The Joy of Leadership, Listening, Learning

Chris Kiefer (00:01.256)

Welcome back to the Pursuit of Purpose. My name is Chris Kiefer and I am here today with Tom Gresh, who is the Director of Operations at Wake Up Call Coffee. And Tom will tell us a little bit more about that shortly. But first of all, I wanna say, Tom, I'm super glad we were able to make this happen. I had mentioned this to you and correct me if I'm wrong, but you thought I was joking. And I was like, no, I want to talk to you on my podcast about leadership. So...

Tom Gresch (00:22.629)

Oh, yeah.

Tom Gresch (00:26.602)

Well...

Chris Kiefer (00:27.668)

Glad we clarified that, because I am very, very excited for today's call. And first of all, I know you got a lot of things going on. So thank you for taking the time to do this.

Tom Gresch (00:37.43)

Oh, it's my pleasure and thank you for asking. I really didn't believe you really. Most people don't wanna hear what I have to say, mostly my family and my close friends. So, you know, just having an outlet, that was pretty nice. So thank you for the offer. And I'll have to tell you that this is the first time that I've done this. So just so you know, I hope I don't surprise you with things.

Chris Kiefer (00:52.127)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (01:05.028)

No, I feel, well, you might surprise me because I still, like my first introduction to you was around a campfire with a bunch of other guys telling stories and you had the funniest story, which we won't get into now, of purchasing chicken from a local grocer. But that's for another day. And I was like, after that story, which had everybody laughing, just on the floor.

I was like, I need to talk to this guy. And then I found out that you also were connected to my uncle, who's a teacher over in Spokane. And anyway, so there's all these connections. And then the other one was our, uh, your daughter and my kids go to school together. And then you are involved at wake up call where we get coffee all the time. So I was like, okay, there's so many things aligning. It was only a matter of time before I pick your brain on how you inspire, uh, and lead people. So that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Tom Gresch (01:37.824)

Yes.

Tom Gresch (01:47.384)

Mm-hmm.

Tom Gresch (02:00.458)

Well, well, thank you so much. Yeah, absolutely. And I've got to say, just absolutely. I've known your uncle for so, so long. He and I were teaching in the same school district when I started out and just a wonderful guy. And so when we made that connection, I was just really appreciative that you did that. So yeah, and I promise I will not tell my chicken stories. Okay.

Chris Kiefer (02:21.264)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (02:27.176)

All my family, like on the Kiefer side, my dad was a PE teacher, my uncle Brett's a teacher, my aunt Jerry, my aunt Doreen, everybody except my uncle Mark is, they're all teachers. And I like growing up, I had a lot of fun, but like you maybe, I'm not sure, we'll find out. I was like, I love teaching and I still actually have a passion. I would love to find a way to.

educate more people and do like little master classes on tech or automation. But the actual teaching role and that job and career was not something that I have ever been drawn to. Um, so, and the summers are nice, but it was, uh, yeah, I, I think it's great that I am connected to so many teachers. But for me, I was like, I love technology and business and entrepreneurship. And I felt like there was too much red tape. I'd always hear my dad talk about things he wanted to do.

And it was just like the approval process to do a simple thing. It was like, I just want to be an entrepreneur and be like, we're going to here. And they're like, who says like I do because I'm in charge and we're going to figure out how to do it. You know, nobody has no one else's opinion matters.

Tom Gresch (03:38.307)

Chris?

No, and Chris, you are teaching. You have been teaching. You have been teaching and guess what? You learned it from teachers, your parents, your friends, your colleagues, and your learning and your listening and your teaching. And this is just an exact place. It's just a different, it's a different schoolhouse. And what we, I think we really need to do is really learn about others and learn about their successes.

Chris Kiefer (04:04.031)

Yeah.

Tom Gresch (04:11.222)

Why are they successful? How do they make the connections and be successful with that? But then what do they do with it? And, and how do they build upon that for themselves? And I think it's really just a matter of really the, how you approach things. And I always approach things from a positive presupposition and that, Hey, everybody is wanting to do the right thing. Okay. And if you approach it from there, then.

