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And this is where it gets fun because, you know, again,
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some of your darkest days are dawned to the grace
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of lights. Then I said, okay, I'm going to put
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a spin on this because that's what good creative people do, right?
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They take the same idea and reuse it. And now
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I'm sitting here at the age of 55 doing work
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with the biggest of big companies and they're right across
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the street.
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You're listening to the Mountain West Capital Network podcast, your
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gateway to the winner's circle. I'm Sherry, the executive director
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of Mountain West Capital Network.
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And I'm Jason, president of the Mountain West Capital Network
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and managing director at Protivity. Every episode, we sit down
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with Utah's most visionary business leaders to uncover the ideas, risks,
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and wins behind the state's fastest-growing companies.
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Mountain West Capital Network is best known for the Utah 100,
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our flagship event that recognizes the state's fastest-growing businesses. But
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behind every number is a story, and that is what
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this podcast is all about.
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You're not just tuning in to hear what's happened. You're
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stepping inside the winner's circle to understand how it happened.
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Today, we are pleased to be sitting with Chad Frotten,
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the founder and CEO of Cornerstone Technologies. Chad has over
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35 years of experience in the live event and field
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marketing industry, and his work at Cornerstone has encompassed 33
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of those years since its founding in 1993.
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With Chad at the helm, Cornerstone Technologies has become one
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of Utah's premier event production companies. He has led the
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production of multiple large-scale experiences with budgets exceeding $ 25 million,
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creating stunning audiovisual environments. Chad is brilliant in creative design
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and an expert in technological innovation, making his contributions to
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this space invaluable.
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Chad is also an executive member of both Silicon Slopes
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and Atlantis Foundation. On top of founding Cornerstone, he has
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since branched off with five sister companies, The Forge, Destinations
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by Design, Entertainment 2.0, Event Lab, and Evolve, and a
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few other companies outside of this industry, including his newest venture,
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High Star Ranch Entertainment Venue. He is a graduate of
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the American Film Institute and an avid outdoor adventurer and
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an all-around thrill seeker.
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Chad, welcome to the Winner's Circle. Well, thank you for
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having me.
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We are so happy that you are here with us today.
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This is a story we've been wanting to tell for
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a really long time, and now we have a podcast.
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And so, of course, you're going to be one of
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our first people that we bring on. So, Chad, this
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is going to be a challenge because I can't imagine
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how you would answer this, but how would you describe
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what you do in one sentence?
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I think, you know, if you describe me, I think that, um,
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I would like to just think I have, I have
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a really big heart and that's really focused on servicing
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and helping people achieve their goals. And I think a
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lot of times I'm the luckiest guy in the whole
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world because I get to hear, you know, either companies
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are on the rise that are finding their, their foothold
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and finding their greatness and they share big ideas. And
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I think that I'm a collector of all that. And
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I think at the end of the day, you know,
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creating these moments and time that are memorable because everything
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I do is very temporal, you know, and, um, I
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will be celebrating a, uh, a giant momentous moment. And
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literally four hours after it happens, it's tore down and
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loaded onto 75 trucks and gone, you know? And so
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I don't get to celebrate a lot of those, but I,
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I do think that I am very lucky in the
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sense that I've been able to do that my entire life.
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And I've never really done it for anybody but myself.
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And so I'm very lucky that people have chose me
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to help them on their journey.
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I think that's awesome because if I were to, having
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known you for as long as I have, that would
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be how I would describe you as well. You do
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have a big heart. And when I interact with you
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or anybody that works with you, it's a family. People
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love you dearly. I think you're one of those people
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that when you walk into a room and if you
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were to say, who in here thinks Chad thinks of
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them as their best friend. And I think there's a
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lot of people that would say, no, he thinks of
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me as his best friend. No, it's me. And fighting
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would ensue. But you are amazing, and you do have
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a big heart.
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I appreciate that. Personal insight. I think I get that
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gift from my father. He was a big part of
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my life. And I remember being at his funeral and
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people sharing that same sentiment. that no matter when they
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talked to him, he always made them feel like they
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were the most important person alive. And it was interesting
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to see the friendships that he had with the people
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he had it with. And I remember in that moment,
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to be honest with you, I think that was really,
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I think I took a lot of that for granted.
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But then when you see, you know, when you really
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realize that through the eyes of your father and him
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not being in your life, your mortal life anymore, that
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that it made me realize that's what I want to
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do more. And I think, I felt like that was
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a kind of a, not necessarily a directional change in
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my life, but it made me, it made me think
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about the importance of that, you know, and, and, and
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what you can do if you have a, just a strong,
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good heart and what you can do, because really being
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in the company that we are in, in a service industry,
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that's really the only thing that, that differentiates ourselves from others.
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Yeah. So, yeah, we'll get to that a little bit too. Yeah.
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I think, you know, first off, again, Chad, we're so
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excited to hear your story. Maybe you can just start
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with how it started and just walk us through kind
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of the history of Cornerstone.
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Oh, my gosh. I got to make this quick. Again,
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I feel very, very blessed for how this happened because
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I think I'm a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan. if you've
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ever read any of his books, I feel like I,
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I could have written the pages of outliers, um, because
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I believe that I took advantage of opportunity and to
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the nth degree. And I worked so hard to do it,
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but my story is pretty simple. I was given a
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lot of opportunities. And I think originally I, I was, uh,
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I had, uh, sustained an injury. I was playing, uh, football,
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college football and, and sustained an injury that, that, ended
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that that chapter in my life and um and i
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kind of came back to utah and found myself working
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at a very large software company at the time and
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uh i was working like late night security while i
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was going to school to be honest with you because
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i could do homework um that was allowed and and
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it was just a really good moment um and or
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an opportunity i should say not a moment but but
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I just didn't take that for granted. You know, being
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who I was, I would go around and all the
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executives that were working late night, I would take them
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a treat or I would, you know, make them laugh
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with a joke. And my favorite thing was really to
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just scare him to death. Like I would literally scare him.
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And one night I scared this gentleman and he's like,
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and he was just literally scared to death, but he
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was also laughing. Thank goodness. And so I, um, He's like,
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what are you doing? And I said, well, I'm scaring you.
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And he's like, you know what I mean.
What are
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you doing? I said, well, I went to school. I said,
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I want to be a recording engineer. And every college
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counselor I had said, you'll never make any money at that.
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And they laughed at me and said, not even the
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Osmonds could make money at that. And so, of course,
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I'm not going to tell Donnie that, right? Or Marie
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that or Doug, you know, or the second generation. But
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I laughed. And so they convinced me I had to
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be an electrical engineer. And, you know, I would have
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been locked away in a basement and I would have
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never saw the light of day. And I would have
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never been able to share my array of sunshine with anybody.
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So it was kind of, it was kind of interesting,
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but he's like, well, come work for me. He's like,
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he's like, uh, um, he was over telecommunications ironically. And
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back then they were digital phone systems, you know? So
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there was a software application that ran them. And, and
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he's like, I'll teach you everything you need to know.
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And by the way, you know, it's like, you know,
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this is 1990 and I'm, I'm 20 year old, 20, 20,
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20 year old kid, maybe 19. It doesn't matter. But, um,
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he's like, you know, and I'll, and I'll pay $ 125, 000
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a year to do that. And I was like, well, Yeah,
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I'll do that. And so I learned it in like
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10 seconds, you know, literally. And I did that for
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about eight months. And he then came to me and
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he said, he called me in his office. And he said,
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I've got an opportunity of a lifetime for you. And
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I said, okay, hit me. And he said, I just
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came from a meeting. The company wants to start a
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think team group that will build experimental software. And application
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is what he said. So IP. And I said, okay, well,
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what does that look like? And why would I be
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a candidate? And he said, it's right up your alley.
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He's like, we're going to send you away to school.
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We are going to teach you everything that you need
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to know, because what we're going to do is very,
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very experimental and very cutting edge. And so that's when
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I got sent to the American Film Institute in Hollywood, California.
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And at the time it was sent there as a,
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as a broad educational platform and, But then I got very,
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very focused and they paired me up with a very
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famous audio design engineer that built studios by the name
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of Chips Davis. And if you look Chips Davis up,
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it probably nobody knows who Chips Davis is unless you're
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in the business. But if you look him up, he
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was infamous in building like Lucas's sound facilities. He built
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the jazz ranch in LA and was just a giant
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in the industry. And I was very, very lucky to
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have him as a mentor. And so I studied under
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him and that was just an amazing opportunity. And that's
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why I kind of compare it to the likenesses of
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what is outlined in Outliers is because I was given
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these immense opportunities. And the one thing I would say
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is I never, ever took them for granted. I always
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tried to work the hardest I could, learn the very most.
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In fact, a lot of guys that I work with
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would make fun of me because I literally would read
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the manual. And, you know, and the technology, I mean,
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some of these manuals were.
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That doesn't surprise me at all.
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Yeah, I mean, they were printed, you know, and so
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they were like phone books. And, but I wanted, I
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had a really... a strong thirst to be the very best.
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And I think that's really what it, what it came
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down to, um, or at least be in the field
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of given the, given the people I was rubbing shoulders with, I,
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I wanted to be able to have conversations. And I
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think that's important because, you know, you, um, from the
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time that you're a child, your parents encourage you to
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have the right friends, right? In business, we, we teach,
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you know, who are the first, first six people in
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your contact list, you know? So, so these things were important.
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And I knew that from a very, very young age,
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I knew that that, was important. So I went to Seattle.
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We built three recording studios there. We built them during
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the grunge era. So I got to meet a lot
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of the big bands that were coming out of that area,
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got to see and observe them and recording of some
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of the most iconic albums of that, of the nineties,
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to be honest with you. And, and I'm living my dream.
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Like I manifested this and it, and it happened. And, and, uh,
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you know, and, and I, and I guess I'll just
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stop and pause right there. Um, because that's where it
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got really fun. Um, I remember thinking like, you know,
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we always hear that, you know, of course you should
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listen to call, you know, your counselors, of course. And
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you should listen to, to people that you respect or
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your elders or however you want to define it. But,
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but man, if you have a dream, you chase it
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and you never, ever, you know, because even if you
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don't capture it in the moment, if you still can
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manifest it, you can, you, it may happen 20 years down,
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down the road.
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Mm-hmm.
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But it'll happen. And, uh, and so I, I came
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back to Utah and started building, you know, starting to
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apply what I've learned. And we build a lot of
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beautiful studios. We built digital recording facilities that were one
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of one, um, digital recording studios for film and video.
