HOH Episode 6

Steve takes time at the golf course to answer questions from the viewers. From building relationships to taking time to appreciate your spouse he's letting you learn from all his experience.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:25

Alright, folks, welcome back, House of Hoops Podcast, Episode 6. Hope you guys enjoyed episode 5. Got a lot of great feedback to the educational side of things. We're talking about the credit card industry and you saw the new Batmobile. So that was a lot of fun. So a lot of fun uh taunting of me, you know, feedback. Um ironically, the credit card stuff was mostly positive. I was worried there'd be some negative, but all good stuff. Um I have a list of questions. So what we're gonna do today is you can see we're outdoors. Uh we're here at my country club, Hartfeld National Golf Course up in Avondale, Pennsylvania. Uh been a member here for quite a while. Uh it's a great course. If you're in the area, you should get out here and play it. It's amazing. Uh it's private, but you know, you know some people, you know me. Reach out, you know, come up and play some golf. Um but want to get um a little bit of a spin in here, see some golf. My first round of the year, so don't make fun of me. Uh haven't played since October. Uh, and I decided to basically film my first round of golf this year and do the podcast while we're playing. Um, and thought it was a good idea to basically have one, two, three, four cameras on me to see how that goes. Never filmed myself golfing, so I'm sure it's gonna be an interesting one. Uh so hope you enjoy it. Uh, as we're riding around in the call cart, we're gonna play nine holes. Uh, we're gonna talk some of the questions that you guys have had in the comments, direct messaging to me, uh, emails I've received or just in conversation. So I have a list of those questions. Uh Devin's gonna be here with me, sit in the cart, ride around, ask some of the questions. We can go through them and then you can follow around my round of golf and see how we do. Uh the hope is throughout the year, uh, we're gonna go through and maybe do a couple of these, have some guests on, play some scrambles with them. Uh, I'll set the precedent, play my nine holes, see what I can shoot, and then uh maybe me and a partner can beat that throughout the year and see how good we can get by the end of the year. I don't know if we're gonna break 30, you know, break 25 like some of the big guys do, but you know, who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky. And enjoy it. So uh first T, um, you know, Hartfell National. We play the black T's, not the championship T's. Uh par 72, slopes 71-4, or uh rating 71-4, slopes 139. Uh, so not an easy course, uh, but it's gonna be a fun day. Uh first hole to par four, 370 yards, and uh we're gonna hit a little driver and see how we can go. Let's get let's get to it. Like I said, we got a par four here, 370. The goal here is to keep it inside of that left bunker with a little fade. See if we can actually make that work.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

Like I drew it off. Who knows? Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Rolling. So, what do we got is the first question of the week? Well, I think it's something that you know, as a any new business owner or even somebody who's been around for a while, it seems like a a common question is how do you make new connections in business? How do you find that new client? How do you pursue them, and what do you do to ultimately, you know, get them to come your direction?

SPEAKER_05 4:08

Yeah, no, I think that's a great one. And uh relationship building is a big one, but also outsource new new interesting leads, new interesting contacts, you know, how do you do it? And uh, I don't think there's any one right answer, and I think it's gonna stem from what type of business you're in, is one thing, and you know what you know and who you know in the industry. But for me, it's getting out there and having conversations. It's it's uh, you know, attend different gatherings, whether um it's a conference or it's a social event or it's a group of people you're just going out to hang out with. Um, you know, think about everything's a business opportunity, everybody's a client because maybe they don't work, you know, somebody you're gonna go have a beer with, or you're a group of guys that's in a fantasy um baseball league or a fantasy football league. Maybe they're not a uh um potential client for you, but they may know plenty of people, right? So it's it's getting yourself out there, being extroverted, and a lot of people that's a tough thing, you know, putting yourself out there um for things that are uh uncomfortable for you, but it's basically just pushing yourself to the limit. Get out there, talk to people, um, attend events, do things that are not typical that you would normally do, and just meet people, have conversations, talk about what you do, be enthusiastic uh enthusiastic about it, and um, you know, just try to get that word of mouth out there. Um, and that's the big thing is just being comfortable in your own skin and you know, getting out there to meet people and put yourself in positions that you normally wouldn't be comfortable in. Um, that's the big thing is getting outside your comfort zone. You can't just sit back and hope it comes to you. You have to go get it. Um, so it's figuring it out. Figure out whatever industry you're in, where's the best place to meet people, talk to people, you know, where do they meet people? It's it's understanding it and conferences, social events, um, you know, external events. If you're you know you're doing anything in sports or anything, attend some games, talk to people, you know, put yourself in position and just you know, strike up conversations with people you normally wouldn't do it, and just get yourself out there. I think that's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

So when getting yourself out there, it's being friendly as well, getting to know these people so they want to be around you.

SPEAKER_05 6:09

Read the room too. I mean, it's not always about uh, you know, friendlies fun, fun banter is another one. You don't want to be stiff either because you know nobody wants to work with somebody who's stiff and uncomfortable. You can tell they're just really, really nervous in their own skin. It's getting comfortable in those situations, being able to be smooth in the conversations, uh, being able to just have a normal conversation and working business into it. Uh if it feels forced and it seems forced, it's gonna be tough, right? And it's getting yourself out there, like I said, get yourself in uncomfortable situations and you'll learn to deal with it, you'll learn to adapt to it, and eventually you'll get comfortable uh doing those types of things and being better at it uh in general. But it's it's getting out there and practice, practice, practice. It's just don't go onesie twosie, it's not gonna work for you. Do it all the time, get out there all the time, go to as much stuff as you can, many events as you can, talk about your business to even people who know what you're doing, talk to it so you get comfortable talking about it. Talk about what you're doing with different people, even it's people who know it just as good as you do. It helps to have that conversation, deliver that pitch, and just get repetitive in it. Um, so I mean that's my biggest thing. So uh why don't we take a little break? I'll hit the second shot, and uh, you know, we'll follow up and uh give a couple more roundabouts on this topic. But looks like we're gonna have uh about 100 yards in, um, maybe a little bit under. So uh shouldn't be too bad. Looks like it's sitting up good. So that's usually for me either a strong 58 or a light 54, being that the wind's whipping pretty good right to left. I'm gonna probably ease off a 54, kind of aim at the middle of the green, pins on the left, so that way hopefully the wind will bring it in from right to left a little bit. So we'll get a range here. Oh, do it a little bit. Should be left side of the green though. Hard to start the season. Hopefully that doesn't mean it goes downhill from here. Oh, shout out to Rolex. Um, sorry, Mitch. This was from my last AD, but you know, I was able to get this uh face of a Daytona, Rolex Daytona face that uh I carry around and use for my uh ball mark. So is it pretentious? Yes, do I care? No, but it's fun. Alright, it's a nice start to the season with a with a par in the first hole. The second hole is a five itch played from the black from the the gold. It's a little bit more of a tough tough test for a three-shot hole, but this should be a two-shot hole. It's uh a little under 500 yards, it's really the green, three-tier green that's a lot of the defense here. It's up front, easy hole. If it's in the back, makes it more difficult. So the goal is up the right hand side with a little draw, leads us in, maybe the long iron uh to short iron into the to the green and two. So hopefully that's see what we can do. Hang on. Either be just over that bunker or in the bunker. Shouldn't be too bad of a shot. So uh let's go see if we can get there.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

So you mean we talk about going and putting yourself out there and making yourself visible and learning how to talk about yourself, but that doesn't answer the next question, which is once you meet somebody and you've talked about yourself, how do you harness a relationship? It's easy for me to talk about myself, but how do I continue a relationship moving forward with somebody that I just met or somebody that I'm trying to uh groom to be a client?

