January 25, 2024 • 20 mins
Rob Kelsey dives into the heartwarming story of how adversity led to entrepreneurship and community bonding in Upstate New York. The conversation reveals the intersection of personal challenges, passion for pets, and the creative use of municipal government auctions to catalyze business growth and local community events. Discover the inspiring journey of Rob and his cat hotel, from its serendipitous beginnings to the joyful impact it brings to the community.
Rob Kelsey’s narrative takes us from his serious health setback and the inception of his cat hotel to the delightful anecdotes about bringing the community together through the joy of classic Peanuts films. The episode intricately weaves together the themes of recovery, animal care, and community engagement, drawing listeners into the charm of small-town life and the persistence of the human spirit. From practical advice on participating in government auctions to the philosophical musings on the role of community and family traditions, Rob offers a treasury of insights that resonate with entrepreneurs, animal lovers, and community organizers alike.
About the Guest:
Rob Kelsey is an innovative entrepreneur from just outside of Rochester, New York. With his spouse, Rob owns a feline-only boarding facility known as a "cat hotel," which they have been operating for about seven years. His experiences include dealing with a challenging health issue that changed his career path and led to this unique business venture. Rob has a strong community focus, organizing local events such as Peanuts movie showings, and has utilized resources like Municibid to support and expand his business operations.
Key Takeaways:
- Rob Kelsey transformed a health crisis into an opportunity by starting a feline-only boarding facility with his spouse.
- Rob is committed to community engagement, organizing free movie showings, including classic Peanuts films, to foster togetherness and tradition.
- Government auctions can be a strategic and cost-effective way to acquire materials for business projects.
- Rob Kelsey emphasizes the importance of returning to wholesome family values and unity within the community.
Additional Resources:
- Explore the wild world of government surplus at Municibid
- Learn more about interesting Government Surplus sold in New York
Got feedback or want to be a guest? Email us at marketing@municibid.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sophie Eden (00:00):
Hi.
(00:00):
I'm excited to chat with youtoday about your business and
the community events you do.
Can you start us off byintroducing yourself?
Rob Kelsey (00:09):
So, I'm Rob Kelsey.
I live in Massa, New York, whichis outside of Rochester.
My spouse and I own a cat hotel.
It's a feline only boardingfacility, and we've used
Municibid quite a few times forprojects that we needed to do.
Around our office, one of thebig ones that we got was a a
(00:32):
large glass partitioned wallthat we use.
As kind of like a viewing areaso that the cats can see out,
humans can see in, and we madethat into like a playroom space
so that the, the cats can getout and stretch their legs.
And then we just recently got aorder or a bid for a bunch of
(00:57):
hand railing and spindles.
For an expansion project thatwe're working on right now.
We've been doing our little homebusiness for about seven years
and been playing with forprobably three of those four
years.
Sophie Eden (01:14):
Fantastic.
So can you tell us more aboutyour cat hotel how you got
started?
Rob Kelsey (01:23):
I ended up getting salmonella really badly and I
couldn't go back to work.
My previous job is where Iactually got the salmonella
from.
I worked for a sewage treatmentplant.
And I had some exposure, like alot of exposure to some sewage,
and I ended up coming down withsalmonella and cda and part of
(01:46):
the recovery from that, I endedup having reactions to the
medications that they gave me toto fix what I was going through.
So now I got neuropathyproblems.
I still have digestive problems,so they obviously didn't want me
back in the sewage treatmentplant.
And we had an outbuilding on ourproperty already.
(02:09):
And my spouse was in theveterinary field for quite some
time.
She wasn't a vet tech, but sheworked in the office for quite
some time.
So we had.
A lot of experience.
Plus we had a lot of our owncats too.
Okay.
I, we only have three.
Some people when they say a lotmeans we have 20, but no, we
(02:32):
only have three of our own.
So because I was having a hardtime moving around we had to
figure out a way for me togenerate income and we just
thought, hey, you know, maybe wecan.
Do a little home businesswatching cats while friends and
family are on vacation.
And then we never reallyadvertised, but word got around
and within a year of actuallydoing this legally, cause a lot
(02:56):
of people do pet sitting, butthey do it under the table.
We decided right from the get gothat we would do it all on the
books.
