Sarah Fateen is a Continuous Improvement Consultant at Seizmic Inc., an engineering and consulting firm that assists in the design of equipment for manufacturers, distributors, and users of material handling equipment across the country. She is also a Permit Coordination Specialist at Submittal Services, which provides expert solutions for obtaining material handling permits.
Sarah has been working in the material handling industry for over two decades, starting her career in her family's business. She is also an artist and holds a degree in Fine Arts.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Sarah Fateen talks about the history of Submittal Services
Mark Hiddleson's experience working with Sarah
What drove Sarah to San Francisco?
The importance of family and relationships
Sarah talks about creativity and the need for a supportive community
How podcasting promotes personal growth
Mark reflects on his education, being an athlete, and his daily pump-up routine
How Danny Medina has influenced Sarah and Mark
The value of self-care and personal fitness
Tips for a happy marriage
Sarah's favorite podcasts
In this episode…
What does it take to live a holistic and fulfilling life? What role do your relationships and career play in promoting a healthy lifestyle?
Having a supportive community is essential for both personal and professional growth. According to Sarah Fateen, building solid connections can motivate you and help you live a more satisfying life. She emphasizes cultivating a sense of belonging and community by finding accountability partners and maintaining regular communication.
In this episode of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, Mark Hiddleson interviews Sarah Fateen, a Continuous Improvement Consultant at Seizmic Inc., to talk about holistic approaches to personal and professional development. They also discuss the need for a supportive community, the importance of self-care, and tips for a happy marriage.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Specialized Storage Solutions, Inc. contact phone: 707-732-3892
Mark Hiddleson's email: markhiddleson@aol.com
"Creating Value Through Product Knowledge and Supplier Relationships With Danny Medina" on The Tao of Pizza Podcast
"Automation and Safety in the Material Handling Industry With Sal Fateen" on The Tao of Pizza Podcast
"Nurturing Good Relationships in the Material Handling Industry With Nancy Fateen" on The Tao of Pizza Podcast
Sponsor for this episode...
This episode is brought to you by Specialized Storage Solutions Inc.
Listen...
I have been in the logistics and storage industry for several decades. I know I don’t look that old, but it's true.
We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide.
So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs Rack, Shelving, Carts, Conveyors, or Mezzanines, we help with....design engineering, installations, inspections, and repairs to help clients optimize their logistics operations.
Sometimes people don’t even realize that we can actually help with permit acquisition services.
We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continually improving your operation.
To learn more, visit specialracks.com or give us a call at (707) 732-3892. One of the best ways to learn more about our products and services is to follow us on Instagram. And there’s a link on our website to do that.
I will even give you my personal email address for podcast listeners, so email me at markhiddleson@aol.com if you’re ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:01
Welcome to The Tao of Pizza where we feature top logistics leaders, entrepreneurs and supply chain innovators and share their inspiring stories with a holistic twist.
Mark Hiddleson 0:16
Mark Hiddleson here, host of The Tao of Pizza Podcast, where I talk with top industry innovators in the warehousing, logistics, and supply chain business with a holistic twist. Before introducing today's guest, Sarah Fateen, this episode is brought to you by Specialised Storage Solutions. I've been in the logistics industry for several decades now. I know I don't look that old, but it's true. We provide industry-leading warehouse storage solutions nationwide. So basically, if you have a warehouse that needs rack, shelving carts, conveyors, or mezzanines, we help with the design, engineering, installation, inspections, and repairs to help plants optimise their logistics operations. And Sarah, it's funny sometimes people don't even realise we can actually help with permanent acquisition services. We take a holistic look at your entire business supply chain ecosystem to develop the resources for continually improving your operation. To learn more, visit our website at special racks.com Give us a call at 707-732-3892 or send me an email. I always give out my personal email to podcast listeners it's markhiddleson@aol.com, if you're ready to take your warehouse storage and retrieval systems to the next level.
And one last thing before introducing today's guests I want to give a big thank you to the team at Seizmic especially Danny Medina, he's been on the podcast and he recently helped us with an extremely challenging permanent acquisition, check out the Danny funky cold Medina podcast on our blog. He's a great mentor of mine. He's awesome. And now it's time to introduce Sarah. Sarah Fateen has been working in the material handling industry for the past two decades. So her heart lies in more creative endeavours. After obtaining a degree in Fine Arts in San Francisco, she met the love of her life, the world famous Phil, and now they have a beautiful 18 month old named Sonny. Since then life has quote unquote, revolved around the sun. And Sarah is now finding their place in the world as a mom, person and creative professional. She has been a great resource for our company, one of the most authentic and innovative people I know. And a great friend. Sarah, welcome to The Tao of Pizza.
Sarah Fateen 2:25
Thanks, Mark. I'm excited to be here. Always fun to talk to you. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 2:31
it's great to see you. i It's been a while since I've seen in a while. Yeah, I think it's worth talking to spend a year and a half. And what it was one of those when I picked up the phone and call you about this, we were talking about this, I think more than a year ago of of doing an interview. And I've taken the last three months off for we've had some business challenges, and people can different training. And so the podcast is the thing that got put on the backburner. But thank you. It's this is awesome way to get the podcast back on track. So how did you get started with submittal? Share a little bit about how he got involved in in this awesome business?
Sarah Fateen 3:18
Sure. Yeah, let's see submittal services was started about 19 years ago. I was 18. And my sister Nancy and I had, you know, just started working together. She was doing the permits for seismic. And I mean, seismic, it's our it's our family company, right. So it's people say how long have you been in the industry? It's sort of like, well, what depends on when you start counting. It's really just in our blood. So she was doing permit management just for seismic to begin, and then decided, you know, hey, there's a lot of other people a lot of other material handling or engineering or what have you that need permit management. And, you know, Sal to give him credit. He's like, I don't care. You take money from, you know, he's not worried about competition. He's just like, yeah, read, you know, cast your net wide. So we incorporated, I believe, in 2005, a year after I graduated high school. Nancy, you know, Nancy was running the show, let's be clear, I was still I think, just trying to figure out how I could be of help. But I didn't like it. And I think I needed a mentor like her. She had my dad when we were growing up. And so at that age, I had hurt and she taught me everything I knew and asked if I wanted to start this business with her be the vice president and of course as an 18 year old, that sounds very nice. Business cards so I feel very honoured to be part of that and and I think it it was nice to have a role like that where I definitely felt. I didn't know if I could fill the role. But it was nice to have something aspirational like that. And she really helped hold my hand. And, you know, we started the business when her son was just born Michael, who's now 19. And I remember him being in the office with us and his little carrier. And we just had a small office that size make at the time that we were operating out of, but it was the perfect thing for us to focus our energy on together. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 5:34
that's awesome. And all like I look back to in you knows Casey, it says somesuch like, yeah, we've been doing this on our own for 12 years. It's like, no, it's been 18 It's always the same year, we started our company. And I want to tell you a permit. And you were so you. I really didn't meet Nancy until later because he was the one working on our projects. We had a the way we met was I had a great friend and mentor is Ron Michaelis and always think like we met through your parents, but it was wrong to introduce me to Sal. And I really your dad, I mean, he's 50 year old 50 years in the industry now. And that was 40 back then. Or maybe 30. That's what I was thinking like, I'm not we're I'm where Sal was when I met Sal as far as like, experience. And I knew that he was influential he was involved in in writing some of the codes over the years. I'm like, I have to meet and Ron. You know, there was an event and I thought it was an industry event. And Ron was like, well, it's for friends. He's like, these are the friends. I'm like, well introduce me it is a friend. So he invited me to the Catalina. My kids called it the Catalina wine mixer. Because the thing and we just, like immediately connected with your folks, you know, it was like we met and with Ron and we've been friends for so many years. And I couldn't imagine he was right about the friendship part. And when you were talking about being able to bring your your child to work or you know, do things like that, where you're still creating something that's the cutting edge. I mean, permit, nobody was doing permissive middle services. Now. Everybody's doing every material handling company has like their own internal one. But you guys created it was really, to me makes you an innovator that it was kind of nobody was doing it. And then he started this now every you know, 18 years later everybody's doing then you guys are still. I mean, I look at it. You know, we work with you in partnerships, on permits. But I was talking to somebody, our rate to get a permit is like half the national average. Because I've talked to people how long it takes them to get it and what they do. And it's it's been spent a lot of fun. And I appreciate you were the one I was dealing with. And I didn't realise you were at the top while you were like late 2008. I was just assuming. You were I mean, super professional. And it's the tough. I want to read from emphasise. It's the hardest part of this business. I mean, it is harder than shipping 20 truckloads of racks during the plans and putting it in. I mean, yes. So thank you for being such a great professional partner. So yeah,
Sarah Fateen 8:20
Thank you for saying that.
