Mind Your Business: Applying Biblical Principles to Entrepreneurship w/ Lyle Spann

Mind Your Business: Applying Biblical Principles to Entrepreneurship w/ Lyle Spann

Welcome to this week's episode of MOTFP, where we proudly welcome Lyle Spann for his first appearance. In this episode, Lyle shares expert insights on applying Biblical principles to modern business operations. We dive deep into the often-debated topic of tithing—answering the critical question of whether it is necessary for Christian entrepreneurs today—and explore the operational mechanics of growing from a sole proprietor to a multi-level LLC, managing employment, and operating multiple businesses simultaneously, along with some EPIC dad-jokes.

Don't miss this impactful conversation bridging faith and corporate leadership. Make sure to check out our featured partners and connect with them online by visiting:

• Sparrow REI: Follow on Facebook (@sparrowrei) or visit the official Sparrow REI Website.
• Able Roofing: Follow on Instagram (@ableroofing) or visit the official Able Roofing Website. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Middle of the Fire podcast. I am Steve, and today I have the distinct honor, nay, the privilege, of sitting in front of my good friend Lyle Span in his beautiful home. Lyle, how are you doing, buddy?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

I'm doing well, man. Why do we use the word nay in regular conversation like that?

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Because people aren't fancy like me. That's true. Educate yourself. So Lyle here is uh owner of a real estate investment firm, and I was wanting you to go ahead and introduce, well, I've already said your name, but introduce yourself, what you guys do, give us your socials, where to find you, and uh and all that good stuff. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Yeah, sounds good. Lyle span, um, here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Have been in middle Tennessee most of my life. We did live in West Tennessee for a few years when I was younger. Moved back here uh when I started uh eighth grade, so uh leaving middle school. Um got a beautiful wife named Abby. She is my better half by far. By far. Anyone who knows us will 100% amen that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Where would you be?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Yeah, I don't want to know. I don't think we want to know. No, I know we don't want to know. So uh I got two beautiful girls as well, a proud girl dad, Berkeley, and Bella, B1 and B2. Yeah, girl dad, stand up. Yeah, nothing wrong with that, brother. Um, yeah, so that's a little bit about me. Uh love Jesus with everything that I have. Yeah, um, he's the biggest part of our lives. And if I'm not with the family, um, then you can probably find me on the pickleball court uh or the golf course. So what I say, my senior years of life, pickup basketball doesn't happen as often, or uh still a little church softball, but in these senior years that we're enjoying right now, pickleball and golf is where you can find it.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Do you got your denim shorts in your white reebox yet?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Uh well they're jorts, but yeah, denim shorts are called jorts, Steve. Oh I'm sorry. And I do have my new balance 608s. That's what's my dad's shoes. Uh they come out the closet every Father's Day, baby. Don't crease those bad boys. Nope. I got a pair for dinner and a pair for mowing the grass. As they do pair.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

As any any good man does.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Yeah, absolutely. So a little bit about me on the personal side. Um, have always been in the state of Tennessee, so mostly in middle Tennessee. I love it here. Uh on the business side of things, we do have a real estate investing firm, as you mentioned, Sparrow Real Estate Investing. You can find us uh on socials. Instagram is Sparrow underscore REI. Um, Sparrow Real Estate Investing on Facebook. We also um have a website, www.sparrowrei.com. All right. If you want to check us out, we do have some before and afters and some fun things that we do on the socials, so feel free to follow along there. Um God has blessed our business. Uh Sparrow does come from Matthew, right? Where uh we know that God's eyes on the sparrow. So it doesn't slap you in the face with Jesus, but hashtag if you know you know. Um He is the uh foundation of everything that we do and that carries over into our businesses as well. Absolutely. So uh that is our primary source of income and what we have done for the past six years. We also have a roofing company called Able Roofing Solutions, and um, we have a water mitigation restoration company called Able Restoration. So um God is able, right? Not to be confused with Cain and Abel because nobody's planning on being murdered.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

That's kind of where I'm not gonna lie, that's kind of where my mind went. Several people have.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

So they've asked us if we have a sister company called.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

We ain't killing it. Really missed an opportunity there, didn't we?

SPEAKER_00 3:36

We did.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

It's never too late, buddy. But Able got killed. Killing the competition, like something. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Missed an opportunity. Maybe we'll start a new business. Maybe that's it. Um, so yeah, a little bit about what we do on the business side, uh, real estate investing, roofing, and and water restoration.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Awesome. Well, if you wouldn't mind, can you please uh lead us off in a word of prayer?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Absolutely, brother. Thank you, Jesus, uh, our Father for this day. Thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. God, I love starting prayers that way, but I don't want it to be something we say, you are so good and your mercies are new every morning. God, we thank you for that. Thank you for your many blessings, Jesus. We pray that you would be with this conversation today. Anyone listening, pray God, that you would bring peace, that you would let there be clarity, uh, that you would have them uh, Jesus, let something take away from this conversation. Pray that you would bless their families, pray that you would be with our families this week. We thank you for all these things in the matchless in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Amen. All right. So I got a few questions here for you. And one of them that I've I I frontloaded you on the on the beginning, but I didn't front load you on this, but I think it's extremely important, especially in well in personal life and in in for your business. How important are our tithes? And what does that do? What would you say that that has done for your business and how the Lord has been able to bless it?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Great question, man. We're passionate about tithes, excuse me. Um, this is honestly a conversation I've had with several fellow business owners, several people over time, and even uh my wife. So my wife was born and raised Catholic. Um, and that isn't something that she was accustomed to, right? So, tithing, man, it's super spiritual. And as a business owner, um I love this question because there's there's different paths of thought, right? Like, do you tithe on what you take away from the business? Do you tithe on what the business makes? And we won't necessarily get into all that, but um, I love the question. Tithing is is crucial. I I cannot uh overstate that. So we are very intentional with how we tithe and the frequency of it um and as well as offerings in addition to our tithes, but uh I have zero doubts, Steve, that God has blessed us in our businesses because we are faithful in tithing. Yes. I think that is you can't overstate that. So I love the question. It's been a critical part of what we do. Um, some people that I have partners on a few different ventures conversation that we have up front as well, right, about the importance of that. Fortunately, I partner with people who are super aligned from a spiritual perspective, yeah, which is a whole different conversation there. But um, yeah, tithing, uh, you can't afford not to tithe. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Absolutely. You're my like you know, Malachi says that if you don't tithe, then you are robbing the Lord. It's there's scripture for it, guys. It's not we're not just making it up. Yep. And it's not something that you're that uh a pastor will say just to get more money. You know, I've heard that ridiculous arm argument plenty of times, but no, you want the Lord to bless every dollar that's coming in. And if you're stealing from him, uh it's gonna be it's gonna be the opposite. You your money's gonna be left to your own devices, God's not gonna bless it, and you're not gonna see the income grow.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Completely agree. So another thing there, because you made a great point, right? Some people will say that people are abusing that or they're taking that money and doing crazy things, right? Does that happen? Absolutely, sure, sure, right? But the intentionality, right? God honors our heart. The Bible says that God looks on our heart. If we're tithing out of obedience, right? Spiritual obedience, yes, what people do with those funds, we're not responsible for that. They're gonna be answered to that, right? We are responsible, right, for the obedience and the sacrifice, right, of paying that tithe. That's right. And God will honor it every time, regardless of what people do with it. So that argument is debunked in my mind every single time because they're gonna answer for those things, right, if they abuse that. Yes. But the kingdom of God takes us all, the body of Christ, right? And without financial support, we can't impact people.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

