Joey: Hey Ryan Denham, thanks for coming in.

Ryan: Absolutely.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Joey: Came in on a Saturday.

Ryan: Came in on a Saturday.

Joey: But you guys are open on Saturdays, so it's work.

Ryan: We are, but closed on Sundays.

Joey: You're used to working. That's why I didn't call you in on Sunday.

Ryan: Closed on Sundays.

Joey: Yeah. Plus, you'll be busy spinning on Sunday. You'll be.

Ryan: I will be spinning it. True ride.

Joey: That's right.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: And hopefully I'll be right next to you.

Ryan: Sweating.

Joey: I missed last weekend.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: And it's kind of funny. So, there was this point where Becky was like, let's go, let's go. And I'm like, "Ugh, I don't want to go." And then suddenly, I started going. I'm feeling pretty good. And then all of a sudden this happened where when I would miss a day for something legitimate, like, there's logistically that, I kind of like, man, I feel bad. I didn't ride my bike today.

Ryan: You feel a little guilty.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: You're like, I should've been there.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: Kind of a little bit Jones in for that biker's.

Ryan: That fix.

Joey: Is that what I was going to say biker's high?

Ryan: Fix.

Joey: Is that what it is? So I went this morning. I don't know about you.

Ryan: I treadmill.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: But I get off the treadmill, you know, three and a half miles. I'm like, Oh, I feel like my blood is flowing now.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: I can get the day started.

Joey: Are we, wait. On the treadmill, is that a run or a walk?

Ryan: That's a 6.8 run.

Joey: Whoa. That's a run.

Ryan: It's like under a 9 minute mile.

Joey: Is that what it did? Okay. Yeah. I get, hey, that's legit, man. I don't.

Ryan: Yeah, but I will go like, but here's what I do. I'll go for three or four minutes and then stop for a minute. Go for three or four minutes. Stop for a minute. Someone said that it's better to do it that way.

Joey: You mean full-blown stop, or do you mean slow down that three and a half?

Ryan: No, like slow down to like a fast walk.

Joey: Yeah. Like what, four miles an hour?

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: I don't know about runner's high. I've never had a runner's high. The Marine Corps made me hate running, but I have had a swimmer's high, and part of it's because you're holding your breath and exerting yourself. There's some combination of like. You come out cool.

Ryan: Then like a release at the end.

Joey: Yeah, and you're like, you're kind of lightheaded. You're feeling good.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: You're kind, but I think it's because, not just the physical exertion, I think it's because you're holding, that pattern of holding your breath and stuff.

Ryan: Right. Yep.

Joey: You know, we had Adam McElvain on, and he was talking about a couple of different things. One of them was a local internet. We need more locally owned businesses for the money.

Ryan: Skin in the game.

Joey: Yes. The money stays here.

Ryan: Take the risk.

Joey: And, you know.

Ryan: Yeah. A high-speed downtown.

Joey: Exactly, which would be that all the money would stay right here versus now with Charter and AT&T. I mean, I know there's some. I'm going to get bashed for this one. I know there are some AT&T and Charter employees here in town.

Ryan: Sure.

Joey: But the vast majority of the money leaves. And so the more we can talk about, everyone has an economic plan. The more you can work to keep the money in this area, the greater the economic plan.

Ryan: A rising tide lifts all ships.

Joey: There you go. Have you been in business before you were born?

Ryan: Well before I was born.

Joey: Well before you were born.

Ryan: So, our family business started in the mid 1940s, at Pine and Tehama Street.

Joey: Really.

Ryan: Is where we were originally at DeSoto Plymouth dealer. And then, in 1948, my grandfather started construction on North Market Street. And at that point, that was actually outside the city limits. The city limits ended at the Sacramento River, and he moved his DeSoto Plymouth dealership and body refinishing business out to North Market Street in April of 1949. From there, Dad gets involved in the business, and it grows. I got involved in the business in 2001. And it's continued to have some great and some not-so-great years as the economy goes.

Joey: That's the way it goes.

Ryan: And here we are, let's see, we're.

Joey: 68 years, going on 69 years later?

Ryan: No, no, no. We're.

Joey: Did I do my math wrong?

Ryan: 70, we're 73 years.

Joey: Someone needs to take night courses in math.

Ryan: 73 years.

Joey: Okay, I was going off when you actually built it. You'd, okay.

Ryan: Yeah. So, I started from being a new car dealer in 1945.

Joey: Got it.

Ryan: Plymouth DeSoto to where we are in 2017.

