S3EP14-Alex & Cassidy Nicholas-Homeschool, Hustle & Handstands: Why We Ditched School and Built a Family Wellness Club

Herb: 00:00:19

I now have the pleasure of introducing Alex and Cassidy Nicholas.

They are entrepreneurs, athletes, coaches and parents of four building the Vault, a homeschool hybrid, and family wellness club.

Coming to Naples, Florida.

Together, they bring decades of experience in education, fitness, coaching, entrepreneurship and business ownership with a shared belief that family deserves more freedom, more time together and and more intentional ways to learn, work, train and live.

The Vault brings that vision to life by combining education, fitness and youth athletics, wellness and recovery, co working real world skill development and community under one roof.

Through the Vault, Alex and Cassidy are creating the kind of environment they want for their own family.

Where one kid can receive a strong where kids can receive strong education while developing confidence, physical capability, practical skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.

And where parents can build healthier, more connected family life alongside them.

Welcome, Cassidy and Alex.

It is a pleasure to have you both here today.

I am excited to talk about this because this is all of the stuff that we have been wanting to do for years and you are doing it.

So it is amazing and I am looking forward to hearing more from you.

Alex: 00:01:37

Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Cassidy: 00:01:39

Great intro too.

Thank you for the intro.

Kristina: 00:01:42

Absolutely.

And so we want to start with kind of the passion.

Right.

It seems like there's a fitness passion here, there's definitely a family passion here, and then a space where those things can meet and grow together.

So talk a little bit from each of your perspective where in your life maybe that pivot came from or that passion came from.

Give us a little bit more of the backstory about why you're so willing to do this, even though it might be a little bit hard on the family to get it going.

Alex: 00:02:09

Yeah.

I think in our pre conversation where I was kind of, you asked me the question, who is initiating this?

Who initiated wanting to homeschooling?

And I really had to think back and I was like, I think it's Alex.

His oldest is 10.

He's my stepson.

And then below that we have four years and then ours are six, three and one.

And so he's kind of had to deal with the kind of academics and education a little bit ahead of the game before me.

So I think that you kind of inspired this whole thing from the get go kind of seeing Leo the oldest journey.

Cassidy: 00:02:42

Yeah, I've been an entrepreneur my whole life and I went to, I actually, I went to University of Delaware on a football scholarship, ended up transferring to Gettysburg College, got a liberal arts degree in business management and was fortunate enough I started in corporate insurance, which I hated, and I moved to New York City.

But.

But it was like I spent two years doing that and I hated it.

But in the mornings, I was personal training.

And after my 9 to 5 job, I was bar backing at a bar restaurant.

And I loved my part time jobs, hated my full time job.

So I eventually got rid of my full time job and made my part time jobs a full time job together.

So that's what really started to get my entrepreneurial juices going.

And I had a really great opportunity to buy into this bar restaurant I was working at.

At the age of 23, I owned my own bar restaurant.

I was still doing my personal training, but I always had a intensity and an excitement to be my own boss.

And the only reason I say that that way is because there are so many things that I learned in corporate America that I never thought that didn't align ethically with who I am and who I want to become.

So I want to give kids an opportunity.

And I always tell my son this, I'm your parent, but I'm your guide.

And I always think of being a guide first.

And I'm here to help shape you as a person.

Once you're 18, I can't really do much anymore.

You can do what you want to do.

But the Vault is really meant for families and kids to come together to learn, to take chances, to have opportunity.

And we're hitting the whole gambit, like you just said in our intro from training.

When it comes to fitness, self defense, leadership, craftsmanship, agriculture, we want kids to learn trades like plumbing, electricity.

These are all things we want kids to know.

We want kids to learn QuickBooks, like in fifth or sixth grade.

We want them to learn things that they're going to have to understand that we didn't get education on.

Right?

We got education on things that I didn't really use in real life.

Like, it was nice to know, but did it really get me where I wanted to go in my life?

And I love to travel, I love to, I love culture.

And there's so many things that I really didn't get that opportunity because of traditional schooling.

Kristina: 00:05:33

You are speaking our language is like, yes, yes, yes.

We want more families who are in this mind frame, in this mindset to really, you know, challenge themselves to, can I take this leap?

Can I make this happen?

Right?

And of course, the finances are always, you know, part of the equation.

But if there's any way that you can give this opportunity to your kids, we really, really, of course, encourage you to take that.

Cassidy.

No, no, no.

Herb: 00:05:59

I gotta go.

You get to go, yeah, I gotta mention the out of the box some of this stuff versus like.

Oh, yeah, because it mirrors a lot of the stuff that I did.

And then I hurt my head and it kind of really fell apart.

But I also have like, lots of.

It's like all of the conspiracy theory stuff that's not conspiracy theory anymore.

Like in: 1913

And as soon as you have multiple choice, then you're telling them, then it's like, this is one of the things you should think instead of having an open discussion and being able to.

So our education system has been under attack for over 100 years.

And it's an intentional thing to create workers and families.

So the entrepreneur way to go is again, small learning sections.

