Tara Outson and the Heart Behind TNT Chem-Dry

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Welcome to You Matter Nashville, where we celebrate the people and stories that make our community so special. We believe that everyone has a story to tell, and more importantly, everyone here matters.

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We're your hosts, Jason and Mindy Hoover, and we're passionate about shining a light on individuals who are making a real impact right here in Middle Tennessee. This is about community, connection, and the incredible people who are making a difference.

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Let's dive in as we uncover powerful stories and meet remarkable people whose journeys will inspire us all. Right here on UMatter Nashville.

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Welcome back, friends, to U Matter Nashville. Today we're joined by Tara Altson, owner of TNT Chemdry. Now, Tara and Tim built a successful Middle Tennessee business focused on serving homeowners and businesses through professional cleaning services. Beyond business, Tara has a passion for helping animals and supporting causes that make a difference in our community. Tara, welcome to the show.

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Thank you so much, Jason and Mindy. Happy to be here.

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We are so glad that you're here. And before we talk about TNT, Kim Dry, tell us a little bit about yourself and what life looked like before you were a business owner.

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Much calmer. Right?

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So

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We lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

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Really?

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Mm. So Cheyenne, Wyoming was the weird part, not moving to Tennessee. I grew up a half hour outside of New York City.

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wow. So that was a change.

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Cheyenne was mind-boggling to me. so the minute that I was offered an opportunity to leave the state, I said, yes, please.

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She's gone.

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So we'd moved to Nashville to start our chem dry business and I had never been here. we had never even seen our house 'cause twenty years ago

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Wow.

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you guys know, twenty years ago we saw five photos online and we were guessing at what some of the rooms were.

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You saw a photo.

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That's crazy. So w w what inspired Nashville?

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So Tim had a brother, well still does, sorry Randy. has a brother who lives in Brentwood and he's a lot older. Not sorry, Randy. so that was our opportunity.

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Cats are fired.

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Yeah.

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That's our opportunity to, you know, get to know him a little bit more as adults and stuff. Yeah. But I wanted to open a juice bar or have a dog sanctuary or something. I'm like, what? Clean carpets, what?

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So

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Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun, huh?

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Well it is satisfying seeing the carpet cleaned afterwards.

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Right. This is true.

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People do love watching those videos, for sure.

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Very true. I mean I'm guilty. You know, the the muddy carpet and they you know, they clean it. Yeah, it's it it's kind of addicting. It's satisfying, as my son says. It's very satisfying.

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Well and that's what draws technicians to us too is Okay is that

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Really?

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a bunch of O C D people working together.

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You have to be O C D and you have to love animals. Those are my two requirements.

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Two requirements.

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So our son named the robot vacuum cleaner when when we brought it home. Yeah. I don't know it. Should we tell him what he named it?

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Well you have to

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Yeah, now you have to.

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so you know what you tell Siri or Alexa for this to the you know claim. He named it peasant.

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Peasant clean the floor.

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Ha ha.

I'm like, I promise we raised him better than this.

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Okay.

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He's a good kid. those turkey legs, yes.

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You like

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That's that's why he really goes.

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So, I am interested you you juice spots cleaning carpets. How how how?

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Honestly, it a juice bar required a lot of money for a storefront and you had to be there all the time. So that was quickly nixed and again loved the whole cleaning process, providing a healthy situation for people. We had a chem dry person. There actually was one in Wyoming.

And we had him come out and clean our carpets. And luckily this was not on purpose. but my son had spilled a whole thing of spaghetti on the floor. And I'm like, leave it. We've got someone coming to clean. And I didn't know then. I mean, obviously we picked up the spaghetti.

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No way.

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But I didn't realize then that that was actually the best thing that we could have done. 'Cause normally you do something yourself and then you you mess it up you you you just mess it up. Really? Harder for for the person to come in and professionally clean it 'cause now they're having to counteract what you did to it.

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Now there's a golden nugget. Didn't know that myself.

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But I just watch fascinated on how clean it came out and stuff and you know the fact that it, you know, didn't have harsh chemicals and stuff like that, contrary to the name, it's fifty years old, don't get me started. just was it. And I'm like, again, you're getting me out of Wyoming, let's go.

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I don't I don't blame you.

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It's beautiful from all the photos that I see.

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Western Wyoming, absolutely. I in, no offense, but

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Gotcha. Gotcha.

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Right. Well you're here and you loved it here 'cause you obviously you stayed. Yeah you've been here for quite a while. We've been here for twenty years.

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Twentieth Anniversary.

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Yes, that's amazing. And twenty years doing this business. So that's I mean, to keep a business more than two years anymore is is huge in the Middle Tennessee area. So having for twenty years, that's amazing. now you had mentioned about your pets. Yes. And you've also mentioned that people who work for you have to like pets. So tell me a little bit more about that passion and and what and what drives you to

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Yes.

