You Have to Be INSANE to Start a Business

Hans is the founder of F.I.R.E. Fitness Camp, which has grown to 21 locations across Wisconsin. But the road there wasn’t exactly smooth.

In this episode, we talk about what entrepreneurship actually looks like — the failures, the risks, and the mindset it takes to keep going when things don’t work the first time.

We also get into why entrepreneurs often struggle in franchise systems, the biggest mistakes new business owners make, and why starting a business sometimes requires a little bit of insanity.

Put down the shovel, grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and take a break with us. We’re happy you’re here.

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Find out more about F.I.R.E. Fitness Camp: https://www.firefitnesscamp.com

Need a new go-to protein supplement? Check out Han’s Rehab Supplements Lab: https://www.rehabsupps.com

Watch Han’s “The Intensity Podcast”: https://www.youtube.com/@Intensity_Ha...

Curious about all the things Han’s has been a part of? Check it out here: https://www.hanshartleben.com

Follow Han’s on Instagram (@hans_hartleben): https://www.instagram.com/hans_hartleben

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I guess the craft.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Do you have a like a lady like Cami, or do you do all your podcast stuff?

SPEAKER_04 0:05

I have of like five or six ladies. Production people feel in there. You just will never see them or hear from them. And they're that's cool. I keep them really invisible. Where is like literally invisible?

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

It's me, myself, and I. I'm jumping back there.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I put on different hats and I feel late and I feel like Do you see us how we're like, oh that's like wait, where are they?

SPEAKER_04 0:31

Jumping back in. What?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

You are feeling Happy Free.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Okay, hi.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

Hi. I'm Keith.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

I'm Nicole.

SPEAKER_05 1:05

Fisher. And we have a special. So fast I was.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Nicole, can you pull that closer?

SPEAKER_00 1:09

You betcha. You betcha. Yeah. Um, today we have a really special guest.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

And I'm really you gotta amp it up more than that. This is Hans the Hammer. Who's running this show?

SPEAKER_07 1:23

Wait.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Can you guys switch? You gotta step it up here. I drove an hour and 22 minutes. Did you really? Oh, it's beautiful. It was I I would look forward to this, guys. Uh, getting out of the getting, and I don't mean to I'm screwing up your intro. When someone does that to me, I'm super mad. I'm not sure. I'm sure just hang on, I gotta do my intro, and then you can do it be as funny as you want. No, beautiful drive. Look forward to getting out of the town. I mean, I've been following you guys, think everything's just hilarious. That's what grabbed my attention is just the comedy because you don't see that anymore. But the drive was awesome, everybody was in the right lane. It was, you know, when you wanted to pass, you could just go around them safely, like like sensible human beings. Sensible human beings from from Roshalt, Wisconsin to Bonda Well. There was nothing but well, no, I cut over. I'm in Stevens Point. Okay. And then cut over to Roshalt through Roshold, Elderon, all that stuff on to 29th.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Oh, yeah, it is a nice drive.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

It's gonna be a good day. It is, it already has been.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

We are really, I am I mean it that I'm super excited. I'm not looking at this. Hey, you gotta take that. I I follow you, so I know it was just buzzing, so I didn't know if I was calling 911.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

But you know what I mean. It's like in the middle of everybody's it's in the mid-story, and then that's why it comes up off. Thanks for making me feel like that.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

I actually that's what I hate about smartwatches, is it automatically are gonna look. And it's rude because if you're like, let's say you're crying and telling me a really sad story, and I'm like, but really it's a natural reaction when your wrist is buzzing.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

When it doesn't or you think someone's looking at the time, like you're crying, and then how much how much longer is this gonna be? Yeah, you know about seven more minutes of crying, you think? So I feel rude.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So I just did that to you, and I apologize, but I really am excited because I and Keith, we are entrepreneurs, and so when I look at someone like yourself and what you've done, I want to highlight it, and then putting on top of that your amazing personality and you're hilarious and a motivator. And when I knew you and you didn't know me, I was a wallflower in amongst your group of people. You have welfare? I might have been at that time. No, I wasn't. I wasn't. Um, I thought this guy's great, and I'm like, why isn't he doing stand-up? You were doing the red room in your basement.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Red zone, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Red zone. Okay. And you were like, I'm like, this guy's gonna be something like so when I knew you, you owned an amazing bar in Stevens Point. And did you own a car dealership too?

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Yep, yep, used car dealership, okay, and a bar, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Okay, so why don't we just start from the glory years? Yeah, you were hilarious, and so now you own the franchise, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:09

Fire fitness camp, uh co-owner, okay, co-owner with Pael Patel and uh rehab subslablab supplement slab.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Okay, yeah. And how many, how many fire fitnesses are out there right now?

SPEAKER_04 4:21

21 in Wisconsin, yep. Only in Wisconsin. That is amazing. Still perfecting the recipe, you know. It's amazing. It's not something we we should be selling franchises at this point, you know, on an open market basis, but um just scared to death to grow without you know uh foundational, you know, education with our franchises, and we see how fast you can fail in a given moment. So we just really hone in on the grassroots so far, anyways. But eventually we'd like to you know get in Milwaukee and just kind of the Wisconsin thing is is more interesting than scaling throughout the country to me at this point in life, anyways. Just really having a stronghold in Wisconsin. You do want to see all those flaming F stickers on the everywhere, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

And we have a big group that comes in Saturdays mostly Saturdays, but um, there's a culture that comes with your your gyms, which I love and it makes you stay accountable and like showing up community, yep, and like you have to be at the because I was I did fire when I worked in Shano, and if you were a minute late, you were doing burpees, like it sucked. You didn't want to walk in late, yeah. So I feel like there's so many accountability things that you guys have with your gym that makes people stay and keep coming back.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

When the burpees, to be honest with you, they're not a punishment. Um, people get that wrong. It's actually the fit the fastest way to get you up to speed to prevent injury and increase performance for that day when you fall behind and that warm-up's crucial, you know, just getting the blood flowing to the extremities. Um also it's a consequence. It also is a consequence because nobody really likes them. So it worked out pretty well.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

Yeah, it is good. It is good.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

All right, let's we're jumping all over all over the place.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Okay, yeah. I was gonna say, why don't you start, Keith?

SPEAKER_05 6:09

Jeepers.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

I know we are all over the place, but he can keep up. His his he's I think he might be worse.

SPEAKER_05 6:15

We'll see. Hans, we I like to ask people when they when they come on the show. The show?

SPEAKER_07 6:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:22

Uh if can you tell me what your first memory is? Not not a memory like reinforced from a photograph that you're like, you know, like you have those, but your very first memory can be good, bad. What what's your very first memory? What's it called? Oh, period. Period. Yeah. Um makes you think about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Well, and you shouldn't have to really think. If I was at, I was I would think that whatever comes to mind first, like organically is your first memory, but I that's probably not it. I just I remember my mom really young age crying that we had the um the fabric diapers, the cloth diapers, and a ring washer, which people don't know what that is, it's would chew up the diapers, and we were broke. So, and I we I saw those diapers floating down the driveway because that that's where our like um the discharger. Yeah, yeah. I guess that is that what it is. Yeah, it's not exhaust, right? It's yeah, uh, the flow of the water is is exiting the machine and going out. Back then, a lot of people ran into their ditch, like so it's probably on their way to our ditch was kind of our driveway, so I just remember um seeing that. You know, I don't know. That's that's my first memory. I can't find anything before that. How old do you think you were?

SPEAKER_05 7:50

Were they your diaper?

SPEAKER_04 7:51

Three, four, four, yeah, yeah, like maybe. That's a sad.

SPEAKER_05 7:56

Did we feel like some guilt then?

SPEAKER_04 7:59

No, I I don't know what I really felt. I just, oh, this isn't a good day that you know, you know, my mom's crying, and you know, that's I just remember it was just watching the the ripped, the shredded diapers going down the driveway like a river. Because I was kind of playing in it. You know what I mean? Like that's that was my only toy. I mean, was the water of the shredded diapers jumping over?

SPEAKER_05 8:22

I don't know why you wouldn't, you know, you know. I gotta make something of it. So you grew up in Iola, Scandinavia. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

Yeah, watch yourself on that.

SPEAKER_05 8:32

I know, I know the bird from Scandavia. So it's a whole nother it's a whole nother area. I'm well aware.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

My oldest two's dad's from Scandinavia, so we're well aware of that area. It's a beautiful area.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

It's fun telling people you're from Scandinavia, though. And you just treat it. Yes, and you applause. Yep. I said, My name's Hans, I'm from Scandinavia.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

And they're like, Oh, oh, well, welcome. You know, just applause.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Welcome. What brings you to Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_07 9:03

So, anywho.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

Um, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about a little bit of like I don't know what he wants to talk to you about, so I'm just we don't talk, we don't like have anything orchestrated, nothing, no, we had a meeting planned at 11:30 be here, it'll start at noon.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Well, what I wanted to talk to you about, Hans, was we got you have a seat.

SPEAKER_05 9:21

We got no notes, and it's not like we're gonna put you in a hot seat or anything, but I know it's a little difficult probably to talk about your successes and you know what brought you there, because you know, don't feel like you're boasting at all. Like, but we really want to get to know you a little bit. And I think the people do, people do, yeah. Like more behind the scenes of things, not just you know, this the stuff, but like the behind the scenes of it. So growing up in Iowa, you touched, like didn't have a whole lot of money. I saw that in one of the episodes, too. You were pretty money driven. You actually were going to school to be a cop.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Yeah, you were, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Criminal justice. That wasn't any I've ever got in my life.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Tony said the same thing, yeah. Or no, who? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:11

Tony.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Well, maybe the cops are really dumb. Maybe it's just a super easy course. Okay, go on. Sorry. I didn't know that. I could see you as a cop. He would be a good, he'd be a fun, funny cop.

SPEAKER_04 10:24

It was more of uh long-term down the road, you know. Um instead of the police science went for the criminal justice degree for like um FBI stuff like that. Oh, I could see that, but um then even at I'm thinking what why did I because I loved it at 19 and they told you how much money you're gonna make, and that's like it, you know. And I I didn't whether I made that or not, I just wanted to be able to control my own destiny to some extent, even if there's hard we talk about crumbs at the end after you're running your business. At the end of the month, everybody gets paid, and people say, Well, pay yourself first. I don't see how that's possible. Yeah, I don't it's calm, you hear that. Yeah, you know, pay yourself first, you know, you're not gonna have everybody working for you. You pay everybody else and service everybody else first. And at the end, if there are crumbs, those are your crumbs, and sometimes there aren't any crumbs. Hopefully, there's bigger crumbs at the end, and that's really it. And that's just you know, I know it's not for everybody.

SPEAKER_05 11:24

Sometimes your crumbs, yeah, I like that too. And sometimes your crumbs are little seeds, you know, that you're should reinvest.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yep. Oh, that's a good point. Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:33

Um, okay, so and like I don't know you, but I feel like I do a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Such a weird thing, isn't it? When people think they know you're not gonna be around. Oh no, social media will be like a relationship. It does.

SPEAKER_05 11:48

I I don't want to put words in your mouth, but um you did mention like you're money driven. So you wanted to like not have a ceiling on what you earn, but you're not like a money guy. Like it's like you care a lot about your people, um, you invest a lot in your people.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Um more success driven, I guess, than yeah. You call it money, you don't know what to call it necessarily. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 12:14

I would say really like in a weird way, Trixie's that way, uh Nicole. I don't know if people know that I call her Trixie.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Well, everybody that listened to the first couple knows that I'm referred to as a little dog named Trixie. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 12:25

So uh she she wants to know like how much money we make in a day, like like for sales or whatever, but she's not money driven, if that makes sense. Yeah, it's not agreed.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yep, it's not agreed. It's like, okay, we paid this much in staff, you know what I mean? Like, where is it going? And it's kind of like where do I reinvest it?

SPEAKER_05 12:43

Like with clothing and the I'm not money driven at all, but I also want to make sure there's enough, you know. Yeah, how do you keep track? How do we how do we plan for the future?

