Latest / Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden / Elevate Podcast Ep 23 - The Power of a Growth Mindset - Steven Emch, President of Orr Fellowship

Transcript

Elevate Podcast Ep 23 - The Power of a Growth Mindset - Steven Emch, President of Orr Fellowship · Elevate Podcast: Powered by Braden

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Elevate podcast powered
• 0:13
  by Braden. This is your front row seat
• 0:15
  to the stories of local leaders, both
• 0:18
  nonprofit and for-profit, who are
• 0:20
  shaping our community. Every episode
• 0:23
  brings you leadership insights, lessons
• 0:25
  from challenges, and practical
• 0:27
  strategies you can use today. And yes,
• 0:30
  we'll keep it real and have some fun
• 0:31
  along the way. If you're ready to
• 0:33
  elevate your leadership, hit subscribe
• 0:35
  and follow us on LinkedIn for updates
• 0:38
  and behind the scenes content. Now,
• 0:40
  let's dive in. Hey everybody, Jason here
• 0:43
  with another episode of the Elevate
• 0:45
  Powered by Break podcast. These
• 0:47
  conversations have been amazing, both
• 0:50
  for-profit and nonprofit business
• 0:52
  leaders from around the city. I've
• 0:54
  learned a lot. There's been some great
• 0:56
  stories, some good conversations that
• 0:57
  we've had with folks. This one's going
• 0:59
  to be completely different. It's going
• 1:01
  to be a lot of fun. A friend that I've
• 1:03
  known for a while now. And but Steve,
• 1:05
  welcome to the show. Thanks, Jason.
• 1:06
  Happy to be here. Thanks for having me
• 1:08
  on. All right. So, president of War
• 1:10
  Fellowship today. Yes, sir. But before
• 1:12
  we get to that, let's go back you
• 1:14
  beginning. Stephen, where are you from?
• 1:15
  Uh, from Phoenix, Arizona originally.
• 1:18
  So, moved out there. Was actually born
• 1:20
  in Indiana. Uh, had a small world that
• 1:23
  is this world that we through all these
• 1:24
  connections that happen. Uh when I was
• 1:26
  two, we moved out there so my dad could
• 1:28
  take over the family business which was
• 1:30
  childcare.
• 1:31
  >> Gotcha. Okay. So I guess I didn't
• 1:32
  realize you were born here. I thought
• 1:34
  you were born there. So my mom uh she
• 1:36
  was born grew up in a small town called
• 1:37
  Winterhack. Yeah. Oh yeah, sure. And I
• 1:40
  mean you have a dash cure by my dad's
• 1:41
  side to they uh own and operate to this
• 1:45
  day a coil spring factory in win. No
• 1:48
  kidding. And so like uh yeah I think
• 1:49
  like suspension springs and any type of
• 1:51
  like wire farms. John Deere is a big
• 1:53
  client of theirs. Polaris like then
• 1:55
  suspension springs all that type of
• 1:56
  stuff.
• 1:57
  >> Okay. So from Winnamak Indiana
• 2:00
  entrepreneur side on your mom's side but
• 2:02
  your dad was from Arizona the business
• 2:06
  there right you know you're two and
• 2:08
  you're heading out to Arizona to chase
• 2:10
  your dad your dad's going to start
• 2:11
  running business. Yep. All right. Sure.
• 2:13
  >> What's that look like if you're growing
• 2:14
  up in the family business? What's it
• 2:16
  like for you?
• 2:17
  >> Yeah. I mean uh there's high highs and
• 2:19
  low lows in family business for sure. Um
• 2:21
  especially one that was uh is uh
• 2:26
  aggressive with a growth trajectory as
• 2:27
  of my dad.
• 2:28
  >> Sorry, I put it on and for just context
• 2:31
  for everybody listening. Uh when we
• 2:33
  moved out there, there was only two
• 2:34
  centers uh underneath the business brand
• 2:38
  and when we sold which was now uh four
• 2:40
  or five years ago, uh there was 13 and
• 2:44
  we built all the schools from the ground
• 2:45
  up and so I when he was building it was
• 2:48
  super leveraged and uh very stress
• 2:50
  inducing. So he was managing the
• 2:52
  construction projects but also managing
• 2:54
  all the employees that you know when we
• 2:56
  sold up 300 employees and I take care of
• 3:00
  I had about 18 different kids every
• 3:01
  single day like across all those centers
• 3:03
  and so it's like the people logistics is
• 3:05
  just insane going
• 3:07
  >> yeah yeah uh service was like that so
• 3:10
  just being around that from uh just
• 3:12
  obviously super early days in a
• 3:14
  2-year-old
• 3:15
  >> uh was was crazy and so like around the
• 3:17
  dinner table ultimately we all end up
• 3:19
  working in business
• 3:21
  um talked about the business like what's
• 3:23
  the what is the family business? It was
• 3:25
  all we're all involved.
• 3:26
  >> So high school and you know getting into
• 3:29
  the family business. What's that look
• 3:31
  like for you? Or you're going to school
• 3:33
  or you working on weekends and evenings.
• 3:35
  What's that look like?
• 3:36
  >> Yeah, I was actually homeschooled all
• 3:37
  the way through high school.
• 3:39
  >> And so uh it we did like these co-op
• 3:42
  programs where it's a couple days a week
• 3:43
  we would go and uh do classes for the
• 3:45
  full day. But even when we did that,
• 3:47
  we'd be done by two, three o'clock and
• 3:49
  we'd go work in the family business.
• 3:51
  >> Oh, no kidding. So good. Work in the
• 3:52
  afternoon.
• 3:53
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Our 13th birthday present,
• 3:55
  all of us kids, like how many uh we came
• 3:57
  13, we we got a cell phone and a job was
• 3:59
  like, right, the Keystone birthday r uh
• 4:04
  families where parents are working even
• 4:06
  if uh the uh one of the parents stay at
• 4:09
  home um but they still want care for the
• 4:11
  child throughout the day. Um we were
• 4:13
  open up at 6:00 to 6. We would take kids
• 4:14
  from 6 weeks to 5 years old. Uh they
• 4:17
  drop them off and uh pick them up and we
• 4:19
  had you know obviously teachers with
• 4:21
  varying degrees of accreditation is that
• 4:24
  pour into those kids while they were
• 4:25
  with us and curriculum. So get in blood
• 4:27
  fresh for kindergarten and act their
• 4:29
  actual education journey once they got
• 4:30
  there. But
• 4:32
  >> um yeah, we were basically the safe
• 4:33
  place and dad went to to work to the
• 4:36
  prayer home and the bacon for the
• 4:38
  kiddos. Kids are really kind of get
• 4:39
  ready for school. you're getting ready
• 4:41
  for school in some situations, but you
• 4:44
  start off as a janitor when you're 13.
• 4:46
  You know, what's the what's the
• 4:48
  progression look like for you as you
• 4:49
  continue through I'm guessing like as
• 4:52
  you're finishing up school at home and
• 4:53
  then working, what's the progression of
• 4:55
  the job look like for you?
• 4:56
  >> Yeah. Yeah. So, I worked in the family
• 4:58
  possess uh basically as I was 24 when I
• 5:01
  moved to India. Um I held a variety of
• 5:04
  jobs and thankfully when you start as a
• 5:06
  janitor there's nowhere to go but
• 5:09
  uh that make it easy to get promoted but
• 5:11
  um moved from there to uh facilities
• 5:14
  manager. So and uh when you have like a
• 5:16
  dozen facilities and to get all these
• 5:18
  humans in and out basically the handing
• 5:21
  for the school.
• 5:22
  >> So there's myself and one other person.
• 5:24
  Uh we had a big panel man full of tools
• 5:26
  and and parts and we'd go around the
• 5:27
  schools uh every week and fix toilets,
• 5:30
  fix walls, like uh repaint the cerves in
• 5:33
  my security system like all that sort of
• 5:35
  stuff. And so uh it was a huge blessing
• 5:38
  for you know my life now is like I'm
• 5:40
  like moderately Andy so around the house
• 5:42
  I could I could fix stuff, hang lights
• 5:44
  and do all that stuff. Well, yes, sure.
• 5:46
  My wife loves for sure. And yeah, of
• 5:48
  course, it makes every home project
• 5:49
  achievable and like within reach now,
• 5:51
  which uh it cost my wallet on. So, it's
• 5:55
  like I it's part of my life. I wish she
• 5:56
  knew less about
• 5:59
  uh but yeah, it's like it's a huge
• 6:01
  blessing to be able to do that stuff.
• 6:03
  But I did that for that was like the
• 6:05
  longest job I had. It was about five
• 6:06
  years and I did that there. Uh so, I
• 6:09
  worked under a guy basically like
• 6:10
  apprentice under him and then ultimately
• 6:11
  like to perform in in that role. And
• 6:15
  then I ended my time really helping lead
• 6:17
  operation as alongside our um co our
• 6:19
  current job operation on the CF. So my
• 6:22
  job was really I'll say it was almost
• 6:24
  like a internal consultant for the
• 6:26
  business. So we had like a couple
• 6:27
  schools that were working really really
• 6:29
  awesome. They were just thriving and
• 6:30
  doing really well. And so I would go and
• 6:33
  I I would sit with them. I was learning
• 6:35
  how they did everything in the business.
• 6:36
  And turns out the lady that ran uh used
• 6:39
  to school had a director. And as I sat
• 6:40
  out with the director trying to get
• 6:42
  inside her head and I figure out some
• 6:44
  some tribal knowledge that made her
• 6:45
  special. She developed basically like
• 6:48
  proprietary system. So like every day
• 6:50
  there was a metric she would do. I was a
• 6:52
  pretty basic math equation about kids
• 6:54
  versus teachers and staff hours.
• 6:56
  >> It would tell her how efficient she was
• 6:57
  with her staff hours. I mean you you've
• 6:59
  been around service industry walking
• 7:01
  off. It's like yeah uh how efficient you
• 7:03
  are with your labor hours. It's like the
• 7:04
  entirety of the business. Of course.
