59 | Recapping Service World: Key Takeaways and Insights with Kristen Deese

Welcome to Freedom Blueprint podcast. I am joined today with a special guest who is my business partner, my partner in crime, my amazing wife, Kristen. Welcome. Thanks for coming and coming and hanging out, even though you wouldn't come hang out in the studio with me. You opted for to do the recording.

You

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

from my own studio.

From your own studio. So yeah, so I wanted us to kind of talk a little bit about, we've had kind of a crazy travel couple of weeks here, but specifically I wanted to kind of talk about Service World. We just wrapped up Service World. know, Tom Peregrino and team, they just, every event gets better. Like they just, they just get better and it's really cool.

Mm-hmm.

Not to say that all the events haven't been great, but they just each one gets a little bit better. And, this one was, was no different, man. It was, it was really cool. And, so I just wanted to kind of recap and talk, talk about it a little bit. And, you know, we, did this one of the other events because after any event, we always kind of just decompress and talk about what we learned and what are some takeaways we had. so yeah, so just wanted to do that. So what'd think?

Yeah, I mean, I think it was awesome. I particularly appreciated their choices of keynote speakers. But in all seriousness, the keynote speakers that they did have were really awesome. And the MC was awesome. And just the whole show in general was good vibes.

feel like that's a plug.

feels like a good turnout. I think it was probably turnout wise what they were hoping for. It was cool to be on a Disney property. So that was neat. I think all in all it was good.

Yeah, it was certainly any anytime you go to Disney, it's they Disney always does things right. That's kind of what they're known for. And we were close to the park, but just far enough away. So we were on a property where you could get to it. But yeah, not not as many screaming Disney children.

Well, and so the cool thing about that property, because we stayed and the conference, everything was all in one resort. And so the cool thing about that particular property was that all of the children's things to do that were on the property were not anywhere where we needed to be. They were actually like across the place. So when you're walking back and forth from the conference room to your room or whatever, you're not walking past the pool with a bunch of screaming children, which don't get me wrong, I love children. But we're past that point in our lives. So I don't want to.

Yeah.

Partake in other people's screaming children. I know. I know.

We're so close to being empty nesters.

So close, so close. Yeah, so they had Alex, what is Alex's last name? just completely.

in your phone.

yeah, I'm have to do an edit on this.

Yeah.

Martin? No.

Mm-mm.

Not in my family. Maybe in yours.

Yeah, no, it's I put it in your phone

wasn't he on LinkedIn?

Webber.

Yeah. So they had a, they had a really awesome MC of the event. I, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not sure that they could have picked a better MC. I feel bad for whoever's the next MCs to come. because Alex Webber, that dude just has got so much energy. I'm going to say stamina. Like that guy was running all over the place and, he was keeping the party hype, which was pretty awesome.

Yes.

So, so Alex Webber was one of the announcers on America's Ninja warrior. he was kind of telling a story at the beginning about how, really his job was to kind of be a goofy MC and, know, try these things out and fall and whatever. And so eventually he got to where he started to work out and started to do it and, was doing the courses and became an American Ninja warrior. So, definitely a cool story about.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know perseverance, I guess. I mean, I mean, I don't know if anybody listening has ever been to an American Ninja warrior gym. I've been to a couple of them and they are the real deal. I have come out of their hands bleeding, before, so it's, they're, they're pretty, they're pretty tough to do. And, you know, all these guys here, rock climbers and whatever. obviously they have a little bit better.

Yeah.

chance. don't think he was much of an athletic guy. anyway, so Alex was great.

Yeah, I think they hired him knowing that he would fail and wanting to capture that on film and then a couple years later for him to be like, nah, let's flip this around. It was pretty cool, yeah.

He's like, I got, I got this. I got this. yeah. And then obviously, you know, Damon John, the, the people shark that was, that was pretty cool. obviously, you know, anytime you get to meet someone that you've watched over the years, you know, shark tank is obviously a, something he's very well known for, clothing brands and you know, all that kind of stuff. He's, know, well known for too, but he,

Mm-hmm.

He's got such a good story about kind of that hustle and drive that you, can't deny. I know for me, I had no idea he was that involved in the rap community back in the day. Like when that stuff was first getting started, and that he was a visionary to go, these dude, these kids are going to want what these guys are wearing. Like that was, that's before that was really a mainstream concept.

