EXPERIENCE 208 | Superconnector in a Small Package - Ann Baron, Founder and CEO of Northern Colorado Community

Ann Baron is the Founder and CEO of Northern Colorado Community - an events and networking and business support organization with members across Northern Colorado - as the name would imply!  

Ann has lived an extraordinary journey, in some ways starting when was adopted from a South Korean orphanage at 4 years old, and raised by a family in Oregon.  She became a teacher fresh out of college - didn’t like it - and went into her father’s industry of Insurance.  She moved to Colorado with State Farm and did everything from Claims to Sales Training, and later worked in Payroll, Business Development for the Loveland Chamber, and did freelance event planning and more before launching NOCO Community.  

Ann is wise beyond her substantial years :o) - and shares abundantly from her practical toolkit on networking and sales.  Tune in and sharpen up your skills, and enjoy, as I did, my conversation with Ann Baron.

Also - congrats to Ann for winning Best of NOCO for 2024 Networking Organization!  

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Music By: A Brother's Fountain

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ann Barron is the founder andCEO of Northern Colorado
Community, an events andnetworking and business support
organization with members acrossNorthern Colorado.
As the name would imply, Annehas lived an extraordinary
journey, in some ways startingwhen she was adopted from a
South Korean orphanage at fouryears old and raised by a family
in Oregon.
She became a teacher fresh outof college, didn't like it, and

(00:22):
went into her father's industryof insurance.
She moved to Colorado with StateFarm and did everything from
claims to sales training, andlater worked in payroll,
business development for theLoveland Chamber, and did
freelance event planning andmore before launching NoCo
Community.
Anne is wise beyond hersubstantial years and shares
abundantly from her practicaltoolkit on networking and sales.

(00:44):
Tune in and sharpen up yourskills and enjoy, as I did, my
conversation with Anne Barron.
Also, congrats to Anne forwinning Best of NoCo for 2024
Networking Organization.
Let's have some fun.

(01:04):
Welcome to the Low CoveExperience podcast.
On this show, you'll get to knowbusiness and community leaders
from all around NorthernColorado and beyond.
Our guests share their stories,business stories, life stories,
stories of triumph and oftragedy, and through it all,
you'll be inspired andentertained.
These conversations are real andraw, and no topics are off
limits.
So pop in a breath mint and getready to meet our latest guest.

(01:31):
Welcome back to the localexperience podcast.
My guest today is Anne Barronand Anne is the founder and
owner of Northern Coloradocommunity.
Thank you.
Welcome, Anne.
Thanks for having me on yourpodcast.
I wanted to share with you that,uh, usually Jill asks me who's
on my podcast this afternoon andshe's like, Oh, that's nice.
And today she's like, Oh, yay,give her a hug from me.

(01:53):
So Jill says hi.
Hi.
Tell Jill hi and give her a hugfrom me too.
Yeah, you sure he's got to staytogether.
Sure people unite.
When, when my, uh, when my uncleJohn, uh, who passed on about a
year.
But, um, when he first met mywife, Jill, uh, or I guess she

(02:14):
was, she was still my girlfriendthat at the time and she's like,
Oh, pocket size.
You ever get that?
Uh, that compliment?
I don't.
That's cute though.
I like it.
Pocket size.
I like it.
Or people say about our littledog Tucker that he's travel
size.
Yes.
That's probably more normal fordogs than for spouses.
For people.

(02:36):
That's alright, I don't take anyoffense.
I think it's cute.
So, uh, tell the people a littlebit about Northern Colorado
Community.
What, uh, what does that mean?
What are you doing?
Yeah.
So Northern Colorado communitywas founded by me over eight
years ago.
So it's a boutique networkinggroup that the goal is to see
the businesses thrive and growand be that resource to the

(02:58):
small businesses in NorthernColorado.
And you're especially focusedon.
I guess pure networking.
Is that a fair statement?
Yeah, that's true.
You do some activities and lunchand learns and stuff, but it's
mostly about the networking.
Yes, that's correct.
So we have business after hours,we have a happy hour, we have
mind maps, lunch and learns, um,activity night.

(03:18):
So we do a good variety ofevents.
Yeah.
And, and the purpose, the goalis really to connect people who
need to connect with each other,kind of.
Right, right.
To get, get folks in front offolks they want to get to meet
or be a referral partner.
Yeah.
Very good.
Can you talk about what amonthly rhythm looks like?
Like, what are you doing?
Like, all these different kindof connecting events.

(03:40):
You feel free to do a shamelessplug, that's fine, it's cool.
You shamelessly plug so manygood causes in the community
that I can't help it.
Anna and I also are, uh,together on the Ambassador Board
for Realities for Children, sowe've been fighting over the,
uh, Ambassador, what's the?
Trophy.
The Ambassador Trophy, uh, lastfew quarters.
Yeah, exactly.

(04:01):
Well, uh, thanks for asking.
So we do have three to five inperson events each and every
month.
So they vary from a happy hourto a business after hours, lunch
and learn, a salon, an activitynight.
So we really try to change itup.
And my other saying this yearis, I'm putting the fun back
into networking.
Okay.
Um, instead of just kind of thesame old boring.

(04:24):
you know, thing that everyonedoes.
We do, we might do axe throwing,we might do a vision board, putt
putt, and we might do a mindmap.
So we do a lot of differentthings.
Very good.
Very good.
Um, And do you do a lot ofevents like with, with your
member locations or in things ornot always just kind of wherever

(04:44):
you find fun stuff to do?
Yeah, that's a good point.
So generally, we do try to doevents at a member location,
especially the business afterhours are all member and you're
going to be hosting one.
Yeah, we've got another onecoming up this year.
In August, I believe.
But we do do those at a memberbusiness.
Um, that's one of the benefitsof being a member.
I have to say like the happyhours and the socials, those are

(05:06):
actually, um, you know, whateverfun brewery, winery, there's a
lot of them around in town.
And, um, generally a lot of themdon't market through networking
because they can get businessesother ways.
But, um, but anyway, so.
They don't join networkinggroups necessarily.
That's not their thing.
Yeah, not generally, but yes,uh, usually.

(05:28):
But they sure like it when youbring people in.
25 people to the brewery.
Yeah, yeah.
Tuesday afternoon.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, they always welcome it.
Um, we've take, we've broughtpeople to Verboten.
I see you have a Verboten, um,container.
Oh yeah, I've been using thisforever.
Beer for all is their theme.
Yeah, no, Angie and the folksover there.
So that was our first, uh, Ikind of lifted their first or

(05:48):
their tagline for my first one,which was pure advisory for all
when local think tank was firstgetting going.
I like it.
Yeah, it's always good to borrowgood themes.
Yeah.
So, um, anyway, we, we do do alot of fun events.
We're going to do a luau up atsunrise ranch in early May, and
that's for men and womenprofessionals.
So we're going to have aHawaiian food and pig roast it

(06:13):
could be but maybe if I talknice Kimberly Yeah, I could help
you with the pig roast.
That'd be fun.
Yeah, so it'd be a lot of fun.
Okay, very nice And how did youlike come to put this together?
Like what was the?
The inclination or have you kindof built what you were trying to
build when you, when you set outor did you not really know what

(06:35):
you're trying to build when youset out?
Well, I think when you're a newperson, a new business owner,
you don't know what you don'tknow at the beginning.
Just one moment here.
Sure.
A lot of talking.
It is.
And I have to say, I'm more of amorning person, but hey, this is
good.
Make me do something in theafternoon.
I'm sorry.
No, no, that's great.
It all works out.
I can get you a cup of coffee tofollow the tea if you need to.

(06:56):
Yeah.
So, um, what got me started wasI, as we shared, um, I was in
the chamber world and reallyenjoyed that helping and meeting
and connecting small businesses.
And then it kind of had an ahamoment.
About nine or 10 years ago, andI thought, maybe I could do my
own networking group and justcharge a small fee.

(07:17):
And if you remember, Kurt, youand I talked about it, I charge
only 149 for the year formembers to join.
I'm pretty sure I told you toraise your price.
People are like, what are youdoing?
Are you going to make any money?
So we're now at almost 500 forthe year.
But the point, still veryaffordable.
Yeah, exactly.
So I just thought I'd Uh, put itout there, see who joined, um,

(07:40):
folks like you and Eric Whedonand Pecky Calloway.
Folks just jumped on boardright, right away because they
already knew me.
And so they already trusted meand felt like that regardless
what happens, they wanted to bea part of the group.
And it's grown and we have greatmembers like you and, uh, Blue
credit union and alpha graphicsum, computer doctors.

(08:03):
Yeah, we have a lot of justwonderful professionals who are
part of the group.
Yeah.
No, it's been a really steady,like, it's fun.
I'm probably guilty of onlycoming to maybe a few, a few
events a year, you know, maybe,maybe a dozen or so once a month
or something, but the Like someof the people that have been
there for years are still there.

