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Sean Michael Crane's Unstoppable Mindset
Sean Crane shares his story of Redemption and how his struggles early on in life helped him develop a mindset and perspective that he has used to cultivate the life of his dreams. Sean walks you through his most gruesome moments from seeing his mother overdose as a kid to watching his father in a standoff with police. After years of experiencing a living hell Sean was arrested and faced life in prison. Sean shares the most impactful moments behind bars and how they changed his life forever. After 5 1/2 years incarcerated Sean returned home a different person with a compelling vision to inspire the world. Now, a family man, successful entrepreneur and person of influence, Sean is on a mission to spread his message and impact lives across the globe with his lessons and the same breakthroughs that have helped him in his life to this point.
Sean Michael Crane's Unstoppable Mindset
From Farm Life to Multi-Million Dollar Business
What does true success look like for entrepreneurs who want it all? Chris Yano, founder and CEO of Rhino Strategic Solutions, shares his remarkable journey from Indiana farm boy to bull rider to building a $93 million marketing company - all while never missing his children's important moments.
The conversation reveals how Chris's farming background developed the mental fortitude that fueled his business success. Rather than pursuing growth at any cost, he built Rhino on the principle of "reputation over revenue," creating a culture where employees come first, enabling them to better serve clients. This approach, combined with innovative benefits like their "Masogi program" (giving employees $1,000 for memorable experiences), helped scale the company to over 250 employees.
What truly sets Chris apart is his unwavering commitment to balance. He shares how he'd take red-eye flights to attend his children's activities, intentionally structuring his business to support family priorities rather than sacrifice them. His philosophy of creating "memory dividends" alongside financial success offers a refreshing alternative to traditional hustle culture.
The episode takes an inspiring turn when Chris discusses his recent fitness transformation with the Unstoppable 365 program. He explains how improved physical health has enhanced his mental clarity, leadership effectiveness, and even family relationships - demonstrating how personal well-being creates a ripple effect across all areas of life.
Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting your journey, this conversation will challenge you to redefine success beyond financial metrics and embrace a more holistic approach to business, family, and personal growth. As Chris says, "It's either day one or one day" - which will you choose?
And honestly, man, when I think of business or making money and having success, it's so we can create those memories with people we truly love and care about. And we're talking about being intentional here. But the thing that stands out to me the most and this is what I gather from a lot of great leaders is investing in the human being. Not the employee, not the salesperson, not their job title, but them as a human being. A human being. Welcome back to another episode of the Unstoppable Mindset Podcast. I'm your host, sean Crane. I got my man, chris Yano, founder CEO of Rhino Strategic Solutions. But you know you got a really cool last name. Maybe that's why it stuck with me. But so Chris Yano, he's a business owner, a maverick right, you're kind of an anomaly man and founder of the OG. Really, you know marketing first, marketing coming up first, but OG, marketing company for the trades and I'm just kind of butchering all these words here, dude, but I'm excited to have you here because Chris is someone who I've got to know over the years. Successful business owner, family man, he's doing big things out there in Arizona. Every time I go on like your feed, you're at an Arizona Cardinals game, you're traveling, you're doing all this cool stuff with your family, and I admire that, man, because a lot of the content I see of you on social media you're with your family and you guys are doing all these amazing things together. Social media you're with your family and you guys are doing all these amazing things together. And, honestly, man, when I think of business or making money and having success, it's so we can create those memories with people we truly love and care about. And also that's why I'm such a proponent of health and fitness and the things I teach, because you don't want to make all this money and have status or success and then you can't really enjoy the people that you're with, like you can't enjoy the times that you've carved out for yourself.
Speaker 1:And so Chris has been crushing workouts with Unstoppable 365. He's getting his health dialed in. Dude, you're looking like a beast man, and we were joking before we started the podcast. One of the first things I heard from you when you started doing the workouts is like, oh man, you know, like my elbows are all beat up. I've been doing bench press every day, right, so determined, but you just needed the right plan and strategy to follow. And so why don't you take me back, man. Like where did you grow up and what was your introduction into the marketing world? Like how did that happen?
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, first off, thanks for having me on. Um, you know it's this last year has been, has been pretty awesome on this journey with you guys. So, uh, thanks for that and I'm excited to how it's kind of played into the end of the story. But back to the beginning. Um, yeah, man, like I, uh I'm from, I grew up in Indiana. That's where I was born and raised and I grew up on a big old corn and soybean farm.
Speaker 2:So you kind of learn hard work as a kid. Like you have work ethic. Whether you like it or not, you're doing it. So there's no like baling hay, that type of stuff. I know you're a West Coast guy so you don't know nothing about this, but we used to do detasseling. Detasseling was you go down every you know think about how big cornfields are. You walk down every row of corn and you pull the tassel off the top of every corn stock. All right, so that was a job you get paid for and it was terrible. But hard work is something I kind of learned young.
Speaker 2:But as far as starting my own business, that was not on my radar at all when I went to college. You know, um, that was an athlete, you know, I wrestled, I played soccer, um, and I didn't really know what the heck I want to do in college, to be honest with you, um, except for party, and I was really good at that and uh, and I was um, uh, I've always kind of had like the social, like the charisma going out, talking, make friends anywhere I go. So I kind of knew where my skill was, um, but I didn't know like sales was a thing. I'm talking like college, I didn't know sales was a thing, marketing is thing, none of those things like. I barely passed school, uh, but yeah, man, I think, um, when I did realize I wanted to start my own, my own marketing company, it was because I had you know, I'm gonna'm going to date myself, dude, so don't laugh, I could see you. I used to work for the yellow pages. It was like my first sales job, like selling yellow pages, which was good in a way because I learned so many businesses, but it was also awful. But growing up, you know, in a farming community, I really kind of took to the blue collar community, the trades, but they were like my people, I guess you know, um, so it was easy for me to talk to those kinds of companies and so I was successful there.
Speaker 2:And then really, when the evolution of the internet you know like internet marketing started happening early in like oh, four, 2003, 2004, 2005. Um, I picked up on it right away, I loved it, um, so that kind of set me down a path. I went to go work for a company, you know that was doing it to kind of cut my teeth. I didn't like how they were delivering to the client and I was a person who had a relationship with the client. So I was told my wife, I was like listen, I think we can do this on our own.
Speaker 2:We stepped out in 2007, started doing it on our own, I would say technically. Rhino was established in 2008, but that's only because I didn't know you had to actually like register the business name in 2007. So I was just out like selling stuff and doing it and somebody's like hey, like you know, I actually have to register this business and like pay taxes and stuff. And I was like, ah, okay, so really we started in 07 but the trades were our focus, because again, that's kind of where you know my niche was, and I and like, because I didn't know it was just like, hey, if we only worked with HVAC companies or plumbers every single day and doing digital marketing like we should be the best at it, like we should be like nobody should beat us?
Speaker 2:We should be like nobody should beat us. And, as far as I know, there was no other company who was solely focused on just like HVAC companies or plumbers at that time. There were companies who did that, but they covered lots of different verticals, right, I was just hyper-focused on this one or two, and that set us down the path, you know, and that was 2008. And now here we are, all these years later, doing the same damn thing. You know, last year we finished just under 93 million dollars and 250 plus employees and still focused on trying to make the trades better dude, that's impressive.
