Stephen Tomb: Surviving the Arctic & Selling a Business | Buying Local #88

00;00;00;05 – 00;00;09;05
Speaker 2
Welcome, everyone, to buying local. I’m your host, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media, joined today by Steven Tome from Transworld Business Advisors.

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Speaker 1
Correct? Yep. I’m Albany.

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Speaker 2
Man, I crushed it. You did? I nailed the opening. It was perfect. So we’re going to talk about your trip to the Arctic. We’re going to talk a little bit about what you do professionally too. But you just did this trip to the Arctic. I can’t wait to hear about this. I have so many questions. Especially given the fact that before you left, we were talking about how there’s, like, polar bear fencing and like, all this other stuff.

00;00;33;25 – 00;00;52;03
Speaker 2
So I can’t wait to get into that. You didn’t get eaten. So spoiler alert, he come back. He made it. But before we do, though, I just to introduce, if the business community or listeners have not listened to one of the other episodes that you and Sean I’m on, thank you. Almost call them Steve. Sorry, Sean.

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Speaker 2
You guys been on a couple times talking about what you do? So kind of give us the overview as far as Transworld and.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, so, so Transworld is the largest business brokerage. There’s over 1000 brokers like Maine all over the United States in the world, actually. And, there’s it’s a franchise. So the Pepes, Sean and Alicia owned the Albany and this region’s, franchise. So, and they bought it, I think, three years ago. Okay. And what we really do is help.

00;01;23;22 – 00;01;50;27
Speaker 1
He saw a need. Sean saw a need. And helping people like the businesses. And so people put their, you know, blood, sweat, tears into these incredible, small businesses which are the lifeblood of our communities. And, sometimes they don’t really have a great exit plan. And so what we do is we help with finding an exit plan for them so that they can sell, move on to maybe another opportunity or retire.

00;01;51;00 – 00;02;17;06
Speaker 1
And we’re sort of part of the process from a value doing valuations all the way through, consulting on exiting, having that runway, what does that look like? And then sometimes we find out that they want a franchise. And so we’ve worked with some companies locally to help. We have a variety of transports so large. It’s part of the United Franchise Group that we have a sister organization that helps with franchising.

00;02;17;06 – 00;02;40;18
Speaker 1
So we could do that or we can help people sell. So yeah, right now we have some really cool listings up here. So we’ll talk about that later. But yeah yeah, yeah. So really what we’re trying to do is avoid people closing their businesses because they’re exhausted. You know. And that kind of happens. So we step in, give them a plan and, then help them if they want us to help them market and sell their business.

00;02;40;21 – 00;02;54;00
Speaker 2
Yeah, I know we’ve talked about it and not to get too off in the weeds with it, but, you know, the silver tsunami that’s happening right now, right, with all the baby boomers are aging out and looking to sell their businesses. And they don’t either they don’t have kids or the kids don’t want anything to do with it.

00;02;54;00 – 00;03;04;24
Speaker 2
And they’re like businesses are just closing their doors because they don’t know what else to do with it. Which is wild to me, is like, not only you, you’ve got 40 years building this thing. Don’t just close the doors, man. Sell it well.

00;03;04;24 – 00;03;38;09
Speaker 1
And what really happens is that they don’t realize how vital they are to a community, and there’s somebody that wants to buy it. And and really, our young people, when we start to look at it, our young people can have very successful lives and financially in these businesses. And so it’s, you know, one coming up with a great valuation and making sure that we have we always say good deals for our good people, making sure that both sides we work with the buy side in the sell side, and then make sure that they exit and, you know, they help train the next generation of entrepreneur and, and really community members.

00;03;38;09 – 00;03;39;10
Speaker 2
So yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 1
And it is it’s a it’s a lot I mean, I’ve owned a lot of businesses as far as, you know, how you have over the years.

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Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;03;45;29 – 00;03;57;05
Speaker 1
Yeah. And so you know, I’ve, you know, I ended up in a, in a position with one business that just turned into an asset sale. And, and that was like, oh man, that was terrible. I wish I had had a broker down.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Just selling it off, you know, piece by piece, piece by piece.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. And that was terrible. And and we try to help people avoid that.

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Speaker 2
So it’s like taking a dream and breaking them into pieces and selling each piece off. Right. You really like it’s like.

00;04;10;08 – 00;04;34;28
Speaker 1
You’re like, oh my gosh. And they all make sense. Like we just didn’t know how to find a buyer. So and what we tell people in business is let us help, you know, let us help market and sell your business. You keep working on your business. Yeah. And it’s a lot it’s a lot to put in a huge day, 12 hours a day in your in your business and then come home and think about trying to market and screen buyers and, you know, making sure the finance side works and all that.

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Speaker 1
And then so we step in to do it. So yeah.

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Speaker 2
It’s well, it’s, you know, every entrepreneur, every business owner, you have this idea and you’re going to be filthy rich because of it, right? Every one of us. All right. Like, no matter what it is. Right. That’s. I gotta be so great. I would make so much money that you get to do it. And you’re like, God, this is so damn hard.

00;04;53;26 – 00;05;10;12
Speaker 2
And. But you keep at it. Yeah. And you plug away for years, sometimes decades. And then, you know, if you know someone like Transworld. Yeah, you know, what do you do? You start selling pieces. I’ve seen multiple friends in the last ten years. I’ve had done a similar thing. Instead of finding a buyer for their business.

00;05;10;13 – 00;05;29;17
Speaker 1
Yeah, and it takes longer than people think to like. Yeah, I think the, the average business sells about 7 or 8 months. And so, you know, and I just, I, we just sold the business locally and the I was begging the owners like, just stay in it, let me help you with this. And we ended up getting a great deal for them.

00;05;29;17 – 00;05;52;16
Speaker 1
And, but they were ready to close shop. And again, they have all this, like, intellectual property, that they could pass down. And the next generation can take that and build on it. Yeah. And as soon as they close their doors, we see it. We see in Saratoga County, obviously I’m in Warren County and yeah, I want to I want to keep those businesses opened and operating and get young families back into our community making good money.

00;05;52;17 – 00;05;59;03
Speaker 1
Yeah. You know, it’s the whole thing. So yeah, no I am yeah, I’m super driven. It’s it’s a passion for me.

00;05;59;03 – 00;06;11;06
Speaker 2
And I mean, the small business community is a passion for us as well. You know, like our our mission is to give them unwavering support, wherever that looks like, to help them while they’re on that path, because that it’s not an easy path to walk as a business.

00;06;11;06 – 00;06;25;07
Speaker 1
Oh my gosh, it’s yeah, it isn’t at all. And yeah, that’s the same for us. That’s what we’re trying to do and help them realize there is a runway here. And the other pieces is that a lot of entrepreneurs and I was one of them, are like, I’ve been able to build this business, I don’t need anybody else.

00;06;25;09 – 00;06;46;05
Speaker 1
And it’s a whole other sort of wheelset like you need, you know, marketing it and screening buyers and dealing with finances and making sure not just tax returns, profit and loss statements, all that stuff adds up to a good valuation. You know, and some people are just putting it into Google or putting in a quad or whatever and saying, oh, it should be worth X.

00;06;46;05 – 00;06;47;24
Speaker 1
And that’s not always the case.

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Speaker 2
So yeah.

00;06;49;27 – 00;07;05;11
Speaker 1
But there’s a lot of buyers out there. Yeah. And they’re looking for businesses to expand. And yeah, there’s it’s inspiring actually. There’s a lot of entrepreneurs trying to do good things and good in our communities. And yeah, we’re trying to support them. So yeah.

00;07;05;13 – 00;07;16;09
Speaker 2
And I know we’re going to talk about some of the businesses that you have. I think we’re going to get into names, building time. Now, some of the types of businesses that you’ve got, that are looking for buyers. Yeah, it’s the end of the show, but.

00;07;16;09 – 00;07;33;14
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. Towards the end that would be great. Yeah. And and I think one of the big things you noted it but Transworld confidentiality is, is critical. So you know, you want to keep working on your business working in your business, making it happen. You don’t want a big for sale sign out front and and driving away your your clients or.

00;07;33;14 – 00;07;45;27
Speaker 2
It’s weird how that happens, right? People here are businesses for sale and they stopped going to the business. And it’s like, why? Why are you not like, yeah, it’s not a garage sale, man. They’re not trying to get rid of it. They’re just, you know, they want to go do something else. Like. Absolutely.

00;07;46;00 – 00;08;06;29
Speaker 1
Yeah. So so we really focus on, you know, just like, yeah, once we have an NDA in place with a buyer and we screen the buyer, then we will disclose location, name all of that. But really confidentiality is the key now. Yeah. And you know, like that’s having that transition makes a big difference. Yeah. Really does.

00;08;06;29 – 00;08;08;13
Speaker 1
So yeah.

