S2 EP 9: Jason McKissick: From Superintendent To Founder: Designing Bold Homes And A Balanced Life

Transcript

Cold Opens And NyQuil Dream Dilemma

SPEAKER_02 0:01

I mean, it was just a minor wrong button.

SPEAKER_04 0:04

It wasn't every time.

SPEAKER_02 0:05

It's always something. Okay. Look, like it's much like we use the walk-up song to break the ice for our guests. Yes. I fuck something up so that you and I can just immediately relax.

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Honestly? I do immediately relax.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

You gotta flip your headphones around so you're not like strangling yourself with your cord there.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

I felt something weird. All right, there it is.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

I remember my first rodeo.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

God, it feels like it. Welcome back. Hi. Welcome back. I'm here, present, ready.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

All right. So I got a I got a story for you. I was uh I was sick. I got I got like bad sick like Thursday. I mean, and it hit me fast and hard. I was downtown and I felt my stomach start turning and my body start aching, and I'm like, oh God, I gotta get home.

unknown 0:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

So straight home, straight to bed, sleep on the couch for a few hours, had an engagement commitment that afternoon, had to bail on it. And by Thursday night, like the body aches, like I felt and looked like shit. Day before Halloween, kids are planning costumes and parties and all this stuff, and I just feel like shit. Well, I'm like, screw it, nine o'clock, I'm going to bed. Not gonna try and fight this, I'm just gonna sleep. That's this is my this is my like what I do when I'm sick. I just go dead. Well, I can't really fall asleep because I feel so bad. Like I'm just achy and my back is killing me. So I take some NyQuil.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

And the next morning, as I'm like waking up, I'm fairly lucid, but like you've heard of like the NyQuil dreams? Yes. So I'm having this NyQuil dream. And it is a very precarious position that I am in in this dream. And I don't remember the details, but I remember that it was precarious.

unknown 1:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Can you elaborate a little bit more?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

No, like I can't remember the details. But it's like I'm having like this almost out-of-body experience because I'm like I don't want to wake up because I want to see how my brain deals with it. Gets me through this p this this situation. And I feel like as I'm having that thought, I'm I'm I'm starting to wake up and I'm trying to fight it. I'm like, don't wake up. Like, I gotta see how I get myself out of this thing. And then I wake up and I'm like, damn, that was really profound. And I'm driving and I'm thinking of man, that was a freaking just a bizarre NyQu dream.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Nyquil.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah. So I didn't get I didn't get the answer. Damn. And uh I just remember waking up going, God damn, I wonder how I would have solved that problem.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

And I didn't get the Do you have like a a lucid answer to how you would have solved that problem?

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Like, no, I I just remember like I don't remember any of the details of the situation or what the situation was, just that it was a very, very bad spot to be in. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

Like you would have got yourself out of it.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Either dis I I I've I like that any decision, I do ref remember the feeling of any decision I made was going to alienate one group of people regardless. Like there was no like the woo in me was like not allowing You couldn't make it.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Okay. That's like the philosophical.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

It's like seeing yourself die in a dream. You're not supposed to see yourself hit the ground. I feel like it was that. My body was like, nope, you can't hit the ground. Like we're getting you out of this and you are waking up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:20

That's like there's a philosophical, or I guess it's more ethical, uh, question of like, okay, you're a conductor of a train. Would you rather, and you have to choose

Ethical No-Win Choices And Waking Insight

SPEAKER_04 3:30

one. Yeah. Would you rather hit and kill someone you know and love or five people that you don't? You have to choose one. And it's like either way, you're screwed.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, that was like your brain. I'm not choosing it. That was my nyquel. That was my Nyquel dream right there. That situation that was, yeah. So, anyways, I'm glad that I didn't. Part of me is actually very glad that I didn't alienate whatever people would have been alienated.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

I'm so glad for your dream self that you can rest easy with the light conscience.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

I just didn't realize I could be that consciously present when I was unconscious. Like it was a win for NyQuil. Yeah, yeah, win for Nyquil for sure. Um all right, quick turnaround. We we we have not uh been apart for long. So Rourke updates, what do we got for me?

SPEAKER_04 4:14

He just everything. It's like so fast. Every day there's a new milestone development, it happens. Yeah. I have to wonder.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

They come fast.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

What would we look like if we developed our entire life at the same rate we do, like the first year of infancy? Like we would be like 50 feet tall. We would never stop growing, maturing. Yeah, I'd be interested.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

My body images would have a would have an issue with like being that pudgy. Can you imagine how big chubby for like my whole life and continuing to grow?

SPEAKER_04 4:45

No, everything's good with him, but we are having to have the conversation of end-of-life talks for my dog, my husband.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

Oh, that's I'm terri I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Yeah, I've been avoiding it. That's brutal.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

I've been avoiding as well. Yeah. And I can't avoid it anymore. It's getting the point. My dad calls me.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I mean, the theme today so far is no no right or wrong decisions, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

It's so hard, but like when their faculties are there mentally, but their body is failing them, it's like, how do you make that decision?

SPEAKER_02 5:17

I will say this. Uh uh, you know that I'm a I'm a shared experience guy. What we've what we've come to with with our dogs when we've had to make that decision is what's best for them and their their physical being. Um you just gotta remove your yourself. You're gonna cry, you're gonna hurt, it's gonna suck.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

It's gonna be brutal.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Um I will say this like you be fortunate that your child is young enough to not have a super attachment to your dog because he's so skate, like he's gonna be. Yeah, but he won't he won't remember.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

I know. Anyway, okay. Let's be a Matt Downer space. Let's talk about our guests today.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Let's hear it. Yeah. I I'm so excited to meet Jason. Uh, this is I have not met him, so um I've heard some cool stories.

Parenting Joys And End-Of-Life For A Beloved Dog

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Yeah. Very excited. Well, without further ado, let's like do what should I introduce I've never done the intro before. I feel so honored.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Tell us a little bit about him. What's his background?

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Uh Jason is the owner of Luminist Homes. He is a design build contractor. We met in the builder space a couple years ago at a builder conference called PCBC. And I he was with a different company then, working on kind of like new home subdivisions. I might mess this up. He's going to correct me afterwards. Um, but we've just stayed in contact. He's doing some awesome work now, and I'm really excited to have. We've never had anybody in this space on here before, so it's a bust in the world.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Absolutely. All right, let's play him in. All right, let's do it. Well, I got my heart up in a beautiful homeboy. Should have no better when I took a little bit.

