Have you ever walked into a business and felt like family? That familiar, warm embrace isn't by accident, and the Kontis family of Fox Country Sheds are the artisans of such a welcoming craft. Join us as Jeannie, Adam, and Alex Kontis recount their inspiring journey in the shed industry from their charming base in Lititz, Pennsylvania. They not only build sheds but also deep, lasting relationships, emphasizing the significance of a personal touch—like the simple act of remembering a customer's name.
Venture behind the scenes of a family business that thrives on the collective effort reminiscent of Amish teamwork. The Kontis's unfold the tapestry of their past business ventures in construction and real estate, revealing how each woven strand has contributed to the resilience and robustness of their shed enterprise. This episode is a masterclass in nurturing a community within and beyond business walls, where even competitors become part of an extended knowledge-sharing family. Witness how they navigate economic tides with solidarity, while Alex's leap into the business post-high school brings a fresh perspective on hands-on entrepreneurship.
The shed industry is more than wood and nails—it's about innovation, adapting to the digital age without losing the human touch. In our discussion, we explore how technology like instant online pricing tools revolutionizes the customer experience, while also acknowledging the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions. Revel in tales from shipping sheds to unique destinations and ponder the future impact of AI on sales and marketing. The Kontis's don't just offer sheds; they provide a sanctuary of memories and experiences, proving that even in a world pushing for automation, the heartbeat of a business lies in its personal connections.
Also, find out how the podcast can be heard throughout the plain communities by dialing the number 330-997-3055. If the number is busy, just dial again!
For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.
To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.
To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.
This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber
Mobeno Solar Solutions
Shed Geek Marketing
Eco Ethic Solar
Riehl Steel
Have you ever walked into a business and felt like family? That familiar, warm embrace isn't by accident, and the Kontis family of Fox Country Sheds are the artisans of such a welcoming craft. Join us as Jeannie, Adam, and Alex Kontis recount their inspiring journey in the shed industry from their charming base in Lititz, Pennsylvania. They not only build sheds but also deep, lasting relationships, emphasizing the significance of a personal touch—like the simple act of remembering a customer's name.
Venture behind the scenes of a family business that thrives on the collective effort reminiscent of Amish teamwork. The Kontis's unfold the tapestry of their past business ventures in construction and real estate, revealing how each woven strand has contributed to the resilience and robustness of their shed enterprise. This episode is a masterclass in nurturing a community within and beyond business walls, where even competitors become part of an extended knowledge-sharing family. Witness how they navigate economic tides with solidarity, while Alex's leap into the business post-high school brings a fresh perspective on hands-on entrepreneurship.
The shed industry is more than wood and nails—it's about innovation, adapting to the digital age without losing the human touch. In our discussion, we explore how technology like instant online pricing tools revolutionizes the customer experience, while also acknowledging the irreplaceable value of face-to-face interactions. Revel in tales from shipping sheds to unique destinations and ponder the future impact of AI on sales and marketing. The Kontis's don't just offer sheds; they provide a sanctuary of memories and experiences, proving that even in a world pushing for automation, the heartbeat of a business lies in its personal connections.
Also, find out how the podcast can be heard throughout the plain communities by dialing the number 330-997-3055. If the number is busy, just dial again!
For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube at the handle @shedgeekpodcast.
To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.
To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.
This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber
Mobeno Solar Solutions
Shed Geek Marketing
Eco Ethic Solar
Riehl Steel
Welcome back to another episode of the shed geek podcast and, staying on course here in Pennsylvania, got an opportunity to sit down and talk with some new friends, uh, who have a really cool story in the shed industry, and I don't know who wants to lead here, but I'll let uh, each of you just introduce yourself, uh the company a little bit, about who you are and what you do. Uh, you guys figure that out. We want to get you all on here at some point.
Jeannie Kontis:I'll go first because I am the brains of the operation.
Shed Geek :Here we go. I love it. Wait a minute, we need to see.
Jeannie Kontis:That's what I'm here for.
Shed Geek :The brain. I love it. The gauntlet's been thrown down already. I love it.
Jeannie Kontis:Well, I mean because, um, I do call my back office here the think tank. My name is Jeannie Kontis.
Adam Kontis:Okay, uh, and I'm Adam Kontis, yep Jeannie's husband and the the brawn the brawn of the operation.
Shed Geek :That is correct.
Adam Kontis:He just put the out front and the and the shed sale.
Shed Geek :That's just the way it happens.
Adam Kontis:That's just how it is, that's right. But she is the brains of the operation, and thank goodness.
Shed Geek :The brains of any of any operation that is so true, will be female. Let's see.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, that's right yeah.
Shed Geek :Um, and then this is your son.
Alex Kontis:Yes, and my name is Alex Kontis. Uh, I get the best of both worlds, and the brain and the brawn.
Shed Geek :There you go. You're like the, you're, yeah, you're like Superman.
Adam Kontis:He is really is. Yeah, he really is.
Shed Geek :Excellent, so I'm going to be terrible with things, Alex.
Speaker 5:Adam.
Jeannie Kontis:Jeannie, jeannie, okay.
Shed Geek :Please forgive me. I thrive way more on what we say and I'll remember that for years to come.
Adam Kontis:Names, oh we can put names back If you like it's well.
Shed Geek :You know what. What's bad is. Whenever you start forgetting people's names that you've known for a long time, or like you meet them in the shed industry or see them at the expo or some shed event. I'm like please forgive me, yeah, Because I remember everything we talked about, but I can't remember your name.
Adam Kontis:There was somebody taught me an old trick many years ago when you meet somebody for the first time, that you should say their names to yourself three times and that helps you not forget their names, like the minute you meet them and they introduce yourself, then you say your that name three times in your head and that helps you Well even in sales they say it's a really good thing right To, just it's immediately address them by name.
Shed Geek :It feels more personal.
Adam Kontis:It is the one of the most important things that we do here. Yeah, when we have a customer that will come in and they would come in the first time and then we would talk to them when they come back the second time, when we address them by their first name, when we see them and we become humble and it made them feel like an old friend. It's it's so important to the relationship. They feel like they're the most important person in the world and as far as we concerned, they are that's right.
Shed Geek :Yeah, that's right. No, I love it. Yeah, very, very good. So so we are at Fox Country Sheds and Fox Country Sheds is located in.
