In this episode, John Hill, AKA Small Mountain, sits down with Brett Chotkevys, CEO and Founder of Assisted Living Mansion. Brett shares his journey from flipping 50 houses a year to revolutionizing the senior care industry through high-end memory care "mansions." We dive deep into his hands-on approach to leadership, the necessity of founder grit, and how to build a resilient culture in a high-turnover industry.

Key Topics:

• The Bottom of the Funnel: Why solving the most difficult end-of-life problems creates a waitlist of customers.

• Culture over Strategy: How Brett's wife and partner uses "life skill" training to retain staff 4x longer than the industry average.

• Operational Resilience: The "Ice Storm" reality—why founders must be willing to know at least a little bit of everything for those moments when they have to step into the trenches.

• Smart Scaling: Using SBA 7(a) and 504 loans to fund $5M+ joint ventures without personal guarantees.

• Design Thinking: Why you should design for the user, but market for the buyer.