Well, good afternoon.

This is John and Connie Cooter with

Celebrating Small Family Businesses.

And we are celebrating today,

Haley and Kaleigh Dirk.

Now that's my left and my right.

I think it's going to show

up the same way, but I know,

it's ... Kaleigh has her hair pulled

back and Hayley has her hair down.

No, other way

around.

Sorry.

I'm going to see that's what

happens with twins right away.

I already did it.

You already know the secrets out.

You guys are twin sisters.

Yeah, who knew?

Now we're identical twin sisters.

We are a family of entrepreneurs.

Pretty much all of us, aunts, uncles,

grandparents, all of us have owned our

own business at one point or the other.

And I think a lot of it has to do

with one, not wanting to be in some

corporate ladder nonsense, but also

we love to help people and we found

that the best way to help people is by

creating a business, filling a need.

We do that fairly well.

Did anybody go through the

corporate ladder , to experience

that and pull the ripcord?

Or was it just an avoidance?

My mom is, is our corporate person.

She helps us run a couple of businesses

and she has a lot of like little side

projects that she works on, but she,

she has done everything from a director

of IT to being like the, person who

registered patients at hospitals.

So she, she's done that

whole like corporate ladder.

She got her bachelor's degree just

so she could move up and get some

better jobs, better paying jobs.

So she has done that.

And then our dad he, he never

really went into like a management

position, but he definitely,

he's kind of like our worker bee.

And so he's really, really

good at being a worker bee.

And, but he's that consistency that

you need in business for the workhorse.

He is 100 percent our workhorse.

He is, has this unbelievable work ethics.

Like I've never met anybody like him.

He literally works until

he cannot go anymore.

Like three hours of sleep,

back up the next day.

He, yeah, he is definitely...

And now he's in his fifties and

he's like, I'm not 26 anymore.

And he makes this jokes all

the time, but he can still, he

can outlast this 26 year old.

All day long.

He is.

He goes to his corporate job and where

he works for a security company and he

works anywhere between 40 to 60 hours a

week and then he goes and supports our

other small family business with his

son and myself where they do custom car

audio and he works there from anywhere

from six to midnight every day and

then works every Saturday and Sunday.

Wow.

So he's setting quite an example.

He, yes, he has definitely given us

like "Suck it up, buttercup" mentality

of like, you get out there, you get

your job done and you go home at the

end of the day, but you still, you, you

give it everything you got every day.

He's a crazy one.

I tell him all the time.

I was like, you know, there's this

thing called work life balance and he's

like, yeah, but there's more work to do.

I was like, all right, Dad.

All right.

That is so cute.

You guys have each got your own specialty.

Why don't you take turns telling me,

telling us a little bit about what

you do in your solo piece of it.

It's interesting because there is so

much creativity, like creativeness

in both and in any business, you have

to be creative and you have to be

business oriented in some capacity.

And.

I figured out when I was in my master's

program that both my grandmother

and my great grandmother, one on

either side, were bookkeepers.

And I thought that was really interesting

because I was like, I was in health

care and I was really stuck and I

didn't know what I wanted to do next.

I knew I wanted to help people,

but I didn't know what that was.

And then my cousin happened to

be the number three reseller

of QuickBooks in the world.

And so he turned me on to

their training platform.

And I got certified and

then I fell in love.

I fell in love with being

able to help people.

I'd already seen so many of

my family businesses be built.

They had really strong processes.

And so people look at me all the

time and they go, how are you a

business consultant at 26 years old?

I was like, I had a whole lot of examples.

Of what not to do, what to do, what really

helped, what saved their businesses.

And so my brand is Evergrow

Evergrow Consulting and I like

businesses to be ever-growing.

And so that's kind of my thing.

And then my thing is she talks

about creativeness with businesses

and you have to have creative side.

So I compliment hers with.

doing business branding.

So mine is Swan City Photography,

where I specialize in making

your brand tell the story.

And so whether it's from your headshots

to your, , logos to your other

things, I help create that story and

create your ever growing business.

So are you responsible for the branding

of all your family businesses, other?

Pretty much.

She does.

She does everything from our logo designs.

Like, she helped me design my logo.

She helped me design, like, I'm business

of the month at a bank this, this month.

She helped me design all of

my marketing materials for it.

Even down to our social media

posts, she'll help us post

everything that we need.

She'll take our headshots.

My dad and brother got into a magazine.

She was sponsored in the

magazine as the photographer.

It came out really super cute actually.

So she, she definitely takes it, like all

the things that we do well, she captures

it and captures it well and then brands

us to, to speak to our target audience.

