December 4, 2023 • 31 mins
Ever wondered how to turn a seemingly dilapidated property into a thriving venture? Join us, Natalie Webster and Kelly Olsen, as Kelly shares her thrilling journey of breathing new life into the Guest House in Excelsior, transforming this historic bed and breakfast into a modern vacation rental and event venue.
We'll also let you in on our latest venture, our very own real estate brokerage Shortlist Properties, where we aim to turn every real estate challenge into a creative solution.
Hear the emotional tale of a woman who turned the tragic loss of her husband into a heartwarming narrative by taking a leap of faith with Hans Bakery. Her story of determination, grit, and the overwhelming support will leave you both inspired and motivated.
Join us on this journey of community through challenges, real estate, and entrepreneurship.
Click here to learn more about The Guest House in Excelsior
Learn more at https://www.tonkatalk.com where we share more about our Lake Minnetonka community, including upcoming events and our take on local experiences.
Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TonkaTalk/
If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions of a future guests creating community and connection, email natalie@tonkatalk.com
We appreciate your support in sharing Tonka Talk Community and Connection with someone you think could benefit from our content.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to Tonka Talk.
I'm Natalie Webster.
We talk about all thingscommunity and connection, and
many of you who follow TonkaTalk know exactly who's sitting
next to me it's Kelly Olson.
Hello, hello, nat.
We are gonna jump into a veryexciting topic today, something
I've been dying to talk to Kellyabout.
(00:20):
You're gonna hear a lot moreabout this topic in the future
because we have a really goodidea of what we wanna add to
Tonka Talk.
Now, if you don't know Kelly,she's been in the real estate
and land development game forover two decades.
Most people around the LakeMinnetonka area know her for one
of her recent projects, whichwas the guest house in Excelsior
.
It's when you and it was nine,right, nine total ladies.
(00:44):
Yes, that was an adventure forsure.
All came together.
In fact, that is when I firstmet you as I interviewed you
about the guest house inExcelsior.
How long ago was that?
Almost two years, may, wow, Iwanna say.
Was it in May?
No, it was right before itopened.
February issue was around that acouple years ago, and the guest
(01:06):
house is now a modern dayvacation rental and event venue,
and it was a bed and breakfastthat was built in like 1858.
Same year, minnesota became astate.
That's true, and this womanhere looks at this old building
and goes, huh, and I think thiswould make a great vacation
(01:28):
rental and event venue.
There was also a reality showfilmed around it called Miss
Independent I-N-N I N it'sindependent, which did really
well.
It was nominated for originalEmmy.
From there I joined Kelly inher company, olsen Global, and
we've been doing some fun thingssince then.
(01:48):
She's wrapped up a bigdevelopment out in Blaine.
Most what most of you haveprobably heard of is the
Shoreline Hotel, which is theproject that's currently going
on.
And most recently, after doingall of this, we're like, hey, we
should open our own real estatebrokerage.
Yes, we're both obsessed withreal estate, yes, with community
(02:13):
, and we recently did that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
We're those people who leave work and go home and
sit on the couch and just scrollthrough the internet looking to
see what else is available onthe market.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Causing and commercial listings is our porn.
You will.
That's truly, oh, like what'sfor sale.
Now one thing I know and it'sfunny you talking to an
interviewing now, because thefirst time I interviewed you I
had never even met you.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Right.
In fact, natalie, I don't evenknow if I ever told you this,
but it was like sort ofpandemic-y time school and we
were doing it remotely.
So you're there and I'm hereand I was having technical
difficulties on my computer.
I couldn't see you the entiretime.
I had no idea.
I had no idea what you lookedlike, what I looked like, what
any of this was all happening.
(03:03):
And then I feel like after wehung up from filming you and I
continued to talk for probably ahalf an hour after that and
just to find out more about yourreal estate career and your
background, all of that, and Iwas just really impressed
immediately.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That's so funny.
I did not know that.
Oh, that is funny.
So here we are now.
We've opened this real estatecompany, which is going well,
and here on Tonka Talk, we talka lot, as you know, about
community and connection, and Ireally want Kelly to share.
I've been dying to pin her downthe woman's really busy and talk
(03:38):
about entrepreneur, or or or oror Not many.
You gotta say that this is aword.
I have a hard time withEntrepreneurs, of course, but
entrepreneurism, yes, yes, I cando it, but I can't say it
Perfect.
You're doing great.
Now a lot of people and sinceI've known you, one of my
(04:02):
biggest takeaways and things Ilove most about you and I've
tried to adopt this point ofview myself is that you see
something before it's even fullythere and you'll look at a
project like, for example, theguest house.
And it was this.
It was an old building, itwasn't in great shape, and you
(04:25):
saw the potential for it and youneeded to work with the city.
There's all these things thatneeded to happen for this to
come off.
How do you approach a projectlike that without the?
You know, oh, it's too big, orI don't think I can do it, or oh
, it's too hard.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say in general, I don't like to frame
something like well, I can't dothat because of X and Y and Z.
I would say how can I do that?
So when I I thought the it wascalled the birdhouse inn at the
time, I thought the birdhousewas just the most adorable
(05:04):
little spot and I love Excelsiorand right on Water Street, I
saw a lot of opportunity there.
It was, you know, we were juston the tail end of our real, you
know, covid shutdowns right.
So I felt this just strong.
First of all, I love people andI love to think about, you know
(05:25):
, what makes them tick and whatthey need and what they need to
be happy.
And I was looking at this placethinking, you know, we've been
separated from our loved ones,our friends and family for so
long.
I don't think there were atthat time there was a real
appetite for people to go to abed and breakfast and sit, you
know, around the breakfast tablewith strangers.
(05:46):
I felt like they just wanted tocome back together with their
people and have a spot to putdown, you know.
So you're not at your house andyou're stepping over the
laundry and all the other workthat needs to be done there.
Get away to a spot where we canall get away together, and
there I think it's ideal andthat you can have.
(06:07):
You know, 24 people can all staythere at the same time and you
can walk up and down WaterStreet.
No one even has to get in thecar.
You've got all the little shopsand the restaurants and
everything Lake Minnetonka,obviously.
So that actually has turned outto be a really great spot for
weddings and, in fact, we werejust named as one of the top
wedding Airbnb rentals.
(06:28):
For is it Trip 101?
It's, I think so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, trip 101, so cool.
That is pretty amazing, andearly in the game too.
What do you think drives you?
As I've gotten to know you andI've gotten to hear some of the
family stories and from a youngage it doesn't seem like it was.
You know, you grew up and thenall of a sudden, you could do
these things.
