1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,200 Hello, this is Leslie and I am the host of the Why Not Today podcast. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:11,600 This is a podcast to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, why not today? 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,320 I started this podcast in honor of my father, Pastor Kane, who often said, why not today? 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:21,480 I'm based in Reston, Virginia, a planned community right outside of Washington, DC. 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:22,800 And thanks for joining us today. 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,160 I'm excited my guest today is Jeff Robertson. 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:30,480 And I always kind of like before I introduce Jeff and who he is and what he does, talk 8 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,200 about connections and where you meet people. 9 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:37,680 So I actually, with my Mary Kay business have because if you've listened to this much, you 10 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,080 know, I travel a lot and spending a lot of time at Mount Lake. 11 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,560 So I thought if I'm going to be at the lake all the time, I might as well grow my business 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:44,560 there. 13 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:49,040 So I joined the chamber and went to an event one morning and Jeff was there and shared 14 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,360 that he could help with businesses. 15 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,720 And so we connected and he works for and I'm going to get it wrong, but small business. 16 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:57,720 You can correct me. 17 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:58,720 I'm the Roanoke. 18 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:04,160 It's Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center. 19 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,960 And that is a subdivision of basically Virginia's SBDC. 20 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:10,800 OK, so I told my sister about it. 21 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,320 She's like, well, you know, they have those here. 22 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,600 I'm like, yeah, but I can I'm virtually doesn't matter. 23 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:16,600 So it's great. 24 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,880 Jeff and I connected and he's helped me with the podcast and some different things. 25 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,760 So in addition to that, he's got a lot of other things going on that are courageous. 26 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:30,640 So I thought I would share his courageous stories and his knowledge today with you guys. 27 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,160 So, Jeff, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little about you and maybe a 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:36,960 fun fact people don't know. 29 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:42,320 Yeah, I am Jeff Robertson and I was a small business advisor. 30 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,960 I'm actually assigned to Franklin County where you're a member of the chamber. 31 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:52,200 This is a few years back during Covid as businesses were suffering through, as the county saw 32 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:57,680 a need to fund a part time dedicated position as a small business advisor. 33 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:03,920 And so they were able to connect with the SBDC office here in Virginia to get that position. 34 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,520 And I came on board in February of twenty twenty two. 35 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:15,320 So I've been working with SBDC for about six or six or so months now, seven months. 36 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,480 So what I do is I work whether you're you're starting a business, you're in business, our 37 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,560 office is available to help you along the way as a small business. 38 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,480 Just navigate all those ups and downs and make sure that when you kick your business 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,440 off, if you're starting, that you kick it off in the right way. 40 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:36,800 And if you're in business is is helping you get funding, helping you with a variety of 41 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:40,080 issues, whether it's marketing, human resources, you name it. 42 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:42,800 Our office is packed full of knowledge. 43 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:47,880 And the cool thing that what we do is it's a free service is even though I'm the Franklin 44 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:51,920 County advisor is the SBDCs are all over the nation. 45 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,640 And it's just a matter of anyone who's listening this podcast. 46 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:00,360 If you're in Utah, Alaska, wherever you should be able to find an SBDC office that can help. 47 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:05,360 So that's one of my main things is to just help spread the word about that. 48 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:10,840 Probably a fun fact with me is I got two kids, 10 and 10 and 12. 49 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,600 And one of the things I enjoy doing is teaching them how to be business owners at their age 50 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:16,860 as well. 51 00:03:16,860 --> 00:03:21,640 And then I actually grew up and lived in Franklin County where I work at. 52 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:24,840 So I'm familiar with all things, Franklin County as well. 53 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:31,200 So like to travel, just like you, Leslie, I like to go and see and learn more about 54 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,640 what's going on around other parts of the world, too. 55 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:34,640 So great. 56 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:37,860 Well, it's been a wealth of knowledge for me. 57 00:03:37,860 --> 00:03:41,760 So what was interesting, too, is you've got I know you have your own businesses and do 58 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:42,760 a lot of different things. 59 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:47,040 And we talked a minute before we started about how you kind of have to pivot like a lot of 60 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:48,040 us did for COVID. 61 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,960 But before we go into that, tell me what what what does courage mean to you? 62 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:54,440 What's the definition of courage? 63 00:03:54,440 --> 00:04:02,880 I think for me, it's about taking that chance is in sometimes in life is you are able to 64 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,360 you take a chance on everybody else's dreams and goals. 65 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:11,360 But so courage sometimes is having the ability to take a chance on yourself is having the 66 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:17,640 courage to take a step toward your goal, whether it be in life, fitness, faith, finances, wherever 67 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:24,560 it's is just making that step toward your reaching what your personal goals would be. 68 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,240 So it takes a lot of courage because you get comfortable when you're working for someone 69 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,000 else or you're employed for someone else. 70 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,120 So it's like in gyms. 71 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,160 So it's easy to sit on the couch. 72 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,640 It's way easier to sell the couch than it is to go walk or run or what have you. 73 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:38,640 So that's courage. 74 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:43,080 And I enjoy helping people find that courage, too. 75 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:44,080 And I can tell. 76 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:45,080 Yeah. 77 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:46,080 And you do lots of different things. 78 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:53,120 So and you've been a wealth of knowledge just for my podcast from the SBD, whatever, but 79 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,520 also talk about your business and what you've done. 80 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:02,800 So let's talk about what you've done in your life to be courageous or the businesses you've 81 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:09,280 started and how that happened, how that changed or what you had to do to be courageous because 82 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,160 of COVID, because that's a big thing. 83 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:12,600 We all had to kind of shift. 84 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,960 Yes, I had my marketing company prior to COVID. 85 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,760 So I was working in that and we were launching in Virginia. 