Joey: I was doing the whole thing at that location.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: And you guys have another location though, you have a.

Ryan: We do. We also have a collision repair center. We operate Hertz rental cars.

Joey: Uh-huh.

Ryan: Two locations in Redding. And then we have a presence in Siskiyou County and Mount Shasta. It's a great community, and we've had that since 2004.

Joey: That's a small, little community.

Ryan: Small community, small town. They need the sales tax revenue. The jobs are important, and it's a fantastic community like Redding.

Joey: Yeah. It's been a while since I went up there, and I went skiing a couple of years ago when we had that really good after. It was, was it two winters ago?

Ryan: Yeah. We've had years up there. We've had five-six feet of snow in downtown Mount Shasta. So that creates its challenges.

Joey: Yeah. I grew up in Alaska. I had more than enough of my share of snow. I like it. Mount Shasta's a great place to go for me in July.

Ryan: It is.

Joey: Outside. Outside.

Ryan: And it's an hour's drive and you're back home.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Makes it easy.

Joey: Nice shadow of an active volcano, and then you come back to get a little, little further.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: So you guys have been in business for 75 years, and your business spans quite a bit. I mean, you just said you collision and you do rental cars and.

Ryan: Service, parts, tires.

Joey: The whole vertical.

Ryan: The whole vertical. Our goal in business is that we, our focus on business is that we don't want to be just one service to you. As our customers, we want to be able to handle all of your automotive needs. And that's really starting with my dad and moving on to how my dad and I run our business together. We looked at ways in business that we can continue to grow to provide needed services to our customer base that we already have, and that continues to grow.

Joey: So you know the importance of local business.

Ryan: Absolutely.

Joey: What that has on the economy. What are some things that are going on right now with Redding? Are there any mechanisms in play that you know about to help local businesses thrive?

Ryan: Well, I've had the good fortune of being the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce with Jake Mangas for the last 11 months. There's a real focus on the redevelopment of downtown Redding. Making downtown the hub of business. Not just where you come during the day but making it a 24-hour-a-day functioning, living downtown, breathing city. You've got the K2 development, you've got the McConnell Foundation heavily vested in downtown. You've got a downtown-specific plan to reopen Market Street, where the mall used to be. There are a lot of things happening all at once, and they can come together in a way that really strengthens our downtown and gets people to invest in downtown Redding.

Joey: So there's plans in play. Are these like concrete, like they will happen, or there's still?

Ryan: These are concrete like the K2 development is the purchase of the Dicker's building by Daniel Knot and K2 properties. McConnell has purchased the old police station.

Joey: That's right.

Ryan: Is purchasing the Bell Lounge.

Joey: Oh, very good.

Ryan: They're in talks on how to redevelop the California Street parking garage. You've got development clothing and retail coming back to downtown.

Joey: Absolutely.

Ryan: So you've got people talking, how do we best develop the parking for downtown with ride-sharing and bicycle riding and walking? How do we tie that into our river trail system? So there's a lot of moving pieces and a lot of engagement by many different groups right now, which for me is very exciting because people really have a vested interest in seeing the strength of Redding being the strength and growth of downtown just like you're downtown.

Joey: Exactly.

Ryan: You could have your office anywhere, but you obviously believe in downtown because you like the way it feels.

Joey: The location. Convenience.

Ryan: It's fun to be downtown. It's convenient.

Joey: And there's an energy.

Ryan: It's centrally located.

Joey: You know, there's energy. Seeing young people plus, you know, downtown, I'm really interested in, I just heard about Jamie. I don't know if he closed the deal, but I think Jamie Lynn.

Ryan: Jamie Lynn is in escrow in the Americana.

Joey: Exactly.

Ryan: To do a development of a boutique-type hotel setting, mixed-use with loft apartment living.

Joey: Something about, like, I think, student housing perhaps, or something like that.

Ryan: Student housing. So.

Joey: And I know this is outside of the range of downtown, but again, talking about the development of Redding. I should know more before I ask this question, but Bethel is doing something with a university.

Ryan: There's a proposal on the table that Bethel would build an almost a hundred million dollar campus.

Joey: That sounds insane.

Ryan: Basically straight across the highway from Simpson University. Now, that would be a fantastic development for our community. But it also creates a greater influx of students entering their school. And those students all need places to live.

Joey: No, absolutely.

Ryan: And we already have a highly impacted rental market for Redding. So, there will be increased demand there as this project progresses.

Joey: Some of the hotels and motels aren't running properly, and we're starting to see that switch hands, like you said with Jamie Lynn, and then I've heard.