Speaker 1:Um, because I I opened up and butchered your company name. I said yano enterprises instead of Rhino. I was looking at your shirt and I'm like, well, they're kind of similar, you know, like Yano Rhino. How, how'd you come up with the name?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's actually a common mistake that you made, so don't feel bad, um, cause it's actually is a version of my last name. It's just missing.
Speaker 1:Lexic or something too.
Speaker 2:Well, and I do also have a Yano Enterprises and a Yano family group. We have a family group as well, so maybe you saw that somewhere. I think we maybe even talked about it, so it's not uncommon to make that mistake.
Speaker 1:So where did you get the name Rhino?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, it's not a great story. Honestly, bob won't tell it Like it was. The name of the company was originally called Brickyard Marketing, brickyard Marketing, which, being from Indiana, the nickname of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which is something that I love, I used to race was the Brickyard. It's called the Brickyard and so I thought, man, when I'm starting my company name, I want people to know that I'm local. So I came up with the name brickyard marketing, so they would know I'm a local marketing agency. Because, if you think back in like 2007, like it was still kind of really new, people were uncertain you know about this marketing and websites and you know internet marketing, websites and stuff like that. So I thought, well, at least I can alleviate the concern that I'm not a local company, right? So I'm not going to get taken advantage of and, uh, and especially in the trades like these guys are, you know, fixing toilets and they're fixing furnaces and air conditioners and they definitely aren't super savvy, right. So it's like, okay, I'm going to go and talk to them about this mysterious internet stuff. They at least need to know I'm a local guy. So, um, and then we, you know, once we kind of transitioned and grew, uh, the business.
Speaker 2:The very first manufacturer that brought us on board was carrier corporation, which is headquartered in indianapolis, brought us in as a preferred vendor of theirs early.
Speaker 2:So we started working with a lot of hvac contractors, contractors well, that started to, you know, bleed outside of indiana and then we started making all the way to the west coast and working with, like you know, some, some of the contractors out, you know, on the West Coast. So I'm like brick care marketing makes no sense to any of these people outside of the state of Indiana. So we went through a transition of a name change and we were just trying to think and I thought, man, I really like to use some sort of an animal or like, or a mascot or something like that too, you know. And we started like, literally, it's like a friday and we're sitting there and we pop a corona in my office, you know, in phoenix at the time, because we had transitioned to to phoenix, um, and I was like rhino, like a rhino is a really cool animal, it's like the unicorn of the jungle, right, it's got a big old horn, it's got thick skin.
Speaker 2:Rhinos don't go backwards, they only go forward. Like I was just trying to think of all these things and I was like, but we're not going to spell it r-h-i-n-o, we're going to call it r-y-n-o, which, at the time it is, I had a partner who who we since bought out a while ago. His name was ryan right, and my last name is yana. So we thought, oh, let's just put in the mixture of our two names together and we can still be a rhino, but we're going to call our. Why, you know, that's literally how we come up with the name of the business was just like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that makes sense. It wasn't entirely random. Right, there was something there. So I want to know about, like, growing up in indiana, because you had told me that before and I forgot. And then when you said a certain word a moment ago, I'm like, oh yeah, I could hear that Midwestern accent a little bit, but I can imagine growing up on a farm like that and what were some of the values that you feel you developed, doing that hard work that carried over into business, that helped you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you think mental fortitude early on? Like it is, you have no choice. So, like, the one way or another, I had to do it, and so I'm like, well, I might as well change the way I'm thinking about it, cause I got to do this no matter what, and so I was just trying to do that that's well.
Speaker 1:That's a really good point, cause that's one of the things I always seek to help people do is shift their mindset and perspective, cause, like you either remove yourself from a situation or you change your perception of it. Right, that's, that's how you don't become a victim of circumstance and you can leverage various situations in life. Do you remember at a young age, like having to do that? Like do you consciously remember that, or was it just kind of to get through the day? It's something you naturally start doing.
Speaker 2:I'd love to say I consciously did it, but I did not. It was just a you know, like you get. You get a list of chores you got to do and they got to be done, and if they don't you get in trouble. So there's consequences, right. So the consequences drove me to saying, okay, well, I got to do these, no matter what.
Speaker 2:And I'm not going to say I loved it, I didn't love it, but I do know that it was kind of starting to build that work ethic into me, right, and it was starting to build some mental fortitude into me. And because there was a time when you're doing it, when you're just trying to figure out, like how can I do this and and and like it, like, or at least pretend that I like it like just trying to talk myself into getting through it, you know, and it can be something as simple as mowing the yard, because your yards are not small and it's like a push mower, right, like it. It's not like out here in the West I was like we had acres to push mow, like that takes a long time.
Speaker 1:Were your parents really strict with you.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say that my parents were really strict. It was just like expected of you. Like you, you know my, my mother grew up on a farm and it's like so. It was just like expected of you. Like you, you know my, my mother grew up on a farm and it's like so. It was just expected of you and you didn't want to. I didn't want to get in trouble and I wanted to be able to have my freedom right To go and do things. If you don't do the chores, you don't do it.
Speaker 1:So to me it was just kind of like built into my autopilot Like these are the things you have to do yeah, to a lot of people that grew up on dairy farms or just farms in general, like you're describing, and they, they all have a really strong work ethic and a lot of them have, uh, really strong like ties to family, like those values and kind of the attitude that you're describing like hey, the work has to get done, so let's try to have the best attitude possible and let's get it done, which I think is super important to instill into children. And, and the reason I asked about your parents, I was just curious like your parenting style versus the way you're brought up and we, which I think is super important to instill into children. And the reason I asked about your parents, I was just curious like your parenting style versus the way you were brought up, and we can get into that when we talk about your family. But, uh, okay, so so you go off to school and you're good like in social settings, maybe chasing girls, making friends, whatnot, probably like a lot of young guys, school like like reading and studying at that time might have not been as enticing for you, but it carried over.
Speaker 1:It sounds like into sales and being very ambitious and I can only imagine back then, out of all people to try to convince that internet marketing was a good idea. Like blue-collar business owners, I can just imagine guys back then wearing jeans and all dirty and stuff. They've been in attics or they've been searching for the HVAC units. So you were doing that and you were having success. And I'm curious then, what brought you to Arizona? Because now you're in Arizona, in the Phoenix area that became your HQ. How far into business did you make that move? And why?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's actually. I'm glad you brought that back up, cause I skipped over a pretty important chunk. I didn't. I went to college for four years to get an associate's degree. So for most people in associate's degree takes two years. So if you ever seen the movie van Wilder, I was kind of like van Wilder but and I got an associate's degree in criminal justice and then, like maybe two weeks after I was out of college, I got an associate's degree in criminal justice and then, like maybe two weeks after I was out of college, I got a DUI and that scrapped that real quick.
Speaker 1:So, like I made my parents super proud at that point, what did you want to be? Did you want to be in law enforcement, like a DA? At least I thought.
Speaker 2:But I wanted to be in law enforcement in Indiana. But so here's the connection to Arizona. You know, I leave college in late 99, right at the end of the year, and my grandpa you know farmer, retired farmer, was a snowbird so he would go back and forth between Indiana and Phoenix and Indiana and Phoenix. So I flew out there and visited him when I was like 16, because he flew us grandkids out to come and visit and see it and I was like this place was so like foreign to me that I was like you know, I've never been further West than like Illinois. At that point so I was like wow, like this place is pretty amazing.
