Bridging Generations in Print: Baby Boomers, AI, and the Future of the Industry

In Episode 17 of Printing’s Alive, Warren Werbitt dives into the evolving role of baby boomers in the printing industry and how their legacy is shaping its future. The conversation covers the impact of babyboomers.org, the generation’s relationship with emerging tech like AI, and the challenges of an aging workforce. Learn how mentorship, succession planning, and young professionals’ associations are helping bridge generational gaps. From the fate of physical books to digital transformation and leadership lessons, this episode explores what it means to pass the torch and keep print alive in a rapidly changing world.

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
Hey.
Welcome back to another edition of Printing'sAlive, the podcast where we discuss everything
in the world to print for everybody in theworld to print and really cover all kinds of
topics.
And today's topic actually is pretty cooltopic.
I had Mark Joseph reach out to me not long agobecause he had seen the podcast, and he asked

(00:33):
if he could put it up on his site.
I, to be honest with you, without even lookingat the site, said yes because I let everybody
put my stuff up anywhere they want because it'sall about the exposure.
But then I did go to the website, and thewebsite's babyboomers.org, and I thought, wow,
what a pretty cool website.
I'm the tail end of generation x, soborderline.

(00:56):
So there's a lot of interesting things, butreally what made me or what gave me more of an
interest in the babyboomers.org was I startedthinking about our own industry and how the
printing industry is filled with way more babyboomers than anybody else from any other
category below.
And, you know, when I look around the industryand at the aging population, I know people are

(01:22):
sticking around because they don't really knowwhat to do if there's anything to do after.
And I'm pretty light on this right now.
I haven't gone too deep with it.
But the general idea and excitement that I gotfrom the site was it offers up so many ideas,
so many things to do, puts you in a really goodplace of knowing from health and relationships,

(01:43):
from working, from entertainment, whatever.
It's nothing other than a very general, wellinformed site.
In any case, I had Mark Joseph who had reachedout to me and then I reached out to him, so now
we're even, we each reached out to the other.
Just Mark, tell us a little bit about you andtell us a little bit about, you know,

(02:04):
babyboomer.org and then we'll just get into it.
Sure.
I guess the real question is why did we evenstart the site babyboomer.org?
And if you can think about it, the generation,our generation, the baby boomer generation is
as diverse as anyone before or after it, youknow, with a division in politics and diversity
and religion.

(02:25):
We've just got all these different things.
But the one thing that baby boomers have incommon is this shared connected experience as
we were growing up.
Because, you know, when we were growing up, wedidn't have cell phones.
We all had landlines.
You know, I had three television stations whereI was growing up and that's how I got my
information.
So it's a whole different world.

(02:47):
So we we've got this whole common sharedexperience.
You know, here in The US, we went to theKennedy assassinations, Martin Luther King's
assassination, the landing on the moon.
You know, this has brought us all together.
Birth control, that became widespread duringour generation.
We had to deal with Vietnam and Kent State andall those things just came out of our

(03:08):
generation.
We had riots in the streets here.
But the one thing that brings us all togetheris music.
If you think about it, you got Elvis and theBeatles, the Association, Three Dog Night, you
know.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Look look at you.
I just came back from Three Nights of theGrateful of Dead and Company at the Sphere.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
And and we we've got all these great moviesthat brought us together.

(03:29):
Butch Cassian, Sundance Kid, Jaws, or anyreally of the Scilver movies, Animal House,
Star Wars, The Godfather.
This is our generation.
We have so much in common.
And so we thought that if we pulled together asite that had all these different things that
could be relatable to the baby boomers, whetherit's music or, movies or whether it's

(03:52):
retirement or travel or, you know, aging orAlzheimer's or even playing pickleball.
We thought it'd be a one place where we couldall gather and get together.
So what we have done, we have built the sitebased on experts.
So right now, we have 785 differentcontributors from all over the world who are

(04:13):
the top of their field, you know, withinformation for us.
We have 450 different departments with allkinds of information in it.
Got a 67,000 pages.
We got, you know, a 46,000 podcast episodes.
So we put together all this together, to tocreate the site.
And what's fun about our site is it changesevery single day because it's all the newest

(04:36):
information, all the greatest things that allof our contributors are writing that the front
page and all the site changes every single day.
So that's why we built the site because wethought this would be a great place for our
generation to get together.
What we found out is it's not the we thoughtour target market were baby boomers.
It's not just baby boomers.
It's their kids and their grandkids trying tofigure out this generation.

(04:59):
So that's what we're all about.
Wow.
Yeah.
You know, I thought I when, you know, when Ifirst went on, I was just a little surprised
that actually all the different categories oror, you know, columns that you had discussing
it all.
And then when we were chatting and youmentioned, you know, not just not the baby
boomers, but the kids, and then I thought, ohmy god, that's amazing because there's so many

(05:22):
different types of people out there.
You know, when I say people, I mean justdifferent ages and how people act, what they
do, their health, their ability to move around,not move around.
If you're older, you could do more activitiesthan if you're not you know, not so able to get
around.

(05:42):
This just, the site just opens it up.
And then the kids' side, you're right.
I think we also need a site for baby boomers intheir section to understand your kids and what
they do, right?
I was just listening the other day when we werebaby boomers, you know, what are some of the
other things?
And I'm borderline, but my generation at mytail end was doing it.

(06:04):
We would ride our bicycles and be out on thestreet at night.
We went places, we took the bus.
Our parents never, I didn't even know what theword carpool was growing up.
I had an orange bus ticket that was, you know,I'll go back in time, eight and a half cents at
the time, it's probably 3 and a half bucks toride transport, public transport now.
Our parents knew who our friends were becausethey had to call the house as much as they

(06:27):
didn't want to, because there was no other wayto reach us.
Today, we don't even know who our friends' kidsare, who the friends of our kids are, right?
Because everything is on the phone, everythingis a text.
If you follow, you can't really, you couldfollow them, but then they get, you know, they
set up other places so you can't follow them.

(06:47):
It's like a maze of how do we go around?
So I really think it's great.
What is, was there a, is there a main feedbackthat you get from people that go on the site?
Well, maybe it'd be easier for me to kind ofexplain how this whole site came together.

(07:09):
Yeah.
By all means.
Great.
Because, you know, my I I wrote a children'sbook.
It's called, I don't wanna turn three.
And it's a a true story about my six grandkids.
I wrote it during COVID.
And so, you know, it it the the reason thatthat I wrote this book is that, all these six

(07:31):
grandkids I've got have completely differentpersonalities.
But the one thing they have in common is asense of curiosity.
You know, when you think about when you werethree, four, five years old, you know, it's a
whole different world that we're doing it.
You know?
And so what I saw was that their parents wereso desperate to try to understand them And you
know, that, the toddlers, because it's about,Jordan turning from two to three, you know, for

(07:58):
learning the difference between me and us.
So as I was promoting this book, you know, outand about, it became very apparent to me that
my generation, the baby boomers, were notreally involved in a lot of the raising of the
grandkids.
30% of us.
That means one out of every three of us said,hey, I raised some great kids.

