anti-daunting
Collin and his never-not changing news! Brandon has strong opinions about how to switch to high-beams. They discuss the confusing world of courtship in your 80s…for reasons. Collin has questions about why flip charts are so expensive. PLUS, Brandon gives a preview about his book-tube deep dive.
News about the car…not totaled
Diagnostic sense
Collin doesn’t like the Toyota Corolla LE
Build your own horrible car: https://www.toyota.com/corolla/2022/
Foot switch for headlights! Bring these back!
Corolla B Gear: https://bryansgarage.com/toyota-corolla-b-gear/
Who uses Low gear?
What is Brandon up to?
Susan’s Mom is getting married??
Various stages of acceptance
Confusing courtship in your 80s
How did the retreat go?
Why are flip charts SO expensive??
Preview??
BOOKS!!
Brandon has fallen into “book-tube”
And has thoughts!!
Check out our other episodes: ohbrotherpodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram
Check us out on Youtube
A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, book, true, buy, car, toyota corolla, big, read, corolla, happening, question, drive, headlights, apex, wrote, weekend, kansas city, work, talking, meghan
SPEAKERS
Collin, Brandon
Collin 00:04
Welcome to Oh brother, a podcast of three brothers. Trying to figure it all out with your hosts, Brandon, Colin and Aaron. On this week's show, anti daunting. Oh boy. Oh boy. It's the weekend.
Brandon 00:25
It is in fact, surprise. Oh you know, keep it fresh. It's all good.
Collin 00:37
Like first off I didn't have internet at my office like I thought I was going to it secondly probably far more important. I do not remember a laptop.
Brandon 00:45
So that is definitely a key ingredient.
00:49
Microphone though
00:52
packed away email
Brandon 00:54
that it's all good. All right, I mean, yeah, just whatever I am the one with the least changing schedule. So like I don't care like
01:07
schedule save big
Brandon 01:08
every day it doesn't matter. My schedule has been every has been nothing but not 20 Ah, very intense. Sorry
Collin 01:20
about that. That's not part of that
01:25
part of it. We got some news
Collin 01:27
about car it is oh, it is not totaled. Hey, but felt like close
Brandon 01:35
so it's worse maybe for you it was like a backpack it was like right on the line. Yeah. It's like $300 away like oh no, that's actually worse because Ray Have you pretty much did fine. This is a 2005 I keep calling it a 2006 it is a 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid. It is the first in hybrid accord that they made its battery was replaced in 2012. We bought it in 2015 they gave me the repair price and they're like this is 70% of its value and the local repair price I went
Collin 02:29
hmm so I did a little math and I found out that seven years ago we bought this car and its value given has not changed given whoa given how much used car values have gone up and that is sanity that is the only reason why this car was not 100% Total
Brandon 02:53
man stinking used car prices right taking it to you when you're not expecting it
Collin 03:00
was so because you know it's like oh yeah use car market is great when you have a used car to sell
Brandon 03:06
but how are you ever used car that's broken I could have literally they would have they would have paid me a mere few $100 less than I paid for this car seven years ago
03:20
if I have a total so
Brandon 03:26
this like look at the mechanic and be like yo can you this like no I once it were to like break something
03:33
I was like was like can you go check like I don't know like something else like go check something out.
Brandon 03:40
Yeah, can you just like mark down that something else is broken like Oh, and here's the thing but I hit I hit the exact size the I hit the hardest says the optimally sized dog to damage it to the extent that I did but not a mere measure more. Because if the car if the dog had been taller, so weird sentence, I'm just gonna go ahead and if the dog had been larger and taller, it would have slammed into my foot. I would have had hood damage Oh, hay and emotional damage and windshield so you're saying you should have hit a deer? Yes. But if the dog had been smaller, it wouldn't have had the mask to do the amount of damage that was done either. To this dog was perfectly sized to not damage my hood. My hood is not being replaced. Okay, my front bumper and grille are a couple 100 bucks
Collin 04:45
right there. There was no headlights are damaged. Like because it was just perfectly sized to sleep on one headlight would have been it, my rail would have pushed it over. These are the things that I'm like If this was that you could not have asked for a more like, perfectly placed hit because again, if it had been bigger, way more damage, this would have been total. If because then we're talking like a body panels and stuff and back yet yeah.
Brandon 05:16
Because it was like a plastic bumper. And you know, the front of the engine bay, they were like, Oh, well, this is no quarter panels are damaged. And the radiator Yeah.
Collin 05:29
It's like, oh, well, okay,
Brandon 05:33
fine. This should lay on the middle, like kicked out the headlights when you're sitting there like
Collin 05:41
weirdly, whenever I called the like, insurance people initiate the claim. They asked me, they asked me very specific did your airbags deploy? Or the wind or the are the headlights broken? That was their second question. To me. It's very weird. And I guess that's a measure of severity? Or how bad that's front end collision.
06:10
That makes sense, right? Yeah. Like, it's
Collin 06:13
a very, I thought about that. It was like, that was a very quick and easy way to distill the severity of a head on collision. When I said I slammed into a dog. Yeah, that, that that means that there's been a lot more crumpled in the hood, or impact to a side panel, they immediately know if the headlights damage, there's gonna be panel damage, there's going to be hood damage, they already like that puts them down the road, metaphorically here a lot further than other questions, and it's something that's going to be easy to recognize by somebody standing and looking at their car. Because, you know, they're gonna say, is this true? Is the front quarter panel damaged? People are gonna go? I don't know, maybe it's war? I have no idea. But is the light broken? You can tell
07:06
that immediately. Yeah, that's true. It was just a weird
Collin Funkhouser 07:12
second question that I wasn't anticipating. But then the
Brandon 07:16
second question is, it doesn't make diagnostic sense. Right. Like,
07:21
like you said, that's
Brandon 07:22
a pretty recognizable thing to notice. Especially in the you gotta think to, like you're calling your insurance person, like, after some sort of traumatic event, right out. So
07:36
you have to make this process like, simplified down and scaled down so that people in a, you know,
Brandon 07:47
just experience a traumatic situation can grasp what's happening because like, like, you know, you said, after you had yours, you were like, oh, I should stop the car. Exactly. Exactly. Where I was like, oh, wait a minute, like your, your brain is not functioning properly after, after trauma like that. Because it's trying to like cope with things. So.
08:14
Yeah. Interesting. Yes. So
Collin 08:18
interesting, except in that it did not kind of arrive to the decision that I wanted. means is once in because it's not total. It's not going to impact like the title. So let's get again, it's gonna be reported on a CARFAX, most likely, but then the guy said, usually they only report those if it involves another vehicle. To which made me think oh, my gosh,
Collin Funkhouser 08:46
I hadn't thought about that. What kind of horrible things are happening to vehicles out there that like, looking at, like, clean Carfax? It's like, well, no, as long as it wasn't total,
Brandon 08:58
especially in Missouri, right? It was like the how many of those kinds of hit deer cows, right? Like,
Collin 09:05
this is my thought. So Oh, no. So now I'm like, really, super scrutinizing every used vehicle I'm looking now. So I'm hoping and because I don't have panels or things like that to get replaced? I do. I do believe I believe that the repair should go by faster because what I've been hearing is that body panels have been the major sticking point
09:33
for repairs. You do
Brandon 09:37
remember that you had a car in the shop not that long ago with a transmission problem that was there for like 27 years, right. So like, yeah, just
Collin 09:46
as long as Okay, so as long as they ordered the right part. Ah, we're assuming that but that made sense to me because, you know, the front quarter panel of a 2005 Honda Accord Sedan. pretty specific. I don't think they're using those on any other kind of car. But the radiator. Yeah, but yeah, radiator is like okay, how badly then Right? Yeah,
Brandon 10:10
it's yeah. Or you can get I think radiators are like is it this size? Okay BAM like whatever No, no, is it size for this engine for this guy, you know, spec like the sack Yeah, yeah, pulleys this like fluid volume or whatever right like, yeah, I don't think pulleys and belts are going to be yeah, those are much more universal parts than this. So I'm hoping that this kind of speeds it up a bit.
Collin 10:37
But I don't know where we're in this so true. I do miss driving it though. So I have the Toyota Corolla S. And I have texted you my thoughts. Yes, listeners, my brother for reasons. Well, we know
Brandon 10:59
that he romanticizes cars way too much, but he has decided that the number one selling car in the world for the past, like several years running is garbage. And everybody else is wrong. My question is, I have to ask is what trim level these people by just because I just the stat just said Toyota Corolla? Yeah, see this? So I don't know. I don't think it was probably taking into account all trim levels. Yes. Yes. Because if you had like the Corolla? What is it? Oh, I don't even pretend to understand the differences in trim levels and cars because they're like so subtle that I don't.
Collin 11:45
Yeah, yeah. So I have the Toyota Corolla L E, which is the one step up from the base model, there are apparently 1234566 trim levels, it's too many, too many doesn't add up to nine. And you can figure up to nine different configurations
12:03
to any Oh my gosh. So
Brandon 12:08
I just doesn't make sense. But I don't like any of these. The base model now here's I'm gonna say I'm sure that the Corolla like xex S E Apex edition, like the top of the line, probably ride a lot better. But here's what you got to imagine like that is not the one that's driving the sales, right? People aren't buying the top of the range one, okay? They're buying the middle of the range, because here's the probably they're probably by the middle and down, right? People are buying like the superduper toppity. One, because if they're gonna buy the superduper, the top Corolla, they're going to actually buy just the next level a car up,
12:48
they're not going to go. They're not going to go like, you know what I mean? Like That. That.
