Opportunity Everywhere with Meg Schmitz

Steve Doyle (: 00:00

Welcome back to the show, Brad. How you doing today?

Brad Herda (: 00:03

I am fantastic Mr. Stephen Doyle and what is going on in the Motor City world of Detroit, Michigan right now.

Steve Doyle (: 00:10

Well, actually, we're getting ready for draft day. Getting ready to, yeah, the NFL draft is here in Detroit. So we're setting up for that. And you know, we.

Brad Herda (: 00:15

Oh, that's right.

Brad Herda (: 00:21

We're gonna watch the bears fail again.

Steve Doyle (: 00:24

Yes! Dumb bears.

Brad Herda (: 00:27

and mess up a number one pick. That will be very challenging because our guest today before you and our guest today is is a Bears fan. If I recall correctly, are you not Meg?

Meg Schmitz (: 00:41

No, I'm pretty fair weather these days.

Brad Herda (: 00:43

fair weather these days. Well, there's not much to be fair with. I can understand. So, so our guest today is Meg Schmitz and she has experienced the trauma of employee turnover. She's a business owner and employer on her own, right? Many ways to stop the churn, which translates into greater customer stickiness instead of business revenue and profitability. So not focusing on focus on the process, not the results because the results will come.

She's in the world of franchising and she sees franchisers assisting their owners with recruiting strategies, which is a great benefit. But when it comes right down to it, the employee experience is driven by the diligence of the business owner to stay on the pulse of the workforce, which goes back to our last guest who said that the workforce is never the problem. The workforce never lets down the company. So.

Meg, welcome to Blue Car BS. We are excited to have you and I can't wait to hear some of the stories and tales of success that you've been able to not only accomplish on your own, but what you've been able to accomplish for your franchise orders as well.

Meg Schmitz (: 01:50

Yeah, thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to this.

Brad Herda (: 01:53

Oh, she says it was such energy. I've been looking for - Come on, Meg. I know it's a Friday afternoon. Let's go!

Steve Doyle (: 01:53

So Meg.

Meg Schmitz (: 01:58

Alright, I have been looking forward to this.

Steve Doyle (: 02:00

Yes! Yes! So Meg, before we get started and before Brad reminds me that I forget, which generation do you fit in with? Or do you identify with?

Brad Herda (: 02:02

Perfect.

Meg Schmitz (: 02:14

Oh, interesting question. I am 61 years old, which makes me the tail end of the boomers. But in my head, I am somewhere between 36 and 39 years old. So I am omnigenerational in my ability to integrate.

Steve Doyle (: 02:28

Perfect.

Steve Doyle (: 02:38

Awesome. Omni -generational. All right.

Brad Herda (: 02:39

That's a new word on this show. Omni -generational.

Meg Schmitz (: 02:43

My mom likes to use the word omnibibulist when it comes to her preference in wine or scotch. And she'll drink anything is basically what that means. So I'm omni -generational when it comes to who I can integrate with.

Steve Doyle (: 02:50

You

Steve Doyle (: 02:57

Yeah

Brad Herda (: 02:58

Okay, fair enough. That's fair enough. So as you are not only your own business owner,

Steve Doyle (: 03:01

That's awesome.

Meg Schmitz (: 03:05

Yup.

Brad Herda (: 03:09

Obviously I'm breaking up again. Yeah, as I see the heads of Bobby. Hey, we're going to have to do a little edit here, Kerry, at the three minute mark. Fuck.

Steve Doyle (: 03:12

Yes.

Meg Schmitz (: 03:12

Yeah.

Meg Schmitz (: 03:18

Hahaha!

Steve Doyle (: 03:22

It's a thing.

Meg Schmitz (: 03:23

Oh, there's nothing like loosening up a crowd with a good f -bomb.

Steve Doyle (: 03:26

Yeah, that's right. Good job, Brad. Let's go.

Brad Herda (: 03:30

Am I good now? Am I good? Am I back? All right. So as, as a business owner, uh, as the, um, being part of many businesses over the course of your career, um, in blue collar service, et cetera, what have you seen as the biggest success factor from the, uh, recruiting multi -generational aspect to it?

Meg Schmitz (: 03:53

I stick with my opinion that the biggest obstacle is the owner and the biggest opportunity to create a great culture is the owner who's driving the employee experience. So every generation has its preferences and as the owner of business, my role is to figure out what drives my employees to come to work and provide exceptional customer service.

Brad Herda (: 04:27

Mr. Doyle, you're up. Go ahead. Carrie's gonna love us.

