Kicked Out of College. Became a Green Beret. | Prescott Engle

How does a Green Beret become a private equity executive, business leader, and president of a multimillion-dollar company? 

In this episode of The Not Special Show, former Green Beret Prescott Engle shares the incredible journey from getting kicked out of college to earning the Green Beret, serving during the Cold War in Central America, walking away from the CIA, building a successful career in insurance, private equity, and business leadership, and ultimately leading Alliance Nationwide Exposition.

Prescott opens up about the lessons that shaped him: resilience, leadership under pressure, overcoming failure, raising eight children, making difficult career transitions, and why success starts with serving others. Whether you're a veteran, entrepreneur, business leader, or someone navigating life's next chapter, this conversation is packed with practical wisdom and unforgettable stories.

In this episode, we discuss:
* Getting kicked out of college—and the conversation that changed his life
* Earning the Green Beret and surviving Special Forces training
* The instructor who tried to make him quit
* Cold War missions in Central America
* Why he turned down a career with the CIA
* Building a successful career in insurance and private equity
* Leadership lessons from the military that apply to business
* The importance of mentorship and earning confidence
* Raising eight children and building a lasting marriage
* Why education and intelligence are not the same thing

⏱️ CLICKABLE CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Why Prescott is Special
01:43 Growing Up Wild & Burning Down a Cornfield 
05:03 Getting Kicked Out of College 
07:53 What He Told Himself on the Way to Boot Camp
10:08 The Green Beret Recruiting Pitch 
12:42 Special Forces Selection Begins 
18:22 "I'm Going to Make You Quit" 
26:46 Earning the Green Beret 
28:02 GOVX
28:36 Life in 7th Special Forces Group 
31:03 Cold War Missions in Central America 
35:17 Leadership Lessons from Special Forces 
36:57 Education is Not a Relative Indicator of Intelligence
40:22 Why He Turned Down the CIA 
42:55 Starting Over in Insurance 
46:25 The Sales Lesson That Changed Everything 
48:20 Meeting His Wife & Building a Family 
51:03 Liberty Speaks
52:06 From Business Consultant to Company President 
57:55 A Lesson From Desert Storm
01:01:40 Surprises in the Industry
01:05:47 Changes in the Events Industry
01:07:27 Business Need to Read the Room
01:09:16 Balancing Business and Family
01:10:29 “I Was a Shit Father”
01:15:09 Finding Your Tribe
01:17:39 Getting From and Giving to the Army
01:19:17 What he Would Tell his Younger Self
01:25:24 What He Values Most in Life

Prescott's story is a reminder that your biggest setback doesn't have to define you. The discipline, humility, and perseverance that carried him through Special Forces became the same principles that helped him succeed in business and life.


Connect with Liberty Speaks: 
🌐 Website: www.libertyspeaks.com 
🔗 Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/_ownyourjourney_

Checkout www.govx.com for great discounts and they give back to the community every month, the July GOVX Give Back supports Mission 22.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Prescott?

SPEAKER_04 0:01

Why are you special? I don't think that I am. I guess.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

I we think you are. Knowing you, the family. Uh I mean, you're an experienced business person, a musician, an executive, a green braet, which I'm a little partial to, kind of. So I think the audience is gonna think you're special.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

He's Stephanie's husband.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

That makes me special.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Probably the biggest title. That makes you special. Father. I don't know. One of them.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Yeah, he's not Stephanie's father.

unknown 0:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

That would be uh I'm kidding. Stephanie's husband and the father of eight children.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

Um, and I hope that someone Which one's your favorite?

SPEAKER_01 0:44

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

Better not even. Um boy, that would be trouble. That would be trouble. Um, yeah, and I would hope that at some point someone would say Patriot.

unknown 0:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I'm Herb Thompson, a Green Bray and resolutionist.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

And I'm Corey Thompson, Herb's Less Harry Half and Branding Expert.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Our guests come from various backgrounds, but one thing is true. They are special. Patriot. I love I got a favorite of the four. I I just can't say it. Actually, I used to say I had a favorite of the four, it was the dog. Yeah. So like the kids knew I like the dog better, but yeah, I think people think you're special. I guess let's let's take a way back though. What kind of kid were you growing up?

