All right, all right. Feeney talks with friends, episode 133. How are you doing, Ryan? Doing well. Thanks for having. Me. This is great, Ryan. Soft wash. Yeah. Ryan's soft wash dot com.. What the hell? Handsome coat. Dude, you looking good. Yeah. Some swagger. No dress. Good work. Good. Clean. Good. Yeah. This is awesome. My name is Eric Feeney, founder and president of Friends of Feeney. Our mission is to help children and families that need assistance after heartbreak or tragedy.
And I use this podcast. Feeney talks with friends, and I talk to wonderful people that are doing great things. And today we're here with Ryan McGinnis. Excellent name. Last podcast was also great. We had the Empire in power. We are in power.com. And that's Christina and Tommy. And, Adam, if you ever listen. I am a big, big, big proponent. Big fan of the handwritten note. So, Christina wrote me a note. Dear Eric, thank you so much for having us on your podcast.
We appreciate the opportunity to share our mission of empower with you and your audience. Looking forward to many more chances to collaborate in the future. With gratitude. Christina, Tommy and Katie. That's wonderful. Well, I want to write someone a handwritten note. We'll make a mental note of that. I always do that. So my friend Chris is always sending me postcards. Handwritten. I love getting them. It's great. It's a dying art. Yes. And I try to do that. Try to send a few a week.
So it's great. It's a good. It's definitely better than an email. Yeah. Text. It's getting you a better habit of doing that. See today we learn some new or 133 with my guy Ryan. Excellent. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing really well. Thanks. So, yeah, you do great things. So many things to talk about today, but, number one. First off, I want to thank you, that you helped us during our toy drive. Our fifth annual toy drive, just finished. Will not just finish. That happened in December. Yeah.
We, you know, we need a few more toys. And I don't know how and why you reached out to Friends of Feeney. But it was amazing. And you were so thoughtful. And I'm so grateful. You were very generous. I think alone, you had about 50 boxes of Jenga. The game Jenga? Easily. Yeah. So it was crazy. So, we'd roughly. We'll talk about a little bit. Yeah. Did you do that? Why did you do that? We had roughly around about run $2,000 worth of toys. So, my buddy Nate, we, we collaborated this time around.
I usually, cmmc is usually, what we've donated our toys to in the past. They change their policy. I'm not sure if they had received too many toys or whatever the case may be, but they were requesting, like, more gift cards this year, and we really were big on the toys. My daughter had some hip surgeries, a few years ago. Several years ago now. But. So Cmmc was just kind of close to our hearts and we and really enjoyed giving back to them. And so we wanted to continue giving away toys.
So for that instance, we had, I think I had reached out to Avi and asked, he was like, you know, reach out to Eric Feeney and just, you know, you you guys should connect anyway. And we did that. And one thing led to another, and we had all our toys ready to go because I, I usually donate a toy per housewares that we do every year. So we kind of my wife and I collect them throughout the year in the season, and then we give them away at the end of the year or so. So we ended up with the, you.
Know, maybe like six bags, big heavy boxes. You had a nice table display. It was on Instagram. We'll share it. We'll have it posted right next to it here. I got it saved. Yeah. My mother had given me some advice, about. Oh, yeah, that you and your buddy Nate? Yep. Yeah. So that's up. Someone's call on me. But, yeah, you can see a lot of Jenga. A lot of Legos. I used my mother's influence. She said that a lot of older kids get forgotten about with toy drives.
So she said find something for some of the older kids. Dog man book classic. Yeah. Then the throwback slinky. Oh! Come on. Uno. Green bear. No. Mickey. Then you brought it to my school. That's right. Yeah. That was great. So that's. I think that was the first time. That was the first time we met. Yeah, it was short. You were on your, lunch break? Yeah. But, No. And it's so funny that, your Ryan's software qcom. You say, you know, use software so it doesn't hurt.
Harm the environment or harm the roof or the decks, and. Right, your key line was like, at the bottom was like, I like to give back to the community. And I was like, oh that guy really does because he gave back on that toy drive. Extremely generous. Were there any other times or cmmc any other times or that you've given back to the community before? Yeah. So my kids go to Webb Hill. So Gary and Lauren and they're the PGA presidents over there. They're great. I should connect the two of you guys.
Their turkey trot. The run. Run? Yep. Every year. So we gave back. We donated to them. All little organizations will try to give us the. Give what we can. What made you throw that line in there? Because you don't see that many, many times on businesses. I loved it, and I it's stuck out to me. Stuck out? Stuck out. So I moved around a lot as a child. Like, every two years, we moved to a different state. You know, my father was getting promotion, so we were very fortunate in that realm.
But as far as, like, community based aspect, we moved around a lot when I didn't really have a sense of community growing up. My wife grew up in West Hartford throughout middle school, and then they moved to Farmington. So she has her heart set in West Hartford. And then, we were out in canton for a number of years. We had our first child out there. Addie's she's seven now.
And, when we were thinking about the second, we needed a move and, both sets of parents are in Farmington, which is great to have locally. We wanted to be close. You know, we're big foodies, so we wanted to be close to West Hartford because every weekend we were going to eat Ong's or Corner pug or Hartford Bacon Companies to be in Elmwood. We were all over there every weekend.
And so, yeah, we just ended up in West Hartford and we bought a duplex right during the pandemic, like March 2020, like when everything was falling apart. And, yeah, we've been there ever since. Very cool. Well, welcome to West Hartford. So happy to have you again. Your generosity thoughtfully meant the world to our nonprofit. Can't thank you enough. Excellent. And it's really cool that you're here. Again. You're. Ryan. Soph, wash at Ryan. Soph, wash.com (860) 830-0040. Lot of zeros to.
