The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Michael Collura, President & CEO at In Home Personal Services, Inc.

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

Michael Collura, President & CEO at In Home Personal Services, Inc. ihps.com

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. Get ready, get ready, strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. This is Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. The Chris Voss Show.com.

Hey, we're coming here with another podcast. We certainly appreciate you guys tuning in. Thanks for coming by. To see the video version of this for free for an unlimited time, you can just go to youtube.com, 4chesschrisvoss. Hit the bell notification button. When you do this feeling of completion, well, wash over it. You'll feel like you accomplished something today. If you skipped all the other tasks and delayed them until tomorrow or next week or just whenever you feel like it, at least you can say that you accomplished one thing today and were a successful person. So hit the bell notification button if you would. Go to

goodreads.com forward slash Chris Voss. You can join, what is it, Goodreads giveaways. It's like a thing you can join to see if you can qualify to get one of my free books at beaconsleadership.com. You can also go to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. There's so many groups for the Chris Voss Show and myself personally, go check those out. You can see everything the show is doing. Today, we have an amazing gentleman on the show. He's going to be talking about some of the services and what he does. And, wow, oh, my gosh, look, he's on the screen before me.

His name is Michael Colora. Michael, welcome to the show. Thank you, Chris. Thank you for having me. There you go. Now, I'm going to need you to keep the excitement down, Michael. Just keep it calm there, buddy. Very professional, sir. Very professional. So, give us your plugs so people can find out more about what we'll be talking about you and what you do on the interwebs. the brand at In-Home Personal Services. What we do, we are a non-medical senior care provider. Many of our aging adults are in need of a little bit of help to maintain safety, independence,

so they want to live in the comfort of their own home as they go through the age process. We're commonly referred to as a caregiver agency, and we have been a provider since 2004. We have proudly been trusted and served thousands of seniors and their families, tens of thousands at this point, if we really want to count it. And it has been a real privilege and a real joy through our career to be able to make a real impact on the lives of these people. We know that with a lot of the media attention around the COVID pandemic and the scare that is out there and the concerns about nursing home care versus care in their home, we figured it's a good idea to help get that message out there about the options that exist for

these seniors and their families on a company that they can't hire that they can trust. And that's awesome because we talked pre-show about how my mother has one of these policies she's been paying on for years so that she can have in-home care instead of being put into hospice care or some sort of care facility. And she really insists on, you know, passing away hopefully at her home or at least spending her final years in her home, God willing. When you say you guys don't do the medical part of it, what sort of services you provide then? So what we do, we are typically a non-medical service provider.

And that means that we don't have nurses or therapists coming in under in-home personal services. We're bringing in home health aides. We're bringing in CNAs. We're bringing in caregivers. Depending on what state you're in, they're defined a little differently, but it's a caregiver. These are individuals who are professionally trained, who are properly certified. They're fully insured behind the agency, but they are there in a career path that provides that opportunity for, like your own mother's example, to age in place. This is what we all want to do as we go.

We want to age in a dignified and comfortable fashion. And for many of us, our home is where all these memories are. It's not just a matter of familiarity. Most people, if they could, they would want to heal. And it truly is the place we all want to be. We don't want to spend a lifetime in a home with all these memories, all these holidays, all these family gatherings, and then suddenly say, there's going to be a radical change. I'm going to pack up and move. I'm going to be in an unfamiliar environment. She's not going to be happy. And we've seen that a lot. And while there certainly is a time and place for an appropriate

level of change in someone's settings for their care, there is a lot of opportunity for us to provide that environment that is safe, maintains independence, provides quality of life and comfort so they can age in their own home. And this is where our expertise will come in. Yeah. And as I mentioned in the green room, I had two sisters at one time in care centers. And the quality of care is sometimes up and down depending upon the facility. But even then, they're just sharing a teeny little apartments. They've got a bed. Sometimes they have to share a room depend upon how it's set up. Certainly staying in your home is a whole lot better and a whole lot more comfortable and sometimes saner. You've got people coming and going. You've got people banging around,