Within a year we had so muchbusiness that both.
Myself and my spouse were doingit as a full-time job.
Sophie Eden (03:10):
That's fantastic.
Rob Kelsey (03:11):
And it's great to be able to just get out of bed and,
you know, as long as nocustomers are coming, if you
want to go out and work on thecats in your pajamas, you can
and you don't have to worryabout traffic.
It's great to just walk in thebackyard and, and get to work.
Sophie Eden (03:25):
Wow.
Sorry to hear about yoursickness and all of that.
That is awful.
But it sounds like it turnedaround and had a silver lining
with starting this cat boardingbusiness.
Yeah.
That's quite something,
Rob Kelsey (03:44):
And a lot of vets with Covid have stopped doing
the boarding at theirfacilities, cause it, a lot of
people stopped going onvacations.
And the people that were gonnado housework still needed to
have a place to take their cats.
And some brave people were stillgoing out.
So we still had cats throughoutthe pandemic.
(04:06):
But it's, it's definitelysomething now.
Not that I ever wish to be sickagain, but I wish I had started
the business a long time agobecause you know, you're your
own boss.
Couple hours in the morning,couple hours at night, and like
I said, you're just traffic isjust making sure you don't get
attacked by the squirrels on theway out to the office.
Sophie Eden (04:27):
Definitely know about the squirrels and
chipmunks among other wildlife.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's, it's definitely nicenot having you know, an hour
long commute in crazy traffic.
Definitely makes a bigdifference.
What was your first governmentauction win?
Rob Kelsey (04:46):
honestly, the, the first thing that we bought
though was the projectors.
We bought some like projectorsto connect to your computer so
you can display your screens onthe wall.
But honestly, the first purposeof that projector was to do the,
the little Halloween.
Programs.
It was just something that I'vealways, I never had any kids and
(05:08):
I always loved those littlepeanut movies, and I figured,
you know, I, I, I didn't haveany kids, but I've always wanted
one.
So figured what better way tohave some fun with some kids and
make sure that those peanutmovies never go away.
And we had a our local firedepartment has a pavilion that's
(05:30):
right on the Erie Canal.
So we brought in a bunch of hayand couple loads of leaves and
made a big hay or a big leaf pitfor the kids to jump in, brought
donuts.
And just because of the, theconcept of the movies They had
toast in the movie.
So we brought a toaster down andif anyone wanted toast, we'd
(05:50):
give'em toast.
It was kind of fun.
Just, just a night out on thetown.
Sophie Eden (05:55):
And had you organized a Peanuts movie
showing before?
Rob Kelsey (06:00):
No.
That was, that was the firsttime we did that.
And we, we did it for like threeyears in a row, but then the
village went through thedissolving, so then the pavilion
was kind of like, You know, whodo we go to to reserve it now?
And then the pandemic camearound, so maybe this coming
year I'll do it again.
Mm.
Even if I don't do it in myfront yard.
(06:21):
Cause I live right on a, a mainstreet village and I actually
have a, a fairly sizable yardfor living in a village.
Sophie Eden (06:30):
What advice would you give to others who are
interested in organizing apeanut movie showing in their
community?
Rob Kelsey (06:38):
Well, for one thing, you definitely can't charge
admission because there's rulesabout that.
I made sure that that was, Anokay thing to do through the
town before I proposed that Imade little flyers and put'em in
restaurants and there's adaycare that's right behind my
home.
I gave it to them the littleflyers to, to let'em know that
(07:01):
there would be a free event downat the canal.
Local restaurant people, theywere Enthused about it.
And actually my local countryMax store, which is a, like a
garden outdoor store they stockhay and straw for farm animals.
And I went to them, told'em whatthe concept was of what I wanted
(07:22):
to do, and they actually let meborrow the, the hay, well straw
for the event and then whateverbales.
Were damaged.
I had to pay for those.
But going to my, a couple local,little local vendors, I was able
to get a bunch of fun stuff forfree.
I really didn't pay anything foradvertising.
(07:44):
The only thing that I did payout of pocket was basically the
donuts cider, and I broughtpizza for the adults too, in
case they wanted something tosnack on.
But the, the kids had anabsolute ball playing in the
leaves, and I think a lot of theadults had more fun watching the
kids than I even did.