Get it good and then move to the next thing once you have it mastered.

And so as an entrepreneur as you start to do that and then you look at what's happening in the school systems like, no kids should be learning like I'm learning now.

One of our big three is.

Is how much time you waste taking your kids to school, picking them up, working with the teachers, all of that.

So as a business owner and entrepreneur, it's like how much of it's like saving time by dropping the kids off at school.

How much of that is actually not true?

And how much time did you waste having to take your kids to school, pick them up, deal with the teachers each.

Kristina: 00:07:18

They still are right now.

They're planning on changing that soon.

Cassidy: 00:07:21

And that's.

We're still stuck in that right now.

And that's why we're in the middle of construction as we speak.

There's dump trucks dumping dirt.

Like the land pad is still being built.

Alex: 00:07:34

See it out our window.

Cassidy: 00:07:35

Yeah.

And the whole thing is that we are.

You're exactly right.

There's so much time wasted.

And to your comment, I never even thought of it that way.

With multiple choice.

And you're just put in a box.

Right.

You're put in an ABCD box.

Right.

When there is E, F, G, there's.

Herb: 00:07:52

An which of these ones is the answer of how we think, not what.

Cassidy: 00:07:56

Do you think Exactly.

And there's an infinite way, infinite ways of thinking.

And you're not taught that ever.

Herb: 00:08:03

Right.

Cassidy: 00:08:03

I don't think in public school there are certain ways to think and that's that.

Alex: 00:08:08

And I think this was sparked with Leo, like the first time we experienced just what you're talking about is he got something wrong or math.

A math answer wrong.

Because he did it a different way he got the right answer, but he got to it in a way that he wasn't.

The teacher didn't teach him, so they, I think, marked it wrong.

Cassidy: 00:08:25

Yeah.

And he actually answered.

She answered, how did you get this question right?

And he wrote down the way he got it right.

It was a way that she'd never seen before.

And she said, well, that's not the way we teach it.

And he goes, well, I got the correct answer quicker this way.

Why is it wrong?

And she's like, because it was quicker and it was.

It confused him.

And I said, leo, you're right.

I go, if you don't do well in this class, I don't care.

I go, you use your way because we are not going to confine ourselves to this bs.

You find a way that works, and it consistently works.

It's not just a one off or a two off.

Use it.

That's what life's about.

It's creativity, adventure, exploring, and, you know, especially with something like math.

And, you know, Leo is 10 now.

He was fortunate.

And I don't know how much I put into IQ tests these days, but he did score very high on an IQ test.

I don't know if that really matters, but he's in these gifted classes, and I don't even know what that means anymore.

Kristina: 00:09:32

Right.

Cassidy: 00:09:32

Like, what does gifted really mean?

But at the end of the day, like, they still are shaping him or trying to use that word, and he's not even being challenged.

Right.

It's like, oh, you're in a gifted program so that what, we can go brag to our social circles that he's gifted?

I mean, give me a break.

And that's how we feel about it.

It's like, every kid is gifted.

Every kid has gifts.

How do you unlock the gifts?

That is the most important thing that I think public schools and private schools and general schools miss is that every kid has their gifts.

How do you get to them?

Kristina: 00:10:11

Yeah, and that's so important because one of the things we talk about when we're talking with families is like, you know, your child has those gifts.

Right.

Or they learn a different way.

And if you can't make that happen or accommodate that in the school system, then homeschooling might be a good fit for you and your family.

So I love that you're already exploring that.

And Cassidy told us that you're heading in that direction as soon as you can.

Alex: 00:10:36

Yeah.

We're physically creating the environment we need in order for this to become a reality for our family.

Kristina: 00:10:42

I Wanted to talk about the vault just a little bit more because Cassidy, I know that you're also putting the fitness aspect in there.

What was the impetus, what was the idea of like, you know, because a lot of people think about schooling spaces or co working spaces where the homeschooling and the parents can kind of work together.

Why the fitness aspect?

Tell us a little bit more about that and why that's so important to where you guys are headed.

Alex: 00:11:05

Well, we've been in fitness our whole lives.

He was being super humble when he said, I made my part time jobs, my full time job.

By that he means he.

Yes.

Owned the bar restaurant and then he opened a gym that turned into a franchise of 15 locations of gyms.

Kristina: 00:11:18

So yeah, just a little bit humble there.

Alex: 00:11:20

Yes.

So, so and then I, you know, before we met I was in fitness and then we joined forces and I was working in his, we turned it into a license concept.

But in any case, we have been in fitness our whole lives and been athletes.

He did competitive football, we both did competitive obstacle course racing, which is kind of a funny little niche sport.

And we have children.

Anyone who has children understands a couple of things.

How much physically movement their body needs and how great that is for everything else in their body and their brain.

And two, we love how, what it teaches, right?

Doing hard things, essentially.

Not only doing hard things, sometimes doing fun things, going across monkey bars they don't think about as doing hard things, but it unlocks so much in their brain, I think, and in their, in their personal development.