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And at that moment in time, as the tech world knows,
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we were acquired. And so all of the discipline now
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had been purchased by another software company. And this is
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where it gets fun. I mean, because, you know, again,
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some of your darkest days, right, are dawned to the
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grace of lights. And I feel like that was a
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really big, important thing. And at the time, I was
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young enough that I was somewhat ignorant to it. But
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they asked me and my former business partner as engineers
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to write a business proposal. And this was long before
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the internet, right? So thank goodness my business partner was
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still registered at BYU because we went down and took
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over the library and we learned how to write a
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business proposal. And I'm sure it was horrible. I'm sure
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it was horrible. In fact, it was so horrible it
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got me fired like a month later. But the funny
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part of this is I was always the youngest guy
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at the table. So they march us in. Our senior
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vice president flew in from Silicon Valley and she sets
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us down and there's 20 of us. And I, I
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look at that as almost a, almost a comedy too,
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because I'm like, who in the world fires mass amounts
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of people in the same room? Like now if you
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apply it to modern day, like, Holy cow, that would
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be the, that would be an HR nightmare. Right. But
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they did it. And, uh, it was funny. It's funny
268
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to look back on it, but, but, um, you know,
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and I know I'm like the group cheerleader and I
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think it was cause I was so young. Cause my,
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my colleagues were, were guys that had, and not to
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say that I didn't, I mean, I had a mortgage,
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I had children, but I was young and I, and, and, uh,
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maybe it was just my mindset. Um, but I'm sitting
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there amongst people that are emotionally like distraught, trying to
276
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figure out probably what the next chapter in their lives were.
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They're probably, I know I'm in my twenties and, and
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they're in their forties, you know, so it's much different game,
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but I was the cheerleader and I'm like, guys, this
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will finally allow us to go on and find our greatness. Guys,
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we no longer have to worry every Christmas that do
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you buy Christmas
or not? Because are the shareholders going
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to fire us all or not? You know, like, so
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these are real world problems, right? That everybody goes through
285
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to today. And especially with the, with the tech influence here.
286
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I mean, these are real things. The giants of today
287
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are the ghost towns of tomorrow, right? I mean, they
288
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really are. And so it's, I go home and this
289
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is a Thursday. This is a Thursday. And I think,
290
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I want to say it's like February 12th. And I
291
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go home and it didn't sink in what my reality was.
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I went home. I told my wife, you know, kissed
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my kids, was hanging out with my kids. I'm like, wow,
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I haven't had a day off forever, you know. And
295
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then I wake up the next morning. I'm like, oh, wow,
296
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I got to find a job. And they, of course,
297
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they've given us the severance. But this gets funny. Yeah.
298
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Of course, they give us a nice severance. At the time,
299
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I would say very respectful severance. And so, of course,
300
00:15:47.909 --> 00:15:50.070
Chad doesn't put it in the bank. Of course not.
301
00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:52.750
Chad goes and buys a company. So you're going to
302
00:15:52.769 --> 00:15:57.429
die laughing. But I go from being this technologist, like inventing.
303
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And I never really talked about what we were inventing.
304
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But what we were really inventing was what now is Siri.
305
00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:08.240
So it was voice recognition and voice to text and
306
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a lot of that technology. And that was 1991. So
307
00:16:11.259 --> 00:16:13.559
see how long that takes to come to market. The
308
00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.899
other was an embedded technology that is very similar to
309
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Bluetooth and which, which was very, very cool. And so, um,
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those were, and then an edutainment software. So, you know,
311
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education and, and, and entertainment and, and all these things
312
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have purpose because this is really what my life has become. Um,
313
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and as a steward of that and, and a steward
314
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of technology. And so, um, again, I'm, I, I, I
315
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.789
did buy a company, and you're going to die laughing
316
00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:45.509
when I tell you, but at the time, the concrete
317
00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:48.929
curbing craze was at full tilt, right?
318
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There was a craze.
319
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Yeah, I literally could go in an afternoon, like for
320
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two or three hours, and you made, and I can
321
00:16:55.649 --> 00:17:00.720
still repeat this, you made $ 1. 90 a foot, a linear foot,
322
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off of this curb. And then if it was the
323
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square type, you made $ 2. 10 a foot. And it was cash. George,
324
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it was cash. Don't tell Uncle Sam. But but it
325
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was funny to me because I mean, at that point,
326
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I mean, the salary that I was replacing was so
327
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simple to me. And to be honest with you, I
328
00:17:19.980 --> 00:17:22.359
got in shape. Yeah, it was fun. And I had
329
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fun and I got to meet people or whatever. And
330
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I think that helped me come out of my show.
331
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But I didn't do that as like a full time thing,
332
00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.579
because literally three days after I got fired, I got
333
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:36.890
rehired for the same exact position. But as a contractor
334
00:17:37.390 --> 00:17:40.630
by a company called Bush Creative. And if you're not
335
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familiar with Bush Creative, they are a fully-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch,
336
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and they are the creative company behind that company. So
337
00:17:48.369 --> 00:17:51.839
all of your Bud Bowl commercials, all of the– in fact,
338
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I did, and I produced a lot of the Bud
339
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Bowl and the Frogs, if you remember the Frogs. Yeah,
340
00:17:56.900 --> 00:17:59.279
I do. Definitely. But what I was in charge of
341
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was the theme park development. And so the experience within
342
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the experience, which now we call experiential. So I learned
343
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the art of that. And there is an art to that.
344
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That's a science, actually. That's not just an art. It's
345
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how people react to environments. They're predisposed nature to explore
346
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space and how they do. Like you can almost calculate
347
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how people walk through an experience. So I learned just
348
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the art of that. And I apply that to today, right?
349
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Because all these things are experiences. And I laugh because
350
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I'm sure that if you looked it up in the dictionary,
351
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and I'm laughing right now, Um, that word existed, but
352
00:18:40.210 --> 00:18:41.890
did it really, you know what I mean? Like we,
353
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we were pioneers in that without even knowing. And, um,
354
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and that's kind of what made it beautiful because we
355
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were doing things that nobody else had done so quickly.
356
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About a year and a half flies by and they're
357
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really pressuring me. They really wanted me to go back
358
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to St. Louis. And at this point I had two
359
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small children and I had grown up here my whole life.
360
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You know, I had went to Arizona for a little
361
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while to play sports, but my home was here and
362
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I'm like, I have no desire to leave here. Um,
363
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and I remember sitting there, um, in the basement of
364
00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:26.259
building J, um, at my desk. And I remember thinking
365
00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.960
to myself, like, I don't want to leave. How could
366
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I ever stay here? And that business proposal popped back
367
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:35.849
into my brain. But I said, okay, I'm going to
368
00:19:35.890 --> 00:19:38.009
put a spin on this because that's what good creative
369
00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:40.670
people do, right? They take the same idea and reuse it.
370
00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:43.930
They call it unique and original. Yeah.
371
00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:44.750
No one's the wiser. Right.
372
00:19:44.769 --> 00:19:46.150
So I did. And I was fortunate enough that at
373
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the end of the day, I was able to do it.
374
00:19:50.019 --> 00:19:54.140
the time, a very infamous and beautiful woman by the
375
00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:59.029
name of Crean Clark was my mentor. Well, she was my,
376
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if I would have been an employee, she would have
377
00:20:01.230 --> 00:20:04.690
been my direct report. But I had a relationship with Crean,
378
00:20:05.970 --> 00:20:09.089
a professional relationship. And I admire her so much.
379
00:20:09.150 --> 00:20:09.329
Yes.
380
00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:12.500
She is such a fantastic human. She's amazing. And I've
381
00:20:12.539 --> 00:20:14.700
got the, I've, and you know, and over the course
382
00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:16.240
of my life, I've got to honor her in many
383
00:20:16.259 --> 00:20:18.029
of the programs that I've been able to produce. So,
384
00:20:18.529 --> 00:20:21.250
so it's all, it all comes around. But I, I
385
00:20:21.309 --> 00:20:25.470
call her and I said, Corrine, can I still like
386
00:20:25.470 --> 00:20:27.390
30 minutes of your time? And she's like, of course.
387
00:20:27.910 --> 00:20:29.589
And she's like, where are you? And I'm like, I'm
388
00:20:29.750 --> 00:20:32.529
sitting at my old
desk. And she like, she's, she
389
00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:34.579
kind of laughed because I think she knew, but she
390
00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:37.339
probably forgot, you know, that we really never left sort
391
00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:40.019
of thing. But she's like, of course. And she's like, well,
392
00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:42.220
meet me up at, you know, building K. And I
393
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.019
was like, okay. And so I go up there and
394
00:20:45.509 --> 00:20:48.109
I thought I was the whole time because I wasn't
395
00:20:48.150 --> 00:20:48.789
a salesman.
396
00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:49.369
Yeah.
397
00:20:49.690 --> 00:20:52.069
You know, I felt like I had a good idea,
398
00:20:52.089 --> 00:20:54.509
you know, and I had built it and lived it.
399
00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:57.950
But my whole thought process was keep it short and
400
00:20:58.009 --> 00:21:01.019
keep it simple. And so I developed really what I
401
00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:03.920
would say. And I think it was probably four bullet points,
402
00:21:03.940 --> 00:21:07.130
to be honest with you. I had my proposal, but
403
00:21:07.180 --> 00:21:09.160
I said, Kareem, I don't want you to read this
404
00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:12.759
because it's all kind of irrelevant and it's really not prepared.
405
00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:14.819
And I don't mean to waste your time. It's more
406
00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:17.160
or less just reflecting an idea off on, on you
407
00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:19.160
and respectful. I said, you don't have to give me
408
00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:21.779
an answer today. Like just, I want to just have
409
00:21:21.819 --> 00:21:24.660
you consider it. And if anybody, if you know Kareem,
410
00:21:24.700 --> 00:21:27.390
she doesn't, she, she's smart enough that it's like it, it,
411
00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:31.299
if you make sense, it's, it's, it's done. Yeah. It's blessed.
412
00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.200
So I kept it simple. And I said, Kareem, if
413
00:21:34.289 --> 00:21:37.130
we could do this, You know, you've got all this
414
00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:39.539
immense amount of equipment at the time. I actually even
415
00:21:39.559 --> 00:21:42.119
knew what it looked like on the book. So, you know,
416
00:21:42.140 --> 00:21:44.400
I'm like, okay, you have X amount of dollars and
417
00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:46.380
it was in the millions. You know, this wasn't a
418
00:21:46.900 --> 00:21:50.539
small project. And I said, your options at this point
419
00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:55.059
are to sell it just on the open market for pennies,
420
00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:58.059
literally pennies on the dollar. And I even, I even
421
00:21:58.180 --> 00:22:00.599
guesstimated as to what I thought, and it would have
422
00:22:00.619 --> 00:22:02.869
been accurate. I mean, I knew that world inside and out,
423
00:22:03.289 --> 00:22:05.869
but I said, that's, that's the choice. We're at a crossroads.