Adam Kontis:Where are we actually in Lititz, Pennsylvania. We're in Lititz.
Shed Geek :Okay, yeah, and.
Jeannie Kontis:Lancaster County and Lancaster.
Shed Geek :County. We are still Lancat and everybody tells me that because I say it from the South, I say Lancaster.
Jeannie Kontis:Yes, you say it wrong.
Shed Geek :They say it's, it's much faster, it's.
Jeannie Kontis:Lancaster, lancaster, lancaster, lancaster.
Shed Geek :Yep, and you guys have been here long enough to know that, so that is correct, and you can hear my long vowels as I speak, that's okay. Yeah, I sound, I sound hillbilly. Right, it's okay, you can say it, it's fine, it's all right, it's okay. He's got the twang.
Alex Kontis:Just a twang.
Shed Geek :You know what it's because you're close to Nashville it is. I'll tell you what it is. Is I'm. You almost don't belong anywhere when you're where I'm from, because when you go north they say you're from the South.
Adam Kontis:Yeah.
Shed Geek :And when you go South they call you a Yankee. So I'm like I don't understand, I don't belong anywhere.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, stuck in the middle.
Jeannie Kontis:No man's land. Yeah, oh, my goodness.
Shed Geek :So tell me a little bit about Fox Country. First of all, let me add a few things. Sure, even before you share beautiful facility, it looks awesome. I love the display where you first come in. It's really awesome to see some names that are familiar faces you know with with uh, I saw Tim Hoss hang this up. Yes, Uh you know. And then I saw Dave Miller with SmartPay and the papers and things like that.
Shed Geek :So good friends, uh, good people. So it's really nice to have the mutual acquaintances and then just the display of your lot in general looks really, really nice.
Adam Kontis:Oh, thank you very, very much. We we work very hard at it to make sure that it's presented very well.
Shed Geek :Yeah. So so tell me a little bit about Fox Country. Uh, sales manufacturing, Uh, tell me your story. How did you get here?
Adam Kontis:Did you guys just grow up in the shed industry, or no no, we did not Far from it, how we got into the shed industry. We were in another business for a very long time, um, and that got to be very hard to maintain, uh. So we sold out, um, and it took me five years to recover. So I retired. And when I was 40 years old, and it took me five years to get over the toughness of my previous business and I remember specifically it was a.
Adam Kontis:my wife was doing a real estate at the time. My kids were late teenagers so they didn't want to bother with mom and dad.
Adam Kontis:They had their own little thing going between you know their friends and all that. So my wife, jeanie, decided that she wanted to do real estate. So she was doing real estate at the time and I remember, you know, we had one kid go into college, another one heading that way and we're like well, you know, I'm still too young to officially retire. So I remember her sitting in our kitchen I don't remember who's the table or the little area there and she turned around and said to me what do you know about the shed industry? And I it was.
Jeannie Kontis:It just said like wood products manufacturing. We didn't even really know it was sheds at first.
Adam Kontis:Right and I turned around and I was sitting on the couch watching TV probably in space land or whatever I was thinking and I said it doesn't matter what the business is, as long as it's a business, I could do it. Awesome. And that was a Thursday and that come in Saturday. So we got a hold of the real estate agent and intrigued us and I think I was looking at commercial listings at, you know, at the time, to see what what's out there.
Jeannie Kontis:I was like I gotta you know, we have to do something with college bills coming in and I loved selling real estate I mean I was killing it. It was, it was a good time.
Adam Kontis:So so that was on a Thursday afternoon evening and we called the real estate agent that was you know, listed there as a business broker a business broker and he says to us well, we already have a bunch of offers coming in for this company. And he's like you know, I don't really want to bother. And then my wife said to him you know, you have a duty to your client to represent.
Jeannie Kontis:I said you have a fiduciary responsibility to sell her Right. And then we explained to us right.
Adam Kontis:And then we explained to him that it really it's not for one of her clients, it's actually personal for us, so we're reluctantly, he agreed. So we came to look at it on that Saturday, which was a day later, and he said all offers have to be in by Tuesday. Oh wow, and then by Tuesday afternoon we own Fox Country Shed.
Adam Kontis:And that's how quick it happened. We didn't know anything about shed industry or anything like that, but a business is a business and if you know how to run a business, doesn't matter what it is, you'll learn, and I think I had enough confidence in myself and my wife that I knew we could. We could make it happen, and that's that's what it was. And then, a month or so, two months later, whatever it was, we were here. So how long ago was this? This was June of 2008.
Shed Geek :June of 2008. So this was the previous owners were it was the Fox family.
Adam Kontis:Okay, father and son worked it Great, great people. The son stayed and worked with us for over a year. The dad even longer, maybe even longer and the dad stayed for a couple of months to get us going and all that. And then there was another son that worked in the shop and he stayed with us for four or five years, remember, yeah so we always had a good relationship.
Jeannie Kontis:We had a good relationship with them. The father wanted to retire Okay, and the son, who owned the business with him, wanted to be free to want to do mission work and do mission work, yeah, okay, well, and that happens a lot.
Shed Geek :I think, you know, while we talk about second and third and now maybe even fourth generation shed builders, a lot of guys just they don't necessarily want to follow, some can't wait to, they want to, they want to, you know, follow on the footsteps and on the shed business. But some want to kind of be free to explore.
Adam Kontis:Yes.
Shed Geek :Well, somebody's. You know that business is there. It's valuable. Yeah, they've built up a brand reputation.
Adam Kontis:They did, they had a wonderful reputation because, you know, we did a little bit of research even in that short period of time.
Adam Kontis:Yeah you know, they did have a really good reputation, very good quality of the products, and so we fell in love with it. And I remember the first a distributor that came in. This guy named Rodney Lauer. He worked for a company called Wolfen. At that time we were buying siding from them. Remember him walking in the door, never met him or anything like that, and the first thing he said out of his mouth to me is it's a bad time to get in the shed industry.
Adam Kontis:The recession started and I looked at him and I shredded my shoulders and we still talk about it to this day. I started myself well, if I can make it now, make it through the good years too. Yeah, and that was it, you know. And we put our heads down and we worked and we had very cheap lunches to get us going and we did all that stuff that any you know new business owner does you know?
