SPEAKER_01 0:00

Maybe I'll work 40 hours a week, but I still want to go to lacrosse games. Yeah, you know, and I want to not do emails until nine o'clock at night when I'm supposed to be paying attention to my kids. And so, okay, how do we do that?

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter, where we have awesome discussions with Northern Colorado's best networkers and find out what makes them successful in both their business and their networking. Today I have uh a no-ko legend, uh Kurt Bayer, who's on the show, who's charged a loco experience, loco think tank, and uh all around potentially politician in Fort Collins.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Uh you know, amateur chef, gardener, yeah, uh camping hobbyist, motorcycle enthusiast.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

And uh uh your loco community, let's get to local community. Sure. You know, they're uh in Northern Colorado, we're not like Denver. We're not this big sprawling metropolis. We have very distinct communities. Um and that is something that you're serving is the local community.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Aaron Powell Yeah, we uh kind of our mantra is like wherever you are, be proud of that place and do business with the local businesses in that community and and really give credit to the very challenging art of creating a small business, creating a business that creates jobs, creates value in the community. And so that's it's at the heart of our kind of organization.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

It's like a healthy rivalry, right? Long monst has the long monsters and uh people in Fort Collins, uh, you know, obviously a lot of pride in CSU and different things they are.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

For sure, for sure. And there's a lot of CSU graduates that operate a business in Greeley or Evans, and there's a lot of UNC graduates that are you know key executives at big companies in Fort Collins. Yeah, it's a regional economy. And so for me, that's kind of my big you know, I'm Fort Collins famous and known the most in Fort Collins, but we've got members from you know Greeley and Loveland and Berthaid and Wellington and Windsor. Um and I'm proud of that as well, because uh wherever they are at, they should also be the most proud. You know, if a business is located in Windsor and that's where they do the heart of their business, then they should get their flowers in Windsor, if they can, get decent ones or their eyeglasses exams, uh, right there, as local as they can. And so that's kind of uh and at the heart of local community think tank, L O C O you might go crazy if you try to do it all on your own. And so that's the other kind of tongue-in-cheek name for local think tank, is it's you know, there to help you build and grow your business, build and grow your skills as a business leader, um, and not drive yourself crazy just working with your head down on the same problem with the same set of lenses.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Aaron Powell Well, and that chop locally uh resonates with a lot, but it's so convenient. Just, I mean, people can go online and order flowers from like, you know, an online thing, but but supporting that local florist, building a relationship with a local florist um makes the community stronger, the bind stronger.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Aaron Powell Well, and if everybody just works for Amazon, like nobody even likes to work for Amazon, right? And so I tell a story of back in in 2020. Yeah, probably 2020, actually. Um, I had been part of a running team that did a fundraiser for the Matthews House. It was the Wild West Relay. But we weren't allowed to do the formal Wild West, but we still kept the fundraiser, and we ran uh from Fort Collins to Greeley on the back roads and Pooder River Trail where we could. Umly I hurt my calf and and my friend Matthew Fuge, uh, may he rest in peace, um, ran for me, and I just was a volunteer. So I'll try to cut the story short, but I go into Manweiler's hardware, and they've got this amazing um blackstone camp grill. It's got like a grill and a flat top, or you can take the grill off, and now you've got a big pot boiler. So it's an amazing unit and it's only $199. I was like, sweet, that's awesome. Let's check out what is they say about this unit online. Great reviews, 4.6, Amazon has it, only three days delivery with Prime, $299. Oh, wow. Wow. And you know Amazon is spending like half what Manweiler's is to acquire that grill because they're like, hey, Blackstone, right? Listen, but you know what the Amazon doesn't do? Support the football team, right? You know, pay property taxes in Windsor, yeah, give local jobs to local people. I mean, they yeah, sure, some people from Windsor go and work for Amazon and drive around, but only until they can find a better job. And so it's just better. Um, and like those like the pursuit of corporate first profits first that these big organizations are are kind of almost mandated to do, is just a little different kind of model. Maybe they're more efficient in the long run, but you know, a lot of times you can get the same set of products and services. These days, uh private equity has basically taken over the industries of veterinary, like 80%. All those local veterinarians listed on the phone book in Fort Collins or the online. Yeah, they're all owned by private equity, all but like maybe three. Same thing, HVAC companies. They all have the same Smith's plumbing and heating or whatever, but it ain't Smith anymore, it's the private equity firm that bought Smith out four years ago. Yeah. Um, and so, and guess what? Now the people don't like working for those guys anymore. You know, and the customers don't like being customers as much anymore. Yeah. Um, and but nobody knows any better because they're not putting, hey, proudly sold to private equity, you know, October of 2023. So anyway, that's at the heart of uh the the community building that I am a believer in is you know, yeah, local business isn't perfect just like any, you know, just like capital is isn't perfect and our two-party system isn't perfect, but it's it's a it's the best we've got. And as we can be more community-driven, community focused, and independent in our own right, you know, it's it's like you know, if we get all of our chips for all of our phones from China, well then what happens if we fight with China? Right. No more jobs. And if we can take care of ourselves more here locally, and then you know you go out, you have friends, you trade with other states and other countries if they're friendlies and stuff. But if you can kind of be resilient and, you know, we can grow food, we've got energy, we've got smart people that work at CSU and all these universities and companies. So, you know, building that fervor for local wherever you are. And if you're in Colorado Springs, be local for local there. And if you're in Omaha, Nebraska or Lincoln, you know, be local, local for local there. So anyway, sorry to do that.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