(08:21):
You know, let them raise their kids.
I'm gonna go play pickleball.
You know, we may show up at birthday parties orsomething like that, but there was a real, real
awakening for me that that a third of us justdon't care.
You know, we're living our own lives.
And so I was lucky enough, I've got three otherpartners who kind of felt the same way.

(08:42):
And that really was the start of why we builtbabylivered.org because we realized that our
generation, the grandparents that we are, toomany of us just weren't involved.
And when you think about it, when it's all saidand done, you know, when you leave this earth,
what do you leave?
You leave your legacy.
That's it.

(09:02):
You can't take all of them.
No matter how much money you make, you can'ttake it with you.
You know, what is it that you leave behind?
And so that's one of the reasons, points ofthis site is, wanted to make sure that all of
us had a chance to figure out what is gonna beour legacy.
What are we gonna do to help the nextgeneration?
Because like you mentioned, you know, when wewere growing up, we didn't have cell phones.

(09:24):
You know, we didn't have remotes.
I mean, for the television, I was my dad'sremote.
He says, son, go change the channel.
You know?
That's how we did these kinds of things.
It's a whole different world now.
And so, I am convinced that this generation ofkids, zero to 10 years old, is gonna be the

(09:45):
greatest generation that we have ever produced.
Because when you think about it, they comeright out of the womb and they're on the
Internet.
They got their cell phone.
Yeah.
That's how they're growing up.
You might be watching it on the inside too, orlistening for sure.
Right.
I I didn't get on the internet until I was 40years old.
So, you know, it's a whole different world.

(10:06):
So they are so smart.
They're gonna be so smart because of theinformation.
But we, as the older generation, you know, yourgeneration, my generation, we have gotta make
sure that these kids are rounded out.
We gotta make sure we take them out for thebike ride like you were talking about, You
know, going out and playing at night andplaying, know, because otherwise, as you may

(10:27):
have seen with some of your grandkids, thereare people that you're around, they're on their
cell phones.
We gotta get them off that.
There's gotta be a balance between all thisgreat technology, which is gonna make them the
smartest generation ever, but then the realityof how do you live your life.
Oh, it's yeah.
No.
It's so so so true.

(10:47):
And as you were as you were, you know, talkingabout that, I was thinking back to, you know,
my parents, it's exactly it.
Mother was more around, but, you know, being asingle mom, she was out working.
Dad was around, but he was always at the officebecause back then, you know, they had their own
stereotypes of what the father did and what themother did.

(11:08):
But then when I had kids, I or, you know, my exwife and myself, we decided that we really
wanted to, be involved and have a betterunderstanding of what it was.
Right?
Because, you know, my kid my parents were neverat every one of my games or my events or
anything at school.
And I own my own business, and I was there allthe time, and I missed a lot of dinners, but I

(11:31):
never missed anything at school.
They don't, the kids don't remember you and thedinners every night because the dinners every
night are generally some screaming and somefood throwing because it's the end of every
day, but it's all the events that peopleremember and I always made it a point to do
that.
And I'll tell you something, back then, therewas no really carpooling.
I don't think the word carpool existed in thesame way that it does today with kids.

(11:55):
Kids don't even take the bus to school becausethey're allowed to wake up at the last minute
and then get a lift.
But when my kids were younger and, you know,they would go out, started going out at night
and, you know, we had to pick them up everynight with all of their friends, I remember a
lot of the parents didn't wanna go.
It was a pain in the ass for the parents to getup and go out at night to pick them up at

(12:16):
eleven, twelve o'clock.
And for me, I was like, you know what?
I will do it every night.
Don't even have, I don't even wanna haveconversations with the other parents and I
don't even wanna hear the whining and thecomplaining.
Why?
Because you go pick them up, that was greattime to be with your kids and their friends.
I wanted my house to be where the kids came tohave lunch and hang out even though food cost

(12:39):
$500 a week to feed five or six boys extra.
I wanted them if there was something, you know,you could chat with me.
So this is what happened.
I would pick them up every night wherever theywere from twelve, thirteen on until they could
drive and beyond.
And I would drive and I learned, don't talk tothem.
If you don't talk to them, they forget you'rethere, and then they talk about the whole night

(13:02):
and you get to hear what's going on and whatthey're doing in the whole chatter, right?
Then they get a little older and I'm like, heyguys, it's midnight.
You wanna go for a snack before we go home?
Oh man, yeah, yeah, man.
Hey dad, your dad's the coolest, you know?
But I mean, yeah, I'm great.
I'm the coolest, but more importantly, I'mbuilding time with them.
More importantly, I'm hearing and learning whatthey're up to, what they're doing, how they're

(13:24):
talking.
So one thing you don't wanna do with kids iskeep asking them questions.
Like I used to ask my kid, you know, we talkabout kids and knowing one thing the kids today
don't have that we had, and that's calledstreet smarts.
They have to ask Google or Siri what to do whenthey get into a situation or before they go

(13:45):
somewhere, right?
And a perfect example of even street smarts iseven playing your parents.
For us, it was art to play your parents, to getwhat you want, to stay out later, to do
something, right?
It was a challenge.
Now there's an expectation and they just do it,right?
And the kids today, they just they you know, Isaid I would say to my son way back when, I'd

(14:10):
say, hey, how was your night last night?
I said, what'd you do?
Where'd you go?
And he'd say to me, you know, you're startingto annoy me with all your questions.
And I'd say to him, you know, you're not thesmartest kid in the world.
I said, because if you knew how to play thegame, what you'd say to me is, hey, dad, had a
great night with Sam.

(14:31):
We were just hanging out watching TV, not doinganything, you know, just chatting.
And then John, you've just answered all myquestions.
I have no more questions to ask you.
But by not answering me, you're making me askyou more questions because I need to know that
you're alive, that you're well, that you'redoing good, that you're having fun.

(14:52):
And they don't even know how to take thatshortcut to answer three questions to have
freedom.
They'd rather, you know what I mean?
They bang heads.
We didn't do that with our parents.
We might have, we did, but not to the sameextent.
Well, that's because discipline was completelydifferent.
I mean Oh, there's no discipline today.

(15:13):
Yeah.
When I was growing up and I did something thatwas not a great thing, my mother would say,
wait till your dad gets home.
And then he would grab his little belt, take itoff his pants and chase me around the kitchen
table.
Yeah.
And that's how I grew up.
That's how my generation grew
up.
And we have no video we have no video in thehouse to record that then.

