Change Your Family Tree

This week, we travelled to Nashville - well, Franklin, Tennessee to talk to Jeff Martinez, Associate Director of Sales for the Ramsey Education Sponsorship team. 
If you've ever asked yourself 'how can I give back to my community more?', then this is the episode for you!

Transcript

Welcome to this edition of the Hoel Roofing and Remodeling podcast. Today we're down in Nashville, Tennessee. Or, I guess, technically, Franklin, Tennessee, at, Dave Ramsey's headquarters. And, today, guys, we're just down here sitting down here with Jeff. He is the head. Are you, I guess, Jeff, tell us your title. Yeah. So I'm associate director of sales for our sponsorship team for Ramsey Education.

That's what I do here. Okay. So, the reason you guys may say. What? What are you guys doing in Nashville? as a lot of people know, we sponsor several high schools, several schools with the Ramsey curriculum. And, it's just I wanted to get down here, talk with you. Kind of just the overview and just talking about the impact, because two things I want our our customer base to know that we are a company about giving back.

we do what we say. and also I want to encourage other business owners that may be listening to this because the impact that they can make because I know, I was talking to some of your team yesterday, and they're talking about some opportunities that, popped up. I know in Wisconsin a good friend of mine, Brandon Allen.

he just picked up another school. Yeah. So shout out to Brandon for that. Thank you bro. Dan was telling me that he's like, hey, Bob's here. And, he thinks he should do more. So I love that. I mean, it's so cool when when you have a sponsor like you and Emily, who have been amazing sponsors for years now.

when you guys don't just want to help your exact community, but then how can we reach out to other communities and influence your, colleagues, your cohorts, the people that are doing the same industry as you are? Maybe just construction as a whole. I love that. I kind of love that, kind of like competition that you've created.

We, one of our big sponsors is Air Force, for example, the United States Air Force. And so they're broken into three squadrons across the United States. And so we've been working with one Squadron, and, one of the other squadrons found out, and we had a meeting with them and they're like, well, how many did that squadron do?

And so it's very similar, like where there's this competition of wanting to help. But I think it's cool because, you know, I don't know how many of your listeners know you're in Emily story, but like the what we teach here at Ramsey Solutions is that once you've gotten out of debt and once you've done all the things right, the final baby step is live and give like no one else.

And our sponsorship programs for Ramsey education, is one of the only opportunities inside the building where we give our tribe people who who follow the stuff we do to give back to the community. And so you and Emily have been, And we couldn't thank you enough. We love you guys. You're just you're some of our favorite sponsors.

We feature everywhere we can. We do videos on that. And, I mean, what was cool about, I mean, I'm, I'm always outspoken about the Dave Ramsey principles, what they've done for our family, how they changed our family tree, brought the, family down and brought the kids down, yesterday seen, Dave and, Doctor John do a show just because our kids here is talking about Dave Ramsey at the time.

And it's so funny because they have no idea who Dave Ramsey is. Like, one of my daughters is like, so Dave is going to meet us there, and I'm like, no, Dave's not really going to meet us. We're going to his office. But, you know, like one day the one understand? but it's I'm always outspoken. And, me and Brandon, part of a group, a roofing mastermind called revolt, and, I shared, you know, we were, Hunter, the gentleman that runs that was talking about, like, tie something into your business that you believe in and you can give back.

And me and Emily were already doing this. We've done more since we joined that, group, but I was just very outspoken. I'm like, hey, guys, this is something we've done, something else we've done for a year. I think it was two years ago. we donated a water filter, that would provide drinking water, I think up to ten years for a third world country.

Wow. That was kind of cool. We did that on every single job. If we sold a job, we donated one in in in that in that customer's nature. however, like when I said that and then it's funny because there was a couple people that came up to me and they're like, oh, yeah, Dave Ramsey's principles changed my life.

And that's why Brandon sponsors, like he does, because, you know, they impacted his life. And and it's just for us, like, it's just it's just a challenge of like, go, go give. Because, like Dave says, the most fun you can ever do with money is give it away. Like, you can only have so big a house or have whatever car like genuinely like at the end of the day, like, I mean, just for us, we run into kids, and they come up to us and they thank us for sponsoring, like, because it's, it's impacting them, as have you shared with your audience.

What are the stories about what like because I you have some great stories. Yeah. I mean, so, the gas station one is my favorite. Yeah. So that that probably is to, had a small office, catering. We were catering lunch for our team, and, everything but cups was brought and, like, a course we realized that as we start eating.

All right, guys, go ahead and eat. And I ran across the street, literally to the gas station, and I, you know, I've got the our sexy transit vans. Sure. So it's really obvious. Homeschool vans turn into construction vans, I like it. So I was just like, so, it's real obvious who we are. And I jumped out and there was an 18/19 year old kid made eye contact.

