The Bamboo Lab Podcast
"Ordinary people doing extraordinary things!"
The Bamboo Lab Podcast
From Battlefield to Boardroom: Brent Bruggink's Journey of Leadership, Resilience, and Service
What does it take to transition from the front lines of military and police work to the nuanced world of finance? Brent Bruggink joins us to share his extraordinary journey from Army infantry team leader and police officer to his current role as Director of Client Operations at CG Financial. Raised on a diverse animal farm in West Michigan, Brent offers a compelling narrative filled with personal stories about family life, love for the outdoors, and a unique passion for cooking exotic meats. Through his experiences, Brent reveals how the values instilled during his upbringing and military service have shaped his professional path and personal philosophy.
Growing up on a farm, Brent learned the significance of hard work and dedication from his father's dual roles as a physical therapist and farmer. He opens up about how becoming a parent himself brought newfound appreciation for the sacrifices his father made. This reflection leads into a broader discussion on the importance of self-care and finding balance amidst life's demands. Brent also reflects on how his leadership style has evolved through his varied career experiences, emphasizing the blend of structure and authenticity influenced by mentors like Denise.
Navigating the challenging transition from law enforcement to finance, Brent candidly shares the emotional and professional hurdles he faced. From door-to-door prospecting in Michigan's harsh winters to feeling unfulfilled in banking, his story is one of resilience and self-discovery. Brent underscores the value of servant leadership, mentorship, and consistent growth, inspired by his parents and mentors. Tune in for an episode filled with wisdom, encouragement, and actionable insights on achieving success through service and dedication.
https://bamboolab3.com/
Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your host, peak Performance Coach, brian Bosley. Are you stuck on the hamster wheel of life, spinning and spinning but not really moving forward? Are you ready to jump off and soar? Are you finally ready to sculpt your life? If so, you've landed in the right place. This podcast is created and broadcast just for you, all of you strivers, thrivers and survivors out there. If you'd like to learn more about Brian and the Bamboo Lab, feel free to reach out to explore your true peak level at wwwbamboolab3.com.
Speaker 2:Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the Bamboo Lab Podcast. I'm your host, brian Bosley. Before we get started today with our amazing guests, I just want to give a very heartfelt thank you to all of you listeners out there, all of you, members of the Bamboo Pack, whether you've been with us for the past two and a half years, from the beginning or whether this is your first episode and all of my amazing guests including the one I have on today, and all my future guests. We were just informed two days ago that we are now in the top 10% of all podcasts around the entire globe. And I'll tell you, when we started this two and a half years ago this journey I really thought, you know clients might listen, some family members will probably listen, some friends will pick up a few scragglers along the way. I had no idea this show was going to go the way it has. So it's been a great journey, it's a labor of love for me and I just can't thank all of you guests and all of you listeners. I can't thank you enough. So much my appreciation to all of you. So, all right, let's get rolling. Today we have a guest on who I've gotten to know really well over the past two years, somebody who I have a great deal of respect for as a leader and as a man. We've been able to work together over the past couple of years and work alongside of each other and talk on the phone quite often.
Speaker 2:Ladies and gentlemen, we have Brent Brugink on. Brent is a former Navy infantry team leader and a combat veteran. After his honorable military service, he served as a police officer in special operations units in South Carolina, including SWAT, canine and street crimes. Currently today, he is the director of client operations at CG Financial. Now, I know a lot of you long-time listeners know that name because we've had three or four guests from this amazing company.
Speaker 2:Cg Financial is a diversified financial services firm closing in on almost $4 billion in managed assets with a laser and extreme laser focus on helping their clients and employees achieve lifelong goals. Brent himself leads client facing and operations teams across multiple divisions of the company. He's a certified planned fiduciary advisor and that's a mouthful. Brent is on the board of directors for the Greater Lansing SHRM and the Associate Leadership Board for the Junior Achievements of Mid-Michigan. When he's not working, brent enjoys adventures, traveling and experience new things with his amazing wife and daughter. He's also an avid outdoorsman, aspiring home cook and automotive enthusiast, so I've been waiting for this for the past month, my friend Brent. Welcome to the Bamboo Lab podcast.
Speaker 3:Thanks, brian, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:I've been looking forward to talking to you because I want to see if you're as much fun on this as you are when we talk on the phone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll see if I can live up to the hype.
Speaker 2:All right, brother. Well, obviously I know a lot about you. I've gotten to know you well. You've gotten to know me well over the past couple of years. But can you please share with the listeners out there a little bit about yourself, where you're from, your family, who or what inspired you? Just share whatever you'd like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. I grew up in West Michigan on a horse farm. My mom was a special education teacher, my dad a physical therapist and a farmer, both retired now. So on our farm we raised horses of all breeds. We had ducks, chickens, turkeys, pheasants, pigs, goats, cows I mean at one point I even had a wallaby that lived on the farm. So I grew up on a zoo.
Speaker 3:Essentially, I'm the middle child. I've got a younger brother, an older sister. I was a difficult middle child, but today I'm blessed. I'm married to my best friend, christina, who is an absolute saint. I've put her through so much over the years I'm sure we'll talk about some of that and I'm the dad to just an incredible, incredible daughter. Her name is Sutton. I'm going on 15 years of marriage and we got engaged before I deployed to Iraq and we got married nine months after I got home and then, a few months after that, we packed up our stuff and we moved hundreds of miles away from family and just her, my wife and I, relying only on each other, which was a huge experience for us.
Speaker 3:Personally, my greatest joy in life is being a dad. There's just nothing else like it. A lot of my time is dedicated to my career, but when I can, as you mentioned, I love being outdoors. I love hunting, I enjoy being bad at golf, I love cars, I enjoy cars, I love Formula One. Outside of that, that, cooking I thoroughly like to do that. I like to cook weird stuff too, so all kinds of different meat preps like kangaroo and camel and antelope, and when I hunt, weird things like meal guy, um to eat that too. So that's a ton of fun, um, and mostly I just I love seeing other people enjoy, uh, some of the food that I cook. I do some cookouts for the folks at c Financial and it's a blast.
Speaker 2:You know, I didn't know that that you were an aspiring cook, a home cook.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I say aspiring. I'm always getting better right, but yeah, I do. It's something. I've always enjoyed it, but I've started to focus on it maybe the past 12 months or so. I've started to dive more into it and try new things and actually try to get good and integrate flavors and match salt and fat and sweet and spicy and ingredients and actually produce and cook up some pretty good stuff.