Shed Geek :somebody told me, like in Lancaster County, that the even during the recession it didn't seem to hit as bad because there's a bit of a resilience in this part of the country, particularly in, like, the playing communities, because not everything is reliant, it's more personal, which you know. Someone else told me with a lot about Amish culture and, trust me, I've learned a lot, but I have way more to go with black playing community culture.
Shed Geek :They told me they said Amish is about building community. Correct, that's one of the biggest things. I was like wow, that. What I love about. That is. That's a passion for me, it's. It's the reason why we network and have these conversations with our competition, sure, and with our collaborators, absolutely, because good information, good content, breeds more knowledge. More knowledge breeds better decisions. Even competition is a good thing. It makes us better. Even with it being 2008 and scary in that situation, it seemed like the economy here just kind of kept going it was.
Adam Kontis:It was good and steady. I was never concerned from day one that we made a mistake, not not even if we weren't making the money we thought we were making. I never was concerned about that because I had enough Confidence in my wife and myself and Alex at the time wasn't here, he was still in high school, he was still in high school.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, so he worked, so you know right and he worked over the summer, but it and I was never concerned. I knew eventually, with all hard work, that it would pay off and you know we would work here to five, six o'clock, go home and work to 11, 12 o'clock at night. Yeah, you know, working on photographs and doing this and Designs, and you name it like we. We were workaholics the first. You know, five, six years we was non-stop your photographs stand out immediately like the canvas pictures.
Shed Geek :Yeah, thank you that show as soon as you come into the office. It's a parent that you take a lot of pride in Displaying the product In a way the customer can understand. We'll get into that. But I'm curious from 2008 then, what surprised you? You got into the shed industry and and you were you were newbies, right? Yep. You were like, hey, we didn't come in, yeah.
Jeannie Kontis:I would say you know, adam had like construction know-how and you know we had renovated, you know, some properties and also he knew Construction as far as, like carpentry, and I feel like I felt comfortable with it because I did real estate and so I knew.
Shed Geek :Maybe the sales process not even like the sales.
Jeannie Kontis:But more you know construction, I knew what two by four and stuff. He's a construction stuff that you see, you know very important through new homes and seeing homes being built from the ground up, and I'm looking at a shed, you know, for the first time in my life, besides the shed that we had on our property then.
Jeannie Kontis:Which we ended up getting back yeah sorry that one, but you know, in our first house, like we had a little minibar and and so I never looked at a shed construction before, like before we walked through the business then and I thought I know what all these components are, I know what all this stuff is. So it was, it was that easy transition because we knew what.
Shed Geek :Could you imagine a person coming into the shed industry without that knowledge? That's a lot to learn.
Adam Kontis:Well, alex can speak on that behalf, because obviously he didn't know when he got here.
Shed Geek :So you get out of high school, you jump into the family business what? What did that feel like? So?
Alex Kontis:that wasn't right out of high school Okay. So like that first summer I had just graduated from high school, okay, and in my mind I was still college bound. So I went to school out in Colorado and like I wanted to kind of get away for a little bit and find myself and as the years kind of went on and I would still then come, you know, back in the summer then and work here. I started very slowly. You're seeing all that.
Alex Kontis:So yeah, it was a little a little like scary at first because I came in without Really anything other than knowing what a two by four right might be, not knowing all the lengths that it could come in, not knowing that you could get them like cut down to a certain length from from a mill and then buy units like that. But in the same aspect, you know kind of what what genie had said, like what my mom had said is, once you Open that door up and you see kind of like the inner workings of how things are made, you know a lot of things can get filled in and you can, you can learn a lot that way and grow that way.
Jeannie Kontis:He actually, he was studying entrepreneurship when he was at school really and Then, and our thinking at the time was you know, we're gonna grow the business and then, like, sell it and retire, and Then he would come and work for us in the summers. And then he came to us and said you know, I kind of want to Learn from you. I can't learn how to be an entrepreneur out of a book, like at college, I just have to.
Shed Geek :Yeah, what a powerful statement.
Jeannie Kontis:We got him a desk in the corner. Yep and we're like, okay, here you are, just learn it. And he's been here every day since every weekend, and he's we couldn't do it anymore without him. Besides being important in our lives.
Shed Geek :He's like I'm too for to.
Adam Kontis:Well, we got busier through the years and we just, we just couldn't handle it. Yeah, you know, and thank goodness you know he came in and took some of that office, because otherwise we'd be working 12 hours a day.
Alex Kontis:You know someone who wanted to move in the right Direction and cared enough to make you know calculated decisions for the best interest of everybody, you know.
Speaker 5:But that was.
Alex Kontis:The customer, the dealer, ourselves, the employees. You know, I wasn't just like. Well, you know, this is what I think, so this is what we're doing.
Shed Geek :Yeah, you know you were studying entrepreneurship and I love the, the comment. You can't learn that from a book, because there's obviously Education's and valuable. I love to read, I love to listen, but there's some things that just have to be experienced. What do you feel like was maybe, maybe the most surprising Thing that you learned as you jumped into real life entrepreneurship?
Alex Kontis:Uh yeah, so that can be a very long, long winded answer there.
Shed Geek :Yeah, well, go for it. Any takeaways? That just kind of surprised you. You know I I feel like at first glance from the digital landscape.
Alex Kontis:You know I I feel like at first glance from the outside you you look in, as you know, I'm sure, like an entrepreneur or business owner, and think it's all. You know glitz and glam and that it's all just. You know money to be made and you don't see all the hard work that that goes into that and you know whether that is. You know the people that you need to put together To to work. You know efficiently and and work as a family and as a unit, as as one unit together going towards a common goal. I think that to me is I don't know, but the most the more surprising. That's, the most rewarding part of it Is when you see and you cut the team building of that and how that you know helps all families and you know striving for a together goal. That's important to me.
Shed Geek :You know you're talking small business and and it just dawned upon me, like like mom and dad and son Operating in a family environment, atmosphere, and an opposite, that I have my family with me.
Speaker 5:I have my life and I have my son with me.
Shed Geek :Who's also helping out in the family business. And just it just dawned upon me the dynamic of that.
Alex Kontis:Right.
Jeannie Kontis:Absolutely like when you talk about family business, we have another employee that works with us here in the office who's not here today. There's actually a very old friend of ours. His name is Sean and when we needed extra help in the office, we knew, you know, we could trust him to work here with us and he would care. And he travels an hour every day to get to work and he's worked With us here for 14 years, I think, and so he always, you know, he walks in and he's like you know, hi, dad, he tells him.
