An Army of Normal Folks - Michelle Penczak: Binders Full of Military Spouses (Pt 2)

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Military spouse unemployment is 21%, which is 5 times the national average, often because employers don't want to hire people like Michelle Penczak who move every 3-4 years. So Michelle started a virtual assistant company called Squared Away where location wouldn't be an issue. And it's skyrocketed to employing 400 military spouses who serve 1,000 clients! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Michelle Penczak right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Kelly Harnett spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. — I'm 100% innocent. — While behind bars, she learned the law from scratch. — Because, oh, God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. — And as she fought for herself, she also became a lifeline for the women locked up alongside her.

— You're supposed to have faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. — So many of these women had lived the same stories. I said, were you a victim of domestic violence? And she was like, yeah. But maybe Kelly could change the ending. I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here? I'm going to be the first one to do that. This is the story of Kelly Harnett,

a woman who spent 12 years fighting not just for her own freedom, but her girlfriends too. I think I have a mission from God to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My Uncle Chris is definitely somebody worth talking about.

He was the kind of guy that lived in a trailer with an ex-con and a retired stripper, left loaded machine guns laying around, drank a bottle of whiskey a night, claimed he could kill a man with his bare hands, drove a garbage truck for a living, spoke fluent Spanish with a thick southern accent, and is currently buried in a crypt alongside the founding families of Panama. Listen to the Uncle Chris podcast to hear all about him and a whole lot more. Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris.

This collection of stories will make you laugh, it'll make you cry, and if I do my job right, they'll let you see the world and your place in it in a whole new way. I can't wait to tell you all about Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. From iHeart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life

what that meant. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. Why did I think that way? Why did I allow myself to get so sucked in by this man and thinking to the point that if I died for him, that would be the greatest honor. But in 2014, the youngest of the girls escaped and sparked an international manhunt. For all those years, he was the predator and I was the prey. And then he became the prey.

Listen to The Turning, River Road, on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then over 100 years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we re-examine historical true crime

cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we re-examine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern you know it's like well he's the last one who saw our life so how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday

on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer

because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players. Like, you're building a team from scratch, and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier, and we watched Paraguay against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down.

I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow, now on the iHeartRadio app, radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast So tell me what that first year looks like insanity Well, I was gonna get to that in a second but I mean, that's funny you say insanity because pretty much the last six years of your life

feel like it was just evolving insanity at all times. Oh yeah, pretty much. I think that is the theme of my life to this point is just chaos, chaos coordinator. First year he says you gotta get a name, right? Yeah. All right, well how'd that work? He's like, you got to name this thing.

Robert Stevens, who was actually his co-founder, Shane's co-founder with his company, and who is just an absolute branding genius. He said, you got to talk to Robert. So get on a call with Robert. And Robert's like, do you like wine? I said, I love wine. And he goes, well, you need to take the pressure off,

sit down with a good glass of wine and just start running the ideas through your head and thinking of different phrasing. I was like, okay, I'm gonna do it. And I sat down with a glass of may-o-me, shout out to that company. And I started thinking, okay, military phrases, military phrases, and Sean had actually come in the house

and was on the phone and he goes, you gotta get this squared away, and you gotta get this squared away, and you gotta get this squared away, and I was like, squared away. Amazing, amazing, and so yeah, he likes to take the credit for that one.

But it clicked instantly. Like this is it. Getting things squared away. So you named it squared away, which makes sense. A virtual assistant getting everything squared away. What's first year like? Shane kept telling me you can't do everything yourself. So you've always been delegated to, now you have to become the delegator. So brought on my first teammate in July, so three months after.

July of? 2017. 2017. And then gradually started adding a few more people and it was a different mindset. I'm used to being the doer, not the delegator. So reframing how I was operating was huge, but then also documenting all of our processes from day one and just saying, we're going to do this again. We have to make sure it's documented.

How are we going to train people? How are we going to bring people on? How are we gonna get clients? We were kind of Michelle you That's exactly how a business owner But I never want to be a CEO and I never I'm the person who got a C in econ in college like This was not in on my bingo card for my life was being a CEO ever. So it was just figuring it out and thinking what's going to break next. What do we fix next?

What do we get ahead of now? Before it becomes an issue. And how many clients did you have after the first year? Oh, I went from the original seven. We went from seven. I don't remember how many we have after the first year? You went from your original seven. We went from seven. I don't remember how many we had after the first year, but we hit 67 employees in 2019. 67.

