BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 67 – 9 out of 10 startups fail. Mine didn’t. Justin Bayer of Welcome to College explains why.
What does it really take to defy the odds when nine out of ten startups fail? On this episode of BeTempered, hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr welcome Justin Bayer, founder of Welcome to College, for a raw and inspiring conversation about perseverance, setbacks, and finding meaning in the grind of entrepreneurship.
Justin opens up about his 15-year journey building Welcome to College, a company born out of a single transformative moment—a campus tour at the University of Dayton that changed the trajectory of his life. That moment sparked the idea for a platform that helps universities optimize their campus visit programs. But the road to impact was anything but easy.
From day one, Justin’s story has been filled with both triumphs and trials, embodied most vividly in “Marv”—a retrofitted 1970s RV that became the company’s boldest marketing experiment and toughest challenge. Marv’s adventures included fuel line failures in rural Mississippi, confetti cannons misfiring at campus events, and even an “angel mechanic” who drove three hours on a Sunday to rescue the stranded team. These experiences pushed Justin to the brink, but also strengthened his resolve and revealed the importance of resilience, faith, and unexpected relationships.
Central to Justin’s philosophy is MARV—Meaning, Accomplishment, Relationships, and Vitality—a framework rooted in positive psychology that guides his approach to life and business. For Justin, accomplishment is not simply about crossing the finish line; it’s about embracing the messy, difficult, and often humbling process of getting there. As he puts it: “If you have meaning and relationships, accomplishment becomes possible, and then you can feel fully alive.”
This conversation dives deep into what it means to persevere when the odds are stacked against you. It’s about discovering purpose in the struggle, holding onto faith when things fall apart, and realizing that at the end of the day, people may not remember your words or actions—but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.
If you’re an entrepreneur, a leader, or anyone trying to live with more purpose, Justin’s story offers wisdom and encouragement that will stick with you long after the episode ends.
Catch this episode—and every episode—live at patreon.com/betempered
, and explore more at betempered.com
Learn more about Welcome to College at https://www.welcometocollege.com/
Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt. This is my dad, Dan. He owns Catron's Glass.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Allie. Things like doors and windows go into making a house, but when it's your home you expect more like the great service and selection you'll get from Catron's Glass Final replacement. Windows from Catron's come with a lifetime warranty, including accidental glass breakage replacement. Also ask for custom shower doors and many other products and services. Call 962-1636. Locally owned, with local employees for nearly 30 years. Kitchen's class, the clear choice.
Speaker 3:Hey, do you want to catch every episode live as it's being recorded? Log on to patreoncom slash betempered for exclusive footage, behind the scenes photos and a live recording as it takes place. Go to patreoncom slash be tempered. 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 host, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives.
Speaker 4:This is Be Tempered.
Speaker 3:What's up everybody? Welcome to the Be Tempered podcast, episode number 67. 67. Six-seven.
Speaker 4:Six-seven. What is this Listen?
Speaker 5:Dude, I have a 15, 17, and 20-year-old.
Speaker 4:I don't know what it is and it drives me nuts, so it is a song, and it'll be the worst song that you've ever heard in your life.
Speaker 5:But I feel like there's a meaning behind it, because when they do it they all laugh and I'm like, well, what's so funny? And then they laugh more.
Speaker 4:I don't know. I think it's just because it really doesn't make sense in the song either. It was my son's walk-up song for like two weeks two weeks for baseball. Yes, it was Jude's.
Speaker 3:So what did he say? He didn't pick it.
Speaker 4:Well, he didn't pick it out, they picked it out for him. But every single time, the way team, everybody would yell six, seven, the same exact time.
Speaker 5:There's something underneath it. And then it also that last yesterday we got talking and I'd learned to something new. Yesterday at a monk oh are you? That's a new one that I've never heard. What is that? If you're unk, it means you're washed up. That's a new slang of being older You're washed up, You're unk.
Speaker 3:I've never heard that one Watch.
Speaker 5:I'm going to go home tonight. I just found that one out.
Speaker 3:Unk and 6'7". So any of you younger kids out there listening. Let us know what those mean.
Speaker 4:And this should be your favorite episode because it's you know, 6'7".
Speaker 3:That's right. 67.
Speaker 4:And I don't know, because with Evie they taught him the hand motion, so he has to go. They're like Evie say 6'7", so he'll go 6'7", he's 4.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's great. Well, since we've lost all of our viewers, we don't have a clue what we're talking about.
Speaker 3:No, they all do, and they're laughing. They are. They're like these guys are. What are we? I'm still watching. Yeah, thanks, that's good. So the voice you're hearing in the background is an old friend from back at the University of Dayton. We reconnected here a couple weeks ago, a month ago maybe, and, um you know, on on the phone it was just like being back in school. So Justin Bear came up here today to Richmond, indiana, from Cincinnati, ohio. Justin, welcome man. Fantastic to be here. I'm pumped. Yeah, it's great to have you. It's great to feel that energy. I remember from 20, some years ago that we're what 46, 47 years old Three she, he, baby.
Speaker 5:We lived on the same floor, stuart Hall. These guys brought it dude, they were the. Brad and Dan were like the like. I will call them the anchors of our floor. They were right in the middle. They were right in the middle and I lived down by a couple of guys that I would I would call like uh, they were definitely not anchors, uh, they were like that crew that definitely didn't finish the university of Dayton. So I'm glad I had some anchors in the middle of the hallway.
Speaker 3:There might've been a little smoke coming from those.
Speaker 5:Maybe some scorpions, because you know the, the, the or the crickets. My roommate actually had a scorpion and there were crickets. Remember, jay?
Speaker 5:yeah he had a scorpion. How's he doing you know what? I hadn't seen him in a long time. I was at 50 west in cincinnati maybe about a year ago. I'm just hanging out and he walked by and we were both like like hadn't you know? And it was. We had a really cool reconnect. I hadn't seen him in a long time but he he looked like great, looked like he's doing well Good, so that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah so. So Justin and I go way back, kind of reconnecting here now, but, um, you know you've done a lot of things in the past 20 plus years from being graduated from the university and I don't know your entire story we talked about. You know, with social media we can stay somewhat connected, but there's so many peaks and valleys in life that I don't know about and I'm excited to hear. So how we start every episode is from the beginning, so talk about what life was like for you growing up as a kid.
Speaker 5:Love that. 1029 North Buell Farm Drive was the address we grew up. Uh, right next to a park in Sharon, pennsylvania was where I was born, western Pennsylvania. Um, my dad was an architect and worked literally I built himself a little like studio out back, um, and and he was an architect so his office was like at the house. We grew up next to this park called Buell park, phenomenal park, so literally had trails from next to my house that would go into the park. So grew up just with like a really awesome spot to live and play and you know, I think back to those early years I had a really core group of awesome friends that I grew up with. Still very close today to my best friend from kindergarten named Corey Djokovic. He was in my wedding, I was in his wedding. He's got a young family Just asked me to be godfather for their uh oldest son and they named him his.
Speaker 5:His dad has passed away. When we were in probably like seventh or eighth grade we were, we were young and his dad passed and, um, they named their son after his dad that passed, but they spell it a little bit differently it was Mylan M-I-L-A-N was his dad and the son they named Mylan M-Y-L-A-N. Um, but just when I think of childhood, I think growing up, I think of of, you know, I think of Buell Park. I think my, my brother, youngest brother, was two years younger and we were thick as thieves, like the. We kind of ran that park, you know, and uh, uh, all the playing outside we did, and, um, I was one of four, I have an. I have an older brother, jason, who's 10 or eight years older than me, a sister that's four years older than me, and then my younger brother, kevin, is two years younger, so I'm three or four and, um, those early years just are are are great memories.