(08:23):
You know, while you still see alot of new faces and get to meet
a lot of new people, you'vegrown a lot, and so that's nice
to always see, but there's stillsome of those stalwarts that
have been bumping around therefor, you know, almost since you
started.
Yes, there's definitely the, theearly adopters, as you know,
with groups that trust you,regardless what you're going to
do, what's happening with thegroup down the road.

(08:44):
And then, uh, this last, I don'tknow, I guess I just decided to
kick into gear.
Kurt's probably about like,you've been, you should have
been doing that like 20 yearsago.
But anyway, no, Kurt's alwaysbeen very kind to me.
But, um, in the last 40 days,I've had 18 new members join.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
So it's, it's great.
That's great.
I hope you keep growing it.
And is that the vision?
Do you want to do anythingdifferent with it in the future?

(09:05):
Just kind of more of what you'redoing or would you want to
franchise it to othercommunities or grow more
regionally?
Right.
Great questions.
Probably more doing what I'mdoing because I really enjoy
being able to be hands on andget to know everyone.
I'm not saying I wouldn'tfranchise, but that's probably
not a goal of mine right at thispoint.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you mentioned already.

(09:26):
Like.
You're a lot older than youlook, like, I don't remember how
old you are, but I know you'requite a bit older than me and
you look younger.
Oh, thanks.
Um, so like you said, you couldretire if you chose to or
whatever, but, um, Um, I guess,would you want the Northern
Colorado community to live onbeyond you?
Are you, like, would you try tofind a successor?

(09:46):
Or will you just do this untilyou're 93?
Because I can see you beinghealthy and fit and running
around having tea with people.
20 years, 30 years from now,still, well, I'll probably do it
as long as I can.
I mean, I can definitely seeprobably seeing doing this 10 or
20 years.
There's a lot of, um, networkingleaders that have done it for a
long time.
And I don't know.

(10:08):
That's a good question about asfar as would I have like a
successor or person that wouldbe put all this stuff together
every month and handle theplethora of emails.
Right, right.
How many email introductions,how many connections with people
a month do you think you have?
Either an email introduction, ora coffee, or a tea, or just a

(10:29):
meeting, or Oh boy.
It's like five to ten a day,isn't it?
Um, yeah, I would say,especially with a lot of the
onboarding of new members, I'dprobably say I do probably close
to a hundred in a month.
And then that's not including myother in person meetings, Zoom,
phone calls.
Yeah, your free consultings withyour existing members, stuff
like that.
Yeah.
What do you think your specialsauce is?
Like, when you've gotten yourhead underneath the hood of a of

(10:53):
a small business person, maybe afirst or second year.
High opportunity, uh, but maybenot getting as much traction.
How do you help them the most?
Well, I would say the, obviouslythe, well not obviously, but I
think the free consulting, um,I've had folks, double their
income.
I've had folks say they, um,obtain the most customers

(11:13):
through my networking group.
But the thing is really gettingto know the folks and what their
need is and what will help themand be that resource.
So some of them it's they wantto be a speaker.
Some of them, they just want alittle help How to do customer
attainment, customer retention,uh, maybe how to use their time.

(11:35):
And so there's just a lot ofdifferent ways.
You're a bit of a strategist ingeneral, but also a connector is
I think what I'm hearing.
Yeah, so for instance, there's,um, it's not just the events,
but for instance, it's.
Someone might say, Well, I hadsomeone say, I'm gonna think it
over.
That's kind of a common thingwhen you're trying to sell a
service or product.
I'm going to think it over.
Sure.
And really, sometimes it's justbetter.

(11:57):
There's a sound or trainingthing, but sometimes it's better
just to get to the know, like,Okay, Susan, that's okay if you
don't want to be a part of thegroup, but that's all right with
me, you know, and it's not maybethe group for you, and that's
okay.
That's not a problem.
But if you get people to theknow, then you don't spin your
wheel, spin your wheel.
Oh, that's so smart.
Wasting time talking to folks.

(12:19):
You still are friendly, and youstill are very You leave the
door open to potentially, butyou're not gonna spend any time
on it.
You're still very positive tothem when you interact with
them.
So, like, the What's thetechnique, not to steal from
Sandler, like you say, but howdo you, how do you get, do you
just, do you declare the noalmost?
Is that what I heard you sayingthere?
Well, this is not new to me, butjust saying something like,

(12:43):
well, Kurt, maybe this is notthe group for you, or this is
not the time.
And then people can either, youknow, Um, you know, give off,
get off the potter, you knowwhat?
So.
Kind of indicate to you throughthat, that's almost your way of
asking for the sale.
Yeah, exactly.
You're right.
And it's the, the takeaway, butjust not a new way of kind of
strategizing or doing a salestechnique.

(13:04):
And then people will go, well,actually I am interested or no,
I don't really think this is thegroup for me now, or I'm going
to think, think about it.
And if they say, I want to thinkabout it.
maybe a few months down theroad, they might say check back.
And the thing is, is you want tothen check back with them
because if you don't, then itjust, you know, really won't

(13:24):
ever probably resolve into a newclient.
I talk about, uh, even on thispodcast, I've talked about the
Colorado slow, maybe you'veexperienced it.
Yeah.
You know, the where they don'treally want to quite say yes,
uh, but they don't want to sayno.
But, you know, I think I'm, uh,uh, refresh that.
I've got some techniques tochange that.

(13:45):
Um, what's your, like, if youwere going to describe Northern
Colorado, especially the smallbusiness community to somebody
listening from far away, maybein a city somewhere or whatever,
um, how, how would you describe,Our region here.
Oh, wow.
Especially your little slice ofit.
Well, I would say the folks arevery friendly, and I do think

(14:06):
people do want to be a communityand support and help one
another.
Yeah.
Um, it's not a big city here, asyou know, so.
Folks, folks do get to know eachother and you will bump into
people even out of the grocerystore or just out about town.
So you always want to keepthings positive, no matter how
things happen and whether theybecome your client or not.

(14:27):
You just want to keep thingspositive and the door open, like
you said, but, um, and it's afairly safe area.
I think folks have, we have agood education system.
We have, um, Fairly safe area tolive.
So I think there's a lot ofpositives.
Um, I recently went to a newhairstylist and she had moved
here from another state and Iasked her Why did you pick

(14:47):
Colorado and why did you pickFort Collins is where she lives?
And she said she did herresearch and this area was in
one of the top like 10 or 20towns.
Sure.
To live in, in America.
Yeah.
And then she also looked atculture, and then the type of
work she does, so.
And where did she come from?
She came from California.
Okay.
Southern California.
Yeah.
So, yeah, she just, she liked ithere, and she decided to move

(15:10):
here.
And you were a West Coaster too,before, right?
Mm hmm.
Like Oregon?
Yes, exactly.
So I lived in Oregon for over 30years.
Okay.
And how did you land in, inColorado?
Colorado.
Colorado.
I moved here with State FarmInsurance, it was a company
relocation and move, yeah, juststayed.
Okay, we'll circle back and jumpat the time machine to your

(15:30):
earliest years, uh, but, uh, Iwas curious, and, and did you,
you, so they, they said hey, Doyou want to come to Loveland and
work at our big State Farmoffice here?
That was when they built thatnew building over there and
whatnot.
Right, that's correct.
So they built that new building.
They did a countrywide call foranyone who was a State Farm
employee to apply for the job.

(15:51):
And I lived in Washington State,so I applied for the job.
Didn't think I would get it.
They flew me out with otherpeople for an interview.
Didn't think I would be hired.
They hired me, and they actuallyhired me at a job level higher
than I applied for.
Oh, wow.
Oh, wow.
You must have made a goodimpression.
What did you think?
Like, had you been out toColorado before?
We had just driven through it asa family, as a child, but I had

(16:13):
not really been in Colorado.
I did like it.
I do have to say, coming fromthe Northwest, that it, it was
pretty dry and barren.
Yeah, it's flat and, and um,there wasn't, except for where
it's not flat.
Yeah, exactly.
And there wasn't quite as muchlike variety of restaurants and
things to do, but that's changeda lot in the last few years.

