Shed Geek Podcast

Tiffany Strong Hutchison's Journey at Heartland Capital

Shed Geek Podcast Season 5 Episode 81

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Tiffany Strong Hutchison takes us on an inspiring journey from homeschooling mom with an Excel spreadsheet to Director of Business Development at Heartland Capital, one of the shed industry's leading RTO companies. Her story reveals how unexpected opportunities, determination, and faith can transform both careers and businesses.

Twenty-five years ago, Tiffany created a simple repo tracking spreadsheet that she sold for $25 a pop to local rent-to-own companies. This humble beginning evolved into a remarkable career that allowed her to support her family as a single mother while developing expertise in an industry she grew to love. Her experience offers powerful lessons about recognizing opportunity and building systems that scale.

The conversation explores profound changes in the shed industry - from traditional storage buildings to elaborate structures serving as offices, studios, and specialized spaces. As Tiffany notes, "TikTok tells me I need a shed library," reflecting how consumer demands have evolved. Buildings have grown from $5,000 units on 36-month contracts to $25,000 structures leased over 72 months, fundamentally changing how businesses operate.

What truly distinguishes this episode is Tiffany's candid discussion of leadership transformation. She shares how her faith journey reshaped her approach to management: "I became such a different person that some of my friends would come to me and say 'you're different.'" This shift enabled her to delegate more effectively, giving team members ownership and watching them flourish - sometimes beyond what she imagined possible.

The episode delivers practical wisdom about navigating technological change while maintaining human connection, combating industry fraud through collaboration, and building company culture that feels like family. Heartland's philosophy - "Give our heart and help people" - serves as both business strategy and personal mission, demonstrating how purpose-driven leadership creates sustainable success.

Ready to explore partnership opportunities with Heartland Capital? Visit HCI.net to learn how their comprehensive solutions can support your shed business.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Shed Pro

Cardinal Leasing
LuxGuard
Digital Shed Builder
iFAB

INTRO:

Hello and welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here's a message from our 2025 studio sponsor. Let's be real Running a shed business today isn't just about building great sheds. The industry is changing fast. We're all feeling the squeeze, competing for fewer buyers while expectations keep climbing, and yet I hear from many of you that you are still juggling spreadsheets, clunky software or disconnected systems. You're spending more time managing chaos than actually growing your business. That's why I want to talk to you about our studio sponsor, ShedPro. If you're not already using them, I really think you should check them out.

INTRO:

ShedPro combines your 3D configurator, point of sale, RTO contracts, inventory, deliveries and dealer tools all in one platform. They even integrate cleanly into our S hed Geek marketing solutions From website lead to final delivery. You can quote, contract, collect payment and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. Contract collect, payment and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. No more double entries, no more back and forth chaos. Quoting is faster, orders are cleaner and, instead of chasing down paperwork, you're actually running your business. And if you mention Shed Geek, you'll get 25% off all setup fees. Check it out at shedproco/ shed geek. Thank you, ShedP ro, for being our studio sponsor and, honestly, for building something that helps the industry.

Shed Geek:

Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast and excited about today's interview. Sitting in this office again, it's been a while since I have, but always appreciate coming down here. And who do we have on the show today? Let's start with that.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

My name is Tiffany Strong Hutchison. I always still say Tiffany Strong because that's how everybody remembers me, because I'm big and strong. I work for Heartland Capital. I'm director of business development here with Heartland Capital. Though I've wore several hats throughout my journey with this company and with other companies, that's the one that they've settled on. It's a running joke. Our boss says that I am his junk drawer. If nobody knows how to do it, can do it. He gives it to Tiff to do it. But that didn't fit well on a business card so they made it the title Director of Business Development.

Shed Geek:

Junk drawer can be a very valuable skill set. You know that's a good thing to. I always say my, you know, my resume would not reflect my talent. You know it's hard to put down when people say what are you good at? I'm like, not really good at anything, just decent at a lot of stuff.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yes, I'm duct tape and scissors.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, it's a good way to put it so well. Thank you. First of all, heartland is obviously I mean, I think it goes without saying such a large name in the industry. It's one I recognized early on whenever I got in, just hear so many good things about them, so many of your partners, you know we've had the pleasure of meeting with Chris and just some of the team and me, and you have even been kind of on the same side of the football field once or twice.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yes, we have.

Shed Geek:

We worked together we did, we did, we did, and it's appreciated and your leadership and just like your reputation, I feel like, has always been such a positive thing and we even crossed paths a little bit from time to time now with partners and things like that.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

And with the NSRA and everything when we set up for that. You're always there, I'm always there. We're just a staple in the industry.

Shed Geek:

You just got to pour yourself into it. Absolutely. And I'll tell you what I'm not wearing the traditional bow tie and suspenders and all that get up. Today I feel overshadowed with this beautiful blazer, this Heartland blazer. Is that just a Tiffany thing only?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Etsy will set you up, you send them your logo, and you can get this in a full business suit if you want one.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

But if you want to contact me, and I'll sell you one.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

we can work on that too. Now I did this for an event that we went to, and it got so much attention. I said I'm going to wear that often and I have, and it gets. It gets the looks. Yeah, well, it looks it looks great.

Shed Geek:

It looks great, yeah. So how? How did how did Tiffany get started? We were talking, we were sharing a little bit beforehand, but I wish I could. I wish I could you know you're fine, no, you're fine. I wish I could capture that magic in a bottle again. And I'm curious about what was your introduction to rent-to-own or really even the shed industry in general? I mean, most people don't talk to their guidance counselor and say I want to work in rent-to-own, I want to work with sheds as I get older. So, you kind of fall into it in some way.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yes, I did fall into it. It was quite a surprise in some way. Yes, I did fall into it, it was quite a surprise. So, my mother had always owned restaurants, and I owned a restaurant and that was my life. That's how I was raising my children. Back into the day at two o'clock. Whenever I'd wash the dishes, I'd throw my kids in the three- compartment sink and wash the dishes. That was my life is raising the children at the restaurant. Well, one afternoon after I got home, the kids were out in the pond swimming. I had a trailer that I lived in, and I was washing dishes in the sink, and they were way out in the pond swimming, and I see all the kids running up to the house.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

They're going, mama! mama!, there's a man here, there's a man here and I go to the door, and I open the door and it's the guy that came in every morning, got a sausage biscuit with mustard and I was like why is the sausage biscuit with mustard guy here? And he said, hey, I hear you're good at bookkeeping. And at that time, I was running the billing for his cousin doing a trash company. And I said, well, yes, I went to school for accounting, so I was doing that on the side. He said can you meet my wife and I down here? And it was right down the road from me, at the horse barn at six o'clock in the morning. Now, to this day, I have no idea why he asked me to be there at six o'clock in the morning, because no one in the rent-to-own industry starts at six o'clock in the morning. I know I don't, but I did.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

And they showed up with a shoe box full of the repo paper and they said first of all, we need this organized. How do I do this? They had an accounting firm that was running the rent-to-own paperwork and doing the billing and all that, but they needed a structure for repossessions. So, I got in there and I'm an Excel geek, I love Excel, and I did this, whole formulas and everything. Keep up with your aging of whenever it went out for repo, all this stuff. I thought it was fancy back in the day. I thought it was so fancy.