SPEAKER_04 12:54

We have a conference coming up, and I'm one of the I'm doing the slideshow, it's a four-hour presentation in essence to try to fill that time. But one of the things that getting to with our franchisees is how do you keep track of your wins? Do you want to win? You know, if you don't want to win, I don't know maybe why you're in the room. Right. But how do you keep track? What do you consider winning? So then you start looking at KPIs. Um, you have to look at performance indicators, and revenue is usually one of them.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Right.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

So it's yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

If you're not making money, then you're not winning. I mean, then no one's walking in the door. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 13:31

How many people are you helping? Well, I just like to help people. This is what I always get. I just really like to help people, but you're helping this many people. Right. Where our successful locations are helping this many people, and they're actually um being able to go on a vacation, you know, they're not filthy rich, they just have some, they have more freedom, they sleep better at night, probably. If you're gonna put in the 12 hours a day, anyways, the same as as any as any other store, why wouldn't you want to help more people if you say that's all you want to do is help more people and have more financial freedom? Right. If you're putting in the same amount of work, it's like back when I was selling cars, eight to eight, key to key, we called it. I bet you you were great at that job. I not really. I was okay. I started to enjoy it more when I was a uh sales manager where I desk deals and loaded people's lips on what to tell Ron. You know, Ron wants more for his truck, his trade-in.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

So when they say I'm gonna I need to go talk to my manager, that's a legit thing. What do you what do you say when they come back and talk to you?

SPEAKER_04 14:32

No, I would say Ron, Ron, tell Ron to buy his own truck. Ron, you don't even want your trade in. So a lot of times, you know, I did I was the closer, so I'd go and talk to Ron. And I kind of invented a Ron's mad. Ron's a tough looking guy like this guy, right? You know, camouflage hat, scruff, cigarette hanging. Ron's Ron's a tough, and Ron is seen some Ron's seen some. He said some already, like, I'm leaving. If you can't give me 20 grand for my pickup truck, so then you know the trucks were 14.5 and you come over and talk to Ron, you're like, come on, come on, and they start to smile. Shake them till they smile. But not everybody can do it. Yeah, you do it. You shake them till they smile. They're gonna smile even purely out of just awkwardness. But then you got them. Then you got them. They're yours, Ron. Okay, we're all laughing.

SPEAKER_05 15:32

So you don't want it, you don't even want it. So you like you like the you like the selling portion of selling? Like selling.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

I do. It's fun, it's really fun. Getting through to people, um, communicating effectively, um, to get somebody, you know, to ultimately help help them hit their goal. Their goal was to buy a vehicle or to buy a membership or whatever you're selling. Sales makes the world go round.

SPEAKER_05 15:59

So, do you do you implement that in your personal life as well? Because I will say I'm not a manipulative person at all. But when you realize what some, you know, like how people tick in your partner, like my wife, you know, like what makes her happy or what make, you know, how to harness her energy, whether good or bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

You say you manipulate me? Is that what you're saying in a long way?

SPEAKER_05 16:24

I'm saying I implement some of those strategies in a sense. Example. Example.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I want one.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

Can you give her a list of those strategies?

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Or just that just that one?

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Some of them I do on purpose. Like what? I need to hear this. Not to like not do it. But a great example. And your sister and I talked about this.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:44

Um, so I'm a tricksy.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I'm a hype girl. So like if you're mad, I'm gonna get mad with you.

SPEAKER_05 16:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

And if I'm venting, I don't need you to I don't need you to fix it. I need you to be like, yeah, that that's BS.

SPEAKER_05 16:57

That's the flip side of what I'm programmed to do. I'm programmed to fix the problem. I'll fix it immediately. Don't have to worry about that anymore.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

That's a copy new. So you'll calm the situation, you want to fix it.

SPEAKER_05 17:07

Problem solver. No, this person is it took me a little while, but I figured it out. I'm like, my sister told you. She just I told your sister.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Oh, yeah, yeah. So you guys were in Walmart. It was funny.

SPEAKER_05 17:18

I'm like, you because you were off about something, and she was like upset about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

I'm like yelling, like I'm a yeller. I was like, this is bullshit, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And then him and my sister start kicking at Walmart.

SPEAKER_05 17:30

They're like, Yeah, just you're like, wait, I'm not that mad because yeah, so whatever wherever she's at, you gotta go one step crazier.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So that's why I call Wally my Latina friend, because she's like, Let's cut her. I'm like, whoa, Wally, no, we're not gonna cut anybody.

SPEAKER_05 17:45

So you're crazy. So if she's mad about something, you just get one step madder, and then she's like, it like totally deactivates all.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I feel it's a validation of my feelings when someone aligns with it and they're like, I care.

SPEAKER_05 17:57

But then also she's like looking at me like, Are you being a crazy psycho right now? or or are you are you messing with my mind?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

So what are you asking if he does that?

SPEAKER_04 18:06

Yeah, like do you sell? I remember doing one one of those instances, only one in my life that I remember used perfectly like that. We were selling training, we're giving a presentation to a guy who was looking into personal training, and he looked at it as an investment and he just freaked out. He completely freaked out, like one of these deals, and he was in a corner and he was yelling, and like everybody was like, and then and the the trainer, you know, was just like, I don't know, hey, can you help me? And he's like, This is b. I thought you were just taking my blood pressure today, and like, and then he would he wouldn't stop. So I just said, and the guy's name was Ben. I just saw him at the grocery store. It's been 15 years. Um, I said, Ben, I'm with you. Let's get him. The trainer. You want to kind of he's acting like he wants to fight the trainer. I said, let's get, let's okay, we're gonna do this. Tell you what, you go that way, I'm gonna go that way, you go high, I'll go low. And then he's like, What do you mean? Like, let's do this. Come on. I'm pissed off now, too. Yeah, and well, and I'm not that mad. See, then it diffuses the situation, but you gotta sell it. Yeah, that's there's a lot of selling in that.

SPEAKER_05 19:23

So, and then it kind of became a joke a little bit with her sister and I. And we're like, my sister will still do that.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

I'll be like saying something, she's like, Yeah, she's just stupid glasses. Yeah, like something absurd. Like now I catch on. But it works, so yeah, that's it. That's a selling tool, right?

SPEAKER_05 19:40

Manipulating and not manipulation, it's not that goes from yeah, negative you're you're catering, you're catering to your feelings, like form of therapy, really. Yeah, I mean, it's working so far against all odds. We're somehow still married.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So let's start from the beginning. Um, you said you wanted to you were going to school for criminal justice. Yep. What changed your path? Let's talk about how you got where you are today.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

I was transferring out of the school into a police science just because it was Appleton, it was local, and I was wanted out of where I was at. Um, I couldn't get in. I waited too long. The classes were full, I'd have to take a bunch of garbage just in the meantime for nothing. What year is this? Um, 1995, six, ninety-five.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

And well, my biggest thing is you know, when you talk about the successes, I it is the the successes relied on the failure. I've been in a deep dark hole. So that's really the the easy way for me to to succeed at this point. And you're never out, you're never out of it, you know what I mean? You're you're always in danger. So that's what keeps my gas, my foot on the gas pedal. But I made the big mistake at age 19 when I couldn't get into school. Uh I still talk about it today, is what can I go do to make money? That was my biggest mistake. So anybody in their early 20s, I I talked to them about that. Is the question should have been, what do I love, love to do, and go pursue that? Because when you love to do something, say you love singing. I know I'm not supposed to look at you, but you're no, I do all the time. She's my like executive director, sounding board, Martin Scorsese's back here.

SPEAKER_05 21:30

Is this we got Martin Scorsese on set? Is this Joe Kitton? Okay, all right, all right, it's going to be.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

No, no, no. You get it. You have your team that gives you that same look. Yeah, yeah, me, myself, and I. I got a mirror. Looking at you.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

Okay. Hans likes this joke. My old biggest fan. Well, when you love to do something, you love to sing, you're probably gonna be pretty good at it.

SPEAKER_07 21:58

Right?

SPEAKER_04 21:59

When you love to do Something, what happens when you get excellent at something? People pay you to do it. So people pay you. There's always singing, people are paying you to sing at their wedding or uh some type of private party, you know. Uh same with the violin. You love to play the violin, you're probably gonna be pretty damn good at it at some point. The money is gonna be a byproduct of your passion, your success. And I made the decision of what can I go do to make money? I got in the car business that I eventually tried to escape from. Um, we were talking in the green room, right? We were talking about the bar that I got into the bar business. Um, well, that's like speed up like 12 years or something like that. Trying to escape the car business, got into the bar business. Uh, just thought it fit my personality. It's you know, hustle and bustle, people person, um, like beer, you know, stuff like that. But um what ended up happening was, you know, I didn't know anything about the bar, so I listened to everybody else. I I had the greatest vision for an Irish pub, authentic, cool downtown uh Stevens Point, no theme bars, all just regular buffies and right, just the same. It would have been the only theme bar in Portage County. Small, small space, so prices had to be a little higher, you know, a little more upscale. I wanted nothing but authentic Irish beer, Irish whiskey, Irish music, the copper top bar. I'm getting excited for this. Well, this is no, it was an exciting idea. That's the problem. It was an exciting idea. I was excited, but I didn't know anything about the bar business. So the beer distributors come in, right? Ron, Ron comes in.

SPEAKER_05 23:53

Damn it, Ron. Such a buzzkill.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Oh, he's still mad about that drink. Ron will get you broke. Ron comes in and says, Why what do you want? Do you want uh Bush Light? Uh Milwaukee's best light. You got to have that on tap.

SPEAKER_07 24:07

Oh, yes, brother. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

Good beer, great beer, drink it like water, but I didn't want it. I didn't want to sell Milwaukee's best light on tap for a dollar because they had it right next door in every other place. So I wanted uh I wanted more Guinness type of options, just to you know, paint the picture. Well, you can't do that. Poo-pooing your idea. You're never gonna be able to do that. This is a college town, Hans. You gotta have the oh and then what do I know? What do I know? He's the beer expert. Yeah, yeah, he works at premium brands. Um, okay. Okay, there was the first the first okay was a windfall, right? Um, then it was the jutebox guy, the gaming guy comes in. Well, where where do you want the jutebox? I don't want a jute box. Okay, I told all you people. I want Irish music playing. Can you picture it? Can you picture that? I love it, right? Well you gotta this is a small bar. You're gonna have to get a jute box for those concessions, right? You're gonna need that revenue because we give you X amount of dollars for every every time people play Motley Crew, you're getting a cut of those of that fee, right? You're never gonna make it. Oh, God. Well, I guess you can put it over there. One thing after the next on how you can't do it my way, how it'll never work. Uh bartenders not wanting to wear their Lucky's pub shirt. You know, I'm not asking you to wear a kilt. What asking you to wear a Lucky's pub soft tee. Doesn't really matter. And this is these are the things. With the kilt. Oh, looking back, I still believe the idea. You know, it's a great idea.

SPEAKER_05 26:07

Do you it's not rocket science? Do you think, and I don't want to like slow down any story here. You keep going. You keep going. You've got great energy. Well, it's short. It's short-lived.

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Trust me. It's short. I'll ask questions. Don't wait till the end.