Yeah.

Right. before he even probably really realized it, he knew exactly who his target market was too, before he probably even really knew what that term was or what it meant.

and to be able to launch essentially with a tribe because, I mean, we talked about that in our talk was the importance of tribe and to grow your business, you got to be in the right room with the right people. And that's a great example of how he was able to capitalize on that.

Yeah, selling stuff out of the trunk of his cars, going to these rap concerts, you know.

He got somebody to take a picture with the shirt on. Yep, there we go. He's like, if I can just get you to take one picture with a shirt on, that's all I need, is one picture. Yeah.

LL Cool J. Yeah.

And that's no doubt. mean, he did it. And, and certainly that, that flywheel effect kind of starts to happen because people are like, it must be cool. You know, so and so has got whatever on and that's pretty neat. So yeah, so actually before, so, so Daymon John did, a keynote the evening, the kickoff evening, and then they had service world had a, like a training summit. I don't

I'm going to mess up exactly what they called it, but it was basically a training summit where they did these workshops. I'm a huge fan of how they're laying these workshops out. I think one of the challenges of attending events is it's easy to get down the rabbit hole of, I want to do this and, and, you know, let's be honest, it's a room full of.

people with shiny object syndrome. So it's easy to kind of get wrapped up in that. And I think that's one of the great things about them shifting to that 90 minute and allowing people to, to attend and really get not, not just get the most out of what's being said, but to actually be able to take these things and implement it. think is just such a, I think, I think other people are going to take note and start, start doing that as well. But

Yeah, the longer time period. that first day where it was a multiple hour workshop was the first day. And yes, that was, I want to say there might have been like an additional ticket or some sort of additional something that had to be done in order to attend those. But between that and extending the breakout sessions from 45 minutes or an hour to now 90 minutes.

Yeah.

You are not necessarily going to as many topics as you would be if they were shorter, but you're able to go much deeper on the subject because you're in the classroom. So when I was in high school, our high school switched in the middle of my high school career. We used to have like seven classes a day that were 42 minutes long each or something like that. And they switched it to block scheduling right before I graduated where you were in four classes a day. You were just in them for a lot longer.

So when I think about those workshops being 90 minutes instead of an hour, it takes me back to high school. So anyway, to be able to spend more time on the topic, to be able to flesh it out a little bit more, to be able to think deeper and learn deeper about less topics I think is more impactful than going to 12 different breakouts where you're just barely scratching the surface of a topic and then you're not really necessarily leaving it with anything that you can truly roll out and implement into the business.

But yet you're feeling super overwhelmed at the same time because you're like, wow, all this information I just got.

Right.

Like firehose or yeah, because you, typically go, well, there's so many things I need to do. and there's so many things I want to do. And then to kind of put that into a bucket is, is, is tough sometimes. And what's, you know, a big part of what we did, you mentioned earlier. So we, got the privilege to do the opening keynote, which is, which is amazing. and our, our talk was really about.

Really finding your tribe and how to get the most. So it's kind of a two part. I don't know that most people got that, but definitely finding the tribe was a big part of it, but you know, finding your tribe and how to get the most out of your, your time at the event, because that, that is really important. And I think one of the things that, service nation as a whole and service world does is it's the networking. it is, it is different than the other events.

Yeah.

I mean, we go to a lot of events and this is the one that we probably, not probably, this is the one we look forward to the most on a couple of different reasons. And one of them is because of the friendships that we've made along the way of these. And we're like, we can't wait to see these people and these people and these people. And they've just, they've really given a good platform for people to really connect and be able to grow together. But yeah, so we got to do the opening keynote.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

and we did a panel.

Yes.

Which I mean, we had really good feedback. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was good conversation. I know for part of it, one, one of the pan, I won't say which one, one of the panelists who was, who was pretty nervous about being up there was like, I, it was almost like those people weren't even there. Cause you know, there's a lot of people in the room.

Panelists. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so to paint the picture for, yeah, to paint a picture for people who weren't there, there was probably, the room was set for 750 people, so there was probably around 700 in there. It was pretty full-ish. It was pretty full. Our talk was for an hour, but it was a different type of talk than what we normally do because normally it's like there's a PowerPoint involved and...