I believe it's the best way, but the way you get there is learning from other great leaders. And in my life, I've been surrounded by them since birth. And I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do when I was a very young man. But my grandparents and my parents and my close extended family always helped me.

with that. They gave me great jobs like, hey, you did what? Oh, you get to clean the stall this weekend. Oh, fantastic. What a great opportunity for me. The character building, they taught basically the golden rules and it was through work and family. And I cannot tell you how important that was in the beginning of my leadership. And I remember the first time that I became...

uh, an individual leader, uh, was after, uh, in a, in a match, uh, soccer match that I was in, um, I was a tad bit more passionate than my dad would have appreciated. And, uh, I ended up getting ejected from the game because of it. Um, and it was, uh, it was pretty cool. I was 13, a little out of control and, uh, my dad didn't talk to me for a week. And, uh, the lesson learned there was when he walked in and he finally talked to me, he.

threw a book on my bed and he said, this is the soccer rule book. You and I are signed up for a soccer referee clinic this weekend and you better get a better score than I get. And that was it. I studied so hard. I went in, one person beat me when it came to the written test and that was my father. And from there, I just was at one of their mom and dad's soccer games and.

Tom Gresch (06:37.238)

The assigner came up, hey, I heard you got your license. I said, yeah, I got kicked out of a game, so I had to get my license. He goes, oh, here's your cards, here's your whistle. Go ref that game over there. And I was refing ever since, up until about 97, when I stopped with the NCAA stuff. But it was character building. It was like dad could have swatted me, could have just cussed me out one side and down the other.

Chris Kiefer (06:55.042)

I love that.

Tom Gresch (07:05.862)

No, the silence was killer. I learned from that. I really learned it. Ah, okay, there's another way for the corrective action. And it was a good way and it was a learning. And so, you know, and mom tested me afterwards. I mean, I got to ref some of their games and she was a very dirty defensive player and I knew how she played. And so when I was reffing her game, I cautioned her during the game, gave her the yellow card. And she goes,

And I said, you better stop it or I'm going to kick you out. And, uh, and she goes, if you kick me out of this game, you're not getting dinner. And the other team yelled over, Hey Tommy, we'll feed you. So, you know, you'll learn it from a lot of different places. It was a learning that when you went through a gate, uh, and it was, uh, closed and locked, you better close and lock it after you go through.

Chris Kiefer (07:46.776)

Hahaha!

Tom Gresch (08:00.414)

All it takes is one gate open and the cattle getting out. And I learned that the hard way from grandpa. So, you know, it's just those golden rules and treat others like you'd want to be treated.

Chris Kiefer (08:06.196)

Mmm.

Chris Kiefer (08:11.612)

Mm, I think one thing that I'm curious about, if you could run through like brief, like history of your jobs to now be where you are now, and just like maybe the highlight along the way, you can go start back as far as you feel is relevant. Sounds like soccer official at age 13, right, or 14, and then.

Tom Gresch (08:21.527)

Oh yeah!

Tom Gresch (08:29.972)

Okay.

Yep, yep, yep. And then, and from there, I, in high school, I coached some youth soccer teams. I was always captain or president of whatever club or team I was on, just because naturally I didn't know how to follow. And so I led and learned a lot from that early on. Went to...

I went off to college, really didn't know what I wanted to major in or what I wanted to do, but mom and dad really encouraged me to get a degree. And my plan was to get a degree and become, go into career military like my father. He was a colonel in the Air National Guard and Air Force before that. And so I went to school, but at the same time, I had three jobs in college.

You know, all the typical jobs security for the football stadium and paying officials. And then I was an NCAA official, so I got to travel quite a bit as a young person. And after that, it led to getting a teaching job because one of my close friends in my fraternity at college, he was an educator, was going to be an educator.

And he said, you know, hey, what about this? And so I called my dad and I said, dad, I'm really enjoying this coaching. I'm coaching at the local high school. Um, you know, I, I really think that this education thing might be good. And he, uh, takes his cigar out of his mouth and he said, well, son, so it's not the same military I joined. I think that, uh, this would be a good option for you. And next thing you know, I did my student teaching at my old high school and, uh, got a job there, uh, right after that summer.

