The LoCo Experience
The LoCo Experience is produced and sponsored by LoCo Think Tank - and sometimes others! Our mission is to uncover as much business education as possible while getting to know the founders and leaders of amazing organizations. You'll feel like you really know our guests after each episode, and if we're doing our job well, you'll learn business principles and tips from them along the journey and be both inspired and entertained. Episodes feature a range of local and regional business and community leaders as guests in a conversational interview format. The more interesting the journey, the better the experience!
The LoCo Experience
EXPERIENCE 198 | Creating a Vibrant Business from an Innovative Product in Hibernation - Ryan Reed-Baum with TruLog, Maintenance Free Steel Siding
My conversation today was with Ryan Reed-Baum, CEO and Owner of TruLog, a company founded by his father, Ted, but that Ryan basically re-launched years later. To set the stage, we need to add some context.
In the mid-80’s, Ted worked for Knudson Manufacturing, building and servicing gutter and steel siding manufacturing machines. By the mid-90’s, he’d started his own business (R & B Home Improvement) doing every kind of siding, additions and remodels, and also building log homes from scratch. Logs look great - but they’re a pain-in-the-butt to maintain, and very expensive to build with. So - Ted invented and patented a technique to create roll-steel log-look siding, and installed the product on several local projects while Ryan was studying business and marketing at CSU. By 2011 however, the product had not caught traction, and TruLog was effectively hibernating - it was too complicated for lumberyards and home improvement stores to carry with sufficient margin, and the home improvement business carried on.
Enter Ryan in 2012, when he invested $16,000 of his own money for a direct-to-consumer marketing campaign on Facebook, and sold a project for delivery to New Mexico - and executed every step of the customer journey! Custom fit, box-shipped with instructions, log-look siding, to cover up or replace your lap siding or finish your new construction project with a fire resistant and maintenance-free finish.
Growth was rapid from there, 10x for 2013 and well into 8 figure revenues today. Still a family business, and still built on the values they had from the start: High quality products, honesty, hard work, customer service, and family.
Quite a journey, and quite a guy, and I’m proud to introduce our listeners to Ryan Reed-Baum and TruLog, the best natural look metal siding on the market - built right here in Northern Colorado, brought out of hibernation and grown by innovative marketing and customer service.
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Logistics Co op is a proud sponsor of the Loco Experience Podcast. We started Logistics Co op to help Northern Colorado local businesses compete with the big box, big tech monopolies that have put tremendous strain on the family business. If you want to raise your level of competition with service, Logistics Co op can be your solution. We deliver anything from Colorado Springs to Wellington for easy to understand fees that are far less than the national carry. If you are looking to raise your services with delivery to compete with the national behemoths, Logistics Co op is your solution. We're here to help people shop and ship local. Visit logisticscoop. com to find out more. My conversation today was with Ryan Riedbaum, CEO and owner of TrueLog, a company founded by his father, Ted, but that Ryan basically relaunched years later. To set the stage, we need to add some context. In the mid eighties, Ted worked for Knutson Manufacturing, building and servicing gutter and steel siding manufacturing machines. By the mid 80s, he'd started his own business, RMB Home Improvement, doing every kind of siding, additions and remodels, and also building log homes from scratch. Logs look great, but they're a pain in the butt to maintain, and very expensive to build with. So Ted invented and patented a technique to create roll steel log look siding, and installed the product on several local projects while Ryan was studying business and marketing at CSU by 2011, however, the product had not caught traction. And TrueLog was effectively hibernating. It was too complicated for lumberyards and home improvement stores to carry with sufficient margin, and the home improvement business carried on. Enter Ryan in 2012 when he invested 16, 000 of his own money For a direct to consumer marketing campaign on Facebook and sold a project for delivery to New Mexico and executed every step of the customer journey. Custom fit box shipped with instructions, blog look siding to cover up or replace your lap siding or finish your new construction project with a fire resistance and maintenance free finish. Growth was rapid from there. 10 X for 2013 and well into eight figure revenues today, still a family business and still built on the values they had from the start, high quality products, honesty, hard work, customer service, and family. Quite a journey and quite a guy. And I'm proud to introduce our listeners to Ryan Reed Baum and Truelog, the best natural look metal siding on the market built right here in Northern Colorado and brought out of hibernation and grown by innovative marketing and customer service. Let's have some fun. Welcome to the Loco Experience Podcast. On this show, you'll get to know business and community leaders from all around Northern Colorado and beyond. Our guests share their stories, business stories, life stories, stories of triumph and of tragedy. And through it all, you'll be inspired and entertained. These conversations are real and raw and no topics are off limits. So pop in a breath minute and get ready to meet our latest guest. Welcome back to the Loco Experience Podcast. This is your host Kurt Baer and I'm here with Ryan Riedbaum. And Ryan is the CEO and owner of True, True Log, and, uh, I can say that again. You just say it for me. True Log. Uh, describe it for me. Yeah, so, uh, True Log, uh, we originated as a steel log siding company. I know that kind of sounds, uh, like oxymoron ish, but, uh, that is how we started. So we actually manufacture steel siding in the shape of a log. That's how we started, but now we've branched out into other metal siding products. Profiles. Oh, is that right? Yeah. And that will sell direct to consumers. Oh, wow. I was like, so they took that direct consumer model. I don't think you had that because I was in a chapter with you. probably two years ago now. Yeah, you know, it's, it's evolved, right? You were thinking about it at the time, maybe a little bit. Yeah. You start with, uh, other modes of, of, you know, getting your product out there, whether it's distribution, lumber yards, but the direct to consumer model has really worked for us. That's really cool. Really well. Yeah. Yeah. Well, um, so I guess describe the operation a little bit to me. So your direct consumer metal siding. Yeah. Manufacturer. Yeah. So, you know, we're literally doing nothing but digital marketing to get our leads into the funnel. Um, we're, we've got a really white glove service to educate them about our products. Um, ultimately help them, you know, understand, you know, is TrueLog right for them? Is steel siding in general right for them? Um, and ultimately we get to a point of getting an estimate together. Basically, Hey, what is this going to cost for your project? Um, and if we are fortunate enough to earn that business, then that's kind of real, you know, the real work starts for us to manufacture it for them. And then the, the, the customer gets ultimately like a semi full or whatever of The steel siding or probably not even that much, right? Cause it's pretty small. Yeah, it really depends on the project. I mean, we've done anything from a super small cabin, you know, a thousand square feet up to a big church in Minnesota, you know, that can be seven, 8, 000 square feet, so real diverse group of folks that want our product. And then do they self install oftentimes based on kind of your education you provide, or they hire a contractor that's local to them? Yeah, it's about 50, 50. So we have about 50 percent of people self install it. And then the other 50 percent will find a local contractor that can do it. We've designed it to install very similar to other siding on the market. Have you ever been on like a QVC or anything like that? You know, we've had the opportunity to be on DIY. One of the tough things about it is they don't really do any branding. With a lot of, uh, companies, even if you look at the drill, right, that these guys are using in there, they've got the brand name scratched off or whatever. So nobody really knew that it was us on there, but we did have the opportunity to, to be on those kinds of shows. Yeah. I was just, I was just listening to Mike Rowe on Joe Rogan's podcast the other day and, uh, he got his start. Selling for QVC. And he's like, if you can kind of have a continuous chatter about, you know, this steel siding is the most fabulous steel siding you've ever seen. It turns your drab house into a log house, a crafted creation, and you can do it yourself. Exactly. That'd be perfect. Have a, have a piece of siding that's just turning, you know, while people watch the show. Well, it does. That would be a good, uh, I'm sure he's expensive, but he would be an amazing. Like, narrator for your install things or for your, like, some of your commercial things? Yeah, he'd be perfect, right? I mean, the dirty jobs. Because, well, and all the contractors that people hire are the people that he's trying to train. Exactly. And give them dirty jobs. No, that's not a good idea. That might be a partnership where you both win a bunch. That's a great idea. I like that. Yeah, you could have it for free. Right? If you get them on my podcast, I'll introduce you. Just kidding. Or wait, whoever. We could both try. We'll see what happens. I love it. Yeah. So that's really cool. So you've got a pretty big team probably of, of just like blue collar ish, make the metal bend the right way and, and project estimators and, yep. Sizers and sorcerers and kind of the traditional blue color, but then probably a quite a bit of digital marketing stuff to people in process. Yeah, we have a wide range of skilled folks at our facility. We've got a great team. Um, you know, we've got the admin side. That does the ordering that does all the customer facing interaction. Then we've got the manufacturing side. We've probably got about 12 guys out there that manufacture their product to spec, get it ready, ready to go. Then it comes into the front end again to say, Hey, customer, we've got this ready to ship for you. So yeah, we've got everybody, a wide, a wide array of folks. Yeah. Um, And who's your, like, leadership team at this point in time? Yeah, there's three of us, so, uh, me being the CEO, and then I have, uh, Mark as my COO. Um, and it is a family business, it started that way, so I still have my, my cousin Donnie, he's our manufacturing, um, Uh, officer, manager. Um, that's who we've got right now is leadership team. Does it make sense to kind of jump in the time machine early? Cause I know your dad was the founder of the company and so it might play out that way. And then we'll talk about a lot of the ideas you have for the future as well. Sure. Yeah, no, definitely. We can definitely do that. Seems like in this particular context, it would set a lot more for, for listeners. So, um, I guess when, when was Truelog founded and were you born yet? I, I was. It's a, it is a really cool story. Um, it was founded in 2008. So background on that is, uh, So it's not that old at all. No, not a, not at all. Um, my dad actually has three patents. Um, which, you know, not a lot of people can say he's got the patents on the log side and that's how we originally started. He's, uh, he's like a process by which to make it