The Keri Croft Show
The Keri Croft Show
SZN 4, EP-8 Lindsay Remley on Edgework Creative, entrepreneurship and a mutual love of Jim Tressel
Lindsay Remley is in the building! The powerhouse CEO of Edgework Creative (and fellow Jim Tressel superfan) gets real about entrepreneurship, parenting and work-life balance. We dive into overcoming anxiety, setting boundaries and raising strong daughters with “boy” names. Plus, Lindsay shares her journey from corporate life to craftsmanship—she even built my dining table!
And because Lindsay is the absolute best, she comes bearing gifts!!! Of course, BIG things are in the works for her biz (including a Guinness World Record project!) and that comes as no surprise—Lindsay and her team are absolutely brilliant at what they do. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a parent, or just here for the vibes—this episode's packed with wisdom, laughs and maybe even a little football nostalgia.
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for more deep dives with incredible guests! And be sure to check out Edgework Creative at edgeworkcreative.co or follow them on social @edgeworkcreative.
Hey there you beautiful badass. Welcome to the Keri Croft Show. I'm your host, keri Croft, delivering you stories that get you pumped up and feeling like the unstoppable savage that you are. So grab your coffee, put on your game face and let's do this thing. Baby Ready to elevate your self-care game, bosco Beauty Bar is a modern med spa offering everything from cosmetic injectables, lasers and microneedling to medical grade facials and skincare. Conveniently located in Clintonville, grandview, powell and Easton. Making self-care a priority has never been easier. Use code KROFT for $25 off your first visit. Let's get real here. Aging isn't always cute. Wrinkles, things sagging where they didn't before. Do I hate my partner, or is this perimenopause? I've been there and that's why I'm all about Donaldson, from plastic surgery to aesthetics, to functional medicine. They help you love your body and get to know it better. Want to feel like yourself again? Head to DonaldsonHealthcom and, if you're a first-time client, mention the Keri Croft Show for $100 off your first treatment. You're welcome, so what'd you bring me?
Speaker 2:I see a bag You've been chatting about the one and only Jim Trestle.
Speaker 1:My man.
Speaker 2:Tressie. I've brought you a little something, maybe a little manifestation, because I also love Jim Trestle. So this is a fired up Jim Trestle, this is the Carrie Croft Jim Trestle In the moment, firing on all cylinders in the sweater vest. And then this is a. Buckeye necklace to go with it that my son made. Yes, this is 2025 energy right here lindsey remley welcome to the kerry croft show. Thank you for having me, alas, here you are.
Speaker 1:I know. You know you sent me a little dm and it says I think I'm ready to come on the show. And I was like well, I think I'm ready to have you the show.
Speaker 2:And I was like, well, I think I'm ready to have you. Oh my gosh, I I've been like a ball of anxiety and so, like I have been listening to your show from the very beginning and I think I shared with you a little bit ago that I've listened to 90 percent of your podcast and so many people I know and love and respect and have been on and I just kept being like I don't, I don't know if there's something like remarkable or special about me or like what I have to offer, and I just kept listening to all these great stories. And then, um, I don't know, like my ball of anxiety is unwinding. I just was like I guess I'm ready.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes you just got to put that ball on the tee, I know, and just square up and just hit it. I know, you know, and of course I'm sure it's not going to take a lot of digging for me Digging in the crates to figure out something remarkable and special about you, or weird.
Speaker 1:First of all, you look like you could be related to the one Tee Lee. Oh God, tracy Showalter. You are like, like you think we look alike, or is it because we have this weird? I okay, you remind me of her, because you guys are both minimal and the whole Amazon. What is, what's the word? I use the word Amazonification of the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I don't disagree with, and you are the same with like the. You know, 99% of the moms are like shaming her about like Christmas and like you're like no girl Same, which we'll get into, but you look like her. And I'm going to do a poll to see if people think you guys could be cousins Side by side.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for you know taking the step and coming in. Oh, you know, you just gotta jump. So here's how I know you. You guys made my dining room table first of all. I knew you before that. You made like some stuff for my previous business, yes, and I've always known. You guys are extraordinarily talented. Oh my god, you're very kind and I knew you were like a husband and wife duo.