Steve Doyle (: 04:29

I haven't had enough to drink. I have not had enough to drink. Yeah, she's gonna hate this show. No, she's gonna hate doing all the edits.

Meg Schmitz (: 04:35

Oh, I love this show. I'm having fun so far. You guys are all... I know. Mine does the same thing periodically. You ran over 40 minutes. I said, yeah, just wait till you see the number of edits you get.

Steve Doyle (: 04:49

Right. So one of the questions that I have been curious about, especially with within the franchise world, is the opportunities that you see from blue collar space. So what opportunities I kind of want to back this up before we get to that actually is just the mindset. Like, what are we actually? You know, those that are kind of like thinking about.

Like maybe they're in the blue collar space and they're like, I can run this business better than my current employer. Right. Because we see that quite a bit and they either break out on their own and they don't do so hot or they break out on their own and they make it. So from a mindset perspective, what do we see from the different generations as far as.

strengths in ownership of business.

Meg Schmitz (: 05:54

I don't know if it's a generational issue, frankly. I think that people who go into business ownership have a driving ambition to do it better than, to your point, my boss is such a screw up, I can do it better than he can, or she can. And so they want to break out and do it on their own. I don't think it's a generational thing. There's a book that I refer a lot of people to called the E Myth.

Steve Doyle (: 05:58

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 06:15

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 06:23

Revisited, E stands for entrepreneur. There are a lot of people who think they can do it better. Are they really providing a better customer experience? Maybe. Are they financially astute enough to run it for profit? Why get into business if you're not going to run it profitably?

Steve Doyle (: 06:24

Yep.

Steve Doyle (: 06:29

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 06:39

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 06:46

Oh, so many, so many places we could go. We're not a political show. That's right. Thank you for reminding me that pre -show.

Meg Schmitz (: 06:46

So, but...

Steve Doyle (: 06:53

Yes.

Meg Schmitz (: 06:56

So from, I don't know that there really is an answer. I've seen 70 year olds screw up. I've seen six year olds screw up. I've seen 30 year olds kick ass and do a great job. So I think it has.

Brad Herda (: 07:08

Do you see a different appetite for that risk or for that piece of it? I mean, yes, you've seen 70 year olds go out and kick ass and make it happen. Were they 70 when they did it or were they 30 when they started? Now you're seeing, I mean, so is there a different appetite that you're seeing a trend at all from a generational perspective or is it more of?

Meg Schmitz (: 07:29

No, over the last few years, particularly since the pandemic started and people were realizing that they didn't, I don't have the boss over my shoulder all the time anymore. Just last week I had a husband and wife, she's 59, he's 69, they signed their franchise agreement.

Steve Doyle (: 07:49

Wow.

Meg Schmitz (: 07:51

The oldest person I worked with who signed a franchise agreement was 72 former Air Force out in California. And so maybe a couple of factors that played into that is he lived in Southern California where people tend to think younger anyway. And he had the discipline coming from the military.

Steve Doyle (: 07:56

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 08:09

Hmm. That's interesting. That.

Meg Schmitz (: 08:11

Now, I've also worked with and I am working with, I'm working with a guy right now. He just turned 40 and his wife, they're not going to move forward with the business. She's very risk averse. But in talking to the young man about what does business ownership look like to him, he was very firm, no nights, no weekends. And during the working hours, he just had very particular...

things that he was not going to do. He was not going to do anything that had anything to do with blue collar. That was hands down. That was dirty, dirty jobs. He didn't want anything to do with dirty jobs. So it's, I think it's more individual than it is generational from where I sit.

Steve Doyle (: 08:46

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 08:53

interesting.

Mm hmm. OK. And that's interesting. Go ahead, Brad. No, well, I find that interesting. Just the perspective interesting from the standpoint of, you know, how the different generations actually viewed business. Right. Of, you know, your your boomers and how they interacted with business and, you know, they grind, you grind and you hustle and you get after it.

Brad Herda (: 08:58

Okay. And then, nope, you go on your path there, Mr. Dwight.

Steve Doyle (: 09:26

versus, you know, in your Gen X had a little bit of that, you know, like kind of like mid Gen X. And then as you get towards the millennial, it's a little bit more lax, but still the drive is there just depends on the parents age and grandparents. Then you get to the millennials, which just kind of shook the crap out of everything. And then for those of us that have kids that are in that, that Gen Z towards Gen Alpha, right? It's just kind of like, um,

We're starting to see some of that transition back into the, I want to use my hands, I want to do things versus the, go to college, sit behind a desk, have all this debt. So I find that interesting from a generational perspective on ownership values.