424
00:22:06.549 --> 00:22:12.079
Or you can trust in me to take this and
425
00:22:12.339 --> 00:22:16.559
I will go out and I will find clients. I
426
00:22:16.579 --> 00:22:19.339
would love to be your first client and continue to
427
00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:22.500
do what I'm doing in the field marketing realm and
428
00:22:22.539 --> 00:22:25.700
help you and, and do everything I've always done for
429
00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.210
you because I know it's still a need. And they
430
00:22:28.250 --> 00:22:30.250
had hired another company to kind of do that. They'd
431
00:22:30.289 --> 00:22:33.710
outsource that and which is a local based company here. And, and,
432
00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:37.599
and we'll talk about that. But, I said to her,
433
00:22:37.640 --> 00:22:39.660
I said, you know, there's, and she just stopped me
434
00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:41.720
and she's, I was three bull, you know, I was
435
00:22:41.740 --> 00:22:44.960
three points into my four and she's just stopped me.
436
00:22:44.980 --> 00:22:47.059
And that's how wonderful she is. She just stopped me
437
00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:49.900
and she said, she looked at me, she said, is
438
00:22:49.940 --> 00:22:53.690
there a downside to this, Chad? Or is there anything that,
439
00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:56.950
that would not, this would be smart to do, right?
440
00:22:57.470 --> 00:22:59.789
And she asked me the question. And of course I'm like,
441
00:23:00.549 --> 00:23:02.690
you know, I'm not going to say heck no, you know, like,
442
00:23:03.170 --> 00:23:05.390
but I said, honestly, Karine, if you believe in me,
443
00:23:05.470 --> 00:23:07.920
then no. And it was at that moment in time,
444
00:23:07.980 --> 00:23:10.180
she's like, well, then write the one page up and
445
00:23:10.220 --> 00:23:14.400
let's do this. And at that point that that was
446
00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:16.640
such and I probably get a little bit emotional. But
447
00:23:16.660 --> 00:23:21.920
at that point, I became one of the biggest companies
448
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.680
in production space in the nation with that one moment
449
00:23:26.769 --> 00:23:30.529
in time. And so, again, I kind of just go
450
00:23:30.589 --> 00:23:36.680
back that that is such an incredible journey. You know,
451
00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:40.200
it's really almost full circle. And it's like, I never
452
00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:44.220
gave up. Even when it was like, probably right down
453
00:23:44.299 --> 00:23:46.859
to like, I could have walked out of there. And
454
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.559
I could have walked out of there and took on,
455
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:53.599
you know, a normal job, I guess, if you will.
456
00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:57.269
But I never stopped believing in what I felt like
457
00:23:57.349 --> 00:23:59.349
I knew. I feel like I knew what I wanted
458
00:23:59.369 --> 00:24:01.690
to do. I just didn't know it because there really
459
00:24:01.730 --> 00:24:04.430
wasn't an industry at that time. Like we really kind
460
00:24:04.450 --> 00:24:07.130
of built But the work that we had done, and
461
00:24:07.450 --> 00:24:09.029
this is where I'll end it, the work that we
462
00:24:09.069 --> 00:24:11.970
had already done, you know, the first company I worked
463
00:24:12.009 --> 00:24:16.190
for was absolutely trendsetting. And they had done things that
464
00:24:16.250 --> 00:24:19.329
really nobody in the space had done in the sense
465
00:24:19.470 --> 00:24:26.690
of even at trade shows, they did live performances, written, script, directed, produced. Like,
466
00:24:27.069 --> 00:24:29.250
they were amazing. And then Novell had taken over and
467
00:24:29.289 --> 00:24:32.089
they were doing really amazing things, too. And I think
468
00:24:32.109 --> 00:24:34.710
that they had learned and observed, or maybe, again, I
469
00:24:34.750 --> 00:24:38.069
wasn't in the early ages of that, but they were
470
00:24:38.109 --> 00:24:41.309
very similar. And so it was such an easy in.
471
00:24:41.910 --> 00:24:44.569
We were really growing almost, I think the first year
472
00:24:44.609 --> 00:24:45.150
we grew over 400%.
473
00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:45.309
Wow.
474
00:24:45.369 --> 00:24:50.579
And for all you venture capitalists, you're going to really
475
00:24:50.619 --> 00:24:53.400
love what I did, but I never even secured funding.
476
00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:58.319
In the 1990s, as we all remember, I probably would
477
00:24:58.359 --> 00:25:01.359
get 10 credit cards in my mailbox every single day.
478
00:25:01.869 --> 00:25:03.650
And I was lucky that I had really good credit
479
00:25:03.690 --> 00:25:06.579
as a young child because I literally would max them out.
480
00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.940
And I would, I would land these projects. I would
481
00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.539
go buy everything that I needed to do to fulfill them.
482
00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.740
And then I would starve to death, but I would
483
00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:18.829
take all the money that I earned, you know, just
484
00:25:18.890 --> 00:25:21.349
keep a little teeny bit, whatever I could for a salary.
485
00:25:21.730 --> 00:25:23.349
And then I would put it right back into paying
486
00:25:23.369 --> 00:25:26.890
it off. And that, so that 400% growth paved way for,
487
00:25:27.289 --> 00:25:30.650
for assets after asset after asset. Now, mind you, I
488
00:25:30.690 --> 00:25:33.349
did have Novell stuff and that helped kind of bridge
489
00:25:33.390 --> 00:25:36.609
that gap. But, you know, a lot of people think
490
00:25:36.809 --> 00:25:40.410
the barrier of entry is so low on events, but as,
491
00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:45.799
as a production company and, and to have, you know,
492
00:25:45.819 --> 00:25:52.980
we have 155,000 square foot warehouse that 40 million ish
493
00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:56.559
in assets that, that, that age so rapidly. I mean,
494
00:25:56.579 --> 00:25:59.380
within a year that will be completely overturned, you know, like,
495
00:25:59.859 --> 00:26:02.900
the reinvestment is just crazy. That's, that's why it's such,
496
00:26:03.059 --> 00:26:06.640
so expensive, you know, but that was really my story.
497
00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:10.869
Just one that completely blessed. So like going back to
498
00:26:11.029 --> 00:26:13.609
the Malcolm Gladwell book, like if you read those pages,
499
00:26:14.289 --> 00:26:17.950
it's riddled with opportunities. And the reason I think I
500
00:26:17.990 --> 00:26:21.109
gravitated to it so much is because when we were
501
00:26:21.190 --> 00:26:25.509
doing that, I was literally pushing Bill Gates on the stage.
502
00:26:25.609 --> 00:26:29.410
I was literally the pages of even Zuckerberg. And, and,
503
00:26:29.670 --> 00:26:32.910
and what we know is modern day social media was
504
00:26:33.069 --> 00:26:36.799
all intertwined with that. I've, I've met every single one
505
00:26:36.819 --> 00:26:39.799
of those people when they were nobodies. Huh. And, and
506
00:26:39.819 --> 00:26:41.960
that's kind of what's beautiful today is like, I feel
507
00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:45.529
like that's, that's what I've always taken such great care
508
00:26:45.549 --> 00:26:47.829
to is because there's, it makes me proud to be
509
00:26:47.869 --> 00:26:48.410
in Utah.
510
00:26:48.609 --> 00:26:48.750
Yeah.
511
00:26:49.089 --> 00:26:51.670
Because I spent the good majority of my younger life
512
00:26:51.730 --> 00:26:54.170
when I was building this company brick by brick in
513
00:26:54.250 --> 00:26:57.809
the Bay area or in big, big markets where big,
514
00:26:57.869 --> 00:27:01.410
big companies existed. And now I'm sitting here at the
515
00:27:01.930 --> 00:27:05.980
age of 55 doing work with the biggest of big companies.
516
00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:08.759
And they're right across the street, literally from you guys.
517
00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:13.279
So it just makes me proud to, to have been
518
00:27:13.319 --> 00:27:16.140
able to stay in Utah, but not only stay in Utah,
519
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:19.829
but just see what Utah is now. And where it's going.
520
00:27:19.990 --> 00:27:22.319
And I think that's the front row seat to the
521
00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:26.099
greatest show ever, period. So it's beautiful. I love that.
522
00:27:26.539 --> 00:27:29.900
I love that. It's fascinating. It really is.
523
00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:33.660
Maybe one thing I'd love to understand is, you know,
524
00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:38.089
obviously you've built a significant company over these years, 30
525
00:27:38.089 --> 00:27:43.710
plus years. What's been important in building the culture and how...
526
00:27:44.700 --> 00:27:46.859
Have you been able to attract the right people? And
527
00:27:46.900 --> 00:27:51.150
I know that you have fantastic people. We've benefited at
528
00:27:51.450 --> 00:27:54.789
the Utah 100 events and Entrepreneur of the Year and
529
00:27:55.410 --> 00:27:58.349
other things that you've done so well. How have you
530
00:27:58.369 --> 00:28:02.569
been able to
attract the right people? And what's core
531
00:28:02.589 --> 00:28:03.609
to building.
532
00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:04.230
A successful company?
533
00:28:04.259 --> 00:28:05.500
Okay.
534
00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:10.059
Gosh, you know, the right people. First of all, I
535
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:14.859
would say that culture is the most important thing. part
536
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.420
of any successful organization. And it's the hardest to achieve.
537
00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:22.880
You can never rest on it, even when you think
538
00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:25.980
you have it figured out, right? Like, you know, being
539
00:28:25.980 --> 00:28:34.329
33 years, it's different. Generations, you know, they view it differently, right?
540
00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:37.690
And so you really have to keep your finger on
541
00:28:37.730 --> 00:28:40.690
the pulse of it. And I hope I have it
542
00:28:40.730 --> 00:28:44.470
figured out. I think I do. Because if you would...
543
00:28:44.859 --> 00:28:49.740
You look at Cornerstone, I have people that have been
544
00:28:49.799 --> 00:28:52.180
with me for over 30 years.
545
00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:53.029
Yes.
546
00:28:53.569 --> 00:28:55.950
We always laugh about this. I should say this. You're
547
00:28:55.990 --> 00:28:58.829
either Cornerstone for life or you're there for one year
548
00:28:59.309 --> 00:29:03.150
or less. You either have it or you do not.
549
00:29:04.069 --> 00:29:06.589
And I think that's the beautiful part that I really
550
00:29:06.630 --> 00:29:10.069
want to get to because I think you have culture
551
00:29:10.109 --> 00:29:13.349
figured out if you see longevity because the good majority
552
00:29:13.390 --> 00:29:19.420
of all my people are 12 plus year veterans. And
553
00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:21.799
now I'm starting to see with a tear in my eye,
554
00:29:21.819 --> 00:29:25.789
I'm starting to see these people retire. That's the one
555
00:29:25.809 --> 00:29:29.410
thing about being a very young entrepreneur is you, it's
556
00:29:29.470 --> 00:29:33.150
sad because your life cycle, it's like that perfect dog, right?