(15:34):
Right.
And and so we learned that that's not the wayto do it, and we raised your generations to, to
not be as crazy as ours.
But early on, you brought up something thatreally is the core to to to relationships and
building.
You know, again, one of the reasons I wrotethis children's book is because I wanted to get
my kids involved, my grandkids involved inreading.

(15:57):
And if you think about it, you know, if there'sone thing that we as a generation can pass on
to this younger generation is the reading ofbooks, the reading, you know, get off your
reading on on your cell phone and start pickingup books and reading.
Now, why is that good for us to to to makesure?

(16:17):
And again, I'm just talking about me as agrandparent dealing with my two, three, four,
five, six year olds.
You know, what is well, every night we shouldbe reading books to these kids.
You should be, I should be, anybody should bereading and getting them involved.
Why why do you want to read books with kids?
Well, first of all, the best thing that readinga book to a kid, and again, a book like mine

(16:41):
takes twenty minutes to read, so it's not areal long thing.
You know, is it creates a bonding time.
It's it's a nice time for you to spend togetherwith your grandkids one on one, much like when
you were in your car driving them there, youknow, you talk to them one on one.
Or reading a book does the same thing.
You you picture having the kids sitting in yourlap, pull out a book.

(17:02):
You know, it gives you twenty minutes to reallybond with them and and create that, thing of,
bonding with with with your family.
You know, another reason that we need to all bereading books to these kids every night is it
supports listening skills.
Now you and I both know as adults, listeningskills is our best skill.

(17:23):
I mean, you're a podcaster.
You're a business owner.
You have to listen to your customers.
You have to listen to, who you're interviewingto make sure that you do the best.
I have to listen to how we're gonna build thissite even better to people using the site.
So listening skills are the best skills that wehave today.
And by starting really early on and readingbooks to your kids, it it it requires them to

(17:48):
listen.
So you're gonna be building that skill and theydon't even know it.
Yeah.
So that's important why we should be readingthe kids every single night.
The other reason is it's great for thecognitive and language development.
I mean, there's plenty of words in these booksI don't understand.
I gotta go look them up.
Well, obviously, when the kids see words thatthey don't understand, you can sit there and

(18:08):
talk about it.
That's a great educational way.
So it helps them do that.
And and another reason is, attention span.
You know, these two, three, four year olds,they're bouncing off the wall all day long.
Again, you have them keep concentration, selfdiscipline, sitting there for twenty minutes,
and it helps create that, which these areskills that they will use as they get older in

(18:31):
life.
Yeah.
Well, I think a problem today is with allelectronics, and I've seen it.
I mean, you know, we were I was on thebeginning end of it coming in, and, you know,
my kids didn't get cell phones till they weremaybe 12 or 13 for security reasons.
Right?
Today, I think you get them at five and six,and however it works, right?

(18:55):
But the reading thing is great.
It's really more about the It's also about thetime spent with them, right?
Because today What I gonna say actuallywould've missed my mark was with I see a lot of
parents today that the electronics arebabysitters, right?
There might be less interaction with parent andkid in the time when they wanna do something.

(19:23):
I know at times I was on my phone when Iprobably shouldn't have been, but I think today
it's way worse because it's everywhere.
Grown ups, adults, young people of all ages,elevators, park benches, buses, anywhere.
Everyone's just walking with their heads down.
So I think, you know, I think the reading thingis great.
It's just so important.

(19:43):
And it also for the relationship.
If nothing else, just the bond that becomesfrom it.
I remember reading in bed and my daughter wouldbe like, Daddy, wake up.
You know, because you fall asleep reading atthe end of a day.
But it was always great, right?
It was, can't go wrong with that.

(20:03):
Well, it's really our role.
It's necessary for us to teach children how tothink, not what to think.
They're gonna learn what to think as they growolder.
But we need to teach them how to think.
And again, reading books teaches them how tothink.
Much like I'm sure everyone does at dinnertime, how was your day, what you do, and all
that.

(20:23):
When you're reading a book, know, want to,before you even open up the book, you want to
ask your child, what do you think is gonnahappen here?
Because we gotta teach them how to think.
You know, we gotta teach them how to you know,what here's the title of the book.
What do you think is gonna happen?
You know?
And then as you're reading, who are thecharacters in this book?
What is the setting?
Get them to think.

(20:44):
That's what we have got to do as we're passingthis on.
Another question to ask is, does anything inthis book sound familiar to you?
Again, interaction that you're going to have.
And then obviously like you did do a dinner.
What is your favorite part of the book?
Why is it your favorite part of the book?
So so all of this helps with the education iswe're teaching our kids how to think.

(21:09):
You know, I don't know if the Internet teachesour kids how to think.
That's something that we have to do.
I think that's now we have AI to deal with, butthat's a whole other topic, you know?
So I wanna go back to the baby boomers side,let's talk more about, like, just some about
the baby boomers, Right?

(21:29):
So, you know, they're at the point now where,let's just say tail end of the career, where
they should be into doing other things.
World's a little tough these days.
Money could be a little tough.
Do you hear do you know from baby boomers howit is out there?
How they're doing?
Are they happy, not happy?

(21:51):
Is the site helping them with some reliefbecause they have the opportunity to see things
they might not have thought of or heard of?
Because you have everything, and I keep lookingat the site, that's why I look that way, but
you have like so much information there thatit's amazing.
Like the references, the resources are justthey're over the top.

(22:11):
Well, one of the reasons that we have a lot ofbusiness information on our site is there are
still 12,000,000 baby boomers who ownbusinesses.
And that's most of the businesses in this worldtoday.
You know?
They're small businesses.
They're big businesses.
There's 12,000,000 of us still owningbusinesses.

(22:32):
That means there's 12,000,000 of us stillworking out there, you know, trying to build a
business.
Yeah.
And, and what's gonna happen here is that thisis going to be the greatest wealth transfer, of
any generation between the silent generationand the baby boomer generation passing on their

(22:54):
wealth, you know, what'll happen is themillennials are gonna be the richest generation
ever because they're gonna inherit all thismoney from us.
But going back to to, you know, the the12,000,000 businesses are still owned by baby
boomers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm sure anyone if anybody goes in any of theirneighborhoods, they're gonna see that.

(23:14):
So so this is what a lot of people are stilldoing.
They're still working.
My wife, who's 73 years old, is in healthcare.
She's an occupational therapist.
She's still working.
Good for doing it.
She's doing it because that's what she loves.
You know?
Again, going back to the thought of, k, whenwe're gone, who's gonna remember?

(23:36):
How are they gonna remember us?
You know?
Well, she loves helping people, and that's whatshe wants to do.
She doesn't wanna retire.
She wants to
just It's not so I'll I'll just say toeverybody at any age listening.
If you love what you do, it's not work.
Oh, you're absolutely right.
Period.
It's not work.
It's a you could be any you can get older, lovewhat you do.

