THE ED MYLETT SHOW - From North Pole to Nine Figures: The Rise of Buffbunny
Episode Date: January 28, 2025Imagine growing up in a tiny town where the streetlights are candy canes, and the population barely breaks 2,000. From North Pole, Alaska, to building a nine-figure apparel empire, Heidi Somers Guzman...—better known as Buff Bunny—has a story that will challenge how you think about fear, failure, and success. Heidi turned heartbreak and setbacks into stepping stones to create the Buff Bunny Collection, one of the most empowering brands for women worldwide. In this episode, Heidi shares the pivotal moments that shaped her journey, from confronting her "inner mean girl" to taking a leap of faith with a one-way ticket to the lower 48. We unpack her transition from shy homeschooled kid to social media trailblazer, and how her decision to "date herself" for a year completely transformed her confidence and outlook on life. You’ll hear how she tackled her fear of the gym and turned it into a brand that inspires women to embrace their strength—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Heidi’s story isn’t just about business; it’s about resilience, purpose, and staying true to your values, even when the world tries to tell you otherwise. If you’ve ever felt stuck, unsure, or afraid to take that first step, Heidi’s journey will remind you that greatness isn’t reserved for the extraordinary—it’s earned by those willing to try. Key Takeaways: How embracing your imperfections can connect you to your audience—and yourself. The life-changing power of "dating yourself" and rediscovering your self-worth. Why starting with zero knowledge is no excuse for not chasing your dreams. The importance of listening to your community and creating solutions they truly need. How to navigate loss, burnout, and uncertainty while still pursuing your vision. This conversation will leave you inspired to take action, whether it’s launching your business, loving yourself more, or simply believing that you’re capable of greatness. Remember, the keys to your next chapter are in your hands—grab them and go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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This is The Ed Myron Show.
All right, welcome back to the show everybody. So just so you all know, I listened to you.
The lady that's going to join us today is one of the most requested guests in the history of the show.
And when you guys really want somebody on, I'm like, okay,
let me research them and figure out whether I agree with you.
And the more I dug into her story, I was so moved.
I actually was moved to tears listening to her story and I'm so impressed with
her and what she's built, what she's accomplished,
particularly in light of where she's come from.
And I would say she is in the top three most requested guests in the eight years of this show.
And now I know why and you're going to know why by the end of today. Today's going to be something
that's going to move you, but you're going to learn so much about entrepreneurship, building your brand,
but you're going to be moved more than anything today. She is better known as Buff Bunny, but you're going to get to know her
today as Heidi Summers. She's built a nine-figure apparel business, the Buff Bunny Collection,
and she is one of the most impressive people that I have met in many, many years because we
were going to do the show a few weeks ago or a week ago, and we had to bump it because of some
technical issues. So I already know how incredible this is gonna be so Heidi Summers
Welcome to the show finally Wow what an intro Ed. Thank you so much
it is such an honor to be on your show with someone who
Loves love love loves tuning in to listen to all your guests as well as you speak on here. So thank you for having me
Thank you. Well, I'm grateful you're here
Like I said, and I know there's like a
couple million people that are as well. So usually when I do the show, I'm not
really someone who's like, let's take 20 minutes on someone's story.
I want to get to the content and the facts, but I got to be honest with you.
Your story is so integrated with what everybody will learn today.
And I just think it'll give everybody so much hope.
So let's just start out in the beginning. At first I learned a term.
I didn't even know the lower 48, which of course is
synonymous. Anybody that lives in Alaska uses that term, but I didn't know that.
I didn't even know I lived in the lower 48.
So it tells you what I know.
But start out. Tell us a little bit about how you grew up, because
to go from where you grew up to building a nine figure apparel company
and still doing it pretty young is remarkable.
So tell them where you grew up and how you grew up.
So I was born and raised in a small town, North Pole, Alaska.
And I have five siblings.
My parents homeschooled all of us because North Pole has a population of 2000
people. So real small. We grew up in the sticks, very isolated, very sheltered.
Um, didn't wear pants till I was,
I believe I was 14 and raised in a very traditional
Baptist home and I loved my upbringing.
I have the best family, I'm so incredibly blessed.
But growing up in the sticks, as we call it,
you're very isolated and kind of sheltered from everyone.
So that was kind of what my upbringing was when I lived in Alaska, as we call it, you're very isolated and sheltered from everyone. Yeah.
So that was what my upbringing was when I lived in Alaska, but I currently live in Texas
now.
What about, you say, so she literally grew up at a place called the North Pole, you guys.
And it's sort of like, I want to take them back.
This is, I don't know, it's almost like another world or another time the way you grew up.
I mean, when you say the sticks, we're talking about the sticks here.
So give us an idea, like, is it like a Christmas town since it's called the North Pole?
Or like, what was its vibe where you grew up with the 2000 people?
And I'm not laughing at where you grew up.
I'm more laughing at how.
I do, it's OK. Yeah, and you know this.
It's more just because I know the after part of the story that's coming in.
And a lot of people here don't, it's just incredible to come from that to where you are now.
So, and by the way, it is a beautiful upbringing you had, but was it like Christmasy there since
it was the North Pole? It is Christmas 365 days around in North Pole, Alaska. So we have,
our light posts are actually candy canes. So we have the whole red and white stripes.
The roads are Kris Kringle Drive, Reindeer Road, you name it.
I mean, it's like living in a Hallmark movie
is how I grew up.
Wait, seriously, there's Kris Kringle Road.
There's Kris Kringle Road.
Sorry, Kris Kringle Drive, I believe.
No way, I think that's probably what you said.
That's crazy, That's so awesome.
What a beautiful thing.
But imagine this guys, you go from you're
around a couple thousand people and not really that,
you're kind of around your family, to now
millions of people
on a weekly basis
view her messages and content.
I mean, think about that just for a second.
I want to take them through the journey a little bit more.
At some point, while you're living there, your parents agree to send you
to public high school, correct? Yes.
So the movie Mean Girls, when she was eating her lunch in the bathroom stall,
that movie came out after, you know, I was I think I was in high school
or right after high school.
But I was like, oh, my gosh, when she ate lunch in the bathroom, I was like,
that was me.
I totally did that on my first day
because I was so nervous.
But yeah, I was homeschooled my whole life.
And when I was 15, I begged my parents,
I was like, please let me go to public school.
