It's about helping people.

I'm an old country boy, so I don't need quite so much.

I mean, I think this shirt's 10 years old.

I get new sneakers every two, three years, new truck every four or five.

But I don't need it.

There's no you all's in heaven.

So you're not going to take it with you anyways, right? So we really built this to a nice size company.

Real quick, if you can go a few extra minutes, why are ticks a bigger problem?

First, like how, how do you measure that? Like, do you actually, like-

W- we did prove it.

Yeah, we proved it.

Um, here's what I...

We used to say a million, and one of the competitors challenged us.

Um, it really comes from the fact there's two things very different about our fibers.

It...

Is there anything new or upcoming that we can be looking forward to from Sawyer?

Mm-hmm.

We don't care what's in there.

It doesn't matter if the cows are pooping in it.

We do it all around the world.

We've given some 50 million people clean water through these systems already.

Um, so, uh, flooding too.

We're-- Right now it's-- While the hurricanes aren't in the Atlantic, they are in the Pacific, so we have countries like Peru wants 200,000 of these, Honduras wants 100,000 of them.

Hmm

[laughs]

Um, he was slated to be the first minority owner of an NFL team, and it was going to be what now either Jacksonville or, uh, Tennessee.

Uh, but then they had the Al Davis lawsuit, so the NFL didn't really know the definition of a franchise, so they had to wait out the lawsuit.

And in the meantime, what was he gonna do? So he was hired by the people who originally owned, uh, or, or moved the LA Rams to St.

Louis.

And so they had to do it, and they happened to own...

I w- I was working at a, a major marketing company at the time, a major brand, and so they just assigned him to me.

How does that keep them off your arms? I guess you have to wear long sleeves.

Yeah.

Tell me what to do.

So that's how we got into it because we're, we're profitable and there's no U-Hauls in heaven.

So I'm not going to take it with me.

So let's put it to work.

We're, we're fine.

You know, it's sure 10 years old, but it still works.

And you guys have eliminated that.

But I'm interested in your coming to Christ and what's led you to the place that you're at now to be the founder of such a popular company.

Well, I've been a Christian since I was knee-high to the grasshopper.

I remember my first real taste of it was I just, Christmas Eve, I just cried my eyes out.

Why are we giving gifts? That's not what this is about.

This is about the birth.

But I don't take it blindly.

I studied all the other religions.

You're basically giving away your product.

So what are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about ticks and Lyme disease?

Yeah.

Well, first of all, ticks are very slow-moving creatures, so they only breathe every 15 minutes.

So the first thing we've got to do is get the panic out of there.

And they take 36 hours to trade fluids with you.

So we'll deal with that so we can logically deal with these without the fear factor.

They're coming.

If I'm going to do a tick check, what's the best way to do it?

So-

So as we were doing that, and all the influencers.

Yeah.

Influencers took us to another level, but we would sit in the stores for 10, 12 hours all day, explain our stuff, but we also asked, "What else do you need?" You know, "What are you missing? What can we help you with?" And so that got us to the repellent business with some very sophisticated repellents.

We hooked up with a company that invented the be- bed nets and did all that stuff.

And then, you know, as we keep going on, then well, gosh, the big problem is water.

I mean, they, you know, there were clunky things out there, there were chemicals, and we came across a filtration device which is from the kidney dialysis.

So my question is for you, what's one or two of your not yet's?

rodents.

So It's the small little creatures, the mice and the chipmunks.

If you're in an area full of them because the predators are gone, then they're more likely to be elevated number of ticks there.

So what you do is, the secret that most people don't understand is permethrin.

And permethrin is something you put on your clothes or on fabrics.

It's not a topical repellent you're going to put on your skin.

Those work as well, but The fabric treatment can last six weeks or six washings, so it's a long thing.

When people buy your products, they're in turn not just protecting themselves, but they're supporting the work that you're doing in countries and with causes that you just described.

But before we get to that, since this is your first time, Kurt, on the show, give a brief bio on yourself and then tell a little bit about Sawyer Products, and then we'll get into the heart of what the, what, heart of the matter, so to speak.

Really, I'm a simple country boy and grew up in the, out in the country with...

And, and then I went to Hope College, got a bachelor's there in business, and then I was fortunate to get into Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, and that's where things really blossomed.

I, I got some good marketing skills there, got some very good jobs, worked for some big companies, you'd know their names, in the marketing departments.

Worked for some very big bosses.

So one day I'm, I'm listening outside the door and listening to the boss take total credit for everything I did, and I said, "I see how this game works." So then I decided to start on our own.

So that's where we started, 1984.

Let me ask you, what inspired you to start Sawyer, and how'd you come up with this idea for the wat- water filterization process?