183. Inefficiency by Design: Creating Impact & Ownership with Luke Mickelson

When it comes to leadership, efficiency isn’t always the goal—especially if it means leaving people out of the process. In this episode, CNN Hero and Sleep in Heavenly Peace founder Luke Mickelson shares how “inefficiency by design” became a powerful strategy for building both beds and belonging. We explore what it means to lead through service, why volunteer experience matters as much as the mission, and how to turn purpose into action—one meaningful step at a time.  

Resources:

• Sleep in Heavenly Peace

About Luke:

Luke has also been featured in several national news stories for his charity work and dedication to serving his community. His humans helping humans philosophy has earned him a spot as a CNN Hero Top 10 Hero, an NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt special, interviews on Good Morning America and Hallmark Home and Family shows, and appearances on Facebook Watch “Returning the Favor” with Mike Rowe, the American Ninja Warrior competition, a TEDx talk and landing his smile on a Lay’s potato chip bag. Currently, Luke serves as the Founder of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, owner and operator of several businesses and a motivational speaker. His success in life is based on the value of service and commitment to helping others.

Transcript

Teri Schmidt [00:00:00]: What if the secret to greater impact isn't doing things faster, but making space for more people to get involved? Today's guest, Luke Mickelson, believes in inefficiency by design. As the founder of sleep and heavenly peace, he's built a global organization where the process matters just as much as the outcome, because it's through the process that people find purpose. What started as a simple project in his garage to help a local child has grown into over 400 chapters in four countries, all working to ensure that no kid sleeps on the floor in their town. Along the way, Luke's humans helping humans philosophy has earned him national attention. Being named a CNN top 10 hero and featured on Good Morning America, NBC nightly news with Lester Holt, TEDx, returning the favor with Mike Rowe, and even on a Lay's potato chip bag. In this episode, we talk about what it really means to lead through service, how to design experiences that create ownership, and why sometimes doing less efficiently can actually lead to more transformation for everyone involved. It was an inspiring conversation that I'm excited to share with you. So let's get into it. Teri Schmidt [00:01:28]: I'm Terri Schmidt, executive and leadership coach at Strong Leaders Serve, where we work with caring, driven leaders to transform potential into performance. And this is the Strong Leaders Serve podcast.

Teri Schmidt [00:02:38]: Welcome, Luke, to the Strong Leaders Serve podcast. It is a great honor to have you on today. As I mentioned, before we hit record, I got exposed to Sleep in Heavenly Peace, the wonderful organization that you founded and run, several years ago, and I'm really excited to learn more about you as well as learn more about, you know, some of the strategies that you use that I think can be very applicable to leaders in corporate as well. Luke Mickelson [00:03:05]: Great. Yeah. Teri Schmidt [00:03:05]: Thank you for being here. Luke Mickelson [00:03:06]: Well, thank you for having me on. I'm excited. This is, it's always good to share, you know, your story, my and and, as well as connect with other people, like minded people that, you know, run nonprofits and and and have run businesses, right, and know the the struggles that go from entrepreneurship, startups to, long long long term, long time, businesses and and, nonprofits. So, anyways, love love the conversation. Teri Schmidt [00:03:33]: Oh, great. Well, I'd love for you to start off by telling us a little bit about the origin and mission of sleep in heavenly peace for those who aren't familiar. Luke Mickelson [00:03:42]: You bet. You know, let me start I'll start a little bit further back just so people understand who who they're listening to right now. You know, I I grew up in a very small town, Kimberly, Idaho, right next to Twin Falls. You know, the town was 4,000 people, and I was one of those guys. Of course, all you small town people out there understand what I'm saying. You know, if you could pick a ball up and throw it in the right direction somewhat accurately or could run somewhat fast, you know, you had to play sports and and it was great. You know, I played every sport. I tell I tell people, like, you know, I was there was two weeks of the year, prob pretty much my whole high school, school, even junior high school. Luke Mickelson [00:04:18]: Two weeks of the year, I didn't have practice for a game, and that was it. Mhmm. You know, you just you just had to play, which which was great because the the pros as well as the cons of being in a small town is you knew everybody and they they knew you. Right? And so so there's there's benefits there. But but I loved growing a small town and because you get to know everybody, you know, you enjoy the opportunity to learn and grow and and, with with people, and to be able to serve them. You know, my mom's single mom grew up in a single home. It's really funny. She was the elementary, principal's, secretary. Luke Mickelson [00:04:54]: Right? When I would Uh-huh. Entry. And then the minute I moved to high school, yeah, she moved and was now the to the superintendent who's, you know, with small high school. So I'm I I couldn't I couldn't skip school. I was, you know, one of those four guys. You know? Hey. What was is Luke sick today? You know? Anyways, it was I was one but I I had I was raised by my mom. I had an older brother who he was the oldest, so so he's kinda out of the house. Luke Mickelson [00:05:20]: But I had two older sisters, a younger sister, and my mom. So there was I was raised by four women. I was the best dressed kid in the town. Hi, Bob. Times my sister's like, really? You're you're gonna wear that? Apparently not. No. So