Charge Forward Podcast
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Charge Forward Podcast
Welcoming the WildThings -Strength in Partnership: How Jill & Miles Reidelberger are Successful in CrossFit & Veterinary Care
What happens when a military veteran and an industrial chemist combine forces in the worlds of CrossFit and animal care?
Meet Jill and Miles Reidelberger, the powerhouse duo behind CrossFit WildThing and WildThings Animal Hospital. In this episode of the Charge Forward Podcast, they share the journey that led them from military life to entrepreneurship, crafting thriving businesses & family life.
Jill and Miles delve into the creativity and courage behind their ventures—from unique branding choices to navigating the challenges of treating exotic animals. They discuss the transition from Miles’s industrial chemistry career to running a CrossFit gym, bringing passion and grit into each new endeavor. With 20 years of marriage under their belt, they reveal the secrets to balancing life and work together, making their relationship the foundation of their success.
Join us for this inspiring episode packed with valuable lessons on entrepreneurship, resilience, and building community. The Reidelbergers offer practical advice for balancing business with family life, the importance of professional advisors, and why strong partnerships make for both a successful life and career. Whether you're an entrepreneur, fitness enthusiast, or animal lover, Jill and Miles's story is sure to resonate—and inspire you to charge forward in your own journey!
Listen now to catch their story and tips on navigating the WildThings we encounter through life's adventures together.
Don’t miss out on the top strategies, personal stories, and advice that have driven these leaders to charge forward. Tune in to ignite your own path to growth—and stay tuned for the next round of incredible guests coming soon! 😉
Want to connect with Jill & Miles?
CrossFit WildThing wildthing@cfwildthing.com 615-247-8699
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cfwildthing/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossfitwildthing
WildThings Animal Hospital
Contact: https://wildthingsah.com/ (615) 288-5630
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildthingsanimalhospital
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildthingsah/
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Thank you
Jim Cripps
#ChargeForwardPodcast #WildThings #CrossFit #
You are the cap for whatever goes on in your store, in your company, in your district, in your household. However excited you are, what you believe is possible, whatever that threshold is. Hey team, jim Cripps, here with the Charge Forward podcast, coming to you from HitLab Studios here in Nashville, tennessee, and I have a special treat for you today. I have a powerhouse couple that is in serial entrepreneurship, helping people, helping animals and all sorts. Welcome with us today is Jill and Miles Reidelberger. Welcome team.
Jill Reidelberger:Thanks for having us.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely Now. I love that the name is in both businesses. How did that come to play?
Miles Reidelberger:Well, actually the CrossFit gym had the name Wild Thing first and actually Jill helped in naming the CrossFit gym. But then, years later, when we decided to open the vet clinic, we were branding and we were coming up with a couple different options and out of nowhere she's like, you know, wild thing kind of applies for both. She's like we could use this for the vet clinic and you know, it's crossfit wild thing, it's wild things animal hospital and wild thing pizza is just around the corner well, especially since I see a lot of exotics, I thought wild things, wow, things really fit.
Jim Cripps:Well, and that's one thing that makes your clinic very unique, in that there's not many that see exotics, is that right?
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, we get clients from all over. We get people driving a couple hours away to me. I'm I'm thankful, sometimes surprised, but uh, yeah, it's really exciting.
Jim Cripps:I think the first time I got introduced to that we were at the CrossFit gym and finishing up the 9 o'clock class and Sylvia said you know, I've got to get down to go see a monkey. And I thought she was joking. No, I have pictures. But literally you've kind of gotten into the monkey business in that I guess Kentucky does not allow exotic. What is the situation there?
Jill Reidelberger:I don't think there's a lot of vets comfortable seeing primates. There is a lot of diseases that they can give to humans. So we we do still see primates because there's a lot of people that have them and, regardless of your opinion on whether you should have a monkey or not as a pet, they need healthcare. Of your opinion on whether you should have a monkey or not as a pet, they need healthcare. And so, yeah, I mean I'm not going to turn them away, but we do practice like proper technique when we're working with them so that we don't have any contagious disease spread or anything like that. But it is always exciting to see, you know, monkeys.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, you know the few times that we've we've been by it's. You know the few times that we've been by. You never know what kind of animal is going to come in. You don't Sometimes my clients are a little afraid, especially when we get some of the bigger snakes. Yeah, I won't be stopping by for snake day.
Jill Reidelberger:Oh, you know they got a bad rap. They really do. They're amazing creatures. You just got to give them a chance.
Jim Cripps:Okay, okay, well, I'll let you specialize in that one. Now, this is not your first clinic, though correct, or hospital?
Jill Reidelberger:That I owned. No, it's not my first. I did used to own Overwatch Animal Hospital in Clarksville.
Jim Cripps:Okay. So we've built businesses, we've sold businesses, we've started new ones, we've branched out and you know, another one of the things that I didn't know until somebody told me is miles. You started off in chemical engineering background.
Miles Reidelberger:Actually I'm an industrial chemist, industrial chemist yes, and so what did?
Jim Cripps:what did the world look like before entrepreneurship?
Miles Reidelberger:laboratories and factories. Um, I did a little bit of everything. I've done soil analysis, I've done oil work. My last job was in refrigerants and yeah, I mean, thankfully my job was more business, so I was always in management, but yeah, it was essays and producing chemicals for the world.
Jim Cripps:Okay, and so how do you make that change? What? What was the catalyst for you know what we're going to go into business for ourselves.
Miles Reidelberger:Well, I mean, I think that there's two, two big factors. One was the success of the first clinic. I mean, the first clinic grew beyond our expectations and from there, um, when life, when I faced a crossroads, when life, when I faced a crossroads, the options were really do I go back to chemistry, do I just continue working with the vet clinic? Or my third option, which is obviously the path I chose, which was CrossFit, and I fell in love with CrossFit. I fell in love with the methodology of CrossFit and that's what led me to where we are today.
Jill Reidelberger:I just got to brag on him a second going from chemistry to doing CrossFit like that's a huge jump and he did it really well. He's a really good coach.
Jim Cripps:I appreciate that Well, I think too and, like we talked about, this comes up in almost every episode you had backing from your spouse in that you were supporting him making a big change, and also when you were growing a clinic, he was supporting you, and so you guys are supporting each other definitely reciprocated yeah and so in your opinion, you know you guys have been together.
Miles Reidelberger:What 20 years right at it, just celebrate 20, 20 anniversary congratulations that's fantastic and you've got two great kids, thank you.
Jim Cripps:You know we, branch and Castle, hang out all the time. Um, how impactful to your life or how much of your success do you think is attributed to the fact that you got the right spouse, that you picked correctly and you were supporting each other?
Jill Reidelberger:Do you want to answer this?
Miles Reidelberger:Well, I just want to point out I don't think it's necessarily the success of the businesses. I think it's led to my happiness, Like if I didn't have the right spouse. I mean, I see what some of these couples go through and we even say to each other like, oh, thank God, I'm happy, I hope she's happy, but God entering the dating scene again or something like that.
Jill Reidelberger:Well, you know sex is important and we prioritize that in our lives.
Jim Cripps:It's part of it, really, and we prioritize that in our lives.
Jill Reidelberger:Hey, it's part of it really, and you know, I think that we have two businesses, but making our marriage a priority is something we said at the beginning. We said that we didn't want to be in business together if it meant that it was going to compromise our marriage. So we have to. We always make it a priority to set time aside for ourselves.
Miles Reidelberger:And she's better than I am. But she'll be like no, you're spending time with me today, and thank God she does, because that's how it works.
Jim Cripps:That's good, that's fantastic. So that's taking it a step further, and I really do think marriage is something you have to work on. If you're not constantly engaged with your marriage, then it it's kind of like, um, you can accidentally get fat, but you you actually you don't accidentally get fit and I think your marriage is very similar to that and that in order to have a great marriage, you have to work on it. Sure.
Jill Reidelberger:I agree, and I think people, once they get married, they're like done you know, I'm married, we're set, you know.
Miles Reidelberger:and being being married 20 years, you got to work on that every day yeah, yeah, neglect is a real thing, and there's been times she just flat out says you're neglecting me, you know and I hear it now I hear it you know, and I, I actually feel a bit of shame. I'm like you know what I need to work on, that if I don't, it's going to, it's going to erode and, uh, the marriage will fall apart, and and so we? We have had those truths with each other.
Jill Reidelberger:We complement each other well too. Like our personalities are very different in the sense that he's very business minded and safe and I'm more of a risk taker. So when it comes to business, like I'm the one that kind of like let's do this and he's like that's crazy. But then he of like let's do this and he's like that's crazy, but then he figures out a way to do it because he's really smart with the numbers.
