This week, we're sitting down with Chris May. Chris is the co-founder of LTN Insurance, an agency dedicated to helping their clients through excellent, personal service. Listen to this week's episode to hear his story and how delegation is an essential skill in running a business.
Produced by Blue Fish in Mobile, Alabama
Transcript:
Chris May: My name is Chris May, and I am the Co-Founder of LTN Insurance.
Marcus Neto: Well, welcome to the podcast, Chris.
Chris May: Yeah, thanks so much for having me, man.
Marcus Neto: I know we've been talking about doing this for a while, so it's good to finally have you here.
Chris May: I'm kind of fan boying out a little bit. I've been listening to y'all's podcast for probably since it started. This is the first podcast that I ever listened to that was about local businesses. It's cool to finally be on here.
Marcus Neto: To my knowledge, we were the first podcast in Mobile. I could be wrong on that, but I've gone back and kind of looked and from what I understand, we were definitely the first business podcast in Mobile. Thank you for listening.
Marcus Neto: You and I are in the same D&I group, and we've kind of geeked out on shoes. We'll get to that in a minute. Before we get there, why don't you tell us the story of Chris. Where are you from? Where did you go to high school? Where did you go to college? Married? Give us some of that backstory.
Chris May: I am originally from Tuscumbia, Alabama. Hardly anybody that's listening to this-
Marcus Neto: I'm going to ask.
Chris May: Knows where that is.
Chris May: I tell everybody that I'm from Florence, Alabama. Tuscumbia is like saying you're from Silver Hill, or you're from Theodore. It's a small town around a larger area. If you've heard the song "Sweet Home Alabama", Muscle Shoals, that's the area that I'm from. They call it the Quad Cities. It's Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Florence. But I'm from Tuscumbia.
Marcus Neto: A strong music influence there, huh?
Chris May: Yes, very strong music influence. I am not musically inclined or talented in the least, but I am from that area. It's also the birthplace of Helen Keller.
Marcus Neto: Oh, cool.
Chris May: Her, and our high school football team are kind of the claim to fame of Tuscumbia. Anyways, I grew up around there and then moved down to Mobile in 2010. I played football at South. That's what brought me down here, was a part of the second ever football team, which was a really cool experience to be a part of that. Then some of the firsts that we had, our first Bowl game, our first home Division I win and some other cool stuff.
Chris May: Anyways, I went to school at South and then met my wife in 2014. We started dating, and then got married in... Excuse me. We didn't start dating until the end of 2015, and then got married at the beginning of 2016. We have a two and a half year old daughter, Isla, is her name. She is red-headed, and we still are trying to figure out where the red hair came from. I've got a little bit in my beard, but-
Marcus Neto: I was going to say you've got a tinge to your beard.
Chris May: Yeah, outside of that, there's hardly anybody in our family that really has red hair. So, we don't know where that came from, but she is a ball of energy and she's a blast. I finished up there in 2015, and then after that I got into sales and advertising. I worked for an advertising company that does somewhat similar to what Bluefish does, but you guys are way better.
Marcus Neto: He has to say that, folks. He's sitting in the hot seat.
Chris May: I was there for a short amount of time, and then quickly realized that that really wasn't for me. Let me run back and actually say I got into teaching and coaching right out of college. That's what I originally wanted to do, was be a high school head football coach and teach. Again, similar to the sales world, the advertising world, I just realized that it wasn't for me. It wasn't for me longterm.
Chris May: So, I got out of that and got into sales and advertising. I worked for that company and was there for a few months. My mentor called me one day and was like, "Hey, are you happy where you're working?" I was like, "Man, I'm actually looking for a job right now." He said, "I know a guy that owns an insurance agency. Would you have any interest?" I was like, "Yeah, sure. I'll interview with him and sit down and see what he has to say."
Chris May: In that same period of time, I was kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do longterm. I had kind of nailed down two things. I was either going to go into real estate and work for a real estate agency for... I think you have to work for one for two years before you can open your own brokerage. That's what I was going to do. Or, I was going to go to barber school and open a barber shop.
Chris May: Neither one of those were going to work because we had a-
Marcus Neto: Of the three things that you've listed, the barbershop is probably the best business ever.
Chris May: Absolutely.
Marcus Neto: Before you get too far into where you were, because I see where you're going, let me just have you pause for a second and go back. Would you have considered yourself a good student?
