Life After Law Enforcement: Finding Purpose and Passion

In this inspiring episode, Jennifer and Ashlee welcome Mark Mueller, a retired police lieutenant from Hoffman Estates, as he shares his journey from a decades-long law enforcement career to opening a community-centered barbecue restaurant, “I Smell Bacon BBQ.” Mark is also a father and husband, with a family dedicated to public service.

Jennifer [00:00:06]:
Hi. I'm Jennifer Woosley Saylor. I'm a licensed professional clinical counselor and the kid of a cop, and this is the podcast when the call hits home.

Ashlee [00:00:14]:
Hey, everyone. It's Ashlee Gethner. I'm a licensed clinical social worker, and I'm also a child of a police officer.

Jennifer [00:00:21]:
Alright. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Jennifer.

Ashlee [00:00:25]:
And I'm Ashlee. And today, we have a really cool guest, someone special to me, of course. I feel like every time we have someone on, I say this. So but Mark is one of my dad's colleagues, and so it's really awesome to have him on. He has a really cool I mean, Hoffman Estates is amazing. So we have some really cool stories to share, and we're just excited to have you, Mark. So if you wanna go ahead and introduce yourself.

Mark Mueller [00:00:46]:
Well, thanks for having me. My name is Mark Mueller. I am a retired police lieutenant from Hoffman Estates and been retired going on five years, and I've always kinda had a little passion for cooking and things like that. So I opened a a new barbecue restaurant in, Bar and Hop in The States that's doing really good at 59 Higgins, and we're just having some fun with life outside of police work.

Jennifer [00:01:09]:
Love that. Ashlee had shared your story a little bit, Mark, and so I'm excited to get to talk to you more about it. So what did inspire you to open this restaurant in this new chapter of your life?

Mark Mueller [00:01:22]:
You know what? I have, I have two daughters, 23 and 25. One's a nurse. One's a teacher. My wife's a nurse as well. So they're

Jennifer [00:01:28]:
Oh, wow.

Mark Mueller [00:01:29]:
They're all busy. They both went to Iowa. They're both busy doing their things and, you know, with work as it was. So, you know, after retirement, I I did pick up a job for a few years. I worked for DHL, which was alright. You know?

Jennifer [00:01:41]:
We helped

Mark Mueller [00:01:41]:
with some homeland security type stuff and, something I've always thought about. Like I said, I have been cooking for friends and family and got a huge setup in my backyard for a while. And, eventually, it was like, hey. Now's now's the time knowing my wife said she wants to work for about five more years. I said, let's now's the time to jump in and and take a little bit of a risk.

Jennifer [00:02:02]:
Oh my gosh. A big risk. Right? And seriously, good. It is so good,

Ashlee [00:02:07]:
but we'll get to that. Because it's incredible. I mean so I didn't know I didn't know that you worked after you retired.

Jennifer [00:02:13]:
Oh, yeah.

Ashlee [00:02:14]:
Well, I got

Mark Mueller [00:02:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. It was an RA job. I got you know, like, through a friend. It's, you know, nothing else. It was nothing glamorous. We just did stuff for the TSA. But, you know, it's something that needs to be done.

Mark Mueller [00:02:24]:
They pretty much make sure that stuff was screened before it goes on planes so it doesn't have bombs in it. So they'd be sure the dog sniffed it. And but it was a good part time job that's turned into a little bit more, and I, at that point, wasn't looking to do more in retirement. But

Jennifer [00:02:40]:
Yeah. Right? Did you just I I'm being going into the fine details here. But did you have the GHL job set up before retirement, or did you retire and you're like, I'm bored. Let me go do something?

Mark Mueller [00:02:53]:
Pretty much. Yep.

Jennifer [00:02:54]:
Okay. Okay. Okay.

Mark Mueller [00:02:55]:
Knowing that, hey. I gotta stay active. You know, it's Yeah.

Jennifer [00:02:58]:
Yes. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:02:58]:
Although being retired is there's, you know, it's had a little bit of a break. I retired, like, right before COVID. So,

Ashlee [00:03:04]:
you

Mark Mueller [00:03:05]:
know, my wife was home a little bit because with her nursing job, she she was off. So we had that little break of, you know, like, everyone kinda sitting tight. And, you know, when she was going back to work, I said it's time to do something else.

Ashlee [00:03:18]:
Gotcha. Did you feel like you had so one of the biggest things on this podcast, we have so many listeners. And some of the things that we're getting a lot is this notion of, like, what are we doing for retired officers? Right? And one of the biggest things too is just we have a lot of listeners, I feel, that come to us with questions and just expressing how it's really hard for them to go from a career in law enforcement to now being retired. Is it okay if I ask, like, what obviously, you felt a little bored, but how has that transition been for you? I mean, you do keep yourself busy, but maybe in that time when you didn't have anything, what did that feel like for you to be done with the job?

Mark Mueller [00:03:55]:
You know what? It's one of those that, yeah, do I do I miss working? Of course. You know, I miss I miss the guys. One of our friends always had the the quote of, you know, I miss the clowns, not the circus.

Ashlee [00:04:08]:
So, you know,

Jennifer [00:04:08]:
we miss

Mark Mueller [00:04:09]:
our we miss our buddies and stuff like that, but, you know, things things change and, you know, it's, you know, I'd say that is you just you gotta stay active doing something. It's very easy to fall into, you know, being in law enforcement so long where you we're used to structure where, you know, you have a a roll call and you have deadlines and you have this, that, and the other. When you get out of that and all of a sudden you just do nothing, it's not healthy physically and mentally. So you definitely need some. And I I would tell guys that all the time. You know, I I retired as a lieutenant and had a lot of guys under me, and I'm like, you know, earlier before you go, get your money right, figure out what you need to do, and then do what makes you happy. Like, it's there's nothing wrong with going to work at Cabela's if you like to fish. Go

Jennifer [00:04:54]:
Right.

