Looking to transform your dreams into reality? We're here to guide you along the way, shedding light on the power of failure as a valuable learning tool, and the importance of balancing patience with impulsivity. We pull back the curtain on our personal encounters with failure, and how it's fueled our motivation to take calculated risks. We invite you on this journey of self-discovery, as we explore the joy in life's little pleasures, and the fulfillment that goes beyond financial gains.
Can money truly buy happiness? Join us as we dissect the 'happiness salary index' and its implications on our mental wellbeing. You'll gain insight into the repercussions of incessantly chasing joy and the beauty of stepping out of your comfort zone. We also touch on the potency of vulnerability, the significance of faith in others, and the art of seizing advantageous opportunities.
As we delve deeper, we'll navigate the intricate dynamics of relationships, work, personal growth, and the unending quest for success. Recalling our childhood memories and parenting experiences, we'll evoke nostalgia while acknowledging the lessons learned. We also offer a sneak peek into the heart and soul of the Kings Creek brand and our motivations behind this podcast. Engage with us as we foster meaningful conversations, bridge diverse perspectives, and strive to eliminate dissension in our society. We promise a thought-provoking and inspiring session, filled with laughter, introspection, and human connection. So, are you ready to journey with us into the realms of dreams, risk, perseverance, happiness, and personal growth?
Links Below!
Insta: https://instagram.com/forthenation_podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forthenationpod/
Website: https://forthenationpod.com
Looking to transform your dreams into reality? We're here to guide you along the way, shedding light on the power of failure as a valuable learning tool, and the importance of balancing patience with impulsivity. We pull back the curtain on our personal encounters with failure, and how it's fueled our motivation to take calculated risks. We invite you on this journey of self-discovery, as we explore the joy in life's little pleasures, and the fulfillment that goes beyond financial gains.
Can money truly buy happiness? Join us as we dissect the 'happiness salary index' and its implications on our mental wellbeing. You'll gain insight into the repercussions of incessantly chasing joy and the beauty of stepping out of your comfort zone. We also touch on the potency of vulnerability, the significance of faith in others, and the art of seizing advantageous opportunities.
As we delve deeper, we'll navigate the intricate dynamics of relationships, work, personal growth, and the unending quest for success. Recalling our childhood memories and parenting experiences, we'll evoke nostalgia while acknowledging the lessons learned. We also offer a sneak peek into the heart and soul of the Kings Creek brand and our motivations behind this podcast. Engage with us as we foster meaningful conversations, bridge diverse perspectives, and strive to eliminate dissension in our society. We promise a thought-provoking and inspiring session, filled with laughter, introspection, and human connection. So, are you ready to journey with us into the realms of dreams, risk, perseverance, happiness, and personal growth?
Links Below!
Insta: https://instagram.com/forthenation_podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forthenationpod/
Website: https://forthenationpod.com
Uber quiet right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that's kind of the point of a studio being super Noise cancelled for this. It seems muffled. Yeah, it sounds good, though I think it's got a good vibrato to it. Cool. Well, it's been a minute. For those who are listening it's been almost three months. So I know Jesse's shaking his head at me because it's that's too long, for sure, took a vacation. But to give you guys a little inside Information into my life, I have a bunch of things going on, do part-time real estate, as I mentioned several times on this show. I run the podcast, I have a son and a wife that I need to take care of and I have a full-time job and things get busy and Priorities get out of whack and next thing you know you're three months without an episode. So here we are trying to combat that. But we've also been working on some pretty cool stuff in the background.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I'm excited. I think it's Kind of the natural progression of woge, so I'm excited about it, cool All right?
Speaker 2:Well, the context for this episode Starts with a text. So for those who know Jesse know he has an abundance of profound wisdom that he likes to share little.
Speaker 1:Jesse-isms yeah.
Speaker 2:And one of the things he texted me one time has stuck with me and that's that dreams are not. Dreams are free. But the rest comes with a bunch of work, and that topic is something that I really want to expand upon. I think it's kind of the root of this podcast when it first started and it's something that is stuck out to me and I really wanted to get your take on it and what that means to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's. You know you better. You need to get to work, you know, because the dream is the only thing that's free. You know it's easier said than done, too, because it's there's a lot more that goes into an idea than just Simply okay, well, I'm tired of dreaming about it, let's put it into action. There's a lot of steps that have to take place, and so when I see a lot of younger people, I feel like, you know, the one thing that I envy a lot is they've got such great ideas, you know, and a lot of times I just I feel like they're not heard, or Maybe they keep them to themselves because they feel like nobody's gonna take them serious. And so when I hear somebody or meet somebody that's got a lot of great ideas and a lot of motivation, I Just always root for them to go for it. Just let's make it happen. However, we can do that. If not, let's at least exhaust the possibility of doing it.
