Latest / Reborn w/ Antonio Boutros / From Engineer to Entrepreneur: Mike Maloney on Faith & Building Roots | Reborn Podcast EP.11

Transcript

From Engineer to Entrepreneur: Mike Maloney on Faith & Building Roots | Reborn Podcast EP.11 · Reborn w/ Antonio Boutros

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you've probably heard the statement uh hire slow, fire fast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I have not been the best embodiment of that, partially because when we're looking for people, sometimes we just um but the reality is life's life lived together is way better than life lived in isolation.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I kind of realized I was blessed enough to be in all of these groups and be in consistent communication with all these people, and uh hey guys, welcome back to the Reborn Podcast, uh where faith meets business.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: And today I have the opportunity to interview a good friend of mine, a gym bro of mine, uh Mike Maloney, who is the founder of a group of collective uh movers and drivers called Apex.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Apex Collective.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is it Apex Collective?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Apex Collective.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Apex Collective, and also the founder and CEO of Roots Enterprises, and also part of the team at RT Moore.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um he also was one of those very, very blessed individuals to marry his college sweetheart, met freshman year, and now they live in Westfield, Indiana, with their two dogs.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: One of them is a great Dan and thinks he's a little lap dog.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: 150-pound lap dog.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Biggest lap dog, but um what is the name again?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Scooby is the great dame, and then Zion is the golden retriever.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you got Scooby and Zion, college sweetheart.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: For those who don't know you, tell me who you are.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what got you here, but what brought you to this place today, your individual testimony, as well as the vision I would love to hear behind what's brought you here today and what you're looking to build in the next year, five years, ten years.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm Mike.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, going on five years with uh Jill here in a couple weeks, so that's definitely a big part of my life, prioritizing that relationship and working on a fixer upper house.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but going back to college, I studied engineering and was kind of going a traditional route through college, looking to get an uh engineering job after school.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, was also working on a company during college uh where I was manufacturing and selling candles.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh during that I got to get a little bit of business experience, even though I was studying in engineering, I got a little taste of entrepreneurship.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and every summer that I came back, I would do lawn care, um, some mowing around the neighborhood, doing some landscaping projects here and there.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I graduated, I actually graduated during COVID and uh struggled to find a job.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I had an offer that was rescinded and uh for a couple months was kind of in a limbo period uh as I was about to graduate in the spring during COVID, and decided that since I already had this customer base of landscaping and lawn care customers, that in the meantime, while I'm looking for an engineering job, that I'll just pick that back up.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: So um started reaching back out to old customers, um, got a good list going, and their summer of 2020, um I I got a pretty good uh consistent uh work clientele.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then late July ended up getting an offer from RT Moore hop on as a field engineer.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um RT Moore is a company that does plumbing and mechanical for apartment buildings, um, and so I work on the multifamily side of that business, um doing an engineering uh sort of business development role, and uh got that job and had all this momentum, was halfway through the summer, and decided that I didn't want to just stop serving these customers because I got my full-time job.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I ended up for the rest of that year just working weekends, working after work, um, keeping up with the demands of the landscaping and mowing.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And after that year, um was kind of not sure where we wanted to take the business.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um I had got a couple guys that had helped me out throughout the year, um, but no real like full-time employees.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um but one of my best friends, Nate Kilpatrick, he was kind of doing something similar on his own as well, and so we decided to combine forces at the end of that year, and he also is working a full-time job as a uh financial advisor, and so he had some resources and I had some resources.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: We both had customers, and so we just decided to combine resources, combine customer lists, and instead of us doing the work, um hiring supervisor and hiring laborers to hop in and uh do the work, uh the day-to-day work.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so since we did that, that was uh beginning of 2021, um, where we combined forces.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Since we did that, uh we've added a couple crews, um, some trucks, trailers, equipment, um, and have bootstrapped the business.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um now we are going on to in our fourth year of doing that and in the midst of that right now, and uh every year has its new challenges, every year has problems.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, in business, you uh diff landscaping is is an industry of of difficult employees, difficult customers, people want their houses perfect.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it's a really good base business to get me uh kind of an acquired taste for what entrepreneurship is gonna be like.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a couple things that high were highlighted to me.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: One was a business partnership.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I would love to dive into that dynamic, but also you mentioned landscaping being a base that is gonna give you that foundational education for what entrepreneurship is gonna look like, which hints at the fact that landscaping is not the be-all end-all for Michael Modi.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, correct.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh landscaping is not my I don't I'm not trying to be a landscaper forever.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'd love business.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be a business, I want to be in business in some way, shape, or form forever.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously I have my my day job as well, and I'm learning a lot from that with management and um the business development side of that business.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very large uh business, so it's kind of what I'm doing for Roots Enterprises on a large scale.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's cool to get some exposure to that, but um definitely don't want to be in landscaping forever.