EXPERIENCE 176 | Diversification, Innovation, and Generations - Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan, Father and Daughter, and CEO and Director of Marketing and Culture at Fiske Electric

In today’s episode of The LoCo Experience podcast, I had the pleasure of getting to know Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan from Fiske Electric.  Fiske is an electrical design and contracting business with a homebase just outside Loveland, and clients all across Northern Colorado, the Western US, and occasionally, internationally.  They have a highly diversified service offering, ranging from adding a new outlet in the garage for a homeowner, to residential subdivisions to commercial and tech installations, and also have a large presence in the agricultural sector, having recently completed work on the largest robotic dairy operation in the US!  

Kevin is the third leader of Fiske Electric, which was founded by his uncle Virgil in 1977.  Kevin moved to Colorado from Alaska in 1984 to join the team - and soon after became a partner, and the business was subsequently managed by Virgil’s son Clifford beginning in 1996.  Kevin ascended to leadership and majority ownership in 2016, and Brittany joined the company in 2019.  In 5 short years, she has been key to modernizing Fiske’s image online, renovating their HR functions, and maintaining a culture of excellence and integrity while growing their team in a challenging labor market.

Today’s conversation explores what it takes for a business to ascend to middle market scale - over time - and what it means to be a part of a multi-generational family enterprise.  Brittany’s status as heir-apparent was earned not granted, a fact that became increasingly obvious as we continued the conversation, and pride in both father and daughter in being a part of this legacy family enterprise is pronounced throughout the conversation.  And so, please enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCahan. 

The LoCo Experience Podcast is sponsored by: Logistics Co-op | https://logisticscoop.com/

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Transcript

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In today's episode of the Loco Experience Podcast, I had the pleasure of getting to know Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCann from Fiske Electric. Fiske is an electrical design and contracting business with a home base just outside Loveland and clients all across Northern Colorado, the Western U. S., and occasionally internationally. They have a highly diversified service offering, ranging from adding a new outlet and a garage for a homeowner, to a residential subdivisions and commercial and tech installations, And also have a large presence in the agricultural sector. Having recently completed work on the largest robotic dairy operation in the U S kevin is the third leader of Fisk Electric, which was founded by his uncle Virgil in 1977. Kevin moved to Colorado from Alaska in 1984 to join the team. And soon after became a partner, and the business was subsequently managed by Virgil's son, Clifford, beginning in 1996. Kevin ascended to leadership and majority ownership in 2016, and Brittany joined the company in 2019. In five short years, she has been key to modernizing Fisk's image online, renovating their HR functions, and maintaining a culture of excellence and integrity while growing their team in a challenging labor market. Today's conversation explores what it takes for a business to ascend to middle market scale over time, and what it means to be a part of a multi generational family enterprise. Brittany's status as heir apparent was earned, not granted, a fact that became increasingly obvious as we continued this conversation. And pride in both father and daughter in being part of this legacy family enterprise is pronounced throughout the conversation. And so please enjoy, as I did, my talk with Kevin Fiske and Brittany McCann Meme, meme, meme, meme. You want to do that? Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. Welcome back to the loco experience podcast. I'm here today with Kevin Fisk, as well as Brittany McCann, McCann. And, uh, they are father daughter and on the leadership team of Fisk electric. Uh, at all here in Northern Colorado. So, um, Kevin, you're the CEO, president, owner, uh, and that kind of stuff. How long have you been involved with the organization? So I started in 1984. Okay. Um, my uncle founded the company in 77, uh, with his son and then I came in an 84 and, and we bought my uncle out in 96. And then I bought my cousin out in. 16 maybe 20 15 something like that. Yeah, and Brittany how about for you? I mean, I'm I imagine you were probably Toddling around there when you were just a little one probably too, but how long have you been involved in the business? I Started full time in 2019. I did do a couple summer things odd jobs here and there like, okay recalking the Old shop and painting and pulling weeds. More like summer labor. Right. Underpaid summer labor. And out in the job too. She had to spend some time out there, uh, learning how to trim houses and stuff like that. So, yeah. In the field. And, and Brittany, you were kind of the marketing and culture you were, you were telling me before we got started here. Yeah, that's uh, definitely more what my role is now. I feel like being a smaller company, we have to wear a lot of different hats. So, a lot of times it's whatever I'm told to do is, is it. Can you get this done? Right. Because I know a lot of times when I ask you to get something done, it gets done. Yep. Can you figure this out? Google is my best friend for sure. Yeah, that's uh, one of the prizes of having millennials and Gen Zs on your team is that they might not know how to do things, but the good ones can know where to find it really easy. Yeah. Oh, and that's it. I mean, the industry's changed so much. We used to just slap an ad in the paper to hire people and it's not like that anymore. So she handles all that stuff for us as well. That's awesome. So does that include some like HR recruiting and stuff too? Or do you have an HR team? Um, no, we really don't have an HR team. We have a couple people that wear different hats within the HR kind of umbrella, but. Um, as far as the recruiting, the job postings, working a lot with the local high schools, um, trying to connect with kids coming out of, of high school that want to join the trades and figure out how to connect with them earlier. Yeah. Well, I imagine you're easier to connect with than stuffy old white guys like your father here. That's right. Um, let's talk about Fisk. Uh, what, uh, can you give me an overview kind of Kevin of, of what the company does? Because I was surprised to, to. No, such a large company was flying under my radar and it's not large, you know, on a national scale, but yeah. Um, yeah. Tell me more. So yeah, it all started in ancient Greece. I'm just kidding. Um, yeah, we started in 77, but I mean the, the foundations, my, uh, my dad's oldest brother, um, responded to an ad in a magazine back in the forties, um, to repair, um, radios during World War II. And, uh, they were living over on the Western slope and, uh, and that just kind of led to one thing. And then he started an electrical business and got certified and, and all the brothers, um, followed eventually, except my dad. My dad worked summers and went to college and became a school teacher. Okay. Um, but yeah, that's what started it. And my uncle was a electrician for a big company in Denver for 20 years. And, and instead of retiring, he decided to start Fisk Electric in 77. So, yeah. And really had a bunch of little Fisks running around there, medium sized Fisks for a while. Sounds like, yeah, there was lots of, lots of Fisks kind of came through and some stuck and some didn't. Yeah. Yeah. So, my cousin joined right away with my Uncle Virg, and, uh, really that was, that was the start of Fisk Electric. Well, we can, uh, come back to the, kind of, growth journey some, but, like, tell me about the company today. Who, who are your clients? What kind of projects do you do? Uh, I imagine there's a very diverse assortment? Probably sometimes. I mean, you know, that whole leading ed bleeding edge thing. Um, we bleed a lot, but we try to really look for emerging technologies and see if it's something that we can be interested in and, and how that would fit into an electrical company or something that would be close. So, um, we've worked with, you know, a lot of different aspects of that. I think what, what scared me, um, was obviously the eighties were, were a trying time. Um, And, you know, interest rates and stuff was tough, and then we kind of moved into the next major calamity was 9 11. Right. We were working a lot with residential at that time, and the national builders all just kind of packed up and went home. Just kind of, like, installing residential electric service. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so from that point on, we really, we were a commercial company before that and went to residential because we saw a bigger opportunity. There was so much demand for so long. Yep, and then just kind of evolved into, you know, my fear was not being diverse enough. And so probably everyone else's fear is that I'm probably too diverse now. But I really didn't want to be pigeonholed into one industry. So we've got multiple divisions of the company and we, we start them and sometimes they're successful and sometimes we kind of have to table them until, you know, it becomes around, but we've got, uh, we do a lot with healthcare. Okay. Um, we do a lot in agriculture. Um, my grandfather was a dairy farmer, my wife's dad was a dairy farmer, and so we kind of got drug into the agriculture side of that. Okay. Does that include, like, not just dairies, but also, like, irrigation systems? Absolutely. Need a lot of electricity and whatnot too, I suppose? Yeah. Anything, you know, agricultural related that needs electricity, we try to be involved in. Okay. Um, and that's kind of brought us around globally to all kinds of opportunities. I mean, we worked in vertical farming, um, and have traveled around the world working with companies that are developing machines to grow, you know, more crops and sprouted greens with just water. No, you know, no dirt, no fertilizer. They call it controlled, uh, agriculture, basically controlled environmental agriculture. Um, so that's been a big part. Um, we've got the world's largest, uh, robotic dairy farm here in Colorado under one roof. Okay. So we Where's that at? That's, uh, just outside of Pierce. Okay. Yeah. So not far if we want to go take a tour. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, and we'll come back to some of your clients, but Brittany, what, uh, what's your favorite? Like, cause you're marketing too, right? So you're helping to connect with them. These different client types in agriculture and in whatever, no longer residential, have you skipped out of that marketplace a little bit? No, not at all. You still do it if you want? Or if they, if they want, yeah. It's, it's a major foundation for us. I mean, mainline electrical will always kind of be the foundation of our company. Okay, okay. And we just, gives us the opportunity to branch out. Yeah, I feel like it's hard to pick just ones. They're all so different. I mean, you kind of have a different in consumer. So marketing is different totally doing a single family home where they're doing a fully custom, you know, multimillion dollar home. It's it's a little bit different to try and advertise towards them versus a hospital versus a dairy farm. They all kind of different needs and and so that's it's hard to choose. But I would say My favorite project that I've been working on recently is on the ag side of things. We've noticed that, uh, breweries, distilleries and wineries all have a lot of the similar like equipment and machinery and the same techniques. And so our, group of techs can easily swap over to that. So it's been fun to try and figure out what those guys are looking for and, and how we can translate what we currently have and advertise that we can offer that for them. So now are you a construction company mostly, or do you also do service calls and maintain the systems that you've installed? Especially agricultural. We have a, a, uh, that does more industrial refrigeration type stuff. So we have to be able to transport the milk and cool the milk and store the milk. Um, and that's, what's kind of led to some of this other stuff. Very same exact brands for, um, some of these micro breweries and that kind of thing, um, malting process. And we've done a lot of, uh, You know, from the storage where it comes out of the field to even the stuff that needs to be refrigerated and held for a long time. And so, we not only put those systems in and sell some of the equipment, but we maintain it. Talk to me about, um, like I must, I'm going to guess here that even though marketing is important, that most of your revenue comes from relationships, like long term relationships with people. These different kind of builders or things, general contractors are choosing you among their list of candidates to do this project, things like that. Um, like, Do you have a bunch of different kinds of like sales reps or how do you, like, how do you source it on that relationship side? Or do people contact you a lot? Like how, how, how do you, who makes it rain at Fisk? Mostly it's that, I mean, we just, we've been around long enough that people call it just rain. Yeah, it's great. I mean, it's, it's very odd, but we, we public bid some, but probably in the last 10, 15 years, very, maybe 20 percent of what we do is public bid. Most of the time it's design, build or design assist. Okay. And so. Companies will come to us and say they have a project on the horizon and we'll help them either develop the electrical side of that plan or just, you know, look at value engineering that we can bring to the table and maybe cheapen things up a little bit for them. Yeah, yeah. Um, like take me into like a customer journey a little bit if you, if you wouldn't mind, like, uh, say I'm a, Uh, I want to really upgrade and build out and maximize, maybe put in my robotic milkers that I've been longing for. Um, so, there, are they coming to, to you through a general contractor or something? Or sometimes the electric's the biggest, biggest provider? challenge. And so you're almost the lead contractor. A lot of times. That's it. You know, I think general contractors will contact us more on the commercial side. Sure. A fresh bill, but with a, uh, an ag side, you start to get more specialty. And so a lot of times we're contacted before any of the general contractors are. And, uh, we, one of our divisions is high plains robotics. We, we sell the equipment. as well. So the equipment is kind of picked first and then you design the project all the way around it. And, uh, so that's how it is. I mean, we go to trade shows and, and we're, you know, we have newsletters and things that we put out all the time. So dairy is a pretty small, it's a small community, even in the whole United States, but in