So I think just a passion for a fitness and sport and what it teaches regardless of if they want to be professional athletes or not.

I think every kid benefits from what sport, what, what fitness teaches and yeah, the wellness that comes with it, I.

Herb: 00:12:27

Think, I think that's especially helpful for boys as well.

And brain science studies are now showing that boys really shouldn't even be in school until they're seven or eight years old.

They should be out roughing and tumbling and because their brains, because that, that primes their brain to be able to even learn reading.

So by putting them into School at 4, 5, 6, you're actually shutting off the last bit of their development that actually makes their education come around a lot smoother and they learn differently.

They're out running and toughing and playing and learning by interacting with stuff.

And so forcing them to sit for six or seven hours, well, five hours a day inside of a classroom is actually very kind of detrimental.

And so when we talk to people about taking their kids out of school.

It's like when you do that, don't make them do anything for, for a couple of weeks, a month or two months.

Let them get school out of it.

And so then we also talk about unschooling where it's like with you building the thing, having the him watch the construction, being around you while you're doing your own work.

That kind of an education is so much more important than learning to read and write and do math because that stuff will come.

But what they can learn from you by modeling and seeing what you're doing is so much more valuable than what's happening in the school work.

And so just, just that you're like, you're preparing the place is like, have them be part of that.

Preparation is like my first, my first advice there so they can see what you're doing and model through that as well.

And just the education for the next several months while you're building that is probably going to be greater than what they get out of being in the classroom.

And I'm sorry, but no.

Cassidy: 00:14:09

The big thing for me in the word that hits me is confidence.

And there's something from fitness.

I take it a step further with the vault.

Like we are going to offer self defense and not just one type of self defense like Leo, who's 10, and Jaxby, who is 6, both wrestle.

And my son Leo, he's second in the state in wrestling.

And what that's done for his confidence, just that he knows how to defend himself and that, that feeling and that has, you know, really transpired and transferred into other things in his life.

I think it's.

And I always say this about, I have two daughters and I want them to always be on even level or higher emotionally, mentally and physically with any boy.

Right.

That they possibly might date or interact with.

And I never want them to be nervous because the facts are that I don't think any child or any adult should feel that way.

It's really not a good feeling where you don't feel like you have something that you can fall back on if you're in a bad situation.

So self defense is just something I don't think we put enough emphasis on.

And that is another part of the vault that we're going to have some choices when it comes to wrestling, Brazilian jiu jitsu, possibly boxing, Krav Maga, you know, safe and effective self defense techniques and practices and exercises so that kids feel really good about themselves.

Has nothing to do about winning or losing.

Just has to do about, hey, I'm in a bad situation, what do I do?

How do I protect myself?

Herb: 00:15:56

Love that.

Kristina: 00:15:57

Absolutely.

Yeah.

That word confidence is so, so important.

And it's one of the things that, as children are, you know, in certain school situations and things, if they don't have the support that they need, they lose their confidence, right.

They start thinking, oh, I'm bad at math, I'm bad at reading, whatever.

I can't understand this kind of thing.

And it might not be that they can't learn it.

It might be that they aren't learning it the way that their brain really connects to it.

So that's one of the things that I love about some of the other classes and things that you've been talking about putting into the vault for the kids especially, is that they can learn in different ways.

They can have the activity close by.

They can go get their wiggles out, right.

And then be able to actually come and focus on what they want to learn or what they need to learn.

And I love that you bring that fitness into the family because, as you know, which is probably part of the research you've done, is that if the gym is 30 minutes away, it's less likely to be able to get to and get worked out and have some activity.

And if it's right there in the same space or like five minutes away, it's so much easier to get the whole family involved in that.

Cassidy: 00:17:01

That circles back to what you were exactly saying about time.

How much time do you waste?

And as a family of six, right.

And how many different ways we have to go.

Like, if you can bring all of that in house and do it with quality, that just opens up and unlocks so much more where you can have actual family dinners.

You don't actually have to be what I call parents, professional Uber drivers these days.

And that's how we become.

Or we're driving our kids from one practice to the next thing to the.

To a tutor, to here to there, to a friend's play date.

But you're.

How much are you really doing?

Right?

You're driving, you're not doing.

And a lot of times the interacting in the car isn't really quality time.

It's just driving.

So you know exactly like what you were just saying.

It's like the cool part about this is that the co working space with parents is, hey, if you work from home, you do have a co working space here.

So if you want to be here, excellent.

And a lot of times with homeschooling, let's say you have to travel for Work, you have to make arrangements.

Like there's things you have to do.

Well, now that that's gone, you have a spot that's a safe space and you have a safe place that you know your child will be.

And there's nothing like that here in Naples.

And there's nothing like that in a lot of places around the country.

And our, our goal, our main goal is to license 100 vaults in three years around the country.

And it's a very ambitious goal, but that's what we're trying to do.

Herb: 00:18:34

Yeah.

Another thing I really like, because you're talking fitness, it's not just about the exercise and the self defense.

It's also about the food.