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it is a really good business to learn from because it's really competitive, it's a low barrier to entry, um, so we didn't have to put a ton of money up front.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I just started with just a lawnmower in between summer and even just put it in the back of my Chrysler seabring back in college and would just ride around with the with the back of that thing open just from house to house.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um and difficult customers, really difficult employees.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times our employees um are don't have much experience in the workforce, or um maybe they've had some experience and then uh had some time off and in other industries and are kind of coming back to it.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it it is difficult to find uh good employees, and so that's teaching me a lot there too.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then um also just working with tight margins.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it's teaching really a lot of the business principles uh with kind of a low risk way.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean obviously it's it's a risk because it's a business, but um it's a low-risk way in the in the sense that it's it's simple, but it's not an easy business.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: What's the biggest do's and don'ts of hiring and maintaining a solid quality team?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you've probably heard the statement uh hire slow, fire fast.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I have not been the best embodiment of that, partially because when we're looking for people, sometimes we just need to keep people until we can find better people because we got to keep in front of our work.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um we can't keep delaying customers.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: But when we're looking for somebody that's qualified, uh obviously experience is great, but um the two supervisors that I have right now, um the thing that I would praise them most over anything is that they have a passion for the company that almost matches the passion that Nate and I have for it.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so um getting guys that are on board that see the vision, especially as a small company, um, getting a team that will buy in because naturally being a smaller company, we have struggles that large companies don't.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um just inconsistencies with schedule and process, as we're um and even just our our shop sometimes being messy and not having um an administrator, it's just Nate and I.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So uh a lot of that brings up problems of their own.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you can get guys that will recognize that and still in spite of that buy-in, um that's uh that's really more than you could ask for.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: How do you create that buy-in?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of it's painting the vision.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So the two guys that I that are supervisors for the for the company right now, um, they've been with us all year, and it starts with just uh showing them first off that you're bought in.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they obviously they know that we have Nathan and I have other jobs, yeah.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so we can't always be there on the job site every day.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but are we showing up after work if if they need it?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are we showing up on Saturday, Sunday?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, are we answering calls throughout the day, helping them out in that sense?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And as they see you buy-in, they want to back that.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um obviously a couple other things, like you got to pay them fairly.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um you get you have to respect that their time with their family, and that anything health-wise, all of these things come before work.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Work is not uh, we don't want it to be the number one priority of their life.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so respecting that and leaving room for um some flexibility in those areas, um just treating them like a human instead of uh like an employee, treating treating them like a friend that you you want to see the best out of.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so you have to hold them to a standard, um, but that you also respect and love.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um and I think that's something at Roots that we do a good job at is kind of cultivating that culture of like your family's most important, but we hope that you also feel like roots as a family as well.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I've seen with building our team is, and I've had this conversation with them multiple times, what is it, and it depends on the relationship that your team has with Christ.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: But I asked my team because they have a direct, very close relationship with Christ, what's more important a relationship between brother and brother, or brother and sister in Christ, or employee and employer?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if we just keep obviously the the right answer is the first one, yeah, if we just keep that top of mind, I think that sets a great foundation and ultimately they're quote unquote employees, but ultimately we're just all a family building this one united vision together.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and we feel that as well.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um Nathan and I both are not scared to discuss our faith uh in front of our employees, and uh one thing that's been uh probably as high of a reward as any throughout this year uh is seeing one of my supervisors come way closer to Christ than he ever has been.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And um part of that's been through conversations with us, but definitely uh he takes ownership of a lot of that too, is and his family's been very supportive.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's been going through a rough time uh with health things too, so um yeah, sometimes when you're going through a difficult time, it forces you to figure out what you are gonna rely on in that time.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And fortunately, Nathan and I have been able to be a good resource for him and kind of point him toward Christ, but more so in the last couple months, uh he's been the one that's sending us Bible verses and uh asking us how he can pray for us, and so it's really cool to see that kind of relationship growth toward Christ, and uh that's as rewarding as as any bottom line or expansion of business like that, just that personal development is incredible to see.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: How do you manage truth and grace?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: How do you manage between seeing them as a person and loving them, but also knowing that we are running a business, that there are certain KPIs or results that we need to hit, and I love you, but if you're not hitting these, like we have to have a discussion, we may or may not be a good fit anymore.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: What does what does that look like?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: How do you manage in between that?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's been a really difficult thing for us.