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help out in that sector.

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Well, pets are just the best. I mean, people, they can come and go. But pets, you know, just love you unconditionally and just give you such support and comfort whenever you need it. that it's just a no brainer. And I always grew up with a dog, always, always, always. And honestly I don't trust people who don't have dogs.

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No.

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Huh.

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I love cats too. I'm crazy allergic so I can't have any, but I love them and they know I'm allergic, so if I'm in someone's house they immediately come right to me.

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You know, just people love their animals so much and I just wanna connect with those kind of people. I love when my clients call and they have dogs because we'll talk forever and then maybe like, wait, why did you call? I wanna get some stuff cleaned and I'm looking like they're sending me all pictures of their dogs and stuff and it's absolutely fabulous. It just warms my heart. But and I

only hire technicians who they don't have to have a dog, but they have to love dogs because most of the homes we're going into and and it's also a safe like 'cause some people, if they've never been around dogs, can get scared. Like I'd have my dog in here right now, but she's a little she's she's a lot. and people are scared of her, rightfully so. you know, so I just

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You're cleaning up after dogs.

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Yeah, that's true.

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That's a good way to put it.

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I'm very upfront with that. I'm like, how are you with dogs? You know, because I will just get into a dog's face and just love on them and that's not always the smartest thing to do. but yeah, and if someone comes into my home and they don't like dogs, a service provider and they don't like dogs, I just like instantly put a wall up. So I just want my clients to feel as comfortable as possible.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, dogs are usually a good judge of character.

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This is very true. Very true. Now, is there an organization that you have helped or that you have been working with?

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So the dog I currently am in charge of because she totally runs the house, I rescued her from critter cavalry.

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they're great.

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Yeah. A friend of mine was actually fostering her. and he's fostered several dogs for them and he would send me pictures and I'm like, Ooh, what a cute dog and or dogs, there were three of them. And he's like, Well, you should get one and I was ready 'cause one of my dogs was getting much older and didn't ask anything about the breed or

anything about that. And I'm like, just you know, which one's the calmest? And he's like, definitely this one and and just cute as a button and you know, come to find out she's a military attack dog. Like

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that would have been nice to know.

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Don't say drugs.

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yeah.

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Yeah, I do there's this one truck in my neighborhood that she always stops and sniffs a little bit longer than the rest.

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Yeah.

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May have a side gig there. Side business wanna add to your resume. I don't know.

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It's not

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But yeah, and so I got the dog from him and it was actually one of the only litters that he didn't fail as a foster dad. All of his other fosters he's taken at least one litter.

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I bet that's easy to to do.

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It would be me all day, which is yeah, no, so I just support them and big fluffy dog, rescue, so

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And it's a lie. We fostered a couple of of Shizoos when we lived down in Texas and it was it's you know, a lot of people get those dogs or long haired dogs and then they don't realize how much grooming and taken care of and then they just literally just let them go, drop off. And so there was a rescue that would call us and it's like, I knew you grew up with Shizus, Mindy, so we'd get bring to the vet, clean up, and and then they they'd go find a new home. But

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I've never had a dog that needed grooming, so yeah, that would be

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sometimes they come in in really bad condition. So yeah, and then so yeah, it it it's really sad. So it takes it takes a village for people to take them in and and and raise them and

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Yeah.

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Yeah. So any organizations that support those we are we are all about. Absolutely. We we are a part of the Nashville King Charles Cavalier Club and we we support the national cavalier rescue. And those dogs are really unfortunately, there's tons of what do they call Mills. Mills, puppy mills, especially Middle Tennessee. So there's a lot of rescuing that happens and they're in horrible condition and so it's

There's a whole national network of fostering and getting them into caring homes. So yeah, it's very much needed.

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I may have been sent multiple dogs over the years that are needing a

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Like I'm like, look, this one's in Huntsville and it's a home. And we only have two.

And there are some people in our group that have taken in so many of these fosters and adopted them. Like we have our meetups and we like meet at the dog park or over at Natchez and they'll come in with like five, six dogs, you know, and we're like, Yeah. You can't say no. They just do

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my gosh, those are the cutest dogs ever.

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Yeah. But there's lots of hair. It's lots of hair. Every time I want another one, Jason's like, Remember the hair. That's one more.

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Yeah. So I'm curious, you know, being dog owners, and yeah, we both grew up with dogs, and you know, like she said, we have two dogs that are inside dogs, except one of them, Lolo, I've I've effectually nicknamed her Pig Pen. you know, she's a frou fru dog that acts like a yard dog.

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To be a she wants to be a yard dog.

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Yeah. big time, big time. But so I'm I'm curious since you know the cleaning, doesn't you know what is tracked in? any words of wisdom or advice for dog owners on keeping their carpet clean?