Adam Kontis:I say that because I don't want his dad to really hear on one day get mad with me. You know His dad, you know it's a retired sheriff. I don't, I don't want.
Speaker 5:But yeah.
Adam Kontis:Sean is another. All our employees are valuable to us, but Sean is really something very, very special. Not only is he a very close friend, but we all have the same mindset we always trying to do better, not only for our family, but for the employees. The employees are the most important part of running our manufacturing department. Without them, there is none.
Shed Geek :So so move fast forward. 2008 To today. Yep, what have you taken away from all this? I love this job. Yeah.
Adam Kontis:I love being here. I love everything about it. Some things can be challenging, but every business has that, so it's never all gravy, but 99% of the time, boy, I love coming in and. You know I love dealing with the people.
Speaker 5:I love the sales aspect of it.
Adam Kontis:I love solving problems, and I love the fact that my son takes a lot of that responsibility off my plate now, yeah, which is phenomenal, just amazing. And when I leave and sometimes I do leave early I've earned the right. I am not concerned that things won't get done the way that I always wanted them to get done, because he learned from us, yeah, and he takes care of it just like I was doing it.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, and For us, the most important part- of everything is our customer, regardless if it's a retail customer or a wholesale customer or our dealer. That's the most important. It's not about the money, it's not about the profits, it really isn't. They're the most important, because they will be back and they will recommend us. Word of mouth for us is Immensely successful.
Shed Geek :Yeah, what has? What has changed the most for you in these 15, 16 years?
Jeannie Kontis:I think technology. Yeah you know, I think, technology, I think you know when we, when we bought this business, we had a website, the previous owner, the son, was very forward thinking and Hired a company to create a website and that website they paid a lot of money to include a shopping cart and it was all customizable. So the customers could. You know, at that time, 2008, when we took over it, was already up and running for a couple of years.
Jeannie Kontis:I think they Customer can select their shed, select their size, select their colors, select their door and window placement and Options yeah, yeah, all kinds of different options at a ramp, at a weather vane, and buy it online. Wow, and through the years, are you know, our web developer?
Jeannie Kontis:would always tell us the that software is getting really old, your websites very old. All of our competitors had these big fancy websites but they didn't have what we had that shopping cart and we would tweak it through the years, you know, but the ability now. This is our first year now With our new website. It just literally got launched like January 3rd or something, I think so that's still a learning curve, because we loved our old website. It's not only us, our customers. We would get so many compliments because the customer.
Adam Kontis:Even if they, they just want to know what a price was. They were just curious. They had no idea what a shed cost. They had no idea what a shed cost. They would just go on the website and like, oh, this particular shed that looks something like this is gonna cost me, delivered, x amount of dollars. It's not within my budget this year but I'll wait till next year. But it was there. They didn't have to call somebody, they didn't have to get a quote, they didn't have to wait three, four days. It was instant gratification to them that they knew what the price of that shed was, regardless if it was in their budget or not or if they were ready to buy it or not. No reflection on that. But we've had plenty of people come a year later and say, oh, I printed this off your website. Can I want to buy this?
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah, like a year later. Very nice yeah so now to have that 3d customizer which you know we use a particular company, I don't know if you want us to say you're you're, you're welcome to we don't know. There are a few other ones. There are room.
Shed Geek :Yeah, my, so the the approach I take on that is like you're welcome to share. Right you know as, and the only thing I ask people in the podcast is maybe not to, if it's a negative experience, shy away from it, because I feel like those. Those people have the Right to know and not find out through the podcast. Right, I need to know through a real conversation with their client. You said you do use idea room use idea room and had the pleasure of interviewing those before great guys.
Jeannie Kontis:That was the one thing that you know. Our customers would walk in and say I want this shed and this color. And then they would say do you have any way for me to see what it looks like?
Shed Geek :And it was like no, it's so important we do it's so important a lot of times in the sales process to get like you know how it goes whenever you're explaining something to somebody and you have to compare it to like something on the law. I remember having to do this because I was selling and a lot of these tools weren't available. Yeah, that are now and it's awesome that they are. But I remember like, well, it's gonna look like this one out here. And then you got to take them outside and you got us. You got to say, well, technically, yours is a 10 by 20 and this one's a 10 by 16.
Shed Geek :So imagine it four foot longer.
Jeannie Kontis:And then yours is gonna be over here, not over there. Yeah, you got to do all that.
Shed Geek :You're like we're gonna put your door on the other side and then you said you wanted a window here, and I know this one's pink, but you want a purple one you know, and it's like you know not, I don't know how many pink and purple sheds.
Jeannie Kontis:Sold one shed that they painted purple. For yeah, there was one, I'm cured painted purple, I'm curious of some of your most interesting Customers and stories.
Adam Kontis:Christmas. Shed yeah, for some Charity or something that was all red with.
Jeannie Kontis:Santa Claus being in it we did.
Adam Kontis:We shipped three massive sheds to California and that was An experience in itself, just for the transport aspect of it. How difficult it was because California has so many regulations that not any single Semi truck had show up to California expected to drive the streets. It has to be, the emissions have to be correct. So we had to get a local company that has delivered there before and it's a long trip. Lancaster, pennsylvania, to Los Angeles, california is a long, yeah, yes, very, very long trip.
Shed Geek :So but you guys have. So you were telling me, you sold all over all over you sold In all these years quite a few places.
Adam Kontis:South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia. I mean up and down the East Coast.
Alex Kontis:Yeah, we did a lot of, I think too.
Adam Kontis:We go up to Canada. We know, oh, maybe we did.
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah, I think we did yeah, I think we did yeah.
Adam Kontis:But yeah, we did a lot like some military bases down in the Carolinas, which is an experience in itself.
Shed Geek :Oh, I imagine the rules and regulations.
Adam Kontis:You know they have to vet everybody. They had to know who the driver was. They had to screen him before he would come in and you couldn't substitute a driver at the last minute because the other driver got sick. They won't allow that. So if you tell them it's gonna be, you know, john Smith, john Smith, better show up, otherwise it weren't letting them in yeah so we've learned a lot, but yeah, we shipped all over the place, that's awesome.
