237 | 15 minutes of nonsense

BusinessPodcastMarketing

Dec 6

Written By Melissa Klug

The title says it all. It's just 15 minutes of Cabri and me talking about 100 different random things.

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You can listen right here by pressing play, or you can read the full transcript below!

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Melissa Klug: Hey, pro organizers. It’s Melissa, and this is just a super short—I'm literally calling it 15 Minutes of Nonsense. Cabri and I recorded a podcast last night and it’s a good one, you guys, but I’m going to put it out next week. But before that, we talked for a solid half an hour. Some of it I did delete because I do care about you guys, and you would’ve been like, “Melissa, this is the most ridiculous podcast you’ve ever put out.”

Now, the one you’re about to listen to might also be—we went all over the place. I’m mostly putting it up because we didtalk about organizing and business and lots of other things that are business-adjacent. But we also talk about jalapeños in Dr. Peppers, so just enjoy it…or skip it.

But I just wanted to throw it up there as a little bonus—a little bit of behind-the-scenes of: if Cabri and I are recording a podcast and the podcast is like 50 minutes, I need you to know there’s an hour of stuff you don’t hear that’s just us going squirrel.

So anyway—there is some legit organizing stuff in there that I thought you guys might like. The podcast coming up this week is all about burnout and when you’re tired of entrepreneurship, whether it’s because of the end of the year or whatever. We just want to get honest about it’s been a hard year, you guys—so we’re talking about it, because we’ve gotta talk about all the stuff.

But this is the… it’s the appetizer. It’s the amuse-bouche, if you are a Top Chef watcher, of the real deal next week—which is gonna be… it was a great conversation, and it was actually really good for both Cabri and me, and I hope it’ll be good for you.

Okay. Enough of the blah, blah, blah. Here’s 15 minutes of nonsense. I hope you enjoy it. Bye.

Cabri Carpenter: Guess not. Are you guys slower that—
Melissa Klug: I would say yes, but not, like, drastically.

Gallery View & Screen Share: Okay.

Cabri Carpenter: Honestly, like, we’ve already got stuff booked in January, so it’s not like that slow. Yeah. I would say some of our bigger— I think our average project has switched. Instead of doing a whole home for thousands of dollars, people are being a little more cautious, but not to the point of nothing.

Melissa Klug: Yeah. That was definitely part of the conversation—as people who used to just say, “Yeah, we’ll just do the whole house,” they’re like, “How about we start with the kitchen?”

Cabri Carpenter: Yep. Just, like, a different thing.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about whoever posted about the gift certificates—I was actually thinking about doing just a once-over for our email list of just the… I don’t know: buy four hours, get six hours. Something paid in full. You can give ’em that day rate, but have ’em buy it in advance just to see what would happen.

Yeah. I still think I’m gonna do it. And like, I would love to collect 20 grand right here, right now.

Melissa Klug: For sure. Or maybe you do it time-bound too, where you’re just like, “This is good for a week.” Just see what happens.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah—make ’em use it in 2026. But we have some people who book—like, they won’t sign up on a maintenance plan, but they’ll book once a quarter, once every other month.

Yeah. And I’m like, you would buy it right now. Especially business owners that are like, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna do this later on,” but I want the tax write-off you want this year.

Melissa Klug: For sure. Is that a Coke or Dr. Pepper? What’re you drinking?

Cabri Carpenter: Coke Zero.

Melissa Klug: Oh! My niece and I were having an argument one day about whether Diet Coke or Coke Zero is a superior product—and I said, “They’re different.”

Cabri Carpenter: They are different. But that’s why I feel like Coke Zero is the superior.

Melissa Klug: Yeah, no—Diet Coke is a different… it’s a completely different animal.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. You wanna know which one is— I can hardly taste the difference? Sprite Zero. Sprite Zero is almost dead-on to regular Sprite. You get a little bit of the aftertaste—it’s bitter—but it’s so close that most people…

But I do Sprite and—yeah. See, I’m a big Sonic girl, so I do a Sprite Zero from Sonic with, like, cherry or cranberry in it to mix it up.

And have you ever been to a—

Melissa Klug: Swig? Do you know what Swig is?

Cabri Carpenter: No.

Melissa Klug: Okay—do you know what dirty sodas are?