Jim Cripps:That's great, but he's also it's to help support you. And so that's great. Uh, complimenting each other, kind of one taking the lead when the other one is not as strong in that area, or vice versa. To me I think that that makes life much easier or palatable.
Jill Reidelberger:It is yeah, I agree.
Jim Cripps:That's great. So it's not just about the success of the business. It's really. The success of the business is kind of a byproduct of having a successful marriage where you support each other.
Miles Reidelberger:Yeah, I totally agree.
Jim Cripps:That's awesome. I don't know that anybody has really kind of I don't know if our conversations in previous episodes have kind of rounded in that way- so I think that's a perfect take on it. Now, how did you get into CrossFit? So Jill's already said this is a big step for you going from you're in factories helping them in the chemical side of things and production and all those, and then you make a big leap from not even veterinary. You're going way over here to CrossFit.
Miles Reidelberger:Well, I think I felt for what every middle-aged man does, and that is, you know, I went to school, I got the career and then the next step was to advance the career and it was all working. But that became the only thing in front of me and I woke up one day and I'm 250 pounds, I'm out of shape, I'm late thirties, god knows where I'm heading. And, uh, I just so happened to stubble onto CrossFit. You know actually took probably the longest route to find it, but once I found it, I drank the Kool-Aid, I was all in and maybe I don't know a year, maybe a year and a half later, when I was 40 pounds lighter and probably $3,000 lighter because I bought all this gym equipment.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, garage crossfitter.
Miles Reidelberger:Yeah, I was preaching the gospel, I couldn't get enough of get enough of it. And uh, like I said, when we hit that crossroads of like, what do I do next? Do I go into another chemistry job? Do I just work for the vet clinic out of nowhere? I think she was the one who said, have you ever thought about an opening a CrossFit affiliate? And my first thought was, why me, like, how can I do this? And uh, she kept just kind of saying it, she kept just dropping that in my ear and slowly, over time, I started to realize maybe I could do this. And then she took it another step forward and goes well, maybe you should learn how to coach. So that's when I reached out for two other CrossFit gyms and I found a group of people that was willing to mentor me in coaching and I spent the next year and a half with them learning how to coach Shout out to CrossFit Ergun.
Jim Cripps:Yep, nice, is that in Clarksville? That is in Clarksville. Yes, okay, good deal. And how?
Miles Reidelberger:long were you there? About a year and a half. Okay, yeah, and I told him right from the get-go. I said, hey, my goal is to own my own affiliate, and I could have went to like two or three different CrossFit gyms that were closer, but one of them was just down the road. I didn't feel like that was right. Be like hey, I want you to teach me how to own an affiliate and then I'm going to open one just down the road from you. Instead, I drove 40 minutes away to go to this one. But what they found nice was they said I approached it as if I was an owner, because every single situation we found, I said well, this is going to happen to me at some point. I need to approach this, how I would handle it, and I think that really helped with the success of CrossFit. Wild Thing is I had that precursor, I had that experience and I not only looked at it as a coach, I looked at it as an owner.
Jim Cripps:Well, I like how you went into it as well. You know, I think there's a lot of people out there that would kind of come in undercover and not not get to share the fact that they were well not share the fact that they were going to open their own.
Miles Reidelberger:Oh, I hear you yeah, integrity Yep.
Jim Cripps:Yep, you know, without naming names, there there is a uh, there's a business out there that paid their money and went to uh, um, essentially as if they were going to open a franchise for Jersey Mike's and just look, learn from it, learn from it came back and launched their own brand and I've just always in fact, I would refuse to eat at that chain because I just feel like it was dirty. Yeah, not that I have any, you know, attachment to Jersey Mike's, it's just, you know, it's just not how you do business especially in the crossfit world.
Miles Reidelberger:Um, there are so many gyms that open like that and I don't think it's malice, I don't think they think that way. I think their goals change. Goal one I do want to be a coach, I want to give back to this community, and then it's a little bit shorter, like well, maybe I can have my own community. So I don't think that's if, if any of our listeners are gone down that road, I don't think it's wrong. But yeah, from the get go, if I knew I was going to open an affiliate to do that, I that's. That's purposely why I chose that affiliate so far away.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, absolutely Well. And then you've got a great team at CrossFit Wild Thing. I mean best team. It's fantastic. And you know I had a long path to it as well. You know I had a long path to it as well. You know my health journey has been a long one.
Jill Reidelberger:But you look good. Well, thank you.
Jim Cripps:And thanks to you all Because you've got a wonderful facility, a great team. You know Sylvia pushes us. I love the fact that what you guys are doing with the teens class I mean Castle does not want to miss a class, he's getting so strong.
Jim Cripps:He is not want to miss a class, so much so that he's getting so strong he is. And you know he, uh, he was at a friend's house and you know, playing all that good stuff, where a lot of kids would you know they would just keep playing and he wouldn't let him know I've got, I've got crossfit in 30 minutes awesome and she goes. You don't want to keep playing and he goes. I've got crossfit in 30 minutes he's like I gotta rest.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, yeah, who knows what I'm doing absolutely no layla saw castle for the first time the other day and she's like he's lifting more than me and so we've seen the gains, that's great well, I'll tell you um one of the things, that one of the stipulations for him to come to crossfit is, every morning, before he gets up and he makes his breakfast and he packs his lunch, he has to do 40 pushups, 40 sit-ups, 40 squats and 40 jumping jacks, that's great and the deal was we'll pay for CrossFit but you do the free ones in the mornings.
Jim Cripps:And if he doesn't do the free ones, then he has to pay that portion. He has to pay for that day. Wow, and he doesn't miss a day.
Miles Reidelberger:What I like about that is you've already kind of ingrained into his brain that fitness is hygiene. It's something we have to do. It's a daily activity anymore and unfortunately in our very comfortable modern lives it's not available anymore. So it's up to you. Like our son flat out goes why do I do this? I go. It should be like why do you brush your teeth? It's just part of life now.
Jim Cripps:Yeah.
Miles Reidelberger:And so I'd love that you're teaching your son that.
Jim Cripps:Well, you know, I didn't grow up that way, obviously, and uh, you know, I don't think that for most people that was even a conversation. 30, 40 years ago.
Jill Reidelberger:It's a different world.
Jim Cripps:It was a different world and it was just assumed that you would have a job that was physical or something of that nature.
Jill Reidelberger:So you know you worry about it?
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and so I think that, as kind of being parents in the time and I know you guys do the same thing we, we have to make sure that that is part of their daily.
Miles Reidelberger:We, we got to teach them and uh, and it's easier for some kids than others, but we do our best, sure.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely Well. Now, jill, how did your kind of career unfold? Now, I know you were in school in Australia and that's where y'all met, is that right?
Jill Reidelberger:No, we actually met in college and then I talked him into moving to Australia with me a month after we got married.
Jim Cripps:Okay, I did not realize that.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, that whole first year of marriage was, uh, a challenge, to say the least what an adventure we went to australia with a thousand dollars in our pocket and we had to find a place to live, a car, put down deposits, but we did it yeah, and talk about struggles.
Miles Reidelberger:We showed up to australia, like she said, a thousand dollars in her pocket, I think. 700 of that was gone in three days and we were supposed to get student loan money. They delayed that for 10 weeks, oh my gosh. So we had 300 for 10 weeks. So what did you do? Well, we thankfully found probably the best landlord in the world yeah, he wasn't gonna go for him.
Jill Reidelberger:He showed me the picture. He's like oh, I don't think we should go for this place. It comes with the car. I'm like what, of course we should go with this place.
Miles Reidelberger:It comes with the car it was about 20 kilometers outside of the school but it came with a car so we're trying to find living quarters, you know, close to the school, but they were all outrageous and the, the realtor, was kept showing me these pictures of this place. She goes it's out in the bush, but they give a car and I just kept discounting it. Finally she saw and she's like it looks nice.
Jill Reidelberger:And when we showed up, oh, thank god, it was beautiful, it was on this property, jim, and, like you had to, it was like a granny flat in the back of this beautiful property and I mean we made so many nice memories there. The car was manual and he was the only one that knew how to drive manual.
Jill Reidelberger:So that was a big source of tension. He was my chauffeur for the first six months and then one day he just decided he didn't want to be it anymore. And we were driving. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and said I'm walking home, and it was like five miles from our house. And I'm like fine, I'll figure this out. So I figured it out and I drove right past him home. He.
Miles Reidelberger:Like, fine, I'll figure this out. So I figured it out and I drove right past him home. He had to walk the rest of the way. That was the easiest five miles.
Jill Reidelberger:I ever walked.
Miles Reidelberger:Because, man, I didn't have to chauffeur her anymore.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, but we met before Australia and spent the time there to get my degree and then move back here.