Sophie Eden (08:04):
That sounds adorable.
Why do you think it's soimportant for kids, you know, in
the next generation to be seeingthese Charlie Brown movies?
Rob Kelsey (08:15):
Well, It may be a little mushy, but I think
there's just, there's too muchhate and violence in TV right
now.
Every primetime show seems to beabout cops or investigations,
and there's like, there's nomore like casby show type stuff
(08:36):
anymore.
And you know, we're, we'reliving in a world where, You
know, one tweet gets blown outof proportion and we need to go
back to actually picking up thephone and talking to people
rather than playing on ourphones, texting to people.
Cause people are just losingtouch with how to actually
(08:58):
communicate to people and how torespect people.
And I think bringing thecommunity together and showing
how you can do stuff togetherand have a good time without.
Know, saying, you know, thatperson doesn't look like me, so
I don't like them or whatnot.
Were the peanuts.
They were all different coloredboys and girls, and they all got
(09:22):
along well, mostly good, but I,I don't know.
I, I just think that the really,that the, the world really is
kind of heading in a terribleplace.
And those older shows, you know,really kept some of the morals
that I think the newergeneration doesn't really have
anymore.
Sophie Eden (09:42):
Yeah, I hear you.
Rob Kelsey (09:44):
I don't mean to be a downer, but know that's that.
that was always, you know, when,when Christmas came around, when
Thanksgiving came around as achild, I remember, and I'm 51
now.
It's like, that was like thething that I waited for to come
on TV was those, you know, thoseanimated programs cause they
(10:06):
were, you know, they had happyoutcomes.
You know, you didn't have to sitthrough.
Half an hour of hearing somebodythat died or got shot or
stabbed.
And if it was something that thefamily all got together and sat
down and actually paid attentionand then, you know, you would
pretend, depending on theseason, you would, you know,
(10:28):
make or decorate cookiesafterwards or decorate or go out
and cut the tree down forChristmas.
So it was just something thatbrings.
Brings back the childhood andthat, you know, being an adult
and not having a kid, thatkinda, you know, I don't have
that happy energy around myhouse anymore.
Because I don't have the kid tobe happy and interested about
(10:50):
watching those shows.
Sophie Eden (10:52):
Yeah.
Bringing back holiday traditionsand the importance of family and
spending quality time withfamily setting.
Rob Kelsey (11:01):
Yeah.
Even just un, you know,unfortunately I got sick this
Thanksgiving, but you know, whenI try to get, my parents are
separated, so to get my mom andmy dad and my brother and his
two kids and their partnerstrying to get them all together,
now it's just like, Pullingteeth.
(11:22):
It's come on.
This is like, we're just askingfor one day out of the year.
I know you have the day off, buttry to come around at least for
five minutes, would you?
Sophie Eden (11:35):
Yeah, it's definitely I much more
challenging now with, it's soeasy to move across the country
or move all over the place andthen bringing everyone back
together.
Yeah.
It's a challenge and shouldn'tbe that challenging, but yeah.
You had mentioned that you wontwo projectors and one of the
(11:58):
projectors you gave to abookstore.
Can you tell me more about thisbookstore?
Rob Kelsey (12:03):
Yeah, so like I said at the beginning, I live in a
small community called Mass inNew York.
And just down the street from myhouse, there's a small used
bookstore called books, etcetera.
And they do, they're very small.
So when I say they do programs,it's like maybe 12 people can
(12:23):
fit in the room.
They do programs that are freeall to all different types of
programs.
It can be just like, Gettingtogether to study the Bible
crafting programs.
The, the owner of the bookstorehe used to be a a teacher.
I think he was more of a historyteacher, but he did a lot of
(12:44):
theater stuff too.
So part of also why I did thatCharlie Brown stuff was.
He would yearly make a littleadult program down at the
pavilion.
And we were, you know, long-termfriends with them cause we've
been living in this communityfor 11 years and that was one of
the first places that, you know,everyone's told to go down and
(13:08):
say hi to the bookstore peoplebecause they know everybody in
the community.
So We got introduced to themquite early and I liked the idea
that he had a bunch of freeprograms.