Chris May: Not in the slightest.
Marcus Neto: Okay.
Chris May: I had ADHD really bad when I was a kid, and was really hyper, I could never sit still-
Marcus Neto: See, I didn't know that that went away with age.
Chris May: Yeah, I don't know if it does go away with age, for sure.
Marcus Neto: He's just learning how to manage it, folks.
Chris May: Yeah, that's the best. Well, I used to have to take Adderall for it, and I finally got to where I didn't have to take that and just kind of learn how to manage that. I still have my tweaks, like I rub my fingers together constantly. I guess that's the way that I get around that.
Chris May: But no, I was not a good student in the slightest. I say all the time that I goofed off my first four years of college before I finally realized, hey you've got to do more than just eligible to actually get this degree. No, school was not my forte.
Marcus Neto: Did you say what you majored in, in college?
Chris May: I did not. I have a degree exercise science, which is nowhere near what I'm doing now.
Marcus Neto: No, it's fine. I have a degree in English, and I run an advertising agency. There's some correlation there, but not really.
Chris May: Yeah.
Marcus Neto: Go back and tell us what was your first job, and were there any lessons that you still remember from that?
Chris May: My first ever job was at Subway. I worked at Subway, where obviously you cook and make sandwiches.
Marcus Neto: Sandwich artist, is what they call it.
Chris May: Sandwich artist, there we go, yes. There's really two things that I learned from that job, one of which is that they have fantastic frozen cookie dough. We used to sneak in the back, and they have those huge walk-in freezers. We would kind of take one of those. No, the only thing that I really learned from that job is how not to quit a job. I had a buddy of mine that had some box tickets and a suite to a Titans game. I was like, "Man, I'm going to that game. I've never been to an NFL game before. I want to go."
Chris May: I had to work that day. It was on a Sunday. I was like, "Well, I've never called in sick before. I'll just wait until Sunday morning and call in sick, and I'll be done with it. No big deal." I called in sick, and didn't go to work that day. Then came back in to check my schedule on Tuesday, and my name was no longer on the schedule. So, I definitely learned that communication was really important from that job.
Marcus Neto: Wow, that's hardcore. Normally, they give you a couple of chances. I'm just curious, I'm going to back to it, barber. Why the thought regarding the barber shop?
Chris May: Yeah, that's a great question. I got my hair cut for the first... I used to have really long hair in college.
Marcus Neto: Yes, we may run the photo that we took of him. Or, we may just go online and find the photo of him with the golden locks and the nice full beard from his college football days.
Chris May: I had the long hair for a long time. I grew it out, cut it, and then grew it out and cut it again when I was in college. I never experienced going to a barbershop and getting a fresh fade, like a razor shave on your neck and all that fun stuff. There's a place called Greasy Hands back in my hometown, that they are lights out, best haircut I've ever had. I've got a buddy that works for them now. I went and got my hair cut there, and was like, "Man, this is awesome." Just the way it made you feel, and just the interaction with people that you have, and conversations, and getting to hear their stories while cutting hair.
Chris May: I was like, "I think I might want to do this." So, I bought a pair of clippers and cut my little brother's hair a couple of times. I was like, "I think I can really do this." But I just couldn't get over... If you go that route, there's two different ways you can do it. You can either go to barber school, and you have to do that for a year and a half or so, just depending on how quickly you do it. Or, you can do an apprenticeship. With an apprenticeship, you make-
Marcus Neto: It takes forever.
Chris May: Yes, it takes forever and you get paid $10.00 an hour. We had just had our daughter. She was just a couple of months old. I was like, "Man, I still want my wife to be able to stay home. There's no way we can live off $10.00 an hour with just one salary. Not on the eastern shore at least. We decided that wasn't the route. I still enjoy that, but I sold my clippers to a buddy and haven't cut hair in quite a few years.
Marcus Neto: Funny. See, I've been cutting my... I have three boys. I've been cutting their hair since they were born. I don't know if they've had a haircut by somebody else. I don't remember it. It's just been one of those things. I've always enjoyed that. I looked at it because I have actually Pete Malone, otherwise known as Panini Pete, is ready to open a barbershop on Ann Street, which is right down the street from here.
Marcus Neto: I get my hair cut by a man who is over on Airport, and he does an amazing job. That man stays booked from the time that he opens to the time that he closes, $25.00 a haircut, and he's booked out a month in advance. I don't know if you can do math, but that's not a bad living.
