Leh Meriwether from Meriwether Millworks

Speaker1: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia. This is Woodstock proud, spotlighting the individuals, businesses and organizations that make Woodstock one of the premiere destinations in metro Atlanta to live, work and play. Now, here’s your host.

Speaker2: [00:00:29] Hello, and welcome back once again to Woodstock, proud you’re on Business RadioX, I’m your host, Jim Bulger. If you’ve been with us before, it’s great to have you back if you’re joining us for the first time. We really appreciate you spending a few minutes of your time with us as we get better acquainted with the individuals and businesses that are making a daily difference here in the Woodstock community. You know, one of my joys and a real privilege for me that I never fail to appreciate is the opportunity I have here on Woodstock. Proud to showcase some of our neighbors and to hear the back stories of their businesses, their passions and their visions. And you know, a lot of times those life journeys that they’ve been on have taken them down some unexpected new paths and into some new ventures as they’ve just followed their hearts. And on today’s episode of Woodstock Proud, you’re going to meet Lee Meriwether and hear one of the most interesting, one of the most unique and I think one of the most inspirational self-discovery stories that I know of. So, Lee, welcome to Woodstock.

Speaker3: [00:01:36] Proud. Well, thank you so much for having me, by the way. I love that intro music. It’s just awesome. Oh, that is just I’m fired up just from hearing it.

Speaker2: [00:01:44] You’ll be humming it on the way home. I will be. So before we talk about the path you’ve traveled, let’s go back a few years. You and I met five or six years ago at one of the many Woodstock business networking events. And describe what you were doing then.

Speaker3: [00:02:02] So then at that time, I was a divorce lawyer and building up one of the largest or actually the largest family law firm in the state of Georgia with my along with the help of my partner and the other great employees there and lawyers. And so. Practicing law. Eventually, I got to the point where the firm had gotten so large that I wasn’t I wasn’t actively handling cases anymore. I was trying. My role had shifted to help all the other lawyers become better than I ever was.

Speaker2: [00:02:36] That’s great. No. And and the firm, as you said, was the largest family law firm in the state and was one of the fastest growing law firms in the country, I believe, right?

Speaker3: [00:02:48] Yes, we were at 45 when I by the time I left, I was we were at 45 lawyers and about 100 employees. We made the Inc 5000 list. Now we’ve made it several years in a row. We made the law firm 500 list, which is one of the fastest 500 growing law firms in the country. We made that several years in a row. So, yeah, exciting things were happening.

Speaker2: [00:03:14] And I know you personally and some of your attorneys were also individually recognized as some of the top attorneys

Speaker3: [00:03:21] In the state. Yeah, we had a huge number of super lawyers. That’s one of the awards. It’s the top five percent of lawyers in the in the state of Georgia. And so I had made one of those awards and several years in a row and several of other lawyers had also done that along with other great awards. Like now there’s it’s been so many years, I forgot all. I guess that’s a good problem to have you forget what your awards were.

Speaker2: [00:03:48] Well, and we mentioned family law. So what kind of cases were you representing?

Speaker3: [00:03:52] So mostly divorces. But there’s along with that child custody cases, modification cases, contempt cases, things called legitimation where a child was born out of wedlock and in Georgia, a father has no rights until they legitimize the child. So there was those kind of cases some adoptions, but the vast majority were divorce cases.

Speaker2: [00:04:15] Ok, so in your in your daily work life, you’re dealing with couples whose relationships are in turmoil, in fact. They’re looking to end those relationships in many cases. But at the same time, outside of work through your church and through other organizations, you’re involved with different groups that have a different purpose than that, right?

Speaker3: [00:04:38] Yes. So believe it or not, when oftentimes when people would call me, I would ask lots of questions. And if I saw an opportunity to maybe talk them out of hiring me, I would jump on it really. Now the right circumstances had to be there and but. With God’s help, I was able to save about six marriages a year where they were, they were. I was getting the call to get a divorce and I was able to open the door, another door that led them to saving their marriage. And one of the things we were doing is we were leading a group called Thrive. So it was a group to a church and it was there were several couples that would be involved, usually six to eight, and we would they’d come to our home. It was a 13 week course. And then like one one case, I won’t give too many details, but the person had called. I noticed a trauma in the relationship. The trauma was never addressed and that led them to a point where they were getting ready to get a divorce. I invited them to the to our group rather than hiring me, which also, by the way, if they showed up, that meant I couldn’t represent either of them in the divorce. So I was walking away for potential money. And what was really unique about that was how God opened the door. So the phone call was on Thursday on Saturday. This person took their children to an event at the church and it was for the children, and the whole event was about forgiveness. And this person said, what are the odds that I called a divorce lawyer for divorce? They try to talk me out of it. Talk to me about forgiveness. And then two days later, I’m going to vent for my children talking about forgiveness. The next day, person comes running to me at church. Is it too late to join the group? I said, absolutely not. That was 2013. Last time I saw him was before the pandemic hit, and not only they still married, but they are actually now happily married.

