November 13, 2023 • 35 mins
What happens when you leave the safety of a steady job to follow your passion? Monica Kreuger, the tenacious entrepreneur behind Praxis Global Info Brokers and the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, navigated through this challenging path and has a wealth of stories to share with us. From her transformative journey to flourishing in a community-oriented approach, Monica's tale serves as a testament to the mantra, "Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow."
Monica brings to the table her exemplary knack for building strong networks that have become her pillars of support in achieving her goals. She tells us about her unique approach to community building and the anticipation of constant change - something that seems to be a constant in her life. Her insightful experiences in caring for aging family members while balancing her own family and work responsibilities will leave you pondering about your ways of handling change and how you can cultivate a support system within your community.
From finding joy in the simplest things in life to recognizing the importance of self-care, Monica's insights shed light on the importance of balancing personal and professional life for success. Join us as we delve into Monica's inspiring journey and how her belief in the power of community has shaped her life and business. Thank you for tuning in!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to.
So you Want to Move to theCountry and Raise Goats?
This is a podcast about change.
Change is all around us andsometimes we're ready for it and
sometimes we're not.
When it overwhelms us, well, wejust want to move to the
country and raise goats.
This podcast features storiesfrom people who have gone
(00:20):
through change.
We hope that their insightswill help you better understand
and deal with the changes inyour life.
I'm Peggy Kanick and, alongwith my co-host, katherine
Greiba, we chat with insightfulpeople with interesting change
stories.
We hope you enjoy our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Monica Kruger is the owner of Praxis Global Info
Brokers and she started thiscompany nearly 35 years ago with
her husband.
Prior to starting her owncompany, she was working for the
federal government and after 10years she just knew there was
more.
She had read the book Do whatyou Love and the Money Will
(01:03):
Follow, and Monica has beenfollowing this advice very
successfully.
But Monica describes how moneyisn't important to her.
What's important is communityand family With community.
Monica describes how she thinksabout community impact versus
the impact you have as oneperson and uses the expertise of
(01:26):
others to fill in the gaps.
She has the most impactful wayof supporting her family and I
just know you are going to leavethis podcast feeling a deep
sense of admiration for Monicaand all that she has done and
continues to do.
Well, today we're joined byMonica Kruger from her home.
(01:48):
That's part of an eco villagein Craig and I know Craig's a
scratch, but I know there's alittle bit of a story there.
Monica, welcome to our podcast,really looking forward to our
conversation today.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, thanks.
I love talking to the two ofyou.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, I know both Peg and I have known you for a
number of years and there areparts of your story that I know
and parts that I'm just learningabout.
But you and your husband haveyou know you very successful.
You know school ofentrepreneurs.
You have your owners topractice group of schools, but
(02:27):
you haven't always done that.
In fact, I didn't know that youleft a fairly secure government
job to start a business, andthat was over almost 34 years
ago, and that must have beenquite interesting to go from
security of government torunning your own business, and I
(02:49):
would might even add that itwouldn't have been necessarily a
commonplace business at thetime.
So tell us about, about that,monica, how you decided to make
that change and what that waslike.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, I'd have to say first of all, I had 10 years
working for the federalgovernment and I really enjoyed
my time there.
I grew a lot.
We spent four years in Torontowhile my husband was getting his
first degree in film andphotography and I was able to
work with Statistics Canada.
That was fabulous.
It was working with customers,like working with people, and
(03:26):
how do they use the information,and I love numbers and I love
surveys and all of that was awonderful match for me.
I had an excellent regionaldirector there who helped me
move up the scale pretty fastand then when we started having
our children and my husband wasfinished his degree, we moved
back to Saskatoon where we havefamily and a couple more kids
(03:49):
and I was working with IndustryCanada at that time.
It was called many thingsbefore it landed on Industry
Canada.
I was working then in theplanning and analysis area, so
doing lots of reporting andresearching and writing and
coming up with great ideas.
It was primarily a maledominated department and I was
(04:12):
the sole female at the time inthat area.
I was also pursuing my mastersat the same time and I really
wanted to find a way to get thisamazing amount of information
that was in Industry Canada outto the storefront.
Like how do we get thisinformation into the hands of
(04:33):
business owners, Because therewas so much information this is
before all automation that wehave today how do we take this
data that isn't necessarily inlibraries and help business
owners make better decisions?
I've always loved business.
I was in business early on myown as a teenager and before
(04:54):
that making things, sellingthings.
So I just love the concept ofbeing in a business and I came
up with an idea that I wasallowed to kind of flesh out how
to take this to the streetlevel, did some pilot piloting
of it and it worked well.
People were interested in itand I wanted to take it to the
(05:16):
next level.
At that time the regionaldirector was fairly new, but he
was more of an older school Feltthat I should be at home with
my four children.
Told me that on a party dancefloor, oh lovely.
And I realized, after beingquite shocked, that this was not
(05:43):
going to go anywhere and Ineeded to try and see what next
steps were.
I pursued all the way up theladder.
I talked to, you know, theunion.
I talked to everybody to say,like, what can I do here?
And the process was basicallyat the end of the day in 1989.
This was not a war.
I was going to win, not abattle.
(06:04):
I was going to win not a hill Icould die on.
So I talked to my husband.
We had some conversations aboutwhat would be next, because I
was making good money.
He had started a business so Iwas really helping to float the
startup of that photographycompany.
So we had some really toughdecisions to come to.
(06:27):
You know, are we going to stayhere and keep working in
something I don't love, or arewe going to try and take this
concept and launch it in theprivate sector?
That sounds like it was reallyeasy.
It really wasn't and we had 99%of the people we knew said
don't quit, you're going to havethis great pension, all of this
(06:48):
kind of stuff down the road.
But I had one person in that Iwas working with who gave me a
book called Do what you Love,the Money Will Follow and it was
written in 1989.
And I went and got that.
She gave me that book, I readit and it was just like this
(07:11):
awe-inspiring wake up light bulbmoment that said you have to
love what you're doing.
And I did love what I was doingand I loved working with people
, which it didn't have that muchopportunity to do with the
second stint of government workand it was just like okay, this
is speaking to me.
I have to love what I do.
(07:32):
This speaks to me because Iknow that I'm here to make an
impact.
I'm not making an impact here.