Shed Geek:

It was fancy, probably back in the day.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yeah, this was 25 years ago and so I thought I was really big, big to do and I started selling it, selling my little repo spreadsheet to other companies. I actually sold it to Heartland even though I wasn't working for Heartland at that time for $25. I sold it to another company for $25.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I'd meet people in their chicken barns and in their back offices and they would say we don't know what to do with our repos and I was making the big bucks $25 a pop $25 at a time, yeah and then I fell in love with the industry, and that job right down the road from my house gave me such an amazing thing because I was also homeschooling my children, so I would leave them their lesson plan, because some of them were older and one of them was a younger she was a baby girl.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

She now works in our repo department here at Heartland, um, but they would bring me my lunch every day on the four-wheeler. That's how close I was. They weren't old enough to drive yet, but they would bring me my lunch every day on the four-wheeler. That's how close I was. They weren't old enough to drive yet, but they could bring me my lunch on the four-wheeler, and so that was really cool that we. This industry has helped me throughout my path of being a single mom for many, many years to not only buy houses and provide for my children, but also it kept us very close together.

Shed Geek:

So, this gentleman needs help with repos. You say, hey, I've got this wonderful program. I wrote down organized systems and processes because what comes to my mind in that moment is think about how far we've come here in 2025 from Excel spreadsheets, which are still honestly used in a lot of capacity in the industry oh yes, don't take away my excel but uh, but to, to zero, um, you know, um, what am I trying to say?

Shed Geek:

goodness, every now and then I have a moment too. It's okay. So, let's see, that's perfect for me to have them, because then you know that it's a normal thing to do. Where I was trying to go with that. Let me get back to my from POS systems and ERP systems to some people still don't have a process. I'm sure Heartland provides a, you know, solution for that for your partners.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yes, absolutely.

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Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I can remember back in the day whenever it was the three-page carbon copy contracts that came in with paperwork, with the check paperclip to it, and maybe some people still are doing something like that. Oh, it is so important to get to a point of sale where you can go paperless and just send your information over.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

So Heartland does help our partnerships do that. We either suggest a software for the larger companies that we can export and import and keep our open APIs available, but we also provide a platform for dealerships that onboard with us. That is a point of sale, that they don't have to hand figure out their payments or information. It's right there, they just type it into the computer.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Now we do have some smaller-based dealerships that are not computer savvy or they're older and they don't want to learn a computer, or they have a religious reasoning, they don't have a computer. So, we do have a department set up that those clients can call in.

Shed Geek:

We fill out the form for them and we can email it to the customer for signature excellent idea and a testimony to sort of like the longevity that heart, heartland is in the industry to be able to provide those and to be to be able to say things like repo, department or department to help. These kind of serves as an example to me of like the, the growth and the blessedness that you guys have had through good work, ethic, good, good, just people getting in the dirt and getting things done. I mean because sometimes it just takes a certain amount of elbow grease to get in here and make things happen, but systems and processes start to make things so much easier, and it is complicated in this industry where things are changing. It feels like things are changing in technology annually, monthly, sometimes.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

You made such a valid point of making your departments. That is a system in itself. When you start out, you are every department and learning how and that was hard for me to learn how to delegate authority and break off a piece, because I'm kind of a control addict. And so, whenever you figure out how to break off a piece because I'm kind of a control addict, and so whenever you figure out how to break off a piece hand it to someone you trust and let them have ownership of it and watch them grow with it. That has been one of the most beautiful things to watch in this industry is standing back, peeling off a part of me, handing it to them and letting them run with it Because they can make it bigger than I can ever make it, they may actually expose a talent that they never knew existed.

Shed Geek:

You know, I was talking to a previous employer recently and I said you know, I might still be working here and be tickled pink at $16, $18 an hour Not that there's anything wrong with that. I had tons of free time. I had way more free time then than I have now. Sometimes I envy that and want it back. But I said you know, I didn't know what talent I possessed until I had the opportunity, and me and you talked about faith a little bit off air before we even started talking really on the podcast. And one thing that was stuck out to me in that conversation is your will. I mean, God gives us free will and a person who's willing does more than a person who's, I like to say, someone who volunteers instead of being voluntold. You know someone who can grasp something and say I want to take that and do a good job with it. We'll actually outperform you when you delegate that task and trust them with it completely.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh yes, and credit to having faith and having the grace provided to me. My salvation is really a recent thing. If you look at my timeline of life, I was living a different life and five years ago God dealt with me Up in a graveyard. I went up there where my grandmother was buried. The wind was blowing, I cried for three hours and there was a movement inside me and I've become a different person. And actually, I became such a different person that some of my friends would come to me and say you're different. And at first, I thought that's a bad thing, but now it has served me so well. It has changed the way I work with people, the way I communicate with people, the way I communicate with people, the way I talk with people. I'm not as much of a narcissistic, controlling person.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I sit back and let them do them and I get to see they look like beautiful wildflowers all growing, and that's prettier than me doing it myself, yeah you'll wear yourself out trying to.