Speaker 2:Like when I leave college or whatever, when I'm a grownup I'm moving straight to Arizona. And that's legit what I did. I just picked up, move straight to arizona and tried to, like you know, figure it out and um, and, and which is crazy because like I had no like real plan, just like move there, get a. I didn't get like an apartment, I got like those where you can rent like a, a room for like a month, that like the you know, kind of like a motel. How, how old were?
Speaker 1:you at the time. I was like you know 20. Yeah Well, you know people like. Like, when you tell that story, most people would be so terrified to do that. But if you're going to do it, that's the best age Didn't have kids, very probably little responsibilities. Like like, I love that man, I love that it crossed like halfway across the country, across like halfway across the country.
Speaker 2:And just you either have to figure it out or you're going to have to go back home and then I think some of this has to do with like I mean and again I would, I hope this is actually appealing to someone. I don't think I've ever said this out loud, but I never had a plan Like I just was like, have my mind set on, I'm going to move, and just like something's going to work out for me, like I think one gift I've been given is, um, you know, I've I'm really good at doing the work to figure out the things I need to figure out to get to the goal I want, and I think a lot of this happened for me during high school, like when I was in wrestling is a perfect example. I was a great wrestler and I come from a very, very small school and but we always had a good wrestling team. Like a bunch of farm boys can wrestle and you learn such like discipline. You know in wrestling and you're on a team, but really it's just you on the mat and and you. The outcome of your match is based upon what you put into preparing for it. And I wanted to win, like I did not want to lose. And you know, I figure like, hey, if I could get out of doing all this work at home because I'm actually at school training. I would much rather be at school training with the teams and doing whatever than being at home and doing any work. So it's hard work either way. So I might as well pick the hard work that's going to give me something great versus, you know, going home and doing hard work because it's a chore.
Speaker 2:So that kind of like started to set the tone for me, as I've recognized later on in life, like, oh man, I really kind of see the trajectory and how it took off. I didn't see it then. It was just a means to like oh well, either way is going to be hard, let's just do the thing that I enjoy and um, but that really set the tone. I had a great wrestling coach who today, um is still one of the most influential people in my life. Um, but it it kind of put my work, ethic and my discipline and my need to to achieve a goal all in align with one another and um, so I knew I had that in me. But I still am like get to college, it's your first time having freedom. And and because I was very outgoing always, you know, I joined a fraternity. That was amazing and a mistake simultaneously, cause, once I joined, that really all academics and everything else were done Like it was just just now sound party.
Speaker 2:But once I got out, you know, and I had to go to Arizona, I kind of reverted back to like, well, I guess I got to start figuring some stuff out. You know, like I can't. You know I got a month, you know, to go find a job and like to figure things out. And this is going to be a crazy part of the story. I don't know how to explain it because I'm not a psychologist. But when you get to Arizona and or you go to anywhere, you leave your home state, where you've been your entire life, and go to someplace completely different where you know no one right, like I guess I knew my grandpa, but he lived in the retirement community and was a snowbird. So you know, you latch onto people that you meet.
Speaker 2:I met somebody who had become a good friend of mine and he was a bull rider. He was doing bull riding. So I was like bull riding, that's pretty badass. I grew up around animals my whole life. Bull riding sounds cool. I'll bet you I could be good at it. I'm a thrill seeker. So I literally started going and doing this bull riding thing with him. It was a bar, a bar where they had bull riding and you could win money. And I was like this is great, like I can go do this and I can win money, like this seems like a good idea. So I went out and rode a bull Like the first time. I almost covered it for eight seconds and I was scared to death. But then I started learning like oh, there's like some, like there's a skill to this thing and I have good balance. And I was like, oh, I should be able to pull this thing off and I balance, like I'm not afraid, and I started getting decent at it. So I spent two years on the pro rodeo cowboy association circuit bull riding.
Speaker 2:wow, yeah, I wouldn't have guessed that. Hardly any money. I won three rodeos in two years, by the way. That's not good ratio and bull riding and basically you just get in a bunch of fights, you blow your money and you go to the next rodeo. Who are you fighting? You fight other cowboys. Everybody wants to fight. Everybody's a tough guy.
Speaker 2:What like after the rodeo, when you go drinking or during the bar and it's like you know and like everybody's a tough guy, you're bull riders or somebody always runs their mouth and then nobody wants to be. Like you know, back down there's always a fight yeah, no, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Did you ever get like knocked out or injured?
Speaker 2:I've never been knocked out, like I've been in some pretty gnarly fights, but I've never been knocked out in the fight. I got knocked out. What about the bull, though? What about the bull rider? I broke my sternum. Bull stepped on my chest and broke my sternum. So if you ever look at my pictures, you'll. You'll go now when you go back.
Speaker 2:You look at my before and afters yeah if you look at my right, my right pec, you'll notice it looks visibly different on the inside. It's because that sternum got broken. A bull stepped right on me and smashed it.
Speaker 1:How was it? Was that like the worst pain ever?
Speaker 2:that was when I was done. I called it quits then, like it was awful, because you can't imagine that feels like your chest is just, you're getting crushed, like that's really yeah, and, like you, kind of get a little bit of a panic, you know, and, um, once I healed from that, it was, like you know, I need to like go do something real with my life, and that was kind of what set the tone for me.
Speaker 1:So but now that was like so that was like 2000? Uh, yeah, I'm gonna look at that. And when he's referencing to the before and after because chris is getting shredded, right, he's getting jacked and shredded. So you know, for unsolvable 365 we do before and afters wait till like what's probably another 90 days. People are like damn dude, as long as you stay consistent with what you're doing and we'll get into that. But I'm curious. So that was like 2007 ish, or was that?
Speaker 2:uh, no, that was like still early that 2001.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so you were in arizona for like five or six years before you really started getting serious about the business itself that's correct? Yep, yep, okay, um, so that was almost 20 years ago, you know, uh, 18 years ago, right, when you really, when you actually had to uh start at what an llc or whatever you did back then um years yet. And now you said this year, maybe last year, you did 98 million like for some people that yeah, just under 93 million.
Speaker 1:I can't talk today and get all my numbers and words wrong. Um, 93, 98, they're both big numbers when it comes to the million, I mean. But that's an incredible journey, dude. So, like, how did you do that? How did you go from riding bulls and fighting at night and to getting serious about internet marketing and scaling your business to this magnitude? Like that's an incredible run.
Speaker 2:Yeah, listen, like my, uh, my, my. You know, this is one of those awesome scenarios where I met my, my wife and um, my wife Now we've been married almost 20 years Um, and she, you know, our skills complimented one another. So all the things that I was good at, you know, she wasn't in all the things that she's good at, which is far more than me, I wasn't good at it. So, like, when we put this business together, it really worked well. So she's the anybody who knows her and understands the real success in this business of Rhino lies on her, like she's the backbone of the business. I'm over sales marketing, she's over everything else.
Speaker 2:So, but we scaled it the right way. We never chased the dollar number one. So we never, like we never, said, oh, I can't wait to be a million dollar company, I can't wait to be a $10 million company. We really chased, you know, you put the employees first. And if you put the employees first, and if you put the employees first, they'll take care of the clients. And this is this beautiful the clients, you know, will continue to stay and will keep growing and will build a reputation and we had this saying reputation over revenue. And if you just focused on doing good by the staff. They would take care of your clients. And I would keep chasing like hey, how do I keep getting better and better on behalf of these contractors who were relying on me to help scale their companies. Like those are human beings who are expecting me to help them grow their business, so I could either hurt or hurt or help their companies. I took that very personal and we built that culture into the business and scaled it. And you know, by the time we brought on a private equity partner in 23, we had grown the company big enough to we're kind of like we got to be responsible with this, like we want to keep going but we might need some help on how to get it from, you know, 30 to a 60 to a whatever million dollar company. We're going to need some people that might be smarter than us to figure it out, or so we thought so.
