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Charge Forward Podcast
The Charge Forward Podcast: Dedicated to those who choose to Charge Forward into the Storm when hit with challenges. This is what makes them different and has lead to their success. When in doubt.... Charge Forward!
Charge Forward Podcast
Faith, Family & Big Bets: How Grant & Susan Burrow Built a School & a Legacy ✨
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What does it take to bet your entire future on a dream — and build a legacy that shapes hundreds of young lives every day?
In this inspiring episode, Grant and Susan Burrow open up about their journey from promising corporate careers to becoming the owners and operators of Primrose School of Murfreesboro — one of the most respected early childhood education centers in the country.
They share how faith, family, and their unwavering commitment to kids gave them the courage to walk away from traditional paths and take a big bet on a mission they believed in. You’ll hear how they overcame early challenges, balanced family life while leading a school, and built a culture that puts people first — from students and parents to their dedicated teachers and staff.
Grant’s story of growing up in a family of educators (and a dad whose NBA jersey hangs in the rafters!) combined with Susan’s natural leadership and passion for kids makes this conversation a testament to what happens when you align your gifts with your calling.
You’ll walk away with powerful reminders about:
🌟 Having faith in your vision — even when others doubt
🌟 Keeping family and marriage strong through entrepreneurship
🌟 Leading with love and integrity when times get tough
🌟 Why your legacy isn’t what you leave behind — it’s the lives you impact now.
Whether you’re building a business, nurturing a family, or trying to balance both — this episode will remind you that the biggest bets in life are worth it when they’re rooted in faith, family, and a bigger purpose.
🎧 Don’t wait until it’s too late—your future self will thank you.
📲 Watch or listen now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms!
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📍Website: Primrose Murfreesboro
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Starting a Business in Economic Downturn
Grant BurrowIt was a pretty big debt . I mean , we were going in debt . When you're going to lose 180 grand your first year , that's not a good feeling and it was hard . It was hard on us , it was hard on our marriage .
Jim CrippsHey team , jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast coming to you from HitLab Studios here in Nashville , tennessee . Now I have a special guest for you today . I have known Grant Burrow a long time and it's just going to be an absolute treat for you to spend some time with him . He is the co-owner , along with his lovely wife Susan , of Primrose School in Murfreesboro . Grant , welcome to the show . Glad to be here , absolutely so . You know , if we go back in time , was it like 2008 , 2009 ? Y'all came up with the idea of opening a Primrose .
Grant BurrowWe did . It was actually probably a little bit before that . My son was at Primrose and we really liked it and the lady in Franklin opened up her books and mind and told us a lot about it . And I've always enjoyed working with children and my wife is the same . Her mom actually owned a child care in Memphis many years ago and so we looked at it and we went and talked to the corporate and it and Georgia and fell in love with it .
Jim CrippsI love that . Now you've come a long way since then and it would be , um , I would be lying if I said this . It was an easy road , because you guys start this process kind of right at a downturn in the economy and then you know you had some plans of moving over pretty quickly to that business and you know , uh , if you will kind of walk me through that , so you know we started with the idea of the concept liking uh , the product that they had right , uh , a love of coaching and children , and you know that's that's pretty deep in your family , and then you start the process .
Grant BurrowSo , yeah , it w it was . It was tedious and , uh , caused a lot of anxiety initially , the first year especially , so it's not cheap . So we had to put everything up . I mean , so we put the house up the cars up the land , up the timber that my dad had given us and had to invest a certain amount . We borrowed money from my mom and dad and her mom and dad , and so that puts a lot of weight on your shoulders and so in doing that , my wife social butterfly . I knew she would , she would , the parents would love her and I'm more of the numbers person behind the scene , but I'll talk to you if I know you and get to know you a little bit .
Grant BurrowAnd so we decided to do it and jump in with it and everything they give you .
Grant BurrowThey said , okay , you've got to have this amount for a loan , you've got to put this amount down , you've got to have this amount for a loan .
Grant BurrowAnd I was in the wireless business and so I didn't really want to give up that security blanket of income coming in in case . It took longer to develop than what they had in the statement and they said , okay , your first year you're going to lose about 180 grand . I'll never forget that conversation and so I'm like this may not be for us , I don't want to lose 180 grand , but it's built into the loan and they step you through it and they said you have to have . You know , you have the building , you hire the teachers , but you don't have the students yet . And so until you get to the students and to a break even amount you're going to , you're going to lose money , and that usually takes about a year to sometimes a year and a half . And lo and behold , almost exactly to that number . That's what we lost the first year . But again , they , they , they're with you every step of it and they said this is this is okay , you're okay .
Jim CrippsAnd you've lost that .
Grant BurrowThat's built into the loan and it is part of the process . So , um , she thrived in it , she did fantastic , and I was still in the wireless business at that point in time . Uh , with the thought of a couple more years of building up some more finances to where I felt safe , that we could go over and it was doing well enough to get out of the wireless , that took a little longer than than anticipated and , um , knock on wood , has been going well ever since .
Jim CrippsYeah , and it's not just going well , I mean . Correct me if I'm wrong here , but I think you guys spoke at the national conference this year .
Grant BurrowWe did they . They uh asked um one of us to come up and speak on how we're keeping teachers . There's a lot of turnover in that industry and we had teachers in each class that was a lead teacher that was really strong . I'd been with us a while . We have some that have been with us I think , 13 , 14 years , which is rarity . Um , some that have been 10 plus years , 10 years , which is rarity .
Grant BurrowUm , some that have been 10 plus years , and so they wanted to go through and find out what do you do different than maybe somebody else and what , what are some of your best habits that somebody else can learn from ? And hopefully , somebody got something out of the conversation that we talked about , and it's , you know , some of the simplistics of taking care of the people that are that are working with you and the teachers that are working with you , and some of it is just going above and beyond and giving them recognition . A pat on the back goes a long way , you know , giving them accolades for something that they did , um , given a small little gift card as a thank you . You know , some of the small things go a long way and they feel appreciated , and so I think that was part of the reason for our success and hopefully longer conversation we had at the at the event people got some things out of .
Jim CrippsWell , I think you know , yes , I think the things you just said there absolutely carry weight , but people know whether or not you're sincere when you deliver that gift card or whatever that is , and I don't know that there's anybody that's ever worked for you or worked with you that could say Grant Burrow doesn't care about me .
Grant BurrowI hope so . I mean , I , I truly the people that I work with , um , you know , I have I've had a lot of right hands throughout wireless and most of them were female and doing some different things . And so working with a man and working with a woman are two different things of motivating and what matters to some of the different ones and showing that you care matters for both different ones and showing that you care matters for both . I mean no matter who they are , if you show them that you care and that you want to do well and you want them to do well , you want them to succeed and you want their family to do well and succeed and have fun . You know there's a work life balance that a lot of companies don't get . You know , I've been in some of those for a period of time and , uh , um , if you , if you show them that you want them to have that , that goes a long way it does .
Jim CrippsAnd then , at the same time , one of the things that I've always valued about you is you don't only try to get to know the employee , but you also remember their family and you , you know whether it's just a . You know , I think , just my experience with you like , you always ask about how Castle's doing , and then you lit up when you found out he was playing basketball again . And then not only you , but like you , you kind of unrequested , you went to your son and said , Blaine , which are the camp , which of the camps did you enjoy the most ? And then you sent me back a message . You said hey , Blaine says Castle's not going to want to miss this camp . He loved Nike camp . He loves stars . He's still involved with star , you know , and that that matters , yeah .
Grant BurrowI think it's the little things that you do that mean a lot to people and you may not realize they mean a lot to certain people , but doing that small little extra goes a long way , yeah , and caring for their family and showing you know , getting , as you said , getting to know . Walking into a classroom I try to go in every classroom every day just to say hello , do you need anything ? What can I do for you ? At Primrose . And so every teacher sees my face every day and I get to talk to them a small amount and see how their day's going , and how many teachers do you have there at Primrose Murfreesboro ?
Grant Burrow38 right now .
Jim CrippsYeah , that's awesome , and so you know , somebody out there right now is considering a Primrose , considering a school of some sort . And what are the main things that drew you to Primrose ?
Grant BurrowGreat question . Um , so when we first had children Susan and I first had children I had Susan go out and I said , find three childcare's that you like
Introduction to Grant Burrow
Grant Burrowand narrow it down . And then I'd like to go visit those three , because she wanted to go visit all of them . And , um , I said , just pick three and we'll pick one from there . And so she did . And she came back with the three and I wanted to know how much they cost . And primrose was the most expensive . And she goes , this is the one . And I said , you know you like it , just cause it's the most expensive and you think it's going to be the best .