I know I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

I'm passionate about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

For the think tank, you work with a lot of business owners who are it's not a networking group, it's it's pure advisory. So explain the difference for people who might not be familiar.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Yeah, I like to describe our chapters as uh like a two-parts board meeting, one part support group experience. Um, and our model is really one of our distinctives in that I I have a couple of different networks. One is high-achieving business veterans that want to give back and share with the community part of their experience. They don't want to be a consultant, they don't want to run around and cocktail party, look for new coaching clients or whatever, but they love business and they love community. So those are the people that I recruit and offer them the role of managing a chapter, uh, such as you were in. Yeah. You know, your facilitator, Aaron Everett, is a longtime friend, bus accomplished business veteran, and he loves to help other people grow. And I pay him a little bit because I don't want to insult them, but it's not about the money. They should want this kind of job uh for free, uh, but you know, I don't want them to get tired of it or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

How do you uh are they gr are they kind of are they a product of Loco and they they just are a standout, or did you go and find them for the mentorship?

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Many of our member of our facilitators have been members, about half. But then there's also my banking. I was a 15 years in banking, and so my network of business leaders, and I I unfortunately saw more than a couple of stories, not stories, situations where you know the business leader sells their business, they're 55 years old, they're rich now after living kind of below their means, and then you know, they get some hobbies and stuff, and then they get a fast car, and then they get a girlfriend that their wife doesn't approve of, and a drinking habit. And when that without something to occupy them, people can become destructive. And so this is partly informed by that experience. So just knowing that these business veterans had a lot to share, a lot to give, a lot to offer, a lot of times that they didn't want to do it all again and start another whole business because it's hard, totally, but to be a part of that journey with people. So that's so it's that network and then people that have grown up through the ranks, and then you know, being a banker for 15 years, uh I just had a lot of business owners at varying levels of skill set. Some could read their financials backwards and forwards and upside down, and they took vacations and they paid their teammates uh more on than an average income, and they still made a profit. And others were owned by the business. Um, and so finding that combination of I'm learning, I'm growing, and I want to become a better leader and operate a business that I really, you know, that I can imagine that I really, you know, I want to work. Maybe I'll work 40 hours a week, but I still want to go to lacrosse games. Yeah, you know, and I want to not do emails until nine o'clock at night when I'm supposed to be paying attention to my kids. And so, okay, how do we do that? Well, it's you know, it's people, it's incentives, it's management, it's client acquisition, it's website and search engine optimization and firing better, hiring faster, slower. It's all the things all the time. Um, and so giving finding the right kind of abundance mindset, people that are growing, they know they're smart, they know they're capable, and they don't think that they're the smartest one in every room. Well, that's our people for for our membership wise. So I'm just always on the lookout for businesses that are doing it good. You know, they're I can see them growing, I their staff loves working there. Yeah. I don't know. You know, it's just a it's kind of intuitive. Um, so that's my other network is kind of wandering around all the networking organizations, the chambers, the uh, you know, the realities for children, and I've been a longtime member of the uh Port Collins Breakfast Rotary Club. Um, and so you know, I I like to say I'm an inch deep and a mile wide. I I I I'm a little bit engaged with a lot of different organizations and a little more so with some.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah. And um so with the with the Loco Think Tank, um having a place where you can actually ask questions, um whether somebody might have gone through something or have the answers. A lot of there's not a lot of textbooks about, hey, to to run a business, you need to be here. Um but in a in a room that you facilitate, people are asking the right questions from the right people with the right experience. What is your uh advice if somebody is seeking out a mentor or those kind of rooms to to be able to have the right mentor relationship?

