Episode 7 - Morgan Molitor of Construction 2 Style
Episode #7 | Morgan Molitor | How Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe
Morgan explains how while dating she and her future husband started a business that celebrates style and structure. Morgan's background in marketing coupled with Jaime's expertise in the building has been a formidable team-up that has given the industry a fresh take on what a power couple can do. We dive into time blocking, vendor collaboration, social media strategy, and a nonprofit that is near and dear to the heart. Listen for the laughs, knowledge, or entertainment and you won't be disappointed in this episode!
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About Morgan Molitor
Morgan is the other half and co-founder of construction2style, alongside her husband Jamie. Wife, mom of 3, content creator, marketing strategist, stylist and designer.
For over 10 years, they've been tearing houses apart and creating new dream spaces not only for their clients but for themselves. Starting c2s from the ground up as a DIY blog and have since evolved into a full- service design + build interior residential and small media company. They document it all from the construction side, to how to build a website, developing multiple streams of revenue, to how to build your brand while ensuring profitability, marketing courses, in person workshops, and more.
MN based but nationwide, Morgan graduated from college in Long Beach, CA with a fashion merchandising and marketing degree, she has now taken that creativity and knowledge to use within their clients homes and website.
Morgan oversees all content creation, manages the brand partnerships, is the writing guru, and overall creative director. She also heads up their online education courses and in- person marketing conferences. You can always find an infectious smile on Morgan’s face and hear her contagious laugh. She’s a forward thinker, risk taker, and nothing makes her happier than when she gets to play a small part in making people's dreams and lives thrive.
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00:00
On today's podcast on the curious builder, we had Morgan Molitor from construction to style. And it was really interesting to talk to her for quite a while about their nonprofit, they have resilience to reform. And we took kind of a deep dive on that personal story and where that can go. We also talked a lot about vendor collaboration, which was just really interesting to hear Morgan's background and how she came from branding and how you can basically partner with brands to benefit both parties. And then lastly, we talked a lot about the coalition, kind of this teaching summit that they do, and just kind of giving back through education, and this mantra of collaboration over competition. And now the curious builder and Morgan monitor. Welcome to the curious builder Podcast. I'm Mark Williams, your host, I'm joined today by Morgan Molitor with construction to style welcome, Morgan.
00:45
Thank you, thank you for having me.
00:47
Glad to have ya. It's nice to have you here in person. And as people both know, we're really shy. So this will be a very odd topic will be a three hour pot very slow past I don't I could pretty much positively tell people, they won't have to speed this podcast up to time and a half. Because the rate at which you and I speak is quite fast. I actually had one of my clients sent me a text he goes, thank you for not making me speeded up to time. Because it's funny because most of the podcasts I listened to our time and a half. Yeah, that's what I do, too. If you I'm pretty sure if we listen to this at time and a half, it's gonna sound like two little dribbles in a cave. You know, we talk over each other pretty much. That's okay. You know, I assume you, you know, we can start there. From a family standpoint. I would say like, you know, I could probably have better manners, but in our family like it wasn't who talked the loudest, but like, if you did not speak up and talk like you just did not get we're not heard. And so I don't find it disrespectful. It just was like, You must not have believed in your ideal. Strong enough to keep talking.
01:43
Yeah, exactly. That's how my husband has to anytime around either side of the family is he's like, Oh my gosh, no one listens to each other.
01:50
Yep. My brother in law and my wife both agree with that statement that the Williams is could do with a dose of listening. Yeah. So I started the podcast as therapy so that I would do a better job.
02:03
I need to do that. Well, why don't you tell?
02:05
You know, I'm we're in Minneapolis, obviously, a lot of people already know who you are. But some people don't which, oddly enough, as of six months ago, I did not know who you were, it was my wife, you guys put that kind of put me onto your social handles. And you guys had the contractor coalition at that time in Nashville, which was like a builder Summit. Yeah, you know, with you and Brad and Nick. And it was an amazing opportunity. But ever since then. Now, you and I talk a couple times a week, and it seems like our worlds keep colliding. Yeah. Why don't you tell us just a brief bio of what you do and
02:33
sounds good. I'm like, That is kind of crazy. Because I feel like I've known you for 10 years. I'm like to say six months? Yeah. How did I live without you? So yeah, I'm Morgan Molitor, my husband I own construction of style, which is a design build interior residential remodeling company. We started off as a DIY home improvement blog in 2012. My background is fashion, merchandising and marketing. We host these workshops, conferences, we have a nonprofit called resilience to reform. We have an online retail boutique.
03:04
Everything else? Is there anything you don't do?
03:08
I'm trying this year to start saying no. Thanks. That's probably good. That's probably good. Yeah. are using my best. Yes, right. My pal. Yeah,
03:16
yeah. I think the deal is like Why say no one, it feels so good to say yes. So we used to have this. I mean, years ago, I mean, just in sales in general, when people ask you, how many homes can you build? The answer was always one more. Yeah. How many projects? Can you take on one more? How many more meetings? Can you take this week? One more? How many more minutes? Can you do today? One more? And? Well? I don't know. I, you know, I mean, obviously, you've tried to prioritize family and time management. And I mean, every entrepreneur that's out there that's listening to this, hopefully, understands that it's a very big challenge continually to not only manage your time, but to kind of time block. I mean, I speak for myself, you know, I need to time block, if I don't time block, you know, because I enjoy working. Yeah. And so if you don't do that, it's like, you know, you hear all these stories about people that work their whole life and didn't know their kids or, or didn't prioritize family. And I think a lot of people will say their family is most important. And I think it's important to self reflect. I mean, I do say that I do try to do that. But there are times where it's just like, man, okay, even when you're playing with your kids, I've got young kids, it's like, you know, am I present? Right? And, you know, I'm thankful for a spouse that really helps me keep grounded on some of those things. Wow, this is not where I thought the podcast was gonna go right off the bat. But I mean, what advice how have you managed? I mean, obviously, you have a husband and wife team and I was that's really unique. We've had other husband and wife teams on as well. You know, how do you and Jamie manage work in keeping you know, your personal life? I mean, I don't like personal life because personal life is but how do you manage it so that you know you're just not working all the time?
04:47
Yeah. Well, that's what I always say to you because I'm like, my favorite day to work is Sundays. But I'm like, we try to write divide, conquer with our kids and both be present for different things, but I always say to like, I'm not one I can all the time. Like, I'm not a good mom, because that's what feels my creativity. And like, yeah, lights me on fire and it
05:06
gives you the energy to be present or does it satisfies you whether you want to call it the entrepreneurial itch, or it gives you self worth. Yeah. Is that fair to say? Yeah, for
05:15
sure. And I'd say to right, it's like your team with your sauce no matter what, working with them or not. So it's like we're a team. We divide and conquer. We know each other's lanes, we stay in our lane. Have respect for one another. Right? Yeah. Keep moving forward. Yeah. The smile on her face? Yeah. Even if we don't want to have one.