Speaker 1:Yeah so, and that's to me it's when you're sitting around. You know, everybody has dreams. That's the one common thing that I think we can all agree on that that everybody has dreams. But what separates the successful people and this is in my opinion, you know from people that maybe aren't as successful as they're just willing to get out there and take a step and and fail forward. And so Anytime I get the opportunity, I just like to push a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah but you definitely have done, especially in my life, and that takes the shape of something that we'll we'll talk about a little bit later, a project that we're working on together, but but it's important, I think, to to take that step. That's the most challenging thing. I used to always consider myself like, oh, if I could get paid for just coming up with ideas, I'd be, you know, the next Warren Buffett. But Unfortunately, that's not it. You don't get paid for ideas. You get paid for what you can do. What's you know, what's the hunter-gatherer mindset like what can you go out and kill, right? And that's something that I think a lot of young people, including myself, struggle with. Like is I don't know if it's the, the fear of failing, or or what it is, but, yeah, that it's kind of the root of what you said dreams are free, but you got to go get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean I think just looking at Failure as a negative in society, to me that's probably what is the root of that issue with a lot of people.
Speaker 1:You know they're everything that they do in life. Maybe prior to that point it's preventing themselves from failing. You know, maybe they have parents that kind of coddle them and keep them from failing, because they just Don't realize what all you learn through failure and to me it's that it's priceless. So I know I wouldn't have any form of success whatsoever if I hadn't, you know, bump my rear end on the ground enough to to realize I don't like the way that feels. But I learned from that. I learned from failure, and so not everybody has to fail to learn there are these Unicorns out there that?
Speaker 1:can you know ourself motivated enough, driven enough, to achieve whatever it is they're trying to achieve Without failing right? I just don't really happen to be that type of person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think on the other end of that spectrum you'll find people and I've definitely been guilty of this at times Diving into something head first without kind of thinking it through. Though. Right, you know, and I think there's, there's a happy medium there. There's the Analysis by paralysis, meaning like you think about it, think about, but you don't ever do anything about it. And then there's the other end where it's All right, I'm just gonna try it, right, and so I think I I kind of started this podcast almost like that, like I'm just gonna Wing it, let's just go and lo and behold, you were my first like authentic guest.
Speaker 1:I'll just is crazy. Yeah, it was fun and and to me it's it's just even doing the podcast in general. You know it's. It's something that Is not something I would normally do. We have kind of made it our mission to try to operate as much as we can from behind the curtain, so anytime I am out in front of the curtain or speaking on anything to do with our business or Any of the charity work different things like that that we do it's always uncomfortable to me, because I I feel like the most genuine act of Charity is is what you do behind the scenes without having to be puffed up about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah and so I'll. In the past I've always Caught myself Kind of maybe nonchalantly mentioning things to people, and it's been a fear of mine. I've never wanted to do things to help people and then ruin it by having to bring it up and tell somebody what I've done. You kind of rob yourself of the satisfaction of helping.
Speaker 1:Yeah if you feel like you have to tell people what you're doing, so Excuse me, I I just was real nervous about coming out front because I knew some of the questions and Especially when we talk about how we got started and a lot of things like that that to me it was more out of a submissive standpoint. You know we, I've just felt that calling for so long to do what I'm doing. Now that you know, I felt like I was kind of negating the process a little bit by Explaining the in theory, you know why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's kind of like, you know I've, I Was grateful for what we're doing and and I'm very grateful for our business, but it was more or less it's hard to be grateful for a business that's, you know, birthed if you will, out of a need to help people without bragging to the world what you're doing. Yeah so it's hard to kind of promote that you know?
Speaker 2:oh, I get it. Yeah, there's definitely again a happy medium there. I think gratitude is a subject that we both think Highly of and want to know as much as we can about that topic. Again, that that's foreshadowing, but nonetheless, you mentioned earlier about about failing forward. I was wondering if you could give me like an example of what that would look like.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you have to have that mindset prior to failing. You know it's it's very difficult to speak to somebody in the middle of some sort of an issue it's just a tragedy of a failure of any type and then start trying to preach to them about how they need to have a positive outlook on things. And I think that's one thing that I've done to be able to, I guess, prepare for failure has just been to walk through failure prior to attempting it. You know what does it look like if this doesn't work, and failing forward to me is that's kind of like. You know, I get a lot of slack because I and a lot of heat from people because I don't. I preach that I don't have a plan B ever. I just don't want that's interesting.
Speaker 1:I mean, if I got a plan B, I'm never going to put forward enough effort in the plan A.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, I get what you're saying. Now I don't think I could be a failure if it wasn't about plan A. However, if plan A doesn't work and I'm going to fail forward, first I got to recognize that I failed at something and then I think, the more times you tell yourself that you know it's okay to fail, you're going to be able to bounce back from this. You know, I think, the more creative you're going to get with responding to that failure.
Speaker 1:To me it's it's about failing forward, because I'm every failures is a. To me, it's a bigger step forward than success. Explain that to people in the heat of a failure, but if you tell them ahead of time, when somebody brings you an idea, it's just as simple as what's the worst that could happen. You know what does failure look like, so that as soon as you see it, now we've got a plan and we're gonna be able to move forward and you know that that failure is what's propelling you forward. Yeah, so it makes you not afraid to fail anymore and you get a little bit more brazen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, maybe we had dinner maybe a month or so back and I'd mentioned an opportunity that kind of came along and it's something that I didn't recognize and kind of until after the fact of my fear, and I said like you know, like you don't really make money off the initial jump and so like what, that's so scary? And you're like, yeah, well, also, what if you make? A lot of money right, you know, I think that that's it's so important to recognize that.
