Ep 87 - "Building Through Drive & Resilience" With Julie Roberts

0:00 Hey, brother. Hey, dude. So we have a fun show. It's interesting, right? Because we're always, I think, in our shows, we're chasing some extreme version of us sharing ideas that we're in the heart of, right? Wrestling with personally or professionally. And then we get the other end of the spectrum where it's like writers, New York Times bestsellers. And then there's honestly, there's kind of a sweet relational spot somewhere in the middle where you get a practitioner... On the show, it kind of reminds me of sometimes our episodes with friends like Rachel with Accelerate. There's something special about talking to an operator. And I think not just for us, but I think for the listeners because it's so relatable. These are people doing what you do.

0:41 It totally is. And we've talked about this for a while, how we want to get more owners on. And I think this is going to become a pattern because one, it's really fun to talk to them. And I think what you discover is even with high performers, and today's guest is a very high performer, very high up in the ServPro network and one of the top 50. I think so. Yeah. Top 50 in the company out of more than 800 license holders. So I mean, this person's a player and at the same time, just very normal. Yeah. You know, story. You can hear yourself in Julie, cat's out of the bag. You know, you can hear yourself in them and it's so relatable. And I think also it's kind of fun to track with her journey, not just as an entrepreneur and what was it like with beginning with a vision, both she and Tony, for developing a multi-site business, a regional business.

1:27 Right out of the gate. Right out of the box. Yeah. Which I think will be interesting for some of our listeners to hear where that began and some of the disciplines they put in place to build that. And then you also get to hear a little bit about personal passion. Yep. What does a successful regional company enable you to do and pursue? That's right. You know, as a business owner. And I think one of the things you and I really admire about Julian and Tony and the rest of their group is they've really taken great care to build a business that they're not mired in. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. They're not the baker still making the croissants every morning at 4.30am. I like how you went for a croissant, right? Yes, that is true. Because I love croissants and I miss them dearly. Right.

2:08 And clearly you like those s'mores things at the old coffee shop. Oh, bro. Oh, man. That's right. Yeah. So anyway, great, great chat with Julie. And we kind of cover the whole spectrum. Some of her origin story. I was telling you earlier, just how I get a little jealous of people that grew up in a family business environment. Yeah. You know, just because there's so much to learn. Like you and I've met, we've hired people that grew up in a family business and they just have a different perspective. It's like they have some things hardwired into them that the rest of us had to figure out. It's like the mentoring started early. and that clearly gives you an opportunity to succeed. And then obviously through the journey of that conversation with Julie, we also see what happens when you've been winning and then what do you do with that?

2:50 What do you do with that energy? What do you pursue as you continue to develop your personal competency as a leader? And I think she does a great job just kind of sharing what her journey is looking like for her personally. And again, just that's relatable. This is something we can all mirror to a certain extent and certainly not feel alone. And there was another thing for people to listen to listen to is if it's passing, it's kind of a, we gloss over it a little bit, but there is a little bit that I think is really important for some people to hear, which is how did they handle the money? As the money started to get good, how did they align that with their long-term vision of what they were trying to build? That's right. Because I think that becomes a real stumbling block for a lot of successful owners. It's like the pull to upgrade the truck and the pull to upgrade the house, the pull to buy, start acquiring all the toys and the travel and stuff.

3:37 Maybe before you fully kind of built out the foundation of what you're trying to create. Yeah. It's really tempting. It is. We see a lot of business owners really stumble upon that. And so we touch on that a little bit with Julie and she had a little bit of perspective on that as well. All right. So I want to get into that. But first, let's thank our sponsors. Liftify.com. Guys, just an actual true service partner for us in the industry. We continue to yell about the success and the advantages and value that that team can bring to not just our client base, but the people that listen to the show, this industry in general. They're making huge waves. They're succeeding and winning on a consistent basis. So again, Liftify.com, they basically are your automation tool, your automation partner for securing at a high rate those five-star Google reviews, which then in turn, create all sorts of opportunity from SEO, digital presence, We've talked about it quite a bit.

4:30 Google loves themselves, right? And so the priority that they place on a company that's receiving good feedback through their platform, obviously, is money in the bank. And the newest thing that Zach and the team at Liftify are beginning to talk more and more aggressively about is the AI components that they've added to... So not only are they automating the pursuit of those five-star reviews for your team, but then they're also automating our consistency and where we're responding. And we're saying thank you for that feedback. And if you're anything like Floodlight, you might log into your Google business profile every... six or seven days and you're like, Oh crap, we've got how many reviews and I haven't responded to them? And then you play catch up, right? Well, apparently, they've fixed their AI tool is going to solve for that, right?

5:14 And it's probably a lot harder for many of you because Brandon and I are dealing with two, three, four reviews every time we log in. Some of you, right? I think hundreds. Yeah, the number's a lot bigger, right? So... So clearly that tool will be a support. So liftify.com forward slash floodlight, take part in what they're offering our clients, specifically our sphere of influence. But just in general, guys, get it on board, man. It moves the needle and it's an absolutely, probably one of the most cost-effective ways that you can move the needle for your digital presence. And then CNR Magazine. If you've been listening to our show for more than a minute, you know that we're big fans of CNR and big fans in the sense of like, they're the hub for the industry. Brandon and I have talked about it before. We came up in the industry on the independent side. We didn't have a network of franchisees that we could collaborate with and gather intel from and compare stories and all that kind of stuff.

6:01 And also to help connect us to the broader industry. And CNR was that bridge from this little small town independent restoration company to what was happening more globally in our business. And it still continues to be that. Even more so. It's like 10x now. I mean, I feel like with as on top of it as Michelle is and as connected she is to all the movers and shakers in the business, so long as I open my email and I'm following them on LinkedIn, I feel like I'm catching all the latest, hottest news. All the M&A stuff, I feel like I'm somewhat of an expert in it because I've been following. She had virtually every transaction happening. She's catching and she's pushing out. She's doing everything. interviews with these CEOs that are selling.

6:42 She's doing interviews with the guys who are leading the M&A around the industry. She knows everybody. And she puts them in the media so that all of us can be a part of those conversations. Yeah. And that extends out to the software companies. Oh, geez. All the support industry elements that support our industry connected. And by the way, hint, hint, I think we're going to be on that show. Oh, yeah. She just invited us back. Yeah, totally. When it'll get released, I don't know yet, but yeah. So go subscribe. If you're not a subscriber on the website, go follow them on LinkedIn. I would follow Michelle also because she has interesting musings and stuff that she posts on her own personal profile as well on LinkedIn. But yeah, if you're not paying attention to CNR, you really ought to be.