So absolutely well said. So, on to the first question that I did front load you on, and thank you again for that insight on tithing. Um, so how do you balance high-stakes negotiations with a commitment to biblical truth and absolute honesty? Because you deal uh in some uh pretty high dollar value uh investments, and also bringing in other, like you've said, bringing in um other investors, bringing in partners to work with. All of these things, of course, take negotiations and most of the time contracts. So, how do you balance those negotiations and stay biblically true, uh true and uh honest?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yeah, it's another great question. I have a feeling I'm probably gonna say that after every one of your questions. I hope so. It makes me feel good about myself. I'll have to use a different word, different adjective, so that we change it up a little bit. But um there's a a few things um that will probably play a role here, factors here. So one of those is you know, integrity and honesty, regardless of what you're talking about, regardless of the dollar amount of the contract, regardless of you know, the price of the house or whatever the case is. So integrity and honesty is uh is something that you know you have to, it's a character, it's a piece of you, right? And being transparent with people and not hiding anything um uh is also plays a role in integrity. Yeah, because it's very easy for people who for instance, if someone's gonna come and they're gonna invest in one of our properties, they've never invested before, they they don't know what they don't know. Yeah. So being transparent with them and laying it all out for them, um, that is a part of the integrity piece that I feel like aligns with biblical values. Another piece of it is stewardship, Steve, right? So when we're either, you know, buying a property from someone, someone's investing in one of our companies, we're taking care of a client on the roofing side, or we're being stewards of the time and of the resources that we have. And and your question was about negotiations, right? Depending on what we're negotiating, we're still stewards of everything, right? And if that is important, and and you read what the Bible says about stewardship, right? We're treating it not like it's our own, we're treating it like it's someone else's, like it's God's as well. So if you have that mentality and you can look through that lens, I think that is very important to remaining true to biblical truths when you're dealing with some of these negotiations and high dollar, high dollar items. So I don't take it lightly, right, when someone trusts us to be a steward, right, of uh their home, whether we're putting a roof on it, um, you know, a house we're doing water mitigation on, or uh, you know, a house we're flipping. Those are, excuse me, those are big deals, and stewardship plays a role that I will shameless plug here. Um, there's a book that I love called Faith Driven Entrepreneur. Okay. Um, it's one of my favorite books that I have read in the past couple years. And they have really good points about stewardship and about how to view that and what uh God has blessed us with, right? Are we are we managers of it or are we stewards of it? Do we feel like we own those things or do we feel like God has blessed us to steward it all? So good. So that book uh really gave me a great perspective, right, on a lot of this, it's specific to this conversation, because um it's not to be taken lightly. Um and that's that's something that is uh right up there with biblical values. Yeah, so um I was trying to think if there's anything else off the top of my mind on keeping biblical truths there. Uh the honesty and integrity is the biggest one. Um, I will say uh accountability. When you make a contract with someone, so the good old days, right? See, we shake a hand and like my my word is my bond. Yeah, right. I love that. Like I'm I still feel that way. If I give someone my word, like that means a lot to me. It's 2026. That's not as common these days.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

