Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly
Behind every successful entrepreneur is a trail of mistakes, mishaps and regrets. This podcast is for any aspiring or current entrepreneur or leader who struggles with the idea that you have to get it right every single time in order to be successful. Who feel that they need to be perfect in order to make it. Our guests candidly share their stories of failure. And what they did in those pivotal moments of failure to step up and turn their lemons into lemonade. We learn how business owners are marketing themselves and learn what marketing strategies have worked and those that haven't. Come and listen in! Hosted by Nicole Donnelly, Founder of DMG Digital. For more info visit www.dmgdigital.io.
Tales of Misadventure with Nicole Donnelly
Courage, Love, and Entrepreneurship: The Thompson's Story
What happens when you combine love, adventure, military service and entrepreneurship? You get the invigorating life story of Kevin and Hannah Thompson. Together they share a deep commitment to family, a passion for the outdoors, and a spirit of perseverance that has seen them through military deployments, personal health crises, and the ups and downs of starting their own business.
Their tale begins with a love story that survives the rigors of Kevin's military service and the challenges of their first year of marriage. Kevin's time in the US army, his deployment to Iraq, and his return home form a saga that is both heartbreaking and inspiring. But this couple's story doesn't end there. After Kevin's military service, he embarked on a variety of entrepreneurial ventures, beginning with being a helicopter pilot and then owning his own pawn shop.
A terrifying battle with COVID-19 lands Kevin in the ICU, battling for his life on a ventilator, and leaves Hannah facing the agonizing uncertainty of the situation alone. But even in the face of such adversity, the Thompsons are not defeated. They channel their experiences into launching AK Mountain Dog, a unique pet treat business. Their partnership, based on shared values and complementary strengths, proves to be a winning formula for entrepreneurship. Kevin, with his military discipline, and Hannah, with her resourcefulness, embody a customer-focused approach that sets their business apart. Witness these inspiring entrepreneurs as they navigate challenges, solve problems, and build a brand that leaves an enduring legacy.
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Hey there, thanks for joining us for Tales of Misadventure, a podcast all about business blunders. On this podcast, nicole Donnelly, founder of DMG Digital, talks to entrepreneurs and learns how they turn their lemons into lemonade. Dmg Digital is a content marketing agency focused on helping manufacturers attract new buyers through digital self-serve. Nicole Donnelly is a fourth generation entrepreneur, a girl, mom and an avid traveler. Now let's head into a tale of misadventure with your host, nicole Donnelly.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Tales of Misadventure, where amazing entrepreneurs share their stories of failure and how they turn lemons into lemonade. Today we are joined by Kevin Thompson, the man, the myth, the adventurer extraordinaire, with his incredible wife, hannah, and their dynamic duo of kiddos. This episode is all about sharing Kevin's own tales of misadventure, from thrilling hunting expeditions to reeling in the big catch, camping under starlet skies and conquering untamed trails. Kevin's love for the great outdoors knows no bounds. But that's just the beginning. Ever heard of a serial entrepreneur who can juggle pawn shops, trucking companies and even firearms training facilities? Yep, that's Kevin. And hold on to your hats because he's not just a business whiz.
Speaker 2:Kevin is a proud US Army veteran who served this country proudly in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. But here's the twist Before his outdoor conquests and entrepreneurial escapades, kevin's heartbeat to the rhythm of farming and ranching, a dream of being a large animal vet led him on a unique path, working with critters big and small. And guess what? That very journey led him to craft healthier treats for dogs everywhere, birthing the genius that is a K mountain dog. Kevin Hannah, welcome to the show today. I'm so honored to have you. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2:This is going to be so fun. How are you guys?
Speaker 3:Good Good, we're enjoying the rain in Alaska.
Speaker 4:Enduring the rain.
Speaker 3:Enduring the rain. Yeah, how's your.
Speaker 2:How's your Alaskan summer been?
Speaker 3:It's been a cold one, it's not. We haven't got the typical sunny days we usually get. So there there are people who are, who are not as happy about the way the summer went, but you know, all in all it's been a good summer. I love Alaska. It's it's it's our home.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have never been to Alaska but my husband lived there for two years when he was in high school. His dad was a Jag for the Air Force. They lived in Anchorage and he loved living in Alaska. Of all the places that he lived, I think it was one of his top two favorite places. I mean, he just talks so fondly of all the camping trips he did where he actually camped in ice caves and just like just so fun. So it's it's just such a from what I hear, a remarkable place. And you know, I feel like if you're living in Alaska, you're just like a special type of just rugged individualist and I think your story really really tells that story very well, kevin.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Yeah, no, it's. I tell people it's. It's really hard, especially when you're marketing a brand. In Alaska, half the people want to think I live in an igloo and ride a dog sled to work every day. The other half realized that there's a Costco 45 minutes away. So whatever version you want to believe of that, like I can tell you that you're sure.
Speaker 2:It's somewhere in between right.
Speaker 2:Yeah so well, my very first question for both of you, and welcome to the show to Hannah. It's great to have you on. This is so fun. It's it's actually my first time having a couple on the show, so this is like a very exciting milestone. So this is going to be a very unique and cool to hear you guys both talking. But we'll start with you, hannah. If you could pick any animal that was your spirit animal, that was just like the essence of who you are as a person personality what spirit animal would you be and why?
Speaker 4:Oh, wow, Hmm, you know I'd like to say something elegant like a dolphin, but anybody who's around me knows I'm not, so probably like a draft horse pushing forward. Whatever you do, just keep moving forward.
Speaker 2:Whatever you do, keep moving forward. That's really beautiful. I'm a horse too, so you and, I think, are kindred spirits in that way I love it. Very cool. What about you, Kevin? If you were a spirit animal, what would your spirit animal be?
Speaker 3:Well, I get compared to a Sasquatch the most, or a bear, you know, I it's. It's one of those things I've really just liked dogs. I like the oil there. They get the job done. They do what they need to. They don't care about your politics, your social issues, any of that. They're just out there to have fun and get the job done.
Speaker 2:I love that. You know my girls have been begging, begging, begging us to get a dog. They're not, you know, they're slowly breaking me down and I think the one thing that is like one of the reasons why I would love to have a dog is because, from what I understand and from my friends tell me, your dog always loves you, no matter what. They never get mad at you, they're always there. They're so excited when you come home, like you can always count on them to just always give you the love, right. And so sometimes I think you know life, I'm an entrepreneur, you're an entrepreneur, and family and juggling all that, it's just the idea of some, someone being there that's just always just going to love you. No, everyone is pretty, pretty cool. So well, thank you. The dog and the horse, the dog and the horse this is a baby, okay? So let's talk a little bit. You have quite the story, quite the story. So let's, I want to hear a little bit about, kind of what led you to a K mountain dog.