That number since I was 17. Nice. It just turned into the business line. And you've been in the soft wash business for about three and a half years. Yes. Yeah. So I started this during the pandemic, as a side hustle. Home service based industries were really doing well, and this didn't really require any licensors or anything along those lines. So, it was just a low barrier to entry. Job to start. I wanted to start a business out of it. I have a physical therapy backgrounds.
I've been in the health care industry for a number of years, and, started this during the side and then, you know, we went through the pandemic, which was challenging in itself. My wife and I both work in health care, so we work through the pandemic, which presented challenges in itself. Child care, you know, you name it. I'm sure presented some interesting challenges in a school teacher as well, but, but yeah, my company had sold to a venture capital firm.
I worked for them for a year, which is pretty awful. And then I decided to take a break, so I quit, a couple weeks before Christmas, and then I took the winter off, and then I started full time a couple of years ago. Wow. I asked my wife, I go, hey, do you okay with me, doing this full time? Sure. Let's let's give it a shot. So, yeah, we just started our third year, you know. And you're comfortable walking on roofs? Yes, for the most part. And it's. You caught me walking on, like, a ranch style.
So I like to access a roof from, like, the first floor. I don't walk, like, 2 or 3 storey homes if I can avoid it. Most of my equipment, I can shoot from the ground or like, using a ladder. So, we're an exterior cleaning company, a residential base, pretty much. So we don't clean cars, which is confused when I'm just driving the truck around. I don't have the trailer. So, yeah, I, become more comfortable walking routes. Yeah. Now, it's so funny that you are.
You text you like I'm going to be right near Wolcott. So I'm like, all right, let me. And I saw that you took a picture of the school, so I knew what angle. So I went out the door. Yeah. Took a selfie. And I was like, hey, I had the background. I'm at the Wolcott. And then I was like, I. I went out the front door on my way. No, no, no, he's towards the right. So I go out and I see your truck and I'm like, right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yes. It was great. I just happened to be filming.
I'm like, yeah, it's got a shout out from me. You. I'm like, come up to the top and I'm from a distance. Yeah. It was a bunch of branches on the way. Yeah. It's terrible. Do another picture for the zoom in. There's a zoom in. Did your, daughter show you how to do that shake feature on it? I don't know, I was impressed. They just offer that. I didn't know. That's funny. Yeah. There's another you on the roof. So there's the yellow house that you were on. Well, that.
And then the video is hilarious. I appreciate you sharing the video. Yeah, that was good. The video, you're like, where's that pretty cool music. It's the last Instagram, video. Let's see. I think we shared on each other. So, Let's see. I put rooftop Ryan. Let's make. It. And I cut the interaction out at the top, and then I come right back into the the scene. Oh. Oh, that was from the like. It's the best part. I know. You're like, I. Got a shot off. The scene. Come on. Mr. blew it. Blowing it.
Too much pressure. Boy oh boy. What song is that? I was whatever's free on Instagram. I try to look up like a beats or rap or something. Yeah, I don't really have a good theme. Yeah. All right, why don't. We go continue? They make increase. I'm going to say age. Son. Like with us. We're like yelling a good 200ft easily. Yeah. Screaming easily. Press this. He's like. This feeling. Give him a shout out. To give me happy. Senior. Give me a shout out. I saw a kid out. I saw a kid in the hallway.
I'm gonna come here, kid. Stand right here. Let me back in when I need to go. Get back into the school. Now. I'm like. Yeah, I'm like, all right, cool. Like, get back here. Love to man. Appreciate it. Yeah, that was good. Taking the time out of your lunch break thing. We have sponsors. Sweet. Let's do let's get into our sponsors. Keating agency float 41 The Fix. Ivy Luna pizza, golf law group, Parkville management, people's bank, maximum Beverage, West Hartford Lock and our newest. We're here.
I'm so excited to be here I love it. Sally and Bob's. Yeah, ten North Main Street. Guys. We love selling Bob's. Helen and Cesar. We're just episode 126. Oh, yeah. Same spot again yesterday. Yeah. Same streets. So we're on the great. Even though she stated that she was nervous where she she. Hiding I know she's hiding. We're honored to be here. And we're so happy to get a new sponsor. There are wonderful people here at Sally and Bob's.
Come down and check them out. We're going to have some, some bennies coming up. I like. It, I. Got, Cesar would have some mezcal or something for us. I know he probably got the mescal. No, he's got. Modelo on talent. Yeah, It's on. That is great. That was a great podcast. Great people come down and check them out. I like the eggs, Benny. With the hash. You like the eggs, Benny. With the Syriza. Torres. Avocado. Yeah, it's good too. Stephanie is on board. We got Stefania. Benny coming?
Just met. Stefania was great. I just listened to her, podcast the other day. It was great. You remember what number one 2120 312. Three. 1234. Hahaha. Good point. So if you like comic books, go back and check out Stephanie and Marvel is really cool. So with our shout out to all of our sponsors. If you're looking to be a sponsor, please email friends ecom or yeah, that works to Friends of Fini at gmail.com. Or check out our website and give us an inbox.
Excellent. And with West Hartford Lock, what are three keys that make you great at being Ryan soft. Wash three keys. Well, it's not a difficult business that I run. I pretty much follow manufacturing guidelines. So, you know, where can you stand separate from other companies, right.
