The Bold Mission Bringing Clean Water to Millions with Kurt Avery

In this Hope Unlocked episode, entrepreneur and philanthropist Kurt Avery shares how Sawyer Products grew from humble beginnings into a global force for clean water, disaster relief, and purpose-driven business. We explore water filtration technology, humanitarian innovation, faith-led entrepreneurship, disaster response, global health, succession planning, leadership, integrity, and decision-making. From Haiti and Puerto Rico to Kibera and war zones, Kurt reveals how safe drinking water, published outcomes, and mission-minded strategy can transform communities—and why his guiding belief remains: Big God, why not.

Kurt's contact info:

Email -  customer@sawyer.com

Website - www.sawyer.com

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Transcript

Meet Kurt Avery And His Calling

SPEAKER_03 0:16

Welcome to the Hope Unlock Podcast. I'm your host, Kristen Kurtz, and I'm also the founder of New Wings Coaching. I help and empower wild-hearted and adventurous women of faith feeling caged and stuck, unlock their true purpose and potential, break free from limitations, and thrive with confidence, courage, and hope. If you're curious to learn more about coaching with me, head to NewWingsCoaching.net and be sure to explore the show notes for ways to connect with me further. Get ready to dive in as we uncover empowering keys and insights in this episode. So tune in and let's unlock hope together. Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast. I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host. I pray this episode is like a holy IV of hope for your soul. Please help me welcome Kurt Avery to the show. Very excited to have him here today. We were just chatting a little bit before we got started. And I I just know that he's going to bless so many people today with um his story, his testimony, and the work that he's doing in the world. So, Kurt, before we get started with that, would you tell us a little bit about yourself?

From Corporate Life To Entrepreneurship

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Uh yeah. Um first of all, I'm just a vessel. God's in charge of the whole thing. But I'm I'm an old country boy, grew up in upstate New York, uh, went to a Christian undergrad school and was very fortunate enough to get into a um Northwestern business school of management, which put me on an interesting path. I got to work for some pretty famous people and some pretty pretty good jobs. And one day I said, you know what? Uh it's time to move out of this. I I heard my boss take credit for everything I did, and I didn't even throw me a bone. I said, I know how this game works. So time time to go out and start. Now I have a I have an incredible wife. So I went out and found this product, which is a snake bite kit. So he came home and say, I'm gonna give up this great corporate career in snake bite kits.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Snake bite kits.

Snake Bite Kits And Early Struggles

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Yeah, she should have whacked me right then, but to our credit, it's still on the market 42 years later. It's still in wall. So uh, you know, if you get bit by a rattlesnake, you put this on, we suck out some of the venom, so it's not nearly so bad. But okay, um, a quick sudden vacuum is a good medical device. They use it for hand therapy and bee stinks and other stuff like that. It was developed at the Pasteur Institute. So we marched off, but I made a little mistake. I forgot the downsize from corporate marketing to guerrilla marketing, so we hit the skids pretty quick. I raised quite a bit of money.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

So I like to say um we lost money 23 of the first 25 years till we became an overnight success.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

So we dug it out. Um, I always knew we'd make it. I had enough business skills, and I always had a safety net because I could have gone out and got a job at any time. But I'm stubborn. I I felt like this was what we call to do.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Yeah.

Listening For Real Customer Problems

Building Best-In-Class Outdoor Products

SPEAKER_00 3:02

And so we we would spend our time in the stores talking to we we got into then sunscreens, first aid, insect repellents, and then eventually water filters. Water filters is what exploded us. Okay but really, really, what took it. We we would sit there 12 hours a day listening, and and and it there's a key to listening. You you don't have to hear their words, you have to hear what their problem is. Because they don't know. So I like to quote Henry Ford. He said, if I asked them what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse. So you you gotta listen to what problem you can solve for them. And we did. We we gave every product we sell is absolute state of the art, nothing's better on the market. You know, we we may be only the number, you know everybody knows off-cut repel, but we have the techie brand, we have the best repellents out there. Military only uses Sawyer. Uh we do the skin, we do the clothing. I mean, they have to wear it all day long, you know. So it's a very safe, effective thing. And our water filters are staggering, they're just beyond um anything we could have dreamed of. And so many God stories in this whole thing. Um so uh I don't know if you want to hear one of them or let's let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

I love God stories. I mean, this it sounds like this is already like the makings of an amazing God story. Um I w I do want to go back to the 23 of 25 years part two, yeah. Eventually.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

I don't.

SPEAKER_03 4:27

I would love to hear about it to really I don't want to relive them, but I'm no, but for those who like for myself as a business owner, like myself, I was literally just talking to another business owner today. And um, you have to be tenacious and perse of a perse persevering spirit to keep going in business, right?