Grant BurrowAnd we went out to the three child cares , we visited all three and I was blown away with Primrose . I mean , it was the people that were there showed care , you know , and it wasn't just the director or assistant director , it was . You know we would visit a classroom and those teachers would go out of their way to say hello and you know how are you and , um , you know what are you looking for in childcare at a teacher's um spot , and not so much the director , assistant director , yeah , and so when we went in there , that stood out , and then it was they talked about what do you want , what do you want out of a childcare ? You know they're asked , not just info dumping this is what we do , but what do you want out of a child care ? They're interviewing you , yeah . Yeah , they want to see do you fit with us and do we fit with you ? And this is how we fit with you . And so finding out what we wanted .
Grant BurrowYou know every , every parent wants their child to be safe . You know that goes , that goes . And then most are saying what are your academics ? And Primrose stood out on both . You know they went through the safeties of what they do with all the children and , uh , the academics they hold to a higher standard . And you know they teach sign language at an early age , before the child can communicate to their parent . You know they're saying please and thank you and more and the basics of sign language and then trying to teach a foreign language of Spanish on the simplicities of a lot of the different words that they'll use . So they'll start to see how valid knowing a foreign language is at an early age , when they're a sponge and they can absorb all that . So it was just they did more and they cared more .
Jim CrippsYeah , well , and you know I think a lot of parents go through that . You know we we were similar in that we went and looked at several and there were several that as soon as we walked out , emily was in tears and I was like there's no way in hell that our kids go in there . There was one that I mean we could have picked up five kids and taken them out .
Grant BurrowYeah , I got a story with that as well .
Jim CrippsIt's scary , it is insanely scary . And even some of the ones that our friends' kids went to , like I went into one and it was 82 degrees in the kids' room , yeah , I kids went to , like I went into one and it was 82 degrees in the kid's room , yeah , I was uncomfortable and I can speak , I can say you know I'm I'm hot , it just so . The level of care absolutely matters and you know it's , it's your job as a parent to look out for your kids and and some people out there , you know , may not have the resources in order to make that happen . In your instance , in our instance , you know we did go with the most expensive option of the ones that we felt comfortable with , same same for you guys , and you didn't make that decision lightly , it was . You looked at it selfishly as a parent to say this gives my kid the best possible chance of a good outcome .
Grant BurrowThat's right and that's what Primrose does . I truly believe that . And , um , you know , my wife got into it 2010, . We opened it up and she got the ball and ran with it , got it successful and everything , and I was supposed to come over a few years later and , as I said it , that took a little longer and got into wireless and that took off . Uh , but when I got over there , it's it's , it's , it's different . I mean it's you see , the value of what you're really paying for and it's worth it .
Jim CrippsWell , and having worked with you , uh at at a company , and then you know , obviously I don't work with you in this industry , but at the same time we still talk and we still use uh some video communication , and you just look happier ?
Grant BurrowYeah , without a doubt . I mean you know , we were in the wireless industry , it is . We did well . I mean we we did a good job , we had fun with it . It changed a lot over the years , but we did well .
Grant BurrowAnd the the the tension grew year by year by year and as we got bigger and bigger and bigger . I think we ended up 58 stores in different states all scattered around and 200 plus employees . You know , the bigger you get , the more you have on your shoulders . And so doing this , just seeing children and molding children , I mean having them learn the things they want to learn , and we test them quarterly to see where they are once they're a little older , and if they're not there , then working to get them there and seeing them advance in so many ways . And then I get to be a big kid . I get to be outside and teach them how to swing a whiff you can't do anything crazy with a bat or anything but we'll have the whiffle ball or football or basketball and we teach them all the sports which a lot of the dads like , because in a lot of the childcare there's not men , and so me being there and getting on the playground and working with them on that .
Jim CrippsIt's fantastic and it puts a smile on my face every day , well , and these days it's a family affair , yeah , and then now your son has joined the ranks .
Grant BurrowYes , yes , he graduated from Chattanooga and , um , he had said I want to be , I want to get into primros . I want to do this because he always wanted to either coach or work with children in some aspect . And , um , right or wrong , I didn't want him to do that initially . I wanted him to learn some of the business aspects that were out there , other than jumping into Primrose . And so we had talked about it and I said I want you to do something else , learn something else , be trained by somebody else and see , do you like that and do you still have that urge to get with Primrose ? And so we all went on family vacation and he had been talking to Regions and was going to do some , uh , investment baking with regions . When he got back , they had good conversations that looked like that was going to be the the road taken and we're there .
Grant BurrowAnd our assistant director at the point in time had recently had a child and but she'd come back to work and she , when we were on vacation , my director calls me , which very rarely happens , which is not like the wireless where you still get calls and they don't know you're on vacation . They know you're on vacation , you still get them . And they said I know you're on vacation I hate to call you , but our assistant director just turned in her two-week notice and so Susan and I talked and she was like this is God telling us it's time to bring Blaine in ? And so we're on vacation and no kidding . I said , blaine , this is what happened . I said you want to just start with primrose and not do anything before this ?
Grant BurrowIt put the biggest smile on his face and I mean we celebrated that night we all had as a family , had a great time . I mean I've asked him periodically don't be afraid , if this isn't yours , just tell me . And he said I absolutely love it . So it's great to see . I mean it's fantastic to work with your son every day . We have a great bond . He and Susan have a great bond and it's just grown that . And to see him , the children absolutely love him , mr . And it's just grown that . And to see him , the children absolutely love him , mr Blaine , mr Blaine , when he walks in a room , it does . It puts a smile on my face .
Jim CrippsYeah , well , you've got some fantastic kids . Yeah , brooklyn is absolutely crushing it there at Auburn too . Yeah .
Grant BurrowShe's got a 4.0 at Auburn trying to get into vet school .
Jim CrippsAnd so she's on the right path . She studies a lot more than I did at that age , that's for sure . I love it Now . Uh , backing up a little bit , sports has always been one of the core things in your family , so , um , you know , one of the one of the fun stories that I like to tell , and it's sports related it's not exactly sports is . You know , I came to your 50th birthday party and I believe I was the shortest person there , including the kids . Yeah , but your family's tall . You've got a lot of basketball history . Correct me if I'm wrong . Your dad's jersey's hanging somewhere pretty special .
Grant BurrowYeah , it's at Rupp Arena in Kentucky . So he had his journey with Kentucky playing basketball and some good stories there with Rupp and in Kentucky . So he had his journey with Kentucky playing basketball and some good stories there with Rupp and the people he played with and the team . But yeah , we've always been in sports of some sort and that's where I got it . I was coaching travel ball with both of my son and my daughter and Blaine did mostly basketball . He did some travel baseball earlier on in Brooklyn Got into travel basketball a little bit . She was more of the bruiser where he was more of the finesse , but it was still fun to go through all that with them and it started with my dad passing it on in the jeans .
Jim CrippsI'm sure . Yeah , absolutely . And your brother played college ball as well , right ?
Grant BurrowHe played at Vandy for four years , did extremely well . He played college ball as well . Right , he played at Vandy for four years , did extremely well . He has just recently gotten into the high school Hall of Fame for basketball , so pretty cool accolade for him and went on to play four good years and he's in the 1,000-point club at Vanderbilt . So both of them did extremely well with it . Yes , Nice .
Jim CrippsWell , you weren't too shabby yourself . You played college ball too right , a small ball .
Grant BurrowI played the small ball but , yeah , we , we all dabbled in it . They a lot higher than I , but we all had fun with it and still do .
Jim CrippsYeah
Investing Everything in Primrose School
Jim Cripps, that's fantastic , and I love your mom too , miss Leanne . So , miss Leanne , if you're watching this , I'm a big fan . I haven't seen you in a while , but we're a big fan of Miss Leanne .
Grant BurrowYeah , she's a big fan of ball . Still , she's a Kentucky fan . When my brother and I were playing high school ball , if we weren't doing something we would hear rebound . We knew it was my mom telling us to get on the boards . So she's still that way . My son plays pickup ball . She went to a game and she was yelling . I said my mom , this is this is pickup , this is just this is . You can't do that .
Jim CrippsYeah , that's fun , though , yeah , she's a character . Yeah Well , you know um , and and that's .
Grant BurrowIt's affected my world too , because you know we're in AAU ball now and uh , all that fun stuff , so it's that's cool for you and castle it really is . I mean I know those are fun moments to to watch , watch and play and grow .