7:23 Yeah, you're missing out. Okay, let's get into the show. Welcome back to the Head, Heart & Boots podcast. I'm Chris. And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. Man, I love this industry. Well, Julie, how are you? I am fantastic. Thanks for hanging out with us. You said it's been a wild week coming into this. Which every single person listening to this, they've had their version likely of a wild week too, right? It's always a wild week. And if it's not a wild week, that's bad in my business.

8:04 So yeah, yeah, exactly. I thrive on chaos. Yes. Yeah. Chaos junkie. That's right. Well... Adrenaline for sure. Oh, without a doubt. I mean, I think that's a prerequisite to be in our industry. You have to be somewhat comfortable in chaos in order to thrive in this business, right? Absolutely. Or at least know how to wrangle it and manage it. Or fake it. That's right. Or fake that you do. Yeah, it does go a long way. I always see those people wearing the chaos coordinator t-shirts and I'm like, you have no idea. You have no idea. Yeah. Unless you're running a daycare, you have no idea. That's right. Maybe if you're doing that, you might be close. I think I'd rather run a restoration company than a daycare. Me too.

8:45 Me too. Some days I feel like I'm running a daycare, but... And you're not alone in that. Yeah. You know, there's something there. Well, Julie, let's start this way. First of all, can you give us just like the overarching banner of who are you? What do you do right now? And then take us back. Take us back to the beginnings. beginning to start because you've got some really interesting... You're a mover and shaker in this industry. You're a female executive in our industry, which has its own experience, I think, attached to it. And you've also got some other business ventures and roles that you've taken on here in the last year, but something that's been building towards this. But let's start for the listeners.

9:25 And okay, who are you? What do you do? What's your current profile? And then let's start and go all the way back. And then we'll come back to some of this fun new stuff you have going How's that? Well, my name is Julie Roberts. I am a co-intern franchise group of Serve Pros. We have nine based out of Richmond, Kentucky. It's in central Kentucky. We cover three states. We've got nine licenses and five locations. So I've been doing this for 18 years. And never my intention had no idea this industry even began when I jumped into it or was even there. So I came into it with my husband straight out of grad school and right into a new marriage. And here we sit. Wow. Grad school, new marriage, and then starting a company. Yeah. What else can you throw in there? Recipe for success.

10:06 Did you throw kids in? Did kids come shortly after two? We waited. Yeah. We had two dogs. So those are kids. And we waited. I think it was seven or eight years before we had our first. Wow. Yeah. That might have been really insightful on your part. Yeah. When we started the children journey, we also bought a new franchise. We're building a new location. We're building a new house. When we do things, we go all in. We like to stress the system. That's brassy. Yeah. Yeah. Is that brassy by accident? Or do you guys intentionally look at this and say, you know what, let's stack all the cards up. Let's go hard into the paint and see what we can pull off. You know, I wish that I could say it was premeditated more than it was.

10:48 But I think, yeah, I think we just kind of one builds off another and builds off another. And then you're going, oh, we got to get back out of this. Things are going too well. Let's see what we can do. Well, I always get curious when I meet people what their parents were like and what their upbringing was like, right? Because that defines a lot of who we are and who we end up being. Was there anything in your childhood that pointed towards being in the service trades and running companies? Like what was your... Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think my childhood is extremely telling. My father was a small business owner with his brother. They owned rental equipment, construction, lawn gear and things like that. So I spent a lot of time in small business with him. I started helping him with accounting. My mom was in retail. She worked for Sears.

11:29 So she was a manager there. So service industry. Spent a lot of time at Sears as well with her. So I mean, I heard all of the dinner table talk of the two different worlds and the decisions that were made. So yeah, I mean, I think it's very telling of where we are now. So were they pretty verbal about their experience and what they're doing and the decisions they were making then? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think they used each other's sounding board very much. So I would hear that. I was an only child. So yeah, I would hear all those conversations and they bored me to death at the time. But now I can still remember of them when I'm making decisions. So like the seeds were planted. Absolutely. But you're not necessarily paying attention in the moment, right? It's just funny because at the time, I was like, I will never do that. It just seems awful.

12:09 Why would anybody want to own their business? He works all the time. He's stressed. A mom saying, why would you want to work in a service industry? This is crazy. And then here I said... You were a college athlete too. Can you talk about that? Yeah, I wasn't a college athlete so much. I mean, I've always just been an athlete. I just, I like sports. I like to move my body. I think it's very important in the mental side of anything that you do. So I swam and I rode horses for a long time and I still do both. So swimming is an interesting character because it's a team, but it's also very individual. And you're trying to beat yourself in every single race. And that's how surf pro is. I mean, that's certainly how the restoration business is. We have goals and things. But I mean, we're just trying to beat ourselves each time.

12:50 And it's still a team, but it's also a lot based on what you're doing individually. So I think it plays well together. How much of that was like that whole the sports piece and all of those? Is it more of a rearview mirror where you look back and you say, hey, these things really have started to build on themselves? Or was there a lot of intentionality about that journey? No, I mean, I think I was in sports just because I like the social side of it. I wasn't like a star athlete by any means. I mean, I was pretty good at the things I did. But I just rely a lot on beating myself, like I said. So I just want to get better and I like to be coached. And I like to coach too. So I think that kind of built over the years. And I do that with my kids too. They're swimming now. They're good, but at days they hate it. But I'm trying to teach them, it's not about being the best.

13:30 And you can see some days you're not the best, some days you are the best, but getting better each day, you got to show up. And there's a lot there that you hate from day to day. It sucks. It's hot. It's cold. You're hungry. You're tired. You don't feel, but at the end of the day, you're not going to do a good job if you don't put in that daily effort. So they're learning. I mean, they fight with me a lot on it because they... Kids are. They change. They play basketball and baseball and all the things. But we've always kept swimming consistent because it's a life skill. And business is a life skill. I mean, no matter what you do... I had a friend in college that she wanted to do hair. It's all she wanted to do. She just wanted to be a hairdresser. And her dad's like, that's fine. But you're going to go to business school first, graduate, and then you're going to own the hair salon. Yeah.

14:10 And I mean, that has always resonated with me. I was like, that is exactly right. Whenever I have friends, kids come to me all the time, what should I do? And just take the business classes. That's the foundation of everything. No matter what you do, you're going to apply that somehow. Yeah, it's interesting. It's kind of a similar conversation we've had with our kids in terms of like my son, for instance, went to, he got educated. And when he was pursuing his degree, it was in psych. And I remember like even him getting done with his four year, he almost immediately was like, I almost should have just done business. Yeah. Yeah. I agree, right? Like he's already saying, okay, what's next? And when he looks at what's next for himself, like I needed more business education. That's probably what I would have leveraged more in my favor.