Chris May: It's $50.00 an hour, is what it breaks down to be on.
Marcus Neto: Or more, yeah because he's cutting... It takes him 15 minutes to cut my hair. By the time he checks me out and stuff like that, yeah, $50.00-$75.00 an hour. If you run your business correctly and you're a barber... Now, I think the real money is owning barbershops.
Chris May: Absolutely.
Marcus Neto: I think Pete's got the right idea, but it's always been something that I've had in the back of my mind.
Marcus Neto: Let's talk about LTN. You were starting to get into the story of how you got into insurance. Why don't you finish that for us, and then I know that'll kind of lead into LTN as well.
Chris May: I kind of fell into insurance. I don't really know many people that grew up saying, "Man, I can't wait to be an insurance agent when I grow up." It's not really the sexiest job in the world. I had actually interviewed for a gig right out of college with an insurance agent, and came home and told my wife after that interview, "I'll never work in insurance. These people are just grimy. They just want your money. I don't want anything to do with it."
Chris May: Then my mentor called me one day and was like, "Hey, are you happy where you're working at?" I was like, "No, I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want to do longterm." He knew the guy that owned this agency. He said, "Hey, why don't you go interview with him?" I said, "All right, I'll do it." So I was like, out of respect for him I'll go listen to what he has to say. I sat down and interviewed with the guy and was like, "Man, this is the kind of person that I want to work for," shake your hand, look you in the eye, does business the right way, really solid, really high character. I was like, "This is where I want to work."
Chris May: So, I came home and talked to my wife about it. She was like, "Do it. Let's move forward with it." I took that job with the intentions of that's where I was going to stay for the next 10 to 15 years. I loved it. I absolutely loved working for him. But about six to maybe nine months or so in, that kind of business itch creeps back in. I tried to scratch that itch with some other things. I've got a little black notebook that I wrote down literally every idea that I had from businesses or stuff like that. That's actually where I started listening to y'all's podcast.
Chris May: I was like, "Man, maybe I can do something like what you guys are doing," to scratch that itch, of just sitting down and talking with business owners because I enjoy that aspect. I enjoy just getting to know people. But none of that was really scratching the itch for me. So, I wrote down some other business plans, thought through a job recruitment agency model. I ended up not moving forward with that. Then one day I was like, "Why don't I just open my own insurance agency? Why couldn't I do that?" I mean, when you look at the model of insurance and from a business perspective, it's really hard to beat.
Chris May: Everybody legally has to have it. It's a service that you're doing and taking care of people's needs, which is ultimately what I enjoy doing. I don't necessarily like insurance per se. I like people. That's what I like doing, is in the service of solving problems and helping people. Insurance really fits that model. I interviewed with some insurance agencies about opening my own agency with them, some of the bigger box brand names that you might know very well. I just figured that that really wasn't for me, that the corporate world wasn't really the way that I wanted to take my business. I didn't want to have to be loyal to an insurance company. I wanted to be able to be loyal to my-
Marcus Neto: Customers.
Chris May: To my customers, to my clients. I felt like the independent route was the best way for that, because I have roughly 20 different carriers. If this carrier is not competitive on that premium, another carrier will be. More so, I try and get people to view us as you're hiring us to manage your insurance rather than just buying an insurance policy from us.
Marcus Neto: Right.
Chris May: Plug in at that point where LTN came about. LTN stands for Love Thy Neighbor. That's the core foundation of our agency, that we exist for the purpose of loving and serving others through insurance, and that's it. That's really what we try and do.
Marcus Neto: Which is kind of a really... Nobody ever thinks, "Well, I'm going to my clients through insurance." I think that's just a phenomenal way of presenting the service that you provide to the world.
Chris May: I appreciate that. That's ultimately what we're trying to do. I want to love my neighbor as myself. I want to treat your insurance the same way that I would treat my own, the same way that I would treat my grandparents, the same way that I would treat my mothers. That's the way that I try and view insurance, and that's the way that I try and view business, just in general regardless of whether... 15 years, if I move on to something else, or kind of dabble in something else, that's to me the best way to view business, is ultimately like you're not in selling things. You're in serving people.
Chris May: At the end of the day, business is here to make the economy, to make the world, to make the community better. How can we do that as a business?