It's like you were alwaystrying to bring people together
(06:56):
and to create these spaces.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I remember I used to.
I had one of those little playtables in my bedroom with two
chairs and I used to make myparents come up and have a date
there and I would make them sitat the table and I'm feeding
them like water and the littleyou know, tea cup and all that,
and here have some cheese andcrackers and I mean that just
kept going.
(07:19):
I always felt like I wanted away to get people together to
have these great experiences andjust have a good time together.
I mean I'm kind of a workaholic, so it's not like I don't like
work, it's just I like the ideathat the things that stay with
people are those times where weare disconnected from the rest
(07:42):
of the you know literal all thestuff you have to do and you're
just able to be in a space whereyou can be your authentic self
and play.
I mean that's part of it.
I just think you know whenpeople get take themselves too
seriously, you know that's atough spot to be in, because
it's really fun to just get outand do something down.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So true, last winter we were over at what's now the
shoreline was the Yacht Clubbuilding.
We were making snowmen.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You know that's in the parking lot In the middle of
the work day.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
One thing I think a lot of people might not know
about is when you bought HunsBakery and again this is a great
example of this you had and youcan share that story kind of
what you came out of and thatyou did this and what it became.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah.
So in February of 2008, I leftEdina Realty after being there
for eight years, and I opened myown brokerage.
And so, february 08, I had sixagents who were working for me
and then, in June of 08, I lostmy husband in a car accident
(08:53):
with a drunk driver.
Needless to say, that was areally, really rough time in
life, but when I finally got myfeet back under me, I went back
out to look for an office.
We didn't even have an officeat the time, we were all just
home-officing and I found thisbakery that my mom used to take
(09:14):
me to as a kid was on the marketand it was listed for $249 at
the time.
So I called my mom and I'm likemom, oh my gosh, huns Bakery is
for sale.
Do you want to open a bakerywith me?
And she's like you know, Ithink my time for that's passed.
So, okay, I keep looking for abuilding and I watch this thing
drop from $249 to $199 to $149to $99,000 to $49,000 now, lee,
(09:40):
and it was a 4,000 square footbuilding on a half acre lot, all
parking lot.
It was right across the streetfrom the school and I'm like I
just I can't take it anymore.
So I go over there and look atthis building and I'm not
kidding you, there were deadbirds in there, there was mold,
someone had come and stolen allthe copper, so all the plumbing,
(10:02):
all the electrical.
It was a disaster.
So I end up writing an offer onit.
I'm like I'll give you $25,000and I'll close in two weeks.
But mind you, I'm broke andrecently widowed, so this is
probably not the most wellthought out idea.
It just felt like you know whatI am.
(10:26):
I feel like at that point it waslike you know what?
I've already lost everything.
I've already kind of gonethrough the worst thing I could
imagine happening.
And then it's kind of like riskdoesn't feel quite the same.
At that point it's kind of likewhat are you gonna do with me
now, you know?
So I anyway put in my offer, Ihanded it off to the bank and
(10:47):
they say you know what?
We actually just got anotheroffer and we're gonna make our
decision on Monday.
So I call my late husband's dadand I say, hey, I can't get
ahold of my inspector.
Can you come out there and lookat this place with me?
We do over the weekend and I goback to the bank on Monday
morning and I tell them what myfather-in-law said.
I said you know, my inspectorsays I should donate the
(11:11):
building to the fire departmentfor a controlled burn.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I will raise my offer to $30,000, but not up anymore.
So they said all right, we'regonna meet with the committee
and we'll get back to you.
This afternoon they call andthey said you know, the other
offer was for more than yours,but we think you know what
you're getting into, socongratulations, you just bought
yourself a bakery.
(11:35):
And I hung up the phone and Ijust thought boy did I fool you.
I don't have a clue what I'mdoing.
But then, interestingly, Iended up taking a picture.
I found a website, or I found aFacebook page of a bunch of
people who were trying to savethe bakery before it closed, and
I took a picture of the key inmy hand and I posted it on there
(11:57):
.
I had made another page thathad zero followers and I said
hey, I just bought Hans Bakery.
If you wanna watch, you know me, try to get this thing back up
and running again.
You can follow me on my pageover here.
Well, within 24 hours we had5,000 followers on our page.
It was a really wild, wild ride.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And then you opened the bakery and you were on an
episode of a show that was onthe Food Network.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yes, so we opening morning.
So the episode had aired on theFood Network and opening
morning.
It's February 22nd of 2014,would have been it's below, well
below, zero.
That morning there was a linewrapped around the building at
(12:44):
5.30 in the morning and weweren't opening until 6.30.
So my mom's out there, like youknow, giving people coffee so
they won't freeze out there.
When we opened the doors,everyone came flooding in.
There was a line that wrappedthree times around the dining
room and I just kept watching.
You know, people come up to thecounter and they'd order their
(13:04):
stuff and I'm like counting thenumber of donuts we have left in
the case and the number ofpeople left in the line and I'm
just getting more and morenervous.
And finally, you know, the lastperson comes up and every time
we sell out or something, youknow, my now husband is climbing
the ladder and he's crossingthe names of things off of the
chalkboard there and he crossesthe last thing off and he writes
(13:27):
sold out.
And I thought people were gonnabe really mad.
This is like 10.30 in themorning and instead everyone
just clapped and they cheeredand I just cry.
I'm gonna cry now.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Don't, because you'll make me cry.
Okay, a lot of crying goesaround here.
Yes, we embrace it, we do, wedo.
And that's something that Ireally come to learn with you.
I feel like with that story.
There's a couple of lessons inthere.
One is you're not afraid to askfor help.
If it's something that youdon't know how to do, you'll
figure it out.
(14:01):
And but at the same time,you're not afraid to say, hey,
you know, if you want to comewatch this or what do you think
about this, you'll ask for thathelp.
And, as a new business owner,that's something that has really
been a building tool, I feellike, for you.
With that, I mean, you guysended up selling.
How many donuts did you sell?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We ended up doing $270,000 of sales of 99 cent
donuts the first month we wereopen.
Wow, yeah, that is crazy.
When you think about just thesheer volume of dough, it's a
lot of dough.
Yeah, that is a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And then you have all these people that you're
managing as well, which is adifferent kind of atmosphere in
a bakery from real estate, whereagents are a little more
independent in what they'redoing.
Yes, it's not a set time andall that.
These are employees and theirschedules and everything that
goes with that, and you ended upeventually selling it.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yes, I did.
One thing you will find aboutme is I don't have really great
boundaries so like the employees, I felt like they were all like
my children.
