Andrew Augustyniak

Guiding conversations with community leaders.

In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders, their stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks, and lessons learned. Come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments.

An event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert. All right, Sarah, this is going to be an amazing day because, well, we.

Have an amazing guest in our midst. If you know anything about this guest, you know three things for certain. He loves the sport of golf, his family, and his career. He is married and a dad to four young kids and an 85 pound puppy. He grew up locally in Tempe and took a shot at professional golf. He eventually found his way into mortgages and in 2022 was in the top 250 loan officers in the country. He's got the best backyard in the neighborhood. Please welcome Andrew Augustiniak.

Welcome, Andrew. That was exciting.

Yeah, she made it all sound fancy, didn't she? Yeah, she's good for something every once in a while. We'll let her have that.

I'm grateful for that.

I'm quite excited. This is my payback for having Sarah on my podcast.

And the trick was that I didn't know that his was on video. So I showed up like this, not prepared.

Oh, don't look at that camera. Okay.

Oh, okay.

All right, let's start with what we call rapid fire. Here we go, Sarah.

Fill in the blank. Happiness is.

That means a lot to me. Which doesn't want to answer it correctly because I talk about this every day. Happiness is not money. It is your family, it is your kids, and it is all the things that actually matter in this life.

That was a good answer. What is your hidden talent?

My hidden talent would be. This is. That's a hard one. Oh, my. We gotta come back to that one.

I was gonna say golf, but everybody knows you.

No, that's not hidden. And I, like, share all of my talents.

I bet you can probably flip a mean panel.

Honestly, can we? I should say what comes to my mind, so I'm gonna say the ability to aggravate my wife in a flirty way.

That is a talent.

Well, I was gonna say we could rule out rapid fire.

Yes.

Not at all. Go to the Smithsonian.

I should know. I should say what comes to my mind.

Okay. A concert you will never forget.

Don't people. You know, I don't even care. People judge me. Say it. Jonas Brothers. With all my kids.

Yeah, I can see that.

Try not to judge. Have you ever lived abroad?

No. That's actually my. I only have two regrets in life and that one is one of them.

Okay, what is something people get wrong about you?

Nothing actually comes to my mind right away. Get wrong about me. It's hard because I don't know what people assume. Come back to that one. Okay, I'll have an answer by the end of the show.

Okay, this one.

What makes you hopeful people who actually stand up to things that are not right in this world? Because a lot of people. There's a lot of. Yes. People. There's a lot of people who just want to make everything easy by Shel and just like going with the flow. Example would be my current neighborhood hoa fight and lawsuit. We could just shelter in place and just say, okay, we won't do it. But it's like we did nothing wrong. So I think people not letting other people control them because this is a very corrupt world.

Judging by the pace of this rapid fire, my next question is, are you more of a thinker or a doer?

Doer. Either way, rarely think. I think and I know that causes you to lose some, but it causes you to win some.

If someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be?

I'd go, Zac Efron. Just because my daughter one day said you kind of look like him. And I was just like. When he's like all ripped out or like my face probably was dancing on.

The beach or something. Yeah.

What is your favorite pastime or hobby?

Oh, obviously golf. That's since I was 2 years old. My kids are all into golf. Golf is our life.

Okay, last question. Ready? What is one thing and only one thing you are grateful for?

One thing. Health. Because if you don't have health, you have nothing.

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Learn more@dignityhealth.org Arizona all right, so I want to jump back to. You said you have two regrets in life. Not living abroad is one. What's the other?

Yep. Not living abroad. Even if that was for A six month thing. I wish I would have studied abroad, lived abroad, done something. My other one, as silly as it is, is not living in a dorm in college.

Oh, yeah, that's.

Yeah. I went to two years of Mesa Community, which actually, like, was a great launching pad to get a scholarship to Nevada for golf. But I, I took the easy way out. Not the easy way, the way Mesa was two miles from my house. So I was just like, oh, we'll just go to Mesa. I get to stay at home. I'll play on the golf team there, get two years and then transfer, which I did. But knowing people on our team who had lived. When I transferred to Nevada my junior year, there was people who had been there for two years already who had great friendships and great relationships. And you and you develop so many relationships in that freshman year of college in the dorm, living the dorm life that I didn't have. And I see people who have those relationships and I still had great roommates. Like I moved in with some people junior year in a house. Like, great friendships. But I wish I would experience that life. Yeah. Because right now it's like you see people, you see dads my age drop dead. And you see all these people that are just unhappy and they don't take chances and like, they don't do everything they can to experience something. And I'm like, man, I wish I would have experienced that. I wish I just would have experienced a little bit of it.

