Jeff Salzbrun: Rocket Fuel– Turning Low Expectations into a Real Estate Empire
Episode Details
Transcript
What happens when a high school counselor tells you to lower your expectations? For Jeff Salzbrun, founder of Commercial Equities Group (CEG), it became the rocket fuel that launched a lifelong journey of grit, growth, and multi-million dollar deals.
In this episode of Twin City Tales, Wymond sits down with Jeff Salzbrun to trace his path from running paper routes in Anoka and serving in the military to surviving the "School of Hard Knocks" under mentorship legend John Allen.
Jeff shares raw, unfiltered stories about the reality of building a business from the ground up—including the struggles of his 20s, the mental shift from survival to abundance, and how he uses his success today to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs.
In this episode, we discuss:
The Power of "No": How Jeff turned being labeled a "slow reader" into a drive to out-work everyone.
The School of Hard Knocks: Lessons learned from working with billionaire developer John Allen.
Abundance vs. Defense: Why successful business owners must stop playing "defense" and start thinking bigger.
Real Estate 101: Jeff explains how he turned one small condo investment into a massive portfolio across several states.
Mentorship: Why Jeff is dedicated to helping young people like Marcus find their path.
About Jeff Salzbrun:
Jeff is the owner of Commercial Equities Group, specializing in representing the "blue-collar" businesses that keep our communities running—plumbers, HVAC companies, and local shops. He is a veteran, a mentor, and a firm believer that where you start doesn't determine where you finish.
Connect with Jeff:
🌐 Website: [http://www.cegspaces.com](http://www.cegspaces.com)
Follow Twin City Tales Podcast:
👍 Like us on Facebook for behind-the-scenes content and updates!
🎧 Subscribe for more local stories that inspire extraordinary outcomes.
This episode is powered by Twin City Heating Air and Electric www.twincityheatingandair.com
#RealEstate #Entrepreneurship #Mentorship #SuccessStories #TwinCityTales #BlueCollarSuccess #CommercialRealEstate #Grit #Inspiration
Speaker 0
As someone who's worked in the heating and air for years, I've been in countless older homes across the Twin Seas, and I can tell you there's one thing that keeps me up at night, asbestos. This stuff was everywhere in older buildings. Insulation, ductwork, pipe wrapping, and disturbing it can release dangerous fibers into the air. That's why I wanna tell you about solutions for asbestos free environments. Acronym, SAFE, s a f e. And trust me, that acronym says it all because safety is exactly what they deliver. They're certified by Minnesota Department of Health and fully compliant with EPA and OSHA standards. We at TwinC Heating, Air and Electric use SAFE for abating asbestos during older boiler and gravity furnace replacements. Our electrical team relies on them when drilling through asbestos siding and floors. I trust them with my for customer's safety and that says everything. Whether you're replacing that old furnace, renovating, or buying property, SAFE provides professional inspections and certified removal services. I've seen what happens when people skip the inspection and just start tearing into walls. Don't take chances. Visit asbestos services dot services to learn more and schedule your inspection today. That's asbestos dot services, a s b e s t o s dot services, because your safety matters. Speaker 1
From working in his family's Chinese restaurant to bartending to becoming present day owner of Twin City Heating, Air, and Electric, my father's true superpower is human connection. Now, he's on a mission to capture the most fascinating stories that make up the Minnesota community. You're listening to the Twin City Tales podcast. Speaker 0
What happens when a high school counselor tells you to lower your expectations? For Jeff Salisbury, founder and owner of Commercial Equities Group, it became rocket fuel. Growing up in Anoka with a blue collar family, Jeff learned early that success wasn't gonna be handed to him. While other kids were out playing, he was running multiple paper routes and hustling sales. When the counselor suggests he become an electrician instead of pursuing business, Jeff didn't get discouraged, he just got angry, the good kind of angry that drives you forward. His path wasn't straight. Military service, academic struggles, starting at the bottom, doing demolition work, but Jeff had something that can't be taught, the refusal to stay down. In two thousand nine, Jeff founded Commercial Equities Group, which, while others chase massive deals, Jeff built his business representing the people he came from. Plumbers, HVAC companies, small engine shops, the businesses that make our communities run. Today, Jeff is not just closing deals, he's changing lives through mentorships, sponsoring a scholarship at Saint Cloud State in honor of his late son, Noah. Jeff Salzman proves that where you start doesn't determine where you finish. This is Twin Cities tales where local inspire stories inspire extraordinary outcomes. Jeff, welcome to the show. Speaker 2
Thanks, Wyman. Thank you for, having me. It's awesome being here. That was, that was an amazing intro. I'm like, this guy should write books. Speaker 0
I wish I could, but I'm probably a little too lazy to actually sit down and write a book. That's a lot of fun. Speaker 2
Yeah, but it's like we knew each other a lifetime. That was really good. Like, you're a good listener when we talk about some of that stuff. Good research. Did you talk to my wife? Did you end up talking Speaker 0
to her? I did a little bit. She's fantastic. Speaker 2
I was super nervous, what do you call that? Speaker 0
So she sent some pictures. We'll have that later on the show. Speaker 2
Oh, that's good. Speaker 0
It seems like she you guys are in good standing because she didn't send any compromising photos of you or anything. So that'll be fun. Speaker 2
You know, I was working on the furnace, so she didn't mention it. Speaker 0
Talking about that, we need to we might need to hire you. Speaker 2
Yeah. Right. I got some capacitors in my trunk. Which size do you need? Speaker 0
You grew up in Anoka, didn't you? Speaker 2
That's right. That's right. Yeah. I think we had to learn how to weld by third grade. Speaker 0
You did. Speaker 2
Or you get picked on in our in my neighborhood. Speaker 0
Where in Anoka did you grow Speaker 2
up about? Outpass High School on Seventh Avenue, just a little river neighborhood on the Rum River. I think there were there were sixty two or sixty three houses then. They built a few more in that neighborhood, but I know that because we had the paper out. So Speaker 0
The newer high school. Like, those back then, the the old high Speaker 2
school was up there. Not the downtown one, but the one out on seventh Avenue. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Built in, like, sixty nine, I think. Oh, really? Was it I think it was sixty nine? Speaker 0
Oh, maybe. I remember growing up there. Speaker 2
In eighty seven, so it's still a pretty new school then. Yeah. And I graduated or seventy one rings a bell. Speaker 0
I graduated in eighty three, but I remember coming up through the tornadoes when we were sophomores. Speaker 2
Well, our football games were still always at the junior high. Speaker 0
Yes. Yes. But they also played basketball, and if you weren't on the varsity team, they would have it in a bubble out there. Like, they had like a like a side gym there Speaker 2
back in the 80s. I don't remember that. Speaker 0
I think it was in the high school. And it wasn't that big of a campus. They, like, Speaker 2
grew it, didn't they? Well, I lived in eighty seven, and it's a little ways off the street, so I really haven't driven back into there. But when I was there, it was great. We had, like, canoeing classes. We had golf classes. Woah. We'd go hide some beer up the river the night before, and got fifty minutes to drink six Busch Lights in high school. It was perfect. Speaker 0
Did you explore that, the the hospital there? The Anoka those grounds that they say are haunted? Speaker 2
Did I explore it? They Wait. I I spent a few nights there. That's what they would send you if you got a DWI. So I got a DWI, and they called it happy camp, and, like, we had to stay in these condemned buildings. Yeah, they were freezing. Speaker 0
Back in the eight nineties? Speaker 2
Eighties or something? That's probably the early nineties, yeah, after I came home from the army. Speaker 0
I feel like they were abandoned around that time. Speaker 2
They were. It was a state hospital before that, and then it became like, you know, kind of like a halfway house jail thing. I did not. If you got a DWI, you had to go to happy camp, and, that was like a three day weekend, but there was no heat. Like, if you had to go there now, it'd be like, you should call them. They probably need a new system. Speaker 0
They do. They well, I think they're converting a lot of it to veterans, like Speaker 2
Yeah. They well, they put a lot of money into it. I'm trying to No. No. No. I don't know what they're doing up there now, but it was that was the plan. Solid things. Speaker 0
Yeah. It's it's it's a wild like, if you drive in there, you can tell it was like Speaker 2
a little bit creepy. Yeah. Super creepy. Speaker 0
Because they have all the underground tunnels that connect all those buildings and stuff too. Speaker 2
I got some better stories I'll tell you offline. Speaker 0
And then and then so you grew up there, paper routes, and you were hustling at the age of, like, ten, weren't you? Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, we grew up with, I I think, like, very little money initially. My parents got divorced when I was about three, and, you know, living in apartments, and my mom was a coupon cutter, and it was all about survival, rather than in my life now, it's as you start to learn that abundance, if you think kind of positive, abundance will come instead of being on the defense. And, but but yeah. They you know, it was just trying to make ends meet. And, you know, I think I got one new bicycle at some point in my life. But once I got paper routes and I had to buy everything that I wanted, so, I just realized that, you know, I had a one of my friend's dads was a century twenty one real estate agent, and I never thought I'd ever get into real estate, but he wore the gold suit and he'd be at the Speaker 0
The gold jacket. Speaker 2
He'd be at the soccer games, and, like, when it when it when we were growing up, parents didn't come to the daytime school concert. Speaker 0
No. I Speaker 2
mean, there was nobody there. It was the teacher standing around there doing it for Right. The other kids in the school, Then they'd do like an evening one or something for their parents. Today, if I don't go to my daytime kids program, you know, I'm like, I don't know, they wanna oust me. It's it's it's it's child abuse, I think. But, you know, I don't think we had more or less than really anybody in our neighborhood then, you know. We'd we'd everybody had bikes put together with parts, and, you know, every now you know, a kid would get a new bike once a summer, you know, like Jimmy got a new bike, and but it wasn't like kids got everything like they do today. Right. And, just a lot of lot of racing bicycles down the gravel roads and doing whatever. But paper out my first paper out I got with my brother, I remember we're making sixteen dollars and eighty some cents every two weeks, and, the rest was history. I mean, once and if I was selling, like, the Anoka Halloween button or something after school Yeah. They'd only give you, like, three or five. And if you were on my bus, I'd go to your mom's house first and sell her a button. Speaker 0