86 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:24,120 They have driver improvement classes where it's eight hour in-person classes. 87 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,280 And then we were starting to launch our gym on a personal note. 88 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:29,280 And let me go backwards. 89 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:33,200 How did you get from a marketing company to driver's ed to a gym? 90 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:34,200 Yeah. 91 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,440 So I've had a background in marketing for years. 92 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,320 That was kind of the mainstay. 93 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,280 I worked at a dealership where I was kind of the catch all do all wear all the hats. 94 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:44,280 I did marketing. 95 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:45,280 I did operations. 96 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:47,320 I think dealership like car dealership. 97 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:48,320 Yeah. 98 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:49,320 OK. 99 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,920 So I managed I managed all sorts of just different hats with that. 100 00:05:53,920 --> 00:06:01,960 So I invested heavily on this personal development, learning more about digital presence and how 101 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,960 to grow that business from that digital footprint. 102 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:13,240 So you're looking at from 2007 moving forward, that's back before Facebook marketing, Instagram 103 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:14,240 marketing. 104 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:15,780 Those weren't big back then. 105 00:06:15,780 --> 00:06:17,920 So we were on kind of the cutting edge of that. 106 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:19,960 So I kind of taught myself how to do it. 107 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:25,920 Hired a couple of mentors that help mentors that help me vet my knowledge because I was 108 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:27,960 unconfident that I was doing the right thing. 109 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:28,960 Turns out I was. 110 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,520 And they really helped me with that. 111 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:34,360 So that powering the coach is what helped me along the way there. 112 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:38,480 So as time went on, I just took those skills that I had learned over the years and I packaged 113 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,840 them into my own marketing digital marketing company because it was still where a lot of 114 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:44,840 folks didn't know how to do that. 115 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:48,920 And conversations like you and I have had about websites and presence and what much 116 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,040 money should I spend on my website? 117 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,760 How much money should I spend over here? 118 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,220 Being able to educate people, navigate through that. 119 00:06:57,220 --> 00:07:02,600 So as that went on was I had said, wait out of the dealership and I was running that business 120 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:04,760 and I was still a fitness coach. 121 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:10,640 I was working inside of someone else's fitness gym and I knew that I had that passion about 122 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:12,440 just coaching people. 123 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,360 So it was one of those things where I wanted to segue into owning my own fitness center 124 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:17,360 at some point in time. 125 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,640 And that's kind of what led us into, we were trying to find a couple of different things 126 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:23,760 that we could do entrepreneurial wise. 127 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,040 And when you get into business, Leslie, it's about solving problems. 128 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:34,040 And we saw a need in the driver improvement space, we saw a need for week, your classes 129 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,120 during the week and daytime classes. 130 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:42,160 And that was our whole goal was so many people needed classes, but they work, they work night 131 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:44,760 shift or they don't want to give their weekends up. 132 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,080 So that was a problem we intended to solve, which is we were just going to have a better 133 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,160 time slot than some of the other companies did. 134 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:57,400 And along with that is we were launching our gym and just trying to be in that entrepreneurial 135 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:05,000 space is yeah, there was a lot of irons in the fire, but it wasn't as consuming as it 136 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,440 sounds when it's like, it's just about putting the, it's about getting the right people on 137 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:10,440 your team. 138 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:11,440 It's about getting the right people in places. 139 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:17,200 Even though you own these businesses, your job as an entrepreneur is to get people to 140 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:23,320 create jobs and to help them help find people that can help you run your business so you 141 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:25,240 can continue to grow your business. 142 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,800 So we were full speed ahead. 143 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:33,040 And then as everyone knows, it's going to listen to this starting, starting February, 144 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:39,080 March of 2020 things started getting really, really crazy with COVID and things were starting 145 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:44,280 to shut down and then come April is the, in Virginia, they shut gyms down altogether, 146 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,440 no more in person, couldn't go in or anything like that. 147 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,160 So that pumped the brakes on that plan. 148 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:55,360 And then the DMV basically shut down what we do as well because you couldn't meet in 149 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:56,360 person. 150 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,080 There was no gathering of groups. 151 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:02,200 If you remember, there was a phase where you just couldn't gather in person in groups at 152 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:03,200 all. 153 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:04,200 Yep. 154 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:05,200 So there goes two businesses. 155 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:06,200 Yeah. 156 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,280 So, so that's kind of the backstory. 157 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,920 And then, so there was a little bit of the courage is when I work with other small business 158 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:18,440 owners is that's the first part of their courage as well as taking their, that idea, that passion, 159 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,920 those thoughts and taking action to make that a reality. 160 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,760 And then, you know, sometimes when people start a business, like a lot of clients I 161 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:34,840 work with at the SBDC, they may be starting and they have these little nagging things 162 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:41,240 that impede their, their launch or impede their progress as they go. 163 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:42,240 But it's simple stuff. 164 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,840 Like maybe it's working with a bank, maybe a loan got delayed, maybe whatever, not a 165 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,040 COVID shut down your business, you can't operate. 166 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:50,040 Yeah. 167 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,120 So, so it took a lot of courage just to navigate that. 168 00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:54,560 And then I'm not the only one. 169 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,760 I had friends that were in the same boat as I was. 170 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:03,320 And then as things start to come back to life, and you could only have certainly certain 171 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,080 people, you don't have a 10, 12. 172 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:07,080 Right. 173 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:14,520 For us, on our business side was the courage to continue to operate, to start back in operations. 174 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,760 We opened our gym in July 1st of 2020, as soon as the governor said we could go back 175 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:20,560 to in person. 