Ryan: You had the Redding Inn.

Joey: Yes.

Ryan: Down on Pine Street. Which they're working to find a buyer, and does that get leveled? Does it get redeveloped? What happens there? But there's a lot of interest in making that work to rehab that project or make it something new.

Joey: Socioeconomics a lot of the ills we have, it's around socioeconomics. And so whenever you have an area that is financially depressed, all kinds of things happen, and crime goes up. And I'm trying to remember the real estate term for, what is it? Oh, good lord. I hate that when you can't think of the word.

Ryan: The real estate term.

Joey: The real estate term is when something physically deteriorates, and it brings down the entire local, its external obsolescence.

Ryan: I know what you mean.

Joey: Yeah. The bottom line is that when people don't have money, they don't take care of things. Suddenly, that brings down the value, and it's like a disease. And the flip side of it is, if somebody can come in and start the ball rolling towards developing cleaning up, that raises the value and attracts more and more people.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: That's why I liked the downtown high-speed internet. That was great because it could attract outside companies.

Ryan: To come in.

Joey: To come in and invest and make it financially worth it. And then they're going to bring in high-paying jobs. They will bring in the engineers and the entire infrastructure around some of these definitely dotcom or at least internet-heavy-based businesses. And then that opens up a lot like.

Ryan: Yeah, for businesses to say, I have to have a baseline, I have to have that tool in my business no matter where I'm at.

Joey: And they're trying, and they pay salaries that in Redding families can live off of, but down in the Bay Area, they can't. There are four people in an apartment, but you'd come here, and you can buy a home.

Ryan: Yeah. You want to pay salaries to people who can buy a home and selfishly can buy a car. Those are all important things.

Joey: That's the American dream. And they have things like a seven-minute commute.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: Versus a 57 minute commute. I will say that we will have to come up with a parking slew. Something is going to have to address the parking.

Ryan: We are.

Joey: I would like anything you mentioned about foot traffic. Something that promotes people getting out and walking around and riding their bikes. That's one thing I've really liked.

Ryan: Is this like. This city is very rideable. It really is.

Joey: It's getting better and better. This morning, they had the superhero run the casa.

Ryan: The casa ran down in the Pacific.

Joey: Yeah. Saw everybody running down there. So there's putting trails like that. So it'd be nice to know that that's part of the plan to get people out and about.

Ryan: Yeah. And you should see that downtown parking plan come together towards the end of this year, is what I've heard. So it's been, they've hired a consultant, and it's being studied, and how does it work with opening up Market Street again? How's that flow? How do we suddenly open up some of the side streets?

Joey: They've done quite a bit. So you're saying that they're talking about pushing Market Street all the way through again.

Ryan: Push Market Street back through again.

Joey: Oh, wow.

Ryan: So where it tees over here that would push back through.

Joey: I'll put you on the spot. Do you know much about the Lorenz park? There's been, I've heard 20 different things. Do you know anything about that?

Ryan: Well, so yeah. Todd Franklin is trying to do a food truck with an outdoor beer garden with live music. And my understanding is there's been some protests by neighbors around that area.

Joey: Really?

Ryan: Concerned about alcohol and drinking outdoors.

Joey: Well, I was over there. I used to have an office over there. I can't imagine that. I remember when we had Market Fest.

Ryan: I think right now it's a park that's not really maintained and that has a fence around it. And let's try something and see if it works.

Joey: Try something that gets people down there and using it and has a tax base.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: I know everybody hates taxes, but that is how you, that's how you get these sidewalks.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: That's how you keep the lights on.

Ryan: But ultimately, too, a safer downtown is having more people downtown.

Joey: Absolutely. More lighting, more people.

Ryan: It goes hand in hand.

Joey: Yeah. More foot traffic.

Ryan: You know talking about our business. One way I've been brought up in our business and really learned this from my father at a young age and from my grandfather is that what we promote in our business, no matter what your role is, we don't really care what your title is. If there's dirt on the ground, weeds to be pulled, or cars to be washed, you get out and do it. The job's going to be done. It's not about finger pointing saying, this is your job, this is your job. That's not my job. Get the job done and move on. That's what we promote within our business.

Joey: Well, your grandfather was part of the greatest generation. That's the whole of World War II.

Ryan: Yep.

Joey: The Great Depression Generation. And they.

Ryan: Yep. Came from an eighth-grade education and was very mechanically gifted—just hard work and doing the right thing.

Joey: That was their formula.

Ryan: This is how he built his business.