Speaker 2:I know you, you, for many, many years ago, you, you were in the military. But let's start before that, when you were a little boy growing up, kevin, what was it. I understand you loved. You had a dream of being a large animal, bet. Tell me a little bit about what that was like as a kid and kind of how that shaped and influenced you and where you are now. What was it that you loved so much? Tell us about your childhood.
Speaker 3:You know, I've always liked animals.
Speaker 2:I was a collector.
Speaker 3:It didn't matter if it was a snake, a lizard, a mouse Like I was bringing everything home.
Speaker 3:My my grandma, after my grandpa passed away, came to live with us and I scared that poor woman so many times with what was in my pockets. She wouldn't she, she would make me empty my pockets before I came in the house because there was a lizard or a snake or or something that I had trapped and that I was sure that I could make my pet. And so going from there to you know, owning pigs and horses and cows and I, the neighbor down the road was a large animal bet and he always had this cool truck with this canopy on it that he could just roll into a field and fix anything that went wrong.
Speaker 3:I thought that was a pretty cool job, and so I just you know, growing up around agriculture, you learn to doctor your own animals. You don't always have the money to call the vet, so when the vet's there you pay attention because you can save money by doing it yourself the next time. And so just, you grow up in an environment of of opportunity, ingenuity and getting things done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, resourcefulness right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Where did you grow up? Where did you grow up in Alaska?
Speaker 3:No, so most so. Up until my junior year in high school, we lived in Bend, Oregon, and then we moved to Fruitsland, Idaho, when that's where I, and when I left high school I went off to the military.
Speaker 2:Very nice, let's talk about that. What inspired you to join the military? What was it that led you down that path after high school?
Speaker 3:A judge.
Speaker 2:A judge, oh there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Judge Pratt in Vale Idaho.
Speaker 1:Or sorry, vail Oregon sorry.
Speaker 3:Vail, oregon. I got myself in some trouble because I was a I was a turd as a kid and my dad so my grandpa was my grandpa was in the Army Air Corps in World War II. My dad was a Ranger in. Vietnam. So we have family history of serving and we have family history of all joining the military about the same way too.
Speaker 2:So there's a judge involved in all of these stories.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, there is, there is, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:Way to keep that legacy burning.
Speaker 3:Hopefully it ties with me. So I got myself in some trouble and I was sitting in the courtroom before the before that it kicked off and the judge walked in and looked over and he said Mr Thompson, what are you doing here? And I said, oh, I got in trouble. And by that time they kind of knew who I was. And he said Okay, and so we had worked out a deal with the prosecutor that I was going to, you know, get, do my, do my community service and all this other stuff. And so that kicked off and judge Pratt looked at me and he said Mr Thompson, I'm going to give you a day in jail and your probation's up when your fines are paid and I suggest you leave town, because the next time I'm going to railroad you. I said Okay, and so I walked out, paid my fines, did my day in the county jail and my dad took me to the recruiter and I signed up.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:So it's not you've never seen that.
Speaker 2:You've never seen a judge since right.
Speaker 3:Nope, nope, I haven't. When, after I graduated basic training and I went to Iraq, I they gave. So they give you. In the unit I was in, they gave you a pat. You get your patches sewn on and all that, and you have an extra patch, and so I milled it back to the judge. So and it kind of funny, fast forward when I own the pawn shop his wife walked in because she was.
Speaker 3:it was a pawn shop but it was also an outdoors store and she was looking to buy a new pheasant shotgun for her husband. I looked over and I introduced myself and she kind of looked at me and she, she knew who I was. She said, kevin, you never would have thought I would walk into a place that you own.
Speaker 2:So the military turned you around.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, the military taught me discipline, the discipline I needed, and really gave me the ability to direct a lot of my energy in a more positive way.
Speaker 2:I love that. Well, I just want to thank you for your service. It is such a gift that we have men like you who are willing to go and serve our country and protect our freedom. And you know it's it's a huge sacrifice that you made to do that and I thank you for it. It's just, you know, it's just a wonderful, wonderful thing to be able to meet veterans like you who are willing to take that risk and put their life on the line for for the rest of us back home. So, thank you, thank you for your service. It's, you know, I have no doubt that it was a challenging and very difficult experience and I'm sure you could probably speak forever about that.
Speaker 3:You know what? The thing about the military and I that I tell people is I it was. I look back and it was probably one of the fondest and worst memories of my entire life Wow, and wrestling with that on the other side is is is interesting because I still have friends, that we stay in touch, but at the same time, I wouldn't have traded my experiences for the world. It's made me who.
Speaker 1:I am today.
Speaker 3:War is terrible and I hopefully nobody ever has to do it again, but at the same time the military really does offer. For a kid like me that was going the wrong direction. I wish my story was more patriotic, but literally it was to stay out of jail and and redirect my life in a different trajectory.
Speaker 2:Well, kudos to you for seizing that opportunity in that way. You know, I think that says a lot about you, your character and your resiliency. So that's just, you know. I think that's wonderful, wonderful and thank you. Thank you for your service. Yeah, not everyone goes for, you know, righteous reasons, right, but even still, it doesn't matter, it's still, it's still a sacrifice, it's still, you know. But to hear you say that it was the best and the worst is just so fascinating. You know, I find that to be true with so many of our most difficult challenges, challenging experiences in life. They're incredibly painful, but then they're also just incredibly rewarding at the same time, so cool. Well, how did you two meet? I got to know. How did you guys come together?
Speaker 1:I trick her.
Speaker 2:I trick her Did you walk into the pawn shop too.
Speaker 4:We didn't like each other at first, we did. We've been together for a while, yeah.
Speaker 3:I thought she was just stuck up. Goody two shoes.
Speaker 4:That is egotistical and full of himself, and I was.
Speaker 2:Sounds like a match made in heaven. I'm like like perfect fodder for romantic comedy right.
Speaker 3:Comedy.
