with AI, people creating avatars of themselves that aren't actually themselves, ID verification.

00:37:35.967 --> 00:37:39.822
We part of the reason we moved to Colorado was because the remote online notarization center.

00:37:39.891 --> 00:37:40.262
law.

00:37:40.512 --> 00:37:40.851
Okay.

00:37:40.931 --> 00:37:42.492
Ron, as I mentioned before.

00:37:42.492 --> 00:37:45.581
So we actually are like a one stop shop, full service.

00:37:45.581 --> 00:37:51.342
We provide remote online notarization in house in addition to in person signings.

00:37:51.661 --> 00:37:52.012
Okay.

00:37:52.092 --> 00:38:00.297
And so in the states where that's law and big, like in Texas, Virginia and in Florida, And in Colorado, we're able to provide that service to our clients.

00:38:00.306 --> 00:38:01.666
So talk to me about this.

00:38:01.666 --> 00:38:08.067
Is this like a, a zoom meeting basically where you're like, here, hold up your driver's license and show me the document.

00:38:08.067 --> 00:38:08.246
It's

00:38:08.257 --> 00:38:10.646
way more secure than that, but yes, ish.

00:38:10.947 --> 00:38:15.777
Um, you know, so it started 10 years ago in Virginia was the first state that this, um, was established.

00:38:16.117 --> 00:38:26.317
Ron law passed and most of the states save North Carolina, which is part of the reason we left Georgia, South Carolina, those kind of, you know, little boys, southern states have not quite gotten on board yet.

00:38:26.867 --> 00:38:32.746
And so, you know, definitely during COVID, we thought it was going to take off, oh, everybody's going to do this remote online notarization.

00:38:32.797 --> 00:38:36.987
We've all known about digital signatures and DocuSign for years, right?

00:38:36.987 --> 00:38:37.186
Yeah,

00:38:37.186 --> 00:38:38.666
but the notarization hasn't caught up yet.

00:38:38.827 --> 00:38:39.697
Not, not, not

00:38:39.697 --> 00:38:42.677
quite so much, but, um, you, there are secure platforms.

00:38:42.677 --> 00:38:46.467
There's something called knowledge based authentication or KBA that you have to go through.

00:38:46.467 --> 00:38:49.166
So it's, let's pretend you're, you're sign, doing signing with me, right?

00:38:49.496 --> 00:38:50.036
So we're online.

00:38:50.036 --> 00:38:50.586
Can I be Mr.

00:38:50.586 --> 00:38:50.867
Smith?

00:38:50.907 --> 00:38:51.496
You can be Mr.

00:38:51.496 --> 00:38:51.617
Smith.

00:38:52.086 --> 00:38:52.507
So Mr.

00:38:52.507 --> 00:38:56.077
Smith, you're signing on to one of these secure platforms that is not Zoom, by the way.

00:38:57.286 --> 00:38:57.836
Which is not secure, Mary.

00:38:58.387 --> 00:39:01.786
You're going to, you know, hold up your license next to your face to verify that it's you.

00:39:02.146 --> 00:39:06.786
And then you're going to have to upload the ID via, you know, a secure, um, QR code.

00:39:06.788 --> 00:39:06.802
Okay.

00:39:07.001 --> 00:39:11.842
And then once you do that, there's going to be five questions based on your entire credit history from age 18.

00:39:11.871 --> 00:39:12.192
Okay.

00:39:12.271 --> 00:39:14.842
It's going to spit out, so only you know the answers to that.

00:39:14.842 --> 00:39:15.242
Yeah, yeah.

00:39:15.431 --> 00:39:16.391
Some people fail it.

00:39:16.492 --> 00:39:16.842
Right.

00:39:16.851 --> 00:39:20.141
You can only Well, because sometimes I can't remember the street I lived on in 2004.

00:39:20.322 --> 00:39:25.402
And for someone like me who's had 32 different addresses, doing KBA is a little bit of a nightmare.

00:39:25.452 --> 00:39:25.742
Yeah.

00:39:25.822 --> 00:39:28.322
Because we also had, you know, real estate investments.

00:39:28.322 --> 00:39:31.822
So one time I was doing KBA because I just wanted to go through it to see what it was like.

00:39:31.891 --> 00:39:32.121
Yeah.

00:39:32.271 --> 00:39:34.802
And it asked me about a zip code in Cleveland, Ohio.

00:39:35.291 --> 00:39:38.431
My husband and I invested in a property there like in our early 20s.

00:39:38.481 --> 00:39:48.032
I don't know that answer So it can be a little cumbersome, especially for those that are, you know, a little bit older older generation Maybe not as technologically savvy.

00:39:48.411 --> 00:39:49.802
It can be a little bit of a nightmare.

00:39:49.802 --> 00:39:57.742
So we've kind of been Come up with this litmus test of like, Hey, if you're going to send us a remote online transaction, please make sure your person knows how to use technology.

00:39:58.211 --> 00:40:01.112
Because it can end up taking twice as long as it's like an in person signing.

00:40:01.411 --> 00:40:07.391
But it is great when say the spouses are traveling or in two different places, or maybe we have a client that's overseas.

00:40:07.581 --> 00:40:10.681
We're able to also offer that for international sellers.

00:40:11.072 --> 00:40:14.231
And that's been a really big game changer in the last six months for our business.

00:40:14.711 --> 00:40:15.501
So it seems like.

00:40:16.157 --> 00:40:24.036
Like, if there was a baddie out there that was trying to impersonate somebody, it's possible that they would even, like, have a copy of your credit report there.

00:40:24.376 --> 00:40:27.496
That would be virtually impossible for them to pass KBA.

00:40:27.907 --> 00:40:28.336
Okay.

00:40:28.407 --> 00:40:30.956
It asks about your addresses, colors of your car.

00:40:31.246 --> 00:40:33.726
I know, but if they could pull your credit report, then you'd have a lot of that.

00:40:33.766 --> 00:40:35.137
I guess you wouldn't have the car colors.

00:40:35.186 --> 00:40:37.237
I guess that's insurance agency stuff instead.

00:40:37.257 --> 00:40:40.106
Your ID would have to be forged, like that ID there.

00:40:40.126 --> 00:40:43.197
I mean, honestly, I feel like remote online notarization.

00:40:43.447 --> 00:40:45.746
is almost more secure than signing in person.

00:40:45.947 --> 00:40:47.757
Because you could show me a fake ID, Mr.

00:40:47.757 --> 00:40:47.887
Smith.

00:40:47.896 --> 00:40:48.657
Right, right.

00:40:48.737 --> 00:40:49.496
I wouldn't know.

00:40:49.547 --> 00:40:49.867
Totally.

00:40:49.867 --> 00:40:53.126
And my driver's license photo is like nine years old now.

00:40:53.166 --> 00:40:53.507
Right.

00:40:53.507 --> 00:40:55.068
But the system I was

00:40:55.068 --> 00:40:56.630
a lot prettier back then.

00:40:56.630 --> 00:40:56.943
No.

00:40:56.943 --> 00:40:57.567
Still pretty.

00:40:57.567 --> 00:41:05.996
Um, but the ID verification software that these, um, companies are using are, is very secure and, um, there's really no way to fool the system.

00:41:06.007 --> 00:41:06.306
Yeah.

00:41:06.376 --> 00:41:06.586
Yeah.

00:41:06.586 --> 00:41:07.126
That makes sense.

00:41:07.126 --> 00:41:08.657
I mean, honestly, you're probably right.

00:41:08.657 --> 00:41:16.871
But it would be easier for people to Some batty to forge my driver's license and walk into first bank where they wouldn't care.

00:41:16.871 --> 00:41:16.961
Well,

00:41:17.021 --> 00:41:17.981
and that's what's happening.

00:41:17.981 --> 00:41:20.681
So I had clients that would send me, you know, all their purchase packages.

00:41:20.681 --> 00:41:22.257
So you're, you're now buying a house, Mr.

00:41:22.257 --> 00:41:22.512
Smith.

00:41:22.512 --> 00:41:26.891
So you're buying a house, um, and you know, you definitely have to use a notary for seller packages.

00:41:26.952 --> 00:41:29.291
Now you're selling the house, you know, that's quick, quick turnaround.

00:41:29.291 --> 00:41:34.032
You should have waited two years so you don't get those cap, cap gain, but, um, but I made a hundred grand.

00:41:34.032 --> 00:41:34.331
Great.

00:41:34.331 --> 00:41:34.572
Alright.

00:41:34.572 --> 00:41:37.572
You don't care about the capital gains now, so you're now selling the house.

00:41:37.637 --> 00:41:41.117
There are only a handful of notarizations and the package is a lot smaller.

00:41:41.117 --> 00:41:43.637
There's not a loan involved or you're paying off a loan.

00:41:43.637 --> 00:41:47.746
And so a lot of our clients have been allowing them to just find their own notary.

00:41:48.016 --> 00:41:52.922
But what's happening is there's an increasing amount of seller fraud and so Right, right.

00:41:52.927 --> 00:41:54.882
So their seller impersonation, they're pre Right.

00:41:54.882 --> 00:41:56.177
They're pretending just wire.

00:41:56.177 --> 00:41:57.436
They don't Mr.

00:41:57.436 --> 00:41:57.856
Smith.

00:41:57.862 --> 00:41:58.242
Exactly.

00:41:58.461 --> 00:42:05.041
Or they're finding a notary friend or family member, and they're falsifying this information and Wow.

00:42:05.041 --> 00:42:05.202
Wow.

00:42:05.672 --> 00:42:10.981
So, that's been a really great opportunity for me to come in and say, why aren't you using us for all of your transactions?

00:42:10.992 --> 00:42:11.112
Right.

00:42:11.222 --> 00:42:20.411
And so, several of our clients, if not most of them, have said, we mandate you now use Precision Signing Agency for any of your authorizations because it helps mitigate fraud.

00:42:20.711 --> 00:42:23.541
Well, I, I was a notary in my past, actually.

00:42:23.541 --> 00:42:25.961
I did not know this about I was in the banking industry.

00:42:25.961 --> 00:42:29.202
I even had a medallion signature guarantee stamped for a while.

00:42:29.211 --> 00:42:31.501
I've been asked to get one of those, but I can't because I don't work for a bank.

00:42:31.902 --> 00:42:39.887
But, uh, I took it as seriously as most bankers did, probably, which wasn't that seriously.

00:42:39.936 --> 00:42:46.367
It was like, look at an ID and sign the thingy and make sure you write it down in the notary book, which is where again, where did we put the notary book?

00:42:47.186 --> 00:42:49.286
Anyway, just an observation.

00:42:49.487 --> 00:42:49.836
Yeah.

00:42:49.836 --> 00:42:50.097
No.

00:42:50.097 --> 00:42:53.836
And I think that's what differentiates, differentiates loan signing agents.

00:42:53.836 --> 00:42:56.567
And that's why I call them LSAs is because they've been specialized.

00:42:56.876 --> 00:42:57.367
This is your job.

00:42:57.697 --> 00:42:57.856
Yeah.

00:42:57.876 --> 00:42:58.217
They have.

00:42:58.677 --> 00:42:59.637
They've been certified.

00:42:59.646 --> 00:43:01.827
They have their errors and omissions insurance.

00:43:01.827 --> 00:43:02.367
They've got.

00:43:02.416 --> 00:43:03.856
My job was to make business loans.

00:43:04.072 --> 00:43:04.311
Right.

00:43:04.342 --> 00:43:08.202
You know, and build relationships with business owners, but, whatever, you need a notary?

00:43:08.202 --> 00:43:08.492
Sure.

00:43:08.791 --> 00:43:10.192
Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask for your ID.

00:43:10.302 --> 00:43:10.572
Right.

00:43:10.711 --> 00:43:10.952
Bob.

00:43:11.521 --> 00:43:12.842
Everybody needs a notary.

00:43:13.061 --> 00:43:15.541
People find out in my neighborhood and they like perk up, oh, you're a notary?

00:43:15.782 --> 00:43:16.382
I'm like, oh, yes.

00:43:16.942 --> 00:43:18.402
Well, not that, not that kind.

00:43:18.402 --> 00:43:19.382
I mean, yes, of course.

00:43:19.641 --> 00:43:21.731
Any friends and family, yes, I will notarize for you.

00:43:21.931 --> 00:43:33.181
So are you trying to create a lifestyle business with this, Autumn, or are you looking for an exit at some point when it gets big enough, or what's your, you got a bunch of pocket full of ideas for, uh, what's that, uh,

00:43:33.237 --> 00:43:38.126
Yeah.

00:43:38.407 --> 00:43:38.496
I

00:43:38.586 --> 00:43:39.806
think an exit for sure.

00:43:40.016 --> 00:43:42.967
Again, I, you know, my husband and I have been together for a long time.

00:43:42.996 --> 00:43:46.536
Our original plan, he wanted to retire at 40.

00:43:46.817 --> 00:43:49.947
If I retire, I say loosely, he's still going to do something.

00:43:49.947 --> 00:43:51.186
I'm still going to do something.

00:43:51.186 --> 00:43:55.231
But to financially be independent and not ever have to work again if we didn't want

00:43:55.231 --> 00:43:56.476
So you're like super savers, kind of.

00:43:56.476 --> 00:43:57.543
Or you plan to be soon.

00:43:57.543 --> 00:43:58.077
And investors and,

00:43:58.157 --> 00:43:59.246
yeah, no, absolutely.

00:43:59.246 --> 00:44:07.181
And so because I, a little bit more comfort playing offense and also have more comfort spending money.

00:44:07.561 --> 00:44:09.862
You know, we've agreed that for him, this is your

00:44:09.862 --> 00:44:10.092
project.

00:44:10.452 --> 00:44:15.981
This is my project and I've got this, you know, finite amount of time to really kick this off and make it work.

00:44:16.161 --> 00:44:18.152
He'd like to be retired at 45 now.

00:44:18.172 --> 00:44:19.152
He just turned 40.

00:44:19.561 --> 00:44:22.952
So I've got like a five year runway of saying like, Hey, let's do this.

00:44:22.952 --> 00:44:29.992
And then we really want the freedom just to, Go about, travel the world, experience life with our kids and, you know, they're not getting Will you

00:44:30.061 --> 00:44:30.791
homeschool or something?

00:44:31.112 --> 00:44:31.572
We might.

00:44:31.572 --> 00:44:45.521
There's a lot of great world schools out there, um, especially some that are like based off the Socratic method and we've, um, we almost moved to Portugal a few years ago, so we were pretty steeped in understanding kind of what our options were, but I really want them to be a part of that decision.

00:44:45.581 --> 00:44:53.072
As they get older, I moved so much growing up and while I was playing I think it was definitely a lot harder on my brother.

00:44:53.632 --> 00:44:57.072
And I want to make sure that they also want that sort of life.

00:44:57.322 --> 00:45:00.501
And uh, is Trevor excited about this?

00:45:00.541 --> 00:45:06.961
Kind of some of the characteristics you describe are more of like a homebody type or a less adventurous, but he's loves the idea of.

00:45:07.657 --> 00:45:08.436
World traveling.

00:45:08.492 --> 00:45:08.797
Oh, that's

00:45:08.797 --> 00:45:09.277
him.

00:45:09.606 --> 00:45:09.639
Oh it is.

00:45:09.639 --> 00:45:09.639
Okay.

00:45:09.644 --> 00:45:10.476
That's totally him.

00:45:10.476 --> 00:45:10.597
Yeah.

00:45:10.597 --> 00:45:10.746
All right.

00:45:10.746 --> 00:45:11.347
Absolutely.

00:45:11.347 --> 00:45:16.356
I mean, I like to travel, but like when I say travel, I'm good being gone for like 10 days to two weeks.

00:45:16.356 --> 00:45:16.447
Right.

00:45:16.447 --> 00:45:17.617
He wants to slow travel.

00:45:17.617 --> 00:45:20.288
He is like, no, we gotta spend a month here and really get to know like Right.

00:45:20.293 --> 00:45:20.351
And then

00:45:20.351 --> 00:45:20.871
go a month there.

00:45:21.007 --> 00:45:21.306
A month

00:45:21.306 --> 00:45:21.516
there.

00:45:21.516 --> 00:45:22.086
Exactly.

00:45:22.092 --> 00:45:28.177
So that's kind of the agreement we've made in the meantime is like, we're gonna spend a month or two out the country right now while we can.

00:45:28.402 --> 00:45:31.992
You know, once in the winter, once in the summer, kind of get our kids exposed.

00:45:32.021 --> 00:45:36.791
Um, we, we did it a couple of years ago in Mexico and it was not, not super fun.

00:45:37.161 --> 00:45:39.842
They were not the best ages and we were in Tulum.

00:45:39.851 --> 00:45:41.431
And if you've been to Tulum recently, that's a

00:45:41.431 --> 00:45:42.092
pretty hectic,

00:45:42.351 --> 00:45:43.952
it's fun.

00:45:43.952 --> 00:45:49.132
If you're like, if you're single or you're, you're just there as a couple, it is not a kid friendly place.

00:45:49.132 --> 00:45:53.572
You know, kids like to ride their bikes and go to parks and libraries and none of that was available.

00:45:53.572 --> 00:45:53.911
No,

00:45:53.922 --> 00:45:58.282
it's, uh, it's kind of like Not, it's not the party zone, but kinda is.

00:45:58.972 --> 00:46:06.702
Man, I, the, uh, we were there in May of 2021, actually, in Tulum, and the outfits that some of the ladies wear, did that

00:46:07.202 --> 00:46:08.791
Oh, the Instagram influencers.

00:46:08.791 --> 00:46:09.632
Were you down on the beach?

00:46:09.652 --> 00:46:09.922
I

00:46:09.972 --> 00:46:10.871
don't even know.

00:46:10.882 --> 00:46:11.192
The amount of

00:46:11.282 --> 00:46:12.052
times I I know

00:46:12.052 --> 00:46:15.797
I had to look away a lot to keep from Getting a ri uh, elbow to the ribs.

00:46:16.427 --> 00:46:21.416
The, the amount of TikTok influencer husbands or boyfriends that I'd see down on the beach.

00:46:21.606 --> 00:46:23.367
It's like, you know, the same shot.

00:46:23.376 --> 00:46:24.396
This, like, yeah.

00:46:24.467 --> 00:46:29.887
It was kind of ridiculous and funny at the same time, but it was definitely a six week, like, relocation.

00:46:29.887 --> 00:46:31.876
We did that right before we moved here to Colorado.

00:46:31.878 --> 00:46:32.302
Okay.

00:46:32.442 --> 00:46:34.041
And it was, it was rough.

00:46:34.072 --> 00:46:36.882
I wouldn't say that that was like, hey, we're ready to do this again.

00:46:37.532 --> 00:46:38.512
Right, sign me up.

00:46:38.601 --> 00:46:38.661
And I don't,

00:46:38.661 --> 00:46:41.081
I don't think we're going back to Mexico anytime soon.

00:46:41.311 --> 00:46:42.672
So talk to me a little bit more.

00:46:42.672 --> 00:46:52.782
You've hinted toward kind of this change in regulation, the notary service, remote notary services as part of that move to Colorado, but can you set the stage a little bit there?

00:46:52.871 --> 00:46:53.891
As to why we moved to Colorado?

00:46:53.891 --> 00:46:54.172
Yeah,

00:46:54.172 --> 00:46:54.552
yeah.

00:46:54.552 --> 00:46:58.197
And did you, Pick Fort Collins right away.

00:46:58.206 --> 00:46:58.706
Did you, yeah.

00:46:58.706 --> 00:47:00.556
Talk to me about that overall topic.

00:47:00.677 --> 00:47:01.376
Great question.

00:47:01.376 --> 00:47:03.036
So I've alluded to that.

00:47:03.036 --> 00:47:04.257
I've moved many times.

00:47:04.257 --> 00:47:05.606
I've lived in six different States.

00:47:05.606 --> 00:47:06.757
I've lived out of the country.

00:47:06.786 --> 00:47:09.166
I've had 32 addresses over my life.

00:47:09.186 --> 00:47:11.327
And I know this cause I've had to put them in a spreadsheet before.

00:47:11.396 --> 00:47:12.527
I know it because I've read your credit report.

00:47:15.657 --> 00:47:20.186
So, um, we were in North Carolina off and on for the last 15 years.

00:47:20.186 --> 00:47:25.402
So I, when I graduated from UC Santa Barbara, uh, it was 2008, not a great time to graduate.

00:47:25.782 --> 00:47:28.572
Um, you know, I had plans actually to move here to Fort Collins.

00:47:28.882 --> 00:47:32.992
I had dated someone that went to CSU and I fell in love with Fort Collins.

00:47:33.081 --> 00:47:36.532
Thankfully that relationship did not work out, but I was still going to move here.

00:47:36.871 --> 00:47:40.081
Um, and I had, you know, started networking.

00:47:40.081 --> 00:47:46.891
I was actually thinking about grad school and then I went on eHarmony, just kind of on a fluke and met my now husband.

00:47:47.001 --> 00:47:47.092
Okay.

00:47:47.092 --> 00:47:47.400
Okay.

00:47:47.400 --> 00:47:47.706
Okay.

00:47:47.817 --> 00:47:55.097
The first day I was on there, so in a matter of basically a day, my world changed and my life changed.

00:47:55.097 --> 00:47:58.577
We met three weeks later, and we met in Napa for our first date.

00:47:58.967 --> 00:48:04.097
Um, that would be fitting that I later worked in wine, kind of fell in love and fell in love with wine at the same time.

00:48:04.106 --> 00:48:07.556
And he said, you know, I'm going to go to law school or grad school in the southeast.

00:48:07.952 --> 00:48:09.461
Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina.

00:48:09.461 --> 00:48:10.632
Which state do you want to move to?

00:48:11.172 --> 00:48:12.192
You're like, not Georgia.

00:48:12.192 --> 00:48:12.891
I said, I'm moving to Fort

00:48:12.891 --> 00:48:14.431
Collins, what are you talking about?

00:48:14.431 --> 00:48:15.851
He goes, well I didn't apply to school there.

00:48:15.862 --> 00:48:23.351
So, um, that's where I honestly, this is as ridiculous as my 21 year old self, I said, well I had a Tar Heel sweatshirt.

00:48:23.666 --> 00:48:26.097
from Swapmeet growing up, and I think we should go there.

00:48:26.177 --> 00:48:27.106
I think it's a sign.

00:48:27.536 --> 00:48:29.376
Like, who didn't have a Tar Heel sweatshirt, right?

00:48:29.376 --> 00:48:32.027
Or some sort of paraphernalia over the years.

00:48:32.036 --> 00:48:34.927
So, that's where we landed, and it was, it was great.

00:48:34.947 --> 00:48:36.027
It treated us well.

00:48:36.036 --> 00:48:42.277
I think living in the South in the Bible Belt was, you know, eye opening, um, for me, especially coming from the Midwest.

00:48:42.382 --> 00:48:43.351
It's in the West Coast.

00:48:43.831 --> 00:48:46.751
Uh, racial tensions, that sort of stuff is, it's very different.

00:48:46.811 --> 00:48:46.972
And

00:48:46.972 --> 00:48:48.061
where are you at in North Carolina?

00:48:48.291 --> 00:48:48.452
Where are you?

00:48:48.452 --> 00:48:48.851
We're in Raleigh.

00:48:48.862 --> 00:48:49.362
In more like

00:48:49.362 --> 00:48:50.771
progressive area for sure.

00:48:50.771 --> 00:48:52.422
But it's still the South.

00:48:52.592 --> 00:48:52.811
Yeah.

00:48:52.871 --> 00:48:58.581
And I think that, you know, the schools are not nearly as great as they are here, the public schools.

00:48:58.592 --> 00:48:58.601
Mm.

00:48:58.992 --> 00:49:01.461
We never intended to have our kids in, in private school.

00:49:01.461 --> 00:49:04.981
And so that's when we actually started planning our exit to Portugal.

00:49:05.112 --> 00:49:05.132
Yeah.

00:49:05.132 --> 00:49:05.771
Yeah.

00:49:05.771 --> 00:49:05.831
Yeah.

00:49:05.981 --> 00:49:10.612
We made the mistake of not actually going to Portugal before we made the decision to move there.

00:49:10.612 --> 00:49:10.722
Okay.

00:49:11.101 --> 00:49:12.902
And so I think Portugal is fantastic.

00:49:12.902 --> 00:49:13.791
I think it's a great place.

00:49:13.791 --> 00:49:14.331
There's a ton of expats.

00:49:15.132 --> 00:49:17.891
I just don't think it was the right fit for the right time in our life.

00:49:17.961 --> 00:49:18.092
Right.

00:49:18.351 --> 00:49:21.442
The age of our kids and the thought of being so far from family.

00:49:21.757 --> 00:49:22.606
It just didn't sit Well, plus

00:49:22.606 --> 00:49:24.907
you're rocking this business and stuff too, right?

00:49:24.907 --> 00:49:25.266
And thank

00:49:25.266 --> 00:49:27.056
goodness I didn't make that decision.

00:49:27.137 --> 00:49:29.347
At this time, the business was a little bit slower.

00:49:29.387 --> 00:49:29.677
Sure.

00:49:29.686 --> 00:49:32.146
And I wasn't like 100 percent sure, like, I was Were

00:49:32.146 --> 00:49:34.530
you kind of in your funk mode there after losing the goose egg?

00:49:34.530 --> 00:49:34.757
Yeah,

00:49:34.757 --> 00:49:36.197
I was in my funk mode during that time.

00:49:36.197 --> 00:49:37.016
That's a good way to put it.

00:49:37.376 --> 00:49:42.536
And so, um, we went over there and we both looked at each other and we're like, this just isn't, This isn't a good fit right now,

00:49:42.567 --> 00:49:42.887
right?

00:49:42.976 --> 00:49:44.146
And so then we came back.

00:49:44.436 --> 00:49:45.367
Okay, we're gonna be here.

00:49:45.367 --> 00:49:46.427
We're here in North Carolina.

00:49:46.427 --> 00:49:48.197
And then like a month later, we both look to each other.

00:49:48.197 --> 00:49:52.286
And I was like, I'm too itchy still like we've got it's I'm ready for a change.

00:49:52.286 --> 00:49:57.987
Like we'd lived in the same neighborhood for almost 10 years, which for me, after moving as much as I did was unheard of.

00:49:58.016 --> 00:49:58.786
It was comfortable.

