Aug. 26, 2026

Episode Four | 46 Feet: The Historic 2016 Livingston Parish Flood 10 Years Later

Episode Four | 46 Feet: The Historic 2016 Livingston Parish Flood 10 Years Later
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Season 1

In this episode, “Local Leaders” Host Jim Chapman sits down with local Barter Exchange (Itradexchange) owner Dane Arnold as he reflects on the 2016 flood. Dane’s company managed the bartering system of the entire area encompassing Livingston Parish and he discusses how he used is entreprenural spirit to navigate his business, despite flooding personally.

In 2016 an unpredictable storm caused unprecedented flooding in Livingston Parish Louisiana and surrounding areas like Baton Rouge. A decade later, Livingston Parish has come back stronger than ever. In this special presentation by Local Leaders the Podcast, you will hear not only hear the personal stories during that flood, but the comebacks that followed.

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In August of twenty sixteen, prolonged rainfall from an unpredictable

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storm resulted in catastrophic flooding in the state of Louisiana.

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In my city of Didam Springs, ninety percent of the

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homes received water, some forty two hundred homes. Of those,

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three thousand of these homes received eighteen inches or more

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of water twenty five to thirty inches of rain in

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less than seventy two hours. The a Meete River, which

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cuts through the heart of Livingston Parish, crusted at forty

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six point two feet, some five feet above its previously

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recorded record and some seventeen point two feet above its

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flood stage at Denham Springs, Hey everyone, and welcome back

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to Local Leaders the podcast. We're continuing our series on

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the flood of twenty sixteen here in Denham Springs, Louisiana,

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where I'm recording out of and of course we're talking

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to business owners who were affected by this flood in

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some pretty interesting ways. And that leads me to my

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guests that I have on this show today. I want

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to welcome Dane Arnold to Locally A podcast, and Dane,

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before we kind of get into your story, I want

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you to tell people what you do, okay, and I

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know you're good at explaining it because it's not like

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you work at Jiffy Lube right where you can just

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say I work at Jiffy Lube and I change aill or.

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Big mics or big mics. Yeah no, no, it's right.

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So I have a company called I Trade Exchange. So

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I Trade is an organization of business owners and about

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two hundred and fifty of them or so right now

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underneath the eye trade I trade model and basically the

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members do business with each other. We have essentially, we

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have our own form of currency that the members trade.

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It's it's called a border exchange where people trade. There's

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goods and services. I keep track of everything. It's not

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your traditional border where I need what you have, you

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need what I have, and the government doesn't know about it.

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It's not like that. This is This is an organized

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network of business owners who trade their goods and services.

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I keep track of it. I get paid for that service.

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And members like to join. They like to be a

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part of a trade exchange because they get new clients.

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Local clients typically is what it is, and they get

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an opportunity to save a little.

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Cash, that's right. And I've been a member of Full Disclosure.

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I've been a member of I Trade Exchange for many,

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many years. And what from a member's standpoint that I

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found intriguing about it is it brought me business I

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wouldn't normally have gotten, just because somebody may not have

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been willing to put themselves out there and try podcasting,

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for example, but when they can trade for those services,

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they were more apt to reach out and so that's

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what they did. So I've had a lot of success

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with that and gotten some clients out of that that

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maybe I wouldn't have normally gotten. So a great exchange.

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As Dane said, it's one of those things you get

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a ten ninety nine B at the end of the year,

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so it's totally legit. This isn't And as you said,

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two hundred and fifty members of those, how many would

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you say, we're in the Livingston Parish area eighty five

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of them? Yeah, yeah, so a lot of businesses. Give

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me some heavy hitters from this area.

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Got big, you got big mics, big and handy, right,

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Assult's Sunshine, we have La Coretta.

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Yeah right, you love that restaurant, Jaeger's.

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Restaurant, advanced advanced dental, yes, Benkas dental, yeah, Sport and

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center yep, to name a.

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Few, to name a few, and a lot of different industry.

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So you don't just eat on I tray. You can

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do everything from from get notorized services, right, you can

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get lawnmowing services, everything that's right eating.

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So you have the services, you have the brick and

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mortar type companies like big mics, but you also have

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a lot of service industry like air conditioning companies and

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plumbers and electrici and so on, which which I know

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we're going to get into this in a minute, which

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were affected differently right for the flood, which is what

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again we'll get into.

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That's right a little bit. And that's what may you know.

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I reached out today and folks, and one of the

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reasons I did was it's it's very interesting when you're

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you own a business such as this where you represent businesses, right,

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so you you have all these businesses under your umbrella

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that you are that are a part of this border exchange.

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And I'm going to go back to August of twenty sixteen,

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and uh, we'll go to the twelfth, which is the

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day that it flooded, and you have such an interesting story.

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I'm just going to kind of let you go from here.

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I want you to tell folks where you are at,

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what happened, how you found out, and all those sorts

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of things.

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Okay, it's kind of funny my neighbors. My neighbors have

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reached a point that typically when when my family goes

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on vacations, things happen.

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Right, I have that same problem.

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It seems they don't want me to go on vacation. Well,

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it happened again during that period because we went to

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the beach. We were at a I think we're at Navarre.

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Yeah, beautiful plus.

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Sixteen floors up on the tenth or eleventh of when

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the flood.

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Well, the flood was in your area. And also, folks,

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I don't know if I mentioned this, Dane is in Central,

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so Central got it as bad as Denim Springs and Livingston,

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Paris did. So the result for him was exactly the

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same as everywhere else decimation. But I do want to

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disclose that. And so, yeah, that was on the twelfth, twelfth,

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So we.

