Contractor-focused Financing with Jennifer Lau-Hatcher

Episode 101 • 30th August 2023 • Construction Disruption • Isaiah Industries

Todd Miller:

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: 00:00:08

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: 00:00:17

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: 00:00:40

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Intro/Outro:

: 00:00:50

Welcome to the Construction Disruption podcast, where we uncover the future of design, building, and remodeling.

Todd Miller:

: 00:01:07

I'm Todd Miller of Isaiah Industries, a manufacturer of specialty metal roofing and other building materials. And today my co-host is Seth Heckman. Seth, how's today going for you?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:01:17

Going well. How's it going for you?

Todd Miller:

: 00:01:20

You know it's going well, too, although I've been really troubled by a question. Okay, I've been thinking recently, and I remember back in fifth grade I had to do a report on electric eels, and I got to thinking, what were electric eels called before electricity was discovered?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:01:41

I have no idea. I would have thought in fifth grade you would have known that.

Todd Miller:

: 00:01:46

You know, well, that was a lot of years ago and it actually was before electricity was discovered. So I guess I can think about it now. Not quite. Okay, you know, the other thing I've been doing, so, you know, me being a manufacturing guy and you've heard me blather on and on, but I like learning a lot of times about various products and and how they were developed and discovered in that type of thing. So I was recently reading about, you know, Velcro, you know what Velcro is. And shout out to my friend Dante Ercole. Isn't that a cool name? I wish I had a name like Dante Ercole, but shout out to Dante because he worked for the Velcro company for a lot of years. He doesn't anymore, but okay, that's someone I can tag when we put the show up. But anyway. Hi, Dante. But so I was reading about Velcro recently and it was interesting because, you know, they they've got the hook part of Velcro and that was actually what they invented first was the hook. But until they invented the other side, it never really caught on. Oh, my goodness. Do I get a 6, 5?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:02:59

You're struggling today. So let's get rolling into the good stuff.

Todd Miller:

: 00:03:03

Okay, let's do it.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:03:04

I slapped my knee.

Todd Miller:

: 00:03:08

Well, today we're going to delve into an area that is pretty common to everyone in the construction industry, and that is the subject of financing. There are lots of good finance companies out there and probably in future episodes we may talk to some others. But today I wanted to talk to a fairly new company that is really working hard to disrupt and shake up the industry a little bit. And I want to hear what they have to say. So the individual we're talking to today is Jennifer Lau-Hatcher, based in the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area. Jennifer is the relatively recent founder of 1, the number 1, 1 & Fund and the and is an ampersand. And I just had to say that because Seth you know, I like saying ampersand. You've heard me say that. So she is the founder of 1 & Fund. Additionally, she is a visionary, she is host of the Jenerator Stories podcast. She's a mom and she is also I love this, a self-described magic maker. Jennifer, thanks so much for joining us here on Construction Disruption. Looking forward to a great disruption or a great discussion today.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:04:20

I'm looking forward to both. And yes, thank you for having me. I'm really grateful to be here.

Todd Miller:

: 00:04:24

Well, let's start out a little bit with, you know, kind of what brings us here today. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what led up to you founding 1 & Fund.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:04:37

Yeah, I'm going to start way back right after electricity was invented at the beginning of my career. I have always been a builder of people and businesses. And the reason I bring up the beginning of my career is I started in education and ran a series of small businesses called Sylvan Learning Center. You might have heard of it. They're still around. And the reason I bring this up is I learned very, very early on the power of students and how that can make life happen for people. So in a teeny little town called Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, it's a very industrial kind of farming town. I had the longest tenure at my center east of the Mississippi, so I'm competing with New York and, you know, Florida and some really big metro areas. This teeny little center had the longest tenure aka family, state or spend. So I think our average was about 18k. And the reason I was able to do that is I leveraged financing to make something fit into somebody's market. So I bring that up because it's important of a high ticket. How do we make this fit? And then we fast forward many, many years. When I worked for one of the big banks and my role at that big bank was to build dealer training and leader curriculum, multifaceted of how do we talk about financing? Why is financing important? When do we talk about financing and all those people, all those facets? And while I was there, I did create the first gamified learning experience on how and why to talk about financing. And from that big bank, I went to a couple fintechs and building out strategic programs, mostly in home improvement and health care. Then from there, there was my first company, born in the financing space. I'm making this really long, but I promise it's all relevant to how 1 & Fund was born.

