Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Big Money Energy where
Speaker 1: we talked to super successful and self made people to
Speaker 1: find out exactly how they did it, how they went
Speaker 1: from nothing to something. Today, I am joined by none
Speaker 1: other than Kirk Meyer's Dog Pound Jim. We talked about
Speaker 1: a lot of different things the creation of the brand,
Speaker 1: but his story is so interesting. Dog Pound is a really,
Speaker 1: really cool and real time example of how you take
Speaker 1: an industry that has existed for a long time. You're
Speaker 1: not reinventing the wheel. What you're doing is you're bringing
Speaker 1: that personal experience to the forefront and making it about
Speaker 1: the absolute best customer service. Now let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode. Take me back to like personally.
Speaker 1: So you're born in Missouri, yes, good coal? Yeah, Kansas City, Missouri, Yes,
Speaker 1: so one there and I lived there until it was thirty. Actually,
Speaker 1: so I love Kansas City. Uh, other than the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: I actually don't like the Chiefs. Was kind of ironic,
Speaker 1: summeraders Van, But I do love Kansas City. Did you
Speaker 1: did you go to college? Yes? So I went to
Speaker 1: the first school I went through was very hard to
Speaker 1: get into. It's called Blue River Community College. Not a
Speaker 1: lot of applicants, No, So I mean it was just
Speaker 1: community college. So like, basically I made terrible grades in
Speaker 1: high school, barely graduated for the most part, and then
Speaker 1: I made straight a's and community college. So so then
Speaker 1: I got a scholarship to go to a four year school.
Speaker 1: Since I graduated from University of Missouri Kansas City, it's
Speaker 1: like two thousand and two or three, because I got
Speaker 1: sick during that time period. So it's kind of all
Speaker 1: vague and kind of yeah, that's kind of a blur
Speaker 1: at times. So what do you want to do when
Speaker 1: you graduated? I was originally going to be an elementary teacher,
Speaker 1: so my dad's elementary principle. My mom used to be
Speaker 1: a teacher. I just wanted to do something that was rewarding.
Speaker 1: So I had worked at like this after school program
Speaker 1: like part time, like when I was in high school,
Speaker 1: and and so I really liked it because it was fun, right,
Speaker 1: and my dad was a principal. I was terrible at
Speaker 1: um managing though, like the kids like they would walk
Speaker 1: all over me, which is somewhat similar to uh dog
Speaker 1: Pound employees sometimes, but it is like the managing part
Speaker 1: has never been like my passionate love, but anyways, so
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an elementary teacher throughout the way. Like
Speaker 1: I got sick. So I used to be really chunky.
Speaker 1: I think you know this right, how much did you
Speaker 1: weigh at the peak there? I kind of quit wing
Speaker 1: and at over the three hundred pound barrier. Stop checking,
Speaker 1: stop checking. Yeah, so so I would say, like, you know,
Speaker 1: a little over three d pounds, but I'm only five five,
Speaker 1: you know, uh on a good day. So I mean
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure. So uh So, basically this is when
Speaker 1: I was sixteen or so, so I was pretty chunky,
Speaker 1: and I was pretty like chunky most of my life,
Speaker 1: but it really as started packing on the pounds, putting
Speaker 1: on the carbs, and in high school, mostly with chocolate
Speaker 1: milk for the most part, lots of chocolate milk, lots
Speaker 1: of chocole milk, like and outrageous chocolate milk. So I
Speaker 1: would drink up the two gallons a day. Actually yeah, so,
Speaker 1: but I thought it was it was skim chocolate milk.
Speaker 1: So in the Midwest, yeah, you thought that that was
Speaker 1: like just not fat supers totally. Yeah, the results didn't
Speaker 1: look like that, but but there's a ton of sugar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so are you okay talking about your your illness. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: some of my the worst things that have happened to
Speaker 1: me have been the best things that could have happened
Speaker 1: to me. So, um, I graduated community college, got my
Speaker 1: associates degree, right, and I moved actually went to Southwest
Speaker 1: Missouri State which now called Missouri State. When I was there,
Speaker 1: I started, like, um, I thought I had like mono
Speaker 1: basically because I started sleeping a lot, I started coughing
Speaker 1: a lot right as and I didn't really know what
Speaker 1: was wrong. But my roommate, you know, called my parents
Speaker 1: and they kind of like kidnapped kidnapped me and saved me.