making noises. And it's your home when it really comes down to it. There's definitely a much stronger feel of an independent lifestyle when one is in their own home. When you're in a group home or a community based care setting, such as a nursing home facility, you don't feel like you're in a home. And a lot of these facilities, even these high end ones will go out of their way to make it feel more like a sense of community and home. And many of them do a very good job at it. Don't get me wrong. But it never truly replaces a sense of wanting to be in one's own home. And it's not just a matter of comfort sometimes. When you talk about the

progression of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's, many experts will tell you, and I'm not a doctor, but I've worked in this industry since I was 15 years old. There's quite a few gray hairs for at least what's left up there. So I've been doing this a long time. And when you deal with somebody with dementia or Alzheimer's, many experts, if not all of them will tell you, radical change in the surroundings or the daily routines will progress that disease further. Whereas if they are change in the surroundings or the daily routines will progress that disease further. Whereas if they are remaining in the comfort of their own home, if they are remaining within familiar surroundings, it does help trigger memories. And there are a variety of things that

can be done that can help to continually cue and remind somebody with dementia or Alzheimer's while they're in their own homes. And our caregivers are specifically trained. In fact, we're one of the few agencies anywhere in the country that has access to a very unique training program using virtual reality and sensory deprivation so that our caregivers actually understand and experience what it is like to have Alzheimer's as a disease and understand what simple tasks feel like when you're somebody battling this disease. And so our ability to properly care for these individuals in this home, we have an abundance of experience, a very high degree of confidence, and our organization is set up for many levels of specialty care. And this is just

one of them. So we can deliver that quality of life that so many are looking for. And it doesn't just impact the lives of the seniors. Sometimes there is a spouse with them as well, too. There are family members and adult children close to them, and everybody wants to see the very best for their loved one. That is why our phone is ringing, and that is why they are coming to us to provide that care to them. Yeah. The way I'm going, I'm probably going to lose my mind faster than my mom. She's still pretty sharp and pretty agile. Other than her recent knee replacement, she's usually, she was, I think a few months ago, she was trying to climb a tree with a ladder

to get a magpie nest out of its thing. And I was like, whoa, yeah, she just, she's, she just runs around and wants to do whatever she wants. And she loves the freedom. And I can see that with the Alzheimer patients where they may not remember you, but at least they're halfway familiar with their surroundings. It's correct. There's a lot about how we approach dementia and Alzheimer's as an agency and how we approach it as a care provider. Obviously, the disease is always going to be there. We unfortunately do not have a cure for this yet. And while a lot of medical studies are out there and there's a lot of promising research underway today, we do know that there are ways as care providers to approach

and address the situation. Because when you are dealing with somebody who is dealing with confusion or you are dealing with somebody with lapses in memory, obviously safety becomes a major factor in the home. Because if they forget that they left the stove turned on, for example, we want to avoid those types of tragedies. And it's not just about a dignity or compassionate quality of life. There's a safety factor there as well, too. Our caregivers can ensure and deliver that.

And the story with your mother, we deal with that kind of thing all the time. That's standard. As we age, my own wife tells me nowadays, you can't do that anymore. You're no longer in your twenties. I'm pigheaded and I get out there and I still try and do it. Sure enough, I get hurt and I'm learning my lesson. There are days that I might need a caregiver, but when you talk about your daily routine, your daily lifestyle, that story is true. You want to go up there, remove the nest. So what do you do? You do what you've always done. You grab the ladder, you climb up the ladder, you remove the nest.

With the caregiver in place, they can still accomplish those same daily goals and tasks. Let the caregiver run up the ladder. Oh, so they do that work too, huh? We are there for all levels of companionship care. My caregivers have done everything from taking care of the pet. I don't know why people get to be 80 years plus and they buy a dog that weighs more than And then we just get these massive dogs in these homes and we're like, she's never walking this thing.

