Lighting for Profits - Episode 186

This week on the show we welcome Team Easy Money. Including Jesse, a creative director who lives with his wife and three daughters in Salt Lake. His journey includes a church mission in England and selling religious videos in Nevada. Jeremy, a graphic designer, is passionate about music and motorcycles, having evolved through various eras, from punk rock to his current Taylor Swift phase. He’s also a husband, father, and zero-calorie soda lover. James, a close friend of Ryan Lee for over 30 years, completes this dynamic trio.

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Episode Transcript

Ryan Lee: To start and grow a successful landscape lighting business

Hold it.

Welcome to Lighting for Profits.

All light. All light. All Lie, powered by Emory Allen. Get rid of your excuses.

Your number one source for all things landscape lighting. That's where the magic can happen. You can really scale a business.

We really had to show up for.

Each other from lighting design, install sales and marketing.

You're a scaredy cat salesman, Kurt.

We discussed everything you need to know.

To start and grow a successful landscape lighting business.

Business. What do you think a hippo has.

To do with your business? Right. Usually it's a weird childhood thing.

Some bully kicks your butt.

I think the key factor here is trust. Here is your host, Ryan Lee. Oh.

Ah. Light. All light, all light. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the number one landscape lighting show. Maybe the number one sales show. We'll find out today. I'm Ryan Lee, your host of Lighting for Profits, powered by Emory Allen. And guys, today is Team Easy Money. If you want to make potentially millions of dollars to change the rest of your life, today might be the show. We don't know. We'll find out. I do know this. Today is either probably going to be the best episode we've ever done or the worst. but, we'll find out. So guys, in just a few minutes, I've got, some, very good friends in studio with me tonight. And I don't know if you guys know this, but we still are trending as the number one landscape lighting show in Lehigh, Utah. So that's pretty cool. we're still the only landscape lighting show in Lehigh, Utah. But yes, thank you for your support. If you're looking to start or grow a landscape lighting company, you're definitely in the right place. We're here to help you educate, motivate, to help you dominate. And just want to thank you guys for your support and those of you that don't support us and have not given me the five star review, I want you to feel guilt, I want you to feel shame. Go give me that five star review right now. And again guys, in just a few minutes, I'm going to introduce some good friends of mine. We're going to be talking about, a summer, about, what do we say, 22, 23 years ago, somewhere around there. And that's how long I've been waiting to do this show. Not just four years, but literally 20 some years to do this show. so I'm excited about that. Before we have these guys on, I want to remind you schedule, a free strategy session with me. So if you have not yet done. So go toLandscape Lighting Secrets. com, click Start now and, follow the prompts. From there, we'll get on a call, we'll talk about where your business is at, where it is now, where it wants to be, and kind of what that gap looks like. And, who knows, maybe your wildest dreams will come true.

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So, hey, real quick, before we have, before I do these introductions and this show is going to be epic, you guys. I do want to thank, Emory Allen. No, I really just kind of wanted to play some funky music. But listen, hey, what's the best way to stand out of the crowd? Well, being different. So set yourself apart from others in the lighting industry and impress your customers by installing Emory Allen bulbs. On your next project, you'll discover a higher level of quality across the board, from the bulbs themselves to the top tier customer support you can expect to get. If you have any issues or questions, right now is the best time to get started. So what are you waiting for? Make the switch. Here's what you got to do. Just email Tom gary@emory allen. com and Tom will hook you up with that discounted contractor pricing. Email tom gmary allen. com. mention that you heard about him here on Lighting for Profits and, he'll get you that discount. don't waste your time. Don't go to the website. Why would you pay full price when you can just email tom g@emerald. com. okay, guys, are we ready? Are you guys ready back there? this is gonna be a great show.

Time to welcome the 2003 Nevada Living Scriptures Manager of the Year, James Crowley

all right, so, I guess. I don't know another way to start, but I think we just, like, get started. Let's get these guys coming in. Are you guys ready? I think I am. Let me hit the right buttons here. Whoa, easy. Wrong button. Okay, here we go. It's time to welcome the manager. It's the 2003 Nevada Living Scriptures Manager of the Year, James Crowley. Welcome to the show, James.

yeah, glad to be here. that title does need to include that I didn't sell in Las Vegas. There's a lot of better.

Did I say Las Vegas?

No, no, you said Nevada. But we covered all of Nevada except Las Vegas.

Yeah, we're going to talk about that because somehow we hit all the the wrong towns.

Yeah.

All right.

Welcome to the show, man. excited to have you here. Time, to get to our next guest. let's welcome When I find the music. Oh. Oh. Who is it? It's Jesse Bad Dog Crowley.

Hi, everybody.

Let's go, Jesse. Bad dog trolley. How are you, buddy?

I'm just. I'm glad to be here. Just like I was that summer Friday, bushy tail. Just happy to be hanging with my friends.

All right, you're still. You're still lying through your teeth. All right, well, excited to have you on here. Let's get our next guest coming. where's the buttons? Here it is. Oh, you know what time it is. Let's welcome Jeremy the doctor J. Wilkins.

All right.

Yeah.

Welcome to the studio. Welcome to the show.

Thank you. Happy to be here. Sweaty palms wilkins right now.

It's already started. It's already started. All right, last but not least, Probably a surprise, but she's here with us. look out. We got Mrs. Lee. Lindsay Lee in the studio. Welcome back to the show. Oh, man.

Oh, thank you.

Welcome back to the show.

Great to be back.

This is the first time I've ever done this, guys

All right. This is the first time I've ever done this, guys. I've had one guest. Lindsay's been on the show before in. In here, but we've never had this many people. So, I'm actually really excited for this show. I literally. Guys, I think we've been waiting for 20 plus years, right?

21. Right? It was 2003.

Yep, yep.

So do the math. It'll be 22 this summer.

Okay.

Right now, I would be recruiting you guys.

Is this when we got recruited? It was probably this time of year.

I was recruiting you guys starting in junior high, grooming you to be the best salesman.

Okay.

James: We started selling animated bible videos in Hawaii in 2002

All right, well, okay, guys, so here's what we're gonna do. We're basically going to talk about this summer where James, the manager, decided to, get the crew together, and we did something pretty epic. We talk about it on a regular basis. So while it wasn't successful for everybody, we did get a lot of life lessons learned. a lot of things happen. We got cars stolen. We got weird conversations with weird people. sweaty palms, lots of crazy stuff. So, James, let me start with you. How in the heck did you decide to start selling animated bible videos in Hawaii?

Oh, yeah. So, everybody, let's take you back a year to 2002. Just kidding. Now that was funny. So in 2002, we. There was, like, several ideas for that summer. We were gonna go to your cabin in Island Park. Curtis, Brad, I don't know who all. We were gonna be waiters at that restaurant, and then water ski during the day.

It was like this.

No, dude, it was like, the best idea ever. And then Kurt Got into nursing school. And that's, lame. Yeah, totally. And then I was gonna go sell home security or something in Puerto Rico with some other kid from Utah State. And then there was a girl I liked, and I went to go hang out with her, and they were doing a Living Scriptures recruiting meeting there. And the manager guy, recruiter guy took me in a room. He's like, what can we do to get you to sell Living Scriptures? And I was like, no, send me someplace cool, maybe. And so the next day, he's like, do you want to go to Hawaii? I was like, yeah, sure.

That's awesome. So it was. You were chasing a hot girl, and you found out you could go to.

Hawaii, and that was it.

You didn't. Did you even look into home security or pest. control?

No. So that guy actually went to Puerto Rico. I don't remember his name. He was a nice guy, but he quit after, like, two weeks because they were lying to people so hard, so he had to find his way back from Puerto Rico. So I dodged a bullet, guys. And I went to Hawaii and stayed in an apartment with manager's, wife that was nine months pregnant, two other guys, and a girl.

So I can't remember if it was during that summer or right at the end, but Lindsay and I, that same summer we went to Texas, and we knocked doors, clean windows.

Oh, really?

Yeah. And I was thinking. And I talked to you. It was, like, toward the end, or you were still there. And I was like, damn, James got the life, man. He's in Hawaii. We're sweating our ass off. We're like. We're just, like, sweating, knocking wars. And we. We made, like, pretty good money. But I just remember thinking, james is my hero. Like, and then you won the trip, so you got to go back to Hawaii on a cruise and stuff. And I was like, yeah, we made a bad choice.

