Welcome back to the Christianity and Business Podcast, an initiative of the RGW Dunnell College of Business at Houston Mathis University. I'm your host, Derek here, and this is the show that helps Christian business leaders integrate biblical values into business. You can get more information about HW's Center for Christianity and Business, and sign up to receive free access to all five issues of the Christian Business Review Journal by visiting our website at Christianitybusiness.com. Today we're going to be discussing the topic of teaching biblical business principles to your kids. And we're joined by PJ Jonas. And really, there is no one better that I know of to talk about this than PJ. In 2008, PJ began a goat milk soap business with her husband and eight kids. And that business now distributes soap all over the world. It's been featured on the Today Show and Oprah Magazine and all kinds of other media outlets. If you just do a Google search, you'll see how PJ has been just spreading this message. But it's not just about the product itself, but it's the way that she's going about this business and bringing her family into it and the way that she is running this business is literally impacting multiple generations as well as a product that is changing lives. Welcome to the Christianity and Business Podcast, BJ.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.
SPEAKER_01Well, tell us about this fascinating company, Goat Milk Stuff, and how it got started.
SPEAKER_00Well, it really was totally a God thing. Um, I had wanted to get dairy goats because I wanted the healthy raw milk for the children to drink. And it was, it's illegal to buy raw milk to drink in Indiana. And so I figured, you know, okay, I gotta be honest about this. So I'm gonna get my own goats so we can we can have our healthy milk. And we were just, you know, enjoying that. We were we were enjoying homesteading, we were enjoying our homeschooling and having the children learn and and all of that. And one day I had all the kids in the bathtub and was just letting them splash around, and I picked up the baby wash that I had always used and was just so appalled that the ingredients in it. I had never really looked at them before, and they were all chemical-based and petroleum-based, and I was like, that's it. I am gonna learn to make my own soap. So I did some research and found out when you make soap, you need to use a liquid. And I was like, oh, well, I've got, you know, all this goat milk that's really good for you. And so maybe I'll just put the goat milk in instead of water. And when I made the soap and put it in the shower, my uh, my husband's finger stopped cracking and splitting. And that was, yeah, that was kind of like, wow, this is something that we had, you know, tried for years, all sorts of different stuff to get, you know, to fix his fingertips and nothing ever really worked. And I was like, okay, well, this is great. And so I, you know, I really just kind of did it for ourselves and the family. I'd give it away as gifts and that kind of thing. And the whole time I was making soap for the family, I was actually praying for a family business. And never, you know, it wasn't the right time. And so I never, you know, God never had me put the soap and the business together. And then um, what actually happened was we went to visit my parents and we drove a big uh, it's called a sprinter, it's a big diesel vehicle, and we stopped and got gas, and we went to the diesel pump, put the diesel in, and long story short, uh, there was actually gasoline in the diesel pump and it destroyed the vehicle engine. But it was one of those things where it wasn't a quick thing, you know, it took them six months to fix it because they would say, Okay, well, we got to fix this, and then they fixed that, and then they'd have to fix the next thing. So it took six months, and when the whole thing was done, it it was a $9,000 bill. And we did not have $9,000. Um, we were, you know, single income, just my husband was working, and I was like, okay, okay, Lord, well, uh, what are we gonna do? And I had just bought ingredients to make about a year's worth of soap for the family. And I was like, okay, well, I, you know, I've got all this stuff to make soap. Maybe I'll just try and sell a few bars, you know, maybe raise some money for groceries or something. I mean, never envisioned that it would become what it has. And um, we started selling the soap. And what happened was I would we would give out samples. Everybody we met, everybody we came in contact with, got a sample. And I started getting these calls from people who had eczema. And I'd never dealt with eczema before. I didn't realize what a what an issue it was. And um, people were telling me that the soap fixed their eczema and their children's eczema. And God just took that whole incident and by word of mouth, just started this company, and we named it goat milk stuff because that was what we wanted to do, was just make stuff with goat milk, and he just really took it and grew it just beyond anything I could ever imagine. So that was kind of how it got started.
