Maria Strauch: [00:00:00] it all starts with that phone call. So when you just say anybody can answer the phone, I bet they're different with that. Somebody needs to know who can the phone need cause they are the extension and first line of your law firm. 


MPS: Hey, Law Firm Owners, welcome to the Your Practice Mastered podcast. Today, we got a fun episode. We're your hosts. I'm MPS. 


Richard James: And I'm Richard James. MPS, my bride, my east coast, Italian bride, ECIB, your mother is here to join us today to talk about entrepreneurship, the journey of being married and the mother of an entrepreneur or actually entrepreneurs. As well as the day in the life of what she does around here and how she supported us in the growth. And the goal today is really to bridge the gap in the conversation [00:01:00] of a family business, whether that be a husband and wife team, or that be a true family business where there's kids involved as well, and what that looks like, the pluses and the negatives. And then hopefully, we can get some really great teaching points out of it, a lessons we've learned along the way for anybody, even if they don't have a family business, what lessons they can learn as they're listening to today's episode. So, Maria, welcome to the show. 


Maria Strauch: Thank you for having me, Michael and Richard. 


MPS: Yeah, well I'm going to get grilled if I call her by the first name. So I'm going to go with Ma, and I'm going to say, Ma, is there something that not everyone knows about you? 


Maria Strauch: Well, My beginning started in that I have a degree in nursing, and I've worked in healthcare most of my career. I basically married into this craziness, and that's where I started the quote unquote "entrepreneurial journey" with RJ, back in 1995. After saying I do, I don't know if anybody knows [00:02:00] the story of the funeral business, but that's kind of where he had his start, like 5th generation family business. I mean, That's where it all began. We used to bond downstairs where he embalmed bodies and I did laundry. So, that was, date night. It was over a casket in time. 


Richard James: Did you just say the date night was over casket and tied? 


Maria Strauch: That's exactly what I said. You can't make this bleep up. Okay. 


Richard James: Okay so to frame this for everybody, you're 24 years old when we are married. And we move into an apartment above the funeral home. It's probably 500 square feet ish apartment, Uh, living across the hall, literally like, you know, three feet away from my grandmother's apartment, she was the third generation of the funeral business. And you would get out of work, or on your day off, and we would have viewings in the funeral home. And [00:03:00] correct me if I'm wrong, but you were expected to then go work at the funeral home, correct? 


Maria Strauch: That is correct. And not only work, had to show up appropriately. I wore a pantsuit one time, and it was no go. The matriarch very kindly and politely told me that women in the funeral business are to wear are dress suits with a skirt, and no pants. So, I had to tweak my style a little bit for that. And that probably started my journey of all my crazy fashion sense. But yeah, I got very creative, utilizing a professional outfit that would still speak funereal, but at the same time, still have a little bit of glitz. And 


Richard James: This was a local business, so people who are listening to this own a local law firm, traditionally, they're in a local community setting. And so, they're probably known in their community, either a little bit or a lot, depending on their overall advertising technique and budget. And so, if I remember correctly, [00:04:00] you were even told the way in which you were supposed to go shopping. Is this correct? 


Maria Strauch: Hundred percent. You gotta always be dressed for business, because 


Richard James: did that, What did that mean, you couldn't wear to the grocery store? 


Maria Strauch: Anything anybody would wear these days. I mean, They go with their pajamas and their slippers and a hundred percent. You had to be put together, you to have be dressed appropriately that if you ran into a family that you served in the community that you looked the part matter what and when, because you still were working You know, with them in a professional setting, so you always theoretically, quote unquote, "How to be on." right? Or that's was certain standard you must always meet. And I guess, the same would go for your clients. I mean, They're setting a standard in the community as a professional, and there's a certain standard that has to be always maintained. 


Richard James: MPS. 


Maria Strauch: Let's roll MPS into this part, because I used to take Grandma Mary, third generation, to the grocery [00:05:00] store. I used to take her up there when she got older, and we'd take Michael when he was a baby. And we'd put him in the top of the carriage in the car, and we'd push him. And this is where his probably entrepreneurial journey started. He would persist on saying hello to every person we passed by in the grocery store, and wouldn't stop until they said hello and cooed back at him. It was incessant. And your grandmother loved that because it was a great way to kind of glean business, let people know we were there, you know, making our presence known. MPS started that back at six months.


MPS: And a salesperson was born in that moment. So was out of the womb, entrepreneur and salesperson, and made sure the grocery store knew it. And then, you were in the funeral business with dad. And then, what, what did the rest of the story look like? 


