Rebuilding After Loss: Leadership, Purpose & One Step at a Time with Lyubim Kogan

In this inspiring episode of Morning Tea with Coach Kennedy, I sit down with Lyubim Kogan, five-time first-generation immigrant and founder of Wings for Heroes, to discuss resilience, leadership, and finding purpose after life’s greatest challenges. 

Together, we explore what it takes to rise after devastating setbacks, why success begins with one intentional step, the importance of trusting your inner calling, and how compassionate leadership can transform lives. This powerful conversation is a reminder that no matter how difficult the road, purpose is found by continuing to move forward, one step at a time.

https://wings4heroes.org/

https://www.instagram.com/guidingpathways2025/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Good morning everybody. Today is Friday, June 26th, 2026. And this is your morning tea with Coach Kennedy. The last couple of weeks we have been talking about loss of all kinds. Loved ones and identity mostly. We've also learned about tools we can use to help cope with grief during these times of loss. This week, we're going to talk about loss of another sort. Loss of limb with Lou Beam Kogan, the founder of Wings for Heroes. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Guest is Lou Beam Kogan, who is a five-time first generation immigrant, who is also the founder of Wingsforheroes.org, with a mission helping MPT and death combat veterans reclaim dignity, purpose, and joy. Hi, Lou Beam. How are you today?

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Hi, Coach Kennedy. I'm doing well. How are you?

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I'm good. Thank you. I'm glad that you were able to make it today.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

I'm glad to see you or hear you. Yeah. Nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became the founder of Wings for Heroes?