SPEAKER_05 10:34

No, I think that's great. It's you know, building relationships is you know also just as important as uh getting those relationships. But you know, for me, it is reading each individual relationship separately, right? So for me, it's understanding is this a relationship I can push a little bit harder because they're very interested and they need help right now from a business perspective, or it's something that they're unclear, they're still thinking about what will work for them, what might not work for them. Um, so it's kind of understanding is this a long uh conversation where it may be just good for both of you just to have conversations over a longer period of time. I mean, I've had relationships with people that ended up not even having any business come out of it, um, but I've made great relationships where they referred me to other people that I've got business that way. Um, and other times I've had um projects come up that was uh in the works for two years. Um, and then the third factor is um I've been able to build a relationship where I ended up getting projects literally within two months, one month of meeting someone just because they had an immediate need, and what I did and what I do immediately fit their premise. So building relationships is understanding the need of the person you're talking to, understanding what your goals are with that relationship with them. Is it to build your network and have them introduce you to other people? Is it to you know just have that good relationship where it's you know maybe both of you can enjoy talking about things, bumping things off of each other? I have a ton of people that I work with in the industry that is just really not business focused, it's more of informational friendship has been built that way in a lot of those, where it's understanding like, hey, I have some insight they may need, they may have insights that I need. Uh, and it's been a great, great success along the way. Um, so it's really understanding those situations. What are you trying to get out of it? What are they trying to get out of it, and figuring out what the right mix is? Um, is it pushing to say, hey, can I help you right now? versus you know, how can we help each other versus you know, let's just have some conversations and go from there. Um, but a lot of that is understanding and getting comfortable. Again, it's practice, getting yourself out there, having conversations, don't be afraid to ask the tough questions. Hey, do you need any help right now? Or, you know, hey, can I give you some insights? Or hey, do you have some insights for me? Don't be afraid to ask questions, don't be afraid to get feedback, even if it's negative feedback. All feedback is good, negative or positive. Don't discount anything people say to you because perception is reality at the end of the day. So understanding how those conversations are perceived and how those conversations go is critical. So I would say read the room, understand that, and make sure each interaction is is worthwhile for you. And uh don't discount feedback and understand what you're trying to get out of it and what they're trying to get out of it uh is the major factors for me when I when I go through as I meet people. So those are the big ones. Yes. Well, that's nestled down there. It's not gonna be fun. I don't know if I'm getting that up in the air. Probably just gonna hit something down in front of the green. The pin's just over the bunker on the left, so with that lie, I'm not getting it over. I got 179 to the pin. A little bit uphill. It's probably playing 190-ish. So for me, probably gonna hit the six iron. Six iron for me is right around 195. 200, you know, on a flat, good day, being that it's uphill, a little bit nestled down. I'm looking for this to be on the maybe sneak on the front right of the green, but just leave myself a little chip in the front. Sounded great. Yeah, it'll be alright. Went further than I wanted it to, so it might have snuck in that front bunker, which isn't the worst thing in the world. But we'll get there. Sounded great though. Oh my god. I got more club than I thought it was. It went further than I wanted it to. Yeah, the downside there is when you actually catch it better than you think it was. I didn't want to go as far. You want to go as far as I did, but I did. But you know, relationship building is great. I mean, I love to speak with people now. I would say I was always extroverted, but now I would say my approach to things is is have conversations. You know, I usually don't push the business side of it, I want to build relationships. Building relationships, building friendships in the long run, and understanding the business, getting insights that I can have from different people's insights that have been different places that I've been is uber critical to me too, because that way I can have knowledge that's not just isolated on my experiences only. The more information I get from other people about their experiences, more well rounds out my ability to help people with what they need their needs are because I understand a breadth of different things, so yeah, relationship building is critical, and then to me it's fun. You know, I love having conversations, I love learning new things, and I think it's critical for everybody to kind of get out of their own skin and get comfortable. So I got a little bit, probably about maybe a 35-40 yard shot just over the bunker. Um, must have not caught it or got caught up the roughs really wet. So now that I'm looking at it, it probably just ate it up instead of rolling out. Um, but again, came out very low from back there. Um, we're gonna have to go up high on this one just because of where that bunker is and how far the green runs from this side to that side is. We landed too far on it's off the other side. So let's see what we can do. I didn't hit it. Scared of going over. Although it's a tough one again. Green runs away from me. Trying to get it just on the green. Let it roll out. Get the weight forward. Just like that. Come down. Not bad. Not what we wanted. Like to have uh look at Bertie there, but now we got about five feet from part or straight downhill. Relationships are key. Don't force it. Learn how to be comfortable in your own skin. That's the biggest thing I can tell you. The more you force it, the more people know. The more people get uncomfortable with you. You don't want that. So if you're desperate needing business, you gotta figure out how to hide that and be comfortable. People can smell fear. Just like my little French bulldogs at home, they smell my fear. There we go. Not bad, but on a short par five, I don't want to have to scramble for par. I wanted a tap in par or a shot of bird, but we'll take it even par through two holes, and so far, so good. Good questions, good questions so far. I like it. Alright, even through two, so that's surprising. First round of the year. Uh, no shanks yet, so they're probably coming, so don't get fooled. Um, par three here, long one. It's into the wind today, so it's playing in the very back of this green, so it's playing 209, a little uphill, into the wind. So I'm gonna play 225. That's the highest end of my five iron. I'm worried about it getting caught up in the wind, so I got a four hybrid here. Um, first year I'm getting rid of the four iron, going to the four hybrid, so we'll see how that goes. Um, but that's what I'm gonna play right in the middle of the green, not trying to get close to the pin. Um, just trying to get up there, two putting, get the hell out. Pulled it that's gonna be ugly. It's gonna be a tough shot over the over the bunker.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

So building the relationships and getting out there you you work with a lot of different people in a lot of different industries. Is there any industry that you know appeals to you the most or that is your most exciting, or is there an industry that maybe surprised you that you didn't think was gonna be that exciting, but now you love?