It's a horse. And so then we're hired, of course, but the pet is something that is loved and it is a member of the family. So we are there to provide for the pet, but we've done a variety of tasks in order to meet those individual lifestyles. In fact, true story, this wasn't even a senior client. And for HIPAA reasons, I can't use any real names or anything, but we had a young family come to us. Young man was only 23 years old, snowmobile accident, fractured his vertebrae and was paralyzed basically from the neck down. And this was a horrific accident. And this gentleman was being discharged from his rehab center. The rehab did not

unfortunately go as well as all had hoped. And it was discovered that he's going to obviously need a caregiver now potentially long term for the rest of his life and forgive me i'm fumbling for a cord for some reason my phone just notified me my device that i'm on camera here just notified me it's going to be dying so i'm coming at you chris there you go we're gonna we're gonna plug this plugged in we're gonna plug this in real quick normally i use coffee for energy but if uh voltage is going to work, then there's always that. Normally they just hook the battery up to me. Now you're plugged in.

In this story, in this experience with us, this was a 23-year-old man. And the family, hearing of our reputation in the senior care industry, wanted a caregiver to work with their son. And if you can imagine, and this is also very common, the amount of motion that is surrounding a decision like this. There is anxiety, fear, guilt, anger, frustration. There's a lot of anxiety when you get to a level to where you need somebody else to help with your daily care. And some of these tasks that we do, they're personal. You don't necessarily want

another person coming in to help you in the bathroom. But in order for safety, for hygiene, you need to. In this case, this gentleman just became a total care need. And the family wanted him to have a fulfilled life. And so long story short, after meeting with the family and sitting down and learning about what this case really entailed and talking to this young man, there was an immense amount of depression, obviously, around him at his age. We discovered that he was an adamant fan of the Madden football game. So what did we do? I went out and bought a video game system. I found a caregiver that understands gaming.

And I sat the caregiver down for about two weeks and i said you're going to become an expert on this video game so he got paid to play video games basically for two weeks before he met the gentleman and long story short they bonded immensely this kid's quality of life turned around dramatically because a piece of his life he saw wasn't over and it was back he's on the headset with the game with all of his life he saw wasn't over and it was back. He's on the headset with the game with all of his friends while the caregiver is basically working. Oh, wow. And he came back to a point in his life where he realized there is still life to live.

So this family, this experience with this caregiver and our preparation and our understanding of the tragedy and how our care, it makes a difference, truly did change this family's lifestyle. So long story short, last I heard, everybody's packed up and moved to a beach in Australia where this young man is living with a 360 degree window view of the beautiful Australian outback and a beach and life could not be better. He and this caregiver have become bonded as friends in a way that is very unique. And that is one story among countless stories that I can share where we have had the privilege to make a real world impact

in the lives of others. And quite honestly, Chris, that is the single most fulfilling thing that the team here and everybody under the brand really does enjoy about what we do. That is awesome. Hey, do you have anybody who can do Call of Duty Cold War? Because I need some extra team members. Maybe I can just hire them. All right, let's go. Let's go. Let me check my insurance, see if they'll cover it.

That's freaking awesome. I should have known that when i was playing destiny i needed to raid my team members you're always short one guy you're like hey we got five we need six we need a six only if it's destiny two yeah that's true yeah so anyway what are some other things that make you guys stand apart from some of your competitors there's quite a bit, and we only have an hour on your show. I'll highlight it. When we first started the company, it was built on purpose. It was built on a mission that we wanted to ensure never got diluted as we grew. So we understood that the need was there. We understood that we had to be better, and in order to be better, we had to do it differently. If you don't genuinely care about the end result of the lives that you're impacting,

you don't deserve to be in this industry. And if you were here, simply because of all the other wonderful things that come along with the security of the industry, the financial well-being of the industry, the growth factors of the industry that are all there, the fact that we're pandemic resistant. These are all great things, but these are still in themselves not enough reason. You have to genuinely care. And this has been in every job description of every person on this team since day one. They must possess a genuine desire to care for the elderly. And this has been something that has been a part and ingrained within the very fiber of our DNA. This is one of the things that does set us apart. And it sounds so basic, but here's an example of