I can't just stay somewhere fora pension.
That made no sense to me.
So I gave my notice, did allthe paperwork and things that
had to be done and stepped awayfrom the job.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So the risk of that decision?
Monica, did that?
Take your breath away a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It did take my breath away, More from the perspective
of listening to what otherpeople were telling me.
I'm very much love to hearother people's perspectives.
I've had mentors, I've hadcoaches.
I love to learn.
So when people were telling methis wasn't the right thing to
(08:22):
do, I really leaned on mypartner, my husband at the time,
who said you have to do this.
This is not a healthy place foryou to be.
He'd been encouraging me toleave earlier and I just kept
thinking I could fix it, I couldmake it happen, and I just
couldn't.
And I have to say that once Iquit, once I left and the weight
(08:46):
came off my shoulders, I gotvery sick.
So I was sick for six weeks.
I had walking pneumonia doctor.
That got me into the doctorbecause you don't know that
you're sick with walkingpneumonia necessarily and they
said it was lucky that I got inwhen I did.
It's a disease you die from.
(09:07):
So I didn't realize that washappening to me.
And that's what comes frombeing in a place that you
shouldn't be and doing what youdon't love.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And Marius Monica.
So, having gone through that,have you paid attention to your
body, Because there's probablywere some signals that you were
just ignoring.
I'm not feeling great, justkept going.
Having gone through that, hasit helped you over the years to
pay attention now?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I am very aware, very body aware.
There are certainly times thatI'm not Like, certainly times
during this beginning andrunning of the business where
you know you're working throughthe night and things like that
and not something you wanna doon a regular basis.
But I had other things that Idid a lot of.
(10:03):
I had my dance groups, I hadreading, lots of activity.
I just made sure that I had amixture of things.
I still can't say I had anybalance.
I don't know that I've ever hadbalance, but I've had a mixture
of things in my life.
That and also keeping myconnections open to my partner
(10:26):
and good friends that are sayingyou need to stop, you need to
rest, you're doing too much,You're not seeing what's
happening and I really try hardto listen to people Tell me that
because of that experience.
So, monica, you have kids.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I don't know how many children you have, like how
many, four, four.
So in the midst of all of this,you've made a decision, you've
taken a leap of faith to leaveyour secure job to start a
business.
Then you get sick and, as yousay, balance has never been
something that you've been ableto achieve, but you've been able
(11:04):
to do it.
It's something that you've beenable to achieve, but you also
had four children at the time.
That must have really put a lotof pressure on you.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yes, really, we really have good support of
families, so I think that'simportant.
No-transcript ask for help.
And we certainly asked for helpfrom family.
So Brent, my husband's familyand my family would step in up
to the plate and friends forsure.
We did have daycare and we didhave for a while an Annie, so we
(11:40):
went to some additional kindsof supports.
I'm not a person who thinks Ican run a household 110% and be
the magic cleaner and cooker andall those things.
I'm quite happy and over theyears have gotten really, really
good at asking for help andpaying for support, because
(12:01):
there's no, there's no blessingin being a barter, there's just
none, you know and even thoughthe boomer years you know those
of us who were born into theboomer years that's what we were
taught.
You know get her done, you cando it.
You know be independent, youknow all of that stuff.
That's not how we run our livesnow.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I'm so interested in the comments you made about
balance and how you've neverreally had it.
You know we're inundated withyou know in the media you must
have balance.
You know, reduce your stress,have to have balance in your
life, and yet it would seem thatyou can come to a place of
reckoning and acceptance aboutthe lack of balance in your life
(12:48):
and you can still get throughit in a healthy way.
Am I, am I making that up, oris that?
Well, that's really good.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I'm not sure I believe in the concept of
balance, and the reason I saythat is that I think we're in
constant flux as people anyway,we're constantly evolving.
So what was a balance threemonths ago Isn't a balance today
, and if you look for thisbalance, it's.
You can't change.
Like you know, the balanceshifts my balance today.
(13:20):
You know what makes me happyand not overstressed and all of
those types of things.
Today is quite a bit differentthan what it would have been a
year ago or two years ago.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And yet, you know, it sounds like you figured it out
that, ok, I'm not the cooker andthe cleaner and all of that, so
I'm not going to worry about it, I'm going to let somebody else
do it, and I think that's a bitof a secret ingredient to how
we can become better is justthere is just some stuff we're
not good at, and nor should wedo it and just carry on the
(13:51):
things that we like and thatwe're good at, and there's no
shame in that.
There's no, in fact.
That's what we need to be doing.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I totally agree with you and I think that's part of
what I really think is importantthat we need to be doing today,
just in a broader picture,which is finding our community
again.
We don't have that reallyconnected community and we need
it.
I have surrounded myself overmy life with people who know
what they're doing and who fillin ton of gaps that I don't have
(14:21):
, and I just see them as part ofmy people.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And those people will change.
You know yeah, tell us moreabout that what it means to
build a community.
How does that look like?
What do you do to do that?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well and it's something I didn't have, I would
say, when I left my job is Ididn't have that network.
I was chatting with my husbandabout this earlier, and when I
left the job to start thebusiness, I didn't have that
developed business network tostep into.
I had to start it, and that's alot of work.
(14:55):
Today I have a really widenetwork and people in all kinds
of areas.
Part of that's a feature of myage and having, you know,
operated in the community for along time.
But I think it's also part ofwho I am, which is making these
personal connections to me,builds me as a person.
(15:16):
But I've also been told thatvice versa that works right In
relationships you're helpingothers build as well.
So in our office, for example,we have a number of people that
do a variety of different things.
Some of them are employees,some of them aren't, but they
(15:36):
anyone who isn't there.
They have specialty areas thatI don't have and I don't want to
develop.
I want to be able to connectwith the people who have these
specialty areas so that as agroup we have much more ability
to affect a difference in thecommunity than one person trying
to be all of those things.
So this sort of fluid network.
(15:57):
I kind of see it kind offloating right.
Whatever you're working on,there's other people that can
come into this group and can canmake a bigger and more
impactful difference incommunity.
So if we think about communityimpact versus just individual
impact or just business impact,we make decisions in a different
way.
We look at our resources in adifferent way.
(16:20):
We look at our people in adifferent way, look at our money
in a different way.