Speaker 3:That's great so my roommate had a huge crush on Hannah and he was afraid to ask her out, and so he was constantly trying to get me roped into somehow inviting Hannah on different things that we were going to, and so one of them was a camping trip. And so Hannah, she didn't want to go camping with a bunch of guys out in the middle of the woods it's probably not safe, but so but there was another couple that were going, so she was going to stay in their campsite and we were going to all have fun out there. Well, the whole weekend, her and I ended up spending time together and talking and getting to know each other. And and so I, we went to an area of the reservoir where there was a big, there was a big cliff and we were all jumping off into the water and I was laughing.
Speaker 3:I told my roommate I'm like that girl's never done anything adventurous in her life. I'm be imagining if she even gets in the boat. And so I took the boat around the cliff to make sure it was deep enough. And we she looked at me and she goes well, if I don't like that high, can I jump from a lower section? And I was like, yeah, whatever, just get up there. And so we hiked up there and she's like all right, I want to jump from a lower section. I said no and I said I know how to prepare, this is where you jump from.
Speaker 3:And she's like so you lied to me. I was like, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 4:So she jumped and I told him I would jump, so I was going to jump. I didn't think I would.
Speaker 3:I didn't think she was going to. I was like I got a hike all the way back down with her and so that's when you knew right. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, no we. She jumped and I was like, all right, maybe there's more to her than meets the eye, and so we hung out.
Speaker 4:We hung out the next two weeks. Then he asked me out and then three months later, he proposed Wow, and then, six months after that, we were married.
Speaker 2:So wow, and how many years have you been married now? We just celebrated 14. Wow, congratulations.
Speaker 4:But we're very honest, the first year was horrible.
Speaker 2:That's terrible.
Speaker 4:That's not uncommon, you know that's pretty common.
Speaker 2:You're just getting used to each other and figuring it out and all of that.
Speaker 3:Well, we look, we were looking at all these other people are running around having this honeymoon year and we looked at each other and we're like I don't still don't know if I like you or not. It was, but we got it out of the way in the beginning.
Speaker 4:We mostly like each other now yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I can totally tell just the chemistry that you have together, that you guys are just like a fierce team together and you've been through a lot over the last 14 years. A lot, let's talk about that. I know you have some history, Kevin. You were, you came back from, you came back from Iraq and you were injured, I believe right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was injured, yep.
Speaker 2:And then you had the serial entrepreneurial bug, it sounds like. Is that when you started the pawn shop?
Speaker 3:So no, I was flying helicopter. I came back, I used my GI Bill and I became a helicopter pilot and I was flying helicopters. I had a really unique ability or opportunity. I, right out of school, I got picked up by a firefighting company and then, based off of my military background, I was able to work for a company called Evergreen and we worked around the world. That's when, on the way back from one of my trips, I met Hannah and Hannah and I had gotten right as Hannah and I had gotten married. I was supposed to be going to the Gulf Coast and flying oil, and the BP oil spill had just happened and they had laid off all the pilots, and so now I have a brand new wife and no job.
Speaker 3:So I looked at it and said you know, we can sit here and wait and possibly go broke, or I can buy this pawn shop. And so we bought the pawn shop and it was. It had been mismanaged, it was in horrible shape, and so we I went in there. I understood firearms really well, I taught myself how to buy gold, diamonds and silver, and I remodeled. I went in, remodeled it and turned it into a sporting goods store that does pawns, and so my first investor pitch I had with it.
Speaker 3:I got to the end of the pitch and the guy looked at me and said that is the most irritating thing I've ever heard in my entire life. And I looked at him and I you know, one of the things the military taught me is how to have a thick skin. And so I looked at him and I said why is it so irritating? He's like well, it's mainly just you. And so I said well, okay. I said if you're going to give me that kind of feedback, then we're going to sit here and figure out what it is about me that is irritating in a pitch. And so we sat there and we redid the entire pitch together and, and as he talked to me, he's like you should have mentioned that you should have done this, you should have done this. And so he just brutalized me for over three days on how to give pitches and how to not be irritating.
Speaker 3:And so we he ended up not investing, but I ended up pitching it to another guy who became a very close friend of ours and he, when I took that pitch to him, he bought the first time. He said yes, I'll give you the money, kevin, let's, let's move forward. And so we were able to move forward. Funny thing is is the guy who told me I was irritating I had I've pitched over 15 times to him and the greatest compliment I ever got from him was at the end. He said congratulations, kevin, you're not as near as irritating as you used to be. And so he's still. He's still an advisor, he's still a confidant I mean, I still run things fast and because he just brutally honest. But it was really interesting to have someone who just had no care for my personal feelings but had every care for my success.
Speaker 2:That is such a great. No care for your personal feelings, but every care for your personal success as entrepreneurs, as business owners. To be able to know the difference and to and you recognize that and leaned into it. It takes a lot of humility and discernment to be able to understand that and know that, that those are two very different things.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So that is really cool and the fact that you have a great relationship with him. Now, I mean, so many people would have taken that feedback and would have just gotten offended and defensive right.
Speaker 3:Oh, I was very offended. He's. He's an older guy. I'm looking at this guy going. Man, I could drag you out your own backyard and hurt you for what you just said. But then it just clicked in my head. I was like you know what? He hasn't thrown me out, like he could tell me to leave, and he hasn't told me to leave. So until he tells me to leave, I'm going to stay here and I'm going to get the information he has.
Speaker 2:I think that's a really good point that you make, that sometimes we are going to get offended, but it's important that you still, even if you get offended, look for the opportunity, look for what you can learn from the experience. Wow, that's fascinating. So you had many, many pitches with him.
Speaker 3:I have pitched to him a lot and it's got to the point now where, if I'm looking at doing something else, I'll call him up and I'll say, hey, ron, do you, do you have a couple minutes? And he, well, what are we doing? I'm like I'm going to take the crap out of you. And he's like, all right, let's go. And so, and it's like I said it's, I've pitched to him a couple of things and the thing is is when you're doing pitches, you have to know your audience. He's his. He could invest in anything I did and and I could easily. It's not about the funds, it's about having the right partnership and the partnership I have with him. He gives me so much more valuable things than funds because he tells me exactly where I'm wrong. Any argues with me and I do need people in my life that argue with me, that I can argue back with and we can come to a best idea.
