Dragon's Gold: The Magic of Mindset

A Medevac Pilot’s Code: Jon King on The 4 F’s of Freedom

• Justin Mills • Season 1 • Episode 54

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Jon King spent years flying Blackhawks into hostile territory to save lives, but his hardest battle didn’t happen in a cockpit—it happened in his own home. From the adrenaline of 300 combat missions to the quiet struggle of "The 22," Jon’s journey is a testament to the power of showing up, even when you want to quit,.

In this episode of Dragon’s Gold, Justin sits down with Jon to discuss his transition from military service to entrepreneurship. Jon shares the profound leadership lesson he learned from being put in charge of a refrigerator, his unique "Table Analogy" that destroys the scarcity mindset, and the "4 Fs" framework he uses to filter out life’s noise.

Takeaways:

• The Fridge Philosophy: Why mastering the smallest, simplest tasks builds the trust required for the biggest missions.

• The Table Analogy: A powerful mental model for understanding abundance and creating win-win scenarios in business and life.

• The 4 F’s: If it doesn't affect your family, your future, or your finances, don't worry about it. 

• The Phoenix Mindset: How to burn down the old versions of yourself to rise stronger from the ashes.

Tools & Weapons:

• Poem: "If—" by Rudyard Kipling (Keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs).

• Tech Tools: ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, & OpenAI (Leveraging tech to buy back time for family).

• Mantra: "The 4 Fs": Family, Future, Finances. If it doesn't fit, don't worry about it.

• Mantra: "If we all do a little, it lightens the load for all".

• Mantra: "Gone but not forgotten".