Speaker 1: So um, so I went to the hospital, right, and
Speaker 1: they said I had a cardiomeopathy, which is an enlarged
Speaker 1: heart and congestive heart failure. So that was actually a
Speaker 1: total blessing in disguise because you know, I was overweight.
Speaker 1: It wasn't really that confident, right and uh and so
Speaker 1: it's like that was a shocking moment, right, But then
Speaker 1: I was kind of forced to lose the weight. So
Speaker 1: I'm lucky because a lot of people like basically they
Speaker 1: have to just kind of set their own discipline to
Speaker 1: lose weight. But I was kind of like just ever die, yeah, basically,
Speaker 1: so that actually really pushed me to lose the weight
Speaker 1: and specific like watching my food and changing my diet
Speaker 1: and then just changing my lifestyle and so but over
Speaker 1: the course of six months or so, I started feeling
Speaker 1: a little bit better. And then I just started walking, right,
Speaker 1: and that was kind of meditative for me. And then
Speaker 1: I started doing the gym, which I did in high
Speaker 1: school just was like more powerlifting style, So this was
Speaker 1: like just a different style of training. So then I
Speaker 1: learned how to do that, and I really learned a
Speaker 1: lot about food. Right, So, just like anything in life, like,
Speaker 1: I started gaining momentum, right, and I think momentum is
Speaker 1: key with most things, right, it's just like your career,
Speaker 1: like you do one thing at least the next and next.
Speaker 1: So I lost ten pounds and it was twenty pounds, right,
Speaker 1: and forty, and then people are starting to compliment you,
Speaker 1: and then you feel better, and so it just kept
Speaker 1: kind of growing a confidence a little bit, a little bit,
Speaker 1: a little bit a little bit, and then so I
Speaker 1: just started steamrolling then to the point where I lost
Speaker 1: over a hundred pounds, right, crazy, you get this all
Speaker 1: from walking and going to the gym and watching what
Speaker 1: you eat. Yes, yeah, so and it it took itn't
Speaker 1: It took a while. It took a little over two years,
Speaker 1: and I was pretty young, so that probably helped me, right,
Speaker 1: like from one to and so what had happened is
Speaker 1: I was going to school to be an elementary teacher.
Speaker 1: So I decided to, um switch it. Yeah, I decided
Speaker 1: to when my friends were asking me how I lost weight,
Speaker 1: So I started helping them, right, and then I just
Speaker 1: realized it was super rewarding. They're almost proud of you
Speaker 1: for helping them, right, so U So yeah, and then
Speaker 1: I decided to become a trainer. So um, and that
Speaker 1: was pretty much right out of college. And how did
Speaker 1: you figure out like how to charge people, especially because
Speaker 1: a lot of your first clients were we're friends. I've
Speaker 1: always been bad about that, including now, right, I really
Speaker 1: have been, because but the money always flows if you're
Speaker 1: doing something you love and you're doing at high quality.
Speaker 1: And that's that's always been my mentality and it's always worked, right,
Speaker 1: So because what happens is you get referrals, right, so
Speaker 1: and other people want to be a part of it. Yes,
Speaker 1: So it almost doesn't even matter of who you're company,
Speaker 1: whether they're known or they're work at the Delhi down
Speaker 1: the street. Right, It's like when someone makes results, people
Speaker 1: start talking about it, people ask about it, and yeah,
Speaker 1: then you get friends and and other people tend to
Speaker 1: start then asking you how much it is, and then
Speaker 1: and then you don't really know them, so then you
Speaker 1: can charge them like a fair rate, you know. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's kind of how it all worked. And so
Speaker 1: how did you get to New York. It seems like
Speaker 1: your life was pretty great. You're set, you lost all
Speaker 1: that weight, You're in Missouri, You're you're helping everyone in
Speaker 1: Missouri lose weight. It was until I would say late
Speaker 1: twenties I got kind of like, uh uh cocky, right,
Speaker 1: Like I don't have no idea why because I'm I
Speaker 1: don't know how trainers get cocky, but but I did myself.