Meg Schmitz (: 10:19

Yeah, the ownership values are so different from the employee attitude and how they want to be treated as an employee. I personally feel very badly for the younger people who had to come through the last few years of how many of you two as parents, I don't know how old your kids are, but all of a sudden you found yourself a coach.

Steve Doyle (: 10:24

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 10:28

Right.

Meg Schmitz (: 10:49

a referee, a tutor, a full -time driver, a lot of things that as parents we took for granted that we'd have our job and our kids would go to school and whatnot. So there are multiple generations in there of young people who were set back significantly because of the pandemic. And I...

Steve Doyle (: 10:51

Heh.

Steve Doyle (: 10:55

Uh -huh.

Steve Doyle (: 11:13

Mm -hmm. Right.

Meg Schmitz (: 11:16

But there is just a very clear difference between the employee attitude and the employer attitude in those same generations.

Steve Doyle (: 11:25

Interesting.

Brad Herda (: 11:26

Yeah. The big loser out of the pandemic, in my opinion, is higher education. Um, that to me was the big, that out of all of it, which I think is also what's creating the opportunity for some of the blue collar willingness to look at things because why would I go sit? Why would I go sit someplace in some foreign land, not a foreign land, but in a different state or a different way, other than just for the experience. Great. Um, maybe, uh, so college is an experience and.

Steve Doyle (: 11:43

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 11:55

There are some places like doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers where you need to get that technical experience, but to come out and be a, you know, an estimator planner, a project manager, a lot of that just, nobody's teaching the things you need to teach to be really good at that. And you don't need four years of it to make it happen. Um, you can go.

Steve Doyle (: 12:02

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 12:17

And I wish more parents were on board with trades. The biggest challenge we have as homeowners is getting someone to come out reliably to do an estimate and then follow up and do the work. I wish parents would get the head trash out of here that college is the answer. College is debt for most people.

Steve Doyle (: 12:20

Mm -hmm. Right.

Meg Schmitz (: 12:46

And college is a play place for a lot of the students. I mean, I was a student a long time ago. I know what I did in college. You guys know what you did in college too. But.

Steve Doyle (: 12:47

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 12:53

But let's put that in perspective though, Meg. When you were going to school, when I was going to school, I don't know about you, Steve, because you're so young and you went to that other school over there in Michigan. You could go and get a summer job and pay for your entire year of school by working hard over the summer.

Steve Doyle (: 13:06

I did go to that school in Michigan.

Steve Doyle (: 13:17

How long ago was that? How could you get a summer job and pay for your whole year? Like what?

Brad Herda (: 13:24

My first year tuition at the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee was less than my last year's tuition at high school.

Meg Schmitz (: 13:32

Well, that's because you're a Wisconsin resident, which for me...

Brad Herda (: 13:34

But you had the opportunity. You had the opportunity if you decided to go down a state school route and state you could do that back in the late 80s early set up through the 60s 70s into the mid 80s. You could afford to pay for school as you went. You could. You could get most of your summer and then work part time during the school year to not come out.

Steve Doyle (: 13:38

Wow.

Steve Doyle (: 13:49

Hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 14:00

Yeah, well, you're a dinosaur and that's not the reality. All kidding aside, I worked throughout the school year and did summer school. So I had a summer job and a job through college. I had jobs through high school.

Brad Herda (: 14:03

Yes, yes, thanks. Thanks, Omnia. What is the word? Omni what generation? Omni what generation? Not the reality anymore. Not even close anymore.

Steve Doyle (: 14:24

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 14:27

So I'm, but I'm of that generation where that was expected. When my son, who's now 33, was going to high school and college, he also had jobs. It was part and parcel of the requirement of my household. His dad and I were divorced at that point and I, he was the fun dad and I was the all business mom.

Steve Doyle (: 14:40

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 14:44

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 14:50

MEAN NUM

Steve Doyle (: 14:52

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 14:52

And so he had jobs and his work ethic today is head and shoulders above a lot of the other youngsters. Although I will say he has chosen well through high school and college. His group of friends are equally driven as he is. So it's nice to see his posse. They're all accomplished and successful. They didn't all, well, they did all go to college, but they're not all doing.

highly educated, specialized careers. I still wish more kids would go to trade school though, because we needed to keep the economy going. AI, I don't know if you guys are talking about this and what kind of jobs artificial intelligence and chat bots are replacing, but it's reality now. Working with your hands, fixing a car, using a chainsaw.

