Tonka Talk Community and Connection
Welcome to Tonka Talk, the podcast that explores community and connection around Lake Minnetonka.
Nestled near the serene shores of Lake Minnetonka in the Twin Cities, our show is your guide to discovering the inspiring stories of individuals and groups who are crafting vibrant, meaningful community and connection in this picturesque setting.
From lakeside gatherings to community events, from stories of local heroes to heartwarming tales of collaboration, we dive into the ways people are coming together to create a strong sense of belonging.
Whether you're a longtime resident, a newcomer to the area, or simply interested in the power of community, Tonka Talk has something for you.
Do you know of someone creating community and connection in a unique or big way? Share it with us. We would love to hear from you.
Learn more and connect with us at https://www.tonkatalk.com
To connect with Natalie: Natalie@tonkatalk.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TonkaTalk
Tonka Talk Community and Connection
From Pest Control to Podcasting: The Entrepreneurial Journey of Matt Eickman
What if the key to successful business expansion is not just about transactions but building authentic relationships within the community?
Our guest today, Matt Eickman, CEO of Abracadabra Wildlife and Pest Control, shares how he grows his business into different territories by being genuinely present and supportive in the community. He believes in the power of replicating success models and has utilized innovative strategies, such as launching a podcast to highlight local businesses, to foster growth.
Moving beyond business strategies, we also dive deep into the essence of entrepreneurship – authenticity and vulnerability. Matt Eickman shares his insights on the importance of staying true to oneself and creating a personal space in the business world.
His motivations behind starting a podcast and blog to inspire others on their business journey are a testament to his commitment towards fostering a community of authentic and passionate entrepreneurs.
This episode concludes with an enriching discussion on the profound impact of human connection and how it fuels our passions. Join us as we explore these fascinating insights with Matt Eickmann!
Be sure to take a look at his Thought Leader Blog.
Learn more at https://www.tonkatalk.com where we share more about our Lake Minnetonka community, including upcoming events and our take on local experiences.
Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TonkaTalk/
If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions of a future guests creating community and connection, email natalie@tonkatalk.com
We appreciate your support in sharing Tonka Talk Community and Connection with someone you think could benefit from our content.
I'm sure you've moved before moved into a new area, moved into a new community. You've either done it as an individual with a family or maybe as a business owner. Some of you might remember Matt Eichmann, who's been on TonkaTalk before. Hello, matt.
Speaker 2:How's it going, natalie? Thanks for having me On TonkaTalk.
Speaker 1:we talk about the ways people create community and connection and Matt does that really well, despite his shy demeanor and his quiet voice. Super shy, super shy, super shy. Matt is the CEO of Abracadabra Wildlife and Pest Control and he hosts a new podcast that's about to launch and it's called Homegrown Hustle. Now the the Malidin there about moving. So Matt's business is in the Lake Minnetonka area, which is where TonkaTalk lives. You expanded your business into another community and you're kind of really getting things going there and I wanted to talk about because around here you're dialed in Matt. He's involved with the chambers, you do some different networking groups and his company also hosts Princess Party Pals. They did this this last summer where people got to come with their kids and spend time with these princesses, princesses. I was not the princess, you were not the princess, although I think more people would come if you were.
Speaker 2:Alright, we'll think about that for next year.
Speaker 1:But he does a lot. Point being around the community. But you've been in this area for a while and lived here, but now you're creating something new or in a new area same business. How do you do that? Because around here, like I said, you've been around for a long time. How you've lived in the area, worked in the area, how do you do this in an entirely new community?
Speaker 2:So that's a really big question. So let me unpack it a little bit. So first of all, thanks for the kind words. So it's like a little bit too much for me. I appreciate your kindness there. It just kind of comes naturally for us. It's kind of how I was raised to just care about people. So community is really what drives a lot of my personal direction. But because I'm a business owner I get to have a little bit more impact and I think that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:So it's taken a while to really grow and get to the point where we're at. But a few years ago we really had to sit back and look at our strategy for growth as a company and really create some vision so that we can create direction. And we were looking at just what gave us the best output from a growth standpoint. And when we moved into our first location in Mound it really kind of shorted up some relationships that we had. It established a level of permanence almost and really just became a place that now people are starting to identify with being part of Mound. So after kind of coming to that epiphany we just realized if we want to grow in other communities and expand being on the west side of Lake Minnetonka has some limitations, but what we really care about is the connection and really becoming more than just a transactional business with the community. We got to be there. You have to actually be there. You can't just want to be part of a community when you're present, just like presence and proximity goes a long way.