Yeah, I forgot about that. I did win that trip. That was a fun trip.

That's what. That's what got me.

Jeremy says he was pre-sold on going to Nevada for easy money

So I was like, so, James, tell me about this Hawaii thing. And I was like, that sounds pretty sick. So I'm sold on. We're going to an awesome destination. We're gonna get rich. We're gonna win trips.

You were like, putty in my hand.

Yeah, so I was already. You may not have known it, but I was already pre sold. I was like, dude, James is like, the man. We're gonna go. I don't even know what Living Scriptures are, but we're gonna go do it. And, and then you got the team together. You, you did so well that first year that they invited you to come back and be a manager, right?

Oh, totally. Or they just will take anybody and they will do it two years in a row because it's pretty brutal. And. Yeah, and I think I forced Jesse too, because you just gotten back from England and I was just like, oh, this is really fun for you. Come hang out with me. All.

All return missionaries. Lindsay was not a returned missionary, but we, we were used to knocking doors, getting rejection, so, like, what's the worst that could happen, right?

Totally.

Yep.

Bad dog. What were you thinking when he said, hey, you want to go knock doors and sell, Bible videos in Nevada?

It was similar to your experience. He talked a lot about Hawaii and how amazing Hawaii was, and it just made it seem m. Really great.

Just someplace almost exactly like it.

At what point, Jeremy, did you get, recruited?

I honestly don't remember. I mean, I was, I was living with James at the time with a couple other guys going to school, and he was talking about it constantly. He's like, you should really do this. It's, you know, it's fun. You get to hang out and live with your friends and like, you make a lot of money. And I mean, he had me make a lot of money, so I was like, cool, let's make a lot of easy money. Let's do this. Three months, you know, come back a millionaire.

Easy money. You mentioned easy money. was that really your thought? Because I found this.

Yeah, it honestly was.

Oh, what's this?

Oh, yeah.

88Am.

The team song.

Well, we did it once until our like 90 year old neighbors asked us why we're blasting music at 8am yes, we did.

I think it lasted a couple of days at least. It was like Wednesday on the first week or something that we got the complaint.

Yeah, well, let me go back a little bit because there was, there was a time where we were really excited. Okay. This was like seriously going to be the same summer, that we would never stop talking about it. Turns out that's true. That's like the thing that came out of it. But when did you break the news that we were going to Mesquite, Nevada? Then at some point we would drive to Reno, Nevada, and then at some point we would go knock doors in Elko, Nevada.

Yeah, that's a great question. You know, every good manager has a good plan. I hadn't even looked at the map to see how far away all those places were as far as like mesquite and Panaca and, Kaliani. So the reason why I chose, if I remember right, they would give you destinations that hadn't been to. That people hadn't sold out for a bit. So when I went to Hawaii, I'm a crappy salesperson. Like, if people are like, no. I'm like, okay, sounds good. Like, I don't like trying to push it anymore. And then Hawaii, nobody had been there for like 10 years. So it was super easy. And then I saw that Mesquite, nobody had been there for like a really long time. I was like, easy money.

Easy money.

That's the theme. The theme was born.

Little did I know, on the map they gave us, like, it had Mesquite and Panaca was like just a little dot right above it.

Just an hour and a half drive.

Yeah, it was really close on the map. And then I was like, when we're done there, we'll just go up to that other corner, Caldrino. And then on the way out, we'll go to Elko.

We literally didn't we drive back through Salt Lake to get to Reno 100.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm like, so it wasn't very well planned by me.

Luckily we were young, dumb, ignorant. Like, I was just like, oh, Nevada, it seems. Is it hot in the summer? I'm like, I've never been there. And luckily, like, I had no idea because that I had that Toyota pickup truck that was like, I got for free. My mom gave me a truck. I'm like, dude, mom, you're the greatest.

This thing is like two seater, right?

You might m. Be able to single cab. We call it a single cab.

Yeah, yeah. Did it have ac?

No ac.

It was easily like averaging 110. Like most weeks it was not higher freaking hot

Oh, good.

And I was like, it's fine. But it's not fine because we went to the hottest. It was like, no ac. You didn't even know. You didn't ask as my manager just to prepare me?

Oh, no, it was.

It was easily like averaging 110. Like most weeks it was not higher freaking hot.

Like, I remember like trying to knock on somebody's door. My hand was like melting. Like, oh, that's really hot.

No, I mean, just Jesse and I, we sold in Logandale. and where, where was the place? Closer there. You're. I don't know, Moapa Valley. We. We used to find each other at the. The local library in the middle of the day trying not to get heat stroke. We would just sit in the library for like an hour. Oh, man. It's 116 today. How long can we sit in here for and still get something done?

Eat your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were frozen on one side, dry as a bone on the other.

Soggy.

Soggy on one side, dries bone on the other. That's right.

You went out and knocked doors in the middle of Mesquite, Nevada

Hey, Lindsay. So when did you. Did you have a choice? I don't remember. Were you excited? Were you excited about this because you sold?

I think I was excited. I was young, dumb, and stupid, too. I'm like, sweet, man. Let's go do this. We're gonna get rich.

Here's the thing that's went and knocked doors, too. It's not like you were just, like, making sandwiches for everyone and, like, you know, running the George Foreman. When we got home, you were out knocking doors in the middle of, like, Some of these people were creep meisters, right?

Yeah, I mean, it was definitely dangerous.

Like, what mean streets of Mesquite?

Well, where were we? Was it, Bunkerville? I would, like, drive, like, 25 minutes out of town. It would be, like, sandy roads. Sandy roads. And I wouldn't even know. And it'd be, like, one trailer house. and I'd go knock on the door and be like, hi, I'm here. The folks down the street. And, like, it was so dangerous. And then I'd be like, oh, please, please, God, like, let my car reverse out of the sand so I don't get stuck. Seriously, I would pray, like, the whole time, just like, father, don't let me die.

I don't think I knew about, like, how dangerous it could have been. I was just like, how many sets did you get?

Yeah, I know.

Like, did you sell or not?

Was it a good day or what?

We had the thermometer to fill up in the apartment manager's apartment.

Oh, yeah, dude, I forgot about them.

What do you mean? You only got one set? Get back out there, kid.

Get the family set going.

The idea for cell phone sales school was born from sales school

All right, so we decide we're in. We go down to Mesquite. we were still excited, even though it was already hot. This was, you know, summertime, June. who did come up with it? Was it Jeremy? Did you come up with easy money? Or James?

I think it was.

I don't know.

Well, I think. I think it was born from sales school, right? Oh, we need to mention sales school.

Oh, yeah.

We go to, a place in Ogden. I forget the name.

Right off 12th street, exit that hotel.

And they kept us there for two days.

A couple days, yeah.

Several, really. Teaching us.

They were teaching us all the techniques.

All the Mentoring body position.

Buy our. Our sweet bag. James is really good salesman at getting me.

Yeah, this is awesome.

I get to pay 85 for this.

Bag before I move.

Yeah, we.

We had to. We had to buy the bag and all the product. The sample product that went into it wasn't just a bag. it was like a whole investment just to get started.

No, but they were nice. They took it out of future, commissions.

Yeah, exactly. Start in the hole.

I'm sure you listen to those CDs.

A lot about, great, great Mormon women.

You don't know how many cells that.

Pushed over the edge, dramatized church history.

Secrets of Mormon.

Okay, so we got duped and we, We. We knew at that point we were. We were in for it, but I don't know. Did you guys not enjoy cell school? I thought it was kind of fun.

Sales school is amazing.

they.

They showed you, like, averages of what people made. and it includes all the bigwigs or something, because the average was like 25 grand or something. And we're like, oh, my gosh, I'm making at least like, 15, even if I suck.

Yeah, no, for sure. And that was where I. That was where I saw, dollar signs, is because I was, like, looking at these averages, I'm like, well, I could not do anything four days a week and still come home, you know, like, paying for three years of school or something.

Yeah.

The one guy was talking about coming home and buying a brand new truck, like, in cash or something.

That was my dream. Come home and buy a car.

Wasn't that it?