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Well, you know, one of the rules I have for that facilitator role is that that their journey should look like a uh successful one to the members of their group. You know, so if if this is a group of people that are running 10 and 15 employee businesses, well then that person should have built at least a 25 or 50 employee businesses before they exited, right? They've they've managed through that season and they've gotten to a place like that. I think it's kind of somewhat similar with a with a with a group. Like uh it isn't rocket science to put together a group of peers as long as kind of there's uh a level of uh standing. Everybody's gotta so so that one of the rules we use at like local think tank is everybody's gotta bring something to the sauce. You know, you were an easy ad for me to a to a loco chapter because I saw you being a networking expert. Sure. I saw you running events uh and just frankly outshining any of my talent on a stage or with a microphone. And you know, because you were just on my podcast, I now know why, because you were a a dancer.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Um and uh, you know, that polish that that season provided, but then also your expertise in networking through your BI journey and what you've done so quickly with business networking done right. Like that guy's gonna add, you know, to the value of every conversation. And he can learn from people in the group that are maybe excellent marketers, or when it comes time to hire again, uh we're doing it with the right incentive package and we're finding the right person and giving them the right set of things that you want to stop doing, and maybe some things that you want to start doing that you haven't been able to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Do you see similar kind of like ceilings that people gotta bust through where that's like they rise to a certain point and then they get stuck until they have to move through it?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

For sure. For sure. And the and our chapters are kind of structured in a way that recognizes that. So, like in our what we call the builders, the under five employee demographic, you gotta just cut pedal. Like you can take a break once in a while and and whatnot, but to get to that that first additional seat is a real struggle a lot of times. Yeah, a lot of businesses stop trying to grow, they've become satisfied with building themselves a job, and then your job owns you kind of you can't take a vacation, you know, you can't do a lot of things that you wanted. And so once you get to that one person on board and productive, adding that third person is oftentimes easier. Adding the fourth is even easier still, because you got two people pedaling the bike while you're building this third tandem seat or whatever, right? Um, and then you get to a place where, okay, now I'm managing six people plus trying to manage myself, and it's just too much. Um, and so you need to get that second level of leadership, and that's what we call our thinkers chapters and that kind of five to twenty-ish. So you've got the maybe a couple of key leaders plus the owner that have to step up and become leaders also in the organization, make decisions, you know, a lot of times with guidance and feedback, but you can't just can't be, you know, the genius with a thousand helpers. Those companies have never really existed, uh, but especially not in today's kind of information world where nobody's the smartest one at everything. Of course. Impossible. Um, and then what we call our next level is kind of when you're hiring the leaders of the leaders and you know you're trying to stay in touch with the front lines, but you really can't. You know, you got 25, maybe 50 or 100 employees, and maybe several enterprises. A lot of our next level members have multiple adjacent ventures. You know, the the concrete company gets its aggregate from the gravel mine that they bought that they're gonna turn into houses later after they get all the gravel out of there, or those kinds of bigger projects that having a next level kind of a balance sheet um and and cash flow statement, frankly, can allow you to do. And what's my legacy? What's my exit plan? Am I gonna make another acquisition before I possibly sell to private equity, or maybe I should sell it to my employees? What's that look like? Who's ready? How do I structure a stock option plan for my employees? Just all those more complex questions. So that's so that's kind of how we kind of you punch through each level. And a lot of times there's a period of unprofitability when you add to that next layer of overhead before you're quite grown to your britches. Uh and so managing through that, you know, having been there for you know 15 years and a few hundred journeys, probably in my banking career, it just really helped me just see the commonalities between all the struggles. And, you know, the reason I have a podcast is because people have always shared their dirty secrets with me. And you know, and I was like, oh boy, I don't know. Let me, you know, reflect on that a little. I'm just this, you know, 27-year-old banker early in my career trying to figure it out too.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