Mark Hiddleson 8:22
Yeah, so I want to talk a little bit about you took a little bit of time off to go back to school in San Francisco. So you're from Southern California, but I always I felt like that made us closer, even though you connect didn't connect up here, but it's like Northern California. Give me live here. So share a little bit about what that experience was like why he chose to, to go in that direction. Yeah,
Sarah Fateen 8:44
she No, it's funny. Initially, I wanted to go to Portland, right. I wanted to get out of Southern California, or at least a way, how do I say this delicately. I just needed to individuate. You know, I needed to build something that was my own, you know, and I knew that Nancy, like she had the company. Not that she was managing seismic at the time. But I knew even back then that that was her trajectory. I mean, she had been groomed for her whole life, and was happy to take on the role. I didn't have a clear path forward. I didn't know. All I really knew was that I wanted to do art and study art. So initially, I wanted to go to Portland to go to art school up there on an out of state tuition was quite pricey. So I was thinking about San Diego and San Francisco is also on the list. And honestly, Mark, I missed an application deadline for San Diego so it was like, Well, this guy had never even been there. travelled up once to see the school app. That date in the Tenderloin for people that don't know if you don't know, San Francisco the tenderloin. Sounds good. Sounds like a tasty meat. It's actually quite the opposite. I mean, you know, I think it's called that because the the cops in the area at the time Cadet they say that they could dine out on a tenderloin dinner every night. So a lot of police activity, sketchy neighbourhoods. And so that was my firt I was like, I'm coming to this school, I came up with my friends, we stayed in the tenderloin, like, this sucks, but it's not Southern California. So let's do it. And so yeah, I started going to San Francisco stayed up there and lived in the hate. You know Haight Ashbury. And of course, shortly thereafter, realised what an amazing city it was in tenderloin included, you know, it's, you have so many different types of things and different people from socio economic, you'd have a lot of socio economic diversity in such a small like, 50 square mile area. That's what makes it great. And it was not always comfortable. That's for sure. To sorry, my father in law just arrived. So he does a thing. Yeah, I decided to go to San Francisco. And it was the best thing that I ever did. Because I met an amazing, you know, artists, community friend community out there. I love the school. I, all my professors, it was really just even when I talk to my professors, they're like, the camaraderie and like, the community that was built during the time that I was there was unique, even for that, you know, we were close not only with each other, but with our professors. I have a Professor Phil and I all Molins come in on the East Coast and Pittsburgh, the We Still travelled to visit. And you know, we have incredible relationships with all of those people. Still, it was really a golden era, as we call it. So I love that story. Because so much of my life was dictated by your procrastination, and dumb luck. And I think that's, you know, great because it tells me that there's no wrong choices. Right? Even when you think oh, man, I can I can recurse here. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 12:20
there's so much stuff. I will you remember wrong. That's what I was doing wrong. Go remain rest in peace. One of my greatest mentors, I think three out of four words he ever said to me were curse words. And I really liked it.
Sarah Fateen 12:32
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. He enjoyed a good F bomb. But yeah, so much of my life was was dictated by what I would consider a fuckup. And now, you know, I would just go back and want to hug my 24 year old self and say,
Mark Hiddleson 12:49
yeah, there's this great thing I saw was probably on a podcast where it said something like mistakes, cow, I wish I could watch it, but there are opportunities to learn. Maybe he learned from us like, well, what would you tell your 20 year old self? That's what it was? What would you tell your 20 year old self? And it's funny, I write a lot. And I wrote a letter to my 20 year old self, there's like all these things. But the guy was like, I wouldn't tell my 20 year old so anything. You got this bro, because it's the mistakes that make a difference. Thank you for the chills on our way. Because it is that that's a great, um, and so you learn and you came to Northern California, which is a different culture. And when you were talking about seismic and working in the family business, which he has an amazing family and your parents are amazing people. And I wanted that for my family. So that's our kids are like Cody. He's 29. And when people ask him how long he's been in the business, it's like where do you start because we always say when he was 11 because he did actually go with me to a liquidation in Salt Lake City, and he was like organising carts and all this stuff like hand trucks we were selling it was a giant liquidation centre and had all this stuff and he's 11 years old. And he's working while we're taking these conveyors down out of the sky and racking and all this stuff and Cody's selling the carts and pallet jacks. So 11 year old is the official age and the end of the good thing. We didn't hire them, because they were we hired him because there's a rule of family that you don't have to pay your kids. Family Business with less than five employees. We paid them I'm just I'm teasing. So Drake's involved in the business Serena does their social media and they all remind me they Serena went to college in Oregon, it was kind of the same kind of thing that you know, they didn't Napa, it was like our region where we are going as Napa is not a great place for young people and it was great if you're 21 or 30 or 40 or 5060, but that younger So Drake and Cody went to Southern California. So kind of the same. It is a different culture. I mean, it is a completely,
Sarah Fateen 15:07
totally. Yeah, yeah. And San Francisco, you know, I grew up in the suburbs. And it's, we're, you know, we're in the desert, essentially, we are in a desert. So it's hot, and you're driving everywhere. So to move to a city where you can, you know, talk about San Francisco or you can be free without a vehicle. Day or night, you can travel anywhere you want. It was it was just what I needed at that time to like, feel that sense of independence and build that confidence that I just didn't have down here. I love it. It I definitely no regrets. Yeah, and you're glad you're you're glad you're home
Mark Hiddleson 15:54
likes now. Well, now you're close to San Diego right here.
Sarah Fateen 15:57
Yeah, I'm in I'm in North County, San Diego right now. And I mean, I'll be honest, i, i My heart is definitely has a place in the Bay Area still. Also, what Phil and I, my husband and I talk about is, you can never go home again, you know, is the Bay Area great. It is great. It's beautiful. And I still I love that we have friends up there still to visit. But it's certainly not what was when we were there, which was, you know, living around the corner from our best friends. Not having a kid, right. So you're just you have a lot more freedom, we all had a lot more freedom, and now everybody has sort of been dispersed to different parts of the state. And yeah, I know that any feelings that I have, might be a different time that we might never get back. So now having a kid having a bit more space, right, we have a nice big piece of property here in Southern California. And being close to family. That's really what it's all about. I can't imagine raising our son 400 Miles way, not being able to see my parents or sister, my husband's parents and sisters who are just down the street from us. I mean, they are we could not do it. Without them. They're all an amazing help. With study and also just socially, you know, I am a social being. And I can get in my head a little bit and kind of you know, maybe seclude myself away from people. Not sure if that's grammatically correct, but it's nice being down here. You know, I like having a father in law that just pops in to say, Hi, I need that right. I need people to like hey, snap out of it. And if I was too far away from everyone to be too easy to retreat. So it's a blessing and of course I mean, you can't be San Diego weather.