Excellent.

Great teamwork.

Wow.

So Kaleigh, we, we know kind

of how Haley got into it, but

how did you find this niche?

So I went to school for graphic

design straight out of high school.

I had previously fallen in

love with photography and just

always had a knack for it.

And I always had a camera in my hand

since I was probably 12 years old.

And then I had a coworker who

was doing second shooting and I

was really interested in shooting

full time and learning about a

business culture and again, how to

help people and capture memories.

And because the memory is, you know,

worth a picture is worth a thousand

words, but what does that memory say?

And so that's kind of where I came

into it was capturing people's

events and things like that.

But then I was like, with my

brother's company and my sister's

company and my aunt's company have.

I learned very quickly that there's a

whole lot of photographers out there

ready to capture your firstborn.

But there ain't a whole lot of

photographers out there ready to

capture your business and create you

a story that you are like minded.

And that will bring in your ideal client.

And there's tons of marketers out there.

But the marketers don't do the

individualized branding of yourself

to present to somebody else.

Because a small business is oftentimes

just the person who owns it.

It's not a big huge team.

It's usually, you know, a

husband and wife like you all.

And and you might have a couple

other people on your team and that

usually you get 10 employees maybe.

And that's why we all

fall in love with them.

And so I kind of found my way to

businesses and have been loving being

able to support them ever since.

Wow, very cool.

I guess you're talking about capturing

the story and I'm thinking about

Google business page and the fact

that there's, , room for continuous

updates to keep that fresh and to

keep Google, , showing your business.

Do you do some of that as well?

I do.

I, encourage people.

So I'll go kind of through their

analytics with them, and then I'll

give them advice on how to update that.

So whether it's I go through

all of their social media.

So when I do a consultation with somebody,

I look at their logo, their Google My

Business, the backing of their social

media is like Facebook and Instagram.

Even if they're do Pinterest or Nextdoor

or some of the other less popular,

but I'm still out there marketing

ways or, you know, communication ways,

there's some sort of social media.

I look at all of that and

I give tips on each one.

Based on my experience with each one,

and I hope that I can get more calls and

for you guys and for each client and I

give them advice on what analytics are

showing and seeing how they can improve.

And then if I can't personally

help them, I find them

like a website designer or

somebody who can help with their

SEO and things on the back end.

Nice.

Well, way more than just

photography, I'm hearing.

Way, way more.

Yeah.

So you get the photography part of

it, which is the piece that I love.

She did.

She's really great about it, but there's,

there's a fundamental business advice.

So when I talk about businesses

in general, I talk about who

you want to connect with.

So like you and I, we're a B2B.

We're business to business oriented.

Our, our ideal client is a business owner.

We don't want the Joe Schmo on the

street that has a family that, that

we really want to talk about a budget.

We want to talk about mindset.

We want to talk about mindfulness.

We want to talk about what's stopping

you from getting to that next level.

What's been the thing that's like,

that's hurting you all this time and

you don't know how to get past it.

Right.

That's what the consulting side does it.

That's what the coaching side, the

business development side does to it.

And so when you can team up with people

like us and people like you guys, where

we kind of get you out of your own way.

Well, they're like,

well, I hated pictures.

That's the biggest comment I get for

photography and for branding is that

I hate being in front of the camera.

And I said, That's, is that you?

Yep, see?

And it's one of the worst comments I get.

But here's the reality.

Your brand is yourself.

Especially when you become the business.

The business is part of your identity.

The business will be that thing

that builds you generational wealth.

That you will pass on to your children.

It is your legacy that is left behind.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have

started it in the first place.

And, and, and in that

sense, take the picture.

Be the brand.

Be the identity.

Be the reason why people want to

come into the room and talk to you.

And when we talk about RGA, we talk

about the Kuder Consulting Group.

We talk about how Connie and John comes

into a room and they light up the space.

Because you guys are the brand.

You guys help people.

You are easy to identify.

And so one of the things that I love

about you guys coming and joining us on

a regular basis is you are so memorable.

We definitely don't ever forget you.

No, that's for sure.

Welcome.

Well, thank you.

Yes, and I yeah I love that you just

said that because one of the things

in our education about marketing and

what we listen for and watch for.

And when I just heard somebody

yesterday say that they were, we were

doing introductions around the room.

And one person is in the

financial advisory space.

And there were three or

four others in the room.

And this person said, what makes

me different is that I really care.

And I thought, Oh, dear, sweetie,

we need to help you with that.

There's a lot of branding

there that could use some help.

We don't even do that.