SPEAKER_05 19:23

Um, well, I think it's a two-folded answer. I think the one that I'm most comfortable with, I'm excited to work in, just within my amount of knowledge, is the financial services industry. Started working there while I was in college, so got a lot of knowledge, a lot of background, a lot of experience. So there's rarely any question that I can't give the answer to or find out or get to the bottom of. Um, but probably the most exciting and the most fun I have is obviously with the NFL. Um, you know, working with NFL models, um, you know, gaming, you know, that sort of experience. So being able to get out there in my weekly LinkedIn uh that I post during the season of doing all the projections on the sports betting side um makes me engage and follow NFL even more than I did before, if that was even possible. Um, analyzing and looking at every little thing. So it's a lot of fun. And uh I didn't really think that I could make a business or a part of my business by actually doing fun stuff, and that was a big, big surprise for me is figuring out how to combine work and fun at the same time has been ignored exciting for me. So that that's been the big surprise for me is figuring that out. So all right, let's go find this ugly shot. Devin's up there on the green, taking his life into his own hands. See what we can do. Go! Another bunker. Found the old chink in the armor. Bunker shots I have to play this one up front of my stance, open it up, get it up over that steep hill. I can't even see over the bunker. It's probably a good eight feet. So I'm gonna have to open it up. Swing up and under. Get sand, no ball. Oh, hit the flag. The sports betting side of the fence. That's just been like a kid in the candy store being able to see behind the scenes, trying to say bogey here, a little left or writer. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. First kick in the armor. But being that I get to get up. Go to work, understand that I get to do something fun in addition to the rest of the work I have to do is uh makes it all worthwhile. And you have to enjoy what you do. That's the biggest thing. Enjoy what you're doing. If you feel like you're stuck, you're never gonna have fun. You're never gonna, it's gonna feel like the longest, longest drain of your time. Work's gonna feel twice as long, and then your free time's gonna feel like half the time because you know you're dreading going back to work. So have fun. Figure out how to have fun. And if you can't figure that out, maybe that's not the right job for you. Look, someone got the same rap as you.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Wait, I think that's yours. Maybe.

SPEAKER_05 22:59

Alright. Fourth hole, we got our second par five here. Double bogey back there is not good. Left myself in a shitty place. Tried to lay off that club and just steered it. So, you know, the t-shots would kill me. This one a little over 540, so into the wind. Probably not gonna reach it in two, but uh we can get a drive up the right side with a little draw, might give us a chance. You don't want to sit on that little birdie or butterfly. Perfect. Oh ha. Uh just snuck into the rough on the left. Well, that'll be good. Give us a look at it. Okay. It wasn't too bad. Yeah, it's stuck in the rough, but we'll we'll get a good shot at it. What do we got for the uh fourth question of the day, any?

SPEAKER_01 24:28

Well, you know, you had a chink in your armor in the last hole, and hopefully that kind of uh uh prepared your senses because they they have a little bit of a rough question for you here, which is you talk about your NFL model, um, and I don't want to use the word verbiage that they said, but uh um why was it not as accurate as you would have uh you would have hoped?

SPEAKER_05 24:50

I believe some of the comments I saw is why did your NFL model suck this year? I didn't say that. Uh no, no, no, I know you didn't, but uh plenty of people did. Um it's a fair question, and I think uh inconsistency in the league was a huge factor of it. I'm not gonna you know solely blame that. I mean, forecasting and trying to build the model um of what's happening with a NFL model is taking into consideration playing conditions, consistency, home away, you know, players, um, matchups, travel, a lot of things go into it. And this year there was just a huge amount of inconsistencies. If you look at a lot of the guys who do that for a living professionally all the time, post on different media outlets. Um, you know, I follow a lot of them. You know, it was a struggle to get to 50-50 this year if you pick every single game, which we which I do, um, not just pick and choose certain games to make my model look good. I choose every single game. And prior to 2025, we were running well, I was running between 60 and 66 percent against the NFL um Vegas odds every year, so very, very consistent. This past year I was at 56, so still good, but it's not enough to overcome the VIC if you're gonna use the model to bet every game, which I recommend you never do. But still, why did it suck? Um, just inconsistencies, like there just was like you didn't have a clear team that every week you knew they were gonna go out and win. There just wasn't one this year, you know. The best teams at the beginning of the year weren't the best teams at the end of the year. You know, some of the spreads were crazy. When you look at some of the money lines that were running plus 1200, 2000 last year, you know, by middle of the year, there was nothing more than plus 700, plus 800 because there was no longer what I would call the sure thing. Um, so I would say that was a big one this year, just inconsistency overall. And uh, you know, just struggling with trying to get it locked down. So we'll do better this year is the hope. Um, we'll see. Um but you know, yeah, thanks for that uh question, guys. Um it sucked. I know it sucked, but what are you gonna do? Grabbed a three-wood, but that's stupid. I'm not gonna go for it. We're about 260 away. Might just hit um be smart and just hit a just hit a six iron down there to leave myself inside a hundred. Um so uh let's just try to put on the right side of the fairway. Said right side of the fairway. I'm gonna be down just in the back of that bunker. It's not the end of the world. You know, if to continue, it is a fun, fun thing to be able to just take all that stuff you love, go watch during the week. And what I find that my models have have really done better than most people in the industry was because I don't rely solely on just the model by itself. There's I always say whether you we're building models for financial services, insurance, uh, healthcare, you know, sports betting, casinos, um, you know, anything. It's how do you blend the art with the science? And what I mean by that is how do you go in and not just get what the data tells you, but understand how it's applied in real life and factors that might not be relevant in the data itself. Um, you know, like in the credit card business, what works well on paper doesn't always work well in real life because customers have feelings and you can account for feelings in your models. Um, but you have to account for that by overlaying your knowledge of what's going on and what's happening. Um, same thing with the NFL is you know, when are you checking for the injury reports? When are you looking at things such as um, you know, how something happened to one of the players last week? Did he have a horrible game? Did he have a good game? How does rehay? How does he react coming off a great game versus a great uh good game versus a horrible game? Um, factoring all of that in there, and that's a really tough thing to do with just a short amount of data early in the season, and then for you know, rookies and everything where you don't have a really landscape, can't really trust college data because they're not up against the same competition. So um, you know, it's a tough thing to do. So you got to be uh adding that art with the science and not just fully focusing in on you know what does the data tell me, and that's been I think the trick to my success is knowing when to overlay data and when not to. So um we have about a 70-yard shot, but it is over these bunkers and it's way uphill. Um, I would say it's gonna be a full 58-degree wedge. Um, gonna go up and over, try and stop it. It should land soft. Pin is uh in a lull down on the bottom left side. Um, yeah, I'm gonna hit the 58. I was thinking about maybe landing off a 54, but I need to get it up. So we're gonna go up and over above my feet. So theoretically should go a little bit right to left. The wind's coming off the right. Um well uphill. Um, so let's see what we can do with it. And I chunked it. And I'm in the bunker. Dig in. Choke up. Pray to God. Like I said, gomping over it'll be short. A little room to play with on a par five, but not that much. Uh oh. I'm just gonna bump a 50 degree into that hill, hope it pop up and run out. Try and save Parr here somehow.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

