From Advisors Excel To The Mall: Why Topeka Is Worth It | Cody Foster

If you have the the means to try and improve your community, I don't know why you you wouldn't.

So now we're gonna transition to the reason why people are listening to this episode. Okay, where did you get your forty billion dollars, maybe?

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All right, today we have the one, the only founder of Advisors Excel, owner of the Pennant, Taco, Iron Rail, Cyrus, and new owner of Westridge Mall. Yeah. Cody Foster. Thanks for being here, man.

Thanks for having me. Pretty cool what you guys have have done. So appreciate that. And how many episodes now coming up with this?

This will be number 28, I believe. Yeah.

One year anniversary coming up. One year anniversary. It's a big one year.

When this is released, we'll have officially celebrated our one year. Nice.

Now we heard you were doing a podcast as well, so we really wanted to give you some, you know, some audience so people could see who you are, what you do, how do you think that's what you're doing?

Put you on the Topeka radar. That's what we were wanting to do.

Let people know who you are. Thank you. Um, I don't know that I want that, but I I appreciate it. So yeah. Well, man, we just are so grateful for you know everything you're doing, and then obviously carving out some time. So um, man, could you just give us a little background? Like you're kind of uh the AE Titan in Topeka. Like, how did you get into what you're doing?

Yeah. Well, that that's a weird uh title or description, I think. It's such an interesting because um I I think Topeka, you you probably hear this, I say a lot of times it's kind of like a big small town, you know. So I think it's the weird thing about owning a business in Topeka that's that's grown and had the success is um, you know, it it does feel like that at times, like anything we do becomes newsworthy, which is super weird. Uh it would be weird, yeah. And I think um specifically, I think Dave and I both would prefer nobody even knew who we were, and we could, you know, stay stay in the background a little bit more. It's probably a little harder to do here um than than in other places for sure. So um but what was what was the question? How did it all start? Yeah, yeah. Are you from Topeka? You're from Teka? I'm not. So I grew up in a small town in western Kansas. Um came to Washburn. Uh true story, uh gentleman from my hometown endowed a scholarship, and Washburn was free uh to come to Washburn. So um it's what I could afford. Uh so I came to Washburn. That's awesome. Didn't even look at another school. Um, just knew that you know Washburn was going to be free. And so I came to school here. Uh met Dave, some partnered advisors excel. We're in the same, we're in the SIGEP uh fraternity here at Washburn. So nice met on our first day here and kind of been here, you know, ever since. I've been to Topeka for uh well 30 years now. Um August of 1995 came here. So home now, you know, but uh it's not where I didn't grow up here, but yeah. How far west are you from? How far out west are you from? Uh Stockton. So if you go to Hayes, uh and then just straight north, about 35 minutes north of Hayes. Nice.

So you went to Washburn, but word on the street is you bleed purple.

I'm a pretty big K-State fan. Yeah. So uh we were Jay didn't really grow up one, but uh my wife went to K-State, and then uh one of my best friends growing up played football there, and another guy I played against, played Mark Semino, who everyone would know that name. So grew up competing against Mark, you know, since I was a little kid. And so they were roommates, started going down to some games. You know, back when I went to Washburn, it looked a lot different than it looks today. So a lot of weekends would go up to K-State games, hang out with my friends that were there, and kind of became a uh K-State fan through that. And then our son's there right now, he's uh junior at K-State and works for the football team. So just yeah, we've been pretty, pretty invested in um their success, which is not you know, I say as K-State fans, you're kind of perpetually disappointed, like you just think this is gonna be the year, then something happens. So, you know, it's it's tough.

My uh my grandpa, Greg Arm Brewster, big K-State guy. He describes uh people to me on whether or not they're K-State fans. And so he'll say, Hey, you know uh John Smith. He's a good K-State guy. Yeah. And I'm like, is he a good guy? Or is he a K-State guy? Happens to be a good guy? The one and the same. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. That's funny. So what's K-State looking like this year for you?

I'm not sure. You know, I don't know when you're releasing this, so it may depend. So uh went to Ireland, so that was a lot of fun. Uh actually went my brother and my son, and we took my dad, cool, who's uh almost 77. So don't, you know, don't know how many more of those trips you get when you're getting up there. So it was kind of an awesome uh um life memory for the four of us. So had a lot of fun, ton of K-State fans there. Uh game didn't go so great, you know. But it it was uh an incredible experience. So yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.

Well, do you want to give us the Advisors Excel background? When did you guys open up? Yeah, yeah. And maybe even give us the 60-second elevator pitch on what is Advisor's Excel. I think that's a good idea.

Yeah, it's so funny. It's a it's a hard thing to explain, but it's literally like maybe the easiest business uh ever. So like 60 second version is our our client. I always say probably the easiest way to explain it is our client is the independent financial advisor across the country. So um here in Topeka, Megan Jones, a lot of people know Megan went to Washburn, like Megan would work with us, Carl Carlson. Those are advisors that that we support. Um, those advisors to get to access the product that they're gonna use with their clients. So a lot of that's annuity business, but then investments also um they go through an organization like us to access those. So uh I'll give you another tippek and just kind of um I guess anchor security benefits. So we do a lot of business with security benefits. Oh, okay. Yeah. So if you think about it, we sit in between security benefit and Megan. So she can't go directly to those companies. It would come through an organization like us. There's probably, I don't know, 200 groups like us, you know, in the country. Yeah. So quite a few. Um and I think our value proposition is you know, instead of um, I'll use Megan since I started there and people in Topeka probably know her. Instead of Megan having to know 40 different insurance companies and all their products, trying to figure out what's going to be the best one for her client, she can call our team. They're gonna say, like, what are you trying to accomplish? Let us look through the products, find the best one for you. Okay, do that on the investment side too. That's a a little newer business for us. We started that in 2016, AE wealth management. So um, that now manages, which is funny. I think there was an article about this, and people, I think people thought we were worth $40 billion, but but we just we we manage $40 billion, but we we manage it on behalf of our advisors, right? Helping them put portfolios together, ETF portfolios, stuff like that. Um you know, at Schwaber Fidelities, where most of that's custodians. So think of us really as like the the back office for those independent financial advisors. So we support about um 600 uh-ish offices across the country uh and just really try and help them, you know, build a better business.

So is the IMO part of the business you guys provide like marketing services for them?

Yep, we do. So have um kind of all that, right? Have an in-house ad agency that that probably has a couple hundred employees. So I think um I say it this way, I tell our team all the time, you know, our our clients are small business owners, uh, with with all the challenges that you have in running a small business, as you probably know well. Um their business just happens to be financial services, right? So I think everything we've tried to do at Advisors Excel is surround that small business owner with the services they need to really build a great business. So marketing's, you know, probably the big uh it's probably the easiest one. I don't know if it's the biggest one, but um if we can help them get in front of more people, that's gonna do uh a lot of help there. But then I think so many things around operations and technology and in other areas of the business, um, just want to be able to support them. I think we always say we feel like um as a advisor becomes a better business owner, they're just able to do such a better job, you know, helping their clients um prepare for kind of navigate those retirement years.

Yeah. I've learned when I uh have buddies that work at advisors because there's so many different facets of the company. Yeah. I you know, I'll ask, so what do you what do you do there? And then I don't even bother to ask, do you know so and so? Because like they probably may or may or may not be. It's like its own small town.

Yes, it's so big, it's like, yeah, maybe it's gotten there. So it's kind of wild. Um so real quick, I guess background. Yeah. First job out of college was working at a firm, did the same thing. Uh, was there for about four this was 2000 or nine late 99. Uh left there at the end of 03. Dave and I did the B advisors. We thought we were just gonna go be a financial advisor, set up shop here in uh Topeka. We were um oh, kind of over there. I mean, just a little off Wanamaker, had a little office. And then after a year of struggling, this goes back to what I was talking about, like we realized really quickly we weren't financial advisors, we were small business owners. And like we knew like the I would say the planning side of the business really well was every other aspect of running the business that was challenging. And I think through trying to just like figure that out, had this idea of like, man, if we could just go learn from other advisors that are really successful and just figure out what they were doing, you know, we'd we'd be a lot better. And kind of came up with the idea of advisors Excel to start that, started that in uh February of 05. Wow. So uh brought on third partner Derek uh Thompson joined us um and we started AE. Still we're advisors for that year. Our company name was actually uh Foster and Callana and Financial Services. So very original. Um but did that for a year. AE kind of started taking off like pretty quickly, and so we scrapped the financial advisory business and just went all in on AE uh probably November of that year, November of 05, which in retrospect was you know the right decision.

