BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 47 - Horses, Faith, and Building Dreams: Brian Ballenger's Journey
What happens when honor matters more than financial security?
In this powerful episode of the BeTempered Podcast, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr sit down with Brian Ballenger of Whisenhunt Construction and Brighter Path Inc. to unpack a story that challenges conventional definitions of success—rooted not in wealth or accolades, but in integrity, faith, and doing the right thing when it’s hardest.
Brian’s journey begins on a 27-acre farm, where at just ten years old, he took on adult responsibilities caring for livestock while his father worked as a long-haul trucker. These early lessons in discipline and accountability laid the foundation for a man who, years later, would reject the advice of his accountant and attorney to file for bankruptcy—choosing instead to honor every debt, even if it meant selling his family’s dream home.
From the ups and downs of the contracting world to ultimately leading Whisenhunt Construction, Brian’s path has never been easy or straight. His military experience taught him to lead by example, not position—a lesson that carried over into his faith journey and the founding of Brighter Path Inc., an equine therapy nonprofit born from a divine nudge: “You cannot afford to not do this.” Against the odds, Brian followed through—and in doing so, has helped change countless lives through the healing power of horses.
One of the most powerful moments in the episode comes during a recent skydiving experience, when Brian’s instructor told him, “You’re trying to control everything in your life.” That observation unlocked a new perspective on surrender, faith, and letting go.
Through financial hardship, personal sacrifice, and bold obedience, Brian Ballenger’s story is a testament to the strength found in choosing the hard path for the right reasons. This episode will challenge you to reflect: What difficult choices are you avoiding—and what might be waiting on the other side of courage?
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Speaker 3:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 4:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 3:We're your hosts, dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives. This is Be Tempered. What's up everybody, welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 47. 47. Well, today we have the pleasure of speaking with a distinguished leader from good old Richmond, indiana, mr Brian Ballinger. Brian is the owner of Wiesenhunt Construction, a general construction company with a longstanding reputation for quality in the community. In March of 2022, he expanded his leadership role by joining the board of directors at Wayne Bank. Beyond his business endeavors, brian is deeply committed to community service. He co-founded Brighter Path Inc. A nonprofit organization dedicated to providing equine-assisted learning and therapeutic writing programs. Recently, in 2025, brian was honored as the Outstanding Chamber Committee Member from the Issues and Advocacy Committee during the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner. Above all, brian is a devoted husband, father and, most recently, a proud grandfather. His dedication to both his family and his community make him a true example of leadership and service. Brian, welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast. Welcome, brian.
Speaker 5:Thank you, guys. It's really good to be here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're glad to have you. As you know, we like to start by hearing the full story, right? So take us back to the beginning. What life was like growing up for you, and what shaped you into the person you are today?
Speaker 5:Sure, Well, before I get started, I just want to thank both of you. I really consider this a privilege. Started, I just want to thank both of you. I really consider this a privilege. I've caught up. I've heard every episode. I was telling Dan last week when we were getting ready A couple of weeks ago, I was in my weight room.
Speaker 5:Typically I like to work out to music songs. I've heard a thousand times over, but that day I thought, you know, I really need to start listening to podcasts, because I spent about an hour and a half to two hours in the gym three to four days a week and really I feel like part of that time's being wasted on um music. Like I said, I've already heard it. So I thought, well, I'm going to plug in one of their podcasts and see how this goes. I'm not sure it's going to be that motivational. How am I going to get through this workout? Anyway, two hours later I was exhausted because the longer I listened, the more intense it got. At times I was in tears and it just made me push even harder. So I just want to share that with you and the listeners that what you're doing is an amazing, amazing thing, and I hope my story in some small way might touch and impact somebody.
Speaker 3:Oh, I appreciate that and we had that conversation. I was blown away. Yeah, you know, I mean it's. I do the same thing where you know, sometimes I'll listen to music, but the podcast a lot of times, if you get into a good one, you know, you just find yourself, you know, engulfed in that story and then, before you know it right, the workout's over, you know, or you're going for two hours.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I guess what really hits me is when you're hearing somebody's story that really impacts you and touches you and you know, yeah, so maybe I've been through a few, through through a few things, but nothing like that. And you know, literally I'm like dang it, dan, you're bringing me to tears again, man.
Speaker 5:I don't mean to, I know, I know, but it's good stuff. Anyway, I'll get back to your question. I was born in 1968. My dad was a Marine veteran, so he was in Vietnam when I was born. I think I was about a year old when he got back. Thankfully he came home. Both of my grandfathers served in World War II, so a long history of military service when I was about six years old probably one of the best things that ever happened in my life.
Speaker 5:It was a challenge for my dad because work wasn't really steady in the mid-70s. But when I was six we moved to a small farm, and when I say small, it was 27 acres. Literally everything that we ate we grew Very few things mom went to the grocery for. So as part of that obviously becomes a lot of responsibility for myself and my brother. As I look back on that time I have such a fond memory now but at the time it was hard. It was very challenging.
Speaker 5:When I was 10, dad took a driving job because he tried the factory route but it seemed like every factory he started with ended up shutting down route. But it seemed like every factory he started with ended up shutting down. Some of the guys that were my dad's friends. They were with union factories that didn't shut down. They had a much better way to go, but dad didn't experience that.
Speaker 5:So in I think it was 1978, a friend of my dad's had a trucking business and so dad, very first time out, was gone for about 10 to 14 days, and so we had livestock chickens, quite a few heads of cattle. So it's me and my brother, my brother's younger, and my mom. And when I think back on that time Dad didn't come to me and say Look, brian, I'm going to be gone and now I want you to do this One, two, three, everything that has to be done daily. Never said that, it was just expected that I knew what had to be done and it will get done. And I, I, I'm so thankful now for those experiences because it taught me to be very independent, and I'm even to this day, probably independent to a fault.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. But you recognized. Hey, dad's not here, it's me and mom and my brother, and we got to do it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and there were consequences if you didn't do it, not only when dad gets home, but you've got livestock that are depending on what you put into it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think that's a great thing about no matter what size the farm but livestock in general. You know as a kid, you learn real quick that they're reliant upon you for water, for feed and for growth and that's a. I think that's a very valuable lesson for especially young kids to learn growing up.
Speaker 5:Right, right. So went to a small rural school, union Elementary. Through high school, when I was a junior, we, we moved and I went to Hagerstown my last year, graduated from there, from there. So, before I move into my college years, for uh, uh for my mom you know I've not talked about her yet she went back. So she had started school. They got married, had me again.
Speaker 5:Dad was off in Vietnam, my mother had been enrolled at Ball State. She had to drop out and so she went back to school, I think when I was in fourth grade, got her bachelor's and then her master's when I was in sixth grade. So, moving away from that, going then to Hagerstown, mom obviously had provided a lot of financial support with her job as a teacher, provided a lot of financial support with her job as a teacher, and so college education was very important to her and she instilled in me at a young age that you're going to college. But what we never talked about is well, how are you going to pay for it? Because, mom and dad, they just didn't have the means to send my brother and I to college. But yet I was expected you're just going to go. So that was really never a question. But I had to figure out okay, how am I going to afford this? You know I had saved up money through 4-H. You know, raising animals, selling, selling livestock was working anytime I could, any farmer that would hire me from the time I was about 13, I was putting money back. But a friend, a friend of my father's he was a National Guard recruiter and so he came to me and talked about some of the benefits of being in the military. That was an easy sell for me, but understanding the GI Bill, how that would work. So, basically, to get through school, I was working summers Every month. I was off for the weekend, uh, with a national guard training. And then in my second year of college in the national guard there was a shortage of army officers. So I was recruited because I was about to finish my second year of college, my third year, at ball state, I was taking a full load of classes and then was going through the Indiana Military Academy and then graduated from that a year later. That was really a formative time in my life, not only with the military training but really having to learn a lot about self-discipline to an even higher level Because I was taking a full load of college work on top of the military training. So that was a lot, but anyway that helped me to be able to afford to get through school. I think there was at the time Ball State was on the quarter system. I had to sit out one quarter to be able to work, put enough money back and then go hit the books again. But something that was very helpful for me at that time, I was starting to learn how to install flooring and there was a flooring contractor that I would work for through the summers and begin getting my eyes open to the construction field. And of course that's where I've landed now.