I just wanna, I wanna be around friends
and I would watch the movies
and it just looked like a lot of fun.
So I eventually went to public school
and I remember feeling so nervous the first day.
And this is when I learned you can actually, if you have a lot of anxiety,
you can actually give yourself a fever.
So that's what happened to me day one.
So I had lunch in the bathroom and then it was, I believe it was the next class after that.
I just wasn't feeling well.
And I went to the nurse and she kind of knew, you know, she kind of knew where I was coming from
because when I, I think it was the first day
when I was choosing the classes,
they were like, okay, this is your counselor.
And I was like, there's nothing wrong with me.
I was just homeschooled.
I don't need a counselor.
But I didn't realize, I was very behind,
I would say socially.
A lot of the terms that the kids would say,
I just didn't really understand.
Everyone was given a counselor to guide you through high school but I thought it
was like a therapist and I thought they were thinking there was something wrong
with me or something. So yeah I was definitely very behind for a little while
took me a little while to catch up. I think of that you being in the bathroom
hiding just because I have a very dear friend whose son had that type of anxiety and he
did that and he didn't get past it and unfortunately he ended up taking his life and the anxiety
of eating lunch, this precious little boy in the bathroom every single day.
So I picture you, you know, with that level of anxiety too.
If I'd have told you or your family then, like snapshot,
this girl's walking into high school now,
you're eating lunch in the bathroom that day or hiding in there.
And I would have told you someday you're going to live in a lower 48 and you're going to have millions of people paying attention to you.
Not the people just on Chris Kringle road,
but all over on almost every road in the world are going to be listening to you
or seeing your content every time
What would they have said to me and then at that time if you took a picture of yourself?
Who would you have told me you were then if you had to describe you like this is who I am
What would you say? Oh gosh, I think back then I was
So shy I was so not confident myself. I was so quiet. I was, I just felt very, I
sheltered, you know. I just didn't feel like I got along with any of the kids. I
feel like I didn't fit in. I felt very lost. I think those are the some of, some
of the feelings that I felt in that moment. You struggle with your mental
health at some point in high school or before that and then
How did you get from that place right there?
To hey, I might move was there like a dream in your heart
Was it just like escaping where you were and wanted to see something else? What made you ultimately make this move?
Well growing up in Alaska, I loved it. I loved living there
Well, growing up in Alaska, I loved it. I loved living there. But I, at the time, I was like, I want to get my biology degree and I want to go to med school one day. And I would talk about it,
but I just hadn't made the plunge yet to book the ticket to go down to the lower 48.
But there was a time in my life, you know, I was in school, I was in college, I was going to
University of Alaska. And I was, you know, I went through this period of time where I was in school, I was in college, I was going to University of Alaska, and I went through this period of time
where I was cheated on, crashed my car,
and got laid off from my coffee job,
and I was like, just sitting there with so much,
just spiraling into this stressful time in my life,
and I kind of used that as there's nothing stopping me
from now going to lower 48.
So it's kind of, I took something that was so difficult
to go through and I found the silver lining in it.
And that's kind of what I use to kind of my inner compass,
if you will.
I try to find a silver lining in things.
I booked my one-way ticket.
I gave myself four months.
I was like, get your life together.
You have four months, we're gonna go to Lower 48
and we're gonna do what we said we've been gonna do.
During that time, I realized that, you know,
I really had fallen out of love with myself
just with everything that I was going through.
You know, you have this inner mean girl.
I know the guys have an inner mean boy guy.
And we just beat ourselves up.
And especially when you go through, you know,
everything that I went through at the same time,
I just was beating myself up right and left.
And the way that I kind of confronted myself was like,
okay, I can either live in this
or I can make my life better.
Which was, you know, focusing on that inner mean girl
and just standing up to her and just saying,
no, no, no, sit down.
I'm not, you know, I am driven, I am smart, I am capable,
I can do hard things.
And so I just, what I say is,
I kind of battled her out a little bit.
You know, I had
this intermingle girl I was tackling and I told myself, I'm going to give myself one year where
I date myself. I'm going to buy myself flowers. I'm going to take myself out on dates. I'm going to
dress up for myself. I'm going to, you know, work hard on my career and my life. And that one year,
my career and my life. And in that one year, I turned that inner mean girl
into my best friend.
And she was my biggest hype girl.
And she advocated for me and she was cheering me on.
And that one year ended up turning into three years.
It wasn't on purpose.
I just, I, during that one year, I found myself worth
and I just realized how wonderful of a person I am.
It doesn't mean you'll have this ego
and I'm not like, I'm the best.
But you realize things about yourself.
You get to know yourself better
and you realize like what you will put up with
and what you won't and what you wanna work for,
what you won't settle for.
And it truly just changed my life.
Okay, I want to unpack this because
I have a really good friend.
So by the way, you've all heard the behind the scenes now.
We're about to get into minute to branding
and building a nine figure company
and making your dreams come true.
But for me, this is really important.
And this idea of dating yourself, everybody,
you said something even more profound maybe before that,
which is I had fallen out of love with myself.
If you're listening to this, you're driving,
you're on the treadmill, you're watching it on YouTube,
just ask yourself this,
is that the case for you right now?
Like, can you honestly say I love myself?
I'm talking about guy or lady watching it.
This has nothing to do with gender.
But have you fallen out of love with yourself a little bit?
Were you ever in love with yourself?
You have the blessing of growing up in a beautiful family in this great
environment. So there was love, but a lot of people have never had that.
Maybe some of you need to take a year and date yourself and be kind to
yourself. Maybe it's not a relationship you need to get into.
And maybe it's not starting a business yet. Maybe it's not those things yet.
Maybe it's just taking some time. I have a very good friend who and she's 39 and she's got a young son
and she just did this for the last year. She literally dated herself.
She'd take me. She sent me a picture in a restaurant.
She's eating dinner alone.
And she's like, I could never do that.
And she's like, I'm just treating myself well.
I take walks on the beach with me.
I have conversations with me. And about
six months into it, sort of like what you said, she probably heard this from you, by the way.
She said, you know, I'm starting to really like me. And she said, and I believe this, I say this
in my content, you can't really like yourself if you don't even know you. You don't even know
yourself. And so thank you so much for that. So what a beautiful way to put it. I dated myself and now I've got my own inner best friend.