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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 Jon King, owner and operator of Goose's Bar and Grill and owner and founder of Veteran Reach Back Group, a parent company housing also P&P, Pride and Professionalism Design. as well as the founder of Eagle Rising Foundation. John, welcome to the show. Thanks Justin, super happy to be here and super proud and excited to share my story and my adventure so far. I think it's incredible and I'm looking forward to diving in. So let's do so. Go back to the origin story. Where did it all begin for Jon King So born and raised in middle of Arkansas, grew up in a small town in a small house as you can imagine, ended up joining the band at sixth grade, got tied into that, got a full ride to college and was super excited about what was next there. And I had looked at two older brothers, one's 18 months older than me and the other one was four years older than me. But uh the 18 month older, brother was at college already as I was a senior and I went to visit. Found out real quick, I needed a little more structure to my life uh after I graduated high school. So I looked at the Navy initially and their nuclear sub engineer program and was on board with that until I found out from the recruiter that you have to spend six months under the polar ice caps as a general rule of thumb for that job. And I was out at that point. I'm a country boy. I like being outside, right? So uh went to the air force. went to the recruiter, basically opened the book, picked a job based on the title. It was Secure Communications and Navigation Systems Apprentice. And that's a mouthful, even for me, almost 30 years later. But got there, got to Bluxy, went through tech school, ended up stopping in Arkansas on the way uh up to Offutt. for my first assignment. And why that matters is it's the start of the story of Jon King and resiliency. And you'll hear it repeated throughout my story. But I'm in a 72 Chevy pickup with everything I own and early mid 90s lady. Well, I'd been early 97 at this point. So cell phones weren't a big thing there. Everybody might've had a pager if you were lucky. So here I am crossing Kansas city with a paper map and my truck dies. And I rolled to the bottom of the hill at the stoplight. And there I said at 18 years old, don't know a soul around and the town don't look that inviting uh in particular where I'm at. So I'm sitting there trying to figure out my life and what direction to go next. And two gentlemen walked by and asked me if I ever wrench in my truck. And I'm like, probably uh it's in my stuff. they're like, well, if you've got a wrench, we can fix it. Otherwise uh we wouldn't recommend you having it in there after dark. or it won't be there in the morning. Great, so now I'm stressed about that on top of the fact my truck's sitting here and I don't have a way to get ahold of my new bosses that I haven't even met yet to tell them, hey, by the way, I'm not gonna make it on time. So end up this lady stops uh in a little Honda Civic and offers to help. And we spend probably the next four hours going back and forth to this hotel, motel thing and dropping my stuff off. to ensure that it was not there after dark and ended up driving me over to the garage uh a little over half a mile away and got my truck towed over there and ultimately got me to a payphone to call my buddy who ironically enough couldn't come get me. But at the time he had a girlfriend and blew my mind because he had only been there like two weeks. But here he has this girlfriend willing to drive three hours south to pick up some random guy in Kansas City. ah So here I am with two angels already and I ain't even started my journey. so uh make it up to the off it, know, start learning the role, start learning the different spots. And ironically enough, the tin can that I talked about being under the water in for six months, I was in a tin can in the air for 10 years ah as part of my Air Force journey. So I didn't get away from the tin can. thing at all from that aspect. uh But then the opportunity came up, I like to joke and say that the Army would pay me more and let me fly helicopters. In reality, I applied and got picked up on my second look uh because they only take the best of the best, right? And when you start with the best, only increase and as you mentioned earlier, you sharpen your blade. So I do take that as a prideful comment. so got to flight school, ended up getting the Blackhawks and If you've ever imagined being in a competitive industry or a competitive world or class or anything like that, Army aviation blows it away by far. You're in a class of classes that these individuals, if they're not making 99.8 on their exams, they're in the bottom of the class kind of deal. These, these individuals step up and show up every day to put their best foot forward. Um, because it's not easy to get there and they love what they do, but Fast forward, got stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. uh Originally it was supposed to be slotted with the air assault, which is the place they send most new pilots because you're inexperienced and it's a big learning curve to go to the medevac because of the mission set and the things that are inlaid with that. So me being me and 12 years into my career, I argued my way with a couple of lieutenants along the way in the stationing part of it at Campbell. to get to the medevac. So here I am a bright eyed brand new W1 show up to the unit in 09 and they're coming off one of their hardest deployments yet as a unit. And I show up, I'm like, hey, let's do this, ready to learn. And they're like, go find a fridge. Like, what? Okay. And that's a warrant thing. As a junior warrant, you get put in charge of the fridge and you wouldn't think, oh, that's not a big deal. I'm a pilot. Like, why am I going to do a fridge? Like, that's dumb. Well, it's a simple task with great impact because everybody in the unit comes through there. Everybody gets a morale boost out of enjoying the small things that they get in an otherwise potentially, pardon my language, shitty environment. So now you're in charge of not just a fridge, you're in charge of logistics, of getting the fridge, filling the fridge, finding the funds to get the fridge. So now you're working out financing, financial details. And yeah, it's on a minute scale, but the process doesn't change, right? As you amplify and you continue to grow, that process doesn't change. So from an early onset, there's seeing your trustworthy to be beside them in the cockpit. Yeah, you've passed flight school and you showed up, but that don't mean you're a pilot yet. That just means you've got the skills to be able to learn. Right? So now you show up to a unit and that's where the real learning begins and those pilots get in and they get with you and they teach you not only the skills that are taught in the book, but how to truly do it, how to do it in an environment that isn't in a book, how to do it when all hell's breaking loose and you need to keep your calm and ensure that you move forward. That's where that training comes into play and that learning comes in. And now you're taking that small amplification of business, applying it across a multimillion dollar aircraft, and then taking in things as priceless, as peaceful as lives as part of that. So to say the least, I wanted to be there, and passion's still there for the mission. want to jump in on one thing on that, John, there's, there's so much to dissect or try and peel back about everything that you just said so far alone. But I, I and I'm