Maria Strauch: It came a period of time where we were starting to [00:06:00] outgrow a one bedroom apartment with an infant, MPS, and all the stuff that comes along with that, including your crib right next to our bed. There was no more room for us, so that's when we built a home and we kind of started a new chapter, new journey in that. And again, still involved in the community, the business just within the same location, always geographical location was key. But RJ started to get a little burned out in the funeral business in that. He wanted to run it more like a traditional business. And it's kind of hard to do that when you're selling. So, Our path took a different journey at that point, we welcome Justin in to our family. And at which point required a little bit more time for us to be involved in our kids lives, and the funeral business really wasn't allowing for that just because of the schedule you had to keep. So that's when we transitioned into a pet supply company. So Rich, I don't know if you want to expand. 


Richard James: Could you say that one more time? 


Maria Strauch: Transitioned into a pet supply company. [00:07:00] Purchasing a pet supply company. Namely, Aquarium House. 


MPS: Cause that's a natural transition, from funerals to pet supply. 


Maria Strauch: being, We don't even own a pet. but yeah, 


Richard James: Yeah, we didn't even know a pet. We didn't have a dog, we didn't have cat, we didn't have a dog until I 53 years old. we didn't have dog. We didn't have cat. We didn't fish, and we bought a pet supply company that specialize in aquarium ornaments. Maria, do you remember? so talking about the lengths that your spouse will go to support, you remember when we were buying that business? Cause we bought an existing business. So we still own the funeral We had two funeral homes at that time and pseudo partnered in a third one. And we decided to buy this business that was in Lancaster. And they used Philadelphia attorneys. And we had a drive down to Philadelphia on April 1st. Right. It was [00:08:00] April fool's day, 2002. and we had to be there, right? Because we'd worked so hard to get all the documents together. The SBA, was, you had to sign all those documents, the whole nine yards. And you had like a 102 fever, if I'm not mistaken. not 


Maria Strauch: I was in bed with tonsillitis and everything happens fast in business. There's no, I'm not feeling well tonight. Right. I mean, it's like, You just got to play the part and do what needs to be done. So literally, I thought you were joking. It was April fool's day. But you're like, we got to get to Philly right now. And I'm like, huh, what? So, gathered up a babysitter for two little kids and took a shower, got dressed, probably slept some of the way down there. Actually, no, we were going through the contract on the way down there because there were still things that weren't written correctly, and they were upsetting. So, the negotiation continued all the way on the table at the closing table, until we could get things ironed out. Yeah, I managed through it, just like I've [00:09:00] managed through everything else we've had to go through on this journey. It's never easy, but you do it. You do what needs to be done. 


Richard James: There it is, Right? You do what needs be done. right? And even though you don't necessarily know what the outcome is, sometimes you feel like you're flying blind. sometimes you can only take that next step that's right in front of you I'll have friends or acquaintances or family or whatever, who say things like, Oh man, you're so lucky, you have such a great life, whatever, whatever, fill in the blank of whatever they seem to like about whatever my life is or is not. And they have no idea what this journey was like to get to this point. And there were so many times we just took blind leaps of faith. And I just had to ask Maria to do it with me. And we did our best. I don't think we're smart enough to ask for God's advice, back then. But we just did our best to move forward and did everything we possibly could. And that included last minute closing deals for this [00:10:00] business that ended up, by the way, the guy that we bought the business from within the first six months broke the contract and decided opening up a competing business against us. And we had to sue him to stop enforce the non-compete. You just never know what you're going to get yourself into. And then, if you remember correctly, Maria, I drove three hours every day down to Lancaster while still owning the funeral homes that you pretty much maintained with two young kids, to try to grow this other business. 


Maria Strauch: And I just want to expand upon that lawsuit thing. If I remember correctly, there was something, that there was some kind of a counter, and you were in China. And here I am running the household, the funeral business, and the aquarium business. And a subpoena comes through the door. And i'm like, wait, what? And I was going crazy. Yep. I mean, like these like you can't make this up. This is just the way like nothing surprises me. I have to be honest. I've learned such a resiliency in business that not much rattles me and i'll believe just about anything. No, 


MPS: You kind of have [00:11:00] to. I, I think you got to build the thick skin to it. So, all of that evolution is taking place. And then eventually, we move out to a new location, Arizona. And then, in comes the world of law. And so, what 