Marcus Neto: Do you remember the first time you sold an insurance policy and thought, "Hey, maybe there's something to this." Because you talked about the interview process and thinking, "Well, I like this guy," but I can imagine that even liking him and going to work for him, that it's still kind of like, "Well, I'm not so sure. I'm going to give this a shot and see what happens." Do you remember that first time that-
Chris May: Yeah, I don't know that there was particularly just one time that it was like, "There's something to this." For me, it took a couple of months to kind of figure that out. Again like I said, it's not necessarily "insurance" for me that it is, it's just the service of people. I think that working for Andy was the thing over time that just kind of made that click of, "I can do things in service to people in a sales role." I really struggled with that, of figuring out-
Marcus Neto: No, you actually hit the nail on the head. What I fear is that so many people have this connotation with sales, and they don't want to be viewed as a salesperson. But the truth is, every single person is a salesperson. It's the decision of where you want to go to dinner, it's the decision to what cookies you want to buy for the house. It's all those negotiations. We don't think about that. We don't think about, "Hey, I need to negotiate with my significant other about where we're going on vacation this summer," or whatever. We just think a salesperson as somebody that I have to go deal with when I go to the car lot, or something along those lines.
Marcus Neto: The truth is, good salespeople are consultants. They listen to what it is that their client needs, and also about what their capable of, because they may have needs that are greater than their means. Finding that happy medium of getting them the most bang for the buck is what a true salesperson does. I love it, because you hit the nail on the head, that you can serve others through a role in sales.
Chris May: You explain that so much more eloquently than I ever could have. That's exactly it. One of the people that I really like in the advertising space, obviously outside of Bluefish, is I love Donald Miller. I love the story brand model of at the end of the day what I'm trying to do is allow my clients... They're the hero of the story. I'm just here to help you make a solid decision. I'm not trying to push you in one route, or push you in another. It's like, look, what are your needs? What do you need insured? This is what I would do. This is your decision at the end of the day.
Chris May: But like you said, I think the best word to describe it, is a consultant. I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm trying to help.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, absolutely. How long has LTN-
Chris May: We started on November 4, 2019, was our first official day. It was our first official launch day.
Marcus Neto: I recognize that you're, and I think this is important, when we interview people we interview people that are somewhat new, and we also interview people that have been at this for decades. I do that on purpose because I want to get the audience a different flavor, depending on where people are. When I ask you if you were talking to someone that wanted to get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you would impart to them, your answer is going to be different than somebody that's been at this. Or, maybe it's not. I don't know.
Marcus Neto: Anyway, your answer may be different than somebody that's been at his for a decade or longer. What would you say to somebody that was in that situation?
Chris May: I think there's really two things that I've learned in the last little bit, one of which is know yourself. Like, know what are your strengths and weaknesses. What are you good at? What are you not good at? Whatever you're good at, double down on those things. Whatever you're bad at, find mentors, find people in your life that you can ask questions to.
Chris May: For example, for me, I have two business partners. They handle all the backend of everything. I handle everything on the front end as far as running the business, but I don't understand taxes. I don't understand any of that world. They do. They've been in business for a while, so they help me with all of that stuff.
Chris May: I would say figure out what you're good at, what you're bad at, find people to help you double down on those things that you're good at, and help you learn in things that you're bad at. The second thing I think is, you have to have the humility to know that you're not going to have all the answers, and that's okay.
Chris May: I think a lot of people that are in that "entrepreneur" or business owner space, you think that you have to be this X, Y, Z. You have to be Gary V., or you have to be these people that at some point is put on a pedestal. And rightfully so. He's an uber successful, lights out guy.
Chris May: Yeah, extremely accomplished. But at the same time, you're not him. Don't try and be him. Try and be the best version of you, and have the humility to know that you're going to make mistakes and that's okay.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, that we all make mistakes. If you look at the business world, who's one person that motivates you?
Chris May: I think that Gary V definitely motivates me, for sure. I really like the things that he preaches and teaches. I do think that there are some things that I don't fully fall in line with, I guess you would say. Honestly, I don't know if there's just one particular person that I fully pull from. I think that there's multiple different ones. I don't want to be Gary V. I don't want to be-
Marcus Neto: No, but you have an appreciation for what he's able to accomplish.
