Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset

The "60 For Me" Framework: Bill Hoopes on Strategic Selfishness and Avoiding Burnout

• Justin Mills • Season 1 • Episode 53

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Episode Summary:

At 15 years of service, Bill Hoopes was just five years away from a guaranteed Navy pension. He was a Chief Petty Officer making $90k a year with a clear path to retirement. Then, he did the unthinkable: he handed in his papers and walked away with nothing but his freedom.

In this episode of Dragon’s Gold, Bill joins Justin Mills to discuss the high cost of "golden handcuffs" and the resilience required to rebuild from scratch. From failing his Chief Petty Officer exam six times before finally passing, to navigating bankruptcy and a $50k pay cut as a teacher, Bill’s story is a masterclass in grit. He reveals why "sticking your toe in" is the most dangerous way to take a risk and shares his "60 for Me" framework—a strategic approach to self-care that prevents you from "moving positive in the wrong direction."

Key Takeaways:

• The 7th Try: Why failure is just data until you decide to quit.

• Burning the Boats: How to make high-stakes decisions when comfort is the enemy.

• The "60 for Me" Rule: Why taking one hour a day for yourself is the ultimate productivity hack.

• Breaking Generational Curses: Transforming trauma into a drive for greatness.

What You'll Learn:

• How to build resilience when you fail (again and again).

• The real cost of comfort and "golden handcuffs."

• How to reclaim 60 minutes a day to change your life.

Tools & Weapons:

• The Bible (Corinthians 9.24): Run the race in a way to win.

• Social Media Time Capsules: Using posts to hold your future self accountable.

• The OODA Loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

• Leading Her Game: Bill’s book on raising high-performing female athletes.

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About Gold Dragon Investments:

At Gold Dragon Investments, our mission is to bring joy to others by helping them win the game of investing. Helping every client become the hero of their financial journey. We believe that wealth is a tool, but joy is the ultimate outcome.

Through meaningful partnerships, we strive to empower our investors to create freedom, and build lasting legacies of purpose, fulfillment, and wealth.

Join Us on the Adventure:

ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to another episode of dragons gold, the magic of mindset. Today we have the pleasure of having Bill Hoops, founder of lead your journey. Also state director and owner of Florida P G F premier girls, fast pitch and having gone full cycle to acquire, fix and sell a franchise restaurant. Bill, welcome to the show. I appreciate it. Thank you, Justin. It's an honor to be here. it's a pleasure to have you my friend and I'm really excited to share your story. So as I like to do, let's dive in. Where did it all begin for Bill Hoops? Where did it all begin for Bill Hoops? Well, Justin, today's my 46th birthday today. So it began November 26th, 1979 on a cold winter's night in New Jersey, right? But no, listen, reality, all jokes aside, man, I was born on a Monday. November 26, 1979. I'm what you would call a drone. If life was a beehive, I would be a drone. I've been put on this earth to kind of work, produce, create, and build. So for me, literally, it started 46 years ago. I came out with a veil on my face connected to a little hole that's still in my ear. And I was fighting for life since day one. And the zero to 12 years were kind of a fraught with parents not knowing what to do and separations and kids going through custody battles and all of this wild stuff, right? And, you know, and I took what I call my first real right angle at 13 years old. You know, at 13 years old, four days before Christmas on December 21st, my father decided that life wasn't worth living anymore. And he decided to commit suicide and took his own life, right? So that's really where mindset, performance, struggle, the real m first pivotal right angle in my life happened. That's where I was faced as a young boy with uh no choice of to go on. There was no one else to learn from. There was no one else to learn how to become a man or do certain things. So I had to sit there and fight with tears and strife and grief and struggle. And so that continued for a long, long time. And in some ways, My 46th birthday, I still struggle it with ways and opportunity today, right? But that's kind of where it started. That was the first point. My mom and my dad were never really together, but mom suffered from mental illness and depression and anxiety and never really was able to keep it together. So at 16, I dropped out of high school and I left high school in the 10th grade, got a couple jobs, messed around with one, had to have one to help mom pay the bills. did that for three years and was a knucklehead teenager doing what knucklehead teenagers are doing and probably filled the stereotypes of what a dropout looks like, right? You know, working at a fast food restaurant, partying all night, messing around all day and, you know, getting the hours in where I could. for me, man, I've always had this inner like, okay, this isn't it. This isn't the bottom line. This isn't the end. This isn't where you're supposed to stop. just because all these people before you have done this, like, this isn't your path. So, you know, at 19 years old, and this is where, you know, all of the stuff kind of ended and a lot of the good stuff started to come about, right? At 19 years old, I decided to be a generational breaker. I didn't achieve the category of being the first male in my family to graduate high school. That didn't happen. But as soon as I dropped out, I went and got my GED, right? Three years later, I came across a recruiter and a recruiter said, hey, buddy, we can change your life. I said, man, quit playing. So you can't change my life. He said, no, really, we can change your life. I said, can you get me out of here? He said, well, can you take this test? Can you take this physical? Can you meet certain qualifications? I could. I did. And I did. So the first major milestone of breaking generational curses and breaking it's just this way and this is the way it's supposed to be. started with taking the first real step towards greatness and that was enlisting and joining the United States Navy. Hmm. My friend, thank you for your service. I'm so grateful when I hear the way you speak and I hear what you've come from. And I know everyone has their own story, but what a, what a painful thing to go through to lose a loved one like that and to have to overcome that kind of, or deal with and adapt to that kind of grief at a young age to be able to then find and see an opportunity where someone extends a branch to you, something that can potentially change your life. You taking that step on that journey to work towards that, whatever it is, regardless of what opportunities may have been presented to you, you had to be the one to take it. You had to take that step. And so I think it's powerful. And I'm grateful that that journey started for you to be able to allow you to heal and to grow and to change your life for the better. Yeah, I appreciate that. oh, it's huge. mean, like, again, the way you carry yourself, right? You have an awesome confidence that comes off. I think that that's right. Pressure makes diamonds. So either you get crushed or you go, baby. Like, let's go. Let's Let's go. So obviously not a easy path to walk. are oftentimes in life trials and tribulations. I know we've just started touching on it, but I'd love to know what are some of the things that you've had to overcome, some of the difficulties? I know you've shared some already, but. what would you cite as the gauntlet for you? the gauntlet is walking with Jesus, The moment you decide to make a decision for that, you're facing the gauntlet, right? Anyone can sit down and choose to sit idle. Anyone can sit by and choose to say, it's not for me. I'm gonna take the easy road. I'm just gonna let life pass me by. But the moment you decide to step up, the moment you decide to be inspired to inspire, you face the gauntlet, right? So if I had to name physical things for me, right, you know, it would have started at a young age, right? Dealing with a mother, this is even before my father's death, dealing with a mother who didn't know how to deal with herself. Right, who had her own personal issues, who had carried them into motherhood and who did a great job. She was a good mother, provided a good foundation, but the way she transferred anxiety as I get older and I learned these things, the way that she took her issues and her pain and put them on me and expected me to not only handle my own five, six, eight and 12 year old issues, but solve hers as well, right? You know, so that was the first gauntlet. The second gauntlet was, you know, facing a father who literally had told you two years before, if you leave, I'll be dead within two years and then kept his word, right? And handling that, right? 19 years old, leaving home, starting a new life, you know, high school dropout, GED, not really knowing what was going on, but taking a chance. When I joined the Navy, I didn't ask anyone. I didn't ask for advice. I didn't ask for a plane ticket. I didn't ask for bus fare. I made a decision and I went. Hmm. Because if I'd had asked my best friend, he'd had only thought about himself and said, If I'd asked my mother, she'd have only thought about what she was going to miss and told me to stay. And because my heart leans on helping people, because that's just the gift God gave me, I would have been inclined to stay. So I chose to set boundaries and self-protections in order to chase personal greatness. And that's okay. Right? So I did. And I got on the bus and I joined the United States Navy. And outside of building a family and being married to an amazing woman for 22 years and raising two children, joining the United States Navy was the single best decision and path that God ever put me on. When God makes a path for you, if you follow the path, you can only get greatness, not perfection, not without pain, but ultimate greatness. Right? So I was led to go join the United States Navy and I did. And what a great decision because it was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life. I was a 19 year old kid, full of energy, full of ambition, full of intelligence, full of drive, full of will. But I needed somebody to open a door and lend a hand to me and say, this is how you do it. I needed the one thing that I never had and that was structure. Right? If you do X, Y, and Z, we will give you an opportunity, not give you, but give you an opportunity for this. And I kicked the door and I got promoted five times in six years. And as a, as a 24 year old young man, I was a first-class petty officer, E six in the United States Navy. You know, I mean, I was doing things in five years that took people 12, 13, 14 years to do. because you gave me a goal, you gave me an opportunity. know, God had a plan and I listened and went for it. Not without setback, right? I met my wife, she had been married before, I had been married before, neither one of us knew how to handle a relationship. We had to listen and lean on each other and figure that out, right? I lost my sister when she was 21. She got killed by two hit and run drivers crossing the road at two o'clock in the morning. left her on the road to die, right? I'm 24 years old, newly married, newly kid, dealing with the