Assisted Living During Covid

This is episode number 130 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Ghetto Narnia. We are—

Ghetto Narnia.

It's the, the, uh, the White Witch has definitely taken over the land. Um, it is, it is unpleasant outside.

It— well, and We have been far enough out of it at this point that like it hadn't snowed in like 3 days.

Yeah.

And it's still awful outside.

Yeah.

It's just gross. Like I had to shovel snow today, which, which is, which is really funny because, um, I lived here specifically so I didn't have to do that. Like I didn't, I didn't want to shovel snow. I didn't want to invest in the Ryobi snow blower thingamajigger.

Yep.

I don't want that stuff.

No.

Get it out of here. That's right.

That, that's why we live in Houston.

Yeah.

Houston doesn't do this.

I'm fine. I'm willing to make the trade for mosquitoes for snow.

Yeah, well, and hopefully, Craig, I'm just telling you right now, if we have mosquitoes this spring, I'm gonna kill someone.

Well.

They should be dead, right?

Yeah, and if you're not, you know, like, if you're more sane than Kevin, don't fret, just call me. We'll get it taken care of.

Craig will kill 'em for ya.

That's right.

If this crazy weather didn't—

I take great pleasure in it.

Hey, gotta be good at something.

And I feel like we need to address the awkward slant of the room. I was looking at the picture of the studio.

Yeah.

And it really looks like the room kind of has a little, a little slope to it there.

It doesn't.

And it's not. It's just that you guys are sitting in shorter chairs than— I look really big, though. You do.

You look massive. But it's literally— it's the camera angle over here. It's It's also the chairs are different. Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

Yeah. So, but anyway, this is the studio.

This is it.

Welcome to the, uh, to the room. Uh, we, we got Sean Medlin in the room.

There he is.

We're gonna be, uh, talking about all kinds of fun stuff here in just a minute. Um, anything new, Kev? Your power's on.

Well, thank goodness. So, you know, when we recorded our last episode, uh-huh, I was living with you because It was not safe.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Exactly, exactly. Great Seinfeld reference. Um, and we, uh, we actually went home, and 15 minutes after we went home, we came back to your place.

Just couldn't get enough.

No, because what, what happened was, uh, what, what had happened was—

See, what happened was—

Um, was that there was a transformer in my neighborhood that caught on fire.

Dude, you showed me the video. It was pretty nuts.

It's intense. It's not just like, I mean, this fire is out of control. I mean, it was like, I thought the pole was gonna catch on fire. I mean, it was, it was bad.

Yeah.

And it took them from the moment that happened to the moment I got power back was 23 hours. And so, um, I was really, really thankful to be at your place. So to be quite honest, no, nothing has really changed since we talked last time. Um, but, but I have power. We have water, no more busted pipes. People are going to be sleeping in their own beds tonight.

Yeah.

And we are happy.

Now you did have some busted pipes though. Yeah.

So I had one on the outside of my house. It was a spigot. Um, I had 2. Well, I had, I had one on the outside of my house that was a, that was this spigot that we, we fixed, right? You and I fixed thanks to a kind neighbor down the road had, had the pipe uh, wrenches that we needed and the pipe and the spigot, which is a little bit crazy that he had all of those things. Um, but then I had another one, and I still don't know where this pipe goes to, but it is a spigot that comes out of my house, and then there, there's a tee into that spigot, right? Comes out and does a 90 straight into the ground, and it was

busted. And so I don't, um, thankfully there's a shutoff right there. And so I was able to shut it off without any issues. And I will address that next week when it is not 25 degrees outside. And I don't know, I mean, maybe that goes to my sprinkler system. That's the best you and I could guess. And we're not going to know that until I can like, yeah, be confident that my sprinkler system isn't frozen and I'll try to turn it on and see if it comes on. All right. So we'll see what happens. Yeah. But either way, I got to get it fixed. All right.

So let's, let's, let's get the guest in here. Sean, how you doing, man?

What is going on, fellas?

Yeah, man.

Good to see you.

It's been close to 100 episodes since we've seen you.

Congrats to you guys. Y'all are crushing it.

I don't know if we're crushing it. We're just like, you know, stupid and stubborn.

But it is awesome. Uh, you were here in episode number 39.

39.

And this is episode 130. So that's, that's pretty amazing.

Yeah. Maybe we should have waited.

We probably should have.

We just, we couldn't wait. That was, that was the problem. Yeah. So, I mean, I, if you guys don't remember, go back to episode 39.

Yeah.

And, and, and, and listen what, what Sean has to say because they had just finished seasons here in Conroe.

Yep.

And, and so now you guys have 2 facilities fixing to break ground on a 3rd, right?

Yep.

Am I, am I tracking?

Yeah, you're tracking. You're doing great, man.

All right, so you don't even need to be here. Um, so one of the reasons we, we, you and I had talked about coming on the show is like you guys had dealt with this COVID situation. And so now we've got the COVID situation, the ICE situation, and you've got all kinds of other situations going on. Like, you, you've just gotten busier.

It's all the things. All the things. It's all the things. So what a great 12 months of being in the senior living business. It's been interesting.

And I want to remind people that, that may not have heard that episode, um, that your model for assisted living is like, in my opinion, superior to most every other model I've ever heard of. And I say that not to flatter you, although I hope it is flattering. Um, I say that to tell you, like, people that are listening, you need to tune in to this and don't, don't stop listening, because the way they do assisted living is by far different than what you're used to. And, and And we're going to get into it a little bit because my, because my grandparents are in assisted living. My grandma actually passed away back in, uh, October, and, um, she was, you know, in assisted living.

So we'll get into that at some point.

I appreciate you saying that.

Some crazy stuff. But, but man, I guess one of the things that I know we want to start off hearing is a little bit like, what is COVID like during while you're trying to operate an assisted living with old people that are very vulnerable, right?

Yeah, so it's definitely, the pandemic has definitely made things pretty interesting for really all senior living operators, but it's been tough. Early on, I mean, there's really not a playbook, right?

Right.

How to maintain operations during a pandemic like this. So initially it was very challenging. If you remember, I mean, everyone kind of went on lockdown. No visitors. You had to be really, truly essential to even enter the homes.

Yeah.

And that was tough on both the residents, but then their families as well, who wanted to— they were used to coming by and seeing mom and dad.

Right.

And so to tell them, hey, you cannot come in, that was pretty tough. Fortunately, I mean, we've been very blessed. We haven't had any COVID issues with any of our residents or staff.

Which is incredible. You're telling me you haven't had any?

No residents.

That's amazing. I mean, well, that's amazing.

It is. And God is good. I'll say this, though. I think it goes back to— I mean, I've been saying this for years, that smaller is better when it comes to senior living. You don't have infectious disease spreading through a smaller 5, 6, 7,000-square-foot home like you would in a, in a big box facility and with, you know, 100 employees and people coming in and out all day long. So we were able to get out in front of that pretty quickly and, and, you know, try to keep the COVID out. But yeah, it's definitely been a tough, tough year for sure.

Were y'all doing any sort of visitation early on? I mean, were you— I mean, because you saw a lot of like social media posts early on about like people having to see each other through windows and different things. Like, were you guys even letting anybody on property?

No, they would— you literally had to be a nurse that was coming to see a resident that was on hospice. And they had to go through lots of procedures just to come in. Within a few weeks, we started doing some stuff through the windows once we had a little bit of a handle on exactly what this was. What this thing was doing. Exactly. And of course, we had a period of time where we were having to round up a lot of PPE and things like that. And that was— a whole nother adventure in and of itself.

Right.

Yeah.

What was— and what were you guys sort of making your own protocols, or were you guys getting protocols from like the CDC or the WHO, or how did that work for you guys?

Yeah, so CDC had their opinions and had their recommendations, and then Texas Health and Human Services, which is the licensing arm of licensed facilities out there, they would have their memorandums that would come out. And of course, it seemed like a lot of it was just— I mean, it was literally week by week or day by day as far as the communication. Because again, there's not really a playbook.

It changed all the time.

It did.

Yeah.

And so, you know, we were just trying to be really smart and, you know, use, you know, obviously, you know, all the protective things that we could. And, you know, we— my wife and I, we were out looking for hand sanitizer and gallons of it. I mean, doing pretty much the same thing everyone else was. But we were, you know, essentially going back to the state and to CDC to try to, you know, pick up on what some of their guidelines and protocols were.

So were you— were— was your facility— so you got 2 facilities at this point, one's in, uh, Navasota and one's in Conroe.

Yeah.

Um, were, were you full at both of those locations with residents?

Pretty full. Yeah, I'd say we were at about 90, 90%. Okay. At least at each home.