I kind of nodded. I mean, it's my hometown. I grew up there, been there 20 some years. So like, it's it's I know everybody people know us and and, we I went to I went to pay. And the kid behind me is like, I'll pay for his. And I'm like, what do I pay for cups? And I was like, no, I can, I can.

I'm kind of prideful. My I'm good own cups. Like, you know. And he's like, no, no. And I was like, do I, do I know you? Yeah. And he goes, you probably don't. But I was in financial class. And, you know, he rattled off 2 or 3 things that had made an impact and already changed his life at 19 years old.

and like I, I got tears, I got choked up. I was like, I walked out at gas station. After I finally put my pride to a side and let him pay for the $4 cups. Yeah. And I just kind of looked up. I was like, all right, God, you got you got my attention here. You know? and I just I shook his hand, I thanked him, I don't know his name to this day.

And I said, well, if you can remember who sponsored if I can ever help you out, just, you know, let me know. So, yeah, I love that story. I think because, like, the it kind of points out the and I say this all the time when I talk to potential sponsors or current sponsors, I'll say the impact you're having is immeasurable.

Like, you'll never know the impact you'll have because we hear stories. I mean, we’ll hear a debt free stream now and then where a young couple will be like, yeah, I learned it in high school. And then I went to college. I did student loans and got into debt. And then when we got married, I remembered these principles and it was like, what?

Why didn't I do this? Like, why didn't I remember this? And so the impact that it has may not happen immediately, but like in your case, like I just love that story because what it does is it really shows that, even though the kid may be sitting in the back corner, not paying attention, they may actually really be listening and it's going to change their life, which is awesome.

So what I love, honestly, is like the teachers. So one thing we try to do, we try to get in the classroom, talk to them, talk to the kids, and just make sure the teachers know that we're a resource for them. Yeah. Let me shout you out. Actually, again, I feel like I'm just shouting out this whole thing, but really, it's cool.

Like, one of the things Bob and Emily do is before they renew, because every it's a renewal thing we do every year. So you, you know, we give you a full year to put it in the school is they will go and check in with all the teachers and all the schools that they're sponsoring and just make sure, hey, is it working?

Are they using it? You'll go in for a visit. We got some video of you visiting one of your classes, which was awesome. and then they just want to talk to the teacher and see how it's going. And I love that due diligence on your part. I mean, we do that as well on our team. Like we'll go out and we'll get all that information.

but you're probably one of the most proactive sponsors when it comes to that. You know, some sponsors, you don't have to do that, right. You can just sponsor their school and, and then we'll take care of all the, you know, getting you all the updates and stuff like that. And, but the fact that you do that, actually the impact is even further.

And that's probably why that kid recognized you, because you probably sat in the class and talked about like you did with that one class that we got on video, which is great. If you haven't seen it, go to our website, Ramsey Education. And and there's a great video, Bob and Emily kind of their story and you see them visiting the teacher in the classroom, which is really cool.

So. Well and I mean, and something that I've, we've when a new teacher teaches it, they're like, oh my gosh. Like, I've learned so much like the crazy one is at our local high school, Rushville. Miss Baker, Mrs. Sliger, she got married on us there. she, she was the Rushville teacher then, Miss Personett

was also teaching in a class or two. And the crazy thing is, I had Miss Personett at 20 years ago. That's crazy. Now, I don't think the lady's aged a bit, you know? So I was like, oh my gosh, she's still here. Like, then I start thinking, wow, it's been 20 years almost since I was there. But, like some of the conversations that we had with her, fortunately, Mrs. Sliger, she grew up in an FPU family, financial peace University family.

So like that, just, she was on fire for it. Like, she, like, pretty much jumped up and down when she got the email saying that, you know, it was sponsored. so, but it's like I said, like. And what I love is, you know, this is kind of this will get me down a rabbit hole a little bit here.

But, one thing that I think the schools around us are starting to do a better job at is realize that not everybody is meant for college. Yes. And I actually had a we did a podcast with our local principal and like he got me jacked up on like his energy, A, but B, like, he realizes like there's some kids that are meant to go to the workforce half day their senior year.

Kind of like, you know, my senior year, I worked half day just to get the heck out of school and to make money, you know, but they've they're starting to see that and like, you know, and we're, I went to one of the classes in or I went to Greenfield Central's another school we sponsor and I went and talked to some of them kids and, you know, and it was I mean, there was even one kid in there, and his dad was an entrepreneur.

Like, he made a couple comments and I don't think he really knew how much it impacted me, but it kind of made me want to make sure that I was still focused on being a dad as an entrepreneur. Yeah, because like, he's like, yeah, my dad's got a pretty successful business, but I don't ever see him. Yeah. And like to hear a 16, 17 year old kid that let's be honest, we don't think our kids care that we're around at that age.