Speaker2: [00:06:42] That’s fantastic.

Speaker3: [00:06:43] So one of my favorite stories? Oh yeah.

Speaker2: [00:06:46] So when we look at that, I mean, did that cause any kind of emotional tension for you in that you’re legally ending relationships in your work as an attorney, but you’re learning about building relationships through the thrive work you’re doing?

Speaker3: [00:07:03] Yeah, it was very emotionally taxing. So and even when the decision was made to move forward with the divorce, I was doing everything I could. To make it as amicable as possible, I was looking for ways to resolve the divorce not litigated. Not that I was afraid of trials. I had a lot of fun trials. And for a lawyer, the trial can be a lot of fun, but it’s not fun for the the participants, right? Although I was telling a story the other day where the my client actually. Her husband, her husband was he was a piece of work, and we had this wonderful time, I go out and share this story, if that’s all right.

Speaker2: [00:07:41] Sure.

Speaker3: [00:07:42] So it was believed he had cheated on her. And so we’re in court and we’d given him this amazing settlement offer. He didn’t take it. So we had to go to court and we’re in there, and he’s as one of those few cross where just everything lined up and you don’t normally win. On cross-examination, 80 percent of cases are won on direct examination. That’s where you’re presenting your evidence. So I have him across and he keeps denying he has a girlfriend, and then we get to his credit card statements where there’s all these purchases that Victoria’s secrets. So ask him. I said so. So you were buying lingerie for your girlfriend at Victoria’s Secret? He goes, No, I wasn’t buying lingerie from my girlfriend. Oh, were you buying it for yourself? And then he was like, Whoa, no, no, that’s not what I mean. It was at the time it was. It was like this whole setting. There was a whole series of questions that led up to it. The judge is laughing. He’s trying to cover his face, so you can’t see him laughing. My client is laughing. But besides, but and then at the end, I mean, the judge signed our order gave actually more than what we were asking for. So he should have taken that mediation, but we walk out and she starts to cry. I didn’t want this. I mean, she didn’t have a choice. There was family violence involved. He attacked her. He attacked the kids. But she’s like, I just want my old husband back. I didn’t want to have to be here, man. That just that’s heartbreaking. You go in there and you just as a lawyer, you do the very best job you can and. You know, the client was happy with me. Don’t get me wrong, but still there was no joy in the outcome. There was sadness.

Speaker2: [00:09:31] And that had to have an effect on you personally, right?

Speaker3: [00:09:34] Oh yeah. And for years, I I kept telling myself, you know, I’m just I’m still doing the right thing. I’m still doing the right thing. But it still didn’t change what was eating away inside of me.

Speaker2: [00:09:48] So here you are, you’ve built this incredible law firm. You know, a dream most lawyers could only aspire to. But then the next chapter, let’s go ahead to about 20, 19 or so. Mm hmm. And talk about the next chapter.

Speaker3: [00:10:08] Let me let me share. Let me say just two things before we hit that. Sure. So number one, it wasn’t just me. I just want to give a shout out to Bob Tharp, who was my partner. He was. We had an awesome relationship. He’s a great lawyer. We we we built this together. So and you weren’t saying it’s I just don’t want anybody to think that, sure, this is all me. This was this is a collective effort, and I really enjoyed working with him. And so that was one thing, but I went to him in 2019 and just said, Man, I can’t do this anymore. And he’s like, You know, I was wondering when you were going to come to me, really? And he said, your heart hasn’t felt like it’s been here for for about five years. And. I said, well, that’s about right, because about five years before I was sitting in church and our pastor was giving a sermon, we were building a building. And he said the whole point of this building, this building is so we can invite more people to church. It’s not to say great things about the church so we can have more people come here. The good news about Jesus Christ. And so he said, you know, this is how you can help us. If everybody could buy a chair, at least one chair so that some you know, so you can invite one person to church with you. So I was like, Wow, so I get out. I’m all inspired. I get out. I’m like, You know what? I’m going to buy the entire auditorium. Yeah, I can do this. And I was like, Wait a minute. That means I have to divorce a lot more people. And man, that just that really started a downward spiral for me that in order to be successful on one end, I have to be tear apart more relationships on the other.

Speaker2: [00:11:50] So before you had that conversation with Bob, where you told him that you’re thinking about leaving, you had been considering this for a while.

Speaker3: [00:11:56] Yes. Mm hmm.

Speaker2: [00:11:59] But I’m going to guess it still wasn’t an easy decision to make.