I'm for four you. Yeah. But then I'd say The kids. Speaker 2
I get the money, and then I'd say, can I keep the button? I'll bring you another one tomorrow because I needed I didn't wanna have no buttons to sell, and then if they refused, I'd eventually. I remember doing the, the re so I just wanna make money. And then the readathon came along, and I went around and collected, like, a bag of money. And I didn't realize that how a readathon worked, like, you pledge you're gonna I I didn't understand anything, to be honest with you. Just give me some money and I'm gonna read some books. I remember my mom saying, we went to the library and I had to get all these books, and she forced me to I I didn't think I read one, but, man, I I made more money than anybody in my class. Yeah. So I had this and then as I as I grew up, I think the paper arts are really what helped my communication skills. Not that they're that fantastic, but, gotta try. Right? Yeah. You can't be afraid. Speaker 0
And you had the yellow cart with the cage on it pushing it up and down the street. The tall one. Speaker 2
Yeah. I had a lot of papers. We moved into town, in by Mercy Hospital when I was in sixth grade, and then I was able to secure a bunch of paper routes there. That's when you kinda paid a guy a hundred bucks to get his route, which was a ton of money then. And, then I was really making money. That's when I was mowing lawns. I didn't really care about homework. I just cared about what am I gonna do to get out of this situation. And the situation was, by that time, we're probably living a a better life, but we're still cutting coupons, we're still, you know, I had nice shoes and clothes at that point because I was we had to buy them ourselves. Yeah. You know? So, Speaker 0
Hard part about having that paper out that I remember, and I only had a paper out for like two, three years. Right? And it was the collecting. You had to go and collect the money back then. Remember? Speaker 2
I bet you they could show us those stubs right now. Those little stubs. We still couldn't make sense out of the dates. Speaker 0
Right. Exactly. Speaker 2
And by the time you figured it out, it was the end of the year, and you had to handwrite out new ones Speaker 0
for Speaker 2
next year. Speaker 0
Yes. That's it. You'd knock on the door. Some people wouldn't answer. You'd see the the curtains moving and stuff. You're like, come on. Speaker 2
Then the guy that was the accountant would be like, you overcharge me because this doesn't make any sense. You have those little slips in his hand that he would save. You know, he'd be like, oh, you could just have it. I'll just Speaker 0
and it was like a buck a buck a week or something like that. Twenty cents a paper. Speaker 2
If you got the Sunday if you had the Sunday paper and the afternoon star, it was like six eighty five. Yeah. And if you had the morning Tribune, the afternoon star, and the weekend, both papers in the weekend, it was like nine dollars or something. Yeah. Speaker 0
We go back a long ways because a lot of people don't realize Star and Tribune were separate papers and you got one in the morning, you got one in the afternoon. I think the Star Speaker 2
was the one for I had both routes for a while. Not the whole time, but for a little while. And then when they merged them, they never let the paper boys know what was going on. Speaker 0
No, they didn't. Speaker 2
We're both showing up to do the same route, like, and we just, I think we wrestled and I won. There was no, like the fact that they could have those type of employees, it's just really crazy. Like we didn't, we were contractors. They basically threw their product in your front yard to deliver. In my case, it was about eight blocks away, uphill both ways. It really was a long ways away at that point. And, so they they they say they give you a thousand dollars worth of papers at the end of the month to get a bill for a thousand dollar or or maybe get eight hundred and the two hundred's your profit Right. If you can collect all the money, and you never collect all the money. Speaker 0
And you're, like, twelve to fifteen years old. Right? So Speaker 2
you're getting kinda I was, like, eleven, you know. Speaker 0
You're kinda getting ripped rooked. Right? It's Yeah. And then on top of that, if I remember right, back then, the Sunday paper, you actually have to put them together. They used to have, like, here's the comics and the ads and then the the regular paper and you had to put them together and then deliver it. Speaker 2
Stuff the papers. Yeah. So so when I say I I just took a a a mutual friend of ours, Andy Voorhees, I took him through the neighborhood where I had to go and I think he was like, you're kidding me. So by the time you walked there with your empty cart, you're already frozen. You know what I mean? You're freezing. It's cold out. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And and then, we had to stuff them outside of somebody had like a plywood box, And then, my buddy next I'll just call it his name is Mark. He did the street next to me. We both had to go the furthest to get to the paper box, but I was another block further than him. And, you know, his dad would show up every week with him on Saturday and Sunday and back the Isuzu truck up. They'd stuff him on the tailgate, which was I'm on the ground, stuff in mine, and you're just freezing. But you warm up really quick pushing that heavy cart. Yeah. I think I weighed like eighty pounds back then. I was a little guy. They push this, and I had the big cart, so there's a lot of papers. But I had an apartment building. Had I not had an apartment building at the beginning of my route, I'd probably be dead. Because at least you're in the spot. There, and it and it feels like it's a hundred and twenty degrees. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
You gotta go up and down the stairs and deliver. Speaker 0
Yeah. I had a combination of apartments. I was in Golden Valley. There was apartments on the end and then I had to deliver the neighborhood. And I just remembered stuff in the papers in my garage, even though it was cold, we didn't have a heated garage, but at least we're sheltered. And then you push it all the way around the block and then go up. And then the worst was, like, you'd have to collect. Right? And if they didn't pay, you had to cut them off and then you'd get the phone call because everybody had your phone number. Right? So your parents would get the phone call, like, Speaker 2
maybe we'd Speaker 0
get paper. Speaker 2
The apartment, somebody would always steal somebody's paper Every time. Yeah. And then they'd call your house, wake up your whole family, and then my parents would be like, why didn't you give missus Swenson her paper again? I'm like, I did. Like, you know, I was like, no. Speaker 0
Those days are long gone. Speaker 2
But I was, our house, we were a block from Mercy Hospital, so I'd have to go buy a paper at full price, and then you gotta call in to get your credit. But that took like a half hour. So we rode our bikes all winter long because you had to have a bike to be able to do all that. Speaker 0
Yeah. I think I had to run up to the gas station that was across the freeway, and I'd go get that when we'd have a makeup. Or I think remember they how they always had a district manager for you too, so, like, he would drive by if you needed something. But We Speaker 2
didn't have those. They don't Speaker 0
yeah. How you oh, you did? Speaker 2
We did have a district manager, but he wasn't driving by anywhere. Speaker 0
Oh, he would come and talk to us every morning. Speaker 2
Oh, no. We never seen him. Other than we went we had to go we had to pay him. Speaker 0
There was you know, there's something to that, us growing up, that understood hard work and what it took doing that. Right? You know? Speaker 2
Yeah. I think, I think about it every day. Like, how did I get here? And I think about it when I'm trying to help some of these young people. And, you know, I'm helping my kids pay for college, and everybody's like, ah, they gotta struggle, they gotta struggle, and, there's there is something about struggle, and and I'm sure we'll get into more of it, but I had a lot of struggle in my life. And having to figure that out and making the choice of what are you gonna do? And and, you know, there there's always there's a fork in the road. There seem to be a lot of lot more forks in my road probably than a kid that, you know, the parents pay for college, go there, here's your car, oh, your car broke, take mom's car, we'll fix it, here's some gas money. If I needed, I mean, I had to take empty beer bottles to go get to to the liquor store and return them to get the two bucks so I could go put a dollar in my gas tank just to get home to work. Yeah. A dollar doesn't go far now, but at least, you know. I remember I could re I could take three cases of Busch Light bottles and get, like, I don't know, five dollars. I could put three dollars in my tank and get a snapple and drive back here to the city soon and work. It was Speaker 0
great. Yeah. You know, the one book that I wish I would've got my I wish I would've read earlier and impart that on my kid as Rich Dad Poor Dad. Right? Speaker 2
By five thousand. Yeah. Hundred percent. Speaker 0
Like, the knowledge is so much power. Right? But, yeah. And then after that, you're growing up, you end up going to Saint Cloud State, or did you go to the military first? Speaker 2
Military first. Okay. That's where the that's where the, that's where the the high school accounts are my miss Zelensky, if you're still out there, I hope you're listening to this. I was mad at her, like, my whole adult life. I I think I've forgiven her by now. But but she, you know, you you you only had counselors in high school to figure out what was your next step, you know. And, every kid was their parents were helping them, and this and that, and and, you could join the military your junior year called the delayed entry program. You could actually sign the papers once you turned seventeen. You didn't go in and I think some people actually go to basic training between their junior and senior. They didn't have any of that. But, my buddy was going on the military, and they had a buddy program. You can go in with your buddy. That's all BS. That doesn't happen. But but, yeah, we hung out down at the Anoka recruiting center, and, you're looking at all those shiny brochures, and I just wanna jump out of airplanes. And my counselor was telling me that I'll never get into any college ever, but maybe I could get into Anoka Tech and and be an electrician or something, and but I could work for Twin City Heating and Air and Electric now. And and I just, like, I really enjoyed all that stuff. I I liked working with my hands. I really love working on my snow wheels and mini bikes and just building stuff and making stuff and figure because when you're broke and poor you're not gonna get anything. So you have to find something that your rich friend threw away because he doesn't know how to fix it. And, I mean, I would find at the apartments on my paper, I'd find old radios and bring them home and go to Radio Shack and buy new diodes and fix them and get them working. It was just super fun. And, so just being really curious. And then, so the I get out of the I did really well in the military. And looking back now, in the unit, let's say we needed a new air conditioner. I knew where to find everything. Like, we hired a lot of the I was in Germany. We hired a lot of the the Germans in the military to do a lot, and we had this huge they call it the GSSCK, where they had all these buildings and I knew what they did in every building. Like, here's where you go to get a new buffer pad, here's where they fix the buffers, here's where you get a new jeep, here's where you get new tires for your deuce and a half. But every time I went there, I'd just tell these guys how much I appreciated them, and I'd bring them a bottle of booze or something from from our p x, or we could buy cigarettes. You know, we buy four cartons a month. We had a ration card. Our cigarettes, our Marlboro cigarettes, I never smoked, so I didn't use my rations. Our Marlboro cigarettes are twice as good as theirs are, so they really wanna get their hands on ours. So that was my currency. I would just if I was going to the club, or if I needed a a new bed, or anything. And so people would come to me in my unit, and I was kind of the resource guy. And, part of that, I was a colonel's driver for a while, so part of I met a lot of people doing that. And, the military was really good. I was an airborne guy. We jumped out of planes. Probably wouldn't recommend that to anybody because, your back and neck will hurt the rest of your life. And, got out. I did really well in the military, and then I got out and went to Saint Cloud State. And that's when I just kinda hit a brick wall. Speaker 0
