.jpg)
Strong Leaders Serve with Teri Schmidt
The leadership podcast for people who are in leadership not for the status and power, but instead to use that status and power to turn potential into performance for positive change.
Hosted by Teri Schmidt, Leadership Coach & CEO of Strong Leaders Serve.
Each week we focus on supporting leaders who are dealing with the overwhelming realities of transitioning into and operating in roles where their success isn't just defined by their performance, but by the performance of their team.
Roles where they are responsible for building trust, promoting psychological safety, conflict management, taking care of their team member's wellbeing, motivating other humans, and managing up, all while trying to GET THINGS DONE.
Through solo episodes with focused and relevant leadership tips and inspirational interviews with seasoned leaders and experts, we help leaders get past their overwhelm to careers of courageous impact.
Listeners hone their skills in making their workplaces more compassionate and just through their leadership.
Strong Leaders Serve with Teri Schmidt
183. Inefficiency by Design: Creating Impact & Ownership with Luke Mickelson
When it comes to leadership, efficiency isn’t always the goal—especially if it means leaving people out of the process.
In this episode, CNN Hero and Sleep in Heavenly Peace founder Luke Mickelson shares how “inefficiency by design” became a powerful strategy for building both beds and belonging. We explore what it means to lead through service, why volunteer experience matters as much as the mission, and how to turn purpose into action—one meaningful step at a time.
Resources:
Looking for a community of leaders where you can tackle real challenges, share wins, and grow together—without office politics getting in the way? Join Leadership Thought Partners, a coach-led, group-directed space launching in July—early bird pricing ends May 31, 2025 at strongleadersserve.com/ltp!
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-m-schmidt/
Get 1-on-1 leadership support from Teri here: https://www.strongleadersserve.com/coaching
Set up an intro call with Teri: https://calendly.com/terischmidt/discoverycall
What if the secret to greater impact isn't doing things faster, but making space for more people to get involved? Today's guest, Luke Mickelson, believes in inefficiency by design as the founder of Sleep and Heavenly Peace, he's built a global organization where the process matters just as much as the outcome because it's through the process that people find purpose. What started as a simple project in his garage to help a local child has grown into over 400 chapters in four countries. All working to ensure that no kid sleeps on the floor in their town. Along the way, Luke's humans helping humans philosophy has earned him national attention. Being named a CNN Top 10 Hero and featured on Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt TEDx. Returning the favor with Mike Rowe. And even on a Lays potato chip bag. In this episode, we talk about what it really means to lead through service, how to design experiences that create ownership, and why sometimes doing less efficiently can actually lead to more transformation for everyone involved. It was an inspiring conversation that I'm excited to share with you, so let's get into it. I am Terry Schmidt, executive and leadership coach at Strong Leaders Serve, where we work with caring driven leaders to transform potential into performance. And this is the Strong Leaders Serve podcast.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Welcome Luke to the Strong Leaders Serve Podcast. It is a great honor to have you on today. As I mentioned before we hit record, I got exposed to sleep in heavenly peace. The wonderful organization that you founded and run several years ago, and I'm really excited to learn more about you as well as learn more about, you know, some of the strategies that you use that I think can be very applicable to leaders in corporate as well.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Great. Yeah.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:thank you for being here.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you for having me on. I'm excited. This is it's always good to share, you know, your story. My. as well as connect with other people, like-minded people that, you know, have run nonprofits and, and, and have run businesses, right? And know the, the struggles that go from entrepreneurship, startups to, long-term longtime, businesses and, and, nonprofits. So anyways, lo, love the
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Great. Well, I'd love for you to start off by telling us a little bit about the origin and mission of Sleep and Heavenly Peace for those who aren't familiar.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:You bet. You know, let me start, I'll start a little bit further back just so people understand who. Who they're listening to right now. You know, I, I grew up in a very small town, Kimberly, Idaho, right next to Twin Falls. You know, the town was 4,000 people, and I was one of those guys. Of course, all you small town people out there understand what I'm saying, you know, if you could pick a ball up and throw it in the right direction somewhat accurately, or could run. Somewhat fast. You know, you had to play sports and, and it was great. You know, I played every sport. I tell, I tell people, I, you know, I was, there was two weeks of the year, prob pretty much my whole high school, even junior high school, two weeks of the year, I didn't have practice or a game and that was it. Right. You know, you just, you just had to play. Which, which was great because the, the pros as well as the cons of being in a small town is. You knew everybody and they knew you. Right? And so, so there's, there's benefits there. But, but I loved growing a small town and you, because you get to know everybody. You know, you enjoy the opportunity to learn and grow and, with people. And to be able to serve'em. You know, my mom, single mom grew up in a single home really funny. She was the elementary. Principals, secretary, right when I went And then the minute I moved to high school, yeah, she moved and was now the secretary to the, superintendent who's, you know, we're small high school. So I, I couldn't, I couldn't skip school. I was, you know, I was one of those four