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Left, We left on the ninth or tenth and went

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on our week vacation. So so we're on vacation. And

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it literally we left the driveway. And generally i'm I'm

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a I love the Lord Lord, Yes, God, God, God

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takes care of me. And and when we go on

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a trip, I pray, pray and say God, just you know,

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we thank you. We look forward to a safe trip.

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And I said something along the line of I pray

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that there's no h that it started. It was drizzling

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at the time. I said, I pray that nothing floods

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or something something along that. Again, this is a something

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along that line, something along that line. And so anyway,

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here we are here, we are here, we are now

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on vacation, and and and things started hitting the fan, right,

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So we're getting calls from our neighbors across the street

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and on the sides of us, where are you, what's

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going on? Blah blah blah blah blah. And I said, well,

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we're at the beach. Do we do we need to

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come back? No, you stay, stay put, stay where you're at.

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But you're at the time we're making calls. You know,

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we didn't have insurance, so things have always started happening

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where you need to start making calls. We're calling we

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P P P, I don't know if that was all

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going at the time, but again, we were making calls

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to try to make things happen.

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So you're on your trip, let's let's let's focus on

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that real quick. You're you're having a great time, You're

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beaching it. Whatever did you did? You turn on the

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news and you're like, man, it looks like it's raining

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in Louisiana and it ain't stopping.

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When the neighbors, my neighbor, I think this again, it

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was one or two days into the into the disaster

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sent me a video.

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So up to that point, you had no idea.

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Oh yeah, well we knew it was raining a lot, right,

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it'll be it'll be okay, this is not a big deal.

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Love you know, so and forth, so on and so forth,

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and we'll get home and RB okay, be fine. We

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live in co Meat Hills, West Co Meat Hills, right,

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you thinking hills anything, right? We live on a hill. Yeah.

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So so anyway, the neighbor sent me a video of

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of water flowing from his yard through my yard. It

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was like it looked like a like a like a river. Yeah,

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and I'm thinking, oh, this is not this is bad.

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We need to do something about this.

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So at that point was water in your home?

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No, not yet, okay, but it's but it's coming.

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It's you can see it's it's not good.

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It's going to happen, right, So the neighbor's saying, hey,

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you know this this is don't don't come home. Don't

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come home. Yeah. So I said, okay, but the pleasurable

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trip ended at that point, yeah, yeah, okay. So we're

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just thinking, okay, what do we do. So we started

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calling our neighbors, Hey, can you get in a house?

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And we called some friends of mine from church who

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lived in another area that wasn't flooding, and they came

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into the neighborhood at this point. At this point, no

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that they didn't have a boat. There was no boat

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issue at this point. That kind of came down the road.

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But they got into the neighborho it into my house,

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told them where the extra key was. They were able

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to pick up some think pictures. We talked about photographs

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and so on and so forth. And that was the

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thing that my wife said, Dane, here's all the pictures.

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Can you go tell them to put them up on

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a table and and and we did, and that was

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about that was about it. That was about I played trombone,

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by the way, it was a tiger band, and so

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I still play. And I have a tru had a

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trombone on a stand, and the guy who came to

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my house, one of his kids, said, hey, dad, what

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should we do with danes trombone on a stand? Put it?

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Put it on a kitchen table. And that survived the pictures.

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There was a little bit of wicking into some of

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the bottom pictures, but the pictures made it through the rain.

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My trombone made it through the rain, and again things

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started shifting. Things shift when water comes up, things start

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moving around. That table moved around, but the trombone moved

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with it. It's and that's a I got that from

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forty years ago and I was a sophomore in high school.

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I mean, it had it's valuable. It was to me.

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It was valuable, that's right.

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And it's a it's it's a personal item of yours.

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Still play it to this day, and so so we're

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able to salvage pictures. But you know, literally fifty six

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when we ultimately got home, my my my brother lived

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in Mandeville still does. We were able to go stay

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with him for a couple of days made the little

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I had have six kids. I think we had four

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or five of them on vacation with us at the time,

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the two youngest ones. We left them in Mandeville and

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we said we need to go ahead and get get

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back home and uh and and start evaluating with what's

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what's what to do? Yeah, and by that time the

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water again we were this was three or four days

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before the water went down.

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Yeah.

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So so we got we got back home and it

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was a master's like your house and just like, was.

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It a struggle to get home?

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Yeah, we had to go all kinds of backways and

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so forth. Yeah, Greenwell Springs Road, and yeah, it was,

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it was. It was. It was just crazy, you know,

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because things were shut down and wires on the road

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and and.

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What was your thought process when you were coming in

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and you saw it kind of get more some work.

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Yeah, I'm thinking, Oh, I'm I'm an optimist by nature.

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It'll be okay, it'll be okay. It's not going to

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be as bad as as it was, right, that's right.

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But no, it was. It was bad.

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It tested our optimism, didn't it did.

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It did a little a little bit of job jobish nest,

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you know. But but but anyway, Yes, so we got

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home and and yeah, everything was h it was a

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crap show. Yeah, it's it's just it wasn't clean. It

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wasn't a clean like your attic flooding because your hot

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water heater. Right, this is crappy, nasty water.

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And coming river with the same I mean, they're they're muddy,

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uh disgusting water.