Speaker 2:So really, where the big scale started coming in is once we brought on a private equity partner. There was a sister company of ours called blue corona that was also the same size as business as us, but even actually maybe a hair larger, who had been in the trades a long time, just like us, and we ended up merging them into rhino. So we immediately almost, you know, we immediately double in size, like, and we're all kind of getting bigger. So the reason we started to see such substantial growth is because of, you know, we started combining businesses so that wasn't straight organic growth, like we had good organic growth, but it wasn't straight. So there were some acquisitions that were done in there to get us to the 93 number, um, but what we realize today is like we could totally run this business, like we could have done it all along. But you don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 2:I learned so much these last few years of working with private equity companies. You know, and I have some fantastic buddies that you know to see Tommy is one of my closest buddies and you know we all have a bunch of behemoths that are friends of mine that we can think, bounce ideas and stuff off over, have a bunch of behemoths that are friends of mine that we get to bounce ideas and stuff off over. So I just, you know, I know so much more today that I can help scale these things. But what I really boiled down to, sean, was we were, you know, we, we were good, good people. We really cared about our reputation and doing things right, and we're resourceful. We were never afraid to spend money to make sure that everybody had everything that they needed to be great and here on behalf of our customers, and we always gave back. So every month we would take one Friday off and we would pay every employee to go do community service and to give back.
Speaker 2:We wanted to do good, you know, because I believe that the good lord giveth and the good lord taketh away, right? So if I just continue to give, like, I will continue to be blessed. And so once you sell to private equity now you become an investment and that thought process changes a bit. So there's a two-year stint there we're trying to learn, like, how do we navigate? This is no longer the, you know, the primary owners of this and now just investors in it. So, but that, but that's where the biggest growth happened. I don't want, I don't want the listeners to think or those watching to think like, oh my God, they took the same, you know, from 30 to 90, some odd million organically. It's not how that went down, like we did scale organically, but we, but we brought, we built that through acquisition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, either way, it's still very impressive, you know, and so it sounds like what? How many years were you and what's your wife's name? Again, Hannah. Hannah.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So you two were like the foundation of this thing, right? Obviously, you got a lot of great people around you, as you alluded to, but how long were you building the business before you had those acquisitions or PE got involved?
Speaker 2:Yeah, from 2008, so really until 2024.
Speaker 1:So like from 2008 to 2024.
Speaker 2:And I think you've interviewed another key player in this, in this company, for you know, for us, along the way he's been with us like 13 years, is Mike Benitez you know and and he's been with us a long time and you know like, so he was a part of this.
Speaker 2:You know a big part of this journey too. But yeah, we had good people, we got good leaders. We treated everybody right so like they wanted to run through walls with us, like we were doing this stuff together, and so, you know, half the battle is getting you know great people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, obviously you have to have a good idea, good product. But I want to touch on that because I think leadership man, you want to recruit and attract the right people, but then how do you keep them motivated, inspired? Like you know, you want to attract a players, but if you have employees that are too ambitious, eventually they're going to leave and do their own thing. Potentially. You want to find that right fit, you, you want to find that right fit.
Speaker 2:You know it's like what was your approach to making sure your employees were getting everything they needed from you and keeping them just like motivated inspired to, because it sounds like you've created a great culture Like how did you go about that? Personally, yeah, I think and I've had these conversations a few times because as you get bigger, it gets more difficult but I kind of at least give you the foundational stuff that you could do to say, 100 employees. You know, we just stayed really involved and we did team builders. We would do quarterly team builders, like we have people. We're not not everybody was in office. There's people from different states.
Speaker 1:Yes, what are those team builders? Look like the team builder.
Speaker 2:You fly everybody in quarterly and we have what's called a good times committee and it's employees who decided themselves to join and make their own little team to create whatever the event is that we're going to do for the team builder and whatever activities we're going to do along with it. But the point is, bring everybody in so we can all be together and that way the people we haven't seen you know in person. We can say oh hey, how's you know, how's your wife, how's your husband, how your kids? Oh hey, I saw the picture on facebook where you're doing xyz. We could just have like a meaningful conversation with them and let them know like hey, we care, besides the email right, or a Slack message at the time, or like a text message, like just like a gift card or a gift card or something.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, like, but like true, meaningful conversation.
Speaker 2:So that's, that's one piece of it, because you can give them things like benefits, you know, or raises and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:But to me that's like it's you know, it's got a short, it's got a short shelf life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you need to like really care about these people and they need and like genuinely, and then then feel that but if you do all those things and you feel like you're paying them, like the what they're worth and you're continuously putting into them, you know we would, we would give them budget to go and learn a new skill within their job to make them better, because the better they are for themselves, well, they become more valuable and the better they are for our customers, which means it's better for us as a business. We felt like, well, we're just going to keep pumping money into these people, figuring out where they want to go, how do we help them get there? What training do they need or skills do they need to get there? And then one cool little thing that we did was we gave a masogi benefit which has there's no way you've ever heard of it before it was called a masogi um, and I learned this from a dude named jesse itzler back in like 2019, who I don't know.
Speaker 1:If you know who jesse is, I think he's, he's legit man.
Speaker 2:So we so with the jesse, we met with jesse I took my entire executive team went, went to Jesse's event in Georgia. It was just like a small group of us and, um, and he was talking about this Mussogee thing. I was like this is really cool and what it is is. It has nothing to do with the business whatsoever, it has everything to do with them as human beings. And basically he would say, hey, here's a thousand dollars, go and have an experience. And that experience needs to be something that you'll never forget. That year, like that's one of those things you're like oh man, this year I went skydiving. Or oh, this year I went and backpacked, you know, the grand Canyon, or like the one thing that's like a major experience, and we would give them a thousand dollars to go do it. So we poured into them personally too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't have to be something, cause I've heard that term. I've actually heard Jesse talk about it Isn't it something that's also supposed to be very challenging, like a marathon or something that gets you out of your comfort zone? I guess it could be.
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to be. That's the way he presents it. Yes, for us it was just we want it to be. It's got to be big enough that it's something where you're like. You will not forget that. You did that this year. You know that particular year.
Speaker 1:Well, that's really cool and for anyone listening, whether you're, you own a company or you just want to get more out of life, I think we should all strive to do at least one thing like every year, like that, like a bucket list item that we'll never forget. If you've never been skydiving, you've wanted to go do that this year. If, uh, what like you want to go? For me, I'm in california, so the tallest mountain here is mount mckinley, like a lot of people, like the summit mountains, but stuff like that I think is really cool. Um, and I'm also a fan of jesse. It's such big, is it?
Speaker 1:the big badass calendar, the year-long calendar yeah, where you schedule stuff out for the year, and we're talking about being intentional here. But the thing that stands out to me the most and this is what I gather from a lot of great leaders, um, is investing in the human being, not the, not the employee, not the salesperson, not like, not their, their job title, but them as a human being. Um, and there's a study that was done, uh, during the industrial revolution, called the hawthorne effect. I don't know if you've heard of it, but they were studying factory workers to see, hey, how can we get the most out of our employees, like, how can we get the most productive workers possible? And they did these test groups. One of the group got, like extra time off, the other group got more money and the third group got more attention from their superiors and they were the group that outperformed the other three.