Mark Hiddleson 18:00
Yeah, Serena moved on there for grad school and it's hard for us to leave we helped her move builder find a place we visited. And every time I go I'm like, you know they have those little real estate magazines and when I'm looking at what is the San Diego and I and I want her to come back for all those same reasons but my game plan is like wherever my kids I do want to be I want that big family it's just so important to me. It's one of the things I love about your parents and then they have a family that's beyond the family it's like an extended like a chosen like I feel like we're cousins are like you know somehow related in this bigger group of people who all we try to get together once a year at least every other year you know and share more of yeah, we've done work together business but the relationships and the family and seeing people that you love you know, we were we were I think the last time we saw it was your baby shower.
Sarah Fateen 19:01
Wait, you were in Palm Springs was just about a month old. We were
Mark Hiddleson 19:06
we were so that was two years ago. So not this July but or June but the the June before so like June a Tony told me
Sarah Fateen 19:14
to to. Yeah. Yeah, you're totally right. Mark. We I mean, our whole family is in Egypt. We have a couple of cousins on the east coast. But other than that, aunts and uncles, cousins, everyone else in Egypt so for sure you and Mike is and all of the other people that have been you know, involved in our family business coming to the sizzle every year. They have really been like our, like another extended family here people that you can go to for advice and I mean, the Solomon sins you know, Tom and Sue Solomon's and Trevor and Courtney Solomon send their kids. I mean, they're, you know, I'd say like they're closer to brothers and sisters Tom and Sue. Were like second parents to us, still was huge in inspiring me creative creatively as a kid. She, she was loved crafts and coordinate her daughter could not have been less interested. She wanted to be on the golf course with her dad, she was a tomboy, through through and I was just like, I'll sit and coated with you and paint for hours. And I totally, you know give her so much credit for igniting that fire in me that you know, kind of set the course for my whole life. So yeah, I totally that resonates with me for sure. You guys are definitely more like family. Yeah, and how
Mark Hiddleson 20:38
so going into the creative the what are some of the creative endeavours that you have? That you're you're you're kind of creating this vision. Sunday's 18 months. So what? What's your vision for the more creative endeavours I'm excited to? Host a podcast.
Sarah Fateen 20:59
I have totally thought about that. Yeah, I my friend and I want to do that a couple years ago, we got the microphone, I think we did one interview. Never, never did it again. I love the idea. I love talking. Clearly. I love talking to people. As far as creative endeavours, I mean, you know, I still try to draw every day if I can. Now I'm, I kind of just used my iPad, I got an iPad during COVID. And now with Sunny, you know, he's crawling around all over the place, getting into SAP, I can't really whip out the paints every day. But this is really nice. My future goal. I mean, my happy place has always been being in an art supply store that is just even going mark in the stationery aisle in the grocery store where they sell like Sharpies. And every time I would be like, maybe my mom will let me get something. Because it's just possibilities right and art supply store is just possibilities. And I went to school for fine art. And I think I always thought that I would be a working artist someday. And I realised after I got done with school that what I really liked more was organising the materials, and helping people develop their creative confidence. You know, my own creative divert endeavours, drawing and whatnot. Yeah, I love creating things for people that I love as gifts and things like that. But I never really thought that that's what I would be doing as a career. And now being in Vista, which is a very creative community. We don't have an art supply store here. You know, we have things like Michaels and Hobby Lobby, but no community to serve our community. We have nearby places like Oceanside and Escondido, which have a lot. And it would really mean a lot to me to create, like build something here in Vista. Starting small would be just an art supply store. And then thinking, you know, if you kind of let yourself think as big as you want to think right and dream. What else could it be? Could it be a space where we could have classes, right? Could we have studios for working artists to rent because we have a mobile component where we can, you know, bring supplies to communities that don't necessarily have access to our space. And it kind of hits on all of my my values my personal values, right collaboration, community.
Mark Hiddleson 23:59
health and health and well being one of the last classes I took my master's degree in holistic health was a art and transformation. And it was we were doing just acrylics on he wanted us to use canvases but we did a lot on paper just because canvases are expensive. Like speaking of the art supply store do you need the students can't it's not I didn't realise like good cameras like 60 bucks or something in the paint aren't cheap. So if you're doing this as a class and like oh, it's just a class I'm gonna do 10 paintings so we did a lot but it is in his definition of a studio is someplace you can set up all your stuff and leave it like it doesn't matter what it is you're talking about with having the baby there stuff. You can't just leave it out because they'll get into it. But like a studio because he said it doesn't matter. But just because it takes a half hour to set up that half hour you can Oh yeah. Another thing I was trying to think I'm like, man, we have a really good one in Napa. I don't know what it's called. That's like I don't I love going in there. I mean I would buy stuff I would be paying all the time kind of like heat I get is failing, like, like glue sticks because I like to take stuff, cut it out and glue it on there, you know, because I'm like, isn't it just made a mistake when I was a kid, it was like, paste and he ate it with everything, so I'm like, This is so clever, I can just do anything. But Cartons & Crates is arts or it's very good arts like hi guys call it stuff. And they do packing and shipping is like a warehouse. And so I don't know how those two things but it's kind of like the same supplies that you need tape you need, you know, a lot of the same supplies and then the business model kind of fees like you might come in to ship a few bottles of wine or you know, you can ship anything, you can ship steaks or whatever. And then you might go buy olive art supplies, or you know, or you just need whatever but it is these days, the business model, like put a toggle bill with the with the Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's the same or mobile, there's so much stuff. I love what you said COVID communities, because that's healing, like if you can bring that healing experience because it is rad. When you get these pains you get out, you get 30 You get the work clothes, like that's kind of one of the things I loved about that art class at JFK. They usually wear like a button down shirt, but I had a white shirt that was like, okay, wherever it gets on this thing, it's fine. It's gonna get and it just kind of felt cool to put that what's like a gay was now put me in a different space, like we were talking about space that you can step into and just build freedom, I get a little bit of creative freedom. So yeah, that's so cool. Yeah. So we talked about flipping the script. And in our having you asked me a few, this is gonna be a dress rehearsal for you. And I think starting I mean, I will say this about personal growth. It has been my passion for 20 years, one of the reasons I got a degree in holistic health. And this was a total shocker. Hosting the podcast for a year of them 4550 I don't know, like, well, 45 or 50. Interviews, is been the biggest personal growth experience I've just ever had. It's, it's preparing this conversation. And I've, you know, one of the things like pick the top 30 people, you want to talk to you until you make a list and just going through that list, like Sal was on that list. Kathy was on the list, you're on the list all the people and making those connections, it, I'm telling you, it's It's beyond my wildest. And it was for average, like the ROI is my company. I mean, that's, it's not free to put on a podcast. And I have like the team and the editing and everything else like that. But there's a business payoff. Like I had a client I went in, and I was thinking I'll make a good impression. I'm going back to my old days of selling, you know, and how do I get in? There's a big, big client, and this guy's vice president's a big guy, and he gets in there. He's like, Hey, man, I saw your podcast, check it out. I was like, yes, let's open the door I already kind of have. So I'll help you if you want to talk about that after. And I think you'd be it'd be awesome. And it's just a great way to make connections that work. Everything you're about really have having different conversations, you know, just the stuff that comes up. So yeah, I
Sarah Fateen 28:16