Todd Miller:

: 00:06:51

This is awesome.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:06:52

So the first company was SImple Choice Lending. And I created that because I saw a big gap in how contractors were served and who needed help where. And there's just a lot of discrepancies I'm sure we'll be able to get into. And so today I founded that with some really deep subject matter expertise from Justin Hatcher, who I'll also talk about and with from that, it was this little seedling that opened a lot of opportunities and we saw a way that we could serve the market in such a bigger, better way and definitely more holistically. So I found a partner who was amazing and kind of fell into our lap, but he's brilliant and also a subject matter and home improvement. And finally we get there, 1 & Fund was born.

Todd Miller:

: 00:07:52

Very cool. And I loved you're talking about Sylvan Learning Center. Years ago, I worked with a marketing company in Baltimore, and I think it was Sylvan's corporate headquarters at the time that were right across the street from where I where I met this firm. So that was pretty cool. So I don't want you to forget the flow and we're going to get back into it. But I do have to apologize. So most of our audience members realize this. But one of the things we do here on the show is what we call challenge words. So just so our audience knows, each of us, Seth and Jennifer and I, all have a challenge word that we're challenged to work into the conversation somehow. So tell us a little bit more about, you know, as you looked at the finance industry and you saw things, I mean, what were some of the things that told you, you know, there's got to be a better way to do this? And, you know, 1 & Fund was born then.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:08:51

Absolutely. And that's really, it's a three-part answer. Sometimes my answers are not short, but I try. So, number one, working for a big bank and then some fintechs still building out programs. One of the biggest challenges out there, that elephant in the room, if you will, that people don't like to talk about is that programs that exist are built by lenders or lenders. They're not built to benefit the contractor necessarily, but it's built from a lending standpoint of how this works in the lending world. And so that's just a huge gap that we are attacking head-on is we are building the platform and programs that are built by home improvement experts for home improvement experts so that the pain points of the dealer are getting solved, which is completely opposite approach to how everybody else is attacking it. So that's part number one. Part number two is there it was always frustrating to me. I'm a very passionate person. You'll probably feel it and see it a little bit in our conversation. But it was always frustrating to me that the newer dealers or the dealers who needed help setting up their processes, needed help with freight rates because their margins weren't as big. They didn't do enough volume to get those benefits that they needed. And it always felt so opposite to me of how we could really serve and grow this beautiful, you know, home industry, if you will. And so that was part number two and then part number three. I briefly mentioned Justin Hatcher. I'm bringing Justin Hatcher back in because Justin Hatcher is absolutely one of the best in class subject matter experts in finance and home improvement. He was part of the Tundraland team here in Wisconsin that grew from about 25% annual sales over 125 mil annual sales when this company was sold. He was on the RBA Finance Council. He was on the Big 12 Finance Council. So again, deep, deep expertise and he actually started selling in the home. So he's also sat at that kitchen table and had those conversations and then came home and then fun conversations when we didn't close. But in any case, I call that out because from the dealer perspective, Justin's expertise in that back end again of pain points in the sales that we need is really how we're focusing our growth market as a sales enablement tool for contractors. Long answer again. But it's true. We have the three piece.

Todd Miller:

: 00:11:43

No, that's a great answer. And, you know, I see in there that customer focus and that, hey, we've been in your shoes and yeah, I just love all that. So if I, if I understand correctly, you know, you folks work with multiple lenders and, you know, you offer your clients, again, as you said, primarily home improvement contractors, a way to sort of shop around multiple lenders to find the best fit for their clients. But it also sounds like for them, kind of look a little bit at, you know, how do you see that benefiting both the client, the homeowner, and also the contractor?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:12:26