What when if somebody is considering joining a mastermind, uh peer advisory, or maybe enrolling in even an uh online course or something, what any tips about how to get the most of experience? I'm sure you see your members. Some really thrive in the environment, they they give, they receive, and others don't contribute as much. Well, attendance is step one.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Show up. Show up every day, you know, not just for your peer advisory group, but um when you set time aside to work on the things that you said you were gonna do in your peer advisory group, show up for that. You know, when you so just always showing up is probably uh like a one-word or two-word, one word with a hyphen if it comes, um is a big deal. Um do the work, I think. You know, you can't just show up, you know, attendance-wise and things like that. There's there's hard work, there's difficult decisions, there's a lot of emotional attachment um that's involved. And probably being open-minded about your own um lack of perspective. Yeah. Um, in my own journey in year two of Loco Think Tank, I I failed at launching the restaurant that I had dreamed about in my banking career, and that led me out to try this adventure. Um, and I had got a gotten a mobile food trailer. And I was so focused on making that mobile food trailer success that that when I processed the issue of should I add a second trailer and scale up so that I can get more sustainable revenues and whatever, my group basically said, you don't even want to be where success on this road would find you. And you don't have a real strong chance at success right now. It's you know, you're it's it's a rough, and you're not a great manager, you're more of a leader. And they're just that straight with you, huh? Yeah. Yeah and it broke my heart, right? Like I I was dropping this dream, and they said, and you're an amazing community builder. You've already built two of these local think tank chapters. You need to go get a job so you can keep your marriage and your mortgage intact, and you need to go and work on local think tank and make that into your scalable business. It's just more you, it's more useful. Um, it's a job that you're actually equipped to not just succeed in but enjoy. Um, because they knew me after 18 months of being in a room with me for these all these vulnerable conversations, you know. I can want to be a master restaurateur all I want, but if I'm really not ready to do the work to work on food costs and training and the all the things that go with creating a real scalable food business. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Do you still think about it though? Like isn't the back somewhere like what I would have done?

SPEAKER_01 19:36

No. No. I really don't. I no regrets. I mean, when I watch the food shows and I see these guys with sometimes food trucks or awesome restaurants, I'm like, I'd like to go there. Sure. I'm glad I don't care. You don't have to run it. I would have got a restaurant off the ground, it would have come with you know a half million or more of debt at that time. It would have been, you know, maybe just getting up on its feet good by the time of the pandemic, and then that probably would have killed me.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And yeah, I that I'm so glad.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

I think it's one thing to hear it though, but it's another thing to build a relationship and trust the advice you're being given where you might actually have to face a tough decision. Um, you know, I I watch a lot of people network, not everybody lets people in. You know, they're they're happy to give advice, but uh to be able to receive it, um, that's a different skill set.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Well, and that's why we were we're so deliberately slow at adding new members, you know, the the the I have to think somebody's cool, the facilitator has to think they're cool, then the group that's already paying dues has to because that networking group thing and stuff isn't necessarily a safe place. You know, it is. I'm sure you mostly recruit safe awesome people as well, for example, but it isn't necessarily a confidential forum. You can't sure, you know, get to know one another in the same way or perhaps feel as vulnerable sharing, you know, why you suck in networking or whatever, for example. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Um well in in the in a group setting where there is that consistency, but a lot of people go to a chamber event and there's different people in there, and it is. It's like the it's like an arena to be in. Yeah, I I I don't really like those.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

I don't I don't like those as much. I'm much more comfortable in uh I'm probably in my sweet spot either one-on-one or at in like a group of four or five, kind of something like that. Uh one-on-one where I can just really focus on somebody and listen, or where I could kind of be the fun one and the star of the show and noticeable. Um but in a big group like that, I'm I'm not really comfortable inviting myself into conversations. Right. You know, I don't always know why somebody would want to talk to me, even though I've got thousands of examples of making people laugh and having them had enjoyed talking with me.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

I don't know. I I But you seem To uh align yourself with like more service-based networking, like Rotary or Realities for Children, where I know you're an ambassador as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Why do you think that might be different for you?