Speaker 5:Um, my dad, in 1988, so I was about 10 years old he took a position with Apple computer in Cincinnati when Apple was like starting to kind of, you know, gain momentum and the reason why he took a job with Apple, he was one of the first architects to use the Macintosh in like architecture work. So when I was a kid so another memory I have as a kid was going out into my dad's office and like seeing the first iterations of what are now Apple computers. Like he, he had his hands on the earliest ones, like, and I remember there was a program and I still remember it to this day, like watching this. It was like almost like a bumblebee, just like dancing on a screen, type of thing, but. But those days that was like really cool.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, and like little things. Like he, I think I call him he was a pioneer of fantasy football, because before there was fantasy football he was operating a league with his buddies called the MSFL, and the MSFL was a software that simulated games. So it wasn't real fantasy where, like, the players actually got points based on their stats, but there was like a league and it simulated. You had a team and it would simulate the game that kept stats, it would pit you up against, but but all through the computer. Wow.
Speaker 3:So seeing some of those early things now and the computer was probably the size of this table, right, yeah.
Speaker 5:Huge. Actually some of the early early ones were were they were smaller but they were just these like boxes, just these like boxes with a little screen, yeah yeah, one thing with my dad is I feel blessed Like he always was on the kind of front end of new technology stuff. And so I do feel like, you know, even as a kid, we had Commodore 64. Did you guys ever have that? No, I mean it was like floppy disks but there were games like Bruce Lee and Montezuma's Revenge and like he always had kind of some fun things that when friends would come over. You know, in those early years, like we kind of had like these fun games.
Speaker 3:Fun games and toys that nobody else had yes, yeah, that's pretty cool. So how long did he work for Apple?
Speaker 5:So he was with Apple. He took it was like in business development and I want to say it was like five years, five or six years, and then Apple went through a big downsizing and actually I'll never forget it because it was the first time I saw my dad cry. I came home one day and he was on the sofa. I'm like what's going on? And they had got a downsizing and he was let go. And I remember, uh, I remember, like you know, cause when he took the job I mean it was a I know he had a phenomenal year run with them and they he was traveling the world, you know, doing these programs for them.
Speaker 5:Um, so I know it, it uh, it was like a day that I'll I'll remember from the standpoint of like I think that was a day I'll remember from entrepreneurship, to be honest, because he he ended up creating a company called architect technology in Cincinnati that that he operated and a couple of my brothers worked for him. I mean, basically he was an architect and what Architechnology did was basically build these renderings of homes and fields or schools. Basically, he would be able to take the plans and then build this into a video or a rendering so that the people could see it before you know it's, it's built way before it's time way before it's time and actually I think it's funny, I mean that stuff all still exists now in so many ways.
Speaker 5:But I mean he was doing it early and I and I think carved a little niche many ways. But I mean he was doing it early and I think carved a little niche and I was actually out of my three uh, actually out of all my siblings, um, but my two brothers did work for him for a while. I was the only one that never, you know, went that route, um, but I do think what I watched and what I saw happen from the Apple day and then what he created was like always this like you can build something. Yeah.
Speaker 5:There's a lot of stuff, opportunity that exists.
Speaker 3:You saw that, you saw him probably at one of his lowest moments, Right, right, and I can tell it's impacted you, because you can. I can see it in your eyes. Yeah you because you, you can. I can see it in your eyes, but, um, I can also, knowing the kind of person that you are. You don't forget that and you probably use that on a daily basis on challenges that you faced that.
Speaker 5:And there's a early, early thing I saw on social media before I launched welcome to college, and I think of this every single day nine out of 10 startups fail and, honestly, it's the one little stat that I knew going into it. You know what I mean. This is not going to be easy, but 15 years later we're still operating and there's a heartbeat and it's never gone the hockey stick path that I thought it would. I still think we're only in the second inning, though Do you know what I'm saying? Like there's still a hockey stick and I believe that.
Speaker 5:But it's been 15 years of of challenge, of yes, Ups and downs and downs, and the ups are up and the downs are down. Um, and it's real. And my wife's always like I, I've flirted the idea of one day I would love to write a book and there's some momentum kind of building on it. But it's like I think what's always prevented me from doing the book is like I've what's the goal of the book? I, you know, I think what's always prevented me from doing the book is like what's the goal of the book? You know, I've read Shoe Dog by Nike, right, and it's a book that really impacted me because it took Nike a long time to become Nike.
Speaker 5:A lot of people don't know that, right, but it took close to 20 years for that thing to go. And it's like do you write the book once? You're Phil Knight and you're Nike, or there's a part of me as I look at my kids right now they're 20, 17 and 15 and there's a part of me that's like the book doesn't need to just be about a home run, but the book could be about how do you get knocked down 15 times and get back up 15 times, 16 times, Um, and that's. That's the piece that I'm like. It's not been an easy path, but I would much rather be doing this than anything else in the world.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's powerful man and that and that that's true entrepreneurship, right Is? You know everybody like you talk about Nike, which is a good example. You know, all people see now with Nike is it's everywhere, Yep, right, but it took 15, 20 years for them to to, to get to where they're at, and you know the sleepless nights, the struggle, the. You know all the challenges that that they faced. And then there was one little thing that happened, right, and then from that the next thing happens, and the next thing happens lots of ups and downs.
Speaker 5:I got a good one for you.
Speaker 5:This is an untold one that no one knows and honestly, I was thinking about this because I'm like I got a lot of stories that I tell a lot on these workshops.
Speaker 5:But there's one that, as I thought about the book when I started this, my first company, which is welcome to college um, let's just say, from a financial perspective, what you would typically do to start something, you would think you would give yourself a decent amount of runway that you could just give yourself the time and space to kind of build and let this thing grow. Well, that runway never really happened and it came in like, instead of going after a big round of money, it basically came in like chunks of like wherever I could get it to, to get going, and there's a I'll call them angel investors or family. You know friends, people that knew me at the time, you know what I mean that that helped in those early years to just fuel trying to get this thing off the and running years to just fuel trying to get this thing off the and running. And, um, there was a few things that I did in those early years that I look back on that I'm like man if I ever do this again.
Speaker 5:This is not the way to do it, but in the time you're just trying to go. Yeah, and one of the things I did in the story I'll share that I have not really um, but I was about a year into launching the company and we wanted to do some marketing, and do some marketing in a very different way that you traditionally would think about marketing. And I worked with a group in in Dayton and, um, they pitched an idea that was let's take this old RV and we'll turn this into an absolute spectacle for you where you could take it to universities, engage kids everywhere. And when they pitched me this idea, honestly I was like I could spend all this money on marketing. Or I can spend this money and do this, and I'm like I could spend all this money on marketing. Or I can spend this money and do this, and I'm like I want to do that and I did not have the money, but I'm like we're going to do this and we'll figure it out. You know what I mean. Like let's just go.
Speaker 5:Well, if you ever decide to retrofit a 1970s RV, come talk to me. Please come talk to me, because I'm not even a big car person, but I literally in my mind, though, I had a whole plan. We were going to do this road tour. I'm going to hire recent graduates, young people that are going to be in the RV to market this thing and go. I'm not going to be the one in the RV, I'm not going to be the one in the RV. So this project, though, was like a big defining project for Welcome to College, because it was either going to work and we were going to keep going, or this thing, if it doesn't work, could potentially kill it. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 5:Like, if this doesn't work it's probably over and the plan was we were going to do this big road tour literally across the country. We made t-shirts. The road tour was incredible. This was social media. Twitter was big then and what we did is we took 20 of the nation's biggest rivalries and started it with Ohio state, michigan, being based in Dayton. We knew Ohio state would probably win, so our first stop is going to be Columbus, you know. So we we pitted all the rivalries. The biggest, literally like this thing was going nationwide and we were going to end, I think, um, I mean, we had Harvard, yale, uh, north Carolina Duke. I think we ended with USC, ucla or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:West.
Speaker 3:Coast? I don't know.
Speaker 5:We had this whole shirt. We had the road tour built out Like everybody got the vote. Users got the vote. Where does Marv go? The RV was Marv. It stood for mobile automated research vehicle, which again I'm like that's amazing, right.
Speaker 2:Like I'm going to absolutely do this.
Speaker 5:So this project, though, taught me so many things, and the first piece of this project that, again, I haven't really talked about this a lot, piece of this project that you know I haven't really talked about this a lot, and I'm not going to use names, or, or I don't want to, you know, uh, I'm not doing this in a in a uh a way that I this is just real life stuff, and the project was a significant investment. The project was a significant investment, a six-figure investment to do this and to retrofit the vehicle, and this road tour was going to be a significant investment to do this and to push this 1970 thing around the country, like it got like five miles a gallon, I mean like this, but it I'll have to send you some photos if you could splice in some photos.