(23:59):
Maybe you don't wanna work the five days a weekbecause you're tired on Mondays and Fridays,
but you can go full days, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday, do a great job, fulfill your own self
worth need, and it's not work.
It's only work when it's a chore and you don'tlike what you're doing.
Well, you know, take a look at your industry,you know, whether it's writing books or

(24:22):
printing or I mean, a lot of old guys.
Yeah.
Oh, by the way, I was gonna say it before, butI didn't.
When you talk about print and books, theelectronic digital book reading like the
Kindle, that's gone down a little and bookshave gone up.
So for everybody listening, books are still agreat thing.

(24:44):
They look great on your coffee table next toyour bed.
I have stacks everywhere.
I wish I read more of them, but books aredefinitely coming back for people, definitely.
Back to the industry, yeah, we are, I don'tknow numbers or statistics, but I'm gonna say
that there's a high double digit percentage.

(25:05):
I'm gonna go maybe 50%, if not maybe more, thatare in the getting on category.
And some of them are good and could stay arounda little longer.
Some of them probably should find some otherthings to do.
Some don't know what to do, where to do.
A lot of nervous people, I think, when you geta little older.
And what do you do with all your time?

(25:28):
Some people are, Time to move on because I'vegotta leave a space for a youngin' and others
are like, Well, the youngins will figure itout.
I still love what I do.
I'm not going anywhere.
So it's like a pretty mixed bag out there.
Yeah.
Passion is a big thing here.
You know?
And and if you love what you're doing, youwanna keep just keep doing it.
You know?
And as far as retirement, I mean, just what'shappened the last three months, you gotta say,

(25:50):
hey.
Can I really afford retirement?
So so those are all issues that we're we'redealing with.
Those are yeah.
Those just come out of We won't go politics,but unfortunately, we've got, you know, some
people that aren't thinking about how mostpeople will be affected.

(26:12):
Right?
And it's a little bit scary.
I've seen it a few years ago, some of thebigger lifetime stocks that people had counted
on their whole lives.
Right?
The company changes and then boom, you're leftscrambling again.
And then it puts you into a whole other mindsetand and nerves and scariness.
What do you do?
Well, you know, going back to so many of usstill owning businesses, we gotta pass them on.

(26:35):
Okay.
So what are we gonna do?
There's 12,000,000 businesses out there thatare still owned by baby boomers.
Are they gonna pass it on to their children?
Do their children even wanna do it?
You know, do they have other passions that theydon't wanna do that they do?
Or if you're gonna pass it on to your yourchild or your grandchild, do they have that

(26:56):
same passion that you did to build it?
You know, when you think about it, if you areowning a business today and you wanna pass it
on to the next generation, it's like almoststarting up a whole brand new business.
You got different personalities, you gotdifferent wants, you got different ideas, you
know?
And so one of the scary things about passing onyour business, is that there's a good chance

(27:21):
it's gonna fail, you know, even though you'regiving it to your kids, you know, if they are
not as passionate as you are.
You know, when you when you think about it, whydo businesses fail?
You know?
And and and they fail because, 42% of them failbecause they don't have the right market or
service.
So you may have established a business, but aswe see over the last twenty years, things

(27:46):
changed.
And a lot of it's driven by social media andelectronics and all that.
And so so, you know, if, if the child doesn't,figure out that they got the right market or
service, almost half the businesses fail afterthat, you know, 29% of businesses fail because
they don't have enough capital.

(28:07):
So if you're an entrepreneur one of the talkingabout what are baby boomers doing.
Yeah.
Many baby boomers who have retired are decidingthey're gonna open up their own business now or
go after their passion.
Yeah.
This is their chance now.
They got a few extra bucks.
Let's do this.
I'm gonna start my own business.
But if you don't have enough capital, you gottafigure if you're starting a business, you gotta

(28:27):
have at least six months of capital in there asif you have no sales.
And if you don't have enough, it's gonna fail.
And then a quarter of them fail because theydon't have the teamwork and communications.
Because so go back to what we were talkingabout earlier as the younger generations are
growing up.
Do they have the communications?
Can they talk to people?
Can they interact with everyone?

(28:49):
So
Sorry, and then when they go in, there's allthose generation gaps, right?
So when you got the 20 or 30 in there with the40s and the 50s and the 60 year olds, again,
it's the communication, different ways to talk.
I think there's a lot of baby boomers that ownbusinesses that would probably be better off at

(29:09):
some point selling it, taking the capital,investing it, and having some capital to give
to their kids who wanna maybe start a businessor leave them money rather than set them up in
the business because they want them to go onwith it, but it's not the right person and the
businesses don't go anywhere.
You're absolutely right.
And the one thing that's gonna be changing allthis right now and in your industry, it's gotta

(29:36):
be really, changing, is this whole AI.
And, you know, AI is gonna be the biggestchange in our lifetime.
We thought the Internet was the biggest change,but this AI is going to be the next biggest
change, and we're living it right now.
So I would just make sure that anyone listeningto this, that they throw themselves into AI

(30:00):
right now.
You gotta understand how to use it.
Well, the the the printing industry, and I'mnot saying anything that anyone doesn't know,
is really an old industry.
And it's managed predominantly by a bunch ofold it's gonna sound awful, but a bunch of old
white guys, right, that sit around and I go toall these conferences and there's a lot of them
there.
And I say to some of them, why aren't youbringing younger people from your businesses?

(30:23):
It's not about the money because you makebigger mistakes every day.
It's about the lack of investment you're makingin the person, making the person feel good,
making the person want to be passionate aboutwhat they do, giving them excitement, right?
And then it's about hiring people, and a lot ofthe older generation aren't really that good at
hiring the younger generation.

(30:45):
I had one person say to me, you know, how comeI can't keep young people in my business?
What do I do?
I said, well, my only suggestion to you is stoptalking to them.
As you engage in a conversation, you listen towhat they say, or I think you're listening, I
hope, but then you don't go back to them withanything.
You have to be daily, right?

(31:07):
I'm not saying sit with them, but you haverecognize who they are, what they do.
You have to find activities that excite them.
Our activities don't excite them the same way.
It's not about us anymore.
It's about passing the torch on and learningnew ways to do it.
And a lot in my industry, well, I'm just gonnagive you an example.
I'm talking to some young person about possiblystarting a young association.

(31:32):
I wanted to start an association for youngpeople where I would be at the top of it, but
the whole board would be, let's just say under40, they would be in charge of all decisions
and let them lead their way.
And I would be there to guide them, to not makeany big steps or, you know, fall off the deep
end.
And I called up one fellow and I said to him,Hey, would you maybe be interested if this went

(31:55):
farther?
And he goes, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
And what he was doing is he was working in anassociation that in there, they were trying to
build up an area for young people.
And he says, you know, they don't get it.
And I go, explain to me.
And he said to me, well, it's really simple.
He said, I went to my superior and said, Iwanna do this.