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She's a tomboy.

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So I am fanatical. My dog does not come in. She knows she has to sit down. And here's one paw. Here's another. And then she stands up and then we do the back paws. with no doggy door because then she'll just come in and out and in and out and in and out. And there'll be animals. There'll be dogs being brought in and out.

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Mm.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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So yeah, I so I clean her paws every single time she comes in.

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We did invest in a a little backdoor footpath that we can that's right by the water hose on concrete that we we can put it in and put her in it 'cause she if there's any any dirt whatsoever, she will go straight to it and literally walk back and forth on it. And so I'll have to shave. Yes, she is. She'll she'll just go like dirt, dirt, dirt and like and then she'll come in all happy. I it's like she likes that fresh

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She's on C D too.

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print that shows her perfect little print right inside that doggy door. Cause I shampoo it and then it comes right back.

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So I can tell you why.

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No, because she does it again.

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Not always don't get mad at her. Before before I got in the business, I used to say that same thing. I'm like, how I yell at everyone in the house. I'm like, how are the you getting stuff in the same exact spots? But it's not. It's because you are putting product in the carpet and it's not being able to be extracted back out.

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Yeah.

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I use the analogy all the time. if you you know, wash your hair and then all of a sudden the water runs out and then you have soap in your hair the rest of the day, you look kind of funky.

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Yeah.

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Okay. Okay.

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So you can spot clean only so many times and then you've got you've gotta get it cleaned. You've gotta get cleaned.

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No. Yeah, the the carpet is really old. We we really need to put in some wood flooring, but we put in a swimming pool. Some reason we did that first.

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We decided we're like, do we wanna remodel the house or do we want to get a pull? And we decided pool was more important. I still say the pool is more important. You know, everybody in Elson Franklin, I'm sure, would say, I'd rather have a remodeled house, but in our house we would rather have a backyard. I would get we love our backyard space. We're big time outdoor people. So, you know. It's just, you know, with that came construction and with that came Paul Prince.

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Well we actually use it.

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Right.

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So when you were when y'all started the business, huh. what were some of those those early on obstacles that you faced?

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I remember them like they're yesterday. so and it's crazy thinking that it was just 20 years ago, but we were so being brand new to the area, not knowing anybody, just one person, that's all we knew here, we had to sit and wait for the Yellowpage ad to come out.

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wow. yellow pages.

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my goodness. Unless you wanted to get those classified ads in the Sunday paper.

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And we were on page six. We thought we were gonna be higher in the ranking page. So we were on page six of carpet cleaners. Yeah. It was insane. And it was just a little dollar bill, it was crazy. So we we got here in June, June 6th, and we made up flyers and we just went to

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no.

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All these real estate offices that we could and back then realtors went into the office all the time.

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People were there actually.

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And we just put these flyers in their mailboxes. And one of them called before we even left the parking lot and said, Hey, I have this empty house. Can you go clean it tomorrow? And I was like, sure. And he's like, Well, how much will it be? I'm like, hmm, that's a good question. And so I literally just came up with a number and

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Ha.

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He said, Okay. He was probably like, sweet, this is cheap. And Tim was at that house all day. All day cleaning. Thank goodness it was empty.

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Right. You know, and so many people don't realize just how bad a house or can turn off a buyer, you know, if it has dirty carpets. Like the first thing they go in doesn't matter what ha if the all the walls have been done or whatever. If they look down and they see yucky carpet, they're like, no, that's right, let's get out of here.

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Well and that odor too will

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The odor. Yeah.

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Yeah, we've had people walk in and walk right back out or actually didn't even step th what was the one? They were were at the door and you could smell it and they were like, Nope. Nope.

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There are some houses that the technicians will go to ring the doorbell and they're like, no.

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Like I can smell it from out here. This is not good. This is not abort, abort.

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Go in, go in.

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It needs a match. It needs a match. No, th we get some pretty good surprises. So yeah. Well there's a

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Good friend of mine who owns a restoration company and he'll come in after like all this fire or water damage and work forever on, you know, bringing their home back to life. And then he'll call us in to, you know, reclean some tile or definitely the upholstery and the carpet and all they do. my gosh, TNT Kemdrain did such a great job. And he's like

I was here for six months saved in your house. They were here for three hours. Whatever.

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But it smells so good now.

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Yeah.

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that's awesome. Now I have been known to in in a listing appointment crawl around sniffing the floor trying to find these the odor spot.

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You need to get a black light.

speaker-0 (20:58.254)

From the dog smell?

speaker-2 (21:00.236)

Yeah, just order a black light off Amazon, you'll look so much cooler than

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Right, but like lie. Very smart. Black light.

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Yeah.

speaker-0 (21:12.078)

Thank you. Yeah that that's actually a really good idea.