00:49:58.786 --> 00:50:01.367
And we had this lovely neighborhood, Trevor, everybody

00:50:01.367 --> 00:50:01.927
in Fort Collins.

00:50:02.572 --> 00:50:09.001
No, and so, one of my lifelong best friends, who you actually interviewed, Oh yeah, Katie.

00:50:09.001 --> 00:50:13.061
Katie, um, had moved to Timnath four years ago.

00:50:13.061 --> 00:50:15.601
Actually, I remember distinctly having the conversation.

00:50:15.621 --> 00:50:17.092
I've known her since I was six.

00:50:17.092 --> 00:50:19.382
We met when we lived in Reno, Sparks, Nevada.

00:50:19.731 --> 00:50:22.052
We, uh, actually were in first grade together.

00:50:22.431 --> 00:50:24.882
We got separated because we used to talk too much.

00:50:27.347 --> 00:50:35.447
So anyway, when she was finishing up her residency to be a pediatric dentist, she said, Hey, I have an opportunity to move to Seattle or to Fort Collins.

00:50:35.467 --> 00:50:36.757
And I was like, Fort Collins.

00:50:36.757 --> 00:50:43.146
And she goes, Why are you so like, because I'm never moving to Seattle, but someday it's possible I can move to Fort Collins.

00:50:43.836 --> 00:50:45.657
And so obviously it wasn't just me.

00:50:45.916 --> 00:50:45.996
So

00:50:45.996 --> 00:50:47.737
your selfish reasons that you recommended.

00:50:47.737 --> 00:50:50.476
I was like, yeah, you'll love it.

00:50:50.626 --> 00:50:52.836
And so thankfully they ended up moving here.

00:50:53.166 --> 00:50:59.117
And then my other lifelong best friend who I've known since I was 13 has been back living back in Parker, Colorado.

00:50:59.427 --> 00:51:04.936
We met, um, when I went to middle school in Colorado Springs, we were college roommates in Southern California.

00:51:05.186 --> 00:51:09.356
She stayed in Orange County and then she moved back here probably about 10 years ago.

00:51:09.686 --> 00:51:13.097
And so I hadn't been around my lifelong best friends in a very long time.

00:51:13.106 --> 00:51:13.396
Right.

00:51:13.456 --> 00:51:13.956
And so.

00:51:14.836 --> 00:51:15.036
Because they

00:51:15.036 --> 00:51:16.086
never came out Southeast.

00:51:16.086 --> 00:51:16.737
Like that's the part.

00:51:16.737 --> 00:51:16.907
No,

00:51:16.907 --> 00:51:17.586
it's so far away.

00:51:17.586 --> 00:51:18.047
I never go

00:51:18.047 --> 00:51:19.327
East of the Mississippi, frankly.

00:51:19.677 --> 00:51:20.210
And what for what purpose?

00:51:20.210 --> 00:51:21.777
Like I travel all around the American West, but I never

00:51:22.666 --> 00:51:23.246
Exactly.

00:51:23.396 --> 00:51:26.126
I mean, some people go to Florida, but I guess I do go to Florida.

00:51:26.266 --> 00:51:26.347
Yeah.

00:51:26.347 --> 00:51:26.943
It's the

00:51:26.943 --> 00:51:28.036
only other place I go.

00:51:28.038 --> 00:51:28.237
Or, or

00:51:28.237 --> 00:51:30.157
Charleston, you know, for a wedding maybe.

00:51:30.157 --> 00:51:30.516
Not yet.

00:51:30.518 --> 00:51:30.876
Not yet.

00:51:30.878 --> 00:51:31.177
Not yet.

00:51:31.177 --> 00:51:31.706
Savannah.

00:51:32.507 --> 00:51:37.802
So, um I had this great idea, it was October, uh, which was right around my, no, I had gone in January.

00:51:37.842 --> 00:51:46.331
I came to visit Katie and I kind of started plotting, I was like, oh, maybe, he, he grew up in Minnesota, my husband did, and he swears he's never in love anywhere with snow.

00:51:46.961 --> 00:51:49.211
And so he's like, I'm not living north of the Mason Dixon line.

00:51:49.251 --> 00:51:52.391
This was like a hard line in our relationship and I was like, oh.

00:51:52.431 --> 00:51:52.532
He

00:51:52.532 --> 00:51:54.402
didn't know this was Banana Belt out here?

00:51:55.371 --> 00:51:56.371
What's the Banana Belt?

00:51:56.391 --> 00:52:00.032
That's kind of the stripe from Fort Collins down to.

00:52:00.266 --> 00:52:00.976
Pueblo.

00:52:01.146 --> 00:52:01.556
Oh.

00:52:01.706 --> 00:52:09.467
You know, where it's Colorado, it's mountains, we get snow, but you also get 10 riding days on your motorcycle every month.

00:52:10.137 --> 00:52:10.766
If you want them.

00:52:10.847 --> 00:52:11.367
I like that.

00:52:11.376 --> 00:52:13.456
No, and so I, so we, we brought him out here.

00:52:13.487 --> 00:52:14.797
October was fabulous.

00:52:14.887 --> 00:52:15.166
Right.

00:52:15.336 --> 00:52:18.056
And he, I was like, hey, can you just come check it out?

00:52:18.086 --> 00:52:19.556
And he just, he fell in love.

00:52:19.646 --> 00:52:20.016
Oh wow.

00:52:20.027 --> 00:52:25.356
Like, it was one of those days where you have to wear three different outfits because, or, you know, figures, as I've learned now.

00:52:25.626 --> 00:52:29.257
Where, you know, we're sweating by the afternoon, but he's like, this place is amazing.

00:52:29.266 --> 00:52:30.797
We were looking for somewhere smaller.

00:52:31.126 --> 00:52:37.047
Raleigh, we were living in Cary, which is a beautiful suburb, but it had gotten so big, so fast.

00:52:37.637 --> 00:52:38.297
There's still community

00:52:38.297 --> 00:52:38.327
here.

00:52:38.327 --> 00:52:38.527
There's

00:52:38.876 --> 00:52:39.217
community.

00:52:39.226 --> 00:52:39.356
You

00:52:39.356 --> 00:52:41.907
run into people that you'd know, random places.

00:52:41.967 --> 00:52:48.286
I have, you know, he's met more people from Minnesota in a year of living here than he did in 15 years in North Carolina.

00:52:48.547 --> 00:52:51.867
Like I feel like the cool, like adventurous Midwesterners settle here.

00:52:51.967 --> 00:52:52.367
Totally.

00:52:52.367 --> 00:52:52.487
Totally.

00:52:52.487 --> 00:52:53.097
And so.

00:52:53.327 --> 00:52:54.067
I'm from North Dakota.

00:52:54.206 --> 00:52:54.536
Yeah, exactly.

00:52:55.657 --> 00:52:56.626
That's why we're friends, right?

00:52:56.626 --> 00:52:56.867
Is he from

00:52:56.867 --> 00:52:57.427
a city?

00:52:57.436 --> 00:52:58.376
The city in Minnesota?

00:52:58.387 --> 00:52:58.766
No.

00:52:58.797 --> 00:52:59.157
Or a country?

00:52:59.166 --> 00:53:02.646
He's from, um, he actually grew up on a farm in a town of 32 people.

00:53:02.896 --> 00:53:03.166
Oh, wow.

00:53:03.166 --> 00:53:04.047
In southwest Minnesota.

00:53:04.106 --> 00:53:04.536
Oh, nice.

00:53:04.536 --> 00:53:04.666
Yeah.

00:53:04.666 --> 00:53:05.106
I grew up in a

00:53:05.106 --> 00:53:05.916
town of like a hundred.

00:53:05.927 --> 00:53:07.356
How big was his high school class?

00:53:07.536 --> 00:53:09.306
So, he had to go into town.

00:53:09.317 --> 00:53:09.746
Real town.

00:53:09.766 --> 00:53:10.467
In real town.

00:53:10.677 --> 00:53:11.927
A town of 10, 000 people.

00:53:11.927 --> 00:53:12.347
Okay.

00:53:12.387 --> 00:53:14.097
So, yeah, it was a little bit bigger.

00:53:14.336 --> 00:53:14.646
You know.

00:53:14.766 --> 00:53:15.827
So, how big was yours?

00:53:15.976 --> 00:53:17.336
I graduated with five.

00:53:17.856 --> 00:53:18.527
Me, plus four.

00:53:18.536 --> 00:53:19.706
Did you like those people?

00:53:20.036 --> 00:53:25.032
I mean Mostly, you know, there wasn't a lot of options.

00:53:25.032 --> 00:53:25.331
Do you still talk to

00:53:25.331 --> 00:53:25.422
them?

00:53:25.911 --> 00:53:32.092
Um, I was home for, uh, they have all school reunions every five years.

00:53:32.612 --> 00:53:36.722
So everybody that's ever graduated from this high school comes every five years.

00:53:36.731 --> 00:53:36.751
Yeah.

00:53:37.181 --> 00:53:41.237
And yeah, I spent time and had good relationships with them.

00:53:41.376 --> 00:53:46.817
Two of my high school graduation classmates, but no, I don't talk to them like on a regular basis.

00:53:47.047 --> 00:53:49.556
Well, that's like one of the unique parts of being from a small town.

00:53:49.556 --> 00:53:53.347
So I was actually born in a very small town in western Kansas, town of a thousand people.

00:53:53.356 --> 00:53:53.657
Okay.

00:53:53.657 --> 00:53:57.416
And my parents both graduated with like 23, 25 people in their class.

00:53:57.416 --> 00:53:59.827
And they also have all school reunions every five years.

00:54:00.286 --> 00:54:02.496
And they still go back and they stay in touch with these people.

00:54:02.666 --> 00:54:05.097
I graduated in a class of 700 people.

00:54:05.137 --> 00:54:05.387
Oh, yeah.

00:54:05.447 --> 00:54:07.492
And I Maybe talk to one of them.

00:54:07.811 --> 00:54:08.032
So,

00:54:08.032 --> 00:54:09.632
you

00:54:09.632 --> 00:54:15.442
know, I, these lifelong friendships that I mentioned with the, the friends that live here were huge, you know, draw to this area.

00:54:15.442 --> 00:54:21.972
So luckily he fell in love with it and he came and in a matter of three and a half months, we had moved out here.

00:54:22.032 --> 00:54:22.362
Nice.

00:54:22.382 --> 00:54:25.382
So we, uh, just, our kids are at that age where they were starting.

00:54:25.382 --> 00:54:25.806
So that was

00:54:25.806 --> 00:54:25.961
like.

00:54:26.101 --> 00:54:27.472
January February of It was

00:54:27.472 --> 00:54:28.271
March of last year.

00:54:28.291 --> 00:54:29.101
March of last year, okay.

00:54:29.172 --> 00:54:29.452
March

00:54:29.452 --> 00:54:30.181
1st, yep.

00:54:30.251 --> 00:54:31.532
Uh, drove across the country.

00:54:31.532 --> 00:54:34.572
Our kids are, you know, our daughter's in first grade, our son is in pre K.

00:54:34.972 --> 00:54:36.472
Um, school year's almost over.

00:54:36.472 --> 00:54:41.882
So, I wanted them, because I didn't have that stability growing up, I really wanted them to have like a sense of home.

00:54:42.061 --> 00:54:42.251
Yeah.

00:54:42.302 --> 00:54:47.242
And so for me, this is home for the next at least 15 years, at least part of the year.

00:54:47.302 --> 00:54:47.442
Right.

00:54:47.891 --> 00:54:50.992
Trevor's still not sold on winter, even though it's pretty mild.

00:54:51.242 --> 00:54:54.342
I tried to sell him on skiing this year, and both kids are in.

00:54:54.722 --> 00:54:56.601
He's a little wishy washy.

00:54:56.791 --> 00:55:02.112
We got him as his epic pass, but yeah, he could take it or leave it, where I just, I love it.

00:55:02.342 --> 00:55:02.601
Just don't

00:55:02.601 --> 00:55:05.822
take him out when it's below zero, because that will sometimes ruin people.

00:55:06.072 --> 00:55:08.711
Yeah, it's not, it's not usually that cold here, though.

00:55:09.032 --> 00:55:12.121
And that's like the funniest part of, like, people don't understand about Colorado.

00:55:12.121 --> 00:55:19.336
Like, it's, it's so beautiful, and I hate to even, like, tell people about Fort Collins, because it's like It's already exploded in population.

00:55:19.336 --> 00:55:22.476
And you know, like I want to keep it small.

00:55:23.847 --> 00:55:23.867
Yeah.

00:55:23.867 --> 00:55:26.487
NIMBY.

00:55:26.487 --> 00:55:29.126
There's not a lot of room to grow in Fort Collins to be fair.

00:55:29.137 --> 00:55:30.577
I mean, it's all happening out in Timnitz.

00:55:30.597 --> 00:55:34.586
Where, uh, where did, I don't want to assume you're in Fort Collins, but where did you settle?

00:55:34.586 --> 00:55:37.427
Where did you choose to move to?

00:55:37.476 --> 00:55:38.806
That was one of my non negotiable.

00:55:38.806 --> 00:55:41.226
If we're moving to Fort Collins, we're living in Fort Collins.

00:55:41.226 --> 00:55:41.657
In what part

00:55:41.657 --> 00:55:42.246
of town?

00:55:43.431 --> 00:55:44.722
We're right by Fossil Creek Park.

00:55:44.771 --> 00:55:45.121
Okay.

00:55:45.161 --> 00:55:45.501
Yeah.

00:55:45.512 --> 00:55:46.672
So we So Fossil

00:55:46.672 --> 00:55:47.762
Ranch right over there or whatever.

00:55:47.762 --> 00:55:48.572
Uh, Huntington Hills.

00:55:48.641 --> 00:55:48.972
Okay.

00:55:49.021 --> 00:55:49.302
Great.

00:55:49.601 --> 00:55:49.621
Yeah.

00:55:49.632 --> 00:55:49.802
Yep.

00:55:49.931 --> 00:55:54.052
So we heard they're putting, there, there, there's a proposal to put pickleball courts in.

00:55:54.101 --> 00:55:54.762
Oh!

00:55:54.762 --> 00:55:55.751
And we are part of the

00:55:55.751 --> 00:56:00.771
FOCO Pickleball League and I could not be more excited to maybe be able to walk and play pickleball.

00:56:00.831 --> 00:56:03.172
I'll look forward to, uh, pickleballing with you sometime.

00:56:03.172 --> 00:56:06.891
Actually I have an email in my inbox from Yeah.

00:56:07.012 --> 00:56:11.692
A young man that's a, he's a kind of a luxury realtor in town, Greg Rader, he was on my podcast as well.

00:56:12.032 --> 00:56:19.052
And uh, he's got a, uh, recurring pickleball kind of business people's pickleball thing, so.

00:56:19.382 --> 00:56:20.351
I, I might need an input.

00:56:21.072 --> 00:56:21.722
Yeah, yeah.

00:56:21.722 --> 00:56:22.572
I need to get better.

00:56:22.581 --> 00:56:23.041
Do I know

00:56:23.041 --> 00:56:24.382
if girls are invited?

00:56:24.382 --> 00:56:24.882
I'm not sure.

00:56:24.882 --> 00:56:29.101
It was pretty much a sausage party the couple times I went last year, but maybe there's girls invited.

00:56:29.101 --> 00:56:29.702
There should be.

00:56:29.842 --> 00:56:30.351
I would assume so.

00:56:30.351 --> 00:56:30.512
Only,

00:56:30.632 --> 00:56:31.981
only women who actually now have a playlist.

00:56:32.021 --> 00:56:32.762
There wasn't anything

00:56:32.762 --> 00:56:34.231
on the flyer about no girls.

00:56:34.242 --> 00:56:34.632
So I'm assuming.

00:56:34.702 --> 00:56:35.422
Assuming so.

00:56:35.422 --> 00:56:35.452
I

00:56:35.452 --> 00:56:36.172
hope not.

00:56:36.172 --> 00:56:36.322
I

00:56:36.322 --> 00:56:36.532
don't know.

00:56:37.552 --> 00:56:38.242
well, we play on a ladder.

00:56:38.242 --> 00:56:38.751
I'll check before

00:56:38.751 --> 00:56:39.172
I invite

00:56:39.442 --> 00:56:40.612
you, we play on a later league.

00:56:40.612 --> 00:56:41.152
Do you know what that is?

00:56:41.226 --> 00:56:41.507
I don't.

00:56:41.577 --> 00:56:41.867
Uhuh.

00:56:41.867 --> 00:56:42.347
It's kind of intense.

00:56:42.347 --> 00:56:42.746
I'm a newbie.

00:56:42.746 --> 00:56:44.106
I've only played like three times in my life.

00:56:44.257 --> 00:56:44.547
Okay.

00:56:44.567 --> 00:56:45.146
So, but

00:56:45.166 --> 00:56:45.987
I'm really pretty good.

00:56:46.166 --> 00:56:46.791
Are you pretty good?

00:56:46.797 --> 00:56:47.186
Surprisingly.

00:56:47.186 --> 00:56:47.661
You need to join.

00:56:47.722 --> 00:56:47.931
Yeah.

00:56:47.931 --> 00:56:48.532
The Foco po.

00:56:48.711 --> 00:56:48.922
All right.

00:56:48.922 --> 00:56:48.981
So

00:56:49.072 --> 00:56:51.922
the problem is Fort Collins Pickleball League has about 2000.

00:56:52.387 --> 00:56:53.286
Um, members.

00:56:53.317 --> 00:56:53.686
Yeah.

00:56:53.737 --> 00:56:54.077
Right?

00:56:54.197 --> 00:56:59.856
But the Ladder Leagues have 44 spots every month, and they only have like three or four Ladder Leagues.

00:56:59.876 --> 00:57:03.047
And so, do the math, that's not a very large percentage of people.

00:57:03.047 --> 00:57:03.150
Yeah.

00:57:03.150 --> 00:57:04.387
And so the demand is insane.

00:57:04.387 --> 00:57:05.577
It's like Hunger Games.

00:57:05.577 --> 00:57:10.516
You have to wake up at midnight, once a month, to get a spot in the Ladder League.

00:57:10.516 --> 00:57:10.827
I gotcha.

00:57:11.056 --> 00:57:16.396
So you sign up, and we're on Wednesday night Ladder League, and you go and you basically, you play six games.

00:57:16.396 --> 00:57:21.112
You play three games, you play with all, all those people on the court, and So you switch partners each game.

00:57:21.902 --> 00:57:25.751
The best one moves down a court, the worst one moves up a court.

00:57:25.771 --> 00:57:26.532
If that makes sense.

00:57:26.931 --> 00:57:32.811
And so you play with people that are in your duper rating, or that's how they rate your pickleball score.

00:57:32.811 --> 00:57:35.713
You have to play 24 games before you even get your duper rating.

00:57:35.713 --> 00:57:36.641
It's pretty serious.

00:57:36.641 --> 00:57:37.262
Isn't it

00:57:37.262 --> 00:57:38.972
only like 25 bucks a year or something silly?

00:57:38.972 --> 00:57:40.072
Yeah, it's something silly.

00:57:40.072 --> 00:57:40.882
I'll sign up for it.

00:57:41.501 --> 00:57:41.782
And then

00:57:42.362 --> 00:57:45.952
you get access to the swift nets that you can put up at the tennis courts.

00:57:46.391 --> 00:57:47.032
Oh, sweet.

00:57:47.112 --> 00:57:47.681
Okay, cool.

00:57:47.682 --> 00:57:47.702
Cool.

00:57:49.302 --> 00:57:49.981
Totally off track.

00:57:50.072 --> 00:57:55.166
So, I feel like we've kind of talked about Business to the extent that we normally do.

00:57:55.166 --> 00:57:59.436
Do you want to just jump in the time machine with me and we'll get to know, uh, Little Autumn?

00:57:59.467 --> 00:58:00.186
Let's jump in.

00:58:00.416 --> 00:58:01.056
Um,

00:58:03.786 --> 00:58:04.067
you know,

00:58:04.927 --> 00:58:06.896
you've had so many moves and things like that.

00:58:06.896 --> 00:58:11.496
I actually want to go back to like, baby, baby, like just popped out.

00:58:11.507 --> 00:58:12.237
What, what was your first move?

00:58:12.396 --> 00:58:14.976
Family doing, we're, we're, military?

00:58:14.976 --> 00:58:15.666
What are we talking here?

00:58:15.867 --> 00:58:17.126
That would be easier to explain.

00:58:17.197 --> 00:58:19.257
I like to tell people I'm an American Nomad.

00:58:19.286 --> 00:58:22.686
I used to say Gypsy, but that has a negative connotation to it, so, I'm a Nomad now.

00:58:22.686 --> 00:58:24.106
Yeah, we used to call it Gypped.

00:58:24.106 --> 00:58:24.947
Uh, anyway.

00:58:25.416 --> 00:58:25.577
Yeah.

00:58:25.606 --> 00:58:26.887
Oh, that's where I try not to use that anymore.

00:58:26.887 --> 00:58:27.706
Yeah, totally.

00:58:27.896 --> 00:58:29.077
I never really thought about that.

00:58:29.396 --> 00:58:30.746
I used to think negotiating was bad.

00:58:30.748 --> 00:58:33.306
I don't know if I'm just chewing you down, you know, too, but whatever.

00:58:34.016 --> 00:58:36.547
I don't say that anymore, either, except for on podcast conversations.

00:58:37.617 --> 00:58:41.976
Yeah, so I was born, I mentioned, far western Kansas, a little tiny town called Syracuse, Kansas.

00:58:41.996 --> 00:58:45.447
And my parents, neither of them went to college.

00:58:45.797 --> 00:58:48.166
They had met in high school, kind of high school sweethearts.

00:58:48.206 --> 00:58:49.947
My mom was actually 13 when they met.

00:58:50.077 --> 00:58:50.376
Okay.

00:58:50.586 --> 00:58:51.936
So, yeah, that was like the only thing she'd ever did.

00:58:51.936 --> 00:58:53.117
And how old was your dad?

00:58:53.677 --> 00:58:54.047
He was 13.

00:58:55.657 --> 00:58:56.016
Oh, okay.

00:58:56.086 --> 00:58:57.266
Well, it's better than, like, 1902.

00:58:57.456 --> 00:58:58.077
No, gosh,

00:58:58.077 --> 00:58:58.077
no.

00:58:58.077 --> 00:58:58.556
No, no, no.

00:58:58.737 --> 00:58:59.987
They graduated two years apart.

00:58:59.996 --> 00:59:00.197
Alright.

00:59:00.206 --> 00:59:02.717
And, uh, they're in their, uh, early 60s now.

00:59:03.097 --> 00:59:06.887
Um, so, they, I think my dad, my dad was always a hustler.

00:59:06.916 --> 00:59:08.197
Like, he always had

00:59:08.306 --> 00:59:08.697
Gypsy type.

00:59:09.123 --> 00:59:10.851
Sorry.

00:59:10.851 --> 00:59:15.282
He just like, he had that entrepreneurial zeal and like that work ethic.

00:59:15.282 --> 00:59:18.811
I definitely credit him with at least providing that example.

00:59:19.041 --> 00:59:21.121
He always liked to work and he worked really hard.

00:59:21.472 --> 00:59:28.661
And so he was a bricklayer at the time I was born and there was more opportunity in Tahoe actually at the time.

00:59:29.052 --> 00:59:32.771
Um, all these luxury mansions were going up with the stone and, and brick.

00:59:32.782 --> 00:59:35.302
And so we moved out to Reno or Sparks actually.

00:59:35.311 --> 00:59:35.561
Okay.

00:59:35.791 --> 00:59:35.992
Nevada.

00:59:36.012 --> 00:59:36.422
So what was he

00:59:36.422 --> 00:59:36.581
doing?

00:59:36.581 --> 00:59:36.612
And.

00:59:37.597 --> 00:59:38.516
In Kansas, anyway.

00:59:38.567 --> 00:59:39.186
Bricklaying.

00:59:39.257 --> 00:59:39.827
Yeah, just that.

00:59:39.956 --> 00:59:40.157
Roofing.

00:59:40.157 --> 00:59:40.617
Whatever.

00:59:40.626 --> 00:59:40.896
Yeah.

00:59:40.936 --> 00:59:42.556
But how does a person land there?

00:59:43.496 --> 00:59:43.947
In Reno?

00:59:44.226 --> 00:59:45.367
No, in Western Kansas.

00:59:45.367 --> 00:59:46.356
Oh, his parents.

00:59:46.387 --> 00:59:46.987
Oh, I see.

00:59:46.987 --> 00:59:48.106
That was like, grew up there.

00:59:48.106 --> 00:59:48.286
Yeah.

00:59:48.416 --> 00:59:51.097
And then my mom's from Iowa, Lake Spencer, Iowa.

00:59:51.106 --> 00:59:51.146
Gotcha.

00:59:51.146 --> 00:59:53.266
And her dad owned a rendering plant.

00:59:53.467 --> 00:59:53.677
Mm.

00:59:53.717 --> 00:59:55.496
And so, he had worked in that space.

00:59:55.496 --> 00:59:57.106
He actually went to CSU, I found out.

00:59:57.356 --> 00:59:57.617
Okay.

00:59:57.936 --> 00:59:59.827
And he came here for some medical treatment.

01:00:00.516 --> 01:00:01.697
So anyway, sorry to come back to

01:00:01.697 --> 01:00:01.836
that.

01:00:01.836 --> 01:00:04.702
But, so you, Hall up and move to Reno, where you mostly grew up.

01:00:04.771 --> 01:00:05.851
Mostly ish.

01:00:05.931 --> 01:00:07.161
So, I was three when we moved.

01:00:07.472 --> 01:00:10.601
We lived there until just after sixth grade, so I was twelve.

01:00:10.652 --> 01:00:11.032
Okay.

01:00:11.101 --> 01:00:12.652
So, I was there for elementary school.

01:00:12.652 --> 01:00:17.181
It's really easy to think about my life, like, parsed into years of school, because I was in a different state.

01:00:17.592 --> 01:00:17.961
So And

01:00:17.992 --> 01:00:19.362
just you as a little Nope.

01:00:19.472 --> 01:00:20.202
Uh, my brother.

01:00:20.202 --> 01:00:21.632
My brother's three years older than me.

01:00:21.652 --> 01:00:21.972
Okay.