Speaker 1:Just don't rob your, don't rob yourself from the ability or from that opportunity, because I think the Lord's gonna bless us in so many different ways and it's not always financial. So, if you look at it, from what am I learning from this? And take finances out of the situation? Yeah, I think that it's. It makes it a lot more palatable to take risks, and I'm, you know, by definition. I'm not the best risk taker. I'm one of them, you know. I don't know what you call them, but I'm just such a I feel like it's almost cowardly to where I can take risks for other people and point out areas in their life that they should take a risk but live the most conservative, well thought-out life ever.
Speaker 1:And I know that's not the case because a lot of people that would look at what I do and in our family what we do and say you know, they're kind of they live on the edge a little bit. You know they kind of go after things and you know. So that's probably just a blind spot within my own life that I don't see it as a risk. But if I saw it as a risk, I'm not, you know, I'm not very good at accepting it and jumping and taking it yeah, I think a lot of that, like being able to identify things in other people's lives.
Speaker 2:There's a term I learned in this marketing class. Those are the thing. I'm also an MBA student. I forgot to mention earlier. I was in this marketing class and we learned about this this term marketing myopia. So it's basically like you become so near-sighted that you lose sight of, kind of like, who you are, like what the big plan is right, the big picture, and I think people can get to that, like they get so caught up in one aspect, like for me in that example. It was so caught up of money how can I provide for my family? Like the worst-case scenario was just in my head and it's like all you need to do is take a breath, take a step back and look at it and be like, well, you're probably gonna be all right, right, and there's so much more that you're gonna gain out of this experience right, and I think after you, you know, if you get, as you get a little bit older, the the neatest thing is is to start experiencing life in its simplest form and how satisfying that that is.
Speaker 1:And then you think back to yourself man, I have chased that almighty dollar for so long, only to be where I'm or wherever I'm at at the moment and being extremely happy and satisfied and, more importantly, fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Because there's no fulfillment, you realize, in finances. Because once you have a certain amount of money and this is true for every human being out there once you have a certain amount of money just green money there, it's just, there's so much in life that you actually miss, you know the miss. You miss the opportunity to, to desire something like to me personally, if I didn't have that desire in me, to you know, or maybe just that it's kind of like waking up on Christmas morning with the thought of possibly getting something. You know, if there wasn't something that I was aiming at outside of financial goals, now, as I'm a little bit older, I see how just mundane that would be for me. It's just not, it's just not my DNA to worry as much about finances. Yeah, work hard and if you're successful, you know that's something that kind of is a byproduct of it, but it is not what drives the you know entrepreneurs or ultra successful athletes, or it's that drive to win.
Speaker 2:I want to win yeah, has I always been like a stigma of yours.
Speaker 1:I think probably the stigma I'm most associated with was just the. You know, different things motivate people and I think I've told you this before. You know, you're either motivated by success, you're motivated by failure, and I think that that's also like your love language. I think it changes over time and for me, when I was growing up and you know I had a pretty rough childhood and I was motivated by fear, you know I would I kept myself within the lines based off of the fear of what would happen if I didn't, and so I kind of carried that into my professional life. It was not that I was successful in the automotive industry because I was just driven to be the best when I first got in the automotive industry. I was. I was successful because I fear failure. I didn't want to fail, I don't want to mess anything up.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to disappoint people and you know, depending on how you grow up, you know, if you have a great, stable childhood, I think it's easier for you to be motivated by success. But if you have got maybe not so great of a childhood, that fear is a driving force within you that you can't stifle it out. You can't get rid of it. So I just chose to use that as a motivator for me. Now it might be a little different. You know, if I had to ask or answer that question currently, where I'm at, I would struggle to say that I'm motivated by fear.
Speaker 1:I'm more motivated today by contentment, you know, and that's something that just learning to live where I'm at in the moment and enjoy the process yeah, that's where, to me, the true success has come from realizing that I'm enjoying the process of building companies as much as I am any success that might come from that, and so I look for that. I think that's probably why, also, I look for that opportunity in other people's lives to where I can wedge myself in there as a motivator for them, because I know that they're not. They don't see it that way yet, but eventually they're going to see things that way, so I want to get in there and help as many people as I can become successful, because that's what that's where my high comes from. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is this training people, or talking to people and showing them that they have what it takes to be successful in whatever it is that they're trying to become successful in? And the most important thing is is just not to overlook the process of getting there, because what you learn to become a professional, that is so much more important than what you're going to learn as you are a professional. Right, you know it's that grind in that process.
Speaker 2:I'd love to know what you think of this quote. It reminded me of it, but it basically says the man who loves walking will go further than the man who loves the destination. I actually sent that to you. You remember that, I guess so. It was in my head at one point. Yeah, I sent it to you at a rate All right, so yeah.
Speaker 1:I saw that and it floored me. Yeah, when I read that and I wish that I could remember where I saw that, but I can remember stopping dead in my tracks and saying hold on a minute. That's that hits a little bit different with me than just a typical motivational quote. But that is the thing to me, that if you can just find yourself content in that process of building whatever it is and building your marriage, and building your you know and raising your children, making mistakes while you're you know, along the way.
Speaker 1:If you just become in love with that process and with that duration of time, I think then you can truly get everything out of life that you're trying to get out of life. Yeah, do you?