Speaker3: [00:12:02] No, it wasn’t. Just because, you know, you’re walking away something you’ve built. You spent 20 plus years building. It’s been successful. Many people, you know, think you’re crazy for doing something like that. And my wife, she didn’t think I was crazy, but she wanted to make sure I love my wife and she’s very wise and she is. I want to make sure you’re not running from something. You’re actually running to something you’re not running from something. And so she said, Why don’t you know, maybe you should see a counselor? And I was I was like, Oh. Because at first, my you know, my defensive. Oh, I don’t need a counselor, you know, when I’m like, Wait, I give that advice all the time. I mean to listen to my wife. So I found this great psychologist and he’s also like a life coach. So he had all the credentials and I scheduled appointment with him. I saw him for over the course of several months and he gave me all kinds of homework assignments. And so I spent a lot of time doing a lot of internal research in answering all this questions and everything. And so it was this that was part of the journey to make sure I wasn’t crazy. Always a good story. Yeah. At one point, his professional opinion that he did not see anything clinically wrong with me. So that was good. And and and he he actually helped me with that part of that journey as well.

Speaker2: [00:13:27] So when when your wife Stephanie, right? Yes. When Stephanie asked you if you were running away from something or toward something, did you know what you were running towards?

Speaker3: [00:13:36] I did. So there was there was a couple of things that I was running towards. So we had bought a property a few years ago. And actually that search for that property was was in a very interesting one because we had started several years before and we got a lot of no’s from God. So we just found these properties and just one thing after another, it didn’t work out. So we stopped and we said, we’re not going to look anymore. And then three years go by like this, let’s look. Something came up, we started looking again, got a few no’s and then all of a sudden this property came on the market and and a builder I was actually meeting with she. She saw this and she’s like, You know what? Why? You don’t need me to build this. This is the property you need. You’ve been talking about wanting a marriage wedding venue. This is it right here. You can do it right here. I was like, Wow, I didn’t even think about that. So it was it was actually a friend of mine who pointed out this particular piece of property. We looked at it, we loved it, and we said, you know, we’d love to build a marriage venue. So when I say marriage venue, we want to do more than just weddings. We want to do what’s called marriage intensives.

Speaker3: [00:14:44] So a marriage intensive, think of it as the emergency room for your divorce, for your marriage, because, you know, I would over the years, I would send people to counseling. But the problem is that counseling life gets in the middle between each session, and you may be getting ready to make a breakthrough in a session, but then, oh, our hours up and then life gets caught in the middle and then so it can stall progress. And if you’re right on that tipping point. Sometimes counseling doesn’t work. But a marriage intensive is three intensive days of counseling, and it’s a mixture of group settings and breakout sessions and everything, but a lot of the ones I’m aware of have about an 80 percent success rate where the couples go in there. Certain they’re going to get a divorce and 80 percent walk out recommitted to their marriage. So we wanted to. But the problem was there wasn’t enough venues. So I had a number of psychologists and counselors that wanted to do this, but they weren’t enough venues available. So we were thinking we would build a venue that would allow them to come in and do it. I wasn’t going to do it. I was just going to facilitate it and then we would fund it because this isn’t a way to really make money, but we would fund it with weddings.

Speaker2: [00:16:00] So and this is just part of why I find your story so interesting is that, you know, a lot of people have some turns in the road in their career. You had like a U-turn. I mean, you, you went from divorce attorney to looking at marriage counseling. Yeah. And these marriage intensives. So you have this property and the properties up in Canton, right? Right. So you have this property, you decide you’re going to put a venue on it and that’s going to require some building. Yup.

Speaker3: [00:16:31] And so that I wanted to build the building myself, really. So I wanted to do we we had to decide what the last year we decided we were going to do a timber frame. But I wanted to build it myself. I’m a woodworker. That was my a form of personal therapy throughout all these divorces. It was woodworking. So I’m like, I want to do this myself. This is going to be part of the therapy, too.

Speaker2: [00:16:52] Have you ever done that before?

Speaker3: [00:16:54] Built a structure? Yeah, no.

Speaker2: [00:16:56] I mean, I’m a hobby woodworker, too, but there is a big difference between a bookshelf and a building. Oh yeah,

Speaker3: [00:17:02] Which I’m quickly learning about. But hey, I’d never built a law firm before either side. So I wasn’t afraid of the challenge. I was really looking forward to it then. So we 20 20 hits and COVID hits and wow, did that change things because we were going to get a small business loan to get the, you know, some of the finances together to do it. But when COVID hit, everybody shifted to the PPP and the idle loans and nobody was doing, you know, startup loans for a small business, for an industry that was shut down. So so that got that started at a time of reflection for me. And what was interesting was the psychologist had told me that you really should take some time off where you do nothing. I was like, Man, what? I don’t need do that. I’m a workaholic. I need to work. And he’s like, No, you need some time to detox. And I didn’t believe him at first. But boy, I mean, it was almost like, I don’t want to sound like, but I took advantage of the lockdown to reflect and everything. That’s when I also decided we decided to do the timber frame, which led me to buy a sawmill.

Speaker2: [00:18:12] So oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. When they moved you to buy a sawmill, talk about that.