And the food in schools is terrible.

Loaded with sugar.

So they pump kids full of sugar and then make them sit for an hour and then they pump them full of sugar and sit for two hours.

And so just cooking at home, teaching nutrition is a huge.

And even in this little town that we live in, when I grew up here, there weren't very many heavy people.

And now as I, as we go around town, it's like the kids are getting so much heavier.

They look so uncomfortable walking around.

And you know, whenever we were like riding and playing and climbing trees and now it's like, you look and it's like they don't know how to do that anymore.

They don't know how to play, they don't know how to have fun.

They don't know how to take care of themselves.

And as I, it's like, that's crushing to me watching our younger generation start to have old people problems in their teenage years.

Cassidy: 00:19:34

Yeah, that's a big part of the vault.

We're actually having a commercial kitchen.

So we're going to have some like, you know, farm to table nights.

And we're excited about doing things like that.

And we have friends that, that's exactly what they do.

They're, they're professional caterers and you know, we want to have them do cooking classes.

We want to do different nights where, you know, we do parents and kids together.

And that's, that's the, the culture we want to provide and that's the, the ethos of what this is about when it comes to the food aspects of, of the volume.

Herb: 00:20:10

Yeah, we, we lost home eck and that kind of stuff in our school system in the early 80s.

So I, I remember it's like I was looking forward to going to school and learning how to cook, and just as I got there, they took all of that stuff away.

And it's like, and they're trying to.

Kristina: 00:20:23

Put some of it back depending on the school district, but it really depends.

And it's not that we schools, oh yes we are.

But, but at the same time there's, there's just so many things that we know now as society and as parents that isn't working.

Right.

And so do we wait for them to catch up again with what we want as parents, family values, etc.

Or do we take our own empowerment back and say no, we're going to do it?

Cassidy: 00:20:50

That's exactly it.

It's taking it to them.

Right.

It's like if we wait for the school system to catch up.

Herb: 00:20:57

Right.

Cassidy: 00:20:57

Will they, and will they ever catch up?

Right.

And that's the biggest problem is, you know, they might be correcting things maybe.

But I don't like that feeling.

It really is a disempowering feeling, if that's even a word.

But like, I feel like I'm like, wait a second here.

And especially with Florida, we're very fortunate that our governor, you know, it doesn't matter what financial bracket you fall under, you get between 8,000 to $10,000 per child for homeschooling and school choice.

So that I love.

Because it doesn't matter and it doesn't give an excuse like oh, we don't have enough money.

No, that's not true.

Kristina: 00:21:42

Or we don't have that much money.

You should be able to have enough money to get something.

Cassidy: 00:21:46

Exactly.

Herb: 00:21:47

We live in Oregon.

Oregon has the highest per capita per child for the school system.

They offer no help for homeschooling whatsoever.

And we are second to the last in math and third to the last in reading.

We are, we are ranked like second and third from the bottom across the board in our education system.

Over half of our graduating seniors can, can't read at a sixth grade level.

So oh, Oregon, with the most money the government spends on education for any state.

And we are rock bottom.

Alex: 00:22:21

Yeah, yeah.

And what you said something that like school isn't working.

And what I hear a lot of people say to that is, oh, well, I grew up in the public school system and I'm fine and so did we.

And I guess we're fine, but it's fine.

What we want for our kids, like do we want better, do we want optimal, do we want to be able to pursue our kids interests, have them, you know, have the best things available to them and, and be able to do what's best for them?

Kristina: 00:22:47

I absolutely love that.

That's fine.

Cassidy: 00:22:50

There's something you said, but I don't know which one of you said it or maybe both of you said it, but it's so true.

And I think it's an obstacle that Cassidy and I are going to come across when we open.

And our pre.

Pre opening is unlearning.

Kristina: 00:23:04

Right.

Cassidy: 00:23:04

People unlearning.

Because I think people are scared.

They're scared to take the jump.

It's a great idea and it might be awesome for someone else's child, but am I going to do this with my child?

Right.

And that.

Herb: 00:23:18

That's big myth number two.

I'm not qualified to teach my child.

Cassidy: 00:23:21

Okay, yeah.

Herb: 00:23:22

The teachers aren't qualified to teach your child.

They're taught how to teach to a book, to a page student.

They're not teaching your children how to learn.

They're teaching your kids the facts that the school district wants to put in and unschooling or just stepping out of that.

I like Florida, too, because one of the, one of the best curriculums out there for homeschooling is the Florida Virtual Curriculum because it is so in the right direction.

Now there's a lot of more niche ones that you can get to, but a lot, a lot of people head to Florida Virtual because it is a good, solid system that doesn't have a lot of garbage in it.

Cassidy: 00:24:02

So that's interesting because we're at the point and Cassie and I have had some strategic meetings.

We're not sure yet if we're just going to go with one, like, one curriculum or let the parents choose.

Because I agree with you.

Like, the research I've done on the Florida Virtual Curriculum is excellent.

And I had a preconceived notion that it wasn't going to be.