But my guess would be because of that you actually take more chances now.

Correct. Yeah, I use that as my motivation. Same thing for training, traveling. There was a five year span where we couldn't travel because our pregnancies with our kids were all terrible. My son's water broke, my second child's, My wife's water broke with him at 17 weeks. He was given less than a 1% chance of survival. She was on bed rest for three months, couldn't get out of bed, lost her ability to walk, sacrificed her body. Doctor said, go abort your baby. We said no. So she, we took the 1% chance. He was born at 31 weeks. So she was 14 weeks on bed rest. He was born. They took five minutes to get his lungs to open up. He went to the NICU for 92 days and then every pregnancy after that was a month to two months early. We lived the NICU life. That was our norm. So basically for five years we didn't travel either. So taking like not traveling abroad and not being able to travel like now, I push us to go on like different adventures because I hate stuff, I hate toys, I hate material things. And I just like, I'd rather use that to go have experiences with our kids and family. And we're making up for it. Last year we did. We did the Masters. We took probably the youngest baby ever to go to the Masters. Had to pay for a ticket, believe it or not. Oh, yeah, it was stupid. We found out a week before. That's a whole story in itself. We went to New York City with all four kids. Then we went to the President's cup in North Carolina to watch. That took my father in law. It was a great trip. Went to Santa Barbara this year. We just went to Houston, just went to Seattle and Portland and the Oregon coast. So we're making up for it. It's still hard for my wife to let go and go travel because with four kids it is tough. But as you know, with nine kids.

Four kids of what ages?

Basically about to turn two, about to turn four, about to turn seven and eight.

Yeah. So that's a lot. That's a handful to travel with.

We have a lot of motive. I have a lot of motivation to go do stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. So were you from a larger family? Smaller family? What did your childhood look like?

Oh, that's a very interesting one. My. My parents immigrated here from Poland in the 70s. They did it the legal way. It took five years to leave. My father grew up on a farm in Poland. I'm talking like, no electricity, had to milk cows for their stuff. They had cherry farms, they made their own cheese. My dad truly grew up in a farm where he walked five miles of school. We were just looking at Google Maps and he was showing my kids where he was born. And he was born in a house, in a farm. And so they immigrated here in the 70s, came here on a boat, took a train, like all that stuff to California. It's a whole thing. And so my parents, I have one sibling, she's eight years older. So we always joke, like in our family that we were two single children because we were so far apart. And it was just very. My dad, classic European older family. Just like my dad would work every day. My mom was the homemaker, made everything from scratch. Food was never like with, with Polish people, food is everything. And they're like, if you, you know, if you don't eat her food, like, it's offensive. And so like, but everything's home cooked. There's nothing. Like, I didn't eat a PB&J until I was 12. And she just Never, it was never part of it. Like she, like, it was funny. So I grew up across the street from my wife and my, my mother in law now back then, introduced me to Kraft Mac and cheese when I was like 10 years old, like way later than most people. And my mom, like, she was like, your mom's gonna hate me. Because my mom was very cook everything from scratch, everything's, you know, homemade. So food wise childhood was amazing, but I was really just like an only child. Like me and my sister just didn't, we're just so far apart, we didn't hang out and you know, by the time she was 19 or 20, she had moved out and I was 10. So my life consisted of being in every sport every day possible because my mom didn't want me to get into any trouble. And her solution was always having me do activities, which I'm very thankful for.

It's a good theory.

I like that one. Yeah, I try to do it. Me and my wife are having. We have to find balance because I'd rather be busy every day. And my wife's like, we need to be able to relax. Which is true to that too. But childhood was very, you know, we a lot of family back then in California. So we go probably once a month, you know, for four days to hang out with family. Now they all live here because everybody from California, once one moves over there, they all move there, they all follow.

Yeah.

And that was my childhood was just sports, golf. It was a very simple life. And I always give this example and this is probably why I hate things. Things and I hate like toys and I hate all that stuff is like my Christmas present was like a box of golf balls. Like that was my Christmas present and I loved it and I just thought it was amazing and I appreciated it. And so it wasn't very like just very simple. The house is always very tidy. We didn't have a lot of toys, but I just did a lot of stuff. Anytime I'd have a golf tournament that that's what my, our trips would. We didn't take a lot of vacations. Which actually is another part of why I'm so motivated to take more vacations too is it's just like my childhood. Like I think we only went on true vacation, maybe two. Because in our, in that culture a vacation was like going to California to see your family and spending a weekend there. Or a vacation was if I had a golf tournament, you know, in Las Vegas. That essentially was my dad's vacation.

