Transacting Value Podcast
Looking for ways to reinvigorate your self-worth or help instill it in others? You're in the right place. Transacting Value Podcast is a weekly, episodic, conversation-styled podcast that instigates self-worth through personal values. We talk about the impacts of personal values on themes like job satisfaction, mitigating burnout, establishing healthy boundaries, enhancing self-worth, and deepening interpersonal relationships.
This is a podcast about increasing satisfaction in life and your pursuit of happiness, increasing mental resilience, and how to actually build awareness around what your values can do for you as you grow through life.
As a divorced Marine with combat and humanitarian deployments, and a long-distanced parent, I've fought my own demons and talked through cultures around the world about their strategies for rebuilding self-worth or shaping perspective. As a 3d Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and a lifelong martial artist, I have studied philosophy, psychology, history, and humanities to find comprehensive insights to help all of our Ambassadors on the show add value for you, worthy of your time.
Ready to go from perceived victim to self-induced victor? New episodes drop every Monday 9 AM EST on our website https://www.TransactingValuePodcast.com, and everywhere your favorite podcasts are streamed. Check out Transacting Value by searching "Transacting Value Podcast", on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.
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Transacting Value Podcast
From Special Ops to Storytelling: Mike Taylor’s Journey from the Battlefield to Business
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After 22 years in special operations, Mike Taylor traded the intensity of combat for the world of creative entrepreneurship—and the transformation is nothing short of remarkable. In this candid conversation, Mike opens up about the unexpected twists that shaped his post-military life, from the quiet revelations of COVID lockdowns to the identity crisis that followed his retirement. Now the founder of Taylor Life Digital Marketing and the gaming label Chaotic Chronicles, Mike shares how discipline, resilience, and a creative spark helped him rebuild purpose beyond the uniform. His story is raw, insightful, and a testament to the power of reinvention when structure meets imagination.
(10:46) https://porthouse.kw.com/
(23:06) https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/Newsroom/WreathsAcrossAmericaRadio
Mike's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/mike.taylor357?subscribe
Chaotic Chronicles: https://linktr.ee/Chaotic.Chronicles?subscribe
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The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast host and guest and do not necessarily represent those of our distribution partners, supporting business relationships or supported audience. Welcome to Transacting Value, where we talk about practical applications for instigating self-worth when dealing with each other and even within ourselves, where we foster a podcast listening experience that lets you hear the power of a value system for managing burnout, establishing boundaries, fostering community and finding identity. My name is Josh Porthouse, I'm your host and we are redefining sovereignty of character. This is why values still hold value. This is Transacting Value.
Mike Taylor:You have to reevaluate yourself, like I said, and look inside and see what you really want in life, and I think what you really want is what your heart is going to do and how you're going to follow it Today on Transacting Value.
Josh Porthouse:What is it about? A high intensity operational tempo, like in the special operations community, that drives us afterwards to try to find some way to escape, some way to create purpose or, more importantly, some way to self-express. Ideally, those opportunities also come with bringing our family and friends together. Now, in today's conversation, we're talking with the founder of Taylor Life Digital Marketing, mike Taylor, all about how he's done it and what he's done and how he's used it to build his businesses and his brands throughout the last year and the few years prior. My name is Josh Porthouse, I'm your host and from SDYT Media. This is Transacting Value, mike. What's up, man? How you doing.
Mike Taylor:I'm doing great man. Thanks for having me. It's been one long wait for here, huh.
Josh Porthouse:Yeah, yeah, but you know what I got to say, dude. Everything that I have heard you do over, especially the last year, let alone up to that point, sounds like it's taken you a lot longer to get into a position where you can piece it all together and make sense of it.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's definitely uh, doesn't happen overnight. You know, that's a, that's something that a lot of people, a lot of people I didn't realize they don't, they don't really um, they don't grasp, they think it's all the good stuff. They don't see how hard and the time and definitely all the effort that goes and goes into it. So it's definitely not something that happened overnight, that's for sure.
Josh Porthouse:Yeah, well, that's sort of the downside of social media, I guess. You know. When Zuckerberg stormed onto the scene, everybody was like, hey, life's pretty good for everybody. I guess Pretty much, you can't capture all the effort. Let's start here, man. So you've got a lot of things going on, and so for everybody else who's unfamiliar with the show or unfamiliar with your brand and your businesses, let's just open there, okay. Uh, who are you? Where are you from? You know what sort of things are shaping your perspective on your businesses and on life right now well, I'm uh, mike taylor, as you said.
Mike Taylor:Uh, usually right now you can. Actually, I found out about a week or so ago. You can google me. I didn't know that. I was kind of surprised, but you can google uh, mike taylor, life and I pop up all over the place. So it was, uh, it was, it's actually felt really good for all the hard work.
Mike Taylor:Um, yeah, so I uh I'm actually retired after 22 years in the military and I now I'm south of San Antonio and you know pretty much a full time dad and I started my own marketing agency probably right before I retired, probably about two years before I retired. I started kind of like building the foundation of it and since then I have had a lot of adventures to kind of get where I'm at now. The marketing agency is doing well, we have clients. We're actually at the part now where we're starting to. We're in the planning stages and about to execute next year about expanding, we're working on a program and mentorship for kind of a mission based internship.