(32:16):
And I was told, go to our marketing guys soeverything we do has the same branding as our
association.
And the young fella said to me, the guy don'tget it.
We can't be the same branding as them becausewe're not part of them.
We need our own branding.
We need our our own place.
We need to attract our own kind.

(32:36):
And the older folks didn't understand that.
They wanted it to look the same, but it's not,it can't be the same.
Because if it is the same, then everything elseis the same.
And you wanna give them a place to have theirown voice, and they're gonna make their own
mistakes along the way because we all makemistakes.
But you can't tell them about the mistakesthey're gonna make before they make it.

(32:58):
You could try to lessen it by, you know, byknowing what we know and then making some
changes to minimize, but we've got to let themgo also.
And I see in a lot of cases, that's not thecase where we're telling them what to do.
And that is the worst thing I think that couldbe.

(33:19):
Well, the way you started off with this, Idon't wanna call it rant, I don't wanna call it
an explanation, is
Oh, by the way, sorry.
I get crazy in my industry all the time aboutthat because if my industry is gonna survive,
we need to get more people in.
It's considered by many people not a greatdying industry when it's not dying.
It's the largest industry out there.

(33:39):
Without print, by the way, the world doesn'tfunction, period.
No instructions, no magazines, no directions,no anything.
Go to a pharmacy, if there's no print, youcan't take the drugs.
You can't eat, you can't make the food.
So I think we're in a number one thing, but I'mtrying to help break the stigma of an old dying
industry.

(34:00):
So what I was driving at is you kept going backto the older generations not listening to the
younger generation, which goes back to what wewere talking about.
We gotta teach them when they're young.
We gotta that's the skill we all have to havewhen we're young.
Listen.
You know?
So if if our generation has missed that, thenext generation's got to get that.

(34:21):
Oh, my grandfather didn't listen to anybody,especially my grandmother, but you know, but we
all learn a little bit and we all take some ofwhat we learned down with us, right?
So we've gotta find more ways to engage withthem, right?
Do you is there any is there any interaction?

(34:43):
Do you have any gatherings that you puttogether with people from the site or events
somewhere?
Not yet, but that's a great idea because you'reright.
We could probably have a great gathering ofbaby boomers to go after different categories
in the site, have a whole travel area, have awhole retirement planning area, you know, on

(35:04):
and on, play pickleball.
Yeah.
So Yeah.
So I I
we could do that.
I was gonna I was gonna say because I'm as I'mlooking, perhaps, is there a is there a chat
section?
There there will be.
In other words, you know, we're a fairly newsite.
Our main goal was to make sure that we've gotthe content that will keep people on the site.

(35:24):
You know, I I got a call from, someone lastweek.
She says, you know, I came on to your sitebecause I was listening to this podcast.
But then I saw another podcast related to itand another and she says, before I knew it, I
was on your site for three hours.
Yeah.
That's what we want.
Yeah.
We want to want to be sticky and be educationaland be worth it.

(35:45):
So yes, our next phase is to do exactly whatyou're talking about.
Yeah.
No.
I think I mean, I'm I'm just gonna read offsome of the headlines, like the categories,
like news, entertainment, lifestyle,relationship, health, travel, money.
Those are so important in day to day lives thatit's also a little, you know, it's more
important, I think, as you're getting a littleolder because you're planning what you're gonna

(36:07):
do.
You wanna know what you can do.
I think it's also great to know and to meetother people that are in the same boat as you,
so to speak.
I fish a lot, so everything is a lot of fishingreference.
Yeah.
But, you know, but it's in the same boat asyou, and there's a lot of people that walk
around, I think, I'll say lonely for lack ofbetter wording, right?

(36:28):
Not sure where to turn or not even know thatthere's someone out there, you know, a place
where they could find somewhere to get ideas onwhat to do, you know?
Even entertainment, whatever, just go for ahike.
Some people don't think about it.
You could have, you know, ideas on where to go,and it doesn't have to you don't have to do
things that cost money even.

(36:49):
Right?
Yeah.
You know, when when you think about it, that weall wanna belong to a community, but you may
have special interests that in your small town,there may be one or two other people that like
what you're doing.
But you get onto the Internet, you get onto asite like ours, and you can find people all
over the country, all over the world that havethat same passion.
And, you know, and as you're growing older, youfind that the passion is a keyword.

(37:12):
You wanna do what you wanna do.
You you know, you're not stuck doing things youdon't have to don't like anymore.
You can do things you wanna do.
And so you're right.
A site like ours gives you a chance to findthose like your like tribe so that, you can all
do it together.
Yep.
How many I mean, it's numbers, but how manypeople do you have a day that go on the site or

(37:33):
or look at it?
We have about 12,000 a day.
So that's pretty good.
Yeah.
Again, we're fairly new.
So How
how long has the site been up?
It's been up a little less than two years.
But
Okay.
So that's pretty good.
We we built a lot of stuff in the last coupleyears.
And so our goal is to let the world know who weare because we feel that once you see who we

(37:56):
are and what we offer, then you'll stick.
Are there other sites similar to yours?
Well, obviously, there is AARP.
That's the big site that, you know, that, youknow, they get 35,000,000 visitors a month.
And so They won't
do that.

(38:16):
I don't know that.
Oh, I'm not I'm not searching for these sitesyet.
I got a few years ahead of me.
Oh, you do.
It's the association of, retired people.
AARP.
It's the big organization, you know, that mostmost baby boomers are belonging to.
They have magazines, they have advertising,they have all kinds of things.
I don't even like I don't even like the name ofthat.

(38:40):
No, because retired association and retired, itputs in, I think the baby boomers and the older
people today are still younger than what theage numbers are versus when our parents were of
an age, or my grandparents maybe.

(39:01):
Like I could tell you at, I don't wanna be thereason that you choke and I can't do the
Heimlich from where I am.
But I think about, 58.
I still, I could stay out later than my kidsall the time still.

(39:21):
That's good.
But the activities that I do, like I said, Ijust came back from Dead and Company and I was
at the Sphere for three nights going out, youknow, because I mean, it's easy because of Dead
every night, it's a different show.
But the three nights that I was there, first ofall, there are so many baby boomers there.
I mean, it's their thing, but they're allrocking.

(39:41):
The whole place was dancing and moving.
But my parents at 58 were not running out to gosee concerts.
Right?
Back then.
They're 80, but they weren't going out to seeconcerts.
We're doing more.
We're doing more than our kids.
We're doing more than our parents did when theywere our age.