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'Cause we do that on every job, whether they say there's pets or not, because some people don't tell the truth.

speaker-0 (21:25.29)

What? Not here.

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And we don't discriminate. It can be pet urine, it can be baby urine, it can be geriatric urine, it can it can be drunk person at an Airbnb urine. we get those calls on Monday mornings, don't you know?

speaker-1 (21:36.75)

Well that's all those are things.

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I bet you do. Especially being Nash Nashville. That is probably a

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Can you remove glitter? Can you remove spray tan?

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See, this is why I wouldn't want to have an an Airbnb in Nashville. It's like no thank you. You'd be sp yeah, spending more money than your like every Monday morning you'll ha be paying for an eight hour deep clean. No, thank

speaker-0 (22:03.63)

No, I wouldn't.

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Very well.

speaker-0 (22:11.976)

No way. No. Now over twenty years, it sounds like you've gotten some pretty pretty interesting stories in that journey. anyone stand out to you the most?

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so luckily they try to avoid grossing me out so much. but they do knowing, you know, the technicians knowing who I am, they'll be like, look at this puppy. and they'll send me pictures of the puppies and all the puppies always want to help. What are you doing? What can I do to help?

speaker-0 (22:53.539)

Right.

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You know, we've had one technician get bit once. So in twenty years that's not so bad. And it was Yeah. So and the owner of course was like, that dog's fine and I'm like, Mm. So yeah. So we just warn, like, hey, if you need to put your dog up, you know, we'll call on the way. So just put your put your dog away until

speaker-0 (23:03.99)

That's pretty good average.

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He at least walks around and stuff. But but yeah, it's more the puppies that I remember. And then of course us being in Nashville, the technicians will be like, my gosh, guess who I just met?

speaker-0 (23:38.368)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (23:40.192)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (23:42.382)

Yeah.

My my coolest interaction or in whatever you want to call it was man it's a long time ago, but I was working at a a store at a mall and my goodness, Aerosmith. Yeah. He was there and I was able to help him and he I I was fixing one it was it was Apple. I was fixing one of his

speaker-2 (24:02.335)

Tyler.

speaker-1 (24:04.183)

Steve Tyl.

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his phone and he gave me like this big bear hug. Now of course he's shorter than I am, but it it was just and he was dressed just like he was ready to go on stage. It was crazy.

speaker-1 (24:22.504)

Gotta keep the persona twenty four seven.

speaker-2 (24:25.294)

Yeah, I keep waiting for Tim McGraw to call, but

speaker-0 (24:29.43)

He's a good guy. All right, Tim. If you're watching or if anybody knows Tim McGraw that needs his carpet cleaned. so also best you're you're you were have worked or been connected with the best friends, right? Animal Society. Tell us a little bit about that.

speaker-2 (24:30.944)

I I'm waiting.

speaker-2 (24:51.884)

So they're based out of Salt Lake. And our corporate office is based out of Logan, Utah, which is about forty by five minutes north of Salt Lake. So that's how that partnership started and then so we just help out all the local groups affiliated with best friends.

speaker-0 (25:17.976)

Okay. Fantastic. you know, I know you know we were joking around earlier, but you know, being dog lovers or pet lovers. I mean, we've had other pets and you know, there's something about it that just draws you in and that i it's it's like you said earlier, that unconditional love. but

Ex tell us if you can, like what is it about you that really speaks to your heart about animals?

speaker-2 (25:52.48)

Just don't know how people can be mean to them or abandon them. And I and I think part of it was trying to overcome. I was attacked by a dog when I was young. I was attacked by well, I don't want to say the breed because I don't want yep. but it's a breed that I've had since, and was the sweetest. But

speaker-0 (26:09.43)

really?

speaker-0 (26:13.403)

Yeah, don't worry about it.

speaker-2 (26:22.154)

It was a dog down the street and I don't know what happened to it one day, but it attacked me and and then tried to like cart me off and I don't know I don't know what it was gonna do, but like was dragging me down the street by my pant leg and someone yeah, so it started out to just conquer a fear.

speaker-0 (26:43.616)

Scary.

speaker-0 (26:50.694)

Mm. Well that's interesting. Yeah, 'cause most people would be terrified from then on.

speaker-2 (26:56.568)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (26:58.606)

Huh. That's it. I was attacked when I was four. Don't want to say the breed, 'cause we had one since then. But

speaker-0 (27:07.743)

Y'all just don't learn.

speaker-1 (27:09.438)

I I don't know. I guess I just loved animals so much, but it was the it was the neighbor's dog, my best friend's dog, and knew me and we were just eating ice cream on the back porch. But it was a breed that tends to be a little aggressive, but you know, it it's never happened since. You know. But I've had bad things happen with horses. I grew up with horses and I had bad things happen on horses, but it didn't mean I'm not gonna do that. I mean to me it's like every