in in growing up, I just learned the value of connection and the value of serving, and and I enjoyed it, you know, through once I was out of high school, you know, I served a mission for my church. And and the the the opportunity just to meet people was fun. Luke Mickelson [00:05:53]: You know, we'd walk up and down the streets, and people would mow their lawn. And I'd jump out there and see, you know, suit and tie. I'm up there to see if I could help mow the lawn. I just love connecting with people, and and I think I get that from from my mom. You know, she, five kids growing up, single mom is not, an easy an easy task. You know? She had three jobs, and I remember many times after basketball games or whatnot in high school, you know, we still had I'd we'd go home, get off the bus, jump in the car, and we'd have to go, you know, clean some offices. That's how we we we learn. You know? And so, and I remember, my mission president, gave me some great advice. Luke Mickelson [00:06:30]: He said, you know, Luke, if you look at whatever you end up in your career wise, if you look at it as a way of serving people and not just taking a paycheck, it'd be so much more pleasant. And and it was, you know, it sure was right. And I I really took that to heart. And and even in later on in years when I I got hired on, by a local water treatment company and I served there for about twenty years, I I enjoyed it. I always looked forward to ways that my customers, they rely on me. You know? Something Mhmm. Something broke down or whatnot. And these are big companies. Luke Mickelson [00:07:01]: Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars going down the drain every minute they're down. You know? It was fun to be the guy that that you could go in there and solve the the problem because I felt like that service. And, so I just enjoyed that growing up. But I always tell people about 02/2012. You know? I was 35 years old. I had a couple of kids. I was couple of three kids, one brand new one, a boy and a girl, and a boy. And then, I coached, you know, coached kids, in high school football and and whatnot. Luke Mickelson [00:07:31]: And then in my church service, I was what was called a young men's president. And that basically, youth ministers, some what it's called. But, really, I was over the spiritual growth and then the activity, the Wednesday night activities for for the young men's program ages 12 to 18. And in through through this whole process of life, right, I I, you know, I tell people I kinda felt like I was going through what may maybe people would call midlife crisis. You know, you Mhmm. Hide. You've been in your career for a while. I had a had a good job. Luke Mickelson [00:08:04]: I actually said I have a great job. I loved what I did. I but I just felt like there was something in my life. I just felt like there was more I could offer, and Mhmm. I wasn't being super fulfilled by it. And, I know I'm I was measuring success incorrectly. So all these things culminated in this this small hole that started developing. Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:08:25]: You know? And one thing I knew that I always enjoyed was to serve. You know, I'd take the take the, the boys out. The the activity arm of the church was boy scout. Mhmm. Okay. We try to find things to do for the scouts, and we enjoyed that. And meanwhile, in my church service, we'd, you know, we'd be we'd have these meetings once once or twice a month, and we talk about things that are going on in the church and in the in the community and the the people that we were helping. You know? And one one family in particular we were helping, it was a mom. Luke Mickelson [00:08:56]: She was a school bus driver in our local school. And then the dad I know he suffered from some mental health issues, couldn't hold no jobs. So they were you know, they they actually lived in, an apartment complex I didn't even know existed in my town. That's how small and remote this was. And, and so they were going through the things that they were helping with. You know, rent and and rise to school and food, and the kids didn't have any beds and blah blah. And I was like, wait a minute. Did you just say the kids didn't have any beds? Like, they're, like, on the floor? And one of the leaders says, yeah. Luke Mickelson [00:09:30]: That just Terry, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was like, you know, I start thinking about my own kids. I start thinking about my boy scout. Mhmm. I said, you know, like, literally every day, like, certainly, they've got a mattress and no. No. No. Just blankets. Luke Mickelson [00:09:44]: Mhmm. And I just thought, wow. That is, that's not not good, you know, in my Mhmm. Mhmm. And I thought about my boy spouse going, here is a great opportunity that I could get Xbox controller out of their hands, get them out in a screen. Right? And we'll teach them a Teri Schmidt [00:10:01]: good skill. We'll build we'll build a bed for her. Now it Luke Mickelson [00:10:05]: wasn't like I was a, you know, a total stranger to tools. I'm not a carpenter and never built furniture. In fact, I tell people I had to I kinda had to use my wife's tools. I did not bother me. She had this framing business. Anyways Uh-huh. And so I took the boy scouts, and and I I patterned this boat bed a little bit after what my my daughter had a bunk bed she was sleeping on, and and we built this bunk bed. And I was worried that the boys weren't gonna have a good time. Luke Mickelson [00:10:33]: Right? Because I loved it and and but I was happily disappointed. I said that right. Maybe vice versa. Perfect. Believe. They actually loved it. They had a great time. You know? And I and I know it was because they knew of the cause it was going to. Luke Mickelson [00:10:48]: They helped, you know, some kids. They were younger kids, you know, six and seven. And, and and and the the the funny story, sad story is I didn't I wasn't able to go on the delivery. The boys and their parents and the other leaders went this is in my garage, so I was, you know, back cleaning my garage