I will never, it was right before COVID. It was also right before Halloween and we hit 67 employees How many of those 67 military spouses all of them at that point in time? They were all military spouses from bases and just why you're everywhere everywhere. We had people in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia Texas Washington State, California like How were you finding them? Or were they finding you?

They were finding us. I think we've only actually put out a handful of times that we needed assistance, but it was all word of mouth through the military spouse community and Facebook pages because those are beehives in and of themselves. So, completely organically. I got to believe you were talking to countless spouses who repeated to you. The very feelings that you felt when you were first in Jackson.

Oh, yeah. Bill Jackson, Jacksonville. Yeah. Our everybody's stories are so similar with different variations. We've all struggled with becoming a mom and losing ourself. Which is depressing. Being a military spouse. Which is depressed. Which is super depressing.

And I have countless emails and messages from people who were, was squared away over the past eight years and just said, thank you for being a part of my journey because you gave me myself back. That theme has been everything that we've wanted. So even if your company was breaking, even one, even making money. So worth it. So, so worth it, but we're still completely bootstrapped eight years later.

And it's amazing to be able to say, you know, we've paid out over $30 million to military spouses and military families over the last eight years. How much? Over over 30 million at this point. In salaries. In salaries. In income to military spouses? Yes.

And how many clients? I wish I had an exact number, but I know it's over 30 million. How many clients do you have today? We have about 1,000. 1,000 clients? How many people do you employ? About 400 right now, yes.

How many of those are military spouses? I would say about 95% of our team is military spouses. And we are almost 100% female at this point. Holy crap. You're a nanny. I just wanted to blow shit up. You just want something to do. Do you pinch yourself?

It's hard to believe almost every single day. Like I look back on my story and I'm like, I'm crazy. I got a screw loose somewhere. Like nobody just pointed it out to me exactly. But the impact that we've had, the people that we've been able to interact with, I funny enough, I just started a podcast about a month ago. Oh, good. And it's telling the stories of our military spouses that have worked with squared away. What's it called

Beyond orders? Of course, Beyond orders. That's awesome. So everybody needs to tune into Beyond orders. And course beyond orders. That's awesome. So everybody needs to tune into beyond orders. And so each one of your episodes are the stories of military spouses that are in your organization. Or they've worked with us previously. We just we did one last week with Tiffany McCauley and her story is just absolutely powerful. She started in a very similar situation, but she came to squaredared Away with desperation because she was trying to find herself after losing two of her five children

in a tragic accident in 2015. So. Was her husband deployed when that happened? They were in the middle of a PCS when that happened. They were getting ready to move from North Carolina to South Carolina. And. And she lost two children. She lost two children, yes.

Wow. And now she's an employee of Squared Away. And now I believe her title is business manager, but her client actually bought out her contract with Squared Away and brought her on full time with their company. Okay. It's just unbelievable that we went from where we went to in Warp Speed to where you are now. But let me get this right, you employ how many? About 400 military spouses.

400 military spouses. You're the CEO of a company with a thousand clients, all from the bathroom? All from the bathroom with the toilet dish. All from the shitter? How does that happen? Zooming from a toilet? I need that on a t-shirt, all from the toilet.

That is hilarious. So where are you guys now? We are. What? No, where are you? Oh, we're in. Are you still Millard? I mean, is he still? Yeah, he's still he's still active duty. He's actually back in North Carolina and he's deploying in a few months. So where are you? North Carolina or Wilmington, Wilmington. And where's he going? Good question. You don't even know. I'm not exactly sure. But he's going to deploy. But he's deploying this fall.

Yeah. So it'll be number six for us. Sixth deployment. Mm hmm. Do you still have the same drug? Or you get more used to it? Yeah, it's it's the same. I have a rule. And my, the very first CO's wife in our very first squadron with our very first deployment told me that in order to function, you need to give yourself one day to be sad after he

leaves. And then you pull your pants up and you go on with life because you have to do that for you and you have to do that for your kids in the future. So me and the boys know that the day after he leaves that's our day to be sad, eat ice cream, watch TV, play on tablets, whatever that's our sadness. We allow ourselves 24 hours of pout. And then exactly and then ourselves 24 hours a pout. And then exactly. And then we put on our big kid pants and we do what we do every single day. And our world is going to keep spinning regardless of whether or not he's here.