• 7:06
  Yeah. You got to be that with the surf
• 7:08
  hours because humans are just expensive
• 7:09
  to deploy, right? For sure. And even in
• 7:12
  like quoteunquote low skill labor
• 7:14
  industry like we were, they're still 50
• 7:16
  cents of every dollar we made went
• 7:17
  straight to labor. So like you have you
• 7:19
  have to manage it really really tight.
• 7:20
  >> Sure. Uh and so she had this math
• 7:24
  equation and so once I felt like I had
• 7:26
  to handle on that it was we called it a
• 7:28
  labor matrix ultimately but we uh pulled
• 7:31
  that out of her school developed this
• 7:33
  proprietary system for how we manage all
• 7:35
  of our schools and it that that
• 7:37
  basically became my job was to roll that
• 7:38
  out and help everybody in your staff. Uh
• 7:41
  I bet they saw how to track their
• 7:42
  efficiencies across the day and then
• 7:44
  across each week and across the month to
• 7:46
  manage towards uh a truly profitable
• 7:49
  business. Yeah. just tough business to
• 7:50
  make a profit for sure. Um, and when you
• 7:54
  think about again like the employees in
• 7:56
  it, a lot of them work their way up to
• 7:58
  be director. They don't go to like
• 7:59
  business school to come back to run a
• 8:01
  child care.
• 8:02
  >> So, a lot of these ladies started as
• 8:04
  teachers and they worked their way up
• 8:06
  through the office to become the
• 8:07
  director. So um very low college
• 8:09
  education and even if it is college
• 8:11
  educated uh in my currently shopped in
• 8:13
  education you know with certifications
• 8:15
  and so we started bringing along for the
• 8:17
  ride and translating it's like a very
• 8:19
  very specific business outcome that my
• 8:21
  dad and I are managing to like
• 8:23
  profitability and uh managing service
• 8:25
  ours to be like here's how we take care
• 8:27
  of the kids the best while taking care
• 8:29
  of our staff while taking care of the
• 8:30
  business so we can take care of more
• 8:31
  kids well
• 8:33
  but that was uh that was a super fun
• 8:36
  project and I got to by kids into uh
• 8:39
  ultimately led to us being able to like
• 8:42
  scale what we did across all the schools
• 8:44
  and be sustainable, profitable across
• 8:46
  across the business. So that was super
• 8:48
  fine. So I do that stuff like that. Uh
• 8:50
  we're allowing security changes like we
• 8:52
  switch like it's super futuristic at the
• 8:55
  time, but like uh like someers uh for
• 8:58
  you to clock your kid in and out. So
• 8:59
  yeah, sure to get into the school. You
• 9:01
  put yourself on it, it would
• 9:02
  automatically clock your kid out. Oh,
• 9:03
  very cool. You was the dad just keep
• 9:05
  picking him up or his job. I knew
• 9:06
  everybody uh and you could have, you
• 9:08
  know, like your mom come put her thumb
• 9:10
  in so she could pick up the grandkids or
• 9:12
  whatever. And so uh we're little stuff
• 9:15
  like that out. It was pretty
• 9:16
  interesting. So but so you're 13, you
• 9:18
  get already five years you're doing
• 9:20
  handyman stuff, right? And and to go
• 9:22
  back of that, by the way, it's awesome
• 9:25
  if you do those things. I feel your
• 9:27
  pain. I can do those things also. And so
• 9:29
  my list curse, my list of things to do
• 9:32
  is is never gotten any shorter. And my
• 9:34
  wife's family is like, "Nah, hand deal."
• 9:36
  And so it extends out to my extended
• 9:38
  family too where I'm like pictures from
• 9:40
  my in-law. He's fixing toilet. Your wife
• 9:42
  your wife's ready. Yes, me too. I she
• 9:45
  never for money chain. I'm certainly not
• 9:48
  seeing it. If you're still seeing me
• 9:50
  dollars either, but I know I show up
• 9:51
  some places to fix things. Yeah. So you
• 9:53
  do that for about five years. So you're
• 9:55
  you're like about 18. Yeah. And now
• 9:57
  you're going around the business and in
• 10:00
  talking to people that are running these
• 10:02
  success centers. and finding out what
• 10:05
  makes them tick, right? You know, this
• 10:07
  this lady has this metric that you want
• 10:09
  cup. I mean, most people are get getting
• 10:12
  a chance to do that at 18 years old,
• 10:15
  right? So, what a great opportunity. So,
• 10:17
  so as you're as you're kind of working
• 10:19
  in the family business, you finish up
• 10:21
  school, right? And you're thinking about
• 10:22
  what's going to come next.
• 10:25
  Where do you go? What are you thinking
• 10:27
  you're going to do? You've had a chance
• 10:28
  to do a lot of things, you know, from
• 10:30
  cleaning the toilets to Yeah. fixing
• 10:32
  stuff to now to doing more operations.
• 10:34
  What did you like and what should it you
• 10:36
  were gonna go do?
• 10:37
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I like the I was
• 10:39
  technical, intellectually uh
• 10:41
  stimulating, cognitively challenging,
• 10:43
  all those types of words. Um those are
• 10:45
  the things I was drawing to was like
• 10:46
  hard problems.
• 10:47
  >> Uh I liked a lot and I'm an ambitious
• 10:50
  person too. So it's like how you unlock
• 10:51
  growth by like solving these heart
• 10:53
  problems basically is always what I
• 10:55
  wanted to uh sort of direct my attention
• 10:57
  to. And I'm a natural like super
• 11:00
  inquisitive person. uh very curious and
• 11:02
  I read books from like every discipline
• 11:04
  like psychology, physics like I just
• 11:07
  read it all because I'm curious uh and
• 11:10
  it's how you know like I'm covering
• 11:12
  insights like I got to with that that
• 11:13
  director you know was you inquisitive
• 11:15
  and asking questions but I mean you're
• 11:16
  the same way you just can't help
• 11:18
  yourself like at the end of the day you
• 11:20
  know she at that time how many centers
• 11:22
  did you guys have said at 11 11 at that
• 11:25
  point she's outpacing other people
• 11:27
  clearly she wants to be doing something
• 11:29
  you just need to go figure out what that
• 11:30
  is and how do we teach somebody else to
• 11:32
  do it? All right. So, you're you're
• 11:33
  you're working through those things that
• 11:36
  the inquisitiveness, right? So, yeah. Do
• 11:38
  you think you just you kind of came out
• 11:40
  of the loop thinking that way with which
• 11:42
  with your mom, your dad? I mean, just
• 11:44
  curious where that comes from because
• 11:46
  not everybody has that quality, right?
• 11:48
  Yeah. And to me, I think it's one of
• 11:50
  those three things that if if somebody's
• 11:52
  humble, hungry, and people smart, I
• 11:54
  think I could teach them a lot of other
• 11:56
  stuff. Yeah.
• 11:56
  >> Right. But the guy will be hungry to go
• 11:58
  figure out some stuff. What could they
• 12:00
  do for sure? I saw where do you think
• 12:02
  that came from?
• 12:03
  >> Yeah. I I don't fully know, Jason. Like
• 12:06
  uh and I was a big reader from from the
• 12:09
  get from the get-go. Yeah. Just like I
• 12:11
  remember the first book series I really
• 12:13
  got excited about was Hank the Cow Dog.
• 12:15
  It's
• 12:16
  >> I mean I I can't even remember what age,
• 12:18
  but my mom still has all the books
• 12:20
  because I have all of them. I'm sure
• 12:21
  excited for my kids when I read them,
• 12:23
  but uh I was never without one. a good
• 12:26
  family friend of mine. Even when like we
• 12:27
  went to church, I would sit back with a
• 12:29
  dick book and on a lighter service.
• 12:31
  Yeah. So, and you just remember dad
• 12:33
  Harry Sherry Potter and stuff like that.
• 12:34
  So, it's like not even like a book you
• 12:36
  should be reading. I was like uh I
• 12:39
  couldn't show it off. I remember too
• 12:41
  going on like uh we had ATVs and
• 12:44
  four-wheelers and stuff because there's
• 12:45
  tons of space to do that uh Phoenix.
• 12:47
  >> Uh and I would take a book sometime on
• 12:49
  like those uh ATB rides that would go
• 12:51
  on. I'd like read in the back like side
• 12:54
  by side. So it was eat aggro and I would
• 12:55
  just sit back there and read as we're
• 12:56
  like drowned in a forest or whatever
• 12:59
  >> which now like feels like squandering
• 13:01
  that moment but it was just like
• 13:03
  naturally how that's way that's the way
• 13:05
  I wanted to be right. So so good for
• 13:07
  you. So naturally curious you're solving
• 13:09
  problems. You're at this point you know
• 13:12
  with the business you started at 13 been
• 13:14
  working there how many years? Yeah. Um
• 13:16
  it was like I would say it was like six
• 13:18
  when I graduated high school. Um, and at
• 13:21
  that point I wasn't fully sure what I
• 13:23
  wanted to do, but my mom's whole family,
• 13:25
  so my dad didn't go to college and at
• 13:27
  all. Well, that's not butchered. He went
• 13:29
  for two weeks and then quit.
• 13:31
  >> Like she go Yeah. Yeah. My mom went to
• 13:34
  like secretary school basically is what
• 13:35
  it would be, which is work secretary for
• 13:38
  a law office when they got your uh so
• 13:41
  just the higher education world was not
• 13:43
  something we were super plugged into.
• 13:45
  But then my brothers went to uh they
• 13:47
  were engineers at Purdue and they did
• 13:49
  that within the family business out here
• 13:51
  at the assur
• 13:53
  mechanical which makes s
• 13:56
  intrigued by that. I love the fact that
• 13:58
  like engineering much like medicine is
• 13:59
  like a practice where we constantly
• 14:02
  being revealed and so I actually endured
• 14:04
  for two summers without as an engineer
• 14:07
  uh with no like engineering expertise
• 14:09
  but just like I would know what it was
• 14:11
  about.
• 14:11
  >> So you got to come to Indiana.