So collaboration, I think, is key to collaborating with my clients, giving them a proper walk through a really explaining the process to, like, really managing expectations overall, I think is is essential letting a know what the process is. How is this different from, like some gentleman on a pickup truck with a power washer from Home Depot?
Like, how do we how do we differentiate ourselves from those people and just explain the whole process and what we do to properly protect, you know, a lot of common concerns that we have or plant protection is a safe for my pets. All this common questions that we get, we like to just make sure that we manage all those expectations and run through that whole process and just kind of have a collaboration working together.
I think like community, like community building, I think would be number two. Yeah. There's actually another kid in town, that has a business just like mine. David with Wicked Clean. Give him a shout out and, I would consider myself like, a mentor to him, in a way. And we kind of just talk and collaborate, and, you know, people would consider him, like a direct competitor to me.
But I just like to collaborate and work with other people in the industry and kind of learning and, just presenting that kind of community after giving back. Obviously that's big for us. Excuse me. You know, just not having a community growing up. And I just really, really wanted to establish, like living in an area. My wife and I found that to be really important and giving back.
And just like meeting people like you that have started really great, nonprofits and organizing and that kind of stuff is really important to me. Number three. Community collaboration. I think. And. Continuous improvement, you know, in the health care industry, there's always continuing education that's required. You know, we're always trying to stay on top of like, industry standards, new equipment that's coming out. I think that's just really important. And like, what's next?
What's in the future five year plans, you know, where do we go from here as far as growing in this industry? And trying to pick up on those trends? I think that's really important. Cool. All right. Continued growth. Yeah. That's a teacher. That's right. Yeah. Continued educational units. Yeah, I guess units. That's a while ago. I like. That anymore. We have them in health care too. So physical therapy world ASM everything looks. At that right there. I know it's terrible. Print out blame.
I tried to print from my phone to my printer, but we cut you off. It says Ryan off wash the Friends of Phoenix logos here. It's call your number. Call or text (860) 830-0040. Can we discuss the prices and, what? That campaign didn't really do that. Well, so. So blessed are for neighbors and friends. They allow, businesses to market, quarterly, which is great because then obviously they want to be flooded with businesses every single day.
So, you know, I try to be strategic about posting when I can do that for my business. So yeah, we do like a little. Oh, this is not ongoing. This is over. Just half the time going on. Oh, yeah, I know it's all right. It's ongoing now. Yeah. It's our spring clean up. Yes. We're offering 199 gutter cleaning up to 20 500 square foot homes. This is just kind of an attempt to get new clients. Nice. In our queue, because obviously a lot of people get that done biannually or annually.
Yeah. Warehouse washing. You know, I do have some clients that get it done every year, but you can probably get away with it for two years or so and then roof cleanings even, you know, every three years or so. We'll pull it up. I love neighbors and friends. Oh, Patty Patty's episode. Yep, yep. What else do we have? That was great episode. I'll we'll share that on here too. We have this right here. I don't know, I have I don't have it on my phone.
But yeah, Neighbors and Friends is a great been a really, really wonderful resource. Yeah. Patty's awesome. They've been building a lot of clients, through that. Oh, speaking of clients, neighbors and friends. Yeah. My coworker. Do you know who that was? You know, I don't. Coworker. Put it on neighbors and friends. Okay? You just did it. Did his house. Newington teacher. Author. Did he get into it? You did his roof. Matt. Yes. Great. Yeah. Great guy. Matt. Dicks. Yeah.
I just left a staff meeting with him and I asked him, hey, how's your roof? He's like, loved it. He didn't provide me with, like, immediate feedback. So I got worried. I was like, oh no. I'm like, he's good friends with me. And I'm like. So. His wife, Miss Green, teaches at Webb Hill. So my daughter Addie might have her next year too. And I'm like, oh, great. Listen, you know, I just get all paranoid about it. Is she kindergarten? She's third grade. That's right. She was there.
She was kindergarten. I think she was in the maybe pre-K or kindergarten. One of the other. Yeah. So, yeah, he's a great guy. Alicia. Is. Also house wash. Yeah. He can give you immediate feedback. Come on. Matt, no immediate feedback. No. Episode one Matt Dicks first, first podcast out. I'd like to talk to him. I was checking out his Facebook page, and he's a storyteller. Yeah. I read a book. Multiple. Yeah. I had a couple nonfiction books. He wrote a really good one about imaginary friends.
He wrote one about Caroline Jacobs. Okay. He has a midlife crisis. During a PTO meeting, Eric Feeney makes an appearance in the book. I'll go check that one out. Page one and four. Excellent. It says Eric Feeney ties is already tied. Shoes. Yeah. Wearing a Giants jersey because it was a Thursday night or something. Where's he I think he's in my school walk it. Oh he's like well I went past his room. So right there his his room with the rocks was looking at your wherever you were cleaning.
Got it. So he's on the end. You mentioned being in a meeting with him. That makes sense. Matt digs. He's a good guy. He's all right. These are the million, right? I'm like, you must be good friends because you're giving them a hard time. Like no one talks about any of that way. I love it, I love it, though. Very true. That's, you know, someone like they could bust. Well, we play golf together. Poker together. I told a couple stories for him. He likes to give the jabs. I give the jabs.
But that's. You know, when you like someone. Or do you play a poker? You go. At his house. Group of guys? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It have has not happened in a long time. But I want to say with us, we have a group of guys. It's hard to collaborate, get everyone together. Then I have another coworker. She's like Feeney I got priced for 300 bucks to do my deck. Can your guy beat that? I mean, can you go on record? It's in Simsbury. Do you want to see it is 300 typical. Too much, not enough?