Mike Taylor:So the interns mostly people sit here interns they think of, you know you don't pay them, they treat them like crap and they just, you know, free labor. And my thing is more of like I want it to be more of a mentorship, where I'm training them, they get hands on, they do get, you know, a small pay. So you know you get permission for whatever they do, and then they stick with us and we kind of mentor them and kind of train them and then when their time is done I think we're working on a 24-week type process and when they get done, they get to have two choices they can sign on with us full-time or they can go somewhere else so we can write them a letter recommendation, you know, and kind of vouch for them and stuff like that. So we want to give them experience and stuff. I uh, I came up with that just because a lot of people or a lot of businesses, they want somebody fresh out of out of college and they want freaking 10 years of experience and like this is possible. You can't, you can't do like what the hell? So that's where I kind of I wanted to do that uh, forum, uh.
Mike Taylor:So while we do that, we're kind of expanding. We're doing that, uh, in the process of kind of shifting our focus. We've been in a lot of um big corporations and we did um like big businesses, medical facilities and then music artists and things like that but now we're trying to be more of the technical side, or technology side and gaming type stuff, mostly because that's what I like, I enjoy it the most and it's something that I don't want to look five years from now, ten years from now, and I dread going to work. I'm retired, I don't need to work, this is something I want to do. So I sat there about six months ago and I'm like why the hell am I even? I want to do something that I like I'm the boss, I should be able to do this. So that's where that came from, and now we're kind of in that shifting phase. It's a very slow process, but that's where I want to be.
Josh Porthouse:Yeah man and you said gaming. I assume by that wall behind you you're talking board games.
Mike Taylor:Oh yeah, yeah, that's, that's just one wall right there. I actually have a whole row over the ceiling and I got things over here. So, yeah, I do a lot of board games. We actually have a label. Here we go Chaotic Chronicles is our gaming label.
Mike Taylor:I started that this year and um now I went from myself and then I had a friend kind of like was helping me along, and then he kind of signed on, and then now we have eight people. You know, um, so we're all working towards this and like, got this huge Kickstarter coming up in March. And we have, uh, people that are well known in the industry actually was actually saw us online and saw some of the stuff that we did and they were just like, hey, like we want to jump on your label, like we want to be with you, and I was like, oh yeah, so it was really cool. Um, yeah, we, we had that and you know, working with them. And then then, along with that, we have a guy that actually wants to write a book series on our, you know, adventures and world and things that we did. On that.
Josh Porthouse:Like the lore of the game.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, like the modules that we write and the adventures and the lore, the backstory, like they want to write a whole book series on it.
Josh Porthouse:That's cool.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, so he's working on that.
Josh Porthouse:Did you think it was going to be something like what it's becoming, or was this just a hobby?
Mike Taylor:it was a hobby, like I started actually started playing. Uh, it was kind of like a dungeons and dragons type thing with the kids because of covid um, we like board games. I have three little girls um, I have four kids total, uh, but this my son's already was already out of the house, and then I have three little girls and so we started getting miniatures, we started getting board games and we started playing. It went from playing almost every day because they were in COVID, so school was in the morning and then couldn't really do much in the winter, so we just did our thing. So it went from there to two years later I had three more kids. So there's six kids around my table, you know, ranging from eight years old to 18 years old and uh, so I was just putting on these huge parties for these kids, uh. And then I had some, you know, some older friends that I would game with as well. But finally one one of my friends was like man, like you write all of this stuff, which backstories I used to write all the way from high school until now. So I have tons of material that I just write constantly. And I was like, yeah, I would definitely write these things and I come up with the story. So he's like man, we should publish them on some stuff. So he kind of pointed me in the right direction.
Mike Taylor:I did a few things and I got published on the website and I was selling them, you know a little bit. And so then I was like man, I should probably make this something more serious. And a friend was just kind of doing it and I was, I was out of the military already and I was in and out of that. That. That loophole, you know. You know you got your highs and lows and this kind of kept me driving forward. You know you're, you know you got your highs and lows and this kind of. This kind of kept me driving forward. You know when, uh, when I was starting to get stuck in the mud, and so it just, you know it kind of fueled me to keep going and I did it.
Mike Taylor:And this year, um, I kind of just amped it up and it kind of just blew up. Like I wasn't ready for how big it got, like I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm still learning as I go and I tell my team like, hey, guys, like I'm still learning, like we are growing way too fast, you know, for me to kind of I'm trying to keep up, you know, because on top of that, I have a marketing agency that you know that I'm running and I go, now that we have this and I also have like other endeavors on the side that I that I'm also doing as well um, yeah, which, yeah, it's a good. And on top of that we have a podcast uh, I'm one of the one of the two posts for a podcast called side quest, which also deals with gaming and all of the stuff in that realm. Uh, we had narrow divergent uh uh, team come on and they were like kind of telling us how, like they used to use it for counseling and, you know, board games and stuff like that. And we had another one for like education purposes.
Mike Taylor:We've had some with like just the business. So people, if they wanted to learn how to like get into the business, you know, instead of just hearing me every episode, they can, like, you know, come on and you know we have other people uh, talk about it and they have. You know, we have one guy that has a game show on youtube which is really big and he, um, he was on the show and he talked about some of the stuff that he was doing, and so I mean our, our show is doing quite well. We're booked until april now of next year for you yeah, so, uh, so, yeah.
Mike Taylor:So now we had to kind of slow down on getting guests because I'm like we, you know we're booked, like before you know we'll have the rest of the year booked out and what are we? Going to do.
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Mike Taylor:Porthouse, tampa Bay Realtor. Where values start in the home. Yeah, so now we had to kind of slow down on getting guests because I'm like we're booked, like before you know, we'll have the rest of the year booked out and what are we going to do?