Colorado, there's less than a hundred dairy farms. Oh, is that right? Yeah. It's it's, and it keeps getting smaller. Wow. Yeah. So, um, And then so you get the proposal basically and then it's just a matter of sending, sending the field crew out. Yeah, they'll contact us and tell us kind of what they're looking for, um, different types of, of ways to harvest milk. So robots are just the newer way to do it. Um, and it's not that new. I mean, robot technology. requires a lot of electricity to cool it down after it's been harvested, et cetera. Yeah. So we sell, we sell the equipment. And then we'll install the equipment and they don't have to use us as the electrical contractor. Oh, interesting. Sometimes we'll do the electrical and not supply the equipment or vice versa. Sometimes we'll supply the equipment and there'll be an electrician that the family's worked with for a long time. And so we work with those guys and yeah, it's been great. Yeah. Brittany, what do you think about, uh, uh, just this environment? Probably you're working What's the, what's the boy girl count at, uh, at Fisk? Um, in the office, it's a little more even, so Fair enough. We're not totally outnumbered, but Yeah, definitely, when you get into the field, there's Much higher percentage of, of men. And did you go to college for marketing or for human resources or? Yeah. So how did you get in here? Background is I have a minor in advertising and so I guess backing up, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Yeah. I had to go to school. He made me go to college. Right. I played basketball too. So when they asked what I wanted to major in. Are you taller than your dad, by the way? A little bit. I thought maybe when you came in. No, but they asked like, what do you want to major in? And I'm like, basketball. Like, I don't know. And that wasn't an option. So we talked and he was like, be a teacher. You get summers off. It's great. I'm like, all right, well then I'll be an art teacher. Cause I can grade papers and not papers. Like, and so I, uh, I started to do that and then I took a marketing class and it all kind of clicked for me. Like the marketing, the advertising, you could combine your creativity with business and it all just kind of came together. So I got my minor in advertising and then I have a bachelor of fine arts in visual communication design. Okay. Kind of along the same lines. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I mean, if you can connect with somebody psychologically through a picture, you don't have to use so many darn words. A hundred percent. Right. So, um, So let's just talk about that. Talk about your entry into the business proper. So you get this degree and then did you go start trying to teach somewhere or something? No, I didn't. It had nothing to do with teaching. After I figured out kind of the business side, I decided to do that. I worked at Fisk for a couple months, but he, he always pushed, dad always pushed us to go out and try other companies, like go out into the real world, gain experience, gain exposure. And if it works to come back to Fisk, great. If it doesn't, you know, that's fine. It's the door's always open. So I did go out, I did a couple of jobs where it was sports apparel design and product development, and it just happened to work out in 2019. My husband travels a lot for work and I was like, I need, I want something where I can travel with him and have a little bit more flexibility and. We had some opportunities at Fist finally to have some marketing, like for a long time, marketing wasn't a huge, a huge part of electrical contracting company. So, uh, he was like, Hey, I think, I think we have enough work that you could jump over and start doing that. And so I jumped over in 2019 and. Well, your website looks amazing. I don't know if you, if you built that or if you oversaw the construction of that. You built it? All you? Yeah. Dang. Yeah. What platform? Wix. It is. Yeah. It looks really good. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. We're pretty proud. Yeah. I imagine. I imagine. It always seems silly for us to have a website. I mean, in my mind. Yeah. They just need the phone numbers where they can normally call us. But it's, the further we get, it's just amazing. It's a lot of times. Turns out this stuff works, kinda. Yeah. I mean, they hire us a lot of times because, like, they vet us. Right. Based on what our website looks like. Well, and honestly, if somebody doesn't know you, and they go to your website, and it looks like, you know, you're. Your neighbor's kid built it, and it just doesn't, doesn't work, you know, uh, it takes away a lot of credibility right away. Yeah, it really does. So, well, good for you. Do you get leads off the website now, too, and everything? Yeah. People contact us forms and whatnot? Yeah, it's been super fun. We finished our website. End of last year and it's like any website. I think we're constantly updating and adding to it but the last quarter we've really started to see a lot of Incoming contact us whether it's for Us to bid on a job or hey, we saw your truck around like can you come? Add an outlet to our garage or something all the way to applicants. So it's it's been really fun to see that Start to kind of turn over for us. And will you do all the way from adding an outlet in a garage all the way up to robot dairies and whatnot? Yeah, yeah, we've, uh, I mean, we've continued to grow. We were, when I bought the company from my cousin, we were 11 million gross revenue and we're, we've done about 24. Million in gross revenue the last couple of years. So substantial growth in that last seven years or whatever. And over a hundred employees through the last five years. I mean, we've been around 120, 130, um, which was another thing that the website brought for us is how do you communicate in a construction environment with 130 people that don't come to the office a lot of times. And so, you know, she's come up with the newsletter that we, we pump out every month, but employee portal is part of that. So you can log into our website and we can. Yeah, we changed, made a change to the 401k plan, check it out here, or whatever. That's pretty important, especially, you know, when you got 20, 30 people in a company or something, you can kind of have enough, connection, interconnection to have that cohesive culture. But if there isn't a home base, once you get a little bigger, it's tough. Yeah. And pre COVID we'd have meetings every Monday morning. Right. And then all of a sudden that went away and it's like, well, how do we get this safety information out? And I mean, you know, a lot of stuff we've just kind of. Had to figure out ourselves, but once we brought Brit on, um, which was right at the beginning of that, it was so great because she could figure out how we could get, I mean, every, it seemed like every day we had a new message about how to handle COVID this or that, or people lining up looking for the free money line. Where can we get this free money we saw on TV last night? Yeah, so being able to communicate with those guys is really kind of the genesis of why that was so important. We used to do a sheet called the razzle dazzle sheet that we would share with people like they say, Are you good enough or big enough to handle this hospital job? And so we would have to share with them kind of our history. Oh, here's some of our big stuff we've done and so we called it the razzle dazzle, but now they do all that on the on the website for us too, so. It seems like you might be kind of an idea girl, Brittany, is that? A true statement. Yeah. I probably tend to, to lean on that side. Yeah. Sometimes, uh, dad's kicking and screaming and it takes a little while for him to be convinced, but usually he sees the ideas are pretty good. He's come around. I feel like at first it was, what is his marketing crap like? I don't get it. And it's slowly. Like, let's do a website. Let's do this. Let's do that. And now he's starting to see it. Now he is just all on board. Like whatever you want to do, let's be run with it. So it's been fun on my side too. So talk to me about your, your, you said a little over a hundred employees. Is that right? Yeah. And like, talk to me about, there's probably like a HQ team. You mentioned the office team, right? Um, and then the field team and what are those functions? I imagine you've got like. You know, estimators and things like that, mostly in the office. Or is that part of the field team? You're talking about the kind of the, who's the crew? Sure. So, yeah, we, we pretty much have, uh, two, two directors, um, uh, residential and commercial. So it's basically my middle kid worked for us for about six years. And he kind of said, it's where the guys that are in charge of where people work and the guys that are in charge of where people live. And so those are the two directors, if you will. Then we have, um, our CFO handles all the financial stuff. Brittany handles all the marketing as well as, um, works with the safety group and, and does, you know, all of those things. And then, uh, we've got. Kind of the warehouse and material procurement. So that's kind of our main, our main team. And then under that project managers. And so in, in our organization, the project managers bid the work and they also manage the people that do the work. Okay. So there's not really an estimator per se. It's a bid process. But when the estimator went on vacation, it was just a disaster. You know, and to have them guys, the handoff is easier. I mean, you bid your own work, right? And so they, and then when you're managing that project and you see where you screwed up, well, maybe you won't screw up this time, right? No, it works great. So we've got five project managers and then multiple form and level that run typically the onsite project. Um, so when we were working on the introductions, you, uh, you introduced Brit as a, you know, the director of marketing and culture and kind of heir apparent as well. Um, Like was that something that Evolved like she just showed a lot of prowess for business and whatever. Or when she came on to the company in 2019, 2020, was it already a thought? I, I don't know if I had it as a thought for her. I wasn't sure what her interest level was, but I have two sons as well. And they've all worked inside the business and they've learned a lot. And my youngest son didn't go to college. He served his apprenticeship through Fisk and now he runs our dairy farm. So we own a dairy farm. Okay. And it's where his love is more. Yeah. And the middle, the middle son, um, he, he works with, he got his degree in economics and computer science, and he's found all kinds of opportunity in, in those, in those areas and helped us a ton at Fisk. But it really surprised me that Brit was interested in the Company business and I just see it's a I mean, it's a fantastic fit. Yeah Yeah, so I've got guys that run the electrical part Like I said, the director of residential and director of commercial Matt and Ryan there. I mean, they're awesome We've got what five guys that are that are just finishing their 25th year at Fisk so we have a lot of longevity and Those two guys along with the guy that runs our warehouse that have been just huge parts of what we do Um And it's just kind of fit in. I mean, she brings to the table what they have no clue and vice versa. What I think I'm hearing and like, in addition to the marketing culture, it's almost like an operations realm where, and a really good operations manager, like Fits or find us finds a solution for all the gaps that you might not even know you have. Yeah And that's not that you've got a big smile Well, and our CFO is amazing. I mean Lance he used to work in the Otter Box Organization has a lot of history from northern Colorado and his family was ag side. So it was this Amazing mix. Great mix of experience. Yeah, and he's just a great finance guy and that's not either one of really our strengths. So he's a perfect fit as well. Talk to me about, uh, that evolution. I'm sure, like, you didn't start with having a whole bunch of responsibilities placed on you. It was more about opportunities and then a growing list of responsibilities? Yeah, for sure. So I feel like, uh, Obviously you come in, electrical was not Necessarily like I grew up around it. So right. It wasn't foreign Uh certain but you hadn't been shocked too many times. No, no, no, no Still trying to stay away from that part Even the even your employees, right? No, um And I think it was just trying to find this balance of i'm not an electrician. So where can I bring value? And marketing was something we just like I said earlier, we didn't have anything like that. So that was a place I could bring value. And then it was like, okay, I think, I think I could help out with our hiring processes. I think I could clean this up. I think I could, you know, increase this or help with sales or business development. And it's just kind of ballooned into, you know, More and more hats. Yeah, yeah make it easier and easier for customers to say yes for Potential employees to say yes for existing employees to say yes to being engaged and motivated Yeah, the internal and external communications for that I mean there's Advertising internally which is kind of our culture right and figuring out what that looks like because I mean growing from a small I mean how many people were In the shop when you were running it. Yeah, it was the fifth employee So a completely different, you know Connection then when we have a hundred and fifteen employees, you know, I think there was one time he was downstairs with It was a Monday morning toolbox talk. And some guys like, Hey, are you new here? It's a really great place to work. Like, you know, so it just, that kind of shows you how much bigger we've gotten. That not everybody even knows his face or who he is when he's around. So, yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. And I was in the army, so I didn't go to college, but, um, I went. to the Army for a short period of time and, and was really impressed with SOPs and how that they could, you know, just, it was kind of like the McDonald's model. It didn't matter really, you know, who you were, what you're hired and trained, you should be able to flip these burgers just the right way. And so I really wanted our company to end up like that. And I had SOPs, but I mean, they were on pieces of paper or in file cabinets. And Britt really helped get that really put in. And, and Steven too, to, to really get it to where anybody can, can follow our procedure and should be able to produce an end result that's expected. Yeah. Yeah. I dig it. Yeah. Um, what, uh, I guess what would you say, um, and either one of you can answer this, what would you say your employees would say that Fisk really stands for? Or, or what, what sets you apart? Why they stay there 25 years, why they join you? Things like that. Well, I mean, I can start and you can finish, but, um, I mean, it, it's really, uh, I was surprised. So we started a company or started buying companies and built a set of companies that was in the service industry around ag and took it kind of multistate, had a location