Speaker 5:I'll have to send you some photos if you could splice in some photos Like this thing looked when they finished it, though you can't make up what I'm about to tell you. This thing had confetti cannons. This thing had a screen on the back that was digital and it was an Xbox Kinect, so it was truly automated. Like kids, we could go somewhere, turn it on and it would. It would engage and know when somebody's behind it and then go into like a uh, uh, literally conversation.
Speaker 3:It would talk to you and this was what year?
Speaker 5:This was roughly 2011.
Speaker 5:So no, AI so no AI, but it was like AI. It had like it looked like Knight Rider was talking to you, like the way it looked on the back and then it would go in to ask you questions about your school. So there was a research component to Welcome to College, we could take it to a campus, set it up and it was collecting data about why these kids picked that school. So the concept behind it was great and it was exactly what, again, was going to separate us from these other tech companies. It also, in my mind, was like this could be our booth at the big national admission show. It was like a. It kind of became a mobile office. We can be anywhere. Well, in addition to confetti cannons, it had switches so that it would dance, so it would play music and actually like, like it would play black eyed peace, boom, boom pow. And it would like boom, boom pow like the whole thing, the whole mute.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, this was a spectacle and it was made. The goal of it was, like, the reason why we did it is that we were at a conference once that said if somebody can engage and feel, physically, touch your brand, their likelihood to remember you goes way up. So one of the goals of this there were three buttons on the back so when it would talk to you you had to push a button answer questions and then it would shoot you either confetti out and say thank you or it would say reach in my license plate for a prize and it had prize shoots and drop a prize in the license plate and people had to reach in and it was always hilarious because there was always this like they were waiting for this to be like kind of camera like you know what I mean, like what's gonna happen and they would have to reach into the license plate and then it would actually sometimes even giggle like you would reach in.
Speaker 5:It was the. The creative behind it was genius, like it was truly something. It actually earned us. Uh, uh, later on, and once we got things worked through, but it, it. We won a fast company award from the project and again I I credit that to these genius minds that that did it yeah but this is the story.
Speaker 5:So I share all that. And it was awesome. The day we were supposed to gain access to the vehicle we were having a launch party with the media, big hoopla. I'm talking you know we're gonna have 80 to 100 people. I'm talking you know we're going to have 80 to 100 people. Ohio State we had already lined up it was going to be on the Oval the next day, like that's as stop one, and Ohio State was pumped like Marv was going to the Oval on like a Friday. So this is say Thursday. I mean everything you would think is lining up, perfect and I go no joke at the event.
Speaker 5:Maybe it started earlier in the day, I can't exactly remember, but that day the company was getting down to the wire having it ready to go, like I mean, you know, I remember the days leading up to it. I'm like this thing is not going to be ready and they were working probably 24-7 to get this thing ready to go. So the day of the launch comes and I'm literally there at the thing and I cannot enjoy one second of it because there's a document in front of me that they want me to sign before I take the keys to the vehicle. That we never discussed and basically it was a document that was saying for me to give you these keys, I have to agree that I'm not holding you accountable for anything. Basically is what the doc said Like any anything like like, like I'm signing this and when I sign it?
Speaker 5:it's all everything, not not just their work of like all of the updates and there and there was a ton of technology in this thing to do this Right. And it was basically like that day this document comes up and I'm like I can't sign that. And I remember talking to my attorney and he's like you can't sign that. There's people, media. I'm thinking I'm not how what's happening here. The owner and me, like it was literally like a, a stalemate, was like they were not giving me the keys to take this vehicle unless.
Speaker 5:I signed it. And I'm going to be dead honest, like I was Really like, like everything we had lined up, right. I'm like and my attorney saying don't sign it, I had to sign it, I had to sign it. Yeah, you didn't have an option. I didn't have an option, like I had to sign it. But I also was like dude, I wish we could have discussed this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, instead of dropping on me now.
Speaker 5:So, so, and, and, and, and. I will say that I signed it and I I never felt like they were just going to like you know, and, and, and, and, and. Let me tell you exactly what happened and that this is again. You can't make this up. We sign it, party happens, we load up the guys to get to Ohio State, we are on our way, this thing, we are, let's call it. There's that interstate that goes to 675, I think it is in Dayton that you take to get to 70.
Speaker 5:I think we were on 675. We got on 70. It died. I'm on the side of 70. I call the owner of the firm. I'm like dude. He's like dude. I'm so sorry. One thing we might've forgot with everything that's going on. It might have been empty. On fuel, you might need fuel and I'm like okay.
Speaker 5:I actually was a little bit like okay, like, yeah, like okay, so, so we, we managed to get to, uh, the fastest gas station and dumped $150, which was, I think. I think it probably could have been a $300 fill up every time. We filled this thing, but anyway, filled that bad boy up. You know what I mean. And like, and we're on our way, and like, literally, you know, again, ohio state's waiting for us. And like, and we're on our way, and like, literally, you know, again, ohio state's waiting for us. So we are on I-70 now but we're cruising now and it's everything's good. You know what I mean.
Speaker 5:Like, and again, I'm not, I'm not thinking about anything that I saw, I'm just like we're, we're going to Ohio state, this tour is happening, we're rolling and we're probably 45 minutes to an hour on I-70. And probably 45 minutes to an hour on I-70, and broke down again and this time I'm like this is a problem, it's full gas, we're on the side of I-70. I have to call Ohio State, we're going to be late. So already I'm like, okay, this is so. This time they come to help us, try to figure out the situation and they're like, I mean, everybody's at a loss of why it's, you know whatever. So we have to get it towed.
Speaker 3:To Ohio State.
Speaker 5:To literally. There was like a thank goodness not too far away there was a mechanic.
Speaker 5:So we got to get it towed to a mechanic. The mechanic has to look at this thing. I have to call Ohio State and literally tell them we're not going to make it for the program. And I'm like, can we do this tomorrow if we get everything situated? And they're like, yeah, but the problem is tomorrow you can't be on the oval, like we can have you set up, but it's going to be, you know, whatever. And I'm like, okay, so mechanic looks at everything and figures out what's going on.
Speaker 5:Basically, what happened was the, the, the, the RV had sat for so many years somewhere and when we poured all that fuel in, it kicked up all kinds of stuff and it clogged our fuel filter, this tiny little piece going into the carburetor again, which I'm, at this point in time, I don't know anything about cars. I did have to learn a little bit because you know I had to learn how to like start changing this, because this would this started to happen. You know what I mean. Like it wasn't a one-time thing. This guy just said look, you're. You're going to have to keep an eye on this part. If something gets in there, it's going to shut you down. I'm like, okay, anyway, we've again x a couple hundred bucks, whatever, figured out what it was. We could buy a bunch of fuel filters and, yeah, whatever, like figure this out.
Speaker 5:But it was the first like like setback in a big project, right, and I can go on and tell you, dan, um, we got got to Ohio State the next day. This is where things even continue to go downhill. I had four guys that I had hired to be the team. Part of our visits to these campuses included a campus tour where these guys would go on a campus tour. It was going to be at 9 am that next morning. Well, when the RV was finally fixed, we did stay in Columbus that night and the guys the road team decides to go out and have a grand old time in Columbus. They show up late and visibly hungover hungover so much so that the ohio state people commented on it to me. Okay, let's just say that road team had a very short stint. And guess who's now driving? Marv, you are Marv. You are.
Speaker 5:So again, like the, the story doesn't get better, unfortunately for a little bit, because that road tour made it through four, four visits. We did Ohio state, we make it to Pittsburgh, we did pit, uh, penn state, pit and pit one um, or no, he's pit west virginia. And then we did, uh, we got to boston and it was harvard, yale and harvard, one um, and we were on our way to like dc, for like georgetown, and I can't remember who we did in dc, um, that thing broke. We were changing fuel filters like every three hours and finally it broke down somewhere and I literally was like we got to end the tour, you know. I mean like we got to get this fig, like this is this? I'm putting a lot. I literally at one point there were three of us, a couple people that I hired to help me, like a blogger we were pushing the RV off of an interstate in Connecticut with like semis flying at it. You know what I mean. I'm like this is becoming a problem, like I'm putting lives now, not just my own, you know what I mean and at this point I'm trying not to showcase any of that right, like we're just pushing out all this great content when we show up in these places, but like underneath it all was a complete nightmare, right and um, long story short, that road tour was a bomb, like totally failed, like massive failure.