It's fun to dream, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Yeah, right, right. It must have been nice. Yeah. But you know, in these negotiations, uh, for me, right, uh, accountability of putting things in place, like whether it's in the contract itself or whether it's outside of that contract, some other kind of documentation stating that everything is clear and what my role is, what your role is, what's gonna happen if one of these things doesn't happen, all of that protects you and helps the accountability piece and it makes sure that people are respecting right what they say they're gonna do. Yeah. Um, so risk mitigation, right, calculated risk, and and just making sure that you are doing the right thing from a contractual perspective. I believe that also can align with wisdom from the Bible and using wisdom and going about things the right way.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Yeah. Would you say you're the inspiration to um include scripture into the naming of Sparrow? Um has it it also is it acts as a a bookmark? It it reminds you who you're who you're serving um every time that you do something, because that's what I did with with Waymaker when I had my handyman business. I I wanted something that had God attached to it because it was a reminder of who I'm representing while I'm out there. Does that does that same thing happen to you? Does it reflect on you as well?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Absolutely. Not only not only to us, but people who work with us. It's been a great sparrow specifically, yeah, has been a great piece of conversation because it doesn't, like I said, it doesn't slap you in the face necessarily with Jesus. Ours don't, which I love the clarity of those that do as well. But for us, it's been a great conversation piece as well. Like sure sparrow us, most people are like John Doe homebuyers or John Doe, you know, like it's it's it's pretty clear what they are. Sparrow, we get questions all the time, where did that come from? And it's an opportunity for us to say, you know, it's something that we love where you know God's eyes on the sparrow, then we know he's watching us. It's something from the Bible that's important to us. So we wanted to have some kind of meaning there, yeah, that we know what it means. But also that specific thing, being a business owner, brother, highs, lows, emotional roller coaster, like preach. Yeah, you understand this, right? So also that little subtle reminder to the point you made that God's eye is on us and that he is watching us and that he cares about us, if he cares about the sparrows, how much he cares about us? It's been great for us just to have that that peace and that reminder that uh, you know, his hand is on what we're doing and that you know he doesn't ever leave or forsake us.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Excellent. All right, next question. You ready? Born ready. You look you're sweating right now. So when has a major business decision required you to trust God over your company's financial interests?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Phenomenal question. Change up the adjective there. You see that? They're getting better and better. I mean, I I should have saved that one. That's phenomenal, it's a pretty good word. But uh a few examples come to my mind on this one. One particular one I will refer to as a partnership that we had on the table that was very appealing um from a financial projection, right? From uh ability to scale and grow and have revenue generated from the specific partnership. And Steve, something we do, something I have done on big decisions that I have, even from getting married, right, to uh changing jobs when I was still in the corporate world. Yeah, I always I always take it to God and I I have always prayed for peace, that I have a tremendous amount of peace if it's the right thing. If I don't, if I don't feel that peace, even if it's not like I feel a terrible thing, if I just don't feel that peace, then that's my sign that this is probably not the way to go. Right. That's a great way to do that. And I try to lean into that, right? If there's any kind of uneasiness, or if I don't feel that overwhelming peace, that's the bar that I am putting out there, right? For God to kind of put on my heart what I feel like he's putting, you know, putting in our way, or the doors to open. So, brother, prayed about this particular thing. As anyone listening here, as you definitely will know, try to justify every which away to God, right? Why this is a great thing, great opportunity, all the different things. It will grow the company. It will correct right on paper, it looks phenomenal. Yeah, right. In theory, it looks great. How much we can give. That's exactly right. Yeah, all these things, but did not have a piece about it, like at all. Um, I just I didn't have a piece about it. And sometimes it's hard in those moments because it's like I don't know what God's keeping me from. I don't know, you know, I don't know what I don't know. You just have to trust in that instance. So we didn't continue with the partnership. And I felt peace about that. I felt good about it. I felt like I was doing what God wanted me to do. And um come to find out, right, there were some some character things about this individual that um were problematic. And um that was something that I didn't want myself, my family, or people who were associated with us, right, don't want to do business with us, yeah, just not to be connected to. So um that's a simple example, but it's a real one, right? It's it's when you're in a business negotiation, you talked about biblical principles and negotiations, and you're looking through all this stuff and you're projecting and all this kind of stuff. Uh, it can certainly be uh easy to just do what you feel like the smart move is and not necessarily take it to a a spiritual piece or um you know a God thing. Yeah. And it's imperative, man, that you run that through that lens, run things through that lens and through that filter of God, what is your will? Not every open door is a good door. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Not every open door is the right door, but put that on a bumper sticker, that's good stuff, man.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah. So that's an example, man, where um there was a conflict there, but um, I'll say this too. And in that book, Faith Driven Entrepreneur, he touched on this as well. We settled things, my wife and I, I use the word settled. We settled things a long time ago that we're gonna do things God's way. Sure. We are going to lean into that peace that he gives us or that uneasiness that he gives us, regardless of what that looks like. And that's how we're gonna live our lives, personally, right? If we're buying a new home or you know, some life change in the business. So having that settled in our hearts that if we don't feel peace about it, we're gonna say no makes it much easier when something like this happens to say, okay, there's a clear answer here, right? Rather than weeks or going by of like, ah, do I do it? Yeah, not doing it right. That's exactly right. Once you feel that peace about which way God is leaning you, if you settle things inside, right? It's a lot the hard decisions are a lot easier because you've already made the decision a long time ago. This is what I'm not gonna compromise. Like this is what we're going to, this is how we're gonna operate as a family.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Right. So and that leans back into your point earlier about stewardship.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

It's not yours, it's God's, right? That's exactly right. What do you want me to do with you? You gotta ask the boss. What do you want me to do? You know, the same thing happened um with me. It wasn't a you know, a huge uh deal or anything like that, but it was about a job. Um, you know, getting out of the handyman business, I had I had this counseling opportunity, right? They they really wanted me, uh sound great, you know, travel, all that kind of good stuff, and uh being able to, you know, reach out to people who need who need guidance. And I did the same thing, I prayed on it, and uh the way I pray for it though is God, if you don't want me to do this, just stay stay silent, don't say anything. And it was just I prayed on it for uh about a week and it was just cricket, nothing. I felt no pull of the spirit, I didn't hear his voice, I didn't feel his presence, nothing. So I was like, okay, that's enough for me, and so I had to I had to turn it down, and uh I mean that opportunity is still open, you know, if it comes in the future, but you know, as of now I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, supposed to be doing. So we'll wait on God's timing.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

That's good, Steve. And timing is a huge thing, just because a door is not open or a door might shut or you shut it, doesn't mean it's shut forever. Sure. Right. God's timing is better than our timing. There might be a much better time for that. Right. Um, and we just have to trust that.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Right. And they they really respected my decision because I ex I went ahead and explained them everything, what I just told you. And they're like, hey, that's great. You know, we're that's the kind of stuff we're looking for. And so, hey, cool. Yeah, you know, if it's still open, you know, yeah, praise the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

But if it's not, then you feel you have that peace, then you're doing what you're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