Yes, 100%. That's true. But I want to clarify just a little bit, because I didn't I didn't really tell you exactly what 1 & Fund. So at 1 & Fund we really like to think of ourselves as a finance manager in a box. So we help organizations create programs for their needs. It can be really overwhelming if you don't have somebody like Justin who's got all these different lenders and make sure you're getting the best rates and that you have the right program set up. So we do that for our partners, complimentary, by the way, for the dealers that we work with, we help them to curate of program and work into their sales process, the right programs for their needs and for their homeowners. So it's not overwhelming that that person, you know, the the designer or the sales rep isn't sitting at the kitchen table with 40 different options trying to figure out what to do. We do help them curate that option. The shopping part of it would be us helping them to get the right programs set up so they don't have to do the heavy lifting. It's very, very easy and arguably that's a benefit to them because we most likely don't have Justin in that role. Who knows exactly how to do this? And he eats, lives, breathes it every day. Basically, it's somebody in accounting or the sales manager who's trying to handle the finance program. And in a completely different conversation, we could talk about the many ways why that isn't the best benefit to your business. But in the short term, how do we fill that gap? How do we find somebody who can be an expert and eat, live, breathe it, and be vigilant for you? That's where 1 & Fund comes in. So it's really saving them time. It's saving them definitely lots of money. It's sales enablement with the training of the sales team, if they want, of those hows, whens, whys, things like that. For the homeowner, it means that they are getting the project they want or need today. The sales rep that I mentioned is getting the yes at the kitchen table. The homeowner gets the comfort of knowing that you know, the tub that they need or the deck that they've dreamed of for ten years, they can get and they can fit it in their monthly budget. Because a lot of times we don't have the cash on hand as consumers to just write a check for this. Or maybe you're a savvy consumer and you don't want to write a check for it. How do we make that come together of getting the product you want at a price that you can afford?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:15:08

That's powerful, and we see that on the contractor side, that conundrum where they get this menu from a lender that is as long as a sandwich shop menu and they feel like they have to go into the house and offer white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel, all the different options to the homeowner and let them sift through it. But really having that expertise to distill it down and what's going to work best for you, what's going to work best for your product mix and clients. What do you typically find that getting distilled down to, you know, two plans, three plans? Is there a sweet spot that you're you're typically trying to hone in on?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:15:44

Yeah. So it does depend on the contractor and their business, right? So first and foremost, there is not a cookie cutter, one size fits all answer in our world. That's not how we function to serve our partners. Otherwise it'd be like you walk into Jimmy Johns and everybody gets flaming hot Cheetos. That's not the right answer, right? So typically, as a generality, it will be two, maybe three lenders. So very typically, somebody has a first -ook lender who does a great job or not. And then we will help them either line up or have a stronger program with a second look. And then for some, there's also a third look. But the goal is always to get that yes during the appointment at the kitchen table. And our platform allows them to do that with one software.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:16:40

Fantastic. So that platform you mentioned, is that an app or your own portal?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:16:47

It is our own portal. It is a proprietary 1 & Fund, super fancy. Not going to tell you too much about it yet, because I want to leave you salivating to hear more, but it is a 1 & Fund singular application. Like I said, it's a soft pull, so it's not hurting your homeowner to look at what their options may be.

Todd Miller:

: 00:17:09

I'm kind of curious. So, you know, as you've started this business and you've gone out there and gotten clients, I'm kind of curious, are most of your clients folks who are already experienced with financing and they're just looking for a better option or and better, better ways to do things? Or have you found yourself working more with companies that are completely new to financing?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:17:31

Yes and yes and yes.

Todd Miller:

: 00:17:35

I knew that would be the answer.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:17:37

So, I'm really, we do have a lot of really incredible relationships with well-established companies and with manufacturing groups who want to help their dealers have a set program and not try to be finance experts because it just gets confusing. And we want to avoid that fund whenever we can. So, yes, we work with established companies. Some may or may not have finance manager in place. If they do, we support them in their efforts. If they don't, then we're able to make a huge impact for them by bringing all these pieces to them complementary because you're not hiring somebody on payroll then, right? And for newer dealers that may not be as established, we find that they really appreciate what we can do for them because again, we're not costing them anything. And 90% of the time we can actually get them discounted rates that they can't get on their own. So we serve everybody. We're setting up those processes and training the sales team about how to have a thoughtful conversation around payment options without having to be that expert is where we really can make a significant impact for them. So yes, yes, and yes.

