Gretchen, welcome to the Entrepreneurial Leap Podcast, our second guest. Second, no pressure.

No pressure at all. I'm better than being the first. Nice to see you, Rob. Thanks for having

Me. Oh, I'm so happy to have you on the podcast. I've learned so much about you. I shared a little bit about that with you a moment ago before we started recording. And this is gonna be a special conversation cuz you're a special person, there's no doubt about that. I always like to start with a quote and so I'll, I'll share the quote and then I'd love to get your feedback on what you hear. So here's the quote, belief is more than a feeling or emotion. Belief is a journey, a process and a requirement. So what comes to mind for you when you hear that

Sounds like someone I know wrote it.

So you do know the person that wrote it, who is me

Too. I think it is me. That's

Right, that's right. Yeah. Sorry to embarrass you. Yeah, so talk to me about that. The inspiration. It's, that is an amazing statement by the way.

Well, thank you. You know, it's interesting. It, it really is my core value and it has been, I think, inside me my entire life. And when we decided finally to take Baker Hop to a place of running on e o s, really fully committing to e o s and the very first thing we do is have to, you know, dis establish our core purpose and our core values and we establish our core purpose and then our core values. It was so, you know, believe just is our core value. And I have gotten flack actually Rob over the years from people who would say, well, how is believe a core value? It's not a value. And I, and I would, you know, second guess and go back and, and, and I appreciate those challenges because it, it really required me to question is it a core value? Right. And it absolutely is. And I, you know, I really, really, really think it's difficult for anyone in life to be, to do anything without some, some sort of self-belief or belief and, excuse me, and belief from others. And, and it just is so obvious to me. I don't even know how else to articulate it cuz it's so obvious.

Where do you think this came from? It's like intuitive for you? Like that's what I pick up on when I hear you say obvious, it's just like from the inside.

Yeah. I think for me it came from multiple sources. I've always had a sense of belief in something beyond myself. And it's so interesting to me to see how spirituality has evolved over the years. My own as well as the world and what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. And so even outside of org organized religion, they're, they're just, I just have a very, very strong belief in something beyond. I was also raised by a mother who literally had blinders on to everything. I mean, she believed in me like nobody else. It didn't matter. And I have a, I do have a saying to this day, and I use it in my own parenting is, you know, if, if my mother says it, it's true.

Wow.

And that's actually thinking more about the negative things than the positive.

Oh, interesting. Okay. I didn't, I didn't take it that way at first, but, okay. Wow. Okay. Yeah.

So if, so we have to be, I, I am very careful about how I speak to my children because those, your mother is such a critical relationship in your life. And when she gets in your head either positive or negative, she's in there and she stays in there. And so my mother believed in me no matter what. And there, and there wasn't always stuff to believe in. I mean, you know, it's not as if I was really showing her anything fabulous. She used to say when I was little all the time, that I would be the next Jane Polly. Well, oh, you know, I'm not necessarily Jane Polly, but, and she really taught me to, you know, to, to feel good and believe. And so, and I put that out there for everybody. I, and if, yeah, it's just so important. I don't have to

Say it. What was it like growing up in a, in a family where you're this business Baker hop that you're c e o of now and full owner is, do I understand to be over a hundred years old

Yes. In four generations.

What was that like growing up?

It was fun. My gr you know, I I, it's interesting about the entrepreneurial journey because I would say I didn't become an entrepreneur until I was 30 years old. And family business I think is an unique brand of entrepreneurship. And I'm going kind of off the reservation here a little, but it's fine. It can be a struggle to have a business that's this old, this established and feel like an actual entrepreneur. And so even thinking about having this conversation with you can be a little nerve wracking because there, I didn't start this in a basement.