And last thing about peace, it may come up later in the conversation. Money can't buy peace. No, it can't. Steve, when I lay my head down at night, and I tell this to people, when I lay my head down at night, I I go to bed knowing that I I did everything that I could in a right way, right? In a in a God-honoring way. Right. And that if anything didn't go as planned, I did everything that I could that day to make things right and to do what God would want me to do, right? Or these negotiations or the job, all this kind of stuff. I lay my head down at night knowing that I feel like I did what God asked of me, right? Or what He would want me to do. And money can't buy that. No. No, like there's a lot of things money can buy. It cannot bring you peace, brother.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

No, peace of mind has it's priceless. Absolutely priceless. Yep. So, next question How does your faith change how you view your clients, especially when they're making major life transitions? Because you don't just deal with corporations or other uh firms or lawyers or whatever. You feel you deal with real people in in real transitions of life with uh big ticket items that can be that can make or break them financially. So, how do you how do you view your clients through that lens, making sure that uh they're being led correctly and making those transitions?

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Yeah, it's a magnificent question, Steve. Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

Yeah, exemplary would be a good one too.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

It was an exemplary question. It was a magnificently exemplary question. Here we go. Um, brother, people are always gonna be the most important things to us. Sure. So this is one of those things that my wife and I settled, Abby and I, we settled a long time ago. And this goes into our calling too, just in life. And the body of Christ is great. People like you you need different people doing different things in order to function, right, as a body, right? We're extroverted people, we are relationship-driven people. So we feel like we are part of that, build relationships with people, pour into people, like on the in the business world, you would call it like client-facing, right? Or facing that's where my wife and I live. So having our neighbors over for dinner, right, and having good conversations about God, or new people come to church. We're over our first impressions team at church, sitting with them, right, getting to know their name, walking them to class, being able to pray with them because we've met them and we remember their name, having them, taking them out to lunch, like the people part of like ministry and really like developing relationships with people is where we feel like our calling is spiritually. And that has always been in the business side as well, how we have built our business. It's been relationship-based. And uh, you know, that's a powerful thing, uh, having good relationships and even being stewards of relationships. That's a different conversation, but we call it relationship capital. Okay, right? Being able to take advantage of the relationships that God has put in our lives and the network that we have built to either partner with people or connect someone with someone else, like, you know, using that relationship capital, you know, being good stewards of that. But uh to answer your question, man, um, you know, looking through that lens of people, clients, that's the most important thing to us. We want to make sure that people are taken care of. When I lay my head down at night, I want to make sure that we took care of people the right way. Um, you know, I think uh Phil the Priest years and years and years ago when he was pastoring, he made the comment that, you know, when people pass away, you don't ever see a U-Haul behind a hearse, right? Yeah, like we don't take any of this with us, but people are things that we can take with us, right? Those relationships. So in the business world, that is paramount for us. And I'll give you an example, right? So on the real estate investing side, there's a lot of times we buy houses uh almost every time that need a lot of work, right? They're in what we call a distressed state. Well, usually people with distressed houses have some kind of distress in their lives, sure, right? There's a reason that they are in the situation that they may be in and they're looking to potentially sell their house. Well, conversations that we have all the time is you know, what's going on, what's your story? Like, what's how can we help you even outside of this? Like, what's your motivation? Why are you looking to sell? Right. So, Steve, there have been examples where the numbers just didn't make sense or whatever the case is, but we had a good conversation with them and standing right there in their living room or on the phone with them, you know, already knowing that this wasn't going to be a good fit from a business perspective, have just said, Do you mind if I'll pray for you? Yeah. Um, and just tears falling down their faces and just feeling like someone loves them enough, right? To just go to our creator on their behalf. Right. So that that's one example. The other example I'll tell you, there are also so many times we look at so many deals, right? To buy the the 15 to 20 that we buy a year. There's a lot of times where someone really wants a cash offer, they really want to move quickly, but their house is in pretty good shape. And if they list a house, they could make a lot more money, right? They there's advantages there. Yeah. So we have those conversations. Like, you know, we we can certainly give you an offer, the one that makes sense, right? For ever for us, right? We want it to make sense for you, but our recommendation is like you are gonna be much better off here. We have a really good agent if you don't have one, who can list your house for you. And if you have the time in order to let it sell, you don't have to do any work to it or very little, you know, you're gonna come out way better, right, right, on the back end, um, going that route. So having those conversations and being transparent that way, that helps in that in that lens that you're talking about, right? People, right? How does how does that come into play when you're in business transactions and when you're doing these different things? It's the most important thing. And there's a lot of people out there that give businesses a bad name, right? They're bottom dollar guys. Absolutely. They they like however they can make a buck, they're gonna make a buck. If if that means that someone else maybe didn't capitalize on it, that's their fault, right? They're just gonna make as much money as they can. And that goes to a priority thing. If my priority is making as much money as I can, no matter what damage is done to other people, that's how I'm gonna operate. If my priority is people and to have that peace, that I've treated people the way that God asks us to treat people, yeah, right, then that changes everything about how we operate and how we function. Absolutely. So the people peace man relationships are the most important thing. And I'll pray every single morning that whatever happens that day in any business or whatever, that every interaction I have, that God's light will be seen. And if there's an opportunity to tell someone about him or to tell someone about his love, that he would let that door open. Yeah. I can't do that if I don't care about people.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Simple.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Now, does the the caring for people aspect of it, would you say that that has helped your business grow in terms of word of mouth? People look to you and they say, hey, we can trust this guy. And now they send you over to the relatives, their friends, other firms. Has that happened?