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My swimming pool, yeah, my swimming pool was a like

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a dirt pit. You know, ultimately I want up cleaning

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the pool. That was the first thing, by the way,

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that I wanted to clean after we gutted the house. Right,

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so we got to the house, I had a friends

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coming out from everywhere helping me out. Thank thank God

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for that. Yes, yeah, so that was a you know,

233
00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:32.399
we could still probably cry a little bit, but you know,

234
00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.440
I'm going to hold it back, but I but I remember, yeah,

235
00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:39.080
so so you know, I we can get it too

236
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.519
as the spiritual component of this later. But but I

237
00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:46.840
know entrepreneurs, so we can. We talked about this a

238
00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:52.879
little bit. Entrepreneurs, which I include myself in that Categoryely,

239
00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:58.399
we're very independent people, and my way of the highway,

240
00:13:58.440 --> 00:13:59.720
I want to do it, by the way, that's the

241
00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.639
heart part of what I do in Eye Trade is

242
00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:08.799
dealing with entrepreneurs. But it's also the most wonder drivers.

243
00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:11.320
It's the most wonderful thing too, because I'm dealing with

244
00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:16.080
people that are like minded, and we're self starters, and

245
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.600
we want to do things and succeed, and I want

246
00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:21.080
you to succeed. I want all the people in eye

247
00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:25.320
Trade to succeed, and and so on. So so when

248
00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:30.759
when a flood like this hits and you think I'm

249
00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:34.399
I'm humbled in such a major way. And part of

250
00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:41.639
being humbled and dealing with humility is is asking and

251
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.519
or people asking you to help you and accepting yes,

252
00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:52.759
because I know I got this. I put myself up,

253
00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.720
I can do it myself. I'm good, I'm good. But

254
00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:00.559
in this case, I wasn't good and you weren't good. No,

255
00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.600
you needed people dropping things off at your front door.

256
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:06.320
And one hundred percent I needed people in my home

257
00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:12.919
who called me to come and help me. Yeah, from

258
00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:15.960
out of town and from church, who weren't flooded, and

259
00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.159
to come scrape the crap off my floor and roll

260
00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:23.559
out my baby grand piano to the front along with

261
00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:25.960
fifty percent of my stuff.

262
00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:31.120
Yes, and and Dane. Not only did we need them,

263
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:35.679
they needed us because they were struggling with a real thing,

264
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.080
and that is they didn't flood. And there were a

265
00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:41.879
lot of people that did not flood Man and they

266
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:46.759
felt survivor's guilt like you would not believe, because everybody

267
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:50.600
around them lost everything they owned and they had. They

268
00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:53.879
almost felt horrible that they did. As a matter of fact,

269
00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:57.600
they did feel horrible, and that reaching out to help

270
00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:02.799
is them saying, I've got to do something because there's

271
00:16:02.919 --> 00:16:06.120
no reason I shouldn't have flooded, and I didn't, and

272
00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:09.440
so they needed to help. They needed that for their

273
00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:12.000
mental stability. And I know a lot of people in

274
00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:17.279
that position, and had conversations with people after who would say,

275
00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:19.519
you know, I feel I can't believe I didn't flood.

276
00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:22.480
I feel horrible and my whole neighborhood but my house

277
00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.840
didn't flood, and I feel so guilty, And I'm like, no,

278
00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:28.840
you don't understand. If it weren't for people like you

279
00:16:28.919 --> 00:16:31.960
that didn't flood, we would have had no help. We

280
00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.960
would have had no help. So you couldn't flood, because

281
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:39.240
if you did flood, you couldn't help me. And it's

282
00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:42.600
explaining to those people that their purpose, they had a

283
00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:46.000
purpose for not flooding, and that was their purpose. They

284
00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:49.080
were to help. And even if we didn't want it

285
00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:53.120
or need or somewhere, we wanted it, but we didn't

286
00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:56.080
know we wanted it because we're hard headed and we're dudes,

287
00:16:56.600 --> 00:16:59.039
and yeah, we can do this.

288
00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.200
And add to it to again our people of the

289
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:04.440
entrepreneurial spirit. Right, Yes, we're dude. Then we're entrepreneurs and

290
00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:07.880
women too, right right, women entrepreneurs and women I trade

291
00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:09.119
members and same thing.

292
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:10.119
Absolutely.

293
00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:13.559
Yeah, it was as I had some guilt because I

294
00:17:14.519 --> 00:17:16.039
got to deal with my own stuff here.

295
00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:18.799
Yeah, I can't, so you can't help somebody help Jim,

296
00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:19.440
that's right.

297
00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:21.279
I'm dealing with my own crap.

298
00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.960
Even though even if you wanted to, you know, and uh.

299
00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:27.200
Same my car, I'm I going to get to your

300
00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:28.000
house even.

301
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.960
Yes, right, yes, there was a lot of.

302
00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.839
By the way, our car, the one that made it

303
00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:35.960
was the one that was with us in Florida, right,

304
00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.759
so we had a car. The rest of them were

305
00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:40.519
home and got you know, three feet of water.

306
00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:45.960
So most people in that position, because if you if

307
00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:49.279
you were here when it happened. It was twenty minutes

308
00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.319
of you got you got twenty minutes. You got about

309
00:17:52.359 --> 00:17:54.799
twenty minutes to figure out what you wanted to say,

310
00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:58.400
what you wanted to grab, and uh, two cars wasn't

311
00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:03.559
on the menu. And yeah, so we were blessed. Uh

312
00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:06.599
you know, we picked one and uh we picked the

313
00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:10.720
highest one between a truck and an expedition. We picked

314
00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.799
the truck in the expedition. Yeah, I went up to

315
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:19.839
the ceiling. And so now you had a unique, unique

316
00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:22.839
look at this and that you've told your story of

317
00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.039
directly what happened to you, which is so intriguing to

318
00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:27.759
me because I haven't. I don't think I've talked to

319
00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:31.839
anyone yet that wasn't in town when it occurred. Holy cow,

320
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:35.480
I could only imagine being in that situation, you know,

321
00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:39.319
of not knowing sometimes knowing is very important, and not

322
00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:41.039
knowing driving nuts.