176 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:27,640 And along these times is one of the, one of the notable things about the Royal Oak Small 177 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,280 Business Development Center, or SBDC is what we call it. 178 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:37,200 What's known is they took massive, I wasn't a member of the team, but I stood on the outside 179 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:43,680 and they took massive action on getting information out to clients, getting information out on 180 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:50,600 how to get the care, some of them PPP money, the new ERC money, the employee retention 181 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:51,600 credit money. 182 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:57,880 They were holding, they were meeting, holding webinars, Zoom meetings, taking massive amounts 183 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,960 of actions to help people be able to keep operating and do that. 184 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:07,400 So that's like the big thing that my office for the county that funds my position, they 185 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,280 took notice of that. 186 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,480 And that was one of the biggest things that the businesses in the area that we served 187 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,600 got to take advantage of was just the massive amount of actions that the SBDC offices took 188 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:20,840 to help small businesses continue to function. 189 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,680 That's awesome to say we're able to help. 190 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:30,920 I remember being in business after September 11th, when I live right outside of DC, which 191 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:34,160 kind of magnified things a little bit, but it was scary. 192 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,520 And it was like, okay, how am I going to exist? 193 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,960 And like the last thing you felt like you want to do was call somebody say, do you need 194 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:40,960 lipstick? 195 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:41,960 Do you need makeup? 196 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:47,080 Like people, but people needed to be heard and have conversations. 197 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:53,320 But there was a big sales conference that like Zig Ziglar and the big guys put on. 198 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,520 I remember in DC and it was totally free. 199 00:11:55,520 --> 00:12:00,200 And they're like, the way to get this economy back is to keep people, the salespeople back 200 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:05,120 out there and the economy moving, which is sounds like exactly what they were doing there 201 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:06,120 is just helping. 202 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:12,480 There was a point in time when the president or one of his speeches says, get back to life. 203 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:13,480 We're going to handle this. 204 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,480 Go shopping, go visit a French restaurant. 205 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:17,480 Stop being scared. 206 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:18,480 It was a big deal. 207 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:19,480 That was a huge deal. 208 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:20,480 I remember that. 209 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:21,480 Yeah. 210 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:22,880 So sorry I interrupted you. 211 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,240 No, no, it was great. 212 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:30,920 That's a very great point is just another time when small businesses had to pivot to 213 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,200 keep going because that was a short time. 214 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:34,200 It wasn't as long. 215 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:35,200 You're not 11. 216 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:41,320 I don't think maybe a week to two weeks where it was a big standstill then. 217 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:47,200 But you know, COVID was months for some businesses to two similar things, but you're absolutely 218 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:48,200 right with that. 219 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:49,960 So that's probably the biggest thing. 220 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:56,040 And then watching standing on the sidelines and hand holding other clients as they try 221 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,480 to navigate, make their dream a reality. 222 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,840 And that is really neat sometimes when you when like working with yourself or some of 223 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:08,480 the folks that are in the meetings that we go to and you see that you see that you hear 224 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:09,920 the passion you can enjoy. 225 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:15,400 I can see the passion for the ones in watching them take that curse because you know, when 226 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:19,120 someone's most people are living comfortably at a job. 227 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,440 And when they want to segue into their own small business, they give up the security 228 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,880 of the regular paycheck and they give up security of vacation. 229 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,560 They give some security for all those things. 230 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:33,720 So there's not a small business owner out there that doesn't have tons of courage. 231 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:34,720 So you see it. 232 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:35,720 Oh, yeah. 233 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:36,720 Yeah. 234 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:43,240 And I know, including my job to do to pursue Mary Kay full time, which was 22 years ago, 235 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,680 the big question people ask, and I think I've mentioned on here before is, you know, what 236 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:47,680 are you going to do for insurance? 237 00:13:47,680 --> 00:13:53,280 You know, I'm going to buy insurance and, you know, working for somebody else is not 238 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,120 a bad thing if that's your passion. 239 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:56,960 But that is not who I be. 240 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,400 I'm much better working for myself. 241 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,760 And you know, working for somebody else, you're you don't have unlimited vacations. 242 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:09,920 Like I just got back from two and a half weeks in Florida, followed by three weeks at Swamp 243 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:11,160 Lake before that. 244 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:13,840 And I'm like trying to figure out when I'm going to leave next week. 245 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,240 So I have unlimited time off and can have that flexibility. 246 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:22,120 But yes, it does take courage every day, as you know, you hit it. 247 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,320 You hit the number one thing you're trying as entrepreneurs, you're trying to buy back 248 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:26,320 time. 249 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:27,320 Yeah. 250 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:29,680 When you're an entrepreneur, you're able to you're able to buy back time and use your 251 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:31,600 time how you want it to be used. 252 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:32,600 Right. 253 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:33,600 And that takes courage. 254 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:34,600 Yes. 255 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,880 Put you first and put your family first. 256 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,640 I know you said your kids are important. 257 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,280 You're teaching them the business skills and watching you. 258 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:46,560 And I know my dad, who I cast kind of honoring, he owned his own business. 259 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:52,600 And I watched him model that where, you know, a lot of times after dinner, we'd have dinner 260 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:53,600 as a family. 261 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,720 And then he'd he had an office at the house, he'd go work. 262 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:01,800 On weekends, he'd be doing work, but he'd be at every soccer game and was there. 263 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:07,880 And when I was a kid at 16, he actually took five weeks and we traveled cross country, 264 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:09,600 which looking back, like that's a big thing. 265 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,320 And we were talking about it the other day that he still worked his business as he was 266 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:14,320 traveling. 