Meet Jason: From Premier Homes To Luminist

SPEAKER_04 6:55

I love watching you dance all the different things.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

All right. I can't help it. I'm, yeah, like I don't dance at weddings very often, but damn it, I can I can like move back and forth and nod my head a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Well, Jason, welcome.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Welcome to Open the Gate. Yeah. Uh so tell us about tell us about Drag My Body by Hot Water Music.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

As Kaylee said, uh, I was a uh I was the executive vice president of Premier Homes here in in the uh Sacramento area. Um and a couple years ago I decided to go off on my own entrepreneurial journey. Um and that song has resonated with me a lot during this journey.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Gotcha, yeah. You know, it's it's uh yeah, business ownership is uh it's next level. What a ride. No, but I mean it's super glamorous, right? I mean that's all that's all we see online, and you got all this freedom and there's no strapping.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

I I had that this ideal view of what I thought it was gonna be, and uh no, no, it's uh it's a lot more. Um, but also was such the right move at the time.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah. And I think you're you're it sounds like you're probably somewhat in the emphasis. Um the the rewards are are are coming.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

Yeah, you know, and they've started to come. Um it's been, you know, I mean, they always say the first couple years are the hardest and almost to two years now, and uh, and it is getting a lot better. And and um, you know, getting processed in place, things like that.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

There you go, systems and processes. We were talking about it this morning all the time.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

So I'm curious, can you elaborate a little bit from that transition? How long were you at Premier?

SPEAKER_03 8:28

28 years.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

28 years. So 28 years, you start when you were 10?

SPEAKER_03 8:33

So I was 17 when I first started. Okay. Yeah. I took a uh a little leave for a few years, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

Uh and you worked your way up, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Yeah, no, I I was the guy sweeping out the houses and tipping back up the porta potties at the end of the day, and when they get knocked over. Um and uh worked my way all the way up to superintendent by 22 and then did that for a number of years, and then um yeah, I I ended up being coming the

Field To Office: Leadership And Process

SPEAKER_03 9:00

was it director of construction at some point and then executive vice president.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

So that that transition from field to management or leadership, whatever you want to call it, is is a really, really tough one, obviously for you having having experienced so many of the the levels on the way up there, um, that gives you tons of credibility. But what was what how how was that? Was it a hard transition for you? Was it easy? Um talk talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

I I think uh when you work in the field most of your life, um you have once again this ideal kind of thought of what it's like to work in an office. And what I found is it's it's more of a ball and chain. Um when you're when you're outdoors all the time and then you know, um and then just just get getting caught up in the office life. It was it was pretty pretty crazy difference.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

I always I always for me it was always like just the ability when when you're kind of out there doing the blue collar, the dirty labor, the dirty work, at five o'clock or three thirty, when when the when the clock rings, you can kind of take your gloves off, get in your truck and go home and be done. Um but when you make that transition towards leadership, and it's I mean it's not like this isn't a secret, this isn't like groundbreaking information, but but the tie to a to a job or a profession via especially with technology, your email's always there, and you know, every free minute you want to, especially if you're young, you were young at the time, you probably wanted to establish, you know, yourself and your work ethic and and and prove, right? For sure. Um so so is that is that that's pretty accurate, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

Yeah, I mean I I had uh a little bit more of the the stress of you know when I was a superintendent on a job site, I took extreme ownership of of everything that happened on that site was my responsibility. Uh didn't matter who did it, trade.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Um and that's a stressful job in itself as well. So there was definitely you had a little bit of a cowl.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um but that was uh definitely probably my favorite job I've ever done was Superintendent. Yeah, superintendent. Yeah, just being out there and and in the mix with everybody, you know, um it and being able to I should preface it by I was uh allowed to do some really cool things in that space um based on the ethos of the company, which was a very creative aspect of of building. And um we built production homes, but very much semi-custom production homes. Um and always got kind of the the cooler sites that we were doing and um and uh was able to get involved in design and things like that uh pretty early on, which then is kind of fed into where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Yeah. Do you think so so there's there's uh this topic's come up a little bit lately, but do you think that like the the promotional ranks, right, climbing the ladder, do you do you uh agree that there's there's a point where you almost actually disservice the climb, where like making maybe like where it's when you're fully out of the field and you're in an office role, are you are you less valuable to the company than you were like from an efficiency standpoint?

SPEAKER_04 12:12

I'm so glad you I was sorry. I was just about to ask about this, and I I think I'm the opposite. I think that it makes you more valuable to start from the ranks, but let him, I'm gonna let him.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

Yeah, there's a lot of opinions on this.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Yeah, I think I think it first off, the the making that climb was great for having any kind of employees underneath me because like I said, I've never had to tell anybody to do anything that I haven't had to do myself. Yeah, um, which of course gives lots of credibility. Um but aside from that, I would say that there as I got kind of up the levels and and got busier and busier, um, my ability to uh impact the quality and um and kind of the ethos of the field kind of lessened. I I got more layers between me and the field. And and that's where I I feel like I kind of got to a spot that I I wasn't super happy with.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Uh like comfort in transition, right? Like, okay, I understand my new role, my new responsibilities, and

Building Ethos, Growth Pains, And Systems

SPEAKER_02 13:10

and I've I've got a comfort level and a confidence in that.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

I I think it was also um, you know, we're we were a small building company, uh Premier's still around. Um, but there's a uh there was a thought process to how we build. And um and being able to relay that to everybody in the field was a little harder. Um so it took some some getting used to and trying to find new ways to if I can't be.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Was there company, was there organizational growth going on at the same time? Oh yeah, for sure. Oh yeah, yeah. Right, for sure. Yeah. So it's like a perfect storm to an extent, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:41

Yeah, exactly. And um, and then also trying to you know make sure our processes are right, which a lot of that, you know, there was a lot of mistakes we made along the way, I think, um, with uh just not having the right processes in place. And and I think every company goes through that, but um but that's one of the things that fed into when I started this company like processes are huge, it's gotta be there.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Well, a lot you don't know the process is wrong until you until you find out it's wrong.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

That's every day I'm learning the mistakes of yesterday. So how did the experience you got there, starting from lowest rings to almost like basically running the company, lend to your entrepreneurial prowess in starting your own business? And it sounds like you're kind of more back in that spot of what you liked in the superintendent world where you get to be more out in the field and somewhat.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Um Yeah, there's still I I still battle with uh uh my my least favorite days are when I'm in the office, you know. Um it's unless I'm doing design work or something that I'm really excited about, um it's still just it's it's just crunching numbers or still a challenge. It's still still a challenge, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Uh those are the days that are harder to get out of bed.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

Yeah, like oh but yeah, if I if I'm going out to meet a client or um uh you know ha have any kind of on-site meeting, it's like my favorite. I'm out there in the mix, I'm you know, I smell the the fresh lumber and it just brings me right back to that space, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Well, and you're and you're yeah, you're physically involved in the process and the emotion of the decision-making process.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Sure. But also, you know, there there came a decision pretty quickly in the building of this company where it's like, well, how hands-on should I be? Um and it it's there's definitely a part where I really want to make sure that the DNA of the company is is instilled in every one of our employees. Um so there's still gonna be an aspect of that, but also it's like, you know, what's my work life balance, you know? Yeah, and how do I how do I still make sure I have time for my family? And and uh and really the the tougher part is time for me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

And you got kids?

SPEAKER_03 15:48

I have one kid, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

How old?