grateful for it. just think that when people really listen to the story, they can really start to pull back. But some of the things I really want to cite or highlight are the idea about first support. And what I mean by that is those angels that helped you in your journey, right? At, at 18. broken down truck, in a no friends, you know, uh local, but being able to be resourceful, stick through having those people come in and just offer that support and then finding creative ways and solutions to work around it. think anything in life that we don't go it alone. Very commonly, there are people that come along the journey with us that help to support us, right? one of the things I loved about what you said is the idea of a simple task, right? It all started with a fridge. You've proven that you can learn. You've already been the top of your class. competed against and worked with to and scrapped and scraped and fought to get where you are and it didn't come easy and many people I'm sure drop out along the way and you see those bodies go they just can't make it for whatever reason and I wish them the best on their journey but you stuck it out you made it and you got there and then once you finally got there then you start on the bottom again right and then it's and then it's you your main thing is the fridge but it's such an impacting thing and I like the idea of simple that has such a big impact because everybody relies on it. And it has an emotional impact. has, and ultimately like that can make or break your reputation on the end because everybody knows you. Yeah. So just taking the responsibility even, and this is part of what I mean by that is taking even the smallest tasks with your best effort. doing the small things with discipline, consistency, and your best effort leads to massive growth and really helps to to buoy you along in everything that you do. um So so the idea of When you talk about resilience, when you talk about growth, when you talk about potential, when you talk about any of that, the first step is always just showing up. From there, you can build the audience. Yeah, just showing up, just being there consistently, right? And you won't always beat your best. I think that's something important to talk about is that you just keep showing up. No, you will not ace it every time. That's okay. Just being there, you're already beaten most, right? So. like you heard my story for transferring to the army, you know, I submitted my packet and got picked up on the second look, you know, it's a gut check. Whenever you submitted what you feel is your absolute best in packet form and you get declined, like, wait a minute, you know, and then, you know, it does make you drive harder and push you harder and let you know, all right, this, is truly something worth going for. And so, you know, it? Are you willing to keep pushing for it? Right? Are you willing to keep pushing? So to the idea of never going it alone and having those angels to support you, so many more, I'm sure. Is there anyone that you might cite along your journey that you would consider in your fellowship? yeah, there's a few. um There's some out there from my time as a medevac pilot doing three deployments to Afghanistan, right around 300 missions total from a stub toe up, bullet holes, landing, jump out, jumping another one, fly off again, aircraft accident. um I've had angels that I've never seen through that career and then continued on through my transition. One of the ones I mentioned before was my mentor who was my father-in-law for 20 plus years. I'm also a huge believer in having more than one mentor. Because to your point, it doesn't all come from one person. And that doesn't necessarily just mean me, right? Or one mentor. And I have a mentor out of Nashville right now. He's 21 years old. And when I met him, I think he was 18. And he might be 20, uh but point being he's like 18 years old. And when I reached out and asked him to be a mentor of mine, he's like, John, you got this and you're doing this and you're doing all these things. And this was before I retired from the military. or not probably halfway after I retired. But anyways, I didn't have the things that we're going to talk about with VRBG and Eagle Rising yet, or even the bar. It was just me and a day gig and spout not is right. But He was, was rattling all this stuff back at me and he's like, why would you want me as a mentor? said, well, one, I've watched you from afar and seen how you engage in what you do. And I like aligning with people like that, that, truly have in the business world, their guests, their customers, their, their people at the front of the, the, the. the piece of it, right? It's not the financial part that's driving them to do that. The financial part comes because they're consistent. They show up and they make their value known, right? So that was one of the things seeing him so young and getting accurate and making six figures at 19 years old. Yeah, I got shit to learn from you young man. I sure do. And I'm here for it, You don't know what you don't know. And everyone in this world knows something that we don't. And we have an opportunity every day with every interaction to learn from that person if we're open and willing. And it doesn't matter about age or race or sex. What matters is you. And are you willing to learn and to grow from what someone else has to share? Not everyone will teach you a lesson in a way that's easy to understand. Some people will guide you, but sometimes the lessons you have to learn are by watching and learning from others, not emulating similar mistakes or seeing what's working for them and then making it your own, right? If that's the path you want to pursue, because no one can be you like you, you're genuine, you're unique. And whatever that strength is, take the best of many others be open to learning constantly and then employ that and make it your own. I think it's powerful. This when you're talking about people in their situations, right? And young people are the best ones to start with cause they're young and they haven't gone that far in life, but that doesn't stop to say that you can't learn this piece right now. Right. When you look at your parents, right? Your situation using parents in specific, cause we're talking about young people and how they develop. People often look at rich and go, ah, He got handed, she got handed, and leave it at that and you fill in the blank. Poor, on the other hand, get the opposite. Well, they didn't have a chance. They were poor. They didn't have any opportunity. oh I'm going to get flack for this one. But I believe they both start evenly. And the reason I say that is because if you're poor and you look at what is presented to you in your environment, you do exactly what they've done, you will end up in that exact same way. If you do the opposite. you at least have a 50-50 shot of having a different outcome than they did. If you're rich, same applies. You do what they did, you will remain rich. You do the opposite of what they did, and you will lose your money. Right? So either way, you're still learning. You're still picking that right or wrong answer along the path. It's up to you to make that decision every day when you show up for your consistent self, as you mentioned. that makes the difference. And one of the things I throw out there to my kids all the time, aside from you get one, and they always ask me growing up, one's 21, 17, what's that one dad? You get one. But the other is, it's my four F's, and you can bleep this if you need to, but if it doesn't affect your family, your future, or your finances, don't