Following Your Calling w/ Matt & Maria Granados

In this heartfelt episode of the Something Extra podcast, Matt and Maria Granados, founders of the Take Part Foundation, explore how faith and intentionality shape their lives and leadership. From their unique beginnings at Eagle U—a program dedicated to equipping young people with real-world success skills—to their entrepreneurial journeys and service-driven careers, Matt and Maria share how listening to their calling has led to unexpected opportunities and deeper impact. Tune in for inspiring stories, practical leadership lessons, and a reminder that the “something extra” in all of us can make a difference when we lead with purpose and heart.

Guest Links:

• Matt’s LinkedIn
• Maria’s LinkedIn
• Life Pulse
• Best People: Best Place Podcast
• Let Your Fight Shine Podcast
• Take Part Foundation
• Wine, Women and Shoes 2025
• “Motivate the Unmotivated: A proven system for sustainable motivation”
• “The Intentional Week: See Your Week Differently. Live Your Life Intentionally”

Credits: 
Host: Lisa Nichols
Executive Producer: Jenny Heal
Marketing Support: Landon Burke and Joe Szynkowski
Podcast Engineer: Portside Media

Transcript

Lisa Nichols  00:02
Chromosomes, little strands of nucleic acids and proteins are the fundamental genetic instructions that tell us who we are. At birth, most people are born with 46 chromosomes, but each year in the United States, about 6000 people are born with an extra chromosome, making them a person with Down syndrome. If you've ever encountered someone with Down syndrome, you know that they are some of the kindest, most joyful people you will ever meet. They truly have something extra. 

My name is Lisa Nichols, and for 30 years, I have been both the CEO of Technology Partners and the mother to Ally. Ally has something extra in every sense of the word. I have been blessed to be by her side as she impacts everyone she meets. Through these two important roles as CEO and mother to Ally, I have witnessed countless life lessons that have fundamentally changed the way I look at the world. While you may not have an extra chromosome, every leader has something extra that defines who you are. 

Join me as I explore the something extra in leaders from all walks of life and discover how that difference in each of them has made a difference in their companies, their families, their communities and in themselves. If you like this episode today, please go to Apple Podcast or wherever you listen and leave us a five-star rating. 

I'm delighted to have Matt and Maria Granados on the shows today.  Matt is the CEO and founder of Life PulseInk and Maria is Executive Director and they are the founders of Take Part Foundation. Well, welcome to the Something Extra Podcast Matt and Maria. I am so excited to have the two of you on the show today. I'm just really you two are just amaze, amaze me as I was preparing literally, I'll just tell you several times I just got teary eyed. Just you guys are such a faith filled family. You are a family of faith, but you're also a family of action, and you've, you've taken that faith, and you're, you're living it out. And there's just so much that I admire about both of you. And so, I cannot wait for our listeners who don't know you, to introduce our listeners to you guys. So, thank you so much for making the time to be on the show. I'm grateful. Also, I have to give a shout out. You know who connected us? Do you guys remember? 

Matt Granados  02:14
I do. 

Maria Granados  02:14
Do you remember? 

Matt Granados  02:15
Greg.

Lisa Nichols  02:16
Greg Atchison, yes, from C12.

Matt Granados  02:21
Big fan of Greg.

Lisa Nichols  02:23
I am too. I am too, Matt. So, we just want to give him a shout out, because if he had not taken that initiative, right? To introduce us, we may, or has may not, have crossed. And it's just been, it's been a wonderful, because we're now, we're connected on many different levels. And so, thank you, Greg, thank you for being the intentional person that you are. Matt, I, you know. I know that you're from Philly, Maria, I know that you are from St. Louis. In fact, you just told me where we met was at Mimi's. And you go, Oh, I served there in high school, so, you know. And then, man, I know you went to Penn State, Maria, you have a poli sci degree from a zoo and an MBA from University of Houston, but you both met at Eagle U.

Maria Granados  03:12
Crazy story.

Lisa Nichols  03:13
And I would love for you to tell me that story. And I really wasn't familiar with Eagle U, but I did some research, and I'm like, wow, I wish every young person literally could go to Eagle U. What an amazing program.

Maria Granados  03:30
That is what I used to say when I when I helped run it. So, funny story, Lisa. Matt and I both grew up with dentists as dads, and there was a program that started decades and decades, I guess over are we over 30? 

Matt Granados  03:43
You could say. 

Maria Granados  03:44
Almost 30 years ago, the program started kind of as a baby from there was an interesting sect of dentists that were leaning into self-growth and like, how do we actually grow? And it was unusual at the time, there was this whole program created. And there was a whole version of it where, like, what if our young teenagers and our students, like the kids of these dentists, learn this self-growth and these job tools early on. What if we taught them, like a summer camp, how to set goals we used, and they used to run it at all these different universities across the country. Wash U was even one of them at a certain time. I actually went to the one at Pepperdine University in Malibu. So, I always like to plug that, because that was a really great location.

Lisa Nichols  04:22
That's a wonderful location. 

Maria Granados  04:24
The program was run everywhere. I think Matt even went to University of Hawaii for it one year. And so, what they would do would be a week-long program for high school and college students to really teach them all the different tools to help get a seven-year career head start. So, essentially, Lisa probably all the stuff that you see, the most successful people that come into your company do, like, how do I get mentors early on? How do I interview for information? How do I be interested in my mentors, not just interesting to them, not trying to impress them, but try to learn from them? How do I get some of those tools in my toolbox early on, so that when I do land into the job I want, I know how to take advantage of that in a good way to be the best asset I can be in my industry, in my job, and whatever. 

Maria Granados  05:02
Well, fast forward. So, I started going to that when I was younger. So, did Matt. We never actually crossed paths and going to the same city. So, we never met as kids like we never met as teenagers. But, fast forward, I ended up running the program when I was 25, I was executive director for several years. And Matt was the guy who founded the program bought Matt back he Matt had been coming to similar programs to kind of teach young people how to be an entrepreneur. Because he was an entrepreneur since he was 16. I don't think you've ever worked for anybody else, have you since you were 16? No. And so he was, you know, speaking to the young kids about time management, goal setting, how to become an entrepreneur, and so we just come about one summer, while I was running the program. I was dating somebody, he had just gotten out of an engagement, it was like we were not really right for each other, Lisa, at the time. But you know, God kept pushing us together, and here we are today.

Lisa Nichols  05:58
You're better together. 

Matt Granados  06:00
That's the cute version. The other side's a little bit more humbling, but it worked out well, which is good.

Lisa Nichols  06:11
I agree with that. It's a marriage made in heaven, because you guys are going on to do amazing things together with your individual strengths. So, I just love it so much. But I mean, if there is someone out there, a parent, so like, what age can you go into the program? 

Maria Granados  06:26
So, 15 is the earliest age. I think the website is still EagleUniversity.org. We are, you know, Matt and I were on the fact we've been on the faculty since I stopped being Executive Director for a while, and on the board there. Obviously, our entire families both went through it, so it's just part of our, our family culture, to be honest. So, we actually sometimes hard to separate some of those principles from like realizing we learned them in the programs it's the same, but they can start at 15. They also go through about through college age. We even have some grad students that had come each year as well. So, we say there's not really an age cap. We've had some students be 25-26 in grad school. And while they will be older, and some of the young leaders might be their age if they, if they can get themselves there. Anyone who's come at that age has never regretted it, because if you haven't learned that stuff yet, it's never too late to learn it.

