Latest / A Heart That Beats for Home / 26. Sowing Seeds of Success in Young Minds with Erica McMullen

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26. Sowing Seeds of Success in Young Minds with Erica McMullen · A Heart That Beats for Home

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey friends, I'm Nikki Smith, your host here at A Heart that Beats for Home, the podcast where we're ditching filters and diving headfirst into the raw beauty of all things home.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Now, I am no expert when it comes to this whole parenting and marriage dance.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I'm simply a gal who's been riding the mom roller coaster for 22 years and a wife still untangling the mystery of it all 25 years after saying I do.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: My goal is to bring you unapologetically messy and boldly genuine conversations about cultivating strong families.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: We're gonna laugh, possibly cry, and straight talk about the joy and chaos that comes within the four walls that we call home.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: No judgment and certainly no perfection, just real talk from my heart, a heart that beats for home.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Let's dive in.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode here at A Heart that Beats for Home.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We're so excited to have you with us this week as we are in month two of our summer series on parenting.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Super excited to have a dear friend with me today, ms Erica McMullen, who I've known for gosh several years.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Erica is just going to be talking to us today about some really fun stuff that she's passionate about.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: That is so important when we're talking about this specific stage of teaching and training children in this second stage of development.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So, erica, I would love for you just to give us a little intro to who you are, your family where you guys live.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Give us a little intro to who you are, your family where you guys live, so our listeners know who they're listening to today.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, nikki, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I adore you and I love your mission and I love your heart.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: This is a perfect name for you, so thank you for having me.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, my name is Erica McMullen and I have three kids who are 14, 12, and 9.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I live in Tulsa, oklahoma, and I'm passionately in love with my husband of almost 20 years Passionately in love guys, just not in love.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So you do know that now we're going to be talking about some marriage questions.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: So when you bring up passionately in love, automatically there's questions that are added to the interview process.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: So you walked right into that.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Friend, I did, I did.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I can take it, let's go Perfect, all right.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Well, what we're going to start with is Erica has a heart for children and entrepreneurship, and so, erica, I would just love for you to kind of just give us a little background about how this I don't want to give too much away, but how this mission and this kind of prompt that God put on your heart and what that looked like, how it came to be and what you are doing.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Yes, I love it.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Well, I am a product of an entrepreneur, and back in the day they didn't really call it that it wasn't a fun word but my dad owned his own business, basically, and so I watched my dad work really hard.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: I remember when 2020 happened and people were looking for people to work, and so I watched my dad work really hard.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: I remember when 2020 happened and people were looking for people to work and I kept hearing people say nobody wants to work.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: These kids are so lazy and they were just making all of these blanket statements.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: That honestly set a fire in my soul, because, at the end of the day, I don't believe a whole generation got skipped on work ethic.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Now, if they did, there might be some holes, but the cool part is is we can fill in those holes right.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And so I started thinking about my kids and just the generation that they're growing up in.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: They have more than I ever had.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I grew up one of six kids.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: We didn't have a lot of extra, and so, in a world where extra is plentiful, I realized I wanted my kids to learn the same value of working hard, and so it's really easy in today's day and age to go to work, put that aside and kids never see it.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I have been an entrepreneur now for 13 years 11 years in a network marketing space, and so what's really cool is that I've learned really early on how to fail.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Teaching kids how to fail is part of the story.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I feel like right now we had an opportunity to help this next generation learn hard work, and so to be able to kind of like take an idea from idea to product table is huge right.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: To be able to take something where I think I could do this, what about this?