Speaker 2:We're gonna, we're gonna break it all down. So you're a mom of three boys. Dylan is a girl.
Speaker 1:Oh, dylan's a girl, I know, I know.
Speaker 2:All the time my daughter's named Kyle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I totally love that. Yes, you have a girl named Dylan, but people probably always are like I like you even more, that's such a great name for a girl yes.
Speaker 2:Her name is Dylan.
Speaker 1:Ray. So how did you decide?
Speaker 2:Dylan. Okay, so she's our middle, so our oldest name is Jackson, and we picked that name before it became the most popular name of the entire year, and so when we were looking for a name for Dylan, we wanted something like unique, and so I was just like I want a name that seems like normal and easy to spell and like someone's not going to mispronounce it, but that still is a little different.
Speaker 1:You were in corporate america first, I was, and did you enjoy that? No, so you hated that, yeah, but you probably learned a lot from it actually I would say, my first job out of college.
Speaker 2:I worked for a big retailer we won't name names and I worked there when they had sort of figured out that like retail and clothing and all that, like they were no longer just like a pharmacy, you know, and they were growing their apparel and all of that in the women's category and so they decided they were going to expand to like kids and men's and so I got put into that category and it was hyper competitive and real crazy and I worked for a woman who, to this day, I think, is the devil and I think, more than anything, it taught me what I didn't want to be in a leader or a manager, um, or a or a coworker.
Speaker 2:And so I am very grateful for that experience because it was very formative, although painful. What was it about her? That was the worst. She was like you could just tell, like she was the leader of a team and she had no interest in the team doing well. She had interest in herself doing well and making sure that everyone around her looked bad. So she looked good and so it was a blessing right, like hard things are oftentimes once you can like reflect on it.
Speaker 1:Right, and you were like in the makeup space, yeah, so then, I was like, oh shit, I better like get a job.
Speaker 2:I've got a mortgage and I'm trying to be an adult. Um, and so a coworker of mine there at that place, um, was working part-time as a makeup artist and she's like we need a makeup artist. Um, and so I got a full-time job as a makeup artist, just like in the meantime, while I like figured myself out and then did that, for I went to Nordstrom and I was at Nordstrom for 2006, like six years, and I did a lot of different things. Um, and then I like started my own makeup artistry business. In fact, I saw you getting your makeup done with Angie the other day and she and I used to work together quite a bit.
Speaker 2:I love her, um, and so I had a freelance makeup artistry business, which was like sort of the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I loved that job, um. I learned a lot, um, and I think the thing I liked the most about it was like it's a very intimate experience, right. You're like breathing on each other and very close to each other and you just I had so many interesting conversations with people, which actually, weirdly, is kind of like what you're doing here, um, and just got to hear people's like stories. And the thing I liked most about it was like getting to talk to interesting people that you never would have met otherwise and you see people at their best, like on their happiest day, with all the people they love around them, and it sounds like so cliche and like you know, rose colored glass, but it really like you just saw people at their best. It was like a happy, lovely, wonderful experience.
Speaker 1:So fast forward to today and you and your, your hubby, alex you guys are a household name in columbus and probably I mean beyond at this point oh my gosh you're the.
Speaker 1:You're the ceo. Yeah, hell yeah, you are. That's right, alex, that's right, chief operating officer. Your wife is the ceo of edgework. From afar, to me it's like you're just like brilliant with any kind of carpentry design. I know you've also parlayed outside of just doing like a table for a house, like you do commercial stuff, you do all kinds of things. We just say yes, you just say yes, yeah, we just say yes. Well, that's why you went from a garage to now like a 13,000 square foot space in Grandview 27,000 square foot.
Speaker 2:space in Grandview 27,000 square foot, 27,000 now.
Speaker 1:When was the idea like? When were you like, holy shit, we're actually going to like take this step and do like a husband and wife like thing here.
Speaker 2:I will never forget, like I can remember where I was sitting on the table, like what I was wearing. He came home from his job and it had been his last day and we were like all in, and I had brownies because he loves brownies on the table, and champagne, and we were like I guess we're doing this.