Lisa Nichols  07:16
Right. For sure, maybe I need to go sign up.

Maria Granados  07:22
I still need to get this. 

Lisa Nichols  07:24
Yes, oh, my goodness. I was listening to some of the testimonials, and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. Every, like you said, Maria, it would be a blessing for every young person to go through a program like that, I think. You know, because these are some of the things that truly we don't necessarily learn in traditional education, I think. And so, okay, so you just brought up, I wasn't going to talk to you about this, but listen, you just brought up something very interesting, Maria, and I have to ask Matt now. So, you've been an entrepreneur since you were 16. What was your first business? 

Matt Granados  07:55
First business was Explosive Entertainment. It was a DJ company. So, started DJing and realized that I did work for someone as a kid and I'll never forget it. I saw my job was to collect the balance, and that's what I would get paid. And I got paid, I remember it was 150 bucks, but it was 10% of the total cost. And I was confused. I came home and talked to my dad. I was like, well, this doesn't make sense. I did all the work. I showed up, I, I did the work. I carried the equipment, I set it up, I broke it down. And he said, That's what entrepreneurship is. He says, You are working for someone else. So, I said, if I buy all my own equipment, can I make $1,500 instead of $150 and he said if you have the money. So, I saved up, bought the equipment. And then at 16, it's easy to DJ. Going into college, it's even more easy to DJ. 

Matt Granados  08:50
And then, as you said, Maria went to college, did well, went to grad school. I went to Penn State. There is a difference in how that was introduced, and it was very accurate in how that lifestyle was. So, so from there, all things made sense. Then we graduated college, and my senior year of college, where I was going towards a hospitality degree, because I wanted to, at that point, own a casino. Just reality kind of set in, and I said, I don't really care what I do, but I want to get paid for the effort, not just for showing up. That was kind of my mind at that time, and got connected with a mentor and started a business right out of college. That's what moved me down to Georgia and Atlanta, where I spent 10 years and built our first business. And that's how it all started. So haven't been employed ever since. So, it's been interesting journey to say the least. 

Lisa Nichols  09:39
That is amazing. Well, we don't have time to talk about Neil, but I started a flower business when I was seven.

Maria Granados  09:44
I love it.

Matt Granados  09:45
Absolutely. 

Lisa Nichols  09:47
The funny, the funny piece of that, though, is I stole the flowers from our neighbor’s garden. 

Matt Granados  09:54
You borrowed. It was a loan.

Lisa Nichols  09:56
So, my cost of goods sold was this much, right? It was out of the out of the roof and then, and then Greg started a business when we were in college. So, we kind of had that. My dad owned his own business, so we kind of had that a little bit in our blood. But I did not know that story. I love it. Well, let's see, now I want to talk to you about this, Matt, in 2009 you became the president of Altimaxx, which was adopt a glider. 

Matt Granados  10:36
I got connected with two mentors of mine, and fortunately, I was kind of the younger entrepreneur coming in. So, I got to learn a ton from these two individuals on just how to run businesses, how to manage businesses. And the concept we have was the best way to describe entrepreneurship is creative problem solving all day long, like that's all you do. It's just creative problem solving. So, we got really good at it, but the product that we were offering was an extremely unique product. So, calling it a product is funny because it was an actual live animal called a sugar glider. We're a Sugar Bear, and it took off. It did extremely well. That was kind of our first big successful company, and that's funded a lot of the other stuff that we have done to at least get us started, get it going, and then moving into the next. And which led to our current focus right now, which is not the animal business, the people business. So, it's, it's a similar, unpredictable variable, but at least people talk now. It's a lot easier on that.

Lisa Nichols  11:37
Right. Oh, my goodness. Well, I read that and I was like, Oh, they're so cute. Sugar gliders are so cute. Well, gosh, Maria and you've done a lot of things, everything from working for the UN in South Africa, Teach for America. I love Teach for America. EmpowerHER boutique,  you've done a lot of different things in a lot of different industries. But can you give her can you give our listeners, maybe just a few of those leadership lessons, Maria, that you've carried with you no matter where, where it was in, what industry you were in? 

Maria Granados  12:13
I always joke. My resume is really interesting. You know, obedience to God looks fascinating. Sometimes it doesn't make sense on a resume, right, Lisa? So, my leadership lesson I've learned over the years, I've grown an intimacy with God is not to be worried about the jumps, as long as they make sense in relationship with the Lord, right? Am I listening to what he's called me to or am I too busy building my resume in a certain direction where I wanted to look perfect? Because I grew up as a young person with the perfect grades, the perfect resume. I had a plan, you know, and that's when I started to see if I push my own agenda, I'm not as impactful for others. If I stay awake and open to where God's calling me to move my skill set, then I will always be serving others well. And so, for me, that's the biggest leadership lesson that I have learned is that to truly be impactful. I have to look for the opportunity to serve others rather than myself, and in doing so, the Lord will always honor our hard work in that capacity. 

Maria Granados  13:10
You know, I was somebody who I went to. I started going to Mizzou because I was a journalism student. I wanted to be a broadcast journalism, political science double major. I wanted to go work on network news. I wanted to be a big news anchor, political journalism. Probably go to law school after that. That's why I did Teach for America, to be quite honest with you, because a lot of people go into law school outside of Teach for America, it's easy to get into after that, it's a hard program to get into. So, once you do grad school, is pretty much an open door for you. But what I didn't realize is the Lord was kind of undoing some things in my heart. I got an internship with the United Nations. United Nations in South Africa and Namibia in college, and I just felt my whole heart pour out. 

Maria Granados  13:49
What I had realized was I had thought I was doing journalism and political journalism to really help people. I wanted to uncover things and, and do the right thing and expose the right thing and share the right perspective. And what God was sharing with me through all of that was like, sometimes that work looks different than you think it does. And so, the United Nations work, working in the inner city schools in Houston work, it just my whole heart. I saw my heart doing something different there, changing in that process. And again, realizing like serving others is going to look like obedience to God, and I have to keep moving in that direction. And that's really been the biggest thing for me, is letting go of all of the things I thought that my professional life would look like, and really just staying open to how God's using me to love and serve people.

Lisa Nichols  14:33
It's so good. That's beautiful. Well, I want to, I want to spend some time here. So, in 2017 you two co-founded Life Pulse. And how did this vision come about? And I've got, I’ve got lots of questions about this. 

Matt Granados  14:50
I wish there was, like, this nice, romantic, brilliant idea. But basically, when Maria and I got married, she looked at me and just said, Man, I knew it was going to. Be hard to marry you, but you're crazy. Like, there's a new idea all the time. Like, how are you processing what's going on in your head? And I looked at her and I said, Hey. I said, you know, there's these nine questions I ask myself every single week, and that's kind of the process on how I prep myself to be able to handle the week. She looked at me like I was crazy, and I looked at her like she was crazy. Like, don't you have your nine questions? Like, what's yours? And she's like, I just function as a normal human, like, I do pretty well with that. So, I showed her what I had, and she looked at it. And at that point, it was just in the composition book, like, just these nine questions that I would ask myself. And she asked if she could take it and make it look a little bit more usable. So, we went. She made it look nice. We got it printed, actually, right the Chesterfield FedEx. We were in town.

