Anything in business, you

have to make that decision.

It should feel uncomfortable.

Otherwise you're not

probably changing. Correct.

And this was uncomfortable

in the beginning. Yeah.

But it really has started to.

And so the joke about it is, is

are we going to be doing this

in five years again.

Right. Like yeah.

And so I'm like,

well that's five years.

So let's just.

Let's live in the moment

right now. You got it.

-17 right

now, currently,

we're supposed to reach -50

with the wind.

I was told by my wife

this morning

that we are officially going

to be colder than Antarctica.

So our office

we have what we call

a bullpen session.

So, there's times

where it's like

somebody will be talking and go,

somebody will kind of peek

the head of the cubicle and go,

have you thought about

and then go back

to whatever they're working.

But that wouldn't happen

if you didn't

have that collaboration

or that communication

All right.

Welcome, everybody.

Here we are

with a brand new season

and a brand new episode

on the Real Growth podcast.

Here with a really special guest

that I've known for a better.

We were discussing this prior,

but probably two decades,

which is kind of crazy.

Mister Eric Funk.

So welcome, Eric.

Welcome to the podcast.

Yeah, this is. Awesome, actually.

Yeah.

By the way, this room is cool.

It is cool. Yeah.

I think you.

Did a really good job with that.

Yeah, I would like

I'd love to say

that I'm the one that, you know,

picked out all the decor

and everything,

but that would be a complete lie.

So we did talk about that.

Hire people

that are smarter. Than you

and they make you look good.

That's exactly right.

Yeah, definitely

one of those cases.

So yeah,

we're here on a very frigid day

in Rochester, Minnesota.

-17 right

now, currently,

we're supposed to reach -50

with the wind.

I was told by my wife

this morning

that we are officially going

to be colder than Antarctica.

So, little fun fact

for those that are listening

or will be listening

here in the future.

Anyways, yeah,

we're here with Eric.

Eric is with Thrivent Financial.

And, you know,

as part of this Real Growth

podcast, Eric,

we like to talk about,

you know, what

you do a little bit of that,

what you're working

on, things like that

and kind of tell your story

a little bit.

And so I guess

I'll just

let you talk a little bit.

Eric,

let's just start

with a very easy question.

Who are you?

What do you do?

What's what's

a little bit of a story

about yourself?

Well, I'm Eric Funk, I'm

an advisor for,

Thriving Financial.

We're actually the Emerald

Financial Group,

been in the

financial services industry,

and we just shy of 24 years.

I, I would say kind of

over the timeframe

to get into the career,

I always tell people, you know,

I prayed for this job.

And then I realized,

when I prayed for it, I,

I was referred to at the time,

it was eight associates

for Lutherans

and Brotherhood

at the time before the

the merger was announced.

But, the,

pastor of my church

and the president of the church

actually were the ones

that referred me to them.

So it was kind of that moment

where you kind of

do the okay, things

maybe really were

supposed to happen.

And what I prayed about was

my wife and I were, engaged

and clearly

now the

the next phase of your life.

Okay.

Now we need to,

you know, grow up, find a career.

And so when they came to me,

I was like,

oh, I'll do that

until I find the next best thing.

So 24 years later,

I'm still looking for the next

best thing is what I tell people.

But I also prayed that I

didn't really have

or have to worry about money.

You know,

because when you're younger,

you talk about

having kids, right?

Financially you're

always worried about that.

So God has a sense of humor.

So I don't worry

about finances for myself,

but everybody else's,

so be

careful what you pray for,

I guess as the, mode of that.

So, yeah,

we're in the financial services

industry.

Like I said,

been doing it for 24 years.

And recently, again, kind of

I know on the

the faith side of things,

recently

I lost my business partner.

He had retired,

which over time,

you know, after 24 years,

people coming are going to go.

But I also lost

kind of a right hand

man in our office,

one of our analyst,

he decided to leave

and go to seminary.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

So that was,

that was a shock when he came

and told Colin

that he was going to apply

for seminary.

And his comment was,

is, I may not get in.

And I'm like,

I don't know, you're

kind of overqualified.

So,

and then I even had

the comment of,

like, well, I could try to over

pay you, but

you're already

paid more

than what you would make

when you have to seminary.

And clearly

you have thought through this.

Yeah, with your family.

And so he picked up

his three kids

and left three states

and went back to school

to go to seminary.

And so there was a time there.

So Colin,

Adam and myself had some time

to really plan out

what we wanted

the business to look like,

because I,

I've always trusted

their opinions and direction.

And clearly I was losing

two people

that I had worked with

for the better

part of a decade and a half.

So, you know, 12 ish,

15 years together.

Colin was 20 some years together.

Adam was close

to 13 years at the time.

And so now I was

trying to figure out

what's the next phase for me.

You know what?

What's my seminary?

Does that. Look like?

Yeah, yeah.

What does it look like?

Yeah.

And,

so I had some time with that

and I

so going through that process,

there

was, a time I was working with,

a consultant,

you know, just processing what,

you know, helping what the.

You know,

what the next phase

should look like with, of course,

the Adam and Colin

and I was making the comedy.

I was jealous of Adam,

you know, to make,

you know, that that calling of.

I'm now going to leave a very,

I'll say, comfortable

career path.

He had a really good income.

His wife did.