Speaker 2:What does a wallaby mean?
Speaker 3:It's like a mini kangaroo oh, that's right. Yeah, a mini kangaroo lived at my house. Her name was Ruby Ruby the Wallaby.
Speaker 2:I was thinking of a sloth when you said I was picturing a sloth.
Speaker 3:I'm surprised. I'm sure that if my dad would have had the opportunity to buy a sloth at some animal auction at some point in his life, he probably would have bought it.
Speaker 2:I had a pet alpaca when I was married.
Speaker 3:Okay, yes, that's a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I was married our house was right next door to my in-laws and they had an alpaca ranch and they had like a hundred alpacas and that was when alpaca fiber was a big thing. I remember him saying one time and I don't think I misheard this that at that point the market was such at a peak that when a baby alpaca was born, as soon as it came out it was worth between $80,000 and $100,000. Really Because of the fiber, because they would stud them out. And so he gave us one man. I never did anything with it. Unfortunately, I got a divorce so I lost my alpaca in the divorce. But I don't think I ever saw the alpaca. It was in a barn, in a farm with another 100 alpacas. I don't think I could have picked mine out in a crowd.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a straight-up zoo. I remember when I was a kid there would be the schools, like the local elementary schools, around the area I grew up in Byron Center, Michigan, and they would come to my house for field trips. So the schools, like I'd be at home waiting for the bus to come up with all these kids that I knew and I used to sell little cups of grain for 50 cents a cup to all the school kids coming to feed horses and that was my video game money when I was a kid.
Speaker 2:You sold grain to your classmates.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I sold cups of grain to the classmates. Classmates, yeah, yeah. So cups of grain to the classmates. So when they go through the barn and the stables, they could, you know, feed the horses or the goats or the cows or whatever. I mean we probably had, I don't know, I think a hundred horses at one point. I mean we just had animals everywhere.
Speaker 2:What do you have now?
Speaker 3:Anything, personally, myself. Yeah, yeah, we we've got a, yeah, we've've got a cat. We have two dogs that had passed. And then, um, my daughter, she really wanted, she really wanted a pet and we were about to leave on vacation, uh, to san diego. I was going for a conference and I was bringing christine and something with me and then we had there was a pregnant mom cat that had a litter of kittens underneath, like by my front porch, and so I remember mowing the lawn for vacation, I could see him, see the kittens there, and then my neighbor took them in and so of course we get home, uh, from from our trip and my daughter's there in there, my neighbor's garage, every day, every day, with all the kittens, right, because how how could a, you know, six-year-old girl at the time resist you know, six of the cutest little cuddly kittens? So we ended up with a kitten.
Speaker 2:So I've got a cat, I've got to tell you. I was talking to Ashley last week and she knew you were coming on the show and she said she just always appreciates whenever you talk about Sutton in a team's call you just light up.
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean it sounds biased, right, because she's my daughter, but when you meet her, you see her. She's an incredible, incredible kid.
Speaker 2:How old is she now?
Speaker 3:She's seven.
Speaker 2:Okay, so she was five when I met her, because I met her two years ago. Yeah, yeah, I remember you guys walking in because I had heard your name before, and when you guys walked in, I asked somebody Tony or Ashley or Pam or someone who that was and they said who you were. So that was the first time we met.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no, she's the real deal. I'll tell everybody and anybody I can.
Speaker 2:Well, let's give her a shout out to Sutton right now. Hello Sutton, if you're listening. Oh, she'll be listening, nice little girl, so growing up obviously in a very unique way. Byron Center, you had a big farm with a lot of animals. Was there a certain person or event or anything that inspired you that you could look back on now?
Speaker 3:You know, I'll tell you, I hated growing up on a farm. Honestly, I despised it. I never got real big into the horses, caring about breeds and colors and patterns and the show that was my dad and my sister. Mostly I just saw them, as now I've got to spend hours doing chores that I don't want to do. I would rather be doing anything else, but but but horse in farm chores, that was. That was what I saw living on the farm. So if anything it taught me, it taught me to work, uh for sure, and then I couldn't do things that I wanted to do until the jobs were done. Um, and I, you know, in terms of inspiration, I think I I don't really have anything that came to mind except within the past. I would say maybe seven, eight years. I would say my dad. It's not something that I saw right in and there, but becoming a parent, being a provider, taking care and protecting my family, it was my dad and I really came to that realization roughly seven years ago or so.
Speaker 3:I've got wonderful parents, but my dad he was a physical therapist and then he ran a farm with a ton of animals, a ton of work. I remember our living room covered in so much medical paperwork stacked in piles and everything. Back then there was no computers or anything. As a kid we'd be running all over the place and I remember my dad would say papers, papers, papers. Because we'd run through the living room he had everything stacked up, just perfect, and he was shouting at us because if we knocked over a pile, you know he'd be all, he'd be messed up and have to put everything back together. It's still a joke in the family, but you know he'd keep, he'd leave. He'd leave work in the morning or leave, leave home in the morning, go to work, take care of people, right, serve, serve people as a physical therapist. And then he would come home from his day and do chores and then you'd finish up with chores and come in and do all the patient paperwork he had to do.
Speaker 3:My dad worked a tremendous amount and I know at times you think about like I'm like, oh, it works too much. And you know I want to play basketball and my dad and he was. He was grinding away and at some points it kind of pissed you off a little bit because you think about it. You know as a kid, but now as an adult, as a as a father, as a husband, I totally get it. I mean he was doing. He was doing what makes sense to him and to provide the best life he could for us and I grew up with a nice life. We had a nice house, we took vacations. I was very fortunate to have two, two loving parents who took tremendous care and provided opportunity for us, and that was his focus. And I see that now I don't think I got it then. I definitely didn't get it then I don't know if it really clicked until recently.
Speaker 2:It sounds like it kind of clicked. The realization came when Sutton was born or right around that time frame.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely a father. It just it. Just it put that into hyperdrive to provide and to create opportunity and to take care of and protect and, um, that was it's. It's always been a focus, I would say, but a laser focus for me, obviously, when, when I had my daughter and I can see that in me and then look at my dad and it was the same and those were the same things, you know, and it just it was him demonstrating how to be an incredible provider and that's, and hard work comes with that. Obviously, he works incredibly, incredibly hard and did back then and put the hours in to make it happen.