Tom Gresch (10:22.122)

And I was a paraprofessional in the in-house detention room. Didn't know how to do that. I was told to be mean to make sure kids would go back to their classes. I just couldn't do it. And then finally I had to say, okay kids, go back to your classes. And then taught, absolutely loved it. I taught middle school, social studies, English and reading and a little bit of math. And just devoured it. And then within, after five years of that,

During that time, I went to get my master's in educational leadership and my principal credential and did that. And then after five years of teaching, I got offered a job at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. And as an assistant principal, I was 27 years old, had a just got married child on the way. He turns 26 today.

Um, and, uh, and I got that job and, um, I bought a minivan. Uh, that was a big, big thing in my life. I didn't think I'd ever own one of those. Uh, one of the best rigs I've ever had. It's, it's not glamorous, but it was good. Um, and, uh, yeah, absolutely. And then ended up with, uh, ended up with stomach pain. So I went in the dock and I said, Hey, you know, I got these stomach pains. I'm wondering, is it something I'm eating or what? And, uh,

Chris Kiefer (11:33.94)

functional, functional overlooks.

Tom Gresch (11:46.762)

He goes, was there anything stressful in your life? No. And then I went through, he's, well, have you had any events? I went through all nine of them in one year. And he goes, oh my gosh, any one of those could cause that. So what I did was I moved forward. And so then a short time later, I became a principal at a couple of the area high schools. And after that, I went into the dark side of administration in public schools. And...

was at the district level and did just about every job except for cheer advisor. I just wasn't going to do that. And then it was, you know, from there I did a little consulting on the side and leadership. And it was fun. And then a very close friend, which you can learn a lot from friends, who is a local business owner, asked me if I would consider coming and working with him.

I got a huge, huge education in business and something that I didn't have to worry about money. Hey, it was coming in and I would get it every year and we'd move on and it was, you know, thank you taxpayers, you know, and it was just, it was just not feeding my soul and great people loved it. The kids were fantastic. It was just time to do something different in my life. And that's, and that was the move to a director of operations at wake up call.

So there you go.

Chris Kiefer (13:16.432)

And so now, so now I'm my curiosity is around. So you have all this leadership experience You come you come into and this is super stereotypical So tell me if I'm like offending you or people that work for you but they the coffee world is like You know, I guess I used to say Millennials because I'm a millennial and I used to be the 20 year old but now it's like Gen Z, I think the

It's the young kids, like 16 to 25 mostly. That's like probably the bulk of your employees and it's high energy, you know, early mornings, music, whatever. That seems like a very different world than being an administrator for a school district.

Tom Gresch (14:02.57)

Well, it's just a different leadership. It's all over again. It's having the opportunity to teach. It's having the opportunity to find those learning moments. It's helping others grow into those leadership pieces. Because those 18-year-old baristas, they have so much potential, they don't even know. And so we give them that opportunity to grow within a safe environment.

They have a leader that they can go to, a lead barista. And after that, they can go to a position like a district manager. And after that, a regional manager. And each time, if you take it as an opportunity to teach them about aspects of a business, then they understand that, ah, there are other opportunities for us. And it's a simple recipe. You make it so.

Do they want, when they're there, do they, when they go onto whatever their next step is, do they look back and say, I really enjoyed that time in my life because I had a chance to work at Wake Up Call and in that position. And I, then they made it so I could grow within that. And yeah, there's, there's times where I'm going, what am I, am I instructing one of my five children here? I mean, come on. But then I realized, no, I need to do it the same way. I need to approach it as they must not know this.

How do I make it so it's a corrective thing and a learning opportunity?

Chris Kiefer (15:32.084)

And like you said at the very beginning, you approach it from everybody's wanting to do good. No one signs up for a job like, man, I just would love to let everybody down and just not do what I'm supposed to. And just getting fired, that's a four month goal for me for sure. Like that's, no one does that, right?