SPEAKER_04 1:43

That's a really long, it it covers a long period of time, probably 40 years. So let's just start in chronological order. I was born in the mid-70s in the former Soviet Union. And a year after it fell apart in 1992, I immigrated to the United States. And when I came to the United States, I was 17. I, you know, it was just, I remember I wanted to ski, you know, that's one thing that I really wanted to do. And I asked my uncle to write to all the ski schools in New York. And I got an invitation to go and interview with the National Sports Academy at Lake Placid. And I got really lucky because they offered me a scholarship so I could go, you know, I could learn English, I could live there. They fed me and they gave me a pair of skis and they said, When you're not in class, you can go ski as much as you want to. So yeah. For me it was ideal. You know, that's how that's how I, you know, how I met, or how America met me, and the experience continued for the next 20 plus years. It was really generous. It was a perfect place for me. I really wanted to go to school in New York City. I wanted to go to NYU. And when I got to NYU, I realized that I'm 300 miles away from the ski area. And if I wanted to have a chance to try out for the Olympics, I gotta make a 600-mile commute every week. And if I stopped, I knew that it would be the end of that story, but I really wanted to have a chance, so for more than two years, I commuted 600 miles plus every week, so I can go and ski in Lake Lessed and then come back to school in New York City. And after graduating, I really wanted to work in the World Trade Center. That was a big dream. And even though I got to work, my first office was just two buildings down from the New York Stock Exchange. When I had a chance to go work in the World Trade Center, I took that chance without even asking for what the terms were. I went, saw the, you know, it's like floor to ceiling glass. It was just an amazing, amazing, amazing architecture, amazing symbol. And you know, after September 11th, fortunately, I was I I I I just, you know, I saw that there was nothing left in New York after after the World Trade Center was destroyed. And I left New York City and it took a while to find my place, and you know, because my place of work was destroyed in an act of terror, I was classified as a displaced person, and the Americ the Red Cross sent me a check for $15,000. And that was, you know, my first introduction to the Red Cross. And, you know, I'm one of the people who has nothing to say but great things about the Red Cross. And actually, Wings for Heroes is modeled after the Red Cross because the original Red Cross and the whole premise of the Red Cross is that it's a neutral organization. So now I deal with MPT veterans, and it doesn't matter, you know, after they're done fighting, the uniforms come off, they don't have any flags. But that's a little bit ahead of the story, you know. After leaving New York, I I went to Colorado, California, and being a trader, you know, living on the schedule that is three hours, like right now, you know, it's eight o'clock in the morning, eight o'clock in the morning in LA, but it's already 11 o'clock in New York. So, you know, I couldn't really live on the schedule, you know, the time difference and the culture was too much for me. And I ended up working in Austin, Texas, which was also an experience. You know, I'm a mountain person, I skied all my life, and now I live in a place that doesn't, they they never see the snow. So, you know, I Texas wasn't my thing and wasn't my place, but I got an offer from American Express in 2003 to move to Denver, Colorado, and that became home for you know until I left the United States back in 2015. So 2003 to 2015, more than 10 years, Denver was my home. And you know, I really, when you think about financial business, it was clear to me I really wanted to, I knew I I had to write a book, because if you don't have a book written, then you know you don't really you you can really say much, or it means you don't have much to say. And you know, in 2014 I had a chance to co-author a book with Steve Forbes, and that became a bestseller. And then the following year in 2015, I got to speak with Brian Tracy at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, and I actually thought, you know, almost 40, and from now on, you know, I'm going to monetize all the hard work that I put in for the past 23 years, you know. And but things didn't work out that way, and I ended up in Ukraine the same year, and I took over a failing nationwide infrastructure company, and then I instead of you know monetizing all the success and being a celebrity in the United States, I went to a place that was the poor, and I quietly started working on a really difficult project. And you know, it was the situation was so tough that it took us five years to get back to profitability because the Ukrainian war started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Then the currency collapsed and the volumes collapsed, and you know, our company sold, we had gas stations, you know. The final product was selling gas stations to the consumer, and when the currency loses 90% of its value, and you lose volume of sales by half, and then it gets cut by half again, you know, you just mathematically you cannot survive with those numbers, and it was really like surviving and making it so we are working tomorrow. So if like somebody asked me about long-in-term short goals, it was like, I just hope we are all the gas stations are running tomorrow, and I hope that we can make the payroll because that was a big deal. You know, Ukraine was the second poorest nation in Europe before the war started, or you know, back in when it started, 2014-2015, and people don't really have many options. So I knew that like if we fail as a company, then there will be more than a thousand people or a thousand families without a paycheck. So that pressure was on all the time. And anyways, the US government ordered all Americans out of uh Ukraine in December of 2021. It was just like two months before the war started, they knew that it was coming. And and you know, I found myself in a situation where I had a chance of doing something. I always had an idea that I need to do something. You know, I was born in the mid-70s, and the Afghanistan war started when I was five, and it lasted until I graduate I was graduating from high school. So like if you fast forward 40 years till now, you have exactly the same thing going on. But you know, the war is not in Afghanistan, it's in the middle of Europe. But we have five-year-olds that are growing up in the same situation. So I think when you see something like this repeating over you know generations and decades and different changes in government, like things change, but in reality, it's just the same thing that is going on, you know, and nothing really changed. So you can do two things. Like, number one, pretend like nothing is happening, and just look another way, do your thing, you know, just go on with your life, or you can do something about it. And uh starting Wings for Heroes and having an idea of taking care of MPT veterans that was doing something about it. And I'm talking about, you know, this generational issue that I see from when I was little until now, 40 years later, the kids that are five years old they're in the same situation. Actually, it is worse than it was before when I was growing up as a kid. And yeah, that's I think as short as I can put the how we got to rings for heroes.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Well, what do you what do you what do you rebuild a mission or life after everything falls apart?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

How?

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Yeah, how? That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

How?

SPEAKER_03 10:56

How how do you rebuild a mission? A mission?