A lot of times there's a workshop involved and that's not really how this keynote was gonna roll. And we didn't even have a PowerPoint this time. And so you and I spent a lot of time leading up to sound check the day before, basically rehearsing the opening part of it because we didn't have a PowerPoint to be able to keep us on track and remind us what we were gonna say and you know, whatever. And then once we got, no, would never say that.

Mm-mm.

Are you saying that I'm easily distracted?

But then once we knew that we were rolling the questions, then it would be more conversational and it would just kind of flow the way that it was supposed to flow. And then we come in for a sound check the day before and we learn this wonderful little tidbit of information. And that was that we could have a teleprompter. And then so.

You know, we kind of joke about how you and I process the world differently. So to me, I'm like, yes, thank goodness we get to have a teleprompter that's so cool. I have never used a teleprompter from stage before, but I have used it on video. And so absolutely, that will be super helpful. And Justin's like, can you hear that?

hell yeah.

I hate that refrigerator.

Can we not turn that thing off?

I don't know.

buffering.

Has your internet been acting goofy?

Mm-mm.

Man, mine's been acting.

Is it because I'm blurry on your screen? Because you're blurry on my screen. But I think that's just the uploading thing.

See, I don't under.

You're bad blurry too. But that's the whole point of this thing is it is hey. Alright, so you just had to do your very best to.

Yeah, so are you.

Hey.

I have no idea where I picked up.

So when we went to do sound check the day before, we learned that we could have access to a teleprompter if we wanted one. And so we process things differently. We talk about that a lot. And it was kind of funny because I was really excited about the opportunity of having a teleprompter. While I've never used one on stage before, I have used one recording videos. And it's been extremely helpful. And then Justin's response was,

That's gonna mess me up. I can't have a teleprompter that's gonna mess me up.

I mean, we can have one all day long. If I try to read it and look at it, it will be a train wreck.

So anyway.

So wait a minute, let me ask you this though. You did an MC thing a couple years ago. Wasn't that off a teleprompter?

No, it was off of pages that were printed.

OK. OK, sorry. Go ahead.

Yeah. And the microphone was stationary. So that one was a little tricky because I was trying to read what was on the paper. But also, I had a stationary mic. So I had to make sure that I stayed a certain distance from it. And so that was a different experience, too. So anyway, so we were able to get the first 15 minutes, just the opening to them to put on the teleprompter. And that was awesome, which.

Gotcha.

We had already spent so much time prepping and rehearsing and practicing and whatever leading up to that, that really at that point, by the time we were on stage and it was in front of us, it was more of like a security blanket than anything else. I don't think either one of us like needed it, but it was nice to have. And yes, that particular panelist, which I know who you're talking about was right. Once you get up there, it didn't feel like it was as intimidating or as big of a room as...

As you, when you first walk in, you're like, holy cow.

Yeah, it was a good panel, good discussion. we got a lot of good feedback from that. so on the panel we had, Tucker Yarbrough who is out of Oklahoma. He is second generation, plumbing AC company. Actually, I think plumbing AC may be electrical. Hmm. I don't know. We'll know. We'll know if he listens or not. Cause he'll, he will definitely text me and say, and then we had Jen shoe.

I cannot confirm or deny.

who she is out of.

She's in Dallas. Yeah, she's in Dallas. She's at Barbosa Plumbing and Keening in Dallas.

She's out of Dallas, that's right, so she's out of Dallas.

Okay. And then we had Tersh with his amazing shoes.

Mm-hmm.

Hehehehe.

I don't know where he gets. Well, I know he doesn't get, know it's Julie, but I keep meaning to ask her like, where do you buy? Cause you know, she just comes in and she's like, here, here's your outfit. And he's like, okay. but, but yeah, it was, was, it was just a really good conversation. And I don't, to me, the audience was like a fly on the wall. Like we just, we're all just kind of shooting the breeze and,

such shoes.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

And again, we got a lot of really, really awesome positive feedback about it and that, everybody felt like they were part of the conversation. And that was the whole goal, right? Like that's the goal is finding your tribe and making sure you, are okay with it as far as going out in the world, meeting people and connecting and networking. And sometimes in order to do that, you have to step outside your comfort zone and, you know, cool stuff happens outside your comfort zone. So.