So you must have just missed the Gulf War then. Speaker 2
Just missed it. Yep. Yeah. I, got out June twenty third nineteen ninety. Wow. Okay. Had I, been there by August one is when it started. So Speaker 0
Yeah. You would end up Speaker 2
doing that. Speaker 0
It's interesting because when you start talking about that, I'm thinking, you're kinda like the radar on MASH. Remember radar? Yeah. That show MASH, he trades stuff to get things in and he just happened to get stuff done because he knew where to get it. Right? Speaker 2
Everybody was like fine Salzburn. And then we had like a couple, semis in our unit. We had truck drivers assigned to our unit, but my dad was a truck driver, so I knew how to back up a trailer better than anybody, and these guys went to school. That was their, like, my job was to be a rigger and drop stuff out of planes and parachute stuff, and they'd be like, where's Saul's? Bring that truck in here so we can get out of here, you know? Like, you know, it's the end of the day, and nobody would go home to secure the building. And so, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Speaker 0
Wow. Speaker 2
Yeah. I actually I actually really enjoyed the military. We probably drank a little too much because you when you go to Germany, you know, you're eighteen, there's no drinking age there, and and the military didn't have no idea. Maybe they enforced that now. But our leadership were partiers. It it was a different military than it is today. And every and it was always everybody always said if you go over to Europe, it's they're a little easier on you because you're pretty far away from home. So Oh, interesting. So we took advantage of that. Speaker 0
I I've gotta admit, I've never been in the military service. I'm sure you hear this. Appreciate your service for the country. Speaker 2
Thank you. Speaker 0
You know, that's that's awesome. Speaker 2
I never thought it would be what it you know? When I went in, I went in to get the six or seven hundred dollars a month they were paying me. You know? I think it's like four grand now. I went in to get away, but, the way and when we when I first got out in nineteen ninety as a veteran, we were treated like shit. Like, oh, you went in the military because you were too stupid to go to college or your parents are too broke to send you to college? Like, why'd you go in the military? And that's kinda how it was. People really looked down on the military. It was still kinda like the Vietnam time. It was really till after Desert Storm that the whole appreciate your service and all that stuff started coming out. But even to this day, the benefits and how the military continues to take care of me is just mind blowing. Like, I didn't know any of this going in. And I didn't even know I was a veteran probably till ten years after I got out. I thought you had to be in a war, and this and that, and the other thing, but, it's pretty cool. And I still have friends from the military that are just as close as my friends that are here every single day. The ones that are still alive. Speaker 0
So my dad was actually in the military too for the US military. He was in the, army branch, but he is buried at Fort Snelling. And he dropped right in between the Korean War and the Vietnam War. So he's kinda like he didn't have to go go to war, which was we're very blessed. Speaker 2
That's, they we were, about a year later, my buddy got out. We lived together in an apartment going to college, and, we got these pay this paperwork that we were having to go back, and you had to get your professors filled out, and we were super excited to go back. Like, we wanted to go be with our friends and get in this war and and kick some butt. But, you know, who knows? That's that's why I was saying to you kind of before the podcast, there's so many forks in the road. Man, you know, what if that would happen? Speaker 0
And you just never know. I always talk about the story, like, my dad was actually gonna go back to Hong Kong in sixty five to start, and I was born in sixty five. He, for some reason, he changed his mind at the last second to stay here in American and, open up a restaurant. So you never know where your road takes you. Right? And and it's not always determined by you. It's determined by the choices that you make and other people make. Speaker 2
The good news is we're getting smarter now and, you know, I'm trying to figure out what's the second half of my life gonna look like. I think I can plan it better than I could then, because you have no idea then. You're just trying to survive. Speaker 0
Well, the nice thing is too, you've got out of that labeling bit. Right? Because, like, you're influenced at a certain age by being labeled. Right? Especially when you told me your counselor said, yeah, you'll be electrician. I was probably told that I would be a garbage collector, so glad I didn't follow that path. Speaker 2
It started it started in first grade. I'll tell you where I noticed it. Wait. So I was a bad reader. I am still a bad reader. I just I'm not a bad reader. I'm a slow reader, but I can out math you any day of the week. Right? Maybe not you, but I'm just saying math Is it Speaker 0
because I'm Haitian? Speaker 2
Right. Exactly. You got notes because because you got an abacus hiding back there. I know. No. So so, I was in in reading. Now this is, like, nineteen seventy three or or four or five when I'm in first grade. You had the rabbit reading group, the squirrel reading group, and the turtles. I was a turtle. Speaker 0
You got labeled again. Yeah. Speaker 2
Yeah. So I think they, like, kind of suppress you immediately. So whenever I see, whenever I'm talking to young people and they tell me what they kinda wanna do, you know, not not the rest of their life. Like, what do you wanna do? What do you wanna accomplish the next five years? They're not thinking big enough. They just aren't. And I didn't have that growing up, and now I have that. And I give that, and I try to share that with people. Like, you have to think bigger. Think a lot bigger. Speaker 0
You know, the amazing thing about the younger kids these days too is, like, us growing up and we talk about, like, we're in it for the money. Right? We're gonna go to the ends to do what we gotta do to make money when we were growing up. But I feel like kids these days, they need to know why they're doing something. Otherwise, they'll go, you know, I don't exactly know why I'm doing this. I don't know the reasoning and you're not explaining it to me. I'll go down to McDonald's shop by I would drop fries for five bucks an hour less. I really don't care. You know, I think kids, the younger generation look at it that way. And I think it's important to understand that because if you don't make them feel a certain way, like, they have to connect, I think. And even more so now after the pandemic and how we don't connect with people as once like we did when we were younger. I think that's so much more important. Speaker 2
But I think we look at it so much different. Right? Like so my son, Levi, he's ten. By the way, Levi, why aren't you at this podcast right now? You should be here. You know, he usually comes with me. So, he he has this dad that is, like, the most mechanically inclined human being. Am I north of six ninety four right now? I probably got some competition up here. I live below six ninety four, so but I'm I'm like insanely mechanically inclined. Like, insanely. I will take the engine out of your van out there and put it in my Tesla out here, and I'll get them both running by the end of the day somehow, you know? Like, and anything can be done. But I try to get him interested in that, and it's like, dad, you know, it's coming. He he just doesn't have any really an interest in that. And it I don't really let it get me down because he understands compound interest at ten years old. So it's like and, you know, it's some of the things, like, that my son-in-law has the ability to do to help me out versus, you know, I'm looking for the physical guy that'll come and help me do all the physical hard stuff. Uh-huh. And then I I come to the realization that, like, he is, like, super smart. Like, he can help me with things that, you know, are are way more important. And and maybe I'm learning something from both those, you know, people in that, you know, maybe because of our struggle or how we grew up, we've already made it. And not that they don't have to do it the way we did it. Like, they they don't have to do it the way we did it. But they see a different path. They're and nothing against our parents either. Right? It's just they're seeing a smarter, better way. Like, the generations just keep getting a little bit better. And so do you really need to learn how to change spokes on your bicycle at sixth grade these in sixth grade these days? I don't know. But we could. Right. You know what I mean? They they they don't need I don't even think my son could take the front wheel off a bike. Speaker 0
But on the other hand, as we've gotten older, we realize, like, we talked about, like, we're out there shoveling our driveway and it's wet heavy snow. If I was smart enough and I invested enough money, I well, you know, I just have somebody do it. Speaker 2