But yeah, I mean, forget what that sort

of says about the other people, you

know, implies about the other people.

There was no intention of that.

But we also heard a lady

one time as a realtor.

She stood up and said, What makes me

different is that I'm I'm a Realtor.

I'm a member of the National

Association of Realtors.

That and a hundred bucks

a year will get you that.

Makes you different from maybe, you

know, a photographer, but yeah, so,

so that personal brand that when

you're talking, , one of my favorite

questions is if I was to line you up

with 15 of your competitors in the

same, that work in the same industry

as you do, What makes you stand out?

Right!

So for me, for bookkeeping,

for me, I don't hand people

back a profit and loss sheet.

I won't hand it back to

you and say, here you go.

My response to you is

how do your numbers work?

Why are they working?

Why are they not working?

What's your next goal?

Like, I will never just hand you

back your books and say, here you go.

Have a nice day.

My response is, how do we

make you more profitable?

Are you, are you charging enough?

Are you like, are you even up to market?

You know how many estheticians

I've redone pricing on just

because they weren't up to market.

Wow.

And they, they're, they're selling

themselves short at 50, 60 bucks an hour

when they should be pricing their selves

anywhere from $95 to $250 an hour for

certain types of, of services or facials

because those products are expensive.

So it's not their time

that they're paying for.

It's the products and they

don't even realize it.

And is it because they don't realize

what the market is or that they're afraid

to charge market and lose customers?

They're afraid.

So especially specifically in

Lakeland, they're afraid to

charge market and lose customers.

But I've noticed is that every single

one of them have gone to a loyalty

program where that if they buy three or

more services at a time, they get a, the

person gets a certain percentage off,

which winds up being back down a little

bit higher than their original prices.

They still give them that 10,

15, or 20 percent back in a tip.

They're still making the 95 an hour.

It's not hurting them one bit.

And now they're getting

reoccurring services.

And so they built businesses based

on loyalty instead of building

businesses based on scarcity.

Well, getting back to the family

part of it, what do you guys love

most about working with family?

I love that.

I saw a statistic the other day that

says when we move out of state that we

see our family 1000 times more in our

lifetime, like 1000, like just 1000 times.

That's it.

And what I love about working with

family is it takes the barrier

out of conversating with them.

Our lives get busy.

We get out of touch.

We kind of get so busy

that we just disconnect.

What business makes you do.

You don't get an option for it

is it makes you communicate.

It makes you conversate.

It makes you connect with them on a

daily basis, six, seven times a day.

Sometimes depending on

what you're working on.

I mean, I call Kaleigh every

day to talk about business.

Yes.

And when we weren't doing businesses,

we probably talk once a week.

And so what I find is

it ups our connectivity.

It increases our, our communication.

And I love seeing her let's be real.

Kaleigh, what about you?

What do you love most?

I want to say that my relationship with

my family has always been a strong one,

but there are moments where oftentimes

helps us create boundaries and stick

to boundaries and learning another

person's work type or work ethic.

Like I know, Me and my brother, if we

don't have food, it's not a good day.

It's not going to be a good day.

I know that if we don't get lunch by

a certain time and like just knowing

things, and I guess, and when you work

in the office, you see, you know, your

coworkers, you can get used to that.

But when you, you have your family

there, it's, you know, another person

to help take on responsibilities,

do the caretaker role for, you know,

the whole household kind of thing.

But in this work, in case it's

the whole work world, you know.

And so definitely with communication

and just earning relationships that are

sometimes tougher in our life anyways.

I don't know about you, if you've

ever had, you know, a tough moment

with your mom or dad and you're

like, Oh my God, I want to kill

you as the child or the parent.

And we've worked through those.

And you know, at the day, we still call

each other and it's like, Hey, by the

way, we have other stuff that happened.

And you know, still do

the whole update thing.

So I definitely say I get more

quality time with all of them.

Nice.

It sounds like you guys have found

some healthy ways to take those

challenges and pull appreciation

for each other out of them.

Ultimately when you work through

them, you see, you see the person

has more than just that family role.

Yes, and that's really nice, too, because

I know if I called my brother right now,

one, he's going to pick up the phone

because he's going to think it's business

related and he's going to make money.

And two, and or two, he's

going to be like, well, she's

calling, it must be important.

But before it would be like, Oh,

she's just calling to chat and

maybe ignore the phone call or

my dad's kind of the same way.

Like he'd be busy during the day

and now he answers every phone call.

He's like, Hey, are you good?

Is the business good?

Are we good?

I'll be like, everything's fine.

Just call me when you get a

second and then click and hang up.