So I was like, Hey, you know,why don't we, some of the locals
that always come down here foryour programs, why don't we just
have a night where we just donothing?
(13:29):
Everybody brings like a littledish to pass, nothing super
fancy.
And we'll just sit down andwatch a movie together.
And they're usually comedymovies so that it's a little
lighthearted.
And then we'll do some holidaystuff too.
But that just came about to say,you know, life's very busy.
Let's just have a night togetherand.
(13:50):
Just do nothing.
So we'll buy a pizza from acrossthe street.
Everyone will bring like somecheese or some cookies and some
people will bring some wine andwe'll share a bottle or two,
maybe three.
Okay.
Sometimes it's four.
But it's, you know, it's just a,it's a nice little community to
live in and they were they'resuper nice people and all the
(14:11):
people that show up there, Superfun.
And they're, they're all the wayfrom teenagers all the way up to
like 90 year old people thatshow up to that place to sit
down and watch a movie with usand, you know, being a bookstore
and being small.
I don't have the projectorphysically mounted on the
ceiling yet, so when I go downwith the computer to hook up
(14:32):
the, the projector, we gotta geta big stack of books and stack
it up on a chair so that it'sprojected at the right height so
everyone can see.
But it's all fun.
We all have a great time.
Sophie Eden (14:45):
Another good use for books?
Yeah.
Rob Kelsey (14:48):
Yeah.
Sophie Eden (14:49):
Oh, that's awesome.
What would you say has been likethe biggest challenge in
participating in these municipalgovernment auctions?
Rob Kelsey (15:01):
The only real challenge I find is there's
items that I would love to bidon, but then, and that's no
fault of Municibid by any means,but.
Unfortunately, some of the itemsare posted that are quite far
away, so transport to get theitems sometimes makes it not
(15:21):
worth bidding on the item.
But again, that's, no, that's nofault in Municibid.
That's just, you know, I'mlooking for this particular item
today.
Either no one's got them up forbid or they're just too far away
to make it worthwhile.
Sophie Eden (15:34):
Sure.
Yeah.
That's part of, you know, allthe listings being online and
being able to see everythingYeah.
Instead of just nearby.
Rob Kelsey (15:41):
But not to say that I haven't driven 600 miles to
pick something up.
Sophie Eden (15:46):
Oh my gosh.
That's quite a haul.
Rob Kelsey (15:49):
The spindles were I, I look over to the side because
I actually have them, some of'emmounted already.
I live in New York, right nearLake Ontario and I had won those
down near Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.
So that was, that was a littlebit of a hike and I, I had to do
that in a one day trip.
(16:09):
So I got up early, took off,loaded up the vehicle and got
back on the same day.
Sophie Eden (16:14):
Wow, that's quite a trip.
Would you say it was worth it?
Rob Kelsey (16:18):
Definitely the Municibid has saved kitten
around quite a bit of money bygetting used items that were in
very good shape.
And the, the spindles that wepurchased there were way more
than what we needed at the time,but we are planning on a
expansion to our business, sowe'll be able to use the
(16:38):
remainders.
Of the spindles in, in a future,but the auction, I think I won
that for like maybe$250 and weprobably sh we, we probably
picked up about$5,000 worth ofmaterial.
So it was definitely wow to, togo pick up that from outta
(16:59):
state.
Just the, the railing that Iused that probably would've cost
us$1,500.
And just in the materials, andlike I said, I, I think I picked
that one up for$250.
Sophie Eden (17:13):
Wow.
What advice would you give topeople who are new to government
auctions
Rob Kelsey (17:20):
I've found my experience with Municibid that I
don't bother waiting till thelast minute to try to get the
best price.
I already know what the price isof the product that I bid on if
I were to go out and buy it, soI don't bother putting in a bid.
You know, and again, it's gonnadepend on what you're bidding on
if you're bidding on a highticket item.
(17:41):
You know, you're gonna spendsome money on it if you're gonna
if you're gonna go out and buyit on, on your own.
So I, when I do my bidding, Iusually bid what I am actually
willing to pay for.
That way I don't have toconstantly look over my shoulder
and keep updating.
The bid if it gets outbid.
It's frustrating to get thatemail that says that you've been
(18:03):
outbid, so you might as welljust get it in there and, and
let it ride.