fucking worry about it. focus on you and what's impactful to you and what you could bring to the world, right? And so out of all this stuff, I talked about getting through the army and the missions and then retiring out. Well, as part of that, I went through the MSSA program where you had to have a networking fundamentals exam certification, even get into the interview process. Well, I didn't have that. So I went out and self-taught, got that exam. certification, got through the interview process, thought it was going to be a college course, showed up in shorts and flip-flops. Well, in reality, it's a transition course in professional settings. here everybody else is in suit and ties or button-ups and all this stuff. So then fast forward through the course where we're learning technical stuff in the morning and networking fundamentals and resume writing, interview prep, and things like that in the afternoon to... Last day, I'm in my full service dress uniform because it also coincided with my retirement date out of the Army. So I went full spectrum from hippie that shouldn't have been there to looking fully professional in that sense. ultimately, oh, 100%. And so when I get out that, uh I ended up landing with a small company in Huntsville. And when I say small, I was their first employee under their company name doing army acquisitions. And as you heard in my background at this point, I had tons of experience doing army acquisitions, but they had an open spot. They took a chance on me. uh From there, I ended up switching over from doing a program integrator role to foreign military sales and did that for three and a half years under their same umbrella and same customer helped grow that from three. two people, three people to around nine, anywhere from three to five, or from our small company at any given time. And then ultimately got the opportunity to cross over to Microsoft four years ago. And then Microsoft's what allowed me to start doing the other things like the bar and grill really is where that kind of sparked out of was I was given an opportunity to bring my creation to life from that perspective. But after all the tragedy that I spoke of earlier with the loss of my. father-in-law earlier in the year, that year, and my brother, my uncle, and then the non-service members. After the non-service members being the safety officer for that company prior, you you look at things and you always question like, what could have done, been done differently, if anything. And, you know, it's one of those where I have no ties. have no looks into anything as far as any investigations go or anything like that. But. The analogy I give is you have two cars on the interstate. The first car has like a 21, 22 year old in there. And then the other car has a 15 year old in the driver's seat who's got their permit. The 16 year olds in the passenger seat and a 21 year old in the back seat telling the 15 year old and the 16 year old how to drive. Everything's legal. Everything's fine in that scenario. But now we're going to put on a single lane interstate, barriers either side for a 10 mile stretch while it's raining one headlight out. raining, curves along the way, I want them to do 90 to 95 step foot and a foot and a half apart. I want nothing bad to happen. Is it possible? Absolutely. Is it likely that something back that's going to happen? Absolutely. And when it happens, is it going to be absolutely catastrophic? Absolutely. But therein lies not the problem, but the start of figuring out a solution in my brain. And when I looked at that, it boils down to the experience that's available to do these missions and bring the knowledge, right? So specifically in the military, you've got two options for keeping that knowledge and experience. have stop loss or recall. Well, stop loss is going to keep the experience in. Recall is going to bring it back. But in neither one of those scenarios, are you going to have individuals that really want to be there? Because if you're stop loss and you're stopping them from getting out of somewhere they don't want to be anymore, and if you're calling them back, they had already left and went their own direction, right? My brain, solution is mentorship. Bring in mentors that have been in those roles that are experienced in those roles that are certified, qualified, wherever the magic needs to happen to have it happen, but bring them in at every level of leadership from the commanders, the first sergeants, the platoon sergeants, the brand new pilots, everybody have access to that mentor at that level. now when direction gets given out and that commander needs to be able to highlight across his or her reach, they now have another voice that's a third party entity that's echoing that and echoing that experience. then the next level that came out of that thought was, how do I do it better? How do I bring it faster, more efficient? So the idea came to, and this is Jon King's big dream, pair and partner with the right people to basically have individuals like myself. Granted, I'm a little far removed, so I don't really fit, but people that are just getting out. that get out in good standings and everything like that. The example being pilots. They either want to volunteer back time or potentially make a little extra money on the side. They can sign up for the program where they'll sit like I am right now, throw on a VR headset and be able to fly a mission with a new or even experienced pilot at Fort Campbell, Kentucky over the reservation or anywhere else in the world and share that knowledge back. for pennies on the dollar of what it would take to put me in as a contractor in the seat flying in a true aircraft. So now they're able to share that knowledge and experience back to these units at any given time of day because the young pilot can go sit down in the room that they allocate, throw the VR headset on, and if it's two in the afternoon, just schedule the time with the mentor and we'll have a pool of mentors to choose from that have their slots available. That's the big dream of bringing that knowledge and experience back. And the beautiful thing is that it applies to everything else from, believe it or not, doctors, lawyers, electricians, anything that's got an ageable date or a physical, untangible, able to do any more careers where I kind of think it falls into because it allows you to transfer that knowledge while still being a part of it, even though you're not physically doing it anymore uh in that sense. And so out of that, me being me, I started the company and then I looked and said, well, I've already done 80 % of what it takes to get certified through the SBA as a service disabled veteran on a small business and get registered in sam.gov and get my done number. So I went ahead and did that. Even though I have not doing anything with it, uh I can do contracts with the government as a service disabled veteran on a small business. So where right now what I throw out there is anybody that's looking to truly get in that realm and want a partner uh that's fairly laid back and just down to see what's out there, give me a shout for that. But it also branched out into these other things from Real Apparel Company where after all the tragedy, I just started had to get back to being creative again. So that one's for me. I do creative design. I put my stuff out there on things I think it'll be cool on from shirts, puzzles, cups, whatever. And then from there, again, pushing that envelope of what can I do more? How can I help more? I went to somebody that I trusted in the business world oh and asked their opinion on the