Josh Porthouse:It sounds like you traded one high op tempo for another.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, I did.
Josh Porthouse:Was that just sort of fortuitous and it just happened? Or by design? Or are you finding? Maybe it was by design in hindsight?
Mike Taylor:I think both you know. I think, yeah, I am one of those people where I cannot sit. Still, you know, not just you know, I have like crazy ADHD where I'm constantly moving, which was great when I was in the army because I was doing like a million things but you can be behind a desk or make me sit down. That's when, like you know, that's that that's when you start falling in that hole. You know, you start, you know, trying to trying to creep out of it.
Mike Taylor:And um, so a lot of times I have to keep myself busy. And then, um, in the past I found keeping myself busy wasn't always good. You know, there's always stuff. You know always did some dumb stuff and I was like, oh God man, like so now, uh, my, my goal, as I was, as I hit, uh hit COVID, and we were stuck at home and I was getting ready to retire, I thought I was going to be like contracting. I thought I was going to be like every other guy that I worked with, contracting, going overseas, doing personal security. I'd already got my personal security license certificates and all that stuff. I already had made contacts for going overseas for contracting.
Mike Taylor:Um, but as covet hit and I was sitting there with my girls every day and being able to eat dinner with my wife and stay up and watch tv or even go to bed with the same time as her, um, you know, those six months or nine months, however long, it was like kind of planted a seed where I was like, man, this is, this is nice, like this is what this is, what a normal life is, and, uh, that was. I was just really. It kind of kept me thinking and, as as as time got closer, I had two years left, um, and half of that was during COVID.
Mike Taylor:I kind of was just like you know what I think I don't think I'm going to. I think I'm going to do that anymore. I told my wife I was like I don't, I don't think I'm gonna do that. Man, like I want to, I think I'm gonna make the because I had the marketing agency running. It was more part-time, I had a couple people you know and uh, it was just more of like a hobby that kind of kept me busy on my free time. And I told her I was, I think I'm just gonna kind of amp it up, you know, kind of just work on this more and uh you know, she was just, she was great.
Mike Taylor:She was like okay, you know, see what, see what happens, you know what's gonna, what's the worst gonna happen, you know, and that that kind of kind of helped me push a little bit more, because I was like man, I tell people like what are you gonna do is like I won't be a soccer dad, you know, I think I want to be like like a full-time soccer dad, you know, for my girls and be there for my wife, uh, and kind of you know there, and every guy that I worked with like that's a horrible idea guy, like you know, I'm going to be reading your obituary like within six months of you get now like there's no way that you, of all people, are going to be able to sit still in a house, you know, babysitting three little girls, and I was like no, there's other things I can be doing. I know, you know they they have to go to school sometime. So that's where a lot of that kind of came from. And I, I was very lucky because I got onto a program.
Mike Taylor:I, I, uh, I retired out of Fort hood, which Fort hood is has one of the best retirement programs out there. Um, it was phenomenal the program and I was, um, I kind of was doing like a small internship, uh program with this, with this company, uh, it's medical training facility. They were small at the time and I helped them grow. I used my marketing agency and I was their number. I was like their, their official marketing agency that they used. So, um, as we were doing it, I was in that type of work program and soon as I signed out and retired then they got me on full time. Then I was getting like a full paycheck because I had all the work done with them.
Mike Taylor:So then I went right into full time army, to full time, you know, doing that, which was great. I did that for about nine months.
Josh Porthouse:Great for money? Was it great for, like your, your, your mental space, to like decompress?
Mike Taylor:I think partly it was good for me because I was able to stay busy, um, but I don't think I was really fully like realizing that I was out, like I was done, until, as I was kind of amping down um with them, is when I kind of it just really hit me. I was like, oh man, like I don't really have anything to do, like I don't have a, I don't have a job per se. You know, yeah, I still got up with the girls every morning, I kind of still kind of kept my workout routine, and then the rest of the day was okay, I work a little bit for a couple hours and then what do I do? And the kids didn't get home till five.
Mike Taylor:So a lot of times I have four or five hours and I'm just like I don't have a routine, I don't have, and slowly I just kind of started coming around. I was unraveling yeah, that's when the problems come in. Yeah, and this this month, actually this month I hit three years. So I've only been out for three years after 22 years. Um, so by that time I hit my second. Yeah, it was like year two of me being out right right around. I was hit. I already hit my. I think I hit my second. Yeah, it was like year two of me being out Right around. I think I hit my first year and that's when I started kind of unraveling and that was a big one. That's when it really hit me and I was struggling and my business started kind of it wasn't growing, it was barely keeping itself going because I had no momentum, I didn't have anything.
Mike Taylor:I couldn't push anybody. I, you know I'd contracted out you know some marketers or whatever that you know I would hire some people here and there and they would kind of keep it going for me and but I had no momentum to have it growing or, you know, I wouldn't be able to invest back into it or anything like that, and it just kind of just stayed afloat. I didn't have anything else going for me. You know it was problems with me and my wife because I was going stagnant. And then you know, when you have, when you have it, you know it starts spreading throughout the house.
Josh Porthouse:Absolutely.
Mike Taylor:So that that was. That was a real, real kick in the pants. You know, for me, um and around that time, like I was doing, the VA had already got me into a lot of like the different type of sessions that they had going um here in san antonio. Man, they had this great program it's the peer counselors and they're it's amazing, um or is that like therapy or rehab?