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and you know by the way it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they
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things you're probably going to produce the same results but if you get into a
new environment where you're learning new things and you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're
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we're going to shift gears this is where the heidi some of you know begins to get sort of created but
the foundation for it i believe was this inner best friend. Right? So from there, now what happens?
I think part of that treating yourself well was you're eating pretty good too, right?
For a while there. And that's connected to the story, isn't it?
Yes. So when I moved to San Antonio, I, you know, I was working on myself,
but I had just gotten there. And because I was still kind of going through that spiraling time, I was still finding myself.
I started eating out at every fast food place, broke college student.
I was living on fast food and I really enjoyed trying other foods because in North Pole we
had Wendy's and McDonald's.
That's it.
Oh, sorry.
And Taco Bell.
We did have Taco Bell.
So we had three. And so trying all these foods,
I gained a good amount of weight in a short period of time.
And when that happened, I remember trying on clothes
and I realized I had to go up quite a few sizes.
And I remember looking in the mirror at the fitting room
and I was like, man, like I came here to better my life and here
I am. It wasn't the weight gain. It was how I felt in that moment. I remember I was like,
I just feel sluggish and tired and exhausted and brain fog. And I mean, you name it. I
just didn't feel my vibrant self. And so from then on, I was like, I'm going to start working
out. I hated the gym by the way
I took weightlifting in high school skipped every single day
What?
Who are the most famous fitness influencers in the world and you hated working out that's bananas to me
Oh my gosh, so I started going to gym and I remember that feeling of walking into the gym for the first time
I was like I hate it here. I hate it so much. I don't want to be here. I
wish I could be anywhere else. And that feeling that I had when I walked in is so important because I've built my brands off of that girl in that moment of walking in the gym
and just feeling that feeling. And so, I tried the treadmill for a while, then tried weightlifting, then didn't crossfit.
So I eventually found my groove.
And as I started losing weight,
there's a lot of women that were like,
Heidi, what workouts are you doing?
Share your recipes.
So I started doing that on Instagram, loved it.
And I started building this community of women
who they loved seeing me lift weights. I started doing that on Instagram, loved it. And I started building this community of women who,
you know, they loved seeing me lift weights.
Like, oh wow, you're, you know, you're squatting 135 pounds.
That's more than your body weight.
That's amazing.
And like, you look great.
I can do that.
So they started getting this confidence
and like they started lifting weights.
Cause as myself, when I started lifting weights,
I would see the men doing it.
And I would say, I don't want to look like that, so I'm not going to do that.
But me researching and going through my weight loss period,
I learned so much.
And so I wanted to share that with other women like,
hey, you can lift weights, you're not going to get bulky.
Trust me, like the guy that weighs 200 pounds,
it took him years to put on that much muscle.
And women just, they felt so comfortable coming to me
and asking me questions.
And so that's kind of what started my fitness journey
and started with social media.
And I love the community that I built with women.
I mean, they, even now to this day, I take it so seriously
and I'm so careful what I put out into the world
because I know they trust me with 100% percent of, you know, they're being.
Were you super uncomfortable in the beginning? I mean,
I'm just picturing someone who's not comfortable at some point,
just a few years before walking into the lunch room in high school in Alaska.
And now you're putting yourself, cause here's the thing.
I think most people don't document their life cause they don't think it's
interesting. So they, a, don't post on social media because they don't think they're interesting and they're wrong and
Secondly, they don't want to show their weaknesses yet
That's the thing that connects you your imperfections are what connect you with people not your perfections. But third
They're they're afraid of like ridicule or feedback or it not going on
Did you have that at some point too?
Like, well, I have a camera on me now. I know I did when I started. I was like, this is weird.
Was it, was that hard for you or no? Oh, absolutely. I mean, go look at, don't, I'm like, go look,
but don't look at some of my first videos on YouTube. I mean, I was, if anything, I just felt
like I was very robotic. I remember recording over and over and over again,
like the same video, I was like, hi guys, it's me.
Like I was so nervous.
And I did something that I still use to this day.
I did it with shaking hands.
So I was terrified, I was scared, I was nervous,
and I was absolutely afraid,
but I still did it with shaking hands.
And that's kind of something that I take to this day
whenever I'm conquering a fear,
is when people are like, don't be afraid,
don't be scared, don't be afraid.
I tell people, I'm like, you should do it afraid.
Because if you're afraid, you will grow
after you kind of tackle that head on.
And a lot of my favorite moments in life
is me doing something in fear and doing something when I did have shaking hands. It's like afterwards
I felt so much better about myself. Yep. I'm the same way
My biggest fear was public speaking and so the first time I actually finally did it, you know for real
I wasn't any good at it, but I finished it and I was never the same human again
It was almost like on a cellular level,
I changed a little bit, you know?
And the next time I was 99% as scared, but not as 100%.
And now, you know, it's what I do 80 nights a year.
And so I'm exactly the same way.
If you're afraid of it, you should probably do it
because it'll change you.
I totally agree with you on that.
Okay, I know what everybody wants to know,
so we're gonna get to it now.
So you have this time where you're dating yourself,
you've gained a bunch of weight,
now you're hitting the gym, now you're making content.
How does BuffBunny collection begin?
So, let's see, a lot of YouTubers,
a lot of social media people, you know,
they end up making merch and I love me some merch.
So I was like, I'm gonna make some t-shirts
and I'm gonna put BuffBunny on merch. So I was like, I'm going to make some t-shirts and I'm going to put buff bunny on it.
And I think because woman had learned so much through my channel, I mean,
I've had women come up to me and say,
I have lost hundreds of pounds watching your meal prep videos. And I'm like,
I was just sharing my favorite tips. You know,
I didn't realize how important sharing a meal prep video was.
So I was like, I'm gonna make some t-shirts.
So I made some t-shirts and they sold out in,
I mean, I think under a minute.
It was crazy, just like that.
And I was like, oh, okay,
I thought this was gonna last like two or three months.
So then I bought more.
And so I used the amount of money
I put towards the clothing brand
and I just put it right back in.
I never took money out. I just kept doubling, tripling, quadrupling my inventory.
Merch, I did about three times and I think that started in January and then by August,
I had looked into manufacturing overseas. I was like, you know, I stand by the quote,
whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. I believe it's in the Bible, it's in the Bible.