Shed Geek :It sounds like you guys had some really good success. So technology I mean, obviously it seems to be ever-changing, it seems like even today, and and when that fits. It's so funny because do we call the website technology? You know how everything came out of the comm boom and then we work in in a marketing aspect. So like we kind of for us, we kind of plug that into that. The next thing, you know, you start having to learn about one thing to the next, right if you got a website, now You're talking about SEO and ads.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, one thing leads into the, you know.
Shed Geek :Configurators and buttons on there so that people can do that. And the next thing you know You're trying to. You guys obviously understand the power of a visibility and optics in sheds because you have Photographs everywhere, but I mean putting out videos, putting out photo all those things are can be important. It doesn't mean that it's the only recipe for a successful shed lot or shed manufacturer, but I would say you and many others have experienced the positive side.
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah, I think the relationship side. You can have all the social media and fancy ads that you want, but if you don't make the personal connection With the customer, so important, you know they'll go elsewhere.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, Speaking about. We had a customer a couple of months ago. He had sent us a response, because we send out letters to see how the service was and all that. He was actually the most sweetest man.
Jeannie Kontis:Oh, I know you yeah.
Adam Kontis:You ever could pass, and he spent quite a few money with us. But he was such a gentleman, he says, I walked into Fox's and walked out being family. Oh, that's exactly We've met, and I mean that's the review you want right. Yeah, and honestly I feel the same way about him. Yeah, like he was such a nice man, we sat down, we had a conversation, he had a cup of coffee, it was just.
Shed Geek :It's just so wonderful, you know what's your guys thoughts on, like customer acquisition time?
Shed Geek :So, like Jeanne, you go back to like when you were working in real estate, right, like you've really got to spend some time with the customer. The house buying process is just a little bit more invasive.
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah, and it could be anywhere from you know a month, if somebody knows what they want and they find it right away, to six months and more, depending on the market, of course.
Shed Geek :How's Shed's compared to, say, your experience in that area? Because real estate folks are really on top of it. There's a lot of good marketing that I've noticed in real estate, and I'm just picking on marketing. There's a lot of good things that they do in terms of leading the way in sales, development and stuff Right. But what's sort of that? Your experience in this industry in comparison?
Jeannie Kontis:I feel like some things that I learned in my real estate business was really getting in front of the consumer. So when they do a Google search for a house or a particular house that they want, that my name will pop up in front of them. So I learned actually worked with somebody on his team who knew HTML and taught me some things, and so I'd be able to like add things in my email signature you know with a link then, Things I didn't know really when they were, but I knew how to add a link or, you know, make a signature that was like responsive and I made a blog.
Jeannie Kontis:So this was back in the early 2000s. I would blog about my real estate experiences like regularly. So if I drove into Southern Lancaster County to show an old farmhouse, I had great content for it and all my tag words historic homes in Lancaster and just things that would pop up. And so when someone did a search, you know I had customers, then potential customers that would call me up and say I'm interested in a historic home. You know an 1800s home in Lancaster City and you're the historic homes specialist.
Shed Geek :Yeah, Google began to recognize you through those keywords.
Jeannie Kontis:Right.
Shed Geek :Google is a professional, so they're going to recommend you which. A lot of people talk about, google, but I mean there was a lot of others out there, right, if you remember back in the day, ask Jeeves and being Is Still Around. Duck Duck Girls becoming popular as a search engine. But the idea behind it is that Google is trying to give the most. So people talk about ranking or indexing on Google and it's like we want to be number one and it's like don't we all right, don't we all? We all want to show up first, and what Google is doing is they're taking where you see, oh, search results, and it says we found, you know, 500,000 recommendations in 33.33 seconds. And these are arguably the leaders in that. And what they're suggesting is all of our research tells us this is the most reputable resource for the question you're asking. Right, restaurants near me. Well, guess what? Guess who's going to show up? You know you're going to begin to see all of those that put into.
Adam Kontis:I think AI is going to change. Oh, it's going to be so different. Ai is going to be revolutionary to the way that we think we move, we get Absolutely.
Jeannie Kontis:And I'm not quite sure how yet Honestly like how it would affect us with shed sales. I'm trying to figure that out other than using, like chat, gbt to create like a shed description.
Shed Geek :It's like trying to understand almost thecom boom and we're on the other side of it now to be able to. You know you're money. Born in quarterback, you can Sure Hindsight's 2020 to look back and go, man, I should have invested in Amazon, you know, but at the time it's like some company selling books online. Who cares?
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah that's making sense.
Speaker 5:Go to the store and get that.
Alex Kontis:That's never going to make it.
Shed Geek :Yeah so but yeah, and I don't have the answer. I'm weary of those who do also, but I'll give you an example of like AI in my, in my own experience. Yeah, so I use AI for some of our, some of our social media posts. When we put a description out of this episode, ai will listen to this entire episode and then it will write a bio for us. That is a really nice, like like intuitive bio, to the point where I've actually gotten comments from people who said man, you're writing some excellent bios.
Speaker 5:You make me want to read it more.
Shed Geek :And I'm like. Well, in full disclosure, it's not me. It's not me, as wise as I like to think I am.
Jeannie Kontis:Some very smart little person inside the computer. Sure yeah.
Shed Geek :So and even show titles or different things. So there's different areas where we are learning to explore it so that it makes our life easier, and I would suspect it's going to come into shed sales at some point. We obviously use it in our marketing for like pictures.
Jeannie Kontis:I'm going to come into the market aspect. I'm wondering how it can come into like the manufacturing, because you know how can we become more efficient with using like AI?
Shed Geek :AI is even writing code for, like you know, those who are building websites now. So, like you can, you're just going to be able to do a lot more stuff that you don't have to seek a professional out to do. Because one of my favorite things somebody told me about chat GPT is they said we're using it all wrong. And I said what do you mean? Here's a, here's a hack, here's a. I think you might have said it on the podcast. Even he said here's a hack for you. He said you know, you go to chat me GPT and you prompt it and you say, hey, write me a social media post about visiting Lancaster County and how much fun we had and we really enjoyed it, and it kicks all this stuff out or whatever.
Shed Geek :He said you're prompting it wrong. And I said how? So he said from now on, you need to start asking chat GPT. What are the best questions I can ask you in this situation? And then ask those questions to it and you'd be surprised because you're coming in prompting it with just your knowledge. You're not. You're not asking it for knowledge that is out there, that is free for you to take, that you don't exist. And I know people are like what are you talking about? This sounds terrible. They're like you know, this is.
