Kyle Luetkehans - Turning Your Greatest Challenge Into Your Greatest Opportunity
Imagine working helping to grow a tech company from 20 to 1,000 employees, going to New York for the celebration of taking it public, and then getting let go just 2 days after returning from paternity leave with your first child. This is one of Kyle Luetkehans' most difficult challenges that he's turning into his greatest success story. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he rolled up his sleeves and used this as his opportunity to leap into the life of his dreams! In in just 6 short months after leaving the W2 world behind, they packed up their lives in Florida, turned their current home into a short-term rental, moved to the Midwest, became a partner on an exciting hospitality deal in North Carolina with some amazing business partners, and are set to close on an amazing business opportunity in Alaska with another new business partner. When life hands you these challenges and stresses, Kyle stands at the top of people looking to turn them into amazing opportunities!
In this episode, you will be able to:
- Discover how building financial freedom through real estate can change your life beyond the 9-to-5 grind.
- Unlock the secrets to forming powerful partnerships that can skyrocket your success in business acquisitions.
- Learn key steps to transition from corporate life to thriving entrepreneurship.
- Explore why investing in boutique hotels and unique stays could be your next game-changing move.
- Master proven strategies that make acquiring a business smoother and more profitable than you ever imagined.
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:00 - Kyle Luetkehans’ Career Transition and Embracing Change
00:06:00 - Overcoming Layoff and Finding Purpose in Entrepreneurship
00:11:00 - The Importance of Taking the Leap and Managing Risk with Support
00:13:39 - Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Imperfection in Real Estate
00:16:41 - Why Partnerships Accelerate Growth in Business
00:21:03 - Leading with Value to Attract the Right Business Partner
00:26:01 - Navigating the Complex Business Acquisition Process
00:28:44 - Raising Capital and Building Strategic Investor Relationships
00:32:52 - Lessons Learned and Open Mentorship Invitation from Kyle Luetkehans
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Full Transcript Here:
Kyle Luetkehans
And then in February of this year, as you mentioned, I got laid off. And I thought that I was untouchable. Like I was one of the first 30 employees. I knew the CEO super well. I was growing a new line of business. I had launched two different $15 million lines of businesses for them. So I thought I was in a good place. But this now public company missed profitability and I was working on a long term project, not a near term project, and I was remote.
Mike Swenson
Welcome to the Real Freedom show where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. Let's get some real freedom together. Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Real Freedom, Real Estate Leverage Freedom, where we talk about different ways that you can build time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson. If you want to get started on your real estate journey, check out our website, freedom through real estate.com. we've got a lot of great content on there, all of our past episodes, articles for you to read with the goal really to inspire you to choose a path in real estate, take some action, do something to get the ball moving forward so that you can build the life that you want to live. And as sometimes, you know, life happens and things change and super excited to share today's story with you. It's going to be an awesome one. I think there's a lot of points where our listeners can resonate to things that have happened in their life, which is where Kyle is. And so Kyle Luetkehans has pursued opportunities in real estate, you know, had an opportunity where he was let go from his role and decided this is my time to jump in and be an entrepreneur. And fast forward, he's got a short term rental. He is purchasing a business in Alaska and then working on a real estate opportunity in North Carolina. So kind of all these things happening at once and so decided that, hey, going to take opportunity of this, this time in life to be able to pursue new things. And oh, by the way, all that with a newborn baby happening, you know, trying to figure out being a dad and figure out that at the same time and moving from Florida up to the Midwest. So, Kyle, you've had your hands full these last few months that we've known each other. But welcome to the show. Excited to have you.
Kyle Luetkehans
Thank you. I'm pumped to be here. Yeah, you kind of nailed it. I can't seem to do anything. Simply it all has to be at once.
Mike Swenson
I remember seeing an article one time where they were talking about like, you know, major life event stressors. And you think about moving, you think about job change, you think about adding new kids and all that to be said, you just decided, let's just rip them all off at once, take care of it all at once and build from the ground up. So, yeah, share with us a little bit kind of about your backstory here and we'll take it from there.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah, I would add building IKEA furniture with your, with your partner to that list.