323
00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:46.240
Yeah, it was a blessing in disguise ultimately. Yeah, right, sure,

324
00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:49.200
you know, I wish I was there to do more

325
00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.079
while things were happening. But do I really wish that?

326
00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:53.640
Yeah? How many kids do you have done?

327
00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:53.839
Six?

328
00:18:55.319 --> 00:18:56.079
He got a big thing.

329
00:18:57.039 --> 00:18:58.920
Six is a lot ten years ago and you know

330
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.119
they ranged. One of my daughters was up and up

331
00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:05.920
at school at the point at that time, and I

332
00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:08.440
think my second was at Southeast and at the time

333
00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:09.920
the rest of them were we were.

334
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:13.720
Yeah, but you've got a lot of responsibility, and so

335
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.240
the dust settles, and hey, you know, I'm sure at

336
00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:21.079
some point, knowing you like I do, Danes like, we're

337
00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:22.680
going to get through this, We're going to come out

338
00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:26.839
of it better, h and all those things. And you've

339
00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:30.559
also got a lot of businesses with I trade exchange

340
00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:36.960
that are in your exchange and they were affected. So business,

341
00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:38.960
you know, I don't want to say business kind of

342
00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:40.920
stopped for you. I'm sure there were some out there

343
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.599
that were integral. And let's get through that. Let's talk

344
00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:47.480
about when you sat down and you said, Okay, now

345
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:49.559
I've got to focus on my business a little bit,

346
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:52.079
because you've got to have the business to have the money.

347
00:19:51.920 --> 00:20:00.200
Right, That's right. Fortunately, I trade as part of a

348
00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:05.200
larger network. Yes, and uh, there's a branch of what

349
00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:07.920
I do that we're connected with in Baton Rouge called

350
00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.920
Partners One. There's there's one in Lafayette.

351
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:12.759
Been around a long time.

352
00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:16.720
That's right. Yeah, Lafayette and I'll stop, I'll stop. There's

353
00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:21.000
there's more. Okay, there's there's even one in Birmingham, and

354
00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:22.960
a couple out of state and so on. But we're

355
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.920
all connected by essentially by by our virtual currency.

356
00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:29.519
Yes, and the reason for that is so you can

357
00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:32.640
if you're going to Birmingham, Alabama, you can trade with

358
00:20:32.680 --> 00:20:35.559
someone there for say a hotel room if it's offer,

359
00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.599
and you can use your Eye Trade exchange card.

360
00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:40.599
To do the dollars that you earn here locally can

361
00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.079
be spent out of out oftown in different trade exchanges. Yes,

362
00:20:43.119 --> 00:20:44.720
that's one of the benefits of being a part of

363
00:20:44.759 --> 00:20:49.599
a trade exper So so obviously what I saw almost

364
00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:56.599
immediately was trade from member to member in Central and

365
00:20:56.599 --> 00:21:01.640
and Denim Springs was at a dead stop. Obviously, sure

366
00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:07.799
the local members were either either they flooded, their business

367
00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:12.200
flooded or their home flooded or both flooded. They were

368
00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:14.039
they were in the same position that we were in.

369
00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:14.359
You know.

370
00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:17.480
It's like it's like like everybody's in this position that

371
00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.319
that is part of my circle, right, this is this

372
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:23.240
is my circle and of people who I'm dealing with.

373
00:21:23.319 --> 00:21:26.759
So so what I saw after a week or so

374
00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.359
after things kind of settled down. Is because of the

375
00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.839
reciprocal nature of what I did, it really helped. It

376
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:38.000
helped a lot of our members to maybe call that

377
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:42.720
air conditioning company and in Baton Rouge that that didn't suffer,

378
00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:47.720
or go to Portobello's right, or suddenly let's go eat

379
00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:50.319
out to a place in Baton Rouge and get away

380
00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:51.799
from this for a minute. If we if we have

381
00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.039
a car, you know that. So so so that helped

382
00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:57.599
out quite a bit, but it had a significant impact

383
00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.359
obviously on on dollars lowing real dollars as well as

384
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.640
trade dollars. If you if you, if we could.

385
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.240
Say, yeah, and you being the the the the owner

386
00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:12.319
of this exchange and the founder of this exchange, I'm

387
00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.319
sure there's a point where you're like, I need to

388
00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:16.680
reach out to my members and find out who's who's

389
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.359
been affected, who hasn't, and how can we as an

390
00:22:21.400 --> 00:22:23.000
exchange help each other.

391
00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:27.000
Yeah, eventually, that's right. Eventually, you know. So when I

392
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.000
got my sea legs after the house was gutted, and

393
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.319
and I got the crawfish out of my swimming pool,

394
00:22:32.799 --> 00:22:36.000
which which again that was at my pool literally, I

395
00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.359
mean I was scooping stuff off the bottom of my pool.

396
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:40.119
I couldn't even see the bottom of the pool.

397
00:22:40.359 --> 00:22:44.000
Yeah, and tell them what's gonna talking.

398
00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:47.319
So once I got my sea legs, when I started

399
00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:51.279
making calls what can be done? How can we help you?

400
00:22:51.319 --> 00:22:55.400
What do you need? And and so on? And if

401
00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:58.599
I can help you, I will, right So, so yeah,

402
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.400
you get to that point where you do it. You can,

403
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:03.920
you know, with a phone call and and uh and

404
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:07.759
try to hook people up that that can that can

405
00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:08.920
help each other out.

406
00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:15.240
Was there ever a time during this event where you thought,

407
00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:17.480
I don't think this exchange is going to make it

408
00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:23.759
honestly in your in your heart of hearts.