14:51 I went to school to be a physical therapist. That was my original intention. I went to UK. I liked sports. I liked working. I wanted to be a sports physical therapist. So I started volunteering at Kentucky Clinic and I found myself spending more time with the administrative people and the office people, the therapist. And so I had a really bad chemistry test or so I thought. And I immediately came back to my sorority house, called my dad, and then I changed my major. I was like, I'm out. I think I failed this test. I'm switching to business. At least I'll get those foundations. And then I checked. At that time, you didn't have online classes, like online grades. I was like, I don't know. went down to the chemistry building and pulled it up and I got an A. And I thought, you know what? This is divine intervention. I'm switching. I'm going to switch to business.

15:32 And I stayed with it and I'm glad I did. Funny how that chemistry still comes to play a little bit here in our business. But yeah, I'm glad I made the change. Not only that, but didn't you end up in the sports marketing field for a while? Yeah. And that was the intention. I just wanted to do sports marketing. I love sports. I always have. I'm from Kentucky, basketball country and football now and even baseball. This summer, we've got a good baseball run. So that's all I wanted to do. And then I went to school for that at the internship with the Titans. I was working for an indoor football team. And it was great on the day to day. But I mean, I was in the office on game days from 5am to 6pm. till 5am sometimes overnight. I don't care about the hours, but all my friends were in the stands like having fun, partying, drinking beer and cheering.

16:16 And I didn't get to do any of that. So things aren't nearly as if you love something, it kind of takes the joy out of it when you're just grinding in it. So when this opportunity came kind of in my lap, I thought, well, I don't really love cleaning. So this sounds fantastic. Something I can pour into and still have my weekend. So it's worked out. That's kind of counterintuitive, I think, of what people would assume you would hear, right? Yeah. Chase your passion and do all that. But it's true. It's like, then it turned into something that it was kind of not meant to be at the beginning. What made you passionate about it in the first place, right? Yeah. I mean, people are, did you see that play? No, I was watching to see if the fireworks went off or, you know, I mean, I missed all the good stuff. So yeah, I totally missed all of it.

16:56 So I This isn't going to work. But I did game day operations a lot. And it was just very methodical and everything was so preplanned and had to go off without a hitch. So it's like a large loss. You know, I mean, you had to have all the resources. Everybody had to be lined up and scheduled. And so, I mean, it was ironically very good training. Great project management training, right? For sure. Yeah. And completely without any, like just thrown into it. I was able to figure it out. So... And you've got what? I mean, shoot, how many stakeholders do you have in something like that between the different organizations? Massive, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. And that one was a local. So we had 24 owners or something like that on top of all of the different team members that we're making.

17:37 And we played at Rep Arena. So I mean, it's a big facility. I mean, it was a very good learning experience. Man, it sets you up for like a high-rise condo scenario. That's right. You know, yeah. In hindsight, I learned a lot about decision makers, who those people were and who could call the shots. So yeah, that came into play later for sure. That's hilarious. So how long ago did the SERP Pro journey start? 18 years. We just celebrated 18 years. Wow. I was a baby. Oh my gosh. Yeah. What an interesting trajectory. So, okay, so you've got a scenario with parents that are, I guess, very open at the dinner table in terms of them communicating their experience, the decisions they're making. Sounds like there was some fairly healthy dialogue happening between the two of them as they probably put together, right?

18:20 Yeah, absolutely. So you're catching wind of that. And then obviously, you get this trajectory in college where you, out of divine intervention, shift into a business focus. Yeah. Start exercising some of that strategy in real life. Then you commit to a serve pro scenario and you do that for 18 years, which the lessons from that must have been fairly profound. Still learning them. I've learned a few this week, actually. Yeah. Talk us through a little bit of that journey because I think for a lot of the folks that are listening, you guys have crossed multiple pretty intense thresholds in terms of building and developing a restoration business. What's that been like, that journey and growth for you? Yeah. I mean, it's crazy to me to look back at because 18 years ago, we started in a very small rural market, total startup.

19:05 There had never been a franchise there before. We didn't have any idea. what we were doing or how we were going to do it. And we realized like year one, oh, this thing is way bigger than our projected performa that we ever thought just to get the bank to give us a loan. So we brought in our business partner and opened our second location in 2008. So it was three years later. Still a rural market, a little bit closer, and kept kind of just picking out, trying to spread out coverage. We've always done multi-location, which at the time was not really the norm. I mean, it was certainly... We got a lot of backlash for that. It can't be done. You got to locate... You have to be in the location of one owner. And we just didn't feel that that was right. So we stuck to our guns and kept with it.

19:47 We started building kind of a centralized division, a leadership team. And that's kind of where a lot of my husband and our business partners focus kind of came into that. Building that leadership team and helping build the individual locations from a production standpoint. Over the years, we've bought and sold a few. We're now in the Cincinnati market. So that's been our first stab at Metro. But... For a long time, just thought we were kind of stuck in that little rule three location operator. And that's just what we were going to do. And, you know, the industry's changed a lot, especially with COVID. Surpros changed too. So it's allowed us a lot of opportunities. But it was definitely a lesson in patience. I think we had with our trainer a meeting once and I was like, we're just never going to be one of those huge operators. We're just in small central Kentucky.

20:28 And he said, a lot of things happen in this business. He goes, I've done this a long time. He goes, there's marriages, there's divorces, people die, people just don't want to do it anymore. Stay with it. It's a game of chess, set your pawns. And we did that and we just waited it out. And I thought that was just excellent advice. And I think about that whenever I have to make a big decision anymore, just set your pawns. And doing that and making that change in our business is... has totally set us in the place that we're in now. And for the future, I feel like we're in a really good situation. You got to hit the set the pawns thing. Because I think I might have a loose connection to what you're saying, but there's obviously wisdom there. What does that mean from your perspective? Well, I mean, I never learned how to play chess. And my kids are super into it now.

21:09 So if you want to feel stupid, play chess with a nine-year-old. So yeah, and I didn't understand. I kind of played it like checkers, like just one, you know, here, I'll jump you, I'm going to the next. But it was so strategic and making sure you had your back game, your four game and setting your defenses. And I didn't play like that before. We were very in the moment. If an opportunity arose, we struck it, we'd figure it out after. And you can't play this game like that long-term. It'll work for a little bit. And I've seen it. I mean, I've seen a million of these franchises that came in and they had a couple of good opportunities, not just franchises, businesses. My mom worked for Sears. I mean, that's a perfect example. I mean, they had a good thing. They were set for success. They weren't for thinking and paying attention to what was going on in the industry.