Mike Swenson
But yes, equally stressful as all the rest of the above.
Kyle Luetkehans
But yeah, my journey's been an interesting one. So, you know, if we take it way, way back. Grew up in Chicago and all I cared about was soccer. Like that was. I was a single track mind, all I cared about that. Went to school in Vermont, played, played soccer there and then I actually went abroad. I played for three years professionally in Finland and in Australia. And that was my whole goal in life and I accomplished it. But along the way, two things happened. It was no longer fun, it became a job. And I realized I wasn't going to make a hit. My financial goals through soccer, I'm not David Beckham, I'm not Leo Messi. I'm good, but not that good. And so there was this shift that had to take place and I met my wife and realized bouncing around Europe with her in perpetuity probably wasn't the, the best way to keep a long term relationship. And so we came back to the states and I got a degree in marketing somehow while playing soccer and leveraged that to get a tech job with a startup in Denver, Colorado and loved it there, grew with that company, became a director, and then realized that that's not really the lifestyle. That resonated with me. I was able to provide financially, but in terms of passions, that wasn't it. We quit our jobs full stop in 2018. So that was five years. We traveled a bunch, we got married, we had a, we had a three month honeymoon in six different countries. We bought a van, we converted it, we traveled the states, we then lived in Key west for a year where I was a kayak tour guide and a jet ski tour guide and lived a very different life. Covid hit that's not taking place anymore. Those types of jobs don't take place. So I shifted back up to Minnesota, actually La Crescent, lived there for a year and got back into the tech space and then actually ended up getting back to my original tech job in a more senior role. So exact Same company. And I went on to help them grow even further and then actually become a public company. So I was lucky enough to go to the New York Stock Exchange last April when they, you know, rang the bell and got to see that happen. And then, you know, I'm four or five years in, starting to feel that similar itch where I'm providing financially. This isn't fulfilling, you know, what do I want to be when I grow up? It's not this. And so I started thinking about what do I want to do? What are the things that make sense for me? Who do I want to be for my family? How do I want to show up for them? What type of life do we want to live? And that led me to join Action Academy, the same, you know, mastermind we're both in. Mainly to surround myself with people who had already done the things I want to do and to help me get to where I wanted to be quicker. Because every time I tried to do something on my own, you know, I got it through the tech route, but I certainly didn't get it in all my other side hustles I've done in the past. And so that was really helpful to be surrounded with this group. And then in February of this year, as you mentioned, I got laid off. And I thought that I was untouchable. Like I was one of the first 30 employees. I knew the CEO super well. I was growing a new line of business. I had launched two different $15 million lines of businesses for them. So I thought I was in a good place. But this now public company missed profitability. And I was working on a long term project, not a near term project, and I was remote. And so the ax came down a little surprisingly. And I told everyone I was going to take some time and think about what I wanted to do before jumping into anything else. But in all reality, I took six hours, I went for a really long jog and run, and it was in silence most of the time. And I just thought, and it hit me that I'm in this group because I wanted to create a lifestyle for my family where I was able to be present, but was also able to do things that got me excited and I was able to provide for them financially. And so everywhere along the way, one of those or two of those was missing in whatever I was doing. And so if I were to create my own business or to buy a business and I was in charge of it, well, all of those could take place. And I had this group within, this mastermind, this support system that enabled me to go for it. And I had taken out a few shares, you know, a couple months prior. And so I was very lucky where I was in a place where I had Runway, I had eight to 12 months where if we didn't want to do anything, we didn't have to do anything financially. So it gave me a bit of freedom to pursue that next step. And so I hit the ground running. I talked to 70 people in three weeks to understand where to go. I did a lot of work, like vision work, and figuring out what made sense and what path I should go. I love hospitality, I love traveling, I love new experiences, and more than anything else, I actually love sharing those experiences with others. And so when you think about boutique hotels or these unique stays, that really gets me exciting. And it's kind of having this, this moment right now where a lot of Airbnbs are becoming regulated. But if you can find a plot of land or a commercial hotel, that's, that's kind of a green field to play in right now. And so that's the area I want to pursue. But the cash flow wasn't necessarily there to enable me to