SPEAKER_04 1:30

You know, curious, real adventuresome. And as I got a little bit older, Borderline Wild, um, was was raised by a single parent, my father, and uh who it was Stephanie and I were talking about on the way down. He was he had his standards, but he wasn't overly strict. But you had to live up to those standards.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

And he was a veteran too, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:57

My father was a Korean war vet. And um, yes, and he had his standards, and uh you lived up to those standards. And but outside of that, I had a a lot of freedom growing up. And my brother and I talk about we were complete free range kids. Burned a cornfield down one day. I gotta ask how. Um okay, so I was six, my brother was three, yeah, and we were trying to build a tree house in the backyard. It's it was starting to get cold that afternoon, and I said, Well, we'll just make a fire. We we watched, you know, we were big Western guys, and so you know, we were out on the range and we were gonna make a fire. And so I got some hay from the hay field, and you know, everybody's parents smoked cigarettes then, and so I ran up to the house and got a pack of matches, and that fire got out of control real fast.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

And uh my I mean, you weren't wrong, you picked the flammable material for sure, and matches are the way to go.

SPEAKER_04 2:59

That's six and three years old. Yeah, and it got out of hand, and I realized when the hose wouldn't reach as far um down to that part of the we ran.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Um, and we ran to a neighbor's house, and my parents were still married then. And probably about 15 minutes later, we were in the basement playing, and my uh buddy's mom came down and says, Um, your mother is at the doorstep, and the fire department was in the field, and my mother had a wiffle ball bat, and um we got our little butts spanked all the way back up the road. And I think the fire department uh that that place burned for about three days.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yeah. So that's did you fess up right away? Well, they knew it was us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But did you say like how what had happened, or did you try to do that?

SPEAKER_04 3:48

I put my hands on my legs and said, no, mom, no. She already knew. There was no question in her military mind that it was Steve and I. Yeah, actually, it was me. My brother was a he was a innocent co-conspirator. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

He got equal weapons of it. He did.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Her and I talk about that period of life of if you had, I'll say, the good fortune of growing up like that, it it leads you to a lot of circumstances, maybe always not positive, but there are things that you learn from that of decision making and you know, some of the positives that come from that.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

And build a dirt ring around the fire so it can't escape that.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yeah, yeah. But you learn by them.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

We've talked about like we've challenged it'd be interesting with your kids because how do you parent enough? But also what made us who we are is we were left alone.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

But also you cannot do that kind of stuff. You probably six and three-year-old free range.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, no, yeah. It's a you'd be arrested, I think, today.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Yeah. Positive. Even a 12-year-old probably be like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

So is that what led you to become a Green Beret? You were like, hey, this this is kind of cool, this outdoors thing.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

You know, I um one of the reasons I joined the army was uh I got in a little trouble in college and was a little wild. And uh my father grabbed me up and said, You're about a grown man now. You can get a job and move out, or you can go in the military and move out. But you're moving out of my house. Nice. And yeah, and I'd been in college and uh for a couple of years. I was a good athlete, but I didn't have a lot of confidence in my ability to support myself at that point in my life. That's fair, you know, and so the next day I was at the uh Army Recruiter Office. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

The next day, the next day because the old man wasn't messing around.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

He wasn't he gave me two weeks. He yes, he gave me two weeks. Actually, it was the day after because the day he grabbed me up was Christmas Eve. And so the day after Christmas, I was at the Armed Forces recruiting station. Yeah, and my dad said I had to be out of the house by January the 2nd, but they couldn't take me until the 4th of January to get me to reception station at Fort Jackson, and so the recruiter had to come and and beg for a two-day reprieve. I remember the day that I got in the van. It was really cold. It was in January, early January, very cold. It snowed that weekend, and my dad had a 1972 L Ford LTD, and we were meeting the recruiter at a 7-Eleven parking lot at like 4:30 in the morning. And I didn't find this out till later, but uh my brother was in the back seat, he's three years younger than me. Van pulls up, my dad stuck his hand out, he shook my hand, he said, Good luck. If it doesn't work out, don't come back. And he told my brother, uh, when I got out, he said, Let this be a lesson to you. But my brother told me just a few years ago, my dad's been dead for 22 years now, and he he said, Yeah, we went back into the house, and dad went in his bedroom, shut the door, and I heard him crying.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Yeah, but I can see why he's crap, but I get teary-eyed, but probably the best thing he could have done for you.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