Speaker 5:But the interesting thing was, when that thing was actually turned on, though, people loved it. So it was like I didn't want to, just I couldn't just scrap it, you know what I mean. Like there was a heartbeat here of something really good and it would engage people in beautiful ways, like one time we stopped somewhere this was after we had it in a much better shape and I wasn't the one driving it, and that was something that comes later. But this trip I actually was, now that I think about it because we were in Shreveport, louisiana, at a shell station and somebody came over and they're like what is this? And I started telling them it was a family, young family, they had kids, and I'm like do you want me to turn it on? They're like yeah, so I turn it on.
Speaker 5:In this gas station. It attracted like a little like impromptu, little like crowd, crowd, and then they kept showing up Like they were people would see it. There was like a legit. We created a little montage of this where it was like this thing could just like it did its job. Right.
Speaker 5:Um, but where it? There's a point to this, I promise you, cause it's a key part of the story. That scrap, that idea of the Rotora just didn't work Right. But the next thing was like we needed it as our booth for the big admissions conference, cause I'm like they even told me as I got this set up they're like no one's ever had a vehicle on the floor as like a booth. You know what I mean. I was like this was going to be cool, it's going to be different. This would get our and that's what I needed the most at that point in time. I needed the universities to see us as a, like, innovative thought partner doing different stuff to engage kids, and like this this is. We just got to get it and, ironic enough, the conference that year was in new orleans and this was before I had any. I honestly, this might have been my first trip ever to new orleans. This was in 2013 and actually no 20. Actually it was it was 2011 or 2012, 2011, probably.
Speaker 5:The road tour was this summer, this would have been in the fall of 2011 and similar thing I had some people working for me. I was going to drive it down. I had a friend helping me and we were going to hit stops along the way engage high schools. At this point in time, we were hitting to hit stops along the way. Engage high schools. At this point in time, we were hitting high schools and colleges. So, like we hit a big high school football game in Birmingham, alabama.
Speaker 5:Then on Saturday we were hitting a Alabama uh tailgate for a sec game, which was great, um, and then we're heading to new Orleans and on our way to new Orleans.
Speaker 5:And then we're heading to New Orleans and on our way to New Orleans, one of the fuel things happens in the middle of Mississippi and we get off the exit and again, I know what we need to do. We've been fixing them. You know we're kind of experts at this now, right, and the guy that was with me, it was, let's call it like 9 o'clock at night and we get into the engine to fix the fuel filter and honestly, I could still see it vividly in my mind. I don't know what we were doing exactly, but whatever we were doing was cranking something the complete wrong way and I saw the little fuel line starting to also crank and I'm like and I before I could even like get words out of my mouth it snapped and like legit like fuel, like we just now. This wasn't anybody's fault, but like this was total, like we F this one up bad Like to the point where I'm like we just snapped the fuel line and I I literally thought that's when it was, like that's when it was.
Speaker 5:I'm like what. We had to have this thing in New Orleans on a date to get it Like they had it all lined up to get it into the show. And I'm literally like we're done and I remember pacing in this. It was, there were two gas stations at this exit. Neither one of them had a uh like a, a name of a station that we would like. The signs were like just like blank. You know, like that's the type of exit I was yeah, yeah like this is where it all is, nowhere no and the best.
Speaker 5:I'm not even kidding you. The closest town was quitman, mississippi, and I remember like, literally in my head I'm like quit man, just quit, just freaking quit, that's your sign. Like what are we doing here? And I remember being like I literally thought it was over and my buddy that was with me had to be somewhere. Like the next day he had a flight out of New Orleans. He's literally more worried about getting to new orleans in an uber so he can catch his flight. Like, and I'm I'm literally now like by myself. He ended up getting an uber that night somehow, I don't know what he paid for it ubered from laurel, mississippi down to to new orleans, like three and a half hour ride, um, but but now I am, I am by myself in the RV.
Speaker 5:I remember talking to my wife that night.
Speaker 5:She was not happy and, uh, you know, I had one thought to do to, to potentially salvage this, to do to, to potentially salvage this. When I got the RV, the folks that did the RV recommended I joined this club called the GMC motor home international and it's it was legit a club and community of all the owners that own 1973 to 1978 GMC RVs. And when I signed up it was like 25 bucks or whatever, but they sent you the directory of all these owners across the country and that night, literally like at 10 o'clock at night, I'm scouring the directory because the only thought I have is that if I can find somebody that like has one or knows what to do in this situation to fix, you know, I'm like that's the most, most mechanics I would take it to. If they would see this thing and be like we're not touching it, we don't work on that right, you know what I mean Like, like most, most places, it was not always like the welcome site to see this thing come rolling Like.
Speaker 5:So I scour the manual and literally find the closest people to where I'm at. And the closest people to where I were like was that located in in we're, in Birmingham, alabama, or outside Birmingham there was a town called Bessemer and I looked it up and I'm like Bessemer's probably like like a two and a half three hour ride, and there were some people South in Mississippi. But like I'm like and I'm the guy's name was Mark Creel and I will never forget that phone call. First off, he picked up the phone at 10 something at night, complete shot in the dark here, picks up his phone. I explain to him the situation. Mark says after hearing this, he's like alright, whatever you do, don't tow it. He's like they'll jack it all up. Don't, do not tow it. He's like I know some people in Mississippi because it's too late to call them now. But give me the morning and let me make a couple of phone calls. I'm like, brother, you are literally my only shot in the world. You know what I mean. That, that, that, that, that that I have Right and I will never forget it, because I mean clearly I'm not sleeping Right, I'm not going to.
Speaker 5:I mean I did call the, I did have the. Somebody maybe my wife, somebody said like you should let the local police know you're stuck. You know what I mean, or just know you're there. So I did Quitman. The Quitman police showed up at one point and I talked to the guy and he's like, yeah, well, he's like you're fine, like there. There was this semi across the other way, though you know what I mean, where I'm like it was like RV, and then he's like big old semis. You know what I mean. And I'm like, oh, what am I doing?
Speaker 5:But anyway, stayed awake most of that night, clearly, and was on pins and needle waiting for that phone call in the morning from Mark. And when Mark called, he's like I got good news and I got bad news. What do you want first? And I'm like Mark, I don't care what you're, you're my only news. So, whatever he goes.
Speaker 5:Well, bad news is I called the people in Mississippi that I know, and it was, uh, whatever day it was, he's like there it was a Sunday because we were at the Alabama game on Saturday. It was Saturday night. We had to have the RV by Tuesday to New Orleans, so we had a buffer day. He's like bad news is the people in Mississippi are big church-going folks. They're not going to be able to help you on a Sunday, he's like. But the good news is my buddy, the big guy, and I are getting in my RV and we're going to drive down and help you get this thing on the road.
Speaker 5:I'm not kidding you. Wow, I said Mark, are you serious? He goes these things are like babies to me. He said you called and found the right. Like babies to me. He said you called and found the right. You know, right, guy. He not even kidding you. Him and his buddy, three hours later on a Sunday, showed up to where I was stuck. He brought all the tools necessary and he fixed the fuel line. Brother, I remember, as he was working, like sitting there thinking like what can I give this guy Like this is, this is out of.
Speaker 3:It's above and beyond.
Speaker 5:Beyond, like literally to the point of like you don't know me, but literally have come out of nowhere to save me in this like whole business basically. And maybe he could hear it in some way shape or form. I don't know if he knew. If I don't get to New Orleans, it's probably over, because the investment we made and the everything into that show and it also was the show that fast forward we got there, he fixed us, we make it there and that show like literally put us on on the map and we got client. You know it's like it was like a people still talk about it, like I still run into people in higher ed today. You know what I mean.