Tom Gresch (15:52.322)

No, no, no. And what you have to understand is it's a simple model if you really break it down. We're giving an opportunity for an individual to learn a trade, learn an opportunity of customer service to people that want what we're serving. And all we need to do is make it so it's a great experience and an efficient experience and a repetitive experience.

that is the same coffee, the same drink, the same experience every single time. And then that's just repeat customer. And you know that, you, with your company, you know, yeah, do you really wanna make sure that one of your clients is not happy? No, no, that's not the goal. And so we just give them the tools for that and try and make it so it's the most innovative experience for them for learning, but also eventually for our customers.

Chris Kiefer (16:49.708)

Hmm. What is the, I'm assuming that you have like an academy. I mean, this is maybe a big assumption, but wake up call now is how many locations?

Tom Gresch (17:00.931)

It's in during the summer. It ends up being about 30 across Idaho and Washington

Chris Kiefer (17:05.419)

30 locations in the summer, so you close some in the winter?

Tom Gresch (17:09.634)

Yeah, we have our bus, our double decker bus. If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. It's pretty cool serving coffee out of an English double decker bus. It's pretty sweet. If you want, you can go.

Chris Kiefer (17:13.42)

Oh.

Chris Kiefer (17:20.209)

So that's one location that's mobile.

Tom Gresch (17:22.738)

Yes, mobile location. We try not to move it too much, but just the big events in the local area. Um, and then, uh, a local stadium has a baseball all summer. Uh, great thing. And we've been there for many, many years. And then, uh, we also have a local university that we set up a cart there for their big games. So.

Chris Kiefer (17:42.988)

That's awesome. Because I was going to say, this is my experience in knowing what it takes to scale home service or any other business that has many locations. To what degree, maybe you wouldn't say this or say that this is what you guys are, but I've heard a home service company guy who grew this national brand and he said that they had to make the change from being...

a remodeling company to a training company, an employee training company. So they literally like in order to grow, they became the best in the country on training people that had no skills to, you know, swap out a shower or whatever the thing was, learn how to do tile and grout and all that stuff. And then that's like the tactical stuff. And then there's soft skills, interpersonal leadership things, but that was all like,

Tom Gresch (18:15.373)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (18:39.828)

you go to work for this company and you're gonna come out five years down the road, 10 years down the road, a totally different person and you had a job the whole time as opposed to like going to school, paying for an education and then just like coming out with a bunch of knowledge and no practical experience working. That's how he described it. Is that what you are experiencing or is that like the vision that you guys have? And is there like a wake up call? It's like the McDonald's University, you know? Is that like

Tom Gresch (18:56.971)

Yep.

Chris Kiefer (19:09.7)

Are you moving in that direction or to what degree is that a priority?

Tom Gresch (19:11.855)

Thanks. Well, right now, it's truly up to the president of our company and the leaders there. We have a very robust, getting to the teaching part, we have a very robust wake up call university using your term. I like that. And it is from, well,

decades of experience. The folks that are putting together the lessons and the experiences have been with us 15, 20 years. And so they can go into any one of our stores and make any drink for you, but then they're able to come back and through video lessons, one-on-ones, they show the best practices to the newest baristas. And it's a simple recipe.

And so it's it is nice to have that now replicating that yeah when you grow you have those growing pains and What you have to do is as you know, you have to come in behind with systems whether that be Electronic systems whether that be systems of protocol Whether that be policies procedures you have to make sure because if you don't have that great foundation

There's no way you can move forward. And so there's a lot of pressure on all of us to make sure that we continue to build on that great foundation because you don't want it to crumble, that's for sure.

Chris Kiefer (20:45.904)

Yeah. And then your other, it sounds like, um, you said this, but the goal or the, the model is like, Hey, start working here and move up. So as you guys continue to expand, you want to promote from someone who's literally started as a barista. They worked their way up. They know the systems, they've been there, they've done that. And now they're managing a region or a group of people instead of just going and finding someone to hire as that person. Correct.

Tom Gresch (21:16.519)

It works. Our most success has been growing from within and growing our own. Now, it doesn't mean that we can't...

Chris Kiefer (21:22.108)

Yeah. And obviously occasionally you have to find someone that like you, you didn't start as a barista, but that's a different role and there's not very many of those, right? But in general, that's the goal.