Jim CrippsIt is , and you know , just as a side note , it's um , I don't know if I've told you this or not . So you know he's on a team and , um , clearly he wants it more than anybody else on his team . And you know a lot of these AAU teams at fifth grade . They've been together for a couple years already and this group has not , and so I mean they usually get their teeth kicked in just and about a month and a half ago I said , buddy , here's the deal . Like you can't get mad at your team , it is what it is . You can't make them do anything . But if you want to be the guy , then you have to decide to .
Jim CrippsYeah , and all of a sudden it's like somebody flipped a switch Light bulb To the point where this was a proud dad moment , where this was two weekends ago . So he played 37 out of 40 minutes , wow , and with a minute , let like a minute and a half left to go . Well , I guess it would have been two minutes to go . They pulled him out and he was out for 58 seconds . They put him back in and the other coach goes , not this kid again . And he heard her .
Grant BurrowYeah , I love to hear that , and he turned around and he was like yeah , those are problems . All of those moments in the last last year lifetime . You flashback . You know , uh , I I recently not recently , a couple of years ago switched . I've had an Android phone being in the wireless business the whole life . I finally switched over to an iPhone and they had those memories . You know those pictures in your phone and I'd see some of those like you're talking about and it just put a big smile on your face .
Jim CrippsOh , it's fantastic . Um , so you know , we don't get through this , this life , alone . There's all kinds of people that , uh , you know , affect us good or bad , and so one of the things that frustrates me is when somebody says they're self-made because you're just not . Yeah , now , you may not have had much of a hand up or those types of things , but even the bad people in life teach you something . That's right and you know . But along the way , you have some great mentors too . So who's been a great mentor in your life ?
Grant BurrowYou know , there's been , there's , there's been some . I mean , a mentor is a pretty powerful word and everybody usually reflects on their mom or dad and both of those were pretty good . My dad probably a little bit more just because of sports-wise , and you know , anytime I wanted to pitch , he'd go out and work with me . Anytime I wanted to shoot , he'd go to the gym with me and he was there and he would , you know , offer advice . He wasn't pressing on anything . Um , my , my mom , more so , in the fan , as I was saying , from the , from the stands , uh , so both of those constantly molded me when I was growing up . Um , and I think that when you , when you work a lot of it , as you said , you know , you said you learn a lot from yourself in doing things where you make mistakes , and I call that tuition . You learn from it , you're better from it . It's part of education . And so some of the people I work with , I've been blessed to work with some good people Lucas , who you know , he and I had a great run at Wireless Direct and then I thought I knew everything , I thought we're doing great , and then we merged with Absolute , with you all , and that's when I learned I'm good at a lot of this , but somebody's better at some of these things , better than I am on some of these things , and if you're open to take constructive criticism on that , you know you all were blowing it out of the water in sales and Lucas would tell me you know , they're just selling this much of accessories . I said no way , they're not doing that . And , um , so I , when we merged companies , I would . I learned , you know , I learned from you and just saying , how do we , how do we sell and how do we do this ? And you rock and roll in the sales . I learned from . But looking at the operational part of that company , I was like it's flooding in the front from sales but it's going out the back door quickly . So that was where I focused and that was my big thing .
Grant BurrowBut learning at that point in time , from you , from Lucas , from many you know many people there time from from you , from Lucas , from from many you know many people there . And then , getting to primrose , learning from my wife . And so that's why I said mentor is a powerful word , because I learned from so many people of how to do better . Uh , you know my , my daughter and I have a she just bought a shirt from me . Do better .
Grant BurrowYou know we always say you can , you can do your best . Do , do better . You know we always say you can , you can do your best . Do , uh , you know , always give it your all and do better . Um , and so a lot of those did . And then , on a personal aspect , my , my son and my daughter have become a mentor . You know , it's , it's . You don't really have a lot of youth that becomes a mentor , but I was I was telling you earlier some of the things they were doing and I've learned from them pretty powerful and it's changed my life . So so there's been been a few throughout my life , not to just pick one .
Jim CrippsWell , I think it's . I think you're exactly spot on there , because you're not going to have one mentor . That is just everything it's . What can you glean from mentors throughout your life and being willing to learn ? And I do think that a lot of people shut down when someone is younger like they . They're hesitant to men be mentored by someone younger than them , especially somebody that you know they they parented . Yeah , um , and I just think it . It really speaks to your curious and , uh , humble nature that you're willing to say well , you know what's over here . Maybe I didn't know that . Yeah , you know Lucas , especially Lucas , you know . You know I'm a big fan .
Grant BurrowHe's a character , I love him , great guy .
Jim CrippsTwo of my favorite people on this planet is Lucas and Leanne the the my favorite time in business was when I worked with both of them . It was just , you know , it's . It was a joy to come to work , even if we were behind enemy lines . It was like we were in a in a foxhole trying to fight . I you know when you got those two people around you , it's just well , they're willing to fight for you .
Grant BurrowI mean , leanne I had the pleasure of working with as well and and got to know her daughter and she would always give me the peace sign , and so I ended up calling her deuces and that was my nickname with her and , um , I think we even sent her a little animal that she liked , uh , at some point in time , just from the uh . Thank you , you know , kind of , as we said earlier , for the people that do a good job , you don't have to always give the present to them or or or whatever it is . You can give it to part of their family and have them enjoy as well .
Jim CrippsYeah , it's . Our world is made up of so many people , so many touch points , and it's up to us to to take something from that , to give back something for those relationships and just make the most of each moment . That's right . That's right , you know , and not to go too far down this rabbit hole . But you know , I think all of us are a bit more focused on health these days . Yeah , and you and Susan went through a tough patch from a health standpoint . Yeah it was tough . What did you learn through that ?
Grant BurrowYou know , as I said earlier , do better , better . Um , that was one of the toughest times in my , in my , in my life of her getting checked out and you learn so much from what you do wrong . You know , um , she had said she had a pain and you know I should have said go to the doctor , should have said go to the doctor and instead kind of the man side is , you know it may not be anything , and then she kept saying it and finally she went to the doctor and , lo and behold , it was cancer and it was a rare part of cancer , carcinosarcoma or something like that . I don't remember . And I remember the doctor saying she's not had a patient that lived past five years .
Jim CrippsSo what do you do with that ? We're past .
Grant BurrowYeah . And so my wife said do you believe me ? She was talking to the doctor Do you believe in God ? And she said , yeah , well , don't ever tell your patient that , because I'm going to live through this . And she did . We're past the five years , she I mean , she was a warrior through it all and so much was on that . And I remember her saying I'm not ready , I'm not ready to see , I want to see the grandkids , I want to see all of that .
Grant BurrowAnd as the other side of that , you know , you go through a small part of it and you're like what do I do , you know ? And so I struggled with do I bring it up ? Because I don't want to bring it up , because I don't want to put it in her mind , but I want to know how she's doing , but I don't want to ask her how she's doing because everybody asks her that . And then it gets in her head and you go back and forth though to what do you do ? And I could have done . You know I could have done some hindsight . I could have done so many things better of just .
Grant BurrowYou know she went for for chemo and not to get off on a wild tangent down . This , as you said , a rabbit hole . But I'm like , do I go ? You know she goes , no , you don't have to go . But now , looking back , that you don't have to go means it would have been a lot better for me to go . And I didn't , and I was tied up in work and you know hindsight , you look back and work's always going to be there , but somebody else may not , and it was one of the biggest mistakes I made not being there . You know , I went to some of the chemo treatments , but going there was just , yeah , I mean seeing that , seeing what other people are going through . Yeah , you said it , it was a rough patch .
Jim CrippsYeah .
Grant BurrowBut you got through it . We did , we did and , and you know , as , as we talked earlier I think that is part of what I don't get into her car now without Christian music being on she dove deep into eating healthier , cutting out all these sugars , and I've got a bad sweet tooth , so I love a cookie if it's there . If it's there , a box is in danger , so I tried to cut out some of that . I did my best with cutting out that , but she got to where , even if she saw my little hidden stash , she wouldn't get into it . Um , and , as I said , it's been over five years . We got through it . She's , she's gotten closer to to God , and we all did in the family through all that . Um , and better for it .
Jim CrippsYeah , closer , for it , yeah .
Grant BurrowYeah , we were close . We're real close family . I'm sure that had a big part of it , you know , because we wanted to shelter blaine and brooklyn from a lot of that . And she was , she was adamant . Don't tell , you know , don't ? I don't want them to know this , I don't want them to know this , what I'm going through . And so I did and I tried to internal , keep it all internal . Uh , so that's , that's rough , but I mean what I , what I saw , was a fraction of what my wife had to go through .