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: To like now I'm actually making a profit, now I'm actually, are two completely different things, but it's possible.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Teaching kids, I would say kids want to work.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: We just have to give them an opportunity to do it and allow them the ideas to dream a little bit.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: So in 2024, people work smarter and I believe that they still have to learn to work harder.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So, out of that stirring, almost maybe out of frustration and anger at a narrative that was being given to a whole generation, I think you're right.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's possible that the entire generation gets skipped of a core trait that I believe really is naturally in every one of us but, like you said, just really needs some of that refining and honing and, in all honesty, probably what it needs more than ever right now is just people to breathe life over dreams.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: We are told what the norm is, we are told what you should expect and what you shouldn't risk, and that's too scary.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: And so what was it about kind of that stirring in your heart that started to bring you to this place to create this young entrepreneurs group?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I would say the stirring in my heart was just the desire for more.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: It's to help kids at a very young age think outside the box.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I think kids are literally the ideas queen, right, like queen kings.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Like I'll be 40 this year, I always say I'm just full of ideas and if you'll let me just think on ideas for a second, it gives me the opportunity to breathe.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: And I started thinking I'm raising myself, so I should probably give them the opportunity that I was never your typical great student.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I did not fit the norm, but I can still be successful and I don't hold a 3.0 or 4.0 or anything like that.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I've got degrees for me.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: So I got the degree and quickly realized it was not for me, erica.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: That's so funny.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I just saw a meme the other day.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: It caught my eye.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: It was this really sharp looking woman and you could tell she was putting on like scrubs and then a doctor's coat right, and then the caption popped up and she was like dancing in front of the mirror and she's like me, just reminding myself that that C in physics doesn't mean a thing.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: And then it was her badge cardiac surgeon, saving lives.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: And it's so true that so much focus for us can go into the grade and the education and we forget to think outside of the box.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Some of the basic things that we don't learn about that are such everyday basic skills.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: So tell me then, all these things that you're wrestling with, you have this entrepreneurial spirit.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: What did you then create to kind of spur on these young kids to be able to step into, like you said, to being the king and queens of all of these ideas?
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: What did you do to then create that space for them?
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I believe God put me on this earth to really be a connector to help people go from like here's an idea.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So the idea was what if all of these kids could make an extra $300 to $500?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: What would that do for them?
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Some of them that was just extra money, but some of them that was groceries for their family.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: And so, being a connector, I actually just went up to my neighborhood clubhouse we live on a golf course and I was like, hey, here's my idea.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: What do you guys think of it?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Would you allow us to use this space for free?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: And they said yes.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: And so really, again, just being that willing to be misunderstood, willing to ask for what I want Again, that's part of entrepreneurship, but being willing to ask for what I want, be willing to hear no, but hearing yes.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: And they have really just continued to lock arms with us.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And so finding a space was probably the first step, finding a date the second step, and then finding other like-minded moms that wanted the same thing for their kids and that would kind of help me navigate things like technology that I'm not super great at.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: I can connect people sometimes, technology I struggle with.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: So being that person that will make the Google form and that will fill it out.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: And there's like, literally, I keep it so simple, and so it's just the idea that like, okay, if I can just connect this person with this person, they can make the signs, and this person can make the Google form, and this person can help me advertise and everybody posted on social.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And so, again, just getting the word out there, my biggest fear was that all these kids were going to do this.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: This is like what almost held me back from doing was that all these kids would do all this work and then nobody would show up.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: We know, that feeling right, right, scary, like all the what ifs, the what ifs.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, so real quick, we need to back it up a little bit.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know that we've actually officially said we've mentioned the name Young Entrepreneurs, but tell the listeners what is this event that you've envisioned, that now you're doing all this work for what is it and what is it going to look like in your brain, and then what does it actually end up looking like?
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, Okay, so it's actually called the Young Entrepreneurs Makers Market Original but simple and so this is really just a space where kids I would really say anywhere from my nine-year-old did it.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: He had a lemonade stand all the way up to about 15, 16 years old, where kids actually rented a space for $25.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: $20 went back to the project, which is just local human trafficking organization, and $5, $20 went back to the Demand Project, which is just local human trafficking organization, and $5 went towards advertising and marketing and signs and all those sorts of things, and so it was a way for them automatically to learn how to invest right.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: They're investing in money.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Cost you something upfront to be able to have a space, but then they also were able to learn that they were able to give and so take a portion of what they were already giving or investing, and able to give that back to an organization that's very near and dear to my heart, and so what's really cool about that is that we were able to talk to the kids and tell them what they were doing, and so this just basically gave them a space.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: So everybody got a table six foot, eight foot, whatever size table and they were able to bring a product to life.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: So we had anything from bracelets to homemade goods.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: My son sold growth rulers, which is like you know, your kids grow on this two by four.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: You put it on the wall.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: There was all sorts of things.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I mean we had crocheting and we had hats and we had kids were making art.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: One of my best friend's kids literally just started making these bracelets that are with bands.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It started the night before like I'm going to make these banded bracelets.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: We had puppy dog treats.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: We had deer antlers that were dog treats as well, cornbacks.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: So I actually bought all of those for all my teachers, my kids' teachers from the young entrepreneurs and again, a way to give back but also tell our teachers like, hey, thank you so much, like very practical right, everybody needs a corn bag.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: So again, here's an idea, and it was really up to their own parents to be able to bring this to life.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Help them bring it to life, because you need signs, you need pricing, you need you know how much did it cost you to start making the product and how much are you going to sell it for those?