Speaker 1:And so the research showed that when you invest in human beings and they feel like you care about them, like they matter and they're a part of something bigger than just the task or the hourly wage, they'll naturally go above and beyond in the work that they're doing. And that's what you're describing right now is like investing in your people in such a way where they want to make you proud, almost, and they take ownership of whatever it is they're doing. So I think that's really cool and I think probably a lot of companies, especially like bigger corporations, like think about the massive corporations out there, right, like they lose sight of that, and then it's just another number, just another person, a cog in the wheel. But it sounds like that's what's made your organization so special over the years. Is that culture you've created man?
Speaker 2:yeah, no doubt, and um, but man, it was very intentional, right, and and culture is one of those things that when it's big, it's hard to change if you're trying to change it, so it's just good to do it early on, but for us it was easy because it was just genuinely who we were as human beings, like we wanted to help people and that was what we focused on. And you know how people will say you know, oh, it's, you know, clients for clients first, and then your employees, and we were like no, no, it's not like I understand what you're trying to say but when you said it and described it, it makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1:Like if your employees are super fired up and they're trained properly and they're just excited about what they're doing, that's going to spill over into the fulfillment of your, your clientele. So I love that. I love that man. Um, so and this is something we were talking about before we started recording but, uh, I want to know about, like, how you kept your mindset in the right place as you grow, because I can only imagine, with the acquisitions and the numbers that you're doing, you've experienced some adversity and stress along the way, and I think you alluded to some of the metals and some of the stuff hanging up behind you. So let's talk about that man, like how important to you is. Well, first of all, what? What do you do now and then in the past to keep yourself in the right mindset? Like, I know, you got those core beliefs. You have a good upbringing that's instilled you discipline, work, ethic. But have there been times where you've been really stressed out on this journey and, if so, how do you navigate those times?
Speaker 2:um, have there been times I've ever been stressed out on this journey, sean, it's been 18 years.
Speaker 1:I want to know, like you don't have to give specifics, but yeah, because here's the thing, man like I work with business owners and you know, as guys get older and they're not taking care of their health or maybe like these two drinks sometimes or smoke or whatever like.
Speaker 1:I get it. Sometimes, when you're stressed out, you go have a drink and it helps alleviate it, but over time it doesn't typically make you a better version of yourself and as you get older it starts to kind of chip away at that potential a little bit. So, yeah, what have you learned as far as, like stress management, being a visionary, being an entrepreneur and business owner that you are just? About the importance like taking care of yourself on your journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, and it is a good question. And I think you know I'll just kind of be really raw with you. I probably made the mistake too many times of not being more intentional about fixing the fixing the problem, like if I'm stressed about something, I'd rather just work my way through it and not think about it. You know, cause I can work my way through anything? Cause it distracts my brain and which is a very bad habit to do. I didn't know it then. I actually just thought like, oh, it's like avoiding, you know your problem, because you know there was probably something broken that I could have fixed, that I just focused on that wouldn't would have allowed me to not to be so stressed out.
Speaker 2:And anytime you grow or have fast growth, it's stressful because things are changing. They have to change, you know, and I can't do everything anymore, or Anna can't do anything anymore, she has to delegate. And when you know and and I can't do everything anymore, or Anna can't do anything anymore, she had to delegate. And when you delegate, you have to be able to trust that the person delegating to can do it. You know at least 80% as good as you're doing it, cause you gotta be able to let go a little bit. And then they have to manage people and then it's like you know now you have, when you have a lot of people where you're, you know you get nervous about is everybody being taken care of, like you know, or you know, and then you're not. Not everybody's going to be happy in the company when it gets bigger and you can't solve everybody's problem, right, and it's in that and so you got to get used to that. But when you're scaling and growing a company, you know, when you're in a position like I'm in, you know, even before the, you know, even before we brought on a private equity partner, like, like we were a big business and by the time something got to me well, nobody's bringing me great problems to solve, right, like I get like the worst problems to solve. Like it's a really mad client about X, y, z, and if it got to me that means it's in a really bad spot and you kind of become a firefighter on the daily. You know, and and it's not because we were intentionally, you know did a bad job on a customer account but there's human error, right, and then and like so you it's. It's easy to get stressed out if you get bombarded with those.
Speaker 2:But here's what I learned over time. It was, you know, I had to just be at peace with OK, let's set the situation aside. I learned a lesson that said, no matter how far removed this situation is from me and the scaling of this company, I had to look and say what's my role in this? Like you know, was it because I put the wrong SOP and put a process in place and if I had fixed that process better, that situation wouldn't have happened. All the way down the line, like that's the way I'm trying to think, is like, oh, none of this was intentional and the client's only handling it the best way they know how to handle it. They might have zero training on how to handle conflict resolution or XYZ, or they just don't know. So I almost have to flip my brain to thinking like the only reason they're this mad and saying these things is because they don't understand xyz and they won't, and they've never been trained on how to handle xyz. So I'm gonna think about like, oh, they just don't know, so I'm gonna go in and educate them. Or if I need to admit fault, we admit fault, take ownership.
Speaker 2:So it was literally me having to, like you know, put the situation itself aside and like peel the onion and figure out, like what's the real reason for the situations. And so, when things get hard or stressful, the worst thing you can do is avoid it. Like you gotta just like it's like the buffaloes like story whenever it's storming, they run into the storm so that way they can get through it faster. Um, that's the kind of way I had to take it on, is like's. The kind of way I'd take it on is like man, conflict is just like a part of it and you got to just run right to it. And if your heart is in the right place, your core values are in the right place, and the intention is do what's right, solve this one, then move on to the next, then move on to the next. Like it starts to put your stress, you know, at ease a little bit. Like I'm not saying it doesn't get hard, it's certainly hard. There's plenty of days. Last week was hard, you know, and I thank goodness.
Speaker 2:I'm like well, you know me and one of my good friends, chad Peterman, will talk about this Like there's a lot of chapters in a book and that just happened to be a hard chapter, but it was just setting me up for the really good next chapter, you know, and there's going to be more hard, more hard chapters in the book on the end, you know, all the way to the end of the story, which is going to be great.
Speaker 2:So it's just kind of how you like self talk, you know, talk to yourself, you know, or, um, you know, and and I have a hard time I don't know if this happens to you, sean, but like I'm not great at talking about, you know, my issues or problems, because I don't want to be a burden on someone else Like, I just keep it and the best way I can release that is to go and do things.
Speaker 2:Like you know, I used to run all the events and stuff. It was like I got to keep working on my mental fortitude and I don't love to run, but, hey, I control myself. So if I can go and run this race, it's going to force me to do the things I don't want to do. So I'm telling myself my brain no, no, no, man, like I'm in control. I'm in control Like I'm the one that finished this race, didn't do any training. I'm the one that finished these obstacles and I wanted to compete. And when I'm done, I'm like yeah, like you know, as much as it sucked, I'm like no, I'm still good, like I some good mental strength here, like I can get myself through anything, and that would give me a reassurance.