why it is missed by so many. I actually, I tell this story a lot. I actually stood witness while a family was interviewing an adult daughter with her mother by her side in a wheelchair, was interviewing agencies like ours to hire a caregiver for her mother. And I actually was asked to wait in the next room, but it was just open. It was like one great room. So I sat about 30 feet back, quietly waiting my turn when I had arrived. And as he discussed with this other agency who shall not be named, their representative sat there, looked at the daughter and told them all about what they can do in care, how they do it better, how they're going to supervise the care, the pricing, all the standard stuff that you know people want to see. But during this entire course of the conversation, she never once talked to the mother, acknowledged her presence, or even asked her a question. And it upset me. I actually sat back upset. And at one point, I wanted to get up and interrupt them because I am passionate about what I do. And I wanted to ask,

what are you doing? You're representing a national brand and you're embarrassing yourself because you're ignoring the woman who's sitting right there why aren't you asking her you're talking about her while she's in the room just ignore it mom was sitting in the chair hunched forward head down silent you can see the daughter was stressed out completely about this you can hear it in her voice you can see it in her face you can see how depressed mom was and then this woman shook her hand got up walking out the door like she had done a really great marketing job which is terrible and i wanted to slam the door on her as she walked out my approach i walked up to the i can't really say much to the daughter at first and i walked right up to the mom extended

my hand and i said mrs i don't want to use the name for HIPAA reasons. She has a unique last name. And I extended my hand and introduced myself. And she looked up and she brightened up right away because I talked to her. And for the next 15 minutes of the conversation, I was talking to her. How are you? Tell me about yourself. What do you think about the need for care right now?

How do you feel about this? Her involvement, this woman came alive. She was suddenly, instead of all, you can see a lot of the anxiety and the fear. The daughter sitting there now is crying. Wow. Because the daughter, and after the conversation had ended, and I spoke with the daughter, she had realized what had transpired prior to me coming up.

And she had confided in me, I'm so overwhelmed. I don't know what to do. We're not sure how to handle this. And that is what set us apart. Truly understanding the emotional factor, what this means to the life and livelihood of these people, and how we can indeed make a positive impact. Now I can go on and on about all the ways that we truly do have better training than any other agency in the country. Because to my knowledge, I'm the only agency that owns his own school for training and certifying caregivers in all 50 states. I may be the only agency out there that does that. Certainly the only one that I've ever discovered.

We just got off of a conference call today with the Illinois Board of Education, and we are pending approval. COVID has delayed it. We will be the first and only Board of Education certified school in the state of Illinois dedicated to caregivers. Wow, that's awesome. And that phone call just concluded this morning, and we're very excited about that. We're also the first only and exclusive home care system nationally recognized by the Veterans Franchise Initiative and Operation Phantom Support. And these are individuals who actually transition veterans from military service to entrepreneurship. And we are the only franchise system in the senior care industry, exclusively nationwide, that will be part of this program. These are advantages not just for us as

a brand and for our investors and for our franchisees, but these are advantages that are recognized by individuals like us who understand there is a better way to deliver this care and a better way to approach this agency and this industry. And these are a few highlights of things that we're very proud of. Insight to Success Magazine this year named us out of the top 10 franchise opportunities in healthcare in the country. We're number one. That is awesome. We made the cover of the magazine and it was one of the first magazine covers we had been

on and it was very exciting for me because it was a much better photo. It took a few years ago. But these are things that set us apart. And a lot of agencies will talk about things that set them apart, their pricing models or how they communicate with families and leadership management, quality assurance, which are all important factors in the overall care bubble. If you genuinely don't understand how to deliver this care the right way, how you are going to become an ingrained and integral part of the family life in ways that nobody else is going to be able to do it, you're going to fail as an agency. You're going to fail as a brand.

And shame on you, you're going to fail this family. You're going to fail these people that need this. Because our experiences of being able to go in and make this impact and see, just see that stress, that fear, that anxiety wash away and be an exchange for hope, joy, comfort, relief. That's what it's all about. And up until the pandemic, we have received, I have boxes and boxes filled with handwritten letters, emails, hallmark cards, you get it, letters of appreciation, gratitude, these testimonials. We never published any of them. We kept it all private because we felt it was private. These were our treasures as an agency. This is our measure of success.