01:00:22.166 --> 01:00:35.766
Uh, Tyler, and so he, um, moved, so when we were told we had to move from Reno, we were told we were moving to Colorado Springs, and, um, my aunt and uncle had lived, yeah, lived there at the time, and my cousins, and so we moved.

01:00:35.786 --> 01:00:37.887
My brother had just finished his freshman year of high school.

01:00:38.036 --> 01:00:45.516
And then my dad was working in a car dealership and he was working like 80 hours a week and my mom said, this is not working.

01:00:45.567 --> 01:00:47.646
Like you need to work less, be more present.

01:00:48.146 --> 01:00:51.927
And so he had an opportunity to go start selling timeshares in Palm Desert.

01:00:52.206 --> 01:00:54.027
Oh, from Colorado Springs.

01:00:54.027 --> 01:00:54.806
From Colorado Springs.

01:00:54.827 --> 01:00:55.097
Okay.

01:00:55.117 --> 01:00:59.666
I want to, um, I'm going to take a time out on the, on the journey, but let's go back to like.

01:01:00.286 --> 01:01:01.666
Third grade autumn.

01:01:02.226 --> 01:01:05.987
Describe yourself to the best of your recollection during those years.

01:01:06.507 --> 01:01:09.047
Hmm, probably a little bossy.

01:01:09.356 --> 01:01:09.617
Yeah.

01:01:09.867 --> 01:01:11.177
No, probably, definitely.

01:01:11.586 --> 01:01:13.197
Um, leader of the pack.

01:01:13.217 --> 01:01:16.836
I had such a great, like, idyllic elementary school.

01:01:16.836 --> 01:01:17.577
That's why you like Katie

01:01:17.577 --> 01:01:17.967
so much.

01:01:17.976 --> 01:01:20.286
She was like, I like you, but you're not my boss.

01:01:20.637 --> 01:01:25.206
Katie and I, like, are so similar in so many ways, it's funny.

01:01:25.646 --> 01:01:34.967
Um, you know, we've, yeah, I think we can butthead sometimes because of that, but we like, like the same person a lot, you know, but she's, I'm like her biggest fan too, so.

01:01:35.356 --> 01:01:43.657
Um, yeah, it's been an interesting kind of, kind of journey, but yeah, so, um, I was super active, played all sorts of sports, um, still love to do that.

01:01:44.146 --> 01:01:51.657
I just sent this idea like, like elementary school, like, I remember our friend group was so tight like I have such fond memories of them to this day.

01:01:51.666 --> 01:01:51.697
Cool.

01:01:52.067 --> 01:01:54.646
Um, and so, yeah, I'm just, uh, Good grades too?

01:01:54.766 --> 01:01:56.987
Yeah, I was, I was a little bit older.

01:01:56.996 --> 01:02:00.746
The cutoff was October 1st and I was born on October 4th and, Okay.

01:02:01.197 --> 01:02:04.257
My parents, unfortunately, like, made the decision to not fight that.

01:02:04.487 --> 01:02:04.907
Right.

01:02:04.976 --> 01:02:08.016
And so, And plus you're tall, you probably were tall early.

01:02:08.016 --> 01:02:09.376
I was, and so,

01:02:09.536 --> 01:02:26.842
It, like, I was always pulled out for, like, the special spelling list or this because I was ahead of, like, my peers, and we didn't have, like, advanced placement, obviously, in elementary school, or we didn't have a gifted and talented program, and so I always felt a little, like, out of place, at least with, uh, that.

01:02:26.842 --> 01:02:27.081
You almost

01:02:27.081 --> 01:02:28.572
had an advantage in that.

01:02:28.882 --> 01:02:29.481
Yeah and

01:02:29.481 --> 01:02:30.731
Katie, you know it's funny, Katie too.

01:02:30.751 --> 01:02:32.942
Katie is a month and a day younger than me.

01:02:33.322 --> 01:02:34.172
Okay, so she was

01:02:34.172 --> 01:02:36.032
also the old one in comparison.

01:02:36.041 --> 01:02:39.461
I was a really young one actually, I was an August baby and so Was that

01:02:39.461 --> 01:02:39.681
hard?

01:02:40.132 --> 01:02:44.391
I turned 18 just before I started college, like two days before.

01:02:44.742 --> 01:02:45.041
Right?

01:02:45.101 --> 01:02:47.411
Um, no, because I was still smarter than everybody else.

01:02:47.802 --> 01:02:49.961
but I was little, like I was super tiny.

01:02:49.961 --> 01:02:52.601
I was five foot one at the end of my 10th grade year.

01:02:52.661 --> 01:02:52.992
You were?

01:02:52.992 --> 01:02:53.231
Okay.

01:02:53.237 --> 01:02:54.882
See, and I was five six this high.

01:02:54.882 --> 01:02:56.411
The height I am now at 12.

01:02:56.532 --> 01:02:57.012
Oh yeah.

01:02:57.072 --> 01:02:57.371
Yeah.

01:02:57.461 --> 01:03:03.501
Uh, my first, uh, high school dance was with Leanne Albright.

01:03:04.161 --> 01:03:18.141
I think was her name and she was like 5'9 and 6th grade and I was 5'1 and this was in like 9th grade or 8th grade or something like that so like she was literally a whole head taller than me and it was so awkward.

01:03:18.141 --> 01:03:19.621
Do you have a picture of this?

01:03:19.621 --> 01:03:20.442
No, thank god.

01:03:20.882 --> 01:03:21.972
I hope nobody does.

01:03:22.427 --> 01:03:26.856
But thank you, Leigh Anne, it made me feel at least better than just standing there by myself.

01:03:27.086 --> 01:03:28.027
Because I was pretty dorky.

01:03:28.516 --> 01:03:29.876
I didn't get too much action in middle school.

01:03:29.878 --> 01:03:31.317
Well, I hope not in,

01:03:31.416 --> 01:03:32.556
I was like, I was like not in high school.

01:03:32.556 --> 01:03:33.416
Well, our high school for that matter.

01:03:33.547 --> 01:03:34.056
Okay, alright.

01:03:34.896 --> 01:03:35.367
Um, no.

01:03:35.387 --> 01:03:35.686
Well, not

01:03:35.686 --> 01:03:37.817
just not action, just interest, whatever.

01:03:37.818 --> 01:03:37.891
Yeah.

01:03:37.893 --> 01:03:38.922
I

01:03:39.101 --> 01:03:42.262
wasn't the suave, handsome gentleman that you see before you today.

01:03:42.342 --> 01:03:44.771
Oh, I was for sure awkward.

01:03:44.771 --> 01:03:51.402
I had these like, at this, like from like, so my mom, for whatever reason, I think she threatened to cut off my hair because I wouldn't let her comb it.

01:03:51.411 --> 01:03:55.291
Like I have a sensitive head and like she threatened, she was going to cut it off.

01:03:55.311 --> 01:03:56.831
And I remember we had these glamour shots.

01:03:56.831 --> 01:03:57.742
Do you remember glamour shots?

01:03:57.751 --> 01:03:58.152
Sure.

01:03:58.302 --> 01:04:02.972
So we've had these glamour shots done and I have this beautiful curly blonde hair and I still have this picture.

01:04:02.992 --> 01:04:04.751
And then the next week she cut my hair.

01:04:04.851 --> 01:04:08.532
My hair off or she took me to get my hair cut off and it was shorter than your hair

01:04:09.402 --> 01:04:09.711
And

01:04:09.851 --> 01:04:14.001
I remember just like I had to get my ears pierced because people would ask me if I was a boy

01:04:14.251 --> 01:04:16.411
And you're like 12 or something at this time.

01:04:16.422 --> 01:04:17.512
I was like, no,

01:04:17.512 --> 01:04:19.072
I was like seven or eight.

01:04:19.202 --> 01:04:20.922
Oh Oh, I was traumatized.

01:04:20.961 --> 01:04:28.161
I will not have short hair to this day I was traumatized Um, but yeah, I remember being at the park and like are you a boy or a girl?

01:04:28.541 --> 01:04:28.972
Oh gosh

01:04:29.181 --> 01:04:30.311
This is terrible.

01:04:30.362 --> 01:04:32.496
So, anyway, I don't know how we got on that topic.

01:04:32.496 --> 01:04:34.204
No, that's okay, because I told an embarrassing story, so you felt

01:04:34.204 --> 01:04:35.391
like you needed to match me.

01:04:35.521 --> 01:04:36.481
Yeah, kind of is embarrassing.

01:04:37.121 --> 01:04:38.942
But yeah, I went through this very awkward time then.

01:04:39.032 --> 01:04:39.382
Fair enough.

01:04:39.521 --> 01:04:42.351
Definitely, like, you know, I don't know what I was wearing.

01:04:42.351 --> 01:04:47.831
I had the bangs that went upwards and downwards and like spray, spray bangs, you know, like, just this really awkward phase.

01:04:47.831 --> 01:04:48.141
That's what all the

01:04:48.141 --> 01:04:49.442
upper classmen were rocking, too.

01:04:50.231 --> 01:04:54.092
So your, your dad and mom pick you up and took you off to Colorado Springs.

01:04:54.092 --> 01:04:55.811
How did you like that in comparison to Reno?

01:04:56.056 --> 01:04:58.847
You know, it was a change, and it was very abrupt.

01:04:58.907 --> 01:05:01.387
We had like a week's notice that we were moving.

01:05:01.847 --> 01:05:03.617
Um, so that was tough.

01:05:03.646 --> 01:05:06.746
Um, I think especially tough on my brother who had just finished freshman year.

01:05:06.746 --> 01:05:08.376
Like, that's a very pivotal time.

01:05:08.777 --> 01:05:10.567
Um, I kind of leaned into it.

01:05:10.586 --> 01:05:13.797
I went to really, it was a brand new middle school when we moved there, Mountain Ridge.

01:05:13.827 --> 01:05:18.146
Um, I know it's a little bit older now, but, um, in Colorado Springs, and it was beautiful.

01:05:18.157 --> 01:05:18.186
What

01:05:18.186 --> 01:05:19.047
part of town is that?

01:05:19.731 --> 01:05:21.072
I lived there too for like three years.

01:05:21.081 --> 01:05:21.121
It's

01:05:21.121 --> 01:05:22.382
over by where Rampart is.

01:05:22.431 --> 01:05:23.141
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:05:23.152 --> 01:05:24.581
I don't know what part of town that is anymore.

01:05:24.621 --> 01:05:27.222
Yeah, I guess it's west side over there ish.

01:05:27.472 --> 01:05:32.672
Yeah, and so it was great and I actually met some really great friends and it was a beautiful middle school.

01:05:32.672 --> 01:05:34.661
We had a football field and zipline.

01:05:34.672 --> 01:05:36.291
We did archery, like it was amazing.

01:05:36.431 --> 01:05:36.601
Yeah.

01:05:36.842 --> 01:05:44.016
Um, but then Two years in, my dad had this opportunity and my brother looked at my parents and said, Nope, absolutely not.

01:05:44.016 --> 01:05:44.887
You're not doing this to her.

01:05:44.887 --> 01:05:45.806
You're not doing it to me.

01:05:45.827 --> 01:05:48.177
If you're going, you're not waiting till I graduate.

01:05:48.177 --> 01:05:49.427
You're going now.

01:05:49.617 --> 01:05:52.606
So she doesn't start high school and then, you know, have to leave.

01:05:52.606 --> 01:05:53.086
Okay.

01:05:53.126 --> 01:05:55.157
And my aunt, uncle lived there, my cousins.

01:05:55.157 --> 01:05:57.427
So he actually moved in with my aunt, uncle and cousins.

01:05:57.507 --> 01:05:58.016
Oh, wow.

01:05:58.027 --> 01:05:58.617
Senior year.

01:05:58.686 --> 01:05:59.056
Oh, wow.

01:05:59.077 --> 01:06:00.646
He stayed behind and then we moved.

01:06:00.666 --> 01:06:02.706
And so we were only there for two years.

01:06:02.911 --> 01:06:15.021
I've, I've been to Palm Desert a couple times actually, uh, that was where my wife finally got COVID for the first time, uh, well, and then I got it from her on the drive home cause we didn't fly home because she had COVID.

01:06:15.052 --> 01:06:17.722
Like we could have, whatever, but, but we didn't.

01:06:18.251 --> 01:06:18.702
Um,

01:06:18.882 --> 01:06:25.101
I had this romantic fantasy of California, I think as most people that maybe didn't grow up there or like know California have.

01:06:25.132 --> 01:06:31.001
And so especially like living in Reno, a budding California, like I just like, Oh, I just want to live in California.

01:06:31.012 --> 01:06:31.481
Well, a lot

01:06:31.481 --> 01:06:34.161
of California is pretty cool, but Palm Desert ain't it?

01:06:34.163 --> 01:06:35.291
Well, I

01:06:35.291 --> 01:06:37.222
mean, it was an interesting place to grow up.

01:06:37.222 --> 01:06:37.942
It's resorty

01:06:37.961 --> 01:06:38.452
cool.

01:06:38.461 --> 01:06:39.731
Like, I like going there.

01:06:39.731 --> 01:06:41.456
I might go there again, but it's pretty cool.

01:06:41.967 --> 01:06:43.677
Like, that's all it really is.

01:06:43.706 --> 01:06:47.387
There's not, I mean, there's art shops and different things, I guess.

01:06:47.586 --> 01:06:47.666
But

01:06:47.706 --> 01:06:55.036
as a kid, like, we had parties out in the desert or, you know, run around on the golf carts at night or we'd go ice blocking.

01:06:55.047 --> 01:06:56.152
Do you know what ice blocking is?

01:06:56.152 --> 01:06:56.476
No.

01:06:56.476 --> 01:07:00.016
You probably don't because there's snow here and it's silly to anyone that lives in an area that snows.

01:07:00.047 --> 01:07:03.887
But basically you get a block of ice and you like sled down it on the grass.

01:07:03.916 --> 01:07:04.237
Oh, hell

01:07:04.237 --> 01:07:04.646
yeah.

01:07:05.836 --> 01:07:06.827
That sounds super cool.

01:07:06.827 --> 01:07:07.197
Yeah.

01:07:07.197 --> 01:07:16.367
So, I mean, there were fun things, but I will tell you moving to California a week before your start of freshman year of high school as a girl, not a fun thing to do.

01:07:16.387 --> 01:07:16.577
Had you

01:07:16.577 --> 01:07:18.467
come into your body yet a little bit?

01:07:18.527 --> 01:07:19.047
Yeah.

01:07:19.047 --> 01:07:20.516
And that was part of the problem.

01:07:20.856 --> 01:07:23.976
I was friends with the seniors when I was a freshman.

01:07:24.496 --> 01:07:28.556
I dated a senior when I was a freshman, which pissed a whole lot of people off.

01:07:28.597 --> 01:07:28.967
Right.

01:07:29.411 --> 01:07:29.981
I know exactly.

01:07:29.981 --> 01:07:30.172
I'm from

01:07:30.172 --> 01:07:30.621
North Dakota.

01:07:30.621 --> 01:07:33.981
That's just how we did it there, frankly, but, um, anyway.

01:07:34.692 --> 01:07:36.442
The girls were really cruel.

01:07:36.521 --> 01:07:36.681
Oh.

01:07:36.942 --> 01:07:37.632
They were really cruel.

01:07:37.661 --> 01:07:41.782
I, um, I'm just, I'm a nice person and I'm anti confrontational.

01:07:41.782 --> 01:07:45.751
I'm less so now and I wish I would have stuck up for myself more.

01:07:45.981 --> 01:07:47.181
The bullying was intense.

01:07:47.242 --> 01:07:48.612
Like, I wanted my mom to pull me out.

01:07:48.612 --> 01:07:49.202
Because you were the new

01:07:49.202 --> 01:07:52.572
girl that got noticed by the older guys.

01:07:53.371 --> 01:07:54.452
And I had, like Plus you

01:07:54.452 --> 01:07:55.592
were smart, athletic.

01:07:55.827 --> 01:08:00.726
I was in the IB program, I played sports, and so it just, like, I never really quite found my space.

01:08:00.737 --> 01:08:05.126
Like, I, since I was in the international baccalaureate program, I had these, like, nerdy friends.

01:08:05.128 --> 01:08:05.597
Right.

01:08:05.597 --> 01:08:08.117
But they kind of stuck together, and I didn't really fit with that.

01:08:08.376 --> 01:08:10.597
I had my sporty friends, but I didn't really fit with that.

01:08:10.916 --> 01:08:12.896
And so, I kind of just floated around.

01:08:13.146 --> 01:08:16.237
My freshman year, all my friends were seniors, and then they left.

01:08:16.596 --> 01:08:16.957
Right.

01:08:17.216 --> 01:08:17.787
And I had no one.

01:08:17.787 --> 01:08:18.226
Start over.

01:08:18.277 --> 01:08:18.407
I had

01:08:18.407 --> 01:08:18.777
to start over.

01:08:18.777 --> 01:08:20.077
And the same thing happened the next year.

01:08:20.087 --> 01:08:22.556
All the seniors then, my sophomore year, and so You

01:08:22.556 --> 01:08:23.867
started dating another senior after that?

01:08:23.877 --> 01:08:24.546
No, you know what?

01:08:24.556 --> 01:08:25.867
After After the girls started

01:08:25.877 --> 01:08:29.186
writing on the bathroom walls and threatening to kick my ass in the parking lot.

01:08:29.216 --> 01:08:30.707
Yes, I know exactly who you are.

01:08:30.856 --> 01:08:31.237
It's funny.

01:08:31.237 --> 01:08:33.009
They like to be Instagram friends with me now.

01:08:33.009 --> 01:08:34.234
Do you want to say your name?

01:08:34.234 --> 01:08:34.411
No.

01:08:34.411 --> 01:08:37.457
There's a few of them and they're like trying to friend me on Instagram.

01:08:37.457 --> 01:08:38.146
I'm like, seriously?

01:08:38.148 --> 01:08:41.127
Do you know how much hell you raised in my life?

01:08:41.127 --> 01:08:41.207
You're like the

01:08:41.216 --> 01:08:42.216
meanest person to me.

01:08:42.216 --> 01:08:42.487
Please

01:08:42.487 --> 01:08:43.917
don't raise your kids to be that way.

01:08:44.356 --> 01:08:46.027
Um, anyway, that's my PSA.

01:08:46.056 --> 01:08:46.636
Don't bully.

01:08:46.862 --> 01:08:47.891
Don't teach your kids to bully.

01:08:47.893 --> 01:08:54.301
Um, anyway, I decided I was never going to date someone in, like, my geographical region ever again.

01:08:54.311 --> 01:08:57.551
And so I went on this, like, that's how I dated from then on out.

01:08:57.591 --> 01:09:02.971
I'd have to date someone that lived in, like, a different city or a different state because I needed no one to know that they were.

01:09:03.091 --> 01:09:03.252
Yes.

01:09:03.542 --> 01:09:04.162
Interesting.

01:09:04.202 --> 01:09:04.452
Yes.

01:09:04.452 --> 01:09:05.431
It was that traumatic.

01:09:05.752 --> 01:09:06.032
Okay.

01:09:06.033 --> 01:09:07.561
That's, uh.

01:09:07.561 --> 01:09:07.702
Yeah.

01:09:07.902 --> 01:09:09.622
My next boyfriend lived in Redondo Beach.

01:09:09.631 --> 01:09:10.391
He lived in LA.

01:09:10.442 --> 01:09:12.731
And so, like, at 16, I would drive to LA.

01:09:12.902 --> 01:09:15.051
Like, twice a month or something.

01:09:15.051 --> 01:09:15.931
For a couple days.

01:09:15.952 --> 01:09:16.421
And your moms were like.

01:09:17.412 --> 01:09:18.752
Your parents are like sleepovers.

01:09:18.841 --> 01:09:18.981
I mean,

01:09:20.551 --> 01:09:21.192
well, questionable.

01:09:21.192 --> 01:09:22.832
I don't think I'll be doing that with my children, but

01:09:24.171 --> 01:09:24.521
yeah.

01:09:24.891 --> 01:09:28.162
Well, sometimes you, when you raise them in kind of free range, it works great.

01:09:28.162 --> 01:09:29.931
And sometimes, you know, they learn some things.

01:09:29.931 --> 01:09:30.702
Yeah, exactly.

01:09:30.841 --> 01:09:31.011
Yeah.

01:09:31.362 --> 01:09:35.452
Um, and so did you move away from Palm desert again?

01:09:35.452 --> 01:09:36.471
Is that what I heard?

01:09:36.481 --> 01:09:36.801
Acute?

01:09:36.832 --> 01:09:38.101
No, you stayed there through high school.

01:09:38.112 --> 01:09:38.652
We did.

01:09:38.771 --> 01:09:40.082
So I went to Lequinta high school.

01:09:40.082 --> 01:09:43.271
So we actually lived in Lequinta and we moved every year.

01:09:43.502 --> 01:09:45.311
We were there like to a different rental house.

01:09:45.442 --> 01:09:46.311
Goodness knows why.

01:09:46.341 --> 01:09:47.396
I don't know why we have to do that.

01:09:47.396 --> 01:09:47.681
Your dad's slinging

01:09:47.681 --> 01:09:49.020
timeshares for Weston or whatever.

01:09:49.020 --> 01:09:49.792
I mean, I don't know.

01:09:49.792 --> 01:09:50.152
Yeah,

01:09:50.442 --> 01:09:52.202
both Weston, Marriott, everybody.

01:09:52.212 --> 01:09:53.162
You know, the resales.

01:09:53.572 --> 01:09:56.341
So, we've um, yeah, finally I graduated.

01:09:56.351 --> 01:09:58.761
I had plans to go to UCLA or Stanford.

01:09:58.761 --> 01:10:01.311
And that particular year, I graduated with a 4.

01:10:01.311 --> 01:10:03.731
4 GPA and I did not get into either.

01:10:04.931 --> 01:10:05.971
Top up your wine here.

01:10:06.521 --> 01:10:07.872
So that was pretty disappointing.

01:10:07.921 --> 01:10:12.671
I, you know, worked my ass off, you know, and had this great GPA.

01:10:12.721 --> 01:10:15.252
I also worked throughout high school.

01:10:15.252 --> 01:10:19.051
So, um, but then I didn't get into, you know, my choice schools.

01:10:19.082 --> 01:10:22.912
I did get into UC Santa Barbara originally, but I also didn't have the money.

01:10:22.931 --> 01:10:31.716
Like, my parents, my parents ended up telling me probably a year or two before I graduated that, um, college funds were no longer existing.

01:10:32.627 --> 01:10:37.306
And then unfortunately, my dad made the most money he'd ever made the year I had to fill out the FAFSA.

01:10:37.307 --> 01:10:39.356
Oh, so you didn't get any Pell grants or nothing?

01:10:39.407 --> 01:10:40.367
I got nothing.

01:10:40.436 --> 01:10:40.867
Wow.

01:10:40.896 --> 01:10:42.327
And so I made the tough decision.

01:10:42.327 --> 01:10:49.596
I think like as a last minute, I applied to Cal State Fullerton and because that's where my brother was going and my best friend, Kristen, that I mentioned down in Parker.

01:10:49.636 --> 01:10:49.926
Yeah.

01:10:50.087 --> 01:10:51.106
And I ended up going there.

01:10:51.197 --> 01:10:51.506
Okay.

01:10:51.587 --> 01:10:53.337
So that was like not on my radar at all.

01:10:53.337 --> 01:10:53.457
Interesting.

01:10:53.721 --> 01:10:59.341
Um, it was a commuter school, so I didn't really love my experience because nobody would live on campus.

01:10:59.351 --> 01:11:02.381
I really never got that quintessential college experience.

01:11:02.391 --> 01:11:02.771
Right.

01:11:02.881 --> 01:11:03.462
Um, I didn't There's no

01:11:03.462 --> 01:11:04.152
dorms.

01:11:04.152 --> 01:11:04.271
No.

01:11:04.561 --> 01:11:05.131
There's a student union.

01:11:05.131 --> 01:11:05.731
It's pretty lame.

01:11:06.021 --> 01:11:08.511
Because everybody's in and out just grabbing lunch at Subway.

01:11:08.721 --> 01:11:08.992
Right.

01:11:09.002 --> 01:11:11.011
And some people had, you know, they joined Greek Life.

01:11:11.032 --> 01:11:11.822
I didn't have time for that.

01:11:11.832 --> 01:11:12.681
I was working.

01:11:12.801 --> 01:11:14.181
I was working 30 hours a week.

01:11:14.192 --> 01:11:14.431
Right.

01:11:14.471 --> 01:11:15.601
So I was stacking my classes.

01:11:15.601 --> 01:11:19.671
I was in the honors program, so at least that gave me priority registration to stack my classes.

01:11:19.731 --> 01:11:21.671
Two days a week so I could work the other three.

01:11:22.282 --> 01:11:27.712
And so I would drive down to Laguna Beach on the weekend and I would work at a really fancy high end restaurant down there.

01:11:28.101 --> 01:11:31.162
And I also worked for a real estate developer, uh, on Newport Coast.

01:11:31.341 --> 01:11:31.582
Okay.

01:11:31.801 --> 01:11:32.141
So.

01:11:32.391 --> 01:11:33.742
Like, representing homes or something?

01:11:33.743 --> 01:11:34.106
You

01:11:34.106 --> 01:11:34.942
know, it was so weird.

01:11:34.942 --> 01:11:36.601
So he actually came into that fancy restaurant.

01:11:36.612 --> 01:11:37.431
It was called Hush.

01:11:37.631 --> 01:11:39.502
It was on PCH in Laguna Beach.

01:11:39.782 --> 01:11:46.752
This was at the time that, like, uh, OC was being filmed and, you know, so, you know, those people actually came in there.

01:11:46.782 --> 01:11:47.152
Right.

01:11:47.362 --> 01:11:55.992
It was an interesting place, and I remember this gentleman coming in, his name's Frank, and he came in and he's like, do you have any friends that know QuickBooks and Excel, you know, really well?

01:11:55.992 --> 01:11:57.002
I'm like 19.

01:11:57.542 --> 01:11:59.242
I was like, well, I could do that job, Frank.

01:11:59.921 --> 01:12:00.381
Like, what?

01:12:00.662 --> 01:12:01.942
He's like, I can learn.

01:12:02.012 --> 01:12:04.978
Um, and so, you know, I, I, if you would teach it to me, I'll learn it.

01:12:04.978 --> 01:12:06.547
And so he goes, okay, let's go have lunch.