Mark Mueller [00:04:54]:
Whatever. You know? Go be a greeter at Walmart. Just something to

Jennifer [00:04:58]:
Right.

Mark Mueller [00:04:58]:
Get out of the house, do something. No matter what profession it is, policemen can fall into being some sort of a sales or cult it's getting into some sort of customer relations or sales or people contact because, obviously, that's something that everybody does every day. That's an easy transition.

Jennifer [00:05:18]:
Well, you're kinda leading me to my next question, and maybe you've already answered it. But how was your career as an officer influenced your new kinda title in this new business? Like, do you feel like there's some influences there?

Mark Mueller [00:05:32]:
You know, I would say just as far as, like, a management role, I mean, it's just Why

Jennifer [00:05:35]:
is thinking that when you said you're a lieutenant?

Ashlee [00:05:37]:
I was

Jennifer [00:05:38]:
like, oh, you know people.

Mark Mueller [00:05:39]:
Yeah. But you know what? It's you know, just I've always said a title is a title. I I I never walked around. The thing I love most about when I got promoted to lieutenant is they kinda you take all your stripes and stuff off, and you just have a simple bar on your collar that so most people, you show up on a call and they don't they're not you know, for a while in Hoffman, we we wore white shirts, and every the patrolmen wore different. Every time you went to a call, everyone wanted to talk to the white shirt, talk to the white shirt. And, you know, that gets old. You're like, you know, let your guys do their thing, and if they need you, be support for them. But to be able to show up and not worry, just to be there.

Mark Mueller [00:06:16]:
And then when someone wants to cause a problem or whatever afterwards, it'd be like, hey. I wanna talk to your boss after they just got done, you know, swearing and all that stuff. You're like, okay. He's right here.

Jennifer [00:06:26]:
Right. Right.

Ashlee [00:06:28]:
Do you feel like that structure and that routine like, I really loved how you hit the financial piece.

Jennifer [00:06:32]:
Yeah. Oh, you signed it aside too.

Ashlee [00:06:34]:
Yeah. I was like, oh, that's really powerful because that is something that we talk about on here a lot. Like, it's this notion and we're trying to actually talk about that a little bit more. But, like, do you feel like being in your role as a police officer now when you run the business, like, do you feel like it's hard for you to kinda turn some of that stuff off? Or for you, is it just kind of an easy thing to kinda be the, like, be the store owner and have to have all the staff under you and things like that?

Mark Mueller [00:07:00]:
You know what? It's it's not really, like, turning it off. I mean, obviously, cops are gonna see things in life differently than everybody else until until you die. It's never gonna change. Whether you're

Ashlee [00:07:13]:
Mhmm.

Mark Mueller [00:07:13]:
Nine years old or or just retired, you you you look at people differently. You do understand them differently. You read them differently, and that's just the that's just a part of of who we are. And that's never gonna change, and there's nothing wrong with that. But going from here, being able even to kinda read employees or or help them because, again, dealing with everything I mean, you think about it. You you spend most of your police time handling mental health calls. That's Mhmm. You know, 75% of your calls probably.

Mark Mueller [00:07:43]:
So now, of course, dealing with servers and bartenders and, you know, that's dealing with mental health right

Jennifer [00:07:51]:
there. Right. Right.

Ashlee [00:07:53]:
Yeah. That can be. Right? Very much so. So true. What advice do you have? Like, if somebody else is listening who is about to retire, I mean, you know, the financial part we already kinda talked about, but wanting to start their own business, do you have any advice that you could give to them about how to do that?

Mark Mueller [00:08:13]:
Well, the thing that I found at the beginning is everyone's like, it's great that you did this for that many years, but what do you know about, you know, being in business? And, honestly, nothing. I mean, I've had other little stuff. I I you know, back when my kids were young, I had a little power washing business on the side. I of course, when I was done, I had a little did some security stuff. That's a normal thing. And it's easy for guys just to fall into the rut of, like, well, I've been a cop my whole life. I need to go do something in this field.

Jennifer [00:08:43]:
Okay.

Mark Mueller [00:08:44]:
But my advice is don't don't do anything in that field. It was great. It was a great job. You did that. Use it. But don't all of a suddenly assume I have to go be a security guard. I have to go do this. I have to you know, they said, just do whatever you like.

Mark Mueller [00:08:56]:
Now what I learned, if someone's thinking about going, go to your village and just go talk to the finance people and being like, hey. What does if I left today, what does retirement look? I had a guy that one time that was saying, you know, should I stay? Should I whatever. When he explained how it works with the pension stuff and leaving, he's like, I'm gonna go talk to the village. I was like, alright. Literally, the next day, he was putting his papers in. He's like, okay. This is fun. I've been gone.

Mark Mueller [00:09:21]:
That makes sense.

Jennifer [00:09:22]:
A lot

Mark Mueller [00:09:22]:
of guys, they're, like, thinking, well, I I'm stuck here. I'm stuck in this job that they're unhappy with because they think they have to go there. When they actually go to the village and you see it in front of them saying, oh, you know, I guess I could do this, you know, and and here's where my money is. Now I can make a decision with their family of what to do. Starting a business was very hard. I Mhmm. I went through you know, I'm a big Toby Keith fan, and I have it you saw at my restaurant. I have the the how you like me now thing kind of on our wall because I even had my friends were telling me, you're gonna fail.