Speaker3: [00:18:19] Yeah, so so timber frames can be very expensive because you have to get these huge frame the timbers that are, you know, six by six or eight by eight and 20 plus feet long. But there’s a company out there. It’s called Wood Miser, and you can buy a portable sawmill and mill your own lumber from the trees on your property and build your timber framed building and say, thousands and thousands of dollars. So I started learning about that,

Speaker2: [00:18:46] And this is professional grade timber that you can turn out on this portable sawmill. Yes. So I mean, you’re not just a guy with a chainsaw out there. No, this is real equipment, real equipment.

Speaker3: [00:18:58] It was not cheap. It was not cheap at all. And so here was the irony of all this. Well, the sawmill took on a business of its own, and now, now I am now I’m going to people’s properties and helping them find their, like, achieve their dreams. So while I’m still working on everything on our property

Speaker2: [00:19:23] And there’s an official term for somebody who has a sawmill, right? Sawyer? Sawyer.

Speaker3: [00:19:29] So I’ve moved from lawyer to Sawyer

Speaker2: [00:19:32] Makes it easy when you only have to change one letter on the business card, doesn’t it? Super easy. And I noticed on one of your sites you talk about urban logging. Mm hmm. What is

Speaker3: [00:19:45] That? So urban logging is something that’s been growing since really the 80s, and that’s when that’s sort of what motivated wood miser. That’s what caused when you read their story about how they came about, because logging companies, they want a certain kind of log because their machinery process it very, very fast. But there’s other logs they don’t want to touch. They really don’t like logs from, you know, from urban areas because a lot of times there’s metal in it. They grow funny. They’re not consistent. You can’t get a whole lot of them. But this company that came along and now I’m doing it thanks to them. But why can’t we build a sawmill that can go out to the logs rather than logs coming to the sawmill? So I mean, this thing is it can handle a two ton log to 4400 pounds, twenty one feet long and thirty six inches wide, and it’s all hydraulic. And so I can take it. Like this past weekend, I went out to a couple, was clearing an area to build. They’re going to build their home, they’re going to build a barn. So I took the wood that they had cut down. So rather than being hauled off to the dump or landfill, I turned in a two by 10s, two by eights, two by 12 20 feet long. I they had an oak, they wanted to. They wanted part of the wood, the trees on the property to be in their home, so we took this huge oak. It was about 35 inches wide and we was called live edge slab that we slammed it. And so the homeowner is one of the homeowners he’s going to turn it into. She has enough wood to make two dining room tables out of it.

Speaker2: [00:21:23] And the live edge. Means just that’s not a finished edge on

Speaker3: [00:21:28] It, right, right? So you just leave the natural edge of the tree in there. So with a when you’re doing lumber, the first thing you do is square up the log, so you turn it from around lock to a square log. But with live edge, you don’t do that where you just clean up the top and the bottom and you just cut along the lateral lines and then you have nice what’s called live edge slabs.

Speaker2: [00:21:51] So I know there’s, you know, there’s obviously a lot of people out there who have differing views when it comes to logging as far as you know what it does to the environment in this and that. But I mean, your business is very environmentally friendly because you’re only dealing with fallen trees, right?

Speaker3: [00:22:10] Right. So I mean, there’s some sometimes when people will clear an area that I’ll go take care of that. But like hurricanes, that actually generates a fair amount of work. So some trees will come down and result, or a lot of rainstorms in the ground gets wet and they fall down. And so I’m able to go out there and turn their fallen trees into stories. So you may have a home with an oak on it or whatever species of wood that been there for 40 50 years. And the they maybe it’s grandma’s house, but the kids remember playing under that growing up that tree. So rather than that tree being chopped up in firewood and burned in a fireplace, I can come out there and turn it into live edge slabs or lumber so they can build a dining room table. And that’s that’s the most common thing, but that you can build all kinds of whatever you want out of the wood provide. It’ll pass code, you know?

Speaker2: [00:23:10] Well, and you had. I mean, we’ve kind of talked about the residential, but you also had some commercial jobs that you’ve worked on

Speaker3: [00:23:17] Too, right? Right. So I’ve got a few, at least one for sure, maybe two properties where they cleared the land and they’re building buildings on it, and they delivered the largest logs to my property and I’m slapping those logs. I’ve actually built a dehumidification kiln. I just finished it and I will be putting those slabs in the khim. So I’ll be drying the wood and then I’ll be turning it to conference room tables and desks to go back in the business. It’s going to be on the property.

Speaker2: [00:23:47] So these same trees that stood on the property originally are going to be used in the office building as conference room tables. Correct. It’s kind of ultimate recycling isn’t exactly.