And so it definitely makes for

like funnier conversations too.

You know, you get the customers and you're

like, Oh yeah, that customer came in and

you know, that guy was just sweeter than

ice cream and you, you got to treat him

good when he comes back kind of thing.

And so we get to have those kind of.

Relationships with customers and they get

to know us as a family and they eat it up.

They love it.

They love that we're all there together

and they really enjoy our, you know,

banter back and forth with each other that

you maybe wouldn't get in the workplace.

That's true.

You don't there's a level

of trust there, right?

And I think they're jealous too.

They think about where they work

and they say, man, I wish I could

have that much fun where I go.

And it makes us human and it gives

them a good reason to connect with us.

And it gives them, they can

identify in their own lives.

They think that, man,

this family is doing it.

They've, they've beat out the obstacles.

They have achieved kind of a work life

freedom in the, in the sense that.

Like, when we want to take off

a week, we close the businesses

for a week and we leave.

Granted, are we necessarily

working, you know, making money?

No, but has it happened where,

where it works out because the

next month is busier than the month

prior because we took that break?

Absolutely.

And there's moments where,

you know, we can take off to

go to doctor's appointment.

Not everybody can do that with their work.

I'm sure you, you guys

worked in corporate as well.

And you guys, you had children while

you worked in corporate, correct?

No, no, no.

My corporate career was

at the end of my career.

And mine was at the beginning.

Well, hey, well then y'all worked out.

Yeah.

Oftentimes, like my brother before he

opened Swan's Feet Customs, he had an

electrician job where he literally worked

like 16 hours a day for somebody else.

And so he, he couldn't spend a whole lot

of time with his family anyways, and he

wasn't making very much money anyways.

And he, and he hated it.

He, he, he wound up like opening the

Swan City customs was a blessing for

him because now when the kids have

soccer games on Saturdays and Sundays,

he goes to every single soccer game.

He goes to every single soccer practice.

Every single graduation.

It doesn't, it doesn't matter if my

dad's not able to cover the shop, then

Kaylee and I will go and cover the shop.

So it has really been nice to, to find

this balance, not only with our, with our

businesses, but in our, in our lives to

be able to go and enjoy the moments that

are important that should be enjoyed that

we probably wouldn't have been able to.

So for instance, my grandmother

came into town for the weekend.

I took the entire weekend off to go spend

with her and make sure we went to the

beach and make sure we spent time because

the last time that our grandparents

were here were it was the last time.

Like, and so it's nice to be able to

control that schedule without having to

be like, oh my God, what am I missing?

Yeah, no, I totally second that.

You know, I was fortunate enough

to be in a family business

where I could take the time off.

So I never missed a school program

or a game or any of that stuff.

I was always there.

And, and your parents

were always there too.

And I, I think our kids

probably took it for granted.

I don't know.

But but I know there and I, and I've

seen the other side I worked with.

Yeah, I did work with people that weren't

able to, you know, in that corporate

world and and ask time off to take

their kid to the doctor or, you know, be

concerned about the status of their job.

When something was going on at home when

they needed really needed, you know,

that moral support and emotional support.

Now they're having to worry

about two things instead of one.

And that's, that's sad, but that's,

that's what I liked about family.

Yeah.

Cause kids I'll tell you, and

you probably know this yourself.

You're close enough to this.

You don't remember it at

the times they were there.

You remember the times

they've worked there.

Absolutely.

And I think like, as even as

kids, we didn't get to do a lot of

extracurricular activities because

our parents were working corporate

jobs then and our parents didn't get

off until 6 or 7 o'clock at night.

So, we actually had a family friend

of ours, a teacher who would take us

back and forth after school because

she lived around the corner from us.

Which I don't know if that would

be allowed nowadays, but we did.

We had a teacher who was kind enough to

take us to all of our, our TSA and all

of our extracurricular FBLA, you know,

stuff because that's what they did.

And and that was the only reason

why we got to participate.

Right until we were much older in

high school and we could drive and we

were able to go to do theater after

school and then we had after school

jobs that we went to and mom just

gave us the keys and we went off.

We went.

Yeah.

So, but we couldn't do that until we

had vehicles and rides for ourselves.

And I'm sure most kids are like that,

especially when their parents don't

have that ability, but it's like I have

a, I have a client of mine and she's,

she has a 14 year old daughter and she

takes off at 11:30 every weekday during

the summer to take her to gymnastics.

And she can do that because

she owns her own business.

There you go.

Nice.

She just walks out that

time and takes her.

And I think those are hours in our

lives that we don't ever get back.

That's correct.