01:12:06.547 --> 01:12:07.246
We'll have a conversation.

01:12:07.246 --> 01:12:10.091
I remember sitting down with him and he's like, how much do you want to get paid?

01:12:10.891 --> 01:12:13.841
I threw out 20 an hour and he said, yes, I'm like 19.

01:12:13.851 --> 01:12:14.252
Right.

01:12:14.902 --> 01:12:16.261
And this is about 10 years ago or?

01:12:16.271 --> 01:12:17.301
No, 10 years.

01:12:17.351 --> 01:12:17.957
20 years ago almost.

01:12:17.957 --> 01:12:18.252
So this is

01:12:18.252 --> 01:12:19.021
20 years ago.

01:12:19.082 --> 01:12:20.091
Yeah, you're older than I think.

01:12:20.092 --> 01:12:20.542
Yeah.

01:12:20.542 --> 01:12:20.832
Yeah.

01:12:21.061 --> 01:12:21.261
Yeah.

01:12:21.261 --> 01:12:22.292
That was 18 years ago.

01:12:22.341 --> 01:12:26.992
And so I, you know, lo and behold, he took that and it was such a great experience working for him.

01:12:27.002 --> 01:12:27.021
Yeah.

01:12:27.023 --> 01:12:27.396
Yeah.

01:12:27.447 --> 01:12:32.157
Um, so I worked for him part time and he taught me, you know, QuickBooks and Excel and he was a real estate developer.

01:12:32.157 --> 01:12:32.976
He had a partner.

01:12:32.976 --> 01:12:35.466
It was a small, you know, a little small shop.

01:12:35.936 --> 01:12:42.896
And so, um, then I either had the choice to study abroad and I was going to go to South Africa or to transfer.

01:12:43.266 --> 01:12:46.197
And I always felt like I'd missed out on my college experience.

01:12:46.197 --> 01:12:47.377
So I said, let's go ahead.

01:12:47.426 --> 01:12:48.676
I'm going to transfer to Santa Barbara.

01:12:48.747 --> 01:12:48.856
Okay.

01:12:49.436 --> 01:12:53.077
So I transferred, I got there, and realized, I was like, two years too late.

01:12:53.157 --> 01:12:56.356
Like, the, the college experience for me had, had sailed.

01:12:56.386 --> 01:12:57.067
Oh.

01:12:57.117 --> 01:12:58.497
Yeah, a lot of people You were too grown up

01:12:58.497 --> 01:12:58.907
by now.

01:12:58.976 --> 01:12:59.056
Too

01:12:59.337 --> 01:12:59.592
grown up.

01:12:59.592 --> 01:13:01.346
You're like, you people are a bunch of idiots.

01:13:01.346 --> 01:13:02.157
Nobody else is working.

01:13:02.317 --> 01:13:05.436
People are taking five, six years to graduate because mom and dad are paying for it.

01:13:05.436 --> 01:13:05.756
Right.

01:13:05.806 --> 01:13:09.877
You know, UCSB is called the University of Casual Sex and Beer for a reason.

01:13:10.207 --> 01:13:11.606
Like, it is insane.

01:13:11.617 --> 01:13:14.386
There's 20, 000 college students that live in one square mile.

01:13:14.476 --> 01:13:15.817
Next to campus on the ocean.

01:13:16.447 --> 01:13:17.067
It's crazy.

01:13:17.067 --> 01:13:21.186
If you've never been to the campus, it's gorgeous, but it's, um, it's a hard place.

01:13:21.247 --> 01:13:21.367
My

01:13:21.367 --> 01:13:22.216
nephew wants to go there.

01:13:24.567 --> 01:13:25.516
It's a hard place.

01:13:25.567 --> 01:13:26.096
Beautiful.

01:13:26.096 --> 01:13:28.237
I think I saw the beach three times that year.

01:13:28.247 --> 01:13:29.067
It was terrible.

01:13:29.087 --> 01:13:33.806
So, um, terrible in that sense of like, I was again, working for a different real estate developer.

01:13:33.806 --> 01:13:35.596
He owned a gym as well.

01:13:35.627 --> 01:13:37.296
Um, Ian, shout out to Ian.

01:13:37.306 --> 01:13:42.266
He taught me so much of what I know about entrepreneurship before I was well, before I started.

01:13:42.667 --> 01:13:44.296
And, um, I.

01:13:44.356 --> 01:13:54.016
I went to my counselor, my college counselor, and I had to get approval to take 23 credit units a quarter to graduate, because that's an insane amount of credit.

01:13:54.016 --> 01:13:54.346
Right.

01:13:54.407 --> 01:13:55.136
And I wasn't working.

01:13:55.136 --> 01:13:55.356
With a full

01:13:55.356 --> 01:13:55.957
time job.

01:13:56.006 --> 01:13:57.216
Or with a near full time.

01:13:57.217 --> 01:13:57.532
Yeah.

01:13:57.532 --> 01:13:57.846
So

01:13:57.846 --> 01:14:01.386
luckily Ian would let me study if we weren't super busy in between.

01:14:01.407 --> 01:14:05.327
And so I told, so I started at UCSB and graduated nine months later.

01:14:05.506 --> 01:14:05.837
Wow.

01:14:05.846 --> 01:14:07.056
So I graduated in three years.

01:14:07.056 --> 01:14:07.337
Wow.

01:14:07.782 --> 01:14:11.862
So, I, thank you, I finally kind of, well, I couldn't afford to live there.

01:14:12.042 --> 01:14:15.721
I was sharing a bedroom and our rent was like 1, 300 a month, it was stupid.

01:14:16.322 --> 01:14:21.801
So, yeah, I got out of there and then met my now husband, kind of the last quarter, and uh, Oh,

01:14:21.801 --> 01:14:22.622
he was out there too?

01:14:22.631 --> 01:14:23.952
No, we met on eHarmony.

01:14:23.962 --> 01:14:24.202
So, Oh,

01:14:24.261 --> 01:14:25.402
you only date people out of town.

01:14:25.561 --> 01:14:26.742
That's right, he lived in Minnesota.

01:14:28.282 --> 01:14:29.827
Why in the hell were you looking at a girl?

01:14:29.966 --> 01:14:32.402
guy from Minnesota when you were hanging out on the beach in California.

01:14:32.402 --> 01:14:32.743
I wasn't.

01:14:32.743 --> 01:14:33.083
I wasn't.

01:14:33.083 --> 01:14:33.766
I swore off dating.

01:14:33.766 --> 01:14:36.476
And I remember, so my good friend Kelly at the time, I told Kelly.

01:14:36.966 --> 01:14:37.457
How did it even hit

01:14:37.567 --> 01:14:38.426
your algorithm?

01:14:38.907 --> 01:14:39.556
So here's the deal.

01:14:39.636 --> 01:14:41.766
I went, I told Kelly, I was like, I need a break.

01:14:41.787 --> 01:14:44.596
Like I did not have trouble meeting people.

01:14:44.617 --> 01:14:46.176
It was like, I needed a filter.

01:14:46.247 --> 01:14:47.976
I needed to filter out these people.

01:14:48.146 --> 01:14:48.466
Right.

01:14:48.627 --> 01:14:51.577
There's a lot of pretty guys in Southern California, but there's not a lot else going on.

01:14:51.577 --> 01:14:52.277
Your filter for the

01:14:52.277 --> 01:14:53.216
good substance was not.

01:14:53.216 --> 01:14:53.716
Oh my God.

01:14:53.726 --> 01:14:54.686
It was not working.

01:14:54.747 --> 01:14:56.306
So I told Kelly, I was like, Kelly, I'm done.

01:14:56.317 --> 01:14:57.716
I'm swearing off dating for six months.

01:14:57.716 --> 01:15:00.136
I'm moving to Fort Collins and just, I'm gonna figure out my life.

01:15:00.136 --> 01:15:01.837
She's like, okay, Autumn, I think that's a good plan.

01:15:02.497 --> 01:15:13.002
So then a commercial comes on for eHarmony like two days later for like free communication weekend and I was like, you know, maybe I'll just meet a nice guy that like makes me believe that like, good guys exist in this world.

01:15:13.032 --> 01:15:14.542
Because I had lost all hope.

01:15:15.032 --> 01:15:19.051
And so I went on and um, I actually didn't pay for it because I didn't have the money to.

01:15:19.051 --> 01:15:20.532
It was like 60 bucks a month.

01:15:20.532 --> 01:15:22.421
I'm like, that's a lot of money as a college student.

01:15:22.841 --> 01:15:28.402
Um, and so I was matched with Trevor and a few other people and I couldn't see his picture.

01:15:28.872 --> 01:15:33.164
But we went through this like guided communication process and I really Loved what he had to say.

01:15:33.164 --> 01:15:33.662
So it's like free

01:15:33.662 --> 01:15:35.792
without, if you don't pay anything then it's free.

01:15:35.801 --> 01:15:36.493
Yes, it was at the time.

01:15:36.493 --> 01:15:37.500
But you don't get

01:15:37.500 --> 01:15:37.751
much.

01:15:37.751 --> 01:15:39.881
Yeah, and so I kind of freaked out by the end of the weekend.

01:15:39.881 --> 01:15:40.502
Could he see you?

01:15:40.561 --> 01:15:40.931
Yes.

01:15:41.261 --> 01:15:42.572
And he thought I could see him.

01:15:42.851 --> 01:15:48.091
And so I sent him this like encrypted message and it was like, send me pictures, I don't know what you look like, they're gonna close my account down tomorrow.

01:15:48.091 --> 01:15:49.481
And he goes, what are you talking about?

01:15:49.481 --> 01:15:53.561
Like, he didn't tell me that, but he thought he passed this test this whole time that I knew what he looked like.

01:15:53.572 --> 01:15:53.931
Sure.

01:15:54.141 --> 01:15:55.481
You know, so he sent me pictures.

01:15:55.481 --> 01:15:57.322
I'm like, yeah, yeah, he's super cute, fine, we can talk.

01:15:57.822 --> 01:15:58.671
And so, yeah.

01:15:58.891 --> 01:16:04.962
I mean, three weeks later we met in person and you told me we were going to get married someday and I said, absolutely we are.

01:16:05.872 --> 01:16:07.292
Sixteen years later, here we are.

01:16:07.822 --> 01:16:11.481
You know, it's uh, it's funny how you just know sometimes.

01:16:12.011 --> 01:16:12.702
I just knew.

01:16:12.872 --> 01:16:13.171
Yeah.

01:16:13.362 --> 01:16:13.712
Yeah.

01:16:13.841 --> 01:16:14.442
Um.

01:16:14.962 --> 01:16:18.301
So then, you move to North Carolina, cause he wants to He

01:16:18.301 --> 01:16:19.002
went to grad school.

01:16:19.021 --> 01:16:19.202
Be

01:16:19.202 --> 01:16:20.511
in grad school, and Went

01:16:20.511 --> 01:16:21.631
to grad school, and Bada

01:16:21.641 --> 01:16:26.221
bing, bada boom, you guys spent Oh, we didn't talk yet about wine industry.

01:16:26.601 --> 01:16:27.681
Yeah, so Like,

01:16:27.681 --> 01:16:29.652
is that your first big girl job, kinda?

01:16:29.652 --> 01:16:30.832
Yeah, well, I

01:16:30.881 --> 01:16:32.612
mean, I'd worked for the real estate industry.

01:16:32.622 --> 01:16:35.332
Sure, but you're still in school at the time and stuff, whatever.

01:16:35.431 --> 01:16:37.662
2008, graduation, terrible time.

01:16:37.662 --> 01:16:38.792
Real estate's not a great

01:16:38.801 --> 01:16:39.881
marketplace especially.

01:16:39.971 --> 01:16:44.442
No, so I end up, we end up moving to a state I hadn't been doing any, you know, prospecting Bada bing.

01:16:44.681 --> 01:16:48.752
For and so I ended up bartending at Ruth's Chris, which was definitely not my life plan.

01:16:49.221 --> 01:17:03.792
It worked I mean that had some flexibility and certainly got to chat with people and that was fine I worked for another real estate developer and that did not go well I did not enjoy their office at all in like downtown Durham and then We had met in Napa for our first date.

01:17:03.851 --> 01:17:14.992
Yeah, and so I really started to fall in love with wine I actually had a gentleman that came in and That was an owner of a restaurant, and he said, Hey, I actually have someone coming in to do a wine dinner.

01:17:15.372 --> 01:17:17.271
I'd love to pay for you and your husband to come.

01:17:17.271 --> 01:17:19.141
Like, he was a fairly regular to come in.

01:17:19.141 --> 01:17:20.322
I was like, that's really generous.

01:17:20.692 --> 01:17:23.862
But I also was thinking, I didn't know people, like, worked in wine.

01:17:23.872 --> 01:17:26.181
Like, there's someone coming in to pour wine and do a wine.

01:17:26.192 --> 01:17:27.112
That sounds fancy.

01:17:27.421 --> 01:17:29.532
So I remember going, and I was like, wow, that's a job.

01:17:29.832 --> 01:17:31.962
And he had worked for the supplier, not the distributor.

01:17:31.962 --> 01:17:33.087
So he worked for the wine distributor.

01:17:33.907 --> 01:17:34.106
Yeah.

01:17:34.136 --> 01:17:34.997
I was like, that's kind of cool.

01:17:34.997 --> 01:17:38.837
So I kind of started getting this like bug in, you know, my ear that like, this would be really cool.

01:17:39.117 --> 01:17:42.067
And so we'd go all these wine tastings at these wine shops, et cetera.

01:17:42.497 --> 01:17:45.867
And so my husband got a post grad fellowship after he graduated.

01:17:45.896 --> 01:17:47.556
What's he, what's he studying by the way?

01:17:47.596 --> 01:17:47.827
He got

01:17:47.867 --> 01:17:49.457
his master's in public administration.

01:17:49.466 --> 01:17:49.877
Okay.

01:17:49.926 --> 01:17:51.356
But he actually never worked in local government.

01:17:51.356 --> 01:17:52.207
A government stooge,

01:17:52.216 --> 01:17:52.476
right?

01:17:52.497 --> 01:17:53.851
Is that It's training for that.

01:17:54.971 --> 01:18:01.421
And then he got his, um, uh, the post grad fellowship was with any of the federal government agencies.

01:18:01.421 --> 01:18:03.591
And so most of them, of course, are located in D.

01:18:03.591 --> 01:18:03.952
C.

01:18:04.131 --> 01:18:06.551
He went to Georgetown, so he didn't really want to go back to D.

01:18:06.551 --> 01:18:06.912
C.

01:18:07.011 --> 01:18:07.101
Yeah.

01:18:07.101 --> 01:18:07.811
He's not a big city person.

01:18:08.561 --> 01:18:10.761
Of course, a lot in Atlanta with the CDC.

01:18:11.101 --> 01:18:13.872
But I said, hey, we've kind of jumped around for your job.

01:18:14.077 --> 01:18:21.976
All these, you know, the past couple of years, there were two jobs in Northern California, one of them at the VA and on Mare Island, which is just south of Napa.

01:18:22.487 --> 01:18:23.846
And one was in Palo Alto.

01:18:23.976 --> 01:18:25.176
So he applied for both.

01:18:25.226 --> 01:18:30.117
I think he really wanted the Palo Alto gig, but it wasn't close enough to wine country for me.

01:18:30.136 --> 01:18:31.846
So he took the Mare Island option.

01:18:32.216 --> 01:18:33.247
And so we moved.

01:18:33.346 --> 01:18:34.046
Oh, okay.

01:18:34.106 --> 01:18:38.606
Before we moved though, I started researching, um, you know, the top wineries in Napa.

01:18:38.667 --> 01:18:48.577
And I Um, the position that I took was for a really prestigious winery in Stag's Leap and I bugged the heck out of the director of sales.

01:18:48.806 --> 01:18:50.287
I made up, you know, all the different emails.

01:18:50.296 --> 01:19:01.487
This is before you could search on like rocket reach for people's email, but so I made up all the iterations I thought his email could be right and sent these emails and he finally Bonded and we had a call and he is like, you live in North Carolina?

01:19:01.487 --> 01:19:04.846
Do you know how many people call and say like, Hey, I wanna move to Napa.

01:19:05.176 --> 01:19:07.697
And you know, like, he's like, but you're like, I'm actually moving there though.

01:19:07.721 --> 01:19:08.442
My husband has a job.

01:19:08.476 --> 01:19:08.806
Yeah.

01:19:08.806 --> 01:19:10.787
And he is like, I've already interviewed three people.

01:19:10.792 --> 01:19:12.407
You've never worked in the wine industry.

01:19:12.412 --> 01:19:17.287
Like, yeah, you, you've worked in the, you know, restaurant industry, but you know, I don't know.

01:19:17.287 --> 01:19:18.877
And I was like, just gimme a chance.

01:19:18.877 --> 01:19:21.487
He was like, you know, once you get moved out here, just contact me.

01:19:21.492 --> 01:19:21.881
And I was like, ah.

01:19:22.777 --> 01:19:23.346
That's not going to work.

01:19:23.346 --> 01:19:29.256
So I went home and like kind of defeated, told my husband, I went to a wine tasting that night and I came home and I was like, I have an idea.

01:19:29.447 --> 01:19:31.636
And mind you, we were grad school poor at this point.

01:19:31.756 --> 01:19:32.157
Right.

01:19:32.247 --> 01:19:33.546
And he's like, what's your idea?

01:19:33.546 --> 01:19:37.636
I said, well, I looked on the website and he's going to be in LA next week.

01:19:38.037 --> 01:19:41.356
Or maybe it was later that week and he goes, Oh, okay, where are you going with this?

01:19:41.396 --> 01:19:44.987
I was like, what if I tell him I'm going to be in LA and we just serendipitously meet?

01:19:47.176 --> 01:19:48.756
Do you think that's actually going to work?

01:19:48.766 --> 01:19:50.216
I said, but I, you know what I do know?

01:19:50.226 --> 01:19:50.567
He's going to hire

01:19:50.567 --> 01:19:52.327
somebody else before he meets me otherwise.

01:19:52.356 --> 01:19:55.497
I said, I do know if I don't do this, I'm not going to get the job.

01:19:55.606 --> 01:19:57.077
Tickets were 700.

01:19:57.247 --> 01:19:57.667
Oh shit.

01:19:57.676 --> 01:19:58.817
They were so expensive.

01:19:58.817 --> 01:19:59.287
It was so less.

01:19:59.287 --> 01:20:00.720
Did you go by yourself or with your husband?

01:20:00.720 --> 01:20:01.497
No, it was by myself.

01:20:01.497 --> 01:20:08.556
And so I remember calling him back and I called and I was like, Hey Andrew, um, you know, You know, I just, I totally forgot to tell you I'm going to be in L.

01:20:08.556 --> 01:20:08.567
A.

01:20:08.676 --> 01:20:08.966
next week.

01:20:08.966 --> 01:20:09.867
He's like, no way, me too.

01:20:09.957 --> 01:20:10.966
I was like, oh, no way.

01:20:11.006 --> 01:20:12.027
He was like, what time's your flight?

01:20:12.037 --> 01:20:12.976
I was like, I don't know.

01:20:12.978 --> 01:20:18.417
Uh, yeah, I, I don't know what time's your flight because I was going to buy mine based on his flight and literally just meet him at the airport and fly back home.

01:20:19.087 --> 01:20:19.346
Right.

01:20:19.396 --> 01:20:22.216
And so, um, yeah, I get him to tell me his flight information.

01:20:22.216 --> 01:20:22.917
I book a flight.

01:20:22.957 --> 01:20:24.516
And so we meet at the Starbucks at L.

01:20:24.516 --> 01:20:24.527
A.

01:20:24.697 --> 01:20:25.006
X.

01:20:25.327 --> 01:20:27.277
And we have this fantastic conversation.

01:20:27.296 --> 01:20:30.851
And he's like, I'm Yeah, I think that, you know, there could be something here.

01:20:30.881 --> 01:20:34.752
Like, I definitely have to come back out and meet, uh, you know, the owners of the winery.

01:20:35.152 --> 01:20:35.801
I was like, okay.

01:20:35.801 --> 01:20:48.006
So I remember I happened to be back out in California for a completely different reason like the following week and I remember him calling me and giving me this Complete like quiz about why like, what are the five Bordeaux grapes?

01:20:48.006 --> 01:20:50.207
And you know, what are the Napa Valley?

01:20:50.207 --> 01:20:50.936
And

01:20:50.936 --> 01:20:52.936
you knew some of this stuff from your time in restaurants.

01:20:52.947 --> 01:20:53.596
Not really.

01:20:53.726 --> 01:20:53.846
I

01:20:55.027 --> 01:20:56.096
did miserable.

01:20:56.287 --> 01:21:01.926
I failed miserably and my heart sank Literally, we're sitting at brunch and I'm like, I just cost myself the job.

01:21:01.947 --> 01:21:02.306
Right.

01:21:02.377 --> 01:21:04.351
And Trevor's like, no you didn't You know what you're going to do?

01:21:04.431 --> 01:21:09.971
Is you're going to go back, you're going to write him an email, and you're going to give him all the answers to the questions, because now, I knew them, I was writing them down.

01:21:10.381 --> 01:21:17.301
And you're going to show him that you have the skills to learn, but he's going to hire you for all the reasons that he can't teach you.

01:21:17.641 --> 01:21:17.662
Yeah.

01:21:17.662 --> 01:21:18.532
And I said, you're right.

01:21:18.591 --> 01:21:18.931
You're right.

01:21:18.942 --> 01:21:20.051
So, that's what I wrote to him.

01:21:20.051 --> 01:21:22.811
I said, you know, these are all the reasons you're going that test,

01:21:23.072 --> 01:21:23.471
but.

01:21:23.481 --> 01:21:23.721
Here's

01:21:23.721 --> 01:21:25.351
all my answers, but here's my point.

01:21:25.641 --> 01:21:27.971
Is that you're going to hire me because I can do this.

01:21:28.042 --> 01:21:28.351
Oh.

01:21:28.462 --> 01:21:31.171
And so, um, yeah, I ended up getting hired.

01:21:31.487 --> 01:21:39.096
So, what has Trevor been doing with his career, aside from jumping into CFO for your business here and there and different operations?

01:21:39.106 --> 01:21:44.146
He's now director of operations for a national, uh, a group, um, that does government consulting now.

01:21:44.226 --> 01:21:44.587
Okay.

01:21:44.587 --> 01:21:52.186
So, from his experience, he was, um, uh, what does he has, his Lean Six Sigma, uh, project manager, planner, that sort of stuff.

01:21:52.277 --> 01:21:52.527
So, he's

01:21:52.527 --> 01:21:54.796
a person that's trying to make government work more efficiently?

01:21:55.037 --> 01:21:55.436
Ish.

01:21:55.817 --> 01:22:02.216
Um, but now he's, he's, he's, now he's director of operations internally for this, um, uh, group that does subcontract with the VA.

01:22:02.216 --> 01:22:04.667
So he's not actually really working for the VA.

01:22:05.046 --> 01:22:11.657
But his skills, he really, he learned through working with Precision Signing Agency that like, he really loves that director of ops type of job.

01:22:11.657 --> 01:22:11.796
Interesting,

01:22:11.976 --> 01:22:12.247
yeah.

01:22:12.386 --> 01:22:16.426
So yeah, that's kind of roundabout, long story short with wrapping up my wine industry.

01:22:16.457 --> 01:22:17.886
No, I want to get back to there.

01:22:17.936 --> 01:22:18.247
I didn't.

01:22:18.247 --> 01:22:21.363
I'm just curious about this interesting person that I haven't met yet.

01:22:21.363 --> 01:22:22.301
Yeah, you need to meet

01:22:22.301 --> 01:22:22.532
him.

01:22:22.891 --> 01:22:34.582
Um, I actually didn't tell Andrew who was my boss at the time at the winery Like what I had done to get that job I think I told him about three months later when a supplier was visiting he looked at me and he said you did what?

01:22:34.841 --> 01:22:34.872
And

01:22:35.421 --> 01:22:37.212
I was like, dude, you wouldn't have hired me.

01:22:37.212 --> 01:22:39.502
He goes I never would have hired you if you'd known that.

01:22:39.881 --> 01:22:43.301
I'm like, this is like, you know, you talk about like the loco experience.

01:22:43.301 --> 01:22:53.122
That's like one of the craziest things I've ever done because I, I just, you have to put yourself out there and I, I believe that I could do it and I did.

01:22:53.131 --> 01:23:00.662
And to get a job at that type of winery with no experience in wine industry was unheard of, and it literally was a catalyst for my future career.

01:23:01.242 --> 01:23:01.782
It's really cool.

01:23:02.271 --> 01:23:05.641
I'm going to call it a short break, um, because I need to go potty.

01:23:06.141 --> 01:23:06.551
We'll be back.

01:23:06.552 --> 01:23:08.061
Sounds good.

01:23:51.368 --> 01:23:52.287
Uh, and we're back.

01:23:52.807 --> 01:24:01.012
Um, So we dropped off, you scammed your way, not scammed your way, earned your way into this job at Stone something winery?

01:24:01.012 --> 01:24:01.382
No, I didn't

01:24:01.382 --> 01:24:01.842
name it.

01:24:02.243 --> 01:24:02.872
Oh, you didn't?

01:24:03.153 --> 01:24:03.243
I

01:24:03.243 --> 01:24:03.762
didn't name it.

01:24:03.762 --> 01:24:06.472
No, at a prestigious Stag's Leap winery.

01:24:06.853 --> 01:24:07.262
Okay.

01:24:07.313 --> 01:24:11.523
But not Stag's Leap Wine Cellars or Stag's Leap Winery, uh, cause there's two of those.

01:24:11.582 --> 01:24:13.082
But yes, located in Stag's Leap.

01:24:13.082 --> 01:24:13.932
So I had worked there.

01:24:13.983 --> 01:24:14.143
Oh,

01:24:14.143 --> 01:24:14.453
I see.

01:24:14.453 --> 01:24:14.693
Okay.

01:24:14.853 --> 01:24:15.233
So.

01:24:15.523 --> 01:24:16.802
I was enjoying it.

01:24:16.823 --> 01:24:18.483
It was definitely not well paid.

01:24:18.493 --> 01:24:24.632
I think that's one of the harder parts about working in the wine industry, especially in wine country, is like, everybody wants to do it.

01:24:24.632 --> 01:24:25.042
Right, right.