Chris May: I definitely have an appreciation for what he does. I think that the aspect of everybody should start a business, I think that's a good thing but in the same breath, it's okay not to start a business. I think that there're Chiefs and there're Indians in the world, and it's okay to be an Indian and to work for somebody. There's nothing wrong with that. My wife thinks that I'm crazy for wanting to start a business. She's like, "I want to do my work from 8:00-5:00, and be done with it and never think about it." I'm like, "I get that. That's okay."
Chris May: For me, I enjoy the 30,000 foot view. I think for me, I've taken from Donald Miller, he's another guy that I love the story brand marketing and what they do. I love Phil Knight, too. I just love his story of starting from nothing.
Marcus Neto: Shoe Dog Diaries?
Chris May: Yes, it's Shoe Dog. That's one of my favorite books of all time. It's the book that-
Marcus Neto: Don't go there.
Chris May: Anyways, but Phil Knight, yes.
Marcus Neto: I remembered what it was that I was going to go back to. You talked about knowing what it is that you're good at, and then finding other people to mentor you in those areas that you're not, and being self-aware.
Marcus Neto: As the business grows, what I would say is that it's not just finding people that can mentor you or help you along in those paths, it's hiring people for those weaknesses, and leaning into the strengths. I think a lot of people struggle with that because school is geared to tell us that we have to be good at everything.
Chris May: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Marcus Neto: If I suck at math, well guess what, I'm getting a failing grade and I'm not going to pass. The truth is, I may just really suck at math. But, I may be off the charts when it comes to language. So, it's really just kind of weird. There's this reprogramming that has to happen for people when they exit out of school if they want to be entrepreneur.
Marcus Neto: Oftentimes, I see this where somebody feels like they have to do everything. Well, the truth is, you don't have to do everything. What you have to do is figure out what you're really good at, and then hire people for all the other things that you aren't good at. That's okay, but I think a lot of people struggle with that whole, "I have to do it all, and I have to do it all to get an A," kind of mentality. I just wanted to go back to that.
Chris May: I would agree with that, for sure. It's kind of the whole Jack of All Trades, Master of None type of thing. I don't think that being a Jack of All Trades necessarily in the business and owning a business can be difficult because for me, I don't want to just... I'm not looking to be a solopreneur. I'm not looking to be the one person that's running everything. I want to hire people. I want to give people opportunities to if they want to start their own business through LTN or whatever that may be. For me, I want to get to that point eventually of bringing people on.
Chris May: I think that if I put everything on my shoulders, we're going to fail. I'm not great at everything. I'm not great at super minute tasks. That's just not my forte. I kind of enjoy, like I said earlier-
Marcus Neto: Well guess what, there are people out there that love that stuff.
Chris May: They love it, and that's okay. Not that one is greater than the other, you have to have both. It kind of comes back to that Chiefs v. Indians.
Marcus Neto: Yeah, absolutely. Going along that, in the Shoe Dog Diaries, any books, podcasts, people or organizations that have been really helpful in moving you forward?
Chris May: Two books, one of which is Shoe Dog. I love that book. I read that when I was a teacher, and that's kind of what started my business itch, if you will, just Phil Knight's story from literally selling encyclopedias door to door in Hawaii to starting Nike is just such an incredible story to me. I love that one, and then Every Good Endeavor by Timothy Keller is a lights out book. I think the tagline is "Connecting your work to God's work." But anyways, it goes back and just talks about what work was originally created, and how that's transitioned and then kind of distorted in the world today.
Chris May: That book was lights out for me as well. I would say organizations would definitely be the Chamber. I've just enjoyed being a part of the Chamber, and being around them.
Marcus Neto: The Eastern Shore Chamber?
Chris May: The Eastern Shore Chamber, yes, because my office is in Fair Hope, but eventually I'd love to get over here. Right now, we're just trying to grow that location. Yes, the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce has been awesome. I've met a lot of great people through that.
Marcus Neto: We love Casey and the team over there. We love Casey and the team over there.
Chris May: Yes, they're awesome. I've enjoyed being a part of that, and just being around them. B&I Group has been awesome as well, just to get plugged in and get to know people. Without that group, we wouldn't be sitting here today having this talk. I would say that that's it as far as organizations. That's been the most influential for me. But podcasts, I love y'all's podcast. I love the Playing Above the Line podcast. I love what Josh Null does with his Focus on the Five thing as well. I just like listening to local businesses, because you can learn stuff from a big CEO. You can learn stuff from Phil Knight's story.