Speaker 2:So true, I call that the challenger. I think every entrepreneur needs four people in their life. They need a cheerleader, a challenger, a coach and a mentor. And those challengers you gotta hold on tight to them because they're gonna help you get better. And so I think that's really beautiful. In my life that's my husband. Same thing, he is totally my challenger. I'll come to him with an idea and he'll tell me all the reasons why it's not gonna work and I get so mad. I'm like that's not what I wanna hear. You just don't get it. And then I step back and I think about it and I'm like he's so right, and then it's really a great thing, because then it helps me refine whatever the idea is. And then I'm like, okay, and then it just ends up better. So that's really cool. So tell me a little bit about I know this. We all went through this crazy experience several years ago with COVID and it feels now like a very distant memory, like, thankfully right.
Speaker 2:But I know you guys had a oh yeah, right, I know you guys went through quite a difficult time during that time. Do you wanna, would you be comfortable talking a little bit about that, or yeah, yeah?
Speaker 3:So it started out we were at a church camp out and we had we've been camping with some friends and they one of the friends called us back and said hey, I just popped off for COVID and all the data I had seen on it was, as you know, the elderly and the really young were the main people they were worried about. So and I've been sick before I didn't think much of it, so isolated myself, quarantined myself to the back of the house and, you know, food and water, just kind of trying to keep things down. Well, my friends called and checked on me and my comment and I have kind of a different sense of humor, but I told them and said you know, I've had worse hangovers, like I'll get over this, don't worry about it. Well, it one night just turned bad, and it turned real bad and I was having a hard time breathing. So I told Hannah and I said probably should go to the hospital.
Speaker 3:And so we went down to the ER and I figured it was gonna be an in and out kind of deal. Went into the ER, I, they tested my oxygen, they said we're gonna keep you, and from there I continued to decline and Hannah couldn't come see me. We couldn't. We were interacting over the phone. I used to put my phone on speaker and Hannah and keep it on speaker at the house, just so I could hear the sounds of the house and the kids running around and everything that was going on Just kind of kept me centered into and kept a similar thing.
Speaker 3:One of the trainings you go through in the military is, you know, is how to be isolated or how to be in situations where that are less than ideal. And so what I learned in those is is to find something that is that is a normal, whether it's in your head or it's a or it's just hold on to something. And so I would just put my phone on speaker and she'd leave hers on speaker and I'd just hear the sounds of the house, the kids running around her making breakfast, doing things you know, yelling at the kids, kids fighting, whatever it is. And so we went through a week and I had, when I first got there there was some really rough times.
Speaker 3:They call it a code blue, but it's when you stop breathing. I'd stop breathing at least once and blacked out. And then and then I got cleared of COVID. They used a Ramdisevere protocol on me and you know people go back and forth on that. You know it cleared up the COVID but it caused a my immune system to drop so much that I ended up with a bacterial pneumonia and that's that proceeded and got more aggressive and more aggressive and that's what sent me back down. But so I got cleared of COVID. Hannah was able to come back in to the hospital once I was cleared and then, it just got really aggressive from there.
Speaker 4:So the first week that he was in he was in ICU that he was able to maintain his breathing and was moved out of the ICU, and so we were really blessed that when they moved him out of the ICU and the kids and I had our 10 day quarantine then I could go in there with him.
Speaker 4:So I was in hospital with him for that first week or the second week that he was out of the ICU. But yeah, the bacterial pneumonia, and then he also had pulmonary embolism. So I ended up with two blood clots long. And so as that week progressed, yeah, it just it wasn't getting better and he was really, really fighting hard. But they just said your body is so exhausted. So they'd got it cleared for me to be able to stay with him more. But then one evening he was getting up and moving and he just completely lost it and they couldn't get enough oxygen to him. So they ended up brushing him back down to the ICU and so that night the doctor and I talked about the need of a ventilator. We had talked about it the entire time he was there and actually they were really just trying to get people to go on ventilators before their bodies were so tired to fight it. But we've gotten to the point where he fought as much as he could and we went in and prayed with him about it and we just said you know, if he needs to do it, do it. So about three o'clock that morning he ended up that he started to go under again. So they put an emergency, did emergency procedure and put him on a ventilator.
Speaker 4:So he was on a ventilator for eight days and the next morning when I came back in, the doctor told me like he's the worst of the worst. I was the first one they met with because he had the worst. The machines were maxed out, they were looking at maybe shipping him to Seattle or Portland to do ECMO treatments, but the doctor was pretty honest that there's not a lot of beds or availability and getting him there. So that first day was pretty rough, just not knowing what was gonna happen. And then it was definitely touch and go for eight days. I mean, there was days he would progress and then I was super excited. We were praying, everybody's praying, but the staff was like we've seen this and then it plateaus and then it goes bad again and so it was emotionally just a lot of ups and downs and he slowly made progress and then he would plateau, had a day that was pretty rough and then just slowly started to get better. But the longer you're on a ventilator it worries them because your body's just not doing the things it needs to do on its own.
Speaker 4:So they'd actually talked about putting a trach in him and that was kind of like a baby step to get him off the ventilator. So the night, the seventh night, the nurse had come in and they had done a I can't remember what it's called but they would wake him up just to see if he could breathe, and so I would be there with him, but then they'd put him back under after a couple hours, but he still had the ventilator everything in and which was really hard for him because he couldn't move. He was sedated but he had this machine and breathing for him. So that night they'd started to put him back on his medications and the new nurse came in and was talking to me in the outgoing nurse and I was like, okay, so do we have plans tomorrow to put the trach in him?
Speaker 4:And Kevin was lucid enough to be like like, he was like grunting and I was like, oh, he doesn't know about that. Like, let's just, I don't think they've made any set plans, but they were planning on doing it that morning. Anyways, who knows what got into him. But they'd already started the sedation and all the medications and I was getting ready to leave. So I left and I didn't even get outside of the, out of the ICU and I told the nurse I'm leaving, because they used to go tie him down and we joked oh, he doesn't even have the energy to move his arm. And I didn't even get out of the ICU and he pulled his ventilator out.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 4:So luckily or I guess I was they didn't tell me about it, so I got home before I got the phone call.
Speaker 3:The next. Thing.
Speaker 3:I the first memory I had was this nurse standing over the top of me and they're trying to hold my arms down and they're trying to get something out of my mouth and I think they're attacking me, and so I'm trying to attack them back and so there's struggle ensues and I'm a horrible patient. I don't like being told what to do. I don't want to be, I don't want to comply with anything and I don't like people touching me. I don't like people touching me, and so I'm fighting them on everything. And so they finally got me calm back down. They finally, and I, yeah, and so I we had amazing nurses. I can't say enough good about the nurses we had and doctors they were awesome, but they so they got me kind of calm back down and they woke me up the next day sitting there with this doctor, and he he said you know, mr Thompson, you're the hardest person I've ever had to medicate. And I said well, what?