Maria Granados  15:43
We were in town for our wedding. We were still living in Atlanta at the time.

Matt Granados  15:48
Correct. And start up with this planner. This just nine questions on how to get your week in order. And when her and I started doing it together, I was amazed at how disconnected I was from her, like I thought I knew what she wanted to do this week because I knew what I wanted to do this week, and therefore, if I know what I want, she can come along, right? That's not how relationships should work, but it's how most of them do work. And as that happened, I gave the same copy to my assistant at the time. I gave it to our warehouse manager, I gave it to our sales reps. And I started realizing I had no clue what any of my people were actually trying to do in their life. I knew what I wanted them to do in my business, but I also found out they weren't doing that either, right? 

Matt Granados  16:27
So, started realizing how little we know about the other people we work with. One thing led to another. I was part of a, an entrepreneurs’ group, Entrepreneurs Organization, EO, in Atlanta, and they were looking for someone to do just a quick workshop. And they're like, Hey, can you do a workshop? And I looked at Maria, I was like, Hey, we're doing a workshop. She's like, Oh, like a quick keynote. I was like, Well, I told him it would be three hours. And she's like, What are you going to talk about for three hours? I'm like, I don't know. Let's start talking. So, we just went and got all the stories behind those nine parts, and how did they come to us? And it wasn't by us, you know, creating every single part of it. It was more by just discovering and things that God has led us to and, and truths that are foundational, truths that can be applied in all different ways. So, we started, we taught this workshop. It got very high reviews, which is really hard when you're in your hometown, talking to your people as a squirrel salesman. Does that make sense? Like, here's our business.

Maria Granados  17:24
All the EO guys at the time. And we know EO Atlanta was an amazing is an amazing group of EO like, I know my city's got different version, but they were incredible, but they knew you as the 22-year-old who came in as the really successful guy in the pet industry, right? So, like, it took a like, but they really all latched on to this. It was beautiful.

Matt Granados  17:42
And then one thing led to another, someone connected to someone in John Hancock, the financial institution, they reached out and said, Hey, this solves one of our biggest personnel problems. Can you come help? So, I walked in and we had a conversation for a couple days, and they were the ones who actually informed me, there's even an industry for this. I had no clue. So, I finally had a conversation and said, What is the problem that we're solving? They said, We can't connect our corporate desired metrics with our individuals desired lifestyles. I said, that's interesting. They said, your system bridges that gap. I said, Well, what you used to do? And they said, Well, you said, just, you know, give them some extra money, and they would go away like people would come and be bothered, and we'd give them a bonus, and they'd stop and, and they said, I said, Why doesn't that work anymore? They said, We don't know, but we need a new option. I said, Is this a problem only you have? And they said, this is a problem that every major company is going to have, right? This is 2017.

Lisa Nichols  18:32
Right. 

Matt Granados  18:33
2019-2020 happens. That timeline moved up to right, then. Every single company needed to understand, how do we bridge that gap? And what happened was we got reached out to buy companies like Google and Twitter and the Air Force and big companies with different problems, work, life, balance, time management, communication. And they would all come to us with the different symptoms, and we would offer the same solution, and it would work every single time. And one of the key reasons why is what we do is we solve the root cause, which is the people. And we found that people aren't the problem, but people have problems, and that's why we have people problems. 

Matt Granados  19:11
So, everything we do with life pulse is surrounded around, not taking the company and fixing it, so every employee is happy, but it's actually equipping the employees so they could bridge the gap back to the company. So, that's the genesis of it all. It happened by accident. It was not on purpose. It was nothing less than just God kind of guiding us to it. And you know, what both of us have realized is every single one of us have a calling, and that calling has to do with ourselves, but also how we serve others. And that's a huge part of everything we do.

Maria Granados  19:45
It's staying open. 

Matt Granados  19:46
We kind of joke it's not about you, like your life is not about you, and if you think it is, you're going to be let down.

Lisa Nichols  19:53
Yes. Oh, that's gold, right there. It's so true. Because we can get that mindset right. We can get. It all backwards, where we think it is all about us. It's not about, there's so much richness in what you just said, Matt, and I'm gonna have to kind of process. But one of the things that you said that I just love, and I think this is just a good question, what is the problem we're trying to solve? What is the problem that we're trying to solve. Because sometimes you can be solving something or thinking that you're solving something, and that's not really the issue, right?

Matt Granados  20:29
And the way that I've kind of articulated that is it's almost as if I came to you and I had a broken arm and my bones sticking out, and I was like, Lisa, I'm in dire pain, help. What most people could do is just give me pain meds and the pain goes away. I call that solving for the symptom. The problem is, what actually needs to happen is that bone needs to get reset, put in a cast, and when it's set properly, nothing less than a miracle, it heals itself. Well, humans are the same, so we try to solve for what I call the Amazon top 20, right? That's communication time. All the things, if you were to search personal development, all those topics, those are symptomatic approaches to solve a problem. And therefore, once that issue comes back in it's only going to hurt again, and we need to stop putting pain meds and reset the bone, which can be more painful, but it's more sustainable in the long run.

Lisa Nichols  21:21
That's gold, right there too, you know, because it's painful to get to the root, right, and to solve those root. Let me, so, you know, and I could not agree more, I didn't know that you were in EO, so I've been in YPO since mid-2000s. And you know guys, I will tell you, just for those who don't know YPO/EO, their standards are really high. I mean, their standards for the programming is very high. So, for you guys to get those accolades and those high marks, I mean, that's, that's really remarkable for one thing,

Matt Granados  22:00
It's again, God. God's been helping us along the way, even before we knew he was.

Maria Granados  22:05
Also, for people that maybe are on the fence about programs like that, like, honestly, just game changing for our family. They do. I mean, they program for families, for couples, for the kids of YPO/EO. Like, the way that they were in is beautiful. And I think being in community with others when you're developing like that is so, I didn't realize how impactful to our life that would be. In so many ways.

Lisa Nichols  22:27
I agree. I completely agree. And now we have C12. There's Vistage our there, there's Convene. Greg and I are part of an organization called CEO Forum. So, if there's anybody out there, you know, we were not meant to do this all by ourselves. You know, we need advisors around us and people around.

Matt Granados  22:47
And I would even, I would even say to that is, if you don't have a group, you should find one, right? I don't care what group it is, but we sit there and we have this conversation. We talk about this Paul, Barnabas and Peter, or Paul, Barnabas and Timothy concept of, you know, if you don't have all three, you're struggling somewhere. So, just encourage with anyone out there listening, going, should I be in a group? Yes. Whatever it is.

Maria Granados  23:10
If you're pouring into other people, you need to be being poured into, right? Like we all need that. We need that ecosystem of spirit, of that development, spiritually, professionally, all of it.

Lisa Nichols  23:21
Could not agree more. Well, I don't want you guys to give away any proprietary information here. I know, well, I because I'm sitting here curious. What are a few of those nine questions that you ask yourself every week about where you're going?

Matt Granados  23:41
We actually, we do give it away. 

Maria Granados  23:42
We give it away. 

