0:05 [Music] 0:12 [Music] 0:17 [Music] 0:25 hey everyone I'm Elliot rosting with the tundra news and the host of Collegiate tailgate summer with the CEO today it's 0:31 a pleasure to welcome our guest George Baragon founder and CEO of the Pickler the leading indoor pickle ball 0:37 facilities franchiser hey George thank you for joining us today it's great to have you with us how's your Monday going 0:43 so far Elliot not not too bad people will never know what it took for us to 0:49 to get this working just seconds ago but I'm I'm happy to be on uh you know 0:56 Mondays uh are always exciting to to start off the week right um so I'm just I'm just happy to be here oh yeah 1:03 absolutely and and my pleasure to be to be interviewing one of the one of the leaders in the upcoming pickle ball 1:09 space and why don't we just sort of start by talking a little bit how you how you found pickle ball how you found 1:15 it to be a sport in a community you wanted to be a bigger part of um and then we'll talk a little bit more about 1:21 the Pickler itself yeah great question so you know I 1:26 I uh I grew up playing lots of sports never never anything related with a 1:32 racket or or you know any paddle Sports um but as I I got older and joined a lot 1:39 of these these tech companies a lot of people like to play ping pong so ping pong was the first uh the first board I 1:47 was introduced to I I fell in love with it um and so naturally uh I felt like my 1:53 skill set could translate uh to pig ball and I got invited One Time by a couple 1:58 of friends um what worked at a tech company called plural site to go play and you know I thought it was such a 2:04 funny sport you know with a funny name and uh you know it still had that stigma 2:10 that this was only for old people and so that was my first introduction you know 2:16 I got we all have that story where we you know you got beat by a 65y old couple my first you know pickle they 2:23 would had me running left and right so you know that that's how I was quickly introduced to the game 2:30 awesome yeah I I remember I I played tennis in high school and then I was always like all right at tennis and I I 2:36 I picked up pickle ball and I I went playing with all my tennis friends and I would whoop their butts but yeah I had 2:42 the exact same experience I showed up to an actual like competitive gym for the first time and there were there were two 2:49 like 60y old dudes and me and like my like fellow tennis captain we're like oh 2:54 we got this and no we just got kind of fully smoked right from the gate um but 3:00 yeah did at what was there a point where you realized I could turn this into more 3:05 of a a business venture type of Deal or was it as soon as you started was it 3:11 sort of like there's potential here no no it wasn't even a thought so I think it clicked for me um so we continue to 3:18 play outside I would I would join every once in a while to to go play um there's 3:24 a there was a local uh Park that was just you know a couple minutes away from the office 3:30 but I think for me when it finally clicked um we were at a Rec Center it same parking lot as as the pickle ball 3:37 CTS and there was like 50 of us waiting to get on the pickleball court and I 3:44 thought to myself like what what and this was in 20 2016 in 2016 in Utah 50 of us waiting to 3:52 get on the court you know people had their paddles out and and I could just not comprehend why why we we would be 4:00 waiting to to get on the court just to to play this game um and it wasn't until 4:06 I saw a couple of young kids that they had they had have been your age Elliott that they they must have had a tennis 4:11 background but they were hitting the ball hard you know they were jumping high to hit the ball them it immediately 4:16 clicked in my head that no one was representing the game the right way it still had the stigma that it was old for 4:22 old people and and at the time H for those that are you know the ogs of 4:28 pickle ball they'll remember remember the Z5 the Z5 was kind of the the topnotch paddle out there at the time 4:36 and it sounded like you were hitting with a frying pan it was so loud uh the design was and again I don't want to 4:43 talk bad but it wasn't great and so I thought to myself you know I feel like I could come out with a paddle that's 4:48 cheaper that looks better that's just that performs better and so the the juices started flowing uh in regards to 4:55 hey I I love this game I started to fall in love with it I started to see this trend happening where you know there was 5:02 a lot of old people playing it but you know the the Millennials are us old old guys now starting to pick up the sport 5:09 um and immediately thought you know there there was a a pickle ball Venture opportunity there and that was kind of 5:15 my first um first business venture I launched it in 2019 with a buddy of mine 5:21 and we were just doing Instagram ads selling you know 100 P paddles a month 5:26 um and and uh you know I decided to to take