And during the pandemic, there was a lot of fear, uncertainty, misinformation, lack of information, and people didn't know. So we decided that we were going to show folks that there is a difference. If you go to IHPS.com today, go to our website, you can read some of those select testimonials. Some of them go back many years and they're redacted for privacy reasons. So we can't show you their names, but you can see in their own words and in their own handwriting, these are real. This is the impact that we have made in people's lives. That is awesome. Congratulations. So it sounds like people get into this business as a career, don't they? Oh, yes. Yeah. We're a career-driven agency. In fact, every member of my executive leadership team here today has been with me for at least 10 years or more.

That is awesome. They're all promoted from within. My original team, most of my original team, is still with me today. Good people always move on, but that's also a testament to a brand. When you're able to develop the people around you to a point where they no longer need you and they can go off on their own career path, that's quality leadership. And I'm proud of those people, but the vast majority of them are literally still here today. And during this pandemic, not a single one of my staff walked out on me or left. That's awesome. The in-home personal services team stood firm on these front lines. My caregivers and my team,

I am so proud of them. They knew even before there was ever a vaccine, they were putting themselves at risk, but not a single one of them abandoned their commitment to the people that trusted us. And I am immensely proud of them. And if you follow our social media over the next couple of months, we've got a lot of new posts and a lot of content coming out, recognizing our own heroes. That is awesome. One of the challenges I have, my sister has MS and dementia now, early stage dementia.

She has the really bad MS. And so she had to go into a care center because it takes three people to shower her and help her with facilities. And one of the problems I've had with a lot of care centers is it's just a revolving door. They just hire kids the cheapest labor they can. They don't seem to be on any sort of career path. I think some nurses are on a nurse career path, but they're just constantly, they're understaffed always and stuff like this. So I think this is great that you guys have long-term people that are there.

They really give a crap about the long-term job. Cause that's one of the problems we run into at the care centers is, is you're just, Hey, can you quit chewing your gum over there, buddy? And help us. I am 100% blessed. Everything that this brand is today really has nothing to do with me. I'll be honest with you. We joke around in the office all the time.

I'm the pretty face on camera. We, This has been the running joke for the last year. And we have a lot of fun on it. But in all seriousness, I'm not the guy that does it. The people that are here, the team I have around me, they're the reason why this brand is so successful and why we do what we do today. And you mentioned the young kids and you mentioned the career path. True story. Brianna Turner joined this company as a high school kid, wasn't even a CM. I almost didn't hire her. And she has advanced through the ranks, been promoted multiple times. Today, her office is next door to mine here at our headquarters. She's the administrator and number one in command reporting directly to me for in-home personal services.

And this is a kid who came to us 17 years old, still in high school, and today she's running the company. And she has, from day one, had that same compassion for what she does, and she instills it in the team all around her. And these are people that we're very lucky to have. The tenure within this organization is very impressive. And yes, you will lose good people along the way. That is just natural. But it's the number of people that you retain as an organization. And as our upcoming social media campaigns will show, the people that have left and come back to the brand.

That is a testament to a company. When people leave for a better opportunity and then realize, no, where I was at was so much better, and they come back. We have a whole campaign coming up where we're welcoming back all of our team members. I have one. He's an electrical engineer. He had worked for us for about seven years. Finally was able to return to his career choice, an electrical engineer, He had worked for us for about seven years. Finally, was able to return

to his career choice, an electrical engineer, mind you, and had resigned. We had a party for him. We were obviously very happy for him. On his last day, about three hours into his final shift with us, he came to the leadership and said, I don't want to quit. I love it here too much. So can I stay and still work here part-time? This is a guy that is leaving a job to make immensely more money because he's an electrical engineer who wants to stay on as one of our office support staff simply because he loves it so much. Can he still have a part-time job? That is awesome, man. That is awesome. That's a true story. Here's another true story.

I had a young lady who had resigned. Another company recruited her away from me about three weeks ago now, four weeks ago now. They recruited her away, offered her more money, more benefits. You get the idea, right? She's vastly talented. We welcomed her away because it was a good opportunity for her, and I don't want to prevent anybody from that. Guess who showed up this morning at my office and got rehired? She don't care about the money.