01:24:25.042 --> 01:24:25.961
And so they just don't pay well.

01:24:25.961 --> 01:24:26.302
It's just

01:24:26.302 --> 01:24:27.582
like vet techs here in Fort Collins.

01:24:27.872 --> 01:24:28.113
Yeah.

01:24:28.203 --> 01:24:31.273
It's just like All these, they got all these vet graduate.

01:24:31.412 --> 01:24:31.563
Yeah.

01:24:31.693 --> 01:24:37.033
And, or, yeah, and they're like, Well, you can stay here in Fort Collins, but you can't make any money.

01:24:37.042 --> 01:24:37.153
You

01:24:37.262 --> 01:24:38.672
can't, like, live here.

01:24:38.842 --> 01:24:41.432
It's so expensive, and this was before California got so expensive.

01:24:41.432 --> 01:24:49.422
So, um, my husband with his post grad fellowship, it was a two year fellowship, he had an opportunity to do a detail for three months anywhere else in the federal government.

01:24:50.132 --> 01:24:58.033
Since Trevor likes to travel and he likes international, he wanted to be a foreign service officer growing up and, um, you know, move every two years and work as a diplomat.

01:24:58.453 --> 01:25:01.613
He had an opportunity to work in West Africa in Cote d'Ivoire.

01:25:02.212 --> 01:25:05.422
And so I said, no way, no, how are you going to Africa without me?

01:25:05.443 --> 01:25:05.922
Right.

01:25:05.993 --> 01:25:09.122
So I knew that my job wasn't going to give me the time off.

01:25:09.143 --> 01:25:09.212
You

01:25:09.212 --> 01:25:10.063
were married?

01:25:10.203 --> 01:25:10.622
We were married.

01:25:10.632 --> 01:25:11.033
Yeah, we were

01:25:11.033 --> 01:25:11.903
just newly married.

01:25:12.222 --> 01:25:14.422
I knew they weren't going to give me the time off, even though it would have been.

01:25:14.688 --> 01:25:16.198
Smart too, because I would have just come back.

01:25:16.217 --> 01:25:21.068
I was just going to be gone for like six weeks, but they wouldn't give me the leave of absence, so I had to quit.

01:25:21.238 --> 01:25:27.018
And we went over to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, and that was an experience.

01:25:29.087 --> 01:25:30.467
Better than, less than.

01:25:30.653 --> 01:25:30.783
Good.

01:25:31.012 --> 01:25:32.302
I don't know, Mexico, Portugal,

01:25:32.662 --> 01:25:34.222
Mexico and Portugal are definitely better.

01:25:34.243 --> 01:25:42.453
Um, he, he had diplomatic privileges because he was working at the embassy, but I did not because he was not a full diplomat.

01:25:42.462 --> 01:25:43.632
He was only on detail.

01:25:43.662 --> 01:25:46.943
And so they were one or two years post civil war.

01:25:47.162 --> 01:25:47.712
Oh, wow.

01:25:47.743 --> 01:25:48.632
So not safe.

01:25:48.813 --> 01:25:49.103
Right?

01:25:49.162 --> 01:25:54.353
Everything's behind gates, armed guards, guarding everything 24 seven compounds, apartments.

01:25:54.382 --> 01:25:54.853
And so all

01:25:54.853 --> 01:25:56.342
beautiful white women are like,

01:25:56.568 --> 01:26:01.847
You know, I actually felt safer there than I do on streets in America, and I'll tell you why in a minute.

01:26:02.158 --> 01:26:05.297
I never got leered at, jeered at, inappropriate comments.

01:26:05.337 --> 01:26:08.637
Maybe from a deli, you know, worker at the grocery store once.

01:26:08.637 --> 01:26:14.483
But besides that, like, I would walk around without Protection and I felt safer there.

01:26:14.512 --> 01:26:14.603
Hmm.

01:26:14.632 --> 01:26:16.162
Like they're just more respectful.

01:26:16.462 --> 01:26:16.523
Yeah.

01:26:16.523 --> 01:26:16.613
Fair.

01:26:16.792 --> 01:26:21.143
Um, so, and I sometimes might've been the only white person or blonde person they've ever seen in their life.

01:26:21.292 --> 01:26:21.502
Right.

01:26:21.592 --> 01:26:22.162
Um, I

01:26:22.162 --> 01:26:24.443
imagine that's what I was thinking about is you just stuck out like a sore thumb.

01:26:24.443 --> 01:26:24.502
Oh,

01:26:24.863 --> 01:26:25.222
for sure.

01:26:25.222 --> 01:26:25.523
Did.

01:26:25.523 --> 01:26:27.863
And I wasn't fluent in French, my husband is.

01:26:27.863 --> 01:26:29.872
And so, um, that was difficult.

01:26:29.877 --> 01:26:32.302
And it's a different, like, dialect of French too.

01:26:32.453 --> 01:26:32.722
Right.

01:26:32.783 --> 01:26:35.063
And so I, um, it was lonely.

01:26:35.153 --> 01:26:38.243
I was largely stuck inside most of the day.

01:26:38.243 --> 01:26:39.622
I was 95.

01:26:39.622 --> 01:26:39.953
Did you have

01:26:39.953 --> 01:26:41.328
any, like your husband's.

01:26:42.203 --> 01:26:44.372
Diplomat friends wives or anything?

01:26:44.573 --> 01:26:44.762
So, a few

01:26:45.103 --> 01:26:47.162
of them, but some of them, like, worked.

01:26:47.212 --> 01:26:48.402
And some were 65,

01:26:48.403 --> 01:26:48.972
or something.

01:26:48.972 --> 01:26:49.962
I

01:26:49.962 --> 01:26:52.082
actually befriended the domestiques.

01:26:52.113 --> 01:26:58.783
And so, in these countries, it's so inexpensive to have housekeepers and, um, live in people who cook for you.

01:26:58.962 --> 01:27:04.002
And so I would go over to our friends in the embassy and Just like befriend their domestique and we'd cook together.

01:27:04.002 --> 01:27:05.186
Teach me how to cook that.

01:27:05.188 --> 01:27:10.957
She'd take me to like the open air market that I definitely should never go to by myself and it was such an eye opening experience.

01:27:10.957 --> 01:27:18.167
Like I remember our guards were Ivis and Ebay and these guys worked 24 hours on, 24 hours off making 50 cents an hour.

01:27:18.177 --> 01:27:18.778
Whoa.

01:27:18.847 --> 01:27:26.988
Unemployment was 50 percent in this country and you talk about winning the lottery, living and being born in the United States, people have no idea.

01:27:27.057 --> 01:27:29.796
Like they're just waiting and wishing to get like the money.

01:27:29.948 --> 01:27:33.717
The, the green card lottery, because there's just no opportunity.

01:27:33.978 --> 01:27:38.578
So this whole mentality of like, pick yourself up from the bootstraps, that doesn't apply in these countries.

01:27:38.707 --> 01:27:40.757
These people literally have no way to get out of this.

01:27:40.768 --> 01:27:44.377
Well, and, and there isn't frankly a culture of entrepreneurism.

01:27:44.747 --> 01:27:49.542
Nobody does that very much, you know, and so there isn't like this example we have in America of.

01:27:50.082 --> 01:27:57.243
You know, starting a loan signing business in the middle of COVID nation and growing it during a declining marketplace.

01:27:57.323 --> 01:28:00.023
No, that just doesn't, nobody even knows what that means.

01:28:00.372 --> 01:28:00.813
And they don't have

01:28:00.813 --> 01:28:06.262
the resources and because the 50 percent unemployment, like Ivis and eBay were taking care of their entire family on like this.

01:28:06.743 --> 01:28:09.323
And to be fair, the living expenses are extremely high.

01:28:09.332 --> 01:28:11.512
We were living in like an okay apartment.

01:28:11.512 --> 01:28:16.573
It was 2300 US a month and they're making 50 cents US per hour.

01:28:16.603 --> 01:28:18.972
And so there's just, I mean they're shanty towns.

01:28:18.972 --> 01:28:19.662
They live in like.

01:28:20.363 --> 01:28:24.002
like that we're not covered and it's ninety five percent humidity, it's awful.

01:28:24.472 --> 01:28:24.733
So,

01:28:25.472 --> 01:28:27.743
like, you said it was kind of terrible It was terrible.

01:28:27.802 --> 01:28:30.472
the loneliness and just, kind of, the Yeah.

01:28:30.502 --> 01:28:31.172
being around all that.

01:28:31.547 --> 01:28:33.618
Poverty of spirit kind of and stuff, or what?

01:28:33.618 --> 01:28:34.818
I got sick too.

01:28:34.818 --> 01:28:35.207
Oh, Uhhuh.

01:28:35.207 --> 01:28:35.507
I got

01:28:35.507 --> 01:28:42.828
sick and I didn't know what was going on and so I wasn't feeling well and you know, I'm sure it was, you know, based off of something I had eaten.

01:28:42.887 --> 01:28:43.068
Right.

01:28:43.073 --> 01:28:45.408
You know, like you'd go to a quote unquote restaurant, some para, did

01:28:45.408 --> 01:28:46.068
you take Ivermectin?

01:28:46.518 --> 01:28:49.787
No, I actually got C Difficile, if you know what c diff is, I don't have any idea.

01:28:49.787 --> 01:28:49.967
Hot.

01:28:49.967 --> 01:28:50.207
Great.

01:28:50.238 --> 01:28:54.587
A lot of people in like, um, rest homes, you know, assisted livings or in.

01:28:54.813 --> 01:28:57.872
Hospital with like that are immunocompromised, get it and people die from it.

01:28:57.872 --> 01:28:57.898
Oh wow.

01:28:57.898 --> 01:28:59.283
Like it can be really intense.

01:28:59.283 --> 01:29:04.323
And so thankfully I was not immunocompromised, but I didn't know and there's no way to get tested for it over there.

01:29:04.328 --> 01:29:04.417
Yeah.

01:29:04.537 --> 01:29:05.257
I thought I had tape worm.

01:29:05.257 --> 01:29:05.497
Is it

01:29:05.497 --> 01:29:05.898
parasite?

01:29:05.898 --> 01:29:06.057
Yeah.

01:29:06.097 --> 01:29:07.082
I thought I had had tapeworm.

01:29:07.832 --> 01:29:10.143
Okay, so it's not a parasite, it's um, bacteria.

01:29:10.143 --> 01:29:10.172
Okay.

01:29:10.353 --> 01:29:13.773
Um, so anyway, I'm sick and I have all this time on my hands.

01:29:13.773 --> 01:29:14.703
I'm like, oh, what are we gonna do?

01:29:14.733 --> 01:29:17.103
So I told Trevor, I said, we can't go back to Napa.

01:29:17.193 --> 01:29:18.903
Like, it's so hard to live there.

01:29:19.143 --> 01:29:20.432
You're done with your fellowship.

01:29:20.672 --> 01:29:21.932
I really miss North Carolina.

01:29:22.438 --> 01:29:25.247
You moved us all the way to Africa, let's move back to North Carolina.

01:29:25.438 --> 01:29:26.797
I was like, okay, I can agree to that.

01:29:26.797 --> 01:29:27.847
So I started looking for jobs.

01:29:27.847 --> 01:29:31.377
I'm like, how am I going to work in wine in North Carolina?

01:29:31.837 --> 01:29:41.547
So serendipitously, um, at the time, the, the company I ended up working for, for, um, eight years had a position that covered, um, North and South Carolina.

01:29:41.547 --> 01:29:43.467
Oh, like a widened distribution business?

01:29:43.467 --> 01:29:44.106
No, a

01:29:44.106 --> 01:29:44.747
supplier job.

01:29:44.747 --> 01:29:46.297
So working directly for the wineries.

01:29:46.328 --> 01:29:46.688
Okay.

01:29:46.997 --> 01:29:53.097
And so I, um, applied for that position, and again, like, I can't tell them I'm in West Africa, because that's weird.

01:29:53.467 --> 01:29:53.847
Right.

01:29:53.927 --> 01:29:54.207
Or that I'm sick.

01:29:54.917 --> 01:29:55.568
Or that I'm sick.

01:29:55.957 --> 01:29:56.007
Or that I

01:29:56.007 --> 01:29:56.568
might die.

01:29:56.578 --> 01:29:56.967
Hardly,

01:29:57.137 --> 01:30:00.898
hardly sit in front of my computer for longer than ten minutes without running to the bathroom.

01:30:01.028 --> 01:30:02.597
Oh gosh, I'm so sorry.

01:30:02.667 --> 01:30:03.988
Yeah, I lost 17 pounds.

01:30:04.047 --> 01:30:04.247
Oh

01:30:04.318 --> 01:30:04.757
my.

01:30:05.307 --> 01:30:05.957
Yeah, three months.

01:30:05.967 --> 01:30:06.108
Were

01:30:06.108 --> 01:30:06.677
you

01:30:07.643 --> 01:30:08.462
Your size now and

01:30:08.462 --> 01:30:09.733
then you lost 17 pounds?

01:30:09.743 --> 01:30:11.573
So you were, like, all elbows and

01:30:11.672 --> 01:30:12.722
I was not doing well.

01:30:12.733 --> 01:30:13.292
vertebrae

01:30:13.512 --> 01:30:13.672
and stuff?

01:30:14.743 --> 01:30:18.243
So, I applied for this position, I did all this market research.

01:30:18.573 --> 01:30:24.172
I was one of 20 candidates that were interviewed, the only person that did not interview in person.

01:30:24.462 --> 01:30:26.153
I remember the recruiter calling.

01:30:26.153 --> 01:30:28.582
He's like, hey, can you come to Charlotte for an interview next week?

01:30:28.582 --> 01:30:29.073
I was like, no.

01:30:29.703 --> 01:30:31.113
He goes, no I said, yeah.

01:30:31.773 --> 01:30:32.712
I'm in Africa.

01:30:32.722 --> 01:30:33.993
He said, I'm sorry, what?

01:30:34.073 --> 01:30:34.188
You're in Africa?

01:30:34.398 --> 01:30:36.118
I said, yeah, the country, Africa.

01:30:36.238 --> 01:30:37.807
He's like, you're talking to me from Africa.

01:30:37.807 --> 01:30:38.757
It's a continent, actually.

01:30:39.047 --> 01:30:39.318
Yeah,

01:30:39.488 --> 01:30:39.858
you're right.

01:30:42.618 --> 01:30:43.398
It's the wine.

01:30:45.007 --> 01:30:46.387
The continent of Africa.

01:30:46.717 --> 01:30:49.858
Um, and I said, yeah, like I, I've been here for a month.

01:30:49.858 --> 01:30:50.738
He goes, well, hold on.

01:30:50.738 --> 01:30:52.007
Like, when are you coming back?

01:30:52.018 --> 01:30:53.597
I was like, well, I'll come back whenever I need to.

01:30:53.608 --> 01:30:55.528
Like, if I get this job, I'll come back sooner.

01:30:55.528 --> 01:30:55.797
Right.

01:30:56.023 --> 01:31:04.582
And so it was an uphill battle just like trying to then get the interview because he has to explain this to the hiring manager that I'm in Africa and I'm not coming With your

01:31:04.582 --> 01:31:06.283
husband but ready to leave him at any time.

01:31:06.283 --> 01:31:08.063
Right, but I'm not, I'm not

01:31:08.063 --> 01:31:15.893
coming in person and so, you know, I, I, again, because I had all this time on my hand, I, you know, I had come up with this target list of how I was going to do my job.

01:31:15.903 --> 01:31:16.382
Nice.

01:31:16.403 --> 01:31:17.712
You know, so I got the job.

01:31:17.722 --> 01:31:18.882
You are so focused.

01:31:18.932 --> 01:31:30.358
Like, that's one thing I've really, So what I've learned from this conversation is like these new chapters and even the, the loan document, like I'm kind of the opposite, like I'm a 30, 000 foot guy.

01:31:30.408 --> 01:31:32.478
I don't focus on much.

01:31:32.528 --> 01:31:35.108
I have a lot of interesting conversations with a ton of different people.

01:31:35.438 --> 01:31:41.408
When you focus on something, you just grind on it and really, yeah, no, that's awesome.

01:31:41.417 --> 01:31:43.307
Like that's a compliment for sure.

01:31:44.903 --> 01:31:51.393
Again, it just shows, you know, where preparation and perspiration meet, success occurs.

01:31:51.542 --> 01:31:54.193
Well, that, and I like to call it ruthless efficiency.

01:31:54.193 --> 01:31:59.823
I think I mentioned during our chat that like, people ask, like, how are you able to achieve as much as you do in a day?

01:31:59.832 --> 01:32:02.823
And I said, I am ruthlessly efficient with my time.

01:32:03.472 --> 01:32:08.662
Even when I was working still in wine, before I started my company, I never worked 40 hours a week.

01:32:08.863 --> 01:32:13.422
I worked less, far less, because I had figured out a way to optimize what I was doing.

01:32:13.983 --> 01:32:16.622
And, you know, to be fair, I had other interests.

01:32:16.622 --> 01:32:20.552
So, you know, I'd be able to go and, and do things that interested me in that time.

01:32:20.552 --> 01:32:22.012
I'd go grocery shopping during the day.

01:32:22.172 --> 01:32:26.783
I'm sure I probably wasn't supposed to be doing that, but, you know, there's less people

01:32:27.443 --> 01:32:28.193
out grocery shopping.

01:32:28.193 --> 01:32:29.342
I'm optimizing my time.

01:32:29.462 --> 01:32:29.983
If I go shopping

01:32:33.247 --> 01:32:40.717
And so, um, I've really figured that out, um, kind of in my time working in the wine industry and then parlayed that into now my own company.

01:32:40.717 --> 01:32:41.568
It's, it's funny.

01:32:41.597 --> 01:32:46.507
There's so many like coaches that like try to tell you like, this is what you should be focusing on.

01:32:46.507 --> 01:32:52.398
And this is what, you know, you know, I mentioned you have imposter syndrome or this, and I'm like, I don't struggle with that.

01:32:52.398 --> 01:32:55.547
Like I know exactly what I need to do to grow this business.

01:32:55.557 --> 01:32:56.938
And that's what I focus on.

01:32:57.238 --> 01:32:57.408
And

01:32:57.408 --> 01:32:58.118
I think for me, it.

01:32:58.297 --> 01:33:02.518
It took a little bit longer to get to a point where I was able to start delegating that.

01:33:02.917 --> 01:33:07.297
But now I've really hit that groove of, um, you know, my newest hire has been fantastic.

01:33:07.297 --> 01:33:12.417
He's a great utility player and he, um, helps out with the scheduling, but any task I give him, he's on it.

01:33:12.427 --> 01:33:13.618
And he takes so much off my plate.

01:33:13.837 --> 01:33:14.398
It's been so nice.

01:33:14.518 --> 01:33:14.677
Isn't that

01:33:14.677 --> 01:33:15.057
wonderful?

01:33:15.207 --> 01:33:15.778
It's so nice.

01:33:15.858 --> 01:33:25.797
Um, We'll just kind of flash forward to this last chapter of this, so you get this job, I guess, at the winery from Africa, and they decide you're the best candidate anyway.

01:33:26.037 --> 01:33:28.297
I move over there, I have zero idea what I'm doing.

01:33:28.557 --> 01:33:33.068
It's not at all like my last job at the winery, because I'm not actually working at the winery.

01:33:33.068 --> 01:33:35.978
I had done national sales with that winery.

01:33:35.978 --> 01:33:42.158
It's like it's like a coffee shop in Napa, but it was like on a high level there were only five wines only two of them are really like not allocated.

01:33:42.578 --> 01:33:43.948
It was like a very cush job.

01:33:43.978 --> 01:33:44.387
Right.

01:33:44.568 --> 01:33:46.108
Um and very expensive wines.

01:33:46.337 --> 01:33:47.158
Now you're hustling.

01:33:47.188 --> 01:33:51.118
Now I'm like, okay, and I honestly had no training in that first month.

01:33:51.137 --> 01:33:53.328
I didn't even have a computer the first week.

01:33:53.347 --> 01:33:55.997
And I never, never I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.

01:33:56.028 --> 01:33:58.318
And so, I just kind of made it up.

01:33:58.438 --> 01:33:58.507
Well,

01:33:58.507 --> 01:33:59.648
nobody could hold you accountable then.

01:34:00.137 --> 01:34:03.097
No, but I was like, I literally feel so lost.

01:34:03.287 --> 01:34:08.177
Like, so I really had to like, scrounge and just figure out for myself.

01:34:08.177 --> 01:34:11.738
So I really felt like an entrepreneur that was like, being paid by someone else.

01:34:11.787 --> 01:34:12.478
I'm creating a job

01:34:12.613 --> 01:34:14.863
Um,

01:34:14.863 --> 01:34:24.563
and so I guess I figured it out in the right way, and, you know, they were pretty happy with me, and, um, you know, I never really got that guidance that I, like, needed to kick that off.

01:34:24.563 --> 01:34:30.743
And so I think I, that's one of my, like, downfalls or pitfalls as a, CEO, owner, founder.

01:34:31.033 --> 01:34:34.783
I'm not great at training people because I have this attitude of like, dude, I figured it out.

01:34:34.783 --> 01:34:35.654
You figured it out.

01:34:35.654 --> 01:34:35.872
Yeah.

01:34:35.872 --> 01:34:35.972
Yeah.

01:34:36.622 --> 01:34:37.332
Here's what

01:34:37.622 --> 01:34:38.422
needs to happen.

01:34:38.573 --> 01:34:39.313
You figure out how to do it.

01:34:39.313 --> 01:34:39.363
I'll tell

01:34:39.552 --> 01:34:43.002
you once, but if you don't know after that, I mean, just look it up.

01:34:43.012 --> 01:34:43.432
Google it.

01:34:43.432 --> 01:34:43.693
I don't know.

01:34:43.893 --> 01:34:44.592
I figured it out.

01:34:44.592 --> 01:34:48.033
So I think that's probably where I get, I get, I definitely am a little impatient.

01:34:48.462 --> 01:34:51.643
Um, because I, again, I have a 5, 000 moving parts.

01:34:52.092 --> 01:34:55.863
And I've got one chance to tell it to you, so luckily I now have my team training other people.

01:34:56.132 --> 01:34:57.172
So now I don't have to do that.

01:34:57.172 --> 01:34:57.512
Here's what

01:34:57.512 --> 01:34:58.262
needs to be trained.

01:34:58.262 --> 01:34:58.493
Yeah.

01:34:58.493 --> 01:34:59.252
That's the best.

01:34:59.283 --> 01:35:00.542
And I'll jump in when I need to, but.

01:35:00.582 --> 01:35:08.523
What, uh, what would your team agree, uh, is, uh, one of their favorite things about you?

01:35:09.103 --> 01:35:09.252
Hmm.

01:35:09.542 --> 01:35:09.773
Like, if they

01:35:09.773 --> 01:35:13.743
were all together in a room talking about you, what were some of the words they would use?

01:35:13.802 --> 01:35:14.912
Gosh, that's a great question.

01:35:14.912 --> 01:35:16.203
I think I need to ask them that.

01:35:16.653 --> 01:35:17.207
Um, I don't know.

01:35:17.358 --> 01:35:23.677
I think above all, I'm kind, I'm understanding, um, you know, for, for me, work life balance is important.

01:35:23.698 --> 01:35:35.037
I think that being, uh, flexible and nimble and knowing that this isn't their entire life is super important and just like getting to know them as humans and treating them fairly.

01:35:35.587 --> 01:35:36.877
Um, I hope they enjoy what they do.

01:35:36.877 --> 01:35:37.497
It's crazy.

01:35:37.518 --> 01:35:41.368
It's a crazy issue, but I hope that they look forward to it and don't dread it.

01:35:41.387 --> 01:35:43.268
I mean, that wouldn't be great for anybody,

01:35:43.297 --> 01:35:43.648
right?

01:35:43.717 --> 01:35:44.688
You know, so yeah,

01:35:44.797 --> 01:35:48.757
nobody wants to have a job or I don't have employees that dread the work, you know?

01:35:48.828 --> 01:35:58.087
No, I think, I think overall, I think just being, being flexible and nimble and just having that human element and recognizing them for, for people and not just employees.

01:35:58.177 --> 01:35:58.427
A big good

01:35:58.427 --> 01:35:58.797
answer.

01:35:59.087 --> 01:35:59.188
Yeah.

01:35:59.307 --> 01:36:00.938
I hope my employees would say the same.

01:36:00.997 --> 01:36:01.307
Yeah.

01:36:01.408 --> 01:36:01.948
I think they might.

01:36:02.057 --> 01:36:02.837
Have you ever asked them?

01:36:03.247 --> 01:36:03.547
Oh, yeah.

01:36:04.162 --> 01:36:06.832
Maybe not in so many words, yeah, go ask all of them down here.

01:36:06.832 --> 01:36:07.564
I'm going to go do that now.

01:36:07.564 --> 01:36:07.792
I'm going to

01:36:07.792 --> 01:36:08.842
send them a Teams message.

01:36:10.122 --> 01:36:10.842
They don't use Teams.

01:36:11.153 --> 01:36:14.363
Well, we're all virtual, so we, I didn't actually meet.

01:36:14.443 --> 01:36:14.712
Oh,

01:36:14.712 --> 01:36:16.592
right, so you don't ever get to spend time around.

01:36:16.693 --> 01:36:17.222
Sometimes.

01:36:17.252 --> 01:36:22.667
Um, our employee that's here in Fort Collins, I chose I chose that because I could actually see her every now and again.

01:36:22.667 --> 01:36:24.707
And then Justin, our main, um, scheduler.

01:36:24.707 --> 01:36:24.877
Is she,

01:36:25.087 --> 01:36:29.167
this person in Fort Collins, is that kind of like your right hand person or assistant of some sort?

01:36:29.167 --> 01:36:29.328
She's

01:36:29.707 --> 01:36:33.707
a scheduling, like she's our, one of our schedulers and she's helping with the bookkeeping now.

01:36:33.778 --> 01:36:36.528
Um, so she's here and she helps with the remote online notarization.

01:36:36.807 --> 01:36:37.868
She's stellar at that.

01:36:38.247 --> 01:36:42.217
And then Justin, Justin's a little bit of an introvert, not a little bit, I'll tell you he's a lot of an introvert.

01:36:42.568 --> 01:36:48.068
So we finally have, um, I think I've seen him twice, met him twice, but yeah, we don't Um, we see each other on stream.