So that's what we've done for the last four, three deployments. Once again, that's a hell of a piece of dedication commitment, not only to your husband, but to your country. I find that wrought with courage, to be honest with you. It doesn't feel very courageous. Sometimes it feels very much like survival mode and putting on a strong face for my kids and, you know, just carrying on. We'll be right back. Kelly Harnett spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit.

I'm 100% innocent. While behind bars, she learned the law from scratch. Because oh God, Annette, jailhouse lawyer. And as she fought for herself, she also became a lifeline for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. So many of these women had lived the same stories. I said, were you a victim of domestic violence?

And she was like, yeah. But maybe Kelly could change the ending. I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here? I'm going to be the first one to do that. This is the story of Kelly Harnett, a woman who spent 12 years fighting not just for her own freedom, but her girlfriends too. I think I have a mission from God

to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My Uncle Chris is definitely somebody worth talking about. He was the kind of guy that lived in a trailer with an ex-con and a retired stripper, left loaded machine guns laying around, drank a bottle of whiskey a night, claimed he could kill a man with his bare hands, drove a garbage truck for a living, spoke fluent Spanish with a thick southern accent,

and is currently buried in a crypt alongside the founding families of Panama. Listen to the Uncle Chris podcast to hear all about him and a whole lot more. Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris.

This collection of stories will make you laugh, it'll make you cry, and if I do my job right, they'll let you see the world and your place in it in a whole new way. I can't wait to tell you all about Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. From iHeart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant.

In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to ten girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. Why did I think that way? Why did I allow myself to get so sucked in by this man and thinking to the point that if I died for him, that would be the greatest honor. But in 2014, the youngest of the girls escaped and sparked an international manhunt. For all those years, he was the predator and I was the prey. And then he became the prey. Listen to The Turning, River Road, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then, over 100 years later, we take a second look. I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we re-examine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed.

Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern. It's like, well, he's the last one who saw our life. So how did they eliminate him? Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day.

New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Buried Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved.

San Diego coming to MLS is gonna be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need veteran players and we need young players like you're building a team from scratch and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13 my uncle took me to a qualifier, and we watched Paraguay against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that gonna be my game,

but it was gonna be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow, now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. But I got to believe these 400 employees of yours are all experiencing the same thing at some point or another. Oh, yeah. And so not only have you created a business to make money, a living, and all of these wonderful things, but you're also helping each of these military spouses find themselves after that day of power.

Oh, yeah. They have something to look forward to. They have clients that they enjoy working with. That depend on them. That depend on them for growing their businesses and keeping their lives straight. I always tell people, you don't have to be with Squared Away forever.

We can just be a chapter in your book. We can help you get to where you wanna be. And a lot of people or a lot of companies don't necessarily celebrate when someone leaves but we do because we know that they're moving on from us for a better opportunity one that we can't necessarily provide to them but we're happy to have introduced them to something new. So at the top of the show I said, we talk about a lot of ways to be a part of the army

of normal folks and on some occasions we find for-profit organizations that also have a specific social mission that gets accomplished just in the mechanics of the business. And I can't decide whether or not I'm more inspired by the fact that you have a thousand customers and 400 employees from your meager beginnings in only six years from a purely business perspective.

Or if I'm more inspired by the fact that you can feel in a very real empathetic personal way what each of your employees have gone through in their life and how important this job is to them, not just from a financial perspective so they can make a living, but for their psyche and the service you're providing to them. And so my question is to you, what inspires you most about your own story? I don't know if there's one particular piece, but I feel like my just drive to take care of people has kind of been what's guided me through the entire journey as insane as it is. I like taking care of clients, I like taking care of friends and family.

Clearly your husband and children. My husband, my kids are my absolute number one. I want to be able to instill values in them that are taking care of people. My husband has said from the very beginning, his job as a Marine is to take care of his Marines. My job is to take care of my family and take care of my teammates, take care of my clients. And I think my boys being able to see it hasn't been easy. It has been a struggle, but at the end of the day, it's your job to take care of people always. I think that's been the biggest piece is that's been our motto as a family. I say, I speak, I do a lot of speeches.

And one of the points I make in almost every speech that I think the greatest leaders of our time were servants. Think of Martin Luther King, think of Gandhi. If you're a Christian, think of Christ. Yes. The greatest leaders of our time served in order to lead. Christ surrounded himself with stinky fishermen and hookers and washed their feet.