a little bit more serious and at 5:31 the end of 2019 I redesigned it I went with a raw carbon fiber um you know 5:37 paddle that was going to be really high-end performance and if you you know 5:43 I sent my order to China if you remember what happened December 2019 that's when Co hit and all communication ended with 5:50 with h the manufacturer and you know I didn't hear from them for 10 months and you know that it all it felt like all my 5:57 dreams were were dead at that point because of you know nothing was being 6:02 produced at that time and um you know I feel like I I had lost a lot of momentum yeah well I'm glad the pickle 6:09 the pickle ball dream didn't completely die but your foray into paddles is that 6:15 something you guys are are still big on or was that sort of the manufacturing and is it that at the point where you 6:20 were like maybe we should focus on you know making facilities of providing like I don't know some supply for just the 6:27 demand for people that wanted to play not for like a better paddle product yeah 6:34 well great great question and I'm still an absolute nerd when it comes the the paddles and you know when the new Yola 6:41 paddle came out I I bought all every single uh you know line and and design 6:47 um you know because I I I love the the way that technology innovates but quite honestly um So Co year had the best year 6:55 I I had had in my life financially had a great job um you know had just gone through a company that went through an 7:02 IPO and then moved to a company went through an acquisition and I introduced 7:07 my friend to this company I was working um they're an aggregator they come in 7:13 lift up your e-commerce or Amazon presence your brand and you know they they come in and buy controlling um you 7:20 know the the controlling investment of the of the company and that transaction went 7:26 through it was awesome you know I had just gone through another acquisition and the CFO came from the 7:33 other company and said who's this George veran guy he's making way too much money uh and they let me go they let me go and 7:40 and uh that was in December of 2020 and and I had always wanted to be an 7:45 entrepreneur you know my my father um growing up we would go you know he my my 7:52 father originated from Mexico and and we' go to Mexico and you know he build Apartments out there for you know that 8:00 he rents out and we helped him carry cement we helped him carry brick um you 8:05 know when I was in fourth grade he he bought a little tortilla company and uh you know I was packing up tortillas in 8:12 the fourth grade you know my summer was spent doing that all my Summers were spent uh doing landscaping jobs and so 8:19 my dad always just had this entrepreneur spirit and in my senior year he decided to go full full in on on on being an 8:27 entrepreneur and launch his his passionate always been mechanic and and tires so he opened up his own shop and 8:33 for me that was an inspiration just to see you know at uh was it three years 8:39 ago at 32 uh you know my dad at that point had been doing it for almost 15 8:44 years and I was just I just reflected on all the entrepreneurship opportunities I 8:50 had growing up and I said I never want to work for anyone again and I took a whole month to think of a concept and I 8:57 was reminded of that time and Farmington Utah that Rec Center where all of us were waiting to play on these makeshift 9:04 courts and you know we'd get kicked off by volleyball and basketball all the time we were never a priority and I was 9:10 like why is there not indoor facilities that facilitate everything pick themall 9:15 and that's where idea came up I called my best friend Austin and I said hey I have this idea and he's like I'm in I'm 9:22 like well dude let me let me tell you what it is he's like no whatever it is I'm in so he was in uh you know I told I I 9:30 finally was able to tell him about um indoor doing an indoor facility where we do Leagues and tournaments and Clinics 9:37 and Court reservations and people can come and not have to wait in lines 9:43 um a month a month later after that we signed our first lease and then three months after that we opened our first 9:49 facility in Ogden Utah and the rest is history no there's a lot a lot that happened between them but that's kind of 9:55 how how things happened yeah awesome congrats on like the Stellar growth out the gate it like 10:03 so far since since you started like going into the business side of pickle ball in like 2018 2019 pretty much 10:10 Everything You Touch Is Gold you know um and OB obviously it's like the perfect 10:16 the sort of like the perfect right as the the wave hit you had like right place at the right time you caught on to 10:22 the demand at the perfect time um and as we're seeing like year after year it's almost like another year another 10:28 doubling of the pickle ball masses in America um but at some point you know 10:35 the growth is going to at least Plateau a little bit right the the aggression of