01:36:48.068 --> 01:36:48.768
He just gets his job done.

01:36:48.768 --> 01:36:49.001
He does.

01:36:49.001 --> 01:36:49.287
You tell him

01:36:49.287 --> 01:36:50.497
when he needs to get done and he gets it done.

01:36:50.648 --> 01:36:50.757
Yep.

01:36:51.068 --> 01:36:52.155
That's how he likes it.

01:36:52.155 --> 01:36:57.188
Um, are you ready to jump into our shall not talk about segment?

01:36:57.207 --> 01:36:57.328
Let's

01:36:57.557 --> 01:36:57.667
do it.

01:36:58.337 --> 01:37:03.467
Faith, family politics, do you, uh, have a preference on where you start in that trio?

01:37:03.488 --> 01:37:04.547
We'll just go in order.

01:37:04.578 --> 01:37:04.988
So faith.

01:37:04.988 --> 01:37:05.287
Okay.

01:37:05.768 --> 01:37:07.127
Um, I'm not religious.

01:37:07.127 --> 01:37:07.158
Okay.

01:37:07.177 --> 01:37:09.118
Um, definitely, uh, spiritual.

01:37:09.853 --> 01:37:12.262
My religion is going out and being in nature.

01:37:12.412 --> 01:37:15.143
Um, I definitely am a fan of don't be an asshole.

01:37:15.632 --> 01:37:16.632
Um, as my religion.

01:37:16.802 --> 01:37:17.563
I want to back it up a little bit.

01:37:17.592 --> 01:37:20.832
Like, no experience, never been to church, your parents never did it.

01:37:20.832 --> 01:37:21.682
No, no, I've been to church.

01:37:22.012 --> 01:37:23.222
My parents were CEOs.

01:37:23.693 --> 01:37:24.283
Do you know what that is?

01:37:24.462 --> 01:37:24.853
No.

01:37:25.203 --> 01:37:26.132
Christmas, Easter only.

01:37:26.212 --> 01:37:26.752
Okay,

01:37:26.813 --> 01:37:27.162
gotcha.

01:37:27.512 --> 01:37:27.762
Yep.

01:37:27.832 --> 01:37:28.162
Yep.

01:37:28.302 --> 01:37:29.113
Uh, see you then.

01:37:29.113 --> 01:37:29.203
In a

01:37:29.203 --> 01:37:30.313
particular brand?

01:37:30.563 --> 01:37:32.422
Just non denominational Christian.

01:37:32.752 --> 01:37:33.552
Whatever, yeah.

01:37:33.552 --> 01:37:33.613
Um, yeah.

01:37:33.613 --> 01:37:35.853
And then my husband grew up Catholic.

01:37:35.932 --> 01:37:36.063
Okay.

01:37:36.143 --> 01:37:37.762
So a very different experience than I had.

01:37:38.252 --> 01:37:40.972
And, uh, he actually studied theology at Georgetown.

01:37:40.983 --> 01:37:41.462
Oh, interesting.

01:37:41.472 --> 01:37:43.613
So he, like, went full circle.

01:37:43.733 --> 01:37:44.042
Yeah.

01:37:44.063 --> 01:37:47.493
And, um, yeah, neither of us are, are particularly religious.

01:37:47.493 --> 01:37:47.983
I think.

01:37:48.042 --> 01:37:54.613
We definitely miss the community aspect that I think that religion brings, but we're trying to build that in a way that like makes sense for us.

01:37:55.212 --> 01:38:02.682
I think I get frustrated when people say, Oh, how, how can you raise your children to, you know, be good people without religion?

01:38:03.002 --> 01:38:06.682
I'm like, some of the worst people I know are like devoutly religious.

01:38:06.682 --> 01:38:07.332
Like, uh,

01:38:07.422 --> 01:38:08.432
Well, supposedly.

01:38:08.443 --> 01:38:08.943
Supposedly.

01:38:08.953 --> 01:38:12.592
Actually, I would argue that they're just wolves in sheep's clothing and they're not religious.

01:38:12.603 --> 01:38:15.703
Well, so, that's why I use the word faith instead of religion.

01:38:15.703 --> 01:38:23.082
I actually think of religion as being kind of a gross, sticky substance that sticks to people and makes them yucky sometimes.

01:38:23.143 --> 01:38:25.422
Yes! But having faith Faith in something is what drives people.

01:38:25.743 --> 01:38:26.033
Yeah.

01:38:26.182 --> 01:38:26.243
And

01:38:26.252 --> 01:38:28.323
whatever that faith is, that's important.

01:38:28.462 --> 01:38:30.573
And look, I don't, I don't know what I don't know.

01:38:30.682 --> 01:38:33.403
Do I, do I, do I envision as God for me?

01:38:33.403 --> 01:38:34.363
No, I don't.

01:38:34.403 --> 01:38:37.252
And I think that was one of the challenges of living in the South.

01:38:37.693 --> 01:38:38.412
Yeah, I'm sure.

01:38:38.662 --> 01:38:38.712
Because

01:38:38.922 --> 01:38:39.972
it was incessant.

01:38:39.983 --> 01:38:41.903
It was, what church do you go to?

01:38:41.903 --> 01:38:42.752
There was judgment.

01:38:42.762 --> 01:38:44.313
There was praying before community meals.

01:38:44.872 --> 01:38:47.853
It was like, there was no tolerance for Well, I think

01:38:47.853 --> 01:38:48.863
I'm kind of okay with, with that.

01:38:49.478 --> 01:38:53.139
Like a prayer before a Boy Scout luncheon or whatever, I think that's kind of

01:38:53.139 --> 01:39:09.268
neat, but Not for like our, our, just our community, where everybody believes different things, or, or when we blatantly tell a neighbor, that, hey, I'm not religious, my husband, who studied theology under the Jesuit priests, and is gonna tell you his justification as to where he's at, spiritually, and you still come and prophetize to us.

01:39:09.278 --> 01:39:09.627
Right.

01:39:10.057 --> 01:39:11.488
And disrespect what we just said.

01:39:11.488 --> 01:39:12.228
Right, you already

01:39:12.228 --> 01:39:13.287
know, right.

01:39:13.417 --> 01:39:14.768
Yeah, that's a tough pill to swallow.

01:39:14.787 --> 01:39:28.472
So, talk to me about, um, I mean, not in his words, but, like, he obviously had a lot of intrigue on it and at some point decided not to plug in there, or, like, what do you do with the Jesus person thing?

01:39:29.023 --> 01:39:29.792
I feel like Not to

01:39:29.792 --> 01:39:32.363
challenge you directly, but I think that's part of our theme here.

01:39:32.643 --> 01:39:33.132
No, of course.

01:39:33.243 --> 01:39:34.797
So, I actually dated someone who was black.

01:39:34.807 --> 01:39:35.488
Baha'i?

01:39:35.587 --> 01:39:36.158
Are you familiar?

01:39:36.158 --> 01:39:36.387
Yeah.

01:39:36.478 --> 01:39:36.768
I am.

01:39:36.877 --> 01:39:36.957
Yeah.

01:39:36.957 --> 01:39:39.667
Somebody that cut my hair for a long time in Colorado Springs was Baha'i.

01:39:40.127 --> 01:39:42.228
And I, I actually loved that concept.

01:39:42.238 --> 01:39:43.457
They don't have a clergy.

01:39:43.568 --> 01:39:56.557
They do what they call fireside chats, and they get together, you know, whether you're Baha'i, you're Muslim, you're Christian, you're atheist, you're non denominational, and they get together and have conversations about what's happening in the world and what's important.

01:39:56.717 --> 01:39:56.978
Interesting.

01:39:56.988 --> 01:39:57.148
And

01:39:57.148 --> 01:39:59.797
it's not necessarily based in religion.

01:40:00.457 --> 01:40:03.243
Tell me, do you know what they're Authority figure?

01:40:03.243 --> 01:40:03.603
Yes.

01:40:04.002 --> 01:40:05.903
Or their divinity figure, I guess, if you will.

01:40:05.943 --> 01:40:11.002
So they believed that all the previous prophets existed and had a message that was relevant for the time.

01:40:11.002 --> 01:40:11.472
So Muhammad,

01:40:11.483 --> 01:40:14.262
Jesus, Moses, Abraham.

01:40:14.412 --> 01:40:16.872
But they also believe in another prophet named Baha'u'llah,

01:40:17.483 --> 01:40:17.502
who

01:40:17.802 --> 01:40:20.092
was alive in the 1800s in Persia.

01:40:20.092 --> 01:40:20.222
Oh

01:40:20.222 --> 01:40:22.972
yeah, and now I'm remembering my wiki page, surfing.

01:40:23.613 --> 01:40:25.222
So, that was part of it.

01:40:25.252 --> 01:40:28.252
And so, they were severely persecuted by the Muslims.

01:40:28.262 --> 01:40:28.573
Yeah, yeah.

01:40:28.813 --> 01:40:31.233
Because there's no one that exists after Muhammad.

01:40:31.292 --> 01:40:31.502
Right.

01:40:31.512 --> 01:40:33.643
Um, in the Muslim faith, uh, in Islam.

01:40:33.653 --> 01:40:38.542
So, it was an interesting, it really opened up my eyes, and some of the best people I know are Baha'i.

01:40:38.712 --> 01:40:43.453
Um, for me, it was But still, too, like, hey, you can't have sex before marriage.

01:40:43.453 --> 01:40:44.552
You can't drink alcohol.

01:40:44.563 --> 01:40:47.853
Like, I mean, these just like antiquated, like, I don't know.

01:40:47.882 --> 01:40:53.122
Like, I feel like people sometimes like to, to do the buffet lunch when it comes to, like, religion.

01:40:53.132 --> 01:40:53.412
Sure.

01:40:53.412 --> 01:40:53.422
Sure.

01:40:53.422 --> 01:40:55.372
And choose the good parts and leave out the bad parts.

01:40:55.372 --> 01:40:55.542
Sure.

01:40:55.542 --> 01:40:57.493
And I'm like, that's not how this works.

01:40:57.563 --> 01:40:57.832
Yeah, yeah.

01:40:57.882 --> 01:41:00.342
And so, for me, I'm kind of like an all or nothing person.

01:41:00.342 --> 01:41:04.542
If I'm like, okay, this doesn't make sense, and I don't believe in this, then it's nothing for me.

01:41:04.542 --> 01:41:04.972
Yeah, yeah.

01:41:05.023 --> 01:41:05.828
And so, you know.

01:41:05.828 --> 01:41:06.002
If you

01:41:06.002 --> 01:41:08.212
can't buy the whole portion A package.

01:41:08.262 --> 01:41:08.773
Right.

01:41:08.853 --> 01:41:10.092
Then you're kind of out.

01:41:10.382 --> 01:41:10.643
Right.

01:41:10.653 --> 01:41:13.832
And I staunchly believe in evolution and science.

01:41:13.863 --> 01:41:16.023
And for me those two are at odds.

01:41:16.332 --> 01:41:19.823
And I know they're not always for people but like for me you have one or the other.

01:41:19.922 --> 01:41:20.162
Hmmm.

01:41:20.573 --> 01:41:20.662
Interesting.

01:41:20.722 --> 01:41:20.943
And

01:41:20.943 --> 01:41:30.073
so, um, yeah, I, like I said, I'm definitely teaching our kids to be kind, ethical human beings, to treat everything and everyone with respect.

01:41:30.073 --> 01:41:30.412
Yeah, yeah.

01:41:30.552 --> 01:41:31.743
And, um, yeah.

01:41:31.743 --> 01:41:38.283
I would challenge anyone to, to tell me that my kids are not growing up to be fantastic humans without Yeah.

01:41:38.342 --> 01:41:38.662
So.

01:41:38.733 --> 01:41:41.493
I, uh, I'm trying to remember the title of my blog.

01:41:41.493 --> 01:41:50.523
I, I address a lot of these kind of topics, but I, I, I, I reframed basically the Ten Commandments as the ten principles for your best good.

01:41:50.592 --> 01:41:51.162
Oh, I love that.

01:41:51.222 --> 01:41:51.332
In

01:41:51.332 --> 01:41:59.132
a very secular way, because like, for the most part, the Ten Commandments are all, it's better for you.

01:41:59.342 --> 01:41:59.472
Yes.

01:41:59.472 --> 01:42:02.523
You know, when I, when I first agreed to go to church with my now wife.

01:42:02.523 --> 01:42:02.662
Yeah.

01:42:02.943 --> 01:42:15.962
Before I was a Christian, because I was, I was 27, 28 or something like that before I came to faith, I told my father, now father in law, uh, you know, I'll go, cause I had studied ethics, I had studied metaphysics, I wanted to know how to be a better person.

01:42:15.962 --> 01:42:26.832
I was like, well, probably if I, at least if I find a good church, I'll, even if this Jesus story is a big scam, I'll still be a better person, kind of, for studying this thing.

01:42:27.542 --> 01:42:27.592
Yeah.

01:42:27.653 --> 01:42:42.832
And, and that's, I guess that was my gateway to Christianity in some weird ways, and then pretty soon I was like, Oh yeah, this is totally true, because I studied the prophecies from the Old Testament and some of the lines up, and I was like, no, pretty much true.

01:42:43.292 --> 01:42:49.132
Yeah, and you know, we're trying to teach our kids too, we took them to church actually, recently, a couple weeks ago.

01:42:49.372 --> 01:42:49.502
Oh.

01:42:49.502 --> 01:42:51.292
We went to the universalist church.

01:42:51.292 --> 01:42:51.922
Unitarian.

01:42:51.922 --> 01:42:51.983
Yeah.

01:42:52.182 --> 01:42:52.302
Yeah.

01:42:52.307 --> 01:42:53.212
Um, that seemed like the most up

01:42:53.453 --> 01:42:54.592
north side of town or Yeah.

01:42:54.682 --> 01:42:54.953
It seemed

01:42:54.953 --> 01:42:57.698
like the easiest like transition from like not going to church to like Right.

01:42:57.698 --> 01:42:58.020
Never heard of it.

01:42:58.462 --> 01:42:58.853
No, no.

01:42:58.853 --> 01:43:02.002
We had talk to our kids about it because they, they know kids that go to church.

01:43:02.182 --> 01:43:02.273
Sure.

01:43:02.273 --> 01:43:02.274
Of course.

01:43:02.279 --> 01:43:03.292
And they talk about it at school.

01:43:03.292 --> 01:43:03.443
And

01:43:03.448 --> 01:43:05.273
there's six and eight now they're five and six.

01:43:05.273 --> 01:43:05.783
Five and six.

01:43:05.787 --> 01:43:05.898
Okay.

01:43:05.898 --> 01:43:06.057
Yeah.

01:43:06.233 --> 01:43:08.603
And so that was an interesting experience.

01:43:08.632 --> 01:43:10.193
Um, our son hated it.

01:43:10.193 --> 01:43:12.023
He didn't really know what was going on.

01:43:12.023 --> 01:43:12.337
He just, is he older?

01:43:12.792 --> 01:43:13.762
No, he's the younger one.

01:43:13.783 --> 01:43:19.414
He didn't want to go to, like, the, the Sunday school and, you know, he didn't want to be separated from us.

01:43:19.414 --> 01:43:21.182
He was like, I'm so confused why I'm going through this.

01:43:22.002 --> 01:43:23.252
Um, it was interesting.

01:43:23.262 --> 01:43:32.693
Like, it definitely had, like, you know, I think, again, missing out on that community of like minded, but again, I don't want to feel like an imposter or an impersonator.

01:43:32.693 --> 01:43:34.932
Like, if I don't believe something, it's really hard for me.

01:43:35.092 --> 01:43:35.943
Like, I'm not going to sit there and take it.

01:43:35.943 --> 01:43:36.393
Right.

01:43:36.432 --> 01:43:36.703
Totally.

01:43:37.203 --> 01:43:38.393
That's been an interesting

01:43:38.693 --> 01:43:39.693
I totally resonate.

01:43:39.693 --> 01:43:42.823
I mean, honestly, I was in a lot of the same place at times in my life.

01:43:42.823 --> 01:43:43.113
So

01:43:43.502 --> 01:43:45.023
yeah, so I, you know, we tried it.

01:43:45.052 --> 01:43:48.243
Um, I don't think it's the best fit for us, but we're still, we're still searching.

01:43:48.382 --> 01:43:48.472
Okay.

01:43:48.762 --> 01:43:48.842
Yeah.

01:43:49.033 --> 01:43:49.472
Still open

01:43:49.472 --> 01:43:49.722
to it.

01:43:50.023 --> 01:43:56.783
I'm sure, you know, I know it's hard on my in laws who grew up in Catholicism and Catholic, the Catholic faith is a whole different animal.

01:43:56.962 --> 01:43:57.342
Totally.

01:43:57.342 --> 01:43:58.193
Oh my gosh.

01:43:58.203 --> 01:44:02.063
A lot of shame, a lot of guilts, a lot of very staunch opinions.

01:44:02.063 --> 01:44:04.252
And so, um, yeah, that's been interesting.

01:44:04.252 --> 01:44:05.542
I've definitely learned a lot more about.

01:44:05.733 --> 01:44:07.523
Like that through my in laws.

01:44:07.643 --> 01:44:13.033
My, uh, if I have like a core philosophy, it's that power corrupts, you know?

01:44:13.033 --> 01:44:17.297
And so I've like sought out the least dogmatic, the least corrupt.

01:44:17.677 --> 01:44:26.467
It's the least powerful churches that I could be a member of and stuff just cause it, so for example, our church has like three paid and two unpaid pastors.

01:44:26.757 --> 01:44:27.148
Okay.

01:44:27.417 --> 01:44:29.478
Nobody's like a big stick, the big,

01:44:30.207 --> 01:44:30.877
whatever,

01:44:31.268 --> 01:44:31.507
right?

01:44:31.518 --> 01:44:32.587
Nobody's making a ton of money.

01:44:32.587 --> 01:44:34.908
It's a servant's kind of a role for sure.

01:44:35.877 --> 01:44:40.578
And it just, it's good for the church to have more than one person that's like the decider of all these things.

01:44:40.578 --> 01:44:57.797
Cause no matter who it is, somebody that gets, you know, Very much power ends up potentially getting corrupted if they're not surrounded That's part of the peer advisory thing that loco think tank does it's like let somebody look into your life Look into your person a little bit so you can make sure you're not fucking yourself up accidentally And

01:44:58.408 --> 01:45:01.658
that's one of the parts of the Baha'i faith that also resonated.

01:45:01.667 --> 01:45:04.108
Yeah, that's a credit I don't have a clergy.

01:45:04.167 --> 01:45:09.217
They don't have I mean they still have Kind of leadership positions and etc.

01:45:09.217 --> 01:45:11.007
But it's not in the same way.

01:45:11.207 --> 01:45:12.127
Not the bosses, kind of.

01:45:12.127 --> 01:45:12.728
They're not the bosses.

01:45:12.858 --> 01:45:13.667
Yeah, that's intriguing.

01:45:13.738 --> 01:45:13.858
So.

01:45:13.858 --> 01:45:14.118
I might have

01:45:14.118 --> 01:45:19.917
to go on another Wikipedia thread, which, although I shouldn't say that because like, who the hell knows if anything's true if it's on Wikipedia.

01:45:20.188 --> 01:45:20.787
That's true.

01:45:21.188 --> 01:45:21.507
It's true.

01:45:21.507 --> 01:45:22.449
Go on Reddit, go on Reddit.

01:45:22.449 --> 01:45:23.217
And Reddit

01:45:23.217 --> 01:45:23.887
is better, yeah.

01:45:24.358 --> 01:45:26.217
Twitter or X, whatever.

01:45:26.337 --> 01:45:26.488
Yeah.

01:45:26.497 --> 01:45:26.988
So yeah.

01:45:27.592 --> 01:45:29.172
I think that checks faith pretty good.

01:45:29.172 --> 01:45:29.613
Family.

01:45:29.613 --> 01:45:40.943
We've talked a bit about Trevor, but, uh, let's talk a little bit more, uh, if we may, what, uh, was it that made you so sure so soon that he was the guy for you?

01:45:41.533 --> 01:45:43.662
Well, first I like to say family is everything.

01:45:43.722 --> 01:45:46.672
Um, the reason I do what I do is for my family.

01:45:46.682 --> 01:45:53.372
And, um, the reason I'm building this and eventually I, you know, my exit plan is to spend more time with them.

01:45:53.382 --> 01:45:56.182
Uh, time is the most precious currency on earth.

01:45:56.368 --> 01:45:58.247
And, um, from believer in that.

01:45:58.587 --> 01:46:05.087
For me, getting to a means of an end as far as financial independence allows us that time that we really want.

01:46:05.127 --> 01:46:08.307
And so, Trevor, Trevor just understood me.

01:46:08.318 --> 01:46:09.068
He got me.

01:46:09.068 --> 01:46:10.568
It was a tough time in my life.

01:46:10.578 --> 01:46:15.158
My parents were going through a divorce at the time that we met, and he was so kind.

01:46:15.167 --> 01:46:16.278
He is so kind.

01:46:16.578 --> 01:46:17.578
Um, the conversations.

01:46:17.578 --> 01:46:17.948
Plus you

01:46:18.108 --> 01:46:19.457
dated a bunch of boys that sucked.

01:46:19.457 --> 01:46:19.797
I did.

01:46:19.837 --> 01:46:20.398
I did.

01:46:20.398 --> 01:46:20.547
Yeah.

01:46:20.627 --> 01:46:25.408
He just, like, I trusted him implicitly, and I do to this day.

01:46:25.408 --> 01:46:29.257
Like, I never question whether he would be unfaithful or he would hurt me.

01:46:29.318 --> 01:46:31.887
Like, it's just not in his DNA.

01:46:31.898 --> 01:46:36.238
He's so, like, faithful and dedicated.

01:46:36.247 --> 01:46:42.917
Yeah, and the conversations we have, like, I never had the intellectual conversations with anybody that I have with him.

01:46:43.358 --> 01:46:44.037
And I love that.

01:46:44.047 --> 01:46:45.728
I love our talks and our walks.

01:46:46.597 --> 01:46:50.478
He's deep a lot, like very deep, and I'm like, sometimes can we just talk about the weather?

01:46:51.247 --> 01:46:51.497
Right.

01:46:51.497 --> 01:46:55.557
But I love that part of him, I like, I really adore that, and, and we're best friends.

01:46:55.608 --> 01:46:58.287
At the end of the day, like, you know, he's Is he funny too?

01:46:58.927 --> 01:46:59.518
Sometimes.

01:47:00.387 --> 01:47:01.158
Not as funny as you are.

01:47:01.597 --> 01:47:02.528
No, I'm not funny.

01:47:02.908 --> 01:47:04.257
I wouldn't really call either of us

01:47:04.257 --> 01:47:04.568
funny.

01:47:06.448 --> 01:47:12.243
Um, yeah, we have our, like, little own humor, but, um, yeah, he puts up with my My crazy?

01:47:12.243 --> 01:47:13.653
I mean, I, I'm a lot.

01:47:13.662 --> 01:47:14.863
Like, I'm pretty dominant.

01:47:14.893 --> 01:47:15.313
Oh yeah.

01:47:15.323 --> 01:47:16.113
I definitely am dominant.

01:47:16.162 --> 01:47:16.313
No doubt.

01:47:16.313 --> 01:47:23.203
So, so trying to, you know, having that balance, like, it was funny, I was telling your son the other day, he's like, you know, why is mom the boss?

01:47:23.203 --> 01:47:25.252
She's like, you ask her, she's always the boss.

01:47:25.863 --> 01:47:26.063
Right.

01:47:26.073 --> 01:47:26.962
Like, are you the boss of her?

01:47:26.993 --> 01:47:27.203
Well,

01:47:27.203 --> 01:47:28.962
a man that can be calm and self assured.

01:47:29.368 --> 01:47:30.927
And the vicinity of that.

01:47:30.957 --> 01:47:32.608
Yeah, because you are, you're a boss babe.

01:47:32.608 --> 01:47:33.297
For sure.

01:47:33.328 --> 01:47:33.387
Yeah.

01:47:33.387 --> 01:47:39.497
Like you're growing this thing, crushing it, you know, you're, you're been a whirlwind of activity I'm sure your whole marriage.

01:47:39.828 --> 01:47:40.547
Uh, my whole life.

01:47:40.608 --> 01:47:40.818
Yeah.

01:47:40.818 --> 01:47:41.238
Your whole life.

01:47:41.238 --> 01:47:42.467
He calls me the badass boss bitch.

01:47:42.497 --> 01:47:42.858
Right.

01:47:43.877 --> 01:47:44.537
BBB Baby

01:47:46.068 --> 01:47:49.068
So I try my best to, to yield a little bit to that.

01:47:49.073 --> 01:47:54.917
I don't know how good I'm doing that in, in our relationship'cause it's a lot, it's a lot for me to be that at work, to then be that at home.

01:47:55.158 --> 01:47:55.217
Yeah.

01:47:55.488 --> 01:47:56.988
And in a relationship.

01:47:56.988 --> 01:47:57.948
So, um, well.

01:47:58.632 --> 01:48:04.432
Honestly, that you feel secure in him like you've discussed is, that's big praise.

01:48:04.462 --> 01:48:04.712
There's

01:48:05.122 --> 01:48:21.743
nothing, I mean, you know, I, my personal family background, uh, you know, didn't lead me a lot of faith in, in relationships and marriage, and my brother doesn't ever want to get married and doesn't want to have kids, and a lot of that comes from the example that we had.

01:48:22.518 --> 01:48:25.597
I think it's interesting how differently we interpreted that.

01:48:25.597 --> 01:48:26.228
Yeah.

01:48:26.228 --> 01:48:32.207
I think that I certainly, again, until I met Trevor, I didn't have that experience of knowing that I was the transcript.

01:48:32.627 --> 01:48:33.738
I was going to be safe.

01:48:33.738 --> 01:48:34.917
I was taken care of.

01:48:34.917 --> 01:48:39.047
He respected me in a way that I knew that he would never, never do that to me.

01:48:39.148 --> 01:48:39.287
That's

01:48:39.287 --> 01:48:39.547
cool.

01:48:39.688 --> 01:48:39.768
Yeah.

01:48:40.547 --> 01:48:44.427
Um, we always do one word descriptions of the children.

01:48:45.018 --> 01:48:45.457
Hmm.

01:48:45.457 --> 01:48:46.847
Would you like to try that with yours?

