Linda Munson

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View. And, actually, the other day in Lucas, somebody

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said they needed help. Their daughter, who is, like,

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11, was wanting to write a

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book, but the family was not,

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primary English speakers. So the or the parents

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weren't. So they're like, we can only

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help her so much, and we don't know the

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language well enough to help her write this.

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So I went to the chamber, and I

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asked, does anybody know a publisher or a tutor

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who could help with this? So I have 3 referrals

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to give them. Welcome friends, entrepreneurs, and visionaries to

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Getting Neighborly. Fairview, Texas' very own gateway to opportunity,

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proudly presented by the Fairview Economic Development Corporation. I'm your host Super

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Dave Quinn, here to navigate the journey through the heart of our thriving

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community. In each episode, we unlock the doors of Fairview, offering you

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a firsthand look at the vibrant life and booming business landscape

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that define our community. We're not just neighbors here, We're

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collaborators, innovators, and friends, building dreams and turning visions

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into reality. From insightful stories of local success to

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exploring the advantages that make Fairview an ideal community for your

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business. This podcast is your inside track to discovering why

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Fairview isn't just a place to do business. It's a place to grow, to

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belong, and to call home. So whether you're looking to start up, scale

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up, or simply soak up the spirit of community that champions entrepreneurial

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success, you found the right spot. Welcome to Getting Neighborly in

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Fairview, Texas. Let's make your business dream a community

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success story. Howdy, friends. Welcome back to another episode of

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Getting Neighborly. I'm your host Super Dave Quinn. And today, we have an exceptional

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guest who embodies the spirit of community and giving. Joining us

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in the studio is Linda Munson with Housewarmers of Allen, a company

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that introduces residents to Allen, Fairview, Parker, and

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Lucas to local businesses. Now Linda is a computer

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programmer turned entrepreneur. In 2006, Linda's path led her

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to house warmers of Allen. Initially joining as a community ambassador,

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recognizing the profound impact this service had on connecting

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residents and businesses, She embraced entrepreneurial spirit on

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and on November 1, 2009, Linda took a bold

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step and became the proud owner of House Warmers of

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Allen in 20, in its 24 history. This marked

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the beginning of her dedicated mission to enhance fabric of the Allen

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Fairview community. Let's please give a warm welcome to a woman

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who's as passionate about getting to know our neighbors as we are here on the

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show. Welcome to the show, Linda. Thank you, Super Dave. It's great

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to be here, and I appreciate the invitation. You bet.

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We love entrepreneurs here in Fairview, so it's always great to,

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talk to those who are embracing that entrepreneurial journey.

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It's a it's a tough one, but we, love to visit with entrepreneurs here

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in the community, and, it's so great to have you on the show. So

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tell our residents a little bit about our listeners, a little bit about

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Housewarmers of Allen and, what it is exactly that

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you do. Well, Housewarmers of Allen started here

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in Allen 2000 in 2000,

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June of 2000. I moved in in February

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of 2000, so I did not receive a welcome bag.

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When I ran across it in the community, I thought this would

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be a great thing to do, for me to get out and

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know what's around, know my neighbors, and

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know the businesses that are here that I could use.

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So I decided that was a great thing to do,

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and off I went. And I've knocked on many, many

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doors and have connections with people

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from years ago when I knocked on their door. So it's been a

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great way to introduce our new residents

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to all the great things that's in

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Allen, Fairview, Lucas, and Parker. So tell us, Linda, a little bit about

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why is it important when you move in like that? I mean, what what is

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it you guys are doing? When you say you knock on doors and you're you're

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meeting neighbors, what what is the gift that you're giving them,

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and and what does that help them do? Well, the true gift

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is community that we're giving them. So we're recognizing

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the fact that they moved into the community. Most of us have

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moved multiple times in our lives, and we know how

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hard it is to feel like you're part of something. It

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takes a while. There's people who

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will tell me, oh, where we used to live, I lived on that street for

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7 years, and I didn't know any of my neighbors.

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And I said, well, here, we're very friendly. What it gives

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them is a point of contact when they initially move in.

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So they can call Housewarmers of Allen and say,

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where's this? What's this? I don't understand this. And we

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can tell them what it's like in our community and give them that

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feeling that they made a good choice and they're happy that they're

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here. And then they're wanting to use that information

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we give them. And I have one lady that calls

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me. It was, I don't know, 12 years ago, I think we

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welcomed her. And, like, once a month, she'll call me and ask

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me something. So what brought you to

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Fairview? You said you moved in. Where where were you before when you moved into

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the community? Well, I live in Allen Okay. Right now,

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and I've lived here 24 years. Before that, I was in

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Plano. And prior to that, I was in New Jersey, and I had grown

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up in Massachusetts. Okay. So I slowly

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made my way here. So it's a little bit different,

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right, environment. So what have been some of the major

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things over the last 24 years that you've seen in the

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community that's really grown and changed, I would imagine?