Yeah. And, and so just to kind of put that in perspective, what I remember and correct me if I'm wrong, you could take 14 residents here in Conroe?

Yeah.

So when we talk about small, we're talking small.

Yeah. I mean, most big box facilities, you know, 50, 100 residents, multiple floors. Our model is much different. You know, we, again, smaller is better. Each of our homes are licensed for 14 residents. Conroe's a little different. It's licensed for both assisted living and memory care. So we serve a lot of residents that high levels of dementia or Alzheimer's. But yeah, they're, they're small, and, you know, anywhere from, you know, on any given day, you know, 10 to 11 residents, you know, somewhere in there.

Okay, so let me ask that question. So you've got people, you got people in your assisted living that have dementia and Alzheimer's, trying to explain to them people can't come see you, you can't do this, you can't do that. you have to be protected. How did they understand and how did they deal with that?

It's a great question. That was tough. You know, everyday things, normal life is hard for someone with dementia. But then to ask a resident to wear a mask, or, you know, a lot of times that family member was, you know, that was their joy, was getting to see their spouse or their son or their daughter. And when you take that away and you try to explain that to someone, you know, a lot of residents residents, they kind of shut down. Depression sinks in. I mean, that was a really tough part. And I'm totally convinced that especially a lot of the deaths, a lot of them in the facilities, they were dying of a broken heart and they didn't understand what was going on. But I mean, they were isolated. And that's how a lot of the bigger places kind of

dealt with that is just stay in your room kind of thing. And that was really tough.

Well, yeah. Uh, I, I mentioned this briefly, uh, before we started. So my grandparents are, are, were in an assisted living, um, one of the bigger box places.

Yeah.

And they were, they were having real, some, a lot of problems where they were. And so we got them moved to another facility that didn't have very many COVID cases at all. It's a good situation. Uh, my grandma wound up having to go to the hospital, uh, for some stomach issues, which is not uncommon for her. And they told her she had COVID whenever she got there. Zero symptoms, but she had COVID. So she, once she was done, she had to go to a different part of the, of the assisted living place away from my, my grandpa. And, um, it was like months before they were able to get back together to see each other. We couldn't go in to see them. Nobody could, could really come in to see them. So they were both apart from

each other. Um, she winds up— they wind up putting them back together, and she winds up passing away, which was not related to COVID. It was just her time. Um, but the crazy thing is we were, we were finding out more and more that they were, they were changing protocols all the time. And all of a sudden we were finding out, well, they can't go over here cuz they've got COVID. These people have COVID. These people have COVID. These people have COVID. And we're like, what's going on? They were like, well, uh, we, we've kind of changed some things and they're actually transporting COVID people here. Like we've become a COVID place. And we're like, wait a minute, wait a minute.

This place was supposed to be safe, right?

This, this place was supposed to be the place that wasn't taking those people. And now you're Right. Readily. And, and how are they just willy-nilly moving these people around? Like, what is going on? And, and, and I think for, for people like me who are on the outside, I don't understand. I mean, I'm even— I'm calling the head nurse there, like, begging her, like, my grandma is about to die. I know she's about to die. I just need to see her. And then, nope, can't. And so, like, all these things, and it's just It's devastating.

Yeah, it is. And a lot of the corporate rules played into that. A lot of the bigger box facilities are corporately owned and they've got policies and procedures. And going back to what I said earlier, they're really not a playbook for this sort of thing. But there was a lot of panic and things like that. And we had weeks that felt a little crazy, but I knew at the end of the day, And again, God willing, nothing will change, that if we could just keep anyone that comes to that front door to make sure they were screened and properly tested, and then staff, that they were doing their part when they left our homes to go back to their homes or resume their day-to-day life, that they would

still maintain precautions and not bring it back in, because that's our biggest risk, right?

Yeah.

someone bringing it in the building.

Just so people have some ideas as to how this would work, could you walk us through your employees' entrance and exit from the facility? What sort of procedures were they having to go through in order to try and keep it as safe as possible? Obviously, you guys are pretty successful at that.

We've got a whole regimen that they would go through. A lot of it is self-screening. I mean, we've got— they have paperwork, a log form, the obvious things. I say obvious, this thing's only been around for almost a year.

You say that though, I mean, but like it's become— I think what you're about to say has become very common for everybody to sort of understand in the common parlance of conversation now. Sure.

You know?

Yeah, I mean—

Sorry, go ahead.

No, no, no, taking your temperature, right?

Yeah.

You know, and then kind of retracing your steps. Have you been around anyone that's been exposed or, you know, has— as symptomatic. And, and, um, but then, you know, the PPE and the mask and gloves and, and just really being pretty smart about it. Um, and I, I gotta tell you, I'm just so incredibly thankful for a staff that, you know, just— they're so good at what they do.

Mm-hmm.

We've got a fantastic administrator. Um, each home has a coordinator, and then the care team. I mean, they're awesome, and, um, they're very passionate about their residence, and it's like their family. It's like their mom or dad, right? So it's, um, they're, they're very protective, but that's a, that's a good thing, right? They're not coming there just to— for a paycheck. They really care, and, um, it, it shows.

Yeah, that's one of the things we talked about last time you were here was how particular you were on who you hire and the protocols that you put in place. I mean, The, the cameras that you have available, like all of the things that you're doing for your residents to ensure their safety, ensure that, that those people that have decided to come into your facility are taken care of with the best care possible. And you do that by hiring the right people. And so, you know, I'm honestly not super surprised to hear that you had employees that were really careful because, you know, you get what you pay for in so many ways when it comes to that.

And, and yeah, thanks for saying that. I mean, we do, we, we, we take it very seriously, and I'm very competitive, right, when it comes to care, right? I think about it, and there are worse things to be competitive about, right? But, you know, it's like, I bet I can care for your mom or dad better than the place down the road, right?

Yeah.

And so we just take it very seriously, and They've done a fantastic job. They really have.

I'm proud of them. Well, I know we didn't, we didn't talk about this before, but I, I still remember, um, my friend Billy that reached out to you.

Yes.

I don't know if anything's happened.

We're still working on that.

Still working on that.

Yeah.

Um, but I mean, I remember saying like, hey, you need, you need to go talk to this guy Sean. And then she went and listened to the episode and, and she was like, oh yeah, I gotta, I gotta talk to this guy. And then she reached out to you and started talking about the situation her mom was in. And as soon as she had that conversation with you about How you guys operate, it was like, I have to. So—

And that's, that's, uh, that's pretty common. A lot of, uh, you know, families— and gosh, I can't believe 100 episodes in a little over a year has passed. Yeah, so much has happened since the last time I was here. And, um, but, you know, we've already— and it's been such a blessing— we've already served so many families in this community, and it's been really cool. Um, just literally about 2 weeks ago, um, I got a letter in the mail, handwritten letter, from a, uh, from a captain of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department. And his father had come to Seasons. And it was a very— there was a quick turnaround, meaning he was ill and he came in on hospice. And unfortunately, he wasn't with us as long as really any of us

had expected him to be.

Yeah.

And I never— the way the process went down, I didn't even really get a chance to, you know, spend time with the family the way I would like to. the resident passed. Well, it was such a blessing to get a handwritten card on letterhead from Montgomery County just saying thank you. Thank you for the service to our family during this big time of need, for taking great care. And I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was, whoever, I wish that I could personally thank all of your caregivers. And they were with my dad when he passed and just made it such a better experience.

Yeah.

So dude, when I get letters like that or emails or texts, um, dude, that's what it's all about for me.

That's when, that's when you get your why.

Exactly.

You know, that's, that's okay.

Yeah.

That's the, that's the reminder of why I do this.

Exactly. Yeah.

That's awesome.

Cool. Yeah. So, I mean, you've, when we, when we talked to you last time, you, you were about to open. You hadn't even opened yet. You hadn't done the ribbon cutting, but you had like gutted this place. It was like, you know, this massive house in the center of Conroe, completely gutted it. Like, how, how, how has that been?

I mean, um, all this gray hair you see here. I wasn't gonna say anything.

Okay. Yeah, I know, right?

It's, uh, dude, there's a lot that goes into, uh, you know, renovating a property. And, you know, uh, there were a lot of strict building codes in place and, and we had challenges.

Yeah.

Um, even after we opened the home and started getting residents, you know, in the home, you know, we started having some plumbing issues. I think I mentioned that to you earlier. And the home was built in the '60s. It was owned by a plumber and it was overplumbed.

Wow.