You know, even in our ownpersonal finances, we haven't
done the save for yourretirement plan.
We've had, we have children,grown children, and we've tried
to support them in the timesthat they need it.
And we know, from from whatwe've done in terms of helping
(16:43):
our parents, that they'll bealso there to help us if we need
it in the future.
Certainly, we have some youknow, some things set aside for
us, some things set aside, butit isn't like the you know, the
Freedom 55 plan or whateverpeople talk about and have
millions setting aside for yourretirement.
That's not us.
We've used our money andfinancial finances in a
(17:07):
community way, helping ourfamily and our broader family
develop, because that makes moresense to do that now not as a
person and a couple, all byourselves.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
It seems to me too, monica, just listening to you
talk about community and and howhow you've utilized the
expertise of others to to fillin gaps, that this is really
enabled you to allow yourcuriosity to really take hold
and take you in reallyinteresting other directions.
(17:42):
And I'm thinking that the wholecommunity piece is what's
allowed, that let's allow thatto thrive.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
That's a really good point, peggy, I think.
I think that's really true.
We think about all the projectsthat we're working on right now
.
They're all.
They're all in ways that we cangive back.
How do we create something thatcan have a life beyond our life
here on this planet?
And we're working on on thisconcept of a wallopini, right
(18:11):
now out in in Craig anddeveloping this pilot project
around growing you know, growthgreenhouses underground, and but
we're doing that in mind of notjust growing for ourselves but
creating a process, kind ofworking out the kinks and then
finding ways to share that incommunity so people can build
(18:33):
them if they want in a smallcommunity or build them in their
backyard or whatever, but theycan take these concepts and
spread them.
So that's that's how we thinkabout things all the time.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
You know, monica, it just sounds like that you've
really understood that as we gothrough life, there is change
and nothing is static.
And even you know, tell usabout because you've looked
after aging parents and it'sreally.
(19:07):
It sounds like you know forvery good reasons, but also part
of it is you're sitting anexample for your children.
This is how we do things inthis family.
We look after each other andwhen it's our turn, you'll look
after us.
So how, how, what was that like?
Looking after aging parents andstill running?
(19:28):
You know business and beinginvolved in community and
building community and you knowfor children, even though
they're they're grown very muchin need of of you and your
husband and you're part of them.
Tell us about that caregivingthat you went through.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah, and I not.
I'm not sure that we ever.
Well, I know we didn't planearly on that we would take care
of parents as they needed itdown the road.
But this evolution, we evolve,you know, we become different
people as time moves on and itjust seemed like the natural
(20:05):
thing to do.
It didn't take a long time todecide that we would help our
parents.
In fact it was pretty quick.
My father-in-law had a ministroke and I think he had had a
couple of them before that.
His wife, my mother-in-law, wasin a wheelchair and they were
(20:25):
living in an acreage, a lot tolook after.
Huge decision for them.
But we said we need you to livewith us because something could
happen and if you can't get tothe hospital and we're a little
bit away, you know we would lovefor you to come and stay with
us.
We're in, we're in the country.
So that was still good for them.
(20:46):
They were able to still havetheir coffee on the deck and all
of those kinds of things.
But the process of moving themout was huge.
So it's like you give this.
You know we'd love to come bewith us and then afterwards
you're going.
Oh my goodness, the impact ofthat decision was pretty major.
But we had all our family, allour family pitched in.
(21:11):
We went through this whole bighouse they had.
We got stuff moved around and alot of our daughter moved into
that house for a while.
So there was again a wholefamily.
It wasn't us just taking careof our children, but they also
were.
You know, they're as active inparticipating in the development
of this big family unit as well.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
That decision?
You know you've got acomfortable life going on,
you're used to having your ownspace and your own routine and
to make that decision to invitepeople into your home.
Did that take a long time foryour husband and you to talk
(21:56):
through and come up with whatthat was going to look like or
what the impact might be?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
No, that's what I'm saying.
It was just pretty fast.
And then, because it was just,you know they helped both sets
of parents, helped us in ourbusinesses to start and you know
his family helped with ourchildren for the first summer
that I had left the secureemployment.
(22:26):
They kept them at the acreagefor the summers.
Like there was just this kindof support even from their level
and there really wasn't.
It was a very shortconversation, yeah.
And then we just figured out.
You know, we'll figure it outas we go along.
That was kind of our processand it absolutely had an impact,
(22:51):
absolutely.
But there were lots of, youknow, there were lots of good
things from it.
And then we had for three yearswe had one of our kids and
their family move in with us asthey were moving from Alberta to
Saskatchewan.
So the kids, the grandkids, hadfour generations that they were
able to appreciate thesedifferent levels of living and
(23:14):
learning.
You know the great grandpa wasgreeted every morning by the
little great grandchildrencoming up to his room going good
morning great grandpa, and heloved that.
But they also had they tookcare of their parents.
So my husband saw that in hisgrowing up, so there was sort of
(23:35):
that.
I remember my Oma.
So my dad's mom stayed with usfor a while and then moved in
with his sister.
So it was kind of that in ourhistory, but without us ever
thinking about that, without usever going.
Oh, I guess we should do that.
It just sort of happened.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I mean just the way you describe it, Monica you talk
about.
It just sounds like you've beenso open to the changes in life
and that it is just the naturalthing to do, and I think you
have to have a certain opennessaround that to see what's going
to come.
But you must have peace of mind, also knowing that these
(24:20):
decisions are the right thing todo because it's time, it's our
time to do this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's true, catherine, and I
think we've kind of approachedour whole lives that way.
Both my husband and I have donethat, where we may not always
have completely figured outsomething, but we've always made
it work.
And whatever it takes, we'vefigured it out, we've made it
work.
(24:47):
So we don't have a lot of fear.
That's not saying we haven'thad fear.
We don't have a lot of it sothat it stops us from moving
forward.
We believe that there's againcommunity, there's support, we
have gifts and talents, we haveenergy, we have connections, and
(25:13):
you build those so that you cangrow.
And I think that's just whatwe've done.
We've not been super safepeople.
I guess we have a higher risktolerance, to use a technical
term, but I think it's more.
The curiosity thing you weretalking about, peggy, is that
there's so many interestingthings to do in life and I wish
(25:35):
we had five lives.
We're still going OK, we'regoing to get this and this.