Sit.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

Sit. From there, I can't complain about that, I'll take it. Knowledge is best. If you understand the the operational side of what you're doing, whether it's the NFL, whether it's banking, you know, being able to have that knowledge allows you to think through ways to overcome it in your models. I just wasn't able to do it on the NFL side. Um look, 55% against uh Vegas, I still beat them. It's just, you know, I need 57% to beat the VIG, and I didn't. Let's uh try and scramble and save another par in a par five, which sucks. There we go. What's VIG stand for? Uh it's uh basically the uh the money that the casino charges you. So if you go in to make a sports cut in the casino, you'll see odds like minus 120 and you know plus 110 and you know things of that nature. When you walk into a casino and you want to place a bet because let's say they have my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, favored by four and a half, right? So when they say you're favored by four and a half, you're required to bet $110 in order to win a hundred. So when you lose, you lose $110, but when you win, you only win a hundred. That margin, that's seven and change seven and chains percent, is the VIG. You know, that's basically what they're charging you to place that bet. Um, so that way whether they win or lose, they're still on average, if they lose half their bets, you know, they're still making seven percent overall because of that upcharge they're doing with uh what they're putting in place. So when I say VIG, that's what I'm talking about. It's the upcharge for you know the straight the straight bets that they're doing, which is usually plus 110.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

That was a bogey.

SPEAKER_05 32:47

That was a bogey because I duffed that one in the bunker, popped it out, and then up and down. But uh three oh three over through uh four holes. Not my best day, not horrible for the first round of the year, and I was probably a mistake to play from the blacks the first time out uh instead of playing from the whites, more of like instead of a 139 slope, playing like a 134 slope. But uh, yeah, devil hates a coward, right? So a little downhill, it's about 130 straight downhill. I'm gonna hit an easy pitching wedge, just smooth one. So should be a makeable up and down to get the par get back on track. There's one more part five on the front, so I got a chance to get one back there. Just gotta hold it together. Yeah, so like I said, three over through uh four, not great, but not horrible. So uh fifth hole, what's our fifth question? Is it beat me up about something else?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Not yet. We'll save that for a little bit later, but uh, you know, when it this was more common just for me, you know, when you figure you start a business and you keep on talking about how you should enjoy your work and you should be able to want to go to work and have fun. You talk about the NFL model and how much fun you have, how you know it sounds like you do a good job of mixing your business and personal. How did you learn to separate your business and personal? What does that look like? What is what is life look like? Is it always business and you've just made it so much fun that it is personal, or is there a dividing line?

SPEAKER_05 34:44

I think it's uh it was me learning from my mistakes. Um, I think understanding balancing home and work life is very important. Um, I think in the beginning it's very tough when you're starting your own business. There's so much stuff going on, so many things you've got to account for. The setting up your legal entity, setting up your tax structure, setting up your LLC or your S-corp, you know, setting up your if you're gonna have people, your payroll. There's so many things that go into it that I could tell you in the beginning, there just wasn't a lot of time for for the family aspect of it in the personal life to just decompress. I played much, much less golf in the beginning, um, did a lot less and and probably missed more family events than I wanted to. Um, but I will say once I got it up and running, it was you know learning from those mistakes and realizing that, you know, why am I doing this if not for me and my family? Um so once I started to get in the groove and I felt the business was set up and running, it was how do I find the time to find time not just for my family, but for myself too, because you don't want to get burnt out. You know, what makes you happy and finding how to balance my time. The biggest thing for me is putting everything on one calendar, work, home, and figuring out where I can move stuff around and force things in there to say this is where I want to do it, this is when I can get stuff done, but putting just as much um emphasis on the family, the personal time for me, myself, and business. Um, because it'll go a lot longer. Otherwise, you're gonna burn out. Right.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

Why are you doing you know, if you're gonna burn yourself out, you know, at the end of the day, you can retire, have a heart attack, and not enjoy what you're uh what you built.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

So just short of the green. Came up short, spun back about eight feet. So just gonna bump it up there, hopefully tap in for bar. Oh my god, rolled out uphill. Uh that should have stopped. You know, working for myself. I can leave it two, come back at six, and work for another three hours. Um, it's just finding that balance and forcing it. Ah, I didn't hit it. That's a that's a huge mistake. That that should have been an easy part. But you go 100 miles an hour all the time. You don't take time for yourself, you don't take time for your family. You're either one gonna burn out, you're gonna have a family that kind of doesn't appreciate you, doesn't expect you to be there, which is not a good place to be. And then overall, it's you gotta do right by your family, because at the at the at the top of the part for me, it's family first, right? Um, everything I'm doing is for the family, right? So if I'm doing it for the family, but I'm not giving them the time, am I really doing it right? And uh I learned that after probably the first year and a half of doing my own business is I wasn't giving my family enough time and enough attention and spending too much time in the business and too much time for myself. So you gotta find that right balance. It's uh it's on you to do that and you know stop making excuses. Like the biggest thing I see is people make excuses of why they can't. Well, figure out an excuse of why you can. That's my biggest advice is you know, figure it out. Everybody's different, everybody has a choice. Learn from your mistakes, learn from my mistakes, and uh do the right thing. Alright, got the sixth hole, a little over 400 yards straight up the hill. Uh a little dog leg left at the end, but it's it's really just try to put driver up the middle. Um, maybe a little bit of a fade, get a little bit more open area. But this is a uh, what does John Daly say? Just grip it and rip it on this one. So let's see if we can do that. But I will say that being on camera when you're swinging the golf clubs definitely is a thing. I think first couple holes I kind of hung it together, and then I was like, wow, I'm even par through two, and you know, which isn't isn't unheard of for me during the regular season, but first round of the year from the blacks, I was surprised, and I think from there I let it get in my head. I didn't didn't really play it as well as I should have, and you know, it's definitely adding a stroke here or there. I mean, uh one, two, three, you know, four over through five. And you know, I'm uh I'm usually trying to be you know three to four over for whole nine. Um so it's definitely making a difference. Um, but it's fun. I'm not gonna lie, it's fun kind of being able to talk about my shots and talk through things, but um slows things down a little bit, and also it's it's a it's a it's a it's an interesting, interesting approach. The other thing I'll say is shout out to Phil Nicholson and the full wellness gummies. Um the recovery gummies and the hydration gummies I'd love to have out of here on the course. Not fucking for a sponsorship. Well, so not not fucking for a sponsorship either, but um, and honestly, it's it's great. You definitely feel it, you know, so many times they get high dehydrated by the end of a golf round if you're not drinking enough and drinking enough water or you're drinking too much beer and not enough water, you get uh dehydrated. But these things are great and they taste good too. And they're low calorie and uh they're great. They also have a focus one and some other ones, but highly recommend them. You know, for wellness, and I think Phil Mickelson either owns it or is part owner of it, but it's they're good.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

