Andrew Augustyniak
Meet Andrew Augustyniak: a guy who wears many hats and owns them all with a smile. Dad to four awesome kiddos, partner-in-crime to his amazing wife, and once upon a time, a golf pro turned loan magician. He’s the brain behind the Augustyniak Lending Team and the top 1% of the nation, according to the folks at Mortgage Executive magazine.
Growing up in sunny Arizona, Andrew was all about numbers and people. Tempe was his playground, and boy, did he play well. After snagging a Business Management degree from the University of Nevada with a golf scholarship in his back pocket, he traded in his golf clubs for mortgage spreadsheets. And he's never looked back.
Andrew didn't just build a team; he assembled a squad ready to change lives and hand out financial wisdom like candy. But don't think for a second that he's all work and no play – this guy knows how to live it up with his family (shoutout to Anderson, Fitz, Finnley, and Maverik!) or sink a birdie on the golf course when he's not hustling.
Boredom? Oh, that's Andrew's arch-nemesis. Blame it on his mom, who kept him knee-deep in sports to keep him out of trouble back in the day. That's where he picked up the knack for hard work and the drive to conquer goals like a champ. But wait, there's more! Besides running the mortgage show, he's got a hand in all sorts of cool projects like PuttTek, building his rental portfolio, Desert Studio AZ, Arizona Rental Response, Modern Canopy Co, and the Fueled by Why Podcast.
Andrew's mantra? That luck surrounds itself around everyone, one must be fearless to recognize and jump into any opportunities to allow that luck to come to fruition….. He lives by this, day in and day out.
Episode Transcription
Guiding Growth. Conversations with Community Leaders. In this podcast, we'll explore the human journey of leaders. There are stories of humility, triumph, roadblocks and lessons learned, come join us as we journey together and uncover the questions you've always wanted to know. This podcast is brought to you by the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, providing resources, connections and belonging for business professionals and modern moments, an event and meeting venue in the heart of Gilbert. All right, Sarah, this is going to be an amazing day because while we have an amazing guest in our midst, if you know anything about this guest, you know, three things for certain.
He loves the sport of golf, his family and his career. He is married and a dad to four young kids and an £85 puppy. He grew up locally in Tempe and took a shot at professional golf. He eventually found his way into mortgages. And in 2022 was in the top 250 loan officers in the country. He's got the best backyard in the neighborhood. Please welcome Andrew Augustin. And that was exciting. She made it all fancy, didn't she? She's good for something. Every once in a while we'll let her have that.
I'm quite excited. This is my, my uh my payback for having Sarah on her side. And the trick was that I didn't know that his was on video. So I showed up like this and not prepared. Don't look at that camera. OK. Start with what we call rapid fire. Here we go. Fill in the blank happiness is that, that means a lot to me, which doesn't want to, I want to answer it correctly because I talk about this every day. Happiness is not money. It is your family, it is your kids and it is all the things that actually matter in this life.
That's a good answer. What is your hidden talent? My hidden talent would be this is, that's a hard 103 my. We had to come back to that one. I was going to say golf, but everybody knows that's not. Yeah. And I and I like share all of my talents that you can honestly can. I should say what comes to my mind. So I'm going to say um the to aggravate my wife in a flirty way. That is say we could rule out rapid fire. Not at all. I should, I should, I should say what my mind.
OK, a concert you will never forget. Don't people if I know I don't even care if people judge me. Uh Jonas brothers with all my kids, I can see that? Trying not to judge. Have you ever lived abroad? No, that's actually my, I only have two regrets in life and that one is one of them. Ok? What is something people get wrong about you? Nothing actually comes to my mind right away. Get wrong about me. It's hard because I don't, I don't know what people assume come back to that one.
I'll have an answer by the end of the show. OK? This one what makes you hopeful people who, who actually stand up to things that are not right in this world that because a lot of people, there's a lot of yes people, there's a lot of people who just want to make everything easy by sheltering and just like going with the flow example would be like my current neighborhood ho a fight and lawsuit. We could just shelter in place and just say, OK, we won't do it, but it's like we did nothing wrong.