Mike Taylor:yeah, kind of um, I don't I. So when I tell the other guys, I tell them like it goes, like a counselor going to go to a therapy session, I go, these peer counselors are actually veterans, they go through the VA and get certified and they can actually talk. So a lot of times my peer guy he's actually he's from one of the groups that I was in. I didn't know him, but we know the same people or know of the same people, so we actually know the lingo and we can talk to each other. Oh, like software know of the same people, so we actually know the lingo and we can talk to each other. Well, like yeah, yeah, oh sweet, so he was there, so he was in uh and he had retired and he went to work for the va and um, so he, after he went through through his counselings and all that stuff, he was like man, like I want to kind of give back because he was, I think he retired, retired probably five or six years before me. So he had already gone through.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, so he had already been through a lot of the stuff that I had gone through. So he was really in, like he really knew what he was talking about and a lot of times it's good just to go once a month, twice a month, whatever our schedule is, and just to go there and just to talk to him, because it's good to have that. You know, I remember, like you know, being being in the unit and in the team room or whatever. Like you have that, uh, camaraderie, you know you have that. You know you can decompress with your, with your dudes, and you're just like. You know you can bounce ideas or you can just. You know, you know how guys are. We just need to vent and get our ideas out of our mouth. You know and you know, and the rest, everybody else can just nod and that's all you need.
Mike Taylor:You know, as I told my wife, my guys don't need conversation. All I need to do is say you know my paragraph of words and that's it. Like I feel better, like I saw the words coming out of my mouth. I'm like, oh, I just solved my problem right there. Yeah, it's just a pressure release. Yeah, talking with him a lot of times he doesn't really have to really guide me too much. There's times where he's like well, why don't you step back and look at it? He's like outside, looking in, this is what I see. I'm like oh yeah, you're right, I was a jerk. Other times he's like what do you think I'll tell him he?
Josh Porthouse:maybe conversational depth or some of that critical thought that you had with this guy or in hindsight, on your own, throughout your career, makes its way into your characters or into the storylines that you guys create with you know, chaotic chronicles or, um, I don't know, tell life, did you anything?
Mike Taylor:uh, yeah, I think so, man um one. You know for my. For the marketing for date for taylor life, I have dealt with several veterans. You know, for the marketing for Taylor Life, I have dealt with several veterans. You know, definitely, in the music industry there's an artist right now he's actually really getting pretty big Shannon Book. He's born in the rock and roll style and he was a disabled veteran, combat veteran. He does a lot of veteran outreach programs, does all these types of things. He was actually in a group beforehand called Vetted, and that group was all disabled veterans as well and they did a lot of outreach. So I worked with him and we became really good friends.
Mike Taylor:I worked with this other Christian label, Hip Hop and Stuff, impact Records, and the owner is Mike Miner and he also is a veteran and does a lot of you know, reaches out and do these things On top of other veterans that I've worked with. So I'm able to kind of, you know, relate to these guys and we kind of, you know, relate to these guys and we kind of, you know, earn that trust and that bond One. Because, like just business, wise people are horrible people in business and I learned that in a very hard way several times, and so I just try to, you know, kind of be real with them and I'll tell them, you know, if their stuff sucks, or you know like, hey, it needs to be better, or we got to kind of work with it, and them, you know if their stuff sucks, or you know like, hey, it needs to be better, or we got to kind of work with it, and you kind of like, and then I can kind of relate to some of the stuff that they're going to. Now, the the gaming side, um, I can definitely relate to a lot of the characters and, like I, everything that we have I created myself before, like our world, our games, or you know, everything that we've done. I got put it all, it all and I think a lot of it.
Mike Taylor:You know, as you say, like I put it on paper, like our world is a very grim, dark. Think of, like my I based it off of He-Man because that was like my childhood, you know hero back in the day, and but I took it and I and I I kind of warped it into like a very dark, sinister style. You know, if you take that colorful he-man, turn it, turn it, you know into, like stephen king, uh, would make it. And then I put hb love, more dc comics, yeah, like very, yeah, very dc comic ish. You know batman, you know very, uh gothic and grim, dark, you know. And then I took you know Call of Cthulhu or HP Lovecraft and put that on top of it. So our entire world is just this grim, dark, despair. And I think when I created that world, like that's where my mind was.
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Mike Taylor:I think when I created that world, that's where my mind was.
Josh Porthouse:That's interesting, I think when I created that world, like that's where my mind was.
Mike Taylor:That's interesting, yeah. So, as we have these characters, now I'm I kind of see you know, I'm like dang man like this is. This is really depressing. Like now we have to like kind of put some light into it. And thank God I have these really great guys Like these, these, these artists and these writers and and developers like they're amazing because they have constantly just they're on, they're on the ball man, like we have a discord, uh, team, and we are definitely like constantly my phone's pinging, constantly my wife's like are you serious? I'm just like, uh, they're brainstorming, I guess, like this is that's their thing and uh, so it's just really cool. Um, now, the, the, uh I don't know if I'm supposed to say this or not, but I will. So, like our book series that's getting developed for the gaming world, we have an author that's actually signed on to do a book series on it and his whole thing is which he's actually, he's also a veteran disabled and we actually met each other.