SPEAKER_00 28:23

Absolutely. It's happened a lot. And we put a lot of weight on that, right? And we don't take that lightly because that relationship capital, right, can be huge for a business, but it can also be huge in the negative side for a business. If you make a bad impression or people don't trust you, if you don't function like you should, word travels fast. Yeah. Right. Uh working in the restaurant years ago in college, you know, there was all these stats that, you know, people tell like three or four people if they have a great experience at a restaurant. They tell like 10 to 15 if they have a bad experience at a restaurant. That's right. Right. So from a business perspective, it's it's very more advantageous to treat people the right way and to have that word of mouth be a good thing. And we have absolutely recognized whether it's people said, hey, we invested in a property with this guy, turned out great, did everything he could. They've sent us people, right, who have also partnered with us. Also, people have said, Hey, uh, we know you guys, we've we've heard great things. My sister has a rental property she's wanting to sell and needs a lot of work. Would love to connect you with her, right? And we've gotten properties and deals from people who have just said, we know what you're about, you know, uh, we have a situation that may be a good opportunity for you. So yeah, I could spend all day talking about those, but absolutely been fruitful.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Yeah. Oh thank you for confirming it, dude. Fruitful. See, I'm I'm I'm obsessed with the fruits of the spirit, dude. Love it, absolutely obsessed, right? Because Jesus says that we are fruit trees. We are trees, right? The Bible uses that analogy multiple times that we bear fruit.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

And without the fruits of the spirit to give people, or if the fruits that we have are fake, you know, what's the first thing that you're gonna do whenever you pull something off that looks looks really enticing and take a bite into it, it's rotten. You're gonna spit it out, never go to it again, tell other people to stay away from it, right? It's bad news. But if you got that good fruit, that sustenance that people can live off of, and just like how you said, praying for people in their house, man, that's so powerful. That's so powerful because these are things that people need to survive, just like water, just like food, all of it. They need to be uplifted and need to be fed by our fruits.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

That's exactly right, dude. I love that. There's a lot of fruits we could talk about, but man, this world needs joy. Yeah, yeah. Right? And that it's kind of silly, but I I tell dad jokes, right? I love dad jokes. Yeah, like it's something that I love. It's right, it's it's serious. Whether I get a chuckle or a groan, like I love telling dad jokes, right? But man, I have found in so many instances, even the smallest little piece of joy, yeah, people have been like, Man, I need to laugh today. I needed that today, right? I know that's a silly example, but brother, the fruits of the spirit, people need those.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

But we we gotta be in tune with the spirit to where those fruits show.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Yes, yes, absolutely. All right. So my next question is what practical spiritual habits keep you grounded with dealing of all the stress that comes with this. Because the way you're talking, man, it sounds so easy. Oh, buddy, this is a cake walk. I'm gonna go start a real estate firm right now. Sounds so easy, but that's all because you're coming, you're approaching this with patience and you're approaching it with calm. You know, there's you you don't have an ashtray full of 10 cigarettes right next to you. It's in the bedroom. It's in the bedroom. I'm just kidding. It's in the bedroom. You heard it here. Yeah, you heard it here first. No, uh, but you don't seem stressed, even though you might be. I don't I have no idea. Absolutely. Yeah, how's the blood pressure doing? Don't want to test that. You can pressure wash your house, buddy. That's right. Um, so how do what practical spiritual habits do you lean on to help coat yourself to maybe bounce some of that stress off, not take but not bring it home. That's a big one. People bring their stress home all the time.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

Yes. Well, this one I could probably ramble about for a while. So you just stop me if you feel like I'm gonna take your time, buddy. We got nothing but time. Because this one is huge, man. And my stress levels most of the time right now at this juncture, as we're growing, and a lot still depends on me. Yeah. Um, man, I have a lot of stress. Uh, fortunately, I I feel like, you know, different personalities, different strokes for different folks. I I I feel like I do pretty decent with managing that stress and handling that stress, but I'm gonna give you some real life examples of what I do in order to do that. Uh, since you asked the uh incredible question that you asked, uh, I didn't tell you how incredible that was a second ago.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

No, that you can tell me. Yeah, just continue on here.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

I'll ramble for that a while. Man, my spiritual relationship, we're gonna start there. So um, brother, I I've born and raised, fortunately, in a family, right, that loves God and have a relationship with God. Right. So it's it's a huge advantage that God has blessed me with. Yeah. So I've I've seen good habits, I've seen leaning on God in a lot of ways. So fortunately, I've been able to see that for a very long time. But that being said, my relationship with Jesus, even though this is the most stressful time of my life, is so str is so much stronger than it's ever been, Steve. And there's a lot to that, right? Having kids catapulted my relationship with Jesus, seeing how much I love them, knowing he loves me more than that. Like that changed me, right? And getting married was the first step of that. So there's a lot that goes into my relationship with Jesus now. But part of it is our businesses that we have, the blessings that he's given us, the people that we're able to help employ, right? The list goes on and on. But I get up in the mornings. So um our pastor, my pastor's name is Kevin Allen, talks about getting up early and praying in the mornings, how it's been part of his lifestyle, and how his he has three daughters, how his girls would wake up early and they would hear him praying. Or as they got older and they had jobs, they'd have to get up early and they would they would hear dad praying, right? Yeah. That resonated with me. And also, I had a conviction myself of sacrificing some sleep because I love sleep. I don't get enough of it ever, whether I'm staying up late working or getting up early to go play pickleball. Yeah. Um, feeling like the conviction to get up early, five in the morning, and go to our creator and pray before I do anything else. Man, that has been huge for me. And it that helps me directly with some of the stress because first thing in the morning I get up, got up at five this morning, and right then, right, I'm I'm thanking him for his blessings for the home that I'm in, for my girls, right? But then I also I'm able to cover everything we're doing in business, right, with prayer and that the interactions that happen today. Uh, today there's a big thing at one of our flips in Hendersonville that we have to get across, right? And I just take it straight to him, say, God, you know the need, you know what's going on, putting this in your hands. I've done everything I can do at this point. So the stress, um, the my relationship with Jesus helps my stress tremendously because I do have faith in him. Yeah, it's not always easy to do that, but there is peace in that, and it helps mitigate that stress when I know, especially when I've done everything that I physically can, yeah, right, that that uh I'm leaning on him, right, to have his hand on it from there. So that's a huge help. Um having that prayer life and that relationship with Jesus where I feel like I can't take my burdens to the Lord, right, and leave them there. Like that's been huge for me over the past several years because there's a lot of burdens when you're not only not only have a business, when you do with people, anybody who leads people or manages people or works with people can probably appreciate uh the burden. People be peopling. That's what I tell people, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Yes, people be peopling. As my pastor says, people are pitiful and we're all people, and we're all people.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