SPEAKER_05 26:19

Don't be patient.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

Patient, man. Bartenders not wanting to nodding to not not wanting to wear, does it matter? This is the I'll never forget. Does it really matter? I say, I uh Kayla, I see you're not wearing your sh your shirt. Well, I it was it was dirty, and it does it really matter. Kind of so, like first excuses, but then does it really matter? Also, you you didn't want to wear it. That's what that's telling me. Hit the excuse, and it was one after the next. Fast forward to one year, I'm in bankruptcy court. Um, one better than that. Me and my daughter were coming home. True story, so help be God, walking up to the house, and I see a note on the door. Somebody put a note on my door. Okay, that's you know, it didn't surprise me that bad, but it was okay. Well, well, it's from the sheriff's department, so that would get your attention. Foreclosure notice on the house. You're behind with your payments at the bank, and we're gonna sell your house. We got to try to liquidate those funds for the bank. That's a standard procedure. Go in the house, downstairs. Um, we had this ongoing root problem where a root would would go through one of the pipes of the sewer line that goes out to the road, it grew through and it would back everything up. These roots would pierce the pipe somehow. So the whole basement's filled with defecation. And I just got a foreclosure notice on my house. And then my daughter's like, Dad, can we go play something? I'm like, Oh god, you know, and I'm just like, How you know, how do we get here? Then I'm fast forward to bankruptcy court.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

This is all the same time, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:04

Same time frame. Ugh. And I'm just like, How did I get here? You know, sitting there going, How did this happen? And I chalked it up to listening to everyone else. I had a vision. Um, no one else was there with me. I was there by myself, uh, lost everything, tried to tried to pay everything personally, didn't even have an LLC then, just paying everything personally. Um, and then when there was nothing left and my credit score is like a 480, then I filed, which is a bad idea for business. If you're gonna file, file. And then you can you know keep your credit. But you know, I didn't want to. It was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. But there I was. So I getting back into fire fitness camp when I had this vision of training people and giving them the most phenomenal workout experience on the planet. There's no one that's gonna stop me from telling, and there's no one, and they do. Does it really matter? I still hear it today. It does matter, and uh, I would I promise myself I would never get in that put myself in that position again. That's that's the main driver. That's a powerful story.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

I'm happy you're here because I didn't even know that little chapter, which makes you even cooler.

SPEAKER_04 29:19

Well, that was the that's the big chapter. That was the big in my life. That's the big chapter, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

That's everything, and a really good lesson you got from it listening to people.

SPEAKER_05 29:28

Hard, yeah, hard. And we we experienced that to an extent, like not like I guess we didn't listen.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

But we didn't listen.

SPEAKER_05 29:37

A lot of people said a coffee shop wouldn't make it here in this town. Like, we're not door county, we heard that a lot. Okay, oh, that's fun. That yeah, like you what do you what are you trying to do here? Like that kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

So, I mean, I think if anyone's listening and they're like wondering about like the naysayers, this is a really good takeaway.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Who were those people, though? Just to jump in on that. Were those people close to you? Were those people who are those people if you had to just brand them?

SPEAKER_00 30:02

So I without saying if they're close or not, I would say they're the most comfortable people that we know that are never risk takers, that are very conservative with every decision they make in life, which there's nothing against that, but I feel like those are the last people don't want to consult, but we consult.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

I bet you every all three of us consult in those people, yeah, right, the most, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:23

I mean, even in his dad and mom were so supportive, but even he said, like after we opened, he goes, I was so scared for you guys failing because it just didn't seem like it would happen. And like, but he has a conservative mindset, you know what I mean? They're not risk stupid. I say stupid risk takers because almost some entrepreneurial They were pretty stupid in the beginning. Yeah, yeah. But I mean like they're great with money, but they're very they're very safe.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

But that would was it fair to say they'd never open a business?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

No.

SPEAKER_04 30:50

Okay, so then you have that different mindset.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

So, like, if you think it back, and I I have so many people in my mind right now, and I have no ill feeling towards them, but they're like, You're not gonna be able to sell a six dollar coffee in Bonda Well. And I'm like, Well, maybe that's not our market. And I would say that a lot. Maybe those maybe that is not my the farmer, and I God bless the farmers, but they're like, You have farmers in this game. I'm like, he's not my market. My market is everyone heading up north. The 30 to 50,000 cars that head up north.

SPEAKER_05 31:18

And you know what? We found out that a lot of the farmers like a coffee.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

They love a black cup of coffee, they're looking for value like anybody else. They are frugal, they are smart, and they're value-driven customers. Right. So give them the value. We have the gorgeous uh brick and mortar store here. Thank you. Awesome service, phenomenal product. They just need to see the value, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Right. People need to see value, period. So I think a good takeaway from what you said is I mean, yeah, you I mean, there's some idiots out there that they should listen to people, but I mean, your example is you shouldn't have listened to anyone because that bar, I want to go to that bar. Yeah, but thank God you didn't, because look at where you are today, right? The failures and stuff. Yeah, but I mean, what your vision was was amazing. And and but I understand all the things you did because yeah, I don't know, we didn't know we didn't know anything about coffee, so we took advice from everybody, like our our food distributors and our coffee guy. You know what I mean? Do this, you need this product, you need this.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

We had somebody come in here saying we needed a jukebox too.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Oh, we did, yeah. I wasn't here that day.

SPEAKER_05 32:20

I I'm like, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Well, we we had a guy that wanted to put TV screens all over for like football games and stuff. I'm like, this isn't a bar. This is we have chalkboards for our menu because we want it old. God, it's slippery slope, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Because you don't want to be mean to people, you just want to, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:36

And you're like, you're kind of like you, you're you're almost nodding your head with them, but you're thinking, no. Yeah, you know, yeah. Well, let me wait on that. Let me talk to my partner. That's about you know, great one. Yeah, we have a meeting, we do a formal weed before we make any decisions. We have a meeting every two first Tuesday of the month. Yep. You know, and then and then they just call you, maybe, or don't you know? They don't.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yeah. So I like that that I don't like that chapter of your life, but I think that's really um gives your story more credibility of like you've been through some shit.

SPEAKER_05 33:09

Yeah, that helps evolve you as a person. You get to grow from that.

SPEAKER_04 33:13

I like your employees to know and or franchisees to know about it, um, because I'm not embarrassed. I am. It hurts every time I say it, it is embarrassing. Um, but I think it's helpful for them to understand. And I actually just wrote it in a Word document, the way why I am the way I am. So when you when I when I listen to your idea and I and I I I don't love it, or we're not gonna implement it, just remember, try try to remember what my past was like. And maybe that will help you get over, you know, so you're not off about us not implementing your your process. It's pretty simple, you know. And I would also say either you get on my bus or I run you over with my bus. So it's a little more aggressive. But you know, if you have to, do I have to say that? But that's what's gonna happen because I'm not going back. I'm not going back.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

It's it's working. What you're doing um is your your fitness center is working. Yeah, what so somebody that doesn't know anything about fire or hasn't been to one of your camps, explain to them what makes you guys better than the next gym.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Well, fire is functional intensive resistance exercise. So, first of all, it's its own science of exercise. 30 minutes professionally coached and motivated sessions. Uh, 30 minutes is a lot different than most of the competition, uh, or if you will, because it's short. Um, you get as you get more picture entertain more of an entertainment theatrical experience. Music, bells ringing. Um, we have more toys, you know, we do we have kegs, uh like beer kegs, um, as far as uh we have more equipment, unorthodox type of things. Um super intense, super fun. And then what we pride ourselves on is the hospitality aspect. Uh we call ourselves the hero of hospitality, uh, and our motivation, marvelous motivation system, which is a trademark now, which is exciting to me. Probably nobody else, but we got the little trademark from the takes about a year to get, but that marvelous motivation is now trademarked, and uh it's something we pride ourselves on is the motivation and the hospitality part where hospitality is kind of becoming extinct all over. Oh gosh, yeah. But it yeah, it has been in fitness for a long time. It's just like they throw throw a clipboard at you, go.

SPEAKER_05 35:51

I feel like I feel like when I think of hospitality and fitness, I think of Richard Simmons. You know, icon.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Yeah, he's great, he was passionate. But yeah, you guys, okay, I you definitely hit the nail with that. Yeah, you guys are okay. Go on.

SPEAKER_04 36:06

And that's that's you know, and it's it's a chore. It's a chore um to keep that hospitality.

SPEAKER_05 36:14

Well, you gotta put work into it, right? Like you gotta nurture it.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

You gotta nurture it. There you go. It's so some people forget, and it is harder work being hospitable, having a bottle of water at the front counter for every VIP. That's what we call our new prospects to come through the door for the first time. They're VIPs.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

You guys still give bananas away at the end?

SPEAKER_04 36:33

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

That's great.

SPEAKER_04 36:35

Yep. Before and after. So that's something that always needs to be stocked.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Fresh bananas, fresh coffee every session, bar none, non-negotiable.

SPEAKER_05 36:45

So um how did it first start? Like what you started your first location. What is she making down there? She's stamping. She's stamping. She's like, she's like a with what?

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Oh, it sounds really loud for us, but she'll know that. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

I have it. I just think we're gonna do it. It was the elephant in the room. Everyone would just, you know, if you're listening to this, we're all looking over the top of the of the balcony, and I had I had to be the one that said something.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

We're usually like Kayla, because she'll be like beating the ice. Yeah, we'll be like, and then she'll listen to some of the packages like, oh my gosh, I'm so loud.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

No, but you do a good job at directional microphones, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:26

Um, yeah, she's so she's like stamping our logo on sleeves for coffee.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

I love it, and then she acts like she's at the post office. Branding, I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 37:36

Yep, I don't know how she if you watch her for even like 10 seconds, you're like, how are you not hitting yourself in the finger? Like slipping. So fast. Like, she's like awesome.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

And branding is so important.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

It it really is. Your um, your F sticker is a great brand.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

Yeah, another thing I got made fun of right away when we started. You said we started, we just had a flaming F. That was it. Well, yeah, you should say fire fitness camp on there because nobody's gonna know what that is. Everybody knows what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Aren't you happy you stopped listening?

SPEAKER_04 38:05

Like, how much confidence what would I had to stop listening or I'd be broke again? I had no choice. You know, the definition of insanity keep you know, doing the same things and expecting different results. I had to change. Um, so yeah, uh the goal was to see a flaming F at every intersection, you know, kind of funny, but Appleton, it's close.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

Sean Green Bay, it's everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Bonda Well, you only have one, so that's right. One with stoplight. Oh, yeah. I took a tour, it's been a while since I've been here.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Yeah, just probably for sports.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

Yeah, baseball. Yep, yep. This whole area.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Iola was always good at baseball, and so was Bondawell.

SPEAKER_05 38:45

They still are Iola's still good, yeah. They always have that's always a good game.

SPEAKER_04 38:51

Well, not my roommate, but I went to college with him. Turned out to be oh yeah, he was a roommate after that. Um, actually. Um God, when was that? Yeah, after he graduated, he was my roommate actually. Bill and John Allman.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Oh, Bill, he's a county cop.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

Yeah, Bill Ullman. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:09

You went to college with him?

SPEAKER_04 39:10

Yeah, I went with John. His twin twin. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Insane. So yeah, we'll have to tell we'll have to tell Bill the two.

SPEAKER_04 39:17

Yeah. We played Bill, those guys would fight each other. I mean, they would be just on the basketball court, going, what the f I mean it was more. I mean, you want to talk about intense human beings then I talked to Bill.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

So if you talk to Bill, it's gonna be comical. Yeah. Because all of a sudden you do the best Bill impression. You'll be like, hey, so something about the game. Yeah, that man, that call that well, see you later. Like all of a sudden, like shortcuts.

SPEAKER_05 39:46

If you can see his mind shift to something else, and I'm like, I'm already I'm you wouldn't say goodbye now.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

He wouldn't stick around too long, like he's he's not gonna overstay his welcome. It's gonna be like say what he has to say, and you could be in mid-sentence and he might be done with the conversation. It's almost like child without being insulting, it's almost childlike. Like, I'm done.

SPEAKER_05 40:05

I feel like done. I feel like I just talk too much, and then he just walks away.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

He's done with you. He has nothing else he wants to hear.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

He's sick of my conversation. All right, gotta go back. I thought John was gonna kick my um one time at at college. I this is when I was my in my pranking prime. There's telephones. It's like unlimited pranks. Are you why wouldn't you dial a telephone and know what it just rings? And somebody has to pick that up and say hello, and then you can say whatever you want. So I called him, he was a good football player, and I would, and I was Coach Smalley Coley of Southern Mississippi State. And then, John, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be very honest with you now, John. We do have our eyes on you. Uh, and I'd go on and on. I'm gonna call you next Tuesday at two. We're gonna resume this comp this conversation. And he started telling everybody. I got Coach Smalley calling me from I don't even know if it's a college, southern Mississippi State. He didn't know. It's just because everyone was getting recruited then. It was a it was just a you'd have to feel it. That was a prime opportunity. And um then it got it escalated. I think we're on our like third phone call, you know, three weeks or so. No way, and no, swear to God, ask him, ask him. And um then I finally recruited him, and I could hear him up there in the dorms. I got skills, I got and he called his mom right away, and I had to shut it down. I had to shut up called his mom right off the bat, and uh, I had to go up there to his room and tell him.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Broke his heart.