But the people I've talked to and the parents that I've talked to, they're extremely happy with it and they're satisfied with it.

And I'm like, wow.

I, you know, just mistakenly just, oh, well, it might not be good, you know, but, you know, at the end of the day, I think it might be advantageous to give choice to the parents and say, hey, we have some opportunities that we like, but if you want to go a different route, so be it.

Because, you know, the pillars that we really are about are the leadership.

Right.

Agriculture.

Agriculture, craftsmanship.

And last one, the wellness.

Wellness, self defense and fitness and entrepreneurship.

Yeah.

So, you know, those are the pillars that we're on.

So it's like, you know, no matter what, pick your own adventure and let's get after it.

Herb: 00:25:23

And for curriculum, really, it's just math, science, reading.

Once you get past those, it's like you start teaching your children to love learning, and then you get out of the way and the curriculum becomes, like, just the smallest aspect of it.

And so if your kid really likes, like, dinosaurs, you start getting them dinosaur books.

Then there's dinosaur math and years and history, and pretty soon it's like, stop talking to me about dinosaurs.

And they're coming and they're teaching you.

So if you force them into a curriculum completely and it's like, no, and you try and replicate school in your homeschool, that.

That goes awry.

So every, every child is individual.

Some of them are going to take to the curriculum.

Some of them are just going to be able to, oh, I love this, and just run their whole life.

And it's like, oh, I need to learn how to read to get to this.

Oh, I need to learn the math to do this.

And then they pull that stuff in instead of trying to push it out at them.

So that's something to keep in mind as you're going forward, is to figure out what your child loves to do and then point things and then let them go, and they will bring it to you and drive you nuts.

Mom, dad, look at this.

Mom, dad, look at this.

Cassidy: 00:26:36

Yeah, My son really loves physics, and he knows more about physics than I do at this point.

So it's like at 10.

At 10, exactly.

Herb: 00:26:45

So let him go into physics and.

Kristina: 00:26:48

And you don't have to know.

You just have to be curious with him.

Cassidy: 00:26:51

Exactly.

And.

And actually, I learned from him.

And he always wants to watch.

He loves ted.

Ted talks, he loves Ted eds, and he wants to watch TED EDS all the time.

And, you know, you're exactly right.

I'm learning with him, and I'm learning things that I like about Galileo, Galileo and Isaac Newton and things that I'd forgotten about that I was like, wow, this is pretty cool.

And he loves all of this, and he doesn't get that at school.

Right.

He gets a little bit of it, but I wish he got more of it.

And it's like, why push him into things that he might not?

Like he should have a certain amount of it, but he needs to be pushed farther down the trough of what he really loves to do.

So.

Herb: 00:27:37

Yeah.

We recently were talking with a.

With a lady.

One of their children loved learning about different places in the world.

So he.

He, like, went off as, like, tractors and this and food and.

And he can.

He knows the globe and cultures, and he's only like 10 years old, but he's like, mom, look what I learned about this country.

And he's just, like, inundating with.

With all of this amazing world knowledge.

Instead of like a couple of hours a week for maybe world history one or two semesters before high school, it's like, now he has this amazing vocabulary of.

Of what's in the world that.

That his mom doesn't even have.

I don't even have.

It's amazing.

What.

What Again, when you let the children go, what they will bring to you.

Cassidy: 00:28:25

Yeah.

Yeah.

100%.

Kristina: 00:28:27

Cassidy, based on our pre conversation, I would categorize you and Alex as not homeschool curious, but homeschool forward moving, because you're moving towards that.

One of the things I want to talk about to help inspire other families and other people who are listening on the show is like, what were some of the things that maybe the both of you kind of looked at or are looking at to help you make that decision?

Make were.

Was one of you like, no, there's no way we're ever going to homeschool, and then the other one kind of brought you over, or did you kind of both say, yeah, it's time to move in this direction, Talk about that decision and that kind of transition from homeschool curious to homeschool mostly definite during this last little bit.

Alex: 00:29:12

Yeah, it was.

There was really never any pushback on either side.

For us, to be totally honest.

It's about logistics, which I think is what a lot of people struggle with outside of, like, I can't.

I'm not smart enough to teach my kid.

I think those.

Those can be overcome.

But if you have two working parents, that's a little bit harder to overcome.

Herb: 00:29:33

I don't have the time.

That's our number one.

Cassidy: 00:29:36

And I'm gonna say the real, like, nuts and bolts of really the why it's.

When we moved to Naples, we bought into a franchise, and I don't want to get into it too much, but the franchise we bought into was really not what it was billed to.

What it is.

Okay.

Or what it was, and we ended up exiting it, and that's what gave us the push.

We made a lot of contacts in Naples.

We have a 10,000 database of all of the people in Naples.

When we ran ads because it was a fitness franchise.

When we ran homeschool classes.

Right.

The analytics were insane.

Okay.

For the interest in that.

And they didn't even know what it was.

They thought maybe we offered homeschooling.

Herb: 00:30:30

Right.

Cassidy: 00:30:30

They didn't even understand it.