Speaker 1: So now I kind of realized that, right, my ego
Speaker 1: got to me a little bit because when you were
Speaker 1: in Missouri, yes, which is I know it's cancer to Missouri, buty.
Speaker 1: But what happens is for the first time, I was like, um,
Speaker 1: dating girls, right, and then then like I was going out, Sure,
Speaker 1: I started starting the party, right, and I had like, uh,
Speaker 1: fancy car, a nice car, and I had like this
Speaker 1: nice loft right, And so basically like I was trying
Speaker 1: to be someone I wasn't. Right. I was trying to
Speaker 1: be cool, sure, I mean I like not thinking that
Speaker 1: who I was was cool, if that makes sense. Was
Speaker 1: trying to we're a totally different person than the person
Speaker 1: you grew up as, Yes, and then people treat you differently,
Speaker 1: which is amazing, But that doesn't mean you should change
Speaker 1: who you are, right, I mean, of course we should
Speaker 1: all grow and change and learn. But I think I
Speaker 1: was trying to be um, like a party guy or something. Right,
Speaker 1: So I started going out a lot so, which is
Speaker 1: not good for me because I have like a very
Speaker 1: passionate I used to call it addictive personality, but but
Speaker 1: it is. It is just passionate, right. It's like I
Speaker 1: get really into things without even realizing it. Chocolate milk
Speaker 1: as an example, right, um, losing weight as an example. Working,
Speaker 1: you know, I work the tause I'm just totally into it.
Speaker 1: Tattoos is an example. I get really into things, which
Speaker 1: is great if it's something good, but uh, if it's
Speaker 1: drugs and partying it's not so good, especially if you've
Speaker 1: had past heart problems issues and you're trying to build
Speaker 1: a career. Right, Both those things tend to crumble if
Speaker 1: you do a lot of drugs. So, um yeah, So
Speaker 1: basically I I I started, Um, I got sick again,
Speaker 1: basically the same heart. Yeah, but this time it was
Speaker 1: worse right in theory, right, Um, So this when I
Speaker 1: was thirty, because I have congestive heart failure. So they
Speaker 1: said I was in the fourth stage of it, which
Speaker 1: is like the last stage, right, So they would say
Speaker 1: I needed a heart transplant, and my it's called an
Speaker 1: injection for action was super low. It's like how your
Speaker 1: heart pumps. Yeah, yeah, and I couldn't work, right, I
Speaker 1: didn't have health insurance. Um. I was in the r
Speaker 1: for like thirteen or fourteen days, right, And so I
Speaker 1: came out thinking I would just bounce back, but it
Speaker 1: just never really happened. So, um, you know, I basically
Speaker 1: lost everything I had. I mean, it saved up a
Speaker 1: decent amount of money for me. It wasn't that I mean,
Speaker 1: it's all perspective, right, but for me, it was a
Speaker 1: lot of money. I kind of blew through that just
Speaker 1: with like the hospital bills that and also like really honestly,
Speaker 1: not to be dramatic, I just didn't know how much
Speaker 1: time I had left, and I didn't really care at
Speaker 1: that time, you know, so uncause I lost my car,
Speaker 1: that's my place, right, you know, I was really sick.
Speaker 1: So I moved in with my sister, uh, and I
Speaker 1: moved to Memphis, Tennessee. So anyways, so I was there.
Speaker 1: I was there for about a year, and I started
Speaker 1: feeling better. So it's a keep. Um. I had lived
Speaker 1: in New York for like ten years or eleven years,
Speaker 1: and we got in a fight when I got really
Speaker 1: sick because he's my older brother and he's like yeah,
Speaker 1: and like, so we had gotten in a fight. So
Speaker 1: we had been in better. Terms were not great, and
Speaker 1: I was still at this time period in my life.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to uh, you know together totally and
Speaker 1: do things like, you know, like relationships that I that
Speaker 1: were important. I was trying to bring them back, right.