SPEAKER_04 41:52

Oh, yeah, he was breaking stuff. It was, and I was waiting for it to be me. Uh, not a guy that I would like to get choked by. Big guy. Big guy. Why he was like per he had this body on this guy after he graduated when we were roommates, he was perfect. He lived a perfect life. Like he had seven shirts, toothpaste. This is how I wanted. I got everywhere. Shoes are I can't, it's but he has everything perfect, and on Sundays he meal prepped. This is then this is 2000. Um, before it was a thing, he's meal prepping chili, more burger, you know, protein, a little bit of Ragu, nothing else. And then he would stretch. He would stretch and do abs on our living room floor every frickin' Sunday. We're hungover. He's stretching. He was a perfect human being.

SPEAKER_05 42:52

Um did it did you feel like you had to mess with him because of that? Because it's like it's a little too perfect. We gotta screw it up a little.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

Of course.

SPEAKER_05 43:01

Yeah, I feel like you do that. I do that, I do things like things are looking too good. We gotta we gotta mess it up.

SPEAKER_04 43:07

Absolutely, yeah. That's trait, personality trait.

SPEAKER_05 43:10

Yeah, just kind of like Journey with her cutting the girl's hair.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Oh, yeah, yeah. Her vindictive daughter. Um, that's amazing. Um, so was Bill you didn't know Bill as much? No, but probably very similar.

SPEAKER_04 43:29

But not on a personal basis like John.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

That's really funny.

SPEAKER_04 43:34

And each one would tell you they're a better athlete. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I think Ryan. Identical twins.

SPEAKER_05 43:39

They are so Bill's scoring basketball scoring record just got broken here last week. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 43:47

Yeah, for the first time. Who broke that? He had the scoring record.

SPEAKER_05 43:50

Yeah, he did in basketball for boys. The all-time leading scorer was a was a was a gal of for the girls' basketball team. Um, but that just got broke too. By Ryan Westrich, if you've seen his name right. He's a beast. Yeah, he's a beast. Four sport athlete recruited by a D1 school. Four sport, which is the fourth golf. Okay. Track. Played basketball and football. Got recruited for football. Okay. But from where? Or by who?

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Yeah, who recruited him?

SPEAKER_05 44:21

Western Michigan. Okay. Good for him. He's another gentle giant. Like great kid. Um sportsmanship. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Like he's a great kid. That would get him a long way. Very good. And like you, I like listen, I was at very well spoken. Yeah, Coleman football game. And they were even saying that on the radio about him. And I was sitting in the car because we had little kids at the time and it was like raining. So I was listening to it in the van and like just hearing the announcers what they were saying about him. I'm like, what an honor. That was your kid.

SPEAKER_07 44:48

They're like, here comes the train.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Here comes the train. Because he's like, they're like, he's a beast, but he's so kind and helps kids up that after he knocks them down, like, and he's the same way in the basketball court.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

Like cleans up the bus as he walks out. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Picks up garbage from stands and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

Like he's just that's a good example all the way around.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

His dad's the varsity football coach, his mom's a teacher. So just great upbringing. His sister works for us. They're a good family.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

The school resource officer that just started here in Bondwell. Uh he didn't know him. And I think it was before school started. He was at the school and you know, just getting to know people and sees Ryan and he's like, Do you do you work here or do you go to school here? Like, couldn't quite tell because he's just this huge dude.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

And he's cleaning stuff up.

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Probably, and just the way he talks, he's very, very mature.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

Yeah, it comes across real quick. A couple seconds you can give somebody the impression that yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

And uh, he's like, I go to school here. He's like, Okay, we we good, bro?

SPEAKER_04 45:49

Like, not in your am I on your list?

SPEAKER_05 45:54

No, the SRO was saying this to Ryan, like, hey, we good, bro. You got my you got my back? Yeah, I got you. Like, you got my back if stuff goes bad. Wow, yeah, pretty cool. Yeah, so you're overful.

SPEAKER_00 46:06

You have oh, go ahead. You go. Go.

SPEAKER_05 46:08

You go. No, ladies first.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Because I'm gonna go off topic, so you say what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_05 46:14

I was trying to get back.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Okay, go.

SPEAKER_05 46:17

Uh, so what what year did you start the first fire fitness?

SPEAKER_04 46:21

2014.

SPEAKER_05 46:22

Okay, and what year did the bar close?

SPEAKER_04 46:26

Um 2005.

SPEAKER_05 46:29

Okay. Where was the first one?

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Uh Plover. Plover, Wisconsin. Plover, okay. Yeah. I had to borrow, I remember 900 bucks. I was still short into one of these high interest subprime loans. Yeah, I kept the paperwork.

SPEAKER_05 46:45

Makes it impossible almost to start a business.

SPEAKER_04 46:48

Oh, yeah. I mean, it was yeah, you're scrapping.

SPEAKER_05 46:51

When you're when you're when you need money, you need some capital.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

Yeah, and I I had worked for I did pretty well. I was working for uh another fitness franchise, um, oversaw some different stores uh with personal training, and that was fun. That was really fun. I just was so into helping people at that point.

SPEAKER_05 47:10

So it was just were you able to learn like the business part of it a little bit?

SPEAKER_04 47:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the revenue part, and I already I already had some of the business knowledge with owning the car dealership and the bar. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_05 47:24

With you know, like with the state legality stuff, like the obligations, yeah. Stuff that you gotta do.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

Yeah, now they have a nice portal, all one one stop shop, they call it the state. Yeah, you go on there and just everything. The Department of Workforce Development, UI, everything's on there. Because that's it was always like, What next? What license do I need next? You know, you get another letter. What am I missing now?

SPEAKER_03 47:48

Yeah, pay you guys non-stop.

SPEAKER_05 47:51

Seems like all I do is fill out forms.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Seems like the government always makes money, and they're taxing menu on everything, and and forms and audits. Yeah, who wants to look at those forms?

SPEAKER_04 48:01

Well, the audits I'm talking, no, not my strong suit, but also with that failing, I have a death grip on the books. So that's something that changed too. I always put the books in somebody else's hands. They don't care about when you when you're um categorizing your expenses, they don't care when it just says Amazon, okay, supplies, you know, versus what was it? You know, what's happening? Um, and doing all the insurance audits and all that myself and just probably too much. I'm guilty probably of um doing not not doing my, you know, using my skill set as much as I should be. I shouldn't be doing books maybe all Monday, you know, legal bookkeeping office stuff.

SPEAKER_05 48:51

So in the beginning, were you like, did did you do all the coaching?

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Uh me and me and another guy went in.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

So you must trust your partner to go into business. How what does that look like? Because obviously we're married, so we trust each other, but like going into a to an extent, like a going to be a big thing.

SPEAKER_04 49:10

Oh, you gotta have that trust. Yeah, she wasn't my partner immediately, she just was there helping. Okay, and then she learned it, and then I then she started taking clients, and then um her family has been in business for many years.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Your lady friend, yeah. I'm talking about your business partner, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:28

She is my business partner. Oh, she is, she's a co-owner of Fire Fitness Camp.

SPEAKER_05 49:32

I did not know that, and uh, but not originally, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:36

Oh, originally, oh right, real close to oh, I did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

Okay, awesome.

SPEAKER_04 49:41

Yeah, right. There was their day one first fire fitness camp.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Awesome, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

So um, she's got business in her blood. Um parents own 50 hotels.

SPEAKER_00 49:54

Oh, nice, okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

Uh family, you know, just she's grew she grew up working, you know, Indian heritage, you know. Um she doesn't mind me using my little skit that you know, like because I'm I'm exp introducing her to some of the franchisee partners, and she grew up in franchising, you know. So, you know, Saturday morning, like other kids, Saturday morning. What do kids do? They're eating cereal, right? Watching cartoons. She tried that once.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

And her dad came in and goes, What the f are you doing? You have to go to work and go painting.

SPEAKER_05 50:36

Go painting. Painting.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

This is a true story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:40

Oh no, it's just it paints the picture, but they don't they don't sit and watch cartoons and eat cereal, they go to work, right? So that's what she so it does paint the picture that she's been working inside business. So funny.

SPEAKER_05 50:52

Yeah, it is funny that you mentioned that because Nox, who's eight years old, or are one of our wants wants to come here and work on a Saturday. Like, like he begs to.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

Yeah, he's working this Saturday. He's like, Am I on the schedule? Am I on the schedule?

SPEAKER_04 51:06

I'm like, Hey, am I in the schedule?

SPEAKER_00 51:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 51:09

And then he just talks trash with all the all the employees.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

And then he was thrown at me under the bus. Our manager that was working Saturday. She's like, So Nox told everybody in the kitchen. My mom slapped Journey in the face one time in the kitchen because she was mouthy. She, my daughter, she like mouthed off to me, and I like slapped her and she was cooking. I'm like, now go bring that food out.

SPEAKER_05 51:28

And she's like, Told everybody.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Nox threw me. So she's like, Nox is like, yeah, you don't, you just you don't talk back. You don't talk back. And they're like, He's managing in a third party.

SPEAKER_05 51:40

I I we had a manager here on duty uh that Saturday, and I'm like, you better be careful.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

He's already probably because Keith dropped him off on the way. He had to run to Menards, and Nox is like, I'm gonna go help with dishes at the mill.

SPEAKER_05 51:52

And Keith's begged to work, and I'm like, all right, I'll drop you off on the way, I'll pick you up on the way back.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

I didn't know you didn't tell the manager.

SPEAKER_05 51:58

Why would I?

SPEAKER_00 51:59

Nox just goes in and starts dishes.

SPEAKER_05 52:01

He's like 87. Yeah, he's he's old, but he's old. Old soul, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:06

Yeah, responsibility is just it's he's just that's we is you can see him thinking all the time. All the time. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 52:12

So he's got classes, so he's always yeah. So then you're interested in business, like business, business, like the he'll audit he'll audit you, probably.

SPEAKER_04 52:20

Our old our oldest is more in the deep side. So you books and I mean accounting, maybe CPA is maybe.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Yeah, it's it's interesting to see. Oh, the kids go. So we have five, and they're all so dip. I mean, obviously, we have young ones, so it's hard to tell, but they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_05 52:40

Journey's your oldest? Our second oldest.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Okay, our oldest is Sawyer. He's in college and he has business, he's going for uh finance, but he's military too, so he's like fantastic, yeah. Um thanks to him. Yeah, he um he wants to take over, like he really likes this. And cubby probably to Colin Cubby, but anyways, let's talk about you. Let's talk about you.

SPEAKER_04 53:01

I was gonna I had a bright idea to come in here and I don't take that many chances anymore. I was gonna just turn this into my podcast and interview you guys because it's so much more interesting.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

No, you are we're sick of hearing about ourselves. Yeah, we already did the first couple where like was our story, but I would dig deeper. I love I love you probably could you would have that potential to do that, but don't you think it's so much more fun when you have somebody else with you?

SPEAKER_04 53:25

Like, especially when your energy clicks, like this is fun, just goes and and it's more successful, people enjoy it more. Nobody people don't want to watch me just scream at the camera. I know everybody how stupid they are. It's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_00 53:36

I think it's great. I think it's just a release, I it aligns with your business because you're a motor, you your business in health is to motivate.

SPEAKER_04 53:46

If I can get the point across to some people, do you work out at all?

SPEAKER_00 53:51

It's a joke. Clearly, you lift.

SPEAKER_04 53:53

Not as much as I should. No, but you do a serious question.

SPEAKER_00 53:55

It's a joke because you're you're very like fit.