Speaker 5:When I was in college, you know, typically you want to have a plan, right, you want to have some goals. But you know I was one of those kids. I just had no idea. I knew I wanted to do something, I wanted to be something, but if you were to ask me when I was 20, 21 years old, I had no idea, and I try to share that when I speak with high school students that look, I realize it's scary and for me at that time it was really challenging. But God has a plan and when I finished college had become a commissioned officer in the National Guard. I'll probably expand on that in a moment. But I had nothing in my pocket. I'd just gotten married.
Speaker 5:So in 1989, that was a pretty big year for me Got my commission, got married and then two years later we had our first child. We had our first child. But to think about going through all of that and then, okay, thinking now what? But I had a little bit of that construction background to fall back onto and actually I love that kind of work. So I started a. I wouldn't even call it a company. I was basically a glorified handyman. I started out doing just literally anything that I felt like I could do professionally, as well as the true professional. So that meant if I'm painting, if I'm cleaning up windows, caulking a little bit of trim work and you know I feel like it's you either have that God given gift and talent or you don't. Within five years I built my first home. So, yeah, so you know what started out is again, I won't even call it a company but within a few short years I was able to build our first home and then, from there, started building homes throughout the remainder of the 1990s into the early 2000s.
Speaker 3:Wow, and a lot of that, I'm sure, came from your work ethic. You learned being on the small farm.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yes, it did. When I think about being self-employed, when I'll talk to other entrepreneurs, or talking to other kids that are thinking about an entrepreneurial route, I always ask them this question so what do you think is the one identifying trait or mark of an entrepreneur? To me is it's this, and it's pretty simple You'll make a terrible employee.
Speaker 5:And I think it's true, you know. You know I say that maybe in a self-deprecating way, but in all honesty I'm so independent that I have to have the freedom and the flexibility to try. Sometimes that means failure, and I'm going to talk about that in a little bit, because I've experienced failure in life and that has been actually one of the more defining moments of my life is experiencing failure, feeling what that's like, but yet how do you work out of it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so talk a little bit more about the military during that time, because you talk about how you built your first house and you're building your business. But where are you at military wise with that?
Speaker 5:Right. So I was in the national guard for seven years, so that that would have been 1993, a few years before my business really started taking off. But um, you know, there would be times, you know, when I would have a little bit of a break on a weekend. I would be off in the corner, you know other guys are smoking and joking. Whatever, I'm over in the corner doing estimates because you know other guys are smoking and joking. Whatever, I'm over in the corner doing estimates because, you know you're making use of that time.
Speaker 5:But you know not to downplay my experience with college. Obviously I learned a lot, but it didn't compare at all to the leadership that I was able to learn and gain through the military. That really helped set me up to understand how you gain respect, how you earn trust to the degree that people would follow you doing something they really don't want to do, because it can be kind of brutal, it can be rough, it's tiring, but how do you motivate a group of people that are all much older than you to follow this young, 22, 23-year-old lieutenant all much older than you to follow this young, 22, 23 year old Lieutenant? Um and I and I felt like I learned that right away because I would watch others and learn what they were doing and and saw how it didn't work and how ineffective it was and like, well, that's pretty easy, I'm not going to do that, you know. So. It's really about building trust and respect right off the bat, and when you gain that, what I usually find is they'll follow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and, and you know you hit on something that kind of hits me. I feel like throughout my business career, the past 20 some years of being in business, the one thing that I I am proud of, or I think that I'm I do a good job of, is just observing people, and observing people when they don't know they're being observed, right Like you watch somebody from afar. You watch, you know you're in a lot of construction meetings. I mean, that's how I found my manager, jeff, at the shop.
Speaker 3:You know, I just I knew that I needed someone. I didn't know who that person was, but just as you start observing them, interacting in meetings or interacting with uh, you know other coworkers or employees or whatever position they're in. You can learn a lot about a person just by observing them.
Speaker 3:So, that that kind of hits me a little bit, because I do that a lot. I did it with Ben, I've done it with a lot of the people that I have, um, men and women that work for me, and that's I think that's a good leadership style. It's a great way to learn right, good and bad. So kind of expand upon that a little bit. How are you able to do that when you're in that leadership position in the military, in the National Guard, for them to follow?
Speaker 5:Sure, yeah, so for one, each person's an individual right and they react and respond differently. So I think it's really important to understand who you're working with, who you're dealing with. But in the military it's a little bit different because at the end of the day basically a commander, they have an order to issue. It's going to have to be followed. Now, I saw oftentimes where those orders would be followed, but it wasn't because they were willing, it's not because they wanted to. They knew they had to. So what's the result going to be? Well, it's not going to be great, right? So for me, it was leading by example. I wouldn't just simply send them off on a particular mission and sit back myself. They knew that when Lieutenant Ballinger had a map in hand, uh-oh, we're in trouble, we're going to have a long night.
Speaker 5:But they also knew I was going to be right there with them. I was never asking them to do something I wasn't willing to do myself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's important and they respect that. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So you're going through that, you. Your business is growing. What's next for you?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So, um, that decision to exit the military was really a challenging moment for me because I absolutely loved it, I was excelling. But at that time I was getting very involved in our church, my business was starting to take off, our second daughter was on the way and I just realized that in life, to me it's all about priorities. The military had meant a lot to me, but I felt like that was probably a chapter that was about to close. But again it was hard because my one of my very last weekends my battalion commander came to me and I think at the time I was a, I'd just been promoted to first Lieutenant and I was offered the most I guess you'd maybe say most exclusive role in our battalion for somebody my age and rank, and so it's almost like that carrot dangling out there in front of you. So it was really hard to have to tell him.
Speaker 5:No, I really appreciate this. I knew where that would launch my trajectory had I taken that, because I know I would have put a lot of effort into that and not to don't take this wrong but I would have excelled with that. I know that. But in order to maintain priorities, you know, god and church first, then my family, then my business. I was going to have to let something go.
Speaker 3:So it was military, you let go. Yes, so after seven years, okay, very, you let go.
Speaker 5:Yes, yeah. So after seven years, very, very grateful for that experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure. So now you're on to the new priorities of of, not the new, but these are your priorities. That you've said, hey, this is, this is, this is what means the most to me. So so what's that look like now moving forward?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So the business was going well. We were building more and more homes. In late 1998 through 99 had what I? We all have pivotal moments in life, right? And so what is a pivotal moment? Well, that's a period of time, regardless of what those circumstances might be. But going through that it's where life changes for you and it can either be for the better or for the worse. Now, at the time when I look back, you know I'm reconciled to what I went through. I see the benefit of it, I see how much stronger I am, but at the time it was absolutely awful.