05:32
You've mentioned before. So you're a team of I want to say 10? No, yeah. Okay. Walk us through a little bit of like, your growth, like it started out. Obviously, you and your husband, I believe it was you guys were, you know, walk us through like your video and your, your growth as a company kind of from a social setting. I mean, did you have this kind of in mind? I mean, you guys essentially are, you know, kind of like this social media darling. How did that come about?
05:55
Well, I think two is just like, I've said yes to everything. And so that's what's led us to where we're at today. So when I met Jamie, who was flipping a house, I remember pulling up to the house and I was like, yikes. So was back in 2009. You guys were dating at the time where you were dating in sales. After the recession. He bought it for 90 grand did all the work. But yeah, did everything himself. But 30 grand into it sold it for 190. So I was just like, blown away by everything he was doing. Right. And
06:21
where are you in fashion? Still at that time? Or what were you doing? Oh, yes, yeah, fashion. And so
06:25
I started just document everything. I was like, let's start a blog together. That's a good idea when you're dating.
06:30
I think that's amazing. Like most of you a lot of husband and wife and they, you know, start a career. In this case, you guys are dating and started a business. That's next level.
06:36
Yeah, let's kind of see I just started documenting and everything I was or he was doing right. And so I was kind of the marketing background behind that. And then, yeah, one thing led to another, we started realizing like, oh, you can make money from ads on your website, you can make money from brands. So started leveraging that flipped a few homes, people started reaching out to us to remodel
06:56
well. I mean, what are you posting on? I mean, Instagram is big now. I mean, what were the early I don't even know was that Facebook at that time? Like, what were your website? It was just your website? Yeah. Okay. That's
07:05
I'm a huge advocate, too. So like, even social media, like drive people back to your website at all times? Yeah,
07:11
yeah. It's kind of like the center of the web. But every single outer edge should lead back to your website. Yep.
07:16
Exactly. So yeah. And Jamie went to school for carpentry. So he always wanted to be a builder. So I just laugh about that, too, because I'm like, Little did you know, you're gonna be a start off as a DIY blog and a home remodeler right.
07:27
Now. So you've got this larger company. Now, how quickly did you guys grow? And staff up? Walk me through a little bit? I know, you've mentioned that a lot of just corporate culture being important to you, and having, you know, positive energy mean, we obviously are all thriving off each other, both into the industry. But you know, in our own home, if you will, it's important that those team members are people that we feel comfortable with. Yeah, you talk so affectionally, you know about your people, whenever we're together, kind of be curious to know, how did you hire them? How did you find them? And you know, kind of what is their role within the company?
08:00
That's good. So one, like we always talked about to it's like being an open book. And so that's how we've kind of grown is like how we are in person is how we're online. And that's how we treat our team, friends, family, all that stuff. So at 2012, Jamie took the leap, so that we were married at that time.
08:17
He's like, we have three businesses, we might as well get married.
08:20
No, seriously. So yeah, he took the leap first. And so right. My salary at the time was supporting our company to get going get started. And then 2015, after our second son was born, I was like, I can't be running this full time job working full time. So then that's when I took the leap, quit. And then yeah, Topher was our first employer. And he was
08:40
your first I met him the other day. He's a phenomenal person, like the way he carries his presence. They you know, your blink on somebody. It's like he's a very likable person. Yes. And he's
08:51
like, that's exactly who he is, like, just a very good man, like, even in the summertime once, or he takes a week off vacation to go mentor, boys. I'm like, who does that? Like use your vacation? Do that? Right? What was I saying? You're
09:06
saying, just like the company growth model. I mean, Topher was your first hire. Yeah. And really just how has it evolved to 10? People? I know, you, I assume, handle most of the social aspects of it. I mean, do other people on your team? I mean, as you collaborate, how does that work? I've always been curious. I mean, as a small company, and I've often been told that one of the things that works well, for us is it needs to be your voice. Right. Right. I really appreciate and sometimes you don't know. I mean, yeah, that being said, we'll talk about that a little bit. What's your next business ventures because he said yes to that, too. But just this idea of telling people that are listening, like, you know, post often post regularly have a cadence, even if it's twice a week, it doesn't have to be every single day or five times a day. Just pick something that you can do and sustain it long term. Yes, but represent you and I think you touched on it earlier. Like you don't kind of like to stop but you know, if you always speak the truth, you don't have to remember what you said. Yeah. And I think as a person, like if you just are who you are, it's not Like it's not an act, it's not a performance. And I think that's really important to be authentic. Because I think people gravitate towards that. Yeah. Or they or they don't yeah. Or they'd be like, that's not my person. Right? And that's okay.
10:11
Right? Well, that's kind of like, right, Your vibe attracts your tribe. And so it's like, that's who you're attracting these people on our team. So Topher found us on Instagram. Actually, everyone on our team found us through Instagram, Kayla dead. So they started reaching out and they're like, Are you hiring? And I'm like, yes, no. And then I was on there on our team. Interesting. So yeah, just yeah, one by one, people started reaching out. And then I kind of just like, we'd meet with them, right? And I was like, I need you like, you're awesome. And I
10:37
simply didn't really have a need necessarily, or you maybe had a need, but someone would come in because they were interested. And because you felt a mutual attraction or mutual, you know, connection with them. You're like, we're gonna create a place for you or we'll figure it
10:50
out. Yep. Yeah, we've never said we're hiring. We've never needed a, we've just,
10:56
let's put the anyone was out anyone listening, let's put this to the test. I want 1000 people to reach out to conserve cash to style and apply for a
11:04
job. It's funny, too. So like, we'll have interns here and there. And this is happening actually right now. And then, like, I don't want them to leave. And they're like free interns. And then I'm like, I need to figure out a position for this. Or I have a problem. Right now. They're like, How can I work here? And I'm like, Yes, we don't actually we don't need it. Yeah. I have issues. So I team even yesterday was like Morgan, you need to start saying no, and like, stop and slow down.
11:28
It is. It is it is hard. You know, sometimes you think, at least as a business owner, I think well, you know, could I hire you know, there's there's such a proliferation of business coaches and systems out there. And I'm always attracted to like, maybe there's a secret sauce, maybe there's a secret organization out there that can help with that. Right. And I think there are is a lot of value there. And I'm still very interested in but I do think at the end of the day, a lot of it just has to come down to self discipline, right? And, you know, and your team and saying, like, what do you want? And, you know, for myself, you know, as we're coming up at the end of the year, and we're recording this podcast, I'm thinking like, well, I probably need to spend a little bit more time you always hear this, like entrepreneurs don't spend time working on their business. We're too busy in the weeds. We're too busy doing Yes. And I think over the last couple of months for myself, specifically, I felt the need to just like literally stop. And just in fact, I've blocked out time in my schedule called Think on business. It sounds super corny, but it's like if I don't time block that out. I'm not going to do it. Now. Here's the funny thing. It's in my calendar. And what do you think the first thing that you counsel this think on business? Oh, clients come? Oh, yeah. Okay, I'm thinking, you know, something I can't think on business got to be another day with them. So it is hard to time block, but I do find it valuable. Yeah, I don't know.
