#67 - Behind the Velvet Rope: The Ugly Truth About Wealth, Safety & Strength w/Logan Flynn

What does real security look like?
Former Marine turned executive protection expert Logan Flynn has spent 15 years guarding the ultra-wealthy—and what he’s learned will challenge everything you think about success, safety, and parenting.

The conversation shifts from professional insights to perhaps Flynn's most important mission – raising four sons and a newborn daughter. His approach combines seemingly contradictory elements: teaching children hard skills like marksmanship and self-defense while simultaneously emphasizing emotional intelligence and faith. This balanced philosophy stems from his belief that today's parents must intentionally prepare children for an increasingly challenging world.

From chaos in Ferguson to private jets and billionaires, Logan shares raw, behind-the-scenes truths of the security world—and why emotional intelligence and faith matter more than firepower when raising the next generation.

To follow along with Logan on Instagram: @loganflynnofficial   and     @decisve_action

Chapters

• 0:00 Marine Corps Beginnings
• 17:27 Boot Camp Challenges and Experiences
• 46:05 Transitioning to Civilian Life
• 1:08:40 Building an Executive Protection Career
• 1:29:22 Insights from Protecting the Wealthy
• 1:52:15 Politics, Media and Social Divisiveness
• 2:01:15 Fatherhood Philosophy and Raising Boys
• 2:19:39 The Case for Homeschooling and Family Values

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:05

so roadie bro chacho logan. So welcome to the freaking show, bro. We've been talking about this for a while. We've we've known each other for uh it's gotta be 10 years.

Speaker 1: 0:21

Yeah, I'd say at least, at least 10 years yeah, I was thinking about it last night, trying to figure out the exact, the exact time, but I can't remember.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Yeah, we go back, but I I'm excited for this conversation because I have watched you grow a business in the security world.

Speaker 2: 0:38

You've done some pretty, uh, interesting things and had some pretty interesting clients that I I obviously we don't know if we'll get in the names, but you've done some riot security during some pretty shitty times with the news and everything along those sides. So I want to hear your perspective on those. And I'll be honest, you're one of the only fathers there's very few fathers that I actually look at and be like, okay, this dude's raising men and I feel you are doing it in such a way that not this alpha little kids, but you're just preparing them for life and no matter what it is. And so I definitely want to get your perspective on fatherhood and raising a bunch of little minions that they're all pretty close to the age. So you're dealing with like this crazy chaotic, just dad life of a bunch of boys. You just had a little girl, so you know that's going to change everything. Yeah, you guys have tried enough times and have knocked out the boys, so yeah, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:36

I think we we had three on purpose and the last two were total surprises yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:42

So you're pumping out, you got yourself a little fire team and you're raising them right, and so I want to just jump into it all. Man, I want to talk business, I want to talk fatherhood and you served your country for a little bit. We'll talk on that. So, before we get started, I always open this up as a platform for veteran and law enforcement companies to be able to send us product to be able to give to guests for free. They just I want to be able to support the community however we can.

Speaker 2: 2:08

So we actually have the war machine, which is a or platoon cigars. He was a Marine, got out, became a cop, got shot in the line of duty and he's actually coming out here in a couple of weeks and we're going to do the podcast on his alive day, the day he got shot. We're actually going to. He's gonna tell the whole story. And then we got sea state coffee recon marine and, uh, local bubba here. He's been on the show. Really good guy, real good buddy of mine. We're gonna send you home with some. Actually you're doing a real road trip from here.

Speaker 2: 2:36

So yes, it'll be perfect we'll have you loaded up with some, some caffeine and meth. So well, logan dude, let's jump right into it. Man, where are you from?

Speaker 1: 2:45

and uh, we'll just start there and so, um, I guess, starting at the beginning, I, uh, I was born in memphis but we moved to kentucky when I was about five years old. Okay, um, it was. It was a big change for me. You know, at that age, you know you're trying to figure out who you are, but we, we built a life there. I stayed there until I left for the Marine Corps when I was 21. So we ended up going back there after I got out, I really circumstances just led to us getting back there. I never really planned to go back there. We were my wife's kind of a beach girl. But yeah, kentucky, kentucky's where I'm, where I'm at currently. Who knows if I'll end up staying there forever. But, um, yeah, that that was kind of the beginning, do?

Speaker 2: 3:36

you want to. You want me to go through high school and all that kind of stuff. What was childhood like growing up in Kentucky?

Speaker 1: 3:39

Um, I had a pretty normal childhood, two parent household, um, you know, no massive trauma, no crazy, you know, run ins with the law. I was, you know, I was an idiot whenever I was a kid, for sure, like we all were. But I think I think I just lacked purpose. I didn't, I didn't really know who I was or what I wanted to be, and you can relate, once you get in the Marine Corps, that kind of that kind of solves it for you. The Marine Corps, that kind of that kind of solves it for you. If you're, if you're that that lost, uh, that lost soul that really doesn't know who you are, um, you know they're, they're happy to issue you an identity and real quick, that, that kind of tool bag for the next next few years. Um, but yeah, I needed it.

Speaker 1: 4:18

I tried, tried all sorts of different things. I think I did. Let's see, I did Chinese delivery, I did, uh, I worked on, I worked on cars, I did body work, I did, um, I just did all sorts of small jobs. I was never going to go to college, I think you know, we talked about that yesterday. College isn't for everybody. It definitely wasn't for me. I couldn't find anything that would justify the cost, um. But yeah, the Marine Corps was kind of the first step in figuring out who I was and getting some confidence. And I went in when I was 21. So I was a little bit older than a lot of the other guys. I actually went in on the buddy program with one of my best friends.

Speaker 2: 5:02

How did that go?

Speaker 1: 5:05

Dude, did you have anybody in your I?

Speaker 2: 5:06

didn't even know it existed until after boot camp or like toward the end, when people were like, oh, I'm here with my boy, and then that's when I discovered the buddy program.

Speaker 1: 5:14

I was like you guys came with people like so they in in order to help recruiting at the time, because when I went in it was during the surge, they were trying to get get a lot of people in. Um, you could. You could basically go into the recruiting office and they would guarantee you I think I think they'd guarantee you a slot to where you're both going to bootcamp at the same time and then it's kind of on you afterwards Like they don't guarantee anything after that. But um, you can imagine how horrible the drill instructors are going to treat you once they figure out that you're your best friends, like they're going to imagine yeah, they're going to murder you over it.

Speaker 1: 5:52

So, we believe it or not, we kept it secret the entire time.

Speaker 2: 5:55

Really. So you knew you have like a heads up. Did somebody prep you or were you just like yo? I was not going to say anything.

Speaker 1: 6:01

My, my, my good friend Ross, he, he, I think, kind of foresaw the issues that were going to come out of it, and so we ended up the only time we'd really get together and talk was at the end of the day. We would get together and we would pray at night, obviously. You know we really needed that, but the days were just so overwhelming at that point. But that was really the only time that we would even speak or acknowledge each other, and he was literally at the other side of the squad base. So it worked out perfect, just how we were kind of positioned. But if you know, if they would have caught on to it like that would have, that would have completely changed the trajectory of our bootcamp experience, cause, like it's bad enough.

Speaker 1: 6:44

Oh yeah, they catch you Like we had a. We had a set of twins in bootcamp.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Um, poor kids, dude those poor kids brutal, uh, and they were kind of nerdy and and they weren't doing great. I mean, they're good guys, I liked them, but they would. They would just absolutely kill these guys. They would snatch them out of the rack in the middle of the night and you know they get them mixed up all the time. Every time one twin would screw up, the other one would pay for it. Um, and they. They would do that to the, to the guys on the buddy program too.

Speaker 2: 7:13

So, oh yeah yeah, boot camp is. I really want to get a drill instructor on the episode, like. I want to just sit down with one, because they're the most sadistic human beings on the planet. And it's so funny because the games they play, the the mind fuck. That is just every day. And it's hilarious because, no matter what you do, you're done and and it doesn't matter if everything is done perfectly, you're still and it's just how it is. And then, when you like, get out, and then your time in the fleet or whatever. Then you start meeting dudes that you know and like. You're like, oh, it's in the drill field and you're like, and they start telling you stories.

Speaker 1: 7:53

You're just like dude yeah, and, and they have to be creative. So, like I mean, back back in our our dads and granddads times, they could just beat you yeah now.

Speaker 1: 8:03

Yeah, I don't know about now, but when, when I was in, they'd have to find other ways to do it. So you know, you've got your. You've got your entire week where you're just nonstop being, you know, pt in the in the sand or having you know getting woke up in the middle of the night yelled at whatever. But on Sunday you can go to church and then you can read your. You know your little letters. My dad, he would write letters. He wrote me a letter every single day that I was in boot camp. He would Really, oh yeah, every single day. That's pretty nice.

Speaker 1: 8:33

Yeah, that dude kept me. He kept me going the entire time. I mean, he would send me Bible verses. He would tell me exactly what was going on at home. Yeah, he would tell me exactly what was going on at home. Um, yeah, I, it was a, it was a big part of how I survived. I mean, my mom did too. So did a lot of people. Um, you know that that knew me, but dad was. I mean, he was right there. Uh, so, anyway, you can write, you can, you can do all your. You know everything goes in your footlocker. So Sunday would come, everybody, you know you. You would escape and go to church.

Speaker 2: 9:05

Even the guys that were complete atheists would go to church, Everybody is religious at bootcamp and you're in there with your little, your little moon beam flashlight, seeking this little light of mine. You're like bro.

Speaker 1: 9:16

I'm not getting screamed at for an hour, I'm going to church. It's worth it just for the break. And we would go to the. Uh, so you're a Paris Island Marine, right? Yeah, yeah, okay, we would go to the. What's the denomination that dances a lot and there's a lot of music speaking in tongues I can't remember One of the denominations just very kind of over the top, not a bad thing, just very.

Speaker 1: 9:41

It was a very happy environment to be in. And we would go literally just because you don't hear music when you're in bootcamp, like there's no news, there's no phone calls, like you don't know what's going on, you don't ever hear music and so we would go to this particular you know cause you've got five different choices you can go to Catholic or Baptist or whatever, but we would go just to hear the music. And then, like the music thing, even even getting a card that would like seeing the you know the cards that have music, we would like huddle around at night and open those things up and like, try to listen. In my I think it was my my mom sent me a, sent me one of those like don't worry, be happy by Bob Marley or something. Oh God, dude, we would sit and we would huddle around that thing and we'd just crack it open and try to get a listen. They caught us with it one night and just destroyed it right in front of me.

Speaker 1: 10:32

But yeah, so after church they would come through, they would have everybody dump all their foot lockers in the floor. Now pick this up, pass it to the right. Now pick this up, pass it to the right, and I pick this up, pass it to the left. And then they just come through and start kicking your stuff over, flipping your racks, and I mean, you know they did the same thing to you all, but they have to get creative. Um, we had a sadistic when he would. You would be doing push-ups until you're crying and throwing up and he would come by, he'd wipe your, wipe the tear off your face and he'd eat it and he'd be like I got your soul, yeah, yeah, like wild. Wild people are attracted to that that type of uh, I guess b billet in the marine corps I don't think I ever.

Speaker 2: 11:13

If I would have stayed in and got selected to be a drill instructor, I don't think I ever would have made it because I had zero bearing. Yeah you'd laugh, and I'd be laughing at just these little fat kids coming through boot camp and just having a field day with them, like I wouldn't. I would just be dying laughing I thought non-stop.

Speaker 1: 11:30

I've thought it too. I mean, and how many, how many of your boys that you went through with have we've all had the same conversation? Like if I could go back through it now, knowing what I know, it would be completely different. Like I would have so much more fun with it, I would be so much more belligerent, because when you're there you can't comprehend how much of the indoctrination and all that kind of stuff it is like it's. You're just so, you're so immature and numb to all of it. But once you kind of see behind the curtain you're like this is you know, this is kind of funny.

Speaker 2: 12:03

I kind of looked at it like that from the beginning, like because I've always been belligerent, I've always like crossed the line. I've always had the challenge like I've never been one of those dudes like, oh drill stroke gets my face, I'll fight. I've never been that dude. No, but I'm gonna fuck with them and I'm gonna do things like just, and I know I'm gonna have like repercussions from it, but I was all like I would just. We had this little drill instructor, drill instructor staff sergeant barnes. He was probably like three feet tall, this little black guy. He had the biggest chiclet teeth and so he was little. And he, this dude, hated me. He'd get, he'd stand on my wall locker to scream at me because he was so little, so he or he'd make me bend down the brim of the yeah and so.

Speaker 2: 12:41

But he would walk by me and I just look at him and he'd he'd look really quick and I'd look away and he'd be like, and he'd point and I'd have to get down. He'd be like you fucking eyeballing me and I'd be like, yes, sir. He'd be like, oh, you are like, yes, sir, come with me. And then he would it was like this game, like I was never gonna like bend or break. And bro, they, those dudes. This is the craziest thing.

Speaker 2: 13:01

People don't believe me when I tell them this about boot camp. I didn't know how to disassemble my rifle and clean it until I graduated boot camp and got almost to the fleet, because every I was so belligerent and all these drill instructors had my number that when they would prepare for rifle maintenance and rifle drill anything rifle my job was to go straight to the quarter deck and I would just start hazing myself and I would just be up there doing in my rack. Mate, one of my best friends to this day. He knew my combo. So, as they're like, prepare for rifle minutes, he would do his, he would do mine, he would set his up. He was so I would my all my shit would all be displayed and I would just be on the quarter deck just hazing myself the whole entire time.

Speaker 2: 13:41

So when it came to like actually breaking down a rifle, I didn't. I never learned it at boot camp and people are like there's no way. And I'm like I literally on the rifle range, even in the rifle range, like when we would do any rifle maintenance, anything I was, they would just grab me. I'd just empty my pockets, take my blouse off, start hazing myself and they'd be like that's right bitch, and I would just be up on the quarter deck and I never knew. I couldn't even. I didn't even know what the pins were, like nothing. And people find it fascinating.

Speaker 1: 14:07

They think I'm bullshitting, but I didn't know how to clean a rifle no, we had, we had you in our platoon, like we had that dude, he uh, he was just a pt stud. Like, were you really good at pt?

Speaker 2: 14:16

yeah, he used to take me to all the new battalions that pick up every week or whenever. They would graduate and they'd get a whole new like all the squad. I was the recruit they would take to all the squad base and I would demonstrate how to get haze on the quarter deck. So that's where I would spend like every whatever. I don't even know what day it was, but like whatever day it wasn't in that week. Whenever new recruits were showing up, they'd be like follow me and, dude, I just follow them and those motherfuckers would like walk across parking lots and I'd have to run all the way around because you could never touch the asphalt. So I would do that all over Parris Island.

Speaker 1: 14:48

They just took me to every squad bay and haze me every time new students came in, I, yeah, we had, we had a you, we totally had a you there. Special Dude, I was the complete opposite. So, like to even get in the Marine Corps, like I knew I wanted to, I knew that I was on such the wrong path, like that I needed to do something super hard and like challenge myself, like it wasn't to the extreme where I was going to be, like I'm going to be a SEAL. I just knew I physically couldn't do that, Like I physically was not capable at that time in my life of that, of of that path. But I was like, well, if I, if I joined conventional forces, like what's the hardest, what's the most? You know you don't join the Marine Corps for any like benefit, it's so, it's also seeing, get the stupid tattoo and like say you did the title here Like cause we're?

Speaker 1: 15:39

we're young and dumb.

Speaker 2: 15:40

Yep.

Speaker 1: 15:41

But I was too. I was like like 270 at the time, just fat though just like chewed bubble gum went into the recruiting office, uh, staff sergeant hamblin, like the top recruiter in the entire marine corps, like he was in, he was in the marine corps times or whatever. For this he was in lexington, kentucky. I meet this guy and like he is the poster child like dude's, got the blues on and all the medals, and I'm looking right next door at the navy and the national guard and I go up to him like I want to sign up. You see, like he he had my number, he knew what, he knew how to motivate my personality, type.