Mike Taylor:Before I went to all did all the crazy stuff, my first deployment was in Korea and that's where me and him met when I was a private. So, uh, yeah, and then we kind of we kind of separated and then years later we contacted, you know, got back to uh together and kind of just, you know, we're just, we're just friends. So over the last five, six years we kind of just bonded again and and now he kind of reached out and I was like, man, you should probably, you know, join my label if you want to do that. And he was like, how about I just write for you? Like I want to write, and that was his idea. And he just kind of he laid out this huge idea that he had for me but he didn't want to tell me because he was embarrassed like. He was just like I don't know how to say it. And he told me and he was planning to ask me to write for our series. And I was like that's amazing, because you know you should probably join. So his whole thing, his whole thing, is called lit rpg. It's called uh, so it's literature rpg books.
Mike Taylor:What it is is a book that kind of you're reading about a person inside of a video game or a board game or something like that. Think about reading the mumji book, I guess. Um, but their characters are are veterans, uh, and they're dealing with like ptsd and they're dealing with some type of trauma and they, what they do is the as they're bouncing from reality to inside these books. They're coping with their you know their struggles and they're dealing with their you know their struggles and they're dealing with their you know their PTSD or their trauma, and everything kind of coincides and it works. So it's them. Each book is a different veteran, you know, dealing with their struggles and that's kind of like how it kind of works, which you know. Half of my team for AI Chronicles are veterans.
Josh Porthouse:You know, we all kind of come, which you know.
Mike Taylor:Half of my team for gala chronicles are our veterans.
Josh Porthouse:You know we all kind of come together and do that. Have you found that, I guess because of your it sounds like primarily your experience on working with small teams in the soft community, that it was easier to start getting traction once you built out your own small team over the last year or two?
Mike Taylor:Yeah, actually it was pretty big. I mean it started out really small. So how all of this? From after this past year I had learned a lot. Starting in January, I had been asked to kind of join a nonprofit organization, this organization. I was asked by another soft member to come to this organization called Aerial Recovery and they are kind of like Underground Railroad. Have you heard of them? Like the movie.
Josh Porthouse:Human Trafficking.
Mike Taylor:Human Trafficking yes, they do the human trafficking? They had that movie out. I forget the name. Sound of Freedom, sound of trafficking.
Josh Porthouse:Yes, they had that movie out.
Mike Taylor:I forget the name Sound of Freedom, sound of Freedom. Yeah, so Ariel does the same thing.
Mike Taylor:They're the other team that does it, and so they kind of take veterans and they take first responders, people that are kind of like they need a purpose again and they need drive and stuff. So they took my friend saw me in this rut last year. He was like, hey, man, I really think you need to come with me on this journey. He'd done it months before and then he told me about it. I did it and it really helped me connect with other people that were on the same level as me Through the 12 weeks that we went through.
Mike Taylor:These little not really classes, but we did like these group type of meetings, you know, every week and we stayed in contact with WhatsApp and whatever, and we kind of all grew, you know, together. It really helped me kind of reach out because then when I did that, my friends had started me to write these games. I started working on networking with some of these business people that I started meeting through write these games. I started working on networking with some of these business people that I started meeting through the aerial program. So my marketing business started to pick up a little bit.
Mike Taylor:And then, on top of that, I was like man, you know what I want to. You know, as I'm starting my chaotic chronicles, I was like I'm going to try to help some other independent artists and developers and stuff. So I created this small little group on discord and it was just a network for us and we kind of like bounce ideas we're supposed to brainstorm, and it became a worldwide community within the last nine months, I guess. Yeah, so a dungeon scribe society that I'm the founder of that and we now have a bi-monthly newsletter for independent artists, creators, developers, um, on patreon, and we put it all together and we have like over a hundred and so members. We had over 300 at one time, but we had to start cutting it back for the just because it started getting toxic, you know, and we were like trying to do like a more of a positive type thing.
Mike Taylor:And so I have a group of admin or a board, however you want to say it, and we all run it together and we do this newsletter, we put things out, we talk on you know group. I try to make like weekly announcements and things like that for them. And while I did that, I was developing my team for Cha chaotic chronicles and people started seeing like little things that I was doing online and in the discord. And as that happened, uh, my friend for the podcast, he was he's like hey, man, like I need help with this podcast, you know, and like you know, we need a new one. And I was like sure, I've never done a podcast before, I guess I'll do that. So. So I kind of jumped in the deep, deep end, you know, both feet with that, never done it before. And I had no idea. He sent me a mic which I'm using right now, and uh, he was like all right, let's, let's try this. And I did it and we just kind of, from there, we, we, we took off. And he's in charge of the technical stuff and I'm more of like the, the face, the networking, kind of, from there, we, we, we took off and he's in charge of the technical stuff and I'm more of like the the face, the networking, kind of getting people on and uh, so we, we kind of tag team it and we're doing you know pretty well I think, um, and as that, all that was happening, my chaotic chronicles team started getting bigger and I'm managing these people and now I have them like everybody has their role and like everybody has their role and like everybody has their job and their sector, and I'm like, okay, like hey, I was like hey, guys, I know some of you haven't been in the military, but we're going to have a chain of command, like there's going to be me and it's going to be somebody right underneath me and that person is going to be in charge of these guys. And you guys are in charge of these. You know these sections and, as we writing these agreements or contracts, uh, however you want to say it, each person is assigned for their you know their section and we kind of do it like a business, but in like a more of a team open space area and you know it runs very smoothly.