We're not gonna do it. We should start we should start a new flood. You know? We're all worried about the five twenty nine plan when we first might have kids going again. We should we should start the six twenty nine plan. That's that the six twenty nine plan is the money that we use to pay somebody to shovel. Oh, I would. I would. I would. I mean, the shoveling and lawn mowing fund, you know, that we for ourselves. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Because but but I think that, I don't I I had a really good friend up on my lake. Her her name was Bonnie, and, she died at about ninety three, ninety four. And at about ninety two, she fell off a ladder watering her plant and had, like, a big old knot coming out of her head. Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez. You know, but why was she on a ladder? Same reason you and I are still gonna be shoveling in twenty years, because it's part of you, and you're not gonna really change that. And it doesn't, no matter how much money you make, it money doesn't money doesn't change a lot of things. I think it's important to a point, but once you you know, when you're younger, you're just trying to make money. Once you make enough money to pay your bills, then you start saying to yourself, well, now what? Okay. I can do that. And, well, now how can I teach other people to get to that point, and what am I gonna do beyond here? So And then you went Speaker 0
to Saint Cloud State after that. Speaker 2
It was a different school back then. Speaker 0
Okay. Clarify. Speaker 2
So I came home from the military, and I signed up for classes on an Oakland Ramsey immediately. I thought I'd live with my parents for a little while. I don't know why, but why not? And, I'd have more beer money by doing that. My buddy calls and says, no, no, no, no, no. We've been saving this room for you since you've been gone in the military. We're you're going to Saint Cloud. So I got up to Saint Cloud State. I had to, I had to wait in wait in line in the gymnasium to sign up for class, and I took I took, English, I thought algebra, I think I was signing up for microeconomics, biology, and softball. Full load. I dropped micro somebody I told somebody I was taking that, and they're like, you're never gonna make it through that, so I dropped that before it even started, so I got my money back. They they called me back and said, you can't take algebra or this English one zero one and algebra one zero one, whatever it was. You have to take algebra o nine five and English o nine five, which I think they call it reading o nine five, to be quite honest. And by the way, those don't count towards your graduation, and by the way, the VA I'm no longer a full time student in the VA's. I still gave me three hundred dollars a month when I was full time. And they paid me, like, the first two payments, and then they called me and they said, now I owe them money because they overpaid me because those classes don't count to get paid. Speaker 0
Oh, so you're learning quickly. Speaker 2
So then I drank my and then I drank about three cases of beer that night trying to figure out how I was gonna survive. Speaker 0
Well, luckily, you had ingenuity of how to get money right away, like working hard. Right? Speaker 2
Yeah. So that so it's really hard in in college, and and now my kids were those other kids. Well, actually, they had jobs, but, you know, most of the kids didn't really have jobs. Even at Saint Cloud State and Saint Cloud State was kind of the working man's kids would go to that college, and a lot of us came down here for jobs. I came down here and I worked at Mercy Hospital. Had a number of jobs actually in Saint Cloud as well. But it's really hard when your parents haven't been to college, they don't really know how to support you. Everybody's drinking and partying. I've been in the military for three years. I became an expert at all the above, chasing girls and drinking beer. Right? Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
And, but the difference was is the military, your life was really structured, and now you're up at Saint Cloud State, and I felt like I'm being harassed by the police because they're pulling me over because I'm doing thirty four in a thirty. And I had a motorcycle, so I was always going too fast and just getting in trouble left and right, or people would bump in you in a bar, and next thing you know, you're you're in a fight. And I didn't plan on being in a fight, but it was like people are just drunk and dumb. Right. I was probably one of them too. Right? But, it was probably so disappointing to my parents, and I'm sure they would agree. But it all worked out. You know, that's why I I have a lot of friends that have older kids and they're always kinda saying what do you do? What do you do? And I'm always like, don't worry. They they they everybody goes through that. You know, your parents probably did. They just haven't told you the stories, but I tell my kids all the stories. Levi's kinda catching on. I tell him that I wasn't that smart, but now I changed my tune, and I'm like, I was super smart. I just didn't apply myself. So I expect you to be the smartest in class, you know. Speaker 0
And everybody learns differently. And then after that, you got out of Saint Cloud, and that's kinda where you started that's when you met John Allen. Right? Speaker 2
Yeah. So, actually, I met him way earlier than that. I met him, when I first got home from the military, I started dating this gal, and, she became his nanny over the summer. And I just knew he did something with warehouses. I wasn't too sure, so I'm already working at the hospital. Actually, the day after I got home from the military, I got a job at North Hennepin College doing janitorial. That lasted about two weeks because it was night shift, and I was, like, falling over because I forgot to sleep. Just couldn't get used to it. Speaker 0
Right. Speaker 2
But eventually, I get hired at the at the hospital, and it's still summertime when all this is kinda going on. I meet John Allen and, he does something with warehouses, and I'm going rollerblading around Lake of the Isles, like, my girlfriend has an apartment in the house, you know. And he comes around the side house. I I really don't know him that well, but he came around and just starts harping at me because it's eleven o'clock. It's prime tanning time to me. I got my shirt off. I'm putting my roller blades on. I'm gonna go check out the gals and take a couple laps. And, he just really tore into me. He's like, you're in college. You should be studying or working, and there's no other not exercising is in the morning. I was like, dang. I don't even know this guy. Right? And, next morning, like, he could see if my car was there if I was staying overnight, and I I think it was, like, one of the next mornings comes down and it sounded like I thought the house was on fire. Because you're cuddled up there and all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, boom. And you're like, what is going on? And he's like, Jeffy. And I'm like, what? He's like, let's go. I'm like, let's go where? It's like five in the morning. I mean, I was probably out till two in the morning. I don't know. He's like, we're going for a run. And I'm like, no. We're not going for a run. Yeah. We are. I don't have any shoes. And the gym is in the basement next to her apartment. Hold on. He comes back around, he holds up a pair of shoes, and they're they're they're, like, a size too big for me. John's, like, six three. So he is not he is not joking, and I think he's joking, but he's not joking. And so we go for a run around Lake of the Isles, and he's six six. And I'm I'm still in really good shape. Just got off in the military, still run. Like, he's not gonna smoke me, and, you know, it's because of his his height. He smoked me. And, but basically during that run, he's just kinda giving me a lecture of, you know, you exercise in the morning. And and then he just kinda I barely knew him, and he took a liking to me, and then said to go down to Shingle Creek and start doing some demo, and I had a motorcycle and we didn't have phones or anything. I had no idea how to get to Shingle Creek Parkway from Lake of the Isles. He had to he wrote it on a little piece of paper. I had to pull over like ten times and read it, and probably took me an hour to get there. It should have taken fifteen minutes, you know? Right. And, there's just some guys tearing down some walls, and I just started working. Like, I could work. Nobody could outwork me. And, I think I intimidated the other guys I was working on. I was just working too hard, and they they left after the dumpster was full. I kept working another eight hours or so. John showed up, and it was just like, holy crap. You know, I told him what I did, and, I think that was his job interview right there. I just kept doing stuff for him. Yeah. Whatever I could do. So he already kinda trusts me because I'm with his kids. My girlfriend's with the kids. It was a it was a trust thing, and, I'm just forever grateful for that that that was my chance right there, and I grabbed on. Well, part of Speaker 0
it is you showing up every day. Right? That's half the battle right there, showing up and whatever they put in front of you, you just did. And and Speaker 2
it was I remember he's like, go up to Maple Grove and, well, first, I had to go pick up a truck. Go down and get figure out or get get Jenny to take you down and pick up this truck at eight, and I just thought I was picking up for him and I put it in front of his house, and then he's like, where did the truck go? And I'm like, it's in front of your house. And I'm back in my apartment, you know. They're like, we're gonna need that. You gotta go pick up a skid loader from Maple Grove. And I'm like, what? Apparently, the truck was like, I needed that truck because I was gonna be doing some more work. And, you know, and I drove semi in the military, but I was pulling the skid loader. I'm like, these things are heavy. I never and I never operated one, but I had to get it on the trailer to get it out of there. And then he had me doing all kinds of mulching trees. We were doing some land development at the time. I didn't know how to drive a skid loader. I didn't know how to start a skid loader, but I ran a lot of heavy equipment in the military, and I knew how to figure stuff out. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
And, you know, I knew how to change stuff. Nobody had to show me how to change the thing down to the trailer. Nobody had to show me stuff. Like, I already knew half the stuff. And so, just continue to impress him, and one day he finally says, I gotta pay you. What am I gonna pay you? And I said eight bucks, and he said eleven. I was like, sweet. Yeah. And I thought I was super rich then, you know. Speaker 0
It was like in the early nineties or late, mid nineties. Speaker 2
It was maybe about ninety one or two, somewhere in there. Ninety one. Speaker 0
Yeah, and eleven bucks was kind of good money because Well, Speaker 2
I was making like eleven, I told him I was making like eleven something at the hospital Yeah. But this was kind of like my side gig. Yeah. So I figured Speaker 0
Then he just said eleven dollars Speaker 2
He said eleven dollars Speaker 0
I just remember starting at Centerpoint. You know what my starting wage was at Centerpoint Energy? Was like and it's union. It was like ten twenty five or something like that. It was crazy. Right? Speaker 2
It seems crazy now, but you you're those numbers are still stuck in your head when you're hiring somebody today, and they tell you what they want, and you're like, what happened? Yeah. Yeah. I had a I had a kid, one of my really good buddies' sons came over, and he he he he raked a bunch of leaves, and he sent me a text, and it was like two or three hundred dollars, and this would be in the six twenty nine plan we talked about earlier. Right. So it wouldn't matter, but you know, he's like, he's the way he said it in the text, because he had a buddy there, he's like, well, we got nine man hours into this, and at forty dollars a guy, you you know, and it's like, you know he's paying his buddy like twenty bucks an hour to come along and come. But I was like, forty dollars an hour for a high school kid? Like holy buckets, you know, I was making I remember mowing these lawns, you know, on my paper out, you know, like these apartment lawns, a big trailer show up. I swear to a guy named John Weaver up in Anoka, he owned a whole bunch of apartments, and I pulled a lawn moy lawn boy mower behind my bike, with the the first lawn mow gas weed whippers strapped to the handlebars, and I'd go around apartment to apartment mow for, like, three twenty five an hour. Right. Whole weeds, mow lawns after my paper outs. It was no wonder I didn't get any homework done. Speaker 0