So you're coming up on 20 years now.

Just had it. Yeah, just celebrated our 20-year anniversary uh February 1st. Well congratulations, man. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been been a crazy 20 years. So sometimes it feels like forever, and sometimes it feels like it's flown by.

So yeah. So I've had it explained like four times, uh, and I still don't fully understand what is an annuity.

Um an annuity is a contract with an insurance company. I mean, it's probably the easiest way to think about it. So probably the easiest explanation I give people is like you know what a CD is at a bank, right? Right. You're giving your money to the bank, they're giving you a certain amount of interest back over a certain period of time. An annuity is like a CD with an insurance company instead of a bank. So you're getting you know, if you give security benefit half a million dollars by an annuity, they're gonna give you a certain interest rate, payback over a certain period of time. Um used a lot, I think, with as people retire. Uh insurance companies are really good at managing risk. So a lot of them are used for income. So that would be a lot of what our advisors are using them for. Is like as you retire, don't have a paycheck anymore. We're gonna take that money, give it to an insurance company, they're gonna guarantee you know, a certain check that comes to you monthly, yearly. Uh so use them a lot to kind of guarantee income. They're a good source for that. So um yeah. So think of it, it's literally like an investment with an insurance company, technically not an investment. An annuity contract with an insurance company would be like having a bank CD. Um gotcha. So interesting. Yeah. So they're actually really basic and boring, you know. It's like it's funny because even as we were growing, you would hear people say this like, oh, I think they're running this scam thing. And I'm like, actually, it's like the most boring like financial vehicle, you know, maybe outside of uh money market or bank CD, you know, it's like just pretty highly regulated and pretty boring. Um, you know, but it's I think for so many of our advisors who are working with people that are transitioning into retirement. So it's all about how do we make sure this money's gonna last, right? And insurance companies are really good at managing that.

I've always heard uh people who don't quite understand annuities or how it works. It's how does advisors excel make money? It's uh Fugazi. It's just you know, it just it kind of happens.

You don't really know, but they're doing lots of things. Yeah. Well, it's but but I mean the easy answer is like the insurance companies pay us a small commission, and then on the investment side where where we help manage the assets for the advisors, um, you know, we just make a small percent on that too.

So yeah, so like how did you find the niche? Like how like it seems like this niche obviously blow blew up. Yeah, you know?

Yeah, but it's not really a niche, you know, if you think about it. Like the the annuity industry is probably sixty trillion dollars annually. Um you know, if you look at just, I mean, we're in financial services, so it's really not a niche. It's just um I don't think everyone necessarily understands all the distribution methods of all the products and stuff in there. So it's really not that niche. I mean, it may appear like it, but it's it's actually a massive industry.

So I have a question. Uh I didn't realize this before and we started talking. So it sounds like this, you know, advisors excel what you do, it was already in this niche, this business is already operating before you started AE. Oh, yeah.

It sounds like Yeah, been around forever. Okay.

Yeah. Uh I feel like there's a lot of entrepreneurs that think they can't do something because they don't have a unique idea.

Yeah.

And it sounds like this wasn't a unique idea. You just went and you're doing it better than everyone else. Yeah.

In fact, you know, I have um I'll see really younger people a lot, but just I mean, I think anyone who wants thinks they want to be an entrepreneur and do it. I tell all of them, like, the best advice I ever give people is like, whatever you think you want to do, go do it for someone else for a few years and and learn. You know, so that's what Dave and I both did, and Derek too. We all worked. The company was called Personalized Brokerage Services. Um, our office was at Eighth and Clay. So it's where the bridge is at now, if you know where that's at. So that was uh it used to be like an old hardware store or something. That's where we started. There were probably 15, 20 employees when I started there. Um but what I what I learned from doing that job is that that I loved the industry, right? I loved helping these advisors, the relationships you build. Um and then just I think over time, we thought like we could probably well, we thought we could be really good financial advisors and figured out that was a little tougher than we thought it was gonna be. But then I think over time just figured out like, man, if I were gonna do this, here's how I would do it a little differently. And so um that's kind of what we did.

So wow. So what's it been like going from starting this business to now overseeing a company of like a thousand employees?

Um I I don't it's such a hard question to answer, right? Because I I sell the time like I've lived it every day. So to me, it's just been I think people on the outside see it as this like massive growth. It doesn't feel that way at all to me, right? It just feels like it's been this kind of slow, steady, natural I do we talk a lot about the idea of you know compound interest in our industry, but um good friend of mine wrote a book called The Compound Effect. It's really what our business feels like. It's like it's just grown a little each year and keeps growing and keeps growing, you know, and then wake up 20 years later and it looks a lot different than we ever envisioned, right? I think the question we get a lot is like, did you ever imagine it would look like this? And we didn't, you know. I mean, yeah, um, we tell this funny story of like when we started, we we made a pact that we were never gonna have more than 40 employees. I think it just yeah, it was like, you know, we viewed the more people we have, the more headaches you have. And right there there's some truth in that, but but the reality is what I've learned is like great people, um, you know, empowered to do their job well, like are actually freeing. So in a lot of ways, um my life today is probably easier than it's ever been, even though there's a complexity to the business, um, you know, that's maybe more. And then the other thing that's just uh hard to explain for someone that hasn't been in there is there there's definitely a a weight um or a responsibility that you carry, you know, and you probably see it kind of pastoring a church, right? I mean, there's a certain weight that you carry that's hard to explain to someone, but right when you know, you know, 1,100 people are counting on you not to screw things up, right? Um, and and then 600 advisors who probably employ another, you know, eight to ten thousand people amongst all their offices that you know have partnered with us or count on us to not screw things up. So I think you always have this kind of weight that you carry uh with it that that's hard to describe completely. But um overall, you know, it's it's easier today in a lot of ways than it has been. So yeah.

Gabe actually he he gave me a good question that I'm gonna give you credit for, but I'm gonna ask you. Let's go. Yeah, people get a ton of applause and support in the beginning of their venture.

Yeah.

And they get a ton of applause and support at the end. What advice would you give to business owners or entrepreneurs on how to get through the middle grounds when you're in the trenches?

Oh man, that's a good question. And here's something I've I've learned. You you even see it a little, right? You you'll also um we we have this weird thing in our our I guess country, society, however you want to describe it, where w we don't really like to applaud successful successful stories, right? I mean, so you you're actually gonna get, I think one of the things if you're an entrepreneur, um you you have to either be able to tune out or not let like the hate that you will get affect you, right? Because you you will have that, like um, which is a weird thing, right? Uh to hear people talk about you that you've never met, yeah, don't know, don't know you, don't don't know the business. Um but but I think the easiest thing there is like um look LaCrae has this great line, I've I've used it before, and he says, if you live for people's acceptance, you'll die by their rejection. Right. And so I think um I maybe saying all that, like the best thing I say all the time is like just focus on the things you need to do to grow the business, right? I I think we say that all the time. Like, how are we adding value to our advisors? Like we're constantly trying to figure out how do we add more value there. How do we build um kind of a culture or a community uh where our people feel valued, um, you know, that they show I say all the time, we just want people to show up and enjoy coming to work. Yeah. Uh we feel like if people show up happy and enjoy working there, they're probably gonna do a better job taking care of our advisors. And um, we're in a service-based industry, right? So if they're doing a better job taking care of the advisors, like probably gonna go pretty well. So I think it's um like trying to block out everything else and just focusing on the things that that matters, probably. It's the easiest part.