Gulf War Sunscreen Breakthrough

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah, a couple trips around Mount Sinai there. Yeah. Um so we had just gotten in, this was Gulf War I was just starting. I listened on the TV and I heard about the invasion of Kuwait, and I said, uh oh, we're going to war. And um, we had just gotten in the sunscreen business like a month, month and a half earlier, and we're hand-filling tubes of sunscreen at the rate of 2,000 a week. Friend calls me up and says, Well, the military needs 200,000 a week. And so, of course, I said, We can do that. So I had a partner who had the money to buy the equipment and the chemicals, and we did. We ended up making 6.2 million. But the interesting story was we sat there and we said, We gotta, we gotta win this bid, and we bid 69 cents for a four-ounce sunscreen.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

The next lowest bid was two dollars. And then they were up four or five dollars each. And I'm sitting there going, What are we missing? Yeah, we've we've sharpened our pencil, I'm pretty sure we can do it, but why is nobody else even bidding anywhere near us?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

But we did. We ended up making them for 35 cents a piece and selling them for 69. So there was a pad in there. But then we get truckloads now are flying on down to um, turns out being McAllen, Texas was the point where they put them together in what's called the comfort pack. So we got truckloads going down there, and then they call up, then we find out, you know, you have to be a commercial brand. Oh, oh no. We had shipped two cases of sunscreen. Oh one to California and one to McAllen uh to Broadway Hardware in McAllen, Texas. So the inspector gets in his car, drives down the road a mile and a half, goes into Broadway Hardware, sees us on the shelf, and says, Yep, you're a commercial brand. You get the contract.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Oh wow. Now tell me that's not a guy that yeah, like a favor, open doors.

Surviving Seasons And Finding Momentum

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah, two two cases, and one of them is a mile and a half from the inspector.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Wow. So off we went and we did it all. So there's been quite a few of those involved, but that was obviously paradigmatic. But that shows you my character. I mean, come on, I'm making 2,000 a week, and I say we can make 200,000 a week. Yeah, we can do that.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Wow. And so that what was that time frame of like you were you were successfully doing 2,000 a week and then to then jump to 200,000?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah, that was the well, Gulf War I. So it would have been in 1990 when they after the invasion. So uh then they kept ordering, ordering, ordering, and and uh you know, we ended up making 6.2 million bottles. So that was remember, I said we made money, we lost money 23 out of 25 years. That was the first one we made money. Covered all of our losses prior to that. Then the second Gulf War, we made the insect repellents, which covered all the losses in between. So we never missed a bill, always paid every bill. Uh sometimes late, but we always made it up to them on paying interest. We were seasonal. We when we moved to Florida in '98, the whole year's sales would not even be a good day this week.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Really?

Influencers And The Amazon Surge

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, I had to live on that for the whole year. So I I did consulting, I did whatever I could. I slept at the plan, only I was the only worker. And now we're big. Um, so I I knew we had the right plan, but what what set us to the big times was the internet when the um influencers showed up because that was free marketing. We since we had the best stuff they had to talk about us. Yeah, that was their creds. So that's free marketing. So all that free marketing, and we went from one year was 17,000 on Amazon, and then three or four years later it was 17 million.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

So what?

SPEAKER_00 8:33

And that that's that's the influencers just driving it.

Market Disruption With Affordable Filters

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Wow, wow. So how do you like how do you find that? Like, are influencers coming to you? Are you reaching out to influencers? How does that work? Maybe for somebody who's in business right now and they've maybe not thought of utilizing influencers, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, it it's both. We were in the outdoor industry, so we kind of knew who they were. My my son, who I swore I would never hire because I didn't want nepotism. Now I got a bunch of the family in there. Um, he was so talented that I was gonna have a coup if I didn't uh he he he's just perfect for that. He he lives in that world. I mean, we we take them on trips now. I mean, I won't give you the names, but some of the big, big, big ones we've taken them to see our water projects and around the world. Um, so we we knew some of them because we would go to the outdoor retailer show, they'd be there, but um they didn't have a choice. If they're gonna review water filters or insect, they gotta they gotta start with the best.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Everybody by that time knew we had the best technology. So um it's amazing. Yeah, we we changed the whole outdoor world. We we introduced our water filter, and we first went out, the store said, No man, we sell these clunky ones, you know, like whatever for a hundred bucks. We make 50 bucks a piece. I said, Well, you're gonna sell ours for 1995. Yeah, but we're gonna make 10 bucks. Why would I give up 50 bucks for 10 bucks? Because you're gonna sell a lot more, and you don't have a choice because it's new technology. Yeah, so yeah, we so the the market was 70,000 units, now it's in the millions every year. So, yeah,$10 bills than uh than there were before.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

So tell us more about the water filters. I I know that's a big part of like your heart, you know, right now that's really um, I would imagine like so did you come up with the technology? Like, tell me more about like who did you come up with the insect repellent, like um, you know, the sunscreen, these all the different products, are these your formulations? How did how did that come to be?

SPEAKER_00 11:15

No, I I can't spell science without spell check, so it's it's not me.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Okay.