Speaker 4:do you mean the hardest one to sedate?
Speaker 3:He said every time I'd turn your sedation up, you'd fight me, you'd wiggle your finger, you'd wiggle your toes, you'd try to move something he's like. So I'd turn it up again and you'd fight me again. He goes. You fought me this entire time. Every time he's like I would go to my office and just go. I'm trying to help this guy. Why is he fighting me? There's that a point.
Speaker 4:I got a nurse because he was moving his eyebrows, like I mean he's sedated and he's what's the other medication, but like completely not even supposed to be able to move and he's moving his eyebrows. So I had to go get them and like I don't think this is normal. That was like on day five or six, yeah, yeah. So it was really touch and go that night because they're like if he goes back, if he recesses, we've got to do another emergency ventilator procedure. So but yeah, he was raring to go the next day. He was sitting up. I mean he had no strength, like he couldn't even put the spoon up to his mouth by himself. We had to help him.
Speaker 3:I thought I was amazing.
Speaker 4:Yes, we had to remind him that often, like you're not. Mentally and physically are two completely different things. But yeah, he just charged out and so I think within what two days of coming off the ventilator he was out of the ICU and then within a week's time, we just kept moving up floors and he was released to go. I would not say he was ready physically to come home when he did, but like emotionally, I mean, he'd been in there 32 days by the time we oh my goodness we came home.
Speaker 4:And so he came home on oxygen 100% of the time Doctors appointments. He could barely walk from his recliner to the restroom.
Speaker 3:So my goodness, so they told me when I came home. They said you need to go home, you need to sit in your chair and we'll just see if you'll get better. You'll probably never be off of oxygen. You're probably never going to progress much.
Speaker 3:But you know they make like adaptive things, like you can have an oxygen bottle on a cart, like we'll reduce the amount of oxygen you need but you'll probably never be off of oxygen. And so they kind of gave me this bleak outlook. And so I told him, I said send me home. And I told him I said call physical therapy, tell him I'll be in tomorrow morning. And she's like how are we going to get you there? I said we'll figure it out. Tell him I'm coming.
Speaker 4:We walked in the door and they're looking at me and looking at him like he barely looks like he's alive. I'm like I know we're here, so all you could do is I mean, really Such a fighter? Yeah, realistically, you could walk back to the treadmill, stand on it and walk back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the guy who you don't?
Speaker 4:tell Kevin no.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's almost like you want to be told no, Kevin. You want to be told no. So you can prove that you can do it right.
Speaker 3:I, you know what. So we have a company Mantra and it's tell me what's impossible. I'll show you the limits of your capabilities.
Speaker 2:Tell me what's impossible. I'll show you the limits of your capabilities. That is so inspiring.
Speaker 3:So when they told me that I couldn't do this, the physical therapist is a veteran and I called him and.
Speaker 3:I said, keith, I'm coming. And Keith's like all right, and so I'm sitting in there. The whole staff is staring at me like, and Keith comes over and he goes, kevin, you got to walk across the room. If you can walk across the room, I'll start working with you. And when you're so low on oxygen, all your muscles feel like they're on fire. You hurt, like it's painful. And I walked across the room and he's like okay, well, let's get a wheelchair. And I said no, I said if I got over here I'll get back. And so the young lady who was helping me, the physical therapist assistant, her husband there's a lot of veterans in Alaska, her husband was just getting out of the army and she kind of laughed and she's like that's exactly how my husband is. And so I walked back. We got in a car. We almost ran out of oxygen on the way home, but it wasn't. Quit wasn't an option.
Speaker 2:Quit wasn't an option. Yeah it seems like that whole experience just galvanized you to be able to, you know, kind of move forward in a new direction and kind of I mean that's incredible.
Speaker 4:I think it showed there how long was your. Oh as I say, I just think it showed our family what we were capable of. Like it just became a time that the healing process we just stayed home, my home school, our kids, and so it was just we were home, we were getting dad to appointments, we were homeschooling at physical therapy and doctor's appointments. They saw dad just like working through, like just keep going.
Speaker 3:And so I think as a family it really just showed us what we are capable of and yeah, well, and I am incredibly lucky there's not a lot of guys out there that have a wife who you go down on a ventilator and runs your entire family. But that's why I put an email when you and I talked like you want to talk to the real strength behind the relationship, like I went completely offline and our house ran like through a amount of stress that she had no ability to train for, no ability to really plan for just be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving Like there's not. I don't. I'm incredibly lucky to have the wife that I do. I'm incredibly lucky to have best friend and partner in life that I know I can count on, even in the worst situations.
Speaker 2:My gosh, you're giving me the goose bumps. That's so beautiful. Oh my gosh, what a powerful, powerful relationship the two of you have, and what a wonderful just to go through that together and to be able to see you both be so resilient, in that way that you could rely on each other. I mean, that is truly what's so great about a wonderful partnership and marriage that way. That's amazing, well, and it's really cool.
Speaker 3:And in a partnership like we've been able to share is is I have strengths that Hannah doesn't have, and Hannah has a lot of strengths that I don't have, and so we're able to understand where the other person fills in. And so there's so many times where I'm beating my head against the wall and Hannah can step in and say, hey, this is where you need to be and it makes sense. And there's other times where Hannah's looking at a situation and I see things from more of a long-term standpoint, and they say, hey, if we just tweak this a little bit, we'll be better, and so just being able to play off each other's strengths is so. It makes us so much more effective.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, I just had a really wonderful conversation with a consultant, yesterday actually, and he was talking about business partnerships, which I think you know, and he was saying that you know, yes, most business partnerships don't end well, but if you really want to build an extremely successful enterprise, if you look at most of the extremely successful enterprises out there, they're usually like, majority of the time, partnerships, and it's because you can really, you know, you be able to gain strength from each other and rely on each other and you have, you know, double the mental, emotional, physical energy to be able to handle. You know, and so I think that's what's so great about, like marriages and family and business partnerships is that, yes, that times they can be challenging, but in a beautiful way, you know, in a way that can help, but it even sounds like your partnership isn't even challenging. You guys are just like oh, no, oh no.