557
00:29:33.210 --> 00:29:37.130
Like the minute he's perfect, he passes away, right? We
558
00:29:37.150 --> 00:29:39.559
all laugh, but it's sad. I'm not crying. I just
559
00:29:39.579 --> 00:29:42.440
lost a dog. That's why I said it. But no,
560
00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:44.240
I mean, you know, it's like to see these people
561
00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:46.559
that meant so much to me. But when you talk
562
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:50.619
about employees, I honestly believe that employees find you. I
563
00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:55.180
think if you create the right culture, I think you become,
564
00:29:56.099 --> 00:29:59.829
because we're so connected, we are so connected. And And
565
00:29:59.849 --> 00:30:03.039
I'm not just saying like social media. I'm not just
566
00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:06.339
saying like we're the ultimate glass door. And that's a
567
00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:10.480
plug for glass door. But you're the most, you know,
568
00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:14.329
like you know this. I mean, Sherry, how long have
569
00:30:14.380 --> 00:30:15.210
we been connected?
570
00:30:15.390 --> 00:30:17.470
You know, I was trying to think about it. And
571
00:30:18.130 --> 00:30:21.609
I've been with Mountain West for 20 years, 21 years maybe.
572
00:30:22.569 --> 00:30:27.230
And probably I don't really remember a time. without you.
573
00:30:27.490 --> 00:30:29.470
And I was actually trying to think this morning on
574
00:30:29.509 --> 00:30:33.190
my run, I was like, how, how do we find you?
575
00:30:33.250 --> 00:30:35.349
How do we find each other? I don't even remember.
576
00:30:35.369 --> 00:30:37.839
I don't either, but I'll, you know, like, and I
577
00:30:37.900 --> 00:30:40.660
have the worst memory ever, but I remember the first
578
00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:43.099
time we ever met was across the road from the
579
00:30:43.140 --> 00:30:47.599
salt palace. And it would be where the, don't judge
580
00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:49.720
me if I mess this name up is open barley
581
00:30:49.779 --> 00:30:52.650
is now maybe. And we were, we were in a group.
582
00:30:53.089 --> 00:30:53.410
Yeah.
583
00:30:53.430 --> 00:30:58.190
And, and, and, and that's, yeah, that, I'm 99% sure
584
00:30:58.210 --> 00:30:59.809
that's when we first met. Yeah.
585
00:30:59.910 --> 00:31:03.089
I mean, I think probably 20, I would say I've
586
00:31:03.109 --> 00:31:04.250
known you at least 20 years.
587
00:31:04.630 --> 00:31:07.410
But, you know, we're talking about employees now, but let's
588
00:31:07.430 --> 00:31:11.430
just pause and let's talk about, you know, good people.
589
00:31:11.650 --> 00:31:13.720
If you're a good person, good people find you.
590
00:31:13.819 --> 00:31:14.839
Yes. I.E.
591
00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:19.319
Sherry. For real, you know, it's like, and that's what,
592
00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:22.420
and that's what binds you. Yeah. You know, like I,
593
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:25.359
I have, I have, we have built what we have built.
594
00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:25.500
Right.
595
00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.029
With really very little business development. And I know that this,
596
00:31:30.089 --> 00:31:33.849
the whole podcast will probably gasp because a lot of
597
00:31:33.890 --> 00:31:37.049
people it's, it's all about the business development teams or whatever.
598
00:31:37.549 --> 00:31:41.200
I would argue that it's all about relationship because the relationship,
599
00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:44.299
like no matter where, and I'm going to be bold
600
00:31:44.339 --> 00:31:47.380
here and I love you. So if you, if you
601
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:50.660
think differently, don't correct me, but no matter where the
602
00:31:50.700 --> 00:31:55.509
relationship from the day that I met Sherry, 2020, four
603
00:31:55.549 --> 00:31:59.670
years later, arguably, whatever it, no matter where
Sherry would
604
00:31:59.690 --> 00:32:03.559
have been, I would have been working with Sherry. I'm,
605
00:32:03.670 --> 00:32:07.559
I'm 99.9% confident in that. And I think the people
606
00:32:07.619 --> 00:32:10.079
come in and out of your life. And I think, again,
607
00:32:10.140 --> 00:32:15.180
I'm a big, big believer in this, that, um, these employees,
608
00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:19.099
they find me, but it's my job and it's my
609
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:22.740
honor to work alongside of them and, and see them. I,
610
00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:25.109
I tell, I tell our people all the time, I'm like,
611
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:28.599
the way I view business is that we live in
612
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:32.559
a little teeny ecosystem and a little teeny bubble and
613
00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:35.170
we choose every day what that climate is. And if
614
00:32:35.210 --> 00:32:38.470
we choose it to be San Diego, then it's San Diego.
615
00:32:39.430 --> 00:32:42.150
And if we choose it to be the Arctic, it's
616
00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:46.029
the Arctic. So, you know, choose wisely, you know? And
617
00:32:46.049 --> 00:32:48.710
I think, I think that's why people are either with
618
00:32:48.769 --> 00:32:51.210
me for life or they're not because, you know, if,
619
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:54.480
if you're prickly or you're cold or you're like living
620
00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:55.240
in the Arctic.
621
00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:59.049
And a, If you're like that, then, uh.
622
00:32:59.109 --> 00:33:02.369
Then, uh, yeah. Like, you know, go do it. You're
623
00:33:02.390 --> 00:33:03.210
probably going to do it alone.
624
00:33:03.230 --> 00:33:03.630
Yeah.
625
00:33:03.750 --> 00:33:07.440
You know? And, uh, but I have had, and that's,
626
00:33:07.539 --> 00:33:10.220
that's really where it kind of really gets, it touches me.
627
00:33:10.299 --> 00:33:12.960
So if I get emotional, I apologize, but, but man,
628
00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:16.700
I have been blessed. I've been blessed with the most
629
00:33:16.759 --> 00:33:21.009
incredible people. And most of them are not from Utah.
630
00:33:21.789 --> 00:33:23.609
You know, I, I always tell people, they're like, well,
631
00:33:23.630 --> 00:33:26.490
how was Utah? Why Utah? And I'm like, why not?
632
00:33:26.930 --> 00:33:30.009
You know, because like, it's an island as far as production,
633
00:33:30.049 --> 00:33:32.619
it's an island. You know, if you don't have it
634
00:33:32.670 --> 00:33:35.460
on the island, if you don't have, that's why we
635
00:33:35.500 --> 00:33:37.799
own all these companies. Like if you don't have it,
636
00:33:37.940 --> 00:33:39.319
you need it. So I feel like, you know, I
637
00:33:39.339 --> 00:33:41.519
feel like every time we've needed something, we build another
638
00:33:41.559 --> 00:33:45.500
company around the need. And ultimately those are about the relationships.
639
00:33:45.700 --> 00:33:50.559
And ultimately they're, they're about helping our clients
achieve what
640
00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:53.349
they need to achieve. But, but, but to put a
641
00:33:53.390 --> 00:33:57.500
pin in it, like, culture is everything but i i
642
00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:01.150
view culture you know there i i believe business as
643
00:34:01.490 --> 00:34:07.430
as an owner has such an amazing responsibility it's not
644
00:34:07.549 --> 00:34:10.429
it's not making sure that the check's clear yeah that
645
00:34:10.489 --> 00:34:12.969
that is i wouldn't even say that's in the top
646
00:34:12.969 --> 00:34:18.320
100 i mean it is really understanding a person understanding
647
00:34:18.380 --> 00:34:20.960
what they want out of life and and seeing if
648
00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:24.750
those two things align with what your vision is. And, um,
649
00:34:25.570 --> 00:34:28.480
and I think that's why, you know, like, you know, we,
650
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:31.449
we're 125 strong. I can't sit in the seat of,
651
00:34:31.679 --> 00:34:34.539
of some of these amazing people you probably had on
652
00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:38.119
your podcast that have thousands of people, you know, that you,
653
00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:40.619
you can't reach and touch, but in my little teeny,
654
00:34:41.139 --> 00:34:44.570
you know, in my little teeny ecosystem, it's sunny and
655
00:34:44.570 --> 00:34:46.949
70 and I can touch a hundred people. And that's
656
00:34:46.969 --> 00:34:48.630
what I loved about the first place that I ever
657
00:34:48.670 --> 00:34:53.139
worked was, um, my first true job was we were
658
00:34:54.659 --> 00:34:58.019
an amazing group of humans that really truly cared about
659
00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:00.820
one another. And that was what that whole work environment
660
00:35:00.840 --> 00:35:01.280
was about.
661
00:35:02.059 --> 00:35:04.519
Well, and I would say you get that sense when,
662
00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:07.840
you know, when I show up on site or even
663
00:35:07.889 --> 00:35:12.130
before that, as we're trying to prepare an event, and
664
00:35:12.210 --> 00:35:15.210
I've been lucky enough to work with a number of
665
00:35:15.250 --> 00:35:18.309
people from your team who also to this day are
666
00:35:18.409 --> 00:35:22.840
still my great friends. And I can see them on
667
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.139
the street and just want to hug them because I
668
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:28.380
know and I love them. And not just that, but
669
00:35:28.420 --> 00:35:31.659
when we are working on an event, whether we're honoring
670
00:35:31.719 --> 00:35:36.590
Robert Redford or Josh James or Ryan Smith, all we
671
00:35:36.650 --> 00:35:41.110
have to say is Cornerstone is producing our event and
672
00:35:41.150 --> 00:35:44.230
there's an understanding right there and then of how that
673
00:35:44.289 --> 00:35:47.489
event is going to go, the trust level that they
674
00:35:47.550 --> 00:35:51.940
have for your team, and the happiness that you experience
675
00:35:51.980 --> 00:35:55.860
when you're in, when you interact with your team, whether
676
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:58.539
they're building the set or taking down the set or
677
00:35:58.940 --> 00:36:02.349
working with you on a chat, a sound check. I
678
00:36:02.369 --> 00:36:04.969
believe everyone that I've been able to work with handles
679
00:36:04.989 --> 00:36:08.150
things the way you would, which is, that says so
680
00:36:08.210 --> 00:36:11.250
much for you and your leadership and your example, but
681
00:36:11.309 --> 00:36:15.090
also the ability to attract those people that are like-minded.
682
00:36:15.940 --> 00:36:19.239
And I've, again, I've experienced that firsthand. I'm grateful. And
683
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:22.059
one thing I wanted to touch on two is some
684
00:36:22.099 --> 00:36:24.699
of your team, they're your family.
685
00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:25.539
They are.
686
00:36:26.659 --> 00:36:29.340
And I know lots of places and I can almost
687
00:36:29.820 --> 00:36:33.199
guarantee that I'm going to see Cooper and he's going
688
00:36:33.219 --> 00:36:34.590
to run up to me and he's going to give
689
00:36:34.610 --> 00:36:36.429
me a hug and he's going to be with his
690
00:36:36.510 --> 00:36:38.949
family and he's going to talk to me for a minute.
691
00:36:39.070 --> 00:36:41.289
And so talk to me a little bit about that because,
692
00:36:41.849 --> 00:36:44.789
you know, family businesses can be hard and they can
693
00:36:44.809 --> 00:36:47.710
be a challenge for a number of reasons. So do
694
00:36:47.750 --> 00:36:49.219
you want to touch on that a little bit? Yeah,
695
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:49.469
of course.