SPEAKER_04 10:58

How do you I think how you rebuild it, you rebuild a mission or you reach any goal, any dream, whatever you have in your life. I have like this super simple formula. It has only two steps. It's not easy, but it's simple. And you know, the first thing is that you make a decision. You know, you you you you realize, okay, it's done, it's it's finished. In my case, it was, you know, when you go to a place where there is war and you're running a nationwide company, there has to be a motivation behind it. And in in case of you know, doing it for your work, obviously the motivation is financial. And I thought that if I spend so many years working in a situation like this, when I get paid, I should be done, you know, financially set, I should be compensated enough for taking that risk. And when I started, the situation was so dire that there were two payrolls behind two payrolls behind. And a lot of gas stations were going dry. They didn't have any products, you know, they didn't have any diesel. It was a real, it was a real nightmare. And it took five years to become profitable, and then after, you know, we had it was last April, April of 2024, we had nine drones, nine Russian drones that came in and overnight destroyed one of our bases, which was a company's biggest asset. You know, it didn't have, it was unencumbered, it didn't have any mortgages on it. It has 400,000 gallons of our diesel plus plus whatever was stored from customers, and it all burned overnight. It it burns so badly that we didn't, you know, the tanker trucks that take diesel and gasoline to the gas stations like didn't have rubber on it. It just was like melting metal. And we had a huge facility, you know, it was our own railroad would go there. You could get train carts, our own customs area, so it was a huge operation. And you know, in the morning, when the lights, when the sun came up, it was gone. It was like finished. And you know, at that point I knew I have to start over again. And I got a call, and it was a call from our governor who said, Lubim, I have a veteran for you who you can fly. And he had a guy who had the double amputations, and he was that guy was supposed to be the first guy who I was going to take, you know, for a week to Turkey so that he can relax. You know, we have sea, we have the mountains, we have really cool culture to you know to take somebody and that they have a really awesome experience. And I remember sitting there and thinking, okay, what what do I do? Like I need to rebuild the business, and I know that if I really hit it fast and hard, I'm looking at a year, maybe a year and a half until I can generate the cash flow, you know, and then I thought I would come back and I would start Wings for Heroes. But then I thought, what am I gonna tell the governor? You know, like I'm gonna call back and say, hey, thanks a lot, but I cannot do it. Or can we do it two years later? It's not something that it's not an option, so you know, the only thing that I technically could do was say yes, because you know, I already started that wave, you know, and it the ball came back and it was in my court. And I said, okay, I am going to do. Here is a second part of the formula. So I decided I'm going to do it. And the next thing is just taking one step. I think people get really overwhelmed with planning and like having to have this like whole picture worked out. Imagining a business like a set of dominoes, and you just line them up and then you push one, and if you did it perfectly, they will all fall into place of one after another. Or in reality, no business works like that. It just doesn't. You just take the most perfectly running business that ever existed in the world. It was not like perfect domino. So, you know, that was making a conscious choice and saying, okay, I am like, I know how to run a business, I know how to build companies, I know that part really well, but I think I have to do this. And, you know, I I took one step, I said, okay, I'm going to do a test run and see how it works. And it worked out better than we expected. And they said, okay, then I'm going to take the next step. I'm going to incorporate. I started, you know, Public Benefit Corporation in Colorado. That's you know where I lived and worked and still have residency. And basically, public benefit corporation, it requires you by law to have 50% of what you make to go specifically to the cause. It's like, you know, I had a choice to become a charity or to become a public benefit corporation. And I thought I'm going to become a public benefit corporation because that way I can, you know, first of all, I disclose all our bank statements, you know, because I I understand that in the future, I don't have donors, big donors, they have like most of it is it was self-funded for two years, and lately we had, you know, some family members and friends step in to help. But for the future, I understand that there will have to be transparency. So what I'm saying is that my next step, it was always just making the next step. So when you have, in case, if you have, you know, you're coaching somebody and somebody is thinking, look, I just want to I want to get out, you know, like nothing is working for me. So the first you say, look, I you have to decide that you are going to get out, and it has to be an unconditional decision. And what I mean by that is that I am going to do whatever it takes for however long it takes. That's an unconditional decision. And you don't have to go back to, you know, let's say a week goes by, something difficult comes up, and you're like, oh, really? Like, should I change my life or should I not? You already finished that, that's done. You know, you don't need to go back there, you don't need to drain your energy, you don't need to waste your time. You say, okay, thanks. That's, you know, that thought will come up, and you know, when it comes up, you say, I already decided I'm moving forward, you know, I'm moving forward and I am going to do that one step. And a lot of times that one step is the thing that we don't want to do the most. I really, I really don't want to go on a podcast today because it's so dark already, right? For you, it's really, it's really early in the morning. For me, it's late at night, there is nobody outside, the whole city is just, you know, it's you start coming up with things that you but if I decide that I'm going to do something, I'm just going to do one thing that is getting me to that goal. And I think no matter how big of your problem, situation, desperation, if you can make one step towards your goal and have that commitment that you're just going to keep moving for as long as it takes, like it doesn't matter how big the steps are. You just have to keep going sometimes. Sometimes getting out of bed is the only thing that you can do, and you do that. And if you cannot get out of bed, you gotta try something. Because you know, like we all have different amounts of energy based on what's going on in our life. And sometimes we don't have any. And you know, sometimes we need to wait and re rest and recover. You know, I'm not talking about that, but you know, that could be a step too. Maybe today I need a day off, it could be a month. You don't know, you know, like after I finished my work in Ukraine, oh man, it was like I was so exhausted. I don't I don't remember how long it took for me to recover, but it took a really long, long time. And then I promised myself I'm not gonna burn the candle that deep, you know, on both hands ever again. Yeah, so first you make a decision, an unconditional decision, and then you just make that one step. What is the best thing? What can I do right now to get me closer to my goal? Just one thing. And if you do that one thing, even one thing today, and one thing tomorrow, and one thing day after, that is sometimes all the momentum that you can generate, and I think it's enough. And when people going through really traumatic and like big issues, like health issues, or coming back from some you know, bad relationships and business deals, sometimes you know, you get into a deal. Sometimes business deals more times than they're probably worse to deal with than you know, divorces. Because for men specifically, you know, the business, your business is everything, and you like fully invested into something and you have a bad partnership and it's falling apart. That can set back a lot. And I think that if anybody's listening and you get to that decision-making point and you're winning already, once you decide I'm getting out, and it doesn't matter what it takes, I'm gonna get out, and no timelines, you know. I think people we put timelines on us. I think that's one of the issues that I think with think and grow rich. Think and grow rich. That like he writes a timeline. And I mean, we all start there say, yeah, I'm going to make a billion dollars by December 31st by providing the best podcast interviews in the world. Let's go, man. Eight days. Eight days.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