They had a

I mean, they had,

you know, kind of

I'd say the American dream,

good incomes, flexible lifestyle

and decided

we're going to go pick up and go

do God's calling.

And I was kind of,

like I said,

jealous in the sense of

I was waiting for

what calling was that for me?

When was I going to get that?

Now I'm supposed to like

Noah's Ark type moment.

Yeah. The boat.

And, you know, and,

I was talking to,

this gal,

Laura

Hutchinson and Hutch

and she goes, Eric, don't

you think maybe

God already has you in the spot

you're supposed to be?

And that was kind of a shock.

One was like, yeah,

I work

for a fraternal organization.

We're a, not a nonprofit,

but a not for profit organization

that does a lot of give back.

Naturally, our

our history

was in the Lutheran churches,

which is now a Christian,

not just Lutheran.

And we do a lot

with give back in the community,

with our members.

And so really wanted

to spend a lot more time

with kind of

going back to those roots,

working back in the churches

and cultivating that

because one of Thrive

In's mission.

And I would say we've really

want to live that mission is

make sure our clients

live abundantly

so they can give abundantly.

Sure.

And so it was like, yeah, I'm

I can do this.

I mean, I'm

uniquely qualified

because when I first started,

I was spending

tons of times in churches.

I've been in the community

now for an extended

period of time.

I know the community's needs.

I know a lot of the the aisle.

I'll see centers of influence.

I'll say important people.

But, you know,

clergy in the community,

city council people.

You you're a.

You're clearly

the center of influence.

In the community.

I am clergy just. Yes.

In a in your own way.

Yeah, but, you know,

I know enough people to know

if I can help your mission

or their mission

and activate our membership

to support that.

That, to me,

I think, is what I'm going to try

to hopefully leave for a legacy.

So that started all of this,

which then said, well,

I can't do this myself.

Yeah.

And so now we're

we're growing aggressively.

Yeah. And that's how we connect.

And that's how we connected.

So I mean there's like I said in

Eric alluded to,

there's there's some history.

And it actually started

with my dad way back when.

And I do actually remember,

I don't know

if it was the first time

that I met Eric,

but it had to have been

one of the first times

the office was over on 52.

And I just remember walking

in, my dad and his former

partner, did some work together.

They were on the Choral Arts

Ensemble board together.

And so I,

I think I was in high school

when I met Eric and,

you know,

Eric's this big,

boisterous, larger

than life character.

I mean,

I don't know how

else to explain it.

I just, you know, I'm.

I'm short, like my dad and,

like, my dad was.

And I just remember

me and Eric was just.

One thing I really noticed was

your heart, Eric.

And how much you. You cared.

I mean, that

that definitely showed,

especially as I think

I was a senior in high school

when I first met you.

And that definitely showed.

And I think that just

is a testament

to you as a person.

Like you're

talking about

your mission in life

and the legacy

that you want to leave.

I think that's that.

That just shows who you are

as an individual, as a person.

So, thank you for that

and sharing those things with us

because I think it's

really important.

I don't know

if we've actually ever had

like a faith based

kind of a thing here.

And this is kind of cool.

I like it, I love it.

I think this is really cool

because everybody

has their own journey in life.

So, so I guess the next question

I want to have is, once again,

it's a very simple question.

You know,

some people know what

financial advisors do,

but some people might say, well,

what exactly do you do?

So what is

what is your day look like?

Eric I'm sure it's hectic,

but like, what exactly do you do?

So my goal is to

be in front of clients

from start to finish,

which is one of the again,

one of the things

that we're trying to do.

But ultimately, I would say

ultimately

we're a financial coach.

I was,

but I've really

found over the time,

the the math

of the financial planning

is actually the easy

part of a job.

It's actually working

with the clients, the emotions.

That's been the part that

I don't say it's hard.

You just you.

When I got in his career,

I thought I was just going

to make people a lot of money,

and it was gonna be so easy.

And then he was like, wow.

Oh, you know,

and then the client will,

you know,

loses a loved one, and,

and walking them

through that process

or they, a divorce

or they have children

coming into life

or just all of these experiences.

So, so really what we try to do

is be proactively

talking about their finances

and where they're trying to go

to make sure

that they're prepared for.

Whatever. Whatever it is.

But we always kind of say it.

They have a smart place

to get money where they need it.

So yeah,

so every day we're talking about,

you know, their cash

flow, cash reserves,

tax efficiencies,

where are their investments?

Do they have

the insurance products

in place to protect

in case they lose a loved one?

What about the estate taxes?

You know,

just so all of those in

our industry,

I would say over the last

ten years, 15 years

is continuing to expand

and become more difficult.

And so that's

one of the other things,

too, as a team,

we have a team now of other

financial advisors

who specialize in key areas

and also starting to see

that even

in your kind of business

with real estate,

you know, there's,

different people who understand

commercial

maybe better or multiple,

you know, family home buildings.

Yeah.

So just same thing

in our industry.

But so we have a team of that.

So my goal is to really

what I tell

people is I'm the quarterback

that brings together

that team of attorneys,

accountants, other advisors

to make sure that they're

that we've we've thought through

all the potential scenarios.

So if something does happen,

like I said,

they've got a smart place

to get money.

And again, back

to kind of our mission

is, is that

that they can live abundantly

so they can give abundantly.