Brandon 12:55
So the problem with having nine levels of trim, you run into the movie theater drink problem. Yeah, right? You heard this theory where, like, the medium size is useless. They don't make the medium size for you to buy it. They make the medium size for you to look at the large go, ah, but that's only a little bit more. Right. I'm getting so much more drink, I should go there. But like the problem with a car is
Collin 13:24
you're not now, like the top,
Brandon 13:26
the superduper. Your top Corolla model is pushing you to the next level of Toyota, right? Like whatever that is. Yeah, the cameras, right? You're like, well, I can buy the Camry instead for like, if you want to 500 more dollars.
13:40
So like, yeah.
Collin 13:43
So yeah, I, I believe that mid size mid tier trim level sells better than the base models. And I base this purely off of the used car market when I'm looking at car sales for resale of like, what do I find most often, this is just my cursory glance whenever I was searching for cars in Dallas and Arlington and but that is a large metropolitan
Brandon 14:05
area. And listeners, you must know by now, if you've been following us for any time that colin has all of his time looking at us. All right, like I look at like, you know, guitar things colleges looks at cars, like only pretty much just takes me random. Right? Screenshots of like, car pages eautiful. What about this one? It's the most random things you've ever seen in your life.
Collin 14:37
Like, here's, here's something that I do. So we're looking maybe like, Okay, let's go look at a Toyota Tacoma. Just try, try. Try and find a used bog standard Toyota Tacoma. It's almost impossible. What do you what do you find for sale, the TRD pros and the off road and the sports and All those trim level, those are what you find out there. You don't find the like, base model with like, cardboard, like, don't find those for them. Now, it could be because those people don't resell them.
Brandon 15:15
Or it could be they're still driving them, probably still trying to still try. But anyway, regardless of that, I have not enjoyed the Toyota Corolla. Now I will say it's fine. It's transportation, transportation. True, done. But when you can, when you when you do Yum, just as an example, the visor pulled out it is a MIDI visor, right? Pull it down. When you flip it back up. It goes up with such force that it hits the roof, and you can hear the reverberations along the roof go behind. So props to the spring and mechanism on the visor. Drew points last for road dampening insulation on the roof. That's okay. That's what I'm talking about.
16:08
You can tell Oh, this is this is a less high end thing.
Brandon 16:14
So it's an Ellie, I'm not expecting the world here. I was just a little like, really taken aback when I sat in it like, Oh, okay.
Collin 16:24
This is an standard car. Yeah,
Brandon 16:29
well, this is what I'm doing right now, I have officially gone to the Toyota official Toyota website. And I'm
Collin 16:34
trying to ascertain the difference between the two.
Brandon 16:39
Right, the L, the best one was the L, which first of all, Toyota that's terrible name.
Collin 16:46
The L E. R, there is a. So apparently,
Brandon 16:52
the key features that are that are highlighted in bullet points without expanding the thing without clicking the more features
16:59
seems to be it has the LTE has automatic climate control. It has an eight
Brandon 17:09
inch touchscreen, as opposed to the standard seven inch screen and remote
17:14
keyless entry system.
Collin 17:17
Which mine actually does not have. Well,
17:20
I don't know, hey, go. I just have no I.
Brandon 17:25
Well, this is the this is the 2020 210. Right? I'm looking at Yeah, I'm looking at the new one. And those differences will cost you a mirror
Collin 17:35
$300.
Brandon 17:39
Those are $350 difference. There's only a $350 difference between the L and the L e. So obviously, you're not buying the L right exam now says here's the real question to see the
Collin Funkhouser 17:50
L. Nobody buys the L because it's only $3. More. So the L is just out who buys the L fleet?
Brandon 17:58
fleet vehicles. All that's true. Yes.
Collin 18:01
Those are so yeah, if you're a large corporation who needs company cars for your, for your workers, you're going to buy the L and you're going to buy the one 700 of those into? Yes,
Brandon 18:13
so it appears to go
18:14
I'm gonna not. Okay, so
Collin 18:17
the non hybrid, I'm going to leave out the hybrid here. Okay, we're not going to count that one.
18:24
But it
Brandon 18:25
so the l e while for the hybrid and I was gonna go through the whole range real quick. The L
18:31
20,425k. L e 20,875. The S e 22 875.
Brandon 18:46
Jump to grant. So this one now you have alloy wheels and like I don't know other things. I'm not going to read the whole spec sheets but then it appears
18:58
you go to the
Brandon 19:01
S E nightshade edition, which is blacker than the rest of them. Apparently, it is 23,575. Put these out of orders either messin with you b hybrid is 24,050.
19:24
The X L e is 24,825. The
Brandon 19:33
Board s EA Apex edition, which is not a good name because it's not the top of the range one Nope. So why would you call it the apex if it's like still on the way up because it's the apex does have lower sport tuned suspension though.
Collin 19:48
EA 25 Yes. 25 570
19:55
X S e. Again, terrible. 26
Brandon 20:00
Let's see. And then the X S e apex. So the apex apex 28 710, which is we're just ending hundreds number.
20:13
That is. Those are negligible.
20:18
Like, oh, those you
Brandon 20:19
all not need to be there.
Collin 20:21
This is what I'm talking about. They're separated. They're separated by less than $2,000. apiece.
Brandon 20:27
So, yeah, it's only $8,000. From that not even $8,000. From the top to the bottom. This is what I'm saying. Like,
Collin Funkhouser 20:35
okay. Oh, so is that so if we if we exclude the L, because nobody's buying that this? Yeah.
Brandon 20:41
And so the Camry hold at the base model, Camry is 28. C? Flat. Right. And so so this is my was right. So from from the s, e. Because that, because that's our start from the LE at 24. All the way up to the apex. That's only a four grant difference. Yeah. Oh, no. Wait, that was that Camry Hybrid that just normal Camry is 25. Yeah. So see the base Camry that no one's buying is.
Collin 21:11
Because with that, you can get the apex edition that has bronze body kit and an eight inch black flow formed wheels and lower sport tuned suspension? I also
Brandon 21:19
Yeah, that's pretty Starting today, you know, like it's important. This is what I'm talking about. It's stair step in such a way that the one you're looking at never make sense, because the next one is just just enough better. $4 a month? Nobody buys? Like the lower half of this. Yeah. And they're all the same. Like they're all the same, like gas mileage. Right? That doesn't seem to change that engine sizes don't
Collin 21:48
really appeared to be that different, right?
Brandon 21:52
I didn't look at the like, again, I did not go into the detailed spec sheet here of all the things because I don't have time for that. But that was ridiculous.
Collin 22:00
Pretty much the same. And so that's what I'm saying. Nobody's buying the vehicle that I'm buying, because also the vehicle I've got is from a rental car company, naturally not buying the nice fancy one. So no, no, this is not a pleasurable experience to extend that rental car in this vehicle. The O'Hare got it, whatever. So I is devising
Brandon 22:22
some nice features that I will say so here's some praise that I will implement. Right? It does have a feature that feature
Collin Funkhouser 22:33
called feature one feature. Okay, two features? Well, look, I have one, I have a complaint about another feature that I thought would be cool. That actually isn't so this is the
Collin 22:44
as a parent, how do you know if your children have buckled into the backseat? You either a get them? Yeah, you have to turn around and look at them.
22:56
Or you have to ask them neither of which indwells sometimes
Brandon 23:03
put out one of those is more reliable than the other. Yeah. So what the Corolla has, is a feature that shows you it's a little display that while you're in park, it shows three seats in the back, and if they're red, they're not buckled in. And if it if they disappear, they are buckled in. And it shows you that on the display. Night. Everybody just piles in. You just look there. As soon as the last one comes off, you know, okay, everyone's buckled in. We're ready to go.
23:36
That's a cool feature. We'll set through the COVID feature. I thought it would be cool. That's actually horrible. is automatic. Heidi. Have you seen these? Oh, no, no. Okay. So
Brandon 23:54
when you're driving on the Corolla, you have your normal beam, you take the left stock and you flip it forward. To which you think I will now have high beam.
24:04
No, you have high beams if it
Brandon 24:07
deems it appropriate for you to have height. All right, that's not cool. That's not cool at all. Let me turn my lights on brighter. There is a way to like override this, but you have to click it twice. And if you just look at once, you probably have to go into that eight inch touchscreen menu and like override and like manually activate. Like go to the secret submenu and activate manual bright headlight mode, probably. But then it will automatically turn on and off your high beams as cars come towards you.
24:42
Which is kind of interesting,
Brandon 24:46
right? I did not I did not like this because I was like going through a pretty like super dark part of my drive home last night. And I was like I need high beams. And the car was like, Do you think you really? Let's see You didn't like came on for a second, the Congress of the hill and they're like God done for you. Yeah. Susan and I were reminiscing the other day about the headlight feature that is sorely missing from modern vehicles. And that is the right to dim footswitch for the headlights, ah, in my in, this is the superior way to activate your braids, or you're not rides, right? This is the best isn't the best thing ever. I have that on my car a long time ago. And it was great. And Susan was talking about how her dad had that in one of his trucks or something. I don't know exactly which one but it was. She liked it very much as well. So that is a feature that I think is missing from modern cars that you need to bring back is the little switch on the floor. You just like cricket, your foot and the brights pipes come on or off. Its foot activated. That is the best way to do it. It's much more satisfying. Apparently, I have found an aftermarket way to install this into a queen. You probably can because the switches are just like a big cap switch. Right? And you could just run that to the thing, right? Imagine that's not something that the hardest mod could pull on your car.