Speaker 2:But it's really hard for us to fathom how much our parents love us until we have kids of our own. It really it's. You can't really describe that type of love it's. It's so surreal. And when you have grandkids, you know, like I do with Jack and now I've got two bonus grandchildren it's just as such a man. It's man. It's indescribable, it really is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yep, it's next level. It's next level, for sure.
Speaker 2:It really is. It really is. So, brent, I know you've gone through a lot of changes, I mean professionally. I know you have been getting promotions and getting new responsibilities, but not just including professionally. If I were to ask you in the last 12 to 24 months, can you describe to us a particular learning you've had that's made a difference in your life?
Speaker 3:Oh, you know, I feel like I'm learning every day. Honestly, I don't think any. You know, I'm trying to think of something. You try to think of something earth shattering right.
Speaker 2:Just something that's made a difference.
Speaker 3:Yeah, learning every day, I'd say. For me, it's what I'm trying to learn, which I've learned I need to do, and I'm trying to get better at it is prioritizing myself a little bit. Maybe that sounds selfish, it's not intended to. Uh, um, for a stretch of of years I mean from being a cop, um, and then transitioning out of law enforcement into into finance I was so focused on on work and just and just working, and I was very ambitious ambitious I was.
Speaker 3:I was also impatient, um, and wanted to, wanted to go and get up and move up and grow, and so focused on work that I didn't, I didn't focus on anything else. Honestly, I, I didn't focus on hobbies, I I didn't have anything I was really passionate about. I I didn't take any sort of time for myself. And I think that kind of magnified too, because when Sutton was born, I was like I got to be here all the time, I got to be at the house, I got to be with the newborn. I can't go out and do stuff because Christina's at home now taking care of everything, right, my wife does so much. So I didn't feel like I could do much on my own or for my, for myself.
Speaker 3:And so I think over the past I bet it's been about a year, uh, christina has been she's really pushed me to pick up. You know we pick up hobbies, you know re-pick up hobbies, explore some new things, try some new stuff, and she's encouraged me to do some things for myself. She understands how hard I work and how much I put into CG, into my teams, into my clients, and she's helped me realize that it's okay to do some things for me, because I think that's the first question you asked me in time about myself, for you know what I like to do. If I would answer that question three years ago, I would have nothing, I would have been just working. Just work would be it. There would be no, you know, hunting or being bad at golf or cooking. It would just be work. And so I think over the past 12 months my wife's been a huge factor in that.
Speaker 2:Well, I think Christine is exactly right. There's nothing at all selfish about that. I know it's cliche to say, but when you're in that airplane, what does that flight attendant tell you? You put your mask on first before you help the person next to you, and that's something that I think a lot of hard-charging, high, highly ambitious people, hard charging people have a hard time doing, and I mean it's one of the things I do see now more as I'm, you know, 57 years old and get to the opportunity to talk, to find people like you and people who are much older than me on my show or have become friends with them or coach them is. I see these incredibly successful people and I ask them what their schedule is like and it's amazing how much time they do take for themselves. Now it really is.
Speaker 2:I worked with a team of advisors at one time and there were 12 advisors and I didn't work with them long. I did a couple of training sessions with them and there were 14 total and they were all making a seven-figure income total and they were all making over. They were all making a seven figure incomes. They were all making more than a million dollars a year and out of the 14, 12 of them worked less. They worked 30 hours or less a week.
Speaker 2:And I some, you know, when they were going through this and I was a little bit perplexed, I said, well, you, they're not, they're my age. This was 10 years ago. They were, you know, in their forties. Um, most of them were, you know, thirties, forties, fifties. And I said, well, I'm assuming it's because you have now you've worked for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, you have, you can do that. And they said, no, not really. We kind of started off that way. After about five or six years, we, we decided kind of as a group, but they were close, they knew each other real well and they kind of had this conglomerate and they said we, we, we decided we were going to do this. So 12 out of 14, we're doing that, and they were having the best damn life possible.
Speaker 3:And it sounds like I'm not saying go back, Don't go back to Tony and Jeff.
Speaker 2:Hey, don't go back to Tony and Jeff tomorrow. Million too. He said I need a million in 30-hour work weeks. I'll let you know when it goes over Brian.
Speaker 2:You'll be my last CG guest on the show, no, but I think that's incredibly true and one of the things I've seen a lot lately and I've been talking to one of my good friends, I've been talking to several clients and even telling myself this we have to get better at breaking patterns in our lives and we get stuck in a pattern and we get stuck in ruts and we get stuck in this groove of whatever it might be, and sometimes it's working a lot of hours, going back home and taking care of family, not having the proper hobbies and taking care of ourselves Some.
Speaker 2:For some people it's not working enough, it's just wasting time, and over time, that monotony gets depressing and we get so bored with it that it begins to fail for us. And so I think I would tell people, even taking a different way home from work can be a breaking of a pattern. You know, as you know, I do a lot of rocking and hiking and I realized a week or so ago I'm like I take the same damn trails every time I hike, and so now I thought, well, I'll break off and take new trails and I'll go backwards around the loops or whatever. You know, and little things like that are a little click that make you have a different perspective on life, and when you can make bigger changes like picking up hobbies and trying new things, I mean those can be pretty macro level. Um, uh, respectable perspective shifts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for me too, like when, when COVID came on, I was in the office and I worked at a different firm, uh, when COVID came and we, everyone went remote, right, I just went remote, and then that the company I worked for decided that we're going to stay, stay remote. So that was magnified right. Like, uh, I lived, I lived at work, lived at work. Right, that's my wife. She's like you live at work, you're working all the time. It's very easy to slip downstairs and sign on and next thing you know, three hours pass and everybody's in bed and you're still grinding at the computer. And she's like you live at work.
Speaker 3:I think that really magnified it for me, because it wasn't an escape anymore. I couldn't, I couldn't get away from it at all. Um, and it's, you're right, it's, it's not. I mean, I think you know super negative impacts on on your mental health, on physical health too. Uh, for sure, I saw that and I think she, she's like she always tells you if you work so hard, do something for yourself. Because I've been so focused on when I commit to something, like when I see a goal or the mission, I'm in it, like, and I I'm fully in it, fully committed and sometimes almost like it's like too much, too much, um, or it's. I can only think about and and grinding towards this goal, or working towards this goal or being a part of this mission, and I think there's there's a balance. For sure, and I'm typically not balanced, I'm too far into it and committed to what I'm doing, um, where it's it's hard to take a step back and take some time to reassess or just, you know, be by myself, or self-care, whatever you want to call it to refresh.