It was tough love, is still love. And and he loved me enough to um to help me out. And I will tell you, and Herb, you were a drill sergeant for a while, you know, maybe a week later, and we were on our way to from Fort Jackson to Fort Gordon. That's where I went through basic training and AIT. I was an 18 echo, then 05B, before we made the transition. And I was on the bus on the way down. I will never forget this as long as I live. In the back of the bus were a bunch of guys from Philly and New York and Baltimore, and probably 10 or 15 guys, and they were all one up in each other who came from the tougher hood. And I'm sitting by myself in the middle of the bus, and I thought, had you just not gotten into trouble and been a little wiser with your life, you'd still be in college, you'd be in bed right now, in a warm bed. Instead, your bald little ass is on this bus and you're going to boot camp with these knuckleheads. And I I said, you're gonna make the best of this situation, and you're gonna you're gonna take this as far as you can go.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

I'm glad you had that positive. From my drill starting experience, though those classes cycles were the worst. Because, like in this, it wasn't a choice, right? It was the people who come in summertime, they just graduate high school, college. Yeah, let's go. The people like, hey, we're starting base training in January, they're there, not because they want to be. No one's there, like, you know what? Christmas went so well. I'm in the army now, right? It's usually bad. So, like, I'm glad you use that. And then that led to you know, found the path to earning the green beret?

SPEAKER_04 8:53

It did. So I was a little wild, but uh I I was good academically, so I scored really high on the ASVA. I think I got a 140 plus on the ASVAB. And I got into boot camp, one of my best friends, he and I went through boot camp, AIT, airborne school, SF training. Yes, he is still Paul Pentagrass. Oh uh, and my other buddy Keith Brooks. Pendergrass still lives down in Rayford, North Carolina. But uh, we were in a class.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

That's where that shooting range was I was telling you about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:25

Yeah, in Rayford. Yeah. Sure. So we were in a class, and our drill sergeant came up to Pentagrass, and I now both of us were athletes. Pentagrass was from Charleston, South Carolina, and we had both had scored perfect on the PT test. Now, this was a couple of years after Vietnam. We still had a five-event PT test. It was the run, dodge, and jump, the crab crawl, the horizontal ladders, sit-ups, and a one-mile run.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

I gotta be honest, I forgot about the crab crawl from back in PT days.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

Yeah, the crab crawl. It was a 40-yard crab crawl up and back. And so Pendergrass and I had both gotten perfect scores on the PT test, and we both had pretty high GT scores. Drill Sergeant Umfries was the guy's name. He pulls us out of class. He said, Hey, there's some dude at the mess hall wants to talk to you guys, double time up there and then get back. And so we walked into our mess hall, and back in the corner was this tall. Now, you you know, Corey, you were talking about average height. Yeah, this guy was the poster boy for a Green Beret. He was tall. He was wearing camouflage fatigues. Yeah. I think he had an IMA or a JFK uh uh uh flash. And he said, hey, fellas, back here. Come on back. And uh we sat down, it he was really relaxed, and um he said, Both of you guys got the highest GT scores in the entire training battalion, and you you you've got uh you got 500 uh PT tests. He said, Um, we are looking for candidates who want to volunteer for Airborne School and Special Forces. And you know, that wasn't the traditional model then, but this was just a couple of years after Vietnam, and they had a lot of people leaving SF. And so I guess they had people that were, you know, recruiting. So, and that recruiting doesn't mean you're gonna make it. Yeah. And so I said, Well, what is it means we're here to tell you about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:26

And he said, I said, Well, what is special forces? He said, Well, it's pretty cool, you know, and you might even get to grow your hair long and not wear a uniform, and you'll travel all over the world. I was like, sign me up. Sign me up, yeah. What he didn't tell me was there there was a little thing called the Special Forces Qualification Course. Uh just don't put a green beret on your head. And so Pendergrass and I both volunteered, and it was really amazing. We're still very good friends.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

So special and so rare.

SPEAKER_04 11:57

So rare. So rare. But go through the pipeline together. Yeah, and and they did. And the regiment was still dominated by Vietnam veterans.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Yeah, because you're talking, I mean, probably anyone who'd been in for a few years had Vietnamics, like they actually were in Vietnam.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yeah. Anywhere from the late 60s to the early 70s. And, you know, they were what we called the old guys. They were probably 30, 30, 10. Yeah, I was gonna say they probably weren't even old. 30s. You know, but when you're 20, 21 years old, you know, anybody in their 30s looks old. But yeah, so you know, I uh we made it through. We got to Bragg after airborne school. I had to go to Fort Benning, and Pentagrass was an O5B as well. It was a little different. You didn't have selection phase came later. It was then called pre-phase. And what they would do is they would gather enough candidates for a class, and the pre-phase area was over in the 18th Airborne School that over near Mott Lake.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