Yeah.

You were like, I'm buying a car at the end of the summer.

That was my whole goal. And instead, I ended up taking out school loans. Federal loans, baby.

I. I was stoked. After sales school, they did a great job getting us pumped up. We're ready to go. James is still talking about Hawaii. we go down there, talk about the morning. Like, you did a good job building culture, James, you know?

Did I?

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely. You did.

We came over, we had an apartment next to you guys.

M. So that was pretty easy.

Yeah, well, you did something.

I'm remembering.

We would come over in the morning, and you're like, yeah, come over. Because we have, like, meetings every morning. We're gonna get pumped, and then we're gonna go out and, like, slay. So what. What it. Like, what did we do in the morning?

I.

All I remember was blasting Billy Joel's Easy Money and, like, getting totally stoked in my dancing before we went out the first week or less than a week before. A few days. Because we were in the basement apartment of a furnished apartment right next to Eureka. Right. Yeah. It was a nice apartment. Probably the best one we had.

Oh.

And then I think our neighbors upstairs just didn't appreciate, like, there's a lot of older things.

Dance parties at, uh, 8:00am that was perfect hour

Dance parties at, 8:00am that was the perfect hour to get out. Knocking doors. 8am when it wasn't so hot.

Yeah.

And people love a knock on the door at 8:30.

decisions.

Yeah.

So that tradition lasted long enough for our regional manager or whatever to show up. And we did it with him in the room, if you remember.

I remember that. Oh, it was very cringe.

Something.

He didn't understand the vibe.

Oh, no, he didn't like, These guys have no idea.

Yes.

He took us out to eat and then probably took it out of our future condition.

This will only cost you 30 bucks.

So I actually remember we. You know, we did. We just got married. We haven't. No one. None of us had any money. And, so I was pretty stoked, because we had, like, a studio apartment. And, But then when I got down there, I was like, oh, well, what? It doesn't have, like. Like a tiny fridge? We didn't have, like, a grill or anything like that. We went to a garage sale. We scored. We got, like, some. Did we get speakers? I swear I got speakers. Like a George Foreman grill. A blender.

I had no idea.

Sandwich mix. Yeah.

Yeah.

Ah.

This lady was having a garage sale, and she just thought we were the cutest couple. And we're like, oh. And so anyway, she was like, here, just take it. And so we got, like, a sandwich maker, George Foreman, 2. Nice luggage. What was it? Pierre Cardine. And then,

You guys don't know Pierre Cardine?

We didn't know either, but they were really nice. And later in life, we took them, on a trip, and someone, like, stole the Pierre Cardine, like, symbol off of them.

Serious.

I mean, they were.

Oh, yeah, those are nice.

The lady was. She was so nice. But that's all we ate. I remember we'd come home at, like, what, nine or 10 at night, and we'd grill up. Oh, like, chicken tenders on the George Foreman. And then we, like, eat and then be like, all right, love you. And just, like, roll in the bed. It smells like chicken. Like, it was just like we were sleeping in our life.

That is life.

Terrible.

You're welcome.

It literally was those frozen chicken tenders from Costco.

Oh, yeah.

And we just ate Those, and it's like, grill them up in the studio. So it's just like, everything just, like, smoky and, like, the comforter. I still remember that. I'm just like, what are we doing? So actually, because of that, I didn't mind going out. I'm like, oh, sweet. Let's get out of it. Let's get out of here. I don't want to hang out in this chicken infested place. so I was motivated to get out.

That's when everyone discovered libraries. Like, everywhere we went, we're like, we got to get a library.

Where's that local library?

Yep. I'd never been to a library before or since. Really? Yeah. Love those libraries. Do you remember that our, condo or whatever had two bedrooms? So we'd rotate. One person would get bed by themselves.

Who was sharing the bed.

And I think Brad stopped by on his way to California or whatever and walked in. Like, our two heads pop up and he's like, whoa. Because we share beds, that's our only option. Well, I think I moved out to the couch at one point.

Jeremy would make sales and then people would cancel within five days

I think eventually. Wasn't. Was it Reno where we all just slept on cots in the living room?

Yes. And there was no lights. Yeah.

Which is weird.

It was only, like, lamps. And we're like, we can't invest in a lamp for one month. So it's just darkness all the time.

Sleeping on cots.

Oh, my God.

Jeremy.

Yeah.

You. You had this dream to buy a car. Easy money. What happened?

Not a lot. No, I, I. I feel like I did all right. I feel like I hit that. That, like, even if I suck, I'm gonna do okay. Mark. That Jesse was talking about. But my. My problem was I would make the sale and then people would cancel within the. The wind. There was like a five, three to five day cancellation period or something. So the people would buy it and then they would cancel. So I was. I was in this constant process of, like, you know, one step forward, two steps back, not really ever gaining any ground.

So we're. At first, the sales strategies you learned from cell school were working.

Yeah. Oh, well, they worked all the way through. I mean, that's. That's what was so fresh. And I was making the sales. They were just disappearing, too, I think.

Do we. Did we decide collectively, were you, like, intimidating them? Like, what. Why were they canceling? Because you had the highest cancellation rates of all time.

Yeah, you got me. I don't know. Like, maybe I thought I was.

I have a theory.

What's your theory? I'm curious. I mean, I didn't even have, like.

A beard or anything.

Some of the sales that you made.

Oh. Oh, it's coming out okay. As a matter of drive, it told you till now you were.

Especially as the summer went on, you became a bit more, like, cynical about the whole thing.

That's weird.

And you. You didn't believe in the product. Like, you thought you were ripping them off, basically.

That's deep.

And I think that, like, it showed. That came through. Yeah.

Okay.

Either in the moment or, like, later on, they're just like, I don't know.

Jeremy, do you.

Do you think that you.

You lost belief as time went on?

I would say there's a faith crisis in there because I. I saw how much money I was making, and I started to face the reality of what the next school, year in college was going to be. So I struggled. Yes.

Well, I mean, honestly, I talk all the time on this podcast about belief, and, like, if you don't believe in what you're selling, it's just not going to work. And if you do believe, it's going to happen. So maybe m. There's bad dogs onto something over there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ah. I'm James. I'm curious to hear what your theory is.

sometimes you just weren't very good.

Okay.

I'm just kidding. Sometimes you try there. I wasn't with you very many times, but there's one. That's where I talked to you about this. Then they were, like, kind of iffy on if they'd sell, and you were, like, trying to use it as a joke, but you're, like, kind of serious, too. You're like, is it me? I think they're like, no. Like, of course we want this.

I know. We'll buy it. We'll just cancel in an hour.

So I think that might have been part of it.

James: Jeremy, you sold the most sets this summer out of everyone

yeah, I mean, I think for me, like, it was hard to relate to. Like, I. I believed in the product. I. I really. I really, truly did because I had friends that grew up with living scriptures, and they're like, they're. They're the best. And, you know, I. I'm like, okay, like, I believe this, but when I was trying to hawk them for 30 bucks a pop, I'm like, I don't. I don't know what is worth, you know, this monthly fee.

Well, if you just think of it as one soda a day, that was.

That was a day. Now you pay two, three dollars for.

A soda or a Big Mac. Like, you don't go to McDonald's twice, and you've got it.

Oh, believe me, that was. That was. Half of my pitch, was like, you know, even as a college student, I could afford this. I started tracking how much I was spending on big gulps and candy, and it was more than what you would be paying a month. They didn't buy that shit, though.

That's really what happened, though. Like, the worse your summer went, the more, like, stingy you got. And you couldn't fathom, paying $30 a month.

That's exactly it. It really was.

It hit you so early on, though. I. You and mesquite coming home. I, like, come home and you're on the couch with a calculator. Your hands are, like, sweating. I was like, it's. We're two weeks in. Like, my hands are peeling, James. And I'm like, dude, you can go home.

I wasn't gonna quit.

Go home.

I just need to stay.

it was just rather intense, you know? I mean, I. I was. I'd been home from my church mission for, like, a little over a year, and it wasn't as hard as this sales job, and people were threatening to kill me on that. The summer.

Oh, man.

Anyways, I've never seen anybody as stressed as Jeremy that summer.

Oh, I know. I feel really bad, actually. Yeah.