Speaker3: [00:23:57] That’s why this is such a fun business to have. I mean, that’s it took on a business life of its own, and I didn’t. When I bought it, I wasn’t sure that’s what I was going to do. I bought it really to build the timber frame. And so this has been a wonderful opportunity for me to really just get outside and enjoy myself, make some money that I’m going to be able to use on the to build the the the venue. Because going back to your point earlier, there’s a big difference between building a bookshelf and a building and the costs associated with building this. And because you have to, especially if you’re inviting people to it now, you’re getting into a whole new level. And there was expenses I never even thought of. And after one of my first meetings with the county, I was like, Wow, this is going to cost me 150 grand more than I thought. So I’m like, I need more money.

Speaker2: [00:24:48] Well, you talked about the kiln. I mean, before you built this kiln where you just air drying the wood? Yeah, yeah. And that would take how long?

Speaker3: [00:24:56] Well, air drying can take. Like Red Oak, each inch can take up to a year. So we have a two inch thick piece of red oak. Take two years air drying to get it down to the moisture content. So that’s you want wood that’s in a building or whether it be a home or a commercial building. Most of that wood’s at about eight six to eight percent. And but if you have it like if you took some wood, that was like a 20 percent moisture content. That’s the amount of moisture that H2O that’s inside the wood and you bring it inside the air conditioned dehumidifier area. That water can come out very quickly and cause the wood to warp and twist. And so it looks like this nice flat piece of wood is suddenly looks like a potato chip.

Speaker2: [00:25:42] Really? Yeah, well, and if it’s taken two years for that piece of wood to dry, that slows down your business model a little bit

Speaker3: [00:25:51] Too big time. So this deal modification came. I bought it’s an industrial unit. I had to build the the chamber that it goes in, but I’ve learned all about it industrial. I brought in some electricians just to help me make sure I didn’t electrocute myself because I had to wire a lot of it myself and build it myself, which is part of, I mean, I just absolutely love it. I will say I’ve looked at the instructions like for eight hours over and over again the same page because I couldn’t quite figure it out at first. Like this is a lot more hard. It’s just a lot harder than reading wall books. Wait, what’s this diagram saying,

Speaker2: [00:26:30] Which nobody has ever said before? Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:26:35] So, but so now I can. This thing will pull two hundred and fifty pounds of water out of the air every day. And so I can put 4000 board feet of oak in it and it will dry it like so I can. A tree can be cut down, I can mill it and put it in there and within thirty five days have pulled up the water out of it and get it down to a six to eight percent moisture content, so it’s ready to go inside a building.

Speaker2: [00:26:59] So you went from two years to a month or so? Right? Wow. And that will hold enough wood for you for how long are you going to need multiple kilns?

Speaker3: [00:27:11] I actually so I’ve built one, I bought two. Oh, so I just haven’t built the second one yet, but I got the first one built so I can start drying the wood. So I will eventually have three kilns. So the third one is actually going to be a solar kiln. So it’s using the power of the sun to dry the wood. The disadvantage the there’s two disadvantages of the solar kiln one. It’s a little slower than a dehumidification. It’s actually better than a dehumidification kiln when it comes to how it dries the wood because it’s it’s much faster than letting it air dry and every night it gets to rest. So the sunlight is causing it to. It’s not. The sunlight is not directly hitting it, but you’re using the sunlight to generate heat to pull the water out of the wood. And so that puts stress on the wood. But at night, the sun’s gone and it relaxes the dehumidification kiln. It’s constant. It’s constantly pushing that it’s forcing that water out of there. But I cannot sterilize the wood in a solar kiln. I can sterilize the wood in this dehumidification kiln because at the end of the drying cycle, I can heat it up to one hundred and fifty degrees and keep it there for twenty four hours and I’ll kill all the insects, all their eggs. And so that, you know, the last thing you want is to install a bar and a restaurant or something. And then suddenly you see sawdust on the ground and some not, you know, a larva crawling out of it that would not be too appetizing.

Speaker2: [00:28:37] Well, we haven’t even mentioned yet. The name of the business is

Speaker3: [00:28:41] Meriwether Mill Works,

Speaker2: [00:28:42] Merriweather Mill works, and we’ve talked about furniture, but talk a little bit more about the kinds of services that you provide and the kinds of projects that you can perform for people.

Speaker3: [00:28:55] So this one of the services I can, I often go out to people’s homes where the trees have come down in storms or they were building something on their property and they cleared the they cleared the land and then but didn’t have the logs hauled off. I can come to them and mill their wood into whatever they’re asking for. For instance, I did a. Let’s see, I did one where I just did one by 10s or one by eights, and I turned all the poplar trees that he had into one by eights, and he’s using it as siding in a big barn.

Speaker2: [00:29:29] He’s building and you’re able to do all of

Speaker3: [00:29:30] That on site. On site. Yeah. I just need a relatively flat area that’s 28 by 28, and I bring a tractor with me so I can move the logs around and move the the milled lumber and so they can stack it on the property. So I do that, I can. I had a customer that wanted to put this to build a big bar. Live edge bar in their basement and build it out. And a big oak could come down. So I went out there and milled that oak and stacked it up for him, its air drying. Another customer was custom building a home and they had some beautiful hardwood. So I went and I made them their mantles for their house. I cut some red oak for them to use and flooring and for them to use for the stairs in their house. So certain parts of their house, you know, you don’t you don’t have to have a greater grade, the wood. So I’m able to go out there and mill all that for them and so they can use it in their home.