So one of the other things I love

that I try to do is

I would say we're

one of our niches

because of thrive in

is the give back. Yeah.

We teach people

how to give money.

Yeah.

You know,

if you talk to a lot

of financial advisors

like, well,

you're going to give money away.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's so cool

when you see some of.

The super cool. Yeah.

And it makes you feel good.

Yes it does.

And that must be really cool.

I thought I've

when you said like, you know,

you brought up

certain life things

and I think that's really cool

because,

you know,

it's just not transactional.

You are actually building

a relationship with these people.

And sometimes it's

not just that individual

or couple, it's entire families.

Eric.

And when you said, like,

I just was like, wow,

that does actually sound

really awesome.

I never

I've never thought

about that before.

But you really are with your,

your clients.

I'll call them

literally like for a lifetime.

And you're planning

and helping them

through these

different stages in life,

which

that's actually really powerful.

And that's a pretty cool thing.

And we're actually

on to the point now.

I've been doing this.

Now we're on like second

gen organizations

and passing the wealth.

And I

I'll say

the fun part about it is working

when you get to see, well,

just like we talked about,

like kids growing up.

Yeah.

And, you know,

and then the next phase of it.

But also the hard part about that

too is,

you know, I have

I do have a client right now

I've been working with

for 23 years,

and he has clearly having

some dementia issues.

And one of my first clients,

you know, and so,

you know, you see the good

and then you kind of

see the hard part.

But I would say that's

also one of the rewarding parts

is knowing you.

Another story, that,

when you talk about rewarding,

I mean, clearly

there's the accolades

of whatever career

path you're in.

But this this scenario,

there is a younger gentleman,

who was ran

the Med City marathon,

that he pulled a rib muscle,

went into the doctor,

ended up having stage

four lung cancer.

And husband and wife

came in to the meeting,

scheduled a meeting to see me.

And because they felt

that they needed to share

what they were going

to have to be dealing with,

and there's nothing more powerful

than sitting in that meeting.

Clearly,

I would became

somewhat emotional,

but I tried to make sure

that I carried that

through that meeting.

Not to be emotional,

but I was able to

have the conversation

and look at both of them

and said,

go beat this thing

financially, you'll be fine.

And that

that is actually

one of those moments.

And now I can tell you

he has since passed. Yeah.

But the widow spouse,

she's doing great.

Kids have graduated

and this is, you know,

and clearly doing very,

very well.

But that was one of those

good moments

where you could just see the

relief of the husband going,

yeah, she's going to be fine.

We're we're going to be okay.

And we can go focus on living

instead of the other pieces.

So yeah, that's

that's really kind of

what we do on a day to day.

There's the other,

you know, normal.

I can get into the numbers

pieces. Yeah.

But. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Well that's no thanks.

Thanks for sharing that

because I think sometimes

people just think, oh,

maybe they're,

you know,

trading stocks or you're,

you're, you're,

you're putting people

into like funds to funds. Right.

But it's what do you do. Right.

But that's just a very minor part

of the much larger picture,

which I, I love the analogy of

you're a coach.

I think that's honestly perfect.

And,

you're there with them

every step of the way.

And I think that that has to be

extremely rewarding.

And, yeah, I love these

these stories that you share

because I think this

is just super helpful.

I think.

That's what we're

in business for. Yeah.

When you can say when people say

I was a joke about,

you know, and it's like,

I want to help people.

Yes. Okay.

Well, how about,

you know, like, how.

Are you helping people.

You know? Right.

So. Right.

We're sometimes I was kind of,

you know, like, I'm not a doctor.

I didn't save a life.

Yeah. You know, I didn't,

you know, surgery or, you know.

So, of course, we live

in the med city world.

So it's the.

You're kind of like.

Do I really help people?

Right? You know?

Right.

But, each of us give back

and the gifts that we have

and in whatever way as possible.

And I think that's,

you know, like I said,

just knowing your dad to.

Yeah. I mean, right.

What he developed and created.

Yeah.

The gift of life transplant.

Right. You know. Right.

And the impact

that he had on the community

and just

those are the things

like I look back

and it's like, okay,

that's kind of what

I want to be able

to leave someday too. Yeah.

You know, of course.

And and you're doing it.

And I think that's really cool.

And you're in, you're living it.

And I think

that's really awesome.

And you're helping

others do that too, Eric.

So yeah,

I think that's really cool.

So I know,

I don't know, it's

probably already

a few minutes ago

that you're talking about

your growing.

So let's talk about that,

you know, where you started

and where you're at today

because I think that's,

that's kind of how

I don't say

we reconnected because we,

we've we talk

throughout the years,

but that's really how

we kind of started

to really start

reconnecting on things

a little bit.

So you said you're growing.

When when did you start

seeing that happen?

I know you said you had

you had met with a,

a consultant to discuss

because your partner was retiring

and then your the other colleague

was, was leaving for seminary.

Is that like the moment

where you're like, oh, gosh.

Okay.

What so

what are we going to do next?

Right.

And then things

started happening. Right? Yeah.

So we actually had at the time

calling all this

myself, Adam Holtz,

Diane Barclay and John

Easley give them credit.

There was five of us.

And actually,

this consultant came in and

looked at all of our metrics,

an industry expert that used

to work for,

if you I'm sure

if people have heard of the,

you know, major,

accounting firms

that are, you know, out of there,

but he specialize

in the financial service

industry.