You know, there was cast iron everywhere in the lawn. And, but after we had opened and we started having residents in there, we did find— started having a few plumbing issues and found some more cast iron that we thought had been removed, but it was under the slab. And so we— about 4 different entry points, tunnels, you know, going up underneath this, this big home and cutting out all the cast iron and getting in there with PVC.

And so for those that may not understand, explain to people why that's not a good thing.

Cast iron over time deteriorates and it gets very jagged and it's not as smooth like PVC is, right? And so, you know, things that you flush down the toilet, i.e., paper and wipes, which Wipes really shouldn't be flushed anyways. Yeah, even if they say flushable.

Say it again for the people in the back.

Exactly, exactly. I tell my kids, no. Yeah, but yeah, it gets, it gets clogged. It snags on the jagged edges of this big cast iron pipe, right? But back in the day, that was the material to use for plumbing, but it erodes.

So not good, and you had to have it removed.

Yeah, not fun.

Yeah, fine.

I remember I was, I was on your property while that was going on. I didn't know what was going on, but I was just like, there's this massive hole outside the back of the—

Yeah, it was a new activity for residents. We were gonna put in a skateboard ramp or something. And, uh, hey dude, I told you we go above and beyond. So it's like, okay, Mr., Mr. Harry over here wants to ride the skateboard in the backyard, right? We'll try to figure it out. Like, there's—

we, we try not to say no Unfortunately, that was not a resident request.

That was a plumbing issue.

It was a need.

Yes.

So I'm curious, how were— I mean, with all the protocols in place, how did the family members react? I mean, I know you've got one letter coming in going, hey, thank you so much for how you handled this situation. I would assume that there were some in our— similar to our situation, we're like, dude, We, like, part of the reason we came here is our access, and we wanted to be able to, you know, we want to see Grandma, see Grandma, and we want to take her to church and all these sorts of things. It's one of the, one of the things that, that was billed to us whenever we chose this place. And I'm sure on the other hand, there's some people that were just like, gee whiz, man, thank you for making sure that they're safe.

Yeah, but then we had the opposite of that, right? We, we had, um, and, and it wasn't maybe one or two that, you know, it was fear-based, I think, you know, where the family, you know, was, you know, they want to see mom or dad.

Yeah.

And that's, you know, that's kind of been their security as well. And so when you say no to something like that, that creates confusion, especially if you're trying to create policies on the fly or try to put things together. So most families were like, okay, got it, it's a pandemic, y'all are following the rules, you know. But then, yeah, we had some that were— they were upset. They were used to They're used to seeing, you know, coming by and having coffee or tea or, you know, just spending time with their loved one. And, you know, when we had to put that on hold, you know, we tried to explain it as best we could. And, you know, they eventually, you know, kind of got over that. But it was once we framed it

like, we're doing this to keep your mom or dad or your spouse safe. It's not, you know, we're not doing it just to be mean.

Yeah.

different when that is the way that's communicated and it's not this weird shady, by the way, we're backdooring extra COVID people in.

Yeah.

Because that's not safer, that's less safe. You're introducing something into an environment that should have been safe and secure, and not only that, you're keeping me out of it. And I feel like I'm probably more safe and secure than someone that's been tested positive, you know, that you're bringing in purposefully at this point. So, I mean, again, knowing the facility you're putting your family member in is huge. It's huge.

Well, and I know my staff probably gets tired of me saying this all the time, but it's like communication really is key. And, you know, most problems can be resolved or at least, you know, kind of sorted through with really good communication. And to me, even delivering or communicating bad news properly, but, you know, not being afraid to have those tough conversations, even if they're not pleasant, still, once the dust settles from that, you know, things typically turn out okay. But it's when communication breaks down and things get kind of weird, and it feels like that people are just kind of operating in silos, Yeah. That's when there's a breakdown and that's when things get a little weird.

Yeah, anytime you have the sustaining of awkwardness in communication, man, it just gets bad. And until someone decides to break it, I mean, you're only perpetuating the problem and it's gonna become a much bigger monster.

Oh, no question. Yeah, so a few small sparks can turn into a pretty big bonfire really quickly. And so—

Especially when you're dealing with people's parents.

Oh yeah, exactly. Exactly. And so again, going back, I mean, we take it very seriously, but if something's not working or if we've got to make a change on the fly, we're communicating that very rapidly.

Yeah.

Have there been any other— obviously, we just had this massive ice storm that came through, but have there been any other major challenges? And I mean, one of the things I thought of when you were talking initially, when you kept going back to PPE, I was kind of curious as to what were the things that were the most scarce for you guys that were the hardest to get ahold of? But just in general, have there been any other major challenges throughout this time?

Yeah, going back to the PPE, I think initially everyone was really struggling for masks and gloves and—

Are you guys on a strict N95?

No, now we've— the latest protocol, I take that back. I think we might be on N95 now. I'd have to ask our administrators. she's there day to day.

Yeah.

And it still changes.

It's changing.

That's the problem. Yeah, it still changes. For a while, cloth masks was okay, but then it's like— so yeah, there's a lot of changing, um, protocol. But yeah, I mean, we, we, you know, getting, getting stocked up on that, um, getting the communication out to the family, those were big challenges. And then just kind of adjusting to the new— I don't want to say the new normal, but the new routines, right? Um, Even with the residents, we, you know, we had to get pretty creative with, you know, activities and just encouragement and really, you know, ramping up some of the things we do because, you know, not only are we helping them, you know, we're feeding them and we're, you know, if

they're incontinent, we're helping out with things like that.

Yeah.

You know, we're their cheerleader. We're doing activities and we're, you know, boosting the morale. And so, you know, that— and our focus was on them. And so that's, you know, that if there were challenges, it was just how can How can we still persevere during a pandemic? And that's what we did.

Yeah.

Well, and something I heard you say earlier that I was just curious about, you were talking about getting some of your residents who may be in your memory care side of things, getting them adjusted to wearing masks. How is that? I mean, are they having to wear masks when they're around each other or when they're around staff? How does that work?

Yeah, so the staff, they wear masks. The residents, If they have a visitor, we'll ask them to put it on. Those that are, again, they have Alzheimer's or a pretty high level of dementia, we know which ones they're going to be okay with it. And then some, they're just immediately, it doesn't matter how you ask, they're going to take it off.

Right.

And so again, it just goes back to being really smart about how we do things. Now, we were one of the first facilities approved by— in Montgomery County or in this area that was approved by the state to start having outdoor visits.

Okay.

And, and then almost immediately after that, we got approved for plexiglass visits indoor, because when we first got approved, it was like 100 degrees, you know, every day. And I'm like, okay, well, thanks for, you know, letting our residents see their family in the backyard. But it's like, it's It's August. It's like blazing hot.

This is not doable.

Yeah, exactly. So we were happy to start getting indoor visits, but dude, what a challenge, man. I mean, it's like I said, it's been interesting.

Yeah, but y'all still eat well, right?

Oh, we do eat well. We do eat well. Yeah. I think I eat better at season. Well, my wife's probably gonna hear this later. I'll just, whatever it is I'm about to say, I'm just not gonna say it.

The food is good wherever you go. That's right. There you go.

Yes, that's right.

Thank you, Craig. I appreciate that. Sorry, honey.

All right, so, um, so you've got Navasota, you've got Conroe, and there was kind of a hush order put on, on Craig and, and me last time you were here because there were some things in the works. Um, are you prepared to talk about that?

Yeah, a little bit. Um, I mean, we wanna, we wanna grow, we wanna scale. And so, um, we did just recently, um, about 30 days ago, Actually, it was on New Year's Eve, the last day of last year. It was a perfect way to go out. We purchased— made a pretty big land acquisition in Magnolia.

Oh man, awesome.

And it's in a very, very good location and that we're excited about. And we are going to build our 3rd and 4th locations.

Oh, oh wow.

So I'm going to build 2 homes at the exact same time.

Oh my goodness.

And they're side by side. So I'm building little neighborhood of care homes, if you will, but one's going to be licensed for assisted living and then the other one will be licensed for both that and for memory care.

Okay.

We feel like that there's a huge need in that area. And yeah, we're excited. So a whole nother project. And, you know, construction is always fun. There's pros and cons to everything, right? But, you know, building, going from the ground up, We feel like that we can still— actually, we know we can still create the home environment. It's going to look like a really big white farmhouse, luxury-style home, and not like a facility.

Right.

That was incredibly important. So we're in the bidding phase right now, getting bids with architects and— I'm sorry, general contractors. Architects, we've already finished the designs. We tested the soil a couple of weeks ago and Of course, if they would've come out this week, it would've been nothing but ice.

And the soil might be different.

Yeah, the soil might be a little different. But yeah, so yeah, we're excited. We're going to build from the ground up.