SPEAKER_01 22:11

I think well, be my my part of my root actually with Local Think Tank, one quarter of my DNA was was paid peer advisory vistage. And then the other three quarters were the Matthews House, where I'd been a board member, and it's kind of a whole person approach to human services. I I like to think of us as kind of a whole person approach to being a better business leader and husband and father, hopefully, too. Um, and then the Rotary Club, which I've been a member of for a long time, and as an economist, I thought it was kind of a waste of all that business veteran experience, just having them drive around and do meals on wheels and organize the raffle and stuff. And so I'm proud that we can have that high value place, and I'm proud of all our rotary club stuff. Oh, peach sale coming up. Oh, yeah. Shout out August 8th is the delivery date, and the peach festival is August 15th. This might be already printed by them, but a shout out to the Peach Festival anyway. Um, and then the other one was oh, Bible study fellowship. Okay. Um, and that organization taught me how to facilitate. They invited me to become a discussion leader about two years into my being a Christian. I was like, I don't know anything about the Bible, Jack. And they're like, Well, you don't have to. We'll see, we'll read the passages, we go through this thing. And your job is just to maintain a a conversation that draws out the quiet people and like keeps on the agenda and draws out the wisdom of the book. And you don't have to have the answers coming in. In fact, we don't want you to really be predisposed.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Um, and that's kind of the same approach we've woven into the the DNA at Loco.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

That's a I mean, I think it when I'm trying to learn something, like the guru, the expert, is not as approachable as somebody who just took the journey that I want to take. Um and that's that's an interesting perspective. And business owners are stubborn. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Um, and so like even when they hire like a business coach that they respect and stuff, if the business coach tells them to do something they don't really want to do, they're like, you know, anyway, right? When you got 10 members in your peer group saying, you know, Kurt, you really don't want to run this dumb food truck thing. It's not your highest and best use. And we love you, we think you're cool, you're extraordinary cook. Do that for fun. Um that's that's you know, the kind of environment that I am proud to co-curate, you know, and it's also uh it's it's a challenging one to maintain, right? Like achievers with with good hearts and community uh uh connection and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Well you have an uh having a um with with your with your group like giving you authentic advice and um really supporting you and and do that and then finding what you are good at and moving into that with the the podcast and uh think um did it give you clarity to to pursue that at a higher level?

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, I did go get a job, I worked for Thrivant Financial for a couple years. Um they you know kind of wanted me to think it was my calling, and I was like, I don't know, the loco think tech's pretty interesting. So I kept growing loco on the side and uh Godspeed to the folks down there. But um when it was time to go full-time loco, my chapter was also like, hey, you need a person to help you do some things that that you're not good at. This is you know, this is your job. Let's work on your job description. You know, let's let's paint a picture of this person. It's probably a CSU student, you know, because you can't afford much more than an intern right now, but you need some some digital skills and some organizational characteristics that you aren't that great at. Um and so go get them.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

You know, you can do it. So the local experience podcasts, how is that funneled in? And do you see that as a like an entry point or as a passion project? How would you how would you describe um the work that you've done there?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

You know, uh shout out to to Rory Shar who uh co-created the podcast with me. She was my my marketing person at the time when we first started. And when we first started, I I think it was like mostly about marketing, you know, having something to say and do out there. But within just a handful of episodes, it was clear that I just really enjoyed. Yeah. Uh I had been on a couple of podcasts by that point. Um, and I just really enjoyed that long form conversational format. Um over the years, we've gotten a uh a facilitator or two, we've gotten a few members, maybe a one handful-ish. Um, I do have kind of a policy of uh like 25% of my members, 25% um potential members, in my estimation, and then half kind of whoever interesting I stumble upon. Um but I just love uh exploring these journeys and helping my it is a passion project really from the start, once I got going, like it was strategic marketing that turned into a passion project that is justified by the passion nowadays. And um, you know, we're 277 episodes mostly released weekly. We had a short time out or time off, but uh you know, it it just helps me continue to expand my network and all the time I'm introducing podcast guests to other past podcast guests uh because I know that there's some connection there, some some optimization of community and resource allocations or other connections that are gonna be uh an amazing thing for both parties, or at least maybe, maybe, you know, maybe it will.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

So if I'm checking out the podcast, what would it where are maybe some episodes that you recommend people check out?