Collin 26:27
But I think I agree it's it's much it was What's your life been over there doing anyway? Nothing. I'll make it do something to work for you. Yeah. And then because of the situations where you need, right? A lot of times it's raining, right like take your hands off the steering wheel. The little like flip forward thing but sometimes you don't like your turning or your don't get it and you're missing it your panic puts Nash on floor until you have I liked that. It is great. I love the thing. Yeah, it will gnarly button. Bam.
Brandon 27:03
Oh what trim levels that Toyota done for you. Oh, I also learned I had to look this up in a Toyota Corolla. What is okay? i There is a feature of a Toyota Corolla.
27:22
I had no idea. Okay. Toyota, Toyota Corolla does have a B gear. What?
Collin 27:35
Yeah. What does a B gear? So this the shifter? Fuck. Yeah. Park. Reverse. Neutral. Drive. B.
27:49
We that's the order. Yeah.
Brandon 27:51
Park reverse neutral drive B or whatever. Whatever it is. I know. That sounds wrong. I don't. Yeah, it's after drive. So if you take the, if you take it from Park and you slam it all the way down, you're in B. Okay.
28:07
So is that like the low? Okay. Is that similar? Kind of ready? B stands
Brandon 28:14
for engine braking.
28:16
Uh, what?
28:21
Okay, why? I don't know
Brandon 28:25
why this is standard intriguing on Corollas. But it's it stands for a break or break in automatic gear. So it used to transmit to brake, specifically when you are either a going through steep hills. Okay, well, that makes sense. If you're looking, I guess if you are in a mountainous terrain, right? Yes. Yeah. So you propose that the thing where I saw some other car had this where you like, you push, you're pushing on the gas, right? And then like, when you push off of the gas, it just starts automatically breaking?
Collin 29:01
Yeah, yeah, it okay. Well, I don't like the break but it's specifically used for like, going downhill. Yeah, also, it's it will also work in like, up hill roads because there's always more there's resistance there. So yeah, under heavy loads, the engine works better. And then if you are towing with one of these, it's better for that. Why are you going to what do you tell me with a Toyota Corolla? Another real life?
Brandon 29:26
Let's be real. Okay, Tony anything? That's just it's on their transmissions. They put in every car so they like
Collin 29:36
it? It's very
29:38
odd. Very weird. I don't even
Brandon 29:39
find a use for the low right. Like, I think I reviewed the low in the automatic transmission like, yeah.
Collin 29:48
Twice my whole entire life, right? That's not
Brandon 29:54
it's not really a feature that you need. So you don't need like low
Collin 29:59
Yeah. Have you ever used low or like forcing it into first gear when the roads were kind of slippery? I was trying to prevent it from shifting too fast. And I was wanting to clean Yeah, I did that
Brandon 30:11
like so in the old in Cavalier, you could do that. Right. It would do I had like, first maybe it was low. I don't remember. But I did that was I think it might be website Brooks transition, but like, it's fine. Yeah, it's fine.
30:25
Don't do that. It's okay. Yeah. Like, maybe,
Brandon 30:30
but and then it my dad, right. It was that but it was a different transmission in that and the charger. So it was like a had like, wanting to drive. So it was like, it was only a three speed anyways, it was like 123 blah. But it was like automatic. So you could like power shift it right. So that was a little different, too. But
Collin 30:50
it was like normal cars.
Brandon 30:52
Right. And like the Mistubishi right. It had that baby's head like driving low. Yeah. I don't think I use low ever. I've no, I think maybe like one time. Okay, so like, I was trying to go like, somewhere. It was real snowy, like our road, Dad's driveway in the road, or real snowy. I think I put it in low. So that instead of drive, because it only had drive and low. So I think I put it in low when it was going, like down the hill. And it was snowy so that it didn't like run away from me. Right. I think that's what I think that is the only time we ever use it. It was like that very specific criteria of like super wet snow era. Yeah. I I had no idea what this thing was. And on I was pulling
31:51
up with Toyota Corolla, or whatever.
Brandon 31:54
I don't know, though, that is something I learned that they have a be your that stands for, like automatic braking of engine. And
32:02
this is bizarre. But now I know that's very odd. That's very odd. Indeed.
Brandon 32:10
I've learned. So that's been my review of the Corolla. Bad wherever we go. Not good or bad. So you know, we're still trying to figure out what we're, what we're gonna get next. I don't know what's going to be. We know it's not going to be a Corolla, that we know that. Well. Then I'm like, What do I need to drive like a higher like a higher model? But then I'm like, no,
Collin 32:33
no. The
32:34
Apex Apex edition is going to ask.
Brandon 32:39
They're sick and tired of seeing me because I did go and I drove it. He drove it used to come in a foreigner and I was like, I don't know if this was the new the new foreigners based on the website. I was just on their ugly. So I would
32:54
know, I don't know. I'm not getting a new one. This
Brandon 32:59
thing is disgusting. What are you doing? What is that? Yeah, well, they modeled it after the tundra.
Collin 33:07
It was a mistake, which I was not, I'm not there.
Brandon 33:11
Now, so I'm kind of afraid of what they're going to do to the Tacoma because I liked the way that Tacoma looks. It just looks.
33:18
Yeah, well, you know. I'll just go get the colons going for the random
Brandon 33:29
old car is gonna get this square body Chevy. Yes, I'm gonna do so we're gonna do single cab.
33:35
Yes. Exactly what it needs to be perfect Yeah,
Brandon 33:50
maybe bring in a hot hatch. Who knows? Oh, yeah, that's true. I mean, the Corolla comes in a hatchback. I mean, it does. But my frame actually has one I think I've only ridden it like three times at all. All none of the hot head tests that I have seen. Ah
34:08
not big things. hatchbacks like Ford had one.
Brandon 34:13
Yeah. I guess the Civic has one but the new Civic hatchbacks
34:17
look.
34:19
Not nice. In my
34:21
personal opinion, they don't that Golf GTI is still Yeah.
Brandon 34:27
is still decent. Don't get the type bar get the DTI is no Type R forever. Because R stands for racing. Obviously. I did the Civic Type RS and I was like maybe, maybe that's family. It's a four door sedan.
34:41
And isn't what I'm saying.
Brandon 34:43
This conversation has reminded me I can't remember the name of this YouTube channel that I watched so I'm going to have to go back and see if I can find it again. But it's like these younger dudes and they have like tuner cars, right? And they go on these like ridiculously long road trips and like the stupidest cars imaginable. Like, Bill RX seven, right? Like he took like some silly jokes of super long retro but one of the guys drove like, he's like 90s and we should be she EVO track car.
35:12
That's ridiculous.
35:14
I know. But it reminds you this there's like, a lot of it was like them changing oil in a parking lot. Or like
Collin 35:21
Yes, that sounds like very good. That's the other thing with this. I am trying to like I'm generally interested in test driving a golf like GTI or something. Try to find one of those use that is yeah, no
Brandon 35:38
sign of the Midwest, right? That's not a thing that could happen tuned to within an inch of
Collin 35:43
its life. Oh, yeah. Like in possible.
35:47
I see those get scooped up.
Collin Funkhouser 35:51
Yeah, there's no such thing as an unmodified, even like Honda Civics like it's like I just want it or like to class
Brandon 35:58
because aftermarket parts for Honda Civics are like no dollars. Yeah. Like you can buy just any aftermarket part imaginable. And they're like, not that expensive. Right? You can just go to town and do whatever you want. And even
36:21
legal or otherwise.
36:22
Yes.
Collin 36:25
So obviously up,
Brandon 36:27
hold on. We're here at the Oh, brother podcast only endorse legal modifications. Alright. Save
36:35
the Earth. So yeah.
Collin 36:38
That's a great disappointment where I'm like, Oh, look, here's one. Here's a 2015. And it's like, oh, there's no truck. Why is there no trunk space? Oh, because it's a massive. That's where the nitrous system is now. Yes. Was this
Brandon 36:55
hole on the hood? Oh, that's a turbo waste gate valve. Oh, dang it.
37:01
gaudy gold wheels.
Collin 37:05
And it makes it faster. Obviously. The Office. Yeah.
Brandon 37:14
continues and continues. As always, as always. What's what's been keeping you occupied?
37:20
I'm fine. Well, let's see.
Collin 37:26
Oh, at school, and then.
37:30
Oh, yeah. The big news
Brandon 37:30
is whether he knows here. Susan's Mom's getting married tomorrow. Some fries? Oh, boy. That's happening. So cool. Yeah, that's a thing that's happening. So that's a great drama in everyone's life, currently. Okay. We'll go into too much by the various stages of acceptance from family members of that. transpiring
37:59
is interesting. So you know, good. Yeah. That's tomorrow. That's happening tomorrow afternoon. What a big
Brandon 38:15
throw on you like that. Sorry, I didn't tell you about that sooner. sort of slipped my mind before.