Speaker 1: So I moved here for I was only going to
Speaker 1: be here for two or three months. I just didn't
Speaker 1: want to move back to Kansas City quite yet, right,
Speaker 1: So I came here to like switched up a little bit.
Speaker 1: See your brother stay here, and no one wanted me
Speaker 1: to move here. F y. I mean especially with your history,
Speaker 1: you probably say. And this for sure. I also had
Speaker 1: zero dollars, right, that's also not very helpful when you
Speaker 1: moved to New York. But my sister had got given me,
Speaker 1: you know, three d dollars or so, and like she
Speaker 1: got me this membership to this meditation place that you
Speaker 1: could do all the time, So I would do that
Speaker 1: all the time. Um, just crashed with your brother. And
Speaker 1: then my mom actually had a uh someone that because
Speaker 1: she has like an orphanage and Africa other stay, she
Speaker 1: had a place that was kind of given to her
Speaker 1: part time. So I actually stayed there initially and then
Speaker 1: then I would after that, I kind of stay with
Speaker 1: my brother for a little bit. Um. But basically after
Speaker 1: the three months, I started feeling better. So then I
Speaker 1: decided to train. And so what did you go to first?
Speaker 1: So at first, um, the irony is I got a
Speaker 1: job at David Barton Gym. But they wanted me to
Speaker 1: work any other ironies, They wanted me to work uh
Speaker 1: full time, right, which like uh if if if you
Speaker 1: know me, I usually like full times, no problem, right,
Speaker 1: But I was like that was too too much, right
Speaker 1: because I because I couldn't commit to it. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how long it was gonna be, how you know.
Speaker 1: I was just kind of getting my health back. So
Speaker 1: I ended up getting a job at a small gym.
Speaker 1: It was more of like, uh, you know boutique gym.
Speaker 1: Was that the superstar gym? No, that was prior to that?
Speaker 1: Is it different? Was a different gym, Um and so
Speaker 1: and I just started working part time a couple of
Speaker 1: days a week, and of course they became five days
Speaker 1: a week, and I became every day a week, and
Speaker 1: then uh you know, soon I was like, um, like
Speaker 1: one of the head trainers. Right, this is like within
Speaker 1: a pretty quick um, within a year, I would say,
Speaker 1: But you still didn't have it in your mind to
Speaker 1: start a business or do anything. Now. I was here
Speaker 1: like buying time doing personal training because that's what you mean. Yeah.
Speaker 1: My goal was just I love training and it made
Speaker 1: me feel good. I just wanted to do it. Right.
Speaker 1: Why do you think some of those early clients in
Speaker 1: that Shim and Soho took to you as a guy
Speaker 1: from Kansas City, Missouri who was just sort of here
Speaker 1: figuring things out. I think one is because I was
Speaker 1: genuine too, is because I was passionate and I really
Speaker 1: actually I wanted to help help people, right, So like
Speaker 1: if you came to me about training, I would be
Speaker 1: totally into it, right. So it's at goals and we like,
Speaker 1: I'm make sure you're accountable and like people like you. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I think I think that's mostly mostly people can
Speaker 1: tell if you're really into something, and so I think
Speaker 1: that's and training that's all the all the differences being
Speaker 1: really nice. It's a service industry, right, making sure you're
Speaker 1: accommodating what they want. I was renting space out of
Speaker 1: a bunch of gems, right. So you kind of started
Speaker 1: your kirk Meyer's Fitness. Yes, it was like the relaunch
Speaker 1: of kirk Myer's Fitness until you started a website. I
Speaker 1: started a website and you just kind of put yourself
Speaker 1: out there is this personal trainer, and you would work
Speaker 1: out with anybody anywhere where. You going to people's houses
Speaker 1: and the apartments and stuff. And I postcards that like
Speaker 1: Captain Kirk that were quite ridiculous. I really just wanted
Speaker 1: tend clients. Right when I started home clients, that was it.
