Episode #503: From Financial Adviser to Children's Author-Larry Blundred, Pickleball & Ollie Otter

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I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal partnership

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with the prospect wizard. And when I say wizard, I

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mean wizard. Obviously, you have a website. This

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into leads. It's not just another chatbot, and it's not AI,

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but it allows a visitor to call, text, or leave a voice

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mail, immediately goes to you, your sales team, or anyone else in the club

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instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact a lead within

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10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up 9 times

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that of the average. We got the Atlanta Clubs on it, Pete

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Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside, City Fitness

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Philly, College Park, Become one of the

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next halo companies to deploy the wizard. It's easy to

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use. Go to the prospectwizard.com. Get a free

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up and let the leads flow based on the

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wizard. Go get them.

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This is Pete Moore on HALO Talks NYC. I have the pleasure of bringing

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on Larry coming in from Fort Myers. We're gonna talk about pickleball. We're

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gonna talk about children's books, and we're gonna talk about helping

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the society at large Pete more active, get more

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social, and make change from a grassroots level. So, Larry,

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thanks for joining us. Pleasure to be with you, Peter. Thank you.

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Awesome. So you got involved in pickleball back in, back in

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2019, if I've got my notes here correctly. So what was

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the, instigator to get you, onto the pickleball court

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and it was a trade off from any other sport or was it additives?

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Well, it was a little bit of a trade off, but it was mostly an

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intervention from a friend. Bill Race,

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the founder of pickleball in Cincinnati, who just passed away a couple

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months ago, 92 years old. He and another

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guy saw some challenges that I was going through

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in terms of caring for my deceased wife who had a brain tumor.

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And I was focused pretty much on, you know, working at the

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time, trying to navigate Square, and, had played some

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racquetball, kind of gave that up and bill and a

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friend said, Hey, I want to introduce you to something. And it was

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pickleball. So I showed up and,

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they befriended me. Didn't even have a paddle, took a like into the

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sport, started playing it a lot. It was great

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emotional therapy. It was community therapy. I'd gotten a

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little soft from a standpoint of,

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physical activity and it re

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energized me, But especially the community

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component associated with the sport that has

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really, I think, driven me

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into the arena that I am now, and that is writing children's

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books to elevate

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the sport in people's minds as a

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means to grow physically,

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spiritually, emotionally.

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Everybody has a story. Everybody has a challenge. And pickleball

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was a vehicle for me to recover,

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to embrace others, to get out of my

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my soft Pete, and was the capstone or for

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you will, the foundation to my mission in

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writing children's books to build up the next generation younger

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people to play pickleball. And so

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that's kind of the mission of of what I'm involved in right now. And and

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my vehicle, my bridge is writing children's books with

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critters. So that that answers your first question.

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Love it. I'm sorry to hear about the the the life challenges

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you went through. I think we've all got stories of, you know, the roller coaster

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rides that we've been on. I don't think anybody's got a highlight wheel and a

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lowlight wheel that are, that that are produced the same way. So,

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you you know, I hear you. And I've also seen a lot of people

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embrace pickleball with not realizing

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how important the social dynamic and how

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how powerful it is and and the fact that you could get

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30 or 40 people, you know, to show up in the Moore. Because I

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think the alternative is that they probably don't leave their house.

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And I think that's the most important part that I think loneliness is

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the biggest issue in the health care industry, and that's why we've

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kinda devoted a lot of our time when we use the term HALO as the

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acronym,

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o of outdoors to pick a ball. Right. And there was a

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stat that came out last year. I think,

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UnitedHealthcare or something came out and said there's an additional

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$500,000,000 worth of, you know, medical expenses

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related to injuries on the pickleball court. And I was shocked

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that whoever wrote the article didn't make a reference to

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say and it's probably $5,000,000,000 worth of benefits,

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you know, on the other side of that that might go into other

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portals of of injuries or, you know,

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longevity issues or people doing things that are harmful to themselves.