The tiny thing, it's Some of it plays into just the evolution of generations. Right. Like, your parents did something different than their parents, and now you. And so I'm curious, like, what do you look at your young kids? Like, what do you think they're gonna look back and be like, I'm gonna do this differently?

Oh, I know. Isn't that. That's the truth. Because to give you a perspective, when my dad was showing us Poland, where he grew up in the country, his life was. There was zero vacations. Their life was six days a week going to school. And the Sunday that they didn't was housework. And then when they went to school, it was two hours of homework every night. Like, that life was completely different.

To take the chance to move.

Yes.

Like, that in itself is just brave. And I'm sure they were scared.

Oh. Like, his dad was part of the Holocaust and World War II and escaping. And, I mean, he doesn't get too into it, but I'm like. I slowly try to get more stories out of him about, like, what does he know? And I know there's a story about, like, somebody helping out his dad, and it's a whole thing. But you're right. To answer your question, you're right. It is. It's a generational change of, like. And for our kids, man, that's. That's where it's like, you have to. You can provide them stuff, but you also have to keep them grounded, which is essentially why I hate toys and I hate all those things. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm curious. The golf passion, where did that come from? And how'd that start? I mean, you said you got golf balls as a kid for Christmas. Who introduced you to golf?

That's a good question. So my dad got into golf probably in, like, the early 80s. And then, like, he would always come home, like, after work. Dinner would be on the table, like, classic European. Then he'd sit down and watch tv. And back then when he smoked cigarettes, he would just go in the backyard and chip all the time. And so the story, as my parents tell it, is when I was 2, which is funny, because now looking back, like, this is really what my kids did, too. But when I was 2 and my dad would go outside, like, I would just go with him, and then I would just watch. Like, I would just. He just. You know, kids just go out there when you're chipping, and they can play or they can mimic you. And so they said. But they said, like, one day when my dad was at work, my eye went outside, and I picked up the club. And I was trying to hit it, not when he was there. And so my mom called my dad and she's like, Andrew's trying to hit the golf ball like you did. And so that's. It was just from watching my dad just in the backyard chipping at night, smoking a cigarette before, you know, before bed. And he would just be out there for like 30 minutes to an hour. And then slowly but surely we have old pictures of just. They got me plastic clubs and did the whole progression. And then I grew up in the lakes of Tempe, which was a great community. I wish they built more communities like the Lakes of Tempe or the Lakes of Val Vista. And like those are cool communities because they have a lot of things going on. They just don't build them like that anymore. And we grew up there and just slowly started playing in golf tournaments. And anytime my dad would go to the golf course, he would just bring me to ride in the car. And then I slowly started playing with him as I got older. And then I. And I played all the other sports too, around the clock, which I believe. Like, it's nice to see kids going back to that nowadays because of our generation is what we did. So like my kids is like, no, you're playing different sports all the time and you can still have your constants. Like for me, golf was always going on, but it was, it was still had the seasons of all the other sports, but golf just grew and the passion grew and like it was just always a love. And then I played every, every weekend. My. My dad was a weekend warrior golfer. He'd work all day and I'd go play golf with him. And then I remember when Fiddlesticks was around on Elliot and Kyrene and like one night a week he'd. We'd go to Fiddlesticks and just go hit balls there and have fun. And. Yeah, and it's cool to see after when co. When Covid came, like golf like blew up, which, which is my motivation for what we were talking about, the flip flop ideas. Like it's such a, such a. When it comes to like business now when it comes to family life, like it's such a. Like it's outdoors but it brings everybody together, whether it's business or private life. It's just a great place. And so that's my passion. Play collegiately and then did the pro thing at the worst time possible. 2011. There's not money being thrown around for professional golfers, so got a college degree for it. That was nice. I didn't pay for that, but golf earned my way. So I always tell my dad, like, yeah, you paid for golf my whole life growing up. And then I paid you back with college and then did the pro thing for about a year and a half. Did great. There's just no money. And then I lost the passion for a couple years, started building the mortgage business. And then a couple years later, I was like. I was like, I'm gonna go play one time. I didn't touch a club for, like, three years, and then I started playing with clients again, and then I started having fun, and then I got the bug to compete. And so now. Now, like, I. That's like my. That's my balance in life now is like, I do it with my kids. My daughter has. She made it to the next round, the regionals for Drive, Chip, and Putt this Sunday. I still compete avidly as an amateur. I almost made the US Amateur last weekend. So, like, that's like my competitive, like, bug edge or competitive need being filled. Yeah.