Hi. Um so I think that a lot of people who've started following who started the follows and and watch at the beginning, they maybe know you and they they know a little bit about you, but not everything. And you know, one of the questions that kept on coming up, which I just didn't understand, because you know I find you a pretty likable guy, but they they wonder, you know, how you know, there's a lot to you. How you know, how does your wife handle you? How do you what does she think of of uh Steven Hoops? And uh, you know, they can clearly tell that she's she's running the show, and and how does she handle uh keeping you in line and keeping everything on track? And uh how does that work with her? She's got her own success and her own um stature in this world. Like how do you guys work together and and what does she bring to help you? And what do you do to you know to vice versa to make sure you're you're building her up just the same?

SPEAKER_05 42:24

Yeah, I mean, I would say it's it's a team effort. Um, she's been putting up with me for a very long time. We met in high school, um, dated throughout high school, throughout college, got married, you know, been together since 1992. Um, so it's a great support effort, and she is a brilliant um person, valedictorian. Um, you know, Magnum cool out in college, and you know, she's just very, very smart, not just book smart, street smart, too. And uh I think it's it's a balance to be able to say respecting what each other does. I I was I would think she would say sometimes I'm not as as sympathetic as I should be. I'm a very uh, you know, you know, feelings guy is not what I would say I am. I'm more about let's you know, let's figure it out, let's get it done, be analytical about it. I'm an analytic guy where she wants to think through all aspects of it, which I value tremendously. Probably don't tell her that enough. Um, but I would say she supports me in everything I do. I wouldn't have been able to start my own business without her. She's been very successful. She was an executive at Bank of America for a long time. Uh she's a C-suite level uh chief first officer now. Um and she's been doing it at a high level for a very long time. So it's also great to have someone who understands the position I'm in and can and do the same things I can do and support each other. But she'll say I'm a handful um that I test her patience on a daily basis, and uh it's all about respect. It's uh sometimes I get I get out of out of the focus of probably giving enough respect that I need to give. Um, but honestly, I wouldn't be where I'm at without her. Um, I owe 60% of my success for her not just being supportive of me, but being supportive, having my back, giving me uh encouragement, but also giving me feedback and telling me how she sees things going, which is great to have a different aspect of it. Someone who's in the same industry as I am, someone who has known me since I was uh a teenager, since I was 17 years old, um is something I just you couldn't replace, right? And it's like a cheat code for me. Like I say, I would never be able to do any of this without her. Um she knows it. Um, she knows I'm a handful. I try to get through what I can get through with her, but uh I probably don't give her enough uh due diligence and uh enough uh kudos for that. And uh I'm sorry. Um but yeah, I'm a handful, and she would tell me I'm a huge handful, and she puts up with me. I don't know why. Um I'm just lucky about 160 and I'm gonna hit about a nine iron to get it up over this tree. Um pulled it left of the of the of the fairway, so I got a little bit of a shot in here. Oh just nip the branch of hopefully should be just inside.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

I will I do I do think like a little sidebar of of that question that I think is really relevant, you know, is the the weight and value of a support system next to you, and having somebody that can kind of take that weight off your shoulders, right? You know, being able to know that I can put all in on this business and I've got the support of myself you know even. I also know that outside of the moral support, they've got the support in this sense of go take that risk and we can we can make this work. And I believe that you'll work and and they have your back, that goes a long way, right?

SPEAKER_05 45:57

I think that's that's absolutely right. I think you know, understanding what you're going through, having a support structure, there's no way I would be successful without somebody to be there to kind of share the burden with me. I I mean, yeah, we have kids. What if we weren't together would we have kids? You know, no, but it doesn't matter. We have four kids, we have to share that work because we're both full-time career-oriented people. Um, so you need a partner. Um, it's not just having someone you love, um, someone who's your your wife or your husband um or your spouse in general. It's you know, having a partner to share the workloads, share the burdens, share the great times, but share the tough times too. Uh, and we've been through tough times, we've been through easy times. We've had it where it's been going like it's like, you know, what do we do to be this lucky? And we have other times it's like, what do we do to piss God off? Or you know, stuff like that. It's like we've seen both sides of the fence, and it's just being strong together is the major thing, and having the respect, and you know, I get very passionate about what I'm doing sometimes. I'm thinking about it more often than I should. Um, I get wrapped up in the the why, the analytics, the the approach, the theory. You know, just like every woman will say, she'll have problems that she's not looking for an answer, she's looking for an ear. And I can tell you, sometimes I struggle with that. I always want to have an answer, I always want to solve a problem, and sometimes you just gotta not do it. So, yeah, I agree. It's sports structure is key. My wife Dale's amazing. You know, I'm trying to get her into golf, so we'll see if she wants to do that. Then she can spend even more time with me, which I'm sure she would be ecstatic about.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

But um, like I said, we had a nine iron in, and I knew it would be short. Um, not as short as I thought it would be, because we clucked the top of that tree coming up and over.

SPEAKER_05 47:38

Um, but we literally have like a tricky one. It's a little uphill to the pin, and then right after the pin goes straight downhill and I'll run away. So if anything, I want to be short of this pin.

SPEAKER_04 47:48

It's a tight lie. I'm gonna hit a bump of 58 up there. Try and do a one hop and stop, hopefully. And uh leave myself hopefully inside of five feet for uh for par.

SPEAKER_05 48:04

Nope. Didn't clip it. So uh this should go fairly straight in the beginning, should fade a little bit towards the end. Don't want to be too aggressive. It's gonna be a little slow uphill, but it's straight downhill afterwards, so I don't want to blow it by either. Try and nestle it up there. Try and make it, but make sure I save myself no worse than bogey. Well, I didn't want to be that short. Focus. So just for clarity, you can edit some of these shots out, right? I thought you said we were gonna shoot it all in.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

What well yeah, but I mean I blame the green on that one. Oh that's not my fault. Yeah, no, I see it. You're gonna leave it, aren't you? It's gone. I never I never saw anything.