love the idea. I think it would be I think it would be great to do, you know, I like to do lots of different things. I think what I'm looking for is, you know, I don't know about you, Mark, you seem pretty self motivated. I think that this is great. Because it's collaborative, right? Yeah. And sometimes I have a hard time with motivation. And I think what I'm looking for is my creative, like, counterpart, you know, someone that I can, and maybe it's not just one person, maybe it's a group of people, you know, we moved from the Bay Area, we had really cultivated this group of friends that was more like family, you know, again, you're all moving away from your family, your friends become more like your family, your chosen family. And we knew we wanted to move so that my husband could go to grad school and we wanted to start a family we wanted to be closer to our families down here. All that said it was very hard to leave that group and communicating via video chat and phone call is lovely. I mean, I'm so grateful that we have this and my friends and I will do like virtual art hangs were both drawn me in know for pains while we're talking. I'm working on creating that here and building you know, building a group of people that I could, that could help we could be accountability, but accountability partners for each other and sort of embark on these creative journeys together. Because when I am feeling that lack of motivation, that person can help like just pull me out of it. Um, so yeah, podcasts are great. Interviewing people in general is great even talking about starting an art supply store and studio or community, whatever you want to call it. This is all just daydreams at the moment. But a big part of that will be going and finding cool places in the surrounding cities or even like you said, and other cities in Northern California, finding places that are doing it right, you know, and talking to those people, right. And maybe that's a good opportunity, right to just like, press record, and ask them some questions about their journey, and their vision and how they cultivated that sense of community and made decisions, you know, and just kind of be comfortable in that discovery phase. And I am excited about that. Yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 30:50
And it gives people access to you. But that's my thing is that, okay, had a few I've had kids that I coach in junior high basketball, because that's been one of my most passionate things of giving back to the community and everything kids have heard the podcast, and then they shot me attacks or something on Instagram and said, Hey, Coach, I heard that you know, you were talking about and the amount of connections it's available, or even if somebody can contact say, I'm interested in that, or I will your mobile thing that you talked about, and you know, my contact information is on there. And it's not like people were like, well, how many 1000s of hits are you getting? And this is the highest one we have on our blog as like 300 hits. LinkedIn gives you these metrics and everything. There's like 1700, or something on but I it's for me, there's been a couple phone calls, or like one meeting that I went to that that guy, like that was a huge win for me, of just work of doing personal work that I enjoy for the process of doing it. It's the ROI has become, I like doing this, this thing, he'd be awesome out if this is your dynamic, you have good energy, you're you have all the things of like community, like he talked about, you know, given it's not just about you, and what can you create? It's like how can you make your community a better place? These resources? So Oh, yeah, definitely. So what was something you want to ask? Ask me, or I
Sarah Fateen 32:14
want to know more about your master's degree. And well, first of all, what did you get your undergrad in? Economics? Exactly. Go ahead. I was just gonna say, and remind me what you got your master's in, in holistic health education? And what was the amount of time between those two degrees? It's
Mark Hiddleson 32:38
a trick question. And I'll tell you why. Because my undergrad, this goes under the good grey list of fuck ups, because it took me eight years to do my undergrad. And after eight years, and it wasn't, it wasn't like it took me years because I also got eight years of business experience because I worked full time that whole eight years. So like the last three, I kind of had to go to school for six months, then work for six months school for about six months of work. So when I graduated, I not only had a four year degree, I had eight years of experience, but instead of sending my diploma, they sent me a letter saying we're sorry, we made a mistake on your degree audit. And there's still two classes you have to take away. And I had already taken a really good job in this industry. Here's my sales background. And I also saw I did. I did a year in psychology my freshman year than I did two years of engineering. And I did two years of construction management. But then it was five years. And it was going to take me like another five years to do construction management. So I flunked this test. In statics. It's a class called statics and your does probably Sal's probably the only one that knows what statics but I've studied and I was kind of personally I didn't have to study in high school, I just got straight A's it was just like I get it. This is what they want the teachers but we got this thing in math where I had to study and I studied for like two or three hours for this test. And my score was like 17 out of 100 graded on the curve. And like the best score was like 43. But still, even if you put the 43 if you got to 17 That's like you suck rope. And the teacher got up and made a speech and he was like this. His name was Donald Milstein. He's like if you think if you want the easy classes at this university during the other side of the campus, and I was sitting there, I was like 2322 I was like, I didn't know there was an easier side because I've been going to school for five years. So I went to the other side and it was like philosophy, which I love philosophy, economics, humanities, you know, liberal art, all these things that I thought were really cool. But I looked at the Econ and I was like really with what I want to do with my life. I kind of have a background in drafting and engineering concepts and all this math that I'm taking calculus calculus. So I switched economics is because I was the closest my goal was, what am I the closest to graduating in? I don't care what it is. It's philosophy. Everything that turns out economics was what I was close to So that's why pink economics. So great. Ask your question, I went back. So that was 1996 that I graduated, and I'd already taken a job. So I didn't go back. I wanted to get my master's degree in 2000. So I had to go back and finish. So in 2000, I went back, finished my undergrad. And it was kind of like a permanent process, because with college, every year has a catalogue. Right? So like I was 1988, catalogue rights. And so all the rules you had, it gradually goes by that and it changes. So I went back, they're like, Well, no, now you only have to take these two classes, you got to take all this stuff, because now Yeah, and so I fought it, though. I fought it. I said, Hey, this was your guys mistake. And luckily, I still had all the documentation, everything I was approved. And I paid $25. That was one of them. I was really pissed off about this, because like, I paid $25 for a degree audit, you know, and it had this, it was by hand back, like, now everything's compete. So it's like, I'm not that old. But you filled it in my hand, and it was like three copies, and you kept a copy. And then you gave them a copy. And then there were other copies, give everybody else but like he got screwed up. So it took them a couple of weeks is like getting a permit. Right? It took them two weeks, that they got back to me to go okay, you're right. And then the two classes I took were nutrition, and metaphysics, because I couldn't take anything I wanted. And so that kind of propelled me in when I got into the metaphysics, which is kind of really like, how do we look at things and it's more of a holistic, not just logic, pure reason, a lot of like, nonlinear thought experiments. And, and I just dug that. And so that's kind of what and I actually, what intrigues me the most was studying the mind body problem, because I've been an athlete. And in science, I'm like, super scientific, but I'm also super spiritual. And I believe you can have a balance of faith and reason. So I've always wanted to just stay in that mode, like, like, I haven't figured everything out. And the metaphysics was cool, because it gets you to that point where these are the things we haven't figured out, like, we haven't figured out the mind body connection, since really, it's not two things is just one thing. We're trying to make it through things, you're never going to figure it out, because you can't have a mind without a body and will be called Mind and all these like questions, but what I really cared about was how I can use my body information techniques, you know, not just finding out oh, well, it's your neurons that connect to this, but like, what can I physically do to enhance that connection and be more integrated, I call it integrated or integral of kind of walking your talk or anything. That's what made me fascinated, and I prayed about it for a long time, because I was going back to school, I wanted to get my MBA in finance. Because I was like, well, now I've got eight years experience everything and like, I just want to make more money. Like that was that's kind of been for me. I didn't like I wasn't poor growing up or anything. But my mom was a single mom, she was a teacher. So we, you know, compared like, we probably had plenty, but I always look like since I was young, I want to make a lot of money. And not even necessarily for myself, but I want to be able to be generous, and do projects and do community service and everything so, but I prayed about it. And sometimes things is hit you. And I'm like this is obvious. Study the mind body problem, like whatever it is. Just study that because you're passionate about it. The two classes I took were nutrition and metaphysics. So that's kind of like mind and body. And I was like when I had the choice. I didn't figure this till after when I had the choice of any classes I could have taken from whole university. Those are the two that I I chose. So turning the fuck up. opportunity, opportunity. That's one of my biggest platitudes is opportunity and adversity. Or life is Bill, I had this plaque that said life is filled filled with opportunities disguised as unsolvable problems, you know. So that's how I got to Holistic Health.