I feel really bad that I was that, outwardly stressed. I'm sorry, guys.

Every. Like, every team meeting, like, once a week, we'd get our papers of, like, how many sets we sold, and I was like, oh, crap. Jeremy, don't look. Don't look. Be like, oh. Oh, man.

It was negative, too. How'd I get negative?

Well, Lindsay. Lindsay was doing well, so she was embarrassed to be like, Jeremy. Like, she would tell James, like, hey, I sold 16 this week. Just say three. I don't. I don't want Jeremy getting upset.

You're nice. You did sell the most, I think, out of everybody the whole summer.

Yeah, no, I think you or Ryan did.

No, I. I don't. I think it was one of you guys.

I mean, I don't want to take credit for it, but I kind of. I kind of did. Yeah, but she. Lindsay sold a lot. It. She. She did, like, ah, really well. I can't remember what.

I totally forgotten that. But, yeah, you guys killed it.

Well, I'm. I'm very impressed, James, because I did. I was. I did so well that they invited me totally. To be a manager.

Oh, yeah. 100. I saw that in you from day one you knew. Yeah.

And you probably got a commission.

It was just grooming me becoming a.

Manager, but should have.

I don't think I did.

Dude.

Jesse, your second year as manager didn't go very well

All if we have time, I'll tell a little bit about my second year.

Oh, for sure.

And it didn't go nearly as well as yours. And we're talking about how bad it went. So, like, yeah, it went bad. So I'm very impressed. Manager to manager. I mean, you got all of us to stay.

You understand me?

Oh, you complete me. that was impressive. Jesse. at what point did you decide, this is a good thing, this is a bad thing? Like, were things on track for you?

I think midway through the summer, I realized I wasn't gonna make 15 grand that I hoped I was gonna make as like a base, you know, worst case scenario. But I was making something, you know, and I was, I was there with my brother. You know, this is part of it that made Jeremy stay and me stay was like we were in this together on some level and I was going through all sorts of crazy adversity in the midst of it.

Jesse says first day of sales was rough. Let's talk about some of that adversity

Let's talk about some of that adversity.

Yeah, I, mean, do we want to. Day one.

Yeah, we're still in mesquite.

Yeah. So to set the picture, you go to sales school. They give you the bag. You've got some sample videos in the bag, and they tell you what to wear, and they tell you how to turn on the porch, you know, and start laughing. Oh, I was just talking with some of your neighbors down the street, the Johnsons, you know them. And then.

Right.

So then you get in the door. But prior to that, all they give you is a list of people who have bought living scriptures in the past. And this was like 10 years in the past. It had been a long time. maybe it was like seven. I don't know what it was. It was a lot. And so you have this list and you show up in this 114 degree weather with your black bag, and you're just showing up on random doorsteps with names of people who might not even be there. And that first day is really rough and people are just. It's like winter there for them. They don't go outside. They stay inside and keep the AC on and stuff. And you're just kind of this weird stranger on their door. So first day was rough and I'm just like having a moment at the end of the day. It's. I'm so hot. I pull over. I don't know where I'm at. I'm trying to find the next address, and right behind me, or I think as I pulled over, I see a, police car pull onto the same street as me. And then I see him slow down and turn around and, like, come behind me. It's like, awesome. He walks up to my door. I roll down. He's like, what are you doing? And I, I explain, and. And I'm like, kind of a wreck right then.

I don't know.

It's just been a long, hard day. And I was so hot.

Were you crying?

I was a little misty eyed. We'll say that. I was misty eyed. And, he says, manager bearing down on you. Remember how I respond? He knew what a jerk James was.

Was.

No, he had sold living scriptures before.

Yeah, and not only that, it wasn't just this summer. I mean, he knew you grew up with James. You know, the trauma.

Well, didn't he say something? Like, I. I've had some reports of a guy walking around with a duffel bag going up to people's houses.

Yeah, there was a reason why he stopped. he, he figured I was the weirdo. You know?

Did they think you're a case in the place or like you're a hitman with the duffel bag or what?

I don't know the reason. Yeah, just some.

Did he tell you to stop knocking?

No.

I love that he said that. Do you know why I pulled you over? Because, like, you didn't pull me over. I was already over.

I did it before. I was just having an emotional moment.

Well, that makes me sad, Jesse. I, I mean, I, I. Sometimes there was days where I was, like, so happy because I sold, like, a good day. And then I would come back to the team meeting and everyone was, like, depressed. I was like.

Well, the first thing is Ryan goes and does his first. He goes to his first house. And I'm. We are, like, texting each other because we're like, different places. And then like 20 minutes later, he's like, I sold six. I'm like, oh, my gosh. He's like, it totally works. I'm like, that's amazing. So Ryan's always, like, got good luck somehow. Like, he can just like, his first door. He sells six sets. Like, we're all like, your first door.

Seriously?

Yes.

Holy crap.

That's amazing. You remember that too.

I remember.

Why wouldn't you remember your first one?

Exactly? Well, I remember going through the exact motions, and they're like, look down. Don't make eye contact. Which words?

All this Stuff. I gave him all the bonuses because I had, like, seven points left

All this Stuff. And I was just like, like, shaking. And they're like, yeah, let's just do this one. I'm like, great. Credit card or checker? I can't remember what the line was, but they just did exactly. They go get the check. I'm like, writing down 3750. I'm starting to feel guilty. Like, what's going on? Like, I couldn't believe it. That's why, like, called her after. And I was so excited. I'm like, oh, my gosh. I did exactly as I said. I turned my body and I did like that. I'm like, hey, you got these bonus. You want the Mormon him classics, or do you want the great Mormon women? And I just gave him everything. I gave him all the bonuses because I had, like, seven points left. Like, it was. It was crazy. I couldn't believe it.

Oh, man, that's awesome.

Yeah, that was nice.

I should have had you run the next team meeting.

I probably lied to everyone. I was like, yeah, this sucks. Like, what a shitty summer, huh?

We are screwed.

So much for buying new cars, huh?

Oh, my gosh. Didn't. What? Save us? Didn't we all get into the Bachelor or something? That was, like, the first Bachelor. Oh, yeah. We got way into that when we come home. Yeah, it was a marathon.

Yeah.

It's just one Sunday.

Yeah, there's one Sunday where they were just running it back to back.

Right. That's amazing. We all became citizens.

My little 84 Honda Prelude broke down six times in Reno

Hey, Jesse, what happened when you got to, Reno? Talk about what? There's one thing I'm thinking of. What was your tribulation in Reno?

Well, what happened before Reno was that my. My little 84 Honda Prelude couldn't handle the 114 degree weather, and it broke down six times.

Didn't you keep getting sold, like, faulty car parts, too?

That happened one time.

Oh, really?

And they wouldn't take it back the next next day.

So what'd you do?

I just left it on there.

Didn't you leave it with a note that said thanks a lot or something?

I don't remember.

I'm pretty sure.

Pretty petty about it.

What was it? I don't even remember.

Starter, fuel pump, Starter again, I think. Alternators and a, starter and an alternator, I think.

Yeah, that was a faulty one then.

Yeah.

Oh, that's.

Dude, I thought your dad was a mechanic. He couldn't have hooked you up before you left.

I'm really sorry.

He did.

He.

He had that thing running, but it. It couldn't take the heat. So Jeremy Was my homie in the Valley. So he came to my rescue every single time. And we ended up doing a lot of sales calls together.

Sure did. I remember getting. Every time, I saw Jesse calling me phone, I was like, oh, no, car down. Car down.

So we've been through a lot already. We get to Reno and things are going mediocre.

That's putting it nicely.

I was making a sale every once in a while, I would say. And I walk out one morning, I've got my PB&J sandwich in my. In my cooler. Everything's all packed. And I am walking out to my car, and it's just not in the spot that I for sure parked it in. And so, yeah, my car had been stolen.

Oh, my gosh.

I get on the phone and I. I call the Reno police. I say, I want to report a stolen car. They say, is it a Honda or a Saturn? I'm like, it's a Honda.

Yeah.

How did you know? They're like, they're really easy to steal.

M. That's crazy.

And they didn't. They didn't want it. I mean, they took the info, but they were gonna do nothing about it. And so I hung out with James and Jeremy and.

And you need a car to make money.