King could have sat in Atlanta and told the freedom marchers, good luck, but he got in front of them and paid with his life in my very city, right here. Think of Mandela and Gandhi and all of the greatest, I mean, Mother Teresa, you think of the greatest leaders that we celebrate and herald across the vastness of humanity. The one common denominator of all of them is service, is the greatest leaders of our time, serve. And I think it's very interesting to hear you say in my business, in my family, in my

culture, the things that I just want to take care of people, which is serve. Yes, that's always been our North Star for everything. Which ultimately is what an army of normal folks is about. It's just seeing an area of need and filling it with your willingness to serve. And that our entire society and culture could improve exponentially if we just had an army of normal folks seeing areas of need and filling them. Exactly. And that's what your company does for its clients, but that's also what your company

does for its employees, which is phenomenally squared away. So tell me what squared away does. Everything but taxes. Everything but taxes. Yeah. Something to expand to possibly. I'm not trying to get anybody alcapone or be alcapone to myself so we stay away from taxes. You don't want anybody showing up with a RICO warrant.

Yeah no. I'm not trying to get arrested by the IRS or something like that but anything that our clients need, anything that they can pull out of thin air. Social media? Social media, absolutely. Website design? Website design. Virtual assistant? Virtual assistant, wedding planning.

Wedding planning? Yeah, I'm not even kidding. We've done client wedding planning. Finding a nanny. Is beer pong part of that? I wish. I wish. Okay.

That would be fun. The most random task, coordinating a move, coordinating off-sites for clients, doing due diligence for venture capitalists, helping with a fundraising process. Doing due diligence for... Wow. So, yeah, helping with that and... Oh, no, no, no. That's beyond what I would have fathomed. So venture capitalists who are looking to invest money

in buy businesses, you will do the due diligence for them? Yeah, we have assistance to do that. On prospective purchases? Yes. Who does that? Oh, we have quite a few assistants. I actually started doing that when I was working with venture capitalists. I mean, that's not answering the phone.

That's real work. Oh, no. That's real getting in the weeds and trying to understand if this company is worth an investment. And on the flip side of that, we're- You can do that for them? Yeah. And they trust you to do that?

Absolutely. What kind of people are you hiring then? You're not just hiring folks that don't have anything to do. You've got some talented folks. We have some immensely talented assistants, people who have master's degrees, bachelor's degrees. They can't get jobs. They can't get hired,

but they can do due diligence for VCs and PE companies. Make it make sense, right? Well, I think you did make it make sense. And I also think you're sticking your thumb in the eye of a lot of people who've probably passed on a lot of really talented, helpful folks that could have been integral to their businesses. 100%. And that's kind of my mission is to reframe the mindsets of businesses and show them don't tell them, let's square it away. These are the talents that are out there. You just need to jump off the cliff and trust that we're going to set you up for success. And we've talked about a lot of anecdotally, but can you share some of the stats, Michelle, of like the unemployment rate for military spouses?

How many are unemployed today? Yeah, military spouse unemployment is 21%, which is- National unemployment is what, four or five? Five. So it's four or five times worse among military spouses than the general public. Absolutely. That is sinful that our society is not supporting the very people we should support. That's unbelievable.

Oh, it gets better because it dropped from 28%, which is what it was pre-COVID. During COVID, it was 34% unemployment, which- A third. Which is higher than what the national unemployment rate was during the Great Depression, just to put it in perspective. Let's also, for everybody, sorry, we're going back to my econ days on this one. Oh, let's do it. Is the definition of unemployment are the numbers of people who do not have a job who are actively seeking

a job. A lot of people think unemployment is just the number of people who don't have jobs. That is not true. Right. The true unemployment rate in our country is much higher than 4 or 5 percent because there's a lot of people that aren't seeking a job. Exactly. because there's a lot of people that aren't seeking a job. The unemployment rate is the number of people who are unemployed that are seeking a job and that number hovers between two and a half and

five percent historically in our country but right now it's around four. So when you're saying that it's 30 among military spouses these are not military spouses that don't have jobs because they're military spouses that have three kids that are perfectly happy and don't want to work. We're talking about military spouses actively seeking employment who want a job. Only two-thirds of them can get a job and these are the same people who you have hired that can now go to work for venture capitalists and do due diligence on whether or not they're going to spend millions of dollars on a company. Yep.

Let that sink in for a minute. How much talent is out there that is just being passed by? So many. There's, I mean, there's over 300,000 military spouses. Do the math. Like it's insane. And you employ 400. It's insane. As big of a deal as your deal is, it's still scratching the math. And you employ 400.