So yeah, it's like you kind of become a pinball, like based on people's approval, you know, like yeah, you're not having focus like where you're going. It's like, well, they like this over here, so I'm gonna go that way. Uh they reject me, I'm gonna go this way. You end up doing nothing. Yeah. Yeah.

So you're telling me you don't live for the opinion of the Topeka Capital Journal?

It's such a fun people ask me that. They're like, Do you see some of the comments people make? And I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I kind of laugh at most of them. They're like, really? How like how do you do that? And I'm like, why would I care? I I mean, most of the people who comment, I wouldn't ask their opinion on how to run my business anyway, right? I I don't know them. I've never met them. I'm like, why am I gonna care what they say or think? You know, they they don't know anything about our business. I think um, you know, I I said I think a lot of times there's there's a few opinions that really matter to me, our advisors, right? So do they like working with us, um, our team, right? So um I want the people who show up to work every day with us, you know, to love being there. And then, you know, obviously I'd say, you know, family. I'd you know, I I always want to be um loved and respected the most by the people that that know me the most. So um outside of that, like I don't really care.

Yeah, so I just recently I was talking to my small group of guys we meet on Wednesdays about having a uh a board of directors for your life. Yeah, you know, because you mentioned you know, not everyone's opinion carries the same amount of weight, let's put it that way. Yeah, um and you know, who are those five to seven people in your life that like if they tell you to do something or they call something out in your life, yeah, you you're listening. Yep. And if one or more of them call something out, it's like I'm gonna I'm gonna take that very seriously. Yeah. And then I even thought about calling those people and letting them know, hey, you're on my board. You've been given full permission. So call it as you see it. Yeah, because sometimes people don't feel like they can have the leeway. Yeah, they don't have the leeway to interject. So I actually had that conversation this spring with my seven guys. It's like, hey, you're on my board. Nice. You need to call these things out if you see them. That's awesome. Now it's on me to listen when they do call it. What have they been calling out in you? That's what I want to know. I don't know, too. Come on, that's a good question. Yeah. Interviewer because interviewees. My my dad called out uh that I don't listen very well. Oh. And actually, I was telling him that he's on my board the same day he told me about this. Uh and I he said, Justin, you know, it's been called up. He pulled out a list as soon as you said it. He said it's been called up. If you're not interested in something, it's evidently apparent you're not listening. All right, we need to take that seriously. That's so.

And it feels like the airing of grievances in Seinfeld, right? It's like the festivist airing of grievances. But you know, I think it's totally true.

I mean, you take a step back. It's been a couple months since we've had that conversation, but it's like He's not asking him anymore. No, I am. Uh but it's I'm taking a couple steps back. I'm like, you know what? I could see how people could get that impression. Whether or not it's true or not, I really don't care, or I'm not listening well. It's like if that's what people are thinking, it's reality. Yeah.

Well, and you said something that I think is really, really important though, too. It's um the people that know you and that you respect have something to you, right? It's uh I I think that's a big thing. I think um you know, I didn't didn't know what all we were gonna talk about, but I I think it's really important for men right now. Man, I see so many men like kind of struggling in isolation, like being able to have a few people that that know what's going on in your life that that you can really uh lean into. I've got like Thursday, we were talking about you know, Thursday morning men's group that we spend a lot of time together. Um Dave, my partner at AE, you know, I mean, like we we know each other really, really well. Met our first day at college 30 years ago, right? So I've known each other for 30 years and been good friends. So just having some of those people in your life that, you know, aren't afraid to to call that out. And I think you make a good point, like giving them that permission to do it too, right?

So what do you think is holding young guys back from that? Why do you think young guys are so isolated? Yeah, and I don't know.

I I I I wish I had a better answer to that question. So I mean I Or just guys in general, not necessarily guys. I mean I think it's just um I don't know. That's a good question.

So he does a lot of things. Doesn't answer that question. Yeah. No, I was curious.

I mean, I do think there's no doubt in in my mind, like younger, um, you know, you my son's 20, uh junior in college. Like, I mean, I don't think um social media and technology is great, right? I think it's it's limited helping a lot of human connection. Uh so I think that's part of it. I think guys don't necessarily always prioritize it, you know, just trying to build um community. I think that, you know, like anything, whatever you prioritize is probably what happens. I don't know. We always do the best job of prioritizing. We're so busy doing other things, right? Um that that sometimes takes a backseat.

So have there been certain uh decisions that you've made, or maybe even like practices, like like regular things that you're doing that have helped you do that, that have really been really beneficial of like including guys in your life?

Um I mean, I think anything has to be uh I'll say somewhat of a ritual, right? So I I think a few Thursday morning kind of men's, I guess we'd call it a Bible study for lack of a better description, right? Um so it's just it we get together, we usually read a book, right, and get together each each week and talk about some of talk about what's going on in each other's lives. So there's four of us that have been doing that for um four, a little over four years now. So um just every Thursday morning, right? So it's a ritual that you're and just over time you develop that. I I know you had Matt Pavarnik on. So Matt Matt was a part of that group. So he left us, let's go, ditched us. We we brought it up. But it's even interesting because we have someone new that joined us, but um it's taking some time now because you know, we've got this four years of kind of history and meeting every day. So, you know, kind of working them in. That's one. The second one that's been big for me for probably going on 12, 13 years now. I've had like a mastermind group with um 11 other entrepreneur business owners that we get together twice a year for like three days uh and text every day, you know, just uh a group that now we become really close friends. Um, just they've been um, you know, great advice givers along the way. And just some really sharp Dave Lenigru, founder of Remax, is in the group, right? So Dave, Dave's been even for me, you know, someone who has a a similar business to what we have, but you know, 30-year head start on me just as our business is growing, you know, being able to bounce off some things from him, like, hey man, like how'd you handle this? Like, wow, here's frustration I'm having. What would you see in your business? So um, yeah, that's been so going back to that, I think it's just a couple rituals, right? I have one group we get together uh twice a year for a while. You know, one group we get together every Thursday. Um that's probably the the easiest thing.

What's the the mastermind group? The point of that is to sharpen each other business wise, like get ideas, things like that. I think so.

Um that's definitely how it started. Okay. You know, what's interesting now is it's become a little bit more like good friends getting together, right? Just because we've gotten together so much through the years and trying to do it around some sort of cool experience or something, usually. And um, I'm going here and uh well, end of October, I think it is. I'm not sure. Um, a friend it just built a house in Rhode Island, so he's hosting us all up there. So we're going up there. And so uh, but we still do that, right? I mean, but sometimes it's more we were just talking about this. It's it's less about learning more. It's more about just uh I think as an entrepreneur, maybe more than anything, goes back to that kind of burden or weight that you carry sometimes. It's just like getting around other entrepreneurs who are doing cool things and like recharging your batteries. Yeah, right. So I always leave there whether I've learned something new for the business or not. But I mean, I leave there like energized, right? Yeah. So it's a group that kind of gives each other energy a little bit too. So is probably get back at it. Yeah, exactly. So good.

So switching gears maybe to Topeka. Yeah. And I know you don't like to brag on yourself, talk about everything you're doing, but we're gonna make you do it. Okay. The pennant, iron rail, Cyrus, taco. Yeah. And then obviously the mole, which we'll talk about. Is there anything we're missing that you're you kind of got your hand in?

Um I mean, those would be the big ones, obviously. I I think you know, we have some other uh real estate downtown that that we've bought, um, but not that we operate. Those are yeah, which I like that much better. I like being the landlord versus the landlord and you know, the person who's who's leasing the space from the landlord. Um keeping the business alive, yeah. Yes. I mean, and I mean restaurants really are they're just such a tough business. Um I grew up in the restaurant industry industry back in Stockton, my grandparents owned a restaurant, and so I should probably know better. But um it was one of those we felt like Topeka needed it and kind of built out a team that's that's been able to run those pretty well. Um but those would be the you know primary things. Absolutely. Yeah.

Why restaurant?