(16:34):
It has.
Yeah.
The last 10 years, especially,but it's always kind of punched
above its weight.
In terms of restaurants andthings to do, um, and what have
you seen really change,especially in Northern Colorado
in that time?
Well, I think there has beenmore of the variety, like
culture and restaurants andvariety of activities to do that

(16:55):
I didn't see when I first movedhere about 30 years ago.
I think in my banking daysearlier, um, Like, there was
kind of an anti regionalism,like Fort Collins was Fort
Collins proud and Loveland was,you know, proud to be Loveland,
and they still have that, butnow there's so much more of an
acknowledgement that, hey, athird of your, you know, people

(17:15):
drive over here for their jobsand vice versa.
And there's really no point inbeing other than, uh, regional
friends and partners and, uh,you know, bringing the smart
people up out of Denver andbringing their businesses with
them and stuff.
Yeah.
You are right.
There's definitely more of beingcooperative in the different

(17:35):
towns because I saw a lot of thetowns kind of being in their own
silo.
So Fort Collins kind of statedthemselves, It's Greeley,
Loveland, but I do think there'smore of a coordination between
the towns with resources and,and connecting.
I think some of those smallbusinesses really help drive
that, you know, if you're asmall business in Berthoud or
Johnstown or Windsor orsomething, you probably will

(17:57):
need to expand your service areaultimately to build a
sustainable size.
Yeah, that, that is very muchthe case, and I do find that
quite a few of the businesspeople own more than one
franchise or business in morethan one town.
Yeah.
So one of the, the newerclients, Alpha Graphics, they
own the Loveland one, but nowthey own the, the Greeley

(18:17):
location too.
Yep, yep, yep.
So it, it makes sense, and noneof that, those towns are that
far apart.
Yeah, it makes it fairlystraightforward to have staff
even shift staff from theGreeley store to the Loveland
store if you need to forsomething or whatever.
Yeah, right.
Um, well, I think, you know, ifyou were gonna give, um, because
I would say, you know, you'vegot a lot of established

(18:38):
business people that have beenin business for 10 plus years,
but also you're still agathering place for a lot of
First, second, third year kindof business people to, to get
their start in the networkingworld and kind of have
connection.
What do you see are some of the,the consistencies among the
people that succeed?
Like, what do they, what do theygot to bring to the, to the, to

(18:59):
the table to make it?
Yeah, so I would, I would sayconsistency and top of mind
awareness, as you know, is thatjust keeping your face out there
for people to know you're stillaround, that you're in business.
Um, because people have a shortmemory and they forget, you
know, that you're still inbusiness and you still have that
service or product.
And a lot of times people aren'tgoing to need what you're

(19:20):
selling right away.
It may take time.
They might like, Oh yeah, I needthat roof.
I had the hail damage.
Now I need, who is that roofingperson?
Right.
So those are examples.
Some perseverance is, is one ofthe things then.
Yeah, and then always buildingthose positive relationships
when you go to events, justreally, really making sure that
you're positive, even if thingsdon't go the way you, you want,

(19:43):
but don't be expressing thatwhen you're out in a group.
Um, if you're with a friend,that's fine, but if you're on a
networking group, you want tokeep it upbeat that things are
going well and that you're, uh,positive about your business.
So you're not talking trashabout me and other circles or
anything like that.
I've heard over there.
He pays for his membership, buthe doesn't show up very often.

(20:04):
So you just want to get, um,keep the relationships being
really positive and, andongoing.
And there's some folks that Ihave known for 15, 20 years, and
they suddenly decide to join thegroup.
So it's just timing.
Sometimes it's not, not Likethere's anything wrong with them
or with the group.
It's just timing for them, youknow, it's easy to say yes to

(20:26):
things And you've probablyexperienced this as well where
you say yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes And then you realize thatyou've got to start saying no to
some things.
Otherwise Mama's going to say nomore, you know, or whatever,
your relationships can bechallenged by, you know,
especially if you're, you and Iboth have it in common that

(20:47):
we're married to introvertsmore.
Yes, that is true.
We're, yes, my husband's awriter, so he's definitely an
introvert.
But the other thing I would sayis also find your, your peeps or
your, your tribe.
Yeah.
And.
It may not be my group, it mightbe a Chamber of Commerce, it
might be a BNI, but find thepeople that you really click
with and that you feel like youcould refer business to them or

(21:10):
do business with them or viceversa.
Yeah, I'm sure you have somemembers that are members of
yours and other organizations aswell.
Yes, many of them.
Yeah, many of them are inmultiple, yeah, networking
groups.
But yeah, I think one, my bossyears ago said, you know, find
three groups, one that you'rereally invested in, one that you
always attend and youconsistently participate in, one

(21:33):
that you are on the boundariesof, and don't spread yourself
too much thinner than that.
Yeah, that's great advice, andthat's what I do say to folks
who are new to networking is,two, three, four.
two or three groups, three atthe most, and then be involved,
somewhat involved in, in thosegroups.
Yeah, I dig it.
Um, let's jump in the timemachine, shall we?
Okay.

(21:57):
I would like to be one of those,uh, you know, the rapper type
guys, but I don't have theskills yet.
I can see you doing that.
I can see it.
I don't have to get somelessons, but anyway, we landed
our time machine.
And, uh, you were sharing withme when we, when we booked this
podcast Um, you were raised yourfirst few years in an orphanage,
right?
So I was born in Seoul, SouthKorea, and I was in orphanage

(22:21):
until I was four years old.
And then I was adopted andraised in Oregon.
So, yeah.
Do you know the circumstances?
Were you, were your parentskilled in some fashion?
I don't know.
I wish there was more records,but there was no paperwork.
So it was probably where I was.
Dropped off at the orphanage andmy parents, for whatever reason,
couldn't or won't be able totake care of me.

(22:42):
But thankfully, I had a reallygreat loving family that raised
me.
And so you land in a family inPortland, Oregon?
In Eugene.
Eugene, okay, the college town.
Yes, yeah, University of Oregon.
Go Ducks! And so, like, uh, talkto me about probably some early
memories.
You're seven years old, you'restarting to go to school.

(23:02):
Did you have siblings?
What was your familyenvironment?
What did your parents do?
Yes, I had three brothers.
Okay.
So I was the middle child.
Okay.
So like I said to people, uh, orshared, is that I had to play
basketball and football with mybrothers, but they would not
play Barbies with me, butanyway.
Were they natural born childrenof your parents?
So one of them, my oldestbrother, was their biological

(23:25):
son.
And then the other two brotherswere adopted from Korea as well.
But none of us are bloodrelated.
But we would, you know, fightlike, fight the same.
Yes, exactly.
Fair enough, okay.
And what did your parents do?
What were they up to in Eugene?
Right.
So my dad was an insurance agentfor state farm insurance.
That was the connection withgetting into insurance for 20

(23:47):
years, but yeah, he was asuccessful insurance agent in
Eugene and he did that for 31years.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
And your mom mostly chased, uh,four little rugrats around.
Yeah.
So it was a full time job forher.
She was a state home mom, but mymom was the type of person that
every meal was homemade and she,Clean the house herself and they

(24:08):
had a big garden canned and didall that stuff.
So everything about the housewas kind of on her dial.
Yes.
And what was the range in age,um, from the oldest to the
youngest?
Um, yeah.
So the, I had a brother who wastwo years younger and then one,
two years older.
And then my oldest brother waseight years older than me.
Oh, wow.
So it was almost a second, uh,Second path or more kids kind of

(24:33):
yeah, kind of like a secondgroup of yeah I checked second
group a little the older brotherwas almost An uncle figure or
something probably by the timeyou guys were getting teenager.
Yes So Paul my oldest brotherwas eight years older.
So he was almost like a seconddad.
He was I was, when I was four,he was already 12 or 13.
So he was older in school and,but, um, a great brother and

(24:56):
cool.
We've got a lot and we all gotalong.
What was young Ann like when yougot to, uh, say early years in
school, um, were you sassy andoutgoing already?
Were you?
More reserved.
I was actually quiet.
I mean, I was always a socialperson and had friends, but no,
I was kind of the nerd and thebookworm and would volunteer at

(25:20):
school.
I was always the person outthere, like helping at sports
events, helping take the moneyand one year book and.
Yeah, all that stuff.
The, uh, overachiever, but also,uh, striving to make good
relationships with the teachers.
Sounds like a brown nose alittle bit to me.
Teacher's pet.
Damn people.

(25:41):
You weren't a hall monitor, wereyou?
No, I wasn't.
That's good.
I don't mind.
I'm good for all the otherstuff, but the hall monitors.
I got, I got that.
No good time for them.
Or bad memories of all monitors,right?
Were you, uh, uh, Were you, thisis going to be a terrible
question, but Were you likeheight challenged right from the
start?
Like, first grade, second grade?

(26:02):
Oh, was I always short?
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
So when I was, like, 12 yearsold when most girls get their
growth spurt.
I was always please please GodLet me be five foot tall at
least nope didn't make it fourfoot ten.
Yeah, I'm sure we've talkedabout it But do you know that I
was like four foot eleven inseventh grade?