SPEAKER_05 49:21

Yeah, so shout out to my wife, Dale. Thank you for everything you've done for me and for putting up with me for all these years. And hopefully it's all worth it at the end of the day. So she's taken off on Fridays this month, so she's at home right now, relaxing. Hopefully, um, like I said, the kids are older now, they're all self-sustained, so she just gets to hang out with her dogs, all of our dogs. So six over through six. Not very good. So let's see if we get a par four, a par five, and a par three coming up. So maybe we can sneak in a birdie and come in five over. That would be palatable for the first round of the year, and uh you can go from there. Hopefully, we can keep away from any more bogeys, but you know, we'll see. The camera's a real thing, I am telling you. Uh, hitting the shots on camera when you're thinking about something else. I thought I had a good handle on the first couple holes, and then from there it's just like you're overthinking things. It's like, you know, should I hit the like on that part three on number three? I should have hit probably a five iron. Instead, I tried to you know lay off a four wood or a four hybrid just to be cute with it and you know pulled it because I didn't swing full. Stupid stuff. I'm just gonna try for these last three holes to play like the cameras aren't there and talk about the shot like I'm talking to myself and you know stop overthinking it. So we'll see. I was only kidding. If you caught that on film about the editing shots, I was joking. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

That was a joke.

SPEAKER_05 50:58

Well, we'll talk about it once you stop fucking rolling. Ow.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

So when I was younger, is uh it was the uh generation of I think it was one of the first generations and uh that people really could provide and send their kids to college and really strive that hey, I'm gonna raise my kid and you're gonna go to college. So, like I was the first kid in my family, my entire family, to graduate from college. The way that I look at college going back is I've found it invaluable, you know, just because of the experience that I got. But what do you think when wanting to start your own business? How important is college? Is college important for experience, or is it important for you to dedicate an actual degree towards something and then go after that? Or do you think that because you're starting your own business, if you're savvy enough and street smart enough, you can go do it without college? What how where do you think college stands these days for us for starting your own business?

SPEAKER_05 52:04

Yeah, I think that's a that's an interesting question because honestly, I think there's some people who don't even need to go to high school and they could be successful in what they do. Um, I think it's all about what you're getting out of it. I think it's on you. Um, I think college in general is very good if you're doing it the right way, meaning that you're getting something out of it and working to get something out of it instead of waiting for something to come to you. Um, not like high school, where their teachers are there trying to get you to a certain point because of how they're graded on their job. College professors are there to give you information, guide your way through things, and it's up to you to embrace how you're learning, what you're doing, and what you're getting out of it. I think college is the right way to go for some people. I don't think it's the right way to go for everybody. I think we're hugely discounting things such as vocational schools, trade schools that used to be very, very big back when I was going to the high school. I have several friends. Um, some of my two of my best friends, um brothers went to trade schools and they're doing very, very well for themselves, right? Because that was the way they wanted to go. Ended up doing some engineering, electrical work, things like that. Um, I have um some other friends. My dad has worked in retired, but he worked in oil, gas, and refining, as did my wife's dad too, uh, and our and her uncle, and you know, many, many people um did the whole military and then you know worked in the refineries. And you know, they have programs. My dad was telling me we had lunch the other day where apprenticeships where they're coming in, getting paid to learn, working side by side with professionals, and by the time they're done, two, three, four-year apprenticeships, they're making $90, $100 an hour plus overtime. Um, you know, if they're working a ton of hours, and it's like you don't have to go to college, but what I would say is college is great to let you know where you stand. It's you're going into college to accomplish a goal and can you stick with it? It's not like high school where they hold your hand, they drag you through, they get you to graduate because that's what they have to do. College, you're on your own. They don't care if you graduate or don't graduate, it's on you. They care about educating you with the information they need to give you. They're they're there to help you guide you to where you're going, but it's 100% on you to get out of it, what you put into it. And a lot of employers, even if you're going to work for somebody, look at did they accomplish a goal? Are you gonna hire somebody just because they went to college? No. You're gonna hire them because of who they are, their aptitude, their dedication, and did they accomplish something? And college is a way for someone to go and show they can accomplish something. You can add on working while you're in college on top of that. That is showing somebody who's dedicated, hungry, and looking to do something and has got a great work ethic to do. So when I look at college, it's like, what are you looking to do as an entrepreneur? And what can you gain out of college from doing it? And if it aligns to what you're doing, you can learn about the industry you're going into, you can learn about what's needed in there, it's great. But I highly recommend if you're going to start your own business, go work in that industry. Go figure out what you don't know. That's the biggest problem I see with a lot of entrepreneurs. Like 60% of small businesses fail. Why? Because they didn't know enough going in. It's not because they weren't dedicated, they didn't know what they wanted to do, it was because they didn't know what they didn't know. By going in, working in the industry you're gonna be trying to work in independently is hugely beneficial. I've said it on a lot of the other podcast episodes is I would never have been able to be as successful in my business if I didn't work in a lot of the industry that I that I deal with for 20 plus years. That's where I learned the back office stuff. Like you make a product or you make a service, if you don't understand how it's being used internally or the things behind that make their decisions, you know, it's never gonna work. You go out and make some great score. Okay, it's not just how good your score is compared to someone else's. Is someone else's score they're already using just something they get for free because of other services? Like if you don't know that, you're trying to compare I'm better than them, it doesn't matter. They have