Shed Geek:

I mean that's prettier than me doing it myself. Yeah, you'll wear yourself out trying to. Uh, I mean that's the secret to it's. The secret to growth is what you know. So many people have told me the ability to delegate and delegate. Well, um, there's some, there's some folks that that have jobs in in this industry, because, you know, I was lucky enough to be able to meet with people and they ask your opinion and you, well, you like to think you've got it right all the time. I know I don't, but it feels really good to look back at a couple of those instances and see where you know you. You just said the right thing, you did the right thing. They took that advice, they did it, they grew it. Next thing, you know you've got someone.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I mean we, you've got someone. I mean, we've literally created some competition for ourselves. Absolutely, they quit and they go somewhere else.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, yeah, Well, it's, it's a, it's a man, what a. What a conversation we could have there for 10 minutes on. Just you know, literally seeing this in people right now, in the moment. It's like it's different when you train someone to do what you do, and they do what you do, versus train someone to be better at what they are meant to do.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yeah, I'm going to name drop right now because there's one young lady that just she took it to a different level. She's running our repo department, Samantha Pair. So, Chris, the owner of Heartland. He owns several different companies, and he owned a something called Military Flight Travel. It was a different company, and she worked there. Well, we dissolved that company and she started, of course she was a good employee, and there was. Since that dissolved he wanted to retain her, so he brought her down here to work in the call center and I was over the call center at the time and she started just there and she blossomed so quickly and then she moved into the repo department and she just took over and she has made that her little family. They are so close over there and they're in the call center, but they have a little office, and they are all in there together and there's a feeling, just a family type feeling.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

When you walk into the room they might bicker at times, just like a family does but you better not be mean to them, because they will defend each other too, and she has built that within her department, but then that goes out towards her drivers. The drivers treat them all like family as well, and so she's done a really good job of bringing culture to her department well you guys to me you guys have just done a good job.

Shed Geek:

Uh, in general, like I, I love and this is, you know, we, we talked about questions beforehand and it it's like, hey, I like to let the conversation flow, let it go where it goes, but I always think about, like Chris is such a staple in the industry and I'm always like man, what makes that guy tick? He's always such a like a wise business person making wise business moves and I know he's involved in just from being local here and even more than just like rent-to-own and different things. I think you guys can correct me, but I mean we saw the devastation of the tornado. Yes, you know, and I think the temporary courthouse is back here. Am I right in saying, like all this back here is part of?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yeah yeah, Chris owns several commercial properties and what happened in Mayfield was absolutely devastating. And he did have some commercial properties that were affected, and Mayfield was absolutely devastating, and he did have some commercial properties that were affected, but the majority of what we have is here at the plaza and it was not affected by the tornado. So, he was able to provide space for the courthouse for everybody to rent while they're rebuilding the courthouse.

Shed Geek:

It's sort of a testimony in itself and like the success he's had, because I always tell people like, look, I didn't grow up business savvy. I mean you know, like our parents struggled, we grew up pretty poor. I mean by most standards, that I would tell people and it's really neat to be around those business minds like that Because I always say you can't work, there's 24 hours in a day for all of us and you can't work yourself into I don't want to use the word, the word wealth, because I feel like it cheapens like that identity. That's not. That's not what his identity is built on. What I'm saying is um, you can't work yourself into being a wealthy person, you can't work yourself into it, you have to delegate. And it's a testimony to how he's delegated and just having the mindset to hire folks like you and others who have kind of done those things. Hello, shed sellers, let's take a moment to discuss the shed customer and meeting their expectations. I remember growing up in the neighborhood where a certain percentage of the houses had well-manicured lawns and well-manicured homes. These were the type of individuals who felt it was important to purchase a well-constructed home or vehicle or maybe equipment to help maintain the quality of the item.

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Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I don't have to be the smartest person in the room, I just surround myself with the smartest people in the room. He was raised as well. There were multiple children in his family He'll tell you stories about. They didn't have much money, so they had a hydrant in the middle of their kitchen table where everybody drank out of. That's all they got to drink was the water.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Um, so he had very, extremely humble means. Um, there is a joke. That's out there. The difference between a burn it and a Burnett a Burnett doesn't have anybody money. A Burnett, a Burnett does okay, and so he was definitely a Burnett whenever he was born.

Shed Geek:

I know the family's huge. I mean, my goodness, I meet a new Western Kentucky, Burnett, Gather, you name it, like you know constantly. But there's kind of like an identity with all of those guys that you know. They all to me, they all display kindness, they've always been respectful. I'm a bit envious. I come from a big, big family but you know, poor family and then a family that just eventually dissolved and very broken and things like that. But you know, you guys, literally they grew up on the other side of the river from me. I mean we, as a crow flies, we were probably 10 miles apart. Yes, me, I mean we, we, as a crow flies, we were probably 10 miles apart, you know, in growing up.

Shed Geek:

So, I'm always impressed whenever I get around people like that and I try to glean from them and I try to take what Chris said try not to be the smartest guy in the room, but I try to learn, I try to listen. Uh, I believe there's so much value in listening. A lot of people see me as a podcaster, so I talk a lot. It's like I only talk a lot because I listen a lot first and I think if you can do that, it develops some thought, because there's a saying that says if what you have to say is not more valuable than the silence, you should just be quiet.

Shed Geek:

So, I'm putting myself on risk by speaking at any point, because I have to conclude to myself what I have to say here is more important than just being quiet, and I think that's why it's so important to communicate, I think in this industry, it's why it's so good for us to come together. You know, we can compete, uh, under the love of Christ, right, like we can collaborate under the love of Christ. But I just, you know, um, I'm just naive still enough. I'm holding onto to a little bit of like the world can be a better place if we can all get a little better heart, talk a little kinder, be a little better. And I don't know, at the end of the day and I just went through this traumatic experience this week right At the end of the day I'm asking myself how can I be in tune with the Holy Spirit to discern what I should say, what I should do, how I should act, how I should represent myself, my company, all these things, and we get it wrong sometimes.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh, yes, you know I've been wrong, but being able to admit you're wrong when you're surrounded in a safe place. Heartland has given me such a safe place. I've been doing 25 years but I haven't always been with heartland, but heartland gave me such a spot that I felt safe, that I could heal, that I can say I was wrong, I made that mistake and the team works with me to fix it, and having that safe spot is really, really important whenever you're building a company.