• 14:13
  >> Yeah. It was really similar to what I
• 14:15
  got to do as a child. It's actually the
• 14:18
  the first time I was out there,
• 14:19
  something called a a spring press where
• 14:22
  when a spring is made, it's actually
• 14:24
  made too big and then you press it down
• 14:25
  to the size it uh you want it to be and
• 14:28
  now actually is what gives it the
• 14:29
  tension. You press it down so the
• 14:30
  natural
• 14:32
  >> uh length that it would be
• 14:33
  >> and it was a very human oriented system
• 14:36
  like it was all built around a human.
• 14:37
  Uh there basically like this this
• 14:39
  rotating cylinder. Uh and there be uh
• 14:42
  yeah these cylinders coming out that the
• 14:43
  spring wrap around. So you can manually
• 14:45
  put that on. You press a foot dial and
• 14:47
  it would spin it to the next one. Yeah.
• 14:49
  And then you put another one on and then
• 14:51
  once it got to the back you press like
• 14:53
  another thing with your hands to make
• 14:54
  sure your hands always dual button
• 14:56
  press. Uh then it would come out press
• 14:58
  it and then you just keep managing it
• 15:00
  like that. Oh yeah. Sure. So it was like
• 15:01
  built around human doing that with name.
• 15:04
  uh and you just we thought there was a
• 15:05
  way to make it basically like automated
• 15:07
  and get the human out of the loop uh
• 15:09
  somewhat. And so my whole summer project
• 15:12
  was to try and reverse engineer that
• 15:14
  like all processes and then build uh
• 15:16
  there's these little computers called uh
• 15:18
  PLC's but they're programmable logic
• 15:20
  logic computers. And so uh they
• 15:22
  basically have a row of inputs on one
• 15:24
  side. They plug wires in it outputs on
• 15:26
  the other side that'll send outputs out
• 15:28
  of the fin. Uh I had to design that to
• 15:32
  automate the whole thing. An old kid to
• 15:34
  find sensors uh that would uh track the
• 15:38
  light and so like when it saw that it
• 15:39
  came up it would be like okay it's done
• 15:40
  and it's at safe position you could uh
• 15:43
  the the uh the pressing function. So it
• 15:46
  was a a huge tough challenge for you but
• 15:49
  then by the end of the summer you like
• 15:50
  could have got that done and then worked
• 15:52
  well enough that then they like
• 15:53
  replicated that across all their spring
• 15:55
  presses there. So it was very similar to
• 15:57
  like the exact same job almost which was
• 15:59
  the brewer engineering application.
• 16:00
  >> Yeah.
• 16:01
  >> Uh which was so fun for each uh so when
• 16:04
  I came back uh we went to community
• 16:06
  college first. Um I would say like
• 16:09
  ultimately the family you can know uh
• 16:12
  really wealth in the family business but
• 16:13
  at that point we were not wealthy by any
• 16:15
  stretch of imagination. Deb is very much
• 16:17
  in building business mode. So there's a
• 16:19
  lot of debt and everything. So all my
• 16:21
  subway, we started at community college,
• 16:22
  you tell me in Phoenix as well as go up
• 16:24
  to uh Paradise Valley Community College
• 16:26
  with the goal of being like a tier uh
• 16:28
  associates degree and that's a start
• 16:30
  here for engineering and then go and
• 16:32
  sash it somewhere else. Okay. Yeah. Uh
• 16:35
  but as part of it being home school and
• 16:37
  it's a little embarrassing, but I'll
• 16:38
  tell you and I guess ever watch
• 16:41
  uh so it's not super private anymore. Uh
• 16:44
  uh as a homeschooler I ended up like
• 16:47
  cheating through basically a year and a
• 16:48
  half almost two years of math.
• 16:50
  >> Oh no. And it was like oh tree algebra
• 16:52
  and algebra one leg which I thought was
• 16:54
  like fundamental kind of all went after
• 16:56
  freak over.
• 16:57
  >> And so like
• 16:58
  >> you know you're getting into like this
• 16:59
  these calculuses and I I had done a
• 17:01
  calculus uh uh in high school but then
• 17:04
  you start like more formative calculus.
• 17:06
  Sure. Yeah, sure. Uh, college and it
• 17:08
  just like my knowledge, my math
• 17:11
  knowledge was just like so thread there.
• 17:12
  And yeah, it was like Swiss cheese,
• 17:14
  right? There's just like random pockets
• 17:15
  of folds everywhere and it was such like
• 17:17
  an overwhelming problem to solve for me
• 17:20
  cuz it's like I don't even know what all
• 17:21
  the holes are to solve. Like if I would
• 17:24
  just go punch those, but it's like I'm
• 17:25
  finding new ones all the time. Yeah.
• 17:26
  Right.
• 17:27
  >> And so engineering just felt like more
• 17:29
  and more unattainable. So uh and
• 17:34
  I'll I'll show this to you because in
• 17:35
  Ford Park story when I went to uh uh
• 17:39
  college I tested in uh the presidential
• 17:42
  scholarship. So it end up being like a
• 17:43
  full ride to this community college
• 17:47
  which so so great like it was a huge
• 17:49
  blessing but then after that first year
• 17:51
  I was on academication because the race
• 17:54
  I was just the dud and it was like not
• 17:56
  going well. uh chemistry also was like a
• 17:59
  huge solo for me and now first year and
• 18:02
  so my solution Jason like super smart
• 18:04
  Stephen is like well I will just take
• 18:06
  business capitalist uh online over the
• 18:08
  summer while I go back to bean again um
• 18:10
  and I'm an engineer again uh with for
• 18:13
  the co factory and I totally [ __ ] that
• 18:17
  whole notes I make online self-pace all
• 18:19
  this stuff and I remember
• 18:21
  it was towards the end of the summer and
• 18:24
  I like emailed a professor I was like
• 18:25
  hey remind me when the finals at I'm
• 18:27
  like flower's class and uh yeah she was
• 18:30
  just like the final was three weeks ago
• 18:33
  like oh the class is done
• 18:34
  >> the work you were done you were
• 18:37
  >> I was just like so uh unblooded be like
• 18:40
  uned
• 18:42
  yeah
• 18:45
  it was just it was I guess I had darted
• 18:47
  this dark time in my life uh a little
• 18:50
  bit because I just felt like so lost
• 18:52
  like I was what I supposed to do and
• 18:54
  like buru it's important to burn My
• 18:57
  character formation story I would say is
• 18:58
  like growing up I was like the smart one
• 19:01
  in my family. Uh like uh that family
• 19:05
  friend that would always make fun of me
• 19:07
  for bringing books to church. She called
• 19:08
  me a boy genius. Like my great grandpa
• 19:11
  would say things like uh if any of us
• 19:14
  are going to be something it's going to
• 19:15
  be Steven. Look there's like a lot of
• 19:17
  pressure actually. There's a lot of like
• 19:19
  a young age. Yeah. Put on me. But which
• 19:21
  people don't think that they'll when
• 19:24
  it's a ball up. It's all up. Right. But
• 19:26
  the way that it was perceived right by
• 19:28
  and maybe not like when you were young
• 19:30
  when you were young you might have
• 19:31
  thought oh this is cool that yeah people
• 19:33
  are saying this but at some point in
• 19:34
  your life that came back and it yeah it
• 19:37
  didn't become a problem till uh I
• 19:40
  started not doing yeah that's when
• 19:43
  I say well spiral might be the right
• 19:45
  like it feels a little negative but like
• 19:49
  when you basically like build your
• 19:50
  identity around like a a fixed concept
• 19:52
  like that uh where it's like I'm smart
• 19:55
  but then something comes along that side
• 19:56
  tells you like no you're not like funny
• 19:59
  losing your presidential scholarship
• 20:00
  funking out of this class whatever.
• 20:01
  >> Yeah.
• 20:02
  >> Uh it's like an attack on your identity
• 20:04
  and it creates this like existential
• 20:06
  crisis for you.
• 20:08
  >> Yeah.
• 20:08
  >> And that that's really where I was like
• 20:09
  finding myself was like I'm I'm smart
• 20:12
  like I I or at least I thought I was
• 20:14
  like if I'm not smart like I don't know
• 20:16
  what I am. Uh I switched to to business.
• 20:19
  I was like I'm sure did my associates.
• 20:21
  Uh um I did come on to another summer,
• 20:23
  but it I was just like in a dark place
• 20:26
  mentally, so it was like nowhere near a
• 20:27
  spot. And like I was pretty sure
• 20:28
  engineering wasn't my future anymore in
• 20:30
  depth. Uh because of my own like
• 20:32
  selfishness and my own decisions, right?
• 20:33
  I'm the one that cheated. Um and so
• 20:37
  switched to business, get get my
• 20:39
  associates. Uh and then I'm just I'm
• 20:42
  sure we're going to family business.
• 20:44
  This basically I thought I was like my
• 20:46
  dad went to school for two weeks. Um and
• 20:49
  he's doing what he's doing. Yep. I went
• 20:51
  for two years. Like that's like 10 times
• 20:53
  as good. Yeah. Yeah. Peace. Uh, you
• 20:56
  know, I I started working full-time in a
• 20:58
  business, but I just felt like I was
• 21:00
  like wandering without a plan. Like I'm
• 21:02
  I'm a big fan of intentional wandering,
• 21:05
  but I and like chasing your curiosity,
• 21:07
  but I just felt like I was you like
• 21:09
  floating along in life. Uh,
• 21:12
  >> and so then I was I thought I might be a
• 21:14
  firefighter for a time and so I uh went
• 21:16
  back to that same community college and
• 21:17
  did like an EC course and went past
• 21:19
  that. network certification. Uh, but
• 21:22
  then the more I thought about it, I was
• 21:24
  like, I just don't know if that's at the
• 21:25
  lifestyle I want. Especially in in
• 21:28
  Phoenix, you start and basically until
• 21:30
  there's openings in like the nicer parts
• 21:31
  of town, you start at South Phoenix,
• 21:33
  which is like why gain activity, a lot
• 21:35
  of drugs, like it's pretty nasty. So
• 21:36
  some of my stuff goes down and then yeah
• 21:38
  uh you're just like in the thick of it
• 21:41
  like I just don't know that I had like a
• 21:43
  stomach for they would tell stories
• 21:44
  wasn't like the domestic abuse scenario
• 21:46
  was walking on and stuff like that and
• 21:49
  I just I didn't know I was like honestly
• 21:51
  mentally capable of like dealing with
• 21:52
  that chem
• 21:56
  absolutely uh
• 21:58
  >> and then uh right at the end of that
• 22:01
  time where I was like I'm I'm just
• 22:02
  trying to keep working in family
• 22:04
  business for now until I can find
• 22:05
  something else. Uh I went on a mission
• 22:08
  trip and ultimately went met my wife, my
• 22:11
  now wife's age who I didn't know at the
• 22:13
  time when there uh fun story of like we
• 22:17
  went to New York with at our church. Uh
• 22:20
  uh she was living in central. It's like
• 22:22
  a national denomination. She was living
• 22:23
  in central I was in Phoenix. Met there
• 22:25
  and did dispense and ultimately engage
• 22:27
  in Barry and then chose Indianapolis.