SPEAKER_03 15:50

13.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, and fully. Oh, you're a girl. Girl, first. Yeah, buddy. I gotta 15 and a half year old, man. We d we went out driving for an hour and a half yesterday. Nice.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

And you survived. Did you have to take any? She did great.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

She did great. No, she did, she did fantastic. She's she's gotten she's still got a little heavy foot, but she's she's doing a great job. Okay. That's not bad.

SPEAKER_03 16:12

We've had ours driving for a bit. She we live out in the country, so you know, she'll she'll drive the road in. Oh, yeah. Stuff like that, you know. Um, but yeah, she's definitely a teenager. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

It only gets better. Being that I was a teenage woman, it does only get better. I'll say that with

Entrepreneurship Reality And Acting Fast

SPEAKER_04 16:30

Dan. I'll mirror that. It only gets better.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

We're really loving it. I hear it's at like 17.

SPEAKER_04 16:36

It's 17 to 19, I will say. The 13, usually like 13 to 16, 17. You just you're just like, just hang on, just get through it. Yeah. Yeah. The hormones are intense, life is intense, you guys don't understand anything.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Well, and I think my place now is, you know, who whose side do I want to um be on? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah. My your wife or your kid.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Yeah, they they they're constantly pulling me both ways. Of course, your wife, but yeah. It's uh um I still want to be the cool dad, you know? Yeah. It's tough.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, you learn a lot about yourself, that's for sure. Um we've we were we were talking about, I mean, it's the they there's a reason. It's the hardest job, it's the hardest job on the planet. Um and uh it's also the most rewarding and 100%. Everything, everything about it.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

And she's a rad kid. She's a she's an artist, she's um an aerialist. Uh she's she's very cool. So you guys live in like Loomis area or uh we're out in Grass Valley, but kind of in between Auburn and Grass Valley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

My grandma lived out in uh I guess Big Oak Valley, which is like real close to Lake Englebright. So I kind of grew up fishing for bluegills on Lake Englebright with my grandfather.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

How is this the first I've heard of this?

unknown 17:47

We don't know.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

Damn, we talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

This isn't about this isn't a show about me. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

I need to interview you next episode. Okay, so you have been in this entrepreneurial journey for about two years. If you were to give yourself two years ago any advice now that you're in the trenches, and it sounds like you're kind of in a spot now where you're focusing more on fine-tuning things.

SPEAKER_03 18:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:12

What advice would you give yourself?

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Jump. Just jump sooner, jump at everything. Um don't waste any time ruminating on what could be. Um I mean, the entrepreneurial journey is just one of you constantly have to be your own cheerleader, right? Yeah. Um and also just have this idea that everything's gonna work out, yep. Uh, even against all odds. But um, but yeah, I would definitely be like just both feet jump in.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Well, you're either gonna make it work out or you're not, right? And unfortunately, like we don't we don't have a lot of guests who have failed in business. And I don't think a lot of podcast guests are people who fail in business. But maybe we shouldn't be. They'd probably be a fantastic person. I mean, getting them to come on and talk about their failure is probably a little tougher, tougher top. But um, but I think that that's that so speaks to the entrepreneurial spirit. Like, yeah, you're gonna you're either gonna figure it out, it's gonna be sink or swim. Um, it's why a lot of salespeople go into sales because there's that that adrenaline rush, right? Like and then when it's entrepreneurship, now you have other people's livelihoods at your, you know, at I guess at your exposure or at your Yeah.

Design Trends: Bold Moves And Avoiding Fads

SPEAKER_04 19:20

I listened to a morning video from a guy named Darren Hardy. He sends out these, you know, start your day right videos. And Friday's video was talking about the difference between billionaires and everyone else. And the educational moment was really that billionaires act. They don't spend time thinking. And he gave an example of he went out to lunch with his client and friend who is a billionaire, and he gave this example of how he was negotiating information with a potential client, and they were also conversing with another prospect. And while that prospect was looking at the contract and making decisions and, you know, thinking about things, he signed the contract, wired the money, 48 hours, let's go. And that's the difference between a lot of successful people, especially in the world world of business owners and salespeople, is like, don't spend time making decisions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

I mean, that goes going back to even like the Bill Gates thing, right? Bill Gates will wore all black all the time. Because he went into his closet. He didn't want to have to make a decision on what he was going to wear every day. So it was always a black shirt and black pants or jeans or whatever his outfit was. But they don't spend time thinking about it. Yeah, it's like, no, I'm not gonna spend time on that. It's true. It's it's not important.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Aaron Powell I would argue that being a billionaire gives you the ability to make those kind of decisions really quickly without.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

Well, and and what what thinks what what what occurs to me too is not everybody aspires to be a billionaire or even a millionaire. Right. So like so those those end goals or those decisions, those the things that lead you to that are going to be different because like I personally could care less about being a billionaire. Yeah, it's not about being a billionaire. The cautionary tale was like make your decisions. But there are but I think your point is there are traits that get people to where they want to go. If you want to be the best dad you can possibly be, you're probably listening to dad podcasts and leaning into dad literature and and and observing other fathers and things like that. So I got you.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

Yeah. Thank you for reiterating that, clarifying my points to be made. Appreciate you. Okay, trends. This is exciting because I feel like trends are they're different every day.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

It's true.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

They are. And we could be this could be digital trends, this could be social trends. Are there any trends right now that are exciting you?

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Yeah, I think uh especially in the design space.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Um say, yeah, he's in the construction world. Like there's all kinds of stuff going on.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

I know I'm curious about it. Well, I mean, there's all sorts of new tech that comes along, and that's one of the things that's great about being in construction, is there's constantly some new thing that you get to learn and and perfect. Um, but I would say more in the design space right now, um, at least some of the projects that I'm doing, um, I'm working with some some interior designers that are doing some awesome stuff and like really pushing limits.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

And I think that um there's uh a a little bit of a um You can come out and say it the return of the conversation pit in custom home building. I would love it.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

And we would please bring back yeah, no, I guess that there's maybe just a little bit of more comfort in like, hey, I'm willing to make a bold decision.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

You know, and uh not everybody's painting their house gray and sticking with the brightness and open concept.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Which is honestly what I love about being where I'm at now versus you know, at the builder world, you still had to kind of like play towards, well, what's gonna be the best thing for everybody? Yeah. Um, whereas now, you know, it's one client and uh if if they want to do something really awesome, I'm all for it. I love awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Now what about if you get a if you have a client that has an idea that you don't love?

SPEAKER_04 22:46

Oh, great question.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

So there is an aspect always of protecting a client from themselves. Yeah. You know, and and it it's not to say that um that I'm gonna I'm gonna push them away from a decision. Um I I try to to really just get to what the core of their their thought process is for it and get to try and yeah, you know, just make it a better decision.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

Try and get them to look a few months or a few years forward and go, hey, are you really gonna love this?