Haiti Earthquake And Global Adoption

SPEAKER_00 11:21

I told my kids you only have one asset in life and don't ever give it up, and that's your integrity. I mean, look at the King David, you know, he lost it and then spent the rest of his life trying to get it back and wasn't allowed to build a temple because of that. So um, because of our integrity, these ideas came to us. Now I am a visionary, so I'm looking what the market needs to find it, and uh there's a God story there too. We I I I wanted to solve water because that was a big problem. So I looked at all the different technologies, the chemical ones, the different filtration rates and flocculation and all kinds of stuff. And we came across kidney dialysis filter. If you can clean blood, you can clean water. So that's what we adapted. But our first very first model was good, but not like we have now. And so we got into a tussle. The guy tried to sue us who we were buying it from because he he didn't have any money. He was trying to take over our company. And but we won that lawsuit because he tried he gave us some workers and then sued us for taking the workers. And I said, You can't you you said you couldn't pay him. So we did win that, and then he turned around and wouldn't let his source sell us. Well, we found a different source, um and that source has not been copied to this date. So we are the only ones that we can make the claim that you are not gonna get sick on any water that comes through our filters. We're 0.1 micron absolute, which is your hair is 17 microns. We're 170 times thinner than that, is our largest hole.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Wow.

Disaster Response At Scale

SPEAKER_00 12:59

And that hole is so small that nothing that makes you sick can get through it. Except a virus, which is not in the water, that's body fluids and airborne, so it's really not in the water. But nobody else can make that claim because nobody else guarantees that they're filled. They have bigger holes, they have small holes, they try to be like us. So it's huge because we can go into a village in Africa and say, okay, nobody's gonna get sick. I we don't care if the cows poop in the water or what, nobody's gonna get sick. Nobody else can make that claim. They would go in and say 90% of you're gonna be okay, but 10% you're still gonna get sick. That's huge. That is huge. That is huge. So we have become, we did uh Haiti put us on the map. The earthquake of 2010, we put with Compassion International, we put close to 200,000 filters down there.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

And then when they did the after action assessment, they had 19 companies in the room, and the guy, the Minister of Health, goes around and what do you use? What do you have? What do you and at the end he asked the question? I know what you sell, but what do you personally use? To a person, everybody used our filters. And so he said, I get it. This is the one. So every from that point on, all the NGOs switch to us. We're we're 90% or more of all the water filters out there.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

It's incredible. Wow. So, what do you do you have a name for this water filter?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Um, yeah, well, it's a Sawyer squeeze filter. So we have different formats where every hurricane in the world, or typhoon or cyclone, will be there. So this purse keeps two plane loads of our filters. The first plane in does the medical, and then we're right behind it because everybody has water.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

And you can drink what's at your feet as long as there's no salt in it. Remember Puerto Rico had the double hurricane?

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Did you ever see all those uh water bottles rotten on the tarmac? That's because we we didn't they didn't need them. We had people go in with duffel bags full of stuff. A typical duffel bag can do anywhere from 20 to 40,000 people, just one duffel bag.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

One duffel bag?

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Yeah, so there was a point where probably a third of all Puerto Ricans were drinking of our filters on day two.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Wow.

Everyday Access And Longevity Of Filters

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Day three. So it it's a game, it's a game. So we're we're everywhere. Helene, remember we had North Carolina, Tennessee. We had a hundred thousand filters go up there right away. On day two, we were flying them in. The hikers were taken to wear helicopters and and people couldn't get to, they walk them up for us because we obviously had a connection with the hiking community.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Um, so we're there. You can't anywhere in the world when there's a disaster, we're there.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Wow. So are these are these uh filters that you can like anybody could buy them? Like, you know, or is it more for you know, kind of more disasters or for tell me more about that?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Nope, they're on the market. Uh, you can go to Amazon, you can go to REI, all the where camping is sold.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

Okay.

Vision, Impact, And Faith

SPEAKER_00 15:58

The unique part about the filters, not only can't you get sick, but it never wears out because we have never wears out? Never wears out. We have filters now in their 16th year of daily use since we introduced it. You back flush it like a pool pump. You just flush the stuff back out and you're good again. And other filters can't do that. We're our filters are strong enough that you can really aggressively clean them. Okay, other filters you'd blow them apart if you tried to clean them. So that's the other advantage we have. So that's why I said for 30 cents, our filter can get somebody 10 years of water, just 10 years for 30 cents. So, or the worst case, a dollar.

SPEAKER_03 16:35

But okay, so we need to get these everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

We're working out.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

That's your heart, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah. We we do three to four million people a year. Um probably more. We have 140 charities that pass out these filters in 80 countries. We're everywhere. Yes, we are in Iran, we are in Gaza from the get-go, we're in Yemen, we're in North Korea, we're everywhere. Yeah, uh, because water's a big problem. So but now we just hit the threshold. We got a brand new one that you just put on the faucet on the tap, and then you can take it off, put it on, and it can do two to five hundred gallons of water per day for the next 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Or a$20 filter. So we're at that flex point now where when if you know we do what we can do, because we, you know, we give away every dollar we can. But now we're at the point where if somebody wants, you know, for a million dollars, you can do one to three million people. For ten dollars, you can do ten to thirty million people.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah, and we go in through the schools, we we teach the teachers, we do install them in the school, Christian schools, and then the kids are taught by the teacher, and then they bring the parent in and they're taught again, go through it, and then the filter goes home with the parents. Typical filter usually serves 10 to 20 people, just one filter. And of course, now you have a water station at the school, which is in our case the also the church. So they'll they'll just hook these up and anybody who wants to could come and get the filter. They get all the water you want.