Matt Granados  23:43
It's if you go to lifepulseinc.com/GS, you'll get all nine of them. But it's basically, what are you focused on? Because you can focus on two different things. What are you working towards? What are the goals and the four vital signs of fulfillment we call it? Internal, physical, relational, professional. What's the what are you grateful for this week? And that's the start of what we call reverse planning. So, that's what you want to do this week. After you do what you want to do, then you write down what you need to do. So, what commitments have you made this week? We call that your brain dump. Then after you have what you need to do, you only do what is important. So, reverse planning is the philosophy behind it, of list, what you want, then what you need to do, but only do what is actually important. 

Matt Granados  24:25
And what is important is what's related to a goal of yours. So, making sure you're making time for the things you want to do allows you to live this life of fulfillment. So, you no longer complaining because work is no longer balanced, or you're doing too much here. If I want to be married to my wife, and spend time with my wife, I just have to make that a priority. There's enough time in the week. Time is not our problem. Time is a great equalizer. We all have the same of it. The question is, how are we spending it? And if I choose to spend it trying to close a new client versus trying to secure my relationship with my wife, then you know what the outcome is going to be. It's not that difficult, but we have to be intense. 

Maria Granados  25:00
When we don't, when we don't, reverse plan, right, then the schedule is the master, as opposed to, you know, and I just from my, you know, that I'm, you know, we're faith-based people. So, like, when I go, what's my focus this week? It's the, it's a prayerful consideration, that's time with the Lord. Lord, what are you showing me specifically about the focus this week? Where, what am I grateful for? That's praise and thanksgiving to God. Like, like, about a couple things specifically, right? Because we're always grateful all day long. But like, let's get specific there. What are my goals for my, my personal, my professional, my relational, my physical journey this week, right? Those are all prayerful considerations. And I think then all the stuff you have to do, your schedule, all the appointments, all the meetings, like, then you go into them. I think it's getting yourself in that headspace first, as opposed to, here's all my meetings, here's all my stuff now, oh man, I want to do all this stuff, and I can't get it in there. And it's like we become a master to our schedule, rather than being mastered by our father and creating the schedule around that, right? 

Matt Granados  25:55
I would think of us as recovering self-growth junkies. In the fact that we grew up, and that's what I kind of came to on, like all the books you can imagine. But then what happened was, if you're focusing on self-growth, but you're saying you serve God, you can't serve self and God at the same time. So, therefore it's that authority and alignment that we're looking for, and that concept of intention is what is the catalyst to fulfillment. And too many people like Maria said, become slave to their schedule. You can't be intentional if you're just responding all day long. So, there is a level of intention beforehand. 

Matt Granados  26:33
I was working with a big box store that sells, we didn't finally work with them. So, I don't like to use their name, but they're Orange and they sell tools. And one of the conversations that we were having when we were talking about this was the fact that we can't adapt fast enough to what's actually needed. So, we have to be intentional, we can't be reactive. And that was the biggest kick was, why aren't we being more intentional? Why aren't we bringing intentionality back to life? But it takes having a schedule first, and whoever schedules first can find time later. I tell people, it's a lot easier to give time back than gain it. So, schedule that date with your spouse. Schedule that time with your friends. Schedule that time now and then, if you have to move it because when an actual emergency or an urgent situation happens, it's so much easier to give it back then to try to get it. And that's part of the whole, the whole goal.

Lisa Nichols  27:24
That's so good, that's so good guys. Well, let me ask you this, how do you and then we're gonna, we're gonna take a quick break, and we're gonna move into your family, and Take Part, which I know is part of your heart, big part of your heart. So, how do you keep your marriage strong, as you are co-laboring together, right? And you're working together on these initiatives? We get asked that question a lot, so I'm going to ask you two, how do you how do you do that?

Maria Granados  27:54
Well, we've done it wrong and we've done it right, so it's a constant learning. Now, like we haven't been in the married game, we will be coming up on 10 years, I think. And it's been, it's been a journey, but for us, like Matt mentioned, it's the intentionality we had something cheesy that we did was since we were dating, called Life Date. And so, every month we knew we had this fun date coming up, and we made ourselves make a reservation, even if it wasn't a fancy restaurant for that month. We made ourselves buy each other a little gift, you know? And sometimes it was, like, a $5 gift. One time it was a car, right? Like, we've done crazy stuff, but like, we write a hand. We wrote a card, like, by hand, and every time we get asked by the waiter or waitress, like, what are you celebrating? And we're like, just life and but at that dinner, we weren't allowed to solve any problems for each other. We weren't allowed to do but we were just allowed to hear each other out and see how we're doing across the board, you know, and just have really good, fruitful conversation. And I know that that sounds silly to some people, to kind of be so scheduled out like that. 

Maria Granados  28:50
But it actually was, like, very relieving to someone like us who has so much like going on. Like you understand when you're running a business and you have kids, it starts to get kind of overwhelming. But it gave us something to look forward to. And then when I knowing that there would be a gift, you know, that I have to get that month, and made me think about that when I was out and about, or I was browsing my phone, or like, you know, what can I do to think of him and to honor him. So, being really intentional about our relationship, our dating life, no matter what. And I think that that kind of, at first it was like, you know, okay, but it became a norm for us, so much so that when, like, the couple months, like, I think even during COVID. We had to get creative, like, you know, because we had our kids home, all this kind of stuff. Do we have a date night in? We'll order in, we'll make sure the kids are asleep. We want to have a full-blown date. 

Maria Granados  29:37
So, I think it's just that idea of, we are so intentional about work. We're so intentional about fitness, we're so intentional about all these other things that we ought to give the intention to the, the most important relationship in our life, right? And so, if you can create, I mean, even if it's once a quarter, I know some people a monthly date sounds crazy. I like weekly, but, you know, and we do that as often as we can, but some people like, they're like, well monthly we couldn't even do it with a sitter and all kind of I'm like, well, then do quarterly, but just set something up. Knowing each other is a priority and we have something to look forward to. Set those trips, set those dates, like get them on the calendar, always have the next one ready, so that you know you have time to connect. That's actually been so helpful for us. I mean, obviously outside of our faith.

Matt Granados  30:20
I think the other structure that we put if you haven't learned by yet, now, we experience stuff, we build a structure. We test it against our family to make sure it works, then we offer it to our clients. But we call this the structure of success, and it's daily action, weekly planning, monthly review, quarterly reset, annual retreat. So, we do that in our business, but we also do it in our marriage. So, Maria talked about was our monthly review, that's our life date. But every single year, we do an annual retreat. Two of us get together and we go and plan out our year, make sure we're on the same page. Every quarter, we reset our goals, both professionally and personally. Every month, we meet for that life date. Every week, we actually plan our weeks out together, right? She uses her planner. I use my planner. We come together, and then every single day, we have to make the intentional action of her knowing that I love her and me, knowing that she loves me. 

Matt Granados  31:10
She does a great job of asking me, Hey, do you feel supported? And I don't do a great job of saying yes or no. I kind of say yes because I don't want to get into it. And the problem is when we, especially as men, right? It's like this new version of toxic masculinity is the passivity of men. It's like we're not willing to have that hard conversation with the woman we love because we just tired from work, but we don't want to stand up for what's right within the marriage. So, I think these different structured positions that Maria is like, you know, it's too structured and it's too hard. Life's so chaotic, and anything that's left unattended leads to chaos. So, I want structure. We can always go loose, but it's hard to rein it back in. It the same concept with time. So that's what we focus on as much as we can. And when COVID hit, we saw what happens when you lose structure and you lose rhythm. It all of a sudden, your whole life gets thrown off. And structure brings freedom and rhythm brings peace in all areas of our life. So as much as everyone's like, Man, you guys are so structured. You guys must be because you're so organized, you must be so structured. I'm like, no, because we're nut jobs. We're insane up here. We need structure, or we will explode.