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You know, as you kinda look at the market, and I went to the US

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Open, you know, there are kids that were 11 years old playing 1 on 1

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pickleball. And, you know, they were probably it

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could have been great tennis players, or they could have been on a soccer

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team. So, you know, as you look at the the, you

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know, the the spectrum of of ages,

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and you look at pickleball and you say, I would never, like, go bowling

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with, like, a 9 year old. Right? But I have no problem playing pickleball against

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a 9 year old. Like, Wes, where does that come from?

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You're absolutely right. You know, I don't think there's any other sport

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right now where you could play with a 9 year old or a

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19 year old or a 90 year old and still have

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fun and not be in a, in a spirit of judgment

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or, you know, hey, you just missed a shot or you're not of the

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right age or size to play this sport. To give

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you an illustration, year ago, December, I played in a tournament

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down at Naples and turned was over, was fortunate

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enough. We got 3rd place in the 65 plus 60 plus age

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range. And I hung around just talking to to folks as we

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left. And but I took a little

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video of this. There was 2 kids, maybe 9,

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10, 11 years old, 2 brothers just

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playing. And I just stopped and watched them, took a little picture and they

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took a break and I said, Hey, you guys good for you. You're just

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having fun. And, and they were joking with one another and encouraging one

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another. And, I mean that that's

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what pickleball is all about. And the other the side of the coin is a

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92 year old Bill Reese, who basically 3 weeks

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up to his death when he died of pneumonia, the founder of pickleball in

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Cincinnati, was still out on the court.

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He taught Pete, he encouraged people,

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and that is something very unique to pickleball. I'm not

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saying other sports do not have special dynamics to them,

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but I just think there's something about pickleball that is

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very different and very positive for

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all ages. So and my focus is on the younger folks,

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including those that have said to themselves, you

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know, I can't play. I have ADHD. I'm in a

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wheelchair. I have autism.

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Well, guess what? They can play. Yes. And they

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can be encouraged to play, and they can get a new identity and a

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new sense of purpose and engagement

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and love and support because of pickleball.

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Yeah. I don't know if there's an answer to this or

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maybe you'll come up with something that, you know,

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is like the story behind the story. But

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I've played in many golf tournaments where people got an attitude

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problem or they got an ego, and you just feel like the

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culture of this golf, you know, course in

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this, like, you know, like, the the the clubhouse, like, have all

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these, like, rules that you can kinda feel like, is my

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shirt not is my shirt collar not good enough? Is my, you know, is

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it not are my pants not, like, golf approved?

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Do they not like my hat because it doesn't have, like, the golf course name

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on it? And you feel, like, so much anxiety just by, like, going in

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there thinking, like, am I gonna do anything till I get this member, like,

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you know, kicked out or, like, disciplined. Right? I've got some Pete. I've shown up

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in a golf club. Bro, you can't wear this. Like, oh my god. Can't, like,

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do you? I'm like, what are you what are you talking about? Like, I think

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I'm dressed fine. How did pickleball

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in every place I've been to play pickleball, how is the cultural

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DNA the same everywhere you go, where people are

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so welcoming and so interested in in

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in bringing you in, that there's, like, a no judgment zone

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everywhere you go. How did that how did that happen? Or how did you think

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it's like with the foundation of pickleball in 1965

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when the founders said, you know, we need to create a sport here for

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our kids because they're bored. So they took nets and

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paddles and created a sport and it was the neighbors that came

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and played and the friends of the family. And so on the other side of

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the world, 5 years ago, when my

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wife was still living, one of our last trips, we went to to

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Edinburgh, Scotland. We we toured Scotland, we

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flew in Edinburgh and I I sent a note to the lady who was in

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charge of the pickleball club in Edinburgh. And I showed

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up and it was just like I was home.

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Yeah. They welcomed me. We played, it

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was fun. There were people from all dynamics, all ages. 1,

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1 was a food editor for the local newspaper

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and we had halftime, which was unusual. We don't do

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halftime here with pickleball and we had cookies and hot tea.