And my kids aren't there yet. But still, like, that was impactful to me. but just just the teachers and, that particular teacher, Will is his name. he came from he was he just started teaching a few years ago. So he's had real world experience, which I think is fantastic for the kids because I have noticed Indiana's passed some legislation, where now a personal finance class is going to be retired or retired, required to graduate.

which is awesome. Yeah. and, but they're also focusing more on what track are, you know, in the university, are you going to work or are you going to trade school? And there's almost three separate tracks. That's which is is exciting for me just because, like, you know, me and Emily go into these classrooms and I always I'm always careful how I approach this, because I want to make sure that the kids know that college doesn't have to be for everybody.

Yeah. And because I feel like 20 years ago. Yeah, we were for college, college, college, like, there was no other option. You know, if you didn't go to college, you were a loser. Yes. Essentially, yes. I had to take a gap year, kind of, unintentionally, like some. There was a financial issue with my family and a scholarship I was supposed to get fell through.

And so I ended up staying home for a year. And I remember just the feeling of shame that I had all my friends left, like I had one friend who stayed and went to the community college where I went, and they wouldn't even look at me. They weren't a friend, really. They wouldn't talk to me. And I just felt so ashamed going to community college.

and fast forward just to, like, talk about your story. Like my son, who's 19, he turns 20 in like, three weeks, which is crazy. I can't believe I have a 20 year old. But he when he was looking at college, first of all, we went through our financial chaos in 2008, almost lost our home, almost lost our marriage, found financial peace University, completely changed our lives, sold everything you were talking about your buddy that sold everything.

We. I was just like that. Like I would do anything for a dollar, not anything, but, you know, not anything. But, we ended up having one car in LA. We lived in Los Angeles. We owned one car in Los. I mean, it's all freeways. It's all the only way to get around. I mean, I guess you could take a bus, but you don't want to take a bus in L.A.

Sorry. And I did, yeah, there are some stories there, but anyway, we had one minivan that we would cart around, and my wife would drop me off at work, or I'd drop her off, let me get the kids to school. And, I mean, it was a whole thing, but we worked really hard to get there. So my son and daughter for my son had watched us kind of take this transition.

And so when it came time for college to store it to two points about that is one, when we came to do our debt free scream, about two years after I started working here, back in 2017 on the drive here with my wife, because I was already here at work, he said to Clara, my wife, I'm never gonna have to do one of these, mom.

I she knows when he's like, well, I'm never going to be in debt. And I mean, he was like 12. And it's like, that's crazy that at that age. So when when college came around, I said, okay, you've some options. But he wants to he's doing film and video production. So I said community college. It's free here in Tennessee for the first two years.

You can go to a state school like, you know, UT Knox or MTsU, Middle Tennessee State or you can look at a private school. And I said, the problem is you we had a certain amount of money that we had saved, between us and my wife's parents had put some money aside for the kids. And so we gave him that number, and he went to the expensive private school, which is like a country club for kids.

I mean, he loved it, of course. I mean, it was like, everything's beautiful there, but it's like 45, $50,000 a year, right? Then you look at MTsU, Middle Tennessee State, which is about a 40 minute drive from our home. And he looked at the dorms and he said they looked like prison cells, which the tour guide said, I'm pretty sure the same people who built the prisons built the dorms, which is probably true.

Well, Dean will know. I mean, probably the same people like our engineer will, by the way. Thank you. Will, by the way, Will, Rutter said. I will, as he say that you’ve been in prison or what? Maybe. Yeah. You never know with Will. He's got a he's got a secret escape. Secret life. No, but Will's an old Tennessee boy.

He knows everything about Tennessee anyway. But he chose MTsU and he chose to commute. And still to this day, he's going to his junior year. And he will not pay $1 until his senior year because of scholarships and everything that he. So he's going he's going to college probably all in. When everything is said and done, he'll pay $2,500 for a four year education.

But he knew that he didn't have to do that. I said you could go to one year film school and learn all the trade and then just go get a job in Nashville. Why not? And he was totally fine with that, right? Mike Rowe talks about this a lot. Yep, yep. he was at, summit. We do an event, EntreLeadership Summit, and we had it here in 2020.

Do you guys come were here for that one when we had it here at headquarters. Covid year? We did not, did not. So that was the first year Mike was a guest and he told this story about how he talks to plumbers, electricians all the time. And they have, they have so much trouble getting people that are experienced to come work for them.

So then they end up hiring MBAs like these guys that went to college six, seven years to get their MBA, their buckets of student loan debt, and they can't get a job in the industry that they learned. So they go and they go work for a plumber. And he said the plumbers tell them that it takes him two years to get them up to speed.

they have to send some of their experienced guys with them. So it's taking that time away. So it cost him so much more money to take an MBA because trade schools have gone the way of the dodo. And so Mike Rowe, you know, this big, big like proponent like he has a whole scholarship fund for trade schools, which is so funny because it's almost like the frog in the boiling water, like slowly during the night because I grew up in the 90s, graduated in 96, but like I remember my freshman year of high school, there was shop class, like woodshop, and there was an automotive class, and by the time I was a

senior was classes were gone. Right. But they never really said anything. You they just kind of disappeared. And then the kids in shop, woodshop or whatever or mechanics class, they were kind of like the loser kids. According to society. Yeah, but those guys, I know a few of those guys still. They're millionaires, right? Because they own their own like you.