Speaker 1: Totally happy tend clients, and I want to start a
Speaker 1: kids program. That was the two things. And so I
Speaker 1: wrote down the list and then I wrote down some
Speaker 1: dream list. And I knew that if I got a
Speaker 1: big name, that would help, right, because it gives you credibility.
Speaker 1: So I started like looking at other trainers that had
Speaker 1: gotten big names before, and like we kind of looked
Speaker 1: them up and how they did it right and so
Speaker 1: but I really just wanted to take clients and you
Speaker 1: would meet them anywhere any gym. Yes, you just wanted
Speaker 1: them under the kirk Myer's Fitness brand. Yeah, so what
Speaker 1: But what happened was like two clients came four, became eight,
Speaker 1: became sixty really quickly, I had thirty forty clients right
Speaker 1: by yourself. Yes, because a part of it is like
Speaker 1: stars aligning and putting it out there. I made these
Speaker 1: ridiculous postcards right, put them everywhere. Guaranteed no one signed
Speaker 1: up from these postcards. But the fact that I was
Speaker 1: going out doing this, it was like it was taking
Speaker 1: action and I want yes, And like it's also like
Speaker 1: a universe thing, right, like a run into you know,
Speaker 1: I ran into. I picked so the ironies like Adam
Speaker 1: Guy or you know Adam He started training with me
Speaker 1: because he saw me walk around the neighborhood. But the
Speaker 1: irony of Adam right, Adam's partner Jeff knew you. Jackman's
Speaker 1: bodyguard Brian, and so that's eventually how I started training
Speaker 1: Hugh Jackman. Right, And Hugh Jackman was your first celebrity clients,
Speaker 1: and that was the name that puts you out there
Speaker 1: in the industry and in your client base. And yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah that that that was but for the biggest person.
Speaker 1: But I always knew, and I would always say, like,
Speaker 1: these ridiculous things they're looking back. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: what if I'm training Beyonce right and the Rock and
Speaker 1: they both come at the same time, right, You know,
Speaker 1: you have to have people to help you, because at
Speaker 1: that time I started hiring trainers help and like I
Speaker 1: had zero celebrity. I'm like naming like the biggest names, right,
Speaker 1: But it is kind of crazy because then we've had
Speaker 1: a situations like this happened where two big people, right
Speaker 1: or super at the same time. Totally we're like booking
Speaker 1: the same things. So but but but Hugh was definitely
Speaker 1: the the first big one and and such a big
Speaker 1: impact because he's so nice and then he had friends yes,
Speaker 1: and he brought them all. But you got known around
Speaker 1: town is um as you know, Hugh Jackman's trainer, and
Speaker 1: you guys had this group and then other people would
Speaker 1: follow along who came up with dog Bound. So it
Speaker 1: was really kind of huge thing because he would bring
Speaker 1: the dog. He brings his dog to the workouts, right,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of like a joke kind of
Speaker 1: like yes, like so that group got known as the
Speaker 1: dog Bound. It was the early morning David Barton in yes,
Speaker 1: in the village group, and so he would come like
Speaker 1: Nigel and sometimes bring his dog right before he moved
Speaker 1: the entry. Yeah. Nigel Parker, Yeah, yeah, Nigel is great.
Speaker 1: He was so nice. And Nigel would just come around
Speaker 1: and criticize everyone's you know, like I'm so much stronger
Speaker 1: than me. I think part of it was that was
Speaker 1: like it felt like a football team or right, or
Speaker 1: any type of sports right, and Nigel was the perfect
Speaker 1: person because he's picking on everyone. It didn't it didn't
Speaker 1: go who was right. So I remember like meeting you
Speaker 1: the first time, you're this guy, uh, you're covered in tattoos,
Speaker 1: like that's cool, and then there's Hugh Jackman over there.