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Mhmm. That was the only difference. But I could have just closed my

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eyes and pretended I was back home playing at Sawyer

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point in Cincinnati, and the dynamic was absolutely the same.

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I wish I had an answer to that. Maybe it's just something about

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the, the, the DNA of the sport that is nonjudgmental,

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is everybody perfect? No. Are there some weirdos out there? Yeah. Are those that are

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maybe a little bit too extreme? Yes. But that's going to be at any sport,

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But you show up in jeans or you can show up with

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any kind of clothes and play. And,

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it's simple. It's really not a complicated sport,

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which I think is one of the beauties.

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This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this

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company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards

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from retailers that allow you to incentivize your

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members without having to do zero down and 1 month

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free or giving away shakes or giving away t shirts. What

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you wanna do is build a rewards program that lasts, that

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people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services.

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So here's the deal. There's something called rewards vault. The rewards

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vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile.

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They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be

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able to target those members and you're gonna reward them inside your

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club, inside your spa, and outside of the club, and

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outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them

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to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded

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properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards.

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You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is

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real.

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I read an article the other day that I was

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disturbed by. And it was someone in the pickleball industry

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saying we need to rename the sport to make it more serious. I

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don't know if you saw that, but we think that it's it's too hokey

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to use the word pickle. We should come up with a more professional name. And

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I was thinking, like, it's so big right now. Like,

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don't touch it. You know, like, there are certain things that that need

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to be renamed, you know, for politically correct

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reasons that haven't been renamed, like plantations. Yeah. In in

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the south are still called plantations, which is bizarre to me. But, you

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know, it seems like, look, just let it be. You know? Like, if

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you Pete a tinker with something, like, don't touch that.

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Well, you know, you do know why it's called pickleball. And I have it from

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the source that it is named after the dog. There's a lot of

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debate as to how it got its name. Yep. But

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I spoke 2 years ago fall. I went out to Bainbridge

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Island to research my 3rd book, Ollie visits

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Square it all started, which is Bainbridge. So I spent 2 weeks there

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with my now wife and just toward the island

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and had a chance, you know, through connections to meet Scott and

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Carol Stover Carol's related to Barney McCallum, one of the

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founders. And they were so gracious to me. They let me play

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on the court. They opened the box where they have some of the

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original paddles and memorabilia, and it, it touched me because

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of my books. They had them in the box, which means people are see

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these Talks, and at the end, I said, Scott, I need to

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ask a question. Tell me the truth from your perspective.

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Is it true that the name of the sport is named after the dog? And

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he said, yes. And, of course, there's always now is not the time to go

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over that, But there were 2 dogs. 1 was pickle and 1 was

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Lulu. Fortunately, pickles, the one that went after the

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dog, the balls and not Lulu. Cause I'm not sure Lulu ball would sound

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really I don't know. It'll work. Pete. Plus I

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love the name because in my 3rd book, Pickles' grandson,

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who we named Dilly, dilly dog, dilly

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dog, dilly. Okay. You get it? Dillies in my

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3rd book. I don't know what I would have done if it was Lulu.

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I I don't know. So I get lucky. But Yeah. The truth is

233
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it's pickleball because of the dog. So we wrote a book,

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and my partner, and and we got a character, Chirst,

235
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named Moore. And we wrote a book a couple of years ago called Time to

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Win Again. And it's basically I read it. I I I did the

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Kindle. I mentioned to David some of the chapters that I really

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like. Excellent books. Very, very good book.

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Simple. Yeah. That's that's how I believe dig things should

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be in life. I don't know if he disclosed to you, but we've got a

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a pickleball book coming out, in about a month

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that's called Cut Time to Pickle Again. And it's 15

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takeaways from pickleball to ensure,

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longevity, health, and and, happiness, I think it's our

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our our tagline there. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank

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you. When you take a look at the books that you're writing and

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and, you know, your audience is obviously children, what are some of

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the themes that you're trying to analogize?