You know I was touching peopleto drive and trying to help them
find housing and everythingelse.
I loved every minute of it, butit was also.
(15:17):
I learned a lot about myself inthe days.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Did you feel that through that experience you took
some of that?
Did it help you a bit more withboundaries?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Oh, you know, like I said before, I just really like
people and I like to think aboutwhat they want and what they
need, and if there's any waythat I can help them get what
they're looking for or what theyneed, I would like to do that.
And then I think it's just amatter of like knowing how far
you can stretch yourself and howfar you can, and I love to be
(15:53):
helpful.
What I keep getting targetmarketed for this sweatshirt on
social media that says you know,not bossy, just aggressively
helpful.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's totally true.
She doesn't even like it if we,you know, we never introduce
you as our boss Team goes anddoes some things.
No, she's in backhand Right, ormore just hide like no.
It's really interesting to gothrough something like that and
really throw yourself into it.
And if that was just the onething that happened and you
(16:32):
still had the bakery and that'swhat we were talking about that
in and of itself I think it's anamazing story with a lot to
learn from that, especially forpeople who want to start a
business and want to getsomething going.
But it didn't stop there, it'sjust.
You've gone on to do multipleprojects in different areas.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well, I think, natalie, kind of back to the
point you were talking aboutbeing willing to ask for help.
Yeah, I feel like I am alwaysoutside of I don't want to say
outside of my comfort zone,because I feel pretty
comfortable out there in theunknown, but I'm always doing
something for the first time.
It feels like I am always doingsomething for the first time.
(17:16):
So I think In general, I havenoticed that there are people
who like to assert that theyalready have all of the answers,
like I am the expert, I haveall of the answers and I'm going
forward to do this thing.
But I don't think that approachgives you much room to ask for
help when you do feel likeyou're in the unknown.
(17:36):
So, at least for me, a lot ofthese projects start with me
being very vulnerable and sayingto someone else who I believe
knows more about this topic thanI do and I'm not afraid to say
that and I say you know what.
I'm doing this for the firsttime, can you help me?
And 99% of the time, people areoverwhelmingly helpful in those
(17:58):
scenarios because they know thatyou value what they bring to
the table.
It's not this, like I alreadyknow, and I'm going to try and
get you to fit into what I'mtrying to do here.
It's like, hey, I value whatyou know and I would love for
you to like teach me, help me,because really, I kind of think
(18:19):
of myself as being more of aquarterback.
I like to come up with a reallygreat idea and then like to
assemble a group of, okay, who'sreally good at this and who's
really good at that, and how canwe put this team together?
Which is part of the reason whyI don't like to say Natalie
works for me.
We work together like I workwith Natalie.
(18:40):
You have a lot of skills and alot of talents that I do not.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, thank you All of that.
When you know, when we talkabout like those lessons to
learn from there, not beingafraid to ask for help, a
willingness to be vulnerable wesaw that when I was working with
you already on the early days.
If on the on the Shorelineproject, we probably won't get
(19:09):
into too much talking about thatjust yet because there's a lot
of great things going on that wecan't spill the beans on just
yet, but when you have to, whenyou're up against and you know
most people know like we wentthrough a whole approval process
with the city of spring parkand there was so much to learn
there and it wasn't.
(19:29):
It wasn't the easiest thing, Iwouldn't say.
But you're right, we cametogether as a team and then more
people joined the team.
We worked great with the cityand, if I, great support and
then amazing amount of publicsupport and that kind of goes
back to with tons when you builtup that community you ended up
(19:54):
with, I think you had like22,000 Facebook followers,
26,000.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, 26,000.
Don't forget those 4,000 people, that's right 26,000 over baked
goods.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So it's more.
It's not just about the productor the thing itself.
It's not just about the donuts.
People don't come together likethat just because of donuts.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I think you know, really I use that as an
opportunity, a platform to.
Probably the best example ofcommunity that I had out of the
bakery was my husband and I hada house down on Marco Island in
Florida and Hurricane Irma wason the way and my husband flew
down there to try to board upthe house before the hurricane
(20:39):
would actually hit and when hewent there, almost all of the
plywood was already sold out.
So he's, you know, going aroundto all these different places
trying to scrounge enough stuffto board up the windows, and the
closer the hurricane keptcoming, the more I was like just
get out of there.
Just get out of there, you justhave to get home.
I don't care, I don't care ifthe house is boarded up, you
just have to get home.
(21:00):
And you know it was again thisreality of oh gosh.
There's so many things that aremore important than just, you
know, the sticks that built thathouse.
Really, it's about the people.
So as the hurricane approached,we went to our following on the
bakery page and we said, hey,we're going to gather up
(21:21):
supplies here and we're going todrive them down to Florida
ourselves.
So I, my parents, had a motorhome and they had a big enclosed
trailer.
We had them drop off thetrailer and I didn't have a
really clear plan here, but Iwas like, yep, my parents are
going to bring the trailer,they're going to have it in the
parking lot and you guys justbring supplies and we'll fill up
(21:42):
this trailer and drive themdown there and give them to
people.
So as I start doing this, Istart getting feedback from
people who live in other partsof the country where maybe a
major, you know, catastrophe hashappened.
And they said you know, one ofthe things they talk about is
the disaster after the disaster,which is, you know, if you're
in Texas and it's the middle ofsummer, you know people in
(22:03):
colder climates might be sending, like winter coats, you know,
or things like that, where youreally don't, you can't use this
right now.
So we decided all right, we dowant to be helpful, but we don't
want to create, add to thatsense of chaos and bring a bunch
of things that people don'tneed.
So we sorted everything and wemade little care packages and
things that we didn't thinkwould fit the bill.
(22:25):
We donated them back to otherlocal charities and then we had
these, you know, kids came andmade signs for us that said you
know, hurricane Irma donationsaccepted here and that kind of
thing.
So we headed out on our drivedown to Florida and this semi
truck drivers starts honking andhe's waving at us and he's
(22:47):
telling us to pull over andwe're like, oh okay, there must
be something wrong with the,with the motorhome.
So we pull over and I get outon the you know we're on the
freeway and I get out in thelike ditch side and this guy
gets out and he comes walkingover and he's waving a $20 bill
at me because these things arestill.
The signs are for kid made.
(23:09):
Signs are still attached to thetrailer that we're accepting,
you know, hurricane Irmadonations and he pulls us over
so he can give us 20 bucks.
So little things like that justkept happening.
I had a little boy who broughtin his actual like quarters in a
Ziploc bag that he had beensaving, and he brought that.