So true. So true. So that's the first thing man I would highlight is the stress. I don't know how people do it without Jesus, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

I I yeah, I do. It's uh I did it for I did it without Jesus for a long, long time, and it's a lot of uh drinking and cigarettes and coffee and screaming and anger. That's how that's how you deal with that. Yeah, sounds great. Oh man, right? Yeah, I don't not recommend it at all.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

No, yeah. Well, all right, I I don't know who all is gonna be listening to this, but I'll just take it one quick step further before I tell the second thing that helps with my stress levels. Um, brother, being consistent at the church that we go to, being a consistent churchgoer, especially in one where God's presence moves. I've been stressed to the max going into a church service sometimes, Steve, not knowing how this and that's gonna work out. Like 4,000 different things on my plate. Yeah. And I can go and be in the presence of God and and be in a place where his presence is welcome and there's liberty there. And man, I can leave feeling just like a weight lifted off my shoulders, right? Like that, all that stress, like it's gonna be okay. We're gonna figure that out. But like I see you, I got you. Like having this deep encounter with Jesus, bro, it changes so much, right? No matter what kind of stress you're going through, it doesn't have to be business owner stress, it can there's financial stress, there's all kinds of stuff people go through. Yeah, being in his presence and feeling that refreshing, like feeling like he's wrapping me in his arms, it's just something so powerful. Yeah, right. But you know, being in a situation in an uh environment where that is um possible is important uh as well. And then sometimes when you're stressed or down an aisle, you just want to sit at home, right? Like people get stuck in a rut. Yeah, being intentional. What but Lyle, what if Sunday's your only day off? I mean, I've heard that so many times. Yeah. What do you do? What uh what if church gets in the way of the game? Yep. What do you do? We we mentioned the word priorities earlier, yes, right? And man, having kids, this is a conversation we're having a lot, and a lot of my buddies now have kids who are really good at sports, playing sports and like extracurricular activities. So it's a priority thing, Steve. If my priority is being in the presence of Jesus, having my kids learn about Jesus, be like know that Sundays we go to midweek service on Wednesday evenings as well. Yes, right. Three hours on a Sunday and an hour on Wednesday, we're dedicating to some kind of corporate worship or going to hear about Jesus with a community of people. Right. If that is a priority, we settled that, right? My family a long time ago, then it's it's easy when it comes to those things because this is what we do. We have, I don't know how many hours in the week off the top of my head, but mine is four hours to do all the other things that we want to do, right? Those four hours of midweek and Sunday. So it's a great question, but there's a simple answer to it in my mind. What's the priority? Now, am I saying, like, am I implying that if you go on vacation and miss a church on a Sunday or if there's an occasional thing like that, it's the end of the world? Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

Banned.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah, you're done. Done. Good luck. Absolutely not. But we're talking about like if you're in a rut and you just like don't feel like you're stressed, so you just want to stay home, or you know, man, being intentional with being around encouraging people and being in the presence of God, it's it's not gonna hurt you. I can tell you that right now. Absolutely. So um, I'll move on to another thing, man. So two quick things, and then I'm sure there's several things I could mention. Um again, take your time. My relationship with my wife. So she's my best friend. It's cliche as that sounds. It's true. Oh, absolutely. We do life together, right? We she's a great mother to our girl. She's the best mom of the world as far as I'm concerned. Um, hopefully, I'm sure you would combat that with your wife.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

But I might fight you after this.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Yeah, all right, fisticuffs. I didn't plan on that today, but you didn't front load that. Uh, but is what it is, I guess. No, uh, the relationship that we have in communicating really well helps me as well on the stress side. Uh-huh. So there's a balance because all the stress from our business, I don't want to just dump that on my wife, right? And this is me speaking personally. Like, I don't want us both to be stressed to the back about these things. But if there is something huge or if there's something I really just need to tell someone or get off my chest or talk through, she is so good to just listen, right? And let's have a conversation about that. That's massive, right? And to know that, uh, try not to cry on your podcast, but that we pray together, right? And then I know she covers our businesses and her prayers. Yeah. Knowing that she is, she helps on our business. So she has some responsibilities that she helps with in our business, which is I'm super thankful for. But knowing that she's helping take care of our girls and our home, you know, that I don't have to stress about those things, like having a really, really good relationship with my wife has been, man, so so much for our stress in our business. Um, just because I have the confidence that uh she has my back, right? And I can talk to her if I need to. Um, you know, and that she's helping take care of things, right? Uh taking stuff off my plate if I need it. And she's very understanding. So transparency is a big piece of that. You're letting her know, like, hey, I need a minute, right? Like, I just had a got a couple of tough things going on right now. Yeah. Um, so transparency and communication is a big piece of that. And I'll tell you one more thing and we can move on, excuse me. Uh, brother, I also have two friends, two buddies of mine, who are also in similar phases of life, you know, doing well in their businesses or for the companies that they work for, have kids who I just they're like two of my best friends, and I can go to them and I do, and I can tell them anything. Yeah. And I can trust, because I do trust their wisdom and their relationship with Jesus to give me honest feedback, right? Even if it's something I don't want to hear, right? Having that outlet of obviously I go to God in prayer, my wife is my best friend, but even someone who's not my wife, who doesn't go to my church, like someone who's removed from my businesses, someone I can just go to and say, I I need you, I like I need you, I need you here. Like I need you to listen, I need you to tell me what you think about this. Helps my stress so much when you have trusted people that you can go to and you can really lean on to give you wisdom, to pray for you, and to just listen sometimes when you need it. Those are three things, man. Jesus, um reading the Bible and stuff goes into play in that relationship with God, having a really good relationship with my wife, and then having people that I can really go to and have an outlet but does wonders for my stress, man. Keeping it inside, the worst thing you can do.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's a you it when whenever you close yourself off and tighten down the clamps, you become a pressure cooker.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Yep. So true. Yeah, yeah. And it you it's unhealthy. Yes. You get I mean, your body can be affected, the brain, and like your body's a powerful thing. Like once you internalize that stuff, it's just yeah. I th I tell people and we've heard this, I don't know who who coined this hundreds of years ago, but you can't take care of other people if you're not taking care of yourself. Yes, right. And stress can do crazy things to people, so it's you gotta be healthy there.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Yeah, it's it's a literal poison.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:50