Chris May: I feel like I've learned so much more from local people than I have from a much bigger scale, just because they're going through the same exact struggles as we are.
Marcus Neto: I know I've read biographies about Lee Iacocca and CEOs of large organizations, IBM, whatever. Yeah, those are good, but there's something very different about running a small business. There's a different kind of problem to be solved as the owner or person that's responsible for a small business. I would agree with you.
Marcus Neto: I don't read a whole lot of books anymore, just because I don't have a whole lot of time. When I do, I either tend to go towards mindset-shifting things, which is really important because even if you've been doing this for a long time... I've been reading those types for a couple of decades now.
Marcus Neto: There are still things that you aren't aware of in your own thinking that have to be kind of unwrapped. I like to listen to podcasts where they're interviewing smaller business. It's the only reason why this is still interesting to me. If this wasn't interesting, I would have stopped it a long time ago. I think you're at what, 175 or 180 interviews now, or something like that in four years. Yeah, this is good stuff. What is the most important thing that you've learned about running a business?
Chris May: I think that it kind of goes back to that self awareness of knowing that you can't do it all, and that's okay. That getting focused and figuring out exactly what you're good at, and just doubling down on those things, for me, has been the... In the last couple of months, especially this month and last month of what I've really tried to focus on is, okay what is Chris good at? What is he really good at? Let's double down on those things and really move forward with those.
Chris May: Obviously, work on your weaknesses. But the things that I'm really good at are what I need to be focusing on the most.
Marcus Neto: Awesome. How do you like to unwind?
Chris May: I love playing basketball. That's where me and Josh Knowle know each other from, is-
Marcus Neto: All of five foot four inch Josh Knowle. I'm kidding. He's five five at least. Yeah, so you guys met on the court?
Chris May: Yes, we met through paying basketball. We're both crazy enough to get up at 4:30 AM to go play basketball-
Marcus Neto: That's insane.
Chris May: At 5:00 AM-
Marcus Neto: There's nothing worth getting up at 4:30 in the morning. Well, maybe a few things. Basketball is certainly not worth getting up at 4:30 for.
Chris May: I think it kind of goes back to the athlete days. I just enjoy competing and doing something that's competitive. That's my avenue to do that, because my wife, we're polar opposites in a lot of ways. She's very musically inclined, I am not. Hearing me sing would be very embarrassing. It's kind of the same thing with her and the business thing. She wants nothing to do that. I really enjoy it.
Chris May: She is not competitive in the slightest. Some of our biggest arguments stemmed from me being over competitive when we were dating and first married. I just like doing something that's competitive. Basketball is definitely that for me. I enjoy being a part of some of the stuff over at South as far as... We have a podcast that we do for them. We've kind of put it on pause right now, but I really enjoy doing that, and that's kind of another way that I unwind.
Chris May: The last thing, which has been new to me in the last couple of months or so, we went on a cruise back in December. It was the first time I had ever drank a cocktail, was on that cruise. Always, I maybe drank a beer or a glass of wine. I drank a cocktail for the first time, and now I really enjoy drinking a Whiskey Sour or an Old Fashioned or something like that at night, and just hanging out with my wife and watching Netflix or something like that.
Marcus Neto: I would highly suggest you get over to Poor Baby, because of all the places that I've had an Old Fashioned, that is the best. The second best Old Fashioned, and I hope Nodia doesn't take this the wrong way, but Haberdasher has-
Chris May: I love that place.
Marcus Neto: Haberdasher has amazing Old Fashioneds. Ricky over at Poor Baby is by far the best. I'm going to throw out one more question here just because you and I have talked about this before. You are probably one of the few sneaker heads in this area besides myself. I don't know if anybody's noticed, but if you've seen me, oftentimes I'm in either Adidas Superstars or Stan Smiths, or I've got some Somoas, or I'm a big fan of the Air Jordan line.
Marcus Neto: Your dream shoe, or just the shoe that you like the most, what is that?
Chris May: My favorite shoe of all time is the black Cement Threes. It's the black and red Air Jordan Threes. My favorite, by far. There's a couple of others that I really enjoy. There's a Gold Medal pack, I believe it was. I can't remember if it was a Gold Medal or Defining Moments pack that they did with the Six and a... Oh, I can never remember the other shoe. It may have been the Seven, but it was black and the accents at the bottom of it where the little air bubble was, all black shoe with gold accents. I loved those.
