Michael Eastwood (Cowboy Mike) With Pony 4 Precious

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for high velocity radio.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:13] Lee Kantor here, another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Michael Eastwood, that’s Cowboy Mike, and he is with Pony 4 Precious. Welcome, Cowboy Mike.

Michael Eastwood: [00:00:28] Hey, how are you doing? Thank you very much for having me on the show.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Pony for Precious. How are you serving folks?

Michael Eastwood: [00:00:36] Sure. So Pony for Precious was developed. Really? So I was doing a consulting job in San Francisco for a company that was supporting the Super Bowl. And I brought up I did a marketing meeting with some Google and Salesforce executives and things like this, and they said, hey, this idea, you know, they always talk about, oh, hey, purchase a star or whatever. And I said, I got this pony I rescued. And I’m thinking about developing a program of, hey, you could purchase a share of the pony, and I’d give all this money to charity. And so that we can kind of came by was on a Friday and my marketing VP was Monday morning, says, Mike, I got to talk to you. You got to develop this program. And I said, Why is that? And he says, Why is that my daughter’s soccer game? And she’s not real very good and she doesn’t play a lot. And they had a tie. So I’m not a big soccer guy, so they actually do a kickoff and they came down where she’s the last one and he’s sitting in the sidelines. Of course, he lives in San Francisco on a high rise and he yells out his daughter’s name. He says, If you make this, daddy will buy you a pony. And she kicks the goal and she comes running off the field and says, Dad, when do I get my pony? So he looked at me Monday morning, says, We got to come up with something for you. So that’s kind of how it started. And then we opened it up as a 501 C three charity in 2017. And again, that’s where it’s kind of come it started from on the whole deal is I had a pony that I had rescued and we originally we were going to just sell these adoption shares on the website.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:04] And then the pony would just go about its life. And then a bunch of folks would be, you know, part owner of this pony, right?

Michael Eastwood: [00:02:11] It was it was one of those ones where the money, you know, they donate the money and they could say, hey, daddy, please buy me a pony. And the dad says, Yeah, I bought.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:18] It right here. Here’s a picture.

Michael Eastwood: [00:02:20] Yeah. So they get a picture and a certificate and a letter from Cowboy Mike and Winston. And of course we have a full blown website and everything, but that’s where it started at. But then from there, we’ve really involved the charity into being a true charity to have giving back to children and students.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:39] So then how how did you make that pivot? It’s one thing to have a clever idea that sounds like it would get some traction and be, you know, be a good tool to raise money. But then how did you kind of vet the different partners and then find the right charity that was the right fit for this.

Michael Eastwood: [00:02:56] Right. Well, and that’s where Pony for Precious. So we opened it up instead of ever open it as a business, we opened it as a charity and we got certified as a 501 C three. And one of the things that people want to find out about us is there’s a company called GuideStar that watches all the charities. And, you know, and if you want to, you have to put your information in to get ranked. And for five years in a row, we’ve been ranked a platinum level. So it’s the highest rating you can get. So this is a very legit charity. There’s only 1% of the charities in the United States that ever hits this level. And and it’s about putting in from your strategic plan to your board members to work your panels. The whole information is all based, and it probably takes four or 5 hours to load all this stuff up in there to hit that level every year. So so they closely watch us and modernize, but that’s kind of where it started was, hey, we want to be a charity. That’s that’s true. That’s out there were 100% volunteer board and nobody takes a paycheck. Every dollar that goes in, the money goes back out.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:56] And then how do you choose who to give the money to and the resources?

Michael Eastwood: [00:04:01] Right. So on our website, we actually have a scholarship page and students can go in and they can click on the scholarship page and then they can fill out the form. Takes about 30 seconds. Read the details in there and they can push the button and that’s on HONY for precious dot org and four is the number four for atoning for precious. And and then our board looks at the scholarships, how much we raise that year and how much we’ll give away. We’ve already awarded a scholarship this year to a student going to Yavapai College out in Prescott, Arizona, doing nursing school. We have another one that we have probably a few more that we’ll do in April because April 4th are cut off for the high schools and then anybody can apply. And one of the things that we have out there is Google actually gives us free AdWords that we can push this thing out. So we get a lot of emails. Really, the funny part is, is getting the person to fill out the form because we won’t take your application without filling out the form.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:00] And then there’s books also as part of the charity.