Maria Strauch: no, no, It wasn't In comes the world of law. It was here comes 2007, eight, nine, and 10. And when the real estate market tank, the economy took a major turn, and no longer were people spending money on large, ridiculous aquariums. They were putting their money into their furry friend, dog or cat, and hence the pet supply business starts going down the tubes. So now, what do we have to do again? Reinvent ourselves. So that's you know, never comes easy. But again, I mean, you do what you have to do. So, as RJ was out there finding his way into what his next thing was going to be, I kind of started closing down [00:12:00] the aquarium company and phasing out the inventory best I can with his assistance. And had to go back to work, right? I mean, Still had bills and health insurance and everything that had to be paid, So, went back into the healthcare industry. And that's what I did until you know, that's where law came in. That's where


Richard James: So So, let's, So let's just freeze frame this for a second, right? By the way, your mom and dad, entrepreneurs are not entrepreneurs. 


Maria Strauch: My mother and 


Richard James: right? 


MPS: Right. 


Maria Strauch: no, no, uh, blue collar. No, no, no, no, 


Richard James: Blue collar electrician, stayed home mom, and then went out and worked in the world, and different facets to pay the bills, bring more money in, right? right 


Maria Strauch: Humble beginnings. Yep. 


Richard James: Very humble beginnings. Not. risk takers, necessarily. Right. 


MPS: right? Far from it. 


Richard James: Okay. So now, by the way, for everybody, for those who don't know, we, you and I met when we were 


Maria Strauch: 15. 


Richard James: 15 and 16 years old, [00:13:00] right? So we're dating a while and then we get married. So she certainly knew who she was marrying, but I don't know that you knew necessarily what it was going to mean in the world of business. Arguably, I mean, I bought my first funeral home when we just got married. I had businesses before that, but they weren't really all that successful. And there wasn't the normal traditional moving parts and so the first real business I had bought was the one that we, when we got married, so we kind of started this together. So here you are. You don't come from a family that takes entrepreneurial risks. You're very conservative blue collar. You're put to work. You have to go to work during the day as a nurse. You come home, you work the funeral home at night. Literally, we live in a 500 square foot apartment. We then decide that the funeral business, while it's, we're making more money than anybody else in our family probably ever made in the funeral business between what I made and what you made as a nurse, we're doing really well [00:14:00] financially, but it's not enough, not satisfied, decide to go buy another business, buy a pet supply company, absorb literally millions of dollars in debt, by the time it's all said done the inventory that we have to have. I'm traveling to China two three four times a year, plus trade shows, you're dragging the kids trade shows, plus join the pet supply on the sales team, which is never did before, became second best sales rep we've ever had. Then, led that company while I was absent away for whatever reason in China or at trade show Show Then the economy tears that away from us. Some of our own mistakes for sure, but we lose that whole thing. We decide to pick up and move across the country where there's more blue sky than there is clouds to Arizona, where your sister was. But now, our business is completely faltering. you know, We can't make it work because the [00:15:00] economy just won't let it, it's just disappeared. And so. I got to figure out what's next. You go back into work to support us, to pay the bills, to make sure we have health insurance, and, Oh, raise the kids while I go figure out what's going to be next. And I have no idea what that's going to be. Working with law firms wasn't anywhere on the radar. My question is, before we get into working with law firms, like pause right there, as the spouse, like what was going through your mind? Like, Were you just, like, well, I'm committed, I guess that's what I'm going to do. Did you start to enjoy it? Cause it wasn't where you were raised, or necessarily who you are as person, what did it feel like be stuck in this chaotic merry go round? 


Maria Strauch: Well, you know, I think at some point, I trusted you, right? I trusted that you always had our family's best decision at heart. And I knew that you would do whatever it would take to make things right, or make them work, or to provide a house and food [00:16:00] for our family. So first of all, came to trust. But in saying that, trust me, I mean, the rollercoaster ride I was on, it wasn't always rainbows and uniforms. I am the ECIB. I mean, Things would spin and get crazy, and yeah, I mean, it was just part of the deal. But you learn to adapt, you learn to realize that you're not going anywhere. You're on this ride. So you might as well just strap in and enjoy it, or involve yourself in it as much as you can, or pull yourself out, as much as you can. But I found, it's always easier, when working with an entrepreneur run this interface. The problem is, is, when you both start running different races, it's where it gets more complex. I just found that it's being easier. But in that, one of the problems with working so closely with your spouse is, what becomes missing is the missing because you're always in the same thread, day in and day out. And it's always the same problems, and it's [00:17:00] always the same whatever, just fill in the blank. So, it's bittersweet, but yet at the same time, when you look back at things now, You know, we can say that we did this together. And then on some level, we're did it and are doing it as a family. So we're all building our own racing at this point 