Speaker 1: 16:20

And he was like I can't remember exactly how he said it, but in a nutshell it was like you're too fat, we don't need you, and this is during the surge, they absolutely needed dudes, type. And he was like I can't remember exactly how he said it, but in a nutshell it was like you're too fat, we don't need you and this is during the surge, they absolutely needed dudes. Um, we don't need you. And and he was like kind of writing it off, like like I can't get this guy, the army will take you. That's exactly what he did. He pointed right next door and, and I'm telling you, man, these two national guard soldiers, like they, they had to be wearing maternity wear. Like they had to be wearing maternity wear for it to fit. That's not a dig on the army. Like we've got fat guys too, but like these dudes should not have been recruiters.

Speaker 2: 16:57

Because, because, he used representing the army in national guard?

Speaker 1: 17:00

yes, yeah, he used them. He used them as a weapon against me. He's like, dude, go next door like got you, and I looked over there and I saw that it's like no, and so, like he, he knew exactly what to do to get me motivated I left. I, uh, I think seven months later I I basically for seven months had this, this crazy CrossFit guy like murder my dad. My dad paid him to personally train and he murdered me and my buddy.

Speaker 1: 17:31

Um, physically, like we just every day, like throwing up, like just pushups till you throw up, like all this CrossFit stuff. Like I couldn't do a single pull up. So, like starting at that stage, like I was your typical, like little fat kid, never done anything running. I'm still horrible at running. I've got tiny, like short midget legs and these long arms, so I'm the worst at running that you could be. So my runtime would would consistently be at like 2830 for on the three mile, like that's, that's, that's like once like what, 30 seconds below failing Um. And it like that's that's, that's like once like what, 30 seconds below failing um and it stayed that way stayed that way and I, I would like die to get it.

Speaker 1: 18:11

Um, but anyway, he, he did all that for seven months. I lost 70 pounds, came back, um, I was at 190. Uh, once I was in boot camp, skinny, just like, looked like a skeleton. I don't look good at 190. I don't know, I don't know why that sounds heavy, but I have this long torso, so it's just kind of weird. But I looked like a concentration camp victim, but I was still overweight. It's all just in how I'm built. I've got this. Like all my weight's held in this super long torso, I'm like a tall midget. Okay, like all my weights held in this super long torso, I'm like a tall midget, okay, yeah, so so they put me through all that and it's like it.

Speaker 1: 18:52

Bootcamp I tried to disappear because I was already you know, I didn't know who I was and I had all these like I was the fat kid and so the only thing that would make me stick out is I had these glasses that were like I should have brought some in today.

Speaker 1: 19:07

I was the only one on the entire island that could not get the BCGs made on the island, so I was the only one that could keep his actual glasses for a few weeks, so that made me a target. Anyway. Your eyes are so screwed up that you get your own glasses. So even drill instructors from other platoons would come mess with me. So they finally get my bcgs like halfway through boot camp and they're like flynn, we're gonna take away your expert badge because you have a fucking acog on your face. I'm like thanks, like they would take my glasses off. They would like catch my mres on fire with my glasses using the sun and laugh at me while they're burning my food, just stuff like that. And so that was really the only thing that made me stick out and yeah, you gotta love the Marine Corps, bro.

Speaker 2: 19:57

If you think you're a stud and don't have any insecurities, join the Marine Corps.

Speaker 1: 20:02

Yeah, they'll fix it.

Speaker 2: 20:05

Have any insecurities? Join the marine corps. Yeah, they'll fix it. I watched two dudes get the friends getting a fist fight during a uniform inspection once, because one friend pulled the nose hairs off of his boy, was like fail and yanked out and they got into a full-blown fist fight right there. Like I didn't know, I had giant nostrils till I joined the marine corps and then I was like, apparently that's a thing. Yeah, dude, you, my buddy had like a. He had a birth defect and he had like a. He's got like a little notch on the back of his head. It's like a shelf, you know, it's just. I don't know what the fuck, it's just how he is.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Yeah, bro, those drill instructors, every like he we'd be marching a drill instructor from like across the island, be like what the fuck is wrong? And then they would just like swarm them and like, even then, like we weren't. We were rack mates but we weren't best friends then because we met at boot camp and I would just be like, oh man, this poor kid. Like they're just, they were ruthless. You do not know your insecurities until you go into the military and then it is just and then it's exploited and then you just pound your pad. That's why it's like you either build tough skin or you're like oh yeah, I guess that's how it is, like can't change it.

Speaker 1: 21:16

But yeah, it makes you who you are. It really does. If you're someone like me who really needed it, like it just just the experience of going through that and like, oh for sure, figuring out what you're capable of and, um, you know, facing some actual adversity, uh, like that that's worth it. In the end, it there's. There's nothing better than than having to kind of face face all that hardship, um, uh, you know when, when we get into parenting later, like that's, that's kind of what I face, all that hardship, um, you know when, when we get into parenting later, like that's, that's kind of what I take with me into parenting, like bottom line, make them do hard things. Because I I had hard stuff to do when I was a kid and you know I I've suffered bullying because of my crazy glasses and all that kind of stuff. But, um, I'm trying to constantly make that a part of our kids lives because I can tell how beneficial it is when you're an adult, having having experienced that stuff, it's, it's uh, it's like number one well now it's.

Speaker 2: 22:15

We live in such a caudal bubble world where everything is just, everybody just wants to be, you know, safe and easy and secure and not struggle and not get outside your comfort zone. And I feel a lot of parents, our age, like that's how we're kind of shifting into that. And then at the same time, then your kids follow right in suit. But then you have people like yourself, like us, how we parent, it's hey, you're gonna know what stress is, you're gonna know what pain feels like, you're gonna know that pressure and timelines and and things like that. And then it's like you watch your kids develop and it's like, oh, then when they something's handed to them, they're like they and then they thrive right through it and they don't even, they don't even hit a speed bump, they, it's just part of life for them. Yeah, and you're like, okay, cool, and I, I personally, like I'm so torn on the military of if, like, if I had sons, if they wanted to join and I want to get into this later. But I also feel at the same time, if you don't do college in this country, I feel everybody should serve two years, like a lot of other countries do, just because of that. I mean, bro, I went from living in upstate new york I think we had one black kid in our whole school, a couple mexican, and then now I'm living in some kid from corpus christi, texas, some gangbanger, it is my rackmate like so you get exposed to so many different people and cultures and religions and ethnicity.

Speaker 2: 23:41

Everything is like the military is such a melting pot of everybody from across the country. I mean, kids were in there, there were drug waivers. I mean there was kids that got offered like, hey, you're going to jail or join the military. So then now you're, you're dealing with those kids. You had guys, we had indians that were rivaled, tribes that hated each other, reservations that fought each other were in the same members, gang members, that there were so many different people in just walks of life, and so then you get to learn. You got some hillbilly from louisiana is now dealing with, has a rack mate from upstate, you know, new york or whatever, and so now they're having to learn how to deal with each other. It does a lot.

Speaker 2: 24:22

The military, I feel, is a very positive thing, but then at the same time it's like we all fuck, we all, we all drink the kool-aid. Thinking 9-11 was this terrorist attack and there's weapons of mass destruction. It's like now we all know it's all a fucking lie. So like it's, I'm torn over it. I feel like we all got bamboozled in a bit. But it would be tough, man, it'd be tough, but it's a tale as old as time, though I mean every every generation you know is gonna, is gonna face it.

Speaker 1: 24:52

It's like it's like the government's gonna constantly have to figure out new ways to manufacture, uh, patriotism in a, in a whole new generation of lost young men that that want purpose. And they they successfully did it to us. I mean, I bought into it like coke line and sinker, like give me a toby keith cd and an american flag and you know, let's, let's take on all the terrorists of the world, um, and I think we're there again, like we're. We're kind of back in that same, that same rhythm we keep going back to. But you even look at politics today, like who, the guys, the guys like us that fell for it all last time, we're the ones that want nothing to do with it this time. And it's like you're really older generation, or the kids underneath us that are still kind of like they've got rose colored glasses on towards the whole thing and you can't blame them because we were there, yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:47

A hundred percent, it's not that are still kind of like they've got rose colored glasses on towards the whole thing and and you can't blame them because we were there, yeah, a hundred percent, it's not their fault. They see, they see the memes and they see all the cool military pages and they see all the special forces and the videos and the cool content and it's like I get it, man, I it's just, I'm so, now it's. But then now you see everything that's going on politically, political wise, like globally, and it's like all these vets are like what the fuck are we doing? Why are we here? Why are we supporting this? Like, why are we getting back into a whole nother just bullshit war? Hopefully it doesn't get to that, but it's like what? And then now you see our generation that bit into it. Now we're all like fuck this, don't do it, don't do it, you know, like not worth it.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Explain to me the strategic objective of what we're doing here. I I can't get behind it and I think early on that didn't really care Like.

Speaker 1: 26:38

I'm just here for the violence man and I can respect that. Like I got buddies that wanted to go get into the whole Ukraine thing as contractors, like I'm I'm from the contract world, not the overseas stuff, uh, but but like I'm with, I'm with a lot of those guys all the time in the, in the SF community and the seal community, all those guys that are constantly being recruited for that stuff, and I can respect the dude. That's like this is my occupation, this is what I'm good at. Uh, I'm just here for the violence. I don't necessarily agree with you, but I can. I can respect that. That's your outlook. When you start coming at me with this whole, like we're fighting for freedom and all these ideals and things, like that's when I'm like all right, dude, whatever you say, like if, if you need to, like delude yourself into thinking, um, thinking that there's some higher purpose to this, that's cool. But I like don't expect me, you can miss me with that. Like I'm not. I've already been there and done that.

Speaker 2: 27:32

I don't want to like you had me a. Hey, I'm just here for violence. Cool, I respect that, like yo. I I knew dudes. I had a dude in my platoon that he, he just he deployment hopped, like as their deployments were coming out, he, just, he just unit hopped and stayed. I mean this dude was a lance corporal, I mean he looked like chesty puller, he's fucking stacked, had purple heart. I mean, dude, this guy had everything. That's what he lived for and but that was back then, you know, and we thought we were fighting a different person. But so I can respect the dudes, like yo, I'm just here for violence and this is how I'm bred and cool, I get it. But the same with you. If they're like this is because we're fighting for our freedom, it's like.

Speaker 2: 28:10

Well, the fuck like wake up, bro, yeah no, I mean, just just call a spade a spade. Like if you just want to go to war, cool, do your thing. But if you're going to sit here and pitch me like, oh, hey, we need to fight for our allies and but our allies aren't doing anything and they're the ones pulling us into this, that's. That's where I'm like, yeah, and I get it like, right now there's so much nobody knows what the fuck's going on. Yeah, I, I honestly can't even speak on the topic of, like this, iran, israel, because I don't know trump's angle. To me right now it doesn't make sense, like I, I don't see, but then now they're calling for peace.

Speaker 1: 28:45

I'm trying in 4d chess like everyone says yeah, crazy crate like who knows you know, and they're always.

Speaker 2: 28:51

He's always 10 steps ahead. He's the smartest person, like I hope the math isn't for me right now, but but at the same time I'm not educated enough. Like I'm trying to detox because I start getting pulled into that shit. Then it starts consuming and so I've learned enough. Like when things start popping like this, I'm like I'm out, I'm not scrolling, I'm just because it doesn't, doesn't do anything for my soul, it doesn't do anything for me, period, except for worrying, figuring out the next step, trying to see what the next play is, and it's like that's, that's not a healthy way to live. Play is, and it's like that's that's not a healthy way to live. But right now, from what I see and putting together, it's like are we setting the stage? I have, so I have questions and I have so many of them, so it's like I don't, I don't want to dig into it, but it's just there's a lot what's?

Speaker 1: 29:36

called growing up, I mean the, the. I think the biggest thing that I've realized is I don't need to have an opinion on everything like, and I definitely don't need to have an opinion on everything Like, and I definitely don't need to argue strongly for an opinion that was formed based on incomplete information, like sometimes the answer is just shut up. Yeah, like, sometimes I can talk too much, and I think that's a really humbling experience. Once you've, once you've figured out that your entire reality has been a lie multiple times, all these stances that you've held like so closely to um, once you're kind of disillusioned by that and you kind of grow out of it, I think that you can be a more tempered, in control human of how you interact with people, because you're you're just more in tune with the fact that you don't know everything.

Speaker 1: 30:25

That's a issue for sure. It's a total pride issue and I suffer from it, like I. I get I get so passionate about so many things because I'm always digging into stuff, because I need to know the truth. But uh, like you, I think. I think a detox is is in order for most of us. It's just healthy. It's not adding anything to your existence it does it does it.

Speaker 2: 30:46

What it does add is stress and anxiety.

Speaker 2: 30:48

For me personally, that's right and I start worrying and fixating on some dumb ass politicians that don't give a shit about us. They're, they're. None of their decisions benefit us and and so it's like like they're whatever's going to happen. It's going to happen and I feel, if you do get consumed into the news, the media, social, all that shit, you end up at these protests, you end up flying flags and and on a street corner, pissed off, like thinking you're going to make a difference, and that's that's the path that you go down, or you're, or you're fist fighting a dude in traffic because you're so worked up over Ukraine and Russia and Iran, and it's just like for what you know. And so, as you, as like I get older, it's like I see myself start to like the fuck. You know, I start getting in. I'm like, okay, I'm getting pulled in, I don't care if we go to war. I've done my time. I'm 40. I'm aged out. They could my time. I'm 40, I'm aged out. They could, they could draft all they want. I'm good. And so that's where now it's like I don't worry about it, you know, and I get it some.

Speaker 2: 31:50

I catch some shit sometimes because people are like what do you, what do you think about this. I'm like I don't, I don't know. Like I got into a huge fight with a chick like last year your prior I was doing like a 30 day or 60 day detox off my social. She's like asking me all these political, political shit and I was like I have no idea, man. I was like I don't know what you're talking about. She's like you're gonna sit here and call yourself this and I'm like I don't call myself anything, I just you asked me who I voted for and that's just that's. That's the society of the lesser of two evils that I picked, yeah, and she's like you can't, you have to have an opinion on what's going on, and I'm like I don't even know what's going on.

Speaker 2: 32:24

And then that really triggered and like realize, set in with me. I'm like God, they, they do control us, because I'm over here just eating my churro dessert, fucking enjoying life with a buddy of mine, like we're out of town just having dinner, and this woman's going full, like she went straight Trump on me, like Trump, like hardcore Republican me, because I didn't have and I was like man, I'm like I don't know what the fuck you're talking about, cause I'm not watching anything and she's just you have a podcast and you're going to sit down and tell me you you don't have an opinion on this. And I'm like, yes, and she, she couldn't wrap her head around it that I didn't have an opinion on these. I'm like I'm not educated on it, I don't have an opinion on it. I'm not even on my phone. I haven't been on my phone in a month.

Speaker 2: 33:07

And she's just like I don't believe you, you're, you just support the left. And I'm like, and my buddy's looking at me dying laughing, he's like, bro, like this woman only knew. And I'm like I'm neither. I'm fucked. The government, that's where I'm at. Yeah, basically, I have none of them.

Speaker 2: 33:21

They don't, they don't care about you they don't, and that's what I kept telling her. I was like man I am, I'm straight down the line of fuck both sides, I'm not picking a side, I'm gonna vote for the lesser. Two evil and what goes off my moral beliefs and common sense doesn't mean it's. It's like that he's the savior and everything's gonna. We're gonna be in this golden era again. It's just I, that's just the way I was gonna go, and that these are the. These are the motherfuckers they presented to me. This is how I went, but she just threw bat shit crazy on me and I was just like I, and so that made me really realize like okay, it all comes down to the media and our news and that is what is dividing everything. And if they keep us stirred up like a, like a couple of anthills that we kick and we're all fighting each other, they just do whatever they want absolutely.

Speaker 1: 34:04

While that, while they steal your, your dollars value and they, yeah, yeah it's paying 30 some percent on tax.

Speaker 2: 34:09

Like why aren't we bitching about that? But instead we're protesting like ice, removing illegals from our country. And it's like why the fuck aren't we all coming together and burning down cities? I'm not inciting violence, disclaimer, disclaimer. Why the fuck aren't we protesting how we protest against some illegals? Why don't we all come together and protest this 30 motherfucking tax that we have no problem paying on everything? I make my own money, I gotta pay tax. I spend my own money, I gotta pay tax. I save my money, I gotta pay tax. But meanwhile the media goes trump, orange, orange, man, bad. And then now we're burning down cities over that. Because as long as they keep us fighting each other, we can never band together and be like hey, fuck, fuck you we're. This is what we want as a nation, as a country, because we're so consumed over whatever the agenda is that they're pushing next, like that's the chapter I'm at in my life where now I'm sitting back like look at these idiots.