SPEAKER_01Wow, I love that. I mean, I was just thinking about how people will go to the to the Dead Sea to just sit in that salt to deal with their their skin issues, and here you are able to discover this this goat milk and the and the healing properties in it, and that resulted in, you know, you saw how it worked for your husband and realize, you know what, there's a there's a business here. There's not just, but it didn't start with let me just start a business, but here's an here's a need that people have, and here's a way to to solve that need. How many? So did you have all eight kids at this point?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so when I when I first started making soap for the family, I didn't. I only had um I well, I was pregnant with number seven. And so it was after the last one was born, and that was when God was like, Okay, now it's time. Now, you know, you you have a little more free time, not a lot of free time, but you have a little bit more, and it's time to start goat milk stuff, and you know, you can put a little more attention into that. So it was um Jade, who's the youngest, was probably about nine months old when we started goat milk stuff.
SPEAKER_01So it certainly wasn't out of boredom with because I mean we have two kids, and I know what my wife goes through with two kids, and I can only imagine with with eight kids, and uh and I was really struck by when you said that you were praying that the Lord would show you how to start a family business. I mean, was that really was it the heart of it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there were there were two reasons why I was praying for that. Um, number one, I really felt that my husband was away from home too much. I really wanted him more involved. And he was he was very active. The he was actually, my husband was trained as a teacher. He's he taught for seven years. And then uh when we moved to Indiana, he actually got a job as a garbage man, which was wonderful because it was only four days a week and there was no, you know, he didn't have to create papers, he didn't have to worry about all of that other stuff that comes along with um teaching. And so he really had more time to focus on the family. And it became as as I you know, as he left teaching and and started focusing more on the family, I just I felt like we needed even more of that. We needed him there for the the day-to-day lessons that you know, he has such wisdom that he could impart for the children and um all of them, obviously, but we have five boys, and I was like, you know, they just they need their dad more, all this stuff that you know I can sort of do, but he just does so much better. So that was the first part that I reason I started praying. And then the second one was because we homeschooled, I really wanted their education to be practical. Um I didn't want, you know, I was less interested in them, you know, being able to repeat facts back to me and more interested in them having the work ethic and the problem solving and the communication and the real world expertise that I just felt that that starting a business was one of the best ways that you know that I could provide them with that kind of an education.
SPEAKER_01So, what does uh a typical school day look like? And I know that it varies depending on the ages, because I I think the oldest is what, 19 years?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she just turned 20.
SPEAKER_01Oh, just turned 20, okay. And and so I I guess kind of during that kind of primary uh, you know, middle school education, what would a typical day look like and how did the the business get rolled into that?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so we don't separate anything, everything we do is integrated, whether it's you know, family time, business time, school time, God time, it's all rolled into one. And I don't really have um things that you know I I feel like I need to cover with them. I really let God kind of bring to the forefront what it is that you know he thinks that they need to be learning. And so a lot of it gets uh combined into the business. So for example, uh, some of the younger ones are learning um cursive right now. So when the invoices come in, when people place an order on the website, then we print the invoices and the children all sign the invoices. And so, you know, they start by just their print and their huge straight stick letters, you know, and now they're all learning cursive. So instead of having a penmanship book, they practice and they write notes to the customers on the invoices. So that's how they cover a lot of their um their uh writing.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, that just blew my mind.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Things like um their math, I mean math is just completely covered with the financials of the business. I mean, they've been involved from the beginning with uh every single financial decision the business makes. Now, they obviously, you know, as a two-year-old, they don't they don't get it. They vote, but they just you know raise their hands as their siblings are raising their hands kind of thing. But as they're getting older, um, they they learn Excel. They love Excel. My kids like create games and stuff on Excel. And so they have, you know, they have their own salaries, they pay their own taxes, they have to pay the accountant to do their taxes. Um, if we're going to, you know, go on a vacation, they have to decide, you know, are we gonna drive? Do you want to pay for a flight? Because they are the ones that pay for all of those things. So they're learning all the budgeting. Um, you know, all of that stuff tends to kind of come practically uh just through that. You know, when we're trying to make a decision about, you know, okay, let's, you know, for all the employees and for us, you know, what kind of raises are we going to give? You know, we'll go through all the percentages and we'll go through all the business taxes. And, you know, okay, if someone gets a 25 cent raise, here's what it actually looks like down the line by the time you add in payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance, you know, and all that sort of stuff. So a lot of it is just comes out with uh how'd you do that, mom? I don't know how you how you got that. Okay, well, let's go over percentages a little bit more because it seems like you're having you know a little bit of trouble with that.