21:52 And they lost it. And you see where that is now. So yeah, so that's where I think we've just tried to be extremely long term case scenario on anything that we can be. And that's put us in the position we're in now. You kind of, it's so funny because I think in hindsight, everything seems simpler than it was, you know, or it's so complicated to tell the story sometimes that we just gloss over with these big themes and you're talking about being a multi-site from pretty much the beginning. And I think a lot of people in the audience are like, I think everybody knows that the bigger the scale you build, the bigger the financial opportunity, there's a lot of business benefits. But I think at the same time, like have a difficulty picturing, how could I ever do that? How did you guys finagle that?

22:32 Did you guys just come in with trust fund money and you're just slinging dough around to buy stuff? Absolutely not. I figured that. Absolutely not. No, we had no money. What were some of the priorities that you guys set in front of you in terms of how you were going to run the business in order to go big from the get-go? So we set all of our... Every new acquisition, we make a pact or it's part of our business agreement that we don't take any money out of the franchise for two years. So out of the location, everything is reinvested. We don't touch it. And so we're very frugal with all of our expenditures. We try and build all of our leadership team on incentives too. If we're making money, they're making money. So we tried to be very... We tried to not...

23:13 I think of the best way to explain it because you said, I am glossing over that part. We had to kind of break off pieces and just figure out people's capacity. So if we can make one thing work here and some, there has to be a point where it's not working anymore. And that's when we start bringing those positions off. Like, okay, everything, every position has a goal. When you hit this dollar amount or this, whatever it is, then that's when we'll start moving it into its own position. Or we start seeing it, that position compromised or stressed. So, I mean, we definitely didn't come in and just throw a bunch of money and people at it. We built and made it strong and steady. It's like building Legos, right? You got to build the foundation, another nine-year-old thing. Yeah. And so build it so that it stays and works long term. Again, I've seen a lot of that too, where they just come in and...

23:54 We'll bring all the salespeople, we'll bring all the equipment, and that's just not sustainable. I mean, I obviously speak a lot, but I do a lot on... I mean, I like to talk about resiliency and resiliency and leadership. And I think that that's interesting because that's what our business is. People always find out what I do and they say, Oh, well, that's recession-proof. And I'm like, We're not recession-proof. We're recession-resilient. I mean, we're certainly... We can work through these things. And I think that's the theme of our business and how I like to speak is set yourself up to be as resilient as possible so that the big losses don't impact and put you out of business or put you in jeopardy. And the same with people. Don't put all your eggs in a person basket either so that if you have a loss of leadership or management that you can still move on.

24:36 Yeah. Yeah. You talk about being frugal. And I think this is just so relevant to people that are listening because you guys set out, you had a big vision. You made very specific choices. Were there certain areas of delayed gratification? I imagine you were seeing maybe some of your other ServPro counterparts that started buying the bigger houses, the big fancy trucks and stuff like that. Were there specific areas where you guys really doubled down? You said, no, we're going to wait on that stuff in order for this. Yeah, we knew we had to build our equipment arsenal and build our infrastructure with our leadership. So yeah, we definitely did not take the flashy. Yeah, we took a step back from that. We have our vision boards. And my husband and I, it was a lake house. We really wanted a lake house. So we had that. We knew it at certain dollars.

25:17 We work with a financial advisor and our accountant team. This is the point which it's doable. So we put that off and... put in extra hours, took extra storm duties, took extra, you know, anything that we could do to make that happen. But we just wanted to reinvest in the equipment. We knew that was the most important part. And then start building our leadership team because at some point, we've done this 18 years, we wanted to enjoy the lake house. So having somebody to be able to take the on-calls and not worry about it or make sure payroll is happening or make sure the HR issues are done, that was the next investment. So we felt like we could really breathe, then we could start enjoying it. It's so interesting. The perspective I think that a listener may get so far is, gosh, man, Julie and Tony are dialed in.

25:57 They are visionless. Everything was so calculated and pre-thought through. And I know that just talking to you behind the scenes, that's not exactly the... No. Kind of talk us through that because I think the challenge is, you guys are well into a journey. Like you've seen so much. You guys have the battle scars and the experience. So you're looking backwards and you're able to tell this kind of connect the dots. But for a lot of us listening, we're in the middle of this journey. Like we're at the beginning phases. Can you help us understand what was the difference in these categories in terms of what you were learning in route and what things you did actually have pre-planned or had some kind of initiative that you guys had pre-thought through and had conversations about?

26:39 Well, I can definitely speak to the major mistakes and where we missed the mark. There are two that just obviously stick out as being the most detrimental that really stepped us back. And that was we made a franchise decision and went into a market that we weren't in as control of as we thought. So we went into a very rural market by request of customers. And it stressed the rest of our system a little more than we realized. And then the war on coal happened and the population of that particular industry, I So the population was gone. Couldn't find workers, housing. I mean, it was awful. So that taught us the lesson of understand, control the controllables. So we didn't realize how relative that town was to that.

27:20 I mean, we should have. So that was just a young mistake and being excited and thinking we were doing something great. The other one is we went into construction way too early. We didn't have enough cash reserves. We didn't understand all of the dynamics of what success looked like in that. And it got out of construction. control. We made some mistakes. So we had to regroup. And luckily, we were able to. But I see that a lot. I mean, that seems great. And those dollar numbers are huge. And it would seem like incredibly high profitability, which it can be. But having a devoted team that's really on the same wavelength as you on that and reporting and communicating with you what's going on is essential. So now our construction vision is fantastic and we do a wonderful job, but that's from Battle Scars for sure.

28:02 Yeah, it took time to get that. On that misfire with that new license you guys got and the community sort of broke down, how did you know when to pull the ripcord? We talk a lot in business circles about perseverance and driving through. And it's like, sometimes it makes the most sense to quit and cash out and cut your losses. How did you guys make that decision? Because I think there's probably other people that are dealing with a similar thing. They expanded a little too fast or the community doesn't support a full business, all that kind of stuff. How do you guys know and how do you think through that? I mean, that's probably mistake 1A is that we just kept... I mean, it's just ego. And no, we can do this. We can do this. We can make this work. And we stretched and we were stretching our other offices and our other management team, our finances.

28:47 We were just trying to not say we messed up. So I think it took somebody that we really kind of admired that came that said, All right, we need to rethink this. And so we really just stepped back, took a second away from our egos and go, Okay, it's time to cut our losses and go somewhere else. And, you know, at the end of the day, that franchise was a success. But I mean, we could have really made some really terrible choices if we would have stretched it out anymore. But I think the ego is the hardest part in any decision, right? Especially something like that, where you just... Tony and I owned Halloween stores for a while. a whole other crazy side venture. But same that. I mean, that industry changed. It's a very similar story. I mean, it went online. Everything was online.

