3: Matt & Kirstie - talk nature, Cookiepalooza, and marriage

Kirstie MacArthur is the Co-Founder of Koti Mortgage, Founder of Carafais Growth Solutions, and Co-Host of Besides Business. We talk about her love for the outdoors and why nature is where she resets, the story behind Cookiepalooza (500+ cookies, every December), and her winding path into mortgage after starting over in a brand new industry. Kirstie also opens up about what it's really like working alongside your spouse - the good, the hard, and everything in between.

Besides Business is a weekly conversation with local Twin Cities professionals. Not about their work, but about who they are beyond it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome everyone to Besides Business episode three. I am very excited today as we have the most special of special guests with us. This is Kirsty MacArthur, who is the co-founder of Cody Mortgage with myself. So she is my business partner. What's also why left off her title today is she is my wife and the manager of our household, stepmother to my beautiful children. So I couldn't be more happy to have a guest on than I am to have Kirsty today. Kirsty is also the founder of Carafe Growth Solutions outside of the mortgage space. And she is our third guest on Besides Business, where we sit down with local professionals and talk about what they like to do outside of work. Kirsty, thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Very happy to be here and also honored to be part of what is a significant point of growth for you. Matt has been in the mortgage industry for over 10 years, actually, almost 20 years, but almost 10 with Edge Home Finance. And he's been talking since I re-met him as an adult about how much a podcast would be a lifelong dream for him. So it is a true honor to be sitting here today and to see this fulfilled and to be able to do it together. And while it might not be the most significant or important episode for our viewers, it certainly is a really special day for us. So I'm honored to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Well, we are honored to have you. There's his the back of his head, at least. So today with Kirsty, we are going to talk about sugar cookies, nature, her love for nature, and her love for running. So let's start Kirsty before we get too much into those other fun things. Sugar cookies, I'm really excited to talk about with her. But let's start with your backstory into the mortgage space. So you're brand new to mortgage as of last year. You have a lot of professional experience outside of mortgage. So how would you describe why mortgage? I know a lot of people I meet, mortgage, including me, wasn't what I thought I was going to be growing up. So how did you get into this crazy space that we call home?

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Well, it was definitely an accident at first, but um yeah, you mentioned I don't come from this industry. I have a deep history in marketing, sales, and business growth and overseeing teams and departments as companies go from startup stage to either national or even international expansion, and really just deep expertise and experience in operations, scalable growth, team management, recruiting, and all of that in conjunction with the marketing and sales and business development efforts to have that public-facing growth and to bring in new revenue and new clientele, but doing it in a way that was a positive, or at least the most positive, way that we could do that for the teams that were making that work happen too. So I came out of that and um was able to start my own consulting firm after being in the corporate world for um almost my entire career. And um I I got to a point where I had gone through my second journey with cancer, and on the other side of that, just deeply needed a time and space, a sabbatical, if you will, to heal and to um just recover from what was a significant journey. And um so many of the clients that I had worked with and businesses that I had collaborated with started to reach out and asked me if I was available to do work with them or would consider consulting for them. And it was just a beautiful time that things came together in order for me to be able to do my consulting business, which has been so fun and fulfilling and allows me to use my skills and talents not just for one organization or entity that I'm with, but to have that applied to really any industry, any company. So it wasn't long into my consulting journey, if you will, that I started asking questions about your business and how the mortgage world worked, and just saw so much opportunity to bring the experience that I had, specifically with technology and systems and operational efficiency into this industry, and to be able to pair that with your incredible work on the processing and like the fulfillment side of mortgages. So it was a really natural fit, even though our approach to it wasn't always as natural because we're very oppositely and differently hardwired. Um, it was such a an awesome uh opening for an opportunity for us to be able to explore it. And once we finally got that configured and we each found a way forward that honored our own skills and talents, it has it's been incredible. And just the growth and the the results that have happened since we did make that decision to move forward have been so validating and very much encouraging that this was the right decision for us to have a joint venture.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