Like less, than a week before somebody broken and stolen all the CDs and speakers.

Yeah.

Stereo. And then it was a week later they stole the car.

Yeah. So. So two car break ins, and one of them being the car missing. I remember I was. Jesse had left the apartment and just, you know, ready to go. And he came back in like 90 seconds later, and he's like, my car's not there. And I remember just this bewilderment. I'm like, well, did you forget where you.

Why. Why would it not be there?

What do you mean? He's like, no, it's not there. I'm like, so where'd you park?

Right.

Like it wasn't connecting. He's like, no, my car's been stolen. I'm like, no, it hasn't.

But it was weird because it did seem like a really sketchy. It was like nicer apartments.

I felt like for the time.

Were they.

Yeah, we had. We had different perspective back then, James.

Yeah, but I mean, there's some way sketchy. Like it wasn't. I don't know.

I agree. It wasn't insanely sketchy on the surface.

But then that's not the end of the story, dude. Yeah.

The biggest moth I've ever seen is on the door in Nevada

So a week later, probably I've been.

Was it that long?

It was a while later, at least I would say at least four or five days later. It was a while later. I get a call and it's, somebody, from a dealership. They're like, hey, did you test drive a car recently? And I was like, no, but I didn't have a car stolen. They're like, is it a 84 Honda Prelude? I was like, yeah, like, okay, well, somebody brought your car in and test drove a Toyota Supra. Never came back with a Supra. So your car is at our place. I was like, okay. Apparently was like a 6 foot tall redheaded cowboy guy.

Really?

Yeah.

I don't remember that part.

Yeah. So it was a Volkswagen dealership and he was getting test drive the car and the guy set the keys on the, on his desk and got a phone call and turned around and he took the keys and it was gone. And left the Prelude.

Yep.

So I get to my car, the door's jacked, the stereo's gone, speakers are gone. So I gotta sing to myself the rest of the summer.

But the car ended up working after that.

Yeah. Ish. Yeah. It wasn't as hot in northern Northern Nevada as it was in southern Nevada, so it handled a little better.

Yep. And we did have an adventure together. Remember that? Well, we were selling together.

Yeah, you gotta tell this one.

So we're selling together in Sparks, Nevada, and we go up to knock on a door, and the biggest moth I've ever seen is on the door.

It was huge.

It was massive. And so I'm like, we got it. We struck a jackpot. So I catch this and I called the University of Nevada. I was like, I'm willing to sell this moth to you. And they told me they don't pay for moths. but I was like, I'm still bringing it to you. You gotta see this.

I've never seen a moth and thought I struck the jackpot.

Was it the biggest moth you've ever seen?

There's probably been one moth that was the biggest moth I've ever seen. But. Well, it's just never. My mind's never gone there.

That's where my mind. Easy money, easy money, baby. I was dialed in that summer.

You were dialed in.

So we drove it from Sparks all the way to the University of Nevada.

How far is that? Do, you remember?

It's like probably 40, 30 minutes.

Good use of time.

Is it in a jar or in your hand?

Yeah, we had a red Solo cup in the car and so we caught it on the Doorstep and then took, it there. And they took it from us, but they didn't pay me a dime.

Was it alive?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was kind of scared, and I think stuff. Because it was a little stressed in the cup.

Moth poop.

I think made left some stuff in there.

That's crazy. I never knew about this moth. That was supposed to be easy money.

I told them I'd accept $1200.

What did they do when you made this great offer?

They just laughed and said, we don't pay for.

Oh, that's weird.

a hold of the right people. I don't know. We found them, though. We went in there, and they had all those moss on the board, like, pinned on, like, all the bugs. You know, the. Have you seen those? Yeah. Billboards. Yeah, they had a lot of those.

You walk in, like, oh, this is the right place. I'm gonna make a lot of money. Easy money.

Half a million for all these mods on the board.

I gotta start selling moss.

That's crazy. It was huge.

Was it. Was it that much bigger than the ones you saw on the boards?

Yeah, it was big.

That's crazy.

Talk about your guys's setup. What was the living situation like for three dudes

all right. what else? Okay. I want to get to also. We. We went to after Reno. We went to. To, Elco. Elko, I guess, is like a bunch of whorehouses and stuff. there's a mine. Brothels. Yeah, brothels and a mine. I think that's all that's there. And, more studio apartment living, you know? Yeah, this was smaller. Talk about your guys's setup.

Okay. When we first get into town, we stop at the. At the grocery store to pick up a few things, as you do.

And we're.

We're checking out, and I think it's the three of us. And I think James is talking to the cashier. She's probably, like, in her early 20s or something. He's like, so, what's there fun to do around here?

I don't remember.

Have sex and do drugs.

We found the place, guys.

She said it in the most, like, depressing way ever.

It's like, okay, she wasn't even excited about having sex and doing drugs. She's done so much.

A lifetime of it.

Oh, my gosh.

Sorry.

Easy money. and then, so you, guys go into your studio. What was the living situation like for three dudes?

the floor was just big enough for two air mattresses. Was it just two, or is it.

All three of ours?

I think it was just.

It was wall to wall air mattress.

Yeah. We had to roll everywhere because we didn't want to pop the air mattress. So we can walk. Yeah, you could.

You couldn't walk in there if it was night time and the air mattresses are blowing up. Like, to go to the bathroom at night, you'd have to do a backwards somersault and then stand up in the bathroom like you're doing a gymnastics routine.

And then the kitchen was only big enough for one person to stand in. It had just, like, a hot plate.

Yep.

And then a sink, and that was it. and then there's a closet that wasn't that big that we had to store everything in. So Jeremy had to climb in there all the time, and it was like an adventure to get out. And he said, every time I get out of this closet, I feel like I'm being born again.

Because you're, like, prying your way out, like, and I don't know.

Jeremy came out of the closet.

Oh, my gosh.

You guys gotta share your story about the man who lived next to you

You guys gotta share your story about the. The gentleman you found that lived in the apartments with us, Brett, that was out seeing the world, and he would use.

I love that you remember his name, Ryan. I mean, that he truly had an impact on you guys.

That's my guy, dude.

You'd see him all over town.

Yeah.

Like, he'd be walking.

He would be soda. He's drinking, like, Mountain Dew.

Yeah.

And I asked him, like, dude, you. And I wasn't even a Mountain Dew fan at that point. I would drink it, but not as much as Brett. And, I was like, dude, you drink a lot of Mountain Dew every time I see you around town. He's like, oh, yeah, it's a weight gainer.

Yeah.

The kid weighed, like, 80 pounds.

Yeah. He was so tiny.

He was obviously having lots of sex and doing lots of drugs. And one day, he literally. He's like, hey, you know, you need to meet. What was some girl's name? Jessica or Samantha. He's telling me. With us together. He's telling me, oh, dude, Jess, you would love Jessica. She would love you. And I'm like. And I didn't know about the whole sex and drugs thing at the store, so now it makes sense. Jesse, I had no idea.

Like, every time we would see Brett, he'd be like, I got a girl for you. She would. You guys would. You guys would love each other.

He would say, you guys.

No. Well, him.

Oh, okay. I thought he was saying, like, you, too.

And I'm like, we're married, dude. Yeah, I know, but he. She would love Him.

She.

I'm like, dude, what?

Like, she would think you're such a great guy.

Yeah. You guys would hit it off. I'm like, what the heck?

Every time we'd see him, one night he came over to the apartment. I thought you guys were pranking us because we live, like, right next door to each other. And there's this. This someone outside. They're like, hey, Ryan, or something, you know? And I was like, like, what? We're watching, like, that comedian who's like, no, it was the other one that was like, all right. It was Whose Line is It? Anyway? We're watching the thing, and I hear like, I'm like, hey, Brett. Because I swear it was one of you guys. I'm like, why are you. It's like 10:30 at night. And you guys are like, hey, Ryan, you know, or whatever. Like, hey, Brett. He's like, too late for chit chat. I'm like, what? Yeah, too late for chit chat. I'm like, I'm in bed, dude. Like, the window's just open. Yeah. You know, so hot. Yeah. Like, dude, I'm in bed. He's like, oh, all right. Hit me up tomorrow, man. Connect you with Jessica? Yeah. I'm just like, why. Who is this guy? Why is he bothering me?