Tom Gresch (21:29.677)

No

Correct.

But what they need for, from me, what the company needs for me, I have had a ton of experience in. And so therefore I, I handle a lot of things that a lot of people just haven't had. It's not that they can't, it's just they haven't had that opportunity, the opportunities that I've had. And so that's when I go into teach mode and hopefully I will, you know, grow someone from within that can.

eventually take on the role that I'm in and I can move to whatever else is needed. So that's always the goal is to replace, you know, when, when you step away from a position, at least the only thing that I have ever wanted every time I've stepped away from a position into a new one, um, is that the person that is coming in after does a better job and takes it farther than I took it. And if they don't shame on them, um, that's why they were hired is to take it in a

another or a better direction and take it to the next level. And I've been really fortunate to have some great people do that. And that's what I leave. You know, they, you know, you can leave a lot of things, but that's my, that's my request. And that is my humble suggestion to them when they come in.

Chris Kiefer (22:52.16)

Do you guys have, from the wake up call side of things, do you have, and to me I think, I personally am extracting so many leadership levels out of just making it super practical, so that's why I keep diving into different scenarios. I'm like, okay, if it works there, how does it work here, whatever. But one thing I think is interesting is when businesses find out what business they're really in. So on one hand you could say you're in the coffee business, but

what are people actually buying from you that they, because if you are truly in the coffee business, and this is like my marketing background, and you can tell me if you disagree with any of this, and it's like, well then why do I go to Wake Up Call or anywhere else? Like, I'll just go to, I'll get my coffee at a random place every day, but in order to get consistency and repeat clients, they, I think, they're buying something else other than just coffee from you guys. And have you,

Is that something that you use that same language or like, how would you build on what I'm saying and apply that to the wake up call world?

Tom Gresch (23:58.055)

We tell it's a simple one for our baristas make their day. Okay. Hey.

As soon as they hand out the drink, can you test that drink? Just take a sip. I want to make sure it's right. It is? Okay, great. Thank you. It's not. Here, here. Give that back to me. You know what? Just keep it if it's completely wrong. Let me remake it. Here you go. And it's the idea of it's the customer service. Now we constantly are looking for the very best products and the healthiest products for our customers.

But those are small changes because what, why are they keep coming back? They're coming back for that number one, that great beverage that they want, or that, that great pastry that they want. And so we are always focused on the customer and it's, it's nothing different. It's, it's a hedgehog theory. Okay. From Jim Collins back in turn of the century, you know, he, he said, do, what do you do better than anyone else?

And it is the quality and customer service done by quality individuals. There you go. That's, that's it. We can, we can put it in. We are constantly looking to improve. And so that's, that's how I, I take it. And that's how I see it happening at, at wake up.

Chris Kiefer (25:09.868)

Hmm. Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (25:22.556)

Yeah, because I, I'm thinking these are other books I've read, but like, uh, Starbucks realized that they were, they were like in the business of like that second, uh, workplace or the in-between work and home place. I don't know if you've ever heard that or like McDonald's, I think it was McDonald's was selling consistency. Like you go to any McDonald's and I know it's going to be the exact same thing, taste the exact same.

Tom Gresch (25:36.555)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (25:50.064)

And it can like, that's the scalable, scalable thing. And like the, so anyways, I just think that's interesting to like really hone in on, like this is the thing that we're going to be known for and everybody is going to remember. And that's why they're going to choose us instead of somebody else. And I also love Jim Collins.

Tom Gresch (26:05.19)

Correct. Yeah. And I'll tell you, people can, you said it just in the beginning there, you can go get a cup of coffee, a lot of different places. Why choose us? Why choose them? It's preference, it's experience. If you're having a crummy experience, you're not coming back. If you have a crummy product, they're not coming back. And so that's why that consistency piece, time and time again, that's what

we hope and that people will come back and continue coming to us because of the experience with these great people.

Chris Kiefer (26:43.388)

Yeah, I do think that like when you're, cause you just opened up a place in Tri-Cities, is that right?

Tom Gresch (26:48.874)

Yeah, we have several in the Tri-Cities and Walla area.