look not dumb when you're trying to make a log look in steel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And you know, it's a design patent, it's a mechanical patent, and it's a process patent. So we've got it across, right? You can have patents just on the design of something. But maybe not the mechanical or the way that it's manufactured and he's got all three. Is there some special sauce in like the way it's attached and stuff as well? Definitely, yeah. I mean, he designed the machine that now, you know, we've been using forever to run this log siding. Oh, cool. Um, so that was all, all him. And so I like to describe him and he would describe himself the same way as a redneck engineer, right? He doesn't have any formal education. Self taught engineer. Yeah, but he'd been, He's been building rule for machines since, you know, the eighties. So he's, he's done this. Um, and basically the, the story, you know, long story short is had enough people asking in his home improvement business. If he had something that looked like a log, but was maintenance free and just didn't at the time, right. He had a steel siding machine running out seamless siding, um, but eventually was like, I'm going to take a shot at this. And he created himself. He got the patents in 2008, um, and nine and some other ones after that. Um, but I didn't fully come on board until 2015 after graduating from college. So gotcha, gotcha. Kind of this short story. So when he started, you were like a teenager, early teen or something like that. Yeah. Basically had just graduated high school. Okay. Yeah. I just graduated high school. Um, then was going on to CSU to get a, uh, you know, degree in business all while, you know, I was in college. In college, I was watching him operate the business, helping him with marketing things, try to get this product out there. What are we going to do? All that sort of stuff. So helped early on as well. Yeah. Yeah. Can we even take a step back further into the time machine? Sure. Um, like I want to learn about little Ryan, like, like, Four year old Ryan. Your dad was working kind of in the industry, but as a, as a redneck engineer working for other roller people or designing people, things like that. Yeah. So he actually started with a company called Knutson manufacturing. So he built gutter machines. He built siding machines. He did all of that. Then that was in the 80s and 90s. And then in 95, he opened his own home improvement business. Gotcha. Gotcha. He's always been really good with, you know, his hands. He's known construction. He's been around it his whole life. So me by the age of 12, I was working with him, you know, on the job site, along with my cousin, um, doing home improvement stuff. Gotcha. And, um, You have siblings as well. I've got one sister. Yes. One sister. She's younger. Oh, I met her. Yes, you did. She's an attorney. Yes, she is. Very smart also. Yes. And what's her name? Smarter than me. Uh, her name is Jessica. Hi Jessica, when you're listening. Yeah. And, uh, then your mom, was she, uh, active in the business as well later? Yeah, I got a really good diversification of, of business growing up. Right. So I had the hands on experience with my dad, the customer interaction. And then on the back end, I had, you know, my mom doing the book work, right? The accounting, the finances, all that sort of stuff. So I got to see the whole array of how to run a business from very early on. Prepping to be a CEO someday. Yeah, exactly right. Kind of. Here we are. Did you have entrepreneurial bent as you were becoming like a teenager or were you just kind of in seeped in the business itself and so there wasn't room for anything else? You know, I, you know, there was room, um, my dad always encouraged me to get my education, um, both my mom and my dad, uh, you know, specifically with my dad, he didn't want me to use my body like he had to, you know, up and down. He was a redneck engineer. Yeah, exactly. He did the same work, or harder work than most of the engineers, but he didn't get paid half as much. Exactly, exactly. So he was always like, I want you to use your head. to make money. And so I was very fortunate to be pushed to, uh, get an education and learn. But I had been working with him since I was 12. And were you Fort Collins, Eaton? Where were you at? Yeah, grew up in Loveland. Loveland. Okay. Yeah, just right down the road. If you know where Johnson's Corner is, that's, uh, that's where I grew up. Just on a small acreage out there and then went to CSU. Okay. And stayed around here. So you seem like kind of a country kid. Did you have like critters and stuff? That kind of acreage? Yeah, no, we had, we had eight acres. Uh, we also farmed some other leases from, from around the area. We had cows, we had horses, hamsters, you know, the, the whole gamut of things, a parakeet, you name it, we had it. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. I love that life. Yeah, this sounds like a pretty interesting, uh, kind of like a, uh, like you said, a redneck lifestyle. Yeah, no, it was awesome. You'll, have you ever been to my house? I don't know that I have. We had a, we had a social there some time ago, but it's like a little farm. I got just a quarter acre, but it's right in old town Fort Collins. Okay. Chicken coop, big gardens. Exactly. You know, squirrels running all over the place, stealing from the peach trees. Yeah. And just kind of that kind of setting where there's, Just wildlife and stuff happening and work that needs to be done to feed the cows and whatever else, even if it's just feeding the damn chickens. Yeah, exactly. I love it. So, uh, well, it sounds like a pretty interesting lifestyle and Leblon was a pretty small town. Uh, still growing fast, growing fast since that time, but was probably growing really fast even in those days. Yeah, I, uh, actually went, you know, Mountain View High School hadn't even been around since 2002. So I was, you know, one of the first classes in there, um, but yeah, it's, it's grown immensely. It's basically Fort Collins Loving at this point, huh? So you get done with, you go to business or to college business, and then did you jump into your dad's business right away? Yeah. You know, I, I took a year, um, and went down to Denver, did some business consulting. I knew that I liked solving problems and I knew that I liked having different problems to look at. Yeah. Um, so I, I did some business consulting down in Denver, um, and I'll, excuse me if I ask, but how are you qualified to do that? do business consulting. You were just a rookie out of college. Yeah, I wasn't qualified. I didn't have an advanced degree or anything. No, it was just a curiosity in the right wiring. Yeah, undergrad. Um, but it's one of those things, right? It's a lot of who you know, and who can vouch for you. So I had a professor vouch for me for, you know, a position and was lucky enough to get it. But was there for a year. during this time, I was still helping with the business, you know, as I was going through school, all the summers I was working, um, would help dad with whatever he needed, um, at that time. So I was doing actually two jobs. So I was still trying to get true log off the ground while working as a business consultant, trying to figure that out. Was it profitable from the start or was it. And did he give up the handyman business pretty quickly once TrueLog launched or how did that go? Yeah. You know, it wasn't a handyman, but advanced handyman, home improvement business for sure. Um, you know, we boot and we've bootstrapped everything. Um, and so, you know, my, my mom and dad went into debt, however they could to try and launch the business. So, um, that was, you know, you got to buy these equipments and stuff too, right? Right. And, and, you know, I, I'll never forget I went to him and said, Hey, what's the marketing budget for the business? He's like zero. I said, okay, well, the marketing department, let's, let's, let's figure this out then. Um, so we have been, you know, to answer your question, we were profitable, but we were lean, right? You know, we chose to, to grow organically and to not take out a whole bunch of debt and to really, you know, bootstrap whatever we could. So we have been fortunately profitable, you know, since we started. Cool. Yeah. That's a fun business story. And, you know, it wasn't easy, right? No, there's no marketing budget. You know, you're, you've got some resources you're still looking at. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, to give you an idea of what, what actually happened is, you know, all of the savings that I had from the summers of working, I actually put my own money into the business and. But yeah, I've never really dabbled in digital marketing myself. Oh, interesting. So Facebook ads, Google ads, how to do search engine optimization, I did that to start to see, hey, is this going to work? Right. So I took a chance on that and very fortunate. Were they direct to consumer right from the start or did they try to go to lumberyards in the beginning or wholesale opportunities? Yeah. Yeah. Definitely tried both. Um, you know, just tried to see what distribution channel is going to work. That the problem we had with, with lumberyards, um, in, in the beginning, and it's nothing against them, but they're order takers, right? You know, they're going to, they're going to give the customer whatever they want. Um, so, and that's hard for me, I'm a one man show. So how can I get sales from a one person operation? Well, I figured digital marketing and that's, what's worked out. Right. So. If you would have told me that we'd be successful selling siding on the internet, I would have called you crazy, but we do. We do. That's really interesting. And is it a lot of it paid ads and things like that or? It's all paid ads. Okay, really? Yep. Yeah, so it's it's pay per click, you know on Google, you know, the Google ads. Are you using x. com or anything like that yet or just that platform? You know, I I'll have to take a look at it. The demographics have leaned more towards like the Pinterest side of thing and Facebook, you know, our, our demographic for crafty thing. Yeah. Pretty things. Yeah. You know, 55 plus is kind of been our demographic. I got a lot more money. Exactly. You know, to do their house and they're looking to spruce things up. Yep. The second house, they've got a cabin, whatever it may be, or they're forever home, so. I wonder if, because Google knows, like every, you could almost have a AI search Google to look for mountain type houses, like in places like Redfeather Lakes and stuff, and give you the addresses of the places that don't have, that aren't made of log, but have siding. Yep. No, yeah. I mean, I don't know how to do that. I'm sure. It seems like it could get actually really targeted your marketing in the future as these tools get more capable. Oh, for sure. You know, we've done mailings to some of those places like Redfeather because it's our target market. Right. I mean, it fits perfectly. Yeah. Yeah. Such an interesting. And, and so when did you launch the, the not log siding? Yeah. So, you know, early on, we, you know, We were listening to customers. That's what we try to do is just say, Hey, what is the, the market wanting? And there was a lot of people that saying, Hey, I love your wood grains. I love this concept, but can you do it in, in a vertical board and batten panel? Can you do it in more of like a cedar lap siding panel? So very early on, I started in 2015. It wasn't, you know, two or three years later, 2017 18, when we came out with, you know, a vertical board and bat and a different siding profile. I see, I see. Okay, I guess I just didn't realize that, uh, I've actually recommended your product to my father in law. Right. He's got a place up in Fox Park that's just Perfect. Kind of got worn down, normal lap siding. Yep. Perfect. And he's selling another property soon and, uh, it's going to be more liquid than normal. Perfect. Give him my number. Dale Johnson. Yeah, exactly. That's awesome. So, um, so yeah, what is next for you and, and like contrast, like where, When you joined the company in 2015, what was maybe the staff size? And I don't know, do you talk about revenues? Do you care to, maybe not on a public forum, but No, we certainly can. Yeah, you know, it's just Like, you've grown a lot, really, since. And I want to talk also about the process of becoming a partner. Partner and then the CEO. Yeah, no, we can totally do that. Yeah. So 2015, it was a one person show as me. Um, so I was doing, you know, all the office stuff. I was manufacturing their product. I was shipping and I was doing everything. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, I was literally at my parents kitchen table. You like grabbed the business and just like took it over. Yeah. Well, how did you get the stuff manufactured then? Yeah. You had to order it from the plant. I don't know, so we get the steel in, painted how we want it, and then we put it into a roll form machine that shapes it how we want it. Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, wow. So I was able to learn how to do that. My dad taught me how to do it. Oh, really? Okay. And so I'd say, Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Customer, and they'd place an order, I'd go run it. So was this product just kind of sitting there and not running? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Okay. I mean, you know, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. My dad, right, we're a great duo because he knows the manufacturing side of things. He knows the machines. I know business. You know, I tell people all the time, I said, You know, Apple's a great product, but nobody would know about it without marketing. Yeah, you know what I mean? Nothing starts until you get a sale. Oh, that's so interesting You don't need finance. You don't need accounting. You don't need supply chain until you get a sale Yeah, and that's really where where I came in Yeah, yeah, you know to to sell and to resuscitate ultimately a great idea or what you felt was a good idea. Definitely Definitely. Huh. I didn't realize that. It was me in the beginning. I've been giving your dad more credit. I mean, he does have the great idea and the patents to launch it, but, but you really started the business from, from whole scratch. Well, you know, it, it, it works out, right? You have to have a good partnership. You know, I wouldn't be able to sell a product if I don't have one, right? Totally. He wouldn't be able to have sales if he didn't have a product. Right, right. It works out really well. Um, so yeah, we started with zero revenue in 2015 and we've grown exponentially from there. So it was me in the beginning. I didn't really hire my first full time employee till about 2017. Okay. So I had done it. And what was that first hire for you? And what, how did, what, how did you decide what to hire? I'm sure you were like, I got like nine people I want to hire. Yeah, no, definitely. But again, sales, it's all about selling. Okay. So I hired my first salesperson. Had everything else covered. So we just need more revenues. So then we can eventually have more people. Focus on yep. Yeah. Distribution manufacturing. Exactly. Yep. So that, that helped me to where I could run more, you know, somebody else's in the sales office. I could teach them how to do this stuff. Um, and it just kind of grew from there. Cool. Yeah, it was awesome. And like, were there big milestones? Like COVID nation seems like when people were getting a lot of juice in their, you know, mailboxes and stuff like that, or like, were there significant steps along the way? Yeah. You know, I mean, all of the growth steps are there. All different, right? Um, so a significant growth step for us was obviously getting a million in revenue, right? I think there's a lot of businesses out there that that's a good mark, right? Yeah. We haven't got there yet. Yeah, no, it's, yeah, it's, it's one of those milestones. I think the biggest milestone for us is, uh, you know, we were renting a place from a farmer friend that we knew. Okay. Right, so we were manufacturing our stuff out of, uh, an agricultural building. Okay. And shipping it. Um, ultimately we decided to, to take the chance and we, we built our own building, right? So we more than tripled the size of the building that we were in to start. And so we moved our business from Loveland to LaSalle, Colorado. Mm hmm. And that's where our manufacturing building was. So that was a really big step for us. And that was, we moved in in about 2019. Okay. Um, so that was a really good milestone for us. And that was a big, uh, milestone. Like all of a sudden your overhead went from 5, 000 a month to 25, 000 a month or something, probably. Yeah, no, I mean, you know, we went in with a business plan, uh, went into the banker, um, and they, they took a chance on us. Granted though, we had decent, you know, we had good financials. You were making money. Yeah, we were making money. So who, who doesn't want to lend money to the banker or do you still like him? Oh yeah. So at that time it was Mike Bond with Guarantee Bank, Guarantee Bank has, has been bought multiple times now. And is he even around? I don't think he's. He's out of industry anymore. He's out of banking now. I thought so. He was great. He was great. Golf stuff. Is that him? You know, I'm not sure what he's doing now. I know he's doing that. Ptarmigan. I think he managed the country club for a while. Okay. I know he's in a lot of nonprofit now too. So yeah, but anyway, shout out to Mike. Yeah. So that was 2019 when we, we moved into our new facility and. Uh, more milestones, right? You know, different product lines, uh, hiring people, um, you know, revenue goals, all that sort of stuff. So, uh. What would you say, like, from a intentional culture standpoint, um, what have you done in that space, if anything? Yeah. It's a family business, so it runs that risk of just kind of being the family and the culture develops organically. Yeah. You know, early on, you It was hiring friends and family, right? I mean, that's, that's who you trust. Um, that's what you have, but those come with their, their own intricacies. Right. Um, so, so we've really, we were a family business. Uh, it was me. I had two cousins and I had an uncle that, that all worked in the business early on. Um, and now we're, we're, we're, we're, Not just a family business, but a business that family can work in. Right. You know, so there, there's no more, Oh, you're only going to be successful here. If your family, that's, that's not how this works anymore. It's, you know, you're successful if you do the things that, you know, we need you to do. So that's really the, the big cultural shift. And we're working on a big time to just create a blue collar, you know, workforce, you know, people that can wear multiple hats and do multiple things and be okay with it and be comfortable introducing their friends. To you if they like their job. Yeah, exactly. And we've, we've had that, um, you know, I forgot another cousin that we had. He, he helped us get, you know, three employees, Uh, it's, it's awesome. Some of'em stayed, some of'em haven't, but that's how it, you know, it, it starts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, any like, major changes in the future? Are you, how, how close do your capacity of your building are you now? Yeah, I mean, so we moved into a 17, 000 square foot building when, when we started, and now we're at, uh, we've added on twice. Oh, really? Uh, yeah, because, uh, I'll give my father, you know, crap for this all the time, but he says, uh, when we moved into the building, we'll never need any more space. And we were adding on to the building within a year and a half of moving in. And then he says again. We'll never need any more space. And we just actually finished, um, a 20, 000 square foot expansion of the building. So we're now at a 43, 000 square feet. So he no longer says that he says, well, I didn't realize how good you were at selling. And I said, yeah, you probably shouldn't say that. And so you got a runway of a couple of years, maybe, or what's your goal? Like, what are you trying to accomplish? You know, that's a, that's a great question. I asked myself that too sometimes. So some days, you know, as a business, like, I think it seems like you're, I don't know, you know, on a huge trajectory, like, I don't know what 30 or 50 percent year over year growth revenue wise. That's where we were, um, up until about 2020. And now we, we don't want to get out over our skis, right. I want to continue to grow the business at an organic pace to where we can keep our promises to customers. Right. We don't want to get to a point to where, um, you know, we're late on things. So we try and grow at a nine to 10 percent clip now. Okay. Um, but yes, in the beginning we had 30, 40, 50%, you know, compounded annual growth rate with the business, but it has slowed a little bit. And that's, that's intentional. Yeah. You know, we, again, we're fiscally conservative. So, you know, that next step for us to grow is, is quite an investment. Right. Right. We feel pretty good about where we're at. Well, it seems like you would be. Like a super acquisition target, uh, just based on your metrics and growth and your niche industry and stuff. If you've been, how many phone calls do you think you've had in the last five years or two years, three years? Yeah. You know, we we've, I've looked at that route. I've looked at private equity and getting bought out to take some, some chips off the table, if you will. Cause, um, you know, as a business owner, I've been shopping for everything. I mean, I'm sure it's down probably the last couple of years because. Money's not so cheap. Yeah, exactly. So we have, but at the end of the day, you've got to say, okay, what, what do you want to do? Right. You know, uh, what's the future look like for you? Do you want to, do you want to answer to somebody else or do you want to be the guy, right? And what are the trade offs with that? So, well, and I think about the Walker manufacturing business, you know, they were, In manufacturing for a long time before they even started making lawnmowers. Really? Yeah. Interesting. That became like the product that fueled their growth. Okay. But, but you know, they're, I don't know what they are 50 years now or something in business and you know, they don't seem to have any strong interest in, you know, getting rolled up into some. Big manufacturing conglomerate or anything like that. Yeah. You don't have to either. No, you don't have to. It, you just have to decide, you know, what, what growth rate do you want? Uh, do you want to have to answer to somebody else and their growth metrics and what kind of culture do you want? Not that, you know, all of that goes out the window when you sell it to private equity, but it gets tough, right? I mean, now you have to answer to the investors and banks and whatever it may be, whereas right now. We're comfortable. I don't have to answer to a bank or I don't have to answer to, you know, investors saying, well, you didn't get this profit, right? Right. Not that, you know, of course we want to continue to grow as we can, but at our pace, well, and if you're profitable enough, you can take some chips off the table by buying some commercial real estate that you don't occupy, right? Exactly. Or, you know, doing other things, right? Yep. Um, let's talk about, uh, like you, um, you're married, right? And when did that happen? That was in 2018, 2018. So you're really a couple, three years into this business at that point or something. Yeah. Yep. Um, and her name is Kayla. We, we live in Eaton now. We've got one son. Um, she's been on board with the business, uh, as well. She helps out, um, wherever we, we can, but yeah, it was, it was pretty, she got to see a lot of growth. I imagine, yeah. Those first couple of years