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: We've had to deal with those conversations often, um, not as much with our team this year, although with every team it's that's uh those kind of conversations are gonna come up, but um we've had to have some really difficult conversations in the last three to four years um since we brought on employees.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um I would say first and foremost, you have to recognize them as uh son of God.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so even sometimes we'll get frustrated and say, well, why'd you do it this way?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like it should be obvious to do it this way.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um but when you zoom out and realize that in the in the case of extreme ownership, it all falls back on I should have communicated better in the first place.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think that helps me kind of see them just taking a taking ownership for everything in the business helps me kind of see them um in a way that instead of painting them as incompetent or um somebody that wasn't cut for the task, I think it kind of paints them instead as somebody that wasn't communicated too thoroughly, um puts it back on me.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so that helps me go into the situation uh whatever conversation it's gonna be uh with Grace and understanding that I had a I had a play in this too.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um I always try to tell my guys when we're talking about how we can do things better, that um it's ultimately it all falls back on me.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then for the supervisors, I want them to take ownership of their crews as well.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if there's if they have a crew member that um is installing something wrong, I want my employee Jed to take ownership of that, and then I'll take ownership as well in my piece of that as well.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so just being able to zoom out, recognize that everything stems from how we communicate, how I communicate with the guys.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then the other piece of it too is I think having that foundation of trust that I spoke spoke about of like kind of just building the company culture.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um because the guys know that we're bought in, that we have the best intentions for the company, that we want them to enjoy time with their family and um prioritize that as well, and that we love them deeply as people.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think all of that also plays into your when you're when you're speaking to somebody, even if it it is criticism, they'll take it as something that's trying to help them progress instead of something that is just trying to cut them down.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I like you touched on extreme ownership.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's huge.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's massive.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's so easy.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I my mind immediately went to the the morning, the quiet time in the morning in your secret space.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like if you don't have that, if you you go straight into work or working out, or just your day in general, you just feel so rushed.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And one small thing happens and you're like as you said, like this is so obvious that it should be done this way.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: Why was it done this way?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Or why why was it not done at all?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: But if you have that quiet time in the morning to slow down, you take a moment to breathe and reflect, and you have the ability to respond with grace and love when something ultimately doesn't go the way you believe it should.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And also be able to look inside and see how you could improve upon that yourself.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do we have a SLP document for this drawn up, or did I tell them how to do this?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: They can't read our minds.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's as great as that would be.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: The first reaction is always like, not this again, or can't believe this happened.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But you're right, when you slow down and and don't just react off the first reaction, slow down, think through the process, think through what they might have been thinking through in that time, um, and then reflect on what did I tell them, then almost every time it goes back to well, there was clarity.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I could have had better clarity on the front end.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so there's almost always an opportunity to take ownership of a situation.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: So now earlier I had mentioned the your your guys' partnership, you and Nate.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Nate, yep.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Nate is it is it 50-50?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so 50-50.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: So that do you have a if you were and you were if you and Nate are in disagreement on a certain topic, how does that come to a conclusion?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have a mediator or I don't know, has there been a situation like that?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thankfully we haven't had a situation that's had to get um to that extent.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think again, it goes back to the the foundation of trust.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so Nathan and I grew up really good friends when we were five years old.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: We were playing soccer together and uh and just kind of always clicked.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we were growing up, we would hang out a decent amount.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, throughout high school, we would hang out all the time.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: He ended up moving away.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but whenever he would come back to Indy, he'd stay at my house.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so when we entered the business together in 2021, we were coming in with the Foundation of Trust.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'd seen how he'd been operating with his customers.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: He saw that how I was operating with my customers.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mean, we were already in communication about business before we were entering the business, um, even throughout college, just calling each other with business ideas and just kind of being a thought partner like that.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's not to say we always agree on how we should proceed with things.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but because of that level of trust, um, if either I'm headstrong on something or he's uh determined.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Determined on that thing, then for the most part, one of us is willing to put uh how we think it should go aside, and we just have a trust that if you think if you think that that would be much better, then let's let's do it that way.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you mentioned taking calls during the day, going in in the evening, Saturdays, Sundays to help your crew.