SPEAKER_01Um, so you know, PG, there I had this nagging thought throughout pretty much my entire elementary school, middle school, high school education, particularly in the area of math. And and and I would I would keep thinking, how am I actually going to use this skill set, this theorem, this whatever it was that we were learning, because it seemed so removed, so distant from anything that I was currently operating with in my day-to-day life. And so there was no, there was just no connection. And I and at one point, and I I tended to be kind of a rascally kid, but I just at one point asked my one of my teachers in front of the the whole class, how are we actually going to use this at some point? And I never got a straight answer to that question, but had, and I'm just thinking about if at that same age I was working in your operation and you were my teacher, and I asked you that question, you would have immediately been able to bring me to something very specific that needed to get done that day and in order to teach that principle. I I love that aspect of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I tell people that my kids, my children cover a lot less ground than they would in the in a public school system, but they retain everything that we learn because they're using it. Yeah, that's that's how they do it. Um my kids are masters at fractions because of all the cooking that we do with and all the gardening. And it was really funny when they were, you know, little, we have um we have chickens, and they I found them all counting instead of being, you know, base 10 where they would count 10, 20, 30, they would count in base 12s, 12, 24, 36. And I finally realized it was because they were collecting eggs and it was that the egg carton had a dozen. And that was why they were counting in in 12s instead of in tens. So it all of those things, and they just laugh about it now, but it it really is um, you know, you you have to keep your eyes open to what it is, where the opportunities are. You know, it's a lot easier in many ways to be like, okay, yeah, here's a workbook, just you know, let's plot along through the workbook. You know, you don't have to really pay that much attention, you just have to answer their questions. It takes a lot more to be looking to be like, okay, I think there's a weakness there, you know, we need to we need to concentrate on that a little bit, or especially when there's eight of them, where some of them will be, you know, do all the answering of the questions and some of the others are a little quieter, and you have to be like, okay, you guys be quiet. We're gonna let these guys uh tell us what they think we should do in this situation. So right.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know with our kind of um American common core standardized testing mindset, you know, there's people thinking, well, what about like the SAT, for example? When when they have to take like college entrance exams, thing like that, things like that. What uh uh you know, in terms of the way that they're being prepared, is that uh is that something that you feel like they're really well prepared for?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I actually tutored math for about 15 years. I was an engineer by um by education, and what I found was that so many people, so many students couldn't do the work when it was out of context. If they knew what section they were in in their workbook, their math book, they could do it. But the minute you pulled everything out of context, they were really confused. And so I decided early on that I was going to, you know, not tell them whether we were adding, dividing, multiplying, subtracting, you know, make them figure out which, you know, which one we were doing. And what I found over the years, and as the the older children are now older, is when you teach the children to problem solve and to think, you know, and you don't get, I mean, I don't ever give my children any answers. They have to all come up with it all by themselves. Um they are then able to study for whatever they want to study. You know, so if it's something they're like, okay, now you know, now it's you want to go to college, you want to take the SAT exam, you know, let's go. And you sit down and you get a book and you go over it, and they can learn it so much faster because they know how to think. They know, they have that critical eye and that you know that problem solving that is really hard to teach in a big classroom with 30 kids. That's that's really hard for teachers to do that and pull that off for so many.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I mean, really out of necessity, the emphasis in those big classrooms is on learning versus thinking, because the the thinking is really you have to empower the the students, whereas in learning, it you could just focus on cramming things down into their mind and hope they somehow catch it, which you know, the enormous disparity between students that go through those classes and most of them not getting it, some of them really getting it, um, is is just is just massive. But if they could actually experience and fo and learn how to critically think, that really is what is gonna set them up for success in the future. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, and I tell people, so I I'm in a unique position because I have eight children, so I can see just how diverse all of them are. And my children are all very intelligent, but they're all very intelligent in different ways. And I have one child who didn't learn to read until he was 10 years old, and my mom was all freaking out, you know, oh my gosh, he's never gonna read. I'm like, no, no, he'll be fine, he'll get it. And at 10 o'clock, or at when he was 10 years old, it clicked. And he is now one of my more voracious readers. He reads everything. And, you know, I would tell my mom, because she was actually a public school teacher, you know, if he had been in the public school system, he would have been labeled as, you know, learning disabled. He would have had a lot of problems with that. And um, what we do is when the children turn 16, we have them take um classes at our local community college. So he just took his first class there. He just finished a couple weeks ago, and uh he did amazing. He did really, really well. And it was, you know, I I do it for a couple of reasons, not so that so much that they'll get a degree or whatever, but so that they have excuse me, that they have that experience and they have that confidence that if they ever, you know, want to go back and become a vet veterinarian or or whatever, they cannot be intimidated because they're not sure what the classroom setting is going to be like. So that's worked really well for the older three.