Maria Granados  32:20
You know what? I think we do like, we do share our weekly goals with each other, like, physical like, so our fitness goals, because you know what? And some people might be like, is that overkill? For me, I know how to support Matt. I know. Like, okay, so I can't help him with everything this week, but if his goal is to get to the gym four times. And I'm like, can I go meet my friends for dinner, which he always is supportive of, but, like, maybe he hasn't gotten that fourth workout in, and it's because his schedule was busy when he was speaking. And I'm like, You know what? You go, I know that was a goal of yours, you know, and that this isn't a goal of mine. Why don't you go do that? I think we can really work in like, unison with our spouse a little bit more when we know what it is that they're actually trying to achieve that week. Or what they feel like would be helpful for them from a health perspective, from a business perspective, to really help them feel like I see you and I want to support those things that are important to you, and vice versa. I think it helps, like I know that he'll look at me and do the same. Does it make sense,

Matt Granados  33:14
Even in a moment, in a moment like that now, where Maria is putting on this gala. So, there, when she's in action mode, like I have to pivot to support, right? So, I go into in my authoritative position, a supportive position. I don't lose my authority because I'm supporting her. That's just a foolish way to think I'm supporting her from my authority, by going, Hey, I got the kids. You got to work tonight. Go ahead, work tonight. Now, granted, we don't make money off of that, right? So, I need to do what I'm doing as we're doing that, because the meantime, what we're doing at the gala is much bigger than what either of one of us could do. 

Lisa Nichols  33:54
Yes. But the return on that and the lives that you're impacting guys, you know, and it's, it's more than just mammon, right?

Maria Granados  34:05
These crazy little structures help us when, you know, our life, and I'm sure we're going to talk about this sooner. Our life's a little crazy medically speaking. We have to go to the hospital a lot and be there overnight. And we've had so many urgent and emergent situations now, you know, we haven't had that as much in the last 12 months, which has been a blessing as we have in the last seven years. But these kind of structures help us when we go into chaos mode like that, you know. And so, we know, okay, we can still we have to run our business, even though we're in the hospital. What are those very practical things we have to do to make that happen, you know. 

Lisa Nichols  34:42
So, good guys, we're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with Matt and Maria on the Something Extra Podcast.

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Lisa Nichols  35:20
Welcome back, everyone to the Something Extra Podcast with Matt and Maria Granados. Well, guys, this is where I am really anxious to spend a lot of time. You guys have a beautiful family. Got three children, Natalie, I think, who's eight, right?

Maria Granados  35:36
Eight this week. 

Lisa Nichols  35:38
Eight this week. And Matt has a birthday this week too. And then you guys have got two younger boys. Can you guys give me just, give our listeners just a little glimpse into your precious family and kind of this journey that you've been on?

Maria Granados  35:55
And they are precious, they're just goofy. So, you know, I grew up in a house of all girls, so having two boys has been a wild, fun journey for me. We have three kids. Natalie is going to be eight this week. Ziggy just turned six, and he is in kindergarten, and then Teddy just turned two. And they are hilarious, spunky, very sarcastic, funny. Have a passionate love for Jesus, especially that little girl of mine, and very outspoken about it. And so, we are just parents who are always laughing, maybe? Always on our toes, because those boys will do all kinds of crazy stuff that you didn't know. I mean, I just didn't grow up in a house with boys, so I didn't know how wild boys are. They're wild from an early age. 

Maria Granados  36:40
Natalie, our oldest, has a rare condition, which I'm sure gonna talk a little bit about. But her rare condition is called the name of the gene that it affects. So, it's called PYROX d1, we call it Pyrox d1 we just like say it. It is a mutation of that gene. So, Matt gave her in misspelling, and I gave her a deletion. And we always joke, because everyone, anyone that knows us, knows that like I'll talk so fast, you might miss some things, and Matt can't spell. And so of course, he gave her a misspelling and I gave her the deletion. But it's a very it's called, it's considered ultra rare. So, at the time, she was one of 20 people that had been diagnosed in the world. And so, I think at that time, third in the United States. 

Matt Granados  37:25
So, she was 17th overall. 

Maria Granados  37:27
Oh, 17th ever. Sorry. 

Matt Granados  37:29
We think the third, because there was a set of twins diagnosed in 2016.

Maria Granados  37:34
Right, in New York. And so, when she got diagnosed, it was a whole journey for us. So, you know, at first, we have as our first kid, we don't know she seems normal. Pregnancy seems normal. Things seem normal. Again, also, we don't know at the time. Now that I've had two other pregnancies, I realized that her kicking wasn't a lot compared to the boys, you know, it wasn't as much pressure. But I hadn't ever experienced pregnancy, so I could feel it. So, I thought that was normal, you know, just so there's little things. But we had Natalie, all seemed well. Six months checkup appointment, her pediatrician, we were talking to him, him at the time. We were living in Atlanta, and we didn't feel like, you know, she was kind of progressing past the like, the milestones, physically. And our mothers, both grandmas and, and mothers to many kinds of had some concerns about her sturdiness. And again, we're just like, what does that even mean? Sturdiness? Okay, Mom, you know, you're fine. I'm like, her pediatrician thinks she's fine. 

Maria Granados  38:29
And this pediatrician was like, you know, floppy baby. Like, this happens a lot. Like, I'm not he's like, I'm not worried. I'm not worried. We heard that for about a year, while she never crawled, she never stood, she never sat up on her own. I mean, and to this day now, Natalie, she's in a wheelchair, she's never crawled, walked or stood on her own. Now, developmentally, mentally, she developed on age normally, to the normal standard of what that looks like. The typical standard, I guess I shouldn't say normal, the typical standard, and verbally and all that kind of stuff. But her muscle tone kind of stopped developing at six months old, and so that is her condition. They consider it like they put it in the muscular dystrophy family, although her, her neurologist didn't like that, but she's like, it's, it's own family. But right now, that's the best place, the best kind of house for it, because a lot of what she goes she goes through is similar to what kids with muscular dystrophy will go through at that point too. So that's, that's her condition in a nutshell. We still don't know a lot about the gene in general, in you or I, so, like doctors really just don't even know what that gene necessarily does. So, when we were I mean, do you want to jump in to Take Part? Because I could just dive right.

Lisa Nichols  39:43
I would love it. Yes, that's where I want to go. So, you know, you guys founded Take Part.

Maria Granados  39:47
Why don't you take this part over because you really were like the spearhead in that conversation. 

Matt Granados  39:52
So, once we found out that she had the diagnosis, we were sitting, I'll never forget. We were sitting in the hospital neurologist a couple of other doctors or administrators came in the rooms, pulled us aside. We were already in the hospital for another stay. 

Maria Granados  40:06
We were in the ICU. 