696
00:36:49.969 --> 00:36:52.550
Yes. Before we do though, I want to, you said
697
00:36:52.590 --> 00:36:55.030
two names that mean the world to me. I just
698
00:36:55.050 --> 00:36:57.269
want to, I want to touch on that. So Ryan Smith,
699
00:36:58.829 --> 00:37:00.909
like what an amazing man.
700
00:37:00.949 --> 00:37:01.150
Yeah.
701
00:37:01.989 --> 00:37:04.210
Like we've been in so many journeys together and we
702
00:37:04.269 --> 00:37:06.969
still are. And I see, I see all this stuff
703
00:37:06.989 --> 00:37:09.050
that he's doing with five for the fight. And I
704
00:37:09.090 --> 00:37:10.869
see all this stuff he's doing for Intermountain.
705
00:37:10.909 --> 00:37:12.409
You really watched him grow.
706
00:37:12.909 --> 00:37:16.369
Oh my gosh. And do it in such grace and style.
707
00:37:16.510 --> 00:37:19.269
And man, I'll tell you if there was a, a ever,
708
00:37:19.829 --> 00:37:23.079
The need for a Utah mascot, it would be Ryan Smith.
709
00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:30.000
And he has been so wonderful for me. And Josh, like,
710
00:37:30.179 --> 00:37:31.059
you know what, Josh?
711
00:37:31.659 --> 00:37:31.860
Yeah.
712
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:34.559
Like, I remember you calling me one day and you
713
00:37:34.579 --> 00:37:37.789
said to me, you said, okay, we're going to induct
714
00:37:37.849 -->
00:37:40.380
Josh James. And what is it going to be? well,
715
00:37:40.420 --> 00:37:42.059
how do you see that? And I said, he's a
716
00:37:42.139 --> 00:37:44.480
rock star. We're going to do a rock and roll
717
00:37:44.500 --> 00:37:46.119
hall of fame. And that's what, I mean, it was
718
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:48.639
that quick. Cause that's the way I always viewed Josh.
719
00:37:49.539 --> 00:37:50.880
You know, he went from young.
720
00:37:50.739 --> 00:37:52.409
At the hotel for that.
721
00:37:52.619 --> 00:37:56.269
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But you know, what's more fitting.
722
00:37:56.670 --> 00:37:56.929
Yeah.
723
00:37:57.070 --> 00:38:00.730
You know, that guy, like any guy that names his event,
724
00:38:00.969 --> 00:38:03.269
Doma Palooza, that guy is a guy that I'm going
725
00:38:03.289 --> 00:38:05.909
to love, you know, but, but from the early ages,
726
00:38:06.630 --> 00:38:09.409
I wouldn't do business today with Adobe if it wasn't
727
00:38:09.449 --> 00:38:10.210
for Josh James.
728
00:38:10.389 --> 00:38:10.650
Right.
729
00:38:11.230 --> 00:38:13.550
And I've been with Adobe for 17 years now.
730
00:38:13.610 --> 00:38:13.949
Yeah.
731
00:38:14.449 --> 00:38:16.610
I actually am celebrating my 18th year with them. I
732
00:38:16.630 --> 00:38:19.659
was just down in Las Vegas at the Sphere and Allegiant.
733
00:38:19.860 --> 00:38:20.059
Yeah.
734
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:22.920
The stadium, like working on some of their stuff. But
735
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:26.780
those two men are really, really important to me. And I, sorry,
736
00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:30.579
I paused. No. No, you need family. Let's talk about family.
737
00:38:30.659 --> 00:38:31.219
Oh my gosh.
738
00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:32.679
Yeah.
739
00:38:35.349 --> 00:38:41.769
I think, but. By using an example, my father was really,
740
00:38:41.829 --> 00:38:46.550
really big in my life, like very impactful. You know,
741
00:38:46.590 --> 00:38:49.409
like I would say, you know, my first job was
742
00:38:49.469 --> 00:38:52.909
working on my family farm. And I'll tell you what, man,
743
00:38:52.949 --> 00:38:55.230
that was every year that I would come back after
744
00:38:55.289 --> 00:38:58.789
the summer. my coaches at all these like, Oh, good job, Frotten.
745
00:38:58.849 --> 00:39:01.070
It looks like you've been in a wake room. And
746
00:39:01.110 --> 00:39:04.099
I was like, no, I just went to a prison
747
00:39:04.139 --> 00:39:08.800
camp called K Frotten and I survived and I'm here now,
748
00:39:08.980 --> 00:39:10.920
but that's what he was to me. But man, he
749
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:13.599
taught me the, uh, the level of service. And he
750
00:39:13.639 --> 00:39:15.260
taught me that if a man's willing to give you
751
00:39:15.420 --> 00:39:18.139
a dollar for your pay, you give him a dollar
752
00:39:18.139 --> 00:39:20.340
10 worth of value. And my dad said that over
753
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:22.550
and over, I need that shirt. I need that hat.
754
00:39:22.610 --> 00:39:24.429
I don't know what I need. That's amazing. Yeah. But,
755
00:39:24.840 --> 00:39:27.179
But first and foremost, there's only one person in this
756
00:39:27.219 --> 00:39:30.920
whole world that is the reincarnation. of my father. And
757
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:34.940
that's my nephew and my nephew, Clint. He joined the
758
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.800
team two years into it and he had no experience
759
00:39:39.860 --> 00:39:42.340
in it, but, but Clint, and I know, you know,
760
00:39:42.389 --> 00:39:44.909
him Sherry, but, but Clint, everybody's like, Oh, do you
761
00:39:44.949 --> 00:39:47.449
have a brother? And we're only separated by five years.
762
00:39:47.530 --> 00:39:52.039
So yeah. Yeah. Like he was like my brother. We were,
763
00:39:52.219 --> 00:39:54.800
we really grew up. Like his mom told me one
764
00:39:54.840 --> 00:39:56.690
time that I could never play with him again. Cause
765
00:39:56.730 --> 00:39:58.449
every time he came to play at my house, he
766
00:39:58.489 --> 00:40:01.260
always got, a broken arm or because we were crazy
767
00:40:01.380 --> 00:40:04.699
kids like that adventure in my bio oh man that's
768
00:40:04.739 --> 00:40:08.699
not a word that is a that is a lifestyle.
769
00:40:09.190 --> 00:40:11.429
So we could talk about that.
770
00:40:10.989 --> 00:40:14.670
For that theme like isn't it where the adventure begins
771
00:40:14.690 --> 00:40:17.269
so that's where the adventure begins was with me yeah
772
00:40:17.289 --> 00:40:20.460
so but no um but clint like you know and
773
00:40:20.500 --> 00:40:22.980
i i told clint i warned clint actually i said
774
00:40:23.000 --> 00:40:26.289
you know what clint like you know, and I didn't
775
00:40:26.309 --> 00:40:29.219
know anything about business, but I had sensibility. And I said,
776
00:40:29.239 --> 00:40:31.719
you know what the problem is, Clint, I want you
777
00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:34.260
to come work for me. I mean, he, at a
778
00:40:34.280 --> 00:40:37.019
very young age, Clint was leading an entire, he was,
779
00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:41.739
he was actually doing fiber installation, like for a very, well,
780
00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:42.519
Brandon Fugles.
781
00:40:43.460 --> 00:40:43.679
Yeah.
782
00:40:43.699 --> 00:40:46.460
Family. Yeah. And he was doing fiber installation and they
783
00:40:46.480 --> 00:40:50.719
were building out, oddly enough, the same backbone that we
784
00:40:50.860 --> 00:40:53.260
used and how I got hired with Bush Creative is
785
00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:55.519
The reason they did that is because they did a
786
00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:59.199
big installation of a fiber backbone that went literally from
787
00:40:59.260 --> 00:41:02.840
here to the East Coast. And we were, we were actually,
788
00:41:02.860 --> 00:41:06.260
it was for the Olympics in 2002. And, and so
789
00:41:06.619 --> 00:41:08.679
we're perfect. We jumped on that and that's how we
790
00:41:08.699 --> 00:41:11.090
were doing a lot of our distance learning. And that's
791
00:41:11.159 --> 00:41:14.769
why Bush Creative jumped onto those opportunities. So again, but
792
00:41:14.969 --> 00:41:17.650
Clint's installing this and he was, you know, Clint at
793
00:41:17.670 --> 00:41:21.070
this time was 20 years old and, you know, running
794
00:41:21.090 --> 00:41:25.289
a crew of, veteran construction fiber guys. And I'm like,
795
00:41:25.329 --> 00:41:27.449
of course you can come and run a pirate ship
796
00:41:27.489 --> 00:41:30.590
with me, you know? And so that's where it started.
797
00:41:30.630 --> 00:41:32.960
But I warned him, I said, bud, I think, you know,
798
00:41:33.340 --> 00:41:36.579
if in order for us as a company to have
799
00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:39.800
credibility and for me to, to have credibility with my people,
800
00:41:40.460 --> 00:41:42.900
you're always going to have to work 10% harder. And
801
00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:46.570
that's just the way it is. Um, but you know,
802
00:41:47.469 --> 00:41:50.409
I'll say this over and over again. He is so
803
00:41:50.429 --> 00:41:54.059
much like my father. It's, it's, it's really, Oh man,
804
00:41:54.079 --> 00:41:56.199
I'm going to cry. You're going to make me cry. Um,
805
00:41:56.579 --> 00:42:02.150
it's really awesome because it's every single day. I remind
806
00:42:02.170 --> 00:42:04.809
myself of how blessed I am to, to work with
807
00:42:04.849 --> 00:42:07.150
him and work alongside of him. And he reminds me
808
00:42:07.190 --> 00:42:09.110
so much, my daughter, my father, and the way that
809
00:42:09.570 --> 00:42:12.090
his mind thinks and his rationale in the moment. And,
810
00:42:12.510 --> 00:42:15.079
and he's very logical mind. So his, that will kill you,
811
00:42:15.380 --> 00:42:19.300
you know, if you know, um, really hard to be
812
00:42:19.340 --> 00:42:22.889
creative around him because he's like very literal. Um, but
813
00:42:22.909 --> 00:42:26.030
I love him and he's a machine. I mean, he, he, again,
814
00:42:26.070 --> 00:42:30.389
he has so many relationships. Um, you know, I mean,
815
00:42:30.570 --> 00:42:32.530
he's still to this day, he probably some of his
816
00:42:32.570 --> 00:42:35.760
biggest clients that he's known them. They probably been, I'll
817
00:42:35.780 --> 00:42:37.960
bet you some of them at five held five different
818
00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:41.059
positions at five different companies throughout the U S and
819
00:42:41.079 --> 00:42:43.340
they take Clint wherever they go. And I think that's
820
00:42:43.380 --> 00:42:46.380
why we're blessed. But, but then yes, I was blessed
821
00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:50.619
with Cooper. I think, you know, again, Cooper held the,
822
00:42:51.639 --> 00:42:54.489
he still held to the highest of standards, but I am,
823
00:42:54.510 --> 00:42:59.449
and this just isn't my words. Every single client that
824
00:42:59.510 --> 00:43:03.710
knows him, they instantly inform me of how proud I
825
00:43:03.769 --> 00:43:07.769
can be of him. And as a father, to go
826
00:43:07.789 --> 00:43:11.030
from your child saying, oh, I met so-and-so and they
827
00:43:11.050 --> 00:43:20.440
know you, to these people coming and saying, no, you're
828
00:43:20.460 --> 00:43:22.780
related to Cooper. How are you related to Cooper? He's
829
00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:25.980
my son. And then when they tell you that they're,
830
00:43:26.059 --> 00:43:28.559
that they, my gosh, you've raised one of the most
831
00:43:28.800 --> 00:43:31.000
amazing people that I've ever met in my whole life.