in Canada, five locations in the U. S. And yeah, it was a small, it was like 2 million when we started and 4 million are 4 years later, we were about 70 million in gross revenue. So it was huge explosion. When was this? This was just in the last five, six years. Okay. Um, and we ended up selling, um, that company off. Lots of things I learned, good and bad. Um, but when I came back into Fisk more often, I mean, I just kind of dropped by once a week, that kind of thing. Oh, that's why we recognized you for a while. Yeah, and when I came back, I was just shocked how different it felt. And, and so that was the whole culture piece. And a guy named Mark, um, Weaver, yeah, yeah. Just helped me so much with culture and works great with Brit. But, um, it, I just, we lost something that we took for granted. At least I did. And that was really my cousin and my uncle. Um, they were, I mean, it was always, I mean, very spiritual family. And that was at that time. the forefront of their life, no matter what they did. That was always first. And so honesty and hard work. And I mean, my uncle just passed away and there's over 300 people at his funeral just a few months ago. And he, he was 91. I mean, you don't see that, but that usually people are 91. They don't have that many friends left. It's a Testament to what a great. a great culture that he built, not just from a work standpoint, but his personal life and his faith. It was just massive. And so that was really the key to Fisk. And, um, I, I inherited, um, like I said, when we first met, I'm kind of last man standing. Right. But I, I mean, I, I was loyal to the company, but I believed in it. And then when I saw some of that missing, it was just because we didn't do a good job sharing that with the incoming people, the guys that have been there for 25 years, honestly are there because they, uh, my uncle and my cousin, and they just saw that I adopted that and still live that life and believed in that vision. So figuring out how we share that with the new people, but the new guys, yeah, you got to kind of get them on board a little faster. Yeah. Right. They don't want five years for them to be Rob, Rob Fisk. We want it to be right away. And it's a whole different world now. I mean, you hear that all the time, but it's just so different. So, I mean, what was, Easy to communicate, I think, um, when you were a small shop and everyone was together every day in the morning is hard when a lot of people don't ever even come to our office. They just go straight out to job sites. Yeah. Brittany, did he cover most of the stuff that you were thinking? Yeah, I mean, I feel like he did a good job of hitting on that. Um, yeah. Talk to me about Mark Weaver. Mark's awesome. Yeah. He's just a good dude. Did you listen to my podcast with him as part of your research for this conversation? Right. He was like number 84 or 88 or something like that. Yeah. He said he was early on. Yeah. Yeah. Relatively early. Yeah. Right. No, he's been awesome. He's been a huge asset to us. I feel like we've, uh, like again, when he mentioned, like we kind of noticed that there's this culture that. It was there and it kind of wasn't there. And yeah, mark, we didn't like, he'd been doing HR for Fisk for years and years and years. Yeah. I worked with him, uh, multiple companies, uh, employer source group. Oh, okay. And a bunch of stuff where he was working with people that I knew Benner family and Yeah. Really helped us a lot early on, but I, I just didn't put two and two together and realize how much help he could be from the culture side. It was more HR side compliance. But you're like, oh, compliance's some culture action here too. Yeah. Yeah, so we use him a lot. I meet with him multiple times a week, and I mean, he's been a huge part of what we're trying to do. Well, it's been fun just because I feel like culture is his passion like he does the HR side of stuff But but culture is his passion so then having him come in and and be able to really just push him Kevin, especially into What is it? Do you want you know, like what is what is Fisk? Would you say? We don't do drama. What does that mean? You know, like going through and breaking it down to what are your norms your values your intolerables and And truly like getting that out and then that's kind of the McDonald's way, you know, like it's a lot easier once it's spelled out. Like this is what is expected. Right. When Kevin says this, you can't see what he's doing in the field because he's not in the field anymore. Right, right. You know, but this is what he's talking about. Well, in the SOPs for, you know, how we do a bid and how we connect that with project management and what the expectations and responsibilities are, is easier than, Sometimes communicating what those core values are and how we demonstrate it. What, what does it really mean? Well even safety, I mean something is, is As easy as safety in my mind, when I was growing up, it was, don't be stupid, be safe. And so Mark's helped me kind of use that word. And same thing with Brit to say, Hey, you can still say that, but then let's expound on that because guys coming out of high school when I was young, you know, you'd been to shop class and you'd done all kinds of things and grew up in a farm, perhaps whatever people coming in nowadays, a lot of times you, you You literally have to teach them righty, tighty, lefty, loosey, right? Right, right. And safety is the same thing. Totally. I mean, just being self aware of all the things that can hurt you really bad on, on a job site. And so safety always, it was important to me, but I didn't realize that, you know, what a fundamental level sometimes you need to start. And it's not fair to a, a guy coming in that hasn't been exposed to that. Totally. So we have to assume every single person coming in, it's a brand new. Brand new experience for him and then teaching safety from the ground up. That's just one example Yeah, but it is something that that she can help with a lot Brittany does through the way we communicate But Mark's helped us with that, you know, safety is a culture and it's super important to us So it's more than just don't be stupid No, I just think it's been It's been a challenge, like, cause like you said earlier, we have five different generations in the workforce right now. And so going from everybody meeting every Monday morning for the toolbox talks to half of those guys didn't have emails a couple of years ago. I mean, we were dealing with that two years ago. Where can I send our, Monday morning safety meetings, right? I don't have an email, right? It's 2020 You know and just those little things that you kind of just assume Younger generation that everybody has those so working through some of those challenges in just how do you communicate efficiently with Five different generations. Yeah. So fair enough. Yeah. Um, what's next for, you know, like, Oh, actually before we go to what's next, I wanted to go back to this adventure. You like grew some side hustle into something really big and sold it or something like that. Yeah, it was just, I mean, I I've kind of had this interest in, in. How we're going to feed the world and renewable energy and all these things that I feel like electricity is going to be a part of. So getting to know people over the years, um, a few of us got together and formed a partnership and started, uh, purchasing companies that serviced agriculture. In that space, right? And it was great. I mean it took off. It was one of those examples. It just took off so much faster than we could fund it Um, I never dreamed I'd be part of it. So it's kind of a little private equity firm of sorts Almost it was just us. We just find you were managing and everything everything. Yeah, so a little Warren Buffett thing Yeah, and then it's like, you know for us Flying all over the United States and try to run all these little stuff out. Yeah. And, you know, and then, and figuring out how to get people to buy into, you know, what was important to you and your vision and all that. And I mean, we learned a ton of stuff and at the end it didn't work out. Um, we were able to sell it. Um, I think it's still the vision of the future just has to be funded properly. And, uh, it's so important. I mean, skilled labor is, is just. It's, it's such a high demand right now. And I do think that now people are starting to come back in and we're seeing that. And I mean, college is still super important. Um, and, but I think that there's people that college, it just doesn't fit and skilled labor is still a super important thing and it's a necessity across all kinds of industries. So I was super passionate about that and then being able to figure out how, I mean, we could grow crops with 96 percent less water. That was a huge thing. And so I traveled to Israel. One of my partners was from Israel, um, lived in Sweden for quite a while. Um, another partner was in Canada. And so we kind of all got together and looked at some of this stuff. And I was lucky enough to go over to Israel before all the conflict and stuff, same year, just in the spring. Um, But they're taking me around and showing me and I mean, that's a nation that is short on land and short on water. Sure. But they're one of the most progressive agricultural nations in the world. Right. And it was fascinating to see some of these things. And so, you know, you're kind of taking bits and pieces. What are they growing over there? All kinds of stuff. Is it greenhouses, I assume, to protect it? It's really not. Yeah, avocados are huge over there. Okay. And so, um, there's a, you know, A huge company that's based out of Israel, multiple ones that we worked with, but this, this partner of mine is working for a company that, um, grows a ton of avocados. I mean, they're one of the largest avocado producers, I think, in Europe and maybe in the world. I don't know. They're huge, but the way the machinery and the things that they've developed there around that, but they invest in feeding animals. They're the number one. Um, feed company for animals in Israel and, uh, working with them on this controlled environment, agriculture, you know, you can take away pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, you can take away the environment, and now you're growing a sprouted green that comes just from a seed and water. And within four to seven days, you can feed that sprout to animals. Um, And it's healthy, it's super nutritious, it's low cost, I mean, and, and the advancements there have just been off the charts. And just a rapid, like, sequence cycle, right? So that was part of kind of that environment, and then being able to And probably super easy to digest. It's fantastic, yeah. True, right? And there's just none of that stuff. So straw. Yeah. Right? Barely, yeah. Well, and you can take a, just a, a seed, and in four to five days, you can have a seven inch sprout that's just, but you're, you're, you're feeding the root. Right, so there's no processing ever. It's just amazing what it does for these. And so it's the future. So you went on this journey and you and all your partners sold out. So it was kind of a joint thing, or you were like, man, Fisk needs me. Yeah, no, we all, we all, and we all kind of went our different ways, but everyone's kind of involved still in their own way. I see. Um, I just came back and I'm still super involved in, in some of those things. And anything that I can take that I can bring back toward Fisk is good. Um, partnerships are tough. You know, I learned some lessons. I mean, there was five equal partners, right. So pretty much there was nobody in charge. And it was like always this weird thing. Best you could get to was three against two. Right. And then two people were annoyed. Yeah. And it wasn't always the two, same two. So for sure. But it was a great experience. I learned a ton and, and being able to see that this isn't just a US thing, it's a global thing. Mm-Hmm. And, you know, I mean. there's a lot of things that become political, but they don't, they don't really have to be. I mean, they're just, they're just the facts. You know, we need to figure out ways to be more responsible with our water. And we need to figure out how we're going to feed, you know, portions of the world in a more efficient way. And those are the things that get me excited. And it's all about water and energy ultimately. Right. And that's it. And it all fits back into electrical. I mean, I am so blessed to have been part of, the electrical side because it seems like the end result of a lot of these things is electricity. And that's us. Yeah. Yeah. They haven't found any good ways to move water around, except for with pumps, electric pumps, I mean, hand pumps, but foot pumps to make much water move. Yeah. So, um, So, what else would you have people, we're going to jump in the time machine here and kind of do the, the parallel life journey thing a little bit, uh, before we go into some of the later segments, but what else would you have people know about Fisk? I find it really interesting that you'll put an outlet in a garage and be the lead contractor on a, you know, probably multi, you know, maybe even tens of millions of dollar project sometimes. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I don't want to do all the talking, but I mean, for me, I get super passionate about all of that. The, the foundation is electrical and that's a, you know, a GFI receptacle in some, some person's garage or, you know, it's figuring out how to provide, um, energy where, where there's no power structure. And so we're into solar and we're into biogas digesters. We've done five of those now. Oh, interesting. Um, and, um, how that works and carbon credits. And I'm a part of, you know, figuring all that stuff out. And yeah, it's just, it's an amazing look to the future, but we still have to stay rooted in our past because that's kind of what's given me every opportunity in my life is electrical, right? Well, I'm definitely going to dig into that carbon credits and stuff more in our political segment of this podcast, because it's something I've been curious about for a long time. Brittany, um, You don't seem very uncomfortable with this kind of heir apparent notion. Is it daunting? I mean, you're, are you, are you 30? Uh, yeah, 35. 