As big of a deal as your deal is, it's still scratching the surface. Exactly. Because, and we work with some global companies that are clients right now, but I think it's reframing the business mindset of larger companies out there and saying, hey, if you do it, others will follow. Try this. If it doesn't work, pivot a little bit. hey, if you do it, others will follow. Try this. If it doesn't work, pivot a little bit. We can help you tweak it.

But I would love to see companies adopt different processes for employing military spouses so that we can get out of the 1950s mindset. We'll be right back. Kelly Harnett spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. I'm 100% innocent. While behind bars, she learned the law from scratch. Because, oh God, H and that jailhouse lawyer. And as she fought for herself, she also became a lifeline for the women locked up alongside her.

It's supposed to have been faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. So many of these women had lived the same stories. I said, were you a victim of domestic violence? And she was like, yeah. But maybe Kelly could change the ending. I said, how many people have gotten other incarcerated individuals out of here?

I'm gonna be the first one to do that. This is the story of Kelly Harnett, a woman who spent 12 years fighting not just for her own freedom, but her girlfriends too. I think I have a mission from God to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends, jailhouse lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. My Uncle Chris is definitely somebody worth talking about. He was the kind of guy that lived in a trailer with an ex-con and a retired stripper, left loaded machine guns laying around, drank a bottle of whiskey a night, claimed he could kill a man with his bare hands, drove a garbage truck for a living, spoke fluent Spanish with a thick southern accent, and is currently buried in a crypt alongside the founding families of Panama. Listen to the Uncle Chris podcast to hear all about him and a whole lot more.

Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris. This collection of stories will make you laugh, it'll make you cry, and if I do my job right, they'll let you see the world and your place in it in a whole new way. I can't wait to tell you all about Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeart Radio

app Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. From iHeart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. Why did I think that way? Why did I allow myself to get so sucked in by this man and thinking to the point that

if I died for him, that would be the greatest honor? But in 2014, the youngest of the girls escaped and sparked an international manhunt. For all those years, you know, he was the predator and I was the prey. And then he became the prey. Listen to The Turning River Road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A murder happens. The case goes cold. Then over a hundred years later, we take a second look.

I'm Paul Holes, a retired cold case investigator. And I'm Kate Winkler-Dawson, a journalist and historian. On our podcast, Buried Bones, we reexamine historical true crime cases. Using modern forensic techniques, we dig into what the original investigators may have missed. Growing up on a farm when I heard a gunshot, I did not immediately think murder. Unless this person went out to shoot squirrels, they're not choosing a 22 to go hunting out there. These cases may be old, but the questions are still relevant and often chilling. I know this chauffeur is not of concern, you know, it's like well he's the last one who saw our life. So how did they eliminate him?

Join us as we take you back to the cold cases that haunt us to this day. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network. Listen to Barry Bones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. We go behind the scenes and explore the stories of those involved. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team.

We need veteran players and we need young players. Like you're building a team from scratch and so the succession plan of long-term success needs to be defined. We need to embrace this community. When I was 13, my uncle took me to a qualifier. And we watched Paraguay against Chile, pouring rain, just watching the fans jumping up and down. I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me. Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Just watching the fans jumping up and down, I think that was definitely a watershed moment for me.

Not only was that going to be my game, but it was going to be my life. Listen to San Diego FC Behind the Flow, now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love this metaphor. Picture squared away. Every square has a point. So your four points are? Extreme attention to detail goes without saying. The ability to think outside the box, over communication and being a team player.

You need to watch out. You're starting to talk like a CEO. You need to watch yourself, girl. You don't sound like an Osprey Pallet spouse with two kids in a house. You're starting to sound like a CEO. Maybe you have found yourself. Michelle, what do you think?

I mean, this accent ain't going nowhere. So, I mean, I think talking about our people and talking about how big of an impact it has, I mean, I guess I have found my seat legs. So I looked up your website. You've been featured on CNBC, Wall Street Journal, CNN, a bunch of other people have told your story. And the headlines always read military spouse can't find jobs. So she starts to our own company and she's now the or whatever. That's not what that line says, but it's basically says that.

Basically says that. Can you believe that your story is being told by MSNBC and Wall Street Journal? I mean, can you sit there and believe that the girl, the young lady who was a nanny 12 years ago is now this? I think it really hit home when we did a feature in CBS Evening News and a cameraman came to my house and my oldest son was there and he's asking him like, why are you here? And what's that camera do? And he goes, I'm here to film your mommy.