Sarah Fateen 39:14
I love that mark. We've known each other for over 15 years. I never knew anything of that. I mean, we see each other for a weekend once a year and it's a party, right? Yeah. There's alcohol. There's lots of you know, activities and whatnot. We don't necessarily have the opportunity to get deep or like, talk big, but I mean this, what a lovely experience, again, to be able to learn these things about you. That's incredible.
Mark Hiddleson 39:44
Thank you. Thank you.
Sarah Fateen 39:47
And you said you were an athlete. What did you do? So,
Mark Hiddleson 39:50
my my goal, when I was about 12 years old, I was gonna be a professional athlete and I thought football player, because I've always been kind of a bigger guy. Just Strong and athletic, I had a coach, I was like 12 or 13. And he said, Man, football in these have really gifted body in a certain way, like bigger, faster than he's got, you probably, you know, the chance of being a professional player because he really have to start, what if you're going to be professional, you have to start when you're 1314, you know, like, you've looked at these Olympian athletes. And so I, I want to become a professional baseball player. And I started when I was 12. And so it was like any edge I could get. I was training, I was taking classes, I will go to clinics, and I actually learned my first meditation, they didn't call it meditation, but it was a visualisation technique of visualising yourself succeeding in sports. And it was like a Coaches Clinic. It wasn't even for 12 and 13 kids, but I was at this coaching clinic. And it was it was the coach from Cal actually, and I was writing about it in my book, and I had to go back and look at who it was. It actually turns out to be this super famous coach from Caltech. And my goal was to go to Cal I actually turned in my so so yeah, I had these these athletic experiences of dealing with and again, it was mind body, I was a pitcher. And nerves will get to you or was any sport I play basketball, baseball, and football, and I knew, if you were afraid, or things were like, your body would be trained, like he wouldn't, he wouldn't eat freeze, or he wouldn't. It's hard to it's hard to explain in sports, but if like you're self conscious, and you're the pitcher, you're screwed, there's no way you're gonna have to learn ways. And so I use this visualisation technique of just seeing myself doing it the way I practice it and rehearsed it. And I've done a lot of research since then. And there's studies that say, if you practice something in your mind, like athletic movement, even lifting weights, or throwing a ball or things if you practice it the correct way, because there's like a correct way to do things, right. And it's never usually your natural way. And if you can rehearse it, it is the same benefit as actually physically doing it. So I've just been, and I've used that kind of stuff through business. It's the same thing with business meetings, if you get in there, and you're scared. And then somebody asked a question, and you're afraid. It's like, a lot. And then you get in your car and you like, Oh, I could have said this, this this, you know, so I was to do a lot too. And that still happens to me, by the way. It's not like you do.
Sarah Fateen 42:23
You don't one day, just haven't you have like a, like a pump up routine or like a mindful, like a pre meeting warmup that you do for yourself, to get yourself in the right mindset. One
Mark Hiddleson 42:37
way to do this is Golden Chicken dead? It's a great question. And I don't I do and I don't. It's one of my favourite movies I've seen in the past few years, I watched it with Serena, my daughter is the Tony Robbins, I'm not your guru deal on Netflix. And it's funny, I'm not a big Tony Robbins fan, but I've read all of his books, then. Everything if I had opportunity to go to one of the seminars, but it's called I'm not your guru. And he had a routine for getting pumped up because he's giving a presentation to you know, 2500 people who've paid I don't know, they're expensive, they're anywhere from like 2500 to 10 grand, I think is here. So he has his thing and he dips in the pool. And he we're gonna cuss on this one. He was like, I created this motherfucker. I created this motherfucker. So I was when I was watching that. That was my I would say my my practice I have a basic practice that is pretty simple is like two to five minutes and I do it every day. And sometimes throughout the day, but it's basically centering my energy field and I have a PDF for this I can put it I have all the exact I've written it up so I can share it with other people but it's basically centering my energy in the front and the back the left and the right above and below because he tend to have all your energy in front of you because your eyes in front of you and it's like it's like what's coming at you. So it's sort of a breathing exercise is sort of a visualisation and it just helps me starting out as a meditator I'll really I've got ants in my pants like I don't want to do it and everything but working with my energy and you do actually there's an energy field you can measure and it is it can affect where your attention is little energy follows attention so I just do that kind of all the time and if I have if there's a specific so here's what here's the other thing I do that if there's something like that. I will call somebody like the other day I called you remember I said I was gonna call Sal but I figured he was on the golf course so I'm gonna call you and ask him the same outsell and it for me it's a chance to say it within a country Taner and then you know, you could play building official, you could play customer, you could play salad you could play. I don't know if any of us could play Nancy, but the longest I will. So as a practice, I'll even call my old boss, you know, somebody that I work for, you know, it's been 18 years since I started my own company. But I'll call him and say, Hey, I've got this client. It's a situation I don't want you to roleplay I call it role playing. And sometimes in certain circles, they're like, Well, who dresses up with the nurse and who dresses up as the cop? Like, all where wherever? You know what, there's people that I have? I'll call Danny. I mean, Danny Medina, I mentioned.