Richard James: So MPS, I have a question so you had a front seat today. You saw it all happen. You're 25 or you're 26 this year. I mean, All this unraveled and know, all this happened last years, right? Three of those years, weren't around, and couple of those years, probably couldn't pay attention. But really, from the funeral homes and pet supply business forward, you've been here. I mean, You and your brother were at the trade shows, working pet supply trade show, you know, in 2004 in Atlantic City, right? That's the reality. We put you out front as slick faith. you know what I mean? 


MPS: so 


Richard James: uh, 


MPS: to enjoy it. Yeah 


Maria Strauch: You probably be in jail for that now. Trying to save Yeah, that's right. Uh, 


Richard James: but, So the question is, [00:18:00] like, what did you observe, cause that wasn't all roses and perfume, right? So, what did you observe as a child, growing up watching this chaos? 


MPS: Well, think, it was just a different perspective, right? You know, At some point, you're just kind of accustomed to it being normal. I just thought it was normal. That's just how things worked, right? I thought, families go out to trade shows and the kids run the sales floor. I quickly found out, that was wrong. 


Maria Strauch: Until you go to your friend's for dinner, that's not it at all. Just 


MPS: But no, I, think, it offered a different insight onto how things operate. And I think, I naturally was born with that knack and that drive to want that type of lifestyle and entrepreneurial drive, but many aren't. And I think, it caused me to gain a perspective of the opposite of that too. And so, it was always interesting, always entertaining. But yeah, I mean, I, you know, conversations often [00:19:00] revolved around business. And it also didn't. But through that dinner table conversations, just witnessing with my own eyes, it was able to give me a lot of information, to be able to take that stuff and start to use it on my own. I was always grateful for that side of things. Although it does make you understand and view the different perspectives out there, because I would not say, that was a normal life. 


Maria Strauch: But just a plus one on that. Like, Think about your now bride, Delaney. First coming and having dinner with us at our house, right? I wonder, you know, just to her experience of that. I mean, I know she's told tales and stories about this, just how different it was to come and sit at our dinner table. We probably could have had our own sitcom. I mean, mean, We could have been 14 o'clock and everything


MPS: everything else, but yeah. For sure, it's just a different perspective. that's why, a very small [00:20:00] percentage of the population in the US are entrepreneurs and business owners, because it's a very unique and select group of people. And everyone has the same opportunity, but only some are actually willing to do it. And so, it's a different insight when you come to sit at that different dinner table. And I think, it was unique for her at first. But all things led to a very good direction, and I'm happy, and appreciative of the way that we grew up. And I think, it laid a big foundation for why I'm able to, and Justin's able to be who we are today. So, I'm thankful for that. 


Richard James: I also think that, it's important to mention it, doesn't have just be this way. don't know if was way for Maria and I just because of who we are as people, or because neither of us really had anybody give us these give example. So, we had to learn on own necessarily. My family had a little bit of entrepreneurship, for sure. [00:21:00] We live through. But my point is that, I feel like you and your wife, you and Delaney decided that you were going to be really purposeful with how you were going to kind of use a separation of church and state in your family, between business and family. Is that accurate? 


MPS: Yeah, it is. We find, that's the way we best operate. She's got her work and that's what she likes to do. I've got my work. That's what I like to do. And any big topics that come up from both of them will go through it. But we try to avoid, just a constant business conversation. We find that works best for us. 


Richard James: So, where do you want to here want to go

MPS: Well, I want to go from here is, so all of this leads up to the fact that now, we're all together in a business, and you've taken a major role into a major part of our business. So what does the day to day look like? What is it that you do? Obviously, I've taken over the staffing room component part of 


Maria Strauch: [00:22:00] your practice of 


Richard James: So what is the staffing room do? 