Matt Granados  40:08
So, we didn't have to go very far. So, they brought the genetic meeting to us, and they said, Hey, here's our condition. It's called PYROXD1 it's a mutation here. Went through what Maria just told us, and I kind of looked at him and was just like, Hey, so what's next? Like, there's the problem. What do we do? Like, I'm not the guy that sits on the problem. I want to move forward to bridge that gap. And they kind of looked at me, and I don't want to say they use these words, but what I heard was, Natalie has to outlive science. Like, that's where we are. She's the 17th to ever have it. Meaning it's too rare for any big pharmaceutical company to do much. And that's not a knock-on Big Pharma. That's just the reality of capitalism. There's no profit in it, so they don't put their effort into it. Well, I have a lot to, to risk on this, so I'm gonna put my effort into it. So, we go home, and Maria and I know each other well enough to know like that was not a realistic ending of the conversation. Like the doctors, they're done, but like, we're not. 

Maria Granados  41:05
We're not done. 

Matt Granados  41:07
So, Maria went and found a Facebook group that had like the 12 or so other people in it, some of them who've had it, some of whom know people who have something similar to it. And I reached out and said, Hey, is there any research being done? Someone said, Hey, you got to reach out to reach out to this doctor in Australia. So, I've reached out to this doctor in Australia. One of my strengths is just my ignorance to what's right and wrong, like what you should do or shouldn't do. I just assumed if I want to get a hold of her, I should reach out to her. She wouldn't respond to me. So, I've reached out to our neurologist and said, Hey, can you send an email with the subject line, patient will cover all of your research expenses and see if she responds. And he did, which was awesome. So, she responded, and what happened was, we kind of joke about it now, because she's a researcher. And she gets asked all the time by people clinical questions, so she just doesn't respond. So, I explained to her, here's a quick template, you can respond because we want an answer, right? So, we're not going to stop. So hey, here's the situation, made sense. 

Matt Granados  42:04
So, her and I were talking, and I'll never forget, it was a call like this. And I said, I said, you know, well, what's going on? They said, Well, we're about 20 or 30 away from, you know, shutting down. And I was like, Man, I knew we'd have to raise some money, but 20 or 30 million, like, that's a big chunk. I had no clue. And she looked at me, and she goes, No, no, 1000. I said, Excuse me. I said, You're the only doctor in the entire world researching my daughter's condition, and you're $20,000 away. I wasn't joking. I like, pulled my wallet. I was like, here's a credit card. Run it like, and I'll give you the loan. We need to, but run it and don't stop. And she kind of laughed, and then she realized I wasn't joking, like, we'll find you $30,000 if you need that. And the I then asked her, I said, Well, how often does this happen? And she goes, Oh, Death Valley? She like, had a name for it. I said, Okay, what's that mean? She says, it's where good ideas go to die. 

Matt Granados  42:56
So, there's a ton of doctors all over the world. I call them dungeon doctors now. But they're in the dungeons, the basements of these universities, and they're taking their salary, and they're cutting it in half and taking, we'll just say, 50 grand, keeping it themselves, and 50 grand towards their study. And they have amazing findings, but they can't get it off the ground to then get published, to then get the viewership they need to then get big pharma to come in. And for whatever reason, it just clicked with me of what it looks like to be an entrepreneur with an angel investor and a venture capitalist, right? Like I've been in these meetings, I've had these conversations. So, I said, Well, what if we could be the angel investor so we don't need to have the ten million but we could give them $50, $100 $500,000 and get them where they need to be. So, I came to my wife Maria, and said, I got an idea, let's start a nonprofit. And her answer was, supporting strong not a chance. 

Maria Granados  43:47
I'm like, we can raise the money without starting the nonprofit. I was like, it's a very big and I can't at this point. I had been a nonprofit for almost 10 years now, right as executive director, and prior to that, raising fundraiser for the inner city schools. And I was like, it says some very and I knew I couldn't stay away if you did it. So, I'm like, You can't start that because I'm going to have to get involved.

Matt Granados  44:08
So, I made the agreement. I said, Hey, I understand. We'll raise the money. I asked the doctor, how much do they need? They said, You know, for the next two years, if we had a quarter of a million dollars, it'd be more than we ever could imagine. I was like, that's doable. I know I could call a couple people and get that taken care of. So, I'm on the phone call with a mentor of mine. And I said, Hey. I said, here's what we're looking to do. He sits on some boards that I knew, if he was interested, this would be a non-issue. He said, Matt. He said, how, how common is rare? And I was like, I don't know Natalie's the 17th. Like, we don't have time to talk about all these other diseases. Like, Matt, Natalie, like we're on one focus here. And he's like, look it up. So, I look it up, and my jaw drops, and I'm going, Holy smokes, in the United States at that time, there was 30 million people with a rare disease. And I'm like, That can't be possible. There's only 300 million. That's 10% and I looked it up again. And it is that huge. So, one of the taglines that we focus on would Take Part is, rare is more common than you think. So siloed.

Maria Granados  45:08
So siloed. All the different diseases are so siloed.

Matt Granados  45:11
So, then I started as I'm on the phone with him, trying to get him to give me money. I'm like, hold on, you got to wait, because there's more stats. And the other stats that stood out was that 95% of the kids have no FDA approved treatment. 35% of them don't make it past the age of five. And Natalie was four, and I went, Okay, this is going to be a hard dinner conversation, because now I couldn't see what we saw. There's many families out there that need an option like this, because it's so small in the silos that there needs to be a community, as we talked about earlier of families coming together. So, went to Maria, I said, I appreciate your expert opinion, but I have to respectfully disagree. I think we need to start this nonprofit. When I shared those stats with her, she was like, Absolutely, there's no question. We said, what do we call it? And that's where you can bring the name in.

Maria Granados  46:01
And that's where, you know when you run into a condition like ours, where, or any condition, whether it's rare or not, where there isn't anything you can do to make it different at this current state of science, right? And like, in Natalie's situation, like, how long can her body live like that, right? At this point, and she was sick so much this this point. I mean, we have incredible stories of her being brought back to life, but at what point is it too much on her body, right? At what point, you know, and the Lord will do what the Lord does. But we have. We come from families that are well off. We come from great number of people that are willing to support financially, friends, all this kind of stuff. But there's nothing. I don't care much money you have. There's nothing anybody could have done for her at that point to help this patient wasn't going to solve the problem. But now what we have is we have a way people can take part in the possibility for kids like her and other kids with rare conditions, and that's all families want. 

Maria Granados  46:55
I think what we realized in that moment is that it was our story of grief and grieving with Natalie, but our extended family was also going through that. Our friends were going through that because they love her and they love us, and they just wanted to take part in fighting for her. And what we're running into with other families that have kids with rare conditions is that like, that's what their family and friends want as well. Is like we want to we want to do something that's actually going to move something forward. We want to take part in something that will make it possible, but maybe not for this kid, but kids that come after this kid, like, in honor of the kid we know, like, they want to fight right for kids like, and we call it fighting for possible, right? Like, fighting for possible for kids facing the seemingly impossible, right? That, like, there is something people can do and gather around that's productive and that could leave a legacy behind in science, in faith, in all kinds of areas of wherever these families and kids are moving in their journey of rare.

Matt Granados  47:50
And I think it's funny as we jump into the genetics of science. A lot of people see science and faith as at odds. When you talk to people in genetics, there's a lot more Christians and you know. When they see the intricacy of what it takes to build a human chance is not the start, right? It's so interesting with that, and that's what really started happening. The second thing we did with take part was there was a time Thanksgiving in 2019 that Natalie got medevac because she was really sick. We were up in Philadelphia, and Maria and I put together all of her medical records specifically so. 

