In this episode of Mayhem and Misfits, Nicole and Ben dive into the world of ambition meeting reality through the story of a teenager's quest to build a perfect pond. This journey highlights the common pitfalls of jumping into projects without the right systems, tools, or support—and the transformative impact of rethinking and redesigning for lasting success. Discover how lessons from pond building apply to tackling mayhem in business.
Nicole
Before we get started, I want to give a shout out to the team at Creative Water Gardens in Escalon, CA. Jim, thanks for all your help. Hello and welcome to Mayhem and misfits. Where we take a fun look at business, got our eye and the systems that save them. I'm Nicole Grimm.
Ben
And I'm Ben, Rocky. We've all been there. You have a vision, a passion, a business idea that seems destined for success. And in the midst of reaching the goal, things go sideways.
Nicole
Yeah. Today we're talking about the mayhem that can strike when ambition meets that reality. We're taking inspiration from a young man named Colton Grimm, who happens to also be my son, who at just thirteen years old set out to build his own pond. Colton had big dreams of building this awesome inland Oasis. He studied with the gurus of YouTube and he went out drawing and digging with his shovel over months and months. And picking out the perfect plants and the perfect fish for his perfect pond. It's real back breaking work that he fell in love. The dedication was real. We're talking 17 feet wide, 3 feet deep, a 3000 gallon testament to teenage ambition.
Ben
And like most ambitious projects. Things didn't go to plan. Colton's final setup faced some serious setbacks. He had clogged filters, the water was murky, failing pumps. Keeping the pun operational turned into a constant battle for him. He required draining and cleaning it. Every few weeks. What was meant to be a source of enjoyment for him and hopefully his family was turning into a chore he didn't want.
Nicole
Yeah, in many ways, Colton's Pond is a metaphor for the challenges that businesses face, especially when it comes to technology, initial enthusiasm and all that hard work can quickly turn into frustration when systems fail, processes break down, and things just don't work the. Way they should.
Ben
What you're about to find out was Colton didn't give up on his pawn, just like we believe businesses should not succumb to mayhem. When you have the right approach and a little help from the misfit team, you can turn those challenges into opportunities for growth. Here's Colton story.
Nicole
All right, tell me about yourself.
Colton
My name is Colton Grim and 15. I go to repercussion high school sophomore.
Nicole
What's your favorite subject?
Colton
Anything aggravated through much more.
Nicole
All right, tell me about your day. What did?
Colton
You do today. Uh. Went to work with my dad out of the islands. Checking blueberries. Seeing how the plants are doing and irrigating.
Nicole
What did you do for your pond out there? The plants you told me, Ma.
Colton
We ended up finding plants that we can use for the pond. Out in the river and they had the same ones at the fish store. But then obviously we found them outside. So we can use those instead of spending 50 bucks on a plant at a store.
Nicole
OK, there you go. All right, tell me about your pond.
Colton
Like how it started. Sure. OK. I first started watching like **** videos, cause I was interested in it. Because I liked fish and fishing and. Everything.
Nicole
You wanted to have your own fish, so you.
Colton
Can fish no more so that I can just like kind of like study them almost so I can get better at fishing. I started watching videos and I watched a bunch of people. And start building their own ponds. And I was like. Well, our front yard doesn't have too much. It just has some willows and then the rest are just dirt.
Nicole
And why did you choose the pond you chose?
Colton
I kind of had to go off of the landscape that we had, like a lot of these punches that do it in their backyard, like up against the fence so they can build like up and then do waterfalls. But mine was kind of a flat like whole area, so I knew I couldn't do any waterfalls really. Where? I mean I could, but it wouldn't really really like. Look natural because I wanted to look natural. Kind of just had to build off of. What the landscape was in the front yard?
Nicole
So tell me about. Getting started on the pond. What'd you do? The process of building it?
Colton
So first. When I first ask. My dad, if I could even do it, he told me. I had to draw it out. So I drew it on a sheet of paper and gave them all the measurements like the depth and stuff. And then we had a pipe that came from the gutters that ran out. It was already buried and everything, so I kind of wanted to. Go off of that. So then when it rains it, that pipe kind of feeds into the pond. I drew her all out on a sheet of paper and my dad approved it.
Nicole
And how big was your plan for this pond?
Colton
It was originally like 6 foot deep and 20 foot wide. It's it's slowly shrunk after figuring out that I don't want to dig A6.
Nicole
Foot hole. Ohh, because you had to dig it with your own.