12:35
That's what I do on Mondays and Fridays. So I like Absolutely. I will not have any meetings. So I'm either blogging working on my content, or Yeah, working on the business or something. And I like what's great, too, is through our team. Now we have a leadership team, right. And so there's three of them. And they have medians without us. Oh,
12:51
interesting. So within the 10 people, you've created, like three of them that are part of your leadership, and like, what would they discuss? What would they be doing without you guys?
12:57
So they meet every week, and they are figuring out coming to us than to me and Jamie with like different goals. We should be working on things that we should be doing, like on the business. And I'm like, Oh, that's amazing. I know, like that. We Yeah. Last week was I was like, they call the meeting at our office. And it was a four hour meeting that agenda put together all their stuff. And I was like, almost
13:16
speaking your language. Or something? Yes. Like this
13:20
is that like, this is what I normally do, right? With all these like crazy ideas. And then our team was doing that. And I was like, This is awesome. And so even with decisions that I make, they say like come to us. And it's a team saying yes or no, like, it's not just you and Jamie anymore.
13:35
Wow. That's super powerful. I mean, you hear about that in a corporate structure. I would expect that from a Microsoft. Yeah, target from a big company. I don't I've never heard that have a small company mean? Yeah, cuz there's only 10 of us. So sometimes. So if there's, if I'm scaling that there's five of us, that means there's one person
13:52
or two, right? Well, we were laughing about that the other day, because we're like, Oh, if the rest of the team is here, they're like, Is it weird? We're talking about another meeting where we're doing and we just started laughing because we're like, Oh, two people? Can you like not? Listen?
14:05
Well, you know, it's funny, I never did this early on in my career was just myself and a, an office manager. And I came up with this idea. Again, that epically failed. But the idea was, I think it was still valid. And the idea was, you know, corporate structures from the little I know of, because I've never been employed by anybody, which must make me a successful entrepreneur. I don't know, just unemployable. I remember, you know, not too long ago telling someone in a corporate culture like I think I'm you know, what would happen if I you always curious like to scratch that itch. It sounds like you maybe already were able to do that. And I was like, you know, I want to go work for another company. It's like, Dude, you wouldn't make it five days? I'm not sure you would make it two days, actually. You know, so there's pros and cons.
14:43
Well, yeah, and I was gonna say my problem always, when I work for other people is like, again, letting people down so I can never quit. So even before I jumped ship, I was like, so at that time, I was working at a digital marketing agency. And I was just like, I love the team. I love my clients, the people and I was like, I'm gonna let them down. And then I'm like, What am I thinking like I need to do what's best for our company.
15:04
I mean, that speaks to your conscientiousness, and just, you know, wanting to do something that's value, where I was going with that. So early on, it was I wanted to have, like, you know, almost like a CEO Tate roundtable, or you hear like a board of directors, or, you know, these bigger, you know, you sit on a board, we're not employed by the company, right? Yeah. And so the idea was, like, I would go get one or two high powered real estate agents that I'd worked with, you know, you know, maybe a few business owners outside a building. Yeah. And like, you know, twice a year, I would just sit down with these eight people, and they would be my board of advisors. Yeah. And it never really took off. Yeah, that's actually really smart. Yeah, you know, my late 20s. I'm sure that like, well, actually, you just need a lot of growing up would probably be you know, lesson number one, we would tell you, I suppose if I started now, that might be more successful idea. But I think now, you know, whether it's networking, and you know, you've been for me, you know, that whole group at the coalition's has been so impactful on my life. I've always been a social person. Yeah. But the idea that, you know, I don't know whether you coined the phrase, but it's something that I often attribute to you. And just really the whole, the whole team, which I affectionately named you guys the Jedi Council. Yeah. And so I would, I would send out some emails to you guys. And you guys would, you know, kindly respond with some ideas, but this idea of just collaboration over competition? And now it seems like it's a very common message we hear, which is great. I mean, I'm glad people are talking about it. And I think specifically in Minnesota, I think it's really you and I are talking? Yeah, now I was like, How can we create smaller, small groups that are just huge fans of one another? And what can we do with that power? Right? That's what we're gonna have to figure out what to do with it. Because I think there's a lot of us that want everyone to be successful. Yep. Plenty of work. There's plenty of different businesses, we even within the same community, Yeah, but how can we all together, help each other move this lead in business? Or help
16:47
not. And that's kind of why we started our business is like, we started sharing everything, like how we built our website, how we do write our pricing, all that because I'm like, Jamie, and I spent years like banging our head against table trying to figure it out. So it's like, we can just help one other person. You know what I mean, and elevate, and I'm just a believer, too. It's like, people are gonna want to work with you because of who you are your personality. We cannot pour the same quality of work. Right. But yeah,
17:13
I mean, within reason. Yes. I know. Yes. Right. I mean, agreed. I mean, when you're I can use it as a sales line with our clients. Right? Like, yeah, if you're building at the same strata, I mean, if you're choosing one of our competitors, who is really one of our competitors based on quality, then you're not you shouldn't really be basing on price. Exactly. It should really be on Who do you want to be journeying? Right. And it's kind of I use the analogy, a lot of times of going on vacation. Yeah, you know, not every other family? Do you want to go on vacation? Well, yeah, you know, the Johnsons. I don't know how many Johnson friends I can use that last name, you'd be like, Oh, I don't really want to go to, you know, a vacation island with them. Right. But you know, the gray area? Exactly. It's, I don't think people understand how intimate the relationship is and can be. And that's not a bad thing, it's actually can be quite rewarding. You know, we just finished a build, I think it was about eight months in design, and about a year and a half in the bill. And the couple was absolutely delightful to be around. And now we're getting towards the holidays, I've you know, sent him a few holiday gifts. And yeah, she's like, Mark, you've done so much. You don't have to do any more. And it's like you because you have such, you know, high level of care for this person they become. It's almost like after this whole time, one client said, it's like, you were just like dropped off. And like, you know, they're gone. Yeah. And so we obviously want to maintain those relationships, but also understand that like, we're still a business, we still have to, you know, work with new clients. And one thing I don't like about our industry, specifically for new construction is, you know, we spend so much time attracting our client, and then we have this great relationship, but most people aren't going to be repeat clients. I mean, I shouldn't say that. I mean, maybe two times. Yeah, you know, and maybe you have an exception if you're in the business for 3040 years. But it's interesting to put that amount of time, that amount of care on the relationship, and then to have it to be one transaction. Right.
18:49
It's done. Yeah, it's sort of interesting. I know. That's why I get actually like emotional every time. It's like, we get done with our jobs. I'm like, just almost crying walking out the door, because I'm like, how do we still be?