(23:29):
So when we were on this trip,when we went to buy supplies for
people, I literally countedquarters out, you know, so I
could send the video to hisparents.
I'm okay here, you guys justpaid for all of this.
But we got down there and we gotto this community where it had
been completely just leveled andall the people were living
(23:52):
temporarily in the school gym,and we pulled up and we just
opened the doors and we werelike, oh, form a line and we'll
give you things.
And we didn't realize, like,how sort of chaotic that could
be, that it would be this just acrush of people.
And, thank you to the universe,this angel of a woman angel
(24:17):
angel of a woman shows up out ofnowhere and she's like you know
what?
I'll help you, I'll help youmake this into this neat,
orderly line, which is exactlywhat happened.
You know, people are waiting inline, they're getting things.
My mom puts out this table andshe starts making pancakes in
the motor home.
So she's making pancakes and I'mpouring juice for people in the
(24:39):
line and a woman reached outand she said you know, I had
that container of cranberryjuice in my pantry and I don't
know for how long it was inthere.
And she's like I saw you, youknow you post the thing on
Facebook and I, you know, cameover and I dropped that off and
some other things and like threedays later, I watched you pour
(25:00):
a cup of cranberry juice for alittle boy standing in the line
who you know had lost his homein this hurricane, and it just
really touched her.
It touched me too, the ideathat sometimes you give your
money to a charity and it's justkind of this nameless, faceless
thing and you have no idea whathappened with it.
(25:20):
And I think we just did areally good job of showing
people how well connected wereally are.
Like, you had this over here onMonday and on Thursday someone
else had it over here and itreally meant the world to them.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So, yeah, that community, that connection, the
fact that we just use the bakeryas a tool to do cool things, I
think that that is the key thingin recognizing that I think
there's so many things that canget in the way, especially for
business owners and peopletrying to start something new.
It's not, it's not.
(25:56):
I don't think that when they'rereally successful, that it's
the money is the driving piece.
It's when that passion is there, when that desire, where that
purpose is there to createsomething and to bring other
people into it, which is reallycreating community, that it
can't help but succeed, and it'sbeen a theme in each of the
(26:18):
projects that you've done andthat's why we want to.
On Tonka Talk, we talk aboutcommunity and connection and
we're gonna do a regular segmentwhere I'm gonna do this with
Kelly and we want you to reachout.
You can email me at natalie attonkatalkcom and let us know
what do you wanna get going?
This is your opportunity tojust.
(26:39):
We're gonna hold her hostage inthe studio once a week and give
her what your questions are,whether they're questions about
what she's done in the past asreal estate or starting a new
business.
But maybe you have an idea.
What is an idea of somethingthat you wanna do or you wanna
get going where you can maybeeven use some help in getting
(27:00):
that going in the community,Because one thing we have done
is we've created a communitywith the.
We're doing it with shortlistproperties, which is our real
estate company, through TonkaTalk, with the Shoreline Hotel.
It's all about bringing peopletogether.
So we thought, hey, yeah, whydon't we reach out, do a weekly
episode on Tonka Talk wherepeople are invited to bring your
(27:22):
ideas, go ahead and email us,ask your questions, and we'll
kinda do like how many, I don'tknow what you'd call it.
I always say, like you shouldbe on Shark Tank, yeah,
brainstorming for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
We always say we don't edit during a brainstorm.
So frequently we get out thewhiteboard and we're thinking
about a topic and we just, okay,give me all of your ideas.
And as soon as we get to like,okay, now there's not many more
coming around, then we say, okay, now give me all the worst
ideas.
And then pretty sooneverybody's back to
(27:54):
brainstorming and now you knowyou have everything, we have
thought of everything, and thenyou can go through and then take
off the brainstorming hat, thenput on your editing hat,
because if you're editing whileyou're brainstorming, you are
definitely not getting all ofthe best ideas.
And in fact, sometimes when yousay, okay, what are the worst
(28:14):
ideas, somebody throws somethingout there and you're like, oh,
actually there's something tothat, maybe we need to think
about this one.
We pretty much always have likea notebook full of these are
the ideas we're working on,these are all the ideas we can't
wait to work on.
And these ones are down here, alittle bit lower than that, and
there's never a dull moment.
(28:36):
It's just like as soon as weget through this one, or maybe
not even all the way throughthis one, we're gonna tee up the
next one and the next one.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Exactly so.
We invite you to reach outagain, natalie, at tankatalkcom,
you can comment.
If you're watching thissomewhere, you're connecting on
social media, however, you dothat, and if we don't have an
answer for you, maybe there'ssomebody through this community
that we're creating that we canconnect you with who does.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yes, being a connector and a good connector
in the community, I think, isalso a really great spot to be,
because you know so many peoplethat inevitably if somebody is
saying, hey, I really am lookingfor this or that, chances are
we know somebody who can help.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Exactly.
Reach out again, natalie, attankatalkcom.
We wanna hear what do you needhelp with?
What are your ideas?
You get to pick the brain hereof Kelly Olson.
We'll bounce things around.
There's some really fun thingscoming up in the community that
I'd love to talk about as well.
That I think are gonna bereally great businesses and ways
of creating community.
Just how are you doing it?
(29:40):
Let's talk about it this week.
I'll just mention this quickthis weekend at our real estate
office, we're doing a thing.
It's been a crazy year so we'rebringing in an emotional
support, donkey.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I cannot wait to see this animal.
Seriously, I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And I think it's an example again of one of those
things where sometimes it'sthings are very somewhat serious
.
You gotta get things done, butat some point and I think that's
kind of where we're good atthat is, we do something so
ridiculous that it kind of justbreaks the monotony, helps the
creative process and, again, isanother way to bring people
(30:17):
together because we've invitedthe community to come out and
meet this emotional support.
Donkey, what is the donkey'sname?
Tiptoe.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Oh my gosh, I love it .
Speaker 1 (30:26):
And it's called Tiptoe because I think his
mother accidentally trampled him.
No, I'm pretty sure it wasaccidentally.
Yeah, so the donkey's gonna.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Maybe the donkey needs a little support too.
Maybe then the supply of thedonkey is so affectionate.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, this is an unusual situation in that this
animal the his caretakers havesaid, is unusually attached to
humans, loves to cuddle, givehugs, just give so much love.
And I've seen photos and videosof this donkey in nursing homes
and other places.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
You know, natalie, I was just talking to somebody who
is looking for a house, who wassaying you know, that's
something that's just soimportant.
They didn't realize just how,until they were in a situation
where they were being likeoverwhelmed with hugs and
affection, just how much theymissed that in their life.