Colton
Hands yeah, one of the requirements was that I had to build it my dad. He was going to help me a little bit. But I had to. Dig it all out, so I chalked it out. Got it all ready to go. Then we started digging. Mostly me. My brother would come and help every once in a while. Three months or so just to dig it. So it ended up being like I want to say. 17 foot wide and two foot deep at the deepest point.
Nicole
That was deeper than two foot. I thought it was 3 foot at the deepest point and then it goes 2 foot and one foot.
Colton
Maybe 3 steps 2 1/2? Maybe.
Speaker
Hmm.
Colton
So I dug it all out and. That took around 3-4 months. And then after that I was. Doing some more research on because I was just seeing like these pawns on YouTube that. Were already pre built. I didn't see like how they built them. So then I started watching how they built them, and a lot of them used. 3 layers of liner. But then we have these two big old Willow trees that lose their leaves every year. So then it would just be a hassle to clean out, so he ended up just. Chicken wire and then a tarp. Kind of like a tart looking thing and then. After that we put mortar down. Hold the water. The deepest point of the pond, we. Piped out the bottom and then ran it up to the top where the. Pump was going to be.
Nicole
What did you love about the pond?
Colton
A lot of things, mostly, obviously a fish. I think I learned a. Lot from it. To build like something like that. But my favorite part is definitely probably the fish, and learning how they move and interact.
Nicole
OK. What kind of fish do you?
Colton
Have in the pond right now I have. 6 koi and. Seven goldfish right now.
Nicole
Tell me about. What went wrong with your pond?
Colton
We had the fish and and then everything was going perfectly good. And then I came. I was emptying the filter like every two days or whatever. I come back and. I think we cleaned out the pond and we refilled it and then we cleaned out the filter and everything. Put the fish back in. And then started refilling it and then ran it again. Well then I think I went to school, came back. Checked on it and then there was water in the in the pump box.
Nicole
That's not good.
Colton
Yeah, especially for a non submersible pump. So the pump ended up getting fried. Because water obviously got into everything. So then. We had to go get another pump and I don't think that one lasted 2 weeks cause then the same problem happened again. Came back from school. Looked in the pump box and those water in the pump pump pump box again. So then at this point I was pretty frustrated obviously because. The one the water wasn't filtering. So the fish didn't have any. Oxygen. They still did have a little bit because we had plants in there and they supply oxygen. When I was just getting frustrated because I would just want to. Know everything to work.
Nicole
Tell me about your maintenance process.
Colton
I would clean out my filter. Around every two days of just like. LG, whatever sticks whatever got in there. I would drain, drain the whole pond every like 2 weeks or so, maybe a month in the winter. And then.
Nicole
Did you make it through winter?
Colton
Yeah. With it. Yeah, because we finished it in the winter. And then. I'll drain it, refill it, and then just do that. And then I will refill it again, empty the filter in 2 days. Every two days.
Nicole
And you had to capture these fish. Yeah. How many fish did you lose in the matter of? Draining in every couple weeks.
Colton
4.
Nicole
OK.
Colton
Yeah. For so, because they would get. Probably sucked in or whatever, and then get stuck in the filter and then they would have no way out. So I probably lost four round. The coy were too big, the coy couldn't go down. So yeah, that was a big hassle and it wasn't very fun because I didn't really get to enjoy. It.
Speaker
MHM.
Colton
You know, it was always like. A beggar. It was like a. Almost another job.
Nicole
There you go. OK. And yeah, how long did it take you? What are these steps? How many people do you have to have help? You just to do this process?
Colton
Probably. 3 or 4 sometimes. Because we would have to drain it and then all that stuff, all that build up, we'd have to spray it down with the hose to get to the bottom. So would get pumped out. And then someone will really have to catching the fish so they don't get sucked in.
Nicole
So it took three or four hours. Is that what? You meant or three or four people.
Colton
Three or four people. But then. Yeah, I think it it took a while because. I would say too. 3-4 hours.
Nicole
Like two people you and your.
Colton
Brother. Yeah, but they never once when our dad. Come in, Sir. So yeah, it was. It was annoying.
Nicole
So it didn't seem like your pond was working out to be like the YouTube videos made out to me, no?
Colton
No.
Nicole
Did you see any YouTube videos where people were showing you how? This maintenance process goes.
Colton
I've seen a few, but they're like, yeah, we clean our pond out like once a. Year I'm like. How does that? How does that work? Cause I'm cleaning mine out every two weeks and they clean those out once a. Year. OK that.
