A Career Journey | Brian Gendreau, Capital One Business Cards #003

All right. Hi everyone. It's Karissa from Sun Control. We are back doing our regular weekly podcast, kind of a more of a season two. Today we have Brian here from Capital One Spark and he's going to tell us a little bit about his past, his history, and everything that he's got going on. Welcome, Brian. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah. So, you are currently working up here in the Twin Cities. Tell us a little bit about where you are, what you're doing these days. Uh so I I work for Capital One small business team. So it's uh as of the first year first of the year now we're business cards and payments. Um and I work I cover the state of Minnesota uh primarily focusing on business credit card and purchasing card program. So um you know one one thing that I love about my job is I get to work with a lot of different types of companies, all shapes and sizes um and in a lot of different industries. So um really anybody that's spending money to do their job is who I work with. but then also trying to be a resource and an advocate for my clients of um I get to meet folks like you and then introduce them to to clients that I have um with the goal of of helping right and being being a resource. Absolutely. So in your past, what kind of brought you to the role that you have today? Where did you start off and what led you back to Minnesota? So I'm um this might be a little bit longer. Um, I I will I can I can summarize it a bit, but um I'm sure there's questions that will come from that. So, um I went to I grew up in the the Twin Cities. I um went to school at the University of North Dakota, was a broadcast journalism major. Very cool. Uh I got offered a job out of school in that field and decided that um you know, I think with for a handful of reasons, I decided maybe that wasn't the route that I wanted to take, but I loved a a lot that comes with that. So even doing an interview like this I think is fun. The camera, the technology, all of it. And so I had promised myself that I will still do that um as a hobby or on the side. So I still do um today I'm a playbyplay broadcaster for a junior hockey team in Hudson, Wisconsin that's streamed on hockeyv.com. But um knowing that, you know, I love the idea of helping people u and I have always been motivated by success and and money. Um, and so I I got into sales as my first job out of college. Um, working for a company called SPS Commerce here in the Twin Cities. I've heard of them. Um, worked with them for a few years. Took a job with 3M. Um, and loved the idea that they wanted me to to leave the state to go work somewhere else. So, where did you do that? I got I got placed in Atlanta. Had never been there before and I loved it. Loved my loved my experience in Atlanta. I love the people there. Uh, and that was really good for me for personal growth to get out of, you know, I I went to school 5 hours from where I grew up. Um, and life is different in the south in a lot of different ways. The the culture is different. The people are different. Um, and and I am one that so I love to learn. Uh, I love experiencing new things and so to get the opportunity to to go make some new friends and really get outside of my comfort zone. I think growth happens outside of your comfort zone. I think you would sure does. Absolutely. you would agree. Um, and so to have to go get forced into a situation to be uncomfortable and you know I I grew up playing hockey in the Twin Cities and you know who doesn't care about hockey? Anyone in Atlanta, right? Um, and so to kind of feel like there's a part of my identity that um, you know, I I get an opportunity to to to grow. Yes. Which was which was really cool. Um, I had I transitioned into to this role. I was actually um had taken the the tests. I was going down the path to be a financial adviser. Um and someone that I knew um from early on in my life had reached out and said, "Hey, we're hiring uh here at Capital One. I think you'd be a really good fit for this job." Um and so as I had I had focused, you know, I jumped on a different career path that I was in the process of taking. Um there's a lot there. I was actually in San Diego at the time um that I accepted this offer from or that I got the job offer from Capital One um which meant moving back home to Minnesota. Yep. And that was a hard that was a hard um decision for me to make cuz I felt like yet again I'm you know I like the idea of being outside of my comfort zone and I was going to move back to Minnesota where I'm from where things are where things are um safe and you know it's you're not pushing those limits and those boundaries to know yourself too. Yeah. But then I realized that man, this is something that I'm going to be able to build a career here, really set up a foundation for my life where I've been and be near my family. I have two nieces and two nephews that are very important to me. And so, absolutely to to be close to them and and be a part of their their growth and their, you know, their upbringing was important for me. And also, I I just had to wrap my head around the idea that this isn't the easy way out. No. Right. Um and and so far, I've been doing this for about 3 years, and I I really love it. And and it comes back to no day, no day is the same. So Karissa, you and I met each other through the in the construction world, right? So we met through the um AWC Association for Women