29:27 It was a franchise that we owned as well. And people were doing stuff themselves. And we had to step back from the ego for a second too and be like, Alright, we're just... It's too much stress. We can make the same amount of money, if not far more, by putting that energy back into Surfro. Mm-hmm. I feel like every corner we're going to be like, you need to own a franchise and this other group. This is hilarious. We're full of surprises. I love it. So, I mean, obviously, this is about you, but you have a partner in crime, clearly, right? Yeah. You've been doing multiple times. Does he have a similar trajectory in terms of just the entrepreneurial drive? Where did that come from for him and by the time you guys matched up? Yeah. I mean, he does not have that background at all.

30:09 If you ask him about his entrepreneurial background, it's selling candy on the school bus until he got in trouble at school, which I also did. So clearly, we were destined to be together. Yeah. And then when he was in high school, he went into DECA. which is an organization for business leaders in high school, got paired up with a business leader who needed to be in... He was a carnival, like a food vendor, and needed an organization to get into some of these fairs. So paired up with Tony, next thing you know, Tony's a carny. So yeah, I married a carny. First line of questionable choices made by me. But yeah, so I mean, that's a large loss too. That's a storm situation. I mean, they're traveling, they're having to get resources delivered, labor.

30:51 So while he didn't have the traditional parenting entrepreneurial background, yeah, he learned it a different way. The exposure was there. You guys are so dynamite. I think what's interesting too, Julie, is that I think clearly as people are listening to you and we haven't even gotten into where you're headed now, I think people listening, it's like, wow, there's confidence here, there's skill set, there's wisdom, there's all these things. And one of the insights that we have is how humble... you two are. You guys do seek partnerships and mentorship. You look to outside resources to supplement you guys and make sure that you're heading in the right direction. What is that stemming from? What sets the tone that you guys can keep egos in check and continue to seek support as you guys succeed?

31:34 I mean, we just want to be the best, you know, and we want to leave a good legacy. I think it's not just about he and I. It's about, you know, we have partners. We've got a great team. We've got kids. But we just want to do a good job. You know, I mean, the money is fantastic. The stuff and all the, you know, I mean, the trajectory of where we're going here. But... end of the day, I just want a good name. And I want people to have a better experience in life because they've been part of us. So now that we're at the point where we're having employees that have been with us 10 and 15 years, that's amazing. That tells me that I'm doing a good job there. And so just trying to figure out ways to have more of those type of people and see the ones that probably didn't have much of a future and are buying houses and have 401ks and have titles and our managing teams, watching that really gets me every single day.

32:22 Where can I get more of those? But then with our customers too, I think we do a very good job of going back to our customers and going, we have our COS, but then we're like, what else could we have done? I can take it. You know, I mean, you have to have very, very thick skin. And I think that was one of the hardest things when I came in this business, especially being female, I probably have that tendency, but I would get my feelings hurt. You know, I mean, I didn't want to make anybody mad. We didn't, I didn't want to fire anybody or write them up. I didn't want a customer to be mad. So I started asking those questions. What could I have done better? And Tony's very similar. So I think that's just kind of carried on. While we've gotten thicker skin with it, we still carry those tendencies of like, something went wrong. How can we be better with that?

33:02 And we try and teach our employees to be the same way. You know, it's interesting that you say that. And I think the reality of it is, is that so many of us get the whole cart before the horse thing where there's something very special about you succeeding. And really, if we look at the trajectory, it's on the back of that willingness to ask, to try, to make mistakes, to push, to do those things. And I think it just serves as a good encouragement. I mean, even I personally need that, right? We're building our brand. We're building our strategy. There's days where we feel like we're on top of the world and then we have days where we get body checked, right? That's right. So I think just hearing somebody like you that's really clearly been winning at a great scale to remind yourself and people listening, the humility part is a superpower.

33:45 The willingness to ask questions, to hear the truth and find out, is there a better way for me to perform in this lane? That really is the thing. It's not the answer, per se. It's not showing that you've done it and been there, but it's that superpower of humility and asking the questions so that you can gain insight. I try to not look at it like I did anything bad. I'm just trying to be better. When I hear the constructive criticism, and sometimes it's just criticism, I try and look at it that way. Everybody... I just looked at it a different way. And I made a decision based upon that. So going forward, now I understand the blinders are off. So now I understand that side and I'll look at it a different way going forward. What set that tone? Because that's hard, right?

34:26 You being able to separate yourself personally from the decision and looking at it that way. How do you do that? I'm super self-critical. So I mean, nothing is ever good enough for me. So I think that's just kind of an innate quality. So maybe, I don't know. I wish I could answer that better. I don't know what it is. I've always been that way. Well, but I actually hear you previously, what you were just saying though, is having some self-compassion. Like that, hey, it wasn't that something's wrong with me. It was just a wrong choice. Did you have to kind of adapt to that because that perfectionist in you or whatever was harming you and you had to, when did you make that turn? Yeah, I mean, I think that is probably what it was. You know, you come out young and hot out the gate. And yeah, probably for sure, we made some mistakes there.

35:08 I think that, you know, what I've learned more than anything is just that like, I don't always understand all of the inputs. You know, you just can see what you can see. And that's how you make your decisions. And so now, like when sometimes decisions were bad, just like the one for that one particular location, I have to go back and go, what did I miss? Like, what was I'm not looking at? And clearly with that one, it was that. So whenever I try and make decisions now, I mean, it's just what else is there out there that I'm not thinking about? If I'm having a problem with an employee and I just think that they're not doing what I'm asking, well, maybe there's something else. You don't always know what they're going through. Same with the customer. Maybe sometimes you just think they're a jerk. And sometimes I'm not being a jerk.

35:49 There's some other input there. So I think that's been the biggest change in the way that I lead and the way that I make decisions that has made us go forward of just understanding there's a whole lot more out there and you have to really open your vision board up whenever you're making a decision. That's great. I really love that. I really love that because I think this is something that a lot of entrepreneurs and leaders struggle with is that rearview mirror. Yeah. It's that guilt and shame of messing something up. It's like, I shouldn't have fired that employee or I should have fired that employee a long time ago or God, I could have done more to help them or like the location. I shouldn't have made that investment or we should have done that differently. It's all the shoulds. You just get plagued by it. I feel like just people hearing that, that they're not alone in that is so...

36:32 unapologetically me. I am a human. I screw up. We all do. And I will tell you, I'm the first to admit it. I will tell you that was not right. I screwed up there. I missed it this way. Because that's how I learned. That's how all of us have learned. And I hate listening to speakers or books or anybody that's just cocky and like, I did everything right. I've got the Midas touch and we're all this. That's not real. That's not learning. Yeah. So I would much rather somebody say, this is what I did, this is why I did it wrong. And also, I have some successes too. I think that that's important to share and there's lessons there too. But I've certainly learned a lot more about all the things I've done wrong than the things I've done right. And there's certainly a case for good instincts, right? I mean, just your thought around centralizing some services and being willing to be a multi-location.