So I think people not letting other people control them because this is a very corrupt world judging by the pace of this rapid fire. My next question is, are you more of a thinker or a doer? I rarely think I think and you know, that causes you to lose some but it causes you to win some. If someone were to play you in a movie, who would you want it to be? I'd go Zach. E just because my daughter one day said you kind of look like him.
And I was just like, when he's, like, all ripped up or like my face, probably he was dancing on the beach or something, you know. Uh, what is your favorite pastime or hobby? Oh, obviously golf. That's since I was two years old. My kids are all into golf. Golf is our life. Ok. Last question, you're ready. What is one thing and only one thing? You are grateful for one thing. Health because if you don't have health, you have nothing. This podcast is brought to you by Mercy Gilbert Medical Center recognized as one of the top 100 best hospitals by health grades.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is a full service acute care not for profit community hospital, providing exceptional health care to the East Valley with a staff of 13 100 employees and 400 volunteers. Patients can expect the expertise of more than 900 physicians representing all major specialties. Mercy Gilbert Medical Center is proud to be part of the local community and an award winning employer. Learn more at dignity health dot org forward slash Arizona. Alright. So I want to jump back to you said you have two regrets in life. Not living abroad is one.
What's the other um not living abroad? Even if that was for a six month thing. I wish I would have studied abroad, lived abroad, done something. Um My other one as silly as it is is not living in a dorm in college. Yeah. I went to two years of Mace community, which actually, like, was a great launching pad to get a scholarship to Nevada for golf. But I, I took the easy way out. Not the easy way, the way Mesa was two miles from my house. So I was just like, oh, we'll just go to Mesa.
I get to stay at home. I'll play on the golf team there, get two years and then transfer, which I did. But knowing people on our team who had lived when I transferred to Nevada in my junior year, um, there was people who had been there for two years already who had great friendships and great relationships. And you, and you develop so many relationships in that freshman year of college, in the dorm, living the dorm life, um, that I didn't have and I see people who have those relationships and I still had great roommates.
Like I moved in with some people, junior in a house, like great friendships, but I wish I would experience that life because right now it's like you see people, you see dads my age drop dead and you, you, you see all these people that are just unhappy and they don't take chances and like, they don't do everything they can to experience something. And I'm like, man, I wish I would have experienced that. I wish I would have experienced a little bit of it. But my guess would be because of that.
You actually take more chances. Now. Correct. That is, I use that as my motivation. Same thing for traveling. Um, there was a five year span where we couldn't travel because our pregnancies with our kids were all terrible. My son's water broke my second child. Uh, my wife's water broke with him at 17 weeks. Um, he was given less than a 1% chance of survival. Um, She was on bed rest for three months, couldn't get out of bed, lost her ability to walk, sacrificed her body. Doctor said, go abort your baby.
We said no. Um So she, we took the 1% chance. He was born um at 31 weeks. So she was 5003 weeks on bed rest. Um He was born, it took five minutes to get his lungs to open up. He went to the nu for 92 days. Um And then every, every pregnancy after that was a month to two months early, we lived the Nikki life. That was our norm. So basically for five years, we didn't travel either. So taking like not traveling abroad and not being able to travel. Um Like now I'm, I push us to go on like different adventures because I, I hate stuff.
I hate toys. I hate material things. Um And I just like, I'd rather use that to go have experiences with our kids and family and we're making up for it last year. We did, we did the masters. We, we, we took probably the youngest baby ever to go to the masters, uh had to pay for a ticket, believe it or not, it was stupid. Um We found out a week before that's a whole story in itself. We went to uh New York City with all four kids and then we went to the President's Cup in North Carolina to watch.
That took my father-in-law. It was a great trip. Went to Santa Barbara this year. We just went to Houston, just went to Seattle and Portland and the Oregon coast. And so we're making up for it like we still, it's still hard for my wife to like let go and go travel because with four kids, it is tough. But as you know, with nine kids, four kids of what ages uh basically about to turn two, about to turn four, about to turn seven and eight. So a lot that's a handful to travel with.
We have a lot of, I have a lot of motivation to go do stuff. Ok. So were you from a larger family, smaller family? What did your, your childhood look like? That's a, that's a very interesting one. My, my parents immigrated here from Poland in the seventies. Um took, they did it the legal way. It took five years to uh to leave. My father grew up on a farm in Poland. I'm talking like no electricity. Um had to milk cows for their stuff. They had cherry farms.