267 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:18,520 And there was no such thing as a cell phone or GPS that we would go drive where we were 268 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:21,640 going to be, find a fun campground for us kids to play. 269 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,960 And then he'd get on the pay phone and work with the pay phone. 270 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:25,960 That's awesome. 271 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:26,960 Yeah. 272 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:27,960 So watching that. 273 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:34,640 And you may we may have to pay phone is something that used to be on the side of stores and 274 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:35,920 you could find in random places. 275 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,600 You put coins in them to make calls in case there's anyone listening. 276 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,040 No idea what a pay phone is exactly. 277 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,600 I found one in San Diego a couple of years ago at the pier. 278 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,680 If you're walking along San Diego, there's just there's a pay phone. 279 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,680 So I haven't seen one in years. 280 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:52,680 Yeah, I saw one recently somewhere. 281 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:53,680 I was like, wow, what's that? 282 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:58,720 So you have tons of people that have courage in starting business, as you said. 283 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,960 Any fun stories of people that, you know, went against odds and had the courage and 284 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:08,960 just did amazing things, whether the business was amazing or it changed them or changed 285 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:09,960 somebody else? 286 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,600 I think you see that all the time. 287 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:16,360 Now, one of the things that the SBDC that we're big on is the confidentiality that we 288 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,020 have with our clients. 289 00:16:18,020 --> 00:16:22,580 So it's harder to share the client's stories without their their permission. 290 00:16:22,580 --> 00:16:23,840 So this just keep that in mind. 291 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:28,200 And that's a big deal that I like for folks to know when they're coming in to work with 292 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:33,920 us, because sometimes this is a great segue into to stuff that we do as well is is when 293 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:35,640 you and I are working together. 294 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:36,640 It's just you and I. 295 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:37,640 I'll log our notes. 296 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:42,200 I log my time, but we don't go share your information. 297 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:47,200 So it's not like you have the confidence to know that the confidentiality that we have 298 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:48,640 is a big deal. 299 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:55,540 But since I can tell you, since I have started at the SBDC, I have worked with a long line 300 00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:58,480 of just various businesses. 301 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:08,320 And the one thing that stands out to me is most everybody I've worked with has everything 302 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:09,320 there. 303 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:10,960 They've got it all laid out. 304 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:11,960 It might be over here. 305 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:13,400 It might be there. 306 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,120 It's in various places on a piece of notebook paper. 307 00:17:16,120 --> 00:17:19,200 It is this that the other. 308 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,800 They just need the encouragement to go right. 309 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:27,880 And sometimes it's about taking that big list of I'm going to do all these things. 310 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,840 And it's about me stepping in and going, OK, what are we got? 311 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:31,840 Right. 312 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:36,160 Well, look, these are the three things I feel like will move your needle the most inside 313 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:37,780 of your business. 314 00:17:37,780 --> 00:17:39,200 Can we work on those? 315 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,000 And that's all they need was you like. 316 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,480 And I'm the same way. 317 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,680 If I take off my coaching hat and put on my business running, I have all these ideas. 318 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:48,480 I got everything running through my head. 319 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:49,480 Yeah, you know, me, though. 320 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:50,480 Yeah. 321 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:53,760 And you want somebody to say, hey, pick these three things and go do on those. 322 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,160 Go work on that. 323 00:17:55,160 --> 00:18:01,020 And I use that from a couple of coaches that's helped me is just working on about three things 324 00:18:01,020 --> 00:18:02,800 that's going to move your money. 325 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,000 Because you need that's what we do in business. 326 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,000 We have to have money. 327 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,800 We have to have funds coming in to be able to succeed. 328 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:14,400 And like you said, they would buy your own insurance is is you have the ability to go 329 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,880 out and create income for yourself. 330 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,760 And that's true solving problems, especially with these. 331 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:26,520 But you get into you want to work on things that are going to generate you short term 332 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,280 now and longer term money. 333 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,080 So if you can pick three things that will do that. 334 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,880 And I posted the other day is is before I go to bed, I try to make a note of those three 335 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:37,880 things. 336 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:38,880 What's three things? 337 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:43,120 So when you get up the next morning, you get up a purpose and you got your three things 338 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:44,120 know what you're doing. 339 00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:45,120 Yeah. 340 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:49,200 Well, it's funny you say that that Mary Kay Ash, who started Mary Kay Cosmetic, was a 341 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:50,200 master of people management. 342 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:51,800 I was actually listening to something today. 343 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:58,720 She has a book on people management that is required reading for either Stanford or Hartford 344 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:00,040 Business School. 345 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:06,120 And there's some some government agency that requires people to read it, too, that she 346 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:07,120 said. 347 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:13,960 But she always taught the six most important things list, which make your six most important 348 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:17,680 things you need to do tomorrow before you go to bed at night, not the 300 things. 349 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:19,480 And do you know where that story came from? 350 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:20,860 Go ahead. 351 00:19:20,860 --> 00:19:24,640 That actually, it was somebody went. 352 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:31,400 It was years ago, went to maybe Carnegie or one of the wealthiest men. 353 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:37,200 And he went and he said, I can help solve problems in your organization. 354 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:38,840 And he goes, well, how much they're going to cost me. 355 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,440 He goes, you know what, I will help. 356 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,160 And then you pay me what you think it's worth. 357 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:43,160 Yeah. 358 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,080 And he put into place that six most important things. 359 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:46,080 And what a difference it makes. 360 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,120 And I heard something the other day, too, say, focus on three things because we can 361 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:51,600 go all over the place. 