19:02
You know, I think, you know, it doesn't mean it depends on what your business is. I mean, you can obviously, you know, if it's remodeling, or whether there's warranty or whether there's other, you know, other divisions of your business that can service that client. And really, you know, you're obviously looking for referrals, mainly just because you did a great job. And I think it's it's important to ask for referrals, I need to do a better job personally, of asking our superfans, you know, hey, do you, you know, who would you recommend that we reach out to? You know, you had talks about all the time on his podcast, I give them a hard time about it, the silent salesman, which is, you know, somebody who's not on your payroll, but who's selling for you? Yeah. And I joked with him that I'm his loud salesman, that I'm not very quiet. But you know, you know, we're happy to promote other people because we believe in what they're doing. Yeah.
19:43
So one, one thing we both learned from Brad that we're doing right is like, taking our clients at the end or not just the end, right, months later, just taking them out to dinner and doing stuff like that. Yeah, we
19:54
posted a photo. I think you commented on it. It was just two nights ago. We took a couple and the designers that were going out for a nice dinner. And the idea was kind of born with, you know, everybody's so busy, and you don't want to lose the emotional connection. We just talked about how emotional the build is. Yeah, but you know, certainly building is emotionally challenging. Yeah, you know, in the middle of a build or remodel, you know, tension, sometimes running high, whether it's, you know, it's taking longer than they would like, or anybody would like the price, but you know, maintain that, like, Hey, were people, your people, we care about your family, you care about your tribe, you care about our tribe, you know, let's keep the vibe, you know, I'm in a positive place. I checked in with them after and they're like, Oh, that was so great. That was so wonderful. And so you've, you've done that as well now?
20:34
Yes, yeah. Okay, so we've been doing dinners too. Okay. That for us laughing because I think you took a few clients out and was like, Okay, we're only doing one that was only
20:41
one, one client, but it was the designer, the PM, the Project Coordinator tried to bring that game, and I
20:46
was laughing. So I was like, obviously, you do big belts, and we're like, small remodeler. So I was like, we just, we can only do one small dinner.
20:53
You know, I think any you know, it's, I think it's the thought that counts. I think more than anything else, it just Yeah, knowing that you've carved out time for that person. That's totally number.
21:00
Yeah. One thing I was gonna say is like, my favorite thing, like you do, we do, too. But it's just sharing online and social media, like we have families, and we have a heart like, we're not just hired help, you know, we're not just your worker, it's like, so I think they talk to you differently to when it comes to homeowners or your clients when they know, and you're transparent. You share all that because they're like, Oh, you're still a dad. And I agree.
21:22
I mean, ultimately, what you're saying like you just are who you are, and how you broadcast that. Yeah, I think being a dad and knowing the world we live in, it's sometimes hard to know what to post what not to post, you know, some people certainly I respect it, like, they don't post any of their family photos. And it's like their decision. And then there's, you know, someone I know that their idea is that like Monday through Friday is like business stuff. And then on the weekends, I do some personal stuff, because it's important to know that, you know, these are people behind creating, claiming the home is so intimate. Yeah, you know, just the business, the business that we're in is probably one of the most intimate businesses you can be in the fact that outside of like, you know, getting married, the other thought that goes into, like, you know, getting married, yeah, and, you know, the process and the planning and all the stress, everyone remembers, you know, if they've been married, what their stress, you know, the wedding is and whether it was, you know, on the spectrum of stressful doesn't really matter how you navigate, you just know, there's a lot of things to do. A home has a lot of those aspirations as well. Yeah. And somebody that came up recently that, you know, people often think about their dream home, and they think about, you know, their family, and they think about all these things. And so there's all these aspirations, some of them are realistic, a lot of them are not realistic, right? And then, you know, I don't want to be the person that necessarily has to pop the bubble. You know, it's like stealing candy from a kid, you know, but you want to say like, yes, we can do this, because we want we want to deliver on day one. Yeah. And we're happy to do so. But you know, there are limitations to what we can do.
22:43
And you don't want to insult them, right? You actually can't afford that happens to us. Every single I
22:49
heard something. It's coming to me now. That tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. Oh, wow. And so like how we phrase things? And have you ever found yourself kind of like wordsmithing? around something? Yes.
23:02
Yeah, we started this podcast, like, I cannot say what it was about saying, Yeah,
23:07
one thing that I want to make sure that we don't miss just because you and I will talk about a lot of things today. But I want to talk about your nonprofit a little bit before we get into all these different revenue streams and all these other businesses and some of the things that you're going to be expanding in 23. And 24. Tell me a little bit about resilience to reform and how it was born. And I guess my root question is, I hear a lot about companies that do nonprofits, and you know, they either have a charitable donation that they contributed to, or they create one that they're passionate about. And, you know, I don't know anything about it. Other than like, there's two parts of it. One, it feels good to give. Yeah, and two, there's a great need out there. Yes, there's a third thing, but three can also be it's something that obviously from my not selfish standpoint, but like, who doesn't like to be associated with people that are doing things for their either the community or people out there, I'll use Patagonia as an example, you know, a certain percentage of their proceeds will go towards, you know, funding eco friendly, you know, whatever, and clearly know what it is. And I don't even know. Yeah, and you know, they'll use recycled jackets to make new jackets, they have a whole line of just that. And like if that's your, if that's something you connect with, like you connect yourself with these brands, and they represent like your own values. And so anyway, I say that like just giving you like, what my perception of nonprofits is not knowing much about them. I'd love to know now. That's why I want to hear your story.
24:31
So yeah, I guess we didn't like intentionally set out to have a nonprofit. But yeah, unfortunately, my brother was incarcerated for 10 years in federal prison for running drugs, multi state drug conspiracy, and right he reformed his life. And yeah, and so we started this as a nonprofit, started sharing stories on the website when he was in prison, right? I started just like, yeah,
24:53
so it was a way so he was in prison at this time, and he started a nonprofit to support either him or people in general. Hold that had a story to share and like the families to connect
25:02
to give them a second chance. I feel like there's a lot of people out there that deserve a second chance and they don't get one. There's a lot of barriers that do not allow them to, for example, like checking the box. Right, right. Can't get housing and apartments. Yeah.
25:16
And so what is the what does this platform the resilience to reform? What is it actually
25:20
we have? Yeah, 10 different writers. Again, somewhere in prison, we have mental health teachers, different coaches, that just share different ways to live a better life. That's amazing. Yeah. So it wasn't a nonprofit. At first, it was just a website. And then we changed it into nonprofits were like, we should be doing more giving back or people started reaching out, like, we'd love to help support these people. Right. And I was like, Sure, sure. Like,
25:43
I don't
25:44
know what to do. Yeah. So yes, yes, we'll figure out a way. So So really what happened? Yeah, it's like, I'm gonna figure out a way how to get back to some of these people. Right now we're giving back to Ukraine. So just, yeah, every quarter, we're looking at different places to get back to. And yeah, I would
25:57
encourage those that are listening to check out the website will be in the notes as well, because I actually just read it last night for the first time because I've met no one number of times. And he's the most caring, warm, charismatic, you know, no, you know, I had no idea that he had a back story like that. And I mean, it's very colorful, very interesting, right. And then, you know, his wife is from Ukraine, which I suspect is where that's coming from. And her side of the story of, you know, kind of having that, you know, he wanted to be real honest with her. And they were
26:25
like, on date, too. He tells her, I've been in federal prison for last 10 years. And she was like, okay. But again, right. There's a stigma. Yeah, yeah,
26:35
it was. I mean, it's a beautiful story. So anyway, come up with, yeah,
26:39
Want to not that to keep talking just about this story. But it's like, he understood too, right. He came from a good family, good background, he was privileged. And it's like, when people don't? Like, there's no way for them to get back up off their feet. So yeah.