I didn't sell Blow Pops when I was 14, you know, I like, I I I really don't fit the typical. And so it that that there's, there's a lot of reconciliation that goes on in family business. There was, for me anyhow, and to answer your question, growing up in a family business was, it was just always there. It's a huge, was a huge part of our life and it was a huge part of our dinner table. And my mom worked for my dad for a while, which was an interesting time that, and I worked here in high school, but it also doesn't feel the same as some of the scrappiness of first generation families working together in a family business. Yeah. I mean there were two generations, you know, whatever that is before my dad even took over in the sixties. It was just a business. If that makes sense.

It does. And I'm always curious, and I even on my own journey and I have kids who are not involved in the business, I thought, boy, it seems like a lot of pressure almost to take over a generational business in such a different way to carry the torch and continue to grow it. And so did that, did that come into your mind? Oh

Yes. If I had, you know, I, I don't like the concept of looking back very often. You know, people will say, what do you tell your younger self? And, and now that I've sort of reconciled some things in the last 10 years of my life that were really important that don't look back very much anymore. Not even to with nostalgia or anything, I just really like to accept life and continue to do the best I can to be here right now and then, you know, move forward. However, I would say that the one thing that would be so would've been so helpful to me is if I had the sense of believing, let's go back to belief. You know, I was confident always or acted confident, but believing in my vision for the company, my way of doing things, that was the, that'd be the one thing that I feel maybe I could have be a little bit, I don't know, suffered less, I guess. Yeah.

Yeah.

Because really every generation has to, to put their, to be successful. Do you have to put your own, you know, learn from this beautiful foundation that was built prior and then quickly as quick as you can build. So the way I think about it sometimes Rob is like, we have this beautiful, beautiful foundation and I am so grateful for particularly in this industry, very difficult to start up, you know, this is, you know, it's a very established slow moving industry with long-term relationships and so grateful. And it was like this really strong foundation of a, of a house. And then you have the first floor and you have the second floor and, and on the first floor like it's okay to renovate, you know, it's like let's good, let's take down the wall and like open it up and have the great room and maybe put the floors in and the granite, whatever it is that is necessary. And that took me way longer than I would've preferred. So that would be the one thing I would would say to my younger self. And I think there was some uniqueness to being a woman too, coming in after four, three generations prior of men. Just a different lifestyle, different responsibilities, different outlook, priorities, reshuffling a little.

Right, right. And you know, I noticed in some of my research I felt, I don't know what the company was like prior to you, but I just couldn't imagine in what I was seeing and learning that it was like this. Yeah. I just had a sense you have put your touch on it and I love the way you have an analogy for the foundation and the re redoing the first floor. Cuz I really feel like that's what I picked up on.

Wow. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm very happy that that's coming through. And the research, one of the things like what in the, we had these beautiful portraits of my great-grandfather and my grandfather and my father and they were in the hallway on the way to the lady's room. And I would look at them every time I would go to the bathroom and come back. And when in 2016 when we did some actual renovation here to the office space, I took those down and I, I haven't put them back up. And again, I think some people in my family think, oh, you know, there's like a lack of respect and the reality is they want me to be successful and in order to be successful we had to take those pictures down. And yes, I, I have absolutely started over the last five years really believing in my own vision. And, and, and it's like one of my good friends says that you're as the, as the c e o you're responsible for the biggest relationship and the smallest details. And I really have focused on all of that so that we have this really strong company. It's, you know, straddling fences is, is one of, is probably the most exhausting thing you could ever

Do. Oh yeah, definitely. Did you have intentions? You went to college, I noticed that, correct? Yeah. Yes. And so did you have intentions after coming out of college of coming into the business? Or what was your thought process at that point in your life?

Not at all. I worked here in the summers and, you know, enjoyed the office work and that kind of thing. And I took off for Chicago, like a lot of kids in the Midwest in the early nineties. Yeah. And worked in communications and public relations and I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed that at the tail end of college. And I enjoyed it when I was in Chicago and just ended up coming back here cuz I also kind of liked sales and I knew my dad w was, could retire young and the the old story I used to tell is that he was gonna retire young and I wanted to give it a shot. The reality is I really didn't have much better, I didn't have a lot, I didn't have a lot of other options. Not meaning it was my only option. But I didn't really like my second job in Chicago. I didn't feel like I was successful and I saw an opportunity and I did like the concept of sales and so I asked him if I could come and work for him and I did. Hmm. And then one thing led to another really.