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Or what are some of the things that you're trying to get across

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that are important to you when you put together a children's book? I've never written

251
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a children's book. Obviously, read several of them, you know, to my nieces and

252
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nephews over the years. But what are some of the things that you know, what

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your mission is, what you've gone through, that you wanna

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basically lay some seeds without necessarily

255
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getting too deep with kids? Gotta keep it simple with kids. You

256
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gotta keep it fun. Gotta relate it to critters. You know? So I

257
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have Ollie Otter. I have, all kinds of critters that are each

258
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of the books. But to address your question specifically, the themes in

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book 1 are that in any family

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situation, whether a critter is raised

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by new parents, having lost its original parents in case

262
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of Ollie, Moore in the case of

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Alana llama, her mother couldn't have

264
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children and Alana lost her

265
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mother and was adopted.

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Robbie, the raccoon, is raised by his

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grandmother. And so no matter the family

268
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situation, in each case, the critter, in book

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00:16:46,795 --> 00:16:50,339
1, discovers pickleball by introduction

270
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by another family member or other loving friends.

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And that's a total new dynamic to their lives.

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So no matter what the family situation,

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pickleball can serve as a bridge to encouragement and

274
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community. The second theme that I I resonate

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is that anyone can play pickleball. So the 4

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critters in book 1 meet in Cincinnati by chance,

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00:17:18,615 --> 00:17:22,380
and they fell in love with each other in a in a loving

278
00:17:22,380 --> 00:17:26,160
way, of course, and and pickleball. They go back home to their respective

279
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countries as ambassadors for pickleball.

280
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They wanna set up community groups. They wanna expand pickleball

281
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among their friends, school, and in each

282
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case, they didn't plan this, but they run

283
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into another critter that

284
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struggles in some fashion. So Sammy the

285
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sloth, Ollie introduces Sammy the sloth to

286
00:17:51,975 --> 00:17:54,960
pickleball, even though he sees him in the workout

287
00:17:55,340 --> 00:17:59,180
arena outside in the playground and says, you know,

288
00:17:59,180 --> 00:18:02,985
Hey, you look really athletic. And Sammy,

289
00:18:03,685 --> 00:18:07,305
you know, says, well, did you see that over there? That's my wheelchair.

290
00:18:08,245 --> 00:18:11,960
Well There's no way I can play pickleball. Well, Ollie doesn't take no for

291
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,420
an answer. So he carts him down to the pickleball courts.

292
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Long story short, Sammy ends up starting a wheelchair pickleball

293
00:18:19,855 --> 00:18:23,535
team in that community. So the themes

294
00:18:23,535 --> 00:18:27,350
are no matter what your family situation, no matter

295
00:18:27,350 --> 00:18:31,130
in your mind what you physically think you might not be able to do,

296
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whatever that challenge might be, you can still find

297
00:18:36,075 --> 00:18:39,915
home, strength, community, and support through through

298
00:18:39,915 --> 00:18:43,559
pickleball. Pickleball is a vehicle, and

299
00:18:43,559 --> 00:18:47,400
it's people that bring them together that enables that to

300
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,159
happen. Can you talk a little bit about your background?

301
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What were you doing before the children's books and before

302
00:18:55,304 --> 00:18:58,365
the 2019 Cincinnati introduction to pickleball?