409
00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:26.799
No, no good again again I have I'm an optimist.

410
00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:32.920
Yeah i am, and no I'm I mean, I'm not

411
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:36.519
bragging here, but I helped start several trade exchanges. Yeah,

412
00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:39.960
so just because it feels like I'm starting all over again,

413
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:42.400
it's I've done this before.

414
00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:46.279
I think what I was looking at was was not

415
00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:52.440
the you know, the dame being able to but you

416
00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.039
have to have the businesses to support it.

417
00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:56.880
I knew it's going to take a while.

418
00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:59.880
That that's more what I'm getting at, where you can

419
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:03.240
concerned that there's no restaurants up, kind of like COVID.

420
00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:05.960
I mean, COVID was a concern. It was, I'm sure

421
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:09.240
for you was there was there a point where you're like, okay,

422
00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:13.880
seventy five percent of the businesses that I had are

423
00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:17.400
probably not going to get back to business for six months.

424
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:20.319
How is that going to affect me? Was there ever

425
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:21.599
concern there?

426
00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:25.039
I had an opportunity as kind of a banker to

427
00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:29.799
help people with loans and so on. Yeah, loaning them

428
00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:33.559
since trade dollars trade dollars to hey, if you needed

429
00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:36.680
that electrician to come in from from out of town.

430
00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:39.920
Or which they did, that's right, or a sheet rock or.

431
00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:42.279
A painter or whatever it may be. I was able

432
00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:45.000
to help a lot of people out that way. That's wonderful, right.

433
00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:47.720
So yeah, you have you have in your account, just

434
00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:49.359
like in your real bank account. If you have a

435
00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:53.079
lot of credit at Hancock Whitney, they give you a

436
00:24:53.079 --> 00:24:55.039
lot of credit to use it. As you see, fed

437
00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:57.240
I'm able to do the same thing, or was able

438
00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:59.480
to do the same thing, and still am able to

439
00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:02.039
do the same thing for people who need it.

440
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:05.079
And that's right. And I knew the answer to that

441
00:25:05.160 --> 00:25:07.319
question before I asked it, because I know who you are.

442
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:10.880
At no point did Dane think this was over. And

443
00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:16.240
that's who that's entrepreneurial spirit, right, that is you know

444
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.440
you're right. You started many trade exchanges. You knew, Hey,

445
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.440
if I'm starting at Zeerra, I've been there, done that,

446
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:28.279
I can do it again. And that's driver entrepreneurs. Not

447
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:31.559
much scares them. You know, you can be a realist,

448
00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:33.799
for example, and you can say this is gonna be

449
00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:37.759
a challenge, no doubt. And it was a challenge. So

450
00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:41.799
so twenty eighteen it seemed like to come back, right

451
00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:42.240
it did.

452
00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:45.839
I mean, obviously there were some things. So when I

453
00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:49.359
had mentioned to you that I would have loans as well,

454
00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:53.200
so they were I would they want to be in

455
00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.440
a business type loan to people. The balances wound up

456
00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.319
getting a little out of whack because a lot of

457
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:02.519
the eye trade people, the local people, the people in

458
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:05.599
Denim Springs as well as in Central we're spending into

459
00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.920
the other trade exchanges. Yeah, so the balance got kind

460
00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:12.519
of kind of crazy out of whack because they that

461
00:26:12.599 --> 00:26:14.920
was the only place to go spend their dollars. And

462
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.799
I wanted that to happen, and I was very thankful

463
00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:21.559
that it happened. In retrospect, we're all caught up now.

464
00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:24.240
I mean balance it took a little. It took maybe

465
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:28.559
two years after that, maybe twenty twenty.

466
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:30.920
Which is a whole another podcast.

467
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:35.319
That's that's that's what I had to start over again there.

468
00:26:35.640 --> 00:26:39.960
But anyway, but things balanced out and they that's the

469
00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:44.319
nature of trade exchanges reciprocal with each other. There's balancing

470
00:26:44.359 --> 00:26:45.680
acts going on the whole time.

471
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:48.440
And absolutely so, which is which is part of what

472
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:50.519
we do, and it's it's part of it's part of

473
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:54.839
business and what you do. And uh, and what Danes

474
00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:58.680
referring to y'all is is, uh, you know, even though

475
00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:01.839
it's a border exchange, it's treated like real money, right,

476
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:05.680
It's it's uh cashiers, king bards, queen that leased to

477
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.519
say all the time. And so uh, you know, you

478
00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:13.000
try to control that flow of money in and out

479
00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:15.039
of the exchange, and you want it to kind of

480
00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:18.359
be an even thing. You know, ultimately you want fifty

481
00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:21.680
percent going out and fifty percent coming in. And and

482
00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:26.160
that would be copoesthetic in that in that industry. And

483
00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:30.000
so Dane is really good at monitoring that and uh

484
00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:32.440
and keeping members aware, Hey, you got a ton of

485
00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:35.480
trade dollars here, you know, go go take a trip

486
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:37.319
to Alaska or something like that.

487
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:39.000
Exactly.

488
00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:41.519
I've done that, by the way, on tree, which is

489
00:27:41.559 --> 00:27:43.240
why I say that.

490
00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:44.519
That was the one time deal that was beautiful. It

491
00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:47.359
was you know, if you remember, I had gotten back

492
00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:49.359
from the same eject.

493
00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.839
And you had to pay for before. Yeah, he had

494
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:55.759
to pay ut. Yeah, the trip of a lifetime.

495
00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:57.119
I was happy that you were able to do.