Sometimes you have to go up to that group of people that are talking and say, Hey, if you guys don't mind, I just want to join the conversation. I heard something that was really cool. My name is Justin. I'm a blah, blah, blah, blah. you know, it's, it's terrifying. And then you do it you're like, it's not a big deal. And then, cause, cause really then you ended up being friends with all these people anyways. And you're like, my gosh. cause because the truth is, is, we're all in a journey, right? And we're all in a different spot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

in our journey, but we're all in the home service space. So no matter what problem somebody's having amongst the hundreds of people that are there, somebody else in that room is either going through it or been through it. I mean, that's it. So you automatically have some really cool stuff to talk about. yeah. Let's see, Expo Hall.

For sure.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yes. So I had a booth at Expo Hall this year, which that's the first time that I've done that. So that was cool experience to do that. And then you were able to record a podcast from the podcast stage, which was really flipping cool, Yeah.

That was fun. That was, that was a lot of fun. and I, I interviewed John and Vicky LaPlante and, I don't, think it's episode 56, 55 somewhere. It's, it's only a couple back because that Monday morning, but my commitment was to record this, but I wanted it out Monday morning. I wanted to get it out as quick as I could. And, so it was a long weekend of getting all that stuff dialed in, but we got it out Monday.

Monday morning, but what, what a great interview. What, what amazing people, they are just in general, the, the impact they've made on the industry and to be able to share that few minutes with them was, it was awesome. And so obviously if you, if you were there, great, go check out the podcast and leave a review while you're there. Cause that would be helpful. And if you weren't there, you should go check out the podcast. It's great. You should leave a review. That's very helpful. So,

But yeah, that was, that was a lot of fun. That's the first time I've done a live podcast in that, in that format before, but I'll tell you, I'm hooked. That was fun. And to get the interaction from people and to see their reaction from the things going on was, was pretty awesome.

Yeah, yeah. Well, and that...

Mm-hmm. And that interview was a special interview, in my opinion. And I was standing there listening, because if you were there and you were listening to it, you could put on the headphones and then you could hear what was going through the microphones. But you didn't have to put on the headphones to hear it. And I was kind of bouncing back and forth between my booth and where the podcast stage was.

And so I stuck around as long as I could. then, you know, after a little while, they're talking and I can hear John and Vicki and we're talking, you guys are talking about their influence and impact in the trade community in general. And I can feel myself tearing up a little bit. like, what in the world? is is craziness. But it just just such a special journey that they've had in the in the industry. And I don't know, it was just kind of sweet to hear them talk about it.

Well, and you think about really from our position for you and I, mean, that's really what our goal is, is to leave, is to influence an impact in a positive way. So, for us, it's really amazing to see them and to watch how they've done this and learn about their journey because that is our goal is really to make a positive impact and to be.

positive influence on the trades and the people that were around and yeah, was, there was, there was a lot of people that were tearing up a little bit.

And Anna was just laying back there being her supportive role.

Man. Yeah. If so Anna's there, they're puppy dog. keep, I keep saying puppy dog. The dog's probably 13. but if you check out Facebook, I put some, pictures and it was fun. okay. So here's something funny. So they're, they're getting the podcast stage ready. And I go when I meet with the, basically the person managing the whole process and she was, she was very concerned about the dog and I didn't think much about it. And I was like, she's like, so what, what are we going to do?

You

She said, what are we going do with the dog while you're interviewing? I was like, I mean, she'll just like sit there. I she doesn't need any, like, if you want to give her a treat or something, she probably wouldn't mind, but she's just gonna, she's like, but, back here, she can just lay. I'm like, she's not, she'd probably lay in the front. And if she does, who cares? but yeah, she, I don't want to say too concerned. That's probably not the right way, but she was like, are you sure? I'm like, I do not care.

It's not like she's gonna bark. Right? Right.

Yeah.

But it was great. It was good being able to connect with them. And again, a lot of good positive feedback from the people that were there and the people that have emailed me and sent me text messages since the actual podcast went live too. So good time.

Yeah, yeah. Awesome.