Jim Cripps:Okay, and what made you pick Australia?
Jill Reidelberger:So I'd study abroad there during my undergrad. Okay, and what made you pick Australia? So I'd study abroad there during my undergrad.
Jill Reidelberger:Okay. So I went to school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and they had a program there that we can go to Murdoch University in Australia. And I went there for six months during undergrad and I knew I wanted to go back for longer because I enjoyed it so much. And right then that university was becoming AVMA accredited, so it was basically like getting a degree from the US. That's fantastic, and it was cost comparable to in-state tuition, so it made sense. I got into school at University of Illinois but I'd done everything in Illinois Born, raised, went to undergrad there, I wanted to get out and Australia provided that opportunity and we got out.
Miles Reidelberger:That is definitely out, out back.
Jill Reidelberger:My parents are like where, oh, it's definitely out back. My parents are like where?
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, now Miles, if I remember the story correctly, you had a little bit of an entrepreneurial strike then selling some playing cards.
Jill Reidelberger:Wow, yeah, now we're going way back. First business yeah, you have to learn how to fail right, honey In.
Miles Reidelberger:Australia. They did not sell playing cards Like playing cards like bicycle playing cards were like $20 a pack and I'm looking at this going what in the world? So I'd have my mom send me over uh, you know packs of playing cards and I would see 10, $15 margins on these playing cards.
Jim Cripps:So one of the things and really kind of the reason I had you, had you guys come in today is on the charge forward podcast. We look for successful people who default to charging forward when other people would give up or they would say that's not for me to do, or they hit a little adversity and they go oh, that's my sign, I'm not supposed to do this, that's not y'all.
Jim Cripps:Whether it's how you were wired originally, whether it's who you grew into or whether it's who you've become, since you became a couple and support each other, Like what is a situation where either of you or both of you have kind of hit a wall or that spot where you were like I don't really know where we go from here, but you figured it out.
Jill Reidelberger:Well, for me, um, it was that choice to leave the military. Well, for me, it was that choice to leave the military, and I think 2014, 15, I was either going to be stationed in Germany with my family or we were going to leave and I was going to start to become a civilian vet. Now, that was a really hard choice because the military is very comfortable you get a routine paycheck, you get insurance. I knew what that job was about. I did not, however, know how to be a practicing veterinarian every single day, and you know we had some pretty tough conversations about it, and he had followed me around for 11 years and he was done and I understood that, but it was definitely something that I said could I do this? I don't know, but it was important for me to be a practicing vet and see if I could do that and to go into the corporate world and sort of see where that took me.
Jim Cripps:Now, when you did that, did you go to work for a vet?
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, I went straight into being a chief of staff at the Banfield location in Hermitage.
Jim Cripps:Okay.
Jill Reidelberger:So I managed staff there right away and you know a lot of people have a lot of things to say about Banfield, but I'll only say good things cause they taught me a lot and um I I don't think I'd be the vet I am today without having worked for them.
Jim Cripps:Okay, and then how did you go from that into owning?
Jill Reidelberger:I always knew that I'd want to. I wanted to own my own practice at some point. And I went to this conference and I learned a lot about bank loans and what you needed to do to start. Some of it said that there was no way that we could do it. You had to have like $100,000 down and you know, at the time we weren't very financially stable. But then I met a banker that was like no, you don't need that. Um, just find a practice that you want to buy and we should be able to back you. And I was just. I had always been looking in our area in and around pleasant view and clarksville for a practice for sale and I found one and I said I want to, I want to buy this one. And he's like oh, we can't afford that. You know we're not gonna be able to do that, but at the time we did it. With what?
Jill Reidelberger:$1,000 down, $1,000 down and I had hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt still.
Miles Reidelberger:Yes, yeah, we took on more debt.
Jill Reidelberger:But I think, because of my proven track record as a leader, the bank trusted me to start a business and and I think I wouldn't have gotten that without the military- Absolutely.
Jim Cripps:And then so how long? How long were you there or how long did you own that practice? What did that look like?
Jill Reidelberger:I owned overwatch animal hospital for what? Four or five years?
Miles Reidelberger:2017 to 2022, five years, okay, yeah.
Jim Cripps:And then how long, how much of that time did y'all work together in in that business?
Jill Reidelberger:the beginning Miles is really good at the like the managing, the accounting and the taxes and all that.
Miles Reidelberger:I've done that from the beginning.
Jill Reidelberger:He's. He's really great at that. I'm giving him my PNLs and stuff, so he's done that from the beginning.
Miles Reidelberger:but I remember date we we signed the papers, I think on a Thursday. On Friday she took the day off we already hired a vet. We already had a vet on staff, okay, and that was their scheduled day. Right, and I go. We just bought this almost million dollar practice. Are you going to work? No, it's not my day to work and I'm like, well, I gotta do the books it, the books. And yeah, it was experience, but over time we got better at it. We definitely got better.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, you know, I love that clinic and I always love that clinic because it gave me my start, but it's also the clinic that we made a lot of mistakes and we learned from those mistakes. I feel like we made a lot of mistakes on that one and now we built another one so that we're not making too many mistakes there, that we made a lot of mistakes on that one and now we built another one, so that we're not making too many mistakes there.
Jim Cripps:That's great Well, and you've got a beautiful facility in the new one.
Jill Reidelberger:I mean, it's fantastic, miles designed that.
Miles Reidelberger:I did not know that. I just did the outline, yeah.
Jill Reidelberger:Or the blueprint, the floor plan, I mean.
Jim Cripps:There again, working together to make it a success. Yeah, that's great, Miles. What about you, uh? I mean, I know there was a crossroads where you were really kind of where you went into entrepreneurship. Uh, let's kind of look at that one, or was there another one that stands out?
Miles Reidelberger:No, I mean um. First of all, you know, I worked in chemistry for 20 some years or whatever, and when one door closed, I was obviously looking for a new door to open. We had those options go back to chemistry, work for the vet clinic or do the CrossFit thing. So we decided on the CrossFit thing and I had to learn to become a good coach. That took time. I then started to find a location for the new gym. I had to find a contractor. I had to build all these things. Everything was going great. We had all the bank loans. I had to find a contractor. I had to build all these things. Everything was going great. We had all the bank loans, financing was taken care of, everything was rolling forward.
Miles Reidelberger:And then COVID hit. I remember the day the stock market crashed. I called my banker. I go, am I okay? Is my bank loan still okay? They said we couldn't even take that away. If we wanted to, that's done. About a week later he took it away and he flat out said he goes, there may not even be gyms in five years. Like we don't even know what to do.
Miles Reidelberger:And so everything fell apart. Everything fell apart and for, like I think, maybe four or five months I just sat there in depression. I was still coaching, I was still doing that, but I mean, nobody was doing anything. It was March of, was it 21? Um, everybody was kind of just hiding in their houses but I didn't know what to do. And, uh, slowly but surely, um, the property we're in currently became available to me, but we still had to finance it. We still had to do all this. We had to restructure it, we had to remodel it and everything, everything. And I remember one day I was driving on uh, hicks, edge and road and I got a call from my banker and he's like everything went through and it was like the sun, the clouds, part of the sun shined through. I remember a beautiful song was playing on the radio and everything just seemed like it fell in place.
Jill Reidelberger:But before that everything was questionable and so well, I think you tried to see that, too as a sign. Like you said, I think it's easy to see things that like roadblocks, like oh my god, this is a sign I shouldn't be doing this, but you have to believe in what you're doing, and he did, yeah, and he pushed through I'm I'm so glad it worked out because, like I was telling jill earlier, I could have used it as a crutch.
Miles Reidelberger:I could have said, hey, I was gonna do this, but kovat happened you know how it is and just live the rest of my life of well, it ain't my fault yeah, and I think that's so important for entrepreneurs is you're going to have stumbles, you're going to have road blocks yeah, you have to push around. You got to either go over them, through them, around them, under them, figure it out, because no one's going to figure it out for you and if you're waiting for that, you're not going to be an entrepreneur.
Jim Cripps:That's right, a hundred percent. I mean, one of the things that I think is the difference between people who are supposed to run their own business and people who are meant to be employees is their ability or their tolerance for headaches, setbacks, issues. You know all the things, you're going to have them on whichever side of the fence you're going to be on, it's just how serious they are is bigger on the entrepreneur side, but the payoff is much bigger too.