Mark Mueller [00:09:56]:
You don't know anything about a restaurant. Restaurants fail. Rather, you know, even the first couple weeks, people come in. Oh, I really hope you guys, you know, stick around. I'm like, me too. I always stick around too. But, you know, going from there, you know, you have, of course, I don't know, a lot of doors shut in your face, but from, you know, from our place, from finding a location to the design to the staff, to the menu, all that didn't, you know, on on my own. You know, I have a small partner that's with me, and she's awesome.

Mark Mueller [00:10:27]:
She, you know, just helped out everything from the front of house. One of our one of our me and my wife's really good friends.

Jennifer [00:10:32]:
Mhmm.

Mark Mueller [00:10:32]:
So leaning on that, you know, leaning on the people. And I ask a lot of questions, you know, which, again, normally of being a cop, you you have a bazillion questions. You'd be we have to have things answered a certain way or it drives you crazy. So I ask the questions. You know? My brother in law's got a restaurant. Well, you know, what should I do with this? He's like, don't open it. Don't do it. You know, stuff like that, but it's it's super hard.

Mark Mueller [00:10:55]:
And then you talk about the the people coming in to give you quotes. They're like, oh, is this a chain? No. It's it's just kind of like a family run business, and then their quote would be $5 higher than everybody else's because they're trying to take advantage of it because you probably don't know what you're talking about. So that's it. I mean, it's my whole thing is is that, like, the advice of, you know, do what you like, get the questions answered, and preplan. Don't wait until, hey. I'm 50. I think I can leave right now.

Mark Mueller [00:11:22]:
Start thinking when you're 45 or when you're 40. Every every every town has a a a retirement planning part.

Jennifer [00:11:30]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:11:30]:
Go to the class. Go to the retirement planning class.

Jennifer [00:11:34]:
I appreciate that so much, especially go to your village. Like and and what I really hear in that too is, like, information is power. Like, when I have it printed out in front of me or I talk to the experts, then I can start making those decisions. It also sounds like there's a passion here that you have for this business, which I think a lot of people as first responders, that's a passion. So, Mark, I mean, how generous that you get to have two of these things in your life. So talk to me a little bit about just having this thing in your backyard to that big leap of people telling you no. No. No.

Jennifer [00:12:07]:
No. No. And you still saying yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm not giving up.

Mark Mueller [00:12:11]:
Yeah. You know what? At the it was always like, I wanted to work for myself or do something, you know, that when I was done, I always said, I'm never gonna have a boss again. I'm never, yep, it sounds bad. I'm never gonna answer to somebody else again.

Jennifer [00:12:29]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:12:29]:
And there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, we we know once we like we said, you you answer to people every day. So to be able to kinda have that freedom of of making decisions for myself or my family making decisions of going from there. But I did a bunch of little parties and stuff and Oh. A good friend who actually trained me of when I I wanted to learn more about the smoking part of barbecue. So a good buddy. I was the original grill master for Weber and spent a lot of time in his backyard of, hey. Show me what you do or how you do it.

Ashlee [00:13:02]:
No wonder why this food is so good. That's so cool. That is so cool. K. You have I know that, like, one of the biggest things on here, right, we talk a lot about children of first responders, and you have two daughters yourself. And what did that look like for you? Maybe I'll take us back a little bit if that's okay. I know it's a slight transition, but what did that look like for you? I mean, being an officer, how did it feel to raise kids and manage family life with being an officer?

Mark Mueller [00:13:33]:
You know what? I I would say, you know, I was I was blessed in my career because I I got to do a lot of things. I mean, I've done everything from just be a patrolman, which I loved, one of the most favorite things I did, to being in our high school. I was in our tech unit then, you know, getting promoted through other stuff for, you know, what I did as as a supervisor. But, you know, my daughters were were always active. You know, that when they were young, my my and my wife's a nurse being, you know, typical cop nurse type thing. And, you know, she was a Peds nurse, so she was fantastic with our kids as they were growing up. Now was their life a little differently? Yes. I mean, it's and we had those conversations when they could understand them that, you know I mean, the the scary and and just factual thing is you had to have that conversation with your daughters and your wife and said, if there's ever a situation and I hand you our car keys, that means get in the car and leave.

Mark Mueller [00:14:26]:
Like, something is going to happen and you don't need to be there. Like, it sounds bad. Like, you don't I'll take care of myself. You guys need to go.

Jennifer [00:14:34]:
Right.

Mark Mueller [00:14:34]:
And you have to have that conversation as a police officer, especially if you're doing anything with a risky capacity, whether it's undercover work or drug work or gang work or whatever like that. You you're you're going to see somebody that you arrested or had contact with or arrested their family member, and they'll remember you. You may not remember them. It could be somebody's brother, and there's like that. Oh, there's that cop. There's that cop. So, yes, you you know, labels that's you're labeled as that as a cop. Was it hard for my daughters? I'm sure.

Mark Mueller [00:15:04]:
Every time it's like, oh, well, your dad's cop. Your dad's cop. You know, high school, high school parties. Oh, your dad's a cop. Your dad's cop. It just so they had to deal with it differently, and it's interesting that they chose public service careers.

Jennifer [00:15:17]:
I was thinking that when you said that they're a nurse and a teacher. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:15:22]:
Yeah. So that's I mean, that's the thing with them. I mean, I'm lucky with them. Both of them went to Iowa. Had, you know, got good degrees, good good kids. They're doing, you know, good things. You know, I'm lucky. I mean, it's we as you guys know, you see a lot of officers that struggle with stuff with their family.

Mark Mueller [00:15:36]:
Now you're dealing with work stress and family stress and life stress, and, you know, that's what leads to addiction and suicide and depression and all the nasty things that that cops and firemen have to deal with because we see ugly stuff.