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah.

Melissa Klug: So Swig is, I think, the originator of kind of the Utah dirty soda thing. They have an insane number of drinks, so they’ve spread into Arizona now. So I’ve had it a few times in Arizona.

And I was—the first time I ever heard of it, I was like, “That is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard.” I was like… Dr. Pepper with cream?! It’s so good.

Cabri Carpenter: It is so good.

Melissa Klug: It’s so good. And so Swig—and there are a bunch of… Utah has a bunch of ’em now, but Swig is the one, since it’s in Arizona.

Their menu—I just will go there occasionally and I’m like, “I want the full sugar, full everything.” I don’t—because you can get sugar-free everything, right? But I’m like, “No. Give me all of the sugar. All of the calories.” Like, this is worth… yes. All of it. It’s so good.

Have you ever had Big Red?

Cabri Carpenter: No, I don’t think so.

Melissa Klug: Okay. That’s another one you should try if you’re ever in this southern area.

Cabri Carpenter: But they make fabulous things with dirty sodas with Big Red.

Melissa Klug: Oh, sure.

Cabri Carpenter: Also, Lara loves—and I know Sonic was doing it at one point when they were doing their dill pickle promotion—

Melissa Klug: Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that. Like a Diet Coke… There is a comedian that would get a giant Diet Coke and then pour—

Cabri Carpenter: Pickles in it.

She does Dr. Pepper with pickles and she says it’s amazing. And I’m like, my brain can’t—it just doesn’t seem like it makes sense, but… no, I’m willing to try it. She says it’s fabulous. I trust her, but I’m like, that’s the—I draw the line there. I’m not putting pickles and jalapeños and shit in my drink.

Unless it has vodka in it—that’s… yeah.

Melissa Klug: Jalapeños? Absolutely not. But okay—next time I see her, I’m gonna have a pickle Dr. Pepper.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah.

Melissa Klug: Okay. It’s very weird. You have to find the right places that you can get it, but…

Okay—see, the only Sonic—it’s not remotely in a place that I drive by. I’m not by there very often. I’d have to really want to go there.

Cabri Carpenter: We have a Sonic on every corner. Sonics and Starbucks—it’s just everywhere.

Melissa Klug: How many Starbucks are there now, I wonder? Oh, probably a ridiculous amount. I saw a thing and I was really surprised by this: “What’s the biggest franchise in the United States?” So I was just like, “Oh, McDonald’s.” No—it’s Subway, because they’re in so many gas stations.

Cabri Carpenter: That actually makes sense too.

Melissa Klug: And it’s by a lot too—there were thousands more. And I was like, “I haven’t eaten at Subway in a hundred years.”

Cabri Carpenter: I do feel like Starbucks has some metric in the market that they’re cornered on—and it may just be real estate. They have the most amount of real estate.

I loved this—it was probably a year ago, year and a half ago—when they finally announced it, but they were talking about all the money that they hold in gift cards and how they use it, because they just have a billion dollars of cash in people’s gift card accounts at any point in time that they can use to invest. And I’m like, “That is genius.”

Melissa Klug: Costco breaks even on all their merchandise. They make their money on memberships—so they basically make almost no profit on what they actually sell. They make profit on the membership price.

That makes sense. I love Costco. I would pay a million—

Cabri Carpenter: Love for Costco.

Melissa Klug: And they’re really good to their employees. They’re generally a good company.

And then there was another one—oh, I had it in my head and it just went away.

Oh—like airlines now. Airlines make more money on their credit cards. So that’s why they’re constantly pushing the credit card, because that’s where they make all their money.

Cabri Carpenter: My appointment earlier was a lymphatic facial.

Melissa Klug: Oh, I’ve heard those are great.

Cabri Carpenter: I really enjoyed it. I’m gonna go back and do a full body, but anyway, I was sitting there laying and I just kind of lost time—and she’s like, “Okay, we’re done.” And I was like, “Yeah… oh my God.”

That was the most peaceful, like, meditation / brain dump / mind reorganization 45 minutes I’ve ever had.

Do you know what you need to do? You should try—have you ever heard of a float tank?

Melissa Klug: Yeah, we did it in Oklahoma City for one of our girls’ trips and it was fun.