So it's really interesting.
Yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I've read studies that have talked about a lack of
connection and community.
When you don't have that inyour life, that it can be as
dangerous to your health asstarting smoking.
Yeah, that's sad.
Yeah, so we're gonna make surewe get a lot of that love and
emotional support, donkey.
Yeah, perfect, can't wait.
So, thank you, you're welcomeAgain.
(31:38):
Check us out on Mondays whenKelly joins for Tonka Talk.
In the meantime, have a greatday and I'll talk to you later.
Bye.
Hey everybody, welcome to Tonka Talk.
I'm Natalie Webster.
We talk about all thingscommunity and connection, and
many of you who follow TonkaTalk know exactly who's sitting
next to me it's Kelly Olson.
Hello, hello, nat.
We are gonna jump into a veryexciting topic today, something
I've been dying to talk to Kellyabout.
(00:20):
You're gonna hear a lot moreabout this topic in the future
because we have a really goodidea of what we wanna add to
Tonka Talk.
Now, if you don't know Kelly,she's been in the real estate
and land development game forover two decades.
Most people around the LakeMinnetonka area know her for one
of her recent projects, whichwas the guest house in Excelsior
.
It's when you and it was nine,right, nine total ladies.
(00:44):
Yes, that was an adventure forsure.
All came together.
In fact, that is when I firstmet you as I interviewed you
about the guest house inExcelsior.
How long ago was that?
Almost two years, may, wow, Iwanna say.
Was it in May?
No, it was right before itopened.
February issue was around that acouple years ago, and the guest
(01:06):
house is now a modern dayvacation rental and event venue,
and it was a bed and breakfastthat was built in like 1858.
Same year, minnesota became astate.
That's true, and this womanhere looks at this old building
and goes, huh, and I think thiswould make a great vacation
(01:28):
rental and event venue.
There was also a reality showfilmed around it called Miss
Independent I-N-N I N it'sindependent, which did really
well.
It was nominated for originalEmmy.
From there I joined Kelly inher company, olsen Global, and
we've been doing some fun thingssince then.
(01:48):
She's wrapped up a bigdevelopment out in Blaine.
Most what most of you haveprobably heard of is the
Shoreline Hotel, which is theproject that's currently going
on.
And most recently, after doingall of this, we're like, hey, we
should open our own real estatebrokerage.
Yes, we're both obsessed withreal estate, yes, with community
(02:13):
, and we recently did that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
We're those people who leave work and go home and
sit on the couch and just scrollthrough the internet looking to
see what else is available onthe market.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Causing and commercial listings is our porn.
You will.
That's truly, oh, like what'sfor sale.
Now one thing I know and it'sfunny you talking to an
interviewing now, because thefirst time I interviewed you I
had never even met you.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Right.
In fact, natalie, I don't evenknow if I ever told you this,
but it was like sort ofpandemic-y time school and we
were doing it remotely.
So you're there and I'm hereand I was having technical
difficulties on my computer.
I couldn't see you the entiretime.
I had no idea.
I had no idea what you lookedlike, what I looked like, what
any of this was all happening.
(03:03):
And then I feel like after wehung up from filming you and I
continued to talk for probably ahalf an hour after that and
just to find out more about yourreal estate career and your
background, all of that, and Iwas just really impressed
immediately.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That's so funny.
I did not know that.
Oh, that is funny.
So here we are now.
We've opened this real estatecompany, which is going well,
and here on Tonka Talk, we talka lot, as you know, about
community and connection, and Ireally want Kelly to share.
I've been dying to pin her downthe woman's really busy and talk
(03:38):
about entrepreneur, or or or oror Not many.
You gotta say that this is aword.
I have a hard time withEntrepreneurs, of course, but
entrepreneurism, yes, yes, I cando it, but I can't say it
Perfect.
You're doing great.
Now a lot of people and sinceI've known you, one of my
(04:02):
biggest takeaways and things Ilove most about you and I've
tried to adopt this point ofview myself is that you see
something before it's even fullythere and you'll look at a
project like, for example, theguest house.
And it was this.
It was an old building, itwasn't in great shape, and you
(04:25):
saw the potential for it and youneeded to work with the city.
There's all these things thatneeded to happen for this to
come off.
How do you approach a projectlike that without the?
You know, oh, it's too big, orI don't think I can do it, or oh
, it's too hard.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I would say in general, I don't like to frame
something like well, I can't dothat because of X and Y and Z.
I would say how can I do that?
So when I I thought the it wascalled the birdhouse inn at the
time, I thought the birdhousewas just the most adorable
(05:04):
little spot and I love Excelsiorand right on Water Street, I
saw a lot of opportunity there.
It was, you know, we were juston the tail end of our real, you
know, covid shutdowns right.
So I felt this just strong.
First of all, I love people andI love to think about, you know
(05:25):
, what makes them tick and whatthey need and what they need to
be happy.
And I was looking at this placethinking, you know, we've been
separated from our loved ones,our friends and family for so
long.
I don't think there were atthat time there was a real
appetite for people to go to abed and breakfast and sit, you
know, around the breakfast tablewith strangers.
(05:46):
I felt like they just wanted tocome back together with their
people and have a spot to putdown, you know.
So you're not at your house andyou're stepping over the
laundry and all the other workthat needs to be done there.
Get away to a spot where we canall get away together, and
there I think it's ideal andthat you can have.
(06:07):
You know, 24 people can all staythere at the same time and you
can walk up and down WaterStreet.
No one even has to get in thecar.
You've got all the little shopsand the restaurants and
everything Lake Minnetonka,obviously.
So that actually has turned outto be a really great spot for
weddings and, in fact, we werejust named as one of the top
wedding Airbnb rentals.
(06:28):
For is it Trip 101?
It's, I think so.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, trip 101, so cool.
That is pretty amazing, andearly in the game too.
What do you think drives you?
As I've gotten to know you andI've gotten to hear some of the
family stories and from a youngage it doesn't seem like it was.
You know, you grew up and thenall of a sudden, you could do
these things.
It's like you were alwaystrying to bring people together
(06:56):
and to create these spaces.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I remember I used to.
I had one of those little playtables in my bedroom with two
chairs and I used to make myparents come up and have a date
there and I would make them sitat the table and I'm feeding
them like water and the littleyou know, tea cup and all that,
and here have some cheese andcrackers and I mean that just
kept going.
(07:19):
I always felt like I wanted away to get people together to
have these great experiences andjust have a good time together.