Jennifer [00:15:53]:
How were your daughters, like, taking this family secret, the good barbecue in the backyard to the masses? How did they feel about this new chapter for you?

Mark Mueller [00:16:04]:
You know, super supportive. They loved him. I mean, they they when they come around, they they come around. They like it. I mean, it's like I said, first, since they've been little, they've always been cooking, whether it's our days off, you know, cooking or cooking together. It's a

Jennifer [00:16:18]:
family thing. I love this.

Mark Mueller [00:16:20]:
Yeah. I mean and and it was always like, hey. You wanna, you know, you could always come be over here part time, and they're like, no. Thanks. They'd rather stay in the city. They both live by Wrigley. They they got more fun stuff to do than hang out in Hoffman at the barbecue place.

Jennifer [00:16:33]:
But,

Mark Mueller [00:16:35]:
you know, it was it was the option. And they get they I think they get it too. It's I mean, it's a lot of it's a a lot a lot of work and a lot of hours, but something I enjoy, and and they understand that too. Even coming from now.

Jennifer [00:16:47]:
Yeah. You know, I think you bring up something really special there, Mark, in terms of, like, food is such about community, and that's something that we do with our families and coming together and breaking bread. And so that's gorgeous that you did that with your family and the girls growing up. So that's awesome. Thanks for sharing that.

Ashlee [00:17:06]:
What I do know is that you opened, right, in Hoffman. Do you get a lot of support from other officers that worked with you or, like, the department now still in terms of the restaurant? And what, you know, what does that look like for you?

Mark Mueller [00:17:20]:
You know, our department, and I'm sure a lot of other departments are like that, and it's nothing no fault of anybody's. It's literally so here's here's your your exit thing, how we do it. And it's I've always said it's kinda messed up, but they have you have, like, your pizza party. Right? And everyone comes in, and you have a little pizza thing. They they do a little display of I mean, actually, you've been to it. Like, hey. Here's your video. Here's some stories about tell some good jokes.

Mark Mueller [00:17:46]:
And then they're like, okay. The last thing you do before you go is you go put your name up on the wall. They have little, like, a plaque thing. You put your name on it that you retired. And then literally before after your stuff's cleaned out, literally, they take your key card and give me one, and you no longer have access to the building. Like, you're talking about your loan. Like, after that moment, you can't go in there without somebody going with you because you no longer work there. That's just that's just how it that's just how it is.

Mark Mueller [00:18:14]:
And now in in the back end, like, messed up time of and we've had guys that have been like, well, screw this place. I don't want the pizza party. I'm just leaving and just leave. We had a sergeant the one time in the middle of shift just put his crap on his, his desk, put it in the box, and said, I'm retired. See you. And just walk out. Oh. And everyone's like, where did he go? They're like, yes.

Mark Mueller [00:18:34]:
You just left. So that that retirement transition is different for everybody. Some people are like, this has been a this has been a worse job in the world that I've had for twenty five years that has, you know, fueled my family and fed them and done everything just because they felt a certain way of what they were owed or what they were treated. So that, yeah, that transition of of going from there is a tough one. Now do you say do we hang out with this? Yeah. The the the difference with with me is most of the people that are at our department now, I either hired or worked underneath me or whatever. There's nobody my agent were. I I mean, there's because that's just the way

Jennifer [00:19:12]:
it is. Right.

Mark Mueller [00:19:13]:
So, yeah, the the guys know, you know, they know they still come in and eat and all that stuff. Of course, we, you know, we take care of it when we come in, and and, you know, that's all great in Danny. The re retirees try and get together once in a while, but it's a weird thing. It's like when you're done you know, Facebook is stuff you keep in track, but there's there's no, like, yearly Christmas party kumbaya anymore.

Jennifer [00:19:33]:
Yeah. My dad has struggled with that a little bit of going back to things and just not recognizing any officers. You know? Yeah. The time goes by, and they're just getting younger and younger, you know, as they all do. So I couldn't They

Mark Mueller [00:19:46]:
don't want your not not the bad way. They don't want your advice. They don't want I mean, they want you to come there and be like, hey. Here's the way things should be. They're like, okay. You don't work anymore. Mhmm. But which is fine.

Mark Mueller [00:19:55]:
I mean, I get it. That's how you just, you know, do their do their own thing. But, you know, yeah, you can, like I said, give some stories or give suggestions of what you should do to plan or you know, you got some guys that still that it's interesting how the circle of life goes. Now there's the guys that have this twenty ish years on or in that rut where they're 43, say they got hired at 23, and they have to stay seven more years till they can start collecting some money and hate it. Hate every day going to work.

Jennifer [00:20:28]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:20:28]:
Nothing but say how this place sucks and all this stuff. And those were the guys at seven years ago were like, man, this is the best place in the world, and I'm I'm gonna be the next hard charger and this and that and the other. And it's it's it's sad to be on the outside seeing how people have switched into the people that were complained about before. And it's always there's gonna and in seven more years, there's gonna be another group of guys who were the same thing.

Jennifer [00:20:55]:
Yeah. Well and I'm sure, you know, seeing it from the outside, you get to see it so much clearer too of like, man, how did you guys get to this place and seeing the bitterness of it all? For you, do you feel like your values or goals have shifted at all in terms of this kinda second career that's quite a departure from being a first responder?

Mark Mueller [00:21:16]:
You know what? The value is absolutely not. I mean, it's your

Ashlee [00:21:19]:
your values

Mark Mueller [00:21:20]:
and stuff are the same. Goals I mean, here's a difference. Do I have I people right now are like, oh my god. And and we are having, you know, knock on wood, a lot of success, and that's been going good. But, you know, people are like, are when you open in the next one, are you gonna franchise? What are you doing this? I wanna invest. I wanna do this. And we're like I'm I'm like, no. I mean, we've been open a little over seven months.