SPEAKER_04 53:58

So I can hold my breath and suck in for an hour and 20 minutes. No, but if we if this show goes more than that, so you're I was gonna be like, Do you lift?

SPEAKER_00 54:08

That was gonna be my joke because like you're jacked. So um, but your job is to motivate. So I think your podcast of you like yelling at people, it's aligns perfectly.

SPEAKER_05 54:17

Do you feel good when you're done? Do you feel almost like therapeutic after?

SPEAKER_04 54:22

That's that's the real reason. And I needed an outlet, yeah. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_05 54:26

I really feel good about it afterwards. I thought about that because Kami and I have talked, and we have talked about that a little bit. Like it almost like and I'm not yelling, but like you're not really a yeller, though. It's not your thing, it's an outlet, like you said, and it's I mean, I've never gone to therapy, but I imagine it's probably about the same, you know. Like you feel like you're hearing yourself, yeah. You're digging deep, you're hearing yourself speak.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Your Walgreens one about getting the Walgreens. It's absurd. Well, that's why when you said it's not just Walgreens.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

Everybody was on the right in the right lane on the way here. That's what it reminded me of.

SPEAKER_03 55:03

Life can be get up there, get up.

SPEAKER_04 55:07

Do you do you have do you know where I'm at with this? Absolutely. And I don't know who's in line.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

Like, yeah, well, pick a so he go ahead and tell your little bit.

SPEAKER_04 55:17

Oh, it's just uh everyone knows it. We're just all experiencing it. I just don't hear people talking about it. Is I mean, you're you're 30 feet away from the checkout counter, and there's two or three people, and they're so staggered, they're staggered by 10 feet, and they're looking around though. And you gotta ask everybody this day and age. Are you are you in line? Excuse me. I are you in line? Yeah, yeah, I'm in line. Well, look forward. Look, get help me. You know, why make this a guessing game for everybody though? Get up there. I feel like everybody but dial in on the dial in. So if if there's a if one person steps out of line, right, they don't have to tap you on the shoulder like at the car wash. I don't care if you're not, you gotta keep moving up in the car wash behind someone. You can't, uh yeah, being on your phone is wonderful. Just you know, once in a while, too. But the worst one in the world is at a red light.

SPEAKER_00 56:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:18

And somebody's finishing up an email. You know, that was two paragraphs long. Yeah, and it's a green light. If you're the first one at a red light, you have a fiduciary responsibility. You're in a leadership role. Yeah, you have to go.

SPEAKER_05 56:38

It's implied, yeah. Yeah, you gotta pay attention. Yeah. Pay attention. Do you think that people? I'm just trying to dissect this a little bit now. Do you think that people are just trying to give each other a little more space at Walgreens because they're automatically thinking, like, yeah, they might be sick. I don't want that.

SPEAKER_04 56:55

I gotta give them a little bit of a space.

SPEAKER_05 56:56

We gotta give them a little space.

SPEAKER_04 56:57

But that's Walgreens' excuse, but yeah. What about the hardware store? Are they all sick? You don't go buy nuts and bolts, you know.

SPEAKER_05 57:07

I'm with you. I'm with you. I totally agree.

SPEAKER_04 57:09

That it's just this thing, this COVID's got everybody screwed up. So what do you but now it's even farther?

SPEAKER_05 57:17

The six-foot rule turned into 12 and a half feet and and offline. Like it's gotta be a line.

SPEAKER_04 57:24

And everyone's a space cadet and they're on their phone.

SPEAKER_05 57:28

Lost.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

We gotta move.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

Do you ever turn people away that want to open up a fire? Have you ever said no?

SPEAKER_04 57:33

Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Just recently to how does that look?

SPEAKER_05 57:37

How does that work when, like, let's say Trixie shows up, she's like, hey, I got an idea. I want to open up a fire and see.

SPEAKER_04 57:45

Well, there's your first problem, is because we don't we're not looking for ideas. You know what I'm saying? We have an idea. So to be a franchisee, and I'm just saying, right? Um, so to become a franchisee, you don't do it your own, we rub your own funk on it, we say, but you we have a proven process and we are accepting your application based on trust that you'll follow the process. Because if we we can't, we if we you know, going back to the bars, if everyone's doing their own thing, the the easiest way for a franchise to fail, if you put this in chat GPT, is to lose the consistency within the brand. That's that's the easiest, fastest way to fail. So we're not looking for someone with a lot of ideas, and entrepreneur-minded folks generally don't make for good franchisees. I can see that because they do have and that's fine. It's usually um we're looking for the A students. Okay. Um, entrepreneurs have been known to be B D sometimes, maybe minus throw a D, throw a D in there.

SPEAKER_05 58:50

Um maybe a couple, couple D's, couple Fs, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Maybe on a bad day.

SPEAKER_04 58:55

Well, that that is, you know, that's those are statistics, and but they make for great franchisees.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Yeah, I can see that. Rule followers.

SPEAKER_05 59:04

So you're you're you're John Ollman's of the world, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:07

Straight laced.

SPEAKER_05 59:08

Yeah, like just following. You're prepping on Sunday doing doing stretching.

SPEAKER_00 59:11

Tell me what to do and I'll do it. Yep. I can see so. You're behind a brand.

SPEAKER_05 59:15

So so really though, like what does a process look like for applying for uh to be a franchisee?

SPEAKER_04 59:22

Uh a lot of well, credit score. You have to establish financial responsibility because it's not just us, it's the vendors. You're burning bridges with vendors, you're burning bridges for the whole brand. Uh, financial responsibility is very important. Um liquid, liquid um cash to some extent, disposable income and net worth. Um, you know, because there's a$300,000 build out,$250 to$300,000. A lot of times the the business, the building owner will cover some of that and build it into your rent. That's nice. But you got to have some, you have to, the number one reason people fail in business is short on capital. They had a good idea. They had just they got too short on capital, they got behind a couple months, they didn't have six months of capital. Um, but this is uh I'm starting to use the dialogue that makes the most sense for me is it's a marriage, it's a five-year marriage agreement. We have to love each other. Like we just recently had an applicant who didn't want to, everything was pulling teeth. The application, he was too cool, he was too busy, um, he was never around. That's not gonna work for me. Questioning, questioning, questioning. And then it boiled down to it, and um, they were dragging their feet. And I we give soft approvals, you know, you kind of check the boxes, but I was like, this doesn't feel right. I don't want to get I don't want to marry this guy for five years, you know. I mean, it's a legal contract, you know, it's not fun, and he shouldn't want to marry me. And I asked him, you know, why do you what do you love about me or or Pael or the brand? Tell me why you love fire and want to invest in it. And he couldn't do it. So I pulled the plug. Um, and I was I'm very happy about that. Um, and I had to tell him, I don't love you. I I don't, I actually don't like you, I hate you. I know I don't I hate this kind of, you know, I don't what I know of you, I don't know you that well, but what I do, I hate.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:29

Yep. That's comparable to what we say, like with our staff. Like you, we aren't making the coffee here every day, right? You are the face of our business. And whatever you are, like how you're talking to our customers, like you are the mill. They're not always gonna see Keith and I. So we are big on like customer service, greeting people when they walk in the door. Um, and it's all about I can only imagine, so we're more hands-on because this is our only place, right? But as a franchise, that'd be terrifying to not knowing who is representing your business. So I totally get that. You're gonna have to love them.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:04

I could actually, I mean, I know how it goes, though, but I could tell by your guys' social media. That's what my biggest interest was was with coming on the show, is just you have running a successful business with people that care. You gotta be a lot of your people are in the videos. Yeah, that's buy-in. So that's one of our we have uh recently put together a success success mapping sequence with if you're saying you're failing, I don't want to start shooting darts in the dark and guessing. I want you to fill out this uh, it's an AI-based mapping, result uh success mapping. And one of them is how bought how bought in are your employees? If they're if they're not bought in, we have to look at these things, you know. And um, then how are your clients gonna be bought in? How are your customers gonna be bought in? I think obviously it starts with you guys, of course. Um, it trickles down and everybody seems to be bought in. You know, I was supposed to either go on Joe Rogan or the you know, uh beans and banter. I know, and it was tough.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:08

It was tough. Well, coin flip, probably, end of the day. You're like, all right Joe's a good guy. This will be more fun. This is gonna be more fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:15

And it has been. And you're gonna get a blast. I gave you a t-shirt, and you did give me a t-shirt. Um, even gonna give me a crew neck. There's some perks. You better not say that. There's some perks. You don't want to let that out.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:27

People, yeah, crew neck. That's a little bit of an up charge.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:31

Past uh past guests will be pissed off.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:34

We'll be like, wait a minute. She was like, here's here are these lovely crew necks when we just got in. And here's the and then she kept showing me the t-shirts, like more. No, but this is the one. Was I really doing that? Was I really doing that? Bragged about the color of the t-shirt.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:48

Did I really do that?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:49

The red? What was that?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:50

Oh, it was because it was the only size of yours. I'm like, this is a good brick.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:53

This is yeah, this you said this is this is really this has been a really good seller. This one is I'm like pulling the crew neck off the rack.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:02

This is a lie.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:03

This is a lie. This one is a really good seller.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:06

He asked for, he's like, I like it oversized. I like it. Like, give me an XL. And I couldn't find an XL. So then he picked out a different color and I didn't have XL, and that's all you are correct on the the brick red. I'm like, this is a nice brick red. Okay, I'll take it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:19

Yeah, because it was only I'm gonna take it and I'm not gonna push it back.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:23

But he said he didn't want a crew neck. He's like, I'm more of a t-shirt guy, so I would have gave uh you're worth a crew neck, but you settled.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:30

He says that now, but when I wanted one, I it's not true.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

No, no, it's not true. It's a lie.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:35

Well, it's a joke.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:36

I know, it's funny.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

Well, you said it's a lie. I that's a little extreme.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:40

I mean, breaking I've heard I've heard worse lies.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:45

Um, what is the best? So you're a healthy guy, and what is the best advice you can give parents with children? You have a child, right? Yeah, how many kids do you have one? One a daughter. How old is she? 27. Holy buckets, wow. What is she like? Or do you want to talk about her? Cash. I saw a video, he's cute, and you were making him laugh. He's a yeah, he's a funny. What is it like being a grandpa?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:09

It's it seems a little weird, I guess. Is this early in the game? Six, he's almost seven months, but um, it's more enjoyable. Like people, people say they don't, they're right. It's there's a different value to it, like more fun. Yeah, more fun. And your daughter, amazing. She's having a blast. Awesome. I mean, gosh, I've never I've never seen her this happy. That's awesome. You know, everything's great. Um, yeah, she's really happy. She's really happy with this, the happiest I've ever seen her in my life. Bar none, but I think she's got to be one of the happiest parents I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:42

That's awesome. But he's been good. He's been good. He, you know, kid doesn't cry, kid's laughing.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:48

What nature does, and then and then it's like tricks you and then like have another one. It tricks you. And then that that one sucks real bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:56

Another one, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:58

And then and then it gets good, and then you Forget about how much it sucked so bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:01

And then they're like, I have another one. You do forget.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:05

You do have a smother agreement.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:06

That's by design. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

Do you have any like I don't really know what you are as a parent, but you seem like you would you're a good parent. Do you have any good parenting advice?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:15

Just not being their buddy, you know, but you say that all the time. Um, but my daughter, you know, calls me almost every day, tells me the truth, tells me everything going on in her life, always has, even when time, you know, things weren't this happened or that happened. But because you can't just ask for honesty and then stab them in the back with it.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:39

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:39

You're not gonna tell it's not rocket science, they're not gonna keep being honest with you if they get slapped every time.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:46

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:47

Just had a real and stepping up, I I think the biggest thing is being good to your word as a parent. Kids lose trust so fast. Tell them you're gonna do this, tell them you're gonna take them to the park, and you don't. Like, I think that I think that adds up in a kid's mind that on that non-trustable side, and they're gonna use that like to them, that's huge. That was like 80% of their day or you know, importance, and you pulled it from them, and you get a couple of those, three, four, and then it's just like rebellion comes out. Um, just being good to your word, no matter what it takes. This would be my biggest advice as a parent. But as far as the health goes, just showing them value, being a good example, first of all.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:37