in Contracting. Yep. But um as much as I I work with a lot of contractors, I work with a lot of folks in the construction industry, I also get windows into these different worlds, these different businesses, folks that are doing um they're selling e, you know, it's e-commerce, they're selling online or they're digital marketing company. Um and I'm very intrigued by that. There's there's a the cool thing about my job is I get to learn how do you how the heck did you get started? How do you make money, right? Uh and like you know, how do you enjoy this? And there's there are some people that they make it a lot harder on themselves, business owners, than than some others do. Um, and it's cool to see all of that cuz I I think at some point uh I like the idea of being being a business owner and this has given me a a peak behind the curtain in to it's not all glamorous. No, it's not. I mean, some of these conversations that we'll have about the the financial side of things and how that comes um what that leads to at tax time and a lot of that stuff is um it can be a headache and and it's hard to shut it off. I felt like that was long-winded, but that was um No, that's great. That's definitely how I I got here and it's part of why I love my job and it's also it's the the behind thescenes look at this isn't all glamorous. It's not. There's there's a lot more to it than what people see. The the behind the ropes, behind the scenes stuff, the way it all actually comes together and then what act people actually see are two different things. Sure. Without a doubt. And especially, you know, it's it's comparison is the thief of joy. It's something I like I truly believe in and um there will be times I'm, you know, I meet with somebody for work and I I think, man, they have it all figured out. And then the more you get to to have a conversation with that person, you realize, wow, no, they are just a human just like I am. and they they put their pants on one leg at a time in the morning. Absolutely. Uh well, most of them I would imagine that it is a little like it it's refreshing for me. I think at times I um I I love to learn and so I think everybody has something that I can learn from them. Yes. And at times I I have to remind myself that uh you know you you deserve a seat at this table too. That even this for example that you know there is um I've I've had experience in my life that's worth sharing because um you know I think we said growth comes outside of your comfort zone and um failure leads to success right? You know and that's I think that's a cool thing of speaking to these business owners you know how the heck did you get into this? Half the time it's I just decided to start one day I decided to start. I think that's been my biggest one of my biggest takeaways um is these people just jumped at one point. They said, "Hey, I'm going to do it." And and um whether it's well, you know, I was sick of working for somebody. I feel like I hear that often time. Yes. Um but it's, you know, it's it it does take some gumption and some um some confidence to to make the jump and and and to figure it out. And there's always going to be a failure or a mistake or a hiccup, but if you learn from it and continue moving. Correct. Um there's like that's how people grow. And it's and then another thing I feel like I'm learning is the most successful people that I work with are the ones that surround themselves with smart people that they know that they're not the expert in everything. And so they they bring people in or they partner with people um that have such like high skill or value that um gets them to a point where they're not doing everything right. I think I can be a control enthusiast. Uh I like to have control. I like I like structure as much as you know I love the LZ fair part of life of being free. Um, and it's it is those the people that are that I see be successful are the ones that are good at delegating, that can really get um that have in buyin from individuals and trust with their employees, too. I mean, I'm I'm sure you've seen it in your world. I feel like you have a lot of trust around here actually. We have to. Absolutely. We have a great team and that's part of it. We're always willing to grow and change and add those teammates in. That'll help us figure out the correct process, what what's going to make your job easier to work smarter, not harder. So, you're always growing, you're always changing, and adding those teammates, having those people and knowing also I think with with us or with anybody in the world, when you put yourself around positive energy and positive people, Sure. you can grow to the next level. Then it's like, okay, I I know you guys. I know your level. I know where you're at. You know, let's keep growing and let's see who's at the next table and what we can bring to them. And I will say it's interesting that not every business owner, not every person or company thinks that way, right? So, and it's, you know, I think that's something that like uh I noticed about you and and some control right away is that you you are you're trying to do things a little bit differently and and and keep up with times are changing, right? and um a way to to be in front of that as opposed to to lag behind. And especially as if you are someone that loves control, those people tend to love things the way that they are or the way that they were, right? And like things are go the only constant is change, right? And