01:48:46.978 --> 01:48:47.597
Hmm.

01:48:47.917 --> 01:48:50.287
Vivian, well, can I do two words?

01:48:50.648 --> 01:48:53.938
Yes, you can hyphenate or you can do two separate if you want, whatever.

01:48:53.978 --> 01:48:55.547
We call her Sweet and Salty.

01:48:55.587 --> 01:48:56.787
Sweet and Salty, I like it.

01:48:56.787 --> 01:48:56.887
Sweet and

01:48:56.887 --> 01:49:04.137
Salty, or better, for Vivian and Kipton, so Vivian's the older, she's six and a half, she's almost seven, and then Kipton, they're seventeen months apart.

01:49:04.417 --> 01:49:04.568
Okay.

01:49:04.667 --> 01:49:05.377
So very close.

01:49:05.457 --> 01:49:07.807
And, um, she's our cat and he's our puppy dog.

01:49:09.908 --> 01:49:10.637
That's interesting.

01:49:10.637 --> 01:49:13.787
The, uh, The sweet and salty applies to cats very nicely, actually.

01:49:13.787 --> 01:49:14.688
100%.

01:49:14.717 --> 01:49:18.578
When she is, like, happy and in a good mood, like, Purring, curl up against you.

01:49:18.578 --> 01:49:22.087
Oh, she is lovely, but man, can she be a little salty sometimes.

01:49:22.287 --> 01:49:23.837
She's actually grown out of that a little bit.

01:49:24.068 --> 01:49:28.377
Like, I, this, like, six, almost seven, has been such a sweet age for her.

01:49:28.377 --> 01:49:29.908
She's got such a kind heart.

01:49:30.198 --> 01:49:31.403
She's so wicked smart.

01:49:32.012 --> 01:49:50.302
She's so incredibly smart and she has been like she was talking before she turned one and she just has I mean She's want to be a cardiologist and she was two and she still does to this day she just gets it and she she has the Dedication she practices she can sing and play the piano at the same time.

01:49:50.302 --> 01:49:58.167
She just started learning You know Whatever she chooses to do and apply herself to, she does well, but because she has that focus.

01:49:58.217 --> 01:49:58.568
Right.

01:49:58.757 --> 01:50:06.127
You know, and our son, Kipton, we're still kind of unwrapping him, you know, for the first two years of his life, he was, I shouldn't say boring, that's not a good word to describe your child.

01:50:06.228 --> 01:50:06.547
Hmm.

01:50:06.898 --> 01:50:10.287
He just was really, like, just kind of observing.

01:50:10.337 --> 01:50:10.728
Yeah, yeah.

01:50:10.997 --> 01:50:13.148
You know, and we're like, does this kid have any personality?

01:50:13.297 --> 01:50:14.497
And now he's hilarious.

01:50:14.988 --> 01:50:22.018
Like, he, he is the comedian in the family and he says the most ridiculous things and he spews facts about animals all day long.

01:50:22.028 --> 01:50:31.828
He loves learning about animals and, um, you know, it's hard to live in the shadow of a very capable, smart, older sister who knows everything.

01:50:31.837 --> 01:50:32.177
Sure.

01:50:32.467 --> 01:50:39.908
And, you know, I think we're just starting to realize that, that like, it's hard because she's always correcting him because he's doing something wrong because she knows better.

01:50:40.268 --> 01:50:42.908
And so, um, they love each other dearly.

01:50:42.908 --> 01:50:47.047
They are best friends about 95 percent of the time, which I'm so thankful for.

01:50:47.047 --> 01:50:52.547
And I hope that we've done a good job of helping cultivate because those sibling relationships are so important.

01:50:52.568 --> 01:50:53.688
And they don't have cousins.

01:50:53.717 --> 01:50:57.497
Um, they may eventually, both of our brothers don't ever want to have kids.

01:50:58.198 --> 01:51:04.148
And so his sister's getting married shortly, my husband's sister, and so I think she'll eventually have kids, but our kids are going to be so much older.

01:51:04.927 --> 01:51:06.717
So they've kind of just got each other.

01:51:06.778 --> 01:51:06.948
Yeah.

01:51:06.948 --> 01:51:07.427
Yeah.

01:51:07.537 --> 01:51:08.622
Well, at least they have each other.

01:51:09.012 --> 01:51:09.523
They do.

01:51:09.682 --> 01:51:10.203
They do.

01:51:10.542 --> 01:51:14.453
Um, anything else you want to say about family while we're in that category?

01:51:14.752 --> 01:51:16.262
Yes, they're, they're, they're my life.

01:51:16.292 --> 01:51:17.453
I mean, we, we fought hard.

01:51:17.453 --> 01:51:18.023
Your littles.

01:51:18.033 --> 01:51:22.332
How, how, how's your relationship with, Your folks, his, your, your husband's folks.

01:51:22.773 --> 01:51:24.773
Yeah, so my mom, I'm super close with her.

01:51:24.773 --> 01:51:27.733
We talk every single day Maybe more than once a day.

01:51:27.792 --> 01:51:34.109
Sometimes I call her two or three times a day She's like the only one in my life that wants to hear about all the mundane things that are happening Right,

01:51:34.109 --> 01:51:35.386
the regular stuff.

01:51:35.386 --> 01:51:47.557
All the ridiculous stuff that you know, like maybe Trevor hears about it, too You know, my dad and I, you know, I'm trying to meet my dad where he is Um, we're not super close, never really have been.

01:51:47.997 --> 01:51:50.667
Um, there's a lot of tumultuous kind of history there.

01:51:50.707 --> 01:51:54.238
And, um, I love him and I only want the best for him.

01:51:54.287 --> 01:51:55.957
We talk sparingly.

01:51:56.217 --> 01:51:56.398
Yeah.

01:51:56.417 --> 01:51:57.738
He still lives back in the desert.

01:51:57.927 --> 01:51:58.198
Gotcha.

01:51:58.268 --> 01:52:00.828
So we don't see him that much, maybe once a year, maybe twice a year.

01:52:01.417 --> 01:52:03.818
Um, and then my in laws are, are fantastic.

01:52:03.818 --> 01:52:07.278
I mean, they raised a fantastic human being that I'm so thankful for.

01:52:07.297 --> 01:52:11.778
And, um, they live out in Florida and we get to see them a couple times a year.

01:52:11.787 --> 01:52:12.688
They're coming to visit soon.

01:52:12.868 --> 01:52:13.278
Awesome.

01:52:13.537 --> 01:52:14.898
We're in Minnesota, by the way.

01:52:14.898 --> 01:52:16.807
I think I started to ask Southwest,

01:52:17.018 --> 01:52:18.188
like New Ulm, New Ulm.

01:52:18.448 --> 01:52:19.257
Yeah, they're from New Ulm.

01:52:19.257 --> 01:52:19.377
They're a

01:52:19.377 --> 01:52:19.587
big cow.

01:52:21.087 --> 01:52:21.597
There's a big

01:52:21.868 --> 01:52:24.257
statue of a big cow in New Ulm, I believe.

01:52:24.417 --> 01:52:24.457
There's,

01:52:24.547 --> 01:52:25.608
uh, Herman the German.

01:52:25.608 --> 01:52:25.717
Oh,

01:52:25.717 --> 01:52:26.078
wait.

01:52:26.118 --> 01:52:27.578
No, that's not New Ulm.

01:52:28.238 --> 01:52:28.518
They have

01:52:28.578 --> 01:52:29.158
Herman the German.

01:52:29.738 --> 01:52:35.738
I, I, I spent a year in Worthington, Minnesota, uh, which is basically an hour east of Sioux Falls.

01:52:36.478 --> 01:52:37.108
South Dakota?

01:52:37.398 --> 01:52:37.658
Okay.

01:52:37.698 --> 01:52:38.778
You said Southwest, right?

01:52:38.807 --> 01:52:39.417
Southwest, yep.

01:52:39.427 --> 01:52:40.238
It's not too far away.

01:52:40.238 --> 01:52:41.118
It's outside of Mankato.

01:52:41.137 --> 01:52:41.948
Yeah, by Austin.

01:52:41.948 --> 01:52:42.467
Okay, yep.

01:52:42.467 --> 01:52:42.698
Yeah, by Austin.

01:52:42.698 --> 01:52:43.036
Yep.

01:52:43.036 --> 01:52:43.373
Okay.

01:52:43.373 --> 01:52:44.050
Very cool.

01:52:44.050 --> 01:52:44.957
It's actually

01:52:44.957 --> 01:52:47.238
from Esseg, which is what that is.

01:52:47.247 --> 01:52:47.778
They know it.

01:52:47.807 --> 01:52:49.618
The Carl's Corner is what they're known for.

01:52:49.658 --> 01:52:50.127
Okay.

01:52:50.137 --> 01:52:51.488
It's like Little Podunk Restaurant.

01:52:52.368 --> 01:52:52.518
Yeah.

01:52:52.537 --> 01:52:55.278
Well, if I go through there again anytime soon, I'll stop at Carl's.

01:52:55.778 --> 01:52:57.438
Um, politics.

01:52:57.728 --> 01:52:58.247
Yeah.

01:52:58.297 --> 01:53:00.297
Who do you like in the 2024 election?

01:53:00.938 --> 01:53:03.398
I do not know how we got to this place.

01:53:03.747 --> 01:53:05.417
These are our two options.

01:53:05.427 --> 01:53:05.648
Three

01:53:05.648 --> 01:53:06.177
options.

01:53:07.478 --> 01:53:08.438
Basically, two.

01:53:08.807 --> 01:53:09.358
Basically.

01:53:09.457 --> 01:53:10.177
Basically, two.

01:53:10.217 --> 01:53:14.377
I just I vote away every year, so I always look at least past the first two.

01:53:14.608 --> 01:53:20.018
I just, I don't understand how in a country of 300 million plus, this is where we're at.

01:53:20.087 --> 01:53:20.337
Yeah.

01:53:20.537 --> 01:53:26.287
Um, that we have two very, uh, Old and somewhat senile, both of them.

01:53:26.847 --> 01:53:29.068
Um, I'm certainly not Republican.

01:53:29.097 --> 01:53:31.627
Um, I, I think I definitely fall somewhere in the middle.

01:53:31.837 --> 01:53:36.387
I like to say that I'm socially liberal, fiscally conservative.

01:53:36.497 --> 01:53:37.677
It's libertarian, actually.

01:53:37.698 --> 01:53:38.177
Yeah.

01:53:38.247 --> 01:53:40.478
Well, there's some libertarian thing ish.

01:53:40.568 --> 01:53:41.057
But, but,

01:53:41.198 --> 01:53:46.387
but not enough, like the Democrats want to fix all the bad things about society with money.

01:53:46.387 --> 01:53:56.127
The libertarians are all like, You know, most of the bad things about society are, are either your imagination or something that you'll make worse by putting money on it.

01:53:56.797 --> 01:53:57.328
Do, do

01:53:57.328 --> 01:54:00.837
I think that, um, everyone should have as many guns as they're allowed to?

01:54:00.837 --> 01:54:01.507
Absolutely not.

01:54:01.518 --> 01:54:02.427
That's my personal opinion.

01:54:02.438 --> 01:54:02.828
Oh, really?

01:54:02.877 --> 01:54:03.488
No, I don't.

01:54:03.677 --> 01:54:04.068
I don't.

01:54:04.118 --> 01:54:12.057
I mean, I certainly having school age kids and growing up and understanding like what can happen and not feeling safe sending them to school, like that's not something I had to worry about growing up.

01:54:12.057 --> 01:54:12.177
Okay.

01:54:12.427 --> 01:54:14.347
Yes, do I think mental health is a huge component?

01:54:14.387 --> 01:54:15.198
Absolutely.

01:54:15.228 --> 01:54:15.578
Sure.

01:54:15.627 --> 01:54:16.068
But.

01:54:16.228 --> 01:54:22.177
And it's not because they are after guns, it's because they are not after guns.

01:54:22.177 --> 01:54:26.115
They want to be a warzone and they want to be part

01:54:26.115 --> 01:54:27.100
of the war.

01:54:27.100 --> 01:54:31.037
You know, so it's a mix of a lot of different things.

01:54:31.037 --> 01:54:36.615
I mean, you, you know, you're, you're trying to be a warzone, but it's the same word.

01:54:36.615 --> 01:54:38.585
You're trying to be a warzone.

01:54:38.585 --> 01:54:42.743
You know, but it's, it's, you know, a lot of these, that a lot of people are like, okay, I'm going to punish these people because they

01:54:42.743 --> 01:54:43.381
want to be part of war.

01:54:43.381 --> 01:54:44.337
I'm trying to say, I, I can't do that.

01:54:44.337 --> 01:54:44.654
And that doesn't

01:54:44.654 --> 01:54:45.292
mean I'm not gonna punish them.

01:54:46.743 --> 01:54:48.625
I got my guns, you suckers can just not have them.

01:54:48.625 --> 01:54:49.523
I don't have guns for

01:54:49.523 --> 01:54:49.842
the record.

01:54:50.762 --> 01:54:52.582
I don't think, but, you know, what are you going to do?

01:54:52.592 --> 01:54:55.203
Like, people are not going to relinquish their guns.

01:54:55.212 --> 01:54:55.403
Well,

01:54:55.403 --> 01:54:57.722
that's what I'm saying, like, I, I, I appreciate it.

01:54:57.722 --> 01:55:10.403
I don't want my kids to get shot or anybody else's kids to get shot or whatever, but I just, I, I guess I feel like in the situation of gun control that the The proposed cure is worse than the disease that exists.

01:55:10.462 --> 01:55:29.052
Unfortunately, like what really needs, in my opinion, my, my, my mom's brother was institutionalized from the time he was like in his early twenties until he died a few years ago, uh, which was like over 40 years and he was mentally unstable.

01:55:29.432 --> 01:55:39.432
Um, and my mom also had a paranoid schizophrenic break and there was a season when she definitely should not have ever had an access to a gun and probably the whole time I knew my uncle.

01:55:40.412 --> 01:55:43.813
Like he was just a dangerous kind of person that needed to be institutionalized.

01:55:44.212 --> 01:55:48.842
He would have spent his whole time in prison if it was today because we don't have state hospital resources.

01:55:48.842 --> 01:56:02.162
We don't have mental institutions to try to like differentiate between actual mental disease And you done bad things, go to prison because we make money from you being in prison.

01:56:02.472 --> 01:56:04.533
Well, I think I have a personal connection to this.

01:56:04.533 --> 01:56:09.063
I have a distant family member and I won't kind of call out who, who it necessarily is.

01:56:09.103 --> 01:56:20.733
Um, they're not directly related to me, but, um, who's currently in, uh, awaiting a sentence to be put in prison because of, um, possessing multiple weapons of mass destruction.

01:56:20.762 --> 01:56:20.792
Okay.

01:56:21.313 --> 01:56:25.863
And then, um, immediately got out on bond.

01:56:26.283 --> 01:56:26.653
Right.

01:56:26.722 --> 01:56:36.332
For 18 months, in which time he could have done whatever he wanted to do, and then was rearrested for felony possession of a firearm.

01:56:37.478 --> 01:56:37.497
Yeah.

01:56:37.507 --> 01:56:38.467
In multiple firearms.

01:56:38.507 --> 01:56:38.898
Wow.

01:56:39.087 --> 01:56:42.167
So, he should have never had access to that.

01:56:42.167 --> 01:56:42.988
Well, for sure.

01:56:43.047 --> 01:56:44.127
Like, I'm not saying

01:56:44.358 --> 01:56:45.698
But he easily did.

01:56:45.698 --> 01:56:47.198
And there were And there were Well, and that's

01:56:47.198 --> 01:56:47.717
what I'm saying.

01:56:47.717 --> 01:56:51.278
Like, better laws to keep Known dangerous people Right.

01:56:51.417 --> 01:56:52.858
Away from guns is important.

01:56:52.898 --> 01:56:54.997
But he thinks he's gonna be in prison for a year.

01:56:55.057 --> 01:56:57.497
And, okay, it's a year, it's three years, it's five years.

01:56:57.578 --> 01:56:58.828
What happens after that?

01:56:58.858 --> 01:56:59.188
Right.

01:56:59.257 --> 01:57:01.457
And so, I think, I don't have the solution.

01:57:01.467 --> 01:57:10.007
Yeah, no, I think having that personal connection and, and knowing, uh, you What it's done to extended family and, um, it just, it sucks.

01:57:10.068 --> 01:57:10.537
Yeah, yeah.

01:57:10.938 --> 01:57:16.257
So, but also, like, he should absolutely be in prison or be getting mental help or both.

01:57:16.578 --> 01:57:19.547
Because he should have never had the guns in the first place.

01:57:19.738 --> 01:57:30.377
So, are you, like, in, in recent months here, we've seen a lot of stories of just, like, like, random people being attacked and thrown on subway rails.

01:57:30.377 --> 01:57:31.787
In New York, I'm not going to New York.

01:57:31.787 --> 01:57:36.533
I know you're not going to New York, but, but if I'm in New York, And I'm concerned about my personal safety.

01:57:36.533 --> 01:57:37.853
Should I be able to carry a gun?

01:57:38.733 --> 01:57:42.113
I feel like most of the time people aren't pulling them out fast enough to protect themselves.

01:57:42.113 --> 01:57:43.632
They get them used on themselves.

01:57:43.632 --> 01:57:48.382
Like, I, I don't hear that many of those stories other than, like, people entering their homes.

01:57:48.542 --> 01:57:51.773
Where, like, they're able to actually protect yourself in enough time.

01:57:51.802 --> 01:58:06.488
Well, protect yourself, yes, but also, like, you don't really see the stories because it goes against the narrative, but a lot of Like, bad guys have been stopped by random people at the church, at the school, at the whatever with a gun.

01:58:06.557 --> 01:58:06.978
Sure.

01:58:06.997 --> 01:58:10.427
Less so than the people that just mass shoot a ton of people before they die.

01:58:10.427 --> 01:58:10.618
Totally.

01:58:10.618 --> 01:58:11.177
But if more

01:58:11.177 --> 01:58:13.627
people had guns, they would stop those people sooner, is my argument.

01:58:13.627 --> 01:58:14.398
I don't want to get

01:58:14.398 --> 01:58:14.818
more people guns.

01:58:14.818 --> 01:58:15.537
Absolutely not.

01:58:15.578 --> 01:58:15.877
No?

01:58:15.877 --> 01:58:16.828
Not even good people?

01:58:16.898 --> 01:58:17.018
that.

01:58:17.037 --> 01:58:17.287
No.

01:58:17.467 --> 01:58:17.868
Alright.

01:58:17.927 --> 01:58:18.137
No.

01:58:18.427 --> 01:58:20.868
Anything else on the politics side you want to talk about?

01:58:21.212 --> 01:58:23.542
I just think we need to come up with better options.

01:58:23.563 --> 01:58:26.393
I'd, I'd vote for Pete Buttigieg if he was still running.

01:58:26.403 --> 01:58:26.863
Oh, really?

01:58:26.872 --> 01:58:26.903
Okay.

01:58:26.922 --> 01:58:28.172
You know, there's, um He did a

01:58:28.172 --> 01:58:30.082
really good job as Transportation Secretary.

01:58:30.122 --> 01:58:38.033
He is, but there's no one that I mean, unfortunately, our, our, um, country is so polarized, and the fact that he's gay, unfortunately, is Oh, I don't

01:58:38.033 --> 01:58:38.693
care about his gay.

01:58:38.712 --> 01:58:38.832
I

01:58:38.832 --> 01:58:46.967
know, I don't, and you don't, but The country, I don't think, is in a place that they're going to vote someone, like, entirely, because of that.

01:58:46.988 --> 01:58:52.547
His sexual orientation has nothing to do with him as a person and how he could be a president.

01:58:52.587 --> 01:58:52.868
Yeah.

01:58:53.137 --> 01:58:59.637
You know, I mean, I think you could do good with that, but anyway, um, no, I'm, I'm sort of disgusted about the current state.

01:58:59.637 --> 01:59:02.837
I cannot imagine another four years with Trump in office.

01:59:03.707 --> 01:59:04.457
So you'll vote

01:59:04.488 --> 01:59:06.688
for Biden to prevent that, probably?

01:59:06.728 --> 01:59:07.198
Yes.

01:59:07.278 --> 01:59:08.358
Just vote for RFK.

01:59:08.627 --> 01:59:09.167
Vote against.

01:59:09.167 --> 01:59:10.018
It would be positive.

01:59:10.078 --> 01:59:15.217
Whatever my vote is, it's against Trump because that's the worst option, in my opinion.

01:59:15.728 --> 01:59:18.108
Did you move to Colorado for the weed?

01:59:18.858 --> 01:59:19.507
That's nice.

01:59:19.528 --> 01:59:22.198
I actually love that they've legalized shrooms.

01:59:22.667 --> 01:59:23.268
Oh, yeah.

01:59:23.337 --> 01:59:23.787
Yeah.

01:59:23.847 --> 01:59:24.938
Or decriminalized anyway.

01:59:25.307 --> 01:59:25.488
Decriminalized.

01:59:25.488 --> 01:59:26.688
So you, you've enjoyed that?

01:59:26.858 --> 01:59:27.188
Uh, yeah.

01:59:27.188 --> 01:59:27.868
I've thought about it.

01:59:27.868 --> 01:59:28.297
Microdosing?

01:59:28.297 --> 01:59:29.368
I've thought about microdosing.

01:59:29.368 --> 01:59:29.568
Yeah.

01:59:29.568 --> 01:59:32.528
I definitely, I struggle with anxiety and I think that it could totally Oh?

01:59:32.557 --> 01:59:33.608
You haven't done it yet, so.

01:59:33.637 --> 01:59:34.158
No.

01:59:34.228 --> 01:59:34.608
No.

01:59:34.618 --> 01:59:34.648
Okay.

01:59:34.677 --> 01:59:35.518
Do you want to spark this up?

01:59:35.698 --> 01:59:36.368
You can go ahead.

01:59:36.537 --> 01:59:36.847
Okay.

01:59:38.037 --> 01:59:38.287
Yeah.

01:59:38.287 --> 01:59:40.368
I am, I definitely am pro that.

01:59:40.377 --> 01:59:44.518
I love that, um, I mean, part of the reason we moved to, to Colorado, yes, it's more liberal.

01:59:44.728 --> 01:59:45.047
Right?

01:59:45.137 --> 01:59:49.886
Um, you know, the laws I'm not getting pregnant

01:59:49.886 --> 01:59:51.545
or having

01:59:51.545 --> 02:00:02.328
any more children, but it's not okay for me to be taken away.

02:00:02.328 --> 02:00:03.988
It's not okay with me.

02:00:04.057 --> 02:00:06.537
I'm not getting pregnant or having any more children.

02:00:06.783 --> 02:00:13.592
Do you think there should be, like, a timeline on abortion where you can just do it all the way up until birth, basically?

02:00:13.853 --> 02:00:21.403
I think that unless the people that are fighting against abortion want to go ahead and adopt said babies, that they should not have an opinion.

02:00:21.453 --> 02:00:21.712
I think

02:00:21.712 --> 02:00:23.143
there's a lot of demand for adoption.

02:00:23.207 --> 02:00:28.087
Um, there's so many, so many babies out there that are not adopted.

02:00:28.087 --> 02:00:28.528
Just stay in the

02:00:28.528 --> 02:00:29.007
system.

02:00:29.438 --> 02:00:30.078
Just stay in the system.

02:00:30.078 --> 02:00:40.828
And again, or how about let's go ahead and provide, uh, what they said, out of the 40 richest countries, we are the only one that does not offer maternity or parental leave as a mandate.

02:00:40.858 --> 02:00:41.188
Yeah, yeah.

02:00:41.207 --> 02:00:43.908
So until we actually start supporting the moms.

02:00:44.382 --> 02:00:45.483
I mean, it was brutal.

02:00:45.493 --> 02:00:50.493
I had a very tough birth with Vivian, and I had to go back to work.

02:00:50.573 --> 02:00:54.512
I actually got a letter stating that I'd be fired if I didn't show back up to work.

02:00:55.012 --> 02:00:55.113
This was

02:00:55.113 --> 02:00:55.853
at the YNRE?

02:00:56.012 --> 02:00:56.323
Yeah,

02:00:56.622 --> 02:00:56.962
yeah.

02:00:57.012 --> 02:01:00.632
I mean, I'm sure it was standard HR issue, but I wasn't ready at 12 weeks.

02:01:00.993 --> 02:01:01.792
Absolutely not.

02:01:01.802 --> 02:01:04.972
Mentally, physically, I had a heart telemetry monitor.

02:01:04.972 --> 02:01:06.353
They thought something was wrong with my heart.

02:01:06.393 --> 02:01:09.332
I was up every three hours on the dot for six months.

02:01:09.372 --> 02:01:09.643
Wow.

02:01:09.882 --> 02:01:12.372
I was not in a position to work, but I would have lost my job.

02:01:12.523 --> 02:01:12.962
Yeah, yeah.

02:01:13.462 --> 02:01:17.542
So, I think that we need to do a better job of supporting parents, not just moms.

02:01:17.552 --> 02:01:29.627
Well, and I guess one of my struggles, like, I've, right now I have a no limits, Vacation policy, like Alma, who you met, is full time, and she's got a lot of stuff planned this year.

02:01:29.828 --> 02:01:33.457
She's probably gonna get like four weeks off in her third year of working for me.

02:01:33.497 --> 02:01:37.018
But she's fast and efficient and capable, and so I'm happy to do that.

02:01:37.018 --> 02:01:41.018
And three or four years down the road, I, she might start having kids.

02:01:41.028 --> 02:01:44.807
She might never come back, but I'd like to support her through that.

02:01:45.637 --> 02:01:48.807
And if anybody tells me I must, I'd rather fire her.

02:01:48.927 --> 02:01:49.807
Mm, interesting.

02:01:49.927 --> 02:01:51.898
Um, that's just my personality type.

02:01:51.908 --> 02:01:51.938
Sure.

02:01:51.948 --> 02:01:56.247
Like, if there's a federal, you must do this thing, then I shall not.

02:01:56.507 --> 02:01:57.368
Well, I think that Is kind of

02:01:57.408 --> 02:01:57.908
my perspective.

02:01:57.908 --> 02:01:58.478
You're thing.

02:01:58.587 --> 02:01:59.658
You're the rarity, though.