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: What does a typical day-to-day in the business and routes look like for each of you?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's uh it varies a little bit depending on kind of the season of life as well that we're in.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um but Nate Nate and I do a pretty good job, I think, of splitting um tasks to do.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um obviously there's times in the last four years that I've been slammed at work or had family things come up or been out of town.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Weddings.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Nate weddings every other weekend.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I was at one Saturday.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so surprised.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh in those cases, the other person has to step up.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um we've both done that for each other in many ways uh at times.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um but just on a day-to-day basis, I think we do a pretty good job of splitting up tasks.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll have communicated with um with the supervisors about uh the intentions for the day, um, try to answer any questions they have.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um so usually that call happens 7:30 to 8 and the guys start to get rolling then.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then throughout the day, if questions come up, um we'll usually be there to answer.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm in a meeting and can't take the call, then maybe they'll call Nate or vice versa.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um the way that we have it structured right now is I focus a little bit more on the landscaping side, and Nate focuses a little bit more on the mowing side.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so usually, and Nate kind of has his uh set of customers that he works a little closer with, and I have my set of customers that I work a little bit closer with.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so that breakdown has worked well for us so far.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um it keeps a pretty consistent, uh even spread uh across him and I.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the case where we know that he's gonna be packed for the day, he knows that I'm gonna be packed for the day, um, then he'll just know that uh he'll be looking out for some more calls, um, that he'll have to put out some fires if we have any come up, uh, and vice versa.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's we don't have a firm structure list of things to say this is Mike's task, and uh he has to do all of all of these things.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Nate has to do all of these things for us.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a little bit more fluid, um, and because we both uh have slightly constrained schedules with uh with our other jobs, um, it kind of has to be that way because we just kind of have to be fluid owners and uh respond to whatever the call is that that requires our attention at that time.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: So Roots Enterprises, Enterprises plural.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is landscaping, mowing, is it gonna be the base of a venture capital, private equity?
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: What's what's the vision?
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've talked about a lot of things, uh, a lot of ways that we could uh take the business.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of owners that started with landscaping companies, um, it's easy to get into other more uh I think more skilled trades from a landscaping because you right now, I mean, we already have over 500 customer lists that we can reach out to if we expanded to a different trade.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think as far as our next expansion uh would be installing irrigation and hardscape, um, which is gonna bring concrete, um, some concrete work into it.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's what we'll we're gonna keep growing in the landscaping sphere right now.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um but our biggest goal is to continue to grow each year, continue to be able to bootstrap more crews, more employees.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then in the future, um Nate and I are not necessarily uh sold on an exact plan for how we would see this out.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think the the one thing that we are pretty uh clear on is that we'd like to get it to a place where um whether we keep it in ownership or whether we sell the business, that the ownership um is less involved in the day-to-day.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so building our team and um building the confidence in the in the leaders, um training them up how to do quotes, how to do outreach.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a slow process, but we're we're getting to a place where we're able to focus more on the big dollar per hour items.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like how do we acquire new HOAs, or how do we um what's the best way for us to uh expand into concrete?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Do we buy a small concrete company?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do we um hire a supervisor that's worked concrete for 10 years and just pay him more?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we've been able to focus a little bit more on those items.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and those are the things that we love to do.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep on the on the big dollar per hour items.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it sounds like overall, as you expand, you will continue to be partners.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: That that part is pretty clear to you guys.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and yeah, so for right now, our intent is that um we continue growing it, him and I together, um, that we keep adding revenue each year, and that we take responsibilities out of ownership and onto the team, um, the day-to-day responsibilities out of ownership and onto the team.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, first off, because it makes it just a more sellable uh business if we do decide to do that at some point.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but also just because if we're trying to keep this as a lifestyle business, it's not sustainable as we begin to have kids at some point.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I are both 27, so we're kind of at that um point in our life where we have to start thinking about that.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: What is it, what are the next steps in family.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so just trying to trying to take a little bit of that work off of our plates and focus on the expansion of the business is our biggest priority right now.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: Got it, got it.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Both married.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: So Nate's Nate's been married about four years now, and I'm I'm going on five years in a couple couple weeks.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, so looking to it sounds like expand to different trades specifically.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, going to Apex, talk to me about that.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: What formed it, what got it started, where you're looking to take it.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Apex is a passion project.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that I make money off of.