Steve Doyle (: 15:27

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 15:31

Right.

Steve Doyle (: 15:46

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 15:52

AI is never going to do that. So pick a career where you can't be replaced.

Steve Doyle (: 15:54

Right.

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 15:58

Well, and so the one challenge that I think that much of the industry also needs to think about is no matter what the trade school is, the 80 students, they graduate a year or whatever it might be, isn't there aren't enough of them to create the opportunity to make that happen. So you need as a business owner to find a way to bring in that talent separately.

and have your own development process. Have the opportunity to be able to bring talent in that may or may not know anything and spend the time to be able to develop your own talent to create a deeper pool for everybody else as well because the education system's not robust enough to bring enough people in to replace what needs to be replaced.

Meg Schmitz (: 16:50

And true to that point, I went yesterday afternoon to get my haircut at Great Clips and on the door is a, on their door is a sign indicating that Great Clips is now doing apprenticeship programs. So if you have an interest in cosmetology, you can.

Brad Herda (: 16:57

Me too.

Meg Schmitz (: 17:14

ramp up your your certification time by doing an apprenticeship. It's absolutely what I'm hearing here in Wisconsin. Business owners are spending more time bringing in younger people who they can groom and train in their own way of doing things. You know, working with a woman in Milwaukee who's got a glass business, they do glass overlay and other interesting things with glass.

Steve Doyle (: 17:29

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 17:43

She couldn't for her life find a glazer. Now suddenly there are two available, but yeah, so she is training. Yeah, she's doing her own apprenticeship and with somebody who's not even her own employee. So talk about going out on a limb. Yeah, but yeah, Brad, she's got two people on the hook now who may be future employees.

Steve Doyle (: 17:47

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 17:48

Would this be would this be would this be Gatsby?

Brad Herda (: 17:55

We just saw her yesterday as a matter of fact.

Steve Doyle (: 17:59

Right.

Brad Herda (: 18:08

Yeah, cause we, I met her in a van a couple of weeks ago and she was talking about, Hey, I need to find this. And she had somebody that was willing, that wasn't in her own business, willing to teach somebody because there are enough, um, there are enough boomer Xers. There are enough people out there that want to share their knowledge, skill, and wisdom with people who are wanting to learn. And I think that's one of the things that business owners need to really understand is that we got to figure out how to allow them to come in and be curious and.

Steve Doyle (: 18:28

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 18:37

ask questions and not set as we've talked before in the show, Steve, about that level of perfection that's expected the moment we step into the workforces. Everything has to be perfect. Everything has to be exactly right all the time. And there's no room for error, no room for mistake. Well, that's not reality.

Steve Doyle (: 18:43

Yep.

Steve Doyle (: 18:51

Yes, I expect perfection, Brad.

All the time.

Brad Herda (: 18:59

Yeah, and it just doesn't work that way. And we gotta allow people to make those errors and we gotta allow business owners that freedom to say it's okay.

Steve Doyle (: 19:01

if

Meg Schmitz (: 19:08

I'll also throw in here one of the issues with trades is antiquated laws in some states. And I'll give you an example. I have locks, you have locks. We all need a locksmith every now and then because we lock ourselves out of places that we need to get back into like five minutes ago.

Steve Doyle (: 19:17

Yeah.

Meg Schmitz (: 19:32

Well, there are certain laws in the books that in order to operate a locksmithing service, you must have a master locksmith under your employment. Do you know how many master locksmiths there are anymore? There are about five in the state of Wisconsin, but we all have locks that need to be unlocked and it's getting harder and harder. Even with technology, there are still locks that can't be picked and you need to call somebody to get there.

Steve Doyle (: 19:41

Mm -hmm.

Not many.

Meg Schmitz (: 20:01

It's absolutely prohibitive the way that the laws are written because there aren't any master locksmith programs even anymore. So there's a real disconnect between requirements and regulations and the availability of talent.

Steve Doyle (: 20:16

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 20:17

And there's also just the some of the just the labor laws that exist for those under 18 on a farm what you're able to do on a farm if you're a farmhand I Can the things I can use the welder I can fix the equipment I can do anything I want on a farm essentially from like 12 years old on up but I go try to go work at the garage down the road or

Steve Doyle (: 20:40

Thank you.

Brad Herda (: 20:44

you know, work for the plumber or whatever, you can't do anything.

Steve Doyle (: 20:46

Right.