Yeah, that's not much time left. I guess anything's possible though, right? What promise did you make?

SPEAKER_04 20:49

Yes, right. Sorry, let me answer this. I think, yes, anything's possible. That is right. Anything is possible. I believe in that statement 100%.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

And also, I do think that sometimes timelines are important, but it just depends on how it feels inside your body, if it's applicable to set a time zone. Because it's sometimes if you don't have a timeline, you keep moving the goalposts further and further back and you never attain the goal.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

So yeah, there is a start point, yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

What promise did you make and why did you choose to keep it no matter the cost?

SPEAKER_04 21:36

I think I kind of mentioned this, but again, I've seen I've seen the same thing repeating over and over and over. You know, it doesn't change. We are playing the same movie only, you know, geographically, the movie of the war is coming closer to Europe. We don't think in the United States, but you know, in Europe it's a really different situation. And what I saw a lot was that we have a lot of MPT veterans, you know, it's an active combat zone. And we have men, women, you know, and those guys and girls, they're like the youngest and the brightest, and a lot of them, a lot of them volunteered. Like US Army is 100% volunteered. So we have a lot of brave people that place themselves in between evil and our well-being. You know, like the reason we can have this conversation is because somebody is actually um volunteered to join the strongest military in the world, and it's a big deterrent, you know, for somebody not to come and try to mess with us while we're having this conversation. But what happens when they get in in the case that cases that I'm dealing with, you know, when they go in the combat zone and something happens and they have amputations, then they think we have like a societal contract with them, and the contract goes like this you guys take care of us so we can do what we you know what we are doing right now, and then if anything happens, we are going to take care of you. But the reality is very different. You know, I actually went around the world to see how different societies keep promises to their veterans, and it was really, you know, it was a sad picture, you know, and everybody knows it, everybody understands it, and not many people are able to do anything about it. So it did it not just for me, but for everybody who feels like we should do something. But we just don't have a choice. Like we don't have a chance. Like I didn't have a chance, you know, when it was when I was working and I was really busy and I was running companies, or I had a registered investment advisory firm in Denver. I didn't have the time. If somebody came and asked me to help them, I could write a check, and I gladly did, but I couldn't go, you know, and take a day off or whatever. And I thought, you know, that I just have to start it and show people this is what it is, this is how it works, and then I will find you know partners and people who will help me grow it later. And I'm just getting to that later part, like now.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

What does it mean to lead when there's no system, no money, and no applause?