Speaker 1:The problem is, you see a bunch of them, because I kept having to go through that quite a bit over the years and it's a never-ending thing. Like if we could just run one marathon and have enough motivation, mental, mental fortitude to get through the rest of our lives, then that'd be pretty easy, you know, that's the thing is you got to keep getting up every day and showing up Momentum's a real thing, man, if you just stop doing hard stuff in your personal life, would you be more vulnerable to stress and adversity in your business life? Probably that's why I love to. I actually enjoy working out. I enjoy running, although I can't do it now because my knee's busted. I actually enjoy working out. I enjoy running, although I can't do it now because my knee's busted. And I enjoy it most of all because the feeling when you complete the challenge you battle with yourself, especially when you're running or you're doing Spartan races Like how many times are you having a negative thought and you have to course correct?
Speaker 1:Or you're like just getting pessimistic, like you have to train your mind to see the good even in the difficult times, and that's powerful because you do that in business all day long. You were just alluding to that. When you're putting out fires or you're delegating or you're scaling, it's like being able to retrain yourself to think differently, talk to yourself differently so you alter your perspective to get the desired result and to get there with the least amount of friction and resistance as possible. You know, um, and so let's talk about fitness. I know you know a little bit ago, before we started recording, you're like man. I've been hitting the gym every day. 4, 30 to 5 30 sound like it's a powerful outlet for you, um. Has it always been that way or do you think more so?
Speaker 2:recently, working out has become something that you look forward to doing yeah, I mean it, it wasn't and and I think where I, when I recognize, I think this it was pretty, it's a pretty, it's a very pivotal moment, like in my life today. Um was this move, but um, I'm gonna take one step back. I I learned a really cool analogy from this amazing human being. I went to this event called Rise Up Kings and it was like an event in Dallas where it kind of taught me about four pillars. And the reason this is important is because it applies to this. It's why I end up taking action and moving forward with you. It was these. It kind of goes, it's kind of psychological, it's like a bootcamp type thing and, um, you know, very physical and um, and it gave you these four pillars. You know your faith, family, fitness and finances or your business, and so I had these four pillars and like, how are you showing up in these four pillars of your life? And I'm like, so it, you know, and I'd have to journal on these things and like, and I'm holding myself accountable, who do I have to hold me accountable?
Speaker 2:And I was failing in my fitness, like I was working so hard to build this business when we were going in to find a private equity partner, that my eating, my fitness I've always been kind of a small guy, right, so I've never been like overweight and things like that. But I was starting to get like the Grinch belly. You know, like I got these little skinny legs and it was like the little Grinch belly and I was like, hey, like I have neglected my health for so long because I could get away with it. And, um, and I was like man, like I just don't feel good. And Tommy would tell me, dude, you gotta like fix this and fix that. I'm telling you like it'll change and your brain will be firing differently and you'll get better. And so, um, what this did, was it actually? It was it prepared me for what I knew was coming. And and I knew these next few years were going to be difficult, right, cause I'm I'm no longer the man in the company, right, I sold it, so I'm no longer the owner, I'm now an investor leading a business that is an investment, right? So I have to change the way that I'm leading, based on what my instruction is, but still be there for the people.
Speaker 2:Well then, when this thing gets to 200 and 300 and 400 people, the game has changed and I was like I have to be prepared for this and I was like I'm just going to start with doing the one thing that I don't like to do Now. I'm not a guy that gets up in the morning and works out. I'm not that guy. I enjoy the 4.30 to 5.30 pm workout because in the morning is when I am like the sharpest and as soon as I got on the supplements, like I was like boom man, I felt like I was just firing on all cylinders and I was working out and I get up at, you know, 5.30 because I don't want to get up at 5.30 AM and I'm just like you know, I let my brain do its thing and that's like the most productive hour and a half in the morning before my kids get up. And so, um, I, but I'm doing this because I was like, okay, um, you know, sean's been on me. You know, uh, tommy, you know you spoke highly of you. I remember seeing you guys speak and I was like, okay, like you know, I'm gonna do it, I'm just gonna freaking jump.
Speaker 2:I said, like the dr j at the last home service freedom thing, like I was sitting next to him during this one exercise and I didn't realize, sitting next to dr j, so I uh, um, I just made um, I just made the. I said, you know, I'm like it's either day one or one day, you know, and I'm like today's day one. So let's just, let's let it rip. And and literally, like I told Matt, who's my, my fitness coach, and I said, dude, you won't have to stay on me, like I'll probably ignore some of the shit that you say, but I you'll never have to. Like it's not because I'm trying to ignore you, it is just no. Like I am on it, like you'll see, keep checking my app, you'll see. And when I miss things, I'll tell you why I miss them. If I ate wrong, I'll tell you why I ate wrong. Like I'll always be transparent with you because the pictures don't lie. But the whole point was, you know, I didn't want to do it, so I just did it.
Speaker 2:But now it's not just one-off event, now it's every day, because there's days, sean, when I do not want to go to the gym. I do not. Most of the time I do, thankfully, like I look forward to it because of I see what's, I see how I'm changing, I see how I'm feeling, but tell, trust me, there's days when I do not want to go, and those are the days where, when I'm done, I'm like those are the mental challenges I got to overcome, like it's easy to go on the days you want to go. It's hard to go on the day you don't want to go, and so I get more of those like mental fortitude exercises when those days happen. So I'm grateful for them, because at the end I'm like damn, I just finished this hour and a half of all these sets and sean's adding weight and adding, you know, reps, and I'm like damn, dude, give me a heads up next time. You added that one, so I wasn't prepared for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's about pushing you, you know, and uh, I got a great team at unstoppable 365. I mean dr jane. What he can do as far as the blood work and providing supplements is a game changer because I think, right when you started taking the supplements he was sending you. You messaged me and you're like man, I have so much energy, like, and you notice it in your, your mental bandwidth, your creativity, like you just feel like you hit that next level. And for business and entrepreneurs, like we just kind of drain ourselves, we push through it, like you were alluding to earlier, just work through it, work through it, but then when you feel better, you perform better.
Speaker 1:So I loved hearing that and then seeing how dedicated you've been man and I didn't know until now, like timing's very important with a number of things right, but the timing of us connecting you, really taking your health and fitness seriously it sounds like it's been perfect timing for you with a lot of the stuff you have on your plate. I love hearing that so much because I know how valuable and impactful fitness, eating, right supplementation can be on your mindset, on just your overall morale, you know, and because, like you got kids, man. You got a wife, you got a lot of people that depend on you, and you can't neglect yourself. You got to invest in yourself, you got to prioritize yourself every day so you can show up for that. I think a lot of times too, that's a mindset shift for people like they're so used to just grinding in their business, building their business, and then like they don't realize that they're bringing a lesser version of themselves home or into their leadership positions than they should be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you think you're absolutely right and it's like you know we didn't really talk about a whole bunch, but you know, I have four kids like from an age range of 25 to 10. So I have four kids like from an age range of 25 to 10. So I have all this stuff's going on while I'm, you know, raising a family, right, and my wife's in this business too, so we're both in it. But but you know, one of these commitments I always made was I always wanted to be a good dad and I and I did not want to miss things. You know, my dad missed stuff for me, you know, and hated that. So I was like I'll never be that.