it's so I it's actually funny. Um I've I've when I deal with change in my world, I have to remind myself like Brian on your resume, it says adapts well to change, right? And I think a lot of people back to that and a lot of people do, but at the same time like all right, so if so if I tout myself as this person that is willing to change, then I can't be stuck in my ways, right? Or maybe we're going to need to to delete that y off of my resume or whatever it is like can be willing to change whatever half the time. Yeah, maybe we'll see. But yeah, so you do a lot with obviously your financial side of stuff and take me a little bit back on your broadcasting. I know you've done a lot with the hockey systems. Um, you did some stuff back in University of North Dakota. What keeps you excited and still into all of that? Is it being in front of the camera? Is it, you know, seeing the things actually live and happening or um, it's actually I kind of forgot that we I should maybe make a little more eye contact over there. Um the uh you know so one thing that's really interesting and you've probably heard this before but they say that if you are like a news reporter is always reporting on the bad right um it's you you are around for someone's worst day y and you know you think of like a fire at someone's home or some sort of a loss um where a sports reporter tends to be around someone's best day it's achievement it's glorif horrifying the hard work that was put in behind the scenes that nobody sees. You get to see the product of that unfold with, you know, somebody holding up a trophy or whatever that is. I love that part of it of especially what I'm doing now where I work directly with a team. Um, I love watching the the the the gentlemen on the players on this team are anywhere between 18 and 21, okay, for the most part. and to see someone what they looked like, what they played like at 18 compared to the year that they're going to leave and see that growth. Yeah. Um that's huge. And especially, you know, one thing I would say that I've learned through this that I'm not good at is identifying, well, I guess can't say I'm awful, but identifying potential, right? Um there are certain players on this team that when they came in, I thought, "Wow, I don't know if that guy's going to make it, and now they're the best player on the team." Um, and those there is something to be said and it's it's so impressive these coaches that see that. Um, so I I would say it is it is a part of the growth. Um, and you know it's something that uh I enjoy doing. I I enjoy being around it and uh one thing I've noticed people love to criticize the the Monday Night Football commentator or the person that's doing the Vikings or the Packers game or whatever it is. And it it is a it's a great reminder for me when you go and do it is man this isn't as isn't as easy as you think it is. Even in a situation like this where I felt very prepared coming into here and then you sit down and we start chatting and that all just went out the window or I'm going to watch it backwards on the back end and be like man I said right a lot or I agree the little things that people see in here like you start critiquing yourself just like you think everybody else critiques you. So, it's it's kind of to me, I mean, obviously to you, too, it's it's not easy. No. And and as the host, right, it it's totally a thing of you have a plan. You have an idea where you want this to go and then sometimes your brain just it's all out the window and now we're Yep. Absolutely. I gave a wedding speech uh couple months ago and the the bride and groom just sent it to me recently to, you know, great job. You should take a look at this. And I watched about 10 seconds of it and was just like, I have to turn this off. It is so cringey. And even in, you know, like having done broadcasting, I'll go back and listen to um clips. But and that's one thing that I love about hockey versus any other sport when it comes to broadcasting is hockeyy's always moving. Yes. Um I've done both baseball and football and there's a lot of downtime and you're trying to find the best way to fill that where it does feel like when when chat or anything Yes. Y um when the puck is dropped and the play is moving, you're you're just saying what's going on. And that's actually that's kind of what led me to the playbyplay as opposed to being a reporter or um you know there's so many shows especially if you look at like ESPN now during the day it's all someone having an opinion on something and and having a take. Right. Right. Right. And u that's just really not my personality. And so I like the idea of explaining what's going on. I think I can be a a good communicator. The the listeners can um disagree with me if they would like. Um, but that like I like say I love playbyplay because you're saying what's happening and it's not my reaction to it cuz I do oh my gosh that was the greatest thing ever or oh wow look at that and it might be you know you don't know the hours or something that happened that led up to that point in the game or that led up to the field goal or whatever it may be. That's just I I it's just not in my um it's not in and I don't mean to sound like holier than thou or anything, but I'm just not one that I'm not one that is I don't I just don't pass judgment. I try not to, right? It's something that I would say I pride myself on. And um so to have that like if that was your full-time job, that would