Maria Granados  48:26
Before we had Take Part.

Matt Granados  48:28
This is before the foundation. We wanted to send out a blast to all of our friends and family on social media to ask our aunt and uncle doctor at the Thanksgiving dinner or a table. Hey, look at this girl. Do you have any idea what's going on? Because we had no clue what was happening. So, what happened was, we didn't realize that she gets medevac Thanksgiving morning to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. We get off a helicopter. It's windy, and the doctor looks at me and says, Hey, like, what's, what's her condition? And I'm like, Man, I don't know. We just got, I just, we just got off the helicopter. She's not breathing. She's on a breathing tube down her throat. She's completely out. And I said, Go to helpnatg.com that doesn't exist anymore, if anyone listens. 

Matt Granados  49:05
But at the time, it was a website that we created that had all of her medical records, and he didn't know what to do, so he just left, came back, and he's like, man, he's like, Where'd you get that website? Well, we created, I said, why? He said, Because I was about to give her a drug that would have put her in a coma at best, but likely would have killed her. I said, Excuse me. He said, he said, but because I was able to look at her medical records, I saw there's some type of unknown underlying skeletal muscular issue, which I didn't even know that at the time, right? But it was in the medical record. I chose another medicine. And he's still teary eyed, and I'm sitting there going, like, all right, doc. Like, that's a good thing. Why are we sad? And he looks me dead in the eyes. He says, we would have stayed have saved more kids last week if they had this information. 

Lisa Nichols  49:46
If we'd had something like that.

Matt Granados  49:48
So, I remember I called Marie, and I said, Hey, I don't know how we're going to do this, but I want to offer this to people. But the problem is, is to host a site, and you know how this works. It's not cheap. So, I was like, but I can't go, Hey, Lisa, we'd love to help your kid. 50 bucks a month, and we'll be able to help you with this like, charge anyway, charge. And then when we started the foundation, it gave us another way to help these warrior families that we talk about, and that's the second way we help is by helping them tell their stories through these free online pages that they can upload all their medical records to for a couple reasons. When your kid turns 18, if you don't have a power of attorney, you don't have the access to the records. You have to go through a whole bunch to get it. Number two is when Natalie goes to a new school, works with a new nurse, goes to a new babysitter, whatever it might be, we just send the website. We don't have to retell Natalie's story every time. And then the third thing is, when we go to talk with doctors, there's a level of respect that changes, because we're not just some parent guessing, hey, we we've been paying attention. All of a sudden, they speak to us like we're peers. It's an amazing tool for every family to have. And that was the second part. 

Maria Granados  50:48
It was eye opening to me how, like, I just thought, like, if we were to go to Children's Hospital Philadelphia emergency. Like, they could just pull up her files from children's top. No, there's like, a call and they have to authorize. But when you're in an emergent situation like that. That's like, life and death. And so, like, that was like the moving part, and we're working on that's like the big thing we're trying to work on right now. That's, like, a new website development and getting these profiles so that kids can actually have access to it. And so that's something that we're currently in process of right now too, working on, because it's something we're passionate about. So, I tell people, we fund research that's rare disease, research that's promising, that's not otherwise being funded in a major way. We provide genetic resources for families that get denied access by insurance through St. Louis Children's Hospital. 

Maria Granados  51:34
But also, our goal is to work with as many children's hospitals across the country as possible. And we are in conversations with, beginning conversations right now, with some other ones as well about that, because we'd like to see no family get denied access by insurance and then walk away from that testing. Because, as we know in our story, the minute she got diagnosed, which we hadn't got to yet, all of a sudden, everything she needed was like a whole world opened up to us of things that helped her thrive and live differently. She has a power wheelchair, she has a G Tube button, she has a BiPAP to sleep at night, right? She has PT, OT, all this kind of stuff, because it's her disability. She needs those sorts of things, but yet, because there was no like verbiage that they could put behind her, it couldn't get covered by insurance. And I always tell families, I can't promise that you're going to get all the things you think your kid needs. But what I do know is that this is a system, and so if you can get the testing and you get a diagnosis that will help you open some doorways. Even at the schools, to get the IEP your kid might need, or to get the different services they might need, therapies they might need as well covered. And I just always have the single mom in my mind, the mom who's, like, working so hard to keep her insurance, but can't afford that extra $5,000 for a test that gets denied. You know, we were able to pay for that. When ours got denied, we're like, okay, you know? And that's fine, but that's not the that's not the story for some people.

Lisa Nichols  52:57
That's not the case for most, right?

Maria Granados  52:59
If we couldn't, we couldn't, we could reach out to people who could, right? But like we, you know, there's so many battles these families are already fighting. That's the fight they don't have. They shouldn't have to fight. And so, if we can fight that for them, we would like to do that and continue to do that. And Children's Hospital of St. Louis has been such a great partner in that, too. And now, I mean, we weren't tracking those stats before, and now we are. So, I love when we can innovatively start to track something new that wasn't being tracked before, because what we might see is something we didn't expect, like we are actually getting more positives and negatives in the testing right now, which wasn't something they expected to see, either. So, the results of this money being spent are actually giving more diagnoses than they had anticipated, too. So, that's great for the families that are involved as well, and it helps us to see what is this problem nationwide really look like, and how can we help advance that in hospitals across the country?

Lisa Nichols  53:50
Well, guys, this is why, when I was preparing and for this, I just, like I said, I got teary eyed many, many times. I'm just truly in awe of you guys. You guys are a family of action, and I just so appreciate that. It's not only just saying, Well, this is just the way it is, right? You obviously saw this gap with your own family, but now you're turning around and doing this for other families. So, what's coming up on May the first?

Maria Granados  54:18
Coming up on May the first is our second gala that we've ever done, called Wine, Women and Shoes, and we are having the gala at the Hawthorne downtown on Washington Avenue, and it's going to be a fun time. We do a wine tasting luxury marketplace, and then we do a normal seated auction, all the fun things you would expect in a gala, but we end it with a fashion show as well. So, we like to add a little sass and a little fun so the gala scene, but do it all in the name of raising money for kids that need it most. And we have some great stories to tell this year, and we're really excited to tell those stories.

Lisa Nichols  54:49
Absolutely. Well, as you said at the beginning, it's sold out, but there's still a way for people to get involved if they want to.

Maria Granados  54:59
You can still donate to the actual event and help us with that too. If you go to wws2025.givesmart.com, that's you can donate directly to the event, which goes directly to us. Or you can go on take-part.org and regularly donate as well towards the mission. We also open, you know, if you guys have any questions or connections in the hospital world, things like that, or just, you know, families that might need access to certain resources. My email is Maria at take- part.org and we want to help families. So, yes, if you want to help us, help families, or, you know, families that need help, we are all ears. And I always say, if we can't help them, we might know who can.

Lisa Nichols  55:37
Yes, absolutely. Well, why don't we mention just a few more things, just in case our listeners want to dig deeper with you guys. I know you have a podcast, so how can they find the podcast? 

Maria Granados  55:50
I have a podcast that we have a couple seasons of it. It's called let your fight shine Podcast with Maria Granados. I'm on Spotify, Apple, iTunes, all the places you podcast, we will be bringing back a new season, hopefully soon. And then Matt also has a business podcast, Best People, Best Place, with Matt Granados on all the same platforms as well. And podcasting is a lot of fun, but, man, it's a lot of work. Lisa, so you do a beautiful job. It's a lot of work, but it's fun having conversations isn't it? I love that.