Speaker 2:Hope it works out. I don't know. We just like wake up and you just like make the next best decision and then I don't think we ever really had plans to grow to the size we are. I don't think we ever really had plans to grow to the size we are. I don't think if you had told us when we started that we would have 24 team members and be in almost 30,000 square foot space and be building and shipping things all over the country and traveling like I would never be able.
Speaker 2:But you just, I think, when you give something space and energy and you have, as my girlfriend said, because you asked me like what would your friend say about you? And I was like texting my two best friends and I was like, ladies, I need help. And my girlfriend, well, she wrote back a whole bunch of texts and I was like, ladies, you are the best. You're going to make me cry. But she said dogged determination was the first thing on the text messages she had. And my husband has a work ethic I have never seen in a human being before. So I just think it's it is just grinding and going and building and, you know, fucking up and learning the lesson and doing better next time and never quitting. It will take a piece of your soul.
Speaker 1:It will, but it also grows you into things that you never would have thought to. And I think it's another conversation and lesson about failure and this F word right, it's a failure Once you figure out it's inevitable and it's a part of the process and you almost see it as like this, albeit beautiful part, part of the process because you can't do anything without it yeah, you can't get better unless you know learn what you didn't do.
Speaker 2:Well, no, like yeah.
Speaker 1:So instead of saying fail, it's like more, like we iterate, we iterate, we tweak. Learn the lesson, we polish yeah, keep moving forward and like with dogged determination and a work ethic. I feel like those are two like superpowers. How has it complicated the?
Speaker 2:I think the hardest thing is, you know like you have a bad day at work or you're going through a hard time or you know we've had like growing pains recently because it's just been a wild ride. I think what's really hard is when there's hard day or hard times or hard decisions that have to be made, and then you have to like come home and be a parent and just like one of us didn't go to work and have a good day and one of us have a bad day, like it's all wrapped up and you can't like separate it and I don't think there's really any like balance or separation. There is integration and you know Randy Gerber talks about that. He's one of our like business mentors and stuff like that and it's so true Like you're just so intertwined with the business and your life. So I think that what's complicated it is like trying to find a way to like transition home and like be mom and dad, or like try your damnedest to leave the stress or the worry or the whatever at the door and be like present and happy, and that that wore on me a lot last year and I like cracked year and I like cracked. But I think we're like learning and we're, at least right now, in a season where it's a lot easier, like we have better work life boundaries, we're working less at home, and so I think that's like the hardest part of working with your spouse is just that like transition. Is just that like transition.
Speaker 2:When you say you cracked what happened, you know I'm still like processing it all, I would say, and I wouldn't say I've totally reflected and like learned everything. But right now I'm feeling like I have just been like an achiever and a doer. I'm an oldest daughter, I was a competitive athlete, like I've just been like going and grinding and like holding it all together. And we had like hard things happen in a lot of places in our life, like in the business, with growing pains, at home with our kids, and I was just like holding it all together. Everything was overwhelming, everything was hard.
Speaker 2:I was having not even imposter syndrome, but like doubting all of my instincts and I just for the first part of the year I was trying to like just pretend it wasn't happening or like just keep going. You know, just got to keep powering through. And at some point in the year I just decided like I'm just going to feel my feelings and I'm going to be like broken and a mess and like figure out what the next thing is. And um, I think I just needed to like not be the one that had it all together and like let it go and take the pressure off of all of that. Um, and I think I'm coming to like not be the one that had it all together and like let it go and take the pressure off of all of that, um, and I think I'm coming back to life, which is maybe why I was like I think I'm ready to come yeah, oh, I felt that when you wrote that.
Speaker 1:I felt like you were kind of like peeking your head out a little bit, like I think I'm coming back to life, yeah and like you know you survive things and you get better and like like things just feel a little bit more in control.
Speaker 2:Like for a while I just felt like really out of control and a ball of anxiety and doubting that I know how to or can navigate all that life has for you.
Speaker 1:And do you identify as a perfectionist?
Speaker 2:all that life has for you, and do you identify as a perfectionist?