Shed Geek :I get it. You know, some guys just want to build sheds. Right, they're like what on earth are you talking about? Ai, what? I don't know what that is, what do you mean? And that's an example of like your alien intelligence yeah. I love it. Well, you just saw what happened out of Miami. Right, they're talking about the, the alien walking through Miami.
Alex Kontis:Oh yeah, oh yeah, the world's crazy. That was a lot of police presence. For what they said it was the world's crazy.
Jeannie Kontis:I actually just used AI on Instagram to place one of our sheds like up in space on the moon. I saved it. I didn't post it yet, but I was going to say, like our sheds are out of this world but, you don't know.
Shed Geek :I love it. Yeah, our sheds are out of this world I love it I. We use it for our like. We didn't have a professional headshot. We take a picture and had AI create our professional headshot. So, like, all of our email signatures are that's a, that's you know it just it's just making things easier.
Shed Geek :I know a lot of people are like oh gosh, I don't know this, this, but in one word you answered. I said what was the biggest change since? Oh, eight to now. You said technology, and I think it's going to continue to change.
Adam Kontis:It will.
Shed Geek :And, that being said, there's a lot of value to having a brick and mortar location that has coffee when you come in, that has conversation. Those things are not obsolete.
Jeannie Kontis:Right yeah.
Shed Geek :They paid the way for us to get here and they still work.
Jeannie Kontis:And the way you build a shed is the same. You know what I mean. Like shed building hasn't changed, other than maybe some larger operations that have, like a conveyor belt system or something you still need a hammer.
Alex Kontis:You still need nails.
Speaker 5:Right the fastener.
Shed Geek :You still need the lumber, that's.
Jeannie Kontis:It's all done the same way.
Shed Geek :And you guys know that because you manufacture here, right? So what sort of the makeup of a Fox country shed? You guys are in Lancaster, you sell to other retailers.
Adam Kontis:Yep, we have we have dealers up and down the East coast. Okay, we're very, very selective with our dealers, because we want to make sure that our product is represented correctly, because we take a lot of pride in it and we build long relationship with our dealers. Honestly, it's like family, to be honest with you.
Adam Kontis:Like we exchange Christmas gifts. You know, we know about each other's families, we know everybody's name the kids, the grandkids, you name it and that's how we operate, because I always thought that was like the most important. And you know, we build a little bit of a higher end shed. We're not the manufacturer that prides himself on getting X amount of sheds day in and day out, regardless of the quality. They're just. It's all about production runs. We're not that company. We build a more high end product at a reasonable price and we take a lot of pride in that. And we have we inspect things three times before they even leave the shop and even when they're outside we go back and we inspect them before they get loaded on a truck to leave. So you know all that takes. You know time and energy and employees to do and somebody has to pay for that, it's right, you know. So you can't do those kind of production runs, you know, without having that value there?
Shed Geek :Yeah, the value proposition of an increased shed. You know the quality of the shed equals out Absolutely and you can. Nobody comes in and says give me less value. Have you ever noticed that? Not a single person. No no one says no, no, no. No one ever says I noticed you put a lot of two by fours in this shed. Would you charge me the same price, but take some of this out? Nope, not a single person, because people value quality.
Adam Kontis:They do Right, and even the novist and we've seen this through all the years we've been here they could. Even the novice person can walk inside and say go, wow, this is built better than I was at this other place and yeah, your XMAD dollars more, but wow more value, more value.
Adam Kontis:They see it. It's almost. Even if they have no idea what a two by four is, they could actually see it. And and I think the majority of the people will pay not a lot more but a little bit more to get that, that quality. And also I think that when they leave here they have the sense of you know, alex, jean and Adam, they're going to take care of me. I'm important to them. You know, if I have a problem I'm going to call them and they're going to take care of it.
Adam Kontis:Service after the sale service. Yeah, it's not a perfect world and there's always going to be a mistake. There's always going to be. I mean, our driver could be going down the road and hit a stop sign.
Alex Kontis:Yeah it happens.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, you know, it's not like you're delivering with UPS. Yeah, it's not the same thing you know, but we take care of stuff like that and it's more important to us than the production of that day to take care of that customer.
Alex Kontis:Yeah, I feel like I've never heard someone come in and say you know, I want less for more, right and and when they do come in, they they're here because they they have a problem. Yeah, and it's our responsibility to help them solve that problem.
Jeannie Kontis:You know what are your storage solutions.
Alex Kontis:Yeah, whether whether we can solve it with one of our products or if what they want is not. You know our cup of tea that we can't do that. We would try to help them find another company that may be able to, you know accomplish that for them.
Shed Geek :It's about being a helper, it's about serving the customer Absolutely. And and yeah, a couple of things you ever noticed ring true. I noticed whether I'm in Florida or Texas or Colorado or or Pennsylvania, there's always a couple of things that remain true. One is no customer ever comes in and says I want, I want less for more. They always say I want more for less. Of course, and no customer ever says I bought too big of a shed.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, that's the only way.
Shed Geek :It's always, always, always.
Alex Kontis:I should have went bigger with this and that and as a salesperson that can get tricky because you know you Obviously the bigger the shed, the more cost that is, and as a salesperson you don't want to sound like you're pushing someone into getting the.
Shed Geek :But you just know. Oh, you just know because you just had ten people say I wish you to just sold me something bigger.
Adam Kontis:We tell people that flat out we got a lot of people that come in a year later for a cup of coffee and those like you were right. I should listen to you.
Shed Geek :You know somebody should do, somebody should somebody should start getting a video testimonial when those customers come in and say hey, I ordered a show a year ago. I need to get another one because can you come back here and let me just get that on? I'm gonna put that on a loop with you and the other 15 other people this month.
Alex Kontis:We should take the video then when they when they first buy the shed and then when they come back.
Adam Kontis:But we do tell them, we do tell them. This is the. What size are you looking for? You want to maybe consider the next size up, because you will never regret it, you never if it fits your yard and fits your budget, and that's the exact words that we use. Yeah, if you're looking for an 8 by 12, an 8 by 14 is not that much money more. Yeah, you will probably thank us in the long run. That's right and then that's the end. We don't push them, we don't do anything else beyond that.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, you know that, yeah, and and there's a lot of times people will place an order for an 8 by 12. They will go home, the husband Will talk to the wife, the husband will come back, he'll change all the colors because the wife the next day and then get the big next, bigger size the next day. That's right, yeah and that's okay. Well, the brains behind the operation, that's right, that's, you say, the way it works.