Wow. And and we were I I I I bartended a place called Bennigan's back in the day. Speaker 2
It was Speaker 0
on three ninety four Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Highway tolls. It was a great spot. I probably met you then. Speaker 0
Was that yeah. That's probably true. But if you really think about it, we were really happy to pull out of there in tips about a hundred to a hundred and twenty dollars a night, and then we got three dollars and like twenty five cents an hour, and then we had to claim our tips. Right? But if you really look at it, we're making thirteen, fourteen, fifteen dollars an hour. We're like, we're rich. You know what I mean? Like, that was good money, but you can only bartend for so long in your life. Right? Like, that's Speaker 2
what I'm talking about. But I always wish I was a waiter or a waitress. I had a a girlfriend for a while in college, and my college went from ninety to ninety eight. So somewhere in there. Right? And she would come home and make, like, six hundred dollars a night at or or at Bebop's. Yeah. You know, like, just loads of cash. And I'm working construction and for the hospital in John for two weeks to get that same amount, and she'd get it in one night. Yeah. You know? Speaker 0
It has to be a good night, though. Like, a Friday or a weekend night. That's still pretty good money, I think, even to this day and age. Six hundred bucks in a night. Speaker 2
Back then, the key was you had to be a good looking gal and you just never told anybody you had a boyfriend. I couldn't go in there. I'd had to be like a secret. But who's Speaker 0
Or you just walk around, like, in a different bar, like in Cheers. Carla would put a pillow underneath her shirt. Yeah. And walk around like she's pregnant. So you worked there for a while and then you were working for and then how did you decide to get into the commercial real estate suite? Speaker 2
So I remember, many times John would bring me in the office and say, hey. What do you wanna do? We're building all his buildings ourselves. In other words, we didn't have Ryan companies do it. We had our own we had our architect. We had all our groups, and I would help John pull the numbers together in all these jobs from day one. And not well, not from day one. Eventually, when I graduated from college, I got into the office finally, and that was in nineteen ninety eight. And once I'm in the office, now I'm wearing a suit and tie every day. Some nights John and I would plow all night long, and we'd still be in the office all day long, just fighting through it. Like, not like these days where somebody works another hour, they think, like, you hired them for sixty grand a year, and they only work forty hours a week, but if they do anything extra, you should pay them extra, you know. I would I would if John asked me to work thirty hours a day, I just did, you know. It didn't matter. Pick me up from the airport on Sunday, I'll be there. I was just so happy to have a job and be with somebody that's pretty sharp. And, trying to think where the heck I was going with this. But just working super, super hard all the time. I can't I can't remember what the heck I was gonna say there. Sorry. Speaker 0
No. We were going down the road of, you know, you got how'd you get into the commercial space? Oh, the corporation. Working for John. Speaker 2
You locked out. Yeah. So we yeah. Lucked out. We built all he built all his own buildings. I was really at the right place at the right time, and it was the trust. And, I thought that if John started a shipyard, I would go run the shipyard. Like, I never thought I'd ever leave him no matter what. But every now and then he'd say to me, like, I was really good at the construction, like, building this building here would be super simple for me. In fact, when they built this building, I think I helped them. Yeah. You know, help to do some things. But the, he wasn't, like, told he wasn't really teaching me, like, here's how and why, and here's how much money I'm gonna make. He would just be like, do this. Make sure you get three bids and do this, and this isn't right. And he'd show me how and what. But he wrote, like, when I'm mentoring people in my company now, I'm, like, showing them how and why and the whole the whole thing, he wasn't really getting that deep into it. He just wanted me to work super hard. And and, so I was able to build these buildings and run these jobs by myself, and we had a guy that we hired to do a few of them, and I learned a lot from him. I just kinda learned quickly on whatever needed to be done. And then I was really, had when I took that for when I first got in the office, I had to bring my own computer that I had in college. You know, piece of crap, but I mean, they didn't really have computers in offices then too much, but I had to bring my own, drove my own car. You know, eventually bought me a car, and then he bought me a computer, and and, I was really good with Excel, so I could do a lot of lot of the stuff like and we were talking about earlier, like, you know, we gotta lean on our children now because they're way techier than we are. Yeah. So I was able to do a lot of that stuff. And but he would say, do you wanna be a contractor, or do you wanna be a broker? And I'm like, I like to do the deals. So I'd be building buildings. One I was always in a suit and tie, so I'm I'm at the construction site, ruining my shoes and suit, and the next minute, I'm taking Honeywell through a building, right, or or a client through a building or, you know, one of the tenants, or I'm going to meet with one of our existing tenants. And so we're really running the whole operation. We own them and manage them. And, eventually, you know, I got my license. I didn't really need it because we're just working on his buildings. In other words, if a client called, if we couldn't plug them into our buildings, I didn't go represent them out in the field, which is what I ended up doing once I left John. But it it was an amazing career. It still is an amazing career, but it was amazing working for John Hill. I mean, I I I didn't I'm more grateful for it each and every day now than I actually was when I was there. Speaker 0
When you truly with John, you you truly went through the school of hard knocks. Speaker 2
Yeah. Hundred percent. You know? Hundred percent. Speaker 0
And you know what they say about tuition for that is Yeah. A pint of blood and a pound of flesh basically, is what you put into that. Speaker 2
But it was great because he grew he grew up, you know, on a farm and his dad was a school teacher. I think the years of actually physically working for John, like when I was out being his right hand guy and doing anything that needed to be done, the the work ethic was just never a question. Wow. Or or the trust or the now did I put him through some challenges, you know, getting into some trouble? Hundred percent. But everybody does and, you know, and well, yeah. He he really gave me some second chances, and, Yeah. And it sounds like it but it was worth it. Speaker 0
Talked a little bit about, you had lost your license at one point. Yeah. This past statute of limitations, so I think you're safe. Speaker 2
I am safe. Speaker 0
We can't come and bust you or anything like that, but you're driving for a while without a license just because you're safe. I gotta work. Speaker 2
I'm not gonna pay anything. And I think, like, between eighteen well, I was in the military eighteen, twenty one. I won't call it those years. So twenty one to probably thirty. I probably had my license three of those years. Three total of three. You know, I'd lose my license. Yeah. But but it was like speeding tickets really was was just dumb stuff, you know? It it was I'd lose my license because I couldn't afford to pay the fine to go to court. Now, I did get a couple DWIs. Those were major, but still I couldn't afford the reinstatement fee to go take the test and get my license back, so you have to say to yourself, like, okay. I'm not a dummy. I don't know why this happened, but, you know, and then you have roommates in college that never have to leave college or do anything, and they don't don't have a car there because they're just they don't have to work. They're just going to college and drinking all day, you know, and I gotta I gotta go to work. So, these problem solving skills that I have today, I one hundred percent give credit to the trouble that I got in because I had nobody to go to to really help me. You know, I couldn't go to my parents and say I mean, my kid right now, if it happened to them, they would guilt you into you're not gonna give me seven hundred bucks yet. I'm not gonna be able to drive and go to work or go to school, so I'm just gonna go float in the boat all day, you know? Like, you'd never go to your parents and say that. You know what I mean? So I had to figure it out. My parents weren't gonna give me five dollars. They didn't care. It wasn't their problem. It was my problem. I'm an adult now. And so by going through those things, it really, really helped me in my career. Speaker 0
I think you I think you learn how to take calculated risks. Well, such as Speaker 2
to calculate risk, but I take took many, many, many Speaker 0
Yeah. Which is always good. Speaker 2
Risk on, yeah, like if I buy this camera, is it gonna pay off? Stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. But you learn Speaker 0
that, right, as part of do I charge my license and But more even like license and Speaker 2
You know, more of like when I was building buildings and you had to go get permits and you had to go through those processes, it was kind of the same as, like, how do you get your driver's license back? Yeah. You gotta go down to the courthouse. You gotta go down to the inspections department. You gotta, you know and and you're in the business of pulling permits. You know, you go down there to pull permits in some of these cities, and you wanna just grab the person by their ears and be like, what are you, an idiot? Like, all I'm doing is changing an outlet. Yeah. You know, they make it into just such a huge big deal. It's the same thing as going thirty seven and a thirty five or Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
Maybe I was really doing forty five and a thirty. It doesn't matter. Right. Two forty, two forty two. Right? But you gotta you gotta learn to follow the rules if you're gonna get if you're eventually gonna get traction and get somewhere. Yep. Whether whether you agree to with them or not. Right. Speaker 0
And a legit mind, you gotta play the game. Speaker 2
But it's hard to do when you're in your twenties. Speaker 0
Yeah. It is. And especially if you've had some stuff that happened and that you you're trying to get traction, but yet you have to go, okay. Is this worth the risk that I'm taking? Right? And you had to make some of those decisions. Speaker 2