They owned cat. They, they made their own cheese. Like my dad truly grew up in a farm where he walked five miles of school. We were just looking at Google Maps and he was showing my kids like where he was born and where he was born in a house in the farm, like in a farm. Um, and, uh, so they emigrated here in the seventies, came here on a boat, took a train like all that stuff to California. It was, it's a whole thing. And um so my parents, I have one sibling, she's eight years older.
Um So we always, we always joke like in our family that we are 22 single Children because we're so far apart. Um And it was just very my, my, my dad classic, you know, European older family, just like my dad would work every day. My mom was the homemaker made everything from scratch. Food was never like with, with Polish people, food is everything and they're like, if you, you know, if you don't eat her food, like it's offensive and so like, but everything's home cooked, there's nothing like I didn't eat a PB and J until I was 12 and she just never, it was never part of it.
Um Like she like it was funny. So I grew up across the street from my wife and my, my mother-in-law. Now back then introduced me to Kraft Mac and cheese when I was like, 10 years old, like way later than most people. And my mom, like, she was like, your mom is going to hate me because my mom was very cook. Everything from scratch. Everything's, you know, homemade. So, um food wise childhood was amazing. Um, but I was really just like an only child, like me and my sister just didn't, we were just so far apart, we didn't hang out and, you know, by the time she was 19 or 20 she had moved out and I was 10.
So, um, my life consisted of, of being in every sport every day, possible because my mom didn't want me to get into any trouble. And her solution was always having me do activities, which I am very thankful for that. Yeah, I try to do it. Me and my wife are having, we have to find balance because I'd rather be busy every day and my wife is like, we need to be able to relax, which is true to that too. Um, but childhood was very, you know, we a lot of family back then in California.
So we go probably once a month, you know, for four days to hang out with family. Um, now they all live here because everybody from California, once one moves over there, they all move back. And, um, and that was, my childhood was just sports, golf. Um, my, I was a it was a very simple life. Uh And I always give this example and this is probably why I hate things and I hate like toys and I hate all that stuff is like, my Christmas present was like a box of golf balls.
Like that was my Christmas present and I loved it and I just thought it was amazing and I appreciated it. And so, um it wasn't very, like, just very simple. The house was always very tidy. We didn't have a lot of toys, but I just did a lot of stuff any time I'd have a golf tournament. That, that's what my, our trips, we didn't take a lot of vacations, which actually is another part of why I'm so motivated to take more vacations too is, uh, it's just like my childhood, like, I think we only went on true vacation maybe too because in our, in that culture, a vacation was like going to California to see your family and spending a weekend there or a vacation was if I had a golf tournament, you know, in Las Vegas, that essentially was my dad's vacation.
Don't you think it's some of it plays into just the evolution of generations, right? Like your parents did something different than their parents. And now you, and so I'm curious, like, what do you, when you look at your young kids? Like, what do you think they're going to look back and be like, I'm going to do this differently. I know, isn't it? That's the truth. Because to give you a perspective when my dad was showing us Poland where he grew up in the country, his life was, there was zero vacations.
Their life was six days a week going to school and the Sunday that they didn't, was house work. And then when they went to school it was two hours of homework every night. Like that life was completely different. A chance to move like that in itself is just brave and I'm sure they were scared. Oh, like his dad was part of the Holocaust and World War Two and escaping and, and I mean, he doesn't get too into it. Um but I'm like, I slowly try to get more stories out of him about like, what does he know?
And I know there's a story about like somebody helping out his dad and it's a whole thing and, but you're right to answer your question. You're right. It is, it's a generational change of like, and, and for our kids, man, that's, that's where it's like you have to, you can provide them stuff, but you also have to keep them grounded, which is essentially why I hate toys and I hate all those things. I'm curious, the golf passion. Where did that come from and how did that start?
I mean, you said you got golf balls as a kid for Christmas but who introduced you to golf? Uh that's a good question. So, my dad got into golf probably in like the early eighties. And then, like, he would always come home, like, after work dinner would be on the table like classic European. Um, then he'd sit down and watch TV, and, and back then when he smoked cigarettes, um, he would just go in the backyard and chip all the time. And, and so the story as my parents tell it is when I was two, which is funny because now looking back like this is really what my kids did too.