Oh, my gosh.

one day he did invite us over to his house, and I'm like, the best story. So I go. We go with Lindsay. And he's got, like, a guitar. And he's. He's got some. Yeah, he's got a guitar. Sit down. And I see a piece of paper on the. On the desk. Like, handwritten. It was, like, handwritten just on a notepad or whatever.

Ryan says he's a songwriter and he wants to sing a song

And I'm like, oh, what's that? He's like, oh, I'm a songwriter. And I'm like, you're a songwriter? Like, what is that? What do you. He's like, oh, yeah, I write songs. I'm like, oh, dude, I had no idea. And I'm like, why don't you want to, like, sing one? And he's like, yeah. And he starts singing this song.

Dude, tell the setup. dude, those apartments are so small.

Oh, okay. That's true. Same. Same. Studio apartment, couch to couch. We are like, no, he's on the.

End of his bed, right?

m. He might have been on his bed. because there was a. There was a place for us to sit where it was really close.

We were on chairs. It was a tiny little table in between. And we're on chairs. And Ryan's like, yeah, sing us a song. I'm like, oh, gosh. So he starts singing a song, and Ryan gets. He has a pencil. There's a pencil on the desk. And Ryan's, like, getting into it and stuff. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to die. I was trying not to laugh. It hurts so bad. And I was so mad at him. I'm like, why do you do this? Terrible. But anyway, he, rewrote Creed song or whatever.

What'd he do?

He. He wrote. Is it Creed?

Yeah, because it was.

It was Hands Wide Open. But his was. Is it.

No, that was his version.

His version was Hands Wide Open, and it was just arms, wide open, but hands wide open.

It was the exact same lyrics. And here's the thing. Everyone in this room, I am least like, I. I don't know music. I don't. There's no song in the world that I know all the lyrics. So it didn't, like, hit me straight off that he was just copying the song. And I'm like, that's not bad. I mean, he's not pretty good. Yeah, better than me. He's not a good singer. But I'm like, But he said he's a songwriter, so, you know, like, I'll give him the scene. And I'm like, okay, the lyrics, whatever. And then he's like, with hands wide open. With hands. And I was like, I feel like I know this. And I go, is that, like, that other. There's a song. It's like, with arms Wide Open. He goes, no, this is. With hands Wide open. M. What is happening? And so it was kind of a miracle that I even. I recognize that song because I'm not like, a huge. I don't know a lot of artists. I don't know a lot of songs. And the fact that I even recognize that. Yeah, he. I don't think his music career went much further than that, but, you know, I. I just like jamming with the people, you know? He was trying to get the rhythm. I had to. I was tapping like, let's go, Brett. And you, buddy.

So good.

Was that acapella, too? Did he not pick up the guitar?

No.

Wow, dude. I just picture you guys, like, knee to knee, like, so close in those studios.

It was. It was very close.

It happened again.

Again?

Yes.

Not with. With Brett.

Not with Brett, but we were somewhere else. I can't remember.

Ryan and Jeremy talk about camping in Panaca, Nevada

And there was a lady that, like, fell in love with Ryan. Some old, like, Hispanic lady, and she loved Ryan, and she she like. Anyway, she invited us for dinner or something.

Oh, I remember this.

I don't remember this at all.

And then, So we eat dinner, and then she starts singing a song, and I'm like, what?

She had a guitar, and, and she played. I was like, wow, so you play the guitar? And she's like, yeah. I'm like, I'd love to hear something.

Do you remember what she played?

No idea.

There's another situation where it just, like, so painful to be there because I wanted to laugh so hard, and it was like, you can't laugh. It hurts so bad.

It was epic. I wish I could remember that lady's name and the song and everything but that. I think that might have been the next year in San Diego. I think it might have been, so a lot of suffering. if. When you guys look back now, is there certain times that you're, like, grateful that you went through it, you went through the tribulation?

I would say when we're talking about it, it's. It's impossible not to, to laugh at the pain, you know?

Yeah, it was really fun, like, looking back now, but. Yeah, it was. I can't believe I did it. Like, thinking about, like, knocking on doors in that heat now would be. I don't think you could pay me to do it.

Yeah, I. I don't know how long you want to go on, but. But I. I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk, about a few of the Panaca incidents.

Oh, I'd love to.

Forgot about.

Okay.

Oh, yeah, Back to Mesquite.

That's fine. We're going. We're going back to Mesquite. So we've gone a little bit of Mesquite, a little Reno, a little Elko. Yeah, we did skip over a few very important turnout, areas in,

Going back to the map that. I thought those little dots were pretty close together on the map. Turns out Panac is really far away from Mesquite. We had to go back through St. George, which is 35, 40 minutes at least. Then up this highway, all the way up to the highway that takes you. It runs east, west to Cedar City. You turn left and just head towards Nevada again. So you do this huge loop to get out to Panaci. It was so far away.

It was.

Jeremy and I would drive out there, camp overnight, out.

Well, at first. At first we were going back and forth, like, the first week. We're, like, back and forth every day, and it was like, this is ridiculous. For three hours in the car to sell two sets, you know, or for me, like, go negative two, you know, like. And then. And yeah. So then James had this. This idea, which was a fairly good idea. Like, why don't. Why don't we go out there and then sleep there and then get up and sell for a full day and then sleep there again and then come back and, you know, minimize the.

Cars on the car.

Yeah, so we did that. But the problem was there wasn't really anywhere to. To stay in Panacka, Nevada. And. Sure, that's hard to do.

No hotels.

Yeah.

Or maybe you couldn't afford one. Or they.

Even if there were, like, I wasn't paying for it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

there's no. I don't think there were any hotels. And. Yeah, there's no way we can afford it.

So. So we had.

For anything.

Yeah, we had a few sleep spots. We tried a few different things. One of them was we found this field with a bunch of cows. Yeah.

Is this camping in your car?

well, we had. We had, like, cots, that we would, like, Yeah. Put together. And we would put the cots together and put our sleeping bags on it. And we literally sleep our cars right.

Next to each other in between.

Yeah. So we woke up one. One day with cows mooing and.

James remembers sleeping next to cows one night while camping

No. In the middle of the night because they had separated. I don't know much about. About cows, but I guess if you separate the little ones from the moms, they just moved each other all night. So the entire night they're just moving. It's, like, calling for each other. And we're just laying there, like, next to them all.

Yeah.

It was so crappy.

So then we're like, okay, we can't do that again. Like, we. And I remember waking up and, like, flies all over my face, and it was, you know, like 85 degrees. And I'm like, this is not. It's not good. And I remember going to. Do you remember that truck stop that we would go and shower at? You, like, put the quarters in. You get for, like, 50 cents. You got, like, two minutes or something. Yeah, that was fun. and I remember one day, like, we were driving around, and there was a scenic,

Yeah.

Lookout overlook. And it was just like, a big parking lot. And. And I don't know. I think. I don't know if it was your idea, but we're like, what if. What if we just, like, slept there? We just put the cars, you know, right next to each Other and slept in between them on the car.

I'm pretty sure there's lots of. Off the side and say no camping.

Oh, at least three.

Yeah, I don't think that's camping. Yeah, yeah, that's sleeping.

Yeah.

Yeah, we pulled that.

So we would meet there after our, our, our days, of selling. And I remember this one night, you know, we just. And it was awkward too, right? Like, because every now and again somebody would pull over and see. We would have to wait for a while until it's pretty dark. And we were almost sure that nobody would pull over because we didn't want to be sitting there in our sleeping bags while people are just like, walking around this overlook. So this one night we had, you know, set everything up. We're laying there, we're asleep. And I remember it was like one in the morning, two in the morning. It was really early in the morning. We get woken up, a car pulls in. And, I'm like, what the heck? Like, what time is it? And I'm like, well, it's so early. And then all of a sudden we hear people get out and like, what do you remember the first thing that they're saying?

I remember this at all.

You don't? No.

Like, they, they get out and there's these voices and there is. There's at least two or three people talking. And one of them was saying something to the effect of like, we've got it. We've got to take her to the hospital. She's got to go to the psych ward like right now. You don't.

Oh, my gosh.