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Again, those are all ROIs that they don't always think through when they're starting.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: You know when they're coming up with the ideas.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: It's funny that you mentioned the ROI.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: The other day we were driving and our son said something about oh, that's a good ROI.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: And never really having a conversation I mean, both his dad and myself are in sales and stuff, but ROI isn't like a term that you like throw around very often at the dinner table and he was like, oh, that's a good ROI.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: And I was like how I go bud, how in the world?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And he's like, oh, I was watching a guy making fish lures on YouTube and he was talking about his ROI and I was like, oh, my goodness, I love it.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: And it's just, it's so true what you were saying, that so many of these kids have these ideas, they have these dreams and we can get so busy.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And I'm not I'm not faulting any parent that hasn't gone head first with their child into entrepreneurship at a young age.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: But I think when you have that already in you, when you're born maybe with that entrepreneurial kind of mindset and drive a kind of figure it out attitude, and you start to just breathe that over the kids.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: I know in our life we saw that with our daughter, olivia when she was gosh.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I think she was in fifth grade when she started having these visions of raising money for Haiti and was able to take what was like a couple hundred dollar dream and turn it into raising like $19,000.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I remember that, many others and giving ideas, and what if you did this?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: And what if you sold sponsorship ads?
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: And that just brings this whole new way of thinking that is so outside of the box.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I would love to know if there's anything that stands out to you.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: So have you done this more than one year now?
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: So, yes, so we've actually been through two Christmases, so we've done fall, spring, fall.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: We actually skipped this spring, but we're into a big one in the fall.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: We maxed out at 18 different vendors last time, kind of trying to think outside the box and be like do I go bigger or do I just stay there?
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I just don't know.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Like I kind of wrestle with I don't know.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of like an entrepreneurial project for yourself as well.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Do I scale this?
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Do I keep it to be what it is?
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Is there anything that stands out for you?
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Is there a story of somebody that was a part of this, that, like you, just saw something come to life in them when this was done, or something that was just like so heartwarming from a child that went out and did this adventure and made the investment and put the work in and then had success?
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, gosh, I could think of so many of them, but one of them that kind of sticks out to me is actually the the corn back story.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: And so it's really cool, because you never know why somebody's starting right, like it's.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: When I started my business, nobody knew why I was starting.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: They just knew I was starting.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I needed something I hadn't made and so being able to kind of fill that need, whether it's time or money, to be able to do that.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: I'll also say that, seeing my kids in an environment kind of like that, they see me do something out of the box, but yet and this is one thing too let me back up for a second.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: One of the coolest parts about this is seeing kids to be able to learn simple human interaction, gosh feedback, so being able to say okay, whenever someone walks up to your table, what should you do?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: And so the next time I do this, I'm actually going to put signs behind each one of their tables that says greet them, ask them their name, make eye contact, ask a question, be more interested right than interesting.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: And so ask a question.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Hey, do you have a dog?
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: One of the kids that was selling dog treats, that was his slogan.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: He was like do you have a dog?
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Every person walked up and they're like yeah, well, you know what?
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: These are organic treats and I think your dog would love them.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he sold out in like an hour and a half.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: He sold out in like an hour and a half.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: And I was like, okay, that's a good question, right, like it's the whole see a need, fill a need.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: I actually say to my kids if you see the dishes in the sink, put them in the dishwasher.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: It's a see a need, fill a need sort of situation.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: So he saw a need, but dog treats were needed.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Everybody's got a dog, why don't I make them?
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: And then he brought it to life and so again, being willing to ask good questions I think helps.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: And my oldest is not a great.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: He's worked really hard at learning communication, at learning eye contact.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: He owns a trash can clean out business.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: He would rather pay his sister to go knock on doors than go knock on doors himself.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: He would just rather clean out the trash cans because he doesn't have to talk to.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Adults get rejected things like that, and so it's interesting because they are.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Some of them are getting rejected.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: You know, someone may not purchase from their table.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: So it's learning that whole like I'm going to win and I'm going to learn, I'm going to win, I'm going to learn, I'm going to learn again and then I'm going to win, you know.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: And so it's giving them the opportunity to see adults in a way that they've grown up a lot looking down and so it kind of forces them to look up, yeah.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: I love that you said we're going to have wins and we're going to learn, and I think so often we take, we don't look at it as learning, we look at it as failing.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: And what a great even just that replacement of words when we're talking to our kids, whether it be and not that we have to be afraid of the word failing, but failing just feels like it was a total waste.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: And when we can look at whatever it is that we're doing, whether it's a new exercise thing that we're trying, or a sport, or kids with something at school or a new subject it's not just failing, it's it's.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: It maybe is technically I failed, but it's that whole.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: What did we learn?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: How do you take that failure One of my favorite books ever is John Maxwell's failing forward, and it's that whole concept If you're not failing, you're not trying, and so just such a great thing to be able to celebrate even failing and learning from it and how that then propels you for the next thing.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you didn't finish the.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: You keep calling them corn bags.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Now, I know you're from the South up here in Illinois, I'm.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Are you talking about the game cornhole?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: No, or is this something different?