(26:23):
And then I was still only fivefoot one at sixteen going into
my tenth grade year Oh, wow, soI was Kurt the squirt All
through in my high school like Iwas like your size basically and
I was surrounded by all theseMy, like, 7th and 8th grade
friends were abnormally big,too.
They were all like 5'10 5'11 6tall, and then there's Kurt at

(26:46):
4'11 So you got your, you gotyour growth in, uh, in high
school?
Yeah, last high school, and thenfirst year of college I got the
last inch in there, or somethinglike that.
But I was convinced I was nevergoing to be fit.
Like, I was kind of doomed to a,which is basically the same as,
uh, four foot ten or whateveryou are.
Well, and for guys, I think it'smuch worse for them when they're

(27:08):
shorter than average.
It's harder for them.
When you're a girl, you're justpocket sized.
Like, every guy kind of wants tohave pocket sized girls.
Makes them look tall and strong.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I actually dated someone incollege who was 6'4 That was
interesting.
But anyway, yeah.
So you're doing all kind of thenerd stuff, getting good grades,
Dean's List, uh, things likethat.

(27:29):
Um, helping out in the journal,newspaper things.
Right.
Yes.
I help out with the yearbook andthen at different activities
whenever they'd have basketball,there's always, you know, a
place where you buy yourtickets.
I'd help with that.
So.
You weren't a cheerleader oranything like that?
Well, you're nice and small.
They can throw you around.
I thought that was a bonus.

(27:50):
I'm not athletic, though.
Okay, alright.
I'd probably, like, do a splitand, you know, break something.
Fair enough, okay.
So, um, you're getting close tothe end of high school.
Did you have a plan, or did youknow what you wanted to do from
there?
Yeah.
Well, so my plan since I was alittle girl, because my dad was
an insurance agent, that I wouldwork for him when I got, when I

(28:10):
graduated high school.
Really?
You were eager for that?
Uh, I don't know.
I think my dad was more so.
He just kind of channeled you inthere.
He's like, man, she's reallysmart and hardworking.
I'll have, I'll build anemployee.
So, uh, I started working forhim.
I was only 17 years old.
Okay.
Started working for him in hisinsurance office.
All right.
And, uh, I have to say, youknow, I don't know if you've
worked for family, but it'squite challenging.

(28:32):
You know, um Not too much, butyeah, I can understand even even
Jill and I have found for ourrelationship because we work
together for some in the foodtruck business and things and
it's just In a business, I needsomebody to keep me inside the
guardrails and stuff like thatand and Jill does that for our
household?
But I didn't work that great forus.

(28:53):
So I don't know that tensionbetween father daughter there,
too Yeah, I think we were toomuch alike.
So it yeah, but we did it forsix years Um, yeah, My dad had
the highest average auto premiumwhen I was working for him.
Oh, so he was killing it.
Um, we were selling, he was ahigh producer in life insurance.
Um, mainly because Oh wow, thatwas early for State Farm too.

(29:14):
Yeah, exactly.
Mainly because you were I washelping him write and talking to
folks.
Oh, interesting.
And then, uh, decided that, um,after six years that was enough
of working with dad.
Alright, alright.
So, I went on to college to Ohwow.
To get a degree in, ineducation.
Oh wow.
Oh wow.
I wouldn't, wouldn't haveguessed that.
Why education?
What, uh Well, it kind of wentback early on, like a second,

(29:36):
third grade.
So I was, um, as you canprobably imagine, being adopted
and coming to a new country, I,I don't know.
I guess I had issues, butanyway, so my mom and dad helped
me back.
Um, so instead of going to thirdgrade, I repeated second grade.
Wow, okay.
Um, but, but Because I was alittle bit more advanced than
the other students, I alreadyknew how to read.

(29:57):
So I was sitting there readingto the kids and also loved
reading.
And I thought, oh, I want to bea teacher.
Oh, wow.
And that was the motivation.
And then you kind of gotrailroaded into the State Farm
thing.
And then you're like, okay, I'mout of here.
I'm going to go be a teacher.
Yeah.
So I decided to go and get mydegree in education and actually
taught for four years inPortland, Oregon.
Okay.
Okay.
That was kind of your first Wereyou Were you living on your own

(30:20):
and stuff, even while you workedfor your dad?
Yeah, most of the time I wasliving on my own.
Okay, so just a single gal inEugene.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah, Eugene, Oregon is, I don'tknow if you, you probably know,
it's like the runner's capital.
I mean, you had a lot ofathletes that lived there.
So you dated a lot of, uh, Oh,no, no, no.

(30:45):
My goal is to make you blush.
No, I was just like one of thesereally slow, I don't know what
the word is, but I always dideverything late.
Like I didn't get my driver'slicense until I was 20 years
old.
I didn't have a boyfriend untilI was 20.
I just, yeah.
You weren't in a hurry.
Yeah, I wasn't.
Pretty sheltered, but yeah,that's fine.

(31:07):
So okay.
And what was the the homeenvironment?
What was the the family dynamicif you will like was it?
Like did you have all your mealstogether with all these siblings
and stuff to go to church onSundays?
Yeah, exactly all of that.
So we ate pretty much every mealtogether Once in all occasion
when we'd go out for dinner Butthat was I don't think going out

(31:29):
for dinner was as common backthen so it was more rare but
Yeah, and then we regroupedLutheran, so we went to the
Lutheran Church and went throughConfirmation and all that,
Catechism, yeah.
Sure.
Um, okay, so we moved toPortland?
Yes.
And you're teaching, uh, whatkind of?

(31:50):
Eighth graders.
Okay.
Yes.
And it stuck for four years.
Right.
What, uh, like talk to me aboutthat experience.
What were the pluses andminuses?
Well, I enjoyed it when the kidsgot the aha moment and really
enjoyed learning.
And, uh, I had went, this onestudent, we were doing a session
on, uh, on poetry.

(32:11):
And the student at the end ofthe four weeks said, I really
thought I was going to hatethis, but I really enjoyed it.
So try to make it fun.
And, uh, but the stress was it,you have 38th graders in one
room.
I can imagine that.
Hormones and things going on.
So, yeah, it was, it was kind ofa stressful job.
Fair enough.

(32:32):
And so what did you, what, whatring did you pull?
What did you do?
Uh, you mean to move on?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, then, um, after four yearsdecided that, and it was a
pretty tough school.
It was inner city.
So there was a lot of fights andgangs, teenage pregnancy and
things going on even back 30years ago.

(32:52):
But anyway, then I looked aroundand thought, well, State Farm is
a good company to, to work forbecause not for dad, but for
State Farm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because my dad, I knew with himbeing an agent, I thought, well,
they have good benefits, goodpay.
Sure.
Um, Be a stable job.
So I applied and got hired andlittle did I know at that time

(33:13):
that only 3 percent of thepeople who applied actually get
hired.
So I was one of the few and didthat for two years.
twelve years.
Including the time out here?
Uh, yes.
Correct.
Right.
Yep.
Eight years out in Colorado withState Farm.
And what were you, what were,like, uh, were you an agent or
were you working in, in anoffice itself or more in the

(33:34):
headquarters style?
Right.
More in the headquarters.
So I started as an underwriter.
One of those hated autounderwriters.
Right.
And then when I came out here, Iwas a supervisor in their
office.
Life insurance division.
Okay.
And then I moved into thedisability claims as a
disability claim examiner.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Is it what, talk to me about theinsurance industry.

(33:54):
Like what is, how do they, like,it feels like those three things
are all unrelated to someextent, like life insurance and
claims, like, is it more aboutjust understanding the company
and man or managing people well,like what were your talents that
got you moved around?
Well, I think I'm a good talker,Okay.
But, um, yeah, so that's a goodquestion.

(34:17):
But they do all do in-housetraining, so they train you so
you don't have to haveexperience in those areas.
Okay.
And, uh, I moved from Oregon toWashington and then Washington
to Colorado.
So they had great relocationplans.
Yeah, fair enough.
Um, and then, uh.
Like, what were your, did youfall in love along the way here

(34:39):
yet, uh, still?
Oh, you mean like get married?
Yeah, yeah.
So, um, I did get married when Iwas in Oregon.
Okay.
So, this is when, I think it waswhen I was a school teacher.
Okay.
So, I, I, I met, um, a guy andthen we were married for 11
years.
Okay.
But it was very dysfunctional,so.

(34:59):
Okay.
It was, uh, it was reallyunhealthy.
So, you came out to here with,uh, Him in Colorado, and then it
was about over by that time?
Yeah, so we, yeah, he moved outhere to Colorado, and then
Because I knew Mike was yoursecond husband.
Yes, you're right, yep.
And how long have you been withMike?
We've been married for 15 years.
Okay, so you were with StateFarms still, probably Actually,

(35:21):
I was working as an independentinsurance agent when I met Mike.
I haven't gotten to that chapteryet.
So you, so you left State Farm.
Yeah.
So, sorry.
So this is like one of thosedon't do what not to do kids.
Um, so I had this cushy job,owned a house, two cars paid
off, went to Hawaii every yearfor vacation.
So, you know, it was, I was, um,getting paid pretty well and

(35:42):
life was good.
Then I decided, Oh, I'm going todo it.
Jump into my own business, myown job.
Interesting.
And, uh, did not have enough.
savings and so within a year ortwo the runway was too short to
Yes get to take off and youprobably have seen people do
that.
Yeah, so it went from owninghouse two cars paid off Vacation

(36:03):
hawaii almost every year towhere everything I owned was in
a small vw beetle.
Oh, dang.
Yeah.
I lost my house uh Of course,around this time, we were
divorcing, so my husband got onecar and I got the other.
So yeah, it was a bit of ashock.
That was quite a, like, youprobably, I told people after
banking and when I was first infood trucking, um, that I hadn't

(36:26):
really eaten much humble pie,uh, before that point in life.
But then that was kind of allthat was on the menu for a few
years.
Does that sound like a similarcircumstance?
You kind of got moved up and upand up in State Farm and then
all of a sudden you jump andyou're like.
Oh, the traction isn't, isn'teasy.
Plus you have relationshipchallenges probably going on at
the same time.
Right.