362 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,920 So I know I'm going to totally pivot here. 363 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:54,920 I know you're in the fitness space. 364 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:58,200 And we kind of talked at the beginning about courage of working out. 365 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,840 I mentioned this before, because I used to teach water aerobics and told people, you 366 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,240 know, just get up and just, you know, how are you going to feel if you do it? 367 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:10,200 So I'm sure getting people getting back to the gym after covid was something important 368 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,840 to take care of themselves. 369 00:20:12,840 --> 00:20:17,440 I shared with somebody the other day when covid started, my go to stress or snow when 370 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,960 we have a snowstorm, it's baking. 371 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,000 Well, when covid started, I started baking. 372 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,800 I'm like, OK, the snowstorm baking has got to stop soon or we're going to be in trouble. 373 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,160 But, you know, people getting back to the gym or just having the courage to work out 374 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,960 or get started a fitness because it is one step at a time. 375 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,800 So, you know, share with us a little bit about why you would say why not stay and get healthy 376 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:41,400 and take care of yourself. 377 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:47,760 See, one of the biggest things I saw was people just needed to be back around people. 378 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:48,760 Right. 379 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,240 You know, we spent so much time. 380 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:56,400 And even though I mean, for me is like the cup full of covid was I got to spend about 381 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,840 seven or eight months straight with my kids. 382 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,200 I there's that's the one people talk about time spent. 383 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,120 But I needed to get around adults. 384 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:08,920 And I'm real big on the influences that I let in my life. 385 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:13,240 And unfortunately, I have to go outside to find those business owners, those big thought 386 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:19,000 seekers always try to listen to the levels way above me to get better in my life. 387 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:23,400 And people just in general, as they came back into our gym, they were excited to see their 388 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:24,400 friends. 389 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,400 They was excited to be back in person. 390 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:27,600 They was excited just to be back in there. 391 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:32,760 But, you know, a lot of the noise that was created during covid was just about the benefits 392 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,560 of being healthy during that whole time. 393 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:40,880 So there was there was folks that were ready to get back in just to start working on them. 394 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,640 We run a group exercise program. 395 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:47,080 I help mentor and work in other personal training spaces and different things. 396 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:54,840 And it's just the mental, you know, the work moving weights and it's all good for our body. 397 00:21:54,840 --> 00:22:01,920 But moving weights is just as big for our mental health and deloading stress coming 398 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:05,040 in and just getting. 399 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:10,200 So many people carry the weight of the world around and they don't know how to get it out. 400 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:14,880 And it just leads to just negative energies, negative emotions and negative health effects. 401 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:19,960 So just coming in and moving and I got to tell a lot of folks, if you don't want to 402 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,960 come to my gym, go put on a pair of shoes and go walk your neighborhood. 403 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,040 Do do something. 404 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,760 Just do something to help deload that day. 405 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,960 And then always do a little evaluation of the influences you're letting in your life 406 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:33,960 is. 407 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:37,240 And I've been taught over the years and I like spreading the word that you're going 408 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,880 to be a product of the five people that you let in your life. 409 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,920 And at our gym, we have a big rule about positivity only. 410 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:46,920 No gossip, no negativity. 411 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:51,880 And it's just a big deal that our members can come in and in gym, we can come in and 412 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,840 work out in a positive community and get lifted up, not pushed down. 413 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:56,840 Right. 414 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:57,840 Yeah. 415 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,560 And I think that's one thing COVID definitely opened my eyes to is like, who are we spending 416 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:02,560 time with? 417 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:07,200 And we were we closed our circle if we had to be careful who we were around. 418 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:08,800 And I was very selective. 419 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:13,240 And as I travel a lot and pop into in and out of town, there are people that I really 420 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:19,040 care about that lift me up and that I'm going to make sure I'm spending time with to fill 421 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,720 my soul and give me motivate me. 422 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,840 And you know, just good friends and family and spending time. 423 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:25,840 Important. 424 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,920 So yeah, all these things take courage. 425 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:34,720 So I know you talked about introduction, were there did you have to make choices to close 426 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:38,720 businesses because of COVID? 427 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:39,720 Not personally. 428 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:45,760 I had friends, I had to mentor and handhold some friends before I was doing anything with 429 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:46,760 SBDC. 430 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:52,520 I mentored some friends as they decided that they that was in their best interest was to 431 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:53,520 close. 432 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:58,920 And a lot of it was because they were ready to move on. 433 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:03,320 Some people some COVID help people just go on and say, you know, we've been looking to 434 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:04,400 move on. 435 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:09,400 So it was as negative as it looked in the only community center on to business close 436 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,400 and the owner was like, I don't have anybody wants to buy this. 437 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:13,400 I'm exiting now. 438 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,460 So the time for me to go. 439 00:24:15,460 --> 00:24:18,520 So there was there was that there was a small bit of that. 440 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,120 But some folks close because they didn't want to take the time some folks close that was 441 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:27,560 launching because they didn't qualify for any of the funds that was being pushed out 442 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:29,800 by the government because they were too new of a business. 443 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,920 That was one of the deal situations. 444 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:40,840 But you know, yeah, we had I had a little bit of that to where people we are. 445 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:46,200 I work with a group of even in our fitness side where we the cool thing for us was we 446 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,840 when we saw it coming and I noticed that we were we had already started inside of our 447 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:54,720 fitness space and social distancing, cleaning your own weights. 448 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:56,920 We had we had limited our class sizes. 