How did you become CEO of Big Sky? And what were some some turning points that, that along the way, both in life and business that brought you to where you were here in 2026.

Yep.

Thank you so much.

Well, I always start back with, for me, I was a first generation college student when I went to college.

It was kind of dating back to there.

And my dad, my parents, I grew up in a divorced family.

My, my And I lived with my mom.

How did that imagery come together conceptually? And what were you all trying to communicate with that diagram of a virtuous organization?

Can you tell us about a time when you saw God's hand at work in your company or in one of the companies that you've supported?

Yeah.

Well, I find it's a lot easier to see when I'm open to seeing.

And there are several instances, but one in particular that I specifically recall is when there was an issue with a collections issue with a longstanding customer.

And I remember feeling so frustrated in that moment because this had just been escalating and it had been escalating for a long time.

And one morning I was actually at a, it was a business owner's, basically a business owner's Bible study group that I was part of for many years.

And during that FCCI, you got it.

So what is it? And I know it's very robust and we don't have time to go into all of it, but what are the easiest ways to distinguish a virtuous business from the average business? Yeah.

But is opening multiple locations what sets off, you know, into driving, you know, a company potentially becoming a franchise or Let's dive in, and I know I asked a multitude of questions, but what really makes a company franchisable, even knowing that when you go out the gate starting off, this may not be something that you think about in the next couple of years?

Sure.

Well, I'd love to start with the first – one of the first questions you ask of should every business franchise? And in short, I think it's a simple answer of no, every business should not franchise.

However, for an independent business that's thinking about growing – I think every owner or founder ought to consider franchising.

If you're thinking of growing or expanding your business, I think you owe it to yourself and to your stakeholders to consider franchising.

Does it mean you should? Absolutely not.

But just the same way that you would consider opening up additional company-owned locations or hiring additional staff or taking out a loan or bringing in investors or a myriad of other expansion strategies, franchising is another option that should be either ruled in or ruled out.

What does greatness mean to you today?

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So having that system in place, and then the, the, to, to, to take the next step w- for someone to be thinking about is, well, do I really wanna grow my business? How, how interested am I growing beyond what I'm doing today? And if it, it, it, first, most small business owners, and most owners in general, they're, they're, I don't wanna say complacent, but, but content is really maybe a better phrase, with modest growth, slow to modest growth.

And that, that's okay.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But if you're an owner that's looking around saying, "I, I really wanna make a bigger impact.

I really wanna see my brand spread out regionally or nationally," and you're really interested in doing something like that, franchising becomes a solution for you.

It may not be, it, it's not your only solution, but it's one, it's one to consider.

Are there any kind of examples that you can think of in, in real estate that kind of fit that criteria?