(36:46):
Right.
So it, so it, you just have to,what I say to people is count
the cost and before you decideto go into your own business.
And so it's okay to keep thatday job, you know, if you want
to, or you can handle doing bothof them.
But, but the plus side of all ofthat is that it wasn't tied down
to any place or location.
And so around this time, my momwas very ill in Oregon and I, I

(37:09):
knew she was probably close topassing on.
So I was able to just pick upeverything in my VW, my VW bug.
Didn't even need to rent atrailer.
To Oregon.
Uh, and uh, so I moved back toOregon and, um, unfortunately my
mom passed away three monthsafter I moved there.
Well, but it was awesome for youto be there with her, I'm sure,

(37:30):
and I'm sure a huge blessing tothe rest of your family that you
could do that.
Yeah, I was glad to be there andthen I could help my brother
with his state and stuff likethat.
That's why God took all thatstuff away from you, so you
could just drive out to Oregon.
Volkswagen.
Yeah.
And then basically, um.
I don't think that works thatway quite.
Well.
He allowed it, certainly.
Yeah.
I do think you.

(37:51):
When you look back on things,you think, yeah, there's a
reason.
But after being in Oregon foreight months, realized I really
miss Colorado, um, had a goodgroup of friends and things.
So moved back to Colorado, ofcourse, starting all over with a
job that I did when I was 17years old, working in a state
farm office as a, basically asecretary.

(38:12):
And, uh, of course the fancyword, they call it a CSR
customer service representative.
And, uh, did that for a while.
Was it with one of the popularstate farm offices?
It was, uh, with a state farmagent.
Yeah, locally.
And then, um, obtained myinsurance license.
And then there was a job openingfor an independent insurance
agent.
So I applied for that.

(38:32):
Got, was hired.
Okay.
And did that.
And, uh, I enjoyed the, thesales and helping customers.
But they, uh, didn't pay verywell.
They were, they were owned by abank, interesting enough, but
they pay me less than 30, 000 ayear to be their insurance
agent.
And, um, when I asked for a payraise, they said, nope, we don't
have the money to do it.
So that's when I realized that Ineeded to find a different job.

(38:55):
Took me two years, about, abouta year to find a different job.
And that's when I got hired atthe chamber of commerce.
Um, and was that directly intolike the member kind of
engagement thing?
And who was, was, David musthave been the person there at
the time or who was running thechamber in those days?
Oh, it was Brian.
Yeah, Brian Wilms was thechamber president.

(39:15):
I remember that.
Right, right.
So he hired, hired me.
But, uh, yeah, I loved it.
And that was a great experience.
Did it for a season?
Would you go back?
Like if, if State Farm, uh,offered you your old, old, old
job back for six figures, wouldyou take it today?
I really would.
I mean, even though it was agreat job and it helped me, you

(39:37):
know, So you With moving aroundand all that.
too.
Yes, build the skill, theytrained me.
But it was a little bit likewhat I say to people like being
a square peg in a round hole.
I didn't really fit thecorporate type of mentality.
Yeah.
Of where you just.
You had too many fresh ideas.
Yeah, you do what they say andyou know, they ask you to jump

(39:59):
and you say, how high should Ijump?
But I had too many creativeideas and they really didn't
like it.
They really didn't want that,so.
It was part of, you could movearound from department to
department and freshen thoseplaces up, but in the long term,
it might not have feltcomfortable for you.
Right, right.
Well, you didn't know what youdidn't know after a little while
of being out in the real world,kind of, you're like, huh, no, I
like this, this, this.

(40:21):
Yes, you're right.
And you probably know, too,being a business owner for quite
a while is that I don't think Icould work for someone else
again unless it was a uniquesituation.
But I really do like being myown business owner and setting
my own schedule.
That being said, I start workingat 5 or 6 o'clock in the
morning.
Sometimes I go until 7 or 8 atnight.
Right.
Jobs and meetings and events.

(40:42):
Yeah.
No, you're you're a hustler forsure Well, I feel like that kind
of brought us back to presentday Normally, we'd like to take
a quick break here.
Okay stretch and then we'll getinto some of the other segments
All right.
Sounds good.
All right.
Cheers.
Okay.
Thanks We're going to jump intosome of the mandatory talking

(41:49):
segments now.
Okay.
Um, we always talk about faith,family, and politics.
What?
Cause, cause that's what mamatold me never to talk about.
Um, or some people say that, butI know you're a fairly liberal,
uh, at least, uh, liberalspeaking person.
Um, We've had a lot of funconversations over the years.

(42:11):
So, so talk to me about, uh,where do you want to start?
You want to start with, well, Iguess let's, can we start with
politics?
Let's start with politics.
Cause yesterday Donald Trump wasinaugurated for his second term.
And, uh, You know, I'm just kindof curious.
We've never really talkedpolitics before, you and I, I
don't think.
Well.
Seems like it's probably notsomething you pay too much

(42:31):
attention to.
I'm, I'm going to be PC and say,I think everyone needs to, you
know, vote for the person theythink is right for them and, and
probably not get into a lot ofpolitics.
Okay.
Yeah.
But we can talk family.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
That'll do it.
Thanks.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Just like that.
Can we talk local politics?
You want to talk about, uh,business y, politics y things?

(42:52):
Or are you just going to try hottea?
Yeah, I really, I really prettymuch stay, obviously have an
opinion, but yeah, I usuallypretty much, as far as in the
public realm, stay away fromthat.
I know he's trying to lure mein.
Well, let's try to give peoplewhiskey to just begin the
podcast, but you just asked forhot tea.
So I guess I can't, uh, um, isthat more of a, is that more of
a business decision or somethingyou just don't spend too much

(43:15):
time with?
Yeah, I mean, I do have opinionsabout politics and religion, but
I basically it's a businessdecision there.
I think everyone's gonna.
Have their thoughts on, youknow, who they vote for.
You don't want anybody to cancelyou for saying you voted for
Trump or not for Trump orwhatever.
What religion they are oraren't, so, yeah.
Can we ask specific questionsaround it?

(43:35):
Uh, like, no.
I'm going to kill you, Kirk.
Okay.
We won't ask about the executiveorders.
We won't ask about the pardons,January 6th pardons.
Can I ask about that?
No, we're not going there, Kirk.
I know.
All right.
You're close enough I could, Icould.
If you crawled over that tableslowly, you could get to me.

(43:56):
This is why he's like more thanarm length away from me.
That's right.
Just far enough.
I got a poker stick over here.
I can keep my guests away.
Um, is that same for faith inthat regard?
You don't prefer to talk aboutthat?
I mean, it's important to me.
Yes, definitely.
Do you remain in the, in theLutheran church?
Um, actually, no, I went morenon denominational.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.

(44:16):
Bye.
Do you want to give your pastora shout out or anything like
that?
Do you do that?
No.
Not that he's bad.
He's a good pastor.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just kind of a privatematter for you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is that kind of traditional,like for your family?
Was that?
Kind of like just kind of one ofthose things.
We just don't talk about like Iwonder if that's a Do you

(44:39):
remember is that more of like abusiness person and so that we
just don't talk about that?
Yeah, I think yeah, because Ijust want to keep things on a
business level.
So yeah, that's You're gonnamake 50 percent of people
unhappy Well, and I think that'sone of the reasons I I talk
about it because I want peopleto know that we're just like, we

(45:02):
can still all be friends.
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah.
I do agree.
And, and I have friends who areon all spectrums of, you know,
religion and politics, but yeah.
You're kind of a low judgmentkind of a person, it seems like.
No, I'm pretty high judgment.
You are?
Okay.
But I keep it to myself.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(45:23):
Although I did, I have a funny,I have a, I have a funny story
about my husband.
So he was speaking to the Rotarytoday in Loveland.
Okay.
So poor thing.
Oh cool.
He was the program or whatever?
Yeah.
He was the speaker.
So I was like, okay, honey.
Yeah.
Are you going to wear cleanclothes today?
Yes.
Are you going to, are you goingto do this?
You're going to take yourbusiness cards?
Yes.
You were like setting him up forsuccess.