Jill Reidelberger:You know it's funny. You say that, jim, I had a vet the first vet that started working for me at Wild Things wanted to own his own practice and I knew that hiring him and he wanted to learn from me and six months after he started working for me he's like nope, I'm watching everything you go through, I'm not doing this. So I do think that it takes a certain type of person.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, think that it takes a certain type of person. Yeah, the level of stress that an entrepreneur has to be able to endure is different than what most people can handle, and especially if you're going to do it, do it well and maintain a great life, I agree. So kudos. Kudos to you both, cause, again, I'm familiar with both facilities. You know customers, clients of both of them, and we love you guys. You know both facilities. I mean you can tell that the amount of care and thought that you put into your businesses is real and it's client focused. So, thank you both, thank you, thank you. We've talked about that work-life balance a little bit, touched on it, and how you guys support each other. What are some specific things that you do in order to make sure that you spend enough time with family that you're also focused on your business? Is there a methodology that goes to it, or is it just feel, or how does that look?
Jill Reidelberger:I remember when I was at Overwatch and we lost our vet, I was working six days a week, missing volleyball games and kids stuff, and I said to myself I don't want to be the business owner that just has to work all the time. I want to have time for my kids. Our parents. They worked a lot so they were gone and I didn't want that for my kids. Um, so, yeah, I made, we made it a priority to. I made it a priority to work less. So I found a way to find more veterinarians to get those days off to. Even now, with wild things I'm, I don't work five days a week, I work two or three and that's how I'm able to be there, be present for my kids when they have events, and that's how we're able to be present for each other.
Miles Reidelberger:Yep.
Jim Cripps:Well, and how does that work in the CrossFit space?
Miles Reidelberger:In the CrossFit space. One we're lucky because we live in that bedroom community. The classes are always really early and they're always really late, all right, and so I may coach five days a week, but it's always at 5.00 AM, so that doesn't really take away from the family. Um. Two I have great staff. I have, you know, I have a wonderful head coach that without her, crossfit wild thing would not exist. Let me repeat that without my head coach, crossfit Wild Thing would not exist, and so I have to thank her. She's passionate about it, just as I am. I am not as good as separating the business as Jill is. I'm always kind of like on the laptop and everything, but it's always easily put away and we can focus on whatever we need to focus on.
Jim Cripps:That's awesome. Well, you know, I think both of you are a little bit ahead of the curve. You know, from coaching standpoint, a lot of times I'll come in doctors specifically and a lot of them have they've started a practice cause they didn't want to work for somebody else and then now they kind of just own their job. They haven't crossed that threshold of hiring other practitioners in.
Jill Reidelberger:They bought a job, not a business.
Jim Cripps:They bought a job, not a business or they grew into a job instead of, you know, really understanding that they need to be running the business. And a lot of doctors and I think veterinarians fall into this sometimes too is they think their client list is going to be worth a lot of money. Oh yeah, and really, if they don't get a coach, if they don't change that methodology about you, I really need at least two years with somebody sometimes five depending upon where they're at in their space to get them to rework their practice, hire in some doctors, start removing themselves from the day to day patient activity and start running the business, and you've already done that well ahead of the curve. You did that in the previous one as well, the one that you sold right.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, you know I did it on accident because I knew I didn't want to work, you know, five, six days a week. But when we were having Overwatch evaluated, that was a big thing. That they said was part of the valuation process is to see how ingrained you are in that practice, and they don't want you that ingrained as the business owner. They want to be able to buy a practice that's already functioning and that's why that practice was so valuable, because I had other vets that were good vets, that worked for me.
Jim Cripps:Absolutely. It changes the evaluation night and day because it's a functioning business. At that point you're not just trying to sell it to a veterinarian. Now private equity other types of investors could buy that practice as a running practice or whatever type of business it is. So that's fantastic. Again, well ahead of the curve in that regard. Now, how involved are each of you in each other's business? I mean, I get that you support each other, miles. Obviously you do the, the bookkeeping for for both and from the strategy standpoint, but on a day-to-day basis. You know, jill, I see you at crossfit sometimes. Miles, I know you're at the veterinary clinic sometimes. Uh, how does that work for you guys?
Miles Reidelberger:well, I mean, obviously I handle the books for both businesses. Um, that's just something. I actually enjoy it. I actually like I tell people I'm like scrooge mcduck, I like like adding the ins and the outs and doing all that kind of stuff.
Miles Reidelberger:Um, one thing we have both are very conscious of is we use each other as sounding board, like if I'm going to make a big decision for the gym, I'll run it by her. I appreciate her opinion and everything, but at the end of the day she knows it's my decision. Same thing with the vet clinic. If the vet clinic, if she's, you know, dealing with this problem or something, she'll ask my opinion. But she also know, and I and I know that she may disagree with me and go the other direction, and I don't walk away from it feeling bitter or anything like that, especially when it comes to each company's employees.
Miles Reidelberger:Those are her employees, these are my employees, all right. It's to the point even where I'll be at the veterinary clinic and I'll see something that's maybe dirty or something I'll be like could you ask your employee to clean that up? I don't think that looks good and she she may not even do it, but I would never go straight to that employee and say hey, clean this up, because that's her business and this is my business. I love that.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, I think just respecting each other's roles as bosses, like you're the boss of this business, this is what I think you should do. But if they don't take that advice, we never really get mad at each other. We understand we are both very different leaders and very different bosses and managers and it's worked for both of us in our professions the way that we manage.
Miles Reidelberger:We've learned a lot. We've made mistakes tons of mistakes. So you just have to, you just have to roll with it. We use the experience and knowledge we have available to us which is both of us to make the best decision we can. And if we make that mistake, well, at least we got that knowledge out of that. You know, every mistake is actually something you paid for one way or the other, Right?
Jim Cripps:I love it and, again, I think that shows a level of maturity that a lot of people struggle to get to, especially at our age, you know it's it's more. It's one of those things that people usually learn later in life, Sure, so now this next part is one of the ones that we have a little bit of fun with, and it is it's a little bit controversial. It can be sometimes, now, nothing too crazy. We're not trying to get anybody canceled, but uh, it's called things we think, but do not say and so do y'all have something you think falls into that category, where you're like, you know what this is. I absolutely believe this is true and I don't mind saying it.
Miles Reidelberger:Um for us, and this misconception seems to follow us. For some reason, everybody thinks just because I own a small business, I'm rich, all the money that goes into the business just ends up in my pocket. And that is not the case by any means. The cost of running these businesses are very different, but they are both costly. As for the gym, a lot of people see that I have X amount of members, x members pay X amount of money, so they think all that money just goes straight in my pocket and they don't ever think about payroll, they don't ever think about rent, they never think about repairs, they never think about taxes.
Jill Reidelberger:IT.
Miles Reidelberger:Taxes, taxes.
Jill Reidelberger:IT.
Miles Reidelberger:And so they sit there and they might judge us and say, well, you know, that's where my membership goes and it's like I don't know, I don't know why you come up with that, but, um, we're okay with that, but that's, that's that thing that's always floats around our heads, that we never say when it comes to the veterinary world, go ahead.
Jill Reidelberger:Well, I mean, there's definitely a perception that veterinarians just order these tests because they want more money in their pocket. There's been several clients and I have grown to the point where I will call out a client when they try to say this to me but you just want money out of me for doing diagnostics like x-rays and blood work. You just want more money. My dog doesn't need that and it's really frustrating to me because I practice really high quality medicine and I give them the option of doing those things so they can say yes or no, and I think the perception that veterinarians are just out for money is so untrue. More than 95% of the time. I think there might be the few, but most of them are there to help the pet and I think that people just don't understand the profession unless you're in it.
Jim Cripps:And I think in both cases, I do think that people have this misconception of what I pay is what that person puts in their pocket, and there's so much that goes into running a business, whether we're talking about insurance, rent, employees, taxes, like you said before, taxes and taxes and taxes, a lot of taxes.
Jill Reidelberger:You know, I think that's true, jim, and I think that if they don't run a business, they don't understand that and they never will. But if anybody can take anything away from your podcast, labor and cost of goods that's the biggest expense in most businesses and that's a lot of the expense. So, especially in small businesses where we're not a corporation and we can't get tax benefits.
Jim Cripps:Yeah Well, I think there's. I think there's two things at play. I mean cause you know, you'll see on Facebook all the time people are like support small business, support small business. And then at the same time, just right on the other side of that, you'll have people complaining about what somebody charges.
Miles Reidelberger:Exactly, and I love how people say support small businesses, but you support them with your wallet. You know, and I've kind of recently just gotten two vendors who, uh, charge the same price across all boards. So meaning if you want this supplement, you can get it in my gym for this price or you can go to Amazon and you get it at the same price. But constantly I see people who are like well, I want to support small businesses, but they're more. For example, our pharmaceuticals. People complain to me about a hundred dollar medication at the vet. We're paying 80 or $90 for that. But they'll say but I can get it at Chewy's for $95. Chewy's can afford to take that $1 margin because they're going to sell a million of them. I cannot afford to keep that on the shelf at the vet clinic to do inventory on it, to do the records for the state, for a dollar. I mean it's just not worth it for us to carry that med.