Jim CrippsRight . Well , and I think a lot of people don't necessarily realize , um , and I think we had a conversation about this about the same time , because you know , In about that same timeframe , not under the same circumstances , but you know , I lost 85 pounds and the diet that I was on was almost identical to the diet that they prescribed for her and going through , uh , cancer .
Grant BurrowYeah , yeah , and that's the way they say we should eat . I mean , and she , the three of them eat a lot better than I . Um , but I ate a lot better than I used to because of all that , yeah , so well , and you and you got some new hardware recently .
Jim CrippsSome hardware .
Grant BurrowHip . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . Yeah , I had a hip replacement . That was . I don't wish that on anybody , but it's a lot better now than it was . I was in constant pain for a long while . I remember playing golf before I had the surgery and I was like , should I play , should I not play ? I'm in pain ? And so I played like five holes and I rode in the cart the rest of it and I couldn't , couldn't do it , and now that the surgery . So I'm back to doing some , some good things well , and you recently played golf .
Jim CrippsYou went on the golf trip .
Grant BurrowRight , yeah , we're going on a golf trip . I think this has been 30 , 30 years , 32 years , somewhere around there that a bunch of guys go play golf . You know it used to be a golf trip and now it's kind of a golf beach trip , maybe beach golf trip . So we have the people that can really play golf , that shoot low 70s and that's nowhere near where I shoot . If I get under 100 , I'm ecstatic . If I get under 110 , I'm probably still happy . But there were 10 of us that went this year and it was high . We've been as high as probably 18 , as low as maybe five or six , but we still go every year .
Jim CrippsThat's good . That's good , um , and then y'all do a big um fantasy .
Grant BurrowUh , football league too , right fantasy football , fantasy baseball , with trophies for each . A lot of the same guys that go on the golf trip are in that . Uh , we've been doing that for many , many years and so everybody gets to talk their stuff and and if they're up and if somebody's down that used to be up , they hear about it as well . That's right we have fun with it .
Jim CrippsWhat would you say throughout ? I'm gonna give you the depth of your entire life . What is your favorite memory like ? When you need a pick me up ? What do you ? What do you think about ?
Grant BurrowYou know , I was talking to my son recently about this , it , it . There's been a lot of we . We're getting a tight family . We go on family vacations and we went on one with my brother's family and my mom . My mom said hey , um , I've got this nest egg Before I go . I want to go on a big vacation . She goes , I'm paying for everything . We went to Anguilla . My brother and I said she's paying , she goes , it's all y'all's when I go anyway , so just do what you want . We said we're going to have a big one that would be up there . We all went to Anguilla . We stayed at this house that was amazing , had a pool and we you know all my mom , my brother and myself and our families , with two children on each side all got to go . And the kids say you know , my kids say that was one of the best vacations . So that memory is up there .
Grant BurrowBut the more I thought about it um , was , it's a ? This is a weird thing , but we missed church one day . My wife was gone . She's the one that always on Saturday she goes , we'll get up , we're going to church and we're in there , basically , yeah . And so she was gone and the kids were sleeping . I'm like , do I wake them , do I not wake them ? And so they slept in by . Blaine and Brooklyn were both there and so they came down and we wouldn't have made it to church .
Grant BurrowAnd I said we didn't make it to church , so we're going to have a little Bible study . And I thought about it and I said what I want you all to do is find two passages that mean something to you . And you know , take your time , find whatever . And I said I already had mine together , one of my favorite ones I'd had , and I don't remember the other one .
Grant BurrowBut both of my kids say I have my two passages already and so didn't have to look in a Bible , didn't have to . My daughter looked at the note , her notes in her phone , and my son rattled off one and had another one there and one of the two of theirs was exactly the same , without knowing , and it was basically , uh , I don't remember what the passage was give everything get to god . And so that's a pretty strong moment when , when it was for me anyway at that , that point in time , to for them to have two passages already and one of them be the same , uh , one of my daughters was on anxiety . She has anxiety with studying , she wants to always get A's , um . So we all deal with something different and that was kind of cool to see what theirs was and what they may be going through and what they believe .
Jim CrippsYeah , and give me a perspective of how old were they when this .
Grant BurrowWell , this wasn't too long ago , so they were both home , probably for the summer . So this was probably . Blaine was probably 20 and Brooklyn was 17 . So 18 . So I think it was maybe her freshman year of college , so 18 . Yeah , around there anyway , that's awesome . Yeah , around there anyway .
Jim CrippsThat's awesome . Yeah , it really was . What a cool moment .
Grant BurrowYeah , so that's pretty powerful .
Jim CrippsYeah , and I know you guys have got a lot going on between you know , brooklyn looking to finish up and hopefully go into Auburn's veterinary school , yeah , blaine joining you guys there at Primrose , and then you know , you guys kind of taking a step back a little bit . What are you most excited about right now ?
Grant BurrowUh , my wife and I uh , cause we had talked about before Blaine had shown interest . We
Retaining Teachers and Building Culture
Grant Burrowtalked about , okay , we're going to sell a Primrose and we're going to travel , we're going to see the world . When Blaine said he had an interest , Susan and I talked and said we had talked to him , do you want to get into this ? He had shown a little interest , but I think he was a little reserved . As he said , I don't want to stop your plans from doing what you want to do . Sell the business if that's what you want to do . I have interest in doing something like that . And once he said he had interest and we talked and sat down and really did , we said , okay , we're going to get this to where we can still travel . And so I told the you know I constantly tell him the director over hire . I know it's going to cost a little more , but over hire because Susan and I we want to travel some , we want to do some things . So I think that's what we .
Grant BurrowWhat I'm looking forward to is seeing , seeing some of the world . You know she has some places that she wants to see and I have some places I want to see and we're starting starting that journey . Where do you want to go ? I'm a warm parent , I'm a warm person , so I still haven't been to . I want to go to a lot of the Caribbean different places . I still haven't been to the Bahamas . We were supposed to go to the Bahamas and everybody goes to the Bahamas but us and she's wanting . So any place I pick is going to be a beach . It's going to be somewhere where I can sit there , read a book , have a cocktail , get on a jet ski or go on a sailboat or something the effect of that .
Grant BurrowWe just went to Los Cabos , which was very nice , and we saw no kidding from almost me to you , and they said this has happened once before their whales . We were on walking the shore and for me to you , there's this 80 foot whale , that is , and Susan goes . I want to go out and try to touch it . I said , what are you waiting ? No , that tail comes around and we saw that the whole time they were coming up to the shore . So I want , I want that feeling , I want , I want more of that and the different cultures that are out there . I love Mexico , Um , uh , anything that's warm weathered , uh , Some of the bucket list is Egypt . I want to see the pyramids . She wants to go to Alaska , but she knows I don't like cold , so and she wants to see more of the non beach because she's going to see those with us and we're looking at trying to get maybe a condo on the beach in Destin . Even so , we're going to , we're going to , we're going to enjoy life . That's good .
Jim CrippsThat's good stuff . We've earned it too , yeah , that's what we , that's what we think . That's right . Well , you know , kind of along the way , um , you know it's a , and I know you know this about me , but , um , we're both money conscious Very much , so it's , it's , it's always in the background , good or bad . Yeah , um , what part did that play in raising kids ? Like , when did y'all start having conversations about money ?
Grant Burrowum , having conversations very early , of them actually listening , probably not till more so recent , um , you know , I said don't work for the money , have the money work for you . And so , as a part of investing and making sure you're investing in the right things , and so , um , that really hasn't hit home with my daughter . You know she is like my wife , not meaning that in a in a financial way , but she's the social butterfly , she's the flower child . She's going to talk to everybody . She's got your personality . She's going to talk to everybody . She's got your personality . She's going to talk to anybody anywhere . And , and you know , they leave best of friends where my son is , he and I are more like , where we have our little clique , and of friends , and that's who we're real strong with and that's what we go do things with . And if , um , we don't meet this stranger over here that we're not going to become friends with anyway , it's's not that big of a deal to to to us . I don't mean that in a wrong way , but it's just the personality . And so he has recently started to listen more .