37:18 That was very forward-thinking, especially considering you didn't have that experience coming into that situation. Or support. Yeah. Or support, right? Yeah. Which really makes you second guess yourself. So clearly some instinct power. All right, Head, Heart & Boots listeners. Wanted to stop here just a moment and thank our underwriting sponsor, Bloodlight Consulting Group. As all of you know, right? You know, Brandon and I, this is our passion project, Head Heart and Boots is. But it's also a way more and more that our consulting clients find us. And in effect, they interview us, right? Those of you who've been listening to the show for a while, you get to know who we are, right? What we're about. So if Head Heart and Boots is valuable to you, one of the best things you can do is share it with your friends.

38:02 And it's been incredible to watch. Just the audience grow and we still get text messages from many of you about shows that you really like and impacted you. So that's number one. And please keep doing that. Many of you have been huge advocates of the show. We also just want to remind you too, if you're a restoration company owner and you're interested in a partner in your growth, you want some help building out systems, developing your leadership teams, helping set up the infrastructure for you to scale and grow into the company that you're trying to build. That's what we do. That's what we do is we come alongside restoration company leaders. We help equip them and we help support them in that growth trajectory. So if you're looking for that, go to floodlightgrp.com.

38:44 Potentially, we could be a great match for each other. Another way that we really do serve our client base and our sphere of influence is through our premier partners. We work really hard to vet those folks that we believe bring a level of value to the industry that it can really be leveraged in a way to have a sincere, positive impact on your business. We take that very seriously. The folks that we create those kind of ongoing partnerships, that's not a check the box kind of scenario. It's It's we really see strategic alignment in the value that they bring. We see value in the way that their leadership teams and their partners are developed. And we've done very sincere work of ensuring that these folks that we introduce our clients and our sphere to can actually create vetted value. So go check out floodlightgrp.com forward slash premier slash partners and see if there's some folks on there that you can connect with and begin developing some other resources to support your growth and your business.

39:37 So one of the things you had talked about earlier, you had mentioned just this passion for, or you at least highlighted, this wanting to be able to help people get better. There's like a reference to the responsibilities of leaders is very about other people, your team members. Obviously, that's part of what's driving this next phase that you're starting to head into. Can we begin to transition to that a little bit? Tell us a little bit more about what the heck is Julie doing now that's not ServPro, right? What's this new phase? Well, I'm always doing ServPro. That's without question. That's my passion for sure. But I mean, I've always wanted to teach. And when we first came into ServPro, they had these things called trainerships, right? And so it was like between corporate and the franchises.

40:21 And I thought... that's what I want to do. I want to have a trainership. But they were all taken and there was just no way. I think that might even be how the chess pawn discussion came up. And our trainer at the time said, just have your own trainership. He's like, just have a bunch. And so that's probably an early thought in how the multi-location thing came about was, yeah, I'll just make my own kind of mini. But the purpose behind that was I just like to share. I like to teach. My dad was very much a teacher. You couldn't ask him a question. You couldn't just say, I like this car. He had to tell you why you like the car because the engine was this way and it drove this certain way and he had to break everything down. So he taught me and that's how I teach and I learn. So through that, I do a lot of speaking.

41:01 I do a lot of continuing education classes and community stuff. I'm in. So I started picking up more speaking engagements and I was approached by a branding agency and they said, have you ever considered public speaking? I said, I have. I love doing it, but I don't really know what you mean. And they're like, I think we need to talk about this. So it's kind of a forum for me to just be creative and let lessons out and be a teacher of sorts. I think that there wasn't a lot of outlet for females, especially in construction or in restoration industry. So I think it's good to share some of those experiences there. But Also, like I said, it's a little bit of a creative outlet for me too. So yeah, I started a website.

41:42 I've been doing like a speaking series and we'll see where it goes. Are you starting to have a clear kind of avatar for the kind of female that you're trying to speak to and connect to? Is it other women executives like you? Business owners? Is it up and coming leaders? Like who, where does your passion lie right now in terms of your audience? It's funny, when we first started doing the Who is Julie situation with the branding team, that was certainly one of the discussions. And one of the things that they came back with was that I was extremely relatable. And they come back with a few keywords of words to describe you and relatability was one of the top ones. And they said, something I feel like young women coming into the business world could really would like to talk to you about your experience and how you did that.

42:24 But I feel like experienced professionals at the top would like to talk to you because you sit in a similar seat as them. So I think I go across different sectors and I have different types of speeches for different whatever I'm speaking about. But I touched on resilience earlier. And that's really what I talk about a lot is personal branding and the resilience of not only my business, but how you set up your professionalism. So who you are, is that something that is long term? We're seeing a lot of that now with influencers. And my kids think that they're influencers and they're making YouTube channels and... I see a lot of this and they don't really understand what that means long term. And for somebody that's been in a business 18 years, I certainly have some knowledge about that and what's kept us in the top.

43:07 That's interesting. I think that piece about our kids think that they're influencers, right? I think that's part of the struggle that we have as teams in general. It's just this, there's a bit of an expectation before it's earned that we wrestle. That's right. How do you, I mean, from your seat, obviously, you've ran across that multiple different layers. Yeah. As you're beginning to talk to people, is that struggle coming up in your conversations? And if so, what kind of advice are you giving people in regard to that relationship to their people? Yeah, this kind of came out organically. It wasn't something I really started with intention. But I always talk about adaptation, intention and consistency. So those are the three pillars of... of resilience to me. So that's what we try and make our business.

43:47 That's what I try and do personally. And I think that for any type of young-minded influencer type that is trying to come up with what their persona is, they have to think about those things too. If you're speaking on one particular topic and that's your platform, what happens when that goes away? Can you adapt? Does it have a message? Is it something that people are really interested to talk about? Is there intention? And can you consistently do it? I mean, a lot of people think that they want to be influencers and they want to podcast like you guys have, or they want to have a channel. But you can't post once every month or five times here, one time there. It has to be consistent. It has to be a long-term thing. So... I mean, I think within... Because I've had many people ask me that. And I think it's relatable there too.

44:29 But I think of it in my business too. I mean, our industry when we first came in was a carpet cleaning business that did some water damages. So the way that we've adapted who we are and what we do and our service lines, our team, how we market with our intention, and then the consistency at which we do it, I think is why we're successful. I think that's where the resilience come in. And you can kind of take those three things and move them however you want. I think it works in any platform, whether it's young people or older seasoned professionals. Hopefully, I don't steer us off here, of course, too much here. But do you feel like that drive towards the public speaking, the teaching, the training, has that helped you play a more integrated role in the bringing up of your team and your staff? Does that make sense, that question?