Speaker 2:My mom was amazing. My mom was awesome, like, was there for everything. My mom retired from my company, which is pretty cool, um, but um, and I love my dad, but I'm just saying like he just missed things and I was like, dude, I'm never gonna miss things and as the book company bit grew, like I would take red eyes home to catch, you know, a six-year-old, you know soccer game, you know what I'm saying like, and they might, might not even remember, but I know. And so now you miss some things like there's no way to avoid. You know, avoid that when you're scaling it, like we've been, but it's very minimal and my kids today will tell you oh no, man, my dad like makes everything, like he makes as much as he possibly can.
Speaker 2:They would never, never be like oh, he misses stuff, even if I missed one or two games it happens, yeah, and to me, that's as as as important to me, right, but I have to to provide for my family is like I feel this, like I am the, I am the one. Like I have to provide now. Like I am the, I am the one. Like I have to provide. Now, anna feels the same way, but together we're like, well, how do we do all these things at the same time? You know, we got this kid playing this sport and this kid playing this sport this was on a travel team that I got one. It's in the, you know. Now it's in the air force. It's like all these things are happening, yet we're still scaling this company and trying to do all these things. So, if you think you're busy, like, change that script in your head too, because I promise you there are plenty of people busier doing more and and okay, and. So now, squeezing in an hour to hour and a half workout every day into that agenda, it's you make time for the things that are important to you, and, and the health journey that I'm on right now, I've never, like it's helped me across the board, dude, like all of those pillars I just told you about my family, like how to make a better family. I'm making better choices.
Speaker 2:We hired a chef, you know, and it's because Tommy has a chef and I'm like, how are you getting like all this food Like you? Otherwise you just order stuff out, you're kind of like throwing stuff together, you're not eating healthy. And so I was like, well, we hired a chef, Comes in on Monday, makes all of our food for the week it's great and just little things like that, you know like. But it keeps me like. You know, the supplements hit me Like, they hit me fast on, like I could. I could physically tell I was waking up and I was just firing faster and I was like I don't want to lose that man. So I'm going to work out in the afternoons, because these mornings are great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you've built the system in your personal life, the way you've built a system in your business, which is so important. You know, like how easy was it to hire the chef? You said one day a week and they prepare all your food like game changer. Um, and I think about the example you set for your children, even though they are a little older now, like they see dad working out, daddy and healthier. I mean, you got a 10 year old right. What? 10, 14? What are the ages?
Speaker 1:yeah, 10, 14, 18, 25 yeah, even you're like, you're 25 year old, right, is that the one that joined the air force? Or like he comes home, you know, on leave or whatever he sees dad, look at all fit, he's like damn, like he's a young man. That's going to inspire him. And so what you said there, it's very important when you make these, these important changes, that first it might seem subtle, but it starts to bleed into all areas of your life. You know, like the food you're eating, the time you're spending with your family, all those little details that you just alluded to, those micro details, start to change and you really have to create a system that you live off of. That you live by at home, just like in your business, like the 430 workouts right, hey, I get up in the morning, I got mental bandwidth. That's what I'm focusing on, all my creativity. You start to create that ultimate life by design, where everything's intentional, everything that you're doing has an impact. And the other thing you said is very important If it's not important to you, if there's no meaning there, you're not gonna do it consistently. And I think that's the hardest part to get.
Speaker 1:I don't wanna say guys like you, but let's just say business owners or people that are busy to understand, is like the value in fitness. It's not just so you could show off your abs Cool, that's an added benefit. There has to be deeper meaning there, to the point where you're going to do it every day and if it's like, if it's allowing you to get through a tough season in business and the stress is getting to you but that workout just alleviates it a little bit so you can get through each day right. Or you notice your boys are looking at you differently. Like dad, you're looking great, I want to be like you. Or who knows, maybe it brings even more of a spark into your relationship with your wife. Whatever it is, I'm always striving to get people to make those connections with the important areas of the life and people, because that's how a routine in the gym becomes a habitual way of life and that's when it really changes so much for the better long-term.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you don't. You don't think about it when you're going in at least I didn't when you're going in to get you know fit. It was just I'm going in to get fit Cause I got to start, but you don't realize how much it actually impacts like all phases of your life. It's. It's pretty cool man to lay like you know.
Speaker 2:Um, my kids see how hard I work or how hard Anna works in our business, there's no question.
Speaker 2:So they see the work ethic piece of it.
Speaker 2:But now they're saying like, oh, dad's going to the gym, you know, every day and I tell them the days I don't want to go, I tell them I don't want to go and that's on purpose because I still go and I still go and do it because there's days that Mason may not want to go to football practice because it's 110 degrees outside here in Phoenix and he doesn't want to go out there and do that and he needs to see me working through it too, and just like we would do in our business.
Speaker 2:You know, when our business struggled, we we would do in our business. You know, when our business struggled, we talked about it in front of them so they could understand the struggles that we go through and how we work through it. Now they might not understand the what you know it is, but they see, they recognize the situation and we did that intentionally so that way they would see and understand. Like oh, like ever, my parents go through this all the time, but they always work through it and get it figured out, and that's kind of what we're hoping to build in their autopilot, is that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that man. And to go back briefly to what you said about taking red eyes and not missing stuff, I think that's one of the most admirable traits and qualities. I think it's really cool that you built such a massive business, but honestly, I have more respect for you as an individual for that, for being that present father, because there's a lot of guys that have tons of money and cool cars and badass suits and stuff like that, but are you really there for your children? I don't know. For me, I think that's just the most important thing. I'm the same way.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about that. My kids have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I carved out time in the middle of the day, put appointments aside and stuff, because I want to be there. Like my kids are still younger, but, dude, I value that time with them so much because look at your kids. You got a 25 year old man and I hear all the time like it goes quick. I just had a baby girl and she's five months already. I'm like where did that five months go? It's half a year almost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great. I remember your hat because you're on the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, this time flies by. So, um, you know, being the example for them and being there with them, I think that's just. I love it. A lot of parents aren't? I grew up with parents that weren't there for me, so it's a personal thing for me as well, man, and just appreciate everything you shared today.
Speaker 1:I think it's very valuable for other business owners to hear someone who's had the success that you've had to like yeah, you want to be savvy in business? You want to build the empire? Hell, yeah, go out and do it, but don't neglect your health and don't miss out on this precious time with your children and your wife, because they go quick. And there's a lot of guys that are older than you even who look back with regrets. That's like let's talk, let's end on that too. Like, cause, I don't want to have regrets when I'm older, so I'm trying to do everything now to assure that doesn't happen. We probably all will. It's inevitable. But it sounds like you're you're of the same mindset, man. Like everything you're doing is to look back one day and go dude, I did it the right way in all areas of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, a hundred percent, I'm going to. I'll tell you this Like there's this thing that we all make posts and I always put hashtag memory dividends. I, like you know, I there. I have friends and their and their goal is to make you know tons of money, but at what cost To me? What's important to me is did I want to create great wealth for me and my family? Yeah, I did, and we were able to do that and continue to be able to do that, but not at the expense of my family. That was my non-negotiable. I had to give up some things in business and opportunities because I didn't want to miss something of my family. I was not willing. That was my non-negotiable. Was you know, I had to give up some things in business and opportunities because I didn't want to miss something with my family.