Speaker 2:I don't identify as a perfectionist, but I I'm like I just keep coming back to the word like achiever and that was like one of the things that really. I was actually on the phone with my uncle. He like became this like sounding board for me where he would like call and check on me and I would just like walk out in the parking lot and cry on the phone and was like during a conversation. I was just like I've just always been like successful and I'm feeling like I'm not successful right now and that's like a weird uncomfortable, unfamiliar feeling and I feel like there's so much on the line for like my kids and my business and I'm like letting everyone down and then, as soon as I like let go of much on the line for like my kids and my business, and I'm like letting everyone down and then, as soon as I like let go of that and was able to like name the thing I was able to like move forward. I also got medicated, which helps, which always helps.
Speaker 2:Medication, therapy, you know, all of those things like just letting it go and like taking the pressure off of, like trying to be everything to everyone, are you a pleaser the pressure off of like trying to be everything to everyone and hold it all in.
Speaker 2:Are you a pleaser? I think I was at one point, but you know, like three, four years ago I got like real protective and like put up some like big boundaries and it wasn't about like pleasing, but I think I um, I know that I like walk into a room and can feel people's energy and like that is exhausting in its own, and so like I will walk into a room and be like that person's having a bad day. This person is very focused. This person was just talking about me. You know, like whatever, like I could just like walk in and my husband's always like you're so paranoid and then three months later I'm like I told you so right you're like a sponge and like last year when I was like doubting my instincts, I'm like, no, no, no, no, my instincts have my like intuition.
Speaker 2:Instincts have always been so strong and so like that is exhausting, like carrying everyone's. Why are they upset? What happened? You're an empath? Yes, I think so.
Speaker 1:That's like the big part of it. What's Alex's demeanor? He's like steady Eddie. Is he super chill? Yes, which is probably good for you.
Speaker 2:I have like twice in my life heard him like raise his voice, and one time it was because somebody closed the garage door on his truck at the shop.
Speaker 1:What's the?
Speaker 2:best part of working together. I trust no one like I trust him. I think, like the ability to know that and to see up close that he is giving everything to the business and our family and everything. And I trust all decisions he makes because I know he's making them with the best of intentions and I think he's like really smart.
Speaker 1:What kind of medication are you on? Can I have some of that?
Speaker 2:I take like a daily med and then I have Xanax for like the shakes. I was so stressed and wound up and overwhelmed. I was like having like chest pains and feeling like physically ill. I lost like 20 pounds, yeah, and so it has helped me just like be able to like function in a productive way. I was like so wound up and overwhelmed with everything in my life that I couldn't like participate the way I wanted to participate. So I definitely am still anxious.
Speaker 1:Uh, ie, I was here 20 minutes early because I was like my toxic trait is that, yeah but I'm into that going back to like when, when you and Alex come home and you put your like parenting pants on.
Speaker 2:Well, let's call it.
Speaker 1:Your like chainsaws or the fuck you guys use. You put your like tools down. How do you hold each other accountable? Because it is really hard Like so. My brain is like your brain and Alex's brain like entrepreneur, it's always on. You really have to carve out space and put it aside, Otherwise it'll take over everything.
Speaker 1:And then my husband is completely opposite, so I'm naturally like pulled into that when I get home. But you got two of you that are like probably wanting to continue to have the conversation about X, y and Z, and now you got three kids who are clearly more important than anything. Right, how do you like hold each other accountable? Or how do you stop that train and really soak it all in?
Speaker 2:Do you want to know what it is? It's so simple A post-it note. I have a post-it note in my calendar that is like miscellaneous things I need to talk to him about, or like things that happen and like I got to share that or we need to dig into that more, or I need to follow up on this, and I like write it all on a post-it note and then, when we actually have time so it's not like coming home from work on Tuesday and being like, oh my God, we got to talk about this thing Like I just write it on the post-it note and then, when there's like the right time, like we're in the right headspace we have the you know kids are outside playing or um, we start talking about something else work-related I would like literally get out my post-it note and be like because it's it's hard, and like fortunately, unfortunately, our kids are living the entrepreneurial life and grind and they're at really important ages. I I mean all ages are important, but you know, we have a 15 year old, a 13 year old and a 10 year old and we have a. Um, they have felt a lot of the lifestyle that comes with entrepreneurs like I.