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Um you know, the current episode is pretty fun. It's with Kelly Sage. Oh yeah. Um she's been working in economic development for most of the last 25 years in northern Colorado. Um we sing the Star Spangled Manor Acapello in this one. And we come from just widely disparate backgrounds and journeys, and we align on so many things it's uncanny. Um another recent one was Bob Schaeffer. Um I think my most listened to episodes one and two have kind of fought it out for years, and it's uh Ginger Graham, maybe episode 76, 78, somewhere in there. Um, and then Mandy Mullen maybe around episode 91. Um, and uh both of those ladies uh uh have just really inspiring journeys and uh and huge followings of their own, I think. Obviously, is why their episodes have so many um followers and because they're they're they're great. So I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Do they approach you to be on the show or do you go get them? How do you source your guests?

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Uh I would say about half of my guests are introduced to me, yeah. Either by somebody in my network or by somebody that has been on my podcast or things like that. Um maybe 10% approach me. Um, and then the other 40% or so are me, you know, wanting to have somebody on. Um I've got uh Warren Yoder is gonna be a speaker for us at our next level summit this fall. Uh the Yoder family of companies in Greeley, so he's Greeley famous. Um and he was on my podcast a couple years ago, and and that relationship started because I was like, you know, I heard that guy talk at an event, he seems really cool. He's got this awesome culture of giving back to and through their employees to the community and supporting employees in need and things like that. And so we had a wonderful conversation. And you know, when you have a two-hour conversation with somebody that is uh honoring and valuable and exploratory and genuinely curious, you can just generate a lot of trust in a short amount of time. And uh, you know, I'm blessed to have you know added facilitators to the team in the same way, and had you know uh a recent uh a marketing person for one of my members reached out to me and was like, hey, I heard this loco experience thing is is cool. You know, maybe my CEO should be on. And I was like, I don't know, maybe is he cool enough? You know, why don't you introduce us? And so we had a nice Zoom. I thought, yes, he does have a very interesting story, cool guy. Let's book him for the podcast. And uh, you know, almost toward the end, it's like, and tell me more about this loco think tank. You know the risk is I become known as this podcast host, not the entrepreneur behind and the founder of and CEO of Loco Think Tank. So always looking always looking for business veterans that really love their community, you know, here in Northern Colorado. In the future, I think we would love to to grow beyond Northern Colorado, but I'm not sure that's me. I think it might be the next CEO of Loco Think Tank. Um, because I just I love Northern Colorado more than the other places. There's there's probably somebody out there that's and maybe it's Andrew Johnson. Global expansion trained in corporate networking techniques. I don't know. Um we'll see. And maybe it'll maybe Northern Colorado will be the legacy of Loco Think Tank. You know, in God's will, maybe it'll live a hundred years after me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Well, the the skill set of facilitating these workshops and these uh these think tanks where people are spending hours together. It's not just a 20 minute and then the uh you know the podcast where you're having two-hour conversations. I've seen people network like carrying five minutes of a conversation is uncomfortable for us.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

So a lot of especially early on, I guess, are like, what are we gonna talk about for two hours? Like, how in the world could we fill that time? Um, and then you know, at the hour break, they're like, What? It's been an hour. Totally. And so now that people that have been around for a while, people know kind of more what to expect. That, you know, I'm gonna ask how to pronounce your name, make sure I have your title and uh spouse's name correct if appropriate, and let's go.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

There you go. Let's hit it. Well, what advice would you have for people asking better questions or to being as curious as you are that helps you extract such great stories?

SPEAKER_01 32:54

You know, uh a resource. Um, there's a book uh maybe it's to ask a more beautiful question. It's something very like that. Um and we actually had that in book club at Local Think Tank maybe in circa 2019. I feel like it was pre-COVID. I think book club died during COVID. Uh may it return and resurrection. R.I.P. book club. Um but that that book is is like one of the keys. Um and what was the second part of the question? Well, I it's I guess how do you ask good questions? Yeah, like how do you carry the conversations?

SPEAKER_00 33:30

How do you become more curious um to have a better connection with people?