Marcus Neto: I think they're re-releasing the black and red Threes.
Chris May: Are they really? I haven't seen that yet.
Marcus Neto: I want to say that I saw something come across my inbox.
Chris May: My wife's going to be really upset about that, but I'm going to start saving now.
Marcus Neto: If they re-release them, they would be less than $200.00.
Chris May: Yeah, I haven't been able to buy nearly as many shoes as I wanted to now, because diapers ain't cheap. We have luckily gotten out of diapers now. We're starting to potty train, so maybe I can buy some more. I do love shoes. I spent way too much money on them in college. I don't buy as many as I used to now, but I do love shoes. I definitely have the Stock Ex app on my phone, and I look at it almost daily.
Marcus Neto: If you are a sneaker head, or if you are a Stock Ex user, make sure to leave us a comment-
Chris May: Sponsorship, man.
Marcus Neto: Or something like that. Yeah, I know. Stock Ex, you want to sponsor this? Because we can change the focus of this podcast if you need to. Just bring everybody in and ask them what their favorite sneakers are. For the longest time I've wanted a pair of black and red Air Jordan Ones, and last year I was able to finally do that. I don't know, there's just something about that. When you have these shoes from your childhood, because I didn't have the means to really own Nikes when I was growing up, so the idea of the black and red Jordans, it always kind of stuck with me.
Marcus Neto: I kind of dangled that carrot in front me for a business accomplishment that I wanted to get. Normally, I achieve that. It still took me like four or five months, because there was some guilt associated with that, making a purchase along those lines.
Chris May: I was actually just about to mention that I stole that from you, because I remember you telling me that you had set some goals, and if you reached those goals, that you were going to buy a pair of Red Ones. I was like, "I'm doing that myself." So, I set some goals for myself for the end of this year, and if I reach those I'm going to-
Marcus Neto: Get yourself a pair of nice shoes.
Chris May: Yes. I'm going to get myself a pair of Ones.
Marcus Neto: There you go.
Chris May: I love the shadow ones, the black and gray ones, just because they're versatile and you can wear them with anything.
Marcus Neto: Yep, absolutely. I will touch on that just real quickly. I think I mentioned this in a previous podcast, but if you missed it here it is again. It's important as people that are responsible for generating revenue that you do that, that you dangle those carrots in front of you, so that there's some motivation for something that you get, or something that you attain for working as hard as you do in order to achieve those goals.
Marcus Neto: The real danger is that you get to that position, and then you don't follow through. Don't do that, because that's the fastest way to burnout. If you keep dangling that carrot, and you don't get what it is that you are dangling in front of you, then finally your psyche will tell you, "Well, why am I working so hard? I'm never going to get those things, because I don't allow myself to do it."
Marcus Neto: Finally, that was the story that I had to kind of break in my head, of just yeah I know I promised myself this, but it's a lot of money or whatever. Finally, I was just like I can't allow myself... And that's really what kind of broke it for me, is I can't not get these because I can't allow myself to keep doing that to myself, because then I'll have no motivation to keep doing this.
Marcus Neto: There has to be some reward for all of the risk and all the responsibility, and all the stress, and all the hard work that we put into these businesses. I would just say, man set that goal. Get those shoes, and blow it out of the water.
Marcus Neto: Anyway, tell people where they can find you.
Chris May: You can find us on our website. It's LTNINS.com. LTN as in Love Thy Neighbor, and then INS. You can find me on social media under Chris May on anything: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram as well. You can find us on those same social media platforms with LTN. It's just LTN Insurance.
Marcus Neto: Okay, very good. Well, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments you'd like to share?
Chris May: Yeah, I just greatly appreciate you giving me the opportunity to be here, and sit and talk about shoes a little bit-
Marcus Neto: Yeah, man.
Chris May: And hang out some. I love what you guys are doing with this podcast, and in interviewing small local businesses. I think it's really important to realize how many small businesses, and the stories of those small business owners. Ultimately at the end of the day, whether you're a business owner or an employee of a business, you have a story. You giving people an avenue to share that is really cool. I greatly appreciate it, and greatly appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come on here-
Marcus Neto: Yeah, man. Sure.
Chris May: And share as well.
Marcus Neto: It's been awesome having you. I'm going to actually... Chris, I appreciate your willingness to just sit me share your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It has been great talking with you.
Chris May: Thanks, man. You too.