Brad Herda (: 20:50

Okay, I can drive a tractor. I can do all the other things, but I can't do, I can't be a lot jockey at the dealership or do anything like that because it doesn't make any sense.

Meg Schmitz (: 20:59

Yeah, and it's really tough in a state like Wisconsin where we've got so many farms and farm kids. Granted, there's a lot of farm land that's coming out of production and farmers who are selling and generationally that they're moving away from raising their kids with those kinds of skill sets. But for me, that's one of the joys that I have at the end of every day and the weekend. I go play with my chainsaw and my log splitter and...

drive my slow moving vehicle down the road to go plow and but we're going to have fewer and fewer of those kids too.

Steve Doyle (: 21:30

Hehehehehe

Steve Doyle (: 21:37

Right. So Meg, what trends are you seeing in the industry? And let's talk just blue color space. So what are some trends that you're seeing that you're excited about?

Meg Schmitz (: 21:51

In the trades, what am I excited about? I'm excited about what I'm doing and getting the word out to drive more kids and it's not you know, it's not even kids, you know, I was at an event in Milwaukee and talking to older adults who still have gas in the tank who have been able to retire from a career who are now coming back in order to

Steve Doyle (: 22:15

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 22:21

get a trade skill and go out there and start career number two. That was a real eye -opener for me. I thought that was exceptional too because now you've got the values of somebody who's been out in the working world for a long time circling back around to do a dirty job.

Steve Doyle (: 22:39

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 22:41

there there's there and to that business owner, which is great to solve the need with. They're not allowed. They're not leveraging that individual's ability to teach somebody younger. It's a bandaid and they're still going to be at the same spot they were potentially right. That's that's essentially what happened. You know, in 2001, 2002, where all the folks were able to come back in and now they're old enough to get back out. There's still some that can go back in. But if they're not transitioning that knowledge downstream,

Steve Doyle (: 22:55

Right.

Brad Herda (: 23:10

That owner is going to be in trouble if they're using that person to fill that full -time equivalent and not take the risk of bringing somebody new in to learn behind them because, because it is a short -term window, um, for them. Now they might be doing it very well and here's what I got to do. And I'm ready to get out or sell or whatever transition to their family member could be the opportunity, but that boomer workforce is a untapped workforce for sure of wanting to get back and doing it.

Meg Schmitz (: 23:38

Yeah. And I'm just realizing you two have your hats on. I should really have my hat on too. I am all about the United States being the number one producer of quality products. So I don't know what we need to do to get more people into the trades. But yeah, America.

Brad Herda (: 23:46

That's right.

Steve Doyle (: 23:49

Love it.

Steve Doyle (: 24:00

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 24:04

We, well, part of it is being open and responding. If you have a young person that's reaching out.

respond back to them. Right? If you got an 18 year old kid coming in your door and knocking on say, Hey, I'm looking for a job. And then you look at the resume and it doesn't fit the need. It doesn't matter. Go talk to them, go figure it out, go have a conversation because we have to open up our doors as an industry. If we want them to come, because we've told them for two decades, you're not good enough. We can't find good people. You've got people willing to come in. You need to invite them into your house and show them around and figure it out.

Steve Doyle (: 24:14

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 24:42

And it used to drive me crazy when I own great clips a long time ago, the number of people, mostly women, who are coming in with low self -esteem because they were told, oh, honey, you could be so much more than a beautician. What is wrong? What is wrong with these parents that are then demeaning their kid, the morale of the kid to go into a profession?

Steve Doyle (: 25:01

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 25:07

Right.

Meg Schmitz (: 25:09

where then they have a lack of self -esteem and stick -to -itiveness. To your point, Brad, if they want to do it, let them do it because financially they're probably going to be financially independent sooner than a kid who comes out strapped with loans. But maybe the government will forgive those loans. I don't know.

Steve Doyle (: 25:12

Mm -hmm.

Brad Herda (: 25:28

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, back off! Stop! Stop! Stop! Not a political show, Meg. We talked about this at a time.

Steve Doyle (: 25:30

That's right, Brad's going to pay for it with his taxes. It's okay.

Meg Schmitz (: 25:39

Yeah, but it's...

Brad Herda (: 25:39

A tack to our privilege, just so you know. It's a privilege for being successful.

Steve Doyle (: 25:42

It is. There is that.