00;08;08;15 – 00;08;22;12
Speaker 2
So we’re going to talk about the Arctic. Yeah. Before we do, though, I have to apologize to our listeners. First of all, we’re out in the garage. We love it. This maiden voyage, which for the last year, I’ve been saying I was going to finish this garage, and I haven’t touched it in literally a year.

00;08;22;12 – 00;08;38;20
Speaker 2
So we’re still looking at studs and framing. It’s perfect. And, but, and I can hear the roosters crowing in the background from the far, but like, every once I hear one yelling, I’m like, oh, God, all right. That’s going to come through. So enjoy those soothing sounds of the roosters out there. Let’s talk about the Arctic, man.

00;08;38;20 – 00;08;46;27
Speaker 2
So it’s been a dream. I don’t even know where to start with this. I guess tell the audience like you went to the Arctic. What were you doing?

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Speaker 1
Well, so we were sub. So subarctic. We went to Baffin Island, and it’s been a dream of mine. So, like, we talked before we started the show. I spent a lot of time in guiding and working in the adventure industry. And Baffin is one of those places I keep in those wires. Sorry, sorry. Baffin is one of those places that has been 25 years I’ve wanted to go.

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Speaker 2
Where is it?

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Speaker 1
So it’s it’s really north. And what surprised me is how close it is to us. So we’re in Warren County. We drove four hours to Ottawa and, flew four hours. And you’re in, in nine of it. And you’re in the capital city and it’s. Yeah. Permafrost. You’re, I don’t know, 450 miles north of the treeline.

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Speaker 1
It’s incredible. It’s like no other environment and it’s incredibly special place. And so are you.

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Speaker 2
Are you a Star Wars fan? What’s that of.

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Speaker 1
Your. Oh, yeah. I just went to see new Hope the other night with Philadelphia Orchestra with my son. Oh my gosh, I was raised.

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Speaker 2
So did you feel like you were on Hoth while you were up there? Like. Yeah, it’s it’s like the waiting for a time to come running by. It’s like crazy.

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Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it is like that. It’s like it’s so big. The sky is so big. Baffin is a place that should be on. I think everyone’s go to. Okay. And, and so my history is rivers, mountains, that sort of thing.

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Speaker 2
Yeah. Let’s all we.

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Speaker 1
Should probably the last time we, I was on my, I just come back from an expedition on, Mount Rainier with. Yeah. With your boys. Yeah. So this year’s expedition was to. And I just find, being off the grid, not connected for, you know, a week or two really does help reset.

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Speaker 2
Amazing.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. So, and we’ve done a bunch of river trips all over the North America. The Grand, the Colorado, Salmon Lake, just big rivers. But we wanted to do I started doing the heritage rivers of Canada, by ten years ago. And, some big trips, you know, 21 days, in the backcountry. But this one was about nine days.

00;10;51;11 – 00;11;07;08
Speaker 1
But the logistics are crazy because you’re flying into Iqaluit, which is the capital. And then from there, you have to fly in a bush plane into a gravel bar on the Soper River. And the Soper is, you know, one of these. Yeah, it’s it’s amazing.

00;11;07;15 – 00;11;10;20
Speaker 2
Three gravel bar. I’m assuming it’s just stone. Stone.

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Speaker 1
And you come riverbank.

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Speaker 2
In the.

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Speaker 1
River. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s exactly what it is. And you fly in, in a Twin Otter. It’s you and your gear.

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Speaker 2
And have, like, those big tires. Huge. Yeah. So it’s like, kind of bouncing.

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Speaker 1
Oh is it. Yeah. It’s it’s amazing. And when you fly in, you’re like bank in these turns. The pilots are amazing and they’re bush pilots and totally professional. And they’re just. Yeah, the way they fly in is incredible. So we did a flyover of part of our route and then we landed. And, yeah, it’s kind of weird.

00;11;40;15 – 00;11;55;14
Speaker 1
Like when you’re planning those kind of expeditions, you need time because you have these weather windows. And so we had given ourselves a couple days in, at the front end and to in case we could, you know, when we, when could we get in and our pilot called us the first day is like, if you want to go, now’s the time.

00;11;55;16 – 00;12;01;11
Speaker 1
You’re going to get socked in for the next four days. So that’s what we did. We just jumped on one in all.

00;12;01;11 – 00;12;06;15
Speaker 2
And so you’re you’re flying in ahead of a major storm. Yeah. And then.

00;12;06;17 – 00;12;08;20
Speaker 1
You’re. Yeah. Pretty big rainstorm. Yeah a.

00;12;08;20 – 00;12;14;11
Speaker 2
Rainstorm. Yeah. Okay. So you’re out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. It’s cold as.

00;12;14;17 – 00;12;18;05
Speaker 1
No it’s not it wasn’t too bad. It was like maybe for us like in the 50s.

00;12;18;06 – 00;12;20;01
Speaker 2
Oh okay. Oh yeah.

00;12;20;03 – 00;12;45;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. The our first night we had we are the first full day. We just did a hike up mount Joy and it was like, you know, some frozen precipitation, but like, raining sideways, you know, and and this is the most amazing pieces, like the wildlife caribou everywhere. And you, you. So we’re hiking up and, you know, you get some frozen precipitation.

00;12;45;04 – 00;13;08;05
Speaker 1
And next day we started, you know, going down the river and we’d rent it up there. We had rented, inflatable, canoes, which were the first time I’ve ever paddle those. And they were really pretty responsive and really fun. Class three ish whitewater. Okay. Great fishing, Arctic, the Arctic char are running. And so this river is notorious for that.

00;13;08;05 – 00;13;31;04
Speaker 1
And some other cod and all that and. Yeah. And then it’s just beautiful days. We did get tent down, for, two days just because it was blowing so hard. 60 plus mile an hour gusts. We had snapped our snap, one of our our tent poles. And, you know, you just have to deal with that. But yeah, great group, a really great group of guys.

00;13;31;04 – 00;13;36;22
Speaker 1
And that’s the other piece is like, there were seven of us. And just great to connect with people in the.

00;13;36;22 – 00;13;39;23
Speaker 2
Wilderness because, you know, everybody we’re going on this trip with or so.

00;13;39;26 – 00;14;02;08
Speaker 1
Yeah. So that’s a great question. So, one of the one of my, two of my best friends growing up, well, one college roommate and then my other that I did a bunch of climbing with on an Alaskan Denali and sort of we’ve done a bunch of expeditions together. We met at NOLs National Outdoor Leadership School and, out in Wyoming back in the 90s.

00;14;02;10 – 00;14;10;17
Speaker 1
But then we put together the rest of the group from an organization, part of the Adirondack Adventure and Whiskey Society and whiskey.

00;14;10;19 – 00;14;13;25
Speaker 1
We do like whiskey and whiskey, and.

00;14;13;26 – 00;14;18;01
Speaker 2
I love it. It’s the national touch and whiskey, the the.

00;14;18;03 – 00;14;44;03
Speaker 1
Adirondack Adventure Whiskey Society. And all of the sudden you’re like, yeah. So, that was a bunch of guys, Steve of it who, another entrepreneur around here, did a bunch of the trail system, Sean Bean, Gene Vetter and local guy and guide. Yeah, just a great group of guys. And, yeah, just dealing with the wilderness, you know?

00;14;44;03 – 00;14;47;13
Speaker 2
And now, how big are the tents? So we can put this in perspective.

00;14;47;13 – 00;15;06;15
Speaker 1
So most of us were in like two person tents. And for two days, we were. Yeah, we had some hilarious pictures because the wind was so strong, it just sort of collapses you. And you made the the Star Wars reference. And I’m taking video of Jean, actually, and it looks like, Han Solo when he was frozen.

00;15;06;16 – 00;15;22;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. Like just his whole body was just wrapped by the tent. It was hilarious. And you just have to you have to stay in it, because if you move, it could get blown off. That’s what happened to one of ours. Actually mine and Stewie’s, but. Yeah. It’s just.

00;15;22;04 – 00;15;52;09
Speaker 2
You know, I’ve been stuck in a tent for a couple of days because of rain before. Yeah, I remember when the kids were young, we’d go camping all the time, and we were a bit paradox. And every year we did July 4th that week. Every year. Right. For vacation. Excellent. It rains every year. Yeah, yeah. And, we went up to paradox one time and, but we were in like, probably an eight person tower and, but like, you know, you’re stuck in a tent for, I mean, it was torrential downpours for two straight days, like, you couldn’t, like you couldn’t do anything.

00;15;52;09 – 00;16;01;20
Speaker 2
And if you left the tent, you were soaking wet and dragging the water back into the tent, and but it was 70 degrees and yeah, you know, like so I’m just thinking two man tent like, oh yeah.