He looked at our numbers

because I don't know

how you're doing it.

He's like, guys,

you work in 80, 90 hours a week.

We're like, no, maybe 40.

You know, he couldn't believe.

How efficient we were at that.

We were based under the metrics.

We should have had twice

the people in the office

for what we were doing.

And that was an accolade

of just, again,

we worked really,

really well together

and we had the focus on what

our core was.

But that was also

a shock to me of, okay,

if I lose Adam, I lose Colin.

If we are that efficient.

All right,

how am I going to replace

whatever that I

don't want to work

80 hours a week?

I mean, there's

just not that much time

in a week.

And we've already.

And again,

same thing we talked about.

We promised our clients

we're going to be there. Yeah.

And if I, you know, I

it's a marathon.

It's not a sprint.

And so we had to be there.

So part of this was okay

focusing okay.

Well how do we replace what work.

What do we have to do.

And clearly if we wanted to

to be able

to get back to where

I can do

like helping

with the give back component,

I had to,

I would say

give up some of my day

to day of the operations business

so I can focus on other carries.

And so that was part

of what started all. Of. This.

So we had to hire

another analyst.

I had to hire other advisors

in the office,

other client service specialists

to make sure

that the service work

was done for the clients.

So we

we doubled the size of our staff.

We are now 11, 12 people now,

12 people now,

with an understanding,

we'll probably be

close to 15 to 16 in the next

3 to 5 years. Wow.

But again,

that was also a testament

to commitment

to our clients, too.

And so we outgrew our

physical space. Yeah.

And that's

when I called you and said, Nick,

what am I going to do? Yeah.

And here we are.

And it's kind of fun

because like,

we can

actually see

out of this went well.

No, maybe not this window,

but just across the way

we'll be able to see

Eric's building going up.

And, let me tell you, it's

going to be

a pretty awesome building.

I think we're blessed to

have Eric as a neighbor.

And, like, I,

like Eric was saying,

very fortunate

to to have Eric as a client,

as an, a friend,

and to help him out

on, on this phase of the journey.

And, Yeah, Eric called.

I don't even remember

when that was. Eric.

I mean,

the weather was

surely nicer than this.

Well, I gotta I remember

exactly what I. Want, okay?

Because I was actually

at the state

wrestling tournament.

There we. Go.

There we go.

And I got the call

from my operations

manager saying, oh, by the way,

your our current tenant said,

he doesn't really

want us to build out anymore.

And we were

so I was kind of

juggling business.

I'll tell you,

you should always have one

option A, B, and C.

Yeah, well,

I was all in on

a, which we had talked about.

I did,

I said I was kind of regretting

because we just had

a great relationship

with our current landowner,

and we loved our location

and we could have we,

we thought

we could take on more

of that space.

And so we spent some dollars

and time

figuring out

what it would look like

in that location. Yeah.

And I sat down with him

and said, here's our plan.

I thought I gave him a probably

a better deal

than most people would,

just because it was.

We really liked

Raymond the location

and thought it would

just be easier that way.

And yeah,

I got the the phone call going,

Eric,

what are we going to do next?

And I remember calling Nick,

going, what. Am I going to do?

Yeah.

Friday, I think it was, it was,

it was Friday. Yeah.

Matt and I came

in, we said, I'm with you.

And then.

Yeah, I had the discussion.

Yeah, we had the discussion.

And, you know,

God works in funny ways.

For sure,

because right around that time,

we had the piece of land

under contract

because we were planning

our phase two of our development,

and we had already had one tenant

for a building.

It's now an oil change building.

We knew

we were going to

put another building

because we had other tenants

interested in moving in.

And so we're like, okay,

we'll just build another

strip center.

But then we had this

piece of land, Eric,

that we were like, well, what.

Are we going to do with this

with. At home?

Maybe it'll be future

expansions or something,

I don't know.

And it's like,

talk about, yeah,

talk about God works at 40 ways.

Because I need oh,

we got this long. Exactly.

It was just like, oh wow.

Like the light

bulb was just like, well, yeah,

here's a lot.

I don't know if you

we can talk about

if you like it, you like it.

If you don't, you know, whatever.

We'll find a different spot.

And, you know, lucky for us,

I think

lucky for you,

you know,

the piece of the puzzle

we put together, and it works.

And now we're seeing a

pretty awesome building go.

Up, and it's going up quick.

Well, and I would say to it,

I think, you know,

I gotta give you guys credit

because I called you,

I said I don't I,

I've never owned a building.

Yeah. Ever built.

Well I mean houses which. Right.

If you've ever built a house

with your wife like me.

And. You're still married.

Yeah. Okay, so I'm.

Doing this with a commercial.

Building, right?

So I didn't know.

I didn't know who to call.

Yeah, I didn't know the rules,

I didn't know. Yeah.

And you brought together

a group of people

that I just trusted immediately.

Yeah.

SAT down with one meeting,

and I think that my comment was,

I don't need to be

in any more of these.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, I remember that.

I just have that

Dan will be here.

You all. Yep. Yeah.

And then

my wife has come in

and started doing

all the decorating and suite,

which, for her has been great.

We've been just recently became

empty nesters.

So.

And my wife is a

stay at home mom for years. Yeah.