Speaker2: [00:30:26] Well, we were talking before we went on the air today about, you know, you’ve been around so many types of wood now that you can almost tell by the smell what kind of wood it is.

Speaker3: [00:30:36] Yeah, there’s some that surprised me from time to time. But yeah, sometimes I’ll look at a log. I’m like, I’m not sure what that is, and I start cutting them like, Oh, that’s Red Oak, you know, because it just, you never know. That’s the urban logging. Sometimes trees grow very oddly, and but you can smell from the sawdust. The different smells

Speaker2: [00:30:56] Well, and there is nothing like the smell of fresh sun wood. As far as I’m concerned. I mean, any of us who have done any woodworking at all just know a piece of wood is something to be revered and taken good care of. And I’m one of those people that if somebody tries to put a coat of paint on a piece of wood furniture, I flinch every time now.

Speaker3: [00:31:23] So one of the other services I provide is like a let’s say, a company has a huge trailer and their trailer, they you know, they haul heavy equipment, bulldozers or excavators or something like that. They have wood on those trailers because the metal tracks they you can’t have metal on metal. The metal tracks will start sliding, so they actually need wood for the metal tracks to dig into. So I may like I’ll get calls for two by eight 20 foot long, two by eight oak for them to put on there. So I will mill that for them and deliver it to them so they can. Riddick a trailer so a lot of specialty thing milling.

Speaker2: [00:32:02] So I’m just kind of envisioning this. And if someone has downed trees from a storm or something. Can you do individual projects like that or do you need a lot of volume?

Speaker3: [00:32:17] Well, it depends. Well, so and I say it depends because I try to be a huge cost benefit for the customer. You know, I don’t want to I don’t want to go out there and there be a pine tree because pine is that’s a relatively now. Several months ago, it wasn’t relatively inexpensive, right? But normally it is a relatively inexpensive wood that you can buy from your big box stores. So it may not be worth it unless there’s some sort of history with that tree. But for a lot like oak, it’s worth it for me to go out there and mill it. So maybe there may be only be one tree, and it may only take me a half day and usually I have a minimum it’s got. I have to be able to spend at least two to four hours out there because then it’s not worth it for me. But you have one big oak that comes down that could take depending on where you’re like, bringing the oak to the where it fell on the property and how how am I going to get it to the sawmill? So that could take a day. And that, you know, with something like that, especially if like what you call quarter song. If you quarter saw the Red Oak, then it’s definitely worth my time.

Speaker2: [00:33:22] And if there’s any developers who are listening, I mean, when there have to clear cut a property and a lot of trees have to come down so that they can build on it. You’re definitely somebody who can help them out with that.

Speaker3: [00:33:36] Oh, yeah, absolutely. I’ve talked with some of them about like what I can cut so they can use on the property. So like white oak, that’s a that’s a wood that handles itself very well outside. Pine actually handles itself fairly well outside, even without not touching talking about where it touches the ground. I’m talking about if it’s off the ground. The key is actually to keep it pining outside painted so that it can handle the sunlight. The sunlight’s the top killer of the wood, especially pine. So but I can go out there and make some two by six or two by eight like so if they have wide oak, I can mill it and they can turn it into a cool bench on the property and or. Like that guy, he was building a horse fence and he had 40 acres, so it was going to be a big fence. And I went out there and he had the pine taken down, and so I milled, I think, 1.2 miles if you put them together at one point two miles of one by sixes for him. And it was cheaper for me to do that than to go buy all the wood at Home Depot.

Speaker2: [00:34:44] So as we talk about your progression, I mean, this whole sawmill, Merriweather Mill works, came out of wanting to build the buildings. Yeah, or for the marriage venue. Yeah. And before we wrap up, I want to talk a little bit more about that because I know you’re in that process right now of getting that built and up and running. Talk a little bit about where you are in that process and what you envision it being.

Speaker3: [00:35:13] So where I am is I started talks with the Cherokee County when I bought the property. I didn’t have to have this. But now, after I bought the property, I have to have what’s called a special use permit to have a venue on a piece of property zoned agricultural. So I learned that out loud. I learned that last year. And so but before you can even apply for that, you have to go through a series of meetings and I’ve gone through two of the three meetings. I still have one more meeting to go through, and I need to have some landscape architect work done because you have to have a preliminary plan of what you want to do. And so I’m in that process and a few things have happened along the way. I kind of slowed it down only because going back to what I was saying earlier about detoxification, I did what I didn’t realize what along this was just how how much I’d lost my empathy. I was going. Nobody would have known it talking to me because I’d gotten really good at going through, asking the right questions and acting a certain way. But deep down, I’d lost my empathy and sympathy for people caught in these situations, and I shouldn’t have. But I mean, but that was a real problem I was having, but I didn’t realize it at first and it didn’t start.