Mike Taylor:We don't work as fast as like a, I guess, a professional style business, because we're more of just like a bunch of guys goofing around, like we bounce ideas off each other and every now and then I have to step in and be like, okay, we have to get this work done, like, but a lot of times it's, you know, it's like to me. I'm just like, I want to have fun, I want to do these things. I want to. You know I'm like, but we have a deadline and we just have to get to the deadline. You of times that's usually what happens and it did like a lot of the, the small team stuff or just learning to deal with those types of environments. It definitely did help me a lot. You know, um, running a business and talking to people or running a group or especially the community, um, yeah, you know, it's just a. It's just a. It was definitely a step up than a lot of other people all righty folks, sit tight, we'll be right back on Transacting Value.
Josh Porthouse:Imagine losing everything your country, your marriage, even your ability to speak the language. On Transacting Value, we meet Sudebay Mokri, who fled the Iranian revolution only to face an unexpected betrayal in America. Picture arriving with two young children, no money and struggling with English, forced to completely rebuild her life from scratch. But here's the shocker After achieving everything a home, career, family Sudebay realized she was still empty. Her identity had shifted and she needed to rediscover who she truly was. She shares how, at rock bottom, facing physical illness, she chose to pray for guidance, leading to an incredible journey of transformation. Now an author, registered nurse and transformational coach, sudebay's books Angel, nightingale and Emerging you reveal her journey of healing and rediscovering purpose. Find out how trauma led to a deeper understanding of self at SudebayMokricom and learn how to shift your perspective and find your own inner peace. Tune into Transacting Value to rewrite your story and learn more.
Mike Taylor:It was definitely a step up than a lot of other people.
Josh Porthouse:So let me ask you this then, because I think there's something that you have in common with a lot of other people as well, and my I guess, general prevailing theory is that a lot of people actually have this next point in common.
Josh Porthouse:So this is a segment of the show called Developing Character D-D-Developing Character. Now it's two questions for anybody who's new to the show, obviously, mike, you included and my theory is that whenever somebody's identity, how they view themselves, and their role, what they actually do in any given society, don't match anymore, there's always going to be some conflict and some degree of well, uncertainty and complexity and all the same sort of fog of war considerations, I guess, where you try to feel it out, like you said, the first year or two, you're just sort of a jellyfish in society, learning your way again. So my theory is that when those moments happen, everybody can stand back on their value system to find some degree of worth or awareness and at least build back from there as a continuity or a constant. And so my two questions are what were some of your values growing up or that you remember being raised on that you think got you to this point? And then my second question is if any of them have changed over time or since then. What are some of your values now?
Mike Taylor:Well, one. I grew up in South Texasas. Uh, so we definitely a lot of it's very old-fashioned um, we did, uh, you know my grandpa was his thing was you know the handshake. You know the handshake that's. You know, that's just, it's a seal the deal right there.
Mike Taylor:And uh, you know, you don't, you know, don't lie, don't you know don't cheat things like that um, which you know I was a young boy in like the 80s and 90s, so I definitely lied and cheated and uh, but you know, our families kind of kind of still like that kind of very old-fashioned style and and the big one that was is the one that that is now that I tried not to kind of pass on to my son was, you know, like the men work, like you know that's that's your whole role in life. You work until you die. Like that's it. Like you know, if you're not working then you're not worth anything, and that was like a huge thing. And I work and I I did that all the way up until I retired. That was my thing. Like I was just like, well, I gotta work. You know, that's it.
Mike Taylor:You know I'm working and I constantly work and I constantly deployed and I constantly, like that was my thing, like if I wasn't, if I had a day off, then I need to be doing something. You know, um, and now, uh, it took me, took me quite a while especially these last three years, uh, with the help of my wife, to kind of like slow down, to realize, like hey, like you know, you can't just work all the time because you're not going to enjoy anything that you're working for. That was a it's like a big eye opener for me is now, like I say, like I tell people like I'm not working to be a multimillionaire, I don't cause I don't need to work. I'm, you know, I'm disabled, as if I'm getting a paycheck. That's the way. I need to have it in my head, because if not, then I feel like I'm getting money for no reason and I need to constantly do something. So I'm trying to help people as well.
Josh Porthouse:There's some purpose.
Mike Taylor:Yeah, definitely. That was a huge thing this past year that I learned and now I tell people I'm trying to be able to be well enough that my bills are paid off and I can take my family out for a ribeye steak dinner for the rest of my life without worrying about. You know, looking at the checkbook. A lot of times growing up was like money was a huge thing, everybody was working for money and that no one really had a reason why. And I think you know with me kind of realizing that I don't have to work as hard or as much or you know, hyper focus on that. That, you know, because money was the, was the object as well, like I don't need to to kind of be greedy with it. I don't need, I don't need it. I need to be able to afford to take care of my family and maybe, you know, help somebody out every now and then, but I don't need to have all of this. You know all these things and that was that's, that's a huge thing that I had to kind of reevaluate myself and kind of reposition my thought process and like where I want to do um, I I had told a friend you know he was, he saw me, how fast I was kind of rising and he was um, he kind of keeps me grounded a lot.
Mike Taylor:He was the one that got me into the nonprofit organization. He was just like you know, he always tries to drill me, make sure I'm always grounded and keeps me going. And he's like what are you going to do? Like he was like if you have all, you know you get famous or you get popular, you know your businesses do. Well, he's like you know I'm like I don't need, I don't need to do all that man, I go what I go.