Not at all.

and I'm like. I'm like, laying there. I'm like, james, what do we do? And James, manager, like, yeah, James, just like, don't say a word.

That's sound advice.

Yeah, don't talk. And we're sitting here and like, it was probably like a five or ten minute thing, like, where they're like, debating what to do with this person that is like, apparently lost it and is unstable. And I'm like, they're gonna kill us. Yeah, I'm not getting out of this. You know, like, they're gonna get out of the car. They're gonna start hacking us to pieces.

What if there's already a body in there?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it was like something you see in a movie, right? Where like, people were just like, screwed and they pull.

Caught in a parking lot and they get killed.

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, we lived through that, which was nice.

Then what happened? They left.

They just.

And yeah, they just left. They just like finally, like, they stopped arguing, got back in the car and took off and went back to sleep and woke up like it was something normal to do.

It gave me an idea. Next time I see anyone camping somewhat near the road and I'm driving by at 2am just below me, I'm gonna say some crazy. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. She just bled out. What do we do? Do we dump the body here?

Ryan: The fact that you guys were willing to not quit is amazing

Do we go a little bit? Let's just go. Let's go, let's go.

Oh, my gosh.

And then you remember the other incident though, right, with Ivy?

Patrolman. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You gotta. This one's great.

So again, we're sleeping there and we wake up. It's like, you know, the sun's waking you up at like 6, 7 in the morning. It's bright as day. It's like warm. So we're out of our sleeping bags, but laying on our cots, just laying there, obviously. Like pillows out, blankets, sleeping bag, cots. This highway patrolman, like, rolls up, gets out and he's like, you guys know there's no camping here, right? And he's like, was it you or me? I was just like, it was you. I was like, no, we're just resting.

Yeah.

Yes, we're just resting.

Resting gear.

And Lindsay, like, you. I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, I'm dying right now. How do I not just start laughing? Hysterical. No, we just lay there.

You lay there in your resting bag.

I don't even know if. Did we even have, like. Like full clothes on? Like, we may have been in our naked. Well, not naked, like underwear. Just in the sleeping bag or something. I mean, sleeping fully clothed, you know, it's not like it got cool. It was still hot.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know.

It was very awkward. But then the epilogue.

Oh, and then I went and sold at his house.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No way.

Yeah. Hey, guys.

Knocked on his door.

Small town.

And how'd it go? Did you get in?

I don't think so.

Yeah, you didn't get in.

You did. I got in.

Oh, you did.

I don't think I sold, though.

You did admit to him, though, that we were camping. Yeah, I remember you told man. He's like, yeah, I know.

Yeah, that'd be good to come clean before the close.

Yeah.

Hey, just so we're transparent about everything, we were totally camping.

This guy's honest in all my dealings, dude.

I just can't help but Think I'm listening to these stories, guys, and I. I probably know some. Knew some of them, but I'm. I didn't know. I can't remember some of these. And literally, like, the. The fact that you guys were willing to not quit. Dude, I talked to. I probably talked to thousands of business owners and salespeople at this point. Most people would not camp out on an overlook and deal with mooing cows. And, like, they would have been home. Dude. Like, seriously, you guys, very, Like, I admire that so much. To be like, I don't. I don't know what you had in you at the point. If you're like, well, I don't have anything else to do, or, like, what it was. But, like, good for you for freaking sticking to it. Because most people try it one time, and they're like, yeah, it didn't work. Like, you guys had some serious discipline.

Well, thank you, Ryan. You know, you guys, what else? Oh, do you remember we got the 4th of July at, Lake Tahoe? You guys remember that? So we went out to Lake Tahoe, and we played in the water, and it was so freaking cold. I swear, we played like Marco Polo or something for, like, two seconds. We're like, this is crazy cold.

Let's get back onto these because it looked beautiful. We deserve this. What a hard summer. Let's get in this wonderful water.

I remember somebody offering us weed on the beach. I was like, no, no thanks

And so everyone's like, you know, the best fireworks are at Incline Village. We're like, oh, Incline Village. Let's go. We go. There's a gated community, right? They wouldn't let us in. And then Jesse, I think, noticed, like, that they all had this red stamp that they were showing to get in. So Jesse, the artist, we just went over across the street to the casino and asked for a red pen. Pen. And he drew that little marker, mark on her hand. We all got in, right?

I remember.

That was nice.

It was nice. That was. That was a high point.

I remember somebody just kept offering us weed on the beach. I'd never been offered weed, like, a million times. I was like, no, no, thanks.

We didn't get offered.

Really.

He's like, what the heck?

I got some video.

One chance. Yeah, you have a dollar a day.

You know, this is cheaper than the.

Weed for one day. You can afford these videos.

That's why you were so good.

That's why you're so good.

did we. Did we hit on all the. I think the highlights, the low lights?

I. I have one. I have one more that stands out to me. this is going. Going back to Mesquite probably. when Jesse. One of the times Jesse's car was out of commission, I remember, thinking to myself, what are we doing here? So that's it? That's all? No, we. We would. Oftentimes, even when this car was working, sometimes we would meet up at this park. There was, like, some. Some shade and, like, a table. but I remember this.

The one big tree in Logan Dale.

Yeah, the one tree. I remember this one day we. We, We went to eat lunch, and, we sat down, we opened our coolers. We ate our whole lunch. And it didn't hit me until later that night that we didn't say a single word to each other. Not a word. But, like, the anxiety and stress was so thick today.

I am so sorry.

Completely complete silence. But it didn't even seem weird was the thing. And it was just like, oh, we're in hell. Like, that's fine.

It's.

It's 120 outside. Jesse's car is broken for the fifth time. And, you know, we're. We're spending money, not making any money. This is great.

Oh, my God.

That's amazing.

But I remember that lunch. I always, always remember just the complete.

I remember you trying to find love. All. Surprisingly, libraries aren't the place to find.

Yeah.

Or singles or Barnes and Noble.

Yeah. Struck out every time.

tell us at least about the library.

One elo. Elo, Right.

Yeah, it was elo. Of course. I mean, we were all there.

I was library that day.

No wonder you guys weren't selling.

Did you guys see it happen, too?

Yes.

Oh, jeez.

Oh, no. I saw you run.

I ran.

You ran after.

Oh.

Jeremy says too many people are afraid to take risks

Oh, I ran after. Okay. Yeah. I mean, there is Jesse.

See that girl over there? She's pretty cute, right?

Should I go talk to her? Yes.

And then she starts leaving. Damn it. He gets up and, like, jogs after her. I'm like, all right, Jeremy.

Hey, if I wasn't selling, I was at least gonna get someone's phone number.

That's awesome, dude. So you ran outside?

It sure did.

To grab her. What'd you say to her?

I don't know. But, I know what you said. Tell me what I said. Remind me. I remember I asked her age.

Yeah.

How old are you?

That was the first thing, because there.

Was another incident where there's this girl I had gotten to know. Barnes and Noble in Reno. Well, she. I would go there every morning and just kind of chill out for a bit. She was just always there. It was like a morning routine. And, like, so, like, we started chatting and, like. And eventually I asked her if she wanted to hang out. And then I found out she was like, 16 or something. And I was, you know, I was 22 maybe, and I was like, oh. So the first day, I was like, this girl in the library. I'm like, how old are you? Let's just start there. I'm not. I'm not taking this any further than.

It needs to go.

What'd she say?

You can finish this, you know.

Oh, no, I don't. I don't remember. I remember 15.

And you said, damn it, and walked away.

It sounds about right. Another defeat.

Ah. There was no Tinder back then.

My first cell phone was that summer, so I could get called if you guys had questions or problems. I never had a cell phone before then.

And did we have GPS or did we use maps? We use books. Big old books.

Didn't we use maps? And, like, I. I feel like I. We use a library to print out MapQuest, too.

I would have that. Like, I bought one of those, like, bound maps you could flip through easily.

Yeah, yeah, we did that too.

And print out the map.

I forgot about that.

That's so wild, you guys. It's funny. there have been a few times I've driven past Logan Dale and, with my. With my family and my kids, and I'm like, guys, this is where legends were made. Logan Dale. And a few times when we've driven past that pinaco sign. Yeah, like, you talk about baptism, of fire. That was it, that summer.