because Teri Schmidt [00:11:06]: Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:11:07]: Start a start a winter as big December, it was cold and, like, wanna work inside. Anyways, the next day, I heard how amazing it was. Right? You know, the the the emotions that the kids showed and the parents showed and and the and the boys themselves. Right? You know, they got up and shared their their testimony of the experience. And, I mean, I felt happy and also felt really, really sad because, you know, I didn't get to reap some of the reward that came from that. And so that mixed in with this kind of midlife crisis, you know, identity faith faith cross crisis I was going through. I was sitting on the couch and with my kids, we're watching, I don't know, probably Big Bang. We love watching Big Bang together. Luke Mickelson [00:11:51]: And, a commercial came on, and it was a commercial about is it another Xbox or Xbox game? I don't remember. But I remember, and every parent knows this, right before Christmas, these kids, they see these commercials. And you know, you're not gonna get them that. And they know that, but they're gonna turn around and ask you anyways. Right? And Teri Schmidt [00:12:09]: Of course. Luke Mickelson [00:12:10]: Of course. Right? And and and it just hit me. I'm like, gosh. Dang it. You're gonna ask for another Xbox. You got a bed. We just built a bed for for someone that didn't have one. A kid a kid your age didn't have one. Luke Mickelson [00:12:23]: And, you know, it just hit me. And and I remember that I was sitting on the couch, and I was about three inches off the ground. And I remember thinking I could I could tell my kids what what happened. I can tell them, you know, how they should be appreciative of what they have. I could this stuff. Or I could just drop my feet on the ground, get off the couch, and get in the garage, and and teach them just like I did the boy scouts. Mhmm. So that's what I did. Luke Mickelson [00:12:50]: I jumped off off the off the couch, walked out in the in the garage. I mean, they're like, dad, where where are you going? And I said, this the purse. Another bug bed, and gosh, dang it. You're coming with me. And, and we had a great time. My little six year old daughter and her tutu was was drilling and son was pounding wood, and and we just had fun figuring it out. You know? Yeah. And and really that's that was kind of the start of it. Luke Mickelson [00:13:15]: It was more about, you know, getting my kids to appreciate the things they had, as well as in in, you know, find the same joy I had in surfing Mhmm. And giving back and and being the person that that people can rely on. You know? I remember when I was really, really young being single, a single mom and five kids. We had one Christmas. We weren't gonna have Christmas. I I mean, just didn't have the money, and my mom walked in Infinite. Mail one time, and she had $1,500 in her in her hand. You know? Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:13:43]: Some stranger out there. And, of course, we knew who it was, but, you know Right. Super super neat. And I remember thinking, Terry, I wanna be that guy. I wanna be that Really? Helps. Right? Mhmm. Now I wanted my kids to have that feeling. And so we built this bed Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:14:01]: No idea what to do with it. I mean, we didn't know child bedlessness, was a was a real thing. I mean, I just knew about this one family because I happen to be in a meeting. Mhmm. So what do you do? What do you do with this bed? And and and someone recommended, hey. Why don't you throw it on one of these buy, sell, trade Facebook groups? And I was like, you want me to put a free bed on a buy okay. Yeah. Probably not a good idea, but Teri Schmidt [00:14:25]: Right. Luke Mickelson [00:14:25]: Oh, you know, we did it, and I was I was expecting every Tom, Dick, and Harry that wants a free bed. And although we got we got a little bit of that, what we did get was the stories of real situations and real kids that are sleeping on pallets and sleeping on couches Yeah. Sleep with mom and dad and on the floor. And it was it was awestruck. I was awestruck on just the number and the situation of what what we were reading. And, and I remember I I wanted this bed that my family and I built to go to a child is really needed. And and, and sure enough, a friend of mine who's a social worker at the time, she says, I got this family just just got out of homelessness, and they got into a house. And I said, perfect. Luke Mickelson [00:15:08]: And so this is when I met little Hailey. So I walked into Hailey's home, and I had seen poverty before. I'd seen you know, dealt with it in my services before, but I'd never seen it through the aisles eyes of a six year old. Yeah. And when you and when you know that that's why you're there and you see these kids, man, it is, it tore me up. And this house, I mean, there was there was nothing in it. It was a hot plate sitting on a milk carton, you know, one of those little milk cartons. Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:15:40]: Mhmm. That was it. That was the only thing in the house. But little was so excited because guess what? She had a room. She'd been Yeah. Getting in the backseat of her mom's car since she was born. So we go back in this room and I mean, you can imagine what it looks like. Right? It's cold Uh-huh. Luke Mickelson [00:15:55]: Carpet and then the wallpaper and all that. But what struck me the most, Terry, was in the corner was this pile of clothes. It was a little nest, and that's Yeah. Pretty obvious that's where she slept. And Hailey Go ahead. From school, take her school clothes off, put her BJ's on, sleep on her school clothes, and then put them on in the morning. And, you know, it broke my heart. Yeah. Luke Mickelson [00:16:18]: And and so we were pretty excited. Me, Jordan Allen, my buddy, and my my wife at the time, we we brought in these pieces of bed. And you could watch Hailey try to figure out what we're doing. You know? And I think it was when I brought the mattress