In w in the old World War II buildings. There was a core support command, COSCOM, they called them, big units around there. And there was the um the airfield was pretty close, the helicopter airfield. And you stayed there. They got enough, you did PT every day. Uh, they started out with the rucksack in the afternoon because that was the main thing. And the uh the Q course was divided up into three phases. So you had pre-phase. Phase one was then at Camp McCall. I think it still is. Yeah. I met some really interesting people there because the camp commandant was then Major Bob Howard, who was Medal of Honor in SIP.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

And I think nominated a couple times. Three times.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

Three times. And I'll never forget um the first day of phase one, they took you up to Lee Field House. We did the Ranger PT test, which was then push-ups, which is now what the standard except the run was a four-mile run instead of a two-mile run. Then you did your swim test, uh, had three events at uh the Lee Fieldhouse swimming pool, and then you uh changed your uniform, had something he took you over to Pope, put you on an aircraft, and you jumped into Rhine DZ, which was 13 miles outside of Camp McCall, and you had a rucksack. Yeah, you walked in, you walked in, and they would have uh it was, you know, it was an admin walk. I mean, you're trying to keep up with everybody, but they got the cattle cars and the the jeeps if if uh you know guys are falling out all the time.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

I have to ask you, nowadays there's been quite a few people that have gone through the selection process, become Green Berets, had their time, and they're able to tell people, you know, about their process or about what they're going to be doing. You also have now the internet at your fingertips where you can really search and find out more about you know what that job truly entails. But back then, did you have an opportunity to speak to anyone? So you're internet.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

You you the only some of the instructors at the pre phase would would tell you, just be ready to ruck. They called it speed marching. And that's the you know, you got up every day. You didn't do a lot of running, but everywhere you went was that rucksack.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

And did you have any notion of like the type of work you would be doing if you made it?

SPEAKER_04 15:18

You had a vague idea. But really at that point, your whole deal was just to get through just focus on that. Yeah, focus. And and the one piece of advice that I did get from one of the instructors back at Bragg, don't focus on anything but what you have to do that day.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Just keep keep that bite the elephant one day at a time.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

Yeah, don't look ahead. Don't don't start, just do what you have to do that day. And you know, we got into uh the compound, they would close the gates, and anybody outside the gates, you're you're out. I think we started off that day with 650 candidates, and at the end of day one, we were down to about 300.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Was that inspiring or or concerning?

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Um both. I I was I was relieved to make it inside the gates. Yeah. Um, and we had our our formation, uh, we were getting assigned our hoochas, and we're not talking about luxury accommodations. They were concrete slabs, tar paper shacks.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

You had a string of lights down, no heat, no air conditioning. You had uh boards you would push the slats open, but you had a string of naked light bulbs, and there were wooden plywood bunks with uh iron rails, and you were putting your um air mattress and sleeping bag on that, and you had your rucksack and your duffel bag because you had a lot of gear. But that afternoon, what impressed me in what I was back when air mattresses were like whoopee cushions. They were like it's not like today's where it's like a real deal.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

But the minute you sit on it, it's like all out.

SPEAKER_04 16:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they would deflate real quick. But Major Howard came out and addressed us, and he he said, Gentlemen, we're gonna see who wants to be a green beret versus who wants to wear a green beret. And that stuck with me because I and I learned later, you very rarely wear the headgear.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Actually, I would try not to. Right. Well, no, I don't I don't want to wear my headgear.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

No, I don't think it would fit in with all that hair.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Was there a was there a time in train where you didn't think you were gonna make it? Yes. As you were going through that?

SPEAKER_04 17:29

Yes, there was. And it was in phase one.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

And uh is that the tactics phase, like patrolling and yeah, that was yes.

SPEAKER_04 17:37

You started off, you had general military subjects learning to repel, not tying the 10 basic military knots, and then you had some some survival training, which the that program was designed by Colonel Nick Rowe.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Nick Rowe, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:51

Uh Green Beret, who was the only American to successfully escape um of a Vietnamese POW camp. So we had that. I was a really good land nav student. I there was just one of the cadre that he singled me out. It was my fault because he asked me, so what are you doing here? And I said, I'm a candidate for special force training. I he said, Really? What makes you think? You know, and the guy's name was Sergeant First Class Pritchard. I'll never forget to get him together. I love that you remember the name. I never forget him. And and he looked right at me and he said, Ingle, I don't think you're SF material, and I'm gonna make it my job to see that you quit. And I it pissed me off really bad. And I said, You can't make me quit. The only person can make me quit is me.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Can I let you in on something? That probably meant he knew you were SF material, and he was waiting to see that response.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