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not something uh that takes up a ton of my time, um, but it's something that I'm really passionate about and something that um is one of my favorite things that uh that I've been able to put together, um, but certainly haven't been able to do it alone.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Apex Collective is a group of young and aspiring men get together on a quarterly basis and uh try to break the barriers of isolation that men often have and at the same time uh cultivate conversations uh that are gonna grow in us and community uh closer to each other.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh what we do at Apex, uh get together once a month.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's mostly guys anywhere from like 20 years old up to uh probably like once a quarter, sorry.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Anywhere from 20 years old to I think 36, 38, somewhere in that range is kind of the oldest that we've had so far.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: But um the idea is to get guys who are young, um, either all different phases of life, whether it's uh married, single, engaged, dating, um, with kids, uh, without kids, in an apartment, in a house.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um the main the main thing is that we get guys that want to be there, want to grow, um, and that we have opportunity to grow closer uh and to each other and be motivational for each other.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, the the way that it started was uh a couple years out of school.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: I realized that a lot of my friends that were graduating or people that were moving to Indy, um, that I was able to get close to through small group, church, work, um, entrepreneurship groups that I've been a part of, um, real estate groups that I've been a part of.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of people that were coming into those places uh didn't have a set community that they felt like they could go to with attempts to to grow and and kind of continue to progress as a man.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think as men especially, it's really easy to get isolated and to feel like you have to do everything on your own.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: And to I think pride is a big part of that.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is uh it can get in the way of us reaching out for help a lot of times.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um especially for a lot of these guys being high drivers, high achievers, um, pride becomes even more of a problem because we feel like we owe ourselves uh some sort of success or some sort of like we want to do it on our own.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the reality is life's life lived together is way better than life lived in isolation.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I kind of realized I was blessed enough to be in all of these groups and be in consistent communication with all these people.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh even a lot of times I would I would somebody would present a need and I would just try to make a connection for them.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody that I know uh is looking to buy real estate, okay.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple couple real estate friends that uh I'll get you plugged into, they know what they're doing, they'll take care of you.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so um through that uh I realized how cool would it be if we just got all these people together and instead of just getting together and watching sports or um getting together and uh playing games, drinking beer, all that, the idea is that we get together and have a focused conversation on topics that are relevant to young men.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we'll break out into small groups of four to five people, and uh the intent is that it's it's a guided discussion.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's usually two topics that I pick each time, ranges anywhere from fatherhood, manliness, toughness, accountability, um, resilience.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: All of these are topics that we've discussed in the past, and there's kind of sub-questions for each of them.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll go three or four questions with each of those categories and just open it up to the group.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And again, when you have quality people there that want to be there, want to grow, and you're discussing these uh topics that are relevant and extremely extremely relevant and I think under discussed for young men, then it's a special connection and and community that you build with these people.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_01: How did God instill that heart in you?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: What prompted you to start that just from a personal standpoint, and and and why you?
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Why not somebody else?
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I felt very blessed because as I graduated during COVID, I came back to a community that I knew.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I moved back in with my parents in Westfield, and later that year got married and still lived in Carmel.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so um really like dating back to middle school.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've been in this similar community.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so throughout that time I've been able to uh meet a lot of cool people, grow a lot of relationships, and so I felt like I was coming back to a place that I knew.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas a lot of my friends that were graduating and have graduated since then were coming into a new place that they didn't have family there.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they maybe knew a couple people that they went to college with, um, and just were kind of coming in um for work and didn't really know a ton of people, and I felt like God equipped me with the relationships that I've been able to build to help these people connect with each other.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of my favorite things is when I meet somebody that's cool and fun to be around, and I can connect them to somebody else that's cool and fun to be around.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um and when when we meet like that, it allows all these people from all different walks.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I've played soccer with them, maybe I've been in business group with them, um, maybe I've worked out with them like you, yeah, or know that they own business and have uh talked about their business with them over coffee, lunch, whatever it is.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so it allows me to bring people from all different walks of my life that I think are awesome and who's uh who I know that they're they want more for their life.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: They want uh to continue networking and growing uh in their resources in that sense, and uh just bringing them all together and having good cultivating proper conversation, um not just talking about shallow stuff, but actually getting into it and getting into some character development.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: How do you manage a one-on-one relationship with Christ amidst all that you are doing?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: You have you're leading a family, no kids, yeah, but you have two, two dogs and a wife, um you're leading a business, you are leading this community, you're staying in shape, you're doing all these different things, you're working at W-2.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_01: How do you take that time to slow down and manage the your first love?