496
00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.200
I was to I was to highlight one of the

497
00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:00.559
highlights tomorrow, no question.

498
00:28:01.960 --> 00:28:02.160
Yeah.

499
00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:06.519
So let's go to now, let's go to two current

500
00:28:07.079 --> 00:28:10.200
times in I try to exchange and we're ten years out.

501
00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:12.720
Can you believe that first of all time flies.

502
00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:16.440
Yeah, yeah, seems like it was last year. I was

503
00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:19.720
living in a camper. Yeah, you know for three and

504
00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:20.200
a half month.

505
00:28:20.279 --> 00:28:23.400
It's it's in our mind's eyes forever, isn't it.

506
00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:27.640
It is and something we'll never forget. One of the

507
00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:31.920
one of the purposes of this podcast series is because

508
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.759
I made a commitment many years ago, uh, even before

509
00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:39.839
I had a podcasting business, that I was going to

510
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.200
do what I could to make sure people never forgot

511
00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:46.160
where we came from. But more importantly because we're optimist.

512
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:49.039
Where we're at, where are you at today? Is the

513
00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:49.839
trade exchange.

514
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.680
Everything's wonderful. Yeah, things are great, things are growing. We've

515
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:57.880
switched platforms kind of like when A when A when

516
00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:00.519
A banks, which is all their internal workings. We've done

517
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.799
the same thing and things are just so much better. Yeah,

518
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.319
and yeah, we've grown to probably two hundred and fifty

519
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.519
or so members, which is good. That's a good, healthy exchange,

520
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:15.519
no doubt about it. For an economy like as in

521
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.880
Denim springs. That's about that's that's one. That's a great

522
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.359
amount of members that can be managed properly. You don't

523
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:26.759
want everybody. I don't want ten electricians. I don't want

524
00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:29.480
you know, fifty plumbers, right, I want one or two

525
00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:33.240
or three that that can absorb. I want two or

526
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:35.680
three dentists, right, that can absorb about taking care of

527
00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:37.960
all those teeth. I don't want just one dentist who

528
00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:40.799
that's a lot of teeth, right, So you need to

529
00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:44.480
have three or four dentists who can handle that. So

530
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.400
so yeah, we're at a point where we have just

531
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:52.400
we have good duplication, not a lot of people going

532
00:29:52.519 --> 00:29:55.160
in and out of what I call standby. So sometimes

533
00:29:55.160 --> 00:29:58.200
if you have like one company only doing a service,

534
00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:01.039
they start taking a lot of trade hm and they'll

535
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:02.680
have to go they need to put it on hold

536
00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:04.799
every so often. Yeah, we're at a point now where

537
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.480
that's just very very rare that that happens because there's

538
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:08.400
too many places.

539
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.680
Yeah, too many options to spend there.

540
00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:13.319
There are there. It's a beautiful thing, it is. It's

541
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:16.200
a wonderful thing. So if people if people are have

542
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:19.759
too much trade dollars because they're saving up for something,

543
00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:23.799
and I get these crazy calls sometimes like I'm saving

544
00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:26.759
up for a boat, a boat, I don't have a

545
00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:31.720
boat dealer. Well one day, one day, no go buy

546
00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:35.039
a boat. Yeah, let me help you save the cash elsewhere.

547
00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:37.920
But uh, you know, so those kind of things. It

548
00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.119
just it's very very rare that people go on stand by.

549
00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.359
And when they do, it's they probably need to go

550
00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:47.400
and stand by, either they having some cash flow issues

551
00:30:47.599 --> 00:30:50.119
or whatever it may be. But but right now, no,

552
00:30:50.279 --> 00:30:54.839
things are going wonderfully and across the whole network, not

553
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:56.480
just eye trade very good.

554
00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.680
And let me ask you, are there any industries that

555
00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:03.519
you're in search of right now? Some some sort of

556
00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:06.720
industry let's get you know, somebody listening may be a

557
00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:09.039
whatever it is you're looking for the ees more of.

558
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.759
That's hard for me to say right now because because

559
00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:16.319
I'm thinking of a mind. Okay, people like options. Typically

560
00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:20.920
those options comeing to things like food. However, we do

561
00:31:21.079 --> 00:31:26.599
have Big Mics, and we have and Jaggers and uh

562
00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:31.559
I have, we have Randiazos and Mommy's and so we

563
00:31:31.640 --> 00:31:35.039
have a lot of different restaurants involved. But you can

564
00:31:35.079 --> 00:31:42.160
never have enough options there. That said, I don't add

565
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:43.680
franchises to the group.

566
00:31:43.799 --> 00:31:44.119
I don't.

567
00:31:44.359 --> 00:31:47.279
We don't want franchises. We don't want big box stores.

568
00:31:47.319 --> 00:31:50.759
We want locally owned Mama Papa companies. So somebody calls

569
00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:52.599
them and says I want Walmart and say, no, you can't.

570
00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:56.960
We can't have Walmart. Guess whereverybody'd spend their trade dollars anyway?

571
00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:00.279
If a Walmart a Walmart, and then nobody going to

572
00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:03.079
spend it with Jim Chapman. Nobody's gonna go to big Mics.

573
00:32:03.079 --> 00:32:03.799
I can spending out.

574
00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:06.759
Walmart, and Walmart doesn't need to help get Send.

575
00:32:06.680 --> 00:32:09.160
It to Bentonville. Send the trade dollars to Benville. I

576
00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:13.039
got nothing in Bentonville in a fly in Jim to

577
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:16.799
go do a podcast and Benton, Yeah, you probably would.

578
00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:19.839
Actually, it probably would be good exactly.