And and the lonely feeling of me thinking nobody cares. I mean, I went to work, and I always thought my coworkers cared more than my own family, and it's just how I felt, you know, and whether it was right or wrong. It's, it's powerful, man. I can I can bring up those emotions within a second? Yeah. And so that's really, I think, what pushes me to wanna help people today because there it's not that hard. Yeah. There's I mean, once you start making it, it's not that hard. Speaker 0
Yeah. There's just so many things to that. I wanted to get into a little bit more about how you, well, in case the audience doesn't know, Jeff and I met a while back of just doing business. But what, what really was cool about it was part of our connection was, the building that I was able to purchase through you. Speaker 2
We're in it. Speaker 0
And we're in it right now in our studio. Studio a at Quincy Union Electric. But the other thing too is as we've gotten gone through our process of knowing each other, I think what really amazes me is, I got to meet I knew Von Neher. We knew a lot of same people. But the story that really intrigued me is Marcus that you helped. Speaker 2
I heard he's coming in. Speaker 0
He is. He is. He's excited. I'm excited to have him. He was an incredible story too with, you know, I I think Sean Penn helped him, get over here from, was he from the the island? Speaker 2
From from Haiti. From Haiti. Speaker 0
That's right. Speaker 2
From Haiti. And, I had gotten to know his father at a lumberyard up up up up up my lake, and then, we're at, like, like, the Grantsburg County Fair, and I got to meet him. Of course, I'm shocked that, you know, oh, he got he adopted me a little bit. You know? And and Margaret was just so little young. I mean, maybe he was in he was probably a little bit younger than Levi right now. So maybe he's like eight or ten or something like that. And in the community at Grantsburg, you know, you're like thinking, oh, boy. This is but his parents are just super, super wonderful people. And, you know, I knew his dad and many of the people that his dad works with at the and the only reason I knew everybody at the lumber yard is I had had a fire and had to build a new cabin, so I really got to know the lumber people well. And he, I just I knew the day I met him, I really appreciated his his father. I knew his dad. And I knew that day, I'm gonna have to help this kid someday. Just because growing up being a Haitian kid in this in in Grantsburg, Wisconsin, is gonna be a tough role. Like, the kid's gotta get to a city. Right? And, so I just really kept track of him as much as I could. And he he he became a fisherman and loved to fish, so then I'm like, his dad would drop him off at our lake all day long while he went to work. And Marcus had bought his own boat when he was younger and him and a buddy. And I'd say, hey, if there's ever a storm, you guys can go into my cabin and because I'm I'm on the lake and so at least I had a doctor to go to and things like that, or if it rained, if it got rained out, they'd go sit up there and hang out. And, I just really kept tabs on him. Went to his graduation party and then just, I'm really excited to see the podcast, but he, is an amazing young man. It just it it just like and the people I've met through him that I've been able to help as well, it's just, there's some people you meet that you just wanna give everything you got to help them. And I think, like, I was definitely not that amazing man. I mean, of all the people that John Allen knew, like, how he picked me, it's like, it was convenient because I was the nanny's boyfriend, and I could do a couple things. You know, I never dreamed I'd be there that many years. But, yeah. Marcus is, he's at Saint Thomas. Now he's a student at Saint Thomas, and, he's gonna he's gonna do amazing things. And just having people believe in you, And those are the rewards now. You know, like I said, once you pay the bills, you know, what's next? Well, what fuels my fire is, you know, as as I'm sure when John sees the things I'm doing, he's impressed. And and, it's just hearing from these people's parents, people that know them, and and, like, just thanksgiving, the amount of messages I got from all the people you helped out in life that you kind of maybe forgot or some young person that. What's really weird is when you take time and meet some young person and you're willing to give them everything. Like, they don't even realize it. Like, I'd pay for their entire college, like, I mean, I I really would, depending on the circumstances. And then they never call you back, or they they just drift off. And some of them end up sticking around. So, I think that there's there's two folds of that. Like, people help me, so we need to help other people. But I also think the people that you and I are mentoring some, like you're saying, hey, I got a son over here, and I got a daughter over here. And I'm not gonna be here forever, so look after them like I've looked after you. I think there's part of that in in that. That's what makes you You kinda build your own family. Speaker 0
That's what makes you really incredible. That's what the things that drew me to you as we talked about it and just getting to learn more about your story growing up in the Anoka area. And I I I've heard different things, and you're you're kind of remarkable too. But anyways, along with that, we should probably take a quick break here Perfect. To come back. Perfect. Anoka Meals on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that I proudly support, delivers more than just nutritious meals to seniors in our community. They deliver connection, care, and peace of mind. Their volunteers don't just drop off food. They check-in, share a smile, and ensure our neighbors know they're not forgotten. I know because I am one of those volunteer drivers. Help us keep serving those who need it most. Visit m o w anoka dot org to volunteer, donate, or learn more about Anoka Meals on Wheels, nurse nourishing bodies and spirits one meal at a time. Tired of lugging heavy bags of water softener salt from the store? TwinC Heating Air and Electric now delivers premium water softener salt right to your home in returnable, reusable twenty pound containers to go green and light it up to save you from injury. Serving the north suburbs, we're your neighbors who know how hard our water is. No more running out of salt and dealing with spotty dishes and stiff laundry. Quality salt, reliable delivery, local service you can trust because at Twin Cities Heating, Air and Electric, we don't just keep your home comfortable, we keep your water soft and your life easy. Twin C Heating, Air and Electric, now with water softener salt delivery. Call today or visit us online. If you're joining this podcast, we'd really appreciate it if you could take a few seconds to hit that subscribe button. It helps us reach more listeners. And if you're feeling extra generous, it'd be great if you can leave us a rating or review. That would mean a lot to us, and it would help a lot of the businesses that are in this community, get more traction. It only takes a minute, but it makes a huge difference in helping other people discover the show. You can find us wherever you get your podcast, and don't forget to follow us on Facebook at Twin Sea Tales for behind the scenes content and episode updates and more. So we are back with Jeff Salisbury of Commercial Equities Group, and, this is the part where Josie, your wife, sent me some pictures. She seems like she's in a good mood. Do you do you, don't have anything, that she's mad at you about? Because I'll show you the first picture. This is Speaker 2
She you called her. She loves talking to young men. I told you that. So Speaker 0
But I'm an older man. So No. Speaker 2
I know you. But any contractor that comes out, she's so nice to them. So you Speaker 0
She she is a mess. Speaker 2
Go there and do some work. Speaker 0
There you go. Speaker 2
I'll tell you my furnace filter story later if I did. I can remember. Speaker 0
I did tell you that story. So this first picture that I have is you're hanging out with, like, four Speaker 2
other young kids and That's this is probably my favorite. It's my favorite picture. Somebody just sent me my brother did this one in AI and just, it turned into like an a r AI cartoon, and the the guy with the so this was a lucky rabbit's foot that he's got. You know, it was like a key chain thing. So maybe it was made maybe it was a real rabbit's tail or something. Speaker 0
So he has a rabbit's foot on his nose. Speaker 2
His name is Joe Henkemeyer, and I I hope I'll send this podcast to him. It's this is John Henkemeyer, and this is Joe Henkemeyer. We're living in, Sauk Rapids in this photo. Actually, in their basement, it was like a walkout apartment. Oh, it's level of their house. Yeah. So we're like, I can tell you, Joe got the first pair of jeans, Joel, and then, Speaker 0
Who is the one in the blue with the dots on the Speaker 2
And then we got the handy dots. You can see what they look like by the time I I get to them. They're pretty torn up, and we had no money at this. We had nothing. So, in this picture, my mom is divorced, and it's three kids and mom renting at, but we're but we're at a walkout apartment on the Mississippi River, which is pretty cool. Speaker 0
And and I I can tell the jacket's somewhat the seventies for some reason. Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Those are little little slugger jackets. Speaker 0
Yes. And they had the little baseball teams on each little patch. Speaker 2
You know, you know, I'm not wearing one. There's no way we could afford that. But they were really cool. That's that's my favorite picture. But if you look at me there and you think, like, wow, this guy's gonna become something that's pretty crazy. But that's a great picture. Well, we don't have a lot of pictures back then. Right. Not like today. Right? And especially for us. We didn't have any money for that. Sure. Sure. Speaker 0
This one I really like. You are in an army t shirt. Was this before going to the military? Speaker 2
I can do more push ups right now than I can do then. I'm not even kidding. Really? Yeah. I'm fifty six. Yep. I'm standing at the end of the hall in the barracks on the third floor, and my room is about three doors down. The laundry room is to my left, and, that was like our patio. That's where we hung out and had a couple beers the other night. Speaker 0
Wow. You looked really young there. Speaker 2
Probably around nineteen. My nickname was the kid. Speaker 0
The kid. Speaker 2
And if you look at it when I when I post, like, I'm sure you might see on Facebook in Veterans Day, I'll put a picture and, you know, everybody comments. And if you look below, all my buddies that were in the unit that are still alive and I'm friends with, they're like, the kid! Because I was the kid. But, I was the, at some point in my unit, even though I've been there three years, seems like a lifetime, I was one of the older guys in the barracks because most people got married and lived off base. You know, they didn't live in the barracks because you could be married and live in an apartment. Why would you wanna be in the barracks? But all the fun happened. And our unit was thirty people, so the fun happened in the barracks. You know, it was like twenty of us or something. Yeah, I was like the mentor then. Speaker 0
It really was. Sounds like the military was really a lot of good memories for you there. Speaker 2