next thought that I'll give you, but I'll give you the tagline for real apparel company first. It's because who doesn't love a nice rack? And I was designing a deer shirt whenever I came up with it. And my neighbor had just showed me his pool rack tattoo because he's a big pool player on his arm. So. it fit really well. And then obviously the other connotations from your clothes rack, the other great racks that are out there that people enjoy, I felt it fit, you know, in my sense of humor. So she's like, John, I told her the idea and I'll tell you here in a second, but she's like, I love it. Hate the tagline and don't really feel like it fits to what you're trying to achieve with this. And I said, all right, fair enough. So then out of that PMP design was born and it stands for where pride meets professionalism and that taking in the account, I'm still prideful, but I can also be professional in what I put together. And so what I do there is I work with and partner with small businesses, boosters, nonprofits, and one-offs. And the basis is I build them in an e-commerce store under our collections. And they get a custom write-up, basically handle all their product selection and all the things that you could imagine. But the beautiful part is And what I like to say is it does three things. It saves them money, makes them money and gives them their time back, which is the most valuable for anybody out there. And when you're in those areas that I mentioned, the small business, the booster, the nonprofits, you're always looking to raise funds to do your next thing. Whether it's go to your next ball game or your next travel ball or your next event that you're trying to put on or you're putting on a podcast like this, know, buy a new equipment. All of it takes money, time, effort or energy in some form. I know you've touched on a few of these points, but I would ask, uh is there a moment, we call this the darkest hour, maybe moment that was hardest for you to try and overcome. How did you and what lessons did you learn along the way? Well, most folks have heard of the 22 and I'm blessed to be here. And that's solely because of one of the angels that I haven't mentioned. I've mentioned her throughout if you've been paying attention, but my wife. After not so long night or a great night of too much drinking and too many pain pills to offset the pain in my back and other things, just wasn't... Wasn't going well, let's just put it that way. um Something happened, the trigger didn't pull the way it should have, and I'm still here today because of her. that's my... I've been on bridges after deployments in the middle of the small town where I got my bar of grill and most people don't even know this, but I've dropped down to my knees in a ball of tears for no reason. Couldn't tell you why. I walked into or tried to walk into beer gardens uh and had to turn around and walk out and not be able to enjoy festivities and things like that. So when I hit that moment and we came out of that the other side, And after calling services to have somebody to talk to in those moments and getting told, just make call, call, call and make an appointment next Monday. I don't need an appointment next Monday. I just need somebody to talk to right now. And so for me, my phone is always on uh because of that. And that was truly my, I can't, I can't even say it was my darkest hour. Cause at the end of the day, it was my brightest hour to remind me of. all the positive shit that's out there that I've been through, that I've done. When you talk about the Medivac mission, there's a reason I did it. Yeah, because I'm a hero and I'm an asshole and I'm proud for. That's part of it, right? But the other part is knowing that there's people that came home that otherwise wouldn't. That there's people that continue to go out on the battlefield because they remember one thing. there will always be somebody there to bring them home. That's why I did the Medevac. That's why I'm me too, you know, between the upbringing that we didn't even talk about to that and the things that went along with that. And know, when you've got a daughter at home and you pick up a child and you're expecting to pick up grown men, that's an eye-opener for you and something that never leaves your thoughts. uh you know, smells that never leave. That all comes into play every day for minute seconds to conversations like this that kind of bring them that direction. at the end of the day, it boils down to, I've said it before, you said it, consistency, always getting up, always showing up and knowing that, yes, there's brighter sides out there and yeah. right now is bleak, you know, oh and there's been pasts at the same time. If you focus on negative, that's all you'll ever see. If you stop focusing solely on the negative and you start looking past it around it, you start seeing that brighter world that's actually out there. You know, when you take that blanket down and even look around and that's easier said than done. Trust me, I've become more and more of a hermit than I'd like to admit since especially since losing my day gig. But how I continue to push myself is present myself out there and talk to great folks like you and bring in not just my story or what I do, but really, hopefully even a slight inspiration to them to know that it's going to be okay. Life's too fucking short to not have some fun. And I know you had mentioned about uh a few nuggets of gold and things like that that I carried with me. So one is I carry it on my arm and you may or may not ever be able to see it, but it says if we all do a little, it lightens the load for all. lost you. I don't Jon I think I love the way that you said that in that moment, that darkest hour, couldn't, you're not even sure you can call it that because it might've been the brightest hour, right? And I just think about, there is so much value in that statement that from those moments, right? From that darkest hour, from those deepest, hardest, emotional pieces that we have to go through, whatever it is for you, whatever your darkest hour is, when you realize that in that moment, that that is an opportunity to try and find value. What is it? And if it's hard to find, keep digging because there will be something there that you can draw strength from. There will be something there that you can grow from and rise from. And if you are strong enough or if you have the ability or if you're lucky enough to be able to find that value, to find that goal, to find the piece that helps you to grow, not only would you become stronger because of it, inherently by virtue of your associations, you will share some of that value, that inspiration to other people. And one comment made in the right place could make an absolute pivotal difference in someone's life. could literally save their life. And I think that's incredibly important. That is a fact. um And I love the way that you do tie it around the gold because it is rare, is pure, and it is great value to so many whenever it is. uh Embraced. And the concept being that it doesn't have to be that hard. You know, we as humans make it a lot harder than it has to be just through an unknown bias of our own selves to driven through other elements that put a thing in our head that isn't really there when you open your eyes and ears and start talking to people, whether they're through the internet in true form and fashion where it's an open forum to discuss and learn from each other, or it's your neighbors more ideally, you know? And one of the things we do here where I live is I got a little piece of property and we have probably seven or