At that point, I didn't know. And we were about to go out for Land Nav, which was way out in Yawari. And you know, it's it's a long course, that part of it is. And he said, Yeah, Land Nav is gonna wash you out. I uh he said, What we used to call it doing the duffel bag drag because as soon as either you got knocked out of training or you quit, they isolated and they had a they had a little shack, and every day the truck would come up and you see the guys doing the duffel bag drag across Camp McCall.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

And um that's how I go through the airport until Herb looks back and goes, Come here, let me help you.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

It was the same body posture. I mean, the guy would have his rucksack on, he'd be dragging it and head down. So we came back and uh actually we got back on a Saturday night. They were still picking up stragglers on Sunday, so we had a training break on Sunday after Land Nav, and he was he was really surprised, I think, to see, or at least he feigned surprise.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:46

We crashed out that Sunday night. And here's an interesting thing, just in all, the one of the guys, because that Sunday night, three of us, one guy bribed a buddy back at Fort Bragg. We we they had a bank of pay who drove up and brought us some McDonald's, and we and one of them was Mike Tom uh Mike Taylor, who went to 10th group and is the guy that smuggled Carlos Gone out of Japan.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

No way.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

I went to I went to the Q course with Michael Taylor, and and Mike and I were on the same land nav team. Yes, so that night we we we were fat and happy. You had to have two things on you all the time. You had to have your compass around with parachute cord around your your your neck, and you had to have your weapon tied to your wrist at all times, and um couldn't lose either one. And I was just tired, and I woke up the next morning. You know, they they played two songs every morning to play the ballot of the green beret to get you up for PT. And uh and and the same guy, Barry Sadler, had done a song about Parrot called The Garatrooper uh or Blood on the Riser, something like Blood on the Risers. Anyway, they play those songs every day. And I woke up and I'm getting ready, you know, get my rucksack on. I noticed that all the air was out of my air mattress and the plug was out. And I'm like, huh. I didn't think anything of it. But then I had my well, I was pretty sure I had my weapon in my sleeping bag with me. No weapon. Oh Sergeant Pritchard, I was freaking out. I mean, to lose a weapon, it would be better that you die than to lose a weapon. And so I'm freaking out. And finally, one of my buddies in the hooch had mercy on me. He said, Um, dude, hey man, I was up and Sergeant Pritchard came in last night and untied your weapon. He has your weapon in the Tack Shack. And I'm like, oh no. Oh man. So I got to go up and I bang on the door and he tells me to come in. He said, What do you want? You know, he's like, uh, this candidate, uh, I regret to inform you that I've lost my weapon. And he said, Well, by a strange coincidence, I found a weapon in your hooch last night. It's what's your serial number? And you had to always All I remember that weapon was five, four, three, five were the first numbers.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Wow. That was the now. Your wife happens to be sitting in here so I have an off-camera question.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Oh God.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

How was Prescott's memory for grocery store activity? Not as good. Okay, I was just checking. Okay, carry on. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

I thought you were going to ask her birthday or something. I was like, don't put the gun in the camera like that.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

I would not get him slaughtered like that.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

That was, yeah. I had to bounce the gates that night. And bouncing the gates, you'd have to show up at 1800. We weren't eating, there was no sit-down mess hall. It was a hooch where they would bring uh the old Merrimack cans up, and you would get hot food like chili mac or spaghetti and and and and sounds amazing. Oh, yeah, yeah, it was not. You were eating cold food to rest. That was the highlight of the day because it was hot. Uh and they'd have a uh a metal garbage can with uh juice and boxes of chocolate and white milk. I didn't want to eat anything because I knew I was gonna have to bounce the gates. And and the gates were about 150 yards apart, and up one and back one was one time. And so I drank two boxes of milk and I report in, and there's there's always guys working demerits off. So probably eight, eight, ten guys there. And he said, uh, you guys bounce the gates five times angle, you bounce 10. And I'm like, all right. And you know, I'm uh didn't have I got through about six, maybe seven, and that milk just crammed my it just grabbed me right in the stomach. I start slowing down, and he is uh running next to me, and he's he's he's encouraging me. Just stop. The pain will go away. All you gotta do is stop. And I just I'm thinking to myself, and that's Sergeant Pritcher. It's the same guy. And I'm like, you know what? I will pass out here before I give this SOB the satisfaction of me quit. Yeah, I am not, I finished. I I I puked on myself, you know. I never stopped. And he looked at me at the end, he said, go clean. I I thought he was gonna tell me, go get your stuff. Yeah, he said, go back to your hooch. And a couple of days later, he just walked by me, didn't even look at me, just you're gonna be eye-dangle. And so that's that is it.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