It's, it's wave and the, theonly.
The only things that I'veactually not won are things that
I knew that I had to underbidbecause I had to travel to, to,
and still make it worthwhile.
And I wasn't that upset about itbecause I know that there's
(18:25):
gonna be more stuff comingthrough eventually.
But the, the search is prettyawesome.
You can find a lot of differentunique items and it's super
easy.
I guess one thing that I alsowould wouldn't mind saying is
that I like Municibid becauseyou don't have to pay for your
bids.
I have seen and heard that thereare other sites out there that
(18:45):
you actually have to pay to bidon items, and all you need to do
is make a a login id.
Sophie Eden (18:52):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much, Rob.
It's been an absolute pleasurechatting with you.
Rob Kelsey (18:58):
It's nice to talk to you too
Sophie Eden (18:59):
about your community.
I really enjoyed it reallyappreciate it.
Rob Kelsey (19:03):
You have a great afternoon.
Hi.
(00:00):
I'm excited to chat with youtoday about your business and
the community events you do.
Can you start us off byintroducing yourself?
Rob Kelsey (00:09):
So, I'm Rob Kelsey.
I live in Massa, New York, whichis outside of Rochester.
My spouse and I own a cat hotel.
It's a feline only boardingfacility, and we've used
Municibid quite a few times forprojects that we needed to do.
Around our office, one of thebig ones that we got was a a
(00:32):
large glass partitioned wallthat we use.
As kind of like a viewing areaso that the cats can see out,
humans can see in, and we madethat into like a playroom space
so that the, the cats can getout and stretch their legs.
And then we just recently got aorder or a bid for a bunch of
(00:57):
hand railing and spindles.
For an expansion project thatwe're working on right now.
We've been doing our little homebusiness for about seven years
and been playing with forprobably three of those four
years.
Sophie Eden (01:14):
Fantastic.
So can you tell us more aboutyour cat hotel how you got
started?
Rob Kelsey (01:23):
I ended up getting salmonella really badly and I
couldn't go back to work.
My previous job is where Iactually got the salmonella
from.
I worked for a sewage treatmentplant.
And I had some exposure, like alot of exposure to some sewage,
and I ended up coming down withsalmonella and cda and part of
(01:46):
the recovery from that, I endedup having reactions to the
medications that they gave me toto fix what I was going through.
So now I got neuropathyproblems.
I still have digestive problems,so they obviously didn't want me
back in the sewage treatmentplant.
And we had an outbuilding on ourproperty already.
(02:09):
And my spouse was in theveterinary field for quite some
time.
She wasn't a vet tech, but sheworked in the office for quite
some time.
So we had.
A lot of experience.
Plus we had a lot of our owncats too.
Okay.
I, we only have three.
Some people when they say a lotmeans we have 20, but no, we
(02:32):
only have three of our own.
So because I was having a hardtime moving around we had to
figure out a way for me togenerate income and we just
thought, hey, you know, maybe wecan.
Do a little home businesswatching cats while friends and
family are on vacation.
And then we never reallyadvertised, but word got around
and within a year of actuallydoing this legally, cause a lot
(02:56):
of people do pet sitting, butthey do it under the table.
We decided right from the get gothat we would do it all on the
books.
Within a year we had so muchbusiness that both.
Myself and my spouse were doingit as a full-time job.
Sophie Eden (03:10):
That's fantastic.
Rob Kelsey (03:11):
And it's great to be able to just get out of bed and,
you know, as long as nocustomers are coming, if you
want to go out and work on thecats in your pajamas, you can
and you don't have to worryabout traffic.
It's great to just walk in thebackyard and, and get to work.
Sophie Eden (03:25):
Wow.
Sorry to hear about yoursickness and all of that.
That is awful.
But it sounds like it turnedaround and had a silver lining
with starting this cat boardingbusiness.
Yeah.
That's quite something,
Rob Kelsey (03:44):
And a lot of vets with Covid have stopped doing
the boarding at theirfacilities, cause it, a lot of
people stopped going onvacations.
And the people that were gonnado housework still needed to
have a place to take their cats.
And some brave people were stillgoing out.
So we still had cats throughoutthe pandemic.