Miles Reidelberger:Yeah, and they're like but Chewy's has got it more, but you want to support small businesses. It doesn't make any sense.
Jim Cripps:Yeah Well, you know I look at it like this. I'm paying for the convenience if they are more expensive. Now big shout out to I know podium is one of the ones that uh is sells the same price in your gym as they do, as they allow people to sell online, and I think that's fantastic. But you know some people will hate on our grocery store that's there locally, hg Hills. I think they do a fantastic job for a local grocery. The people care. I'm willing to pay a little more for the fact that I drive a minute and a half from my door to their door. That's worth something to me, whereas somebody else wants to haggle over. You know it's 10 more. It may not even be that much more, but I mean you have to turn a profit or you can't be in business, especially for small businesses, and people don't realize this.
Miles Reidelberger:local politicians or even state politicians or even federal politicians will say we support small businesses. I don't see how, because the amount of regulations you make us enforce and the amount of taxes you charge, I don't see how anyone in government supports small business and we almost laugh at it because they act like they're doing us a favor when they're taking away this very high percentage tax. It's like we shouldn't have had that to begin with. Do you want us to operate?
Jim Cripps:That's just my two cents? Well, no, and you bring that up and that's that's actually one of the first business conversations that we had between you and I is taxes. I remember we were, we were at school, standing in line to go have lunch with a branch and castle, yeah, and you just didn't look like yourself. You had this I don't want to say pale, but it was almost like you were flushed with frustration and at the same time just pale, sick looking at both. I don't even know how that works.
Jim Cripps:And I said, are you all right? And you were like man, we sold the veterinary clinic and we saved all the money. We didn't spend it. But then taxes came up and what we thought we were going to pay on taxes versus what they said we owed is just night and day different. And a big shout out to Valerie Kemp, cpa. I said well, you need a second opinion. Call Valerie, I'll let her know you're calling. You know she'll either say yes or no, or come see me, and you know I think that. Say yes or no, or come see me. And uh, you know, I think that relationship has turned out pretty well.
Miles Reidelberger:That relationship has turned out great. And yeah, I wasn't an idiot when approaching the sale of the clinic either. We sought out a lot of professional wanted to know what our taxes were.
Jill Reidelberger:We sought out. Three different accountants has give us some idea of what those capital gains would be, cause we wanted to know that before, before we sold, so we knew how much would be taken out. We knew it wasn't going to be exact, sure, but like yeah, it should have been a lot closer.
Jim Cripps:You don't miss by zero. Yeah, three accountants well, that's what you said because we were, as we were, standing there in line, uh, because I think y'all were on vacation when you got the phone call and you were like it was off by a whole digit. And that's when I hey call this number.
Miles Reidelberger:That's a that's a bad vacation when you find out something like that but oh my goodness, uh, we've, we've rebounded from that and, uh, we paid our appropriate taxes, which we should. I don't have, I don't have a problem being taxed. I just don't want to be, uh, uh, misrepresented by bad accountants. Sure, that's basically it.
Jim Cripps:Well and that's one of the things in business and it's why I send a lot of my clients to Valerie is you need somebody that is well-versed and kind of along your growth path, because there are accountants and I would say a lot of accountants specialize in a certain kind of range. You know if you're a startup through this much revenue, that's this person. And then you know if you're in the millions to this many millions, then that's this person.
Jim Cripps:Most of them are not skilled unless it's a large firm from zero to hundreds of millions and so you can absolutely outgrow, or your problems can outgrow, or even your. You know you sold, so it's not like that was a wasn't a problem, but your situation outgrew. That accountant and I think in business that is one of the things you have to always have in the back of your head is ML with the right person from an accounting standpoint, because taxes pay such a place play such a big role in whether we make money or we lose money. I agree.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, I think you need a team of people really. You need a good real estate attorney, you need a good accountant and you need a good banker. Between those three, that has really led to our success. We've had some really good support.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, and a great investment person too. I you know, I think, and the more you know, this is kind of controversial, um cause some people think the opposite. I like for mine to be in communication with each other.
Jim Cripps:Don't don't let me be the middleman. I give y'all the ability to talk to each other, because what happens and Valerie does the same thing um, Because what happens and Valerie does the same thing with bankers and with those types of people is they may have a conversation. There may be something that comes out organically in their conversation that would not come out through me, and it's just because I'm relaying messages, and so then they may come up with a totally different strategy that is way more beneficial, or they may uncover a potential problem that would not have come to light if I was playing middleman.
Miles Reidelberger:Well, as a small business owner, you have to be a jack of all trades, but not necessarily a master of them. So we wear so many hats. We wear so many hats and, for example, we have to know our taxes, because it affects the bottom line, but it doesn't mean I'm an expert at them and, like you said, if my real estate attorney, who knows their mastery, and my tax accountant knows their mastery, you're going through me, the middleman. I might be losing something. That's right.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, no, it's a big factor, especially when we hit adversity, you know, when everything's going fine, everybody's making good money. Well, that's not when businesses go out of business.
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, you know, it's the ones that are paying attention as they go, even when times are good. They're looking at things very strategically and, you know, one of the things is I recommend each one of those you're having a conversation with quarterly just to make sure that everybody's on the same page. And all that, but especially your year end with your CPA, in my opinion, for a small business owner, is critical, because you're taking a look at is there anything we need to button up before the end of the year, because once the clock strikes 12, you can't do half. Yeah, most of it's done, but at the same time, some of those strategies for the next year you need to be planning for before the year starts, and a lot, of, a lot of businesses they're afraid that. Oh well, I mean, they're going to charge me for that hour that I'm coming in. Yeah, what's that? Couple hundred bucks compared to what may be saved on the back end, or to plan for the next year and be more successful.
Jim Cripps:So, having surrounding yourself with great professionals, to me is just a night and day difference between those who get by and those who get it done.
Miles Reidelberger:And I think you said it's a level of maturity like you and and what's so unfortunate is there's so many people out there that's willing to take advantage of you. So you get burned once you are so hesitant to trust another professional. But you've got to take the time, you've got to build those relationships, you've got to build that goodwill, find those experts and once you've got them, you're ready for the moon Just go.
Jim Cripps:Yeah, just go, yeah, Just leverage them. I mean, you know they're, they're there for a reason. They get excited about their business, Just like you guys that get excited about your businesses. Let them do their thing you know, Um, now, essentially you're you're both working to either get people healthier or pets healthier, and really that affects almost every part of their lives. What does success look like for each of you and your businesses?
Jill Reidelberger:Well, obviously I want my patients healthy and my clients happy, but also my staff patients healthy and my clients happy, but also my staff. You know, I think we went through. We went through about 100% turnover that first year and right now we have just really good staff. We have a staff that I feel like care about my business, sometimes more than me, but it's it's amazing because I know I can step away and my clients and my patients will have the best care whether I'm there or not. So I think success for me is just continuing to create that relationship with the community of Pleasant View. Make sure they understand that we're there for them.
Jill Reidelberger:Before we started there was only one other vet clinic in town. Shout out to Pleasant View Animal Hospital. We went over there and introduced ourselves to them and they've been nothing but kind. They're not accepting new patients at the moment. So they're referring a lot to us, which, for a new business owner, has been a blessing. You know, it's really nice that we have them referring to us and we've already established that good relationship in our community with them.
Jim Cripps:Well, I think the spirit between the two is you're working together to take better care of your patients collectively, and when one's not available, the other one may be available and that type of thing. And I think I could be wrong on this, but I think too you also understand what each, each one, does well, and so you, you kind of pick and choose what gets sent to the cause. They specialize in X or you specialize in this Um, and I think you know that has played, you know, beneficial for your clinic, especially with your exotic background.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, it does, Because they've referred a lot of exotics our way, but also they've referred sorry, sent pets our way that need like acupuncture. Because we practice holistic medicine too. I do a lot of acupuncture, laser and ozone on pets, so if they have a surgical case they may send it my way for recovery. So it's really been a good partnership.
Jim Cripps:I love it. Now you you just mentioned a trigger word for me ozone. So what are? How are you using the ozone? Are you using it topically or what?
Jill Reidelberger:Oh, there's all kinds of ways to get ozone into the pet's body.
Jill Reidelberger:And a human's body and a human's body and human's body, um, but we use ozone rectally sometimes and pets with parvo, for example, right or uvo3 has been probably my most common use of ozone, which is where we put ozone in the pet's blood. Um, and it has been amazing for my elderly pets like we. We pair that with acupuncture, acupuncture and uvo3 and it gives them like really good quality of life. You know, if you've got a 15 year old pet that's not walking so well and you can bring them for these um, you know sort of self care for the pet, uh appointments they can get. They can have good quality of life for however long they have left.