(45:43):
I was trying to help him like,okay, now you're going to be in
front of these people.
Just so you know.
Um, all right, well then we'releft to talk about family.
Um, we're going to start withMike, your, your husband for,
what did you say, you've been a,13 years?
15 years.
15 years ago.
Yeah, we've been married, yeah.
Um, and like, tell me aboutthat.
Was that a match.

(46:03):
com thing, or?
It was a match.
Oh, no shit?
Yes, it definitely, it's a matchsuccess story.
Well, was it that specificwebsite, even?
Yeah, it was.
It was, it was match.
com.
And that was the season, right?
Like, match was kind ofdominating everything.
Yes, true.
For that little season of time.
Yeah, and I say to people, Iprobably, if we had not met at a
match, I don't think we wouldhave met at all.

(46:24):
Because Mike's an introvert, I'man extrovert, I don't think we
would have been in the samecircles, or probably talked to
each other.
Sure.
And what did he, like, what didhe tell the Rotary Club about
today?
Um, he talked about going toComic Cons, and about writing,
and Okay.
Um, and, uh I would describe himas a very philosophical, very

(46:46):
thoughtful, very, uh, he's morevocal about his politics than
you are.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yeah.
And, uh, but also a very, uh,like accomplished comic book
writer.
Artist and author right?
Like he writes some of his ownbooks and illustrates them?
Is that right?
So he's the writer and he workswith the artists.
Oh he does?

(47:07):
I thought he was just the, Ithought he was both.
Yeah, yeah, that's alright, noworries.
But he's the writer and then heworks with artists all over the
world.
Okay.
And he is very accomplished.
He's very good.
Literally written thousands ofcomic books and he's won the
Eisner award two times and theink pot which is similar to
winning the Oscars Okay in thecomic book world.
Yeah.

(47:27):
Yeah.
Yeah, very interesting What waswhat was your first date with
this comic book nerd?
You're a nerd too.
Like that's why Might have foundeach other.
Well, so for instance, youprobably know this big comic
thick comic books are calledgraphic novels Yes, which I did
not know They were just becomingpopular when I was like going to
college or at least as far as Icould tell You Oh, really?

(47:47):
So he said he wrote graphicnovels.
He didn't say he wrote comicbooks.
I'm thinking he's writing someporn or something.
I didn't know what it was.
Right.
So then we go on You're likegraphic cow.
It's like, okay.
So we go on our first date, um,and we meet at Abel's,
Avogadro's.
You still went out with him eventhough he's You thought he was a
porn artist or something?
Well, I thought, we'll meet inpublic.

(48:09):
So he brings along a comic bookthat he wrote.
Okay.
And I thought, well, okay, fine.
But I'm kind of a skepticalperson.
So I went down to the localcomic book store later on and
said, Do you know Mike Barron?
Yeah.
And he's a, is he a comic bookwriter?
And they said, yep, they pulleda comic book off the shelf.
And like, yep, he wrote this.
Oh, interesting.
So, so we went to Avvo's and I,and Mike has heard this story

(48:32):
many times.
Avvogadro's number.
Yes, exactly.
And, uh, I've said, shared thisstory in front of Mike several
times.
But anyway, uh, we went thereand it was like the middle of
the afternoon because, well,we're old.
So I guess we go to.
You know, go on a first date atlike two o'clock in the
afternoon.
And then, um, uh, he shows upand I show up and it's really

(48:53):
loud in there.
You know, they have a lot ofloud music.
It's like a Saturday afternoon.
They got bands playing.
It's a weekday, but they justhave that overhead music was on
really loud.
So then he's yelling at me,like, what do you want to drink?
I'm like, Oh, I'll have a Pepsior Coca Cola.
And then we sat there and wetalked for 15 minutes.
Then he gets up and says, I haveto leave and feed the dogs.
What the hell?
What?

(49:14):
So, so I'm thinking oh my god 15minutes and he's already
leaving.
He doesn't feed me.
He's you know, kind of yeah,he's just out.
Yeah He's he's just gone.
It's not like I'll be back in 10minutes or something.
No.
No, he just he just left Poorthing.
So anyway I had remembered.
Was it because he was crushingon you too hard?
I don't know what the problemwas.

(49:35):
But a girlfriend a long time agohad said, now give them a second
date unless they're an axemurderer.
I'm like, okay, fine.
So then we went on a seconddate.
We went on a picnic down atBenson Park and that turned out
good.
Much better.
And he stayed longer than 15minutes.
That's funny.
Did he ever give you adescription of a reason why he

(49:57):
Well, my Like he forgot to feedthe dogs?
I don't know.
No, my gut feeling is that hewas trying to make sure I didn't
have a horn and tails and I looklike my picture.
Oh, so he was just scoping youout almost on the first round.
Yeah.
I think he was just like, okay,does she look like a picture?
Because as you know, a lot ofthese dating sites, the person
looks about 40 years older thanthe picture and about 200 pounds

(50:17):
more.
It's true.
I don't know.
I haven't been on a dating sitein years.
Well, you're lucky.
But, um, and so you guys, uh,had a third date and a fourth
date.
Um, what was it?
About Mike especially that, thatdrew you to that third and
fourth dates.
So what, so You never weremarried before, but whenever

(50:37):
you've been through a marriage,you kind of like, I don't want
to do this again, you know, makethe same mistakes.
Exactly.
So I had made quite a long list,like 20 items of what, if I got
married again, what the personwould be like, like they need to
be smart and cause I'm short,you know, certain height, not
overweight.
They need to have a collegedegree.

(50:58):
I tend to like guys that arevery complected, you know, light
hair, like colored eyes.
Educated, humor, like animalsand kids.
And so it was like, Mike, Mikeis one of those people, like the
more you know him, the more youlike him, because he's really is
a person of his word.
He's really smart.
He's hard.
He's hard.
He likes me too.

(51:18):
We haven't really shared enoughtime together, but I know what
you like each other kind of.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's yeah.
He's hardworking.
So I just, I really fell in lovewith the person that he is, but
he's a person of his word, isgenuine.
He's kind.
He loves our dogs and he loveskids.
He's like really great with, ifthere's young people who want to
learn how to get into comics,he'll take time for free to talk

(51:40):
to them and give them tips andhelp.
So I, and, and he's got a veryquirky sense of humor as you
know, he does, he does.
Um, I'm curious, this is alittle bit out of left field
cause we were just talking aboutMike, but your voice, do you
have some accent?
Um, and is that from, like, timein the orphanage, or was it time

(52:01):
with your older brothers andfamily, or how, like, talk to me
about that.
Well, yes, and I have been askedthat.
So I was four years old, so I'massuming that I knew Korean.
Yeah.
Living in Korea for four years.
Probably.
And then when I came to America,learned English, obviously.
And then my mom, uh, when I wasyounger, she worked with me,
like, we would, you know, sayrhymes and poems together to

(52:24):
help me because there's certainletters in English that are not
in the Korean language, so.
Okay.
Yeah, I didn't really think toconsider like When your adoption
was and yeah, so that's so youryounger brother probably has
less of an accent Yes, it wasonly like two when he came over.

(52:45):
So well, he was actually fouryears old But he had been
adopted by another Americanfamily when he was a baby and
then unfortunately They gave himup and then our family adopted
him.
So he never had any Right.
He'd always been around Englishspeaking people.
Right.
Interesting.
Okay.
Sorry to mention that.
I just, no, no, I have hadpeople ask me that, like,

(53:06):
where's that accent from?
Like, I don't know.
I might, my parents were Midwestand I grew up in Oregon.
Right.
Like it's like, uh, well, it'slike, Partially adopted early
child stuff, plus, you know,just an intuitive learner,
obviously, as a young person,so.
So, um, talk to me about your,your siblings, and your, um,

(53:29):
your mom's gone, your dad'sprobably gone by now, too, is
that true?
Yes, right, yes.
Are your brothers still allaround?
Yeah, so I have three brothers.
Okay.
And, uh, one lives in Oregon andone lives in Washington State.
And then we have, every familyhas a black sheep, so we have
the black sheep brother, helives in Arizona.
All right.
Yeah, we don't talk to him, butit's okay.
Do you have hopes to rekindle?

(53:50):
Um, I have forgiven him.
I mean, I still love him, buthe, he basically, um, like one
example is he did not come toour mom's funeral, even though
our parents were there.
Our parents adopted him, too.
So he was, he was mad aboutthings.
At a certain point, he just,yeah.
Yeah, so, yeah.
You can't chase people, can'tmake people do stuff.
Right.