But when I was two and, and my dad would go outside, like I would just go with him and then I would just watch, like I would just, you know, kids just go out there when you're chipping and they can play or they can mimic you. Um, and so they said, but they said like one day when my dad was at work, my, I went outside and I picked up the club and I was trying to hit it, not when he was there. And so my mom called my dad and she's like, Andrew's trying to hit the golf ball like you did.
And, and so that's, it was just from watching my dad just in the backyard chipping at night smoking a cigarette before, you know, before bed. And he would just be out there for like 30 minutes to an hour and then slowly, but surely we have old pictures of just, they got me plastic clubs and did the whole progression. Um, and then I grew up in, in the Lakes of Tempe, um, which was a great community. I wish they built more communities like the Lakes of Tempe or the Lakes of Val vista.
And like, those are cool communities because they have a lot of things going on. Um, they just don't build them like that anymore and we grew up there and, um, just slowly started playing in golf tournaments. And any time my dad would go to the golf course, he would just bring me to ride in the car. And then I slowly started playing with him as I got older. And then I, and I played all the other sports too around the clock. Um, which I believe, like, it's nice to see kids and, uh, going back to that nowadays because of our generation is going, is what we did it.
So, like my kids is like, you know, you're playing different sports all the time and you can still have your con, like, for me, golf was always going on, but it was, it was still had the seasons of all the other sports. Um, but golf just grew and the passion grew and like it was just always a love. And then I played every, every weekend, my, my dad was a weekend warrior golfer. He'd work all day and I'd go play golf with him and then I remember when Fiddlesticks was around on Elliot and Kyne and like one night a week he'd, we'd go to Fiddlesticks and just go hit balls there and have fun.
And, um, yeah, and it's cool to see after when, when COVID came, like, golf, like, blew up. Which, which is my motivation for what we were talking about the flip flop ideas. Like, it's such a, such a when it comes to like business. Now when it comes to family life, like it's such a, like it's outdoors and, but it brings everybody together, whether it's business or private life, it's just a great place. And so that's my passion played collegiately and then did the pro thing at the worst time, possible.
2011, there's not money being thrown around for professional golfers. Um So got a college degree for it. That was nice. Didn't pay for that, but golf earned my way. So I always tell my dad like, yeah, you paid for golf my whole life growing up and then I paid you back with college. Um, and then did the pro thing for about a year and a half, did great. There's just no money and then I lost, I lost the passion for a couple of years, started building the mortgage business.
And then a couple of years later, I was like, I was like, I'm going to go play one time. I didn't touch a club for like three years. And then I started playing with clients again and then I started having fun and then I got the bug to compete. And so now, now, like I, that's like my, that's my balance in life now is like, I do it with my kids. My daughter has, uh she made it to the next round, the regionals for Drive Chip and putt this Sunday.
Um I still compete avidly as an amateur. I almost made the US amateur last weekend. Um, so like, that's like my competitive, like bug edge or competitive, uh, need being filled. So when you look back at, when you, when you made the run for pro, what lessons did you learn during that time? Um Oh, that's a good, that's a good one. I think about that a lot. Um, I could have gone further looking back now, but it was, I just didn't commit myself, like, compared to like building the mortgage business.
Um, or any other ventures. Like I put so much like mortgage business, I was going 0.00013 hours to 16 hours a day golf. I can honestly say I wasn't and money plays into that. Like, it's tough. I was, I was a crossfit trainer in the mornings, I'd play golf and practice during the day and then I'd wait tables at night at Spaghetti Factory. And like the hard part was, I just didn't, I, I could have gone harder to go find financial backers and investors. Um, and look at it that way from like, hey, this is a business, it's an investment, it's a risk.
But if it pays off, like it could pay off big, that's how a lot of people do it now. Um, but I can honestly say I didn't, I didn't know better and I didn't try as hard as I could have. And I, but at the same time I, at that point I knew a lot of people who were like 15 years older than me and they were still living half in, half out, meaning like they were still working kind of a job, you know, as a cart guy or waiting tables and then trying to hold on to the dream.