the is there any I don't know like 10:41 urgency to want to set up the supply set up enough courts so that at the time 10:48 hits when you know it sort of starts the plateau the Pickler is there and they've set up the courts and they've got that 10:55 100% um man Ellie you're coming with the fire questions to 11:00 No it's h there was a lot of urgency because when we opened doors April 11:06 2021 prior to that you know because we post content of what we were doing um 11:12 you know we we kind of let let the world know hey like this is the future of pickle ball and I'd have people flying 11:19 from Florida in Arizona in Seattle I mean I had people taking road trips and and going home and making you know 11:27 rerouting their trips just to come see the fa um I had people just just coming in and 11:32 saying what are you doing um I remember there one of the founders of another 11:38 franchisee um out there he came and forc his way to meet with us because he wanted to know what we were doing and at 11:44 that point I I had said you know if if I'm having this much interest in what we're 11:49 doing um and you're seeing facility start to pop up um you know people are are starting to think of this right and 11:54 so my first thought is uh I got to raise money I I got to raise money um you know 12:02 we got a lucky break uh two months in we're using venmo business to take a lot 12:07 of payments and VMO business and PayPal headquarters in New York they started seeing all these transactions coming in 12:14 and they wanted to know what is this pickle ball thing and this Pickler thing that's that's popping off and you know 12:20 they ran a story in us and they asked me where I thought this the Pickler could be in five years and I fully believe 12:25 that the time that we could dot the country so we we raised we ra funds um to do the next four facilities um but 12:33 people kept always asking is my inbox probably had 75 you know from Instagram 12:38 to LinkedIn to emails hey I want to franchise this I want to franchise this and you know zero experience in that um 12:46 and so again I I knew that in order to do that I'd always heard how expensive franchising was the the kind of team it 12:53 would take uh the scalability and processes that need to take place and so we we raised our our series a we did a 13:00 first a friends and family one and then raised our series a and um in the last 13:06 year I don't know 14 months we've hired around 80 people to support the 13:12 franchise system um from our exec team to operations to marketing uh to our go 13:18 team that goes out and helps you know Implement processes um and to this date 13:24 we've sold around 311 franchises with you know a lot of of uh sweat and tears 13:30 but you know it it I told myself that 2024 year was if I didn't have funding a 13:36 brand marketing and scalability this is this was the year that companies got left behind if you weren't prepared um 13:43 for this massive growth right yeah and as you were 13:49 talking about like expanding do you guys have uh facilities in all 50 of the states so far not not yet so we've sold 13:57 in in 36 States so far um we just opened our 10th 14:03 facility uh this last weekend in Blaine Minnesota so our our 10th facility was 14:08 just was just opened starting Q3 we will open a facility a week so uh so so when 14:17 you when you start to to think about what it takes to support as a franchise or the 14:22 franchisee I mean for us to to hire that many people before we even had that many facilities open we knew we knew the 14:29 trajectory we were on and to your point there is a point where it plateaus right 14:34 I still don't believe we're we're close because uh most of the United States is still underserved with with pickle ball 14:40 courts and then you also got to remember of the N or the international um 14:45 presence and what that's going to do to pickle ball we we talk I mean we we were talking to groups in in Canada in 14:51 Australia in Japan in Mexico and Colombia Brazil you name it when the 14:57 rest of the world catches on and they are where we were at three years ago but that is that is the next Mega wave of of 15:04 pickleball right that's how we get to the Olympics that's how we get TV contracts and Deals right we're already 15:11 see players starting to get play uh get paid um but that that International um presence is what's 15:18 going to elevate and and grow the game of pickleball yeah and and it's interesting 15:26 you mentioned uh Japan um as like one of the only like countries in Asia that you 15:31 guys have sort of like looked at because and I know it's come out recently that that China's taking this sport really 15:37 seriously and they're they're focusing on it as you said as a potential like sport in upcoming Olympics um do you 15:44 think there might be any I don't know sort of popularity that could be drawn out from a business standpoint of having 15:50 you know the American pickle ball scene dominating right now but we're inevitably going to