Joey: Yeah. Their formula was like, put your shoulder down.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: Into the grindstone.

Ryan: There was no, there was no marketing genius. There was no special logo or coupon. It was.

Joey: What?

Ryan: Simply hard work.

Joey: Yeah. And that's it. That.

Ryan: Hard work gets in. You develop relationships within your community, which is extremely important. With things that my dad's involved in, with things that I'm involved in. It's networking. It's giving back to your community. If customers are going to choose to do business with us, the least we can do is continue to give back to our community to make it a better place.

Joey: They reciprocate.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: And it started, you started young. I mean, you were going into the dealership. We discussed a picture of you as a little kid in a suit.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: And you're going with your grandfather.

Ryan: Yeah, I used to pal around with my grandfather, and it was fun. And, I'd watch him and how he worked. I'd pal around with my dad and loved being around the business. I got away from it and went into corporate America for about five or six years after college. And corporate America certainly has its positives, but I wanted to control more of my destiny. And being self-employed is really how you do that. So that's what brought me back here in 2001.

Joey: So being self-employed, though, you've got the risks and the rewards.

Ryan: Certainly there are risks and rewards. One of my most important roles as a business owner is to make sure the 73 to 74 people we employ every week get a paycheck. Because those 70 some people are looking to me for stability and growth of our business.

Joey: So, to young people who are thinking about what it is like, that might want to be an entrepreneur or start a business, what are some lessons learned? Like the big ones? Like hey.

Ryan: I will tell you it's always great to have a mentoring business. My father's my mentoring business, and to this day, I can get together, sit down with him, talk to him, and say, Hey, Dad, I've got, I can go left, or I can go right, which way should I go? And he said, well, here's the deal. If you go left, da da, da. If you go right, ba, ba, ba. And chances are he's encountered the same challenge I have in his career. And he said, "Hey, I learned from that, and I did this." So really having that mentor person, to be able to call on, not as per se a backstop, but as a person that can say, you know what, maybe I can help you make a decision that will not cost you as much as it could have if you went a different direction.

Joey: Anything else? That's good. Mentor. So a mentor's a good one, but.

Ryan: Mentor's a good one. Work hard. You have to be a person also to listen to people. Sometimes, people get into business, and they think they know everything. And the reality is, I don't think in any business, no matter its size, that you ever stop learning. So you're going to listen to your customers, you're going to listen to your employees, you're going to listen to your competition, and learn from it and be observant and try to make good rational decisions.

Joey: Are there any, are there any tools that you have outside? Like are you, are there any books that you or that you've read?

Ryan: No, I'm actually not a big reader.

Joey: No?

Ryan: I never have been, a huge reader. Certainly, with the onset of email and websites, there are all kinds of best practices and things out there. But really it's listening to our customers, what they want, what they demand. 20 years ago, the World Wide Web was a new thing in our business, and it is now the focal part of how our business is displayed and presented to people.

Joey: Really. Sure. Even with you being such a local presence, the web is still.

Ryan: Local. Well, there is the local, and there are the people now that are out of market shopping into our market that we previously never had access to. Cars.com, autotrader.com, Craigslist, the list goes on and on, and for as big of a challenge as possible in our business, it's also a huge asset because I can now market myself locally, but it goes everywhere.

Joey: Do you see, this one might be out there a lot. Do you see any changes in, or if you're even aware of, cryptocurrencies?

Ryan: Like Bitcoin and stuff?

Joey: Yeah, like Bitcoin?

Ryan: I don't know that, I don't see, I don't know that much about it.

Joey: Okay. I didn't know.

Ryan: What do you know about it?

Joey: I know that it's worth a lot more than it was six weeks ago. I know.

Ryan: Or a week ago.

Joey: Yeah. That's why we could get into a whole discussion about Blockchain. I'd have to bring on a friend, Brandon, to talk about Blockchain and Bitcoin.

Ryan: I've never had anyone say I want to pay in Bitcoin.

Joey: Okay. That's what I was getting at. It was like, are you even? I read a thing the other day about a real estate transaction that was over a million dollars down in Southern California.

Ryan: In Bitcoin?

Joey: In Bitcoin, it's if the buyer and the seller want.

Ryan: But isn't it a currency that is always changing daily value too?

Joey: Isn't gold?

Ryan: I guess so.

Joey: Isn't Apple stock?

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: Isn't the dollar?

Ryan: Same difference.

Joey: If you're, what was the dollar against the pound last?

Ryan: I guess probably just not understanding it. It feels less stable.