eight families on our road that all get together. uh throughout the week at different times and different elements uh and all communicate, you know, have the family style dinners and the things like that, because truly that's where your impact lies. When you look at it in a personal family setting, that's where it's going to impact. Now, when you're talking about things like this and doing your show and getting our voices heard, yes, what I see there is we're taking that family piece and that community piece that we're already embracing and loving and doing ourselves and sharing that knowledge and experience of how to get it with other people. And to me, that's a force multiplier and amplifier of a beautiful thing that's already happening ah from that. right, so we've been talking about community and things like that throughout this whole thing. And when you mentioned about a gold nugget, here it is, right? As a business owner, in a brick and mortar world, rolling into a small city, revamping a place that's been a few different things over the years and bringing my style, my brand and my tribute to my father-in-law Goose's Bar and Grill there. It is a business. There is a lot of competition to it. But the way that I approach business and I approach community and I approach people is this. uh visual representation. So everybody can imagine a table in the middle of the room with big thing of food laid out, plates ready, the chairs around it. There's seven or eight of us in the room and there's a clock on the wall. Right now the clock's just sitting there, it's stagnant. All I'm gonna tell you and all the information you know right now is you haven't eaten in three or four weeks, you're starving. When the clock goes off, you get to eat. So now the clock goes off. And as you can imagine, those seven or eight people, you don't know what they've heard. You just know what you've been told and the scenario you're in. So everybody starts bum-rushing the table, so you. So now food, as you can imagine, goes on the floor, on the table, on the chairs. Some people eat really well. Some people don't eat as well. And everybody can kind of visualize that and agree that that's likely a scenario that would happen more often than not. So here's where the beauty comes in. We're going to backtrack just a touch and right before the clock goes off, I'm going to give you a little bit more information. That information is everything else still stands. You still haven't eaten. The clock goes off. You get to eat. The extra information is you like potatoes. I like green beans. Sally likes steak. Jim likes whatever. And there's enough for you to eat your fill of what you want. Now, again, you don't know what anybody else has been told. That's the only other information you get. So now the clock starts and nobody starts running. You walk up to the table, you all eat. Everybody can agree that they got their fill. And now this is where I ask you to turn away from the table, close your eyes, and then As you imagine yourself turning back to the table, want you to open your eyes and describe what you see. What do you see when you look back at the table now, Justin? Well, I'm imagining there's several empty dishes, specifically that steak is gone because I grubbed it. It was delicious. uh But it's definitely not like when you were painting the picture earlier, I imagine Lord of the Rings where the dwarves are eating and food's flying everywhere. And so ah in that case, in the secondary example, I think that while you were still possibly ravenous and I believe that the table itself may be still a mess, I think it's much more manageable and there's probably still food on the table. So here's the deal, right? With it not being bum rushed and people knowing that they're going to get their fill and eat as much as they want of their item, there is no food on the floor, on the chairs, or on the table. It's still left on the plate. So now everybody's gotten their fill as much as they could possibly want. We still have food on the plates that now we can encourage and invite others in to eat with us. And the ones that don't quite have enough, well guess what? We still have remainder to be able to offset that. And the ones that have more than they can eat, well, they can still have as much as they want. And the tidbit of information that ties into this that I didn't tell you, and if you were catching it, I never said there was any more food than there was in the original scenario. It's all that slight mindset change, what drove the different outcome that resulted in everybody getting their fill and additional folks that may or may not be able to get their fill right then, be able to get their fill. And from there, we're able to grow our organization. We're able to grow our business. We're able to grow our community. We're able to grow our world and do it in a positive manner. think about that fact you mentioned like you haven't eaten like three to four weeks, right? People like. emaciated and just like, you know, ravenous and, uh, I, know, I just think about sometimes in those moments, like people when you are put in a position like that, like, uh, you know, what, what comes out, right? Yeah. It's a good indication of what you're made of. And, and, but being in that moment, like, you we, do revert, uh, it's interesting. You made me reflect right now. I didn't think this would be the quote that came to mind, but about the, about, um, we, we fall to the level of our systems and right. So you can be motivated, disciplined. You can do all these things, but like the idea, that consistency that comes down to, fall to the level of our systems. So even if on a day when you are, you know, you're not feeling your best and you don't want to get out of bed, you don't want to go to the gym, you don't want to do the work, whatever it is, you get up and you do it anyway, from that aspect of that consistency. And by operating with that, that system, like you just stick to what you know, uh, think the, there's a huge benefit that comes from that. me thinking that what you're making your flight on. ah I love the idea when you boil it all down, really, is that there's more than enough for us. And if we can communicate with clear information, we all make better choices. And there's more than enough for everybody. Hmm. I love that. if that's not a reverse of a gold nugget, I don't know what it is. Cause when you think about gold, it's very rare. It's finite. It's not. And that's what makes it valuable. But in this instance, it truly is opening up the flip side of that to open the doors and understand there's plenty for everybody. We just have to approach it in a different way and understand that we're only here for a finite amount of time. So why the hell are we here to make other people miserable? Like that doesn't make no sense to me. eh not too... No. there's levels to everything, but at the end of the day, mean, it don't have to be as hard as it is for ah folks, uh but yeah. that a big part of everything in life is uh perspective. And I think that it doesn't have to be as hard as people oftentimes make it in their own mind. And I think if you put and reframe things, you can literally paint your own picture. You can create your own reality, literally in your mind. Absolutely. I got one more thing for you before I forget uh if you'll oblige me. So this one is one of my most memorable missions. This is actually a Polish Army medal that I was awarded along with the crew that I was with. And then, I know this is completely random, but a couple of the Special Forces coins that they had presented to me and