being with me and there was a lot of working on vacations, uh. I apologize. Kayla. We're trying to change that. So that's nice. Yeah, exactly. Which, you know, that's because you were profitable already, you know, if you were, if you were printing red ink and going on vacation, then we'll have another conversation about that. Yeah, exactly. So, uh, and we'll talk more about your family as we come along here, but, uh, so, but it's interesting that you were like right in the throes of that. So, so you're really kind of content to just kind of ride at a steady pace and you know, do you feel like you can influence your revenues? If you. You know, if you're, uh, start to dip a little bit in monthly sales, you can like add ads and get to where you want to be, or is that changes all the time? Right? Like, can we talk more about, it seems to be at least part of your special sauce is your marketing savvy. For sure. And, you know, I think we can, uh, we've been very fortunate to, you know, grow for the last 10 years. Um, you know, and, uh, Granted, we had a really, really good economy in those, those times, um, haven't, you know, been through too many recessions to, to see what that looks like. But I do feel very fortunate because I, the, the focus and the demographic that we go after feels a little bit more insulated from a lot of those ups and downs of the economy, right? These. Folks are pretty established, right? We kind of call them the IRA spenders. Um, you know, they have that disposable income, right? That they're willing to trade for in order to get more time back. Right. That's really what our product is about is, Hey, uh, you want to never paint your house again? Right, exactly. You know, you want to make your cabin look beautiful and never painted again. Exactly. I mean, that's, that's the whole value proposition and people are willing to exchange more money for that, a premium product, if that means that they get more time, is that so of your Your non log looking siding as well, that it's a premium product. It costs twice as much as the ABC seamless guy or whatever, right. Or some number more than, yeah, no. And that's really what we're after is we're, we're a niche product, right? So we really focused on wood grains and we really focused on the aesthetic of the siding, um, versus just, um, you know, a thinner gauge steel and, and really competing with the masses. So we are definitely a niche product. And is the. The paint quality, if you will, or the finish quality that allows you to have it be a near lifetime finish. And do you have a guarantee that supports that marketing or what's that look like? Yeah, definitely. It's a 30 year warranty against your cracking, peeling, blistering, fading, chalking. Um, and steel's come a really long way. There's been a really big resurgence in it because you can do so many Like really nice looks with steel. Now you can, you can print them a certain way. You can make them look a certain way, but yeah. I mean, that's the biggest thing is, is the paint. Um, you know, the paint companies have done a phenomenal job saying, okay, how can we make this work outside? You know, what, what can we do to, to make the chemistry, uh, give us the warranty that we want. Right, right. Well, and really good paint costs extra money, you know, that for sure. It's like, uh, you know, when you look at a 30 year old, uh, BMW motorcycle against a 30 year old Honda, you know, generally the BMW looks a little nicer, or at least it used to. I don't know if they still do. Right. It was back in the day. Yeah. Kind of getting what you, what you pay for, for sure. For sure. Um, I guess what would you say aside from marketing, what would you say were some of the Big challenges to overcome, um, to, to make true log successful. Yeah, I think it's, uh, um, people, you know, people's always going to be, uh, something for business that you, that you got to figure out, you know, getting the right people in the right places or getting the right people on the bus. Um, that's always going to be a challenge, but they can also be the differentiator for you as well. And I think that has been as bode well for true log is we have great customer service. You know, we. We start and end with the person in the office, right? They help you through the process. They educate you, but on the backend as well, once you get your product. They might be calling for installation questions. So we do a really good job with the customer service. Um, but from there, I, I think it is, um, you know, manufacturing, you know, getting your processes set to be more efficient, to get this stuff out the door, panel looks just right, right. Quality assurance, all that sort of stuff and shipping it to the customer has, has kind of been tough, right? I didn't want to open other manufacturing facilities across the country. I liked being in Colorado. It's my home. I liked employing people in Colorado. Um, And I didn't really want to branch outside of that and then triangle manage those people. I really like being under one rift. So that, that was, that's always kind of tough, right? Cause now you have, how are you going to get it to the customer? Right. Right. You know, so you have to kind of figure out what your logistics are going to look like. Instead of building a new 40, 000 square foot site, would doing a eastern USA site make sense for y'all? It, it definitely could. Um, you know, if we had the numbers right and everything, it would, you know, cut down on logistics costs, right? Well, and your labor rates a little lower if you go to Could be, right? Yeah, wherever it is, but, you know, again, though, I, I like being in Colorado and, and, you know, contributing to the economy here and employing people that we've got here. All my family's here, all that sort of stuff, but it's, it's possibility. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It'll be a decision point. I'm sure. Yeah. Or we just have to big a builder, you know, a bigger building. Right, right. I know. I'm, I'm, but I'm sure the shipping is. Sometimes 20 30 percent of the cost of the product, no? It definitely is. And one of the things that, you know, obviously Amazon has kind of, I don't want to say ruined it for everybody, but they've set the standard and said, Hey, free shipping. So that's one of the things that I really gravitated towards as well is people love free shipping. So I've kind of just baked it into The cost of our product, or you can look at it as taking less profit, whatever it is. But you buy X amount of signing, you get free shipping and people love free. For my father in law, that's only going to ship it to Fox. He should probably negotiate a little bit. Exactly. Right. We'll give you a credit. We'll give you a credit. Yeah. That's pretty interesting. Well, that's smart. I mean, um, otherwise it would be tough. Like I see people see that, Oh, only 9, 000, but then 3, 000. Cause I have to, is that, is that a, 20 percent maybe of actual, you know, it's not, it depends obviously. Yeah, it depends. I mean, we've been very fortunate now. We've, uh, basically got third party logistics guys that are not doing nothing but delivering our products. So we fill up a truck and they take a route and then, you know, they're their own business. So then they go figure out whatever else they need to do. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's worked out well. Brokers that find somebody that's going that way. Cause your actual packages aren't. Now that I think about it, aren't super big without a lot of early long, they are long yet about 12 foot long and the pallets are four foot wide. Um, so before, I mean, we were shipping with LTL companies, FedEx, UPS, old Dominion, all those guys. And they said, Hey, we don't want you anymore. You know, I literally had execs come in and I'm a million dollar account for them. And like, well, we don't want your business. I said, wait a minute. Like, what do you mean? Like, we just, we just want these pallets that are 3x3. You know, we don't want very profile stuff to, to fit in our trucks. I said, okay, well, we'll have to figure something else out. Right. Yeah. That had to be a big, uh. It was interesting being fired by a vendor. Right. That I was paying. Did you have some time to figure that out? Or was that kind of a stress moment for y'all? Oh, for sure. Definitely a big stress moment, right? Cause it's a, it's a huge change. I had been shipping with them for six years. Um, and, you know, any type of really big change like that in your processes kind of throws you for a loop. I mean, it was, wasn't a fun day, um, but we, we did have some time, right? You know, we paid a little bit more. They said, Oh, well, you know, we'll let you figure it out until, you know, that time. But, um, Uh, we ultimately figured it out and the solution cost more or was it actually better again? It has worked out really well for us. It's less. Yeah. It's definitely less more specialties and that kind of stuff And exactly they love the fact that your shit's only 12 feet long and right right wide all the time Yeah, exactly very very profile, you know, it's it's easy to to lug around I mean we do a really good job of palletizing things Um, and, and making sure to really see it. And it all stacks almost like gutters or something like that I'm imagining. It's all. And you wrap it all up in plastic or something? It's all in boxes. Oh. So we do everything in boxes. All of our panels. Okay. All of our trims in boxes. Then we palletize it and, and wrap it up. So yeah. Super, super good packaging by our guys. Yeah, yeah. Um. Um. What else? Well, I guess let's, well, let's talk about Loco Think Tank. You're a member of Loco Think Tank. Do you remember when you joined? Yeah, we had just talked about this, I think, uh, this month, actually. I think it's coming up on about two years. Okay. I think almost to the date, I think I joined in roughly about October. Okay. Of what was that? 2022. Yeah. Okay. I think so. Yeah. So it was that briefly, cause you were introduced by Emily. Yes. Yes. Um, and then. She passed not long after that, right? Isn't that two years ago? Um, that would have been, uh, yeah, it'll be two years in February. Yeah. Yeah. Um, which is a whole sad story. I could cry about any time. What, uh, I guess, what was your interest in that? And, and like, what's that? been, uh, like for you? Yeah, it's, it's been awesome. So I, you know, I was reconnected with, with Emily Kincaid by a business professor that we both had, Bill Schuster, and just wanted to connect with each other. I think that the business community is all about, and she just said, Hey, I'm a part of this, this group, right. And they, they helped me through my, my issues or my business problems, whatever it is, it's just nice to be a part of a community. I said, well, let's, let's give it a try. Um, cause cause ownership of a business can. Yeah. Right. Um, and so you want to be able to talk to other people and get perspective. Even when you're successful, even when you're growing every year. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't, uh, doesn't mean that you're, you're more popular or, or people understand that the issues that you have. So it's been awesome. Um, you know, I, I love being a part of the group, um, and just bouncing ideas off of people. It also helps me be accountable, right? Being the CEO and owner of the business. Don't have to be accountable to anybody, right? Kind of true, yeah. Except for myself and my Your wife and your guy. Right. Or whatever, right? Uh, and em and employees. Um, so it's just nice to bounce ideas off of people and know that, um, you know, You're not alone, right? People are dealing with the same issues as you, maybe just a little bit different because their business is different, but it's been great. And then also adding value to other people. I hope I have, um, you know, that's, that's another part of it as, as well. I just love talking with business and want other people to be successful as well. Yeah. You're, you're like a. business kind of guy in general, aren't you? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I love it. The, all the little intricacies of, of business, what it can provide, um, what is, what it's done, um, and just love helping people cause it's hard, right? I mean, what, what's the statistics, 70 percent of businesses fail in the first five years, or something like that. Uh, it's not easy, but if you can make it work, there's nothing better. If you were going to. Like try to, when I, so I was, uh, for our audience clarification, I was a member with Ryan, but probably for only like six months or something before I moved on to help start the next level three chapter. Um, I guess, what was my question? I, uh, gosh I just had such a good question figured out and now I lost it. I'm going to pause this for just a moment. Okay. No problem. What I was going to ask is when we were in a chapter together, like things were going well, you were growing well, making a pretty good profit margin, but you were kind of, uh, just doing everything that you did best. Yeah. Which was like too many things. Yes. Have you been able to, to settle your lifestyle down a little bit and would have been the key things that have allowed that for you? Yeah. You know, it's always been tough for me, um, to, to relinquish control. Right. I think, uh, that might be for every entrepreneur that starts a business and it's, and it's your baby, but I have, and I haven't, right. I, I still, I go to therapy for this, right. To, to, to try and get my life in balance. Um, cause It has, it has settled down more, right? I've hired a COO. I've got a production manager. I'm hiring a sales manager right now to help offload a lot of those things that, uh, that I've done. So, and I think the group You'll still always probably stay too busy. Yeah, exactly. Always. Right. You can always find stuff to fill your calendar with. But again, that, that's part of, uh, you know, the think tank group here is. They challenged me and said, Hey, well, why aren't, why aren't you offloading? Why aren't you hiring people? So, um, I do give credit to the group. You got the revenues for it. You don't need to, what are you doing? And you want to be able to take a 10 day vacation in St. Lucia if you want, without every customer getting their stuff late or, you know, the pipeline being empty when you get home. Yeah. And so it's getting the right people on, in the right seats and all that stuff. So we still work on that. Cool. Is the sales manager role then. I guess probably the sales is kind of like you're getting these electronic leads and then it's following up on all these leads with an in person touch. Is that kind of the customer journey? Exactly. Are you looking for a job? I've got, I got the micro voice. I can do some fake micro narration for your commercials and uh, I understand. No, I don't need a sales job, but it would be, I mean, to know that somebody was pretty interested in the product and to call them and talk them through the process, what it looks like, how we get the special texture on there, why, why we have a 30 year warranty. Exactly. Yeah, no. And that's the, you know, the kind of, again, the secret sauce, right? You're educating the customer they're calling and asking questions. And that's, what's really nice about digital marketing is, is a lot of people kind of have a fear and say, well, it's cold calling. It's like, no, it's not. I mean, these people have already raised their hand and said, Hey, I'm interested in your product. They've downloaded a catalog of ours or they've contacted in. Well, that's them already showing. Hey, raise their hand. They're marketing qualified. Yeah, exactly. So that's awesome. And then I suppose it's kind of figuring out how serious they are early in the conversation, qualifying them, right? Qualifying them to some extent, because you don't want to. Put a full estimate together. Cause that probably takes a few hours or a couple of hours. It can. Yeah. Depending on the project. Um, and that's another part of it where you are trying to sift through these people and see how, how serious are they? Um, and that is part of the process. So probably that's been a opportunity is to develop an actual sales process that somebody other than you is taking. And it isn't just based on your instinct, based on the, the language that the customer used in that last email. Yeah, exactly. And then, and then having somebody to be able to hire and train. Towards that, that process and that standard. And that's really what we're looking for in order to help scale that, that team. What's your communication mix with your customers as far as like phone calls, emails to do little loom videos and stuff like that to say, do it like this. Yeah, exactly. It's a, it's a lot of phone call and email. Um, you know, they'll, they'll message us, they'll email us with their, their prints or, you know, their photos with dimensions, whatever it is, and then discuss it on the phone, right? Everybody wants to know that they're actually talking to somebody on, on the other end of the computer. Um, so we have that, we send them mail, you know, we'll send them samples that they can touch and feel, so they have an idea of what the product is, and we've gone as far as even being on, you know, like FaceTime video. Oh, you know, showing customers how to install the product or helping their contractor, whatever it is. Um, our, our team does a great job across the board. They can text us. I mean, we've kind of gone to yard service, uh, find and get installed your product. Yeah, it is. But I mean, I, again, that's, that's why we're successful, you know, that's why people continue to gravitate towards our, our products, that customer service, um, anything that you would want to, uh, share with, say, an aspiring entrepreneur, um, You know, there's probably a little too specific to have kind of a dormant company your father founded and had patents for that you could just lift off with, but, uh, even just that, that 20 year old that would love to do something. Yeah. You know, I, I think for, for me, I was always interested in so many aspects of business. And I think that's what has kind of made me successful, right? I was able to do enough finance, enough accounting, enough supply chain, enough marketing, whatever it is. So, I think always continue to strive to learn more, you know what I mean? And, and you have to try things out. Even if it's not a depth of accounting or finance or sales. At least you know a little bit so then you can go talk to the banker and say, Hey, I need a loan for this. Well, you also are going to have to know How am I going to sell this product? You know, what is my business plan? You know, you have to have all that stuff in order to really get stuff off. Where do I source my materials? Yeah. What's my delivery method? Exactly. All those things. Uh, I, I would say, you know, learn, learn how to sell too. I mean, right. Like, like we've talked about this whole time. Nothing starts until you sell something. Yeah. Honestly, I think that's probably a good place for a lot of. Yeah. Aspiring entrepreneurs to start is to sell for somebody else. Yeah. That, that you like their product. Yeah, exactly. Don't try to sell something you don't believe in. Right. Yeah. That's too hard. You do have to believe in the product for, for sure. Um, but yeah, and try things out, you know, if, if you can fail small, that's, that's also awesome. Like I was able to take this position cause I was still single. I had quit my job, you know, my, my corporate ladder and I was living at home, right. So it is, I had a, um, I don't want to say an easier path, but, uh, less downside. Right. I didn't have a family. I didn't have. You know, kids or anything like that, you could go get another corporate job if you needed to. Yeah, if I failed, well I was, I was gonna be able to just step into another job. So, um, I do at least appreciate that, that part of it. But if you can small, you know, fail small, um, you know, less expensive, all that sort of stuff, like, you know, an iteration phase of Yeah. Of things just to see how things go. I dig it. Um. This is kind of the turn where we start to talk about, uh, all the other things of the world. Uh, we always talk about faith, family, and politics, and kind of anything else that really you jive with, if you have any major hobbies, or you're a baseball coach. Any of those things. Do you have an order that you'd like to take those on? Sure, we can go in the order that you said, so what, faith, family, politics, what else is there? That was the three mandatories. Sure. Yeah, I mean, uh, growing up I was, uh, grew up in the Lutheran church. I went to a private school. Which, uh, which, uh, cause I know there's like the Wisconsin, the Missouri, and maybe some other departments of Lutheranism. Well, you know, what's interesting is, uh, my grandparents are Catholic, but I couldn't get into the Catholic, uh, elementary cause it was full. So they're like, well, we still want you to be in private school. So we, I went to a Lutheran, Lutheran church school. I don't know what kind of area it's from, but it was more so about the, the education and the, and the one on one, you know, um, don't get me wrong. You know, I'm a faith based person, you know, everything happens for a reason and definitely believe in a higher power, but it was more so the, the smaller classrooms, you know, having that, that kind of one on one experience. Well, I think you're seeing kind of a uniting of faith and religion. People in the world today, and this drifts into politics, but, but even the, the Jews and the Catholics and the Lutherans and the, it's like them against us. Everybody else at this point, a little bit, because there's almost getting smaller than everybody else. You know, the Christians for a long time, you could say, well, I'm a Christian because it gave you like community power and status in the community. And now it's just like a reason for two thirds of the people to scoff at you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, and you know, I continue to keep that faith. Um, you know, I don't, I don't have Bible verses memorized or anything like that, but I definitely have confidence in a higher power and things, you know, happening, you know, for you. You know, not to you. Providential. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Do you and your family do actively church stuff now? We did in the past. Um, I, I haven't. It's something that, you know, probably should, uh, strive to, to do more of. Um, you know, to just help strengthen it and keep you going. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um. Anything that, uh, is significant to you from that journey? Sounds like you would be an advocate for that kind of small classroom, faith oriented education, at least. Yeah, definitely, and I think it's nice to have that one on one, but I also, you know, want to give credit to my parents, too, right? I mean, you can go to those smaller schools and have that, you know, very church based learning, but if you don't have it reinforced on the back end, right, with your parents, What does it do? Right. So I was lucky enough to have both, right. My parents very involved and just reinforcing those, those teachings and why, you know what I mean? Um, so I, I would be an advocate for nothing against a public school or anything like that. That's just what my parents wanted at, at that time. But I do like living in a smaller community and, you know, knowing, knowing people and, and being able to connect, right. Versus, you know, maybe being in Cherry Creek and you're going to, you know, school of two to 3000 kids. Uh, I think our church still has, uh, a sister church out there in alt Oh, really? The High Plains Harvest. Okay. Uh, church. Okay. I think I've heard of that. We're part of a local kind of, it's called the Crossway, and so they like share pastor training programs and stuff. Okay. But they don't really, that they don't, they're not affiliated with the Presbyterians or the Lutheran or the Catholics or any of that. I've kind of gravitated toward that kind of more Libertarian style. Yeah. Non-denominational or whatever. Very non-denominational, but also. You know, an island is not strong. Yeah. You know, and so I like our model of having kind of a You know, we've got a little church in two little churches in Fort Collins, one in Loveland, one in Windsor, one in Alt, and they kind of share resources. And if somebody needs a sub on Sunday for the sermon, you know, tell me two months ahead, not a week ahead, but we can do that. Yeah, that's cool. Okay. So anyway, um, that might be a local one. You might check out if you start investigating. How old's your, uh, how old's your kiddo? He is a little over two and a half years old. Okay. So, you know, they're, Kind of another year or so when they're not a pain in the ass at Sunday school anymore. Yeah, exactly. That's one of the ways my wife and I serve is to, uh, we're floaters, which means you have to kind of be an emergency teacher or just serve the classrooms and things like that. Gotcha. That's cool. The, the. Under threes are definitely, for me, the most challenging, because I can reason with the people that are over three. Right. Exactly. They're developed there. Under that, it's, it's emotion based. Totally. Um, let's talk about, uh, I've misplaced your wife's name already. Kayla. Kayla. Yeah. K A Y L A. Yep. You got it. Okay. Um, how did you find her? So, uh, you know, full disclosure, we, we met on a dating app. Ooh. Yeah. That's okay. That's normal anymore, I think. No, it Which, was it Tinder? It was Tinder, actually. Well, then. Do you know that She'll be embarrassed she said that. Yeah. But that's okay. No, we, we tell our story because, uh, it was The only reason that it worked out is there was We had 30 mutual connections. But we had never met each other. She was at UNC getting her master's degree. I was out of college, but we had a bunch of mutual connections. And it's like, well, how do I not know this person? Um, she's from a really small town. Mutual connections on Tinder? No, on Facebook. Oh, okay. Because that would be Yes. Third. 30 of the same people with 30 of your friends before she met you. No, no, no. Okay. That's good. This was in the early days when you had to hook it up to like Facebook, right? And then you got to see, Oh, I don't know. I've been married for 20 years. I have swipe left or right. Yeah, exactly. No, that, that's what it was. So we just had 30 mutual friends that we knew through social media. So that was like a swipe right automatically or something. I mean, a little bit, right. I mean, for the first date. And then what was it, uh, about, uh, you that made her say yes to, did you ask her out for the second date or did she ask you? No, I, I, it was me. I've, uh, you know, uh, traditional gentlemen tried, tried to, tried to be, uh, I had a lot of convincing, you know, to, to go out on a date. Really? We'd been talking for a little while. Okay. You know, granted, she was, uh. Uh, she was in, uh, doing her master's degree in speech language pathology. So she was busy. Um, but it's hard, right? It's hard to meet people. And it's, you know, a lot of, some people don't like dating. Um, so that, that was definitely her, but we definitely hit it off. Cause she's, uh, she's from a small farming community in Nevada. Okay. Um, so she actually played volleyball at Santa Clara university. And that's where some of these connections came in as a gal that she played volleyball with their transferred to CSU. And so, so that was one of those connections, you know, that we had, we had, um, but ultimately, you know, she got her master's degree out here and that's, that's kind of how we met. So she had the, those same, you know, qualities, right? I mean, We, we match on just about everything, right, you know, from, from a political view, faith view, you know, like work ethic, all those sorts of things we, we grew up, you know, very similar, even though we were thousands and, you know, a miles away from each other, which is really cool. So we just said a lot. We're in, we're in Nevada. So it's a small town called Urington. Urington? Urington, Nevada. It is the onion capital of the world. Oh, really? Yeah, so they, uh, they actually grow, um, the most onions, uh, that you can think of. Thousands of acres. Well, but the headquarters of the Onion Foundation or something is in Greeley. Yes. Of the National Onion Association. Yep. Yeah. So when, when I would go out there and would talk with the family and everything like, Oh yeah, we know where Greeley is. There's a lot of produce made out there. Right. It's like, well, I mean, not as much as I see here, but that's where she's from. Okay. Yeah. I went through, uh, coming up to Winnemucca. Yep. Uh, is, uh, where I was given a warning for 115 miles an hour by a police officer one time. Just a warning? No. Yeah. He was pacing me. Okay. Oh my. And, and like, you know, I slowed down for a construction zone and I sped back up. Yeah. And then he just kind of stayed right there, but didn't turn his lights on or nothing. It was a semi unmarked kind of car. Interesting. And eventually, cause I would speed up to try to get away from this, cause I didn't know if it was a gangbanger or some shit, you know? And so eventually I had this car. Audi S6 that was boosted to like 24 pounds. Oh my. And I eventually I was like, okay, screw this guy. I'm just going to put him behind me. And I got up to like almost 120 miles an hour and his lights turned on. Really? And he just let you go with a warning. Well, I told him like, dude, you can't just be like hanging on somebody's bumper through like up by Winnemucca. Yeah, right. Exactly. I'm in the middle of nowhere and you're just like hanging on me. And there's no other cars in sight in either direction for a couple of Five miles? A long time. He was like, you know what? You're right. Really? Yeah. He's like, I'll keep that in mind for the future. And also he was, he was a big fan of the Audi S6. Oh, perfect. My wife was like, you're so crazy. How did you talk your Yeah, how did you get off? Super honoring, super nice. Yeah. That's perfect. Anyway, so I've only been through that region of the country. But that's kind of in that zone somewhere up along in there. So it's about 80 miles South of Reno. That makes sense. Yeah. Yep. In a, in a small Valley. So she, you know, there's actually enough water in that Valley to raise a bunch of onions and good irrigation systems and all that. Yeah. You'd be really surprised. I mean, uh, you know, learning of that region, there was a huge glacier that turned into an aquifer there, so they pump a lot of the money. It is money, but it is water as well, uh, out of the ground, but they get a lot of, uh, their irrigation water from the Sierra Nevadas. Oh, cool. Right. So the Carson river comes down. So when you get all that snow up in Tahoe, it actually floods her. It has flooded her town multiple times. Oh, wow. Interesting. Yeah. It melts too fast. It comes down the East side of that mountain. So, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, and, uh, so you guys, uh, Meet, start dating anything, uh, any interesting chapters along the way where you quick engagement. Well, so she would say that it was me that wanted to live with her within six months, but I think she asked me to live with her. I don't know. It's up for debate. But either way you were. Yeah, we moved in together right. Um, about six months into dating. Um, got our first house and, and Wellington, um, she had her first job up in Cheyenne as a speech language pathologist. Okay. Um, I was still commuting to, uh, to Loveland for, for work. Um, and then we all actually know another, um, one of my mentors is Reno Caesar, the founder of the egg and I, uh, and his daughter. name. I can't remember. I'm sorry if you're listening, uh, probably not. Uh, but she's a speech language pathologist and I, so I actually know what that job means. And it's really hard. It is. It's complex. It is complex. And she was in the skilled nursing facilities and. Just really tough. I mean, those people are, are saints, right? I mean, a lot of those individuals in there are unfortunately on their way out. Right. Right. You know, and they're mostly there. She's teaching somebody that has had a stroke, how to talk again so that they can have some level of communication before they die in a year or two. Yeah. So, you know, you gotta be a special person to be in those facilities. God bless her. Yeah, exactly. So, and then we, we moved to Eaton. She dabbles in real estate. Um, so she, she does that as well, but we, we moved to Eaton about six years ago. Okay. And how old did you say you were? He's two and a half, two and a half. Yeah. And his name is, is Theodore. We named him after my dad. Um, it's Theodore Scott. So it's my dad and her dad's name on one, but we call him Theo. And then is it Reed Baum? Yep. Okay. So backstory on that is Reed is my mom's maiden name and Baum is my dad. So they combined it. So there's only five Reed Baums in the world. Yeah. Very progressive. Yeah, exactly. Um, I'm a, I'm a bear and like at Wilbur's and you know, even Safeway and stuff. There's almost no other bears, but there's like a hundred thousand at least. Right. Really? There's not that many bombs. No, there aren't. Pretty unique. Um, and what would you say, um, are your favorite things about, uh, about your wife? No, Kayla, she is, yeah, she, she's fierce. I can tell you that. Yeah. She, she's fierce. She's very passionate. Um, you know, I love where her heart is. She, she wants to help people. Um, she's fiery, right? I mean, we, she's very competitive. You know, she was a college athlete, which, which I love. Um, so Were you also? I, I was not. I, I worked in college athletics, but I did not get that gene in the, my sister did though. Okay. She, she was the athlete. I, I had to use the brain to, to get somewhere. Oh, we should talk about Jessica a little bit before we leave family. Um, I remember her as just being like super sharp for such a young person, uh, and, and just aware in her field. Yeah, she, she definitely is. She works extremely hard. She works harder than me. Uh, graduated law school from, from CU, unfortunately. I mean, we don't like those. We boo. No, just kidding. And yeah, so she works in Denver as, as an attorney. Um, and same thing, right? Both of our parents were very involved in our education and it was important for us, uh, you know, to do well in school and, and to, uh, to learn. So she, she's, uh, very dynamic. One thing we always do is a one word description of the child or children. Okay. Okay. Um, do you have a one word description, and remind me your son's name again, I'm sorry. Theo. Theo, yes. Theodoro Scott. Yes. Um, one word, and you can expand after that, but if you're gonna do a focus word for him. Ah, man. I'd say, you know, for his young age, I would say something around, I know this is two words, but very caring, you know, he, he has a, a caring nature, empathy is good. Yeah. He has a very caring nature already that you can already see develop. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he'd be like that. Don't cry, mommy. Yeah. Or whatever. Exactly. Yeah. He's definitely got a caring nature already. Yeah. I love that. Definitely. Carry him well. Yeah. No. So, you know, you, you watch the shows like Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story, he falls off the ledge and he's like, Oh no. Oh, you know, he already can see, you know, and, and. Have empathy for those emotions and things that are going on. So it's pretty cool. Pretty significant thing at that age. Already. Um, politics is the third mandatory segment. Sure. Um, it's been interesting just the last few weeks here since Mr. Trump won the election. Very interesting. Um, what did you, I guess, first, what was your instincts leading up to the election? And, and what do you think about what's happened since? You know, it's, it's always interesting, right? I, I think elections are, are different. Um, you know, I wasn't truly aware like during Obama, right? I was, had just kind of graduated high school, didn't necessarily understand for both first term and second term, but now being out of college, right? You in the real world, you get to see the effects of, of decisions, right? Whether it's taxes or it's inflation or what regulations, what, whatever it is. So, um, that very first one with, with Hillary and Trump in 2016 was kind of my, my first one of, of, uh, I don't want to say caring, but being aware, right? And saying, okay, let's, let's follow this and see what happens. Um, me initially, I have looked at it and said, I'd like a business guy in office, right? And we can debate on, you know, Trump's business prowess or whatever it is, but, I just didn't necessarily want a quote unquote traditional politician. I felt like if you had somebody with some business knowledge to run the country, at the end of the day, the government should be serving us right as as the people, right, they should be, you know, hopefully making our life better, creating a better economy for us safer cities, whatever it is, right, that those are kind of my views. And I said, Well, if you're a business person, right, Your goal is to make your business better. I mean, you don't go into business saying, well, I want to lose money and not have a good business, right? You can't do that. Right. You fail. So I was just looking for something different, I think, in that aspect. So you, you came. Came up with Trump then probably a third time Trump voter now. Yeah, definitely. And, and, you know, again, don't agree with some of the stuff that that's happened in his life or some of the way that he goes about things. You weren't there on January 6th. I was not. You'd be in jail. Yeah. What I was just laughing at was. That was when Trump met with Trudeau or whatever, and they're, you know, all fretting out about this tariffs thing and stuff like that. And Trump's like, well, they've been screwing us for a hundred billion dollars every year, you know, over the last few years. And so if you're not a sustainable business the way you are, maybe you should just become a state. I came to you and I was like, oh man, that's. Yeah, you know, there's that unorthodox. Right, if you can't figure out how to make your country work, we'll take you in. We'll take you in. Mexico saved you, bitches! Yeah, and that, that's kind of that business side of things, right? Did he go about it the right way? I don't, probably not, right? He planted the seed. That's, that's, you know, kind of out there, but yeah, I mean that's But it shows you how he's looking at The whole damn country has a big old business. Yeah. And you know, obviously we, we want to be better as a country. I obviously love America. I love Colorado. I want the best for, for us, whatever that looks like. So, so did you, it sounds like you were kind of almost politically ignorant. Like for me, I was like in my sophomore year of high school, I got three study holes on Tuesday, Thursday, because I quit chorus and I also had three So I consumed every Wall Street Journal, every U. S. News and World Report, every Wall Street ER, every New York Post, you know, just all these, and popular science, popular mechanics, like I've just been an information sponge forever. Awesome. Um, and then when I, I kind of developed my own philosophies and then when I learned about, uh, Ron Paul, The senior or Ron Paul, I guess, right. I was like, Oh yeah, that what he's saying. Right. So for me, that was like, it was kind of like this kind of conservative libertarian. Yeah. Before I knew really what that meant. Yeah. And it's the same thing, right? I mean, when you grow up in a farming community or on a farm, right, you're about efficiency, you're, you're about your, your farm, you're about stewardship of the land, taking care of the community, all that sort of stuff. So I think naturally growing up. It was more on the conservative side of things, uh, not to, to say that I don't have, you know, some of the, the liberal, you know, Democrat sort of things like, you know, cause you also want to get married. Yeah, exactly. Right. But you know, you want to help people as well. So how can you balance that in capitalism? Right. You do have people that have unfortunate circumstances. So the whole conservative side of, well, you need to figure it out. Okay. I get that. But how can we also help them and raise them up? So how can you have both? I'm probably in the middle, right? Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm more. probably the independent, but we've got, you know, two systems in America right now. So what do you think about the way that election shaped up with the, uh, what's the line I've been using the, uh, the vegetable made way for the plant, uh, without a vote to save democracy? It's interesting, right? I, you know, may not know the, the whole story or what it is, but yeah, again, that, uh, that wasn't democracy working, uh, by, by any means. I mean, you should be voted in, um, into these positions so that, that, at least at the convention, right? Like, I couldn't believe that they. Chris and Kamala as the candidate before the convention. Yeah, I mean, but again, some, some people don't look at it that way. And it's like, okay, um, that's, that's not how we were formed. Um, but if that's what you want, it can get pretty dangerous. What do you think about what's going on in Russia, Ukraine right now? Yeah. Syria is back in the hot seat. Yeah. Israel is tentative ceasefire here. I mean, what do you think about our role, I guess, that America's role in global politics? You know, I, we are the most powerful country in the world. I don't know where we sit now or, or in the past, but, um, you know, I don't think we should necessarily have to support all of these countries, right? Or is it our battle necessarily? No, but again, it's how do we help people, right? How do we, how do we, you know, have a better place to live for everybody in the world. Um, so, you know, you can get down a pretty dark rabbit hole with some of those things. I don't want to say that we shouldn't be a player. It's kind of hard, right? If you want to be a leader in the world, sometimes you're going to have to be involved in those things. Um, and of course, um, you can say, Hey, we've, we've got a lot of these defense contractors that want these things, right. You know, that want these wars, um, which I would hate to say that, uh, but it could be true. On the other side of it, it's like, no, we, we don't need this, right? The last thing we need to be is, is adversarial to each other and life's hard enough already, you know? I have a podcast recommendation is, uh, Mike Benz on Joe Rogan recently. Okay. Do you know who Mike Benz is? No. He was, he's kind of been studying the digital, uh, industrial complex and the censorship complex. And ultimately, like the stories he told Rogan about how. The, the basically digital warfare that brought the Orange Revolution y thing into Ukraine, but was ultimately rejected by Eastern Ukraine, and, you know, it's kind of the notion of trying to take countries by overtaking their, their, their mind through media, through propaganda, through different things, and that's, um, the deep, you know, Uh, roots of that Ukraine thing. And then Eastern Ukraine was like, you guys got manipulated, screw off. We got all the energy and all the water and access to the sea, right? So bite us. And the Eastern Ukraine was like, no, you bite us. We're going to go beat you guys up a little while, you know, interesting. Yeah. That was Russia claimed. And I think there's some justification that Eastern Ukraine was being abused by what Western Ukraine because of their. desire to more fully align with Russian principles than interesting West. Okay, yeah, I'll have to take a look at that. Yeah, it's pretty Yeah, that podcast is it blew your mind. Yeah, I've done that is the hard thing about all this is you don't know what what's true and you're trying to decipher through things and, and what is propaganda and what's not and what's true and what's not it's very difficult and it's it's kind of sad but and you're trying to run a damn business I just want to Sell some sighting, hire some people, help people out and do these things. But yeah, I have a good regulation, but even in terms of a local politics, like you guys would probably rather have been in Loveland or Fort Collins probably than, uh, than went to LaSalle for your factory. We did. And, you know, in full disclosure, we, we tried to work with Larimer County and the regulations were, were just crazy. Right. It's, you know, you had to have, you had to already right up front, give 250, 000 for road maintenance fees. Right. You had to do all of these things. And it's like, well, why am I having to do that as a business owner? Right? Why is it my responsibility to keep things looking nice around here? So, I mean, ultimately we did, we moved to well County, we moved our family, we moved our entire business over there. Um, not that Larimer County cares, but at some point, Right? You, you have these, this exodus of businesses, right? How much more do you think it would have cost you to have your business in Limerick County? Oh, I mean, it'd be, at this point, it'd be millions. Really? I mean, millions of dollars from, you know. Just from the start, plus also extra. Taxes. You know, right off the top, they wanted a quarter of a million dollars. That was, that was year one. Right. Right? And then what are the taxes going to be over there? Right. What, you know, all that sort of stuff. Um, I, I would say, yeah, easily in the millions. Wow. You know? And so that's, that's something that's like, okay, me as a business owner, personal property taxes, way higher in Larimer County as well. So all those machines and stuff that bend the steel for y'all. Right, exactly. You know, that, that's money that can go to employees that can go to us expanding the business, whatever it is. So, I mean, those are the decisions that business owners have to make. Yeah. But those taxes help to pay for advantages, opportunities for other people. It is true. It's a balance, right? It's true. Yeah. There, there is the balance. You're exactly right. Um, anything else that's for you? Nope. Like a political hot button or, you know, something we should do. Oh, and we didn't talk about the, to me, like Cash Patel and Hegseth and some of these really disruptive nominations are, are really fascinating. And I think, I don't know. It is very fascinating. I, you know, I think unfortunately the government is not built to run efficiently. Right. I, you know, if we take the example, Yeah, yeah, Doge, if we take the example of Argentina, I don't know the guy's name down there, but you know, Javier Mele. Yeah, he's my hero right now. Yeah, he's cutting a lot of stuff and trying to be more efficient. They're saying eight and a half percent increase in GDP, you know, for the economy is, is that why it's working? I don't know. And inflation is down from like freaking, you know, 25 percent monthly done almost nothing, right? You know that and that's what they're saying is it's it is Government spending that causes inflation. I'm not an economist I don't exactly know but you know, you can see these charts and say, okay Well something needs to change here. But again it being more efficient should make us a better country, right? Well in printing money is what allows us to make war. Yeah, because we don't have to actually pay for it Yeah, make our grandchildren pay for it instead. Yeah, it's very interesting to see what what's gonna happen, right? You know because at the end of the day you can sit here and say well, yeah, we have all this debt out but Come and come and get it right and then at