Joey: Yeah. It's.

Ryan: I don't know enough about it.

Joey: I was just curious because I think the, I think cryptocurrency.

Ryan: Is the future?

Joey: I think, yes. It's part of the future. I know the future, plastics, young man, go into plastics. It is part of our future. It will be a. Play a much bigger role in the future than it does now.

Ryan: It makes me want to learn about it.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Just outta curiosity.

Joey: Yeah. It makes me I'm still trying to learn.

Ryan: I'm like, can I market to Bitcoin users?

Joey: Of course you can. You could sell vehicles in Bitcoin. And you'd open yourself up to people with Bitcoin who would want to, you know what? That's what I'm doing, I'm, that's my challenge that anybody who has Bitcoin and wants to buy a vehicle contact you and I'll help you find a way to accept Bitcoin. There are a bunch of different payment gateways.

Ryan: There are a lot of ways to do it, I'm sure.

Joey: Yeah, totally. Yeah. We talk about local impact. I know that you and SJ Denham are involved with a number of local charities.

Ryan: We are. So there are a couple of things we do, and the first one I wanted to touch on is called The Top of the State Scholarship. It started with my dad almost 30 years ago, and we do this. That'll be ours. Next summer will be the 30th year we've done our Top of the State Scholarship Tournament. But we're now to the point with the foundation. My dad and I are involved with what my dad started. we have a Board of Directors, but we give away anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000 annually.

Joey: Nice.

Ryan: To local Shasta, Tehama County students for two and four-year scholarships.

Joey: Very nice.

Ryan: So I think one of the areas that, one of the silos or measurements our area has lagged in is kids going on to higher education. And again, higher education is only for some. There are trade schools. There are a lot of other ways to go. But higher education opens up a lot of gateways for kids. So we've been heavily involved with that. I'm heavily involved with our Redding West Rotary Club. We put on our Taste of Redding event, which is every year.

Joey: That's right.

Ryan: A huge fundraiser for our community. And then we're able to give money back to local literacy programs. We support the trail system here in Redding. We just redid the TR Wood Park in Sunset Terrace.

Joey: Nice.

Ryan: We've done the fountains across from the Safeway at Pine and Cypress.

Joey: Oh, very nice.

Ryan: So really just ways we can enhance our community locally as well as beyond. The Rotary does a lot with international projects curing polio, big picture things on the international stage.

Joey: But you guys are also, you were, you've helped One Safe Place.

Ryan: Yep.

Joey: Right.

Ryan: So we do, this is our second year. We just kicked it off two days ago. It's called Fill the Fiat, and we're partnered with O2 Employment Services on doing a toy drive from now until November 16th to provide non-perishable goods and toys for One Safe Place. So that helps those families out.

Joey: So the Fill the Fiat people come by.

Ryan: So people can come in, drop off a toy in the Fiat, drop off a non-perishable good. And then we will be delivering all those goods on November 16th to O2 Employment Services.

Joey: Oh man. The only downside is this is going to air after that.

Ryan: Oh, well, that's okay. Well, there are a lot of other ways we can promote it.

Joey: Yeah. So.

Ryan: And there are other things we do throughout the year.

Joey: And you guys are a big collector for Toys for Tots.

Ryan: Toys for Tots.

Joey: Right.

Ryan: Yeah. We've done that in the past.

Joey: Absolutely. So people can stop by, donations.

Ryan: Beyond local golf tournaments and local causes, there's a multitude of needs in our community, and within reason, we try to help out where we can.

Joey: I know that you helped me in the Scott Stephens Memorial Golf Tournament where we raised.

Ryan: Yeah. The Scott Stevens Memorial Golf Tournament.

Joey: That's right. because our team was woeful, and you came in.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: You're a pretty good golfer.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: You're, yes.

Ryan: Well, when I get to play.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: So I don't play a lot anymore, having two now. Well, one teenage daughter and one 11-year-old daughter.

Joey: That's right.

Ryan: So.

Joey: That's so nice.

Ryan: My golf days are limited.

Joey: Your hair is remarkably not gray enough to have two young.

Ryan: On the side, it's kind of starting to go there a little bit.

Joey: You're not, it's not a haircut.

Ryan: No, no, no. There's no dye.

Joey: You're not doing a little.

Ryan: No, there's no hair dye. And I cut my hair so it might've cut the gray hair down slightly.

Joey: Hey, my hair, I have a, it's a gray, silver white blonde, so people, oh, you're not going gray. And then they get closer. Oh, good Lord. You're about 50% gray, blended with the blonde and white. So.