just be exhausting. It would be. And everybody has a comment on every little thing that you do and say just like they do in the regular world, right? So you've done the broadcasting, you worked at 3M. Tell me a little bit more, you know, about your spark businesses now that you have. You deal with a lot with the small businesses with the es and flows, the highs, the lows, everything like that. What are you seeing out there from the small businesses more so with the economy the way it is today? You know, it's interesting that I think um as much as uh I know like I'm having conversations. I know the economy is something we are uh we are focused on and you know we're not too sure what it's going to look like. Um but man businesses are still thriving if you ask me. It's you agree? I agree. Yeah. I mean in our world whether they're I mean through everything that we've gone through. They still want to do business. They still want to grow. They're trying to do any and every mean that they can from what I see probably what you see to step outside the box like we are to grow to get that to the next level. They they have hit failures. They have hit those little bumps in the road, but they learn from them just like you do, just like I do. Sure. Yes. Yeah. And I think there is there is some resiliency and and tenacity that comes with that. Um and I I do I mean there are there are folks that are that are on that are having tough times now, right? I don't want to minimize that. But I do believe that there are uh I mean people are still out there consumers are still consuming and you know there's um a lot of businesses that need to be done that um those houses are are still being built. Maybe there's not as many of them but you know what a storm came through last May and there's still roofs that need to be correct fixed and replaced and they build up instead of building out. You know there's different ways that they they find their growth. For sure. So yeah, it is um it's it's something that I'm I do feel like and it's something that we that we will um be concerned of or pay attention to. I think is a great way to put it. But at the same time, businesses are still growing and and there are people out there that that are going to have a record year this year. Yep. So you've done a lot with the networking as have I. Um what are some of your fun things that you look forward to when you do some of those with the networking events, things like that? Do you enjoy getting out there and meeting new people? Do you kind of like seeing where some of the smaller networks go? What do what do you find works for you? Sure. So, this is um you know, we are we are part of a couple groups together. Um and I I love that those conversations of well, what do you do and how the heck did you get into this, right? I mean, there's there are so many different ways to make money and make a living in this world. And it is so fun for me to hear what those stories sound like, right? And then I mean and so to me that is that is first and then you know if there's a a way for me to help you know you grow your business that is outstanding. But for me it's it's just to hear how the heck did you get into this thing and and what does that look like dayto-day and and then and hearing about the painful parts too. Um, I'd be curious what you what you enjoy because I think you like meeting new people. Absolutely. Yes. It's it's big. It's fun for me. I mean, I I wake up hungry every day. I want to say, "Okay, how can I grow help grow the business? How can we bring new people in? What realms can we do other than what we're already doing?" obviously the podcasts, the marketing, um going to all the networking events, but not being afraid to pick up that phone or stopping those businesses, getting to the head hunters, the sharks, the whales, getting past the gatekeepers. Sure. I could have a game plan for today and say, "Hey, this is what I want to do." And 10 seconds later, guess what? It's changed. I'm going here and I'm out the door. So Oh, so you're human. Everybody's human, right? But yeah, I mean, some days it's three or four networking events a day. Sometimes it's picking up the phone and calling two or 30 hundred people. You just you never know what the day is going to bring. Well, and I think that's something that's we have in common of I work with so many different types of businesses and so so do you, right? There's so many different services that Sun Control has that you know places. So I got a tour of this place a couple weeks ago. Um and it's I thought I had a good understanding of what your business is and it's even more than that, right? It's there is a lot and there's it seems like there's there's solutions for a lot of problems. Yep. We have we have solutions from every homeowner, car owner, business owner, whatever it is. We can help with the obstacles, but we can also help make your life a little more enjoyable, too. Something fun, something not fun. I mean, you name it, we do it. And when you think sun control, nobody thinks that until we get them in the door. So, I love bringing people in for lunch and learns. I mean, kind of like we did you. And you kind of do the same. just going to those businesses, finding out really the heart and soul, what started them, but now where they're going and where they want to go in the future. I mean, it is just crazy like one thing that I'm learning in this world is there's certain places that are great to be to