Speaker 2:Yesterday Perfect example my 10 year old has been was going to audition for like a musical. So she was going to sing and she'd been practicing the same song over and over and, over and over again and I had to hear it. You know she's 10. Okay, okay, so I make sure I'm home yesterday when she gets home from school, because I knew she, she was doing the audition after school. When she came home, like we've been working on it, you know, like she's been working, I'm taking her to soccer practice. She's singing the song over and over again. So when she got home, I was there, you know, I was there to for her to walk in and tell me how great it went. And she was excited and she practiced so much and I boosted her. I'm like, hey, listen, you're ready. So she knew, going into it. I'm like you're ready, you're doing so good. So she went in confident, but we worked on that, right. And then when she came home, I was there for her to tell me Now it was over in 10 minutes. Right, the story was over in 10 minutes. And then I went, you know, into my office and got more work done. But I was there for her to tell me, like those are the things, man, that that stick. And it took me 10 minutes, man, like, or 15 minutes of you know my time, just to to make that sure that she knew it was as important to me as it was to her.
Speaker 2:And you know, and I do all this stuff at the same time but I'm not motivated to be, you know, I have a number in my mind of what I want my net worth to be. But how I get there is, you know, I could have gotten there faster, but what costs. Like you you mentioned, we do so much stuff. We are a very tight family. We do so much together as a family because I want, like if at the end of my life my family talks to me, they want to be near me my kids, my grandkids and all that stuff Well then, I've done my job, like I've done what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Now I like to have the financial piece of it to do whatever is the things that we want to do. But that's just so we can do the things we want to do, like and that is stuff with our family right, and go in and create this life for our family. And that doesn't mean I want to leave a bunch of money to my kids. If I have money left over, great, like they still kind of got to earn their own way, a little bit Right, but yeah, but if I have, A whole other dilemma, right, like, do I make them earn it?
Speaker 1:But that's a good problem to have and I think you know we want to win in all areas. We want to have our health, our relationships, enough money and net worth to do whatever we want and to have nothing off limits, and there's no reason that you can't win in all areas. Like you said, yeah, it might take a little longer, but I'd rather it take a little longer than look back with regrets and all of a sudden my youngest is 18. I'm like, oh my gosh, just like I said a little bit ago, that five months flew by fast. I know one day I'm going to go oh my gosh, that last 18 years flew by. And I see my oldest daughter. She turned six the other day and I was like a couple months ago actually I was like six man. You're like becoming a bigger kid now, like what the heck? But no man.
Speaker 1:It's so cool to hear you share this stuff Because again it depicts your character too Like I don't know if it's just the values and the way you're brought up, maybe being close to family, working side by side, like that and just some of the beliefs and values your parents instilled into you. But it's really cool to see you having such close bonds with your children, your wife, building the company you have and taking care of your employees like they're your family too. It's a testament to you, man, and that's why I'm so fired up to see you working, working out like you are taking care of yourself, feeling the way you are Like. That makes me so happy to know that we crossed paths. For a reason I stayed persistent with you, right, like I don't know if you remember, in Orlando, when Tommy introduced me, when I spoke, I did a keynote, right, and he's like this guy is so freaking persistent, but I'm glad he was. And, dude, that's the thing Like for you.
Speaker 1:You have a product you know helps business owners. Why know my product can help, let's say, 99% of the people that I come across you know. So, first and foremost, it's because I truly care. Like you said this earlier, money's secondary, third, fourth on the list, whatever, for me it's like knowing that the way you're feeling, dude, honestly, and the way that carries over into the time with your family, and just your overall leadership and the impact you have, that's what I freaking love. I truly do, um, and so I'm excited, dude, to grow unstoppable. 365. Help more men like you, um, continue, you know like you are man on this journey. We want it all. We want to live the ultimate life, um, and speaking of that too, I'm going to see you august 21st and 2nd. You're going to be in dallas right at windstorm that's right, I'll be here, you know so we're going to be speaking there.
Speaker 1:Uh, dr j will be with me, matt will be there, so I don't think you've met matt in person. Uh, if we have time to squeeze in a workout, otherwise it'll just be cool to see you, uh. And then tommy's events like two weeks later you're gonna be in vegas, I'm sure. Yeah, so we'll finish the year strong. Like for me, I haven't traveled much the last year because Abella was being born. My wife had a tough pregnancy, so I actually got pretty comfortable not traveling a bunch.
Speaker 1:It was kind of cool for a little bit. It's dangerous, like no red eyes, home right, like no jet lag, but it's part of the biz, it's part of what we do, it's part of the impact. I'm excited to hit some stages and shake some hands and connect with some people in person, dude. So thank you for coming on here to share a little bit about yourself and your journey. Can't wait to see you later this month. Man, is there anything else you want to share? Let's say it's somebody who's operating a business right now, who want to get to the level you're at or just wants to progress in their own life. Any words of wisdom or final takeaways for the audience?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I'll just say you know it's I said it earlier and you'll hear Tommy say this you know, it's either day one, you know, or one day. And choose one day, choose day one. And I'll say, like the one thing I always say to I end every one of my podcasts like this and this is just a mindset thing, and it's. I say no, no, zero days. And what I mean by no zero days is it doesn't mean you have to do something professionally every single day to make yourself better. Don't look at it like that. It's. It's. It can be professionally or personally.
Speaker 2:Just do something that makes you, you know, a half a percent better every single day, and that can be something as simple as you don't hit snoo. You, you know a half a percent better every single day. And that could be something as simple as you don't hit snooze, you know, like you made the bed, like you kicked off the day with completing something, you won something. But you know, do something for yourself every single day. And you know, when you kind of build that mindset like I think about those things, what am I going to do today that makes me better, you know, when I wake up tomorrow, like anything. And when you adopt that mindset, you kind of apply it to everything in your life. Something as simple. As I walk by, I noticed something on the floor. I might just usually just walk past it. Now I pick it up because how you do anything is how you do everything, and it's something as simple as that. But you know choose, you know choose day one and go to work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. Winners win, right? I heard Bradley share this in one of his keynotes. He's like, dude, you know, like winners win, he goes. Well, who decides what winning is and what winning isn't? He goes, you decide. Like I decide, he goes. I get up in the morning, I brush my teeth, I'm winning, because everyone wants to have good breath and white teeth. He goes like, yeah, I see a piece of trash on the floor, I pick it up, throw it away. I'm winning. So, all day long, every little thing he's doing, as long as he does it intentionally, to the best of his ability, he's like I'm winning, I'm stacking those wins. By the time it's 10 am. Like I'm unstoppable man.
Speaker 1:And I think a lot of people put so much pressure on themselves and I don't know about you man Like, yeah, we have lofty goals, but you almost have to like trick yourself to not feel like you know there's so much pressure on the journey for a lot of people. You have to almost like train yourself to not see it that way and break it down to just smaller, like you know, micro goals and little steps along that journey, so that the pressure doesn't get to you. The stress doesn't get to you, cause then it just steals your joy. Man, you're lacking gratitude, you lose inspiration.
Speaker 1:And it's like what's the point when you get to that place?
Speaker 2:So yeah, goal too big. Big can't get there, you gotta break it down yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So brush your teeth. Don't hit snooze. Uh, hit a workout. You know, drink 30 ounces of water in the morning when you wake up. All those little things you know, chris, take your, take your vitamins and your supplements from dr shay. All those things add up, man. Uh, there you go. You know. So cool man, chris, don't know you guys, uh, rhino strategic solutions, the og marketing, uh, we'll call it company right, a movement. It's like, uh, you know, of the trades. Appreciate you being here, man, can't wait to see you soon. Have a great rest of your day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, Thanks Sean. I appreciate it, bro.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to see you guys next year we're going with you. Yeah, it's going to be bad-ass.