Speaker 5:So both of my well, actually, both accountant and attorney both advised me to file bankruptcy. So I'd had a series of events financially where I was getting behind and to the point where they were saying, look, there is no way out. And I just refused to believe that, you know. And I remember telling the accountant first, because I think I met with him first and he said look, brian, you're just going to have to file bankruptcy. And I looked him square in the eyes and I said look, none of my creditors asked for this. They didn't ask for this. I will. I refuse to file bankruptcy unless someone forces me to. And I told the attorney the same thing. I didn't know what the path forward was. I had no idea how I was going to be able to pay back that debt, but I'd made a commitment. I just have faith. I believe he'll see me through this. Didn't know how that was ever going to work because it seemed impossible. Me through this. Didn't know how that was ever going to work because it seemed impossible. I thought he's probably right, but I refused to accept that.
Speaker 5:So the first home that we had built, remember I told you five years in so my wife and I had built our dream home. Obviously, I did almost all the labor myself, with some help, but we had quite a bit of equity in that. So I feel like twice in my life God has spoken directly. So imagine being like gut punched. You're on the ground and you're getting stomped on again and just no way forward with this. You know we've got small children, our third daughter, we have three girls, third daughter's on the way. So how in the world are you going to get through this? How are you going to get out of it?
Speaker 5:And I remember going into my office there at home, and you know it was a point where I have nowhere else to turn. I don't know who. Where else do I look to? And I hadn't talked to my parents about it. Nobody in this world knew, except the accountant attorney, my creditors. They knew I wasn't paying my bills Right.
Speaker 5:And then my wife and I in prayer, and the first time that I feel like God's spoken to me in my life, he gave me the path. He said you're going to have to sell this house and my first thought was how do I tell my wife Sandy? She designed it, I built it and this is where we were going to raise our children. So that's what we did. She begrudgingly agreed to it. But we had enough equity. We almost paid off the debt, but not fully. Still to the point, I don't know how we're going to be able to pay this debt back. But after about two years time I had one creditor and I thank them daily that they agreed to work with me, cause I went to him and I told him. I said look, this is my situation. So I was honest about it. This is where I'm at. I'm not sure how long it's going to take, but if you're willing to work with me, I promise you, you have my word, you'll be paid every dime, and he agreed so.
Speaker 5:Through that, the Lord was there, he provided. Obviously, we had to give up our dream home, but that's just a material possession, right? But see what did I come out with? I had my honor intact, and what greater thing can you have in life than to maintain your honor and your integrity? Can you have in life than to maintain your honor and your integrity? I tell you guys, I've been blessed over and over and over since that point in my life because I feel like that was what God was calling me to do and I honored him by following that. And again, I don't share this to exalt myself. That's not what this is about. And you know, I really struggled for years sharing this. I don't know if it was ego, maybe a little bit of pride. I don't see it that way. Now I hope that it encourages others to realize that God's there, he's with you, he'll provide the honor him and then, by doing that, you keep your honor intact.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what a story man, and thank you for sharing that?
Speaker 5:Did you know that I had no idea?
Speaker 3:I had no idea. And you know, being in business for for 20 years with with, uh, with little Catron's glass, you know I've obviously ran into instances where we've had ran into instances where we've had customers file bankruptcy and we've had customers who were honest and and did exactly what you did. And, um, man, you know that's an awesome thing because I I had more that filed for bankruptcy than than the couple that came and said, hey, here's the situation. You know, here's what we're going through. I promise you I will pay you every dime. It's just going to take me some time and, you know, fortunately I was in a position where we could make that work.
Speaker 3:It wasn't large sums of money but, um, the respect that I have and I know the, the two people in my mind who who both had those conversations with me over the last 20 years. I know exactly who they are and I respect them so much more, um than if they would have came and lied to me or not, you know, not not paid their debt and and that's not an easy thing for you right To do that Right it's, it's humbling.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean, that's an understatement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, but you did it. And now look like, what did you just say Through all that? What did you learn?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'm a different person because of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and how different would you be if you had filed for bankruptcy?
Speaker 5:Oh well, we wouldn't be sitting here together today. I promise that. Yeah, yeah, you know we had to borrow money to. I'll get into this later but when we purchased Winston Hunt Construction I didn't have the cash to be able to buy that business, so obviously it took a loan. I wouldn't have ever been granted credit to be able to do that and be where I'm at today. Last 10 years have been amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So you get through that pivotal moment, that difficult moment, that um that turns out to be a blessing in in your life. What's next for you?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So it took till probably 2001, 2002 to get completely out of that hole, still rebuilding, because not only did I sell my home, I had to sell quite a bit of equipment. Uh, so I went through a reset period, basically practically starting over, with nothing again. One thing I do want to share, so I'm going to go back for just a moment. When I was finishing up with school had my commission, again really not having any idea what my path forward was going to, was where that was going to take me. I like to put it this way I had no money in my pocket but a handful of ambition, and you know, as long as you have ambition in life, with the right attitude, you can handle just about any challenge right. So that's where I started. So now we'll get back to this next question. So keep in mind, you roll the clock back just two or three years flat on my back dead broke bills to pay, no way to pay it.
Speaker 3:Young family.
Speaker 5:Young family right Now. My youngest daughter's in the picture by 2005,. Well, actually, let me back up. So in 2002, we purchased a home. Where we're at now We've got nine acres, and my oldest daughter from the time she was about a year, year and a half old just fell in love with horses. We had horses back on the farm, but they weren't all that, they weren't trained all that. Well, dad would throw me on and off we go you know that kind of deal you know, not not real safe.
Speaker 5:So my my daughter sparked something in me to to want to be able to provide that for them. The the property had a what I'd call just a junk barn. It was one step away from just needing to be torn down, but I'm a carpenter. So what do you do? You just start fixing it up. And I was fortunate enough to be able to get a horse for each of my two daughters so that they could experience what that would be like. Because, again, I want them to have what I had as a child, where there's responsibilities that come with consequences. If you do the work, and it goes right, if you don't do the work, there are severe consequences. I definitely wanted my girls to be able to experience that.
Speaker 5:So by 2004, 2005, I was really beginning to see the impact, that responsibility, but also their connection to horses. I saw how impactful that was for them and how it was developing them. And so I began thinking all right, I know there's a lot of kids, just that I know. But other kids in this community, they're never going to have this opportunity, so how do I extend that to others? And so, in 2005, I started having these thoughts of okay, how do you create some sort of program that offers writing lessons, but really more so offering a therapeutic side to introducing these young kids to horses? Had no idea and I guess I wasn't smart enough to do the research. But what I was envisioning is actually an international phenomenon. There's writing programs literally all across the world doing what we do and I'll get into Brighter Path a little later but really what I want to get to is so, keep in mind, this is 2005,.
Speaker 5:About five, six years ago. I'm on my back. So for years, and I would say maybe even to this day, one of my greatest fears is the fear of failure, financial failure. It has gripped me in the past. I'm right there with you. Every decision I would think it through, second guess it because, look, I knew what the consequences could be. I knew what the fallout of poor decisions could be, and I remember the first time thinking about and maybe this was dreaming to a degree okay, if I'm going to do this, then if I'm going to do it right, I'm going to need an indoor facility. I thought, wait a minute you can't afford this.
Speaker 5:You know, you're just you're making payments on the mortgage. You know three young children, all of that financial obligation. We're just barely making it. How, how in the world am I going to be able to afford to build a huge indoor riding arena? Add more horses? That's just not even possible.
Speaker 3:And horses are cheap. Yeah, especially feeding them. Right, right, right.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So then the tug of war starts with God. Ben, I see you shaking your head, you, I think you know something about that, maybe, yep, yep. So, um, I put a pencil and paper together, put an estimate together Okay, what's it going to cost? And I saw the number at the bottom. I'm like you got to be kidding me. There is just no way.