My super-scientist brother talks about it’s the closest you can get on earth to being without gravity. Because even when you’re sleeping, your bed is—gravity is pushing up on your bed, pushing up on you, and you’re pushing down on your bed.

And so it’s the only time your brain can be, like, quiet. Your brain is not fighting against gravity, is how he explained it to me.

Cabri Carpenter: So when I did it, I did it for about 15 minutes. I think I was supposed to do it for like an hour and I just couldn’t go that long.

Melissa Klug: I did it for two hours once and it was amazing.

Cabri Carpenter: Two hours?

Melissa Klug: Yes. So did you feel, like, your blood pumping through your body?

Cabri Carpenter: Yes. Okay—I didn’t like that. That’s probably why—between the water and then getting out early—that’s probably why. Because I was in the midst of having a panic attack. Because I could literally feel… I could see organs moving and my blood moving, and it freaked me out.

Melissa Klug: Yeah. The ones that I’ve—the place that I’ve done it, they have an option: you can do woo-woo music, which makes it a little bit less… which—

Cabri Carpenter: I kind of want to try it again now, just because… yeah, I don’t remember music being on.

Melissa Klug: Yeah. You may just need to find a new place too.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah.

Melissa Klug: But it’s really good—he does it with athletes that have gotten concussions, because it stops your brain from firing, basically.

But it might be amazing thinking time for you.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. I think I’ve decided I just need to start implementing a couple times a week—30 minutes to two hours, something—where I just sit and think, because that’s really smart. That’s part of my zone of genius.

Melissa Klug: Tim was talking about this the other day. There’s an author named Chuck Klosterman who’s written a ton of books, and I heard him interviewed the other day and he said he worries about the future of creativity—like movies, books, TV, whatever.

And he said the reason he worries about it is because we don’t have time to daydream anymore, because we’re always doing something. Like when you’re at the grocery—like I always have headphones in. I’m always doing… If I’m in Target, I’m listening to a podcast. If I’m in the car, I’m listening. There is no time that you are just… nothing. And I was like, “Oh, I never really thought about it that way.”

Cabri Carpenter: So I still read quite a bit, and that’s my disconnect from my brain. Like, I enter the book world and I’m envisioning the movie in my head, and that’s how I still daydream—with prompts, okay?

Melissa Klug: I do too, but I don’t… I do find myself—and I really want to change this next year—I have been reading a lot less than I normally did. Like I used to do a hundred books a year.

Cabri Carpenter: With what time do you have to read such things?

Melissa Klug: I would just make the time. I love reading.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. This year has not been that year though for you?

Melissa Klug: No, this year has not been that year. I’m busting the walls on all the things—no, this has not been the year. But I would argue that… I’ll have to look at my Goodreads. I don’t know how many I’ve read this year.

But I do waste a lot of time at the end of the day. Instead of reading, I’m like, “I’m just gonna hang around on Instagram.” So it’s not value-added time.

Cabri Carpenter: Sometimes it’s just good mental—

Melissa Klug: But every once in a while—yeah. I’m not haranguing myself over it, but I am like… I have lessened the amount that I turn to a book, rather than, “I’m just gonna scroll on my phone.”

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. Jacob and I almost always TikTok every night when we’re laying in bed. And I sent him a TikTok and I was like, “I’m gonna read.” And so I was reading, and I ended up sleeping better because I think I turned my warmth up and I didn’t have the blue light and the noise and the distraction.

Melissa Klug: And I did something the other day that I ironically saw on TikTok, but the guy gave you instructions of how to make your phone grayscale—and I did it. I instantly physically felt better, and I’ve been keeping it.

And the other day my goddaughter was like, “Your phone looks funny.” And I was like, “Oh yeah, I have different colors on my phone.” She’s like, “Why? It looks weird.” And I’m used to it now, so I didn’t even pay attention, but she noticed it right away.

Cabri Carpenter: And so grayscale works for me whenever I need to get on social media or do stuff for work, but I don’t want to get stuck just randomly scrolling. It breaks it—I go for the task, not for the distraction.

Melissa Klug: Yeah, for sure. We’ve talked about a lot of random things. I love it. I may have to make this into a random-shit podcast.

Okay: this is just random shit that we talked about.