35? Oh, wow. You look very young. Well, thank you. Yeah. I mean, you've been also very evidently smart and capable. throughout our conversation, but like you're still fairly young in your career for sure. And uh, you know, what's that look like to you? Uh, definitely intimidating. Um, I think it's been interesting just because at a certain point I always thought one of the boys would take over Fisk Electric. Yeah. Um, and then as soon as it looked like that wasn't going to happen, there was, there was something, I can't even explain it. There's a, having Fisk Electric be your family's company, there is a certain level of just pride seeing your name on that building. And I, I don't know, I couldn't imagine it going to somebody else. So, I think my struggle is understanding somebody that's never worked in the field. Like, I'm not an electrician. I can't speak to All the electrical terminology. I never Yeah. Kilowatts I could never Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jewels and whatever those things. Yeah. Like I could never go bid a job, but what I can bring to the company, how does that work and, and how can I be, uh, an asset to the company without having electrical side. So I think it's been a interesting, just talking to my dad and, and to, mark Mark's been a huge help with some of that too, and just figuring out ways that, that I can bring certain elements that. That do benefit and yeah, well, and over time, um, I would imagine that you'll have to kind of move into other areas, keep growing your learning a little bit. You know, it's all about assembling a team too, but, um, we have actually, uh, Brittany would love our, we have a group that's just for the right hand. the key employees that might somehow run, someday run the place. Yeah. And Allison Seabick is the facilitator for it. And uh, That'd be awesome. You guys would get on like peas and carrots. Heck yeah. Yeah. So we'll talk more about that after the show, or maybe we'll hit it later. But uh, That'd be awesome. It's uh, you know, a lot of those number twos, a lot of thirty somethings, you know, that will be the decider someday. Sure. Uh, Sure. And so that's fun. Um, I think it's time for the time machine. Okay. Ready? You're older, Kevin. So we're going to go back to where you were young. I'm still hitchhiking. Right back when you were hitchhiking. No, let's go to, uh, uh, let's go to your first grade year. Yeah. Uh, Your dad had left the company already and had become a teacher? Is that true? My dad, yeah, he just worked a little bit for my uncles. Um, so yeah, so he became a teacher. Um, I was born in Colorado. Um, we moved to Alaska when I was two. Where in Colorado? Uh, I was born in Leadville. We lived in Buena Vista. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah. And then, uh, my dad came home one day and told my mom he wanted to go see Alaska, and she said, oh, that's great. And she thought he meant for vacation, and he quit his job and moved to Alaska. She went with him, though? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was the three of us. So, yeah, we ended up in a fishing village up there for, uh, yeah, about five years, and, uh And, like, teaching? Yeah, he just he didn't have a job. I mean, he was making phone calls as we were driving up And we got on a ferry and they said if you can be to this little town called cordova in three days Um, they would interview him. And so he he went through the interview and it's great and the guy said him I'm leaving for my summer break. Um, if you still want the job when I come back and he goes, well, you don't understand. I'm like, I've got 20 bucks in my pocket and my family. Yeah. And we're all in. And so he got him a job at the cannery and yeah. And we, we lived in the summer of the cannery and then, uh, started at the high school in Cordova. Fascinating. Yeah. That's an adventurous, uh, family tree. So yeah, so then, uh, when I started, we moved in just outside of Anchorage, um, when I started kindergarten so I was lucky enough to go from kindergarten through 12th grade in the same school system. Okay. Uh, we lived in a town called Eagle River, north of Anchorage and, uh, yeah, I mean right around somewhere between first and third grade we were learning, uh, metric system for one year. Right, right. And they threw that back out the window. Yeah, that's right. So what, uh, what would you have people know about? Like Alaska and, and were you kind of semi-urban Alaska, you said it was north of Anchorage, but it was more of a suburb than it was like a Yeah. Village. Super small town. It wasn't a village, but um, I felt like it was normal. But yeah, looking back, it probably wasn't super, but, uh, yeah. But you did your shopping in Anchorage and things like that? Yeah, and we had a little grocery store and, you know, we had a restaurant and, you know, there's a couple things where I, where we grew up. Um, we had huge high schools. Um, they were junior, senior high schools. Okay. Um. There was only probably about 7 or 8 of them total in our area, but they were all, my average class sizes were probably 350 to 500. Oh, wow. So, um, it was, you know, expensive to build, so I think they just kind of bust people in and that kind of stuff, so, um. And was it just you the whole time? Single, solo child, or did your folks bring some more people in? Yeah, I got one sister. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, yeah. And she was actually born in Cordova. She gets to claim to be a native Alaskan, um, which is a kind of a cool thing, but, uh, yeah, that was, uh, Alaska was a great place to grow up. I mean, it was different. I didn't realize how dysfunctional it was later on. I mean, it was the, the pipeline and oil boom, and it was kind of like, I, they kind of equate it to gold rush. Right. Yeah. Right. So it brought lots of money and with lots of money is lots of problems and I mean, there's just a lot of crazy stories that I didn't realize until after I was grown up and moved away. My wife's like, that is just not normal, but like a lot of your, even your coworker, your peers at school and stuff, like their parents were in chaotic. Oil field patches and different things like that. And they would work four, four weeks and be off two, or they'd work, you know, six weeks and be off two, those kind of things. I mean, uh, I didn't grow up in that environment. My mom stayed home and my dad was a school teacher. So it is very different. We, we would fish in the summers and commercial fish some, not super successful, but back in the derby days of long lining for halibut and those kind of things. It was, it was great. I mean, I. I have zero complaints about growing up, um, in Alaska, but lots of, lots of crazy stories definitely now. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. Have you been up to where, where your dad grew up? Yeah. I, uh, we got to go up once when I was in junior high, so it's been a while. Yeah. What do you think? You want to, you want to go up? Move it up there. Move Fisk Electric up to Alaska. You know, I am totally down to visit, but that is a little chilly for me. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. I go up a lot. I still, yeah, my dad and stepmom still live there. My sister still lives there. Oh, wow. Okay. I have friends from high school that are up there. Yeah, I love it. So, what did you do after high school? Did you come south? Yeah, I mean, I went to trade school for a few months and decided I didn't want to just sit and, you know, I was going to go into drafting. My dad was a drafting teacher, industrial arts. Yep, yep. So woodshop, metal and drafting and just decided that Uh, after I went to, it was down in Phoenix, and I was like, Oh man, I just can't sit behind a desk the rest of my life. And so I went back up. I worked at the airport in Anchorage. Um, and then, uh, moved down here and went to work for my uncle. And were you close with the family down here? Did you Were you familiar with Fisk Electric and things like that? Yeah, we would come down once every about four years. Um, and so I knew who my uncles were and my aunts and that kind of thing. But I guess in the back of my mind, I always knew that Fisk Electric was an opportunity. I mean, he started in 77, I wasn't little, but you know, I mean, I kind of thought that could be a potential career path. And, um, yeah, my dad basically said, Hey, you need to, you know, you need to get out. So, uh, I came down and worked for my uncle and my aunt and uncle. I lived with them for a while and just the greatest people. I mean, they took multiple kids in, um, And gave them opportunities. Like unofficial foster parents almost. Yeah. Or outside of school in your case, but you still needed a I'm still super close. So one of them is, is my, uh, cousin's son. And one of them is just a, a lady I didn't even know, but she happened to be from Alaska. Okay. And they came down and we're still friends today. So I mean, my aunt and uncle are special people. They Yeah. What were their names? Yeah. Yeah. Verge and Yolanda Fisk. Verge just passed away, Yolanda is still here and uh, very much a part of Fisk and Fisk family. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fisk Emeritus, uh, almost, yeah. I dig it. So, um, like, They didn't have any draftsmen, so did you start in the field doing electric stuff, or how does that look like when you get started? Yeah, I mean, when I was, when I was looking at being a draftsman, um, we were still being taught conventional drafting. Okay. Um, but CAD was just kind of coming in. Mmm. I mean, my high school, my senior year, had one computer. So you were the high tech guy. Way back when, just like Brittany was when she joined in. I can spell IT, that's about as far up, yeah. But, um, it just, it was, I could see where that, that side of things was going. And I didn't want to spend years learning kind of the old school stuff. So electrical at one point was just kind of a stop gap for me, but it became something that, that I got passionate about. And I loved, uh, being part of the family business and. Like I said, I mean, I just, I stuck the longest, but it was a, it was a fascinating career path for me. And what did, like, what did they get you started doing? I did a couple of houses early on and then really wiring houses and whatever. Back in the back at that time, we were primarily a commercial, um, company. And so in fact, it's a funny story. My, uh, my uncle decided that it was probably smart to get involved in the residential side of things. So he moved, he was an electrician for 20 years in Denver, moved up. And decided, Hey, there's not a whole lot of commercial going on up here. We need to move into, you know, the residential market. And so they, they piped the first house, like didn't understand Romex. So literally ran conduit and pulled wire. Right. And then they're sitting there thinking, how do people make money? And it's just ridiculous. They don't spend all this conduit, but yeah, so they piped their whole first house, but we hired people that, that knew what to do and, and they taught us how to be a kind of a residential electrician as well. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Um, and what were the first like sniffs of leadership? You mentioned that like Verge, was it? Yeah. Um, sold the company to you and Yep. Clifford is his name. And so, I mean, Clifford is the guy that I really served my apprenticeship under. Okay. I mean, he was just an awesome commercial electrician and, uh, he's way more like a brother. My very best friend. I mean, he is just a great guy. And were you guys 50, 50, or was he senior? No, he was always senior partner. Okay. So, um, then, you know, I ended up buying in over the years. Um, so I got up to a little share right away and then yeah, 10 percent and then went to 15 and then I think 20 and ended up about 30 percent when I ended up, um, he retired and I bought him out. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. But yeah, first grade, whew. I didn't see that really coming. Sorry. Um, so yeah, talk to me, I guess, about some of the major turning points along that journey. Um, you said you were pretty residential focused by the time of like the great recession and stuff. Yeah. Even way before that. I mean, residential, we were probably 80%. Residential back in Well late 90s, I mean 9 11. Okay really changed everything for me Because we were we were working with a lot of national builders and when 9 11 hit everything stopped. Right. And so when we started looking at that, um, we started to realize that it was the local builders that weren't going anywhere. Right. So they still had to finish this project. Yeah. I got, I got lots. I got a national builders were taking whole subdivisions and just plowing them under. Oh, right. So they, it cost them more because of tax purposes. So they just turned them back into vacant fields. Um, so we really wanted to focus on You know, the local builders, if we were going to be commercial, but really starting to diversify. And that's really what changed my whole mindset. I mean, diversification. So we came up through, you know, Mark helped us come up with some of this stuff, but we call it the Fisk way. And the Fisk way is we want everything to, to start out being a responsible thing. It needs to be responsible to us, to our customers. It's a good purpose for this electricity. Yeah. It needs to be responsible to the environment or, I mean, whatever you want to look at, You're just not setting up, uh, electric operated bird killers. Yeah. Yeah. You could build that for me though, right? Right, right. You bet. If I got too many birds, I could take care of it. We, and then we want to be, um, sustainable. Whatever it is that's responsible, it has to be sustainable, repeatable, or, you know, one time typically, by the time you get it figured out. You didn't make any money, you spent money, you know, and so it has to be a sustainable thing. And then thirdly, obviously it has to be profitable. And so every decision that I make in Fisk or around any of my businesses have to be those three things. They have to be responsible, it has to be a sustainable option, and it has to ultimately be a profitable thing. Yeah. We need to kind of move on. Or it could be a decision. I mean, you know, probably donate to charity and stuff. That isn't always profitable, but it's a choice. Right. And philanthropy and charity and all those things are a super important part of what we do. Yeah. But that stems from profit, right? Right, right, right. Yeah, it's hard to be generous if you're not profitable. And there's a lot of stuff that you have to do with, uh, you know, a bunch of employees. I mean, there's a lot of decisions that you make and that was something somebody pointed out to me is, um, you know, you're being responsible and, and you're, you know, your charities sometimes are, are people you're taking care of that are having tough times inside of your own, Rather than just sending a check to, you know, somebody else take care of your, your house first. So Brittany, I'm going to bring it back to you cause we've passed your first grade year. Uh, talk to me about that. Like that was, he says you're 35. So that was what? Mid nineties, late nineties. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I was homeschooled, so I did spend a lot of time with my mom. Okay. Yeah, so. And how many, two older brothers is that? Two younger brothers. Two younger brothers. Okay. Yep, I'm the oldest. But yeah, first grade. Yeah, I was hanging out with my mom a lot, my brothers. Yeah, yeah. And, uh. We lived on a dairy farm at that point. Lived on a dairy farm. And where is this? Uh, where is the farm? Berthed. Berthed. Okay. Yeah. So close. Close by the town, almost. Yep. Riding cows because my parents wouldn't get me a horse, and, uh, pet chickens, pet cats. Like, anything you could imagine. Always going out playing with the calves, so. Life was pretty good. Do you have, uh, like a, uh, excuse me, probably your brothers were your best friends, but do you have other neighbor friends and people, the community, to be a part of? We had some kids on the farm that I'd play with here and there, but definitely Probably more sports driven like my gotcha sports teams. I was close with but yeah little dribblers I had to get her in like two years early because That she wanted to play basketball and went and talked to the guys down there and they're like, yeah, bring her in So she was yeah, her friends were church and and sports. I mean that was yeah We tried to feed that a lot. So it wasn't an isolated type. Sure. Sounds like it. Yeah They were you tall? I was right away. Yeah. I feel like I've always been on the taller side for sure. I was so excited when I had a bigger foot than my dad like third grade tall I was, uh, I was Kurt the Squirt Um, and so I was like four foot 11 and a hundred pounds my seventh grade year, and by my end of my sophomore year, I was five foot one and like 105 pounds. And then I got tall. So, and the, the first girl I danced with though, it was like five foot 10 and it was a terrifying, anyway. Um, so I was always the opposite, right? Like I was always the kid that was a foot shorter than all of my classmates, especially the girls in third grade, fourth grade. Right. Me too. Like 11th, 12th grade, I was like short and super skinny. You got tall later, a little taller. Yeah. So, um, When did it come out? You signed up for the Little Dribblers, like, you snuck her in? Or they just let her in even though she wasn't quite old enough? Yeah, I went and talked to them and said, hey, here's the deal. She's pretty good? She looks like she's old enough. She thought she was really good. So, what was your She thought it was a race, didn't realize you had to actually dribble. What was your, what was your basketball journey? You said that, like, that's what you want to do at a school for virtually. Were you like, state champ, or on club teams, or, like, it was your life? It sounds like. Unfortunately, we didn't get a state championship. We came, came close a couple times, but no, I, uh, Played club all through high school, ended up playing in college. For a couple years I got hurt, but it definitely led me to a couple different schools and adventures and it gave me an opportunity to To find kind of what my passion was it's hard to imagine When your whole life is a sport or or you know any activity, I think When it comes time that it's done Right. It's like what what is your identity? What what are you gonna have be passionate about? So it definitely led me to Kind of find where where I'm at now. And where did you play your your college basketball? It's probably everybody makes fun of me and says it's probably easier to ask where I didn't. Um, I went to Eastern, Washington My freshman year and then ended up getting hurt. It looked like I was gonna have to have hip surgery Okay, so I wanted to be close so I ended up moving back and going to Metro State for a couple years Yeah, and then at that point after basketball was kind of not in the cards for me anymore I transferred to Harding in Arkansas and oh wow Was out there for a couple years and then ended up getting my degree at UNC which she had a Scholarship offer at the very beginning, but she was like, I don't want to go Somewhere out of state I wanted to go Experience some life and have some adventures and division one out of state. Well, she might not be your heir apparent right now if she was, because it was a, I assume a lot of growing years and making your own navigations and probably frustrations. Did you, when did you, did you find your husband now husband during these seasons? I met him at work. Okay. Yeah. At Fisk? No. Okay. Actually when he pushed me out. No, I met him at a headwear company. So, okay. He, uh, after you finished your degree and whatever, when you're working in the sports apparel firm. Yep. I met him there. He sold the hats and I designed them. So, and what's his name? John Michael. Hi, John Michael. I'm sure you'll listen to this probably. Yes, he will. And so, uh, and so when was that? Circa me, that would have been, Probably like 7 or 8 years ago, 10 years ago now? Uh, we got married in 2019. Oh, just pretty recently, so right before you started with Fisk, really. Yep. Yep, just had our 5 year anniversary. Okay. And you got any littles running around? We've got two furry kids. Two fur kids? Fur babies? Yep. I like it. Heck yeah. Always happy to see us when we come home. So, um, So we kind of caught you up to speed and, So was that, Like, as you were getting, Um, Like, was it always obvious that you were going to be the exit plan? Like buying the company from your cousin? Yeah, I think so. I mean, he had, he had different goals. His goals were to retire by a certain time and have his house paid off by a certain time. And those kinds of didn't have as much interest in really growing the company and things like that. He did. I mean, I think growing the company was important, but I think. at a certain point, risk versus reward and those kinds of things. And I'm probably, I think we offset each other. Great. He was super practical. He was super smart. He was super financial minded. And I was always just kind of out there, gas pedal down all over the floor. So I, he kept me in check and I think I pushed him. And then you got a CFO for that. And Britney. Well now, I mean, yeah, that was a five year gap where I probably overextended a little, but, um, Well, and plus I know for me, my risk tolerance has gone down as I've gotten older too. I call it nesting. And I think older people like to nest and they just bring all their stuff back in and then they want to protect. And I've just struggled with that. I mean, you've resisted that. Yeah. I just, I love. What's next, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's just a passion of mine and I love electrical, but I didn't want to Spend my whole life just, you know, saying all I did was put electrical in this house or this building. Yeah. I wanted kind of greater purpose. Hard stuff. Yeah. And so, I struggled for a while to figure out what that was. And sometimes I thought it might be away from electrical. And now I feel like it's a perfect fit. I mean, all of these next level, next generation things. Well, it's all powered by electric. Yeah. Right. I mean, it's all electric, right? Totally. For me, I mean, uh, EV. It's crazy how these things become political or, you know, one side or the other, but electrical vehicles and charging stations, I mean, they're being funded and part of what they do, even carbon credit. So we talked about, we'll get to that, but, um, it's fascinating that they can come up with a system that drives. innovation. And for me, electrical is a part of all of that. So I don't have to pick a right or a left, right? Totally. I'm just saying, look, all this stuff is electricity and I want to be a part of it. So, well, I imagine there's a lot of companies that just aren't qualified for some of the leading edge technologies. Some of it is they're not qualified just because, yeah, they haven't quite got there. They didn't go out and get, you know, spend the money. I mean, it's pretty expensive. We've been on the bleeding edge of a lot of stuff to get, right? The type of training that we needed to be ready. And sometimes we're too far ahead. Um, you know, smart homes was a thing and we were in that way, way before. And you're like in your smart home certification is 10 years ago. And finally they're starting to be right. Yeah. And we have fiber in houses that are never going to use it, but back then everyone thought that was the future. So, yeah. And you're getting your continuing education and your certification that you never really use. Right. Paying for those classes. But you know, if you're not, if you're not involved in that with the right people and the right companies and always looking forward, then you kind of miss the wave and then you can't hardly ever get caught back up. My problem is a lot of times I'm a little too far in front of the wave and not everything we try pans out, but man, there's so much exciting stuff coming right now is a great time to be in electrical. Well, in having All of those residential clients and contractors over years and all those commercial clients and all those ag clients, like that's, that takes some of the risk out of that bleeding edge stuff. Absolutely. Right. You can keep the wheels on it. Yeah. And sometimes it does catch up, right? Yeah. And then you're like, oh man, I caught the wave. Now I'm right. With this division's making 35 percent profit margin, everybody else sucks along at seven. That's exactly right. You know, and you keep that seven just to keep the doors open, you keep going, but it gives you the opportunity to really go out and search for those big waves, right? What would you say, uh, both feel free to answer, but what would you say are the big challenges you're working on, either working on or facing, uh, with the organization? I've heard kind of the hiring and recruiting and stuff is at least. It's something you're working hard on, but what are the, is that, is it people, is the biggest challenge in your industry right now, finding people to train? Yeah, I think Britt handles a lot of that. I mean, she goes to anything from, you know, the college job fairs to high school type job fairs and those kind of things and really trying to get her name out there and realize that there's, This is an option. Your potential pathway. Yeah. It's not the only. It's not better. It's not worse. It's just, you know, if it fits, it fits. And trying to be, trying to be that, how, how we arrange our booth, how we advertise, how we recruit, all of those things, Brittany handles all that. Usually we'll send one of the directors, either Matt or Ryan, we'll go with her and then they can talk the electrical talk and she can kind of make the place look nice and, you know, figure out how to, it seems like you might have to do a six month internship in the field. Right. Maybe six days. Easier. Easier as hell. Yeah. But I think that, you know, there's just, there's just a lot of those kinds of things out there and, and trying to understand what's next. my biggest challenges. Um, you know, I didn't, you don't always see where things are going to be. I mean, You know, solar has been around a long time. Sure. And it's been, you know, funded in the past and it's crashed and burned in the past. And now you start to see it coming back and then you see it being funded again. But all of those things generate interest and interest generates people. You know, people spend money and yeah. And so that's, you know, do we want to participate? And I think that's the part that I spend the most time on is trying to decide what's next. And, you know, what looks like the opportunity that we need to be ready for. What should we be involved in from being a responsible electrician and person and sustainable and profitable, all those things. But then, you know, what, at the end of the day, where's electrical going to look? I mean, there was a time in the recent past where people were saying, well, there's not even going to be electricity light fixtures. It's all going to be low voltage and electricians won't even be involved. Well, that kind of, there's still low voltage lighting options, but it's still, it's a piece of the whole. Interesting. Yeah. And so I think that that's kind of where things go. And I mean, it's how do we generate power and you know, it's not, we're not anti fossil fuels. I mean, we know that it has to happen. There's not enough of an option to not have that, but there's still a lot of other things that are being looked into and invented and I want to be a part of that too. So we work on coal power plants and kind of the worst way to use oil is to make electricity. Yeah. Yeah. Directly. Right. Like we got all these other ways to make electricity. Right. Whereas oil can, you can make airplanes go through the sky. Right. Right. And do a lot of really cool stuff. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so we're just, I mean, you know, a lot of these, these initiatives are great. I think, you know, Glimpses into what the future might be and it drives innovation What we want to do is be part of where we are now and hopefully where we're going to be Yeah, so solar is a big part of that and biogas is a big part of that any kind of renewable energy Um, but not trying to pick one over the other because it's going to take all of that It takes what we have plus then enough funding Electricity is like the only way we can really move energy around right now very I mean Aside from minutes Liquid form right or in coal on trains or whatever, but the but active ready to you That's a we could use that for your marketing like ready to use energy, right? And understanding the light was on vehicles, right? I mean, oh, yeah, some people are super passionate about it. Other people hate it Yeah, but the fact is it's here. So how are we gonna be able to? How are we going to charge all these vehicles? Totally. Totally. So it's, it's us being able to provide these EV chargers. That's a big thing. Yeah. But also, I mean, some of the smaller homes are having some of the largest size services in new construction because of, you know, Electric vehicles, chargers. So, I mean, we went from an electric heat pumps, a home that was 125 amps, say 15 years ago is 400 amps. Oh, no shit. Yeah. Oh, interesting. So 400 amps. I mean, we're, where's all that power coming from? Right. Well, that's, that's not my job to figure out. My job is to say, Hey, you need 400 amps. I'm going to figure out how to get you 400 amps. Right. Right. But hopefully we're playing enough in the future to we can say, Hey, maybe we can add solar just for a year. Reduce that amp draw down a little bit. And maybe that's just your EV charger. Right. I dig it. Um, Brittany, if, uh, some competing electric, Merritt Electric came along and offered you a double your salary to come to work for them, what would you say? Ooh, that's a hard question. No, just kidding. I, uh, I said it earlier. Like there's something of. Something that you can't even put into words, really, about the kind of pride, knowing that That's your name. That's your, your legacy. You know, that's your dad. That's your family's company. Yeah. Yeah There's not enough money to okay, and I knew I knew Rice was one of my best clients. Oh my banking days. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so cool to look back And it's part of the pride for us too, is I think we, you know, we look at some of the, the big names either in the past or the present and seeing that history and how they came back. And some of them have figured out how to, to, you know, kind of evolve and what their succession planning was. And some of them just kind of. Shut the doors and and moved on and some of those were the largest companies when I started back in the 80s, right? No, I've heard more than a few stories about Roy's from the especially the pre 2007 8 days great. I mean that guy was so innovative when he stormed into our area We were just, I mean, I'm talking from the little guy looking up and thinking, wow, that guy did something amazing. While Merritt was, like, I, two of our best guys went to work for him in the past. And it was under good terms. They left and it was a super good, you know, experience for them. And I think both of them. Um, you know, took that and actually catapulted themselves into their own careers. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I remember, uh, him talking about like, there are seasons where, you know, if you could fog a mirror and you had a driver's license, you got the job. Absolutely. Absolutely. All you had to do is have a pulse. Right? And a driver's license. There you go. Because you're always going to be able to drive a truck. Or you just hire a guy to drive it. Right. Put him in a sidekick's pedal. Um, well, I feel like maybe we can take a short break and we'll come into the closing segments. Good. All right, we'll be right back. And we are back, uh, always the favorite closing segments, um, Faith, Family, Politics are the mandatory topics. Right. Uh, we've talked a fair bit about family, do you want to start there? Yeah, I mean, faith and family, I think, has been huge. They're tied together for you? Yeah, we talked about that. I mean, my grandfather was a preacher and a dairy farmer. Oh, is that right? Okay. Weird kind of combination. But, um, yeah, so it's, it's both faith, primarily, and family, you know, equally. Well, and even like your decision to homeschool your kids, was that driven by faith? faith driven by family connected? Like, how, how did that? I think they kind of, they, they kind of boosted that, but we really just, my wife wanted to teach our kids. Okay. So we, uh, we just thought, Hey, through grade school, it wasn't a, I mean, my, both my dad and my, my step mom. So my mom passed away when I was young. Okay. Um, and then my dad remarried a school teacher. So both of them were school teachers and we were a little nervous about, what homeschooling might mean to them. Right. They supported it a hundred percent and they said, Hey, it's great. Um, we did it because my wife wanted to do it and because I knew that they were going to get a great education. So our, our kind of goal was through, you know, grade school. And then each one had different time frames. And so, um, Britt was super social and very involved in sports. And so we got her into, into school early. I mean, we, we got her in at what, 7th grade? Eighth grade is when I started. Eighth grade, she started public school. How were you? Uh, were you prepared? Or were you ahead of everybody? It was so boring. It was so boring. I just remember sitting in math class and being like, I learned this in like, first grade. You're like a seventh grader. Right, right. Fair. Yeah, my son, um, it was kind of funny because we actually had him repeat one grade because of Age and stuff. So he was super bored the first year. Right. But I mean, public education was great and, and they had all kinds of opportunities that we couldn't provide for them. So, uh, yeah, it wasn't so much a religious decision or, uh, not confident in. The school system, like now that's the main reason is to keep them, get them out of there. Honestly, I'll give, I'll give preps to birth that I thought they had a great public school system. I mean, it was a close knit group. It was more to give your wife the opportunity to do that thing that she kind of wanted to do. And I thought our kids got as good or better. Right. That kind of thing because we hung out with them and we got to do a lot of cool stuff. But, I wouldn't trade the, you know, the public side of it for anything, I think. Where did you, uh, where did you find Mrs. Fisk? I didn't hear that part of the story. We gotta go back and find her somewhere along that timeline. So, faith and family tie in, right? So, I, uh, I was a little bit of a troubled kid in my, uh, my late high school and graduation times in Alaska. And so, my dad had talked to the local police, and they said, hey, it'd probably be best if, uh, Kevin got out of town. Okay. Let's hear more about these troubles. Nah, it's good. Um, but anyways, so he put me on a plane and I came down and my, uh, my aunt and uncle, Virgin Yolanda, picked me up. Oh, so you, cause you left to go to Arizona for some school and then you came back. Yeah, and I came back to Alaska. And the local sheriff was like a constable or whatever it was like, get the hell out of here. Yeah, that's right. I thought you left. Yeah. Which is the whole Alaska thing, right? Yeah. But, um, Yeah, so they picked me up and we ate Wendy's and went straight to church. It was on a Sunday. Okay. Sunday night, right? Right. So, my family went to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesdays. Okay. It was just kind of what they did. Your family or your new family? Both. Okay. So, yeah, my grandpa was a preacher. Yeah, yeah. And so all four. And you were raised that way through Alaska and stuff too. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And so, yeah, so my Sunday night, I was really tired, been up all night. I hung out with a lot of my friends the night before, you know, in Alaska and, uh, went to church and met my future wife. Just right there. Yeah. My cousin said, this is, it will be your wife. And it sounds funny because it wasn't, it's not like prearranged or anything. He just really liked her and he said, she's perfect for you. And yeah, so I mean, that was like, I came down in late April. Okay. And we went on our first date in July. Okay. July 22nd. Alright. And, uh, she was still, she was younger than me. And three years later we got married. Okay. So, yeah. Well, and you forgot the part where Clifford called my mom. Oh, right. And gave the phone to him is like, here, take it. Yeah. Yeah. He was just convinced he was going to be my girlfriend. Interesting. And how did your, how did your mom respond to this? She married me. Yeah. Didn't take too long. No, yeah, it was great. I mean, there's nothing I would do different. It's amazing. But that's she, she went to the same church I did. Kind of easy from the start. Yeah. Yeah. So just non denominational. Christian Church. Do you want to give a shout out to that church? Is it still around? Yeah. It's, uh, Loveland Church of Christ. Okay. And, yeah, it was just, uh, a lot of people confuse that with Mormons. Not that that's a bad thing, but we're not Mormon. Different than that. Yeah. Right? We're just a non denominational Church of Christ. Okay. And great community, and have friends to this day that have, uh, just been a part of our life for the last four years. And is that, was that, like, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, Grandfather, was he Church of Christ as well? Yeah, so he used to, he used to dance on, uh, bar table tops. He was a very small man. Okay. And played the fiddle. Okay. And that's how he made money. Alright. And got converted in some old time Tent revival. Oh, interesting. And became a preacher in the churches of Christ. And that was, uh, yeah, just stuck. All, all four of his sons were active members of the Church of Christ. And, uh, you know, majority of the kids from there on have been involved. And I'm gonna guess that Fisk is a dramatic name maybe, but I don't know English. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. So we have, we have a pretty interesting history, um, English. So, but by way of the Vikings. Oh, interesting. So, Scandinavian, very Scandinavian. Okay. When they assimilated into England. Yeah, yeah. Um, the, the first, uh, American pilot shot down in World War II was Billy Fisk. Okay. And he was an Olympic bobsled gold medalist. Yeah, yeah. And, you got the, you got more of the English genes, and Britt got more of the Scandinavian genes with her high hair. That's right. That's right. The Viking blood runs strong in you. That's right. Uh, but one of the things we always ask is a one word description of the children. Uh, so you've got, uh, a daughter and, and two sons, Kevin. Would you care to start that first? No, well, one word for each. We need one word for each. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. I love it. My kids, I just, I'm so happy they take after their mom. Fair enough. Yeah. And I remember your husband has a, has a double first name kind of thing. John Michael. John Michael. Yes. Um, so you told us kind of about. Uh, finding him. Um, what was it about John Michael that you thought was extra neat? Oh man, uh, there's a lot. He, uh, He just, spirit about him. Like he is just, when you talk to him, he can talk to anybody, but he just captivates the room and just a genuinely good guy. Like they, I think a lot of people probably say this, but like, he's truly my best friend. A lot of times you have go, I have to go hang out with my girlfriend cause I just need a break. It is not like that. Like he is just genuinely my best friend. My very favorite. Very favorite son in law. You're only saying he's a good dude. Um, remind me, where did you find him again? At work at work. Yeah. That was right before you came on to Fisk team. And what does he do for work? He is a sales representative for a headwear and apparel company. Okay. So, so he stayed in the industry. He stayed in the industry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Likes it. Oh, he loves it. I mean, you Sell hats and t shirts to NHL, NBA teams. Yeah, cool. Not a Pretty fun gig. Yeah, not too bad. I dig it. Um, what, uh, do you have one word descriptions for your fur babies? And a little bit beyond that too, if you'd like to go. Ooh, one word description. Are they dogs, by the way, or cats, or? I would say Yeah, they're dogs. Um And one for each, by the way. One for each? Oh man, you're putting me on the spot. Yes, one word. It could be an adjective. You can share their breed type, their names. One is Sweet. She's like a pitbull, boxer, German shepherd, total mutt. But she is big and everyone's scared of her, but she is Her name's Peyton. Her name's Peyton. This is a big sweetheart. She's scared of her own farts. I've had some dog farts I was pretty scared of, too. It's their, yeah. No. And then we have a little chihuahua poodle. They're adorable. His name is Dexter, and the name Dexter definitely fits his personality. He, uh, he thinks that he's a killer. And so everybody wants to touch the cute little one and he'll bite your finger off. Right, well it is like, plus my, my sister will kick your butt if you mess around with me. Um, So that was, I guess we covered family pretty well. Anything else in the family segment? Are you guys, you gonna bring some more little fisks around? You're like 35 now, even though I thought you were 27 or something. Right, no. No, uh. Like it's time to pull a goalie if you're gonna. That's what everybody keeps telling us. I, I don't know, I feel like we both love what we do. Yeah. And, I think if you have kids, you need to Be willing to make them your number one priority and feel like the longer we go without kids the The more selfish we get almost. We get stuck in our routines. We love everything about our life. And as of today, we don't want to change anything. But, I feel like we're on this in between of we know the clock's ticking. Right, right. Tick tock, tick tock. So we have that conversation. One of our youngest, Brian, and his wife Alyssa are expecting. Oh! We were super young parents, and we're kind of super old grandparents. Yeah, and I shifted it. I didn't give you, oh, you said fantastic, fantastic, fantastic. Right. So our youngest, Brian, runs the dairy farm. Yeah, okay. He's very involved in agriculture, and him and his wife are expecting their first kid. Awesome. That'll be your first grandchild? That'll be our first grandchild. Okay. Yep, and they're expecting in January, so it's exciting. And then the middle son? Steven, yep, he's married to Stacey, and so he's the one that's working in all kinds of stuff, uh, IT and Local here? Uh, yeah, so all three kids live within about 15 minutes of us, so Do you guys have big Christmases and things like that? Yeah, we have a, we have a cabin up in, uh Right on the border of Colorado and Wyoming. Okay. And, yeah, everybody comes up every year and we all live, I mean, we live, she lives five minutes from me. Yeah. And the dairy's 15 minutes from me and Stephen lives 15 minutes from me, so. And all the, the kids didn't start at Fisk. but had worked at Fisk and it's kind of just a legacy thing, right? Like if you've been a part of Fisk at some point in time, you're still on the, uh, whatever the employee calendar or something. Right. I dig it. Um, so we've talked a little bit about faith, but, uh, my sense is that faith has been, you know, just consistent through your family, almost a kind of, uh, expectation, at least from your perspective, Kevin, is that right? I don't want to say an afterthought because that sounds demeaning. I mean, it's just, it's a part of our life. Even though you were a hooligan for a few years there, you didn't really question your faith necessarily. You were just counteracting it with your actions. Yeah. Okay. I had my, my issues growing up for sure. And, um, but yeah, I mean, never, Quit believing in God and Jesus and in faith. And it's a huge part of what we do. And, and it's not just on Sundays. I mean, we live that faith every day. Um, and I think that's important in business is that, you know, you want to, you want to treat your employees, right. You want to treat your customers, right. Um, and I think that drives every single decision we make. Are you, uh, public within your organization about your faith? You mentioned hope. Like your uncle and your cousin were kind of word on their sleeve maybe a little bit more than you or what are your employees? Know about your faith? I hope so. I mean, I think for sure that people know. Yeah. I mean, I try to make that forefront. Right. Okay. So yeah. People know we don't, you know, we don't talk certain ways. Yeah. And there's a reason we don't talk certain ways and we don't act certain ways, and there's a reason we don't act certain ways. And so, yeah. I, I think it's, uh, I hope that it's, it's, you know, the first thing you notice about. Our family and, and the legacy that, that my cousin and my uncle left me. Yeah. Brittany, I see you nodding. Uh, has that been consistent with, with your journey? Or did you have a, you have a, uh, don't come back to town kind of moment from any of your college days or anything like that? No, I feel like You weren't quite as much trouble as your dad? I was, I was not. I was the total opposite. I feel like I, uh, again, basketball, I was always worried I was gonna get in trouble or do something to mess my scholarship up. So I was Right. Right. Probably more straight and narrow than, than a lot, too. Well, and her husband's family is extremely, uh, spiritual. Yeah. So, I mean, that's been a, a great thing, too. Yep. And, and they've been, uh, uh, honestly a, a great example for us as well. Yeah. So. Well, that's part of why having a faith community is important. Because if you're just off by yourself. Judging by your own standards, your standards get looser, uh, pretty quickly sometimes. For sure. No, and it's awesome. People say when you marry somebody, you marry their family. There's something