in, she's like, oh my gosh. This is a bed. And we just she just blew up. I mean, it was awesome. She came over and hugged us. Luke Mickelson [00:16:36]: She she hugged her. She even kissed the bed. I'd never That's the thought. So exciting. I mean, my gosh. I tear up every time. It Yeah. My heart. Luke Mickelson [00:16:45]: You and then to if that wasn't enough to just to rip your heart out, you look, and here's mom. Six years of just tears. She Yeah. Pouring down her face, you know. And I was like, I know every one of those tears. I've seen them Oh my god. My own mom. It just, I mean, talk about hitting me right between the eyes. Luke Mickelson [00:17:05]: And and, you know, we had about a thirty minute drive home from this house, and we had say hardly anything to each other. Really? I mean, it was Yeah. It was just so emotional. And I remember when I I remember thinking, you know, I'm a farm kid from Idaho. I love hunting and fishing. I love college football and sports. Saturdays were filled with that. And like that, none of it mattered anymore. Luke Mickelson [00:17:31]: Like, for two hours every night that we did to build that bed to solve a problem like that, now that is not worth my time. And I felt like the Grinch. You know, I felt like my heart just swelled three times, you know, and that hole that was was was being developed in my heart just filled instantly. And and I remember when we finally got home, I looked at my my buddy and I said, Jordan, no kids can sleep on the floor in my town if I have anything to do with it. Yeah. And and I didn't know how big of a statement that really was Teri Schmidt [00:18:00]: Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:18:00]: Or what the challenge was, but we we we ended up deciding, you know what? We're gonna build as many beds with our Christmas fund as we can. And we ended up building 21 beds altogether. Wow. 11 bunk beds, you know, one single, all before Santa showed up. You know? It it was just it was the greatest experience. Super fun. Teri Schmidt [00:18:22]: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What a what a story. And, you know, what I'm hearing in that is, you know, you you mentioned that kinda hole in your heart that was was developing and, and instead of letting that grow, you were able to to take action. And then the involvement, you know, starting with your family and then with others, bringing them into you know, I'm not just gonna tell you about this. You're you're coming here to do this with me, Right. And no kid's gonna sleep on the floor Right. Teri Schmidt [00:18:58]: In our town. Luke Mickelson [00:18:59]: You know, I what I what I found is, and I actually do a lot of public speaking. Mhmm. My speech covers what I call the TBF framework. Mhmm. Two by four, which is kind of fun, but really Teri Schmidt [00:19:09]: Oh, yeah. Luke Mickelson [00:19:10]: It's an acronym for transform, build, and flourish. And Mhmm. What I found was is we we all have a desire. You know, most people, I should say, have a desire to transform something. Whether it's I I wanna be a better dad, or I wanna be a better employee or employer, or I wanna be better at my job. You know? We all want transformation in our lives. And, it's and so do I. I mean, I I didn't know it at the time. Luke Mickelson [00:19:38]: I felt something off. And and and, you know, looking back now, yes, I needed to transform. I wanted to. But sometimes we focus so much on the wanting to transform knowing sometimes we need to transform. Right? Maybe we're addicted to we have some some addictions and things of that nature we need to transform out of or do something different. But what we miss is we focus too much on that. And sleep in heavenly sleep in heavenly peace taught me that the second step, which is the build or AKA action, that is the most important part of the step. Right? Teri Schmidt [00:20:13]: Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:20:14]: If we don't have action behind our transformation, then it just stays a dream. And I I I coach people on listen. It's good to have a dream. You need to have that. You need to have some direction. But you need to spend more time developing the desire to act Teri Schmidt [00:20:30]: on Yeah. To build Luke Mickelson [00:20:32]: off of that dream. And that's where transformation begins. Right? That's where Yep. We really start seeing things happen. And then after that, once you once you go through those steps, that's when you flourish. And sleeping on the beach, you know, we went from 21 beds that first, that first year and and just one one little fit family Christmas project. Right? Mhmm. And now we have over 400 chapters in four countries. Luke Mickelson [00:20:57]: We've built 300,000 beds. You know, we're the largest bed building charity in the world mostly because there's not a lot of, charities out there that do that. Sure. But it comes from always continue the process, and framework of the TDF. You know? Transform. Be ready to transform. Focus and work on building, and then let flourishing and flourishing is not like an endpoint. Right? Flourishing is an ongoing thing, and and that's what flipping on the piece has taught me. Luke Mickelson [00:21:27]: And and that's why I like to share with people is, you know Mhmm. Whether it's there's not really nonprofits. Whether whether it's just a personal, you know, trait that you wanna learn or or overcome or become better at. You know, the TVF method teaches how taught me anyways how to, really focus energy and priority on on things that are important. You know, I learned in in the growth of a company that started or or a project that started in a garage to now the largest in the world, some of those steps, are very key, and the emphasis you have on them are key. Right? You know, again ahead. A lot of time dreaming, which is great. We need to have that. Luke Mickelson [00:22:08]: But you we need to spend more time on the desire to act than it is on the the dream to, to to to come to fruition. Teri Schmidt [00:22:19]: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I