And and there's there's biology behind that. It affects your brain chemistry, it affects how it affects uh cortisol. uh influx, which you know, the stress hor uh hormone, it affects all of that uh on a cellular level. And funnily enough, it can you can actually pass down these genetic traits after a while to your kids. It'll affect it if it gets ingrained in your DNA.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Nobody wants that.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

No. No. The watering our tree is extremely important. Because if you don't have good nourishment, here I am again, once again talking about fruit trees and the fruit of the spirit, but I don't care. It's you gotta what you gotta watch what goes in to your tree, right? Because that's right. What we take in is what we produce. And the one word that I kept coming back to whenever you're talking about your wife, your kids, your clients, your friends who you lean on, the one word that I kept coming back to in my mind was safety. You're fostering not just good relationships, but you're fostering through those through safety. People feel safe when people feel safe to approach you then that is how you actually foster good relationships. And of course as you know good relationships make every make the whole world a difference. You know you're not fighting everybody that you that you see. Would you agree with that?

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Absolutely I th I think it's a great point Steve and I'll I'll not say something funny there because it really is uh that safety piece there's a couple of facets to it not only not only do we want to be a safe space for people yeah but it's also important I mentioned my wife and I mentioned you know two buddies that I have making sure that you have safe people because there's a lot of not safe people.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:52

Right? And that that can be troublesome and that can have its own set of um you know issues if you're relying on people are trusting people who aren't trustworthy or who are giving you bad advice or whatever the case is um so I man emphasize all the all the all the exclamation emojis for what you just said not only being a safe person but finding nice I didn't even know that was possible amazing man that was awesome um it you know having that safe space and I'll any anyone who's listening if you're like man that's great that you have those people but I don't like I don't have someone safe or someone to talk to find someone that you can yeah like go to go to a church somewhere or or find someone that can be a safe space for you if you have a lot of stress. Right and um you know I think you're gonna you're gonna see a lot of fruit from that. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

All right last question I got for you buddy all right and and of aside from all the wonderful advice that you've given so far somebody who is wanting to step off into the treacherous the treacherous territory of entrepreneurship business ownership stewardship all that good stuff what's and maybe not even a spiritual advice just a general good fruit that you can give us about what you would say to those people to uh before they actually step off on that journey.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Yeah um I was trying to think of a phenomenal word to put there an incredible word for that question but my adjectives were running thin in the moment so momentous uh uh that was a remarkable question oh which by the way that's what is the best way to describe dry race boards they're remarkable yes there's the dad joke had to fit one in there I love it plenty more where that came from so if we need a second episode for dad jokes I'm all in but uh I saw I actually went to uh a friend of mine's uh midweek church a couple of weeks ago they were doing a class on entrepreneurship and we talked about this exact thing so a few things man first of all uh that piece right before you take this leap because this is there there's a lot of opportunity in entrepreneurship a lot of flexibility we can talk about the pros right time flexibility things of that nature there's also a lot of responsibility a lot of weight like a lot of things that you have to give up and sacrifice to do this right so for one I would pray about it I would have that piece or I would have mentors in your life that you can go yes and and that's huge huge and run this by right run this through you know the mind of someone who has been around for a little while and who can give you some sound advice right hear out what you're thinking why you're thinking it have a game plan right if you're gonna run this by them so that they can have something to give advice on.

SPEAKER_02 48:59

And not chat GPT an actual person.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

Great point has to be an actual person. Yes I'm not saying you can't run it through those two to get their thoughts but do not rely solely on something like artificial intelligence. So I would say you know and or take it to God pray about it have mentors in your life that you can run this by um I would also say do an analysis on talk to entrepreneurs for one right talk to someone who has a business who started a business and and ask them questions like you don't know what you don't know if you've never been entrepreneur. So look at YouTube podcast all that kind of stuff but talk to someone who has started a business and get some real feedback. But from there I I'll say this Steve and there's an there's an analogy I'll give not everybody is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Of course and that doesn't mean they're not capable. So I've had this conversation too I I'm capable and some people may you know decide to oppose this but I'm capable Steve I feel like I'm capable of being a nurse I could go to school sure right get educated I had I'm you know physically able to go and work in a hospital and be a nurse right it's not that I'm not capable of doing that but I don't want to go to school to do that. I don't want to take blood from people and see all kinds of nastiness right that people have to deal with there like I just I'm not wired that way. You don't want to deal with doo-doo no I would prefer not to on adults like changing adult diapers like it takes special people and I'm so grateful that people do that absolutely thank God for people like that. Absolutely I'm not at all like you know putting a negative light on that I'm just I'm not cut out for that sure like I'm not wired that way. That would not bring me fulfillment I would be miserable if I did that. Right. Right but it's not that I'm not capable I just I I would be miserable. I wouldn't thrive there and it probably wouldn't be better for the people that I was the customers or the clients or whoever that I was helping if I'm not in a good place. Right. So the reason I give that example is not everybody is cut out or wired to be an entrepreneur. So I would I would do some kind of assessment there's a bunch of personality tests you can do right but I would do some kind of personal assessment based on the entrepreneurs you talk to based on the mentors you speak to and figure out like is this truly something that would you would be a good fit for would this be a good strength because there's discipline in owning a business you don't have anybody you don't have anybody to answer to right like you have to be disciplined to do the things you have to do to make this business grow. Right uh you know there's a lot of stress that comes with it there's uncertainty like some people would much rather be benefited from having a job where they know what's coming in every two weeks or twice a month or however often they get paid. They know the stability there. They don't have questions about the unknowns that are going to be coming up. They know exactly what the role and responsibility is like people are cut out different ways. So I would say it's crucial to really visit whether you have that entrepreneurial spirit and whether it's something that you think would be a good fit for you or not. Yeah because you know and I have partnered with people who thought they were and they just they weren't right accountability wasn't there uh the proactive drive and and some of the things that you really have to do and you know you do have to miss things sometimes. I try my very best not to miss a game or something for one of my kids that's a huge priority for me. But there are occasions when I have to make a tough decision right and that's not easy. Right. It's it's minimal right I try to minimize that as much as possible but that's part of owner business. When something goes wrong when there's a huge proverbial fire or storm and it all boils up to you you got to roll up the sleeves and you got to take care of it. Yeah right and that's not for everybody. So um now I also take my daughter to school and I can be flexible with my time like there's a lot of advantages to it right that come with that. I don't have to ask God for PTO or to go on vacation. Sure. So I'm not trying to shine just negative light on it but it is very very important to assess whether you think that kind of lifestyle and whether some of the things that come along with starting a business you know fit your personality fit your strengths.