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you know, Hey, was, is Luke sick today? You know, and anyways, it was, I was one of, but I, I had, I was raised by my mom. I had an older brother who, he was the oldest, and so he was kind of outta the house. But I had two older sisters, a younger sister, and my mom. So there was, I was raised by four women. I was the best dressed kid in the town.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:I bet.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:times? My sister's like, really? You're, you're gonna wear that? Apparently not. No. So, and, and, and growing up I just learned the value of connection and the value of serving. And, and I enjoyed it, you know, through, once I was out of high school, you know, I served a mission for my church and, the opportunity just to meet people was fun. You know, we walk up and down the streets and people would mow their lawn and. I jump out there and see if, you know, suit and tie. I'm out there to see if I can help'em mow the lawn. I just love connecting with people and, and I think I get that from, from my mom. You know, she, five kids growing up. Single mom is not, an easy, an easy task. You know, she had three jobs and I remember many times after basketball games or whatnot in high school, you know, we still had, I, we'd go home, get off the bus, jump in the car, and we'd have to go, you know, clean some offices. That's how we learned, you know, and so. And I remember my mission president, gave me some great advice. He said, you know, Luke, if you look at whatever you end up in your career wise, if you look at it as a way of serving people and not just taking a paycheck, it'll be so much more pleasant. And, and he was, you know, he sure was right. And I, I really took that to heart. And, and even in later on in years when I, I got hired on, by a, a local water treatment company and I served there for about 20 years. I enjoyed it. I always looked forward to ways that my customers, they'd rely on me, you know, something.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:broke down or whatnot. And these are big
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars going down the drain. Every minute they're down. You know, it was fun to be the guy that, that you could go in there and solve the, the problem.'cause I felt like they have service. And so I just enjoyed that growing up. But I always tell people about 2012, you know, I was 35 years old. I had a couple of kids. I was a couple of three kids, one brand new, one boy and a girl. And a boy. And then I coached, you know, coached kids in high school football and, and whatnot. And then in my church service, I was what was called a young men's president. And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:basically youth ministers sometimes is what it's called. But really I was over the spiritual growth and then the activity, the Wednesday night activities for, for the young men's program, ages 12 to 18. And in through this whole. of life. Right. I, I, you know, I tell people, I kind of felt like I was going through what maybe people would call a midlife crisis. You know, you're
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you've been in your career for a while. I had a, got a good job. I actually said I had a great job. I loved what I did. I. I, but I just felt like there was something in my life. I just, I felt like there was more I could offer and, and
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:wasn't being super fulfilled by it. And I, I know I, I was measuring success incorrectly. So all these things culminated in this, this small hole that started developing in my
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we, you know, we'd be, we'd have these meetings once, once or twice a month, and we'd talk about things that are going on in the church and in the, in the community and the, the people that we were helping, you know, and one, one family in particular, we were helping, it was a mom. She was a school bus driver at our local school. And then the dad, I know he suffered from some mental health issues, couldn't hold a job, so they were, you know, they, they actually lived in an apartment complex I didn't even know existed in my town. That's how small and remote this was. And and so they were going through the things that they were helping with, you know, rent and, and rides to school and food, and the kids didn't have any beds and bubble. And I was like, wait a minute. Did you just say the kids didn't have any beds? Like, they're like sleeping on the floor. one of the leaders says, yeah, and it, it, that just Terry, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:like, you know, I start thinking about my own kids. I start thinking about my Boy Scouts.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I said, you know, like literally every day, like certainly they've got a mattress and No, no, no, just blankets. And I just thought, wow, that is not, not good. You know, in
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And the, I thought about my Boy Scouts going, here's a great opportunity that I could get. Xbox controller outta their hands. Get'em out behind a screen, right? And we'll
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:good skill. We'll build, we'll build a bed for it.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:it wasn't like I was a sh, you know, a total stranger to tools. I'm not a carpenter and never
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:In fact, I tell people I had a, I kind of had to use my wife's tools. I didn't have all the, she had this framing business anyways. and so I took the Boy Scouts and, and I, I patterned this bunk bed a a little bit after what my d my daughter had a bunk bed she was sleeping on, and, and we built this bunk bed and I was worried that the boys weren't gonna have a good time. Right. Because It. And, and, but I was happily disappointed. Did I say that right? Maybe vice versa.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:They actually loved it. They had a great time, you know, and I, and I know it was because they knew of the cause it was going to, to help. You know, some kids, they were younger kids, you know, six and seven. And and, and, and the, the, the funny story, sad story is I didn't, I wasn't able to go on the delivery.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the boys and their parents and the other leaders went, this was in my garage. So I was, you know, back cleaning my garage.'cause it
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:a, start a winter as big first part of December and it was cold and I wanted to park inside. Anyways, the next day I heard how amazing it was. Was Right. You know, the, the, the emotions that the kids showed and the parents showed and, and, and the, and the boys themselves. Right. You know, they got up and shared their, their testimony of the