• 22:29
  She went to Baller. I wanted to be out
• 22:30
  here. There you go. And then
• 22:33
  >> yeah, I wasn't familiar enough with
• 22:35
  Indiana and I was like, I just need a
• 22:36
  fresh start, maybe get away from the
• 22:37
  family business cuz it's like too easy
• 22:39
  to just keep tucking back into that.
• 22:40
  >> Yeah. Uh like when you have a successful
• 22:44
  parent, it's really easy to like tuck
• 22:45
  into their wake. I feel like that might
• 22:48
  not be true for everybody, but it was it
• 22:49
  was true for me where I was like I just
• 22:51
  sit back here uh and ride coattails
• 22:54
  basically, you know. Um, but with the
• 22:58
  family business, my dad was third
• 22:59
  generation, I would have meant fourths.
• 23:02
  Had I stubbed around and you hear these
• 23:04
  horror stories about family businesses
• 23:06
  as they get to that point where it just
• 23:07
  gets messy, messier and messier. It was
• 23:10
  getting true for for ours. Uh,
• 23:12
  unfortunately, I would say my dad's
• 23:14
  family isn't the emotionally healthiest
• 23:17
  family anyway. Uh, pretty emotionally
• 23:19
  rude. And so my but I remember having a
• 23:22
  conversation with that where he goes
• 23:23
  like it's too late for me but you need
• 23:25
  to get out while you still can basically
• 23:28
  so he's got to go down that he ends up
• 23:30
  selling the fam business. Yep. But at
• 23:32
  this point you go to New York there's
• 23:34
  always there's always a girl story. So
• 23:37
  so you meet a girl. Yeah. And she goes
• 23:39
  to Butler. She was from Illinois. You
• 23:42
  knew obviously a little bit of northern
• 23:43
  Indiana. So you decide you're gonna move
• 23:46
  to Indie. Yeah. Do you do you move here
• 23:48
  without a role, without a job? We got
• 23:50
  one like
• 23:52
  a month before we get out here, I think.
• 23:55
  Yeah. So, so you find something to do.
• 23:56
  So, what do you have at a company that
• 23:57
  you need to do? What what are you going
• 23:58
  to do next? Yeah. We really moved for
• 24:00
  for her job like she um she's a very
• 24:05
  kind to a very honest woman. And so,
• 24:07
  like as my career was sort floundering
• 24:09
  and hers was uh much steadier and very
• 24:12
  log than mine is. So like uh she's like
• 24:14
  I I think like I'm the more stable one
• 24:17
  in my career so I think we should move
• 24:18
  for my not yours which not every person
• 24:22
  wants to hear that and not oh yeah but I
• 24:23
  mean people don't want to say that it's
• 24:24
  cool. Yeah I give her a lot of credit
• 24:26
  for either of you willing to say that to
• 24:29
  you because guys definitely don't want
• 24:31
  to hear that. Uh what do you think of
• 24:33
  yourselves like to provide
• 24:35
  all this up?
• 24:37
  So anyway,
• 24:39
  as part of the departure from the family
• 24:41
  business, uh this right in it that page,
• 24:44
  but my dad was like, "You need to finish
• 24:46
  college cuz like if you're not going to
• 24:47
  be family business, I cuz like come out
• 24:51
  there." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was like,
• 24:53
  "You need to finish college like a
• 24:54
  degree cuz like you need to have
• 24:56
  something that's not the family
• 24:57
  business." So like take to the next
• 24:59
  thing, whatever that is. So I went to
• 25:01
  night school like Grand Canyon
• 25:02
  University. Oh yeah, sure. So, I took my
• 25:05
  two-year program that I had finished at
• 25:07
  PBCC
• 25:08
  and everything that would translate over
• 25:10
  to GCU. Um, I know it was about I think
• 25:13
  like a 16-month program where twice a
• 25:16
  week for 4 hours a night. I was just
• 25:18
  pretty miserable, but like they got it
• 25:20
  done really really fast. Yeah. Sure. I
• 25:22
  know enough. Working full-time in the
• 25:23
  family business. So, still stacking up
• 25:24
  meaningful experience. Yeah. On top of
• 25:27
  the the schooling. So uh we moved down
• 25:30
  in October of 2017 so I could do uh
• 25:32
  sales for lesson was a software startup
• 25:34
  here account since sold also but um I
• 25:37
  was a SBA right there when I moved out
• 25:39
  here. So
• 25:40
  >> uh that was my first job really outside
• 25:42
  selling business. Uh the whole reason I
• 25:44
  even got into sales in the first place
• 25:46
  is like I took a ton of aptitude tests
• 25:49
  uh on like what I should do in my career
• 25:51
  and almost all of them said sales like a
• 25:53
  top one uh for me and it was like well I
• 25:55
  got I got at least try those and see if
• 25:58
  I so le was a great for into that and I
• 26:02
  still do some of the tactics today you
• 26:03
  want to try new oh sure or fellowship in
• 26:05
  front of a new company that I'm really
• 26:07
  excited about like I take that with me.
• 26:09
  Oh,
• 26:10
  >> that always the whole system like you
• 26:12
  said trying to break down, make
• 26:13
  assumptions, house of cards, who does
• 26:15
  this, who does yellow, how can I tailor
• 26:17
  something, you know, even though you're
• 26:19
  the president or the end of the day,
• 26:21
  you're ultimately responsible for
• 26:24
  getting your message right in front of
• 26:26
  the right people. So,
• 26:27
  >> Sure. All right. So, lessonly, first job
• 26:29
  in sales, you're not quite ready. You go
• 26:31
  for or when do you go to So, what's
• 26:33
  next? Yes. I went for the uh eth that's
• 26:37
  right. That's right. Uh I have one
• 26:39
  meaningful story u about my kind of
• 26:41
  lesson and I I just felt in case like
• 26:43
  there's anybody listening as meaningful
• 26:45
  for but like uh I was like not good at
• 26:47
  sales when I first started. It was like
• 26:50
  really really hard for me. Uh, and I had
• 26:52
  moved to, you know, this new city where
• 26:53
  I didn't really know anybody except my
• 26:55
  wife's family, which they're all like
• 26:56
  super high performing. Like they're all
• 26:58
  really accomplished, like half of them
• 27:00
  alone their own business or businesses.
• 27:03
  >> And, uh, I barely like went to college,
• 27:05
  you know,
• 27:07
  >> just trying to keep up in this family
• 27:09
  and not embarrass myself basically, uh,
• 27:12
  and show that I want. Um, and then I I
• 27:15
  had this whole 48 engineering tube that
• 27:18
  uh I mentioned. So I was like mentally
• 27:21
  pretty fragile when I moved out here and
• 27:23
  it was almost like a dandy crisis with
• 27:25
  when I moved here where I was like like
• 27:27
  I'm not good at sales. I was like I
• 27:29
  couldn't do engineering and I was really
• 27:31
  involved in that church I went to FedEx
• 27:33
  uh especially with like the youth groups
• 27:34
  like high school and younger uh and uh
• 27:38
  at the church we were going to out here
• 27:40
  it's like I didn't know anybody like you
• 27:42
  so you basically become like a rabb I
• 27:44
  was like important in a family business
• 27:45
  I was important church and then you come
• 27:46
  be an honest person you know at church
• 27:48
  in the city at business like all these
• 27:51
  things and so uh Alice and I actually
• 27:54
  ended up on uh performance improvement
• 27:56
  plan which basically is they're about to
• 27:57
  fire Yeah. Well, you know, his follow
• 28:01
  and uh there's there's two books that I
• 28:04
  say I chaped a course in uh that I I'd
• 28:07
  read one a while before and then I read
• 28:10
  on the other one of them is on your shop
• 28:11
  back here by Jaffa will like um at least
• 28:14
  Abbott and just like fully taken
• 28:16
  ownership of the situation and do even
• 28:18
  the stuff that's not my fault like I'm
• 28:20
  going to own because unless you fully
• 28:22
  own it own the problem you can't own a
• 28:25
  solution like it's always something else
• 28:26
  has to fix. Like if I think you know my
• 28:29
  family never should put that pressure on
• 28:30
  me. It's like okay well that it's like
• 28:32
  they're frustrated and then take off
• 28:34
  like I was yeah I don't have a choice.