Speaker 2:think that, to keep with the analogy, do you think that there's people that are just naturally like. They love walking, so to speak, or do you think it's a learned lesson through gratitude and extrapolating?
Speaker 1:on that. I definitely think it's a, it's a maturity and it is something that, first off, I think that it it's an awareness factor. You have to be aware that this is a thing that you know the process of, of building a house. There's a lot to be learned as soon as that foundation hits, before that you know the last locks put on the door right. There's a lot to be learned in building a house, and once you become addicted to that part of it and trying to gain as much knowledge as you can out of that, I think that then you can start to see that, oh, I can start looking for this in my life.
Speaker 1:You know what. How does that look? And to me, what I like about it the most is that it encompasses all aspects of life. No matter what you're doing, there is a walk in everything that you do. To me personally, I mean, the overarching walk is is my spiritual walk and noticing new opportunities for me that have eternal you know consequences and eternal blessings versus the temporal side of things. You know the temporal things are the ones that give you the most heartic in life, but there's I've never met anybody that can tell me what an eternal consequence that they're suffering, because it obviously hasn't happened yet. You know they haven't reached eternity. So you know it's kind of a mystery. But I do think that if you focus and just change your, your thought process a little bit, I think you can start to to see some of the blessings that you're you're actually witnessing today and some of the ways that you're in your life personally, that you're you're growing, that you can you probably have taken for granted in the past. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I don't want to sage it. You know, like a lot of people. Well, you know there's people that don't have this or don't. You know I understand there's people that have got horrible situations that they've. You know that they're walking through and I don't want to mitigate any of that. But I am saying that there is a way that you can look at it, because you always have an option. You know how you're going to look at something, yeah, but once you identify that option, or once you decide on that option is which way you're going to go. I think you need to build that plan to move forward, regardless of which way you decide to go, and just start building that plan. So, if my plan is, I'm going to build a way that I can start enjoying the process, I need to write down how does that look? What are some things that I can do to make that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a smart goal, essentially something actionable. When you were talking about earlier the money thing, it reminded me of this thing called I don't even know what it's called like a happiness salary index. But basically they came it must have changed recently inflation, biden inflation, whatever you want to call it. I want to say it was like 76 grand, maybe a couple of years ago or whatever. But basically there's a number that scientists have found that if you make more than that, it does not change your happiness whatsoever. And so they say, like this is kind of like that's it, like that's the number, you hit it and you're, there's no more. Right, there's rest on you.
Speaker 2:It's in your heart so kind of to tie it back to the original quote of yours that dreams are free, but the rest has a cost. What is the cost?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I think the main cost to me is just going to be your overall mental health. You can worry yourself to a legitimate physical sickness, and it's something that is plaguing you know our country, and nothing is more evident than when you get outside of that box and you start seeing people that have a lot more dire situations than you're in. But yet to have these positive, sweet attitudes, well, I would never know that if I didn't step outside of my comfort zone and go into those areas, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have some selfish ambition, because a lot of it is like look, I've got to get back to appreciating what I've got. You know, it's ridiculous that we condition ourselves and it's a moving target. What makes you happy today is nowhere near what's going to make you happy tomorrow, or it might take a lot less on Wednesday, and, man, I can't wait for Thursday, because Thursday doesn't take hardly anything to make me happy. You know what I'm saying. So it's something that always changes, and so you know, I think that the main thing that we can concentrate on is trying to keep a solid mental attitude, solid, a good mental attitude, and that is something that is talk about moving targets. I mean, that is, we get thrown so many curveballs nowadays that that's don't think that you've got it figured out. You know, because you're about ready to go into a storm that you need to be prepared for, and I think that that's kind of the cost associated with it could be friendships, it could be relationships, realizing that you know you're in a relationship with somebody that's not going anywhere.
Speaker 1:And I've learned more from young people. You know everybody wants to shut these young people out nowadays. I'm going to tell you, these young kids that that I come in contact with are smart. I mean, they're very, they're very well educated. I think they're getting a little too much education. Maybe it's not the direction I would want to go with it, but these kids are smart, yeah. And so the minute we start, you know, thinking that we're only going to learn from somebody that's more successful than we are, that's higher educated than we are, maybe more talented in certain areas than we are, if you just limit yourself to that, I feel like you miss so much. And again it goes back to the pain situation. You want to learn from somebody to learn? Go speak to somebody that's going through some serious pain. You know they have a transparency about them that teaches me more than I can go learn sitting down talking to somebody that's making well into the six figures and has no issues. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to immerse myself amongst people, and I'm not saying that you want to go hang out with the most unsuccessful people that don't have any motivation. But if you start digging in helping people that are in a tough spot, what you get out of that to me is I do it for free. I mean you don't want money for it Right, you know money has absolutely nothing to do with that, but I'm telling you that the satisfaction that you get from just being there for people I mean it's changed my life. I can promise you.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. Yeah, I think there's something about like speaking to strangers, especially where there's there's no walls previously built up. You don't have to worry about coming into contact. I guess again, even though you never know um that you can, I don't know some just feel better about sharing more. Yeah, I mean you let your guard down a little bit.