Todd Miller:

: 00:19:03

Good answer. Well, so for the companies or maybe even the individual in a company who is new to financing, how do you coach people not only how to talk about available financing, but how do you also coach companies to market the fact that they are offering financing?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:19:21

I really love that question. Oka,. So for the people who may be new to financing, sorry, let's make sure you can still hear me here. The people who may be new to financing, I have two pieces of advice that we coach on out of the gate every single time. Number one is get over your own trash. And what I mean by that is we talk to so many contractors who are like, well, my customers don't ask for financing or I don't use financing, so I don't think my customers want it. Get rid of your head trash, because whatever is in your head about financing, which yes, is the F-word that everybody loves to hate, whatever that head trash is, it needs to go away. Because the reality is, as consumers, we are programed to want payment options. And so if we're not helping our homeowners figure out a way to pay for that project, number one, we're risking our own close ratio. We're getting smaller project sizes signed up because that checks really scary, too, right? And that directly rolls into the marketing piece of hey, payment options are everything these days. Affordability is the word of the year. So if you're not making it affordable for them, you're not advertising that you're a payment option. There's just this huge population of homeowners that, not only are you not going to have that conversation with, but that you're not going to be able to close them either. So get rid of the head trash. Mention it to everybody every time.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:21:06

Yeah, we hear that from contractors that, you know, in the metal roofing business when we're talking about $40, 50, 60,000 or more metal roofs. Yeah, they may not be asking about it at the beginning of the appointment, but they don't know how much it costs at the beginning of the appointment. And then don't make it awkward for them to ask about it when you give them the price at the end. So just be upfront with options and then let them dictate from there.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:21:31

Hundred percent because the number Mr. and Mrs. Jones have in their head is never the number of the product. So then when we look, even if we price condition, even when we get to that point where we're presenting what the project is, they're still that firm. And quite honestly, if they're not using financing, then that becomes very awkward and that is where many companies will start. You mentioned payment options as a save the sale and they're already a little late at that point. So we coach a lot on that and helping throughout the sales process. You know, the other part of that is because you don't have the right payment options set up at that point in the appointment when there's a decline. It sucks the air out of the room. Now you've got to get past that and shame on me, I didn't mention that earlier, but that's one of the other things though, that we are working on as an organization, and we promise to our partners that we will give them the highest approvals in the industry.

Todd Miller:

: 00:22:38

You reminded me of a game that I play with my wife. So if we're looking at buying something and maybe it's a home improvement, I always do my own price conditioning. Oh, honey, you know this is going to be like a bazillion trillion dollars if it's something that I want. So then when it comes in anything less than a bazillion trillion dollars, she's happy. And yes, I got it. So I've learned to do my own price conditioning.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:23:04

Well, you've been in the industry a long time, so you probably have the best practices you do in your sleep and you don't even realize it.

Todd Miller:

: 00:23:15

So, you know, it's an ever-changing world in the economy out there. And yeah, we constantly hear about interest rates and all that type of stuff. As you look into your crystal ball, I'm kind of curious. Well, not only if you see any changes coming up, but do you see financing being an increasing part of what's going to be home improvements? I mean, one of the things I'm hearing a lot about, I'm sure you are too, Jennifer, is that, you know, starting sometime in 2024 is going to be the start of one of the biggest ages of home remodeling we have ever seen in this country. And, you know, now part of they drive that and say, well, there's a lot of equity in the homes and a lot of disposable income of the homeowners of that age. But I still think financing is going to be a big part of it. Kind of curious your thoughts on all that.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:24:06

I'm clearly biased, but if you don't want to hear what I say, there is a fascinating study that just came out from National Association of Home Builders. It's like 164 pages. But read it and scour it. And it will, it will emphasize what I'm about to say, which is, financing is not going away. Like I said, affordability is the word of the year. Affordability is the word, period. Because again, another piece that people don't, we know it but we don't necessarily want to talk about it is, it's likely we're getting another rate increase. And so it seems almost counterintuitive that with rates high, financing would be so popular, but it's more important now than ever because people are staying in their homes longer. And so they need to do those remodeling projects and make it fit into a budget or there's a new home buyer interest rate. You're probably not buying the home that you dream of and you want, so you're buying what you can afford and there's going to be remodeling projects with that. So financing and payment options and affordability not only are staying, but will continue to become more important.