We've got to get to this stage.
No, somebody else.
If we bring people along,they'll continue the story.
If something happens to us,somebody will finish the wall of
peony.
We've got people that are allkind of coming to these projects
and we know that that willcontinue on if it's meant to.
(25:58):
So I think the curiosity thingwas a good point, peggy.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I have a question how do you, what kind of advice
would you give people who areinterested in fostering that
sense of community, I guess, anda foundation of it's got to be
caring and love.
I mean it really does, becausenow when we have our aging
(26:27):
parents, we start looking at aresidence to put them in right.
Is there any piece of adviceyou could give to people or
something for them to thinkabout, moving forward, as to
what might foster that kind ofthinking, to maybe go down a
(26:48):
different path than what wenormally do now with our aging
family members?
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I think you know, my mom's situation was different.
She was in her own home tillshe passed with dementia, but my
brother was living with her andunfortunately he passed in 2020
.
So we had to make decisionsagain on the fly overnight.
What are we doing with mom?
(27:17):
And there was no discussionthat we would put her into a
facility, which seems weirdsince I'm chair of the Luther
Care community sport, but I feltagain, reach out to the family.
What are we wanting to do?
How are we planning to takecare of mom?
Do we need to live in person?
(27:39):
We did all the number crunchingwhat would it cost to have her
in a facility or to have a livein person?
We went through a number ofscenarios and then again my
daughter, who had lived in myparents in law home prior to it
being sold, stepped up to theplane and said either one of the
(27:59):
daughters said well, we couldlive there, like we could stay
there and live with her, and sothat we talked as to who would
be the best suited at the timeand they moved in and were mom's
caregivers basically for thelast two years of her life, and
(28:22):
then I stepped in a couple ofdays a week gave them relief and
then when my sister moved backto Saskatoon she was able to
help as well.
So it's just, it was adifferent situation but we were
able to make it work with ourfamily community and we
certainly looked at resources inthe community and use them as
(28:45):
well.
So we did have some home carewe did.
Once COVID released thedementia daycare program.
We were taking mom to the dayprogram.
So we used facilities in thecommunity.
We looked for and found themand use them.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So it sounds like it, you know, fostering a curious
mind and openness to to tryingdifferent things, rather than
the status quo of, you know,while we're going to find a
facility for mom or dad.
That seems to be really themessage I'm getting is to open
(29:26):
up your mind to to doing otherthings rather than the
institutional approach.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
And I guess you would know as well, being
entrepreneurs, that we've neverwe've rarely gone with status
quo.
The whole point of being inyour own business right is to do
things in a different way andto make life better for your
community, for your clients, forthe people that you work with.
Your whole concept is how do wedo things in a better or
(29:52):
different way and I guess weapplied that in in our home
situation as well is is thatwhole innovation, that whole
creativity, which is connectedto curiosity directly?
That is just part of our DNA.
So when people say, well, itcan't be done, we go well, I'm
(30:13):
not sure that's the case.
What if we try it this way orthat way, or maybe that one
thing can't be done?
But what about this over here?
Or the curiosity piece,question everything, does it
have to be this way?
Well, I'm pretty sure there's.
There was something differentbefore this, so there's going to
be something different afterthis.
What can we do?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Sounds like your.
Your kind of relationship withfear was healthy in that what is
the worst that can happen, youknow, and having a real healthy
approach to managing risk or youknow that worst thing.
I did that also help you andyour husband kind of have some,
(30:56):
you know, I guess, comfort inthe decisions that you were
making.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I think so.
I would have to say, you know,I will never forget there was
one time I was, I had such fear.
I had such fear that itactually stopped me in my tracks
.
I was working out at the gym.
This is when we were startingto get our house organized out
here in Craig, and it wasextremely difficult to find
funding for a building in an ecovillage between Saskatoon and
(31:24):
China.
Like, regular banks were notinterested because the land was
a dollar, so that just made themtheir head spin.
They didn't know what to dowith that.
And so we were really out likehow are we going to do this?
And it's a constructionmortgage and so we have to have
the money to put down.
Like it was just like this wholething.
And I'm on my treadmill and I'mgoing and going and and all of
(31:48):
a sudden my whole body justfroze, like I couldn't move, I
was like a statue and I was justin this.
You know, I wasn't able to evensee a scenario.
I remember just getting stuckand I went to my old way of
doing things with yoga and Ijust started to breathe.
So I just started like okay,just breathe.
(32:10):
Like nobody is dying here today.
So just have a breath and thinkabout it and think about it.
And, and the very worst casescenario was we lose everything.
Like this doesn't happen.
We lose everything.
And I just went, okay.
If that happens, does that mean?
What does that really mean?
(32:31):
We're both very talented, verygifted, connected.
We are not afraid to doanything.
So if I, you know, I have to doa job I'm not liking or loving,
I'll do it to put food on thelike.
There's nothing that wewouldn't do, okay.
So if that's the case, andthat's the worst case, and we
(32:53):
still walk away and we have ourlives and our children and
everything else, what's going onhere?
And within about a week afterthat, we had a colleague say hey
, I'll give you the money youneed to start Pay me whenever, I
don't care if it's 10 years, Idon't want interest.
I love what you're doing, welove you.
Here's the money.
I was like, okay, all right,and I should have known this was
(33:17):
what my life was going to belike, because when I met my
husband, he was a guy who had nofear.
He would jump off of bridgesonto tire tubes on the rapids,
he would want it to skydive.
He did you know what's hanggliding, like all these things
that I thought were absolutelygoing to kill you?
(33:40):
Well, that's kind of what ourlife has been like experiencing
completely interesting off thewall, you know, hang gliding
sometimes, sometimes jumpingonto the rapids and hanging onto
the tire tube, maybe not quitelanding on it, but that's kind
of been our journey.
And you know what?
We're still here.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
You know, monica, it's so every time I meet you.
You're just so full of joy andyou've just accomplished so much
.
And now you know I understand alittle bit of where you're
coming from is that you knowthat sense of community that
we're in this for somethingbigger than ourselves, and it
(34:23):
just shines through in you, yourjoyfulness and your approach to
life.
I gotta tell you this has beenjust a wonderful conversation.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I appreciate that a lot.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Thank you, monica.