Speaker 1: 35:07

Like well, if you like, if you look into, um, like and we'll get into it later on on kind of some of the stuff that I do but, like if you get into the unconventional warfare playbook, like that, that does that every special operations group in the us or, uh, every branch uses. The playbook is kind of similar. On the unconventional warfare, you've got the information operations and when you do an IO campaign and you're putting information out, it's all meant to divide and just create chaos. And like you can look at the playbook at how, how to topple governments and how to um, how to disrupt things and it's like, well, you apply the same logic and they're literally doing it to us every day.

Speaker 1: 35:52

Like they get us all riled up about, like, each niche thing like we're talking about. Like we're sitting here talking about suppressors and short-barreled rifles, because that's what we like in this bill. And then there's the abortion people and then there's the people that are about drugs and and legalize this. Everyone's fighting over all these like stupid little crumbs in these bills when they're just stealing from you, like they're literally stealing your children's birthright behind the scenes while you fight over you got the purple hair screeching person versus the guy in the cowboy hat and the red shirt. You know they took our jobs like it. It's.

Speaker 2: 36:33

It's just total nonsense if we could figure that out as a country where, cool, you could rock your purple hair. If you want to go have your kid castra, chemically castrated, that's doesn't bother me, you know, go do your thing. We have our beliefs, we have what we want to do and protect. We need to get ourselves on track, yeah, pointed in a direction as a whole, but it'll never happen because, and then these people that are, hey, the media, the media, it's the media, the you know, and but then they, they, they're so consumed by it, still watching it, still watching it, and everything that's being fed on this is complete lies and you see, these people and it's it's sad man like no kings, like.

Speaker 2: 37:22

Oh. So now you know what a king is, but you can't tell me what a woman is.

Speaker 1: 37:26

Well, and you guys were like. You guys were like dictating that my kids should be taken from me, literally two years ago because we wouldn't wear masks or take an experimental drug. And now this year you're upset it just doesn't. The math doesn't. Math like you can't. You can't be hypocritical about literally, and conservatives do it too. I'm not a Republican. I have conservative views, very libertarian conservative views, but, like dude, I work for I actually work for mostly Democrat politicians. A lot of them are great people. You know I've worked for some Republicans. I just don't see, I don't see a lot of difference in how things are kind of managed on either side. Same thing with the, the media, people like it's, it's all one big. It's all one big mess. That that you're being completely distracted by 100.

Speaker 2: 38:26

It's all false flags and it's just. It's one of those things that you were. Oh, we're fighting over this, but these politicians are all together and they're all laughing and they're all cool. Let's just pass these bills, whatever.

Speaker 1: 38:39

Anyways, fuck the fuck the government yeah, we, I mean we go down that rabbit hole for like three hours. But i'm'm with you like moving on.

Speaker 2: 38:45

So military, yeah. So have you got a boot camp? I mean, how long did you do?

Speaker 1: 38:51

So got out of boot camp, went on to SOI. I signed up as infantry but then my B billet was security forces. So I'll tell you a funny story. So I'll tell you a funny story. So I meet my wife. I meet my wife while I'm in security forces school out in Virginia and like the three minute, like the quick version of this whole story is, I do the typical idiot Lance corporal thing that never works out. Meet my wife at church. She had had a rough past. I had had a rough past. We had a rough past. We both end up in church in in virginia.

Speaker 1: 39:29

Uh, I had gone with some friends that we were staying with over the weekend. Like all, all my buddies would go out and get hammered at va beach and get arrested and like I just wanted me and my buddy pete uh, pete vergara, he was like my battle buddy there. Uh, puerto rican dude, like back to the culture thing. Like I didn't even I never met a Puerto Rican guy. This guy is like my best friend while we're in and we were like Bubba and Forrest dude, like it was. We were like this that dude was so good to me, but anyway. So we're staying over the weekend with some friends.

Speaker 1: 40:00

I meet my wife at church and I see her I'm like this is the most beautiful person I've ever seen in real life, like not on TV, and she comes up and starts talking to me and I'm looking at him like what is happening right now? How, how, what is going on? Anyway, she talks us into going to uh her her Sunday school class. She was down from New York visiting parents. Um sunday school class. She was down from new york visiting parents. Um, we go, we go, do that. A week later we go to bush gardens two months later. From there we're saying I do uh on the beach, like like that dude, just just instant, like you know you know, and here we are 15 years later, every like the the the best circumstance that that could have ever happened.

Speaker 2: 40:44

Good for you guys.

Speaker 1: 40:46

The once in a lifetime type thing and that doesn't happen for everybody. It really doesn't Like. Some people find someone and they make it work, and I believe everyone can. It's how much work you're going to put into it and we've definitely gone through rough times. But anyway, I meet her. My entire command is going nuts Like they're. Like you're not, you're not getting married. Like you're an idiot. You've met some chick like on the weekend, like every other idiot does, and you're trying to get married. Like she's scamming you, blah, blah, blah. So I had to. I had to go get like 20 signatures, I had to go talk to the chaplain in my command and all this kind of stuff. We finally get married, um the when you're in security forces school, so you can either go to uh fast company, which is like we. The joke is fake ass seal team you know what he was.

Speaker 1: 41:40

What he was that um, and it's fleet anti, anti-terrorism security team, and they talk it up like you're going to be on this high-speed SWAT team, you're going to do all these top-down clears of buildings and lots of CQB, all true, but you're never going to use it because they're never going to deploy you to do anything besides reinforce embassies. The one exception would be the Beng benghazi situation. They didn't end up using fast anyway, like those guys I think were ready to go, and they sent somebody else, or they didn't send anybody, um, but anyway, you can do that. Or, or, if you have a really clean background, you can do this other thing and it's escaping me now. Pete went on to do that. They wanted me to go do this other thing, which is basically you're guarding nuclear subs, um, during the refuel, defuel process and and you're guarding, like all the nuclear weapons sites with the subs, uh, and I'm probably not describing it perfectly, but I didn't do that job, so I don't know once again.

Speaker 1: 42:41

But if you qualified for a TS SCI clearance because you had a clean record, you could go do that job. They wanted guys to qualify for that job because they couldn't get enough clean guys to go do it. And so half of security forces would go this way to fast. Half of them want to go to, would go do this refuel defuel thing. The catch is the refuel defuel is up in Banger, washington or Kings Bay, georgia, like kill yourself rain all day, like sit in a skiff waiting to die. Washington or Kings Bay, which is just a warmer climate, but same thing. Or you can go be on this high speed like SWAT team, fake ass SEAL team thing. Can go be on this high speed like SWAT team, fake ass SEAL team thing. There was one catch in all of it that saved me, and this is this.

Speaker 1: 43:35

This, this moment when I stuck to my guns, is probably a very pivotal moment in my life in the Marine Corps. I'm sure it is pissed about it. Um, I I figured out that if you, if you had an objection or they gave, but they gave us like a questionnaire or something if you objected to the use of nuclear weapons, uh, or proliferation of nuclear weapons. You could not go guard nuclear weapons, oh, okay, so me and my wife were living in Chesapeake, or were planning on living in Chesapeake, and I don't want to go do that job and I want to be on this cool, like you know, fake-ass SEAL team. And I just marked the answer no, I don't believe nuclear weapons are a good thing. I don't want to guard those. And dude like that set into motion this whole thing. Like I had to go put my right hand up, like they tried to like just scare the shit out of me. Like we're gonna really, if this is not true, we're gonna prosecute you. And it's like like, why is it so crazy to you that I don't believe we should all have weapons that can destroy the like? I just stuck, just stuck to it and I do believe it. Like it's not a lie, I definitely use it to my advantage, though, and they were like fine, you're going to fast Get out Like that was it? So I, I go on, go through training, I continue on with with, uh, like you, you're just training for like a year straight. Like you learn all these like different weapon systems, because, like we use the auto shotguns and we use like, we get a lot more pistol training than anyone else in the Marine Corps. Like that's not super cool, it's just a fun fact. So, like we would have to do all this different stuff. Continued on with that.

Speaker 1: 45:21

Ended up having a back injury. Continued on with that. Ended up having a back injury. Um, and once I got, once I had that back injury, uh, my, my ability to continue doing the things that were required of me just wasn't happening. Like we couldn't figure out if I was going to get better from it. So I have a lower spine issue, also have degenerating discs, um, but we couldn't quite figure out how to get any relief for it. So they put me on all these pain meds and like I'm I'm doped up half the time, um, and they, they eventually came to me and they're like we're just gonna push you out of the marine corps. It's like really okay.

Speaker 1: 45:57

Um, I happen to hate everything about my existence at that time. Like, like I wasn't, I wasn't living in the barracks, but I would have to come back. And like I drove an hour and a half to and from work every day, both, uh, each one and an hour and a half each way. Um, I would have come in on the weekends and like clean up other people's disasters, uh, because all the guys want to go out and get drunk on the weekend and someone would get arrested. So it was just like bootcamp all over again.

Speaker 1: 46:26

Um, so by that time I was so fed up. I was like, okay, and, and I start going through this whole process they stick me out, I'm, I'm doing, uh, they stick me in Norfolk and I'm actually doing security clearance stuff, like on the computer, like doing your check-in checkout for your defect or not your defect, your J PAS and equip all those programs. Um, but then I get pushed out and it's like, okay, what now? You know what. Who are you going to be now? Like your, your whole thing was to be a Marine.

Speaker 1: 46:58

Like your whole life was set out in front of you and that was, uh, that was a struggle, because you know you're newly married, you have no money, you have no direction. Your entire identity is kind of crushed at that point and it wasn't a good mental spot to be in. We ended up having to move to Kentucky because my dad hooked me up with an insurance job. I studied like hell for that it's. It's a very tough test, um, but I did. I did insurance for a couple of years and like, would you buy insurance for me? Like I, I, I'm walking up to these doors like shaved head, like just this young Marine that that got out and and it just didn't. It didn't fit, like I was miserable and my marriage was suffering. Um and I, you know, have you ever been to that point? Like, once you got out, did you have this transition time where you're trying to figure out what civilian life is going to be like and you're still? You're still depressed that you're not in anymore? Like, did you deal with that?

Speaker 2: 48:06

I didn't personally, because I got out and I went straight to afghan on a contract so that's, right then I, you know, then I came back and that's when I started my executive security company and but then I it was weird for me, like I hear you know, I deal with guys from you know all the years of dealing with wishes and talking in here and like their transition period I feel like I just I never gave myself that. I never even had a break, like literally I was getting recruited right before I even got out. I already had like offers. So it was, it was an easy transition for me.

Speaker 2: 48:37

But my struggle came later on, when I was like cool, we're doing it on our own now and so instead of me working for somebody, that transition was like all right, I'm walking from everything we've built for somebody else and doing our own. That's when shit was like fuck. It's that's when reality set in for me it was years later of like okay, I'm no longer a worker bee, I'm gonna do this ourselves and make that jump. But no, I was pretty fortunate when I got out just had everything lined up and rock and rolled straight from the yeah, I mean it.

Speaker 1: 49:09

it's tough when you, when you don't have a purpose, especially as a man and as a husband, like there's nothing worse like it. For sure, I mean there's things that are worse, you know, sick kids, that kind of thing, but it it. It really kind of destroys who you are if you can't find something to latch onto, and that doesn't have to be a job. Um, you know, your, my Christianity would helped with that at the time, but it still wasn't. I wasn't as mature in that, so it wasn't fulfilling it either. But a buddy of mine uh, it was actually actually the guy that I went in on the on the buddy program, the buddy program to boot camp with his mom, for some reason. We were talking and she was like, oh, why don't you get into you know, you're, you're constantly paranoid. You have all this military background, you have a great resume, at least on paper. Why don't you get into something that uses all those skills if you hate insurance so much? And so I did.

Speaker 1: 50:08

I went out to a school out in Colorado at the time. It was like the Harvard. You know their claim to fame was it was the Harvard of of bodyguard schools. And you, you learn. You learn like crazy stuff out there me you do. I mean everything from, like handwriting analysis to statement analysis and those are very, very niche things. But think about it if you're working a stalker case and you're getting letters from these crazy people like teaching you how to analyze where the threats are in the statements that they're making, we would do like mock, uh, mock stalker programs, um, um, trying to do investigations on, like who's actually going to go after the client. You know we do driving schools, um shooting packages, a lot of handgun stuff. Like this was back when Instagram wasn't around and no one really knew how to shoot. These people knew. They put us through some very rigorous handgun skills, especially close-in work for EP, covering a client, moving them while you're shooting. But yeah, so I did that for three months, broke it up in a couple different stages, came back and figured out that that's kind of the direction I wanted to go.

Speaker 1: 51:27

The problem is and I would give, I would tell this to anybody that starts out in this career and you may be able to, you could, you could definitely chime in here and and tell me your experience with it, but it took me years to build a client list years to build a client list, um, and I'll say, like I, there's. There's certain things in this life I'm I'm truly talented at, uh and know what I'm talking about. Um. One of those is I know how to be a husband. Like even when I even if I'm not good at it all the time like I know what I'm supposed to do. Like I know I know the principles of it. I know when I'm screwing it up.

Speaker 1: 52:06

Do Like I know I know the principles of it, I know when I'm screwing it up. Like I know EP work. Like I know I know how to be one-on-one with a client. Um, that's really where I thrive. It's that one-on-one, solo, solo practitioner type of protection, um and I, I was good at it. I built a, I built a clientele off of it, I built a resume off of it. Um, I would get tons of of repeat business just for me as a solo contractor, um, and. But what I couldn't do was I could not make enough money or stay busy enough even at that level to make a full career of it, so this took years.

Speaker 1: 52:44

I mean mean you know, doing the contract thing? How was, how was your experience there?

Speaker 2: 52:48

it was. I wasn't doing the executive on like the individual, like you were, we went, we went. You know more I was working. It started out environmental and that opened up a whole different world as far as clients in these big giant companies, because they're getting fined millions of dollars for these environmental tortoises and fucking prehistoric shrimp and a bird and and all of that stuff. So that's what kind of opened the door to it all and that helped lead into these guys that own these companies where hey, that's the progression.

Speaker 2: 53:29

We see what you're doing for our businesses. What can you do for my?

Speaker 1: 53:33

family.

Speaker 2: 53:33

And hey, we have this event going on. Are you open to that? And that's what that's so, and I never said no to anything.

Speaker 2: 53:40

No it was. It was you can't, it was absolutely. What do you need? And so I mean that's what led one night we're watching a crow build a nest on a tower and I'm going in and trying to remove this thing in the middle of the night to standing on the red carpet with some yeah, some celebrity and my wife standing next, to be like what the fuck are we doing here? I'm like I don't know.

Speaker 1: 54:00

Just smile you know you got imposter syndrome the whole time, like I don't belong here.

Speaker 2: 54:04

The whole time, the whole time. But yeah, it just started, it was just networking and once you and it's just showing your, your true value to those people, especially people with money yeah they want to see that you have a value.

Speaker 2: 54:15

And if you could offer them anything or make their life easier, safer, more comfortable, stress-free. That's all you have to do to these, these clients. And then at least that's what in my world it was add value, add the slightest bit of value, have the car running with the ac on, ready to go. Cold water, common sense, stuff, just little shit like that which you would. You've seen it. I'd have guys that work for me for years. It is like bro, like just it's the little things and then. But like your client should never have to. When they walk out, everything's ready, go.

Speaker 2: 54:44

And I'm not talking like high-end celebrity clients, I'm just talking dudes that are just worth a lot of money, like you would walk by them a thousand times and not even know who they were. To me it's like if I can make this guy's life where he thinks about nothing, he's on autopilot, he's on his phone, he's making calls and everything is taken care of from point A to point B, then that's a customer that is happy. If they don't have to tell you anything. Some of them are talkers, some of them don't even want you to talk to them. That's another thing. That takes a while is reading these clients and not just coming in there and oh bro, and just jabbing away, read them, feel them out. So that's where it kind of helped me grow, because I can mirror and match.

Speaker 2: 55:23

I think those are the best in that field. They're guys that can mirror and match a client really quick and especially your first engagement with them, knowing their personality. Is this some just rich trust fund kid or is this a guy that's built wealth from nothing and now he's got his grandkids set up and he's just happy and wants to talk your ear off like that's. That's. That was the difference for me. I felt it helped a lot, just secure. Or then you get a phone call or you get an email. Hey, you worked for a family buddy of mine. He said you did a great job. Like are you interested in this?