Speaker3: [00:36:30] I didn’t really become aware of it until this past year, and I said, Well, I can’t really help couples. If I’m not going to be 100 percent in this, so I kind of slowed down on things to just let my I don’t know, I’m trying to think the right word let my heart heal. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but I just want to make sure I’m in the right mindset. So because if I’m not, two things could happen. I can’t give my all to these couples. And well, I should say it was. It’s not going to be just me. It’s going to be my wife and I. I can’t get. We can’t give our all and to. I’m going to get burned out on that, just like I did on the practice of law. Mm hmm. So I got to make sure my heart’s in the right place. I mean, but I still want to do it. I mean, it’s we’re still working for it. But I said, let’s just slow down. Let me get a little healing in here. Make sure we do it right. We’re still debating whether we’re going to pay for it all in cash or if we’re going to get like a small business loan. So that’s what we’re we’re working through those things right now.

Speaker2: [00:37:32] How long will it take you to build the buildings?

Speaker3: [00:37:36] That’s a good question, because whatever I say, it’s going to take twice as long as it always

Speaker2: [00:37:42] Does, doesn’t it?

Speaker3: [00:37:43] That’s what I’ve been learning. I would say the timber frame. Are you counting cutting the wood for it, too? Sure. So if you’re talking about if I can because I can actually put it up green, so which means I don’t dry it because that’s going to be hard to dry big timbers like that from the from the time of cutting it to the time, you know, getting concrete in the ground and building it six to nine months. I’ve seen them put them put up timber frames in two weeks, but that’s what a lot of help. And I was trying to do a lot of it myself.

Speaker2: [00:38:18] Well, again, your story, I mean, from litigating divorces to. Trying to keep couples from considering divorce. I mean, obviously, you have had a total change of perspective in the way you’re looking at it, and I know this is something that is still on your heart and it’ll happen when the time is right. Right? You know, one of the things I find so interesting in your story is your obvious passion for helping others. Your ability to take. And bring new life into seemingly damaged situations, I mean, whether that’s a fractured relationship that can be repaired or a fallen tree that can be repurposed into beautiful furniture, that has to give you a real sense of fulfillment.

Speaker3: [00:39:15] It does. It does. And and if there’s something I’ve learned in the last few years since retiring from the practice of law, it’s that there’s this part of me that just loves to make things and. I wasn’t really fulfilling that because in a divorced practice, I’m tearing things apart. I’m trying to do it in the best way possible so that I preserve the co-parenting relationship. If there’s children involved, that was very important to me. And this is to most divorce lawyers. So I want to be clear about that. But that takes a lot of effort. And but it’s still at the end of the day, you’re facilitating the breakdown of a relationship of a family. And that was wearing on me more than I had any idea because the joy I get from just making things, it’s just there’s days less. I was telling a friend of mine the other day, there are days where I’ll go out there and I’ll get paid for this and I’ll literally drink. So this is the summer I’ll drink. Twenty two gallons of water, which is just over 16 pounds, and I’ll come inside still having lost four pounds. So I am busting my butt and I’m getting paid for and I’m and I walk inside. I’m exhausted and I’m like, Well, I don’t feel like I’m kind of feeling guilty because I felt like I didn’t work. And I’m like, I’ve got a check in my hand. But somehow I felt like I didn’t work. I was feeling guilty. And so that’s like, it just hits you that, oh my gosh, this is, you know, this is where what I’ve been missing all these years.

Speaker3: [00:40:47] I’m able to make things. Yeah, I made things with the firm. And so I don’t want to take away from that. But there’s something about when you can actually see when you can see a physical object that you have helped make. Like, I just love taking pictures of that finished table. I may have just finished building or I see the look on the customer’s face when I opened up this log that they want to turn into furniture and there’s this beautiful grain. They’re like, Oh wow, I just can’t wait to get started on this and you can see it. And when you can see, I mean, I. There was another and I’ll try to be super short because I know we’re running out of time. That’s fine. The another one of my favorite stories is I had a client that. The I really didn’t see why he was getting a divorce and I kept pushing him. I mean, we were literally on the eve of trial mediation. It failed. I kept, I kept pushing him. You don’t need to get a divorce. And they wound up dropping their case and working on it. I get a call six months later. It’s not working out. I’m like, you can’t expect someone to stop 20 years of bad habits in six months. And I told them that it sounds like your wife’s. Not, she’s not. She’s not being what’s called a safe spouse. So what’s that? So we’ll listen to our podcast. My wife and I did do a podcast at one point from some of the material.