to that. So having a very good Christian family to be married into is awesome. Well, and all three of my kids married into very spiritual families. So, I mean, it's, it's just like never even been a question. Yeah. Yeah. Um, politics, um, I thought we would start off with kind of some of your areas of expertise more, but, uh, because this, you know, the, uh, the climate change concern. We'll say, and all the things, you know, everything from carbon taxes to heavy subsidies on solar systems and things like that. Right. Like, they're, they're doing a lot to, uh, to figure this out. What, what's your, what's your take on all of it? Like what's it, maybe not what's the right thing to do, but what's, it's, it's, it's changed a lot over the last 20 years. Absolutely. Yeah. But it all hinges on electric. That's the cool thing, right? I mean, we're electrical contractor and a lot of this stuff, the end result is producing energy and most of it is electrical at some level. So, um, yeah, I think that. I'm disappointed sometimes that it has to become a right or a left issue and we'll try to produce content for, you know, all of the web stuff that, that Brittany's working on and that kind of thing. And sometimes it's perceived as, Oh, you're all right. Or you're all left. And I don't consider myself either one of those things. Um, I probably have tendencies based on owning, uh, independent business. Um, but I'd rather have a smaller government, less wars and less taxes, please. Kind of things, right? Yeah. So, I mean, I, you hate to claim that you're, you're central because that seems like lukewarm and I'm very passionate about what I believe, but I don't feel that issues have to be a politically left or right. Right. I mean, we know certain things and right now. There is some issues with the climate, right? Seems like it. And this is a fact. And it's funny, when I was a kid, jumping from first to third grade, Sure. I was taught about, we were getting ready to go into the next ice age. Right. Right? And then all of a sudden it's global warming, or whatever you want to call it currently. That the climate changes. Right. And maybe it's doing it in response, like, uh, I mean, it probably is doing it in response, but maybe the, this sounds pretty weird, especially coming because I am a Christian as well. But like, if we're going to feed. 20 billion people someday, we're going to need a lot more carbon dioxide for all those plants, probably. Maybe the earth is just getting ready for us. We're kicking and fighting against it. I don't know. That's a little bit, uh, giving some human, uh, characteristics. Do you ever read that, that book, Jurassic Park? No, I have not. So it's a little different than the, the movie, right? Okay. But it gets into some of that stuff. And it's like, look, you're not going to destroy the planet. You may destroy some of the things that are living on the But other living things will be there too. Afterwards. Yeah. Fair. Yeah. So I think it's, it's But we do not want all of our coasts to flood because there's a lot of fucking expensive, excuse my language, expensive infrastructure on all the coasts. Like, that's where all the people live. If we can avoid that, that would be good. We had a, I mean, a kind of an interesting thing is, uh, growing up in Alaska, they, there was this little glacier that was outside of Anchorage and we would drive to it, like tourists would go and it was called portage. And so they developed this massive visitor center and it was amazing. And they would show this movie and it was great. And then the curtains would go up. you would see this massive glacier. And that was when I was a senior in high school. Right? Which wasn't that long ago. Right. Well, I mean. Right. In global terms. Right. In global terms. And then, like, just, like, just a, I took my kids there. And then the curtains come back and you see a lake and you have to kind of drive around the corner and look up and you can kind of see a little bit of what's left hanging on there. So there's no doubt that things are warmer, but we're also finding palm trees. In the ice. So we know it's been warmer in the past. It's probably going to be warmer in the future. And it's probably going to be colder in the future. So, all of these things just kind of go back to hey, let's be responsible. I think the worst thing we could do as humanity, personally, is like, die kicking and screaming trying to resist. What the world's going to do anyway, to some extent, you know, if we get too, too dumb about it, like we could really hurt ourselves. So let's be responsible, right? Yeah, responsible. Whatever responsibility. Yeah. So I think that's kind of where we're looking at politics in general. And I, I think right now there's a global, and I, I mean that, a global initiative to look at. What responsible means and it's different to different people, but obviously there's enough people interested that they can pass laws to say, Hey, we're going to fund. A massive amount of money into whatever the future might look like. Well, I think that's probably the biggest challenge, though, is when you talk about it as global. I've, I read a blog once a month and it's usually kind of edgy of some sort. Um, but I wrote one time that, that Europe has cut their hands off to stop themselves from sinning. Good point. But now you don't have any hands. Right. You know? And China's, you know. It's still building coal fired power plants, and so is India, and, you know, if, if all of industry, most of the cuts in greenhouse gases from the US and Europe has been by moving dirty shit over to China and India. Exactly. They haven't changed anything. Right. And the whole world is still just as yucky. We just get our, stuff from different places. What's insane to me from the agricultural side is to see, uh, a country like the Netherlands be so anti dairy, right? I mean, that just doesn't even want to anchor of part of the anchor, their economy, that and the, you know, hog farms and just their sophistication, right? Uh, with creating food, like they're the best in the world at creating food and the, their own government is trying to take their legs off from under them. They're kind of the world founder of dairy and they want to be dairy less. And I shouldn't say they, but I mean Right, the government assumes they don't need milk. Yeah, it's insane. But that's just them hurting themselves. Absolutely. Right? They've got all this dairy infrastructure, all this stuff, and now you're going to wreck us? And even carbon credits. When you look at that, I mean, it's, it's just made up. situation or system that saying, Hey, what we're going to do is take these, these companies that create things that create massive amounts of, you know, these carbon, if you're a tree planting company, you got so many credits to sell your, so you're going to just trade, right? You're covered. You say, Hey, I can keep creating this massive problem, right? But then I can go out and buy. Into industries that are trying to fix that problem and still keep doing exactly what I'm doing, but the end result is better. So, I mean, if you look at it, it's like, Hey, is it though? I mean, is doing terrible things offset by buying. Credits from companies that are planting trees. Well, it is it's better. Not I'm not saying it's better that it's all better Right, it's better than doing nothing so yeah, you know what we're trying to do is take these these companies that are being irresponsible and Dragging them back into being a little bit more responsible because they have so many credits and then they decrease over time Mm hmm, and then they can buy into technology spend money to develop Credits So my big fear is that, that, that carbon credit system stuff will just be used as like a big stick to beat people you don't like and favor people that you do. I, yeah, but I see it a little different. I think what it's doing is it's funding the next generation of innovation. And I think that that's what's kind of cool. So, so If it could be dedicated to that, I'm not sure that it can be though. I think the way the system's set up though, is that they get Oh, because you get innovation. You get credits for doing innovation almost. Oh, okay. So it's going to continue to decrease. And so they have to put part of their profits into industries that are being more responsible. Algae is one of those. So algae farming is something that I learned about in Israel and some of the things that they're doing, not only is creating algae, that's going to solve some problems in the future, but it also offsets by just its nature. You get carbon credits just by algae farming. Right. And now all of a sudden you've offset some stuff, plus you've gained. Because all these algaes are eating all this fresh carbon dioxide coming off. And then what do you do with the end result of those algaes? It just depends. I mean, a lot of them are coming into, I mean, there's stuff you can use for people's digestion systems. There's stuff that you can use for fertilizer replacement. There's stuff that you can use for, um, cosmetics. Oh, interesting. It's, uh, it's a fascinating industry that, that company that I work with out of Israel is really investing a lot of time. And it's starting to seem like, cause one of the big problems with Like stopping with oil and sorry we've cut you out of this. I see you nodding a lot, by the way, Brittany So I know you're pretty informed about a lot of things But the oil they just make so many things Right, you want plastic you want zippers you want fertilizer you want this you want that But I could see I could imagine a world in which algae photosynthesize algae can give you Complementary chemicals and stuff that could be potentially used in that, in a similar fashion. Plus, be able to offset some of the carbon emissions, which is kind of a natural thing. So it's symbionic, right? Right, right. And that's why we're excited. I mean, why would an electrician in Colorado be interested in this global initiative? Right. Number one, it's a responsible thing to be involved in, but we see profit because we can go in and put the electrical systems and the control systems in, we can have algae farms in Colorado, the healthiest, fattest allergies you've ever seen. And now we can offset all of these old traditional means to be just as, as good or more effective at what they do. And also. Start offsetting some of these carbon emissions. Right, right. So, it's a fantastic thing. That could even be a division of your company where you consult people on how to get that gravy. It will be. Yeah, it will be. Right. Brittany, let's, uh, let's turn the microphone to you on the politics topic. Um, anything to add, share? Any hot topics for you in a political realm? No, I think, uh, uh, uh, Being involved on all of our social stuff, I think just being cognizant of our message isn't trying to be one way or the other. It is truly coming down to where, where's the money at? You know, being an electrical contractor, We have to make money to be Yeah, these are the things we do. It's part of the Fisk way. Like, without the profitability, the sustainability, and responsibility don't mean anything. So, being able to make sure that we're doing a good job of not towing the line, because we don't want to tow the line, but not making it about the politics. Making it about what it truly is. Like, the future. It's sustainable, it's responsible. Yeah, exactly. So. Well, and why do you want to get up in the morning and be an electrician? That was kind of the Interesting. The, I, the, the funny So I bet you're a big fan of Mike Rowe. Absolutely. Like my hero. I actually got to meet him. Oh, you did? Yes. There was a conference up that one of my partners was a big part of putting on called Connect. Okay. It was up at Beaver Creek. Yeah. And they hired him to be the keynote speaker. And I got to have my picture with him and listen to him talk. And was it related to that connecting kids from schools? Well, it was connecting, mostly it was connecting agricultural, uh, Like development and what the future look like. Um, so those algae and vertical farming controlled fantastic speaker, but I just, like, I read everything he puts out. Cause he, I mean, he aligns with my goals and my values, but micro is like, he's my hero. So, uh, I don't know how much you've learned about the Robert Kennedy Jr. campaign for president, but, um, it's been reported by Mike that he asked him to be his vice president. nominee. Sign me up. You would have voted for him then for sure? Absolutely. You can even flip the two. I'm fine. I would have, I would have voted for Mike Rover president easier. I would too. Uh. Yeah, that guy is just amazing at, at, and, and it's not, it's not driven by one side or the other. It's common sense. Yeah, yeah. Well, and he's so full of humility too. Uh, he's like, this is just the way it is. I have a picture of me and him together and I show everybody because I think that guy is amazing. So politics vote for Mike Rowe. Absolutely. If he's on the ticket otherwise. Yeah. Uh, like not to get into the fresh wounds here, but last Thursday was an interesting debate. I turned it off so early because I was so embarrassed for both sides. Yeah. And when I talk to, I mean, I've got, I've got like. Acquaintances and good friends from multiple places, Sweden, from Netherlands, from Israel, right? Everybody's texting you, like, what's up with your president? Yeah, and that's what I get. And I'm like, I'm so embarrassed sometimes that people outside of the US think those are the best two people we have to offer. And, not to knock one side or the other, but I mean, it's just like, come on guys, we got better. I mean, we've got guys that are so progressive, and so smart, and so not one side or the other. Not political. Yeah. Just doing the right thing. That's what I think we should, that's what I think we need more of than anything is get politics out of politics. Absolutely. Because they just pick something and make it their side, and it doesn't have anything to do with. Well, if you're a junior Republican or Democratic congressman, and you've got views that aren't in the party line right now. Good luck getting any dollars or support or anything for every future election. Like everybody has to be in the mainstream of their party. Otherwise you're punished. And you know how they used to say, vote the party, not the person. That was a thing for a long time. But the problem is that you just, they just, the party puts up people like Hillary and Trump and Biden. Yeah. I just like vote the person now. Right. So are you going to vote for RFK then? Even though he doesn't have micro as his. Number two. Yeah, it depends on what he does is number two But yeah, I mean I am just like I feel like you're not a big part of that either you're kind of we're so far Trump's yucky Biden's. Yeah corpse Common sense. That's what I want to vote for Brittany I would you like to be on the spot on the microphone thing? Like I think it you hit the nail on the head in my opinion like it shouldn't be Left or right? Like what is the right thing? Yeah, you know, and it just You It's so many times forced one way or the