Speaker 1:I think to your point that it's something that you you allow yourself to be a little more vulnerable because you don't feel like, um, maybe you you're thinking about something in the past that where you were vulnerable with somebody and it kind of blew up in your face. Um, you don't really have that when you're speaking with somebody that you may not see again, and so you I think you're it's a lot raw to you can roll with them and and really let your guard down and, and to me, the coolest part about it is if you really step back from it and and look at it from the outside. That's where you're actually being so brutally honest with people and when you leave from that situation, if you would just allow yourself to think how many people that are in my inner circle that if I exposed myself to them in that same manner, I mean, what could that do? Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know I mean, to me it's, it's humbling for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's one thing you you said also like how you you might rather consider a conversation with someone who's going through some trials and tribulations versus someone who's ultra successful, maybe monetarily. I think it's the one thing that I took from that is everybody's success is so different, so it's why try to copy somebody's success If yours is going to be different? But everybody kind of shared similar struggles. Like it may not be the same thing that you're going through, but the emotions, the emotions that you're feeling are all the same, like we all share emotions.
Speaker 1:That's right. And people and I tell so many people that I'm around all the time that you know, the more and more that you put your faith in people, the more you're going to be disappointed, because that's what we do, you know, from the beginning of time. We started out in time disappointing somebody, and so that's not going to change just because so much time is going to, is going to or has passed. We've just gotten a lot slicker and we just draw people in before we disappoint them. And I think the reason for that a lot of times it's simply because we want to get everything that we can get out of a relationship and then eventually we're going to let them down.
Speaker 1:And if you've got a shallow relationship with somebody, then you know there's really nowhere to go once that let down comes, and that's one of the costs associated with you know what I the walk that we were talking about. You know that's. That could be another cost as well, but it's just. You cannot put a hundred percent confidence in people, but to me, looking at life through so many different people's eyes is the coolest gift that we've been given. We can escape from our reality for a moment and if we're smart about it. We can sit and immerse ourselves in somebody else's life to try to help that person, and you're, you're, you're getting a glimpse into their life, and there's not any anything else that we can do. That's more fulfilling than trying to see and visit somebody where they're actually at, and love them where they're at, no matter what they're going through.
Speaker 1:You just love them exactly where they're at and you're different than 95% of the people they come in contact with. And now we can get, hopefully, to a spot that propels them forward. And you know, I think it's the same thing with with us going into other countries, assuming that they want to live like we do. You know, you go into some other country and try to convince them that they want to live like we do in our country. I mean, shame on us for thinking that, because who are we to say that they need to stop doing what they're doing? And if they would just do it like us, they'd be happy. Well, let me tell you, if the world takes a snapshot of America, happiness is not, that's not, going to be, the front runner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if 2023 is the greatest snapshot, if you will, of America's happiness. Right, definitely a lot, of, a lot of stuff going on. It is Kind of throughout the this conversation, we've talked about opportunities, how, how do you spot a worthwhile opportunity, Like, how do you know if it's a a good one?
Speaker 1:Well, to me personally, it's how excited is the person that's explaining the opportunity, because to me it becomes important, yeah, if I see how important it is to somebody else, because, again, it whether or not that person is successful doesn't have any bearing necessarily on my life, but what does have a bearing is how I respond to that person, and if I can help that person achieve a dream that they're looking to achieve, then obviously it's successful. So I look at how excited is somebody. Have they done some homework? I mean, are they really committed to it? And from that point, you know, the conversations will start.
Speaker 1:But I don't, you know, I don't think that I'm afraid to tell somebody, I don't, you know, you're kind of, you're kind of grasping here. Yeah, you just might want to say you don't feel like working for a living, because that's basically what you're describing to me with this idea is to try to figure out how you can get out of working for the rest of your life and it's not going to work, yeah, so I try to remove whether or not I feel like it's a successful, you know, endeavor. Yeah, it's going to be. And just what can I do personally to kind of point them in the direction they're trying to?
Speaker 2:go to go a little bit further on that how you can't just not work for the rest of your life. I was watching a sermon once and or no, I wasn't. A sermon is a book. It was called like 48 days to the, to the work you love, dan Miller, or something like that. But in the book he talks about how work is basically speaking. It's basically like a form of worship to God, like idle hands go, like they do bad things. Essentially, I don't know the, I'm not the not the expert here that that's more your lane, working on it, we're working on it. But I believe that 100%, like you know, you're put on this earth to work like you're unique for a reason, because you're meant to work in a unique way, right, change the world in your own unique way. So I really appreciate that.
Speaker 1:For sure and I think that's something also that trying to to go through somebody's gifts, you know I would never be. You know, it's no secret that you know I have ideas, but I'm not the best executor. You know, I need to surround myself with people that are a lot smarter than I am, because I just look at it from an old guy's standpoint, saying, hey, look, that would be. You know, that dog will hunt, let's just figure out how we're going to point it in the right direction and figure out what we're going to hunt. But that dog will hunt, let's get after it. And so everybody needs. I think the self fulfilling and self made philosophy is probably a cancer to the world. You know, somehow we've convinced everybody that you're not as successful as the next man.
Speaker 1:If you're not a self made man and I think that is just a crock. Yeah, you know, because it's success is is something that can easily be learned. You can learn how to be successful, you know. I think culturally you learn how to fail, so it's only safe to say that you should. Culturally, there's a lot of successful cultures, and so it just might not be something that you grew up thinking the positive situations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, plus self made things kind of. I don't know getting into semantics, but I mean it's never like a solo endeavor, like you have to have people. I mean the only way you make money is if you create value for somebody else. So somebody else is in that equation.