to pay for you, they don't have to pay for that. There's lots of things that people just don't understand about the business they're going into, and I think it's uber important to work in that industry before you go into it. Um, are there success stories where it doesn't happen? Absolutely, but they're one in a million, and everybody wants to chase that one in a million dream, and it's whether or not you're trying to throw a dart or you're trying to basically create the road and map the road out yourself. So if you want to use a dartboard, then you know use a dartboard. But my my opinion is college lets you know can you do it? Can you accomplish a goal you set your mind to without somebody holding your hand? And I think if it's educational for you, great. And I think on the flip side, go work in that industry when you're starting your business. Understand the backside of it that you may not know. That'll help educate you when you do go out on your own. I think it's critical. All right, we're on number seven. This is a beautiful hole. Hole goes straight downhill and then straight uphill to the green, about 430 yards, wind's going a little bit left to right. So I'm just gonna aim at that that bunker on the left, uh, the second bunker on the left, and hopefully the wind just brings it, brings it in. Um, but I'm gonna try and uh get out of my own head about the camera. I'm gonna take some practice swings like I normally do. I realize I haven't been doing any practice swings and stuff, so so not playing my normal game. So hopefully this will make me get back in my own head like I did the first couple holes and have fun. Stop overthinking it, stop worrying about my score, and just uh hit the ball. Exactly like that, my best shot today. Literally left side of the fairway just inside the muck. Why couldn't I do that all day? So back on the move, that was a good drag, but uh yeah, so college to me is a thing that it's not for everybody, and it should not be forced on everybody. I think high schools and school districts in general are uh doing a disservice to kids, trying to make them go to college instead of you know looking at vote vocational schools, trade schools, stuff like that. Um, because again, you don't want to just set up kids for uh failure um where they don't need to be. Like there's so many kids that struggle through high school. If they struggle through high school, it's gonna be horrible for them in college. The other thing is in high school, they let them retake tests, turn in homework late. I mean, so many kids get to college and you know end up doing horribly first couple semesters because they're not used to being held accountable. But I think college is great for entrepreneurs when you do it the right way, which is showing yourself you can accomplish a goal, getting things done that you need to get done, and using it as a tool and getting something out of it instead of just expecting it to come to you, right? If you're expecting things to come to you, then you know you're not getting out of it what you need to get out of it. And uh, I think it's uh it's important that you basically figure out what the right thing to do is in your life. Is college something that aligns at what you want to do from a self-employment business? Like what you want to do for a business, what you want to do to work for yourself, is college make a difference or not? And the answer is not always yes. So that's my two cents. Um I think the biggest thing is not so much college, but experience. If you're gonna go into an industry where you're gonna work for yourself, do you understand every part of that business and that industry that you need to? You could have the greatest product on the planet, you could have the greatest service on the planet, but if you don't understand your customer, your customer's environment that they're going into, why you should be the solution for them and not someone else, what your value prop is, and the best way to do that is to go work in that industry. Go work for someone else who maybe is a competitor, or maybe somebody or a company that could support you and your efforts, or could be a future customer of yours. Um, weigh all those angles because I think the biggest thing I see for we work a lot with uh University of Delaware and their Horn Entrepreneurship Program, which is one of their majors in the business school, is a lot of the kids that we work with on a regular basis is they they just don't know what they don't know yet. They have a great mindset, they can lay out a great business plan, they do a great pitch. Um, but when they get into the point where they try to go to market, they there's a lot of things they just can't account for because they've never been in that industry, and on the other side of the fence, they just know as an end user why it's a great thing, but they don't know the inner workings of the business, and I think that's one of the biggest gaps we see in a lot of new businesses of why they fail. Again, 60 to 65 percent of new businesses fail, and I think a lot of it is just not knowing what they're getting into. We have about 162 in um uphill, so it's gonna play probably 173, 174. Um, I'm just gonna hit a nice smooth seven iron. Um, just play my game, try to aim just left of the pin. Don't want to play with that bunker, don't want to mess with either of those trees on the right. So just at that uh see that chimney um for the uh the chimney just left of the pin. That's kind of my uh where I'm looking to hit it. And uh if it fades a little, even better. And it didn't fade. Hit it good, but pulled it. Alright, just left of the green. Oh, it rolled all the way down. Landed pin high and it came back about 30 yards. Stop rolling. It just didn't want to stop. It stopped like three times and then decided to keep going. So, what are your options? The other thing about college is, you know, get a job while you're in college, part-time, you know, do something. Don't just sit there and do nothing, right? You know, employers nowadays don't want to see just a college degree, they want to see something else. So if you can go to them with a college degree and you work with some work experience, doesn't matter what it is, just some work experience, you know, do it. Just do it. And uh, you know, that's my recommendation. Don't be lazy and then have fun, work hard, play hard. Get a little bit of grease on those elbows. Yeah, not horrible, it's one of the harder holes on the course. That was me just not catching it. Put it up all the way up there, about pin high, and it literally just rolled all the way down, came all the way back down. So for me, this is just a little pitch. I'm gonna use a 54. Kind of landed about halfway, hopefully. Hopefully, it runs out, it'll be a little bit left or right break. Put on my back foot. That way, it stays a little bit lower. Just not quite hard enough. Maybe it's just a inevitable bogey golf type of day. Which hopefully means the rest of the year can only get better. A little over just under five twenty. The last part is straight up the hill. So open just a pound driver. There's two trees right down the center of the fairway, the fairway runs out. So open the aim right at those and end up somewhere in the middle. That's up the right.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:19