26:53
So who runs this? I mean, you run it you have a board? Like how, like, if I want to start a, if I want to start a whether it's a charity or nonprofit? What is the difference? Is there a difference between charity or nonprofit? Are they the same thing?
27:04
I don't know. Like, how would I go? You're told us to
27:07
die? How would you say it because I want to kind of dive deep on this. Because, you know, maybe there's somebody out there listening. I know, I know, other builders that have contributed, you know, causes that they contribute to and I think it's powerful story, and I want to have them on the podcast and talk to him a little bit about it, but walk us through some of the nuances of like, how do you I mean, obviously, you're going to create it with your lawyers gonna help you drafted? You know, I assume it's, you know, it's a, you know, a tax exemption on some form. But then how do you appropriate funds? And how do you how does that whole process work? In once you I assume you have to identify what you want to do with it. Yeah. Or do a lot of people create one, and then they give to different charities? Like, I assume, like the Bill Gates Foundation, which is obviously, multi billion or trillion dollar, you know, they, you know, they, they, I'm sure they just simply fund a lot of things that they believe in, I believe, I don't know that much about it. But yeah,
27:55
I think it just comes down to well, so when we started this, I built the website. Yeah, had our lawyer do all the legal documents start a separate bank account. And yeah, just people, right? Again, we started getting attracted by people. And they're like, I want to write or I have a story to tell, or I'm going through the same thing. And so people wanted to get more involved. So we have an editor. Now we have Bridget, who kind of runs the website, she does all the social media posting, Noah writes. Yeah. And then a handful of other writers using it. Yeah, they just kind of came to us like, well do it for free. And I'm like, sweet, so Exactly. So
28:27
but it all started with just writing and sharing. Yes. So what how did the money come into it? Or when did that start? Where people would say, I mean, I'll just this year, so recent, yeah. And do you do something like, Hey, a percentage of sales or revenue goes to it internally? Or is it simply, here's our story, if you want to, if you want to contribute to it, here's a way to contribute towards it. And that's, I mean, how do you then you celebrate, like, where the funds go? Are the stories that like, how does that relate
28:52
to so it kind of started this year, because we started selling merch and swag. So we started getting money through that. And I was like, I don't want this money, right. I'm like, I want to do something better with that. And so that's when we transferred it to a nonprofit. So right now we're just giving funds we ask our readers to like, where do you want to see money going? Would be a good way to give back. And so we just kind of have a list of stuff like that. And honestly, when we have a chunk of money, and like, last week, we just sent $3,000 to Ukraine to on his dad's church, and then yeah, yeah. Next, we'll do another one. Right. So it's just kind of random. Not like, well formalized right now.
29:28
That's super interesting. I, you know, there's like I said, I want to bring a few others on that that haven't. And I just think it's a powerful story that, you know, I'm very interested in business. But there's a number of ways to give back to your community. More financial, some of them are not Yeah, and I want
29:44
that's kind of crazy to just the amount of people that we meet or run into. I just had someone last week that I met she's like, I followed this journey for a while. She's like, my husband was actually indicted and she's like, and unfortunately, like we ended up getting a divorce, but she's like, it's something that still has carried on Like she still thinks about it, because she's like, did I make the right call? Because then he got out. He reformed his life. You know, so she, like jumped to that. But she was like, you should look into this organization to or this one.
30:10
When you're in it didn't know I just have a baby recently. Yeah, yeah. Oh, she's so cute.
30:16
What, like six weeks.
30:17
She's that cute. What brought
30:19
her to bed calm, which is one of our marketing conferences when she was three days old. That's how
30:24
I saw both that day. She was three days post baby that day.
30:29
And she had a C section. Oh, wow, I didn't even have a baby. Like on y'all. My sister in law, you guys are wild. And
30:37
I remember I literally remember talking with her. And like saying, Hi, it's great to see you or talk to No, I had no idea that. Now that you mentioned, I do remember there were a couple of babies in there. It didn't even dawn on me at that time. Yeah.
30:48
Because there's so little, you probably didn't even see them.
30:52
All they're so cute. Well, that's not just on that last on the last note there. So then does Noah Do you know, does he do speaking engagements about it? Or what's his involvement, kind of talking about his stories that he was going
31:01
to like, right at first when he got out. But then after we started talking about and after he started getting back to normal life, he was kind of like, I want that to be my past. And I don't want to be reliving it constantly. So no, he doesn't. But he's still like, open still rights shares. Yeah, like he's not ashamed. Right. Yeah. But he's like, I don't
31:21
I think that's a big part of it. Right? Yeah. So whatever. I could be alcoholism, it could be any really any addiction or any thing, anything really frankly,
31:30
like you have to focus on the positive getting better not keep living in the past. It's on loop.
31:35
Yep. Exactly. Yeah, people listening didn't realize we were going to be doing a psychological segment. Anyway, I think it's really interesting and a really powerful message. So I want to make sure that we fit that into the let's talk a little bit about vendor collaborations, you've been kind of a huge source of inspiration for me, even as we've sought out sponsors for the podcast that we're listening to right now. Yeah, you know, Pal is our main sponsor, we've got a number of other sponsors, you can see him in the show notes. And as well on our website, and walk me through a little bit, you spoke about this both at biz calm, and at the contractor coalition. Just I think sometimes people, especially entrepreneurs don't understand how to pursue vendor relationships. And also, how's it mutually beneficial to both parties? If you could speak a little to that? I think that'd be really interesting topic.
32:22
I'd say so one, we have a course on our website, which will give templates for email templates and all that good stuff. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of how our business started, right is like brands started reaching out to us, just even through ads on our website that are brand focused, related. So I just started and then, so I didn't kind of mention that. So I was working fashion. I started with Jamie. And then once I started realizing the brand stuff, I went and got a job at the marketing agency to kind of elevate that learn more. So I had background on the brand side. So I kind of knew like what they're looking for this was like before influencer was a
33:01
mental perspective of what they wanted. Yep. So then you created the content that you knew they would want.