00;16;01;20 – 00;16;25;07
Speaker 1
That’s that’s tight. Yeah. And you and that’s actually you choose your expedition. You know, the people that are your team members and tell intelligently because the reality is you could be tent bound with somebody for 24 or 36 hours, maybe more, you know. But we got great hikes in and honestly, like the wildlife, it’s it’s amazing. And you mentioned it.

00;16;25;07 – 00;16;27;22
Speaker 1
We had to prepare for bears. So.

00;16;27;22 – 00;16;28;11
Speaker 2
Polar bears.

00;16;28;11 – 00;16;47;09
Speaker 1
For polar bears specifically. That’s what’s on Baffin. And, so you, you put your, your cook where you cook, you know, quite a bit away from where you sleep, some all your food, when you come into camp, you establish where your kitchen is going to be. And then you put all your food, anything with any scent. And that’s where you cook.

00;16;47;09 – 00;17;07;16
Speaker 1
And then half mile or quarter mile to half mile is where you put your tents away. Usually, you know, you want, you know what, the winter, you know what, your kitchen set coming into your tents. But yeah, we were really fortunate, though. We didn’t see any bear sign. It was still early season. The bears are still out on on the ice.

00;17;07;18 – 00;17;21;02
Speaker 1
When we got to camp route, we got to see they, they had, they had killed a bear. They were, they hunt them and they killed one. And we got to see the skin. And all of that was pretty impressive.

00;17;21;05 – 00;17;36;12
Speaker 2
So hold on. I got to go back to the kitchen for a minute. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got questions, and I have questions go in. So, so one thing you had said before you went was the, that you put a, like, a fence or an electric fence or something around the.

00;17;36;12 – 00;17;51;11
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we brought with us and you can get, bear fence. So it’s, Yeah, low, high voltage, low amperage, I think. And you wrap up, you can do your tent with that, you know, where you’re all camping, or you can do your kitchen.

00;17;51;14 – 00;17;53;24
Speaker 2
And it’s a solar charger. Kind of like what we have on the farm.

00;17;53;24 – 00;18;11;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There’s a little solar panel and then there’s a little battery with it. Okay. And usually the battery last like the last a week, you know, because you’re only doing it for you know. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Eight hours. Ten hours. But it was interesting because we didn’t see any sign, at least in the upper river Valley.

00;18;11;21 – 00;18;30;11
Speaker 1
We didn’t actually. We just bear camped. We did not set up the electric fence until we were down closer to the ocean. Okay. Yeah. So the first part, there wasn’t any sign you prepare for it. They have you watch this video on polar bears. And, you know, before you can go into the park, you have to, you know, plan out what you’re doing.

00;18;30;12 – 00;18;47;24
Speaker 1
Your ranger then, like, we’ve had to text a ranger every night. They wanted to know a bunch of things, like wildlife that we saw, that sort of thing. And then at the end, you do an expedition report. So. So we were actually it’s pretty interesting. The Soper River used to have a lot of traffic on it or more traffic.

00;18;47;27 – 00;19;04;00
Speaker 1
There was only two groups. And so we were of the 20 people going, we’re seven of them this summer. Wow. And yeah, it’s, it’s a pretty special place, honestly. And, Calgary in Nunavut is really their economy is booming as the Arctic opens up.

00;19;04;02 – 00;19;30;15
Speaker 1
So there’s there’s a lot of folks in Iqaluit and, mining rare earth metals, you know, they’re all very construction crews. Yeah. So it’s wild, but but for us, you know, getting back to the kitchen in the bear camping, we had a lot of experience with that. Although most of the guys had experience with that. So it was at first it’s a little you know, you’re a little like, oh man, do I have to walk all the way over there?

00;19;30;23 – 00;19;35;27
Speaker 1
Oh man, I forgot my you know, I brought my, my granola bars in my tent with me. I don’t want that.

00;19;35;29 – 00;19;37;24
Speaker 2
You know, and no food in the fat man.

00;19;37;24 – 00;19;40;12
Speaker 1
Food in the tent. Now.

00;19;40;15 – 00;19;49;06
Speaker 2
So with what would happen, it’s like bears got in and like, you know, like, now you’re without supplies, like.

00;19;49;06 – 00;20;15;20
Speaker 1
Well, I think yeah, they could. Yeah, you could be. Absolutely. You know, with modern technology, you know, we’re we’re carrying Garmin inReach so we could text out, you know, to the Rangers if we had to, and, but, yeah, you just try to mitigate and, you know, and minimize any, any of that risk, truly. And, if they did, you know, we had they have a whole protocol on how to deal with polar bear.

00;20;15;21 – 00;20;50;12
Speaker 1
I mean, the reality is they’re the apex. Oh, yeah. And it’s like the museum, that the Inuit have in Iqaluit is incredible. Like just the visitor center was amazing. And and then, just to see how. I mean, they’re really a marine mammal. I didn’t realize that before I went, and they don’t really get up land until the ice freezes over, or they, they come up for calving season for the caribou woman hunt those.

00;20;50;14 – 00;20;53;07
Speaker 1
But they are massive.

00;20;53;10 – 00;20;55;01
Speaker 2
Yeah, man. They’re masks. Scary.

00;20;55;01 – 00;20;55;15
Speaker 1
Scary.

00;20;55;15 – 00;20;57;18
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. They had they would love to eat you.

00;20;57;23 – 00;21;17;01
Speaker 1
They have no problem eating you. Yeah. Yeah, there’s no doubt. Yeah. So so you mitigate, you know, like you’re just constantly thinking about that. Like even even using the bathroom not to be gross, but like, you walk out, you’re like calling out, hey, bear. Hey, bear. You know, like, just trying to first not startle them. Keep distance.

00;21;17;01 – 00;21;33;10
Speaker 1
And then the protocol really is, being together as much as you can. If they charge, you know, there’s a whole protocol that they, that they recommend. And then last and, like, not to run away, you know, you can just see, you know, as soon as you turn into prey by running, they’re going to.

00;21;33;12 – 00;21;34;09
Speaker 2
Oh, they’re going to chase you.

00;21;34;10 – 00;21;35;01
Speaker 1
They’re going to chase you.

00;21;35;01 – 00;21;37;10
Speaker 2
And they’re a lot faster than we are.

00;21;37;12 – 00;21;41;09
Speaker 1
Unbelievably. Yeah. I mean, I’m sure. Have you ever seen a grizzly grizzly to see them? Right.

00;21;41;09 – 00;22;00;15
Speaker 2
I’ve never seen one in person, but I’ve seen videos of them. But, listen, I’ve spent a ton of time in the woods in my life. I love being in the woods. So, yeah, bears scare the shit out of me. And I’m like, you know, I used to hike by myself all the time. Same thing. Hey, bear calls and just like, is, that’s the last thing I want to run into out in the woods.

00;22;00;21 – 00;22;13;07
Speaker 2
Even if it’s. I mean, I’ve seen Black Bear up close, you know, 50ft. But I never been out in an area where there’s grizzly or brown bear, and that would terrify me.

00;22;13;09 – 00;22;44;02
Speaker 1
Yeah, it’s a different experience. Well, and I love it because we’re not the apex. So to have that relationship with nature, it just is. And it’s like being part of something bigger than ourselves. Right? Like that’s one of the reasons I love wilderness and doing these trips and being in these powerful, amazing places. And so, yeah, being part of bear, I when I was working for NOLs, we would be in the absorption range and there’s grizzly there, and you have to be aware for sure.

00;22;44;02 – 00;22;50;11
Speaker 1
And then we were Alaska. We were climb on on Denali and we bumped into a bear really close and oh really?

00;22;50;11 – 00;22;50;23
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;22;50;23 – 00;22;59;13
Speaker 1
Yeah it was it was early season. So but it’s a it’s amazing. Like they’re just they’re just so majestic. So powerful.

00;22;59;13 – 00;23;01;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. They’re amazing animals. Yeah. They scare the crap out.

00;23;01;29 – 00;23;07;03
Speaker 1
Of me 100%. And I think that’s the best way to, you know, to be respectful. And yeah, you.

00;23;07;03 – 00;23;08;00
Speaker 2
Can better respect.

00;23;08;00 – 00;23;08;29
Speaker 1
Them. Yeah.

00;23;09;01 – 00;23;12;00
Speaker 2
Well, you see, you see videos of people all the time.

00;23;12;00 – 00;23;12;16
Speaker 1
Oh, I don’t.

00;23;12;21 – 00;23;16;28
Speaker 2
Like stupid things. Oh he’s like yeah you are going to get jacked up, man.

00;23;16;29 – 00;23;17;28
Speaker 1
I know that.

00;23;18;00 – 00;23;36;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. I just saw a video the other day. Guy was, find his drone in the woods. Now, it could have been I. Right? Right. The way that they posted the video was that it was a real video. But there’s, like, this drone flying through the woods down this, like, cross-country ski trail, and a guy is running, and so the drone, like, goes past the guy, like, as he runs away.