Collin Funkhouser 38:19
I think casually move on. Well, like I mean, you know,
Brandon 38:24
it's like, you know, I don't have like a no,
38:29
I don't have like, big hot takes on this. Because it's, you know,
Brandon 38:33
not my parents. So are they details of the bride and groom? Location? church they would go into, right, so they're doing that they actually, like went to high school together.
Collin 38:52
Right. Really? Yeah. And then like,
Brandon 38:55
yeah, so that's the thing they've done. They know, they both have lived around here their whole life. So they're just like, okay,
39:01
you know, whatever. For context,
Brandon 39:06
ladies and gentlemen, my ex is my wife's mother. So she's 85 years old. So, this is this whole, like, whirlwind courtship scenario has just been the most confusing thing I've ever witnessed in my entire life. Because, like, witnessing a person be at five, like, switch back and forth between acting at five. And
Collin 39:39
like 13 like them
Brandon 39:41
is just a weird
39:44
it's like a weird like ping pong that your brain goes off.
Collin 39:50
It's very strange. So it's been hilarious and You know, so
Brandon 40:02
that's happening tomorrow. So we got to do that Susan made. They're like little flowers there. What is it corsages and boutonnieres. That's the other word for that US actually made those today
40:15
for them. So, yeah, that's,
Brandon 40:20
I mean, we haven't really been they've planned everything. So like we're just going
Collin 40:24
to showing up. Yeah. So then we're afternoon. That means I had to like, find wedding clothing to wear. So sorry. That's obnoxious, right? Like, oh, man, I have to wear like,
40:40
nice clothes.
Brandon 40:41
I'm not into doing that. Like, yeah. I know. All right, sets off a string of things I have to do on the weekend, though. Like the next. Don't move when you have to go to another wedding at some point soon.
41:01
Oh, these things you would have to fit them?
Brandon 41:05
That's true. We've been invited to a former students wedding. Oh, that'd be exciting.
Collin 41:12
And then I think it's next weekend.
41:18
Being at a double check.
Brandon 41:21
We're going to kinson era. Oh, yeah. kablam wonderful. Big exciting times there. So it's just like, celebration season apparently. In the fall
41:37
you'll be very busy. As full of delicious food. Oh, yeah, definitely. So
Brandon 41:45
more, more on that later. But yeah, wedding tomorrow.
Collin 41:48
So we'll see. I don't really know. They claim it's not going to last very long. But
Brandon 41:58
Susan's nephew is marrying them the same person that married us. And that took a long time. I remember. So I he says it's gonna be short. He's a known liar. So if
Collin 42:14
you have like an emergency like pull valve or how are you gonna?
42:17
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what we're gonna give him the signal like, Yo,
42:20
when he
42:22
calmed down
Collin 42:30
I hear something interesting.
42:35
Yeah, that's the big. That's the big celebratory news. Weddings have in laws. Now that'd be interesting. I really know.
Brandon 42:48
Do we ever say weird because like,
Collin 42:52
I don't know anybody like Allina like
Brandon 42:54
him. Right? So it'll just be like, Hey, here's all these random people like, Oh, yeah. Cool.
Collin 42:59
My god. Yeah, to find something to talk about.
43:04
I am sitting back and
43:05
Oh, hide it first one ounce.
Brandon 43:10
Yeah, no, I can't do that. Because I think Susan would probably stab me. Oh, with something like stoke handles me something like maybe corsage pin Oh, no. Booting your pin to the sternum. Blam. Oh, good luck on.
43:30
Yeah, so as we
Collin 43:33
get I think so we'll see how it goes. And I don't know about I don't know there's a parent like reception. That's gonna be the part of this. Take 25 years
Brandon 43:43
has like, her mom is all like, you know, she says all these things like, oh, I don't want it to be a big deal. She does. Right. It's a lot. She's I don't want it to be anything big. I don't want anybody to fuss over little old me. lies all lies. So. Yeah, right. Like I see. So that was amusing to watch right. It'll just be kind of funny. Where they met.
44:21
Yes. Well, that's a that's a big goings on for tomorrow. Uma, Joy. The I'm sorry. I
Brandon 44:32
forgot to mention that earlier. It's probably important information that I should have shared. It's very good. It was one of the things that seemed like it was weeks away until it was like, oh, that's tomorrow. Oh my gosh. All right. Yeah.
Collin 44:55
Do something with misinformation. Yeah. It's kind of like Like whenever I put together the the retreat really didn't hit me that it was happening until I had picked up some of the participants from the airport. And I was like, Oh, this is happening now. Oh, no, this thing.
45:17
I'm gonna go oh, by the way. Oh,
Brandon 45:22
it was amazing. So we had a ride that we had. We have eight and eight people come in, we had had representatives from North Dakota, Wisconsin, North Carolina,
45:37
Kansas City,
Brandon 45:39
Missouri. And then we had three people.
Collin 45:42
That was like, literally feet away from where she was, like, when I found out you guys are doing this, and we're I was nervous where you're gonna hold it. And then I realized, Oh, it's 10 minutes from my house.
Brandon 45:55
The winner is you.
Collin 45:56
Yeah, way to me that North Dakota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, we had a Yeah. And then we had a suite of people with three, three people from Florida attend. Oh, wow. Which was kind of shocking, is rocking. But the whole premise of this was to just come together, present problems that you are dealing with. And so part of this was also an issue of going okay. Like, I know, a lot of people will do deep thinking about their issues, but some people don't. And so we need to take time, like the first day to just kind of identify what those are, or identify what your pain points are. So the second day, we could do a deep dive. And so the first day was a little awkward because like, nobody knew what to expect. And I didn't know what was going on. But
Brandon 46:44
good when you the conference organizers, like I have no idea what's happening. I just dove right in. Thankfully, Megan was there to ask the obvious questions that I forgot to like. Mention. So it's always stuff obvious ones you forget, right? And it slows down? Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Collin 46:59
So we went through that then the second day, we woke up, we like, went to did a yoga class first thing in the morning, which was fine, because then we came back and breakfast at the end doesn't start until like nine in the morning. So we all came back. Why is this like the opposite of a actual hotel
47:19
like breakfast is only from 530 to six, get on your losers.
Collin 47:23
And again, this was definitely like, Will will have and they would do different seedings for different guests. So if you needed to leave early, they would try and do something earlier, or whatever. Okay, but they were like, well, standard is nine o'clock. And they had this big 12 seat dining table.
Brandon 47:45
Which was perfect for us. Because we Yeah, that's like
Collin 47:50
we took up the almost the entirety of the in. So we just hung out in the massive living room and had the big dining room and there was a library off to the side that we could go to, and just like hung out. And that second day, we all kind of went around and talked about our five things that we were working on. And then we presented the one that we really wanted help with. And then the entirety of the group gave advice, shared experiences, a ton of resources were shared. And that's vague. All we did the second day, like we lasted hours, I think we did like, like six hours of that going person by person went out to dinner, then the next day we woke up and we did a, okay, you've identified your problems, you have some idea and input. The morning we're going to spend the last morning writing out our plan of what we want the next week, month and six months to look like and like putting an action steps. And then we have I built a Megan putting together a Facebook group. We're doing some accountability check ins along the way. And everybody was like,
49:03
when are you doing this next?
Brandon 49:04
Are you going to travel and do these around the country? Yeah,
49:09
you need to charge more.
Brandon 49:12
Because my follow up question of how was it received by the participants? There was well, so there we go. Check mark that one,
Collin 49:20
I'm sure in part of this too. Like, it was very not like Megan and I focused because we were actively participating as well. Like we were doing a sizes and stuff. I was just the one telling people like okay, this is the next step. Facilitating facilitating made it really great because then like, the pressure was off of me. Like how that's
Brandon 49:38
true, because you could just kind of steer it in whichever direction was like coming up, right? Like, Oh, that's good. We should spend some time there and Oh,
Collin 49:44
whatever we're needing we could just have it in that for some time. And then I wasn't the one having to be like, Oh, here's the book you need to read for that or here's the podcast you need to do or here's the training you need to do so
Brandon 49:57
other people were like, Yo, I agree had this thing and it's great, like,
Collin 50:01
yes. And so it was like, all I have to do is make sure this all gets captured. And we're going to share this out. So everybody can have access to this later. And that was my job. And just listening to people. And I had some prompting questions or some things where I was writing down stuff. And if nobody touched on it, I would bring up a point to kind of foster some more discussion
Brandon 50:21
and make sure we did wasn't forgotten, or like, we didn't touch on this aspect very much,
Collin 50:25
or, you know, yes. Or the, you know, that everyone was kind of honing in on this one particular thing. And I'd be like, well, when you first started, you said this word, and what does that mean to you? And that kind of thing. And so, that was steering, steering hazhar That's all I did. And it was beautiful. Really cool. And I'm sure ice, some people probably got a lot more out of it. Some people were like, you know, like, they, you could definitely tell who clicked together of like, immediately, someone was like, you could tell, okay, these three people, they all have over 20 employees, they're talking to one another.
Brandon 51:02
Right? Yeah, cuz they're in a similar like, situation, right?
Collin 51:06
This solo person and this person who just hired, they're talking to one another. And yeah, it just kind of organically happened, where they would go sit next to each other at dinner, and we're tossing ideas back and forth. And they were doing this other stuff. So people got out of it, whatever they put into it. Everyone was like, the feedback. So then, of course, we put together a feedback form. Obviously, that's for them for survey, and all the responses were basically like this again, um, make it longer. And they wanted more of a community building aspect of like, someone was like, Can we volunteer at a local shelter? Or can we someone wanted us to, like all go cook food together? And I was like, No, I'm, I'm not. We're not cooking together. See? No, thank you. No, thank you.