Speaker 5:So for the next two years, I'm wrestling with God, and I think we know what that looks like, right? God's telling you to do one thing, and we're saying no way. You to do one thing, and we're saying no way. So, over and over and over, for two years I was telling God I can't afford to do this, I can't afford to do it. But God's relentless. When he puts something on your heart and it's his desire, his will, he is absolutely relentless.
Speaker 5:So those thoughts never went away. I was seeing more and I would hear stories, I would hear of children in community that I knew, without a doubt, I could help them. Building some sort of program would absolutely have an impact in that child's life. Those thoughts never left me, but again, I guess maybe being hardheaded my answer was I can't afford to do this. And, dan, I think I shared this with you last week and I promise you I'm going to get goosebumps here in a minute, because every time I tell this story it just gives me chills over again. So I'll never forget where I was at. I think it was in June or July of 2007. I was on the lawnmower. That's where I get my thinking done. And again, as God, as relentless as he is, those thoughts and those feelings were just overwhelming me that day and I kept saying, you know, on that path, on the mower, going around, the next time I can't afford to do this.
Speaker 4:Oh sorry.
Speaker 3:There's God calling right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, or Matt Keating.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So the last time I said I can't afford to do this, this is the second time I feel like God's spoken to me. He said you cannot afford to not do this. You can't afford to not do it. And I tell you, I stopped the mower. I think I about fell off the mower. I just literally about broke down. I thought, oh my gosh, you're kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. I've been down so far that there was no way out. But then it occurred to me. God pulled me out of that. How else do you explain that? And I guess very quickly I was reconciled again.
Speaker 5:I don't know how, how this is going to work out, but I knew what. I knew what had to happen in order to bring this type of program to fruition. We broke ground in in August. I'm a contractor, so I know how to push buttons. I know how to get things rolling. So we broke ground just literally a couple months later finished the barn right around New Year's that year. So we had our first students in that facility in 2008. One of my first students I've got a picture of him at the time he was 13. He was our first spatial needs student. That was just unbelievable and since then I couldn't tell you. In fact I have no idea how many hundred students, literally hundreds of kids, have been through the program, the people that have been impacted the way my life has changed. It's opened up opportunities for volunteers to work with kids. I think at times I think maybe they're even more blessed than the students that we work with. But going back to so, how did that get paid for?
Speaker 5:Again you know, I was my company at the time. It was still on the rebound right. It's still growing back because I had to start all over again that year, so that's 2007,. I was on a project down in Oxford. It was a really good project for us financially. By the time we finished the barn in December of 2007, half of it was paid for. Wow. Half of it Within a matter of a few years later, it was paid, paid off. That's amazing, right? So to me, that's what faith can do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. And you know there's a lot there. So I think about you sitting on that mower and God telling you you can't afford not to do it. You know you have to do this. Think about the impact. I mean, I can see the impact it's had on you and there's no doubt the impact that it's had on any of those kids that go through the program, the volunteers. But then what about all those families? Not just the kids, not just the volunteers, but the families, how you have positively affected the families.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So before I answer that, I want to back up. So we homeschooled all three of our daughters. My middle daughter, especially, was very passionate about learning how to train horses. She was very gifted at that, also probably equally gifted with children. My middle daughter, emma, really just was quite passionate about this. So when she was 12 was when she first started giving lessons right beside dad. So she and I together, five nights a week, we were working with students. So we started that in again January of 08 and through 2017.
Speaker 5:In 2017, we were fortunate enough to get our non-profit status.
Speaker 5:I'd never done this before, but had to form a board of directors, put all of the programming together, and then Emma, of course, it was just very natural for her to take the next step. She became the executive director, and so really, from that point, I would say the program has been on a strong upward trajectory in terms of the number of students we're able to touch, the amount of volunteer opportunities that have been created as a result. But, to get to your question, a few years ago we actually, as a board, considered that and we changed our mission statement, because we were not only impacting the students, but we were seeing the huge impact it was having on parents and even grandparents. I'll never forget the first time I witnessed a grandparent standing there at the wall observing their grandchild in the arena accomplishing something that they didn't think was ever going to be possible, standing there in tears, I mean. Even now I just get cold chills thinking about it. I have no idea the number of people that have been impacted by that.
Speaker 3:But it's amazing, yeah, yeah, it's amazing, that's fantastic. So, from Brighter Path now we're moving forward. Business, you know, business is going pretty good, but there's some more changes coming right, sure.
Speaker 5:Right. So all along my business was progressing, really getting my feet back under me. I had learned a lot, you know, in business. In business, sometimes the the best lessons you learn the hard way, right. But my girls were getting a little bit older and I took parenting very seriously. So I, um, I was very conscientious about maintaining priorities. Um, I could have you know years ago, I could have ramped up the business and mash the gas a little harder, so to speak, but I just felt like to be the parent that I needed to be, the husband that I need to be to my wife. Serving the church, there's just got to be a priority and I was not willing to make those kinds of sacrifices where my family was going to pay the price, because with sacrifice there's a price, right? So, as my girls were getting older, my first daughter got married in 2012. Emma, she was married in 2017.
Speaker 5:But in 2016, I was given the opportunity to purchase Wissenhut Construction. I was very excited about that. Quite honestly, I was a little bit surprised that, keith I don't know if you would say respect or not, but I guess he saw something in me that he was willing to offer his company to me, that he'd put 40 years of his life into. I knew that because I'd worked for Keith as a subcontractor and knew the level of quality he expected and demanded, and I knew that he had a great reputation throughout eastern Indiana and considered it quite a privilege. But again, that opportunity was made available to me because years ago I'd made a decision that it was absolutely the only decision for me that opened that opportunity and put that door wide open in front of me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's amazing it goes back to could have filed for bankruptcy, right yeah, and you didn't.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 3:And how different your life is.
Speaker 5:So you know buying, you know you've been in construction, mainly residential right For the most part I had done some commercial work right, but I had a lot to learn. I'll admit that when I took over the company there was a lot to learn Things about the commercial side, some of those intricacies that I didn't quite understand. But you know I'll be honest, I'm a hard charger and I'm going to learn it. You know, I think part of we're going to talk about success later, but part of that is having no quit. Yeah.
Speaker 5:I think I probably learned that at a very young age, back six, seven years old Dad you know, my dad was kind of a different type, let's say quite a character, but dad was not the type that would hold my hand and say, Brian, okay, this is what we're going to do and these are all the steps that it's going to take. Going to do, and these are all the steps that it's going to take. No, he would say, Brian, I want you to go do whatever. And he would walk away and leave me wondering all right, I have no clue. But dad said this and I, I feared the wrath more than anything. So what are you going to do? Well, you start figuring it out, you analyze it and you you come up with a plan and you problem solve and, right or wrong, I did it. And so I think maybe that's part of what got me to a point where you just have this attitude no, quit there is no quit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and and you know, I think we we've talked about it with Maddie, a lot of people that have been on here you know you find out the kind of person that you are when your back's against the wall. Right, that's where you you find out the measure of a man is is when their back's against the wall. Talk a little bit about you know you didn't do it on your own. You talked about your dad. I know your relationship with your wife and your family, but there had to have been other mentors along the way that helped to guide you. Is there any that come to the top of your mind that you say, hey, this was somebody that I went to and had a serious discussion with that helped me get through some of those times.
Speaker 5:Yes In my business life. I wish I could say Dan. Yes, absolutely, I sought out a mentor. That's a mistake that I've made. Looking back, I would have benefited greatly from that. To answer your question no, not a single person per se, but I feel like my relationship with the Lord. He has mentored me all along and there's probably more value in that than if it had been just a person or maybe a group of people. However, there is obviously value in mentors, but, again, my relationship with the Lord, his teachings, his commandments, following those what greater mentorship could there be?