Speaker 3:And we took a trip, my wife and I. We planned this trip to Europe. We just got back a couple weeks ago. It was me, son and Christina. We went and we toured a couple different countries and we hadn't taken a big vacation in years, like a decade.
Speaker 3:It's been a long time and I had never come back refreshed from a vacation that never might I that I can recall but this one, this one, when I came back, I was, I was motivated, I was refreshed. I mean, I came back in the office, hitting it. I could tell people were probably like never take a vacation again, because I was getting my teams going and I was ramped up, ready to go more than I typically am, which is usually a lot, but that's the first time I came back and I made a focus. I mean, I did work while I was on vacation just to maintain and make sure clients were taken care of or my employees and teammates and teammates were taken care of too but it wasn't the focus. It wasn't the focus.
Speaker 3:The focus was on being on vacation and when I came back, I mean I, I was, I was hitting it and people were, I think, tell you, my team looking at me when I was rolling through, ready to go, and they were ready. They better be ready to go because I definitely was and that was the first time I felt like I really had that moment. You always hear about people oh, I took a vacation, I come back, and I was so refreshed and re-energized I remember thinking like I'm never like that, like it's daunting to take time off of work. I didn't want to take time off of work because I would be out of work, you, I'd come back to whatever mess or pile-up would be. And this time I took a different approach to it, I had a different mindset about it and I came back energized and refreshed and with some new ideas and ready to go, and that's the first time it's ever happened for me.
Speaker 2:Well, you've got to start listening to Christina more then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure, don't say that, because she's going to listen to this and then she's gonna, she's gonna hold me to it.
Speaker 2:I mean, the thing is she already knows I'm not editing in that I will not edit that part out, by the way. Hey, by the way, I told somebody today and I'm gonna, I want to keep a promise that I give you some crap for, uh, keeping your team at breakfast a little long. Today I was doing a coaching session with someone, as they were driving back from a breakfast session with you or a breakfast meeting, and uh, the. The topic of today was multitasking and distractions. That was my coaching topic. Perfect timing. I think you know who it might be too.
Speaker 3:I know, yeah, I know what you're talking about. That's also one of the people, when I came back and I was ready to go, uh was kind of looking at me in the face like, oh my gosh, never take a vacation again because you're coming back too too strong. So no, I'm very fortunate to work with some incredible people at cg I've got. The person you're talking about is on one of my new teams that I've taken over over the past couple weeks and, uh, it's just, it's incredibly exciting. Uh, it's something I love. I love to do it. It motivates me to to build a team, to build bonds and relationships.
Speaker 3:I to gain trust from folks that have report to you that you're a leader of. I think that's I don't. I don't think that can be said enough. I don't know if that's talked about enough. We always talk about it from you know the leaders, the leaders perspective. But gaining your, gaining your direct reports trust, your team's trust, is so huge and I'm seeing some of these, these, um, these blossoms start to bloom with this new group and it's incredibly exciting the group you have right now is, uh, in the group, both your groups.
Speaker 2:Um, obviously, I've had the opportunity to work alongside a lot of them. It's good, they're good groups they are.
Speaker 1:They've been a pleasure to work alongside of.
Speaker 2:For me, you know I've got a question. You have a unique style of, I would say, leadership. We talked about this, you and I. Where you know you're a big man, you're a tall man, wide shoulders, you've got a deep voice, former military, former police officer. You kind of come in with the there's a reputation that follows you before you get there and where it's like, oh shit, we got Brent's going to be taken over our team and but yet it works, you change their paradigm relatively fast without giving up that structure and that accountability and that that discipline that you teach you, you, you that it's almost like the iron fist covered with a velvet glove.
Speaker 2:So I want to ask you and I have shared this with you, brent, and I've shared it with a lot of people, as you and I worked alongside of each other for a year or whatever it was, there was never me coaching you on leadership. It was us having conversations about what you're working, know what you're, what you're working on, your opportunities and challenges, because I really thought this guy's done it before. You had such a unique style. I didn't think there was a lot I could coach you on other than maybe some tactical things that give you names to things you're already doing. So the question for you is where did you acquire your style of leadership? Because it is high, it's high level and it's unique. Where'd that come from?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've told you that before.
Speaker 3:No, I do. I do it's it's, I do appreciate it. It's something I'm incredibly passionate about and I think a lot of it comes from. I had some pretty tremendous leaders in the military. One was Sergeant Carter. He was a tremendous example of what a realistic leader was. I mean, this is a guy that's multiple combat tours, decorated, veteran, seen a lot of stuff, but he kept it real. It was never fake with him, he was authentic, he was realistic. When something sucked he would tell you it sucked and you know, when something was great, he'd be right there with it too. He wasn't a sugar coater.
Speaker 3:And then in in the law enforcement I had some. I had some wonderful folks that I worked with, some leadership there, similar skill set, right, similar delivery in terms of hard exterior, soft interior and how they can talk to folks. And then being a cop. Being a cop has been instrumental in the success I've experienced outside of law enforcement. To be able to have difficult, awkward, challenging conversations, to position and articulate it in a way that folks can understand it. That's been huge. Throughout my throughout my career I've seen some people do it. I put a little bit of my own spin on it.
Speaker 3:So the being a, the leaders I had in the military law enforcement. And then I had a tremendous mentor at Alaris, the company I worked at before CG Financial. Her name was Denise and she was instrumental in my career. A true leader, almost pastoral in her leadership style, she took mentorship to extremes, fully committed to finding the right people and guiding them and mentoring them and providing insight and creating opportunities, challenging them, testing capacity she was very, very good at that. So I take a lot of bits and pieces from there, I think sometimes I don't want to admit it, but I might make it up a little bit as I go along as well. Um, but it helps offset some of that stigma when I do come into a room or take over a new team and they, they know me for my background, they they know that you know combat, batch and infantry and special operations, law enforcement or SWAT team and they think that I'm going to be just this asshole, you know, and it's it's not, it's not accurate, right? I mean, I totally can be. You don't get me wrong. There's, there's typically a time and a place, but so sometimes I've got to turn that around with the folks.
Speaker 3:I think for me, setting expectations, setting clear expectations with people, letting them know what you expect, what success looks like, how things are going to be different, why they're going to be different, being really clear and eliminating some of that uncertainty, eliminating some of that gray area for people is huge. And when I do that and people start to see that I care, I'm committed and I mentioned it before like I know that I have to get their trust. They might not know me or they might have a preconceived notion for what my style is going to be like, and I know that I've got to. I've got to get their trust. I've got to show them and not only show them, but do what I say I'm going to do and deliver on what I'm saying. And once you start to do that, people get into it and they'll see that you're committed. They'll see that you put your money where your mouth is, that you're not full of shit. That's been huge for me.