Grant BurrowI'm always talking , I send him a , a TOTD , probably three times a week , I thought of the day , and sometimes that's about the Bible , sometimes that's about sports , sometimes that's about financial . And so I sent them you know , kind of like I think you and I've talked about this calculator of of finding out what money if you , what it can make if you invest a small amount , at their age especially , yeah , and so I sent that to him of if you invested just $50 a month right now , when you don't have a lot of money , but putting that in it accumulates to this by the time you're ready to retire and there's millions of dollars . And he came to me and said okay , what do I need to do to open up a brokerage account ? And so he just recently opened one up , and so he's doing a little bit of both . He opened up a Roth and he's opened up some mutual funds just for investing that he can have and take out later to use .
Grant BurrowBecause I said this , primrose , if it goes the way it's been going , it's not a handout . You're going to buy it , we'll give you a reduced price , but you need to have the money to buy it . So he started doing that as well and he's starting to really grasp it . He's got the financial mindset and and he's starting to really grasp it . He's , he's got the financial mindset and , uh , brooklyn is not there yet . So when you say , when did they start ? She ? She hadn't really got there yet , but she knows it , but she's , she's not ready to get there yet .
Jim CrippsWell , I'll throw this out there because this hits home with some . In fact , um , a good friend of mine , in fact , uh , they did some , they helped us at absolute years ago . So , uh , the friend of mine that built all the safe shrouds , oh , yeah , yeah , so he built a lot .
Jim CrippsThey did and they built a lot of those , um , he and his son . And so his son these days is um , he works for the power company and still living at home , or it was was then , and so he's making a decent wage . And he got the itch for a new truck and he called me . He said can you talk some sense in ?
Grant Burrowto this young man .
Jim CrippsAnd I said well , it's real simple how much do you want to spend on the truck ? And he already had a nice truck . He had probably a $25,000 truck , but he wanted to go to a 45 or $50,000 truck .
Jim CrippsI said great , you're 18 years old . So at 18 years old and I forget the exact number I think it's for every $6,000 that if you put that $6,000 in a good growth stock mutual fund , that's a million dollars at retirement . I said so what you're telling me is you like this truck , $3 million worth . He didn't buy the truck . Good for you , so . But even for younger kids , some just don't know , some just don't know . And then you know , I always stressed on whether I did too much because good , bad or ugly . You know , I took Castle with me to the bank even before he could walk and our rule was , even before he understood it was if we're putting money in the bank , you get a sucker . You're taking money out of the bank , no sucker Again . I don't know if that was good or bad , rewards teach . But you know Castle had his . He's had a mower for the last few years and every year I've told him if you do a good job with mowing , you know , then we'll upgrade your mower . Well , these days he's probably the only kid in the United States with a commercial 52 inch mower at 11 years old . That's awesome . Last year he was 10 and he had a couple of regular mowing jobs , and we go to the bank for him to decide how much he's going to spend or keep to spend , how much he's going to invest and how much he's going to put in the um savings . And I think he had $200 and I said you know , so , what are you going to do ? And he goes well , it's worth way more if I give it to the investment guy . I'm like , okay , well , how much ? He goes ? 200 . I'm like whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa . You , you got to buy gas for next that , of course , I said no , that's a lot better when they can do that , that's right .
Jim CrippsThat's right . But , uh , in either case , you know money is a language and you have to learn how to speak money . Yeah , um , now , one difference between you and I is uh , at least earlier in your , your career , you were , um , not nearly as debt-averse as I am . It just sends me into a panic We've talked about that yeah , but it has worked out , yeah . So through that , what do you think has been the wisest ? I don't want to say gamble , but calculated risk that you've taken .
Grant BurrowIt would be primrose . I mean where we are now , Because we thought and thought and thought about it and researched it and it was a pretty big debt . I mean we were going in debt . When you're going to lose 180 grand your first year , that's not a good feeling and it was hard . It was hard on us , it was hard on our marriage , it was . I mean , you get angry when you just see that money disappearing and then you're starting to think did we make the right decision ? Did we do the right thing ? Is this going to work ? But no , kidding my wife , she was the superstar with it all Because I was staying in the wireless world to make sure we had the money coming in in case we lost another $100,000 or whatever it may be .
Grant BurrowThat was the year we lost it . That was the year Primrose told us we were going to lose it and ever since then it's been . It's going the right way and we're actually right now looking at adding on to the school . So we're going to pull a little bit more debt and we have a waiting list for , uh , infants and toddlers and so we're going to add another infant toddler room and maybe one other room , Um , because , that's a calculated risk based on where the business is currently .
Jim CrippsOf course , yeah .
Grant BurrowSo so yeah , that one was was the , that was the big one and and you know you always take if you're getting a house , you know a lot of most people will take a little bit of debt and um , and a car , you know a lot of people will do it that way , but that's not one that's gonna throw you for a loop like a primrose type thing could , um . But we both knew our work ethic , we both knew what we wanted in life and I always wanted to work with children at a later age , and so again , we've been fortunate .
Jim CrippsYeah , Well , and the great part is like , you get to be , in my opinion , your best self in that space . You really do so .
Grant BurrowIt puts . I mean , you know , you and I were in the wireless world and you had stress , especially when mergers were happening or you weren't hitting a metric that you wanted to hit , or somebody was telling you you got to be here and you're not here and how do I get there ? And you always did well with that and reaching whatever goal was set for you , and you know it's not always fun . And right now I go in and have a smile on my face every day . I really do .
Grant BurrowAnd you have your things . You've got to work through . Things happen . You know you may have little Johnny that bites somebody in an infant or toddler room because they're teething , little Johnny that bites somebody in an infant or toddler room because they're teething , and and so you've got to try to shadow a little bit more so that doesn't happen , because you don't want to bite him but you don't want the other person getting bit . So you have those types of things that you learn and grow and try to implement the things that that won't happen . Um , but it truly is the calling for where I need to be right now .
Jim CrippsYeah , no , I love it . And again , I can see it on your face when you know when I get a video from you .
Grant BurrowIt is not the grant of 10 years ago .
Jim CrippsIt is an improved version . I appreciate that , yeah . Yeah , that we ask in almost every episode and this is meant to be slightly controversial , but not to get anybody canceled or anything is um , and I can't take credit for it . It actually came from a podcast that I was on , so a shout out to Colby and John from the goat consulting podcast , but it's called things we think but do not say , and for most people , it's just a truth that you feel strongly about . That maybe is not popular but needs to be said .
Jim CrippsSo , for me , one of the ones that I hang my hat on is I get really frustrated when somebody says toxic masculinity . Nope , in my opinion , there are toxic people . Whether they're male or female does not matter . Masculinity by itself is not toxic . Feminine energy is not toxic by itself . It is what you do with it . So , um , and some people hate that I say it that way , but I cannot stand it when somebody says toxic masculinity because it's just not even a thing . Yeah , um , what's something that you think you think you feel that strongly about ?
Grant BurrowUh , that's a that's an interesting question . I think that where I am now is a little different than probably where I was , uh , you know , 10 years ago . As you said , and , and you , my daughter , our saying is do better . You know , always do your best and do better at whatever you're going to do .
Grant BurrowAnd so now when I'm out and about , I'll see , because of the industry I'm in different children acting different ways , and so I think part of that of me seeing some of that is like , okay , do better , and I want to go over maybe and talk whatever , but but you never know what somebody's going through in their life , and so do you , do you try to help in some of those situations , are you not ?
Grant BurrowAnd so I'm not sure there's a saying so much of of uh , you know , you're looking at it like what the heck are you thinking , um , but at the same point in time , I don't know what's happening in their life . So I guess that's a roundabout way of me thinking what are you thinking , but not knowing what they're going through in their life . And so so many people have so many things happening that are unfortunately not good things in their life , that are superseding what maybe is right in front of them at that point in time , and we've got to be cognizant of that in our lives , to not interject where we shouldn't . And so when you're thinking , what the heck , something else may be going on in their world .
Jim CrippsWell , I think you know , maybe a summary , for that is everybody's going through something , um , but you as a parent have a responsibility to that child . Well , um , you know , I I love one of the responses that we got a few few episodes ago . Uh , giannis Las Manas , who owns Corsair there in Brentwood . He said we should judge more that , um , petting people by not telling the truth is not helping them 100% believe that .
Jim CrippsAnd I think that same same space is , you know , and I know you remember me saying this and probably have a PTSD from it . Uh , but performance matters , yeah , but we keep score for a reason in sports , and there there should be more keeping score .
Grant BurrowYeah , less participation trophies . That's right , I understand it , but that's not . That's not how the world is , that's right .
Jim CrippsWell , we're setting them up for failure . If we , if we paint sunshine and rainbows everywhere , uh , even with a bad job .
Grant BurrowYeah .
Jim CrippsIt we . We are not getting them ready for the world .