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, man, I felt happy and also felt really, really sad'cause,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:reap some of the reward that came from that. And so that mixed in with this kind of midlife. Crisis. You know, identity, faith, faith, cross crisis. I was going through, I was sitting on the couch with my kids, we were watching, I dunno, probably Big Bang. We loved watching Big Bang together. And a commercial came on and it was a commercial about you either know their Xbox or Xbox game, I don't remember, but I remember, and every parent knows this right before Christmas, these kids and they see these commercials and you know, you're not gonna get'em that, and they know that, but they're gonna turn around and ask you anyways. Right? And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Of
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:of
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:course.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:right, and, and, and it just hit me. I'm like, gosh dang it. ask for another Xbox. You got a bed. We just built a bed for, for someone that didn't have one. A kid, a kid your age didn't have one. And you know, it just hit me. And I, I remember I was sitting on the couch and I was about three inches off the ground. I remember thinking I could, I could tell my kids what, what happened. I can tell'em, you know, how they should be appreciative of what they have. I. Or I could just drop my feet on the ground, get off the couch, and get in the garage and, and teach'em just like I did the boy scouts. so that's what I did. I jumped off, off the, off the couch, walked out in the, in the garage. I mean, they're like, dad, where, where are you going? And I said, another bunk bed. And gosh dang it, you're coming with me. And and we had a great time, my little
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:daughter and her tutu was, was drilling and. My son was pounding wood and, and we just had fun figuring it out, you know?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, and really that's, that was kind of the start of it. It was more about, you know, getting my kids to appreciate the things they had as well as in, in, you know, find the same joy I had in
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and giving back and, and. Being the person that, that people can rely on. You know, I
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:really, really young, being single, single mom and five kids. We had one Christmas, we weren't gonna have Christmas. I mean, just didn't have the money. And my mom walked in to get
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:one time and she had$1,500 in her, in her hand, you know, from some stranger out there. And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:of course we knew who it was, but you
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:super, super neat. And I remember thinking, Terry, I wanna be that guy. I wanna be that person that helps. Right.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Now I wanted my kids to have that feeling. And so we built this bed,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:no idea what to do with it. I mean, we didn't know childlessness was a, was a real thing. I mean, I just knew about this one family'cause I happened to be in a meeting
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and so what do you do? What do you do with this bed? And, and, and I, someone recommended, Hey, why don't you throw it on one of these buy, sell trade Facebook groups? And I was like, you want me to put a free bed? Okay, that's probably not a good idea. But,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:You know, we did it and I was, I was expecting every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants a free bed. And although we got, we got a little bit of that, what we did get was the stories of real situations and real kids that are sleeping on pallets and sleeping on couches, sleeping with mom and dad and on the floor. And it was, it was. Awestruck, I was awestruck on just the number and the situation of what, what we were reading. And I remember I, I wanted this bed that my family and I built to go to a child is really needed. And, and and sure enough, a friend of mine who's a social worker at the time, she says, I got this family just, just got outta homelessness. And they got into a house. And I said, perfect. And so this is when I met Little Haley. So I walked into Haley's home. And I had seen poverty before. I'd seen, you know dealt with it in my services before, but I'd never seen it through the is eyes of a 6-year-old. You know? And when you, when you know that that's why you're there and you see these kids, I. Man, it is. It tore me up. And this house, I mean, there was, there was nothing in it. It was a hot plate sitting on a milk carton, you know, one of those little milk cartons that had a
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:on it. That was it. That was the only thing in the house. But Little
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:was so excited,'cause guess what? She had a room, she'd
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:in the backseat of her mom's car since she was born.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we go back in this room and, I mean, you can imagine what it looks like, right? It whole.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and then the wallpaper and all that. But what struck me the most, Terry was in the corner, was this pile of clothes. It was a little nest, and that's pretty obvious. That's where she slept. And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:from school, take her school clothes off, put her PJs on sleep, on her school clothes, and then I. Put'em on in the morning and, you know, it just broke my heart.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, and so we were pretty excited. Me, Jordan, Allen, my buddy, and my, my wife at the time, we, we brought in these pieces of bed and you could watch Haley try to figure out what we're doing, you know, and I think it was when I brought the mattress in, she's like. Oh my gosh, this is a bed and she just, she just blew up. I mean, it was awesome. She came over and hugged us. She came, she hugged the bed. She even kissed the bed. I'd never seen that before. So exciting. I mean, my gosh, I tear up
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:heart, you know? And then to, if that wasn't enough to just to rip your heart out,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Huh.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:here's mom. Six years of just tears.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Pouring down her face, you know, and I was like, I know every one of those tears. I've