It's been a fun ride so far. Uh excuse me, a lot of adjustments along the way, and I think the the best is definitely yet to come. But we've both learned a lot, we've both had to flex a lot, and I appreciate your flexibility just getting into a new industry. Now that kind of leads me to where I was going next. I've been in mortgage for almost 18 years, so I've known it, you know, half of my adult life pretty much. You were stepping into a brand new industry as of last year in the mortgage world, and even the year before that is when some of this started, these conversations started happening. So, what would you say, across all industries, it's applicable, what would you say is the hardest or has been the hardest part for you stepping into a brand new industry, brand new world for you?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I got I, at the risk of sounding arrogant, um, I'm not intimidated by new. I'm a curious person by nature. So the prospect of a new industry or a new challenge is uh uh very appealing to me. Um, on the practical side of things, one of the most challenging things transitioning into mortgage is uh there's just a lot of antiquated elements and also um I don't know, I would say there's almost uh a club mentality. Umce you're in, you're in, but on the outside there's there's this I think pressure that you are not valid unless you have massive results because there's such a disparity between the very high performers and those that are doing uh a more moderate um business plan. So I think the challenging part was to find a way to meet what our expectations were going to be for how our business is going to run. Because doing the large-scale, like massive operations isn't intimidating, but how does that work when you're looking at an entrepreneurial approach with resources that are split between just the two of us or thinking about how to grow and scale? So I would say it the most challenging part is that it's the wild, wild west and finding the right stride for your business, your goals, um, your family's needs and wants, and and blending that with the the fast-paced sort of club mentality of the mortgage industry was challenging, and I wasn't quite prepared or understanding how much is on a mortgage broker's plate, as especially as a single entity. There's it's an entire business, every single element of a business that you would have is on one person's shoulders. So that was challenging trying to find the right fit and resources and tools for what we wanted in our life and um to meet our goals.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Well, thank you for speaking for mortgage brokers everywhere. Yes, we have a very tough job, but it's very fulfilling to be able to see people realize the dream of homeownership, save money by refinancing, and and help guide people through what can be a very complicated process. I think you and I have sort of adapted the motto or tagline mission type statement, whatever you want to call it, of mortgages made simple, um, mortgages made easy, kind of that simplicity wording and messaging. And I think that's what I've always taken great pride in, and you're only going to help accelerate that is making the process, which a lot of people they're only experiencing a couple of times really in their life. Um, making, and it changes every month, week, year, certainly, so making that simple and easy as possible. And I look forward to all the things that we'll be able to do together. Um, now the last piece on business, before I talk to you about bowling and darts and sugar cookies, you mentioned the roller coaster of you know starting a business with me. Now, not only are we business partners, we're also husband and wife almost two years in now, year and a half or so, being married to each other, living in the same house, raising two kids and a dog. What would you say has been the best and worst part about starting a new business venture with your handsome, talented, always patient husband of yours?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

It's a trick question.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

It's no false pretenses to start, but yes, also a trick.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I think that's a really good question for um for a lot of people. One to give insight to who we are, you know, the heartbeat of Cody Mortgage, but then also um there are other um mortgage brokers out there who are thinking about or wanting to or are working with um with family or spouses. And um what was your question?

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Best and worst part of working with your starting a business with your spouse.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah. The the best part is that you have the opportunity to set your coordinates and your aim in whichever direction you want to take it. And that is so exciting. As someone who um worked in spaces where there was absolutely no boundary, where I would be getting phone calls, emails, text messages, messaging on apps and and chats before, during, and after surgeries, I would be in the recovery room, and as soon as I was lucid enough to get my phone back, I would be immediately back in the saddle, and there was just such a pressure and expectation with very little boundaries and and very little support when you're in those high growth spaces. Um, the the pleasure, the best part is you can set healthier boundaries and you can enjoy the life that you want to enjoy. The opportunity is there, and it to be able to be there for significant life moments, either for yourself or your family. I mean, that's really the best part. And also getting to do what we love to do. You love being a loan officer and providing a very, very uh high level of service to your clients and have simplified it. Like you're just brilliant at it. And I'm very good at and I enjoy the business growth and development side of it and the operations, the tools, the the infrastructure, all of that. It's an absolute joy to be able to blend both of our passions and to have that shared value too of the the customer service and the experience, and a deepening layer of being able to add education and empowerment to it and fulfill like what's a value set of ours of truly making a positive impact in the world, not just on customer service, but making it a better place, more accessible, more having more equality. Um it's a lifelong dream and something that I don't take for granted. Maybe I do take it for granted sometimes. But that's the best part is being able to do what we want to do and how we want to do it and in our own ways. And then the challenging part of it, the worst part is perspectives and expectations. Um you can say the same exact words and it can mean something completely different to other people. And for us, I think the worst part is um just knowing that if I fail, we fail. And um just wanting to meet uh you know your expectations and then those of the industry and customers and clients, uh something that I uh will I think always struggle with is this um this fear of letting people down or failing expectations, but something that has been a privilege to be able to work on together for us to be able to set those boundaries and set expectations and know that if we're doing XYZ, then we don't have to worry about the rest of the alphabet letters.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