Sarah Fateen 45:41
Can we just take a minute to recognise the greatness that is Danny Medina, I'm so happy, I did not know that you interviewed him. I can't wait to hear that. He has also just been like, obviously, like, uncle, but also when I started, sorry, to take the focus off. Perfect. Um, when I went back, moved back from the bay and started working in the office again, he was my mentor, you know, because we just, we just, I don't know, we just like had this connection. He is also someone that is very just calm, and centred, and incredibly well spoken. And I was, I'm just so grateful for the, the connection that we shared when we were there. And we still have even now, and now his daughter works there. She's wonderful Victoria. But yeah, he's just such a fantastic human being, I really love him. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 46:43
he taught me this business. When I was I was 27, when I started working with Danny. And like I said, I was an eager beaver. But I was making a lot of mistakes too, because I was just like, he could appeal and do this. And you know, and Danny kind of harnessed it, and helped me, he taught me and he taught in. So I worked for a distributor, like in our business there is there's kind of there's like manufacturers, distributors, and customers. And I work for a distributor and you could buy it from multiple vendors, like there's multiple rack vendors to choose from. And as a distributor, they kind of have a way of like, let the factory do everything and just take whatever their quote is mark it up and sell it but don't really get involved in all of the behind the scenes, engineering prelims, or anything like that. And Danny kind of pulled me over to that manufac because he always worked for a manufacturer. And he pulled me on to that side as a sales and kind of gave me that behind the scenes education. So then when I went to clients, I was so much I knew so much more even my competitors have been doing it for 510 15 years, I was able to kind of pass their knowledge because it didn't he would coach me and I would call him and he was one of the first people Oh my gosh. Anything Yeah. Or one time like call them. I was probably one. So one of the reasons I went back to school is the economy tanked. Like I saw my income was just like, straight vertical, because I was on commission of this distributor. And then in 2000 2001, I forget what's your I had like a 40% decrease in commission from year to year? Yeah. And so I called Danny and I'm like, man, it's slow. And he was like, you know, amen. He goes, he goes, Do you have any golf clothes? Like, yeah, I bought some at a pawn shop, I wasn't really like a golfer. That's the thing I don't, I still fit in your group, even though it's a lot of golfers, but he goes, he goes, take your golf, well, he goes this business where he goes, it goes through cycles, he goes, there's going to be times where you're not going to have time to go out and do something like this. So if it's slow, just get your call. And that was one of the best that was actually stayed with me because you do get this low level anxiety of owning a company. And when you start your your pay thing to is gonna be like, okay, rent is this month is payroll is this month. So there this, I mean, even back then I was just a salesman, but I was on straight commission, so that making space to take care of yourself when you have the opportunity, and it doesn't always come when you want it. But it was I'll never forget that phone call. Because I was like, Dude, we've been crushing it three years in a row and now.com or whatever, you know, whatever the narrative was that that which I try to avoid the narrative. I mean, that's something else I do as a practice, is try not to get too much involved in. I have this graph. I'll put this on there too. So like your human potential goes like this. It's a curve that goes up and up and up like that, like that's your pure potential as a human. And if you're really into personal growth and everything, it really looks like this. And there's these other curves down here. One of them is the social narrative. And the social narrative just kind of goes up and down. So if you write that, it's going to pull you down. And then the other narrative is like your body like you're talking like, like there's times just don't feel like it. It was like, people whenever it's on this, they never believe it. There's time I had a conversation one time with a, it was a supplier somebody and he goes, he goes, just call him and work your magic. And I was like, You know what, I'm tired of the fucking magic. I don't want to do the magic. It's like waterwell is but then he goes, he goes to be a good friend of mine, a supplier that I work with. And he said, You know what? He's like the magic. So what it's all about? He goes, he goes, if that's the way you feel, then you know, and that sort of thing. I've been surrounded by the people. That's why I got really emotional when I read your thing. Your pre interview questions, because I think of the people like Danny Ron style, Jeanne, that they've just given me way more grace. And that was the one thing I was trying was like, what is it about South? What is it? What does he have, he just has enough grace for himself. And enough that just has overflowed on me so much that I'm like, wow, that's the kind of people I want to be around. That's the kind of person that I want to be. But sometimes I do know, my body just said, so don't follow your body. That's my other thing too. And for me, if I make a commitment, and I don't feel like fulfilling that commitment, most of the time, I'll do it anyways. And then it ends up paying off. But don't follow your body or biological because the biological goes up and down. And the social goes up and down. But your potential you're fucking up and learning fucking up and learning.
Sarah Fateen 51:43
Trend is always upward. Yeah, just like, yeah, yeah, I remember talking to Nancy. So my sister Nancy, also, you know, health and wellness is her driving force. And we did, she does this thing every year called 75. Hard. 75. Hard is a mental toughness challenge that you do for 75 days, you have this set of rules, like you have to do two workouts a day for at least 45 minutes. One of them has to be outside. You have to read 10 pages of a nonfiction, inspirational book, cetera, et cetera. And I've never been like fitness forward. I mean, I might dabble occasionally. She's always she's just very constant. And I remember starting it and then talking to her, like, had I just like really lost my motivation after 10 or 12 days or something like how do you? I was like, Nancy, how do you continually want to do it every day? She's like, you think I want to do it every day? She's like, Oh, no, there are definitely like, I There are days that I don't want to get up early. And like, it's dark out. There's a time change, like, get up and work out. And she's like, I just do it anyway, you know. And I just hearing her say that knowing that there were times where she wanted to say no, and just like stay curled up in bed was like, Oh, we're not that different. You still feel it too. You just power through it. I thought that she just had this like, endless energy, you know what she has in her own regard? That she always wanted to do it? And she was like, Absolutely not. I am chasing the feeling that it gives me not like the action of like, Oh, I love working out. It's I love how it makes me feel. And if you can focus on that good feeling and not the actual thing itself. It's an it's a lot on Wednesday, easier to stay motivated. But I am a lot less hard on myself and give myself more grace, for sure. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 53:46
yeah, there's the don't beat yourself up. We're going we're getting close to the end to unless like we could go another half hour. But I'm really glad you brought that up because Nancy has been on to she was one of my first interviews. And she started to get into that 75 Day Challenge. And I I was nervous. It was one of my first ones. And then I kind of stopped but I wanted to go more into that. I'm glad you did. Because it is in the more you do it. The more you know what that feeling is after I got into the kind of the same pattern with lifting, like I lift weights, I started lifting weights to be a better athlete. Then as I got older it was to stay in shape then my 40s it was to prevent injury because like the more muscle because I'm falling down. You know, I'm trying to do surfing and motorcycle off road everything it's like but it really it's a mental and I kind of got out of it. It's funny during the pandemic I laugh and it's because I hate excuses. And I use the pandemic as an excuse there were some events that I was going to be in for competing to train and like cycling, you know, and it keeps me really fit to be training because I know I'm gonna be riding a bike to 64 miles, it's like you don't miss one of those days. Because you don't want to be going straight up the hill, and then you don't have the legs for it. So for me, I've used those. So the race got cancelled. So then I didn't train. And now I'm like, That's the opposite of what I believe in. Like my, if you looked at my list of values is like train weather train to the rain train for the game. But something about the pandemic was my business or my family or just not leaving, like, I don't know, it was a weird funk, I gained about 15 pounds and just about a probably lost half of it. I'm not the type person trying to lose it all. But like, I just, it took me three years to put it on, like, I'm gonna take it off, and the next three years gonna be more proactive. But I got out of it, and I got out of lifting weights, and I get so much like when I'm done, I don't feel like lifting. I never feel like lifting. I don't say that sometimes I do. But nine times out of 10 I don't but then after the feeling after it's a it's it's almost sometimes it's just good to lift heavy shit.