Grant BurrowI remember many , many years ago I was coaching my son in basketball . He was very young , I think four or five , and they lower the goals , you know , so you can hit it . And it was the YMCA and it was the first time I did it and my dad , you know , he always , he always wanted to come see our kids play . He's there and we're coaching and we've gone through some practices and I'm thinking , wow , these kids have a lot of learning to do for basketball . And I thought , well , everybody's kids are probably going to be this that we're playing against .
Grant BurrowSo we get out there our first game and my dad's over there watching and we're doing layups type thing , we're trying to get them going and nobody's hitting anything . And so I said , all right , we're going to have to focus on defense , because we can't make a shot . And we get out there and we're focusing on defense , you know , and up on the man and trying to get a steal , so maybe we can get a layup that way . I turn around , I and trying to get a steal , so maybe we can get a layup that way . I turn around , I have two kids rolling . I don't know where I was going with this Two kids rolling on the floor and the other team's scoring left and right on us my dad's . At halftime he goes you're going to have to work with the Bad News Bears a little bit here when I was heading with that , but it was a memory that popped up for some reason .
Jim CrippsNo , and I've experienced that myself . We did a upward a couple of years ago and I had no anticipation that I was going to get tapped for coaching . And you know , apparently when we got there they had added a team and so Castle was on this added team , and then they didn't have a coach , and so somebody volunteered to coach , but they , there was no assistant coach .
Jim CrippsSo I said , you know , okay , I'll do it . And two of the kids , um ,
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Jim Crippsadhd , whatever , whatever it was that they I mean literally they're over there playing with , uh , dust bunnies in the corner , um , and then I had two kids that had never played a sport . They were homeschooled and they didn't know how to jump or run , like physically , they had never jumped before , they had never run before . That's a challenge . It was a challenge , but I will tell you , by the end of the season , the two kids that didn't know how to jump and didn't know how to run made more improvement than anybody else on the team . Like they just , they were just starved for physical activity . Isn't that a great feeling , though ? As a coach , I mean it was , and there were days that I wanted to quit the two that were chasing dust bunnies . Uh , you know they would . They would actively participate in the destruction of what was going on on the court .
Jim CrippsI saw one kid really start to get a handle on his emotions because he was like a uh , he was like an explosion waiting to happen . And you know , I told his dad one day . I said he , yeah , but think about it . You got kids that don't want to be here and could care less . He wants to be here , he just doesn't know how to deal with it yet . And I said , you know , think of a rocket , that same explosion could tear things up . Or if it's funneled in the right direction to give something a direction and velocity , it goes to the moon . And you know , you started seeing that that change .
Grant BurrowSo that's awesome .
Jim CrippsI love the coaching aspect , and I know you do too . Yeah , yeah , I mean .
Grant BurrowBlaine and Brooklyn . I've coached them in different different sports uh , all throughout them growing up and I wouldn't trade it for the world . And I remember coaching my daughter and I'm sitting with she's in the game and I have one of the moms come tell me and she goes you and my daughter were having a blast sitting on the bench . What were you all talking about ? And we would just talk about random stuff in the stands . We would see some things going on . It's just fun . It's making sure the children are having fun in the game and learning the game . They have to learn the game . They have to get better . As you said , I hated losing , so that was a little tougher . I still don't like losing , but you want to put the competitiveness in them , but you don't want it to be a detriment on any aspect .
Jim CrippsYeah , you don't want them to not be able to handle the rest of life because they lost a basketball game this morning , but when they're in the moment , you want them to want it more than they want anything else .
Jim CrippsAnd that's a tough place to be . Castle had the experience of . He's been on a want them to want it more than they want anything else . Um , and that's a that's a tough place to be . You know , a castle had the experience of . He's been on a great team the last couple of years and so , um , there were other great players and , don't get me wrong , he had some really good games , but he didn't have to be the player right . This team that he's on now . It's also a great experience for him to understand that he has to become it if he wants to . You know , um , step up , yeah , absolutely so . Again , we're , uh , he's being mentored by the situation that he's in .
Grant BurrowAnd you have that in life . I'm different aspects of life . So you have . You know , every team be the superstar participant . You know what are you ? To make the team the best .
Jim CrippsYeah , absolutely . Um , what ? This is kind of random and we didn't take this up . What's your favorite Lucas story ?
Grant BurrowI cannot tell if something I can tell , something I can't tell , lucas is um , we , uh hopefully both the people that are watching this are a little older . So we were at the , we went to a , we had stores in Memphis , and so we went to Memphis and then right around the corner there's a casino . I think this is where this was . This may have been yeah , I'm pretty sure it's where it was and , um , cause y'all used to stay at the casino , right , and so I told him . I said it's $69 to stay at a casino that I would normally pay , so I'm going to give you $69 , or whatever it is , to gamble with and you and I play a little blackjack . We sit at a $5 table , whatever the case may be .
Grant BurrowWell , lucas , as you well know , he's a cut-up and he doesn't use the intelligence God gave him a lot of times . So we're sitting there and , again , we've had some cocktails and if you don't play the right way , some of the players at the table will get on you . What are you doing ? What are you doing ? Well , lucas had had a few more cocktails than I and he had like two kings Split kings , he split kings , and then he got another king and he split kings . I think he did it four times and the table's now . Just what are you doing ? What are you doing ? And I said you dumbass . And he said it's Dumas , it's French . So the rest of the night the dealers were calling him Dumas and we had I don't mean to have a cuss word on it , but that was . We still , to this day , call him Dumas .
Jim CrippsI love it .
Grant BurrowAnd so it fits him . He would do anything for you to this day . He's a great friend . He was a great right hand in my business at Wireless Direct and you had the opportunity to work with him . He's going to give you all . He's got Just a great right hand in my business at Wireless Direct . You had the opportunity to work with him . He's going to give you all . He's got Just a great human being . His mom came over and worked with me . Same the same . She's a great human being .
Grant BurrowGetting to know him , there's many of those type of stories that I've had the pleasure of having . He goes on our golf trip and so has joined in on some of his . He's the youth of having . Um , he goes on our golf trip and so that has joined in on some of his . He's the youth of our golf trip . You know most people are in their 50s . Uh , you know I'm in the late 50s . Most of the 55 or older . Well , lucas is in mid 40s , I guess it's something like that . So the good thing about it if something is left at the house . We're like luke . Look , we really like to play ladder ball , but it's up at the house . I got it , it I'm going , I'm getting it . If you're playing , I'm going . So we have those types of stories as well . Oh yeah .
Jim CrippsWell , mine is a bit more tragic than that one . So and you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about so we have a big sales day the biggest one we'd ever had after after we merged together and he's headed to a neighbor's house to put up the trash cans . Now this is 1130 at night and I get a phone call about maybe 10 minutes after 12 and it's him going . You know those just stupid things ? And I'm like what ? And I just laid down , and he goes you know those stupid things that only I would do ? And I'm like what ? And I just laid down and he goes you know those stupid things that only I would do ? And I'm like , okay , and he goes well , I'm on this scooter , headed to my neighbor's house , and I think , well , I can go faster than that . And I hit a rock . And then , because of my military training , I knew how to fall so that I didn't kill myself . But I think I broke my arm , I might've broke my shoulder , and I'm iffy on my leg , like , what are you doing right now ? He's like I'm dragging this scooter back to the house . So we're supposed to go razor riding that weekend . And so I told him , I said , man , I will meet you at the hospital .
Jim CrippsI called his mom and said Miss Donna needs to get up . She should go get Lucas . He's walking back to the house right now and sure enough , I meet him at Vanderbilt . Help Lucas get in . No , miss Donna helped him in . I took her car , went and parked it and I get in there and luckily a Marine is the nurse that helped bring him in and they're they're trying to get x-rays and this and that , and I mean he's in a neck brace , I mean he's , he looks like a train wreck and he goes . You don't understand . I have to be able to go on this razor trip on Friday and about that time they come back with the x-rays and he puts it up there and of course , he's got a broken collarbone . He's broken , uh , his right arm , um , and something else , and I think it was the left arm as well was messed up .
Grant BurrowYeah , he had both of them , or something oh , it was it .
Jim CrippsWell , it was the collarbone on the side he broke . The broke the bone on the other side and the collarbone on the other . So , anyway , and this former Marine goes buddy , I'm going to tell you right now you are not going right .
Jim CrippsNo way , no way . But I think if they had a clarity we would have . But just an absolute joy to be around . Uh , you know , and , and you too , I mean it , really it was . It was one of the most fantastic parts of of the business I appreciate that it was good to get to know you .