So one of the, one of the things we talked about, and so we didn't know this at the time, we knew what our talk was going to be about, but we didn't know what anybody else's talk was going to be about. And so, you know, part of, part of what we were wanting to express to the people that were there, as far as, know, you know, getting the most out of the event was not to get in the overwhelm and be careful about wanting to implement too many things like.

two to three things, like that's it. And really probably one, because realistically, if you look at the investment you make to go to the event, and this is really any event, but you look at the investment you make for an event, if you really went and implemented one thing in your business, one thing, you're gonna get an ROI. I don't know how fast, it depends on how big of a thing you do or whatever, but you'll get an ROI. But...

But that was kind of what we talked about a little bit. Like just make sure you don't get in the rabbit hole of too many things that you're trying to do and get involved with. there was probably four other speakers, almost all the other keynotes, including the MC, kind of all were in the same, know, talking about not getting overwhelmed. And that was interesting because there was no plan, at least that we knew of.

Mm-hmm.

for that to be a topic, but it was really cool that that came up. So you want to share? Because we did have a big takeaway.

Yeah.

We did have a big takeaway, but you're going to have to share it because I'm not following what you're stepping in.

Yes.

So when I was interviewing John and Vicki, I asked, I don't even know what question I asked. Vicki said, yeah, yeah, there's something, whatever. She's like, John's going to share it. John's like, I don't know what I'm sharing. It was pretty funny. So one, one of the things that, that we took away from it was, we we've been a big vision board family for a lot of years. I'm actually looking at, at mine right now.

Hahaha

you

We've always done a pretty good job of doing vision boards and whatnot, anyways, the vision board part is what I was going to share, but I'll let you share. Now that I've thrown you the softball.

Gotcha. I'm up speed now. Yeah, so well, at the time of this recording, we are almost halfway through the last quarter of the year. so setting goals for next year and setting up some visions, especially for me personally and the virtual CFO, has been really just something that

opportunity for especially the boyfriend to be exposed to business in general. He wants to be a business owner. I think he might actually even want to be an HVAC business owner. So the earlier that we're able to get him exposed to some of these thoughts and ideas, the better for him. It did not work out so that they could come. They were going to end up missing too much school and cheer and football and all the things. But we wanted to.

kind of bring back an exercise that we could do together with them that is a vision board, essentially. So I got on Amazon and I ordered some cork boards and I got these cool supplies. They make these books now. They're like clip art books and they're literally designed with all the different types of pictures and sayings and affirmations and all kinds of things that you would put on a vision board. They're designed to be cut out.

So I bought a couple of those. That last time I did a vision board I was cutting stuff out of magazines that may or may not have really applied. Or yeah, or you print a picture.

Or we were printing them. Yeah, I'm looking at these. I'm like most of mine on this one is printed.

Yeah. And so we spent, and we built up the project too. So I'm like, OK, like I'm talking to Addy. OK, we're doing this cool project, so make sure you're around on Sunday afternoon. This is what we're going to do. And we are going to be up at the farmhouse. And so she was convinced that we were going to be building barn doors. I'm like, no, no, Not manual labor. It is not manual labor. It's a project, but it's not manual labor. And so she was kind of relieved that we were not doing barn doors.

You

But it was really fun experience to work on that with them and then see what their boards looked like and let them talk about what they put on their board and why and kind of start planting the seed of you have control over what your future looks like and what you focus on is what you're going to be able to achieve. you know, focus your thoughts and intentions and actions in a specific direction so you can get where you're trying to go.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's crazy how when you put things just in front of you, even, even, I don't know, maybe it's, I don't know, subliminal God thing. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about it that it just, it just makes it a real thing. And there's nothing cooler than to check something off.

a vision board, like there's, there's nothing better. it's, such an accomplishment feeling. And I know for me, I'm not really good at celebrating wins, right? Like I have a bad habit of I'll hit a goal and dude, I'm onto the next one. I'm not even, I'm barely taking a step. I'm like, on to the next one. but, but I think vision board kind of forces you or me, to kind of take a minute and go, okay, I'm going to celebrate.