So that helped give us the courage to say, okay, there is an interest here.

Now let's do it.

Because we talked about it, but it was like, well, do we send our kids anywhere?

Do we do it ourselves and they stay home all day?

Do we serve the community?

And a big part of what we want is to serve the community.

And we're fortunate enough that we have five acres in Naples, very close to a lot of different.

A lot of different types of people, too, from different neighborhoods.

And.

And some are affluent, some are farmers.

So there's a lot of rural.

And that's what we love about where we live, is we are going to draw a melting pot of people.

So, you know, at the end of the day, that's what really I would say was the.

The last part was, boom.

Sell this business.

Now we have the time, we have the effort.

And, you know, but it's still scary because it's a business and it's something we've never done before, and it's something it's not like we've looked at.

Has anybody really done this yet?

Can we, like, emulate somebody else?

And not really.

Like, people have kind of done this, but not really we're doing it.

Alex: 00:31:50

Yeah.

There's a ton of hybrids around here, but nothing that involves the whole family that, like, we're trying to do.

And.

Yeah.

So just to bring together your question.

Yeah, there was never really a pushback from either one of us on the concept of homeschooling.

We're both fully sold on that.

It was just our hesitation and literally construction going on in the back.

So some.

There's a huge truck coming in he's got to tend to.

So it was really just a matter of when those, you know, those businesses went away.

We bought this property over two years ago, and we had this idea from the get go.

It was kind of like a dream.

Like, what if we had this big building and then we had this and this and this, and it kind of opened up this space to be like.

So it was never an issue of, should we homeschool?

We always kind of wanted to, but we're like, what would be our dream scenario?

To homeschool?

Right.

Or what would be our dream?

Not even just to homeschool, like our dream lifestyle for our family right now.

And so, yeah, we just decided to build that.

Kristina: 00:32:48

Yeah, absolutely.

Herb: 00:32:50

The third leg of the stool.

This is one of.

One of my fun analogies is especially business owners and entrepreneurs.

Everything they do is to.

For the betterment of their family.

They but they have to do lots of business development because they want a business.

They have to do a lot of stuff that you don't want to do to make a business run.

It's like if you want to do fitness and you're, that's your focus, but now you got to do bookkeeping and marketing.

And so you have to do business development.

And then there's personal development.

It's like, what do I have to learn?

What is my mindset credentials do I need to keep?

What are my values?

And all of this they're doing for their family.

And if you ask them, they'll say, oh, I'm doing this all for my family.

But so much of their time, it's like they don't have time for their family.

We were doing that.

My youngest son doesn't talk to me anymore.

So one of the things that we, why the reason we started this is one of the business things is you start with the end goal in mind.

You're doing this all for your family.

You want to have this family set up and it's like, we'll do that.

Take your kids out of school, teach them yourselves, make them part of your business, show them what you're doing, make them part of all of that.

And put that third leg under the stool to hold that family up of family development.

Because everybody says their family is so much important.

And then especially with entrepreneurs, it's like there's the hour to drop them off at school.

There's every day right at like 7 or 8 o', clock, which is prime working time for entrepreneurs.

And then towards the end of the day, three to five, right before business closing, when everybody's trying, that's the other time you pick them up.

And, and then, and then the teachers days where it's like every other week there's a day or two where the kids don't go to school and you have to rearrange your schedule that if you take all of that time out and it's like two to three hours a day of being with your kids, and then, then they grow kind of on their own.

Entrepreneurs finally actually have more time once they take their kids out of school to be able to flex.

Because kids can learn in the evening, they can learn in the morning, they can learn around your schedule and they can be with you while you're doing what you need to do.

Kristina: 00:34:54

Yeah.

Alex: 00:34:55

And it takes that rush, that constant rush.

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta get your shoes on.

Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go.

And if everyone could just slow down, I think Everyone would be a lot happier.

Kristina: 00:35:07

Yeah, absolutely.

Herb: 00:35:08

Exactly.

So, yeah, that third leg of the.

Kristina: 00:35:10

Stool, that family development.

Absolutely.

So moving forward.

Cassidy: 00:35:14

Forward.

Kristina: 00:35:15

I know you're in the process of building right now and you're looking at what specifically you want in the homeschool, things like that.

What are maybe your two next steps so in case someone else is listening, like, okay, I've covered this check.

I've covered this check.

They're kind of looking at this.

This might help guide me to the next step.

What's maybe next two steps in the homeschooling education portion of the building?

Alex: 00:35:39

Well, like Alex said, we're in calls with different businesses that have to do with curriculums or two hour learning systems, student led, you know, Socratic method type things that align with, with us as far as the education portion.

So it's just research, a lot of research and a lot of networking that I've already been doing just in the community.

You know, I've been in the Facebook groups, I've been talking to every homeschool mom that I can in the area.

So like I was saying to you earlier, like, it could be a little bit intimidating to come a world to come into, especially since we're creating a business around something where we don't homeschool our kids yet.