(04:06):
But it's, it's definitelysomething now.
Not that I ever wish to be sickagain, but I wish I had started
the business a long time agobecause you know, you're your
own boss.
Couple hours in the morning,couple hours at night, and like
I said, you're just traffic isjust making sure you don't get
attacked by the squirrels on theway out to the office.
Sophie Eden (04:27):
Definitely know about the squirrels and
chipmunks among other wildlife.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's, it's definitely nicenot having you know, an hour
long commute in crazy traffic.
Definitely makes a bigdifference.
What was your first governmentauction win?
Rob Kelsey (04:46):
honestly, the, the first thing that we bought
though was the projectors.
We bought some like projectorsto connect to your computer so
you can display your screens onthe wall.
But honestly, the first purposeof that projector was to do the,
the little Halloween.
Programs.
It was just something that I'vealways, I never had any kids and
(05:08):
I always loved those littlepeanut movies, and I figured,
you know, I, I, I didn't haveany kids, but I've always wanted
one.
So figured what better way tohave some fun with some kids and
make sure that those peanutmovies never go away.
And we had a our local firedepartment has a pavilion that's
(05:30):
right on the Erie Canal.
So we brought in a bunch of hayand couple loads of leaves and
made a big hay or a big leaf pitfor the kids to jump in, brought
donuts.
And just because of the, theconcept of the movies They had
toast in the movie.
So we brought a toaster down andif anyone wanted toast, we'd
(05:50):
give'em toast.
It was kind of fun.
Just, just a night out on thetown.
Sophie Eden (05:55):
And had you organized a Peanuts movie
showing before?
Rob Kelsey (06:00):
No.
That was, that was the firsttime we did that.
And we, we did it for like threeyears in a row, but then the
village went through thedissolving, so then the pavilion
was kind of like, You know, whodo we go to to reserve it now?
And then the pandemic camearound, so maybe this coming
year I'll do it again.
Mm.
Even if I don't do it in myfront yard.
(06:21):
Cause I live right on a, a mainstreet village and I actually
have a, a fairly sizable yardfor living in a village.
Sophie Eden (06:30):
What advice would you give to others who are
interested in organizing apeanut movie showing in their
community?
Rob Kelsey (06:38):
Well, for one thing, you definitely can't charge
admission because there's rulesabout that.
I made sure that that was, Anokay thing to do through the
town before I proposed that Imade little flyers and put'em in
restaurants and there's adaycare that's right behind my
home.
I gave it to them the littleflyers to, to let'em know that
(07:01):
there would be a free event downat the canal.
Local restaurant people, theywere Enthused about it.
And actually my local countryMax store, which is a, like a
garden outdoor store they stockhay and straw for farm animals.
And I went to them, told'em whatthe concept was of what I wanted
(07:22):
to do, and they actually let meborrow the, the hay, well straw
for the event and then whateverbales.
Were damaged.
I had to pay for those.
But going to my, a couple local,little local vendors, I was able
to get a bunch of fun stuff forfree.
I really didn't pay anything foradvertising.
(07:44):
The only thing that I did payout of pocket was basically the
donuts cider, and I broughtpizza for the adults too, in
case they wanted something tosnack on.
But the, the kids had anabsolute ball playing in the
leaves, and I think a lot of theadults had more fun watching the
kids than I even did.
Sophie Eden (08:04):
That sounds adorable.
Why do you think it's soimportant for kids, you know, in
the next generation to be seeingthese Charlie Brown movies?
Rob Kelsey (08:15):
Well, It may be a little mushy, but I think
there's just, there's too muchhate and violence in TV right
now.
Every primetime show seems to beabout cops or investigations,
and there's like, there's nomore like casby show type stuff
(08:36):
anymore.
And you know, we're, we'reliving in a world where, You
know, one tweet gets blown outof proportion and we need to go
back to actually picking up thephone and talking to people
rather than playing on ourphones, texting to people.
Cause people are just losingtouch with how to actually
(08:58):
communicate to people and how torespect people.
And I think bringing thecommunity together and showing
how you can do stuff togetherand have a good time without.
Know, saying, you know, thatperson doesn't look like me, so
I don't like them or whatnot.
Were the peanuts.