I think it's so well, I know it's so applicable to leaders and and corporations too. You know? How how you get your team to be successful is thinking about what your those desired transformations are as a team, but also the leader finding out what they are for each individual. You know? What are what are those dreams? What are those desired transformations? And how can we create an environment where people can act, want to act, it's safe to act on Lowe's so that they can all flourish. Will. And so Luke Mickelson [00:22:55]: I learned very quickly child bedlessness, not a real word, but a real problem, needs to be solved by the community. It's not gonna be solved by some farm kid from Idaho. Right? He's he's meaningless when it comes to Mhmm. Kids in your community right now. And people don't realize, you know, when I when I tell people what I do Right. There's two you know, I build beds for kids that don't have any. There's two answers. He used to have typically two answers. Luke Mickelson [00:23:20]: The first one is, well, it's not that there's not that many kids. Right? And I'm like, oh, you have no idea. It's greater than three percent. And those are statistics that we came up with because there's no statistics anywhere about child mental illness because it's not even a real word. Right? Teri Schmidt [00:23:36]: Right. Luke Mickelson [00:23:37]: Right. We've come up with that after thirteen years now of of studying and and working in this field, realizing that greater than three percent of the kids in your town, hundred thousand people in your town, there's 3,000 kids right now tonight. They're gonna sleep on the floor, on airmanages. They're gonna Mhmm. On crates, on their clothes. I mean, literally, that's the case. And the second thing is, well, I live in a nice area. There's there's we don't have that here. Luke Mickelson [00:24:06]: I promise you. Child business knows no economics. It knows no geography. It it knows hardships. It knows single moms or dads. It knows Mhmm. Domestic issues. It knows foster care. Luke Mickelson [00:24:22]: It it it it it knows people that just lost their job or or you know, all these all these things that can happen to otherwise, you know, working Americans. And, and to provide a solution for that needed to be a community effort. It needed to be focused in on the community. And and so we quickly I I realized that if we want this to grow and we truly wanna follow our mission, which our mission statement is no kid sleeps on the floor in our town. We just want our town to be everybody's town. You know? Mhmm. And so in order to in order to achieve that, we had to produce a platform that allows, you know, farm kids from Idaho like me, that allow them to execute successfully, the solving of the problem child bedlessness. And so that's what we Yeah. Teri Schmidt [00:25:13]: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah. I mean, it's, it's so powerful because they can not only own that mission, but then they have the support needed to take that action Of course. To for that mission. Luke Mickelson [00:25:27]: In 02/2018, I was a CNN Hero. And the funny story about that is the the next day after they did this big broadcast, I didn't know what a human in here was at the time. But anyways, they, they talked about our mission statement. There's 10 of us. Right? Uh-huh. And, they went around the room and talked about each one of mission statement because a mission statement support, especially in a nonprofit or probably probably any companies Yeah. Equally. Right? And that, usually, a mission statement is the organization telling the public this is what we do or maybe even this is how we do it, and this is the why. Luke Mickelson [00:25:59]: Right? Mhmm. Or what and why's. When they came to to my mission statement, it was kind of a it's not a heated situation, you know, but it was really funny. They're like, oh, Luke, we need to work on your mission statement. I'm like, why is that? Well, it's just no kid suits on the floor in our town. You don't say what it is. You don't say you're not telling anybody. I said, listen, guys. Luke Mickelson [00:26:22]: Our mission statement is not meant for the organization to tell the public Mhmm. What we're doing. It's meant for the complete opposite. We want the public. We want the the community that lives there to say that. And and I remember when I said it, it was almost like I mean, I was I was almost upset, like, you know, that fire going Mhmm. Sorry. Teri Schmidt [00:26:49]: No. It's okay. Luke Mickelson [00:26:51]: You walk into a room. The six year old girl has never had a bed before, never had a bed, and, and you see her reaction, you can't help but get pissed off. Will help? I mean, I was I was I was floored, and, and it just burned in me. It burned such a strong passion that that, you know, I say those words with extreme force, extreme passionate, and we want people to do the same. And so our mission statement is is designed for the community to get involved because that's that's how we're gonna make real change here is together and and providing ways for for people, common folk, to to be able to execute. Mhmm. Teri Schmidt [00:27:37]: Mhmm. Yeah. So so powerful, and and and please don't apologize apologize for the emotion at all. It it it's so powerful. Luke Mickelson [00:27:45]: I'm a big strong guy about the cooktop. Yeah. Right. I'm not supposed to cry. Just kidding. Teri Schmidt [00:27:53]: Yeah. No. That that's space to the power, and and that power that you've you've distributed among everyone to to have a hand in doing something to solve that problem instead of just getting upset about it, to actually do something about it. And I know, you know, I've heard you have a unique leadership philosophy, in a sense inefficiency by design instead of, you know, where everyone's trying to get more and more efficient. In fact, Luke Mickelson [00:28:21]: just this Teri Schmidt [00:28:22]: you know, just recently on a podcast, we had a conversation about the drive for efficiency and and the tension between that and resilience. And Yeah. And so I'm just curious how that has come to play in your organization. And first, maybe, you know, what what does that mean to you in efficiency by design? Luke Mickelson [00:28:40]: Absolutely. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I think you you want to be efficient. I mean, especially in your business. Right? There's certain aspects of business that with technology that that make your your, your profits, make your just your overall organization work work better when it's more efficient. When it comes to Sleepy Family Peace, and I will say any this is important. Any nonprofits out there, and I do nonprofit coaching. Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:29:08]: I've seen it a million times. When when you eliminate because you become more efficient in your process or in your in your, you know, what what whatever whatever mission you're doing. In our case, we build beds. Right? Mhmm. More efficient we made that bed build process, the less volunteers were were included. And so we found out and I have a a kind of a quick story. I call my story. Yeah. Luke Mickelson [00:29:35]: When I when I first did my very first public build where it wasn't my just my family and friends, I put it on the news. I put it in the newspaper. Hey. We're gonna do this this bill. Keep in mind, this is Idaho, first of December, not like it's really warm outside. Right. We're in this warehouse. No air no airs. Luke Mickelson [00:29:53]: There's no heat, whatever. And I put this post out there. Hey, Saturday morning. Come down and freeze your butt off and, you know, build that kids or poor kids. Yeah. Here walks in Hank. Hank's this 70 year old guy. You know, he's kinda walking with that old man lip. Luke Mickelson [00:30:08]: Right? But the cool thing about Hank is he's, like, handing out these little cards that say thank you. Thank you for thank you for your service, I believe is what it said. Mhmm. So I knew Hank had served before. Right? And the fact that he's just there goes to show you a little bit about Hank. And and he he came up to me and I I, you know, first of all, I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, building beds is not I mean, we go four hours straight. This is not easy work. Luke Mickelson [00:30:30]: Is this guy gonna die on me? I mean No. That's true. Little worried. I'm like, yes. He says, hey. I'm here to help. I'm like, okay. Hey. Luke Mickelson [00:30:37]: What you know, what what what are you comfortable with? You know? And he said, I was a carpenter for forty plus years. I'm like, I gotta put you on cutting because, you know, you can't stretch boards when it's cut wrong. So Gotcha. I threw him on there and and, you know, remember, when we build twenty, thirty, 40 beds, there's hundreds, if not thousands of cuts that need to Mhmm. Well, I put them on there and like every chapter present you talk to, you're busy helping out thirty, forty other non or other volunteers that learn how to use the tools. And what do I do? Yep. I kinda forgot about Hank. Here, four hours later, it dawns on me. Luke Mickelson [00:31:12]: I'm like, oh my gosh. Is my is my little man over there? And I look over there, and he, you know, he looks at me, and, I mean, his clothes are just as wide as his hair. Right? Just covered in sawdust. And I went over there, and I'm like, how you doing? And he's like, Luke, he's like, I have volunteered at millions of times. He says, but I have never showed up to an event and was put on an activity within five minutes and never left. Like, I Mhmm. I mean, he it just emphasized. He's like, I didn't stop. Luke Mickelson [00:31:45]: And I kinda went, sorry? What the? And he's like, no. He said, thank you. And right then, I learned that the happiest volunteer are the sweatiest and the dustiest because they wanna feel like they gave back. Mhmm. You know? We're all the same. Right? If you're gonna spend time on a Saturday morning, especially if you're gonna freeze your butt off. Yeah. You wanna feel like you you did something. Luke Mickelson [00:32:09]: You know, sweeping a broom or pushing a button is isn't that satisfying. And we knew that the experience for the volunteer Uh-huh. Might even be just as important as the bed we deliver a child to. Mhmm. And nonprofits out there, you need to realize the more people that you can give meaningful service to, you know exactly what I'm talking about, Terry. What? The the the the more value you give them. Right? Mhmm. So we, yes, we make the bill process, we use the word inefficient. Luke Mickelson [00:32:42]: We really make it, more volunteer centered, which means there are processes that that are very inefficient. Mhmm. And a lot of people know that that you've you've talked to some people, Gus. Teri Schmidt [00:32:55]: I have the inside scoop. Luke Mickelson [00:32:57]: You did. Teri Schmidt [00:32:57]: Do my research. Luke Mickelson [00:32:59]: And so, you know, inefficiency when it comes to volunteer experience is important and because, you know, we have a lot of chapter presence. Like, oh, we could build the beds like this, and we could do this. I mean, engineers that come and build with us Yeah. They walk away just scratching their heads, go, why are you doing it like that? Let's do it like this. Right. And they don't they don't understand that, look, it's I don't wanna eliminate volunteers. I wanna create more jobs, you know? And so that's why we can take we can take volunteers ten or 200 and all to to work. Mhmm. Luke Mickelson [00:33:28]: Mhmm. Teri Schmidt [00:33:29]: Yeah. And you know what I hear in that is, like, you were talking about helping out nonprofits. It's it's not just about the outcome for those that you're serving. Yes. That's critically important. Yes. That's your mission. Yes. Teri Schmidt [00:33:41]: You want as many beds as possible. But it's also about that outcome for the people that are doing the serving for the volunteers. And and keeping that in mind, is just as important because without them, you're not getting that other outcome. Luke Mickelson [00:33:57]: 1100%. Again, the and I I