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: What is a corn bag.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: You got to tell us what a corn bag is.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I'm like I don't know what the teachers are getting that you're giving them, but tell us what a corn bag is and then tell us that win of that young entrepreneur.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this corn bag is basically a bag, probably I don't know, a 10 by 10 by 10, 10 by 8 bag, and it's full of corn and so you put it in the sits on you.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: If you have a headache, you know, close my eyes and put it hot, press on me.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: It just compresses and like feels so good and so does that not turn into popcorn, like it does?
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know, that's weird Up here.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Up here in Illinois, we use rice.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I put the same thing, but literally it's real.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: It's corn.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: It's corn Like corn kernels yeah, legit corn kernels, okay, All right.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: So it's like a heat pack bag yeah, heat pack bag, yeah.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: So it's like a yeah.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: So all the teachers, especially in Christmas time, they got this for Christmas, so it was like a warm and like yeah fuzzy you know gift.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so that kid he just sold out, he did a great job, a hundred percent.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: And what's cool is I feel like I haven't even got to like hear all the stories, because sometimes you kind of hear them secondhand and you don't really know.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Like I had a girl last minute.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: I heard about this young girl that really needs extra for her family.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: For my kids it was just money in their bank accounts, but for some of these kids it was providing for their families and so that was a really interesting place to be, also because I never really thought about it like that and her mom was so grateful and you know she was a single mom and just things that you're just like ah, okay, you know.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: And so it reminds me to again think outside the box but also be willing to.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's a lot of work to put this on, I'm not going to lie.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: And then I'm trying to help my kids and thankfully I have a mother-in-law who's fantastic and helps my kids with their boost, because I can't run the show and run their boost because it's like all over the place.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I'm super grateful, okay, so, so talk a little bit.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: So you, you had this vision and this has been something really cool.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: That parents that maybe don't have as much, we don't all have entrepreneurial spirits.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I think we all innately, like you said, have the ability to be hard workers, but that can look very different.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: That doesn't always mean people are creating businesses and have just that brain to put that together.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what are things that you would say?
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So this podcast, specifically, is airing in the parenting stage, which is that second stage, which is that five to 12 years old, which is the training and teaching.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: We've kind of gotten out of, like, the discipline stage of that little kid.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Now we're in this training and teaching before we go into the next stage, which is coaching, and I think you had people that were in that age as well, but really this fits so well into the training and teaching stage.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: What are things that you would say to parents who maybe have a kid that they see, man, they always want to do a lemonade stand, they always want to make the thing or sell the thing, or can I ask grandma to buy this from me, or you know, whatever?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: It might be that you just see that seed of business and entrepreneurship in them.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Obviously, your son had that with his garbage can cleaning business.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I've loved watching some of those social media things that you've put up with him and his friends.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: That might've been a little forced.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: It might've been a little forced on my part, but yes.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I'd love to hear where that came from.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: But what would you say to parents who see that in their kids?
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: What would you encourage them to do to foster that instead of stifling that flame?
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, this is so good because I have kids from both, both eras.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I have one kid who naturally has an entrepreneurial spirit, and I have one kid who, again, he would rather pay somebody to go knock or ask for what he wants versus get it.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: But what's really cool is seeing them both thrive in different ways.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: I would, number one, say if you have a kid who has an entrepreneurial spirit, who is like mom, I want to do this, let them Ask questions.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: But let this.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Let them ask questions, but let them.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Let them think through the full process.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, so what does that look like to you?
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Like, right now, my daughter keeps wanting to make candles and all I see is my whole house having wax all over it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: But I know that there's something that can happen, and so what's really cool is this summer I actually had the idea.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: It was Ed Milet that actually said this, and it was in his 15 things he would have told his younger self.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Number two was find a mentor and stick by them and be willing to work for free just to learn, and so it gave me the idea to seek out mentorship from other people who are doing things that I want my kids to be around.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: So I'll just give you an example.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: This USA hat I'm wearing was made by a 20-year-old entrepreneur.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: These patch hats are super cool right now.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: They're trendy.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: And I asked this girl I'm like, hey, the next time you do an event, my 12-year-old would love to come and help you.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Would you be willing to let her help you?