449 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,400 We had added an extra class for overflows. 450 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:05,200 And so we had did a massive pivot is what we like to call to start accommodating because 451 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:09,520 we knew we had that feeling of where it was going and it kept getting about to shut down 452 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:14,680 stuff and some of the in-person things you kind of saw was going to be a deal. 453 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:19,880 So we started really working hard for the folks I was working with them coming up with 454 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:24,480 plans just on the personal side of what we did back during covid. 455 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,640 But yeah, we had I had friends that exited the gym business. 456 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:28,880 I had people that closed. 457 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:34,480 I had folks that moved into other businesses, went ahead and took other opportunities. 458 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,080 It was it was definitely impacted. 459 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:39,120 You know, a lot of folks that I know. 460 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:40,120 So right. 461 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:41,120 Yeah. 462 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:46,240 So I know you've given us lots of tips and ideas for businesses and getting started. 463 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,160 So what encouragement would you have for someone to say, why not today? 464 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:51,160 Yes. 465 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,560 Yeah, that's always a great one. 466 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:53,560 To kind of pull it all together. 467 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:54,560 Yeah. 468 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:55,560 Yeah. 469 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:56,560 It flows with that. 470 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:01,440 That same thing that we started off with was if you're setting on that that business idea 471 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:08,800 and you're you know, there's a lot of folks that have great ideas and they're they're 472 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,720 fighting where they're at. 473 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:15,120 So their life's telling them to change or life's telling them they need to to take that 474 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:16,720 opportunity. 475 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,320 And I think sometimes it's if you have that, if you're looking to start a small business, 476 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:28,440 the first part of it would be is why not connect with your SPDC office today is something super 477 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:29,440 powerful. 478 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:35,000 And what we do in most every office has is we have a program called Business Smart Start. 479 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:40,000 If you have an idea, if you don't have anything set up, you can set and go through that class. 480 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,160 It costs you a little bit, but you get in deliverables. 481 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,100 We started charging a little bit for it to cover mailing and you get a book. 482 00:26:48,100 --> 00:26:50,920 You get all sorts of things that help you be successful. 483 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,680 That's what we want out of our office. 484 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:57,240 Anyone who's not in business that comes to our office and says, hey, I want to start 485 00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:58,240 a business. 486 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,040 They go through business smart start before they take any other steps. 487 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:07,000 And it educates them on insurances, laws, just gives them a thousand yard overview of 488 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,200 this is what small business looks like. 489 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,800 Because some people at that point say, you know what? 490 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:12,800 I'm going back over here. 491 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,400 I'm going to work. 492 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,840 I'd rather be an employee. 493 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:19,840 I would rather be an employee. 494 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:20,840 I want to do what you do. 495 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:21,840 And I get that. 496 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:22,840 Right. 497 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,840 So I've got lots of people that said that's me. 498 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:26,840 Like no way. 499 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,520 He's like, I like getting my vacations every year and this is the other. 500 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:37,440 So you have that angle on it is when you're starting is connecting with your business 501 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:45,920 advisor first is going to help you always call it that mind, feel a business is, you 502 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:52,280 know, before you go out and sign a lease that is way too high than what your business is 503 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:53,280 going to do. 504 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:54,280 That hurts a lot of people. 505 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:58,080 Sometimes you want to hire three people and they don't have the funds coming in to cover 506 00:27:58,080 --> 00:27:59,080 the paper. 507 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,920 So we helped that initially just like, hey, these are the kind of some good do's and don'ts. 508 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:10,120 If you're in business, why not can go ahead and sign up just to be on the email list for 509 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:13,240 your local small business development center. 510 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:14,560 You can you can sign up. 511 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:20,880 And then the biggest thing that I noticed and so I'm always and I get with my folks 512 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,360 that I've worked with on page sign up and you don't have to work with me at all, but 513 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:29,440 get on my email list because here's what happened is I was on the SBDC office. 514 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:34,520 So the cool backstory for me was I had worked with my office on every business that I launched. 515 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:40,760 I knew all the folks I had worked with Tom Tanner, who's who's a just a wealth of information 516 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,140 when it comes to everything. 517 00:28:42,140 --> 00:28:43,400 So I had worked with them. 518 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:45,100 I was on the email list. 519 00:28:45,100 --> 00:28:50,880 So as soon as the shutdown struck coming, I started getting emails from the SBDC office 520 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:52,400 joined this zoom call. 521 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:54,120 We're going to be covering this. 522 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,220 We're going to show we're going to work on this strategy. 523 00:28:56,220 --> 00:28:58,600 And they just started putting out tons of information. 524 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:04,960 So why not go ahead, get signed up at your local SBDC office, get on that mailing list. 525 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,360 So you're in their system and you don't have to do anything. 526 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:09,680 And then who knows? 527 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:11,480 We have another downturn. 528 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,000 We have another COVID event. 529 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:14,880 Who knows how what's coming down the pipe? 530 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,520 Like you mentioned, 9-11, 20 some years ago. 531 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,280 And then there we were in 2020. 532 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:26,080 Again, with with COVID is if you're already in that system, it's one step that you don't 533 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:27,080 have to take. 534 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:31,520 You guys have great resources and yeah, well, some knowledge and help for me. 535 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:36,600 Like even I know we are texting back and forth about t-shirts and t-shirt presses and we're 536 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,200 to get you know, but I will and help each other. 537 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:40,200 Yeah. 538 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:46,360 And if I don't have the answers, but the cool thing is to is when you do that, you get access 539 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,440 and when you're signed up, you get access to our resource library. 