They were all different coloredboys and girls, and they all got
(09:22):
along well, mostly good, but I,I don't know.
I, I just think that the really,that the, the world really is
kind of heading in a terribleplace.
And those older shows, you know,really kept some of the morals
that I think the newergeneration doesn't really have
anymore.
Sophie Eden (09:42):
Yeah, I hear you.
Rob Kelsey (09:44):
I don't mean to be a downer, but know that's that.
that was always, you know, when,when Christmas came around, when
Thanksgiving came around as achild, I remember, and I'm 51
now.
It's like, that was like thething that I waited for to come
on TV was those, you know, thoseanimated programs cause they
(10:06):
were, you know, they had happyoutcomes.
You know, you didn't have to sitthrough.
Half an hour of hearing somebodythat died or got shot or
stabbed.
And if it was something that thefamily all got together and sat
down and actually paid attentionand then, you know, you would
pretend, depending on theseason, you would, you know,
(10:28):
make or decorate cookiesafterwards or decorate or go out
and cut the tree down forChristmas.
So it was just something thatbrings.
Brings back the childhood andthat, you know, being an adult
and not having a kid, thatkinda, you know, I don't have
that happy energy around myhouse anymore.
Because I don't have the kid tobe happy and interested about
(10:50):
watching those shows.
Sophie Eden (10:52):
Yeah.
Bringing back holiday traditionsand the importance of family and
spending quality time withfamily setting.
Rob Kelsey (11:01):
Yeah.
Even just un, you know,unfortunately I got sick this
Thanksgiving, but you know, whenI try to get, my parents are
separated, so to get my mom andmy dad and my brother and his
two kids and their partnerstrying to get them all together,
now it's just like, Pullingteeth.
(11:22):
It's come on.
This is like, we're just askingfor one day out of the year.
I know you have the day off, buttry to come around at least for
five minutes, would you?
Sophie Eden (11:35):
Yeah, it's definitely I much more
challenging now with, it's soeasy to move across the country
or move all over the place andthen bringing everyone back
together.
Yeah.
It's a challenge and shouldn'tbe that challenging, but yeah.
You had mentioned that you wontwo projectors and one of the
(11:58):
projectors you gave to abookstore.
Can you tell me more about thisbookstore?
Rob Kelsey (12:03):
Yeah, so like I said at the beginning, I live in a
small community called Mass inNew York.
And just down the street from myhouse, there's a small used
bookstore called books, etcetera.
And they do, they're very small.
So when I say they do programs,it's like maybe 12 people can
(12:23):
fit in the room.
They do programs that are freeall to all different types of
programs.
It can be just like, Gettingtogether to study the Bible
crafting programs.
The, the owner of the bookstorehe used to be a a teacher.
I think he was more of a historyteacher, but he did a lot of
(12:44):
theater stuff too.
So part of also why I did thatCharlie Brown stuff was.
He would yearly make a littleadult program down at the
pavilion.
And we were, you know, long-termfriends with them cause we've
been living in this communityfor 11 years and that was one of
the first places that, you know,everyone's told to go down and
(13:08):
say hi to the bookstore peoplebecause they know everybody in
the community.
So We got introduced to themquite early and I liked the idea
that he had a bunch of freeprograms.
So I was like, Hey, you know,why don't we, some of the locals
that always come down here foryour programs, why don't we just
have a night where we just donothing?
(13:29):
Everybody brings like a littledish to pass, nothing super
fancy.
And we'll just sit down andwatch a movie together.
And they're usually comedymovies so that it's a little
lighthearted.
And then we'll do some holidaystuff too.
But that just came about to say,you know, life's very busy.
Let's just have a night togetherand.
(13:50):
Just do nothing.
So we'll buy a pizza from acrossthe street.
Everyone will bring like somecheese or some cookies and some
people will bring some wine andwe'll share a bottle or two,
maybe three.
Okay.
Sometimes it's four.
But it's, you know, it's just a,it's a nice little community to
live in and they were they'resuper nice people and all the
(14:11):
people that show up there, Superfun.
And they're, they're all the wayfrom teenagers all the way up to
like 90 year old people thatshow up to that place to sit
down and watch a movie with usand, you know, being a bookstore
and being small.