And Sarah goes, oh, well, she just works on the computer. And I was, I was like. Interesting. And then it, it came out on CBS and it just really hit because I was getting people coming to me after that saying, Oh my gosh, we needed this. We needed this as a community. We needed this with the military and having something to look forward to. Thank you for not quitting on me or not quitting on us as a community. Those stories are so impactful and I take them with me every single day.

Every time I have a hard day as CEO, because trust me, it's not easy. And when I get in my feelings, I'll read through the folder of emails. And then I'm like, this is my why. This is my why. And go back to the drawing. How old is Sawyer? He's nine. Will he listen to this?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Sawyer, my name is Bill Courtney and I'm the host of this show and I've been a football coach and my dad left home when I was four and my mom was married and divorced five times and you can look up my story one day if you want to.

But I will tell you, revere your mom. She is a badass and does far more than we'll get a computer store. We believe in all sorts. We do believe in all sorts. I'm gonna have that on repeat. So that when he's being sassy, I can just be like, and what did he tell you?

No, I think him seeing a lot of the challenges over the years, I hope he has a good appreciation for taking care of them. Down the road. Okay. So what's next? I mean, you now employ 400 people. You got a 200, that's a $20 million business in 2023. I mean, I can't believe I'm saying this about you.

At 2023, you were number 297 on this year's Inc. 5000 list. Come on, dude. Mind blowing. And you're only seven years old. You're still a baby business. I wish these wrinkles say otherwise. I understand, but you are. I mean, you're- 38's been a crazy. you're not even, you hadn't even hit your apex in my opinion.

I don't know if you heard it, Bill. She's only 38 years old. I'm older than Alex. Oh, well, that's it. How tall are you? She's a lot more accomplished. How tall are you? Five, two and a quarter.

Yeah. Five, two and a quarter. I'm claiming that. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, five two and a quarter. I'm claiming that quarter. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Just I haven't stood next to you, but I can tell you're not tall and I just, you know, fitting into the thing that amazing things oftentimes come in small packages. So yeah, you got to.

So really, what is next? I mean, what's next? What's next for the company? How many do you have a goal of how many spouses you are an employer? I mean, you've got to have two, three. You're way too organized not to have a one, three, and five of your plan. Tell me what's next.

Keep going. Honestly, there's so many spouses out there. There's people that have never heard of us. There's clients. I have never heard of us. There's clients. I have never heard of you before this. We got to get better with our storytelling. Just letting people know that we exist is our biggest struggle and has been our biggest

struggle. Getting better with our storytelling, teaching people and teaching potential clients and companies that, hey, we're a good resource. Please look into us. Have you thought about other stuff you can do? Like other things you can offer other clients? Yeah. One of my passion projects that I haven't, I'm still in the weeds of figuring out is teaching clients how to delegate. There's a lot of people out there who don't know how to delegate and delegate

effectively. Virtual consulting? Really? Yes. Now that's interesting. I've done, I've done it for a handful of clients and they're like, Oh, you should probably start consulting. And I'm like, I just told you, taught you what to do.

I mean, it makes sense. And I really enjoy helping people in that capacity and just, and now I gotta figure it out. First three things you need are a cell phone, a laptop and a bathroom. You know what? I'm all set. I got it.

You get that. I've been there, done that. Y'all, here's the other thing that's very cool. You can email Michelle at Michelle go squared away calm And she'll respond to you, which is so cool because she has not lost The sense of the facts that she's just a normal person who extraordinary things have happened for and I think go squared away calm is the website yes, and you can find all about all of the different things she could do for your business if you need it. Or I assume

if you're a military spouse and happen to be listening, that would be a good place to find out how maybe to find employment. Absolutely. Our applications on our website, you can deep dive and... You need more people? Always. Always. What kind of military spouse expect to make? How does the pay work and how do the hours work? Because I can't help myself find myself wondering,

can this be part-time employment? Is this full-time employment? Do you work toward military spouses with children's schedules so they can take on what they can take on and can't take on? Is it hourly? Is it salary? You know what I'm saying? How's it work?