Speaker 2:We have so many conversations, it always seems to be in the car where one of the kids generally I feel like our youngest, because he's like you want to talk about an empath, like his heart lives outside his body Crazy.
Speaker 2:He's like, yeah, he's like um, snuggly and affectionate and he wants to like hold your hand and he needs to be tucked in 10 times and he tells you he loves you all the time.
Speaker 2:Like, just break your heart, but he will.
Speaker 2:He, in particular, will be like I don't, I don't want dad to work late tonight or I don't want dad to be out of town this weekend or whatever, and I just tell them, like your dad works really hard I mean we all work really hard but like when they're complaining about him and we have a really great life and you're really lucky and this, like we won't always be like this, but this week it requires this, but then next week you know we're going on vacation and he'll be around all the time or whatever, um, and so trying to be like stop the work, talk at the dinner table and be like what was cool about your day? Tell me about choir practice, how was rehearsal, you know, like all of those sorts of things, and be really present. We really do have dinner together, like most nights, and talk about our day, and we've gotten a lot better about like not basically working from the time we get home until after they go to bed. If we got to work more, that's fine, but it's after they go to bed.
Speaker 1:It's an incredible gear shift. Parenting is the hardest, it truly. I mean, I don't care what kind of entrepreneur or what you're growing, that's hard. But parenting taps into a different kind and you know what. A lot of times when you are a great entrepreneur or you are great on the business side, it kind of like shines a light even more on the atrophy over here, because you're like, oh shit, like I got two left feet on this side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it is wild, yeah, or you or you end up like if you have like a sick kid or a kid going through crisis or whatever like that. The intensity of that experience is so much and requires, and you know, parenting will make you doubt everything you know and everything you thought you knew about yourself or the world, or whatever.
Speaker 1:So you guys grew into, you have 24 people now. One of the people that first started with you committed suicide. Yes, and I remember, I remember that like it. Can you talk a little more about that?
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Speaker 2:Yeah, it was horrifying and like. So everybody was blindsided by it. You know, his wife at the, our team, us, his friends, everybody, um, and he was one of the people who gave us the like balls to go for it. He and Alex used to like run into each other. So Alex used to sell wine wholesale wine, a little bit of a pivot um and Joey was working for Jenny's Ice Creams as like a delivery truck driver, and so they would like run into each other at Lucky's Market or Whole Foods or something, restocking shelves and checking in on their accounts. And they decided to go to lunch one day at O'Reilly's in Clintonville. They're like, we keep running into each other on whatever Thursdays or something like let's just grab lunch. And so they did. And Joey said to Alex, like, and this is when we were just like grinding in our garage, it was just the two of us and it was like an Instagram account and you know, not really a thing. And he said to Alex he's like, I think it's really cool what you're doing and if you ever decided to grow your, grow your team or hire someone like, I would come work for you. And you're like, whoa, like that's like a real pivotal moment in a business, when someone like believes in you. And they were. Um, joey and his wife, jenny were very good friends of ours. Jenny and Alex grew up together and are like ride or die and they still are. We all are.
Speaker 2:But Joey came and worked for us. He was our first employee. He was the person who got us into like metalwork. We were only doing woodworking and he was like, would you guys ever consider like doing welding and metalwork and all this stuff? Like I have a welder in my garage and I've been like taking this class, I think at like 400 West rich or something, and I'd be willing to like give it a go. So we literally like hung up a welding curtain in the back of the shop and we're like, well, that's now the welding shop. Like have at it, and now it's like a huge part of what we do. And he worked for us for you know, he was already a friend beforehand and just became like family and um, yeah, he, he was. Nobody saw it coming. He was the like guy always making a joke and the life of the party. And you know, now you can look back hindsight's, 2020 and he was compensating for all the things he was stressed about and worried about or insecure about, and it was crazy, it was crazy.