They own their own business. They went out and they started a plumbing business or whatever the case may be, and they just worked. They don't have a degree. They have a high school diploma and a lot of experience. And now they hire like they're a small business owner. But in the Bay area, San Francisco Bay area. So I think that whole idea of colleges is such an important thing.

And that's one of the things we love about sponsorship too. So when you're a sponsor, Hoel Roofing, you go in and you tell these kids, hey, by the way, I run a small business and I also hire a bunch of guys that do the work for me, and they have full time jobs. And you can do that too, right?

Same thing goes for when we have the Air Force or the we have Army National Guard is another one of our big ones. They go in and they go, hey, there's other options. You can join the Air Force, serve your country and go to college for free. And so that message is so important. And that's partially what Dave has been teaching.

And now Mike Rowe, who partnered with us a lot too, teach us something. So I love that. I just love the whole idea of like, let's, let's make trade school cool again. Well, and, you know, back to a couple decades ago when I was in high school, like, I felt like girls, they were even. They were either cramming into cosmetology.

Yeah. Or medical. Yeah. And like my wife Emily, I wish she was here to tell this story. she's swimming back to the hotel with the kids, but it's a nice, bright day to be swimming, too, if I could. Yeah, but, she went to community college. She went to Ivy tech. That's the local community college around us.

And she tells a story, and it's so powerful. because, I can. I watched the girls in the classroom, like, listen, when she says, hey, you know, she felt like a complete loser. Some of her friends tried to peer pressure like, I can't believe you're not going to IU with us and stuff like that. And she's like, but she's like, she's not in student loan debt like her.

Her last, I was so we started dating practically as she was finishing up school, and then her car broke down and, I, she went to buy a car and we were buying a little $800 beater car off of her aunt, that her cousins had driven. And, she had, like, 400 bucks. And I had helped her do her tax return.

I knew she got more than that with her tax return. And I was like, what do you do with your money? And she had owed her mom a few hundred dollars to get that, like, literally like a $400, to finish that last semester at school, you know, and I was this is something else that I, that we always say that she was.

She says usually it's like, I wish every girl knew what it felt like to be a mom, because I feel like a lot of girls, especially, will go get a boatload. A boatload of debt for an education. And then in five, six, seven years, get married, have kids, and then want to be a stay at home mom and they just financially can't afford it.

And you know, I don't want to get on a soapbox, but moms being moms is what this country needs. And I know that we're in this woke environment. But like when men can be masculine and women can be in their feminine stage, and hopefully I said that right, because I can't talk, it's so powerful, you know, you know, and it's not that a woman can't work or anything like that.

I've got, Emily does an awesome job at work. Elly is amazing at her job at the office. However, it's just like if if kids could really understand that, you know, and and I always joke. I tell people, I've got an associate's degree in environmental engineering, Emily's got associate's degree in medical assisting, and we're running a roofing company.

So, like, you know, the statistic that 80% of people aren't in their field of study after five years, I don't know if that's still accurate. I think it is. Yeah, that's crazy to just say out loud and, you know, in to think out loud and like I said, like, I always also encourage people like in high school like go get a job if you don't really know what you want to do, like if you think you want to do marketing, go work for a company.

I would hire a marketing intern tomorrow. A lot of companies would, you know, I'm fortunate enough we've got Adam that does our podcast and does video and like, I mean, that's pretty cool for us in our small town to have a position like that, that he can drive three blocks literally to work. Yeah. You know, so there is a lot more opportunity.

And I always tell them, like, guys, it's better to get real world experience than a fancy college education. There's nothing wrong with a college education, however, like, you know, you know, I literally had a marketing meeting yesterday morning before we left down here and I was like, hey guys, the old saying 50% of marketing is wasted. We just got to figure out which 50% it is.

Like, I was like, guys, we just got to keep trying new things. Yeah, you know. yeah. So I mean, that's that that's the reason that we do the, the classroom visits just to get in there. and you know, also this is a story that I don't even think I've had a time to share with your guys’

This team we're in at Greenfield Central and a teacher spoke up and it said due to this class, due to, some mentoring and coaching from the particular teacher, there was a girl on, like, there was a girl in his in his class that had chosen the least expensive route to get education. And I could tell that she was in the class because I could tell the way he was speaking.

And I think we visited three of his classes, maybe four of them. And I was like, lady, is that you? And she's like, yeah, it is. And and I applaud him there in front of the entire class. I said, I'm proud of you. Like, you literally just change your family tree and your 18 year like she has no idea, like you said earlier, like the impact that the generational impact that.