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Yeah and also you've you you're uh an employer correct as well you've got other families that you've got to worry about you've got other uh you've got your employees that you have to consider how and and how how does that affect you as well like with the stress and and and all that like does that do you still feel a weight on that 100% that's and that's part of the stewardship piece of it.

SPEAKER_00 53:25

Yeah like what we're doing as a business the decisions that we make whether it's buying a house investing in a business whatever the case is all of that is running through my mind right not only my family and the future of my family but we do have people who depend right and the the success I'm holding up quotes that we can see directly impacts people other people being able to provide their families absolutely there's a weight to that and that is something that we don't take lightly either but it is something do you do you want to do that right do you want to have that responsibility that weight and that's one thing that I didn't want whenever having my handyman business and I'm tell you I suffered because of it.

SPEAKER_02 54:06

I'm having to do it's 100% on me owner operator and dude there's there's been some things that I took on that I thought I could handle and I had to tell I had to tell them like sorry I can't I can't continue to do this. Like here's your money back like because I can't I just can't finish this too big it turned into something too big and but I here's a number to somebody that you can call with a crew but I just can't I just can't do this you know and that's never a good place to be in it makes you feel terrible sure and so if you do want to do something bigger larger scope more money involved then yeah you're gonna have to take on some employees and buddy the temperature cranks up whenever you've got other people to consider.

SPEAKER_00 54:56

That's exactly right. Well I want to skirt over a good point that you just made too Steve to your credit right as a business owner it's absolutely important that if you do get in a situation that you feel like maybe I bit off more than I could chew maybe this is a little bigger than the britches that I'm wearing right now to have that transparent conversation and not just try to to do the right thing by the client right not just try to find your way through it or taking forever to do it or they end up suffering right but to have the maturity to say hey I'm so sorry I thought I could get this done for you this is more than I anticipated. Here's your money back you know somebody else would be better cut out for this I'm not the best fit for this thank you for giving me the shot like it takes it takes a big person to do that right it takes character to do that. Yeah but it also like be an entrepreneur you gotta know you might get in a situation like that. Yeah you gotta be prepared for that right and and you know those types of situations that's a really real time situation. It's fun it's not the most fun and uh I have you know uh what I call you know uh conflict healthy conflict pretty often that's one of those things that come along with it especially in flipping houses yeah contractors again we get another whole podcast on contractors but you know there's a lot of um healthy conflict I'll call it right that takes place uh some less than healthy for some parties sometimes you gotta put their feet to the fire that's right and you gotta have those tough conversations that's right and being a business owner having those tough conversations with yourself and being comfortable having those with other people sometimes is part of it. Right. You can learn that I'm not saying if if you've never done that that you're not built to be an entrepreneur. But all these things uh kind of go into the bucket of like really analyze this before you maybe take the plunge and quit your job to go be an entrepreneur. Right there's a lot of people who keep their jobs and they start something on the side and that's a really good bar as well to figure out okay I think I like this or this is successful enough where I think I can do this full time. And then sometimes they figure out man I'm so glad I didn't quit my job and go do this. I hate it.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

Yeah right so you know that can also be advantageous to to to test it a little bit if you're gonna do it before you necessarily go all in yeah yeah great combo man it was it was and man how long has this been oh wow we're at 50 minutes dude really yeah that for yeah it doesn't seem like that long at all I love it I love it when I have in the can you do me one favor?

SPEAKER_00 57:30

What can you hit that cool button one more time? Oh uh well I need a dad joke oh done so we talked about nursing right yeah this is one of my go-tos where's the worst place to hide in a hospital where the I see you there it is because they see you you can't hide in there thank you for leaving that that wisdom imparting that wisdom I was just waiting on you to ask me for another dad joke you finally delivered we can't all I'd do is ask for the button.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

Man thank you so much again Lyle for having for allowing me to be here and uh have this conversation with you guys check out Sparrow REI for uh all your real estate investment needs and uh you also do do you still do seminars and and all that fun stuff so we do speak occasionally at uh some conferences and things of that nature we don't host any but we do still get invited to do some stuff like that you need a speaker look up Lyle he's great at it and uh guys with all that being said anything else you want to impart? No man good to go appreciate you having me on Steve enjoyed the conversation man love you brother love you too bud all right guys to all my listeners out there thank you so much for listening may God richly bless you and I will see you on the next one