Mark Mueller [00:21:39]:
Like, pause. Of course, we're adding in some other stuff. We're starting to cater weddings, and we're starting to do things like that, which is fun fun stuff.

Jennifer [00:21:48]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:21:48]:
And I look at it that is I still wanna keep it that way as moving forward. You know? So my yeah. My goals are are very short term goals right now because, I mean, the the colder fact is I don't need long term goals. I have a great pension. My wife's still working full time. I've prepared and planned and in a good position that I don't need this restaurant to maintain my life outside of the restaurant.

Jennifer [00:22:13]:
Right.

Mark Mueller [00:22:14]:
Now it's a ton of work that I tell you, I'm doing more hours and working more than I did my last

Jennifer [00:22:17]:
ten years of work. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:22:19]:
But it's different work. You know? They said, I'm not I don't have a surgical center here. I'm making barbecue. You know? You bullshit with people and talk with them and get them some good food and then, you know, get some good ideas, and that's that's a difference. But that's something I like to do. Guys are getting ready to go do what I again, do whatever you like to do. I love hearing stories of the guys, like, exact one of our buddies was our canine guy. And he's a canine guy, and and actually knows what I'm talking about.

Mark Mueller [00:22:45]:
And you know what he does now in retirement? He trains dogs.

Ashlee [00:22:47]:
Oh, wow.

Mark Mueller [00:22:48]:
He goes and trains dogs and helps police guys train their dogs and helps the new canine guys with their dogs because he loves dogs.

Jennifer [00:22:54]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:22:54]:
You know the guys who love to hunt? Go to Cabela's. Go do something else. I hate seeing guys that are like, oh, I just got hired at LG Community College as the security guard. And I'm like, okay. Now you're a 60 year old dude that's gonna be dealing with drunk twenty two year old kids, and you're gonna get hurt. You're gonna hurt someone else, and you're in the same cycle of unhappiness in a different law enforcement career.

Jennifer [00:23:18]:
Right.

Mark Mueller [00:23:19]:
Get out.

Ashlee [00:23:21]:
Well, I

Jennifer [00:23:21]:
love this goal of fun. Like, what a great goal to have in your life. Like, it sounds like this again, it's hard work. I definitely am hearing you say that, Mark. Hard work, but fun. Like, that's beautiful. And what a great second act to have to be the goal of having fun with it.

Ashlee [00:23:39]:
You know, my brain is so, like, hyper focused right now in this notion of you saying how everybody's kind of like, hey. When you opening up a second one, hey. When you you know? And it's like, how we struggle so much as people to just be content in the now. I Like, you Be, like, excited about the now. You know? And I feel like I hear you say that when you're talking about retirement and stuff, like, be present in what you have now. And I think that's something that we've talked about a lot or, like, other children or first responders have mentioned is, like, their parent who is a first responder, right, like, works so very hard their entire career to bring home what they need to bring home and and miss out on a lot of things because of that. And yet, you know, it's almost like that expectation just never goes away, like, to just keep working so incredibly hard, but that fun twist is huge, I think, on it. Like, do something or do something that your family can be included in.

Ashlee [00:24:29]:
Like you said, you're like, hey. Come join me if you wanna come join me. Let's do this together. But it's just wild to me how people are so, like like

Jennifer [00:24:37]:
What's next? What's next? What's next? What's next? Yeah.

Ashlee [00:24:41]:
How lucky are we that we have this new restaurant that's serving great food? Someone who served our community, like, that's a beautiful thing. But, yeah, people always they always push. They always push for Jennifer and I kinda know that lie.

Jennifer [00:24:52]:
Yeah. This is crazy. You know, Ashlee, you said you're hyperfixated. This I'm taking us on a left turn, but it is a little conversation I had with my husband this morning. I I just got back in town, and I was talking about where I was at, like, seeing these empty storefronts. But what was so packed everywhere I went were these places to eat. I think, Mark, you know, you're in the business, not me. But I think having community, like, where you get to go to a restaurant and have a unique experience that's not necessarily a chain Mhmm.

Jennifer [00:25:25]:
Is what people want. You know, people want to go to places and, again, break bread with their friends and and and meet new people. I think that's our new, like, experiences. It's not necessarily going to a store and buying things because we can buy things online now. So I think your your community is such a special thing for sure. And I'm also like, oh, man. I want barbecue for lunch now. Gotcha.

Jennifer [00:25:49]:
So I'm quite honest.

Ashlee [00:25:50]:
This whole time, I'm like, ah, now I'm gonna fixate on wanting some. So I

Mark Mueller [00:25:55]:
think the big thing with us is what people like too is that people like to see when they come in, see that the owner is there and that they're seen. Yeah. Everyone wants to be seen. Everyone wants to be recognized. That's what we tell our servers. Whether just greeting them at the door, hey.

Jennifer [00:26:11]:
Hello. How's your name going?

Mark Mueller [00:26:12]:
Here's your table. Not just what do you want? Let not being a robot about it. And then, you know, there's so many times that people are like, you know, I'm getting done busing tables or sweeping the floor or whatever. You know? Hey. Can I take this? Oh, yeah. You know? Blah blah blah. Oh, are you the cook? Well, kind of. You know? Sometimes then we're like, what? Oh, I'm the owner.

Mark Mueller [00:26:33]:
They're like, and you're cleaning the tables? You know, that which is fine. I mean, it's it's it's my place. So I, you know, I want all of our people to have the buy in with it too, but you're right a %. The people who live around here, we want them to have the plot. I mean, we have we have people that are in two, three times a week, whether they're by their self or they stop in for a snack or then bring their family on a weekend or bring a business client because they know it's a comfortable spot. They they know besides know they're gonna get great food in that, but they know they're going to be seen and treated well, and it's not gonna be a chain restaurants. I mean, I'm right across the parking lot from a B Dubs. And, I mean, personally, I think B Dubs sucks now.