303
00:18:59,385 --> 00:19:03,210
I was a financial adviser. Probably the least likely person to ever

304
00:19:03,210 --> 00:19:07,050
write checkable pickleball books or let alone children's books. I mean, when I started telling

305
00:19:07,050 --> 00:19:10,695
my kids that I wanted to give it a try, they said bad. Just

306
00:19:10,695 --> 00:19:14,215
stick to your marketing stuff and to your, you know, financial stuff. And I

307
00:19:14,215 --> 00:19:17,790
said, well, you know, I I just have a sense of a purpose and a

308
00:19:17,790 --> 00:19:21,630
vision to give this a try. Mhmm. So I did. So

309
00:19:21,630 --> 00:19:25,375
book 4 is now in the works. It'll be out this fall. All the Critters

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00:19:25,375 --> 00:19:29,215
have a family reunion or a Critter reunion in Cincinnati because that's

311
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where they met for the first time. And I won't I'll just give you a

312
00:19:32,335 --> 00:19:36,130
little hint. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun. That's great. And Aldi's gonna

313
00:19:36,130 --> 00:19:39,970
discover a new group to help. So I I I

314
00:19:39,970 --> 00:19:43,430
I have a background that's not even related to writing children's books.

315
00:19:43,915 --> 00:19:46,975
Well, I think you're an authority on it, so thanks for just doing it.

316
00:19:48,795 --> 00:19:52,410
There's a message there. It's just like you're taking. You're stepping

317
00:19:52,410 --> 00:19:55,310
out, Peter. Yeah. So let me ask you this.

318
00:19:56,650 --> 00:20:00,010
Would you you've been in business for a long time. You know, you know

319
00:20:00,010 --> 00:20:03,775
how distribution works. You know what it cost to build a brand. You know

320
00:20:03,775 --> 00:20:07,215
what it it Talks to put an inventory into, you

321
00:20:07,215 --> 00:20:10,275
know, books into, you know, where whatever channel.

322
00:20:11,490 --> 00:20:14,850
How have you thought about either getting these books

323
00:20:14,850 --> 00:20:18,309
into, you know, pickleball pro shops or into

324
00:20:18,595 --> 00:20:22,195
health club operators that have, you know, pickleball

325
00:20:22,195 --> 00:20:25,955
courts that they've just introduced like Lifetime, or you just

326
00:20:25,955 --> 00:20:29,760
do everything online and you say, you know, those who are searching will

327
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,600
find it. I've I've learned in this 4 year

328
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,385
process from a lot of

329
00:20:37,521 --> 00:20:41,005
Talks, thinking I could take on the world with this book

330
00:20:41,625 --> 00:20:44,765
with these books. I didn't really

331
00:20:45,370 --> 00:20:49,210
have a specific plan that said, okay, here's where they're gonna go, but

332
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what has evolved is twofold. Number 1,

333
00:20:53,615 --> 00:20:56,754
I start in Cincinnati and partner with organizations

334
00:20:58,095 --> 00:21:01,700
that have a mission comparable to mine and we

335
00:21:01,700 --> 00:21:05,540
partner with them. And so I support them, and then they

336
00:21:05,540 --> 00:21:08,900
buy my Talks, and they introduce the books to the

337
00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:12,684
kids. I am doing pro shops in Cincinnati. I'm my

338
00:21:12,684 --> 00:21:16,445
books and my t shirts are all to Naples Pickleball Club pro shop

339
00:21:16,445 --> 00:21:20,080
down there. I sent a picture to David of of my

340
00:21:20,620 --> 00:21:24,299
my little thing. And here's a little old me, you know, with a corner of

341
00:21:24,299 --> 00:21:27,729
the pro shop down there that has my shirts and my Talks,

342
00:21:28,015 --> 00:21:31,635
because Rob Stroman liked my story.

343
00:21:32,175 --> 00:21:35,850
He believes in what I'm doing. My books very soon will

344
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now have national distribution through Ingram.

345
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So I've learned along the way, just a,

346
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not to give up and b, work on partnerships.

347
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I can't sell the whole world myself, but if I can partner with those and

348
00:21:51,590 --> 00:21:54,330
have comparable missions, then there's synergy.

349
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They like what I'm doing. I like what they doing. We work together,

350
00:21:59,325 --> 00:22:02,685
and it's a win win for both of us. So that's kinda my strategy going

351
00:22:02,685 --> 00:22:03,185
forward.