Speaker 3:So that's and that's stuff that you know I've learned and I've watched folks too I mean in the, in the army, right in the army we say you know, I'm not gonna ask you to do something, I wouldn't do myself right. So I do the same thing here if, if I ask you to do a project, I'll. It's not something I wouldn't do myself if I had to do. It might be tedious or time consuming, but that's I think of things from that lens and and I think that helps tear down some of that. Oh, my gosh, brunt's coming in to tear things up, or he's gonna be just a huge jerk or not flexible or too rigid or whatever. I've heard all of it. Right, I've heard all of it. But absolutely I think if you talk to my teams, they see a different side for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, I just want to address the audience right now. I want to think of you out there, whether you are in a leadership role or not, you know a technical leadership role or not. You are in a leadership role. We all are, because we all influence some somebody out there, whether it's our children or friends or family. Just think of some of the things Brent just said, I think setting clear expectations, sharing the how and the why things are going to be changing, you know, kind of eliminating that uncertainty. Show them what success does look like, gain their trust and make sure they understand that you're not going to ask them to do anything that you're not willing to do yourself. And those are some golden rules right there that we can all take away. That's a nugget of wisdom right there that anybody in that audience right now can take and say how can I apply this to my life, whether it's through my team, my company, my family, my friends or whoever it might be. So thanks for that, brent.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:All right, now the million-dollar question that I ask everyone. You can refuse to answer it, you can deny or decline to answer, but what is one of the most challenging or difficult things you've ever gone through in your life and how would you say you overcame it?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think there's yeah, there's quite a few. Uh, just in my past life is. Sometimes I think about the. The world I live in now is sometimes it's much harder and sometimes it's much, much easier than being in the army or being a cop, but I would say the the most. One of those difficult things that we've gone through was the transition from police officer into finance. Um, that was almost the thing that like defeated me, quite frankly. Um, but I almost gave up at um. It was incredibly difficult when I left.
Speaker 3:So the first 10 years of my adult life were spent in the military or being a cop. And as a police officer, I was high level. I mean, I was on the teams and I had the cool stuff and the cool stories, did a lot of really neat things and I put away a lot of real bad people. I saved people's lives. It did some really awesome stuff. And when I decided to leave law enforcement and transition into some sort of finance, I had no idea. I you know, when I was, when I was a police officer, I was going to school at the same time to get my degrees. At the same time to get my degrees, I didn't have the opportunity to do an internship in my bachelor program when I was 20 years old, living at home with mom and dad. I didn't have that opportunity. I was in my mid-20s, I was married, I had a mortgage, I had bills, I had responsibilities, I had all that stuff. I had a wife and I was leaving all I knew, all I ever knew, to go to something I had no clue about. And when you think about finance, it's so broad. I mean from corporate finance to accounting, to advising to investments, to portfolio manager I mean it's huge. The spectrum is gigantic and I had no idea where I wanted to fall into it. I had some thoughts, but for me, when I left being a cop, I knew that I had to move away from South Carolina where I was a police officer, because I don't know the stats behind it.
Speaker 3:But most cops that try to leave law enforcement end up back in law enforcement Because it's incredibly hard to do. It's hard to transition out of that Because there's no other job like being a cop. There's no other job like being a cop and all my friends were cops. I was only ever around cops. That was it.
Speaker 3:My whole life was being a police officer, because when you're a police officer. It's not a job, it's your identity, right? I mean, you're always a police officer, always. You know, when I, when I go home, I'm a cop. When I'm out at the grocery store, I'm a cop, you know, today, working, as you know, 401k advisor, client operations. That doesn't matter if I'm at the grocery store, like nobody cares that I, you know, managed 401k plans, right, like nobody cares about that. But people care if you're a police officer.
Speaker 3:So I, I go to leave law enforcement. I knew I had to move. So my wife and I moved back to Michigan. Um, so we moved from Michigan, got married and just her and I together we got it all sorted out and and then moving back to Michigan to get away from being a cop, because I was like when I commit, I commit, right. But it almost broke me because I went to work for Edward Jones for the first few months of transitioning out and it was a wonderfully terrible experience for me because it showed me what I don't want to do and I'd never had exposure to that. So I didn't know what I didn't know trying to move into finance.
Speaker 3:And so I remember getting all my training and the licenses and the studying and passing all the tests, and then I go out to do prospecting and it's January in Michigan. I'm wearing long johns under my suit as I'm knocking on doors. That was Edward John'm knocking on doors, right, edward Edwards. Edward John Slick knocking on doors, right. So I'm going door to door to door for nine hours a day, just constantly getting doors slammed in my face because some random guys knocking on your front door don't want to talk to you about investments, and so you can imagine how well that goes over.
Speaker 3:So I go from being on the SWAT team kicking in somebody's door to the opposite end of the spectrum, getting doors slammed in my face all day long, and I remember just continuing to fail, hearing no thousands and thousands and thousands of times, and it was the exact opposite of being a cop. When I had to arrest somebody, they told me no, that I didn't care. They were getting arrested. Like you can, you can tell me no, you want, you're gonna end up in handcuffs in the back of my car. I don't care how many times you say no, I might even have to fight you over it. Well, now I can't do that right. So I just gotta get the door slam to my face and walk to the next house and just it was hours and hours of that and I thought this is the worst thing ever of all the. I mean I've been to ramadi, iraq, I've been at war, I was a cop in the ghetto. I mean I was in the hood.
Speaker 3:Knocking on doors was like the worst thing I ever did in my life for a career and it seriously almost broke my heart. I'm thinking getting back in the car. I parked the car in the cold sack and I would get out and I would be walking. And I remember getting back in the car and just thinking like, what am I doing? I left, I left law enforcement for this and so many times I would talk to my wife. I'd be so down and and you know she was like we moved and we upgraded our life and we moved back to michigan and we're not happy and it was tough. It was so rough, um, it was so rough.
Speaker 3:And then from there I went to try banking, because I again, I had no clue where I wanted to go in the realm of finance. So I was like, what about banking? Let's try that. So I got a job at a bank as a licensed banker and I did that for about nine months and I wasn't too into it. It was fine, but it wasn't where I wanted to be at and I was interviewing for police departments because I was ready to go back.