540 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:55,220 And most of the programs that we do, we record and post there and all the trainings that 541 00:29:55,220 --> 00:30:00,200 we do, whether it may be a QuickBooks, financial things, human resources. 542 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,320 If we have a speaker come in and talk about intellectual property rights or whatever, 543 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:08,440 generally that's recorded and placed inside of our resource libraries. 544 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:12,800 All your trades and email and I guarantee you the value you're going to get from the 545 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:17,320 SBDC offices will overwhelm the inbox time it takes to go through it and leave it off 546 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:18,320 or sign up. 547 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:20,320 I have not jumped on any of those. 548 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:21,320 They keep going. 549 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,600 I have a bad habit of working a lot in my business on my business. 550 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,760 So I need to take some time to work on some of these things. 551 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,120 So this has been a wealth of help for me just to get me a little more accountable. 552 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,480 I'm listening to your podcast, Leslie. 553 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,560 If there's something in there that I need to refresh on, I'll flip it on. 554 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:41,560 Listen to it in the car. 555 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,520 May not watch it, but I'll listen to it in the car while I'm traveling. 556 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,920 And it gets me gets my thoughts where it needs to be. 557 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,640 That's that's why I love being in the car. 558 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,120 It gets your brain going and thinking. 559 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,720 So I always kind of try to connect back to my dad. 560 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,840 And obviously, you never met my dad and kind of a stretch. 561 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:05,660 But I think the things and just that you shared that were connection my dad is first of all 562 00:31:05,660 --> 00:31:10,920 your kids and being being able to be there for them and teaching them business, which 563 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,400 I think my dad was a master and didn't really realize what he was doing. 564 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:15,400 Interesting. 565 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:19,360 He always preached like, get involved, help get involved in your community. 566 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:20,960 We're all like, yeah, right. 567 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:26,560 But it's interesting to see that I'm very much like him and have done that and got involved. 568 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:28,000 And you're just there helping businesses. 569 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,600 And I love that you're willing to help people. 570 00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:36,040 My dad actually started the local chamber here where I live in Reston. 571 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,600 And I didn't really realize what it was and what it did. 572 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:43,840 He started when I was just finishing high school and found out later that he didn't 573 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,400 even have business locally to start a chamber. 574 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,520 He started a chamber because he was raising six kids in a community. 575 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:56,560 And I didn't realize really what how much connection he had until he had had a stroke. 576 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:59,040 And I'd be walking down the street and people are like, how's your dad? 577 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,520 And I'm like, first of all, who are you? 578 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,560 And how do you know my dad? 579 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:04,840 But he touched a lot of lives just helping people. 580 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:06,320 And I see you doing that. 581 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:11,680 Just I still remember I think I'd come in later once out for second one. 582 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:14,280 Everybody did their introductions at that event. 583 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,680 And I remember you saying sitting in the back saying, if you need help, I've got free resource. 584 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:19,120 I'm like, OK, who is this guy? 585 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:20,120 I need to meet him. 586 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,120 And I'm so glad I did. 587 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,120 So any closing thoughts? 588 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:29,360 You're what you said earlier about that we may have been while we were just chatting up 589 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,000 about your dad cross country. 590 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,000 You guys. 591 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,000 I get to travel. 592 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:37,320 I travel a little bit with SBDC to whatever. 593 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:38,680 It's nothing over the top. 594 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:43,160 But I travel a lot with inside my business because I belong to certain like I am in a 595 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,760 mastermind group and we meet a couple of times a year and we try to meet in different areas. 596 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:51,320 And it's just it's worth the investment for the personal development I get out. 597 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:56,440 I made a rule the other week I had to go to San Diego and I made a rule when I left when 598 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:57,440 I was getting out of the car. 599 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:58,440 Kids were there. 600 00:32:58,440 --> 00:32:59,440 I was the night before. 601 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:06,200 I had an early flight and I was like, guys, I am not doing this so I can travel by myself. 602 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:11,800 Next time I have to go somewhere, either everyone goes or I'm not going because I get when you 603 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,160 go if it's a meeting that I have to be in or whatever. 604 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,360 But when I'm out there, I don't want to go. 605 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:19,000 I may be in San Diego or Orlando or wherever. 606 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,680 And I'm like, I just go to the class and I go back to the room and they'll call me like, 607 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:23,680 what are you doing? 608 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:24,680 Yeah, I'm fun. 609 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:25,680 Like, no, I don't want to do this. 610 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:26,680 I don't want to go do anything. 611 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,240 You guys are in here. 612 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:33,720 So that's a lot of similarities with your dad and investment that his businesses is 613 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,960 is drive and everything allowed him to invest back in you guys. 614 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:37,960 Yeah. 615 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:38,960 And that's just our cross. 616 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,600 Country trip, but there are many occasions where he yanked us out of school. 617 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,520 He was going on a trip for work and we went with them. 618 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,160 And it was invaluable. 619 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,480 And I remember my niece, her senior year in high school, I was going actually to North 620 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:54,740 Carolina for a Mary Kay meeting. 621 00:33:54,740 --> 00:33:56,920 And we're going to go stop at Snowstown Lake, which she loves. 622 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:58,600 So she wanted to go with me. 623 00:33:58,600 --> 00:33:59,600 And it was in the middle of the week. 624 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:00,600 And I'm like, can I go? 625 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:01,600 I'm like, well, you have to miss school. 626 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:02,600 You have to ask your mom. 627 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:03,600 And she said it was her last. 628 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:04,600 It was June of her senior year. 629 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:11,800 And she went with me and sat in the back of a Mary Kay meeting all day. 630 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,960 And we stopped and did all kinds of things. 631 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,960 She learned much more than she would ever in a classroom. 