Brandon 51:54
It'd be what I mean. I mean, I can see where they would want like that, like, especially the beginning, like that team building aspect, like build trust, and like, in that environment, maybe, but like, yeah, or maybe like the very end, do some kind of like,
52:06
project something. But that seems, well,
Collin 52:08
that's why I kind of rough I like, glad we had the yoga thing that we could all go do to grow and like, have fun and laugh and you know, an experience that I feel like that was good. Yeah. They also really liked the location. And the fact that we didn't have to leave the premise.
Brandon 52:24
We were yesterday was a small intellect self contained area,
Collin Funkhouser 52:29
and it was just a 10 minute walk to downtown restaurant. And yeah, always a bonus. And so close food. They were like, We need like, try and do that again. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like I there was so much work going into finding this exact location and like, making sure it had enough room for us. Because like Bed and Breakfast are like, we have more room. Yeah, right. They're very small. And I'm like, I need I need like 12
Brandon 52:56
which you're gonna get the next Okay, here we go. Here's my prediction. Three years, it's gonna be one of those places that has like, you're at campgrounds, right? with like, a community hall, right? Like, yes. Somebody did say, can we go camping? And I was like, No, that is right out is right out. What if it was one of those places that had like, instead of like tents, it was like the little like cabins or lodges or whatever, you know what I mean? Like, that would be that environment would probably be more suitable, right? Because then there'd be like, 20 individual cabins. And you could have like, you know, bathrooms and stuff, you probably couldn't walk to downtown restaurants, that would be a problem, you'd have to like, grill or something, too. But yeah, that was the thing of I was just like, I don't know how I would, you know, manage this. But then the other part that I was
Collin 53:58
really interesting thought was that I wanted to do was the the purpose of the workbook that I put together was for personal reasons. And we were doing this all collectively. So all long, I kept telling them, this workbook, you can do again, and again and again, like, by yourself, like, Yeah, you don't need to be here to be here. Use this as a time to like, invest in other people and help and get other people's, like, people were exchanging phone numbers and all sorts of stuff. And it was like, yes, like, use us as a testing ground. Like somebody was like, I'm writing a book, and we were like, send us all drafts. Like, we'll give you comments. Yes. It's like, that's what we're trying to do with this. And so kind of some of the stuff that they've said, like, you know, a lot of people were like, I'm, I've never done anything like this before. I want to do. Yes.
54:58
I want to do Despite myself again, and
Brandon 55:04
everyone liked, like, they were basically like, Don't invite any more people than like, 10. Like, this is a small Yeah, keep it small. Don't do anymore. Yeah, that's true. Because like, can you not have those like times to just all be together? You know, I mean, yes.
Collin 55:21
Because it makes it hard to touch have touch points with?
55:27
Oh, yeah. And
Brandon 55:29
I want, I want to make sure that people are focused on one another and learning about their businesses. And yeah,
Collin 55:37
oh, I think we're gonna, you know, people,
Collin Funkhouser 55:42
I'm shocked, because I was we were so light on details actually happen. We were just like, come to have a weekend of big ideas and community and.
Brandon 55:54
And, but now that you've done one now, you know, like, what to tell, like, you can give people a little bit more about what to expect, because it means that you yourself didn't exactly know what to expect. Now you have a slightly better idea, right? You have some more points to be like, Hey, this is possible. Right? Not going to, but it's possible to do happen, right?
56:16
Yes. Yeah. So
Brandon 56:17
the people that showed up, and they gave us some very good responses. They were like, look, one lady was like, Look, you got eight people show up, having no idea what was going through. And he was like that, and everybody's walking away from the saying, do more. Do it again, do it again. And
Collin 56:39
it I think that there's a way to start doing different varieties of these have, like, one feedback that we got from somebody was like, you know, you could have different tiers of have one kind of retreat focused on
57:00
early stage businesses.
Collin 57:03
And then like a higher level more like resource intensive one for later people. But honestly, oh, yeah, I liked having people him all kind of mixed together, right? Like, the conversation between the lady who started her business, she went full time a year ago, and the people who have been in it for like, 15 years.
Brandon 57:25
I mean, that's an important person to talk to you like, how do I get to where you are? Right? You know what I mean? That's a, that's an important aspect of this kind of like, small intimate environment. That is a big deal.
57:35
Ya know? So yeah,
Collin 57:39
so there were there was like the one hiccup which I didn't, because I had no idea how much time any of this would take like, I legitimately like, some people, one person responded was like, I was a little worried about when I looked at the agenda, that it was going to be too light on substance or topic. And Megan was to this Megan's initial comments was like, you only have five bullet points here for the entire weekend. And I was like, Oh, I know. It's fine. And we were really living on the fly of like, what do we do? Like, just for an example, like, I show up? And I'm like, the first exhibit, the first exercise is to write out all of your,
58:21
your hats to wear. That's how I phrased right. Yeah,
Collin 58:24
where are your responsibilities in life? Because what we do then is we dive into each one of those and ask questions of am I being excellent in this. And so I just had this idea of like, oh, like, we're all writing stuff down, I have a Flipboard. Let me tear off a page and post, put it on a wall. And I had brought different colored pens. And so I was like, everybody write the ones that you wrote down on the board. If somebody already wrote down yours, put a tick mark by it. And then this also was helpful, because then I was like, Oh, I can see who wrote down what, so I can ask good follow up questions to them about that. And I gave everybody a different color. So that it ha coordinated. True. And so I go, Oh, you know, Michelle, you wrote down cheerleader. Why, right. And so had a great discussion that way of like, I didn't plan that before. Like,
Brandon 59:19
it's fine. You got to, you know, this is this is the this is I have this happen to me, right. Like it's a function of how you work best, right, like so some people are really, like, they plan out everything like way in advance, right. And they, like meticulously map out how things are going, but I cannot do that. Yeah, I've tried before. It does not I can't get my brain to focus. And I think that way what Whenever it's like happening, I'm like, I have a great idea right now go Wow. Like, that's, it's so bad. Sometimes it's like, trying to harness that is problematic because you're right, because it's like, oh, well, I'll just make it up as I go. But like, like, you know, and how your first year of teaching, wait, hold on, I have this idea. Like this and then we then after, like, at the end of the first day Megan was like, Okay, great. What's the second day like? And I was like, Huh, that's a really awesome, good question. I don't know. But what what we were able
Collin 1:00:38
to do was go, okay, like, we focused on five things. I don't feel like we're able to, we're going to be able to dive into five things for each person. So we need to challenge them to pick one thing they want to present to them. And, yeah, like, really, now you've got to refine it even more, and present and talk. And I know that one thing that I can do better next time is planned the second day better, because we got up in the morning. And I did ask the, the in if they could make us some go bags first thing in the morning so that if people wanted to grab a fruit or some yogurt or whatever, some granola as we walked to yoga, we could have a few hour Yeah. Okay. Then we came back from yoga, and we ate around 930. And we were done by, say 1030. Okay, we were done eating by 1030.
Brandon 1:01:36
Obviously, we're not going to stop for lunch, right?
1:01:38
I mean, yeah. Because it's like, what the unless lunch, is it like to, to, right, but then we're gonna get like,
Collin 1:01:48
I was worried. And everybody agreed with this. Like, we didn't do a whole lot. We were all exhausted by five. Like, because we went from 11 straight to 530. Just break through. It doesn't make for the best day. But we did, we would have two people I ended. I was like, okay, like, I see how this is going to people are going to present them. We're gonna take a 15 minute break to get up. Yeah, two more people are going to present, then we're gonna have a break. We kind of did that. And that that seriously took us all the way to 530. And I had, because I didn't know how the second day was going to go. I didn't make any dinner reservations. For right. And it's a Saturday night at a bar. Oh, no. And then we had to the decision making process of like, where do we eat? And then like, because the first night I made a reservation at like the most like generic of broad places. Yeah, don't capture everybody. And then all of a sudden, the second night is when people were like, Oh, well, I'm actually gluten intolerant. Or I'm vegan, or I have a dairy allergy. Or I have this or I'm this and I was like, let me just had to spend 20 minutes doing this. Like, I could have I know I'm looking at going I can approve that. Like next time I can have like, I can already have like two or three dinner options selected. That we can Yeah, right. Instead of being like, I don't know, Google, it is basically what is true that free for all.
Brandon 1:03:18
Or the old classic dinner on your own. See you later. And I didn't want to do that like I wanted. Because that kind of kills. The whole point is the right. Yeah. And people did
Collin 1:03:27
comment about how much they loved walking to place. Because it provided a release of like distressing and coming down from things and like, okay, like I can separate as I walk and we have more conversate like, literally the note, we've never stopped talking like that's the one thing that I really liked about this is like, your wake up in the morning. Everybody's up at the same time we all go down for you know, at the same time we talked, we went to yoga, we talked, we came back talking, we sat at breakfast, we talked, we went into the exercise we talked and like
1:04:00
all of this stuff is like it was really good.