Grant BurrowWhen we did that in a deeper , you know , I always knew that the competition over there jim is , jim's doing this , jim's doing this and I'm like , yeah , well , we gotta figure out how you're doing . It , said lucas , you need to yes , you need to infiltrate over there . Figure out what's going on .
Jim CrippsWell , I remember the day he called me . So he called me . This was , I think it was October 4th of 2015 . And I was pulling into the Lenore City store and he said , hey , man , and he told me who it was and I was like , oh yeah , yeah , yeah , we've seen each other . Of course , I knew he was on the reports . Yeah , we've , you know , we've seen each other . I , of course , you know I knew he was on the reports and we were , you know , it was that healthy competition back and forth .
Jim CrippsAnd uh , he said , man , he said I'm trying to figure out how to sell some more accessories . What , what's your best trick ? And um , I said , well , just include them . It's a , it's a bundle deal . He goes yeah , you don't have to lie to me . And I said , lucas , I don't , I don't know what to tell you . That's , that's the goal . And so , anyway , we hung up and I did my store visit and I was on my way home . I was not quite to Lebanon yet , and so this is probably an hour and a half later and he calls and he goes man , I don't , I don't know if we started off on the wrong foot , you know , but I've't , I don't know if we started off on the wrong foot , you know . But I've always , you know , admired what you got going on over there . And I said you know , same thing , and he goes . But I want you to tell me the truth . And I told him the exact same thing , and he goes . I just don't believe it . And I said well , come visit .
Jim CrippsWe'll show you you know , Um , but it was that kind of you know , I'm really glad that we got to work together and we got to experience some life together . It's just a joy to be around you guys .
Grant BurrowI appreciate it . You know , that's where I got to know you , and not only got to know you , but got to learn , as I was saying earlier , a lot of the sales tactics that you all did and you know and the marketing that was done and that to this day we do a lot of off primrose marketing and still use . You know , josh does a lot of that for us , fantastic guy , helps us out on many different things and I wouldn't have had that growth if we hadn't emerged and wouldn't wouldn't have met you all , well , we have to be open to new ideas .
Jim CrippsYeah , um , and , and then maybe we do them . Maybe open to new ideas , um , and , and then maybe we do them , maybe we don't , maybe we say , okay , well , how ?
Grant Burrowcould that incorporate into my world ? Uh , not everything's a good idea .
Jim CrippsRight and some of the good ideas are just not right for us . Um , you know it's just part of that , um , but along that , along those same lines , you know there's a lot that has gone on so far in your life and a lot to look forward to . Somebody out there right now is struggling to try to figure out how to balance their family , their faith , their finances , the job that they're in making those types of decisions just on a daily basis . That's maybe a little bit younger than us and trying to figure that out . What do you think has been a key to how you've managed to put it all together and then be in the place where you're at now ?
Grant BurrowUh , many , many failures . I mean you go through learning from what you do wrong and and not taking that as a true failure , but taking as learning experience . I think you have to have that mentality if you're going to to grow and you know we all were going to fail at something in our life . And and you're going to to grow and you know we all are going to fail at something in our life , and , and as I said earlier , that's tuition you learn from it . Um , oh , say that again , that's this tuition , you learn from it . So , um , that's always been the the , the mindset . If you can learn from it , then you're going to get better . And I am a hard believer in work hard and , um , a lot of the success will come from hard work and that I've tried to install into my , my children and everything that they do . All you can do is do your best , but always do your best . And so I think the hard work and doing your best takes care of a lot of the success and a lot of what they may say is is luck . You know it's from hard work and learning from what you're doing . Um , the faith I think that I took everybody has their different in faith . I took mine , my growth really . I mean , as I said earlier , my children have helped me grow in my faith and what I do , because every day they read the Bible in the morning .
Grant BurrowWe were at a trip . My daughter and I were in Destin waiting for my wife to come , and first thing in the morning I'm happy as a clam . I'm going out , I'm on the deck and I see dolphins . So I'm like , wow , brooke , look at these . I'm on the deck and I see dolphins . So I'm like , well , brooke , look at these dolphins . She's over there , she's got her notepad , she's got her Bible . She goes . I'm trying to read the Bible and I'm like , okay , but seeing everybody's different , that was her time , don't bother me in my time .
Jim CrippsBut in a way you're experiencing the Bible in that moment too .
Grant BurrowOh , definitely , definitely , and I'm seeing maybe I should be doing this . So most mornings I have a study guide on the New Testament , and so I just started four or five months ago , started it with the beginning , and it has your questions . What do you think about this ? What do they mean by this passage ? What did Jesus mean by this passage ? So I try to read a small amount and so I don't take a big , big bite , and that's really helped me , not only in trying to keep the faith and doing the right things and and um , guiding how I may do certain things in my day , but , um , it is brought me closer with my son and my daughter . My , my wife is still , uh , she is more into listening and so she listens to her car . So not that we are where you know the elite are with the faith , um , because I have a lot of learning to do , but I try to take a small bite every day of that Consistency .
Jim CrippsYeah .
Grant BurrowI think that . So I would do that at the table in the morning and then I'll try to do a small bit of exercising and then try to see current events , what's happening in the day , and then I'll get my day started . So I think of getting in some type of routine that works for you , because different people's uh routines don't work for everybody . So you got to find what works and believe in it and always do your best in whatever you're doing .
Jim CrippsYeah , no , I love that . Um , all right , this is where we have a little bit of fun . And so let's just say , hypothetically , that you were putting on a
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Jim Crippscharity bowling event .
Jim CrippsI don't go well , it's all right . You're going to have four team members that are going to bowl in this event with you . They can be anyone who has ever lived throughout history , whether you know them or not , but the whole point of this is to raise as much money for charity and for you to enjoy the people that are there with you . Wow , who is there with ?
Grant Burrowyou , so I get four other people . Initially I was going to say family , but they're not going to raise the money I need to raise with this , so don't get upset , family . If you're watching um , wow , you know , one of the one of the people that I tried to , that first came to mind , for whatever reason sports related um was Magic Johnson . Uh , you know he is try who I tried to emulate my game when I was young and I had , you know , the Magic Johnson , the ice curve and all these Dr J , all those posters up in your wall as the youth . Yeah , and I think he has gone through not the best speaker in the world , but he's gone through so much in his life . You know he got the . You know he played ball , got up to the Olympics and then he had , you know , this disease which put him on a step back , but now he's , you know , part owner and owner in the Dodgers and he is one of those that everybody loves and everybody wants to talk to . He's always got a smile on his face , so he would probably be right or wrong just because a lot of names aren't coming to mind would be one of those .
Grant BurrowUm , I would probably have an actor of some sort ? Um , I don't know who that would be . I would probably have an actor of some sort Um , uh , who that would be ? But everybody watches TV and everybody's going to want to raise money from an individual . So , um , that is an off the wall question .
Jim CrippsI'm not sure I have a great answer for well , keep in mind
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Jim Crippsthat these would be somebody that you want to hang out with .
Grant BurrowUm , Hmm Cause .
Jim CrippsI had Did these be somebody that you want to hang out with ? Because I did have somebody before I put that rule in place is I had somebody say Trump , kamala Putin , and I think it was Pablo Escobar , and I was like you really want to hang out with them ? And they were like , well , no , but everybody else would watch .
Grant BurrowYeah , putting those together would be an interesting , interesting ordeal , so let's , so let me , let me spin this . I'll do my spin . Selling from that book . Who would be your four ? I'm guessing you asked this question , while I think there may be some others .
Jim CrippsOh mine , mine's pretty easy Um Joe Rogan I love him a lot on his stuff . Yeah , well , he's just very inquisitive and doesn't mind asking the questions . Yeah , and then Robert Downey Jr is absolutely on the team . Morgan Freeman , just because I mean , I like that one yeah . How do you go wrong with Morgan Freeman and then Peyton ?
Grant BurrowManning oh , I like that one too . I saw him on Motivational . I like that one too . I saw him on motivational . I like that one a lot . Yeah , I might steal that one from you .
Jim CrippsThat's totally fine . And then , um , uh , I add a hype man instead of a commentator , and my hype man is kid rock , because I mean , we're in Nashville and he's going to hype up the event so .