Mike Taylor:He has a nonprofit as well. His nonprofit is the veteran archery project and it helps special operation veterans kind of deal with their stuff and he takes them out archery, shooting and stuff. So I was like if I, if I, make that much money, then I can definitely help out your nonprofit. That's for one. You know I can pay off all my bills. Help out your nonprofit. I go and I would love to be able to go to Walmart or grocery store and look behind me and see three or four people with their carts and tell the cashier like, hey, these next three people put it all on my tab and don't tell them and just kind of wait until they're done and then go back and pay that I told him that has been one of my dreams for, you know, for a little while now, because I'm like man that'd be great.
Mike Taylor:You know how can I give somebody Christmas in July, you know but I don't want, yeah, but I don't want to be the guy that's, like you know for myself. You know I'm just, like you know I help somebody thing and I don't need to share it or anything, but that's just something that that you know. Kind of like I wouldn't I don't think I would have done that a few years ago yeah, and that's something that you know. You have to kind of get to reevaluate yourself, like I said, and look inside and see what you really want in life. And I think what you really want is what your heart is going to do and how you're going to follow it.
Mike Taylor:So definitely, my thought process changed from when I was a kid until now, with all of that, because I don't want to work, I want to step back. I want to manage all of these businesses and communities. I want to have somebody else run them for me. I want to be able to take my kids to Disney world once a year and, you know, red by state dinners and pay for people's groceries or whatever you know. Like you know, I don't know, Um, that's, that's just like.
Mike Taylor:I guess that's the goal. It's not a dream, Cause I'm gonna make it happen.
Josh Porthouse:It's just for you, well, yeah, so let me ask you this and this is, I guess, one of my last two or three questions for the sake of time, but now, having gone through your own life, professionally, personally, watching your kids grow up overall, personally, and now into their own professions and whoever they want to become, as little humans, and then the characters you've created essentially it sounds like dozens of times over, living all sorts of different lives and qualities and decision-making processes, what has it done for you and your own sense of self and your own self-worth?
Mike Taylor:Well, the person a while ago I definitely would. I wouldn't say I'm ashamed, but I'm definitely embarrassed of that guy. Like I definitely don't want to go back to that guy. That guy is the complete opposite of who I am now, um, and I don't. I definitely I was a, I was definitely a Grinch, that's for sure, um, but now I, it's a big difference. Uh, I noticed I kind of didn't really, I really didn't say anything to like my family, but I looked at pictures from now, five years ago. You know my pictures now smiling, I'm more, you know, live and colorful and whatnot. And the guy five years ago, he did, he wasn't smiling, you know he. You know if he did, it was, it was a very forceful smile that I could tell, or you know something, and the pictures weren't the same and uh you can just trail back and then you go back all the way from when I joined the army.
Mike Taylor:I was very happy in life. So then, like those 22 years just kind of like faded into it, you know, and uh, that was you know. Seeing that, like I don't want to be that. Be that dad. I want my kids to kind of be like my dad was. You know he was, you know, he joked with us, he, he did all these fun things you know. He came to practice. He was you know, he made all my games or gymnastics and all that stuff. I want them to be present, that's the word. And I want, you know, my kids to kind of have that. I want them to be able to tell their kids that.
Mike Taylor:And then you know my business, my businesses, business work works really well when you are in a good headspace, like that's, that's, that's guaranteed, and the people around you want to work with you and want to work for you. And if you are, you know, a scumbag, you know just, you know angry all the time and you know cussing and yelling and throwing things no wants to work with. And when you are smiling, that you know that draws that, that draws good energy in and people want to draw. You know they draw to you. So it's just like I want. I want to be able to for people to kind of feed off of that energy and I want to be able to help people to do these things. Um, and I've created this gaming world. It's very dark and stuff, but at the same time now I'm actually giving people, you know, hope. I'm giving people like this, these opportunities. Um, also, I have an intern program that I'm designing for my marketing. I'm actually designing another one for my gaming label as well.
Mike Taylor:Um, yes, so this so is a uh is for art students, um, that are, you know, intern program, and so we won't pay them like a commission, like they like them, like they do, uh, the marketing does. But we will do is we will teach them how the industry works. I have a guy that's been working with a, um, a, a big business in in the RPG world. Uh, so kind of like everybody knows dungeons and dragons, right, so he's worked with a couple companies that are like right underneath them, like so it's just like he does that. So he's, he's, he's with us, you know, and um, on top of that we we have, we teach them, the industry, the artists, we can teach them how you know different, different, different styles, and then, um, on top of that, we uh can get their, their work published in our own book.
Mike Taylor:So we can get them published, build their portfolios, um, get them in the network, show them the community that we're building so that they're part of the community, so they can build their own network. And then we're teaching them different things, like you know their own self marketing and you know they can build their own presentation as well themselves. And then, at the end, same thing they can come on full time or they can. They can get a letter of recommendation and we can help them go forth into other things as well, cause then we can be like, hey, yeah, we put their stuff in our book or they were able to be featured in another book that we know, or we're partnered with, that's just another thing.
Mike Taylor:So I mean, that's just I want to be able to do those type of things for people and I know if I could, because I know when I was in their shoes I would. I wanted someone to help me out and it took me a very long time to get where I'm at right now, and I could have done it so much faster if somebody was actually genuine, instead of trying to take advantage of me constantly because I was new to a lot of this. If somebody was genuine, I could have been in a better place or further along than what I am right now. I could have been helping people two years ago.
Josh Porthouse:That's a great point.
Mike Taylor:So that's just my thing. I had somebody tell me like hey, because I asked him. I was like man, I can maybe, you know, help somebody. How can I help somebody, you know? And I had my mentor I have a business mentor and he told me he's like look, he says you want to help somebody. Think about what you can teach somebody.