So we're, you know,

we're working through that,

but this has given her

a little bit more purpose

than just the normal.

What? Dealing with the kids.

But she does a great job with it.

She decorated. Their office.

Yeah,

the current office is beautiful.

Yeah.

So she's doing

she's doing that now too.

So it's been.

Yeah, I can say

Jeremy's been awesome. Yeah.

By the way,

I just absolutely love Jeremy.

You know, he's there

with chapter construction.

He's been.

I don't know if the guy ever

smiles or has a sense of humor,

but he is the most monotone. But.

Yeah, but you just. Every time.

He says something, you're like.

Yeah, yeah.

You're right.

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

So yeah, he's been great.

I believe it's TSP.

If I get right

with the architect.

Chris has been great.

My wife loves working with Chris.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Dan, my operations manager

and my wife and and all of them,

I've been.

I've really been been kind of.

All I have to do

is make sure

that the money is there.

Yeah.

Which as I said to when we

that was one of my goals.

If the business works

we can afford to do this. Yeah.

And so I've got

I had to buffer myself

from the distraction of this.

Yeah.

And the team has done

a great job.

You guys have done a great job

of just keeping it going.

And I think

we're going to come in

on budget, on time. Yeah.

At least it looks that way.

So for sure. Yeah.

Knock on. Wood.

Yeah. Exactly.

Know for sure. Yeah.

So the process has been

very positive.

Yeah I do it again

if it gets less easy.

All exactly right.

No.

And it's been it's

just been really fun

to kind of see that too.

And you know for me,

you know

putting that team

together was super fun too.

And and I appreciate

you trusting me

because

it's one of those things

where I actually just

had this conversation

with the consultant.

They actually just called me

to ask me about,

well, how do you make decisions?

And I said, honestly,

I'm to I'm a I'm a trust person.

I'm an emotional person.

If I get a good feeling,

I'm hoping that that person

who's coming to me

and asking me questions,

trust me enough to put together

the best group of people

for that.

I said,

I'm not just going to throw

in some money.

You got to make sure

that they jive and they click and

and you think that they're going

to be the right fit

for the project

because each project

is different. Yeah.

And so it

it makes me happy

that you're like, no, Nick,

I trust you.

These are the guys

because you say

they are the guys.

And, I'm just

it makes me really happy

to know that I was able

to play a small part

in that role.

And, to be with you.

Well, is a part.

Okay. We'll say it's a part.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

I in this journey, because.

Yeah, we got a beautiful building

going up,

and it's super fun for me

because, like I said,

I literally

could look out my office

window every day

and see this thing

go up in the changes,

and it's it's crazy.

I mean, it is, it's it's

looking real quick.

Yeah. It's looking really. Cool.

Yeah.

And we can,

we can post some images

and things like that too.

But let's talk about the layout

a little bit.

Like how does it differ,

Eric, from where

you currently are.

Like what was kind

of the inspiration

behind that too?

Yeah.

So our office

we have what we call

a bullpen session.

So,

something I learned in business

some years ago from Gen console.

I have no really good ideas.

I just steal them

from everybody else.

But one of the things they

said was be office lists. Yep.

And so don't own an office,

don't hide in an office.

So I actually have

probably the worst

spot to sit in in my office.

I had basically in

the middle of everybody.

So you can't hide like you

basically you have to be work

and you can't come in

and just lollygag around.

But my goal is,

is anything that hits

my desk needs to get to

somebody else's is really

part of the reason I'm there is.

So that way

I can look at my desk

and if it's cluttered,

it means

something's not getting done

and I'm holding on to it.

So this location

is going to have

a large bullpen session

just very similar.

And we found that

that's actually works

really good for culture.

Collaboration.

Again,

everybody can have their

but there's times where it's like

somebody will be talking and go,

somebody will kind of peek

the head of the cubicle and go,

have you thought about

and then go back

to whatever they're working.

But that wouldn't happen

if you didn't

have that collaboration

or that communication

going across.

And sometimes there's

it just starts though,

and sometimes

I've been even in it back there

and it's like,

hey,

this client's coming in at 2:00.

Can you join me?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's.

I'll be in.

Yeah.

So then

you know, that won't happen again

if you didn't

have that collaboration.

So we have a large bullpen

session or section,

and then we have

for a conference room.

That way

we would meet with clients.

So it's all the the dirtiness.

The busyness is in the back

session section.

And then of course, conference

rooms are clean

and they

we try to keep them all similar.

So that way

if I'm in one of

the conference rooms.

But we needed to

we had two conference rooms

where we're at. We doubled it.

So we have four conference

rooms now.

But all four will be zoom

available because now,

you know, after Covid,

we went from having maybe ten,

20% of our appointments

through zoom or you know, virtual

to probably about 50%. Wow.

Yeah.

And and clients

that are even local

are just choosing

to do virtual meetings.

It's become

an hour, at least in our world,

it's become more popular.

So in fact, yesterday

I met with a client

I had never met before.

Did everything over the phone.

Wow.

Which I would have

thought ten years ago

that would have been.

Yeah, obsolete.

And they

they even got off the phone

like,

this is one of the best points

we ever had.

I'm like ten years ago

I would have struggled with that.

But now that we're

in a virtual world,

most people are comfortable

with it.

The follow up,

you know, through

technology is even better.

So again,

we're going to have technology

for that reasons too.