A, B, C, D. I was trying to think of which letters I could throw in there to make a joke, but not the funny hat I don't have on today. Um, okay, so that gives us a good framework of our business together, your introduction to the mortgage space. So I've teased this cookie thing a couple of times. Now, this this cookie obsession, we have a name for it, correct?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Absolutely, we do.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Okay, so it's not just sugar cookies, it's a whole event that typically takes place in December of every year and gets 10 plus years running at this point. So, what is the name of the event that I have to schedule my Christmases around? And what is it and what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 16:26

You're talking about Cookie Palooza. I am, and it has been a tradition in my family for over 10 years, probably closer to 15. Um, and it started with baking at Christmas and being able to put together treat boxes for neighbors, for friends, for other family, and um also for for those that don't have family or maybe even friends in the area. So there's a mission element to it as well. But um years ago, my sister Amy, she developed a sugar cookie recipe that when you think of sugar cookies, there's two things that can come to mind. One are the round, uh like loft house style ones, the soft cookie with a soft frosting, and then the sugar cookies that I'm obsessed with are the ones that are little works of arts almost like painting, um, very highly detailed, highly intricate. Maybe we can put some photos in the in the edit afterwards, but um just a space where everything around the world stops, and it's just family, it's just creativity and baking and service and and fun. We watch Christmas movies, we listen to Christmas music, we squabble here and there. Uh but uh all the best things about family, and it's specifically my sisters and I and and my mom and um now my nieces as they're old enough to to really have fun with it. So yeah, cookie palooza every year. It's my one of my most favorite things in the world for multiple reasons.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

So I have been exposed to Cookie Palooza for what four years now, I want to say, four of these events, three or four. So I always get a special cookie brought home. I'm not men aren't allowed at Cookie Palooza.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

So I get a special cookie that has mat somewhere on it. I've had beautiful reindeers and Santas and snowmen and I these when she says pieces of art, they are literally like it's the best-looking sugar cookie you can possibly imagine. Um post this party with family, I will throughout the year actually, I will catch her watching videos of people making sugar cookies. So the obsession isn't just limited to December. Now, during Cookie Palooza, how many sugar cookies, if you had to guess, are completed between you and your sisters?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Oh, I can tell you exactly because we've been using the recipe, the same recipe, and have it uh sort of ironed out. We have um 25 different primary designs, and that ranges from Christmas trees to ornaments to those reindeer that you're talking about, snow globes, um stockings, mittens, all of those standard shapes, and then um our recipe makes anywhere between 450 and 500 cookies, each hand decorated and with a variety, mostly just frosting, but we'll throw in some edible glitter and uh sprinkles here and there. That's just sugar cookies. We have uh six to seven additional cookie flavors along the way as well that are standard family favorites, or occasionally we'll throw in a new recipe.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

I didn't that I just found out live on air that that was the number. I don't know. I would have guessed two, three hundred. I didn't know it was near five hundred. We might have to seek counsel for this. This doesn't seem healthy to be making this many sugar cookies and and contributing to America's diabetes epidemic or whatever we're doing. So, sugar cookies and the event cookiepalooza. Something that obviously brightens your your heart and spirit. You were you were smiling from ear to ear when I brought it up. Another thing that I know, or two things that you like to do in your spare time, you love to go bowling and you love to throw darts. Now, and one of our very first dates included, or first couple of dates included both of these. So, and you still haven't beat me at darts, so we'll that'll be an ongoing yeah, that'll be an ongoing rivalry. So, what it what is it about bowling and darts that you would say helps you be free, or what do you enjoy most about those activities?