Okay, if you've learned justone thing about change while
listening to this podcast,please subscribe on Apple or
Spotify and share with a friend.
This episode recorded via ZoomAudio.
Producers Peggy Kahnik andCatherine Greiba.
Executive producer, kahnik,leadership Advisory.
(34:57):
Theme music La Pompée, writtenby Chris Harrington, music
publisher in Vato Market.
For information on this podcastand to purchase some fabulous
goat merchandise, please visitwwwgetyourgoatca.
Welcome to.
So you Want to Move to theCountry and Raise Goats?
This is a podcast about change.
Change is all around us andsometimes we're ready for it and
sometimes we're not.
When it overwhelms us, well, wejust want to move to the
country and raise goats.
This podcast features storiesfrom people who have gone
(00:20):
through change.
We hope that their insightswill help you better understand
and deal with the changes inyour life.
I'm Peggy Kanick and, alongwith my co-host, katherine
Greiba, we chat with insightfulpeople with interesting change
stories.
We hope you enjoy our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Monica Kruger is the owner of Praxis Global Info
Brokers and she started thiscompany nearly 35 years ago with
her husband.
Prior to starting her owncompany, she was working for the
federal government and after 10years she just knew there was
more.
She had read the book Do whatyou Love and the Money Will
(01:03):
Follow, and Monica has beenfollowing this advice very
successfully.
But Monica describes how moneyisn't important to her.
What's important is communityand family With community.
Monica describes how she thinksabout community impact versus
the impact you have as oneperson and uses the expertise of
(01:26):
others to fill in the gaps.
She has the most impactful wayof supporting her family and I
just know you are going to leavethis podcast feeling a deep
sense of admiration for Monicaand all that she has done and
continues to do.
Well, today we're joined byMonica Kruger from her home.
(01:48):
That's part of an eco villagein Craig and I know Craig's a
scratch, but I know there's alittle bit of a story there.
Monica, welcome to our podcast,really looking forward to our
conversation today.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Oh, thanks.
I love talking to the two ofyou.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, I know both Peg and I have known you for a
number of years and there areparts of your story that I know
and parts that I'm just learningabout.
But you and your husband haveyou know you very successful.
You know school ofentrepreneurs.
You have your owners topractice group of schools, but
(02:27):
you haven't always done that.
In fact, I didn't know that youleft a fairly secure government
job to start a business, andthat was over almost 34 years
ago, and that must have beenquite interesting to go from
security of government torunning your own business, and I
(02:49):
would might even add that itwouldn't have been necessarily a
commonplace business at thetime.
So tell us about, about that,monica, how you decided to make
that change and what that waslike.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, I'd have to say first of all, I had 10 years
working for the federalgovernment and I really enjoyed
my time there.
I grew a lot.
We spent four years in Torontowhile my husband was getting his
first degree in film andphotography and I was able to
work with Statistics Canada.
That was fabulous.
It was working with customers,like working with people, and
(03:26):
how do they use the information,and I love numbers and I love
surveys and all of that was awonderful match for me.
I had an excellent regionaldirector there who helped me
move up the scale pretty fastand then when we started having
our children and my husband wasfinished his degree, we moved
back to Saskatoon where we havefamily and a couple more kids
(03:49):
and I was working with IndustryCanada at that time.
It was called many thingsbefore it landed on Industry
Canada.
I was working then in theplanning and analysis area, so
doing lots of reporting andresearching and writing and
coming up with great ideas.
It was primarily a maledominated department and I was
(04:12):
the sole female at the time inthat area.
I was also pursuing my mastersat the same time and I really
wanted to find a way to get thisamazing amount of information
that was in Industry Canada outto the storefront.
Like how do we get thisinformation into the hands of
(04:33):
business owners, Because therewas so much information this is
before all automation that wehave today how do we take this
data that isn't necessarily inlibraries and help business
owners make better decisions?
I've always loved business.
I was in business early on myown as a teenager and before
(04:54):
that making things, sellingthings.
So I just love the concept ofbeing in a business and I came
up with an idea that I wasallowed to kind of flesh out how
to take this to the streetlevel, did some pilot piloting
of it and it worked well.
People were interested in itand I wanted to take it to the
(05:16):
next level.
At that time the regionaldirector was fairly new, but he
was more of an older school Feltthat I should be at home with
my four children.
Told me that on a party dancefloor, oh lovely.
And I realized, after beingquite shocked, that this was not
(05:43):
going to go anywhere and Ineeded to try and see what next
steps were.
I pursued all the way up theladder.
I talked to, you know, theunion.
I talked to everybody to say,like, what can I do here?
And the process was basicallyat the end of the day in 1989.
This was not a war.
I was going to win, not abattle.
(06:04):
I was going to win not a hill Icould die on.
So I talked to my husband.
We had some conversations aboutwhat would be next, because I
was making good money.
He had started a business so Iwas really helping to float the
startup of that photographycompany.
So we had some really toughdecisions to come to.
(06:27):
You know, are we going to stayhere and keep working in
something I don't love, or arewe going to try and take this
concept and launch it in theprivate sector?
That sounds like it was reallyeasy.
It really wasn't and we had 99%of the people we knew said
don't quit, you're going to havethis great pension, all of this
(06:48):
kind of stuff down the road.
But I had one person in that Iwas working with who gave me a
book called Do what you Love,the Money Will Follow and it was
written in 1989.
And I went and got that.
She gave me that book, I readit and it was just like this
(07:11):
awe-inspiring wake up light bulbmoment that said you have to
love what you're doing.
And I did love what I was doingand I loved working with people
, which it didn't have that muchopportunity to do with the
second stint of government workand it was just like okay, this
is speaking to me.
I have to love what I do.
(07:32):
This speaks to me because Iknow that I'm here to make an
impact.
I'm not making an impact here.
I can't just stay somewhere fora pension.
That made no sense to me.
So I gave my notice, did allthe paperwork and things that
had to be done and stepped awayfrom the job.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So the risk of that decision?
Monica, did that?
Take your breath away a littlebit.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
It did take my breath away, More from the perspective
of listening to what otherpeople were telling me.
I'm very much love to hearother people's perspectives.
I've had mentors, I've hadcoaches.
I love to learn.
So when people were telling methis wasn't the right thing to
(08:22):
do, I really leaned on mypartner, my husband at the time,
who said you have to do this.