832
00:43:31.059 --> 00:43:34.900
Like that is the validation. Like I could, I could,
833
00:43:35.579 --> 00:43:39.119
I could disappear tomorrow and I could live with that. So,
834
00:43:39.539 --> 00:43:41.219
you know, and every client wants to hire him. And
835
00:43:41.239 --> 00:43:42.690
I always, they're always like, we're going to hire him.
836
00:43:42.739 --> 00:43:46.090
I'm like, I'm like, then he won't get his inheritance.
837
00:43:46.110 --> 00:43:48.010
I don't think that's going to, it's probably not going
838
00:43:48.030 --> 00:43:49.969
to work out very nice for him. But you can
839
00:43:50.010 --> 00:43:53.809
hire him if you want. You guys are probably going
840
00:43:53.829 --> 00:43:55.869
to laugh at this, but I could go on and on.
841
00:43:55.869 --> 00:44:01.030
My youngest son works there as a creative. And I
842
00:44:01.210 --> 00:44:05.949
love working with him. And Cooper is wildly creative. God,
843
00:44:05.969 --> 00:44:08.980
he never ceases to amaze me. But Cody is too.
844
00:44:09.019 --> 00:44:12.469
Like Cody, I've been very blessed. But I come from artists. I,
845
00:44:12.550 --> 00:44:16.269
you know, um, if you look me up, like I'm nobody,
846
00:44:16.329 --> 00:44:19.369
but like my uncle was a sculptor and I'm not
847
00:44:19.389 --> 00:44:22.130
just talking like small time stuff. He's, he did like
848
00:44:22.170 --> 00:44:24.739
the baseball hall of fame, all the bronzes outside of
849
00:44:26.500 --> 00:44:29.320
baseball hall of fame, football hall of fame. He, he
850
00:44:29.340 --> 00:44:32.360
did all of the work inside of the Mormon temple
851
00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:35.960
in San Diego. He's been commissioned all around the world.
852
00:44:36.000 --> 00:44:38.510
I mean, he's their artists, you know, like, and my,
853
00:44:38.730 --> 00:44:41.880
my father was an amazing artist. He could draw things and,
854
00:44:42.369 --> 00:44:45.469
I can make stick figures, but I have this wild
855
00:44:45.510 --> 00:44:49.869
and crazy brain that can dream it up. And then again,
856
00:44:49.909 --> 00:44:51.699
I've been lucky enough. I found the people that could
857
00:44:51.719 --> 00:44:56.559
translate my crazy thoughts into drawings and CADs and design.
858
00:44:58.340 --> 00:45:02.559
But my son is, my youngest son, Cody, is wildly amazing.
859
00:45:02.579 -->
00:45:09.030
He has such an amazing disposition. I mean, I think
860
00:45:09.110 --> 00:45:13.300
I love people and then I see him interact with people.
861
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:16.510
And that, that kid, he's like my mom, my mom
862
00:45:16.530 --> 00:45:20.110
was an angel. Um, truly. Um, and then my daughter,
863
00:45:20.130 --> 00:45:23.409
oh my gosh, my daughter runs her own company. She
864
00:45:23.449 --> 00:45:27.150
does a really cool company. I'm going to plug you Allie. Um, uh,
865
00:45:27.510 --> 00:45:30.389
it's called curation co and what she does is she
866
00:45:30.409 --> 00:45:34.760
does for busy executives and families. Like she does curation
867
00:45:34.820 --> 00:45:38.760
of trips and travels and fashion. And yeah, she gets
868
00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:41.250
all of your information. and puts it in and then
869
00:45:41.309 --> 00:45:46.070
she curates experiences or she'll curate your wife's, uh, anniversary
870
00:45:46.130 --> 00:45:47.969
present or whatever.
871
00:45:47.989 --> 00:45:52.769
If she needed to. Yeah. She would. Yeah.
872
00:45:52.809 --> 00:45:57.820
Right. So, but, but no, she's just, she comes in
873
00:45:57.840 --> 00:45:59.760
and does a lot of project work for us too.
874
00:46:00.280 --> 00:46:02.559
But first and foremost, like I think all of them
875
00:46:02.579 --> 00:46:04.699
are just, they've grown up to be most, the most
876
00:46:04.760 --> 00:46:08.039
amazing parents. And so, you know, it, it works, but
877
00:46:08.179 --> 00:46:11.539
I mean, You know, nepotism is real. And I think
878
00:46:11.579 --> 00:46:13.610
where you, you know, a lot of people would just,
879
00:46:13.929 --> 00:46:18.010
you know, shriek, but you know, so long as you
880
00:46:18.050 --> 00:46:21.849
set a standard, um, and again, that's culture. When you
881
00:46:21.889 --> 00:46:23.989
go back to culture, like you have to have a standard,
882
00:46:24.590 --> 00:46:28.639
you know, and, and, um, of, of, of, you know,
883
00:46:28.659 --> 00:46:32.340
and rules and regulations and processes, but, but man, like
884
00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:34.840
there's not, there's never been a time where I, where
885
00:46:34.960 --> 00:46:37.719
anybody's been able to you know, say, oh my gosh,
886
00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:39.559
they don't deserve to be where they're at. They don't
887
00:46:39.599 --> 00:46:42.480
deserve to, to, to, to be where they're at. I
888
00:46:42.559 --> 00:46:44.780
feel like at this point in my life, I'm lucky
889
00:46:44.800 --> 00:46:47.300
that they've chose to work for me because Cooper could
890
00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:49.550
go anywhere and I'm sure that he could probably make
891
00:46:49.619 --> 00:46:50.510
more money elsewhere.
892
00:46:50.530 --> 00:46:53.630
Oh, that's the thing too, right? Like they have, they
893
00:46:53.670 --> 00:46:57.110
have choices, they have options and the fact that they
894
00:46:57.170 --> 00:46:59.869
choose to be with you, I think is just a
895
00:46:59.889 --> 00:47:02.030
huge testament to who you are. And I think it's,
896
00:47:02.159 --> 00:47:04.280
it's unique. I love it.
897
00:47:04.820 --> 00:47:05.679
But I made them work.
898
00:47:06.179 --> 00:47:06.320
Yeah.
899
00:47:07.199 --> 00:47:10.230
I tease Cooper because he's going on 20 years with
900
00:47:10.289 --> 00:47:15.329
me and he's only 31. So I made my kids work.
901
00:47:16.329 --> 00:47:18.449
You know, in the summer, you know, they came and
902
00:47:18.469 --> 00:47:20.329
they worked in the warehouse and they learned everything from
903
00:47:20.349 --> 00:47:22.429
the ground up. But, you know, the one thing I'm
904
00:47:22.449 --> 00:47:25.670
looking forward to the most, I hope in my lifetime,
905
00:47:26.030 --> 00:47:28.409
because I felt like they followed my dream to a degree.
906
00:47:28.989 --> 00:47:30.409
You know, I mean, I do think that they are
907
00:47:30.449 --> 00:47:32.969
loving what they do. And I think that they were
908
00:47:33.010 --> 00:47:37.030
exposed to things and they loved it. But I hope,
909
00:47:37.429 --> 00:47:40.809
I hope, I hope, and I'm manifesting this, that I
910
00:47:40.849 --> 00:47:45.389
get to be a part of their journey and possibly
911
00:47:45.429 --> 00:47:48.320
fund it. You know, I would love for them. I
912
00:47:48.360 --> 00:47:50.280
tell them all the time. I tell my employees this
913
00:47:50.300 --> 00:47:51.880
all the time. If you've got a good idea, I
914
00:47:52.539 --> 00:47:55.280
better hear it. And if I get an opportunity to
915
00:47:55.320 --> 00:47:57.219
invest in it, I want to. And I mean that.
916
00:47:57.639 --> 00:48:00.739
People come to me to leave. I always tell them,
917
00:48:00.780 --> 00:48:02.889
are you going on to do something better? And if
918
00:48:02.929 --> 00:48:05.309
they can say yes, then I'm happy for them. Yeah.
919
00:48:05.659 --> 00:48:07.440
But yeah, I hope I, I hope I get an
920
00:48:07.480 --> 00:48:10.420
opportunity to invest in my kids and follow them and
921
00:48:10.460 --> 00:48:14.039
see their, their journeys and their dreams be everything that
922
00:48:14.059 --> 00:48:17.900
I feel like I was blessed with. Yeah. So.
923
00:48:18.110 --> 00:48:20.909
One, I guess one final question that I have. Just,
924
00:48:21.150 --> 00:48:25.130
just your thoughts on kind of the future of events
925
00:48:25.429 --> 00:48:29.429
and the future of, I mean, human connection. Obviously we
926
00:48:29.469 --> 00:48:30.409
went through the COVID pandemic.
927
00:48:30.949 --> 00:48:34.730
Who the cornerstone was my first call, actually.
928
00:48:34.750 --> 00:48:37.250
It was amazing what you were able to accomplish even
929
00:48:37.289 --> 00:48:40.809
during those crazy times. But what do you see as
930
00:48:40.889 --> 00:48:45.530
a future of human connection and events? And, you know,
931
00:48:45.610 --> 00:48:49.800
obviously you've been able to be involved in not only
932
00:48:50.260 -->
00:48:56.280
locally with significant events, but also nationally, internationally. Some of
933
00:48:56.300 --> 00:48:59.039
the things that I learned about, you know, your involvement
934
00:48:59.079 --> 00:49:02.920
with Some pretty exciting things. I don't want to steal
935
00:49:02.940 --> 00:49:05.880
your thunder. But maybe highlight, what do you.
936
00:49:05.820 --> 00:49:07.130
See as the future?
937
00:49:07.190 --> 00:49:10.769
What do you see as the growth opportunities ahead for you?