But if you're going to do something like that, like you have to be, you have to be all in. And if you're like, they just like, I didn't want, I didn't want to, you have to commit early on. Are you going to go all in and you're gonna die trying and if you have nothing to your name, then at least you did it. But if not, you, you have to let it go because if you're in like any venture, if you're half in half out, like it just doesn't, it can grow, but it doesn't go anywhere.
So 2012 could not have been easy for mortgages either. It was. Yes and no, I mean, values were low, but that's when like rates were still at that point, like, around like 27, 224. So I got in and like, houses were so cheap that, like, it was, it was actually the best time for me to get in because it wasn't, now, now it's like, it's, it's like the faucet is dripping that time. It was like, it was just like a slow run and it was a good time because things were cheap.
So it wasn't as hard to buy stuff. Ok. So I'm curious about your wife grew up right across the street from you? Ok. So how long have you known each other? And when did you, when was there a spark? And you knew that it was more than a neighbor. Um She moved there from Washington when I was six and she was three, she moved across the street family, you know, like the Lakes community, everybody was very close knit. Um Like we families were instant friends. My dad actually lent my, my father-in-law his initial $27,25 to start his business.
Um And I would, I remember vividly like every month, uh his name is Greg. My father-in-law would come and give my dad a handful of cash and that was his payback for the $210,2500 investment. And I always remember it and I'm not going to lie to you. I knew where that money was and I took a couple of fifties one time. Um But we have that on record. What do you think every day? Uh And that's when I was like, man, I was young at that point. I just remember they put it, I was like, oh, I'm going, I'm going somewhere, like, with friends when I was like 53, um, later on.
And they, then they moved down the street. So, like, we grew up across the street and then later on, they moved down the street, still in the same street, but down at the end, um, and we still played all the time. And, um, then they moved away to Chandler, I think when, when probably like we were like 25 or 27. Um And he's always my dad's, my father-in-law is a, a family practice doctor. So he was always our family doctor, right? Any, any issues. But we never go to office.
We just go to his house and Chandler and drive, drive over there. And then later in life, like I had a high school sweetheart, broke up with her. I was in, I was at MC C my sophomore year and at that point, Britt was a senior in high school and then like one time she called me, she was visiting a boy she was talking to who was at a su he's on the football team and he was living in the Lakes and he had left his house and he said, hey, what are you?
She just called me. She's like, hey, I'm in the neighborhood. I just wanted to come say hi to you guys. I haven't seen you in a couple weeks or, or so. And she stopped by and then, like, we always talk, like, she stopped by and I was like, oh, now I don't look at you as, like my neighbor, little girlfriend and then, like, she hung out for like, an hour with me and my parents and it was just so natural And then we were like, hm, that was interesting.
And then like, yeah, it was weird. It was very weird. It was like, now we're not just neighbor friends. Like it was like, oh, the visit, it was just very natural and fluid. And then she had texted me and said something like, have you ever, like when we were outside? She was like, have you ever thought about like kissing me? And I was like, no, not until now. But now I kind of do. And then we just started talking and then we started dating like, within a month.
And, well, we, I always, she gets mad that I tell the story. But, um, that was, we started dating two months before I transferred to Nevada. And I always laugh like, so we started dating two months and then kind of started and then I started getting ready to leave and get all my stuff ready. And then I'm like, what sane 245 year old starts dating before moving away to start a long distance relationship. This one, this one and that goes to every venture I go on was because I just take a risk and I really, like, think God had to play in it. Right.
Like, the timing was just very interesting. Like, I break up with my high school sweetheart. Like, oh, I'm, I'm not going to date for a while and then that just happens and it, then it happened, it was very tough. Like starting out as like she was 18, I was 20 I'm in college away and I turned 21 within a month of starting at Nevada. I disappeared for like 10 hours on my 21st birthday and, you know, just like random arguments that, that Children have that you're just like they're so petty and it was tough like when you're young, you need to, you date and you're together and you experience those ups and downs of learning how to, how, how to be a 20 year old dating girls.
And um it was tough, you know, we'd have zoom yelling at each other and fighting over stupid stuff and you look back now, but our life has been very like on the go and with all our pregnancies and with, you know, uh her dad's battle with cancer and with our businesses and like rental properties and all these ventures that we're on like we were so go, go, go that like we go to zero from, we go from 73 to 100. Very fast. And like, yeah, like that's a problem.