632 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,240 Just business and life and, you know, and we were able to bond and have that fun. 633 00:34:22,240 --> 00:34:24,240 So yeah, you're doing it right. 634 00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:26,520 I think it's super, super powerful. 635 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:32,440 And when the entrepreneurs that are listening to this is just that's that's huge. 636 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,680 If you're in the parent space or you think about getting a parent spaces, we are creating 637 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,080 those those moments in time. 638 00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,080 And we only have that that so much. 639 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:46,520 And what did I tell my members the other day? 640 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:47,520 So you're not fighting life. 641 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:48,520 You fight in time. 642 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:49,520 And that's true. 643 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:50,520 You keep that all in mind. 644 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:51,520 You know, so yeah. 645 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:52,520 Yeah. 646 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,040 And I went the opposite way when I was just went to Florida. 647 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,080 I went with my 81 year old mother and my youngest sister. 648 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,080 And yeah, we drove and it was a long trip. 649 00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:04,840 But we were and I was gone for two and a half weeks. 650 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:09,280 But I did that because, you know, we're not promised tomorrow and I want to be able to 651 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:10,280 spend time. 652 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:11,280 And that's important to me. 653 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:15,200 So are you doing the things have encouraged to do the things that are important for you 654 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,840 and saying, so, Jeff, how do people find you? 655 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:20,560 I'm going to share this with the podcast. 656 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:26,240 But people want to find I was going to tell you is for everyone is if you're in Virginia, 657 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:31,520 I would follow Virginia SBDC's Instagram account, their Facebook page. 658 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:36,240 That way you can they will help you find you can find your local offices. 659 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:40,240 But if you it ain't about connecting with me, it's about connecting with that local 660 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:41,520 SBDC office. 661 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:48,520 So if you're near Roanoke, we cover Roanoke, Franklin, New River Valley, Battetot. 662 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:53,320 It's it's with our SBDC, the Roanoke Regional Small Business Development Center. 663 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,760 But everyone else in the world is going to be listening to this obviously is just a quick 664 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:02,520 Google search about the nearest SBDC office near me. 665 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:04,800 And I feel like you'll be able to get into that. 666 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:08,560 Now me personally, one of the easiest ways to connect with me is going to run up small 667 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:13,680 business dot org and you'll see you get matched with an advisor and you can scroll down and 668 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:14,680 find me now. 669 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:16,560 I service this area here. 670 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:20,720 But if you are struggling with finding an SBDC office and you've got a quick question, 671 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:21,720 shoot me a message. 672 00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:24,700 I go by country coach on Instagram. 673 00:36:24,700 --> 00:36:29,800 If you're trying to find an office and you can't get connected in, it's a country underscore 674 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,120 underscore coach. 675 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:38,080 I will direct you to the nearest SBDC office or I'll find you someone in word ever would 676 00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:39,080 carry your ever. 677 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:43,000 So for someone in Denver, I worked with some guys in Denver at a conference I was at. 678 00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:44,000 There's offices there. 679 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,480 They're always looking for folks to come in. 680 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:46,480 So keep that in mind. 681 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:51,920 So don't just think that I'm just representing the bigger picture of what's out there for 682 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,840 every state has this available to them. 683 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,720 And it's a free resource for folks need to take advantage of. 684 00:36:58,720 --> 00:36:59,720 Right. 685 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,760 And also we might, you know, I know a lot of people at the lake and Roanoke and people 686 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:05,040 might be interested in going to your gym. 687 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:06,040 So what's the gym name? 688 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:07,040 It's I'm over in Daleville. 689 00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:08,040 It's Daleville Fit Body Boot Camp. 690 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:13,760 But yeah, you don't you don't just get no. 691 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:14,760 That's great. 692 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:15,760 I appreciate that. 693 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:16,760 Shout out. 694 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:17,760 So yeah, we're you do virtual classes? 695 00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:18,760 No, we're all in. 696 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,400 I'm not coming to Roanoke to work out. 697 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:23,400 Sorry. 698 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:24,400 That's right. 699 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:27,400 You don't have to come to my gym. 700 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,960 If you're near there and you need help, I will help you. 701 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:35,400 OK, if you're looking, just just Google Fit Body Boot Camp or gym near me. 702 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:39,520 But the biggest thing is if you will if you'll go get you a nice pair of shoes and commit 703 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:42,280 to walking 30 minutes a day, you'll feel better. 704 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:43,280 Just do something. 705 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:47,040 We don't have to be about coming, coming to work with me personally. 706 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:52,480 If you will just commit to taking a little action and spending 30 to 40 minutes a day 707 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:57,440 doing something for you, because as I tell my members and people that work with me, if 708 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:00,040 you'll invest in you, you're going to feel better. 709 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,000 Everyone else around you is going to feel it too. 710 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:03,000 So true. 711 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,360 And this morning I usually walk every single day and this morning I really didn't feel 712 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:07,360 like it. 713 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:11,680 But I knew as soon as I would walk out this cold, fresh air and I live on a little lake, 714 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,920 walk around the lake that I'd be happy I did and feel better all day long. 715 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,160 So well, thank you so much. 716 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:18,360 Great information. 717 00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,200 And we will share information on the podcast. 718 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:24,920 Of course, you can find the podcast on iTunes and Spotify. 719 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:25,920 And I think I added to Google. 720 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:30,800 So wherever you can find podcasts, got Instagram and Facebook and we do have Why Not Today 721 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:31,800 gear. 722 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,600 We've got t shirts and cups and vinyls. 723 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,320 So if you want some Why Not Today gear, let me know. 724 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,920 Because we all need to say why not to get Why Not Today. 725 00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,480 So this is Leslie and Jeff and thanks for joining us today. 726 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:45,120 Have a great day.