provide for my family, at least not on one deal. It would have to be multiple deals. And so the other asset class that was able to provide the cash flow I was looking for and the timeline I was looking for was buying a business. And if I was able to find a business that provided experiences for others, well, that's actually in line with my long term goal. And so through this group, I was able to find a business partner. Ashley Feidern Kiewicz. She's, I can't say enough good things about her. She's an operational and process wizard. So our skills very much complement each other. Where I'm more of the networker and the partnerships person and the sales and marketing side, she's everything on the back end and making sure that when I'm bringing in partnerships and when I'm bringing in people, we have the systems to be able to handle that and to be ordered to scale. If it was just me, it would be very chaotic and unorganized. But because of her, we're able to have a well oiled machine. And so together we were able to find a business in the tourism industry in Alaska of all places, where she actually lives. And so we've been working on that for the last couple of months. Was just there for the last five days with my wife, my six month old and Ashley, putting together our plan, meeting with the sellers and then we, we Actually signed our purchase agreement last night, which I'm really excited about, and should be closing in a month or so. So this is a long, bumpy journey of figuring out where I wanted to be and what makes sense, and then diving really hard into the path that was going to get me there. And together, this business is actually going to provide the cash flow from a monthly perspective that enables me to cover my family's expenses. But then there's a lot of upside potential where we intend to really grow this business, and it could hit all the financial metrics that I'm looking to achieve in the next few years with this alone. But I'm also involved in this other project, boutique hotel in North Carolina, which is a bit of a passion driver for me. Um, so together, they're. They're kind of enabling me to achieve that vision, hit the financial goals I'm looking towards, but also to do things that excite me and more than that, be surrounded by people that I love being around.
Mike Swenson
Well, even just hearing you talking about building the life that you want, hearing your backstory, you know, going and playing soccer overseas after getting married, you know, touring around the US Being a kayak and jet ski instructor. Right. It's. It's kind of that combo of wanting some adventure, wanting to do some new things, as well as finding. Finding that cash flow that's gonna provide that stability. And then, you know, upside potential. And so you can see telling your story of what's happened in the past align with kind of what you're looking to do right now. And so it's pretty cool to see that merge together. And then ultimately it comes with making that leap. And, you know, it's one of the reasons why on our logo, it's like there's like a little stick figure leaping towards a house because it's kind of. You have to make a leap, right? You have to leave what you're doing and go to what you're pursuing. And in some cases, that leap, you know, somebody's behind you, giving you a little nud. But it's cool to see what you've been able to build and put together here in just a few short months.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah, I won't say it's been easy, nor has it been straightforward, and it's probably been definitely scary at times. And there's definitely people in my life who are like, what are you doing, man? Like, this. This isn't the most straightforward or the least risky path, but I feel like I've been able to really mitigate the risk along the way by surrounding myself with mentors and others who really know what they're doing, who are helping me to short circuit this, this, this path and then also avoid stepping in potholes that I probably would have stepped in other words, otherwise. And then there's, there's kind of a, a little phrase that I've used actually throughout my career which has helped me be successful in, even in my tech role. It was have a bias towards action and very tight feedback loops. And you're probably familiar with this concept before, but the person who analyzes every single detail and gets it to be 99.9% perfect before they take the leap, well, that might take them five years, that might take them 20 years to get to that point. The person who gets it 80% of the way just by having a hunch that this is the path they need to be on and starts right away, but gets feedback on how is it going, data on how is it going, and then makes quick changes and small iterative changes, actually gets way further ahead way quicker than the person who tries to do it perfect out of the gate. And so that's kind of what I've been trying to go with here. And so if you look about from when I got laid off the end of February to when we're going to close in September, that's six, seven months. And like I could have never imagined that would have happened at that point. It felt like this insurmountable obstacle that I had no clue how to overcome, but just started and got feedback and pushed and pushed and iterated and, you know, nothing's happened for sure yet, but it certainly looks like that's where we're at.