Meg Schmitz (: 25:47

Yes, it is. Well, that's what keeps the country going too. So those who have helped to support those who have not. Not arguing with the tax system, I'm just saying when it comes to graduating from a program, those kids who are graduating with no college debt, who are graduating from a trade are going to be financially viable. They have a whole different mindset towards money as well. Some of them who are getting tips.

Brad Herda (: 25:47

So let's just be honest.

Brad Herda (: 25:52

Does it mean?

Steve Doyle (: 25:56

Mm -hmm.

Steve Doyle (: 26:07

Mm hmm. Right.

Meg Schmitz (: 26:17

and socking that money away. But then there are a lot of them who get the tips and say it's cash. I'm going to go Friday afternoon and go get myself six pack of beer. And it's real money that's going towards something that is entertaining them, but it's real money.

Steve Doyle (: 26:31

Right.

Brad Herda (: 26:31

Right. Correct. It's all real money. So Meg, two things. First, how do people find you, get a hold of you, if they're looking for opportunities or want to understand what that franchise world looks like or want to be part of your organizations in some way, shape or form? How do people find you? Where do they get a hold of you? How do we connect you?

Meg Schmitz (: 26:51

Easiest way to find me if people are on LinkedIn, I don't know where your audience hangs out, but I'm pretty discoverable on LinkedIn as Meg Schmitz. I've also got a website where I've got a podcast and blog and do a lot of writing and recording to put content out there about opportunities. Franchising isn't for everybody, but a lot of people are curious about business ownership. So that's meg at megschmitz .com or you can just call me frankly.

Steve Doyle (: 27:12

Yeah.

Meg Schmitz (: 27:19

I love it when I do a show and put my phone number out there and people actually call it because they're unafraid. 847 -302 -2601. Send me a text and say you heard me here on the No BS Show.

Steve Doyle (: 27:30

Right. That's awesome. Never done a go there. We don't go there.

Brad Herda (: 27:34

This is all nevermind. I'm not going to go. Don't do it Steve. No, no, we're not going to go there. So the other question I have for you, if you look back on your. Your ownership as a business owner. Right, you've owned a lot of different things over the course of life. You're entering some new things here as well. If you could go back and if you know what you knew now and able to tell yourself what you.

Meg Schmitz (: 27:41

We're not going there. We're not going there.

Brad Herda (: 28:04

didn't know then what piece of advice would you give yourself entering into the entrepreneurial world?

Meg Schmitz (: 28:11

Yeah, I was lying. You don't know this, but I was lying awake in the middle of the night from about three to five o 'clock this morning with a business issue. And I finally said to myself, why are you so wound up about this? You've done it a million times. You're a legitimate business owner with experience. So I've run into a little bit of a snafu. But in the middle of the night, it's like this great big brick wall that I can't get around. You're going to survive.

The thing that I wish I had been able to embrace years ago is it's not going to kill you and it's not going to break your business. There are things that will, but if you recognize what's happening and address it sooner, you're going to save yourself a lot of time and effort and heartbreak. So recognize when things are going sideways, get yourself a good coach and don't sweat it. You'll probably be just fine.

Steve Doyle (: 29:07

Mm hmm. Some solid advice. Love it.

Brad Herda (: 29:11

That was a unsolicited plug from Meg Schmitz, just so you know. We didn't know what the answer was gonna be, but thank you for that Meg, because you are right. It's finding that support system around you to go forward and whatever that support system needs to look like is really, really important. And we put this show out here to help be part of that solution.

Steve Doyle (: 29:33

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 29:33

Yeah, I don't care whether you're an entrepreneur or not, get yourself a good posse. Be part of a team. Surround yourself with like -minded people. If you're positive, get rid of the negatives. But we all need a mentor and we all need a network. Rising tides lift all boats.

Steve Doyle (: 29:46

Mm -hmm.

Meg Schmitz (: 29:54

So do yourself a favor and as an entrepreneur, don't keep it in. Get out there and really see how other people are tackling problems because you'll survive and thrive much better than if you're just trying to do it on your own.

Brad Herda (: 30:08

Awesome. Meg, thank you so much for being on the show today. We really appreciate you being here and looking forward and seeing your, maybe some posts with your three chainsaws and all the fun things you're doing on your slow moving vehicles.

Steve Doyle (: 30:09

Awesome.

Meg Schmitz (: 30:19

Yeah.

Thank you so much. I was looking forward to this conversation. You surprised me with a couple of the questions in the pivots, but it's been very enjoyable to spend the afternoon here with you two.

Brad Herda (: 30:33

Thank you very much.

Steve Doyle (: 30:33

Thank you.