Grant BurrowI think , um and and spinning back , and this one may not bring the money it would for the kentucky people , but I've grown to really read a lot about this guy . Uh , mark pope , I don't know , he is the coach for kentucky basketball now . Um , and he was in med school . I finished I believe I may have this wrong two years of med school at col , so a fairly well-known med school university , and he left that to coach . And so Kentucky was looking for a coach and they lost out on this , lost out on that , and they were hiring Mark Pope . And I'm thinking to myself is this the best ? I'm a big Kentucky fan , so is this the ?
Jim Crippsbest we can do .
Grant BurrowI'm a big Kentucky fan , so is this the best we can do ? And then watching him not only put in the , doing everything he could do to get the best team on the floor , but saying that we want to put banners in the rafter and having the love for the game but also the players . Some of the players were saying most fun I've ever had playing basketball . And , uh , playing under him I'd love to do for another year or two , even though I didn't have it . So his character , he believes what he's saying .
Grant BurrowHe does , and he was a big . He played at Kentucky . So that would probably be one , just just to kind of . You know hear his story . I think another one would probably be Nate Bargatze . I don't know if you know hear his story . I think another one would probably be nate bargatze I don't know if you know who he is .
Grant BurrowWe are taking a bunch of teachers to listen to his uh , him be a comedian at bridgestone in december . Yeah , so we bought a bunch of them . He just I love comedians . He's probably my favorite one and he's fairly well known , so I think that , uh , he would be one to hear his story . I think he is hilarious . Oh yeah , and he's clean . You know , he doesn't have to use you know anything . All his stories are relatable with his children , his wife , and you know situations that he goes through .
Jim CrippsSo I think he's one of those that , like you , could envision him going on your golf trip yeah , he , he is just hilarious , I love .
Grant BurrowI mean you get those little clip clips on Instagram or Facebook or whatever and every time I see his , I just got to listen to it . He puts a smile on my face . Absolutely , and I'd steal Peyton from you probably .
Jim CrippsSo that's good . Who's going to commentate ? Wow ?
Grant BurrowI would probably put this is how you said past or present , Just because I loved what he did with Muhammad Ali . It would probably be Howard Cosell .
Jim CrippsSo Cosell's probably the most popular answer . Yeah , and I think it's just because what he brought to the table was just legendary , especially in the moment . He would give it back to you too . Yeah , absolutely . Or Dickie V , give it back to you too , yeah , absolutely Um , or Dickie V maybe one of those two . Oh , yeah , yeah , you can't go wrong with either . Yeah , a hundred percent . Uh , last question , all right , have you put ?
Grant Burrowany thought into how you want to be remembered . You know I hope that my actions reflect how I'm remembered . And and yes , to answer the question , um , I'm going to get on a wild tangent answer for you , but I think that's why I got into coaching to hopefully mentor some of the youth that's out there and let them know that hard work doesn't have to be just grinding . It can be fun and putting the spin on it to make it fun . You know we would pray before every game and so letting them know that , although I'm nowhere near again , as I said , where I need to be , that needs to be a part of everybody's life and putting them into sports . You know I think you've probably seen this through stars you said that you were stars .
Grant BurrowThey do that as well of not only praying for okay , let's win this game , we got to pray . You know something like that but we would ask what do you want to pray for ? And hearing what the youth want to pray for is a trip . You know they were there . I want to pray for my grandma . I want to pray for I get my game . You know , whatever that that it is , but remember it is a good father I try to pride myself in being a good father . You can always be better . I can be a better husband .
Grant BurrowI'm sure for many of things , and that's going back to the do better . My daughter and I always tell each other do better , always giving it your all and caring for those around you , and so , yeah , I think there's probably a bunch of different things that come into it , that you could use adjectives to describe how it was , but hopefully they're all positive .
Jim CrippsYeah , I kind of think of that , as you kind of summed up the , the kind of definition of a good guy not necessarily a nice guy and what I mean by that is the good guy will tell you the truth , even if it's going to be painful , because he cares enough about you to not just skirt the . The topic . Um , that's what I try to inspire in castle is , you know , stand up for what's right .
Jim CrippsThat's right , good , bad or ugly Like it won't mean that every day is your best day , but it won't let that bleed into tomorrow , because you , you , you padded somebody's ego by not telling them the truth today .
Grant BurrowYeah , well , you got to do that . I mean , that's why I told my daughter . I said don't ask me the question unless you want an honest answer . So yeah , I think that that's respected , yeah .
Jim CrippsAnd we're going to do two quick bonus ones real quick . So one of them I usually ask and I accidentally skipped it , but it has to be asked with you , so it was not intentional , but this topic kept coming up in with guests and so we just added it , maybe at about week 10 , and we've kept it ever since . And it's how important has spouse selection been to your overall happiness and success in life .
Grant BurrowI'll say don't ask a question unless you want the answer , but , um , we have . You know , my wife is a great woman , uh , she's fantastic . And she's gone through hell , um , not only with the cancer . But you know , as , as my mom will sometimes tell me , I'm not probably the easiest person to live with on some things . A lot of it is principle with me , you know , it doesn't have to be right or wrong , but it's principle of the situation , and so my wife has to deal with that with me sometimes . So she and I , you know they say opposites attract . We're opposite in a lot of ways , but we have those commonalities that we love . We both love to travel , love the beach . The beach is her happy place .
Grant BurrowAnd I think , you know we've gone through our roller coasters , as some marriages do .
Grant BurrowYou know , you've had your ups and your downs and that's part of the learning and doing better , doing better and , um , it is good to have someone that will love you through all the faults that you have , and , um , she does that .
Grant BurrowShe will let me know my faults sometimes that I don't agree with , sometimes , um , and you know I'll , I'll , uh , my competitive sometimes is okay . Well , if this is mine , then this is yours and it becomes . You know , as um I was talking about nate margazzi they were arguing over and passing each other in the hallway , going , you know , doing the head nod when they're not talking to each other for 24 hours . So I think a lot of marriages growth go through that and grow through that . Um , it's an unfortunate growth on some of the things that you have to be the bigger person and that's hard , uh , for me on sometimes , of admitting I'm wrong and she'll tell me you know you don't admit you're wrong when you're wrong , um , but she loves me through all the faults that I have . So finding that individual that can love you and put up with you when you're doing things that you probably shouldn't be doing , on a basis of whatever it may be , is key .
Jim CrippsYeah , absolutely Last one . We'll end on a very fun note and you get off the hook on this one . This is it can't be one of your kids games okay what was your favorite sporting event to watch ?
Grant Burrowthe favorite game , favorite sporting event to watch . You know there was uh any of the . I'm again a again a big Kentucky fan , so those are probably going to be in there , dad playing there and growing up there and everything . The one that was that stands out was Kentucky playing LSU down 30 , I think , 32 points and second half being down 32 points , with maybe 15 minutes to go , not giving up , giving it . Still you're down 32 points .
Grant BurrowPeople are like I don't want to finish this game , I don't want to , I don't play defense , I don't want to do anything . And it's the just a key attribute of never giving up , of giving it your all , no matter what is facing you , and down 32 and coming back and winning , and just the game itself was obviously one for the ages to watch . But the meaning of that for those players of just diving in and grinding the other team , thinking man , we're blowing this team out , they're supposed to beat us and this is , and I'm sure they probably let up a little bit until they didn't . And but Kentucky , or whatever team it is , giving it everything they have to get that W . I love it .
Jim CrippsYeah , I love it , that's awesome . Uh well , grant , thank you so much for coming in and sharing some time with us and sharing some wisdom . Yeah , I love it , that's awesome . Uh well , grant , thank you so much for coming in and sharing some time with us and sharing some wisdom . Yeah , I appreciate it . Just things that have been along your path and I'm glad that I was along your path .
Grant BurrowYou were . It's been a part of my growth .
Jim CrippsSo that's good . Both of us can say that , yeah Well , good deal . Uh well , team , I hope you conversation with Mr Grant Burrow and him sharing the story of raising both Blaine and Brooklyn , as well as the time that he has spent with his lovely wife , ms Susan . So , ms Susan , it's good to hear about things going well in your world . Hopefully , you can take a nugget from this and make your life and your world better or help someone who may need to hear this . Remember that we have new episodes with amazing guests that come out every Thursday , so please be sure to like and subscribe the Charge Forward podcast Until next time .
Jim CrippsI'm Jim Cripps coming to you from HitLab Studios here in Nashville , tennessee . Take care , team , is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward podcast ? I just want to tell you I love you . I appreciate you listening , I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the Charge Forward Podcast with people you know and you love , because that's what we're here for . We are here to share the amazing stories , the things that people have been through , the ways that they were able to improve their life , so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today . I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week . Thanks so much and don't forget new episodes drop every Thursday .