death of my sister who's three years younger than me. And so life, while things are going good, things in life, reality still happens, right? And every day we're faced with a choice, right? You see this on my shirt, we'll get into this, lead your journey and how it all led to this, but you're faced with a choice. Two of the pillars of lead your journey are intentional effort. Everything we do, we do on purpose, good, bad, or indifferent, we're making a physical choice, right? And being the example, being the example first for yourself, doing the right things, which radiates to others. And then of course, being the example for God and following that light in the path there. So I was very blessed by the choices that I made and the hard work that I put in. um And then my wife at 23 years old decided to go back to school. and she got a bachelor's degree. Well, me being the competitive person I was, I'm watching her, I'm like, girl, this is all college is? And I went back to school and I got a bachelor's degree in child psychology from Liberty University, right? And then she went on and got a master's degree and I'm like, whoa, this is all this is? And I'm a competitive person, right? So I went back to school and I got a master's degree, right? And I got my master's degree from Eastern Kentucky in child policy development. So now, I'm 10 years in the Navy at this point, right? I'm getting ready to become, well, let's say 12. Let's fast forward to 12. I'm 12 years in the Navy at this point. And um I've been up for Chief Petty Officer, that seventh promotion for seven years now. Talk about wanting to stop, drop, shut them down, open up shop. It'll make a lot of people say, oh no, but this rough rider, this is how we keep it rolling. I had to take that test, Justin, to make Chief seven, times. Right? Think about it. You're on your way. You're in the Navy five years promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion. You're, you're top dog. You're Maverick, your top gun, right? You went from making 30,000 to 80,000 in four years. You never seen money like this. You got a beautiful wife next to you. You got a great family. You're on a roll, right? And then you're up for the next promotion. This is the one, this is the one that only 22 % of the people that ever joined the Navy get. This is the one that if you get this, you've made it, right? Even though that's not true, a first class, a second class in the Navy, you've made it. You've served your country. You've done the right thing. Being an older man now, I understand that rank is just what you work towards and everybody has their role and everybody holds value, right? But at the time, was uh a hurricane and then it was a brick wall. So, you know, the first time you take the test, you're like, first time up, no big deal. Second time you're like, ah, still a young sailor. It's OK. Third time you're like, OK, well, what's happening here? Fourth time, fifth time, you're like, OK, maybe I'm never going to make it, right? Sixth time you're like, I just got to keep pushing. Seventh time, all right, now I've made it, right? Started from the bottom, now you're here. And in August of 2012 for fiscal year 13, right, I was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer and I made the rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. yeah, seven tonight, seven, roll it. You know, I, there's so much value in what you shared beyond just, of course, the fact that it's your story in that in of itself is valuable. And I think that it's incredible to be able to share these stories with people and your story. One of the things, many of the things that you said really rang true. One, I want to touch on the idea about not perfection. and not without pain, but you can achieve that greatness. And if you have that goal, like the example of you set that goal to, to achieve that rank, right? Regardless of the reason you were going to attain it first time, fine. Second time, fine. Right. Third, you're like, what fourth and fifth, you're like, man, maybe this isn't for me. The cool thing is, that that's where most people stop. And you didn't actually some people, most people didn't even get to four and five. But if you're at four and five and you've done it four to five times, you just think, man, I, this is not for me. Let me switch path. Let me change gears. Let me go somewhere else. Let me pivot. Right. But when you have your eye on something and you know that you will achieve it, you believe that you will do it. You don't stop. And when you don't stop, you win. Right. So whether it was turned seven or whether it was turned 10, like I believe that at that point you're so focused and vested. Nothing's going to stop you. And you're just going to keep finding the way to get over that wall, right? Like the hurricane to the wall. And that's a lot of force to hit and stop. So all the more reason why it would be understandable if you decided, no, I've done enough. I can quit. can, I can stop here. I'm not quitting. I'm just not going to keep going forward. Right. But so often in life, we don't realize that if you're not moving forward, you are moving back because everything keeps going. And if you're stagnant, you will fall behind. I think that there's a lot of power in the story that you shared, the lesson, the persistence, the resilience, the tenacity that you showed not to stop. And that's some serious gold. Yeah. Yeah. So, so let's fast forward, right? Let's fast forward to the next, you know, gauntlet, right? Cause, cause we, we, we are only, you know, I've only made it to 33 years old now I'm 46 today. We still have a little bit of room to go, right? Um, so I made chief, right? You do what you say. You set a goal. You're a young sailor. You're in bootcamp. You look up to these guys. They got the anchor on their chest, right? Everything's good. Like you're like, man, that's what I want to do. You get it. Now you got it and you're like, good, all right, you're rolling, you're helping sailors, you're doing what you gotta do, but there's something missing. It's like, okay, here we are, right? Where you say, oh, I've done enough. could never, there's just, my brain isn't built like that, right? Next project, you know? So 2014, well, 2013, I say to my wife, I say, look, I made chief. I'm just not still not feeling it. Like this is great, but it's not, am I going to spend the next eight years of my life just here to collect a check eight years from now and call it retirement? What if I only make nine more years, 10 more years? How much is that retirement worth? So I actually started making plans at that point to stay in, but to get out, right? To stay in, but to get out, right? And, and so in 2013, I bought my first home. I bought a home in Pasco County, Newport, Richie for $153,000 and, you know, move my family into it. And I said, you know, I've got two years left on my contract to figure it out. And there's two options that are going to happen. I'm to stay in the Navy, finish the 20, get my retirement, do what everybody does, because that's what everybody always does. And everybody always did. And we'll see what happens. Or I'm going to walk away from the Navy at 15 years with absolutely nothing and start my life over again. Crazy thought Justin who does that right who does that? um but anyway, so ah We came up for orders and I was a recruiter a recruiter for the last eight years And I said hey, just keep me in the southeast. Let me be home for dinner range Right if I live my family's in Tampa put me in Jacksonville put me in Miami put me in Birmingham Put me in Atlanta put me somewhere where I could drive home for dinner My daughter's entering the ninth grade. My wife is just finishing her bachelor's degree, getting licensed as a teacher in Florida. She's starting a career. Like, I don't want to be a geo bachelor. And they were like, well, chief, we know you're a chief and chiefs don't get out of the Navy because you value your retirement. So we're going to tell you, you can go to Arizona, San Jose, Minneapolis. You can go anywhere over there, but you can't stay here. And because what they do is at some point, once you make a certain rank and you go over a certain Hill, they know that you're not going to give up what they have for you at the finish line. So then they can kind of do whatever they want if they don't feel like helping you out. So they did. They told me I could go to the West Coast, take my family with me. I could go to the West Coast and be a geo bachelor or I could get out. So, you know, long story short, I did what most people will never do. And at 15 years, I looked the Navy in the eye. I sat down at my commanding officer's desk. had two folders. He said, this is your reenlistment papers to take you to any one of these three luxury West Coast places. And here's your DD-214 and your separation. Signed my DD-214 and separation and at 15 years and three months in the United States Navy, I drove home for the first time without a job, without employment, without anything since I was 19 years old. Course shift for sure. Like course shift for sure. Yeah. It's well, the cool, but the cool thing though is Bill is right. Cool. I got it. Right. I've made that