Our benefits actually turned out way better, by the way. Oh, wow. And she returns to work Monday morning. There you go. There you go. That's a cool thing to have. The school's in all 50 states. Do you guys service all 50 states?

Currently, we do not. We are expanding. So we are a franchise model, and we are actively expanding rather aggressively in many states today. The franchise system is offered and available in 38 states. I have anywhere from three to seven conversations a week with prospective franchisees right now. We've already closed on multiple units here in 2021. I have 15 or 16 units in scheduled closings or in various stages of closing today throughout the rest of the year. In fact, I have another closing here in Illinois, October, Friday, October 1st.

So about a week away, we'll have another franchisee joining our system. She's actually a conversion. She's a competitor who realized we do it better. And she's going to switch over to us and run up our flag instead of her own. So we're really excited about that. And we are expanding. The school is online. It's a full online platform that we built.

And we built it for all 50 states. We looked at all 50 states' requirements for the level of certification that the state authorities have. And then we completely blew it out of the waters. And we said, no, quality reigns supreme. And these are our standards for what quality care should be and the training that is needed for these individuals to be caregivers. That is wild, man. That is wild. So what else about your guys' services and what you guys do haven't we touched on? Quite a bit. Do you want to tease out? I mean, we can just get the bullet points if you want. Sure. So I'll hit some of the bullet points.

As a franchise model, we are a truly proven franchise model. And when you think about what the pandemic has done, we have proven ourselves to be pandemic resistant. And in fact, during the pandemic, we were never closed. And my heart goes out to all these entrepreneurs and families that built businesses, especially those that are like in food and hospitality industry, and they were ravaged by this pandemic. And I'm grateful to multiple presidential administrations that have stepped in to try and help and curb the economic impact of this. We were blessed. And I wish I had the power to take away the pandemic and all the growth we have seen during this pandemic. I would give it away if I can take away COVID. Unfortunately, I don't have that power,

but we were in a position to help those that needed it when COVID hit. And yes, our business grew. And yes, that is a factor that comes up quite a bit in these conversations because under conditions such as a pandemic, we are truly proven as a business model. A lot of restaurant chains were going to struggle in a franchising world when you say a proven business model because you were ordered closed. We were not. Or you struggled to maintain a customer base, whereas we had an unrelenting expansion of customer base and people that loved us. From a franchise perspective, we're extraordinarily low cost. We're very franchisee friendly.

I spent nearly a decade studying other franchise models, direct competitors, and I wanted to build a better system. We have turned opportunities into advantages and we have seen obstacles and we have overcome them as true entrepreneurs and built it into our model that does in fact make it superior. And I tell this to brokers all the time. And early on last year, I got some chuckles out of a few of them. Some of these higher profile brokers who do larger franchise deals. And I said, listen, if you ever think that

a competitor has something better than me, let me know. And in 15 minutes, I'll change your mind. And I got a couple of chuckles out of a few of these brokers until they put me to task, and I did prove it to them. And they were a little shocked. So that's to tell you that the people that are in this industry, that are again, front line evaluating our business models and evaluating me against my competitors on a benchmark sense will also agree and share with you that as we're sitting here now, I got my computer in front of me. I've gotten four emails today from coaches with the entrepreneur source all asking me for immediate contact of their clients because they're looking to buy into the franchise system. I haven't even gotten to get through these calls today. And that's just four in one day. And you talk to somebody else, another CEO at another brand, they wish they could get four of these a day. We're going crazy right now with the leads and

the growth. Something else I'll share with you is that something else that makes us different. Chris, we're innovative. We're forward thinking and we're innovative. And in ways that many of our competitors still, quite honestly, don't even realize. We understand the industry. We understand the need. We understand the psychology, quite honestly, behind those that are seeking this level of care. And we are able to ingrain that into the delivery of the services to improve the quality of the care, but also improve the business model for operations for all of us. And it's a matter of it's a source of pride that we have. And that doesn't mean we haven't made mistakes or we haven't failed. Oh, God. That's my wife. I've done that a lot. It's a source of pride that we have. And that doesn't mean we haven't made mistakes or we haven't failed. Oh, God. That's my wife.