Collin 1:04:04
I think capturing that a little bit more as far as like, notes and resources can be improved on the other thing I know I want to do better on is helping people. I've got to figure out how do I prepare them better to sit in silence in work, because it's awkward. It's like the first day, we all showed up at two o'clock. And I was like, Hey, thanks for being here. Here's the place sit in the corner. Pretty much like I what I did was I asked everybody to go around the room and explain why they came here and what they were wanting out of it. And I wrote all this down. And then I gave them a brief overview of everything that we're going to do with time for the weekend was which has kind of changed later but and then I was like, Well, the first tentative plan for the weekend. The first exercise is sit and quietly Think to yourself and write down these five things. That did
Brandon 1:04:59
and it's true That's a bit of a odd timing situation, right? Like,
Collin 1:05:02
it was a hard transition, you could see people were like, Oh, somebody's gonna sit. Now. The second day, the third day, people were like, Oh, I got this. Like, I can sit in a room with 12 people and be quiet like I can.
Brandon 1:05:14
Yeah. Or the first day is hard, because you want to like, it's a new environment. And that's
Collin 1:05:19
what also made it nice is we had beautiful weather. So it was like, hey, they have a massive courtyard, goes here, you go outside, go lay in the grass, go sit at the table, go to the library, go to the living room, go up to your room, right? Like, you can go find space. And then somebody said that you're very kind. They said, I've never felt hurried. And I could do my necessary thinking, because I never felt like we had to be somewhere else. And I was like, Oh, good. Okay, so glad, a function
Brandon 1:05:54
of all being in one room, guys. To go anywhere, because you already hear one at a conference. Like, you've, you've only got five bands go to the next thing. You gotta go the next thing and then there's things, there's a dinner thing, and there's the game. And then there's both there's a social hour, there's
1:06:10
never stop moving. And so they liked
Brandon 1:06:16
the conversation space of walking in the time. But people were like, a longer retreat. And so now I'm like, Oh, my gosh. Hold on, we're gonna get No, not yet. Oh, if you're a couple of short ones first and before,
Collin 1:06:32
you know how to explain this right before I go into a week long. Yeah. But then again, you think if you have, like, if you add one more group activity, you've lost a whole day. I mean, that's, or most of the day. Yeah, yeah. Because, you know, we like for the yoga like, we got up. We got there. We started at 745. We got back to the house by nine people went up to shower and refresh came down for breakfast at 930. We had breakfast until 1030. We worked if we would have had another activity that afternoon. Like we would have only gotten into three hours of work before we had to had to go to the event to answer come back shower. Like like I'm like I'm planning and people showers time down, and then go to dinner. And then like that would have been the day. So like, okay, maybe we do four days anyway. So as we go in here, but they Yeah, all the feedback was good. They really liked the deep dive into like, very specific questions that people had. It got down to like, like, there's a particular software that literally everybody there used in their business. And so over dinner, kinda like, people at dinner were like, how do I, how do I do this one thing? And four people would be like, Oh, well, this is how I've solved that. And this is how I saw that. This is how I solved that. And then someone was like, Oh, well, you can just do this toggle. And it was like, like, so many ideas came from this where I was like, Oh my gosh, like, there needs to be a software workshop, where you bring questions for your software. And I could bring together the five his five biggest software companies to answer those questions and all the stuff. So there's just a lot that came out of it was good enough that it went well. Yeah. It was. It was so exhausting. I can't even I'm still looking at all my notes. And back.
Brandon 1:08:38
Oh, yes. No, I understand how exhausting things like that are when you are like doing like a maximum mental capacity for multiple hours at a time you come home and you I mean, this is like my teaching life. Right? So you come
1:08:50
home and you're like, I didn't like do anything today, but I am dead like I can't.
Brandon 1:08:59
Like it's a different kind of tired, right? Like this, like just drained. Exhaustion like, feeling. It's weird, but I know exactly. We talk about
1:09:11
this all the time. Yeah. So
Collin 1:09:17
we'll see. We'll see what happens. I do have plans. Part of this, too, was you know, Megan and I drove an hour and 20 minutes to get there. That we were beat by the person who lived in the city who had a 10 minute drive ever had multi hour flights and layovers and all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And I, on one hand,
Brandon 1:09:37
I feel bad for them. Because a goal of mine is to make this as accessible to most people as possible. I also have to balance out with realistically accessible to you want to commit to? Yeah, right. That's a yes. What am I? What can I commit to and invest in? I don't either That's important. Don't Don't sell yourself short on that. Because like,
Collin 1:10:04
I do not think
Brandon 1:10:06
I would be able to plan this event and have anything in me if I had to fly
Collin 1:10:11
to. I don't know, like Georgia
Brandon 1:10:14
or Pennsylvania or Yeah, California, like, no, like, I cannot come. Well, the good thing about Missouri is it's basically like, the middle of the
1:10:25
country. So like, you know,
1:10:28
it's pretty centrally, you're not gonna get more centrally located no than Kansas City, Missouri. Right. Like, it's,
Brandon 1:10:37
it's right there. This is what I was thinking. Do we just turn this into the annual Kansas City thing?
Collin 1:10:46
I mean, yeah, right. Like, because?
Brandon 1:10:50
Because you could just like it's not a lot of things.
1:10:56
equidistant from everybody in the United States.
Brandon 1:10:59
Yeah, pretty much, right. It's like, it's not it's not Kansas City, Missouri is not very far from the like, geographical center of the contiguous 48 states. So it's a it's a massive city. I like it. I like it more than St. Louis. Okay. I mean, I think everybody likes it more than St. Louis. Let's be real. Everybody. Missouri likes St. Louis sports teams more. Well, not now that the chiefs are winning. Everyone's remember that the Chiefs everyone like, in the world is never like football. Missouri's like, No, I love the chiefs. Like Stop lying. Get out here. But, uh, so sorry, different tangent for different time. But like, Yeah, I think a lot of people would agree with you that Kansas City is better. And from the from the internet from the International Airport. Yeah. 30 minutes or 30 minutes. Uber, you get anywhere in town. Yeah, really. And so I really do think as far as like accessibility, I think gay, you're not really getting.
Collin 1:12:02
I have a hard time more accessible than that. Right? Like, it's more than that. And because people were like, Oh, what if we did more remote or more, you know, more natural setting. And I'm going, Yeah, but you can't get there. I'm not shuttled. I'm not shuttling you. Like, what are you doing? Like? Yeah,
Brandon 1:12:19
but this is what we talked about a couple weeks ago, right. Like, Kansas City is weird, as well, like, lots of Midwest cities, is that if you drive 30 minutes away, you're in the middle of nowhere, right? Like,
Collin Funkhouser 1:12:34
as itself as a customer in the Midwest? Yeah, you're just like,
Brandon 1:12:39
if you just sort of drive a bit. You're not in the city anymore. And it's like, the plains of northern Missouri. It's not exactly the most exciting place in the world. But like, hey, it's remote, right? It's just field.
Collin 1:12:54
Well, and if you felt like, but but actually North Kansas City, you get to some really beautiful parts along the Missouri River,
Brandon 1:13:01
as to the Missouri River is there so it's a little more scenic, right? Yeah, it's a little like glacial tailplanes. Like,
Collin Funkhouser 1:13:06
when you go north? East is yeah, the Iowa Right. Like,
1:13:09
yeah. No offense, but like, there's, there's,
Brandon 1:13:14
there's real diversity there. And so yeah, I could do one where it's like, okay, this year, we're camping that's going to practice up data people this year, we're in downtown, and high, right? That's the like, but it's still within
1:13:26
30 minutes of like, everything is 30 minutes or an
1:13:30
hour to get there. Like yeah,
Brandon 1:13:32
we're all set. Like, I think instead of trying to go to different places that this will be best if we plant it in our backyard. I mean, yeah. Because like you said, you have your own business and family needs to take inspiration and you have to commit yourself to that. But also like the diversity of little scenarios and the like situations and locations that are not very far away from you are also staggering. So like yes, you could be like bed and breakfast like a literal barn when you're in the middle of nowhere but it's actually only like 35 minutes away from I mean this one technically we were in Independence for like is that it's like 10 minutes down we could have we could be in like the heart of Kansas City. Yeah, but Tim is the other way and you're in a field in Little salt lake so you are out words it's so bizarre. So I'm having a hard time convincing myself of traveling to do this to go Yeah, i The more I talk about it and think about it, the more I realize
1:14:50
this needs to be the
Brandon 1:14:52
we put it we host it in Kansas City like it's I mean Yeah. You know, or someplace nearby city near Yeah, like, in the Kansas City Regional area. Because what you know, what I realized is a lot of people. Here's the other thing is where do all like big big conferences and stuff go? They go to big, big city. Yeah, which tend to be coastal. And so Midwest gets cut out a lot of those. Or they are they'll jump up to like Cleveland. And now it's a Yeah. Kinsey has stuff in it or Chicago. Like that's true. They have Chicago, right? Yeah.
Collin 1:15:35
But nobody's like, so I kind of liked the idea of also because, you know, I, I'm proud of Midwest for a lot of things, I think it does a lot of has a lot to offer. And I kind of like showing it off to people who haven't true, appreciable time here. And so I kind of think that that's an aspect to have.
Brandon 1:15:55
Part of the retreat is getting out of your comfort zone into an unfamiliar place.