Shed Geek :Yeah, I say, everything that you give to a woman, she impures it. That's exactly right. Including us.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, that's right, so I love it.
Shed Geek :I think it's great um
Shed Geek :Customer philosophy will do that, and then we'll start to wrap up. If someone come in to bought to buy a Shed from Fox Country Sheds, what would your message be to that Potential customer before they even arrived at your location? What would you want them to know Whenever they show up?
Jeannie Kontis:I think we kind of touched on it a little bit ago that Really we're here to solve their storage solution, whatever it is, and I want them. When they walk in, like the first thing that I say and I think most of us do, is you know how, like how can I help you? And and then they'll tell us exactly.
Shed Geek :It's about Exploring the needs. We sell a storage solution. I think I heard you say that earlier earlier. We sell a storage solution and it might be for their car.
Jeannie Kontis:It might be Because there's a home office yeah, it might be just to you know, get stuff out of their garage so that they can park their car in their garage. Everybody really has different needs. It could be a home gym. They want to finish it into a home gym. So it's not saying everything now.
Alex Kontis:Yeah, every you know. Yeah, Family and members needing to move in for whatever reason. You know there's, like some of the sometimes the and not moving into the shed. Yes, sometimes that is an unfortunate circumstance for those people, but again, you know we we really enjoy being able to then Help them with their problem and be that solution for and guide them through.
Jeannie Kontis:Even you know the, the site prep. They, you know, they don't know. They say what do I put it on? I say well, you know, we have a local excavator we work with you. Don't have to go looking for someone. We can, you know, have him do that for you as well.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, we could take everything you know, don't worry.
Alex Kontis:We tell people that all they have to really worry about is answer the phone when the people call them to schedule things. Yeah, you know that, like once they've, you know, like, place the order. That is like the Responsibility that they need to be aware of Everything else.
Adam Kontis:That's right. So many people don't answer their phones. You'll take care of everything else.
Shed Geek :you know, People are like water they take the path of least resistance.
Adam Kontis:So if you can make it easy for them.
Shed Geek :Yeah, that's what they're looking for.
Adam Kontis:I think one of my biggest choice here is really helping. We have a lot of elderly couples that really don't know and one of my biggest choice, really helping them. Helping them, and when they turn around and they look at you in the face and they have a smile and say and they thank you for helping. Yeah, they're taking the time for your patience.
Adam Kontis:Thank you for, yeah, that's another one. We hear a lot, it's especially from our elderly. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for coming out to the house. I didn't know what I was doing. You know, especially you know if it's, you know, a woman that her husband passed away. You know just that little extra that we do, hmm, does make, and let me tell you that one sale will equal five sales to us, because she's she's the neighborhood lady.
Shed Geek :She's your best sales person, right? Oh yeah, grandmother yeah, and everybody.
Adam Kontis:And then, next thing, you know that we are selling five sheds and not street why? Because I took the time and I explained to her and I helped her and and I always talk customers we're here to help you. You pick up that phone, you shoot us an email, we will help you. If we can't help you, we'll find somebody that will help you.
Shed Geek :You can never go wrong with Expanding your customer service and more focus on it. Yeah they become your best sales people that are unpaid. You know they're unpaid if they just had a good experience and they really want to tell someone about it? Absolutely, and they're really gonna. You know whether leave your reviews or not there, everyone's gonna leave reviews To their friends when they have a bad experience, right course. Have you ever went and had a bad experience at a meal? You're gonna be like man, that place has really fell off right.
Shed Geek :Right, you know, like they notice they, they're gonna say it, but they're not gonna say it so publicly. So a lot of times it that you know it. But I'm I'm listening to what you're saying and and I'm not just. I want you to know I'm listening because I'm thinking of my own adventures sure and and shameless plug here for for what we do in marketing.
Shed Geek :And I told Dylan. I said that's what's gonna be so different for us as we approach customers. Some guys do just want to build sheds, so they don't want to know about CRM's and SEO and all that stuff. So, like the goal is not to make them feel Inferior or because they don't understand it, that they're just not on the level. Right, you got to take the time to educate them. You have a really person come in there, it's not sure, right, you be patient and then you set and go through the details with them and they're like you know, we really appreciate. You Didn't make us feel dumb, you didn't make us feel like we didn't know. You explained it to us, you talked us through it and I told him. I said that's what customer service is all about.
Shed Geek :Our friend, leon Martin, was on the the show and he said Everything you do after the sale is customer service. Absolutely, you have already obtained the sale. They closed, it's done. You could send them on, build it, schedule it, move on. But everything you do after that shows the customer. I'm not just about the money.
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah.
Shed Geek :I'm not just here to get yourself. Once I got it, I'm gone Like I'm here to service you through this, because this is a whole Relationship and if I do well, you'll tell others or you'll come back. Absolutely so.
Shed Geek :I love it, guys, absolutely you guys. You guys are an extension of what we do your, your family on business, focus on your customers. It's I love it, the dynamic here. Lancaster, it's always so nice to be up here. Thank you, guys are always. Your sheds up here are some of the best in the country and I've been everywhere, so you have you guys do it.
Shed Geek :You do it great, you do a good job. Always give everybody the opportunity to turn the mic around for just a question or two or three, whatever comes to mind. You don't have to have any, but if you do have some I know I didn't give you time to prepare for this, but I've spent a lot of time- I have grueling and asking questions of you guys I have a very important question. Yes, Ask, ask away who's your barber. Oh I, I believe it or not, I do this mess myself. Do you really?
Adam Kontis:Yeah.
Shed Geek :Yeah, I, this is funny, I still have my hairline. I see that it's here and whenever it grows out it just goes in really thin. But my my wife told me the other day I had a bald spot and I was like, oh, I got a bald spot. I was like I shave it on purpose. Now I'm coming to the realization it's falling out. I'm like you know what? I wish it would just go there.
Adam Kontis:She would all just go.
Alex Kontis:To the best. I'm just holding on to the last, as long as you can. That's right, you got to fight for us.