00;23;36;29 – 00;23;46;09
Speaker 2
And then it gets about 20 more feet and there’s a big brown there that’s chasing the guy. And like the whole again, I don’t know if it was like, who knows what’s real in the internet anymore.

00;23;46;09 – 00;24;03;19
Speaker 1
But yeah, that’s the truth. Well, I’ll tell you what. Israel is going to bear country going to Baffin Island that has. Yeah. And, you know, we were it was with mixed emotions. We wanted to see a bear, like just to see, we that would have been amazing. And yet we are also pretty grateful that we didn’t.

00;24;03;19 – 00;24;04;05
Speaker 2
They didn’t.

00;24;04;05 – 00;24;32;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. The last night, last two nights, we camp right above Soper Falls. And the park has a place where they, they have tent platforms that you can camp. You’re getting closer to camp route. So kind of closer to civilization. Civilization? Yeah, if you will. And, so that is all fenced off with solar. And it’s intimidating when you walk in there because it’s like four foot high electric, like serious electric fence, and you’re like, okay, bears are here.

00;24;32;01 – 00;24;40;20
Speaker 2
There’s something you had there. It’s there for a reason. It’s like, be like walking in Jurassic Park. You’re like, okay, what are those fences? What’s on the other side? Is it keeping me in or keeping something out?

00;24;40;23 – 00;25;03;07
Speaker 1
Exactly. Yeah, it’s it was loud, but, yeah, just big, beautiful country man. And super accessible for folks on the East Coast. Yeah. And I didn’t realize that, like, just how powerful a place, like. Yeah, we should get there. We should get there. I should get to the art in anyway. Like, there was also cruise ships, kind of smaller cruise ships that come into those fjords.

00;25;03;15 – 00;25;15;01
Speaker 1
And they do, like, create incredible ornithology up there. Amazing birding, great hikes and. Yeah. So some people will do it that way. Yeah. Small group and can go on a cruise.

00;25;15;01 – 00;25;15;26
Speaker 2
Ship and go.

00;25;15;26 – 00;25;22;26
Speaker 1
And then every day be out on the subarctic or the Arctic and it’s. Yeah, it’s just such a powerful place. Yeah.

00;25;22;26 – 00;25;44;21
Speaker 2
So you guys had to walk back and forth between. I’m still stuck on the kitchen. Yeah, yeah. So you had to walk back and forth. So quarter mile. Half mile. Yeah. So you know 4 to 10 minute walk, you know between tents and kitchen for the two days that you were hemmed up in your tents, that you had to walk through that weather to go to the kitchen.

00;25;44;21 – 00;25;46;06
Speaker 1
Yeah. It’s pretty. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

00;25;46;07 – 00;25;47;15
Speaker 2
And hope that it’s still there.

00;25;47;16 – 00;26;06;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. Well yeah. It didn’t get blown away or that there wasn’t animals there. Yeah. We Yeah, I know the our tent days. Yeah. We had our camp or our kitchen set up. We were in one place for their tents and then our kitchen was in another. And so yeah, you just you have it and, you know, we were without a tent.

00;26;06;19 – 00;26;14;08
Speaker 1
We were, we were unhoused for a while. And so we would, you know, boil water for folks and, and, deliver sort of that.

00;26;14;11 – 00;26;16;18
Speaker 2
Were you guys just hanging out in the kitchen to the.

00;26;16;19 – 00;26;17;09
Speaker 1
We would also have.

00;26;17;09 – 00;26;17;29
Speaker 2
You.

00;26;18;02 – 00;26;26;23
Speaker 1
Know, no, actually, what happened was, Stewie might dispute this, that, but,

00;26;26;25 – 00;26;31;11
Speaker 2
So, Gramercy in the Arctic. That’s all we’re going to call this episode controversy.

00;26;31;13 – 00;26;46;06
Speaker 1
You know, I, it was it was just just booming with wind. And so I got out to secure the tent, and then I was like, oh, I’m going to use the bathroom. I’m out of the tent. And, Stewie felt bad, so he got out, and then he was like, oh, I got to go to the bathroom, too.

00;26;46;06 – 00;27;03;12
Speaker 1
So he started going to the bathroom. I was like, man, this wind can really blow your urine everywhere. And as he’s watching it go, you know, like he looks over and he sees our tent just get lifted up. And then you heard it like, snap the ridge pole and the wind got underneath with all of our gear in it.

00;27;03;12 – 00;27;31;29
Speaker 1
So there had to be like, I don’t know, 100, 150 pounds of gear inside. And it just picked it up and just rolled it right off. I mean, it was we were running and we were both laughing hysterically because we’re like, I can’t even believe this. Like we’re supposed to be the professional telling what just happened. But yeah, and then we we sort of did the, you know, you bring repair kits and we repaired or repaired our tent, and then we just hung out and you’re getting wet, you know, so we we actually dropped our tent.

00;27;31;29 – 00;27;39;27
Speaker 1
We didn’t, reassemble it until the wind stopped and, hung out in the kitchen, then went for an incredible hike. Yeah. So you just sort of make do, you know?

00;27;39;27 – 00;27;40;07
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;27;40;12 – 00;27;42;04
Speaker 1
And enjoy the beauty of the place.

00;27;42;08 – 00;27;58;13
Speaker 2
And so that’s so, you know, I have this in my mind. I had this picture when you first told me about the trip where you guys are like, are just doing the big snowfield. It’s flat as hell. I’m thinking, like, you know, I’m probably thinking the wrong kind of environment, but, and I was going to I’m like, so what the hell do you do?

00;27;58;13 – 00;28;00;20
Speaker 2
But. So you guys are hiking? Oh, yeah. Fishing.

00;28;00;20 – 00;28;22;10
Speaker 1
You’re fishing. The the the wildflowers are incredible. And you’re just. Yeah. You’re going for these beautiful walks we fished. We brought we we were a little light on the gear. We brought a couple spin cast and a couple of fly rods, and, the locals were using, actually more like treble hooks and kind of, you know, whereas for us, we caught them.

00;28;22;15 – 00;28;39;23
Speaker 1
We caught an Arctic char, which is delicious. First day. So we’re like, oh, my God, this is gonna be amazing. Fishing trip. And then that was it to the last day. Oh, really? Yeah. It was pretty. Yeah. Not a lot of action. Not a lot of action, but we did. It was just beautiful. Super fun to be on that water.

00;28;39;23 – 00;29;04;03
Speaker 1
And yeah, it’s big sky. And the other thing is like, it’s light. It’s so like you get a little dusk from like 2 a.m. to four, but you’re so far north that it’s, it’s like the whole time and just stunning. And it’s the big sky too, like being from Warren County, Saratoga County. We’re used to this canopy. And that is really kind of a cool experience to just be under the big sky.

00;29;04;06 – 00;29;06;26
Speaker 2
Is it? Because it’s so it. Well, it’s not no tree.

00;29;06;29 – 00;29;10;09
Speaker 1
Well, it’s not flat and it’s, you know, it’s because there’s no trees up there.

00;29;10;09 – 00;29;13;09
Speaker 2
Just you’re not seeing what we see with the mountains in the trees. But yeah.

00;29;13;09 – 00;29;31;15
Speaker 1
There’s mountains, but they’re sort of, I mean, stunningly beautiful and, like, all this different rock, I mean, bath and has a lot of very rare earth metals. That’s one of the things that I think is blown up. They also have, I believe they have gold or maybe fool’s gold, like they have a lot of different.

00;29;31;18 – 00;29;56;13
Speaker 1
And it’s surface, you know, I mean, it’s like the glaciers carved it out. So, you know, and I’m not a geologist, but I just know it’s stunningly beautiful. Beautiful. Like this river is it’s. Yeah. The valley’s amazing. And, you know, it’s like caribou 3000 in this herd just on super river Valley. And so you just constantly see the caribou.

00;29;56;15 – 00;30;17;16
Speaker 1
It’s pretty interesting. The first time we saw that, caribou running and we’re like, wow, what’s going on there? Running up and down the riverbank. And we later found out that was because they’re getting munched by mosquitoes. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. The bugs are real. The bugs are real. Like, for sure we didn’t. We had two bad bug days.

00;30;17;18 – 00;30;20;03
Speaker 1
But, yeah, they’re pretty ferocious.

00;30;20;03 – 00;30;23;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. Are they the size of bats?

00;30;23;04 – 00;30;23;27
Speaker 1
Small birds.

00;30;23;28 – 00;30;32;18
Speaker 2
Small, but. Yes. Yeah. What’s funny? I was just up at camp for five days, and the mosquitoes were pretty bad, but I bet nothing compared to what year.

00;30;32;19 – 00;30;39;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. It was. Yeah, it’s it’s pretty impressive, actually. And, you know, that’s a whole head game. You know what? Yeah.