Speaker 1:Fast forward to today? How do you still? Because I'm sure his memory is everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have his T-shirt still hanging in the metal shop. We have a really awesome photo of him in his hood like welding something framed in the break room, his whiteboard, his hood. We have like a little Joey shrine. His hood hangs with a picture frame of him welding and then his whiteboard. That was like his production schedule with all of his projects and what the due dates were. Um, we lacquered over and it hangs in our break room. So there's like a whole little area and like just these little things he would make with metal.
Speaker 2:Like my husband still has it on his desk. In fact, I hung it up on his wall. I wonder if, well, he hasn't been packed to the office this week. But, um, I hung it up on his wall and I was like curious if he'll notice it. But yeah, and we um have become closer than ever before with Jenny um, and she's like family to us and we had like a really young team at the time too. So like figuring out how to like lead and navigate through that and grieve the loss of like a team member but like, more importantly, a friend and like Jenny is family and to be there and live that and like sort of unfold over time. I mean it's the story is still unfolding right and just like learning all the things that were going on behind the scenes someone you see every day.
Speaker 1:But isn't that a Testament? You know, that's an up close and just very jarring reality, that you can be with somebody all the time and you don't always know what's going on and it's just another. You know, when you look at our society and social media and how quick people are to jump to conclusions and to judge and to want to just gang up and this mob mentality, you know, you just, people are fragile.
Speaker 2:my kids say I'm obsessed with kindness and because you know they'll like talk about some new friend or like the school year or start the class, new classes or, um, all that and like one of my first questions is always like about a person, like, well, are they kind my daughter's, like you, are obsessed with I'm like the world's too big to be friends with assholes. And I've told her, because you know, like the middle school mean girl stuff, she's actually avoided it swimmingly. In fact I've had other moms like compliment her for like navigating it so well, um, and I remind her like okay, well, they're nice to you, that's great. Are they nice to everyone? Because if they're an asshole to someone else, they they're going to be an asshole to you and I'm just. I just think we need more empathy and kindness and grace in the world as a result of it.
Speaker 1:Well, thank, you for sharing Wild yeah.
Speaker 2:And Joey's, you know, memory and story, switching gears into growth, into excitement. So what are you guys working on? That's like lofty, where you're like I can't believe we're doing this. Or we have tripled in size in the last four years, which is a lot. We spent, like I would say, the last 16, 18 months just sort of like slowing down. Slowing down, um, getting better at all the things we do so that then we can hit the gas, and I think we're like ready to hit the gas again. So you know we are.
Speaker 2:We have like the most incredible team who's so talented, and we've developed really great relationships with partners who are doing projects all over the country. So we're working with some brands that are opening multiple locations and sending people to Texas and California and also doing tons and tons and tons of stuff locally. So doing tons and tons and tons of stuff locally, but just like fine tuning what we do and helping people develop and grow in their roles and trusting themselves to like make big decisions and mentor people. So we're like very hopeful and optimistic about like the growth and the relationships we have made, and some of our partners are doing some really cool things. We're delivering a project very soon TBD on the date in the coming weeks, maybe in the next three, six weeks. That is going for the Guinness Book of World Records for something I don't know. If I'm allowed to say so, I'm not going to say, but it'll be on blast on social media if we do it for one of our partners building the world's largest something. Really, yes, and it is big and it is cool and it's nostalgic. It will remind you of your youth and that's all I'm going to say. But that's like really fun and they're a partner that helps us like test our own boundaries. They like help push us. They have wild ideas and they know that we are the people that will like say yes to wild ideas. And so it's been a really fun partnership and it's continuing to like deepen and grow. I think that's the other thing about our industry.
Speaker 2:Is it just sort of like in the construction world? Like everything moves slow right Development, construction, renovations, all of those things and so like it takes a while to like make a relationship even enough to get an opportunity to price something, then, let alone win it, then build it and execute on it. And then they're like oh, we like working with you, let's do it again. Like that could take three years. And so, you know, playing the long game man and that was part of what like the last year was about too was just like just like slow down.
Speaker 2:It's, everybody needs to slow down and we a little bit white knuckled the pandemic like caused a lot of that.