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really it's been a difficult balance.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um as I've had more things added to my plate, uh it becomes easier to let God kind of take the backseat.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um and obviously that's not ever my intention and where I want to be in life.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the first thing is just checking your priorities often.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um reflecting on your week, where have you spent your time, who have you spent your uh most time communicating with, um where are your relationships, both with other people, um, my wife obviously, very important, and then also with God.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um but really it comes down to making the most of every single day.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there are some routines that help with that.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um morning workouts help with that, uh having a scheduled work, knowing that I'll be at work pretty much every day from 8 till 4:30 or 5-ish, um, knowing that that time is uh for my W-2 job.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then beyond that, that gives me about five hours, five or six hours before I go to bed every single night to figure out how I want to prioritize that time.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, something that Jill and I are very intentional with is making sure that we have at least one good date night a week, and that means intentional date night.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're not on our phones, we're with each other, maybe we're going out to dinner, maybe we're just going on a walk to downtown Carmel and uh having a picnic or taking a bike ride.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh it doesn't have to be anything too crazy, but just time that we're able to uh just be with each other and connect um is very important to us.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then also I push her to be with her friends, she pushes me to be with my friends as well.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: So um maintaining for me male relationships outside of my marriage and for her female relationships uh is also very important to us just because we know that um if you don't feel like you have a good community, then it's really easy to start feeling isolated, um, get in your own head.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um so those those two relationships um both with her and um my friends are very important for me.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um but then obviously your main question getting to how how do we keep Christ at the center of all of this?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the main way that I've been able to do that is through habits, just making daily habits.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um my routine that works for me is probably not the same routine that works for everybody.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but morning prayer.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um usually that's as I'm getting ready shortly after I'm getting ready in the shower or uh driving, um, just spending five minutes in prayer, praying for God's blessings on the day, um, for his will to be done in my life, um praying for those around me that he would give me opportunities to speak uh of his life to others that don't know him.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then really the the other time that I do it is at night I read the Bible and journal and then pray with Jill as well.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: So uh those are kind of the things that I keep every single day on my list that help me refocus at the beginning of my day and at the end of my day on the most important thing.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh other things that help me throughout my weeks are I'm in a small group, men's small group, um actually in a couple small groups, one through my church and one through um just my community uh of brothers that uh we help kind of recenter each other, check each other, call each other out, um, call each other out like Nathan did for David.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and then church every weekend as well.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so making sure that Jill and I are prioritizing that time as well.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, apart apart from that, uh I mean right now life is life goes in seasons, and sometimes you have really busy seasons, and sometimes you have a little more lax seasons, and I think that's how life is meant to be lived.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that uh life is meant to be lived at one pace.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um right now Jill understands that I'm in a season of running and that uh right now, especially before we have any kids, that uh usually things will stack back to back in my days, and there's not really any time uh spare time in between activities.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: And she's okay with that as long as uh some of those events are her involved, intentional time together, yeah, um, clear communication about my schedule.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, there's things that I need to work on definitely, and I think we we would probably all say that, but um I think it comes back to just life, life being in seasons and right now, um her understanding fully and me understanding fully that this is a season of running and that a lot a lot needs to get done right now, and so that needs to um I need to focus on getting a lot done at work while still chipping in with with relationships, my wife.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then obviously keeping Christ at the beginning and end of my day.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna ask you a question that's in large part for me.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you mentioned with and obviously you've experienced it too, but you mentioned with Apex how you have men from about 20 to almost 40 and different relationship statuses.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: So single, dating, engaged, married, kids, no kids.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously you've gone from single to dating to engaged and married, uh, and soon to be kids within the next few years.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe God's time, God's time on that.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: For someone who, especially is a is like you said, a driver, a mover, an entrepreneur.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: When do you feel is the time?
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: When is the right time to pursue a relationship?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think for a lot of us, including myself, can get caught up in we need to have the beautiful house.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we need to have all of our systems built out in the business so that we can commit to that like date night every single week.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: We need to have certain things in place, which is good to work on yourself first.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: But when when is that time to step out into the dating field?
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it varies for different people, but the most probably broad answer that I could give is um I think it's you don't have to focus as much on having the external things in your life done and feel like you're set in those ways, whether it's the house, the job, the um the car, having all of these things um don't really matter.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: In the end, it's more so where's your heart?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and are you preparing your heart for uh somebody that could potentially be your wife?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so what does that look like for men?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_00: That means checking your priorities, where are you spending your time, um, where are you feeling tempted, and are you giving in to those temptations?