have a a niche in your business. Um, and not but if you what you just said, how many people have a car? How many people have a car and how many people own a home or own a business that has windows? Yep. You have a huge huge graphics. You name it, we can do it. It's Yeah, there's We can help anybody. And not many people, not many businesses can say, "Hey, you know, we're kind of a niche like doing your broadcasting with hockey players. Okay, well, you're doing it with hockey players. There are other areas that you could go into, but you're just in your lane right now where we're trying to kind of expand and see how many people in the nation we can touch." Sure. Well, and you know there's a that's one reason why I had sought you out the first time I met you is there's a sun control advertisement in the arena in Hudson where we do the hockey game. So it's like I'm seeing this brand y often and it's um in that I mean it's because it's in different places and now I have a I have a friend who loves to say someone needs to interact with your brand eight times before they're going to engage with it. And sometimes those those numbers change. Um but you you do you do believe in that? Yes, absolutely. I mean I don't know one thing that I mean Randy our owner is huge on which has he's instilled in all of us. He's kind of the Yoda of window film but he wants us to be omnipresent. He wants everybody to see us to think of us. Maybe not now but in the future. Hey, you know you see our vehicles all over the road. you see our ads on TV or you see a billboard that we've done or like you said the hockey arenas or I can go somewhere now just walking down the mall and people they're like hey Chris I'm like uh where's your name tag cuz name tags are huge especially at those events or just seeing people and really starting to get to know their stories. Sure. After you see them at the events wherever you're at but omnipresent and seeing something multiple times so it sticks in your head for when you need it. Yes. Sure. So yeah. So, um, the Capital One Spark Business, the the division I'm a part of, we have a commercial that, uh, has ran, uh, for the last year, the Antinelli's Cheese Shop. Um, and I think everybody knows that one stick. And that's that why I brought that up was it's at this point it's, you know, if some somebody doesn't know like what I do, which I actually run into quite a bit. Yes. U, but, you know, have you seen did you watch March Madness? Yep. Did you see the Antwanelli's cheese commercial? That's that green card. That's the card that I that I sell. Yep. So, the green card, you've touched a lot of small businesses. Where do you personally want your growth to go with Spark Business next? Do you think kind of staying more local in the Twin Cities area or kind of getting outside of that? I think personally just, you know, because this is where where I'm at. It's it's the Twin Cities, but also where man, where I I was in uh few weeks ago, I was in Marshall, Minnesota, and I I actually have family from there. Y um and it is just it so is I would say that the state of Minnesota and really, you know, everywhere in in the country, there's folks that have my job around the country, right? Um, but it is pretty cool to bring value to folks outside of this inner ring of the circle, right? Or inner ring of the cities, right? Just call it those this the ring of suburbs where um you know, I I stopped into a business that that's a current uh current client, but they weren't expecting me. I just wanted to say, hey, hey, I'm in town. I drove I drove by. Uh come on, sit down. Like they're treating me like I'm their nephew or, you know, like a part of their family, and that is cool. So, I mean, I I we don't get that a lot around here. It's like, "Hey, I'm going to quick bring you a pizza or hey, you know, I'm going to drop you off some donuts and kind of be shuffled out the door just to let them see who you are." But you hit right on the spot when you get to some of those smaller or outside of the little ring of the hustle and bustle of the Twin Cities, even to the Duth area, the Rochester area, Mano, their pace and their welcomeness is is changing and it's different than sometimes where we're at today up here. And I I like I love how welcoming they folks have been or you know I'm in Newm or you know whatever wherever it is that um people are that part is cool. So I guess you know that's something that I'm trying to focus on is is getting out being out on the road and learning we were talking about learning learning about people and hearing their story. Well that's it's pretty cool when one of the one of the gentlemen I I met with um I try I'll try not to be too longwinded here. um he had told me and not to give up too much information but um wow this particular supply store in our area um was going to go out of business and you know what there'sund and I can't remember how many people 120 people in our town and that's 11 jobs yikes and so he took it upon himself to hey I'm going to buy that business and to keep those people employed like y I had never heard something like that like that is cool those are the stories that need to be shared yep and that you want to hear grow and you want those people to be awarded or just people know who they are because they're going above and beyond what they normally do to keep people employed, keep people housed. So, those are the people you want to work with, right? I think that's something