Honestly, it's a little bit, some might think that a little bit odd, but we have done a lot of research and we continue to humbly want to learn from any homeschool parent everything that we can learn about all the different curriculums and options as far as core academics.

So for us it's that, it's that market research and then from, for us, from a business standpoint, it's about creating our team, creating a team, hiring people who are like minded.

Because that word, culture, we are trying to create a culture of when you walk in the door, that these are like minded people who love freedom, fitness, family, entrepreneurship, getting after it every day and having joy and having flexibility and freedom with your family.

And so really trying to create a really cool culture and community.

So those are the two things.

It's that culture building, starting with hiring, and it's that just continuing to research and be really get into the homeschool community here and figure out, you know, and learn whatever we can.

Kristina: 00:37:20

Beautiful.

Now it's time to tell the audience out loud.

Of course everything is down the show notes too, but how do they get ahold of you?

They're like, oh my gosh, this sounds amazing and we might want to start our own.

And we had talk To Alex and Cassidy or.

Oh, my gosh, we're in Florida.

We're close by.

We actually want to get in on this.

Give us that.

Your contact information.

Alex: 00:37:38

100.

Herb: 00:37:38

100 Facilities.

That's two per state.

Somebody might want to like, oh, I want in on this.

Alex: 00:37:43

How do I got to get your territory now?

Yeah.

So the number one place I'll keep it super simple and straightforward is the Vault, naples.com which will be in the show notes.

I feel like that'll be the simplest way.

And there's all the information on there.

Forms, contacts, socials, everything from there you'll be able to find.

So.

Thevaultnaples.com Beautiful.

Kristina: 00:38:05

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And did you have anything written down in your notepad off to the side?

Oh, I want to make sure we talk about this or we haven't covered this.

Is there anything that we haven't gotten to today that you're like, oh, I really hope we talk about this.

Alex: 00:38:19

I have no notes.

I have a coffee.

But, you know, earlier I was going to mention that we actually have a book that we just.

That just came out that we wrote, we keep forgetting to talk about called.

It's called Toughen up, and it's on Amazon.

It's written by Alex and I.

And it's a very along the concept of what we've been talking about.

It's actually telling parents to toughen up in the sense of let your kids see you doing hard things, whether that's building a business in your backyard, whether that's a hard workout.

You know, we mentioned we own fitness facilities and there was youth training, and we'd see these parents watching their kids, and there was adult training in the back.

But we're like, you want to come, though?

No, no.

So like, imagine the impact of.

I think as we get older, we get a little bit more scared.

Right.

We get a little bit more scared of taking risks because there's higher stakes.

Right.

Especially when you have a family.

So the whole concept is to not lose that.

To not lose that.

Keep doing scary hard things and let your kids to see you do that.

I was talking about Toughen Up.

Cassidy: 00:39:23

Oh, book.

Alex: 00:39:24

Yes.

So that is available on Amazon.

And so that's another thing we could pop there in the show notes.

Kristina: 00:39:30

I love that.

Send us a link or something.

Perfect.

Because it's one of those things that whenever we're doing hard things and we're doing it, but we don't explain it out loud a little bit that our kids see you doing it.

But maybe Sometimes they don't click in.

Right.

That was one of the things we learned with our entrepreneurship, is that we didn't.

We weren't as open with our kids as we probably should have been.

So, like, when we were struggling, we tried to hide it, like, oh, everything's fine, and they would know that something was off.

Right.

Or we didn't explain the business enough.

It's like, I'm going to this meeting tonight so I can learn this, so then our family can do this.

Right?

Really helping them connect the dots.

So instead of them saying, oh, mom and dad are always so busy, they don't have time for me, instead of understanding the why and where you're going with it.

So just to impart that to you as you're building in the backyard, you know, have those sit down discussions.

Oh, yeah.

We're doing this part because this.

And we're doing this part because of this.

We have to go out tonight and leave you with the babysitter tonight because we want to get this part done.

But then make sure you give them the time back whenever possible.

So.

Herb: 00:40:37

And the parents.

And the parents watching the kids instead of going and doing on their own.

That's like the meme of.

It's like, wow, I wish my kids would read more as they're sitting there scrolling through the phone instead of reading.

Telling your kids is so much different than modeling the actions that you want your kids to do.

So it's like, no, you need to work out because that's good for you.

But I'm going to sit here.

It's like, no, show your kids.

Show your kids that you mean what you say.

It's like rules for you and not for me.

It's like, no, make it consistent for, for the, for the parents as well.

So if you're going to make your kids do it, you need to be stepping up and doing it as well.

Cassidy: 00:41:15

Did you go into the try?

Did you talk about the try?

Alex: 00:41:18

No.

Cassidy: 00:41:18

Okay.

So, like, the fitness gym that we ran was both for kids and for adults.

Alex: 00:41:24

I think I did.

Yeah.

They saw the kids doing it.

Yeah.

Cassidy: 00:41:27

Yeah.

So it was like the big thing was you don't have to be the fastest.

You're not gonna be as good as what you were when you were 20.