Speaker 1: 55:54

yes, when you need me, yeah, I mean this business, what, what I always tell people is like I can't miss phone calls, because each phone call like I've literally had phone calls that turned into multimillion dollar deals Like it one phone call led to that, I mean one client, one, one client leads into six others, because they're going to tell you about the other ones. And once we, you know, once I built, or once I bought into the company and then and then, uh, you know, took over full ownership of it, like I really leveraged all of my personal clientele into that and that's when it really took off, because I had the bandwidth at that point to bring other agents on and that kind of thing. And you really it's, it's going to be there if you do a good job. Because they tell everyone like they're every wealthy guy I know, they, they, they have a guy for everything and they're going to refer you out constantly to their friends.

Speaker 2: 56:51

But it's just like you said, tight knit too. I mean especially the big wealth guys, they all have their big wealthy dudes and they just share everything. Yeah, and so it's like, oh, I got this guy who's great with my wife and kids, I didn't have to worry once, oh, let me get his number. And then that then it's like oh, I got this guy who's great with my wife and kids, I didn't have to worry once, oh, let me get his number. And then that then it's just now you're doing the whole block and all these guys and you know it's that it's comes down to just trust and make their life as simple as possible helped so much.

Speaker 1: 57:15

Yeah, and you I mean you get into weird situations with these people. Think about like everyone looks at, everyone looks at what what we do, as this, like it's similar to how they they look at anyone that's on social media or anyone that that has any sort of online presence. It's like you're just seeing this cartoon character version of what I am. You don't really see what goes into it Not not as far as hardship and all that. Yeah, that's there, but you really don't see the boring stuff. Like there's so many times like I I've only been in violent encounters a few times around clients, but I've I've had to like hold their bag while they like take forever doing something ridiculous. Like there's so many of those just stupid situations that you've got to be able to do and deal with and be miserable through and it's not all going to be sexy.

Speaker 1: 58:15

It's like you starting out doing the environmental thing. Like when I was starting out I like I worked on the border for oil companies. I was escorting uh survey pipeline guys when they were being harassed on some of these pipelines. Like I've done I've done every type of security you can think of and it's not glamorous. Like sometimes you're sitting in a car, listening to podcasts for 12 hour shifts for five years, like that's that? That may be what it looks like. I mean you're usually making decent money while you do it, but it's not all red carpets and um you know it's glamour, it's really not.

Speaker 2: 58:53

I mean, you, you're on a 12-hour shift with a client and you're walking out of the and then he runs into an old friend and then they you're holding all his luggage and they sit there and talk for an hour and a half and you're just standing there like, oh, my fucking god, the car's running like we get the hell out of here that type of shit. Then you get in the car and they're like actually I got some guys, some buddies of mine are in here.

Speaker 1: 59:13

It's like, roger, that, and they're paying you for the trouble, and so I constantly like, if you're the type of person that can't, can't like, thrive in, um, I don't think I was always naturally good at that, but it's it's like anything like you just inoculate to it, you're just constantly inoculating yourself. And if you're that type of person that has to have planning and schedules, like that is the worst type of person. Um, for this specific part of business, now I will say this my business partner, um, he, he's the opposite of me in literally every way. It is like the perfect marriage.

Speaker 1: 59:52

Because I can't write a spreadsheet to save my life, I can't do math in my head, let alone on paper. Like, there's so many things business wise that he can do. He booked all my flight and all my stuff. You know everything to get out here and and all those things that I'm good at. As far as with a client and interpersonally, um, you know the, the, the planning and the, the detail stuff I'm not always great at, and so when you're when you're kind of a solo guy, you're kind of having to manage all that stuff on your own, and I'd say that's, you know that's difficult, that's difficult to do and you need to be able to manage the stress of that they live in a different world.

Speaker 2: 1:00:37

Yep, they live. Time doesn't matter to them, resources don't matter to, and I'm talking dudes with wealth that most people can't fathom. They just real, the real ones, real wealth. I mean. Dudes are rolling up in multi-hundred million dollar yachts and that like, yeah, this is not the purple lamborghini crowd.

Speaker 1: 1:01:04

Yeah, this isn't.

Speaker 2: 1:01:05

I'm not talking like youtubers that are that are making. There's some only fans model I'm talking, where dudes are blowing a hundred grand a night on a room for three months on, you know, or at a house and caught like shit, like that, and so you're just, they don't. No matter what you plan, no matter what you have lined up, it doesn't really be right?

Speaker 2: 1:01:27

yeah, it's just, it'll be three in the morning. I want to go to the bar. You're like wait, what? Like that's and it's wild because you can never. There's no what content or itinerary. Even though they're like this is what we want to do, you'll do a hundred other things in between. So you're constantly shifting, you between. So you're constantly shifting, you're constantly adapting, you're constantly having to like it's just, it's pure chaos is in the security world. So with your partner right. So how valuable do you see you guys being opposite? Like, how much does that help the business? Because I feel a lot of people try to find somebody similar to them, because they're going into business the same thing, they want to have the same, obviously, outlook on it. But that's not always the best decision to have somebody that it just agrees with you on everything.

Speaker 1: 1:02:10

No, and and we don't the the business it's. I'm the majority stakeholder in the business. We brought him in after I had taken over from the old ownership and I really saw him as valuable. I am not capable I won't say I'm not capable, I am not talented at doing any of the things that he's good at. And so I think I looked strategically at that point.

Speaker 1: 1:02:39

Um, I think I I was pretty um forward thinking to see that like hey, I'm going to run into stuff that like I'm not going to be able to either manage or I'm not good at managing it. So it needs, I need to find that guy that that is that and and it. I'll tell you what man, like we have some our wives kind of joke, like we're, we're like the work married couple. Like we fight man, we, we disagree on stuff. Um, we're not always on the same page, but he, he keeps me in check. He keeps me in check with my kind of big ideas and he's like, well, logistically, I actually need to know when we're supposed to be at the. You know, like he, he does all that stuff and it's and it's super, it is super beneficial.

Speaker 1: 1:03:28

I don't think it could be done any other way. I couldn't have another me. Uh, I think we'd probably fight even more because, like there'd be so many things that just weren't accomplished For sure. But yeah, I think that's super important. You need to if you're starting any business. You've got to start being able to look at your own weaknesses and I have a lot of them, like the things that I'm really good at kind of out. They cover those up, but if they weren't being backfilled like we'd, we'd be constantly in a mess. Like I can't write a 20 page proposal, and you know that's not me.

Speaker 2: 1:04:03

It's good to have that that, that partner. That is the opposite.

Speaker 1: 1:04:07

And he can. I mean he can do the stuff I can do too. He's, I mean, he's very different, personality wise, he's very quiet, but he, he does details with us. He's been on tons of them. He's worked for, you know, nba stars and mayors and governor races, like he's. He's qualified not because he has an amazing resume, but he's actually done the stuff and so that's it's valuable because he can understand the perspective that I have you know and what I'm actually going to need and what the guys are going to need on the ground.

Speaker 1: 1:04:35

Let's talk clients.

Speaker 2: 1:04:36

Yeah, the danger zone, the danger zone. What are? What are your worst when you're you're getting a client book. What is the worst type of client that you have to deal with?

Speaker 1: 1:04:49

There's a couple, there's a couple of different types. So we, like I said earlier, we we do kind of all of it. At this point, now that that decisive action has really taken off, um, we do literally anything in the security world besides like we won't do CCTV installs and all that we do like, but anything from asset protection to consulting to like domestic stuff, stocking, executive protection and all the way down to like your more basic security. We're still high end, Like we're really the only ones that are going to do kind of the guard stuff in any capacity. That's in our price range and level. But there's, there's, there's a market for that Like that's.

Speaker 1: 1:05:42

People are tired of getting some dude with no resume that's getting paid $12 an hour to to blow a whistle and fall asleep on shift and like they want, they want that, that military guy, that that cop, that contractor that knows what they're doing and has been through some stuff that can actually respond, especially some of these high-end businesses, like we do distillery work.

Speaker 1: 1:06:08

So when I talk bad clients, it comes across all those different sectors, across all those different sectors.

Speaker 1: 1:06:14

So bad, a bad EP client, uh, executive protection client, um, is is for. For us it's typically going to be your, your really high profile guys that are not in the ultra wealthy range but they're rich enough to need security, um, but insecure enough about their wealth to have to flaunt it everywhere they go and and like you're almost there as another accessory, oh, kind of like. Kind of like a watch or a car as an accessory. You're kind of, and and we try to vet that out, that's not always the case and, hey, they're paying the bill If that, if that's what they want, fine, like we're, we're here to accommodate, but we do try to vet out like does this person, is this person going to get us into liability issues? Like you don't you? We talked the other day, uh, about certain types of clients and and some like you, you don't want that guy that's going to try to escalate everything and instigate stuff just because he's got somebody big in mind that's going to take care of it.

Speaker 1: 1:07:21

I mean that's probably the worst type on the EP side to your small businesses and stuff. You're it's, it's your, it's your, your clients that are spending the least money that are going to bug you the most. They're going to nickel and dime you about everything they want to. They want to like really nitpick on hours and like, well, can we shave 30 minutes off here? Like no, like you're not even giving us planning time, and I think that's the same way across all industries. I mean that's a common thing. Like you're, you're really wealthy people are your least headaches a lot of times Cause they don't care. It's like, yeah, just make it happen. Whatever, whatever the cost is, just make it happen.

Speaker 2: 1:08:11

Those are always. Those are definitely the best ones that just come in. What's the price? Cool, here it is. I want this X, y and Z and there's no like. That's the discussion.

Speaker 1: 1:08:21

Yeah, like you're a pro, I'm a pro, so we'll let's just treat each other that way, like that's, that's how you know I it's like you said you're you're trying to.

Speaker 1: 1:08:31

You're trying to streamline that person's life and the the their day-to-day. You're trying to add value to it and make things as easy as possible. Standing in the corner with your arms folded, like with your sunglasses on, doing the whole bodyguard thing, Like that's, that's like for the movies. We don't do that. Like we blend a lot of.

Speaker 1: 1:08:52

A lot of the stuff that I do is low profile, as low pro as I can be. Like I'm going to stick out. You're going to stick out Like I'm not a great low pro guy but, um, we have some that are and, by the way, like I am the least on on paper qualified to do what I do. Like I hire guys like our green berets and guys with combat experience and I try to find dudes that are way better off than I am as far as a resume goes. A lot of people are threatened by that but and we've got some guys that that have. I mean, we got triple bronze star recipients, we got like recon snipers and and uh, marine raiders and all like all this type of this type of background dudes or just regular military guys that have been in war for the past decade, and when you're working with a client that can respect that you know what you're doing and they let you do your job, I think that that's kind of the best situation. I hired you because you're the professional For sure.

Speaker 1: 1:09:56

So be the professional. You don't need to. You don't need to stand around and posture Like your job is to deescalate all situations, like your secret service guys is a great example. I've worked with some really good secret service guys on the private side and I've worked with some really horrible ones, because here's the difference between us and I've got three or four that I'm like really good friends with, and we've talked on this.

Speaker 1: 1:10:22

If your entire career is, you have been given 300 agents for your principal. You have concentric rings of security all over the place. Like you can literally go into any city, any venue and just start telling people what to do because you have a badge. When you get, get to the private side and you have to start doing all of this without any authority whatsoever as a civilian. Like you better learn interpersonal skills. You better learn how to, uh, have some charm. You better learn how to dress you. Like you have to do all these human things that, um, you may not necessarily had to have done before because you had the power of the badge, and so for us, we're looking for guys that can be thinkers Like it's.

Speaker 1: 1:11:05

You can't solve everything through violence. In fact, if we get in a gunfight or we have to beat somebody down like we've made a couple mistakes. Most likely, and either way, even if we're a hundred percent in the right, we're probably going to court of it over it, we're probably going to get sued and the client's probably not going to be happy. So you need to go into the entire situation with thought of hey, we're trying to, we're trying to like back away from the drama.

Speaker 2: 1:11:30

This 90 of the time the answer is to evacuate well, that's what a lot of people don't understand, because they see the movies and they see the personal bodyguards and shit.

Speaker 2: 1:11:37

Like if, as a, as an EP guy, or any situation, if I'm fist fighting or drawing a weapon, shit has hit the fan and you, we, we made major mistakes at some point. That's how I always looked at it. Like you see these guys and you, you know, I'm sure you've got new guys like, oh yeah, I mean I would say the, the majority of when I was in the field, most of it wasn't even armed. We were just there because these guys were like a lot of guys want to go gamble or something and they're just going to have money on them and they just want to make sure, like they're just not going to get their chain snatched or the watch snatched or whatever. So, like the majority of the shit, you're just plain clothed just there and so, like the fact that, like the, the amount of armed to the gills, you got a trunk, monkey in the back seat, escort, like that, that shits.

Speaker 1: 1:12:28

Yeah, it happens once every once in a while. Like, yeah, I tell people that all the time you can go to our website and you can see our goofy video, kind of at the bottom, we leave it up. I I it is not realistically what we ever do, yeah, however, there is a good amount of the clientele that want to know that that capability is there. They want to know that you can. You've got the three suburbans and the 12 dudes in the in the rifles and they want to see all that stuff. Um, they want to see it on the video. They want to know you can do it. But I've rarely run into the detail that actually ever looks like that outside of um official, official government stuff even the political stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:13:09

I do like I've done let's talk.

Speaker 2: 1:13:12

Let's talk political. You do a lot of mayors, governors, during you. Was it george floyd riots? Where were you guys that when shit was burning to the ground? When was that so, brianna taylor?

Speaker 1: 1:13:24

the brianna taylor thing, the george floyd thing popped off, um, I think it, I think similar time periods, um, but we had done, I mean, we had done that type of thing forever, like, like going back to Ferguson, like we were. We've worked with every major news outlet, all the cable ones.

Speaker 2: 1:13:43

What are you doing left when you're working with a news outlet? What are what exactly?

Speaker 1: 1:13:48

are you doing? Holding on for dear life while they want to do the stupidest dangerous things in the world? Like, oh uh, they're setting this, the auto zone, on fire in downtown ferguson let's, let's go get some shots of it and video in there and they're they're looting, like actually they might shoot us because you're getting video footage of their face. Let's not do that. So it's counter, it's counterintuitive to every other type of client that we have. Think about it. Like these people want good footage of dangerous situations, peaceful, peaceful protests, yeah, and your job is to not put them in dangerous situations. So it's. It's really. I've never really crazy.

Speaker 2: 1:14:30

I've never done the news in any of that shit, but like so. So here you are as this executive security expert, and your whole entire life is to get your client off the x and into us, and now you're working for a news station that's running into fire, literally. Do you ever have any, any issues? I mean because it can turn wild.

Speaker 1: 1:14:50

It could turn immediately when you're, when you're doing crowd work, like riot, unrest work, and whatever the viewpoint is, whether right or left, the crowd always gets hijacked by the worst people in it. It doesn't matter, it does not matter, it doesn't matter if it's a Southern Baptist crowd. If you get the right agitators in there, it's going to turn. I've seen it happen. I've seen crowds turn both on right-leaning, right-leaning news organizations and left-leaning, just depending on the situation. And when it turns, you don't have much time, you have to. You have to evacuate quick because all that hate is put on you Like it's directly on you. You can start to feel the atmosphere change in these large crowds and so, basically, ferguson is one of the ones. I mean like they were shooting weapons over the crowd, like you could stand here, especially Ferguson 1, because there were two different incidents. So there's Fergusonguson one, ferguson two. I think one was like when it first happened and the second one was when we went back a few months later for the verdict. Um, like you could stand here with a reporter and their video in the crowd and like, right across the street, some dude pulls a pistol out and just dumps a whole mag like over the crowd, like in your direction. No, you're not taking direct fire, but, like, these idiots are shooting guns everywhere. I, I like I don't think we should be here right now and the news are just and they're like I gotta capture this. Oh, they're half the time they're terrified too, but they, they, they attribute superpowers to you that you don't have. Like, they're like, well, we got you. Well, yeah, like you do, but there's 10,000 people here and they're shooting at each other. What do you like? All I can do is throw you in a truck and get you out of here. Like, if, if, if it's a if, it's a true situation, like there's only so many of us.