that point it's it's just militaries, right? Right. It's just whoever's got bigger military, right? But then you lose your dollar status. Yeah, which is why bricks is a big thing and Trump's like yeah you bricks motherfuckers I'll tell you what Yeah, so it is interesting Well, see what you can buy with it cuz you're not gonna sell nothing to us Right. Yeah. And we're the biggest consuming, you know, nation in the world. So that, that has a lot of power to it as well. What an interesting time. It's a, it's kind of a Mexican standoff a little bit right now in the kind of power infrastructure, but we're still the big swinging dick. Well, you know, we got to stop acting like it. Yeah. And at some point you, you have to have efficiencies. You have to create a better place. Sorry for my language. So you're blushing a little bit right now. It's all good. I, I get it now. And, and, you know, it, I think he's playing chess. You know, I do think it's like, Hey, if you guys don't come to the table and talk about this, well guess what's gonna happen. Yep. Is this what you wanna do to your country? that'll be your decision. If you, if you want these 25% tariffs, you're not gonna send lumber to us.'cause who are you selling lumber to? Right. Who else in the world builds like we do? Right. Nobody? Well, if you want to kill your economy, go ahead, Right, right. I think it's, it's more of a chess piece. Yeah. Do I think it would actually happen and, and he hurt American businesses? I would hope not. Right? But he's got it. He's trying to Well, there will be some inflationary pressure from that. But also, there is likely to be a lot of increase in domestic production. Yeah. Like, I bought, I've, honestly, I bought all the cheap Chinese shit I want to buy. I don't need any more. Yeah, right. You know, I'll buy Korea's stuff or something if they figure out their stuff. Did you look at that, by the way? No. Oh, the, the whole martial law? The South Korea thing? Yeah, yeah, that was fascinating. It's just weird. It feels like the world is just turned upside down right now, and, and I'd like to see it. And mentally fragile. Yeah, like at a level. I don't think we've seen in the world since ever well You know and and you have social media and you have all this stuff You're seeing all these events now, you know what I mean? Not not to say that everybody was blind before but That's all the news is, right? It's fear sells. Right. It used to be, you know, Oh, Hitler's doing this or whatever. But now you can read a thousand stories a day about how Hitler wipes his butt. Yeah, and what's going on. Yeah. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I mean, I'd love to have more manufacturing in the United States. Are things going to be higher in cost? They might be, but I don't know what to expect. Tariffs look like, and I don't know what all of that stuff looks like, but, you know, create a better USA, you know, create jobs for, for people if, if we can. Well, I think that should be the, the job of the government in every country. Sure. Is to make their country better. Sure. Yeah. You know, and that doesn't mean they have to make other countries worse. It's not a zero sum game. Right. You would hope so, yeah. what people have to realize is that. If everybody can be stronger, everybody will be stronger. Yeah. You know, we need to have a strong middle class. I mean, I, I employ 12 guys in manufacturing, right? They say, Oh, well, it's not going to happen. Cause you know, we have robots in the Senate. Yeah. Robots are great, but. You still have to have the, the mind and, and, you know, the intricacies of a human being able to look at things and do things. Will there be robots doing stuff for you in the not too distant future? I mean, if, if Optimus, you know, with, with what Musk has, if he really comes out. It has to be kind of a humanoid robot almost. Yeah, you know, I mean, there are applications where that can work, but I think there's also applications too, to where, you know, you can, you can still have humans, you know, doing manufacturing. Um, I think another great example is John Deere wants to take all of their stuff to Mexico. Trump says, I wouldn't do that. Cause now there's going to be tariffs coming in. So keep, keep the stuff here, build factories, all that sort of stuff. I know at some point, yeah, that'll go away, but let's figure it out in the meantime. Yeah. Fair enough. Yeah. Is there any, uh, political hot topics that you would like to, to address? I mean, not really. I think, you know, we've kind of talked about it. At the end of the day, it's, I would just like people to work with each other. You told me you just wanted to drink water, but I forgot to offer you a joint, uh, or a mushroom. Do you think that's been good for Colorado? With your dinosaur? Well, you know, it's, it's one of those things. Where is the money actually going? Is it actually going to schools? I don't know. If it is, it seems like it's not doing a great job of making them better. Yeah, I mean, my mom has worked in the school district for almost 20 years, and it certainly doesn't seem like teachers are getting paid more, doesn't seem like schools are any better, but again, I am pretty ignorant to it. I, I don't know. I mean, is that money going there or not? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I, I don't know either. I would hope so. That's my bad. That's something usually I offer before we get started, but it seems unlikely that you would. With the Frisbee and the plants. Yeah, it's, you know, try to make all of our guests, uh, whatever their desires. That's cool. Well, we've got red wine, bourbon, and tequila. Perfect! And beer. And beer, get the gamut. And water. Perfect. And tea. Um, I feel like we might as well hit on the, uh, loco experience. Sure. So this is the craziest experience of your lifetime that you're willing to share. Yes. Knowing that your father and your mother and your wife are all going to listen to this show. No, it's perfect. It's, this is great. I, I love what you do. I love how you're connecting, you know, the business community and, and talking with people and, and getting their stories out there. I think it's awesome. Well, thanks for that. But also this is, so this is for you, your craziest experience of your lifetime. So that's the loco experience. Yeah. Oh man. Not just, not your involvement with loco think tank. Gotcha. I'm trying to think. Any near deaths? Uh, almost got married to the wrong girl? None, none of those. Got lost hiking? Had to spend the night? Pine tree? I'm boring. I'm, I, you know, I've been too good of a kid to my parents. You know, pretty straight laced since, since the beginning. Are you going to have a, uh, early midlife crisis or something? I, I hope not. I, I hope like fast cars or anything like that? I, I like, I like driving tractors. No, I'm not, not really a speed demon. Um, I, I think the overall I think crazy experience is, is I guess the business in general, well, especially picking it up with. Basically no revenues. I really didn't realize that honestly, when we got to know each other. Yeah. I mean, I guess so I, as you know, the craziest experience was, you know, going into a bank, um, you know, not, um, kind of a snot nose kid, right. Uh, presenting a business idea and asking for, you know, a couple million dollar loan to, to see if there's the business works, I'd say, you know, that that's been, you know, a single event, but what was the business before that, like how many revenues was it in the previous phase? Yeah, I mean it was next to nothing. Really? I mean it was maybe ten twenty thousand dollars, you know, cuz He we just had a website that was sitting there. We weren't working on it. We're doing anything You had to borrow a million dollars. Oh, so that was later. That was later Yeah, I mean at that point we probably had revenues of you know, four to five million in sales, you know So still the bottom line was much less. Yeah borrowing of people A few years or several years worth of profits, probably. Yeah. And there wasn't a long financial history either. Right. And we got it off the ground guys. Can we borrow 2 million? Yeah, exactly. And that I'd say that was probably the most. Singular kind of crazy event that I've had that I can think of right now because I'm pretty boring. Otherwise Well, I I almost I almost went And worked for the Miami Dolphins. I can't say that. All right. Tell me about that. I was in athletics I was in recruiting at CSU when Jim McElwain was football coach and one of the guys there His name is Drew Hill. He's now the Director of Player Personnel at Oklahoma. Got me an opportunity to actually interview with the Dolphins. That's what I thought I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be a scout. And to do those things. And I just bombed it. Just bombed the interview completely. All the way down to Miami? It was just divine intervention, right? At that time it was kind of a crossroads of Do I stick with the family business and keep doing what I'm doing, or do I go on a different path? If you've got that job, none of this would have happened probably. Exactly. I wouldn't be in Colorado. I wouldn't be sitting in front of you, right? All that stuff, uh, happens for a reason. So I just had, uh, my first time in Miami. We, we had an overnight layover on the way back from this vacation and hung out and went to the South Beach. I was gonna say he's good at South Beach. We did. We went to the Havana something, something Havana Anejo restaurant that was really outstanding. Okay. They've got like 11, 000 reviews, this little hotel restaurant. Yeah. At 4. 9. How do you do that? 11, 000? Well, because they hand everybody a little card and say, My name is Julian Aram, would you please leave a review? Is this your review for Google? This is review for That's perfect. Yeah. I love Cubans. Like, they're so much different than Mexicans. Even though I love Mexicans too, but Right. It's just such an interesting, distinctive, cultural difference between the Have you traveled internationally at all? No, I haven't. Well, does Mexico and Canada Do they count? Mexico counts a little bit, especially if, like, you have to get off the resort, though. Oh, yeah, then that hasn't happened. I've been to Jamaica. Honeymoon in Jamaica. Okay, okay. But no, I, I haven't. Well, that's gonna be my goal for you in the next, uh, season here is to get yourself, uh, into some more fun. Going somewhere else. Would, would, would, uh, Kayla enjoy that? Yeah, she definitely would. She actually still has family in Italy, so her family is, uh, immigrated from Italy and settled in Nevada. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Um, so it was her great grandfather that started, um, in Italy or, you know, from Italy to America. So we'd, we'd like to go to Italy and see. So, um, her last name, her maiden name is Lommery with an O, but there's a city in Italy. That's Lammery, L A M M O R I. And that's where, you know, her family gets their, their name is there. Oh, interesting. Yeah. And what, uh, what hybrid are you? I'm as much white as you can get. I, I am, I'm Swedish, I'm German and I'm English. That's, I mean, that's, I'm a lot of those things as well. I described Fort Collins in particular as a melting pot, but we're a white cheese fondue. We are, we totally are. Yeah. Come, come from a German background that settled in Wisconsin, farmers, all that sort of stuff. And then the grandparents moved out here in the, in the seventies. So yeah. Yep. Um, do you have any good jokes you'd like to share as the final? Any good jokes? Anything that you, your go to joke? Ah, man. No? Any good dad jokes? Uh, I got, uh, Why didn't people like the nosy pepper? Why? Because it gets jalapeno business. All up in your business. Jalapeno. Jalapeno business. That's perfect. I love it. Alright, well you can, you can share that next time you have a dad joke. I appreciate you. Alright, cheers. Thanks. Thank you. Appreciate it, Ryan.