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:with my own mom. It just, I mean, talk about hitting me right between the eyes and you know, we had about a 30 minute drive home from this house and. We didn't say hardly anything to each other. I mean,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:it was just so emotional. And I remember when I, I remember thinking, you know, I'm a farm kid from Idaho. I, I love hunting and fishing. I love college football and sports. Saturdays were filled with that. like that, none of it mattered anymore. Like. Few hours every night that we did to build that bed to solve a problem like that. Now,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:well worth my time, and I felt like the Grinch, you know, I felt like my heart just swelled three times, you know? And that hole that was, was, was being developed in my heart, just filled instantly. And, and I remember when we finally got home, I looked at my, my buddy and I said, Jordan, no kids can sleep on the floor in my town if I have anything to do with it. You And, and I didn't know how big of a statement that
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Or what the challenge was. But we, we, we ended up deciding, you know what, we're gonna build as many beds with our Christmas fund as we can. And we ended up building 21 beds all together,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Wow.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:11 bunk beds,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Uhhuh,
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:one single all before Santa showed up. You know,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:huh?
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:it was just, it was the greatest experience.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What a, what a story. And you know, what I'm hearing in that is, you know, you, you mentioned that kind of whole. In your heart that was, was developing and and instead of letting that grow, you were able to, to take action. And then the involvement, you know, starting with your family and then with others, bringing them into, you know, I'm not just gonna tell you about this. You're, you're coming here to do this with me, and no kid's gonna sleep on the floor in our town.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:know, I, I found is and I actually do a lot of public speaking
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:my speech covers what I call the TBF framework stands for two by four, which is kind of fun, but really
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:an acronym for Transform, build and Flourish. And, and what I found was, is. We all have a desire, you know, most people, I should say,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:they to transform something, whether it's, I, I I wanna be a better dad, or I wanna be a better employee or employer, or I wanna be better at my job. You know? We all want transformation in our lives. And and, and so did I, I mean, I, I didn't know it at the time. I felt something off.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, you know, looking back now, yes, I needed to transform. I wanted to, sometimes we focus so much on the wanting to transform, knowing sometimes we need to transform, right? Maybe we're addicted to, we have some, some addictions and things of that nature we need to transform out of or do something different. But what we miss is we focus too much on that and sleep and heaven. Me sleep and heavenly peace taught me that the second step, which is the build or a k, a action, that is the most important part of the step, right? I,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:if we don't have action behind our transformation, then it just stays a dream. And I,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:coach people on, listen, it's good to have a dream. You need to have that, you need to have some direction, but you need to spend more time. Developing the desire to act on and, and to build off of that dream. And that's where transformation begins, right? That's
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we really start seeing things happen. And then after that, once you, once you go through those steps, that's when you flourish and sleeping
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:You know, we went from 21 beds that first. For that first year and, and just one, one little family Christmas project,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And now we have over 400 chapters in four countries. We've
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Wow.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:beds. You know,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:bed building charity in the world, mostly because there's not a lot of, charities out there that do that.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:sure.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:it comes from always continue the process and framework of the TBF, you know, transform, be ready to transform. and work on building and then let flourishing and flourishing is not like an end point, right?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:ongoing thing and, and that's what the piece has taught me. And, and that's why I like to share with people is, you know,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:it's, it doesn't have to be nonprofits, whether, whether it's just a personal, know, trait that you wanna learn or, or overcome or become better at. You know, the TDF method teaches how TE taught me anyways, how to really focus energy and priority I. On, on things that are important. And, you know, I learned in, in the growth of a company that started, or, or a project that started in a garage to now the largest in the world. Some of those steps are very key. And the emphasis you have on'em are key, right? You
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:spend a lot of time dreaming, which is great. We need to have that, but you, we need to spend more time on the desire to act than it
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:on the, the dream to. To come to fruition.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I, I think it's so, well, I know it's so applicable to leaders and, and corporations too. You know, how, how you get your team to be successful is thinking about what. Your, those desired transformations are as a team, but also the leader, finding out what they are for each individual. You know, what are, what are those dreams? What are those desired transformations? And how can we create an environment where people can act, want to act, it's safe to act on those so that they can all flourish. And so,