Jim Cripps:That's fantastic. I did not know that you were doing ozone therapy there, uh, there, in pleasant view. So, um, give me a ballpark. So if I bring in a 65 pound dog, uh, how many milliliters are we uh combining?
Jill Reidelberger:so we draw 60 pounds might be like 20 mils of blood okay um and then we mix it with saline, ozone, heparin, um and I shine it through this machine that shines uv, ab and c light into it and then put it through this machine that shines UVA, bnc light into it and then put it back in the pet. I think UVA, bnc, uv light in general, and what it does for pets and humans, I don't think we've even scratched the surface of its benefits. So just seeing how it's made a difference in my pets has been amazing, and the treatments are. I think they're pretty costly or they're pretty reasonably priced.
Jim Cripps:Sure Well, and it's not an inexpensive procedure. I've had that done myself.
Jill Reidelberger:I've done You've had the UVO3?.
Jim Cripps:I have.
Jill Reidelberger:How much did you pay for it, so that one?
Jim Cripps:was about $1,000.
Jill Reidelberger:See, I've been quoted $3,000. I was like dang, I'd really like to try it.
Jim Cripps:So osteopathic center in knoxville, um and so big shout out to dr sean goddard and actually um. So the osteopathic center. They have a partnership with rich froning all right and so, uh, occasionally I think you know a couple times a month that you know rich's guys kind of load up and head up to osteopathic center cool. Cool, but we do have Michelle I forget her last name in Jolton that does ozone therapy. Now she doesn't offer the UVA B and C, but just a 10-pass there in Jolton.
Jill Reidelberger:Did you do a one-time treatment?
Jim Cripps:So I've done three 10-passes, usually about eight months apart.
Jill Reidelberger:How did you like it?
Jim Cripps:So the most impactful was the first one. And you know, obviously you get. It kills off a lot of the bad things in your body.
Jim Cripps:I will say you get like a flu-like symptom about three hours after at least I do and that's that Hershinger effect where it's killing off all the bad things and your body's trying to get rid of the waste and the toxins, and so I usually just plan on having a two or three hour nap after I get home and sleep through that phase. But you feel like Superman. I mean it is crazy. Especially the first one. I can't even describe it to you. I had been running most of the time I wasn't running. This was years ago, this was 2021. We had lived in the same neighborhood for 12 years and it's a figure eight neighborhood and I'd run the front loop for years and just one burst at a time, and my fastest time I beat by nine seconds and we're only talking about something that which took me 40 seconds to begin with, but my fastest time I cut by 25% that evening. Yeah, Cause I just felt like running.
Jim Cripps:It was it was weird, I had never experienced that before and yeah, so the best way I can describe it as you feel like Superman, so I can imagine those pets, those pets you know.
Jill Reidelberger:Obviously, there's no way for you to explain to the pet how they're gonna feel or what this is gonna do for them, but yeah, a lot of the clients they they call me and they're like I don't know what you did to him, but he's like a puppy again. Yeah, yeah that's.
Jim Cripps:That's fantastic miles. What about you? What success looks like? And you know you're there helping, helping people get healthier. Um, you know what. What does success look like for you in that?
Miles Reidelberger:okay, uh, yeah, with well at the gym. First you got to realize for a lot of wins it's just getting somebody in the door. That's right. You know that. I tell people all the time we have the heaviest door in pleasant view.
Miles Reidelberger:So many people want to make that change in their life but whether it's crossfit is intimidating or they're just not ready for the workouts, whatever it is just getting them there is a challenge. Next step is to getting them to come continuously and we, we try our best. We we kind of uh picket people. We're not like planet fitness. We don't want you just to sign up and never come. We will literally bug you to show up in that gym. And once you're consistent, then we need to get those wins.
Miles Reidelberger:And a win is different for everybody. Everyone thinks they just want to lose weight. But once I can get you off medication, once I can get you your first double under or your first pull up we call them those aha moments. Once you get those aha moments, that only isn't just a win for you, that's a win for us. Yeah, and, and Sylvia and I will sit around and we'll just talk about them and that is our success stories. Like that is our goal and if you've been a member of CrossFit Wild Thing for a while, sometimes you can become complacent and we've got to push you a little bit and we've got to find that balance of whether or not we want to make this the best hour of your day. We want to make this enjoyable. We want this to de-stress you, but we also have to challenge you and that is a constant battle and it's what we do on the daily.
Jill Reidelberger:Can I chime in here? When he first started the gym, I, you know, saw all these clients, met them, worked out with them, and you know I didn't work out with them every day, didn't see him every day, but you know I'd see him like five or six months down the road and I'd be like dang, that guy is squatting, he is legit squatting and he couldn't squat before. Or I'd see these girls start to do pull-ups and it made me feel really guilty. I'm like I should go to the gym more. I should really listen to my husband. But yeah, I mean it was amazing to see the work that him and Sylvia put in pay off.
Jim Cripps:Well, and it's interesting the culture that you've built there, and I don't know if this was on purpose. I don't know if it is just a theme across CrossFit gyms in general. I don't know, because I really only go to ours, right, and I tell people that everybody's friendly. So your first day don't get stressed out over it, everybody's friendly. But there's something that clicks Once you have come in and you have sweat enough, then you're part of the community. It's just. It's like one day it just changes, and I don't know how much sweat it is, I don't know what that factor is, but it changes and you'd never want to leave.
Miles Reidelberger:Well, I've looked at this a lot like coming to a CrossFit gym is intimidating. I mean, I've been trying to get you into the door for a lot longer than when you actually showed up, a full year before I signed up. Yeah, and even the simple task of I don't know how to operate this rower is intimidating, and so we try our best to make it very welcoming, and it's not just the coaches and the environment, but it's also the members. The members can make that such an easier path and I think we have great members. I think our members go above and beyond with welcoming new clients.
Miles Reidelberger:But, like you said, I did Murph with this guy, I did this workout with this guy, I rode that 1000 meters with this guy. We've been through something together. We're now. You know battles, brothers in arms. You know, and I don't know how long that takes. For some people it takes longer than others, but if you want that relationship, it's there. You don't have to be stuck on a a Peloton in a closet, just, you know, peddling away. There is much easier ways to get your fitness goals.
Jim Cripps:Well, and I feel like we're. We are social people, social beings by nature, and the things that happened in 2020, the way people are going to work from home, all these things is like we're systematically taking what makes us human away, and that's why I think CrossFit, gyms and places where people network, whether it's social or work, or those types of things, become more and more valuable, because people need that human connection.
Miles Reidelberger:I totally agree. There's a study just released that says we're spending an hour more a day in the house than we were five years ago and they said COVID led to this. But could you imagine an hour more being sedentary? I mean, this is the new smoking, the couch is the new smoking, sitting is the new smoking. So I realize that people have all different, varying levels of discipline and if you're in your garage and you're getting it done, kudos to you. But the majority of the clients we have says, yes, I can do this at home, but I'd rather do it here. Yeah, and I'd rather do it with this person and that person, because we've done it together, we've sweat together and this is my tribe.
Jill Reidelberger:And you push each other.
Jim Cripps:Yeah. Well, I think the other misconception out there and I think your facility does a great job of just shining a light on this is everybody thinks CrossFit is great, but it's just not for me. And if you come to the 9 am class, there's a chance that AJ or one of the younger people are going to be there and they're going to be sub-20 years old or ish, and then Miss Pam's in there, yeah, and so you've got a 50-plus year spread, Exactly, and everybody's in there doing the same workout. Now, obviously more or less weight. It could be a day that Brady shows up and that dude's putting up 400 pounds with multiple reps Great.
Miles Reidelberger:I'm not that guy and you don't feel ashamed that you're not that guy?
Jim Cripps:No.
Miles Reidelberger:And, like you said, there could be 20 people in that class with 20 different backgrounds, 20 different ages, 20 different strength abilities. They're doing the same workout but in a way it's still 20 different workouts. And that's probably one of the biggest fears I've heard from the community is I couldn't do that Like you would have to stop everything and just treat me. We do that already, right. We treat 20 different people. 20 different people have different modifications set specifically for them. Bad backs we got you covered. Bad knees we got you covered. Bad shoulders we got you covered. If you're coming to me in your thirties and forties, you're probably already broken and that's normal. Let's get some range of motion back. Let's get you using those joints again, because I hope you have 30, 40, 50 more years ahead of you. If you're already thrown in the towel at 30, that's going to make for a very hard rest of your life. That's right.