So some of the back area will be

for virtual,

opportunities,

as a part of that.

So we're actually taking roughly

just over half of the building

right now. Right.

Because Jeremy talked me into

he says,

he says you should build a

bigger building

than what you need today.

I looked at

them in about five seconds.

I was like, okay. Yeah.

So all I heard was dollar

signs and I went, yeah,

but he's right.

Right. So.

So so back to trusting.

Yeah.

People who have been

in this business. Right. Yeah.

And so like

the goal is so right now

you're set to

you'll comfortably fit right

with your current team

obviously you'll probably grow.

You're

you're set to grow

in that space itself right. Yeah.

3 to 5 years

will probably maybe outgrow.

We don't know.

But it's enough

where we know in the next 3

to 5 years that we have growth

opportunity in that location.

Yeah.

And and I you know I would argue

this is a really great location.

They have great exposure.

West Circle Drive

I mean I can't say

enough about West

Circle Drive and

all the growth

that's going on out here.

It's just

I mean, it's really exploded

and it's going to continue

to based on

what we're seeing out here

directly to the west of us

with all the

residential development.

So, you know,

the phasing of this

in the planning of the project

has actually gone pretty well.

I know you said that,

you know,

you there's a lot of trust there,

and there's trust

within your own team with.

And he's awesome, by the way.

Everybody loves.

I mean, he's

just the guy that just

he seems like

he's got a lot of answers,

and he just he's right on

top of things.

Let's talk about

I kind of

just want to talk

about your own people

for a little bit and how you.

Eric, found those people.

Because,

like we said, and we've alluded

to, like,

surround yourself

with with smarter

people and good people,

like, how did you go?

I'm just curious, like,

how did you go about

finding these people by accident?

Really? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I like to say that I was.

Yeah.

Recruiting and there found him.

And, you know,

you kind of throw out,

I would say easily

it was just we, I needed help

and I threw out the help.

I guess

one of the things

that I've always said is, is

even when we're not hiring,

we're always hiring.

So we've taken on people before.

We needed a job. Got it.

You know,

if you're the right talent,

you're like, wow,

this person got a half he got.

Yeah. And I would say this.

So what are the

what are the talent

things we're looking for?

Batteries

included is what I say.

Like,

do you have the energy to show up

because, you know,

Monday morning comes.

You know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, I even have

some of those mornings are like,

yeah, I want to go to work today.

Yeah,

but do they have that energy

to want to just

they're going to show up to work

or are they self-motivated.

And I would say,

do they align with our values.

Yep. Right.

Because not

everybody wants

to work with churches,

has maybe a faith

based background.

And that's okay.

You know.

But and also how we work with

our clients is different

than other financial

services organizations.

And not some clients aren't right

fits for us for that reason too.

Right.

But do they do

they buy into that?

And if they do that,

the mission becomes

kind of the self part of it.

And then, well,

I, I just try to do is I

back to the, you know,

like your dad had told you,

just find smart people

and get out of the way.

I get out of the way

and sometimes I,

I don't say I regret that.

It's it's like,

okay, they're doing this.

Yeah, but you just

if you have the trust in them

let them and I

that what I would say

I kind of juggle it

let them fail. Yeah.

Let them make the mistake

and let them know that you're

going to be there to go.

It's okay

to, to make that mistake.

You know, they're like,

why are you upset? Well,

it sucked.

We made a mistake.

Like, I'm not happy

we made the mistake.

But are we going to do it again?

No, and I think so.

That's what

I've tried to do with

anybody is bring them in

and let them,

but then put them in the spot

where they enjoy their work.

Yeah.

I go to a thing

called strategic coach. Okay.

But one of their big,

things is

it's for entrepreneurs,

but one of their big things is

let them be

in their unique ability.

So each one of us

has a unique ability

that's just built into you.

So try to find

let them be in

their unique ability

so that they're doing the work

that they're just

uniquely qualified for,

that's built into them.

It's not something you can go

like go to school.

It's like already who you are.

Yeah.

And so I,

I try to let that be a part of it

so they can.

So clearly Dan likes to just be

I would say he likes to be busy

and just kind of

on random projects all the time.

Yeah.

And likes to kind of run

the business with,

I would say oversight.

So that's why we have him doing

that kind of work.

So that's why you've met Dan.

Yeah.

Well, then it allows you to do

the things that you want to do

too, right?

So like

I think you're putting people in

like they talk, right.

Whatever the correct seat. Right.

To be successful

and to be be happy.

Because ultimately

that's what we all want.

We want that culture.

We want people to be happy and

and actually enjoy

coming to work.

I mean,

I think it's it's so important

and it just makes such

a huge difference when,

when you're running the company.

So, Yeah.

No, this is just so great, Eric.

I mean, I,

I know

we're

we're kind of getting close

to the time and,

you know, I,

I really do

appreciate having you here

and having these discussions.

You know, it's been it's been

such a fun process

and kind of just reconnect

a little bit on, on

not only, like,

business side of things,

but just life in general.

I think that's, that's

just so important.

And I'm, I'm super,

super pumped about the fact

that now

we're literally like next door

neighbors and,

it's just

it's going to be really fun

to see how you guys

grow into that building

and just bring

some new energy in.

And I would say

more energy to the area.