coach nonprofits. The experience that your volunteers have need to be maybe not equal, but pretty darn close to the mission that you provide. Because without them, you're gonna end up doing it yourself, and I guarantee it it it won't grow like you want it, and eventually, you'll be burned out. Right? So whatever it is and some nonprofits, they're difficult to try to get volunteers, try to find meaningful service for people. But if you can, and secondly to that, if you can make your mission your fundraiser. Now Mhmm. Writing a book. Luke Mickelson [00:34:34]: I haven't finished it. Well, I'm not a writer. Let's be real. Yeah. Right. Awkward. But but if you can make your mission and the and the process of your mission your fundraiser, then you're gonna be so further ahead. You know, I I actually when I coach people, I'm like, look. Luke Mickelson [00:34:53]: Don't fundraise. And which is kinda like telling a nonprofit it's actually it's actually telling a fisherman don't take don't fish with a fishing pole. Right? Right. Right. Real but but the fact of the matter is is, you know, you you like, you're you're a nonprofit for service and fitness with families, mine was building beds. How does that have anything to do with doing a gala or, you know, getting feed or a silent auction? No one likes to do those. They're nothing but hard work. Right? Teri Schmidt [00:35:19]: Right. Luke Mickelson [00:35:20]: And and I'm not saying you don't do them, but if you can if you can make a certain percentage of your donation income from your mission, you know, like us, we don't build beds until we have money to build beds. Meaning Uh-huh. Our we we have a build day, and that's our fundraiser. 3, you know, $300 per bed, and that takes care of mattress, sheets, pillows, the bed, delivery of the bed, and the financing of the whole organization. Right? So we we rely on the the mission and the the the activity of the mission itself to be our fundraiser, you know, which obviously involves volunteers. So the more people you get involved, the more mouthpieces that you have for your for your mission and raising awareness, the more spread it happens, it it's it's it's all good. Teri Schmidt [00:36:12]: Yeah. Yeah. Makes makes so much sense and, you know, I think has so many parallels in all leadership and, you know, environments, whether people are leading in a workplace or leading in a nonprofit. You know, how do you care as much about the outcome that your organization was created to produce as much as you care about the outcome of the people who are are creating that outcome. And it, you know, it reminds me of we had an author, Tamara Miles on the podcast talking about her specialty is meaningful work. And she has a new book. She's coming back on, with her coauthor, Wes Adams, but they talk about the three c's of challenge, community, and contribution. Luke Mickelson [00:37:00]: And I Teri Schmidt [00:37:00]: hear that all through, you know, how sleep in heavenly peace is is set up as well because you're creating this community that believes they don't want anyone in their town sleeping on the floor, any kids. You're giving them challenging challenging jobs, you know, or at least that are that are challenging and engaging to them. And they know exactly what the contribution is because that is a mission that they are owning because they can own it just because of the way that it's worded even. Well They can own that mission. Luke Mickelson [00:37:33]: And and and that's really it. Even management style for me is ownership. Right? You know? Mhmm. You when you're raising when you're trying to seek talent in a nonprofit world, that's very difficult. A, you can't pay them very well even if you can't pay them at all. You know, a lot of time, especially starting out. So you look for passion. Right? And I and I always told people, look. Luke Mickelson [00:37:51]: If you have a passion for what we do, then we then then we can give you an assignment and let you run with it. Right? Passion creates a lot of creativity and and a lot of drive. Right? So you're gonna get a lot more, out of people when they're passionate about something. So so when when you're when you're looking for those at those those significant people in in your organization, especially starting out. And I would say this is good for for for profits as well. Mhmm. Passion needs to be given quite a bit of, emphasis. Right? Talent, of course. Luke Mickelson [00:38:26]: Right? But but we found a lot of success, and our growth has come from passionate people that that have time and give and give dedication to what they do. And when they feel like they have ownership in it, when you feel like I give an assignment, go do it. You know? Mhmm. Your ability. You're gonna screw up. That's okay. We I mean, we we're flying this plane while we build it. Let's let's be real. Luke Mickelson [00:38:51]: Right? I didn't know anything about a nonprofit nor nor being an executive or anything like that. Mhmm. Farm kid from Idaho. Right? And we can we can work on this together, and and we were very fortunate as we, you know, really grew. We had a lot of people that were very patient with us. Right? Uh-huh. There's without going into a big story, there was there was a time where, you know, we had a lot of a lot of money tied up in the bank, and there was some problem bank. I mean, we're talking $250,000 that we have access to. Luke Mickelson [00:39:20]: You know? They're like, we just gave our donations to some kid in Idaho, and now we don't have access to this. It was a lot of sleepless nights, let me tell you. Teri Schmidt [00:39:28]: I can imagine. Luke Mickelson [00:39:29]: Yeah. We're very patient. And and Mhmm. When you and we developed a sleeping on the piece, a family feel. Right? Because we're in this together, and the communities ran this together. Right? We we tell people, look. If you wanna be if this is something that pulls at your heartstrings, you know, providing best for kids, go to our our website, shpbeds.org. Sleep in underneath thesebeds.org. Luke Mickelson [00:39:52]: S h p beds