Sarah Fateen 56:08
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So yeah, you gotta move your body, you got to, you know, push it to its limit sometime and, and keeping commitments to yourself always feels good. build
Mark Hiddleson 56:23
trust with yourself. That's exactly it, you may consider building trust in yourself. And once you trust yourself, other people are just automatically I mean, that's a make a lot of micro commitments of, you know, things and when to do in. And just as the practice of making a commitment, it's like, make a commitment and keep it make it commitment and keep it in their micro commitments. And you just keep trying not to make too many to my wife. Crown me and five.com through on it, but not to myself. Yeah, it's commitment. That's another thing that I would put under prep, you know, more than like a pregame, but I do do a pregame it's not as good as Tony Robbins. To stay prepared is to just be surrounded by beautiful people like you. That's the secret to be able to call
Sarah Fateen 57:17
calls millionaires in this. This definitely, is picking up the phone and just calling someone. Right. Um, I think my husband filled is really good at that. Right? he'll, he'll, you know, we'll be on the ride home from dinner. It'll be maybe seven minutes. And he's like, Should we call the end? Should we call Trevor? And I was like, Oh, we only have seven minutes. You know, and in my head, I think cuz I'm just so long winded. I'm always like, Okay, we're gonna need at least an hour just to cover the base of what's going on and how we're feeling about it. But he's like, No, you just because most of the time, especially if you're just going to call someone like they might not have a lot of time to give. And you can really get a lot in just that seven minute conversation. And I'm trying to really do that more like just pick up the phone and call people. Especially now having kids like friends, having kids is harder and harder to schedule a time to have an hour and a half long form discussion. You know, you might only get a quick 20 minutes when you're cooking dinner or something like that. And that is way better than Yeah, so I totally am a big proponent of yeah, just pick up the phone and call someone and
Mark Hiddleson 58:26
get that energy, you know? Yeah. And give that energy. So anything else you want to ask me? For? I have I have a final question. I have two final questions, actually. Especially for you. Okay. Do you have any? Um,
Sarah Fateen 58:43
well, you know, I kind of want to talk about my my parents a little bit. But before that, I don't want to know, I guess I want to know more about you and Casey and, and your history. How did you guys be? And I know that I think last year was your 25 year wedding anniversary? And how do you continue to stay connected with each other after all this time? Because obviously, I love Casey, she's amazing. And like this ball of energy. And yeah, I want to know more about your relationship. So
Mark Hiddleson 59:17
I could lie and say he's easy. So the first thing I'll say is, is there was something that I heard so Casey and when we met we were both we were in our late 20s And we'd known each other for mutual friends before but I had kind of been through relationships and divorce. I mean, I was kind of a totally different person from the time I was 20 You know, till I was 30 or my late 20s. And I kind of I was in this thing where I was like, I'm just gonna date I'm just gonna permanently date because I had messed up my relationships and it was you know, my first wife was an angel. It wasn't her fault people like all you know, it's always two ways and everything like that and I Have you probably inputted under that we had the list of the fuck ups and what you learned from it. But I was just like, I'm not going to make that commitment again, you know, I'm not going to take that chance because and looking back, I didn't know at the time, I just didn't have the emotional maturity. And so I was like, I had a really good job. I graduated from school, I was making a lot of money, I was like, I'm just going to be a bachelor for the rest of my life. Because this is a lifestyle like to live parties. Lots of people not really commitments of, you know, I won't say the obvious, obvious things that are in the unwritten fine print of a relationship. And Casey kind of looked me up, she knew that I was working at this car dealership, and Davis arrived at the end of going to school, and we just kind of connected to be friends. It wasn't and I was telling, I'm like, I'm got a jetski or got lots of girlfriends, I liked the party, we got this place in Folsom. I went to school in Sacramento, and I had this jetski I would take it to work with me, because I get off at three and I would just go that get a group of people go the Folsom Lake, it's amazing. Then the people who I would pull up, and because I was in the car business, and it takes a long time to do a deal. And people save Look, I don't have all day Mr. Burgess didn't want to go well see that jetski over there. I was like, I want to get on the lake as soon as it's done. So we're gonna put your deal in the fast lane. So we just started, you know, kind of creating the friendship. And she had Cody at the time, Cody was two or three. And it was kind of, I get really emotional when I talk about it. But I felt I fell in love with Cody and Casey at the same time. And it wasn't something that I even saw coming. We just had this great, energetic connection. He was super Ikki was an avatar of a kid. He was two or three years old. And I was playing catch with him on football because I was like 2728. And it's just like, well, what can this you know, what is everything I could dish I was just I fell in love with Cody and Casey. And it was it was wild. And it's been a wild ride, I would say
Sarah Fateen 1:02:16
we're never stopped
Mark Hiddleson 1:02:18
working on it again. And I didn't marry Casey because I could live with her. That's the other thing that I didn't marry because I could live with her. I married her because I couldn't live without her. And it's it's amazing how two people when you're together and we spend a tonne of time together and she's involved in the business. A lot of times when we launched when we came in, as couples, we probably spend more time than anybody I know. And we have different paradigms. And we just she has a lot of grace. And and I'm working on it. You know, it's but it's a partnership. She has been a great mom. I mean, there's still in our kids. I mean, our kids have been like we have the most amazing kids. And it's mostly because of her, you know, and I would say it's at least 5050. But like as a mom, I mean a mom is different a mom they have secrets, the environment that our kids grew up in and I don't know, it's just it's just been on. We've had a lot of fun. We've travelled together we you know, we just continue to create memories, friends, you know what? Having friends like salad Genie. I mean, let's segue into that. There was your it was your, I'm gonna throw Salma on, I can do this. But we were just sharing stories like Sal and I are a lot alike in the way we look at things. And he seems to be able to talk to your mom and Zuni she's like, Oh my God, she's like he just described mark. Like, that's smart. That's smart. But we both were kind of in the same. And we were in the same business. It's not because of that we have a vision of I don't know what it is building, expanding, focusing on other things, but it's to have those kinds of friendships where you just say, Hey, I'm going through that to you, sister. I got me one of those. And he's also found
Sarah Fateen 1:04:13
valuable to have friends that you can be honest with about maybe the not so glamorous parts of being in a relationship. And, you know, I think that's amazing that you guys have that that's really incredible. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 1:04:32
and it's the friendship. It's the and we were talking, you know, divorce is like 50% or 7% whatever it is. We were looking at our friend group of the people were the people we go motorcycle camping with the people that you know, are friends everything. It's like we're like 95% Well, it's not because you know, we're all knuckleheads. It's not what didn't we're not geniuses. It's just
Sarah Fateen 1:04:58
we keep trying to keep
Mark Hiddleson 1:05:01
learning from the mistakes, you know, the fuck ups of which I've made a lot of. That's why my career doesn't like this. I've learned from every mistakes on my career to learn from this, but like that, it's because of all the mistakes, if I would have made less mistakes that occur would have been like this, because they were all learning opportunity. But it? That's a great question, too. I didn't say because I felt I felt a little bad. I didn't see it going. That's a great question. Thank you that that? That is a great question.
Sarah Fateen 1:05:34
Great, I'm, I think that our partners are so much a part of us. And I feel I mean, I feel like I can't talk about myself without talking about Phil, you know, or even my family. So, obviously, yeah, I think Casey is such a magical being. And I love hearing about how people are still, how can you still be best friends? After 25 years of marriage, you know, and kids and building a business and life is so can be really difficult sometimes. And my grandpa always used to say that used to say life is difficult. It's the death of a chair go into something. I'm eight years old, a ribeye that, and now it's like, Oh, yes. And, you know, my mom always wants to remind me that life is beautiful, too. And for sure, it is both in his equal parts both. And I think if you have a partner that can help you, you know, stay on the same team and remind you of that. I think that's a beautiful thing.
Mark Hiddleson 1:06:42
Yeah, and you just another thing alone, people could take this the wrong way, that's fine. But we had the same. Faith is the best word that I can use describe it. I don't mean faith as like a superstitious faith in like invisible, but like a faith that the right things were happening for us at the right time. Like we didn't plan for this to happen. We just had faith that like this kind of relationship, this kind of closeness, this kind of intimacy, this kind of it was just tables of energy. Like you said, She's the energy. And people with a lot of her friends who said nobody could ever handle being married to you, and nobody could ever probably use your scene as a lot on our personal side. And a lot of people who've only seen the personal side, haven't seen them as business. They don't realise like, oh, yeah, this guy runs a business. He's got 30 jobs going the same route he's doing. But I think well, just party animal. But we're both really serious about the serious stuff and fun about the fun stuff, I guess, you know, but it was the energy and it was undeniable and it wasn't like Yeah, and so I'm really the top 25 years. Yeah,
Sarah Fateen 1:07:51
it's nine years. Amazing. Congratulations. Yeah,
Mark Hiddleson 1:07:55
it feels amazing. Like my favourite. I didn't know if I was going to tell the story or not. But the first time I met Phil, we were at a party we were by the swimming pool in Palm Springs Hotel. Like it was the Hyatt or something. And we've had a few drinks the last time it's ever happened they have pictures of vodka and soda with like raspberry pictures. And
Sarah Fateen 1:08:18
that can I just say that seems like a a team that's like a sizzle and mentioned that's not like the hotel passing amount. I think that was a thing. Okay, so you don't have to come back here 10 times within the next 30 minutes. And we just have a picture. I love that. That's all
Mark Hiddleson 1:08:33
we had a few of those in Palm Springs in July or June. So you got to do come faster to get hot. So anyways, we've had a few and fills in a piece of pizza and has slipped out of his hand and it fell on the pool. And like a ninja Navy SEAL. He grabbed it quickly and just immediately shovel up like I love this guy. So ever since then, I mean, we've seen him jump off buildings. I think that was the time he jumped. Gosh, I
Sarah Fateen 1:09:03
think that was the same the same kids on the roof.