Speaker 1: 1:16:50

In Ferguson, we had, I think we had like three or four guys kind of with each news crew. It was subcontracted, so there was all different types of contracting groups there. But, yeah, man, like rifles in the cars. That's one of the ones that was truly that way. Like there were Suburbans there. There were rifles in the cars. Like you're looking to get into it.

Speaker 2: 1:17:16

Were you guys kitted out, or are you not? Are you, what are you wearing?

Speaker 1: 1:17:18

We had a slick carriers under like button up shirts Cause, I mean, the chance of getting hit was pretty high. Like we had gas masks on a lot of times cause they were tear gassing the whole crowd and like the news wants to be in the middle of it, they've got their. You know, they got their. Was it not a K-Pod helmet? But yeah, our old Marine Corps issued, you know, helmets that blew with press on them and they got their. And they'll put all that stuff on and like go get as close as they can.

Speaker 2: 1:17:46

Did you ever watch? Because, I mean, obviously the media is our number one problem in this country. Was there ever times where you would see them like putting themselves in situations?

Speaker 1: 1:17:56

All the time, really, constantly, all the time, really, constantly, all the time, like just to make it look worse, both sides, both sides, both right and left, and I think they've been outed publicly enough to where, like this is not a controversial statement, but like yeah, they all do it Really.

Speaker 1: 1:18:11

Yeah they all do it. They'll, you know they'll stand and they'll like oh, we're going to cover a flood, so they'll go stand. They'll put their waders on and like go stand in a lake and like get flood footage. Or if, like there's a protest but only one car is burning and like nothing's really going on, they'll like go over to that one burning car and like make it, everything is for your consumption, so it's all just theatrics.

Speaker 1: 1:18:35

Yeah, but I mean they also happen to put themselves in really dangerous positions a lot of times too. Like one of the crews wanted to go to the site of a carjacking of a previous crew in Ferguson the night before. Like we're talking about like the deepest part of Ferguson where the most unrest is. Like we want to go get film footage of where they jacked one of these other crews stuff and then lit their car on fire. Like, oh well, that's a great idea. We should definitely go right to that scene and start filming it. But that's what they want and that's their business. To their, to, you know, in their defense.

Speaker 1: 1:19:13

Like they're just doing what their bosses said, like they're trying to get the shot. They're trying to get the shot. They're trying to get their make their money, just like we are, and I don't have to agree with with, with their views or any of that stuff. Like it's, it's just a safety thing. Like I'll, I'll protect whoever I'm being paid for sure, and most of the time I'll protect people who are not being paid to protect. I've done that many times on on a detail where something dangerous has happened and I've had to get involved and I'm not even being paid by the person I'm kind of dealing with. Like there was one out in DC we were doing like a big film red carpet festival and there's some rival gang violence and some dude pulled a gun out and like we're just yanking people off the street in from this this red carpet event and throwing them in buildings and locking doors down to make like to keep people safe, you know, because that's what we had to do. Like we thought the we thought these dudes are about to have it out and I mean I'm not going to stand there while there's some woman, like you know, just stand there with her purse and she has no idea what's about to happen, just snatch her up and put her in the building and shut the door. Be a human, do good. With this caveat and this may be controversial, but I think a couple guys have said this when talking about defending your own family versus others in an active shooter environment. If I'm with a client and I'm being paid to protect that client and a bad situation happens, if I can evacuate that client safely, that's what I'm supposed to do. My job is not to go eliminate threats or, um, find the bad guy or any of those things, and that's what a lot of police officers will struggle with in this, in this uh environment is there? It's bred into them. Like, get the bad guy, you know, attack the threat, um, and that's not what our job is. If, if it puts my client in danger, just like if I were at the mall with Bridget and the five kids. Like if there's a dude with a rifle on the other side of the mall smoking people if they're with me. Like I'm pulling the gun out and we're backing out of that mall and we're getting in the truck and leaving while we're on 911.

Speaker 1: 1:21:34

Now, completely different situation. If I'm by myself, can I live with myself, knowing that I have the capability to do something about a situation, and didn't do it. No, because that's what I am. My life is to live. Unfortunately, this gift I was given was to be paranoid about everything all the time and then make myself capable of handling anything. So I turned it into a career. So am I really going to stand by if something horrible is happening? No, I couldn't function knowing that. I did that. But it changes if they're with me, because I'm not going to give it a one percent chance that they're involved, if, if I can easily get them away from it yeah, my kids will ask me every night like we'll see something or hear you know something happen and there's a shooting to pick.

Speaker 1: 1:22:27

What would you do, dad.

Speaker 2: 1:22:27

I'm like we're out, yeah, we're out. I don't I don't need to be a hero like there's, and I don't see people like, uh, it's a coward thing to do. If I'm with my family, like I'm, my me being a hero is getting them out apps out of there as fast as possible. That's where mine. But if I'm, yeah, if I'm somewhere, something pops off and I I can help neutralize something, even even still, like I'm not gonna go and start clearing a fucking mall by myself, but if, if it's, I could clearly see something and I can intervene. It's in my, it's who I am and how I'm built.

Speaker 1: 1:22:59

But yeah, like, as far as you see these guys all the time like, oh, I have to go running in there guns, but anyway, bro, like it's I mean the, the, the like, the macho, the whole like macho thing is is the first is like the first thing I look for um in in canceling out a resume. Like if somebody's got that attitude where they're having delusions of grandeur about being a hero one day, like I don't need that, like that's just an immaturity thing. Like I don't want to kill people. Like I don't I train for it all the time because I need to have the hard skills that my kids train for We'll get into that in a little bit but like the hard learning, the hard skills and being um a good practitioner of violence.

Speaker 1: 1:23:47

Like violence is a tool. It's a tool. It can be used for good or it can be used for evil. We put all these connotations on it Like it is inherently good or evil. It's not. It's just a tool in order to um achieve an outcome. And guys that that make it into this thing where they they want to use it and they want to, they want to get on TV and they like you've clearly never been involved in that, because if, if you, you were, you'd have the maturity to understand that this not it's, it's not the way to go.

Speaker 2: 1:24:20

Like what's it like? What's it like working for politicians?

Speaker 1: 1:24:26

um, I actually enjoyed politicians. Here's why, um, not I had, I had the. I've had the luck of actually being around some decent politicians Really and I don't mean saints, I just mean like they treated us well, they were polite, they're professional. The good thing about political figures as far as work goes is that they typically have a team around them that is managing details pretty good. Um, they're familiar with, with security most of the time, uh, and they they're, they're professional at what they do and so they're not looking for, they're not looking to put themselves in situations that I would disagree with, because if I'm trying to keep them safe and out of controversy, it's not just my job to protect their, their body, it's to protect their image, their reputation, all that stuff. So, excuse me if, if you've got a client and they're constantly putting themselves in bad spots, you know like the, the drugs and the strip clubs and the, you know like that, that type of thing you're, you're trying to protect them from their self half the time, like it's almost sure. And politicians, for the most part especially when I have them, cause I always have them on the campaign Got it Like if, if they win a race, the head of their security is now going to be typically a state trooper or somebody part of a dignitary detail or feds or something like that. When they're hiring us on the private side it's because they're in campaign mode and so they're footing the bill. They can't mess up anything. Can't mess up anything. So they're on their best behavior and they're professional and, like I said, I've protected mostly uh, democrat clients and I've I've had good luck with with the ones that I've had, um, protected uh an ambassador.

Speaker 1: 1:26:27

You know, done some foreign ambassadors there. Those are, those are the ones that we like, because they're it's not an easy schedule. They're flying you, they'll put you on a private jet for a 45-minute drive. They have to be so many places so fast that they'll have to utilize everything in the book to knock out as many campaign appearances as possible, and so that can be hectic and tiring.

Speaker 1: 1:26:57

I can only imagine, yeah, and you, you know I've been thrown into some weird ones kind of last minute. I mean, we had, we had one and I can't. I won't go into it. I won't go into it in any detail, but if you dug really hard, you kind of you could probably figure out who it is. But one is a great, a great guy and he had had some assassination attempts against him before and we came in after that fact. So at that point you're already getting a client who, before someone tried to kill them they had no concept of how dangerous things could be and you're getting them after someone just tried to murder them on. For us. That's kind of as as shitty as it is for them it's.

Speaker 1: 1:27:48

It's good for us because they're going to actually listen to to our recommendations, like they never do yeah, like because it makes sense, like we're both trying to keep you alive and safe and your family, um, and so I think you should do this and and like there's just not a lot of pushback. Yeah, and that was, that was a good, good experience.

Speaker 2: 1:28:07

What about celebrities, athletes? How are they Cause you mentioned like ending up in strip clubs and wild places? Are they the ones that usually end up there? Or is it the rich trust fund kids that you're guarding?

Speaker 1: 1:28:19

definitely rich trust fund kids. Um for sure we and we don't get a lot of that, that type. It's happened in my career. I mean, I've done this for 15, 16 years now, um, if not more than that. But anyway, the athletes that we've got actually have had really good luck with and I won't say any names on camera, but I would be comfortable to tell you who they were offline and tell you a lot of them. They're really good people. I've actually got some really chill, down down-to-earth, family type athletes really yeah, and it that was surprising to see.

Speaker 1: 1:29:01

Now you're, you're gonna be in in the environment, uh, where their sphere of of people is also interacting with you and that may not be the case for everyone in their group or or the other players that they're around and each one has their own security guy and their own apparatus, um. But yeah, I've been very, very lucky to have have some pretty down-to-earth ones, but yeah, it's the I've had, I've had one or two clients, um, not athletes, uh, but just private, private people that you wouldn't even know if. If you named them, that were, that were kind of the. They were just a mess man like you. Just why, what makes them a mess? Just the instigating the, the entitlement, the, not even the entitlement, it's just. It's like. It's just wild, like when you have unlimited resources, I think that does something to people.

Speaker 2: 1:29:56

I really like it does, like for sure.

Speaker 1: 1:29:58

When you can't be told no, like none of us are. None of us would do well with that. Like I, I'm self-aware enough to know that if you gave me unlimited resources, I would probably make a mess of things.

Speaker 2: 1:30:12

Yeah, and I'm having a good time doing it. Yeah, cause, yeah, and I'm having a good time doing it, yeah, because we've all known those guys and it's. But it's insane because I mean especially like I want to use trust fund kids because I've worked for a few of them. I think you and I know a mutual one, but it's just wild, it's. It's insane that they're how their life is run yep and it it's hard to even explain the lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 1:30:42

You, you. We talked about this yesterday and I think I think more people need to hear this you do not want that life. No, you do not be happy with what you have.

Speaker 1: 1:31:11

You do not be happy with what you have be happy with the things that matter, the stuff that you see on TV and the stuff that you see when having access to really high net worth individuals, even really good people that we're friends with I mean, we're both friends with people that have a lot of money you need to be prepared for the level of problems that can bring and you need to understand that it's not necessarily something that you want to be a part of. It's not a life. There is nobody I would trade my life with now, not one single person, and we talked about it yesterday. I've really sat down and thought through that yesterday. I've really sat down and thought through that, like all the people I know, all the successful people, all the all the every client like, is there one of them that I look at and I'm like I want that? It doesn't exist people don't.

Speaker 2: 1:32:08

I mean because you see the, the social media, you see the tv shows, you see this life that these wealthy people live, and I'd say 90 of americans will never, truly ever, get to spend time around that or experience it. But obviously, in the line of work that you did, what I used to do, we would get embedded in these families and with these individuals that have and I'm talking wealth of up to billions, where when you say fuck you money, it's I mean, and you're just dumbfounded and, like you said, like I've never worked for one or hung out with one or known one on a very personal level where I was like, damn, this dude, this dude's living life. They may look like it, but they're having fun, but the, the depression, the loneliness, there's nobody around, they're, they're angry all the time. There's always something, always something that they're dealing with putting out, having to purchase, having to sell, having to move. There's, there's always. They, never.

Speaker 2: 1:33:21

I feel like, and I would love to sit down with a billionaire and talk, but like I feel that the, the old saying more money, more problems, is the most realistic quote ever when it comes to that, because they're, I feel, rich people, wealth, wealthy people are rich. I feel true wealthy people never have peace, they never have joy. And this is just from my experience of being around and dealing with them through and and, like you said earlier, when you're working for these people as a security detail, you're with them like some. All of it. You see every, you hear the phone calls, you see the conversations they have with their kids, that you see their relationship with their wife and obviously we're open, we're keen to like, we have to know everything that's going on and I've never been like damn dude. This dude's thriving. You may have your 70 million dollar yacht parked out front of your beach house property and your 20,000 square foot house. It's your little summer vacation home before you head out to the next one.

Speaker 2: 1:34:26

And the dudes, they've never been happy and it was one of those things and I've talked about it here on the show. It took me a while to realize it because you always want to compare and like fuck, fuck. You sell what you're worth 900 million dollars because of what like and you think that you're like fuck man, like how, how do I get to that level? But then when you really start breaking down these people that have this wealth and and they got their little, their sponsor, a ferrari team and they got their race sponsor, everything. I mean, you've dealt with it all.

Speaker 2: 1:34:59

None of them have true peace and none of them have true happiness, man, and it's sad and honestly you feel bad for these people because you start to see who's in their circle, you start to see who's got their back and I feel a lot of them are very lonely people and then you build that relationship with them because you're just a dude. We're not coming in here. They're mutual money, friends and or this guy's coming in because he wants you to invest and all this other the shit that they deal with on a daily basis. We're just some lonely security guards standing here making sure somebody's not kicking this dude's door in.

Speaker 2: 1:35:33

But then you get to learn these people and who they truly are and you honestly, at least for me, there were some that are happy and but they're the more the solo guys, just on that party aspect type of things. But like there's so many guys that had everything in the world and they had no relationship with their families, no relationship with their kids, and now that I'm at that chapter in my life where my family and kids are everything and that relationship's everything. You got to feel bad for them in a way. It's just, it's unfortunate. They've sacrificed everything and have got nothing for it.

Speaker 1: 1:36:06

Yeah, and, like you pointed out, I wouldn't say this is an absolute rule. No, but it's the majority rule. It's no, but it's, it's the majority. Like there's there's definitely a couple that I think are very well balanced and and, uh, you know, maybe maybe because they actually made their own money going up and they've kind of seen both sides of it, those there's, there are some of those and and it does rarely work out, but it's like any extreme angle of, or any extreme spectrum of resources it's like too far one way or another can create very intricate circumstances for you, and I think the devil gives us exactly what we need to hang ourselves.

Speaker 1: 1:36:52

Every time, every time, and if, if, like I said earlier, if you have, if you have the ability to literally do whatever you want, um resource wise like the devil's gonna give you all the, all the rope you want to hang yourself with.

Speaker 2: 1:37:07

and if you, if you take the bait, um, you can end up in some dark places and it's funny you say that because you know a lot of people look at guys that have everything and be like dude, that dude's blessed.

Speaker 1: 1:37:18

And he may be. Maybe he may be doing great, and to generalize and say that he's not, we don't know. What I think people normal people need to hear the most is that your life and what you have, keep in perspective how important those things are and don't chase the cartoon character versions of people online. Like I was looking at my own social media, like I haven't posted things in months, but like I looked at this thing, I was like this is literally a snapshot of like highlights of good things that I was going through at the time. They're not seeing the the four months in between, there where I'm stressed to the brink and like the house is destroyed and me and Bridget are fighting and like it's just such BS and everybody's doing it. Like I'm doing it, You're like we're all doing it, but make sure that when you're looking at this stuff which it is you need to take a break from uh, I myself included you're you just keeping things in perspective because it's not the end all be all.

Speaker 1: 1:38:40

It's like as we get older, the more grounded I get and the more I want to just disconnect and like get away from it. Not necessarily business or like any of that stuff, but just the noise, Like my mind is noisy, um, my kids like there will. There will be times where I'll have to just leave, like I'll. I'll leave the house and go go to a property and I'll go sit for like three days and I'll fast and I'll pray and I'll do all that stuff and kids, kids will be like asking bridget, what's he? He doing? Like he's out there talking to God, he's trying to get quiet because I can't turn all that, I can't turn all this noise off ever and I feel like the more the farther I get in life, the more I yearn for that quiet. I think you're in the same boat.