(40:05):
Right?
So we've actually are younger.
We're doing younger things at older age.
That makes sense.
It's not coming out of my mouth the way it'sworking in my head.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's an age thing.
Yeah.
65 year old, 75 year old, they don't feel thatold.
We we don't.
You know?
I look at my grandparents when they were thisage, they looked old.

(40:29):
They looked old.
We don't feel old.
So it's again, it's all because of all thehealth we've gone through, all the things we've
done.
And so we're really probably ten years youngerthan our parents were at these ages.
Minimum.
Yeah.
Minimum.
I mean, I've taken my kids to see the dead acouple shows at a time and, you know, it's

(40:53):
actually nothing better than being in a placethat you loved and always went than you have
your kids with you and they're related, right?
And then they get into it and then they wannago.
I mean, you know, my kids used to like thedead, fish and Dave Matthews.
That's like, okay, great.
If you could find and if you could find thingswith your kids to do.
Right?
That's another thing.

(41:13):
You have to find first of all, you have to findstuff to do with your wife when you're younger.
So when you get older, you have something incommon, and you could do it.
That's a whole probably a whole otherconversation in another category.
But if you find interest and passions with yourkids, it's stuff that you could do with them
forever.
I mean, I I fish.
My, you know, my son says, hey.

(41:34):
Well, I'll go fishing.
Can we leave at ten?
Because he doesn't wanna get up so early.
But he'll come fishing.
My daughter and her my son-in-law will comefishing.
The dog will come fishing.
And I'm thrilled.
And I'll go at 10:00.
But if you can get on the boat with them forthree, four, five, six hours and hang out and
fish, when you're doing that stuff, all theother stuff comes up that you wanna talk about

(41:54):
because there's no it's not like you're sittingat a table bouncing questions off them.
Right?
It's not like an inquisition.
But when you're with them and you're hangingout, you could slide in any question you want.
And and one thing I realized is when, you know,when the young'uns are relaxed and busy doing
stuff, they'll answer you.
If they have too much time to think about whatyou're asking, they don't wanna get into that

(42:18):
question period.
Right?
I mean, I don't even think I like to be askedtoo many questions by my parents.
But I you know, like I said earlier, I answeredthem so that I can get to do what I wanna do.
It's it's it's way too funny.
So one one of the things I realized over thelast couple weeks is that where we think we are
creating memories for these kids, you know,think about when you were a kid.

(42:42):
How much stuff do you really remember?
You know, there may be just one event or twoevents, but you don't remember the day in, day
out thing, the love of your parents or yourlove of your grandparents.
You know?
As long as it was positive, you don't havethese memories.
So, you know, we're working so hard to createall these things.
Like, I got I got two of my grandkids thisweekend because, their parents are going to the

(43:05):
Kentucky Derp.
So Cool.
They've got, you know, they're dropping theirkids off with us for, you know, four days.
Yeah.
So we're gonna be doing something every singleday.
Yeah.
All day.
All planned out.
The the question is in ten years from now, whatwould they really remember?
You know?
I think they just remember your attitude, yourkindness, or if you really screw up.

(43:29):
But but you don't have a lot of memories.
And so that's one of the things that's thebummer about As you get older is you think
you're creating all these great memories, butthey're really the only memories that you have.
Yeah.
Well, you know what?
But certain things, I mean, I I know.
I guess, yeah.
Well, my grandmother won't remember becauseshe's not here.

(43:50):
She can't remember anymore.
But as long as I have those, you know, remembermy mother dropping me off at my grandmother's
house, you know, Friday nights and sleepingthere and wake up Saturday morning and going
into the living room and I wasn't allowed tosit on the couch because it was covered in
plastic, but I was allowed to sit on the floorand, you know, she'd bring me breakfast and
toast and cereal watching cartoons.

(44:12):
That doesn't happen today either, right?
Like all those things.
But I think the memories we create are not thedinners at home, but the going and the doing
things, right?
So like, you know, it's really funny.
I have on all my business cards, everythingsays founder and fisherman, because my two
passions were printing and fishing.

(44:33):
But with my card, when it says fisherman, Iwill tell you that over the years, every time I
hand somebody my card, everybody has a storyabout a father, a brother, a grandmother, a
grandfather.
Even if they don't fish, took them fishing orthey saw a fish or they went somewhere, and the
conversation that comes from it and then thesmiles, and you see them lighting up because

(44:54):
they are remembering what was done with them.
So like it's important for the people todaywith kids to know you need to do those things
so your kids remember.
You don't we don't know we don't think theyremember, but they remember certain things and
important things like that, the good and thebad.
So you wanna minimize the bad, right?

(45:16):
And leave more of the fun because that's reallywhat it's all about.
I mean, I'm telling you, I just said, whensomeone starts talking, you know, was talking
to the lady, starts talking about her fatherwho took her fishing, and and, like, she was
remembering all this stuff.
And at the end, what was nicest was she says,oh my god.
Thank you for the conversation.
You brought you I remembered you know, yourcard made me remember something.

(45:38):
And I get goosebumps because with everythingelse in life and what goes on, you know, it's
like I said at the beginning, they taught usthat we don't have to work that many days.
Maybe if you're not working that many days, youhave more time to create more memories, right?
And we gotta remember that it's not alwaysabout us.
But first of all, I think when you make thedecision to have kids, you've taken on a

(46:03):
responsibility to educate, to teach them and tomake sure up until a certain point you're
leading them in the right direction and doingthe best that you can for them.
Fortunately, it doesn't always work that waywith a lot of parents, but our kids will
become, you know, what they learn from us.
Some will get away on their own and besuccessful and and learn to do great things but

(46:28):
it's it's what it's what we teach them.
You bring up a very good point in that, youknow, the grandparents involvement with the
parents, but it affects the grandkids.
Yeah.
And there's a lot of boundaries there that thatthat that cause issues, you know, many times

(46:52):
grandparents are not welcome into the kids andand and how they raise their kids.
I mean, there's all kinds of reasons for that.
One is as a grandparent, I may not have likedthe spouse you married.
Right?
So that causes kinds of, issues in in therelationship that you have with your grandkids.

(47:13):
You know, may have given you unsolicited adviceby telling you what to do.
Okay?
Our generation, you know, kind of told theirkids what to do.
You know, the newer generations don't likethat.
You know, you're you're disrespecting theboundaries.
You may be dropping into their houseunannounced.

(47:34):
You know, you cause all kinds of problems, youknow, from one generation to the other.
And these things that that that that pushgrandparents away.
Okay.
You know?
And and and a lot of it's our fault, but ithappens, you know, by undermining the the
parents' authority, by, challenging whatthey're teaching their kid.
I mean, if I did that with my kids, they'dthrow me out of the house.