Speaker 2:Right, it's just white knuckling through life. But like pausing, slowing down, getting systems and processes in place and then deepening relationships that are like well aligned from like core values and a vision and like similar to like be nice and don't be friends with assholes. Like I want to do business and work with people. Like what we do is hard, we don't need to have hard relationships too. Like let's do it with people who are awesome and love what they're doing and are like pushing the boundaries and aligned with us. So we have developed quite a few relationships over the last like two, three years that we're like starting to see the fruits of that labor and we're all benefiting from it. You know it's making their internal processes easier and streamlining things and we're getting to build cool things and improve and fuck it up the first time and make it better for the 10th, 11th and 12th time, you know. So I think that's like what we're really excited about for 2025.
Speaker 1:What would you say to a baby entrepreneur out there who's like peeking out of the nest?
Speaker 2:It will um, push you to your brink. It will break you, but it will um. It's also so, so rewarding, but it is the hardest shit I know you were talking earlier about. Like parenting is so hard. I a little think running a business is harder than parenting. I think they're just different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess it depends on, like, what your tolerance for, what your pain tolerance is like um, I've just always been, ever since I was like this big, like I had a fake debt, I had to ask yes, I remember you talking about that? I had fake people.
Speaker 2:I mean ever since I was in elementary yeah, like was it christmas or something you got like when I was five. I have a computer photo yes, I remember it.
Speaker 1:So I have like a phone. I mean this was when I was five, yeah, a phone, a desk, a type right little typewriter, and then even up into middle school I had like a whole room where I would have paper. I had a whole. My two stepsisters were like worked for me. So I just think my brain naturally loves and goes there and I love parenting. But I just think again, like parenting's a language I had to learn like, let's like learning Spanish. When you're like in your teens I grew, I was fluent business, I just that's what I wanted to do, it's just who I was. So for me, they're just, they are different. Hard, I mean, business is not for the faint of heart by any means, uh, especially if you want to scale and grow and be successful, um, but um, they're different.
Speaker 2:Hard, yeah yeah, don't disagree with you. You just have to like experience it, because everyone's struggle will be something different depending on like what industry they're in or like what kind of business. Our business is super like operationally heavy and like inventory heavy, and you talk to other people where it's like they're selling widgets you know what I mean and we have to have a 30,000 square foot warehouse and 24 people to do what we do. And other people's challenges are like finding the right developer or getting the VC money and so on. Those hard days I'm like I just have to wake up today and I have to give it my best, and some days that's more than others. One foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other yeah, are you domestic?
Speaker 1:you strike me though as you, you so define domestic.
Speaker 2:So you said you don't cook. I don't cook. My home is like my sacred space. I have always been interested in like interiors and design and like curating space and I think, particularly in the last few years, I have like very much leaned into like my home has to be my safe space, for my family, for me. And so I am domestic in the sense that like people come to our house and I think the ultimate compliment is when someone walks in and is like wow, oh, my God, it feels so much like you, right, like it's a reflection of you and your family, and so I'm domestic in that sense. In fact, this weekend we are tearing out our closet and putting in a new closet and I'm painting our bedroom for the third time and we're're gonna build ourselves a bed at the shop and all these kinds of things. So I'm always like trying new things and I'm domestic that way. But like girl can't cook. Well, I can cook, I just hate it so what's a week?
Speaker 1:what do you guys do for dinner? We eat, simply, it's basic. Yeah, you're a minimalist, right, right, I am Like Tee Lee.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, I have had like a capsule wardrobe for years. I think like before it was a thing, like before it had a name. I don't like stuff gets my nervous system like all wound up, like piles of papers on the counter or you know the mom setting stuff on the stairs and 10 people walk by it and don't put it away, like put your laundry away when it's done. I like things to have a place. I make my bed every day, that kind of stuff, because I want to feel like my nervous system can deregulate when I come home and, like you, want to feel lighter.
Speaker 1:Take a deep breath, yeah, and all the stuff, but you don't do birthday parties and you don't do christmas gifts, and alex has always been in line with that. Or did you have to like pull him in?