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: And she was like absolutely, this Friday night she ended up coming to my church.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: That was actually hosted her because I shared her all my social media.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: So word of mouth, advertising, right, that's exactly what that was.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: She came because I was at an event I shared her.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And what's cool is is my daughter came to that event as well.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Number one we made a friend.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: She's the most precious person ever.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: 20 years old, owns two businesses, goes to school full time, does all these things, but she let Ashlyn help her make hats.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Now my daughter is begging me to buy all these patches and all these hats and all these things and I'm like hold a second.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: And so it's putting my kids around other people who are doing things.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Last night, another 20 year old owns a lawn care business.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: So Braden's going to go and shadow him for a day this summer where he can learn for free push a lawnmower.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: What do you know that I need to know Right?
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: And so for me it's.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: I know I'm not always going to be there and I pray all the time for my kids' mentors because, at the end of the day, like my voice is loud, I can be loud, but there might be a time where my voice is not as loud and I pray there's somebody that they can turn to, someone that they can go.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Hey, I don't know how to do this, but I'm willing to ask and maybe you might know.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: And so the only way that you can let's say someday hire people is that you served, you learn to serve people really well.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: And so at 12 and 14, I'm thinking, if they can learn to serve right.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: You're not getting paid to make hats.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: You're not getting paid to push a lawnmower, although you could.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: What does that look like?
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: So I think it's important that we, right as parents, again hold on to that piece of how can I help you, how can I let them do things, but without having to do everything, every idea that they have, if that makes sense.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: So, some kids, I have to basically say if you want X, you have to go do X and another kid's like hey mom, can I go sell candy bars?
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: I got candy bars in my you know thing and I'm like it was just Valentine's Day, can we just wait.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Everybody's got chocolate and but she's just excited, she wants to get out there and help people.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Isn't it so interesting how they can be wired so differently?
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: So just to piggyback kind of on that, I love that you've mentioned that your son, who has the garbage can cleaning business, which is brilliant.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I was showing that to my husband and he's like that is if somebody knocked on my door.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Yes and yes.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Ironically, we have a 14 year old son, so we just need to have him go do that.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Yes, but what?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: How do you talk?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Number one it's brilliant that he's like I don't want to do it.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: I think some parents would be like no, you have to go do that.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Like there's good and there's bad of everything, you have to go do the bad.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: So how did you navigate?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Being okay with him saying I'm going to pay my sister to do the dirty work which I guess cleaning garbage cans isn't necessarily not dirty work but recognizing his strengths and not forcing him to have to go do that part in order to have the part that he was wanting to do?
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And then how do you help your kids process through failure when they knock on the door and it's a no, or they try a business and it doesn't work?
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm in Oklahoma, so our typical summer is well over a hundred degrees and I remember it was a.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: The way you do a trash can business is it has to happen on trash days, right.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: So kind of hard because you're navigating when the trash gets picked up and so on and so forth, and it's a hundred degrees and they still haven't picked up the trash.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: And now it's smelly and there's maggots and all sorts of gross things in there.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: And I'm just sitting here waiting and I remember I'm like, okay, you know what?
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: We've only got five houses today, so you're going to go knock doors.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: And he starts knocking doors.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: She was on one side, he was on the other and he gets to a door and someone opens it and he tells them how much his trash can business is.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: It was $20 for one trash can and $30 for two, just to put that out there.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And so again, at the time he think he was 12 and a 12 year old knocking on your door offering the service and telling you how much it is, and the man saying to him that's way too expensive.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: And I remember thinking to myself oh my gosh, how dare you say that to a kid.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: But I also took it on the other side and I gave him an opportunity, hopefully, to learn from the situation.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: How many houses have you cleaned?
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Trash cans for $20 and they offer you a 50?
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Lots right.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: People want to see kids working.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: And so I said, you know, just because it's not valuable to that one person, and he walks up to my car about in tears, just to be frank.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: And he walks up to my car about in tears, just to be frank, and he looks me dead and I said, mom, I think our prices are too high.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: After he's already cleaned, however, many other trash cans at $20 a trash can, or 30 for two, he's all of a sudden second guessing his entire business, his entire thing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Because one person said something.
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: And I remember thinking to myself okay, like we can, we can downgrade, like you can charge less, but are you adding less value?
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: No, you're not.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: And so my question for you is are you willing to devalue your work Because one person says it's not worth it?