Shed Geek:

Well, and being a leader, that comes with a whole different set of pressure. Yes, being a leader in the industry, at this point you no longer can say well, I mean you can say we're learning and things like that. But people oftentimes look to you for your opinion.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yes, and Chris set that example to me, sitting right here this is actually his chair in the conference room and I usually sit where you're sitting and John Carr, our accountant, sits right there. That's like our assigned seats. And I remember the very first time there was something that happened, I got my feelings hurt. I can get a little emotional, but I don't like to tell people that. But I can be a little emotional and my don't like to tell people that, but I can be a little emotional and my feelings were hurt on something. I don't remember what my feelings were hurt about, but I remember Chris, my boss, sitting in this seat looking at me and saying I was wrong, I'm sorry, and when my boss can say I was wrong, I'm sorry, that's an example for me

Shed Geek:

and I have tried to follow that ever since, yeah, it takes a certain amount of humility to even gather those words and you know, I like to say that it's. The valleys are full of people, tiffany, the mountains tall and the peak is narrow. That's hard to get up to the top of the mountain and if you do, I feel like there's a responsibility to look over your shoulder and help others get up there with you. But there's a reason. A lot of people fall off along the way Pride and ego and so many things. And I'm telling you, I hear so many good things about Heartland Just out, being on the road, even before I ever met Chris, you know.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

And it has to do with what you said helping others, because other people have helped us get here. We couldn't be where we are without other people helping us. We, you, you grew up right across the river from us. We didn't know anything about computers, right, or the internet.

Shed Geek:

The internet was bad back in the day oh, we can preach on this, I'm sure for a long time it was bad.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Now it's ai right, you know as the devil, and I'm like so people had to help us get to where we are. So, we have to help other people. I do say a lot of times it's the connections in my phone, because I still call other rent-to-own companies for advice.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Other rent-to-own companies call us. We have a nice little knit built up of people that are willing to share information. Of course, and I tell people all this all the time nobody's ever going to share their number of contracts or some specifics like that, but they can explain to you the hows. How do you do this? How? Do, you do that. Maybe not your specifics, but your hows, like, for example, exporting and importing data out of RTO Pro. That was life-changing, and if someone hadn't helped, me learn that.

Shed Geek:

Talk about Excel yes, like on steroids, right.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

The data entry team getting all the information uniform, oh, and then you can run analytics, so doing all that kind of stuff. You can share that information because you're making someone else's life better, yeah, even if they are your competition.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, yeah, it's. It's always. To me it's always a struggle of, of defining those specific characteristics. Gosh, when am I giving away a trade secret? When am I giving away something that's vulnerable to me, my secret KFC recipe that no one gets to know? But then, but then also, where am I, you know, expanding the industry?

Shed Geek:

Um, you know, I mean I got dirty looks, some dirty messages, even whenever we've gotten into any level of business, I've, I mean we can talk about all the bad, you know, I mean I've, I've been told don't get into this or else, or I mean a lot of things that I don't necessarily share on the industry. But, uh, with the industry, but I, I just always, um, you know what I like to tell people, and there's a few of my, my close inner circle that'll tell you this is, you know, I just like to just give it to the Lord. Hey, it's not my time, it's not my money and it's not my business. So, if there's an opportunity that's going to present itself for me, you got to take it up with him. You know, because I can't, I can't do anything about that. I'm going to try to do the right thing in all situations.

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Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Even sharing some of the negative is so important because we have some of the field agents from different companies that will call because fraud is so bad right now. And so, we do have to work together as a large unit. Not Heartland here and this other company here and this other company here, but all of us coming together to work on the fraud in the industry. Because, guess what? The crooks are working together. So why don't we work together to combat?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

What a great point if they get heartland for you know xyz amount of money, then they're going to get this. And I'm not just talking about dealers or manufacturers, I'm talking about nits of customers. Nits of customers are hitting us, they're hitting these other companies and we'll get to talking about and they're like oh yeah, that that name sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that name. So doing something, coming together to eliminate the fraud in the industry, is extremely important.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, I I agree, I, you know, you, you certainly talk to a lot of people privately, whatever it looks like. You know, I talked a lot of people through the podcast and you hear a lot of those same things and it's like where can we work together to better the industry, I think? I think there are some people actively attempting to do that and heartland's obviously involved and, like I said, you to me, you'll be seen as a leader and that opportunity to take that space to say, well, hey, this is what we've experienced and we'll pull you up by your bootstraps if we can help you, you know, show you a couple things here or there, we're being test dummies right now and I hope it works Well all I can say is I hope you don't lose a whole lot in that process because, man, you just hear some horror stories out there and it's sad.

Shed Geek:

It's sad because you've got try to determine and decipher what's rumor and what's, uh, fact and fiction. I mean, you hear it from customers, you hear it from dealers, you hear it from manufacturers and sadly, I've even heard it on a couple of situations from RTO reps and I think it's just devastating if those are real uh, you know things and not just gossip, because you don't. I just don't want any gossip.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

No, you don't want gossip at all, only facts and only. We have our attorney here and I said can I asked him, can I share information? And he said if you're sharing facts and facts only, that's not defamation of character. If you are telling gossip, then you're in the wrong. Yeah. If you're making up stuff or assuming you never assume, yeah, but if you're just stating a fact hey, the sky is blue today Then this? Then that there's nothing wrong with that.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, and sadly, um, I don't know. I heard somebody told me one time, um, you know, we grew up kind of in the same area. Did you ever grow up hearing lying comes second nature? Yes, I used to hear that all the time Like lying comes second nature to that guy. I had somebody tell me one time well, it seems as though lying is becoming first nature, like you can give people the opportunity to make a fair dollar and they'll choose the unfair dollar. Why are crooks?

Shed Geek:

working so hard when there's so much opportunity to do right and to do good by people and make a good living.

Shed Geek:

Well, I can answer that, because satan's roaming around like a roaring lion yeah, and that's why yeah it is there's, it is their first nature, because that is how the world has developed yeah, well, I love what you guys do, I love that you guys are, um, like I said, continue to lead the industry by example. I'm certainly blessed from being here met a couple of your employees, know a couple of your employees I'm super like. Can I name drop here, cause, like I mean, there's some, there's some folks like uh, that, that that I've just kind of known throughout the years. Uh, you know, Gavin Morley, Travis Parks, Rueben Giesbrecht, you know, sometimes these guys will come to town and like we've just known each other for a long time. It's like let's get a burger.

Shed Geek:

That's awesome you know we went out to what Travis Parks and JD Perry put out on out there in Oklahoma and they always do such a good job representing you guys and what you do, and I have to say that our marketing department keeps us all organized together. Nice.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

They keep us all tied in together, so we all seem to be singing off the same page.