Speaker 1:That's right, it's not just you and I grew up just with a guy yelling at me all the time the only people that make money work at the mint. Everybody else has to earn theirs. And if you have that mentality I mean of course I don't know how many times I had to hear it before I honestly understood what he was saying but if you have that mentality, you're not going to make, nobody's going to make it. You know you're going to have to earn it. So earning is an action. So what is your action towards earning it?
Speaker 1:And then it helped me process that you know there's not going to be anybody that walks up and just decides to pay me for being me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a good, good point. Um, that that dog will hunt you. That that phrase I love it and I wish I could use it more. But it feels so disingenuous for me to say that, yeah, that one up north, well, it's just like it's. I love that saying that dog will hunt, but I'm from upstate New York. I can't say that.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, if you've got one that won't hunt, yeah, it's like a boat anchor a boat anchor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought you said boat anchor at first, like that was like a one-word thing, but I deciphered it. My son, that's gotten good a boat anchor, boat anchor.
Speaker 1:They're just a dog that won't hunt. Take you down. I look, here I've got, I've got one that it probably did at one point. He did, I mean he was good, but it's, you know I there's so many those little one-liners that come out, yeah, I'm the time that you can't hold them back. So maybe if everybody just We'll get back with us on that, we can define some of those one-liners for yeah, I'm sure you'll hear a plethora of them in what I'm going to basically tease now.
Speaker 2:And so for those listening, I and I guess if you have been listening to the show for some time, you know that Jesse and Kings Creek has kind of come in and out, in and out. They've been definitely the most recurring guest and I've gotten close with them, everyone at Kings Creek and so we decided I Would say mostly it's Jesse who decided it, but we decided to kind of join teams and create the Kings Creek podcast, and that hasn't come out yet, but we have some episodes lined up and ideas generating. Why don't you kind of brief the listeners on what the King, the Kings Creek podcast is?
Speaker 1:Well, you're talking about stepping out. Yeah, there's a huge step out on my part, but I just some of the interactions that we've had since doing the podcast, either with new guests or Just talking about some of the topics that we discussed have.
Speaker 1:It just has shown me that there's a genuine need for For conversation you know, and part of the reason that when we originally started Kings Creek, we didn't have the name on on our hats, it was just the logo was just to encourage conversation between people. You know, if it was something as simple as what is that hat you're wearing, well then you can get into a conversation with somebody and I just, I feel like you know a very masculine manner. I feel like guys, just they lack that conversation between each other.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm and it's something that you know. Old men used to just sit out in front of stores for hours talking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right out in front of the barbershop or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and somehow something happened to where we felt like it wasn't, it wasn't as cool anymore to do that, and so Also think that you know, when you didn't know what old man Smith was doing down the street, you just started making up stuff about what he's doing down the street, right, you know. So it was just kind of a weird situation and I just I like the conversation with people and it goes back to what you and I've talked about a lot, that there is so much that we are Designed to learn from each other.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:We put up these guards and we try to protect ourselves. I was very guilty of that and starting our business and I do think that there are things that are private, you know, within your core group. There are even things that just within you and your spouse that are not table conversation, but I do, you know, see that a genuine need for conversation and a genuine need for putting somebody in front of yourself, because what happens inside of you is is. It's just remarkable to me and I just want to encourage more people to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love. I was Kind of like bought and sold hook line and singer into Kings Creek before y'all came on to the show, episode number four After reading the about section for y'all I know that this has probably changed over time, but I'll read a little bit of it. Basically, you guys say that the you have a bridge mentality, the bridge that spans over the wall that most guys put up, causing them to be more concerned with cool and conversation or connection with other guys. I eat what you were just talking about the bridge that crosses awkwardness of meeting or talking to people that you otherwise wouldn't. The bridge Representing vulnerability to communicate with others that seemingly has fallen by the wayside.
Speaker 2:So for me, I Connected with that 100% because I've always you might not think so Struggled to just kind of go up to someone and start a conversation, even though in my heart I really wanted to like that person looks super interesting, they had a fresh take on something or whatever, probably to kind of like I don't know shy to do it. I didn't want to look Desperate or not cool, so to speak. Right. So, again, the podcast was a mechanism for me to basically be that kid again and have those conversations. And so after reading that, I was kind of like I I gotta have these guys on it resonated with me 100% and getting to meet you guys throughout the last couple years and really getting to connect, I Wanted to partner so badly in some way, and so when this opportunity presented itself, there's no way I was gonna Say, yes, jump on the boat. Well, I'm gonna jump in the creek, sorry, right get your life jacket and to me it's, it's.
Speaker 1:You know the part that I wish I could take a hundred percent of the credit. Oh, I really don't really wish I could take on the credit, but I know a time that I would have To have, you know, a supportive staff, ie wife. I'm not even gonna IE her, but you know she, I Guess a big thing that was important to me was I Enjoyed helping people and I enjoyed talking to people and as much as she saw it as an aggravation from time to time, you know we're trying to get out of church, we're trying to get out of a store, we're trying to get out of wherever she's like. Can you just?
Speaker 2:shut up and let us you know, wrap it up.