Yeah. So when you joined in with the business in the back of your mind or your father's mind, was there an idea that maybe someday Yeah. Oh yeah. Was

Okay. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Got it. Got it. See,

I came back to see if I would like it if I would be interested. Got it. Yeah. Yeah,

Yeah. And then was the idea as well that you would start in sales and kind of work your way and understand the business as opposed to Yeah. Okay. For sure. Is that an important part for a generational business to have somebody start to really feel like all aspects of the business before

Just Yes, in fact, yeah. I mean, oh for sure. I mean, I think that's so obvious really at the end of the day because I mean the school of hard knocks, the the other, the other imposter syndrome. I, I'm not a big fan of that term, but, you know, the the other thing that I think family business, some kids in family business struggle with is being taken seriously. Yes. And, and forever. I mean there are still people I know that don't think that I work hard and I'm so over trying to prove that. Yeah. You know, but I feel it, you know, I feel people and I, and I actually kind of really get it and understand it. If I were someone who did start my business in a garage and went through all of that, I might, you know, look at someone in a family business and say, Hey, you had it easier. And in some ways I probably did have it easier and I'm so in awe. I mean that group of people and people who start businesses today, people like yourself who started businesses 30 years ago is the bravest thing. I I literally think it's the bravest thing. It's

Interesting that you say that because when I meet with people who have family businesses, I always think totally opposite. Like I thought, okay, I'm young, I go do this in the garage, whatever basement, and what do I got to lose? When you go into a family business, multi-generations, gosh, I always think wow the pressure, I don't know if I could handle that. So isn't that funny how you and I kind of see it there and I'm like in awe of somebody who can take that family business like you have and just keep bringing it to another level. It's remarkable.

It's interesting cuz I think it's like a security thing. So to me I look at somebody who's particularly people where they leave jobs, you know, and then they go stable jobs and they go out and they start a business. I am like that leap because I know even as an entrepreneur as as I became an, an entrepreneur there, you know, and you get more of a feel around the real risk of it. Yeah. I think there's naivety maybe on both sides

Probably.

I didn't know I was coming in here and I had no idea I was what I was taking on. I literally just came here and sold and had a yellow pages and Yeah. You know, ran up my dad's phone bill, calling my friends long distance and you know, like, and, and then one thing led to another and then I was an entrepreneur. Right. Whereas same thing for you. You go in the basement and you're like, well what do I have to lose? I'm gonna give it a shot. So I think it's like, until you get to that point where there is something there that you're risking Yeah. And then you're like, oh my gosh. But yeah, maybe mutual respect and mutual misunderstanding. It keeps us all moving.

Was it when you began to take the business over, was it challenging in any way to, because you bought your father out but then you also had another partner, which I could don't, I'd love for you to kind of explain cuz I couldn't catch on to that. Maybe it was your dad's partner, I'm assuming, but I don't wanna assume so Yeah. Was that challenging or how did that feel for

You? So that's when I was an on, when I realized, looking back that I actually became an entrepreneur. I was, I was 30 years old and simultaneously I was negotiating this buyout with my dad. Negotiating is giving my me more credit. I maybe he was dictating this is how we were gonna buy the business.

Right.