Michael Eastwood: [00:05:03] Yeah. So then one of the things that Cowboy Mike did is he came up with his first book and it was called A Day in the Life of Cowboy Mike and Winston. And it’s really how much work it is, say, to take care of a pony. And that’s what the first book was published it on Amazon. People loved it. We had some great success. So I’ve published two more and the second book is A Day at Blue Mountain Ranch with Cowboy Mike and Winston. And then the third one is Dr. Julie is it’s Cowboy Mike and Winston. And we actually have a fourth one in the design stage that’ll be Cowboy Mike and Winston attending Cowboy Church. And these books are really for probably 1 to 4 year olds, you know, type of deal. It’s more about the drawings and the words, but we try to keep it educational, fun, learning everything, learning about a pony and things that cowboy Mike and Winston do on a daily basis.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:57] So is there just one horse? There’s just one pony, or is this something that now you’ve got a whole bunch of ponies because people are adopting a whole bunch of ponies? Or is everybody adopting Winston over and over again?

Michael Eastwood: [00:06:09] Yeah, it’s it’s Winston’s the one. Like I said, we don’t keep any money. The money goes towards the scholarships and things like that. So Winston’s the pony. We do have two other horses, Blue and Mr. Bones, and then they all live at Blue Mountain Ranch. That’s truly a ranch in Prescott, Arizona. And in our long term goal, eventually would maybe be in a full blown horse rescue. But again, that takes more money, more land fencing, corrals, everything else. So right now we really spend our time on, like I said, awarding scholarships. And then the other thing Cowboy Mike does is he will tend events and give free books to children. So one of the events that’s on the schedule this year is July 9th at the Arizona Wranglers is arena football, and we’ll bring probably 150 books, autograph them and we donate them, like I said. And then they’re all donated by the charity and we just give them to the children to show up to the games.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:04] And then can people come and actually see Winston and the other horses?

Michael Eastwood: [00:07:10] Well, there is a program in there if you want to sponsor and come. I mean it. Guess if somebody wanted to contact us. Yeah. We would let them come out to the ranch and see us, but they would have to contact to do that, not just show up.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:22] Now on the website, there’s you got some testimonials from a couple of the Harry Potter folks. How did you pull that off?

Michael Eastwood: [00:07:30] So I, I got a website guy that it’s a marketing people that push stuff. So I don’t remember off that one how they got that one. So I apologize.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:41] Now talk about your back story. You know, obviously this is something you do, but you have a day job. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Michael Eastwood: [00:07:49] Yes. So I own a company called West USA Realty at Prescott. We’re a brokerage out in Prescott, Arizona, the tri valley, what we call it up here. And we have 85 agents that work for us. And so that’s kind of my you know, is what I do. I mean, I’m actually a seasoned veteran and I ran companies for over 30 years. I actually have a book published called CEO Stories and it’s children employed by Owners. That was my first book and it was a business book. But we take a percentage of our profits and we donate it to the charity every year. And then we have some local companies that work with us that’s starting to sponsor. We’re not heavily out knocking on doors and asking for money or a lot of the charities. We’ve more been organic and if people hear and they say, Hey, we want to help, and then we let them know about the program and everything we do. I mean, our ultimate goal is we’d love to raise $100,000 a year and give $100,000 a year scholarships out and free books. And I mean, just that’s our process of what we do.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:51] Now, any advice for other entrepreneurs that are listening that may be on the back of their mind? They’ve thought, you know, that would be nice to, you know, start a charity or some philanthropy in this manner. Can you talk about how hard or easy it is to get, you know, a charity going and how it can really help you as a person grow and maybe even your business?

Michael Eastwood: [00:09:12] Sure. So, I mean, that’s one of my passions is to give back on. And I was actually fortunate enough to work for a company in Indiana years ago called Wood Mizer. And that was one of the things that the owners was a big Christian company and they would give back and they would support missions and we’d do about $1,000,000 a year. So they’re the ones that kind of drove me into saying, Yeah, you’re right, you make a good income. How do you give back? How do you how do you change lives? I mean, one of our companies is called Below Soul Link. And where we change business, we grow, we change lives. And it’s about if we can help the owners learn to make more money, their employees make more money and everybody’s lives change. So it’s that willingness now to open one was one task, but then it’s just really getting involved. So I’ll give you an example. I used to be a CEO of a Chamber of Commerce for a while, and I had 192 charities just in this one chamber in Arizona, and there’s probably 100 chambers out there. So, you know, you always you know, how much money are you battling for and everything else and where it come.