I do like that at least your fitness center in um Sean, they have like a lot of kid days.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:43

They are doing they that is amazing, unbelievable. Sean, the location has done with kids, and that is something we're missing in general. We all know that.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:53

Yes, yep.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:54

Kids aren't even going out for reset. Well, it's been so freaking cold this winter, too. They're not going outside, but you know, even middle school and stuff, nobody's playing. Yep, they're not running around being boys need to be boys, they need to tackle each other. We agree, right? They need to wrestle, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:10

Yep, you know what Knox said to me before bad. You're gonna laugh at this, but I think it's valuable. He's like, I just read him three chapters of R.L. Stein. Scary move, scary book, a little bit, not bad, but they false. They're falling. No one's judging. Um talking to men. This is our routine. But he's like, I like I like it when people say, go outside and put your feet in the grass. I'm like, okay. Like, where did that come from? And he's like, Well, that's what you know, that's what adults say to kids when they're playing video games or watching TV too much. And I'm like, Yeah, I could see that. But I'm like, where did you come from? Yeah, where'd that kid from?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:52

Yeah, I don't know. That stuck with him. Well, he's smart enough to know, like, hey, that's that's a thing. I like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:57

And then it's true. This morning he told me that he was up, he couldn't fall asleep last night.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:02

Probably like everything going on in the world, they're always like go out and touch grass, like get grounded.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:08

Oh, yeah. Well, the the negative ions, huge. I got a grounding mat. You do how tell me about that free when it comes to this type of homeopathic stuff. Tell me about that. Well, you know, we're around positive ions on everything, yeah, electric electricity, you know, electric, you know, um positive ions with technology stuff is through flowing through the air, and we we're not grounding, we're not walking barefoot on the grass. We're we're we're imbalanced. So I don't know. The science is there. I don't do I feel like day and night, no, but I I try to ground. You could use like cotton socks, but just it's a mat under my desk, and I try to ground for 20, 30 minutes. Do you ground your bed? No, I haven't got the sheets, but don't tempt me.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:56

Do you have linen sheets? That is like a game changer we have.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:01

I try to be asking any dude that do you have linen sheets? And the only reason I lost me.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:07

One of my friends is like mess, like I made a Facebook post and she's like, Aren't all sheets linen? I'm like, they're called linens, like the linen closet you're thinking.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:16

Was it really linen?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:17

But we I was I was influenced, and I'm like, okay, we're about to influence you. No, and I was like, all this stuff about linen. I'm looking into it, and they're like, it's organic, it's like a natural fabric, and like your your the energy, whatever. I don't know the science behind it.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:33

There's something up with it. But you said your back feels better. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:37

Yep, you sleep better on it, it's like a different everyone's like, it's so wrinkly. And then a holistic friend of mine is like, well, because of the stuff that's anti-wrinkle is chemical basically. Okay, sure. So you're there's no chemicals, and like back in the day, hospitals all had linen sheets because excuse me for healing measures and bacteria cannot grow on linen. So they took it out of the hospitals because I mean, I mean, if you really want to get deep, like you can't make money off healthy people. Or is it because it was pricey, is what they said. They said linens were pricey, just like people used to drink out of copper cups.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:10

Well, this old old-fashioned stuff, though they used to have sun decks at hospitals, yes, you know, to go get some vitamin D. Vitamin D? They just knew how they felt. You're not just looking in on social media or books for answers. Is yeah, I feel good with the sun shining on my face for 15 minutes. Why? Because we're prescribed 15 minutes of direct sunlight per day to get the natural amount of vitamin D that's that our body needs um without you know, vitamin supplement supplementation, of course, but we don't get 15 minutes here.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:41

No, it's cloudy all the time, too, in the winter. It's tough. I I was just telling our oldest that I'm like, go out and walk a dog because it was so cold. And I'm like, I know it sucks, but when you're like in a rut, it feels like the best thing to do is to go outside. And then we have dogs. So I'm like, Yeah, walk a dog. Like you're gonna feel better.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:58

I've I had an episode on rut busting.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:01

The rut is the real thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:02

Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:03

Well, you don't know you're in a rut, that's the biggest thing. It's uh it's one of these, it's a miniature depression, depressive state. You get in a rut and you don't even realize you're in a and you could be at the bottom of a rut, which is the worst, not the top, the right bottom. And uh you need a rut buster, you need to bust out of it. You know, everything slowly slips because there's nothing to look, it usually has something nothing to look forward to that's get making you jump out of bed. And the winter, obviously, I get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:34

So after the holiday, it's the worst because like it's like up, up, up, Christmas, Christmas, you know, New Year's, and then all of a sudden it's like, and then the weather always sucks after Christmas. It seems like so. I feel like it's a typical time, especially in the Midwest, to get in that rut. But there is something to be said too, and I know you obviously know this with what you do, but if I'm in a rut working out, I feel 100 times better than any type of antidepressant I've ever been on. Endorphins are it's it's no joke. Like, and I and it's like you know that's what you need, but it's so hard to get there to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:07

So I feel like that's why you even if you don't, even if you had a floor to do burpees, that's hard. It is it's hard to get just your body moving into that way. You feel better. Oh, you've it's it's a no-brainer and it works every time.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:20

My friend Jill, she's very um holistic and she'll be on, and she's she's an NP, and she got out of like family practice medicine because she's like, it's a dead end, it's a dead end.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:31

Everybody gets out where we can everybody is getting out, it seems like. Yes, they don't like the politics and they don't like the jamming uh you're right prescriptions. Yeah, everything is a prescription and narcotic or whatever, but but everyone seems like they're leaving. I hear these stories and they're going, We're gonna need somebody to work in hospitals.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:51

Yeah, they're all I didn't think of that because you I feel like a lot of people we know are leaving that type of medicine and they're going more holistically different perspective for well preventative health care.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:00

I you know if someone has stopped the bleeding, they're great at it. You know what I mean? Like emergency situations, um, surgery, surgical procedures, but we definitely need more preventative health care, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:17

But you don't make money on preventative health care.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:20

Oh, uh now, you know, you look at GOP1s and you look at, you know, that's just a that's there's a big spectrum of preventative, but people are paying for that. So that could be looked at as definitely a preventative. If you're type two diabetic, which is actually fake diabetes, you know, that's not real diabetes. You can't you can cure it, it's not diabetes. Diet type one insulin dependency is diabetic, but now they're calling it pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetic, you're before your type two. Well, that's way fake. You know what I mean? That's way it's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:59

It's it's like, yeah, but I mean the GOP ones are you know for that's considered preventative, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:06

And that is a moneymaker, thousands blood sugar, glucose levels drop. They need their glucose levels are out of control.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:14

Are they seeing a lot of positive stuff from that?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:17

I think so on that on those levels, but then it gets into everybody's hands, and they're seeing that you know, oh my gosh, you can lose weight with that. Um, and it's the we haven't seen the other end of where the chronic usage of that, because you're supposed to be off of you're supposed to cycle that stuff eight weeks on or whatever, eight weeks off. Um, but there's more peptides like GLP ones that are surfacing um that are for anti-inflammatory stuff like that. I think you're gonna see a lot.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:48

Oh, yeah, I already do that and addiction too, right? Doesn't it help with did I read that?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:54

The GPL ones. Oh, does it help with help with alcohol cravings?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:58

Alcohol for sure, because um one thing is when you drink alcohol, your blood sugar rises, right? To help you metabolize processed alcohol. If you don't have that, you're like I don't know if you had you drink alcohol on a GLP1 most of the time, depending on whether it's terzepatide or semi-glutide, the different types, but you're like up one drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:26

Really? Interesting. Let's talk about your product that's sitting out here ironically on the table. Who said that there? Cami, girl. No, but for real, let's talk about something. What well goes into something like this. Like people look at packaging, and I I didn't do what you did, but we just got our coffee, like we branded um coffee bakes and stuff. I worked with a graphic design. It's fine. A ton of work goes into things like that, and money, and um, a lot of people, a lot of hands on deck to make things like that happen.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:58

Design is huge.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:59

You don't think of it when you grab something off a shelf, like what all goes into packaging.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:02

Or even to use the right logo, like you know, the formatting logo formatting. Okay, let's talk about your product and the this is rehab subslab supplements lab. Uh, it's something we started a couple years ago. And uh straight out of whisco. Again, we're targeting the Wisconsin folks. I love that. It seems to be more fun for us. Uh unlocking human potential. And uh, this is a clear protein. This is our newest, our newest product, margarita snow cone clear protein. Uh more refresh. So I've taken protein shakes so many years in my life. I can't touch another chocolate protein shake. Like it's disgusting. Really chalky and oh, it's just I I just overdid it. So um we were actually one of the first big uh amongst the big companies to have a clear protein product. This isn't our first one. We've had we've had clear out for over a year, but it's just more refreshing. It's a way to get your protein on a more refreshing, juice-like presentation, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:08

No, it does. So I've tried clear protein before, and so I'm excited to try that. And I do like that because you're right, it's not as like it doesn't seem as heavy and as filling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:17

More like more like juice. So yeah, this the flavor is phenomenal. Um 20 uh 26 grams of protein per scoop, and then we have the whole amino acid profile, which is uh we went all the way in quality with this, and um, but yeah, it's it's it's tough to get going. Uh right now we're basically just wholesaling mostly to our franchisees. Um, so they have a little margin there. Clients like it. Uh we're not we're not spending a lot of time on it someday.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:46

Are you gonna sell online at all? Like if someone would want to order it, like if we be able to link something in. So if someone wanted to order, oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:53

Straight up ordering our uh fulfillment centers out of Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:58

It's already ready to go. You'll have it in three days.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:00

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:00

Yep. Yeah, we've been there, done that. We shipped everything to them. We started started off by shipping stuff ourselves. I always thought that'd be fun. Grabbing stuff off the shelf, you know, your garages like just stacked full of stuff. Oh, yeah. Basically, I got to buy a pallet jack. That was really manly thing. You know, I go to I go to my partner, I go, yeah, a lot of pallets. Yeah, I'd probably need to buy a pallet jack. Um, I had one within you know 30 minutes. And then we decided to ship everything to Kentucky and have them, you know, they're it's a 3PL third-party fulfillment center. They take the orders through Shopify, bam, they're out versus us hiring people at the you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

It's just yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:50

They're like our employee now because we don't have a lot of time to dedicate this to this, um, in particular.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:56

But it's smart, it's a smart move.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:57

We'll see. And you just launched this when uh this is when we've been in business a couple years. Oh, okay. Yeah, we have uh about 15 products pre-workout, post-workouts, uh, women's health. We have a car blocker, which is a GLP one type of product that uh if you're gonna eat a bunch of pasta, you take some um um I forgot the term. Can you edit that out? I'm just kidding. You don't want to do all that work. Like, I could a guy asked me, can you edit this out? I'm like, Yeah, you know I could. I'll ask, but I really don't want to.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:33

It's we have to edit out sometimes things that stupid. I say, or or I say it's the good stuff, but there's something if you don't know the soul, yeah, that people are gonna be like, burn our house down. You know, so we're like, meh. But Cammy has a good judge of that state in. Yeah, she's she's pretty good at reading the room or of the audience because she worked in LA, so she knows like all sorts awesome movie sets and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:01

So yeah, I was in movie sets in LA too.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:03

Yeah, you no, you were on CSI. No, were you? Shut up.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:09

How do you know someone was on CSI? Don't worry, they'll tell you. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:15

You were on CSI. You really are a website. I thought you, I thought you dug. Okay. Well, I was trying to actually look for older C.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:23

It was just we I've been just waiting to an opportunity I could say I was on CSI.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:29

Yeah, that's how you recognize me. Everybody at CSI. No, you were on uh stop. Pull up the website. I was on CSI. Were you really? Pull it up, Cammy.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:41

There's a shot of me in the show on there.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:43