Speaker 5:That they talk about that show. So people have angel investors in their entrepreneurial journeys. I call Mark Creel, my angel mechanic that literally saved our company, and I still again talk about friendships that are formed. I mean I have multiple. If I'm passing through Birmingham, I'm stopping and I see him in the big guy. The best part is the big guy is like seven foot tall. So like when they showed up to help me, the big guy walked out first and I'm not kidding you. He's saying he goes here we are to save the day. The army guys are on their way.
Speaker 5:I'm like what is this? And the coolest thing is I don't even know the big guys full story. Um, and I have had multiple times where I've hung out with them when I'm passing through, and I've taken Mark and his wife to dinner multiple. You know what I mean. It's just like. It's like I will never be able to fully repay them. In fact, he stayed with me one time in New Orleans when he came and visited. You know what I mean. It was beyond his help, but it has connected us and in fact that's where the RV is right now. So, mark, if you're listening, thank you for keeping an eye on Marv and keeping him safe, but we still have the darn thing and Mark's kind of keep restored in Birmingham. It's going to come back. I'm going to use it again, but it'll have to be the right. It's going to have to be the right exact, you've got some scars for Marv.
Speaker 5:Oh, and my wife, when you bring Marv up to me, it's like not a great topic, but again, I wanted you to because, like when you ask about stories, like that's one, I don't talk about a lot, but the amount of times we got hit in the face and we're laying on the ground to figure out how this is going to work, and not just those, those weren't even financial struggles, like that's just like real life, just stuff. And then, uh, you add in all of the other factors and so many things and it's like again, as I go back to that, nine out of 10, though I think about that and it's a driver for me. You know what I mean. Cause I'm like I keep, I keep.
Speaker 5:there's too much into this now Right.
Speaker 3:So to back up a little bit kind of kind of give an explanation of of what welcome to college is and does, yeah, so people understand that.
Speaker 5:So it was originally started as a um, um let's just sum it up a Yelp for college tours, and the plan was high school kids could go and rate their college visits and other people could see what they saw and they can give feedback. And we were collecting all that feedback and we're selling it as data to the university to better improve their campus visit. Well, that lasted about four years, that model, and then we went through quite a bit of an experience, and this is actually where the New Orleans piece enters the equation. We got accepted to be part of their entrepreneurial cohort called the Idea Village, and you got to work with a lot of mentors and people that really got into your business to help you figure out what's going on. And we were very much still in very rocky waters of those first couple of years of figuring out exactly what this was, and we didn't have a real I would call it product market fit yet.
Speaker 5:You know it was like we, we had something and we were getting users and we had clients, but it wasn't totally going, and I'll never forget this story. They put me in a room once, though, and we had to do those Madlib uh problem, user solution kind of fill in the blanks, and they were like, write the things that you're doing right now for Welcome to College. And I had like 22 things on the wall, and they said, okay, come in the room. They're like we're going to leave, you have to erase 21. And you have to have one on the wall that you feel like you're most qualified and like passionate about salt, like like which is what are you doing? And that was an amazing exercise, because, you know, just wiping the things off, it felt like this, like relief, yeah, and and it was hard, I think I had three or four on there and then like figuring out like what is the one that I feel like we can do and be successful at doing this? And there was one on the wall, and it basically was the one statement, and I don't remember exactly, but it was something the effect of like like our niche in the world is to help admissions offices make their ambassador program the best that it can be, you know, and whether it be training the ambassadors or giving them the software to manage all of the behind the scenes stuff that's taken up all this time. A lot of places would use seven, eight different tools Excel when to work, google meet or you know all these tools and then we basically built a platform that universities could use, one platform to manage all of it, and so it's a very niche product, um, really geared to a campus visit program at universities. But we still have many, many great clients university, north carolina, chapel hill, emory university in atlanta, two lane, new Orleans, elon in North Carolina, carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, cornell in Ithaca. I mean there's a sound group of universities that leverage it and it's niche, so you've got to have a specific type of program. We're still pretty unique in the space and I still feel like I said that's why we're in the second inning like there's still growth opportunities with it to come. Yeah, yeah, um. So that's what it is. Marv interesting twist back to marv um, as I shared, it stood for mobile automated research vehicle when we were going through a really pivotal like all this change I'm talking about with the software and the direction.
Speaker 5:Somebody also told me to do a couple of things, and one was to watch Simon Sinek start with why, and the other was to read a book called flourish by a guy named Martin Seligman. Called flourish by a guy named Martin Seligman and the Simon Sinek start with wise Uh, it's one of my all time favorite. I I kind of go back to it a lot. You know, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it, and that was a big kind of a shift of thinking for me. And then flourish was the first book I read where after I read it, I wanted to like email the author and like be like OK, like this, this hit and I think what you're writing about is something that could really impact the whole campus visit experience. And in fact I did email a guy. He's a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and I didn't know this at the time. I just emailed him, right. I finished the book and I'm like I literally want to email this guy. So I emailed him and I got the stock email back and this dude is a world renowned Ted talker you know what I mean. Like literally founded the whole positive psychology movement that's in higher ed. Like this dude like is the guy and I'm just like email, like thinking I'm going to meet him.
Speaker 5:But the funniest part about this whole story as a flyer, as you know, like this is this, is this would have been, uh, early January and the flyers had a game in like versus LaSalle in Philly in a couple of weeks, and so I used to do fundraising for dayton and I got to travel with the basketball team a little bit in one of my roles and so when I emailed seligman I was like I'm gonna be in philly in a couple weeks. You know, if you have time to grab coffee, I would love to meet you, type of thing. And I'm thinking, after I got the stock email, i'm'm like I'm never going to just get a coffee with that guy. But about a week later I had an email come in, on a Friday. It was from somebody from Penn. I opened the email and her name was Peggy Kern and she goes hey, justin, marty passed along your email, I have time and I'm available to meet with you on Tuesday when you're going to be in Philadelphia. And I was like I remember reading this and I'm like, holy shit, I'm going to Philadelphia.
Speaker 5:So I ran up. I remember going up to tell my wife. I'm like I got to, I'm booking a flight, I'm going to meet somebody from Penn, like I might get an email or a meeting out of this, and like I just I can't pass that up. Right, I got a flight probably was the last money I had. It was one of those where, like I'm going, I don't know what, where this is going, but I'm going to go. And I showed up to meet Peggy and when we got there, she took me and we, we chatted for a little bit and she's like do you have time to stay for lunch? She's like we're having a colloquium today and there's, you're more than welcome to stay and have lunch with us, and you know. So we had this great meeting and I basically was kind of sharing with her how I wanted to use the principles of the book to use in our trainings, and she loved the ideas and invited me to stay for lunch.
Speaker 5:I go to lunch. I'm standing at a little table about this same size. I'm going in to get whatever it was like some sort of like a Asian fusion thing. Anyway, I hear this voice I'm not even kidding you. Right behind me he's like oh, this looks great. I hear this voice I'm not even kidding you right behind me he's like oh, this looks great. The voice was like I turned around.
Speaker 5:It was Martin Seligman and one of the guys in the room is like Marty, this is Justin. He's from Dayton, he has ideas of how he wants to apply perma into the college experience. And Marty's like oh, that's great, nice to meet you now. Like sitting shaking with the man and we'd chit chat for a minute. And he's like how long are you in town? And I'm like I'm, you know, here for the day and we're heading back tomorrow. He goes. Well, do you want to sit in my class at 3 30? And I'm like, I'm like, absolutely. I'm like like this was the whole reason why I came long story short of all of that.
Speaker 5:When I left the meetings with Peggy, she said to me use whatever you want of this. Like. This is why you know what I mean Like, but you should apply it and use your own acronym that works for what you do with. Welcome to college is how she said it. And I'm like so basically, I was like in my head I'm like I have the creative license to basically do whatever I need to with this content and she's like, yes, she's like we want like this should be get it out as much as we can.
Speaker 5:I go back to my hotel that night and I remember sitting.