Mike Swenson
I often tell people I'm a recovering perfectionist because I am that high SC that wants to have every detail right. But living life, especially in real estate, with enough high Ds, I know that that's always not the best move. And so I tell people I'm a recovering perfectionist because it helps remind myself that I can't be a perfectionist. Right. I need to lean more into the action side than the analysis paralysis side. And so it's helpful to do that. I'm curious to hear. So, you know, part of your story you shared was having those 70 conversations and really looking to figure out what you're going to do with your life. Right. So talk about that process of those 70 conversations like Beforehan like, okay, I know I need to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm just going to load up my schedule. But Kind of what was the purpose or what was the outcome? Kind of what were you looking to have happen through those conversations? And then as they were happening, I'd love to kind of hear what was going through your head and how the, the chips were starting to settle a little bit more through that process.
Kyle Luetkehans
So setting up these conversations, there were, there were a couple different buckets of conversations I set up. Like, I came up with a plan out of the gate. Like, I understand I have this time frame and I need to figure something out in this time frame. And so that means cash flow needs to be managed well during that time, but then ultimately need to make a certain amount by a certain time. So what are the ways I can go after that? And had a couple ideas. And so there was the near term conversations, like, how do I be smart about my finances? Who's done a really good job of, you know, creating more of a minimalist lifestyle? What are the things I could do there? How could I make some quick extra dollars? Like, I set up a consulting service for what I knew in my previous life and got a couple things going. I fired up an Airbnb, my house, we turned it into that. So conversations around that. And then I was really interested in investing in land flipping. That's an asset class that people can have great returns in a short amount of time. So it could be a pretty interesting way to build up near term cash flow. So there's kind of like the near term side of things. And then there was the midterm, which I realized was acquiring a business. So the conversations that took place in there were meeting with people who had businesses and how they got started, trying to learn how they formed it, what they looked to go after. And the other part was testing the waters on partnerships. And I'd say this was an area that's really helped me leap ahead way quicker. Other, other than I would have otherwise, is surrounding myself with people who compliment complement my skill sets and ensuring that I'm not the only one going at it by myself. And why, if you think about the numbers, okay, maybe that means you're making a little bit less in terms of your ownership, in terms of the cash flow that translates to. But in reality, it probably means that if you find the right partner, you're going to have a much better foundation, which is going to enable you to grow much quicker. And then the amount that you potentially could make off that, it's actually going to be much greater in the long run. And so I knew having a partner was extremely important. Not only because of some failed attempts in the past to go at it by myself, but also because the mentors I had were saying, get a partner. So I decided to listen to them. And then the other bucket was the really long term play, which was the hospitality side of things, where still very excited about boutique hotels and unique stays and creating phenomenal experiences for others and what that can do for building long term wealth in equity. And it just sounds fun, honestly, being someone who's involved in some unique stays. And so it was having a lot of conversations with folks in that realm too. So I think 70 in three weeks is, is. Is maybe on the lower side. Believe it or not, I was probably working like 10 to 12 hours a day, like more than I was in my W2, and my wife definitely thought I was crazy. But at the end of those three weeks, I came out with a plan, a business partner, and a lot of great relationships in the hospitality realm. And so I realized the most important thing for me to do now was to acquire this business. So that's where the vast majority of my efforts went. And then the seeds I had planted for the hospitality side of things have started to bear fruit. And now we're involved in a fun project in North Carolina too, but still making sure I'm not spreading myself too thin and focusing on what matters in a sequential order.