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I learned very quickly, childlessness not a real word, but a
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I. Needs to be solved by the community. It's not gonna be solved by some farm kid from Idaho. Right. He's, he's meaningless when it
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the kids in your community right now. And people don't realize, you know, when I, when I tell people what I do, right? two, you know, I bill beds for kids that don't have any, there's two answers usually, typically two answers. The first one is, well, it's not that there's not that many kids, right? And I'm like, oh, you have no idea. It's greater than 3%. And those are statistics. That we came up with because there's no statistics anywhere about childlessness'cause it's
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Wow.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:word. Right.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right, right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we've come up with that after 13 years now of, of studying and, and working in this field, realizing that greater than 3% of the kids in your town, a hundred thousand people in your town, there's 3000 kids right now tonight that are gonna sleep on the floor, on air
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:crates on. closed. I mean, literally that's the case. And the second thing is, well, I live in a nice area. There's there, we don't have that here. I promise you. Childlessness knows no
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:It knows no geo geography. It, it knows hardships. It knows single moms or dads. It knows
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:issues. It knows foster care. It, it, it, it, it knows people that just lost their job or, or fi you know, all these, all these things that can happen to otherwise, you know, working Americans. And and to provide a solution for that needed to be a community effort. It
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:in on the community. And, and so we quickly, I, I realized that. we want this to grow and we truly wanna follow our mission, which our mission statement is, no kid sleeps on the floor in our town. We just want our town to be everybody's town, you know? And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:to com, in order to achieve that, we had to produce a platform that allows, you know, farm kids from Idaho like me that allow them to ex execute successfully,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the solving of the problem childlessness. And so that's what we.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I mean it's it's so powerful because they can not only own that mission, but then they have the support needed to take that action,
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Yeah.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:To, toward that mission.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:In 2018, I was a CNN hero. And the funny story about that is the, the next day after they did this big broadcast, I didn't even know what a
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:was at the time, by the way. Anyways, they they talked about our mission statement. There's 10 of us,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And they went around the room and talked about each one as mission statement, because a mission statement's important, especially in a nonprofit, well, probably, probably any company's
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:right? And usually a mission statement is the organization telling the public. This is what we do. Or maybe even this is how we do it and this is the why, right?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and whys. When they came to, to my mission statement, it was kind of a, it was not a heated situation you know, but it was really funny. They're like, oh, Luke, we need to work on your mission statement. I'm like, why is that? Well, it's just no kid sleeps on the floor in our town. You don't say what it is. You don't say, you're not telling anybody. I said, listen guys, mission statement is not meant. For the organization to tell the public
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:what we're doing. It's meant for the complete opposite.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:public, we want the, the community that lives there to say that.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I remember when I said it it was almost like, I mean, I was, I was almost upset, like
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:that fire going,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:You walk into a room. The 6-year-old girl has never had a bed before, never had a bed, and and you see her reaction. You can't help but get pissed off.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:mean, I was, I was, was floored. And,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and it just burned in me. It burned such a strong passion that. That you know, I say those words with extreme force, extreme passionate, and we want people to do the same. And so
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:statement is, is designed for the community to get involved.'cause that's, that's how we're gonna make real change here, is together and, and providing ways for, for people, common folk to, to be able to execute.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, so powerful. And, and, and please don't apologize for the emotion at all. It, it, it shows how important this. Yeah, no, that, that space to the power and, and that power that you've, you've distributed among everyone to, to have a hand in doing something to solve that problem instead of just getting upset about it, to actually do something about it. And I know, you know, I've heard you have a unique leadership philosophy in a sense, inefficiency. By design instead of, you know, where everyone's trying to get more and more efficient. In fact, just this, you know, just recently on a podcast we had a conversation about the drive for efficiency and, and the tension between that and resilience and,
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Yeah.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:so I'm just curious how that has come to play in your organization. And first maybe, you know, what, what does that mean to you in efficiency by design?