579
00:32:20.279 --> 00:32:24.759
But locally owned Mama Papa companies. That's that's what you want,

580
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:27.839
you know, filling me up those types of companies, which

581
00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:31.240
that they are part of the group too. But uh

582
00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:35.039
that said, yeah, that's it's we were well rounded. That

583
00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:37.480
doesn't mean I couldn't use I just added a tree

584
00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:39.920
company to the group. Didn't didn't have a tree company.

585
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:40.039
In the group.

586
00:32:40.119 --> 00:32:42.240
Yeah, I don't remember ever having a tree company in

587
00:32:42.279 --> 00:32:44.920
the group. Added one last week. So those kind of

588
00:32:44.920 --> 00:32:47.480
things will will happen, and it's a good thing, and

589
00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:49.279
it'll probably get to a point where I probably need

590
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.160
to add a second tree company. Yeah, you know, because okay,

591
00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:56.279
that's it's good to have options, absolutely so, one hundred percent.

592
00:32:56.519 --> 00:32:59.119
So if you're curious about that, I want to tell

593
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.759
everybody you can get Trade Exchange his website and you

594
00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:06.880
can see a vast array of the businesses and services

595
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:09.119
they offer. If you're interested, reach out to Dane. If

596
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:11.799
you're a small business owner in the area and you've

597
00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:15.279
got a service that you think can benefit the trade organization,

598
00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:18.880
the Barter Exchange, Dane will walk you through it, tell

599
00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:20.640
you everything you need to know about it, and probably

600
00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:22.559
some stuff you don't even need to know about it.

601
00:33:24.680 --> 00:33:27.839
I thank you, I do thank you. I thank God

602
00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:31.559
for you and the friendship of of business owners. I mean,

603
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:33.240
it's what I do, and it's what I love to do,

604
00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:36.000
and I love helping business people. You know, you know

605
00:33:36.039 --> 00:33:41.000
that absolutely God. I saw I saw a sticker on

606
00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:43.519
a car coming over here this morning. It says God

607
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:51.440
is good all the time. Sometimes it feels it's you're tested,

608
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.400
but that's true, Jim. You know, God is good all

609
00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:59.440
the time, whether it's during a flood or whether things

610
00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:01.440
are really good like right now with eye Trade and

611
00:34:01.559 --> 00:34:07.359
with with your podcast. Yeah right, He's good in both scenarios.

612
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:13.440
I believe that. And you know, Dane, and this isn't

613
00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:16.920
about me, This is about you and and your experience.

614
00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:21.440
But I will say this. I gave my testimony on

615
00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:25.639
the flood two years ago at the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast

616
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:28.199
here in Denham Springs. I was a keynote speaker for

617
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:34.000
his annual prayer breakfast. There are you know people when

618
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.880
they asked me, hey, you know, how do you know

619
00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:40.280
God exists? I mean, you're not dead. You know, we're

620
00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:43.639
all still live. We don't really know what happens when

621
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:44.039
you die.

622
00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:46.239
That's where faith comes in, it is.

623
00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:49.639
But you know, to me, it's not even faith anymore.

624
00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:53.480
It's I know. And the way I know is I

625
00:34:53.599 --> 00:34:57.400
had experiences personally with that flood where it was shown

626
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.360
to me. And I've considered with this podcast in just

627
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:04.400
one episode of my testimony in my personal story, I

628
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:07.239
may or may not do that because it's very emotional

629
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:11.119
for me. But I can tell you beyond a shadow

630
00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:13.280
of it out with one hundred percent fact that not

631
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:17.800
only does God exist, I am living proof of it

632
00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:22.239
because I have been a lot of different people in

633
00:35:22.280 --> 00:35:27.199
my life, a lot of different people, and every time

634
00:35:28.199 --> 00:35:32.960
that I have ever swayed, I've been pulled back by God.

635
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:37.199
And that's just a fact. That's what I believe in.

636
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:39.519
I am. I am the world's biggest sinner. Sometimes I

637
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:43.840
tell people that all the time, and and he loves

638
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:48.719
me despite that, and and I'm so very thankful. And

639
00:35:48.760 --> 00:35:52.199
I don't talk about my faith. You know, I probably

640
00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:56.159
don't talk about it as much as I should, honestly,

641
00:35:56.360 --> 00:36:02.079
but I'm a very faith filled person inside, and I'm

642
00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:07.360
getting better about exposing that on the outside, and and uh,

643
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:10.960
and just letting people know, you know, if they're if

644
00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:14.760
they're curious. Uh, I'm more willing to talk to anybody

645
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:17.519
about it. And no pressure. And I get I get it,

646
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:20.639
and I know the naysayers out there, and uh, but

647
00:36:20.679 --> 00:36:23.000
there's there's so many times in my life that I

648
00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:26.280
can point to how to be God because it's sure

649
00:36:26.280 --> 00:36:27.800
as heck, wouldn't anything else.

650
00:36:27.639 --> 00:36:31.840
So that the naysayers typically are how can how can God?

651
00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:38.199
How can God let these things happen? Right? So, good

652
00:36:38.199 --> 00:36:40.760
things happen to bad people, bad things happen to good people.

653
00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:41.199
That's true.

654
00:36:41.639 --> 00:36:46.159
It just it. God put his son on the cross

655
00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:49.800
to die. Yeah, it's a horrible, a horrible, scourging death.

656
00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:56.639
Beforehand you think you're thinking to be inoculated from from life, No,

657
00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:00.840
you're not. But we have an opportunity to learn from

658
00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:03.239
those experiences, and that God wants us to learn from

659
00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:07.639
those experiences, good and bad. Yes, he's not just God

660
00:37:08.039 --> 00:37:11.719
during the good times, He's tried during all the times.