Speaker 1:Wrap it up, you know, her famous word is she'll touch me on the hand and then she'll mouth transition.
Speaker 1:You know, transition, that's so funny and and so I've just always been very interested in other people and I think that when you start asking questions of people and you can have a conversation and you can show you're genuinely interested in that person, the way that that makes somebody else feel to me is nearly intoxicating, because it is something that I know that they haven't Experienced in a while, because we're just not conditioned to do that anymore, and and even more so in other cultures. You know, like, if somebody is so culturally different, for me and I'm not talking about other countries, but within our own country, within, you know, I like talking to Whatever race, whatever. I just enjoy speaking to people and and I can see with a lot of people that there's there's so much similarity in all of us that if we would just have conversations from time to time, it's amazing to me how we could eliminate a lot of the dissension that's out there, and I just don't feel like I can. I can, I don't like to read enough to learn from reading you know.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of.
Speaker 1:I'm 100% the same way. It's a cheat sheet for me. I mean a cheat code for me. It's just sitting down with somebody that is doing whatever it is I'm interested in doing. Yeah, um.
Speaker 2:I Shoot, I just lost what I was gonna say. But I agree 100%. Yeah, I'm not a reader. That's why, like the audio books conversations a great way to do that I was trying to bring up basically the synopsis of what the Kings Creek podcast is gonna be about. But I guess, to put it plainly, it's basically just an extension of the brand, Like the identity that you guys have built, the values that transcend the brand. It's basically an extension of that, like conversations around those values with people that share those values, kind of so on and so forth, if you wanna expand on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, one of the things that we like doing more than anything are just, you know, the opportunities that we get with some people that the world would aim to, be pretty successful people, and then just have a normal conversation with them and then seeing how that normal conversation just rabbit trails and it's like man, you try to figure out how can I, you know, in some way connect with this person? And it is so simple, just having normal conversations with people, and that's probably the biggest byproduct of what we do. That motivates me, or the largest motivator, however you want to say. The greatest motivator to me is you know if we're in a store, for example, if we're having a conversation with a retailer. I know so much about our retailers just by having conversation with them and it makes tough conversations a lot easier to have.
Speaker 1:You know when you get to know somebody and whether there's you know I'm not motivated there's not an end goal. You know everybody always asks me you know what's the end goal for Kings Creek? And for me it's, since I mean we don't have an end goal. I mean there is no end goal, it's just life for us. I mean we're just living life and wherever it goes, it goes. We're just gonna try to be there. But you know, the podcast is something that I've always been excited about, because I couldn't tell you how many times I've been talking to somebody saying, man, if I had recorded that, it is unbelievable. And these and it's people that you wouldn't normally think, and so it's not all about. I don't wanna just have the run of the mill, a bunch of famous people on here and then us just hear you know where they shop and what leg they put their pants on first and you know the favorite shampoo and you know that's not what it's about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree 100%, and it's one of the things I was thinking about is kind of planning for this show is how could we be fresh? And I think that being fresh now is just being genuine, like getting to know the person. I think that this is a kind of. This is what I forgot earlier. Especially now, diversity has jammed so heavily down our throats that we forget what unifies us and what brings us together. And like, I'm not discrediting diversity, diversity is great. I mean, that's how you get somewhere. It's different mindsets and testing it and hypothesizing and moving forward. But right now, we focus so much on what sets us apart, like these different groups. What tribe are you in, so to speak, that we forget about? Like, hey, man, we're all people, we all struggle, go through the same things. Let's have a conversation about it, let me get to know you Like it. That's one of the things that blows my mind now is that people will be like oh, you're a Republican, I can't be friends with you.
Speaker 2:You're like that's just one aspect of my life. What are you talking about? Like you can't be friends with me, Can't go bowling together because I voted for Bush or whatever, and I like vitamin D milk.
Speaker 1:Is that gonna be a deal breaker, you know, and that's kind of the way that you get. And to me, the things that you know when we talk about racism, for example, it's always a touchy subject. Yeah, it's just like, dude, I don't feel any different today than I did 25 years ago, 30 years ago, and praise God for it, Because the isolated amount of people that struggle with that I just don't, I just can't imagine how miserable they must be, Because it is the exact difference between me and the next person. That is where I find that connection In that difference. Tell me more, teach me. If you don't feel like I fit in with you, tell me why. Maybe if you taught me that then there'd be three or four other people that might think I was cool. Yeah, at least you get to walk a mile in their shoes, For sure, I mean, and a nightmare for me would be to put me on an island with people that look just like me. There's not a human being that wants to be on an island by themselves, or not by themselves.
Speaker 1:Technically they would be, but with a bunch of thems. I want that huge range of people, I'd have to carry on.
Speaker 2:Well, let me just say this first. I was laughing a little bit earlier because if I could sound clip that I like vitamin D milk. It's going on the sound board at some point. It'd be perfect. But I'm just curious in high school, were you a part of a clique or were you like clickless?
Speaker 1:You know it's tough for me to answer that my friends were the rainbow.
Speaker 2:It was. I was 100% the same way, Like I had friends that played sports, band, science, whatever the skaters I had friends with everybody Right, and that's kind of the way I grew up.