That's correct.

So what's the challenge that you

all overcome in your journey?

As a family or individual?

Well, you know.

Yeah, y'all are a little bit different.

Work together and and individually.

So I don't know, just, you know, is there

is there a challenge that that you've

overcome that other family owners might

relate to that, you know, that would be,

I think, I think communication is key.

I think finding a mentor is key.

I think finding a business coach is key.

Getting out of your own way

is super duper important.

I think when you come it.

At something from an outside perspective,

and you're having other people validate

somebody else's like opinions and

beliefs and a sense of we should

run the business this way because

this process flow makes more sense.

Or these are the 10 steps that

you need to take to run inventory.

I think that that has a lot to do

with overcoming specific obstacles in

business, because what it takes to grow

$100,000 business is not what it takes

to grow a half a million dollar business.

That's correct.

So they're getting the Dad and Trevor

really have They have really grown

to the next stage where they need to

start tightening up some areas, some

expertise areas to help them grow to

that next level which is one of the

things that we've been working on as of

lately as a family, as a family, we've

all hopped in and said, okay, this,

this process cannot stay like this.

It's inventory in this case.

This process cannot stay like this.

How do we fix it?

We, you know, correctly do stuff

going forward and how do we

manage this if we get employees?

Cause we're to that stage where

we're going to start hiring

people who are not family members

and that becomes a difficult.

You know, thing to train somebody else,

you know, and so Our thing is in our

family it beaks down to communication.

I'm not an expert in car audio things.

I'd like to be an expert on car audio

things But there's days when I just I'm

not gonna know something that you know

my dad who has you know, 30 plus years

experience in it or my brother who's you

know, got almost 20 years experience.

And at this point, cause he's been

doing it since he was grasshopper.

And so there's just moments where,

you know, we really got to communicate

with one another about a customer or

project, or, you know, communicate

across and how to teach somebody

else, how to, you know, train another

person to be, you know, another you.

And I know that I have a twin

and like that kind of translates.

To, you know, well, you

do have another, you.

No, we're a little different.

And so I think also taking a step

back and not being mad at them because

you're, they're their family and, and

understanding that everybody's opinion

and everybody's thoughts have, have space.

Mm-hmm.

so you can feel a certain way all

day long and understand that those

feelings and emotions are valid.

Mm-hmm.

, but sit down and say, Hey.

We can come at this from a solution

point instead of a problem point.

And so like we have right team

meetings and we sit down and we

ask everybody's opinion on it.

Especially at the shop.

I say, you know, what do

you want to do with this?

What money do you want to spend?

How do you want to, you know,

what's my budget for this?

Mainly most people's pain

points are over finances.

Every point in time, somebody's

feelings are gonna hurt, get hurt,

hurt over a dollar or $2 or $250.

It's always gonna be about

money no matter what.

And you're always gonna feel

stressed and pressure when you're

trying to make a business work

when there is limited finances.

And you sometimes have to learn to be

creative or put the dollars in the right.

spot.

And there's always gonna

be an argument about that.

It doesn't matter how good

of communicators you are.

It doesn't matter.

Somebody's gonna get yelled at

and somebody's gonna, you know,

yeah, constructive disagreement,

I think, is exactly what it is.

And you gotta, you gotta make sure that

you get your opinions or your opinions.

But we all have one.

And it is super important to not

get overwhelmed or angry even

because there is an opinion.

There's a path.

You will always find the path.

If it's meant to be, it

will work out, I promise.

But there are things in this world,

like inventory, where you have

to do it a certain way or you get

in trouble by the powers that be.

The Department of Revenue,

the sales tax people, the IRS.

And so what, where I always start

is from a place of logic, right?

In any business, I put,

start from a place of logic.

Well, while this is costing us

money, is it, is it the, is it?

How should we be doing it legally, right?

Because a lot of people don't

understand, even in their state,

their, their county or their

city, what kind of laws there are.

So are you required to have

a business license in, in, in

Pinellas, Polk, Hillsborough?

Are you required to have a business

license in the state of, of, or in the.

City of Lakeland in the city of Tampa,

checking those basic boxes first, and

then getting into, okay, now we have

this big thing like inventory, and

we're not really managing it well,

well, Square creates a barcode system

that you can scan a picture item.

And as long as you put all the items in,

and you have a barcode, and you type in

the price of the inventory, and you pull

a report once a month, then you're done.

It's that simple.

That sounds like a best

practices kind of logic.

You start with a, you've got a decision

tree that starts with, you know, what's,

what's the law, what's legal, like what's,

what are the requirements, and then what

are best practices, and then what are we

going to do, what are we going to try.