Chris Kiefer (26:53.184)

Cause I was going to say when we were driving through there, I saw it was like, Oh, wake up call. And I think that there's that piece of the, um, the strength, it's the strength of the brand. But when you're driving somewhere like, Hey, I'm, you know, we need coffee. It's been a long road trip, whatever. And you can always go to like whatever stand is on the side of the road, like a little one-off shop, but you see a brand like wake up call and you're like, yeah, I'm just, I mean, I, it's just like this much easier potentially.

to just, it takes one more uncertainty out of your day, which is worth it. You know, like I might as well go there. Cause I know what I'm going to get as opposed to the off chance, even if it's low that I go somewhere else and it's like, now I wasted five minutes of my day. Then why just, let's just go with the certain path of like, I know it's, I know what's going to happen. You know,

Tom Gresch (27:40.778)

Yeah, and that's, you know, I take my oldest daughter, she's going to school back in the Midwest and oh, she just begs me, just say, dad, please, please convince wake up call to bring it out here, please, we just were desperate out here. And I said, well, find the mom and pop place and go to them. And I said, you just gotta hunker down, honey, you know. She goes, even on campus. And I said, well,

then do something about it. So, get a business model, start it, and go from there.

Chris Kiefer (28:15.612)

It is crazy, I heard, we have cousins in Cleveland, Ohio, and regionally, I don't know if you, you probably have studied this, and maybe it's changing now, but they were blown away. This was probably seven years ago, when they were over here, and they were, there's coffee, just like drive-through coffee stands everywhere in the Northwest, and in Cleveland area, you're parking your car and you're walking in to get a coffee, like there's no.

Tom Gresch (28:20.023)

Mm-hmm.

Chris Kiefer (28:43.956)

these like little trailer things that are literally, I feel like in our town, you could throw a rock in any direction and hit five of them. Like they're everywhere. And for whatever reason, I don't, maybe it in the Midwest too, it's just much, much more common. You have like your Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, that maybe they have a drive-through, maybe not, but these like random individual ones, it's just not a, it's not common.

Tom Gresch (28:50.039)

Ha ha.

Tom Gresch (29:02.614)

Yep.

Tom Gresch (29:11.166)

Right. No, it's not. It's not. And that's why the UPS or the U.S. Postal Service does have flasks. I can put a flask together, put it in a box, send it back full of her favorite coffee, and then she has that for a little while and she doesn't share. I want people to know that she does not share the coffee with her friends. Very selfish about her coffee.

Chris Kiefer (29:34.272)

That needs to go on record, yeah. That's awesome. So let's dive into some book recommendations.

Tom Gresch (29:43.102)

Yes, absolutely. Well, this is tough. Early in my career, or early in my life, I really wasn't that avid of a reader. I was more into the running around and doing things, but I have some and it's just going to kind of go through my maturation of life. Okay, so the first one, Good Night Moon. It was very instrumental when I had my kids. Absolutely loved it.

One of my interviews for a principal physician, they said, what was the most recent book you read? And it was like, well, I'm gonna be honest with them. It was last night, it was Good Night Moon, the little picture book, kid picture book by Margaret Wise. So the next one that I, it's a generational one. It's The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Absolutely loved it. It's something that my mom and I share, my mom and dad and I shared with my in-sys.

Chris Kiefer (30:22.709)

Hahaha.

Tom Gresch (30:40.734)

And then I have shared with my kids and I know that my kids are going to share with their kids. So it just, it was very instrumental. It's just so, so much about life. And then of course.

Chris Kiefer (30:51.924)

We just, we just watched or Natalie had the great idea of reading the book to our three kids. And then once we finished the book, then we got to watch the movie. Um, and so literally in the last month, we just did that, but I have to admit, I have not actually read it. Um, I had seen the movie before and I, um, now the kids were like super, super into it and it was crazy that like they were begging.

Tom Gresch (31:02.925)

Yes.

Chris Kiefer (31:18.984)

Natalie to read more, read another chapter. They get home from school, can we read Chronicles of Narnia? But great, yeah, just we want, and our oldest is already starting, we want to instill that just the desire to read. Because if you have that, just life is better, so.