I mean I'm kind of a workaholic, so it's not like I don't like
work, it's just I like the ideathat the things that stay with
people are those times where weare disconnected from the rest
(07:42):
of the you know literal all thestuff you have to do and you're
just able to be in a space whereyou can be your authentic self
and play.
I mean that's part of it.
I just think you know whenpeople get take themselves too
seriously, you know that's atough spot to be in, because
it's really fun to just get outand do something down.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So true, last winter we were over at what's now the
shoreline was the Yacht Clubbuilding.
We were making snowmen.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You know that's in the parking lot In the middle of
the work day.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
One thing I think a lot of people might not know
about is when you bought HunsBakery and again this is a great
example of this you had and youcan share that story kind of
what you came out of and thatyou did this and what it became.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah.
So in February of 2008, I leftEdina Realty after being there
for eight years, and I opened myown brokerage.
And so, february 08, I had sixagents who were working for me
and then, in June of 08, I lostmy husband in a car accident
(08:53):
with a drunk driver.
Needless to say, that was areally, really rough time in
life, but when I finally got myfeet back under me, I went back
out to look for an office.
We didn't even have an officeat the time, we were all just
home-officing and I found thisbakery that my mom used to take
(09:14):
me to as a kid was on the marketand it was listed for $249 at
the time.
So I called my mom and I'm likemom, oh my gosh, huns Bakery is
for sale.
Do you want to open a bakerywith me?
And she's like you know, Ithink my time for that's passed.
So, okay, I keep looking for abuilding and I watch this thing
drop from $249 to $199 to $149to $99,000 to $49,000 now, lee,
(09:40):
and it was a 4,000 square footbuilding on a half acre lot, all
parking lot.
It was right across the streetfrom the school and I'm like I
just I can't take it anymore.
So I go over there and look atthis building and I'm not
kidding you, there were deadbirds in there, there was mold,
someone had come and stolen allthe copper, so all the plumbing,
(10:02):
all the electrical.
It was a disaster.
So I end up writing an offer onit.
I'm like I'll give you $25,000and I'll close in two weeks.
But mind you, I'm broke andrecently widowed, so this is
probably not the most wellthought out idea.
It just felt like you know whatI am.
(10:26):
I feel like at that point it waslike you know what?
I've already lost everything.
I've already kind of gonethrough the worst thing I could
imagine happening.
And then it's kind of like riskdoesn't feel quite the same.
At that point it's kind of likewhat are you gonna do with me
now, you know?
So I anyway put in my offer, Ihanded it off to the bank and
(10:47):
they say you know what?
We actually just got anotheroffer and we're gonna make our
decision on Monday.
So I call my late husband's dadand I say, hey, I can't get
ahold of my inspector.
Can you come out there and lookat this place with me?
We do over the weekend and I goback to the bank on Monday
morning and I tell them what myfather-in-law said.
I said you know, my inspectorsays I should donate the
(11:11):
building to the fire departmentfor a controlled burn.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I will raise my offer to $30,000, but not up anymore.
So they said all right, we'regonna meet with the committee
and we'll get back to you.
This afternoon they call andthey said you know, the other
offer was for more than yours,but we think you know what
you're getting into, socongratulations, you just bought
yourself a bakery.
(11:35):
And I hung up the phone and Ijust thought boy did I fool you.
I don't have a clue what I'mdoing.
But then, interestingly, Iended up taking a picture.
I found a website, or I found aFacebook page of a bunch of
people who were trying to savethe bakery before it closed, and
I took a picture of the key inmy hand and I posted it on there
(11:57):
.
I had made another page thathad zero followers and I said
hey, I just bought Hans Bakery.
If you wanna watch, you know me, try to get this thing back up
and running again.
You can follow me on my pageover here.
Well, within 24 hours we had5,000 followers on our page.
It was a really wild, wild ride.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And then you opened the bakery and you were on an
episode of a show that was onthe Food Network.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yes, so we opening morning.
So the episode had aired on theFood Network and opening
morning.
It's February 22nd of 2014,would have been it's below, well
below, zero.
That morning there was a linewrapped around the building at
(12:44):
5.30 in the morning and weweren't opening until 6.30.
So my mom's out there, like youknow, giving people coffee so
they won't freeze out there.
When we opened the doors,everyone came flooding in.
There was a line that wrappedthree times around the dining
room and I just kept watching.
You know, people come up to thecounter and they'd order their
(13:04):
stuff and I'm like counting thenumber of donuts we have left in
the case and the number ofpeople left in the line and I'm
just getting more and morenervous.
And finally, you know, the lastperson comes up and every time
we sell out or something, youknow, my now husband is climbing
the ladder and he's crossingthe names of things off of the
chalkboard there and he crossesthe last thing off and he writes
(13:27):
sold out.
And I thought people were gonnabe really mad.
This is like 10.30 in themorning and instead everyone
just clapped and they cheeredand I just cry.
I'm gonna cry now.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Don't, because you'll make me cry.
Okay, a lot of crying goesaround here.
Yes, we embrace it, we do, wedo.
And that's something that Ireally come to learn with you.
I feel like with that story.
There's a couple of lessons inthere.
One is you're not afraid to askfor help.
If it's something that youdon't know how to do, you'll
figure it out.
(14:01):
And but at the same time,you're not afraid to say, hey,
you know, if you want to comewatch this or what do you think
about this, you'll ask for thathelp.
And, as a new business owner,that's something that has really
been a building tool, I feellike, for you.
With that, I mean, you guysended up selling.
How many donuts did you sell?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We ended up doing $270,000 of sales of 99 cent
donuts the first month we wereopen.
Wow, yeah, that is crazy.
When you think about just thesheer volume of dough, it's a
lot of dough.
Yeah, that is a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And then you have all these people that you're
managing as well, which is adifferent kind of atmosphere in
a bakery from real estate, whereagents are a little more
independent in what they'redoing.
Yes, it's not a set time andall that.
These are employees and theirschedules and everything that
goes with that, and you ended upeventually selling it.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yes, I did.
One thing you will find aboutme is I don't have really great
boundaries so like the employees, I felt like they were all like
my children.
You know I was touching peopleto drive and trying to help them
find housing and everythingelse.
I loved every minute of it, butit was also.
(15:17):
I learned a lot about myself inthe days.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Did you feel that through that experience you took
some of that?
Did it help you a bit more withboundaries?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Oh, you know, like I said before, I just really like
people and I like to think aboutwhat they want and what they
need, and if there's any waythat I can help them get what
they're looking for or what theyneed, I would like to do that.
And then I think it's just amatter of like knowing how far
you can stretch yourself and howfar you can, and I love to be
(15:53):
helpful.