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speaker-1 (27:39.032)

There's bad things that happen in life all the time. He's kinda you know, you kinda keep on going, but I I don't know. I don't think there's anything that could happen that'd keep me away from dogs. Just animals in general. I've had I've had people pretty much bop my head off. So, you know, I you know, you have to be around people too. I know, unfortunately.

speaker-2 (27:49.295)

yeah, or just

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My dog love my dog loves chickens. She's brought me chickens. She's brought me squirrels. She's brought me bunnies. She's brought me turtles.

speaker-0 (28:10.401)

Turtles.

speaker-2 (28:12.078)

The craziest because, you know, those aren't you know, those are still alive, but you know, she's brought yeah, the neighbors have chickens and they get through the fence and then she just wants to play. She's not being mean or anything. She just wants to play and

speaker-0 (28:31.15)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (28:32.268)

There's a love hate relationship between the Falcon and and and Lola.

speaker-0 (28:36.757)

yeah, we have a beautiful, beautiful

speaker-1 (28:40.182)

It's not falcon, it's a hawk, but it's yeah, they don't there's there's a taunt there back and forth. But my my Lola, our pig pen, thinks that she's fifty pounds or a hundred pounds and she's not. I know. We're like, let's not. Let's not do that exactly.

speaker-2 (28:52.438)

It's like the proposal.

speaker-0 (28:57.994)

He's the biggest hawk I've ever seen. He is huge. He just And he's not scared of us because you know it's right there with our pool and we're s he will fly down within what five, six feet of us, fly through us. Yeah.

speaker-1 (29:00.024)

Shine.

speaker-1 (29:15.136)

I own this face. How are you guys doing today at my house? And Lolo just just like bow up, like, get away from my house. And I'm like, dude, that thing can pick you up. That thing can pick you up.

speaker-2 (29:28.546)

Hilarious Hilarious

speaker-1 (29:32.003)

now how I go ahead.

speaker-2 (29:35.106)

Who is a dog trainer? And for years he's like, How come you don't give me any referrals to your clients to fix their problems? I'm like, Well, that takes money away from why would I want their dogs to stop making a mess in the house? That's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

speaker-1 (29:56.148)

There'd be a financial gap then. No. That's funny. That's funny. Hey, they can research that on their own. We all have Google.

speaker-2 (30:04.35)

You mention the peasant. so we get a lot of calls about those.

speaker-1 (30:07.419)

speaker-0 (30:11.56)

Really? we had that incident. Yeah, we we'll save that.

speaker-1 (30:16.642)

Thankfully we had an all hardwood flooring at that time.

speaker-2 (30:21.573)

that's good, yeah.

speaker-0 (30:22.87)

under the couch. No, this was

speaker-1 (30:25.27)

No, it was just at the c at that was at the

speaker-0 (30:28.078)

Thought that was in our latest house. Okay.

speaker-1 (30:31.202)

Thankfully. Yeah. It was still awful. It was still awful. That was when we were po pi puppy training and we had it on a once a day clean. Don't ever do that when you're puppy training. No scheduling of the peasant during that time. my goodness.

speaker-2 (30:45.048)

Yeah.

speaker-2 (30:49.506)

People are like, Wait, I have to rewind. Who was the president again?

speaker-1 (30:57.294)

all right, with you guys how has owning a business created opportunities for you guys to serve the community? I'll throw that at ya.

speaker-2 (31:09.162)

Yeah, so I and we used to win all kinds of awards and stuff and that was crazy. I'm like, how do people know who we are and stuff? That that just like blew my mind. I yeah. They actually got rid of I felt bad, like they got rid of the carpet cleaning category in best of the best. Did I win it too many years in a row that they

speaker-1 (31:22.646)

Best the best, the Sizzle Awards.

speaker-0 (31:34.424)

Why is that?

speaker-2 (31:37.998)

Got rid of it, it like hurt my feelings a little bit.

speaker-0 (31:42.199)

I don't know.

speaker-1 (31:44.598)

You like it not enough people have carpets? What's going on?

speaker-2 (31:47.072)

But need to bring it back. Hey, I can be best of the best wood cleaner, upholstery cleaner, tileer, rugs. Ooh, the rugs.

speaker-1 (31:52.226)

Cleaner

speaker-0 (31:55.458)

Yeah. Yeah.

speaker-2 (31:57.228)

Yeah, lots of rugs. So and during COVID our upholstery cleaning went up phenomenally just because people were sitting at home being sweaty and gross longer and yeah, and luckily that hasn't stopped. So but yeah. I just love that we can provide a healthy

solution for people and they really seem to respond to that.

speaker-0 (32:31.884)

Now you had mentioned you know, the name's Kimdra, but you don't use chemicals, is that right?

speaker-2 (32:37.206)