It depends on the size of the deck. Yeah, I'm definitely not going to be the lowest price. You know, we try to offer excellent customer service and quality. So there's always someone out there. There's going to be a lot of beat price. So it's never something we're trying to compete with. Yeah. What does it take on that being the lowest price or, or when someone goes, oh it only took you ten minutes. Why do I got to pay this much? Or there's because you hear that no matter what the job is.
Plumbers, painters. Like. Oh, that I'm paying you this much, but it took you this much time. Or course, I mean, you're paying for the experience. You're paying for the knowledge. You know, the ten, 15, 20 years of experience that I know what the problem is. I have the right tools for it. You know, my my wife gives me a hard time. Let's see. I'm like, I can I'll do this myself. You know, I try to, like, price myself out of my.
All right, well, if I value myself at this dollar amount, I'll just do it myself. Then I'm going Home Depot, spending $400 on new tools. Multiple trips to home. Multiple trips. Yeah, plumbing is a is a big one for me because I'm like, I know better. But I'm like, I decided not to call a plumber. God forbid. You know. The problem. I've done that. Yeah. I'm a son of a painter. My dad painted for years, and I'm like, I can paint. But then it's like, that's six hours of your day to.
Yeah. Valuing my time, is one of the reasons I started this business, like, so I could I drop my kids off and pick them up at school every day. So, like, having that quality time with family is really important to me. And just valuing your time where, you know, I was working, you know, 70 hour weeks before. It was just like it was draining. How many jobs do you do in one day to pay? Depends. Yeah. You usually have like, anywhere between like three and four, depending on the jobs itself.
You know, like Matt's job took, you know, a few hours where you know, I could do a house wash, maybe in an hour, an hour and a half. So it just depends on the scope of work that that you. Yeah. Nice. And I try to like, be logistical about where what town we're in, and what we're working and kind of just do it that way, be more strategic. Try to end in West Hartford if I can. So yeah. And shout out to Matt again, this is a storytelling game. Yeah. House washes our jobs.
It's called first last best worst. Your first job. Your last job your best job. Your worst job in the in the industry. Hold on. I got to get this. My wife. Yeah, yeah. Hello. You want to be on the podcast? I. Yeah. What? Ryan. Soft wash. And I'm going to golf right after you. Golf and after jealous. Yeah. I'm going to give me a. Fake. Ryan. He's a power washer. He donated a bunch of toys. Great guy, great beard, great beer to. Yeah. Oh, you look forward to the episode.
All right. You want to say hi. To Ryan here? Let's say hi. Go ahead. You're on speaker now. Hello, Ryan. Hi. How are you? I'm lovely. How are you? Sorry to interrupt. No, no, not at all. Thanks for, allowing Eric this time to, hang out with me. Oh, no. Please enjoy. Keep him as long as I can. Yeah, you can have it. Fair enough. All right. Love you. Let me do my. Wife a fini. How long are you married? 19 years. So it'll be 20 in October. Oh, my. 20 years. And it feels like forever.
Yeah. I'm kidding, I love it. 20 years. Long time. That's a long time. It's, It's a decade. It was 20 years is amazing. Best thing ever happened to me. I met her at southern. I tell that story a like I told Matt Dicks back to Matt Dick. Yeah, yeah. I told the story. I'll. I'll send it to you. How? I met her. We were separated by thin walls at Brownell Hall in southern. That southern. I just banged on the wall until she. She hated me. Until she liked me. That's fantastic.
You can check it out on YouTube, and, but, it's a hard Kokomo when we're moving day, I heard Kokomo, so I'm like, who's playing Kokomo? I go out and there she is with, basketball shorts, short hair that was. It was love at first sight. Yeah, a lot of man. That's great. That's. Doctor. Yeah. So she liked me. Okay. It's a strategy. You. Know, about, 20 years, and then every five years, we got married at the Simsbury Inn. So coming up, we we we had that wedding picture at the gazebo of us kissing.
Okay, so. And our fifth year anniversary, I brought my girls and they held up the five. We kissed in the gazebo. Then the girls held up the ten. Then, you know, 15. Now this year they going held up to 20. So. And we have all the picture. That's great. So it's pretty cool. Black and white, just like our original. Yeah. She is the senior director of Oak Hill. Okay. It was Oak Hill School of the blind. Yeah, that's Oak Hill centers. They have a New England assistive technology.
They have a chapter 126. They do. It's the largest nonprofit for people with disabilities. Do great things over there, Good stuff. Well, back to Matt Dixon. Matt Dick story, Matt Dick storytelling game. So your soft wash, your first job I'm going to. Meet up with Matt is interesting. Last job, first job, worse job. First job was family friend. Single side of the house, which I don't do anymore. Was just first job. So I was great. Real supportive. Last job was. Now.
What do you mean, why? Why don't you do single side? It's whole house or not? Yeah. Just it just. To get the all the equipment there. Set up and breakdowns of pain. I like to have, like a set number in my head for per hour. I like to be at and then revenue for the day. And, you know, now that we're, you know, busier than we can handle, that's kind of where we're at at that point. I was looking for experience and anyone willing to let me work on their home. So shout out to them.
Last job was today. Actually TMZ, magic carpet cleaning. I think this is business. Daniel is, Brazilian guy. He's on what? Neighbors and friends. Awesome. Dude. You know, need your carpets are repulsor cleaned. He just moved into a new house, and he asked me to go clean it, so I did that today. Did some videos. I'll post that tomorrow. And what is a best and worst? Yep. Best job. I mean, anything that films really.