What I keep getting targetmarketed for this sweatshirt on
social media that says you know,not bossy, just aggressively
helpful.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
That's totally true.
She doesn't even like it if we,you know, we never introduce
you as our boss Team goes anddoes some things.
No, she's in backhand Right, ormore just hide like no.
It's really interesting to gothrough something like that and
really throw yourself into it.
And if that was just the onething that happened and you
(16:32):
still had the bakery and that'swhat we were talking about that
in and of itself I think it's anamazing story with a lot to
learn from that, especially forpeople who want to start a
business and want to getsomething going.
But it didn't stop there, it'sjust.
You've gone on to do multipleprojects in different areas.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well, I think, natalie, kind of back to the
point you were talking aboutbeing willing to ask for help.
Yeah, I feel like I am alwaysoutside of I don't want to say
outside of my comfort zone,because I feel pretty
comfortable out there in theunknown, but I'm always doing
something for the first time.
It feels like I am always doingsomething for the first time.
(17:16):
So I think In general, I havenoticed that there are people
who like to assert that theyalready have all of the answers,
like I am the expert, I haveall of the answers and I'm going
forward to do this thing.
But I don't think that approachgives you much room to ask for
help when you do feel likeyou're in the unknown.
(17:36):
So, at least for me, a lot ofthese projects start with me
being very vulnerable and sayingto someone else who I believe
knows more about this topic thanI do and I'm not afraid to say
that and I say you know what.
I'm doing this for the firsttime, can you help me?
And 99% of the time, people areoverwhelmingly helpful in those
(17:58):
scenarios because they know thatyou value what they bring to
the table.
It's not this, like I alreadyknow, and I'm going to try and
get you to fit into what I'mtrying to do here.
It's like, hey, I value whatyou know and I would love for
you to like teach me, help me,because really, I kind of think
(18:19):
of myself as being more of aquarterback.
I like to come up with a reallygreat idea and then like to
assemble a group of, okay, who'sreally good at this and who's
really good at that, and how canwe put this team together?
Which is part of the reason whyI don't like to say Natalie
works for me.
We work together like I workwith Natalie.
(18:40):
You have a lot of skills and alot of talents that I do not.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Well, thank you All of that.
When you know, when we talkabout like those lessons to
learn from there, not beingafraid to ask for help, a
willingness to be vulnerable wesaw that when I was working with
you already on the early days.
If on the on the Shorelineproject, we probably won't get
(19:09):
into too much talking about thatjust yet because there's a lot
of great things going on that wecan't spill the beans on just
yet, but when you have to, whenyou're up against and you know
most people know like we wentthrough a whole approval process
with the city of spring parkand there was so much to learn
there and it wasn't.
(19:29):
It wasn't the easiest thing, Iwouldn't say.
But you're right, we cametogether as a team and then more
people joined the team.
We worked great with the cityand, if I, great support and
then amazing amount of publicsupport and that kind of goes
back to with tons when you builtup that community you ended up
(19:54):
with, I think you had like22,000 Facebook followers,
26,000.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, 26,000.
Don't forget those 4,000 people, that's right 26,000 over baked
goods.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So it's more.
It's not just about the productor the thing itself.
It's not just about the donuts.
People don't come together likethat just because of donuts.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I think you know, really I use that as an
opportunity, a platform to.
Probably the best example ofcommunity that I had out of the
bakery was my husband and I hada house down on Marco Island in
Florida and Hurricane Irma wason the way and my husband flew
down there to try to board upthe house before the hurricane
(20:39):
would actually hit and when hewent there, almost all of the
plywood was already sold out.
So he's, you know, going aroundto all these different places
trying to scrounge enough stuffto board up the windows, and the
closer the hurricane keptcoming, the more I was like just
get out of there.
Just get out of there, you justhave to get home.
I don't care, I don't care ifthe house is boarded up, you
just have to get home.
(21:00):
And you know it was again thisreality of oh gosh.
There's so many things that aremore important than just, you
know, the sticks that built thathouse.
Really, it's about the people.
So as the hurricane approached,we went to our following on the
bakery page and we said, hey,we're going to gather up
(21:21):
supplies here and we're going todrive them down to Florida
ourselves.
So I, my parents, had a motorhome and they had a big enclosed
trailer.
We had them drop off thetrailer and I didn't have a
really clear plan here, but Iwas like, yep, my parents are
going to bring the trailer,they're going to have it in the
parking lot and you guys justbring supplies and we'll fill up
(21:42):
this trailer and drive themdown there and give them to
people.
So as I start doing this, Istart getting feedback from
people who live in other partsof the country where maybe a
major, you know, catastrophe hashappened.
And they said you know, one ofthe things they talk about is
the disaster after the disaster,which is, you know, if you're
in Texas and it's the middle ofsummer, you know people in
(22:03):
colder climates might be sending, like winter coats, you know,
or things like that, where youreally don't, you can't use this
right now.
So we decided all right, we dowant to be helpful, but we don't
want to create, add to thatsense of chaos and bring a bunch
of things that people don'tneed.
So we sorted everything and wemade little care packages and
things that we didn't thinkwould fit the bill.
(22:25):
We donated them back to otherlocal charities and then we had
these, you know, kids came andmade signs for us that said you
know, hurricane Irma donationsaccepted here and that kind of
thing.
So we headed out on our drivedown to Florida and this semi
truck drivers starts honking andhe's waving at us and he's
(22:47):
telling us to pull over andwe're like, oh okay, there must
be something wrong with the,with the motorhome.
So we pull over and I get outon the you know we're on the
freeway and I get out in thelike ditch side and this guy
gets out and he comes walkingover and he's waving a $20 bill
at me because these things arestill.
The signs are for kid made.
(23:09):
Signs are still attached to thetrailer that we're accepting,
you know, hurricane Irmadonations and he pulls us over
so he can give us 20 bucks.
So little things like that justkept happening.
I had a little boy who broughtin his actual like quarters in a
Ziploc bag that he had beensaving, and he brought that.
(23:29):
So when we were on this trip,when we went to buy supplies for
people, I literally countedquarters out, you know, so I
could send the video to hisparents.
I'm okay here, you guys justpaid for all of this.
But we got down there and we gotto this community where it had
been completely just leveled andall the people were living
(23:52):
temporarily in the school gym,and we pulled up and we just
opened the doors and we werelike, oh, form a line and we'll
give you things.
And we didn't realize, like,how sort of chaotic that could
be, that it would be this just acrush of people.
And, thank you to the universe,this angel of a woman angel
(24:17):
angel of a woman shows up out ofnowhere and she's like you know
what?