Mark Mueller [00:27:10]:
It's not just because I serve wings too, but it's just it's a huge corporate chain that you walk in and pay overpriced money for food. But I say, I go to B Dubs because I wanna drink a big tall beer and watch a million TVs and watch a game. I'm not going there expecting to get a great meal. Yeah. I'm going there for for what it is.

Jennifer [00:27:31]:
Yeah. For a different size television.

Mark Mueller [00:27:32]:
That's no rip on B Dubs if there's any

Jennifer [00:27:34]:
I hear you.

Mark Mueller [00:27:34]:
B Dubs corporate.

Ashlee [00:27:37]:
Yeah. Wait. No. I'm just kidding. No. They'll be fine. No. I mean, I think this is all really I mean, it's true.

Ashlee [00:27:42]:
Right? And and when I hear you talk, I hear you really stressing to these retired, you know, first responders or about to retire that are listening to us being like, hey. Like, don't hesitate to start now. Mhmm. Figure out what you wanna do. Don't just sit and wait till it's over. Right? Take control of your life. Find that happiness in your life and and follow that.

Jennifer [00:28:04]:
Well, I have to be a therapist for a second. And, you know, that is that, like, internal work. You have to kind of listen to yourself a little bit. Like, what do you enjoy? What makes you happy? And and, Mark, I appreciate what you said. It can be hunting. It can be, you know, food. It can be it can be anything. Like, the world is your oyster.

Jennifer [00:28:25]:
It doesn't have to be, well, I did this, and now I have to do that. Like, it can be something completely different.

Mark Mueller [00:28:32]:
For sure. And you and, you know, get your family involved in it too. I mean, right now, when you're ready to be like, hey. I'm thinking about retiring. Like, what do you what do you guys think about that? Not that that's gonna matter in your decision, but, hey. What what does the family think about it? There's no and there's no reason nowadays for everyone to to have to miss everything like you used to. And I think so many times, cops get into that just the thing of, well, it's Christmas. I have to work.

Mark Mueller [00:28:59]:
Well, you probably don't. Especially later on, like, when my kids were grown and they were gonna sleep in, I would make sure that our younger whoever was underneath me had Christmas day off, and they can wake up and have, you know, Christmas with their kids.

Jennifer [00:29:15]:
Kids. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:29:16]:
But there's no, you know, there's no reason right now or or plan that vacation with your family even if it's for a weekend. Be like, hey. There's no reason that people shouldn't be doing family time or that because that's that goes quick. In the end, if you have a couple years left, like, enjoy every day you're at work. Because in a blink of an eye, you're not going to be there. And you're gonna be they're gonna take your key card, and you're not gonna be able to walk in the building.

Ashlee [00:29:39]:
Yeah. That was wild. That I never even thought about that. They just take

Mark Mueller [00:29:42]:
It's kinda like the big joke. And they're like, alright. Then you you wave out the window at them. Like, hey. You can't come in anymore.

Ashlee [00:29:50]:
Oh my gosh. And I like that you're saying because something that I hear from a lot of my first responders is, like, they will have a ton of vacation time and or sick time and not use it.

Jennifer [00:29:59]:
Yep. Oh, don't get me started on that.

Ashlee [00:30:03]:
Right. Like, just not use it. And, like like, you're saying, why not take that trip with your family and and make those memories now too?

Jennifer [00:30:10]:
Mhmm.

Ashlee [00:30:11]:
It goes fast and you lose out on that. I don't know. I I guess I shouldn't speak on that because I don't I get that, like, if you have enough, maybe you can retire early. Right?

Mark Mueller [00:30:19]:
Well, no. It's it's it's by at the end of what the village has to pay you. I mean, like, with me, I didn't take a a ton of vacation time because I didn't need it with my schedule. But your sick time usage and your other comp time, whatever it is, vacation time is money that the village has for you. But you also have to enjoy some life. And the one story, you know what I'm talking about, actually, one of my good friends who I work got killed on his motorcycle. The guy was, you know, could have retired within the next year, which is out riding freak accident, got killed. I was actually the one who took the call from somebody who watched the crash while I was sitting at my desk.

Mark Mueller [00:30:54]:
And I called it on the radio like, hey. There's a crash that ended up being our friend. But he had crap ton of money saved. He was never married. Had a ton of money saved. His sick time, all this stuff because, you know, at the end, he probably was just gonna go ride his ride his bike around. You know? But it wasn't like a crotch rocket bike. He had a he had a Harley.

Mark Mueller [00:31:13]:
He he enjoyed riding with his friends, and it wasn't reckless type thing. It was just it was an an actual accident. But, you know, if that's heartbreaking right there because, you know, this guy was not that he was waiting too much at the end, but, you know, take those extra two days that you're saving. Go take your wife for a weekend somewhere or take your kids spontaneously to do whatever they like to do. Just go sit somewhere and do nothing.

Jennifer [00:31:40]:
Right. Right.

Mark Mueller [00:31:41]:
Or Lake Geneva for a weekend and just sit there and watch the water. You know?

Jennifer [00:31:45]:
Hey, Caden. I mean, I've worked with people, like my colleagues, that would just lose vacation time. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, that belongs to you. And they're you're not getting a gold watch by this company or this agency when you're done, like, because you didn't take vacation. That time is yours.

Mark Mueller [00:32:04]:
They don't care. Here's the the village does not give a shit. Any if I could say that. Sorry. You could do. They don't care. And guess what? It's a business. They shouldn't care.