SPEAKER_04 24:27

It means having to get up, no matter how bad the situation is, and having to do your work. In my case, because I was in charge of a company, I had to tell more than 1,000 people what they have to do because we were in a situation that there was no playbook, like nobody knew what to do when there is a war going on, like when there's peace, everybody knows what to do. But now obviously the situation is completely different anywhere you look. Like, what do you do? So when everybody comes to you and they ask you, what do I do? And you as a leader need to lead people, then it's taking that uh if you talk about the business, you just look where the high margins are, and you go after highest margin uh products and you try to sell more of them. But if you are in a situation that is, you know, it's extremely difficult, my case, again, there was a war going on in the country. So a lot of times you have to invent things, you know. You have to you have to become you have to become the superpower that people will believe in. You start creating myths and you try to produce science of it being true in reality. So I'll give you an example. Everybody knows Shell, it's a huge oil company, and you know, they had like I think 140-something guest stations in Ukraine, and we had 92, and some of them, you know, they were not really functioning. In one month, we sold more than Shell, and I, you know, that was the super power occurrence that I told everybody that we can do it, and when we did it, then I really, you know, carried that flag that made everybody that every single person in the company own that victory. You know, when like a little company can outsell worldwide, really well capitalized company. That's you know, it was an accomplishment of every every single person who was part of the company. And I think if you want to be a leader, then you need to bring people in and let them give them a chance to show what they can do. Just let them do it, you know, and let them make mistakes and teach them it's okay to come to you, they made mistakes. It's actually really important, you know, that if you're a leader, that your people can come to you and they know they will get support if they're stuck instead of you know trying to cover it up and then dealing with the consequences.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Yeah, trust, build having trust amongst the people that you're trying to lead is of vital importance. What is the biggest lesson you've learned from working with wounded veterans?

SPEAKER_04 27:27

That uh well, a lot of things. I mean, it depends on what you will apply it to. I think, you know, what comes today to mind is that you know all amputations are different. That the ones that that have a knee, they're actually between themselves, they're considering, you know, that the ones that have a knee, they're the lucky ones. And I actually, when I asked, if you look at our logos, like all our logos, it's actually a real person. It's a number one guy who we flew. He was 20 years old for 10 days when the war started, and he, you know, volunteered to go. And I asked him, Look, that moment when it was really tough, how did you decide? Like, what made you decide? And he's saying, I was just laying there really depressed and in the hospital. And he said, Next to him was a guy who had like, he was missing two legs and one arm, so all he had was one arm left. And he said that guy wouldn't stop talking about him getting out of here. He said this 24 hours when he was not sleeping, he was saying he had to get out of here because he has a 17-year daughter and he still needs to help her, you know. Grow until she gets married, and then he's finished his work as a father, and it's not right now. And he said that when he looked at that guy with having only one arm, he realized that you know that he's missing one leg is not a big deal, relatively. So I think the biggest thing is that everything is relative, and if you think about all the issues that other people have, I think if Brian Tracy had this thing, he'd say, like, if all the people in the world throw all their issues and problems in one pile, and then we equally divide them and hand it equally to all the people in the world, then most people will say, Hey, look, you know what, here is this stuff, take it back. Can I just please have my problems back? And I don't want any of this, you know, equally divided stuff. Just give me, give me mine. I want to live with that. So, you know, everything is relative, and people have gotten out from a lot bigger troubles than you are facing right now. But if you don't start getting out of it, it's gonna be more difficult tomorrow, so you gotta get going now. There's not not enough time in this lifetime to accomplish like major things if there is not. And what we see success on TV are just those very few, you know, everything fell into place. So, you know, we have we're all human beings, you know, we have a tendency to postpone things till tomorrow or indefinitely. Like you said, you know, there has to be a starting point. And uh, I think, you know, like deciding that you will change something and going after it, like you have eight minutes after you finish listening to this podcast to decide that you're going to change your life and then think about the next step. And in one year, you will be blown away where you are. Because one year actually is not a lot of time. However, if you're changing something after you make that decision, one year could be a big difference. I think Coach Kennedy can attest to that because you know we talked about you running a podcast, you started you knew nothing, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. One year can make a huge difference, even though it's not a lot of time. I never really thought that almost a year into posting my first episode that I would still be still be doing interviews and this material.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Are you still doing it?