So when you look back at when you made the run for pro, what lessons did you learn during that time?

Oh, that's a good. That's a good one. I think about that a lot. I could have gone further, looking back now, but it was. I just didn't commit myself. Like, compared to, like, building the mortgage business or any other ventures, like, I put so much, like, mortgage business, I was going 14 hours to 16 hours a day golf. I can honestly say I wasn't. And money plays into that. Like, it's tough. I was. I was a CrossFit trainer. In the mornings, I'd play golf and practice during the day, and then I'd wait tables at night at Spaghetti Factory. And, like, the hard part was I just didn't. I could have gone harder to go find financial backers and investors and look at it that way from like, hey, this is a business, it's an investment, it's a risk. But if it pays off, like, it could pay off big. That's how a lot of people do it now. But I can honestly say I didn't know better, and I didn't try as hard as I could have. But at the same time, at that point, I knew a lot of people who were, like, 15 years older than me, and they were still living half in, half out, meaning they were still working kind of a job as a cart guy or waiting tables and then trying to hold on to the dream. But if you're going to do something like that, you have to be, you have to be all in. And if you're like, they just like, I didn't want to, I didn't want to. You have to commit early on. Are you going to go all in and you're going to die trying? And if you have nothing to your name, then at least you did it. But if not, you have to let it go. Because if you're in, like any venture, if you're half in, half out, like, it just doesn't, it can grow, but it doesn't go anywhere.

So 2012 could not have been easy for mortgages either.

It was yes and no. I mean values were low, but that's when like rates were still at that point, like around like three and a half, three, nine, nine. So I got in and like houses were so cheap that like it was, it was actually the best time for me to get in because it wasn't now. Now it's like, it's, it's like the faucet is dripping. That time it was like, it was just like a slow run and it was a good time because things were cheap so it wasn't as hard to buy stuff.

Okay, so I'm curious about your wife grew up right across the street from you?

Okay, okay.

So how long have you known each other and when did you. When was there a spark and you knew that it was more than a neighbor?

Oh, she moved there from Washington when I was six and she was three. She moved across the street. Family, you know, like the lakes community. Everybody was very close knit. Like we families were instant friends. My dad actually lent my, my father in law his initial $10,000 to start his business. And I would, I remember vividly like every month. His name is Greg. My father in law would come and give my dad a handful of cash and that was his payback of for the $10,000 investment. And I always remember it, and I'm not gonna lie to you, I knew where that money was and I took 50, a couple 50s one time, but.

We have that on record.

That's when I was like, man, I was young at that point. I just remember they put it, I was like, oh, I'm going to go somewhere like with friends when I was like 13 later on. And then they moved down the street. So we grew up across the street. And then later on they moved down the street, still in the same street, but down at the end and we still played all the time. And then they moved away to Chandler. I think when, when probably like we were like 14 or 15 and he's always my dad's or my father in law's a family practice doctor. So he was always our family doctor. Right. Any. Any issues? But we never go to the office. We just go to his house in Chandler and drive over there. And then later in life, like, I had a high school sweetheart. Broke up with her. I was in, I was at McCarthy my sophomore year. And at that point Britt was a senior in high school. And then like one time she called me. She was visiting a boy she was talking to who was at asu. He's on the football team and he was living in the lakes and he had left his house and he said, hey, what are you. She just called me, she's like, hey, I'm in the neighborhood. I just wanted to come say hi to you guys. I haven't seen you in a couple weeks or so. And she stopped by and then like we always tell, like, she stopped by and I was like, oh, like now I don't look at you as like my neighbor little girlfriend. And then like she hung out for like an hour with me and my parents and it was just so natural. And then we were like, that was interesting. And then like, you zinged. Yeah, it was a weird. It was very weird. It was like, now we're not just neighbor friends. Like, it was like all the visit, it was just very natural and fluid. And then she had texted me and said something like, have you ever, like, when we were outside, she was like, have you ever thought about like kissing me? And I was like, not until now, but now I kind of do. And then we just started talking and then we started dating, like within a month. And she gets mad that I tell the story, but that was.

But you're gonna tell it anyways.