What what brought you to do that? Well, um, you know, the long, long story short is we co-invested in a a restaurant with a group in Lawrence. Actually, it was called RD Corner Girl, it was on the corner of Aeth and Mass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And ended up having to take it over. It wasn't, you know, just some management issues. Um, didn't really want to do that, but we'd we'd invested in it. And then as we did that and kind of brought someone in to run it, decided like, hey, I didn't really want to be in Lawrence. Um, you know, it the idea was we were gonna come open one in Topeka after that. Uh so kind of sent us down that path. And um and then I I think second reason is like we felt like, you know, really specifically with the downtown redevelopment that the thing that was missing was, you know, restaurants. And it still is. I mean, there's more down there. We we still need some more density to to fill in there. But um, so as we kind of built that team out, just have have taken them on. And they're a lot of work though, um, you know, for for not a lot of money, you know. I mean, really last two years, it's it's been brutal. I I say this a lot. Like, if you um, you know, if you would be sad if a local restaurant went under, you should probably go eat there tonight because like there's a good chance they're hanging on by a thread right now. It's um, you know, cost of everything's gone through the roof, and it's yeah, it's it's a tough business.

So we had uh was it Don Don Highland? Yeah, Highland Don. He was one of our first couple episodes. He gave us a nice little perspective of the game and what they're involved, what you guys are involved with. That was really cool. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah, so let me put yeah, I know they're all kind of like your babies. Yeah. But you have an evening and you're gonna go to an AIM restaurant. Oh man. What are you doing? You're putting me on the spot. What are you gonna recommend? Someone's got three to four hours on a date night. What's the order of operations?

I think again it goes to what you're looking for, right? So um like anniversary special occasion, what you what you going out for? Let's go five-year anniversary. Okay. I'd probably hit weather room. You know, like I I feel like um, you know, steak, nice drink, something like that, uh dress up a little bit. So weather room. Um which you know of all those, like owning the hotel through COVID. We opened the hotel a year before COVID hit. So that was that was a grind. And it's finally back. You know, we've got a awesome team there right now. So it's taken a while to build that back up. But now it's it of all our things, like the hotel and weatherroom probably doing the best right now. So the hotel's doing great. Um that's been a big addition downtown. Just when we went under the Marriott brand, that helped a ton too. When we started, we were just independent flag, and then we came under Marriott's uh brand, and that has helped. Do you get a lot of people who like have Marriott points and things like that? It's I I'm gonna be a little off on our number because I haven't looked at it recently, but I think 75% of the people that stay there are Bonvoy members. I mean, it's yeah, it drives it so much.

I know nothing about the hotel business. Was that was that tough to decide, you know, we're no longer gonna be the independent boutique?

No, I I wish I I actually had a friend who owns the Ambassador Hotel in Kans City, and they had started off independent and then went under Marriott, and he told me before we even opened, like, hey, if I were doing this, I'd go under Marriott, right? Okay. Um and we didn't listen, and we should have. Uh so it's we're gonna be different. And the only thing they bring, people thought we sold the hotel to Marriott. No, we still own it, right? Marriott doesn't own hardly anything, right? They just leverage their brand, but they just have such great it's that. It's the Bonvoy, the points, you know, you get the business travel once to get their points. Um, and then just their whole reservation, and I would say even their um, you know, uh like financial systems. So I mean they have great systems to help us like, hey, if we're getting close to full, they show you how to raise your rates, to you know, maximize your profitability and so on.

So they're a little bit like an AE for hotels. They kind of are.

I mean, that's that's a great way to think of it. The only difference is they do have a very public-facing brand. Right, right. Um that's the weird thing. Outside of Topeka, like nobody really knows who AE even is, because we're like a behind the scenes, right? All our advisors have their own brand. It's not A.E.'s a little bit, but yeah, it's kind of the same thing.

Your logo is just in the upper right-hand corner of the paperwork I sign. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're I'm with Jones. Yeah, yeah. Uh okay. But then you have to uh you have to end the night going to the pennant with a shake, right?

Yeah, shakes are great. I mean sexy fire. Yeah. Um I you know, I don't I I like it kind of depends on what you're in the mood for. I I think you know what you've seen us do with those. And I don't I don't know we'll do any more restaurant concepts, like kind of got our hands full, but like they're all different, you know, and complimentary, right? So um you know, right now tacos probably my favorite, right? Just because I um I'm a sucker for chips and salsa, yeah. Chips and quesas. Yeah, super unique. Margaritas, yeah.

Being able to go up. I've gone a couple times and we were always seated up top.

Yeah, the third floor is cool. Pretty cool. So still gotta figure out a few things with the vibe and that, you know. Once you open those, it takes a while to completely get it figured out. So how involved are you in the next question? Um at all. So yeah, just Seth um runs all of that for me, you know. He runs all of the like the hotel and the restaurant. You think anything aim related um he he's running. So uh he he does the majority of that. Him and I meet every week for you know 90 minutes just to go through anything. But overview, yeah, yeah. Yep, and just anything we need to work on. Maybe a little more involved early, you know, conceptually. Um I like to create things, I don't necessarily love to manage things. Uh so usually involved a little early on as we're thinking through ideas or concepts. Like right now with the mall redevelopment, super involved in that, right? Trying to figure out that whole process. Um but then once it comes to managing it, you know, if we can get it back to um, you know, maybe some of its former glory and and get retail back in there, um, I'll probably be a lot more hands-off, you know, once that starts.

Well, that was my next question. You want to shift gears and talk about your newest baby? Wait, wait, wait. No, okay.

I want to hop on that again. So you you you said you're more of like the creative kind of you like to start and envision something new. Yeah. Um is that kind of your your role in AE? Like you kind of like pushing the boundaries on what's next.

Yeah, it is um yes, to a degree. I mean, we have probably a lot of people who play a role in that to some degree now, but it's one of those things, you know, in uh business. The the other thing I do tell people when they ask me for advice, it can vary depending upon the business. But I I think the the greatest thing um that we've had at AE is a partnership. So like right now, Dave and I being equal partners, just having someone who can share that responsibility and burden with you is is great, someone that you trust and can bounce stuff off of. But what we didn't know at the time, right? Got kind of lucky and fluked into this. Um our I would say our strengths complement each other very, very well. Right. I'm probably a little bit more of like the idea guy, and you know, can I can see and articulate it and like paint a vision of where we need to go. Right. Dave's really good at like putting all the building blocks in place and managing that and like and doing it. So um I say all the time, like Dave comes in every day with a checklist of you know 12 things and doesn't leave till everything's checked off. And once in a while I make a checklist, you know. So it's uh yeah, usually I kind of make a list of you know three most important things I got for the week is about the extent of my checklist.

So um can I can I ask you one more question about you? Go for it. So what what do you love most and hate most about what you do? Hmm.

Um are you talking specifically at AE? Um the answer could be could actually probably be somewhat the same candidly. Um what what I would say without question is uh the the love aspect is probably the the relationship and impact that you get to see. Like um, I was telling you we're going on this uh birthday party for um Friends 50th, but it's like with three of our advisors, none of them from here, right? But like we go on trips with them all the time, they become really close friends. Um and just seeing them be able to grow their business and how it changes, and then honestly, just you know, the impact on people here that that come to work at AE. Um, that's probably the thing I love, you know, seeing the most. Uh I I think the other thing, our events. Like we do a lot of events. I love that because it's that creative thing, right? Again, like I'm still pretty involved in our bigger events, like who are we bringing in as speakers, themes, stuff like that. So love those aspects of it. Um I don't know. The hate side, I don't know that there's a big um or like least life-giving or something. I mean, you know, it's uh what's interesting for an entrepreneur is it gets bigger, it just becomes a little more bureaucratic. And something that you have to, I mean, we're uh we're in a highly regulated industry, right? So there's just a lot of things that you have to put in place. That that regulatory environment is weird, right? Just because it can constantly change. Um, you know, we're regulated by the SEC, by FINRA, by State Insurance Department. So we have all these different regulatory bodies. Um and you would think the regulatory world is a black and white world, but it's really not. You know, there's like shades of gray in there. So just trying to figure out how to do that in a way and navigate all of that, um, that's not life-giving to me at all.