Nicole
OK, so at this point did you question? This should be easier or at what point did? What were you saying to yourself once you were doing this enough times that it got annoying.
Colton
I was thinking I did something wrong with the design of the pond. There needs to be an area where the pond's a little bit lower or where the water jets like push the water. To a certain area so it can get filtered there and then it would come out. Yeah, that's what I thought. I thought I had done something wrong with the design.
Speaker
Of the pond.
Nicole
OK, so now tell me about the equipment that you had for the pond. At this point, when you had to where you thought it would work. What kind of equipment were you using?
Colton
When it like wasn't working. So by the time I had those pumps from my dad's shop and then I had some filters that was nowhere near qualified, it was really thin. So like everything would get caught. Like the littlest things. And yeah, I just. Just the hassle. Then we figured out that we can get the UV light. And that would help with the algae. And it actually helped a lot. But even that still wasn't enough.
Nicole
To not have to drain.
Colton
This pond. Yeah, like the UV would probably give me another week, so I'd have to clean it out every three weeks, drain it. Cleaned it all out, filled back up it. It probably gave me one more week or.
Nicole
So at what point did you get to? Thinking you wanted to be done with.
Colton
This the second time that the that there was water in the box, that's when I just wanted to. Whatever find it was. Good while it lasted and just fill the thing.
Nicole
In hand, and how long did you get to enjoy quote UN quote this pond at this point?
Colton
Four months, maybe. OK, so you.
Nicole
Were enjoying it just about as long as it took you? To dig it, yeah. So you've gotten frustrated at this point, when did? When did I help?
Colton
When the second pump failed.
Nicole
No. I proposed having an agtech summer. Is that the point where you thought the pond could be considered an agtech project?
Colton
You notice things that I didn't. Like the little things. Of. Either the tech stuff.
Nicole
When you say the tech stuff.
Colton
Like. Timers and. Could have been like a like a smart pond almost cause I've seen. I've seen some of. Those. Where they automatically turn off automatically turn on like at certain times. And they like measure everything for you, like water quality. Like how much water's in that. How much air is in the water? Oxygen. Yeah. All that stuff. So I was looking into that. And it was relatively expensive, but it wasn't like too expensive. I could still like afford it. I was looking into that when everything was still kind of working. After when my box filled in, I was like OK, so I should probably get stuff that's made for the pond and then I can work on the smart stuff.
Nicole
How did we end up solving this problem? How would you describe this agta. Project that was proposed.
Colton
So we kind of did the same thing that we first started out with on drawing the pond in the 1st place. So what we did was we drew the pond again on a whiteboard. We kind of figure out what we needed to get like we figured out that we needed this thing, skimmer box, a basket to catch. All like the leaves from the trees and stuff. And then we figured out what else needs to go in the box like a filter UV. Light the pump. All that stuff and what size we needed it to be.
Nicole
OK, that was the math that came.
Colton
In yeah, we need to calculate. What was this? How big was upon? How many gallons? Because if you just get some little pump that can't pump enough water around. Then it won't be efficient and it won't be. Your water quality will not. Be the highest it can. Be.
Nicole
M OK.
Colton
Preferably we wanted to find a pump that would pump. Since mine was around 2 thousand 1000 gallons an hour. So pump that in half. What was what we thought? At that time. So we drew it out. Continued to do our research on the computers, looked it up, found YouTube videos. Websites all this different stuff that would. Help us find out what we needed. So after doing that, we went to. We decided on some options. We looked at submersible pumps. See if that was better. Just multiple. Different ways of doing it cause there's hundreds of ways to build this pond and fix these problems that we had. Of course, if we had a submersible then we would have no problems of water getting in the. Box like it wouldn't ruin anything.
Speaker
MHM.
Nicole
Right, because you started looking at. If I do the same kind of equipment I could get.
Colton
The sadder alert. Yeah, the same thing could.
Nicole
Umm. Or I could get a pump. Monitor I can get a water pressure monitor, an alerting system. You looked at those things too as well, right? When you first started. Yeah, OK. But then we said, wait, wait, wait. Let's just start over with the design and go from there and then where did we, where did we end up at?
Colton
We ended up. Going to the Escalon store to seeing what they had because that was the closest and we ended up talking to them. And they suggested to us. This pump and a. Another filter and the pump was rated for. I want to say. Almost 2 like 1600 gallons. An hour. That's how much it would pump, and then the filter was rated for 2400. So the next highest pump would be 2000 and then. If we did the 2000. Ah. Pump flow. It would kind of over. It wouldn't over filter, but it would kind of like clog up the filter.