SPEAKER_03 23:16

And just uh just asking a bunch of questions and pulling back kind of the layers of the onion to figure out, you know, what what's the true motivation here?

SPEAKER_02 23:23

Because we do it we do a lot of like reconstruction stuff, so we do bathrooms and kitchens and redesigns, and it's amazing, right? Because it's usually it's 10 years later. You're just you're taking out the the terracotta tile and you're replacing it with the L VP. Yeah, you're just you're following the trends, and it's like that's the same thing. Like you're like, hey,

Guiding Clients And Future-Proofing Choices

SPEAKER_02 23:40

this is a pretty trendy product right now. Are you still gonna love it in 10 years? And a lot of time they're like, well, I'm probably not gonna live in this house in 10 years from now, anyways. And so, well, it's gonna be, you know, probably negotiated against you when you sell it then. Yeah. Um, and just trying to kind of say, okay, we've talked, we've talked through this decision. Now it's yours. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

I always ask the question, is it is it something that you're gonna be able to tell the error it's built by what we did? You know, it's like the modern farmhouse thing. It's really hot still. Um, a lot of people are still into it. To me, it I I know it's going to be something that, you know, five, ten years from now, we're gonna be looking back and be like, we know exactly when that house was built. Yeah. Um, based on it's just a trend.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

You know, what are the kids goes goes goes from cool to cringe? Is that what the kids say?

SPEAKER_04 24:27

I have to look at you. You're the youngest, you're younger than me.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

You're my you're my I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

I'm not in all the cool vernacular.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

I just associate you with that. I'm sorry, it's a stereotype. I mean, I'm happy to be associated with cool things. You're a hip vibrant young personality. I was very surprised when you told us the other day that you were not on TikTok, though. I was like, wow, she's not even on TikTok.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

Yeah, I'll that's a conversation for another I think it's destroying our attention span. I no, I here's okay, confessional, since we're on it. I did have a TikTok once. I think I filmed four videos, and and then I realized the purpose of it is so harmful to humanity. And I and I just couldn't. I deleted it and I never again. So yeah, I've been I've been um sober from TikTok for three years now, and it's been the best decision I've ever made.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

TikTok sober. It's definitely one of those things that you got to protect yourself from. Right. But that we were just having this conversation that we I was just at a meeting with uh one of our designers that we work with, and um we're walking through a house and we're talking about like do we have a bedroom? Do we put a TV in it? It's like, no. Like both of us are like, no. Like TV should not be in the bedroom. Like that is uh totally counterintuitive to like how you should live, you know.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

I feel like it kills intimacy. Dan, do you have a TV in your room?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Oh, we have TVs in like every bedroom. Every room. My kids have them.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

You're such a sports guy. I feel like people who are so heavily into sports, I see more TVs around because they want to be able to like watch the game and you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

I'm a total job. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

Yeah, I know you are. I love you for it. So what is or

Favorite Projects And Small-Space Magic

SPEAKER_04 26:00

what has been your most favorite project that you've worked on recently?

SPEAKER_03 26:04

I would say recently one that we're up with that I was just at is one of my favorites ongoing. Um just a really cool project. Um but I I did one earlier this year uh with the same designer that I brought into this one um that was just a a little remodel. It was a very houses that you could tell the area is built. It was built in you know early 2000s and it was just um like white and grays and it was just very, very it was a nice house. It's on the river. It's it's it's a beautiful house, really big house. Um but it just wasn't designed well to the standpoint of like the finishes. And uh we went in and just I mean, there's wallpaper everywhere, there's um there's just bold colors and and now it's a vibe, you know. So if if we can go into a place and transform it and make it a vibe versus what it was, you know, um that's what I'm all about. Nice. Um but then I also really like doing new build stuff, which is kind of what we're mostly doing right now. Um we still do some remodel, but um ground up, full full scale re new build.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

The one I'm doing right now, uh well, I have three ADUs going right now, um, and then a cabana. Um, but uh the the one ADU um it's it's just it's got some really cool space to it. It's actually not a very big ADU, it's only 700 square feet, but the whole thing is uh closer to 3,000 square feet, and um there's a massive, really awesome special use room in it, um which is going to be really, really cool. So very cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah, I mean ADUs. I thought I thought ADUs is where you were gonna go. I mean, they are pretty popular right now. I was driving downtown last week, and um, is it 160? 160 that runs you like right down. There is a huge billboard and it's promoting um uh ADUs and and how to you know enhance the value of your property. Yeah,

ADUs, Infill, And Multi‑Gen Living

SPEAKER_02 28:00

people are trying to get it. And I think so too, for sure. Um but always in the back of my head I have this question like, you know, we're putting more properties on our small little piece of property, like and if if a COVID comes around again and we all want to move back to Loomis and have our fucking space back again. Like, how pissed are we gonna be that we talk about it all the time.

SPEAKER_04 28:22

We're like, we have the room and the capacity to put another unit and back there. We could make passive income, but I just don't want to share my property with anyone. I don't want to have to deal with somebody else coming in and coming off and their schedule and whatever. Like, no, it's just I can't.

SPEAKER_03 28:37

I think you gotta think about eventually there's gonna be more value in just like, oh, you don't have an ADU on your lot, you have a big thing. Yeah, it's gonna be kind of the opposite way, you know?

SPEAKER_04 28:48

So do you find that most of the clients you're working with right now are wanting that additional for passive income for family or yeah, there's different uh different uses.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Like I have one client that is the mother-in-law, uh mother-in-law moving in.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Um, yeah, the multi-generational, I think, is the most is probably, in my opinion, the most um enduring or lasting component. Yeah. Where especially with um like um like immigrant families and things like that that are that are closerly knit than the typical American family.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Well then so then I have another one that um we're doing right now that um it's a younger couple and they're planning to kind of trade with the with the parents later on down the road. You know, when the parents are a little bit older, they're gonna move into the ADU and they'll move into main house, you know. So that's kind of a cool use of uh space there. Aaron Powell We'll see how that plays out, right? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

Once the parents get comfy in the in the Taj, they're like, Yeah, we're not moving into that. We're not moving into the shoebox in the backyard.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

That that ADU's got ten foot seatings and really nice vaulted space. It's it's a beautiful ADU.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

So they're they're the the things you can do with those things are crazy.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Well, and to me, I look at it as it that one's maxed out twelve hundred square feet. You got Two bedrooms, two baths. Um, it has a bathtub in it. Um, and I look at that and I'm just like, man, that's the dream. I I came from before we lived in Grass Valley, I lived in Midtown and we had a two-bedroom, one bath, and I miss it like crazy because it was just simple. Yeah. It was life was simple. You know, um, we had a good size basement in it for kind of art and music room and stuff like that. But you know, we'd spend on a weekend an hour, you know, cleaning our house, an hour doing the all the landscaping, and then we're just free for the rest of the weekend. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Yeah, I th I think there's an opportunity because I lean, I work a lot in the commercial space now, but I think there's an opportunity for like the developers to go buy some of those like smaller lots, like and not small, like tiny, but like probably a quarter acre and up, and look at figuring out a way to design three or four eight hundred to twelve hundred square foot ADUs, and you basically build a little complex. Yeah. And it's just a rental complex.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

I think we're seeing that already where you know the small lots that are in midtown areas are being bifurcated.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

The infill, the infill stuff is crazy. You're seeing even uh in Roseville out on Douglas, yeah, uh row homes.

unknown 31:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:05

I was like, damn, row. And I mean, I used to drive by that lot every day, and I was like, saw saw them start pushing dirt around. I'm like, what are they doing here? And then I saw the framing, I was like, holy shit, like that is some high, high density stuff.