Yeah, the name's fifty years old. Yeah. So and trying to change a name according to corporate is quite difficult, which I understand. but yeah, so back in the day it was a lot different. But yeah, the cleaning solution

speaker-0 (32:56.482)

Yes.

speaker-2 (32:58.038)

I I don't say it anymore, but we used to say, you know, that you know, you can ask the technician to drink it and he will. And they're like, please stop saying that. Stop We don't want to

speaker-0 (33:18.616)

Mm.

speaker-2 (33:19.692)

Yeah, and the cleaning solution itself doesn't have any scent to it. So that's good too for people who don't like fragrance and stuff. And then some people are like, Well, I want a scent. I'm like You can

speaker-1 (33:34.232)

Smells clean. That's what it smells like.

speaker-0 (33:36.822)

Get a glade.

speaker-2 (33:37.804)

Well they want, you know, like the lemony or I call it the pine sally smell.

speaker-0 (33:44.62)

Yeah.

speaker-2 (33:48.952)

So yeah. And your house smells like urine, so anything like it's gonna smell better now.

speaker-1 (33:55.361)

Right.

speaker-0 (33:56.204)

So do people call you when they're getting their house ready to sell?

speaker-2 (34:02.188)

yeah. Okay. Yeah. like one client called the other day. She has an open house on Saturday. So we went out and cleaned for her and we're really good luck. So which I tell people too, I'm like as soon as we come in, you know, your house is gonna sell and

speaker-0 (34:22.04)

Hey, whatever works.

speaker-1 (34:23.64)

in this market, we hope so.

speaker-2 (34:26.943)

And and there was a guy Monday we cleaned the house he was moving into and Friday we're cleaning the house he just moved out of. Now that everything will be out, we'll clean on Friday for that. That's ideal. That doesn't happen too often. I'm like, they're like, yeah, once we get stuff moved in, I'm like, no, you don't want to move your stuff in on someone else's gunk.

speaker-1 (34:54.892)

We'll rearrange. Yeah, exactly.

speaker-2 (34:57.72)

though. and people will call, yeah, you were right. Now that we're in here, it smells pretty funky. Mm-hmm. Told you, know what I'm doing. yeah, that's ideal before they move in to get it cleaned.

speaker-0 (35:05.323)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (35:15.008)

What is the lead time typically?

speaker-2 (35:17.87)

forward. it depends on the time of year. summer is a little bit slower. so depending on what part of town they're in, and we deal with the entire Nashville metro area. Okay. So you know, it can be a a couple days out or a week out. back to school gets crazy.

speaker-1 (35:42.678)

The kids are out of the house. They're like, Get it clean. They're finally

speaker-2 (35:45.998)

Like them out.

speaker-0 (35:46.826)

Summer's other.

speaker-1 (35:50.254)

They're not running in and out of the house.

speaker-2 (35:52.206)

Right. And and then before Thanksgiving, that's the absolute Christmas slows down 'cause people will be like, I forgot to buy one more present. So that's a little bit slower, but yeah.

speaker-1 (35:57.74)

Yeah, getting ready for the holiday.

speaker-1 (36:08.094)

So that is in real estate too. It gets pretty slow between Thanksgiving and Christmas and then it kicks back in.

speaker-2 (36:13.25)

Yeah. So but rugs are continuous. Does not matter the time of year. People always want their rugs cleaned. Really? We pick up and clean back at our shop and and bring back. It takes about two weeks with as many rugs as we have typically. So like it takes two weeks to clean? I'm like, No. To get to it's like many rugs ahead of you. Well what if I pay you extra to I'm like, everybody says that. I can't I I d I can't play favorites.

speaker-0 (36:33.332)

No.

speaker-0 (36:42.594)

People are impatient.

speaker-2 (36:44.342)

Yeah, so yep.

speaker-0 (36:48.342)

So you know, looking on here, the I've I've got some notes, but looking on your your website. tell the tell everybody what is your website address?

speaker-2 (36:58.254)

TNT chem dry dot com and that's TNT like Dino Mike.

speaker-0 (37:02.35)

Trivia. Where did that come from?

speaker-1 (37:07.498)

Is it J J?

speaker-0 (37:11.522)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (37:13.73)

JJ tell my age. Who's JJ?

speaker-2 (37:17.718)

Now we're like who is

speaker-0 (37:21.816)

Where else go? our yeah, you're finishing. Okay, sorry.

speaker-2 (37:28.022)

I don't remember what were you saying? Striked in by Dino Mike. I used to say that on the show.

speaker-1 (37:33.6)

Website.

speaker-0 (37:35.284)

look at your website. Yes, yes, yes.

speaker-2 (37:37.55)

TNT chem dry dot com. Yep.