Speaker 3:Oh no, oh man, our house gets loud at times.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're like you're normal. Then You're not like this.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Your strength can also be your greatest weaknesses, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Your strengths can also be your greatest weaknesses. Isn't that the truth? It is so true. Yeah, absolutely so true. So tell us a little bit about oh yeah, go ahead, I'm gonna go put on mom hat. So thank you Okay sorry, hannah, it was so nice to meet you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about, like, what led you to AK Mountain Dog, so your three recovery, like, what was it that led you to build this company? What made you want to take the leap there? So Hannah.
Speaker 3:Hannah's been on this health kick and trying to make me healthier and I work at every mountain.
Speaker 3:So whether it's like eliminating sugar and going to monk fruit, doing all these other things, like, she's always trying to make me healthier, and so I had been buying Mountain House freeze dried backpacker meals. And when I go deep into the woods we do go really far in on our moose hunts and our bear hunts and our caribou hunts and even fishing trips. It's not uncommon for us to be over a hundred miles from the nearest road and so we take food with us. Well, she was reading the ingredients, she kept telling me how they're bad for me and I was like, well, there's no real better option right now. So she went upon a harvest right freeze dryer and she started freeze drying meals and putting them in packages so it was just for our personal consumption.
Speaker 3:Well, after what happened, I was looking to just I kind of went into scramble mode Like how can I make some money for our family and keep us going? And so I knew some people, that some really high-end dogs who were feeding their raw diet, and I knew from. I've always kind of tracked with animal nutrition and different fads in animal nutrition. And so this raw diet, it was beyond the phase of being a fad and it was becoming a mainstay. Well, one of the big problems with the raw diet is the amount of freezer space that is required for you to truly feed the raw diet. And so they got me to a friend. I told him I was like you know, my wife's got this freeze dryer. We can freeze, dry all that food, eliminate the freezer and then you can just throw it on the shelf, add water and there you go. And so we tried it out and he, he's like this is amazing.
Speaker 3:So I saw that, okay, so there was a market, but I live in Alaska. Shipping's hard, all this other stuff's hard. I talked to a farmer and we were looking at food prices and some other things and he, the farmer, made a comment to me and he's like I can grind a pig from snout to tail, use the entire pig and make twice what I can sell it to humans for. And I was like there's no way. And he's like, yeah, that's an all he goes. I make more money in dog food and so I looked at it and I so I was looking at protein sources and there's been an issue with more dogs are becoming allergic to chicken, so they're looking for a replacement protein. Well, salmon has always been very high end and expensive. So we looked at okay, how can we make this? We started out with a supplement and we started turning it into a supplement. Well, a friend of mine who's a veterinarian said the supplement market is you know, you can claim anything, there's no regulation on it and people are highly, highly wary of the supplement market. So he said what the industry really needs is a solid treat Somebody can give their dog. That is in a bunch of junk.
Speaker 3:The most of the pet treats on the market today are owned by candy companies or, in the other ones, general Mills. So Mars owns a majority of like the Beggins strips and those type of pet treats. And nothing against Mars, I love their candy, but that's who owns those, and so that culture of building things is going into those. There's been a lot of cottage type pet treats that came out that had a hard time keeping up with demand, and so what I saw was is I was sitting on top of the most valued resources in pet food, which is salmon, wild caught Alaskan salmon. There's farm salmon that I have no problem saying nobody should eat. You shouldn't feed it to your dogs, it's destroying the ocean, it's destroying. They feed it antibiotics. The reason it's the color pink that it is is because they feed them dye and that's how they can. So if you see Atlantic Bay salmon, anything that says organic salmon our salmon can't be organic because it's wild caught. It has to be farmed in order to be organic.
Speaker 3:So, a lot of that organic salmon and those type of things that they're branding and marketing avenues that I mean I'm not here to tell anybody how to do business, but we don't use that stuff and getting our message out about wild caught Alaskan salmon in a sustainable model like the Alaska fishery has. That is where that's where we win.
Speaker 3:And on top of that. So in order for we use and we use a portion. We use a portion of the salmon that is actually perfectly good and used to have a market. It used to have a huge market, but the market dropped off, so they started just grinding it up and pumping it back into the ocean because they can't use it and they can't just store it for storage.
Speaker 3:So I knew one of the guys who owned the canneries and so I proposed an idea to him. He gave me a good deal on a bunch of it. Give it to me for free. And so I went and I started making these little fish treats. Well, the problem is is when you freeze dry salmon, it falls apart and turns to dust. So we had to figure out how to make it stay in a fish shape, yeah, and so we ground it up, got it all put together, so I went and I invented the mold machine that causes the salmon to stay in a fish shape and be a crisp little treat. Without cooking, without adding additives or preservatives. We have a solid little fish treat that people can give their dog.
Speaker 2:That is incredible.
Speaker 2:Just the what I hear from that story.
Speaker 2:Many things I think that really like hit me is, well, obviously, innovation, but resourcefulness, and it almost was kind of like a happy accident, a little bit Like you weren't intentionally wanting to create a dog treat. It was like your wife was wanting you to eat healthier, and so it's kind of like you were just organically living your life and your creative wheels were spinning and you were thinking like, well, how can I, what can I do here? And you were thinking very entrepreneurial to say like, how can I make money at this? Where's the market for this product? And where's the opportunity and the resourcefulness of being able to ask for help from all the people that you did and the connections that you had to be able to figure out what's gonna be, how you can use the product, where you can get access to it, and to be able to leverage those connections is just a masterclass in entrepreneurship.
Speaker 2:It's like taking advantage of those happy accidents and looking for opportunity in just your every day. What you're doing, you know and trying to see like, could this be solving a problem here? How could this be solving a problem? And then you know, really talking to people and asking and getting feedback and understanding exactly how it can be used and thinking like what's the best way for me to make money here, you know so what is cool.
Speaker 3:That's what it is is we? I tell people like, when you enter into this crazy life of entrepreneurship and it is crazy.
Speaker 3:It is absolutely crazy. I have a lot of companies that I really enjoy watching. You know we and I benchmark off of things that they do that is successful and things that I think I can incorporate and kind of make, but I don't. You have to have that internal motivation that just drives you to see problems, see solutions. So many times I think what we get lost in is is we see a problem and we look for who's fault it is.
Speaker 3:I drive and we just had a huge company meeting about this three weeks ago, because that started creeping into the culture of our company and we have a no blame policy in our company. I don't care who's fault it is. I want to know why the system didn't work.
Speaker 2:So if we get to the end. It's not the people, it's the process.
Speaker 3:Exactly so if I get to the end and something didn't happen, well, the instructions weren't followed. Why weren't the instructions followed?