accolade. I got that thing. And then just like you say, you made the choice. It was difficult that most people won't. Why? Because of comfort and complacency. People get so comfortable in what they have and they don't want to give up what that, that piece at the end that they think that they're going to get. but there's so much more greatness that you can achieve if you work for it and you don't stop and you, and you have to have that goal. And then maybe, maybe to other people, that is enough. And that's, that does make it for them. And that's great. I wish more power to those people because much like you mentioned earlier, everyone has a place. No matter what your rank is, all the roles are important. No matter where you work at, whether you're in the military or in a, in a restaurant, the idea is, that the, the, your job is important. you're a key and integral to making that business function. But there's different levels of responsibility that come to it. Some people are okay with little responsibility and little compensation. Others are willing and accepting up to the challenge. And sometimes it's not even about monetary compensation. It's about the awards accolades that you get the achieving your internal success, like setting a goal and getting it right. Just knowing that you can do what you said and what you put your mind to. uh And some people have that hunger and drive. And when you have that, you never want to stop. Just like you said earlier, right? Like always going. Like there's always going to be another project. There's always going to be something next. um And I say this intentionally because I also want to acknowledge there's also a lot of beauty in setting the goal, getting it and appreciating it. Finding joy in the journey, right? Being thankful for the things that you did achieve, the goals that you set and the positivity, the memories that you will have for the rest of your life. Right. Knowing that you did what you said. Right. And feeling good about that. Okay, cool. After you sit in that for a moment. All right, let's go. What's next? Right. right. Yeah, that's good, right? You know how I explain that? I care. Come here, Justin, I'm gonna give you a hug. And as soon as I care, let's go. The world does not, so it's time to reengage. I like them. I care. As a physical human being, I care about your emotions, I care about your feelings. But the moment we stop hugging each other, you go back to reality. The bills are paid, the rent is paid, the grass is cut, the sun is shining, the rain is pouring, and you have to go because no one else outside of this hug cares. Mm hmm. So good and true and true. The reality, right? It's the reality. One of the other things I want to touch on that I loved so much is the idea of, yes, competitive spirit, but more when you saw your wife going back to school and like, wait, that's all that is. And then you went and did it. You might've having some competitive drive to go and do that, but I love the idea about example. So, so often when we blaze trails, there is no path to follow, but When you see that someone else has done it before you and you recognize, hey, that's not nearly as hard as, I thought it would be when I was in my head, I can do that. I bring this specific point up because Bill, that is the entire point of this podcast is to share the stories with people that say, I screwed up too. And I made mistakes, but I kept going and I succeeded. And if enough people can see that you can do anything you put your mind to, and that it will be painful, it will not be perfect. And if you keep going, you will win. That is literally the essence of this podcast. And I'm grateful that you shared that point. So thank you, brother. Yeah. Right. And, and, and to not, you know, when, when I looked at my wife and I said, you know, this is what you're doing. You know, it was still hard, right? College is still hard, right? It's, still, it's still tough, but it was different than I thought it was. Right. So her example in that, in so many others over the last 22 years, you know, has led me, uh, to be better, just like I'm hopeful that some of the things I've led her to do is, has made her better as well. Right. So You know, easy part though, right? Join the Navy, have the government first and third paycheck, you know, get paid on the first and the 15th of every month, insurance, make rank, do all these things, get these degrees, raise a family, life is good, wake up June 9th, 2015 without a job or a check. Right? So what happens now? Literally walked away, right? You know, the hardest thing about jumping in a cold pool is sticking your toe in first. Hmm. Right? Cause then it changes your whole thought process. This is why I didn't ask friends if I should join the Navy because the moment you get the opinion of how cold the pool is, your body then starts giving you so many reasons why you shouldn't. Right? When if you just jump in, your body goes, ah, that sucked, but this is a whole lot of fun. Everybody else come on in now. Right? That's how it works. Right? Yeah. I mean, that's how it works. You stick your toe in a little, I'm not going in there. Right? That's risk. Whoa, I'm not going in there, right? But if I take risks, yeah, it might suck. It might be really cold, go into hypothermia, but more than likely, I'm gonna warm up to the environment around me and then others are gonna join and we're gonna make this thing a party, right? And that's just how it works, right? I related another way, right? We talk about the things that go wrong. We talk about leaving the Navy, right? Well, what about when things go right? People take their hands off the wheel. Right? When we're in an ocean, right? A boat only sails forward. The only time a boat sails in reverse is with a tugboat, right? Right? Other than that, a boat sails forward. The current only moves one way. So when the waves get rocky, what's the captain do? He mans the bridge, he grabs the wheel, all hands on deck, we take control. We try to fix the problem. Well, now we fixed the problem. The waves have smoothed out. Everybody relaxes, gets a nice drink. We go back down on deck. And what happens is no one holds the wheel and the currents pulling us off track back to rough waters again. If we would figure out how to maintain the wheel and keep that same passion and energy that we have when we failed the second, third, fourth, fifth time, when we actually achieve and keep that intensity, you'll see your stats, your life, your whole mindset and those around you flourish, right? So, When she says Jesus take the wheel, she doesn't mean just in the hard times. Keep it steady, my friend, and you'll notice your results thrive way more than they ever did just in the storm. You know, so at least that's a piece of it, right? So fast forward, right? 35 years old. Now I've gotten out of the Navy reset. I become a school teacher, right? The high school dropout goes back to school. Yeah, right. Here's the reality. And I hate this for our education system, you know, because I am a, a pretty good teacher and motivator, but it was the easiest job to get with the skills that I had getting outside of the Navy. Right. So I had used my degree and I went through what they call the alternative certification program and became a teacher. I had to go through a year long, learn how to be a teacher course, right? And this is probably the fourth major time that I faced failure in my life. Cause you know, I told you the story about taking the chief's you know, seven times to pass. Well, that test was free for promotion, right? To pass this teacher certification test, you have to pass an English test, a reading test, a writing test and a math test. right to show your basic skills. Reading, writing and English, or science, I passed first time up. right. Justin, how many times you think I had to take that math test? How many times you think two plus two minus XYZ to the third power got me sitting in front of them at $275 a piece? Three times three, Justin. Three times three, nine times, I felt like Tupac. Nine shots couldn't top me. I took it and smiled, okay? You understand what I'm saying? I went from making 90, I can laugh about it now. I went from making $90,000 as a chief petty officer in the Navy to making $40,000 as a teacher. I took a $50,000 a year pay cut supporting a 15 year old girl, an 11 year old boy and a 13 year married wife. Right? And I said, honey, I'm just walking away. Trust me, girl. Trust me, girl. Right? And she did, God bless her. She trusts me. She helped me. She worked me through it. Right? um But we took a $50,000 pay cut. And on the sixth test, I'm like, man, this sucks. On the seventh test, I'm like, oh no, what's going to happen? On the eighth test, they're like, listen, young man, this is the last chance you have to take this test. If you don't pass, we're pulling your alternative teacher certification and you have to sit out a year. So I paid three tutors. sitting there 18 hours a day studying this basic math. You boy, look, I have to multiply, subtract, divide, and do some fractions. That's it. I owned a business that that's all I need. Anything else is just, but either way on the ninth time I went in, thankfully I got the pass and I was able to keep my job. And I taught for three more years. And then my second year of teaching is when Florida PGF came around. And this is when I started my own business and I taught and ran my own business for two and a half years until my own business was self-sufficient enough to where I can now just lean into that, get out of teaching and become a full-time entrepreneur, right? But the part in there, that $50,000 a year pay cut, I got out of the Navy in 2015, right? And you talk about being vulnerable. Guys, here's a real story. 