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and trying to embody the heart of Christ uh as much as you possibly can throughout your day, um, building the habits that are going to bring you uh closer to God and not further away from God.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think once you've once you have the spiritual maturity in your life, then the rest will kind of follow.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think once you once you have that and you you kind of own uh and have some spiritual confidence, then uh God will present ways uh for you to either get involved um in a small group and maybe you'll meet somebody there.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe it's just that you're at a coffee shop and you see somebody that's really beautiful, and you and so you decide to go up and talk to them because you have that confidence, that spirit in you.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I trust that God's God's plan is uh ultimately that when our hearts are ready, um He'll provide a blessing in your life.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so I think the the biggest focus for guys that are single and and thinking about um timeline on dating uh would be just focus on character growth, on spiritual growth, and don't focus as much on the girl or getting the girl or thinking about your options.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: All of that will come.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: And even like don't even focus on like the business part of it because if you find the right person, she's gonna know you as an entrepreneur, she's gonna know uh where your heart lies in that, and she's gonna be okay with that, and um she would adjust her lifestyle just like you'll have to adjust your adjust your lifestyle to be with her.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's things like that that are gonna be more natural when the relationship, if the right relationship does come in, um, but in the in the off season before that is just focusing on how can you prepare your heart as much as you can, um, embody the heart of Christ in order to prepare for whatever woman Christ gives you in your life.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who said it, but there's a quote that goes a woman's heart should be so lost in Christ that a man must seek him to find her.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's exactly a great depiction of kind of what I what where I was going is just of the more you love Christ, I think the the doors will be opened.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Going back to entrepreneurship, was Roots in college your first experience in entrepreneurship?
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: Or did you have lemonade stand?
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have you mentioned roots being having clients that you came into when you relaunched a business with?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: What was your journey through entrepreneurship and your journey in faith as well?
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so in high school, I I probably started my entrepreneurship career in high school, maybe middle school, but um my dad had a push mower that he would push mow our yard with.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um probably sophomore year of high school.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um was really my first time of like posting on next door on Facebook, trying to find people in the neighborhood that would let me walk this mower over to their house and go push mow their backyard for 25 bucks.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was just came from kind of a realization.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think it started with just a financial motivation, um, but then I realized how much I actually loved it.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, most kids that were like applying for jobs as a sophomore or junior in high school, um, when I was in school were getting like$10 per hour jobs,$11 per hour jobs.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I just realized, well, the going rate for these yards are$25,$30, and I can do one in about an hour.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that would put my effective hourly rate more like$25 an hour.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's like two times what most of the kids are making.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so it started with that, and then I realized that I just really loved the process of getting business, acquiring customers, seeing the customers smile when I've finished doing their lawn and striping perfectly.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and so that was a first entrepreneurial venture, uh, was probably early high school career, um, just starting to get into lawn care.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also in high school, I I would flip shoes.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'd I would buy um rare shoes in good condition for a good price, keep them in my closet for a couple months, resell them.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that got me a little taste of entrepreneurship as well.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I entered school my freshman year, is when I started the candle company.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I started that was because uh I love engineering in the sense that it's problem solving and I love solving problems.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love it in the sense of like it's a very if it's when it's a very strict process.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um I like to be able to figure out an unknown process instead of being told a process and told go do it.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted to get some business exposure, even though I was doing an engineering degree, and I figured the best way to do that would just be by creating a business and just experiencing it firsthand.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: And did you make the candles?
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think when I graduated, I think I got fifteen hundred dollars of graduation gifts between family, friends, uh, uncles, uh people that were just giving me 25 bucks here and there.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and then had also been working landscaping, and so I had a couple thousand dollars uh saved up in my freshman year.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I I think I spent about$400 the first sort of investment, and I figured this$400 can if I do, I I kind of priced everything out on the front end, uh did my checks and figured this$400 investment can sell, I can sell about 50 candles from it.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if I sell them at$10 a piece, then I would make$100 in the process.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I would be, so I would have already paid off my equipment on the front end and um and I would still make some money on top of that.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I ended up selling, I would made a Facebook page, took some good pictures, um, ended up selling out pretty quickly.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um and as I was entering the winter of my freshman year, um, did another big push for uh for some Christmas scented candles and kind of advertised it across the school and uh was able to sell a lot more candles and then um in some ways just kind of became known as like the candle guy.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um so people would just come up come up and ask me like what scents am I doing this time?
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it started off just being for my freshman year, just being revolved more so in the fall semester around Christmas, and then um when I came back my sophomore year, just decided to do it for the whole year.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_00: And with me playing soccer at Taylor while I was there, my schedule was very confined to like very specific hours.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's like 11 p.m.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: to 1 a.m.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm able to sit down and make 20 candles.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I couldn't get a typical job.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the school was offering some jobs here and there at like 10 to 15 bucks an hour.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and even if I would have wanted one of those, I wouldn't have been able to just because of my soccer schedule.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh ended up uh going that route with the business, and that that really kind of sparked my uh or grew my my curiosity for entrepreneurship.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then on the faith side of things, my my parents are incredible, they've blessed me in a lot of ways.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I grew up going to church, and so I was able to hear um the gospel at a young age, was able to get good exposure to that.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I really didn't take it seriously until uh later in my high school career.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to live like a Christian, um, but really wasn't doing any of the disciplines that um we're called to as far as um getting to know the word, that um trying to live out Christ's character, evangelizing.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I went on something called the discipleship walk that was a youth sort of retreat, but it was more so uh focused on faith uh instead of like the activities that usually come with retreats, it's just kind of a deep dive on faith.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: And during that retreat, I was able to um really hear the heart of God, and I was like, that is something that I want in my own life.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so after that I I committed to Taylor, uh which is Christian school, and was able to um, I think being at Taylor, surrounded by other Christians, um was able to really make my faith my own at during that process.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now out of curiosity, it's kind of random.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_01: Was Jill a candle customer before she was girlfriend spouse?