Yeah.

this win, even if it's just long enough to take the thing off the board or whatever. but I would, I would say for anybody who's listening, if you do not do vision boards, I'm not only is it a fun project, but it really allows you to really think big right in a safe space. So if there is something crazy that you want, you're in a safe space, it's your board, put it up there. And,

Mm-hmm.

And it's, and it's really cool to do with the kids. for, for a kid, especially in high school. Okay. So 10 year vision. That's, that's probably a toughie. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a toughie. but you know, six months, 12 months, cause you got to think it, you know, from a teenager aspect, next weekend is a really long ways away. So, you know, next year, even if you have them thinking about a year. And I know with Addy.

That's probably a little far. Yeah.

You know, she's been wanting to be a Troy cheerleader at Troy University for years and years and years, and that has been on the vision board. And then now she's going to get the opportunity to do that. So, I mean, that's pretty cool. It's pretty awesome.

Yeah, for sure. So here's one thing that I learned on Sunday when we were working on this that I really wish that I would have done over the years. And that is save the items that we took off the vision board because we accomplished it. So saving the picture or saving the term or saving the thing and then writing on the back of it when we realized we accomplished it and kind of what it was that what happened in life that said, yep, I accomplished that.

Mm-hmm.

and kind of like the date or the year or whatever and saved that into some sort of book or scrapbook, I think that would have been a really cool way to be able to reflect back and see on a larger scale how far you've come personally, professionally in fitness and finance and whatever. So I do wish that that was something that we would have done early if you do vision boards and you take something off because you've completed it, keep it, put it in a place and be able to reflect back on it later.

Yeah.

which I know moving forward will, will definitely do that. But the other interesting thing about vision board, as I get older, not you, me, is I can remember doing these at the beginning. It was a lot of things, right? It was, you know, house and car and boat and you know, whatever. And now as, as we're getting into a different stage of life,

There's not a lot of things on it. actually I can't, well, yeah, I guess I do. don't know, but there, there's just not a lot of things on it. It was more, you know, fitness, faith, impact, influence, happiness. Like there was these things that were really more, there's less tangible, I guess, is the, you know, things you can't write a check for, I guess is probably what I'm getting to.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, so mine have things you can write a check for, but they are not item. They're not material items. There's a lot of experiences on there. So mine, for my next couple of years, some of the stuff that I put on there was experience related, but then there isn't anything that's like a straight up material item on there. Although I don't know that I've ever put a material item on a vision board personally.

I can remember one of the first ones that I did when we were up to our eyeballs in business and I just wanted to like be able to have a normal day. That was on the vision of being able to felt like I could control what was going on in my day. So it's definitely, it's kind of a long way for sure.

Yeah, that's awesome. But yeah, I mean, that was, I mean, for, for us, there's a lot of good takeaways. We met a lot of good vendors when we were there. so actually I'm gonna back up a little bit because I just thought about, because we wanted, Addy and Parker to go with us. I'm still kind of bummed they didn't go, but whatever I get at school, you know, all that kind of stuff. But, Tom, when he closed it out, bringing the younger generation up on the stage.

was so awesome and so cool. And I, and I think, because I feel like we've talked here in the last couple of years about, obviously there's a work shortage and people don't want to come in the trades. And I, and I think that's because we've done a disservice to our trades to show how cool it is. It is a cool trade. It's a cool business. And, and I think

That was cool.

Mm-hmm.

Tom's leaning into that, right. And bringing them on stage, none of them knew that was coming. None of them expected it, but man, the smiles of all of them on stage was so awesome to just see. Like there was so much pride in what it is that they do. And I think that's, that's so cool. And that's, that's going to get this to the next generation and to grow. And anyways, kudos to Tom for that. Cause that was.

Mm.

Yeah

Badass is what it was. It was so cool. Expo Hall. So one of the things that I noticed this year compared to years past, there is a lot of AI.

Yeah, that was awesome.

my gosh, Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Like you can get down a rabbit hole shiny object.

So you've always been faster to embrace technology, right, between the two of us. And I can remember when cameras went from 35 millimeter film to digital. And I had a 35 millimeter camera and I was like, I'm not going to digital. I want to be able to hold the pictures in my hand.