You know, you gotta wake up in the morning like where's the uh where's the report on what the laws currently are?

Fortunately, we you know we've got a great team and you know, great people that specialize in that.

But yeah, I was gonna say, I imagine as you guys have gotten bigger, the things that are frustrating, you go and hire someone who enjoys those things.

Yep. Which is pretty good. It's really good and experienced that him, right? So yeah, our chief compliance officer, general counsel, all of them, they they're they're really good at it. So the first person you're thanking God for every morning.

Yes, this legal expert.

Yeah. Well, usually my wife first, and then map. Then the legal experts, yeah.

All right. Now we're gonna transition to the reason why people are listening to this episode. Okay. Thinking about a move, choose Topeka, and you can get up to $15,000 to relocate. Topeka and Shawnee County are ready to welcome you. Apply now at chooseTopeka.com. Now, back to the show. Your newest baby, Westridge May. Yeah. How exciting is that? How long has that been in the works for TikTok?

It's kind of an ugly baby, though. It's the only downside. It's a baby stuck in the 80s. Yeah. In so many ways that you don't even have any idea, right? Um, just like all these restriction agreements that are signed that restrict what you can do. Oh, shit. We're put together in the 80s thinking malls were gonna last forever, you know, and um they don't. And now you have to navigate and kind of work through those. Um Are you able to rework any of those? We're well, yes. Um, we're we're working through some of that now. Legal counsel, yeah. Well, by now, it'll be news by the time this airs. We we've we purchased the Sears building. So we didn't own furniture mall, JCPenney's, Dillards, or Sears. Those were all standalone. Sears was owned by this private equity company, and they they were not they they were not being easy to deal with, is probably the easiest way to say it. So um finally got that purchase, which will now free up uh all of us to the Dillards and Furniture Mall have been great. Um Pennies, we ended up buying that, you know, through this process. Um we're trying to we we talked to them early on, they were talking about downsizing, you know, it was I mean it's a massive building, 160,000 square feet, and so we kind of went through that process. They came back and said, Well, this probably looks more like a store we should just close down. Um so which isn't ideal, but it is what it is. So now it's kind of open and you know, we'll try and it and it's a great space for us to bring in some sort of anchor tenant there, right? Everyone wants to be Wanamaker facing, um, you want to be visible from Wanamaker. So that Pennies building is kind of like hopefully gonna be the anchor of what we try and redevelop some of that. So but then even things like the um heating and air system. Like, I mean it's it's all connected through that whole mall. So now as we try and redevelop this, like it's gonna be a massive project. It's just yeah. It's um it's gonna be interesting. I uh I'm excited about it, uh, but it's um that requires some faith on it. I think I am excited. The the other change, it's teach teaching me patience, right? Because I mean just even working through these agreements, but then like um I I I don't think this is the thing people fully realize because people are like, I thought they were gonna bring all these stores back. Well, it's not like retail stores are just thriving right now, anyway, right? I mean, even you look since we bought it, Kirkland's is closing down a ton of stores, American Eagles shut down 200 stores, Claire's announced bankruptcy. Um now they got bought, so I don't know if this is breaking news, but they're staying in West Ridge. They're they're not going under. Come on. I love Knox. Um so you you know, you know, you look at those, even look at what those anchors used to be a Macy's, a Sears, Penny's, you know, so so retail's a tough business anyway. Um retail doesn't necessarily move fast, right? So, and I mean I'll say this, I I don't know that there's a you know, probably a bigger Topeka cheerleader than me, but right Topeka's just a weird, weird sized town. You know, so many of these retailers we've talked to, they immediately tell us we don't go in communities under 250,000. We're like, but let us explain why this is gonna be a good opportunity. They're like, eh, doesn't fit what we do, right? So and and part of that too, we didn't we we now have all the plans done, right? So we it now it's like we can show people the final project. Sure. Um the which I think will help. And that's like as of now. Like I think we'll announce it this week or next, kind of the final plans and release them. Uh but but people think too, like, I mean, we've been working on those for a year with the architects. You know, it's 1.4 million square feet we're trying to redesign. So it's uh it's that's wild. But it's slow, right? So I mean it just takes takes a long time. Um so uh but we're now I think moving into that phase where where hopefully we start to see some things start to happen. People start to see um some construction things taking place or a little demo going on now. But um I'm excited about it, but it's it's I am excited. It's it's a big project. Yeah.

Are there any uh anchor tenants, key tenants, big names that you can say, hey, we are getting these? I mean there's all sorts of rumors on what's going on.

Um no. I I mean the the reality is I don't know we'll get anybody, you know. I mean, here's what I've told everyone. I'm I'm super confident in like our office space and what we're doing is gonna be super cool. Our team will love it. It's bringing 1200-ish employees full-time to that campus every day, which I think is good for the retail. Yep. I'm super confident in what we're doing to them all, the redesign. We're gonna have these three kind of key entry points. One's gonna be more of like a teen entry, one's gonna be more of a family, then one's gonna be this like community entry space, and some of the things we're doing to the interior. This isn't um and this is why I think it's taking a long time. We're we're not putting like lipstick on a pig. Like, I mean, it's a total redevelopment of this thing, right? And so um so I'm confident in what we're doing to the mall. Yep. The only thing I'm not confident is if we're gonna be able to get great retail back in there or not. You know, it's Topeka's a smaller community, so it makes it tougher out of the gate. And then it's not like malls and retail are thriving. Um, so that that'll be our hardest, hardest challenge, I think, in it. So we're definitely taking the field of dreams approach of if you build it, they will come. You know, um we've had good conversations with uh some grocery stores, sprouts. We've talked we've talked to Trader Joe's, but Trader Joe's is kind of one of those that tells us 250 is their number, you know. So um, but now as we get everything done, I think now we can show people a little more final project and hopefully make some progress. Um but that'll be really now, I think the phase we move into is getting aggressive on trying to get, you know, a couple anchors and then you know start to fill in uh some of that. But man, I you know, realistically, um assume everything goes great and people love it and you know, retail starts flocking back there and that. I mean, we're probably two to three years away from that being a completed project minimum, you know, from from today. So it's two to three years before construction is done. Yeah, I know that, yeah. Yeah. And so I think, you know, but as that's going on, like we can be constructing some of those spaces too. So it'll be about a two-year time period from today, you know, that I think most of the construction will be done.

And your whole offices are we're gonna move everyone there.

Cool. Um yeah, part part of that, you know, we had looked, you asked about the origin, uh, before we bought Gage Center and redeveloped that. We'd actually looked at that Burlington space on the packside and almost bought it. We just couldn't get comfortable with who owned them all. And just, you know, you look at what happened with White Lakes, and I know the guys at mainline, they they redeveloped that building and then the whole thing falls apart around them. Right. So we just didn't really want to do that. And so we ended up buying Gage and redeveloping that. And so, but I'd always kind of just it'd been in the back of my mind a little bit. And then um, yeah, I guess I I convinced Dave like maybe we should just buy it, you know. I think for if you look at anything we've done here, I think um it's funny, people think we're investing Tobeka because we make a lot of money and it's the worst investment. You know, I don't mean that in a negative way, but like our restaurants don't make a lot of money. I do a lot better in my stock portfolio than I do in those. Um but we live here, right? And it's the community we live in. And I always say, like, if if you have the the means to try and improve your community, I don't know why you you wouldn't. So um I think we see these as uh you know half investment, but almost like half community investment there. And if you look at it, and the the that mall should be like the the largest sales tax revenue generating resource in this community, and it's not, you know, right now. So when you just think about you know what that would mean if it's if it's full and people are there and shopping, um that's a big thing for the city, right? Not not just for us. I mean, like it's big for the city, it generates a ton of sales tax, ton of revenue for the city, you know, that goes to repair roads and you know, infrastructure and stuff like that.