352
00:22:07,230 --> 00:22:10,850
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

353
00:22:11,390 --> 00:22:15,145
We are partnered up with a company called Higher Dose, higherdose.com.

354
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They are the leader in workout recovery products,

355
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356
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357
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mats and sauna blankets. If you have not gotten

358
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on the workout recovery train yet, your time

359
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and your stop is now. You gotta get these products in there before

360
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these workout recovery and spas end up saturating your Moore.

361
00:22:43,090 --> 00:22:46,654
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations

362
00:22:46,654 --> 00:22:50,335
for $200 per month where they're paying 39 to

363
00:22:50,335 --> 00:22:54,129
you, let's become an expert in workout recovery if we

364
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are already an authority in workouts. Higher dose,

365
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check it out. There's a wholesale code, and we look

366
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forward to helping you augment your products and services

367
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to meet the demands of your members. And, hey, let's get people

368
00:23:09,225 --> 00:23:12,900
happy, healthy, and sweating, and the recovery should be

369
00:23:12,900 --> 00:23:14,120
just as good as the workout.

370
00:23:18,020 --> 00:23:21,815
And then one other question I have for you, as you know, we're on

371
00:23:21,815 --> 00:23:25,355
the investment side. You know, you've got a background as a financial,

372
00:23:26,295 --> 00:23:29,840
adviser. There are a lot of groups out there

373
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,140
raising money at what I Moore ridiculous

374
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,740
valuations to have private pickleball clubs

375
00:23:37,275 --> 00:23:41,055
and $2,000 initiation fees and 2 or $300

376
00:23:41,355 --> 00:23:45,200
a month. Thankfully, the municipalities

377
00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:49,659
have gotten in front of that potential price

378
00:23:49,659 --> 00:23:53,135
hurdle by building these courts for

379
00:23:53,135 --> 00:23:56,434
free. Right. And I'm hoping that

380
00:23:56,815 --> 00:24:00,174
given the supply demand that there'll be an

381
00:24:00,174 --> 00:24:03,380
oversupply that will allow everyone

382
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,520
to play, who wants to play, like you're talking about, you know,

383
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,915
people that may be, you know, disadvantaged.

384
00:24:11,095 --> 00:24:13,755
And, also, just to carry on to that point,

385
00:24:15,095 --> 00:24:18,710
my my godson plays baseball. And I went into

386
00:24:18,710 --> 00:24:22,549
Dick's Sporting Goods the other day. The price to play

387
00:24:22,549 --> 00:24:26,375
baseball now is ridiculous. Right? Because now I

388
00:24:26,375 --> 00:24:30,135
get, like, a hand sleeve that, you know, cost $80 to slide into

389
00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:33,835
2nd base. I've got the bat that used to be, you know,

390
00:24:34,010 --> 00:24:37,630
an aluminum bat with Easton for, like, $60. That's, like, $300

391
00:24:38,010 --> 00:24:41,630
now. Right? I got a glove that used to be $30

392
00:24:42,175 --> 00:24:46,015
for brawling. So now that's $200. Right? So it's almost like they're

393
00:24:46,015 --> 00:24:49,615
pricing people out. And also, I'm

394
00:24:49,615 --> 00:24:53,280
shocked that Amazon Prime,

395
00:24:54,140 --> 00:24:57,980
you can't watch a Thursday night football game if I'm a kid that can't my

396
00:24:57,980 --> 00:25:01,394
parents can't afford to get, you know, this other

397
00:25:01,394 --> 00:25:05,174
streaming video. And now, I am now missing

398
00:25:05,794 --> 00:25:09,560
opportunities to watch things I love or learn, or

399
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,400
say that I did it because I'm getting priced out of

400
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,735
certain sports. Do you

401
00:25:17,675 --> 00:25:20,655
view this, like, growth of pickleball

402
00:25:21,435 --> 00:25:25,130
as like a country club as almost like, you

403
00:25:25,130 --> 00:25:28,890
know, I don't wanna use the term death star, but, like, I'm a I'm a