Business Lessons On Integrity

SPEAKER_03 18:12

It's incredible. Oh my gosh. I'm like, I think I need one for Yeah. We need a few here, just you know, just to have on have on hand. Um I I would love to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

If you have ever have a boil alert, you can now drink the water out of your faucet.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

Wow. Yeah, I mean I've thought about some of those things, you know, in in recent years, right? Um I would love to hear just from your perspective, kind of take an eagle eyes view. Um I just always think it's incredible when, you know, you you said the first 23 of 25 years it was challenging, right? And now you can look here at this point. Um what what is it like what do you I'm using my hands and my husband's driving past waving at me. So I'm always using my hands. Um what is it what is it what is it like for you like knowing like God's hand is on this and to be that vessel, um, to just look back over the years and I don't know, like I just think it's incredible to see what he's done through your yes, because I always say to people, like, your yes has generational implications. I mean, just think of how many people you said millions of people have been impacted by your yes, your your decision to keep going. Like tell me tell me more.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

I on the baby side of it, we save hundreds of thousands of babies' lives every year. A guy goes to Uganda and he is there for a week, a missionary, and he says, I notice you don't name your kids till they're three years old. They said, Yes, because if they can live till three, we know we'll keep them. Otherwise, they lose a third of their kids.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Installs 250 filters, goes back a year later, all the kids are named at birth because since the filter showed up, they didn't lose kids.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Kurt.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

That's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

So that's the kind of impact you have. So um, no, I I'm so far out the box, I I don't know where it is. Got it's very big.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

I love that. I'm with you. I think you're a little bit more outside the box, you know, in your in your walk than I I I'm definitely outside the box, but you're I love it.

Why Denominator Management Wins

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Yeah, well, I kind of grew up in the science part of it. And um, if you look at creation from the tiny little amoebas and bacterias to the universe, I mean, come on, God's a little bit bigger than we think he is. So why not? You only got one life, right? Read the Bible. Everybody was given a job, he he assigns what he wants you to do, and he empowers you to do it. I was given a lot of very good skill sets business-wise. Yeah, um, and I'm I'm a fan of that. You know, you you have a skill set, everybody has a skill set. That's what you use. Don't do things you're not good at. Know what you know, know what you don't know, but God has empowered you with a set of skill sets that can be used for the greater good. Um, you know, I sat down with God one day and I said, you know, half the world dies of mosquito bites and bad water. Why don't we just go fix that? Of course, we meaning him. So I'm just a tool. I'm not I'm not nothing special. But you know, you get to your rocking chair and you're gonna say, What regrets do I have? Why didn't I? You know, why not? You know, my biggest question is, why not?

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Why not?

SPEAKER_03 21:34

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Why not? If God says you can do it, you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 21:39

I think that's a book title for you.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah, that might be the sequel.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

That's amazing. So you said you you I don't know. I think we all have, you know, when we got started um before the the podcast, I was saying, you know, I I got in trouble for talking all the time when I was growing up. Um were there things you said you have a lot of like business acumen? Did you know that you did when you were like growing up?

Service Businesses And Scale

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Or was that kind of a kind of a funny story? In fact, I just uh I had to write something for today. I said, you know, I said I grew up in a family where we didn't read bedtime stories that we just never did. So I only had one of the three hours, and that was arithmetic. Uh reading and writing were way beyond me. Uh I was in a really good school, and they had a gifted program. So I made the gifted program because of math and science, but I was number 20 out of 20. So I felt like I was stupid because I'm next to all these engineers that from the GE plant and whatever, and I, you know, I May have been gifted, but I sure wasn't the gifted like those people were. Um, and I barely they they graciously allowed me to pass the year-end test in English because I never would have done it except they gave me some credit so I could get the minimum score. Uh, then off to Christian college. And well, now I'm up against, you know, uh, I I didn't end up at the elite school, so I really would have stayed a dummy, but at least where I went, I kind of blossomed a little bit. And then because of my math things, I got into Northwestern graduate school management. And that's where I really blossomed. That's that's when I got it, and that's when I got really good jobs. I got some really top-notch opportunities to work for some people that were on the cover of Forbes all the time. And yeah, uh, got to got the, you know, I I had some marketing skills. God gifted me with that skill set. So I was challenged, you know. But we he I was in his hand all the time, you know. There's a lot of things, but uh about five, six, seven years ago when Sawyer finally kicked in and off we went. It was like, this is fun. We got the answer to malaria and bad water, so why not?

SPEAKER_03 23:47

So this you said this just kind of like mm kicked off like five, six years ago? Like to the point where it's like like you're like accelerating.