SPEAKER_01Wonderful. Well, you know, when I when I started to envision your your workplace and and your kids, you know, milking the goats and and fulfilling orders and so forth, I was thinking about Jesus and the way that so much of his teaching was done with his disciples out in a workplace context, you know, whether it was out fishing on a boat, I mean, how many lessons did he teach while they were in the boat working together and fishing? And and what ways would you say the workplaces provided a context for discipleship opportunities for your kids that may not otherwise have been available? And and what are some of those principles that you teach through uh through the business?
SPEAKER_00You know, when I started homeschooling, one of the things that I did was I sat down with a piece of paper and I wrote, I I physically wrote down the things that I wanted in my children for me to consider homeschooling a success. And it was interesting as I wrote this whole list down, none of them were academic-based. They were all character-based, they were all based on how they treated other people. Um, those were the things that were important. That, you know, the math skills, the reading, the writing, those, you know, I obviously want them to have, and they and they have all of those, but that's not the most important thing. So what we found is when we're working side by side with them, or they're working side by side with their siblings, or they're working side by side with the employees, a lot of their character issues that they need individual um help with really comes out. So, you know, for some it may be diligence where they'll, you know, they'll they'll want to quit after just a couple, and you really have to help them um be diligent. For the others, it'll be self-control. And so um, we do a lot of different things in the soap room. We'll do things like um, I don't know if you're familiar with uh Jay Vernon McGee's got a Bible, uh, uh a radio ministry called Through the Bible, where he covers the entire Bible in five years. And so we'll listen to that while we're bagging soap, and everybody will be there and we'll just listen to it, and then we'll we'll talk about it afterwards. Um, you know, and we'll have we'll have scripture that we'll say. And it's really easy because what I found is when you're just sitting at the table and you're talking, you can have a lot of really good conversations about God and the Bible and Jesus. But when you're working and their struggles are like are evident because they're you see them happening and it's affecting their their peers and their their co-workers and their siblings, you can then take those Bible verses and be like, okay, this is how this applies. And again, you take it out of the theoretical and you put it in the day-to-day living. Um, and that's it, I think it just makes it more clear for them what you know Jesus was talking about when he, you know, when he said something, you know, when he said, esteem others more highly than yourselves. Okay. See how you just, you know, you've got that stack of orders there, and the there was a really difficult one to pull on top, and you left it on top and dug out an easy one on the bottom, and you left that hard one for others, you know. Is that esteeming your coworker more highly than yourself? No, it's not. You know, that wasn't doing that. And so it there's you have to know your Bible, which we should anyway, but you can really, there's some really good verses there that you can pull out, and they're just kids, you know, they'll just look at you like, okay, you're right, I'm wrong, you know, and they'll put it back and take out the difficult one. And and so it's fun that way.