Shed Geek :Somebody's got to do it, alex, somebody's got to do it. Any other questions? Podcast related, shed related, anything? I have a question, full disclosure.
Jeannie Kontis:So I know you know shed places all over the country, right? I feel like you had touched on this briefly when we were talking before. Like you started rolling, like what are some major differences that you see in dealers, like not in the northeast or east coast where you were saying you know, like on this side of the country they buy their sheds where other parts of the country are on commission and we get inquiries all the time from you know, wholesale inquiries.
Shed Geek :So it's. It's probably salt and peppered in and you have had a lot of people come out of the the east coast. I've moved into other territories and sometimes I take that model with them or they saw that. But whether accurate or inaccurate, we've said for a long time, the one thing we noticed almost immediately is so there's there's a ton more population in the northeast right and, and there's a lot more money and there's a lot more people, and because there's more money and more people, there's seems to be more opportunity. There's a lot of competition up here, but you have more competition but you have more opportunities sometimes in sales, right.
Shed Geek :One thing that's also very unique to the northeast is it seems like rent to own shrinks. The farther north you go and the farther south you go, the more rent tone becomes a big, where where appear somebody might say, oh, it's 10% of all of our sales are 20. Somebody in the south might say it's, you know, 50 or 60% of all. So so it becomes very important. And then I think demographic wise outside of that. So, so bigger sheds. The farther west you go and farther south A lot of times you go, definitely people wanting to live in them, whether they're doing it legally or illegally and meeting all the standards. And then there's this whole talk about tiny homes and you know international building codes and like you can get into all kinds of different stuff.
Jeannie Kontis:We don't want to get involved in tiny homes.
Alex Kontis:It's a lot People ask all the time.
Shed Geek :But to answer your question, you know a lot of guys in the Midwest seem to build more in quantity and get a lot of dealers and then sell a lot of sheds. So they'll be cons, consignment based. They'll, they'll send, you know, 40 sheds out, 100 sheds out, whatever their makeup is, and that dealer get a percentage. Whereas it seems like an East Coast, there there seems to be more like wholesale.
Jeannie Kontis:You're buying your inventory.
Shed Geek :So you're buying your inventory and and I and I don't want to pick on one or the other, we've always tried to stay fairly neutral. But what I've noticed is, when you purchase your inventory, you seem to be more committed to get that inventory sold. That's cause you're putting your own money there you go, whereas if you are a consignment dealer, you're, you know they. It just depends on if there's any accountability there and how can you really be accountable?
Shed Geek :It's like have you ever tried to discipline a volunteer? It's it's pretty well impossible, but if there's something to gain or lose from it then it's a little bit different.
Shed Geek :So I I probably more of a personal fan of the way you guys do things, Cause I feel like you have committed dealers who they, they, they try to get better at sales, they try to get, they, they invest into their self, as opposed to hey, we own a uh, I don't know an auto body shop, but we also sell sheds. Those guys might be one of your absolutely best dealers, Don't get me wrong. You might have found a diamond in the rough, but, generally speaking, that's we do that mostly rough.
Jeannie Kontis:Yeah right.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, it's mostly rough.
Jeannie Kontis:Mostly rough. Yeah, less dive in more. Yeah, yeah.
Adam Kontis:We found that also very true through the years, cause you know, at one time we tried to do a little bit of that when we first got started, and it just did not work. If you don't, if the, if our dealer does not have the invested interest, yeah, they're not going to care about the product, they're not going to care about the customer, yeah.
Shed Geek :Yeah Right, yeah Well, and your brand. Think about the complexity of this. They're selling multiple brands, cause next thing you know they're, they're Joe's body shop. And and then they start another business and that is ABC sheds. Or you know sorry, if there's an ABC shed, that they are not picking on you, but I'm just trying to use simplicity Uh, they use ABC sheds and then ABC's selling Fox country. So think about the branding dynamic there of somebody coming in and saying who sheds are these? Well, these are ABCs, but technically they're Fox country.
Adam Kontis:Right, yeah, and there's a lot of bait and switch going on out there too.
Shed Geek :Sure.
Adam Kontis:And they will use, you know, photographs, or they would stock their sheds with a better quality shed and they will sell somebody else's shed that they buy it cheaper.
Shed Geek :Yeah.
Adam Kontis:You know, and a lot of customers don't know that yeah, yeah.
Shed Geek :So it's interesting that dynamic of the whole shed industry is dynamic, but I'm I'm always open for questions and yeah, it it's neat to see the industry where it is and and how it's grown.
Jeannie Kontis:And we love it. Yeah, yeah, same here. Yeah, we love it.
Adam Kontis:Yeah, we love coming to work every day and dealing with the people, and every manufacturing can be difficult at times. You know, one of the biggest issues that we all have playing sector ourselves is, you know, finding quality employees. It's always not only in our industry, all the industries at all. Yeah, so you know, our philosophy is stay small, service your customers and you'll be good at the end. If we try to expand too much and not give the quality and and you know we can't deliver on time, it's an issue You're not going to have that deal for too much longer because they're going to get frustrated with it.
Shed Geek :Yeah, yeah. It's hard to stay close to the, the plan of the, the original visionary.
Adam Kontis:The bigger you get, yeah, the bigger you get it's harder to stay to the original plan. Yeah, that's for sure, you guys are great. I've enjoyed this thoroughly. Thank you you are too.
Shed Geek :I've appreciated this. My family says thank you for giving us a chance to sit down with you guys and chat. I always feel like I'm better for it whenever I sat with people and and I hope the industry is better for it. I hope wherever you are today, you're entertained. Whether you're at your office, going on the road in a shed, hauling truck or building sheds today, whatever it is you're doing, wherever you're listening from, I hope you're blessed by it. The conversation. These are some of the awesome, most awesome and coolest people I've had a chance to meet yet. Thank you very much. And coming up on four years, so that's awesome too.
Jeannie Kontis:Happy anniversary on the podcast, yeah.
Shed Geek :Thank you. I appreciate that. Who would have known it would make it? I say, if we get 10 years out of it, I'm tickled.
Adam Kontis:Who knew?
Shed Geek :I'd get to talk for you know 10 years and enjoy it. But it's, it's truly been a yeah, it's been great.
Adam Kontis:It's been something I've really enjoyed. So wonderful. Thank you guys. Thank you very much, thank you, thank you, thank you.