But I also think that's one of our strengths, like we can get through a lot of hard stuff. Um, so I'd say, even though, like I joke about like, like, what, like, why would I start dating somebody? Right. And go move away, go to college when there's girls everywhere and all the stuff. It's like, yeah, like that's what, that prepped us for what we had to endure later in life. And so I married my high school sweetheart and I will say I've always said, like you either grow apart or you grow together and like we've just grown together and it is like you work through these things and you have such a solid foundation that you really can withstand all of these other challenges as you grow older. Yeah.
Yeah, we're very passionate. It can be good. It can be bad. But no, it's a but you know that of each other and unfortunately when you, you're together from such a young age, you also know the exact triggers really well, very well. And it, and it's so hard because you know, you shouldn't bring up those triggers, but sometimes you do. And, and I mean, we've, you know, I'm proud to say like, hey, we've gone to marriage counseling. I think counseling is good for everybody. It's good. I didn't believe in counseling for a while.
And then I started going to, um, counseling for business support, um, support with, with, uh, understanding marriage more just bettering my life and having somewhere where I can just, like, let go of things. Um, and it's been, it's been like a world of help, um, especially when, you know, that's just, that's just good maintenance and good practice. And so you're right though. I mean, there's a, when, you know somebody for so long, you know, the triggers, but on the same side or on the opposite side, um there's so many benefits to like your family knows each other.
Like my dad and my father-in-law are like best friends. Um We all share a cabin that we built and pacing together, they play golf all the time together. Um And so there's like a lot of deep roots that like it's like it feels very natural, like it was always meant to be, you know, so that's the story. So let's talk about the future. Now. What's tomorrow got in store for you? Oh, so much. Um Fighting with my age away. I'm just kidding. Let's not talk about another show.
I don't think my attorney would like that one. No, I mean, so I switched, I became um area manager for neighborhood loans three months ago. I'm in charge of Arizona, Washington, Oregon, growing all those regions. Um I'm that switching companies. I love the company I was at. Um but I needed a new challenge, a new, you know, I didn't feel the growth mode and um needed that energy back and so I had an opportunity and took it. Um So that's been, that's been amazing. Um All my employees are loving it.
We're just growing like crazy recruiting like crazy. Um So the future mortgage side is always going and always growing. Um We always take the stance of, of not just being like a transactional lender but growing relationships and helping our clients like use mortgage to grow their, their real estate portfolio. Um So mortgage is my constant. Um me and my wife really, I wanna say my wife's project that I'm there helping her uh grow is we're opening a place in Queen Creek called Desert Studio A Z. Um That's an indoor and outdoor photography and videography studio that is available for photographers, videographers, families, moms businesses to just come have a place where they can, they can do whatever they need to um video and content wise.
Um That's been an interesting, interesting um I wouldn't say fight but negotiation with the town of Queen Creek is called a journey, a journey. Um I wish, I don't know about Gilbert. I haven't opened a business with Gilbert. I just have the mortgage business going in Gilbert, but I wish um I wish cities and towns would um understand that they should make, they should try to control every aspect of small business and be more supporting to the backbone of. I'm just going to remind you to utilize your chamber.
Queen Creek has a chamber too. I'm telling her to do this. Yes. Um But yes, that is where that is an interesting journey. Um But we're almost there. The nice part. I think we can, I think we're about to get, we just got past site site approval. Um and we're about hopefully should have the construction permit and, and our goal is to get this thing open by November. So that's a great journey that I'm going on with my wife. And again, working with your spouse is an interesting thing because you have two personalities and I actually love it and I'm learning to how to adjust and, and, and help her get, help her in the ways that I need to help her with that business and I want her to do it.
Um I with um we have a company called Arizona Rental Response that I started with my buddy who's Gilbert PD. Um We're a 24 hour 24 7 emergency um on call service for all the new short term rental laws going on in Arizona. So just like an on call service because the new laws make it to where you have to be available 24 7. Um We started that with the goal of, of having him retire from being a police officer. So that's the goal with that. Um We're managing our own rental properties.