(47:58):
You you just you just can't do that anymore.
You know what?
But I I also think and I think we're I think asit goes, could be a little better, but, you
know, I know from when I had kids to when myparents had me, it was different times, it was
different ways of thinking.
I acknowledge that.
I we, you know, for having kids and they'rehaving kids, we just have to be respectful and

(48:23):
remember I always say this, treat people theway you wanna be treated.
So if you don't like people just coming intoyour house unannounced, you can't do it to
others.
Right?
Simple things like that.
You have to remember to, you know, to ask yourkids if it's okay to do certain things maybe

(48:45):
because it is the parent.
And if our kids, if the kids, if our kids forinstance, didn't like something that we did, oh
God forbid if we try to say the same thing ordo that to their kids, right?
Oh, Then the fork and the knife goes in thetable and the guard goes up.

(49:06):
And they're not wrong because we also have toknow that, you know, we are learning as we go.
Yeah.
You know, grandparents may have a tendency toplay favorites, manipulate the siblings that
causes it.
You know, I have my favorite grandkid, but I'mnot gonna tell you.
I don't even tell my wife who it is because youdon't want to cause those issues.

(49:27):
But but you know, that causes that, you know,we we try to Control our grandkids by giving
them gifts vacations, you know, it appearssomething like that, but we shouldn't be doing
that, you know, you we as as we get older wemay start to have a lack of empathy You know,

(49:47):
we may have had a lot of empathy when we wereyounger, but as we're getting older, we may not
have an empathy.
And these little kids need that.
And so so that may be doing so.
They're, you know, grandparents may require thethe kid to to to comply and respect them, you
know, and and that causes issues.
So there's all kinds of reasons that the thework those boundaries between grandparents and

(50:10):
their kids and their grandkids are beingcaused, and we all have to be cognizant of that
if we wanna be part of these families.
Well, you know, it's funny.
So we started off talking about, like, justbaby boomers went a little bit of print, now
it's a lot about the kids.
And it's so true because they are gonna be whowe create.

(50:33):
So we have to think a little bit more maybeabout what we say, what we do, and where we
guide, right, to put them in in the rightplace.
But more importantly, we have to think aboutwhat we say sometimes now because the world is
in a different place, and the way we might havethought things should be, or we might not agree

(50:54):
with the way things are, but we have to own itand work from it, right?
Like I see in my industry, you know, we'll goto print for a little bit, but in the industry,
so there's like digital transformation comingon.
There's HR and the way we, you know, you talkwith people and the things you do.
Used to hear a long time ago, well, I paid mydues, and until you pay your dues, it's gonna

(51:18):
take a long time for you to get up there.
Who the fuck came up with that line?
Right?
Paid my dues.
Who said you have to work six days a week andone day was for free if you wanna be president
one day?
I mean, I I lived by that only to realize atsome point how ridiculous that is.

(51:38):
Right?
You'll you'll move up by your attitude.
You'll move up by the work you do.
You'll move up by the success you have in whatyou do.
You'll be noticed for your accomplishments.
It's for your actions.
It's not about the amount hours that you put inbecause some people could get more done in a
few hours than others in longer hours.
So it's really interesting.

(52:00):
In the print industry, know, We need In theprint industry, we need younger people to come
in, right?
And we need to bring them in.
And it's you know, I see say, if you talk abouta salesperson in print, any salesperson, it's
twelve to eighteen months when you bringsomebody new in to teach them, onboard them,

(52:22):
you know, get them to get the hang of it, getup, build their business, and start to roll.
Too many people, after six months, are gettingtoo anxious that the numbers aren't there yet
and it's costing them money, and then they pullthe trigger and end it.
And I say, I just referenced just older people.
We need to know that it's not the old days ofpeople will work for commission only, draw

(52:45):
against commission.
Nobody's gonna build your business for free foryou.
You have to pay to invest and that's part ofthe, you know, that's part of what
entrepreneurs do.
That's part of our investment.
It's part of our risk.
Train someone for six months, twelve months,they get a better job somewhere else.
You know, I always used say if people get abetter job and they earn more money as an
owner, it's not my place to stop them.

(53:06):
If they could put more money on their table,that's what they're here to do.
That's what I'm gonna do.
So you gotta find ways to work with them, workaround it, and have a better understanding
because it's not always about the money, but ifyou could build a good environment for people
where they're they feel they're heard, theyfeel they're doing, and they're listened to,
they'll stay, and then eventually, you know,the money comes if you're in the right place

(53:29):
that has the money.
But it's really it's in the in the print, youknow, it's it's dirty business was you
everything you touched, you got dirty.
You know, you turned the machines.
You you put ink in the ink well.
You're at the end of the day, you goteverything's grimy.
Paper cuts.
Now you're loading paper into the press.
You're pushing buttons.

(53:49):
There's inks and canisters.
You go into the folder.
You put the paper in.
There's 200 presets.
Beginning of the press, there's a big screen onthere.
It looks like a video game.
The technology has boosted the industry.
Our industry, the old people in our industryhaven't done a great job of marketing our
industry to young people even.
It's like a whole it's a bigger mindset outthere in general.

(54:13):
And I'm, you know, I'm trying to figure out howto navigate around and how to get people to
promote young people, talk, give them thechance and know that it takes a little longer
than it did back then.
Right?

(54:33):
promote It it's it's you know, and I actually,I think even on the website, maybe you have a
section for business owners who have coulddiscuss different topics or issues and share
them because a lot have the same.
I think a lot of people might be able to learnfrom one another on what to do.
And that's why I love I love I'm I'm part of alot of different groups, and, you know, I need
to read more, but I'm not a great readerbecause I have a little ADHD.
But sitting and listening to people with thesame interest, I could sit all day and listen

(54:57):
to what they have to say when people are givingreal life stories and experiences.
I think it's wonderful.
It's wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
So just quickly, you wrote another book, TheSecrets of How to Beat Walmart.
Just I'm always curious how to beat Walmart.
That's a little bigger than your other book.

(55:19):
So what's that one about?
Well, actually, me ask you, before you became ababy boomer at this stage, what were you doing
in your life before?
Before, I had an internet company that becamethe premier business to business site on the
internet where we sold in case quantities ofsmall businesses all around the world, shipped
in all 50 US states, about 44 countries.

(55:42):
Our customer base were the moms and the popswho are surviving, thriving as the chains.
So, we we had all kinds of general merchandiseproduct that we sold by the and then obviously,
sold it by the piece.
And so that's that's how we started thatbusiness.
And as I was, building that business, you know,I was getting, like, 30 phone calls a week of

(56:02):
how do I do this or what do we do what do youdo for that?
So that's why I wrote the book, the secrets ofretailing, how to be Walmart.
It's a 15 chapter book, and each chapteraddresses different things for entrepreneurs
and small businesses.
So for instance, there's one chapter on how doyou hire people?
You're talking about hiring a lot.
You know, how do you do that?