15, 16, 17, all of my savings is gone now. because I took a $50,000 a year pay cut and in 2018, my wife and I filed a bankruptcy. So here I am, luxury 15 year career, making $90,000 a year as a chief petty officer. make a decision for my family that lands me in financial ruin. I take a bankruptcy three years outside of the Navy. And now I got to reset my life while I'm running a business, while I'm trying to redo things, while I'm trying to lead a family, while I'm trying to be example, I now have to take all of this, I'm this hot running front running building everybody. No, I'm a man who got out, switched careers, lost $50,000 a year, couldn't manage my money, wasn't educated on finances and had to put my tail between my legs and take a reset and take a bankruptcy. That's what happened. That's my gauntlet, right? What a journey to go and obviously not alone. You've already spoken so highly of obviously a pivotal person in your life, your wife. I think about the fellowship, the journey that we go on and who the people that go along with us, whether we bring along with or that support us in the way or that bring us up. Who would you cite in your fellowship along? Yeah, I mean, look, my, my leaders and examples in the United States Navy would have been a James Donald, right? Senior chief James Donald taught me the right way to be a sailor, taught me the right way to handle business and boardrooms and ready rooms and admirals and captains and not to be a young, you know, loud mouth kid anymore. You're entering the real world. So he was a, he was a man mentor for me that, that maybe I didn't have growing up. uh I would say my wife has taught me patience and humility and and you know what it's like to deal with a person who sometimes doesn't know how to deal with himself uh You know, my children raised me on how to be a father because I never had one. So it didn't come with an instruction manual and how to do things right. I've apologized to my children for things where I felt short more than I feel like I've been present for them. Not present, I've been present every single day of their life, but it's just a feeling of, you doing enough because you never had anyone doing things for you, right? you're there, being there doesn't mean you're present. Just because you're on site doesn't mean that you're in it. And so there's a very different ah factor when you are in the moment and you're there, present with them. Yeah, and then I would say the last three, right, are just the people that are closest. My brother and I still don't have a very good relationship today, but he taught me perseverance and fight and will. He did things in his life that only 1 % of human beings ever do. He, you know, got in some trouble, did some goofy things, but uh after he, you know, finished what he needed to finish, he never got in trouble again. And that was 35 years ago. And a lot of men never do that, right? So I look at him for perseverance and change and overcoming. ah My mother still teaches me fight 67. years old now battling full-time Alzheimer's and a long-term care facility. I'm her full-time caretaker. take care of her every single day. I'll go see her after this phone call. ah Still taking care of her after 46 years and it's just what I was put on this earth to do because you know she was given the single hardest life of any person I've ever seen on the planet earth. So you know my only reason for her was to be a guiding light for her until her light is extinguished and she goes to see God, right? And then I would say the final person who was the first major person to inflict my life or be an influence in my life over the last 46 years would be my father. Even in his absence, uh my thought process of him has changed. As a young adolescent, as a child, I thought of him as a quitter and somebody who left me and abandoned me and didn't know my value and how could he just leave me here all alone? But as I've gotten older and matured and studied psychology and mindset and the brain and people and how things function, I have forgiveness and empathy for my father and the mental illness that he went through and how he was so hurt and so distraught that the thought of not being here was greater than the thought of being here. You and I could never consciously think that because we don't have the disease that causes that thought process. ah So as I've gotten older, you he's been a guiding light for me of what change looks like and how now my mission is to interject mindset, performance, attitude, gratitude, and go out and change the world, right? So, you know, fast forward, I did pass that teaching exam. I did stay a teacher for four more years. ran my own business and was a teacher working 24 hours a day for 36 months. you know, then COVID shut the world down, but the state of Florida stayed open. And in May of 2020, we were still open running softball and the whole country came to my state to say soft play softball and it quadrupled my business. So through all of this stuff and I feel bad for the world. But for some reason, my state stayed open and all of this trouble led up to a blessing from God to where I was one of four people in the state of Florida operating, one of only eight people in the whole country in an outside sport where we played by the rules, disinfected every ball, every pitch, and really did a lot of things for a year just to let girls play. But I let people know all across the country who I was and what I was doing, which led to Florida PGF expanding. ah That all, it leads up to where I am now, That would lead up to the beginning of softball, which started for me in 2010, right? So you were five years, I did the Navy and softball, right? And then got out of the Navy, but softball continued. Didn't get out of the Navy for softball, but it was just interacting, right? Sure. May I just confirm and verify that the opportunity to be associated with PGF and to run this Did that come through based on interactions or relationships uh because of what you created in school? No, nothing to do with it Nothing to do it. So quick 30 seconds on where softball came in 2010 my daughter's in the fifth grade. We live in Clearwater I'm still a recruiter in the Navy. I got four or five years until I get out of the Navy, right? So we're not even thinking getting out of the Navy at this point So she comes home like any normal kid would with a flyer that says, sign me up for Clearwater Little League, right? We put her in Little League, like the Little League coach gets sick and now they need a coach. Well, Coach Bill steps up like I can coach Little League. I have some extra time on a Tuesday night, no big deal, right? Well, then I find out that my kid is good and she can actually play the sport and she loves it. Then we find out what travel ball is and we get on a travel ball team. Mmm. then coach Bill, if you learned anything, Justin, I just don't sit back and just do things. I kill it. I destroy it. So coach Bill decided to start his own team. I recruited the best players. We built up one of the number one teams in the state. That led me to bring in an organization from the state of California. They gave me the firecrackers, which was the first firecracker team in the state of Florida. This was 2014, just about a year before I was getting out of the Navy. I built the Firecracker organization from 2014 to 2019 to one of the top five clubs in the state of Florida with 18 teams from Panama City to Miami. So we were starting to help kids at a real high level on the field get scholarships. Well, Florida PGF solved, or not Florida PGF, but PGF solved that. Here's a guy that's got a great social media presence, that's a military veteran that can go online, put on good tournaments. He's got great community presence with the softball community. He's running 18 teams. So they called me, right. And they were like, Hey, run a tournament. I'm like, you're crazy. I just got out of the Navy. just went through a bankruptcy. I'm running 18 teams. I'm a teacher. I don't have no time for this. Three months later, they called me again. I'm like, okay, God, I hear you. You're calling twice. I guess this is something that I should pay attention to. And I did. And I listened to what they had to say. We had a couple of conversations in 2018. This is March of 2000 bankruptcy, December, PGF calls December, 2017. God wipes the slate clear, brings in a new opportunity. He says, you went through all of this. This is what you struggled with. You're humble enough to accept it. You're not fighting it anymore. I'm going to wipe the slate clean. And oh, by the way, if you listen to the call that's going