see going to see 15:56 China really really rise up and yeah you know that they're going to have their own Pickler down there and that could 16:02 almost be like you know a little little rivalry between I don't know the two 16:07 leading pickle all countries yeah well and I I think I mean number one 16:13 competition is always great for everyone right it it raises all tides and and I think I think for me the biggest thing 16:20 was you know yoa said you you be the first one or or be the one that do does 16:25 it better and we're trying to be both right yeah and I think um for us that was that was 16:33 a we we knew that we were going to be the first ones because at the time when we franchised we we had seven facilities 16:40 open nobody else um in in the franchise space had done that right so we 16:45 understood at that point scalability we had another facility in another state um 16:51 and so we we understood what it what it took to operate um that many locations um then after that it was um 16:59 really hiring the right people with the right experience and we hir top level execs in the franchise zor space that 17:06 have done this you know they've been through IPOs they've been through exits they have worked for the Thousand you 17:12 know unit franchise or you know they had they know the skillability operations and processes right and so that's that's 17:20 where I think we differentiate ourselves is we are pickle ball people first and then we brought in the right experience 17:27 and and now we're we want to be synonymous with pickleball so our our partnership deals um you know we we just 17:35 got signed in a massive deal with pickleball L which they own the PPA pickleball Central they you know the up 17:42 upaa the government the new government body of pickle ball they are on our cap table right they we work hand inhand 17:49 with them because they understand the indoor space is where the amateurs are going to play Not By The Hundreds but by 17:55 the thousands and then when you replicate that all across the country that the distribution channels that 18:00 we're going to have with the Pickler are going to be massive and that's why we we are known as um a franchise or of of 18:08 indoor facilities but we have other pickall companies that we've created using our distribution of the Pickler 18:14 which we're very excited about and yeah and as an indoor facility space do you guys have any plans to 18:21 maybe I don't know construct like outdoor facilities I mean especially in 18:26 you know if you're expanding like to other countries where much you know warmer climates um yeah even as you were 18:33 saying like places in South America I'm even thinking like being as you know they're seeing as you know they're more 18:40 compacted than a lot of like American city suburbs um and they they do have more a like a community vibe to them 18:48 with with like an outdoor space sort of like almost like a pickup like basketball Park would the Pickler sort 18:54 of be able to I don't know set up that sort of dynamic in places where it makes sense 100% 100% And I think um that's 19:03 one of the great things about our company is we're we're always looking for for the trends what do people want 19:09 um I don't know if you saw our our announcement with the Utah black diamonds um but we are doing an indoor 19:16 outdoor facility with them right so some of the courts will be covered uh but it'll be outdoor some of them will just 19:22 be completely outdoor and then you know we'll have a uh indoor courts right so I 19:27 think I think uh yes the answer is yes we're going to be nimble and especially like look at the end of the day 19:35 um do I love playing pickle ball in a on a perfect you know spring day 100% but 19:43 it gets above 75 78 degrees with a little bit more than five M hour wind 19:49 and I'm like it's time to go indoors so I'm also a little bit little bit spoiled I've spoiled myself uh with 19:55 having the the perfect uh environment right so it's it's indoors tough to be 20:02 when when you when you are used to it got you awesome yeah and then if if I 20:07 can make a a switch here almost little topic switch here um the the Collegiate 20:13 uh sport of pickle ball right now it's pretty much just like a couple tournaments couple Regional tournaments 20:19 and then there's like one big National one but there's no you know there's no real like NCAA regulated schedule 20:26 anything like that you just sort of have to set up scages against other schools um is there any any any movement any 20:32 talking about a making it a a regulated college sport at least in America yeah I 20:39 mean I I would love to to be a voice in that um you know I I attended the early 20:45 uh ear early Collegiate events in in Austin Texas when they were hosted in Dreamland there is nothing like collegan 20:52 pickle ball right it's incredible the team aspect um the passion that people 20:58 have not only for the sport but representing their school it's unmatched right you know uh being from Utah