The Decision Matrix Framework

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, where we where we got enough money that we could just give it away. And and but we don't give away the beauty of this. I I always say because of what we do, and I don't mean to discourage your readers or listeners, because we happen to have this thing, but they have a skill set that they can do too. I mean, yes, OG is married, other parts of the world. We do that, we do, we do all four places. But if I if we made cupcakes, we would have to sell the cupcakes, make the profit, pay the taxes, and then have some money to give away. But we have the very thing they want. Yeah, we have the the repellents to parent malaria, we have the water filters to wipe out waterborne diseases, which is huge. So I don't have to make money. I own I've gotten back to where I now own 100% of the company. I'm sub-S. Nobody tells me I have to make a profit. Why do I have to make a profit? The bank's happy with me. We make all the covenants, we pay all the things. I'm I'm happy to use their money. Um, so we are able to give away quite a bit of money every year in the form of product.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

We'll we'll take the loss and not have I pay very little taxes. I give Caesar what is Caesar, but I don't have to give them any more. I I we are very, very good. We will not cheat the government. Yes, um, but I don't have to give them the money. I think we can do a better job of dispersing it than the federal government because we have the product they want. So I liken it to let's say you have a restaurant. You know, it isn't that you give away what food you're not going to use. The benefit is you buy it wholesale, the other people buy it retail. There's a huge gap in there where you can help people better than they can help themselves.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Yes.

Writing Sawyer Think And Teaching

SPEAKER_00 25:41

So thinking like that, everybody has a role they can play in charity if they just think about it. But the book is to make sure your business is solid. We don't want you going to tell us about your book. Well, it's called Sawyer Think. Um, it's obviously available on Amazon, and you can get it at Sawyer. You get a signed copy if you go to Sawyer.com, we'll give you a signed copy. But um, it's really 25 lessons I've learned over the years to help you make decisions and to challenge your business to make sure it makes sense. I got the obvious ones, which you can get on the internet, you know, bellcurves, you know, life cycle curves, creative destruction, which I'm big on looking three years down the road. But there's some things in here that most people don't think of. One is math trap. I'll teach you how to make quick decisions without getting hung up trying to work out the math with certain principles. Um, yeah, I I I got that from doing baseball cards and baseball averages, learning people think the numerator is important in business. It's really the denominator. You your business is successful if you manage your denominator the most.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Tell us more about that for for those of the listeners that maybe aren't mathematicians or remember that from math.

Succession, Purpose, And Not Selling Out

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah. Okay, well, that's how Walmart got big. Um, Walmart managed their denominator and turned their product 45 times. So they they don't have any investment. All they have to do is build the store and have the thing because the inventory is sold before they have to pay for it. So we do that with our stores. We we try to maximize their profits, and you do that by getting rid of the denominator. So let's say we go to a retailer and they want to make a 50% profit. So they'll they'll invest$2,000 and it cost them$100, they'll sell it 20 times a year, and they'll make you know$50 every time. So but then but what did they invest? So let's say they invested$1,000 in the inventory to have on the stores and and all the things. There's 37 things that go into the investment from freight to bulk to insurance and financing. So that's they can generate a a certain profit. What if that thousand dollar denominator can be taken down to$500? You've doubled your profit. You can't double your profit in the numerator, but you can double it in the denominator by reducing your investment. So, you know, I liken to a plumbing, you know, guys, somebody starts a plumbing business and they need$100,000 to start. What if they can only need$50,000? Now they can do two businesses for the same investment because they've learned how to roll that investment quicker. So it's about terms and stuff like that. So the the Walmart makes its profits because they took away the investment portion of the stores. The inventory is sold before they have to pay for it. Zero investment in the inventory.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

Yeah. So what would you say to somebody who does um, you know, I I don't know if you speak to this in your book for those who maybe don't have a tangible product? It's more of a, you know, like for example, for what I do as a coach, like I'm I'm I'm working with people. My people are my are the business, right? I'm not a restaurant or a store. What would you say to somebody? Because I know there's a lot of listeners out there that are, you know, in that type of business. How would you how would that work?

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Yeah, I don't know if the model works because you do so much one-on-one, but but a simple way to do it's simple logic there is if you have a session with one person, but if you added the second person, you have the same denominator, it's your hour time or whatever, but now two people are getting the benefit instead of one. Sure. So as you increase your group size, your denominator relatively is reducing, reducing, reducing. So that's one way you can do it. As you well, then you get up and you speak in front of a hundred people for the same hour investment, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

So that's how you magnify your denominator that way.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

The other, the other real one in the um uh that's huge is what's called the decision matrix.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Usually when you're making a decision, you're hung up on one or two variables. You just you you just can't get those two things out of your head.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

But we make you do 10 more, 10 or 20 more variables that will impact that decision. So we want to make you start looking down the road. And those next 10 or 20 sometimes will sway the whole thing or help you decide which of the two variables to go with, because we we have a total of a thousand points. So you rate how valuable the variable is, and then you rate how well the the option meets that variable. But like you'd be surprised, you know, like picking the college or doing a marriage, you'll be surprised how much those things you aren't really thinking about. Like, well, do I really want those mother-in-law, father-in-law 20 years from now? Or what if the food in the cafeteria really isn't that good? Or am I gonna be on campus when on the weekends, or does everybody go home? So those things add up.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

And they keep you from being hung up on just two variables making the decision. And if nothing else, it may it may reinforce your decision, but it's gonna show you issues. I've had people decide they couldn't get married because the minor issues were gonna be bigger issues 10 years from now.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Sure.