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:Well, are they not clear enough? Are they not Like we, let's go in and examine every point of? Sometimes you get to the end and it was hey, the person was not having a good day, or sometimes that's not the right person for that position.
Speaker 2:Exactly which falls on the entrepreneur. It means you've got to. You put the wrong person in the bus and you got to find another. You know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love Jim Collins good to great and building level five systems, and so we really concentrate on that. Within our company, we had a young man who wasn't working out and I sat down with him and I said, hey, look, it's no secret, you're not working out here, so what's your passion? Where do you want to go? And he said, well, what do you mean? And I said, well, what do you want to do with your life? And he's like well, I want to be a baker.
Speaker 3:I'm like all right, I know some bakers, let's give him a call. And he's like really, he's like this is the best way I've ever been fired. I'm like I'm not fired, I just want you to see, I want you to reach your potential. Your potential doesn't look like it's going to happen at this company, so go reach your potential and I'll find somebody else. The process of getting the right people on the bus is the most important thing, and when the wrong person's on the bus, we need to help them go find their bus so that we can get the right people on ours.
Speaker 2:I love that it's leading with so much empathy, the way that you handled that situation, and what's great about that, too, is that you're setting a great example for the rest of the team to show that you're fair on both sides, like if they're doing well and they're performing well, you're going to reward them, but also if there's a problem and it's recognized, you're not going to tolerate it, you're going to find a solution. You're fair on both sides, you're going to find a way. Yeah, I had a very similar situation where I had to have a hard conversation with a team member. Same situation that just there were things that weren't happening, expectations, et cetera and I just was very clear and I said, yeah, these are the expectations we set and this is what needs to happen over this to work. That person self-selected.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 2:I didn't have to. It was amazing. Like they said, this isn't a fit and I didn't have to be the one. They just realized and recognized it.
Speaker 3:So it's so exciting when you define what it looks like to be on the bus, people will quickly realize whether they fit or not. And it's not that they're better or worse, it's just that's not where they belong. And the sooner we can plan that out and the sooner they can find out where they belong, everybody's happy. And so we, even among you, were talking about partners earlier.
Speaker 3:Like I, have had to exit some partners over the year and it was difficult because it is very much like a marriage, and exiting those partners can be rough, but at the same time, when you're doing that, you have to do it from a standpoint of this isn't a personal thing. This is you don't fit on the bus Right, it's a business decision.
Speaker 2:Yep, we have to do what's right for the business.
Speaker 3:And when you have partners. My wife and I joke about our loud conversations in the house, but partners have to have loud conversations. One of my partners is a retired Marine January Sergeant and if you don't think I have loud conversations after I, as a former Army guy and into a Marine, there are some very loud conversations. We have a different way of talking, we have a different way of relating to each other and we have a different way of airing out our issues, but at the end of the day, we both know same team, same mission. We want what's best for the company.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like the go ahead oh and then we have our CFO, who is a numbers genius. He's a great guy. There's three of us that own the company and he is hilarious. You couldn't find a more perfect opposite to what the other two partners are. I mean, I met one of his old college roommates and he's like I don't think the guy wore shoes all the way through college, Like he was a grateful dad, and he's running around with an Army guy and a Marine and I love grateful dad. I mean they're great, but the cultures are just different. But it fits so well together. When he came on board it was just like, yeah, it was seamless, it was obvious. He always should have been there.
Speaker 2:Oh, isn't it? That's so cool that you can feel, that you feel when it's right. I've experienced the same thing where you're just like, you know it's right. There's something about the relationship that just fits, even if it might have the moments where you're having those difficult conversations, right, and you come from completely different backgrounds. But something about it it just fits and is right and you just have to lean into it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, and the nice thing is is he understands that, as CEO, I'm going to take the reins and I'm going to run as fast as I can and I'm a hard guy to slow down. But he's comfortable with the tension between him and I, where he's like no, kevin, we can't do this. And I say, but why? And we get through millions of why conversations before we're like OK, no, that's the plan. Ok, our marketing plan isn't right, our demographic view isn't looking the same, so we can't run here. We have to do this first. It's not that. No, we can't. It's no, not right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so being able to do that. And that's where, when you were back to the beginning of our conversation, when you're talking about challengers and those, one of the most difficult things as an entrepreneur is not to have what we call mission creep. We are so in tuned with ideas that are flowing out and market potentials and good ideas, like all those things. We have to have those people in our life that say no, do one thing great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so true, it is so true. You have to learn to say no. You have to learn like, because you're so right as entrepreneurs, you're just full of ideas and full of vision and full of what you want to do. But you have to have focus, you have to be focused, otherwise you're never going to accomplish any of it, and there has to be someone to help you focus in and have some grounding influence, to be able to help you go and move in the direction that's going to make sense at that moment, to help you get where you want to go.
Speaker 3:Well and I laugh because people ask me they're like well, you know, how did you come up with this company? What was your idea? How did you do it? You know, I looked at what Black Rifle Coffee and their leadership did and I was talking to somebody the other day and they said we looked at a lot of things that Evan and his team did over there and there are some really cool things that they did through social media and a lot of those other avenues that we could use some of those pieces and we're big in the military about following those who came before you, look at their successes and see if you could incorporate that in your model.
Speaker 3:So I mean if you go through training, you learn about what we did in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and so on, and so we learn, we build that and so very much the same way. When I saw what Black Rifle did as like, OK, we're not going to go that far with that community, we're going to be more, you know, white picket fence and golden retrievers, but we can use a lot of the models that they used for success, and so we pulled from some of the ones. Another one is a company I love in fact I'm wearing this hat Bison Union. He's a coffee company and he really embraced kind of the outdoor lifestyle. So we so I'm constantly on his website, I order his coffee already. He's a great guy, but I'm looking at what he's doing because he's got some really cool ideas. And then I look at it between the two of those and there's a couple other companies. I look at them I'm like, OK, so here's where that's going in the coffee market. So how do I apply that to the dog market?
Speaker 3:and still, get that kind of success Because they have such a loyal following and they're able to build such a great customer experience that people keep coming back to them. Well, there's an equal fanaticism about dogs that there is about coffee. So how do I capture the imagination of these customers so that I can gain their loyalty and gain them? Number one create the best product out there. And we do. We are the best damn entry on the market right now. There's nobody who does what we do.