Speaker 3:Where did that faith come from?
Speaker 5:what greater mentorship could there be. Where did that faith come from? Well, you know, as a young child. Mom, dad, dad would go to church sometimes, but mom always went. So I don't really remember a time that I wasn't taken to church but just because you're in church doesn't mean you're at church you know what I mean by that. Yeah, you've probably been there. I think I've heard you talk about it actually. So you know, I, you know my spiritual walk, I've been. I've been in some very dark places.
Speaker 5:You know, when I spoke earlier, when I was about finished with high school, going off to college, that was kind of a dark time for me because I was struggling with my faith. I had zero direction in terms of where am I going, what am I even doing? Why am I going to college? I know I really need to, but what's the purpose? And so I really started questioning God. In fact, I hate to admit it, I got so low I was even asking is there a God? But when you come to that point and remember I made this statement earlier and I believe this with all my heart God is relentless and he didn't leave me there. But I think God allowed me to go to that place so that I would realize I am nothing without him. And there came a point where I was accusing God. Imagine this I was accusing God that he had left me. He hadn't left me, I'd left him.
Speaker 5:And that was another life-changing moment when I realized he's never left me. He's been here all of my life in ways I can't even imagine. To this day he's with me in ways I can't imagine, protecting me, guiding me, putting thoughts on my mind and my heart, the way that we're to serve. So I don't know if that quite answered your question. You know how do you come to a point of faith? I think God, obviously God is the giver of faith, but it's in us to then recognize that it's God speaking, it's God directing. Yeah.
Speaker 4:That's a great answer. Same thing with your wrestling that you're talking about earlier, like when you're trying to decide if you, you know I can't afford it, I can't afford it. It's that spiritual. You always hear pastors and everybody. It's so true. You know like you're wrestling with them, and it's not just you and God wrestling back and forth, it's you, it's me in a spiritual battle, exactly Right.
Speaker 5:So the problem with that is I was putting all the focus on me. It was. It was, in one way, it was true. It was true. I don't know how to do this, I can't afford it. Listen to what I just said. I can't afford this. Well, that part was true. I couldn't afford it. But I know one that does, or who is able, and God is able in all things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, and you're right. You're a hundred percent right. So you buy Wisenhunt Construction and how many employees did you have before you bought Wisenhunt? And then how many did you have?
Speaker 5:once you purchased the business Right, we fluctuated over the years between three and five. I think maybe at one point on a particular project. That was about a three-year project. There were seven of us.
Speaker 3:And then, when you bought Wisenh hunt, what did that look like?
Speaker 5:That took us to about I don't know, it was maybe 12. That's a big jump, pretty big jump. Yeah, still small. But um.
Speaker 3:Management wise, that's a big job. It is right. A lot more Um I.
Speaker 5:I guess I'd been through enough lessons that you know I didn't struggle with it, I wasn't stressed over that, I wasn't worried. Now, granted, there's been some, there've been challenges, but I really I can't say that I worry about the small things. Now I handle stress pretty well and I just fully believe that God's going to see us through. And again, it's kind of like these building blocks, life through life. You experience success, you experience maybe a better way to put that is overcoming and that sets you up for the next. And I love to be challenged. I'm kind of restless when it comes to that. I have to be challenged. I love projects, I love anything that is challenging. That's what pushes us to do more, be better, to achieve more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I didn't know a lot of this stuff I am. You know you learn so much throughout failure. You know having failure in your life and you talk about again. You go back to where you could have filed for bankruptcy Now you're buying. You know you're buying a general construction company. Now you've got 12 employees and now you've got a loan to pay back. With that you talk about your faith. What keeps you going? You're obviously very, very driven to succeed and you have a major fear of failure. So how do you sleep at night?
Speaker 5:Actually I sleep pretty well. I have a great team around me. We've been very selective about let me be careful how I say this. We're very mindful of those people that we put in place. I have to be able to trust them implicitly. And so how do you gain that type of person? Well, it's reciprocal. They have to trust me implicitly. So when I get the right team members in place that I know we're all moving in the same direction, there's no strife among us. Then I don't have to take a lot of this home with me and I don't About five, six o'clock at night. Good luck getting a hold of me. I put the phone down. I might check it once or twice through the through the evening weekends. The same way, if you guys want to get ahold of me, you better have my wife's number, otherwise I am out of touch.
Speaker 3:And that's that's good. But when you buy a business, you inherit people. Yes, right, so there's there's there's challenges to try to manage.
Speaker 5:Most of the guys are still there. We had a few that over time they probably needed to go, and I knew when you first take over you can't just upset everything at once. So over about a year or two period we were able to weed through and get rid of. That's kind of a bad way to put it, but we worked through some of the actors, let's say, that were not going to help us go in the direction that I knew I wanted to take the company.
Speaker 3:Okay, talk about success. What's success look like for you?
Speaker 5:I'm glad you ask Um. So I think about that word a lot and I I feel like achievers and you guys are achievers and I want to address your audience for a moment. There's a reason why your audience is listening, why they might listen to somebody like me. They are already motivated, but what I want to ask you? They are already motivated, but what I want to ask you, I want to ask you to consider how do you define success?
Speaker 5:So many people today, when you ask that question, it's going to be a very simple, straightforward answer and it's marked by material matters your home, how many homes you have, what your retirement account looks like, how much money you have in the bank. That doesn't mark success to me at all. Those things are necessary, but that is not the mark of success, and I feel like each of us have to define what does success look like for me? And the reason I say that is when I look at a child in the arena that is accomplishing something that they never thought possible. But through instruction, through love, care and compassion, through a lot of dedication and hard work, maybe they've overcome a physical challenge for the first time in their life.
Speaker 5:That's huge success, but it's something that you and I, we do on a daily basis. Maybe it's being able to physically hold a ball, maybe throw a ball. You and I would do that without even thinking right, so you wouldn't define that as success. But for the next person, that might be one of the major successes of their whole life. So when you begin breaking that down, so I have to look at myself. How do I define success? Have I honored my wife? Have I been the best parent that I can be? Have I given my children the opportunities to grow and succeed as adults? Have I served others? Am I compassionate? Am I giving to others? The answer to that tells me whether or not there's been success me whether or not there's been success.
Speaker 3:That's a good answer. I, um, I got hit in the mouth with the success question, I don't know. Probably four or five months ago I was driving and I got a phone call from someone from a school and she said um, Dan, we would like you to speak at graduation. Wow, Like me. What do I have?
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 3:She's like she. She said you've been successful. And I'm like successful have you seen my bank account? Like why do you think I'm successful? Because I don't think I'm successful Like I. And it really really made me think because I guess in my mind the way I had always looked at success was someone who's got all those things that you just said. And this isn't that long ago, and I'm kind of ashamed to admit that that. That that's the way I was thinking. And she's like no, dan, she's like look at what you've done with your life, look at how you, um, you know you show up every day and you work hard and and you try to set a good, good example and you try to be a good parent and you try to be a good friend. And then it was like it was kind of like that like switch went off was like you know what You're right, like really, truly, what success for me is is when my alarm goes off at four, 45 in the morning, that I get out of bed, that I get out of bed.
Speaker 3:It is that simple? Yes, it is. And and so I I kind of did an about face and I started looking at it as how can I be successful today? Well, I can start by when my alarm goes off. I get out of bed. Then what's my next step? I get my boys, or the girls, and we, we go work out and then we have breakfast together. You know, we have.