It was myself and a 50% business partner who had been a really successful producer, salesperson, here agent. Okay. And so we, my dad brought us together in the business and we were buying him out simultaneous to that. Hmm. I was having three children in four years

And I remember my, if I, if I were to mark, my first day of entrepreneurship was I had my first baby and she was six weeks old. And prior to the buyout, you know, there's a little shuffling that goes on with, you know, who's gonna be a partner and who's not kind of thing. There's four or five of us that were probably, you know, eligible. I see. And, and our vice president of operations who had been here for 15 years gave her notice. And I had a six week old and literally one day Rob, I was working for my dad in a family business, you know, selling insurance, getting ready to have a family. And the next day I was an entrepreneur because I, geez, my, I was home for one day with this six week old and the next day she was in daycare and I was back to work. Oh my gosh. It's just gone from there.

And I picture it like you're in your sales lane and that those are the, all the worries you have in the world and now you're an owner and all the, all the stuff at the company are now all of a sudden the worries that's going right into it.

Yes. And that is it. Right. That's entrepreneurship at its finest. It

Is. Have you ever thought of these, you and I were speaking before these six essential traits before kind of hearing about elite and entrepreneurial leap book. Have you ever thought about this idea that you have this tendency to be a visionary, not tendency this in inside, you're a visionary, there's you're passionate problem solver driven, you're a risk taker and responsible. You know, did you ever think about that in any way or when you saw that list or heard me say it? Do do you say Yeah, actually that makes sense.

I think, look, I don't, I don't, I think when you say the list or I look at the words I can see now, I can see that it div that I didn't see myself that way. Even though I think I was always that way. I really had this box about entrepreneurs and I didn't fit in it and I couldn't for a long time figure out what I was doing. Doing what I was doing. And in retrospect absolutely. And I feel like it's fully formed. You know, now we talk about the first floor now I think I can see it, but it was always there. Yeah. It was always there. I just didn't see it because I was working so hard to stay in this box or get in this box or be in the box of what I thought Baker hop was supposed to be. Right. And what it had been. But yet the reason why I know this to be true, those words, the visionary, the risk taker, the problem solver is because of this internal drive, this internal engine that I now am comfortable with. And I see and I understand and I embrace or else I would've been gone a long time ago. Why bother? Exactly.

Exactly. Exactly. I love, there's this part in the book where Gino Wickman, the author, writes about the dream and the nightmare. And I'm curious if any stories or anything comes to mind on either side of that. The nightmares are always funny, I think in retrospect, but you know, at the time they're not funny at all. Right. But does anything come to mind? Like, have you had the dream or the nightmare as you've been leading the company?

Oh, I just got like a surge of energy through me when you said that, because I've had them all, I've had them all, I won a nightmare scenario. One, one of the things that's fun about the nightmares and looking back again, they're not fun going through them. Right. They're the, they're the I but what what's funny about them is there's always funny stories about them. You know?

Exactly.

A couple that really quickly that came to mind is my second maternity leave this time I was gonna have a maternity leave. We had a couple people vacate and I came in in the middle of my maternity and just for like, I to try to like deal with this stuff Of course. And I brought all the leaders into my office and I said, you guys, we've got this thing under control, it's all good, blah, blah, blah. And I remember the like, I, you know, the, the desk phone and the office person like buzzing me and I said, yes. You know, and she said, I just wanna let you know we just, someone just found your wallet in the parking lot, like with all your credit cards all over the place.

Like that's kinda the story of my entire life. Another one we call wifi. It's, you know, like, I mean it was, it's it's everything is always a beautiful disaster. Right. You know, and, and as time goes on you figure out how to make, mitigate those, you know, of course disasters a little bit. Another one we call Wonton Soup. We had a really problematic employee that we had, we had to find a way to move on from and we would meet at this Chinese restaurant and these bowls of wonton super like is like so huge. And when they first put them down, we laughed so hard in our misery, you know, at these like ridiculous. So we used to say like, we need a wonton soup member. And I think that's what's cool about companies and teams. It's having those, those things. But the dream Yeah. I think is, you know, I feel like I'm in the dream right now. Yeah. I mean I, I think flow flow is so powerful and I feel like we're we're there and clarity and, and I talked a little bit about with you before about the 10 disciplines and when you can read the 10 disciplines and see how practicing the 10 disciplines will really benefit your whole life, your business and like you can really feel it then I think, you know, you're kind of like in the dream a little.