Speaker 3:I was interviewing for police departments because I was ready to go back, I was ready to give up on transitioning out and I was ready to go back to being a cop. And I submitted an application to a company I'd never heard of about a position I knew nothing about, and I got an interview and I was negotiating salary for the police department I had. I had accepted an offer, um at a police department where we were negotiating pay, negotiating salary. And I came in and got interviewed at this other firm, alaris at the time, and denise had interviewed me and I said and then I got offered the job and I told Chris yes, this is it.
Speaker 3:This is the last time I said if this doesn't work, I'm going back to being a cop. So I'm not doing this anymore, I'm not failing, I'm not putting up with this, I'm not trying more things, I'm going to go back to being a police officer. I was good at it, it and then that was, you know, over a decade ago and I haven't looked back since. That's nice, that was yeah, that was it man I I got so close to. I mean, like I said, if I wouldn't have got that interview I'd be, I'd be a police officer so how did you transition to cg then?
Speaker 3:uh, so cg, let's see I met. So, uh, tony owns owns crooked foot hunt club in awasa, the pheasant hunting club, and so I was. I came out for a veteran pheasant hunting event. So he does this. It's, it's a. It's a wonderful, wonderful event, if any if anybody's in the area as a veteran that's listening, please check it out. It's crooked foot hunt club. They every october, november, every fall, they sponsor this huge hunt where veterans can come hunt for free pheasant hunt for free.
Speaker 3:And and so I don't know how I heard about it, but I ended up there and I met Tony. I went up to him just to thank him for hosting this hunt I mean, it cost a significant amount of money to do that and the time and the effort from his team and the Crooked Foot folks and I just wanted to thank him. And then I started. I started like research, like the club and him, and I found out he owned cg financial. I was like, oh, cg fans, it sounded familiar. Well, at alaris we had joint clients. Alaris was the record keeper and the administrator for some 401k plans that some, some of the advisors at cg were the advice rock. And so the next year I went hunting again, I started to talk to tony about business because in my head I was like, oh, maybe we could partner on some more business together and I could. I could sell business, and you know they were selling business, they would, they could put it with laris and then we found I was looking at jobs, um, and I found there was an opening at CG for a position of recruiter that reached out to me and I actually interviewed them with Tony and we had some of that common rapport from the hunting component. But it was a job that wasn't quite framed out, wasn't quite built out yet as a new position that they were creating to take over and kind of lead their 401k book of business at cg financial. And they made an offer, actually turned them down, um, in late 2020. I turned them down first and then it was another year.
Speaker 3:Year and a half went by and I thought about it a lot. I I wanted to grow, I wanted to get into a different change of pace, I wanted to join a different firm who was on the move, and that's no doubt CG Financial. And I saw Tony again and he said to me you ever think about when I offered you that job and you turned it down. You ever think about that. That's what he said to me. I said well, well, you know, lately I've been thinking about it a lot and he said let's have a meeting. And we met a couple weeks later and then they offered me the the role to take to leave the retirement plan took a business and I accepted it. And I came aboard um 2022, one, one like one. Three3, 2022 was my start date.
Speaker 2:Okay, Well, I'll tell you, Tony came out of the womb negotiating and selling to the doctors and nurses. I'm pretty sure he did. Yeah that's probably accurate. I mean, I've never seen a guy negotiate and sell like him. I saw it when we were both in our mid-early 20s. It's something to behold.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like he knew too. He could just look at me and knew I was thinking about it, and then he said it. I was like yep, that's exactly what I was thinking. Let's do something. A couple weeks later, here we are, doing the thing.
Speaker 2:He was patiently waiting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, next level. For sure there's levels to the game.
Speaker 2:So really, your career choice from the day you got out you left home, you know, serving as a combat vet, swat, then going to the financial services really has all wrapped around the term service. You served our country, you served the people of South Carolina and now you're serving your clients and your teams. I mean, really that's been a big theme for you as you've grown up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I wonder if that came somewhere from watching people, watching your father and your family serve these animals and your dad being a physical therapist and serving his clients and patients. There's got to be something, because most people don't have that track record of three very distinct careers paths. I mean, obviously, military and law enforcement aren't that they're somewhat connected, but where it's, it's the same. Your style hasn't really changed. You know your, your whole model, uh uh. Motto is in theme is to serve others. You know improve others, increase uh. Motto is and theme is to serve others. You know improve others, increase. You know other chances of success, and you know so. There's got to be something that clicked in your childhood that made that happen.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I think you know my mom. My mom was a special education teacher and I inner city, inner city, Grand Rapids school, so all day long she was taking care and teaching, teaching these kids. And you know my dad we talked about. You know what he did and really frankly, I mean I grew up in a Christian home where service is such a huge component of what we do. It's what you know Jesus preaches throughout the Bible and I grew up in that environment and I can see it, and you know, being servant leadership.
Speaker 3:It's not just a cool catchphrase. I mean I think there's so much to it and you nailed it, brian. I mean I love having experienced an incredible mentor and mentors throughout my life and I've I can't I mean I can draw specific success. I can tie it to specific people. I mean Denise I mentioned her instrumental in in my finance career and I see how huge it was for me. I mean it impacted me personally and professionally. It impacted my ability to provide a nice life for my family, my paycheck, my opportunities, success. All of that from one person, one person who saw something and took the time and dedicated herself to me and to grow my career.
Speaker 3:I mean what a freaking cool thing to do for somebody. I mean what an incredible thing to impact somebody, somebody so greatly that it sets the course for their life. I mean what, what a powerful thing that is. And if I've got the ability to do some of that, I mean I'm not saying that scale, but if I've got the ability to see something in somebody and share and teach and learn from them and they learn from me and create opportunity and put them into positions where they're going to fail and that's okay and they'll learn.
Speaker 3:And to be able to do that for somebody, I think it's it's special. But to me it's an honor to to be able to be a part of somebody's life like that. I mean you say you've got one shot, you've only got one life. You know, live it to the greatest. We say all that stuff and nobody, you know I don't care if people don't do it. I can tell you that People don't do it. They don't take advantage of what you give or what they've got. And I mean I try to do that. But if I can help people fulfill some of that stuff, I mean that's just, that's an honor to do that.
Speaker 2:That's the best word to use. It is a complete honor and it's not. It's not, and sometimes it's the most challenging thing you'll do. But when you see the light bulb go off and someone, you see their life turn around or just even turn that corner slightly. There's not.