Well, I really like, really cool roof that's safe, but it looks dangerous, so that's always fun. Lots of different angles. Worst job. I mean, it's rare that we mess something up at a property, but occasionally will ruin some flowers or something like that. So that stresses me out big time. But I think the important thing a business, everyone makes mistakes.
So I think fixing those mistakes, I think, is where you stand, apart from others, this lady, I, I had, ruined a couple of her flowers, and they were on their last legs anyway. And I just went to, What's that place? Mascara. Mascara? Yeah. Really? Field? Yeah. Really high. Place. Nice. 44. And I just got a $200 gift card, and I handed it to her and go pay for next spring. Just redo your entire house and just get whatever you want.
I mean, I might, I think I burned a $20 plant or something that was on its last leg, so, like, just, I think making a difference and doing something along those lines. Yeah. And she's always doing shout out to neighbors and friends for me all the time. I mean, anyway, she was visibly upset if something bothered her and I was upset that it happened. And, you know, I think it's just important to address those mistakes and, you know, make up for them. Awesome. First worst is the stress part of it.
But yeah, ended up being, really good. Anthony's abatement mentioned that too. He's like, if we happen to make a mistake, it doesn't happen often, but we will work hard to fix it. And yeah, buy the gift card or do whatever you got to do. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I liked his episode. He was, interesting. Yeah. My wife support job, too. So. I like all the, talking about Chavez and, primavera. Yeah, yeah, all the all the spots. I love it. Yeah. All right, so we got pros and cons of cleaning the roof.
This is from a from the website. Oh, from. Website. Okay. From a website? Yeah. Pros and cons. What do you think? What are some pros of getting your roof cleaned? Just extending the life of your shingles. Boom. Longer roof lifespan. Yeah. 5 to 7 years. Roughly on average, depending on how old that roof is. Obviously, a roof replacement is very expensive.
If it's needed, it will inform the customer that, you know, it's really just beyond expectations, but, you know, are a lot of lime composite and roof shingles. So bacteria, there's, you know, see, like those black streaks on roofs. Everyone thinks it looks dirty and it's called glo caps of magma. It's a bacteria that feeds off of those lime, shingles. The composite in the lime. Lime. Yeah. All right, there's one. There's four for each. For pros, for cons. What do you think?
I mean, just esthetics. Better looking curb appeal is is key, right. And just just property management in general is just making sure that you're maintaining your home. I mean that's a that's probably one of your more expensive, replacement features in a home. It's not a kitchen or bathroom that you can enjoy every day. Cons I mean, there's not that many cons to that. I'm going to say there's no cons to cleaning your. Get your roof cleaned for sure. Oh, I did see that.
What makes. Well, give you a hint. You use soft wash. Yes. So what would be a con? So we use a chlorine based product. So, you know, that is a concern for some customers. You know, traditional power washing is not ideal for siding. It can really expedite oxidation and start deteriorating that siding and also doesn't kill any of the mold spores either. So we use a very low concentration chlorine based with a commercial grade, so and then it's a low pressure solution.
So a traditional pressure washer is like 3000 psi. We're hovering below 300 psi. So it's a little bit stronger than an, a garden hose that we use, like special guns and hoses that I can allow me to shoot like 50ft in the air. So there's also a reduction in liabilities. We don't they use a lot of ladders as social media has it. I mean, I don't really go on a lot of roofs.
I do a lot of roofs for videos if I if I need to and I inform customers, most of the time I can just clean this from the ground or we A-frame a ladder in front of the house. That way we're not damaging the home. So those are some of the the benefits there. Gotcha. Well, it said if the water is too hard, it could damage the roof.
Is it dangerous? Yeah. You don't want to pressure wash, you know, roof shingles or pressure wash siding like, I don't know where it became an industry norm, but painters utilize pressure washing in preparation for painting, whether they're painting vinyl siding or not, which is an argument, in the industry or like wood shingles or cedar siding shake or anything along those lines. Pressure washing is a common, tool to utilize to clean those surfaces before prepping for paint.
Yeah. So that kind of has become this this is really if you just follow manufacturing guidelines, this is the solution that we use, a low pressure solution with chlorine mixed with the soap. And that's what we utilize for roofing shingles. Just a slightly higher concentration for roofs and a lower concentration for house washing for vinyl siding and other materials. Yeah. My dad again being a painter, he he helped paint my house when we first moved in. And they're very common products.
From not stick because the wood was always so moist and someone suggests and then the kept chipping. He was like someone was like you should pressure wash it. Yeah, well he's like the water. The wood already has water in it. Why are we going to force more water into it? Yes. Defeats the purpose. It'll never dry. Correct? We did. We chose not to pressure wash. He was always against pressure washing the wood. Yeah for sure. Yeah, especially with wood.
And wood's very damaging. So. But now I have siding. Shout out to Webster siding and building construction. Jeff. Yeah. You know Jeff Webster. I know of him, I don't, I don't know him personally but yeah. They're Farmington guys. Yep yep yep. Good guy. Yeah. He, he's a sponsor. He's a sponsor. He's on the parade shirt. I was gonna. Say he's the concert operator. We're on the parade. Our brand new mural at Parkville Market. Okay. He sponsored the excellent.
His daughter and son help actually paint it. That's cool. And our murals are in because he is in, invested in or owns some of the, daily grind, so. Oh, he does selling our max. Oh, nice. Okay. Excellent. Thanks. Jeff. Webster. Good guy. Yeah. Their son was in, our daughter's pre-K class because they all the schools kind of collaborate well, for the pre-K program. So. Great guy, great guy. Thanks, Jeff. What's up with Eric Bergen? You kind of talk like him.