Speaker 5:I was at an aloft and I remember sitting in like the lobby bar area and I was brainstorming how to use these elements of perMA which he talks about to flourish in your life. You have to have these five elements operating to flourish and they were positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. If all five of those are rolling in your life, you're flourishing. And the interesting part for me of why it was so powerful with the college visit is that everybody talks about gut feelings when you're on these visits, like I just felt it and I hate that because I'm like I hate that Cause I'm like what is that? What do you mean? Like what, what do you? What do you mean? And when I read the book, I'm like it brought me back to my tour of Dayton, cause I did not want to go to Dayton. It was not really on my radar screen. My guidance counselor kept nudging me just go on the tour going. So I'm like I'm not going to Dayton, like it was not up on my list of, say, top five.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 5:Why am I going to go to a smaller city? I wanted a big school. I want college basketball. Like I'm not going to Dayton. I finally listened to him, though, and went on that one campus tour, and I call that campus tour the turning point of the rest of my life, because Chris Woodard, who was my tour guide, knocked this thing out of the park, and not because he did the normal things tour guides do, but I felt at the end of his tour I could call him if I went to Dayton.
Speaker 5:And literally we built a connection that I felt like he was from Cincinnati. It was more of a conversation. It wasn't the typical walking backwards and telling you about the buildings. It was literally like forever and forever for me, like that's the origin story of why I created Welcome to College. Somebody said like you got to do something you're passionate about. That campus tour never happens. I never go to Dayton, never meet my wife. Yada, yada, yada. Ripple effect right Like that campus tour was a game changer and so my big thing has always been like I want to work in that space and help people understand the importance of how big that little moment of time could be.
Speaker 5:Fast forward back to the PERMA and Seligman and the acronym. So the MARV thing. We already got that back story. You know the debacle and love hate that has been. But this is where it gets really interesting and I've never actually told it in this way and how this is going to be interesting to figure out how you cut this all up around with acronyms. In perma you have three letters of marv meaning accomplishment relationships. The only one we didn't have in perma was v, and then I'm like oh my gosh, marv, marv's the acronym. Marv is the acronym Marv is the reason of all of this, meaning accomplishment, relationships and vitality and basically, combined positive emotion and engagement to get to vitality. Marv becomes the core of our whole curriculum, of how we train campus tour guides, which is do you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like it's amazing, it's amazing.
Speaker 5:And it and the best part about Marv is that I think it's a progression. It starts with meaning You've got to have that, the why You've got to have the roots of for you. Whatever that is, and if you have that, accomplishment is actually not. You hear this, it's not a straight line. Accomplishment is actually the grit, the resilience, the adversity, the obstacles.
Speaker 3:It's the journey.
Speaker 5:It's the journey, but to get? I'll ask you both when you're knocked down, how are you getting back up? How do you get up? Just get up, yes, but what helps you get up your hands?
Speaker 5:yeah your feet yes, the relationship yeah people yep yeah faith people really I'm not just saying in an individual relationship, but like accomplishment is surrounded by meaning in relationships. If those three things are happening now, you can freaking feel fully alive. Yeah and um, I push people on like if you want to feel fully alive it. These. It's a you're feeling, marv, because you're feeling all of it Right. So, um, yeah, you're getting me going.
Speaker 3:I have never told it in that way, but so let me ask you this, because I see the emotion on your face and everybody, I think, feels the passion from your voice. Where are you at now with all of this?
Speaker 5:So, man, that's a really good question. One of the things that, like, I'm actively pursuing is it's hard to share what I just shared with you guys, absolutely.
Speaker 5:To get to where we just got to. It took I don't know how long we've been sitting here talking, but it's hard. I truly don't even think my kids fully understand what I do or try to do or the. I also think it's it's, it's been, it's something that I know sitting there that's really good and has a potential to impact a lot of people. So one of the things that's really top of mind is is is finally getting the book done, so that in a, in a maybe not a long book, but like something that like a student 20 to 15 to 20 year old could read and feel a little bit of a roadmap to like those four things. Yeah, and I feel like a book could accomplish that. And again, it's not going to be a book about I've hit the home run of business, but it's a book about, I think, a story that kids now need in our day.
Speaker 5:Right now, after COVID, I feel like, with technologies rise, I feel like with you know what I mean? It's like there's there's something in this that I think could help a lot of people, and so my goal is like, if I write this for my three kids to help them, I think it could help a lot of people, and so the book is out there as like, something that's starting to drive me as like just get this thing out, just do it now, right, just just get something out and potentially build a little something around the, the the, the acronym, um. I think it could help not only just with, obviously, the higher ed side of the world, but it's funny when I talk about it and I have spoke about it at certain events and I've had parents like parents. I'm there to talk to the kids and parents will come up to me and they're like dude, I need Marv. You know what I mean Like or like. There's elements of it that I think can span and connect with a lot of different types of people. So that's kind of definitely something that's top of mind. The other thing that I've realized New Orleans taught me something when I moved there.
Speaker 5:There's a culture difference in New Orleans around just like they truly live life differently down there, and what I mean by that is like they are very much a present tense, living kind of culture, like it's now, like they're, they're living in this, don't take any day for granted mentality. You know what I mean Like, like, like they live and enjoy life. There's a French, a couple of French saying you know what I mean Like, like, enjoy life. Or there's a saying life is meant to be lived, not endured, and I I think a lot of times, um, it's, it's easy to go through the phases of you just feel like you're enduring life and it's like you have one shot and it's like, when I think about that, that's where I go back to, like, man, I just want to be doing stuff that could help be inspiring others to to really go after what you're passionate about. You know, be around people that bring you up. Um, and this, this ride, and New Orleans was big on again like little things, like I shared earlier, like Mardi Gras is not like Mardi Gras.
Speaker 5:The media side of Mardi Gras, of portraying what Mardi Gras is, is so far off base. It's truly for family, community and for kids. To be quite honest, I mean like when my kids were young and we were there. Like you have a ladder, like every home has a ladder, because you roll out your ladder to the parade so that your kids are up top and you stand behind them on a ladder and all the throws that these floats are doing. It's for the kids. I mean, yeah, do the adults and people get into it and have just as much fun? Absolutely, but like it's really a family, communal thing, like all of the stuff that you think of and imagine when you hear Marty go.
Speaker 5:I mean, if you go down to the French quarter you'll see that, absolutely, don't get me wrong, but that's not the point of Mardi Gras at all. Like it's. It's truly a it was. It was like UD homecoming for like 10 days every February and I think it's a beautiful thing and it's like um, um, living there and meeting the people that lived there. I I shared a brief story of pat pat green, who was 90 some years old, and when I got to know pat she's like I I moved to new orleans from key west because I wanted to die by the birthplace of jazz music and where jazz was formed. Like what wait, what just the? The interesting people and different experiences that that that culture kind of exposed me to was something that I will always kind of cherish and figure out like man, whatever I do, that kind of there's a hospitality down there, that Southern feel that like whatever I do next, like it's also going to be infused in some way, uh, cause it really kind of uh, I grew a lot living down there.
Speaker 3:So let's let's talk about your family. Let's talk about your wife and your kids. You kind of briefly mentioned you met your wife at at UD. Um, talk about them and and um, you know that that life together when you, when you get married, and then you have kids, and how that, how that changes.
Speaker 5:So this is a I'm glad that you asked, because I, this morning, first day of school, of high school for my son and he's kind of the benchmark for me because, um, when I was starting the company, somebody told me some advice that babies bring good luck. And my son was born on July 3rd 2010 and welcome to college was launched on September 28th 2010. So my son is literally like, as I see him now is 15 years old, heading to high school. I'm like that, that, that's that that's how long this company has been in our life and, um, but on the on the family front, um, it's the driver for me. I mean honestly, um, I mean honestly, you know, it's the why of, like, I think the constant, like, figuring out whatever I got to figure out to make this thing go. And you know, there's been times throughout the journey that I have done other projects. I figured out like, ok, I think for a while it was like my soul, everything I had to just focus on it. But as it's kind of evolved and it is what it is, um, you know, I think I realized like I can do other. There's things that you know it's what keeps me, keeps you going, looking at that nine out of ten stat that I told you of like, don't be that like, I got it. This, this has to work because it's it's feeding and growing and, you know, doing everything that we need to do to kind of keep this all together.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and my wife let me just give her the shout that she deserves, because she's always the one like. If I talk about a book, she's like I should write the book. I'm like you should, but she's very a private person and wouldn't like, doesn't she does like I don't know she's like, but I will say like, if anybody's ever thinking about being an entrepreneur, they should talk to me. I'm like you should, you should like she, um, I'll be like without her stability and faith and care of like holding down the home front as strong as she has, you know, and me being as like ADD and out, doing the million things that I do, and and and and for it to work. You know, like it, it, it. If I didn't have her, I don't know. I mean, this would have never made it this this far. Yeah, um, but but she, she also, though, like you know, is a very much realistic, and I'm the dreamer, you know it's the yin and the yang, like, like. If. If I was with somebody that was like me, this would not work.