Mike Swenson
I just view you as like you see in those movies or TV shows where it's like they're doing the forensic work and they've got like the big board up and they've got like all the pictures with like the little lines of yarn drawn, you know, trying to figure out like, who done it, you know, that kind of thing. And I kind of be like, that is you. It's like you've got your conversations and you're trying to map out what's going on and you've got the short term, the midterm, the long term, and. And here's Kyle up on the board trying to plan things out through talking with 70 people in three weeks. That's pretty awesome. Are you looking to get started or scale in real estate investing but don't know your next step? Are you overwhelmed thinking about finding deals, analyzing deals, doing due diligence, and managing properties on top of it? Go ahead and push the easy button and invest with us. Real estate investing is what we do full time. We've done dozens of deals with hundreds of doors. We have the knowledge and experience to hand pick the best deals that most investors can't find. We've at large off Market deals all the time where you can hopefully find returns and economies of scale that you just can't find find on your own. The best thing is it's 100% passive to you for less capital than you put down trying to acquire a property on your own. Don't let this year go by where you don't make the leap, add to your portfolio, or you just sit in analysis by paralysis. To find out more, Visit freedom through realestate.com and click on Invest. You can book a call and learn more there. So get to scaling your portfolio now with us by your side. So talk about that conversation now, where it led towards acquiring a business. Would love to kind of hear how that came to be. And obviously your business partner lives in Alaska, so she's got some of the background there and probably planted some of those seeds beforehand. But would love to hear how that came to be because one big thing that people listening to this podcast, you know, a big question is, yeah, that do I do it myself? I've always had the mantra, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. And so I've loved working through teams and working with other people. And I think sometimes people have been burnt in the past or they're, they're concerned about getting burnt with a business partner.
Kyle Luetkehans
Partner.
Mike Swenson
And so it's like, I'd rather just not do it because then we don't have that messy breakup or whatever that might be. So I'd love to kind of hear that conversation of how that laid out for you guys as you pursued a business and then finding a partner.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yes. So I got really good advice from. I want to say it was Cassidy Warren, who is. Does a great job in the hospitality realm. He has his own podcast, I believe it's called for your own Good. And he's acquired several hospitality deals. And he got his start a couple years ago by creating partnerships and getting into deals and learning and then doing more and more and more. And now he's, you know, pretty darn close to an expert in the space. But he said with regards to partnerships, don't be thirsty. And essentially what he means by that is don't just jump right out of the gate and say, I want a partner. I need this. Like, and make it seem like this is the, you know, your only option and the only thing that you need from someone to make all of your dreams come true.
Mike Swenson
Kind of like the, the girlfriend or the boyfriend coming off as too needy. Right?
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah.
Mike Swenson
Yeah.
Kyle Luetkehans
You're pushing people away. If you're doing that. So it was kind of flipping the script on that. And there's a great book called, I believe it's Go Giver. The Go Giver. Mason Miranda in our group is someone who, you know, recommends reading that quite a bit. And I read it, and the concept of it, like, doesn't seem like it makes sense at first, but it really does. It's leading with value. How do you provide the most amount of value to the most amount of people? And you could be strategic about it, such as providing value to people who are in the small business asset class within our mastermind, providing value to people in the hospitality asset class. But they see you as someone who's willing to give and help and to provide value. And then in return, people are likely going to think of you as someone involved in this space who's willing to help, who could be someone that could be a great partner. And so there's a little bit of trust, and it doesn't always work out perfectly. But not only do you help others feel better about yourself, but you're building credibility and trust so that you're attracting partners or at least you're. You're aware of more opportunities. And so how this translated for me specifically was that Ashley at the time was looking for businesses already and she was looking to borrow someone's personal financial statement in order to kind of pass the sniff test, so to speak, from one of the brokers. Like, you need to have X amount of liquid capital or net worth to be able to be even considered for this business because they, they want to make sure you're not a tire kicker, essentially, and you're worth their time. And so she asked if anyone, you know, had a, you know, net worth above a