Yes. Okay. We started dating two months before I transferred to Nevada. And I always laugh, like, so we started dating two months and then kind of started. And then I started getting ready to leave and get all my stuff ready. And then I'm like, what sane 20 year old starts dating before moving away to start a long distance relationship? This one, this one. And that goes to every venture I go on was because I just take a risk and I really like think God had a play in it. Right? Like, the timing was just very interesting. Like I break up with, with my high school sweetheart, like, oh, I'm never, I'm not going to date for a while. And then that just happens and it, and it happened. It was very tough, like starting out as, like, she was 18, I was 20, and I'm in college away and I turned 21 within a month of starting at Nevada. I disappeared for like 10 hours on my 21st birthday. And you know, just like random arguments that children have that you just like, they're so petty. And it was tough. Like when you're young, you needed, you date and you're together and you experience those ups and downs of learning how, how, how to be a 20 year old dating girls. And it was tough. You know, we'd have Zoom yelling at each other and fighting over stupid stuff. And you look back now, but our life has been very like on the go and with all our pregnancies and with, you know, her dad's battle of cancer and with our businesses and like rental properties and all these ventures that we're on, like, we're so go, go, go. That like we go to zero from, we go from zero to 100 very fast. And like, yeah, like, that's a problem. But I also think that's one of our strengths. Like, we can get through a lot of hard stuff. So I'd say, even though, like, I joke about like, like what, like, why would I start dating somebody, right? And go. Move away, go to college when there's girls everywhere and all this stuff, it's like, yeah, like that's what that prepped us for what we had to endure later in life.

And yeah, so I married my high school sweetheart. And I will say, I've always said, like, you either grow apart or you grow together. And like, we've just grown together. And it is like you work through these things and you have such a solid foundation that you really can withstand all of these other challenges as you grow older.

Yeah. Yeah, we're very passionate. It's, it can be good, it can be bad. But no, it's, but you know, that of each other. Yes.

And unfortunately, when you, you're together from such a young age, you also know the exact triggers really well, very well, almost so.

And it's like so hard because, you know, you shouldn't bring up those triggers, but sometimes you do. And, and, and I mean, we've, you know, I, I'm proud to say, like, hey, we've gone to marriage counseling. I think counseling is good for everybody. It's good. I, I didn't believe in counseling for a while and then I started going to counseling for business support, support with, with understanding marriage more, just bettering my life and having somewhere where I can just like let go of things. And it's been, it's been like world of help. Especially and when we you know married that's just, that's good maintenance and good practice and so you're right though, I mean there's a. When you know somebody for so long, you know the triggers. But on the same side or on the opposite side there's so many benefits to like your family knows each other. Like my dad and my father in law are like best friends.

Yeah.

We all share a cabin that we built in pacing together, they play golf all the time together and so there's like a lot of deep roots that like it's like it feels very natural like it was always meant to be, you know.

That's awesome.

That's the story.

So let's talk about the future now. What's tomorrow got in store for you?

Oh, so much fighting with my hoa. Just kidding. Let's not talk about that.

That's another show.

I don't think my attorney would like that one. No, I mean so I switched. I became area manager for neighborhood loans three months ago. I'm in charge of Arizona, Washington, Oregon. Growing all those regions. I'm switching companies. I love the company I was at but I needed a new challenge, a new you know, I didn't feel the growth mode and needed that energy back and so I had an opportunity and took it. So that's been, that's been amazing. All my employees are loving it. We're just growing like crazy. Recruiting like crazy. So the future mortgage side is always going and always growing. We always take the stance of not just being like a transactional lender but growing relationships and helping our clients like use mortgage to grow their real estate portfolio. So mortgage is my constant. Me and my wife really must say my wife's project that I'm there helping her grow is we're opening a place in Queen Creek called Desert Studio Az. That's an indoor and outdoor photography and videography studio that is available for photographers, videographers, families, moms, businesses to just come have a place where they can, they can do whatever they need to video and content wise that's been an interesting, interesting I wouldn't say fight but negotiation with the town of Queen Creek.

It's called a journey.

A journey. I wish. I don't know about Gilbert. I haven't opened a business with Gilbert. I just have the mortgage business going in Gilbert. But I wish, I wish cities and towns would understand that they should make. They shouldn't try to control every aspect of small business and be some more supporting to the backbone of.

I'm just going to remind you to utilize your chamber. Queen Creek has a chamber too.