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:a a, absolutely. And don't get me wrong, I mean, I think you, you, you, you want to be efficient. I mean, especially in your business, right? There's certain aspects of business that technology that, that make your, your your profits, make your, just your overall organization work, work better when it's more efficient, when it comes to sleep and heavenly peace. And I will say any. is important. Any nonprofits out there and I do nonprofit coaching,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I've seen it a million times when you eliminate because you become more efficient in your process or in your, in your you know what, whatever, whatever mission you're doing, right? In our case, we build bids, right?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:efficient we made that bed build process, the less volunteers. Were were included. And
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we found out, and I have a, a kind of a quick story.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:story.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:when I, when I first did my very first public build where it wasn't my, just my family and friends, I
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I put it in the newspaper, Hey, we're gonna do this, this build. Keep in mind, this is Idaho, 1st of December, not like it's really warm outside.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:We're in this warehouse. No air, no air condition, no heat, whatever. Post out there, Hey, Saturday morning, come down and freeze your butt off and you know, build beds with kids or four kids.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:here walks in. Hank Hank's, this 70 plus year old guy, you know, he is kind of walking with that old man lip, right? But the cool thing about Hank is he's like handing out these little cards that say, thank you, thank you, or thank you for your service, I believe is what it said.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Hank had served before. Right? And the fact
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:there goes to show you a little bit about Hank. And, and he, he came up to me and I, you know, first of all, I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, building beds is not, I mean, we were four hours straight. This is not easy work. Is this guy gonna die on me? I mean, I was a little worried. And I'm like says, Hey, I'm here to help. I'm like, okay, Hank, what? You know, what, what, what are you comfortable with? You
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I was a carpenter for 40 plus years. I'm like, ah. I'm gotta put you on cutting because, you know, you can't stretch boards when it's cut wrong. So, so I, I threw'em on there and, and you know, remember when you build 20, 30, 40 beds, there's hundreds, if not thousands of cuts that
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Well, I put'em on there and like every chapter president you talk to, you're busy helping out 30, 40 other non or other volunteers that learn how to use the tools. And what do I do? Well, I
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:forgot about Hank here. It's four hours later and it dawns on me. I'm like, oh my gosh. Is my, is my little old man over there. Okay. And I look over there and he, you know, he looks at me and. I mean, his clothes are just as wide as his hair, right? Just
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And I went over there and I'm like how you doing? And he's like, Luke, he's like, I have volunteered at millions of times. He says, but I have never showed up to an event and was put on an activity within five minutes and never left. Like I. He, I mean, he, he just emphasized, he is like,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:didn't stop, and I kind of went Sorry about that. And he's like, no. He said thank you, and right then I learned that the happiest volunteer are the Sweatiest and the Dustiest because. They want to feel like they gave
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we're all the same, right? If you're gonna spend time on a Saturday morning, especially if you're gonna freeze your butt off,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:wanna feel like you, you did something. You know, sweeping a broom or pushing a button is isn't that satisfying?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And so we knew that that experience for the volunteer
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:even be just as important as the bed we deliver a child to.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And nonprofits out there, you need to realize. The more people that you can give meaningful service to, you know exactly what I'm talking
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:The, the, the, the more value you give them. Right. And so we, yes, we make the build process. We use the word inefficient.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:just make it. more volunteer centered, which
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:there are processes that, that are very inefficient.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Not a lot of people know that, that you've, you've talked to some people, gosh.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:I have the inside scoop, do my research.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, inefficiency when it comes to volunteer experience
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:important. And, and because, you know, we have a lot of chapter presence. They're like, oh, we could build a beds like this and we could do this. I mean, engineers that come and
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:us, they walk away just scratching their heads going, why are you doing it like that? Let's do it like
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:they don't, they don't understand that, look, it's, I don't want to eliminate volunteers. I want to create more jobs, you know, and
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:why we can take, we can take volunteers, 10 or 200 and all put them to, to work.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you know what I hear in that is like you were talking about helping out nonprofits, it's. It's not just about the outcome for those that you're serving. Yes, that's critically important. Yes, that's your mission. Yes, you want as many beds as possible, but it's also about that outcome for the people that are doing the serving, for the volunteers. And, and keeping that in mind is just as important because without them, you're not getting that other outcome.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Again, the, and I I, I coach nonprofits, the experience that your volunteers have
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:to be, maybe not equal, but pretty
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:to the mission that you provide, because without them, you're gonna end up doing it yourself, and I guarantee it, it, it won't grow like you want it. And eventually you'll be burned out. Right?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:whatever it is, and some nonprofits, they're difficult to
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:volunteers, try to find meaningful service for people. But if you can, and secondly to that, if you can make your mission, your fundraiser.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:writing a book. I haven't finished it. Well, I'm not a writer. Let's be real. But if you can make your mission and the, and the process of your mission, your fundraiser, then you