This is not a healthy place foryou to be.
He'd been encouraging me toleave earlier and I just kept
thinking I could fix it, I couldmake it happen, and I just
couldn't.
And I have to say that once Iquit, once I left and the weight
(08:46):
came off my shoulders, I gotvery sick.
So I was sick for six weeks.
I had walking pneumonia doctor.
That got me into the doctorbecause you don't know that
you're sick with walkingpneumonia necessarily and they
said it was lucky that I got inwhen I did.
It's a disease you die from.
(09:07):
So I didn't realize that washappening to me.
And that's what comes frombeing in a place that you
shouldn't be and doing what youdon't love.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And Marius Monica.
So, having gone through that,have you paid attention to your
body, Because there's probablywere some signals that you were
just ignoring.
I'm not feeling great, justkept going.
Having gone through that, hasit helped you over the years to
pay attention now?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
I am very aware, very body aware.
There are certainly times thatI'm not Like, certainly times
during this beginning andrunning of the business where
you know you're working throughthe night and things like that
and not something you wanna doon a regular basis.
But I had other things that Idid a lot of.
(10:03):
I had my dance groups, I hadreading, lots of activity.
I just made sure that I had amixture of things.
I still can't say I had anybalance.
I don't know that I've ever hadbalance, but I've had a mixture
of things in my life.
That and also keeping myconnections open to my partner
(10:26):
and good friends that are sayingyou need to stop, you need to
rest, you're doing too much,You're not seeing what's
happening and I really try hardto listen to people Tell me that
because of that experience.
So, monica, you have kids.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I don't know how many children you have, like how
many, four, four.
So in the midst of all of this,you've made a decision, you've
taken a leap of faith to leaveyour secure job to start a
business.
Then you get sick and, as yousay, balance has never been
something that you've been ableto achieve, but you've been able
(11:04):
to do it.
It's something that you've beenable to achieve, but you also
had four children at the time.
That must have really put a lotof pressure on you.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yes, really, we really have good support of
families, so I think that'simportant.
No-transcript ask for help.
And we certainly asked for helpfrom family.
So Brent, my husband's familyand my family would step in up
to the plate and friends forsure.
We did have daycare and we didhave for a while an Annie, so we
(11:40):
went to some additional kindsof supports.
I'm not a person who thinks Ican run a household 110% and be
the magic cleaner and cooker andall those things.
I'm quite happy and over theyears have gotten really, really
good at asking for help andpaying for support, because
(12:01):
there's no, there's no blessingin being a barter, there's just
none, you know and even thoughthe boomer years you know those
of us who were born into theboomer years that's what we were
taught.
You know get her done, you cando it.
You know be independent, youknow all of that stuff.
That's not how we run our livesnow.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I'm so interested in the comments you made about
balance and how you've neverreally had it.
You know we're inundated withyou know in the media you must
have balance.
You know, reduce your stress,have to have balance in your
life, and yet it would seem thatyou can come to a place of
reckoning and acceptance aboutthe lack of balance in your life
(12:48):
and you can still get throughit in a healthy way.
Am I, am I making that up, oris that?
Well, that's really good.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
I'm not sure I believe in the concept of
balance, and the reason I saythat is that I think we're in
constant flux as people anyway,we're constantly evolving.
So what was a balance threemonths ago Isn't a balance today
, and if you look for thisbalance, it's.
You can't change.
Like you know, the balanceshifts my balance today.
(13:20):
You know what makes me happyand not overstressed and all of
those types of things.
Today is quite a bit differentthan what it would have been a
year ago or two years ago.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And yet, you know, it sounds like you figured it out
that, ok, I'm not the cooker andthe cleaner and all of that, so
I'm not going to worry about it, I'm going to let somebody else
do it, and I think that's a bitof a secret ingredient to how
we can become better is justthere is just some stuff we're
not good at, and nor should wedo it and just carry on the
(13:51):
things that we like and thatwe're good at, and there's no
shame in that.
There's no, in fact.
That's what we need to be doing.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I totally agree with you and I think that's part of
what I really think is importantthat we need to be doing today,
just in a broader picture,which is finding our community
again.
We don't have that reallyconnected community and we need
it.
I have surrounded myself overmy life with people who know
what they're doing and who fillin ton of gaps that I don't have
(14:21):
, and I just see them as part ofmy people.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And those people will change.
You know yeah, tell us moreabout that what it means to
build a community.
How does that look like?
What do you do to do that?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well and it's something I didn't have, I would
say, when I left my job is Ididn't have that network.
I was chatting with my husbandabout this earlier, and when I
left the job to start thebusiness, I didn't have that
developed business network tostep into.
I had to start it, and that's alot of work.
(14:55):
Today I have a really widenetwork and people in all kinds
of areas.
Part of that's a feature of myage and having, you know,
operated in the community for along time.
But I think it's also part ofwho I am, which is making these
personal connections to me,builds me as a person.
(15:16):
But I've also been told thatvice versa that works right In
relationships you're helpingothers build as well.
So in our office, for example,we have a number of people that
do a variety of different things.
Some of them are employees,some of them aren't, but they
(15:36):
anyone who isn't there.
They have specialty areas thatI don't have and I don't want to
develop.
I want to be able to connectwith the people who have these
specialty areas so that as agroup we have much more ability
to affect a difference in thecommunity than one person trying
to be all of those things.
So this sort of fluid network.
(15:57):
I kind of see it kind offloating right.
Whatever you're working on,there's other people that can
come into this group and can canmake a bigger and more
impactful difference incommunity.
So if we think about communityimpact versus just individual
impact or just business impact,we make decisions in a different
way.
We look at our resources in adifferent way.
(16:20):
We look at our people in adifferent way, look at our money
in a different way.
You know, even in our ownpersonal finances, we haven't
done the save for yourretirement plan.
We've had, we have children,grown children, and we've tried
to support them in the timesthat they need it.
And we know, from from whatwe've done in terms of helping
(16:43):
our parents, that they'll bealso there to help us if we need
it in the future.
Certainly, we have some youknow, some things set aside for
us, some things set aside, butit isn't like the you know, the
Freedom 55 plan or whateverpeople talk about and have
millions setting aside for yourretirement.
That's not us.