Mike Taylor:I was like I can't teach nobody nothing. I'm new to this. He was like well, think about who you were five years ago. I was like okay, he's like what did you know five years ago? I was like really nothing. He's like what do you know right now? I was like more than that guy. He's like exactly, now you teach that guy. I was just like go, I was like you know, like that, that, really that makes a lot of sense. He's like the teacher told me one time you only need to be one lesson ahead of somebody to teach them. You know to be a teacher. Um, he's like so as long as you're one lesson ahead, you can teach somebody. I was like dang, that's even a better point right there. So that's where you know. So now I'm like okay, if I know just a little bit more than somebody, like, let me share it with them and kind of make their life a little bit easier so that they can prosper. And that's like that was the big reason why I built that community, which became a wildfire as well.
Mike Taylor:It kind of blew up yeah cool. So we're doing quite well in the community and different things that I'm trying to work on as well For you, man.
Josh Porthouse:And let me ask you this that's a great point, I guess, as a segue. So for anybody that wants to follow along with your Discord track, your gaming label, maybe even take you on and be a client for your marketing company, where do people go? How do they find out more information?
Mike Taylor:uh, the big one is my link tree. So you can go to link tree forward slash miketaylor357 that has all of my links on there. Um, you can go to, uh, facebook for taylor life digital marketing. Um, that right now, uh, that's our, our kind of our page because we are transferring our website. So I was going to say it's coming soon. Um, and then chaotic Chronicles is there for the gaming is Facebook Instagram. Uh, the website, chaotic chroniclescom. Um, and then, uh, we have the side quest podcast show. We are on there as well. You can find me on any of those. You can contact me email. My link tree has our email and different ways to contact us. Do it on social media, you know, just try to. You know I get tons of emails and messages so I kind of have to filter them out. So if I don't get you the first time, definitely hit me up again and, you know, reach out to me. I can definitely point you in the right direction if I personally can't help you yeah, sweet.
Josh Porthouse:So for anybody who's new to this show, depending on the player you're streaming the conversation on or where you're watching this video, if you click see more, you click show more in the drop down description for the conversation, you'll also see links to mike's link tree and social insights.
Josh Porthouse:Uh, where applicable, except for that landing page, do you get it back up? And then, uh, obviously, all of those links, so, as you guys are listening to this, you can shoot over to his page as well and start tracking them down and follow and subscribe and all that kind of cool stuff. Mike, I love this conversation, dude, I appreciate your opportunity, your energy, your perspective, perspective, your passion. But I got to tell you, man, if nobody's told you recently, I'm proud of what you're doing because I've only been out a year and it's been pretty close to exactly how you described it. So you know there's a lot of building out this podcast and this media company and finding myself throughout the process yeah, it is exactly what you're saying. So I appreciate what you're saying. So I appreciate what you're doing and I'm proud of how you did it. Man, good for you, congratulations.
Josh Porthouse:Yeah, and just as a quick sort of Benny to you I'm assuming you're already familiar with Nightwatch Games, being down near San Antonio yeah, I've seen them around so, yeah, if you get the chance to drop in there, Porek has been on the show as well for Transacting Value just recently, I think a few months back. But yeah, if you're unfamiliar or if you want an introduction, send me an email or I'll get you guys in touch as best I can and maybe that'll help you out as well. But again, yeah, I appreciate the opportunity, man, Thanks for your time and I hope the rest of your afternoon and obviously coming holidays here for Christmas go well for you, man. So Merry Christmas and thanks again.
Mike Taylor:You too, man. Thank you very much.
Josh Porthouse:Thanks, dude, and everybody else who tuned in, obviously, and watched this conversation and listened to the conversation. Thank you guys for joining us. I appreciate your time and the opportunity to talk and teach a little bit with you guys as well. You can head over to our website, transactingvaluepodcastcom and on the homepage in the top right corner you're going to see a button that says leave a voicemail. That's two minutes of talk time all to you. Here's two recommendations with what you can do with it.
Josh Porthouse:One, let us know what you think of the show. Let us know your feedback, your insights, your comments, what you think of the topics. My style, me, my voice pitch, I don't care. Let us know what you think about the show. But two, let Mike know what you think about this conversation, what you think about his business, what you think about his websites. Give him some feedback. Let him know what's going on. That's what helps our businesses grow and build and design and cultivate these new communities your input. So if you have the opportunity, I'd appreciate it. Speaking for Mike, I'm sure he'd appreciate it as well, but since we're out of time until next time, that was Transacting Value.
Josh Porthouse:Thank you to our show partners and folks. Thank you for tuning in and appreciating our value as we all grow through life together, to check out our other conversations or even to contribute through feedback follows time, money or talent and to let us know what you think of the show. Please leave a review on our website, transactingvaluepodcastcom. We also stream new episodes every Monday at 9 am Eastern Standard Time through all of your favorite podcasting platforms like Spotify, iheart and TuneIn. You can now hear Transacting Value on Reads Across America Radio. Head to readsacrossamericaorg. Slash transactingvalue to sponsor a wreath and remember, honor and teach the value of freedom for future generations. On behalf of our team and our global ambassadors, as you all strive to establish clarity and purpose, ensure social tranquility and secure the blessings of liberty or individual sovereignty of character for yourselves and your posterity, we will continue instigating self-worth and we'll meet you there. Until next time. That was Transacting Value.