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Jill went to Taylor for her freshman year.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we met.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so we got to know each other a little bit freshman year, um, but then she transferred out.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: She she ended up graduating from Liberty, and so um, we were long distance, but before we ever started dating, we didn't actually start dating while she was at Taylor, we started dating after.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh before we ever started dating, she hit me up and she was like, I saw you're doing that candle, the the candle business, and Christmas was coming up.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think this was my sophomore year, and uh Christmas was coming up, and she was like, My my mom wants to order a dozen candles to give out as gifts.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so um her and I had been talking like texting every now and then um at this point, but yeah, we ended up uh I I sent her the candles that she ordered and included kind of a little note, and she still has the note.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of funny from eight years ago.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: She still has the note that I put in with the candles, but yeah, that was one of the avenues of uh the first like kind of more deep interaction that we had.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest sale.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was the biggest sale, meant the most.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, that was uh funny to look back on, but yeah, we used to after we did the candle sale, we used to just play iPhone games like pool, yeah uh billiards and like Pong and and uh it's like part of the pool game, and so yeah, that that was uh how we kickstarted our relationship is actually through the candles.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: So candles, iMessage games, marriage, long distance, long couple years of uh did you see each other?
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she yeah, we would FaceTime it most days.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um she would come to Taylor every month or so, uh probably every four to six weeks we would see each other for a weekend.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't I was barely able to go to Liberty because of soccer schedule.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: We always had stuff on weekends, and so um that that confined me to only a couple visits a year there, and so she would always have to make the trek out to the middle of nowhere, Indiana, to come see me for a weekend.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: When Liberty?
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Virginia.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, so we were 10 hours drive.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: She drove?
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: She she drove once, she flew most of most times.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so it was uh it was a grind.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that sounds like needed to be very prayerful, yeah, especially with you being around other women at the school and her being around other men at your school.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the communication was very important, just how do we um reassure each other?
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not very good at communicating through the phone, as you probably probably have experienced a couple times.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not on my phone a ton, and so the texting back on time, um being intentional to call her.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: I try to be wherever I'm at and not really pull out my phone.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but when you're in a long distance relationship, that's like not really the way that it should always be.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh had to learn a lot of lessons.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: We've grew a ton during that time.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: We wouldn't change any of it, but it made it made us the gave us the attributes of a couple that we have now, and so we wouldn't trade any of it.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sweet.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else that you would like to share with the audience about any of this?
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_01: Any the business or the testimony or relationships?
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would just say uh if somebody's in Indianapolis looking to get plugged in with a group of high achievers, um I'd love to get people into Apex.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um right now it's not an open group, it's invite only.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if somebody has all those attributes that I that I've described as far as high driver, maybe you own a business, maybe you you just take your self-development really seriously.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right, this has been awesome.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_01: This has been Mike Maloney.
• 1:01:11
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, do you have any last words for the audience?
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've really enjoyed this time as well.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um one thing I would say is just if if you feel like you're kind of fit that mold that I was describing for Apex, you know, uh high driver, maybe you have a business, maybe you um are really focused on self-development, you're kind of in that uh uh 20s or 30s range and want to get plugged into a community.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um Apex is definitely uh a great spot to get plugged in.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right now it's not um public invite, it's uh private invite only.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um right now, as I've only been doing it for about a year and a half, I'm just trying to keep the culture of it and kind of build the uh foundation of uh the type of people that we want involved at Apex.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh it's something that if you feel like that would be a perfect fit for you, then uh reach out to me.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um my email address is Michael J Maloney12 at gmail.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um send me an email, let me know that you want in on the next one, and um you know if somebody's in in the Indianapolis area uh would love to grab coffee or lunch.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can also put your email in the description and I'll cut this out if you don't want it.
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_01: The eventbrite in the description.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that'd be great.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: Of this.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, with that said, this has been amazing and I appreciate you coming on.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for having me.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it, Tony.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.