No, you know, I, I say this a lot. There. We talk a lot about legacy in our business. and what what I want my legacy to be like, there's going to be kids impacted from mine and Emily's legacy, and I'll never know their name. And I mean, I'm completely fine with that. Like, that is like the young kids that go through the class because it's something else.

I always tell the kids when I'm in the classroom, hey guys, if I was you, I sure would be. I wouldn't be really excited to listen to the 35 and 37 year old, you know, talk about finances when you're 16, 17, 18. Now the kids are superintendent, attentive. and I don't know, it's just I'm, I'm amazed at how well they respond and, you know, and I've even there was a kid in one of the classes this year that I could tell he wasn't engaged.

Yeah. So I was like, I ask him, why do you get in this class? No. Okay. Like, what are you going to do? And he I can't remember exactly what it was going to be, but it was going to be more like film and that kind of stuff. So I started asking him questions about that. Yeah, he does perked right up.

Yeah, super like super involved in the questions in. And I was just like, and I mean, I'll be honest beginning I want to reach out there and just friendship. Yeah. Yeah. You know grab his head and put him in a headlock. Say, listen, kid, this can change your life. However, just getting getting at his level and kind of understanding what he wanted to know.

And I think those are the moments that kids remember. And again, we'll never know. Right? Right. You'll never know. But like, for for a kid like him to potentially go to like, a trade school. Yeah. Instead of getting a for like Anthony, my son. Excuse me. Wanted to get a four year degree. because he wanted to, and he found the most affordable route, but the family tree thing is true.

Like the amount of debt I was in when I graduated college. Because I went to a private Christian university in California. You do the math. I mean, all of those things combined. So I didn't it. I graduated college in 2001. I didn't pay off that student loan until 2017. So it took 16 years. And that's after selling a house, moving out of California, moving here to work for Dave, that I was able to even get a big chunk when we sold our home in California.

That took a big chunk of it out. And then once we moved here, when you're sitting here, breathing the rare air of Ramsey solutions like you can't not be intense about getting out of debt. And so we got to debt in two years after that. It was so quick. But again, going back to my son, he's never going to have he will always understand the boy has more money and his like, you know, we all have like a spending account and you have your savings in his spending account.

He has more money than my wife. And I certainly buy a lot. Right. Because he's a little cheap, to be honest. I have to talk. I have to talk him down off the ledge. I'm like, hey, man. And he doesn't hear this. I'm like, hey, dude, you can like so him and his sister will go out and his sister 17, he's 19 and he'll pay for his sister and like, just buy her lunch, you know, because she doesn't have a job.

She's on high school and, and he'll be like, oh, it was $7, dad. And I'm like, hey, dude, I saw I know your balance. Like $7 is going to break you. I'm like, how's the food in the fridge? And how's that AC working out for you in your bedroom? Because he's living at home for free. We told him he's going to college.

He doesn't need to pay us anything. And he has a job to do. And he has a he has a hard job. He works for a t shirt company. Okay. So he sits in this warehouse all day and screen like physical labor. He comes home, he's just covered in paint. But I'm like, that's good for him. Like he's learning what it takes to earn a dollar.

And he's so like, he's so careful with his money and he's always telling me, like, I don't want to. I don't want to not have money. And I'm like, I like that, buddy. But you can also be that's actually. But anyway, it has completely changed my family tree as well. So yeah, that's the greatest thing about about the curriculum in general.

Like what our curriculum teaches is basically that Dave's been teaching for years, but we always call it the preventative medicine. And I think, hopefully we'll get through to somebody before they go and get a student loan. have you seen the documentary borrow feature? I have not actually, and I just seen that on the wall. It's so good.

I was I was blown away by it. So we, resolution released a documentary, I think, about 3 or 4 years ago, and it's called Borrow Future, and it's about the student loan crisis in America. It's a phenomenal documentary. I mean, it's just as good as any document. You'd seen Netflix or anything like that. and I think it's, it is on YouTube for free.

So if you listen to this and you want to watch it, when it first came out, you know, Dave and the team encouraged all of us as team members to go home and watch it with our families. And so I did. My sister was visiting from California at the time. She now lives here. She moved to Tennessee.

I convinced everyone to move here like my entire friend group, my parents, my sister, they all moved here over ten years. It took me to get everyone out here. But anyway, so my niece, who was same age as my son, my older niece, who's, she's like 20, 22 at the time. And then my daughter, who's probably like 15, we all sat down and watched this documentary and I was sort of like, okay, we'll see.

They were so engaged because it's such practical advice and it's just like what you're saying with the class, like, even though that kid may not have, like, thought he was learning anything he did, he heard it. And the crazy thing about it is like they interview a couple of different people. One is a student who was paid for everything.