Speaker3: [00:42:13] It’s called about being a safe spouse. And so I say, you need to go listen to that. So I didn’t hear from them again. And then I got a call from a lawyer saying, Can you send over the file like, Oh, it didn’t work. And then two four months later, I get this comment on our website. It said never in a million years I would suspect my husband’s divorce lawyer save our marriage. Sorry. It makes me. Yeah, I was just so cool and I ran into him at Home Depot a couple of years later and he had this big smile on his face and I had this big smile. I gave him a hug. His kids were like, Who’s this guy giving you a hug? Of course he couldn’t tell them, but I was like, How are you doing? Like, we’re doing great. And not only are we doing great, he says. I mean, obviously, we’re still learning. We’re still we still have a rough patches, but we know how to get through them now. And he said, but but in our church, we’re the beacon of hope for those couples that are having trouble in their marriage. And so like, because God was able to help me help save his marriage, he’s now able to help save other marriages and be like, This is what a great marriage that can weather any storm looks like. And seeing that look on his face, that smile that I have never been happier in my entire life because he told me that I mean, that just just brought tears to my eyes.

Speaker2: [00:43:38] Well, and I think it’s so interesting. I mean, you know, everyone’s journey is different. But when you look at all the years that you were practicing family law and you saw what the end result of not working on those relationships is, and you probably saw some of the warning signs that people weren’t realizing themselves in those relationships that could have been addressed earlier. Yeah. You know, before we before we wrap up here. And I don’t have the right word for this, except for maybe extreme yours is one of the more extreme career transitions that I know of. But if there’s somebody listening who you know, is working in a job right now. But his feeling drawn or called to follow their passion and is considering a change in careers. Any advice you’d give them?

Speaker3: [00:44:32] Yeah. Oh, so. Go for it. Well, I say that, but you know, the longer you wait, the less likely you’re going to be able to do it. I mean, I made the transition from being behind a desk to handling 4000 pound logs, and sometimes I’m rolling these things myself with what’s called a canned hook. And I’m 50 years old, so I think if I’d been another 10, 15 years, it would be a little more difficult. Now I’m a big guy so I can handle it, but you wait too long and maybe your health gets in the way or other life events get in the way of making that happen. But I can tell you just the joy I feel now that I haven’t felt in a long time. It is so worth it now. Don’t I forgot the name of the book, but there was a great book this description of, you know, stepping off of your safe space and to something completely new, and it says it’s like a boat you don’t want to try to take the step on. The boat has drifted away from the dock and then you wind up falling in and getting wet. Make sure you can pull that boat close to the dock so you don’t have to rush to do it.

Speaker3: [00:45:42] But definitely, if you’re struggling, start doing your research, start going well. What would it look like if I left this and started a new business? We could do a whole show on that, but don’t at least start doing your research to make this jump. The reason? The only thing I hesitate because you know you don’t want to jump into something, you can’t make any money from that. But but I do talk to people all the time that are like, Man, I can’t do this, there’s this security and where they are. But. If you’re not careful that it’s not really that secure because it may be causing you the stress, the internal stress from where you are could be leading you to an early death. I’m not trying to scare anybody, but I’ve seen people that have been just they worked so hard. It’s something they didn’t like and literally they had a stroke in their office or an aneurysm or heart attack. And, you know, it just took them out. And I don’t want I wouldn’t want somebody to experience that. Don’t there are ways to make that transition well.

Speaker2: [00:46:50] And even if it’s not health issues, it can be relationship issues. It can be just general happiness. I mean, we all know people who are very successful and very unhappy.

Speaker3: [00:47:02] Yes. Oh yeah. A lot of them were getting divorced, too.

Speaker2: [00:47:06] Well, there you go. Ali, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your time. I know how busy you are and just your incredible story with us. We everybody here at Business RadioX wishes you and Stephanie and Meriwether M. works all success in the future. And if someone listening would like to contact you, learn more about the work you’re doing or want to talk to you about downed trees they may have on their property. What’s the best way to contact you?

Speaker3: [00:47:37] Well, they can go to a website. Merryweather Millwork, Ask.com and my email address there. It’s Lee Meriwether, a gmail.com right now. I spelled Lee a little bit different. It’s Lee H. But Lee Meriwether at gmail.com or go to the website got my phone number on there and they can email me or call me.

Speaker2: [00:47:55] And I’ve looked at the website and also on there. You have some great pictures of some of the work you’ve done and some of the steps in the process with the portable mill. And as the marriage intensive as the wedding venue comes to reality here. Will that have a separate website or will you be linking that to your website?

Speaker3: [00:48:14] Oh, it’s going to be a separate website for sure, but I’ll probably detail its building process on mine.

Speaker2: [00:48:20] Ok, so people will be able to find it through that? Yes. Well, again, thank you so much for being here, and we thank you for listening to Woodstock. Proud, we hope you enjoyed getting to know our guest. Lee Meriwether a little bit better today. Until next time, this is Jim Bulger saying Take good care of yourself. Stay safe and we will talk with you again. Real soon.