to come in, it might help you if you answer. Right. First time I do what people want to do. Right. Devils like you're too busy. Second time I answered the phone. I'm like, all right, let's give it a shot. Right now. Eight years later, I run the biggest, most competitive girls fast pitch association in the Southeast United States. Just think about the fact that you you went from not I'm busy like to yeah, I'll give it a shot to fast forward just shy of a decade. Right. And, and all the stuff that's come from that, but not just for you, the things that have come along for all the people that you've helped along the way, all the kids that got to participate that in that all the learning the discipline, the motivation that came along from being on the team work, right? The work ethic that is required to maintain that at a high level, all the things that they, and then potentially to get a scholarship, right? To support them, to get scholarships, move on so they can, whether it's in that sport or whether it's just an opportunity to open the door to allow them to learn something greater for their education so they can take that on into the next chapter of their life. The idea about the ripples, impact that you had because of what you did and the changes that you made for someone's life. It's really pretty amazing. Yeah, I mean, and it's been a ton of fun, right? So 2018, I stepped into that. We did it for two years. were running tournaments. Then COVID happened. 2021, we really started to run a lot of high-level tournaments, 22, 23, 24, and now we're in 25. I run 30 tournaments a year inside the state of Florida. run two tournaments in New Jersey, one tournament in Georgia. We're looking at Texas, Oklahoma, Washington state. run about eight college camps every year. So right now, know, eight years in the company is affecting probably 10 to 15,000 female athletes between the ages of eight and 18 years old every year. Now we put on high level showcases, camps and clinics that probably warrant anywhere from a million to $3 million a year. uh CAA, NAI, junior college, division three scholarships, grants, things like that all across the country to female athletes in the sport of softball. So through all of that, I stopped coaching softball in 2022. Just got to be too much of a conflict. I'm running one of the biggest softball organizations putting on events. It's hard to go into an event that you're putting on and then play in it, right? People. start to think you're skewing the system and things like that. Plus it just took too much time. So I stopped coaching. My coaching career was great. I'm a 2019 3A state championship owner at the high school level. Now, fun fact, I own a 3A state championship from Admiral Farragut High School, which is the only military female boarding school in the United States that is in fact a high school state softball championship winner. And as a Navy guy, that's pretty cool, right? So fun fact there. I've won a couple state champion, or not in that state, but national championships at the travel ball level. So, you know, in girls softball, we do a lot. So in 2023, bring in lead your journey, right? Which brings us kinda to present day. My background as we've explored here is working with kids as a Navy recruiter for 10 years, as a middle school teacher for four years, as a softball coach for 15 years. My formal education goes into child psychology and child and youth policy development. So I started using all that. And about two years ago, I started writing a program called Lead Your Journey. And Lead Your Journey is, this is the workbook and it is 52 weeks, 365 days of softball related mindset, performance, attitude, recruiting, parent communication, getting better, getting, you know, locked into what you're doing. We wrote this book, I wrote this one specifically for the athletes, ah because I put on 35 tournaments a year, I see tens of thousands of families, I see dads and moms outside the fence, cheering their kids on the right way, applying pressure to their kids the wrong way. ah I see kids inside the fence playing the game free, playing the game scared. I see coaches, you know, coaching the game with love and coaching the game with fear. ah I see all kinds of things that go out in front of me every single day. So when you do that and you're a problem solver like myself, you look for the gaps, you look for the holes. You where can we provide information? Where can we provide coaching to fill the gaps to help this 13 year old and her mother and father have better communication based off the reasons that they have bad communication? sports, pressure, perfectionism, wanting to be great. See, the kid goes out on the field and feels like they have to be perfect or they're letting the parents down. The parents have so much anxiety because they see the kids work and cry and stress out all week, they just wanna see them do great all weekend. So the parent says, hey, I wanna see you do great and all the kid hears is you're not doing enough. The kid wants the parent to see that they didn't let them down and all the parent goes is, well, there's nothing I can say to make the kid happy. So what we do, we bridge that gap. And that's kind of the void that we filled. you know, so this is a workbook that stays within our group and uh it's turned two years ago, it turned into a company. That company now has 45 private clients. We deal with eight or nine organizations. There's 14,000 people following me on Facebook for just over a million and a half organic views every single month. And then as of this past November 1st, I actually became a physical written published author. um I wrote a book called Leading Her Game, which is a parent education kind of psychological foundation to teach parents involved in girls sports, how to raise, communicate and best support high level, high academic, high functioning female athletes. So good, brother. That's amazing. The impact that you're making, like, that's incredible. And I love how it's helped you, right? It's obviously brought you joy as well in the journey. like, you can see it when you talk about it. Like, you're so passionate about it. It's beautiful. along the journey, we acquire what I call Dragon's Gold. Sometimes it's material and you've cited a couple of awesome accolades that you've received. And sometimes it's the mindset. It's the things that we learn along the way. What would you consider Dragon's Gold in your journey? Dragon's gold, man, that's one of the easiest answers that I could give, right? Being a gnome, right, and being an elf, I'm all aware of gold, right? No, I'm just messing. But dragon's gold, for real, for me, I wear it on my head, man. It's 60 for me. Right, six zero F-O-R-M-E, 24 hours in a day that a dragon spreads his wings, right? And that dragon gets up and that dragon has to fly and protect his area. It has to protect his female dragons. It has to protect his baby dragons. It has to go out and collect the gold. And every day the dragon flies, the dragon only worries about the worries that the dragon has. And the dragon doesn't worry about his scales and he doesn't worry about his tail and he doesn't worry about his nail and he doesn't worry about his flame and he doesn't worry about his fame and all he does is stay the same. Right? So what the dragon needs to lock into is 60 for me, 60, F-O-R-M-E. Justin, if there's 24 hours in a day, dragon's gold is giving yourself just one of Just giving yourself one of them saying that I'm worth 60 minutes a day. I'm gonna get 60 minutes for me, whether it be on my mindset, my body, my health, my performance, my relationships, my family, whatever I'm focused on in that moment, I'm allowed to give one, one, one, one of those hours, 4 % of my life to me. Too often we wake up and we go out and we wanna fix others. We do what I call moving positive in the wrong direction. Meaning that I'm not hurting anybody, I'm going to work, I'm enjoying life, everything's going okay, but I'm sitting stagnant. And when I sit stagnant, I fall to the bottom because there's no ripple in the waves to cause me to wanna stay up. So what happens is I go outward and I think that I feel joy and I feel happiness by taking care of everyone else. And it's the exact internal opposite. We don't take care of ourselves because we feel it's selfish. So the Dragon's Gold is if you live on earth for 100 years and you only take one hour a day for yourself during that time, that's only four years of that 100 years. You will have given 96 years to the health and wealth and good of others. So my Dragon's Gold is to remind you, your listeners and anyone within an ears reach that if you take just one hour a day to focus on you. If you focus on you inwardly, everyone else externally will get better because the better you are, the better you're going to make those around you. And that is the dragon's gold, my friend. That's beautiful. Aaron, please make a clip of that and post that far and wide across the social medias. Cause that is bad ass. Bro. So good. So good. And I love, because I think that you're right. I think so often you put so much out, especially if you're an entrepreneur or as a, as a, as a parent or as a teacher or as an entrepreneur, if you're constantly trying to give of yourself to others, to help these children to grow, to keep your family safe, to make your business flourish. You're constantly putting all your attention, effort, and energy into someone and something else. And if you don't recharge your battery and you don't give yourself that time, that attention, that care, there's nothing left of you to give. And so suddenly that idea of that 100 years, only four years for yourself, if you don't take any of that time, you're not going to have the 100 to even invest some of that. You have to take care of yourself. for the long play, much like investing both monetarily and in your health. Taking the steps that you need to invest in yourself will ultimately, as you say, benefit everyone else around you. It's an exponential multiplier. And here's why I say moving positive in the wrong direction, right? Because when we get into this rut, we don't even know we're there. Our relationships are OK. Our job is all right. Our bills are paid and up to date. Our grass is cut. The kids are happy. But we're slowly slipping away because we're not putting that intentional effort towards doing the things that we know internally we want to do. This wasn't just a wake up, hey, 60 for me. I mean, again, it all goes back to decisions we make. Got out of the Navy in 15. 