Speaker 3:And she kind of she, she, To keep you grounded.
Speaker 5:Totally.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so obviously, as an entrepreneur, ups and downs constantly, sometimes in the same day, sometimes in the same hour, right? How do you handle doubt when doubt creeps in in in your mind with whatever you're doing, all the things you've got going on, how do you handle doubt?
Speaker 5:Address it as quickly as possible and move forward. I guess what I mean by that is you can't sit and dwell on it, because if you do, it will bring you down, and I think I've learned that it is a mindset and you can crush doubt if you believe and put the things in your mind that you need to to crush it. Yeah, um, it's not easy sometimes, but you have to have a mindset, and I'll call it uh, it's the word I'm looking for Um, not just like a growth mindset. I guess, um, I'm going to use this story as a, I think, an example of what I mean by it, because when, for me, doubt, um, if I doubted any of this that I'm talking about, I would have probably never have done any of it.
Speaker 5:And so the other thing that I connect with doubt sometimes is money, and I somebody recommended to me early on, when I was starting they, they said, uh, and I remember at the time I'm like I shouldn't do this, but it was like one of these executive coaches and, um, I did it for a little bit and it was good for the most part, but there was, there was definitely something that he gave me to read that I think really hit and kind of when you said doubt in that word but it was it was a basically a mindset around money as it relates to either scarcity or abundance mindset.
Speaker 5:And if you look at money from a scarcity mindset, to me that's where doubt's going to live, and if you're there, it's hard to be there if, if, when you think about money it's abundance, it's there, it's all all over um, and and I don't think money has to be the only driver of this, everything I'm talking about I mean we could substitute it with so many things, but I truly think on when I heard you say that word doubt. To me it all goes back to a mindset and you can't let the doubt side of your mind win.
Speaker 3:No, you can't.
Speaker 5:In anything.
Speaker 3:No, yeah, you got to keep going. It's going to come, right, it's going to come, but you got to keep going.
Speaker 5:It's always oh, dude it's. And I think I read something somewhere, Dude, it's there. It's a big part of who we are as human beings Like. Our minds are kind of geared to go there, but you have to learn to train and shift and not let it bring you down. Yeah, that's right, and I also think that's where I mean faith comes in in a massive, massive way. From the standpoint of yeah, like if you don't have that, I think it's really hard to.
Speaker 3:You're right to keep going, so talk about faith because you know my faith journey. I was raised in the church. You know we go off to the University of Dayton and I never stepped foot in the church and you know was living the college life and having a good time, get a job, same kind of thing. Meet my wife. She's very strong in her faith. Things start to change a little bit but I never really had that true connection really until the past two, three years, to be honest. I mean, we go to church every Sunday, we're very involved, but really have made that connection in the last two to three years to where I actually really lean on my faith and try to in everything that I do. So talk about what faith means for you, because it's different for everybody.
Speaker 5:Totally. I've had an interesting upbringing as it relates to faith religion, grew up Catholic. Very, I will say my folks very. I will say my folks are very conservative Catholic. They still go to a church that didn't change in the 70s when most of the Catholic church changed. So they and brought us up in that. So even when I went to Moeller High School I was the first one in my family to go to private Catholic high school the masses at Moeller felt very different from what I was used to and I remember actually I struggled with it because, like my parents would um, like their church, like when you would receive the Eucharist, like you received it on your tongue. And I'm going to these masses where everybody's walking up and they're putting their hands out and I'm like, what do I do? And I remember really struggling with that, like as a 14, 15 year old kid, you don't even, because I'm like, wait, it's all the same, it's all Catholic, right. And.
Speaker 5:I'm like is God, is God watching out? And like, if I take it in my hand, like that's a like I'm getting, like you know what I'm saying? Like, like, like no, like I was like this is it kind of messed with me for a little while actually, and I finally hit a point where it was like this is this is a person. Like I get it, my parents wanted to do that and that's their beliefs. Great. Like this is also the Catholic church. So, like in my mind, I'm like not doing anything.
Speaker 5:Right, like so, long story short. I share that as like, even within the Catholic faith there's been like a uh, uh, attention, if you will, of like, and we get into debates all the time, really, really, and I try to not go there much anymore because I've just realized, like you can believe what you want to believe. Just my only thing is like just respect. You know what I mean. Like you gotta have respect for others to believe what you want to believe. Just, my only thing is like just respect. You know what I mean. Like like you gotta have respect for others to believe what they want to believe. Right and um, long story short. So so faith has always been a very, very key part of who I am. Um, and I would say attending molar and then go into the University of Dayton, both of which are Marianist institutions, like the Marianist philosophy really resonated with me as it related to like everything that they're about, which is things like community hospitality, you know, table of equals, spirituality, you know, table of equals, like things that their devotion to Mary, very much a big part for me, became. Like I connect, I think, with my faith and Mary's always been a very prevalent person that I feel like it's more easy for me to pray, communicate, obviously still with the goal of her connection to Jesus. So Mary's always been a prevalent figure for me.
Speaker 5:Um, when I proposed to Megan, um, I orchestrated this whole. This is actually a good story. I don't know if I've ever told this. This whole, this is actually a good story. I don't know if I've ever told this. When I proposed to her, we were living in Cincinnati and I had the old dean of students, dr Sherman, from Dayton, basically make up this some award that I was getting and we had to go to this event at Dayton. I wrote the letter, he put it on UD Letterhead and mailed it to me. This is great. So, like she thought we were going up for this award, award and I my whole plan. If you recall, like outside the library there's that statue of Mary in the uh kind of a prominent position not far from the chapel, and but anyway, I had this whole plan laid out and I had my not far from the chapel, but anyway, I had this whole plan laid out. My brother was up there. He was like hiding in the bushes.
Speaker 5:And we're supposed to be going to this award night and then I actually proposed to her right there at that spot, because I used to always pray there at Dayton. Okay. And I would pray for things like finding the right wife and uh and um, that was the spot, that's cool. And so, uh, she had no, like I, no, I definitely got her. Like she didn't know that that was coming. And um, she's the one that got the award right, she, exactly.
Speaker 3:So that's a yeah, oh, that's good man. This is great stuff. I want to finish this up with a couple of questions. So you've obviously being an entrepreneur and we've seen it here you telling your story ups and downs, peaks and valleys. I mean it's it's. Being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. I mean it's, it's um, being an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. I mean it is, it is. It is challenging. You live it um, sleepless nights, just just a lot of a lot of ups and downs, a lot of perseverance. So when you're in those moments, when you're in those times of maybe it's doubt, um, and you're not feeling worthy of whatever you're doing, why did Marv break down? Again.
Speaker 3:Like is there a Bible verse? Is there a quote? Is there something that you fall back to on your mind and you say this to get you through it?
Speaker 5:That's a good question. I would say that's a good question. I would say I can't remember if I said this earlier when we chatted or not, but it's a quote that I do think about it a lot. People will not remember what you said and not remember what you exactly do, but people will always remember the way you made them feel and I think, no matter what I try to do is do it from a standpoint of kind of empathy and that servant leadership mentality of like making them like in late, leaving somebody else feeling a little bit better about their day because of the interaction that you had with them or experience that you had.