33:06
Yeah, and I would say, right, so working from a brand side, and then I'm working with all these influencers, and just seeing, like, the needs from a brand side and then, you know, so I was that behind the scenes. And so, yeah, from C to s side, then as well, it's like I started, yeah, working with these brands. And I think brands are very eager, they also don't even know, right, because they're like focused on the brand side, they don't know. And that's why they hired digital marketing agencies to create content for them. They're always looking for photos, videos, you know, it's just like ads online, like us as brands, where they're walking billboards where they're ads, and like they're hungry for that they want more of it, they want more diversity, they want more ideas, right? So it's like, if you can go to so weird why I'm talking like we're a brand, right? And then we're talking about these other brands? For sure. Yeah. So I'm like, when you can go to a brand, like a retailer brand. And tell them like what you have to offer or what you're doing with your product, or how you can make their products look sexy. Like they're immediately. They're gonna say yes to it, because they want that, like, that's what they, you know, and I think too, especially for us as builders and remodelers. It's like, we're making beautiful product. And they want their product, right to look beautiful. And it's like to not leverage that or have those partnerships and relationships. It's just crazy to me, when it's that simple. It's like any project we do our job we do. I'm going through a list of every single selection that we're putting into the home. I'm reaching out to these retailers these brands to say, Hey, this is what we're doing. Do you guys want to be involved? It doesn't just mean like them paying us or them giving us free product on every project. It's about creating a bigger picture together to leverage one another's brands because if your products are in these big brands, right, that's only beneficial for you as well to get your projects seen nationally, locally, whatever that was. Let's pick
35:00
a few well known and proficient use names or not. But like, I'd be curious, like create a roadmap. And May is this on your website? I mean, do you have like a vendor, like collaboration like template or like stepping stones of people listening? Like, I'm curious, like,
35:12
if you know what I shot? I was like reading a blog post.
35:17
Alright, all right. You can you can take the curious, perfect, yeah, I'm very curious. So let's, let's just say you've been building for or whatever, whoever's listening to this, if you haven't any business, but let's just assume is building. And let's say you've been building for five years, so whatever, that doesn't even matter why I'm putting age two, it doesn't I guess what I'm getting at is somebody like me, who's at 18 years. Wow, you know, can I go back and say, Hey, this is a focus. I mean, I've been working with the same vendors for a long period of time. Do you get them all together? Like walk me through, like some logical stepping stones? Because, I mean, we know well, there's certainly money involved, and rightly so you still need to show return on investment. And, you know, even with like this podcast and seeking out sponsors, I'm saying, Hey, I think that the people that are going to listen to this are going to be other, you know, peers in our industry, they're going to be other local businesses, and even the people you bring on. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's somewhat selfish, but not really like, I want to know, successful people stories. Yeah. And is there something I hope that every time somebody listens to a podcast, because I know, that's what I want? I'm going to try to get an idea or two to apply to my business. And so the more specific we can get in these conversations, yeah, I think the more helpful it is for those listening. Yeah. So I guess what I want to try to do is just go off the cuff is like, what would you advise? Yeah, as like, as a first step? I mean, do you invite one person, you know, is it coffee? Is it lunch?
36:30
I would say no, I mean, for me. So this is a great example, because I'm doing it right now. And then I'm going there after this. But so we're building a house in Edina. It's going to be our first I mean, we built one other house, but not to this level. So I'm going through every single brand, right? And I mean, most of us, like we use the same sank for all of our projects, we use the same like brand, right? We use the same boss sets, you can say, um, okay, well, it's like, okay, for example, we use their sinks and all of our projects, Delta fossa, Delta Brizo. We use all of their fixtures. And so I'm like, that's easy, because they know too, right? I'm taking them online. So I already have a relationship with them. So I'm going back to them, which I already did. But for this house, I contacted our rep. I was like, Do you want to come to her the house she came out, she's like, just let me know what you need the end like it was sold like that. Other times, like a venting company right now. Like I sent him a DM on Instagram, I was like, Hey, we have a really cool projects going on. Can you put me in touch with your PR, so I was just say PR or partnerships. And then right away, every brand right away, we'll get back to you because they don't want to look online. Like they're not doing customer service. Right away, it gave me an email, reach out to them just said in three sentences, the square footage, the vibe, attached to photos, you're like, great, let me know what you
37:42
need. For those listening. You have this incredible marketing kit and you have in a crowd I
37:46
hadn't even sent that you haven't even set it up, you would wait. Because you almost want to start the conversation. You don't want to scare him away with different numbers or show like your value up or down. You just want to like get to the point. And what I always say to is like you almost want to them to sound like oh crap, like I want to know more, or I don't want to like not be a part of this. But when you lay it on too thick right away, they can easily just say like, Heck no, or you're already stressing me out. Like, again, you want to make it super easy for the brand. Yeah, and then right away, this phone company, they're like, Okay, a big push we're doing and 2023 is for our accessories. They're like, can we add accessories anywhere into the house? Which I wasn't gonna do? And I was like, sweet, absolutely. Yes. Yes. So I'm like, again, like, and what I'm telling them too is like, this is all for 2023 marketing, right? So I'm like, is there anything that you want to have in this house to showcase that? And then of course, I always tell them, I mean, obviously, we're going to be on the tour too. But I say, you know, we'll provide and I know, every photographer and videographer is different, but me and Margo, work with an awesome one. So I always say like, we'll give you all the photos we give them yeah, the rights to it. We'll do videos for you. We'll be doing reels. We've talked about this before, but I always do like, and I hate the word influencer. But I'm like, Well, I have an influencer party. So every person walking through this house will be talking about you or sharing it on their social media, which is just more value. So I dropped all that after they're kind of like hooked on everything. And then that's when I attach my media kit, which again, doesn't have rates or anything like that on but it has like our stats showcase his projects that we've done our work. Our team who were our as a company. Yeah. And then yeah, after that, it's just kind of like I always say to like, let's have a conversation, reading
39:24
a relationship. Exactly. The bottom line, what people need to know is, is that this is not just gonna lead to bigger not just reaching out to whoever, you know, Kohler, Wolf, subzero phenomenal companies just thought of them and just saying, hey, you know, I'm starting whatever I'd like $10,000 Like, that's just not that's, that's a little weird, ya know, or phone call or whatever, right? I mean, ultimately, you're trying to create something that it's also like, it also needs to be part of your core philosophy. I would assume like I'm trying to create a relationship long term Exactly. You've done okay now and how many of your projects because it you know, fits your style fits your brand and you know, right They must work for them to
40:01
keep doing it. Yes, exactly. Right. Well then too, it's like, right, as soon as you deliver the project, the product right and the content for them there, if you deliver it, because sometimes people don't. And then it's like, there goes that relationship. But they're the wandering shelf. Yeah. Oh, my gosh,
40:18
the greatest story ever, we're gonna have to tell that story. I love that. So like, what do you want to hear from my point of view?