I don't have the projectorphysically mounted on the
ceiling yet, so when I go downwith the computer to hook up
(14:32):
the, the projector, we gotta geta big stack of books and stack
it up on a chair so that it'sprojected at the right height so
everyone can see.
But it's all fun.
We all have a great time.
Sophie Eden (14:45):
Another good use for books?
Yeah.
Rob Kelsey (14:48):
Yeah.
Sophie Eden (14:49):
Oh, that's awesome.
What would you say has been likethe biggest challenge in
participating in these municipalgovernment auctions?
Rob Kelsey (15:01):
The only real challenge I find is there's
items that I would love to bidon, but then, and that's no
fault of Municibid by any means,but.
Unfortunately, some of the itemsare posted that are quite far
away, so transport to get theitems sometimes makes it not
(15:21):
worth bidding on the item.
But again, that's, no, that's nofault in Municibid.
That's just, you know, I'mlooking for this particular item
today.
Either no one's got them up forbid or they're just too far away
to make it worthwhile.
Sophie Eden (15:34):
Sure.
Yeah.
That's part of, you know, allthe listings being online and
being able to see everythingYeah.
Instead of just nearby.
Rob Kelsey (15:41):
But not to say that I haven't driven 600 miles to
pick something up.
Sophie Eden (15:46):
Oh my gosh.
That's quite a haul.
Rob Kelsey (15:49):
The spindles were I, I look over to the side because
I actually have them, some of'emmounted already.
I live in New York, right nearLake Ontario and I had won those
down near Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.
So that was, that was a littlebit of a hike and I, I had to do
that in a one day trip.
(16:09):
So I got up early, took off,loaded up the vehicle and got
back on the same day.
Sophie Eden (16:14):
Wow, that's quite a trip.
Would you say it was worth it?
Rob Kelsey (16:18):
Definitely the Municibid has saved kitten
around quite a bit of money bygetting used items that were in
very good shape.
And the, the spindles that wepurchased there were way more
than what we needed at the time,but we are planning on a
expansion to our business, sowe'll be able to use the
(16:38):
remainders.
Of the spindles in, in a future,but the auction, I think I won
that for like maybe$250 and weprobably sh we, we probably
picked up about$5,000 worth ofmaterial.
So it was definitely wow to, togo pick up that from outta
(16:59):
state.
Just the, the railing that Iused that probably would've cost
us$1,500.
And just in the materials, andlike I said, I, I think I picked
that one up for$250.
Sophie Eden (17:13):
Wow.
What advice would you give topeople who are new to government
auctions
Rob Kelsey (17:20):
I've found my experience with Municibid that I
don't bother waiting till thelast minute to try to get the
best price.
I already know what the price isof the product that I bid on if
I were to go out and buy it, soI don't bother putting in a bid.
You know, and again, it's gonnadepend on what you're bidding on
if you're bidding on a highticket item.
(17:41):
You know, you're gonna spendsome money on it if you're gonna
if you're gonna go out and buyit on, on your own.
So I, when I do my bidding, Iusually bid what I am actually
willing to pay for.
That way I don't have toconstantly look over my shoulder
and keep updating.
The bid if it gets outbid.
It's frustrating to get thatemail that says that you've been
(18:03):
outbid, so you might as welljust get it in there and, and
let it ride.
It's, it's wave and the, theonly.
The only things that I'veactually not won are things that
I knew that I had to underbidbecause I had to travel to, to,
and still make it worthwhile.
And I wasn't that upset about itbecause I know that there's
(18:25):
gonna be more stuff comingthrough eventually.
But the, the search is prettyawesome.
You can find a lot of differentunique items and it's super
easy.
I guess one thing that I alsowould wouldn't mind saying is
that I like Municibid becauseyou don't have to pay for your
bids.
I have seen and heard that thereare other sites out there that
(18:45):
you actually have to pay to bidon items, and all you need to do
is make a a login id.
Sophie Eden (18:52):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much, Rob.
It's been an absolute pleasurechatting with you.
Rob Kelsey (18:58):
It's nice to talk to you too
Sophie Eden (18:59):
about your community.
I really enjoyed it reallyappreciate it.
Rob Kelsey (19:03):
You have a great afternoon.
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