SPEAKER_03 31:19

And that's kind of the world I came from, you know, being a builder. You know, we were looking at projects like that all the time and figuring out how do you make a pencil, you know? Um, and and right now that's how you make a pencil. You gotta have a main unit and an ADU. Yeah, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

So you mentioned you had spent some time in Midtown. Yep. What is your favorite part about Sacramento and living in Sacramento?

SPEAKER_03 31:39

Convenience, because I have none where I'm at now. Um I I we've got to be.

SPEAKER_02 31:44

Yeah, I mean you drove 45 to 60 minutes to get here if you came from Grass Valley. I was already down West Sack already. So do you office out of home, out of the house?

SPEAKER_03 31:52

I do currently.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 31:53

Yeah. Um, but uh I'm down here all the time. Um but yeah, so where we're at now, it's beautiful. We're

Sacramento Life: Convenience Versus Space

SPEAKER_03 32:00

on 10 acres. We've got, you know, beautiful dark skies at night. Um it's just nature all around. Uh but what I miss down here is just the convenience, the amazing food, the culture, you know, uh the ability to go out to And you grew up around here? Uh I grew up in Roseville and then I started living in Midtown when I was probably like 20.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But even I mean, just the evolution. I mean even Roseville and I mean I live in Rockland. It's like as as beige as they are, they've got more character now than they've ever had before. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

It's not everything's a chain anymore. There's some there's some outstanding little private concepts and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 32:43

Yes, aesthetic as well as the differential like food environment and trying to create some more custom experiences, which is so necessary in that world of suburbanites.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

You're suburban.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

I live in Fair Oaks. I'm like as rural suburban as you get out there.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

Yeah, what was that last part of rural what? Rural Dash What? How's this rural date?

SPEAKER_04 33:09

I am number one.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

I know. My wife tells me that all the time, too.

SPEAKER_04 33:14

Same story. Um all right. So referring to the board, I feel like I might know the answer to this question, but I won't assume. Unusual talents. Or maybe just talents that people don't know. We haven't talked about yet.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

I could do the Rubik's Cube. Ooh.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

How fast?

SPEAKER_03 33:32

About a minute.

unknown 33:33

That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

I feel like that's people still compete with that, right?

SPEAKER_02 33:37

I've been doing, I've been I've been TikToking too much. I don't have the mental staying power.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

I do have one that's a um it's called a ghost cube that has like it's all white instead. There's no color on it, and it's all these weird little shapes instead.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Oh, like a die, like a like a mark on a die or something to make it unique. So you gotta do it.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

Turn it off axis

Hidden Talents: Cubes, Knots, And Focus

SPEAKER_03 34:00

to get it to move. So it won't move in its in its square form. Oh. Um, but yeah, it's that one takes me a bit longer, but yeah. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

That's pretty that's pretty rad.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

That sounds challenging.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Yeah, there's so many of these talents. Like I'm so jealous of it.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

I would love to see you try the ghost cube, Dan.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

Oh god, no. I I'd just throw I'd throw it through something and then and as a result, probably injure my arm somehow. I would just I get so frustrated. You know what's funny though?

SPEAKER_04 34:25

Um that pitcher's arm, come on.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

You know what, you know what I I love undoing knots.

unknown 34:31

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Really? Yeah. Um, but I will say caveat to that. Like recently, my my nearsightedness is is getting worse, and I probably need to look into some sort of prescription. Yeah, like yeah. But I but I th there's something about undoing knots, and the bigger and the hairier, the better. Oh no, no, no. I'm talking like when your kids make a knot. Like a rubber band ball, you know, like undoing undoing that, like finding it. And I think it's something about like it gives me something to like intensely focus on, and then the outcome I can be I can feel good about. I get a little dopamine hit from like a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

It would probably be good for those um puzzle things that are like three blocks linked together instead of figure out how to unconnect them.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yeah, yeah. But the Rubik's Cube for whatever reason, I think that that that extra dimension That was a COVID thing for me. Too hard for me. I just I picked it up during COVID and yeah, I don't know. Did a couple puzzles during COVID.

SPEAKER_04 35:29

I love that you have an answer for that because when we asked that question to our other guests, most people are like, oh, I don't really know. I'm like, you had so much time to think about this. You've got to have something.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

We do we do give you the all the test questions. I appreciate that. Well, the last thing that we want to do is like create dead air. Like, oh Jason's like, uh, let me think about that.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Then I'd forget that I even know how to do it.

unknown 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Well, that's what I think that's what stumps a lot of people. They don't know what they're they're just it's a talent that they have and they don't maybe think it's unique or they don't like being put on the spot, is usually I think more. That's one of the more direct questions to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Being on a podcast is pretty on the spot. I'd like, I mean, you're you're the whole focus of the show in our.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

When we stumble our when we stumble our guests, it's a failure of our of our.

SPEAKER_03 36:13

I mean, if you didn't give it to me, I'd probably say that my hidden talent was avoiding questions. I'd get around that one. How so? Great question.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Still got it. Take us back to the board, Dan.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Uh any like how about so let's go let's stick with trends, like pop culture trends. Like anything, anything going on right now that you like. I'll give you an example. Like uh I follow the 49ers on their social media and their social media team does such a good job. Right now they'll have like um they'll put like an iPad with a camera facing, and like the iPad will have a question on it, like uh um finish this song verse or or or something. And the whole team walks by and they all give their answers. It's just it's just really fun, it's lighthearted, and it's cool. So that's a trend

Partners, Vision, And Realtor‑Builder Synergy

SPEAKER_02 37:00

that I I like to follow right now.

unknown 37:01

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 37:02

The one that that really I've been loving is um there's a Whitney Houston song where they have to hit the beat and it's not on beat. Like it's it's like a weird timing where it's uh I can't remember the name of the song, but she you know finishes out like a vocal part, and then there's like one like Tom that comes in and says, Like you'll get all these musicians that are doing it, like bands, and they'll all just come around and all of them try to hit that beat. It's really funny because they're just none of them get it.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

But yeah, and they're professional.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

Like one of them will get it.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Yeah, you're like they're like this entire population should easily get this, and it's still challenging to them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:39

I think I figured it out though. It's another one of those puzzles to me. Like I actually practiced it the other day. I'm like, if I ever get asked to do that, I'm gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

But you're gonna be fully prepared for that beat. All that downtime.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

With all that downtime. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. This is what happens when I don't sleep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

The things we do to distract ourselves from the stuff that we should be doing.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

What do you which what pop culture trend are you on right now? I know it's gotta it's probably some mom thing, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

Baby led weaning. Is that a pop culture trend? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Yeah, I I would say probably.