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Tell me a little bit about, what you've seen and and what you've noticed over

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that time period. Well, over the 24 years, we've become a very

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diverse community. People from all over the world are

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coming here. Allen has an attraction. If

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somebody looks, where's the best place to live? It's the

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Allen Fairview, Lucas Parker area.

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So for the schools, for the accessibility, the everything,

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really, it's a bubble here. You don't need to go very far to get your

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needs filled. So just the growth,

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the change in the housing market from just single family

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homes to multifamily complexes, which

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we just deliver to the single family homes. But

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we're still accessible to anybody in the community through

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our website. That information's there. Anybody can join our

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monthly newsletter. So it's not exclusive

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to homeowners or people living in single family

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homes, but they they actually going and delivering a

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gift bag is to the single family homes. We

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can't really a lot of the apartments are gated,

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and we can't get in to those. They're a

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lot more transient, so we are there to help

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them while they live here. But and if they choose

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to then put down roots and stay here in the

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area, then we'll go and get to meet them. So what

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are some of the I mean, you're the first really sort of maybe

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the first point of contact when somebody moves into a single

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family home here in our area. What are some of the things that you've

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seen? I mean, are they coming from all over? Do

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you have a feel for where folks are moving in from and and the different

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areas of the country that they're coming? Well, after storm

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Sandy hit New York, we had a lot of New Yorkers

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come here. Some that I talked to said, well, they

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were in a decision point. Like, do we rebuild? What do

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we do? And then it's like, why are we here?

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So with working from home, people like, we don't need to

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be here in New York to work for a

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company in New York because they were at home anyway. So they started

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moving here. Our road systems,

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our airports, I mean, it made it convenient to live

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here. Plus the schools were good. They didn't have to pay for

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private school anymore because our school systems were so

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good. So there was a lot of attraction here. So they're like,

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why why deal with New York weather and all

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that? Let's go to Texas. Californians,

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a lot of Californians are moving here now. We

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have Toyota that came from that area,

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so they that brought a lot of people for working.

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I see that, but I also see people from

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other countries coming here. I

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think if you just Google, like, where's the best place to live,

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it says Texas. And then where's the best

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place in Texas? And they just come.

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I did ask one lady. She was from China. She came here. And I said,

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well, why why did you pick Allen? This area. And

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she mentioned being closer to the airport and

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the road systems and things like that. So

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and when she looked on Google, it said,

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this area is the best place to live. So because Google said we're a

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pretty good place to live. I love it. Right. Yeah.

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So off they came. So Now so,

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in your gift bag, I mean, I think what I if I understand it right,

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companies or businesses, local businesses can really

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provide things to put into the bag to kinda let folks know. It it's I

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always tell people it's kind of interesting when you relocate, for a

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job, especially it can be a lot of it can be a lot of work

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for the trailing spouse to kinda set up the household. Right? Because,

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you know, you think, well, I gotta find a doctor. I gotta find a dentist.

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I gotta find peep my wife always laughs. We laugh about

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it. You know, she's gotta find people to cut hair. Like, her hair, not

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obviously, not my hair. I don't worry about that. But she has to find, you

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know, for the kids and and, you know, then her you know, for our daughter

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who's different than the boys and then her hair, which is different than the girls.

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Like, it's a lot. So I would imagine that people are really happy when

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you show up and you sort of have this, hey, here are all the local

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businesses that that you can connect with to kinda help solve a lot of

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the challenges that you're facing when you're moving into a new neighborhood. Right.

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And we tell them these are trusted local businesses. These are

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ones that we know we use, you know, the house

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cleaners coming to my house, the pest controls coming to my

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house. So it's not just, yes, you can

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Google and find 500

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pest control and 500 hair Right. Salons.

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But are they good? You know? And good

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is relative. Right. I

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mean, if you have curly hair or I have straight hair,

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so that requires different types of cutting.

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And Yes. That's my wife had a really hard time with that. She's got

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curly red hair, and it's a very specific like, it just

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cuts different. Right? So she had to go through a lot of trial and

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error, because we didn't get a we didn't have house warmers. We didn't

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have a gift basket or somebody, and we didn't know anybody. And,

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and so, because we didn't come into Allen Fairview, but, you know,

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we didn't have that person that would say, hey, here's who we use

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and we've used them. They are good. Give them a shot.

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Right. And that personal reference. And it's not

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just they're calling me on the phone and going, hey, strange person

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that I don't know, but I have this phone number. What's

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this? Now that is a step above

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just googling because you can talk to somebody and you

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can hear in their voice whether they're selling

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you something or being truthful or Yeah. Yeah. You

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can hear that. Now when you're standing in

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front of somebody and you're looking at them in the eyes, I

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mean, that's another level. Right. Right? So

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being able to do that and we ask people when we give them the gift

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bag, Do you need anything? Are you looking for

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something? How can we help you? And, actually, the other day in

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Lucas, somebody said they needed

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help. Their daughter, who was, like, 11, was

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wanting to write a book, but the

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family was not,

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primary English speakers. So the or the parents

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weren't. So they're like, we can only

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help her so much, and we don't know the

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language well enough to help her write this.