So I think, and you are a former drill sergeant, you could probably say better, but I think he recognized something in you. And I think like you've told stories that he recognized something, whether it was good or bad.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

He recognized something.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

It's good or bad. No, seriously, you you've told stories, and I've heard many people say when they recognize someone special, there are kind of tactics, you know, that they will get a little extra out. Yeah, get a little extra because they know you're already rocking and rolling. They're gonna see how much.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

I was I was making sure that I was doing everything I was supposed to, when I was supposed to. But, you know, it was a good experience for me. And you know, we got out. I went to to phase two. I was a commo guy, and then we went out to phase three, and you know, we weaned a lot of guys out. Land nav is really where most of our class got got knocked out. Yeah, you got past land nav, you could pretty much count on most of the rest of the guys who were gonna get through.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

I always tell people it's different when it's 2 a.m., you're carrying a heavy ruck, walking through the woods, and you're trying to find your point and you're by yourself and it's dark. It determines whether you want it or not.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

That's exactly right. And and you know what? I really wanted it. I got kicked out of college. And getting kicked out of college was my biggest failure. And when we go back to my dad, when he looked at me, he was angry with me, but he was also disappointed. And I he was disappointed in me. I was disappointed in myself. Whatever I've done, and my wife knows this, I've always wanted to be the best at whatever I've ever done. And I had a chance to be the best. And I remember being at the JFK Center right before grad the Don Barray graduation uh exercise. And I looked around the room at the guys who were left, and Pendergrass and I were there, and we were, you know, just pumped. And but I had made other friends, and but it gave me that course gave me the confidence that I could do anything I set my mind to. And that was the benefit. It's a gift that has continued to give to me. You know, gosh, that's been 40 plus years.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I have to ask, what was it like being able to tell your dad that you earned the Green Beret?

SPEAKER_04 26:51

You know, when I told him, when I and he told my wife and and and and her mom this years ago, when I first called my dad up and I said, Hey dad, you're never gonna believe this, but I volunteered to go to special forces training. And I got to go to through airborne school. And he said, Well, what's special forces? And I said, I said, it's Green Beret. He said, Oh no, no, you'll never be able to do that. And I'm like, come on, man. Well, he understood what motivated me. He I it was years later, he told, he said, I realized how how to make my son do things. He told him he can't do it. And so when I got, he and my brother came down to see me graduate. And this is where I knew he was proud of me. He looked at me and said, Son, you look like you've been on the Batan death march.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

And I'm gonna guess you don't have a lot of weight to lose. You're not a huge guy.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

So it's like you should see me coming out of ranger school about four or five years later. I was man, I was down to 145 pounds. That's yeah, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Yeah. Head over to govx.com, one of our sponsors here. Get great deals, um, active duty veterans, first responders, government workers. You like a deal? Teachers. Teachers. I like a deal. So head over there, GovX. Also, they give back every month in July. It is for mission 22. We've had the co-founders on here. They do great support for veterans and after service. So check out govex.com and uh you get to support our community. I do want to find out. You already said kind of you know what what that taught you learning the Green Bray, but what was it like once you got to group? Because there's a difference between training and now seventh group, you're with guys who fought in Vietnam.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

And wait, seventh group is South America?

SPEAKER_04 28:46

Yes, South and Central.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Got it.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

It's the easy group.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yeah, they just go on vacations. That's right. Still in the same time zone, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Yeah, they just go on vacations.

SPEAKER_04 29:00

I'll tell you what one of my team sergeants said. And yeah, I his name was Howard Lopez. And we were in and out of Central America a few years later. I spent the better part of maybe four or four and a half years just cycling in and out, like a lot of guys did. And the first time I was going down there, we had been to Africa on some stuff. We'd done some mobile training teams and other places, uh missions. Um, but this was this was different. One of the guys in the 55 group, they were they were we were limited to 55 advisors for a long time there. And uh one of the guys was a guy who had gone through the Q course right before me. Um his name was Ron Harris. Ron, if you're still alive, I'm sorry to to route you out. But he was talking some, he was selling wolf tickets, as we used to say. And uh Lopez came over to me and he was a great mentor to me. And he said, Hey, you hear that shit? Yeah, he said, I don't want to hear that come out of your mouth. He said, Let me, I know you think you're a badass Green Beret Engle, but you're as green as green can be. And so here's what you do you keep your eyes and your ears open and your mouth shut. What I realized shortly after that was the difference in the level of professionalism. You were just it's like boot camp for Green Berets. That's the you're just learning a set of skills that your team is gonna take, because your team is really that's your family.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