SPEAKER_04 38:11

Um my life is so boring these days. I have to admit, it's kind of true, but not true.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

True. Your your life is probably very similar from day to day, but I bet you it's not boring.

SPEAKER_04 38:23

It's not boring. No, we do a lot of fun stuff, but it is in development mode.

SPEAKER_03 38:28

You're watching a child be adopted by your face. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 38:32

No, I will say there's something magic about watching. I swear I can see his synaptic connections forming every minute. Like the way that he just stares at his hands and is so fascinated by his hands when he opens and closes. I I love that. It's so cool to me because I'm like, God, remember if I could remember when I first discovered my hands and how tripped out I was at like when my brain thinks my hands move. And it's just cool.

SPEAKER_02 39:01

My son still does stuff like that. Now my my daughter's my daughter's version of that is if I say this to my dad, it will inst it will excite

Biggest Challenge: Focus, Content, And Mindset

SPEAKER_02 39:10

this reaction.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

But that's that's the best age though. It's like from that till you know, probably about four, I'd say, where it's like you're watching a child like just see something for the first time and be in awe of it and and realizing like, oh yeah, they've never seen a helicopter before or they've never noticed it before. Yeah. And then being able to see it through their eyes again. I think it's such a magical time.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

I will say, I think I guess I don't know, if I had to call it a trend, I think it's just like re-learning the world through a child's eye. I think being a parent really takes you back to that experience and it allows you to be that inner child we all have still and appreciate the most simple moments. And that is really cool.

unknown 39:56

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 39:57

Well, I think it's wild too, like how how different the world that your children are born into compared to the one that you were born into. Okay. Um, and the also that.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Yeah, he sees us on our phone all the time. Like we're working and we're very protective over how much screen time he gets. And I have to think that, you know, because we try to preserve his childhood as much as we can. And for us, it looks like our childhood, but that just simply doesn't exist. Technology is so prevalent now.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

Yeah. Someone, someone pr pro someone posed that question the other day, like, oh, if you if you limit it, like, are you almost even there's there's probably a point where you're handicapping them, right? Like where those kids that do have it in front of and again, I mean, it's personal preference and how you want to parent. But there is that side of the coin where that that thinking may eventually prove to not be wrong.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

Exactly, exactly. So it's a it's a fine balance, and I think it's hilarious because my wife has historically been the one who's like very no screens, no screens. Like the first time my dad came over to babysit, he like pulled out his phone and was showing him Mrs. Rachel. I was like, don't tell Danny.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

Um, but I can't wait. I can't wait until the first time you hear from your child. I'm in a game. I and I think all this the emotion that that sentence can can can create is wild. She's gonna have a hard time with it. 10-year-old son, I was like, hey dude, I need you to go do this, this, and this. Okay, dad, can I finish my game? Or hold on, I'm in a game. And I'm like, nope, I walked over, and

Routines, Meditation, And Cold Plunge

SPEAKER_02 41:30

he was no longer in that game. You would no longer be in this game.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

If it was like a board game, maybe no. But I think it's funny because um football started, and last year my wife got like very weirdly into football. She, I was always the one that's like, hey, you want to watch this game? And then last year she was every game. And I'm like, cool. So now he's allowed to watch screens on Sunday, and we have like this split screen, so we're seeing like four games at a time. I'm like, And he's watching Nemo. No, he doesn't watch anything, he watches football with us. That's the only thing he's allowed to watch is football. And I'm like, this is this feels a little hypocritical, but everything's good in moderation, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:08

I guess.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 42:10

Anyway, I'm fighting that battle with my daughter right now. Um I we were just having the conversation yesterday about, you know, the screen thing. And we we resisted for a long time. Uh she had an iPad when she was really little, and then we took it away because she just turned into a complete psychotic kid when we let her watch anything. Um and now we're kind of dealing with it later in life and kind of having that conversation of like, was it better to do that? Or you know, what's the best way?

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Well, and and then and then discerning is this is this because of where you're is your response or your reaction to having or not having this more of a byproduct of your actual human development, your age, because you're a 13-year-old. Right. Or because we did X, Y, and Z when you were five. I don't know. I mean good luck proving it, right? Like I think at the end of the day, make good decisions as a parent. Make decisions that you that you believe in and you're proud of and and you think are the right decisions, and you'll be fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

We we did the the thing where because we took it away, she just always got books. And she has read read more books than I will ever read in my life, I'm sure. Um but then as soon as she got the iPad back and then she started getting anime and everything else. She she actually told me yesterday she's like, I don't like reading. You've read so many books and like that makes my heart sad.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

Yeah, it's it's just there's too many kids who and there's there's so many books out there. Maybe we can get them turned on to like audiobooks. If they're gonna be on digital, like let's just you know, let's get with the digital times. I guess it's it's an olive brand. Yeah, if there's if there's a compromise, like I'd rather them be digitally learning than I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

I'm just gonna wire in a whole house like kill switch into my house. Be like, hey, we live remote, power goes out. There's a benefit to that.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Um proudest business accomplishment. Oh, I like this.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

This is a great question. I don't know if this was on your prep sheet. I apologize. We we added this one. Um and not necessarily maybe like a finished product, but like maybe a byproduct of a business accomplishment.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

Uh I would say getting the right team in place. You know, um, I finally feel like I've you know that it's been it was at first it was just me, you know, and then um getting uh how big is your company? I've got uh five employees. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So not not as terribly big. Um but I got you know a couple few guys. I got a foreman, I've got um, and I've got uh a girl in my office, and she's my favorite. She's just such a badass.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

Thank God she's in the office. You gotta you gotta interface with her a lot, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:49

She also works remote. Um but um but she's just uh she helps me so much. And really it's it's been you know understanding my own weaknesses and and hiring to those, you know, and finding the people that that really pick up the slack where fill the voids that you don't want to, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

I think that's what makes a great leader though, is understanding where you are weak.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

There's a lot of them.

SPEAKER_04 45:13

Leveraging that, leveraging that to add people in your circle that

Delegate And Elevate: Building The Right Team

SPEAKER_04 45:20

fill in those gaps and having enough humility to know and say, like, this is an area that I'm not good at, and I don't want to spend time being the best person at that. I want to leverage and get the best person out there that can help us grow.