Ryan: Exactly.

Joey: Just right. And, so I told the kids, we did the multiple sports thing, and I said, around eight years old, I said, okay.

Ryan: You're going to pick one.

Joey: You're going to pick one. I don't care which one you pick.

Ryan: You're going to pick one.

Joey: Going to commit. because we just can't pull this off.

Ryan: So our girls are all dancing all the time, four or five days a week.

Joey: Where do they go?

Ryan: Because we're trying to dance, we're trying to do soccer and trying to bounce in between, changing clothes in the car. We always need to remember something. So they're both at Redding Dance Center.

Joey: Very good.

Ryan: So.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: That's what they want to do.

Joey: Hey.

Ryan: It's great.

Joey: Move your body. That's it.

Ryan: Get out, be active.

Joey: That's right. That's what matters. And stay away from boys. Be active.

Ryan: And stay away from boys.

Joey: Stay away from boys.

Ryan: And boys are evil.

Joey: Not a lot of boys in dance. So that's good. You might be.

Ryan: There's a few, but yeah.

Joey: Yeah. You know what I mean?

Ryan: Yeah. It's 95 to 5% girls.

Joey: There you go. That's a good ratio. Let's keep it that way.

Ryan: I wouldn't mind, 99 to one.

Joey: There you go. Yeah. A hundred, a hundred to zero.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: So there's something about having children that sparks this desire to provide all these things. There's so much security.

Ryan: Yeah. Well and.

Joey: And security's defined in so many different ways. Make sure they're educated, fed, and have good future friends. The sports, it's, we had Sabrina Schmidt on here, and she was talking about when her kids were little and she was working. And she realized, hey, wait a minute. Why am I working? Oh, to make a better life with my children, I need to draw a line.

Ryan: It's finding that. It's challenging to find that life-work balance.

Joey: Yeah. It's very challenging.

Ryan: And I think having children too makes your life. It makes you stop and reflect more frequently.

Joey: And because they're moving, because they're growing physically, it just makes it more dramatic.

Ryan: Thank you very much for having me in today.

Joey: No, thank you.

Ryan: I think we are in a time where if it's not good news, it doesn't sell, which is really unfortunate. So, it's great to see what you and your team are doing. Thank you very much. It is putting out good news and discussing the great things happening in our community. Because it's an amazing place to do business, it's an amazing place to raise a family. And it's only going to get better going forward.

Joey: There are several studies out there that show that there's never been a better time to live on this planet than right now. But yet, people are convinced that it's the worst time. And it's because of a steady stream of negatives you have a problem that's 5%.

Ryan: And sometimes you're going just to turn it all off. Honestly.

Joey: But not this one, this one you.

Ryan: You watch this.

Joey: You watch this.

Ryan: You turn off the other stuff.

Joey: You turn everything off so you can watch this.

Ryan: Right. You watch this stuff. This stuff's good.

Joey: Yeah. And watch and. So it's never been a better time to live than right now. And this is a great place.

Ryan: It is.

Joey: And when we first started talking about this and bringing people on, we noticed that it was a lot of the people that were from out of the area that realized this because they're coming from places they were like, hey, they're like, there's real crime down there.

Ryan: I left that area because I wanted to be somewhere like this to raise a family or start a business.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Get back to my community.

Joey: Even in the busiest time of the day, you can get from one side of this, from the furthest side of this town to the other furthest side of this town in less than 12 minutes.

Ryan: I mean.

Joey: That is the worst possible commute you could possibly have in, come on, 12 minutes. And that's, I'm talking five o'clock rush hour from the holiday market at Placer too.

Ryan: Yeah.

Joey: Sun Oaks.

Ryan: I mean, I've lived in other cities. I went to school in Stockton.

Joey: Ooh.

Ryan: I lived outside Detroit, Michigan.

Joey: Wow. That's a who's who of, wait, and then Baghdad. What was the third one? You were the trifecta. You know what I mean?

Ryan: I mean, you go Stockton and Detroit, and people go, Ooh.

Joey: Yeah, rightfully so.

Ryan: And you go and those cities have their challenges. Redding has so much to offer.

Joey: So I'm very grateful to you and other business owners for that.

Ryan: Yeah. Thank you.

Joey: Are very cognizant of that and are doing something for that.

Ryan: Jobs lift everything.

Joey: Thank you sir. Appreciate so much.

Ryan: Thank you very much.

Joey: Yeah.

Ryan: Absolutely. Thanks.