SPEAKER_01And and I it seems like a lot of that comes in. I heard you say this on another on another episode. You said everything is a God thing, and and is that that's what you teach to your kids to not make this distinction where, oh, this is my work over here, this is my school over here, and this is my family over here. Um, what are some some other unique ways? And really it's it's it seems unique to our kind of fragmented mindset that we have, you know, where everything is divided, sacred, secular, but uh, what are some ways that that you what you're doing is different in that regard?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we have said from the beginning when we first got married that everything is a God issue. And when we started goat milk stuff, it became everything is a god issue, including the making and selling of soap. And what we're we're teaching the children is that you know, work is not a bad thing. And in our culture, so many people believe that work is punishment, work is bad, work is something to be avoided, and it's not, you know, you hear these studies that about retired people, and it's the ones who retire to something and find something to do that you know stay healthy and live longer. And if they just stop and quit, they you know, they don't usually have as long of a life because you know we're designed to work. And so when you can learn, you know, in our instance, it's you know, we get to work with each other, we get to help people with their skin problems, we get to uh serve customers, you know, serving customers is hard. It is hard to serve customers. There, we have the most wonderful customers, um, truly wonderful, but there are some people who are really having a bad day and will take it out on us at times. And to teach the children how to handle that in a godly way is um really important because I think so many people, you know, especially in today's culture, you know, so many young people are taught that it's all about them. It's you know, everything they should be about them feeling good and they should get ribbons for everything. And so then they get out in the real world and it's not like that, and people aren't puffing them up, and they they really kind of don't know how to deal with that. And so when you have, you know, for example, an Use the example, we do some craft shows and we'll go to a craft show and we'll be selling soap and we'll be giving out samples. And you know, the children will say to a customer, Would you like a free sample? And they'll say, No, in like a really nasty voice and walk away, you know. And the children have to learn, okay, that's that's fine. God didn't have that person for me to talk to. This is not about me. This is, you know, something about that. And I usually tell them, you know, just you know, pray for that person. They're either having a bad day or they're generally not a you know a happy person and they just need your prayer. They don't need you to get mad at them or you know, then treat somebody else the way you were just treated. So, you know, everything really is a God issue if we just keep our eyes open to it.
SPEAKER_01I was curious about how many hours a week are your kids working in the business.
SPEAKER_00So there's really no good answer for that um because it depends so much on what season we're in. For example, February and into March is our kiddie season. And right now we are we bred 85 goats, so we're expecting about 140 to 150 baby goats being born. And we do around the clock kidding shifts so we can make sure that everybody's healthy, everybody's safe, that you know, they're dried off in time so um they don't get any frostbite or anything like that. So that's something that's obviously an extreme. Now, to prepare them for that, we take a vacation before we do that. Um, so I get everybody off the farm, make sure everybody gets relaxed, everybody gets enough sleep, that kind of thing. Um in an you know, in a normal day, and depends on on which child you're doing you're talking about. Um the older ones obviously put in a little bit more time than the um than the younger ones do. You know, it depends on like in the spring, the there's a lot more goat chores than there are in the fall and the you know in the late summer. Um, and then in the it kind of is nice because the the the goat chores and the and the business chores kind of offset each other because as the goats are just starting to dry off and get ready for the winter, um, is when all our holiday internet orders really start coming in. Um, one of the things we're struggling with right now, actually, is we um we started out as an internet company. I put up goat milkstuff.com, I learned how to program a website, put all that up, and that was how we started. I did that because I I, you know, with having eight children, so you know, they were so time I'm I wanted the flexibility. I didn't want to have to be, you know, lot um tied down to specific hours. Um but as we've grown and as we've gotten so much publicity, we have so many people from around the country really want to come and visit us. So our new farm we've built with um a lot of it's really friendly for people to come and do tours. And that's been wonderful. Uh the struggle with that is we have to staff those hours. So we're we're trying to hire some people right now to help us cover those hours because it's a little um the family wants a little more free time. So um, you know, right now, until we hire someone, we're probably working a little more than we should be. And then once we get some some help in there, that'll cut back down again. So it's really all over the board from anywhere from you know three to four hours to a kidding season, eight to nine to ten to twelve, depending on that.