Speaker 1: I'm like all right, so wolverines here, and then you've
Speaker 1: got Nigel Parker, um uh, you know, like one of
Speaker 1: the biggest fashion photographers in the world. And then it's
Speaker 1: like Tom Farley, the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange,
Speaker 1: you know. And then you've got big traders over year
Speaker 1: and then there's like a model over there, and like
Speaker 1: what what is happening? Like this is not you know, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I think we've been so fortunate with That's our biggest strength,
Speaker 1: by far is our our clients, right uh. And that's
Speaker 1: why I talked about talk upon a lot right building community,
Speaker 1: building community and community, and like that's what makes the
Speaker 1: world go around. That's why cities exist. Right. People like
Speaker 1: to and around that group of people and before you
Speaker 1: know it, they put a building up. That's a big
Speaker 1: thing for anyone that's that's watching and listening that doesn't
Speaker 1: know I mean dog no one, I think maybe other
Speaker 1: than me. Dog Pound was not a gym where you
Speaker 1: just go and work out. You go there to personal train.
Speaker 1: That's it. You go there, you book of time, everyone
Speaker 1: clocks in and you go personal train. So it's a
Speaker 1: personal training gym. When we didn't want memberships, right because
Speaker 1: then people are just kind of floating around, especially with
Speaker 1: um uh with privacy and right, yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: even that's a big business decision. I mean, you think
Speaker 1: with the gym, if you think about the classic gym
Speaker 1: business model, you want a thousand gym memberships, right, because
Speaker 1: you're collecting that revenue every month. But then you know
Speaker 1: they're not all gonna come, it's gonna rain, they're gonna
Speaker 1: sleep in, and so then you're just looking at kind
Speaker 1: of like you know, cost per space and figuring out
Speaker 1: all of those KPIs, the metrics, and you probably took
Speaker 1: the riskier route of saying, now we're not gonna take
Speaker 1: recurring revenue that way, We're just gonna be totally personal training.
Speaker 1: But we're also not going to give everyone the personal
Speaker 1: trainer they want every single time. That was the other
Speaker 1: thing that was a big thing there. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work out of ten. It's like, okay, well
Speaker 1: you can't have him. We're gonna give you, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna give you Christian, right, so we're gonna give
Speaker 1: you someone else. And everyone sort of said, okay, if
Speaker 1: I worked out here, that's how it's done here, and
Speaker 1: it's totally fine. No, And I think, like, and you
Speaker 1: paid the trainers salaries, yes, didn't pay them. They weren't
Speaker 1: like then incentivized by this or that they come in
Speaker 1: And some of the what I've noticed, I was trying
Speaker 1: to be very innovative and some of these things worked.
Speaker 1: Some of them not as much as I would like, uh,
Speaker 1: but some of them I think that can be tweaks.
Speaker 1: But I think the goal of the right when we
Speaker 1: opened the gym, I think my confidence start, you know,
Speaker 1: I started raising the bar. The gym was never were uh,
Speaker 1: it was always meant to be bigger than just the
Speaker 1: four walls of the gym, right, So, like, because you
Speaker 1: can only make so much money from that anyways, even
Speaker 1: if you're making money off of every corner. Right. So
Speaker 1: I think a part of it is what I knew
Speaker 1: what we were good at, and I wanted to stick
Speaker 1: with that. And if you like, you know, we did
Speaker 1: boxing classes at the beginning initially, but but it would
Speaker 1: overcrowd the space, right and the one on ones weren't
Speaker 1: as effective and people would complain, right, so we we
Speaker 1: took those away. Right, So I think, um, uh, the
Speaker 1: the one on one model, right, we've always kind of
Speaker 1: stuck to and the the irony is that actually definitely
Speaker 1: went in our benefit is now covided, right, and like, yeah,
Speaker 1: no totally. So it's like, um, so we still have
Speaker 1: not executed on how to scale it, but we definitely
Speaker 1: have the vision on how to scale. It's just a
Speaker 1: matter of execution, timing and these things. But uh, but
Speaker 1: I guess to go back to your question that that
Speaker 1: business decision, I think, um, yeah, I was always pretty
Speaker 1: stubborn about that because you know, even the people that
Speaker 1: had invested, we're trying to convince me otherwise. And the
Speaker 1: other thing I was stubborn about, which I'm lucky to
Speaker 1: be stubborn about. It wasn't like I was a genius
Speaker 1: by doing it, just some of it was just good timing,
Speaker 1: is is. I didn't want a bunch of dog bounds, right.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to scale because everyone, when we started
Speaker 1: getting really hot, was like, Okay, we're gonna try to
Speaker 1: make ten of these things, right. But uh but I
Speaker 1: was always like no, no, right, So we're very cautious
Speaker 1: on opening. So how many how many fund raising rounds
Speaker 1: have you done? Now? So we did the uh, the
Speaker 1: Angel round, right. It was actually called A, but it's
Speaker 1: really the Angel round. So uh, and then I would
Speaker 1: call it a Series A to get l A. So
Speaker 1: those too, we had to do a note during COVID
Speaker 1: right to just get a long runway and also to
Speaker 1: kind of hope build out some of our digital platform
Speaker 1: which we're currently working on. And so we're about ready
Speaker 1: to do our biggest fundraise, which is super exciting. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the within uh the upcoming months. Really it
Speaker 1: may some of them maybe get pushed to quarter one,
Speaker 1: but it will probably within the next few months, you know.