00;30;39;04 – 00;30;40;01
Speaker 2
Yeah. The bugs.

00;30;40;08 – 00;30;59;25
Speaker 1
Yeah. But as long as there’s a breeze, like it’s. Yeah, it was a king thing. Like you’re just sort of in awe at them. You’re out there and you’re like, okay, what we gotta deal with. Two guys brought, like, bug shirts. Yeah, but most of us just wore like, I wore. I had a bug net, had net and then, gloves and, like, a wind layer, and that was plenty.

00;30;59;29 – 00;31;02;01
Speaker 2
So I’d say those head nets are amazing. Oh my.

00;31;02;01 – 00;31;03;14
Speaker 1
Gosh. Brilliant.

00;31;03;16 – 00;31;28;28
Speaker 2
Yeah, I, we we go up to camp every year to open up and, and beginning middle of May, and the black flies in the Adirondacks are awful. 100%. And like, I’m always like, I don’t need a bug nap. We’re getting ready to go out. So, we go up for like, 4 or 5 days. And one of the days, though, is, about a four mile paddle back and a little bit of portage and, to go to this one little trout pond.

00;31;28;29 – 00;31;32;10
Speaker 2
Oh, that you just, I mean, every cast you’re pulling in another brookie.

00;31;32;11 – 00;31;32;18
Speaker 1
Oh.

00;31;32;18 – 00;31;50;29
Speaker 2
That’s awesome. And, we get out there. Oh, my God, I, I have a video somewhere in my head net. And it is just a swarm. Black flag. Like, if you weren’t wearing the head net, they’re flying in your ears, up your nose. Oh, you biting the crap out of you. It was absolutely unbearable. Well, that’s a thing like that.

00;31;51;01 – 00;32;00;19
Speaker 1
We did have, like, the two, two bug days, and and you’re like, now I know why the caribou go crazy. Yeah. Run! Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

00;32;00;19 – 00;32;01;20
Speaker 2
It’s only way to get away from.

00;32;01;21 – 00;32;02;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. You’re just.

00;32;02;05 – 00;32;02;29
Speaker 2
You just got to move.

00;32;03;00 – 00;32;05;18
Speaker 1
You gotta move. You gotta have, like, now, whatever the speed of.

00;32;05;21 – 00;32;13;24
Speaker 2
The wind or whatever to eight mile per hour where it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it sounds like an amazing trip.

00;32;13;26 – 00;32;18;12
Speaker 1
Honestly, like. Yeah, I mean, I love, I, we love wilderness, so. Yeah.

00;32;18;14 – 00;32;24;02
Speaker 2
And I’ve never been in wilderness like you’ve been in. I like to be fair. I go up into the Adirondacks. I met a, I.

00;32;24;02 – 00;32;25;00
Speaker 1
Don’t know, an extra for real.

00;32;25;00 – 00;32;31;00
Speaker 2
Man. I mean, it can be you get outside. I mean, we get pretty back deep in there sometimes, but, I mean.

00;32;31;00 – 00;32;49;24
Speaker 1
The Adirondacks people don’t realize or it it’s the reason I live there is because it is a stunning wilderness. 6 million acres. Like, it’s like no other place in the whole world, but, well, you know, it’s like, why do we travel? Why do we like to vacation? It’s new. And to see other places and see other people and culture.

00;32;49;24 – 00;32;54;29
Speaker 1
And so yeah, it’s. Yeah. Again. Baffin Island. Unreal. Yeah.

00;32;54;29 – 00;33;12;03
Speaker 2
It’s I wonder what the stars are like because I was thinking about that when you’re talking about big Sky, but then you reminded me that it’s mostly there’s like almost no dark. But I know, like we go up to camp and there’s no light pollution. So like, the night sky is, I get this fly. I’m speaking of bugs.

00;33;12;05 – 00;33;16;12
Speaker 2
The night sky is amazing. Oh, yeah. Like, you can see everything.

00;33;16;12 – 00;33;37;03
Speaker 1
So their big one of their big tourist seasons is the winter for the northern lights. Yeah, for the stars. And, you go out and dog sleds and it is, you know, you’re really, you know, it’s interesting. They don’t get a whole bunch of snow. They get, you know, reasonable snow. What happens is the snow gets boring all over the place.

00;33;37;06 – 00;33;55;29
Speaker 1
And so they don’t have, like, you know, 30ft of snow. But like the dog sledding, they go out and it’s a tourist destination and you know, for, you know, Christmas for any of those times, particularly when there’s, high potential for the Northern Lights.

00;33;56;05 – 00;34;02;04
Speaker 2
Do you know how cold it gets in the winter? It’s going to be cold. It’s going to be so cold.

00;34;02;08 – 00;34;19;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah, very cold. But, you know, it’s interesting. I mean, obviously the the, First Nations people, they’ve been there for thousands of years. They know how to do it. And, yeah, it’s like simple things. Again, it’s like all those simple things, like people often ask me like, oh, you got to be a really good paddler to go do these.

00;34;19;24 – 00;34;39;26
Speaker 1
And I’m like, no. The more important thing is that you’re a really good camper. You can live outdoors and be comfortable being uncomfortable, being a little wet or yeah, dealing with being a little cold, not too cold. And the Inuit and they, you know, the guides up there, they they know how to manage that. Actually.

00;34;39;29 – 00;34;48;23
Speaker 2
I remember you were telling me when you went to Rainier with your boys. Yeah. You guys, there was a couple moments where you were a little worried about how cold you guys were there. Absolutely. I can’t imagine.

00;34;48;23 – 00;35;05;12
Speaker 1
That. Yeah. Well, yeah. And you’re you’re trying to go light and fast in a mountaineering environment. Now, this was a river trip, so it’s a bit of a, you know, floating bloke, you know. Yeah. Yeah. You’re enjoying good food and, and all that, but, yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s regulating your body. We’re so disconnected now from that.

00;35;05;12 – 00;35;26;07
Speaker 1
Right? Like live climate control everything. I’m going to leave your climate control bill and get into my climate controlled car. Go to another. You know, and it’s nice to have to think about that stuff and and be aware and and be about your body. You know, we can. Yeah. You know, between the screens and climate control, we forget where we’re actually animals.

00;35;26;10 – 00;35;31;27
Speaker 2
Right. And that it’s can be pretty rough out there in the wild. It can be really rough. Yeah. But it’s with polar bears.

00;35;31;27 – 00;35;57;06
Speaker 1
Oh my gosh. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It’s well we had a chance. We just had to fly out to go out on the ice with so one of the things we did at the end, Chris did an incredible job. He set up a, homestay home visit and with a local family, and, they the, the the father was a, guardian and his job, he’s probably in his 40s.

00;35;57;06 – 00;36;24;02
Speaker 1
And his his job was to pass down the knowledge from the elders to the younger generations. And he was a hunter. And, you know, Steve of it, like a lot of the people in our group are hunters and fishermen. And to have that conversation with First Nations on how they hunt and, yeah, how it was amazing. And we had a chance, but we had to fly out to go out on to go out, in their boats to, to do some hunting for whaling and all of that.

00;36;24;02 – 00;36;45;19
Speaker 1
Well, but we didn’t end up getting out there, just because we had to fly out, but we weren’t sure back. Yeah, we had a night with an elder, and she was amazing. And we played these, their local games, which were really like, based on seal, like the bones. So like, all of these, like ancient games of of chance and like, board games almost.

00;36;45;19 – 00;37;14;09
Speaker 1
But like from the bones of, of, the animals that sustain them. So that was like they don’t we said cool. It was amazing. And then we had like, you know, raw, they served us and, you know, the appetizers was was raw caribou, narwhal, beluga seal like it was wild. But that is why I got to show you the picture of like, you know, at first, I mean, it was it was amazing to experience it and,

00;37;14;11 – 00;37;17;27
Speaker 1
Yeah, but I was also like the textures were not what I was used to.

00;37;17;27 – 00;37;18;19
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;37;18;22 – 00;37;19;18
Speaker 1
You know. Yeah.

00;37;19;25 – 00;37;22;20
Speaker 2
Like, might give you some bubble guts after eating some of that stuff.

00;37;22;20 – 00;37;25;04
Speaker 1
Absolutely. Yeah.

00;37;25;07 – 00;37;30;08
Speaker 2
I have one question I just had for you. You guys are obviously carrying everything in with you. You carried water in as well?

00;37;30;11 – 00;37;32;26
Speaker 1
No, actually we didn’t. We carried filters.

00;37;33;03 – 00;37;34;00
Speaker 2
Okay.

00;37;34;02 – 00;37;44;01
Speaker 1
So yeah, we just used and and actually everybody did it kind of different. So one guy was treating with chemicals and, one guy was not treating at all.