18 took the bankruptcy. 19, 20, I'm doing both, running the business. COVID happens, you know, February 18th, 2020, we're coming up on six years now, I was involved in a head-on collision. Straight on, I'm doing 45 miles an hour down the road, a nine-time felon makes an illegal left-hand turn, 60 miles an hour, turns right in front of me, plows me, right? I'm knocked out, ambulance comes, takes me to the hospital. Thankfully I'm okay, no major injuries, not like I can say I overcame this big old thing, but... It was traumatic. It was the start of another shift in my life. It was an awakening of if I would have died in this moment where I was knocked out for five minutes before the ambulance got there, I would have not woken up again. My wife would have woke up the next morning, married to me for 17 years. We never even had a wedding picture because we went to the courthouse and hid our marriage from our parents. That'll be on episode two, by the way, right? So. You understand what I'm saying? Right? So 18 years later, because life got in the way, you're moving positive in the wrong direction. This woman who I shared my wife with, raised two children with, we didn't even have a wedding picture. I didn't have life insurance. It could have changed the old, talk about change the scope of your life. So it was awakening for me, right? I'm sitting there in June of 2020. I'm fat. I'm in my fat bill phase. I'm 225 pounds. There's a lot to be said about a guy who goes from Navy life, a primarily male work center where you're doing pushups every day, to becoming a teacher, primarily female work center where they want to bring the cute Navy guy cookies every day. I didn't say I'm cute by the way they did, okay? So. You understand what I'm saying? But it was a, it was a personal shift. I never acknowledged that getting out of the Navy, walking away that close, giving up the brother and sisterhood, I actually faced some depression, some separation, some internal things that I wasn't talking about. And it made me in a funk where I was moving positive in the wrong direction. Got up to 225 pounds, not happy internally. So in June of 2020, I became far as gump and I just went running, right? And I did. ha ha! And I started running and I'm running and running. And you know what? Here's how it happened one day. Justin, I ran, I took a selfie and I said, hey, I got my 60 minutes a day. Hey, I got my 60 minutes today. Hey, are you up getting your 60 minutes? Hey guys, I gave my one hour today. I was actually talking to myself so that a year later when those Facebook memories popped up, I could see if I was still fat Bill. I use Facebook to give myself an accountability call in the future. Mmm. I talk to myself now so that a year from now, am I doing the right things? Am I in the right spot? Hey buddy, is where, nobody holds you accountable better than you. So I use Facebook to talk to myself a year from now to keep myself on track. Sounds weird, but actually I've been doing it five years, it works really well. Right, so. I love that brother. You know, so we, so we actually talk about tools and weapons. And I think that that's a great segue because it's accurate. That's a fantastic tool to use and finding a way to utilize it, to utilize it to your advantage. What, what might you cite as tools and weapons, things that have helped you along the journey? Yeah, mean, first is God in the Bible and verses, right? Corinthians 9.24 says, run the race in a way in order for you to win, meaning anything you do, do it with force. Do it the way that it's meant to be done. Don't sit back and just let it happen. Don't just show up, right? So one of the tools is the Word and really leaning into that. And as I get older and get more focused, I do that more and more. Social media is a huge tool. Like I just said, I figured out five years ago that this thing, Facebook memory, pops up. say something today, it's going to pop up in my memory feed a year from now. So I can literally, you know, say, Hey, we've ever read one of my posts, you see me say we the only way is me, but it's me and the guy that's reading this a year from now. Right? So, so that's it. Right? Now I have other people, my wife, my children, people help me and support me. But if you ever read a post of mine and it says, we, that's me going, Hey, a year from now, we did this, we did this, you're falling. And I read that and I go, well, I said a year ago, I wanted to do this. Did I do it? Okay. If I did it, great. How did it go? Should we keep doing it? If I didn't do it, why? Did I find out it was just a goofy little bill idea? They come and go a mile a minute? Or is it something that I tried that beat me and I need to recalibrate? Right? So, you know, that's a tool. um Certainly my wife is an accountability tool, right? The number one tool that anybody can use and it looks different for everybody is accountability. Right? Why are you and I on this podcast right now? Cause you held yourself accountable to an idea. You put an ad out there, you ask for a guest, you put a link out there, you set up a calendar, you figured out what help there and help meant. You did all this stuff, right? In order to be able to put on a show and every week you guys now hold yourself accountable to a process, right? Why am I here? Because you sent a link. I got the reminder. I held myself accountable to being here, right? And I think what I did, this is a great conversation, right? um So every day we do, we do accountability, right? So that's your tool. If you're not holding yourself accountable, if there's not a plan and a plan, every day in the Navy, we have the morning meeting, the afternoon check, and the evening go around, right? What do we want to accomplish? How are we on track to do it? And did we accomplish it? And if not, why? And then how do we adjust to make sure it gets done tomorrow? Right, so anything that you want to do, right, here's a tool, problem solution. Don't be the guy that has a problem for every solution. Find the solution for every problem. Right? Yeah. I've never heard that quote quite like that, but it's so true. Right. It's so true. think that anything that you do when you come at things like there's always problems. Sure. Right. But what is the solution? Right. Observe, orient and then decide. Right. So the OODA loop, uh, observe, orient, decide and act. And the idea, everybody observes, everybody acts, but not everyone orients and decides. holding yourself accountable, recognizing where those things are, and then deciding to take that action, right? Being very intentional, much as you said, like it's such a powerful word and I think it's appropriate. You mentioned it earlier and I really, I just, I want to repeat it here because I think that there's so much value in being intentional. Whatever you want to do, do it. Be intentional, go at it with passion, fervor, excitement, right? Be, recognize that you have a gift to share. Find what that is and share it. Have you read my book? Okay, so chapter one is exactly what you're talking about. The first two chapters are the pillars, right? Be intentional, be the example, right? Being intentional, that's a three R method. I have to recognize, recognize who and what I am, right? I have to regulate, not be a thermometer, right? But be an actual thermostat. thermometer just tells you how hot it is, how cold it is. A thermostat will bring you up or bring you down depending upon where you're at. So I have to regulate. Right, the third part is to recognize, recognize where I'm at, where I'm going. Right, and then the second part, the second chapter is be the example, right? Parent influential, worrying about being the example, right? Role model excellence. So what am I doing? First, I have to be self-aware. Who am I as a person? Right, what am I going out and demonstrating? What is my