Speaker 2: 1:39:34

That's a maturing and aging thing, because now it's like you know, you get doom scrolling and you're fed, fed, fed, fed, fed. And and then for me that's the noise. And then it's like why am I irritated right now? Yeah, why am I snapping over nothing? And then when you really start breaking down, it's like okay, let's, I'm gonna rewind my day, consuming every day.

Speaker 2: 1:39:57

You know I'm gonna rewind my day like how did where in in today has been going great, no complaints, everything, but he's healthy and happy and thriving. Like, why do I feel this way? Why? Why am I angry? And then I just sat here and watched some dude punch an old lady, then scroll to the next one and they're staring down a statue. Here's an American flag burning. We're bombing these people. These people hate these people. This person hates this person because their skin color.

Speaker 2: 1:40:27

And I start breaking that down and it's just. And then that's all we're consuming and I watch this and that's where it's. I'm at that point where the noise, the fog, the everything, it's just I need it's gone. And that's where that's where we've started this new chapter and that's where I kind of hope this takes us and everything else we got going, cause I would rather have that, that chaos in my mind going on, business wise and and I would rather be stressing over we just we just had 40 loaves of bread over proof, like that. That's where I'm like, like that's where I would rather have that stress, rather than I'm sitting here and my little one comes walking in and I'm like what?

Speaker 2: 1:41:07

And why did I just react like that? Right, oh man, what? Why? Why am I? Why do I have this irritation toward my kid that just came in to tell me a story? Where does that link to? And the only thing I can ever process is my phone. It's social media, because then I'm looking at this dude that I know is a grade, a piece of shit human being, and this dude's top posting his pictures of his millions in crypto. He's got a brand new wakeboarding boat, brand new truck, a brand new wakeboarding boat, brand new truck, a brand every. And I'm sitting there and it's like my wow, what the fuck, like, what am I doing? But you're never. You're not seeing everything else that's going on, you're not seeing his whole life fall apart.

Speaker 2: 1:41:47

You're not seeing a hole they are, and and that's how we we now we get this addiction to it and we have to. And now it's like, especially with the younger, they're seeing all these guys that are just driving Lambos. You got to hustle, you got to do this and grind, grind, grind, grind, grind. And it's like bro, like that's not, that's not what's going to bring you true peace and happiness. It's it's getting away unplugging, spending time with your kids, praying, talking to God, spending time with your wife, like that to me, and like that's the chapter I'm at now. And so this is where I've been really like, okay, as soon as we get to the means of I'm hiring somebody that's going to take over all of my social, and I'm out like I don't, and that's, that's my, that's my next big fast and and just, I gotta sever the cord with that one because it is just well, I mean it's hard for you, it's's.

Speaker 1: 1:42:37

It's. My whole world revolves around your world, your business.

Speaker 1: 1:42:40

Is that our, our business kind of. It used to be a lot having to do with that. I mean, we did so much of the weapons and tactics stuff and but once that really shifted, like I don't necessarily need a bunch of Instagram followers to push the business. I have to have somewhat of a presence there so that, uh, just personal branding and things like that. And then the company pages. But like I've let half that stuff die, like I'm not, I'm not that guy, like I can't, I don't have a, I don't have an amazing moment with the wife and kids and like think to get my phone out. Now sometimes I do, like you people will see, like I post stories a lot, a lot, um, but like it, it just doesn't usually occur to me when I'm doing the best in life, that phone is just not even around you'll see me ghost every time you ghost everything for like six months.

Speaker 1: 1:43:29

Like well, you can be rest assured, I'm doing great, because I don't want to touch the stupid thing. You know, I definitely don't want to post anything.

Speaker 2: 1:43:35

No, and that's where I feel we get the society gets wrapped up like we have to post the perfect portion of our life and for me, when I'm with the family, we're, we're like sailing living life. The last thing I want to do is is put anything out there because one it's, it's, that's our moment, yeah, I, I don't, I don't need to share that. And then it's weird. Because's weird? Because more for me is they have these people reach out and they're like man, I've been following you for years. And then they build this image and they build who they think you are through social media. And then I'll meet people and they're like man, I didn't expect any of that.

Speaker 2: 1:44:13

And it's like, yeah, because who you see on social media is really it's who I am, but you're getting, yeah, you're getting 10 of who I really am, and so, but it's, it's interesting how people will build this image off of like, oh, dude, I know bam. It's like, no, you've followed me for a long time but truly know me. Very few people truly get to know inside what's going on inside my family, because it's just how I am, you know, but I'll put little things on the social, but it's, it goes for that. It's like people think like oh, dude, you're crushing life, man, you just started. You started two new businesses this year.

Speaker 1: 1:44:44

It's like oh, yeah, you haven't seen what it took to get there.

Speaker 2: 1:44:50

Yeah, you get to see this looking beautiful little bakery and looks great. You get to see this whole setup. You don't get to see the fighting, me chewing my daughter's ass because she doesn't know what the hell she's doing, and us fighting and I need a social media manager because she wants to quit, and you know like that's what people don't. I love you, I would never trade you. Oh yeah, you, yeah. You're gonna sit here and tell me you haven't wanted to quit a few times. Lies, lies, that's just how it is. You know, and and, but it's. It's growing, it's maturing, it's. You know.

Speaker 2: 1:45:20

People don't see that. They don't see the struggles. They don't. They don't see what goes into everything. Everything's just a win on social media and I think more people, especially like myself, need to start putting out the realities. And when you fail and fall flat on your face, I mean dude, wild chaos. Originally, when we launched, it was an apparel brand and it failed Like it's. It was sucked. We had great momentum, everything was. It was an apparel brand and it failed like it's. It sucked. We had great momentum, everything was, everything was crushing and just it was just shitty timing and it's like well, it is what it is, next thing it is what it is like.

Speaker 2: 1:45:49

you know, and I've been part of companies that we've gone all in on and they just didn't work. But people will never talk about it. People don't ever want to talk about their failures. But I look at somebody and it's like oh cool You're, you're worth, you're worth $50 million. Like, like we kind of talked about, oh, you hired out somebody for everything. Well, I don't want to talk to some, some dude that's worth 20 million, 50 million bucks If he's just going to sit here and be like well, I hired an expert for this, hired an expert for this.

Speaker 2: 1:46:17

I want to talk to the dude that's doing two to 3 million a year, that's running his sales team. He's he's answering phones, he's in the field, he's digging ditches. He's doing it Cause he's not at that point yet. Like, cool, that's the dude I want to have a conversation with. Because, like, how are you making all of that work right now? Cool, great, okay, cool, 100 million, like they're. I want to know the trenches, I want to know, I want to see the blisters on your hands. Like that. Those are the dudes like, and because they're going to be more way more honest with you instead of sitting down with some multi-millionaire that we've. I've sat and had conversations with clients like man, how'd you get to this point? Hire people that did a better job than me take a cold plunge in the morning yeah, run and make a cold plunge and do your breath work.

Speaker 2: 1:47:03

It's like motherfucker, you mean to tell me when you launched your company, that's what you were doing? No, you're sitting here going through all your emails, you're cold calling. You're trying to get resources and supplies on a cheaper level because you've got to buy in bulk. And like that's what nobody's talking about. It's always tell me how you sold your company. Like that's what nobody's talking about. It's always tell me how you sold your company. When did you make your first million? You know, like get the fuck out of here. I want to know the guys like dude, I'm in the process of making my first million right now. Like this is what it's taking, this is how I've scaled, this is where I failed. You just don't get that on social. You don't get that real world aspect. It's all just glamour. It's all everything's good, but you know it is what it is no, I agree, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:47:43

I think that's why, as much as I, I want to throw everything out um, you can't throw the baby out with the bath water. I mean, there's been so many people that have reached out, you know, in direct messages and stuff and and said like hey, seeing, seeing what you're doing with the kids has been like an inspiration to start homeschooling. And, like me and my wife got into fitness because you guys were, we saw you and the kids like rucking up and down the hill at your house, like that kind of stuff. If you can somehow make any sort of a difference in somebody that's struggling by showing some of that stuff, it's tough because you're putting effort into it and you're kind of giving up a piece of your own peace of mind and freedom. But do you throw it all out? Do you quit doing all of it Because you may be a positive influence on somebody that really really needed it, like tell you man there's such a.

Speaker 1: 1:48:44

There's such a hunger out there for for people to find purpose and find find happiness, and they're just not there. They're getting all the wrong messages, um on on how to achieve that. They're getting all the wrong advice and it's like if, if you've got the ability to kind of give somewhat of an of a idea of what that looks like, what, what contentment can be, um, and you're not. You know, you're not showing it and and trying to propagate it across. You know other people, yeah, I think you're missing an opportunity. So it's tough. It's tough to make that decision and I don't know what the right answer is. I don't know how much I want to even deal with it. It's like we talked about the other day Are other people's problems really my problems? The Christian good guy that cares about people's lives says take on some of that stuff and and try to help. And then this, this the older I get, there's this other side. That's like you've got to get. You got to let people just be who they are and and let them fall on their face. If, if you know if they're going to, if they're going to steal from your piece in order to try to fix their same stupid issues that they won't fix.

Speaker 1: 1:50:02

My toxic trait has been for years I, I will speak positivity and encouragement into people like nobody's business, Like if we're friends and you are failing, like you're making no effort to improve, like you just want to. You just want to stay fat and unhappy and keep talking about the same drama and you blow. You want to blow all your money and you're constantly you know like, you know the guy, like you pick, pick any of your problems. By the way, I've suffered from every single one of those. Um, when you're constantly feeding into that person positive, positive stuff because you, when I say my toxic trait, it's toxic in a way, iless way. Sometimes their, their prosperity directly affects me, my business, whatever it may be. But the toxic, the toxic part is I'll do all the right things, speak all the right positivity into them, try to help them every step of the way, but then I'll also harbor the worst resentment and disgust when they fail and when, when they refused to make any sort of effort.

Speaker 2: 1:51:25

I'm like dude, you're, you're like do you think it's because you just, you just care too?

Speaker 1: 1:51:29

much and you see, yeah, but it's also pride. It's like I know how to fix it. You're being an idiot. Uh, I know better. You know, I think there's that too. It's not like. It's not like a. There's no purity on my part with it, it's just a, it's just a trait, and I've really had to start working on, like, hey man, if, if that's, you can't drag everybody along Absolutely, and and people for the most part don't change. And that's depressing to hear for someone that thinks like me, cause I'm like dude you can, you could do it.

Speaker 1: 1:52:07

Like like here's success on a silver platter. Then they just basic you won't like, you won't do anything hard, like you've broken your promises to yourself. Like what, 50 times now we've set this goal, like all these goals for you. You can't do the most basic shit. You can't quit stuffing your face. You can't quit blowing all the money you have. You can't quit like cheating on your like whatever, everything, the everything that's that's wrecking your life right now. You will not fix and I am, I am holding all this resentment because you won't do it and it like it's not my place, it's a pride issue, it's not my place yeah, and then you just have to realize, like dude, that was, it was it's been several years for me, like I don't give any relationship advice, no financial advice.

Speaker 2: 1:52:49

If there's a way that I could connect somebody because hey, I, oh, I got a resource for that, here's an email. Here's an intro email. That's as far as I go now is is connecting people at with through email, any connection I could do.

Speaker 1: 1:53:02

But yeah, I used to be that guy like dude, this is what you gotta do.

Speaker 2: 1:53:04

And then you sit, you pour hours in the people and in time and days and you're helping and mentoring and then they just go right back and so I was like I can't, I'm not, it's not fair to them because they're like, they're not where you're at with it, like whatever the issue is, like, hey, I don't want, hey, I don't want to quit, I don't want to quit.

Speaker 1: 1:53:23

Like whatever it is, I don't want to quit being an alcoholic, I don't want to quit Whatever. The problem is that you're trying to work with somebody over and you could fully know how to fix it. Like I said, everything that I just laid out. As far as struggles goes, I'm a victim of. I've got experience in most of those, which means I'm an extremely flawed person and there's so many of the things I have to work on every day. But it's like, just because you were able to fix it or improve it, you're never going to fix it. Just because you were able to improve it doesn't mean that they're at where you're at on that topic, and you've got to stop trying to push them in places that they don't care about being right now. Let them, let them be a part of your life and and as long as they're not negatively affecting it, stop. Stop trying to save everybody, because you're not their savior.

Speaker 2: 1:54:19

Nope, and I get it. Let's shift to the dad life dude yeah what the hell is it like raising four sons?

Speaker 1: 1:54:31

it's like everything smells, nothing's ever clean, there's no quiet, there's no peace.

Speaker 2: 1:54:48

It's like I thought you were thinking you're going to drop. You're going to drop some deep shit. You're like man, fuck these kids.

Speaker 1: 1:54:56

It's like animals. They are great, they make a house into a home. Like I can go places and it's really quiet and it still, like catches me off guard, like this is not what life sounds like, like life is. I've got one choking the other one out and the other two are fighting over a toy and like the dogs bark, like Like that's my life and I will say one of the benefits of that is I think it has further inoculated me to the chaos.

Speaker 1: 1:55:30

Like dude, we talked about it a few days ago, the fishbowl analogy, and I'll butcher it. One of my guys gave me this analogy but like a fish will only or a goldfish will only grow to the size of its fishbowl. Like you talk to some people about how stressed out like they're, like well, this happened and I'm super stressed over it. You can be annoyed with them that they are not capable of managing this tiny excuse me, this tiny little piece of stress. But you need to realize they are living in a completely different reality than you and comparing the two just makes you into a jerk because they don't have any reference point to what what you may be going through and I think it took a long time to really realize that, like my wife, they they literally have to to touch her or ask her for something all day.

Speaker 1: 1:56:32

Like she, she spends all day mom, yes mom yes, and and they're crawling on her all the time like she was trying to go to the bathroom and then, like one sitting on her lap here and she's feeding one here and and it's just uh, as, as crazy as all that is. Um, I, I, I start to miss it when I'm away from it, like even now we were, we were talking, like we've been here for three days and it's like it's just so quiet and I think I think so much of some like when you're in it and you're you're living that life day to day and it's chaos. Like we're we're very exhausted. Like we're we're we're beaten down quite a bit. Um, we struggle. Like we nighttime comes. Like we're we want to be together. Like we that's me and her for 15 years. Like it, like we're like this, you know we're you.

Speaker 1: 1:57:31

You talking about it the other day on one of your other guests, you were talking about how affectionate you and Brit are. And like the kids see that, like we're the same way, Like everything's out in the open for them. Like they know how into each other we are and we'll tell them. Like y'all got to leave us alone. Like this comes first and that's biblical, by the way. Like you, all are a biological byproduct of how we feel towards each other, and we love you, but we're going to be here once you're out of the house, so you need to allow us to continue making what the foundation of this whole thing is continue to work by giving us some space and some time and um it's it's very important yeah man very important there's.

Speaker 2: 1:58:15

It comes to time where mom's like dad needs mom time. Yep, you're on your own, like that, and that's because I'll feel it if I don't get my my time, like these little shits are cutting into it. No, we're done. Wrap it up. Yep, you're on your own. Or go to bed, tuck yourselves in like mom time. And it's not just like I'm not talking like sexual wise, it's, it's the conversation, it's being able to talk life, talk business, talk goals and and things like that's what I need in my life. That's kind of like one of my love languages, like I have to have that conversation with my wife every night, yeah, and then when these little shits start encroaching on it, that's what I'm like done. Wrap it up. And I'm only dealing with two.

Speaker 2: 1:58:59

I couldn't even imagine dealing with a squad like you have, but it's super important because it's like you said, it's biblical, like if if we're not building that foundation and there's there's something missing with us, then it I'm gonna show it, then if I'm showing it and the whole house feels it. So it's those simple little things like calm the house down and then have that time, and I feel a lot of people get wrapped up even with one kid or freaking five oh one, the one kid can be worse because the one kid, one kid can turn into child worship and I I don't know anyone personally that's that way, but I've seen.

Speaker 1: 1:59:35

I've seen that like in acquaintances and stuff. It's like, dude, like you really need to have some more so you can realize like like you're screwing that kid up with all this worshiping, you're doing like can't ever take your wife on a freaking date, man okay to leave your kid.

Speaker 2: 1:59:51

Yeah, it's same dude. There's people that do that with their animals yeah, yeah, I'm seeing a fur baby, first off, I won't be.