• 28:36
  Yeah I have to wait for that to
• 28:38
  recognize and do that or I can just be
• 28:40
  like it wasn't fair maybe that those
• 28:42
  were comments that were made and I was
• 28:43
  pressure but like it's what was said and
• 28:45
  like I don't have to internalize that
• 28:46
  and I can like leave that to the side or
• 28:48
  try to. Um so shoe mode was really good
• 28:52
  for me on on that aspect and some of the
• 28:54
  work for it. But then the other book was
• 28:55
  on uh mindset by Carol Dwick and she
• 28:58
  basically talked about like a growth
• 28:59
  mindset versus a fixed mindset. Yeah. So
• 29:03
  uh the quick synopsis is like a fixed
• 29:05
  mindset exactly what I described earlier
• 29:07
  where it's like I'm a smart person. And
• 29:09
  so I smart things that are challenging
• 29:12
  sees me. I ought to try. And so when
• 29:15
  it's why it was so threatening to me
• 29:18
  when like school start started going
• 29:20
  poorly and I wasn't doing as well at
• 29:22
  work is because like what I'm smart I'm
• 29:24
  successful like these things just happen
• 29:25
  like I'm supposed to be good at that. Uh
• 29:27
  there's like a direct attack to my
• 29:28
  people but yeah sure as this a smart
• 29:31
  person. Uh but the growth mindset is
• 29:34
  like basically saying like I can become
• 29:36
  good at almost anything. It might be
• 29:38
  more times than other people be good at
• 29:40
  a specific task. like some people are a
• 29:42
  math person. Yeah, just naturally could
• 29:45
  be better at it right than I am. That
• 29:47
  doesn't mean I can't be great if I give
• 29:49
  it enough time to do it. And so I think
• 29:52
  reading the two of those together was
• 29:54
  really like that they like compounded
• 29:56
  each other in some really meaningful
• 29:58
  ways or
• 30:00
  it was the same viewpoint uh of the
• 30:03
  story where it was like nobody knows me
• 30:04
  but nobody here I'm not doing well like
• 30:06
  all these things. Uh but it was just
• 30:08
  like a different perspective on it where
• 30:10
  it was like because nobody knows me like
• 30:13
  knows no history. It's like I can tell
• 30:15
  that I can be anything I want. That's
• 30:17
  right.
• 30:17
  >> And I feel like that's when the whole
• 30:19
  story slipped for me where I was
• 30:21
  actually able to take more ownership of
• 30:23
  my story and be like well I want people
• 30:24
  to think I'm awesome.
• 30:25
  >> Yeah. Not for an egotistical reason but
• 30:27
  it's like nobody knows I was like a
• 30:29
  screw out kid in high school. That's
• 30:30
  right. And like [ __ ] too many pranks and
• 30:32
  all this stuff. Like nobody knows that
• 30:33
  I'm million red. I was like freaking
• 30:35
  around me and I sit with people at
• 30:36
  church or at the halls of the high
• 30:38
  school I want to. It's like uh I'm just
• 30:41
  stupid, right? And I can do whatever I
• 30:43
  want. So just like actually trying to
• 30:45
  save my kids in that opportunity. Yeah.
• 30:47
  In a real way. Uh I think I mean I said
• 30:50
  the trajectory my whole life on that
• 30:52
  moment where I was like well I'm going
• 30:53
  to write the best story I didn't think
• 30:54
  of. That's amazing. So what a cool turn,
• 30:58
  right? And it's actually interesting. I
• 31:00
  think I was supposed to spend a couple
• 31:01
  events on this part because a lot of
• 31:02
  folks get stuck in the first part of
• 31:05
  that where nobody knows me.
• 31:08
  It's all these things, right? But the
• 31:10
  light finally goes, you read those two
• 31:12
  books. I'm curious, did you just find
• 31:14
  those books? Did somebody recommend
• 31:16
  them? Remember how he stumbled into
• 31:17
  those two books? Yeah. Uh, Extreme
• 31:20
  Ownership would have been um to a guy
• 31:22
  named Tom Billy who's he's a internet
• 31:25
  influencer now, but at the time he was
• 31:27
  um he was one of the co-founders of like
• 31:28
  Quest Nutrition. And they do those like
• 31:29
  protein bars and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
• 31:31
  >> And he used to do this uh show at Quest
• 31:34
  called Inside Quest and they'd bring in
• 31:35
  people like science sick and whatever
• 31:37
  else to talk about should they're
• 31:38
  thinking about and Tom Doy and I like a
• 31:40
  reading lesson. Actually ship was one of
• 31:42
  his top books of all time. Got it. So I
• 31:44
  read that one because of that honestly I
• 31:47
  think mindset I might have discovered
• 31:48
  through that but it uh pick it up for
• 31:51
  years and years later. Got it. Okay.
• 31:53
  >> It's just it's just interest. I'm always
• 31:55
  curious because sometimes somebody says,
• 31:56
  "Hey, take a look at this or you're kind
• 31:58
  of saying from a mentor."
• 32:00
  >> All right. So, you're adolescently,
• 32:02
  you're selling.
• 32:03
  >> I think everybody that's ever going to
• 32:04
  be a leader in any company should ask if
• 32:06
  you're sales and make calls because yep.
• 32:10
  >> It's good thing to learn sales or work
• 32:12
  in service industry like the food
• 32:14
  service industry. Go be away.
• 32:17
  >> Yeah.
• 32:17
  >> Go do those both things. Then come talk
• 32:19
  to me later. Huh? Yeah. All right. So,
• 32:20
  lesson to me. You need to go work for
• 32:22
  the steak.
• 32:22
  >> Yeah. So what do you do for the sake?
• 32:24
  >> Yeah. Uh
• 32:26
  but that's uh interestingly like really
• 32:28
  hard to describe just mostly because of
• 32:30
  the time how it all works. So uh I moved
• 32:32
  here October 2017 and started less
• 32:34
  something right away. Uh and then uh it
• 32:37
  was three years later. March of 2020 is
• 32:39
  when I switched to the state. Okay. And
• 32:40
  so like March 2020 was like y going on.
• 32:43
  Well, do you remember kind of remember
• 32:45
  those days?
• 32:46
  >> Yeah.
• 32:46
  >> Yeah. So uh the job I was hired to go do
• 32:49
  um I never really did much of because of
• 32:52
  co but it was an entrepreneurial program
• 32:54
  manager. So uh the state of Indiana has
• 32:58
  a entity called the India economic
• 33:00
  development corporation. They're a quasi
• 33:02
  governmental organization but they're
• 33:03
  interested in department of commerce.
• 33:05
  Their job good jobs better johns for
• 33:07
  hoosers around the state. So helping
• 33:09
  companies like uh bridge business
• 33:10
  systems grow and evolve across time
• 33:13
  helping connect great talent like what
• 33:15
  obstacles are in your way uh as a
• 33:16
  business as you're trying to grow and
• 33:18
  out of your ros as a state uh across the
• 33:20
  whole ecosystem.
• 33:22
  So I was really on the front end of that
• 33:24
  is like as the entrepreneurs are
• 33:25
  starting their businesses. Um that's
• 33:28
  risky at heart anyway. How do we make it
• 33:31
  make more stories like lessonly or more
• 33:33
  stories like Braden happen uh
• 33:34
  consistently? Um it has a
• 33:38
  entrepreneurship rate of 2%. So 2% are
• 33:41
  going to go on to be entrepreneurs
• 33:42
  autoion or own meaningful parts of it.
• 33:44
  Yeah. Sure. So it's like not it's not a
• 33:46
  lot of people when you think about the
• 33:47
  amount of magnitude and even like think
• 33:49
  about brain like the amount of people
• 33:51
  that touch it because it exists uh super
• 33:54
  meaningful. So you want to maximize the
• 33:56
  amount of people going into that route
• 33:58
  as possible and then the ones that go
• 33:59
  that they're as successful as possible.
• 34:00
  >> Of course. Yeah. Because if 2% are going
• 34:02
  into it well a lot of the people going
• 34:04
  in are failing.
• 34:05
  >> Yeah. Fail, right? Yeah. And they own
• 34:06
  you know 100% of like business which is
• 34:09
  savage what happens. Uh so yeah March
• 34:12
  2020 I started to do that. Uh I was like
• 34:15
  going through your onboarding and I
• 34:16
  remember like uh the Monday meeting like
• 34:19
  the all team meeting there's we were
• 34:22
  meeting we're talking about co obviously
• 34:24
  and one of the leaders made a comment
• 34:26
  about how like uh you know when you're
• 34:28
  work for the state like we're we're
• 34:29
  coming in every day still uh we come in
• 34:32
  everybody else stays home and all that
• 34:34
  stuff we're like and then like literally
• 34:36
  a week later that same meeting he's like
• 34:38
  uh we'll shut it down in the office
• 34:40
  back
• 34:43
  but it kind of put weird spot being so
• 34:45
  fresh in dog or you know it's like when
• 34:47
  you're weak in your role especially
• 34:48
  among like and your government here in
• 34:50
  India has a 30,000 person organization
• 34:51
  so it's like you're part of a huge
• 34:53
  bureaucratic thing of course yeah even
• 34:55
  though IC was only like 170 people at
• 34:59
  the time when I worked there so uh
• 35:02
  there's a ton of layers to try to figure
• 35:03
  out well how do we do my job or I access
• 35:06
  my email like there it's pretty hard
• 35:08
  actually they're my hours and all that
• 35:11
  it's it's a challenge and so I I would
• 35:13
  say it was almost like month I just like
• 35:15
  sat at home with like nothing to do like
• 35:18
  >> no kidding
• 35:18
  >> and nobody I mean nobody was checking on
• 35:20
  you because it was like two active
• 35:23
  the the background was like IEC was ted
• 35:26
  by govern then Governor Hulcom to uh
• 35:29
  sort of manifest the state's response to
• 35:31
  COVID especially on like the the PPE
• 35:33
  front so like all the personal
• 35:35
  protective equipment that the hospitals
• 35:36
  needed ago uh we were trying to find
• 35:38
  that across the whole world and get here
• 35:40
  and worked with the National Guard as
• 35:43
  our distribution center. So we ship it
• 35:45
  all to there to them and it gets the
• 35:46
  hospitals and stuff. Uh so they're
• 35:49
  handling that and then there's a bunch
• 35:50
  of grant programs
• 35:52
  uh and of which Chuck I ended up buying
• 35:54
  one of them. Uh-huh. Because like I was
• 35:56
  sitting at home and I was like I just
• 35:58
  well it is just like waste of my time
• 36:01
  and my money as a taxpayer like you
• 36:03
  always see a waste of my sure and like I
• 36:05
  don't want to be off or fired because
• 36:07
  like you in the early days everybody
• 36:10
  looked that economy is like in trouble
• 36:12
  with tricky and like going to happen
• 36:14
  across the board. Uh I should have known
• 36:16
  like well you work for the state you're
• 36:17
  generally pretty safe and so I know
• 36:19
  those things but I still was like I have
• 36:20
  to like figure out how to be valuable
• 36:22
  right now. Sure. And so I just started
• 36:24
  like that people uh as it's probably
• 36:27
  like two or three weeks into that month
• 36:29
  that all I just started reaching out to
• 36:31
  my boss, other people on my team that
• 36:33
  were like always above me. It was just
• 36:34
  like I just what can I do? What can I
• 36:36
  do? What do you do? And nobody had time
• 36:37
  to even like give me a job. But it was
• 36:40
  just like trying to kill all the time
• 36:42
  and then you sort of got pulled into
• 36:44
  random things and uh one thing led to
• 36:47
  another and then ultimately uh there's a
• 36:50
  skeleton crew of us. There's only four
• 36:51
  of us and we came into the office every
• 36:52
  day for the entire co experience then
• 36:54
  from out but uh
• 36:57
  uh we were sort of managing the
• 37:00
  operations behind all the PPE buying and
• 37:02
  then once the grants got stood up like
• 37:04
  then I came like my full-time job was
• 37:06
  managing uh
• 37:09
  once we finished putting money into it
• 37:11
  was like 500 million for the what's
• 37:13
  called like a small business reser
• 37:14
  program. So businesses would ship us
• 37:17
  their P&Ls and if you could show a
• 37:20
  material loss because of COVID like
• 37:22
  where it was a clear goive uh the
• 37:25
  government basically cover your expenses
• 37:27
  for a certain amount of time up to in a
• 37:28
  certain amount of it was great uh saved
• 37:31
  a lot of businesses uh but it was like
• 37:33
  an incredibly challenging process to
• 37:35
  stand when you think about the amount of
• 37:37
  paperwork and like due diligence you
• 37:39
  have to do and that the money that was
• 37:40
  coming in is federal money and so like
• 37:42
  if you do a good job validate the
• 37:44
  outflows Like the federal government
• 37:46
  should come to India and say we want
• 37:48
  allow you back. Yeah, sure. It's like
• 37:50
  stressful. It's like I want I don't want
• 37:52
  to be over
• 37:55
  like government. I don't It's like a
• 37:58
  good thing on my resume. Oh my gosh. You
• 38:00
  don't look bad for sure.