And I was like, you know,
women are asking me for leggings
and they're asking me for joggers.
And I just, I can't print it on these cheap hoodies.
I just can't do it.
I can't put it on the cheap leggings.
I just can't do it.
So I started looking into textiles,
taught myself so much about fabrics,
washes,
recipes on how to create the most amazing fabrics. And I documented the
whole thing on YouTube. So my community was seeing, ah, she's coming out
leggings. I was like, what color do you guys want? What rise do you guys want?
What inseam length do you want? So I used my community and just asked them
was like, what do you guys want? And I used their
voice and I let them have a voice and suggest colors and things like that. And I would just
kept ordering more inventory, more pieces. They're like, we want crop tops, we want folding tops,
we want hoodies, we want joggers. And I kind of built these collection based on customer demands.
And I kind of built these collection based on customer demands. So that's kind of how it started.
And I remember the first, I mean, the first two years were just absolutely wild.
I was doing everything out of my home.
You know, I had this fear. I was like, I can't get a warehouse.
I'm just, I'm too nervous to commit to a three-year lease.
Oh my gosh, there's no way. And so I had a, I had moved
from a two-bedroom apartment that had like one working outlet at a time to then moving
into a four-bedroom house that I was like, this will basically be my fulfillment center.
Wow.
And I utilized every room. I was like for back stock and printing orders. I was paying
my best friends with Chipotle to come help me pack orders.
Oh my gosh.
That was the start of it.
And it's been eight years and we just keep growing.
This is you guys. Okay.
So first off, this is real entrepreneurship here,
which is like you do pay friends with Chipotle, you do work out of your apartment.
It doesn't feel real.
I don't think you actually feel successful for it. I don't even know if you ever feel successful if you're a good entrepreneur,
but like for years and years you don't, right? Right now, if you just give them a peek,
I won't get too much into your business, but your personal income a year is over a million dollars
a year, correct? Yes. Yes, and it's over probably eight figures a year, is that correct? Yes. Yes. And it's over probably eight figures a year. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. Okay. Did you all just hear what I just said?
This is a nine figure brand that was built by a girl who gave herself a one way ticket to the US,
ends up gaining weight, going to the gym, starts documenting her things she's doing out of fear and anxiety,
thinks nobody's going to be interested in it, turns out people are interested in it,
builds this brand because guys, branding by the way, business nowadays used to be interested in it. Turns out people are interested in it, builds this brand because guys branding,
by the way, business nowadays, it used to be, who do you know?
And that's why only a few people become successful. You had to be have connections.
Who do you know? Does your dad know?
It was always the guy who the lady whose dad knew someone or they went to Harvard
and they got the alumni. Now it's not who do you know? It's who knows you.
And when people know you and they started to know Heidi, then she start filling their
needs and it's built this incredible brand. Along the way though, the reason I wanted
you on, here's the main reason. People see you. You've married your dream guy, which
we'll talk about a little bit, right? You've married Christian and you've married this
handsome other stud influencer dude. If everybody sees Heidi on YouTube, she's a beautiful young lady. She's fit.
She's making all this money and you can look at her and say, Oh,
she's different than me.
And what I want you to hear whether you're a man or a woman is she's not
different than you. She's done different things than you,
but she is not different than you. And there's been heartache along the way.
How- take us to be the real entrepreneur now, because I have real entrepreneur conversations.
Have you actually enjoyed this?
Like, out of a 30-day month, how many days are good days?
Seriously, I mean, I mean it.
Where there are the last eight years, or how many of them are like,
man, that was heavier than I thought it would be when I started.
Just curious what your answer would be. Oh, you mean one day with no fires?
Yeah. Okay. Let's go there first. Yeah. I would say maybe 25% are good days.
Sometimes I might have a month where it's like 50-. But like, like I said, like I said, kind of earlier,
it's like I always see the silver lining in things.
Like I might have like, it might be a small fire one day.
It might be a big fire one day, but I have an amazing team,
three teams and we we tackle everything together and we figure it out.
And I like to say I'm a professional problem solver.
Yes. So that does help.
Yeah. And but I enjoy what I do. I love what I do
every single day. What about the first three years? What would you say? First three years,
was it still 25% or was it like every day just hairs on fire running around? Oh yeah.
I would say every single day was a hard day. Every single day was a hard day. So I would
say it gets easier as you know, your business grows
and you have teams that help you.
But that's why I'm like, you know, 75 to 80 percent of my month is,
you know, the harder days.
But there's still a lot of good in those days.
You know, it's like you win some, you lose some, you win some, you lose some.
Do you think your temperament helps you?
I'm just listening to you.
Even the way you tell your story, it's this
like remarkable story. But you sort of say it, I would say almost like in a matter of fact way,
a little bit. And it's because you lived it and you're also on the other side of it. But
I guess what I'm saying is, do you have an ability to kind of find equanimity, like peace under
duress? Are you good at that when everyone's kind of burning,
you're a sense of calm or do you have people around you
that are the sense of calm?
Actually, I would say I'm probably the sense of calm.
I remember I hired a design director
and with manufacturing, when something happens,
maybe we have a collection with three items that are late,
we're like, okay, we have to wait for these items
to come in to launch.
So we have to push back a whole launch,
which then cascades the whole year.
It's a ripple effect, domino effect.
And I remember it was, I think, her first couple months
and she's letting me know that she's all nervous.
And I was like, okay, all right,
we'll sort of move this over here.
This, this, this, all right, what else you have?
And she was like, you're not upset?
I was like, there's some things that,
it's out of my control, it's out of your control.
And stressing about it for hours is not gonna do anything.
I would say in the first couple of years,
the first year I would say, I, you know,
I would take things differently.
I'm like, oh my, it's the end of the world.
I have this fire to put out.
But as you get used to it, it's like the longer that you
struggle or worry about these things that you can't control,
it's just taking
your energy, it's taking your peace. And I've just learned 15 minutes. I have 15 minutes.
And actually Dr. Lyon was talking about this recently. Love her. And she was like, yeah,
I just, I give myself 15 minutes. I was like, yeah, I kind of do that too. It's like, I have
15 minutes to complain about it, to be upset about it, to yell it out or call a friend if I need to,
but then I have to move on because I have so many other things that I have to juggle.
I think it's one of the number one qualities of successful people.