Jill Reidelberger:Jim, I just want to remember that 9 am that we did. We were doing. What is it? Double DT?
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah.
Jill Reidelberger:You know, I saw Pam over there in that corner and she was doing those presses and I'm like dang, I got to she's doing them. I can do them too. She like she was so inspiring.
Jim Cripps:That's right. You can't let up when you look over and Miss Pam, at 70 plus years old, is sweating it out and she's not giving up.
Jill Reidelberger:She's not. And yeah, you definitely she's an inspiration.
Jim Cripps:Well, and you know, to those out there that have medical conditions, CrossFit is still for you. I mean that completely, because we've got several members that have conditions that most people would go. You know what you shouldn't be doing CrossFit? You shouldn't be doing CrossFit.
Miles Reidelberger:Pregnant women, you can do CrossFit.
Jim Cripps:It's crazy how many pregnant women we have in the 9 o'clock class. And then we have all the babies afterward women we have in the nine o'clock class and then, and then we have all the babies afterward.
Miles Reidelberger:You know, you know I'm not. I'm not saying this is medical fact, but if you are looking to have another child, come to crossfit I don't know what it is. Maybe that maybe the uh backside gets a little firmer and you know it leads to something but hey, we have a lot of pregnant women that you know become pregnant at crossFit Wild.
Jill Reidelberger:Thing Not there necessarily. It's a family environment, not a family creation environment.
Jim Cripps:But then there are some couples that have become couples because of CrossFit right.
Miles Reidelberger:We are looking for that first CrossFit Wild Thing marriage, and that is a couple that met at our facility and then finally tied the knot. I got a couple names that come to mind, but we have great relationships too. Usually a husband or wife will follow up a CrossFit Wild Thing. Not too much more time after that the husband or wife will come following you Because one it changes their lives Hence why I started the CrossFit Wild Thing, and it just injects life into you and after time you're like well, why are you reaping all the benefits from this? Why am I there? So it is a great environment.
Jim Cripps:Now, because you have two businesses in the community that you live in, that the kids go to school, in all the things. How has that changed your engagement with the community, the fact that you are small business owners?
Miles Reidelberger:It's funny. When we owned our first vet clinic, we did not live in that community and unfortunately, when people come to a vet, the majority of the time that pet is sick and so pets are lost, and she always said she goes. Well, what are we going to do if we ever open one in our community? And then in between that time I opened the gym and she's like how do you know all these people in town? Like we'd be sitting at lunch or dinner and people would walk up to me and she's like how are you knowing all these people in town? Like we'd be sitting at lunch or dinner and people would walk up to me and she's like how are you knowing all these people? And I think that kind of start started the bug. And she's like you know what?
Miles Reidelberger:I would love to be part of this community too and, like you said before, I work on human health. She works on animal health. We, we feel like we're, we're participating in the community. Yeah, and because of that, it is our community. Like I am very concerned on what happens in my community, even if it comes down to you know better roads, because this is all we got. Like this, this is where we dropped our anchor. That's right and and we love it.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, unfortunately, whether Pleasantview likes it or not, I've adopted them and I hope they've adopted me. Uh, we haven't, we're not born and raised there like a lot of people and uh, but we've lived there 12, 13 years, um, and I love that community, you know, I love the people in it and I would say, oh god being I have an event clinic there, I've had so much more positivity than I thought I would, um so much more positive feedback. You know, 95% of my clients are great. There's always the occasional that you know are not so great, but that's every community. But I never thought that I'd have this many wonderful, wonderful clients. That's awesome yeah.
Jim Cripps:We love it too, and you know you pass by our house. I mean when I see you pass by on the Vespa.
Jill Reidelberger:I like to go fast, right.
Jim Cripps:But you're just part of the community, you know, and not just the veterinary or the animal hospital, but the CrossFit gym too. You know, I think of people who've been on the podcast. I think of people who've been on the podcast, I think of people I do business with. A lot of them are from CrossFit that I didn't know before. You know, uh, bubba Williams, my, my farm bureau guy, met him at well, actually, I talked him into coming to the gym, um, but was introduced to him through a friend at the gym. And then Jaime and his team cleaned our house when we got finished with construction. And then Carissa and Amber, of course. Carissa, you know, they're just absolutely pouring sweat, working hard, and she was pregnant.
Jill Reidelberger:She's amazing.
Jim Cripps:And then was on the podcast just the day after they cleared her, you know, and the reason I knew she was cleared is because I said something to Sylvia about whether or not she thought she'd be interested in coming on the podcast. And she goes oh yeah, so she's getting cleared by the doctor tomorrow and she's going to be in the gym the next day.
Miles Reidelberger:At the end of the day, it's all about relationships. It is and uh, it's so funny. I grew up in a small town, very small town, and I said I will never live in another small town. And here I am, raising my children and I hope I make better decisions than I did when I was a kid in a small town.
Jill Reidelberger:I didn't grow up in a small town, I grew up in a big town, so I like the small town feel, but I'm also like Pleasant View in particular always impresses me, the, the level of people there, you, there. I think it's easy for people who are not from Tennessee or from this community to be like, oh, they're Southerners, they don't know much the normal cliches. But the smart, business-minded people there, there's beautiful female entrepreneurs there, there's just so much knowledge, I mean even just in his gym alone. I'm constantly impressed by the level of people that I meet.
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, it's fantastic. We love it. We love it there. Now you guys have built this amazing life businesses, marriage, children, all these things together. What's a piece of advice that each of you would give to somebody out there that's maybe younger than us or kind of starting their path, or maybe they're just kind of derailed at a different point in life? What's, what's a bit of advice you'd give them?
Jill Reidelberger:Well, the quote that I've always lived by is um, you have to leap and grow your wings on the way down. You know, you have to take risk. You, you do not. You know, cause my brother, he, he wanted to own a business but he wanted that guarantee that it was going to succeed. And I was like that, you're not, that's what the grow your wings on the way down, that's where that comes in. He didn't get it, but I had to explain it to him. But yeah, I mean, I think you're never going to have a hundred percent like, it's never going to be a hundred percent safe. You have to make it safe, and if you fail that first time you're going to learn something from it.
Jill Reidelberger:Got to take those kernels and keep going. But yeah, that's, I would say.
Miles Reidelberger:That's perfect.
Miles Reidelberger:Yep, Just like just like when I was trying to open the gym, and it was just like, obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, and, as I, as we said earlier in the podcast, you either go over them, under them, through them, around them. That is normal, and people hit that very first one and they run for safety. And there's a lot of benefits to being a entrepreneur, like not just money wise, but a lot of benefits Like I would have never met the people I know if I've never opened that gym. And the rewards are there. Yeah, take the risk, the rewards are there.
Jim Cripps:I love it, all right. So in our last segment we have some fun, and so you guys know I'm a bowler, hence the bowling pin, all those things. So imagine that we are building a team for a celebrity bowling event, that all the funds are going to go to charity, and so the goal is we want to put together a team that's going to drive attraction. People are. People are going to want to put together a team that's going to drive attraction people. People are going to want to watch this. So who's on the team and who's the commentator? And it could be anybody.
Jill Reidelberger:It could be anybody past present celebrity could be, I mean anybody that you know or don't know, it's got to be fred right well I mean fred flinstone's the best bowler ever.
Miles Reidelberger:Live, right, there we go. That's my 300 bowler right there. Yeah, um, john goodman, I think he's been in. I know he won. He's been in one bowling movie well, and he played.
Jim Cripps:Didn't john goodman play fred flintstone in? Oh, there you go. Exactly. There's a connection and I think he bowled a lot in roseanne like he.
Jill Reidelberger:Okay, I think he carried a bag regularly um, but it's got to be co-ed betty white betty white. There you know she's, but she's fearless. Yeah, I think she can throw a ball.
Miles Reidelberger:And strategy. We need strategy.
Jill Reidelberger:Strategy.
Miles Reidelberger:Strategy Like wartime strategy. Napoleon, napoleon Bonaparte. Oh, there we go. That's our four.
Jim Cripps:All right, and who is going to commentate? Who's going to be a commentator?
Miles Reidelberger:Well, the same guy I'd want to narrate my life, which would be Morgan Freeman. I mean, you just got to have that.
Jill Reidelberger:He's going to speak at my funeral. He's already agreed to it.
Miles Reidelberger:All right.
Jim Cripps:He's doing my audio book. That's awesome. Um, what is the best book that you ever read? Business or other.
Jill Reidelberger:Oh, that's a tough one.
Miles Reidelberger:For me, best business book is shoe dog. That's the story of Nike Um, the guy who wrote that I told you. The whole time I was reading I was like this guy's like poetry in your ear. It's just awesome, um, and book is about every damn obstacle you can have. I mean it is amazing what he came over to start Nike, nike Um, and as far as just like fiction, I'm catching the rye.