We've used our money andfinancial finances in a
(17:07):
community way, helping ourfamily and our broader family
develop, because that makes moresense to do that now not as a
person and a couple, all byourselves.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
It seems to me too, monica, just listening to you
talk about community and and howhow you've utilized the
expertise of others to to fillin gaps, that this is really
enabled you to allow yourcuriosity to really take hold
and take you in reallyinteresting other directions.
(17:42):
And I'm thinking that the wholecommunity piece is what's
allowed, that let's allow thatto thrive.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
That's a really good point, peggy, I think.
I think that's really true.
We think about all the projectsthat we're working on right now
.
They're all.
They're all in ways that we cangive back.
How do we create something thatcan have a life beyond our life
here on this planet?
And we're working on on thisconcept of a wallopini, right
(18:11):
now out in in Craig anddeveloping this pilot project
around growing you know, growthgreenhouses underground, and but
we're doing that in mind of notjust growing for ourselves but
creating a process, kind ofworking out the kinks and then
finding ways to share that incommunity so people can build
(18:33):
them if they want in a smallcommunity or build them in their
backyard or whatever, but theycan take these concepts and
spread them.
So that's that's how we thinkabout things all the time.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
You know, monica, it just sounds like that you've
really understood that as we gothrough life, there is change
and nothing is static.
And even you know, tell usabout because you've looked
after aging parents and it'sreally.
(19:07):
It sounds like you know forvery good reasons, but also part
of it is you're sitting anexample for your children.
This is how we do things inthis family.
We look after each other andwhen it's our turn, you'll look
after us.
So how, how, what was that like?
Looking after aging parents andstill running?
(19:28):
You know business and beinginvolved in community and
building community and you knowfor children, even though
they're they're grown very muchin need of of you and your
husband and you're part of them.
Tell us about that caregivingthat you went through.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Yeah, and I not.
I'm not sure that we ever.
Well, I know we didn't planearly on that we would take care
of parents as they needed itdown the road.
But this evolution, we evolve,you know, we become different
people as time moves on and itjust seemed like the natural
(20:05):
thing to do.
It didn't take a long time todecide that we would help our
parents.
In fact it was pretty quick.
My father-in-law had a ministroke and I think he had had a
couple of them before that.
His wife, my mother-in-law, wasin a wheelchair and they were
(20:25):
living in an acreage, a lot tolook after.
Huge decision for them.
But we said we need you to livewith us because something could
happen and if you can't get tothe hospital and we're a little
bit away, you know we would lovefor you to come and stay with
us.
We're in, we're in the country.
So that was still good for them.
(20:46):
They were able to still havetheir coffee on the deck and all
of those kinds of things.
But the process of moving themout was huge.
So it's like you give this.
You know we'd love to come bewith us and then afterwards
you're going.
Oh my goodness, the impact ofthat decision was pretty major.
But we had all our family, allour family pitched in.
(21:11):
We went through this whole bighouse they had.
We got stuff moved around and alot of our daughter moved into
that house for a while.
So there was again a wholefamily.
It wasn't us just taking careof our children, but they also
were.
You know, they're as active inparticipating in the development
of this big family unit as well.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
That decision?
You know you've got acomfortable life going on,
you're used to having your ownspace and your own routine and
to make that decision to invitepeople into your home.
Did that take a long time foryour husband and you to talk
(21:56):
through and come up with whatthat was going to look like or
what the impact might be?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
No, that's what I'm saying.
It was just pretty fast.
And then, because it was just,you know they helped both sets
of parents, helped us in ourbusinesses to start and you know
his family helped with ourchildren for the first summer
that I had left the secureemployment.
(22:26):
They kept them at the acreagefor the summers.
Like there was just this kindof support even from their level
and there really wasn't.
It was a very shortconversation, yeah.
And then we just figured out.
You know, we'll figure it outas we go along.
That was kind of our processand it absolutely had an impact,
(22:51):
absolutely.
But there were lots of, youknow, there were lots of good
things from it.
And then we had for three yearswe had one of our kids and
their family move in with us asthey were moving from Alberta to
Saskatchewan.
So the kids, the grandkids, hadfour generations that they were
able to appreciate thesedifferent levels of living and
(23:14):
learning.
You know the great grandpa wasgreeted every morning by the
little great grandchildrencoming up to his room going good
morning great grandpa, and heloved that.
But they also had they tookcare of their parents.
So my husband saw that in hisgrowing up, so there was sort of
(23:35):
that.
I remember my Oma.
So my dad's mom stayed with usfor a while and then moved in
with his sister.
So it was kind of that in ourhistory, but without us ever
thinking about that, without usever going.
Oh, I guess we should do that.
It just sort of happened.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I mean just the way you describe it, Monica you talk
about.
It just sounds like you've beenso open to the changes in life
and that it is just the naturalthing to do, and I think you
have to have a certain opennessaround that to see what's going
to come.
But you must have peace of mind, also knowing that these
(24:20):
decisions are the right thing todo because it's time, it's our
time to do this.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's true, catherine, and I
think we've kind of approachedour whole lives that way.
Both my husband and I have donethat, where we may not always
have completely figured outsomething, but we've always made
it work.
And whatever it takes, we'vefigured it out, we've made it
work.
(24:47):
So we don't have a lot of fear.
That's not saying we haven'thad fear.
We don't have a lot of it sothat it stops us from moving
forward.
We believe that there's againcommunity, there's support, we
have gifts and talents, we haveenergy, we have connections, and
(25:13):
you build those so that you cangrow.
And I think that's just whatwe've done.
We've not been super safepeople.
I guess we have a higher risktolerance, to use a technical
term, but I think it's more.
The curiosity thing you weretalking about, peggy, is that
there's so many interestingthings to do in life and I wish
(25:35):
we had five lives.
We're still going OK, we'regoing to get this and this.
We've got to get to this stage.
No, somebody else.
If we bring people along,they'll continue the story.
If something happens to us,somebody will finish the wall of
peony.
We've got people that are allkind of coming to these projects
and we know that that willcontinue on if it's meant to.
(25:58):
So I think the curiosity thingwas a good point, peggy.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I have a question how do you, what kind of advice
would you give people who areinterested in fostering that
sense of community, I guess, anda foundation of it's got to be
caring and love.