Tom Gresch (31:23.371)

Yes.

Tom Gresch (31:39.414)

because it just leads to so many other things. And I know, I know for a fact, the better reader you are, the more confident you are, and eventually you can solve things a lot easier because you've gone through so many scenarios in the head. Of course, then there was a time where I wasn't understanding things and I read the Count of Monte Cristo, and I didn't feel sorry for myself after that. And now I'm at the stage of life where...

Chris Kiefer (31:53.196)

100%.

Tom Gresch (32:07.894)

I read books like Death Judgment, Heaven and Hell, Father Wade Meneses. I believe I pronounced it right. I hope I pronounced it correct.

Chris Kiefer (32:19.389)

Did you just say multiple books or is that one title?

Tom Gresch (32:24.722)

No, yeah, it's just one title, death, judgment, heaven and hell. And it's just about the, you know, preparing yourself for what's next. And it really puts things into perspective. And I look at my five children and, you know, all four of them are away at, you know, they're starting their own lives. And, and I'm just in a different stage. And so I really reflect a lot more.

And I really listen a lot more and try to learn from their experiences and then just give them the opportunity to ask questions if they have. But you know, it gets to a point in your life where you go, wow, what's most important? And I think it's just preparing and preparing for being a grandpa here in a couple months. You know, I'm really excited about that. And then watching, you know, watching my son and my daughter-in-law just prepare for that and been there, done that.

And, but it's fun to watch others do that and try to pass on a little bit of wisdom in those situations.

Chris Kiefer (33:28.084)

Absolutely. Then the fun question, favorite movie.

Tom Gresch (33:33.606)

Oh, this is tough. I mean, you know, the manly man in me, I had all kinds of ones. I mean, there's so many. I was just recommended to me a couple of years ago. It was, it's a movie called The Quiet Man. It's a 1952 movie. It stars John Wayne and I believe it's Scarlett O'Hara based in Ireland. And it is a wonderful.

movie just about life and it's a it's really it's one of the first rom-coms so it's really one it's worth it it's worth it to see you know it's definitely not a 2024 you know production but it's great and it's just great acting and it just really touched me at a different level

Chris Kiefer (34:24.94)

Hmm.

Tom Gresch (34:25.182)

You know, I would have said Gladiator earlier, but I, you know, my buddy told me, Hey, watch this. I'm like, what? Come on. A 1952 movie. Is it even in color? Come on. And it was, I, yeah, Technic color. Oh yeah. So, so it's great. I, I just, I recommend that to everyone, because it just has so many life things. You know, it touches on all at many different levels.

Chris Kiefer (34:36.136)

Technicolor, actually. I just looked it up. Ha ha ha.

Tom Gresch (34:53.218)

the rights and wrongs of life and how you deal with those.

Chris Kiefer (34:57.116)

Absolutely. Yeah. The, uh, I'm just looking at this. I don't, I don't know if I talked to you about this before, but I am obsessed with IMDB ratings. So anytime someone makes a suggestion, I always look it up on IMDB to see on a scale from one to 10. What's the average score that it got? I don't, do you have, have you used that for any movie before? Okay. So in on IMDB, I look up every movie and my friend from college and I, we had come up with this plan.

Tom Gresch (35:14.742)

Mm-hmm.

I haven't, no, no.

Chris Kiefer (35:27.58)

We're trying to come up. What's the bar where like, you know, you got a good movie or the like, don't waste your time. And so what we came up with a system and there's rules and stuff. So you can, you're, you automatically are able to play. It's your choice if you want to or not, but anyone in the world is given a mulligan, which I'll come back to in a second, but you make a recommendation on a movie. And if it is above a 7.3 on IMDB, then that means it's going to be a good movie.