• 38:01
  >> Yeah. Um, so yeah, like I I feel like
• 38:06
  the theme of really the background from
• 38:08
  my found which there's a couple stories
• 38:10
  I need to go back touch on from there
• 38:12
  above and then uh at the IUDC was just
• 38:15
  like forcing my my way into being useful
• 38:17
  and valuable in ways that were like not
• 38:19
  directly connected to my job at all but
• 38:21
  just like I want to be helpful and who
• 38:22
  wouldn't be helpful, how can I be
• 38:24
  helpful and trying to leverage whatever
• 38:26
  experience I had which sure have
• 38:28
  >> you know the family business gave me
• 38:30
  like a decade of experience by the time
• 38:31
  I joined join your workforce which I'm
• 38:33
  super super thankful for. But you were
• 38:35
  ahead of the curve. Yeah. Right. So
• 38:36
  you're a little bit ahead. So but it
• 38:38
  lessened right. So so obviously here
• 38:40
  lessly in the state. What were some of
• 38:43
  the other things? Obviously other than
• 38:46
  how long were you there? What other
• 38:47
  things were you doing?
• 38:48
  >> Yeahly was uh I got there it was the
• 38:52
  same week they announced the series B
• 38:54
  rout. I'm trying to I think it was a
• 38:56
  series B rout and then I left like a
• 38:58
  couple weeks before they announced
• 38:59
  series C.
• 38:59
  >> Okay. So uh about two and a half year st
• 39:02
  uh most of that I was doing uh well for
• 39:05
  all of it I had the role of SBR just
• 39:07
  across different cycles of the market I
• 39:08
  ended in enterprise uh SDRs which is
• 39:11
  like everything I said but just times
• 39:13
  like 100,000 person
• 39:16
  out uh so the strategy takes a lot
• 39:18
  longer uh but one of the the really fun
• 39:21
  projects I got to work on there um and
• 39:24
  this is like I tried to tell the fellows
• 39:26
  like this is how you get into rooms you
• 39:28
  shouldn't be in is just by raising hand
• 39:30
  they were redesigning how we did
• 39:32
  objectives as an organization because
• 39:34
  they wanted like Max the CEO for him to
• 39:37
  have a set of objectives but then we as
• 39:38
  an SBR also had a set of objectives and
• 39:40
  like for us build to be able to tie
• 39:42
  those directly to the company's overall
• 39:43
  objectives.
• 39:44
  >> Okay. So you basically have this like
• 39:46
  overall view of like hey here's our four
• 39:48
  five objectives for the quarter for the
• 39:49
  year whatever it is and how do you tie
• 39:52
  so I would know on like a day-to-day
• 39:53
  level how affecting business all
• 39:56
  trajectory and its goals because we
• 39:58
  wanted everybody to feel like extreme
• 40:00
  ownership of like their uh their
• 40:02
  dayto-day and how it would impact the
• 40:03
  business long term. So uh they asked for
• 40:07
  volunteers to help on this project and
• 40:08
  it was like in addition to your job. So
• 40:10
  it was like it was not paid. It was just
• 40:12
  like hey I own I want to help do this
• 40:13
  whatever. But because of that I got to
• 40:15
  work with with Max with car the
• 40:17
  president and then uh CFO Brian uh the
• 40:20
  big people maybe Jarvis uh all on this
• 40:23
  project as like an entry- level
• 40:25
  salesperson effectively. That's awes
• 40:32
  thoughts around how we should do it. And
• 40:33
  then you read books around it trying to
• 40:35
  like basically pull all this stuff
• 40:37
  together across all these uh like this
• 40:39
  were conversations. Uh and I think like
• 40:42
  that it just like helps get insight into
• 40:45
  like all the different uh avenues within
• 40:48
  loss that like I could take my career
• 40:49
  with any just like a better
• 40:50
  understanding of business.
• 40:52
  Yeah. I thought Yeah. And so it was that
• 40:55
  super beautiful project for for me to
• 40:57
  get involved in in it. The only other I
• 40:59
  say big thing that I got involved in um
• 41:02
  it was called the brighter ind but we
• 41:05
  put us out of what percent of our
• 41:06
  profits to get to local nonprofit. Okay.
• 41:09
  >> It was like the board that dated and the
• 41:11
  funding voted on who we did to who we
• 41:13
  are and how we would think about it.
• 41:15
  Yeah. It was fun to it was like the
• 41:17
  first board that stood that up and so
• 41:19
  there's a lot of like figuring out what
• 41:21
  the name need and rightation. Oh, that's
• 41:24
  cool. All right. So, so you're lessly uh
• 41:28
  one of the things go back there as one
• 41:29
  big speaker get yourself into a room in
• 41:32
  some situation.
• 41:34
  So, you have to do extra work. Yeah. I
• 41:38
  >> after fives, but you also were in there
• 41:40
  with the CEO, CFO, you know, all those
• 41:43
  folks. Yeah. Now, you're at a level
• 41:44
  where you're running more about the
• 41:45
  business, right? So, you're working at
• 41:47
  the state. How do you end up finding out
• 41:49
  about or fellowship? How do you get
• 41:51
  involved?
• 41:52
  because you've been there now how many
• 41:54
  years? I'm now three and a half.
• 41:55
  >> Three years. Yeah. Judging if I know a
• 41:57
  lot of word through the whole two and a
• 41:59
  half years at this I was at the state.
• 42:01
  Uh I got to know a decent amount of
• 42:03
  board members that uh we're at or at the
• 42:06
  time uh or is like a very much
• 42:09
  entrepreneurial organization and our
• 42:11
  bones like we're start by entrepreneurs
• 42:13
  about 20% of our alumni go on to be
• 42:15
  entrepreneurs. It's sort of like the
• 42:17
  agency we try to instill people with.
• 42:19
  It's just a natural outpouring of it.
• 42:21
  Yeah. Uh and so or was looking for
• 42:26
  really like a new strategic direction.
• 42:28
  They weren't really sure what the future
• 42:29
  would look like, but they wanted
• 42:30
  somebody to come in and help figure it
• 42:32
  out. Uh and they had gone through a few
• 42:34
  personnel changes. And so um one of the
• 42:37
  board members reached out uh Tiffany
• 42:38
  Ser. She was my first conversation with
• 42:41
  the or board, but she's like, "I know
• 42:43
  you're super happy at the state. Uh but
• 42:45
  can I text you to like come think about
• 42:47
  this?" some yeah sign up uh Blake Corius
• 42:50
  who's the uh then he was a CFO of Alva I
• 42:52
  think he's partner and CFO now there and
• 42:55
  then Jingj he's been an entrepreneur for
• 42:59
  a really long time but right techpoint
• 43:00
  and that into CICP and then
• 43:02
  >> has been involved with or since the very
• 43:04
  very beginning of the program
• 43:06
  >> okay
• 43:06
  >> so I interviewed with all them uh and it
• 43:09
  just seemed like a really exciting
• 43:10
  problem just like my kids it seemed like
• 43:12
  it connected the dots across all of my
• 43:14
  experience so far so like And I know it
• 43:17
  seems disconnected to or uh from child
• 43:20
  care. Although sometimes I say or like
• 43:21
  adult daycare.