So we did have a question come through that just didn't make any sense, but you know, they come through every once in a while. I don't, you know, I think that it it can take I think perspective can help. I think I understand the the broad scope of the question, but the question was what's with all the toys? What's with the cars and the watches and the shoes and all these things? And um what you know was there a goal beforehand to have these toys? Does the job provide you the toys, or did you get the job, find uh success in it, and then realize hey, these toys aren't as unaccessible as I thought they were?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:58

That's a great question. I think it's a little Both. I mean, I think I've addressed it a little bit on the some of the watch videos we've done, where you know, some of the watches for me, I don't want to call them investments, but they've definitely helped from my perspective working with more affluent customers, you know, being able to show that you know you've had some success in your life, um, and I think it's been very good. I think on the flip side, you know, whether it's cars, um, boats, those type of toys, are primarily just focused and and and and fun for me, like something that I've always aspired to have. Um, I was huge, I grew up in a town called Aston, Pennsylvania. Um, that's where I was born and raised until I went to college. Um, I also was a huge, huge James Bond fan. Um, one of my favorite things to watch when I was younger. All of the Sean Connery stuff was my favorite. And Sean Connery is more of that smooth, smooth person. So the Aston Martin, something I always, always wanted growing up. You know, that DB5 was amazing. Um, and then I said balancing the work and life effort. It's it's trying to do stuff for me, the kids to get out and go. So, you know, we have a place up in Maine on a lake, so we have a boat up there, we have a boat down here because we're on a canal that leads right into the Chesapeake Bay. Um, so those are just great fun to get out and do with the kids. Um, the cars are a lot of fun just for me to have something fun, and it works great for business, right? It's it's very nice for me to be able to have a nice car, nice truck to go pick up clients in if they're they're traveling in from out of town. Um, they're great show pieces. Um, we're gonna be using them in some of the videos. Um, you saw the video of um the truck, we got that wrapped. Um, the Cyber Truck, you just saw the Batmobile come out. Um, ironically, this episode, uh, the second part of this episode, I think you guys are gonna have a blast. We're gonna show um my favorite Aston Martin that I own. Um, it is um one in 300 in the world. Um, it is fantastic. I think Devin did an incredible job shooting it. We had a lot of fun doing it. Um, we even had got chased by a fox who uh had a squirrel in its mouth at one point. Um, so it was a lot of fun. So I'd love to be able to share that. The kids have a good time seeing it, uh, and I think it's good motivation for the kids. We we make sure our kids go to work, you know, kind of double dipping with the question from the last hole about college and everything. It's also that we we've made our kids go get jobs or else, you know, excel and do a ton of extracurriculars and really strive to be busy and build on their own. Like my kids are great, two of my older kids are have their own jobs or going to school and they're using their own money, they don't look for us to pay, they pay for their gas, they pay for their food, they're on their own, right? So I'm very, very proud that they're doing that, and that's how we're raising all our kids. Is yes, you know, I would say they're more spoiled than most kids out there for you know the vacations we take, the toys I have, but they also see that it's not that I'm gonna be paying for them to do the same thing, it's they see how much hard work their mom and I do, right? They see how hard, how stressful it is for us on a day-to-day basis working 60 to 80 hours a week. Um, they see how much effort it goes in to be successful, and I'm very proud to say that all four of my kids seem to be on that track. Um, the older two are you know are already establishing their careers. You know, one's married, one's engaged. They're looking to the future, already planning for their future, how they're gonna buy homes, what they're gonna do in their careers long term. Uh, the younger two are focused as well in high school. The one is already, you know, game planning um on what he's trying to do to get into the college he specifically wants. Um, the younger one does a lot of stuff. She got her silver award and Girl Scouts working on her gold award. Um, my other son's working on the Eagle Scouts, so I'm very proud of all of that. Um, but the toys and everything are yes, they're a reward for success. Um, it's a lot of fun. Um, hopefully you enjoy the second half of this, which will be um a look at the Aston Martin. Um, the watch I'm wearing today is not going to be very exciting, but it's the uh the Garmin uh golf watch, the S70. Um, so I love to wear it, it gives me kind of the yardage right on my wrist. I like to shoot the yardage, but if I'm somewhere where I shank one somewhere and I don't feel like bringing the rangefinder, I can kind of line it up and figure it out on my own. Um but again, the toys are a byproduct of I was very successful in my career before I started my own business, so that's critical, right? So I can afford to do the toys because of the success my wife and I uh had before we had our own business, right? Um, I think you got to be careful to go chase toys before you're financially able to do it. Right? Make sure you're stable, make sure you can afford them uh as disposable income. Just don't go do it because you think it's fun and you're gonna stretch. Um, we waited a long time and you know made sure that it was the right time before we did those type of things, but you know, sometimes you gotta reward yourself. Some people may argue why not put the money away, retire earlier. Um, I'd rather enjoy it now when I'm younger, um, than you know, wait until I'm older, and I might not enjoy it as much. But you know, it's a it's an indulgement, it's not a necessity. Um, but I enjoy doing it, and I like the rewards of being successful, and based on all the hard work that I've done, my wife's done, and then we do in general. So um that's my opinion from that perspective. And shout out for whoever asked the question. But yeah, yeah, I love my toys, and uh, you know, whether they're you know sneakers, golf shoes, watches, boats, cars, it's a lot of fun. So appreciate the question. All right, let's get into the second shot here. We have about 220 uphill, a little bit of a crosswind right to left. So this is my four hybrid again. It's about my 225, 230 club. Um, should be enough to get on that front right side of the green. I'm not gonna go out the pin because of the bunker in front. Um, but you know, nice drive. It's a tough second shot because of the uphill, but let's give it a go. We'll give it a rip. Ah, no draw. Straight down the middle. Let it just hop right through the fairway, but it'll be a straight shot at the flag. So about pin high. Just no draw on it. Kind of bailed. I was afraid of that bunker. Bunker has been a bane in my existence for 20 some years here.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:38

How many rounds of golf do you think you've played at this in my entire time. 20 years, yeah. Uh over 500, over three years.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:46

Yeah, probably for sure, over 500 in total over those 20 years, probably a lot more earlier. When I was in corporate America, ironically, I got to play a lot more because we had a corporate membership here for a long time. Uh, and then after I left the company I was at, they allowed me to kind of switch it over to personal membership, um, which was great. Um, so that's kind of I've been here personally since 2011, um, but I was here since 2005 on the corporate side. Um, so yeah, when I was there, we used to bring clients out here, perspectives and everything. And still to today, I bring clients out here. It's a great way to kind of get out on the course, have conversations, or you know, prospects and everything. I think that's another thing, depending on what you're doing. Golf has been a huge, huge success for me from a business perspective. Um, you know, finding people is golf is big in the banking industry, so finding people to golf with and finding executives that love the golf um is a big deal. So um this has been great. I love it here. It's private. Um, so having the kids learn to play golf here, they're not being rust, the tea times aren't packed up. Um, so you know, it's tough to get out with kids who are a little bit slower. Um, they're very nice here. They're they're great staff. Um, you know, a lot of guys have been here for the whole time I've been here. Um and I I love it. So it's great. All right. We a little overshot the green, so I had a little too much club. We're gonna go ahead and uh try and pitch this up here. The green slopes very hard from back to front. So we're coming in it from the right side of the green, so we're gonna need to land it at the top on the right side of the green. It's gonna filter down, it's probably gonna end up below the hole. Um, it's almost impossible to stop on this one, especially this time of year when it's when it's pretty tight. Um I overshot it into the crap. So uh we'll uh we'll try to chop it out of here in the gold just to land it on that top right side of the green and let everyone kind of fall down.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:44

Oh, just didn't hit it. Didn't hit it. Add it to add the line, take the par, but that's disappointing. That was the right read. Good stroke, just a little bit, little bit not hard enough.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:58

I'll blame the green again, the aeration, a little bit of sand on the on the green. I saw it.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:06

Alright, we're number nine, uh last hole for the film today. Um, seven over, not great. Let's try and get a par here, just get out of here. Um got a par three over the water, one of their signature holes. It's beautiful. Uh, it's playing 182. I ranged it dead into the wind, a little uphill, probably playing about 195. I'm gonna try and hit it about 200 yard shot. So I'm gonna hit a five iron. Um, nice and smooth five iron. It's usually my two hundred two oh five club. Um, so let's kind of get into it and uh give it a nice shot. Try to end on a par here.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:30

Hopefully this is a quick up and down. Uh distracting was a the cooking that's going on behind me as well is fantastic, but I realized on the T I double counter for the uphill in the limb. Just again, the the fact of just getting you know distracted by the cameras. I'm blaming me. Blaming me? So we'd be chipping back up the hill. Um I gotta be careful because where Devin's camera's at, it goes straight back down. Oh my god. I gotta get it up the hill so it doesn't come back to me, but I also gotta stop it so it doesn't go down.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:02

I'm gonna kick it out of here if it comes anywhere close to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:04

So we'll go a little higher and stop a little quicker. So if I ain't bumping it as I get the hill, pop it up and circle out, weave our shopping side of five teeth. Trying to blame me. Three feet per par.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:32

Then on a high note, back-to-back par started. Went par par to start, and par par at the end. At least there's something to be hopeful for. Maybe a little bit right center. Alright, dead center. So that's a par, believe 43, 7 over. Not the best round for me, but first round out from the blacks with the cameras rolling. I'll take it. I'll take it. So thanks everybody for coming. Um, we'll catch you up on the next episode, but stay tuned. The fun stuff's about to start. Hope you enjoy it. Devin put a lot of work and effort into it, and thank him for coming out today. Doing the questions, give me the lowdown on everything, and uh, we'll catch up with you later. Thanks, guys.