speaker-0 (37:40.151)

and share a little bit about what people can find there, how they can schedule, can they find pricing on there? How did they get the pricing? just kind of go over that.

speaker-2 (37:51.382)

They can go online and put in what they're wanting to have cleaned and it it should give them an idea. And I am constantly texting and emailing people with questions and stuff like that. I answer until I go to bed, you know, life of a business owner. my

My granddaughter was actually here for the past couple days and you know, she's turning ten next month. Hi, Ellie. and so all she's known is this. And I used to watch her when she was a baby, and she would know when the phone rang and I was doing a talk to text for to a client for something and she knew she's like

She said word for word what I was gonna say. Like I will just hire you. That's meaning.

speaker-0 (38:54.87)

No doubt. Yeah.

speaker-2 (38:56.888)

But my son was four when we moved here to start the business, so he grew up in it and he worked in the rug shop for years and actually just left to take a break these past few months to to, you know, work for someone other than his mom, which is really good for his sanity and

speaker-0 (39:13.592)

Okay.

speaker-0 (39:21.934)

We were just talking about that, 'cause I I coached our son's baseball team all through growing up. And you know, it it's one of those things, they don't listen to you. So, you know, he was a pitcher and I I got to the point I would just tell the other coach what to say. You know, just go out there go talk on it. 'Cause if I did it, he roll his eyes and didn't want to hear anything. but yeah, that that's just the way kids are.

speaker-2 (39:51.062)

Right. Yeah. Well he he coached my granddaughter's softball league this year and they were undefeated. Yay. Yay girls.

speaker-1 (40:01.198)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (40:01.664)

What? Undefeated.

That is fantastic. I'm a huge baseball person. Anybody knows me. I am truly a fanatic, especially for college baseball, but very proud one year down in Texas when we lived there, just for a a a short stint. Our daughter played T ball. so she's the oldest. Yeah, sh well

speaker-1 (40:25.336)

She's about your son's age.

speaker-0 (40:26.906)

And she played T ball. They came in second for the season. Yeah, there's only two teams but they came in second.

speaker-2 (40:30.86)

Nice.

speaker-1 (40:35.214)

And she never played again. She went straight to ballet.

speaker-2 (40:38.798)

That was me. I played softball one year. I think one I was in the outfield a ball came to me once and I was like, I'm busy picking flowers. What am I supposed to do with this?

speaker-1 (40:50.102)

Yeah. My daughter exactly. She's like, To the theater we go, mom. So we had one theater person, music person. Well Cohen loves music too and so do you, but Cohen did the baseball thing for his dad and they had that whole thing and we did the whole piano and singing stuff and

speaker-2 (40:53.23)

And

speaker-0 (41:10.638)

tried the music. I played violin, I tried guitar, I could play a little bit of the piano and I just I realized that a younger age it wasn't something that I was going to do very well in. Right. And so I decided, huh, I like the business side. So that's why I went to Belmont. And when I got out is when everybody was getting laid off because of all of the the Napster, the lime wire if you go back that far. Yeah.

Yeah, most kids nowadays don't even they weren't even alive.

speaker-1 (41:43.478)

It was alive when that happened. Right.

speaker-0 (41:46.334)

Yeah. So that's how we ended up here and because I transferred. We went to the college in Arkansas and then I transferred because of that that's specific degree. I worked with Sonny for a couple of years, but yeah. life just takes you different places.

speaker-2 (42:03.71)

I went to Belmont for music and she just released a new album on Spotify and stuff this weekend and

speaker-0 (42:06.616)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (42:13.804)

I love how people you know, individuals can r release music now. Right. I love that.

speaker-1 (42:18.89)

Independently. I just, you know, went into my garage and did this in my studio. I mean, it just blows my mind.

speaker-2 (42:26.976)

I can't I but she's really like I can't sing in my own car anymore if she's in it, 'cause I will belt out whatever and I am so bad. I don't care. But I can't do that in front of her. I'm so embarrassed because she's so good.

speaker-1 (42:42.082)

Ha ha ha ha ha.

speaker-2 (42:43.947)

speaker-0 (42:46.282)

me. So ask you a a different type of question here is you know, our podcast is You Matter Nashville because we believe everybody matters and has a a story and a purpose. what does what does you matter mean to you?

speaker-1 (43:06.102)

Mm.

speaker-2 (43:07.864)

Well, same I love that Nashville is such an inclusive area and I am all for treating everyone the same. I don't care. I don't care who you are. When you are calling me, you're calling me for the same need as everybody else. I don't care I don't ask what part of town someone's calling me from.

until I've got it nailed down and then I'm just looking at the schedule and they're like, well do you come to my absolutely I come to your part of town. Or, you know so I don't care who everybody is. yeah, it's fun meeting a famous person, but you know