Speaker 3:We have a short window of time before the kids go off to school and I go off to work, to where we've got that 30, 45 minutes together that I can enjoy and I can cherish, because I'm already seeing it. I've got one off to college, you know. I got another one that's going to be going off in a couple of years and, um, I can go to work, you know, and I can. I can help a customer, I can help an employee and success right At the end of the day, if I'm going to go get my walk-in, I get my walk-in, I do it, I say my prayers, right? I have dinner with my family, or we go coach a bunch of young kids playing basketball, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3:I lay down in bed that night and I think, okay, was today a success? Yeah, yeah, it was. I mean, you can break it down that simple. It doesn't mean you've got all the money in the world and you've got all these homes and I don't know why. That day it just kind of hit me but it did and it was like no, let's just make this our success. Let's make this podcast right now with Brian Ballinger successful, and then we'll do what's next with Brian Ballinger, successful, and then we'll do what's next.
Speaker 5:So, as you're sharing all of that, isn't it true that success is not marked by things that quickly pass? Yeah, and so all of these material things, they're going to pass, right, but what are the things that are lasting? That's how you measure success are lasting, that's how you measure success. So I've listened to all of the podcasts. I got hooked. So, a couple of them I want to mention, because, if we're still learning, if we're still growing, I think it's good to admit that you just made a statement a moment ago that you're almost willing to, almost hesitate, almost embarrassed to even admit this, but that's a, that's a mark of growth. So, um, coach Kelly, you guys, um, you adore him. I didn't hardly even I hate to admit, I didn't know the name to him. He's, uh, really high on the list, but any, anyway, when I was listening to that podcast, um, I could name several things that he said that was really good.
Speaker 5:But there was one moment in that podcast that really got my attention. I knew that I, because I wasn't watching, I was just listening. But I knew exactly what he was doing. And you were talking about your gratitude walk, yes, and so you began expanding on that and you were getting ready to go to the next subject, coach Kelly stopped you and he said wait a minute. What did you just? What did you call that? And I could hear him shuffling some papers and I could imagine he was taking a pen. He wanted to write that down because he's still learning. That's success, you know. Success is not that we look back on yesterday and we live in the triumphs that we might have witnessed and gained yesterday and expect that success to carry us into the future. It doesn't work that way, you know. Whatever success I've had in the past, that's in the past. What about today? Where am I going tomorrow?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know what's unique about that Cause? We talked about that a week or so ago. Coach Kelly hears that yeah he does Listen um is he was my teacher. Yeah exactly, I mean, I gained it so much. Yeah, I gained so much from him. And then, here we are, 20 years later he's sitting here, he becomes the student, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I loved that. I thought that was so amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's a good point, and we talked about that and that you're right. I mean it was. I remember him doing that. I remember him asking the question and I was thinking the same thing. This is, this is pretty unique, yeah yeah. So we talked about success, Talk about goals, a little bit Like what are some goals for you? Because I know right now you're in the middle of maybe a challenging time in your head trying to figure some things out and and and we talked about it a week or so ago, you know, talk about some of the things that you're doing and some of the things you're going through.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't know quite how to answer that. I know there are going to be some bigger things for me ahead. I just don't know yet exactly what that's going to be. I'd say for probably the last few months, doing a little bit of soul searching, like I said earlier, I get restless, I get. I guess, to be honest, I get bored easily. I've got to be challenged and I know that there's amazing things out there waiting for me. It's just I don't know what they are yet. So I'm praying over it and I'm very excited about it. I love change. Most people are terrified by change. I love change. I embrace it because that where there's change, if you're moving in the right direction, that's growth. So I don't know that I can say exactly what these goals are, other than being something better and more than I am today.
Speaker 3:Can you talk a little bit about the conversation we discussed when you were skydiving and how you were getting frustrated?
Speaker 5:Kind of go into that a little bit and then the conversation be kind of an odd thing that somebody at my age would want to try to pick up skydiving and become a master of that sport. So in 2001, when they were still having the boogie down at the Boston airport, I told my wife. I said you know I'm going to go do that. And she says I don't know that you are. So I took a little bit of convincing and persuading. I remember again, you know we didn't have much money at all, but I'm like I really want to do this. So she agreed and so that was my first taste of it. I think that fall. I jumped five times Again. I realized that look, in terms of priorities, I can't keep doing this. It's an expensive sport, but anyway, put that on hold Again. Priorities I feel like we have to have them.
Speaker 5:So two years ago I had an opportunity to take a young lady that was a volunteer at Wr Rider Path. She won a scholarship and surprisingly, her scholarship read this do something challenging and exciting that you can't afford to do and spend it on yourself. So she won this $500 scholarship and she was telling me about it. She said you know, I think I want to go skydiving, I said, wonderful, I'm going to take you. So after, since you know it's been all these years I have I've kind of put that dream on hold. So we, we go and we make, make our jump together, which was kind of amazing. It got me hooked again. I think I had an I don't know maybe a couple more jumps that year and then last year I forget, I don't know I got three or four jumps in and I realized that if I'm going to get my skydiving license at my age you know, age is going to start working against me I better be doing this now. So I thought, well, I'll go to Florida, I'll carve out two weeks. There's a world-class skydiving center down in Deland, florida. It's going to be easier for me to take off a two-week block of time in the winter, much easier than to get away in the summer. So about a month ago I'd just gotten home from this and then we talked about it last week.
Speaker 5:So my mind leading up to that is all right. It's just simply mind over matter. You listen to the instruction, you listen to the teaching and you just simply go and do it. Well, what I discovered is it's really not that easy. You don't get the sense that you're falling, but you're falling through the sky at 120 miles an hour. That's terminal velocity. So imagine the slightest little movement of your leg, your hand, your arm dipping your shoulder. Every small movement has a consequence. So I want you to keep that word consequence in mind.
Speaker 5:So my first jump went fine. You've got two instructors by your side. Get to the ground, no problem. Jump two was not bad. Jump three not so great. Jump four. So keep in mind you have to. You have to pass each jump to get to the next level. So jump four. I did not pass and still have not passed. I jumped nine times while I was down there. So keep in mind this is Florida in the winter.
Speaker 5:You've got people from nationalities literally all across the world. I met some amazing people, multiple countries. Most of my instructors are not native to this country. One was from Honduras, one was from Brazil and one from Venezuela. So the the little short Venezuelan guy he's the one I want to talk about. He was not really my instructor but for some reason he always seemed to take an interest in me.
Speaker 5:After we would make a jump, the instructors had goPros on their helmets, so every jump's recorded and they would use that as a training tool, show you, okay, you did this right. But here's where it went wrong. And when that training session would be over, for some reason, this little short Venezuelan guy, he'd always come up to me in his accent and he would say Brian, you need to relax, you need to just take a deep breath and relax. And then he would give me some other pointers, and he was always really good about that. So, anyway, after my ninth jump, I'd gotten over the fact that I'm really frustrated because in my mind, you just simply do it.
Speaker 5:Well, that wasn't working. My ninth jump I won't go into into it there were some pretty crazy things happening. My my instructor had to kind of dive in and grab a hold of me to get me stable. So so you were out of control, very out, very much so out of control. So, uh, my training instructors had gone through the video and the little short venezuelan guy comes up to me and he kind of gets almost in my space. I'm like dude back up comes up to me and he kind of gets almost in my space. I'm like dude back up, what are you doing? And he kind of reaches in and he's shorter than me, so he's looking up and he goes, you know what your problem is You're trying to control everything in your life.