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Yeah. Yep. And and I never really thought that I would have my own business ever in my lifetime. But here I am, I'm building it. So it's going great. And this time last year, I definitely wasn't even thinking about having my own business. I knew nothing about this path that I was going to be on. I just decided one day, you know, that's gonna something has I need to be doing something. There's more to this life than what I'm currently doing. And I just said, what is it? And I put it into Chat GPT as what can I do to have a career where I'm helping people but preserving my energy? And nothing jumped out except for the coaching. And that's how I feel how my path, honestly. The podcast was first and then the coaching second, but So you decided I'm gonna do it, right? Yeah. Something actually just kind of took over my body and said, we need to be doing this, and then I just said okay, and then it just took over. And then it's just been one progressive step at a time. And something that you mentioned about how a business doesn't run like dominoes, it surely does not. You have that one little domino that decides to go left instead of right.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

And vice versa. You never know how they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Because so many, so many different dominoes, you know, they keep coming from all different places, then suddenly somebody removes, not just one, but like a huge chunk. And you think, what happened here? Like the business, you never really know. And you know, with you, it's really interesting. Like that you came to the point where you said something inside me, it grabbed me. And I think this is one of the biggest things. Like, I never thought about what I'm going to do next, but I always felt it. Like all my big accomplishments, that something inside, I know I learned early enough, I think, to recognize it. Because I set a big dream when I was like a kid, I want to go to the Olympics, you know. And every time the challenges came, like that decision was made. So I never thought if I want to go, I don't want to go. I wanted to go my whole entire life. We're talking about you know the childhood and youth. And you know, that that feeling in the future, when I get a feeling that something inside me grabs me, like I always paid attention. And in reality, like all other big things, something grabbed me from the inside, and he said, You gotta do this. And like when I resisted, I paid for it later. When I went with it, when I went with it, I was like, wow, really? It took so like just one year? It cannot be.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 33:59

It could be like 10 plus, it can't be that fast.

SPEAKER_03 34:05

Yeah, if you resist that calling inside, you do quote unquote pay for it later. Something will go wrong. But when you just go with it, you're like, oh, this is amazing, this is beautiful, look at this. That's that's good, yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

And that's something, something that you pay later normally shows up. You know, people say, oh man, this is the same lesson, same situation. I'm just repeating, it's just looking a lot worse and a lot worse than it was before. It's like, yeah, right. But you know, the feeling told you what to do, and then you decided that you mind is a lot smarter, so you're going to outthink what you feel and show everybody that you can push through it, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:49

And then you cannot, you're like taking.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

But you're gonna try, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:53

You gotta try.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

It depends on how stubborn. You know, there's balance in terms of like there's sometimes you just gotta quit, you know, there's some things that are not meant for you.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Yeah, exactly. And then and then you it's that feeling when the the thing the cycle keeps repeating, that's how you know that specific thing is not for you and you need to move on. You have been a five-time immigrant. How does that shape the way that you've led?

SPEAKER_04 35:28

I am probably the quietest boss in the room. If I am if I am, you know, if I'm in charge, I talk less than anybody else. I want to hear people. Because when in our during our darkest hours, I started this we could we had these brainstorming sessions, they were open to anybody in the company. So anybody on Wednesdays could go, we would find I find a restaurant. Anybody could show up if they had an idea on how we can sell more. It doesn't matter from it was open to people, and it became so popular that at one point we couldn't fit in the biggest restaurant in our town, and uh we actually had to have to find a place and rent a house so that we can do our sessions away from people. And like if you think about the person who knows the most about an issue with your company is the person who spends the most amount of time in that specific place. And normally it's people who interact with your clients or customers, but sometimes they're like so far removed from you, you as a leader, as a decision maker, as an owner of the business, that whatever, as a person who needs to have that information, that it's really impossible for you to not only work, even communicate with that person. You know, there are so many barriers. And if we're talking about the bigger companies get, the more difficult normally it is to get to the boss. Well, like in my case, it was not the situation, and really I knew I knew cleaning ladies at their gas stations because I showed them what a clean toilet looks like, you know, by taking them up and cleaning it up once, and I knew I do it once, and I never have to touch it again, and nobody else does. Imagine the guy comes from the United States, he becomes a boss of the company, walks into your gas station, says it's not clean, let me show you. Give me a mop. That was the end. So, you know, I think that what they teach you in college and what they teach you in business school and what they teach you in a normal working environment, it's all awesome because any company needs structure. But Coach Kennedy knows that what you think business running and running a business are two different things. And if you're in a position of leadership, you just have to be super flexible and quick. You have to like I wear I wore running shoes to work because I when I needed to find information, I ran. It was faster than somebody picking up the phone and dialing. I could run out and look for myself and see for myself. So I think you have to be flexible and you gotta talk to people, to everybody who works for you so they know you're approachable. And there's no way that critical information could be withheld or hidden from you. You know, when you need it the most, and you need it the most is when the time of crisis comes. Then you really need to have that information. I cannot overemphasize, overemphasize having a relationship with people and not, you know, removing yourself and putting yourself, I'm the boss, okay? You know, here is the chairman's seat. I occupy that seat. Actually, my seat was empty, you know. Like one of the things that I made a point, there was a seat for the boss, and that seat was always empty. I removed myself from that seat. We had like kind of a tea table, you know, like everybody, like you said, I would sit like this facing you, and then everybody would be away from me. So I removed myself from that table and placed myself that I'm on the same on the same side with everybody else. And when they needed to make a point, I got up, I walked behind the desk, and I stood and I frowned. I never yelled at them, but you know, they really felt it. So you are one team, and you know, you really need to communicate with everybody on that team. Have a good time, you know. People are creative, they'll figure out all the issues, just give them a chance. Let them figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 39:37