He started a lawn mowing business where he like, bought lawn mowers and fixed them, and he was able to pay his way through college. In the interview, an orthodontist. He's $1 million in student loan debt, and he's an orthodontist. They make good money, but he can barely survive because his student loan payments are so big. and then they interviewed a teacher.

This was the most impactful one. He, he's coaching, like, two different sports. So extra money. There he goes. Twice a month or maybe once a week to go give platelets or plasma, because I guess I don't know, I don't know that actually pays decent money. Yeah. So but he, he doesn't like weekly and he has to drive like two hours somewhere off.

And his wife and he's just like we're never going to have our American dream, you know. So to see those stories, and they all have happy endings, which I did not. They're on their way to. And they've discovered what we teach here. But the whole idea of the documentary and we, we partner it with our curriculum. So when, when you sponsor a school, for example, the teacher gets, what do you call that academy?

That training. in the cloud, like professional development training. Right. So she get some of that automatically. They get the curriculum for a full year for anyone in the school. So I think some of your schools have 2 or 3 classes, and, some schools just have one class, and that's totally normal. But we give it to them full access.

but then they also get access to the brand feature and a little study guide as well. And so we hope that people watch that because really, again, we're just trying to teach these kids like, you don't have to go into debt. Right. My son is a perfect case study. He's going to leave college completely debt free, having paid maybe $2,500 all in because he got all the scholarships you need to get.

He didn't do it in school. He got good grades, and he made a decision on his own that he was going to go to a local college and commute probably all four years of commute, because honestly, his room is a lot nicer than those prison libraries. So anyway, the preventative medicine part is really key. And, it's probably the most amazing thing.

It's why I love our sponsor so much. You know, like I've, I've been doing relationship management here at AMC for most of my time here. And the group that I've loved working with the most is anybody who sponsors, like. So I've done a little bit with honorary leadership, a little bit with Ramsey trusted, and for a couple years now with Ramsay Education.

And what you guys are doing is it's just the Lord's work. There's this old worship song from years ago, and it was called Thank You for Giving to the Lord. And it's about it's like it's cheesy, like late 90s Christian song. and it's about this guy that goes to heaven and these people just are walking up to him and saying, thank you.

And he's like, I the story is like, I don't know you. And he's like, well, a missionary came to your church one Sunday and you gave some money. And because you gave some money, the village that I live in was able to get some clean water. And we also found Jesus. So thank you for it. Right. And so it's like it's the same exact concept.

I always think of that silly old Christian song. and I listened to it recently. It is just as cheesy. Imagine like it's just so cheesy, but it's such a cool story because what it's that's exactly what sponsorship it's like. Sponsors are giving back to something that they may never see, and we'll never know the true impact.

And as Dave says, one of the secrets of Ramsey Solutions is that we're teaching people about money, teaching people how to get out of debt, or in this case, with our curriculum, how not to get into that. But the secret is they may just find Jesus along the way, which is such a cool like when you think about it, every time I think about that, I'm like, oh my gosh, the Kingdom impact is amazing.

I have to you good. I went on a cruise because I'm debt free. And of course, on the day that we're getting off the boat, this is just Sunday. I get a tickle my throat, and of course. So I'm back now. I had to go back to work. I'm all rested and tanned. Sunkissed. Well, was complimenting me earlier on how beautiful I look.

Anyway, and of course, I have a cold. Of course. Right. So. I'm sorry. Well, you know, that is that is one thing that, a lot of people talk about, like the Kingdom impact is, you know, you have, a lot of people complain that they've taken got out of schools and that kind of stuff, and there's a lot of that.

I'm just going to bitch and complain about stuff and not do anything. And like, this is a way that people could be introduced and it's not cram down their throat, you know, anything like that? yeah. But, you know, it's like, the crazy thing is I found Dave Ramsey on the radio. I got to wrap my brain here a little bit.

Probably 15 or 16 years ago. And I grew up. My dad drove me to church. I was a kid who wasn't listening, you know? Yeah. I got sprinkled when I was in sixth grade because there was two other people doing, but it was after finding Dave on a radio station in Terre Haute, Indiana, which is on the other side of the state that I live in, actually, that got me.

I always knew I always wanted to be a full time entrepreneur, and I always done side jobs and stuff like that. but it also, like, brought me back to church and, you know, really given my life to Christ, like, not not really dedicating it because when I was in sixth grade, like, yeah, I didn't know what I was doing.

but you know, so like that, that is a cool like and that's, that's not my motive. If you're watching this, that that's genuinely not my murder. My motive is like, helping people stay out. Because the crazy thing is, me and I'm going to be married 13 years by the time this podcast goes live. within a couple of weeks from today.

And when we started it, like, I mean, I made her listen to this stupid 13 week series. And for you. Sorry, babe. Back in the day. Back in the day. Like while we were driving around. Hanging out while we were dating, like, because I knew, like, I had already. Very romantic. Oh, yes. Yes, I already knew what I wanted, like on that, and you know, my story is my dad and biological mom was bankrupt and divorce when I was two, and she's like, pretty much still my dad with us three older kids.