00;37;44;01 – 00;37;44;16
Speaker 2
Just drinking.

00;37;44;16 – 00;37;53;29
Speaker 1
It. Just drinking it. Another, guy, like I used a filter system, so, you know, like a guitar and filter system. Yeah.

00;37;54;02 – 00;38;10;06
Speaker 2
You know what’s interesting about the water thing? When I did my wilderness, first aid and safety certification, the one of the things that, like big Misnomer was about drinking water in the wild and beaver fever and that whole scare things. And it’s actually, like, complete bullshit. So, like it.

00;38;10;06 – 00;38;13;11
Speaker 1
Is until you get it. I got it on the Spanish River or.

00;38;13;18 – 00;38;31;15
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah. Well, because what they were saying was, at least in the Adirondacks, you can drink that water for a period of time. And it’s not, but it’s if you were to continue to drink it, you would get sick. So like a couple of weeks, a month. No, no bueno. A few days probably. You’re going to be. Yeah.

00;38;31;16 – 00;38;33;20
Speaker 2
Pretty much. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

00;38;33;20 – 00;38;38;25
Speaker 1
Well I had a, I was a little cavalier with my water treatment. That’s why you won’t.

00;38;38;25 – 00;38;39;29
Speaker 2
Make that mistake again.

00;38;39;29 – 00;38;57;12
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. Oh, no. It’s incredible when when you get out. Yeah. And I had and I’ve been, you know, in the wilderness for 40 years. Yeah. Leaving trips and the like. And, you know, it was probably five years ago I got it as a little cavalier, you know, but like Baffin Island, I don’t think it would have been an issue.

00;38;57;12 – 00;38;58;18
Speaker 1
I just treat, you know.

00;38;58;18 – 00;39;03;29
Speaker 2
Just just to be just to be sure. And then the last thing you want to do is be out in the wilderness like that and be sick.

00;39;03;29 – 00;39;15;19
Speaker 1
Well, what’s. Well, at least for geography, it’s like, I don’t know what the incubation. I think it’s ten days or so. Oh, yeah. You don’t get sick until you get home. And if you’re really sick. Yeah. But it’s, you know, it’s an antibiotic and.

00;39;15;22 – 00;39;17;07
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, no, knock it out.

00;39;17;07 – 00;39;43;18
Speaker 1
Yeah. So. Yeah. And then, you know, you brought up Wilderness Medical. That’s such an interesting topic when you’re doing wilderness because, you know, it’s it’s not front country. You could be hours or days from medical care. And so yeah, you know, just planning even when you’re hiking, like something you might do in the Adirondacks, you might not do up there because, you know, you gotta take down a little, little bit.

00;39;43;18 – 00;39;45;11
Speaker 2
Yeah. You got to be a lot more careful. You know.

00;39;45;11 – 00;39;48;05
Speaker 1
You gotta be thoughtful about. Yeah. Mitigating risk for sure.

00;39;48;05 – 00;39;55;19
Speaker 2
For the distance and time it would take you to get to a medical facility. Absolutely. No one’s coming, man. Yeah.

00;39;55;22 – 00;40;20;05
Speaker 1
Well, that’s exactly it. And the other pieces is like simple things. So, like, we would do check ins and this thing I always do, but like, hey, how are your feet? How your hands, how are you holding up your body because you know, you get an infection on day one and it can go south really quick. So, you know, just paying attention, all those little things that again, in the front country where, like, I just wash my hands and, you know.

00;40;20;07 – 00;40;20;24
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah.

00;40;20;24 – 00;40;27;24
Speaker 2
So small cut in your hand. The day one turns into an infection and turns into sepsis. And, sadly, things are going real serious real quick.

00;40;27;24 – 00;40;39;17
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, we are fortunate. We brought, one of the members is. And he was a medical doctor, and, you know, he was great size, but we didn’t run into anything like that. We were, you know, it’s all guys in their 50s and 60, so, you.

00;40;39;22 – 00;40;50;18
Speaker 2
Know, and no one’s, you know, anything too crazy? Not full said. Well, I mean, I do have to ask. I’m sure the listeners want to know. Did you guys drink whiskey? If you’re the Wilderness and whiskey society.

00;40;50;18 – 00;41;05;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, we did bring one bottle. Okay. We did bring one bottle. And just. You had to toast and all that, and, kima root is dry, and so they want it dry 20, 20 miles away. So by the time we got to the end, we made sure that we were.

00;41;06;00 – 00;41;08;09
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Without whiskey, they were without it.

00;41;08;09 – 00;41;10;18
Speaker 1
Yeah, but we brought some. Yeah. For sure.

00;41;10;20 – 00;41;13;01
Speaker 2
Like, what kind of whiskey?

00;41;13;03 – 00;41;32;03
Speaker 1
I mean, it was, it was a small batch, and, Greg brought it, and I cannot think of what it was. It was delicious. I mean, obviously, everything out there is delicious. Yeah. You know, and you still. It’s crazy, like, you’re eating all these calories and and drinking, and you still lose weight. Like, it’s incredible what climate control does for, like, just being in the outdoors.

00;41;32;03 – 00;41;34;02
Speaker 1
I mean, that’s like 12 pounds. Oh no.

00;41;34;02 – 00;41;34;12
Speaker 2
Kidding.

00;41;34;12 – 00;41;36;14
Speaker 1
Maybe a little less like nine. Yeah. Somewhere in.

00;41;36;14 – 00;41;42;21
Speaker 2
There. Yeah. Well, you have access to all the empty calories. I mean, you’re not bringing a bunch of garbage out there. You know what you need?

00;41;42;21 – 00;41;52;06
Speaker 1
Yeah, but you’re still eating, like, 5000 calories, and you’re still, like, just trying to keep your body warm. Burns a lot of. Yeah. No, maybe we had, like, 3500 calories a day, but yeah.

00;41;52;08 – 00;41;56;12
Speaker 2
Shivering. It’s the best weight loss thing out there. Brain cold.

00;41;56;14 – 00;42;07;11
Speaker 1
True story. Yeah. But yeah, always I don’t know, it’s again Mike I just, I just wish people would get to the, the subarctic or the Arctic. I know it’s.

00;42;07;13 – 00;42;09;10
Speaker 2
I love hearing about it. Yeah. It’s amazing.

00;42;09;10 – 00;42;18;11
Speaker 1
And and. Yeah, we live in a beautiful world, right. Like, I mean, obviously we Saratoga County and and the Adirondacks, there’s no place better, but.

00;42;18;14 – 00;42;34;26
Speaker 2
Well, it’s. We like Kristen, I haven’t really. Oh, she’s gotten a few places last year. I haven’t gone anywhere in a couple of years. We do like family vacations where we go, last couple years, I’m like, I said, I want to go to camp. Like, yeah, people come to where we live for vacation because it’s beautiful and amazing.

00;42;34;28 – 00;42;41;04
Speaker 2
I’m like, and then other places, like, I want to hang around the Adirondacks with it. And that’s what we’ve been the last couple of years. But,

00;42;41;07 – 00;43;04;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, that’s why we moved back. So I lived down Jackson, Wyoming, lived in Asheville, North Carolina, lived in West Virginia, Garrett County, Maryland. And we moved back just because sort of a calling. Yeah. It’s beautiful. It’s incredible. Yeah. And it’s reasonable, you know, like you now Bozeman, you know, you look at some of these places out west and it’s it’s you know, it can be cost prohibitive.

00;43;05;02 – 00;43;07;08
Speaker 2
You have it’s expensive to live out there.

00;43;07;09 – 00;43;11;23
Speaker 1
Yeah. So it’s still and the beauty that we have I mean Lake George.

00;43;11;28 – 00;43;12;16
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;43;12;18 – 00;43;23;14
Speaker 1
Blue Mountain Lake. Yeah. They’re incredible. And Saranac Lake, Lake Placid I mean, this place, Plattsburgh is such a cool city. Yeah. So, you know, and that gets back to Trans World where we want to keep these businesses.

00;43;23;14 – 00;43;40;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, that’s that’s great segue. You’re doing my job for me here. So so let’s bring her background and trans world. So you’ve got some, businesses locally that are looking to leave their legacy going. Absolutely. And so what kind of businesses are we talking about? So, see, we’ll have a frame on it.

00;43;40;25 – 00;43;55;18
Speaker 1
Yeah. So. Well, we’ll we’ll help anyone, any business. Right now we have. Well, I have for listings a specialty food prep company. Really cool. Great subscriber list. That’s in Saratoga County.

00;43;55;20 – 00;43;59;22
Speaker 2
Who would be, like, the kind of person that would want to buy that business?

00;43;59;25 – 00;44;10;22
Speaker 1
I think there’s huge growth opportunity in this particular business. They just they’re doing about 250,000 for top line revenue for gross and sales. So.