Urgency, Responsibility, And Calling

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Or in one case, the they did get married, but they found something that they better work out now before it has to become a problem. So they worked it out. Here's what we're gonna do when this comes up before we get married. Now we have the plan. So that's a very, very valuable tool that's in the book.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

So good. And when did your book come out?

SPEAKER_00 31:34

That's been out for a little over a year. Um, we do some of the colleges pass it out to the entrepreneur class and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Wow. So are you doing um like speaking engagements to talk about this too, like in colleges and other people?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Yeah, I do, I do a little bit, but not too much. I don't travel too much. I got one coming up where I'm gonna have to speak. Uh it it's with um Esther Choi, if that means anything to you. But she's she wrote a book, Let the Story Tell, Let the Story Do the Work. And now she's got a sequel coming out, and she's gonna do a free seminar. We got we we'll have about 50, 60 people from our NGO world that'll that'll listen. And I got to give a part of that too.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

So wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Um, she has what's called IRS, uh, intriguing beginning, riveting middle, satisfying the ending. It's I would encourage anybody who wants to go. It's it's called Let the Story Do the Work. And it's Esther Choi. If you ever want to read how to engage audiences, it's it's a great tool. And the book was written that way.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Let the story do the work.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

Let the story do the work. Esther Choi, C H O Y. She's from North, she's a professor at Northwestern, but very cool. I wrote the book that way. The chapters are that way, each chapter does that, starts out. So, you know, good writers and newspapers do that. You gotta get their attention, then you gotta hold them, and then you gotta shut.

SPEAKER_03 32:51

So I wanna I want to go back a little bit because writing. You wrote a book.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

No, I didn't write a book. I had the ghostwriter write a book.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

You had the ghostwriter. I like to say holy holy ghostwriter. Do you have a holy ghostwriter?

Measurable Impact In Global Slums

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Well, he was a solid Christian, for sure. What was unique there is because I I'm not a wordsmith.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

I well, I was wondering. I was like, did God just give you this next next level like writing gift later on?

SPEAKER_00 33:18

No, I I teach internally what's called grasshopper you. You have much to learn, grasshopper. So I do it with college students, I do it with my workers. So the book really is our grasshopper you put in writing. The beauty of it was the guest writer had no business sense at all, didn't clueless. So I had to break it all down, and then he put it into very easy to understand English, which I never could have done. So it worked that way.

SPEAKER_03 33:48

Oh, I love that. That's fascinating. Um, and thank you for sharing that because I think well, I I would love for you to even go there for a minute. Um, I know a lot of people, um, and I don't I don't know if you'll think this is funny or not funny, but I've just been I I specifically work with women, and I feel like people in general are constipated with words. We have so many words in us, whether it's to sing or to write a book or to speak, you know, there's there's different ways we have words in us that if we don't get them out, like it's like being constipated. I know it sounds silly, but it's it's true. Um and being that you maybe you would say, like for me, I don't I don't always feel like I have the gift of writing, but um to be able to write this book that can now just like you know, like your um water filters, it's getting out there, right? You got it out, you released it, and it took having somebody to come alongside you. And I I really just feel like could you just share a little bit more about that process of, you know, was it did you have this epiphany one day? Like, I need to write this book, I need to get it out here, I need to get this out to somebody, and like the permission to say, yeah, I may not be the best writer, but I could have somebody come alongside me. Could you just share a little bit more about that process?

Water As A Door To Hope And Faith

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Yeah, actually, I'll split that in half. Um, on the book, my grasshopper you is pretty good. I mean, I really teach somebody business. And they kept saying, You gotta do this, you gotta write this. And you know, I so in some ways it's almost the operating manual manual for when I exit the market or leave, as we say. I and I do have to have myself mentally tested every couple of years to make sure I don't screw this up. But um, no, I think that's important. Uh really oh, owners hang on longer than they should.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

Well, okay. Now now I have to stop you for a second. How what can you tell us how old you're then?

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Oh, I'm uh let's see, what is it? I guess uh I'll be 74 this year.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

Okay, I I think that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah. Well, I I started building my succession plan a while. I have a perfect succession plan. It's really good. I I have so much talent at Sawyer. I pay well, but who wouldn't, you know what we're doing? If you have talent and you have God in your heart, why would you not want to work at Sawyer?

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Exactly.