Right?

Because sometimes practices don't

work in a business and you've got

to try stuff and find out what

works and then try something else.

Exactly.

And I think the other thing is, is

finding ways to automate in business

that take the decision making out of it.

Then you don't have things to

argue about because it's automated.

Exactly.

I love that.

Yeah, because the, you know, you say

decision making, but I, I know in practice

a lot of times it's, it's more moods,

you know, at once, like doing that today.

Exactly.

And so when you automate the process

or make it super easy or super simple,

then there's no reason to argue or

complain or discuss it any further.

It's either automatically taken

care of, or the process is

so simple that it, there's no

reason why it can't be followed.

Very cool.

Yeah, that's fabulous.

Anything you wish, go

ahead, sorry, Kaylee.

Sorry, pain points for other things, I'm

Do you wanna do us That's, do you want

us, us to talk about it individually?

That's good.

We could go on for hours

and we, we, but we won't.

. . Is there anything about being that you

in a family business, that you kind

of grew up in a family business, so

this may not apply, but that you know

now that you wish you'd known earlier?

Like, is there any discovery

that you made along the way?

So in our community in Lakeland, there

are not a ton of resources on how to get

started, what to do, where to go, who

to contact, what demographics to search.

There is not a ton of resources.

If we had known now what we like,

known then what we know now, we

wouldn't have struggled so hard.

And I think when you, and I know

Orlando created something and I

know Lakeland is working on creating

something, find the resource in your

community, search it out, find a mentor,

find somebody who's done it before.

Because what happens is we spent

so many years, literal years,

trying to figure out the best way.

Like we had, when we first started,

and granted I'm a bookkeeper now

and what I do, we didn't know when

taxes were due for our businesses.

We had no idea and it's another

thing is like you can go to the CPA.

But the CPAs half the time only help

you so far and you're like, give me

this document and this document, but you

don't, you don't even know what those are.

And you're like or our big

thing was tangible taxes with.

The county and we had moved locations

and we ended up with multiple bills,

bills for these tangible taxes

based on these multiple properties.

But our business had moved.

There was no multiple properties.

There's only one property.

And And it wound up costing them

several thousand dollars to get

fixed because we were beyond the

timeframe and didn't know it.

And it was just finding, so part of the

moving was to update the records with

the county or the, the taxing authority

so that that didn't happen, right?

Yeah, exactly.

And we, we went ahead and we did

the update and all that, but because

we didn't have the knowledge that

we have now and went through that,

somehow they created us a second.

account number into the first account

number and we didn't realize this

until later on and it was a whole mess.

Not one or two, they had three.

Did you find, what resource did you

find that, that you could recommend?

Is there, is there one like at SBDC?

So it, so RGA is a good resource

just because it's, it does, it

kills two birds with one stone.

You have a ton of business owners in RGA

that know what they're doing for this.

particular community.

So finding a networking group

always is a great resource.

There's I think SCORE is national.

And so SCORE is a really

nice resource because it's

typically free in communities.

Honestly, go to a local church.

Is a good place to start because

they're gonna be business

owners should go to church.

I'm gonna tag in there.

Go to the resources.

So if you're opening a business,

go to your local, go to your

local cities page or town page.

So ours is Lakeland.

gov.

And so go to there and they have a

business section and they have a business

they're Laker Chamber of Commerce and

there's a merge, which is for millennial.

It's like their millennial group.

Almost.

It's like the 25 to like 45 range.

It's typically the business

owner that's in emerge, emerge.

But the other thing is go to the

county, whatever county you're in call.

They have a.

business department.

And then the state also

has business department.

Now, if you go there and you get no

answers, look for people who are business

consultants or who help businesses.

So like in my case, I helped lots of

businesses become a business because

they're like, I don't even know what

I want to name my company because.

I know what I want to do, but

I don't know what to call it.

And I don't know where my story is going.

So that's kind of where my

photography business comes in play

is like, I help them find a name.

I help them register their

LLC, you know, do those things.

But also, you know, typically a bookkeeper

or a CPA, oftentimes can help with some

of that leading information as well.

Nice.

Okay, cool.

Do you guys interact with other family

businesses that are outside your family?

So I go to a networking group.

I go to several networking groups.

And one of the things that I found

is that a lot of our leaders in our

community actually own businesses.

They've been in business

owners for a very long time.

But I'm also finding that, like.

We, we have a security company and

one of the networking groups I go

to, it's her husband and herself

who, who are the business owners and

they've been doing it for 20 years.