SPEAKER_01Gotcha. And are you finding that other families, especially, you know, as they're coming and they're actually seeing what you're doing there, are you finding that other families are saying, hey, I think maybe we could do something, maybe not goat milk, but something uh in our with our family where we can help teach our kids uh business by working together. Are you hearing any stories like that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we pretty much get three responses. The first one is, oh my gosh, can I send my children to live with you? That's a pretty standard one. You know, the second one is is wow, you're really living my dream. I can't, you know, I want to do this. Um I tell people with that is, you know, if when you look at us, you don't see all the years that went into this. I mean, we live below our means for so many years because we were trying to pay off our mortgage and get out of debt completely. Um, and when we started goat milk stuff, we were then able to take a home equity line to fund the initial growth of the business. So, you know, I tell people you you can have it. It's gonna take time. You know, you have to start by putting, you know, live below your means. You have to start saving, start teaching yourself those skills you're gonna need, you know, maybe take an accounting course or something like that. And um, you know, the third one is, you know, just that that sense of overwhelmed, like, oh my gosh, I don't know how you even do this. You know, my response to that is it's purely by God's grace. Um, you know, if this is something that even intrigues you a little bit, start praying about it and start praying what God would have for you. Um, I tell people all the time, goat milk stuff is God's business. You know, I'd been making soap, I never once thought soap for a business. It was it was his timing, his business, you know, and that's why it's been so successful and succeeded and been able to provide for the family, because we did what he wanted us to do. And you know, I fully believe that the American dream is not dead, that that families can do amazing things, and you have to be within God's will, because you know, not that it's not that it's easy even being in God's will, because it's not, there's a lot of you know, there's a lot of hard, hard work, there's a lot of frustrations, there's a lot of failures that you have to learn from. But when you're in God's will and you're doing the business God wants you to, you just have that comfort that even if it's not easy, this is, you know, I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and it helps you get through to the, you know, until that difficult part is over, and then you can start, you know, enjoying things again.
SPEAKER_01And you know, our calling as believers is to go, it's not just to make a profit, but to make disciples of all nations. And I mean, what better way to do that in the business world than with your own family? And and I'm sure that maybe not everybody is in a financial uh situation, or you know, maybe they feel like they lack the skills. And I mean, you can go, you can go learn skills, you can go, and maybe people would make that excuse that uh, you know, you're living my dream. I could never, I could never do that because you know, my family, they didn't do that, they didn't show this to me. I mean, did you have that kind of background like from your was anything like that model uh from your not at all?
SPEAKER_00My whole family thought we were nuts. You're doing what? Why would you want to do that?
SPEAKER_01So there goes that excuse. You know, somebody might think, oh, well, you're maybe your dad was was the the biggest goat milk, you know, dairy farmer. We're gonna be able to do it on the side of the what Mississippi or something.
SPEAKER_00I grew up on an island. We had sand, there was there were no farm animals, there were there was nothing. So yeah, you know, it's all learned. I mean, the internet just makes everything so possible if you're willing to put the time in studying it, you know, figuring it out. I mean, I never knew how to make soap. I mean, that was that was just a lot of research, a lot of trial and error. Um, you know, and it's another example of how God blessed it because I didn't I didn't try to make a soap that was going to fix my husband's fingers or or help with eczema or psoriasis. You know, all I was trying to do is get rid of the chemicals on my children's skin. Um, and and God blessed it and you know, helped my formula to be able to do all of those other things as well. Um, so yeah, no, you really can do anything now. It's gonna take work. It's gonna take a lot of work, it's gonna take a lot of prayer. But I I've always thought that that was just as big a lesson for the children, you know, the the prayer that goes into it when um you know every big decision we make, every time we struggle with something, you know, the business, the children, the employees, they're all bathed in prayer. And then we actually have a lot of customers will put notes and, you know, send us emails and that kind of thing. And we we pray for the customers. And um, sometimes it's just whoever saw the note, you know, or got the email will do it. And then other times we'll take whoever's in the soap room, you know, if someone's suffering from cancer and it doesn't look good or whatnot, or they just lost a loved one. Um, and we'll just all, you know, join hands and pray for that customer and and then send the order out. Um, so it's it's a very practical um kind of of lifestyle and a very practical business for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you know, the proverb, the proverb says that a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, and and you've you've done that in really incalculable ways, not just financially, but the the character traits, the the business acumen, all of those things that are being uh invested into your into your kids as they're being discipled there in the workplace. Uh in terms of succession planning, you know, how long is your goal to hand that off totally to your kids in the in the near future?