SPEAKER_02 45:32

EO calls it elevate and delegate. Ooh. So yeah, you elevate yourself by delegating the things that one, because if you're not good at them, you probably don't love them.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

And if you don't love them, you're gonna put them off. So then they can become a an anchor on an organization. So yeah, it's uh it's it's it but it's a it's a very it's a very mature trait. You have to have to have a lot of you're not good in an area, which is not easy for and I think at the same time too, like you're also gonna have to be willing to like have things done the way that you might not have done them. Yeah. Right. And and you know for better or for worse. Yeah. Yeah. And and to be able to like, you know, if a mistake is made and and you had no input or insight or anything in in the mistake in itself, um, being able to say, okay, well, we gotta go back to the drawing board and figure this out because that didn't work.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

I do that a lot. It's uh it's definitely always a work in progress to to put together that team and then the process.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

And you're and you're you're using you're using subcontractors, so you're managing all those relationships and which is which is a super fun game to play, right? All the time.

SPEAKER_03 46:41

You know what? I I I gotta say, I have some awesome subcontractors. I've um uh a stack of them that uh I've worked with for 20 plus years um that have translated over from the production building uh to what I do. And then I have um some new relationships that I built that honestly are just fantastic. Like I was just hanging out with the phone.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

It's just like every all of us have our book of business, right? Like Dan, you're a preferred partner of mine. He has his preferred partners that he works with. And I think that was one of the biggest reasons I was excited to get you on the podcast because I think it's so important that realtors have partners in your space. I as a realtor sometimes don't understand what the vision could be when I'm bringing a buyer through a house that's super outdated, and then I can help sell, like, hey, these are some things that we can do very easily. We could take that wall down, we can open this space up. And having people that are as creative as you that have the experience that you do and really understand the full process, the design.

SPEAKER_02 47:42

Just be careful and just point just don't point at any particular wall when you say we could take that wall down.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

No, I don't. I always say, like, you know, do we confirm?

SPEAKER_02 47:49

You can keep all of us out of a lot of trouble by just not doing that.

SPEAKER_04 47:52

I don't ever do that. I always say like you should double check and make sure that it's not load-bearing or anything. But if it's possible, but just having

Pop Culture Beats And Parenting Screens

SPEAKER_04 48:00

that kind of like in my back pocket of knowing that I have somebody that I know and I trust who can come in here and help create that vision. That's sometimes the difference between whether my buyer moves forward on a property or not. Or when I get somebody into a property and they're like, I want to do a bunch of stuff. Who do you know? I, you know, it's important that we have people who can come in with that creativity and like have the vision that a lot of us don't.

SPEAKER_02 48:25

What is what is what is your what's your biggest challenge in business right now? Um I say me sure. But but I don't know how I don't know how much we're gonna how much unpacking we'll do if that's the end of the calculator. We get to know each other really well during the time.

SPEAKER_03 48:46

No, um I think it's I think it's just um I would say that it's it's focusing on the right thing at the right time, you know. And um I I mean I've I've been really good about making a bunch of content for social media, but do I get it up? No, you know? Um and uh there's there's certain things that I constantly feel like I'm like not getting done. Um but that said, you know, the the give and take of building a company is kind of like, you know, right you you you gotta get to uh what's most important that day, you know. So I'm I'm trying to uh I'm focusing a lot on myself and um kind of my mindset, I think, to make sure that when I do hit the ground running in the morning that I'm making the best decisions because that's really what it comes down to. It's making great decisions and and um and and being as productive as I can be and uh and continuing to grow, you know.

SPEAKER_04 49:45

So a lot of our guests have relayed that they do a type of morning routine when like before you hit the ground running, is there anything that you do that's like your repeat?

SPEAKER_03 49:57

Right now I'm I'm doing like a morning, afternoon, and night routine. Uh so wow. Which involves a lot of meditation um and a lot of uh just self-care, you know. And I I I think I I burnt myself out a little bit uh in the first year and a half of of building the company that I felt like um Which is probably in line with 99% of the 100%. You have to if you have that's part of part of the job, right? Yeah. Um part of the sacrifice, yeah. But realizing that uh if I am not taking care of myself, I can't take care of others, you know. And I do have employees that I'm trying to take care of and and of course my family. Um, but it it's been uh really about, you know, making sure I have time for exercise and that I'm eating right and that I'm you know um getting that meditation in. And I've been really leaning into that a lot. The meditation has been probably the most helpful um just to get my head in a better spot, you know. Very cool. But also have some fun with it.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

It's challenging. I feel like that's one of the hardest practices to be able to get into a space and like turn out the distractions, turn out the noise. I meditation is not for me.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

No, me neither. My brain, my brain desires noise. So like I'm actually um I think I told you I was start I started doing I started cold plunging. Yeah, I'm doing like 12, 12 minutes. 12 minutes in the cold plunge? Yeah. What temperature? 51.

SPEAKER_04 51:19

You guys are crazy. The longest I ever lasted. It's not like minute 30.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

I I do 38. 38, yeah. Yeah. Um I do three minutes of that. Yeah. For for me, and and I think like for me, the um the the longevity of it, it's like sitting in the discomfort is probably my meditation. Yeah. Um I so for me, like I feel like proud of that number, the 12 minutes, obviously. And 51's not super cold, but it's but 12 minutes at 51. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:50

Yeah, yeah. And the thing I love about cold plunging is it's just that the thing that you you stand next to and you're like, I don't want to do this. Right. You know? Yeah. I I don't want to do this. But you

Captain Kirk, Time Change, And Closing

SPEAKER_03 52:00

make yourself do it.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

And it's like that's so much of it for me. Like there's so many things in life where you're like, I don't want to do it. I tell my kids all the time, I go, Snikey, man. Like in my opinion, the the just do it, the JFDI, I it's going it, it is withstood the test of time. I think they they came out with that slogan in like I think the 80s, the early and mid eighties, it might even be late 70s. If people just applied, just do it. And it especially to things you don't want to do. Like, for me, it's like it's it's checking that thing off the list and being done with it.

SPEAKER_03 52:36

Like I it's it's gives you a win for the day.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

For a hundred percent, yeah. And I'm huge on wins for the day.

SPEAKER_03 52:43

The other thing I'll say is I've had my cold plunge at in the 50s. To me, that's worse. Really? Because I will start shivering at 50. U at 38, I get in, my body numbs up, and I'm fine.

SPEAKER_04 52:55

Yeah, because it's starting to die a little bit. So that's what's happening there.

SPEAKER_02 53:00

Uh your heart actually starts beating faster. You're increasing blood. Because your body thinks the blood is leaving everywhere.

SPEAKER_03 53:09

But uh yeah, I'll go three minutes and not shiver a bit uh at 38.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

But if and you have it at the house? Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, see now I'm at a I'm at a gym, so mine's that's why it's harder.

SPEAKER_03 53:19

I made one. Um I just got an old uh freezer and I think I all in I was a hundred and something bucks and nice and it's awesome. It's like fantastic. Yeah. It it I've got it all sealed and um little pump circulating the water is. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

Yeah. For 150 bucks, they're selling for like what, three grand online? Yeah, easy. So the freezer way is have you have you incorporated that into your build ideas? Be like, hey, I can do this.