So as a neighbor,

I'll say welcome, you know,

welcome to Sarah Place

Northwest and Rochester.

Yeah. We're excited for that.

What have you even got

growing out here? Yeah.

You know, like

the we've seen

some of the new stuff

that's coming out.

Like all the team

members are like,

wow, we're looking

we're going to be able

to have lunch at,

you know, I mean, it's actually

I think that's one of the things

they're really excited

about was just,

you know, the energy.

And I think part of the reason

we picked the location too,

is we wanted to make a statement

that we're going to be here. Yes.

And this just has that vibe

over here too,

that I think you've guys done

a good job

with when you developed it.

Yeah.

Well, first of all,

every building is clean.

Yeah.

It looks like it belongs. Yeah.

There's

I mean you're getting you know,

I think it was the sandwich shop

that's supposed to be moving

calstrs. Yeah.

Looking forward to it

having it there a few times.

Yeah. Kudo was right here. Yes.

You know. Yes.

I think my analyst's, wife does

a yoga down in your,

in your building,

so everybody

already knows in the course.

Then what is the,

what's the,

the indoor playground. Yeah.

Boundless. Yeah.

So we have, you know,

young families and they just

they talk about that place

all the time.

So they're already

kind of already hanging out

and around this area already.

Yeah.

And I think,

I think that was kind

of the whole point.

You know, I know

people were like, oh,

you guys took

a real leap of faith

because when we did

come out here originally,

there really wasn't

anything out here.

There's a quick trip,

which is great.

Don't get me wrong. Quick trip.

Everybody loves

everybody loves quick trip.

But like other than that,

it just wasn't.

And you know, it's

kind of just copy.

I would say.

What what happened

down at the Costco area.

Right.

Is kind of

like one of those things like,

you know, the first ones

in, you know,

you can make things work.

And, it was just you know, yeah.

What we wanted to do is create

something that, you know,

it is focused around,

and we want it to be a one

stop shop.

And we want you to be all of the,

you know, you can work here.

You can you can play here,

you can get some food here.

And we hope, you know,

and obviously

you guys with your services

and everything

like that, we just,

we just it's

part of the community

and continuing

to build that community

and what that might look like.

In our event.

Easy on you moving in now.

Yeah. Yeah. We got to that. Yeah.

It's pretty awesome.

That's going up quick too.

So yeah, the whole area,

it's just been really great.

And I

you know,

like we talked about

just with everything,

all the residential houses

that it's going up to the west.

Eric this is just

I remember

my dad told me like

probably 15 years ago,

he was like, Nick

northwest is just

that's where all the growth is.

And oh, it still is today.

That's where all the growth is.

So,

you know,

what's what's the timeline,

Eric, on this project?

Like, what do you guys.

We're thinking June.

June. Yeah.

I mean,

I think Jeremy says, like,

he'll be pretty much done

with the building,

but they got it.

They gotta have warm weather

to lay the parking lot.

So that's really

the it's a weather thing

for whether it'll be April,

May, June.

Yeah.

Or July, I guess, you know,

because clearly on a day

like today, they're not thinking

yeah foreign cement.

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

So like days

like today, you know.

Yeah. Yeah.

We, we needed to warm up

a little bit here.

So we're, we're talking about.

Yeah sometime probably second,

second quarter

opening for the building.

But you know

throughout the process

obviously come out here,

take a look at what's going on

because changes are happening.

Honestly.

It's almost on a daily basis.

Yeah.

You know, I remember

seeing like the,

you know,

the concrete,

the footings were being poured

and then all of a sudden

there's like a structural.

Yeah, that's like

the walls are up

and the roof is up. Yeah, yeah.

It went quick.

I was

it was a surreal moment for me.

And how is that process

been for you, Eric?

Like I remember

when we built this building.

So we office in the building

that we're in and,

and for me it was, it was surreal

because I've never

been able to say,

oh, I've been a part

I'm a part of this project

or this is,

I own a part of this project.

I've never been able

to say that before.

So being able to

I mean, I remember

coming to this building

on, for sure, a weekly basis

just because. Right.

It was just so fun. Yeah.

So how is that, like, process

been for you, Eric?

Well,

I've been trying to tell myself

not to not to.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Right.

Like I said,

I don't want to get distracted.

Yeah.

That and again

clearly put a good team of people

I trust together.

Let them.

But I do try to stop

by at least once a week

because I just

want to kind of go.

It is exciting.

But I would say yeah.

First it was scary. Yep.

Because I'm writing

some fairly large checks

and doing things that I didn't.

Now, looking back at the math,

it's all going to work out.

And and again,

like I said,

working with you work with a team

they've again has reduced

a lot of my anxiety

on regards to that.

And now looking at it

that now I'm excited.

Yeah.

Like I said,

what's actually been fun

is watching the team. Yeah.

But them seeing themselves

in that building

and like I said, just seeing

oh I can't wait

to have lunch at the Q don't

you know. Yeah.

And and like I said, just

they're a part

of all of this growth

that we're doing

and the give back

in the community.

And so I think that's

been the fun part of all of this.

Yeah.

You know,

Sam was here

taking pictures of us. Clearly.

I'm sure she's already taking

pictures of the building

will be up on our social media.

She's loving that, too.

But like I said,

the team is just, you know,

we should have an

espresso machine.

And so now I.