I think about, I look at a quarterback in football that I admire,
you take a Tom Brady, it's not how he is in the first quarter.
How is he when the heat is the most hot in the fourth quarter under pressure,
can he find his best decision then?
Or Serena Williams in tennis,
or a politician that you might admire. Entrepreneur like you that I admire. It's that ability to do that
under pressure. Okay, a couple more things. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. So what do you want
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slash my let rocket money.com slash my let. I know everybody
wants me to ask you different stuff. Has it been worth it?
Oh, absolutely. I can't imagine doing anything else
than what I'm doing right now.
And I remember one pivotal moment that I had
where I was in my apartment that had one working outlet.
It's like I could either make my oatmeal or my coffee.
I had to pick one or the other.
And I remember I had worked so hard
on my biology degree, which I dropped out of school.
I had six classes left, but I worked so hard
and I worked so hard on my resume and, you know,
building out my future to one day, hopefully become a doctor.
And I remember a conversation I had with a family member.
They said, I was like, I think I'm gonna take time off
and do this whole social media thing.
And this was 10 years ago, possibly longer.
No one was doing social media as a full-time career.
It's like, some people sort of were,
but to full on be like, this is my career now,
it wasn't as common.
And so telling my family member there that I remember they
said, like, Oh my gosh, what if you're making a mistake, like, you're never going to make
as much money as a doctor. And I remember that moment I was like, for me, it was never
about the money on becoming a doctor. My love language is acts of service. I love, I love
doing things for people helping people. And I always felt like I had a calling for that,
helping people in any way.
And so for me, I was like, it was never about the money.
It was always about helping people.
And right now I'm helping so many women
just by making meal prep videos.
I was like, I wanna expand on this.
I think that this could do so much good.
And maybe it's not surgery,
but it's a different version of helping people.
And I remember that was a really hard fork in the road.
It was like this, it's like, I was at the end of the road
and I was like, I gotta go right or left.
And I struggled with that because I had worked so hard
and I had put myself through school, worked four jobs
and did so much and completely doing a 180
and doing social media full time.
Yeah.
Was, oh my gosh, it made my stomach sick.
That's the best part of life.
It was so worth it. So worth it. I don't regret one decision.
Oh good. I'm so glad to hear that. Those butterflies you get in your stomach,
I call those butterfly feelings. That's indication God's telling you you're about to have something
great happen. You know, everything in life is preceded by the butterflies. That's indication God's telling you you're about to have something great happen.
You know, everything in life is preceded by the butterflies. That person you go into a relationship
and hopefully got butterflies on the date. If you played high school sport, you know, before the game you get the butterflies.
You know, go to social media and drop out of becoming a doctor and getting your biology degree. Butterflies.
You know, that's the juice of life. This has been so good. I feel like I've been on this whole entrepreneurial life mindset,
mental health journey with you. Um,
this is a real entrepreneur question cause it's something I am sitting here a
lot older than you that I still wonder if I struggle with.
And I don't ask very many guests this, but I'm going to ask you,
are you afraid it's all going to go away? And if you are,
does that motivate you or paralyze you? In other words,
I think a lot of people like to know when I get to this place that she's at
where I'm, I seem unstoppable, are you still,
do you live in some fear? I could lose it. It could go away.
I could not be relevant. And if it does, how does, if,
if you do feel that, how does it affect you? Good or bad?
That's a really great question. I would say that
Throughout, you know the whole process of last ten years on social media when I first started with online programs
Every single day. I was like, this is not forever. This is temporary. This is temporary. This is temporary
And so I just put money away. I just saved it saved it saved it and then
Starting buff money collection same thing. I was like every single launch I did, I was like,
this is temporary, this is temporary, this is temporary.
And then I remember, I think it was the first
or second year we did, I think it was like in five minutes,
we did, I think it was like half a million dollars
in just five minutes.
And when that happened, I thought there was something wrong
with the website, I'm calling my website guy,
I'm like, oh my gosh, I was like, something's going on.
He was like, Heidi, you sold out.
I was like, no, there's no way.
Like it was five minutes.
There's no way.
And I looked at it, I was like, oh my gosh.
We sold out in five minutes.
It was wild.
I'll never forget that moment.
I was like, me and my assistant,
we looked at each other.
We were like, we gotta hire a bigger team.
This isn't temporary. And so I started
getting more confident, I think with each launch that went by. Now, I'm not going to
sit here and lie and say that I never have those feelings because I think any business,
you know, some businesses have, you know, they're amazing. They do great for two years,
they go down three years, five years, eight years, 10 years. I would say that I do my absolute best
to not let that imposter syndrome pop up, but it does.
And if anything, I just use it almost like
as this like fear to fuel me.
I'm like, well, then you better work really hard right now
because it could go away.
I don't know if that's the healthiest way to think about it,
but I've, yeah, I've just kind of used that fear to fuel me a little bit
more with business. And I also have diversified with, I have my three personal brands, but
I still have a lot of other things that I've done in the backend. I've saved up money with
all the different brands and I have investments going on.
And at one point I was like,
I'm gonna save up X amount of money
and I'm just gonna live off the interest.
And that's how I'm retiring.
And so I did that, I think a few years ago.
And I was like, oh no, I'm not done.
Like, I love this.
I love everything that I do.
And at the end of the day, it's not about the money.
I love what I'm able to do and provide
for women. That's the best answer because that's exactly how it works. I did exactly the same thing.
I'm like I'm going to get to where I've got enough money because this is going to go away to live off
of it interest-wise and then I got there and I'm like I don't want to stop doing this. I love doing
it but you only know that I think if you save a bunch of money. And so, I think that's
a great lesson for entrepreneurs is to continue to save money. Along the way though, there's been
tragedy as well. And one of them I was thinking about was someone that you lost along the way as
you were building the business as well. And because I just think life happens to everyone,
you know?
And you don't go from, I'm in Alaska on Chris Kringle Road
to I'm making 30 million bucks a year, easy, right?
And I want people to see the behind the scenes on this.
So along the way, probably the part of your video
that I watched that got me the most emotional
was you as a little girl growing up in Alaska, and then this particular loss that I watched that got me the most emotional was you as a little girl growing up in Alaska,
and then this particular loss that I'm referencing.
So talk about that and then how you handled it.
Tell them what happened and then how you were able to process it even.