Collin 1:16:00
And who knows, maybe there's a way in the future where we can branch off. And I do have the secret, like, secret long term plan of packaging these in a way that other people can host them locally. True that I don't have to. But like, you can, yeah, we can work with people. Yeah, come on for themselves are involved in the planning process. And we help the planning, and they like, buy a package from us. And it includes the books and includes all that stuff. And yeah, how to. And but they they're the ones doing? Yeah, so Oh, that makes sense. And I think that will also have a better local flavor and help anyway. And then the people who are interested in hosting, because there's that plan. So I think we'll probably keep it in Missouri next year.
Brandon 1:16:48
I kinda I do like secretly want to take it to Springfield. But I think that's a bit of a stretch for I know. That's true, like flying. Uber cars. True. So more connecting
1:17:00
flights? Yes.
1:17:02
Yeah. So maybe someday.
Collin 1:17:05
Maybe someday, overall, that that's what where it landed with the takeaway. And we charge the week.
Brandon 1:17:15
We wanted to help cover some costs. So here's a breakdown for you, we end up charging my original goal was to make it free. But then
1:17:24
was that really the best business strategy? Right?
Collin 1:17:27
Well, and also there is something to people commit to what they pay
Brandon 1:17:31
to. Yeah, exactly.
Collin 1:17:34
I didn't, I didn't want people to just say they were going to attend because it was free. And then we plan
Brandon 1:17:40
for all the no income. Yeah, that's a problem. That's a big problem. Nobody actually show up for the day of like, ooh, can't. So we ended up charging 40 bucks. I would definitely charge more. Literally, everybody's, they were like, What are you doing?
Collin Funkhouser 1:17:59
Like, are you saying? Like, listen, this the pilot program, okay, we didn't want to, when I told them, that's what I told them. You're secretly my guinea pigs. I've never done this before. They all do that. They all do that. They were overwhelmed.
Brandon 1:18:12
And they were like, You need to charge more. And so I'm, I'm stuck on what that looks like. Did you ask the follow up question of, okay, so like, how much more like what?
Collin 1:18:23
So I should that actually should have been a thing. But but then I was like, I kind of like, here's, here's my current concept moving forward, because this is just how I am. I hate asking people for money and doing stuff upfront. So there'll be a nominal fee to attend. But then after the fact, there will be a follow up email that goes out where they can pay for the benefit they receive out.
1:18:51
Kind of like a
Brandon 1:18:53
pay for what you want at a restaurant. Only. You get to get it first or like a
Collin 1:19:01
Yeah, what is that? Would you do that? It's like a
Brandon 1:19:05
wow. There's a scenario that happens in my brain and I can't retrieve it from the vault here like Well, it's, it's called value for value. So like, yeah. And I've only ever encountered this at like, a restaurant with no prices. And they just said, pay for what you feel like the meal was worth to you.
Collin 1:19:29
And so some people pay a lot. Some people pay nothing. Every pay everybody pays Senate something but at least we would have like the door fee, basically. Yeah, some money. And then because I want I don't want is to have this like, because I know there's a coach that reached out to us was like you need to charge $1,000 for this and blah, blah, blah. I don't want to have charged somebody $1,000 It makes it very inaccessible. Right, like it's both a excess inaccessible and what kind of expectations do you see set for a weekend that cost $1,000.
1:20:02
Very high. very big,
Brandon 1:20:05
very big. I don't want that pressure on myself. Now fair
Collin 1:20:10
does take you, but if somebody got, you know, $100 value out of it. Well, here's an opportunity for you to give back. I don't know how I phrase it. But yeah.
Brandon 1:20:24
Yeah, this is a thing that I can't remember the scenario in which this has come up in my life. But there Yeah, the thing where you, like, just pay what it's like, like a, like, charity dinners, right? Whatever it is, like, oh, it's free, but then you but you know, pay whatever this is or, you know, like, some like, charity shops are like that, right? Like, oh, yeah, it cost this. But if you want to donate, right, wink, like, I don't know how you phrase that to make it not like, cringe worthy. But
1:20:55
yes, this is more like he's
Brandon 1:20:59
desperate like.
1:21:03
Yeah, because I don't
Brandon 1:21:04
know, I'm sure it's like, at least maybe, you know, charge like 50
1:21:06
bucks, right? Yeah, 60, maybe.
Collin Funkhouser 1:21:13
Because then we also did, um, we got them all gifts. And I think that that was just like a hedge on my part of like, if anything goes wrong, at least, like they will have a present for me. And hopefully it will make it. Like, if this just crashes and burns have this lovely hat.
Collin 1:21:28
I'll give them I will give them a gift. And so what we did, I'm actually I'm actually really proud of this.
Brandon 1:21:36
When you go to a conference, when you go someplace, you get a swag bag, what's the bag, usually full of stuff that I throw in the trash? It is and for a lot of reasons. I already have better versions of or things I'd never wanted to begin
1:21:53
with. But as we have, as we have determined
1:21:55
on this show many, many times. I am not the target audience for conferences, and so like that. I'm an outlier in this particular situation. But
Collin 1:22:07
I know when we would go did conferences, you get all of the branded item from the conference. Right? And like it's branded with the mugs of sponsors,
Brandon 1:22:20
and the logos and logos and just like trashy pins and like yes, that what are the pins have on a for whatever the name of the conference or like pick up a lanyard. So what we did, is we went out, and we found a way to get
Collin 1:22:37
these really neat, really good, well insulated water bottles, that then I went out and pulled all of their own company logos, and had their company logo, put on the water bottle. Oh, nice. And that is definitely
Brandon 1:22:55
something you can only do with a conference with 10 people in it.
Collin 1:23:01
Yes, and it was, it was fascinating watching people's eyes light up, because you know, they have the logo, but then their company buys like shirts, or stuff. But like this was a gift of like, because I want people to use this, I don't want them to go home and throw it away. Like, I want them like me.
1:23:24
I also we also bought a book
Brandon 1:23:28
that we've heard really good things out and I actually read beforehand. And then this was actually somebody else's idea. And I was like, Oh, this is genuinely good. Because Megan and I went back and forth on do we give them an audible credit? For the book? Do we buy the audio book for them? Or the book book or the physical book? And we went round around on this, and I'm still not 100% sure on this. But here's the beautiful thing that happened.
Collin 1:23:59
We bought the the physical book, and we liked the physicality of this. And here's the other thing that it did. One of the people who were attended when we when they got the book, and I explained what it was and how like what we did that this weekend was all about building resiliency and anti fragile things in life and how we are making our businesses better by being in community.
1:24:20
She stopped and she said, Can we all sign this?
Brandon 1:24:24
Oh, that's a yes. Good point. And so, like a yearbook. We also I said, Absolutely grab a pin. We all stood up, stand to the right. And everybody wrote something and it turned into everybody writing their impression of that person from that weekend.
1:24:44
And I
Collin 1:24:47
have not seen so many grown adults unexpectedly cry in a long time, because, like, like this weekend was it The weekend was emotional, it was long. There's a lot going on. And people don't do a lot of self reflection. And two, they read 10 nine other people's responses about how impressed they were with their work, how much they appreciated their input, how much you know, they wish them luck on everything, all those all those comments, like, I was, I was even like, who like, that was totally unexpected, and I absolutely loved of just like it was a pure like, I was like, she was like, we need to sign these.
Collin Funkhouser 1:25:37
And I'm sure some people were like, great, I can't sell this book.
Brandon 1:25:42
Some people aren't readers. But I was just like, you know, hopefully this will be a memory for them at least a reminder of something they did. And
1:25:51
I don't know, just put it on their shelf at their office or whatever.
Brandon 1:25:54
And I was like, I was like, that's really cool. Okay, I'm glad we got the book. I know, not everybody will read it, which is fine. But I was like, That was that was kind of, to have that opportunity as a good mini yearbook. I'm just trying to ruminate not ruminate too much on the word, the fact that you just said the word anti fragile. And I'm like, that's weird sentence. But alright.
Collin 1:26:22
Well, actually, actually, that's the name of the book. And that's a hog. And that's the whole premise of this of this book. And I don't agree with the author on 100% of things. He said, that's fine. But basically, he starts the book by asking the question, what's the opposite of fragile?
1:26:42
I mean, that's fair. But like,
Collin 1:26:45
he would say something like, sturdy, robust, resilient, not
Brandon 1:26:51
anti fragile. Oh, no, no, because what are the properties of something that's fragile? Breaks?
1:26:56
It breaks something that's 30. It just doesn't break.
Brandon 1:27:01
Yeah, in the aspect of fragile rigidity isn't an aspect of getting weaker, and more likely to break the next time? What is the thing that gets stronger after repetitive stress? And so he landed on the word, anti fragile, and it sounds weird. No, nobody likes it. Not.
Collin 1:27:25
I kind of agree. It's like the best we have. Because everything else is just like, oh, like, oh, it's more robust. Well, that just means it's less likely to break next time. It's not wrong, or it's not like then it was like, Okay, well, maybe resilient. But that doesn't quite get to the aspect of it either. Because like, when you mail class, you put fragile on it. What would you put on a box that that would say this will be stronger at the end of this thing through UPS? Like it? I don't know. And then he breaks down? Like, economically, what does anti fertility look like? Biologically? What does it look like? In communities? What does it look like? And all these different aspects, and it's not really so much of a business book as just a purview through all these different categories of what it means to do and pointing out examples of that over time. And I think I as I read it, and I don't know if anybody else, I constantly think of like, what does this mean for me, like, how do I do that? Whatever. So and I was also really stressing out because I knew that one of the attendants there is literally a walking encyclopedia of business books. She reads, more than I think, any other person that I am aware of that like reads of like, not just not just like, she doesn't read a whole lot of books, she reads everything. Like she's an insatiable reader. She was all through audible. Constantly. She was She read three books that she was traveling to this thing. Like, that's the kind of person to Good night. That's ridiculous. So I'm sitting here going, like, the last thing I want to do is gift a book and have somebody say, Oh, I've read this.