(54:10):
And, and, at this point in mylife, I really decided I want to
be around people who arepositive, and have things good
going on in their life, andthey're not complaining all the
time, so.
And that, and he does that, hecomplains all the time, too.
You go out to Oregon on aregular basis still, is that,
that's to see one of yourbrothers, mostly?
Right.
Right.
Right, so I have a youngestbrother that lives in, near
Portland, and then the oldestone lives up in Washington.

(54:32):
So I get to go out and visitthem quite often.
Oh, just by the Seattle area, soit's not too far.
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, my, I think I mentioned mywife's twin sister lives in
Vancouver, Washington, oractually, Gosh, I forget the
name of the town, but it's just,just down the road from
Vancouver.
So right.
But it's on the Washington side,right.
But in the Portland MSA kind ofthing, Washougal, Washougal, now

(54:55):
I finally remembered it.
Aaron, if you're listening, Iremembered the town you're
living in.
She's actually coming out here,uh, just in a few days, uh,
we've got some family, uh, mywife.
Jill's nephew is, is likely tobe the state champion wrestler
for the 215 weight class.
Yeah, he's a beast.
And so we've got, we've beenarranging places to stay in

(55:17):
Denver for the big statetournament coming up.
That's great.
Anyway, I digress.
Um, it's, it's a family thingthough, right?
Like, so you've never, have youhad, have your brothers had, uh,
kids and stuff too?
Cause you, you don't, you andMike don't have any children.
Yeah, we don't have any.
We have the fur babies.
Yeah, yeah.
The four legged, uh, fourlegged.
But my one brother that is theoldest one, he has two children.

(55:39):
Okay.
And then they each have kids, sohe has, he has grandkids.
Gotcha.
And then the one in Arizona, hehad three daughters.
Okay.
And he's a grandpa too.
So you've been around some, somekiddos here and there, but.
Yeah.
Your, uh, and fur babies arewhat?
Cats or dogs?
They're dogs.
Okay.
Yeah.
What flavor?
Oh, they're Mutts.
They're all rescue dogs.
We do, uh, we do one worddescriptions of the children.

(56:02):
Would you like to give a oneword description of each of your
dogs?
Okay, sure.
Uh, give them their name andtheir rough description and then
a one word description.
Alright, so, so Bob.
Who, if you folks follow me onFacebook, I have words from Bob
and I would say he's on thespectrum.
Okay.
He's your autistic dog?
He's autistic.
Yes.
And then I have an old dog namedMac.

(56:24):
Hi Mac.
She's, she's crazy.
Hi crazy Mac.
I love you.
And then we have a little dognamed Freddy and he's sweet.
Oh.
Yeah.
One normal one, the other twoare crazy.
Fair enough.
Um, let's see.
I think that's the Faith FamilyPolitics as much as you would
let me get out of you.
Would you like to?

(56:44):
What did you think about theCarrie Underwood, uh, uh, song
on the inauguration?
Did you watch that?
I did watch that.
That was pretty sweet.
That made me really Like how sheinvited people to also sing with
her in that situation.
Yeah, and the soundtrack didn'twork for some reason.
Right, right.
She still But she could, shenailed that.
Yeah, she still went through anddid great with the song.

(57:05):
Well, so I know that you votedfor Trump by the fact that you
watched the inauguration.
Ha ha.
No comment.
You don't know, I might watchevery inauguration.
Um, we're, um, we're, we'redoing a, Ha ha.
You're so funny.
We're doing a special segmentnext, and it's, uh, the, uh,
Ping Pong Ball Awkward QuestionChallenge.

(57:26):
Oh, okay.
Yes, and, uh, at the end of thissegment, one lucky listener will
win the prize that Anne hasbrought.
Would you like to share what itis?
Sure, so I, I enjoy doingartistic things, and if you were
talking about Oregon, I don'tknow if people can see them.
Yeah, there's cameras shiningright at you.
But these are pictures that Itook.

(57:47):
Pictures of Oregon that you'vetaken and turned them into
greeting cards?
Right.
Oh, how pretty.
So there's four of them, andthese are all pictures.
Pictures of places that I'vebeen at in Oregon.
They're all the, the oceanthing, kind of, I thought would
be a good idea to, but yes,that's what I'm giving away.
I love it.
So, um, So we're, I'm gonna pullout, uh, this bowl.

(58:14):
And there's going to be threeprofessional or business or
awkward questions in there.
And so we'll be back in a coupleminutes.
Alright, sounds good.

(59:05):
Alright.
So, here's our new game to win aprize from one of our guests.
And so, for the Custom, Greetingcards, we'll say, from Anne
Barron.
So choose three of those pingpong balls.
Does it matter the color?
No, it doesn't matter the color.
Let's just have some variety inthere, and then I will read the
questions right here.

(59:28):
So we've got 29, 30, and 8.
So there's 8.
I'm gonna read the other two.
Myself before I choose theorder.
Okay.
I've got'em.
So I've got, uh, 29 is, uh,what's your death meal?

(59:55):
Oh, death row.
Row, Oh my gosh.
So, uh, 30.
What's the most surprising thingabout running your business?
Okay.
And then eight is.
What's your proudest achievementin business?
So those are two a little bitsimilar.
So I want to start with thebusiness questions and then
we're going to make the prizethis week.

(01:00:16):
Uh, if a listener, uh, DMs us onour Instagram page, I think
we'll, we'll share it on ourInstagram, but, uh, then the
answer to Ann's question ofwhat's your death row meal, that
will be the prize.
Okay.
Yeah.
We're doing a little, we'redoing a little audience
interaction.
Great.
So let's start with the proudestachievement in business.

(01:00:37):
Proudest achievement.
Wow.
I would actually have to saystarting my own business, and I
feel like it's rathersuccessful.
Just getting it off the ground.
Yeah, getting it off the groundand sticking with it for over
eight years, because I have areally short attention span.
Those people who know me reallywell know that I kind of jump
around a lot, but this issomething that I love.

(01:00:59):
It feeds your passions?
Yes.
I love it.
I love it.
And um, so the most surprisingthing about running your own
business?
The most surprising thing?
I think it just takes a lotlonger than you think it's going
to build to what you would likeit to be.
So it's, I, I would have to sayprobably this last year is

(01:01:20):
really built to the momentum andreally kind of gain speed.
Yeah.
Where you want it to be orwhatever.
Yes.
That's, uh, when we started LocoThink Tank, um, or when I
started Loco Think Tankoriginally, but we, it's never
been a me.
Um, but a couple of years in, Ihad to do some.
Some thinking about, uh, whatLoco really stood for.

(01:01:42):
And, and we settled withperspective, accountability, and
encouragement was our main kindof pillars at the time.
Right.
And the thing you're speaking tois encouragement there.
Like, even, like, even now,where you want to be is still, a
fair distance away from you,where you are.
And a lot of times asentrepreneurs, we can imagine

(01:02:03):
like where we want to be and belike, well, you suck.
Cause you're not where you wantto be yet.
But that's part of what makes usentrepreneurs.
And so that encouragement fromother chapter members in our
case, or in your case, all thepeople that you're around that
have seen you grow NorthernColorado community.
They can be like, yeah, you're,you know, you're doing some
great things.
You might be, you know, Youknow, it might have took you

(01:02:24):
eight years to be where youhoped you'd be in four.
Mm hmm.
Um, But it's perseverance to getthere.
So I think that's good wisdomOkay.
Now you're Death Romeo.
So you've been sentenced todeath, but you've got the best
chef you've ever met and You canhave as many courses as you'd
like Mike's right there with youif you want him to be And I'm

(01:02:44):
gonna add to it to the DeathRomeo Any any guests at your
table?
Would just be you and Mike inthat situation Well, that's a
great question.
I would probably say eatingDungeness Crab with melted
butter.
Eating what?
Dungeness Crab.
Okay, yep, yep.
Dungeness though, not king.
Yeah, I grew up in Oregon.

(01:03:06):
Dungeness Crab is the best.
Alright.
And fresh strawberries and thenrice.
Or noodles.
Okay.
Just like that?
Yeah.
Um, is it all together?
Or these are courses?
Probably all together.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, and then accompanied by I'dprobably just eat by myself.
I'm on death row.

(01:03:26):
I'm like, I don't want anyoneelse there.
I just want to think about thisshit.
Eat my crap.
What did I do?
Oh, I killed too many people.
Dang.
Dang.
You're wrongly convicted though,I was wrongly convicted.
I didn't really kill those AIDSraiders.
Yeah.
They said Donald Trump killedthem and they set you up for it.
Yeah.
Um, and then, uh, Oh, uh,accompanied by like, not just

(01:03:50):
the people, but You mentionedearlier, you're not a
teetotaler, but you don't reallycare about drinks or wine or
whatever.
Would you have a glass of redwine or would it be tequila if
you're death rowing it?
If I was probably going to drinksome, it'd probably be like plum
wine or some kind of a sweetwine.
A very sweet wine.
Daiquiri, that type of thing.
Okay.
Something real sugary and sweet.