Speaker 3:Number two get your message out and get your story out. Get your message out of who you are and how you've come to be. And then it's not the third, but it's probably one of the most important was have phenomenal customer service. So at the end of the day, when a customer calls my company, they get greeted. We want to hear their stories, we want to hear about their dog, we want to hear the things that worked, the things that didn't. And a customer called me and irritated one of our team members. But he called me and he said that he weighed our treats and they were off by three grams. And I'm like whoa guys, why are we upset? And they're like who is sitting around weighing our treat? Obviously this guy and he said hey, thanks for the feedback, here's your free bag of treats and I wish you the best.
Speaker 2:It's such great marketing. As a marketer, everything you're saying is the key to really like marketing is about really understanding and listening to your customers better than anyone else and figuring out how you can solve their problems better than anyone else. The closer you can get to your customer and just be open and humble when they give you that feedback, as a company, you're going to be eons ahead of any competitor. I had a client who told me once he was like should I be doing what my competitors are doing? They're doing this, should we be doing that? And I'm like that is not the right question. You need to be asking what is it that my customers need right now? Am I listening to them? Do I know and understand what their problems are better than anyone else? Who cares what your competitors are doing? If you are close to your customers, your competitors are all going to be chasing you. So I love everything that you just said, those three points, and I think we should say them again. The first one you said is make a really great product. The second one is just be really good about getting your vision and your story out there. And the third is like really great customer service. I mean those are absolutely like the great hallmarks of a just kick a brand. So I just like salute you and commend you for what you're building and the product just seems so remarkable. I don't have a dog, but if I did I'd be buying it, that's for sure. So I just. This has been such a wonderful, amazing conversation and I just love what you're building at AK Mountain Dog and what you're doing, kevin. It's great stuff.
Speaker 2:I have, like one question I'd love to ask you, and that is as we close out our show today what do you want to be known for? You've such an amazing history and story. If you think about your life and what you've been building and your family and everything and let's just say you're on your deathbed 50 years from now not on a ventilator, you've lived a very full life. When you're sitting there and you're looking back on your life, what is it that you want to be known for? What do you want other people to say about you and what do you want to? What's the legacy you want to create?
Speaker 3:You know, I want to be a good dad and a good husband. That's it. I mean, money comes and goes, businesses are built in fall, they're bought and sold. I got two great kids, I got an awesome wife and yeah, I want people to say that guy, he was a good dad and he was a good husband. I'm speechless man.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what matters.
Speaker 3:Like we can go make all the money we want, it doesn't matter. Like if if I'm not shooting bows in the backyard with my kid. Like if my son doesn't, my son's not on fire because he's running through doing judo. My daughter loves to go pick berries. She lives to ride on a four wheeler. You know she just, she's a good guy. She lives to ride on a four wheeler. She wants to do gymnastics, ballet, judo.
Speaker 3:That is my daughter. Like she's 100%. My son is my wife. Like his person. Yeah, but my daughter she's running a million miles an hour and I love it. Like she has so much energy, so much creativity. She is just exploding onto the scene and and it's, it's hilarious Cause she's like, well, dad, you know these girls are doing this, and I'm like, okay, well, is that what you want to do? She's like, no, I want to go out in the woods. I'm like, all right, then you go do that. Like, let's, let's explore life. Like you know, that's the kid's side. You know I am the luckiest guy in the world. I got an awesome wife and, like we, we live in our own little world. Like we go on dates and it's our own little world. Like who cares what else anybody else is doing, Like we're goofing off, Like we laughed that we end up at Home Depot at most days, Like looking at, we'll go to the movies and we end up at Home Depot and so we end up at Costco.
Speaker 2:That's funny.
Speaker 3:Yeah, see, we all have that into the date. Like we don't have kids, what are we going to do? And so, like it's just like enjoying that time. Like I don't want I mean, I don't want anything else, I want time, and that's why I didn't go chase back after aviation, that's why I mean I don't know a lot of people out there. They get to like just hang out with their kids, like be, be a dad, be a husband, like go have fun and and and. The more I concentrate on being a good dad and husband, the more successful I am in business. When we have our priorities right, we can we just we just see things differently.
Speaker 2:And I have no words. I'm speechless. Wow, you, you literally brought me to tears. I think you're just humility and it just says a lot about you as a person. Those kids are lucky to have you as a dad and your wife is certainly lucky to have you as a husband, and it's so refreshing to to just be part of this. You know, to know you, and an honor to be able to hear about just the person that you are and what you're building with your family and your commitment to them.
Speaker 2:First of all and foremost and I just, I just am so honored to know you and have this conversation. It's been such a fun, fun, fun, fun experience and I man, I, just I wish you every success with your family, with your company, your kids and everything. I wish there were more people like you in the world, kevin. The world needs more. The world needs more people like you, fighters, who just love their family and want to have an impact and do it the right way and do it for the right reasons, and so thank you for being an example in that way.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me on. If there's any encouragement I can give to anybody out there who has a little girl, like I do or or it's on. You know the entrepreneurship is is like a battle and we have to walk out of the house and we've got to do the battle and be the be the big scary marketing guy or whatever you need to be. At the time you got to walk back in the house, put on the pink bow and have the tea party, like that's how that's. You got to get that mindset. And once you get that mindset like you're good to go, like and I work on it. It's nothing that you arrive at, it's something you work at every day and and I just thank you for having given us this opportunity Like I really enjoy sharing our story. I enjoy sharing how we came about and if it helps anybody think great. And if it doesn't, then you know it's still our story. We had a blast making it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, it's, it's definitely. It's an exciting story and you're still building it. That's what's cool. It's it's never done right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no.
Speaker 2:Well, thank, thank you so much, kevin. This has been such so much fun. I just you know, laughed I've cried, I've man Sheesh. Anyway, as we wrap up this episode of tales of misadventure, we are reminded that with entrepreneurship, there's no straight path to success. It's the unexpected twists and turns that shape our stories and make them worth telling. So embrace the misadventures in your own life and let them guide you towards your own blessings. Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back soon with more captivating tales of misadventure.
Speaker 1:Tales of Misadventure is produced, edited and moderated by Julie Bicello, with Bicello Media, music by Marcus Way. Special thanks to our amazing guests and the entire DMG Digital team. Visit us at dmgdigitalio to get access to all our podcast interviews and other helpful resources, and if you'd like to get updates on the latest and greatest, please sign up for our email newsletter. We'll see you next time for another episode of Tales of Misadventure. Until then, keep falling forward.