Todd Miller:

: 00:25:21

Yeah, makes makes a lot of sense and I'm right there with you. So in addition to 1 & Fund, your LinkedIn says visionary, podcast host, mom, and magic maker. I'd love to hear more about any or all of those other roles. How do you bring that all together?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:25:39

Some days better than others. Let's be honest, I am a human and most of the time my laundry is not caught up. It really happens. So I really, I've always been a visionary through this business and with my partners, we get to live, eat, breathe that every day again, in how we're serving the market. Even with looping in some accelerated services, like exclusively for an exclusive, financially-qualified leads for our partners. That's visionary. Who else is doing that? Like things like that. I get to live visionary through our business, which is really beautiful and wonderful and great. And as much as I love, love, love this company, the greatest role I have is mom. The greatest role I will ever have will probably be mom. Maybe someday grandparent will rank up there. I hear good things, but being a mom is is everything. So I try the best I can to give TLC to both of my entities and loves in life, the business and my family. And, you know, the reality is to be successful in business and or attempt to be successful and raising children, you have to be a little bit of a magic-maker. So, you know, every now and then I bust out some beautiful magic and it's glorious.

Todd Miller:

: 00:27:10

Very cool. Well, I don't mean to be a contrarian, but I think you're going a little bit with being able to balance all that. You're a little bit beyond human. I think there's a little bit of superhuman going on there, I don't know. So, you know, here on the show, we like to really focus on uncovering what we call the future of design, building, and remodeling. I'm just kind of curious, you know, the industry, while you've been around it, any and that may or may not relate to financing or whatever, but any trends or new technologies or even new products that you see coming on that you think are going to be real disruptors and game-changers in the coming years?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:27:52

100%. I'd be remiss not to say 1 & Fund. Truly, I feel like disruptor is a little overused these days. You know, there's a lot of companies that say they're a disruptor almost to the point where the phrase is becoming just a hair trite. So not everybody can be a disruptor. So I want to be clear. I say that with tons of humility, of how we want to serve and change and accelerate the industry. And with that disruptor is one of those words that would get attached. There are some other pieces for sure, especially in the knowledge piece, that we've heard really, really great things from our partners on, and partners being contractors, that they're finding really useful in their world. So one would be Ingage. And for those who don't know it, it starts with an I because I misspell it all the time. But Ingage is a really incredible sales tool and they have a marketplace coming out that's going to be kind of that one-stop shop for a bunch of resources all at once. So again, in your hands, on your tablet, you have a ton of resources available to you. And so that's really, really exciting with Ingage. And then another one is GTR, or Get The Referral. They're fascinating. And that was a company, it is a referral company. And referrals is one of those cases that is the most overlooked in the industry. And I say this from a coaching perspective, right? It's an untapped market and how do we get that loyalty? And, you know, we just had a job that everybody's loving. What do we want for that? So Get The Referral was actually started by a gentleman who was in the industry and wasn't happy with the amount of and the types of leads they were getting for his company. And so that's how this, Get The Referral was first. And so our partners who are using this love it and I have some other partners who are like clients, they get signed up fast enough and it's not on Get The Referral's part. It's getting their leadership team to agree on it, but they see the value in it. So I would say that's another disruptor because there's not a lot of programs like that. And then from a product perspective, it's interesting to me with the sustainability and green energy and where we're going with products that focus on that. And obviously with the new tax credits, the government has a lot of focus on energy efficient and things like that. So I feel like over the next five, ten years we're going to see a ton of advances and maybe some new products coming out in that sustainability kind of green energy saving initiatives.