You need to give them up for adoption. We can both be free or you can raise them yourself. So, like, you know, there's a saying out there, your mask can turn into your message. And that's what like, you know, and I always heard my dad, I love my dad, hard worker. Just thought, you know, he said, work hard and be honest.

And, I just think that that's two qualities that if this country was truly ran on. yeah. Like the problems are gone, guys, but true. you know, he always said, I'll never be able to retire. and, you know, one thing that I saw growing up, was when he remarried, they didn't work together with their money, separate accounts, and it just it just doesn't work.

And like I said, I. I love my dad. He's, you know, people that knew my dad when I was growing up, he was hard. I mean, like, raising three kids by himself. Yes. Yeah. But I mean, you know, and then now that people know him as a grandfather like that is not the same guy as, like, oh, no, it's not.

I can promise you. I mean, my kids could. I always say Reagan, my middle one shares a birthday with my dad. I always say she could commit murder, and he would bury that body. And nobody would know about ever. but, you know, it was just it was something that I was very intentional, like, I was just. I told him I was like, this is.

This is how I want to live. Like, I don't want them problems. and, you know, so 13 years ago, people would make fun of us, or they try to make jabs at us. Now, literally at least once a month, we get a text message or a message on Facebook like, can you help? Yeah. and we were talking earlier.

Emily literally is starting to get them directly. It used to always come to me like, can you and Emily help? and it's just it's it's fun because, like, we just mentored, Dylan and, Kayla. Emily's, girl that does Emily's hair. Dylan. I coached him in youth football. That's a crazy thing. Like the full circle thing.

Especially being in a small town like, Dylan played youth football with my little brother Matt. Yeah, like. And, you know, now he's doing a side project for me, but back at the office, like, just just that and just, And they just finished their debt free journey. and, like, it's just it's like Everett. They're little. He's probably a year and a half like his family.

Like, that boy will never know his parents of stress and debt like. And you know, and I was trying to explain that to Reagan. Reagan's our seven year old. And we were, at the office yesterday and just gone through like the time lapse that Dave has on that back wall and trying to explain to her, their kids have always known us to pay cash for stuff and not go to the bank.

so, like, my kids don't even understand what that is like. One day I'll have to try to explain to, you know, but so that's, like I said, like. And I've always said this, like, and I give I give Dave credit for this is like, okay, I want to set my kids up. Like, my kids will work their butt off.

Like, if you see us around a jobsite, my kids are cleaning up nails like they're going to work. Sure. However, I want to set them up so you know, whatever they do in life, they're not starting with 50 or 100 or $150,000 in student loan debt, like, you know, at 22 years old, like I want to have a nice house at 22, like I told my boy the other day, I mean, he's he's all boy.

He does he's got to mimic me in a lot of things. And I told him his senior year, I want to help them build a house because he helped me a lot, which we just completed, building the house. And like, he helped me a lot out there. I'm like, your senior year, I want you working, some.

And I want to help you build your own house. I said, oh, when you graduate. Oh, he's still he's getting out. Yeah. my little baby brother, she's five. I said she can live here until she's 30, but you got to get out. But, you know, she's the oldest. And. And I'm joking, like, I love my boy. Riley, you know, I love my girls, but, I mean, like I said, for me, like, that's the whole point of this.

Me and Emily led, several of your classes. And if there was one thing that drove me nuts was the people, some of the people would be like, well, I wish I knew this when I was. Yeah, yeah, well, we should take take the bull by the horns today. Yeah. so that was, right, that one after one of them classes I looked at and I said, we're going to start sponsoring the kids.

and just, like, pouring into them. And I tell them the same thing. You're not you may not be listening, and you may go do dumb and get into debt, but I was like, you're going to you're going to hear about Dave Ramsey from somebody at church or at work, you know, and be like, you know what? Actually, I already knew his stuff from high school.

And it was just, you know, there's a seed that's being planted. Yes. That's awesome. Well, I just from Ramsey Solutions and from our education team, like we are so grateful for you and Emily. I know I said at the beginning too, but, it's really people like you. And for anybody that's listening, like, just give us a call.

I'm sure you'll put all those links in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, show notes for that. But like, it's very easy to sponsor. we got a great team here. My team. We got Dan and Corey. Who. Who talk with newer sponsors. And then we have Brandon and Lena who do renewal. And, they're all great team members and, very passionate about the mission.

very passionate about reaching out to our schools and, helping kids with the preventative medicine. So, again, we appreciate you. Yeah. And like I said, and I mean, the whole point of this is I just like I said, I wanted I wanted our our customer base, our fans, our tried to know, like, truly like the impact that doing business with us because there's, there's 100 roofers I could do business with I think and I always, I always, I always tell ourselves, guys, I challenge him to do business with somebody that, that they align with their values.