• 43:24
  >> I'm just kidding fellas. If you like hun
• 43:26
  all the fellows off here just kind of
• 43:28
  but I mean your whole business is people
• 43:30
  when you're a childare like it's your
• 43:32
  little people and the kids or it's like
• 43:34
  the the people the parents or it's the u
• 43:36
  the teachers. It's like everything is
• 43:38
  people and outside there's like the
• 43:39
  cheesits and stuff you're buying but
• 43:41
  everything else people. uh and
• 43:43
  adolescently we were selling software
• 43:46
  for sure but I think like what really in
• 43:48
  this in the space like the
• 43:49
  distinguishing factor for us was really
• 43:51
  the culture that we were selling like
• 43:53
  people were buying that and wanting to
• 43:54
  work with our people over the uh other
• 43:57
  software like our software was probably
• 44:00
  as good but it's like the people that
• 44:02
  made it actually pushed us over the edge
• 44:04
  so for those that don't know and tell us
• 44:07
  about or I mean there's a lot of folks I
• 44:09
  know quite a bit I keep jazz about
• 44:11
  tired. But for the folks that don't
• 44:13
  know, tell us about our
• 44:14
  >> Yeah. So, our fellowship is uh we pride
• 44:16
  ourselves as an early career development
• 44:18
  program for versatile ad achievers and
• 44:20
  future focused businesses. Uh what I
• 44:23
  want you to hear is like we're basically
• 44:25
  trying to find the greatest people of
• 44:26
  this current generation that are out
• 44:27
  running businesses, starting initiates,
• 44:29
  living communities, and we want to
• 44:30
  connect the what we think are the rising
• 44:32
  generation with them, put them in the
• 44:34
  jet stream or whatever that activity is.
• 44:36
  And so if it like for bring for example
• 44:38
  it's like how we get a fellow working
• 44:40
  here working with there working with you
• 44:42
  to be close to the way you think about
• 44:44
  problems the way you solve problems the
• 44:45
  way you're trying to grow the business
• 44:46
  and grow people that make the business
• 44:48
  work.
• 44:49
  >> Uh and ultimately lally by doing that
• 44:52
  we're not incredibly prescriptive with
• 44:54
  outcomes. It's like if you put great
• 44:56
  people in the same room great stuff just
• 44:58
  happens. Like great people can't help
• 44:59
  but do that right. It's just a natural
• 45:01
  outwork. And so, uh, we we really want
• 45:06
  to like seed the Indiana marketplace
• 45:08
  with the smartest people we can have
• 45:10
  because selfishly when we're running
• 45:12
  businesses or people that are taking our
• 45:14
  kids to school right alongside us or
• 45:16
  like nonprofits or writing for public
• 45:17
  office, we want those to be the smartest
• 45:19
  freaky people possible. Yeah, of course.
• 45:21
  And we think we're fellows are those
• 45:22
  people. So, uh, a lot of times we're
• 45:25
  recruiting, assessing, and then
• 45:26
  ultimately matching these uh, university
• 45:28
  graduates. They're all graduating with a
• 45:30
  four year degree with these businesses
• 45:32
  and then everybody's agreeing to a
• 45:33
  two-year relationship here where they're
• 45:36
  going to work in the business for two
• 45:37
  years or W2 employee uh full employee of
• 45:39
  the business. We're asking for executive
• 45:42
  access and need for for the fellow to be
• 45:44
  um exposed to. So if you put these high
• 45:46
  achieved people in a corner, they're
• 45:48
  going to get bored, disengaged. Um they
• 45:50
  need a challenge, but they also need
• 45:52
  support because they're fresh out of
• 45:53
  college, right? Until we we meet the
• 45:55
  moment for them with the challenge and
• 45:56
  the support. Uh, I know we want broad
• 45:59
  exposure to business just like I got a
• 46:00
  less money working on that project. But
• 46:03
  like a lot of to people coming in, they
• 46:06
  might have ideas like I'm sure you might
• 46:08
  have like when you're 21, 22 about what
• 46:10
  your life's going to look like, but it
• 46:11
  just changes so much or so your life and
• 46:14
  so like which ones are exposed to like
• 46:16
  what life has to offer. Um I think like
• 46:19
  the big thing is like for the fellows
• 46:21
  the value prop for now is like we're
• 46:23
  putting them in the same room as so many
• 46:25
  other like ambitious growth oriented
• 46:28
  people. Yep. Uh not necessar I would say
• 46:30
  type A but like they just want to do
• 46:33
  stuff that matters. Y period and so it's
• 46:36
  just such a high quality network to be
• 46:38
  gifted right out of college. Yeah. But
• 46:40
  who gets to do that right? is pretty
• 46:42
  rare.
• 46:42
  >> Yeah.
• 46:42
  >> Coming out of college, normally you're
• 46:44
  on having access to the leaders of the
• 46:46
  organization at some of those insights,
• 46:49
  you know, they're getting a little bit
• 46:50
  of a cheat code. Yeah. Right. But then
• 46:52
  you mentioned like three to six kind of
• 46:54
  events for them on let's say basis of
• 46:57
  that's Heather. He has their group maybe
• 47:00
  do like predictive index and more
• 47:02
  themselves how to communicate with
• 47:04
  people. You know, those are things that
• 47:06
  most people don't get anymore. For sure.
• 47:08
  For sure. It used to be right. You go to
• 47:10
  work in a company and they have a big
• 47:12
  training program. Yeah. They it takes
• 47:14
  like a whole year. This is what it's
• 47:16
  going to look like. This is the training
• 47:17
  you're going to do. This is how you're
• 47:19
  going to do it. Kind of feels like now
• 47:20
  you get out of school. They're like,
• 47:22
  "Hey, welcome." And then they kuck,
• 47:24
  right?
• 47:26
  >> The ore kind of feels more like an
• 47:28
  opportunity for them to get that next
• 47:30
  level of access for so obviously your
• 47:35
  business. I I'm I'm curious if some of
• 47:37
  these folks are going to work at
• 47:38
  technology companies. Yeah. Sure. But
• 47:40
  how is tech is there any emerging tech
• 47:43
  that you guys are leveraging to maybe
• 47:45
  help some of these fellows or like once
• 47:48
  this next class starts we'll have about
• 47:50
  175 fellows in the program working at
• 47:54
  um probably like 115 different
• 47:56
  businesses 120 different businesses but
• 47:59
  there's only three people plus per
• 48:00
  account person in Evansville that run a
• 48:02
  while this whole thing. And that doesn't
• 48:04
  really even account for way back like 50
• 48:06
  books board. We have a permanent company
• 48:08
  advisory board and alumni board uh
• 48:12
  been about 800 alumni that have come
• 48:14
  program too. So it's like you have a ton
• 48:16
  of stakeholders definitely and then
• 48:18
  there's all these informal ones too that
• 48:20
  I mean we're connected to so much in
• 48:22
  Indianapolis just by like the fellows
• 48:24
  going out being awesome
• 48:26
  >> sh stuff. Yeah.
• 48:28
  So um trying to keep everybody like
• 48:32
  aligned on that can be can be tough
• 48:34
  without us trying to leverage the
• 48:36
  technology as much as we as much as we
• 48:38
  can. So um we've started to join around
• 48:42
  you AI but we threw around AI.
• 48:45
  I know it's I sort of
• 48:48
  the buzz word around town these days but
• 48:50
  AI for us has been pretty transformative
• 48:52
  on a few projects for us. No you know
• 48:53
  Kathy. Yeah, we were blessed to see get
• 48:55
  a a a lily adoptment grant just over two
• 48:59
  years ago. We had an aotment within that
• 49:01
  grant for software and technology. We're
• 49:03
  actually able to save the fellows like
• 49:05
  the fellows do some work on our behalf
• 49:07
  when they're in the program. It says the
• 49:09
  fellows we think it's about 300 hours
• 49:10
  worth of work. No. To like a K project
• 49:12
  that costs me I mean it cost me
• 49:14
  meaningful amounts to build that now
• 49:15
  cost like $30 to run. No. Yeah. Just in
• 49:18
  tokates and it's just going down as like
• 49:20
  we see the Alex continue to scale down.
• 49:22
  So I think there's just going to be
• 49:25
  opportunities like that where you can
• 49:26
  find like extreme leverage points. Sure.
• 49:29
  Especially, you know, we we operate on a
• 49:32
  tutor calendar. So we're doing the same
• 49:33
  stuff all the time, all the time. You
• 49:36
  know, every two years we start over with
• 49:38
  the class, which is like a good thing
• 49:39
  and a bad thing, but like it's just uh
• 49:42
  nature of our business. And so it's like
• 49:43
  there's got to be some opportunities for
• 49:45
  the repetition and the scale that we
• 49:47
  work at to
• 49:50
  uh have AI but lower the the friction
• 49:52
  should some of that and then I'd like to
• 49:54
  deploy some technology could the AI
• 49:56
  could be could not but like I'm thinking
• 49:58
  about the funny technology towards our
• 50:00
  like a vom base to decate for a bit more
• 50:02
  uh there's a ton of potential energy we
• 50:05
  need about the caliber of people less
• 50:06
  yeah in that number but it can be hard
• 50:09
  to actually connect across and it's 800
• 50:11
  people we've been around for 25 years
• 50:13
  now. So it's like that it's a meaningful
• 50:15
  segment of time. Uh and some people are
• 50:18
  like retired at this point actually from
• 50:20
  successful accidents that uh some people
• 50:22
  are literally graduating right now. So
• 50:24
  it's like uh quite the broad swath of
• 50:27
  gooping but I'd love to put a layer of
• 50:30
  technology around that. So you could as
• 50:32
  a fellow say, "Hey, I need help on like
• 50:35
  a demand gen project or an AI project or
• 50:38
  or wherever the thing is." Who in the or
• 50:41
  network is super super sharp on Restia
• 50:43
  and then having a way to just like
• 50:46
  facilitate those connections or alumni
• 50:49
  far down in their further on in their
• 50:51
  careers and they're like, "Hey, I need
• 50:52
  somebody that's like 10 years into their
• 50:54
  jobs to come in and be my VP of sales."
• 50:57
  Yeah. like I need somebody with some uh
• 50:58
  scar tissue, not not an or but like
• 51:01
  Yeah, I I love that caliber. Yeah.
• 51:02
  >> So, just trying to like actualize some
• 51:04
  more of that potential.
• 51:05
  >> I see pretty exciting. That's pretty
• 51:07
  exciting.