Todd Miller:

: 00:31:02

Makes a lot of sense, I like that. And I'm going to check out GTR. One of the things that we coach on a lot is what we call referral maximization. So that's a subject that's dear to our hearts and shout out again to Ingage, we offer an Ingage presentation for our products. It really is a game-changer. I'm right there with you. Just beautiful, beautiful things that you can do with that platform. So we think a lot of our audience members are, you know, younger folks, newer folks to design. You know, there's just this great industry design, construction, remodeling, any just general advice you have to them if they're trying to find their place in this industry?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:31:46

Yeah, a couple of pieces. It's number one, found a mentor. This industry is a relationship industry, number one. So if you don't know that part, now's the time to know it. This is a relationship industry, so there are so many generous, wonderful people who have been where you are, who are happy to share where they fell on their face, how they got back up. Here's what you don't want to do, you know, and really help along the way. So find a mentor. That would be my number one piece of advice. My next piece of advice would be don't be afraid to fail, because everybody in this industry has failed hundreds, if not thousands of times. So go beyond. Do fall on your face, get up again, fail big because that's going to be where you really tune in to where your passion really lies, which explains my third and final piece. It's a passion piece. You know, oftentimes people will stay in a niche of the industry because that's where they started. And they they were, you know, for whatever reason to explore other parts. And then 40 years later, you're like, Oh, I know windows and doors inside out. But you know what? Roofing is cool. It's never too late. But, you know, you really tune into that passion early and don't lock yourself into something too early. If you fail, that's okay, because that's getting you closer to where you want to be. And a really great mentor will help you brush the dust off as you stand up again.

Todd Miller:

: 00:33:30

Well, I love that because, you're right, we're in a great industry. It's a very resilient industry and it offers lots of opportunity for folks who really want to kind of push the envelope and discover their exact place in it.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:33:43

Yeah.

Todd Miller:

: 00:33:43

You know, don't be afraid to stub your toe along the way so. Well, tell us a little bit. You have your own podcast, and we're honored to have you on ours today. But your podcast is called Jenerator Stories. Tell us a little bit about that and what your goal is through your show.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:33:59

Yeah, Thank you. So Jenerator Stories is all about connecting with leaders in the industry. I'm so sorry I'm being ridiculous here, but it's about connecting with leaders in the industry. And so many people focus on the successes which do happen often. But one of the things with Jenerator Stories is we really dig into those failures and lessons and learnings along the way and the best practices and tips you may have. So we interview leaders in the industry across verticals. So, you know, pools, decks, roofing, hardware, protection, windows, doors, I mean, you name it, right? We've got it all, but we've got those. And then we do have what's been really, really popular is a small segment called Finance Friday. And Finance Friday made a start as an ask from our audience with Justin Hatcher, also known as the finance dude. He has a gazillion nicknames. But if somebody had asked us, they're like, Hey, get that finance dude on there I want to hear. So Finance Friday is short little snippets. They're usually somewhere from like, you know, 5 to 12 minutes so you can listen to it in the car between appointments or before you're running into the gas station or whatever. Run a segment of financing. And the goal of it is to give you a little snippet that you could take into your next appointment with you.

Todd Miller:

: 00:35:27

Well, I love it. And, you know, we're big believers in podcasts and it's a great way to learn and, you know, spend that time that normally you're just wasting not doing anything when you're in the car or truck or working out or whatever and be able to learn a few things at the same time. Well, this has been great, thank you so much. We are close to wrapping up what we call the business end of things. So anything we haven't covered today that you'd like to be sure to share with our audience?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:35:56

I would be remiss if I didn't say, you know, 1 & Fund truly is here to serve businesses. So I didn't mention that we help with collections. We didn't mention that there's CFO resources we can help with. So again, front end of exclusive leads that nobody else is calling on through setting up those processes in the sales training all the way through. Of course, getting the highest approvals at the kitchen table. We truly are here to help and serve and grow this amazing industry. So we're here and we're happy to help at whatever level somebody is.

Todd Miller:

: 00:36:38

Well, very cool. In a little bit we're going to ask you to share your contact information and we'll also have that in the show notes. But before we go into that stage of things, we're going to ask you if you're willing to participate in something we call our rapid fire questions. And these are seven questions. They may be some are serious, some are silly. All you have to do is give a quick response, whatever you want or a long response, we don't care. And our audience needs to understand, Jennifer has no idea what we're about to ask her. So are you up to the challenge of rapid fire?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:37:11

I love this idea and I'm 100% in.

