Edna Harding [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week, we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and Wealth, who we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:00:44]:
Well, hello, everyone. Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Estrepreneur podcast. My name is Edna Harding, and I'm so excited you guys are tuning in today. I have a guest. Yes. It's been a while since I've had a guest on the show, but I guess the holy spirit wanted to interrupt my foe because I believe we're gonna be hearing a timely message, especially with what's going on in the political climate, everything that's going on in our country, especially United States, but also in the rest of the world. So I'm excited to have Andrew. Did I say it right? Okay.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:01:21]:
Nailed it. Yep.
Edna Harding [00:01:23]:
It's French, and I totally probably butchered. But I'm excited to have him today because, at least just from the initial research that I did as far as his story, and from what I heard from Isaac, one of his employees, I am excited to hear from a man of God that stood up for truth and has been a pioneer in, I believe, a new move in the marketplace. And so, let me tell you a little bit about him. I'm not gonna steal his son. I'm gonna let him share his story, but he has run and sold several start ups and grew one into a global tech firm. He has 5 children. Is that correct? And your
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:02:03]:
That is absolutely true.
Edna Harding [00:02:04]:
Children. That in itself, my gosh. You know? But I'm gonna let him share a little bit about the startups he started and the business. He is currently, a visionary of the red balloon and the CEO. So can you go ahead and tell us a little bit about you, your business, and a little bit about your family?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:02:24]:
Yeah. Absolutely. So I'll I'll do the 30,000 foot flyover on Andrew Krapfshutz. I grew up in San Francisco Bay Area, right in the middle of the, kinda, dotcom era is when I, started working. I actually started working when I was 16, never went to college because I was a computer programmer. And if you're a computer programmer in the Bay Area in the late nineties, you could kind of do whatever you wanted to do and make as much money as you wanted. So I ended up doing that. Learned a ton as a as a as a young man.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:02:53]:
I wasn't an executive at a business, but I was, really learning a lot and got to be close to the executive team of a business that took $32,000,000 of venture capital funding. Mhmm. And then we kinda blew through all that funding, and I, turned 21 on an expense account. I ended up going to Tokyo quite a bit and traveling all over the West Coast and the East Coast
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:03:14]:
for
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:03:14]:
this business before I even turned 21. So the whole experience was amazing because I got to kinda see firsthand what venture capital money does to a business or can do to a business if you're not thinking clearly. So, we ended up going through all that money and then, ran out of money, as it's funny how that works. And so they ended up needing to lay everybody off. And so at the ripe old age of 22, I realized I've been working 80 to a 100 hour weeks living in the Bay Area. I don't really have a life. I don't really have friends, and I need a change of scenery. So I decided I'm gonna move to Idaho.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:03:48]:
I'm going to leave the traffic and the Liberals that are, all over the Bay Area, and there's some wonderful people in the Bay Area. Don't get me wrong. And move to Idaho and kind of see what is, you know, what else is happening in the world. So I did that. I got here to Moscow, Idaho, where I live and found that there weren't a lot of great jobs. And my passion has always been prosperity through hard work. And so if you can provide someone an opportunity to work really hard in a job, then they're going to be able to thrive and, and prosper in their life and in their community. And so that was kind of my passion, like, okay, I need to go start business so that I can actually bless people with jobs.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:04:28]:
In fact, one of the businesses I started, the original business goal was 5050. We wanted 50 people earning $50,000 a year in our town of Moscow, Idaho. Right? And having a goal outside of yourself, you know, I wouldn't recommend this for everybody because you can get to 50 at 50 and go bankrupt. But it is an opportunity to say, look. I I'm starting this business because I wanna bless other people. It's funny how God blesses that when you have an outward approach, when you're saying, I wanna bless others. I don't wanna just bless myself. God built the world in such a way that that blessing comes right back around on your own head.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:05:03]:
And so I have been, just incredibly, lucky and blessed, and God has been, very kind to me. And I've been able to start quite a few businesses up here in hide in Idaho, 3 d printing business, a student information software business, and others, and build them into great businesses and either sold them to the employees or sold them to strategic or venture capital or private equity buyers. Now the good news is when you sell businesses, you get big checks, and it's really fun and all of that. The bad news is when you do that, you also lose control of your business. So one of the businesses that I'd started, I'd built to about a $50,000,000 tech business with offices in, the UK and all over the US. And we were really thriving and growing, but I didn't have much ownership left because I'd sold it a number of times. And when 2020 came around, I feel like the year the world lost their mind. My board did as well, and they decided that I was too conservative and Christian for their liking.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:00]:
They thought that was a liability
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:01]:
for
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:02]:
the business. And so I found myself delightfully unemployed, and I was basically given a choice. They said, if you could dial back the Christianity, if you could just be a CEO, happens to be a Christian on the weekends rather than a Christian CEO, then you're welcome to keep your job. And I'm like, well, it sounds a lot like you want me to deny Christ and deny who I am in Christ.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:22]:
Mhmm.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:23]:
And so anyway, long story. But, after a big battle, I ended up unemployed in kind of early 2021. And I was gonna use that opportunity to work on. I'm doing a housing development. I have commercial real estate. I'm on the board of many organizations, and I have those 5 kids, which I'll talk about in a second. And so I was doing all these things. I'm like, you know what? I I don't need to jump back into another job because I, you know, sold businesses for upwards of a half a $1,000,000,000.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:06:51]:
And I was given a lot of kind of CEO job offers. I'm like, I don't need to jump back into another job. I'm gonna kinda see how, things play out. But a friend challenged me and said, you know, you were just given a choice between your job and your values, and you and the financial wherewithal that it was an easy choice. Right? Like, oh, okay. No problem. You know, I'll lose this job. It's not gonna kill me.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:07:11]:
But not everybody's in that position. And when you're making that choice for many Americans, you're making a choice between being able to feed your kids and pay your mortgage and keep your house. Right?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:07:22]:
Mhmm. And
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:07:22]:
so it's a it's a really big decision. It's a hard decision that we hope people make the right decision, but I wonder if there's anything I can do to make it easier for them. And so that's where red balloon came from. So red balloon dot work is America's now leading pro freedom job board. We went from 0 to now over 4,000 businesses and over 2,000,000 job seekers, because people want to be free at work. Right? We don't all have to agree on everything. We don't all need to be lockstep on the way that we see the world, on the way that we read the Bible. But what we do need to do is be able to respect each other's opinions, and we want a workplace that's based on merit, not based on the latest political correctness.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:08:04]:
So that's what we really were striving for early on. One of our biggest issues early on at Red Balloon was the vaccine mandate. We said, look. People are adults. If they would like to get a vaccine, more power to you. But that's probably a conversation you should have with your doctor, not your HR department. Right? And and just saying that in 2021 was extremely controversial. So I ended up being on Fox News all the time and Glenn Beck and all these places because they're like, you're saying this kinda crazy thing.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:08:33]:
I'm like, it's not a crazy thing. It's called freedom. It's called America. Right? And so anyway, so that's how Red Balloon got started. We now, are blessed to work with just incredible organizations. So we help National Religious Broadcasters, NRB with their hiring, Family Radio, Strife Financial, Children's Health Defense, and many, many more. And it's it's really fun to be able to come alongside these organizations that they deeply believe in their mission and their values and what they're trying to accomplish and be able to solve their hiring problem for them, whether that's them posting a job and getting great applicants or whether that's having them have us take over the hiring process, which we've done for hundreds of businesses now where we come alongside. We'll help take over the recruitment process.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:21]:
We'll make sure that you get values lined people who are gonna show up, not be whiners, but work really hard
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:26]:
Mhmm.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:27]:
And be a blessing to your customers and to your business. So there was a long answer to a short question, but that's what it's pouring. I'm sticking with
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:34]:
it. No. I mean, oh my gosh. I have, like, so many things going through my head. But I guess, first of all, when you, you know, you chose Idaho, like, what made you pick Idaho? I mean, that's like was it like because for me, for example, when I moved to Houston, I told the holy spirit holy spirit. I opened up the map. I was like, where do you want me to go? I my finger landed on Houston. So There
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:57]:
it is.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:09:57]:
I always wanna hear, like, what made you choose Idaho?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:01]:
Yeah. It's funny. I was, we were plugged into a great church down in California, but, I was getting sermon tapes back when sermon tapes were a thing
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:11]:
Yeah.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:11]:
From a pastor up here in Idaho. Okay. He was and I thought, you know, at at the end of the ripe age of 22, you can move somewhere. And if you don't like it, you can move somewhere else.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:21]:
That's true.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:22]:
And so I thought, you know, it's a good church up there. And I think people should move for a good church community that they wanna be part of. And let's go give it a shot. And if I don't like it, I'll move somewhere else. And I did like it. I met my wife up here. She's actually from the south, so she's from Texas and Mississippi, and I'm from California. And and and we love Idaho.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:10:42]:
I will tell you about every February when it's still white and gray and cold. We're like, why are why are we here again? But apart from that, we love Idaho. And we live now on 60 acres, 10 minutes from the office. Wow. And and 5 kids, oldest is 20, youngest is 12. We have 3 massive dogs. We drive, you know, ATVs around on our property. So it's it's a good life.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:11:06]:
Oh, that's beautiful. Okay. So you met your wife there. That's great. Business thrived there. So, obviously, the Lord bless you as you, you know, went to the new land. Yeah. So okay.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:11:19]:
So you said 50, 5050, 5450. How long did it take you to reach that goal?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:11:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. The 50 at 50, basically, yeah. Can we create 50 jobs earning over 50,000 a year knowing that we're gonna create some jobs under 50 and many over 50, But 50 at 50 was our goal. It probably took 4 years, to hit that goal, because, obviously, you gotta grow the business. You gotta have the sustainable revenue. But the thing is we live in a small town here. It's Moscow, Idaho is a college town.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:11:52]:
So you've got University of Idaho here. Washington State University is across the border. And, basically, you were either a professor when I moved up here 25 years ago. You're either a professor or you're work working at Walmart or one of the hospitals.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:04]:
There
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:05]:
just weren't a lot of, like, jobs outside of those different realms. And I thought, man, and and I'll tell you, this is, very selfishly, I like to eat good food.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:15]:
And I
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:16]:
know that doesn't sound connected, but wait for it. It is connected.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:18]:
No. No.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:19]:
Because if people are earning enough, they're gonna have an ex enough excess income to go out and have dinner on occasion, which means, I understand economics well enough to know that if people are going out to dinner enough, there will be more restaurants with better food. And lo and behold, Moscow has awesome restaurants with great food. So it worked out. That really was the whole driver behind. No. It wasn't. But, but yeah. No.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:41]:
I love to eat, and so I thought that was a good way to drive it.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:12:44]:
Oh, man. Okay. Well, I mean, I just, you know, just I mean, starting at a early age, in your early twenties, seeing all the successes, how did you and I I feel like I'm this is such an important question because I think a lot of people, especially you've experienced a lot of successes early on. How did you not be prideful of that? Like, how you know, pride is such a and I I wanna address this because I work with so many different successful, a lot of success. And then some a lot of times when they hit that type of peak successes right away, like, the question I have is, how do you, you know, have that balance between, yes, God equipped me, ensues this versus pride. Like, can you talk because our audience is, have people who are kinda baby Christians, and you have those Christians been Christians for a long time. And I've noticed that some of the challenges that they deal with on a regular basis based on the conversations out in the field is fear and pride. And so I feel like this kinda ties well.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:13:49]:
Like, how did you stop yourself from being prideful, you know, especially seeing all those successes? Does that make sense?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:13:56]:
Absolutely makes sense. And it is a a daily struggle. There's a Puritan that talks about, you know, you wake up and and and daily, you know, crawl over your sins and and and seek God's grace. And, and so I guess there's a couple of things. Yes. God gave me a ton of success early on as a as a as a young man. I married really well. I'm going to brag on my
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:14:21]:
heart. He
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:14:22]:
is an incredible my best friend, my best helper, my best counselor. We talk about business all the time. And I will tell you that she has been such an incredible blessing on the pride front because, she has always been quick to remind me, this is God that is doing this, that's writing this story. It's not you. And as soon as you start, thinking that it is you, that's when, God's gonna change the story. You know? And, and that's not you know? And and, actually, it's funny because connected to all that, and while I wasn't as as young a man, I was in my early forties at this point. When I got fired from my business, that was really a wake up call for me because I realized I had my I built my identity around my career. I was a CEO of the largest business in town.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:15:12]:
I had plenty of money in the bank. I earned more money every year than I could than I wanted to spend. Right. And so, like, I was in a spot where and I was honestly good at my job. And so I really could do the job in 30 to 35 hours a week. And I was well respected in the community. The mayor would, you know, reach out and wanted to grab me for lunch. And and and that can go to your head really quickly.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:15:38]:
And when I lost that job, I realized my identity was tied up in that career. My identity was tied up in how people saw me, and my identity needs to be tied up in Christ and my and my standing with Christ. And, I am a sinner in need of grace. And if I lose that, then I'm gonna lose, really what's the most important thing. And so, I will say that while fighting with pride over the years has been, as a challenge for any Christian whether you're successful or not because you can be Right. Proud wherever you are. Right? Sin sin's gonna follow you everywhere. But I would say that losing my job and kind of being kicked out of what, I realized I was identifying myself as, was a huge blessing and a hard blessing.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:16:21]:
Right?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:16:22]:
And I
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:16:22]:
would say, some of the best blessings are hard providences where God says, okay. We're gonna we're gonna change your setting. We're gonna change, your position. The point is not making money. The point is not being respected. The point is to, be living your life for Christ. And so, that that that was that that was definitely a moment for me. It was like, okay, Lord.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:16:45]:
This is your story, and I need to step back and let you let you run the show.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:16:49]:
Oh, wow. Telling you. And that's not easy for No. Successful people. I have to say, like, it's not easy. It's I believe it's harder to humble yourself, especially when you when you're in that type of, you know, success level. Now you talked about the Lord, in your early 2 like, when did you come to know Jesus? Like, was it earlier in your teenage years? Like, were you already a strong believer when you're early twenties when you were starting or in your late twenties when you were starting seeing the successes?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:17:26]:
Yeah. Great question. I grew up in a Christian household. My mom and dad, very faithful Christian. My grandparents were faithful Christians. And so it was just the air that I was breathing. Right. We're reading our Bible.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:17:38]:
We were struggling. We were working with this. But I do remember a moment when I was 16 years old, and, you know, dealing with the common temptations of a 16 year old. And I went to my mom and I remember this conversation very distinctly. I said, Mom, I want to be wise. How do I do that? And she said, well, dummy, read your Bible. Read your Bible every day. Read it through over and over and over again.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:18:02]:
This is the word of God. This is what he has given to us to learn wisdom. And so I will say one of the most grounding things for me is, you know, I'm now 47 years old. Since I've been 16, I have read the Bible at least once a year for that entire time period. And when you do that, that is it's going to get into your thinking. It's going to get into it's going to deal with sin in your life. It's funny how when you start really reading your Bible, studying your Bible, applying, seeking to apply it, that a lot of the things that you thought were so important aren't that important anymore. And so I guess that was kind of a turning point for me.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:18:43]:
So I didn't have a big conversion experience, but I do remember that conversation very, like, read your Bible every year, and by the grace of God, I have, and that really is very grounding. And I would encourage every Christian, like, this is the word of God. He has given this to us, Even Deuteronomy and, you know, all the all the books that maybe you struggle with a little bit. Like, God gave them to us for a reason, and we need to know it. We need to study it. We need to read it. And when you do, it's gonna make it so much more clear what you should be doing in every other aspect of your life. So, I will say that has been a, kind of a an important moment in my life in my Christian walk.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:19:18]:
Can you give, like, a practical example of when you were dealing with a situation, maybe in business and how you read something. I just like to make it plain for people who who don't have a type of relationship. Can you give a can you give an example?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:19:34]:
Yeah. Absolutely. When I was running a business at one point, and we're young and we're new, and someone was coming to me about someone else. And they're like, you know, I'm concerned this person's not getting it, and I'm trying to grapple with this. And I remember reading Proverbs that night, and it was just saying, you know, talking about gossip and talking about tasty moral soul that goes down, but is bitterness in your belly. And I'm like, you know what? I don't want gossip at any of my businesses, because it is a way to destroy relationships. And, and the Bible says do not do it no matter whether I understand why or not. Bible says not to do it.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:20:11]:
Okay. We need to stop that. So I started the next day just saying, look, we we're gonna have a no gossip policy in any business that I'm involved in. And what that looks like is if you have a problem with someone, you go and talk to that person. You don't talk to anybody else about it. You talk to that person about it. And that was a really hard transition for everyone because you're used to like, it's easy to be, like, you know, so and so over there. They're really, you know, driving me nuts or like, that's an easy conversation to have.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:20:40]:
Everybody enjoys that conversation. But my policy was if you hear that, and I had people come to my office say, you know, so and so is really not is really struggling. Oh, that's interesting. Hold on one second. And I'd go grab that person. And I'm
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:20:52]:
like, why
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:20:52]:
don't the 3 of us have this conversation right now, right out in the open? And I will tell you, it was very awkward. Like, everyone's like, are we really doing this right now? Like, yes, we're absolutely doing this right now. But I'm like, if I if I if the Bible says that gossip is bad, fantastic. I'm going to deal with it all the way down.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:21:10]:
Love that.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:21:10]:
And I'll tell you, it it took months for people to kind of, like, know he really means it, and that's what we're doing. But we had a no politics in the office. People would grapple with problems. If you had a problem with someone, you go talk to them. And often, there's another side of the story that you haven't thought of before. Right? And so, that creates such a joyful work environment when you can actually deal with someone. And you don't have to be watching your back all the time because you know no one's talking behind my back right now because this company does not allow that. Well, that increases productivity.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:21:42]:
That increases
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:21:43]:
Yeah.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:21:44]:
Innovation. You can say something and know that it's not gonna have some political blowback for you. And I didn't realize all the ramifications. I just read, well, Proverbs says not to gossip, and so no gossip in my office. And then, like, the business the real world business benefits, success, ramifications that are incredible. So, anyway, there's one example of, like No. If you follow the bible, it will have a huge, positive impact on your business.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:22:11]:
Okay. So tell tell me. Okay. Because there's a lot of, let's say, what I call it, secret Christians. You know, like, basically, Christians who love the Lord, but they're afraid to implement, standards, biblical standards in their business. How what I guess, what we did you always because you've read the bible and all this, did you've always, from the get go when you started your businesses, incorporate like, were you very, vocal about the standards that as talk to us about that. And and what gave you that boldness to do that, especially in a time where, you know, anyone can pull your license or, you know
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:22:55]:
Yeah. Right.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:22:56]:
Shut you down. Does that make sense? Yeah.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:22:58]:
Absolutely. No. It's, and the thing is it is terrifying. And the nice part is I have this last name of crap you shut. So I've been called horrible things my whole life, and so it didn't bother me. What are you gonna call me? Like, you can't get any worse. Yeah. And so, you know, it's nice that, you know, God gave me that and it produces a boldness.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:23:16]:
But, you know, I've always tried to be applied biblical principles even though, you know, did I do a great job at it? No. Most of the time I didn't do a good job. And I caught myself gossiping about someone. I'm like, no. This like, I I have to apply these standards to myself. I can't have different standards for myself and everybody else in my business. But I've always been striving to be a biblical CEO in the way that I run my business. And as I've grown businesses, I've actually found that's a massive protection.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:23:46]:
So here, unfortunately, is a is a terrible stat. 75% of businesses in America have had a labor based lawsuit in the last 5 years. So over the last 5 years, 75% of the millions and millions of businesses in America had some sort of labor based lawsuit. And often you end up just settling with the person because it's not worth the time, effort, and legal fees necessary to try and win that lawsuit. Right? So you have these labor based lawsuits out there. They're really tearing these businesses apart. And so, you know, as, someone who tried to be distinctly Christian the way I ran my business, I'm like, man, this is coming for me. It seems like a matter of time.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:24:25]:
But I actually talked to my good Christian lawyer friend, and he's like, the fact that you have always been bold and you have always been brave is actually a massive legal protection for your business. Because if you talk about, like, we had these three principles, everything we do at our business, and this is true of Red Balloon today, and we talk about this all the time. We're gonna bless the customer first. We want customers to be better off whether they buy anything from us or not. So bless the customer, then bless the employees. We want every employee to be a better person because they work here because most people are not going to work here for the rest of their life, and I want them to be a person who is gonna be a blessing to their next employer, when they decide that it's time to move on. And then we wanna bless the shareholders. And the reason shareholders are on there is because we understand authority.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:25:10]:
We're under the authority of Christ. We're under authority in you know, under God. And so we need to not be afraid of an authority structure, and our shareholders need to be blessed, but they need to be blessed in the right order. We think customers are first, then employees, then shareholders. And so if you, kind of focus on those three blessings in that order, and you're very vocal about that, Well, then if someone comes to you and says, you know, I I'd like to, you know, bring a lawsuit because you're a conservative Christian or you prayed at the company meeting or you prayed at the Christmas dinner. I'd be like, I think that we have been very open about this the entire time, and you took the job knowing exactly who we were. Right? And so we had 2 people in my 15 years running that business, who tried to bring some sort of lawsuit. And it was a nonstarter for both of them because we had done the work of being bold ahead of time.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:26:03]:
It was on our website.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:26:05]:
Oh.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:26:05]:
Every time I did an interview, I said, hey. It's not a weird thing. It's not a prerequisite for employment, but I am a conservative Christian, and I'm gonna run the business like that. And if that you have a problem with that, you just need to know now. And if we're not a good fit, we're not a good fit. And I only have one person in 15 years when I said that, when I was bold and I just, you know, unapologetic about who I was, who said, you know, I'm not comfortable with that. I'm like, that's no problem. But you should know now.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:26:30]:
And she's like, you know, I just don't think this is the right fit for me. No lawsuit, no angst. But I probably just saved myself and that person a lot of heartache from being in a business that just wasn't a good fit. So I guess that's that's my encouragement to employers. I I've learned along the way. I've been grappling with this along the way, but just start by being bold and distinctly, you know, and live your values out loud. And when you do that, you're gonna be legally protected, and you're gonna have way more fun.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:26:59]:
So good. So good. Okay. So okay. So, obviously, you know, you probably hear this question all the time. Like, what is your why? Why do you do what you do? And yeah. Why do you do and do it? I have another question after that, but go ahead.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:27:17]:
Okay. Alright. Yeah. And and it's a great question because, you know, you read, signing Simon Sinek's, you know, start with why, and any good business should have a reason. And if your why is just, I wanna make as much money as possible, that's boring. And it's fine, but you're probably gonna just do okay in business, and then you'll die. Who cares? Sorry. That's cynical.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:27:34]:
But, my why, I think Christian should have the best why, when they start a business, when they think about starting a business and think about it this way. We are, we are little creatures who are trying to follow the great creator. Even as kindergartners, you have crayons and piece of paper. You start drawing things. You want to create things all the time. All of us do. And sometimes that gets knocked out of us through, you know, school or life or whatever. But we always wanted to create things.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:28:02]:
You think about whether it's woodworking or drawing or art, we are people who want to create. That's because we serve the creator God of the universe. And so as a business owner, I am creating something from scratch. You know, 3 years ago, red balloon didn't even exist and nobody knew it was the thing. And now I have helped 1,000, tens of thousands of people find jobs where they can live their values out loud, bless their families. I've had I've had many people write me and say, I just wanted you to know you saved my marriage, because I was stuck in, I'll just say call it a woke job where they were pushing a leftist worldview down the throat of all their employees. And when you swim in those waters for 8 to 10 hours a day, it's gonna have a massive impact on the way that you interact with your community, with your family, everything. Right? I've had, dozens of people say I'm going to church again because the job I found through Red Balloon.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:28:55]:
I had a single mom write me a couple months ago and just say, hey. I just wanna let you know. I found a new job through Red Balloon, and it's my dream job. I love it. But beyond that, I just came home after 3 weeks in the new job, and one of my 2 sons says, mommy, you're not angry anymore. She's like, wow. No. I was angry all the time.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:29:13]:
But the thing is, when you're in a in a in a caustic work environment,
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:29:17]:
it's
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:29:17]:
gonna be huge impact on how you interact with everybody else in your life. And so when we receive thank you notes like that at red balloon red balloon dot
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:29:25]:
org,
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:29:26]:
that that is my why. Right? Because if we can bless people a 100 years from now, lord willing, I am no longer gonna be on this earth, And I am great with that. But I wanna if I can leave a legacy with kids who love the Lord, and if I can bless as many people as I can while I'm here, and business is an opportunity to bless people at scale. Right? And this is my last part of my why why Christians should start businesses. If you think about it this way, if you wanna go take a meal to someone, that's a great thing. Go take them a dinner or whatever. And if you're a really generous person, you're like, I'm gonna take 2 meals to 2 different families tonight. You start getting beyond that, and it's gonna, a, break your budget, and you're simply not gonna have the time to go make meals for all these families.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:30:07]:
You're gonna try. Right? Mhmm. But if you wanted to say take a meal to a 1000 people tonight or a 1000000 people tonight, you'd be like, there's no way to do that. Business is the way that you can do that. Business is an opportunity to bless people at scale because God built the world in such a way that those market forces allow you to do things at scale. And all of a sudden you have things like DoorDash and
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:30:28]:
they're
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:30:28]:
taking millions of business of meals to people. And there's a financial exchange, there's a price point, there's a price discovery, all these things. But you think about business fundamentally, it's an opportunity to bless people at scale. And when Christians think like that, I serve with creator God. I wanna bless people, and business is an opportunity for me to bless people at scale. That's the best why you could ever have. And that's my why.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:30:52]:
So good. So good. Now I I I I'm as we're talking, I'm brought I'm like, what's coming to my spirit is how about those people who has this idea, right, from the Lord and, like, a idea that's maybe never been done yet. And they're stuck in their corporate job, and they're trying to figure out how to be brave. Like, what is your advice to them as far as, you know, taking that leap of faith and leaving it comfortable, like, can you do you have any, like, suggestions or some wisdom nuggets I could share with those that especially now, you know, now than ever, I feel like the Lord wants us to be bold and stop hiding in the cave. Right? And he truly wants wait. I I I know the scriptures, it says when darkness is there, light. Right? It has to be Yeah.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:31:40]:
You know, brighter. And so can you give some, you know, encouragement or just, just some wisdom to those who who you can't fight that idea. Like, it keeps, you know, nugging at you at night, and it's like any tips for those?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:31:56]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, prior talks about you don't wanna overextend. You don't wanna extend your arm farther than you can pull it back. You don't wanna overextend yourself. You don't wanna put your family in a huge risk area where it's like, well, I don't know that I'm going to be able to 5 buy food tonight. Right? Because,
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:32:10]:
the
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:32:11]:
Bible says that he who does not work and provide for their family is worse than infidel. Right? Yes. So start with that. Right? So don't don't just, like, I'm gonna take such, a leap that it's gonna really hurt my family. So you don't wanna do that. But, often when we are afraid of starting a new thing, it's all about us. We are afraid because what will people think of us? What if I fail? And if I fail, people will think of what will they think of me? What if I try really hard and I'm not successful? I will tell you this. God cares more about the players than the score, and you're one of the players.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:32:45]:
Right? God cares more about the players than the score. And I've told many a business person it'd be better for you to go do something hard and have your family see you do something hard. In fact, involve your family. Include them in that hard business startup or whatever it is, and fail, but fail by doing something rather than just sitting there and worrying about what failure might look like at some point in the future. You do need to count the cost. Right? Top Proverbs talks about counting the cost before you jump into it. You need to make sure I'm not, you know, causing everyone else around me to have to, you know, turn me into a charity case or whatever. So that might mean that you're working, an 8 hour day at your current job, and then you're working 6 hours that night, and not watching TV at all.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:33:29]:
And that's okay. And that would be my encouragement is you need to push yourself. There's actually not a refund if there's anything left in
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:33:37]:
the tank, then you're
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:33:37]:
dead. Yeah. So, I would encourage you, do more than you think you can. And I'm not saying this to, brag. In fact, Paul always talks about he's like, you know, I don't even know why I'm talking about all the things that I'm doing, but, you know, I'm doing a housing development. I'm doing a tech start up. I have 5 kids. I'm on 7 different boards of organizations.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:33:58]:
I'm and some of them are nonprofits. I'm not making any money doing those things.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:34:02]:
Yes.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:34:03]:
And I'm investing in and starting 3 other businesses with some friends. And I'm not telling you that because I'm trying to brag. I'm telling you you have more capacity than you give yourself credit for. And so that would be my encouragement is go out and start doing something. God will direct you. God will give you the wisdom. But what he asks you to do is start by doing stuff and not just sitting on the couch, wringing your hands, thinking about how it could go badly. That's never gonna turn out well.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:34:30]:
So go out and start doing stuff, and you'll be surprised what God's gonna do with you.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:34:34]:
You know, as you're talking, I'm reminded that the talents, you know, the parable of the talents that the ones that multiplied, you know, God gave more and it's all about stewardship. And obviously you have stewarded your resources, your gifts and talents well because it keeps increasing, your territory. Now I'm sure, like most entrepreneurs, it wasn't all, you know, roses and ice cream. Right? So talk to us about one of the biggest challenge you face as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:35:06]:
Yeah. I mean, I'll I'll talk about Red Balloon. Right? We've got this business. I started it. I really started on a whim. I was, again, doing a housing development. I've got a bunch of commercial real estate. I've I've enough to say grace over, before I even started this business from scratch.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:35:24]:
And so originally, we come out and we say, hey. We believe in freedom, which that includes medical freedom. So, no vaccine mandates. And you need to, you know, let people make their own decisions on what they wanna do medically, which I didn't think was crazy, but was at the time. And we exploded. Like, we literally had thousands of businesses early on, and we did a terrible job. We did a terrible job because I hadn't planned on actually having a business. I didn't really have a customer service person.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:35:53]:
I didn't really have a tech team. It was just me and my brother on this little hobby job, and all of a sudden, I'm on the news all the time, and he's trying
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:36:01]:
to keep
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:36:01]:
the servers from crashing. And and so we go through this wild stage. I finally hire up some people. I have the right team in place. And then the kind of, panic over the vaccine mandate subsides, and I lose, like, a 1000 customers. Mhmm. Well, that's terrifying. Like, okay.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:36:20]:
So I now am spending money on people. I'm now, responsible for the livelihood of my employees, and the market has just shifted dramatically underneath my feet. And I don't know there's anything I could have done about it. I'm sure we could have done a better job planning ahead or serving customers well, all those things. Right. And so, you know, that is like, oh, Lord, thank you. And so it's kind of a question of like, okay, was did I did did my time red balloons done its thing, and and we're set. But I kept getting these thank you notes from people who did find jobs.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:36:54]:
And it wasn't vaccine mandate related. It was, you know, whether it was DEI or ESG or just, you know, I just got fired because, you know, I I had a lady who wrote me. She was at JPMorgan, and they had a drag queen story hour group on Slack. And she's like, then I'm gonna create a bible study group on Slack, and she was fired next. Right? Right? And so it's like, okay. So there's still a need out of the market, but this is really hard because I need to figure out what to do. I've just lost a lot of these customers. I'm now losing money because I've now staffed up my team.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:37:27]:
What do I do? And so it's those moments. If you're an entrepreneur, I've had a lot of entrepreneurs ask me what's the most important character quality as a business owner, as an entrepreneur? And it is stamina. You need to have stamina for those moments because when everybody else says this is gonna fail and it's not gonna work, you need to decide, like, okay, am I gonna trust in the Lord and do this? And am I gonna have stamina to be like, no. I'm throwing it on my shoulders, and I'm gonna go make this thing happen, or you're just gonna give up, and go limp. And so, there are lots of moments over the years, and that's with red balloon. But with all my businesses where you just have a moment where you're like, okay. This this might fail, this might not work. And I just need to decide, okay, what what's the point of what I'm doing? Right.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:38:13]:
You need to have your why is my why firmly establish? Okay, I'm doing this thing now. I need to have stamina because if I think it's always going to be, you know, kittens and roses and ice cream and piece of cake, you're going to be kidding yourself. They always said that the the people at the POW camps and I know entrepreneurship is not entirely a POW camp, but sometimes it feels like it At the POW camps, we're like, today's gonna be the day we're gonna get out. Those are the people who really struggled, where people are like, okay. This is a long journey, and I just need to plod along, be faithful, and and seek to bless people outside myself. They say the people who always succeeded or survived well at POW camps, people had a bigger reason than themselves when they were, in that situation. I think entrepreneurship is very much like that. If you're trying to bless your customers, if you're trying to bless your family, if you're trying to bless your employees, then that's going to give you what it takes to keep going.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:39:11]:
If you're just trying to bless yourself, it's going to get hard. And why would you keep going? Right? Because you might as well go bless yourself with something else or just go take a job somewhere. So I guess that's that's my encouragement is have stamina, understand your why. And there are lots of times when you're gonna hit a brick wall and be like, there's nothing I can do. God is always faithful as long as you, you know, strap in and, have a little, stamina.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:39:37]:
Wonderful. And then, did community play any part in your, perseverance per se? Did you surround yourself whether it's church or, like, I I I'm curious because usually, especially when you're in your head, you know, sometimes when you can't get your, you know, head above water, like, what what support system did you have? I was just I'm curious if that helped any.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:40:01]:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, my the the captain of my support system is my wife.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:40:06]:
Of course.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:40:07]:
And she is just phenomenal. And when you hit those moments, she's like, okay. So let's take a take a quick look. Are we doing this for the right reasons? Are we doing this for the wrong reasons? Okay. If we're doing it for the right reasons, let's keep going. And, thank you, suck it up buttercup or things like this. It might have been, like, you know, get over yourself and move on. Keep working.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:40:28]:
Yeah.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:40:29]:
And then I do have a really strong church community. We have a community that you see, a number of entrepreneurs, but also, the thank you notes that I get from people all across the country for what Red Balloon is doing today. That's part of my community as well. And so when you're truly trying to bless your customers, you're not you don't just have customers. You have raving fans, and you have people who are kind of in in the fight with you. And that is just a massive blessing. And when you're just in business for yourself, you don't have that. There's no way for you to have that.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:41:00]:
And so that's, also just awesome when you have an opportunity to be have a business that's blessing other people, and those people are just sending you notes of encouragement, like, keep going. This is so important for our country. So, yeah, it was it's a combination of all those things. And as a CEO, you know, there's some things you just can't talk to your employees about. And so just having friends, colleagues, pastors that you can go out and grab coffee with or grab lunch with and be like, okay. This is on what what's on my heart, and I need, I need some some wisdom, some advice, some encouragement, because it's hard. And it will be hard, but that's okay that God built us for hard things.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:41:40]:
I thought, like, as you're talking I've been writing. Wait. Earlier, you said Christian lawyer. That's important. Right? Someone who has the same values who knows the law. Okay. So what is your personal mantra? Do you have one?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:41:53]:
A personal mantra. I don't know. Someone asked me what I do for a hobby. I'm like, well, I watch kids play sports and I work. Those are my hobbies. So, you know, I don't know that I I I I'll be honest. I don't think about, myself that much. So personal mantra, like, I don't know.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:42:11]:
Work hard, bless others. Yeah. No. But I just made it up right now. So, but I don't know that I do.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:42:17]:
No worries. No worries. Do you have like, if you could look back, like, into your in your experience, was there one thing that you did that kinda catapulted you to where you are now? Like, is was there any epiphany? Like, was there anything, I'm just hearing our conversation. Was it the whole identity thing, when you found out your identity? Was that your your game changer that kinda, you know, pushed you forward Yeah. To where you are now?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:42:48]:
I mean, I think there's a lot of things always. Ben Horowitz always says in business, there's not a silver bullet. There's just lots of lead bullets. So keep shooting. Yeah. So, you know, I am a very competitive person. And so, you know, I will tell you, you know, I didn't go to college. Everyone thought that I had a a massive learning disability until I was about 6 years old, and I'm pretty dyslexic.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:43:11]:
Everything's pretty backwards for me. Spelling is still not my favorite thing ever. I have this last name. You know, I'm not tall dark and handsome like many people out there. And so I was always told, like, there's no way you'll be able to start a business in Idaho that actually makes any money. There's no way that you'll be successful in business. You didn't go to college. There's no way that you with your learning disabilities are going to be able to, you know, have an amazing, business career.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:43:40]:
In fact, my mom used to pray every night. I hope that he can support a family someday because, you know, I'm worried about that man, that boy. So I'd say that, you know, everybody needs to find the thing that's gonna drive them. And that's always been a driver for me. Like, okay. Fine. You can believe that all you want, and I'm gonna go, just work my tail off and see and see what, God brings. And so now as a, someone who didn't actually really finish high school, you know, my sweet wife basically has a PhD and is brilliant and gorgeous.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:44:10]:
Wow.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:44:11]:
And so God blesses when you, like, well, I could believe what man is saying about me right now, or I can believe with the Bible as, you know, what God is saying his word about me as a child of God. And so that makes it a lot easier to fight through those moments. And that's always been a driver for me. Like, I am gonna ignore what man says, and not worried about it. When you do that, it's very freeing. So Yeah. That's been a big one for me.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:44:37]:
So good. If, if so if people are interested in connecting with you, how can they get a hold of you?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:44:44]:
Yeah. Yeah. So I would say LinkedIn is probably my most, you know, where I put the most content. I try and put on content every day about how do you build culture, how do you build businesses, how do you, be successful in business, as a Christian entrepreneur. So, I'm trying to put a lot of good content on there, so you can just follow me, Andrew Crappuchat, on LinkedIn. I don't mind sharing my email. It's andrew@redballoon.work. And if you if there's anything I can do to bless you, if you're an employer and you want help hiring, I will happily tell you about our hiring process for free.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:45:19]:
I'm not trying this isn't a gimmick. It's not something where I'm trying to, you know, weasel you into sales conversation. Obviously, if you do need help hiring, we are going to be your best option because we are going to be able to find you people who are gonna build your culture and not wreck it, and make hiring fun again, which is one of the things we're trying to shoot for. So, so I would say that's that's probably the best way to get a hold of me. My email, andrew@redballoon.work, or follow me on LinkedIn. And then I would encourage you, go to redballoon.work if you're a job seeker. There's a ton of free resources on there for job seekers. Everything's free for job seekers.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:45:53]:
You can fill
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:45:54]:
out a profile and be discovered by businesses that are pro freedom. You can download the employee bill of rights and responsibilities and, find out more about how to be a great employee who stands up for the right things. All of that's free. And then if you're a business, you can post jobs. You can have us do recruiting for you. We really wanna be a blessing to you. So, please reach out. We wanna do anything we can to make your business more successful, and get you the right people.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:46:20]:
Are you hiring right now, Andrew, for those people who are looking for positions right now? Are you hiring for recruiters?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:46:26]:
We are. Actually, we are not. We have we have a great team in, actually, we're all here in Idaho, and and it's fun. Like, we are right now, we're filling a position for Tucker Carlson Network. Oh, wow. The CFO position for National Religious Broadcasters. We have customers like Strife Financial, which is Vivek Ramaswami's company, and Mhmm. Children's Health Defense, which is Robert Kennedy Junior's company, and thousands of others amazing businesses who are just striving to bless their customers and hire good people.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:46:57]:
So, definitely go over to red balloon dot work. It's not dotcom. It's dot work.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:47:02]:
Dot work. Congratulations on all your successes. And what's next for you? I always ask this, like, what's next for you? I mean, do you have anything in your pipeline that, you know, the Lord maybe something that you're you're expanding into that you can share?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:47:16]:
Yeah. You know, I have sold a business as I've mentioned several times. Mhmm. I don't wanna sell red balloon. I'm not building it for an exit. I wanna build a $1,000,000,000 business that is deeply impacting culture, and is profitable and is something that I can hand down to my kids. So what's next for me right now is building red balloon into a $1,000,000,000 business. And if I can pull that off, praise the Lord.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:47:40]:
I'll be happy.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:47:42]:
Amen. We'll be praying for you for that. Can you pray for our listeners, real quick before we end the show?
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:47:47]:
Yep. Dear heavenly father, I thank you for the people who are listening to the show right now. I pray that you would be working in their hearts and their minds, that you would give them a hunger for your word, for scripture, that you would give them the desire to do more with their lives, to use their talents that you have given them to bless as many people as possible. Lord, I pray that you would do this for your name's sake, that your name would be glorified, and that your kingdom would come on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you for all that you've done for us. Thank you for this time together. Please, bless the rest of our week and show your name strong. In Jesus' name, amen.
Andrew Crapuchettes [00:48:21]:
Well, guys, I hope you are blessed by that, and I know you guys got some wisdom nuggets of inspiration, even maybe some a little kick in the rear end, to move forward with all that God has for you in this season. I appreciate you guys tuning in. Remember, in s the Entrepreneur Podcast, we teach people how to do business and life God's way. So until next time, keep shining, my friends. Talk soon. Blessings.
Edna Harding [00:48:51]:
Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur. Make sure to visit our website, favorandwealth.com, for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes. Or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out too. Also, check out my book, The Old New Side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share 7 of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.