Michael Eastwood: [00:10:14] And that’s why, like for us, you know, I took my business and said, hey, it’s this is what it’s about and what we can do and drive our own sales and then give the profits to give some back to the people. So it’s a challenge, but it’s worthwhile and it gets what gets me up every day. I mean, I carry books with me in my truck and I’ll be at the grocery store and I’ll see a little kid walking down the, you know, back to the car with their parents. And I’ll grab a book and I’ll say, Hey, my name is Cowboy Mike. I’m a local author. Would it be okay if I gave you an autograph book? I said, I don’t want to step on toes 99%. They’re going, Oh yeah. Once in a while the mom will say, Can I look at it first? And then they thank me. And it’s just that smile of that children’s face is what drives me to the next day and, you know, making everything better.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:59] And it’s so important for business owners to, I think, have that same mindset of giving back and paying it forward and and doing work that matters, you know, because a lot of the times people get in a rut, sometimes they get burnt out and they kind of lose focus of the why they got in the business to begin with. But to always have this type of an entity around you and always be looking for opportunities to help others, I think that keeps you energized and keeps you moving forward.

Michael Eastwood: [00:11:28] Right. And one of the things for us up here is we have a big teen population up here. When I say big of of that, live with their grandparents right there in and they’re looking for mentoring and everything else. And my daughter is actually the president and has like 20 teens that she works with on a weekly basis of what it is and things like that of helping them and to cope and and how to change. And that’s where our charity comes in, where we will put on an event for them to at the same time because they’re too old for the books. But we want to help teens and help them grow. And then we get them into the Port of Hay file for the scholarships and go from there. And how do we change their lives and get them directions? You know, we always say, can you imagine if you could just take one teen and change your life? What if we can take ten? What’s our what are we going to be like? What about if we can do 100 or 1000? So that’s what we focus on. Our board is, is really just trying to change people’s lives and make them for the better.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:26] That was a difficult to put a board together.

Michael Eastwood: [00:12:30] No. When I started this, it was actually I called some of my friends and we were all horse people and everyone said, Hey, I’ll do it. It’s the hard part is keeping some because we’re all in different cities, you know. It’s keeping them motivated. I mean, with Zoom and everything now, it makes it a lot easier that you can have meetings. But the challenge of when you get that board is one thing, but you have to have then the board wanting to willing to help because one person, it makes it tough if that you’re the only one ever doing everything every day.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:59] Yeah, but the impact is real. I mean, it must be very rewarding to see those books in the hands of happy children and seeing those scholarships really make an impact in that individual and their family and their community.

Michael Eastwood: [00:13:12] Right. And and it is exciting. We just, like I said, award one last month and she came to actually to our real estate office because the junior college is maybe a mile away, half a mile away. So we ordered with the check. I mean, it was a single mother made a big difference in their lives, you know, because she was, you know, just to help her pay for books and everything else. So that’s the stuff where then you go, I want to give more. I want to do more. We’ve got to go raise more. We got to donate more to, you know, to get more out. So that’s what excites me, right? It’s just like I say, seeing the smiles on their faces. I don’t even care for a thank you. It’s just knowing you’ve done something.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:50] Right, the impact is real. I mean, that is that’s going to leave a mark and that’s that’s a good thing.

Michael Eastwood: [00:13:57] Yes. It’s real exciting. And one of the projects that we’re we kind of you know, everybody I’ve kind of come from on those ones you have your day to day business and what’s a big picture project. And our goal is to build a teen horse ranch up here where we would have cabins. There’s a lot of places up. It’s called Young Life, and I think they’re all over the country, but they have little camps in in children or teens can go up and, you know, and do it. And that’s kind of what our deal is. Maybe a ten acre ranch, have some horses. They can come on on the weekends, they can spend the night. They can learn about them. They get some chores, get some skills. Maybe we put an event or two and they work a snack shop to help raise money for the charities to keep it going. But but that’s kind of our big passion is, like I said, is this horse ranch and getting these books that the children’s words coming from in our big pictures and our focuses. I mean, our goal this year is to do 2500 books.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:52] Well, congratulations on all the success. If somebody wants to support the charity, what’s the website?

Michael Eastwood: [00:14:59] So the website is WW W dot, of course, Pony Pony, the number for precious p r e c ious dot org. So it’s pony for precious dot org.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:13] Good stuff. Well, Cowboy Mike, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Michael Eastwood: [00:15:19] Thank you very much for having me on the show. And this was exciting when you contact me. And again, we appreciate everybody out there and hope you look at our Lisa, our website and learn more about us.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:31] We’ll do well. Thank you again. This is Lee Kantor will show next time on High Velocity Radio.