How To Partner And Get Involved

SPEAKER_00 36:18

So I I have the best talent out there and I'm so comfortable with with uh whatever. But yeah, my brain's still working, so um but I delegate, so no, don't ask me how to work with affiliates on on TikTok. No, I got somebody that's gonna do that for us. I have no idea how to do that stuff. I'm just I'm at thir 30,000 feet level now. Yeah, I guess the business principle. Well, it my wife was really spotted. We went back to a northwestern reunion a few years back, and we sat in, they have you get to sit on three classes. That's where I met Esther, but also we did a marketing class because I'm a marketing person. They're teaching the same thing I taught 40 years ago. Really? That I listened to 40 years ago. So the core principles don't change, they may change a word or a name or whatever, but there's certain core principles of business that don't change. That that how you apply them might change because the culture changes, technology changes, but the core concepts aren't changing. They they taught the same exact thing that they taught 45 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

So that's why I did this. This is this is my my operating manual for when I'm gone. If the if you just don't get these principles, you'll be able to run your business.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

But I'm also don't want to screw things up. So I I mean I could sell Sawyer to I get offers every week. We're not selling it because they just want the profits. We want to change the world.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

So everybody say that again. Like, I feel like there's that that's that right there.

Big God And Why Not

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Well, yeah. Well, I I mean, I don't not a week goes by where I don't get one or two people trying to buy the company because because it is I don't make a lot of profits, but I have a lot of a positive cash flow for those who understand the difference. I could make a lot of money had we chose to, but I don't I choose not to. And we're a form, we have a very good name in the industry, so you could put other products under, but I'm very fussy. We won't do that because I every product we make has to be the best thing out there. If somebody bought it, they might try sliding in these things to ride our coattails. So I won't do that. Um, so I we don't want to give up what we're doing. Our purpose here, you you should come see our factory. It's not impressive. Yeah, it's not impressive. We still got holes in the wall where the forklift hit or whatnot, because our problem is every dollar we would spend on making our building beautiful is one person who won't get water for life. So I I can't spend money making the plant fancy at the expense of somebody getting water. So we're we're all hooked on everybody is all hooked on this. Everybody down to the the lowest factory worker who's paid very well, by the way. But um, no, we're all in, everybody.

Closing Prayer And Blessing

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Wow. What what what what brought you to that point? Because you know, you look at the world right now, and and I know you used the word integrity um before. Has this always been in you? Like, do you have you always been this way? Like was there something that brought you to this point to just say, like, I've got my like line in the sand, like we are not we're not going there, we're not operating the way the the world operates.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Well, I I did grow up, you know, we grew on a farm and we'd sell you know a dozen corn had 13 years. Here's some extra tomatoes and cucumbers, take them. So there was always that side of it.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

But um no, that's it, it came from we have lives. I mean, we uh Pete, how many million lives are dependent on what soya does? We we started this filter once and way, way back, this would be 2005, I think. I heard the story came back from Uganda. Some grandma we showed up, we were installing the filter, some grandma just crying her eyes out. If you were here two weeks ago, my grandson would still be alive.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Boom. Not only did it tell you the impact, but it told you the urgency.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

So I've been fighting the urgency. I mean, it's it's a privilege, but it's also a responsibility. And I, you know, I have to throttle back and say, okay, you know, I give God a lot of suggestions, but but I have to throttle back and say, okay, it's your time when you are ready. You know, I don't mean to go crazy on you, but think about it. We have the ability to take water sickness out of play worldwide. Yes, that is a monstrous change of God's relationship to human beings. Bacteria has been in the water from the beginning of creation. And we have it, we have the opportunity to make it a non-factor now. So I'm not gonna go do that until God's ready to do that. I I I mean, I'm preparing for it, you know, I'm getting everything.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

But but uh who am I to tell God when to do that?

SPEAKER_03 41:15

I know. Isn't it isn't that the truth, right?

SPEAKER_00 41:19

But it it does weigh on you, you know.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Um in a good way.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

You mentioned you mentioned the grandma, and uh you you said that I was in in mind, I had this question of of asking, um, you know, for for a testimonial that you've heard of of somebody at the end of the like a maybe it's a family. I know you mentioned like they previously wouldn't name their children until they were three, but you heard of, you know, that changed everything. Do you do you have like a testimonial of um maybe a family you've met where everything changed, um, or maybe two testimonials. I just feel like something where somebody could tangibly see um the impact that's happened. I mean, obviously there has been impact. I I don't doubt that by any means, but I just love those like personal stories, you know?

SPEAKER_00 42:08

Yeah, there there's a lot of those you can read at sorry.com. We we can definitely um get your allergies going for you.

SPEAKER_03 42:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

I love that.

SPEAKER_03 42:19

Um You're witty, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Yeah, well, I've been there. I've been using the allergy line many times. Um Kabira, and and there's a bucket ministry. You could if you went to the bucket ministry thing and got their insights. We we did a slum in Kabira, and it's 400,000 people, dirt poor, 76 toilets. Sickness was rampant, they don't make any money. And we went in sharing the gospel. We we donated all the filters and some of the money, and the bucket ministry also supplemented all, and we measured all. Okay, one of the keys to raising money is you have to measure it. So we do a lot of GIS tracking and analyzing the data, and it's all published in medical journals. So you you know, everything I said is backed up by research, yeah. Crazy stuff. So I know you think I'm crazy, but we really did, we really can do that.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

I love I love crazy.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

I love so when you go there after four years of putting it all in, first of all, the the number of baptisms are staggering, the number of churches that were started are staggering. The gang members became believers. Um, if you were there four years ago, you wouldn't walk down that street as a gringo without a SEAL team six. Wow, now you can just walk down the street, you can talk to the people. Violence is gone. They're all settled because they're they're not fighting over water scarcity or water security. I mean, they're healthy. I mean, so when you see that kind of change, it it just humbles you.