1:29:11
Yeah, but that's always a problem books, right?
Brandon 1:29:14
Yeah, it was like literally seven billions of them made every day. But like,
1:29:19
somebody's already read
1:29:20
somebody. This actually
Brandon 1:29:22
so when we did the open house for the kid
Collin 1:29:27
was in the classroom for a teacher, and she had this massive bookshelf. And the teacher was talking about how excited she was to be reading this year. And, and all this stuff, and she like, reached up and she's like, I can't wait to read you this series. It's only four books from the series. But we're gonna read the first one together, and then you can read the other three later, and lo turns to me that those are the Boxcar Children.
Brandon 1:29:51
I've already read those. Because, oh, well, I'm sure you would like this story and she pulls it down and lo transmitting As I've already read all the Junie B Jones all of Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, it's like 70 of those books. Well, there's, there's 20. And like the, like the first, like, run through. Yeah. Like all the most popular indicators go through the. But yeah,
Collin 1:30:16
it's seriously the month before school began, Lillian said,
Brandon 1:30:19
I'm going to read one of these a day. And she did so, and she's like, tore through like a magic treehouse and all this stuff. So the teacher looked at me and was like, Oh, she's a reader than I guess.
Collin 1:30:34
I said, We love ya.
Brandon 1:30:41
Yeah, I didn't want that to happen. I managed to pull it off. And I was like, this is this is never happening again.
1:30:50
True, like,
Brandon 1:30:52
because there were some easy things I wanted to give the book because I do think reading is important, and not enough people read. But did you know that something like 70% of adults do not read another book after they graduate high school? Like, I wasn't aware of the exact statistic, I knew it was going to be big, but that number hurt me on an emotional level, just like deeply right now.
Collin 1:31:16
I read another book.
Brandon 1:31:18
sitting here staring at my TBR pile that's like 20 books deep. I'm like, Oh, my gosh. I know.
1:31:26
I know. Maybe very sad.
1:31:28
I think it's I also
Brandon 1:31:29
have the problem of I a little side note. Here's a little insight onto the topic of next week's show. I'm currently reading three books at a time right now. So like we have I have some I just remembered that something that I did this week that I will bring up next time. But anyway, yeah, sorry. I was just no worries. There's all these like, really, really popular books that are very beneficial. But literally, everybody recommends them. Everybody. Yeah. You talk to anybody who's like in the business world or a coach or like even just like people who are tangentially mentally related gently, gently. Yeah, tangentially intentional because it's tangent in so tangentially. Yeah. Yeah. I said it one time, I said it correctly. These are the they're like, Oh, I've heard this is a good book or like, blah, blah, blah. So I was like, I need to cut through all that.
Collin 1:32:30
I need to I know, shocker here.
Brandon 1:32:33
I spent probably a month
Collin 1:32:37
figuring out like, dub look that we were going to sit home. This is unsurprising news.
Brandon 1:32:47
Yet again, all the more reason for us than keep it an hour away from my house.
1:33:04
Yeah, it was it was.
1:33:06
It was great. It was a good weekend. We'll do it again.
Collin 1:33:11
I have picked out where?
Brandon 1:33:16
Yeah, well, it was successful. I know. It was like a big like that random and you were unsure about like, Okay, well, here we go. No, I definitely appreciate your and Susan's review of the booklet.
Collin 1:33:34
And she's a professional here,
Brandon 1:33:35
I you know,
Collin 1:33:38
everything. And I don't know if I told you but I did. I did end up the original booklet was like, almost 50 pages or something? Yes. Which is a lot. I stripped out. Like, I took the book. And I basically just cut it in half. And all the preamble stuff I just set as pregenerated like automatic emails to go out a set time
Brandon 1:33:59
interval as a very wise decision, I think I mean, they're so that like, because all that stuff I realized was like, Oh, this is really important for them to know, like, before they get here,
1:34:10
like slow prep work.
Collin 1:34:13
I need to do something different. So it also helped me to like, Okay, I know I've got an email coming out next week, I can add some more detail to it or update them on a rival or update them on like, location and stuff. So it helped me stay on track to have like, this email is going out will be beneficial to them. But I can also add retreat updates to it as needed or just let it
1:34:36
Oh, yeah. That's a good point. That's probably good move, right? Because it's less intimidating, like less daunting, right? Anti daunting, right, maybe
Brandon 1:34:48
next thing for them to have not like to arrive at a retreat and immediately be presented. with like, a massive tome to go through, right, so if they already had some preamble, and then they get like, just the stripped down, like workbook II version, it's like much smaller, much less intimidating. That's probably just a better experience for
1:35:16
the attendee.
Collin 1:35:17
Yeah. In general. And it's cheaper to print. Right, right. Yeah. Gosh.
Brandon 1:35:23
The other things I learned were very expensive.
1:35:29
flip charts, flip charts, big. Like,
Collin 1:35:34
you just flip them over, or you can tear them off. And they're sticky on the back, like a big
Brandon 1:35:37
Oh, yeah. Yes, I know. I'm aware. These are things these are premium in a school environment, right? These things are like guarded with your life. $50 apiece. Yes. Yeah. Imagine how many of those you go through in a year? And like the lower elementary? Oh, like a billion, right? These are insane. Like, I was like, Oh, I, truthfully, we only use like, five pieces of paper, which is fine. But again, I didn't know how many Yeah, going through. And maybe next time we go through more. And the ones with the sticky. Like the post it note thing on the back, right are like a premium ones anyway. Yes. Like you can get like the spiral bound, like the ones that are like top spiral, you can probably get them for like 20 bucks,
1:36:28
right? But they're not as good. Well, you have to have a what form you have to have a stand for them. Right?
Brandon 1:36:39
Which I have to command hooks on my wall, ah, that I just permit attached to the wall. But the standard is the most common like, it's you can't it's makes it slightly less usable. Like you have to like take it down and like flip it over and like do things like so. Yeah. If you don't do the other way, you have to have this big awkward easel thing, right? That is not super wieldy. Right? It just takes up less space. And so the way
1:37:08
yep. And I didn't
Brandon 1:37:09
know the layout of the room. And I was like true. I just wanted these I did. I just took them off and like stuck them to the wall and like the door and just had them around the room that we were in. I was like, done. We have a board. Yeah. So I was like, like Megan was like, how much are these? And I was like, yeah, they're stupid. I had no idea they were this month. I had no idea. Yes, we use them. Like I use them like candy when I was at the Department of Conservation. Like those were our jam and meeting like I was so MIDI, but they're expensive. They're
1:37:45
ridiculous. So this is why I have command strips that I attached to clothespins.
Brandon 1:37:56
So I have like, the cheap paper that is like a
Collin 1:38:01
it's like the legal pad version.
Brandon 1:38:03
Right? So it's like really not great paper. And you can't like flip it over. Because it just like disintegrates and rips itself off. Yeah. So I just write on it. And they like tear it off. And then I stick it on the wall if I need it for something and like, Oh, hey, here's something important we're going to do. Bam, throw it up on my little hooks.
Collin 1:38:22
No, I like that.
Brandon 1:38:24
Or just tape it directly to the wall. That's what I do with my track because I have the same anchor chart as the language arts teacher about like, written responses. You know, how to write a good response for the question. You know, like restating your answer, providing evidence, those like reminders. I just copied her and put it my room so that they're practicing the same skill over and over again. I just taped that thing to the wall. Like yeah, and I wanted something that I could move that we could set up and take b out in a conference situation that's you can't like you have to have it be mobile and throw it up there. So yeah, it is the best thing but they are stupidly priced it's ridiculous. Well, I've got two of them. And if these go bad before next year, I really keep away from the children. Highlander item off in the attic right like that's, that's to improve, but I was super excited to have went down last night it was great.
1:39:45
But my updates. Nice.
Brandon 1:39:48
I'll leave you with a preview of the rant that I have planned for next episode. It does have to do with books. Right, conveniently, we have a bit of a segue between episodes. Look at that two episodes related it without even trying. When you were talking about, everybody always recommends the same books, right? And it's just a lot of same z's. And it's really weird and annoying in the business book world well, because I have been googling more mystery novels to buy, right? Google recognize that and started recommending to me these like, videos of book reviewers on YouTube. So I have fallen I have been watching some of the like, quote, booktube stuff. It's weird. Okay, it's confusing. And I have thoughts. And so
1:40:45
thoughts on booktube Oh, man, it's weird. I don't know how I feel about that's what are your stinger for next time? Tune in next time for Brandon's thoughts about booktube and how it's weird and weird. So I will come buckled and ready to go. Right, be ready. Okay,
Collin 1:41:13
hopefully, hopefully next time. I'm recording from an office with like, computer and internet not going to hold our breath. We're gonna start
Brandon 1:41:29
the laptop this time adds
Collin 1:41:31
depth one, everyone. I have to wait for T Mobile to send the internet they need me. Yeah. So nice. All right. So that okay, and we'll we'll wrap that. Okay. Love you. Let me do
1:41:47
it.