Yeah. So that was a really heavy thing that I went through,
but I was moving to Houston.
So I lived in San Antonio for a good chunk of time
and then my husband now, we were dating at the time
and I moved to Houston.
And a lot of my friends lived in San Antonio
and a lot of them, I mean, they were coming over,
they were helping me pack packages,
they were cheering me on,
they were going to the gym with me.
And I had one friend who, I mean,
she was my biggest cheerleader. She was, I mean, she was my biggest cheerleader.
She was, I mean, she was repping the clothes.
We would be out at HEB and she's like,
do you see these leggings?
I mean, she was like the best cheerleader.
So when I moved to Houston, I got a call one day and,
you know, I think loss of any friend is hard, but a friend that was
there for you for every, you know, part of your journey and a friend that was taken,
you know, took her own life is, I mean, I was just lost.
It was just a dark, dark time.
And going through that, I think,
trying to run a business while going through that
was probably the hardest
because I had just uprooted my whole company to a new city.
And I had two employees with a big booming business.
I was trying to build out my team.
So trying to process that,
the loss of a best friend
by suicide, trying to be there for my company was,
I mean, I can't even like I
Can't even really describe that time. I think that
What got me? through that hard time was
Letting myself process it and
Taking some space away from my team
And again, it's hard because as entrepreneurs when when do you shut off? When do you take care
of yourself? There's not really a blueprint or a book that you can read to try to navigate
those feelings. Every story is different. So for me, I just, I spoke to my friends very
often about her. I think that really helped me. It's like not shutting myself into a room. It was taking space that I needed to give myself grace and give
myself time to process it. Speaking to friends of hers that were friends of
mine and reliving all of the best moments. Sharing videos and not
being afraid to watch those. I think when people go through loss,
a lot of times they try to not look at photos,
not look at videos, but it's like I forced myself to do that
because I was like, I wanna remember the good times.
I wanna remember my favorite memories in a different way.
And yeah, I mean, it was a hard time and it's just like,
you know, it's like you'd cry before work,
you'd cry after work and like while you're there,
just it's almost like you have to put this like shield on
to be there for your team.
Yeah.
That was something that I, learning that was hard.
Yeah. It was hard.
God bless her.
I was in my backyard,
I told you this the last time we talked, I was in the backyard, I saw that part of the video, I just started crying was in my backyard. I told you this the last time we talked, I was in the
backyard. I saw that part of the video. I just started crying alone in my backyard.
Also for you too, I think there's three types of people in the world and all are great.
I mean that move people. There's motivational people. They play to people's motives. They
want to look like them or get a car, get a house. You have that. You're a motivational
person. Then there's inspirational people and they
touch people, I say those people are in spirit, they've moved people's hearts, you know, not just
their motives. And then there's aspirational people. Aspirational people are people that you look at and
you go, I'd like to be more like them. I aspire to be more like them and I think you're all three.
I think that I think a lot of people
look at you, you've motivated them with the way your body changed and you're changing your life and
you've been very inspirational for so many people as they've rooted for you on your journey and you
interacted and then I think this super small town girl who builds this massive brand who's still
got all this humility, that's the biggest thing about you. You have all this humility, I think
people aspire to be like you.
I want to acknowledge that in you.
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And then I want to ask you something.
As you've interacted with the world through your brand,
what have you learned that most people struggle with?
And your brand is more women, obviously, than men.
So we'll talk about women here, but I think whatever she's about to say,
just so you know, in my brand, it's probably 70% women now and 30% men.
It's just changed over time.
But people are people.
You said you love your community.
What is it that most of them struggle with?
What do most people struggle with?
And maybe did it surprise you how many do whatever that thing is?
I think, you know, my brand is all about women and I and I love them and this is something
that I tell you know other women like you can build a community it just takes
one person and then two and three and you can build it over time that's
something that I try to tell women there you know they'll see my my social media
and I'm like we have millions of people that follow you I was like, but there was one day where I started and
I had zero. It's like you can build your own community over time. And for mine, I've always
focused on women. In the past, I've been suggested to, you know, add men's wear to the Buff Money
collection line, or maybe to add men's workouts to Grounds Fitness App,
which is my fitness app for women.
And I've always been like, I just, I love men,
but I know women so well.
And I want to give them more tools and everything they need
and like this safe space where it's, you know,
women only, they can just be themselves.
And I think that is one of our superpowers is just having this community
of only women. So I don't want to change that with the brands at least. I was like, my husband
has amazing brands where it's men and women. I'm like, so I just, I tell them, I'm going
to go over there.
Yep. You're right.
But I think that what we do different is I really listen.
And when women ask me for advice and men with,
building their brands, I'm like,
have you ever asked your customers or your target audience,
like what do they want?
What are their problems and how can you solve them?
For Buffbunny Collection, I was solving a problem.
Women in the weight room were like, we want pink leggings.
That was one of the first things that I did
is I made a bubblegum pink obnoxious,
fun, bright color legging.
Because girls were like,
I wanna go to the gym and deadlift 200 pounds
and do it in pink leggings.
And I was like, cool, I can help you with that.
And so that's kind of why I started making leggings
and all these like fun, bright colors.
And I try to do a little bit of everything for every woman.
It's like, we have neutrals, brights, fun prints.
And I just listen, I'm like, great.
I am not afraid to look back at designs and being like,
ooh, I wish I would have, you know,
listened to this other customer who wanted,
I don't know, a different inseam.
I think what you said about humility,
I don't get my feelings hurt very easy.
I'm like, oh, you guys don't like this legging? Don't worry, like we have some more coming out and I'm gonna make it exactly what you said about humility, I don't get my feelings hurt very easy. I'm like, oh, you guys don't like this.
Like, don't worry, like we have some more coming out and I'm going to make
exactly what you want.
When you started, Heidi, I'm asking, I was just thinking about this when you
were talking to one to a hundred, when you started, like the first one you,
you know, got from somewhere else that you, that you ordered and you sold out of
your apartment from there, one to a hundred, what you know about merch, apparel, manufacturing, rank yourself?
And then what would you say you're at now?
Like, this is so critical.
OK, what would you say out of one to 100?
What was your competency level in the industry in general?
Is zero an option?
Really? Really? Yeah.
Yeah. Absolutely nothing.