I'm really really learning after. So, I've been doing this for about three years and um it's it's those are the type of people you want to work with that you can that you can have a good relationship. Um and not that person that um you know is is very demanding and can be rude like they're if if they're like that early on. Those those people tend to be tough to work with, right? Uh all the time, I guess. I agree. So, you've done a lot of traveling obviously. You've gone to Georgia. You've gone um did broadcasting other places. You grew up, went to school here in Centennial. You're back in the Twin Cities. You're doing Yep. You're doing That's I went to a baseball game for the Cougars last night and they won their first game. So, um, but where do you find yourself staying here for a while or growing next? I do. Yeah, I do. So, right now I'm I'm I'm in St. Paul. I love it there. Um, I one thing that's cool is I'm pretty close to the airport. So I and that was a goal for me was to be close enough to where I can travel and it's easy to do. So you're doing that right after this? Yes. Yes, I am. So I have a good friend that moved to Sacramento. So I'm headed down there and then we'll go to Lake Tahoe. Fun as well, which I certainly enjoy. So we were talking before this. It's not every not every weekend trip that you can go play golf on a Friday and go skiing on a Saturday. They got so much snow in Northern California that um I I heard my motan accent there. So that was definitely something. um in Atlanta that I got that I got a lot of uh kids and grief about was um the way I say bag and the way I say roof, right? So, it's bag and roof. Bag and roof. I'm learn I'm learning. Well, I have a feeling like when you do traveling and I'm I'm going to be going to Ireland in July, but I you tend to start picking up on the lingo the way they speak. You want to go down there and come back with an Irish accent or something else or just you're going to you never know. I I absolutely will stop at the pub for a pint. So now have I That's a newer You probably haven't shared that with the listeners yet that that's cuz this season two. This is new. Season two. This is kind of new. Yep. So you have to tell them where you're headed. We are heading in July, the end of July. We're going to be heading to Southern Ireland. We're going to be playing some golf courses down there. We're going to take a week off. Um phones will be off, which is rare. That's rare for but we will take some videos, some pictures to share with family. Other than that, no work. Fingers crossed. We'll see. But that's going to be exciting. I can't wait. It's something I've looked forward to all my life. Bucket list item. And speaking of bucket bucket list items, you're going to be going to Switzerland. Yes. Yes. Tell us a little bit about that. Yep. Um, so I am So we'll fly into Geneva. My my girlfriend's uh mom is from southern France, so she has a lot of family there. She has a We're going to go visit an aunt that lives in France outside of Geneva, Switzerland. Uh we'll go hang out in the Alps for uh a few days and then we're going to uh split Croatia after that. Um so it was kind of a choose your own adventure tale with this vacation. We knew we were going to go to Geneva and then weren't too sure where to go after and apparently Croatia is like the hot spot right now. Fun. Um so that more of a So it's kind of a mountain vacation for the first half and the beach y for the second half. A little bit of little bit of both to make it more of an adventure. Yes. So before the this is kind of a plug for how great your graphics are. Um in Karissa's office there is a beautiful photo of a golf course. Um now you have to remind me is that the golf course you're going to one of the golf course. Yes I'm going to it's old head of Canail in Ireland. The other one's Pebble Beach in California which is those are my two bucket list courses. It was the year I said okay we're going to we're going to go do one. Let's go to Ireland. Threw in the towel. Bought the trip. Booked it done. You might have to get a big red X graphic or maybe a check a check mark of I'll just mark where my ball's been when on the golf course as we go. Hopefully that's just one ball and it's just in the fairway. As long as the wind's not 60 mph and the wind and the rain's blowing. That's typical Irish weather, right? So, I'm going to come back being windb burnt, rain poured on, and have an Irish accent. We'll see. I u I played on Sunday for the first time. um this season and it was so windy. Yeah. Uh and one of one of my f one of the friends I was going with wasn't sure if uh you know I don't know about the wind. I don't I don't know about the weather. Um and it was so fun to get out. It is u to just go have some fun. Especially in that when it's early in the season, we're all just out there to just swing the club and have fun. It's not like we're playing against each other, really focusing on our scores. It was just that was we call it a Sunday friendly. We did a couple of those last year and that um that Sunday friendly was great last um last Sunday at Highland in St. Paul. Oh, fun. And Highland is growing from what I've heard a little bit. They're doing some making some changes to it. So, that'll be fun to play that. I haven't played that in probably Well, just like any golf course around here in about a year. Yeah. So, it'll be fun. But, yeah, golf is one of those things, good or bad, it'll get your