Mark Mueller [00:32:15]:
Don't get mad because the village is saying that. That's their job. Your village manager is the manager of a business.

Ashlee [00:32:23]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:32:24]:
So it's your time to use. I never got upset if guys were like, hey. I need to take this sick time, or like that. It's your time to use.

Jennifer [00:32:33]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:32:33]:
If your wife is sick and you need to take a couple days, take it to be with her, your kids, or whichever. Your boss ain't gonna get pissed unless you're one of those guys who call in sick every week in conjunction with your days off and start abusing it. But

Jennifer [00:32:45]:
Yep. And you know the difference between those people. Right? The people that are gonna take advantage and try to abuse it, and and they'll be held accountable. But that's not you. If it's your time and you wanna take it, you deserve it. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:32:58]:
And even I tell you right now, if you need I've had guys that you could tell they're stressed out,

Jennifer [00:33:03]:
and

Mark Mueller [00:33:03]:
you could tell that going from there and be like, hey. Take you have sick time. Take a couple days. Yeah. Sick time.

Jennifer [00:33:10]:
Mhmm.

Mark Mueller [00:33:10]:
Because you don't ask what you're sick for anymore. Take a couple days of sick time and just go recharge. Like, everyone needs that outlet of whatever it is. Me, I run our youth football program. I've been doing that thirty five years. Football to me, I had a outside group of friends. I had football friends and colleagues. So during the fall, you know, we did stuff for football in the weekend.

Mark Mueller [00:33:32]:
You know, Ashlee's dad's a huge Bears fan. Go to Bears game.

Jennifer [00:33:34]:
Is he is he? I just know that. Go go to

Mark Mueller [00:33:37]:
the Bears game. Go do whatever with your kids. Go coach your kids' team if you can. You know, get involved with the other stuff. That's that's the rut everyone falls into of, like, no. I I am known. My my whole everything is that I am a police officer. And Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:33:53]:
That's that's a a job that you do, but that is not necessarily who you are only.

Ashlee [00:34:02]:
Right. Right. My dad says that still to the same. And I crack up as we're talking about all these things you guys are like, go hunting, go fishing, football. I'm like, check, check, check, check, check. Like, that's my dad. Right? But, also, when I look at him, I'm like, he did make it through the career, and that's kinda where I'm, you know, hearing from you too, Mark, because, like, you guys really did a good job of, like, separating yourselves and still doing the things that you love. We coined them as therapists as the used to's.

Ashlee [00:34:25]:
So, like, I have so many first responders to be like, yeah. I used to go fishing or I used to go hunting and I used to play football or coach or what have you, and I stopped because they allow the career to kinda consume them. And I feel like you guys did a really good job of, like, encouraging each other to go do those things and to stay true to who you were. And, like, thus, you guys have these abilities to bounce back from these careers and go do you know, open a restaurant or, like, my dad just lives it up. Like, you know, he I've always been in this job. Like, is he truly struggling with something? And don't get me wrong. Everybody has their stuff.

Jennifer [00:34:59]:
Of course. Of course.

Ashlee [00:35:00]:
When I look, like, grand scheme, I'm like, no. He coped pretty well, like, through his career, but I really think it's because he fell back on the stuff that he loved, like you are saying too.

Jennifer [00:35:10]:
Well and I've seen people with that same thing, Ashlee, that think I'm so stressed out, so I don't have enough time. And what they do is they close out the things that energize them. You know? I'm just gonna be on my couch all day because I'm so worn out instead of recognizing sometimes, hey. Those things that you, Mark's point, bring you joy or fun, those actually energize you more and take away some of the stress of a job that's very stressful.

Mark Mueller [00:35:41]:
Yep. And you know what? Anything starting there, I like to, whatever, make, we'll say, fishing lures, and that's a hobby. Oh, maybe I wanna do that on the side, but then it's like, man, it's gonna be a lot of work to get going. You're right.

Jennifer [00:35:53]:
It is.

Mark Mueller [00:35:54]:
Yeah. Anyone who started I'm sure when Jeff Bezos started up at the beginning when going from his stuff, it wasn't like, man, maybe this is gonna be a lot of hard work. It is going to be hard work. Well, whatever it ends up being, but it's something to that does do that release. And and maybe that's what that's what people need. You need something you need to especially if you're in anything with law enforcement, when you're done, check out of the job when you leave and go. That's why guys who work investigations for so many years, they sit there. They would be stressed because they're like, man, I know their stuff waiting on Monday.

Mark Mueller [00:36:27]:
By Sunday, although I was off, I was stressed out thinking about what do I have to do on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday or whatever like that. You gotta be able to turn your brain off a little bit and and just be.

Jennifer [00:36:40]:
Yep. And things that bring us joy help with that. You know? Like, it takes some skills, and that's something that can be helpful with that for sure. Absolutely. Yeah.

Ashlee [00:36:51]:
Do you have any I don't know if you do, so I'm putting you on the spot here. Do you have any, like, anything resource wise? Like, did you use anything resource wise financially to help going into retirement, or was that just kinda your own doing?

Mark Mueller [00:37:05]:
Well, I mean, we when I first got hired back in '93, when I first got hired That's here.

Ashlee [00:37:13]:
Ashlee.

Mark Mueller [00:37:14]:
We were the the first group of people that, like, Fidelity finally came in and said, hey. Oh. Like, you should do that stuff. Now before that, all those guys had nothing else. They just had their pension. Oh, my pension is gonna be there. And pension's decent.