40:25
Series? Well, I was gonna say like shelf. ology is another great shelf company. And even for them, they're like, you know, we have all this stuff coming to market. I came as that's another one. I told Marcus. He was like, do I should I go to the builder show I'm like, I this was the show, I would never ever mess. And what I do too, is I walk around the show. I don't pitch brands at that time. But I'm focused more on the brand relationships, not actually the products. And so I'll just walk around, introduce myself, give them my card, grab their card piece out. And then the following week, I follow up with every single person. And I'll call out one thing that was like new in their booth that's like coming to market. And then I'll say like, what can we do for 2023? Together? Like, these are the projects we have coming up in our pipeline this year.
41:08
It's sort of daunting, in some ways, like what you're doing, because that's like, a full time that you could do that. Full time.
41:15
Literally, Jamie just said to me yesterday, he's like, we need to have the media, like the brand side like separate another LLC is like great. Another thing to manage? Yeah, another company to actually manage? Because all that's just rolled into,
41:27
because I mean, cuz that would be one. I mean, they obviously have this for other companies, but for, you know, a relatively small company. 10 people, right, I know that, you know, you're doing multiple things, not just that. Yeah. I mean,
41:36
Jamie was like, You should only be doing this, like nothing else.
41:38
I mean, I just heard this other day, too, that, you know, you know, the talking about hourly rates, like that's your $10,000 An hour rate? Yeah. Because ultimately, the relationships that you're creating, you know, are hopefully multi year. Yeah. Either. Relationships that yeah, you know, pay a dividend. I think just because I want to make sure we focus on this, because it was brought up recently, people sometimes wonder, I should say, our clients, I think you I'd like to hear a little bit how you write your contracts this way? Because my understanding is, is that when you do a remodel for a client, they have to be okay with the following things. Can you kind of explain what they have to be on board for? Otherwise, they might not be your ideal client? And yes,
42:12
so in our contracts, we say, we have to photograph video, anything in their home, we have rights to and then we obviously they know to most of our clients come to us through Instagram. And if they come to us through SEO, or the website, I'm like, red flag right away, because I'm like, you don't know, the content we're producing. Right? But if they come to us through Instagram, I'm like, oh, you know that. We talked about every
42:35
dive deeper on that one for a second. Why does the website not reflect the brand of Instagram? Because it doesn't give the stories or the videos? It has personally as No,
42:43
I would say sorry, website, which we have 1.8 million on our website, but I'm focused on our website. 1.8. What million viewers on our website? a month, per month? Yes. So
42:55
wait, we're just gonna pause there. No website gets 1.8 million views per month.
43:01
But because I'm crazy. Wow. content, like I'm doing SEO every day, like I'm working on backlinks, internal links, creating content, updating our pages, but I focus that on our ad revenue and our brand partnerships, not on our builds. Yes, your homeowners understood, yes. Because those people that are reading it, too, they're looking at, you know, our tutorials, just inspiration, like though they're not really coming to hire us which
43:29
I just looked at the clock. And I started, like how in the world we've been I was talking for an hour, we haven't even got through like any of my questions. Sorry, random tangent continue.
43:40
So for the contracts and stuff like that, so website, so they know, right, like what we do, but we write that Auburn into our contract. And then we say anything with brand partnerships, like it doesn't mean they get a discount at all. Nothing. I think that's important
43:52
to say, because I know we will have a house in the parade, or the artisan will give our clients a discount, obviously, you know, to get in on the front end. And I think that's something I need to revisit a little bit, I'm still fine with doing that. But as we seek it mainly through our social platforms, as we're trying to develop our voice and understand, you know, we're pretty new on the scene this way, I'd say the last year and a half, two years, is you know, let's say, you know, like Rockwell is a company that I want to work with. They're all over with NS builders, and I just really believe in what they're doing. I really want to do external insulation, and I'm not going to come out of the gate and ask them for you know, whatever but I want to I want to use their product is number one and number two, I'd like to have it be the right fit. But let's say they don't need the product or let's say they wanted to be our sponsor. It wasn't it's my relationship with them and their belief in us as a brand that is cementing you know, whatever, whether it's materials or revenue or add sponsorships however, they're developing it, but that really shouldn't translate to that client. No, now we can still give them a good deal. Like they may or may not have had that product on their house without that relationship. Yeah, I think understanding that story and then, you know, having that happening the client understand Yeah, isn't I
44:59
love ya. What you just said like, that's what I would say to it's like, that's 10 years of me developing these relationships, you know, and what I always say to is, when we're, when you're doing this kind of stuff, like it's not easy, it's not just like free product you get like, you have to do a lot of work. And even for some of our projects, the only way we would kind of give a discount is all of a sudden for like, being slowed down, like, shoot, we can't, we can actually shoot, you know, like, till Thursday, if like, the floors could have been like Monday, right? So we have like this delay and getting people out there to film the content or something like that, then we'll have a conversation unless if they ask, right, but otherwise, I'm like, this is more work. Like it's me showing up having to video everything paying for that right photographers, videographers. And it just takes way more time and coordination on our part. So I'm like, actually, this is costing us more money. Like, that's why we do a lot of paid partnerships, too. But that's a whole nother conversation. Right? Yeah,
45:55
we're not gonna cover that. Mainly just a few of the things I wanted to ask you about different revenue streams, but we're not gonna have enough time to go down that rabbit hole. That'll have to be an acting podcast in a couple of months. But one of the questions that I had for you is, did I hear you're starting a podcast? Well, that goes back to this hilarious, right. So I was on Brad's and so now I'm starting a podcast. Yeah, he, you know, modern craftsman with different Tyler grace. Like, it's like everyone is having at this point is like, yeah, everyone's gonna have a podcast and everyone's gonna be talking to each other. Like, nobody's gonna have friendships anymore. We're all just gonna have our conversations of behind the microphone podcast. Oh, it's like, it's basically like recorded conversations with your friends. Yeah. Anyway, joking aside, what is the what's the topic of your, of your podcasts? And what? Why now? Well, I
46:39
need to be more like you because you have an idea. And you just go and do it. And I have an idea sometimes. And I sit there for a moment. Anyway, the podcast would be resilience to reform. So it wouldn't be in the design build industry, it would be sharing people's stories, like the same stories that are on the website, right. So it wouldn't actually Bridgette would lead the podcast. It wouldn't be me. But I mean, Jamie, and I would own it, but so it'd be really like talking through their stories and where life is at and different actions that are taken to powerful Yeah, that's why I'm like, even the blog post. I'm like, all these blog posts should be on a podcast like these amazing writers. So
47:13
where are you? Where are you at in that journey? I mean, do you know I mean, have you started even know any good content? Laughter
47:19
I'm here in your studio. I'll be here next week.
47:23
Ian's are editor. So you know, we're recording studio, a third house? Yeah. So if you're like, we did buy
47:29
a mic and the headphones. But that's it. And we did a How To Start A Podcast course. Well, when I could just ask you and Brad, and I never every
47:41
single microphone. It's like my kids right now have like five microphones to run around the house like singing like, you know, frozen or whatever. Any song they've got. And they're all arguing over which one is, you know, these microphones we're speaking to right now, if you're watching us on YouTube, you know, or just, I mean, they're really cool. They're black. But you know, the little kids microphones with like, the light ups. Yeah, sparkles. Like you don't have to up our mic. For sure. We ever have kids on actually, you know what? Oh my god, how awesome would that be to have salary? Yeah, I'm serious.