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: And it took some negotiation, it took some like conversation.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: We actually called granddad, who owned a carpet cleaning business and had walked through this himself, and it realized you know what no, I'm not going to charge less, I'm going to keep charging and guess what?
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: His businesses grew that year, and so there was never.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: There was never not a not a need for it, it was just the value in which somebody thought he was worth, and so what's really cool about this is that he actually so.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: When that happened, you could see him pulling back Again.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: He's not the natural.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Let me go make conversation, let me knock on your door.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Hi, how are you?
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: That's not his personality.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: And so what was interesting was literally for every, she didn't get paid per knock, but she got paid per yes.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Paid per not, but she got paid per yes, and so it was just getting her to knock as many doors as possible.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: But in entrepreneurship, there's going to be things that you don't want to do.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: That you will hire out.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Right, or maybe you don't have enough time, you hire it out.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: That's a skill.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: If you're willing to take less money but to help somebody, you know to duplicate yourself.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: That's what he was doing.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: I said because, guess what, you have no business without that ass.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: So, what's your plan?
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: How are you going to fix this?
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: How?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: are you going to fix it?
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: He doesn't, he doesn't.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: And I will say, to be honest, it was never for him, it was never a.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: The kid is such a hard worker, but he doesn't.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Communication with adults has always been a struggle, and so I knew at a very young age if I could just get him to look at the waitress and order his own food, then he was going to learn, and so it was painful and we actually talk about that to this day.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: I'm like do you remember when I did that?
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: And he was like yes, I said because here's the thing, there's going to come a day when you're sitting in front of a press box because he's a quarterback and wants to play in the NFL, that you're going to have to use your words, and every word will be they'll be waiting.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: And how are you communicating with somebody on the other end of a screen, of a phone, of a camera that says we expect this from you.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: And I was like and I want you to be able to have the confidence and the courage, Take courage.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: That's what it says.
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: It's an action word, no-transcript, you're not making any money and there's no job beneath you.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that and you know, I think we we can be so hard on kids, and especially, I think, even a generation older than us that can be really just negative about kids that don't know how to communicate and they can't look at me and I agree it's super frustrating.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: But then I also have to ask we've given them a lot of tools to create that Again, not that those tools are bad, it's just we're navigating new stages and instead of being bitter and angry or, you know, grumbling about these kids don't know how to communicate.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I want to challenge older adults and grandparents and parents to figure out ways to put your kids in these situations, because there is this part of us that wants to make it easy for our kids and it is such a disservice that when you have you know, for us we were really able to see this skill in our oldest daughter when she was already plenty decent at communicating with adults that she was comfortable with.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Then you go into the sports recruiting for college and you're having cold calls with coaches and all different personalities and some are just conversational but some just are trying to get you tripped up and just learning how to process and navigate and have meaningful conversation or even be able just to defend yourself or to be able to say I appreciate that input.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I actually disagree with something like to have children that have that skill not disrespectfully at all, right, able to carry intelligent conversation is so powerful and something as simple as a young entrepreneurship marketplace that starts to hone in those skills.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Man, erica, it would be so cool if people listening to this have their own, like we should do that in our area.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, so first of all, we'll make sure to put in the show notes the link to the Instagram page that Erica has, with some great little stuff on there from the shows, but just so many cool things.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: And then I think it also it makes us aware when we have kids that maybe have that entrepreneurial spirit, it helps us see other kids that are working hard.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: I'm a firm believer, if you have a cold heart, that you can pass up a lemonade stand.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: You are not my kind of human right.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: If you, if your heart doesn't make right, if you don't do a U-turn for the kid that's out selling lemonade and if you don't give a tip and all the things, you are not my people.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: But you know, I just think that I think garage sale, like a garage sale selling the soda and the bags of chips, might not be the dream idea of entrepreneurship, but I think so often as parents were like, no, we already are dealing with the garage sale.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: But I remember with our kids when they wanted to do it and we did the budget and this is what you have to invest, you're going to have to pay that back.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: And so you know they're doing their sales and they think they're rich.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: But we're like, don't forget your inventory costs.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: You know $45.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: So you're still negative.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Just these opportunities to let them learn and understand return on investment, giving to charity, like all the different things.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I love it so much.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: So, erica, I think it's so cool.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: I think this is a great time, and especially being in the summer, to really moms and dads, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, whoever is listening to this see what is in the hearts of the kids, that you're around all day, ask questions, what gets them excited, what would be something, whether it's a service or it's a product, or there's so many different ways for us to help our kids learn these skills.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: So I just I'm so grateful for your heart of entrepreneurship and for being able to see that need how God has just wired us all differently to be able to pour into that next generation.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I think this is such a cool one that scares a lot of parents Like that's just the reality.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: So, whether it's you're connecting them with another entrepreneur, I love what you said about shadowing and learning the art of.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: There is value in doing work as just soaking up the knowledge.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Everything doesn't have to be I'm getting paid for it.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Like, who can your kids shadow this week?