Shed Geek:

Yeah Well, such good people. I've met so many of you guys at the show and names come and go. There's a lot of people in this industry after a while, but yeah.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Or they just show up at a different booth. But you know what? They're still our friends.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, they're still our friends. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that certainly happens. And yeah, you can maintain that civility through all of that. Where do you think it's going? You've been in this 25 years. Like I look at you as not just a leader from your organization, but really 25 years. In any industry you know holds its own place.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

It's going bigger. That's how I feel place. It's going bigger.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

That's how I feel Because whenever I started it was only a 36 month contract. Then 48 month contract came along and the building sizes were around, you know, $5,000 at the most. Now we're looking at 17,000, 25,000. I'm looking at larger and larger and larger buildings. So, I'm seeing a lot of that trend and keeping up with confirming the information, making sure that the driver's license, that you're getting a driver's license, making sure that on these big buildings you're not getting stuck with these big buildings. These big buildings are not necessarily our enemy as long as the renter is going to pay for the payment.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

It's scary, but I do think it's going bigger than getting out of the traditional backyard eight-by-eight building type situation. It seems to be getting bigger. The fancy chicken coops TikTok tells me. I'm supposed to decorate my chicken coop, tiktok tells me I need a shed library. Tiktok tells me this so we're getting bigger and fancier and prettier, and I feel like it's going that direction.

Shed Geek:

There's just more use case scenarios now for sheds. Sheds becomes a common denominator. I was talking to someone in Michigan and they was like, I got to shut up back and I said what size? And he said like a 80 by 120. And I'm like, oh, that's a, that's a, that's a pole barn, it's a post frame, I don't know. And he was like, oh, it's a post shed. And I'm like, so shed becomes this word that you can kind of throw around mysteriously, but it kind of, you know, brings us all together, because now you are seeing chicken coops and ADUs and, oh gosh, I don't know all the livestock. You know shelters, and I think people are trying to diversify because there was just nothing wrong with traditional storage. But I agree with you, you know, like you're just seeing people want more.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Yeah, human society at least my algorithms are leading me to people are wanting to be almost like their own little farmers. They're wanting their greenhouse, they're wanting their chickens, they're wanting their little piece of peacefulness. They're wanting their little piece of peacefulness, and the shed industry can accommodate that peaceful serenity that everyone is looking for by providing the greenhouses, by giving them design ideas, and I think, as long as we just give that environment a big old hug and embrace it, that the shed industry can just keep on going. We love the storage industry can just keep on going. We don't have. We love the storage industry. That was great, but the world seems to be going in this other trend, so we need to work along with the trends as well you know when you're a, when you're a builder, and that's what a lot of these builders want to do.

Shed Geek:

They want to build, you know they don't want to. They don't want to know the details about rto. Now, that's not to say that you don't have people who break off and say, wow, I actually understand this better and I can become a rent-owned company or provider or whatever they do. But most who get into a trade and are like I build, so I want to build, they want to know about how websites work, the difference in a Wix and a go daddy and a wordpress or our custom built site, seo, and, and, uh, gmbs and like I get. How many acronyms can I go on? You know pos and ERPs and they're like you know what? I just need a, a jig. That's the acronym. I've got just a jig or something because I want to build something. I don't need to know about this world. But they can serve two markets. I think they're a builder, so they serve both the storage, which is excess, but then they serve the minimalist, which is and I'm curious about your thoughts on this which is wanting to go toward housing almost.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Housing is always a question. It's a don't ask, ask, don't tell type situation, because the rent to own industry is very specific whenever you start getting down into laws about homes and letting people live in the home and then you're walking in a line of needing a realtor's license and that kind of thing, so you're walking a really, really tight line right there. So you have to be careful and just don't ask, don't tell.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, yeah.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

And that's it All I'm going to say on that. It just makes me wonder if we're eventually.

Shed Geek:

I don't know whether it's the NSRA, whether it's like some organization that. Can you know? The shed industry is not autonomously responsible for the housing crisis in America. No, not at all.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Not at all. But if what people do with their buildings, as long as they're making their payment, it's none of my business.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, yeah, and that's I think that's the approach that most people take. I used to like to tell people we don't police it, we don't recommend it, you know.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

But it typically.

Shed Geek:

Our contract specifically says not a livable, Not a livable yeah, not livable, and it just seems like people are wanting, like you said, these bigger buildings. So, the bigger buildings are drawing out these payments too, these from $36,000 and $5 thousand dollar boxes to up to 72. Heartland goes up to 72, up to 72 and I don't know what you guys have seen. I've seen it's hard to. Sometimes it gets hard to decipher a shed from a house because it can be so much customizations that go into some of these things.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

But I've seen 20, 30 000 units we're very specific with our manufacturers whenever they put in their floor plans. Never, ever, ever put in a floor plan. This is bedroom, because that's whenever it goes. But we can build out a 40 000 plan, that's an office space. Yeah, and you say office one, office two sure offices. Sure, offices can have closets. Yeah, offices can have a kitchenette. Offices can contain all the other aspects, but it needs to be designed as an office space to cover and make sure you stay legal.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, it's just got your bases covered. So you think, outside of units getting bigger, what else? What else would your crystal ball 25 years? What else would you say we're going to see in the industry? Tech really came on in the last five years heavy ai.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I don't even know where it's going with ai yeah I'm going to be replaced with a robot.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I suppose I have no idea ai is. Ai will tell us where we're going. I think You're going to be able to take that chat, gtb, whatever it is, and you'll put in where do you think the shed industry is going, if this is where it's been in the last 10 years and it can tell us where we're going? That is how fast technology is going in my eyes as an old person yeah, yeah, I well, I, I took on technology slowly.

Shed Geek:

I always like my wife's with me so I can tease about this, but I always like to laugh at my in-laws. I use them as the perfect example. Like I remember, you know the doc, the dot-com boom and all that stuff. But I just remember computers. We had a little computer at home and no one know what to do with it or what to use it. Like I remember you know the doc, the. com boom and all that stuff. But I just remember computers. We had a little computer at home and no one know what to do with it or what to use it.

Shed Geek:

And we're like why do we have this? And didn't make a whole lot of sense. And it was given to us. It wasn't something we bought because we couldn't afford it. But then, once we got to where we could afford one spying on me and I still hold some of those conspiratorial mindsets myself in 2025 like I turned my location off randomly and then turn it on just to avoid some of the ads and I'm like the man's not gonna get me, government's not getting me, you know, like I think I'm really hiding my device id and my, my ip and all that stuff from them.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

They have so much information and they is this mysterious term yes, they who's they I have no idea, but they do know me because they give me the, the things to watch on my facebook and my tiktok all the time. That's very interesting and it's the color schemes that I like. How do they know my color schemes that I like?