other. So you are voting for RFK? Maybe. I, you know, it's hard to say. I, I've been voting third party for a long, like Ross Perot was my very first vote. There you go. And, uh, Kanye was my most recent. Nice. You know, The problem is they say you vote one and it takes one away or whatever, but it's like, come on, there's gotta be a better third option. I'm just not going to give somebody my vote if I don't, if I don't vote for it. Well, I guess I should, I, Kanye was a protest vote. Like I didn't really want Kanye to be my president, but it was because I didn't really want Trump or Biden to be my president either. I know. Um, anything else before we let you exit the political sphere? Is there anything in the political realm that is really relevant to Fisk? No, I think there's just, what's really cool is seeing how people's vision of the future. That stimulates revenue that funds initiative or invention or whatever. And then we can get behind that emerging technology, right? And try to figure out what fits us, which is responsible, sustainable and profitable and whatever it is. How much electricity will be behind the effort to get humans to Mars? Right? A lot. A lot. And like, even though you need a rocket ship. To get there, but all the stuff around that and actually colonizing Mars and you know Once you get up to Mars, everything's gonna be moving around with little electric motors Probably one of my first memories is Landing on the moon and my dad sat me on his lap and he made a muscle and he said Armstrong remember that Oh and that whole thing And helped us invent all kinds of stuff that we take for granted today. And so what's the future look like there? And I mean, that's super exciting. Totally. Yeah. Like if, if, if somebody suddenly found an asteroid that was going to come get us in 50 years, like the amount of things that we would do as a species to make that not come get us, right. Would be extraordinary. Oh yeah. Um, absolutely. So yeah, it's, it's true. Well, it's through challenge that comes. Growth, generally. Absolutely. Speaking, so. Yep. For sure. Um, maybe when you, uh, take your one year sabbatical, uh, in the Amazon and leave Brittany running Fisk in three years, uh, then she'll get so much smarter in that time, and you'll come back with a piranha chewed off arm or something like that. Yeah. Yeah, let's not. Right. So, our close is the loco experience. So, what does that mean? Does that mean local Colorado or like crazy? Yeah, like crazy. Yeah, I've got some crazy stuff. Yeah, like loco, like crazy, like a crazy experience. Could be a day, a moment, a year in the life. You want one from each of us? Yeah, one from each of you. If you got a really good one, I'll let you do two. Brittany, you got anything? You've been kind of a toe in the line kind of girl, so. Yeah. And your dad's right here. Right. Well, probably she brings me back, right? And your husband's gonna listen to this. Yeah. No, probably my craziest thing that's happened to me, um, I was in school. I was going to a private Christian school in Arkansas. Okay. Um. What was it called? Harding. Harding? Yup. Okay. Private Christian, er, uh, Church of Christ school. Okay. Very, very strict. Um, actually I think it was rated like the top ten most boring schools you could go to. And you're like 20 by now or something, right? It wasn't your first stop. Yup, 20, 21. I got there when I was 20, so. So she has six years of education. Uh, yeah, I should be like a lawyer, a doctor, but I just have an art degree. You We'll check it out, it's gonna sound fine. No, okay, so, I was working in a restaurant while I was going to school there. I walked in, and you have to check in at the hostess stand whenever you walk in. I go up there, figure out where my section is, and there's a policeman sitting there. And he's like, uh, Brittany Fisk? Hmm. Yeah? He's like, I'm gonna need you to come down to the station with me. Oh. I'm like, okay. Can you tell me what for and he's like, nope, we'll talk about it when we get there He's like, but I'm gonna need you to ride with me Can you give me your phone and luckily he didn't make me sit in the back of the cop car like I got a ride in The front so I can look like a convicted felon And keep it we're just checking in for work, yeah, so all your co workers like And I have no idea they're not telling me anything and And again, like, I was straight and narrow, like at a party, like we couldn't drink. We had to sign stuff that we wouldn't drink. Oh, really? Like, if you've got a minor in possession, you'd be kicked out of school. Oh no, the school bought liquor rights for an hour radius around the school. So you had to drive over an hour to go get alcohol if you wanted to. Like it, it was, it was that strict, but. Interesting. It sounds like a place where people send their bad kids too. You know, I don't know what. She volunteered. I didn't know what I was getting into. No, it. It was an awesome experience. I loved, I loved going there. But anyway, so we drive over, get to the police station. Um, he takes me up into this room and shuts the door, starts recording. And he's like, do you have any idea why you're here? I'm like, I have no freaking idea. And I am just scared to death. Like I, I've gotten a speeding ticket and I think that's the extent of my interaction with the cop. And, uh, he's like. You, you have no idea. So I'm sitting here like, well, I haven't cleaned up the dog poop in my backyard for a couple of weeks. Like maybe when they recalled on that, would I get, would I get brought down for that? And he's like, no, he's just kind of laughing at me. He's like, that's definitely not it. I'm like, I'm learning how to drive a motorcycle in my neighborhood. Like, I don't have my motorcycle license, but like, once you pull me over, he's like, No, he's like, okay, so just, just to cover all my bases, we're going to do a lie detector test. And now that I'm older, I'm like, I should have lawyered up. Like, what was I doing? But I'm like, okay, whatever you say. And so he starts asking like basic questions. Like I'm gonna ask basic yes or no to kind of get our baseline. He's like, what color is the wall? Like, I'm a fricking art major. Like. Are you wanting me to say white? Because it's kind of a taupe. It's kind of got like a gray cool undertone But then there's warm lighting because of course coming from an electrical family The warm lighting is making it kind of have a more bright Beige undertone and warm like And he just is cracking up this whole time and i'm sitting here stressed out. This is the scariest i've ever been And finally he was like, um, you've been identified as being involved in like a theft ring Have you done anything and i'm like no No, like thank god. That's what it is. But he ended up ending the Was this like some jelly, like, basketball teammate that wanted your starting spot or something? I have no idea what it was, but then he cracked the door when he left, called his partner, and he's like, There's no way this girl did anything. Like, she is not a part of it. So then he took me back to work, gave me my phone, and That was it. I never heard if they found who they were looking for, but Yeah. That's crazy. Almost certainly somebody had to set you up. Well, somebody identified my, they got my school ID picture, and they're like, she's the one. Hmm. So, I don't know. I think they did that to a couple people because they took another girl after they dropped me off. Crazy. Well, I'm glad you didn't do it. Me too. I think you'd be a terrible liar. I, yeah, I was stressed out. What color is the wall? I don't, I don't know. Pulp. Ivory. Alright, Kevin. So I got a lot. Yeah, I don't doubt it. I grew up in Alaska. I want to hear one, uh, I want to hear two. I want to hear the one that got you into the most trouble that the constable or whatever told you not to come back to town. I don't know if I can tell you that one. No? Okay. I'll tell you a couple. Not with your daughter right here. Okay. I'll hear two. So, one was, uh, I was in high school and we had a vocational school in Anchorage. So we lived about 45 minutes, 30 45 minutes, uh, north of Anchorage. Yep. Got more and more as time grew. And so they called it the Career Center. Okay. So we signed up a bunch of my friends and it's like, Hey, half a day we would get to go to Anchorage and we would drive ourselves and we would learn some kind of a vocational trade. This is like in lieu of taking pre calc or something like that at high school. So you'd have half a day of regular school and half a day of this trade school. My dad was an industrial arts teacher. Yeah, we did the same thing, actually. I came from a town about 20 minutes, 25 minutes from Jamestown, North Dakota. So what'd they teach ya? Like, stuff in that. Yeah, auto mechanics, auto repair, electric. Something, a couple of other things. Yeah, it was great. Well, yeah, I mean, I probably should have taken pre calc instead because I got into engineering. Right, right. But whatever. For me, it was like, Hey, this is great. Yeah. I learned how hard spark plugs shock when they're attached to a wire. We get to drive ourselves, which is great. Oh, we had to take a bus, but we stopped at the 7 Eleven and got. Yeah, it was just get there on your own. So, you know, we'd get three or four or five of us together, pile in a car, listen to whatever music we wanted. Stop by the bakery, pick up donuts and whatever we wanted to drink and head on. Yeah, it was great. You know, 45 minutes and then we're in school. I did wildland fire management because that sounded cool. Pretty important thing up there too. Absolutely. So anyways, we did that. Um, and there was all kinds of kind of crazy stuff going on in Alaska at that time. So we had the pipeline, sure, which brought a lot of money, kind of thing. Yeah. And then money brought all kinds of problems, drugs and hookers and all that kind of mafia and probably moved on, whatever. Right. Right. And so there was some kind of crazy stuff and there was a lot of weird stuff happening. So there was a lot of, um, like murders and stuff happening. And so just north of us, there was a little village called the Clutna and they found this, this dead body and they called her a Clutna Annie. And so, uh, I mean, when I was going through school, it was like, all right, you know, I don't know, but be careful. Cause there's one, there's a lot of, like a lot of other people. She was just like the first, right? So, um, I graduate from high school and then obviously come down here, start working for my uncle. And I've got a lot of friends up there that are coming back and they're like, crazy. This guy that got arrested for serial killer, right? Oh. And so I'm like, who is this guy? I don't understand. Well, we used to stop by this bakery on the way to our, our class up there. Right. And, uh, and we'd pick up whatever donuts and coffee and do whatever and come up. Well, uh, This guy gets convicted, like the fall after I graduate, of being a serial killer. Oh, shit. And so, they make this whole movie and stuff about this guy. And it starred Nicolas Cage and John Cusack. Okay. And it's called Frozen Ground. Okay. Right? And they name this guy the Butcher Baker. Okay. And it was just really weird because we got to know this, this owner of this baker. So, this is the guy that you stop there. Absolutely. And it's just, uh, and he did it. It was convicted. Yeah. He died in prison. Like, do you wonder sometimes if the special filling was not exactly berries and cream? Sounds like it was pretty much in the up and up. His name was Robert Hanson. Okay. So this, the bakery was separate from the serial killer operation. Right. So Robert Hanson was the owner of the bakery where we used to hang out. Right. And we had grabbed stuff from him and I mean, we conversed with him. multiple times, uh, like a week, right? Right. Not just casually seemed like a great guy turns into be a silly serial killer. And, uh, yeah. So Robert Hanson, then they made this movie frozen ground and I'm pretty sure I'd be thinking about what those doughnuts had in them a lot. I mean, we've all thought about that. So, yeah, that's probably the, one of the craziest, crazy story. I probably have four, but that wasn't related. You get an ask not to come back to town though. I wanted a small one about that. You don't want your wife to hear, or your daughter, is that true? Well I think the cleaned up version is, my sister had a party, and somebody stole my birth certificate from that party. And then ended up using my identity to pawn a bunch of stuff that was stolen from a DEA, or the DA of our area. And the DA, like I guess prosecuted all that stuff. Right? Right. Um, but I got a call, but I find out at this pawn shop and like I Yeah. Sold a bunch of stuff that literally you turned in down in Colorado the whole time. I have payroll records, everything to, to, to, I guess, so this is the sanitized version. So what really went down much the same thing. Okay. But I, I, I literally had to like, call up there and say, Hey, look, I, I, it wasn't me. I was in Colorado. It wasn't me. I don't know who this guy is. Um, yeah. Fair enough. Kind of crazy. Well, we'll put you on the spot there anymore. Right. Okay. Well, Brittany, um, why don't you tell our listeners, uh, where to learn more about Fisk Electric. I hear you guys have a fancy website since you came on board. We do. Yeah. Come, uh, come check us out, www. fiskelectric. com. FiskElectric. com. Yeah. Uh, we got Facebook. Socials and stuff too. Yeah. Yeah, check out Kevin's LinkedIn post, or his LinkedIn profile, uh, he has a newsletter. Do you do his posts on LinkedIn when he posts? I do nothing. Like, every article I get credit for, I do like, I worked very hard to make it seem like you're doing all of them. No, we got it. We have a good team that comes up with good articles and he does a good job of kind of giving us direction and Yeah. You know, this is, this is what I'm passionate about. This is what we're headed towards and being able to kind of combine it. Give props to Hannah. Yeah. Hannah, Hannah Barthel. She is, she's awesome. Yeah. She helps me out. I, like I said, my degree is visual communication design. She's like the writing and the creative behind that. Call her the wordsmith. Yeah. She is our wordsmith. She does an awesome job helping me out. I describe myself as a grammar Nazi sometimes. I will not send any of my stuff here, at least unless Hannah's checked it first. Well, um, you know, do you guys have any questions for me? I guess we're wrapping this thing up just in moments here. We're just excited to be a part of this and I think that through our investigation, um, it's really interesting to see what you do. Yeah, it's, uh, it's, what is it? We want to be a part of that. Responsible and sustainable. It is not profitable. Right. It's okay. The Local Experience Podcast isn't. Two out of three is better than nothing. That's right. I like to say at Loco Think Tank, we look for the win, win, win, win. Right. But we'll settle for the win, win, win if necessary. Perfect. You guys would fit right in. I appreciate you being here. Yeah. Thanks for having us. Thanks, Brittany. Okay. Godspeed.