And so then the way that we came to that was just through trial and error and like, yeah, that was good. And when I say a good movie, it's like, it's going to be a movie that you're like, that was worth my two hours, right? Cause we only have like, I like movies, but I don't have a ton of time. And the last thing you want to do is get into a movie and be like, this is just stupid. I'm not engaged at all. There's nothing here for me. So the 7.3 is the cutoff where if it's above a 7.3, that means that out of the tens of thousands of people that rated this thing,

Tom Gresch (36:06.474)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Chris Kiefer (36:25.352)

It got a 7.3. That's like, and I feel like I'm a generally, like I just like good movies. I'm not like a film snob that's gonna critique the director of photography and the camera lens that they use or whatever, you know? But the point is that if you're above a 7.3, like I can tell you, if you ever find a movie and you look it up, it's above a 7.3, you can safely add that to your watch list and it'll be worth your time. The hard part is finding movies that are under a 7.3 that are still good.

Tom Gresch (36:48.432)

That's great.

Chris Kiefer (36:55.336)

So if you ever come across a movie that's a sub 7.3 that you like, those are the ones I really want to know about because I, you know, it's hard to find those, right? But if you make a recommendation that's sub 7.3, then you have to use a mulligan in order for me to watch that movie because it's not above a 7.3. And if I like it, you get your mulligan back and we'll take more recommendations from you that are sub 7.3.

But if it's not good, then you don't get your mulligan back. And I only will take positive or above 7.3 recommendations moving forward. All that to say, do you wanna guess what this movie's rated?

Tom Gresch (37:36.454)

Oh, I would, well, I would hope it's up above a 7.3, but I, it was good. It was really good. So I'd have to say eight.

Chris Kiefer (37:48.968)

It's a 7.7, so you do not have to use your mulligan. I added it to my watch list. But yeah, it honestly is like, when you start thinking about movies that you liked, and look them up, and you'll see they're above a 7.3. And what I always ask people is, if you don't believe me, try to think of a movie that you liked, that you think would be below it. Like, I like this, but I bet most people wouldn't have liked it.

Tom Gresch (37:53.84)

Yes!

Chris Kiefer (38:15.228)

look it up and it's so hard to find a movie that you genuinely enjoyed that's below 7.3. So there's my time saving movie tip for you and for all the listeners, uh, to look up the movies and see if they're above 7.3 and then also tell me if you find one that's below it because I'm, I, people always were like, that's not going to work. It's like, it, it's, I didn't say it was going to work forever for any movie, but I have never watched a movie that is above a 7.3 that I don't like.

Tom Gresch (38:39.657)

Right.

Chris Kiefer (38:44.956)

So I want to find the ones that are below that are good.

Tom Gresch (38:48.462)

Okay, okay, well, you've given me a challenge. I don't, like you, I don't have a lot of time, but when I do, I don't wanna waste it. But if I know of one, I will let you know. Hey, Chris, I just gotta tell you, this has been great. I really appreciate you. And just having this opportunity has been fun. And I just wish you the best with everything that you're doing. And I look forward to crossing paths soon.

Chris Kiefer (38:52.085)

That's right.

Chris Kiefer (38:59.212)

That's right.

Chris Kiefer (39:10.922)

Yeah.

Chris Kiefer (39:18.716)

Yeah. And if someone wants to get in touch with you, what is your preferred method that they reach out? How, what is, what is the way that you don't mind people reaching out to you?

Tom Gresch (39:27.834)

Oh, my email, sorry, I really don't have a lot of contacts as I put in there. My email is galcahotom at gmail.com. And it's S-K- at gmail.com.

Chris Kiefer (39:52.968)

What does that mean, scalcoho?

Tom Gresch (39:54.466)

Um, the Skalcoho Highway is a highway in Montana where, um, multi-generations homesteaded and we still have property there as a family. And so the Skalcoho Pass or the Skalcoho Highway goes through the Sapphire Mountains and that's where our property is. And that's where we go and spend time. And so that's always been my handle. A buddy of mine I went fishing with, he goes, you need a cowboy name.

you know, a cowboy gun name and, uh, and he was just quiet for a while and he goes, Scalco, ho Tom. So shout out to, to Larry J there for, uh, giving me my, uh, my cowboy gun name.

Chris Kiefer (40:30.601)

Hahaha.

Chris Kiefer (40:36.992)

That's awesome. Well, Tom, thank you so much. This was super fun and hope the listeners enjoyed it and we'll see you around soon.

Tom Gresch (40:44.702)

Sounds good. Take care.