Speaker 2:So we set a direction where we're looking to expand into additional submarkets to the Twin Cities.
Speaker 2:Forest Lake is where we found our second location and really got lucky with kind of the trajectory of the real estate market and just how everything was going, but moved into a great location very similar to what we have going on over here in Mound, and then I sat for a little while because it was a little further away than I thought at first, so had to learn through some of those things and really get somebody to be out there. So since we first opened that about a year ago we've also added a third location in Northeast Minneapolis and it really just kind of replicating that model of finding a neighborhood community where we can be present in it and be present and then the next step would be networking, finding the connections and the people within that sub-community and just establishing authentic relationships with them, Not about a transaction, but really about trying to understand the community, Because each one, although we're all in Minnesota, we're all in the Midwest, they're different and that's how it works. Um yeah, we've kind of just taken a, really it's a big step to.
Speaker 1:When you talk about expanding your business, and what I'm hearing you say is it's that showing up not just show up and open your business, but what's already going on in that community. You've done this thought leader blog through Abra Kedabra on your website, where you have featured and highlighted different people in the community and what they're doing and what they're up to. Is that something that you're doing also at the different locations?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's a great question. So we've been doing the thought leadership in kind of a blog form for about two years now and we've interviewed almost a hundred small business owners or local thought leaders in their different areas and we wanted to kind of replicate a similar type of growth and depth of understanding for the local business market. But we didn't want to have redundancies in our business. So we actually took that same kind of thread and we're launching a podcast in December where it's really focused on local business and obviously it's not going to be specific to the forest area. But that's where it's starting, because when we have conversations I just want to be able to take that and try to help people shine with it a little bit.
Speaker 2:So how much of a unicorn they are sometimes running a business is very, very difficult and sometimes talking about it and then hearing yourself and seeing yourself talk about it, it goes a long way for how people feel about themselves and in their business and I think it's empowering and it's really inspirational for me. I love business, I love seeing people grow their business and I'm passionate about helping people kind of work through those things, because I've come a long way and I still have a long way to go. But when you have a community of business owners with similar experiences now you got support, now you have more ideas, now you have like experiences, all those things when you haven't done it, all that uncertainty makes decisions very difficult and that doesn't move the needle for a business. So just a little bit of selfishness for me, because I love learning from other business owners, but also I like how it makes people feel and it's cool to kind of snowball that idea and see what type of community we can create around being a business owner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's really nice. What I like about your Thought Leader blog and going into doing Homegrown Hustle the podcast that's going to come out is the way that you showcase and share about these business owners. You get to know more who they are. It's not just about the business, because, just like with Abracadabra, it's wildlife and pest control.
Speaker 2:Very exciting stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Super sexy. There's only so much you can talk about that, but you've managed to take that and really make it part of a community and build that community. So when you go into these other spaces and you replicate those actions of the Thought Leader blog and now with the podcast, it gives people, I think, this insight to maybe businesses they're familiar with or not, but where they really get to know the business owner or the people working there and that really, in my mind and experience, strengthens that relationship between a business and their customers. Tell me more about Homegrown Hustle, the podcast, which I can't wait to live them to. What kind of topics are you going to tackle?
Speaker 2:So really the structure around it has a pretty similar workflow for us to how we're doing the Thought Leaders, where we have so much time allocated to really do this. We put it out to essentially any small business owner that would want to sign up for it and then, if they go through the steps and carve the time out in their day, we'll talk about pretty much anything business. I know the things I love to talk about, but that interview we really talk about the story is behind the people similar to the Thought Leader. In business, as we're growing, we try to create all these what our business is supposed to look like and how we're supposed to look, because this is our business, and we start to create all these layers of what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 2:No-transcript.
Speaker 2:When we see other business owners, we don't realize that they have stuff that's not going right too, and then, like we just see like the grass the grass is greener type of scenario.
Speaker 2:So seeing that other people are humans and talking about failures, shortcoming, successes and strategy around that and then how it impacts, like their life, because there's more to, there's so much more to life than working.