There's a house in Moapa, too. Did you guys ever go to Moapa? It was a Howard Hughes house that he gave to the church, and it was just a hot spring pool. It was cool, but they wouldn't let me get in. Nobody was in it, and I was just there by myself. I was like, can I take a dip? Nope. Only for board or steak activities.

It's. Seriously, I think about what you guys did that summer, and I'm like, man, most people aren't even willing to take that risk. So I think for me, my whole career after that has been, like, sales oriented it. Like, I. I liked it. I liked the adrenaline and, like, they could say no, I could be poor any second. Like, it might work out. Or you guys, you didn't go down that. That route, but it was a learning experience for you to be like, dude, cells sucks. Like, I'm never doing that again. And I. I seriously I want to make that point because too many people are afraid to take risks. They're afraid to go do something. And worst case is, you waste a summer, you waste a year, like, whatever it is. Like, but you know now that, like, you're.

You're grateful for your life that you have now, the path that you chose

You're grateful for your life that you have now, the path that you chose, the fact that you didn't continue to be manager at Living Scriptures or whatever, like, I don't know, I just think it's so cool. Like, you guys and you stuck with it. It wasn't like. Like, the next year, I. I started a team, and my whole team, including Lindsay, quit. There was one guy that stayed and, like, they'd. I don't know, like, Lindsay, you know, I mean, her circumstance a little bit different. But like everyone else, I'm like, dude, the one guy quit the very first day. Like, the. The morning we wake up, all of a sudden he's gone. Like, he didn't even knock a door.

Are you serious? Yeah.

Good luck, guys. Sorry. I decided to go home.

I'm like, San Diego wasn't what I expected.

Yeah. I'm like, dude, we haven't even gone to the beach yet. Like, I went. I picked San Diego because I was like, if the work's gonna suck, but we're going to the beach on Saturday, Sunday.

So it's crazy.

It's. It's impressive to me. Like, the more I went through it, like, man, these guys really stuck to it. They figured out what they don't want to do in life, that was worth it, you know? and like you said, that's where legends were born. You guys. You guys learned it. You got some thick skin through that thing. There's just. There's so much learning that came from it, for sure. Yeah.

Even though I didn't go into sales, I ended up in marketing a lot through design. And it's the same principles, right? And so, like, it's all valuable. And I think. I think everybody should have some terrible jobs where they work really hard and don't get paid much early in life because it's her motivator to figure out something that does work for you and something that if you don't love, you at least, like, doing right. like, getting the first few paychecks for. From, like, a real job. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is amazing. It wouldn't be that cool if you just kind of, like, lived off your parents money all your life, and that was your first experience. Having a job outside of school probably wouldn't be Very grateful for it.

Yeah.

I mean, I think it's a huge motivator for sure.

Right.

Like you're saying, Ryan, like, at least you know what you don't want to do. and, you know, I mean, you don't know the good unless you have the bad. I wouldn't say it was all bad. It's challenging. I mean, but look at this. We're, what, 22 years later, we're laughing hysterically. I mean, I wouldn't take any of it back for a second. It doesn't matter that, when I did my taxes that year, my. My parents. Accountant were like, what did your son do for work over the summer? He was surprised at how little money I made.

How did everyone come out? Out? Do you guys remember your numbers? Because we. We really just want to find out how much did James make? All his overrides off of all of ourselves.

It's crazy to think how much, like, all these other sales jobs really made. And we didn't make nearly. Nearly as much. Well, you remember Mark? He just installed home security systems and got, like, 45 or 50,000 for the summer.

It was a big number.

Yeah.

And that's why I was pissed at you.

Yes.

Because I'm like, I know. What the hell?

Well, dude, how did I know? That was my senior year. I found out, like, why didn't I know about this job? That you just lay by the pool and go install home security systems and have no. None of the stress.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How did we like James? You. You lied to us about this. Hawaii and everything else.

Yeah.

We could have sold pest control alarms.

That's fun.

Hawaii really was amazing.

James: I won a trip both years. I didn't get the trip the second year

You guys missed out. I will say this. I mean, I don't want to bring up bad memories, but I. I won a trip both years. That was the first time we ever went on a cruise. Looking back, it was the cheapest cruise possible. Is carnival. They put you in a closet. There's no windows. And I was like, dude, this place is dope. I mean, compared. Compared to a studio in Elko, this place is bomb, you know?

Did you get the trip?

Oh, you got the show.

I didn't get the trip the next year.

You didn't.

You did? I didn't know.

We didn't know anyone.

That's right. So I got the trip the first year, but not the second. Because I was like, wait. Yeah.

Yeah.

Because they did really well.

Yeah.

First year.

Yeah.

They're the only ones got the trip.

Yeah. I can't remember what else I was gonna Say. But I. I think it was. I think it was awesome. It's like. I think what you said, Jeremy, is like, I don't know that I would go do it again, but no regrets, you know? Like, it was. It was awesome when I made enough.

That I didn't have to work the next year.

How much did you make, James?

I think it was 19.

Dang, son.

That was not that much. I think I made.

I made 12 the first year and 19.

I remember how much you made, Jesse.

I think just under eight.

Nice. Okay. Okay.

I think I made, like, 13 to 15 that first year.

That's good.

I mean, but I was planning on, like. I think 12 was crappy year. 25.

Yeah.

Just made the trip.

12 was the trip.

I think it was. Because that's what I. I barely got over 12 the first year. And I got to go to Hawaii again.

I'll bet you I was like, 13, because I remember thinking, like, dude, I gotta. I gotta hustle these last, like, few weeks. Threaten some old ladies and stuff, you know? Sure you don't want the big. What was the big one? It was like the family. And then there was some other one. Yeah, that was. That was a motivator, though. But honestly, like, it was awesome. James, I. I still think you did great. you know, I know you're feeling bad right now because you made Jeremy almost jump off a cliff.

If it wasn't with you guys, it would have sucked. Right? Like, it was fun because we were together. Like, otherwise, I don't know why. Those locations were terrible. Who makes everyone drive? Like, how far did we drive that? Somewhere like 3,000 miles. Probably a lot on our cars.

Oh, that we did at least, if not more.

Yeah.

Well, I admire you as a manager because literally, the next year, the first guy quits day one. Lindsay quit, like, a few weeks in or a month in or something like that. This other guy, Derek, won't say his last name because I don't want it. He. If he's still alive, he'll come find me and literally murder me. We go out. I'm going out, and, like, he's. He's struggling, so manager's gonna go help him. Let me show you how this is done, Derek, but first, let me see how you're doing it. So he goes and knocks on this door, and, like, we get in, and he does not close the thing. And you could just tell he was getting so pissed. And I was just like, to me, it's just a numbers game.

Ryan: I've always appreciated your guys's friendship

Like, let's go to the next one, you know, he's just like. And he was driving, by the way. He was driving his car, driving me around. And we get in the car, and he's just like. I'm like, dude, are you okay? And he's like. Doesn't say anything. And he gets in the car and just fly. We're in a neighborhood and just starts flooring it. I'm like, dirt. Slow down. Calm down. It's like, young man, top of his lungs. I'm like, no, Stop the car. Oh, my gosh. I thought I was gonna die. This kid was like. Like, we didn't know what mental health was back then. He invented mental health. It was crazy. I was just like, dude, stop the car. And then I finally literally got him to stop the car. I'm like, okay, dude, we're gonna just chill for, like, 20 minutes. And then he left the next day. So I'm like, how did James do this?

He got everyone to stay.

I couldn't even get my wife to stay. There was one guy that rode it out with me all summer, and I wouldn't have cared if he went home, to be honest. I know. Like, Lindsay, you should have stayed. We kicked. Kick this guy out. Well, through all of it, I've always appreciated your guys's friendship. it's been cool that we've been friends all these years. I mean, we lived in Texas for 12 years. We didn't get to see you guys that often or whatever, but it doesn't matter. We could go a decade and not see each other and pick up where we left off. So appreciate you guys coming on here, doing the show with us, and, just for everyone's friendship, it's been awesome.

Thanks, Ryan.

Yeah, thank you.

All right, guys, I don't know if that was helpful, but if. If you guys need help with cells, call one of my friends here. Go get after it. Stay positive. Don't. Don't quit. All right. That was awesome.