Speaker 2:There's no better high in the world yeah, I agree, because I absolutely agree, because it's that ripple effect you're the butterfly effect and that person's going to go out and potentially do that for someone else or improve somebody else's life. And that's really how you change the world is by working better with the people that are closest to you, serving them better. All right, I have a question. If I come down to your neck of the woods tomorrow with my time machine dragging behind me in my Jeep and we get in it and you go back to some time in your life, brent, you pick the time frame when you were younger and you're going to sit down and talk to your younger self, I'm going to sit back and just observe. What would you tell the younger Brent?
Speaker 3:What words of wisdom, recipes for success or advice would you give yourself at a younger age? Oh, I wish such a time machine existed because I would probably buy the IPO of Apple and things like that. It's like that's the finance piece coming out of me is invest sooner, sooner. But that sounds boring, uh, but it's something I'm teaching my daughter. So it definitely definitely came to mind about investing. But you know, I would say, uh, don't, don't feel like you always have to hit home runs. Um, you know, I mentioned I mentioned before when I get to something, I go all in and I'm focused on being the best at whatever that thing is.
Speaker 3:In some cases it can lead to getting burned out. I mean, when I was a police officer, I wanted to do all the things, all the cool guy stuff, you know. I wanted to join a team. I wanted to be on SWAT, I wanted to be on K9, I wanted to do all the things, all the cool guy stuff. You know, I want to join a team, I want to be on SWAT, I want to be on K-9. I wanted to go after, you know, drug dealers, gang members, and I got to do all that and I mentioned some incredible things, but I thought I had to too. Like I thought, if I'm going to be a cop, I'm going to be a cop, I'm going to be do all the things right.
Speaker 3:And I wanted to hit a grand slam and I did that and I burned myself out. That's part of why I left law enforcement is I did way too much. I had no time, I was. It consumed every part of me and that was because I was trying to hit. I was trying to constantly hit home runs when, in hindsight, like it's okay if you hit a single, it's okay if you hit a double. If you do, you're still going to get around the bases. Right, you might have to rely on a team member to hit another single or double too, but you're still going to score points, you're still going to score runs. It doesn't need to be a home run every single time.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of the things I've learned really is the same thing. That's really where we come up with the term bamboo lab, because of the Chinese bamboo seed. You plant it. It takes four years to grow. Then it blossoms In the fifth year. It grows, I think, 90 feet in the first six weeks. But I think that's one of the things I've learned really. I'm 57, probably in the last five years I've learned that it's not about those big, huge hits, those big moments. It's about little, gradual improvements every single day. It's just, you know it's. It's sometimes you have to bunt and get on base, sometimes you get hit, you know, sometimes you have to, you know, get hit in and walk um some, you know, sometimes it's single, sometimes doubles, every once in a while it's a triple and every once in a great while it's a home run. But you, you know, really celebrate the singles. I mean because the singles add up and that's where you win games, that's where you win absolutely.
Speaker 3:I love that. Consistent consistency, right, consistency put in the work for a long time. I mean that's investing too right. If I invest consistently over a long period of time, theoretically I'm gonna end up with a nice sum, instead of trying to try to day trade and hit home runs every time. I mean that's so as so is in life. I think if you can be consistent and working towards what you want to work towards and it's okay if you don't, if you don't get it all tomorrow, right, some of it might come next year, but as long as you're working towards it, it's realistic, it's purposeful, you're committed to it, you're passionate about it.
Speaker 3:I think we underestimate, and I think we underestimate consistency. I really do. I think you look online so much. You see the guy wake up at 4.30 in the morning, I take a cold polar plunge, I read six books, I study Mandarin Chinese and then I go to work and then I just crush it close deals all day. I mean that's what we see and that's not life, right, that's not life. Not even close. Right, not even close. I said sometimes I don't wake up until 10 minutes before I got my dress pants on when I get in the office. So it's consistency. I think it's underrated. I really do.
Speaker 2:And if, yeah, it's consistency, and sometimes during that you fall down, you get off your pattern, you get back up and you keep doing it. Because sometimes, whether you're trying that consistent route, it's called the aggregation of marginal gains, where it aggregates over time. Then you'll get the wins down the road. Some days you feel like you're not doing something right. You feel like you're not seeing the success. You feel like you're not doing something right. You feel like you're not seeing the success, you feel like you're failing a little bit. Just keep going forward. Step back up and move forward. Keep doing it. Keep doing it. Make improvements every day. What do they say? If you improve by 1% every day, you're 38 times better at the end of the year, or something like that. Yeah, brent, what's next for you?
Speaker 3:I mean, I know you've had a lot of changes professionally Anything in line for you, either professionally or personally, in your life. Yeah, I mean I'm in it to win it at CG. I mean I'm in it to win it. I was just like you mentioned earlier. I was recently promoted to the leadership team. I mean, my core responsibilities are leading and managing these groups, operational strategy you know how it impacts clients, how it impacts team members, focusing on some of the talent development within the firm. So I've got a lot of work to do in this new role that I'm incredibly, incredibly excited and motivated on, and I know that when I can build the foundation, I know you know what's next is to step higher into CG. So that's what's next for me is to crush what I'm doing now to make a hell of an impact to the folks that I'm around, to the clients, to the people, to the company, and then just keep growing, keep growing my career and, as much as CG will love me, to continue my journey together.
Speaker 2:Well, they're pretty fortunate to have you. I think there's no doubt about that. I appreciate that. Okay, another question, a couple more questions here. Would you right now, as you've into cg over the past two and a half years um, yeah, obviously. Sutton's seven years old. You've been married to christina for 15 years. You've had two former lives in military as well as a law enforcement. Right now, on this day, what would you consider a win for you? What do you say? Is when something happens, you say that's a victory. What does that look like for you?