Do you hang out with him a lot or. No. Do I talk like him a. Little bit, interest a little bit? I like Eric a lot. He's great, really smart. Dude. Eric is kind of one of the first reasons I got connected with a bunch of people. So he's obviously. Well, well connected on neighbors and friends or within the community in general. Someone was asking for recommendations for pressure washing or washing a siding, and he had put my name out there. You should reach out to Ryan Soft Wash and he.
I never met him before, and I just sent him a private message and just thanked him. I think I really appreciate that. You know, we should grab a coffee sometime. And we met up and yeah, one thing led to another. And then I met Obie through him and a bunch of other guys. Yeah, through through Eric. So shout out to Eric Rich at his networking, capabilities. Oh, yeah. He's good. Another one we got to do. But we don't hang out. As much as I'd like to. Sally and Bob's.
This. This gets posted later anyway. Right. February 17th. We're coming up here. Right here. We're sitting right there. That's right. Yeah. Boom. Share that picture with you. There's my guy Rob, your buddy. That's right. My buddy Pat was there that day I right. Yeah. Eric John Decker. That lives across the street from you. Yeah I look for him now when I walk your dog, but, we'll have to send this. I'm going to send this to Stephania now, before I forget, John Decker was a podcast. Oh, yeah.
We had to do that, right? Yeah, yeah, we'll do that too. Little podcast action. She throws that podcast, she'll do. I mean selfie. Let's get that in there and then that we'll add that on there too. Oh. Oh man. First camera. Yeah. Look at it this first time. Yeah I'm also gonna I have. No I forgot. That, Helen and Cesar for her saying open late I appreciate it. Oh, I no, you usually close cooking for us too. You guys are the best. Yeah. I like the Joey Bats episode.
Are you good friends with him? No. You're not okay. All right. Do you know him? No. No, I just, I enjoyed his, He's really good. I like him a lot. He was funny. Philosophy, backgrounds up to history teacher. Either you had a lot in common, or I was. What? I'm like, oh, they got all these guys friends? No, I think the, the urban or something, that we hit it off. Yeah. Hartford and the music. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. Rapper and rap music, which I got.
I love the Wu-Tang. Yeah, the rap music. He's supposed to write me up an intro. He's supposed to rap an intro. Oh, speaking of which, you be growly. Baluchi or Joe? Oh, I reached out to Ali. I think we're trying to. We're trying to get together for a coffee or something like that. Nice. But because that was the first time I think you mentioned me, I was listening to her podcast. I oh, they mentioned me at the end. Yep. That's great. I'm trying to find out how do I get to. All right.
Oh, here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go. I saved you as my favorites. Shout out to this to nothing beats that. Can we get a zoom in on the. Dancer McLaren. There we go. Let's go. What are you got to talk about? Highlight of the day. That was fun. Yeah, it was the last minute decision. Someone you had. You were a rockstar. The kids loved it. That was a great day. No. Tell everyone, all of our listeners, like, if you're ever going to march in a parade,
is this not the move? That's the way to do it. You wear the leprechaun that looks like you're sitting on his. Shoulders, think, oh yeah, yeah, the full suit. That's a lot of selfie requests, during that parade. So that to you. I didn't get offered as many whiskey shots as I was hoping for. So, on that one to you? Yeah, that was a fun. That weather. It was great, too. Great. Cooperative. Beautiful family. Yeah. Melissa, my wife, Ronen and Adi. Oh, yeah. Less. Less. About me.
Back to him, kids. Yeah. We love what Bill? No, it was great. Thank you again. You are a sponsor. You're on the back of the shirt. You marched. You were. You were the leprechaun. Were. You were not a rock star. It was great. It was. It was awesome. We had a great time. Yeah. Happy to do it. I'm assuming you didn't win number one. There's no I'm right. You know, I think. We would have heard about it by. Now. Set up my guy Josh, we didn't set up early enough. It's what we were scattered around.
Yeah, when they were walking around, of course. So my guy next year, I'm going to say, hey, we got to get there early. Yep. Go to Mike Johnson's house and hang out. Perfect. So we're going to get there early pregame. Yeah yeah. Be set up ready to go and then walk around enjoy the day because we kind of just got there hectic early. Put your stuff up I mean it looked great during the parade was awesome. Yeah. We got a bubble machine or something. Yes. Yeah. Bubble. Some more visual.
Maybe a DJ. It would be great. You swinging dressed as a leprechaun? Easily. Yeah, I can handle that. At least for a few minutes. If you're going golfing after this. No, no, my daughter plays golf. Oh. She does. She's on the golf team. That's awesome. Yeah. So when did you start doing this? Golfing. Yeah. I want to say maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Okay. That's 16. 16. Okay. Juniors. Yeah. I want to get my daughter involved in it. I think she'd be good at it. But you're never sure. How, The an offer.
Range or first tee. Okay, go back and watch my podcast with First tee. All right. Mark Moriarity, my dude. Shout out to Mark. Mark first see I came in expecting to talk, you know, Eric Bergen and Helen and just threw me a curveball. Mark Moriarty first tee but no great podcast and great, organization there into the schools there getting people, you know, motivated to play golf. So it's a good thing. Yeah. Shout out to Eric again I mean it. Yeah. I mean kind of touched on that a lot.