Shed Geek:

they know. They know so much more than we realize they know because they are capturing your device id and your ip and they are following you around the internet. I mean, that's the, that's the things, that, that's the information that you harvest to learn about your customers. And some people say, well, I don't like that being used and I'm like that's being used everywhere. Let's be clear. That's not just a shed industry thing, right, your marketers in the, in the in the industry, are using what's used in cars or anything else. You start talking about hot chocolate, mean you're going to have hot chocolate nestle ads pop up on our phone here in a minute, absolutely you know it's wild.

Shed Geek:

Uh, is it an infringement? I don't know um that's a good question yeah, I don't. I haven't really had a lot of conversation there. I just know that if you leverage that, you know I remember my in-laws getting that computer.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh, I remember my first computer. It was delivered in that those boxes that look like cow print.

Shed Geek:

Was it a gateway?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

That was a gateway computer, I think it was, and it came in like four or five huge boxes and you had to put it all together and it didn't do anything, except for maybe play one little game that went back and forth and then you could type blurry words on it. But yeah, back in my time we didn't even have computers. In school I was taught how to type on an electric typewriter, which was fancy for my high school I learned in eighth grade, so it has gone so fast, so quick.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I cannot even anticipate where ai and all this. Yeah, it went to the internet then.

Shed Geek:

And then I just remember again to pick on my in-laws, because they'll allow me.

Shed Geek:

You know, like the internet why would you want the internet? I don't want some person spying on me and like, next thing you know, they're on the internet. Matter of fact, my, my mother-in-law's now telling us about her load speed whenever we show up, you know, and we're like what you know? She's like, yeah, I mean like you know you're running too slow. I'm like, oh, wait a minute, what are you talking about? Now it's AI, and the same conspiracy exists in the mindset. That's like and I think it's like anything you can do bad with anything. You can do bad with a computer, you can do bad with the internet, you can do bad with AI, and I think we need to have some good guys too. You know, that can reflect where that's going.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh, that is such a good point. There are so many phishing emails now trying to gather people's information. I know here locally, at some of our businesses here locally, they have been hit with phishing emails because they got in on like maybe an accounting firm's emails and they hit several of the businesses at once. And this is not gossip. This was actually truth. And this is not gossip. This was actually truth. It got so bad that they can actually live inside of your computer for a little bit. These little bugs Learn how you speak and how you type and who you communicate with, Replicate your email, Send it out to people, Request information. Not only that, then they can robot your voice and then they can make a phone call changing accounts and things with your voice.

Shed Geek:

Wow, wow, it's easy to to see that and and grow just um agnostic almost to tech.

Shed Geek:

Now technology as a whole makes you so cautious makes you cautious and then I think about all the good. You know, I think about the opposite and I think about all the good that's been done it's. It can become a confusing time when you're trying to. I still love the stories of the, the guys who come on the podcast and tell me we started in 1975. We threw some nails and some boards together, we put them out front and you know, we, we tried sticking them on the busiest road and there's just to be clear. There's nothing wrong with that, tiffany. That's an American business model that still works today.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I don't think we will ever be without brick and mortars.

Shed Geek:

I don't, I don't ever.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Um, whenever you talk about where the industry is going, yes, there's a lot of online sales, but online sales are also where you find the most crooks most problems. Yes, the good old customer that walks into that building and sits down with Mr. Smith and signs that contract and they talk about their grandson or their kids that went to high school together. That's an excellent renter. We don't ever want to be without our brick and mortars because our brick and mortars supply us with the best influx of contracts.

Shed Geek:

I agree, and they're a face to your organization to some extent. You know it's a bit faceless whenever you have this online storefront. Sometimes it's hard to demonstrate that personal touch. Like me and my wife love the idea of click and pull, but we also love the nostalgia of walking in and just throwing things in a cart. Yes, we use both and I think that's just where we're at today.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

You do need both because you do sitting at midnight. You can't go into that brick and mortar, but you can sit at midnight and design you a portable building online and go oh, I'll hope I can have that someday. So, yes, you need to have both abilities to be able to prosper.

Shed Geek:

So, yes, you need to have both abilities to be able to prosper. So I asked where the industry is going. Where's Heartland going? What is your view on the next five years?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh mercy.

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Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Whenever we brought on the BLI company and we merged together, that was a lot of growth and a lot of things that we had to learn, because one company may have a certain type of software, another company has a different type of software. Learning how to manage teams that work from home that's another thing that Heartland has experienced since COVID and we continue with. We have all sorts of teams that work in Kansas that we kept from whenever we took over BLI. And so, learning to work with people working from home and growing our company because being a manager of the people that work from home is different than being a manager when you can walk straight up to them and knock on their shoulder and go excuse me, what did you do that for? Um? And the way you talk to them whenever you're talking on teams is a difference too, because they can't see your facial expressions. I can say something very it sounds mean, but I'm smiling and you know it's a joke.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Whenever you're working with teams that are at home, you have to be conscious of that. The way you come across. Harlan's going to grow and get bigger and grow and get bigger. I've said. Working for the Burnetts all my entire time I said you never know, they might walk in and say, hey, we're going to rent to own a tricycle next week. I just have to be prepared to rent to own a tricycle. And so, I just have to be prepared to do it. We have the infrastructure in place with our legal department excellent legal department that handles the bankruptcies.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

They've broken all that up. We have an attorney here in the office. We have a wonderful accounting team Call center. Another shout out Annetta. She runs call center. She's amazing. So all I see is growth.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, I agree, I think the industry both will grow. I only see you guys becoming a bigger player. I remember the BLI transition there. And you're right, you're almost getting into my wheelhouse when you're talking about communication and flux of voice and you know communication. The end of the day, I'm not a I don't know, I'm not even a shed geek, I'm a communication geek. I love the idea of good communication and that started for me in sales. That started for me. I told you I had a 10-year career at the casino. That that started for me whenever I learned people.

Shed Geek:

Simon cynic says 100 of businesses are by people and for people. Right, and if you don't know business or if you don't know people, then you don't know business. Or if you don't know people, then you don't know business. And I think I try to learn the people before I try to learn the business, if I can understand the people, if I can really connect with them, because the hardest and longest goal is what I'm trying to say out of my heart to my mouth, to your ears and to your heart.