I find that one of the other leaders

who leads it, they're an insurance

agent and her husband's a realtor.

So like they've been doing

family business for a long time.

What I do love about going

to these networking groups.

Is most small business owners are going

to have some sort of family aspect.

So whether it's their son, daughter,

grandchild helping out, or whether

it's their sisters and brothers or

parents I have found that once you

start a family, once you start a

business, your family kind of follows.

And, and that's what we've seen in

our case is like every one of us

steps in my, our parents are divorced

and my mom will still go help my, my

dad and brother run their business.

Like, if that's if they needed somebody

to go sit in on Saturday, she would go do

it.

And it relates back down to that we

are all in small business to build

a business to support our families.

And so most families recognize

that and help as much as possible.

Okay, great.

That's that's what I was wondering because

when I was You know, it's a different

situation maybe, but in our business,

my father was very private about the

business and he was like, don't talk about

our business to, to outside the family.

And so, and the family was, there was

no, there was no, you know, you, you

guys have talked about having mentors

and getting, you know, fresh eyes and,

and, and outside ideas and all that.

And, and other than the CPA and the

lawyer that were trusted, you know,

and, and I mean, we were dealing

with second generations there and.

You know, we had an insurance agent that

we've been I'm we're now dealing with

the second generation of that been using

the same family for insurance for 40

years plus so outside that very close

circle, there was nobody to talk to I

was afraid to talk to anybody because

I was afraid I was going to reveal.

So I couldn't compare notes with

anybody and I just I feel like there

is an aspect of family business that

can be, if the family has that sense

of privacy, protecting their privacy,

that it can be very isolating.

And so, you know, in asking about

networking, I'm wondering if

you run into, you know, people

that are experiencing that.

I so because I come and I and I

think this is a Kaleigh and I thing.

So, if you sit down with us, you

typically tell us your life stories.

Yeah, that's true.

People are not shy.

I, I don't know if it's

because we're very disarming.

We're, we're 4'10, 4'11, dark

hair, blue eyes, pale skin.

I don't know if it's because I was

told the other day that we look like

puppies, but we really are lions.

So we're very disarming.

And so a lot of times, one, I

ask leading questions that will

get me to that next answer.

But most of the time I, I can, I

went through the Starbucks drive

thru like three months ago and this

lady told me that her kid was sick

and that she was having a rough day.

And she's like, I'm so sorry.

I haven't told this to anybody all day.

And I was like.

It's okay.

It's fine.

You, you know, I hope your, your kid feels

better and that you have a better day.

And here's an extra tip.

And that has just been the

story of our whole lives.

Like people will and she's giggling.

Connie is literally giggling.

This happens to Connie, our

son, our youngest son teases her

all the time because people would

tell her their life stories online

and they're like, can we hug you?

Like they feel this like personal

relationship and we're like,

it's really interesting.

Cause we, we are asked all the time

if we, if they want the twin hug.

So it's, it's, it's a thing.

They feel like extra loved or

something about the twin hug.

I don't know.

Anyways but yeah,

But it's really interesting because

we'll be standing in the middle of

the grocery store and this dude will

be like, man, I'm having a bad day.

And they'll start talking to us and

we're like, do you want a twin hug?

And it will change their whole day

because we're like, did you want a hug?

And they're like, yeah.

Of course we want to hug, but

it's the basic human connection.

And I think that's what businesses

ultimately do is it connects us together.

Good, bad and ugly.

And it can really break people

apart, but I think that if you

can kind of get past some of the

arguments and mostly about money.

If you can get good financial

footing and good financial education

and literacy, I think that makes

all the difference in the world.

I think what people sometimes

fail to do in family businesses

is they get so private.

They don't reach out for help and they

get, and they get into a predicament

where their business is failing and

they have no idea how to save it.

And now they're because it's too late.

And it's too late and it's too late

and the other thing is some of that

comes with generations as you both are

familiar with your parents did it totally

different than you did and your kids will

do it totally different than you all do.

And so, our generation and.

You know, for Haley and I, we were

very much taught to be very open and

we were taught to be very transparent

and that's something that, you know,

we were nurtured into as we were always

transparent, you know, most time with

finances in our household, we were

transparent, you know, with conversation

and communication in our household.

You know, everything from boys to, you

know, money and finances to business.

And that's how we have businesses and

multiple of them at 26 is because we did

have so much transparency growing up.

And I think that generational divide

of like her, you know, my parents.

We're maybe a little more secretive

with their parents or maybe a little

bit more secretive with the, you

know, their businesses and didn't

reach out to resources until, and

one of the things that I think a lot

of us are starting to understand is

wealthy families talk about money.