45:09 Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I've always wanted to be a public speaker. It was just kind of in the back of my head. I think that'd be cool. But you have to have a story, right? So ServPro has been my story and all of these things that we're talking about, the Halloween store and the marrying a carny. All of these things are part of the story. So yeah, I think being able to lead the team and be able to communicate to your team what your intentions and wants are and to help them come up with a path. I do think you have to have a little bit of that in you in order, especially a team our size. I'm not talking to five people anymore. So... And especially across multiple platforms. I mean, we've got five locations. I'm not ever in front of all my team. So for us to be able to explain our mission, vision, purpose, and what we're doing every day and what our goals are, I mean, that takes a unique skill set.

45:51 So I think that when people are reaching out to Floodlight and all of it, you know, I want to grow my business. I want to have this huge business. I don't think they always understand what that really means. And you're not necessarily in front of your customers anymore. I mean, you have a totally different audience. which is good and bad. I mean, that happened to be a good fit for me, but it's not for everybody. I think you hit the nail on the head. And I think it's one of the things that Chris and I often come across is people really under index on that being the skill set that they have to develop. It's easy for us to look at, well, I need more system as a process. We're certainly not discounting that. That's fact. But it's this, there is a leadership competency that is required for a system to scale.

46:35 Right. And we've reached certain thresholds and we've seen some superstars that have literally wrangled sheer chaos. And somehow they've pulled that together and it looks like a company. Right? Yeah. There's a lot of holes in the system in there and they've still kept it together. But my point is that that gifting, that skill set is so important so that we can give our team something to be inspired by and connected to. So they want to row in the same direction that we're going. really amazing to me to see how much we under index that skill set yet we have the expectation that we've been providing. Like we want our people so engaged and following suit, but they're really not hearing.

47:15 So like, where was that point where you're like, Oh, I need to be doing this in order for the business to go the direction we want it to go. I think that's where the relatability comes in, by the way, being able to have them because of all walks of life that work for you to be able to say, okay, yeah, I am behind this person or this team, and it's a team here. So I want to be part of the winning team. And we try and make sure that our employees have that mindset. that they're team players. Everybody wants that, right? But I mean, really, truly help siphon those out. But I think when we started getting stagnant, and I was doing stuff and I was realizing, okay, and my husband and our partners were all the same way. We're working in the business a little too much. And this is the time where it's time to go.

47:55 We got to figure out... We truly... If you're the leader and you're the CEO or CFO truly of your company, then that's what you're doing. You're not doing the day-to-day stuff anymore. You're looking on the progress forward. So I think that was more like, all right, we're stale. We're kind of just dragging. It's time to go. And I think that's when it finally resonated and we started and we took off. Like when we made that change, our business quadrupled. So but it was hard and uncomfortable. And I went to a class like right around that same time as a management class. And that's what they were saying. Like, if you're going to grow, it's uncomfortable. Yeah. And if that's not you, then you're going to be stuck right where you are. You got to... It's like working out. We were talking about working out a couple weeks ago. You're not going to get skinny or get big muscles just by going for a walk.

48:38 It's uncomfortable and it has to be consistent. You have to adapt and you have to do these things. So I think when I finally go, okay, I got to get dirty and this is going to be ugly for a while and it's either going to be really great or it's not. And it turned out really great. But the humility also comes in there. Maybe it's not you. Maybe you're not that person. Maybe you have to bring some... There are plenty of great restoration owners that aren't great speakers or leaders, but they are able to step back and go, yeah, this isn't me, but I've got a partner that can do that. No, I think there's a lot of wisdom in that. I want to ask a question and as a dude, I often don't know exactly how to ask it. But I think women in our industry, one of the things that's been exciting for Brandon and I is... First of all, we've had a chance to work with a lot of women executives in this business, both in our own companies as downline employees and leadership level.

49:26 colleagues and so forth. And I think we would both say, we don't even really think in terms of differentiating between a male leader and a female leader, but we're in a blue collar industry. We're in the service trades. Historically, not as many women in our industry, but that's been changing a lot. I'm just curious, for all of our female listeners... How has that played into your experience in the industry? Have you encountered struggle, resistance, difficulty as a woman executive owner? And how have you handled that? How have you processed that over the years? Oh boy, have I ever. Yeah. There's that humility again. Yeah, I try not to get my feelings hurt. I don't think that anything's personal, really, at the end of the day. Everybody kind of has a job to do or an agenda to complete, at least at that.

50:08 So I try, whether I'm female or male, I try and take that out of it. But yeah, I've 100% had a million conversations where, can I get one of the guys on the phone? Or can one of the guys call me to talk to me about this? I'm like, no, I mean, I know what I'm talking about. We were at a large loss years ago, and the consultant wanted nothing to do with me. And so I was, I just stepped back and that was fine and let him go. And then he and kind of one of our PMs got into it. He ended up coming back out. He goes, you walk it with me. And I was like, let's go. And so we went and it was fine and it was great. And we closed it and got paid and everything was good. So, but now I'm starting to see, I mean, a super rise in females, especially in the field and the executive level.

50:49 And I think they're quite happy to have another female to talk to. And the events... that we go to. And I mean, it's not just golf scrambles and pigeon shoots anymore. Like there's, you know, there's other stuff. So I think they're actually happy to have that voice on the other side. So not necessarily that it's because my voice is female, but it's different. Sometimes it stands out too. So I love what's going on. I think it's awesome. And like I said, I try not to get my feelings hurt. It is what it is. And as long as we all, they want to deal with a guy, as long as the bill gets paid at the end of the day, that's fine. Like I just, we'll go on about it. There'll be another one. I think it's good though. It's really good for men in the industry to hear that because I think Brandon and I, I wouldn't even thought, it's just never been part of my world to ask for a female instead of a male in the trades area because we've done so much work with female adjusters and female project managers and female department leaders and stuff like that to where that's just very normalized for Brandon and I.

51:42 But I know that does happen. And I think... Oh, yeah. I think sometimes maybe as owners, we don't realize that that kind of thing is happening to our women leaders, maybe in the field or amongst their downline employees, that there might be some of those attitudes and we can just be unaware. And meanwhile, some of our female counterparts, there's struggle that's happening behind the scenes. They don't want to bring up. Maybe they don't want to complain about it. Right. So. We try and be very aware of that in the field too, of production technicians and managers and things like that. And I mean, we have plenty of females that are top notch, outwork circles around some of the other ones. So I mean, we try and really take a look at the position and what those requirements are. And that's taken a lot for the manager to talk about uncomfortable, like really taking a look at the nuts and bolts of what does this job require?