Yeah, yeah. As I, as I was looking at your, your everything about your company and you, I actually had this feeling that the dream was now I don't know why I just did. So it's so cool to hear you say that and I'm happy that you're feeling that way.

You know, what's kind of cool about that going back to belief is, you know, probably a few years ago I would hang on that Rob. You know, like, like I like that, that makes me feel good. I'm happy that our we're resonating, you know? Yeah. Out there. Yeah. And at the same time, I already knew that. And so that is an even better feeling.

Oh, that's cool. You know, so about seven years ago or so, I think if I read correctly, you bought out your partner and you know, the book has a section about whether or not you're a partner person or not. And so since you've had a partner and now you don't, do you have any insight on that for yourself?

That's such a great question. I was really lucky because the person I partnered with was a good person, even if we didn't end up being great partners. And so I have a healthy relationship of, of the idea of a time and a place for everything now. And that's great. I I really think that the partnership was very important for both of us. And I, I think I probably would be more on the side of like, don't take a partner if you don't need one. And I remember after I had bought out my partner and it was a really good, it was good for both of us and I'm very proud of the separation that we had. And somebody said, oh, you should merge with such and such company and they could really use you. And the way that he said that, that day has really stuck with me. And I listen for that a lot. Now. If somebody needs me from a partnership standpoint or a board needs me or somebody needs me, I'm very hesitant and more and more willing to step back and say, well what do I need?

Because there's no benefit to the company if it's not something that the company needs or it's something that I need. Yeah. So I'm not ever ruling it out and I don't rule it out for people, but man, you better be careful. Yeah. You really, really, really have to be careful because at some point you're gonna grow, you are gonna grow your company. Yeah. And you have to be on the same page. And I've seen some really, really successful partnerships that there's no doubt that these companies and organizations would be less than. But, and that's only what I kind of see on the outside. But most of the time it's, it's tough cuz you, everybody goes in different directions and Yeah.

What about the importance of a clear vision and did you feel like you always had that at Baker Hop? Or did has anything changed over the years and maybe thinking in 10 timeframes or some sort of whatever point in time?

I love this question right now cuz I'm in, in a new vision. Okay. And the vision I always had for the company was very broad and very non-specific. And the vision was that I wanted us to be the best company we could be the just be the best, most respected company out there. And I, I was never able to, for whatever reason, really put numbers on it. I always had like a big number out there, but I, I didn't really connect with that number Rob. And, and really I don't connect with numbers that, well, it's not one of my strong suits. I really need good people around me who can measure and budget and those types of things. It's just how I, I don't, I don't know that I was born necessarily to be like this phenomenal business person. I think it's something else altogether.

Hmm. So I set out to do this and I feel really great that we're really, really on our way to be in the best company ever. And just in the last, gosh, six or eight months, I've gotten super comfortable with the idea of really meaningful financial growth. And once I connected to the idea of sharing wealth, whatever it is, in a way that makes sense, I I really connected to it. Mm. Once I, I gave myself permission again, I am very, the, the, the discipline I have to use these days is to keep my eyes on my own page and to use other business cases as inspiration and not comparison. Inspiration versus comparison. The comparison is what really ate me alive for so many years and held me back, really held the company back. So now I am so aligned with the idea that you can have an amazing culture.

You can have an like amazing team. Just the best of everything that I feel like is starting to exude out there, even beyond these four walls and oh, PS and you can be really financially successful and those two things can marry one another. And if you start to go this path, you don't lose that path and you don't get, you don't believe it till you believe it. Going back to believe. Yeah. I mean, you have to really believe whatever it is you're going to believe and then once you do to go. So yes, I feel like the vision was always so qualitative and not quantitative and we were always responsible. You know, I mean we, we, we were always profitable. We've carried low debt. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's not that type of thing. Yeah. It was, you know, so I'm

Curious, you know, I I can't remember the exact word that you use or words, but you said something right at the beginning of what you just shared about being a good business person. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? Okay. Yeah. And so what, what, what is it that you feel could be missing from you being a good business person?