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Who can you bring to shadow you this summer?
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: Do you have a job that a kid has asked you questions about?
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: What can you do?
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Can you go into a classroom?
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Can you meet with the homeschool co-op?
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: What can you do to show people what it is that how God has wired you and skilled you to help the next generation?
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: So let's do a total like left turn, erica, and go into these questions that we've been asking all of our guests.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Kind of to wrap up, it's something that everyone listening can relate to.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go through these.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I'm calling them fun questions.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: They're not really like rapid fire because they're not one word answers.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: But the first one is what is one parenting hack you swear by?
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: See a need, fill a need.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Love it.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: So, even if it's just like, I love that you said it with the dishes If it's a household need, if it's somebody else.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Yes, like you see somebody sitting by themselves Guess what, go sit by them.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: You see somebody that needs a door opened or a smile like fill the need.
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: It's not that hard, it's free, it costs you nothing, it might cost you time, but it's worth it.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: And so I think that the simple and I started with my kids I'll say the first word, so I'll say see a need and they'll say fill a need.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: And then they kind of look around, what is she talking about?
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: And I'm like do you see it?
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: And I give them the opportunity to see it before I say it because most likely they know what I'm talking about.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, such a great, such a great.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: That's a great mom hack.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: So you're saying when you see that you might be in your living room and there's a pile of stuff that didn't get put away.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: So instead of saying go pick up the toys, you're saying, hey, see a need, and they're looking around.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: They're looking around like I'm supposed to be feeling a need right now and I don't know what it is, but majority of the time they've already seen it.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: They just walk past it.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Right, I love that.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: That's so good.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: It's like a different way for asking for help 100% right.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Second one is share a memorable parenting fail that I had to change this up with another guest because she was like I still can't laugh about it, but I learned from it.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: So a memorable fail that you can either laugh about now or that you definitely learned from.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: I've never failed Right, this is perfect.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: So tell us about that.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: I've never failed.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, raising my voice, yeah, you know that tone that I can get when I am done, literally that I look back on and I go I'm so sorry, I need a second, you know.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: And so it's just the failure.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Part of like losing my cool, losing my temper, but then being willing to ask for forgiveness, I would say is probably an art form that I didn't learn, but it's something that we try to practice in the family.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: If it's a, I'm sorry, it's on accident, but if it's a, will you forgive me, it was on purpose.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: And so I often have to ask for forgiveness because, unwillingly or willingly, on purpose or not, I did it, you know, and I lost my cool.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good sense, yeah.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Number three what's your go-to family activity for?
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: creating memories, gosh anything outside.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: But specifically, we go on a Christmas vacation every year and it is typically outside, typically somewhere we where we can go and just unplug, and so it gives us an after kind of after football season, because both my boys play football, that we've been going going, going, that I can breathe, and it's like everybody else is still in school and it's freezing here and we just hit the beach.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: What's the funniest thing that you can remember a child saying to you?
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Or?
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: doing.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Is this funny?
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: Some people laugh.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: Some people might be like, oh my gosh, I mean lifting their hiney cheek to fart.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: The boys.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: Please tell me that was one of your boys.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yes.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, and you look back on it.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, you look at it and you're like, oh my gosh, do I laugh or do I scold, you know?
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: And I'm like there's such a fine line between like not at the table, but that was fun, right, erica?
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: I mean I'll tell you what boys having two older girls and now having a high school boy yeah, I like, I feel like every time we're on the golf course, I'm like I feel like I need to ask somebody.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: I don't feel like peeing on the golf course should be so normal, and it's like everywhere I look, I'm like there's a grown man peeing, there's a young kid peeing.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: I'm like what is actually happening, right?
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: And it's normal.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: And it's normal and it's okay and we have to be okay, Like I truly will want boys to be boys.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I want kids to be kids, I want them to understand like there's a time to laugh and there's a time to be serious.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Not at the table, but yeah, for me at the golf course it's more.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: I think I'm jealous.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I'm like wait, I get two opportunities in four hours to use a restroom and you guys are wherever you want but anytime you want, yes, and you're.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: You know you don't have to show the whole world your cheeks Like you're just like, right, you just get to secretly just take care of business.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: So funny.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I just lost at least 10 listeners over that question.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: But that's all good, it's real life.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: All the moms get it for sure, right, okay, and then what about?