Speaker 2:I love working, but like I can't do it all the time. So just being able to help share that human side and let people kind of let their guard down a little bit and realize how much of a bad ass they are, because business owners are incredible people. I mean, in this country, like we kind of owe it to our country to be successful, to create more opportunity for people, and that's like I believe wholeheartedly in that and I just, yeah, the interesting thing, natalie, is people kind of when I first started the thought leadership, they like thought I was working some type of angle, like almost like I was a marketing company or something right. I'm just trying to create some type of conversation and dialogue that people can like reference for learning materials and also learn about their community, because it is local business oriented. And it took a while for people to realize that I don't have an angle.
Speaker 1:It's not a scam.
Speaker 2:No, like I look like a very scammy guy.
Speaker 1:I'm not, it's just like Well, I'll have to paint the picture If you're listening to this on the podcast and not watching the video. Matt, what are you in your 30s, early 30s? Yeah Right, but he's got very long dreadlocks. Very handsome man, but doesn't fit your stereotypical. I own a business With three locations.
Speaker 1:I'm coming in to do this and, if you're familiar with the Lake Minnetonica community or wherever you live, if there's a section of your community where it's a bit more high end the homes on the lake, it's a higher end, the services that people provide to shopping and then Matt shows up. But you've done an amazing job of really bridging that gap and I think that it's important to have more of that. Just different types of people in business and in my mind I always look at you and go. I love the fact that you represent business owners who are in my mind because I'm in my 50s, you're so young, you know, in your early 30s, but going out, making decisions, expanding their businesses, working with other people, building community, making connections, it shows, I think, other people who are younger and thinking of maybe starting their own business that they can do it too, and it doesn't need to be done wearing a tie or a jacket.
Speaker 2:I mean I like to look nice and wear nice stuff but, like you said, I have dreadlocks down in my belt. I'm a white guy. It's not like the most normal thing, especially in the Lake Minnetonica area, and the cool thing about this area and just community in general is like people want to learn about you and it's just this level of Minnesota nice. It's really authentic and kind of taking control. It took a while when I was young and really getting into business to like feel like I belonged in those business. Like it was really uncomfortable. Like I kind of love being uncomfortable because I know that's the space where there's room for growth and change and improvement.
Speaker 2:But it doesn't make it easy to walk into a group of 45 business people. You're 22 years old, you got Kredlocks looking like Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. It was like that. It took a lot for me to learn and realize that these are just people too and if I actually want to make change I can't sit around and let somebody give me permission for that. You got to go like you got to do stuff in business and I'm just okay with failure, like because the biggest failure I have typically isn't going to be that big of a failure in business, like it's just a learning opportunity. So trying exactly failing like get to move the needle in a different direction to learn more so yeah, it's how it's how we learn.
Speaker 1:It's how we learn. We learn through struggles, through failure, through getting up and trying again and taking that point of view as business as you do it and what. I think that with your podcast that's coming up and the Thought Leader blog, it helps kind of disarm people and invites them to share maybe a little bit of vulnerability and truth when oftentimes I think, especially in business, it's you this feeling or thought that maybe you need to constantly maintain this level of professionalism and perfection. Not that, not that, but for professionalism looks different to different people and that's why I get such a kick out of it. Like you said, the dreadlocks and everything. But Matt goes to some of the nicest chamber events the luncheons.
Speaker 2:Why is that a chamber of loves family there?
Speaker 1:That's right, and I think that's such a great example of how. It's not about how you look to fit in. It's about carving out that space to fit in. If there's not an existing space for you as an individual or a business owner, my point of view is then carve it out, find out what's needed in the community, and that's something that I think you've done and how you've been able to expand your business with homegrown hustle with the podcast. What do you hope to achieve with that?
Speaker 2:Just want to help somebody, like it helps somebody, that's kind of it Because you'll be able to. Like I said, I don't really have an angle. I just hope that somebody gets value from it Because I know having resources and a place to go. Not everyone can go into those networking meetings and interact with people and create those learning opportunities. Like some people. That's really really hard for them but they still have a business and they need to learn somehow, and having a resource that isn't direct human interaction, maybe that's the best way for them to learn and improve.