Yeah. Well I think it's exactly that. The numbers. Yes. Yes.

Okay. So that's, that's how you define like, if I just had that then I'd be a good business person.

Yeah. I mean, how silly is that? Right? I mean the, the journey

Continues. It seems to be you're one heck of a business person, I have to tell you. So, and this kind of comes to my next question because, you know, Gino writes about staying in your personal sweet spot, you know, and I wonder Yeah. You know, how that shows up for you.

Yeah. So thank you. So I mean after, so if we go back to when I became an entrepreneur when I was 30, that it was the, the buyout, the three children Yeah. The 50% business partner and there was the recession and all hit the same time. And that's when I was born. I was, that's when I became an entrepreneur welcome. Yes. And so at that time we had to reorganize as many companies did. And I, all of those things got me into a, a grinding mode and I stayed in grinding mode. You can get into, this is something I would definitely, you know, you, I know that you are passionate about meditation and space and all of that. And, and it is definitely something that if I were to say to early stage entrepreneurs, the faster you can grasp that, the faster you can make that part of your life, the more successful your whole life will be.

Because if not, you will grind for 15 years and not even know what you're doing. And that is what I did. So, I mean, I'm a survivor, I will say I can, I know how to survive and now I'm thrusting myself into thriving. Really, truly thriving. And so 2021 was the day, the time that I had the nerve, the bravery to take myself into a conference room with a whiteboard and be honest about what it is I wanna do for the next 10 years in my business. What do I wanna do every day, not 10 years. These numbers, like how do I wanna spend each and every day? And I did it by myself. I took a step back and it was like, wait a minute, that's also the best thing I can do for the company. Right. That NPSs, nobody else wants to do this.

Right. So I took a step back and I was like, okay, here's, and I have it up here, my credential, there's like six bullet point items and it's, and it's all the right things for me. And then I built the org chart around that and the leadership team came in and with our facilitator for our planning session. And I was like, okay guys, here go here. This is what we're doing now let's figure out, let's like fine tune it. And that's what, you know, we've, I've been trying to do ever since then. And it's hard, Rob, it's hard not to grind. It is, once you become a grinder and an operator, that's like going one back to the business thing. I'm a good operator. I have proven myself as a good oper operator, whoever I have to prove it to, which is nobody. But that's a whole different, right. That's that, that's where your family, so good business stuff shows up is right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're still proving it. Yeah. And anyhow, it, it's hard to pull yourself out of that. And I would say that I'm kind of still in that phase Yeah. Of, you know, trying not to straddle the fences.

Yeah. What were the six that you came up with?

Well, for me it was, let's see, it is definitely new clients from start to finish. Okay. And understanding where I fit with all the new clients. You know, like what, how much involvement, that type of thing it is working with our top, you know, 20% of our clients primarily on a risk management basis, more so than, you know, insurance servicing. Which I'm not, you know, that's not necessarily my forte. We have really great people that are really, really good at that. The sales and marketing in general really expanding what marketing looks like for insurance firms, which we're, we're not strong marketers by trade. So it's been really fun. And cuz that's a little bit of my background before I came to Baker Hops sales and marketing and pr. Love that. And then the other two are, well there's the three. One was traveling, one was like being out and learning things and bringing things back. That's my job. I love. I'm like a cat, you know, that goes to get the mouse and comes back and loves to like I love that. I love that whole reinforcement of life. That's the way I get so satisfied and recognized, which is so important. It goes along with belief, strongly.

A million new ideas.

That's awesome.