Shed Geek:

For some reason, that journey is like miles long for some people and that gets lost in influx, in in all caps in a text or an email, yes, or or just the way you, you know, uh, move your body, posture, or all these signals, right that are that people are taking in as they're talking back and forth with people. Uh, two people in a conversation, yet four people doing like I'm sitting here asking you questions, yet I'm thinking you're talking and you're thinking at the same time. Sometimes we just get in our own way to be able to communicate effectively and do what's best.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Do what's best, so sorry for that Whenever I was preparing in the mirror this morning, putting on my makeup, going, I wonder what he's going to ask me. I was. It came to me about customer service because one of my big things is, depending on what hat you have on, your customer changes. So, a CSR, a customer service representative I'm not fond of the word customer, I want to replace it with people, a people service representative. Because maybe your customer that you're talking to or your person is a dealer, Maybe they are the rent to own customer, but maybe it's a manufacturer, Maybe it's another team member. Becoming a people service representative and helping all the people, whether they're on your team, outside of your business, that is so important. And if you get to be a people service representative, whether you're in your company, whether you're at home with your husband, whether you're dealing with your grandchildren, you prosper.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

And that's why Chris prospersers is. He is a people service representative.

Shed Geek:

I'll tell you what the phrase that I don't have any pet peeves, but the one that I'm not crazy about is that's the way he or she is. Uh, you just have to get used to it. It's one of the hardest things for me to swallow Cause I'm just kind of like, you know, I think it's uh, I think it's our place to try to communicate effectively and if we shut down that communication through, that's just the way we are, that's just the way I am. Get used to it. It just doesn't feel like leadership. It it? You know what I mean Like it just doesn't feel like leadership.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh man, you're stepping on my toes right now, like leadership. Oh man, you're stepping on my toes right now because I have experienced that so much, because my personality is very sharp tongued emails and I don't realize all caps emails?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

no, not all caps, but just my words. I can be pretty sharp, yeah, and I can have a deadly tongue when it comes to emails, and I have to reread my emails and reread them and really think about am I presenting me? The way I want to present me or am I presenting a person who is being a bully?

Shed Geek:

Bible talks a lot about the meekness of Jesus.

Shed Geek:

the meekness and probably for me and you, sometimes those are hard things whenever somebody steps on your toes those are so difficult things because that defense mechanism kicks in and it's like wait a minute, you know, am I in a place where I defend myself? We were laughing last night because, um, my daughter's telling me something about, uh, during the Olympics in France, that they had to start telling the pickpocketers to quit pickpocketing Americans because they were sending too many of them to the hospital like Americans weren't taking it. They were fighting back. And in some small part of me, deep down, I was like that's great, I love that we have that reputation like we're not going to take anything off. Anybody, don't come take my stuff, or we're going to fight back. You know, and I'm I don't know without getting in the weeds here, but at some place it's like where do you, where do you find that middle ground of I need meekness and I need to stand up, and yeah, that's a life challenge, isn't it?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

and you have to be bold. There is a time to fight and there is a time to be mild, there's a time to cry, there's a time to be happy. We don't always get it right, and it's having that grace of apologizing to ourself whenever we don't get it right Because we are our worst judges. And if I'm mean to someone in an email and they pointed out to me hey, you were being too mean, I can apologize to them. And you know what? Usually, they forgive me, and they never think about it again Me.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

It eats me forever because I did not ever mean to hurt someone, but I did.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, you're just trying to be direct. You know you're trying to be direct, you're trying to be you're trying to be direct.

Shed Geek:

You know you're trying to be direct, you're trying to be, you're trying to be good at your job. I think I think that's one thing that people overlook is that most people, even in their failures, are doing things to be good at their job. They want to please their boss, they want to do a good job. I mean, they're looking for whatever recognition you know, maybe that's monetarily, maybe that's through attaboys, i't. Whatever it is, people are looking to do a good job. So, like a lot of times, if you look past even their failure and you look to their intention the best of intentions sometimes don't always make it to uh, to the surface- the hugs, yeah, the the attaboys, what you're talking about.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Communication is one thing when it comes to teams and emails and that thing. But we have a young man here, Alex, every day Now. He works at one end of the building. I work midway through the building. The restrooms are on the other end. We will pass each other sometime, go into the kitchen or something. Every day he gives me a giant bear hug. That communication alone is huge.

Shed Geek:

It says a lot lot.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh, I look forward to my bear hugs now. I've known him since he was a child. He grew up with my son, so I've known him. I used to swim in the swimming pool. He always swam underwater, and he would push this mask on so hard that it would give like a little hickey around his eyeballs oh, so cute.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

But every day and he's a comes in and gives me that big old bear hug and that's my communication for the day from him. So communication is huge, whether it's in a physical form or in a rent you said about five years ago you, you really dove into your faith I did tell you something that changed me.

Shed Geek:

When you talk about, like, um, nonverbal communication is. I told my pastor one time now I'm going to get in trouble here, cause I'm going to, I'm going to start talking too much, right, I'm going to expose a little bit, but I've been to a lot of different churches and I don't I'm not super big on denomination, sorry guys, I'm just not um, you know, um went Baptist church for years, a Methodist church for years. And I landed in a church one time and I was like going there for two months and I'm looking at somebody and I'm like, what kind of church is this? And he's like, well, it's technically Pentecostal. And I was like, oh, I had all these thoughts in my mind about what a Pentecostal church was. I didn't learn the word charismatic until later and come to learn that they were probably way different than a Pentecostal church.

Shed Geek:

But like, one guy told me, if you've met one Amish person, you've met one Amish person. But we believe, oh, we've met them all because we know one, or Mennonite or Baptist in any way, or Methodist or Catholic or Baptist or Lutheran or whatever. But I told my pastor one time I was like, look, I'm not maybe necessarily the super emotional guy. Now I can be emotional, go to the altar and those kinds of things, and cry. And I said but a lot of times all I do is cry, just shut down and cry, no emotion, you know, but I just cry. And my pastor told me he said that's okay, cause God can discern your tears.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Oh, that's beautiful.

Shed Geek:

And it changed my life because it was just like oh, he understands what the words of my tears say, and that is special when it comes to your faith. Uh, because sometimes, so you got, you're like I ain't got nothing left, I'll just cry, and he's like it's okay, he understands that and you're just like he does. You know, you're just like he does. That's great. Um, before we go too far in the weeds here, what is heartland's message to your customer? What, what would you want to say? I think you said it well here today, but what would you want to say?