Yeah, I like that a lot. You said that you wrote a book. What is your book called and where can people find it?

SPEAKER_04 39:46

So the bestseller that came out was Steve Forbes, excuse me. It was Successonomics. It's on it's on uh it's on it's on Amazon, but I think the really interesting book will be the one that I'm writing right now. Because the book before was about finances and taxes, and even though I love taxation, you know, the US United States tax code was longer than the Bible um 20 years ago. It had like over 80,000 pages 20 years ago, and it was like really exciting to dig through it. But right now, what I'm writing about is actually how to recognize the calling that grabbed you and they said, I'm doing that. And how to leave when there are no no maps, and there are the same things that you cannot just really learn. In any college, they don't teach that. So um if you follow Wings for Heroes, you will know when it will come out and you will know how to get it. And it should be ready soon. I'm talking just you know a few months, and it should be it should be ready. I just am thinking about the structure, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

Of course. Do you have a title for it?

SPEAKER_04 41:05

I have a title for there is one book that I'm writing for Wings for Heroes as, you know, the origin. And then there is another one that I'm writing with our first guy who we flew with, the MPT, who went from you know being depressed, sitting at home, really not having a future, to uh becoming a captain of his soccer team, you know, independently traveling all over Europe and really having a quality of life that is better than he had when he had two legs. So that one is called Above It All. And the subtitle would be related to you know, how no one can take your dreams unless you let them. And the story of number one is that you know he volunteered the 20, then he lost his right leg. And he was a kid who wanted to play professional soccer. You know, he all he talked about was soccer, he didn't have anything else in his life. And then, you know, obviously, when you don't have two legs, it goes away. But somehow he found his way, you know, to win superheroes. And with him, I added rehab. You know, he was the first one who went through a rehabilitation program of one month intense, fully living here. And you know, he got a new prosthetic leg that cost $75,000, and the government paid for it. And the reason his is so expensive is because he doesn't have a knee. So, you know, like standing up, sitting down, doing all the activities that require a knee, he could not do it, but now he can. And yeah, so the second one will be above it all, and the first one I'm not sure yet, because I can write a story, but I actually have been writing a lot of poems, you know, because if you go on Wings for Heroes, our website and the media, you'll see the videos that are pulled from our Instagram, and I actually started writing the lyrics for the songs, and the songs that are on our last videos, there it's actually all in-house made. Lyrics, music, all of it. And I'm thinking, yeah, I'm thinking about you know, writing a story, or just the first one would be just a collection. It would be just a collection of little poems and songs of how it happened from the beginning. You know, I gotta I gotta do something. I gotta do something to relieve the pressure, you know, because it's a lot of pressure doing this work. And like writing and rhyming and doing little creative things is a way of how, you know, it's it's actually when you run a business, you will have to find a way to shift, you know, to to really unload your mind. And vacation is not actually organizing a trip and going somewhere for a few weeks. A vacation for an executive is actually change of activities. Because and even so look, if you have your small business, you are an executive of your company. I don't know if you hire, you know, zero people or your first one, two, ten. It's still you have a lot of demands, and like learning how to switch off and really take a break is a huge skill that you must learn. There are very few people who are naturally can just click off and click back on.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

But most people don't have a process on on how to recover, and that's how a lot of people burn out.