I've done that a lot. It's natural. But it's not the mistakes that you made. It's how as an entrepreneur you pick yourself back up, you learn, and you get better. Because failure is inevitable, and it is a gateway towards success. And if the notion, if you're out there and you're listening to this and you want to be an entrepreneur and you look at some of these mega media covered entrepreneurs that are out there today that have these fantastic fortunes and they're just living the greatest life ever and building their own rockets to space, you don't necessarily have to shoot for that to find the happiness,

the financial security that you want to have. But you have to be prepared to fail, and you've got to be willing to accept that because I guarantee you every successful person out there has failed. You have to. It's not the best way to learn, but it seems to be the way. Well, if that's true, then I have multiple phds that cut me i also got a few whips cuts and i think knife wounds so brutal lessons i learned there's a few physical scars as well too yeah i've got some of those caesar scars in my back from people stabbing me

so those are always good. Partners are great. Anyway, that's it. Oh, wow. That's a whole other show for me. Yeah, I'll send you a copy of my book. I tell a great story about that. It's actually, I think the chapter is actually called Et Tu Brut? I clearly don't know Latin, so there you go.

I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't go to lawyer school. Wow. I didn't go to school at all,ly what's in the cup chris what's in the cup what's in the cup just water but i don't know maybe i should check this i might need some in-home care here where i'm going that or i just need to call up duty partner which is funny because we got some questions from the youtube crowd and they're like they're like on the gaming questions now and i'm like guys it's not a gaming show anything you want to touch on before we go? Thank you very much for having me

on the show. And if I were to get on my soapbox, if I could for a moment, everybody stay safe. The COVID pandemic, it is real. People aren't dying from an imaginary virus. And 2000 US deaths a day is where we're back at. And now we're seeing a lot of younger patients hospitalized. And you're seeing 99% of hospitalized cases are unvaccinated. And if you do not want to get a vaccine, if you do not believe in a vaccine, if you think a vaccine is going to, I would implore you to read the science, get a second opinion, do whatever you have to do. Because if I have to hear about one more mortician, one more mortuary at max capacity, if I have to see another refrigerated truck of bodies at a hospital as I drive home, it's continuing to break my heart. And the vaccine is real. It does work.

I am vaccinated. I understand that people believe that it may cause harm to their body. And I hear this, and these are the same people I see lighting a cigarette, you know? And I'm like, it's pretty amazing, isn't it?

You're just like, wait, I don't know. I'm very careful. I would put it in my body. Let me have this Big Mac here. Yeah. If you are worried about what side effects the vaccine can have, I want you to weigh that against the possibility of death from COVID.

Yeah. Death, side effects. Would you jump out of a plane without a parachute? No. Okay. That sounds like common sense because what will happen when you hit the ground? Usually. It's a 97% chance of death, so there's still a chance you can live.

I think I might roll that dice. No, I'm just kidding. I saw some memes about that. It's funny. And it's frightening. I saw a gentleman on camera at a mass public rally who had said while being interviewed by a reporter that he heard that it may cause sterilization until they tell him that it doesn't make him sterile he won't take the vaccine i want to tell you this gentleman was clearly past age 70

nature may have already done that for you sir you. You don't have to worry about it. He either doesn't understand what sterilization does to the body or means or what that impact is, or he was just completely making fun of it. Because the look on the reporter's face when they look back at their camera was absolutely priceless. I don't want to plug a news network or an event, but it will make a difference. It will save lives. And we as Americans, we value our freedoms. So exercise that freedom, exercise that courage, because if you honor those that served in uniform, or you are someone that served in a uniform, whether it is in a military service or on a frontline, you've already put yourselves in harm's way. We honor these individuals as a nation, almost in a unified voice.

They go to danger. They go to real danger. They go to known danger. They do it every day, and they don't hesitate. We as average citizens can certainly put a needle in, get a needle stuck in our arm and it takes about five seconds and we're done.