Speaker 5:I thought my first thought and I didn't say it out loud, but it was like dude, you don't know me. And then, immediately, as soon as that thought entered my mind, it was like wait a minute, he knows something, he's absolutely right. I was trying to control everything. And in the sky, in the air, you can't, you don't control it. You work with it, you flow with it. And I'm still unpacking that because I think there's some spiritual lessons in that. So much about life we're trying to control. And so I really think, when you ask me about goals, I think that's why I can't tell you, because I don't know where God's taking me. Yet I know there's something big and I feel like there's something great. I don't know what it is, but I'm not going to try to control it because I don't know great, I don't know what it is, but I'm not going to try to control it because I don't know so.
Speaker 5:But again, I think there's a lot more to that that I'm trying to unpack. No-transcript. Huge piece of advice then. That whole two week trip was worth it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that hit me when you told me that, because you know I'm kind of in the same boat. I, like you know, I've been able to, for the most part, control things here and there.
Speaker 5:Well, that's what an entrepreneur does right, well, we think we are. We think we're trying and we're trying to force everything into my box and it has to fit just the way I want it to fit. Yeah, it's hard. I see it in your eyes.
Speaker 3:I know it's hard. It's hard, you know we talk about and actually I think it was Jason in here on Friday he was talking about walking that path, you know, and having faith as you're walking down that path, and that's a hard thing, you know it's a hard thing. So, you know, I'm kind of in the middle of that right now, just trying to figure things out with all that's going on. So, yeah, that one hit me.
Speaker 5:Well, like in my case, trying to control it, it had some pretty bad consequences. I was doing some back flips, midair. I ended up into a left turn that quickly turned to a left spin and that's when my instructor I'm sure he was thinking all right enough and he flew in. Kind of dangerous for him, you know I'm spinning and he could get whacked in the head, whatever, but he again, that's some major trust, right, because without him I'm in trouble. But you know, trying to control it, that was not fixing anything, it was actually making it worse.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you, you know, trying to control it, that was not fixing anything. It was actually making it worse. Yeah, you wouldn't have been watching the GoPro video.
Speaker 4:No, you do you get to watch it after that one oh yeah, I've watched it several times since. Could you fake it and be like, yeah, I was trying to do flips in the air? I can show you that.
Speaker 5:Well, no, except for when he came and bailed and saved me, you know. Otherwise, yeah, you just got to edit it. You might think, man, that was really cool, right.
Speaker 3:What else you got you want to add? What other nuggets of information you want to?
Speaker 5:you want to share with our listeners. Yeah, so we talked about success. When I look at other people, regardless of where they're at in life, how old they are and again, I don't really want, I don't care about your money, I don't care about what other people might define success. When I look at them, I realize one thing they all have one thing in common they all did the hard things first. That's a phrase I've been putting a lot of thought into lately.
Speaker 5:I look back in my life. It's not like somebody told me all right, brian, when you're six years old, you're going to do the hard things first. I guess maybe to some degree I was forced to do that. But through life, when you make choices and decisions that are principled, that are deliberate, you're not taking the easy road, you're not doing the easy things. But when you do the hard things first and who wants to do that? Right, I mean, it's so much easier just to not do all the hard things.
Speaker 5:But what does that? Where does that take you? Where does it lead you? Is that what success looks like? No, you, you do the hard things first. The older you get, the easier it becomes. Life gets easier, and I'm I, I feel like I'm getting to the age where I'm seeing that now, because I've throughout my life not always, I mean, I'm not perfect I've made mistakes, but I've not, I've done enough of the hard things first, that my life's actually getting easier, and I really want the younger generation to hear that message that I know it's not what you want, that the quick, early gratification, that that's easy now, but you choose that today. Your life is only going to get harder and harder and harder the older you get. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's, that's as you were saying. That that's what I was thinking is, you know, you've got so many parents out there who want their kids to be comfortable and they don't want them to face a child. I want my, I want my child to have it better than I had it. Realistically, that's, that's not what you want.
Speaker 3:You want them to face those challenges because when they if they don't, you know, for the first 18 years of their life, when they're in high school, you know all those schooling and they get out in the real world, they're going to melt right Because the real world, they're going to melt right Because the real world is challenging. You know, it's a challenge every day. Now, what I'll tell you, with doing the hard things early, I agree a hundred percent. I feel like, though, the hard things never stop, they're just different, right? You know there's, there's things you you go through and experiences that you have that are are difficult. But now that I look back and I think, oh, that's not that big of a deal. But now the challenges for me, in a lot of cases, are even more difficult, because it may not, it may not be a financial challenge, maybe it's a family challenge, you know and it's, but it's a new challenge. So I, I um, you know, I face it head on, but I don't know that it ever goes away.
Speaker 3:You know, completely, in our position, where you're an entrepreneur, where you're in a leadership position, where you want to get involved in your community, you're giving back at a nonprofit. You know, you want to. You want to have a positive impact on people's lives. With that, you're involved in all these different boards and organizations.
Speaker 3:You've got you know all kinds of personalities and different walks of life that you're dealing with on a daily basis and, like for me, you know, and, and Ben, by doing this podcast, you know it's. It's bringing out stories of people that were able to tell here, but I can't tell you how many other stories of people that we have. That's a phone call where they tell you things you didn't necessarily want to hear, but they told it to you for whatever reason, because they trust you, you're going to listen or whatever it is, but it's a, it is, it's a challenge and I've said it before, it's a, it's a heavy burden you know, just trying to manage how you respond to those things and how you deal with those things on top of work, family and you know community and everything else.
Speaker 3:So it's a challenge.
Speaker 5:See, what you've just described is, even through all of those challenges, you're still choosing to do the hard thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe I'm not smart.
Speaker 5:I don't know about that You're sitting here doing great things. So these challenges I want to go back to, probably about eighth, ninth grade. I've tried to live life without regrets, but when I think of my mindset when I was probably ninth grade, so growing up on a small farm, you know we couldn't afford a veterinarian. So we did a lot of the doctoring ourselves, what we could. Anyway, we would have the vet out and man, I thought that was just the coolest thing ever. So like a lot of kids, I wanted to become a veterinarian and I was actually fortunate to be able to work in a vet clinic summers and once I got my license I was able to spend a lot of time in a vet clinic. But by the time I was in 10th grade I realized academically this is not going to work. And it wasn't that I was self-defeated, but I was just simply facing reality. That was just I knew. Reality was look, academically that's not going to work. But then that set in the crippling effect of comparing yourself to others.
Speaker 5:The crippling effect of comparing yourself to others and I think maybe to a degree I still to this day, am, I would put it this way, plagued. What's a plague? Well, a plague is a disease, and for me it's kind of like a disease that goes in and out of remission. It'll sneak up on me and I'll compare myself to others again by, in my mind, what I'm defining as success. I'll look at myself and see all of the shortcomings where I've not succeeded the way maybe I feel like I should, and it's crippling to do that when I was much younger, to the point where I kind of struggled with self-esteem, though I refused to allow that to define me, to hold me back.
Speaker 5:So I guess I would challenge those that are listening that, regardless of our limitations, there are some things about us that we're born with. You know, genetically, your intellect. There are certain things about us we simply cannot change. But what do you do with that? You can't ever let those limitations, those challenges that you might be facing, you can never allow that to hold you back and define the limit of what your greatness might look like.
Speaker 3:Jordan Christian. We interviewed him. He's a young man with epilepsy.
Speaker 5:I listened to him, just I don't know. I think it was last week. Something about that I want to share, because I'm still learning from a very young man with a very insightful statement. In fact, he's the one that talked about comparison.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah, yeah, as soon as you said that, that's exactly what I thought was him making that statement. Um, and what a valuable lesson, because you know, we didn't have social media growing up, right? You know, that's somewhat new, I guess you, you did, you were we had my space, yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay and um, but these young kids? That's what they're seeing, right? You're seeing all these grand visions of how great everybody's life is and what do they do. I mean, it's a natural thing, right? You? You compare yourself to those people and this perfect life that.