I went to school for I was in school, you know, I was in school
for science. I would, I love science. I'm math, but anything with fashion. I mean, I
don't know if you've looked up the fashion in Alaska. I mean, we, we wear Carhartts, we
wear, you know, it's not super, you know, high fashion by any means. And so I, I would
say I started at zero. Yeah.
Does everyone hear this?
Because I really,
I was hoping you were gonna say zero to 10, right?
Because I think everyone's afraid to get into a business
or pursue a passion
because they know nothing about it now.
Thinking someone's like born, they know merch.
Born, they know apparel.
Or they have a flair for these things.
And that's not the case.
Like if you got a dream in your heart,
you got something you wanna do, just take the next step.
Just print the first set of leggings, man.
See what happens, right?
Like take a little risk.
You're gonna, life is short.
This is gonna be over anyway.
Live your damn dream.
Look at this woman.
Look what she's done.
It's like we're having this very like
back and forth conversation.
She's from a town of 2000 people. Chris Kringle road,
candy cane streetlights for gosh sakes homeschooled,
didn't wear pants till she's 14.
Now she sells more pants than almost anybody on the planet. Like, hello.
Right. Cause she took a step and she's given you the keys.
It's like you shouldn't be listening to my show to just passively listen.
These are keys for your life. Look what this woman's built, right?
And you can do this too. Your version of it. Maybe it's not a business.
Maybe it's your body. Maybe it's your finances. Maybe it's your faith.
You know, it could be anything. Maybe it's your family, but you can do these things, but you've got to take these keys.
I just don't want people to lose that. Now, speaking of family, you mentioned him and he's,
you know, it's important part of your life now, probably the most important part of your life,
but you also kind of married kind of the competition, I guess, sort of, right? And Christian.
So tell us about that relationship because it's not easy to marry someone
who's going 3 million miles an hour like you are and climbing and climbing and
climbing.
That takes a very special man to be able to deal with the attention you get,
the demand of your time.
And I think because Christian was who he is and is who he is, probably made it him understand your journey pretty well.
But talk about the two of you for a second.
Yeah. Well, they say that, you know, you should keep your enemies close.
So I always like to joke that I married mine.
Awesome.
But Christian and I started dating eight years ago and I just started Buffbunny Collection.
I think I was a few months into, it was my
first year, I'm sorry, it was my first year. And you know, he approached me and I was like,
no, no, no, I'm just, I'm going to focus on my career, my business right now. I want nothing
to do with dating. But he was persistent. He would message me, send me DMs and he found
his way in, which was actually like talking about business.
So he was like, Hey, so are you doing custom Pantone's?
Are you doing overseas?
What kind of were you manufacturing out of?
So I started replying back and then all of a sudden it's this long discussion back
and forth because he also had a business, um, very similar to mine.
Yeah. Very similar to mine. That's awesome. But yeah, so we started dating and I mean,
it was amazing because we're both entrepreneurs.
We had a lot in common,
but I will say it's hard when it's two entrepreneurs
because you don't know when to shut off.
So we try to like fill each other in for a little bit
when we get home about our businesses
and then we just try to be husband and wife
and not talk about business all day.
But it's hard because we both love what we do.
We love it.
For me, it's like, you know, I've built these brands,
but it was great because we also had this like
little healthy competition because, you know,
I have my personal brand, my fitness app,
and then my athletic wear line, but you know,
he has a gym, his athletic wear line,
he has an energy drink company,
he has a bodybuilding league,
so he has more companies than me. And some of them are quite bigger. So it was like this
healthy competition where, you know, we would share insider information of like, hey, like
this, this type of licking does really well for us or like, Ooh, this didn't do well.
So it's almost like instead of being competitive in an unhealthy way, we actually shared colors
that did really well, colors that absolutely bombed and it was fun.
It's the ultimate collaboration to these two titans.
I love seeing a young power couple, by the way.
I just love that.
If you were to start over right now, you had 500 bucks, what would you do?
You're an entrepreneur, somebody could give you advice then, someone's listening to this going, look,
I don't have a million followers. I get, I got two and I only got a couple bucks,
but I want to start something. I want to start a business.
I want to start a journey.
I'll tell you what my answer is after you tell me what your answer is,
but what would you do with the $500 and to start?
If I had $500, I mean, tough question. If it was me as a person,
I would probably use that to create some sort of service. So rather that's in the fitness industry,
if you're selling downloadable programs, let's say you want to start cleaning houses, whatever is in
your niche, trying to find some sort of service. So you can turn that 500 into, you know, $5,000 over a period of time.
And then you could take that money
and invest it into the bigger picture.
And that's kind of what I did with BuffBunny Collection
as well, is I started doing online coaching
and I saved every single dollar
until I could put it into BuffBunny Collection.
Okay, that might be better.
It depends on the individual.
Everyone's answer is probably different
and it's probably fun to hear.
Yeah, I know. I should ask. It depends on the individual. Everyone's answer is probably different. It's probably fun to hear. Yeah, I know.
I should ask that question more on the show.
Mine would be, I would probably put it into myself.
I would probably invest in myself
in some form of personal development,
sales, persuasion, a coach or something like that.
I would take that initial investment and grow you
because ultimately I think you're probably gonna get
out of your life who you believe you are.
And until you do that journey that you talked about
of dating yourself and really getting to know yourself
and loving yourself,
I think personal development is a way of doing that.
And by the way, I'm not saying that
because I'm in that industry.
My podcast is free.
And so I just would probably take that and do that.
Have you ever had burnout?
Just thinking about me as I was answering that question
in the interviews about you,
but have you ever had burnout? And if you have, how have you dealt with it? Just thinking about me as I was answering that question, the interview's about you, but what,
have you ever had burnout and if you have,
how have you dealt with it?
Oh my gosh, yes.
I remember there's a few times where I was just exhausted.
I was like, I can't keep doing what I'm doing.
There was a period of time, it was a few years ago actually,
so I grew the business without a marketing,
I was a marketing director, I was a creative director,
I was doing a lot of the product development,
I was going to the fulfillment center
and doing audits on like,
hey, why can't we pack faster?
How can we get the launches out quicker?
Because with a launch-based company,
you can have a backlog of orders all in one day.
So packaging them as quickly as possible.
So I was at the fulfillment center, talking to the team like, hey, how can we
get the orders out faster?