Like we literally had a customer turn into a team member that's, because she, like, started watching our podcast and, like, really started diving in and, you know, started, and that that's a testament to what our team is doing, the branding that we're doing, you know, but I just, like I said, like I want to I want to do business with like minded people, and I want to challenge other business owners to to get the give back.

And, you know, like I've always said, just co-sponsor one school. Yeah. And go see the impact that one school makes. And then it's like, you know, and for me, like, I'm maybe I'm too honest, but like, we want to continue to spend in our area, and me and my wife went on a mission trip, nine years ago, a little over nine years ago.

And one thing that really, that I remember from that trip was the guy that ran our organization said, when they want to go into a community that you first start with, getting that community fresh water. So they're trying to reach people for the gospel right there. First thing is fresh water resources because everybody needs fresh water. Yeah.

Then they build a school in a church. So what I've tried to do now that we're looking to break into other areas is my I want to go build a relationship with the school. Yeah. Like, how can I help the school? Like is it Dave Ramsey is financial class. Absolutely. But it's also for me being in trades is reaching out and talking to the construction classes of like, hey guys, there's opportunities in your small town and, you know, or one town over like, you know, we, we, we, we cover, more of a rural area.

So we go to other towns also and sponsor schools. Is this not our local high school or, you know, our town. So our community is this got one high school right. You know, but like, you know, I go to other high schools like guys, there's, there's opportunities 20 minutes away in our business. Well, we have high schools all over the country, right.

We have a list called a hands raised list, which essentially is schools that have said, hey, we really need this curriculum. You were mentioning that Indiana is going to, adopt, like some sort of curriculum or law or maybe. And the thing is, not every state, they may say, yeah, it's required now to take it, but we are not going to pay for it.

And that's again where sponsorship comes into play. So the cool thing is you don't just have to sponsor the local high school, right? We have. We had a woman in Texas. She was in Amarillo that was sponsoring a school in Long Beach, California, and three, 400 students went through and they sent her videos and she was like, I didn't even know where the school was.

But she's like, I love the impact it made. And she's continued to sponsor year over year. She did end up picking up some schools in Texas because she wanted to do something a little more local, but she was just happy to help. And so you don't have to sponsor school in your town, and you may find out the school in your town is already doing it.

So then, yeah, you're right. Go a little bit outside your community. Ask about our hands raised list. It's out there. We have schools that are ready to go. So yeah. So like I said I just I thank you guys like we it's we love we love to build to the impact. Like, you guys, were nice enough to send up a video crew.

Did a really cool video, with our team, made my wife super nervous. You know, she's always nervous. See this? Yeah, she was interviewing guys a couple of times. She's always nervous as a cat, and she's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. and the funny thing is, so we did our dent freeze frame, like, 11 years ago, right?

Like when we first got married, like, she never hardly talked at all. And I remember the church that we were going to at that time, like, we did our debt freeze frame. And people from the church were like, Emily, we've never heard you talk about your voice, you know, let alone over a year, let alone over two minutes on the, on the radio with Dave, but one of the largest radio shows on the planet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank. Thankfully she wasn't. She was. She would have probably not got one. Unfortunately, that was pre video time. so it was just you know audio recorded but no I mean it's it's just the impact that his principles have made on our lives. and you know, and we just we, we genuinely just want to help, you know, more kids, and just help the communities because that's that's just something that what I love about the class.

And if anybody is, like, listening to this, that's on the fence of sponsoring, like so many kids will tell you that that is the the best class, the funnest class they got the most out of as any class. Like I hear it every time I ask the same question, like, do you guys get any of this? Or you know, where does this rank at?

And they're like, oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like, you know, and I mean, let's let's just really be honest. Unless you're an educator listening to this like, you realize, like there's classes like pre-calculus, like how to take that stuff for my college education. Yeah. Algebra, math I need okay. Yeah. Pre-Calculus is I don't really need you know, I'm not using it right now.

There's certain people that are going to use it. But and kudos, like I said to especially Indiana, I know they're doing a lot of change in the education stuff, to like to set these kids up for success. And honestly, that's what that's what that's what I want, like, I want I just want to help set the kids up for success.

I want that to be or that's that's part of my and Emily's legacy. So if if you're watching this, and you're interested in sponsoring like this, please reach out to me. I'll connect to you guys. Jeff's team will freaking take amazing good care of you guys. and, you know, I can. We look forward to continuing this partnership.

and thank you for your time. Absolutely. And before we go, I do want to thank again our engineer, Will Rutter. Thanks. Well, for your time today. He's amazing. He's the best in this building, if I may say so myself. So thanks, Will. Thank you. Will I appreciate it. Cool. Thank you. Appreciate your time Jeff. Thank you. Absolutely, Bob.

Great talking.