Nicole
Almost over pressurized.
Colton
Yes. Yeah.
Nicole
See you consider that.
Colton
Hat. Yeah. So then we ended up getting the smaller one. Because it would do the same job and not mess with the not over. Pressurize the filter, press the filter.
Nicole
OK so and now how would you? Describe the solution. That you got in the end of working. Through this process.
Colton
So we actually ended up finding. Another pump that would work. And then we found a filter that had pretty much everything in one. So that pump would pump the water in the filter. That had a UV light built into it. That we ended up getting from the pond place in Escalon. And then. After he would go through the filter, he would go right back. In the pond. So we would just. Constantly have that going, but then we had. The filter was actually we could bury a lot of the filter, which was helpful for space. And it was. It's a big filter. So we ended up burying it outside the box because we didn't have enough room in the box. What was good about this filter is we wouldn't have to unscrew anything to like clean it.
Nicole
OK.
Colton
You would just open a nozzle, turn the knob, and then it would just push out the water wherever you wanted to go. You could attach a hose to them like. Wherever and you just shout out withing and go like it's perfectly fine and I only have to clean it out like once every two months instead of two days. So that was really helpful.
Speaker
Yeah.
Nicole
And you don't have to do as much labor just in those two days. Of cleaning it out. Yeah, so the problem.
Colton
Is way easier too.
Nicole
Contained. Self-contained. Yeah, water flows through it. You're twisting it to clean the filter. Everything's.
Colton
Yeah, because that's sponges. So you and the filter has sponges. So you just had to smash the sponges. Water gets sent out. And then sponges come back. Up.
Nicole
And then do you have to drain this? Pond.
Colton
Anymore. Obviously just once here. Just to scrub it but. Not every two weeks. 3 weeks. I've haven't cleaned out the pond in. Two months. No. I haven't right it. Yeah. Allergies.
Nicole
In the middle of summer, so it's the highest outproducing time of the. Year yes. How would you describe your love of this? I get it now.
Colton
I gotta enjoy it much more and it's way better for the fish as well.
Nicole
How do you?
Colton
Know that one the waters way clear. And two, the fish actually had enough high water quality to bleed. So now I have tons of goldfish in there that I can sell to eventually make my pump and filter money back.
Nicole
OK. So you have people interested in getting some goldfish from you? Yeah, and about how many goldfish would you estimate you have at this point? You started with six, I think you.
Colton
Said yeah, I started with six. And they actually didn't bleed twice, but we lost the second batch.
Nicole
Because that's when you did your install.
Colton
Yeah, we did the install the filter, so we had to join it a little bit. So.
Speaker
Oh.
Colton
I'd say there's close to 150. All right, 175 fish.
Nicole
And how else do you know that this water is? High quality.
Colton
Uh, we actually brought the a water sample to my AG science class when we were doing a lab on water quality. And which was really helpful cause I gotta test my water. Quality for free.
Nicole
OK. And you had a little class.
Speaker
So.
Nicole
Yeah, made the testing this water.
Colton
For you. Yeah. So I brought in my water. And tested it and everything was good on it. No. We tested for oxygen. How much was in there? I think the highest you can get was.
Speaker
Like.
Colton
Eight I got like A7. OK, on oxygen. And. We tested for nitrogen. Bunch of different stuff like things that could end up killing the fish and I had like 0. I think I had like a zero point. 2/5. Which is actually natural. It's. That's what they have in rivers and stuff. So yeah, we test the water quality and then it was very high quality water. So, almost drinkable. Almost.
Nicole
For fish water. Yeah, drinkable for fish and yams.
Colton
Yeah.
Nicole
I mean, how are your dogs enjoying the pond?
Colton
Good after a good run, they jump in it all the time, which is kind of frustrating because it scares my fish, but that's OK.
Nicole
Got you. OK. All right. So how do you? Feel about. Your pond and everything at this point.
Colton
I get to enjoy it a lot more. It's not as much as a project. And go out there. Pretty much every morning, every evening. And. I feed them. Then I sit there and enjoy my fish. My pond.
Nicole
And what, if anything, did you learn through this whole experience?
Colton
UM. Biggest thing was. Just because you're having problems probably don't don't give up, because if you have problems on stuff and you just. Go. OK, it's not working, then fine. Just abandon it. And then you never see what's on the other end of it.