00;44;10;22 – 00;44;11;16
Speaker 2
Like, you’re a chef.

00;44;11;23 – 00;44;29;28
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I think it’s probably it may be partnership. It could. Well it could be there’s a variety of potential clients. I think one is like husband, wife or partners. They could run this right now the owner puts in probably 20, 25 hours a week. That’s not bad. No, not at all. And that they’re doing well, I think, it was established in 2016.

00;44;29;28 – 00;44;49;03
Speaker 1
So it has it has a track record. I think that that business could really grow with, more marketing and, you know, I could see that business easily 500, 750, annually. And it’s the whole subscription model, which is kind of cool.

00;44;49;06 – 00;44;50;20
Speaker 2
Yeah. That recurring revenue was nice.

00;44;50;20 – 00;44;57;20
Speaker 1
Exactly. So a buyer could be that could be sort of, you know, a couple looking to transition.

00;44;57;23 – 00;44;59;22
Speaker 2
So they don’t necessarily need to be food service.

00;44;59;23 – 00;45;21;10
Speaker 1
Know the SOPs at this kind of like the everything goes with it, the intellectual property, the prep of where they’re prepping, which is really pretty inexpensive. And but it could also be a buying group. Like it’s interesting that, you know, you, you look at a lot of our food services that are, for sale, buying groups come in and they want like two or 3 or 4.

00;45;21;14 – 00;45;28;19
Speaker 1
So it could be that, more working with a buyer actually out of, Buffalo that is looking to possibly expand in this area.

00;45;28;19 – 00;45;29;09
Speaker 2
So. Nice.

00;45;29;11 – 00;45;41;14
Speaker 1
Yeah. So that’s kind of cool. Like Saratoga County business. We also have a really amazing, bar restaurant, in Warren County, 1.2 million top line.

00;45;41;16 – 00;45;42;10
Speaker 2
That’s what their reviews.

00;45;42;13 – 00;45;55;13
Speaker 1
That’s what their top. Yeah. Their sales are. Yeah. A bunch of employees plus 20 employees kind of turned really turnkey. So that could be. Who was that? SDS like 130 to 150.

00;45;55;15 – 00;45;56;09
Speaker 2
Explaining the islands.

00;45;56;09 – 00;46;16;19
Speaker 1
What is the short sellers discretionary earnings. So what that means is once and every small business person does this, they you have your top line revenue and then you try to you know, you get write offs. The federal government state gives you opportunity to reduce what you’re paying in taxes through write offs. Well, when we value a business, we do.

00;46;16;20 – 00;46;42;01
Speaker 1
We look for add backs. We call them. And this is eBay International Business Bureau Association. Recommended. Hey, these are things you can add back when you go to value a business. So and then you end up coming up with, so for instance, say someone’s doing $1 million. They have all these write offs. So their earnings looks like they’re only making like $20,000.

00;46;42;04 – 00;46;43;24
Speaker 1
Right. Well then we go through and we.

00;46;43;24 – 00;46;47;01
Speaker 2
Never do that. No business what it’s doing that.

00;46;47;04 – 00;46;50;27
Speaker 1
A battery doing that. That’s good business I like that.

00;46;50;29 – 00;46;52;26
Speaker 2
But I mean I guess it’s we’re allowed to do it.

00;46;52;26 – 00;47;18;13
Speaker 1
So you’re allowed to do it. And maybe like towards the last 2 to 3 years of your business, it’s best to just show all the everything you can. I mean, that’s just the that’s a bit of the, you know, the, I want to say the game, but that’s just more business like, you take it where you can and, but then, you end up with seller discretionary earnings, which is you do these add backs, any draws and you simply, actually draws aren’t part of it.

00;47;18;13 – 00;47;37;01
Speaker 1
But, you say this is really what the you can expect to be taking out of this business. So and that’s what buyers want to look at. They’ll look at top line sales. Then they’re going to look at okay, show me the W-2, show me the tax returns. And then yeah. So that business 20 plus employees probably run on its own.

00;47;37;03 – 00;48;01;16
Speaker 1
That’s selling for at on, I think our sale prices, for 99, the specialty business is 120. And what’s really good, you know, I often thought about that specialty food prep business as somebody coming out of one of our culinary schools could just step into, and you’re prepping, you already have your recipes. And what you really have to work on is sort of the business acumen slash marketing.

00;48;01;17 – 00;48;02;20
Speaker 1
Yeah, that could easily grow.

00;48;02;21 – 00;48;03;01
Speaker 2
Get more.

00;48;03;01 – 00;48;25;21
Speaker 1
Clients. Yeah. And then the other two right now that are kind of hot. One we have is a wine and liquor store. Top wine revenue 600 grand. So it’s discretionary earnings about 110. Warren County and manager that one also could be standalone. Like the manager is doing everything that could be managed remotely, you know, and there’s investment groups are looking at that.

00;48;25;21 – 00;48;40;20
Speaker 1
But my what I want is local by somebody local. Yeah. That’s like buying local, with it. And then, we do have a, a plumbing and HVAC company 60 years and, yeah, I think eight employees that’s going to that’ll probably go pretty quick, I would imagine.

00;48;40;20 – 00;48;43;05
Speaker 2
So huge demand for everything in the trades right now.

00;48;43;10 – 00;49;09;15
Speaker 1
100% the, the business as you know, from from blue collar like it’s getting young people to get invested and yeah, like what a great career my sons in in that industry and smart. Yeah. And, and 26 and one of my sons is and he’s really he’s excited about it and that’s what we need to see. And then and they can make a great living and have a great life and provide an amazing, service to our communities.

00;49;09;17 – 00;49;30;02
Speaker 2
Yeah. So, I mean, we talk about it all the time on Blue collar, but it’s we lose 2.2 million people from skilled trades every year. For every five we lose, we get two back. And number one, that’s a huge problem for our country down the road, because we’re just not going to have enough people to fix things or people that know how to fix things.

00;49;30;09 – 00;49;47;08
Speaker 2
Right. And then the other side of it, though, is from a business standpoint, like that means there is so much opportunity. You can make so much money. Yeah. If you’re one of the few people that know how to fix something, right? Like it’s it’s wild to me. It’s it’s absolutely. Well, well.

00;49;47;12 – 00;49;51;03
Speaker 1
And I think maybe I’m wrong, but it seems I proof as well.

00;49;51;05 – 00;50;12;03
Speaker 2
It listen until they figure out how to have the dexterity of hands on robots, it’s completely eye proof. Yeah. I mean, they do have robotic tools coming into the trades, like robotic welders and things like that. Like, it certainly is coming there, but it’s going to be a long time coming before laborers are getting replaced and skilled plumbers are getting there.

00;50;12;07 – 00;50;13;12
Speaker 2
You know, I like it. Yeah.

00;50;13;12 – 00;50;14;21
Speaker 1
And the price integration. Right.

00;50;14;21 – 00;50;39;02
Speaker 2
Like it’s like everything. Yeah. You know, like like the nail gun. Right. Like it. There’s going to be tools that because of these things that make everything faster and better and easier or whatever. But it’s yeah. When you look at like, what’s being decimated right now by AI and there’s a lot of fields, yeah, that are getting decimated by, when you look at that compared to the trades, like.

00;50;39;04 – 00;50;39;12
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;50;39;12 – 00;50;41;06
Speaker 2
So trades aren’t even being touched. Yeah.

00;50;41;06 – 00;51;03;05
Speaker 1
There’s when we need them like this is like EV it’s, it’s not even like I think about it as, I mean I’m a business broker because I just want I know the foundation of every community is business. And you gotta have small businesses and you have to have jobs, but also like it gives people purpose. Like my son is very, very happy doing what he’s doing.

00;51;03;08 – 00;51;22;20
Speaker 1
He sees at the end of the day he sees what he’s done. I mean it’s just like it’s empowering. And people are grateful and I just think that you know yeah I think this business should do well I mean we do have private equities that are coming in and buying these I bet, businesses as well.

00;51;22;22 – 00;51;40;12
Speaker 1
But yeah, it’s it’s a great it’s a great legacy really. So so those are four of our I mean, if you go to, t world, dot com backsplash, backslash Albany, you’ll see a whole bunch of our listening this. But those are some highlights. Yeah, but wait a yeah. Pretty cool. I really, really appreciate you.

00;51;40;12 – 00;51;41;14
Speaker 1
Let me even talk about the.

00;51;41;18 – 00;51;57;10
Speaker 2
Oh my God, are you kidding me? I next trip my friend up with a for the audience. For the record, when Steve got back I was like, hey, I’m like, I need to hear about this trip. And I was like, but we should do it as a podcast, because how could we not do it as a podcast? Right?

00;51;57;10 – 00;52;04;02
Speaker 2
Like, I know I’m so grateful for you to come come out to the farm and share that. Know the experience with me, man. It’s amazing.