Well, look at you think I look young, and I think I look like a brick there because I was like, I think I was a hundred and twenty pounds wet when I went in, and then he come back and he weighed one eighty seven and he got pecs and muscles, you know. It was like, it was crazy. Speaker 0
And it's kind of funny because you grow. I like your growth spurt for these kids. Like, you'll see them like Yeah. Speaker 2
I'm not done growing. Speaker 0
College, they, like, all of a sudden get bigger. Speaker 2
Yeah. But I'm not done growing then. I was pretty pretty small guy. Yeah. But, I love that my wife picked some great pictures. Speaker 0
She did. She did. Man, I love Speaker 2
I didn't even work well. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
What did you ask her to send? Just an hermy picture or did you say send me your favorites? I just sent Speaker 0
few of her favorites, something that we can talk about. Speaker 2
That's interesting. Speaker 0
So and then this one, you're in a full beret in the military there. Speaker 2
So We I think today everybody in the military wears berets, so this is a this is great. So right there, I'm a special summon e four. So I know automatically right now that this is nineteen ninety, and I'm getting out soon. So in our unit, we were the only airborne people in all of Europe, which we called you, sir, then. We're the only active duty airborne unit there, so I don't care if you're in Kaiserslautern, Germany where we're based, or if you went over to France, England, anywhere around Europe. If if you were wearing a beret, people knew we used to have a cadence we saw on who you are and where you came from. So we're we're the elite neighbor, or elite neighbor, elite unit in all of Europe. So if I'm at a bar, and I mouth off, and I'm in uniform, you know where my unit is. If you wanna come back and tell my first sergeant or beat the shit out of me or whatever I did wrong or or right. Right or wrong. Right? So we had to have the most the best pressed uniforms, and we had to look a hundred percent and represent our unit anywhere we went. So behavior was important in uniform. We just had to be the most squared away because we were airborne. And that was pretty cool. Speaker 0
That makes sense. Speaker 2
It was cool, but it was also kind of a curse, like, you know, we never wore those baseball cap looking. We call them leg hats for legs. And, that was pretty awesome. We look we that's that's a picture. That's our daily outfit right there, but when we put our class a's on, we look Sharp. Super sharp. Well, we had more pins and awards than Yeah. Anybody, you know, so That's awesome. And airborne. It was cool. It was cool. That's right. I don't know where she found that picture either. Speaker 0
And one of one of my favorites here is Speaker 2
I love that. I love I've seen other podcasts where you do this, and I think it's a great idea. It's just awesome. This is this is this is Mike Wenzel's garage. Speaker 0
Is it? Speaker 2
Yeah. We So we got a picture of it. So Speaker 0
that is a cool looking motorcycle too that Well It's like a Speaker 2
My daughter my daughter, Haley, painted that tank and duct taped that seat and painted the side covers. We're we're about to ride to Panama, and, Mike and I planned this trip. We we couldn't, we wanted to ride into Mexico and dump some bikes to come back, but then you got a customs problem because you dumped your motorcycle. So now we're like, oh, we gotta ride all the way to Chile or Panama or somewhere down that way. And, we built these bikes in the winter. We decided this late fall. Built them in the winter. I think we took this trip. This picture is probably from January. I don't know. Probably fifteen years ago at this point. We're getting old fast. And we rode these things all the way to Panama. They're excess six fifties, but, Mike took this picture, and, I think this is probably the next the night before we loaded these things into a trailer and left. Wow. And it was crazy. We were crazy. We're still crazy. Speaker 0
Nothing wrong with that. Quite the adventure for sure. Speaker 2
Yeah. Like, when we say we're motorcycle adventure riders, some people think the qualification of that is to dealership and buy a fancy motorcycle and jacket. And Mike and I, as you know, we we could have afforded to buy any bike and do whatever we wanted, but we built these so we had a bet. I think we could spend like four hundred bucks, you had to put together a shitty bike, and we're both very good mechanics. And, but the funny story is when Mike met me, he thought that I didn't know jack shit because I wore a suit and tie Right. Just standing on rooftop Never Speaker 0
judge a book by car. Speaker 2
Looking at rooftop units Right. On a roof. But it turns out that, we ended up our our friendship really started in commercial real estate, but it it it became better because we're great travel partners. I don't know if that makes sense, like No, it does. Like, you and I are great friends, but we might not travel well either. Right. A travel partner is a guy who's pretty late, you know, like, we're both, like, laid back, Like, when when you when your bike breaks down on the side of the road, we don't get panicked. We're just like, okay. We'll figure it out. Put a coconut in the cylinder and keep driving or whatever. But, yeah. My wife when I look at this picture though, I think about she must have been worried to death. I mean, seriously, we're I'm still pretty crazy at this point in my life. I am I'm I'm much older. I mean, I'm a professional now and working for John, and, yeah, I don't it still amazes me that, number one, if I'm going with Mike, that this is she thinks they're the Wentzels are saints, so, you know, it's always a yes. Oh, this is gonna be fine. He's going with Mike. Speaker 0
Wait till Mike and Ken hear about this. Right? Speaker 2
Yeah. No. They know. They know. But, you know, this is why, you know and and Ken wasn't able to go on this trip, but it was just Mike and I, and it's an amazing trip that and these these photos, the importance that I see in this photo is number one. I tell my son all the time, and, I know your son is recording this and listening. Like, when you get married, you have to continue to take your trips and do things with your friends. It can't all be about your wife, because these trips make your relationship stronger. They do because you're you're missing your wife while you're gone. You're really thinking about what you got and how lucky you are. But you have to continue to do that your whole life. I really believe that. Speaker 0
I agree with you. I think I think part of it and the wife should be doing the same thing. Speaker 2
She should be She should. My wife does. Luckily, she my wife goes on trips all the time. Speaker 0
Or Not just trips, but have other friends outside. Because that's the one thing that I sometimes worry about my current wife. Right? Like, she has friends, but and she's doing more of it. But I feel like that's a big part of who I am because I'll go play cards with the guys that I've known since middle school. Right? So and we'll play maybe once, twice, three times a year. It seems like it's getting less and less every year. But we don't go to sporting events when Speaker 2
we want to play. Take effort. Yes. It does. Speaker 0
Like, you Speaker 2
and I are friends, but that could end tomorrow if no one of us calls each other and says, let's go to lunch. Or we don't just say, hey, I was thinking about you, I saw your truck, or whatever, you know, you have they take work, they take effort. But my wife has been a super trooper, but I don't add, you know, as long as I say, so so we just took a recent trip I told you about, and the way I pitched to my wife is Mike and I are going on a motorcycle trip. We didn't even see a motorcycle on that trip, but we're getting older now, so she's probably happy that Alright. We're doing trains and planes and automobiles and stuff, but Right. Speaker 0
Not as much worried. Speaker 2
Yeah, but, man, I wasn't worried then at all. I I figured we could fight our way through anything. And Mike's, like, eight years older than me, Speaker 0
so it was I I I gotta admit, I wanted to buy a motorcycle, like, four years ago, a a two wheel. But I had a KZ seven fifty back when I was younger. Fast bike. Right? That Kawasaki. Yeah. My wife, no way is she gonna let me have a motorcycle, so I end up buying a Can Am, that three wheeler. I get the same, but at least it makes her feel comfortable water. Right? Speaker 2
You know? I'm kinda I've been giving my motorcycles away. I'm I'm actually my vision and my, you know, I I I don't know. I it's the drivers that are out there too down today. Yeah. You know what? People are so distracted driving and but the places we rode and the things we've done, like, oh. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm surprised we lived. I mean, I'm really it Yeah. We we think we think about it before we left. But, Mike, like, I would say that we're experts, and I'm not trying to be, like, oh, I'm better. But we didn't know this. He's but Mike and I knew each other for twenty years. I mean, I know this about each other, but, yeah, I could talk forever about motorcycles. Speaker 0
No. That's cool. I I mean, I love riding. I just don't do it enough, but Speaker 2
She sent me some fun pictures. That was pretty was that the last one or did she Speaker 0
That is the last one. That's so Speaker 2
Good job, honey. Those are good pictures. Speaker 0
They are good pictures. Speaker 2
They really cover the. Speaker 0
Yeah. And your wife is so sweet when I when I was texting her or talking to her about it, so she really did a great job. The one question I always like to ask, like, this is fifteen years ago, but I would like to even go back to, like, the military one where, you know, looking at this picture when you first got in the military, what would be the advice you'd give yourself right now if you go back in time and go, hey, Jeff, let me tell you a little something as you get older that you you get Speaker 2
any Yeah. Man, I, had no idea how hard it was gonna get after that. The military was, was tough. Right? You learn a lot of mental discipline and and physically what you're what you're able to do. The advice I would give somebody then is, like, you have no idea, what's ahead of you, so don't really worry about it. I mean, but set bigger goals. Set huge goals and believe in yourself and or find find a mentor. You have to find a mentor. You have to find somebody that will believe in you and convince them to believe in you. Wash their car, mow their lawn, keep hanging out. If some kid really wanted everything I have, I'd I'd come over and just shovel my driveway before I got home and impress me so that I have to hire you. I can't say no. Right? Like, if you're really looking for a job, go come over here to your parking if if if you came up every day and somebody's out there sweeping your parking lot, and it was me and you're like, what the hell are you doing? I need a job and I'm gonna keep working around here until I impress you so and I'm gonna wash your windows when you're not here, and I'm gonna keep doing shit till you hire me. Right? Right. But at that age, I had a lot of trouble come up beyond that. And this is a this is a, I think, you have to like, I'm in this picture right here, I'm twenty. It's amazing how I can look at these pictures and just know. Yeah. I mean, I know I'm twenty. Not quite twenty, but I'm twenty. And, I think that I might have been nineteen, but I'm I can tell there's green grass in the background. So I know about what time of year it is and how long I've been there and the size of my muscles. But, yeah, that that kid, is about to go through a lot of shit. Speaker 0