Speaker 2: 1:59:57

I won't be friends and this, this is, I'll die on this hill. If I am legitimately like with know somebody and they say a fur baby, I'm out. That's. That's one of my hard lines where I can't associate. If you're referring and treating an animal as a as a fur baby, that for me I'm like yep, I'm out, can't do it because I get it. Love your animals, dude. When I put my dog down, it was the worst thing I've ever had to go through. I understand, love them to death, but did you see these people treating it? And they're like we can't leave it alone. It has, it has anxiety when we leave your fucking dog. That that's, that's like.

Speaker 1: 2:00:33

I'm like okay, I can't. This is like. This is when we've really truly hit peak civilization like we're. We're having dog psychiatrists now yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:00:43

So your boys, man, you, uh, you're raising them differently than, I would say, the majority that I see and that I'm around of fathers and how they're raising sons, and I watch religiously on how fathers raise their sons because obviously I'm a girl dad, yeah, and I'm raising my daughters to be able to look for red flags, green flags, everything in between, yeah, and I feel, besides the soft dad raising right, and they're just giving their kids ipads and video games and that shit, there's also this other side where you get these alpha dads that are wanting to raise like little soldiers that have no feelings, no emotion. And this is them and from what I've seen and obviously watching and knowing you for a while, I feel you're raising your wife is involved just as much as you are. Oh, yeah, yeah, how, how? How is that? I don't know how to ask the question.

Speaker 2: 2:01:52

I don't know how to tie it in really, but you're you're raising your kids as all around men, which I feel the majority of me watching other fathers it's one or the other. Their kids are little militaristic soldiers or they're just so soft, but I feel you're you're prepping your kids for life as everything in general it's probably the best you could.

Speaker 1: 2:02:20

You could say you could give any compliment to me or bridget, that's probably the number one, uh, in our heads that you could give is that, that's, that's the end product that you, that you notice just from what you can see, and so I do appreciate it absolutely I'll.

Speaker 1: 2:02:39

I'll say this I totally agree. Agree with you. I think you can go either direction with it too far, and I think the we'll start with the hard side. Yeah, we do stuff that people think is crazy. Like the boys all shoot, they train very often with like live weapons from like the start. They start when they're like five years old and then by the time they're 11 or 12, like my oldest is, I mean, he'll be shooting our company's qualification just to be a part of DA, probably within the next two years, which is harder than any law enforcement call Maybe not some of the. It's probably on par with some of the federal calls. He's very good shooter, like very, very in tune with what to do he.

Speaker 1: 2:03:35

The all the kids take jujitsu. They're learning. They're learning to do hard things. I'm very intentional about you may're learning to do hard things. I'm very intentional about you may not want to do this, but I feel that these are life skills that you need to have. You need to be able to protect yourself, you need to be it's. It's like all this stuff you need to be able to change a tire and like you know all those things. All are important, but I feel like a lot of fathers are kind of missing the boat on how to get a kid interested in things that are like adult things, and so we mainly make them do stuff. And people look at that and they're like, well, that's crazy. Like you make them go to jujitsu, like yeah, that's a non-negotiable, like they're going to do that because I believe it's a life skill. Being able to fight in that way is completely a life skill. But, by the way, that's 10% of it Like. The rest of it is the discipline and the way you carry yourself and the confidence and the and the great examples that they have at that school of men that that can practice violence and also mentor young children at the same time. It's like the whole warrior poet thing and like this, that whole, that whole mentality of of making your kids hard and making them do hard things, that's that's kind of getting more popular again. I think we're getting pushback from all the soft parenting that generate. You know the last generation went through and the and the poor results that that that gave us.

Speaker 1: 2:05:18

But my, my main intention with the, with all the crazy stuff we do, like, for instance, some some people get a kick out of, like we make the boys for eight, for, for reference, we have our oldest is 12. And then I, I really start to lose track at that point. It's like 12, eight, four, two, and then Vera, our, our daughter's, like eight months now. Anyway, we make them ruck, march with us. We like we were plate carriers and they were. They were Kevlar helmets, they carry their rifles. They were like 20 something pounds on their back, like we make them go do that. And people were like, are your kids okay? Like are they gonna back? Like we make them go do that, and people were like, are your kids okay? Like are they going to? Or like do we need to check on you all? Like, yeah, they're fine, they're, they're fine and and because we make them do hard things, they're going to be, uh, better for it as adults.

Speaker 1: 2:06:13

But then you also have you also have the mentorship side and the being able to hug the kids on a daily basis. I hug them, I hug them all the time. I tell them I love them, I tell them what, what specifically I'm proud of them for what, what character attributes that each of them have, because they're very different. Oh yeah, that I appreciate and, and you know, we definitely talk spirituality with them, we pray with them at night. Bridget's kind of the. She's always been the rock of raising the kids. She's homeschooling them, she keeps them on track, she manages like everything so that I can kind of do what I need to do and I kind of step in and give them life lessons and especially with the boys, they just need the mentorship For sure. But it's like you said, it's very balanced, like you can't raise and no shade against Andrew Tate, but like that's the like cartoon character, like example of what I think going too far in the other direction is.

Speaker 2: 2:07:21

He preaches a conservative life and yeah, like stay at home, wife, but it's he's on the far end, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:07:27

Like get rich by Lambos, bang, you know, bang women, like all that kind of stuff. I just know what I want. Like, what I want is for them to be very well-rounded but hardened, capable men who will choose a wife, like I chose, that will build them up and be their quiet place, their spiritual partner that helps make, helps them make good decisions, helps them through life.

Speaker 1: 2:07:56

Yeah, like that is the partner, the person you're supposed to be closest with. Like the best lesson that we can teach them and I'll say this hands down for anyone like the best thing that you can do for any child, I am convinced, boy or girl is show them not tell them, but show them what a good relationship relationship looks like. Like, uh, you, we're talking, you're talking about sex and affection earlier, like some some things. Like we're christians, very, very, very much christians, but we don't hide stuff from our kids. Like they know what we're doing all the time.

Speaker 1: 2:08:37

I come from the 90s, the most most repressed, like just crazy era. Like you couldn't even bring up the word like, let alone imagine that your parents did it. In contrast to that, like my kids definitely know what's going on. They definitely see us grabbing each other all the time. Like that's healthy. I feel it's healthy. So I've seen the end result of of the other way. Like it's. It's people getting married and feeling guilty for for what their, what their desire is for their spouse and not knowing what to do and like or going crazy off the other end, where they're like, well, I've been so repressed that I'm just going to go like, get a crazy body count because I've been told I'm not supposed to have sex with anyone. There's no balance in anything anymore, and so I'm trying to. Who knows if I'm right. Like, does do any of us, as parents, actually know what, that, what we're doing, works until the end result comes?

Speaker 2: 2:09:39

I look at it, I asked, but Britt and I ask ourselves that all the time like, are we making the right decision? And we, I don't want to say we question ourselves, but there's, there's you should, there's question, there's doubt. But then when you see your child in and around their own peers and same age grade, age or age groups, there it is and your child is standing out in all the positive ways, then I'm like, okay, we're. Good results matter, man. It's like you said it earlier, how you force your kids to do things. It's not an option. You're doing this. I forced her into starting a martial arts. She no desire. I was like I don't care, you're gonna do this for 30 days, you're trying it. I don't, I don't care, I'm doing it. Fuck. Three world titles later, yeah. And I feel now a lot of these parents are like, oh, timmy's really not feeling it. I don't give a fuck if timmy's feeling it, he's going to try this out because he's just sitting here getting fat, eating doritos all day playing minecraft. That's a better option than forcing your kid to go and try something and I'm not saying, if they absolutely hate it, to continue them to do it, but also, at the same time, you're not just going to try it a few weeks and he's not going to like it, because there is a groove, there's a learning curve, as with her. I was like you're going to give me one month and we're going to dedicate one solid month. You're going to go every day that we can and we're going to see how we like it. If not, then we're going to, we're going to try something else, but we're going to be doing something and dude like loved it and and that was because we forced them to try new things.

Speaker 2: 2:11:20

One of the rules in our house from day one of having young children you're going to try everything. When we're eating dinner, you're gonna try it. I people hear that they're like that's so fucked up. Where we go places, my, my youngest, is like seven and she's like I want the salmon platter, the plank and oysters and I'm like all right if I could chill out, you know. But then I'm sitting with another family and their kids are like I want buttered noodles and chicken nuggets and I'm sitting there like this and then my wife yeah, and then my wife. I look at her like this is why? Because we'll go places and there's been so many times where I'll sit down because we're foodies, man, like now we order everything, we're good with it.

Speaker 2: 2:11:59

But when they were younger, it's like I would order something. Like that's gross. I'm like when did you try this? It's just gross. Like sushi is the perfect example.

Speaker 2: 2:12:06

When I talk to an adult, I'm like I hate sushi. I'm like, well, where have you had it? I've never had it. Cool, like to me that's the most ignorant shit. So when we've raised our kids like a bite of this and there's been when they were younger, there were so many so so many times we're like nah, that smells gross. No, I don't want to try it. And then they try it. They're like oh, wow, it's great. It's like cool, now you know you like it.

Speaker 2: 2:12:29

But then obviously, as they've grown, we don't even offer anymore. It's just they're ordering new things because they want to try new things, because we force them to try new things, to get them outside of that bubble. Because I feel as people and when you have a child and you allow them to put themselves in a little bubble where they're like I don't want to try it, no, I'm good, I'm not hungry, I don't give a fuck try it. Come here, you're screwing. You're screwing them as they get older because then now you have this young adult and into an adulthood where this kid I knew I actually used to have a guy that works for me I'll tell you who it was later.

Speaker 2: 2:13:03

We would go places on these security gigs and we're eating at some of the nicest restaurants. We're in Vegas for a while and we're eating at like the hub. We were eating at all the buffets. This motherfucker would come back with cheese pizza. I'm like bro, there's a pile of King crab. I don't like crab. Like you're not gonna try it. No, I don't like it, I've never. I'm like you're eating literally cheese pizza at like this gourmet buffet that cost me 200 ahead to get in. Here you're going and getting jello and cheese pizza like that. That always scared me like I didn't want to raise one of those adults.

Speaker 2: 2:13:38

And so forcing your kids to try to do things, even if they fight it, force them to do it because you never know the outcome. Cool, you're a couple of months in and they still have that same. I absolutely hate this, want nothing to do with it. Transition to something else if that's the case, but give it time and watch how your kid will just excel and start to adapt to what they're doing. They learn the coaches, they learn the program, they learn the structure, the routine, the discipline, and then it just becomes life for them.

Speaker 2: 2:14:09

And then now they're putting their uniform on, they're tying their own belt, they're ready to go, because now they're able to, like they're going to start testing for their next belt, or they get a competition, or they get, they win something. And it's like those are the little things that get your kids to get outside of that box. And I, I see so many parents. They're just like oh, he's really not into it, why? Cause they had a bad day at practice and it was a shitty. It was a shitty a game. And then now the kid wants to quit.

Speaker 1: 2:14:35

Well, and one of the there's, there's the dad and the mom. You know side of things too. I think when kids are young the nurturing, mothering side you have to have good balance there. Like me and Bridget had to talk through like look, I need you to stop giving them so much attention when they get hurt. I'm not saying be dismissive, but like let's try to stop reacting this way. You know they're like my kids are, like they're literally choking each other out. They're they're falling on their face and bleeding everywhere. Like we just took everything down, like we're going to start, we're going to start embracing some of this hardship stuff and you're going to have to be a little less of a mother, because we see the we see the negative impacts of what happens if you overdo it in that department. For sure, and she, you know, to her credit was like I actually completely agree with you. Like this is you need to father them and I need to mother them and I need, at a certain point I need to start backing off and letting you guide them the way that you're biblically supposed to be doing it and just the way that you're supposed to do it as a, as a good man. That's setting an example for them to follow and she's, you know, she successfully kind of overcame some of those things and we're still trying to figure it out.

Speaker 1: 2:16:03

But I think I think just just balance has been kind of our, our way of going about it and being honest, you know, and the, the, the, the other big thing that I think is important and my parents taught me this, my, you know, I was a bad teenager. I mean, I was selling weed and, you know, doing the whole like that thing, like thought I was cool, uh, my dad would constantly say to me. He would say I'm praying for you. Um, you are a good boy. You are acting in a bad way. He would constantly reinforce that I am someone he's proud of, I'm good. I am not the actions that I'm showing right now, I am something better and I'm not living that out.

Speaker 1: 2:16:56

And that reinforcement, like I screwed up all the way, I mean into my, into my mid twenties until I really became an adult, and I would always go back to that and so I use that with with our kids. It's like you're, you're acting horrible right now, but that's, this isn't who you are and we're a unit like this is a seven member impenetrable unit Like you all will take care of each other. You will support each other. You will support this marriage. We're all going to work together to make things work the way that they need to be, and each and every one of you is an important part of that, and you're all valuable, even when you're acting awful. I want you to know that, that you can always come back from that and and not getting too bogged down into how bad they may be at any given point, because they're kids. They're going to drive you, nuts man.

Speaker 1: 2:17:50

They don't know. They're just not emotionally mature people. I mean, 90% of adults aren't emotionally mature and you expect a four-year-old to understand why their need for constant attention is annoying to you. Have some patience, and that's a battle we're fighting every day. We have not mastered that. We still scream at our kids and lose control. We are not the people that are ready to write a book on parenting. But when you see our kids interacting with other people um, especially speaking to adults, like that kind of thing that's when I can really sit back and be like okay, we at least have not like firebombed this whole thing, like we're at least not on the road to destruction as of right now.

Speaker 2: 2:18:39

Yeah, and it's. It's one of those things like in, like we kind of said earlier, you just are we doing the right thing, are we not doing the right thing? But then you get those little signs like validation that you are and it's like okay, and then you know but that's, that's parenting. But I, I feel it's having that structure, it's setting the kids in a direction, especially because you're homeschooling guys too. I mean we're, we're hard, hardcore homeschoolers.

Speaker 1: 2:19:05

I will die on that hill that yeah, I can't deprogram eight hours of nonsense like I don't if I was a perfect parent. I don't have time. I don't have enough time to unwind all the crap that they're learning out there. Like I, me and frigid we, we were laughing by the day our kids like were the stereotypical homeschool kids in this one situation we're in. Like we looked over there and silas has got on like a shirt that's five sizes too big rain boots. And like ninja turtle pajama pants. And like the other one's wearing a cowboy hat and no shirt. And like like they, these kids don't even understand what cool is. Yeah, and bridget was like I love that. Like they have no idea they don't have phones. Like gunner got a flip phone that I give it to him whenever we're like apart so he can call me. And like he's he doesn't. Like he doesn't he's so much different than the other kid because they just want to scroll.

Speaker 2: 2:20:05

He's like my phone just opens and has numbers on it it's fascinating because you, you're, you know, and then as they get older, you'll start to see when the junior high, high school sets in and how toxic, truly toxic, that environment is. And then when your kids are coming back and depending, you know, obviously you know, with our oldest she's involved with an incredible youth group but then so her click is from kids all over the valley so then she gets to experience all these different schools and environments and games and sports and things like that. And just listening to her talk and she's like how these girls are, it's just, it's, it's sad what kids are having to go through now, like I don't, you know, I remember it was like, oh, like I even had a buddy that I anti-bullying organization for while and everything's anti-bullying, anti-bullying, and now it's like I think we went too far in that direction.

Speaker 2: 2:21:08

Well, I'm just talking. I mean we could use some good old school bullying. But now it's like, bro, these kids like they're getting just crucified for everything, and it's like Kids are brutal.

Speaker 2: 2:21:21

Kids are horrible and it's like it's gone. Kids are, kids are brutal, kids are horrible and it's it's all a social status and now they have their little burner snapchat accounts and all. It's like what the fuck? And that that's what our kids are not our kids, but this generation is worrying about is their snap streaks and their popularity. But then when you have this homeschool kid, they're like I'm gonna go play outside and I'm gonna play with my toys and I'm going to go explore and I'm oh, I'm going to help do this, I'm going to be involved in the business side of things and it's a completely different world. And I know I always I always have mixed emotions on when I post things on homeschool, because not everybody can afford it, not everybody, it's no and it's a lifestyle for everyone.