Speaker 5:Or if something is so simple as like in these last couple months, like like service people and hospitality people, like mentioning their name when you're getting something from them. It's amazing when you see somebody look at you differently when you say their name. Um, and again, I think those are like really little things, but it's big things, yeah, in terms of how we treat each other. And I think, in the end of you asking me that question, I think what's driving something in me right now is just like people talk about all the stuff happening in the world, all this stuff going on and all this negativity, all this stuff happened in the world, all this stuff going on and all this negativity. And I'm like, if we just are kind to each other and do the little things that we should be doing, and if everybody did it, you know what I mean Like we actually live in a freaking amazing country. We do.
Speaker 5:Like incredible country and I think sometimes traveling and for me this summer, getting out of the country for a little bit you really realize we live in the greatest country in the world and I think again it's some of those just little things about how to treat each other and realize like we have everything that more than ever want yeah.
Speaker 5:And we still try to screw it up or like it's but it's easy, and and and saying it, it's one thing, but it's like those little things. So I think it's in the little things If you just keep doing these little things. I agree, people, uh, you can make that impact, yeah, so that's a great answer.
Speaker 3:Last question If you could sit on a park bench and have a conversation with someone, living or deceased, who would it be and why? Mm. Mm-mm-mm.
Speaker 5:Oh man, I have so many thoughts in the head right now.
Speaker 3:Who's the first person you think of?
Speaker 5:I'm going to give you the first person that came to my mind, honestly, after the whole train of everything that we've been talking about and realizing how big of an impact it's been in my life, is Father Chaminade, from the Marianists and, after just being in France, kind of being in some of the areas that like thinking about somebody who basically built a, a whole kind of religious order of people that have given their lives and you know to to again and you know to again help others to also experience and do what they've done. He's somebody that popped in my mind on like the faith and the spiritual side of it and to go through the persecution and the revolutions and all the stuff that happened and to kind of persist and to build, persist and build. The other person, um, uh, man it's. He's passed away as well, but he's an entrepreneur that left a really big mark on on me. Um, and honestly, without meeting this person, I would have never moved my family to New Orleans, because it was through him and his connections that I met somebody that introduced me to New Orleans, but it's the former and the late CEO of Zappos Shoes. His name's Tony Hsieh.
Speaker 5:Unfortunately had a very tragic kind of I'll call it a downfall tragic kind of I'll call it a downfall and died in a fire.
Speaker 5:That was potentially purposefully and like this dude had everything going, when I say everything like multi-billionaire, what, and how he was kind of building what he was building. There was a lot of stuff in it that I seemed to kind of resonate with me, but there was also a lot of elements that didn't. And the reason I bring him up as somebody that I would love to talk with because I never had that chance but I did have questions for him that I wanted to understand how he would answer Um, and we'll never have that opportunity. And some of it had to do with I wanted to push him on. I didn't feel the faith or religious part of what he was doing, but I also wanted to understand a little bit of that and obviously we'll never have that opportunity in this life. See, we'll never have that, that opportunity in this life. But, um, he, I, I really was on a path of like thinking like this guy's, got it figured out as an entrepreneur and then realized actually, no, yeah.
Speaker 5:And it's that type of stuff, that like yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's pretty powerful. Yeah, yeah, ben, you got any questions um not really question?
Speaker 4:well, I guess not really questions, but comments right. First off, I think you're in the exact place you're supposed to be, like just sitting here, listening, like your passion, like everybody needs in any part of their life, like I hope that hope that parents that are out there let their kids listen to this and encourage it to listen, especially the ones that are in high school, about to go to college. Because the Marv thing like I'm glad you told that whole story because you know you see the passion on your face and if you can't see cause it had a hat on like the passion on your face, like I'm watching your eyes, like Dan said a couple of times, you can see it just well up, um, and just with passion. But it's that that accomplishment, right, and it's about what I feel like the big part of it is. It's, it's what that accomplishment meant, cause when people hear accomplishment, what it's immediately what they think of, it's like the end goal.
Speaker 4:How do you get there? What do you accomplish? And that's not what accomplishment is for you. The accomplishment is like what Marv was, like Marv is that van, that the struggle, the whole process and the whole thing. Like I always tell the boys like embrace the suck. You know what I mean, because that's, that's, that's the part right. Like it is playing sports, like my favorite memories are the, are the suck right.
Speaker 4:Like, the water tower runs like yes, all of us throwing up because you know, coach, is like we're gonna run till we puke. Like those are the memories that I have. It's not the great five and five seasons we had in new lebanon. It was, yeah, it was the accomplishment of the process. Like, what I gain out of it. I gain brothers, the relationships in it, right, yep, like I buy into your marv all the way and I feel like, no matter where you're at in life, like that that's how we all should live, I mean. But especially those kids that are in high school. And you know, the welcome to what is it? Welcome to college, welcome to college. Like that's just off of one relationship that you built when you're on UD campus. Right, you wanted that for other kids. So when they step on campus, they can feel that and then that's going to drive them, yep. So you know, be the one out of 10, not the nine out of 10.
Speaker 5:That fails, but the one out of 10 that succeeds, and I just yeah, I love it.
Speaker 4:I appreciate it, man. No, I appreciate you coming on here Cause it's got me juice. I'm not even an entrepreneur, I'm too scared to take any chances.
Speaker 5:Well, I'll be honest, I didn't think to put a ton of thought and I just again, I was looking at this as like man. It's been a long time since I caught up with this guy and just watching what you guys are doing. I also want to commend and just say keep going. I think it's it's awesome to do what you're doing on the show and I feel honored to be here and be part of it on the six, seven. My kids are going to love that.
Speaker 5:My kids are going to love that when I tell them I'm going to go back, I was six, seven.
Speaker 3:And we have no idea what it is.
Speaker 4:And you can tell them that we think you're not an unk, so just let them know.
Speaker 5:Correct, I love that I was like I'm repping Obie today. That's right. Actually it was either Obie or I did throw on. I have a Dayton jersey. I thought about repping the jersey and then, I'm like. You know what I'm going to go. Obie, I'm going to Indy. I'll be in Richmond.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's awesome, you know it takes me back to that three she three she here, or five she Three, Three she here. You were at the end of the hallway. Yeah, you know it takes me back to watch. I was telling Kevin, was it WWE or WWF? Oh yes, it was WWE I think Was it E Like Monday Night Raw, or.
Speaker 4:Sunday Night Raw or something.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I never watched big time wrestling, and you, I completely forget. Mr T still exists, dude, he's alive. No, like so listen, I forgot that was at Trader's World. We got that during freshman year, right, yeah, okay, Mr T is now an award for our fantasy football league. It's still alive. It's the.
Speaker 5:Horseman Award. It's the team that like I'm the commissioner, so I get to kind of pick but it's usually like for the team that just either, you know, has the worst season, make some of the worst move, like whatever. But I give it out every year and somebody there's and it's the same Mr T.
Speaker 3:It's the Mr T that we had from three seasons. Yeah, I was going to say for those listening, it was just a Mr T head, it's a bust and throughout college it would be stolen and taken to different places, correct and then it would show back up.
Speaker 5:Dude, it has a beautiful life. Man, it goes and it's passed around. Dude, I actually have pictures I'll send you. Like sometimes the guys that have it will like take it to random spots in New Orleans and send me a picture Like no it legit, has a life. Oh, that's awesome and it's still getting passed around.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. Yeah, those are the memories man. Long time ago, but great, great memories. So thank you again.
Speaker 5:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Thank, you guys, very very much, appreciate your passion, appreciate your enthusiasm. I think everybody who's listening can feel it and see it and, man, it's awesome. So everybody continue to like and share and do all those things and go out and be tempered.
Speaker 1:Hi, my name is Allie Schmidt. This is my dad, Dan. He owns Catron's Glass.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Allie. Things like doors and windows go into making a house, but when it's your home you expect more like the great service and selection you'll get from Catron's Glass Final replacement. Windows from Catron's come with a lifetime warranty, including accidental glass breakage replacement. Also ask for custom shower doors and many other products and services. Call 962-1636,. Locally owned, with local employees for nearly 30 years. Catron's Glass the clear choice.
Speaker 3:Hey, do you want to catch every episode live as it's being recorded? Log on to patreoncom slash be tempered for exclusive behind the scenes photos and a live recording as it takes place. Go to patreoncom slash betempered.