SPEAKER_04 44:37

Look, I'm, you know, I was one of those people, and I found out that we really need to create quick breaks. And again, like all the hobbies, all the things that interest you, the things that you stopped doing when you start started your business, you're gonna come back to that? Maybe in three years, maybe in five years, maybe in 20 years, and you're gonna say, Well, why did I stop doing that? You know, it was so good for my soul, my body, my health, my mind, everything. And it's like we get carried away with our business and we forget to take care of ourselves. So hobbies is a big deal. I think like having hobbies, things that you like, and doing them in your business, it's extremely important.

SPEAKER_03 45:21

Yeah, I think so. I I like to go for walks and listen to music, and I I turn my walks into a jazz or size slash karaoke session for like an hour, and it like it helps lift my spirits and unleash, and it helps boost everyone else's spirits that sees me doing it.

SPEAKER_04 45:45

So, one of the things that you do, you know, like I said, like what I did, and another thing I think walking is really it's super like I had when I got invited when I got an offer to contribute to Steve Forbes' book, it was so much pressure, I couldn't sit. They gave me a limit in words. That was the biggest constraint that I had. They said, Look, you have this little words to say, everything you know about everything you know. Imagine that. How can you? And it was and and I I got up and I started walking, and I was walking, you know. I remember I averaged 30,000 steps in August of that year when we were putting it like it's how much I could not stop. I was just so stressed out, and like it's great that you brought walking. There was a period of my life that I had to do one thing that I had to complete, and I couldn't really focus on anything else. But there's still 24 hours a day, you know, and I I replaced that time burning, that nervous energy and walking.

SPEAKER_03 46:45

Is there is there anything else that you want the audience to know about you or Wings for Heroes?

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Um it started as an idea to say thank you, you know, like become a recreational, recreational experience where you take MPT combat veterans, bring them, they bring them to the beach, you know, they rest, and it started with one week, then it one got to 10 days, and they submerged to culture, and they the highlight of that thing is going paragliding, and I thought that that would be like the whole program, and then I found out that they need to have a lot more needs, and there are not many organizations that actually tailor to their needs. And I took one veteran and I saw I traveled the whole way seeing like what does the whole process takes, and you know, on the way created the services that they all need. And like every good accountant, after I did the I put together a monthly program. So our monthly program looks like you know, they includes we fly them here to Turkey, we house them, feed them, 12 physical therapy, 10 swimming sessions with one-on-one coach in their own, you know, swimming lane. And we have unlimited cycling sessions. We actually have MPTs starting to cycle after amputation for the first time. That whole program with 24-hour concierge service at the end, it cost me $4,000 for one person for one month, all inclusive. And then I looked at the numbers of charities, you know, like big charities that have tens and hundreds of millions in the bank. And they spend, you know, four or five times more just on operations alone.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

So um my next goal is to have it running 12 months out of the year.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

Excuse me. So my my next my goal is to have it running 12 months out of the year, not organizing events, bring people and start you know, planning in in a new one. And I am looking for partners to expand. So if anybody is anybody is looking for a mission, you know, that is really cost efficient, effective, and it is working with veterans or MPT veterans in our case, then wingsforheroes.org has a contact button, and you just hit that button and you'll get to me.

SPEAKER_03 49:18

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 49:19

I think that's about it.

unknown 49:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 49:22

Well, Lubim, thank you so much for your time today. And I really appreciate hearing about your story and learning more about Wings for Heroes. I think you're doing something that is so great and amazing for all veterans, and I hope that you continue to shine bright and that you find a partner that you can expand and do more amazing stuff with in your future.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Coach Kennedy. I appreciate the conversation and the time.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

Alrighty. Have a wonderful evening and a good holiday if you celebrate and holidays, happy new year, of course. Okay, bye.

SPEAKER_04 50:03

Bye, see you.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

There you go, folks. If you want to work with Lou Beam or know more about what he does, feel free to visit wingsforheroes.org and send him a message, or he mentioned that he had an Instagram. So you could probably check him out on Instagram. And for more coaching tips or to work with me one on one, feel free to check me out on Guiding Pathways on Facebook or Instagram. Until next week, take care, everybody. Bye bye.