And they're going to teach you everything else.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

And that's such a different time too. It didn't have it on the board, but like it's not like Central and South America now. Well, maybe in some ways it is, but like it was there was active, I don't want to say wars going on, but it was a real, yeah, like real going on that like probably a lot of people don't think about. Like that was in not a lot of publicity towards it.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

There was no publicity at that time, Herb. Um, in 1977, the Somoza government fell to the Sandinistas, Ortega, who's down there, you know, the world goes around in Nicaragua now. And there was a lot of concern, um, especially El Salvador, which was right there, uh bordering them, and Honduras, particularly in certain provinces, uh the Mordezan province in uh El Salvador, there was it was a real shooting.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Was it really to stop the spread of communism?

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Or was in the that's pretty much it. It was, you know, and I grew up a lot, and I'll tell you what it it was that that was our involvement was to stop the spread of communism. Ostensibly, I think this Salvadoran Civil War, which killed a lot of people, and this is where you grow up a little bit, and you realize that sometimes you gotta do business with unsavory characters to achieve the ultimate goal. And the Salvadoran government at that time was a junta of four generals. As a matter of fact, one of the generals, one of my best friends in Leesburg, is an attorney, he's a Peruvian and Hungarian descent. His brother, I conducted the ceremony, married General Ochoa's daughter. I conducted, I don't know how many years ago that ceremony. Yeah. And and but it was a it there was a junta, and we eventually put enough pressure on their government to uh force elections. But a lot of what was happening was you had a very wealthy class of people, not just in El Salvador, but in many places in Central America who owned everything. And the rest of the people worked for El Patron, the landowner. And you know, you you at the time, I think the average per capita income in El Salvador was $1,100 a year. And even with you know, ad inflation, that's not much.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

I mean it's probably not gone up that much.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

No, and you got somebody that comes out of uh Nicaragua and comes in and starts talking to the villagers in in the rural areas about hey, we're gonna take over, we're gonna redistribute everything, you're gonna get land. That is a powerful and appealing idea to people who have nothing already.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

And if you don't play ball with us, we're gonna kill you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

And the government was, and if you do play ball with them, we're gonna kill you. And I will have to say the Salvadoran government killed probably as many people as the Farabundo did.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

So same thing in Afghanistan, more so than Iraq, but like I can make a hundred bucks on this, or I can make three hundred bucks on what you want me to sell. Right. And also, if I don't sell what you want me to sell, you're gonna kill me. That's a pretty easy choice. That's an easy choice. I mean, it's for survival, not that I want to do it, but I want to survive. And it's I think a lot of people don't. There's what the governments do and stuff, but then like the what the people experience is much different on the ground.

SPEAKER_04 34:16

It's exactly right. And and I'll tell you, I had great empathy and sympathy for them. The poverty. You know, we were in Africa a couple of times, and that's poor, but the people seemed happier. The people in Central America, uh, it was not just poverty, but oppression on every side. And I I felt I had a real empathy and sympathy for those people.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

You were living the Green Bray Mono, de oppressor Libert.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was a a moment of, you know, because you grow up and you see the World War II movies, and it's mom the flag and apple pie. You know, you still believe in your country. You know your country is doing a lot of good, but you also realize, hey, yeah, we gotta, we gotta do business with some kind of bad guys sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

I'm so glad you brought it back to that exact point because I was gonna bring you back to that and ask later in life, you went in private equity, right? So, how did those lessons learned from that experience shape your business mindset?

SPEAKER_04 35:24

It made me mindful of the people that were actually doing the work versus the expectations from private equity ownership of return on investment.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

Did you go in with one eye open? Because I could see how some people it would almost make extra guarded of your your when you're looking at these opportunities of people with substantial wealth. If that had been my previous experience, I think it would be hard not to be.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

That's a great question, Corey. And the answer to that is yeah, you you're a little guarded, you know. And I know that I called them the business school boys who had gone to the Ivy League schools. And and I also called them and in some ways, not all of them, but probably a large slice of the majority, uh, the sons of privilege. They were the families that could afford to send their kids to the best schools. They're the families that, you know, kind of you talked about the helicopter, you know, they guided and shepherded their children's careers. Many of them were very educated, but real world experienced none.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

And I and that I hate when people say street smarts, but it is like like that there's that's the real world. That's the real world. That's knowledge that can't be gained other than living it.