Um And then I'm involved in a company called tech, uh, where we do putting courses. Um, so that's been, you know, I, I'm spread thin but I'd rather be spread thin than bored. Um, so I have a bunch of little ventures going and then obviously, um, I have the big goal which both of you actually know about is, is creating, um, a place called the flip flop where it, it takes golf in different aspects of golf, um in an outdoor setting and bringing some more families and, and people can come together um and hang out and have fun and have music.
And I actually, when we were in Seattle this week, there was somewhere that had the same vibes of what I'm looking to do and it was just so much fun and, and I took a ton of pictures and it wasn't exactly like I have because that one's probably been there for a while. So I have a better vision of it, but it's still the same vibes and the concept. And so I have a uh 5 to 10 year goal of opening a place called the Flip Flop, which incorporates every aspect of golf into one place.
So that's my, my future. I probably forgot something. To be honest. I was trying to write it all down, but I think I got lost in the podcast, the podcast um field by Y podcast. Um And so I've done that for a long time now and it's, and it's evolved, it started as a real estate podcast and it turned into, uh, evolved into the field by y and I have a couple of co-host and a couple of sponsors and, and that's how I met you, Sarah. Um, and it's just been, it's fun.
It's fun. Everything's fun. You just got to have fun and if something doesn't bring joy and fun to your life, then you should probably not do it. Well, this has been fun, which is probably why we keep doing it. Definitely not because of us. No, but it's fun. It is fun and stories like for people's lives, like you just people, you don't like everybody has a movie, right? Like I just met you and like, I know you two together. Actually, I got like I got a glimpse like you gave me the the cliff notes version of your life.
And then I was like, oh man, I need to see more. But it's like we all have a story, right? Like every single person has a story, even the the person struggling, you know, somewhere and has a story. The the Uber successful person has a story and what's interesting to hear is like their story but also like the ups and downs, how happy they are. Like, are they enjoying life? What advice would they have for other people? And it doesn't matter, it doesn't have to be somebody who's like a bajillion.
It doesn't have to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Like it just does, it, happiness is different for everybody. People have extraordinary moments. Yes. And so we only get to see, you know, 0.0001% of people's stories on the big screen. And it's like, have you ever looked at the Instagram? It's, it's a, I think it's like Cut of New York or something. It's his Instagram. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. So it's an Instagram page and it's probably on tiktok too. But there's a guy who goes around walking around New York and he finds like older couples who are walking together, like just old couples, like, you know, just cute old couples and he goes up to them and then ask them like 5 to 7 questions about like, how did they meet?
How long they've been together? What's their advice for people? Like, what do you love about each other? What do you hate about each other? And it's the most interesting page because you like, I just saw one last night. It's so cool. And like, they're like, oh, we've been together for 45 years. Where did you meet? And uh they were neighbors, weren't they? No, that one was that they met at like a rock concert and they were the cutest one. And then his thing was like, I love that.
She just puts up with all my bullshit and all the stuff and it was just like, it's, it's cool. Like that's like, that's the epitome of like, what we all need in this life is those story, those cool stories. So awesome. Yeah. Just happiness, happiness and finding happiness. Well, I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful for your leadership. I admire the way you just go after things and I am so glad that our paths have crossed. Thank you. I appreciate you. Likewise. This is fun. I enjoyed every second of it, but we probably need to do like a three hour one this time.
We'll do a part two. Yeah, there will be drinks involved. That one. For sure. Exactly. But thank you guys. Thank you. Well, thanks for joining our show today and hopefully you've enjoyed this as much as we have. It's been a lot of fun, as we've all said, uh If you like this show, like I know you do join our tribe, subscribe and join and get all these notifications when we send a new episodes. So thank you for being here, guiding growth, conversations with community leaders. Ben, let me ask you a question.
How do you see other community members being involved in this podcast? This is going to be a great opportunity for so many people in the community to have a chance to be heard if they want to tell their story or if they just want to be part of this journey with us and help sponsor it in a way that helps bring more people to the table with us. So I think there's many opportunities at hand whether you want to again be on the show, reach out to us, let us know what your story is and how you think you could be part of it.
We'd love to hear from you. Reach out, let us know and we'll see if we can make that connection.