661
00:37:11.719 --> 00:37:15.400
God is sovereign, he knows all and again that's those

662
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:18.920
are some journeys that it's hard to understand. There's mysteries

663
00:37:18.920 --> 00:37:22.519
that I just can't answer. The flood, that's a mystery.

664
00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:26.519
I just can't, but I but I kind of can answer.

665
00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:28.760
I say I can't, but I can't because I learned

666
00:37:29.480 --> 00:37:33.119
so much and my faith grew in my again, people

667
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:35.559
coming out of wood works to help not only me,

668
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:40.440
but to you and to others. That's God at work.

669
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:41.679
That is God at work.

670
00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:44.760
Took no question about it, and you know, Dame, it

671
00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:49.000
it changed who I was as a person for the

672
00:37:49.039 --> 00:37:51.800
better forever forever.

673
00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:58.519
Literally agree that day, August thirteenth, twenty sixteen changed who

674
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.400
I was for the better for the rest of my life.

675
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:05.599
I became a less selfish person. And I can literally

676
00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:07.639
put a thumbtack on that and tell you the day

677
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:11.000
that happened. And to me, that's a blessing because before

678
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:13.559
that I wasn't a bad guy. I mean, I went

679
00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:17.079
to church something, you know, I paid my taxes. But

680
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:21.480
but life was centered around me. And I'm I'm man

681
00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:23.159
enough to be able to look in the mirror and

682
00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:26.280
know that it was at that time and when I

683
00:38:26.320 --> 00:38:29.519
had no choice but for it not to be centered

684
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:33.519
around me. Uh, it was an experience like no other

685
00:38:34.599 --> 00:38:37.199
that I can ever explain, and maybe I will tell

686
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:38.280
my testimony on here.

687
00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:42.559
Anybody has a testimony.

688
00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:44.920
Everybody, everybody that sat down in this chair, yours was

689
00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:48.000
unique from Scooter Keans who was on this show, and

690
00:38:48.039 --> 00:38:53.039
Scooter Keanes was unique from uh uh, you know Darren

691
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:56.079
James who came on this show, and the next person

692
00:38:56.119 --> 00:38:58.119
I have on will be unique from that. And they're

693
00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:02.840
all interest and they're all stories of what resilience.

694
00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:05.840
We don't take anything for granted. That's probably a common

695
00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:09.679
theme too, don't take anything for granted. And you're right,

696
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:13.079
there's a there's a thread throughout our lives, through everything

697
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:15.320
we do. We're all, they say, we're all connected with

698
00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:18.199
by everybody, one or two people over no matter where

699
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:20.559
they're at the I guess in the country. I don't

700
00:39:20.679 --> 00:39:23.320
help me with that statistic. Yeah, did you know that

701
00:39:23.400 --> 00:39:26.119
eighty nine percent of all statistics were made up on

702
00:39:26.159 --> 00:39:26.559
the spot?

703
00:39:27.199 --> 00:39:29.199
No? I did not.

704
00:39:29.920 --> 00:39:34.000
You know what's eighty seven point I'm sorry I was wrong,

705
00:39:34.239 --> 00:39:35.199
eighty seven point nine.

706
00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:36.920
I make them up all the time, but I didn't

707
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:41.000
know everybody made up. It makes you sound smarter when

708
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:46.719
you have the percentages. Uh, Dane, tell everybody how they

709
00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:48.440
can find you if they want to get more information

710
00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:50.559
on I Trade Exchange, so they.

711
00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:53.440
Could go to my website, I Trade exchange dot biz

712
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:55.639
dot biz. There's only one E in the middle there.

713
00:39:55.760 --> 00:40:00.039
I trade the letter exchange dot biz.

714
00:39:59.719 --> 00:40:03.239
And link that in the description of this podcast, so

715
00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:05.760
you can just scroll down. It'll be linked on there.

716
00:40:05.800 --> 00:40:07.559
It'll give you information how to get in touch with

717
00:40:07.639 --> 00:40:10.320
Dane if you're a small business center and you're looking

718
00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:14.079
on more to get more information on this border exchange. Dane,

719
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:17.800
thank you for sharing your testimony, your story. So glad

720
00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:21.159
to see you back ten years later, and I would

721
00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:24.440
say your border exchange is never been stronger than it

722
00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:25.000
is right now.

723
00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:26.239
Thank you. I appreciate it.

724
00:40:26.599 --> 00:40:30.199
I appreciate you. To all the listeners, I definitely appreciate you.

725
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:34.280
Thank you again for all the support you give me.

726
00:40:34.440 --> 00:40:39.440
Over one million downloads as of about a month ago.

727
00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:42.599
Last time I checked it with local leaders of the podcast,

728
00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:45.400
and that is just phenomenal. Never saw that coming, y'all.

729
00:40:45.400 --> 00:40:48.119
I started this thing out with a cell phone, going

730
00:40:48.199 --> 00:40:51.519
to job sites and filming people touching up sheet rock walls,

731
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:54.400
and it has grown to this. And you know, we

732
00:40:54.440 --> 00:40:58.480
talk about God and me and Dane did today and

733
00:40:58.679 --> 00:41:01.880
that is proof of it right there, because if Jim

734
00:41:01.960 --> 00:41:04.480
Chapman can do it, anybody can do it. So thank

735
00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:07.159
you so much. I need your support out there. Love

736
00:41:07.199 --> 00:41:10.039
y'all so much. Until next time, I'm Jim Chapman reminding

737
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:14.320
you love your community, support local business, and keep leading.

738
00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:15.320
Thank you very much,