the crew uh as part of the mission. But we were out and we were supporting at a forward operating base and supporting the Polish as part of it and got the call to go out on a medevac and had to loiter for a little while waiting on approval because we didn't have coverage and they were under fire and all the things. So finally got approval. We get ready to go in and if you can imagine out west is pretty flat and then there's the plateaus that are out there. something similar in style to that with one end sloping kind of down. And there's houses and greenery all around the base of it and then houses around the edge at the top. So when we're coming in, we're going to the middle of the top of it, because that's where the GPS pointed us. And as we're coming down, we're not seeing a patient like we normally would or anything like that. So as we're coming down, the dust starts kicking up. So we end up doing a go around to see if we can find where the patients move to now at this point. So as we're making a loop, we drop back down the low side and then pop back up the other. as we're swinging around, see uh one, I can't remember if it was a crew chief or the medic called out that they saw the patient and they were pinned like they were ducked down beside a mud hut building on the corner edge. So as I'm gonna try to do this reverse here, the Blackhawk has the two wheels in the front and one in the back. So as we approach, we had to come in with two wheels on the dirt and the tail floating. Ended up putting the disc about a foot. two foot off the building there to get as much coverage and as close as we could to them because there was a reason they weren't going out there, right? So taking that into account, we try and make it as simple as possible. Normally you go load at a waist level. Well, due to the angle that we're sitting at and everything, they had to load them at like above their head and got him loaded in and we take off and get back to the base. we're all hanging out and doing our thing, watching movies, eating, whatever it was a couple hours later. I get called to the front and this gentleman standing there and he looked short compared to the two giants beside him. And, he's like, you fly or something like that. And said, yes, sir. And he said, you big boss. I just started kind of laughing. I what did you expect to that one? But okay. So, uh, he kind of snaps and I'll leave the story right there as, as that part. and anyways, Fast forward through the story, they actually had been pinned down for four or five hours from RPG and small arms firing. It was a small SF group. So when we came in, the enemy stopped firing. And then as we left, they stopped firing. So the unit used that opportunity when we took off to take the loss of fire coming at them to escape out. So he brought us a gift that I passed on to the Air Force folks to... uh go enjoy with some other individuals uh of the Polish sort. And we continue to do our mission and support them. And then fast forward, we ended up getting awarded the Polish Army Medal out of the whole deal and uh presented some of the coins and stuff like that. So it was pretty cool to have had them. that, John, I think about the fact that uh you got medals, you got accolades, you got some Dragon's Gold, right? Some things that you can look back on and appreciate later. But hearing that memory of being able to hear and see that man come to you and say thank you and to recognize your valor and what you and the team did to get them out of there. ripples that come from that. There's nothing on paper, but in your mind and in the memory, that's something that will live with you forever. ah And I just think that that's really, it's beautiful how often the real gold in our journey uh isn't material. Now, the one thing that I've continued to learn in life is money is nothing more than a tool. And at the end of the day, you've heard people say it before. People with money use it to buy their time. People without money use their time to get money. So it's one of those I, yeah, and for me, I'm all about figuring out the win-win for everybody to allow them to spend more time with their family and their friends uh as much as possible and still achieve our goals overall, know? So. are just, they're so much better. There's so much cleaner. Everybody walks away. You don't have to get everything, but everyone walks away feeling satisfied, right? You walk away feeling satisfied and you help to bring joy. share, uh you feel better about the experience when you can create win-win scenarios, right? So John, we talk about the legacy and I think about, uh the Hall of Heroes, a massive statue of Jon King, and a plaque inscribed with anything that you would want it to say to future generations. What would it say? Be there for each other. I wasn't going to say that when I was going to say my 4S, but I think that one fits a little better. I love it. Things happen for a reason. And you said that one, it resonates, man. I love it. I love the idea that at that point too, I've never really expounded on this, but I will hear at the end of it, like that's a statue. That's something that you're telling people that are reading it. Reality is you're not there to read it anymore. The people there are. And when they read that, be there for each other. That's so powerful in the moment right there. Like that can, that can hit no matter who's reading it. Um, It's things powerful. I really like it a lot. Alright, so the next quest. What's next for Jon King? Doing more for others in reality of it all. I've been very blessed with my retirement and my disability. Obviously the loss of the day gig kind of is a kick in kick in the uh junk as they would say as far as hurdles to get over to ensure the success of the bar and grill. But that's going to happen. I tell people all the time I've fall down and I fail, but I don't quit. And the concept there is once the bar is making money and paying for itself, then I'm able to put my focus into what I truly love and what I'm passionate about, which is Eagle Rising Foundation and what we do there. And on that one, I found that one, like I said, right along the same time as Better Reach Back Group. But it's more than just one thing. I do community events where... ah I do a haunted trail on my property every year in October. So far, I'm proud to say that we've raised right around $20,000 for the local baseball team as part of that. opened it up to other organizations last year and the year before um to anybody that wants to come out and work the event. They can come out with their organization. We open it up, we all promote it. So it gets cross shared. And then any money raised that night goes to that organization, a hundred percent in, a hundred percent out. um The other parts that I've done is I sponsored a three quarter size Vietnam Memorial wall to Talladega International Motor Sports Hall of Fame. That's a nonprofit there right outside of the racetrack. A couple of races ago to represent 70,000 plus names of the fallen since Vietnam. uh Some great experiences have come from that or great memories have come from that, not just from the event itself and being able to represent, but I was on a reality show. uh West Bergman's the blocks back in June, July timeframe, season 18 of that, uh, and it's an entrepreneur workshop and reality series competition. And one of my judges on there, we were talking and she had mentioned about having a friend, um, family member that had passed away, you know, um, in service of the country. And so I had a video of me painting the wall and, and all the additional, um, plaques that