• 51:08
  >> Uh and then uh I think finding
• 51:11
  opportunities for us, we with Evansville
• 51:14
  that's about 2 years old now,
• 51:17
  we're basically figuring out what's our
• 51:19
  shared services model and technology
• 51:21
  will be a big part of that as a Indiana
• 51:23
  is basically our shared services. uh
• 51:26
  Indie will ultimately to be just one of
• 51:28
  our chapters. Um it's our special and
• 51:30
  it's our home base. But uh with
• 51:32
  Evansville, it's like what what can we
• 51:33
  take from Indie down there? Yeah. What
• 51:35
  does Evansville need to create
• 51:36
  themselves to make it Evansville flavor?
• 51:38
  It's like Evansville to start the
• 51:40
  program to keep more kids in Indie. It's
• 51:41
  like they want to stay in Evans all
• 51:43
  said. Yeah. So it's super competitive.
• 51:45
  Uh, so it's like we want to make sure
• 51:46
  it's it feels as homegrown as possible
• 51:50
  while standing around the corners that
• 51:51
  we've been and like not running into the
• 51:54
  walls we've been running into for like
• 51:55
  25 years behind a horse. Yeah. So
• 51:58
  technology is obviously going to be a
• 51:59
  meaningful part like how to play that
• 52:01
  that I think no different than any other
• 52:03
  business, right? Where can you leverage
• 52:04
  it to supercharge people communicate?
• 52:07
  You guys though the the base of 800
• 52:10
  individuals that have been in the
• 52:12
  program for crazy it's a crazy number
• 52:15
  20% of those have a possibility of
• 52:17
  starting the company right the exit at
• 52:19
  this point so there's great knowledge in
• 52:21
  there and great opportunity if you could
• 52:23
  leverage it forget about those younger
• 52:25
  generation that's got to be cool to see
• 52:27
  yeah so we talked a little bit about
• 52:29
  community we talked about Indie we
• 52:30
  talked about Evansville I'm just curious
• 52:33
  for the community at large right that
• 52:35
  maybe some know for fellowships. Some
• 52:38
  don't. Well, what's one thing maybe you
• 52:40
  want the community to know about, right?
• 52:42
  Is there something out there that uh uh
• 52:45
  they should know that the community
• 52:46
  should know about or fellows or and
• 52:49
  maybe direction where you guys are
• 52:50
  going? You mentioned Fort Wayne, you
• 52:52
  mentioned Lafayette. So maybe like
• 52:54
  what's next for or fellowship outside of
• 52:56
  just growing Indianapolis and
• 52:58
  potentially some of those other cities?
• 52:59
  >> Yeah. Yeah. So I think uh on the point
• 53:01
  in New York City cities is like the the
• 53:04
  cool thing about Ryan or fellowship is
• 53:07
  you know as a nonprofit I I tend to
• 53:09
  operate as an entrepreneur urban cost by
• 53:11
  myself is like we're not racing towards
• 53:12
  some sort of like liquidity of an Right.
• 53:14
  Right. like we're not going to sell this
• 53:15
  thing like we're created
• 53:18
  like we're trying to create an enduring
• 53:20
  generational family business and like it
• 53:23
  cross time. Yep. So, how do we set this
• 53:25
  thing up to last a long time and not
• 53:27
  take unnecessary risks? And part of that
• 53:29
  is like honor any sort of expansion
• 53:31
  strategy. It's like, well, the community
• 53:33
  has to be like pretty freaking ready for
• 53:35
  us to come. Yeah, sure. Because we'll
• 53:36
  put a lot of risk uh on me structuring
• 53:39
  seating like brand all this stuff on
• 53:41
  doing it. And then also when we placed
• 53:43
  our first 15 fellas in Evansville, it
• 53:46
  was about half of them, just over half
• 53:48
  had no connection to Evansville. Oh, no
• 53:50
  kidding. So, like that's awesome for
• 53:52
  Yes. That's really really right. That's
• 53:54
  amazing. But for us, it's like and we
• 53:56
  have to take this seriously. Like these
• 53:57
  are people lives that are messing with
• 53:59
  like right. Yeah. They're going there
• 54:00
  because of us. Like they're betting on
• 54:02
  that stat lash which is super ironing.
• 54:04
  But it's like we have to own that weight
• 54:06
  in our response. Yeah. Right. In a in a
• 54:08
  real way and show up. So as we think
• 54:11
  about it, it's expansion. It's like we
• 54:13
  want to make sure the timing is right
• 54:14
  for us and for that to
• 54:16
  >> Sure. Uh but yeah, I think some people
• 54:19
  might be in a position to hire fellows
• 54:20
  or they're hiring really career grads
• 54:22
  anyway or like how I load this up. Just
• 54:24
  come talk to us. We partner with
• 54:25
  companies in a few different ways. And
• 54:27
  so um you don't necessarily have to hire
• 54:29
  from our pool like we work with
• 54:30
  companies that have their own talent
• 54:31
  pool. We just layer on top as like a
• 54:33
  development arm, you know. Uh and then
• 54:36
  for any parents that are listening or uh
• 54:38
  college students that are interested
• 54:40
  participating like I'd love to talk to
• 54:42
  like my emails on our website, find out
• 54:43
  dead whatever. Yeah. uh just reach out
• 54:46
  like we'll make it happen. But then even
• 54:48
  if you're not a fellow or a potential
• 54:50
  partner company like I still like
• 54:53
  there's ample opportunity to get club in
• 54:55
  what or does like we're bringing
• 54:57
  speakers all the time to speak to the
• 54:58
  fellows that's why our marquee events
• 55:00
  the business leader speaker series the
• 55:02
  fells love it people like you coming in
• 55:04
  just like sharing your story. Yeah,
• 55:05
  sure. Much like we feel or what we've
• 55:07
  done here for uh last however much time.
• 55:11
  Uh nonprofits, we do like nonprofit
• 55:13
  consulting. The fellows will actually
• 55:14
  take on my strategic projects with
• 55:16
  nonprofits. So if you're a nonprofit and
• 55:18
  you want some support or just want
• 55:19
  fellows to come volunteer as I'm finding
• 55:21
  we try to coordinate that. Now I would
• 55:23
  say if you are intrigued by the idea of
• 55:25
  what we're building and you want tapped
• 55:27
  into the talent network or it's partner
• 55:29
  company network, it it just makes sense
• 55:30
  for us to talk and we'll find that
• 55:32
  answer together.
• 55:33
  >> Yeah. So, and then if you're in one of
• 55:35
  these communities that we've mentioned
• 55:40
  to actually yeah see right there that's
• 55:43
  that's what I was thinking was just it's
• 55:44
  good for the community to know that
• 55:46
  there's a lot of things to be involved
• 55:49
  with, right? And then it's uh there's a
• 55:51
  lot of what that could come out of this.
• 55:52
  Yeah, I'm excited to see the growth over
• 55:55
  the next few years. I mean, Fort Wayne's
• 55:56
  kind of a little bit of my hometown,
• 55:58
  right? be good to see something get up
• 56:00
  there at the Lafayette for Zoo and they
• 56:03
  miss they they do it's it's really
• 56:05
  growing it's changed and so it would be
• 56:07
  good to see some of those things amazing
• 56:09
  story so before we finish up though
• 56:11
  right so we talked a lot about work
• 56:13
  talked about growing up in Arizona
• 56:15
  working in the family business working
• 56:17
  for the city or and kind of how you're
• 56:20
  leveraging your talents and helping that
• 56:22
  next generation of of young leaders
• 56:24
  terrific story by the way so when you're
• 56:27
  not doing or stuff and the ebangs and
• 56:29
  and that kind of stuff. What's fun look
• 56:31
  like for you? What are you doing for
• 56:33
  fun? Yeah. Like um again a dad and three
• 56:36
  boys now. So like that's number one for
• 56:38
  Eddie is our uh five and a half, three
• 56:41
  and a half and then he's five and a half
• 56:44
  weeks old.
• 56:44
  >> I like it.
• 56:45
  >> That's the freshest one. So maybe six
• 56:47
  and a half. No, five and a half. Yeah.
• 56:48
  Yeah. So it's pretty hectic right now.
• 56:51
  But uh I mean uh boys are just so so
• 56:54
  fun. We go to their first techo class on
• 56:56
  Saturday for slide. That's awesome. It's
• 56:58
  just fun like be sharing G all the time.
• 57:00
  I feel like from my life just uh be the
• 57:02
  only girl now I'm like a fork with four
• 57:04
  other boys just as prone to wanting to
• 57:08
  wrestle and stuff is basically that's
• 57:10
  like all but it's it's so fun.
• 57:14
  >> Uh so yeah that we're we're very
• 57:16
  involved in our church here. Um so we uh
• 57:19
  we're carrier stewards is what it's
• 57:20
  called but uh we basically help bolster
• 57:23
  church member engagement uh at our
• 57:25
  church. Uh there's about about 150 that
• 57:27
  that tender remotely there. Uh and then
• 57:30
  uh I serve on board of the Shepard
• 57:32
  community center here in town. So it's
• 57:34
  on the nearest side basically having
• 57:36
  salt pottery for the near side. Yeah.
• 57:38
  And Jay Heights director there. And the
• 57:40
  plan right now is like how we re
• 57:42
  neighborhood. So how do you better
• 57:43
  connect people and create actual
• 57:45
  community amongst people that uh might
• 57:47
  not have otherwise? And like uh there's
• 57:49
  generally bad outcomes without that
• 57:50
  community. So trying to just help lift
• 57:53
  up that whole community. Uh I'm involved
• 57:55
  in the zoo board right now as well. Uh
• 57:58
  and then uh in Winnac, we actually
• 58:02
  started a nonprofit childcare to give
• 58:04
  back to that community. Uh uh it's a
• 58:07
  childcare desert. Um and so I have
• 58:09
  actually two sisters that live out there
• 58:10
  run it now, but it's called the Windmark
• 58:12
  early academy. So I help out there too
• 58:14
  where I can. So any Yeah. terrific
• 58:16
  story. Thank you. Thank you for sharing
• 58:18
  it, man. Appreciate it. Thank you. They
• 58:20
  celebrity. Yeah. His