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:so further ahead. You know, I, I actually, when I coach people, I'm like, look, don't fundraise. And,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:of like telling a nonprofit, it's actually, it's actually telling a fisherman, don't take, don't fish with a fishing pole. Right.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right, right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:But, but the fact of the matter is, is you know, you like, you're your nonprofit for service and fitness with families mine with building beds. does that have anything to do with doing a gala or,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:feed or a silent auction? No one likes to do those. They're
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:work.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:And I'm not saying you don't do'em, if you can, if you can make a certain percentage of your donation income from your mission,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:us, we don't build beds until we have money to build beds,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Our, we, we have a build day, and that's our fundraiser. Three, you know,$300 per bed. And that takes care of mattress sheets, pillows, the bed delivery of the
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the financing of the whole organization, right? So we, we rely on. The, the mission and the, the, the activity of the mission itself to be our fundraiser, you
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:involves volunteers. So the more people you get involved, the more mouthpieces that you have for your, for your mission and raising
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the more spread it happens. It, it's, it's, it's all good.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah. Makes, makes so much sense. And, you know, I think has so many parallels in all leadership, envi, you know, environments whether people are leading in a workplace or leading in a nonprofit. You know, how do you care as much about the outcome that your organization was created to produce? As much as you care about the outcome of the people who are, are creating.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Yeah.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:And it, you know, it reminds me of we had an author to tomorrow Miles on the podcast talking about her specialty is meaningful work. And she has a new book she's coming back on with her co-author, Wes Adams, but they talk about the three Cs of challenge, community and contribution.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Hmm.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:hear that all through, you know, how Sleep and Heavenly Peace is, is set up as well because you're creating this community that believes. They don't want anyone in their town sleeping on the floor. Any kids you're giving them challenging, challenging jobs, you know, or at least that are, that are challenging and engaging to them. And they know exactly what the contribution is because that is a mission that they are owning because they can own it, just because of the way that it's worded. Even they can own that mission.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, and, and that's really it. Even management style for me is ownership. Right. You
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Yeah. you're trying to seek talent in a nonprofit world, that's very difficult. A,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:'em very well, even if you can't pay'em at all. You know, a lot of the time, especially starting out. So
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:passion, right? And I, and I always told people, look, if you have a passion for what we do, then we then, then we can give you an assignment and lets you run with it,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:creates a lot of creativity
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:of drive, right? So you're gonna get a lot more out of people when they're passionate about something. So, so when, when you're, when you're looking for those, those, those significant people in, in your organization especially starting out, and I would say this is good for, for, for-profits as well. Passion, passion needs to be given quite a bit of emphasis, right?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:of course. Right. But, but we found a lot of success and our growth has come from passionate people that, that have time and give and give dedication to. they do and when they feel like they have ownership in it, when they feel
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you know, I'd give an assignment, go do it.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:do the best. Your ability, you're gonna screw up. That's okay. We, I mean, we, we were flying this plane while we build it. Let's, let's be real. Right? I didn't know anything about a nonprofit nor nor an executive director or anything like
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Farm kid from Idaho. Right.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we're talking$250,000 that people didn't have access to, you know. just, we just gave our donations to some kid in Idaho and now we don't have access to this. It was a lot of sleepless nights, lemme tell you,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:I can imagine. Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:know, but, but very patient and,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:when you, and we've developed it, sleeping on the piece, a family feel, right? Because
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:this together and
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:we're in this together, right? We, we tell people. if you want to be, if this is something that pulls at your heartstrings, you know, providing beds for kids, go to our, our website, hp beds.org, sleep on the east beds.org, hp beds org. And you're gonna, there's a couple of ways. First of all, I just beg all your listeners, please raise awareness. That's the
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:is so unknown. I bet you most of your listeners have no idea that this is a real problem. And I promise you, I know you don't know me from Adam. I'm some dude from Idaho, but I promise you it is in your, in your communities. It might be across the street from you and you don't even know it. So help raise awareness. Help us
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:kids. Help us find those passionate people that want to help. And if you're one of those. to our website, find
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:that's close to you. Help us build, help us deliver, help us fundraise, help us do social media.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:a lot of areas and, and opportunities to help on kind of a core
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:basis. If there's not a chapter close by, you can start one, right? We, we made this process super easy for people. We put on about 50 or 60 chapters a year. And our goal, our whole management team, is to help our number one client, which is our chapter presidents,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:our core teams be successful. Right. So we've developed a very, very robust training and continuous training program as well as put key people in places to make it successful,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you know?