Speaker 2: 2:22:01

And it's not for everybody, and we were those people. I never thought it would ever be for us, but we made major sacrifices to be able to do that. But then, when you see your kids in real world environments and situations and you see how they react compared to other kids or their friends, like, okay, it's, it makes it so worth it because, because they're home, we're able to put different stresses on them. Not, oh, this girl hates me and she's talking and smearing my name around school and then now, that's all your teenage daughter is fixated on. She's not focused on anything except for this girl that is just making up all these lies. You see it all day long. But instead mine's like, hey, we want to develop this. Or hey, I have to go edit this video and we're going to get the next episode ready.

Speaker 2: 2:22:53

Those are like the stresses that I would rather put on my child of as she's growing and developing business wise, on our oldest, even our youngest. She's like our little product development and she's her mind is okay, if we sell it for this, our margins are here. Then we get to make more of a profit and this is a 10-year-old right. But then you have a 10-year-old that's going to a public school and they're learning absolutely nothing. And so that's when we're like, okay, we're good, we feel good because our kids' stresses are learning business, learning a new program, developing something, the stresses of, hey, we got to get this thumbnail made for the new episode, like that's where I would rather have her stresses there. And some people are like, well, good luck in the real world.

Speaker 1: 2:23:35

But at the same time.

Speaker 1: 2:23:37

This is the real world. That's total BS. I love that you said that. Sorry to interrupt you. No, you're good. That's what our generation of public school versus homeschool said, and I was the guy that said it. I was the one like good luck. All of our friends from church were homeschoolers. You guys have no concept of what reality is because you're not at school with us. I'm the complete opposite now. Like, you guys are living in this crazy, like you're completely detached from where we're supposed to be and you're living in the, in all this nonsense. It's completely the opposite and it took me it took me having kids to finally figure it out. Like, like well, good luck, good luck, your kids are. Your kids aren't going to be normal. Like well, I've seen what you all consider normal and I am, I'm glad to say they won't be that yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:24:32

And at the same time it's like, oh, homeschool kids are weird kids. Good, weird kids come from weird parents. Shitty kids come from shitty parents. If you're a active involved out in the public, you're doing things and your kids are homeschooled and doing that, that's how your kids are going to be. If you're these weird people and you lock yourself in the house all day and you got weird kids because it's all their consumer, yeah, you're gonna have absolutely weird kids. But at the same time it's like when you say, oh, good luck when your kids are in the real world, they're in the real world all day they're interacting with adults and like they're not in there.

Speaker 1: 2:25:09

So the real world is a building full of people that are all the same age being spoon-fed propaganda all day long by the government.

Speaker 2: 2:25:17

Yeah, like that's by a program that has been developed to create factory workers, which is all proven. This is this is the craziest part when that people, I feel bad for people when they come at me and try to attack me for for homeschooling and I I genuinely feel bad. And I don't feel bad for the people who, like must be nice because you can't afford it.

Speaker 1: 2:25:36

Like because that's, that's that's the thing man like. If you don't have, if you don't have a stay-at-home parent, we could not do it if it was not for Bridget.

Speaker 2: 2:25:46

We couldn't do it if it wasn't for Bridget. Bridget made a major sacrifice. She walked away from her real estate career. We knew it Make a huge hit, but the product that we're putting out, it's worth it to us. I want my kids to be able to leave one day and be like, okay, I want my kids to be able to leave one day and be like, okay, I'm never as a father, we're never going to be. You know, especially when your daughters are leaving and they want to start their new life, like, you're always going to have that worry.

Speaker 2: 2:26:10

But they have the business mindset. They can talk to anybody, they can walk in a room, I mean for crying out loud dude, we, we, we work these little farmer's markets and I just stand back. I help set up. I'm there, that's the wife. She's out of that. That's my role with the homeschooling and I'm running the business side of things. When we do these things, dude, I'm watching these two girls sit there and they're slinging bread and cookies and they're laughing.

Speaker 2: 2:26:36

They got customers that are coming back and looking for flavors and asking all these questions and I'm sitting there like this is, this is the product I want to put into the world. I want I want to be able to put a kid, raise a young, a young adult, and send them off into the world one day, where they can go and sit down in a job interview and crush it where. And I like I tell her, I'm like Chrissy, you're, we're going to have an intern working for us soon that goes to bsu and you're a fucking homeschooled high school kid gonna have a college intern working for you. That's awesome. I'm like do you not see the different paths? Because and I'm not knocking, I'm not throwing shade on anybody's direction of life that they want to go but I'm like this is the direction that we're choosing for you, because this is setting you up Like you're having college kids work for a high schooler. That's running what you're doing now and growing what we're growing at your age, instead of you going to college, getting yourself in debt, going and getting some degree that you're never even going to use in your field, and then you're going to try to figure out life, out life.

Speaker 2: 2:27:41

Then I'm like let's figure life out as best we can now. I'm using air quotes for you listening, you're never going to figure life out, but let's get you, let's get a direction dialed now and so that way, when you do fly the nest one day, you're already pointed in a direction and cool then. Wherever that leads you, that's up to you, because that's your life and those are the chapters you gotta you're gonna have to build on your own. But for us as parents, and this whole homeschooling man, it is, it's been the greatest decision that we have ever made and I've never met. Then it might come, but I have yet to meet parents that have pulled their kids and be like we regret everything never happened, not, not.

Speaker 2: 2:28:19

I've never seen it and I've gone through hundreds and probably thousands of messages, like on tiktok, when these videos go wild about homeschooling. Nobody's ever been like I absolutely made the worst decision ever pulling our kids. I've yet to have anybody ever and I'm there, might be some out there because they just can't handle their kids, maybe finances and those circumstances but I have yet to have anybody tell me that pulling their kids out and homeschooling them and raising them the way that you you're able to raise your children. I've never had anybody tell me they've regretted that decision.

Speaker 1: 2:28:50

Yeah, man, I tell, I tell Bridget all the time She'll, she she's gets she'll get down on herself over stupid stuff with with parenting like babe, over stupid stuff with with parenting like babe, like you're seriously, you're seriously telling me that you're upset with yourself because you didn't get to spend this amount of personal time with this specific kid. Like I need you to take two big steps back from this and look at at, just just on a timeline. You are ahead of the game already because you are spending literally from in those formative years, from one I can't remember what it is, I know it's up through 12 and you're kind of like who you are at that point, at least the main parts Like they're going to be with us that whole time. We have the opportunity to influence what they want and, yeah, I'm absolutely going to take advantage and influence them exactly the way I want. That's my right. I made them. They're not the States. Yes, I will train them to mentally hate authority.

Speaker 1: 2:29:58

Yes, try to bucket in every way.

Speaker 2: 2:30:00

Question everything.

Speaker 1: 2:30:02

Yep. If hey, you tell yep. If hey, you tell me something. You tell me something is is the case. You better tell me why. You better explain it to me and it better make sense. Or I'm not believing it. Yeah, and you better. You better be combative against us.

Speaker 2: 2:30:16

It's. I'm not saying question authority, but fucking question it. Yeah, I had a guy. This was really sad. I had a dude message me. He's like you mean to tell me you pulled your kids out of public school so you can indoctrinate them 100 yeah. And I responded yes, 100 I. We have our beliefs and it might not. It might be different than the house next door, it might be different than, but our beliefs are better than what your kid is getting fed at a public school that is ran and built and directed by the government. So this guy comes at me and trying to attack me like, oh yes, you can indoctrinate your kid, I'm gonna indoctrinate my kid to know god, I'm gonna know. Indoctrinate my kid to not trust the government, to question everything. If it doesn't make sense, why doesn't it make sense? Like, yeah, I'm going, that's how I'm going to indoctrinate my children and it's my right to do so. What's the old saying? You know what Caesar said you send your kids off to the Romans and don't expect them to come back.

Speaker 1: 2:31:17

Yep.

Speaker 2: 2:31:18

Then you wonder, like you wonder why there's so many problems and these kids are in the stresses and the depression and the suicidal thoughts and all this shit. And meanwhile her stress is like because I want to fucking give me my clips, give me my clips, that's our, where are my clips? And then she's like, like that's, but I'm like you don't have to worry about any of this shit and I'm fine with that If that's how we want to raise our children, be fit to to, to love their family, to love God and to love their country. Question everything, cool, yeah, you call me whatever you want, I'll take that path a hundred percent of the time. Yeah, man, 100% of the time.

Speaker 1: 2:32:00

Yeah, man, you have a great opportunity to make your own kids this well-rounded. It doesn't mean they're going to turn out great. What it does mean is you have the most opportunity to influence that individual Sculpt. That child.

Speaker 1: 2:32:22

And there's nothing you can do that beats that. It's. It's like we said before um and it's. It's a powerful statement, but your children are the only thing that you can take to heaven with you. They're the only thing. When you realize that, and you understand that none of the stuff matters, none of the status matters, none of the success, any of it in comparison to that, you'll really start thinking through what your priorities are, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 2:32:58

And I did not always prioritize my kids like I do now. I was not a great dad. For the first couple of years. I wasn't bad, like I wasn't abusive, I was just not. I wasn't tuned in, like she was doing all of it and I wasn't really involved, like I was working on the business and I was just being lazy and you know, just kind of being a piece of shit and like I had to grow up and turn 30 and become a man like it. And that's when it kind of clicked for me. It happens for different people at different times. But I think now, just just having that realization that that they are aside from the marital relationship, which is you, aside from your spiritual relationship, the kids are the next thing down and there's no amount of effort I won't put into doing it right while I have the opportunity, because you don't know how long you got.

Speaker 2: 2:34:01

And it's crazy, when you really think about it on a religious side of things. You saying that statement Because you always hear I can't take it with you. I can't take it with you and they're right. But your kids you can bring with you to heaven by preparing them and setting them up with a relationship, and they're going to go through their times. I mean, you were raised in a religious household. I'm a pastor's kid. I fell off, fell way, way off that wagon for a long time. But when you start getting back into it and then you have, you start realizing that a home that is led by a father that believes in Christ, the amount of children that'll follow and how healthier it is and I think we're. I don't know if we talked about it, but even that, that statistics said that couples that pray together less than one percent of couples that pray together.

Speaker 2: 2:34:55

Divorce and dude I uh, we've talked about you.

Speaker 2: 2:34:58

You know me, you know me long enough.

Speaker 2: 2:34:59

Like dude, I was a piece of shit for a long time, like I fucking I'm proud of things and I wasn't checked in and and where I am now as far as husband and father, like dude I'm I'm a completely different person than I was even five years ago, let alone 10 and so.

Speaker 2: 2:35:15

But once you start going down that path and really just starting to dig into the faith side of things, it, it, god, dude, it just it changes so much and it just the way you feel, the way you process, the way I carry anger, all of it, man, it's just, it's, it's wild of like, and you fight it for so long and my wife, she, you know, wrestle with god. It is a wrestling match and there's days where it's incredible and there's days that I fight it and then when I fight it and we end up praying at night and it's like I'm like why, why am I fighting this? Like it feels so good afterward I might I get to lead my daughters. They get to see what I feel a true man is by leading the household. As far as religious side of things and as far as just being the leader of a household, it's all built into one to have that true identity, I guess what they, I want my daughters to be able to look for one day, and it's they're gonna marry.

Speaker 1: 2:36:17

I mean they're gonna look for someone to marry. That that is that. I mean. There's nothing more important than that. You, you don't want, you don't want her to be calling you because she married this old version of you one day Like, hey, he's, you know he's whatever, whatever, whatever your, whatever, your hangups are, whatever, what. What makes a bad, a bad husband? A bad husband, uh, or a bad choice? Like, if you can, if you can get ahead of all that, just by showing them what it looks like they're going to pick that Like that's, they totally pick that.

Speaker 1: 2:36:52

I've seen it so many times. I mean you can, you can look at anyone that you're, you're around and you can see, like the, how they were brought up and what the father was like. In most cases, he involved. Was he out of the picture, in the picture, yeah, in most cases. And I said I, I, I say that because I do know. If you, like I had great parents and I was. I was a total shithead whenever I was a teenager. I don't even know how that happened. I, I attribute it to horrible friends at school, um, and being too weak to like say no to stupid decisions, peer pressure yeah, man, it's, it's um.

Speaker 1: 2:37:32

There's nothing more important than than what we do for these, these kids in the next generation.

Speaker 2: 2:37:37

Yeah, it's scary, it's really scary and the how addictive all the, the games, the platforms it's. We battle it and I. It's hard, it's really hard to be a good parent. It takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of patience and I feel it's so easy to just give a kid an ipad. We're at dinner and it's tough because you know you're juggling a freaking little fire team and they got kids climbing over booths and under tables and eating gum off of shit and coming up with things, you know.

Speaker 2: 2:38:17

But that's the moment where you got to snap it and it's like, no, I'm not going to just be like, hey, here's an iPad, watch this real quick, shut up. Mom and I are talking, it's the easy button, that's the easy button, but instead it's correction, correction, correction, correction, correction, correction. You know, over and over and over again, especially for boys, because they just process things so differently, then it starts to dial in. I mean processing so differently, then it starts to dial in. I mean I'm sure you look at your 12 year old now and you look at your five year old.

Speaker 1: 2:38:47

You're like, thank god we're at this stage, dude, my 12 year old's like, he's like the platoon sergeant man, yeah, like, like he, he will totally get the others in check, like, and it's, it's it crazy how they start to police themselves. And then the next one down is like the best at managing the babies because he's caring. So you got the two of them like teeing off against the little three to help us out. Oh, that's great.

Speaker 2: 2:39:13

And it's fun. And then you get to learn your kids on such a different level. I think that's one of the biggest wins for having your kids home all day. For homeschooling is that how in depth you get to learn each personality, each behavior, their strengths, their weaknesses. What flips the switch, what kills it kills it and you don't really think of that when you hear, oh, we homeschool our kids and you think, oh, there's, you got the little house in the prairie and they're turning butter and all that bullshit. You got some weird kids at home. You get to learn your kids and who they truly are, how they learn, what they love, what they're into, on just so much more of an in-depth, like just detailed way.

Speaker 2: 2:40:01

Because, yeah, you're in, you would have a school raising them. You got teachers that have them for six, seven, eight hours a day. You got bus rides, you got trans, so by the time you were actually getting home and spending quality time with your kid, you got a few minutes a night with them. But instead, when they're home and you get to come home and you're around it, it's those little things and you get to see. See, like this one's more of a nurturer, this one's more crazy what.

Speaker 2: 2:40:24

And they all have their own personalities, and that's what I love the most is learning your kids on the next level. And you would never think about it though you know when you you wouldn't have time, you wouldn't have time to think about it. And you, just, you know, you just go through the groove and you, you, you send your kids off and great. I mean, I'm not knocking it, but if you do have that chance to get your kids home and you're with them all day, you get to see it's fun who they really are, then you're like, okay, like these kids are, they're way cooler than I thought yeah it's.

Speaker 1: 2:40:56

it's exciting too, really is keeps, keeps you young, keeps you in shape. I say that, like me and Bridget have to, we have to lift and stay in really, really top shape just to manage life.

Speaker 2: 2:41:12

Oh boy, because they're exhausting man. I bet, I bet you, it's a blast though.

Speaker 1: 2:41:17

Yeah, it is. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Speaker 2: 2:41:19

Like I said nobody's life.

Speaker 1: 2:41:21

nobody's life would I trade it for. I think that's success right there 100%.

Speaker 2: 2:41:29

You're blessed man.

Speaker 1: 2:41:31

I think we both are, we are.

Speaker 2: 2:41:35

I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Speaker 1: 2:41:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:41:39

Well, dude, this is a great conversation.

Speaker 1: 2:41:42

I'm sure it'll continue.

Speaker 2: 2:41:44

Absolutely. I appreciate you coming out and having this conversation. It's been a while to catch up, know, I'm sure there's a lot of other people that are watching you and especially when it comes to raising young men, I think it's a challenge these days for both men and raising young men and women. We've got the world against them. We've got the secular side of things and just how they're pulled and what it takes to be a true rounded young gentleman. I think you're doing it right and I want to let what it takes to be a true rounded young gentleman. I think you're doing it right. And, uh, I want to let you know that I'm proud of you and it's cool to watch you and your wife and what you guys have built and this little little squad that you got running around all over the place. So thanks for coming out, thanks for joining. I appreciate the conversation, man.

Speaker 1: 2:42:35

Yeah, bro, I really appreciate it. Thanks dude Enjoy.