Well, I mean, I think this goes back to something that to me is so special about Seasons, and that is that you're building 2 facilities which in any other place would be 2 wings of one facility because it's so much cheaper to build one building than it is to build 2 buildings, but you're intent on keeping it small, right? I'm guessing.

Yeah, exactly. So, um, each home will be licensed for 16 residents.

Okay.

And 16 sounds kind of like a big number, but it's, it's really not.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, we sometimes, um, we're full, but you know, other times it's, you know, 10 or 11 people. But the way the home is designed and the way it's laid out, You never— and the new ones will have, you know, private suites, private bathrooms. But the way it's laid out, it looks just like a really big 10,000-square-foot luxury home. And so, yeah, but that's very intentional.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wow.

I mean, I love it. I absolutely love it. I was shocked whenever you said 2, because we, we briefly talked about this, but Um, man, that's, that's gonna be a really cool piece of property, and, and people are going to drive by that and go, man, that's cool.

I hope so. It's, it's, uh, yeah, it's, it's on a busy highway, uh, so it is, you know, there's a lot of traffic. Um, and, but, you know, I had driven past this land— I mean, I have driven past this land for, you know, since I've lived in Magnolia. And, you know, it's just, it's when things start resonating with you so much, it's just like, you know, you start really thinking about it, and, you know, the, the, uh, everything just kind of came together and we were able to pull together the financing and take down the land. And now we're working on all the construction financing and all that. And that's a whole nother deal. But I mean, we're incredibly excited to bring

our concept of senior living in that direction.

Well, and I know that you've mentioned to me, and I think you even said it here on the show, that you learned a lot by remodeling in Conroe. And I think a lot of those lessons that you've mentioned to me about this particular project is what made Magnolia appealing. And so maybe for people that are listening that have some influence in the areas that they live, why Magnolia versus Conroe? And not to say that Conroe's bad.

Right.

But you had some challenges in Conroe that made Magnolia more appealing. What, what made that a more, a different project for you? Because I mean, like, now you feel like you can build confidently and, you know, whereas probably in Conroe you didn't have that.

Well, and yeah, I did. I kind of cut my teeth on, on the Conroe project.

Yeah.

And, you know, again, what you don't know is what you don't know. And, and we went into that with, you know, viewing it as a, through a different lens of, you know, hey, it's a single-family home. We'll convert it and put, you know, fire and sprinklers in here and it'll be very simple.

Right.

And it wasn't simple at all. And of course, you know, the city of Conroe, they had just revised their ordinances and they just amended a lot of their codes and they tightened the screws on everything in regards to, you know, that type of facility being in a residential area and really construction across the board. And at the time it was very uncomfortable experience to, you know, have to go in front of the city and ask for this or ask for that and really not get any variances, you know, that we had requested. And we were held to the same standards as the hospital. So that was challenging. So to answer your question about, you know, why Magnolia, there's a lot of growth in that

area.

Yeah.

I love the community. You know, Woodforest is very close by and then of course, you know, Windcrest and Thousand Oaks. So there's a lot of families out there. And those families have families that, you know, have or will need care at some point. And so we just felt like, you know, Montgomery County is our home. I love this area and there's a lot of growth. So that's why we chose that.

Okay, cool.

Yeah. Awesome.

Well, so in this project, do you foresee moving even further? I mean, how far does your vision go?

Uh, dude, my, my vision is big. Sometimes it can get me in a little trouble because, you know, we do— we want to scale, but we want to be smart about it, right? Um, and I do a lot of consulting, um, for other people around the country that want to do the exact same thing. And so, and that's been, you know, really cool to, to help other people navigate and kind of learn from my mistakes. But, you know, um, I'm right now we're We're just— I mean, after we complete the construction, I mean, we'll have 4 homes with, you know, over 75 beds or however many beds that is. You have to add them up. But, you know, that's, you know, we don't have any partners or investors, and

that's us and, you know, and our team. We're, you know, we're making it happen, and we'll continue to— if, you know, we feel like that we can, you know, this area can support another, then— and we'll keep going.

Cool. Well, I mean, you've got your fingers into real estate anyway, right? Like, that's kind of a passion project of yours a little bit. I like that kind of thing.

No, yeah, I do. I love real estate. You know, I'm not a real estate agent, but, you know, I like looking at homes. And of course, you know, every time it's being in this, in the senior living business and doing what we do, every time I look at a home, it's with a different lens. Yeah, you know, I see this gorgeous home and I'm like, man, I bet my grandparents would really love that. And so-and-so's parents, and you know, how could we convert it? So yeah, but yeah, I do like looking at real estate and, you know, it's, it's, yeah, and that's exciting.

Cool.

Do you see anything, anything weird going on with— I mean, this is the Homeowner Show. Do you see anything weird going on with residential real estate?

No. Uh, if you look at, um, I mean, I think I saw a headline just last week that, uh, home— single-family homes way up.

Yeah.

And I mean, people are, you know, even through— I mean, they, pandemic aside, they were buying, buying real estate like, like crazy people, man. Yeah, crazy. And so, um, you know, the only trends that I see, and again, I don't live in that space, but, you know, is, uh, people on the East Coast and the West Coast, they're, they're getting out.

Yeah.

Um, and They're moving to Texas or Florida or places where real estate is not crazy expensive.

Yeah. It looks like they're going to Texas, Tennessee, Florida. Some people are even hitting Alabama now.

Man, they're getting desperate.

They're going to Alabama.

I got friends in Alabama. I like y'all.

If we're going to isolate one state, let's at least zero in on Louisiana.

I think we can all agree. Cajuns are crazy. All right. Yeah, I don't know what that's all about, but there's, but there's a lot of big names coming to Texas too, you know. Joe Rhodey.

Rogan.

That's what I said.

Yeah.

Um, and you know, we got Tesla coming. Yeah, they're already here, man.

I know. I mean, he was, he was throwing the horns up with, uh, the governor.

Yeah. So So by the way, there's a reason that I would confuse Joe Rohde and Joe Rogan.

I don't even know who Joe Rohde is.

Oh my gosh, you disappoint me.

Am I supposed to know?

You don't know either?

No. All right, so fine.

Joe Rohde is the brains behind Animal Kingdom. And okay, Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Was he the dude with like a dangly earring?

Yes.

Yeah, he's a quitter.

So he retired. Okay, um, but he has his finger fingers on so many amazing things. Yeah, at Disney. So anyway, that's why I personally would confuse Joe Rohde with Joe Rogan. Yeah, my bad.

Yeah, I think Rogan's got a little bit bigger audience.

Maybe a bigger audience, but I, I don't know, like the number of people that have seen what he's done is probably different. Oh, for sure.

But like, here, this, this is actually something that I think, I think is pretty interesting because A little relevant, because Rogan moved his podcast to Austin because he was sick and tired of certain political atmospheres going on in California and policies and all this kind of stuff. That aside, he's been doing his podcast for 10 years or something like that. The dude is pulling in bigger numbers than major news networks.

It's amazing.

This is not anything to sneeze at. The guy has more influence than Fox News as an individual.

The fact that his podcasts are like 3.5, 4 hours long sometimes.

Yeah.

And people are listening to that.

Yes.

And waiting for the next one to come. I mean, there's times whenever I look at our episodes, go, that was too long. Yeah.

I mean, not this one.

Yeah, not this one.

Not this one.

But I'm just like, man, you're going on for hours and hours and your influence is still way up there.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

And here's a guy that's just having conversations like his bunker or whatever that like raised the stock price of Spotify. But I think, I think when I, when I, when it hit, and, and if you guys know, I don't remember. I think it was like $40 trillion when they announced that partnership. That's crazy.

That's insane.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

So, I mean, like, hey man, that gives you guys something to aspire toward.

We're riding his coattails a little bit.

Yeah, a little bit.

But well, I mean, we'll be way bigger, but totally, totally eventually.

I mean, it's time. That's right.

You know, yeah, 10 years, I can climb any mountain.

That's right. So, but you know, part of that's money, right? He's got so many people feeding into him. Oh, like it's—

well, he's got a big audience.

He's got a big audience. But part of it is he did it for like 5 years where like nobody was listening.

Yeah.

You know, he just— but he just kept doing it because he enjoyed it.

Yep.

So, but anyway, it's a fun little rabbit trail.

One of the things— yeah, one of the things I want to do before we kind of jump back in here is I want to go ahead and give a shout out to our friends over at Living Safe at Home.

Absolutely.

Yeah, yeah.

If you, if you guys missed the episode where we, we had Matt and Chase in the studio, they tested our doorknob. Yeah, to see how bad it was, and it wasn't good.