you 21:05 know that Utah tech and and Utah state they're always in the top five top 10 Utah St is always Teeter tottering 21:12 between first and second so we we have a lot of Pride when it when it comes to uh the Collegiate scene and quite honestly 21:20 it it's going to take it's going to take some some some Brave universities to to 21:26 start offering scholarships right I think that's going to be the the um you 21:32 know on on the high school scene we have to do a better job we we we have to um 21:38 encourage high schools to um you know it make it in in into high school sports I 21:44 think Utah's is is ready and primed to do that you know it took a long time for lacrosse to get to in Utah to to be 21:52 recognized as a as a high school sport um but I think the movement is there 21:57 right the the the transition of of pickle ball and the age demographics the 22:03 the highest uh amount of Rec players now is 18 to 25 and it's only getting 22:09 younger right and so H we have to do a better job of of supporting our high school programs and I think the Pickler 22:16 does a great job in in doing that and and there has to be some Brave um some 22:23 some Brave universities that are willing to offer scholarships Utah Tech has done that they offered last year year two two 22:30 scholarships um Dylan champeny I I I always give her a shout out but she she 22:35 started in our youth program worked for us and now when she went to the to Utah 22:42 Tech um and played for the club she treated like she was a Collegiate a 22:48 Collegiate athlete right she she was going to school there and and and paying for school but the team had regular 22:55 practices you know they traveled together they raised money um but but ultimately um the university it got to 23:02 the point that I think their Club got to over 5,000 members um and the school had 23:08 to recognize it that hey it's it's it's time to to to Really take the series 23:13 offer two scholarships and I think other universities have to do that and then the NCAA will will pay attention and and 23:21 approve the sport because it it I mean it has to it's too popular it's it's uh 23:29 um I I think it would drive a lot of eyeballs to TV and I think it it could be a money generator for the 23:35 NCAA oh yeah absolutely especially 5,000 people on one team that's that's C and 23:42 maybe that's why it's and that's their club right their their Club got that much interest and then uh they obviously 23:48 they're they're very picky on who's on the team but yes there's a there's that much interest yeah maybe maybe one reason 23:54 like in like integrating a college system and bringing them all together to play against each other is just how how 24:00 un uneven that would be because when I think about like the Michigan team like yeah we are nowhere near even even with 24:07 like the non-competitive just sort of casual players I don't think we're even up to like 45 50 so against maybe do do 24:17 you guys have dedicated I mean where do you guys practice like do you guys have a on campus there are no oncampus courts 24:24 and in fact like the only place close by it's like a minute drive you know a lot 24:30 of people don't really have cars um and you know that's a far drive you know I I only got there by like you know car 24:36 pools um and yeah it is really selective where you know no one's coming in with 24:42 like some long pickle ball background and then they can only take like 10 people for a competitive team because 24:49 the tournaments that are set up aren't really set up for the college they're they're the same way like the pro style 24:55 ones are formatted basically yeah um well we we got to change that um I don't 25:00 know if you're aware of this but Drew Brees um you know former Super Bowl 25:06 champ uh you know one of the best quarterbacks of all time he he uh he's an ambassador but he ended up buying the 25:12 state of Indiana Michigan and Ohio to to franchise out so we're we're gonna get 25:18 to Michigan right we'll we'll make sure because one of the great things we love is is the reason why also Utah Tech and 25:26 Utah State are are are as good as as they are is because they have access to our facilities as well and we work with 25:32 them right the University at Utah Tech has invested um in the team but also has 25:38 invested in on on campus courts some of the the buildings are are the rooftops 25:44 have been turned into bigle ball courts and so that the the the student body and the team has the place to play and you 25:51 know we make it very dirt cheap for our universities to be able to play at our facilities because again you you need 25:58 those resources too right and and I think once those resources are are available to you and and and your team 26:04 OT you'll see the the interests go this way but also the talent pool go this way right yeah and I I think it's it's on on 26:13 us businesses too to to to help you know create accessibility to to the 26:20 universities yeah and with you guys you guys are