What were you? What was your role?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:45

I was an extra, a featured extra. What'd you do? Uh I was a blackjack player.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:50

I can see that.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:51

Yep. But I was supposed to be the dealer, and which was that's a lot of camera time.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:57

Um, I'm sorry about that.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:59

But then my shirt conflicted with someone that I was right next to, just like purplish shirt. So they moved me over to the other table, which is like right here.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:07

But this did you keep giving the camera eye contact?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:11

Oh, I did. I and I was like chewing my gum because you can only go so far you get kicked off the set. You know what I mean? Like the director catches dumb stuff because they watch, you know, then they it's it takes so long to shoot a show. Um, but I did some stuff to make my mom laugh, and that was worth it right there. I lost money. I mean, for what it costed me to to fly there in the hotels for what you get paid as an extra was you lost money. I lost money, but it was fun. I wanted to be in CSI. Um, I was on what happens in Vegas with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:44

Come on, yeah. You were on a um at dealer no deal.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:47

I was on dealer no deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:48

I remember seeing that because that was floating all over, and you were hilarious and picked a pony over a suitcase for your daughter.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:58

Yep, over 200,000, which I didn't know was in.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:00

Oh, and you probably could have used it at that time.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:03

I could have used it. I still use the 44,000. That's actually what saved my house.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:08

Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:08

Yeah, yeah, to get caught up. But they brought out a pony and that's the whole reason I got started with applying for game shows. Was I needed like money. Oh, really? I needed like not scratch off ticket money, I needed like game show money, like a hundred thousand. You know what I mean? Like, I needed game show money.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:27

Okay, I have a fun fact about deal or no deal. I used to do work for the model 11, which she was back in the day. Her name was Jill Manis, if you remember. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:38

Yeah, sure. Dark hair.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:40

Yes, yeah. You did work for her? I did work for her. Uh, she was trying to get her son to be a big Instagram soccer star, whatever. So she hired me to make reels of her son. Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:52

Jill. Yep. Yeah, I I knew about all of them. You know what I mean? At the time, she was definitely okay. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:58

She is, I think feel like they're all tall and dark haired, but yes, she was.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:02

Aubrey was the one one. She was a do you remember? Well, you it's not like you worked on the set of dealer. Just for her. Yeah, gotcha. Okay. Um, so you but yeah, the person who did my mom's makeup did Johnny Depp's makeup on on um pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:20

So your guest was your mom and your daughter in a goldfish?

SPEAKER_04 1:24:23

Yep, brought a goldfish all the way on the flights. It was weird because people were they didn't want to clear it. They wouldn't clear it. Why did you want the goldfish? They did. They wanted it.

unknown 1:24:36

Oh my gosh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:38

You know, I you do the you do these audition videos, you know, that was a ball on the chest type of thing. What's that? Just bought a got a goldfish. I know. I know. They wanted that.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:47

I mean, they just the story. It's a great story.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:49

Yeah. They sent me, they sent me the carrying case for the fish and everything. Yeah. It was it was weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:56

So how do you what do you think? I mean, I know what, but like what was your video like that you sent them to get on this show?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:04

Well, it's uh, you know, uh the handheld type of deal then was the mini DVs, they called them. It's a cassette. And um, you show them your, and that's I I said my fish are my only pets because I'm allergic to everything, which I am. Um, and I they've been they were around. I want them at the Shawnee Fair actually. And somebody said, you know, one of the guys said, uh, good luck, you'll get look, good luck getting them back to Stevens Point. They'll probably be dead. I never forget that. Then they lived for 10 years, they're huge. Uh, but they came with. Um, but yeah, they didn't they didn't clear them. NBC didn't clear the fish on the way back. So they cleared them on the way there, but then I'm then I couldn't bring them back. So we fought with people until we got them back.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:48

How long did the fish live?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:50

Uh it was over 10 years. So like maybe I think like 12, 10, 12 years.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:54

Oh, and it's a shadow fish. Well, where shuttle fair?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:58

The world's fair. Yeah, the world's fair. Yeah, no, that's an awesome fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:02

That's so great. So let's talk about Dr. Phil.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:04

I was on Dr. Phil, don't forget that.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:06

You were Dr.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:07

Phil, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:08

Like as a as a guest?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:10

Um, not the main guest. I was like a supporting person because it's all kind of fake. Um, we put I was in the car business, and the guy that was on, they asked me to show because they paint a fake picture. Like because he had a buying problem. He was buying cars. So then they showed, they asked, they bring the crew, they brought their construction crew, their production crew to the car lot and asked if I would pretend sell them a car. So then people are watching this story and they're like, oh my god, he's by honey, he's buying another car because it shows him driving out of the showroom, right? It's painting pictures.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:46

God, what a lie. We're all being lied to all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:49

Yeah, and they don't, well, we're not telling you to say that. You know, we don't tell you to say, we're not telling you to say that. And when they go like that, that's they're telling you to say that.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:00

Was the person that was the show was about, like the main character, was he from the area? Wopaka. Okay. You knew him? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:08

But was it true? Did he even have a spending problem?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:10

Yeah, he did. Oh, yeah, he no, he really did. He really did. And what Dr. Phil told him. No, it's not. Okay. It's not. But like, yeah, my buddy was on one of these hoarding shows, and they they had him stack up his his closet, so when he opened, the stuff fell out. I mean, it's just sort of theatrical.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:28

Yeah, it is. And they they sell it, and you gotta expect that.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:31

Yeah, you gotta get mad too. My butt is getting really sore.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:35

Well, you're sitting at 50-year-old. You have sat at the edge of that couch the whole time. It's an exciting podcast. I'm on the edge of my seat. Let's talk about your let's talk about your podcast. Let's link that into Cammy. Yeah. His. For sure. What is um if for the listeners or viewers, what whichever you're streaming us on right now, um, what What is it? What's your message with your podcast? Like, what is it?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:03

It's for goal getters. It's to get a perspective of what are the goal getters doing? What are they thinking? What are the what are their what is their perspective on how they go about things? Get some different, you know, all different types of people, like like you guys. Starting there's somebody that started a a coffee shop, and how did it you know, just every everybody's anybody that's a goal getter, there is no real mold. Um, just maybe in real intense people that uh have found some success. That's kind of kind of been my forte.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:33

I feel like your your podcasts or episodes are really good for a whole bunch of reels. You know what I mean? Like when you're like find a good, I call them bleeps, find good bleeps out of each thing to like get you hooked.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:47

So like yours are like constant, like just the whole do you not agree? The whole thing, you're like at edge of your seat. That's why you're sitting there because you're just at the edge.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:56

Yeah, and I've considered it. Like people have told me you should just do reels and not the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:02

But I mean, it's great because it it lures the people in. You you're just good uh don't you agree?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:06

Advertising, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:07

And then for what you are doing, it's it's perfect because of owning a gym. Like you don't want to, you don't want to be yeah, you know, I don't want to go to my gym. Like she's wearing a bunny sweater. I'm not going, I'm not going to her gym. Like, she did she work out. Maybe she did a couple months ago, like one day. Like, no, but like you're you're I didn't realize that is a bunny sweater. It's for it's for Easter. It's coming up, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:31

It is coming up, yeah. That's that's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:33

And I haven't sold many of these, so I'm like, I want to know why. And then I put it on today. I'm like, because these run really small, and this is a large.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:39

It is nice, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:40

Yeah, thank you for noticing after I pointed it out. But what I'm getting at is it's great because, like, looking at even his demeanor, correct? It's at you're at the edge of your seat, and that's your up your podcast and your what you do is well the my my little tagline at the end is do it with intensity or not at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:00

If you're gonna jump into something, do it all the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:03

So that would be the advice you'd give. So timeout. We have opinions on college and like when should you go to a four-year, get a four-year degree? Would you need a you know for trades or whatever? If someone's like, I want to be an entrepreneur, would you recommend college for something like that? Or what would you tell the young youth, someone you really care, uh, your daughter, someone you really cared about, what would be the advice you'd give them?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:28

I would say, I would say go to college, actually, in that that circumstance, or some type of something that you can get economics and finance. I I would I don't encourage people to do it how I did it. It just it's too many mistakes. Too painful, it's too painful. You know, learning learning some of these um the tax laws and you know, getting a good base um instead of jumping into something, you know. Um I would I would recommend them going to college. Some type, some type of education.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:03

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:04

Yeah, and then can instead of you know just kind of slow down a little bit, maybe um just because I jumped and jumped and jumped and then finally found something after all the mistakes, learned how it all worked.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:18

And so I didn't know you had that type of hard background. I assumed you're it was hard for you to get where you're at, right? With just like the common struggles of starting a business, but I didn't know it was that hard and that dark. And that now it makes sense what Josh Pesky was saying to me. He's like, if one guy deserves what he has, it's it's him. He was because he's such a good guy and he had such a tough goal, and he was a hustler and he's finally there. So now it makes sense what he was saying, because I didn't know any of that.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:48

Every day, and and failure is what really drives me. You know, that's that's what really success when you're you're doing really well, it's easy to get comfortable. Um, right, just the the the thought of failing is something that really really sparks it.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:08

That's sad, but it's good. I mean this is a sad podcast. Sad. Can you put some piano like the little and then like like get really close up to his face, like his eyes and then producer on set is from LA.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:24

Yeah, she's like, I mean, that's stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:27

We lucked into getting her.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:28

She's great. She's awesome. That's really neat.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:30

Well, I'm lucky to be here, so thanks.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:33

I'd like to hear more about that.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:34

Yeah. Do you um have anything that you want him to add? Like you're always good at like Do you have any questions? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:40

I actually have two, two. But one, um, do you feel like because you're saying don't do it the way that you did, but I feel like because of all the failures that you experienced, you have more wisdom because of that. You just seem to be brimming over with wisdom. Yeah. And I think that that comes from failure. And I think there's a lot of people that have this deep fear of failure. And I think that it's what makes people like you succeed. Um, so I guess it's not really I'm I guess with that in mind, maybe failing's okay. Yeah, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:19

I just don't wish that upon anybody. Yeah. Not that level of ignorance.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:25

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:26

It's more juice than you know, than anything, and not much education on it. Just just wanted to bulldoze everything, you know. Um, which I think you can still bulldoze, but you should have some more knowledge on what it takes behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:44

Yeah. Some boundaries on that.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:46

But otherwise, there's no good, there's never a good time to start a business. It's never right, it's never perfect. Yeah. So that's a fine line too.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:54

Yeah. You have to take risks. That's what we said in one of our episodes is like you almost have to be insane a little bit to go all in and be like, okay. And we've said we've said in our um, like our one of our episodes, like our house payment was three, three months behind for a while. It was rough. It was rough. We were gonna, we knew we were gonna be okay, but when you think you have enough, it seems like you don't have enough yet. You know what I mean? At first, like you're like, all right, I have good cushion, we're gonna be able to do it. And it's like, oh, nope, you need a roof like now, not five years now. You you need this fixed now. And it's like, before you can move forward, you have to do these things, and you're not gonna make money until you get these things done. So it's like that's what I felt like we were up against. And so you have to be a little bit insane to to take a risk.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:40

I I feel like I think you have the you have to have the confidence. You you obviously have the confidence. Well, we said without that, there's no sense of right being insane and taking the risk.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:50

We said that you're right over and over again, like even now looking back at it, all the hard times, and there was plenty, but it wasn't like our kids didn't get to eat or anything like that. It just um we were never worried. It's uh maybe, maybe it's overconfidence.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:08

Well, time out.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:09

I never know I think you'd need some of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:11

You like I never know. He always tells me because I don't even know how to log into our accounts, like I don't even know how much money is in our accounts.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:18

It's not your lane. No, and and it's not like that's what that's what enables you to be funny and creative, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:23

Right, because I'm just like, Woo to do, you know what I mean? But he'll be like, he'll be like, hey, Trixie, no unicorns this week. And that means like, no, like I bought something crazy, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:32

I mean, like that's buy the things you need, yeah. No unicorns.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:34

I'm like, oh, okay, all right, timeout. And then he'll be like, oh, like, can I like I asked if I could pay it some bill yesterday? You're like, Yeah, pay the bill. I'm like, okay. Because I I'm clueless, I'm used to being super poor. So when you're like, we have no money, I'm I'm thinking we are negative, we have no money, hold tight. But he's like, No, you can pay your bills, just don't buy a unicorn this week. Like, wait a couple weeks for the unicorn. But um, he always tells me, even if we weren't okay, I didn't know it was that bad until after. But he's always like, We're good, we're gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:07

I think that's my job.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:09

Oh, that's good. It's responsible. There's responsible party in your respecting, you know how it affects her. Because it does reason you kept it to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:19

We had to get a new vehicle because we were down, we had no vehicle, like we had to, and it like eats at me. Like, I hate having a new vehicle. Like, I liked having all of our vehicles paid off and having good cushion because what if the fridge breaks? Yeah, what if the espresso machine? That's a$20,000.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:36

So you didn't care. I thought you were just doo-doo doo doo doo.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:38

I am, I am, but she cares, but she doesn't like no. Now that we now that we had to get a vehicle last week, I'm like, I saw our account. I'm like, whoa, like what happened? And he's like, Well, we just no unicorns for a while. And I'm like, Well, what if, what if this breaks? Or he's like, we'll be okay. That's all his responses. We'll be okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:57

I'm like, oh my God, you know, so I am a little you trust him, right? You trust him with your finances. I would right.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:04

I mean, hopefully he's not like hookers and blow on the side that I don't know about because that would suck. I know that habit on more than one level. You know what I mean? Like trust with a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:15

Yeah. How would I have time for any of that?