All the time.

Wealthy families talk about money.

They talk about how they

got to their next step.

They talk about what they're

doing, what they're setting

up in trust for their kids.

They talk about what college

they're going to go to.

They talk about what career

they're going to get.

All from a very young age.

When we talk about when the average

family who makes 40 to 60, 000 a year,

you think they're talking about money?

Absolutely not.

They're avoiding it because they don't

have enough money to cover the bills.

So why talk about it?

Why bring it up?

And you have no expectations of going

to college and et cetera, et cetera.

And you're on your own or trade school

or what's going to be your career path.

Those are not topics of conversation.

No.

And and.

One of the things that my parents did

is that they did for both of us is we

talked about career paths early on so

so early on like that time we were like

11 we're like what are we going to go

to we I wanted to be a chef when I was

10 like they bought us cooking supplies.

We were 10 years old they bought us aprons

and timers and egg separators and you name

it we were cooking and Yeah, all by 10.

And then by 15 I wanted to be a

CEO of a non for profit hospital

because my mom worked for the

healthcare system and she loved it.

And now I'm, and I wanted to

be a CEO by the time I was 28.

I'm a CEO by the time I was 26.

So we a little different

field, but it worked out.

Yeah.

So I think Kaleigh's always

wanted to be a photographer.

We she's always loved it.

We even went to the art Institute to

like tour the photography industry

and they're there at like 15 or 16.

Our mom took us over there

and it was really impressive.

And my response was photographers

don't make any money.

I'd looked at the statistics then, and

they really unless you got into a specific

field, they didn't make a ton of money.

Branding, on the other hand, makes a

lot of money, and so it can be a very

successful career path, and then if you

have a team to build on to, I think every

business needs a team, point blank period.

That's the other thing, is don't have

your family do every single thing, because

if something happens to you in your

business, or something happens to you

outside of your business, the reality is,

you have to have people trained, skilled,

in order to take over that business.

So whether that's family who's grieving,

you have to have other people willing to

step in and, and kind of handle things

until they get back on their feet.

And so now by not putting all your eggs

in one basket, always dependent on those

family, finding people who can learn the

business, who can train with you while

you still pass it down to family members.

It doesn't have to be the end all be all.

Wise words.

Very good.

So you guys I'm gonna say,

where can people contact you?

Is evergrowconsulting.

com the, the central point?

Or, or I know you've also got Swan

City Signings and Swan City Title

Office and Swan City and Swan City

and Swan City Trailer Rentals.

One of those have its own website

and separate brand and Absolutely,

so you can contact any of

those pretty much at a dot com.

So Evergrow Consulting is my

business and you can email me

at admin@evergrowconsulting.com.

Find me on evergrowconsulting.

com.

I'm listed on Google.

You can always give me a call there.

And then Kaylee, her

Swan City Photography.

Let me take a look.

I was just letting her go, guys.

So Swan City Photography, you can

reach me at my first name assist.

So it's K.

A.

L.

E.

I.

G.

H.

Assist a S.

S.

I.

S.

T.

at gmail.

com or call me by my cell

phone number at 863 660 6814.

Or Google me on Google

at Swan City Photography.

The other businesses are all

just like swancitytrailerrentals.

com.

You can reach out through email or.

Through phone through their

signings is the same thing.

Phone or email through swancitysignings.

com or and swan city

title is swancitytitleco.

com.

Again, phone number, email there,

and swan city customs, just google.

Wonderful.

Well, I'll make sure I get all this in

the in the show notes for this episode.

And yes, I'll, I'll send you,

I'll send you an email with all

of the information written that'd

be wonderful written out for you.

Thank you.

But like, let, let's not make

it harder than you needs to be.

Let's, let's give you the information.

So Perfect.

Just put it in the, in the podcast

notes and, and call it a day.

Thank you so much.

Well, this has been an immense pleasure.

Oh, absolutely.

For spending this time with us.

And we learned so much, not

just, you know, about you, but

about your business and, and how

you two work and it's been fun.

So thank you so much for having us.

Yes.

Very inspiring.

Thank you.

We look forward to seeing what

you're like in your next steps.

Yes, we will.

We will be growing immensely

over the next couple of years.

So I my personal goal goal is

to be in every single state

in the next three years.

I'd like a client from every single state.

We'll be watching.

Awesome.

Thank you for president

or emperor or something.

I don't know if I want to

take it that far to be clear.

Maybe later on.

You know, thank you again.

We appreciate it.

Awesome.

Thank you guys.

Thanks.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.