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

And and then and if you can do that, now we're doing all the other slums, but if you can do that for hardly any money at all, how how do you not?

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Exactly. Yeah. Living water.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

It is a great tool for sharing the gospel. You know, this what we take brown water and make it clear, and they say this is what we can do to water, God can do the same thing to your life.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Wow. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Yeah, so it's it is, you know, you have three ways to reach people food, medicine, and water. And water is part of all three of those. Apart from the other two, because kids lose a third of the nutrients for from bad water and parasites, which we wipe that out. They don't need the medicine because we basically get rid of diarrhea. Now remember now, this is diarrhea with no toilets and no diapers.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

So significant improvement there. So really water is the foundation of the other ones, too. So um those are the three ways for yeah. So water is a huge gospel sharing tool.

SPEAKER_03 45:06

Yes, absolutely. Well, what what do you need? Like what are you looking for? Um, whether it's for people to come alongside you, um, partnerships, what is it that um Sawyer needs, Kurt needs? What would you love to see happening maybe in the next year, even?

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Well, I I'm I'm sitting here, I've been humbled enough to kind of wait for God's pace. Um, yes, we are chasing the billionaires and you know that might want to come alongside if they're Christians. But to your audience, come join us. I mean, we're not afraid to take people on. Well, you want to come see one of our projects and participate in passing out filters for a week, come along. We got plenty of 140 charities who love to have you join them. Um, we do have the Sawyer Foundation. So if they want to give money to the Sawyer Foundation, there's no overhead covered in the thing. All Sawyer pays the overhead because that's what the the profits that we do have to put down on the bottom, we give it to the foundation, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

So every dollar donated to the Sawyer Foundation will go overseas for one of these projects, either baby wraps or um water filtration. Not nothing will be used for overhead. So and it is a 501c3, so you get your tax deduction. So that that's the way, but uh, you know, I we wrote the book, so they jump in. I don't care, it doesn't have to be with us. Jump in and do something.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Yes, I love it. Well, what would be the best way for um somebody to get in touch with you if you could just verbalize that and then I'll be sure to put that in the show notes as well.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Just go to soya.com. I mean, if you're trying to get me personally, just go to customer service, they'll get me the message.

SPEAKER_03 46:46

Okay. And do you love talking to people?

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Well, you know, I'm not a wordsmith, but you know, you just spent the hour with me.

SPEAKER_03 46:53

So you And I think you actually are. I think we need to flip the script on that.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

Well, I've gotten better.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

You're amazing. Well, I am just so thankful that you came and shared everything here today. Um one thing that I'd love to do is at the end of our interviews, is if you I do this for the one. And um God said for the one, for the one. If you could just get in mind that one that's listening in today, um do you have anything else that you'd like to share over them? Any maybe words of wisdom? Um, and then would you pray us out today?

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Sure. Um no, my the the two mantras in my life is let God be as big as he is. If you put him in a box, you'll stay in the box. He'll still use you. He's got a plan for everybody. But if you want to do bigger things, let him out of the box and go out of the box with him. And secondly, why not?

SPEAKER_03 47:48

Why not?

SPEAKER_00 47:49

You got one life, there's no debt or prison, you know. Hopefully, they have a good plan, but what why not? Don't get to the rocking chair and say, I wish, I wish I could have done the one. No, why not now? Right now.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Um so that's that's what you know, big God and why not?

SPEAKER_03 48:06

Big God, why not? I love it. So good. Um I wrote that down. I'm gonna make little post-its for myself as well.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Yeah, if I do write a second book, which I don't think I ever will, but it would be why not?

SPEAKER_03 48:17

Yeah, I I see that for sure. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for that. Would you would you pray us out today?

SPEAKER_00 48:24

Sure. Thank you. Lord, we thank you for this hour that we had. We thank you for Chris Kristen's ministry, we thank you for her audience. We just pray that this message will encourage somebody to get bold and get out of the box and uh experience just how gracious you are, just how powerful you are, and that that you're in charge of the world, you're in charge of all of us people, and that you have plans for each and every one of us. And just help us to be bold in our work and bold in our ministries and bold in our Christian walk. Uh the world needs us, the world needs you, and the he need they need us to lead you to you. So thank you for your your grace, your mercy, and for the ways which you undergird us. In Christ's name. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Amen. Well, thank you, Kurt. You have been such an amazing guest today. Thank you so much for coming on. Um, and thank you for being a brave voice who's setting so many free. I'm going to close with our hope unlocked anchoring verse, which is May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. And that's Romans 15, 13. So thank you, Kurt. Be sure to reach out to him, check out the website, get his book, and I will be back with another episode next week. Thanks, listeners. Bye bye.