That's some good advice to, you know, yeah. Speaker 2
But I but I think you gotta you gotta you gotta realize, like, hey. I I said I've said this before. If you're really, really looking for help, go go to a golf course. Because if the guys are there, they've obviously got some sort of success, and you would be surprised how many people there are, like my friend Wyman here and I, that would take you to lunch and just help you through the day. Like, don't give up. There's I have a lot of friends that have committed suicide and done and I I I'm not saying I would've, but I was a good candidate. You know, I've sat and cried next to the river many times wondering how I'm gonna get to that next day. And, there's somebody out there that'll help you. You just gotta ask and and cling on. Speaker 0
Think of everything you've done, and if you would have done that, it's almost like it's a wonderful life. Right? Like, you just never know how many people you affected. And just hearing what you just said there about, hey, you know, just go mow somebody's yard. Do do something. Speaker 2
Somebody will feed you. Somebody will take you in. Speaker 0
I feel like John really did impart those impressions on you because he gave you that. Speaker 2
Even when I was with him, I was struggling internally and couldn't really go to him and say I couldn't go to him and say I need a hundred dollars. Right. He would be like, work for it. Or here's a hundred bucks and you better be at Speaker 0
work tomorrow. Right. But he showed up you showed up every day. That's what impressed him Yeah. Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. To get Speaker 0
you and that's where you've learned that where, like, that's how you're gonna impress me, and that's how I will help you. Yeah. The difference is you'd probably Speaker 2
help me. I think I think the I think at the at the time, the the struggle, you know, like, was real. I think this abundance thing is something kinda new in my life as I've gotten older. But if I was telling somebody younger at that that age, I'd say, man, you got you got everything to lose and everything to gain too. You you could, you know, at least my decisions got, you know, the the book The Compound Effect, I I suggest to many people, like Yeah. Just keep making a little bit better choice every single day. If you drank thirty six beers yesterday, just try to drink thirty five today and make your bed. And then tomorrow drink thirty four and make your bed and straighten your closet out. And then the next day drink thirty three. You know what I mean? Just keep making small changes towards the direction you wanna go and you're gonna be fine. Speaker 0
I think one percent better every day. If you can get one percent better every day at something, you know, it doesn't have to be everything, but if you get one percent better Speaker 2
That doesn't mean we have it all figured out. No. Absolutely not. I still make mistakes every day, especially in marriage. It's marriage. My wife's wonderful. But it's hard. It's like, I think about how much I love her every single day, but something about telling her, I just can't, I don't know why, it's hard. Speaker 0
But you know what though? It's an infinite game. There's no winner or loser at the end of the day, right? Right. Like, you have to go, like, nobody ever goes out of marriage and goes, I won. Right? Like, I think you have to get better every day, and it's making each other better every day to be able to have that enjoyment of your life. Right? Yeah. Speaker 2
And I'm really I'm I'm, like, super lucky because, like, my wife's never given up on me either, you know? But she's when I met her, I knew I had to get my shit together. Like, man, I gotta impress this gal. I gotta keep impressing her. Like, this could be hard. Speaker 0
I have to admit, I'm blessed too with that. My wife has been a saint. You know? I I wanna be better every day for her, but there's she's not a risk taker. And you and I are risk takers because I think that's in our DNA. Speaker 2
And our marriage is our work. Like, I'm not saying that, but at least, like, can you imagine having a like, I mean, I've never been when you're young, when you're this age and somebody breaks your heart, like, you know, and you have guys working on your team, you gotta take them aside and be like, hey, man, you okay? Because that's hard those are hard times. But on the other hand, people that are going through divorces and things like that, I never have been, and, that's such a distraction too. Like, I mean, there's relationships are messy and hard and Yeah. When you got guys that are working for you that are going through that, it's like, you're you're getting anything done. Speaker 0
And I think the old days, it used to be suck it up, rub some dirt on it, and walk around, you'll be fine. Right? But now I think you really have to we have to kinda come and understand what they're going through. I'm I'm not saying do the work for them or but we have to have some empathy in a sort of way to be a good mentor, a good leader, asking good questions and really coming from an angle of empathy. Speaker 2
Yeah. I just, I don't know. It's tough. I can't imagine waking up tomorrow. My son's not there to say good morning to me. You know? And he gotta go to work and keep driving on. Speaker 0
I know the feeling. There's times where you do think about those kind of things. Speaker 2
I made the mistakes at the right time in my life and, you know, they weren't all perfect. And I my life but but, you know, all the success I've had in my life is not perfect. But, you know, we can all do better. You keep doing better. I think that financially, everything's gonna come together in your life. You just gotta find the peep find the people that are gonna push you to be better in the areas that you need to be better in, and we can all there's there's people at my church I I look at and think, like, you they they really look up to me, and I'm thinking you have no idea how much I look up to you. And, you know, they don't you know, we think I don't think for one minute that, I'm better because of you know, I've done better or this or that. I think you have to I think there's so many people that probably just wanna be like me, but I just really wanna be like them, you know? Speaker 0
I love your humbleness. I love your humbleness. Yeah. It's fantastic. Speaker 2
It's huge. I think about it every day like, man, you have no idea. Speaker 0
Well, we're blessed and it's about gratitude and Yep. Speaking of gratitude Speaker 2
I knew this was coming. Speaker 0
On this show. I didn't give you a free bucket of salt, but I Speaker 2
can also Is there mice, mice poison in there? That looks like a bucket of poison. I just got like So I always like to have Speaker 0
a little memory of our show together. It's a little trophy. Speaker 2
That's, Put that Speaker 0
on your desk or put it in the closet and hide it away or melt it down. And then, of course, a little mug for Speaker 2
our podcast. I got since, Speaker 0
Since the participation trophies. Speaker 2
I'm gonna, I'm gonna make this my new fave. Speaker 0
There you go. Oh, Speaker 2
the podcast cup. Speaker 0
And I know you don't you don't like you read, but you you would rather listen to so I got one sent to you too by Audible, but this is a great one. How do Speaker 2
you send Audible books? You can learn how to do that. Speaker 0
I'll send you. I'll I'm I'm sending you the I Speaker 2
checked this guy out last night because I I had an idea you're gonna do this. I think that's awesome. Speaker 0
So this book is fantastic. Speaker 2
Yeah. Just recently. It's Speaker 0
really good. Speaker 2
Recently? Speaker 0
I read it a few years ago and I reread it a couple times. I don't know if you know about this book or have heard about it. I knew the name, but then I started He studied the military quite a bit, like military guys. And what I really enjoy about that book is that he talks about leaders are have to have a good a servant leadership. Right? A servant mind. And with being a mentor the way you are, it's a servant type of mentality that you have to be able to help. Speaker 2
This this is great. I I send and give people a lot of books. A lot of books. If you looked at my Amazon, I'd say, like, most of them I've bought for others. Speaker 0
Yeah. Speaker 2
But now that you tell me I can buy people out of out of your books, I didn't know you Speaker 0
had them. So I have credits and then I just use one of my credits to send you the gift. Speaker 2
I know, but I gotta figure out how to do that. That's that's very nice. You know, books are the, my my teachers would never think that, I wish we had Audible when I was in, when I was in turtles. That would have been pretty helpful. Speaker 0
Or or at least had the what we would I use, Cliff Notes versions. Probably Cliff Notes. Speaker 2
Yeah, but I could afford those. And, as far as my friend, like if we were supposed to read a book in English class, I never read it. I never passed a quiz. I never like, there's, I read one book. I remember, I didn't do any of the work. Speaker 0
I think that we had to do a report on To Kill a Mockingbird. I watched the movie. I did the report by skipping through the book. Speaker 2
Yeah, instead of writing a book report, I'd build this cool thing of like building a train set. Speaker 0
I'm gonna Speaker 2
do a, you know, a science fair project on here's the, I remember, yeah, I remember doing a big project I had, but thanks for the book. That's, thank you for the gift. And one last thing. Speaker 0
There's more? One more because I just This Speaker 2
is crazy. Speaker 0
You're such a different person. Speaker 2
I was trying to think what I could get you today. I'm gonna have to I'll one up you someday here. Speaker 0
But your friendship is more than plenty. Speaker 2
Dedicated. Speaker 0
This I thought about you because the difference you're making in Marcus's life, the difference you made in my life, helping me find a building and increasing who I am as a person and our our our conversations that we've had, the things you've taught me. You are truly a difference maker in Speaker 2
this space. Other shows. I've never seen these. We have this is do you have a drawer full of these? Or Speaker 0
I did buy extra for different people, but I don't give them out all the time. Speaker 2
I appreciate your super kind words and, that's, this is probably one of the coolest things I've ever got. I mean, I like the coffee cup, but this is Speaker 0
Awesome. It's kind Speaker 2
of cool. Well, you Speaker 0
know, I can't thank you enough again for being on the show, Jeff, on our Twin Cities Tales podcast. If you wanna learn more about Jeff, you can visit w w w dot c as in commercial, e as in equity, g as in group, spaces dot com. Again, that's c e g s spaces dot com or visit us at Twin Cities Tales Facebook page and we'll post on there. And as we roll out of here, I wanna thank Chris Hockey for the use of his song Thanks. Obviously, with no pun intended, I You Speaker 2
told me all about that song. It's awesome. Speaker 0
It is. He's he's a great guy. This podcast is powered by Twin Sea Heating and Electric. And until the next show, you can't go wrong with Juan Moana and Twin Cities Tales podcast. Speaker 2
This song goes out to my family. To all the ones who to all the ones who died before me. I'm sure the family life made you do things you never wanted to, so I I wrote this song to say thank you for the breath that I just took, for the 