It was bad.

Yeah, like it was really, really bad.

On a scale from 1 to 10, it was really bad, y'all. And, uh, the knob went all the way to 11.

Yeah.

And, and what's, what's crazy about it is that they, they tested it and then they sprayed it. They retested this knob like 5 minutes later and, and it was virtually—

It's okay to open the door now.

Yeah. So, so here's the deal. We may— if you didn't hear it, you need to listen to this episode because it's quite incredible and I learned a lot.

Yeah.

Because one of the things I learned is there's a huge difference in cleaning your home and disinfecting your home.

Yes, massive.

And, and you cannot sit here and tell me that your home is clean if it's not also disinfected.

Yeah.

Right. And, and, and it's, it's actually something that I think that our buddy Sean here could, could use in, in their facility at times, because I think everybody could use this in their facility. Right.

And the part of it that really just drew me into their model of going after this stuff is they actually attack the food that the viruses and the bacterias go after. That's what they're actually getting at. And so these things actually starve to death. They can't survive in your home because they don't have any food left to eat.

That's right.

So they're doing new construction. They're doing currently lived in, and it's all electrostatic. It's their system. It's their product. They've developed it and they were doing it long before COVID even hit.

Yeah.

These are not opportunistic guys. These are guys that just wanna make sure that homes are completely— well, you can't be completely, but to the best of their ability, disinfected. And if you wanna get ahold of 'em, you can reach 'em at 512-917-8654. That's 512-917-8654, or you can always email them at info@livingsafe.com. home.com. And if you didn't have a chance to write that down, good for you, it's in the show notes.

It's gonna be right there below.

Yeah.

Scroll down, you'll see it. All their information's there. And listen, just give them a call, see what they can do for you. And here's the other cool thing, if you have a COVID positive in your home, they will get there within hours.

Yeah.

Because they understand that this is a big deal. And, and the cool thing is like the bacteria cannot grow— the bacteria or virus, okay, it cannot grow after they have done this for a sustained period of time.

Right.

So it's not just keeping the person that has been, uh, infected safe, it's keeping you and your family safe. I mean, it changes your need to like completely quarantine. I mean, yes, you have to be safe and careful, but you don't have to worry about if I touch that or whatever. They can take care of it for you.

Yeah, not to mention that it's not gonna damage your electronics.

Right.

Or food.

Yeah, you're good to go.

Good to go. So give 'em a call and be glad that you did.

All right, any more information, go to www.livingsafeathome.com. That's www.livingsafeathome.com. Yeah.

All right, Sean, uh, let's get back to something that I think that we need to talk about.

Oh boy.

Unless it's more disinfecting stuff, we can talk about that for a while.

No, I'm over it.

You're good, okay.

I'm sure they're a great sponsor.

They are. They're a fantastic sponsor. But obviously y'all are doing, and they actually said this, if you're doing a good job at keeping your house safe, hey, you're doing a good job. But at the end of the day, most of the time it would be crazy to see how much difference they can make. But talking about medical things, so not long after you were on our show, some pretty crazy things happened in your family with your daughter, right?

Yes.

Can we talk about that for a minute?

Sure, let's, let's, let's dive into it.

Um, this changed the home front a bit.

Yeah, yeah, this, uh, this did change. It was an interesting curveball. So yeah, right after Marissa, my wife, uh, right after we, you know, you know, got the Conroe home open, we cut the ribbon, um, you know, we were, you know, firing up the marketing. I was out there hustling and just, you know, letting people know who we are, what we did, that sort of thing. Um, we got the call that, you know, no parent really wants to get, um, you know, from the pediatrician saying, you know, why don't you guys come back?

Mm-hmm.

Um, there's something that's bothering me. Um, wanna, wanna talk to you for a bit. And it had kind of been on, Marissa's radar. And, you know, she was breastfeeding our daughter Kate at the time, and she was only about 5 months old. But long story short, we found out that our daughter Kate, she had craniosynostosis, and it was the— which is where the sutures in your skull, they fuse together prematurely. Now, this happened in utero, so it wasn't— and it wasn't anything that we did or didn't do.

It just this happen, right? Yeah.

And, uh, but it was, you know, it, it sent us off on this really big journey, you know, of going to ENTs. And then ultimately we ended up at Memorial Hermann, um, in front of a rock star, you know, team of physicians to help us navigate that. But Kate underwent a very invasive surgery where, you know, she— they cut across, you know, from ear to ear, essentially across the top of her skull and unfused And I got to give it up to Dr. Nguyen at Memorial Hermann. You know, he said, guys, the approach that I want to take with Kate's a little different. And if you're open-minded, I think that the results will be amazing for you. But his approach was to leave a

rod, a metal rod sticking out of her skull for about 90 days.

Hmm.

And we had to get a device. I'm trying to get these words out. It's kind of hard. So she had to get a device, a special screwdriver, and turn the rod a couple of millimeters twice a day. So as her skull is expanding, this device is turning. And then she had to go and get a follow-up surgery. That was incredibly difficult.

Right.

I think the big thing for us, I mean, we didn't see it coming, right? And everything felt like we were on top of the world and we were excited about opening our new location. And then something like that happens. And I'm very blessed. And of course, Kate, now she doesn't know anything happened. Her hair covers up the scars and everything's great. She's a mess. I can barely keep up with her now. She's awesome, but she's very resilient. And it was an incredibly tough time, but we got through it.

Man, this is something that— here's the reason I want to bring this up. Beyond the fact that this is something that's— I mean, it's your family. It's hugely important. to you. It doesn't really matter what you got going on in your life at work. Your family's huge. I mean, you've, you've got to take care of you. Craig and I are huge supporters of you taking care of your family. And, you know, I mean, there's a lot of different ways this could have gone. I mean, you, you could have gone, look, I don't, I don't even know how to, how to handle this.

Yeah.

And, and this could have driven you and your wife apart, right?

Yeah.

Could have been really, really challenging for you and your wife. You've got this brand new project that you're working on. You could have said, look, I, I can't let this go by the wayside. Um, or you could have completely done the opposite, let your project go to the wayside.

Yeah.

And not focused enough, uh, on it while focusing solely on your family. Um, but, but it sounds like you were able to manage that really, really well. How were you able to manage that so well?

When things happen like that, I try to just kind of break it in small chunks, right? It's like, okay, we can't control this. This is totally out of our control. And so you just kind of got to lean into it a little bit and say, okay, it's out of our control, but we're going to navigate this. And let me tell you what we're not going to do. We're not going to fall apart, right? Um, we're, we're gonna— we're, we're strong. Um, you know, we're gonna get through this and she will be okay. And, um, but you're— to your point, I, I think that, you know, um, for some, you know, that could literally make them collapse.

Yeah.

Or, you know, it's, uh, you know, so I— there's been lessons. And, and, you know, I've had other things happen in my life personally where, you know, I'm like, really? I mean, is this really happening to me right now? The cool thing The funny thing is, though, is that, you know, when things like that happen, I always try to ask, you know, what am I supposed to learn from this? Instead of asking, you know, why is this happening to me?

Yeah.

I try to kind of take a different spin and say, what am I supposed to learn from this? Like, it's like, come on. Okay, bring it. Let's go. Well, you know, as we've already— since we've had that experience, Marissa, my wife, she's, you know, she's in these Facebook groups that are specific to craniosynostosis, and she's had people reach out to her from across the country that are dealing with the same condition or deformity. And she's been able to, you know, kind of help these moms, you know, kind of navigate that.

Wow.

So that's been super cool, you know, that she's been able to reach out and help some other people. So I think that a lot of great things have come of it. And again, going back to Dr. Nguyen at Memorial Hermann, he did a fantastic job. He thought outside the box. And now I think that a lot of people, even though the condition is very rare, it does come up and they're traveling across the country to come see him. And so it's a pretty cool story.

Yeah. Wow. And one of the things I know about you is that, that mindset's a big, a big part of, of who you are. And, and you, you focus on mindset for a lot of different things. So you talked about it, it's, it's almost kind of compartmentalizing things, but, but doing so while still cross-referencing the rest of them, right?

Right.

I mean, it does— did any of that like click in in those moments, or were you Are you going, okay, here's where I've really got to use the stuff that I talk to people about, or is it just kind of natural for you?