mind off everything you have going on and and you can do business on the golf course, too. So, well, one thing that helped too is u we were walking. I tend to play a lot better when I'm walking. Less distractions, less conversation. Yes. It's like you're out there to play golf and not so much to socialize, which uh I can get caught up in at times. All the golf scramles and all the the fun stuff you have going on. Yes. Like at that point, I'm I'm focusing on what we were just laughing about and not like, hey, you do I even have the right club right now? walking over there with a 3-wood and it should be an iron. Uh, sorry, I was in that conversation. I have done that before for sure. Yeah. Great. So, you have a lot going on. Sounds like you have your feet set in a lot of different networks. You're growing. You're back in Minnesota. It's super exciting to have you here today. Yeah. We look forward to seeing where you go working with you in the future and obviously see at all the events we have coming up. Sure. Well, and I would love to plug uh Capital One or, you know, specifically the uh the Spark business card that I I'm a representative of. So, uh we did just roll out our Venture X for business program uh this week. So, it's um it Venture X is a a great travel card that's been on the personal side of things for a long time. We just recently uh this week rolled it out for business. So, um the the card and then the Spark business card that I work with is 2% cash back on all your purchases, which um folks tend to love. So, now this is the same, but instead of getting your rewards as cash, it's uh you get two times miles. Um and you can book most your you can book your travel through your through Capital One itself, which as a I'm a venture card holder myself. I I love the ease of the ease of use of the travel program itself. But um you know we are I work with like I said business businesses of all shapes and sizes and we do um I also now work with commercial card programs. So for a little larger companies um we do have solutions for whether your business is big or small or uh whatever it looks like we do have solutions um for you. Where are you guys located? I am so I Capital One itself is um in DC. Yep. Uh the DC area. So I am myself and a a couple colleagues are in the state of Minnesota. So I'm a I'm a field rep. So I'm out and about meeting with clients u and then working from working from home. And how can people get a hold of you after they leave here and say, "Hey, this is a great idea. I want the 2% cash back." Well, and you know, it is it's interesting too that if this sounds like something that maybe isn't for the listener that's listening, um we I do work with all different types of companies and um or somewhere I was going with that. Um how can they get a hold of me? Well, I imagine this will be posted on LinkedIn and I'll be tagged, so please reach out to me that way. Um, oh, but I I was at an event last week. Um, where I was going with previously was, um, there's a lot of people that don't know that we exist, that there is a dedicated human being in your community. Um, that I focus specifically on business credit card and purchasing card programs. Correct. Um, that I am a resource and if you're you're looking at a different program, like I've been living in this world where I I know the goods the good things about other programs as well as the good things about ours. And you're a great connection for the company, too. So you can help source them to the right area, the right person, whoever that may be too. And and maybe that, you know, maybe that's not a business credit card, but it's it's something else that, you know, I I've gotten to to work with so many folks that I could help point you in the right direction. I love the idea of being a resource for somebody, right? And I know we've talked about, you know, how can Sun Control help you? How can you help us? I mean, that's part of growing and that's part of being who we are. Just being out in the network and saying, "Hey, fresh to my mind when someone says, "Hey, you know, how can I get a hold of somebody or do something like that?" I'm going to be like, "Hey, Brian, you know, I have a customer or I have a client or I have a small business that's looking for a card or some want some information. Here you go." Well, in the the point earlier of people don't know that I exist, the other thing is there's a lot of people that have been running their business for so long and they they have a set process. Um, and they they're not aware that, hey, you can the same way that you're doing things today. Yep. Paying your vendor with a check. You can do that with a business credit card and earn 2% cash back while you're doing it. Why wouldn't you not? Correct. That it's kind of a no-brainer. But oftentimes it's not something that they knew was available to them or they didn't know that hey that vendor accepts a card and they they're more than willing to to do that and then help put some money back in your pocket in the meantime. Absolutely. That's that's huge. And for you to just share that with all the viewers, everybody that's going to be here or put them in the right hands to a person that you can help out is definitely huge. Yes. Well, thank you so much for appreciate having you here and we look forward to getting you out on the golf course and I'm sure we'll see you next week at a couple events and keep it rolling. All right. Well, thank you. Thank you.