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So I went to the chamber, and I

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asked, does anybody know a publisher or a tutor

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who could help with this? So I have 3 referrals to

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give them. That's outstanding. So the Allen Fairview Chamber, it's

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pretty active chamber, and I think I don't know how to explain it. The the

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connection is not just a surface level. I mean, the the

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people in our chamber really love doing business one

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another. They love the connectivity and and really learning and and

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caring about one another. And I think that really, is one of the things that

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sets us apart from our air in our area is just the

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willingness of people to help one another and provide that

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great quality of life connection community feel that

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you're talking about. Right. And that's what we want to tell our new

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residents. Like, you're moving into a good area where we wanna

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help you. So you have to ask.

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Sometimes people don't like asking. Oh, I I can

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Google it if I really want to. But, again, you run into

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that. I have 50 choices, which one's a good one?

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So with us going there, looking them in the eye,

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shaking their hands, giving them a gift, you know, making that

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positive impression, and then

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answering their questions or saying, you know, I don't know, but

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I'll ask and I'll get back to you. That's huge

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because who else would they have asked? They wouldn't have gone to

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their neighbor next door and said, do you know a publisher? And I don't know

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anybody off the top of my head, but I know enough people

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who know enough people who know enough people

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that we can find that answer. And

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almost everybody you meet

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has multiple multiple interests that it may

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take you years to find out that

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your best buddy at work also

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is a master woodworker. You know, you never

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find out, and then 10 years later, you're like,

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why did I never know that? Right. But if

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you ask or you just talk to people and

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conversation flows, then you find those connections

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that will help somebody else down the line. And

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I I like to think that I'm taking

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what the Chamber of Commerce does and other networking

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groups, That's business to business. Mhmm.

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And taking that concept out into the community

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and making those connections, listening to each other and go, oh,

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I know a person that does this. I know

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one that does that. And it's usually from, you know, networking

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groups where I pull from. Right.

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But taking that and building that network within the

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community makes the community stronger.

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People are residents are

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wanting to use what's in their community, but they have to know

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it's there before they can use it. And then

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local businesses, when they're strong, the community is

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strong. So they both have to be strengthened. You

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can't just focus on growing business

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or just focus on the

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people will come and go, and no matter what you do, they're gonna

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come and go. So we can welcome each new

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person in and get them in and involved sooner than

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later. There's so many places to get involved,

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whether it's a mom's group or it's getting into

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the chamber, getting into Allen ISD

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or Lovejoy, McKinney working on

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some of those committees, getting involved.

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There's just there's a lot of volunteer opportunities

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that are here, and we tell people about that too. So it's not

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just, oh, go to this business and support

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it, which we want, but it's what are

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your interests? New resident, what's your interest? Do you need mom's

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groups? Do you need are you a

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active empty nester and you wanna

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get back somewhere? Here's all the places you can go. You

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know, there's a senior center. That's a really important

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connection. Right? It's it's, I'm glad you mentioned that because

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that's that's what the show is built on, right, to really

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introduce our neighbors. We have some dynamic people in our community

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doing some really cool stuff, across all different kinds of,

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whether it's business or in nonprofits, or

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just in in hobbies. It's kinda cool.

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But to your point, you might not never know because you just see Bob when

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he's taking the trash out down the driveway. You don't know what you

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know, you just never have that conversation sometimes. And so this allows people to

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really get to know each other in the community. And I'm really glad that,

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that's something that you support is connecting people with

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ways to get involved because it is extremely important. I've seen over,

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you know, my career that really strong,

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cities and towns come from communities

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where their people are engaged. And they know one another and they, you know,

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they it's not just themselves on an island trying to

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survive. They know there's other people in the community that like minded people that

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they can connect with and do life together with.

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And I think that's really important. The

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last few years, I mean, since COVID, that

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really isolated people, and they

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aren't getting out as much. I mean, I've seen the

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dynamic change in our communities

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that it used to be like one Allen. When the

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football team left town, like, half the town left with

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it, there was a lot of support. Yeah. I don't

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see as much support. I also with the

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developments that are going on that are micro communities,

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there's no reason to do big community activities

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anymore because, well, I can get everything I need in my little

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corner over here. Yeah. And the live work and play is

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great, but there's also a lot

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of trails and activities that are citywide

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Mhmm. That people aren't realizing are

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there because they're so focused in on their little

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slice of heaven. Yeah. So I can

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go welcome them, make them feel like they are part of something

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bigger, and then tell them. So our monthly newsletter goes out to

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over 10,000.