Jill Reidelberger:That's just for me um, I like the perks of being a wallflower if we're talking about fiction and uh, business for me.
Jim Cripps:Uh, rich dad, poor dad yeah, I mean classic yeah absolutely, and it's one of those that you read it again at a different stage in life and something else jumps out it really does it like.
Jill Reidelberger:When we first read it it was before any of our businesses and I'm like, well, I wish. And now we're reading it again and it's definitely. You have a different, totally different perspective.
Miles Reidelberger:We tried to play the audio book to our kids on a long car ride.
Jill Reidelberger:We would like take a bathroom break and we'd get back in the car. The kids would be like no more rich dad, poor dad, please. You know, in saying that, though it's kind of cool, our kids are starting to ask business-minded questions. You know, in school they don't, they don't teach them about accounting or business or anything, and so, you know, layla's constantly like well, what did that cost and how much did you actually make on that? And you know, you know, do you think you'd invest in that? I mean like just these questions that I would have never thought to ask when I was young.
Miles Reidelberger:And Branch is always like are you doing taxes? I'm like, I'm always doing tax.
Jill Reidelberger:It's always tax. It's always in my taxis.
Jim Cripps:But they, they, they are they pick up more than you think. They pick up more than you think by far. Well, one of my favorite ones and I play this game with Castle is he knows how to use the Dave Ramsey investment calculator. Okay, and so he mows a couple yards now. So he mows two yards every other week and he has to decide how much money he's going to spend, how much he's going to save and how much he's going to invest.
Miles Reidelberger:Okay.
Jim Cripps:And I think I created a monster, because the first time he got a check I said you know, I think he got $120. And I said you know you're cashing that. So how much are you going to invest? How much are you going to save? How much are you going to keep to spend? And he goes I'll keep 20 and I'm going to put 100 in with the investment guy. Like buddy, that sounds great.
Jill Reidelberger:That's aggressive, that's great.
Jim Cripps:Why don't we keep?
Jill Reidelberger:40?.
Jim Cripps:You can keep 40 and put 20 in savings, 20 to spend and 80 to the investment guy, and then, when rent comes due, you've got to somehow come up with that money.
Miles Reidelberger:Yeah, that's right.
Jim Cripps:That's right. I like the aggressiveness though, but it's fun and for us. We talked about money. I used to take him to the bank. This was pre-COVID. I used to take him to the bank with me every week, and this could be absolutely disastrous one of these days where it may have been the greatest thing I ever did, but if we were putting money in the bank or moving money from checking to savings, he got a sucker, and if we were not putting money in or saving it, he did not get a sucker.
Miles Reidelberger:So based off of your decisions, he got his dreams, that's right Like Dad. What the heck he's like why did you do this, dad Like. I'm not getting a sucker now.
Jim Cripps:Oh yeah, so it's that accountability factor right.
Miles Reidelberger:I like it.
Jim Cripps:All right. The next one is two truths and a lie. Oh, so you share the three, and then I have to try to figure out which one is the lie.
Jill Reidelberger:I jumped out of airplanes. I have three nipples. I lived overseas twice.
Jim Cripps:One is the lie. I'm going to go with three nipples.
Miles Reidelberger:Is the lie it was obvious I mean it could be true you never know, never know for me. Um, I want to get all uh shoot. I had that third one, oh, and this hair is not naturally curly.
Jim Cripps:I have it curled I'm gonna give up, afraid of heights I am definitely afraid of heights.
Miles Reidelberger:Okay, like when I get on the ladder at the gym, I have sylvia hold it, or else I feel like I'm gonna fall over okay, that is a truth, all right. So the hair is the lie. The hair is a lie, it is natural. But the amount of people that come up to me and go do you get that curl? I'm just like I. I mean, I'm not 17 so I'm not going.
Miles Reidelberger:I'm not going for the pro I find it funny that I had to wait till my forties to my hair, so my hair was in fashion.
Jim Cripps:That's just my luck, but some people it never, never happens. So some people, some people's hair just never going to come into fashion, that's so true, well at least you have hair.
Jill Reidelberger:I know, hey, if you have hair in your forties.
Miles Reidelberger:That's a win, that's right all right.
Jim Cripps:So the last one, and I think is one of the most important ones, is how do you want to be remembered?
Jill Reidelberger:it's you it's me.
Miles Reidelberger:It's funny you ask that because I always used to think about this when I was just a plant manager and that is, if I died today, who would come to my funeral? And I assume my family, handful of friends and maybe four or five people from work. And now I hope that if I pass, members of this community would come and I'd hope they remember what I've done for the community. I hope to be remembered fondly. Let's just say that and that's that's all a person can ask for.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah, yeah. I mean, um, we definitely didn't start the gym to make a huge amount of money we. We started it to bring back to the community. But I am just going to picnic piggyback off that and I would definitely like the community to remember me as a veterinarian who practiced with integrity and helped their pets.
Miles Reidelberger:It's funny. My son, and maybe even Layla, at one point said don't you want to be famous? And I think at this point I'm like no, I do not want to be famous. That, I think, is sometimes a curse, but I do want to be thought of fondly. I think it's sometimes a curse, but I do want to be thought of fondly, especially around the people that matter most. And if you can't do that in your community, where you know who cares what the rest of the country thinks, that's right.
Jim Cripps:I love it. What as we wrap up? Is there anything, an ask or a nugget of knowledge that you'd like to leave our audience with?
Miles Reidelberger:Well, if you're in the region of Pleasant view, tennessee, and you'd like to check out a CrossFit gym or a veterinary clinic, please look us up. With the CrossFit gym in particular, we have the Halloween party coming up and that is going to be on the last Saturday of the month and 26th, 26, I believe and you are strongly uh, we strongly suggest you come in costume. There will be some gifts for the kiddos that they come in costume, and also we're going to have some costume contests and it should be a good time. So, uh, if you are in the area, please come by.
Jim Cripps:And how do they get in touch with you at the gym?
Miles Reidelberger:You can email us at wildthing, at cfwildthingcom. That'd probably be the direct source to me. You can also stop by. I mean, we are always there ready to give people a tour of the gym.
Jill Reidelberger:You're also able to try free class and, as far as the veterinary clinic, yeah, the vet clinic, I would say we have all kinds of cool stuff come in on a daily basis, so follow us on Facebook. Right now we have Turbo the tortoise, who was hit by a car about a month and a half ago with a broken jaw that we had to repair the jaw. He's got a feeding tube. He's not out of the woods but he's still doing well, he's still feisty. So I mean we have all kinds of interesting things come through our door. So following us on Facebook is the best way to see that Pictures and interesting things and cute animals.
Jim Cripps:And if they have a pet or they have an exotic that has an ailment and needs to come in, or they've got an older pet that could get some relief through acupuncture or ozone acupuncture or ozone um.
Jill Reidelberger:How do they, how do they contact you? Well, you can call us um 615-288-5630 or we.
Jim Cripps:You can message us on facebook um through email, anything our website is uh wwwwildthingsahcom and the veterinary clinic has an s on the end of it, because they cater to all things. Wild thing, so wild things, and it is CrossFit wild thing, right.
Miles Reidelberger:And just so you know, the veterinary clinic does see cats and dogs as well. That's right. A lot of people make that misconception that we only treat the real wild ones.
Jill Reidelberger:Nope, we see them all. That's cool, big or small.
Jim Cripps:Well, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you for you're both supporting our community in in a powerful way through health, whether it be for pets or whether it be for uh humans and uh, and both of you building a stronger community, and we appreciate that.
Jill Reidelberger:Yeah Well, thanks for having us, absolutely.
Jim Cripps:Well, team, you heard it here, and so, whether we're talking about the health of your pets, whether you're talking about the health of you as an individual, or your, your family, that's what Miles and Jill are working toward working to build a stronger community by helping each and every individual in it. So I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you took some key things away from it that will help you build a stronger future for you and your family. Until next time, I'm Jim Cripps with the Charge Forward podcast. We'll see you later.
Jim Cripps:Team is Jim Cripps here with the Charge Forward Podcast. I just want to tell you I love you. I appreciate you listening, I appreciate you for subscribing and sharing the Charge Forward Podcast with people you know and you love, because that's what we're here for. We are here to share the amazing stories, the things that people have been through, the ways that they were able to improve their life, so that you can take little nuggets from theirs and help improve your story and be better tomorrow than you were today. I hope that this is the tool you needed at the right time, and that you find value in the amazing guests that we bring each and every week. Thanks so much, and don't forget, new episodes drop every Thursday.