Everybody needs the same attention and the same love and That's true. And just I mean, I spend so much time just talking on the phone with people. Yeah, they might not be able to afford getting certain things cleaned, but I'll stay on the phone with them just because they don't have like they don't talk to anybody all day. So I will just sit and talk and talk and talk and I'm like, Hey, you need to talk to someone?

speaker-0 (44:20.866)

Yeah.

speaker-2 (44:28.856)

You don't have family in town, you call me, I'll I'll come talk to you and and hang out 'cause

speaker-0 (44:34.058)

I I don't know. Yeah, that's one of those things that hits hits my heart is when we're we're out to eat and we'll see an older usually gentlemen but sometimes ladies eating by themselves and it's just like you don't and then they may be like I'm getting a break from my partner Well it's yeah they're pr they're having a great time and I'm over there going, but I mean and the other

speaker-1 (44:53.652)

I'm glad that they're like loving this.

speaker-0 (45:03.688)

side of that is that, you know, they they are now facing time alone. You know, my my dad passed and, you know, about about not quite three years ago. And so my you know, my mom and dad, my mom, that's all she's known. Right. because they got married right out of high school or she got right out of high school. And so, you know, close to sixty years, all of a sudden she's living life alone.

speaker-2 (45:30.668)

Yeah, she has no one to take care of now and

speaker-0 (45:34.262)

Well and then what I was getting at is that conversation may be the highlight of their their week. Right. You know. You we don't know what their story is. We don't know what what's going on. Yeah. And just being kind is giving back. It's just loving on people. Yeah. Because you know, love and hope, how can you live without it?

speaker-2 (45:58.698)

And a lot of times when people call us, it's because something horrible happened. Or they lost a parent or, you know, they lost an animal or something. So they just need to vent to someone who's maybe not part of their family. I'm like, hey, just say whatever you want to say. It's all good. Safe space.

speaker-0 (46:20.61)

Well, Tara, I I I I I have loved this interview. I've loved you coming on the show and just what you share, you know, you think of a a carpet cleaning company, you know, wouldn't be that exciting. But you make it exciting. And I I love your personality. You've got a infectious laugh and personality. So I can imagine people that do business with you really like you.

speaker-2 (46:35.745)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (46:49.262)

I love your heart for the pets and what you do for them. You know, fostering a pet's a it's a job, it's a task. And so you know, pets need to be loved as well. yes. We can all learn from pets actually. you know, just treat everybody right, love everybody. but before we wrap up, do you are y'all it's your twentieth year?

speaker-1 (46:58.464)

It is

speaker-0 (47:17.177)

if y'all are running anything or anything you want to share with the audience about Kildra?

speaker-2 (47:24.524)

We're doing a twenty percent off to celebrate our twenty years. So make sure you mention that. You can you can reach out to me, call me directly, my number's six one five five five seven five two three one. You can text me at that. as long as I'm not asleep or you know, playing pickleball or

speaker-0 (47:30.38)

Fantastic. Twenty percent.

speaker-2 (47:52.61)

Watching softball with my granddaughter, I typically answer a text.

speaker-0 (47:57.902)

So just to make sure people realize it may not be on your website, but just reach out to you. Absolutely. Okay, perfect. And again, the website address.

speaker-2 (48:10.158)

TNT chem dry dot com.

speaker-0 (48:12.014)

Tntchemdry.com. All right. Well, Tard, thank you so much. thank you for yeah, thank you for everything you do. And, you know, sharing your journey and an entrepreneurial journey at that, it's always kind of interesting. You know, that you you you don't really have guardrails when you become a business owner. And sometimes you gotta push your car back up on the road. but your heart and helping others definitely shines bright, and we appreciate

The impact that you do for our community.

speaker-2 (48:42.422)

If anyone wants to, you know, help out to animal rescue. I know Nashville Humane Society is celebrating their 80th anniversary, so you can reach out to them. Critter Cavalry, Big Fluffy Dog, or some animal rescues we we help out, but there's so many out there that need your help. Even if you just go to love on a dog and make their day.

speaker-0 (48:47.032)

Yeah.

speaker-1 (49:09.142)

It's so true. And thank you for reminding us that every act of kindness, especially towards our fluffy friends, no matter how small, means a huge difference.

speaker-2 (49:19.939)

Yeah.

speaker-0 (49:20.968)

All right. Well thank you everybody. Thank you, friends, for listening. And always, until next time, remember you matter.

speaker-1 (49:28.888)

Thank you for joining us on this episode of You Matter Nashville. We hope you found inspiration on this episode and are reminded that no matter where you are or what you do, you matter.

speaker-0 (49:40.398)

If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and even share it with your friends and family. Also, stay connected with us on social media and tune in next time for more incredible stories from the heart of our community.

speaker-1 (49:54.71)

Until then, remember, your story matters, your voice matters, and most of all, you matter.