404
00:25:28,890 --> 00:25:32,010
Star Wars guy. Right? So I'm thinking it's like is this like the big bad

405
00:25:32,010 --> 00:25:35,565
wolf trying to, like, over commercialize pickleball and

406
00:25:35,565 --> 00:25:39,404
create, like, a social class where the point of pickleball was to to stay away

407
00:25:39,404 --> 00:25:42,850
from that? What's your what's your thoughts on that just as, like, a

408
00:25:42,850 --> 00:25:46,690
trap? This is a this is a concern. Yeah. This is

409
00:25:46,690 --> 00:25:49,915
a concern I personally have, and I know lot of my fellow pickleballers

410
00:25:50,054 --> 00:25:53,895
have in terms of, you know, what is the

411
00:25:53,895 --> 00:25:57,335
core of pickleball and what could be a detriment to the

412
00:25:57,335 --> 00:26:00,970
sport? I don't have an answer as to where all this is gonna go.

413
00:26:01,750 --> 00:26:04,490
But as you know, in any sport or any entity

414
00:26:05,405 --> 00:26:09,005
where money can be involved and profits can be

415
00:26:09,005 --> 00:26:12,065
generated and large investors are involved,

416
00:26:13,030 --> 00:26:16,330
there's a there's a subtle change that may be taking place.

417
00:26:17,430 --> 00:26:21,190
I hope the USAPA, the United States

418
00:26:21,190 --> 00:26:24,955
Pickleball Association, and the other affiliated entities

419
00:26:25,815 --> 00:26:29,575
step back and realize what we do have, and we don't

420
00:26:29,575 --> 00:26:32,990
lose that. But yes,

421
00:26:33,370 --> 00:26:37,130
I talked to a lot of people in the industry and there is a

422
00:26:37,130 --> 00:26:40,605
subtle concern that that could take it over.

423
00:26:41,065 --> 00:26:44,905
Yep. But but as long as people can buy

424
00:26:44,905 --> 00:26:48,259
a paddle and put on some shoes, any kind of

425
00:26:48,259 --> 00:26:51,860
shoes, and have the desire to show up at the

426
00:26:51,860 --> 00:26:54,759
local recreation center inside or outside

427
00:26:55,625 --> 00:26:59,145
or at a court like Sawyer Point, Downtown Cincinnati, where you have

428
00:26:59,145 --> 00:27:02,365
24 outdoor courts through the Talks park board,

429
00:27:03,179 --> 00:27:06,940
and people wanna just show up and play. They're

430
00:27:06,940 --> 00:27:10,700
gonna still show up and play. Yep. And there's gonna

431
00:27:10,700 --> 00:27:14,485
be more of that than there is of perhaps

432
00:27:14,545 --> 00:27:17,445
the professional side that

433
00:27:19,340 --> 00:27:23,020
it was incentivized by something other than just community and

434
00:27:23,020 --> 00:27:26,539
recreation. So I do believe that as long as the

435
00:27:26,539 --> 00:27:30,145
core grows and again,

436
00:27:30,445 --> 00:27:34,045
our generation here, I don't expect them to be playing

437
00:27:34,045 --> 00:27:37,420
pickleball in 20 years, but if I can help bring

438
00:27:37,420 --> 00:27:41,260
along younger Pete, which

439
00:27:41,260 --> 00:27:44,885
is the real, the core mission of all the other enterprises is to build

440
00:27:44,885 --> 00:27:48,325
up the next generation of pickleball players. It's gonna

441
00:27:48,325 --> 00:27:52,025
be younger players who discover its benefits as well.