were set out that day. And so I went back that night and I watched the video and I found the time frame zoomed in and found the name, screenshotted it and went back to her the next day. uh it's one of my things where you hear the phrase gone, but not forgotten. you know, I've got it on a belt buckle from a Vietnam veteran that it was his and he blessed me to carry it on. oh I truly believe that. And so I took and I showed her her friend's name and I said, gone, but not forgotten. And I've been able to do that a couple of times just from that event of people that I meet along the way that they'll bring up something like that. I'm able to quick find and showcase that they're there and to celebrate them again, even for that small moment. ah incredibly powerful and beautiful. how much you talk about wanting to do things for people, John, and I hear that that's something that literally that they will remember forever. That's a memory they will look back on. And when you say gone from not forgotten, gone, but not forgotten. ah The sacrifice that is made in the service to protecting our freedom. is something that should never be taken lightly. And I think so commonly, people do not recognize the gravity of the choice that people make to enlist in the service. ultimately, what the ultimate cost could be is their life. And so I want to say thank you, John, for your service. Thank you. That's the best response I've heard uh when people say that. oh Somebody once said, I heard somebody say that you're worth it. And I said, that's the most beautiful response I could ever think of because it's so true. it's, know, many people go into the service for many different reasons. You you heard my story of why I I needed more structure. And at that point, my brain was like, if I do this for 20 years, I retire at 38 and have a guaranteed house payment, sign me up. Hmm. you factor in the other stuff that elevates through your careers and you start building that camaraderie and that team, no matter whether it's service of the Air Force or service of the Army, know, people carry across no matter what through your journey. And you have that tie in that bond that I wouldn't have had had I chose any other profession or career as part of that. Cool. Is there anything that you might cite as a tool or weapon, a book or resource, a course, something that you learned from that helped you on your journey? Um, I'm going throw my favorite poem out there. I've heard it since I was a kid and it's if, and for anybody that's read it, it's fairly long, but the boils down to if you can work through and, and hold your head high and keep your calm when others are losing their head and still continue to work through, you'll always be a man and understanding that man is just a verb statement and whatever the English proper, you know, what I'm getting at point being. You'll be there. You'll be there as a human. You'll be there as a good individual and, and everything like that. If you're talking technology wise for being able to do more things, be more efficient and impactful for others in your day. You know, I leverage technology every day, all day from chat, GBT to co-pilot to open AI assistance and Dolly and many other things. And what I strive to do there is just what I said before. get time back so that I can go enjoy my experience in my life with my family, friends, and those like you that I get to meet. And it's not because I'm out there grinding the dollars, because I love meeting new people. I love being able to make more impact. I love being able to share my story and hope that somebody does get something out of it. And somebody comes along and is like, man, that dude's, he's nuts. But two, he's got a nugget or two in there that is worth listening to. ah But at the end of the day, if it helps them get up the next day, that's truly what matters. brother, that's it. uh Literally, your words, one story, your story could be the one that hits one person in just such a fashion, right? Just the way that they relate to you. And that's one of the things I get so excited about sharing so many different people's stories is everyone comes from a different walk of life. Everyone has had different experiences, but they all boil down to the idea of that same thing. No, it's not easy. Yes, you got to keep going. If you keep going, you'll win and be nice along the way. The recipe is not that great. Not that hard. Yeah, be a good human. Yeah, it's funny but true. Yeah. And when it is hard, it's worth it. That's when it's right. It's hard to do sometimes, but being kind is always. I don't always have to be right, but I always have to do the right Alright brother, got one more question and this is my favorite one to ask. If you could be any mythical creature, what would you be and why? So I'm really gonna throw you a loop on this one and ask if I can take my shirt off first. You're the first guest to ask me that question. Sure. So I'm a big fan of Phoenix's to answer your question. And so I actually have started a tattoo of a Phoenix where it's a black and gray with a full color Phoenix pulling away from itself. uh And just a re iteration of the story of the Phoenix and show it in my way. And the reason I love the Phoenix is because of what it stands for. It's a regeneration of something from ashes. We don't necessarily know what it was before because in true form it's ashes, right? It has no form. But what we see afterwards is something beautiful and glorious that is there for all to see. And I can't fathom that anybody would look at a Phoenix that's truly drawn in the way that I visualize a Phoenix and go, man, that's awful. know, like I've got an awful Phoenix tattoo on my back. That's a tribal version that looks nothing like this beautiful thing that's coming together here. Trust me, so I've got the spectrum of them, but that's the one that I would choose so hard. Hmm. I love that. And I even think it's interesting and unique and cool that right. You have one on your back. It's tribal. It doesn't. And while I haven't seen it, I'm just thinking it's still there. It still has the symbology. It's still important to you. There's a reason that you got it. And so that memory and that idea is still there. And now you've got this new Phoenix that has this evolution, this growth. right? This beauty that comes from it. And so I think it just falls perfectly in line with the entire idea of the Phoenix is that it's it's that rebuilding. It's growing. It's soaring. It's learning. It's experiencing. It's burning down and then coming back again stronger, more beautiful, more resilient. Right. And that um I just think that the reference in my mind when I hear you say that, I think it's really cool. And thank you for sharing it. So I'm gonna throw this one out there just cause I can see it above my head. The colorful thing that you see up there is my wife's favorite animal. And because you're talking about mythical creatures, it'll align with this in the fact that she loves the chubby unicorns. That's great. That was a bonus, by the way, for anyone listening. That was the uh bonus mythical creature. I love it. So good. man. Phoenix, so that was drawn by my mother and I keep it on my office wall. yeah, I love that. My friends, thank you for joining us once again on our quest to inspire, educate, and empower you to turn your dreams into reality, one mindset shift at a time. We'll see you next time.

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Justin Mills

Host
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Aaron Iler

Producer
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Jon King

Guest