Lisa Nichols  56:19
 It is. It's a lot of fun. And then Matt and maybe Maria too. I know you at least have one book out there that you've written. What is that? And you can find it on Amazon, I'm assuming.

Matt Granados  56:30
So, first book is "Motivate the Unmotivated, and then the second book is "The Intentional Week". So, it's, it's, how do you actually maximize the intentional week. And how do you motivate some of the most unmotivated people in your lives? We call them Unmo. That's the main character. 

Lisa Nichols  56:49
There may be a lot of people that order that one.

Maria Granados  56:52
He's like, Elmo's dark brother.

Matt Granados  56:55
He's had a rough night or two. But we all have Unmos sometimes, unfortunately, we're Unmo. And the stuff that we teach in that is the same with Life Pulse is that i's it works for individuals and teams equally. The root cause is still the people, yeah, and that's what we try to work on.

Lisa Nichols  57:11
You know. And I know that this, you guys, with the intentionality that you guys have, you probably have it written and hung somewhere. But when you think about your legacy, I bet you do. When you think about your legacy and the way you want to leave the world, I mean, what would you say, like in one sentence? It's probably on your wall.

Maria Granados  57:37
Oh, I was gonna, well, we do actually joke, like we actually do have apparel with this on there? You might know me too well. Something the Lord put on my heart a couple years ago is called "let your fight shine". And it comes from a story of, we were going to church at a church called Two Rivers out here in O'Fallon at the time. And my old daughter, Natalie, had a hot pink wheelchair, and that girl just rolls right into a room, and everyone looks at her, and she just, like, soaks it in, and zooms around and all this kind of stuff. And what I realized in that moment the Lord put on my heart is it's just, it's his power made perfect in our weakness lived out, right? And it's this idea that, like her fight can't be concealed. And so, she just lets it shine. 

Maria Granados  58:16
And how often all of us, especially in the professional world, we do everything we can to let people not see our weaknesses, right? Like we want to conceal them so badly because we don't want someone to see the weaknesses in our lives. And so, in doing that, we actually conceal the power of God living through our lives. And we would all do better to let our fight shine more often. I know your daughter, Ally, lets her fight shine as well. You know what I'm saying, and so often we would cover up parts of ourselves, things we'd say, or, or mistakes we'd make, or imperfections, so that people think of us a certain way. And God's like I'm trying to work through the weakest parts of you, and you're concealing my power. But yet, Natalie rolls into a room full on power of God in her, because she conceals it. And what a gift that she can't because those of us that can we do conceal it. And so, we could learn more from that. So, if I could leave a legacy, that is it.

Lisa Nichols  59:12
That is so good.

Matt Granados  59:13
I think the other part of that is we can relate better in the progress than we can at the end result. And we tend to compare the result, but we can relate in the process. And I think we try to get through the process so fast. We're so impatient. Natalie can't get through the process her sanctification, all of that process that we try to get as fast as we can to it. It's like we're rushing to die, not in the way that we should, but in the way that the world tells us that we only live once, and we can only do it now. That concept, that rush is what stops us from being able to let our fight shine. Where, honestly, I've related more to people in our pain and their pain than I have in our success and their success. 

Lisa Nichols  59:56
Oh, that's gold. That's gold. Well, guys, you may each have your own version of this, but what do you believe is this something extra that every leader needs?

Maria Granados  1:00:07
I would, I kind of relate it to let your fight shine piece. It's, it's the authenticity and the struggle. To me, the people that have had the biggest impact in my life, the something extra people are those that, again, they're very transparent as they're processing through what they're walking through. And you can see it, and they utilize it to bring others up with them, or to bring others closer to God, whether it's in business or in life, whatever it looks like, it's all it's all the same, right? So, for me, that something extra is that it's that authenticity, transparency and vulnerability and suffering. Because if we know anything from Scripture, we know the best part. The best parts of our character are developed in suffering. And so those people that let us see that journey, they are letting us see Jesus, and that's the best thing for us, I think.

Matt Granados  1:00:51
And I think the other thing that I find in leaders is their identity is not tied up in themselves. We could have a whole conversation on that, but that understanding of, we talked about support. It's not about you, that willingness and desire to understand versus be understood. That concept of, it's not about you, even if you are the leader, is the thing I found most, outside of what you said, with let your fight shine and that identity piece. And there's an interesting study that was done about the alpha male in the wolves, right? Because that's you hear people. I want to be the alpha. I want to be the alpha. But the real study that no one talks about is the Alpha was actually the one in the back, not the one leading the pack, the one making sure the most dangerous position. So, we all want to be alpha, and we think that's the guy banging our chest. And it's not. It's the guy in the back making sure everyone's moving. And that identity piece, I know that's a huge thing in your world, but that's the key. When we work with clients and we work with high level executives, we want to make sure they understand what that but also, when we work with families. Our identity, Natalie's identity is not a girl in the wheelchair? It's much bigger than that.

Maria Granados  1:02:02
God's daughter. And I'm with you on that. I think that I have a little triangle I think of in my head, where identity, purpose, assignment, and when we start to put our identity in our assignments, it gets really messy for us. And I think God always intended us to keep our identity just protected as His child, so that we can live out all these assignments, right? And so, I, I think that that's the something. When you say something, I chose the identity to me, that's where I go. It's like, it's those people who know I'm a child of God, and this business I run in is my assignment. But if God removes it from me, it doesn't change who I am. It doesn't even change my purpose. It doesn't change my purpose. It's just an assignment shifted. And so, we want Natalie to view, while it's such a personal thing, what she goes through, it's an assignment she's here on, you know, and she has a unique calling to live that out. But she's a child of God, just like I am, you know. And no matter what he calls her in or out of if she was to be healed, we'd still want her to have the same passion for the Lord that, you know what I'm saying. So, like, whether that's your case or not, you want to, you want to make sure your identity is rock solid, not something that can be changed. And I agree with you, those people that have that something extra are those that just know that they know that they know who they are.

Lisa Nichols  1:03:11
Could not agree more Well, guys, I think we could talk for three hours because I've still got, oh, I want to ask him this. But I know we're at time, but thank you both so much for being on the show today. I know, I know beyond a show of a doubt, that you guys are going to help our listeners. So, I thank you for, for giving up your time and your talent and today to share with us you’re the wisdom that God's given you guys. And so, thank you so much.

Maria Granados  1:03:40
Thank you, Lisa, and thank you for all you do for our community, and thank you for the Rooted Sisters, for your business, for all of it. But truly, what an impactful legacy you are building for the Kingdom. And I'm just grateful. I'm grateful for you, and I'm grateful for that group of women.

Lisa Nichols  1:03:55
Amen. I'm just grateful to be in your orbit. Okay, guys, thanks so much. Have a great day.

Announcer  1:04:02
Thank you for listening to today's show. Something Extra with Lisa Nichols as a Technology Partners Production Copyright Technology Partners Inc. 2019. For show notes, or to reach Lisa, visit tpi.co/podcast. Don't forget to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen. 


*Please note, the preceding transcription has been automatically generated and should be used for informational purposes only.