SPEAKER_01 33:38

You know, I think there's that old phrase, you know, to understand a man walk a mile in his shoes. I think that's I grew up in in very rural North Dakota. I I had a high school class of five. And everybody's shoes were pretty darn similar. They were a farmer or maybe a truck driver or a few other things. They worked at the post office. Um and when I got to college, wow, the perspectives open so much more, and and I was a voracious reader of all levels. And then when I got to Fort Collins and there's all this music and there's this arts and culture, and it was I think that so trying to use your uh if you ever do yoga, sometimes they they say use your internal imagination and imagine you know there's a a string pulling your head up and your spine is becoming very straight. Yeah. Imagine the same thing for um your your curiosity and your and uh you're trying to paint a picture of what it might must be like to live in Andrew Johnson's shoes a little bit. And for me to be able to paint that picture, I have to listen really good and actually be genuine in my listening, not just waiting for the next opportunity, even though I've dominated this conversation. I'm sorry. I feel like I've been blabbering on. Uh but so that that genuine curiosity, because you're taking what somebody else says and painting a picture of what it's like to live in Andrew Johnson's shoes. And I'm a terrible dancer. That was part of why I could listen with such rapture in our podcast last week of just imagining like turning that thing that I think is uh both beautiful and almost impossible for a normal person into something that you can create an income from and train to others and experience a lifestyle where you're traveling the world and during dancing competitions for goodness sake. That's not even a picture that North Dakota Kurt could even imagine. Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

And here I am. Well, and you you do such a great job of connecting and building relationships, and it's also created some pretty awesome partnership agreement uh situations that you have. For example, I was on your podcast and uh got got you had a keys to my heart, Kurt, because uh you gave me some hot sauce, but it was in a collaboration with Matador Grill. So I'm super curious of like how did you come up with co-branding where you get your own hot sauce? And yeah, how do you how do you even come about something like that?

SPEAKER_01 36:09

I should probably shout out to Lauren Crawford for uh for one who um was asking me about the the expenses of my podcast when she came on board. She's my chief of staff. Okay. Uh and uh also asking me about all these podcast supplies, which is what I labeled the booze that I put for podcast supplies for me and for me and my guests to consume. And I had I was giving away hot sauce bottles that another uh kitchen had created for me as well, and she's like, Well, what if you could just get a sponsorship? You know, and can you work something out where you can get you know a certain supply of hot sauce with you know your branding and stuff, but then you can give it a shout-out on a regular basis. You know, it's kind of like the Roku sunglasses or not Roku, but whatever, uh that they shout out on Rogan and Friedman and stuff like that, the Austin-based shop, right? But we're more local than that. And so if you want to get your crazy ginger hot sauce a refill, you can go down to Matador Mexican Grill because he's he makes the best hot sauce in town. Yeah. Um, and uh so you know, work through that process, and he can wholesale that to restaurants that would like to carry the crazy ginger hot sauce that's co-branded with the local experience if you'd like. Um, another shout out to um oh there you go.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Put it put it right there on the table, Brian.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

We'll zoom in there. Is that okay? You're gonna do some local experience. Yeah, there you go. Let's do it. We're wrapping up here, right? Right on. So um seed and spirit distilling. Um usually my guests and I share their WizCal. Okay, yep, we did which we shared the other day. That's their Mezcal whiskey hybrid. Um, this is their forged and fire line, and they donate a pro portion of proceeds for every bottle to uh suicide prevention for military veterans. So they've got dog tags that hang in the bottle. Seed and spirit distilling, this is one of their brands. They've got a few different brands that they produce under, but they're the master distiller. And so this is their high-ry bourbon. Okay. And I'll just do us a little half shot because, you know, your business.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Walking around with uh little shot glasses. Uh, cheers on this. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, so uh shout out to Forge and Fire.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Shout out to uh yeah, and and shout out to Seed and Spirit Distilling. They're gonna open their tasting room in the former funk works location here maybe in a month or so, six weeks or eight. Um and so they'll have an oyster bar, they'll have a pizza, a brick oven pizza coat truck in the back, and all kinds of stuff, and as well as private meeting spaces that might actually be appropriate for your groups.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

All right, well, I appreciate the connection.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