I don't want them to be stuck on a device somewhere or only be able to see them on a computer or whatever. And then I finally broke and was like, okay, I guess I'll move over to this digital life after a couple of years when it's been out. And now I can't imagine having a 35 millimeter camera. think, my gosh, it's so expensive. I can easily print them from my computer if I want them. Like it doesn't make any sense to have a 35 millimeter camera unless you want to use it for the antique slash relic characteristic of it.

Where do you even get it developed anymore?

Well, so you can still buy film at Walmart. I actually just saw that the other day. You can still buy film at Walmart. And I do believe that the drug stores and some Walmarts still have photo processing centers. But what I've seen is that the print quality nowadays is not nearly what it used to be. It used to be really nice print quality when you get your pictures developed. But now they're using color printers in-house instead of sending them off and the print quality is not as nice.

Okay.

or is it the digital is just that cleaner?

No, the old picture. No, because it was a clean photo on the 35 millimeter. It's just the way that it gets printed. So anyway, so now I feel like that we're on that. I'm on that cusp again with AI. So when AI first came out, I was like, no, I don't want this AI. And I would rather write my own copy. And I want it to sound like me and yada, yada, yada. And then you jump on the bandwagon of AI. And now I'm like, hmm. Well, if I could just use it to get prompt started on this writing, or if I could just use it to come up with this cute little tagline.

Yeah.

And then we go to expo and it's all over the stinking place.

Well, and I think probably the biggest thing, like when I talk to people about, about AI, for me, I, I always have to say, just remember it is a tool in your toolbox. It is not going to replace you. no matter, I don't know. And I don't want to say ever, but there's no amount of training you can do to it right now to a hundred percent produce whatever result. However, what it is good at is it is good at.

Helping you sometimes organize ideas. Sometimes it's brainstorming. Sometimes you're locked up on something and you're like, you know what, what's some ideas you got? Here's what I've got. I'll say this. And I know I've told you this before too, but I swear AI has made me a better writer. because I know that if I'm trying to accomplish something, I have to write it as if I'm talking to a fifth grader in it. And it forces me.

You

to be very careful about what I say. And anyway, I think AI is amazing, but it is a tool in your toolbox. You cannot just let things fly from it out in the world. You will be embarrassed. Don't do it. Yeah.

Yeah, totally unsupervised. Yeah. Well, so and it's showing up in so many different places Like I feel like it was only really in chat GDP and then now all of a sudden is showing up all over the place So I was reading an article this morning from the HVAC our news magazine and there was an article in there about thermostats smart thermostats and now there's thermostats out on the market that have AI built into them and learn your routines and your movements throughout the house and will Basically program itself based on how you live without you having to say

I want it to be this temperature at this time and whatever, which is cool, creepy, and cool. But it's just, it's everywhere. It's all over the place now, it seems like.

Well, and, know, I think it's, it's one of those things too. Everybody's like AI's new, AI's new. AI is not that new. it's certainly more in your face now than it has been, but I mean, that's what spell check is. I mean, how long has Grammarly been out? I mean, that's all that was, was AI. but even, even spell check before that, and I'm sure there's probably something else I'm not even thinking about even before spell check that really was kind of an AI.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

type platform, but it's certainly it's, it's moving along, man. There were some, there were some call center inbound outbound. actually I had, I had one on the show. It's been a couple months ago now. I think that's, that's an amazing product, that does inbound call answering. yeah. Yeah. As I were talking, Brad, he

Is that Zyra Talk? Yeah, I was just, one of my clients that I was just talking to today uses them. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. I mean, they're, they're, they're pretty cutting edge. they're there. They seem to be at the forefront of all of that specific part of, AI. Cause I can remember when Google, and I think it's probably been two years ago now when Google first introduced that at one of their, conferences and it was a salon and they were doing the salon thing and it, and you could hear it. And it was like, I mean, I hear it, but you can also hear it.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

where now it's getting to be where you almost can't even tell. You're like, is that AI? Is it not?

Yeah. Well, that was always my big thing, too, is I as a consumer don't ever want a company to interact with me using AI and have me think that it's a human. Tell me it's AI at the beginning, and don't try to pass it off as a human, because it's not.

Yeah. Yeah. Be transparent about it. Yep.