442
00:27:52,670 --> 00:27:56,350
Yep. Yeah. And we you know, when we when we came up with the

443
00:27:56,350 --> 00:28:00,110
term halo, as we talked about before, when someone's like, what do

444
00:28:00,110 --> 00:28:03,775
you do? Like, what what's your mission? My mom used to tell me

445
00:28:03,775 --> 00:28:06,735
that, you know, selling health clubs, is that like a real,

446
00:28:07,215 --> 00:28:10,534
profession? You know, what else are you gonna do? And I'm like, look, this this

447
00:28:10,655 --> 00:28:12,970
it's a it's bigger. It's getting much bigger.

448
00:28:14,710 --> 00:28:18,330
We looked at HALO. We said, look, anything that solves loneliness,

449
00:28:19,030 --> 00:28:22,785
obesity, and diabetes, those companies or those

450
00:28:22,785 --> 00:28:26,085
sports or those ventures need to get a mouthpiece,

451
00:28:26,705 --> 00:28:30,465
need to either get investment or need to at least be, you

452
00:28:30,465 --> 00:28:34,150
know, accentuate, you know, exposed

453
00:28:34,210 --> 00:28:37,570
to the market because you don't have childhood

454
00:28:37,570 --> 00:28:41,245
obesity and diabetes. You have type 2 diabetes for 11

455
00:28:41,245 --> 00:28:44,605
year old or 12 year old who's playing pickleball. Like, it just won't

456
00:28:44,605 --> 00:28:48,440
happen. You know? So from a standpoint of this sport,

457
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,039
I think this sport is almost like a catchall for

458
00:28:52,039 --> 00:28:55,865
those three issues where I don't think there's anything else that exists

459
00:28:55,865 --> 00:28:59,645
that actually catches all 3. I agree. I've yet to find it.

460
00:28:59,785 --> 00:29:03,029
I agree with you. You know, and I don't know if you read this, but

461
00:29:03,029 --> 00:29:05,770
in the new, smartphone from Apple,

462
00:29:06,789 --> 00:29:10,409
it's going to be able to track pickleball, not just your

463
00:29:10,934 --> 00:29:14,475
activity and steps, but you'll a be able to

464
00:29:15,575 --> 00:29:19,100
select pickleball as a sport. So it'll track

465
00:29:19,100 --> 00:29:22,940
your heart rate and your steps associated with that sport.

466
00:29:22,940 --> 00:29:26,480
So that actually shows you where pickleball is right now Yeah.

467
00:29:26,856 --> 00:29:30,468
On the new Moore smartphone. Awesome. Well, look. We'll be

468
00:29:30,468 --> 00:29:34,080
down in Naples for the, for the open again.

469
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,080
We did Airbnb a block away last time. So we're

470
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,440
gonna have our book out there. Let's definitely collaborate and

471
00:29:41,924 --> 00:29:45,065
I would love to collaborate with you, Peter. I think there's a lot of synergy.

472
00:29:45,125 --> 00:29:48,565
I think there's a lot of things we could do together. Yep.

473
00:29:49,044 --> 00:29:52,460
Congratulations on what you're doing. Yeah. Thank thanks for coming

474
00:29:52,460 --> 00:29:56,300
on. And, you know, we're we're just really excited about

475
00:29:56,300 --> 00:29:59,835
it, and I think it's gonna take evangelists like

476
00:29:59,835 --> 00:30:03,515
yourself to get that next generation out there. I

477
00:30:03,515 --> 00:30:07,230
think these kids' books are are brilliant. And I think, you

478
00:30:07,230 --> 00:30:10,830
know, once you get kids hooked on this sport, you know,

479
00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:14,510
people don't people don't say, like, I used to play pickleball. No one

480
00:30:14,510 --> 00:30:18,315
ever says that. And I don't think that's ever something that people Pete gonna say.

481
00:30:18,534 --> 00:30:22,294
So thanks for coming on, man. Look forward to meeting you in person. Keep doing

482
00:30:22,294 --> 00:30:25,300
what you're doing. My pleasure. Thank you so much,

483
00:30:25,940 --> 00:30:28,680
for the time and the opportunity to meet you both. Awesome.