Speaker 3:uh, I could think of a couple. I can think of a couple, uh, going back to something we talked about when, when a team member grows. So I talked about how important, you know, mentorship has been in my life and how passionate I'm about it today. I think a win is when I can see some, when I see that light bulb moment right, when I see that that flower starts to blossom whatever analogy you want to use I think that's a huge win. And then when I can see that, when it clicks and connects, and then you can reward it right, acknowledge it, you can, you can uh, promote it or pay more money to it, all those, all those things that that you want to be able to do when somebody grows, uh, professionally, that's that's absolutely a win. A win for me, um, another one you know it's it's the, but true is just is when my clients are taken care of, uh, when I can be, when I can be a solution and I can offer solutions or good advice, guide, guide a client through a tough or complex situation.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm working on a hospital merger right now, or there's a couple of hospitals merging, merging retirement plans together. Where there's a couple hospitals merging, merging retirement plans together and it's a lot. I mean it's 1500 employees are impacted by this. You know, 50 plus million dollars and I get to be a part of that. And when we come out, when we come out of this transition, it's going to be awesome. I mean to be able to, to be able to do that, usher that and guide that, because things like that I love and are motivating, um and I. The last thing I would say is just again, maybe selfishly, but when, when talent and performance is appreciated, like when I can, like when I can deliver and and people like, yeah, he delivered, you know, that's a win, that's a win. I mean, like I said, I don't sound selfish, but it's motivating when we can operate at a high level and it's recognized or you can see that impact in a positive way.
Speaker 2:So really, everything you just said comes to that one word we used earlier. It's service. Yeah, your whole damn life is wrapped around service. Yeah, that's great, all right. Final question, my friend, is there any question that I didn't ask, that you wish I would have, or is there any final message that you'd like to leave with the bamboo pack?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think just a few things that that I talked to my teams about, that I try to think about and just it's been. It's an advice that's been shared with me as I've, as I've grown in my career, and one of them is is just, it's just take it one step further. Um, it's something I repeat to my teams. It's simple to think about and to do it, it could be one of the smallest things, right, it doesn't have to be some massive, massive thing. I mean, for example, and it's instead of asking for the answer, take it one step further and research all the places before you ask. Or something super simple, right, if, if somebody asks you for an excel report, maybe one step further is naming the tabs or color coding or everything in the same font. Or you know, if you're going to go on vacation, instead of just an out of office, call your clients or email your clients and let them know you're going to be out. It's just, it's those little tiny things that it's just. It's just one more, it's one step further, right, I think that's been something I preach and something I try to do.
Speaker 3:For sure, it's incremental. Like I said, it's not home runs, it's a bunt, it's a single for sure. But those things add up over time and make a big impact. They help position you in a positive light. They help highlight the service that you do. They help highlight the work that you do or demonstrate ambition or a thirst for knowledge. It's just those little things, it's micro stuff, none of it's earth shattering, but it's simple to think about. How can I take this little thing one step further and then deliver that result?
Speaker 2:And there's really nothing in life. You can't apply that to.
Speaker 3:No, it absolutely, it's yeah universal.
Speaker 2:It is universal.
Speaker 3:Universal. You know universal, and if I could share one more, it'd be. I had trouble with this when I was leaving. Law enforcement is don't let your ambition be confused for impatience. You know, it's ambition and impatience can look like the same thing if it's not properly articulated and ambition is rewarded and impatience is annoying. When somebody's impatient and pestering, it's annoying, but when somebody's ambitious, it's celebrated, and those two things can look very similar unless you articulate it the right way, and I didn't. At first I was desperate to grow and to be more successful and to get more clients or get more assets or get promoted or get a better title or make more money. It was all the right things. But the way I went about it was the wrong way because I was also impatient, and so I've shared this with a couple younger folks on.
Speaker 3:Some of my teams of current and of past is talking about. You know, don don't, don't misconstrue it right, channel it. Channel your ambition the right way to present it the right way. And that that was something I got slapped down for that, frankly, by by Denise, by that woman I talked about at Laris. I mean she had slapped me down a couple of times because I was. I was ambitious, but I was also impatient. And then we had this. This conversation right here was very impactful for me as to how am I, how am I portraying it, how am I positioning it? And uh, they, they're not the same thing, but they can look like the same thing If it's not, if it's not poorly, if it's not properly portrayed.
Speaker 2:I wish you would have told me that 20 years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:A lot of headache.
Speaker 3:Yeah, seriously. I mean, you can think about those times where you're like, oh, why didn't I get this promotion, or I should have got it, or you know, all that client should have been mine and you, you, all that client shit in my mind and you complain or you moan and you groan, or you say it too loud and somebody hears it and that type of thing, instead of saying what do I need to do to position myself to be able to do this next, to learn from them, versus ready to just think I can take over for them, right when I, when I can't, it's just, it's those types of things that I thought that for sure and absolutely improperly displayed it and, like I said, I got, I got slapped down more than once and it seems a little heartache and heartburn and stress. If you can do it the right way, but I think for anybody that's listening who is ambitious, just are you channeling it the right way to ultimately achieve that end goal?
Speaker 2:That's great advice. And I think when you think about you know if you have a goal in mind in life and you go at it like I'm going to hit a bunch of home runs to get to that goal, you're going to practice a lot of impatience because you're going to strike out a lot. But if you just say I have that goal but I'm going to go doubles and singles and doubles and maybe a triple here and there, that's more of the ambition and patience right there. You know that incremental growth, that Chinese bamboo seed type stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Great advice, my friend, friend in great conversation. It was more than I expected and I expected a lot so oh, good, that's good. I appreciate you, my friend. You're you're a good friend to me and you're a good man and it's an honor to know you and it's been an honor to have you on here. I just want to thank you for being such a great wisdom filled, inspiring guest on the bamboo lab podcast oh, likewise, brian.
Speaker 3:It's been an absolute pleasure. I mean I've thoroughly enjoyed our conversations and getting to know you. I enjoy talking about this kind of stuff too. I know we both have that in common and it's a pleasure, man. It really has been. I've been looking forward to this.
Speaker 2:You definitely put on a damn good show.
Speaker 3:Good.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brother. I appreciate it, appreciate you All, right, everyone. Thank you for tuning in this week. Now, I know this is an episode and I can tell certain episodes and shows that are going to have a major impact on people. So what I'm going to ask you to do is please sit down and listen to this. If you're driving, running, hiking, whatever you're doing. If you can't take notes, listen to it a second time and take notes. I've got a full page of notes. I have no more room left on my paper here and I've known Brent for quite a while.
Speaker 2:You're getting his message for the first time, most of you. So take notes and share this with three other people. Just send the text off, or the email or the text or the podcast off. Send it and share it with three other people, because there's a lot of wisdom here that can change people's lives. Please hit that like button, please rate and review us and please keep sending those heart letters into us. I love getting the emails and sometimes I still get a snail mail for people who somehow found my address, but send the emails in. Let us know what this episode did for you. I'll talk to each and every one of you one week from today, same time, same place. In the meantime, please get out there and give your best. Please get out there and show love and respect to others and please, by all means, live with purpose and passion. I appreciate each and every one of you.