I mean it really does, becausenow when we have our aging
(26:27):
parents, we start looking at aresidence to put them in right.
Is there any piece of adviceyou could give to people or
something for them to thinkabout, moving forward, as to
what might foster that kind ofthinking, to maybe go down a
(26:48):
different path than what wenormally do now with our aging
family members?
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I think you know, my mom's situation was different.
She was in her own home tillshe passed with dementia, but my
brother was living with her andunfortunately he passed in 2020
.
So we had to make decisionsagain on the fly overnight.
What are we doing with mom?
(27:17):
And there was no discussionthat we would put her into a
facility, which seems weirdsince I'm chair of the Luther
Care community sport, but I feltagain, reach out to the family.
What are we wanting to do?
How are we planning to takecare of mom?
Do we need to live in person?
(27:39):
We did all the number crunchingwhat would it cost to have her
in a facility or to have a livein person?
We went through a number ofscenarios and then again my
daughter, who had lived in myparents in law home prior to it
being sold, stepped up to theplane and said either one of the
(27:59):
daughters said well, we couldlive there, like we could stay
there and live with her, and sothat we talked as to who would
be the best suited at the timeand they moved in and were mom's
caregivers basically for thelast two years of her life, and
(28:22):
then I stepped in a couple ofdays a week gave them relief and
then when my sister moved backto Saskatoon she was able to
help as well.
So it's just, it was adifferent situation but we were
able to make it work with ourfamily community and we
certainly looked at resources inthe community and use them as
(28:45):
well.
So we did have some home carewe did.
Once COVID released thedementia daycare program.
We were taking mom to the dayprogram.
So we used facilities in thecommunity.
We looked for and found themand use them.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So it sounds like it, you know, fostering a curious
mind and openness to to tryingdifferent things, rather than
the status quo of, you know,while we're going to find a
facility for mom or dad.
That seems to be really themessage I'm getting is to open
(29:26):
up your mind to to doing otherthings rather than the
institutional approach.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
And I guess you would know as well, being
entrepreneurs, that we've neverwe've rarely gone with status
quo.
The whole point of being inyour own business right is to do
things in a different way andto make life better for your
community, for your clients, forthe people that you work with.
Your whole concept is how do wedo things in a better or
(29:52):
different way and I guess weapplied that in in our home
situation as well is is thatwhole innovation, that whole
creativity, which is connectedto curiosity directly?
That is just part of our DNA.
So when people say, well, itcan't be done, we go well, I'm
(30:13):
not sure that's the case.
What if we try it this way orthat way, or maybe that one
thing can't be done?
But what about this over here?
Or the curiosity piece,question everything, does it
have to be this way?
Well, I'm pretty sure there's.
There was something differentbefore this, so there's going to
be something different afterthis.
What can we do?
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Sounds like your.
Your kind of relationship withfear was healthy in that what is
the worst that can happen, youknow, and having a real healthy
approach to managing risk or youknow that worst thing.
I did that also help you andyour husband kind of have some,
(30:56):
you know, I guess, comfort inthe decisions that you were
making.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
I think so.
I would have to say, you know,I will never forget there was
one time I was, I had such fear.
I had such fear that itactually stopped me in my tracks
.
I was working out at the gym.
This is when we were startingto get our house organized out
here in Craig, and it wasextremely difficult to find
funding for a building in an ecovillage between Saskatoon and
(31:24):
China.
Like, regular banks were notinterested because the land was
a dollar, so that just made themtheir head spin.
They didn't know what to dowith that.
And so we were really out likehow are we going to do this?
And it's a constructionmortgage and so we have to have
the money to put down.
Like it was just like this wholething.
And I'm on my treadmill and I'mgoing and going and and all of
(31:48):
a sudden my whole body justfroze, like I couldn't move, I
was like a statue and I was justin this.
You know, I wasn't able to evensee a scenario.
I remember just getting stuckand I went to my old way of
doing things with yoga and Ijust started to breathe.
So I just started like okay,just breathe.
(32:10):
Like nobody is dying here today.
So just have a breath and thinkabout it and think about it.
And, and the very worst casescenario was we lose everything.
Like this doesn't happen.
We lose everything.
And I just went, okay.
If that happens, does that mean?
What does that really mean?
(32:31):
We're both very talented, verygifted, connected.
We are not afraid to doanything.
So if I, you know, I have to doa job I'm not liking or loving,
I'll do it to put food on thelike.
There's nothing that wewouldn't do, okay.
So if that's the case, andthat's the worst case, and we
(32:53):
still walk away and we have ourlives and our children and
everything else, what's going onhere?
And within about a week afterthat, we had a colleague say hey
, I'll give you the money youneed to start Pay me whenever, I
don't care if it's 10 years, Idon't want interest.
I love what you're doing, welove you.
Here's the money.
I was like, okay, all right,and I should have known this was
(33:17):
what my life was going to belike, because when I met my
husband, he was a guy who had nofear.
He would jump off of bridgesonto tire tubes on the rapids,
he would want it to skydive.
He did you know what's hanggliding, like all these things
that I thought were absolutelygoing to kill you?
(33:40):
Well, that's kind of what ourlife has been like experiencing
completely interesting off thewall, you know, hang gliding
sometimes, sometimes jumpingonto the rapids and hanging onto
the tire tube, maybe not quitelanding on it, but that's kind
of been our journey.
And you know what?
We're still here.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
You know, monica, it's so every time I meet you.
You're just so full of joy andyou've just accomplished so much
.
And now you know I understand alittle bit of where you're
coming from is that you knowthat sense of community that
we're in this for somethingbigger than ourselves, and it
(34:23):
just shines through in you, yourjoyfulness and your approach to
life.
I gotta tell you this has beenjust a wonderful conversation.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I appreciate that a lot.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for the invitation.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Thank you, monica.
Okay, if you've learned justone thing about change while
listening to this podcast,please subscribe on Apple or
Spotify and share with a friend.
This episode recorded via ZoomAudio.
Producers Peggy Kahnik andCatherine Greiba.
Executive producer, kahnik,leadership Advisory.
(34:57):
Theme music La Pompée, writtenby Chris Harrington, music
publisher in Vato Market.
For information on this podcastand to purchase some fabulous
goat merchandise, please visitwwwgetyourgoatca.
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