Todd Miller:

: 00:37:13

It's fun. We will alternate questions. Like I said, we got seven of them. Seth, would you like to ask the first one?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:37:20

Sure. So rapid fire question number one, can you think of any product you've purchased recently that has been a disruptor or game-changer for you? Sort of a 'where have you been all my life' moment?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:37:34

Yes. So we have recently purchased a Thermospas swim spa, and it has been a game-changer in our life. So our backyard I used to avoid because I was very overwhelmed by the number of bushes and all of the landscaping to do. And so my landscaping has disappeared. And now instead we have the swim spa. And as a mom, I have two daughters, I have a teenager and a daughter. I have a teenage daughter and a daughter in elementary school. And we are in that swim spa probably, minimally three times a week, sometimes like five nights a week. So it's so much fun as a family, but we just go float and have fun and talk about our day. And my backyard isn't something that we avoid anymore. It's where our friends love to come hang out. And it's completely changed the dynamic of our backyard. So game-changer, Thermospas swim spa.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:38:41

Awesome.

Todd Miller:

: 00:38:42

Very neat. I'm hearing more and more about those and I think there's a few of those being financed out there too, if I'm not mistaken.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:38:50

I will say they are an incredible company and the sales team is absolutely doing everything they can to get those highest approval rates at the kitchen table.

Todd Miller:

: 00:39:01

Question number two, a little bit serious. What would you like to be remembered for?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:39:07

I would like to be remembered for sharing love and light with everybody who met me. Like positively influence, warm, fond memory, whether we knew each other professionally or personally. That it's a very warm fuzzy that is my legacy, if you will, for how I'm remembered.

Todd Miller:

: 00:39:32

Can't beat that, that's for sure. That's good.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:39:35

Question number three. Would you rather have to sing along with every song you hear or dance along with it?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:39:44

Both, is that an option? But if I had to pick one or the other, barring all of the judgment that may come from either, I think singing is super therapeutic as well as dancing. But singing you can really do anywhere, right? It's not safe for me to sing while I'm or it's not safe for me to dance while I'm driving, but I can sing while I'm driving.

Todd Miller:

: 00:40:14

Okay, Ryan, can you cue the music now? I'm just kidding. We need to do that, though.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:40:19

I'm so sorry.

Todd Miller:

: 00:40:20

Okay.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:40:23

Those upper Midwest people, their long answers.

Todd Miller:

: 00:40:26

That's great. No, I bet we had the music. So you get to sing and dance and all that stuff. So anyway, fourth question you have a choice on. What is either the best or the worst advice you remember anyone ever giving you?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:40:42

Oh, gosh. The worst advice I've gotten is. It does smile and look pretty. I cannot tell you in the fiber of my being like how that incinerates fire almost immediately like so. So that was the worst advice I had gotten and the best advice I would gotten. I'm summarizing here, paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of you cannot fail. They're like, you can fail, but if you're taking lessons away from it, you're not feeling you not fail. So get out there and go and do love it.

Todd Miller:

: 00:41:27

And Seth, I promise I'll quit telling you to just smile and look pretty. I'll never say that again, I promise.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:41:33

Thankfully, I've never been subject to that. So you're trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. What one person do you most want on your team?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:41:47

Woah. Probably my teenager. And I say that lovingly because she is so fierce and so ridiculously brilliant and she's very strong. So, you know, we have a lot of pieces there that if I had one person to take with me, and also, she's obviously significantly younger than me. So, you know, if we're like trying to help humanity overall, I would take my super fierce teenage daughter because I fear those zombies coming at her. Or those zombies should fear her.

Todd Miller:

: 00:42:28

That's a very thoughtful answer, I love it. Okay, next question. I always liked this one. This one's a little more thoughtful. So what non-family individual have you been ongoing friends with for the longest time in your life?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:42:43

Oh, non-family individual ongoing. There are a couple that come to mind. But the people I'm going to call out, it is a couple. The people I'm going to call out I met at a very young point in my life. They've been super impactful in my life. I look up to them, I respect them. And the point where I've chosen to call them the family I got to choose. So there's this couple named Jason and Amy who have been super impactful in my life. And I'm not going to tell you how many years we've been friends at this point. Let's just suffice to say it's 20 plus.