Um, well, it doesn't seem yeah I don't see a reason why, at least on paper, it couldn't be full. I mean, look at Wanamaker around the mall. Yeah, surrounded by little stores everywhere. There's little strip malls full of stores.

I think we got a chance, right? Um it's just, you know, people shop a little different than they used to. Uh it's gonna be uh up to us, I think, to get the right mix of things in there. You know, we want to get a couple restaurants, maybe some sort of entertainment concept in there, you know, that brings people out. I think um even the way we redesign it a little, I think you'll be at it will become more of a um I don't know if community attraction. Like we'll program it more. We're even doing that now, just in the short term, trying to keep traffic is programmed it more.

So Oh, I've seen the renderings. They look sick. Yeah, that's super cool. It's gonna be cool.

So I wonder if in the wake of kind of you know, COVID kind of reset time for a lot of us, and then social media too, as we're all kind of in the social media hangover trying to figure out what is community really look like. Yeah. I wonder if something like a mall has a lot of future potential to be like a community anchor point of like instead of just like, hey, I need to go to this specific store, it's like, hey, let's just go walk around the mall as a family. Yeah. Like, let's just go hang out and see who we see. You know?

And I think you'll see in the way we redevelop it, like that's being done, right? To to give some like spaces for people to gather and hang out. And I think from how we program it, you know. Now, ideally, the only way it makes money is if we have people renting space in there too, right? So we've got to get some of that back in there. And yeah, um, it's uh it's funny. I, you know, I'll read something we were talking about, comments, social media, some of that, and I read one about how it said something like, Oh, they're just getting filthy rich off this mall. And I'm like, literally, I swear, I swear to God, that morning I told Dave, man, I don't know if this was a good idea. Well, we got our legitimately, the HVAC bids $8 million, right? To replace the HVAC system, right? And so I'm like, it's just that I don't think people understand quite um the mall doesn't look bad necessarily, right? They've they've put some flooring down, some stuff like that, but the infrastructure's bad, right? Wow. The plumbing, the HVAC, those types of things that are just big ticket items are bad. And and um, you know, we're trying to do it one time and do it well. And so yeah, it's just but it was just funny because someone thought we were making a lot of money in the mall. And I told Dave that morning, like, this may have been a bad idea. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, where did you get your $40 million from? Yeah, from the mall.

Well, that was part of it too. People are like, um, because we did the industrial revenue bonds, which if you look about every big project in Topeka, the the new apartments going on in downtown, Cyrus, we did industrial revenue bonds, right? All they really do is uh help you avoid paying sales tax on the raw materials, right? So they're designed to encourage development. Um, but people think like the county gave us $48 million. I'm like, no, that's that's on us, right? The bank's gonna buy those and then we have to pay the bank that money back. So um but you know it people don't they read a headline, they read a headline and they don't do much research into the speaker capital journal's headline, and then you click on the link and it doesn't let you read the whole article.

So exactly. I had an interesting conversation with uh David. Uh I don't know David, he doesn't know me, but he was working out with a buddy of mine at the gym, and so I went up and introduced myself. And uh I I told him, I said, Hey, you know, if you want to redo our office at the same time uh you're redoing the mall, let me know. Yada yada. And I was just asking him, you know, very much like, how's it going? Yeah, is it you know, are you excited? Is it gonna go well? Uh, you know, when's it supposed to be done or whatever? Very generic. And he gave a really, I don't even want to say it was cocky, it was like confident and it was actually inspiring. Because at the time I was reading uh Grit by Angela Duckworth, which the premise of that book is consistency beats talent. If you're consistent in something, it's gonna do well. And he his answer, but you know, is the mall gonna be successful? He said, Well, Advisors Excel isn't going anywhere.

Yeah.

He goes, We're gonna be here for a long time, and we're gonna keep trying. He goes, it will be successful eventually. Come on. You know, I'm paraphrasing, of course, uh the how he said it, but it was really like, I love that. Like, you know, is it gonna be successful today? I don't know. Yeah, is it gonna be successful in three years when it launches? I don't know. But you're not going anywhere. Yeah, so you know, you'll pivot, you'll make changes, it will work. Yeah, it's just a matter of when and how.

Yeah, I I think, and you know, I said this earlier. I think it what it is teaching me is patience, because that's definitely, you know, I know it's a virtue, it's just not one I have. Um and but I mean this has taught me to be a lot more patient, right? Like it's not gonna happen tomorrow. Even even like I said, like if everything went best case scenario, we're two to three years away from it being a vibrant mall again. You know, so it's um but I think that's a great answer. Like we're we're not gonna give up on it, right? We're gonna do it right. Um, I think if you look at pretty much anything we've done, we've tried to build it right, right? Or redevelop it right. Um, and I think everything we've done from you know, the old um furniture store that's our headquarters to gauge, like we would prefer to like go reinvest in an area that's already here in Topeka, um, you know, and bring it back to its potential versus build something new.

Yeah.

Um, so we'll yeah, we'll we'll get it there. It's just it's gonna take a while.

Well, it wasn't it was uh it was an inspiring answer, even for like, you know, my business. You know, like if I don't give up, if I'm just consistent, you know, make changes, don't do anything, you know, don't hammer the same idea, you know, it's not working, but make changes, pivots, stay consistent, it's gonna work.

It's uh I I know I mentioned the book, The Compound Effect earlier, and Darren Hardy's he's part of that mastermind group I'm in, you know, and the whole premise is like small things done consistently well over time, time compounds, you know. And I I think I said it kind of how I feel AE is, right? It's just like I've been living it every day for 20 plus years now. So it's just, you know, I've seen the work everyone does every day to to kind of get it to where it is today. So that's kind of what we'll have to do with them all, right? It's gonna be a um a process, but I I feel good about it, right? I I just I am excited. Yeah, retail's just a tough, tough thing. And I think um what will help, we just have to get a domino or two to fall. Because even even some of the nationals we're talking to, they're like, sounds interesting, you know, kind of intriguing. We haven't really seen something like this before. Um it was actually uh someone at Whole Foods said this. They're like, wait, so you're you're the developer, but it's also your headquarters that you're moving in. I said, Yeah, he's like, never seen that in any of these projects, right? So I think to Dave's point, it gives them some confidence, like this built-in kind of shopping source that you're gonna be able to do. You believe in it, so why don't you? Yeah, yeah, and they're not going anywhere. So um, but everyone we talk to is like, so who else is coming? And it's like, well, we're talking to a bunch of others. And they're like, well, call us back when you know the first one says yes. So I think if we can get you know a domino or two to fall, um, that that should help.

So can I ask you, uh, and then I want to honor your time so we'll get you out here in a sec. But um I was just time, so you uh oh well, let's just keep it rolling a little bit. Oh yeah. Just keep it going, Gabe.

Uh I gotta beat a circle coffee at 445. Oh perfect.

So perfect. Uh I was just curious. Um you said uh if you have the opportunity to develop your own community or invest in your own community, why wouldn't you? Um I think it's interesting because I mean, uh obviously a lot of us feel the same way, but obviously not everyone at Topeka feels that way. Yeah. Um which is why we're doing this podcast and you know, you're doing a lot of things. Um you know, there's a lot of uh I mean we could diagnose, but uh not everyone feels that way. And not everyone leans into, hey, this is my community, I'm gonna invest in that. Where did that come from? Like, how did you get to the B to have that mindset where you got in here, like, well, of course I'm gonna do this.

Especially you're not from here.

Yeah, yeah, 30 years here now. You know, it's kind of like kind of like I'm from here. Like, is it something about the way you grew up, or is it like you know what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, it may be. I I don't know if I've ever thought about it that much, actually. Um and I I always want to say this or preface it by saying, like, that's not a unique issue to Topeka, right? I mean, I travel a lot for work, travel all over the place. I mean, there's not a community you can go into that there's not gonna be naysayers about the community, right? Or people that which blows my mind. I don't know why you stay there if you hate the community that much. You know, it's always a weird thing, but um, I know it's not a good idea.

That's what almost every guest says. Yeah, I don't know. It's it's not easy to up and move, I get it too.