Plus my bandwidth on my cell phone at 5G is just so much better ever since I got my second Moderna shot. So I'm loving it. I love the people that think it's going to, they put something in it so they can track you. In what universe do you think you're so important that anybody wants to track you? I used to have a friend. What model iPhone are you carrying around? I don't want to be tracked right now.

Yeah. But I'm going to post on Instagram and you're just like, seriously, people. Yeah. It's really interesting, but I don't know. It's a weird world we live in,

but you want to get your shot. Otherwise you might be see Michael come do in-home healthcare for you sooner than, than later. You know, I'm, he'll just be like, I told you so on the Chris Voss show.

Listen, I, I, I wish everybody course, had a unified mind. We are not a nation of a unified mind. That's not how we're built. I get it. And I do believe that it should be a personal choice. But when it comes to a pandemic level health crisis, I would wish people would do this. because these same people that are anti-vaxxers, I know some of them. And I know for a fact, I'm like, dude, you literally did this in your life

that put yourself in harm's way for a total stranger. You literally risked your life to save another. I know this person and I've had this conversation with them. You've put yourself at risk to help this person. Nurses who refuse to get the shot. These nurses are exposing themselves to an abundance of communicable diseases daily, putting themselves at risk. And then this is the one that they say, I absolutely will not get a vaccine for. But you're already putting yourself at a risk. So why exacerbate a health crisis on imaginary misinformation? And think of all these people that have public and come out and slammed, not wearing masks, not getting a vaccine,

and then die. And these clinicians, these ICU workers, it's almost every day. And it's almost like a form of public shaming, which is unfortunate. But if the family wants to use this as the grieving process in order to communicate to the public that this is real, please don't go through what we're going through. I've seen these people that post, give me COVID or give me death. Give me freedom, give me death. They chant their freedoms and that they'll never get the shot and they'll never wear a mask. There's nothing anti-American about wearing a mask. Every surgeon since the dawn of modern medicine and going back hundreds of years, I would suppose, has worn a surgical mask because when they're working on you, they don't want you to and you didn't want that. Most of us will wear seatbelts because we know it's a safety feature. We'll wear

a parachute if we're going to jump out of a plane. If we can't swim, we're not going to jump into the deep end without a life jacket or somebody there watching us. We have mechanisms for common sense, and unfortunately, we tend to turn those off sometimes and not listen to that little voice in our head. And then our family members have to go on social media and beg them and say, my loved one has passed. Please don't be like them. Don't delay.

Get the shot. I don't know what you're not trusting. There's a lot of them that have given messages on their deathbed. I saw a few of those on social media where it's the video. It's their last video. And they're like, yeah, this is really bad. Don't do this. And then two days later, it's gone.

So, yeah, it's really definitely a concern. Give us your plugs, Michael, so that people can check you out on the interwebs and get to know more about what you can check us out at IHPS.com. That's IHPS.com. All of our contact information is right there in the upper right hand corner. And there are links to all of our social media as well on the top banner. You can contact us. You can learn more about us. You can call us. You can Facebook us. You can ring me directly.

I'm here. I'd be happy to talk to you. I don't necessarily want to have a debate about COVID. I hope whether or not you get vaccinated, I truly do not want you to get sick. I want you to understand the aliens are not coming for you. The government doesn't care what you do with your day and whether you're vaccinated or not, I truly do want you to be safe because even if I don't know you as a person, you're a total stranger. I just care for all life. And I truly hope that you are well and take precautions to be well, but you want to check

us out as a care provider, as a franchise system. You want to learn more about us, about our other brands, IHPS.com. There you go. There you go. Thank you, Michael, for coming on the show. We certainly appreciate it. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. And thanks, Madis, for tuning in.

Go to YouTube.com, 4ChessChrisVoss. Hit the bell notification button. Go to all the places we're available at Goodreads.com, 4ChessChrisVoss. Go to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, all those other places. We certainly appreciate you guys tuning in. Be safe, be good to each other, and we'll see you guys next time.