Todd Miller:

: 00:43:34

That's cool. And I just think that's a fun question to think about. I'm blessed with actually one of my coworkers here. He and I met when we were 12 years old, so that was a long time ago. And still friends and working together too, so cool stuff.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:43:51

That is a huge blessing and super fun.

Todd Miller:

: 00:43:53

So final question, this is yours, isn't it Seth?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:43:55

Oh, I think so, either way. But if you could hang out with a cartoon character, who would you choose to hang out with?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:44:03

Oh, I am going to go with and I want to preface this by I again, I have a child in elementary school, so basically if there's cartoons on TV, I try to pull them out as much as possible because even though I'm a huge Disney fan, Disney Plus runs way too long in my house. You know, I think I would probably choose to hang out with Bluey and Bluey's family because they are fun. And yeah, I just think it'd matter what you do that day, it would be an adventure and it'd be fun.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:44:48

We have a Bluey family window decal on the back of our family vehicle at this point, so it is very popular at our house too.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:44:56

Yes, Bluey.

Todd Miller:

: 00:45:00

You have to clue me in on this Bluey thing. You've mentioned Bluey before and I still am not quite sure what it is, so we'll have to talk about that.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:45:08

I can introduce you.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:45:10

Episodes are very short. So it's definitely something that you could even watch one in like 8 minutes and get a sense of Bluey.

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:45:19

And they're the only ones conscious of not wanting kids to watch it episodes on end because you have to hit the button to go to the next episode. So every 8 minutes my girls are yelling at me to hit the button on the remote, but I let them go a few in a row.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:45:33

The same, at 8 minutes I feel okay with that.

Todd Miller:

: 00:45:35

Well, Jennifer, thank you so much. This has been very informative and a lot of fun, too. So for folks who may want to get in touch with you or learn more about 1 & Fund, what are some ways for them to do that?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:45:48

Yeah, absolutely. So you can always go to our website, the number one, the word and spelled out oneandfund.com. That's always an easy way. You're more than welcome, I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn or Facebook, so feel free to find find me there or find our company there and follow 1 & Fund on LinkedIn or Facebook. And then I'm going to be so bold as give you my direct contact information because sometimes that's just the easiest probably. So my email is Jennifer, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R. Let me repeat that one. J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R, one, the number one and, A-N-D, fund, F-U-N-D, .com. Or my mobile number because you know our mobiles are always on us, office phone we're sometimes by. So my mobile number is 920-203-0885 and feel free to give me a shout. If I'm not the right person on the team to connect with, I'll make sure that you're talking to the right person on the team and we'll get you where you want to go.

Todd Miller:

: 00:47:07

Good stuff. Thank you. And we will put that in the show notes as well. So thank you again so much. So I'm pleased to let our audience know we were all successful on our challenge words. Good job, Seth. You had the word?

Seth Heckaman:

: 00:47:23

Pumpernickel.

Todd Miller:

: 00:47:25

And I so wanted to give you a rough time about using it, but I thought, I can't do that. Cool stuff. Jennifer, you had, I gave you a phrase. You had?

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:47:36

Flaming hot Cheetos.

Todd Miller:

: 00:47:39

And you worked it in, along with a shout-out for Jimmy Johns, too. So I love that. And I had the word contrarian. I was little panicky, but we got it worked in there.

Jennifer Lau-Hatcher:

: 00:47:51

You did.

Todd Miller:

: 00:47:54

Well, thank you so much for joining us, Jennifer. And I want to thank our audience for tuning into this episode of Construction Disruption with Jennifer Lau-Hatcher of 1 & Fund. Please, please, please, please watch for future episodes of our show. We're always blessed with great guests. Don't forget to leave a review. Until the next time we're together, though, keep on disrupting, keep on challenging the status quo, keep on looking for new and better ways of doing things. And kind of Jennifer alluded to do this, too. Don't forget to have a positive impact on everyone you encounter. Make them smile, encourage them, be that light in their life. Powerful things we can do to change the world. So God bless and take care. This is Isaiah Industries signing off until the next episode of Construction Disruption.

Todd Miller:

: 00:48:47

Intro/Outro: This podcast is produced by Isaiah Industries, a manufacturer of specialty metal roofing and other building products.

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