SPEAKER_03 53:44

I mean, a client right now that has one of the legit ones, and I'm very jealous. They're like self-cleaning and all sorts of stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Um that's always our hang up. Like we've we've talked about putting one at the house. I'm like, I don't want to maintain another another thing, another thing that holds water, like the pool, the spa, like all those things. I'm like, we're not doing it.

SPEAKER_04 54:02

I don't do that. I refuse any information that would make me responsible for maintaining it because I'm like, my realm is inside the house. I got like, don't touch the laundry, please, for the love of God. Like, I got the dishes, I clean, and you take care of everything else. Like, she once tried to tell me how to take care of the spa while she was gone, and I literally stopped her and I was like, I'm unwilling to receive this information. I will not be responsible for any of that.

SPEAKER_02 54:26

So tap in the next that's to each their own. Like, I I don't deal with pool chemicals. Like we have a pool guy. Yeah, but I mow my own lawn. I'm not paying someone to mow my lawn, but I will gladly pay somebody to make sure the chemicals in my pool and spa are correct.

SPEAKER_03 54:44

I think the the curse of being a contractor is when you can do pretty much anything. Yeah. It's telling yourself, like, yes, I can, but I shouldn't. You know?

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Because often, you know, it's delegate and delegate, baby. It's delegate delegate and elevate, baby. But my time is worth way more than this. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 55:02

100%. That's also another reason. Like, I just don't I don't I could be doing more things that are beneficial to my day-to-day that I don't care to deal with the spa and add the salt and put the test strip in. Like, I'm sorry, somebody has a fucking job for that. It's not mine. It is not mine. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 55:19

I contribute though.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

I was gonna say, um, you were talking about earlier the lucid dreaming thing in that state that you're in. That's where uh some of my more fun meditations have taken me now. Yeah, because I I'll just my body will be completely asleep and I'm just there. Yeah, and in it.

SPEAKER_04 55:36

Um Do you have out-of-body experience?

SPEAKER_03 55:38

I have been trying, I haven't gotten there yet.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

Power of the mind.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

Let's see, right?

SPEAKER_04 55:43

You should take some more Nyckel and have fun with it. Just see that.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Well, that's what I was gonna say, Jason. Just stop trying, right? Like, well, that because sometimes this was one of the best pieces of advice I ever got. Like, I would like was one of my coaches, I was in college, and there was something I was and he was like, dude, I see you're trying so hard. He was like, try easy. And when you tried easy, you were relaxed, and it was like the first time nailed it. And I was like, oh my God. And I tried to tell my kid the other day, my daughter, because my daughter's a volleyball player, and uh, you know, I could tell she was getting frustrated and I was like, hey, like try easy. And she looked at me like, what the fuck? And profound doubt. And like, and it and it ended up working out. And it sometimes it's like just incredible advice.

SPEAKER_03 56:26

Yeah. Oh, it for sure. I mean, that could be like the definition of my life is I've tried too hard. But uh yeah. It it it's always better to just come at something with ease and just a vibe, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

That's it. Well this hour has flown by. This has been a uh a great conversation. We we're so appreciative of you coming in and rapping with us and uh sharing all the all the goods. So are you not gonna ask your whole thing? Oh my goodness, I did. I almost missed it. You you go. You ask it today. Me? Yeah. I can't believe I almost missed it. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 57:05

Okay, well, this is such an honor because Dan, this is his favorite question. We'll wallow in the corner for passing the torch over for today. If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be? What would you do?

SPEAKER_03 57:14

And this is either fictional character or dead or alive. I'm gonna go James T. Kirk. Um just hanging out in the Enterprise, traveling, traveling the the universe.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

You want to be able to teleport, right?

SPEAKER_03 57:30

Like oh yeah, dude beat me up scared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:35

My dad trained us on the Captain Kirk role when we were younger. Like, if we could not do that, he would be he wouldn't vote, like he wouldn't voice it, but he would have a point of humiliation. Like he might disown you a little bit. There would be a slight detachment, like if you couldn't master the Kirk role.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

He caught me a little off guard. I I did if he would have been around. If he was like Captain Kirk, I would have been on it. Yeah. The James T through. I was like, and then I was like, oh god, oh, god, got it, got it, yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_04 58:02

So proud of you for recovery.

SPEAKER_02 58:03

And William Shatner's just rad. He is anything you would have Spock do, like say to Spock, like just be Kirk out.

SPEAKER_04 58:13

Live long and prosper. Isn't that like his thing?

SPEAKER_02 58:16

I think something like that, yeah. Definitely the Vulcan.

SPEAKER_04 58:19

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:21

Okay, wait. But you would just okay, so you answered the what would you do? You would just like travel the the fast.

SPEAKER_03 58:27

I love the idea of being able to see the universe, you know, and get out there. I mean, that's kind of why I do meditations.

SPEAKER_02 58:34

He's a big thinker.

SPEAKER_03 58:35

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 58:36

I'm picking up the city. Definitely.

unknown 58:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 58:37

I like that. We should all explore the universe. I want you to come back and tell me how your NyQuil dream ends.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

I feel like I don't I don't know. I woke up. I didn't die.

SPEAKER_04 58:46

You could go back into it, is what I'm saying. Like following. No, I'm healthy now.

SPEAKER_02 58:50

Like I only do NyQuil when I'm not when I can't fall asleep. Um but I'm telling you, my back hurt so bad I could not sleep. And two nights we NyQuiled. There's been some message. And then the time change. So I woke up at like four on Sunday morning. I was pissed.

SPEAKER_04 59:06

I gotta say, as a parent, I've taken a special dislike to the time change. Really fucked a lot of shit up.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

You know, I was actually so I thought about this this morning when I woke up, and I actually it's a beautiful day outside today, like blue skies, kind of high clouds. I'm like, damn, like this I will take. Yeah. Now come talk to me at 510 tonight when it's dark outside.

unknown 59:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

I that's when I really I struggle with it. I don't I don't know. But the weather's like, I love the sunshine in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 59:39

I do appreciate the fact that we can all collectively as a society endorse going to bed early, like seven, eight PM is not too embarrassing because it's been dark for four hours already. So our circadian rhythm is like go to sleep. See you guys are both okay, the faces you're giving me right now make me feel judged for going to bed that early.

SPEAKER_03 59:59

You do you. I wish. For me, my my brain turns on when the dark happens. When it starts to get dark. Uh my creative side starts going. See, it's the space thing. So it actually helps me to get there sooner in my night so I'm not up till all hours of the night doing creative work.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

Is that your best time? Night time?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:20

For creative stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:21

Maybe we're missing the boat here, Dan.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

That's the magician part. I'm not a creator. That's not my jam. So it works for me. I love you. I am I am regimen and 10 p.m. is bedtime. Okay, the sun will not determine when my bedtime is. The clock will instead. The clock will instead. Alright, let's get out of here. We're losing ourselves here pretty bad. That'll be dark before.