Speaker 1:I grew up probably not as much. I don't think that anybody that looks at the 40 plus year old version of themselves can adequately determine their childhood, Because we've had a lot of experience at this point faking it, creating our own history so that we appeal to people, which is a huge mistake. But I tried to not. I grew up broke and just playing ball all day. So it has turned. It's kind of weird that my childhood has turned into the cliche Come home when the lights are on, street lights come on and all this kind of stuff. It's not even cliche to me, it was literally that's how you did it. I mean, they didn't just call us until you had to be home at a certain time, Because I'm gonna tell you, it's buck wild, as all of us kids were, Parents didn't wanna be around us. They got rid of us because they didn't really like us.
Speaker 1:They were just responsible enough to say you can come back and I'll feed you again before you go to bed, but other than that I don't really like you, so you're gonna be gone all day long and that's the only way that we can survive. They're coming off of the late 60s and 70s and cars are huge, gas is cheap. It's just a tough life for people, and so kids were just a huge inconvenience for a lot of the parents of my friends.
Speaker 2:I remember. I mean you can't do this anymore, but I remember if I misbehaved at a friend's house, their parents would discipline me in some ways. Whatever it may be For sure that would never happen now.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I mean if you look at somebody's child wrong we're so. Because we're so prideful. Look, nobody knows as well for my child as I do. Well, that's the problem. They need to get jerked up and handled a time or two and then you'd be surprised, even a dog will walk by. If you start disciplining the dog and that circle that, when it's walking beside you, gets a little wider and wider and wider, because they learn look, this guy's crazy. So some kids just have to be dealt with that way. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm bad. You know, half of mine were that way. I needed to whip half of my kids, which I only have two, but the other one kind of got a little enjoyment out of it. It was kind of like an endorphin booster for my daughter. So I realized real quick I had to just sit her down and talk to her and that would destroy her. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But whipping was. She loved that. You know it was like, yeah, go ahead, because I want to go ahead and go do what I want to do, just get it over with. And I think that, you know, when we were growing up, it was just a respect. Also, I think the fear of knowing that discipline was really close to us at all times. It probably steered us away from doing some things we probably shouldn't have done or should have done or shouldn't have done. You know, it would kind of it would direct us a little bit and then the minute we started thinking that that was a bad thing, you know it was yeah, I mean, yeah, those are the glory days. Yes, buck wild from there.
Speaker 2:And that's just kind of You'd get hurt and then you'd get in trouble for getting hurt. That was the best. What do you mean?
Speaker 1:they had to spank you Get in your room. Yeah, you know I'll show you. And there's so many different. You know they're gonna give you something. You're crying. They're gonna give you something to cry about. You know there's so many. That's why our parents said so many crazy things that didn't make sense. You know that came from the fact that they were mentally just destroyed by how crazy we were. You know you cry now. Just hang on, I'm gonna give you something to cry about. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, well, I don't want something to cry about. I can't help but cry right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, just relax, and this you know. We always told them that this hurts us worse than it hurts you. You know that was a thing that was commonly said. I get that, though Now as a parent I can kind of understand it. It has a little more long-term effects, but it was very fulfilling as well. You know, when you're not out of anger, I don't wanna say you're spanking your kids out of anger, but let me tell you, when you're spanking them, you're angry. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we can mentally try to tell ourselves that we're not spanking them out of anger. All we want.
Speaker 2:But you're yeah, part of it's there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a byproduct of the anger and the fact they disappointed you. So if you just don't start telling them these half truths when they're kids and explaining, I'm busting your rear end because I asked you twice to do something and you failed to do it, you know. So that's a. We'll probably get into some corporal punishment too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll get there, but basically I guess it's kind of conversations like these two, but more so in an uplifting tone. I think that's something we also talked about and there's so much negative out there now, and if we can just be a light in some capacity not shying away from dark subjects, but being a light in that dark subject, like what's our take on it, what do we think is a good way to handle it, or so on and so forth. That's it for this episode, I think For those wondering, for the Nation podcast is definitely still gonna happen.
Speaker 2:For sure, but I'm also gonna be joining the Kings Creek guys to start the Kings Creek podcast, something I'm super excited about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean and I know obviously you started off by saying that you were excited about and wanting to partner I mean, we obviously it was something that we wanted to do, but it was gonna take the right person and it didn't take us long to figure out that you were that guy, just as long as it wasn't at the expense of For the Nation, because I mean, that's something that means a lot to us too. We've become kind of vested in that the success of For the Nation and we just wanna make sure that's something that's not forgotten about. But people can just take a detour and we're just gonna borrow your professionalism and your expertise because, again, it's in an area that I have no idea how any of it works. But I thank God for people like you to do.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that I'd give you a Give Greatly t-shirt, but you made them and you already took one, so we're kind of net neutral there, that's right.
Speaker 1:I'll award main.
Speaker 2:You could find someone to give one to. How about that? I can definitely do that, all right. Well, that wraps up this episode. When this comes out, I'm hoping that the Kings Creek podcast will have at least one episode out by then. Go and check it out. Basically, you can find it anywhere. You find this Spotify, apple Podcasts and we're hoping to get up on YouTube. Just search the Kings Creek podcast and you should be able to find it. I'll leave links in the description, especially to social media. That's definitely updated as of now, and that's it. I appreciate it, jesse. Thank you so much and we'll see you at the Kings Creek podcast.