You're not gonna be the fastest sprinter.

You're not gonna bench press £400.

Kids don't care.

They just want to see you try.

That's it.

And the respect level you get for trying and the street cred you get for trying from your kids.

Is way higher than, like, what you just said is telling them and sitting back with your shoulders like this.

And when I was your age, I did 52 push ups in a row and I did this and I did that.

And like, I have a saying, the older I get, the better I was.

And it's like, nobody cares what you did yesterday.

Just go out and try and have fun.

Alex: 00:42:11

That our family motto is, work hard, try your best, have fun.

So it works across everything.

But it's very easy for them to understand in sport and wrestling.

They got their butt kicked in a match, which is a great, resilient lesson to learn and to be able to walk with your hand head held high and shake the kid's hand, and shake their coach's hand when you just got your butt kicked.

And you know, they always know when they come back to us, we don't care if you want, did you work hard, did you try your best, and did you have fun?

So it applies to all areas of life, too.

Cassidy: 00:42:40

There's.

There's one way we grade.

There's one way.

There's nothing else.

It's not wins, it's not losses, it's effort.

And I tell my son this every time he goes on the wrestling mat.

I do not care, son, if you win or lose this match.

It's, did you just flop?

Lay down and lay down because you heard the kid that you arresting is.

Herb: 00:43:00

The reward is in the work, not after the work is done.

Cassidy: 00:43:03

So it's sheer effort.

What did we do?

How did you do it?

Did you try?

Did you do everything you could have possibly done?

Herb: 00:43:12

Yeah.

What did you learn?

Is there a new technique that you want?

Is like, oh, if I could have done this, it's like, okay, let's practice that technique.

So next time you get in there.

Cassidy: 00:43:20

There's many wrestling matches he's had where he's been better than the kid that he's wrestling, and we both know it.

And I say, let's work on the techniques, the new ones.

Let's try some new stuff.

He said, well, what if I lose?

Who cares?

Nobody cares.

You're 10.

Like, the best thing that ever happened is we went to a very big tournament.

It was a national tournament.

And the actual ambassador, the organizer of the tournament, first thing he said, he got everyone together and there was probably a thousand people there.

And he goes, raise your hand.

If you're a college recruit, please raise your hand.

Everybody looked around, not one person raised their hand.

And he goes, you see what I mean?

He goes, we're not here, folks, to bash our kids and to scream at them if they lose.

We're here to get better.

We're here to have fun.

All right?

And we're here to get after it.

That's it.

Like, don't make it more than what it is.

Kristina: 00:44:18

Absolutely love that.

Oh, my gosh.

Alex, Cassidy, thank you.

This has been an excellent show.

Thank you for your vulnerability because, I mean, sometimes when you're in the process of building something, you don't necessarily want to share too much because it's like, oh, well, we haven't proven it yet.

We haven't done it yet.

But I think the inspiration that you've given on what you have already accomplished and where you're headed, as well as the plans and things that you've shared, can really inspire and inform other families who are ready to maybe take that next step and be courageous in their own way of helping their families grow and learn.

So thank you for being on the show today and thank you for being here with us.

Herb: 00:44:53

Yes, thank you so much for being here.

In this day and age, there are so many people who just talk about the problems and so few people who are willing to step up.

And you took your knowledge, you went out and you fought your battles, you killed your dragons.

You got your goals.

Kristina: 00:45:08

They're not quite there yet.

Herb: 00:45:08

No, they did.

Cassidy: 00:45:11

We're still in the middle of our quest gym.

Herb: 00:45:13

Right.

And now you're bringing that back to your people, to your home and to your village, and you're sharing that wealth with others, and that is the hero's journey.

So you are heroes.

You're not talking about the problems.

You're not wishing something would be different.

You're out there making it different, and that makes you heroes, and that makes you people that I am so happy to have on our show and in our lives.

So thank you so much for being here.

Alex: 00:45:39

Thank you, guys.

Cassidy: 00:45:40

You guys have a great one.

Kristina: 00:45:42

All right, it is your turn now.

If something has been inspiring to you in the show, please leave, like, reviews, comments, please share this with somebody else.

You have a family who is homeschool, curious.

You have a family that's like, almost homeschool.

Definite.

I give them some inspiration.

Share Alex and Cassidy and any of the other shows in the Bringing Education Home series that will help you and your family take it to the next level.

Herb: 00:46:07

Yep.

Thank you so much for being here.

And if you are going to share it, go into the comments and do an at the person's name, because then you're not only sharing it, which takes just as much effort, but you're interacting with our channel, and that helps the algorithm get our information out to more people.

And these people deserve to be seen by more people.

What they're doing is awesome and incredible, so if you're going to share, let's get it out there.

Let's.

Kristina: 00:46:33

This.

Herb: 00:46:33

This stuff needs to be spread out more.

Kristina: 00:46:35

So.

Herb: 00:46:35

So thank you.

Kristina: 00:46:36

All right, everybody, bye for now.

Herb: 00:46:38

Bye for now.