But I also don't know like why you would complain about it versus try and figure out how to contribute to it, right? Um so there's a whole contributor versus consumer conversation you could have around community, probably. Um I th you know it's I I was sitting there pondering that. So so my um my mom grew up in California, my dad grew up in North Carolina, he met her when he was in the the Navy station San Diego. Oh, cool. Um but I have no family in Kansas except for in the mid-70s, my grandparents on my mom's side traded some land in Southern California for this ranch outside of Stockton and moved there, ended up buying uh three, so like they were especially my grandpa, entrepreneurs, like not successful ones necessarily, but owned uh a cafe, a pizza place, and a pool hall in town. My dad worked for the city, my mom worked at the church. Um growing up in a small town, I think there was just a sense of of community and pride. You know, I'm I've never actually really thought about that that you saw and kind of experienced, you know. I think I saw it in the restaurants, I saw it in the pool hall, you know, however you want to think about, right? There was just this community that you would see there. So I think that's some of it. You know, I if there were um if there were maybe two like defining moments that I can think of as I think back on this. One, um, I remember having a conversation with uh Brent Bowles, who's who's probably kind of my closest friend here in Topeka. And he's about 10 years ahead of me in life, right? So it's just married 10 years longer, his kids are 10 years older. Um he's maybe more than 10 years older if he listens to this. But but uh I remember him saying both of his daughters had just graduated college or were out, and he's like, Yeah, I don't know you know if they're gonna live here or not. I just, you know, not sure if they see the opportunity. I think one was living in Kansas City at the time, and you know, my kids were probably middle school-ish at that time, and I'm like, man, I just I want to make sure my kids see Topeka as a place that there is opportunity, right? And not that, and awesome news, like both of Brent's daughters now live back in Topeka, right? They're married and and are back here, and I think are doing well and see see a ton of opportunity. Um, so I think that was one. And then I remember we were interviewing, I don't even remember what role, but it was something that we were definitely recruiting external, right? So people from out outside of Topeka, even really kind of outside of the state, and we missed like several candidates just didn't want to relocate. And Matt Byer leads our HR, said something to me. He's like, he goes, Cody, I've worked at some other places. He's like AE is like a destination employer, like everyone wants to come work here. Um, they they're in love with the idea of this job and working for AEE. They're just not in love with living in Topeka. And um so I think if there's a a selfish uh motivation behind it, I would love my kids to live close to me, you know, as they get older and grow up. Um, I think that's part of it. And then I think uh, you know, from the AE side, man, we're always trying to recruit and retain great talent. So um and I I think Topeka uh is is better than some people give it credit for, right? And I think we have some assets. I don't know that we've always leveraged those assets as well as we could, right? And I'm also not one to say, like, it's why we opened four restaurants. Like we didn't have the restaurants we need. We we still don't. Like, I mean, I think there can still be some development there. So it's not that that I look at it and say everything's perfect, right? But it's there there's some assets here that we could really take advantage of. And I I think you've seen, I mean, so much positive momentum the last decade, even, you know. And I I know Matt left us, but like credit to him. I think a lot of that started um, you know, when he came here, and just uh sometimes it takes someone coming in and seeing what's possible for a community uh and then kind of inspiring and bringing people, you know, around that.

So here's a question not not everybody in Topeka has the ability or the means to make an impact like you. Sure. Or even I can't even believe I'm comparing our podcast to what Cody Foster is doing, but or has a podcast where they can be vocal about our community, try and make a positive change. What is something that everybody can do to make a positive impact on their community and try and move Topeka forward?

Well, I I mean, I don't know if there's one specific thing, right? I think the the the more interesting thing there is like, what is one thing that you can do, right? Like I'm basic. Like we were talking about this, I think maybe we said it on the pile room or if it's before we started or after, but like I mean, if there's a local restaurant that you really like, uh they're probably hanging by a thread. Go support them. Like, you know, go some of those things. Um, you know, I know it's kind of cliche, but like shopping local does does matter, right? That's that's revenue that stays in this community. I think those things are important. Um, you know, basic things like mow your yard. Like, you know, you can take pride in what you have, you know, too. Like I'm don't know why that one hit me. Uh Lil Jordan Peterson, make your bed, yeah. I mean, hopefully my wife doesn't see this. Yeah. I do think there are some things like that. Just like figure out what is the one thing, you know, that you can do um and try, try and be a contributor to to what's going on. Um, but I I do think, you know, supporting things locally is is important because uh, you know, it that's a Tough any of those businesses. That's that's a tough thing. You know, I think voting in elections, like making sure we have good elected leaders is is really, really important. So that's some there's one. There's something goes on to the right. Everyone could go vote um, you know, in in the elections and make sure we have you know good elected leaders. And um yeah, those are a couple ideas. So lots of things. Yeah, it's so good.

Man, appreciate this so much.

This is so good. I have maybe one more advisor's question and then maybe we can switch to rapid fire.

Yeah, I was gonna say I have too many questions if you want to say we've turned your time. Uh true or false.

I had heard I don't know who from.

This could this could be interesting. Well, I've heard we're a cult. Yeah, yeah, I heard that one. And then that we're laundering money through Mission Church or something like that. So yeah.

Well, you know what Will Gitara says about cults, right? Uh-uh. Will Gitara um how's he say it? Because we have to do that. I forget exactly how it says but he says basically if people call you a cult means you're doing something good. Yeah.

Like you have language, you know, that people buy into. Yeah, yeah. Here's my question. Uh, advisors has gotten to the point you guys have gotten big enough. I have heard there's you guys are hiring a lot. I have heard, and maybe you have some insight into this, there are some people that are just talented people in Topeka that you're like, I'm gonna hire that person. I don't know what they're gonna do at our company, but we're gonna figure it out because I don't want them working somewhere else.

Yeah.

Is that accurate?

Yeah, yes, somewhat. Now, here's what I'll say. We we're not really in the business of hiring someone we don't have a job or role for, right? Um I I think one of the things we always say is we want people to to show up and work really hard from eight to five, but but we want them to get out of there too, right? So so I wouldn't say we make a habit of hiring people we don't need. Sure. Um maybe a different way of making it an interesting person. Let's hire you. I think maybe a different way of saying that is like if there's a talented person that we think we can hire that can add value. I'll give you a really great example. I don't know if you guys know Rodney Kenner at all. So Rodney had been a buddy of mine, was working at MIS, was talking about going out and doing this coaching. We've been talking about launching this like scaling up coaching program for advisors. So I told him, I'm like, Why don't you come run that for us, right? So that would be an example. Like, I don't know that we're gonna hire them without a role, yeah, but if we have or find someone talented and we think we can add value to our advisors by bringing that person on board, we I mean, that would probably be a better way to describe what we do.

So Jeremy Wynn is one of my mentors. He's actually on the board.

Yeah.

So yeah, that's great.

Great example. Like Jeremy was coaching. We had one of our best advisors was in right now, like as I left the office to come over here. Jeremy was doing a scaling up two-day retreat with him in the office. So that's awesome, man.

Any questions before we switch over to Rapid?

Yeah, I mean, this has been really fascinating. So I would love to go another hour, but yeah, to honor your time, yeah. Yeah, we have a few rapid fire questions we do with everybody. Um so it sounds like I mean you've been here pretty much.

But I should have probably listened, listened more.

First thing that comes in your head, and and I appreciate that like even when he asked you to pick one of your favorite restaurant children, you went there. A lot of people will like deflect, like, I'm not allowed to have an opinion. You're like, dude, come on, you're a human being. So yeah. So you know, we'll let you say what you want to say, but we're just gonna ask a few rapid fire updates. Let's do it. Life in Topeka. Okay. Um Do you have a favorite restaurant?

Well, it it's I have four. Non-Aim, non-aim. Oh, you gotta throw that out before.

It's too much of a softball if we let you pick up the phone. How many qualifications? Can we say local non-Aim restaurant?

I always tell my kids, um, I'm like, where do you want to eat tonight? You have four choices.

The money's staying in-house. Yeah.