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Heartland's message to our customer. Well, it depends on who our customer is If you're talking about, whether they're the rent to own customer, or whether they're the dealer, their manufacturer, whether they're the driver that works for us, whether they are the employee that works here that Heartland wants to give their heart and help them, and if that's helped them figure out how to make their payment, if it's helped them be on the phone call with them while they have a gun pointed at them picking up the repo, whether it has helped them another company that's having problems with the same fraud ring that we are. It's give our heart and help people.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, I think you've done a very good job of explaining that today. I think that your communication, verbal and nonverbal came across very clear.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Good, because I was a nervous wreck.

Shed Geek:

Well, you did great. Any shout-outs you want to give, any thanks, any appreciation, just anybody that you're like, you know what, if they listen to this, I want them to know that I really appreciate them and the things they do.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I'm afraid to do that, because I will miss someone, you'll leave somebody out.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

But just everyone that we work with here at Heartland, our inventory department. That's a new department that we've developed. Jana, she does such a great job with that. Aria, she keeps me on schedule, she's our head of our marketing and she just keeps me where I need to be. I don't know where I need to be, I don't know what time I'm supposed to be somewhere, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. She sends me messages, she keeps me, she tells me where to park, where I'm supposed to go, and without that I couldn't make it. And then we have it's just such a good family. We are a family here. So, Brent, john, Annetta, Jennifer, all of us we work together so closely, and I know I missed so many people and so many is going to be upset. We work together so closely, and I know I missed so many people and so many is going to be upset. But I will take a little personal moment because personal pride. Go for it.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

My baby girl, Jordan. She works in our repo department and she's settling on her house. We settle on it tomorrow. She closes tomorrow and she's purchasing a house tomorrow. She closes tomorrow and she's purchasing a house. And the rent to own industry. And Heartland not only provided a means for me to buy a home to provide for my daughter to live in. Now my daughter's able to buy a home.

Shed Geek:

That's awesome. That's awesome. What a what a testimony and a shout out to just consistency and the ability to single mom and you know, stay nose to the grindstone and just keep moving forward. No, I think it's really really well received here today and I'm glad we were able to make this happen. It was a little iffy. I thought we were gonna have to push it back a week.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I'm glad you're feeling better. I feel.

Shed Geek:

I feel so much better. Honestly, moments like these feed me. So, you know I think it in all it helps me overall be better. Yeah, interesting journey, definitely an interesting week, thankful for what you guys do. What you guys do and have done for so many years have allowed so many of us to be involved in this industry.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I'm addicted to it.

Shed Geek:

Yeah, I understand there's a reason I started calling myself a shed geek at one point is I was like this is a little weird, how much you're starting to like, like this industry. And, um, I, God, just gave me this opportunity and I said in a message this morning like you know, I know there's some new things coming. I don't know what they are, but this event that I that I had in the hospital, I really talked to the Lord and he kind of put some things on my heart. You know, Um, so we'll see, see where those goes. Um, you know, obedience is greater than sacrifice, so it's, it's, it's, uh, the name of being obedient, that's small still voice when it's speaking to you.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

That's the voice you better be listening to.

Shed Geek:

I've tried to avoid that voice a few times. Do it on my own.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Me too.

Shed Geek:

You know how that works out. It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible. But when you listen and you go but I don't see a way, right, I don't see how it's going to happen, I don't see an opportunity there, god says, well, you don't worry about that stuff.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I've got it covered. Oh, you're getting back towards my children's church. Last Sunday I was talking about how God is forever and he is constant. He is the constant. We're not constant. We weren't made to be like a constant. That's only God's job to be a constant.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Ours is a cycle because that gives us the opportunity to depend on him. If we didn't go through the growth and the breaking through of the growth, and then the falling off of the leaves and the rest period, just like the seasons go through, we wouldn't have an opportunity to depend on him.

Shed Geek:

That's right, that's exactly right. I've loved just like in most situations and many who would tell you this when I've sat at kitchen tables with Dale Beachy, when I've sat with Gavin Morley, while we're both on the road and we're crossing paths and it's one o'clock in the morning and we're at a hotel lobby just talking about Jesus. Really, I've enjoyed that as much as I have what Heartland does in the industry for the industry and such and working for a company that I can express myself like that and that support you to do things.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Okay, so one time I was doing church flyers and I called Chris. I didn't have a printer at the church. I said do you mind if I use it? He said you don't even have to ask me to use the paper and the ink to do your church flyers. Of course you can. So, to have a company that supports that kind of faith and he's not the same denomination I am, but did he? Let me use the printer and the paper to support a church that's doing a function. He did, that is.

Shed Geek:

If we church that's doing a function he did, that is, if we can be a little more of that in the shed industry that would just be great.

Shed Geek:

Yes, you know, it'd just be great. I felt like we'd grow this thing big enough that, like, everyone can eat comfortably and uh, the rest is business and decisions, it's systems and processes, it's prayer and it's promise and it's effort and so many other things. I I've enjoyed this. I've enjoyed this way more than I even knew I was going to enjoy it. I hope you felt comfortable.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I have. Okay, I was nervous, but now I'm not nervous at all. Good, good.

Shed Geek:

For those who want to reach out to you, as if they don't know how to Google what's a good way and opportunity in case they want to reach out and talk about Heartland's services.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

HCI. net. That's our website and you go to HCI. net and it'll give you all the abilities to do contacts. You can contact as a customer or you can also fill in to be a partner and you can partner with Heartland through the drop down menus and everything on hci. net.

Shed Geek:

And we'll make sure for those of you listening today to put a link to that on the episode. So if you get our newsletter, our email newsletter, just go and click on it and I know Miss Tiffany and her team will take care of the rest for you. So I haven't done this in a while. I've really felt good through this. You care if I just pray us out of here.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

I would love that. Okay, do you mind if we all dance?

Shed Geek:

No, absolutely, lord, thank you for this day, this opportunity, just these opportunities to talk about you, even in this nature of business that we find ourself into, that you're greater than business, you're greater than our daily schedules, schedules, that that you provide us, uh, with everything that we need, and that you're sovereign and that you're good, that you're a good father, that you give so many things to us and you care for us so much that you make a way for us. I ask you to bless Tiffany her journey, heartland's journey. I ask you to bless those that are in leadership, uh, that oversees the whole process and all that they service. Customers and drivers and dealers just ask that you would let your light shine through their efforts. We thank you for these opportunities. We know they're given to you, given to us by you, and we just say thank you today in Jesus' name, amen.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

Amen.

Shed Geek:

Appreciate it so much. Thank you, it's been fun.

Tiffany Strong Hutchison:

It has been.