stationed in you talk right 26:25 that is correct Y and so maybe it's no surprise that like your backyard Utah is 26:30 the like fastest growing you know Pickle Ball State there's been it it could just be because resource availability do you 26:37 also think there's just something like about Utah in the water 26:43 no lend itself to the to the game of pickle ball because I'm thinking you know pickle ball very I mean by by the 26:50 pickler's mission it's a very you know Community minded organization sort of 26:56 emphasizing the community structure of pickle ball and if I'm thinking of Utah obviously you know it's going to come to 27:03 mind that a lot of you know like family uh family values are priority a lot of community-minded values do you think I 27:10 don't know just that Utah and Community mindedness plays into their pickle ball craze 100% 100% um you know there 27:19 there's definitely a a strong presence of of you know as people would call the 27:25 Mormon religion it's really emphasizes families and so it's it's Community 27:30 Driven but I think I think Elliot all across the country everyone wants a sense of community right and I think 27:38 this is why why pickle ball is so popular that you know the three things that um that the Pickler we preach are 27:44 connect Dink and compete right human interactions that happen because of pickleball it's it's unmatched right 27:51 there's nothing like it I've I've been of part of movements and and companies where um you you see a little bit of 27:58 that but the human interactions that happened because of of pickle ball are are incredible I my VP franchising 28:05 started as a volunteer um you know met her husband at the Pickler they just you 28:12 know recently had a kid and she she now is my VP of of franchising at the 28:17 Pickler right th those are not uncommon it's it's the human interactions that 28:22 happen and then the dinking portion of our mission pickall is meant to be fun right so you're on on the courts you're 28:29 with your friends and family have fun doing it but then the competition side I always tell people you know I grew up 28:35 playing sports I grew up playing soccer you know basketball football you know I don't I don't sit at the three-point 28:41 line and and shoot three-pointers and you know can tell you my rating in basketball but I can tell you in pickle 28:47 ball right I I will take two hours out of my day to practice dinking or my thirds or my you know fifth Drop shots 28:53 like it's the weirdest thing like as an adult man it's like why am I taking time my day to want to improve but I I love 29:00 the competition side that pick ball brings out of out of us and and it's in our human nature to want to be 29:06 competitive and is there a better feeling than feeling the butterflies when you're going to play in a 29:11 tournament you know I I miss I miss the the days of of competition and and as an 29:18 adult man with six kids and responsibilities and you know I once in 29:23 a while like to feel a little alive feeling those those you know those those uh competition juices and it's 29:30 amazing yeah I definitely say the the wide appeal of pickle ball and the 29:35 potential of the sport because of that is pretty unmatched with any other any other sport you've got the elements of 29:41 like the things that make golf you know have the broad appeal the fact that anyone can play it any age any size any 29:49 you know any any sort of Dimensions um and if you practice a lot you can get good but there are like obviously a lot 29:55 of barriers to access for golf too yeah don't exist for pickle ball you don't have to pay a ton of money to show up to 30:01 a park you can just buy like a $20 paddle you don't need all these all these clubs so it has the sort of anyone 30:09 can play it anyone can try it and anyone can get good at it somewhat fast just with like hours of practice um but it's 30:16 also got like the anyone can come in and play it that sort of a pickup game of 30:21 basketball would have um yeah where it's just sort of like show up and play um 30:27 but yeah let me let me pivot here just ask what would what would be your advice to college students aiming to turn their 30:34 their pickable passions and aspirations into maybe a more competitive profession maybe turning it into like a sport they 30:41 can I don't know really grind out and take full-time yeah I that that's a great 30:47 question I think um you know that was always always preached to me right that to follow your passions and and in in 30:56 whatever profession I was in um I always try to find organizations that had great values or sold a great product and 31:03 ultimately it turned into being able to be in in my passion of of being in pickle ball right but I think I think 31:10 for me um following my passion from a profession standpoint establish a 31:16 foundation right understanding you know I'm I'm a Enterprise sales guy by by 31:22 trade um that how to learn um marketing as well and understanding top of funnel 31:27 