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: How do you recharge as a mom to make sure that you're not running on empty?
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, working out for sure and honestly having quiet time with Jesus.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: It's not a practice that I've been really good at, but you've actually helped me with that Working through Proverbs and just doing things that allow me to be quiet.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I'm a typical.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of energy.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: I'm a high go person.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: People actually bring me energy.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: And so I recharge really well by myself, yeah.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: And then the last one is what's your favorite resource that you would share with other moms, no matter what stage of parenting they're in, for advice, support or inspiration?
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: That has just been something that has been a great tool for you really feel like I mean.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: One thing I heard was I'm not afraid to give my kids a incentive.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: I'm not afraid to give my kids an incentive to do something that I want them to learn.
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: So, for example, a book right, I love the book the Seven Decisions by Andy Andrews.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: I paid my kid to read the book and to write something about the book and, again, being a steward of one, learning how that it's important to go beside somebody who's already done it and to figure that sort of stuff out.
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: I would also say I want to put my kids in front of other people.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: Tim Tebow just recently came to Tulsa and my kid's in football and he doesn't even really know Tim Tebow and I'm like no, not Tim Tebow, and I'm like no, not Tim Tebow, but you think like that's my generation.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: And so getting him in front of him at an event that would have typically be for adults, but it was so cool because he learned about lots of football lessons, lies, but then he learned about stocks and he learned about real estate and he learned about you know things that again, I wasn't having sort of conversations at the age of 14.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: So again, like linking them with people or putting them with experiences.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: I'll do anything to give my kid an experience, so I don't necessarily have like a tool or like a place.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Just surrounding, yeah, and I'm assuming that you then feel the same way for yourself.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming that if that's a big hack for you and how you parent is putting your children around people and skills, that I'm sure that's something that you're also doing as a resource in your own life is surrounding yourself with others who are doing the things that you're doing and who are a little bit ahead of you.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I would say too, one thing I've always done is I always had older friends.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: But older friends who are going somewhere, who are encouraging you, who aren't letting you settle, who call you up and not out.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm down for a good.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: I mean, the other day I was, I was the coach and I was training some friends and they were like one of my friends goes let's take it up to an 11 or a 10.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: And I was like okay, we're going to run at a 10.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: Well, if you remember running at a 10 before you are gassed and I'm like I haven't ran at a 10 in a long time, all of a sudden she takes it up to 11.5.
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: I'm like you've lost your mind.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to take it up to, you know.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: And so I's being around, other people who challenge you, who push you up, who call you I call them push partners.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: Like everybody needs a push partner.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: And so whether you're a mom and you have another mom friend who's like hey, I'm going on a walk, you want to come, that's a push partner.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: That's somebody who keeps you accountable.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, to do the do, to be in it with you, not just to tell you what to do.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: So good, all right, erica.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: Well, this has been awesome and unfortunately we didn't even get into the passionately in love with your husband yet, so maybe that has to be a whole nother episode where we can come back and just talk passion and marriage.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: That'll be.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: That'll be a whole month.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: We're actually going to do an entire series in September on marriage because my husband and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary, so maybe we'll have you back on to talk passion.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh, I would love it.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Fire and marriage oh fire and marriage.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: They go together.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: Some days you're in fire and some days you're passionate, right?
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: How many years have you guys?
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: been married.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: It will be 19 this year, but 20 years together.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: So yeah, love it so great, so great.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: Well, congratulations on that too.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: Well, you have a beautiful family and I love being able to have kind of a front row seat to watch you in all areas of being a wife, a mom, this entrepreneurial ship.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I know that we talk quite a bit just about the different things that God has put on our hearts, that we're following after, and I just love to be able to do life with you.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: So any last words that you want to add, Erica, before we sign off.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: Nikki, I just want to tell you you are a gift to every single one of us.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you for being the space, Thank you for using it in a way that your voice, I pray, hears thousands and thousands of people, that when they feel alone, they have you and just a space to come and be real.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: So thank you for doing this and having me Well that means a lot.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: It means a lot, all right, friends.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: Well, we are going to sign off there.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: Another week here in the summer series.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: I hope that you are not just surviving summer, but thriving with your littles at home and just really soaking up.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: It does go so fast and before you know it, those kiddos are grown and in college and so just love every minute.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: I know it can be exhausting, but we're grateful.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: You took time to tune in.
• 44:18
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• 44:28
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• 44:34
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• 44:36
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• 44:38
  Speaker 1: So until next week, friends, take care.