So, anyway, so how do I go about that? Yeah, yeah. How do you set it up? You know, it's the network, right? Yeah. Like I had actually I had these guys, uh him and his co-founder Joel Gustafson. Shout out to Joel, marrying my longtime member Abby Stout this coming weekend. Um and so there's relationships there, you know. Joel likes, knows, likes, and trusts me to use some of your language, in part because of my multi-year relationship with Abby, having both been in her chapter as a fellow member and her being a part of Local Think Tank for gosh, maybe six years now. Right. And so Joel's never been a member, but he's like, Yeah, Abby thinks you're cool. You know, I'll be on my on your podcast, and yeah, I can give up a bottle of whiskey once a month to supply your guests with a taste, you know. And uh so yeah, those kind of hopefully they find it's a win-win. You know, I've got a ton of clips where my guests are like shooting whizcal, which they never shoot anything, and they go, hmm, that's actually pretty smooth. I like that. Can I have another? So sure. And uh, you know, have a clip like that used appropriately is is worth a probably a few bottles of whisky.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Oh yeah. Well, it's cool uh because a lot of networking is creating, you know, relationships, but it's a lot of vibes. Uh it's not necessarily actual partnership agreements or or collaboration. So it's cool to see that you've really put it into practice where there is the win-win and it's operating, it's in action.

SPEAKER_01 40:35

Yeah, so uh you know if it's not a win-win, I'll I'll have to start buying my hot sauce and my whiskey again, I suppose. But I'm crossing my fingers and I I do believe I've I've heard a few stories already of people uh you know checking it out down at Matador and going in for a hot sauce refill because they know I don't sell it. Yeah. And I don't I don't I don't merchandise stuff, you know. So if you want some, go buy it. Go with Metador. I've got all sorts of people.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Or come on the Loco Experience podcast, and then we got the I got my bottle.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

Yeah, Old Town Spice Shop will have the local mix, uh, which is a rebrand of what I came up with years ago called the No Mistakes Everything Shake. Okay. But the local mix is a rebrand, and then um Sean's his his customers can carry the local mix on their shops, and it's got a little message about local community think tanks and our you know, our thing. There's a collaboration with Old Down Spice Shop kind of thing. And so I kind of rebranded that particular product, which goes back to my food tracking days. It was a variant of my burger shake. Nice. Um, and you know, he's been uh supplying uh the everything shake, or it's called the local mix everything shake, actually. So there's a nod to the former brand. So I don't know, I I just have so many ideas and I can't do them all myself. And so if I can execute ideas with friends, I don't even want a sales tax license, right? I would love to make hot sauce. I suppose I could, but then I'd have to sell it to make it make sense to do it. Then I'd I don't want to I want to do the things I want to do. Find great partnership.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Find great people, great hot sauce. Do you have a hot sauce guy uh or whole company? What's that? You have like a whole hot sauce guy. There you go. So this was awesome. I really appreciate the conversation. Um, if people are wanting to tune into Loco Think Tank, I'm sorry, tune into the local experience podcast, how do they find the show?

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Um just uh it's the loco experience, and you can find that on Spotify or Apple. Um you can also go to thelocoexperience.com. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

And then if you want to experience uh a free think, uh then how do they get involved in that?

SPEAKER_01 42:40

Yeah, on the Loco Think Tank, so L O C O think Tank.com, there's an events page, and there's always a link there to our next and sometimes a couple of our next uh free thinks. August 14th is the next one as of now, but there'll be a new September one up there soon. And that's like a free sample. A two-hour free sample. Did you come to a free thing?

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Help me understand what it was and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

How having 10 brains in the room or eight brains in the room at the same time in a structured way can really be that valuable. But yeah, once you see it in action, I mean you you've been a member for what, a few months? A couple months in. A couple months in. So you've only seen it in action a couple times, but I'm sure you've already seen one or two examples where it's like the smartest person in the room had had maybe two of the best suggestions, but the other people in the room had five more great ones. Sure. You know, and you just nobody's brain can think from all the angles all the time. So anyway, thanks for the opportunity to blabble on.

SPEAKER_00 43:38

No, awesome, Kurt. Thanks for coming on the show. This full circle moment for me as somebody who inspired me to start the Connections That Matter podcast. Uh, thank you for being on the show and bringing treats, and and uh uh I'm sure we'll see you around Northern Colorado. Well, I love how you're empowering your community. So keep it up. Right on. Thanks, Kerry. Cheers. Hey y'all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado. I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh go in the podcast description. There's a way so you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe uh you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.