48:10
I know. Art art would be a great start. We can get their perspective on. Yeah, so we would go or we did this a while ago, but went and spoke to like, schools and stuff to Like,
48:20
I literally just wrote that down. So I work with so our offices, I'm Excelsior. Yeah. And we work the Minnetonka High School, there's an advantage program. And I mentor, I think every year I get one or two classes, I think this year, I have two groups of six. And actually, the research project this year was the podcast. So they presented to me I think next week, yeah. And they're gonna present their findings and whatnot. I've had them interview clients to you know, Hey, how are we doing as a building company? Gosh, I think I want to have them on the podcast as a class. Yep. That would be a really interesting and I think mainly cuz I want to celebrate building in you know, I went to college, but my major was speech comm which I guess I probably should have got into radio hosting. From the get go, we'll see if anyone follows this podcast or not. But you know, I became a builder. And I guess where I'm going with this is I know like in Europe and Nixa for just went over to Switzerland and all these trade schools, it was really empowering to hear the stories that you know, whether you're a scientist, a teacher, a woodworker, and there's no stigma attached to it, like you can, you can, you can make a career out of it, and it and it is supporting it. And there's been some inertia here in Minnesota, trying to get you know, into schools and trying to get into this full time colleges to try to talk about that story. Now, Minnesota Housing First is involved with that a little bit. That's a story that I would like to develop and be a part of, yeah, you know, actually, I'm even thinking about the nonprofit that'd be kind of an interesting take on
49:38
what did you have that you're gonna have two new businesses don't have to quit building and just do that? Because
49:42
I don't I mean, I can't handle the 20 businesses that you have. Oh, well, that's that's really interesting. Tell me a little bit. We've talked about this on the podcast I had with Brad Levitt from EFT about the contractor coalition. So even though we happen to be in the same state, that is how we met and just real briefly, it's 20 to 30 builders are 30 to 40 builders that that meet for three days. And it's you know, three superstars in their industries. We've got, you know, builders, you know, vendor collaborator, remodeler, extraordinary and yourself. And basically, it's everything's on the table. It's it's contracts, it's swarms, its client, it's any it's percentages of profit. It's anything you could possibly want to know about a business. Yeah. crammed into two and a half days of intense mind blowing information. Yeah. And I learned so much. I went twice. Yeah. And I still write. And, you know, either that I'm a slow learner. But tell me a little bit about the future of this. Because I feel like nobody in our industry for sure. And Bill does this. Yeah, there's education, like, obviously, Kaplan and there's a few other Yeah, Minnesota Housing First, you know, we have our continuing education credits that we have to do. But as far as like a deep dive in like running a business that happens to be focused on building right branding, there's just not a lot of things out there like that. And while this comms amazing, like, it's nothing compared to the coalition, like, you know, two hours can't compete with three days, yes, amount of time and material. We're without diving all into that if people want to know more about that they can listen to the previous podcast that I had with Brad, but where's the future of this gonna go for you? I mean, because I could You could almost do your job and just be you could just do these teaching groups? I mean, I know. I mean, because even if you repeat the same material, nonstop, you could do this for 50 years, and never hit everybody. Yeah. And it'd be that impactful for everybody. Yeah. Where's the future of the coalition?
51:20
I think right now. So we're going to stick with two workshops or conferences a year, one in the spring, one in the fall. And we have talked about three to four. But also, we all have families and kids and like we traveled to so we can just align this once a month. Yeah, it's a lot. But we are taking a lot of the content that we offer at these workshops. And we're gonna put it into courses online, too, so that people can take the course for different costs. But I would say two, it's a lot about the experience, and the people who give me it. Why don't you say like, when you're
51:53
extremely biased, because I've gone twice, yeah. I sat in the front row and raised my hand a lot. I was that guy. But I've just hence the name the curious pillar, but I mean, the podcast would not exist without it. Yeah.
52:04
A lot of the and beyond the courses, right. It's like dinners and surfing together and like having deeper conversations with people in the room. And it's not just me, Nick and Brad, it's all these other builders remodelers that are going through the same
52:16
I mean, so David Marsala. The Bison group is in Utah, he and I probably talk once a week. Yeah, just randomly about something we're dealing with. Right? You and I talk? Yeah, we just happen to be the same state now. Yeah. And I do think that there is a credible amount of value in just having people that you connect with, and it's not going to be every person, because there's not enough time for one year, I would say if I had to put a stat on it. I'd say if I had to put a value that for me, 60% is not in any way devaluing the information that we've got. Yeah. But I would say for me, it's probably 60% 70% The value of the people and the networking of the people that you meet, right. And then the the ideas and the stories and the things that you talk off during the dinners and lunches and, you know, you know, a few guys would go run on the beach, and you're constantly running, whatever it is, you're doing our coffee in the morning before the classes. Yeah, but the classes are so impactful. Even if you got none of that classes alone would be worth
53:09
Yes, one, two, right? We're gonna work on like templating, and all the information so like, the three of us share everything that we've used, that we've right paid lawyers, brand experts, all this stuff to put this content together. So everyone has access to ours. And then even we had a couple people throw theirs into they're like, can we share ours? And we're like, Heck, yeah. So a lot of this stuff be based. Yep. But we're gonna get a branded, have a more formal website. And then yeah, offer the curriculum courses all that. That's online. How are you going to head because I'm, and we already have our follow on, like, rockin and rollin right now. So we're doing Scottsdale. Yes, yes. And then following that we're already planning for Austin.
53:44
Oh, that was gonna be nice. Yeah. Very nice. I know. What about what are you going to do with the alumni? How are you going? I
53:49
know. Oh, yeah. That's that's where you're going with that. Gotcha. Which Yes, I'm like, even at a lot of these different events, we go to like the builder show in the beginning of the year, like having something in there. And so yeah, everyone that's been invited in the past, right, the alumni. Yeah, and I would say to like, when different things come up, like we're including everyone who's went to these things with what's coming up, not just like
54:14
graduating from college, or like, I was never part of a fraternity or anything like that. But like, it's a little bit like you there's like a tight Yeah, happened. Yes. That you were there. Yeah. So then you can relate to other people. So like you support each right. So
54:26
yeah, the mark is gonna get ever in probably swag. And with our new brandy, and just kidding, yeah, but
54:32
that had a new hat on the other day. I'm like, Ooh, I'm gonna have to ask him for that. That's pretty sweet. So I love it. Well, we have a lot more to cover, but we are out of time. Where can our listeners find you?
54:42
Construction style.com And then all of our handles our construction to style the number two. Okay,
54:47
if you enjoyed the show, please rate and review and share with your friends and every single person you can find. You can also find all the notes on our website, the curious builder podcast.com. And thank you for listening thank you for having me all right very good Thanks Morgan Hi
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