And going through that, again, a lot of times like my superpower is just listing like, hey,
what would make this faster?
What could I, what tools could I give you guys to make us do this quicker so we could,
you know, get people's orders out faster and then they'll place more orders.
So I think there was a time a few years ago where I was just, again, I was, I was doing everything.
I was also doing a lot of the operations. So I was, I was wearing every single hat and I had people that I had hired,
but a lot of nobody had experience in anything they were doing.
So I was teaching them. So I was wearing all the hats and then teaching all the hats.
And so there just came a point where I was like, I'm exhausted. So I hired a COO,
slash CFO. She changed my life. She was like, how do you can't be, you can't keep doing what
you're doing. This is, I love how hands-on you are, but you are way too hands-on. So she changed my
life in the sense of,
she's like, we need to bring on people
that have experience that are better at this than you.
And I was like, absolutely, that is a dream.
So we started hiring people that, you know,
I'm like, I didn't go to fashion school,
I didn't go to business school,
I didn't go to marketing school.
I know that there's a lot of other more brilliant,
talented people out there than me.
I just wanted to be able to work
with them and show them my special sauce, which is let women have a voice and make sure we're
always connected to them, make sure that they always feel. And that's what I try to tell my
team is we sell apparel, but my thing is when women purchase the clothing, when they watch the
campaign videos, when they look on the website, I want them to feel
something. Yeah. Not just like put on a pair of leggings and be like, great,
these will get me through a cardio session or a weight lift session.
I want them to feel something. Whenever I'm around, you know,
really brilliant, successful people like you, I'm,
I listen really close for what I think their superpowers are that maybe even they
don't know. And a couple things I've noticed about you. Number one, you're really rooted in your own
philosophy. You have a really intense philosophy and you're not going to move away from it. And
I think a lot of entrepreneurs just start businesses to solve problems but they don't
develop a rooted core value or philosophy. Yours is very, very deep. The other thing is,
and this is what all great entrepreneurs do, Steve Jobs did this at Apple,
you start with the customer experience first.
Every single question I've asked you about your business, you've started with the ladies.
You started with them on your social media, not you on your social media.
You started with what they wanted on the brand.
You just started with the experience they're going to have.
Everything you think about is them first working back to you, not the other way around. And it's,
it's a, it is the secret lens. It's this little subtle filter that the great entrepreneurs have,
that the not great ones just never possess. It's, it's just FYI. Every question I've asked you
has started with this audience that you love and respect this community of yours.
And you see them one at a time, not millions of them in a group.
So just FYI, I noticed that about you.
Thank you.
It's an absolute fact.
All right, now really the last question, I promise.
Okay.
You embody the brand.
And so you are fit.
You do care about your community.
You do train.
How important is it when you have a brand or a business of any type to be the example?
And when I think of you, I think she is kind of the Buff Bunny collection
because she's Buff Bunny, like she is the brand.
kind of the Buffbunny collection because she's Buffbunny. Like she is the brand. She lives, trains, works out, eats like the brand itself and I see a lot of other
brands I'm like wow, it doesn't fit. So how important has that part been to you
to actually be the brand? Be what you say you are.
That's a good question. I would say that you know, you lead by example. And so I've had a lot of employees and customers who start following the brand
and they see what I eat, they see how I train, they see my business tips that I give on YouTube.
For a while it was like all fitness content, but people were like, show us more business.
So I mean, I've been very open in my YouTube videos about you know launches and how everything works and they love to see that part of the journey even
if they're not an entrepreneur they're like this is really interesting to see you know your day.
I think that the three words that we like I embody with my team and our customers is three words it's
excellent so it's do everything with excellence so whatever whatever that hand find is to do, do it with all they might.
Rather you are, um, you know, catering to a customer or you are designing a
legging or you are thinking of a marketing plan. It's do it with excellence.
And then transparency.
I think that companies that have full transparency are the best companies
because you're transparent with your customers, never lie to them.
Be transparent with your influencers,
your athletes or your sales team.
Just being completely transparent.
Don't try to hide things or shovel them under the rug.
And then the last word for us is diversity.
So everything we do is with diversity.
I know that some women may relate to me,
but some women may not.
And so we actually work with, I think right now we have about 150 influencers that we work with
that come in all different body shapes, sizes, backgrounds, countries.
And they actually shoot the brand more.
Like I talk about it on YouTube, but I always joke, I'm like, oh no, my marketing team,
they fired me.
They were like, get out of here.
You don't need me to photo shoot.
Like go build the brand.
And we have plenty of influencers that we can work with.
And so yeah, I used to be the face of the brand,
but now I've taken a step back
and I love to show all the different women.
There's so many different, amazing, brilliant, creative
women that come in all different shapes and sizes.
And we love, love, love, love to show that.
I loved today.
I love most how you honor the people that you serve.
And so I'm sort of hoping that today was one of those occasions where you were honored
because I really admire you and I'm always going to be here to support and help you.
I'm glad that we're going to become friends now after all this time.
And I'm serious.
You're evidence that good things happen
to good people eventually.
So congratulations on all your success.
I'm really proud of you.
Thank you so much.
This means so much coming from you, by the way,
cause I don't think you realize it,
but you are who I listen to when I work out,
when I'm getting ready in the morning. I mean, your YouTube videos are so amazing.
And this is something that I wish I would have done
in my earlier years.
I'll be honest and say like,
it's only been the last few years
that I've started listing more to podcasts.
And I'm like, man, if I had one regret,
it's not doing this sooner because you come up,
you hear these little nuggets as I calm,
I'm like, ooh, that was a good nugget.
And so a lot of the things that you say in your videos, and I listened to other
podcasts as well, it's amazing.
So it's like some of the things that you talk about, like the motivation,
inspiration, um, aspirational, I was listening to a video of yours recently
talking about that and I was like, wow, aspirational.
So you saying that was like, that made my, I'm going to be on a cloud all day today.
Absolute fact. Thank you for telling me that. That means the world to me.
She's got so much stuff that I could send you to.
You guys got the grounds fitness app. You got the buff bunny collection.
Probably just go follow her on Instagram and Tik Tok and YouTube and just follow
her on her journey. You guys, thank you for saying that at the end. I appreciate it.
Heidi Summers, everybody. God bless y'all. Share today's episode. Max out.
This is the Ed Myland Show.