SPEAKER_00 1:37:17

I don't that's what they all say. That's what they all say. That's what they all say.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:20

Time for that. Dude, I I manage going to Monarch's dropping the kid off to do dishes.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:27

I manage every minute of my day. Stopping at an Oneida casino on the way. That's what he's doing. A nice casino. Yep. Um, so you said you had another question for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:36

Wait, my other question was, and I'm sure you have a ton of stories, but do you have um like a specific story that comes to mind of um somebody that's gone through the fire program and just had success through it? Just a good question. A client or a owner of a client?

SPEAKER_04 1:37:54

Uh we've had a lot of them. I mean, we've had um we we highlight one that really stands out each year. Success story of the year. We just launched them. I was a couple from Sturgeon Bay uh for 2026. We're at the end of the year. We we launched them. Um he had a stroke or he had a tumor, brain tumor, when he was a small child, it turned into a stroke. So his right side of his body is doesn't work very well with him. And he's still he's in competitions and he's doing things like he'll go down to do a burpee and he that that arm's just fall and he has to like put it on his elbow and adjust. So if anybody had an excuse not to show up every day, it's him and his wife. They were severely morbidly obese. Um and they found fire and turned their life around. They they lost like 300 pounds total. Holy bottom, strong, but more than just the weight loss because now we're kind of shifting out the weight loss. There's a lot, there always has been a lot more than weight loss. Well, true transformation is more mental. Yeah, so they um they don't get winded. They they're my big thing is watching people turn from spectators to participants in life. So many spectators, functional mobility, functional yeah. They can actually go go do this now. They, you know, like they, I think recently they just walked up the one of these light towers, you know. Um Surgeon Bay. Yep, they would have never dreamed because there's a ton of steps. They did that and they took a picture, like stuff like that. They're participating in life's finer things, you know. So, but there are there we what we have actually more documented transformations than anybody else in the country. Really? And we've been saying that since 2015. More documented transformations than anyone else in the United States of America. That's awesome. We're gonna keep saying it. And a large part is because we track. Nobody wants her before picture. So, like Nancy gets up there, we always use Nancy and Ron. So it's Nancy's like, I don't, I don't want my Nancy, nobody wants their before picture, right? I'll give me the after photo. But if if we want to hit with this success, you put out a goal, if we want to drive to San Diego, we put the coordinates in right for our destination in our in our car, our GPS, right? What's the first piece of information the GPS needs to get you there? Where are you at? Where you're at, where you're starting from. And we need to know where you're starting. By the time I get like 75% done with that spiel, they're already on the wall. Take it.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:39

No, but that's that's true. And that's just like measuring success in a business, right? You want it like, okay, how much do we make today, right? Same thing. You know your numbers. Yep. Oh, I'm showing up at fire every morning at seven o'clock, and I'm not, am I seeing anything? Holy look at me two months ago. And then I am there is yeah, and there is, and I I say that to people. I'm like, I don't know if I'm about to offend you, but you look really good. So if you're trying if you're trying to lose weight, I like when I compliment you. I know how it's you gotta be tricky nowadays. I'm like, I don't want to be offensive, but you look really good. And I know when I'm working at myself, it feels good. And people are like, hey, are you losing weight? I am, thank you for noticing. Now I'm not gonna eat that donut because otherwise there's some days you're like, what am I doing this? No one's noticing.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:19

No one's saying and even why do I keep doing this?

SPEAKER_00 1:41:22

Yeah, so when I say that to people, it's it's a genuine compliment because I need to hear it. I if I'm not seeing it or hearing it, and you you don't care. I mean, I've seen myself at like whoa, and I'm like, didn't you tell me to stop eating? And you're like, No, like you should have like geez, Louise.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:36

A lot of times a couple, the spouse doesn't see it. No, they their eyes are on their eyes are on you more than your eyes are on you. True, you're right. So those differences are accumulating at such a slow but steady rate.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:49

You're right.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:50

You don't you didn't see it. Why didn't you tell me? I I gained 30 pounds. I didn't see it.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:55

That's what he said. I'm like, I'll look after I had Nash, I was like, holy and he's like, I really didn't think you looked that big, and now I'll be like, I looked like him. Our baby was 10 and a half pounds at birth, and it looks like I ate him and seven other babies. You know what I mean? Like, I'm enormous, and it's no excuse. Like, okay, so he was 10 and a half pounds. What did what did you eat? You know what I mean? Like seven cows a day, but like he didn't see it, you didn't see it. But so you're um back to your picture. I got off track a little bit, but absolutely it is effective.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:28

Progress tracking works both ways too. So if you do gain the weight and they're like, Well, I don't want to do my 90-day personal progress tracking, we just call it a 90-day check-in. I gained weight, there's no sense in me doing it. Get up there, look at it, get off. It it works, it's it's it's motivating either way. It's motivating when you see the results, it's motivating even more sometimes when you don't. You're like, ah, I gotta get back in here. I gotta, I gotta start cleaning this up. It you can't go wrong with tracking.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:56

And as a marketing tool, it's as the viewer, I'm like, holy crap, they're doing something right there when you when you guys post those pictures. It's definitely like a motivation. That's our bread and butter. And the um and the the atmosphere of like the closeness, at least I see from the Shano branch. I don't know the other ones, but like the Shano people, they're close, they're like buddies. Yeah on like see them at baseball games.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:21

Well, you're seeing each other at your ugliest, you know, you're seeing each other down on your hands and knees, sweating profusely, and just nothing cute about it. That does at a day and age where you know everybody, you know, is different, you know, society's got to be perfect and everything else. So you do gain friendship by being vulnerable and seeing each other ugly.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:45

I remember asking him, like, can I watch like what they're doing? They're like, Nope. You want to go, do you want to be watched? You're like, nope, get in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:51

I'm glad they said that. It's it's not a spectator sport, that's what they said they've been saying since day one because everybody wants to watch first. Well, it's the first the the certain type of person says, is the same person. We got them down to a science. Nancy says, Nancy, I don't want to be judged. She'll tell you, and both sides, I don't want to be judged. So I'm really nervous about this. Can I just come and watch? So you can judge. She's the one that wants to go judge, but that's what she's saying. She doesn't want to be judged. No, yep. When we tell you there's no we're not, we don't say it's a non-judgment zone. Somebody else got that. We don't want it. Everyone's too busy, but everyone's too busy working.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:34

Yeah, they're sweating and being ugly. The door's shut, and yep, she's like, No, you can't go and look. I'm like, Well, I don't okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:41

Nancy.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:42

Okay, I was dancing. You were Nancy.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:44

We were all Nancy at one point.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:46

Yeah, but it's a great, it's a great thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:49

How many of our episodes have you watched?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:52

Oh, don't put him on the spot.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:54

Just the lat just the last one that I saw. I didn't know you had a podcast. I've been following the the mill.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:59

He hasn't been following the mill.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:45:02

So you see the reels?

SPEAKER_00 1:45:03

Maybe.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:04

I see all the reels, yeah. And then so my lady friend, I was the one who showed her the mill. Okay. And your funny stuff. And it was like she's throwing it in my face. Now she's all over your. I don't know if you've seen her name, Paiel Patel. She's all over it. She's showing me. I I saw it. And she's like, and then all the just look, this look, this way, this way, just wait, look at it. And then she tells him, and then she tells she tells him. I'm like, I showed you that one. And then you know, we tried. We're looking for well, we're interviewing for another Steve.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:44

You know, oh yeah, you have see, he's a fan. She's a fan.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:47

We should have there. We even rehearse back. What you did? She say, well, no, just go down there. Then we'll then Steve was down. Was Steve down? She said, Well, you'll say hi to Steve. Steve, the other Steve was down there too, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:45:59

Yeah. So should we have your lady friend on?

SPEAKER_04 1:46:02

Well, she wanted to be here. I'm telling and I don't, and I'm not just I'm not saying, listen, she put it on the Google Calendar. She created the event and then invited me.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:14

That was nice of her.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:15

Well, she's her biggest thing in life. Her her she just she's got a sim, she wants she's simple to uh please coffee shops. So she's was super excited about this, and then she called me on the way and and I and I mean that she had meetings, uh dog haircut, um, and then I think she had at least three meetings today. Out of the whole week, this was the worst day. Sorry, but I hope you'll have us back just to like we would have had her on too.

SPEAKER_00 1:46:43

Yeah, we um we're gonna have the grain works crew on in this summer because she's she what the female owner um is a teacher, so she doesn't have any Tuesdays off. So we would love to have her and you on and talk about owning a business together, and that'd be great.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:00

I always say that to my podcast guests. Well, we gotta have you on again.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:04

And you never do we will 100% have you on again.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:08

Yeah, we will.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:09

We will, you're great, you're entertaining. And that's why I'm like, I can't believe he responded. And Josh Pesky was like 100%.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:17

Well, I'd like I've been following this. But Josh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:20

But Josh said you would do that for anybody. He's like, he's the type of guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:23

Uh I wouldn't go on anybody's podcast. That's different. I would do something for them. Um, I would help them, but I wouldn't want to be on their podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:30

Yeah, I guess. You know, yeah. If we were like weird, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:34

Well, I mean, you have funny, you got a funny thing going on. I don't see anything humorous and you know, nothing. This is great. You're outreaching so far with by by doing that. I feel like it's not necessarily a Bonda Well thing. It is a staple, but it's it's not like so much bigger.

SPEAKER_05 1:47:52

It's not like fun with flags with Sheldon Cooper. No, no reference. Nah, you got nothing there. I thought you'd get it for sure. Nox has been watching young Sheldon all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:04

I don't know what fun of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:05

We had like a podcast thing. What's the what's the name of that show?

SPEAKER_00 1:48:08

We're at three percent. Okay. What's the name of that show?

SPEAKER_05 1:48:11

Tune out she's static. Uh all right, thanks everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:17

Well, hey boop boom boom. Thanks so much for anything you want to say before no.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:21

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. It's been a blast. It was what I thought. Okay, good. Great. Yeah, it's gonna be a nice conversation with a couple smart, super smart, intelligent people, beautiful people. Producer that's from LA. That's the only reason I really forgot to say that.

SPEAKER_05 1:48:35

You forgot here. There's a cue card. You forgot to say that.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:39

Thanks so much. Super elaborate uh production and appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:42

Yeah, thanks for coming on. We do appreciate it. We'll see you guys next Tuesday. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:48

Help me freely walk in your