Cabri Carpenter: Grayscale—

Melissa Klug: Your phone.

Cabri Carpenter: It happens. Grayscale—you’ll read—

Melissa Klug: A book.

Cabri Carpenter: Go—

Gallery View & Screen Share: Go read a book. Coke Zero is better than Diet Coke. Try a dirty Dr. Pepper. Deep thoughts. Try float tanks. Float tanks are great. We really did just—

Cabri Carpenter: We’re like squirrel. I have to tell Jacob sometimes, ’cause he’ll be like, “Whatcha you thinking about?” And I’m like, “I’ll tell you, but I have to tell you how I got here first.”

Because if you just say the thing, he’s like, “Where the hell did that come from?” And I’m like, “Here.” And he’s like, “Okay, now that makes sense.” I’m like, “If I had just said that, it would’ve been weird.”

Melissa Klug: If I have a really freaky weird dream, I nine times out of ten can be like, “Here’s why that happened.” Because right before bed I saw a guy mowing the yard, whatever—I can always triangulate how I got to the weird thing.

But I had a discussion with Tim one time. I was like, “I just want to explain what happens in my brain.” I go, “Here are all the things that I’m thinking about right now.” And he just looked at me like…

Cabri Carpenter: Does he have a voice in his—

Melissa Klug: Head that talks to him? I don’t know.

Hey, Tim—Cabri wants to know: do you have a voice in your head that talks to you?

Oh—yeah. Yeah, he does.

Okay. Also: he and the dog have conversations, but it’s him talking to himself in the dog’s voice.

Cabri Carpenter: Okay, I do that too, so I can’t say anything.

Melissa Klug: Yeah, no, we all do it—but he really does it. He will have entire conversations.

I get it. She does understand you, honey. I know.

He goes, “She’s the only one who understands me.” It happens.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. The first time I asked Jacob that question, he was like, “No, my brain is quiet.”

And I’m like…

Melissa Klug: What?! Oh yeah—no, all the time. All the time. Very noisy.

Cabri Carpenter: He’s like, “Yeah, I just sometimes don’t think things.” And I’m like, God—what an amazing—

Melissa Klug: Blessing that would be. Man, I would love that. How do you do that?

Because last night I could not… I was exhausted and could not go to sleep because I was like: all the things I need to pack for vacation, and oh my gosh, I forgot to get this, and I need blister band-aids. Does Target have blister band-aids? Maybe they’re out of blister band-aids. What happens if Target doesn’t have blister band-aids?

Just—12:30 in the morning.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah, I don’t know. There’s… it’s a thing. Some people don’t have the voice in their head and they don’t have the constant thought. Like, they just have blank space. And then there’s people who never have blank space, and I’m definitely team No Blank Space. No blank space.

Melissa Klug: But “Blank Space” is one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs, so there you go.

Cabri Carpenter: Fair.

Melissa Klug: It’s a great song.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. I still enjoyed Taylor Swift in that era. Speak Now was like the last real album. I was also in high school—

Melissa Klug: Yeah. Oh yeah—it’s the era of your life.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. It makes sense.

Melissa Klug: Like when I hear ’80s and ’90s music, I’m like, “Oh, nostalgia”—like Stranger Things. That’s why I love Stranger Things, ’cause it’s all ’80s. It makes my heart happy.

Cabri Carpenter: Yes.

Melissa Klug: Makes sense. Although I did not have any demons that came to my high school, which is positive.

Cabri Carpenter: I don’t know if I can say the same—being raw, honest here.

Melissa Klug: Good to know. No.

Cabri Carpenter: Yeah. Oh, that’s amazing. Highly disguised as normal people, but—

Melissa Klug: I’m not gonna agree with you on that one. All right, that’s fine. I do love that show, though. It makes me incredibly happy.

Cabri Carpenter: I feel like I need to go back and watch it, ’cause it’s been years.

Melissa Klug: I actually just rewatched—like a psychopath—I rewatched the whole series before I watched season five, and I was like… oh. Because it’s been 10 years. It came out 10 years ago.

Cabri Carpenter: I don’t think I realized it had been that long.

Melissa Klug: Yeah. Ten years. Wow. Yeah, it’s wild. Anyway—go watch it.