demonstration? What am I telling my kids? What am I telling my coworkers? Am I saying this is, I'm a nice calm person, but then I go out into public and I yell and scream? Right, what is my behavior adjustment? Am I being the same person here that I'm being there? And then the fourth part is accountability. If I'm not holding myself accountable, then I'm just reckless and I'm hoping that something happens, right? So what you just described, I write about in the first two chapters, a little self plug, you can get it on Amazon or get it at leadyourjourney.com, either way, right? Great book, just came out and it's a lot about what we're sitting here talking about now. I love it, brother. I love it. And I will jump on Amazon and order it. I love that. No, really. It's just, I think that I have my daughter's in college. She is an athlete. She gets straight A's. She's rocking it at UC Davis. The kid's working two jobs, like so that she can live off campus because she wants to live with her friends and she's making it, you know? And so like when I read that, like I just imagine, the idea is me just saying thank you because I think that there's a lot of um in value just hearing what that I... Because I think that the way that we teach boys or the way that we teach girls, like there's some things that are base that are relevant to humans. But I think that each one has their own element that they learn differently. They have their own strengths, right? And um this is my opinion. I don't know how accurate it seems like. based on my perception, it's right. But I just think that there's very much nuance. I don't talk to my son the same way I talk to my daughter, right? For good or ill, it's just the reality. And so I think that the idea of having a framework or something that's focused with that idea and you come from a point with child psychology, right? Like being a teacher, right? It's not like you haven't put in the time, effort, energy to learn, right? Plus the experience, just being in it. from multiple years, like seeing, I'm sure you've come across a lot of situations, like you had mentioned already, the way that the kid puts the pressure on themself versus the way that the parent puts the pressure on, right? And where it's at on each of those nuances and just trying to get inside the head and understand like, where are they at and how can I help to give them guidance so that they can be their best, right? And all you can do is give them that guidance, because at the end of it, they have to be the one to take the steps. They have to be the one to make the choice and take the action and do the thing that's gonna get them better, right? But if you can help to give them a framework to work within, You're helping them leaps and bounds to accelerate their journey in the past. Yeah, there's actually a third leg to it called the coach, right? So it creates the triad. The triad is the framework, right? The player has to show up, do the work. The parent has to give the support. The coach has to give the confidence and the technical skill, right? And if all three of those of the triad respect their role, you typically have a good scenario where the player can get better. If the player doesn't do their job, the coach gets stressed out. When the coach gets stressed out, the parent steps in. If the parent is overbearing, the coach sometimes takes it out on the player. And the player then sometimes has bad communication. with the parent. If the coach is bad and doesn't recognize the player or the parent, then the parent or the player start getting freaked out and leave. So really there's a science to correlating each role to the other, making sure communication is open so that the triad can balance on all three legs and the table doesn't tip. Hmm. love that brother. That's fantastic. All right, Bill, we call this passing the torch. It's a legacy. It's, call it the hall of heroes, the massive statue of Bill Hoops. And it can say anything you want on a plaque to future generations. What would you want it to say? A massive plaque of Bill Hoob standing in Times Square. What would I wanted to say? Forever grateful. Yeah, just forever grateful, right? I wake up and I get to, I don't have to, right? I get to, I get to wake up, whether it's go to work on a softball field, go to work in the Navy, go to work on a ship. I get to. I get to have a relationship with my wife. I don't have to. I choose her every day, even when on the days where I'd like her to row, row, row her boat gently down the stream, but I still choose her, right? My children, I don't have a choice to choose them. They're mine, right? But I choose to love them and take care of them. so I'm grateful. I'm grateful that they choose me. I'm grateful that I get the opportunity to make an impact on tens of thousands of people. Every day. I'm grateful that God has put me in a situation to Make an impact. So if there was a plaque that got to say anything, it's just Forever grateful for ever grateful for opportunity that I get to provide Because those opportunities were were never provided to me not because my mother didn't want to just because she didn't have the resources to. So just forever grateful to be in a position to be able to help others and get people moving positive in the right direction. That's beautiful, brother. I love it. So what's next? What's the next quest for Bill Hoops? Yeah, so I mean, think what's next is just where we're going, right? Florida PGF continues to grow. We provide 35 or more high level tournaments all throughout the Southeast for girls fast pitch. We're expanding and scaling. I just hired a new local director in Jacksonville, Palm Bay, Miami. I'm hiring for the Panhandle. So we're putting local directors to be able to hit all levels in the community. So we're expanding that way. uh Again, I'm a published author. This is new. weeks in this book was just released. So I'm still waiting on my 500 to get here. I'm mailing them out to athletic departments and you know all over the country to let people know who and what it is we're doing. uh My app is being released. It's on the app store. You could download lead your journey right now. Get an account. There's nothing on it right. We're uploading the content over the month of December but it'll be ready come the first of the year ah and we're just impacting more people. We're looking for spokespeople and you know sponsors that are coming on, our reach is getting further. And just continued persistence, continued fight. uh Bad things will happen. My mom, like I said, is currently stage five and a half, six, battling Alzheimer's and probably has 18 to 24 months left. And we continue to fight that, right? We're raising adult children that are still navigating the world. And my wife's parents are getting older. And so what's next is happiness and sadness, tears and laughter and joy and adjustment, right? What's next is... grabbing the wheel when the storm is tough and grabbing the wheel when we're maintaining a positive current moving forward. uh What's next? I don't know. We'll wake up tomorrow and just try to live for today. and be grateful for the opportunity, right? Forever grateful. I love that, brother. Fantastic. All right, Bill, I got one more question for you, And it is my favorite one to ask. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? Yeah, you know, look, I think the moon and the stars and the sky already aligned and picked that for me, right? I'm a Sagittarius. You know, the centaur and the archer is how I live my life, right? I'm a protector, I'm a roamer. I like to see over the edge and see what's coming. uh I shoot my shot without fear. you know, run after things directly. I'm the first to show up on the scene and help somebody. I've got a strong back and strong legs. I've got a sharp eye and a strong ability to be able to sense things before they arrive. I can make adjustment. Um, but I'm also a man. Right? While the lower half of me continues to push through the grit, the upper half of me still beats with the heart, still breathes with lungs, still thinks with a mind that internally isn't always 100 % confident and doesn't always expertly uh project how he feels inwardly. So I think for me, it's a centaur to be the archer, to continue to learn, to be the very best version of myself, the protector of my family, and the person that is continually trying to overcome, expand its horizons and be better for those around. Mic drop, brother. That was fantastic. That was great. That was a wonderful answer. I love hearing everything you said. uh Also, I mean, I'm biased because I like centaurs. But the idea, but the why behind it, and here's the thing, the why behind it is so crucial. It's very telling. And it's what's right or wrong. It's what's important to you. And just the way that you described that was incredible. And I loved the why. So thank you for sharing that. if you want a blooper, right? I've been called a unicorn my whole life, but I wasn't going with that. Yeah, mean, this the cool thing is, it's been some really cool humor in this. And I'm really grateful for it, man. Just like,

Head Shot

Justin Mills

Host
Head Shot

Aaron Iler

Producer
Head Shot

Bill Hoopes

Guest