52:27 Can they do it or not? And not pay attention to the name. And are the jobs getting performed? Check. Then they qualify for the position. Okay. Just one more question, I think, in that vein. So I think part of this is just naive on my part. But how real is that challenge for females in our industry? If I'm somebody that's coming up in the ranks, and I don't want to be a contents cleaner only, because we have certainly seen the industry as a whole and weird pigeonhole there. But how realistic is it for a female on our team to be experiencing something that maybe we're not cognizant of as leaders? I mean, I hear it more than I expect to still. I mean, it certainly still comes up.

53:08 I mean, we try and be really aware of it, but it still comes up sometimes where they think, yeah, that they don't qualify for a position or whatever. You know what I am seeing though, now you were talking about how I like to reach out for help for things. And with like Surfer, I'll reach out a lot of times and say, well, we need help with this particular thing and it's construction or it's this. And I'm getting more and more feedback female referrals back, which I love as being construction estimators. And, you know, I mean, certainly some stuff with administrative, but I mean, field site supers and things like that, they're sending females back just without even thinking. And I think that's fantastic. That was never the case before. Yeah, I think that's an awesome sign. Okay, so we kind of started tiptoeing in it, but I think we pulled you back out.

53:49 So talk to us more about this mission that you're on with the public speaking piece. Obviously, there's curiosity that drew you into that, but there's got to be some mission behind it. Something in your heart's driving that. What's that? What have we not heard about that yet? Yeah. So I mean, like I said, I'm a sharer of experience. That's how I'm experiential learner. So I like to share my experiences so that other people can learn too. Like I said, I'll say whatever I've messed up on and I'm free for that. I'll tell how I could have done it better. But my mission is to help really entrepreneurs or young people or anybody. They don't have to be young in any case, but individuals that want to be entrepreneurs or have leadership roles to succeed. So I have Speak With Julie. I do speaking engagements.

54:29 I also have socials. I'm all the Speak With Julie on all the socials. But I like to talk about that, about my path to success over 18 years in a very non-traditional business for females and the successes that I've had, the failures I've had. Selfishly, of course, I want to meet some contacts for my business and help it grow. But I think that I have a good story to tell. I'm one of certainly of resilience and humility and relatability and all of those things. But yeah, so if they want to check out Speak with Julie, I'm available to come and do some public speaking engagement. What are the different ways that you can engage? So you have these socials, these events that you put on, which sound really cool. I've seen some of the photos on LinkedIn of some pretty swanky new ones.

55:12 New York hotel restaurants you're in. I was like, wow, that is fancy. So they have those events. And then also the keynote kind of stuff people bring you to an event. Absolutely. I'm doing some keynote stuff. But yeah, that's my main goal really right now is I'm working on some leadership workshops. So a forum for both, not just females, just young professionals and advanced professionals to kind of come together and network, but learn some basic social skills as well. I mean, about proper way, dining etiquette and email etiquette, things that I didn't necessarily learn than wish I would have. But also for the hiring professionals to learn about how to market to these young people and how to talk to them. I mean, it's a different world. Recruitment I'm learning is harder and harder by the day, especially in a post-COVID world.

55:55 So we're trying to figure out a good way to kind of merge the two and figure out how some people can grow and some people that need to grow can take advantage of some young, energized folks. Hey, before we want to be guarded with your time, just help us walk away with something in terms of our own business and our own onboarding or recruiting behavior. If you could give us two things that we as business owners or leaders could be doing inside our organization to do that better, that bringing in of people doing something to attract the newer workforce, what would you tell us? I think that what we've realized over the past year, more than anything, is they want to be heard. And I'm hearing that a lot in our interviews and things like that, is they want an outlet to make sure that they make a difference in what they're doing.

56:40 So restoration is a perfect world for that, because we certainly do make a difference in so many platforms. But also, they want a path going forward and to make sure they can ensure their own way to do that. So we're really trying to adapt our HR philosophy in our own business of how do we hear them? They have great ideas. And how do they feel comfortable talking to the leadership? so that we can use those great ideas to make a better company. So I think it's not only a recruitment game, it's a retention game. And as we all know, people are bouncing around all over the place. So if we can keep them and keep the good ones, then that's certainly what we're trying to do. That's awesome. Spot on. It's perfect. Okay, so they're going to... What is it? Speakwithjulie.com. Speakwithjulie.com.

57:21 Or any of the socials, yeah. Yeah, okay. Check me out. You're starting to get a bit more aggressive on LinkedIn. You've popped up in our feed now, which is pretty... So we're seeing more of that. What's the next thing on your horizon? Is there a big excitement piece that you're headed for right now? Yeah, I'm working on some leadership workshops here locally. just like we were talking about. And then in two weeks at our Surf Pro National Convention, I'm hosting a women in the industry. I'm co-hosting a forum with some of the top women in Surf Pro. So I'm very excited about that. They debuted it last year at convention. It was the number one attended workshop. So I was pretty excited to be asked to co-host that. No joke. That is awesome. And there's some heavy hitters.

58:02 Heavy hitters. Yeah, a variety of folks doing some really, really badass things. Yeah, boy. That's super cool. So if you're headed to convention and didn't know that was going to happen, obviously, you're not on your radar. Yeah, no joke. Hey, thanks so much for hanging out. Yeah, it was just fun. Yeah, absolutely. Always enjoy it, guys. It's a pleasure meeting people that have... And we've said this a couple times. We've just had the honor of meeting people that are winning. They're just crushing it in so many different areas and avenues. And yet they just wear this cloak of humility. They share their time, their experiences. They're real about what they've done. That whole relatability thing is you tapped into. And that's what we've seen with you. And it was the reason that we wanted to to have you on the show. So folks, if Julie's new on your radar, pay attention.

58:44 She is on LinkedIn and the other socials. Of course, we hyper-focus on LinkedIn. But in general, I think all of us need to continue to build a sphere of people that are talking about leadership in a real way and that are willing to talk about what it takes to actually develop that competency and not act as if they came out knowing it all. And Julie, you're certainly one of those people for us to pay attention to. So thanks again for your time. You do good things. You got to give back. I'm a firm believer in that. So I like telling my stories. Yeah, right on. Right on. Okay. Well, till next time, we'll have to invite you back at some point and get an update on speak with Julie's circuit. That's right. How that's growing. It's great. Yeah. Thanks again for your time, Julie. We'll see you. Thanks again. All right, everybody.

59:25 Thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart & Boots. And if you're enjoying the show, but you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.