I'm telling her to do this. Yes, but yes, that is where that is an interesting journey. But we're almost there. The nice part, I think we can. I think we're about to go. We just got past site site approval and we're about hopefully should have the construction permit and our goal is to get this thing open by November. So that's a great journey that I'm going on with my wife. And again, working with your spouse is an interesting thing because you have two personalities and I actually love it. And I'm learning too how to adjust and help her get. Help her in the ways that I need to help her with that business and I want her to do it. We have a company called Arizona Rental Response that I started with my Buddy who's Gilbert PD. We're 24 hour, 24. 7 emergency on call service for all the new short term rental laws going on in Arizona. So just like an on call service because the new laws make it to where you have to be available 24 7. We started that with the goal of having him retire from being a police officer. So that's the goal. With that we're managing our own rental properties and then I'm involved in a company called Putt Tech where we do putting courses. So that's been, you know, I'm spread thin, but I'd rather be spread thin than bored. So I have a bunch of little ventures going and then obviously I have the big goal which both of you actually know about is creating a place called the Flip Flop where it takes golf in different aspects of golf in an outdoor setting and bringing somewhere where families and people can come together and hang out and have fun and have music. And I actually, when we were in Seattle this week, there was somewhere that had the same vibes of what I'm looking to do. And it was just so much fun in her Shaza and I took a ton of pictures and it wasn't exactly like I have because that one's probably been there for a while. So I have a better vision of it. But it still had the same vibes of the concept. And so I have a 5 to 10 year goal of opening a place called the Flip Flop which incorporates every aspect of golf into one place. So that's my, my future. Okay, I probably forgot something, to be honest.

I was trying to write it all down, but I think I got lost.

Oh, and then the podcast. Oh yeah, the podcast. Fueled by Y podcast. And so I've done That for a long time now. And it's. And it's evolved. It started as a real estate podcast and it turned into. Evolved into the field by why. And I have a couple co hosts and a couple sponsors and. And that's how I met you, Sarah. And it's just been. It's fun. It's fun. Everything's fun. You just gotta have fun. Yeah. And if something doesn't bring joy and fun to your life, then you should probably not do it.

Well, this has been fun.

It has been.

Which is probably why we keep doing it. Definitely not because of us. No, no. But it's fun.

It is fun. Well, it's store and stories, like, for people's lives. Like, you just people you don't like. Everybody has a movie, right? Like, I just met you and like.

I know you two together. Actually pretty dangerous.

I got like, I got a glimpse, like you gave me the Cliff Notes version of your life and I was like, oh, man, I need to see more. But it's like, we all have a story, right? Like, every single person has a story. Even the person struggling, you know, somewhere and has a story. The uber successful person has a story. And what's interesting to hear is, like, their story, but also like the ups and downs, how happy they are. Like, are they enjoying life? What advice would they have for other people? And it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be somebody who's like a bajillionaire. It doesn't have to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Like, it just doesn't.

Well, happiness is different for everybody.

Ordinary people have extraordinary moments.

Yes. And so we only get to see, you know, 0.0001% of people's stories on the big screen. And it's like, oh, have you ever looked at that Instagram? It's cup. It's a think it's like cuties of New York or something. It's this Instagram. Hold on. So it's an Instagram page. It's probably on TikTok too. But there's a guy who goes around walking around New York and he finds like older couples who are walking together. Like just old couples. Like you know, just cute old couples. And he goes up to him and then asks them like five to seven questions about, like, how did they meet? How long they've been together? What's their advice for people? Like, what do you love about each other? What do you hate about each other? And it's the most interesting page because you, like, I just saw one Last night. It's so cool. And like, they're like, oh, we've been together for 45 years. Where did you meet? And they were neighbors, weren't they? No, that one was. Oh, that's your story. They met at like a rock concert and they were the cutest one. And then his thing was like, I love that she just puts up with all my bullshit and all this stuff. And it was just like, it's. It's cool. Like, that's like, that's the epitome of like, what we all need in this life is those story, those. Those cool stories. So awesome. Yeah. Just happiness. Happiness and finding happiness indeed. Yeah.

Well, I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for your leadership. I admire the way you just go after things and I am so glad that our paths have crossed.

Thank you. I appreciate you. Likewise. This is fun. I enjoyed every second of it.

Fantastic.

But we probably need to do like a three hour one.

Next time we'll do a part two.

Yeah, there will be drinks involved with that one.

Yeah, for sure. Exactly. But thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Well, thanks for joining our show today and hopefully you've enjoyed this as much as we have. It's been a lot of fun. As we've all said, if you like this show, like I know you do, join our tribe, subscribe and join and get all these notifications when we send out new episodes. So thank you for being here, guiding growth conversations with community leaders.

Ben, let me ask you a question. How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast?

This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand. Whether you want to again be on the show. Reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.

Sa.