But he's just really well connected. He's so fun to look up to as far as networking and and capabilities in the, on the town. Yeah, I mentioned it on the air. I think it was the Ali Baluchi one where he is smooth and he gives recommendations. He's constantly recommends. People. Yep. So it's like, oh, this guy's a good source because trust his word and he goes out on a limb for people. And I think he's great. He's you inspired him too. You inspired him to do something very similar.
They're going to buy a toy or make a donation per every sale or financial advice that they get to a client. That's great. Thanks to you. He was he was crediting you. I talked with, Shelby and Eric, and they're going to. Shelby's great. They're starting in April. Actually, this is their new, session. Our new market, our new quarter. Yeah. New quarter. Financial talk. I'm a third grader, third grade teacher. Anyway, you know, want to talk to Eric right now? The market's not doing too well.
So their new quarter. But when they make a sale or get a new client, they will donate or buy a toy. That's awesome. As awesome you you started that. I'm in a small networking group with Eric. So yeah, we we collaborate on a lot of things and just kind of feed off each other, which is real. Oh, yeah, he did. Dad's in business. I got in there and now he started his own. Some dibs. He started his own little like, business, West Hartford business. Yeah, yeah. The Facebook page right.
Yeah. Yeah, I love that because I make a note of that. And neighbors and friends, you know, we live in West Hartford. Our business operated out of West Hartford. You know, I don't know, I don't mind supporting other other towns. There is a happy hour next Wednesday at Luna Pizza. It's, based on Eric's new page. Okay. You saw that. Or you can make it. But do my best. Yeah, yeah, it gets the kids, so it's always hard. It's the upcoming events. You like pancakes? Bring the kids.
Yeah, bring the kids to pancakes. Oh, I got this one here. Pancake breakfast. 8 to 12, Farmington at Baptist church. All right, that's, April 26th. We got a blue Jean mill at Bushnell Park. We're collaborating with two for one sports. That's. Yeah, I listen to his episode two. That was. Steve. Boyle. You know, the blue Jean run is an interesting bingo. Okay. Family bingo at, Raymore. Flanagan on New Park Road, 530 to 8. Interesting. 12 bucks a person. That's going to be a good, good time.
Sully. Shamrock pasta dinner. That's my shirt right here. My former coworker in Waterbury. It's a Tuesday. It's at the ancient order of hard. I order of Hibernians, an Irish club in Waterbury where I had my stag sweet, you know, 91 Golden Hill. That's 5 to 7, 25 bucks. My guy Irish music is playing Mark James episode 86. He plays for Irish tunes at the end. I love that guy. He was at the cocktail hour for my wedding, one of my dearest, closest friends.
And, we we went to go see him no matter where he was in Waterbury. We're like, we're going to Mark James. We see Mark James. So shout out to the Sully Shamrocks and hopefully you can come Memorial Day Parade. Hopefully you can sponsor and march with the kids again. Yeah, yeah. We'll do what we can this year for sure. Hartford athletic games February. It's February. That's silly guy. June 6th. It's a Friday Bristol Blues game which is in Bristol. The college kids that's going to be on the 12th.
That's going to be at 20 bucks. All you can eat, all you can drink. I'm not familiar with it. It's, Babe Ruth played there. It's exactly halfway point from New York and Boston. Boston okay. Have the same splits. It's pretty cool. And they have a Babe Ruth son continental divide. Yep. Fourth annual Friends of Nicholas game at the Yard Goats on August 16th. Our golf tournament. Do you golf? Yeah, yeah. Or we're figuring that out. Yeah. You have some sponsorship categories we're looking at.
Nice, nice. That's September 13th and our seventh annual makerspace event. Bring the kids that building with cardboard. Good stuff. Sounds good. Yeah. Do it so that that's our. You have any upcoming events? No, no we don't. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Lots of favorite restaurants. Yes. Name one. Trevor's a great restaurant. We love, pasties on point. They have a good brunch game, too. We love Rico's, I could talk food for an hour. All right, all right. Where do you guys go?
Rico? Yeah. Rico's great. And if you want to go outside of West, our saloon. Yeah. In Hartford. My wife loves a Jimmy. I love that guy. But, all. What? I just went to Sahara the other day with my daughter. She's a vegetarian. The golfer is a vegetarian? Yeah, the roasted cauliflower dish is awesome. Yeah. The pita. Good cocktail list to the carrot, 24 karat. It's great. Yeah. Been to the bunker. That's usually where it's usually.
I found the finish the night with the guys, and I love that we go out. Yeah, it's like a 90s dive bar. Speakeasy. Yeah. Yeah, until, like 11:00 and then. Well, no, I mean, I'm there from like 5 to 6. Yeah. I gotta get out of there. Yeah. You got I'm over. 40, so I by ten I cannot be there after eight. Especially when I see former students. I walked to Savoy the other day and I heard Mr. Phoenix, I'm like, oh my God, it's Kayla and Dominic.
My former fifth grade students are in line for the bunker, right? I like Savoy, too. They're so. Pesetas. Fantastic. Yeah. This was Dante's place. Yep. So we did a lot of last. Hour being a teacher in 21 years. Yeah. Do you have a favorite teacher? Yeah. Green was his last name. What town? Where'd you grow up? So I guess it was moved around it. Yeah, yeah, I'm not going to know it anyway, but he, sophomore year, I was going through a hard time, and, he was.
I think he just picked up on it without having to say anything. Just some non-verbal cues. And, he was just kind of always there for me. Just kind of just checked up on me and, Yeah, really kind of helped me get through, like, an awkward year. So, Yeah. Shut it down. Nice. Yeah. Nice. 21 years now, Yeah. 21. And how long you been at Wolcott? 12. 12. Yeah. Okay. We'll bring over the food, one to the food, and then some closing remarks.