You know, I'd love to say that it's just totally natural for me and that, you know, that's just the way I am. But, you know, no, some of that is skill and just kind of learning from the past. Yeah, I do think that, again, it's so easy to just collapse or, you know, you see people walking around that are just sleepwalking, right? They're not intentional about what it is that they're doing or the way they're living their lives. And, and so, you know, being intentional is, is very helpful. It's very useful because I, you know, when my feet hit the ground every day, I know exactly what I'm going to do and where I'm going to go and what that's going to look like. Um, but, you know, when those roadblocks do come in or, or speed

bumps or whatever, you just— my approach to dealing with them, and again, a lot of it, you know, is experience of just dealing with bad things. I want to cuss, but I won't cuss. But dealing with having been dealt a crappy hand of cards, right?

Yeah, right.

And then you're left to pick up the pieces and navigate that. And so if you do it successfully, you kind of get some thick skin, and you're able to do it. And I'd like to think that's a skill. I know my wife probably gets tired of me always trying to be Mr. Positive all the time. But it's just bad things happen every day. It's just a great big portion that is how are you going to respond to it?

Yeah, yeah. This— it's, it's very similar to, um, I've been going through some of the old Jim Rohn stuff with my daughter.

Yeah.

Uh, and it reminds me of one of his, his more famous ones, which is don't wish things were better. Don't— yeah, don't wish things were better, wish you were better.

Yeah.

Or don't wish things were better, wish you had more skills. I think it's kind of—

Exactly. Yeah.

No, no, no, exactly. And, and like, I, I, that's, that's kind of what you're talking about is like, you know, you can, you can approach the situation with, why is it this way? Why is this happening to me? Or instead you can go, what is it that I'm supposed to get from this? And then convert it into something where I can become a better person at the outcome of this.

Yeah.

You know, how can I leverage this situation? Which is a weird way. Some people take that language and go like, oh, you dirty capitalist. But like, you know, like what we're actually saying is like, you know, how can you be more optimistic about a really bad situation?

Well, and again, And it's not that I ask for bad things to happen, but when they do, I feel like that I've got an extra tool that I can use or tap into. But it's certainly better than taking this reactive approach or stance that, I just don't understand why this is happening, and melting down and things collapsing. It's like, okay, we'll figure it out.

Yeah.

And that's literally, that's kind of our— when things happen, And it's like, okay, well, we'll figure it out. Yeah, you know, because I'm just— I'm, I'm— I, I stay in kind of in that, in that mindset or in that, you know, that frame where it's like, okay, you know, if, if something happens, you know, we'll figure it out, but yeah, we're not gonna freak out. Yeah, I want to freak out, but I'm not gonna freak out.

So do you have— do you have mentors that you go to in moments like this where you're like, dude, I need— I just need to talk? Do you have that set in your life?

I wish, um, yes, I, I do. I wish I had more. And, um, and then I, I can think of several that I wish that I probably would have paid or should have paid more attention to. Um, but yeah, I, I've got several people in my life that went— and my father's one of them, you know. And, um, where I, you know, when things come up, you know, that I can reach out and, and say, how in the Am I going to get it, you know, get through this? Because, you know, when the obstacle comes, it's like, okay, I mean, you don't really see any way around it. Um, and, and the one of the best things you can do is just get around other people and, you know, you get a different reference or, you know, uh, perspective on the

deal. It changes everything.

Yeah. And I, you know, it's no surprise that I actually had a reason for asking that question. I mean, I, I think that, um, I think that that is really detrimental in any person's life, whether— I mean, let's be honest, there are people right now that have suffered some major tragedies through this crazy snowpocalypse that has happened, right?

Yeah.

People's homes have been destroyed. They've had pipes burst. We're not plumbers, right? Most people in the world are not plumbers. Now we're gonna have to deal Sheetrock. We've got all kinds of things going on in our house. Oh, by the way, insurance has to get involved. All of these things, and you're probably not prepared, and that's okay. You cannot be prepared for absolutely every situation. I don't think anybody expects you to be prepared either. I think that's kind of one of those misnomers. Like, you don't have to be great at everything. You just have to be good at finding someone who is.

Yeah.

And listen and take advice and just be prepared to be unprepared, right? I think it's possible to be prepared to be unprepared.

A little bit. Um, we can try to plan all we want to, but, you know, things are, things are going to unfold.

They're going to happen.

Um, yeah, this, the, the storm this week, it's been nuts. I mean, one of the nights we packed up the kids and, you know, because we were without power. I finally got water on today. Um, you guys will be glad to know that I did finally get a shower in.

We really I appreciate that.

I know. Yeah. But, uh, and let me tell you, dude, 4 days with no shower, no water, not fun. And, and, and the water wasn't really that clear. Um, but you know, dude, it's like, okay, it's hot. And yeah, so I, I got to take a shower. Yeah. But yes, um, so you, if you don't, if you don't know a way to figure it out, find somebody that does.

Yeah. And I think that going To your, your business and trying to, especially whenever you're trying to navigate a healthy family life and a healthy business life, being able to do those things well is going to take a lot of strategy, right? You gotta be ready to, to be prepared for something to go wrong. And, uh, man, I, I think that, um, I, it's impressive to me to see how successful you've been in a scenario that there's not a lot of trailblazers out there doing it. There's not a lot of people doing assisted living the way you're doing it to be able to look at and go, all right, now tell me how to handle this. You know, you're blazing the trail and other people are calling you. So, um, it's, it's impressive.

Thanks for saying that.

Yep, absolutely. I appreciate that.

Yeah, I mean, you're— I mean, you're definitely not Cuomo.

Okay, I gotta share a story. If that's all right, I gotta, I gotta share a story. So it wasn't It wasn't always like that. And it's not. And I appreciate the kind words. But yeah, there were days early on where we were trying to get the right people in the right places staff-wise. And I may or— actually, I did. I worked some shifts as a caregiver.

Okay.

And of course, when someone does call out, of course, it's going to be midnight on Christmas Eve, right?

Right.

Because that's— or Saturday night kind of thing. And so early on, Yeah, I've, uh, don't let the hair fool you, man. I'll put some latex gloves on and, uh, I will care for your mom or dad if they're at, you know, Seasons. I mean, that's when you own the business, it, you know, it's, uh, get your hands dirty.

Literally.

Yeah, literally. But, uh, you do it, you do what you gotta do. But, uh, you know, now we've got layers in place and we've just got a really great team, you know. But yeah, when it's, uh, it can be a little disruptive, uh, you know, with the kids. And when you say, honey, I've like, I gotta go.

Yeah, it is what it is.

It is what it is though. And you just, you work it out.

So did you— okay, did you learn, did you learn to let go at all whenever things happened with Kate? Like with when, when you were dealing with all of that and you had to dive in, did you have to learn at all how to let go and let your people do things, or were you already really Or are you really kind of good at letting them manage the way they need to manage? And how hands-on versus hands-off was that for you?

So when the, when the, the whole ordeal and the surgery went down with our daughter, yeah, we were still— I mean, we were rampant. We were still in ramp-up mode, right? And so it, it was just a matter— I mean, we had some really good staff in place, some good staff, and, um, but we were I mean, I was still giving tours the day before and talking to families and things like that before the surgery.

Mm-hmm.

And so we just said, okay, you know, let's get— let's do everything we can and just get everything built up. Because when we go to, you know, to the Children's Hospital, we're gonna check in. And, you know, you have these grand visions like, dude, I brought books and I have my laptop and I'm gonna get some work done and all that stuff. I never opened a book. I never got my computer out.

Yeah.

And it was just 3 days of just being there and just trying to navigate that. You know, her eyes swelled shut and her head and the bandages and all that stuff. And, you know, you just slowly start to emerge from that. But no, we had a good team around us at Seasons that kind of— they all, you know, came in and, you know, I would check in with them. But, you know, we just kind of navigated.

it. Yeah, cool.

Yeah, I can't, I can't imagine, man. I mean, I mean, like, because it's, it's so difficult when you're used to being hands-on to have to physically be away. And, and you, and you, you do, you have those expectations in your head, I'm gonna be able to accomplish this, this, and this. And then once you're in that moment, it just all goes away. And, and then you kind of have to go, okay, my team has this.

Yeah. And, and, you know, ultimately when it comes to scale, and I, this is something that I've, I've had to work on because I can't do all things, right?

Right.

And at some point, you do have to let go and know that we've got good leadership in place. And, you know, I don't have to physically be there to make sure that, you know, the meal's just right or the experience is just right, that my team is going to do that. But so that's— I think that's just a growth process of just realizing I can't do all this by myself.

Yeah. That's why you put good people in place to make sure that you don't have to—

Exactly.

Be hands-on all the time. Yeah. Because you trust 'em.

Yeah.

So for goodness sake, be a good person.

That's right.

Right. Please.

Heard that before.

Well, so, so how did, how did you guys, uh, navigate Snowmageddon '21?

Uh, dude, we're still navigating it.