Speaker 5:I want that and I don't have it, yeah.
Speaker 3:And then then you get to the instant gratification and all of these things, and I think that's where we're running into a lot of issues with these younger people when they get into the workforce is, uh, they're comparing. You know, well, I'm my buddy's got this job, he's making this amount of money and you know he doesn't have to work this hard to do this, or? Um, you know, I I comparison Jordan's right. I don't know if he came up with that or if he read it somewhere, but comparison the kind of trade market.
Speaker 3:Yeah, comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah, for sure. Well, brian, anything else you want to add for our listeners? Any other nuggets, pieces of advice, any quotes, bible verses, sure.
Speaker 5:One verse that I guess is probably the very first verse that I had ever read in the Bible that really meant something to me, that I felt like there was a message that I could relate to, and I don't know if I would say it's my favorite verse, but it was the very first verse that had impact, that it stayed with me my whole life, and it's Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. If you only look at the first part of that, you're not getting the message. We all want to be doers, right, I can do all things. That sounds amazing. I want to do all things, but the message there is is is Christ in you. Through him, I can do all things, and so that's a great reminder, I think, to all of us to be cognizant of in our pursuits, in our passions, in our desire to serve others and to help lift others up. We will only ever be able to do that when Christ is working in us.
Speaker 5:Then all things are possible.
Speaker 3:Well, and what a testament to your life, right? I mean, look at what you've done, what you've been through through the National Guard, through starting a business, through your family, your children almost bankruptcy but, saying no, no, no, I'm going to do this.
Speaker 3:You know when, when, the, when the attorney and the CPA recommend the file for bankruptcy, you say no, I'm going to do the right thing. Right, starting a nonprofit to help others. Buying a construction company to continue. You know your business goals. Buying a construction company to continue, you know your business goals. Jumping out of airplanes? Yeah Right, you know all those things, all things through Christ. Yeah Right, you know challenging, but you, you persevered and you got through it.
Speaker 3:So it's an amazing testament to your life to this point, and I'm excited to see what else is to come and I'm excited to continue to grow our friendship. Um, you know, the other day we had breakfast. You know I had an hour penciled out and four hours later, you know, it's like I haven't got anything done. You're the reason I haven't been able to catch up for the past two weeks you know so um you're welcome yeah. I, I, I appreciate that. Um Ben, you got anything to add.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well, one thing we always, when people come on, that's like one of the biggest fears I feel like, is the testimony when you're talking about that, like after you got done talking about it, and you're like it's so hard sometimes to talk about our failures and going when we get through it, because we almost feel like we're gratifying ourselves and stuff like that. That's something I feel like we all struggle with, you know and and, but it's our testimony, right, like you know, you look in the Bible and every story you read it's like somebody's testimony you know, like John's testimony and everybody else's, but I think ever, like you know, there's been a lot of guests that's come on here and they say the same exact thing, and it's stuff that we feel like too, you know you always feel like you're going to gratify yourself, right.
Speaker 5:So I want to expand on that. So, dan, a minute ago, when you were sharing that you've been asked to speak to a graduating class and you were talking through how you felt like I think what you were saying is I'm not qualified. You know what I would call that False humility. False humility is crippling and I've dealt with that a lot, because we we want and we ought to be humble, but not to the point that it prevents us from giving and offering and doing so I guess I'm going to encourage you in that. Yeah, false humility holds us back yeah, it was just a shock.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know I, it was when, when. Shock, you know I, it was when. When something happens and you're not anticipating it, you know I, I. You can think about, like September 11th when the planes hit right. Everybody knows where they were at. You know, you talk to anybody else when JFK was shot, they know. You know all those pivotal moments. I remember when she called me and she asked me that I know exactly where I was at and it was just one of those caught me off guard, like like me, right, like the farm kid, like what? What am I gonna talk about? You know?
Speaker 5:I've learned. But see, when I hear that I'm like well, of course, why? Why wouldn't she ask you? I appreciate that I do.
Speaker 4:It's that imposter syndrome. It is absolutely. It is.
Speaker 5:I think a lot of us struggle with that Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, yeah, I struggle with it daily. You know, just every time we do a podcast, I'm like you know, am I really qualified to do this? Like why let's walk in that path, like having that faith, like okay, just lead me in the direction and let me know. We're almost to what. We're almost to, episode 52. We're getting closer and closer and closer. You know, almost a year in, and I went back through some my phone this week and looking at some schedules from a year ago where we recorded the first episode and like that seems like forever ago, you know, trying to figure out how to convert the video to audio and doing all those things, and and now you know, a year later, it's like wow, you know what, what a difference a year makes so it, it.
Speaker 3:It's kind of changed my perspective a little bit, you know, okay. So now where do we want to be this time next year? Look at what we've been able to do and to accomplish and you know in a year's time, and what, what's next, you know what can we continue to do?
Speaker 4:so we went to tc. Well, after we had breakfast with you on friday, you know, we went to tcn schools yeah, over in ohio yeah yeah and just uh listening to jason's story, like seeing those kids. You know, not a lot of people knew jason's story. They, you know they listened to it what weekly. I believe in your brother's class?
Speaker 3:Yeah, my brother, they listened to the podcast every Friday. He'll put it on for him.
Speaker 4:And I'm thinking about me like when I was in sixth grade. I think was the youngest in there, or was it? Fifth, fifth grade was the youngest in there, and I'm thinking of me as a fifth grader.
Speaker 3:you know, when motivational speaker somebody comes in like I'd be goofing off my friends. You could hear a pin drop for an hour and a half in that school and it's just like it was impressive. It was really impressive. I mean he had a captive audience and you know from from fifth graders to 12th graders it was. It was pretty neat to see you could hear a pin drop for 45 minutes. You know it was. It was pretty cool.
Speaker 4:And then you think about, like most of the calls and stuff we get, though, are all like you know, thirties, forties, fifties, some twenties. And then, all of a sudden, you go into a school and you see, like those saying you know that same story that people commented at that age. And then those kids we walk in the office and like that's, that's, that's Jason, that's you know, that's that's Jeff's brother. I don't know.
Speaker 4:It just. It was like the wide spectrum from where you know, when we started, when you're talking about on your phone, we were hoping for like one person to affect one person. I don't know. It's pretty cool and it's stories like you and people like you that help, you know, get new listeners and your story is absolutely amazing. I know this one will be a big hit. So I can't thank you enough, brian. I appreciate it big hit.
Speaker 3:So I can't thank you enough, brian. I appreciate it. How can people find you like brighter path? Uh, business, talk about those things If somebody wants to get in touch with you yep, wci, richmondcom.
Speaker 5:Uh brighter path, is uh brighter path Inccom Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're doing awesome things, man.
Speaker 5:Yep, thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Appreciate you taking the time to to come and and be on the podcast and the podcast and be vulnerable to share your story. I think that's where the connection is right, because everybody's going through something and it's all different, and somebody may be in the middle of a bank or thinking about a bankruptcy right now. They may hear your story and think you know what. That's not. I don't want to take the easy way out.
Speaker 5:One more thing I want to share, and this is to you, but I think it's to me and all of us, If not you then who?
Speaker 3:Right, that's right, that's right. That's a good way to end it. Go hard, go hard, mic drop. Hey everybody, again, please continue to like and share and subscribe and hit that little bell notification on YouTube and you know, somebody out there can be impacted by Brian's story, because he's done a lot of things, he's had a lot of experiences that he's shared with us, and so we are grateful for that. So go out and be tempered.
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