We're going to show the food first. Let's show the food again. Shout out to our our host and our newest sponsor, Sally sailing and Bob's. Thank you, Helen and Cesar for staying open. Cesar. Mexican food. Eggs. Benny. We're going to show him off. Doing some mezcal after. Yeah. Oh. Thank you. Have, Wow. Any recommendation, any closing remarks? Anything you want to say? Oh, look at that. Are we finishing? We're going to finish up, but let's show off here.
Oh. She knows. See, I don't even have to ask. Eleanor. Homemade hot sauces. Fantastic. Homemade hot sauce. You know, in books, podcasts. Yeah. TV shows, books, podcasts. Anxious generation. Have you read that one? Yep. No, that's a good one. Anxious generation. Yeah. Is that a TV show? No, it's a book. Yeah. Explores the links between, like, rising mental health and, the prevalence of, like, online social lives. And so, kind of compares our generation to like, the up and coming generation.
I'm sure you're probably dealing with that issue now, but 16 year old girls phones, social media. The demise. Of. Yeah. The let them theory and Mel Robbins, are you familiar with her podcast? She's great. That's a, the let them theory. She's had that out for a number of years, but she's putting some books out. Tomic. Abbott's, you know, building good habits, breaking bad ones. It's a popular one. Anything Malcolm Gladwell, outliers, tipping point. All right, that one.
You read outliers? Yeah, yeah. Tipping point. I heard of that one. You know, just viral trends in human behavior. So it's an interesting one. And then, David and Goliath, that's another, another popular one by him. So I. Definitely try to do. Obviously underdogs, you know, beating the odds. I take my recommendation serious. I will read one of these and follow up. You know, they're great, you know, wonderful TV shows. Breaking bad. I mean, that's a classic Game of Thrones.
Now, I'm really been hooked on any, my wife's making me watch a series right now, and I don't even know if I want to talk about it from her childhood vampire slayer. Oh, Buffy. Yeah. Buffy. Yeah. Matt. Dicks love Buffy. Shout out to. My big, Yeah, it's. My wife is a big fan, so we're, we're going through that series now. I obviously didn't watch that when growing up, so. Yeah. You. One of my currently podcast swindled is, Okay. It's a little dark, swindle. What does that entail?
Just corrupt people. Like politicians. It's always a fun subject, Yeah, yeah. It starts off pretty good. And then there's, like, a curveball. Yeah. What else? TV show I'm watching, actually finishing Ozark. Oh, we we put it on pause for a while because it took a big jump, and then someone said, hey, you got to go back to it. We watched the season one and we never went back to it. Yeah, yeah. Because it takes a big you're like, what is going on here? I just finished Reacher.
Yeah. It's just a guilty pleasure of mine. There's, espionage or, you know. I see commercials. For that. Yeah. Jack Ryan two. It's a good one. All right. This food looks good, right? Yeah. No, it smells good. Another another photo. Go zoom in here. Yeah. You show yours first. Lets you talk about yours. So we have the, the flat patty Teresa with, some avocado eggs. Benny. Their home fries. Fantastic. Yeah. My turn. Should I just turn to you?
And I go with the corned beef hash and Benny with the hollandaise sauce. Homemade Caesar makes it. Yeah. And then the hash I call the Irish penny and the homemade hot sauce. Mom's so good. My wife loves the, parfait and the Greek yogurt with the fresh berries. That is a great dish. I still have to have the Nuevo store, the ranch. All the way with some Charles. Rancheros. Is it back? I wish I. Know it's again. I have never had it. Yeah, you even had the wavelets. Yeah. Oh, that's good one.
Yeah, well, this goes by quick. I know 50 minutes with Finney Feeney and we pushed that 106. So hopefully we'll get some good hits. You sure that's 50 minutes? I think she's rushing us. Tiffany wants us gone. Faster because I give you the warning now. Interesting. I could talk to you all day. Yeah. It's wonderful chatting with you. You're doing great things. Again, thank you for your generosity and your thoughtfulness with the toys. Hopefully, that collaboration can happen again next year.
Yeah. We look forward to some toys. Call or text. Ryan. Soft wash (860) 830-0040. He's your guy for all your cleaning. Socials at Ryan's soft wash. Well. Any closing remarks? Anything I miss? Any questions for me? No, just looking forward to building a relationship and continuing, supporting what you're doing. Well, we love what you're doing. And my wife and I, we're talking about a nonprofit. When we first moved into town, before we had heard about you.
And just knowing that you have that and just supporting that is awesome. Where are you looking to take it in the future? You're looking to stay kind of hyper local. Yeah. Yeah. Well who knows. But we added a new board member. Hi. Tran. Thai is, JC Hall of Famer. Okay. As he runs the JC, he is a great person. He scored 70 in a in a men's league. So he's really talented on and off the court. Local legend. Local legend for sure. But so we're building our board of directors.
We have some two other prospective, applicants or people that are interested. Okay. Excited to share maybe next podcast who those people are. And we can we can use an advisory board if you want to just participate when you can. We're we love to have you, helping out. So the more the merrier. More hands. Light work. Excellent. Thanks for what you do, I appreciate it. My guy. Really. It was wonderful talking with you again. This is Ryan McGinnis of Ryan soft wash. Ryan soft wash.com.
I said his number like ten times. Good. We're good. Haha I appreciate let's see. All right I heard three will say be a good friend. 123 be a good friend. That's a wrap.