You know, um a favor restaurant. Wow. That's uh so I would tell you, I I love what Adam's doing at White Lannon. Um in the Knox. I love, I love uh what Adam does. I think just brings something super unique. Uh so that's a great one. But if I were to tell you like the one we eat at the most would probably be uh El Ranchito. Come on.

So on Fairland?

Um that one a lot or Auburn. We bounce back and forth between those two, right? We're kind of like right in between the two of them. So um that that would probably be my my go-to. So again, chips and salsa and you know, can't beat it. Chili Colorado, you know. Oh yeah, good choice.

Good choice. Favorite local coffee shop.

Oh man. You know, I'm not um I have a machine at how uh house and I I just drink it there every day. That's fair enough. Yeah. I'm a I'm a blue jazz coffee guy. You know, so Kevin's a buddy. Um I I would say though, probably the one I go to the most is the PTs there in 29, just because it's right by our office. So you know, I meet people there um quite a bit. So that is probably the one I visit the most. Yeah. Uh this is another good non-political way of you know not throwing favorite.

Exactly, exactly. This is uh another kind of you know, ask you to pick a favorite child question, but you're going on a date. What what is like uh an average date night in Topeka? What are you doing?

Oh, I guess probably I mean, probably just going to dinner, you know, realistically. Maybe going to dinner with friends, um, something like that, probably going to weather room, you know, or penn it or iron rail or taco on one of those four. Now, which four of the aim restaurants again? I I would say um you know, I and my wife and I love live music. Yeah, you know, I mean, so we try and make a point to to get out to concerts. Um so you know, if something's going on at T Pac, we're probably gonna try and go there. I've tried to do a few concerts there. Um been down to some of the stuff at Evergy Plaza, which is super beautiful.

Do you ever selfishly try to recruit artists to come to Topeka that really you just want to see? Oh yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I was working on one with uh T Pek, but we couldn't make it happen. So I thought we had Need to Breathe lined up for the concert there. Okay, dang. Yeah, but it didn't happen. They did some work out.

So yeah, this is not a rapid fire, but best concert you've ever been to.

Man, there's some good ones. Um probably uh this was probably seven, eight years ago, maybe nine years ago now, um, for a friend's 40th birthday. We went to Chicago and uh Pearl Jam played at Wrigley Field. It was like, I don't know if it was the first time they'd ever played there, but Eddie Better grew up in Chicago. Wow. And basically came out at the beginning of the night and said, We're playing tonight till the cops come and kick us out. He played for four and a half hours. Wow. That's crazy. Yeah, like cool covers that were like big songs to him growing up. Cool. Um, and then honestly, what one of the other best concerts I've ever been to, there are probably a few Topeka people that remember this one, but Beck and the Roots played at T-Pac about 15 years ago, maybe 20 years ago now. Wow. That was an awesome concert, too. So they did this version, Roots came out with Beck and did where it's at for like 13 minutes, you know, or just yeah. That was a cool concert.

So was that like around the time he won a Grammy? He had like a problem of the year. Probably.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's fire.

Okay, you're doing a home project. Are you going to Menard's Home Depot?

Lowe's? Um, I'm the least handy person in the world. Uh, but my brother is a contractor. So what I'm really probably doing is call my brother. Okay. Where is he going? Yeah. Where's he going? What what do you need me to go pick up? So um I mean, realistically, uh I met John Menard one time at an event. Uh so like awesome, awesome entrepreneur story. Um, so that's probably where I sound like Menard's answer. Yeah, I shop at Menard's probably the most. And it's kind of the first one on my route, you know. So it just isn't. Yeah, if I can drive there, if I can drive there and do it.

Yeah. Have you ever met Jim Home Depot before?

I haven't, but I'm a Home Depot fan too. Yeah. So it would be home those two, and then Lowe's Lowe's would be last. So yeah, that's um we're both winners. I like I like Home. Yeah, I actually like from a culture and what Home Depot's done. Uh I mean, awesome, awesome story. And then I know a little bit more about them. Greg Brenneman, who's the Washburn alums, actually, uh I don't know if he's the current chairman of their board, but it's been on the Home Depot board. So he's shared some of the things they do just culture-wise. I mean, it's uh it's a pretty incredible organization what they built. Yeah.

So I mean their theme song like blew up the internet. Yeah. Yeah. Unbelievable. It's amazing.

Uh what else do we have? Then I have a I have a podcast question for them.

How many potholes did you hit on the way here? Uh none. None. Yeah. Skilled drivers.

Um yeah, I don't know. That'll that'll get the comments going though. Nothing gets the comments going like potholes.

We need to get that sales tax coming from Westridge, and then we can fix it.

How come they use their $40 million to fix our potholes? Uh I mean, all joking aside, it's a real problem, right? I mean, we have old infrastructure in Tobeka. I mean, but that's again one of those like and generally speaking, though, you go to any place and roads aren't great, right? Especially in the Midwest. It's a hard thing to maintain. You get the heat, then you get the cold, the ice. I mean, that's just a lot to to try and navigate. So but there's some bad potholes. So I mean, yeah. Yeah.

Well that's amazing. Is that is that it for Rapid Fire? I think so, yeah. Cool. One final question. We'll get you out of here. Yeah. Uh maybe two questions. You have a podcast. Yeah. Business of advice podcast. You interview all sorts of thought leaders, entrepreneurs across the United States world. Yeah. Maybe. Um, so you've been doing this longer than we have. Okay. What is one thing that you would what's a piece of advice you would give us as podcast hosts and owners, uh, what we do, uh, maybe generically. Yeah. And then also, what would you give the piece of advice would you give to us as co-hosts as Topeka of Topeka Insider?

Um, we you I feel like you're kind of doing some of it already. So, like I this probably would have been better advice like when when you first started, right? But I remember um Rory Vaden, who's a good friend of mine, and and honestly is kind of the guy behind a lot of like the big podcasts and stuff that you'll see out there, he asked me a really important question. He's like, Who's your audience? Like, who do you want listening to your podcast? And he's like, everything you should do around it should be built towards that audience. And and the answer I gave him at the time was like, uh, and it's still true to this day, is like the only people I care to listen to the podcast is our advisors. Right. For me, it's a way, um, for me as the organization has got bigger, and maybe I don't have the same um one-on-one time that I used to have with some of them. It's like a way for me to communicate to them consistently. Um and the only reason I say that, even if you listen to my podcast, what you'll hear me say and do a lot in there is like reinforce all the things that we're always talking to our advisors about, right? Like how important we think live events and come together and learning from each other are stuff like that. So I think really understanding like you know who it is, and I have a pretty good understanding of that with what you all are doing, but then like just making sure that all of your messaging, the interviews, everything is is designed around that, right? Um so I think that was like great advice he gave me that I that I would give people. I I feel like you've got that fairly dialed in though, you know. Yeah, yeah. So it's like but I mean thinking about that too, of like you know, just making sure that everyone you bring on is like super focused on like, hey, what's going on in Topeka? And right um maybe the only other things like like what is it that you hope people take from the podcast too, right? Um and you know, you know, I think what I've heard from listening to it is like like you are trying to kind of paint a picture of the great things that are happening in Topeka and you know, people that are trying to make those things happen, uh which I think is just a good reminder. You know, we talked about some of the naysayers in that, but there's there's more than at any point in time, the 30 years that I've lived in Topeka, like there are people really trying to push this community forward, right? Um does again, doesn't mean we don't still have uh our fair share of challenges that we're gonna have to navigate through, but just and and I think a lot of um, you know, even looking at who you've had, like a lot of good young leaders too, right? You know, that are coming up, really trying to do some some cool things. I mean, even this like is a great example of you know something that's just different, really um painting Topeka in, you know, a positive light, I guess you would say. So um but it's funny watching just like how many people you've had on the podcast, you know, a lot of friends, but just like people that I've gotten to know through just work that they're doing in Topeka, too. So awesome. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Cool, cool. Well, Cody, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for doing it too.

This has been so great. Awesome. Absolutely.