Speaker 2:no, we just it started like maybe five or six years ago and we just started doing like experiences for our kids and I think it really started. Our three kids have birthdays. We call it birthday season in our house. The three kids have birthdays within six weeks of each other, same as your twin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stop. Her kids are all in the same month. Did she talk about that on the podcast? I must have. I don't think so. Okay, so I'm pretty sure it's all February.
Speaker 2:It's August 27th to October 9th. All three kids have their birthdays. Plus it's mine and Alex's anniversary and two of our nephews who live in town, so it's like birthday season. We did like a trip. I was like what if, instead of like a birthday party and stuff we like went somewhere and it can be for everybody's birthday and it'll be a big fun thing. And that was a blast. And the kids did not miss the presents, they didn't care, they don't ask for birthday parties. And then my husband and I that year at Christmas so that was like in the fall.
Speaker 2:That year for Christmas it was like in that weird, like COVID, still a thing, but we all need to get out. Before Christmas we just booked an Airbnb out of town and that was the kids. I literally took the swimming suits out of their closets, wrap them up in a gift and that's what they opened on Christmas day and they were like this is my bathing suit. And I was like uh-huh. You know, we're just sort of like and they're like are we going somewhere? We were like uh-huh and they're like are we going to the beach? And I was like uh-huh and they're like are we going to the beach? And I was like uh-huh, and they're like when are we going? And I was like tomorrow. It was a sort of like the Walt Disney world reveal that people do for their kids.
Speaker 2:But ours was like for a vacation, and so then it just became this thing where, like every year for their birthdays we go on a trip and every year for Christmas we do an experience, like we travel, but not like extravagant. Alex and I also are birthday twins. Our birthdays are two days apart and so like and it's right around Valentine's day, so like it's always like a real buzzkill to like go out to dinner, because it's always like a Valentine's Day prefix dinner or like too many people or whatever, and so we just have always like not done gifts and done like an experience. We were in Chicago this past weekend and that was like our birthday celebration, and so it's just sort of become like an ethos of our household and our kids just like, first of all, our kids don't need more shit.
Speaker 2:I just don't want to raise kids who are like I want this and like everything is in our face in this world, like the nature of, like the internet and the speed of things, and it's just like consumerism and social media is like always selling you something, or people are like living some lifestyle that you think you need to have or whatever, and I just think we get wrapped up in like that you think you need to have or whatever, and I just think we get wrapped up in like what's not, like it's not the stuff that's important, and like experiences and travel.
Speaker 2:And our kids to this day are like I love going places and they, like we talk about like what was your favorite trip and why did you like that and where do you want to go again. So I'm hoping what we're giving them is like this sense of adventure. There's so much to be learned in traveling to like go to a country where you don't speak the language You're like I don't know how we're going to get to the hotel, but we're going to figure out. It might be a little bumpy, but it's like building resiliency and interest and like reminding you that the world is so much bigger than your little bubble.
Speaker 1:It's probably easier to to travel like that when they're a little bit older.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. So you have great ages right now to be doing that right. And I can remember get going to the airport. I think we were going to colorado to see my family lives in colorado and it was like post pandemic, so there had been a little bit of time and our youngest was probably six or something like that, and we went through um security and you know, everybody had their backpack and like I didn't have a stroller and the diaper bag and all this stuff. And we got through security and I was like was is that it? Like it was just easy, you know, and I was like this, this is we need to do this more like I like traveling, I like exploring new places. There's so many places to see in the country and in the world and I just want to raise kids who have like a bigger mindset and maybe don't have the newest Nike shoes, lindsay, this has been lovely.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, thank you for gracing me with your presence.
Speaker 1:Thank you for inviting me. I think that you have upped the potential of Trestle saying yes to me in 2025. Do you think is it like too much to ask that he wear the?
Speaker 2:sweater vest? Or is that like pushing the to ask that he wear the sweater vest? Or is that like pushing the boundaries?
Speaker 1:Let's just put it out there now. I would not be upset if Jim Trestle showed up in a sweater vest with a clipboard and a whistle and if you're still out there following your girl, follow me on YouTube, spotify, apple or wherever you get your podcasts. And until next time, edge work, baby, edge work all day long. Keep moving. Yeah, I love you, jim Trestle.