(01:04:10):
Alright, alright.
Who cares about what's sugary ifyou're on death row?
Right, if you're on death row,it doesn't matter what your
waistline is looking like.
Um, all right.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for completing allthree questions.
So the answer, uh, forlisteners, uh, probably
Dungeness Crab gets you there.
If you DM our, our crew at theLoco Experience podcast, thanks

(01:04:31):
for playing.
We'll come up with more awkwardquestions next week.
And then, uh, Encouragement toyoung people.
Um, I'm thinking most,especially like, Maybe the, the
middle schoolers or the, or the15 to 20 year olds in the world
today that are going to have tofigure out, you know, you got
kind of railroaded into dad'sinsurance agency, right?

(01:04:53):
Like, not really, but yeah, it'skind of a little bit, you know,
like I didn't know, like peopletold me I was smart at math and
so maybe I should be anengineer.
I was like, I don't know.
I don't know what an engineer isor does.
And thankfully I was blessed tohave people that introduced me
to engineers.
I go spend a half day with themand be like, Oh, that's.
Lame.

(01:05:15):
But how do you, how do youfigure that out?
Who do you, yeah, what is youradvice to the person that's
figuring out what they want todo with their path?
Yeah.
If it's a middle school or highschool, I would say probably go
out and visit like what you did,different jobs or careers that
you think you might beinterested in, talk to those
folks, find out what it's like,and also don't be afraid to

(01:05:36):
fail.
I mean, there's going to bethings you're going to try and
it's not going to work out or bereally what you think it's going
to be, but that's okay.
I've had a lot of jobs that Ithought, well, this was not
going, going the way I thoughtit was going to, but that's
fine.
You just, you learn it.
You learn from it.
You put it in the pasture.
Yeah.
You learn from everything too.
Yeah.
You're a silver linings kind ofgal, aren't you?

(01:05:56):
Yes.
Um, okay.
And finally, the, the closingsegment, the loco experience.
And this is the craziestexperience of your lifetime that
you're willing to share.
Okay.
So I would say probably Andprobably the scariest was when I
was living in Oregon in college,and my girlfriend and I, we were

(01:06:19):
driving along the Oregoncoastline.
Okay, on the Pacific CoastHighway.
Yep, Pacific Coast Highway.
It was dark, and it was rainy,and we were talking about how
she's a thrill seekerpersonality.
Okay.
So, she was driving rather fast.
Okay.
On a rainy road, and then all ofa sudden, the car hydroplanes
and goes cliffside towards theocean.
Oh, dang.

(01:06:39):
And I'm thinking, okay.
This is it.
Yeah, I'm done.
And I was 24 years old.
I thought, this is it.
We're dead.
And all of a sudden the car juststops.
So there's two passengers in acar and we just stop.
We're, we don't go down into theocean, thankfully.
And just slid off the road, butit stopped.
It stopped.

(01:06:59):
Yeah.
And, and there's not a scratch.
There's no damage on the car.
They come and tow the car.
The car is drivable.
We don't even have a bruise or ascratch on us.
Nothing.
And I asked, I wrote myautobiography about four years
ago and I asked my girlfriend, Isaid.
What stopped us?
Do you remember what made usstop?
And she said it was a bush.
I don't know if you believe inangels or higher, you know, uh,

(01:07:23):
higher I don't know if you doeither, cause we wouldn't talk
about it.
I, so I do believe that there'ssomething beyond myself.
Uh, so I do really feel like mylife was protected and saved
that day.
Like a guardian angel kind of anexperience.
Right.
Because there's no reason a bushwould stop a car going 60 miles,
60, 70 miles an hour on a roadfrom going down.

(01:07:43):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, um, anyway, so that waskind of a pretty bizarre.
You like stopped it and you likegot out of the car like, okay, I
guess we're not dead.
Yeah.
So I got out of the car and thenthere were some friends who were
following us.
So I flagged them down and wecaught a tow truck and said, the
car is drivable.
We, we didn't even have ascratch on us.
Nothing was wrong with us.
But you let him, did you driveit home?

(01:08:04):
Yeah.
She was able to drive a carhome.
Yeah.
She's like, okay.
The car didn't even have adamaged grill or anything.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you just mentioned, and Iforgot to introduce you as
author and owner and founder ofNorthern Colorado Community, but
you wrote an autobiography.
What inspired you to do that?
So I wrote the autobiographyfour years ago.

(01:08:25):
I wanted to do it when I was 60years old, but I did it at 61,
at least got it finished.
But the point was, I think, morereflecting on my life and then
also hopefully people learning.
Maybe things I did right andthings that not to do like I
said, the thing when I left thecorporate world and ended up
with a VW bug was all my worldlyprocessions.

(01:08:46):
But anyway, so it was kind ofcatalystic, kind of a catalyst
on life lived.
Yeah.
And you get to that point inyour life, you think, well, I'm
going to look back on it and Gotit published.
It's on Amazon.
Right.
Okay, and what's it called?
It's called Soul Girl.
S E O U L.
Okay.
Soul Girl.
Sure.
Yeah, that makes sense.

(01:09:06):
Born in Seoul.
Yeah, yeah.
South Korea.
Yes.
What an interesting path you'vehad to Did you And maybe we're
not quite done yet, but did you,like, struggle with your
cultural identity in anyfashion?
I'm imagining that in the, maybenot in your, probably more so in
Portland, Seattle, there's a lotof Korean and Asian communities,

(01:09:27):
but maybe less so in Eugene?
Yeah, that is very true.
Yeah, there's more multiculturalin Portland and around the
Seattle area.
So growing up in Eugene The highschool I went to had 1, 200
students, so it was a good sizehigh school.
And there was probably less than20 non white students in that
whole school.
Oh, that's totally white.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(01:09:48):
Okay.
And so I did get teased andthings when I was growing up.
But the thing is, is that mostpeople get teased for something.
Maybe you were when you wereshort.
I was quick to squirt.
Yeah.
Or they're too skinny, too, tooheavy, whatever.
Yeah.
Whatever.
Too tall, too short, but thething is, is it's what makes you
and you just learn to beresilient and yeah, and move on
with it.

(01:10:08):
Have you ever visited Korea?
I did actually.
So I was 39 years old and I wenton a tour with other adoptees.
So everyone in the group wereall adopted and raised in
America.
Was that like a big common thingat the time?
Like this was doing a tour ofKorea.
Like when you were, when youwere.
I don't know how old you arequite, but like, was this post

(01:10:30):
Korean War?
Was there like a wave ofadoptions that happened?
Was Korea really in toughstraits?
That's why there was a lot ofkids being adopted and stuff?
Yes, exactly.
Korea was a very poor countryafter the war.
And, um, so I'm 64 years old.
And the Korean War was, Ibelieve, in the late 50s.
So there was a lot of, uh,babies, um, due to different
reasons.

(01:10:51):
Um, unwed pregnancies, or peoplecouldn't afford to raise their
children.
So there was a mixed race.
Yeah, was there even likeAmerican soldiers and Korean
ladies and whatever?
Yeah, right.
And, and, uh, Whetherprofessional or non professional
kind of style, probably.
And then back in those days,mixed race.
children were discriminatedagainst or looked down on.

(01:11:13):
So, um, there's a lot ofreasons, but Are you, do you
know, have you had testing oranything?
Are you Korean Korean or areyou, like, potentially like a
white Korean?
I, I haven't had testing, but Ithink I'm probably Pretty much
majority Asian of some kind,whether it's Korean, Chinese,
Japanese.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm just kind of one of thosepeople, I don't want to do the

(01:11:34):
DNA test.
No, it's okay.
You wouldn't talk about it evenif you did.
Thanks for sharing.
Um, listeners are, some of themare going to want to, Check out
Northern Colorado Community.
You want to give them a pointer.
Right.
So the website isNorthernColoradoCommunity.
com.
That was easy.
And, and the Facebook page, samename, same thing.
And you can contact me at eitherplace, so.

(01:11:55):
Yeah, you can find her.
If you drop her a note, she'llcontact you back pretty quick.
Right.
Well, and you've lived a veryinteresting journey, and you
continue to add a lot of valueto the, to the business
community here in NorthernColorado.
So Thank you.
Yeah, thank you for being here.
Thanks for having me.
And I know you voted for Trump.
Thanks for having me as a guest.

(01:12:16):
I'll kill you later.
No, no, it was fun.
much.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Loco Experience
podcast.
Proudly produced and sponsoredby Loco Think Tank, Colorado's
premier peer advisoryorganization.
This is your producer, AvaManouse.
To find all of our episodes ornominate a future guest, check

(01:12:39):
out our website atthelocoexperience.
com.
You can also find us onInstagram, Facebook, YouTube, X.
com, and LinkedIn at The LocoExperience.
To support the show, be sure tofollow, subscribe, and share.
Until next time, stay loco.