And so the idea of it announcing itself first and then two or three, two years ago at Pantheon, they did an AI demonstration on incoming. It was actually booking. might have been what you're talking about. It was actually booking a hair appointment. was somebody. AI was somebody's executive assistant. Was it? Is that what it was? OK. Yeah, they were somebody's executive assistant calling in, making a hair appointment or something like that.

Yeah, they played the Google. Yep. Yeah.

That's pretty cool. Sounds helpful.

I mean, it's pretty awesome. It's, coming along, you know, and the truth is, is right now I know there's some contractors I've talked to. They're like, my market, if, if they did that, I would lose customers. And I'll say anytime you adopt new technology, sure. There's people that are hesitant on it, but you think about, it's better than a voicemail. It's more interactive than a voicemail for sure. but in my opinion, it's better than just hitting a voicemail.

And then you think about all these call centers that one ever sees. I mean, that was 10, 15 years ago that that started to be a really, really big thing. And man, people were, I mean, even now, I mean, sometimes like, okay, we can't have a communication barrier if the form of communication is talking. Like we got to speak the same language. Right. So, but now people are just used to it. It's just kind of what, what happens. And I, and I think a lot of that's going to be the same with the things like Zillow or not Zillow.

Right.

Right.

got Rilla, you know, like with Rilla and the AI and listening to the, to the salespeople, it's going to be weird. It's going to be uncomfortable. There's going to be a lot of pushback from people, but eventually it's just going to be part of it. I mean, every call is recorded now. And when they first rolled that out, people were like, my own would be recorded. Now you don't even hear it when you call places. They're like, this call would be recorded. And you're like, whatever. It's the same. It's the same thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, not to get overly ninja-coachy on that concept, but the business owners who say my market won't handle that technology, that is probably more the case of the business owner projecting their internal fears to their market and that their market probably will take it just fine.

100%.

Yes.

Yeah. And they would probably also say that I can't raise my prices because of my market. Yeah. Mark. Markets not the problem. People are people. People do business with people they know they like and they trust. So. What else do we talk about? We talked about, lot of good breakout sessions, lot of good breakout sessions that were there.

Maybe. Not that we're profiling or anything.

Obviously we stayed really busy, so we didn't get to hit as many as we wanted to. our friend Kelly Scholes rocked the house. That was, that was awesome. Philip Ferrara from Liberty air. He crushed it. Like everybody just did an amazing job. We didn't hear anything other than crazy, good, positive feedback from, from the whole event. So

Yep, yep, that's awesome. Looking forward to Vegas next year.

Yeah. So, so yeah. So they made the announcement Vegas next year, for, all the people listening that are like, man, I love Vegas, which you gotta think that's quite the shift Disney Vegas. but I will say this usually Vegas, know, pretty, pretty good, pretty good walking, but, definitely a lot of entertainment and bright lights and all that kind of good, good jazz there. But in, and in between that service nation,

I'm from Disney, I guess.

announced that they're having a, I don't know what it's called, but it's like a warning learning workshop that they're doing, in, Boston, Boston in April. So, if you're part of service nation, we hope that we will see you there. And if you're not part of service nation, why are you not part of service nation? That, would be the question. What, what are you waiting on? I guarantee you call, you call Jim or Michael and they will, they will hook you up.

In Boston, yeah. In April. Mm-hmm.

Great.

Mm-hmm.

and matter of fact, I will actually put their info. I'll put Michael's info in the, in the show notes so that, for anybody who's listening is like, I don't even know who service nation is. Well, you should know who they are. and their show notes, I'll put their info in the show notes and you can go, you can go join and you can tell them Justin Kristen said they had to join. That's just, that's how you do it. So, so cool. So yeah, all in all, I mean, what a great, what a great event. know there's a ton of stuff we left out.

Yep. Yep.

but good event, good takeaways, any kind of closing thoughts?

I think that probably about, about wraps it up for me.

Cool. One of the things too, when this goes live, we'll put some info on the Facebook page. Maybe we'll put our vision, we'll take a picture and put our vision boards on one of the posts so people can see it. And again, if you have any questions about vision board and how to get started or whatever the case may be, hit us up. Our info will all be in the show notes. yeah, that's all we got.

That's all we got.

That's all we got. Well, we appreciate you hanging out with us and checking it out. until next time, keep crushing it.