I'll help you, I'll help youmake this into this neat,
orderly line, which is exactlywhat happened.
You know, people are waiting inline, they're getting things.
My mom puts out this table andshe starts making pancakes in
the motor home.
So she's making pancakes and I'mpouring juice for people in the
(24:39):
line and a woman reached outand she said you know, I had
that container of cranberryjuice in my pantry and I don't
know for how long it was inthere.
And she's like I saw you, youknow you post the thing on
Facebook and I, you know, cameover and I dropped that off and
some other things and like threedays later, I watched you pour
(25:00):
a cup of cranberry juice for alittle boy standing in the line
who you know had lost his homein this hurricane, and it just
really touched her.
It touched me too, the ideathat sometimes you give your
money to a charity and it's justkind of this nameless, faceless
thing and you have no idea whathappened with it.
(25:20):
And I think we just did areally good job of showing
people how well connected wereally are.
Like, you had this over here onMonday and on Thursday someone
else had it over here and itreally meant the world to them.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So, yeah, that community, that connection, the
fact that we just use the bakeryas a tool to do cool things, I
think that that is the key thingin recognizing that I think
there's so many things that canget in the way, especially for
business owners and peopletrying to start something new.
It's not, it's not.
(25:56):
I don't think that when they'rereally successful, that it's
the money is the driving piece.
It's when that passion is there, when that desire, where that
purpose is there to createsomething and to bring other
people into it, which is reallycreating community, that it
can't help but succeed, and it'sbeen a theme in each of the
(26:18):
projects that you've done andthat's why we want to.
On Tonka Talk, we talk aboutcommunity and connection and
we're gonna do a regular segmentwhere I'm gonna do this with
Kelly and we want you to reachout.
You can email me at natalie attonkatalkcom and let us know
what do you wanna get going?
This is your opportunity tojust.
(26:39):
We're gonna hold her hostage inthe studio once a week and give
her what your questions are,whether they're questions about
what she's done in the past asreal estate or starting a new
business.
But maybe you have an idea.
What is an idea of somethingthat you wanna do or you wanna
get going where you can maybeeven use some help in getting
(27:00):
that going in the community,Because one thing we have done
is we've created a communitywith the.
We're doing it with shortlistproperties, which is our real
estate company, through TonkaTalk, with the Shoreline Hotel.
It's all about bringing peopletogether.
So we thought, hey, yeah, whydon't we reach out, do a weekly
episode on Tonka Talk wherepeople are invited to bring your
(27:22):
ideas, go ahead and email us,ask your questions, and we'll
kinda do like how many, I don'tknow what you'd call it.
I always say, like you shouldbe on Shark Tank, yeah,
brainstorming for sure.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
We always say we don't edit during a brainstorm.
So frequently we get out thewhiteboard and we're thinking
about a topic and we just, okay,give me all of your ideas.
And as soon as we get to like,okay, now there's not many more
coming around, then we say, okay, now give me all the worst
ideas.
And then pretty sooneverybody's back to
(27:54):
brainstorming and now you knowyou have everything, we have
thought of everything, and thenyou can go through and then take
off the brainstorming hat, thenput on your editing hat,
because if you're editing whileyou're brainstorming, you are
definitely not getting all ofthe best ideas.
And in fact, sometimes when yousay, okay, what are the worst
(28:14):
ideas, somebody throws somethingout there and you're like, oh,
actually there's something tothat, maybe we need to think
about this one.
We pretty much always have likea notebook full of these are
the ideas we're working on,these are all the ideas we can't
wait to work on.
And these ones are down here, alittle bit lower than that, and
there's never a dull moment.
(28:36):
It's just like as soon as weget through this one, or maybe
not even all the way throughthis one, we're gonna tee up the
next one and the next one.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Exactly so.
We invite you to reach outagain, natalie, at tankatalkcom,
you can comment.
If you're watching thissomewhere, you're connecting on
social media, however, you dothat, and if we don't have an
answer for you, maybe there'ssomebody through this community
that we're creating that we canconnect you with who does.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Yes, being a connector and a good connector
in the community, I think, isalso a really great spot to be,
because you know so many peoplethat inevitably if somebody is
saying, hey, I really am lookingfor this or that, chances are
we know somebody who can help.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Exactly.
Reach out again, natalie, attankatalkcom.
We wanna hear what do you needhelp with?
What are your ideas?
You get to pick the brain hereof Kelly Olson.
We'll bounce things around.
There's some really fun thingscoming up in the community that
I'd love to talk about as well.
That I think are gonna bereally great businesses and ways
of creating community.
Just how are you doing it?
(29:40):
Let's talk about it this week.
I'll just mention this quickthis weekend at our real estate
office, we're doing a thing.
It's been a crazy year so we'rebringing in an emotional
support, donkey.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I cannot wait to see this animal.
Seriously, I cannot wait.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And I think it's an example again of one of those
things where sometimes it'sthings are very somewhat serious
.
You gotta get things done, butat some point and I think that's
kind of where we're good atthat is, we do something so
ridiculous that it kind of justbreaks the monotony, helps the
creative process and, again, isanother way to bring people
(30:17):
together because we've invitedthe community to come out and
meet this emotional support.
Donkey, what is the donkey'sname?
Tiptoe.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Oh my gosh, I love it .
Speaker 1 (30:26):
And it's called Tiptoe because I think his
mother accidentally trampled him.
No, I'm pretty sure it wasaccidentally.
Yeah, so the donkey's gonna.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Maybe the donkey needs a little support too.
Maybe then the supply of thedonkey is so affectionate.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, this is an unusual situation in that this
animal the his caretakers havesaid, is unusually attached to
humans, loves to cuddle, givehugs, just give so much love.
And I've seen photos and videosof this donkey in nursing homes
and other places.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
You know, natalie, I was just talking to somebody who
is looking for a house, who wassaying you know, that's
something that's just soimportant.
They didn't realize just how,until they were in a situation
where they were being likeoverwhelmed with hugs and
affection, just how much theymissed that in their life.
So it's really interesting.
Yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
I've read studies that have talked about a lack of
connection and community.
When you don't have that inyour life, that it can be as
dangerous to your health asstarting smoking.
Yeah, that's sad.
Yeah, so we're gonna make surewe get a lot of that love and
emotional support, donkey.
Yeah, perfect, can't wait.
So, thank you, you're welcomeAgain.
(31:38):
Check us out on Mondays whenKelly joins for Tonka Talk.
In the meantime, have a greatday and I'll talk to you later.
Bye.
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