SPEAKER_00 21:30

I think it like even includes the sugar cookies and all of my other interests. I'm a certified wiggle worm. It's very difficult for me to sit still and uh to have something where I can have conversation and also um kind of hone in on something that quiets my mind a little bit is really nice. I really enjoy physical activity, bowling is just fun. It's just so harmless uh but just enjoyable and um there's very little pressure you you win some you lose some but when you get those strikes or those spares it's just really fun and um it's a sense of camaraderie too just always such positive vibes when you go to a bowling alley and just so simply classic too it's not complicated um and then darts the same thing I just like to be on the move doing something having conversation having it be low stakes and um yeah it's and anyone can do it too so it's a very just welcoming environment I've had so many fun conversations and just fun collaborative connecting moments um with those particular activities well and something that I just thought of that we could pull back the curtain a little bit here on Cody Mortgage so you and I as we won't get into our backstory quite yet I think we'll have you on again because that's probably an episode by itself but we reconnected we knew each other as kids we reconnected bowling was one of our first times re-hanging out together or really our first main time and at this particular bowling alley when you would get a nine and a pin would be left there would be a rhinoceros that would appear on the screen right so for a long time you and my phone were Kirsty with the rhinoceros emoji rhino and sort of a nickname and now our family we even have adapted uh the rhino as sort of our family mascot between you me and and the kids um so that's an interesting thing that maybe we can get into at a later date but we had a lot of nines that day for some reason and we kept joking about the rhinoceros and I got a nine every single frame for one of our sure is it yeah there was a lot of a lot of nines outside of that there were a lot of nines.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

A lot of rhinos and you were having surgery the following week and you had shared with me that I showed up with a a book a spiky water bottle that you loved that you no longer have unfortunately maybe a notebook I don't remember but then also a stuffed rhinoceros and then it was kind of off to the races from there.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

And a gift card for food because after surgery it was naturally very difficult for me to to move and to cook andor even to have the energy to do anything. So you wanted to make it easy so I could just go on my phone and have things delivered. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

And we'll get into you have an amazing personal backstory as well between you've mentioned cancer, um we knew each other as kids and that's come back around you mentioned mentioned multiple surgeries. I would love to dive into that deeper so the audience can get to know you and Kirsty will be hosting uh episodes every other week so you can interject your own experiences into the podcast for the audience as you can get to know Kirsty better. Now next topic we've talked about cookies and bowling alleys now let's get outside a little bit because as your husband I would argue there's no place on earth that makes you happier than nature and being outside we can lump running into this as well just as an active outdoor topic what would you say that it is about nature that really brings out who you really are and that it's so evident to someone as your husband that I'm like yes Kirsty was born to be outside and in nature what is it about nature that brings that out of you there's so many things uh I'm a very I would say collaborative and connected person like people are very important to me but I also I'm way more introverted um than I am extroverted so there's a solo element um where I can recharge and just find my center.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

I think it's very healing there's studies that show that green space exposure helps with attention with mood with focus and just I think there's so many different applications and um so I'll talk about my solo joy in nature but also just being outdoors with friends and family is it's just so fulfilling to me to there's discoveries that you can make I love to go on off the beaten path literally we just found our way to a really beautiful waterfall not too long ago and we're waiting through the river to to cross to get to an access point. I just there's nothing more than I love than sharing joy, delight adventure discovery with those that I love and then on the flip side there's nothing that I enjoy more than those things too. I have been through a lot of health struggles a an extraordinary amount actually when I think about it and a big part of my recovery has been nature has been um the the healing aspects of it and then I've had a significant head injury a traumatic head injury and um broke my neck and in addition to that have gone through multiple rounds of um treatment for my cancer and those all affect your brain and your bones and prior to all of that I was born with a brain that I would say is um in hyperdrive especially for how our our world has been simplified and dumbed down it's been hard for me to find my space because my brain is just so active and never turns off but when I'm out in nature it's like the volume dial gets turned down and especially when I'm trail running you can't afford to think about anything else other than your successful next steps and you can't be in a bad mood.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