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:thing, if, if, if you feel like we're nonprofit, we need donations, if you feel like you want to donate the beauty, Terry, this is important to me. The beauty is. You can select a chapter that you can donate to any. You can live in Miami, you can donate to someone in
Teri Schmidt:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:if you want to find a chapter that you wanna donate to, 90% of that donation goes there. The reason why 10%, we gotta finance this somehow,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Of course.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:Bills
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the beds that get created, stay in that community. Right. The only time if we, if we happen to do a build where we don't have a chapter we have a, what we call the National Build team that can build anywhere in the country. We distribute those beds to the closest chapters
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:I, when I, when I. Decided to be a nonprofit. concern I had was, is I didn't want to be one of these, you know, big pie in the sky nonprofits. You donate a dollar, you have no idea where it goes to, you
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you know, all this stuff. I wanted people to know, like I wanted to know. When I donate a dollar, I know, I want to know where that dollar ends up.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:some of it's gonna go to management because
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Right.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:a company, we're, the only difference between us and a for-profit is we don't pay taxes.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Exactly. Exactly. And you want quality people to be in those roles and Yeah.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:So so that's, that's just the way we, we, we wanna operate. It's the way we
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:audiences and,
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and family to learn that child lessness is a real thing. There is a solution and you can be a part of it in your own hometown.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah. Yeah. Well, well thank you for that. You, you answered my last question before I was even able to ask it, but I, I so appreciate that because I know there are people that are listening that are going to want to get involved. We didn't even get into the, you know, impacts of a, a child not having a bed and, and how it affects. So much of the rest of their life for, for so long. And, and the impact that you are having and your organization is having by stopping that and making sure that they can at least have a good night's sleep because they're sleeping in a bed. That,
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:the only thing I'll say,'cause I think it is important it's not hard to imagine the
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:that comes from a child having a good night's sleep. I. people don't may have. What I didn't
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:when I did this was the impact it has on the family.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:you got kids sleeping with their parents, they don't get a good night's sleep. You got kids sleeping with other kids, they can't even have a sleepover. I had a, I had a friend of mine come up to me and he's like, you know, it's interesting you call it SHP, he kind of, him and his sister grew up in a kind of a rough H house. He says, we had our secret hiding place. It was their bed.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:and, and you, you miss on that
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:realize, I mean, US adults, I don't know about you, but when it's a hard day at work, the first thing I think about is crawling up in my
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:You didn't have one. You're gonna crawl up into your clothes, you're gonna crawl up on the floor. I mean, these are things that when you stop and really think about it, which it's not hard to realize. about yourself without a bed. Think about what that means, and then put your, put, put your kids there. And the impact's not hard to, hard to imagine. So.
teri-schmidt_1_05-14-2025_144156:Yeah, it definitely is not. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Luke. Thank you for all that you do for all of us in in the work day in and day out. I've really enjoyed our conversation and, and look forward to having a lot of our listeners get involved in the way that makes most sense for them. So thank you.
luke-mickelson_1_05-14-2025_134158:We'd love to have him and thank you for having me on.
As Luke reminds us, real change doesn't come from dreaming. It comes from building. So whether you're leading a team, a project, or a mission, ask yourself, are you designing your processes for efficiency or for impact? I hope you enjoyed this conversation, and I encourage you this week look for one opportunity to slow down just enough to bring someone else in. Not because it's faster, but because it's better, because when people feel like they're part of the mission, that's when transformation really begins.