are. And you're gonna there's a couple of ways. First of all, I just beg all your listeners, please raise awareness. That's the first thing you can do. Child mental illness is so unknown. I bet you most of your listeners have no idea that this is a real problem, and I promise you, I know you don't know me from Adam. I'm some dude from Idaho. But I promise you, it is in your in your communities. Luke Mickelson [00:40:14]: It might be across the street from you, and you don't even know it. So help raise awareness. Help us find those kids. Help us find those passionate people that wanna help. And if you're one of those, go to our website, find a chapter that's close to you, help us build, help us deliver, help us fundraise, help us do social media. I mean, there's a lot of areas and and opportunities to help on kind of a core team continue. If there's not a chapter close by, you can start one. Right? We Uh-huh. Luke Mickelson [00:40:40]: Made this process super easy for people. We put on about 50 or 60 chapters a year, and our goal, our whole management team is to help our number one client, which is our chapter presidents and Mhmm. Our teams be successful. Right? So we've developed a very, very robust training and continuous training program as well as put key people in place to make it successful. Wow. You know? And and the last thing, if if you feel like we're nonprofit, we need donations. If you feel like you wanna donate, the beauty Terry, this is important to me. The beauty is you can select a chapter that you can donate to. Luke Mickelson [00:41:16]: Any you can live in Miami, donate to someone in Idaho. Right? Or Okay. If you wanna find a chapter that you wanna donate to, 90 of that donation goes there. The reason why percent we gotta finance this somehow. Right? Teri Schmidt [00:41:30]: Of course. Luke Mickelson [00:41:30]: Bills. We pull 10%. That is it. 90 From a who? Of your dollar goes to the community you wanted to go into, and all the beds that get created stay in that community. Right? Teri Schmidt [00:41:43]: No. Luke Mickelson [00:41:43]: The only time if we we happen to do a build where we don't have a chapter, we have what we call the national build team that can build anywhere in the country. We distribute those beds to the closest chapters we can. To whom? When I when I decided to be a nonprofit, the biggest concern I had was is I didn't wanna be one of these, you know, big pie in the sky, nonprofits. You donate a dollar. You have no idea where it goes to. You don't know all this stuff. We I wanted people to know, like, I wanted to know. When I donate a dollar, I know I wanna know where that dollar ends up. Luke Mickelson [00:42:15]: I know some of it's gonna go to management because that's Right. We're the only difference between us and a for profit is we don't pay taxes. Teri Schmidt [00:42:22]: Exactly. Exactly. And you want quality people to be in those roles. And Luke Mickelson [00:42:27]: 100%. So, so that's that's just the way we we we wanna operate. It's a way we want, you know, your audiences and and their friends and family to learn that child business is a real thing. There is a solution, and you can be a part of it in your own hometown. Teri Schmidt [00:42:44]: Yeah. Yeah. Well well, thank you for that. You you answered my last question before I was even able to ask it, but I I so appreciate that because I know there are people that are listening that are going to to want to get involved. We didn't even get into the, you know, impacts of a a child not having a bed and and how it affects so much of the rest of their life for for so long and and the impact that you are having and your organization is having by stopping that and making sure that they can at least have a good night's sleep because they're sleeping in a bed. Luke Mickelson [00:43:18]: You know what, Terry? The only thing I'll say, because I think it is important, is you've it's not hard to imagine the impact that comes from a child having a good night's sleep. What people don't may have what I didn't realize Mhmm. I did this was the impact it has on the family. You know? Yeah. Yeah. You got kids sleeping with their parents. They don't get a good night's sleep. You got kids sick of other kids. Luke Mickelson [00:43:40]: They can't even have a sleepover. I had a I had a friend of mine come up to me, and he's like, you know what's interesting? You call it SHP. He he kinda him and his sister grew up in a kind of a rough house. He says, we had our secret hiding place. It was their bed. You know? And and you you miss on that. You you you don't realize. I mean, us adults, I don't know about you, but when it's a hard day at work, the first thing I think about is crawling up in my bed. Luke Mickelson [00:44:02]: Right? Mhmm. You didn't have one. You're gonna crawl up into your clothes. You're gonna crawl up on the floor. I mean, these are things that when you stop and really think about it, which is not hard to realize, think about yourself without a bed. Think about what that means, and then put your put put your kids there. And, the impact's not hard to hard to imagine. So Teri Schmidt [00:44:23]: Yeah. Definitely is not. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Luke. Thank you for all that you do, for all of us, in in the work day in and day out. I've really enjoyed our conversation and and look forward to having a lot of our listeners get involved in the way that makes most sense for them. So thank you. Luke Mickelson [00:44:45]: We'd love to have them, and thank you for having me on. Teri Schmidt [00:44:50]: As Luke reminds us, real change doesn't come from dreaming. It comes from building. So whether you're leading a team, a project, or a mission, ask yourself, are you designing your processes for efficiency or for impact? I hope you enjoyed this conversation, and I encourage you this week, look for one opportunity to slow down just enough to bring someone else in. Not because it's faster, but because it's better. Because when people feel like they're part of the mission, that's when transformation really begins.