938
00:49:10.789 --> 00:49:15.750
Oh, my gosh. Well, the future, you know, being around
939
00:49:15.789 --> 00:49:19.489
for 33 years and being, again, I mean, really in
940
00:49:19.530 --> 00:49:24.699
that technology. space, like it is evolving. COVID just simply
941
00:49:24.760 --> 00:49:28.199
proved to me that our industry was never affected by
942
00:49:28.219 --> 00:49:33.000
any kind of economical downturn. And historically, entertainment has never
943
00:49:33.039 --> 00:49:36.860
been affected by economical downturn because like most people want
944
00:49:36.880 --> 00:49:38.099
to go out they want to have a good time
945
00:49:38.139 --> 00:49:39.860
they want to have an experience you know even during
946
00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:43.900
the great depression things that that first were entertainment boxing
947
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:48.199
you know dancing celebration movies you know cinema and really
948
00:49:48.260 --> 00:49:51.250
i thought it was bulletproof up until up until covet
949
00:49:51.969 --> 00:49:54.590
but really the future of it is is really quite
950
00:49:54.650 --> 00:49:58.369
simple i've never saw it and this is not a
951
00:49:58.409 --> 00:50:01.010
doomsday thing i have never saw it evolving at the
952
00:50:01.050 --> 00:50:04.469
speed that it is evolving at Um, and I think
953
00:50:04.550 --> 00:50:10.420
that events, traditional events from everything that I can see
954
00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:13.639
right now, which is an, uh, you know, we're, we're
955
00:50:13.900 --> 00:50:16.559
doing over 800 events per year. I mean, some years
956
00:50:16.579 --> 00:50:20.340
we've done as many as 1500. I've never, ever saw more,
957
00:50:20.599 --> 00:50:23.769
more disruption in, in what people are trying to do.
958
00:50:24.389 --> 00:50:29.750
You know, experiential is a real thing. Um, brand, the
959
00:50:29.789 --> 00:50:32.610
way that they are going about their business, um, is
960
00:50:32.650 --> 00:50:36.510
completely different, but it's exciting. Like we are, we, we
961
00:50:36.570 --> 00:50:38.920
are blessed in the sense that we saw the trend
962
00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:42.300
because we are so tied in with our, you know,
963
00:50:42.320 --> 00:50:43.739
it's kind of like what you just said, you, the
964
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:47.500
minute that COVID happened, what you experienced was Zach's same
965
00:50:47.559 --> 00:50:50.949
thing that we experienced. I never missed a beat. Like
966
00:50:50.989
--> 00:50:53.050
I literally had clients saying, what are we going to do?
967
00:50:53.349 --> 00:50:55.110
And I went home and I, and I wrote and
968
00:50:55.170 --> 00:50:59.769
produced basically, uh, basically a television program. That's all it was.
969
00:51:00.570 --> 00:51:02.230
You know, and I told him, I said, here's the
970
00:51:02.250 --> 00:51:04.369
Reader's Digest. This is what we're doing. If you know
971
00:51:04.409 --> 00:51:05.789
that term, you know.
972
00:51:06.130 --> 00:51:09.159
I remember your answer to me was, don't you worry.
973
00:51:09.679 --> 00:51:13.039
We've got this. We have an answer. I was like, okay, thanks.
974
00:51:14.820 --> 00:51:16.230
It was amazing. It really turned out.
975
00:51:17.889 --> 00:51:18.269
Extreme.
976
00:51:18.329 --> 00:51:20.530
I mean, it was a lot of people don't know this, but,
977
00:51:20.849 --> 00:51:23.510
but again, you, you know, that was my past. That
978
00:51:23.530 --> 00:51:25.599
was not foreign to me. That was like, that was
979
00:51:25.639 --> 00:51:28.820
like 1981 calling, you know what I mean? So we
980
00:51:28.840 --> 00:51:30.559
just turned the pages back and we were, we were
981
00:51:30.579 --> 00:51:32.739
good to go, but we, you know, you guys know this,
982
00:51:32.820 --> 00:51:35.159
but I mean, we built from the ground up our own,
983
00:51:35.380 --> 00:51:36.739
we programmed our own software.
984
00:51:37.179 --> 00:51:37.420
Yeah.
985
00:51:37.460 --> 00:51:40.090
Whatever. Oh, and I'm proud of it. I, I, I
986
00:51:40.179 --> 00:51:43.710
actually just sold it to a NIL company that's using it.
987
00:51:43.750 --> 00:51:44.769
Oh, okay.
988
00:51:44.889 --> 00:51:47.670
Yeah, and they're producing a product with it for the
989
00:51:47.730 --> 00:51:51.110
NIL and athletes.
990
00:51:51.349 --> 00:51:51.570
Wow.
991
00:51:51.590 --> 00:51:53.880
It's kind of a miniature ESPN, too, if you want
992
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:54.619
the plug.
993
00:51:54.679 --> 00:51:56.380
You've got so many things. But it's exciting, you know?
994
00:51:56.559 --> 00:51:59.719
So the future, though, the future. I've never saw so
995
00:51:59.739 --> 00:52:04.579
much disruption. I was on the phone this morning with
996
00:52:04.780 --> 00:52:09.800
an experiential company that's out of London recently. And Cornerstone
997
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:14.159
had talked about acquiring them about three years ago. And
998
00:52:14.199 --> 00:52:16.780
we still might. We still might. That's kind of what
999
00:52:16.800 --> 00:52:20.179
the phone call was, was discovery. But the experiential model
1000
00:52:20.239 --> 00:52:23.760
is where everything is headed. It's not going to replace
1001
00:52:24.239 --> 00:52:27.920
some style of events, but the presence of it is
1002
00:52:28.280 --> 00:52:31.260
more and more important. And that's what I see. But
1003
00:52:31.300 --> 00:52:34.269
we're positioned for it. And I'm certainly excited for it.
1004
00:52:34.650 -->
00:52:38.309
I think there were five major transitions within Cornerstone over
1005
00:52:38.329 --> 00:52:42.429
the 33 years. And this one will be the most
1006
00:52:42.469 --> 00:52:46.670
significant for sure. But I think that we already had
1007
00:52:46.730 --> 00:52:49.710
identified in what a lot of the brands are doing.
1008
00:52:49.730 --> 00:52:54.340
I believe there will be a huge upheaval in social
1009
00:52:54.380 --> 00:52:58.300
media and social media marketing. And we won't get into that.
1010
00:52:58.360 --> 00:53:00.860
That's a very big subject, but we're prepared for that.
1011
00:53:01.619 --> 00:53:03.800
I think the things that we're excited about, though, is
1012
00:53:04.519 --> 00:53:08.920
We are really starting to grab hold of facilities. I
1013
00:53:08.940 --> 00:53:10.480
brought up the High Star Ranch.
1014
00:53:11.030 --> 00:53:11.239
Yes.
1015
00:53:11.340 --> 00:53:12.179
And we're creating.
1016
00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:13.409
Love that place.
1017
00:53:13.989 --> 00:53:15.530
Oh my gosh. Well, so.
1018
00:53:15.690 --> 00:53:16.170
So much.
1019
00:53:16.409 --> 00:53:16.809
Yeah.
1020
00:53:16.929 --> 00:53:19.210
So I am a partner in that.
1021
00:53:19.349 --> 00:53:21.369
Yeah. That is a dream place.
1022
00:53:21.449 --> 00:53:21.809
Yes.
1023
00:53:21.829 --> 00:53:22.429
To live there.
1024
00:53:22.690 --> 00:53:24.789
So this might be a plug or it might sound
1025
00:53:24.809 --> 00:53:27.230
like a plug, but we're building a 200 room hotel there.
1026
00:53:27.889 --> 00:53:31.769
It will be completely a health and wellness facility. Hopefully
1027
00:53:31.809 --> 00:53:37.519
like the Chopra Center. Love you, Deepak. Um, and you know,
1028
00:53:37.539 --> 00:53:40.130
we're really going to focus everything around that and it
1029
00:53:40.170 --> 00:53:44.989
will be an entertainment Mecca. And, um, and I know
1030
00:53:45.030 --> 00:53:47.070
that we're onto something. I mean, the investors, it was
1031
00:53:47.150 --> 00:53:50.090
not a hard to find money. Yeah. It was like,
1032
00:53:50.139 --> 00:53:52.300
who are we going to accept money from? And it's
1033
00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:55.780
really exciting, but it's all experiential. So we believe that
1034
00:53:55.800 --> 00:53:59.099
that's the future. Cornerstone is now moving into things that
1035
00:53:59.139 --> 00:54:01.969
like You know, I never really thought that the production
1036
00:54:01.989 --> 00:54:04.730
business would land us in the hotel business, but that's
1037
00:54:04.789 --> 00:54:07.889
right where we're at and owning our own venue. You know,
1038
00:54:07.929 --> 00:54:09.750
like I think like you see a lot of the
1039
00:54:09.809 --> 00:54:14.789
trends that a lot of, especially the festivals, they want permanency, right?
1040
00:54:14.869 --> 00:54:17.989
Like people are like, why should we go and experience
1041
00:54:18.030 --> 00:54:20.980
a festival that's a moment in time when if we
1042
00:54:21.019 --> 00:54:23.760
had a facility, you know, and again, this works against
1043
00:54:23.820 --> 00:54:26.820
the brick and mortar, the anti brick and mortar movement
1044
00:54:26.900 --> 00:54:30.780
of old, right? Of four years ago. it's exciting. And so,
1045
00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:33.360
I mean, I really think that that's the future and
1046
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:37.110
I'm excited. We are so well positioned for it. And
1047
00:54:37.119 --> 00:54:39.710
I think we're way ahead of the curve, but that's what,
1048
00:54:39.909 --> 00:54:41.849
that's where we're headed. And that will be probably its
1049
00:54:41.909 --> 00:54:44.949
own division that will run separately, but we're in a
1050
00:54:44.969 --> 00:54:48.070
lot of properties now. Like we manage a Smithfield park.
1051
00:54:48.650 --> 00:54:51.389
We do a ton of events there. So we're contracted
1052
00:54:51.429 --> 00:54:54.510
with the, with Salt Lake city and we run that.
1053
00:54:55.550 --> 00:55:00.019
Ryan at the Delta center, like, Thank you, Ryan, for
1054
00:55:00.059 --> 00:55:05.139
hiring us. We do all the touring acts, which are
1055
00:55:05.179 --> 00:55:07.650
the concerts that you go to that are being routed
1056
00:55:07.670 --> 00:55:12.409
and on a tour schedule. And what we do for
1057
00:55:12.469 --> 00:55:16.429
them is we provide all of the touring labor. So
1058
00:55:16.570 --> 00:55:21.019
all of the rigging, the sound installation, the lighting installation,
1059
00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:27.000
special effects, things of that nature. If the act is non-touring,
1060
00:55:27.619 --> 00:55:30.940
meaning that they don't have a current tour underway, then
1061
00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:34.219
we do all of the production. So we bring in
1062
00:55:34.400 --> 00:55:37.019
all of the equipment, all of the gear, all of
1063
00:55:37.099 --> 00:55:40.699
the labor to install it and dismantle it. And that's
1064
00:55:40.739 --> 00:55:43.539
been a blessing. And we just landed the Maverick Center.