00;52;04;02 – 00;52;08;03
Speaker 1
Yeah, I highly recommend it. And, yeah. Get outside. Yeah.

00;52;08;03 – 00;52;10;21
Speaker 2
Get outside. And that’s what your phone down and get outside.

00;52;10;21 – 00;52;25;21
Speaker 1
Yeah. Right. And. Yeah yeah, yeah. I’m I was so grateful to be able to go and great guys. Local guys. Yeah pretty incredible. And you know it’s like when you go to camp I’m sure it’s the same. But the conversations you can have, it just.

00;52;25;24 – 00;52;43;19
Speaker 2
I just saw five days up there with my uncles. They’re in their mid 70s. Right. And we the camp’s been in our family for about just just shy of 50 years. Oh, right. And so we’ve I’ve grown my whole life up there and experiences. Oh there’s that rooster sand right on the other side of the wall. He’s very proud.

00;52;43;22 – 00;52;52;22
Speaker 2
But being able to go with them and spend time and, you know, no television, no cell phones, no laptops, just, you know, fishing. And it’s like.

00;52;52;22 – 00;52;53;16
Speaker 1
A different it’s a.

00;52;53;16 – 00;52;55;27
Speaker 2
Different. It’s amazing. Yeah. Yeah. It’s definitely.

00;52;55;27 – 00;52;56;24
Speaker 1
That’s human. It’s.

00;52;56;26 – 00;52;58;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s amazing. Yeah.

00;52;58;29 – 00;53;02;23
Speaker 1
And what. Yeah. What do you think of the kind of like what kind of conversations.

00;53;02;23 – 00;53;22;27
Speaker 2
Do you have with them. Yeah, it’s all sorts of stuff. You know, I always we try to stay away from politics and, which doesn’t always happen, especially once the beers start fun. But, you know, family stories, like, it’s one of my favorite things with going up with those guys, I get to hear about my family history and stories from before I was alive.

00;53;22;27 – 00;53;56;29
Speaker 2
Family members like. So our my great great great grandfather was one of the like, premier guys of the Adirondacks. Henry Davis is his guide boat, is in the Blue Mountain Lake Museum like he’s got a moose head. I think it’s in that museum as well. But you can look him up. Henry Davis, and then his son, Nelson Davis, and, they were, you know, guides around the, Long Pond, and, you know, whole pond, long pond, turtle pond, Nellie, Bessie, all the waterways for people that go that are on Max and all that area.

00;53;57;01 – 00;54;05;06
Speaker 2
And, but Henry Hank Davis was one of the most famous guides up there. And, yeah, there’s some cool stories or.

00;54;05;06 – 00;54;20;24
Speaker 1
In, like, I even think about that, what the Adirondacks is like, everybody is, you know, figuring out how to live that. Right, in terms of employment. So doing jack of all trades. Right. So you have these and like the history of the guiding and I mean the history of the Adirondacks is fascinating.

00;54;20;24 – 00;54;22;01
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;54;22;04 – 00;54;24;00
Speaker 1
But you’re absolutely right. That’s so cool.

00;54;24;04 – 00;54;44;22
Speaker 2
Yeah. We’ve got old pictures of him and, other other guides that were there, like, you know, they’re there with all these deer hanging from out hunting and guiding and, clients. Yeah, yeah. It’s, Well, you know, that’s a funny thing about family history. Sometimes there’s stories where, like, know all about that one. Like, you know, your uncles are embellish.

00;54;44;22 – 00;54;58;00
Speaker 2
Yeah, well, or they just, you know, the story guy handed down got handed down. And I always go and, like, try to track stuff down and verify it. And, you know, a couple stories where I was like, yeah, well, that guy was alive 30 years after.

00;54;58;03 – 00;54;59;03
Speaker 1
Right on right now.

00;54;59;03 – 00;55;14;06
Speaker 2
Grandpa Henry was out there doing that. So that story doesn’t line up. But other stuff, it does line up and it’s pretty cool. And, it’s, yeah, it was not to go off in this tangible and interesting story about him was he worked in the Dunmore mines?

00;55;14;08 – 00;55;15;01
Speaker 1
Oh no way.

00;55;15;01 – 00;55;36;08
Speaker 2
And, in the 1800s and was there was a mine explosion, and he lost his eyesight and the doctors told him he was going to be blind. Oh, my gosh. And his daughter reported him saying, look, if I ever see you again, I’m only going to look on things that are beautiful. So he got his eyesight back and moved his family to Saranac Lake from Dannemora in a horse.

00;55;36;08 – 00;55;54;28
Speaker 2
I mean, right around. The cars weren’t all that prevalent back then, so they had horse drawn buggy in the middle of the winter, pulling through the snow in the Adirondacks from Dannemora to Saranac Lake with his brother behind him. And another sleigh just moved everything and became a guy in the Adirondacks and became very successful at it and then actually died.

00;55;55;00 – 00;56;05;13
Speaker 2
His, his appendix ruptured while he was at camp. And, I think they got him back to the train tracks, and he died on the train tracks.

00;56;05;14 – 00;56;06;17
Speaker 1
Oh, my first apprentice.

00;56;06;17 – 00;56;26;26
Speaker 2
But, yeah, it’s, you know, wild man living back then. He talk about getting hurt? Yeah, that far out. I mean, you know, back then, they were with where they were located. They were probably 4 or 5 hours from the nearest major hospital of that era, I would say. Right. So, yeah, it’s about how it’s go.

00;56;26;29 – 00;56;30;27
Speaker 1
Well, and just having that connection with family, like, I think that’s, you know, I love it.

00;56;30;28 – 00;56;32;12
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. It’s amazing.

00;56;32;14 – 00;56;45;21
Speaker 1
Yeah. I feel like sometimes we missed that. So taking time with our elders. Yeah. It was really neat for us. And Kim Root is them. Like we had an elder come in and talk with. And she was amazing and had dinner with us and.

00;56;45;23 – 00;56;53;13
Speaker 1
Yeah, there’s so much there like wisdom and and fun to hear the stories and all that. So yeah, I think it’s.

00;56;53;17 – 00;57;01;02
Speaker 2
Hearing about things that you didn’t experience that in today’s day and age. You never would or could, right? Right. Just a totally different way of living in life.

00;57;01;02 – 00;57;04;25
Speaker 1
It’s yeah. That’s awesome. So oh man, that’s great. So that’s awesome.

00;57;04;25 – 00;57;09;00
Speaker 2
Hank Davis. Yeah. Henry Davis is his actual name. Hank is what they call them.

00;57;09;00 – 00;57;09;21
Speaker 1
That’s awesome.

00;57;09;21 – 00;57;17;16
Speaker 2
But, yeah, you can look them up on, like, local wiki. They’ve got a bunch of stuff. Oh, cool. Yeah, yeah, it’s really cool. So Blue.

00;57;17;16 – 00;57;24;03
Speaker 1
Mountain man. Amazing. Amazing. The Adirondack experience. What a great. There’s a little plug, but. Yeah. Yes.

00;57;24;04 – 00;57;26;10
Speaker 2
People gotta get up there. Oh, yeah. There’s so much.

00;57;26;13 – 00;57;44;11
Speaker 1
Well, that’s the other thing is like I have and say this, you know, we live in obviously North Creek and, you know, just even getting up there and like for folks to get from the city or wherever, enjoy the Catskills. I mean, the Catskills are amazing. Enjoy the Adirondacks. Like. And then for us, it’s kind of like a springboard to other places.

00;57;44;11 – 00;57;48;06
Speaker 1
Yeah, if you can, if you can handle the bugs in the Adirondacks, you’ll be fine. When?

00;57;48;06 – 00;58;01;28
Speaker 2
Especially May or June. Holy moly. We’ve been chased off the water a few times. So. Yeah. Steve, one more time, if people are interested in and things that you’ve got going on from a business advisor standpoint, how did you find you guys again?

00;58;01;28 – 00;58;20;25
Speaker 1
Yeah. So t Worldcom, backslash, Albany. My number (518) 504-7811 or, s tom at t world.com. Yeah. I love to hear from folks. If I can help anyone, transition or, come up with an exit strategy or list or business. We’re always about that. Brilliant. Yeah. Get the right people.

00;58;20;25 – 00;58;22;08
Speaker 2
And thanks for coming on, man. Yeah.

00;58;22;08 – 00;58;26;06
Speaker 1
Brother has great and is so great. Thanks for listening. Of course. Hopefully I didn’t bother you too much.

00;58;26;06 – 00;58;41;28
Speaker 2
Not at all, brother. I wish I could go if. If I was Joe Rogan, I’d keep you here for another two hours. But thanks everybody for listening. Of course you can find us on buying local.us. Podcasts are on Spotify, Apple Rumble and YouTube. Thanks for listening. And you’ll hear from us next week.