Still navigating it. Yeah.

I mean, we, we did okay. Um, we lost power, um, for, and then, you know, for an extended period of time, maybe not quite as long as you, Kevin.

Yeah.

But I mean, it was, you know, a good 16, 18 hours.

Wow.

And then, it kind of came back in stages, but having 3 kids at home and the youngest is 2 and climbing on everything. And, interesting enough, we actually took them to Colorado just about a week and a half ago to go snow skiing and to see snow for the very first time. Yeah.

Awesome.

Yeah. And so, and we shipped our clothes back to, you know, back to our house. And they arrived like literally 2 days ago.

And I'm like, yes.

But I'm like, oh guys, there's snow again here in Magnolia. And of course, you know, they were excited, but it was only fun for a little— oh, sorry.

No, you're good.

Not fun.

That's the hangover from the snow.

Yeah. You know, I mean, stuff like that's gonna happen.

Yeah.

And it usually happens to Kevin.

Oh, golly. It always happens to me. What are you talking about?

Yeah.

Yeah, so, you know, I— it's funny that you say that because I, I was talking to some people who have kids similar age to me, and I'm like, this was supposed to be fun. We don't get snow in Houston. And when we do, it's like a dusting, right? It's rarely gonna be like inches of snow. we, you know, my house, I think I was able to get between 4 and 5 inches depending on where I, where I looked. And I mean, it's, it's one of those deals, it's like, that's supposed to be fun. Yeah, yeah, it was not fun. No, it was the opposite of fun.

Well, and like, we're being a little bit lighthearted about it, but like, literally people have died. Yes, because of this. And like, and, and I, you know, when all of this was, you know, ramping up, I think a lot of people up north are like, what's wrong with you guys? It's like, there's nothing wrong with us. We're just not prepared for this by any stretch of the imagination.

And it's not because we're— we don't want to be prepared and we've chosen not to be prepared. It's that we, we don't have the same weather, and so houses are not built the same way, right? We're, we're not prepared because we don't need to be prepared for this type of thing. And then whenever it happens once in a lifetime, Yeah, bad things happen.

Yeah.

And it was, you know, I'm not gonna say that I didn't enjoy spending time hanging out over at Craig's house. We had fun, you know, we played cards and other things.

Yeah.

We had fun. But I mean, I didn't get to sleep in my own bed and he had to deal with me and my dog and, you know.

That's cute.

Yeah.

That's kind of cute though.

Yeah. So, well, I'm glad you think so. But it's just not— it would have been better if we were like, hey, we're coming over for a couple hours, then we're going home. That would have been awesome.

But anyway, it didn't happen like that.

Didn't happen like that at all. So, um, but, but I think you were saying before I totally like lost my voice, and, uh, now that we've had the monologue for 10 minutes.

Yeah, it's like, uh, but that out of 10 tell you how the week's been. Yeah, it's literally been, um, it's been kind of nutty, uh, but you know, we're getting through it.

Yeah, you told me that the, the, uh, you, you've got a generator at one of them. Did you guys lose power in Conroe?

Um, no, no, because of the generator.

Oh, okay, the generator.

Minnesota, we lost power for just a little bit. Staff was on that.

I had that.

And, um, again, the staff has been so awesome. We, we had at both homes, we had several caregivers that just said, you know what, I'll just stay here. And instead of going tonight, you know, to be with my family, you know, are the residents, you know, it's always residents first. And so they just made the commitment to, you know, it's, it's, there's ice and snow on the road just to stay in the homes.

Yeah.

And they just kind of worked as a team and were, you know, they've been there for 3, 4 days.

Yeah.

And, you know, again, it goes back to, it's not about me or the homes or the decor. It's just about the level of care care that, you know, um, that each of our residents are getting. So, uh, when this is all over, there's, there's a pretty good handful of, of caregivers, uh, that are on the team that, um, we're going to be circling back to and, and really trying to bless them with something special because they— I mean, they went above and beyond. Yes, above and beyond this week.

Were you guys able to do much prep in order to get ready? I mean, because we, we had a pretty good heads up that this thing was coming. But once everyone kind of caught wind, stores were basically looted. Were you guys able to do much prep?

Yeah. So, we stay kind of prepped anyways. Just being a licensed facility, we have to maintain X amount of water and non-perishable things and things like that. So, in those regards, for the most part, we were. In the instances where maybe we weren't underprepared, The staff stepped in and they brought things from home or they cooked a meal at home and brought it to season. So that kind of just speaks to who they are.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, and one of the other things I wanted to make sure that we talked about before we kick you out into the cold for the night.

Thanks.

We have a lot of guys and gals in the studio that operate businesses. Honestly, you operate on a different level than what I think a lot of other people operate at. You have a lot of stuff going on. I think there's a lot of people— I feel blessed to have you in the studio. You come in as a personal favor to me.

Yeah.

Really, you're operating at a high Yeah. And, and I think a lot of people want to kind of arrive at where you're at right now, where you're like, you're, you've got facility in Navasota, you got a facility in Conroe, you're fixing to open 2 more facilities. You know, where is your brain at and, and how do you kind of wrap it around that every day? Uh, you know, because, and I'll, I'll be honest, I mean, like, you know, even, even though I operate a few things, man, it's difficult. To kind of get up and go, okay, I've got this and this and this, and partition my brain up into multiple spaces and go, okay, I need to separate so much activity of my brain to this and now to this. It's exhausting.

Yeah, it is. And thank you for saying that. I really appreciate it. It helps to be aligned with my wife. I mean, we work as a team, right? And so that's just just a portion of it. But, you know, I try to maintain a growth mindset. I mean, I want to grow, you know, personally during this process. You know, at the end of the day, it's about service, and we want to help people. And, um, you know, every day I just try to get up— I don't know how to say this— it's like I'm, I'm, uh, blissfully dissatisfied.

Yeah.

So I'm happy, but I want to continue to grow. And, and so I, I don't want to rest on my laurels and just kind of, you know, okay, you know, we got our 2 facilities. It's like, okay, I feel like we're doing a great job at this and we know what we're doing. Let's grow.

Right.

You know, and it keeps me young and, you know, by getting out and doing this sort of thing. But, you know, I've just, I've got a growth mindset of just wanting to do more. And so it's kind of weird because a lot of people would say, oh man, you know, you've got this, you've got that, you know, you should be totally just in a place of zen and happiness. And I only stay there for just a little bit. I actually have to kind of work toward that.

Yeah.

I don't— I kind of wake up and I'm just ready to, you know, jump on whatever the next thing is. So it's kind of a weird thing.

But anyways— When you say that, Zen and bliss to me feels like a dangerous place to go, you know, because once I— if I go there, then I stop. You know what I mean?

Yeah. No, I know exactly what you mean. And it's— I think it's real easy for people to get stuck and, you know, just get very complacent. And, you know, Again, I just, a lot of that is kind of born out of a desire to just want more for myself and my family. I feel like it is my personal obligation to them to create success and provide opportunities that they normally wouldn't have.

Right.

And that's a straight up conviction that I have. And so a lot of that work ethic and things like that is kind of derived from Some of it's obligation.

I can keep talking like this for a long time if you want to, or we could do the final 4. It's really up to you.

Bring on whatever you guys are down for, man. I'm good. I'm having fun. It's super cold outside. I do know the temps are going to drop here in just a bit. Have y'all even looked? It's probably—

I think it's already dipped into the 20s.

In the 20s. Yeah, and I've got to drive, but you know, we can— I'm good.

All right, well, I know we're gonna talk again. Let's, let's, let's hit the final— Kevin, I didn't let you intro the final 4.

Sorry, I was about to ask, what are you doing?

To be fair, you always get to ask the questions. I don't ever get to do the awkward—

do you want to ask the questions?

No, I don't want to ask the questions. I want to do the awkward transfer because this is my final Final Four! The Final Four.

That's right. So obviously the most anticipated segment of the entire show. The crazy thing is we've done this with you before and—

So you're gonna have to like go back 100 episodes ago.

Yeah, 100 episodes.

Okay.

A lot's changed.

A lot has changed, but like, is it, do I get, do I never get invited back if I use the same answers?

No, no, you probably actually will get invited back if you have different answers. That way we'll know things change.

That's right.

All right, well, bring it on.

Let's do it. And also, if we know that they change, I mean, like you haven't been sitting in zen and bliss.

All right, yeah, that's right. No zen and bliss here. All right, let's do it.

All right, so here are the final 4 questions. We're gonna start with the first one like we always do. What is the must-have tool that you won't leave your house without?

Cell phone.

There it is.

It has not changed. My head would roll off my shoulders if it were not for my cell phone.