1065
00:55:43.659 --> 00:55:47.019
So now we're doing all the production of the Maverick Center.
1066
00:55:47.679 --> 00:55:52.380
And then the High Star Ranch is done. the fourth installment.
1067
00:55:52.440 --> 00:55:54.960
So we see that as very important and I'm so
1068
00:55:55.019 --> 00:55:55.980
excited for the Olympics.
1069
00:55:56.440 --> 00:55:56.659
Yeah.
1070
00:55:56.719 --> 00:55:59.579
And I was here in 2002, man. And I, I
1071
00:55:59.639 --> 00:56:02.320
survived it and I loved it and I, I, I
1072
00:56:02.380 --> 00:56:03.059
cannot wait.
1073
00:56:03.219 --> 00:56:04.980
So we all got to figure out how to get
1074
00:56:05.019 --> 00:56:08.199
that new Olympic coat where for the next 30 years.
1075
00:56:08.469 --> 00:56:11.550
Right. Exactly. I think he's the guy. I think that's
1076
00:56:11.570 --> 00:56:15.239
the guy. that's the guy right there. I was hoping
1077
00:56:15.280 --> 00:56:17.269
for the, remember the roots?
1078
00:56:17.369 --> 00:56:19.309
I've got it. I might, I was something that my
1079
00:56:19.349 --> 00:56:20.550
mom left me. Yeah.
1080
00:56:20.769 --> 00:56:23.710
I think we could have made Prince really proud with
1081
00:56:23.730 --> 00:56:24.289
that beret.
1082
00:56:24.309 --> 00:56:24.570
Yeah.
1083
00:56:24.989 --> 00:56:26.710
Yeah. Got to bring it back.
1084
00:56:27.949 --> 00:56:30.949
So, but, but that's what I think. I mean, I
1085
00:56:30.989 --> 00:56:33.280
think it's an exciting time and I think it's, you know,
1086
00:56:33.420 --> 00:56:36.019
and I'm not just saying that, like, I think disruption
1087
00:56:36.079 --> 00:56:38.659
is so awesome. And I think that's just the technologist
1088
00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:41.809
in me. It's like, figure it out, you know, and, And,
1089
00:56:41.969 --> 00:56:44.469
and I don't think, I don't think it's AI. I'm
1090
00:56:44.489 --> 00:56:46.789
probably the only guy. I mean, of course it is, but,
1091
00:56:47.110 --> 00:56:49.769
and we use AI right now, but I believe it will,
1092
00:56:50.170 --> 00:56:52.340
there's a moment in time. And I think I'm not
1093
00:56:52.360 --> 00:56:54.099
going to, I'm not going to talk about what I
1094
00:56:54.139 --> 00:56:56.420
think it is, but, but it's going to be a
1095
00:56:56.440 --> 00:56:58.679
fun time. And I think, I think what's going to
1096
00:56:58.699 --> 00:57:01.480
be really fun is to see analog come back and
1097
00:57:01.500 --> 00:57:04.710
I'll leave it at that because we, we, as humans,
1098
00:57:05.070 --> 00:57:07.949
we desire connection. It's why we're sitting here right now.
1099
00:57:07.969 --> 00:57:10.599
And it's why we, just shared this hour long journey
1100
00:57:10.619 --> 00:57:12.699
with one another because that's what we crave and that's
1101
00:57:12.739 --> 00:57:15.800
what we love. You know, we love to be, we
1102
00:57:15.900 --> 00:57:19.179
love a good story. We love friendship.
1103
00:57:19.579 --> 00:57:19.800
Yeah.
1104
00:57:20.079 --> 00:57:22.679
We love humans. We love that contact with humans. And
1105
00:57:22.739 --> 00:57:25.989
so that's, that's exciting. And I think that's what life
1106
00:57:26.110 --> 00:57:28.610
is for us more and more. It's creating those moments.
1107
00:57:28.809 --> 00:57:31.130
It's what makes life meaningful.
1108
00:57:31.190 --> 00:57:31.550
That's right.
1109
00:57:31.570 --> 00:57:31.929
I think.
1110
00:57:32.349 --> 00:57:32.769
I do too.
1111
00:57:33.170 --> 00:57:35.650
I love, I love your story. And we touched on
1112
00:57:35.710 --> 00:57:39.280
just a small part of life. who you are and
1113
00:57:39.340 --> 00:57:41.820
what you've built. And I didn't know how we were
1114
00:57:41.840 --> 00:57:45.039
going to be able to narrow it down. And we
1115
00:57:45.079 --> 00:57:48.179
can have part two. I hope we talk to you
1116
00:57:48.280 --> 00:57:52.579
and some time down the road again, because you are,
1117
00:57:53.000 --> 00:57:58.219
what I love is you're very positive. You pivot easily.
1118
00:57:58.239 --> 00:58:02.039
You look at challenge and you run to it. And
1119
00:58:02.079 --> 00:58:05.179
we've talked to other entrepreneurs that do the same. And
1120
00:58:05.260 --> 00:58:09.570
so- But your big heart is something that I'm grateful
1121
00:58:09.849 --> 00:58:13.510
that we have this friendship. And there's a reason why
1122
00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:17.119
you're doing all of this in Utah, because you're something
1123
00:58:17.159 --> 00:58:18.639
that people believe in, too.
1124
00:58:19.159 --> 00:58:20.820
Where else can I do it, honestly?
1125
00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:21.739
Right, right.
1126
00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:23.039
I guess that's what I feel like. I feel like
1127
00:58:23.059 --> 00:58:25.559
we're more blessed than we know sometimes.
1128
00:58:25.579 --> 00:58:28.420
Gosh, we really are. Yeah. Well, thank you so much,
1129
00:58:28.639 --> 00:58:31.639
dear friend, for joining us today. It means the world
1130
00:58:31.679 --> 00:58:33.780
to me and your passion for your work is uplifting
1131
00:58:33.820 --> 00:58:37.559
and it's inspiring. As I said before, it's just a
1132
00:58:37.599 --> 00:58:40.440
small part of who you are is what you do,
1133
00:58:40.519 --> 00:58:43.530
but also what you do is who you are, I think.
1134
00:58:44.170 --> 00:58:45.909
Thanks for sharing your story with us. So we're proud
1135
00:58:45.929 --> 00:58:47.969
to highlight your work and be able to be just
1136
00:58:48.130 --> 00:58:50.409
a small part of all the things that you're doing.
1137
00:58:50.869 --> 00:58:53.710
Chad, for our listeners, how can they connect with you?
1138
00:58:54.449 --> 00:58:58.659
Oh my gosh. Well, the social web we'll share, we'll
1139
00:58:58.679 --> 00:59:02.900
share all the, all the URLs and everything. Um, but,
1140
00:59:03.039 --> 00:59:07.010
but really, really what I would say is like how
1141
00:59:07.050 --> 00:59:10.489
you connect with me is support, support your, your, local
1142
00:59:10.590 --> 00:59:15.360
artists you know support your community whether you are going
1143
00:59:15.440 --> 00:59:19.300
to a silicon slopes summit like you're supporting cornerstone if
1144
00:59:19.320 --> 00:59:22.960
you're at the arena watching a mammoth game you're supporting
1145
00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:26.139
ryan smith and cornerstone you know if you end up
1146
00:59:26.159 --> 00:59:28.480
going to the bees game and you enjoy it like
1147
00:59:28.500 --> 00:59:31.460
because it's a you know, a fun concert or a, we,
1148
00:59:31.559 --> 00:59:34.079
we had a rodeo there the other night. Yeah.
1149
00:59:34.139 --> 00:59:35.179
I heard that. Yeah.
1150
00:59:35.199 --> 00:59:37.360
With luchadors. Like who does that?
1151
00:59:37.380 --> 00:59:37.719
Yeah.
1152
00:59:37.739 --> 00:59:38.119
We do.
1153
00:59:38.320 --> 00:59:38.679
You do.
1154
00:59:38.699 --> 00:59:41.239
You know, like how lucky are we? So, so, you know,
1155
00:59:41.400 --> 00:59:44.119
I just come and support us that way, you know,
1156
00:59:44.159 --> 00:59:47.400
like it really, I mean, again, that's the funnest part
1157
00:59:47.420 --> 00:59:49.239
of all this is, is being able to do the
1158
00:59:49.300 --> 00:59:51.900
fun things that people love and they have leave with memories,
1159
00:59:51.940 --> 00:59:52.199
you know.
1160
00:59:52.219 --> 00:59:54.409
It is fun to be able to go to an event.
1161
00:59:54.429 --> 00:59:58.289
And I always, Play the game. Where's the Cornerstone team?
1162
00:59:58.329 --> 01:00:01.070
Who do I know here? And if I'm at Sundance
1163
01:00:01.170 --> 01:00:02.650
or whatever, I just.
1164
01:00:02.730 --> 01:00:07.610
Yeah, I should. I should thank Chad, too, because Chad Linebaugh, Sundance.
1165
01:00:07.699 --> 01:00:10.460
Thank you for everything. Him and his staff. He's been
1166
01:00:10.500 --> 01:00:12.820
a friend of mine since I was in seventh grade.
1167
01:00:12.860 --> 01:00:14.119
Yeah. Really?
1168
01:00:14.360 --> 01:00:18.159
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Growing up in a small town, I
1169
01:00:18.219 --> 01:00:21.900
always knew Chad would do something amazing. And so we're
1170
01:00:21.960 --> 01:00:25.619
honored to be in-house at Sundance, helping them with. all
1171
01:00:25.659 --> 01:00:29.880
of their production needs there at the resort. And it's
1172
01:00:29.900 --> 01:00:32.340
just been a great opportunity to work with them over
1173
01:00:32.400 --> 01:00:36.960
the last almost 15 years now. So, and I always
1174
01:00:37.019 --> 01:00:38.619
run into Sherry when I'm there.
1175
01:00:38.639 --> 01:00:42.219
I love the Sundance team.
1176
01:00:42.570 --> 01:00:42.840
Yeah.
1177
01:00:43.110 --> 01:00:46.409
To everyone listening, thank you for joining us. A special
1178
01:00:46.469 --> 01:00:50.809
thanks to the LaunchPod team, Johnny, Christine, Rachel, Cole, for
1179
01:00:50.849 --> 01:00:54.489
producing our show, Zachary Reed for his vision and direction
1180
01:00:54.550 --> 01:00:58.730
as producer, Katie Brown, our operations specialist for keeping us
1181
01:00:58.869 --> 01:01:02.449
in line and on track. And Garrett Lawson and Kevin
1182
01:01:02.469 --> 01:01:06.579
Jessup for serving as the MWCN podcast chairs.
1183
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