Ashlee [00:37:28]:
Oh, yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:37:29]:
But get involved in that early, whether it's a couple bucks or whatever. Go to those, the open enrollment and talk to the financial guy. Whether you put a hundred bucks a month or whatever. And I tell them, you know, my kids the same thing right now. And I'll get to that in a minute. But getting involved with that kind of stuff. What did I do at the end? Yeah. Besides the village, I knew what that was.

Mark Mueller [00:37:48]:
But, yeah, we hooked up with my Fidelity. What do I do with that? What can I use that money for? Then found a financial planner. Right. Because then they're handling your money because you think the Fidelity guy really handles your money. Well, no. They handle it to get their couple percent, and you're just you're a client to them. You're not someone they know. Find a a planner that you can connect with.

Mark Mueller [00:38:12]:
That's what we did. I went we my wife, you know, my wife's hospital sold, so she had different kind of retirement things, you know, outside to plan for her now. Now we're planning for her retirement in four years. Like, what's her life gonna be like outside of there? Does she automatically have to come be at this restaurant every day? Absolutely not. Maybe she wants to be done there and go be a barista at the at Starbucks or something. You know? And that's fine if that's what's gonna make her happy outside of that. But the first of all, I have I speak for every village. At least I know with Hoffman.

Mark Mueller [00:38:46]:
We could go in there to our HR department, and they have the finance people. And they everyone we sent there, they've walked them through of, here's where you're looking at right now. If you stay this time, it goes from here. And then they'll have the resource to get involved with some money planning. But financial planners are just like your, you know, real estate agent. Someone knows someone that you're gonna connect with and

Ashlee [00:39:10]:
that one person

Mark Mueller [00:39:11]:
that one person is well, yeah, people are better than the other ones. But find whoever that you're comfortable with and send them. To me, that was amazing. Like, I was like, holy crap. Like, help me organize everything here because cops think, oh, I have to have control of everything and organize everything. That stuff that I had no problem with saying, I need help with

Jennifer [00:39:32]:
Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:39:33]:
Knowing what I have and what I can do.

Jennifer [00:39:36]:
You know, the other thing I'll say too, my I have cousin that owns a small business, and he was helpful in my small business. I know Louisville where I'm originally from, like I mean, they want communities to have small businesses. That's good for cities. And so it was a free service that you could walk in, and they would help walk you through what it means where you get a tax ID number, all those things. Exactly your point, Mark. Those things are out there. You just gotta ask. Yeah.

Mark Mueller [00:40:05]:
Yeah. And stop just yeah. I'm gonna say this. If you're someone that is just every year, I I'm a, turbo tax person. I just do my taxes there, whatever. Go find an accountant. Find someone that

Jennifer [00:40:17]:
you're comfortable

Mark Mueller [00:40:18]:
with that that will do your taxes. You know, we used to have a guy here that, he's passed away now, but he did all of the cops. But he used to work for the IRS, and we use his name was Neil. He was awesome. Everyone went to Neil. But we knew that he was going to do the right stuff when your tax prep was, and he was able to give some advice outside of there. After going from there, actually, he had an account now that you can go to those questions because there are some guys that are great with their money, and there has been some guys at work that are horrible with their money and think they're gonna become day traders. And I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that where they have no experience or no nothing.

Mark Mueller [00:40:56]:
And the next thing you know, they're blowing all their retirement money on stuff that they don't know about. It's a difference between, you know, something that's a a positive risk or just being reckless.

Jennifer [00:41:09]:
Yeah. For sure. Difference. Mhmm.

Ashlee [00:41:11]:
Well, thank you so much. I mean, I feel like we could go on for days. We might have to have you back. I feel like I say this to everybody too. But I wanna make sure we leave some time for you again to kinda plug your restaurant. Give us the name where it's at, what kind of food you have, and everything so our listeners can come find you.

Mark Mueller [00:41:26]:
Yeah. It's called the play on the police. I smell bacon because when you saw the police when I grew up, you said, I smell bacon. So it's called I smell bacon. It's at the corner of 59 Higgins And Hoffman Estates. Ismellbaconbbq.com is our website. We have a Facebook page, Instagram. But it's fun.

Mark Mueller [00:41:43]:
See, it's about 60 people, full bar slot machines. We cater everything. Custom catering, so it's not like you have to pick package one, two, and three. We'll say, what's your budget? How many people do you have? What do you like to eat? And then we create packages for that.

Jennifer [00:41:56]:
Well, that's cool.

Mark Mueller [00:41:57]:
It's a fun place. And, yeah, people come in and say you heard it on the podcast.

Jennifer [00:42:04]:
Yeah. Mark, I yeah. And I plan to get on a plane and come visit sometime soon because it sounds amazing.

Mark Mueller [00:42:12]:
Awesome.

Ashlee [00:42:12]:
Recently, just made my dad take me there because I was finally in the area and stuff, and him and I were hanging out. And so I

Jennifer [00:42:18]:
was like, we gotta go.

Ashlee [00:42:19]:
Like, we have to go, and it was so good. It was so good. So everyone does have to go. It's an honor to have you on here today. Mark, we are thrilled for you. It's inspiring, and I hope our listeners find it inspiring too that, like, you can do something after this career. You can make something of yourself still in a different way. You can love life and work hard.

Ashlee [00:42:38]:
Right? And I think you did a really good job sharing that message, and that's something super special to us. So thank you for opening this retirement. We have a lot to talk about in terms of retirement for our first responders, but I think this really opens the door and sets a great example of what it could be. So we greatly appreciate that. And then our listeners know this is how I always end our podcast. But if there's anything everyone anyone ever needs, we're here for you. But you always know that when the call hits home, Jennifer and I are here for you, and we cannot wait for you guys to hear this next episode. Thank you.

Jennifer [00:43:07]:
Thank you.