Mark Hiddleson 1:09:06
Yeah, he snuck our kids on the roof of the Marriott during the thing. I mean, I love love love bill. Yeah.
Sarah Fateen 1:09:16
Yeah, that's a great story. And yeah, he's, I love that He's so silly. And he is totally someone that works very hard. He has some of the best work ethic of anyone that I've ever known. And just like my dad and my sister, you know, and he learned from his dad. And yeah, I can't think of anyone better suited for me. That's for sure. I say that all the time. When I'm doing something ridiculous. I just stop and look at him. I'm like, Thank you for loving me. Be able to put up with it. And yeah, I mean to that point that you were saying earlier, we got to a place in our relationship. And I swear I said this first And he now we tell him he's like I said that I was like, no, no, I I was, you know, after a while, yeah, that means it's gonna last. Yeah. One day I was like, I realised like I had a very conscious realisation that this was before we got married or even engaged, that there was no more like, what happens if we break up? It was like, how are we going to get through this? You know, and I, and he is he, he says that it was his idea. But I think it just speaks to the fact that we felt the same way. Just on the same page. From day one, we were also friends first ran in the same circles saw each other separately in relationships, like, good, bad or indifferent. Like you saw, from a really objective standpoint, how this person could be with other people. And then, you know, we came together. And we I think the timing was just right. But yeah, it was. We think about that, you know, when we have issues now, it's not. You never even think about your life. Without that. We're just like, how are we going to get through this and be on the same team and be stronger than we were before? He's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a
Mark Hiddleson 1:11:12
you guys are great leaders. So here's, here's why he both think it was your idea, because great leaders will lead their team and the team will think they did it themselves. So you both think. So it was your idea that he thinks it's his idea. You're a great leader, because he was like, Do you think it's your idea? It's like, you guys are great team. And no marriage is it's a spiritual, you know, relationship, meaning my definite spiritual, it's pulling yourself to your highest potential. That's the other thing. It's been really humbling. It's like, if I have a problem, something or issue, it's an opportunity, first of all, I'm going to use the word problems, like I'm gonna throw that out. It's a challenge. So we'll throw that it's an opportunity. And going through that process. You know, she's the best. She knows the best version of me better than I do, almost, I guess, is one way to look at it. And I'm constantly living into that and being humbled to be you know, I'm so good out. So good husband, and every vessel got a long way to go. To get the temporary.
Sarah Fateen 1:12:15
Yeah, we are. Exquisite works in progress. Yeah.
Mark Hiddleson 1:12:23
So we're getting close. I want to ask you anything. Any other questions you'd have for me? I'll
Sarah Fateen 1:12:28
because mine is. I'm not off the top. Okay.
Mark Hiddleson 1:12:36
So I like to ask, is there any new tech that year or first of all, what's your favourite podcast?
Sarah Fateen 1:12:41
Oh, I love puck. I love like so much. Um, well, very hard to pick just one. But the newest one that I've fallen in love with is called MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries. And it's just all of these bizarre stories from history. And every episode is just a short, maybe 30 or 45 minute mystery where they tell the story of the person and the family. And of course, eventually the the reveal of what was going on. And I don't know like I love true crime, right? That was how I got into. That was like my main introduction to podcast. But after a while, right to time, I don't know, it gets a little stale. There's only so many. I'm like, I can't listen to another fucking story about a serial killer. I don't care. It's all like senseless, horrible way to do really like is a mystery. And for whatever reason, medical mysteries and like, the history of medical innovation, and like body snatching for the purpose of medical exploration, like it's so gritty and dark, and, like, wonderfully fascinating. So it's, that's a new podcast. It's only a couple of weeks in and I'm just like, chomping at the bit for more. I can't wait every Tuesday. There was one this morning and I was very excited about that. So my new jam.
Mark Hiddleson 1:14:13
So any other ones? Yeah. So what's another couple besides that, and I'll put a link to him on the show notes. Yeah. So everything we talked about if there's a resource or anything, I'll put a link to it in the show notes.
Sarah Fateen 1:14:24
So the show notes people.
Mark Hiddleson 1:14:27
Mr. Ballen?
Sarah Fateen 1:14:29
MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries. Another one is lighter, right? Because you got to balance. I learned that going deep in the true crime podcast for years. You got to get some humour in there. There's a show called Bananas. And it's just weird news. It's these two guys. One of them is a comedian and curved brown colour. And then this other guy, Scotty Landis. He's a comedy writer. They're just so funny. Their best friend is light hearted. And it just like, you know, Ontario Man has caught smuggling 21 pigeons in his pants going through airport security. So it's nice and light, right? And it's a great palate cleanser in between all of the Heavyweight.
Mark Hiddleson 1:15:15
Nice. So you use it as
Sarah Fateen 1:15:18
well. I was gonna say Heavyweight is another great podcast. Oh Heavyweight? Yeah, that's that's like human interest stories just people telling telling their tale, right? Yeah, I could go on and on but those those three are have been really hitting hard lately I think awesome
Mark Hiddleson 1:15:37
and that's a so a lot of so that we have one of our yard manager listens to podcasts for entertainment. I really liked the Joe Rogan podcast but I've only listened to it about five times because there three hours I get. I get into it. And I could watch it every day because it's so interesting the difference and he kind of was the father of podcasting and he wasn't sure if it was going to take off but he just had the idea of getting his friends started with his friends in around like UFC and the things in martial arts and what he's passionate about. And he's a stand up comedian. And it's good. I love comedy, because it's a way to talk about the tough, tough things and kind of make fun of it. So they're not really taken aside and even if somebody posts those like Okay, can we really talk about them and you don't have to you can just laugh and go yeah, that hurts. This is so and he's gonna laugh. You gotta laugh. Yeah. Laughter is the best medicine. Sarah, this is so awesome. Speaking of laughing we had we had some good fun. I told you this was gonna be fun. You were such a great guest. Thank you for coming.
Sarah Fateen 1:16:42
Thank you. I'm honoured to be here. amongst the ranks of even you know, all of the people that I think are so incredible. My dad, my sister, Danny, I'm sure you'll get my mom. She's got a V neck. Yeah. Yeah. She really she is like, you know, she's wonderful. Because she knows that everybody has something remarkable about them. And she wants to like, figure out what it is right? She'll talk to you for hours. And I love that about her. And I feel she is my connection to the two of you. I mean, maybe it was business that brought to you in but in my eyes, like Genie is the connective force between you and Casey and us. Like, I feel like that brings them in and like Genie keeps him there, you know, with the late night conversations, like gin and tonics and cigarettes. So I would love to hear what you guys have to say. Yeah, I feel very blessed to be here. Thank you so much for your time.
Mark Hiddleson 1:17:51
Yeah, this was awesome. Thank you.
Outro 1:17:52
Thanks for listening to The Tao of Pizza Podcast. We'll see you again next time and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.
תגובות