Speaker 1: So and so what's next for dog Pound? What's next
Speaker 1: for dog Pounds? So we're opening We're planning on opening
Speaker 1: in Doha, Qatar before the World Cup. So we're hoping
Speaker 1: totally random third location, but no problem. But I love
Speaker 1: New York l A. Yeah. So, but I like doing
Speaker 1: things outside of the box. But that is outside the
Speaker 1: box more importantly here. Like I would think you'd say Miami, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a possibility, but personally, Doha all the way over
Speaker 1: Miami over any any city. To be honest with you,
Speaker 1: because you have you have Qatari investors, we do, but
Speaker 1: for me, it's not even that. It's not like they're
Speaker 1: begging us or making us good. I just really like it.
Speaker 1: They're actually the people there are so nice, community is
Speaker 1: so strong, they're very smart. When you're that rich, it's
Speaker 1: easy to be that nice. Probably, But I remember when
Speaker 1: the first time I was in the Middle East, not
Speaker 1: to get you off or like, our driver was like,
Speaker 1: so what are the people here? Like, It's like you
Speaker 1: have two types of people here, rich and super rich.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh yeah, god, yeah, okay, that's hilarious. Actually,
Speaker 1: but the people I know are very very good people,
Speaker 1: great people, uh and um uplifting right and so um
Speaker 1: and also thinking about ways to improve all the time
Speaker 1: and ways to change things and ways to to uh
Speaker 1: to help the world. Right. So I also think that
Speaker 1: they're um, we we we we can we can help
Speaker 1: some of the youth. I mean the United States needs
Speaker 1: as well for sure for sure. So not open dog
Speaker 1: pound kids, Yes, I think we can do stuff to
Speaker 1: help kids. Dog pound is not Also just be clear,
Speaker 1: it's not cheap. It's not cheap. How much does it
Speaker 1: cost to work out it at dog pound? You know,
Speaker 1: like if you go in there today, like standard package
Speaker 1: which you have printed. I know we bumped our rates
Speaker 1: up and it's it's so bad because I don't even
Speaker 1: know these rates, but I know it's a lot, or
Speaker 1: it can't be a lot because sometimes I've seen the
Speaker 1: numbers over of course the time, and I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: people are really into this. But I think it's like
Speaker 1: you charge a lot, but you it's it's like that,
Speaker 1: uh you know, it's like the Joker in the Dark Nights,
Speaker 1: like when you're good at something, don't do it for free,
Speaker 1: but you ask a lot. I mean it's it's it's pricey,
Speaker 1: but then people pay it. It's like if you build it,
Speaker 1: they will come there and they will pay you. Thanks man,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming through. Thank you, this is great. Big
Speaker 1: Money Energy is hosted by me Bryan Sirhand. It's produced
Speaker 1: by Mike Coscarelli and Joe Lorreesca, an executive produced by
Speaker 1: Lindsay Hoffman. Find more podcasts like Big Money Energy on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.