and in campaigns and what drives people and branding um but also understanding 31:33 what drives people to to say yes uh when it comes to a sell right so all those foundations were based off of great 31:40 companies right and So eventually you get to a point where you you have a bigger why in your life you know what 31:46 what what truly drives you what what gets you up in the morning what makes you come to work and it doesn't feel 31:52 like work right and and I think for me you know I woke up when I was 30 30 years old and I was like 31:58 30 years went like that like what what is my legacy what am I leaving and it's so funny because as I started to 32:05 explore I had my midlife uh crisis too early but you know I started to explore 32:11 uh what what is my next move and step and and you know how can I translate um 32:17 my experience to to a passion I even ran for city council and I ate like middle 32:22 middle of of my campaign I'm like what am I doing you know but I was just trying to find that that wider purpose 32:28 you know my my why and I I think ultimately when I decided hey you you 32:33 have a strong Foundation you've learned a lot of things throughout your life not only in school but life experiences um 32:40 professional experiences sometimes um when you when you decide to take a 32:46 gamble on yourself and you and you have those foundations the drive is there I mean just just go for it I I tell people 32:53 all the time you know I think I think we're all meant to be Entre R preneurs because we all have passions right and 33:00 so I I truly believe that you can turn your passions into um you know a 33:06 lifelong career a and you know knocking on knocking here on on 33:14 wood but you know I I want to I want to grow this this company to a Nationwide company and transforms people's life 33:20 through the game of pickle ball uh and introduce thousands of people to to the game and and if people have the passion 33:27 to be a pro there's there's a pathway for that now right there's money to be made in the game if you want to turn any 33:34 aspect of of your passion in your life give yourself a shot right I think the 33:40 the first step is is the scariest but I think once you're in it and you're grinding and and you're able to um see 33:47 the fruits of your labor like I I think that makes it all worth it and and if you're someone that sort 33:52 of has that drive and wants to take that shot um do you have any advice for sort 33:58 of overcoming any butterflies that would have to do with really just risking it because that's really what it is you 34:04 basically have to get yourself you know to go for it especially with like entrepreneurship yeah deal that's a big 34:11 it's a big time sync and money sync yeah 100 per. and and I think uh Ellie one of 34:17 the big things is I surrounded myself with people not only that believe in the mission but also um you know that 34:24 there's there's there's people that will take chances on you right throughout your your career and I think that the 34:31 anxiety and the butterflies and the stress that comes from all this is it's natural right um you know it's not to 34:39 say that you know raising money I would never put my worst enemy through because 34:44 raising money is is a it's a Time sucker it's it's consuming it's stressful um 34:51 but ultimately when you when you place um all that energy of of you know I've 34:59 learned to embrace the the anxiety and and the nervousness and turn it into positive energy and and I and again it 35:08 just as a CEO of a of a fast growing company I always ask myself how did I 35:13 get here right but every day is a learning opportunity that's why you surround yourself with people smarter 35:19 than than you right and embrace those learning opportunities because as 35:25 individuals continuous learning should never stop right and and you you'll get 35:30 to the point when you graduate and you have a career but you should never stop learning and growing as as as a 35:36 professional as an individual as you know one day as as a father businessman 35:42 whatever it may be in your life um always continue to learn and grow and I 35:47 think you'll surprise yourself but yeah thank you so much George for speaking with us today you gave us some great 35:52 advice some some awesome insight into the the growing Sport and also the industry side side of it um and and 35:59 hopefully we'll see you around and and the Pickler will take even more from here and if you're ever if you're ever 36:06 in uh in Utah come visit us Elliot I'm sure I'm gonna make it to the big house soon uh I'm a big Notre Dame football 36:13 fan so one of my dreams is is is to make it out there so if we're ever out there we'll we we'll sink together and let's 36:19 play some pickle ball abs and if you need a ticket you know I got you dude 36:24 all right I appreciate it well thank you so much Elliot you're you killed 36:29 it awesome well thank you so much you killed it even more thank you thank you 36:39 [Music] 36:40