Speaker 2:I'm like a compulsive networker, like to a fault at times where I overcommit to things, and that's something I really had to regulate as I was growing was like how do I spend my time? Who do I take advice from? Where do I go to learn? How do I take that and actually move the needle in my business? So really back to your original question. I just I wanted to help people, hopefully inspire people that are kind of on that edge or maybe working through something difficult. I'm a resource. This stuff kind of gets me excited, so I hope somebody reaches out to me with some type of business question. I'm not an expert, but a sounding board is such an important thing that a lot of people don't have, especially as a business owner or a parent or any Like. Life is hard, so having somebody to talk to or talk about it and maybe even vent about it like that's important.
Speaker 2:But business is like people have this business face that they have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't be vulnerable. Well, it's like people can feel that I've found that people, when they find authenticity, they like gravitate towards it because they know what to expect. I mean, that's how my parents raised me. I don't know anything else other than authentic, and I try to be as polite and nice as possible to everybody. But not everybody likes me, and at least I know they don't like me because of who I am, not because of somebody else pretending to be. I'm sorry to all those people If anyone out there doesn't like me, but just like being real is such a I mean, it's not a rarity, but like it's nice to find.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think when someone, when they can look and go, okay, well, here's this guy and he's grown his business and he's done it. Done it while being himself, while making mistakes and while growing from that and, along the way, giving a platform and a voice to other business owners, and that's one of the things that I think you might agree. Business owners are often sometimes really good at what they do, really good at the work itself, but not always the best about marketing or getting the word out about that. Not everybody likes to talk to them, talk about themselves. Not everybody is like me.
Speaker 2:I mean, everybody has their things that they're good at, right, and then there's things that you're not as good at and there's things that you're just terrible at, and a lot of people myself included for quite a while like I would focus on those things where I was coming short. And in my business, what I realized is that being perfect didn't actually move the needle. It actually kept me in like a stagnant place with a lot of frustration, where, when I doubled and tripled down on the stuff that I was really good at, now my output was umpteen times more than what we would have had had I spent the same amount of time, yeah, fixing something. So knowing, like being humble enough to know, like you're not the best, that's what's harder for a business owner, because business owners are control freaks a lot of times. They own it all, they're passionate, it's theirs, they built it from the ground up.
Speaker 2:So letting somebody else have control takes a lot of trust and that's really hard. I've gone through that and even with my family like my two of my brothers work with me like trust is there. Obviously they're my family, but it's like your baby almost. So I don't know. Growing a business is such a transformational thing to go through because, like the business owner, owners like they have to reinvent and reimagine themselves so many times as the business grows, and when they stop doing that, the business stops or dies. One of the two so like that. That's why I think everyone should be a business owner somehow, or at least like try Well, that's worse try to be in control of things around you and like being in control of your future, and then it fails and go back to whatever job you're doing anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's where the growing happens. That's where the fun starts, I think, is when, in those challenging moments exactly, it's scary. And if it's not scary it's not big enough. If it were simple, everybody would be doing it kind of thing. But there's a lot of growth that can occur and I'm glad that you're talking about it and continuing to do. Now, go ahead with this podcast and continue with the Thought Leader series. I'll share in the show notes where you can find the Thought Leader series and as soon as the podcast is up, we'll share a link to that as well and keep talking about it.
Speaker 2:I have to get you and Kelly and the rest of the Olsen Global team over there.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're right, we'll have to get over there and get on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yours is a lot nicer in here than mine.
Speaker 1:But this is not where we started. I started at my couch. I mean, this is awesome.
Speaker 2:You ladies are like super inspiring to just see everything you do, because it's not easy to do this stuff plus all the other stuff you got going on.
Speaker 1:This is the fun stuff, but, just like you said, the stuff getting involved in the community and a passion of mine is sharing people's stories and what they're doing and, for the same reason, I'm fascinated by how people connect, what drives them to do what they're doing, how they ended up becoming so passionate about a specific thing, and that's what TonkaTalk is all about how people create community and connection. So I'm so glad you shared, matt, I'm happy to have you back on here again.
Speaker 2:And I'm sure we'll-. Yeah, I appreciate it and all the kind words. You're so nice. I always appreciate our time together, yeah.
Speaker 1:Good to have you here, and I know we'll have Matt back again talking about different things because again, he's pretty dialed in the community that I live and work with, so I can't just help but run into him. Thank you, matt and everybody else. I will talk to you later.