certain level and would be willing to share the personal financial statement. And I said, like, this is a great opportunity to help someone. I don't know what will come with it, but you're welcome to use mine. And that's how it started. But then eventually I got laid off a couple weeks later and realized that business was the route I wanted to go. And then Ashley did a great job of sharing with what her skill set and what she was looking for in a partner and the time commitment, et cetera. And it matched up perfectly to what my skill set was and also the areas I wasn't great at she was good at. And so reached out to her, said, hey, you know, this seems like it might be a decent fit. Do you want to chat more and see if we can help? And initially it Was more so just helping with broker calls and being the person that talked to brokers for her. She didn't have a ton of time for that, nor did she really enjoy it. And that was no problem for me. And then from there, we worked together for, you know, two to three weeks. And you realize that this. This seemed like it was going well. We had very shared goals and so decided to make it official from there. But I had also chatted with a number of folks and pursued other areas. And there was, you know, maybe 10 other times when was happy to share something with others or make time for others and help others that nothing came of it. But this, you know, panned out in a really great way. And it wouldn't have happened had I approached it the other way, which I think is human nature. To be like, this is what I need. Who can help me is more. I see that you are in need of help here. I can help you there and not expect anything in return.
Mike Swenson
So talk through a little bit about kind of that acquisition process or, you know, whatever you want to be able to share about the business. And to clarify, you don't own it yet. And so, you know, here we are having a conversation. There's, you know, it's not done till it's done, but kind of talk through that process of, okay, now we've got a partner. We've kind of had that shared vision. Here's what we're looking to do. But kind of to talk through that. And then two, you got a chance to be boots on the ground for five days here recently and go check things out. So excited to hear how that goes.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah. The acquisition process was trying, to say the least, because we're going after many different types of businesses. You have to have quite a large funnel, or at least we felt we needed to in order to be able to find the business we want in the timeframe we wanted. And so we were talking to various business brokers. This was actually a business that Ashley had submitted an LOI on a year ago. It went under contract, and it fell out of contract and was back on the market essentially right when we joined up. And it was perfectly in line what I was looking to do. It hit our numbers that we were looking to hit. It was in her more or less backyard. And so it lined up really well, and we went for it. And then there was. It was interesting with what the sellers wanted in order to get the LOI signed. They wanted to see that we had funding to match exactly what they were looking to hit. But it wasn't, hey, we're pre approved for up to 5 million for business, which we had no problem. It was, they wanted a lender to put in writing that they were willing, they reviewed the business, they were willing to lend on that business at terms that worked with us and them. And there were some really interesting parts of this where there essentially was no, there was no real estate involved. So very few lenders wanted to be involved in something that was so much, I believe they call it blue sky. Many like having it backed by assets as well. And so it took a lot of lender conversations to get to that point, like 15 to 20, to be honest. And, and so we got exactly what the seller wanted to see. And also we were negotiating back and forth in various different areas. For example, 17 of this deal is seller financed. There was a lot of back and forth on what that looked like, what was the down payment, did it work with us that hit our numbers, did it work for the lender, did it work for the sellers? And so we had to thread this needle. And it took about 15 or so different iterations of the LOI before we finally found a way that it worked. And they were probably four or five times throughout that process that we felt like it had completely fallen apart. And so I had to restart the acquisition engine as well. So it was definitely mentally trying, but luckily, you know, we found a way to make it work. And then we've developed a great relationship with the sellers as well. And we've been playing nice ever since. Due diligence was, was a lot of fun, but luckily no red flags there. And so, yeah, purchase agreement has been signed. We, we raised capital from a few investors, which was a. Initially what I thought was going to be a daunting process, but was actually really fun. We had a lot of great feedback and people jumped on it right away. And so we're really excited to have a couple strategic investors as we were able to kind of pick and choose more or less who we brought on and what they could provide to us and in terms of the mentorship and skills they had and not just take capital from anyone. So it was kind of a fun process, to be honest.