Maria Strauch: The staffing room basically provides attorneys or law firms, appointment setting agents that are trained per the 11 step structure and design that has been created by you, RJ, and discussed in Partners Club for many, many years. And it became a necessary product when we determined that people were struggling with, first of all, hiring great phone people in the States or other. And having them trained consistently, to be able to deliver a very predictable, achievable product in setting and showing of appointments. So what we do is basically, we take the guesswork out of it for our clients. They come on board with us. We have a team we work with down in Guadalajara. We have a building. We have an HR company to maintain compliance. We do [00:23:00] all of your interviewing and recruiting. And our clients of TSR would have the ability to specifically contract with this particular employee of their choosing, they can accept or decline anyone. And once they accept a particular candidate, we put them through the process of hiring, make sure all the i's are dotted, t's are crossed. We start the new, what we call our 96 hour test, which is basically the tip, the timer starts for them to learn who we are, what we do, what they're going to be expected to do, learn our script, learn our structure. And if after 96 hours, they don't have some level of increased mastery on it from where they started, we might have to let them know that it may not be a good fit. Most of our agents do graduate. And think that's thanks to my great team of Guadalajara, who really supports them through the process and training, and constant role playing and support. And once we place them with the firm, we just provide ongoing you know, script training, to make sure that they're [00:24:00] doing what we require them to do. 


Richard James: So let's put a pin in that real quick, because I, want this to be, so that was a teachable moment, despite you telling people what we do, there was a lot of teachable information there. And for those of you that might be listening to this, that you're the owner of a law firm the point of that conversation was not to promote the staffing room. You have to apply to get in, anyway. You can't, we don't just sell to anybody, so that's a separate point, but the lesson there is what you really got to take out of this. The lesson is, look, if you're going to take your law firm serious, you absolutely must have somebody managing your phones, both for inbound and outbound, as well as a bunch of other roles inside of your company, where the phones are a vital tool that has to be utilized well in your organization. And in order to do that, you have to have a system, by which you attract good quality talent. And then, once you attract the good quality talent, you have to be able to vet them to be sure they [00:25:00] can pass through the gauntlet of the program you're going to use it. They're going to have to stick to it. In our case, it's 11 steps. we do that over a 96 hour period, that's why we call it the 96 hour test. And then from there, you have to coach them to make sure they stay on path with that 11 step script and structure. So they're using it on a regular basis and mystery shop the firm and do all these things to make sure what we want to be happening in a firm is actually happening in the firm. So the lesson here is, yes, in the early days, it might be as simple as giving your cousin the phone to use the answer. And that's fine to get started. Or maybe it's your spouse or maybe it's your son or maybe it's your daughter, whatever it is just to answer the phone. But at some point as your firm grows and matures, that position of the phone really has to be dialed in and taken seriously. And we have to build a system around it. And so, that's the department that Maria decided to say yes to. Now, Maria, you're a registered nurse, by trade. You've been an entrepreneur's [00:26:00] spouse for 29 years now. And so I said that you were in sales in our one company at what point, but like, why do you think, like, what background do you have that feel you can understand the pain of the phone salesperson, that appointment setter? 


Maria Strauch: Because I did phone sales. That's what I did for the aquarium company. And I know the importance of delivering a consistent message, hitting all the high points built. I mean, The 11 steps weren't developed by accident, right? They're designed in a way that it's capturing the data you need for that particular, potential new client, but you're also building a relationship in that. And sales starts at that phone call. When somebody calls your firm, and it's such an important role, I would think because they're the first exposure. That potential new client has to your business. And again, even though like in this particular case, you know, your agent may be in Guadalajara, but they still that your client doesn't know that. And we make it [00:27:00] so that You know, the appearance that they're answering the phone in Scranton, Pennsylvania, right? Like They are a part of your team. And our agents are very, very trained in the fact that this role is not just picking up the phone and answering it. Your job is being a face of that law firm to help this person during their time of need. And that's kind of probably where the funeral experience comes in, right? Bringing that empathy into this phone call, which gets to their problem that they're experiencing, and helping them find the light at the end of that tunnel. But doing it consistently in the same manner, in that, we can achieve for our client the desired outcome with predictability, so they can prepare for what they need to prepare for in their, business for revenue and different things. But it all starts with that phone call. So when you just say anybody can answer the phone, I bet they're different with that. Somebody needs to know who can the phone need Cause they are the [00:28:00] extension and first line of your law firm. 


MPS: Good answer. 


Richard James: By the way, do you remember the first time when we got married, back in 1995. And the phone rang at 2 o'clock morning cause somebody died and I had to get up and answer? 