You have to be so dialed in whether you're training for a specific race or whether or not you're just trying to not trip on a hazard that's in the trail or slip or whatever it is just very very orienting to me and very um therapeutic and it's I've I've cried more I've laughed more I've wondered more I've delighted more when I'm in nature than any other place on earth so thank you for sharing all of those things um and I know how again being near you every day I know how important nature is to you it's something that lights up your spirit so bucket list if you were to think of a trail or a place in nature I know some of your favorites from living with you every day but just bucket list item of where you could go in the world anywhere outside doing something but you have one place that you can go. It doesn't have to be the best but just maybe the first that pops in your mind that you would this is probably selfish for me that I can make an epic fifth anniversary or something like that. But what was the when I just mentioned it what popped in your head is there a place or a an activity that's a piece of them well we I guess if we're talking more on like for anniversary trips or whatever I mentioned how special pearls are to me.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

They remind me of my grandmother um pearl diving uh and that's on my list specifically the Cortez uh sea there's pearls that are only found there like there's no other place in the world but um it would be really awesome to go diving and to to find those pearls and to do it in a way that's as you know least harmful on the environment and nature as possible and um so it mixes adventure and also I don't know treasure hunting but uh just something that is is unique too and very special. I generic things are I'm sure I'm a walking uh what's it contradiction with some of the things that I do that are generic but I generic and uh easy access or or for the masses just is completely opposite of who I am so I really really appreciate and enjoy things that you have to work for and that you have to take time to appreciate so that would be a very unique experience that I that's on my bucket list.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Well let's end on that tell me more about the pearls because I knew that probably within our first six months of dating that that was something that you wanted to do and I'm glad you brought that I didn't prep you for that answer full disclosure so I wanted to hear sort of a natural reaction in your mind what is it about the pearls specifically there and you mentioned your grandma can you give us a snapshot of and she's no longer with us but can you give us a snapshot of why those pearls in that place would be so meaningful to you there's lots of things I one of the first things off the bat is you can't reproduce them.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Those have to be made in nature now there are replica pearls and and beads that are polished and have that you know shine on them but you can't force a pearl to develop more quickly either so I there's just a really beautiful meaningful representation of a pearl it starts out as an irritant like an an invasive um particle in in a clam and or an oyster sorry not a clam but um that irritant that irritant I mean this is super beautiful and and like the concept of it is profound actually that irritant starts to get a protective coating to that the animal produces to prevent it from hurting it and then over time it grows and it gets layers and very often it's a relatively uniform uh pearl those are the ones with the most valuable I love all the pearls and their their nuances their shapes their color schemes the ones the um the pearls that I was referencing the diving they're a very unique shade they're not your standard stereotypical white they have beautiful warm hues to them and um just pearls in general remind me that difficulties don't have to be obstacles they can really turn out into something beautiful and when those moments come where you're so irritated or you you're frustrated remembering that you have the choice of whether or not you're gonna let it just irritate and harm you or if you're going to add your essence to it to turn it around and to polish it and to make it beautiful to make it part of you and something that you can share with the world around you. So seeing pearls wearing them it reminds me of my my grandmother Regina and just what a classy woman she was a practical woman but very classy and um also the sort of maybe metaphysical physical or spiritual component of pearls it's just I wish we would stop and enjoy and appreciate things more especially natural things.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Well thank you for that quick education some of that I had never heard you say either and especially in that way it made my eyes water a little bit as your husband but to hear you wax poetically about pearls I know their meaning to you because we've talked about it but I haven't heard it in that detail and with some of those metaphors to life so I think that's something that we can all take away and and appreciate from from this episode. So thank you for teaching us about cookies about pearls about putting up with a stubborn business partner and husband um thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a great wife a great mother a great dog mother um thank you for lighting up my life and I look forward to the rest of our lives together and our business together and and this podcast. So that's a good segue into next week.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

So Kirsty will be hosting next week's episode and that's where we start our alternate episodes so Kirsty will record I will record every other week so you get a different flavor you get a man hosting you get a woman hosting smarter version dumber version um different perspectives different questions from this chair do you know who you're having on next week I do our first or my first guest will be Jenny Cody Kangas and I won't reveal too much about it but it'll be a fun episode and uh an enjoyable and interesting one but also I think there's going to be some great practical takeaways too.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Jenny is an amazing woman uh professionally personally love Jenny uh very interesting to talk to so next episode and you're not gonna have me in this chair so next episode is gonna be our our best one yet so thank you Kirsty for joining us thank you Griffey he's somewhere here have a great day everyone thank you