Mike Swenson
Just like Shark Tank, right?
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah, more or less.
Mike Swenson
So real quick with the time we have left, would love to hear just a little bit kind of touching on the project that you have in North Carolina or even just the experiential piece that you're so excited about, being able to provide great experiences for people. Obviously it, you know, involves housing and hospitality, so Talk about that piece just a little bit.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah, I think going. Going back to why I'm interested in this. I think if you hear from a lot of folks that are later on in life, they won't care about the things they had. It's the experiences they had and the people they surrounded themselves with. And they wish they really valued that more, focused on that more. And so you hear that enough times, it's like, well, that's probably something I should be thinking about. And I realized through all of my travels in various countries and whatnot, that those are. What I really value is having these incredible experiences, adding more core memories and doing it with people that I'm excited to be around. And then, of course, bringing that and providing that to others is really fun. And so through the experiential business. But the Alaska one is. It's in tourism business that's providing that to others. And then the hospitality side, well, if you're staying in this incredible spot in a beautiful location and you had one of the best vacations of your life, like, that's a core memory that you created. And so this project in North Carolina is that in. In every possible way. It's in a beautiful little island community called Surf City, just west or east, excuse me, of Wilmington, North Carolina. I actually live there for four months, believe it or not, after Florida post Covid, and had some travels there. And it's like paradise on earth. Have you ever seen the show Outer Banks? It's just south of there by an hour or two, but along the coast maybe, maybe a little less danger than that show, but every much the level of beauty that takes place. And we found a really cool spot that I lived like half a mile from, believe it or not. So it was just pure coincidence that this came back around. And then the folks who had been involved with this, Jonas Harper, Josh Greenberg, Zach Metcalf, their buddy Travis, and also we have Steve Carroll in the group as well. It's probably one of the greatest groups of people I could ask to be surrounded with, not only in their talent, but willing to give to others and just like fun people. So it's in a beautiful place. We have a great strategy on how to provide an incredible experience to others. It's two blocks from the beach, and then I'm doing this with people that I love being around. It's checking every single box. So for me, it's more so a great experience and it's fun and to be able to provide, you know, a level of that experience to anyone who chooses to be involved in the project is just, you know, cherry on top.
Mike Swenson
It's cool to see all the stuff that's happened. I think we definitely need to set up like an update show, you know, a year from now, whatever that looks like, where you can share because so many early seeds have been planted here and what you've done over the last six months. So it's going to be exciting to see what happens with that. But thank you, Kyle, so much for coming on and sharing your story and, and for people listening, I think there's a lot of people that can resonate with this story. Not that everybody has gone through the same story you have, but I think with pieces of it, of resonating, like trying to figure out, like, what am I going to do? My W2 is throwing me a wrinkle in some way, shape or form, wanting to build the life that you've always wanted to do and all that kind of stuff. And so you're just a, a great example of somebody who's been through the fire here and come out with some, some really cool, exciting things. And so it's going to be fun to see what happens for people that want to reach out to you, learn more about what you're doing, do so.
Kyle Luetkehans
Yeah, thank you. By the way, it's taken quite a few learnings and misses to get to this point, so hopefully in a couple months can share some more details. Looking back, but if people wanted to reach out, I'm an open book. I love helping people navigate these types of challenges in their life. I've been trying to navigate it for over a decade, to be honest and feel like I'm getting close to cracking the code. But people can reach out. Instagram is honestly the easiest one. It's Kyle Luetkehans. And lutes is L U E T S just an abbreviation for my last name and, you know, happy to chat about any of the projects I'm working on or more so if people are saying, hey, I want to try to figure out a different way to provide for my family and live life. Something that I'm a bit more excited about. I'm always happy to chat through how to navigate that.
Mike Swenson
Well, thank you, Kyle, for coming on and sharing. Excited to see what happens here in the future. So best of luck as you continue your journey and excited to see when these things close.