So you can work as little or as much as you want. So we have a hybrid model. Our managers and our internal directors and C-suite is they're all employees, but most of our assistants are independent contractors. So they kind of pick and choose what works best for them. Oh, they paid hourly? Based on a block of hours. So if, for instance, if a client comes in

for a 15 hour plan and an assistant says I only want one 15 hour client that client does that mean 15 hour weekly a month a month okay so they'll get a percentage of what the client pays on a 15 hour plan oh really so they're paid there there's a fly there's a fly so so they basically, they eat what they kill. Yeah. That's really a neat way to do it. And so it's not an hourly thing. It's a percentage of the contract. Right. And it averages out to around 22 and $25 an hour, roughly. So if somebody works full time for you, they can make 3535,000, $40,000 a year?

Oh, easy. If not more, we have assistants who are making $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 based on client contracts. Do you have insurance? Mm-hmm. No kidding. And- We are fully legal on every capacity.

I get it. No, but I get it. And so, here's another. Do you have... But you don't have an office. Everybody's home is their office. So you don't have the overhead of the fixed capital stuff sitting there. Right. So you are able to invest in your clients and your people.

That's where all the money goes. Absolutely. Yep. That is, and I guess systems. We incentivize our team to do their best work. A lot of companies out there who work on a similar model are like, okay, well, we're going to pay you a percentage of the contract, but if the client doesn't use you, you still get it anyway, which sounds shady as a shady business

practice. But we are the pains in the butt to our clients because we're like, you're paying for 15 hours? I'm gonna poke you in the butt until you use all of those 15 hours or I'm gonna make suggestions for you to delegate to me and I'm gonna pull things out of you slowly over time. So we want them to use us. That is so cool.

That is amazing. So anybody who needs virtual work is go squared away is not only going to do good work, but by using them, you can support some folks that need support. They deserve our support. And if you're a military spouse or I guess anyone else that has these talents. Yes, we, we have to be legal and say that we support everyone. And we do, we have about 5% of our team who are not military spouses. That is phenomenal.

Um, your story is awesome and your business is awesome. And I can't wait. I mean, you're 38. Is that what, that what you said? Oh, yeah. He's putting your business on the street, by the way, telling your age. It's fine. I fully admit to being 38.

Can you see yourself doing this even after he comes home? And yeah, this is your thing. This is this is my jam. These are my people. I love it. I would do it forever. One other thought Bill is I would say These are my people. I love it. I would do it forever. One other thought Bill is obviously the ways to people get activated you mentioned right if you're a company or the on the employment side, but also to it kind of reminds me of the cornbread hustle story.

It reminds me a lot of Sherry Garcia. I don't know if you've heard of Sherry Michelle, but she started a second chance staffing agency. So those returning from prison. Oh, wow. Same kind of problems with people not wanting to hire them. And she employs over a thousand people. And her name is Cornbread Hustle.

Cornbread Hustle. Yeah. I would love that. She has a very similar kind of second chance staffing, you know, thing here in Memphis. So just for people to think about, right? There's other employment challenges out there in the universe. You've created one to solve this problem. People also might see other employment challenges in their community.

Both are for profit businesses, but have have managed to blend a for profit business with a a societal mission fit need like you have. And it's important that we tell these stories because we talk about a lot of nonprofits and a lot of people who do amazing things in the nonprofit world, but we can be part of an army of normal folks. We can be servant leaders. We can exact positive measure of change in our communities in all aspects of our life, in both the nonprofit, the for-profit, and our families and society everywhere. And you're a beautiful, glowing example of that.

Thank you very much. It's hard to believe some days, but I will, it's been a labor of love that I will enjoy forever. I love it. Thank you so much for coming to Memphis and telling us your story. Any time. Well, thanks Chris. Good. That's a wrap. your story. Anytime.

Well, thanks guys. Good. That's a wrap. And thank you for joining us this week. If Michelle Pinsack has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by checking out Squared Away, sharing it with a friend who's a military spouse, becoming a social entrepreneur like Michelle, or something else entirely. Please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normal folks dot

us and I will respond. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, take the time to rate and review it. Join the army at normalfolks.us. Consider becoming a premium member there. Any and all of these things that will help us grow. An army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can. My Uncle Chris was a real character, a garbage truck driver from South Carolina who is now buried in Panama City alongside the founding families of Panama.

He also happens to be responsible for the craziest night of my life. Wild stories about adventure, romance, crime, history, and war intertwine as I share the tall tales and hard truths that have helped me understand Uncle Chris. Listen now to Uncle Chris on Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. The Girlfriends is back with a new season,

and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison.

The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Open AI is a financial abomination. A thing that should not be. An aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry, where we're breaking down why open AI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking

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