(56:23):
Another on how to market it.
How do you how do you market yourself, on theInternet?
How do you market yourself in the retail space,in the local marketplaces?
You know?
How do you find products?
How do you negotiate?
And the last chapter, chapter 15 is how do youexit your business?
So that's why I wrote that book because I sawthat there was a need of, entrepreneurs of

(56:46):
small businesses out there that just need alittle help in figuring out how to build a
successful business.
So that's what I did, before I got involvedwith Baby Boomer Double.
Cool.
So actually being I was gonna say being on theInternet when you were would be making would be
cutting edge.
Yeah, we were one of the first back inFebruary.

(57:08):
So that gives you some great topics to talkabout when you're talking to young people about
the internet and where it came from.
I mean, you know, they they don't even knowabout, like, the the the the the what do you
call it?
There was the fax machine.
Yeah.
Before before the fax machine was the Telex.
Was that the Telex machine?

(57:29):
Something like that, yeah.
Actually, I don't remember what they call itanymore.
There's so many, you know, now all they know isphone, phone and flip.
And for us, you know, watching Star Trek andall those other shows, we've watched all this
technology almost come to fruition, right?
The robots, Robocop, when I think back to oneof the Schwarzenegger movies, you know, when I

(57:51):
think back to Star Trek or The Jetsons even.
Now we have driverless cars.
I think in Japan, they're working on liketransporters that are, well, drones for people.
That's what they're called now.
So it's pretty, world's come a long way, but Ithink, I think the baby boomers have a lot to,
to offer.

(58:11):
I think we have to, we, you, whoever, have tofind ways to connect with the younger
generations and just kind of bridge the gap alittle.
So it's not like I told, it's not a he said,she said, or I told you, or, you know, What was
a big a big line I used to hear?
It's either my way or the highway.

(58:33):
That's true.
Yeah.
You're living under my roof.
You'll do it my way.
That's when every little kid packs his bag andleaves for the first time and wants to run
away.
So so so many things.
Wow.
So, yeah.
No.
Really good sight.
The conversation on the kids really, I thinkthat's the most important right now because the

(58:56):
kids are the future of what's gonna be and it'stheir world in front of them.
Well, know, if we step back a second and say,how can we influence this younger generation
today?
And I I encourage all of your listeners tostart asking their kids this question every

(59:16):
night.
You know, when you're when you're at dinnertime, you ask me, how was your day?
But one of the questions you should ask yourlittle kids, whether they're three, four, five,
six, or 10, is what did you do today that wasnice to someone else?
If you think about that, if we could get theentire world starting to talk about what did
you do today that was nice to someone else?

(59:38):
Now, the first time you say that to a littlekid, they're not gonna understand what you
mean.
Okay?
But if you start doing it every night, youknow, and giving them some examples, what did
you do nice?
All of a sudden, these little kids, they'regonna start to open up doors for people, but
they'll walk an old lady across the street.
You know?
But think about if we could get, thisgeneration to be thinking about how can you

(01:00:00):
reach out and help someone else at the youngage of two three four five six and they carry
that on.
You know, when they're running the businessesof tomorrow, that'll be part of how they
approach everything.
Never mind businesses.
If you're doing that, you're teaching the kids,and hopefully they grow up and they remember
and they do just what it is to be kind andrespectful to somebody else.

(01:00:23):
Listen, I remember actually, one of the goodthings is if you talk about the Internet or
YouTube, I remember seeing some videos wherethey were talking about one kid who was having
a tough time in school and or, you know, wasn'tvery popular or something.
Then, you know, one day he started opening thedoors for everybody, and he would stand there
and he'd hold the door and slowly but surelyeverybody say thank you.

(01:00:45):
Everybody would say how was your day to him?
And then before you know it, the whole schoolwas talking to him and then the whole school
was kind of talking because that became a majorthing.
And it makes, it takes zero effort to do that.
Right?
Right.
I walk out of elevators, if I see there'speople coming in, I'll just put my arm out to
hold the elevator door.

(01:01:06):
Not that my arm's holding the door.
The door's not gonna move because that's howthe elevators are made today, but it's just
more kindness.
And if someone's coming or I'm opening a door,I kind of smile internally, you know, that I
did something good.
I'll even say to someone jokes and like, well,I did my good deed for the day.
And then they'll chuckle and we'll get a laughand everyone will move on with a smile as

(01:01:28):
opposed to a frown.
Yeah.
It comes down to when you love, you will teachothers to love.
So when you help, you will teach others tohelp.
So you just did a great story for that.
Wow.
K.
We're gonna stop it on that one because I can'ttop that after.
And that was a great line, right?
It's like teach a man, you know, teach a man,you know, give a man a fish, feed him for a

(01:01:50):
day, teach a man to fish and feed him for life.
So, but I like the idea of, you know, teachthem to help and then, you know, everybody gets
help down the road.
It's, wow, wonderful, wonderful thing.
Cool.
So first of all, I didn't even know honestlywhere we were gonna go in this conversation
today because it all came about rather quickly,but I thought it was a pretty good topic to

(01:02:14):
have.
And then we went side, you know, littlesideways longer with the kid thing.
But I think that was actually probably the mostimportant thing because the kids are the
future.
And we have to remember no matter what, we needto do the right thing.
We need to teach them the right thing.
We need to say the right thing because kidswill copy what they hear and see.
And I will say this, it is very cute when youhear your five year old go, fuck off, because

(01:02:39):
he's copying you and you chuckle, but it's notso cute when he's 17 and he's saying it a
different way.
Right?
So we we we gotta be a little careful becausecuteness is great at the beginning.
Is there anything before we jump that you'dlike to end with yourself?
Just come to our site, babyboomer.org.

(01:03:02):
We'd love to have you.
Cool.
When I when I post the the podcast, I will putthe website on it as well for everybody to go
to.
I also do a little bit of marketing beforehand,which we will keep posting because I think it's
a great site and, you know, I haven't hit thatstage where I'm looking for it.
But honestly, since we spoke the other day,it's been open on my computer the whole time

(01:03:27):
and I just keep poking around for myself, butalso when I bump into other people that I can
make some suggestions and recommendationsbecause I know that everybody could use a
little help today.
Matter who you are, right?
Could always use a little help.
So Mark, it was a super pleasure to meet youand I appreciate your time this morning.

(01:03:47):
To everybody listening, I hope you enjoyed theconversation.
As always, I hope you made it to the end.
I know that everyone's really busy these daysand it takes time, but I'm thrilled today just
to talk about the future, talk about kids, talkabout the old people in our industry of what we
need to do to get the younger people involved,but it's a bigger conversation.

(01:04:08):
Again, anybody has anything they wanna talkabout, topic could be anything, long as it's
good, I'm happy to talk, reach out to me.
I wish everybody a great day, and we'll see youback here soon.
And, Mark, again, thank you so much.