Maria Strauch: Well, and that's, you know, It's funny you say that, because you had to get the frog out of your throat at 2 o'clock in the morning, and you sat there and you kept saying, it's all funerals or free rolls or funeral. It's funny. I do the same thing kind of in the way that I train our agents right now. My best demonstrated practice to our clients is, I call it getting the frog out of your throat. They need to do that through letting their new agent start on an unconverted lead list, so that they can get confidence in the script, and get the frog out of their throat. Not that they can't take an inbound call, but the preferred method is, let's get the frog out of their throat. Let's get them comfortable. Although we're coming alongside them, consistently providing support and training, we want them to be able to empower themselves to be able to do it on their own. And the best way to do [00:29:00] that is give them an unconverted leads. 


Richard James: That's a writer downer, MPS. What do you think? 


MPS: Oh, that's really powerful. think, that's actually a very wise way to start it because it builds their confidence, so inbound leads become pretty easy for them. Because if you can get the outbound down and you can actually get people to answer the phone, run it, and get some set appointments out of outbound, inbound's gonna feel like a breeze. 


Maria Strauch: I didn't want it to turn into you know, the practices of TSR, but it just, all these points just keeps start 


Richard James: no, no, no, no, no, tSR is not the practice of the TSR. TSR is a system that needs to be involved in a law firm. A company that offers service. It installs a system in a law firm that we've been teaching them for years. They're supposed to do on their own. And some of them just decided they don't want to do it. They'd rather hire somebody to do it for them. So we just provided that service. But the lesson is, if you're running your own law firm, you need to run things in your phone room, the way we run them in the staffing room because we're doing it the right way, and you're [00:30:00] leading that team. So, MPS, where do you want to go from do you want to go from here? 


MPS: What's got you excited and fired up, Ma? Could be business, could be personal, could be both? 


Maria Strauch: Well, My new little puppy, El, because I told you, we haven't ever had a dog. She keeps me going every day. So She's brought a little bit of life and spunk to this family. I think, it kind of humanized us a bit, so it's not so pressure cooker all the time. She's kind of neutralized The, energy in our home, so everything doesn't always have to be so business driven. It allows us to have a couple of minutes of just breathing sign, watching her do something silly and fun and just laugh. So that's definitely been a blessing, to have her here as part of our family. Along with that, of course, my granddogs, I love seeing all three of them together. but you know, What's got me excited? I mean, The path of what we're doing. I see what we are doing in TSR. I hear the phone calls. I hear the calls when people aren't being trained as compared to when they're in the intake room or the [00:31:00] staffing room and they are being trained. And I see the deliverable results that are being achievable for any law firm that's just willing to let us build capacity for them, and just let us do what we do best. And I'm watching it happen, and I'm seeing the growth in our law firms. I read our wins from our clients, every week, when Blaine provides them you know, to our groups and different things. And it's exciting. We're all playing a part in pushing the results forward. And ultimately, we're helping our communities, right? People are coming to a law firm in a time of distress. And our job is to care for them and make them feel known and heard, and give them the best outcome they could possibly receive in their given situation. And we're all playing upon that. So that's pretty special


Richard James: That's a pretty darn good answer. 


MPS: It is a pretty darn good answer. And to the law firm owners listening, you got a little taste of the ECIB, and the story and the dynamic [00:32:00] here. And hope, you enjoyed that. Hope you got some value in a couple of writer downers during it, as well as just getting some stronger context on the entrepreneurial journey of Maria and Rich here, and what it looks like to do that together. If you did get value today, we got the gentlemen's and ladies agreement. We'll throw them both out there, of course. You can hit that subscribe or follow button, depending on where you're listening or watching. Make sure to hit that like button. Show some love for the ECIB down in the comments below. We appreciate you guys, listening and watching. We certainly love doing this. Ma, thank you for being on today. 


Maria Strauch: To everyone, thank you for having me. 


Richard James: Hey Ria, we appreciate you, more than you can possibly imagine. You have been with me through this entire journey. you know, the reality is is that, you don't get the credit that you that you because you haven't been always in the forefront of things. But none of this [00:33:00] would exist would without you. without Not just your support, but the work that you've that done in every one in the companies we had. And so, success that we have today is absolutely yours to enjoy. I probably shouldn't say that too loud cause we probably go buy another purse, But, it is absolutely yours to enjoy. So, Thanks for being on today. Thanks for sharing some insight. We've never really done that publicly. that and thanks for putting up with me for the last 29 years. Love you 


Maria Strauch: It's been a pleasure dealing with you all. Although we have our high points and our low points, we always end up making it work out. We always love each other. And we always know when we have to concede or celebrate. And we do both very well. We both very well 


MPS: Indeed.