That's on there. And then finally it's really protecting the culture. You know, like protecting fiercely the way I wrote it, I think was fiercely protecting and cultivating our, our awesome culture. And it might have been an afbo in there with that too, but

That those are inspirational and I hope that, you know, in an emerging entrepreneur and an, an entrepreneur in a startup phase, you know, under nine employees who can't see the light Yes. About getting in their sweet spot yet they are grinding right down six like Gretchen did. And you might not get there today, but you have clarity around where you'll be someday cuz you will be. And the other thing I picked up on is, I think I understood you shared these with your team members. Did I get that right?

Yeah. So I shared it with our leadership team. Yeah.

Which

Was a big deal. Rob. The other thing it is that I found was being, I, I love to collaborate. When you're, when you are a human connection person, collaboration and, and collaboration can kind of be like misleading. It doesn't necessarily always get where you wanna go or where anybody wants to go. If you're asking people to collaborate with you on something they don't have a vision about or they don't have confidence about, you're not actually helping like that. It's, it's, it's draining them. Right. And I've been very fortunate to work with the, the women that are on our leadership team today. We have worked together for 26 years Mm. Wow. In d in the company in different capacities. So there was no reason why I couldn't trust them with my vision. And that is what I did. And what was, I mean, I do not wanna discount how difficult it was. It was very, it was, it was difficult and it was, it was right.

Yeah. Well, I think, you know, one of the things that came to mind for me is when you are open and vulnerable and you have your leadership team, and when an entrepreneur gets to that stage, which they will have that those people can then protect you. Because really when I heard you're six, that's what's best for the company and that's gonna create success for everybody. So if they protect you and let you stay in your personal sweet spot, the company's gonna do all that much better.

Yes. Yes. And it does take a, you know, a a the trust. I just wanna touch back on this quiet time. Yes. For early stage entrepreneurs, it, it's talked about in a lot of different ways in terms of, i i I don't know if it was like Dan Sullivan where you were supposed to take like Wednesdays and just go to a coffee shop or I, and I think e o s talks about that too. I have found that literally the early morning time, having a routine in the morning and everybody has time in the morning. I mean, just depends what you wanna do with it. Do you wanna sleep? Do you wanna exercise, do you wanna meditate? Do you wanna exercise and meditate? Like, and you don't have to have all the money, you don't have to have all the people, you don't have to have all the experience to spend time with yourself and allow those two or three things.

This is where I believe in creativity in business, those two or three things to come to the surface Yes. That you can do in that day that are gonna make you feel so good about what you're doing. And then you do a thousand other things. But those three things can have whatever it is, I'm saying three, but you know, usually it's a handful of things for me that weren't necessarily on my list, that were, were on my list. But they really want, they need to jump to the top that can make the biggest difference and also create the most self-satisfaction. And when you, you have self-satisfaction, you feel meaning in your work, when you have meaning in your work, you have progress and you are willing to do it day after day after day. So this idea that like early stage entre entrepreneurs cannot feel that same energy that you feel, I mean, you now are really in your sweet spot doing what you really, really, really love to do. Which is so inspiring to me. I'm somewhere in between maybe, you know, and these people that are early stage, they can't, they, they can't even imagine. But something's pulling them there.

That is great. Thank you for, so I, I wanted to ask you about core values because yours are very special and can you talk, what, what I was curious about was have you recreated your values? Okay. And so can you talk about that as an established four generation business, shifting the values and then talk about where it's at today?

So I had to, I had no choice because insurance is a very negative business. It just is, there is almost nothing positive about it. Whether it's a claim being paid, you know, paying premiums, dealing with taking things on and off insurance. This is as the consumer, it, you know, 80% of our, our business is commercial insurance. So, you know, we're dealing mostly with business owners and, and also on personal insurance with a lot of business owners. Anyhow, nothing about it is positive. And, you know, I was born into this business and so along the way I felt this is the vision. I think where it comes out, I felt compelled to reinvent what the business meant. So we, so, you know, somehow came up with this idea that really resonated, which is we're here to contribute to the success of others. That is our purpose.