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we've actually already started that. So my youngest is um nine and a half, and when she turned eight, I told the children that they had 10 years um left. And so when when my youngest turns 18, my husband and I are done with the business. And now when I say done, I mean I'm done paying bills, hiring people, firing people, making a decision. You know, I told them I'll be happy to give interviews, I'll be happy to give tours, you know, I'll deliver baby goats for you. But all of those difficult business decisions you all are making. And so we've already met with our accountant, we've met with our lawyer, um, with the oldest three children. The the other ones weren't really ready for those kind of meetings and talking about, you know, what that was going to look like, how we're, you know, mom and dad gonna continue to get, are we gonna continue to get paid? Are they gonna buy us out? You know, what's gonna happen to the house, you know, all the assets, that kind of thing. And we're starting to put all of those pieces into place, um, trying to determine who's going to be the the leader when when we're done, because you know, well while it'll be everybody will have an input, someone has to be responsible for making that final decision. Um and I think we've got that that child picked out, um, you know, one that that God just really gave um that child the those talents and those skills, and everybody else looks towards that child and you know agrees that they really have probably what it takes, um, you know, and and how how to keep them all so that they can run the business and still be loving siblings, um, you know, and not have the business ever tear the relationships apart. Um, because we don't, you know, we don't ever want that to happen. So put those things in place. You know, what's gonna happen when they all start getting married? How are spouses going to play into this? Are they going to have a role? Are they gonna have voting rights? You know, all of those sorts of things. And then my my oldest daughter is funny, she just turned 20 and and she's already decided that um she's gonna live close by and send her children here to, you know, to put them to work and so that they know they know what to do and all of that. So she's already, you know, she's got them already bagging soap in her head and all sorts of stuff.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Well, goatmilkstuff.com is the website. Anything else you want to say about how people can find out more about what's going on?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um I actually have something for your listeners if you're interested. Um, I've got a free bar of soap for them if that's something they'd like to try. All they of course. Yeah, all they need to do is go to the website. Like you said, it's goatmilkstuff.com, and then they want to go to goatmilkstuff.com slash Christianity soap. And that's just one word. There's no spaces or hyphens or anything, and it'll give them the directions on what they need to do to get that free bar.
SPEAKER_01Beautiful. Well, thanks so much for your generosity. Um I'm sure you one of your kids will be probably uh milking that one and bagging it up for uh whoever orders it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Generally they're they're on there on pretty much all the orders and they do a lot of it.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Well, PJ, is there a parting piece of advice you'd like to leave with our listeners today?
SPEAKER_00You know, what I have found is so many people today, Christians too, they kind of wish their lives away in that they say, you know, okay, once once this is done, then things will get better. And once this happens, then I'll be able to do what I want. And, you know, after this, then then that good thing will come. And I've really learned throughout all of this that that never happens. You know, it's always just the next thing will come and interfere. You really just need to get started. And it, you know, it may be baby steps. You don't have to go from zero to sixty, you know, really quickly. You can take baby steps and say, okay, well, this is where I want to go. What's you know, one thing or two things I can do this month that, you know, maybe get me a little bit further towards that goal? Because if if you're in God's will, he's gonna help you get there, but you do have to do your part and you do have to start.
SPEAKER_01Wow, that is powerful. Well, PJ, thank you for this inspiring interview and for sharing your wisdom, your time, and may God continue to bless everything you put your hand to and everything you put your mind to and your family. And thank you for the example that you're setting.
SPEAKER_00You're very welcome. Thanks so much for letting me share.
SPEAKER_01We hope you've enjoyed this episode, and if so, we would greatly appreciate it if you'd leave us a quick rating and review for the Christianity in Business podcast on iTunes. You can get more information about HBU's Center for Christianity in Business at Christianity in Business.com. Thanks for listening and keep integrating biblical value into your business.