Nicole
What did you think about this agtech idea before we got started? What did you think about what was agtech before I said, hey, we're going to do an AG tech summer and your immediate thoughts were.
Colton
Two things most. The pawn 1st and then. How to make the farm? At the House, more efficient as well.
Nicole
OK, got you. But you thought of the pun first. Yeah, testing.
Colton
Because I think I think that's. When I was starting to get frustrated with it, OK then I was just. Like what would be? The best thing for?
Nicole
And so now that you've made it through this whole journey. What do you think about? The process that we use to help solve this problem.
Colton
It was helpful because. One, it's more efficient, so I get to not spend. All my weekends fixing it or working on it. I get to sit down and enjoy it. And I only have to work on it. Every 2-3 months and just a little bit of work, not draining the whole thing out, refilling it and also draining that whole thing out like. 2000 gallons every two weeks I. Tell Laura Warner.
Nicole
What did you think about the process we walked you through? How would you describe that? Was it fun? Was it complicated? Was it painful? Was it anything like that?
Colton
I think at first I was still frustrated because I was like, this is stupid. We're spending way too much time and money on this thing. Just feel the feel of it. And then as. We did more research, I figured out. OK, those cheaper, but still the same efficient products out there as we did more research I was like, OK, this could still work.
Nicole
It's not a design thing.
Colton
Yeah, it's not a design thing. It's a. A product thing.
Nicole
Like what technology thing? Yeah.
Colton
What you have? So if you have some like old. Beat up pump and filter then. It's nowhere near going to be as efficient as this new technology.
Nicole
Or right equipment designed for the right purpose. Yeah. Did you? Have any faith? What did you think about our likelihood of success once we got start?
Colton
Like with the.
Nicole
Pond. Well, we were going to get started. You were at super frustrated. We got started. Did you think there was a light at the end of the tunnel? Did you think it was going?
Speaker
Yeah.
Colton
To be as good as it is now, when we first started. No, I was like, there's no way. It's already too far gone. Cause the second pump I went through in two weeks, I was like there's no.
Nicole
Way. OK, but you stuck with it. You.
Colton
Just said, yeah, I said fine. We'll just see where it ends up. You what?
Nicole
As long as you have the help, do you? Think you would have done? It on your own. OK. So on your own, you were just going to fill it in? Calling it a yeah. But with help you made it to the other side and it's better. Than you thought it was going to be.
Colton
Yeah.
Nicole
So did you learn anything else?
Colton
How to manage your money? Because it wasn't cheap. We got the plans when we went to escalon. We got the plans on how. Much it would cost. Like quote almost. And then you did the calculations, went to the bank and yeah, it kind of hurt a little bit, but I think it's worth.
Nicole
It now taking the money out and.
Colton
Handing it over? Yeah. And it wasn't even the most expensive one either. It was on. The cheaper side you went.
Nicole
With the smaller unit.
Colton
Yeah, which was obviously less expensive. I think it was like 100 and. $50 cheaper.
Nicole
That was a good lesson. Yeah, but it's worth it, yes. Because now you have you love you.
Colton
Now, yeah, I have to. I don't have to clean out. The whole pond itself, once a year and I enjoy it all year long.
Ben
That was great. So what did we learn from Colton's Pond project and his journey from? His mayhem to this thriving aquatic ecosystem he created.
Nicole
Well, First off, even the best laid plans can hit unexpected roadblocks. It's totally normal. What matters is how you handle those roadblocks along. Way.
Ben
Exactly. Sometimes the answer is simply go back to the basics, make sure you've got the tools and processes in place for success. For Colton, it just meant making sure that he had the right filtration system for his pond and its unique needs.
Nicole
Yeah. And most importantly, don't hesitate to ask for help. Fortunately, Colton had his family and mentors. That all made the difference for him in the same way businesses can thrive when they collaborate with people who offer the right support and guide.
Ben
We're clearly using this story to help you visualize how you could be wading through your own version of Pond Mayhem. Whether it's outdated systems or feeling overwhelmed by technology, you need to know you're not alone in this. You don't have to be alone in this.
Nicole
Yeah, we're here to help those businesses identify those tricky spots and come up with solutions that make sense tailored to how they specifically operate.
Ben
So with that, thanks for listening and please. Remember, it's all about creating a space where your business can flow and thrive.
Nicole
We hope you enjoyed the conversation and we’ll catch you next time on Mayhem and Misfits.