That is the purpose of the company. And it happens in so many different ways, but we're on the team to contribute to success because there's no getting around insurance and thank god for insurance. But it's still negative. And we're here to contribute to the success of others. And that is our team. First and foremost. If our team is not receiving the belief, the success, you know, we're not contributing to one another, then there's no one we can contribute to. Our clients are so important and so special. We have some of the most amazing relationships out there. I love our clients so much and some of them are so long term, 45, 50 year clients. It's crazy. Yeah. It's crazy. It is. And lots of new wonderful clients too. Our partner carriers super important to us. Our communities, all of our communities. Not just one community, but all the communities of which we interact with and our families because it circles all back to the team.

So that is what we do each and every day is we, we contribute to the success of others. How we do it. We wanted to keep it simple. We had guiding principles prior to, to 2016 and there were 10 of them and they were all great, but nobody could remember what they were and yeah. That kind of thing. So literally one day just kind of came up with, went through a facilitated session, raised the bar so easy, it looks like so great. We raise the bar every day. So believe we talked about, we believe in who we are, where we're going. And I think it's a smaller firm that's just so fun because, you know, anybody can sell their company, anybody can, you know, be part of a larger organization, but not everybody can be part of Baker Hop and what, you know, what we're about. So it's like the little engine that could, and I'm like, fi I, I'm five feet tall and I'm so small and oh my God, like we're, and we're such a minority in the industry. So we're all about belief, accountability. We do what we say will do. Super simple. Yeah. Very broad. Not easy all the time, but, but simple and relationships. And we're really passionate about building relationships with all those, you know, groups of people that are so important to us that I mentioned and believe in it. That's it. Yeah. That's, that's everything.

I loved it. I I have to tell you, when I saw that I was like, this is fantastic. I mean, it's so easy and so clear what you all are about. And the belief which we started with, by the way, with that quote is very powerful. I have to tell you. It is very, it's a very powerful world word. So I give you a lot of credit for incorporating that into what you're doing.

Thank you. I we have to talk about Ted Lasso for two seconds because

Oh, that's right. Yes. Thank you.

Because I mean, he, I mean he brought that to all of us. Yeah. And it's accessible to everybody. Yeah. And it is, it's, I'm, I watched a little bit last night of the next season and I, I'm just, I'm just so grateful that that's part of like what got people through the pandemic even, so Yeah, that is true.

Thank

You.

Appreciate that. Okay, so finally, is there anything, and don't feel pressure, like there needs to be some like, great statement, but if you have one that's coming to mind or an early stage entrepreneur even maybe, you know, it's a multi-generational person coming in who might be taking over a business, is there anything that comes to mind, any sort of nugget of wisdom that comes to your mind that you'd wanna share?

Like I said, I, I wouldn't have thought that I had anything, you know, necessarily to share. And it really is coming through very strongly that if you can educate yourself on your industry, whatever that is, and really not compare yourself to others and really like dig deep and, and keep listening and keep trying and keep feeling. But really try to keep your eyes on your own page. I think market research is only so beneficial. I really think that if you have an intell act and desire and drive and openness, then you don't need a lot of other things to, to be successful. I, I I hope that makes sense when I'm says it, it

Makes total sense. Okay. It's total sense.

It really is the amount of energy that I spent paying attention to either people before me Yes. Or people next to me or people around me. And if I would've focused all that energy into believing and trying and failing and trying and failing and trying, trying, trying, trying, trying, trying and succeeding. I don't believe in failing. I'd be believe in trying, you know, I would, I would've saved myself a lot of exhaustion.

That's so good. All right Gretchen, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. Thank you. That was you the best. You are something else I have to tell you. And to all the amazing entrepreneurs listening today, I greatly appreciate you spending time with us and I wish you all much love and gratitude. Thanks Rob. Thank you.