So I think

the excitement has been

it's been a lot funner.

And like I said,

even with my wife now, you know,

Sunday night

conversations have turned into,

hey, I'm meeting

with the architect.

I mean, with the builder,

or the carpet people.

What do you think

about this carpet?

So it's even given

my wife and I more to talk about.

Yeah.

And something that we can connect

back with.

Yeah, that's really cool.

So it has been

just in general, life

wise, it's been great. Great.

Is there anything like that

you would change your life

do differently?

Eric, at this stage.

I guess

I don't know how to answer that.

Yeah, yeah.

Other than no.

I would say like I said,

I would have maybe

called you sooner. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that would

have been probably.

Yeah.

That was the,

because clearly like I said,

I had a option a. Yeah.

And if you were,

if we would have

talked sooner, I,

I probably would have done.

Because here's the thing.

My build out on this new building

is costing me about the same,

that it would have been

in the old. Yeah.

So,

financially, I'm

probably better off.

Yeah.

As a business owner, doing

what I'm doing

then live in the

what I would say

was comfortable, right? Yeah.

Anything in business,

you have to make that decision.

It should feel uncomfortable.

Otherwise you're not

probably changing. Correct.

And this was uncomfortable

in the beginning. Yeah.

But it really has started to.

And so the joke about it is, is

are we going to be doing this

in five years again.

Right. Like yeah.

And so I'm like,

well that's five years.

So let's just.

Let's live in the moment

right now. You got it.

No.

And I, I agree with you on that.

And I,

I have similar sentiment to that

because actually

it's really funny

you say that

because my wife and I

were actually just

discussing this.

It was Tuesday night.

We were having dinner.

We put the girls to bed, and,

I somehow the office came up

and I said, you know, what

she's like,

are you are you happy with.

You know, how all this

when I'm like, yeah.

I mean,

I love the fact

that we have our own space,

that we're a part

of this building.

It for me,

it was that natural next step

as a business to grow.

It was

kind of like

what you were saying,

Eric, you know. Oh, yeah.

You can continue

to do what's comfortable

and what you feel is safe,

but I, I agree with you.

I think in order to grow,

as long as the numbers work

and you made a

calculated decision,

it just wasn't based on feeling.

It was calculated. Right?

And you said, okay, we can do it.

It might be uncomfortable

and it could be uncomfortable

for maybe a year or two,

but in the end, it's

going to be the right decision.

I can honestly say,

I told my wife

I was like,

it's only been for us.

We're going to be at three years.

I can't believe this already,

but we're going to be three years

in this building.

I think, in June.

Oh, wow.

I can't believe it. Time flies.

But I was like, yeah,

I can honestly look you

in the eye, honey, and say,

yeah, this was the

right move for us.

Even though it's

it was uncomfortable

and it's still like, oh my God.

It's the right move.

And I was even to,

you know, your staff,

my wife

walked through your building

and got a lot of great ideas

from what

you guys have done here too.

So yeah.

And I would say,

you know,

just working with your team,

the people you've spent with

and just seeing and coming up

with the different ideas

and just the openness of,

like I said, back

where I talked about,

we talked about like

your dad was one of

I would say, yeah, I'll say

mentor of mine.

You know,

you just call him

and you could ask questions.

I would say that openness

or what you've done to

for business of just here,

I want to help,

you know,

you just got to ask for help.

Yeah.

And I think that's been. Yeah.

Every time

we've asked you for help,

you've given that time.

And like I said, the

just looking at what you did

here, clearly.

I mean,

I'd love to steal this idea.

This is where Chris can help you.

Yeah. There we go. Yeah, yeah.

This is, this is. And.

No. Yeah.

It's just seen this.

It's been been fun.

And watching the community

and how people can wrap around it

and just. I think those things.

That's what's exciting.

I think about Rochester.

We were talking about

how it's kind of

it is really kind of a

it's still small town

has big, big town problems.

But,

and you get to meet

some really,

really cool,

interesting people here.

And we just Rogers

had some really cool people

that live in the town.

It does.

And I appreciate for the

those comments, Eric.

And and I can honestly say

that, that

the feelings are mutual.

And, you know,

this has just been

a really fun thing.

You know, we're

called the Real Growth Podcast,

and I

it's it's fun

to talk about the growth

that you're seeing and,

the growth as an individual

that you've talked about.

And,

honestly, a

it's just going to really be fun

seeing you and your team out here

growing your company

and your business.

And, like I said,

we're we're super

happy to be out here.

And I would invite anybody

who's listening,

who's watching this, like, please

come out and see

what's going on out here.

Check out Eric's building.

Because

it's going to be a

wonderful addition

to the neighborhood.

So, you know, as

we close out here, Eric,

is there any last words?

I really don't have any other

than, like I said,

I just

my hope

for what we're doing here is

I want to become

a client of my office one day,

and maybe you and

I could be down in Florida

with your mom

in a day like today.

Yeah, but

until then, let's keep doing

what we're doing here in town.

I love it,

I say amen to that, brother.

So thank you, everybody.

That's a wrap for

today's episode.

Really appreciate the time.

And,

there's any questions

about anything

financially related.

Feel free to give,

Eric Funk a call

at Thrive and Financial.

Anything real estate related.

Feel free to give us a call.

I Realty Growth

really appreciate it.

Thank you everybody.