You haven't like upgraded to like an iPad Pro or? Yeah, I know. I need to put it down more, I would never leave home without it.

Well, I mean, especially whenever you do have your hands in a lot of different pots, you know, you got family, you got business, you got all kinds of things that you're dealing with. Um, and if you're a podcast type of person, and I know you are, and you listen to a lot of different things, self-help and, you know, all these different things, like you have to have all of that in a location for you to access it quickly and easily. There's There's not another tool out there, man.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah.

All right, so, so since this is the number one answer that we get, I'm gonna add an addendum to the question when they—

okay, top 3 apps. Oh, oh, well, hey, whoa, whoa, we haven't even talked about this.

This is, this is cutting it. Wow.

No, no, yeah, no, I went wild and crazy.

He's just going all over the place. He didn't get to ask questions.

Oh, absolutely. Is that okay if I look at my phone?

I mean, it'll tell you if you just look at your Uh, yeah, dude, I don't want to even—

Nobody wants to look at that. Nobody. My, my top favorite app, or top 3 apps. Yeah, I would say, um, Instagram.

Okay.

Okay. Um, I took a big break off of Facebook for a long time. That feels really good, by the way.

Yeah.

Um, but I love— I do love Instagram because it's— there's no rabbit holes.

Okay.

Was that—

was your, was your, uh, Facebook sabbatical, was that part of the No, but I mean, it was a little bit. A little bit?

It was during the time. I mean, I went long. I went like 6 months.

Oh, wow.

And yeah, man, ignorance can be bliss, by the way.

Yeah.

I mean, literally what you don't know, because you know—

I think it's a great time to get off too. I mean— Yeah.

Yes. Because yeah, dude, there are so many rabbit holes and things that can take your energy.

Yes.

But dude, I'd have to say Instagram. This is embarrassing, Probably our doorbell app and like the weather.

Okay. No, that's—

I'm like a weather junkie. It's like, I don't know.

I'm always looking at the weather. So what app do you use for weather?

Just the iPhone. Well, no, I take that back. I've got a couple that I jump back and forth.

Okay.

Yeah. So I use the iPhone app for the weather, but if I need to dig a little deeper and see some radar clouds, then I'll use, I think it's called Weather.

Okay.

But, uh, yeah, it's, it's a, uh— why do you guys have something?

Well, I've got, I've got a couple. WeatherBug.

I know a lot of people use that one.

Yeah, WeatherBug used to be huge, and then they kind of— that people stopped talking about it for a little while, but they're still very much around. But I've, I've got 2 that I use that I love. One of them is called RadarScope, and RadarScope is, is really, really good. It does, it does incredible stuff with radar. You can see lightning strikes, all, all different kinds of really cool stuff.

Wow.

Um, and then the other one that I, I've gotten away from, like the, the native weather app, and like a lot of people use the Weather Channel, that kind of stuff. I use another app called Dark Sky, and Dark Sky is, um, the amount of information that it gives you is mind-boggling. I'll have to show you whenever we're done here. It's, it's really, really cool. So anyway, all right.

I just follow a couple people on Facebook that actually know what they're talking about, right? I have no idea, like Yeah. I've got a, I've got a friend from college, uh, Katie. I don't know what her new last name is. It used to be Petrie, but she's a meteorologist and like, I just, I just go over.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just go to her Facebook page and she'll just like, if there's something crazy happening, she's like, hey, just get ready for this.

Oh, so Katie Petrie dishes it up.

She does.

Sorry.

Uh, I see what you did there.

Okay. That was really, really bad.

Back to the final one.

All right. All right.

Back to the final 4. Here we go. Second question. Um, we, you, you know the drill. What's a job you've walked away from? Could be a project. It could even be a plumbing project.

Like, I don't know. Cast iron.

Just, I'm just throwing it out there. Just being willy-nilly about it. Um, but what's a, what's a job or a project that you've walked away from?

Well, I think my answer, uh, 100 episodes ago was, uh, anything electrical. All right, but now, now the answer is it's plumbing. Like, especially if, uh, you know, there's waste involved. Like, forget about it.

Yeah, like, I'm out.

Anything past just doing a couple quick little plunges in the toilet But anything beyond that, dude, I'm like, I'm out.

Yeah.

No thanks.

No, I'm with you. I feel you on that.

Yeah.

That's bad. So, all right, next question. How do you wind down at the end of a long day? Hmm.

Uh, my answer's probably still the same. A little glass of red wine.

Mm-hmm.

Is a, is a good way to wind down. Yeah. And, um, if I wind down, sometimes I just— It's hard, isn't it? Yeah. But yeah, for the, yeah, for the most part. You know, I have these— my wife and I have these little things, you know, shows recorded. A lot of that is just watching whatever she's recorded and just being there for that. And, um, but, uh, yeah, that's having a glass of wine and relaxing.

And you guys have a DVR?

We do have a DVR. It's crazy.

Yeah, that, that, that's a thing.

It is.

It is.

It is still retro. But yeah, I know, we stream a lot of stuff, dude. Yeah, it's— dude, our, our viewing is It's a whole nother episode, right? It's all over the board.

Okay.

I'm a documentary junkie.

Yeah.

So like, I mean, I'll fall asleep to a lot of stuff like that.

So what's, what's the best one you've seen in the last 6 months?

Oh dude, um, that's a tough question. Um, there was one that we watched this week actually. You should check it out on Netflix. It's called— it's about, uh, the hotel. It's called The Hotel Cecil. Uh, it's on Netflix. Crime scene. Just, you gotta check it out. This is like True crime documentary? Yeah, a little bit, but it's, um, it's very— it's only 3 episodes, very fascinating.

Okay.

I, I just knew you were gonna say Tiger King.

I knew it. No, dude, no.

Is that a documentary? I thought that was like a reality series.

It's, it's a little bit of nutso.

I haven't watched it, that's why I'm asking. I'm not gonna, but it's—

Yeah, I, I don't know if there's actually a word for it. There's probably multiple words. I don't know if you can sum it up, really.

Craig, I wouldn't even know where to start to describe Tiger King to you.

I grew up next to a tiger. I don't feel like I need to watch a show about people who own them.

You should. This could change your perspective. Just check it out, dude, when you have absolutely nothing better to do.

I hope that never happens.

I know.

No doubt.

Moving on.

All right, last question. Last question, what's one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received?

Oh, man, dude, that is— that's tough because I know I've been given probably a lot of advice, and some of it, again, I probably haven't taken. I think the big thing for me right now is just trying to take massive effective action. You know, whatever it is you do, just take massive action and, you know, really focus and stay the course. A lot of folks have what I refer to as the SOS, the shiny object syndrome, right?

Mm-hmm.

So they start on one thing, and before they, you know, even give it enough time to mature or develop, you know, there's lots of shiny objects out there. Oh, I'm gonna go do this or go do that. And I think it's incredibly important to just get really, really good at doing, you know, one thing. And not, not getting so distracted by all the shiny objects out there. You know, that some of those things can be, uh, explored at a later time, but that's, that's just me, man. Focus.

It's good.

It's a good one.

Yep, definitely. I, I think that it's really easy to get sidetracked, man. We all, we all— and, and honestly, going back to that tool, we get distracted all the time with that. Oh dude, it's a distraction machine. Yeah, that's why we don't want to look at that, you know, productivity.

Exactly. No, no, no.

Nobody wants to know. Nobody wants to know. No. Well, cool, man. Thank you for, uh, for coming back and, and, you know, braving the weather to get here. Um, so yeah, thanks for, thanks for coming. It's been, been really, really good. I mean, I, I— doing what you do during the last year, it just blows my mind. Blows my mind. But man, I, I appreciate you doing it well.

Thanks for having me back, guys. I really, really appreciate it. It's always, always good to see you guys. And, uh, I love to, you know, kind of following y'all and watching your growth. And, and, um, yeah, if there's anything that we can do to help you down the road, let us know.

Cool.

Well, hopefully it's much further down the road.

Yeah.

Craig, I'm gonna leave the light on for you.

Thank you, man. I'll stay there. All right.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, uh, man, thank you guys, uh, they're listening right now for tuning in. And, uh, those of you who are live on Facebook, thank Thank you for, uh, downloading for those that are listening to the, uh, audio podcast. And, uh, we'll be, uh, coming out to you on Thursday through, uh, through YouTube. But until then, if you would, uh, do us a favor, go to iTunes, leave us a rating and review, subscribe to the podcast, do those things. Really, really helps us out. Um, but yeah, uh, we're here each and every single week. Tuesday. So thanks for being with us. Until next time, we'll see you later.

See ya.