02:01:59.698 --> 02:02:00.427
You're the rarity,

02:02:00.427 --> 02:02:00.658
though.

02:02:00.667 --> 02:02:02.217
Most people don't do the right thing.

02:02:02.507 --> 02:02:03.917
And most people don't offer.

02:02:04.082 --> 02:02:14.682
Anything and I think you know, I I could agree with you on that like you want to do your own policy And that's fantastic But I think it's for the people who choose not to offer those resources or

02:02:14.752 --> 02:02:15.122
that's fair

02:02:15.182 --> 02:02:23.332
or offer You know a part of the reason and I didn't even know when we were moving here UPK and universal pre k That was fantastic, right, you know for me

02:02:23.662 --> 02:02:26.653
Well, but there were private organizations doing that before.

02:02:26.662 --> 02:02:29.163
I feel like I should open this door because it's getting kind of

02:02:29.163 --> 02:02:29.484
spoken.

02:02:29.484 --> 02:02:31.728
I was like, where are you going?

02:02:31.728 --> 02:02:37.672
No, there were, but like to offer universal, not based on income, that you get 15 hours paid for it.

02:02:37.672 --> 02:02:40.983
Like, I love that we got 600 off every month to pay for pre K.

02:02:40.983 --> 02:02:46.453
We've been paying almost close to 35, 000 for six years for our children.

02:02:46.868 --> 02:02:49.457
To either have preschool or daycare.

02:02:49.978 --> 02:02:50.778
And that's a lot of money.

02:02:50.908 --> 02:02:51.198
Yeah.

02:02:51.198 --> 02:02:51.466
So.

02:02:51.466 --> 02:02:52.002
That's fair.

02:02:52.002 --> 02:02:52.270
I

02:02:52.270 --> 02:02:52.537
understand.

02:02:52.537 --> 02:02:53.341
It's been nice.

02:02:53.341 --> 02:02:57.618
Yeah, well, Jill and I don't have any kids at all, and we've been paying property taxes our whole lives.

02:02:57.658 --> 02:02:59.887
Did you know property taxes don't actually go to the schools?

02:02:59.917 --> 02:03:01.818
PSD just put something out about that.

02:03:02.507 --> 02:03:03.257
Well, they totally do.

02:03:03.478 --> 02:03:04.547
Hmm, tangentially.

02:03:04.778 --> 02:03:05.188
Well,

02:03:05.347 --> 02:03:05.877
I'll send you the article.

02:03:05.887 --> 02:03:06.158
They go to

02:03:06.158 --> 02:03:07.747
the county, and the county funds the schools.

02:03:07.908 --> 02:03:08.787
But, but still.

02:03:08.797 --> 02:03:08.948
But

02:03:08.948 --> 02:03:11.148
if you're increased property taxes, they're not actually getting more money.

02:03:11.148 --> 02:03:11.887
They don't get all that great.

02:03:12.057 --> 02:03:12.078
Yeah.

02:03:12.078 --> 02:03:12.738
They don't get all that great.

02:03:12.738 --> 02:03:12.957
That's fair.

02:03:12.957 --> 02:03:13.778
It's what they were saying.

02:03:13.828 --> 02:03:14.368
That's fair.

02:03:14.368 --> 02:03:14.688
Yes, yes.

02:03:14.858 --> 02:03:15.257
There's a portion of that.

02:03:15.297 --> 02:03:15.457
That

02:03:15.457 --> 02:03:19.387
was pretty smart of them to say that, too, because people are like, what the fuck, Lambert County?

02:03:19.387 --> 02:03:27.140
Why did my, my tax assessed, my, yeah, I think it went from 430 to 695 of my house.

02:03:27.140 --> 02:03:27.672
Did you appeal them?

02:03:27.823 --> 02:03:29.203
Yeah, and I sent him an appraisal.

02:03:29.212 --> 02:03:29.363
Did

02:03:29.363 --> 02:03:30.073
you get a

02:03:30.233 --> 02:03:31.483
They said fuck off.

02:03:31.582 --> 02:03:33.682
I wonder, so Even though I had two recent appraisals to show him.

02:03:33.762 --> 02:03:35.943
My husband appealed, but I don't know what they said.

02:03:35.962 --> 02:03:38.315
Well, but he's a government insider, so He's a

02:03:38.315 --> 02:03:38.979
government insider?

02:03:38.979 --> 02:03:40.306
It's different than me.

02:03:40.306 --> 02:03:45.042
I'm just a peon that talks bad things about the government, so it hurts my credibility.

02:03:45.073 --> 02:03:49.493
He sent them the, like, this is the recent house assessment, um, you know, but unfortunately Yeah,

02:03:49.653 --> 02:03:50.542
and you got it down?

02:03:51.042 --> 02:03:51.632
I don't know.

02:03:51.682 --> 02:03:51.993
Oh.

02:03:52.042 --> 02:03:52.342
I don't know.

02:03:52.342 --> 02:03:52.662
Yeah.

02:03:52.752 --> 02:03:53.682
They told us to bite it.

02:03:53.743 --> 02:03:56.313
We won't let them know that we finished our basement.

02:03:56.313 --> 02:03:56.893
Anything else on your

02:03:57.203 --> 02:03:57.632
right?

02:03:57.672 --> 02:03:59.662
Oh! I'm gonna tell them.

02:04:00.082 --> 02:04:01.573
I'm in this niche economy now.

02:04:01.733 --> 02:04:02.143
I'm a fascist.

02:04:02.313 --> 02:04:03.103
I mean, it's just very basic.

02:04:03.103 --> 02:04:05.275
Uh huh.

02:04:05.275 --> 02:04:08.302
Uh, anything else you'd like to touch on in politics?

02:04:08.953 --> 02:04:12.153
Yeah, I just, we need to come up with more than a two party system.

02:04:12.443 --> 02:04:12.762
Yeah.

02:04:12.762 --> 02:04:13.092
Agreed.

02:04:13.092 --> 02:04:15.332
Well, and yet you won't vote for RFK.

02:04:15.332 --> 02:04:15.972
I could,

02:04:15.972 --> 02:04:16.592
I would vote for him.

02:04:16.592 --> 02:04:17.122
If Biden

02:04:17.132 --> 02:04:26.055
would drop out today, RFK would definitely be president because a whole bunch of his supporters are the people that think that Trump fucked up the country with the COVID lockdown, blah, blah, blah.

02:04:26.055 --> 02:04:26.460
I'm not saying I

02:04:26.460 --> 02:04:27.323
won't vote for RFK.

02:04:27.353 --> 02:04:27.573
Okay.

02:04:27.813 --> 02:04:28.828
I'm not, like, I, I am unaffiliated, so.

02:04:28.828 --> 02:04:30.542
I'm just saying if Biden

02:04:30.552 --> 02:04:33.762
should drop out because he's totally incapable of serving on the term.

02:04:34.103 --> 02:04:34.153
He is.

02:04:34.153 --> 02:04:34.462
He is.

02:04:34.462 --> 02:04:35.832
And then RFK would win.

02:04:36.033 --> 02:04:36.643
capable of doing it either.

02:04:36.792 --> 02:04:37.283
Agreed.

02:04:37.283 --> 02:04:38.432
But then RFK would win.

02:04:38.443 --> 02:04:38.693
Yeah.

02:04:38.693 --> 02:04:41.813
If Biden would drop out and concede the Democratic nomination that.

02:04:42.238 --> 02:04:45.247
RFK ran for two RFK.

02:04:45.337 --> 02:04:46.597
We need to have an upgrade because they

02:04:46.597 --> 02:04:47.137
blackballed.

02:04:47.137 --> 02:04:49.868
Do you know what happened to RFK in the democratic primaries?

02:04:49.898 --> 02:04:50.137
Mm-Hmm.

02:04:50.518 --> 02:04:52.677
Go follow a, follow some threads.

02:04:52.707 --> 02:04:54.268
Not on MSN.

02:04:54.268 --> 02:04:54.837
bbc.

02:04:54.868 --> 02:04:54.957
I

02:04:54.957 --> 02:04:55.948
don't watch m They

02:04:55.953 --> 02:05:02.278
basically changed all the rules to make it so that somebody even rich and successful, like Robert Kennedy Jr.

02:05:02.957 --> 02:05:04.698
Could never possibly.

02:05:04.993 --> 02:05:07.882
Challenge the standing president for the nomination.

02:05:07.903 --> 02:05:11.153
Like they changed all the rules so that it was basically impossible.

02:05:11.153 --> 02:05:12.193
That's why he went independent.

02:05:12.262 --> 02:05:17.273
Not because he was a dark horse, but because he tried to have an honest conversation about it.

02:05:17.613 --> 02:05:18.222
They wouldn't let him.

02:05:18.712 --> 02:05:19.882
Yeah, I think that

02:05:20.283 --> 02:05:25.773
And that's why we're in the challenge of being taken over by this uniparty.

02:05:26.113 --> 02:05:30.493
I feel like we also need to have upper age limits, just as we have a minimum age limit.

02:05:30.842 --> 02:05:34.863
If you have to be 35, you shouldn't be older than these people.

02:05:34.922 --> 02:05:37.148
Yeah, but that's just a symptom of the disease.

02:05:37.618 --> 02:05:41.908
The disease is, is that the corrupt state wants Biden to be the president next.

02:05:42.337 --> 02:05:48.028
Right, but I'm just, like, I don't want him to be, like I, I, most people I know don't want him to Almost nobody wants Biden to be the next

02:05:48.028 --> 02:05:48.898
president, but But, but

02:05:48.898 --> 02:05:51.398
people don't want Trump to be president, either, so Right,

02:05:51.398 --> 02:05:56.807
but they weren't given that opportunity, like, there wasn't an honest conversation about who should be the president instead of Biden.

02:05:56.818 --> 02:06:00.078
But do you think someone after the age of 70 should actually be serving as president?

02:06:00.127 --> 02:06:00.278
If

02:06:00.278 --> 02:06:02.908
they're competent, I mean, I just listened to a Well, what's a competency?

02:06:02.997 --> 02:06:09.113
I listened to a Two hour long, hour and a half long conversation that Ron Paul had on Tucker Carlson recently.

02:06:10.082 --> 02:06:10.912
He's 89.

02:06:11.302 --> 02:06:13.773
Fucking guy is smarter than I was ever.

02:06:13.802 --> 02:06:16.412
Are you proposing a competency test and what does that look like?

02:06:16.472 --> 02:06:16.802
Right.

02:06:16.802 --> 02:06:18.122
Well, no, there shouldn't be.

02:06:18.193 --> 02:06:20.783
It should just be, there should just be fair competition.

02:06:20.792 --> 02:06:29.962
There shouldn't be this corruption of process that the Democratic and the Republican parties have put in place to make sure that the people that run under their banner toe the line.

02:06:30.372 --> 02:06:30.552
It's fair.

02:06:30.912 --> 02:06:35.353
Because right now, like if you, if you're anti abortion Democrat.

02:06:36.212 --> 02:06:36.762
You're fucked.

02:06:36.863 --> 02:06:38.672
You'll never get on the ballot anywhere.

02:06:38.983 --> 02:06:40.882
You'll never get a re election.

02:06:41.063 --> 02:06:41.393
Ever.

02:06:41.472 --> 02:06:41.552
Fair.

02:06:41.912 --> 02:06:42.483
Basically.

02:06:42.483 --> 02:06:44.262
Or if you're a, uh,

02:06:45.012 --> 02:06:46.162
Pro choice.

02:06:46.403 --> 02:06:47.153
Republican.

02:06:47.372 --> 02:06:48.122
Same thing.

02:06:48.122 --> 02:07:00.653
Or, or even some of the other hot buttons, you know, like, I mean, right now the Democratic Party is in a struggle because of the whole Israel Palestine Gaza thing because they got a lot of rich Jews that have been Democrats forever.

02:07:01.842 --> 02:07:08.033
But now they also got free, free Palestine and from a river to the sea across Harvard, Columbia, USC.

02:07:08.033 --> 02:07:08.832
What's happening

02:07:08.832 --> 02:07:11.563
in Gaza is an absolute tragedy, and it is a genocide.

02:07:11.813 --> 02:07:12.502
Agreed.

02:07:12.613 --> 02:07:14.342
Well, no, I disagree with that.

02:07:14.443 --> 02:07:18.292
I have friends that are Jewish, but I also have a lot of Palestinian friends.

02:07:18.313 --> 02:07:18.573
Sure.

02:07:18.582 --> 02:07:24.063
And I, I, while I see both sides, what is happening in Palestine is incredibly absurd.

02:07:24.393 --> 02:07:24.533
Yeah.

02:07:24.533 --> 02:07:25.412
And shouldn't be happening.

02:07:26.243 --> 02:07:27.703
And we shouldn't be supporting it.

02:07:27.703 --> 02:07:27.792
Yeah.

02:07:28.533 --> 02:07:29.122
That's my belief.

02:07:29.122 --> 02:07:29.962
You asked me about politics.

02:07:30.002 --> 02:07:30.323
I think

02:07:30.323 --> 02:07:32.773
we need to let Israel do what Israel needs to do.

02:07:32.783 --> 02:07:34.393
I agree, but we should stay out of it.

02:07:34.512 --> 02:07:34.993
Right.

02:07:35.092 --> 02:07:37.592
We shouldn't be supporting one way or another.

02:07:37.903 --> 02:07:38.693
Yeah, sure.

02:07:39.432 --> 02:07:40.203
I'm game with that.

02:07:41.103 --> 02:07:41.523
It's not gonna happen.

02:07:41.523 --> 02:07:48.063
Except for the fact that many of the, like, the problem is, like, Do you know about the Abraham Accords?

02:07:48.283 --> 02:07:49.002
Are you familiar with that?

02:07:49.052 --> 02:07:49.943
I've heard the term, yeah.

02:07:50.023 --> 02:08:02.533
That was basically the peace treaties between Israel and Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates and it was working toward, like, really making progress that Trump kind of, well, Kushner brokered those deals.

02:08:02.962 --> 02:08:06.613
Everybody wanted to be friends with Israel because Israel was kind of an anchor to the Middle East.

02:08:07.158 --> 02:08:08.747
And this is kind of

02:08:09.387 --> 02:08:09.948
Fractured.

02:08:10.268 --> 02:08:12.868
Yeah, at least threaten that accord.

02:08:12.877 --> 02:08:16.097
Like, by having that accord, it agreed that Israel had the right to exist.

02:08:17.518 --> 02:08:21.347
If Israel doesn't have the right to exist, it's just going to be forever under threat.

02:08:21.457 --> 02:08:23.887
And that's what Hamas is about.

02:08:24.478 --> 02:08:30.648
And so, it's tough, but, you know, I go for national sovereignty.

02:08:30.677 --> 02:08:32.467
Like, Israel has to do what it has to do.

02:08:32.467 --> 02:08:34.417
We don't necessarily have to fund them to do it.

02:08:34.427 --> 02:08:35.023
They got enough money.

02:08:35.403 --> 02:08:38.653
Jews to do it themselves, my opinion.

02:08:39.132 --> 02:08:44.462
But yeah, I, I totally grieve for the Palestinian people as well.

02:08:44.762 --> 02:08:51.592
Like if I was them, I would just at least move to the West bank because Gaza is not a sustainable piece of territory where it's at.

02:08:51.903 --> 02:08:52.233
Sure.

02:08:52.523 --> 02:08:59.893
Um, and so like, there's nothing to build there as long as, especially as long as the people are controlled in their minds by Hamas.

02:08:59.903 --> 02:09:02.382
Cause clearly like they, they won reelection.

02:09:02.728 --> 02:09:08.578
Like by 85 percent with a stated goal of Israel must be destroyed.

02:09:08.587 --> 02:09:10.037
That's our charter.

02:09:10.667 --> 02:09:14.257
So they've obviously propagandized their people to the point where they can't.

02:09:14.587 --> 02:09:16.358
Almost can't think of anything else, and there's

02:09:16.658 --> 02:09:18.238
But have the Jewish not done the same thing?

02:09:19.158 --> 02:09:21.307
The Israeli To their own people?

02:09:22.268 --> 02:09:25.118
Um, no, I think they're pretty Western.

02:09:25.118 --> 02:09:27.118
Like, they have a pretty abundance of knowledge.

02:09:27.118 --> 02:09:29.608
Jewish people Jewish students go all over the world to study.

02:09:29.797 --> 02:09:30.247
No, but I'm

02:09:30.247 --> 02:09:34.137
just saying that they believe that they have the right to destroy and kill these people.

02:09:34.148 --> 02:09:38.018
No, they have the right to try to continue to exist, is really the conversation.

02:09:38.078 --> 02:09:38.387
Yeah,

02:09:38.387 --> 02:09:38.438
but

02:09:39.717 --> 02:09:44.768
Well, but if you want to keep existing, that might be your only choice.

02:09:44.797 --> 02:09:47.707
They have to get out of Gaza, in my opinion.

02:09:47.847 --> 02:09:49.028
Um, I don't know.

02:09:49.627 --> 02:09:50.358
It's a tough one.

02:09:50.557 --> 02:09:51.057
It is a tough one.

02:09:51.068 --> 02:09:54.648
Yeah, if you can't agree that it's a really tough one, then you're not paying enough attention.

02:09:54.648 --> 02:09:54.898
No, it

02:09:54.898 --> 02:09:56.087
is absolutely a tough one.

02:09:56.137 --> 02:09:58.807
Some of my very closest friends are from Palestine.

02:10:00.502 --> 02:10:02.872
And I've met some of the kindest people when I lived in the desert.

02:10:02.893 --> 02:10:05.922
And, seeing, again, it's not,

02:10:05.922 --> 02:10:08.023
it's not a one sided

02:10:08.042 --> 02:10:08.582
thing.

02:10:09.052 --> 02:10:09.382
Persians

02:10:09.382 --> 02:10:10.052
are my favorite.

02:10:10.153 --> 02:10:12.653
I've barely met any people that I like more than Persians.

02:10:12.682 --> 02:10:12.823
I

02:10:12.823 --> 02:10:14.082
also have great Jewish friends, too.

02:10:14.082 --> 02:10:14.323
Right.

02:10:14.342 --> 02:10:16.582
So I see, it's a complicated situation.

02:10:16.603 --> 02:10:16.863
Totally.

02:10:16.863 --> 02:10:17.823
There's not a great answer.

02:10:17.912 --> 02:10:18.033
Totally.

02:10:18.033 --> 02:10:18.627
For any of

02:10:18.627 --> 02:10:18.943
it.

02:10:18.943 --> 02:10:21.807
So anybody that, Thinks that it's not complicated.

02:10:22.167 --> 02:10:23.207
It's not paying enough attention.

02:10:23.257 --> 02:10:23.688
Exactly.

02:10:24.438 --> 02:10:26.858
Um, do you want to share your loco experience?

02:10:26.948 --> 02:10:28.917
Hmm, I feel like I might have shared it earlier.

02:10:28.948 --> 02:10:29.988
Yeah, was that the one?

02:10:29.988 --> 02:10:31.268
That was a

02:10:31.268 --> 02:10:32.097
crazy experience.

02:10:32.158 --> 02:10:33.467
I mean, it was pretty crazy.

02:10:33.467 --> 02:10:33.688
I'm not,

02:10:33.948 --> 02:10:34.627
it's pretty crazy.

02:10:34.627 --> 02:10:38.948
I think certainly living in West Africa was a really crazy and transformative experience.

02:10:38.988 --> 02:10:40.728
It was brief, but it was life changing.

02:10:41.398 --> 02:10:48.118
Changed my perspective and you know, certainly has colored the way that we Um, you know, teach our Children.

02:10:48.118 --> 02:10:49.797
I mean, how do we teach our Children?

02:10:49.818 --> 02:10:53.457
You know, for me, part of being a parent is creating a better life.

02:10:53.627 --> 02:10:53.927
Yeah.

02:10:54.097 --> 02:10:56.807
Um, providing more opportunities than we had.

02:10:57.087 --> 02:11:01.667
I don't think all parents think that way, but that's our opinion as parents.

02:11:01.768 --> 02:11:03.757
It's Trevor and I and but also treat.

02:11:03.757 --> 02:11:04.158
I mean, that was

02:11:04.158 --> 02:11:05.377
the goal for every family.

02:11:05.832 --> 02:11:07.153
A couple generations ago, it seemed.

02:11:07.153 --> 02:11:07.203
Which I don't

02:11:07.203 --> 02:11:08.453
think it is necessarily.

02:11:08.453 --> 02:11:15.412
But I think, um, teaching them humility, and, um, giving them that perspective.

02:11:15.472 --> 02:11:18.273
I think, you know, travel, for me, gives them that.

02:11:18.313 --> 02:11:20.462
Um, certainly not staying at posh resorts all these places.

02:11:20.893 --> 02:11:21.912
I'm not talking about that.

02:11:22.353 --> 02:11:31.273
But, um, giving back as far as, like, service, time, volunteering, um, you know, again, treating people and animals and insects with respect.

02:11:31.592 --> 02:11:38.592
You know, like, just, you know, It's just showing them that, um, not everybody is nearly as damn lucky as we are to live the way that we live.

02:11:39.023 --> 02:11:42.643
And it's really hard at this age to be like, ah, you have no idea.

02:11:42.712 --> 02:11:44.932
You know, like I grew up in a 1200 square foot house.

02:11:45.332 --> 02:11:46.762
Um, we didn't have a lot of resources.

02:11:46.762 --> 02:11:47.863
We all shared a bathroom.

02:11:47.903 --> 02:11:52.653
You know, my daughter the other day was like, hey, I just learned that not everybody has their own bathroom.

02:11:52.653 --> 02:11:56.853
I'm like, oh man, we got a long way to go here.

02:11:56.893 --> 02:12:15.137
You know, like I think that, um, Africa was really, again, While it wasn't my favorite experience, it was the most eye opening experience of my life to date of just seeing how privileged anyone is to be born in the United States and to have the opportunities that we do.

02:12:15.318 --> 02:12:19.228
To even speak out against our politicians and say we don't like our government.

02:12:19.228 --> 02:12:19.467
Totally.

02:12:19.707 --> 02:12:21.818
We'd be murdered in other countries for doing that.

02:12:21.818 --> 02:12:22.472
So, yeah.

02:12:22.773 --> 02:12:37.243
You know, I'm feeling compelled to share a little story from my past in this moment because, um, like, something that you and I have in common is that we've been blessed both physically and intellectually beyond the average.

02:12:37.372 --> 02:12:37.483
Yeah.

02:12:37.603 --> 02:12:42.122
You know, we're way smarter and physically very capable.

02:12:42.432 --> 02:12:58.078
And I felt super, like, embarrassed almost about that, like, Uh, as I was, especially as I was studying ethics and different things and I was like awkward about it, I was like, well, how did I, because I remember I grew up a shorty, you're all awkward and weird and you try to like almost avoid that.

02:12:58.682 --> 02:13:01.432
knowledge, but ultimately it's the truth.

02:13:01.453 --> 02:13:07.762
And the truth is, is probably both of your kids are going to both be physically and intellectually gifted beyond measure.

02:13:08.273 --> 02:13:10.212
And so I appreciate where you're going.

02:13:10.563 --> 02:13:15.703
And when I ultimately came to faith, it was like, you know, to those who have been given much, much as expected.

02:13:16.393 --> 02:13:24.832
And so I guess that would be my charge to you is kind of, you know, recognizing that it's not just about where you were born and whatever else.

02:13:25.432 --> 02:13:25.743
And.

02:13:26.382 --> 02:13:36.533
It's amazing to me that through the tough family dynamics between your mom and dad and the moving and all this, like you've shined forth and through with all this focus and determination.

02:13:36.533 --> 02:13:39.073
So consider this a great compliment and a challenge.

02:13:39.082 --> 02:13:39.092
I

02:13:39.533 --> 02:13:40.162
appreciate that.

02:13:40.182 --> 02:13:40.832
Challenge accepted.

02:13:41.012 --> 02:13:42.323
And for your kiddos too.

02:13:42.472 --> 02:13:43.472
Make them be great ones.

02:13:43.728 --> 02:13:45.148
They are so far doing a great job.

02:13:45.158 --> 02:13:45.927
I know you can do it.

02:13:47.057 --> 02:13:47.717
God bless you.

02:13:47.877 --> 02:13:52.078
Um, if people want to find you, they hear this conversation and they're like, that chick is really cool.

02:13:52.887 --> 02:13:54.287
Uh, do you want to share your website or something?

02:13:54.398 --> 02:13:54.818
Yeah, so

02:13:54.818 --> 02:13:57.818
you can find, um, my company at PrecisionSigningAgency.

02:13:57.818 --> 02:13:58.158
com.

02:13:58.238 --> 02:13:59.618
You can find me on LinkedIn.

02:13:59.648 --> 02:14:01.087
I am just Autumn Fleck.

02:14:01.467 --> 02:14:04.417
Uh, you can sign, uh, find Precision Signing Agency on there as well.

02:14:04.747 --> 02:14:05.637
I'm on Instagram.

02:14:05.648 --> 02:14:06.637
I don't use it a ton.

02:14:06.677 --> 02:14:17.148
Um, I love to scroll a little bit, um, but I have like an adversarial relationship with social media after watching a few documentaries on it and I'm also on Facebook, but I usually just use that for marketplace.

02:14:17.148 --> 02:14:18.518
So you can't find me.

02:14:18.627 --> 02:14:18.637
I

02:14:18.637 --> 02:14:19.547
just dump and leave.

02:14:19.547 --> 02:14:20.337
Yeah, I, you

02:14:20.337 --> 02:14:22.978
know, you can send me a message on Instagram or you can follow me.

02:14:22.988 --> 02:14:30.917
I post stories, but I don't actually post to my timeline, uh, just because I'm also don't want to post my kids in, you know, permanent places without their consent.

02:14:30.917 --> 02:14:30.978
Yeah.

02:14:31.167 --> 02:14:31.217
I think

02:14:31.268 --> 02:14:31.747
that's wise.

02:14:31.807 --> 02:14:31.997
Yeah.

02:14:32.472 --> 02:14:33.582
Thank you so much for having me.

02:14:33.703 --> 02:14:34.372
I hope you enjoyed it.

02:14:34.472 --> 02:14:34.823
I did.

02:14:35.113 --> 02:14:35.313
Okay.

02:14:35.592 --> 02:14:35.863
All right.

02:14:35.943 --> 02:14:36.453
See you next time