SPEAKER_04 36:54

Yeah. And and and Herb, that's a a great point. And I found over the course of my business career. And also I found this in the army that education is not a relative indicator of intelligence.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Say that again.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Education is not a relative indicator of intelligence. I have dealt with my entire career in business people who were very smart that didn't have the Ivy League education, but they saw opportunity and they worked really hard and they built something very successful. And I I have a great deal of respect for people like that. And I have lost a great deal of respect for many of what I call the sons of privilege because they are isolated from everyday life in many ways, and don't there is a lack of empathy at times that to me was appalling.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

I think so. It's subscribe, hit the button right now, more great guests coming up. I mean, to make that leap before he went into private equity, like you had to decide to leave the army, right? I did not intend to go in business.

SPEAKER_04 38:15

And, you know, um, as I was beginning to, you know, get some time on my career, and this was after the Gulf War and Bill Clinton, I served under Jimmy Carter, two two terms of Reagan, one term of Bush, and the first part of Clinton's So the buildup and then the and the the cutdown. I think at the time our active duty army in like 93, 94 period was about 850,000 active duty, and they were cutting down to 525. And yeah, it was it was a huge drawdown. And and I I will without getting too political, I think there were some mistakes made, and that was part of the failure to recognize some of the terrorism that occurred in our own country. Um, not only that, but we began to get away from human uh surveillance. Uh, and again, that was because of the distaste of having to do business with sometimes unsavory people. If you want to know who's trying to kill you, sometimes you have to talk to people who are look them in the eye.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Not church, not church boys, choir boys, like Boy Scouts all the time.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

And you cannot package in any way, shape, or form human intuition the feeling that you get when you meet someone and speak with them and learning those gut instincts really matter.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

You get more intel, I think, that way. I agree. They were trying to go to more listening and electronic surveillance. Um, but at any rate, as they began to cut down, and I had been through a ton of the Army leadership schools. I at that point I was in E8, and I had been selected for Sergeant Major's Academy as the Army was drawn down. They were offering an early retirement uh to anybody who had more than 15 good years. And I was at way past that point, not way past, but past that point. And I thought, okay, if I take the Sergeant Major's Academy, I'm gonna be in, and I'm not making a lot of money right now, and I need to make money. I actually had been connected with a recruiter at the agency, and it's just how your life takes this turn. And I, over the course of probably about a year, I'd gone through all this stuff and I was in school. I was trying to get some uh finish my education.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

And not the telephone agency or something like that. We're talking the central intelligence. Yeah, the CIA. And uh they're already listening.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

Yeah, and I had worked at NSA as well. Um, so you know, there was a lot of connections there. And I was, you know, going through all these interviews, and that's what I thought. I thought that's the career path, uh, natural career path after the army, especially with the skill set. I was divorced with uh three daughters, had missed a lot of time with them, and was thinking about that. And um, you know, the the uh CIA guy that I was working with, the recruiter, he said, yeah, look, you'll spend a year in country just training. And then, you know, anywhere from three to five years outside the country. And yeah, you know, I wasn't gonna take my kids with me. Yeah. I went to one of the final interviews. I'd done the polygraph, already had a clearance, they, you know, updated that. And um, I was living in Leesburg, uh, outside of Leesburg at the time. My uncle was an attorney there, and I had just come back from Langley, and I stopped in his law office. He's my dad's brother, and uh, like a second father to me. And, you know, his name is Sam. And he said, Well, you know, what are you gonna do about your kids? And I said, Sam, I don't know. You know, I mean, this is what I do. I had no idea that I could do anything else at the time. Um, I said, you know, I've done this for a long time, and these guys have a skill set, and I I'm gonna make like three times the money that I was making in the army. And he called me, he said, I want you to come back and talk to me. And Sam was a pretty wealthy guy and he'd married a wealthy woman. And Sam, you might have called him a loan shark. Um, you would call them a hard money lender at this point. Hard money lender. Um, but like how hard? Are we talking like baseball bats to the knee? Um, not that hard. Okay. Um he would see people who, especially at that time in Loudoun County, there was a lot of development going on. And a lot of guys would start developments and run out of money. And he had very common. Yes, and he would pick up the loan and finish it, sell it, and make a lot of money. Well, there was a uh an insurance guy in Leesburg who had spent his trust money. You had to keep your premium dollars and your commission dollars separate. And the state of Virginia took a very dim view of that, and they were coming after him as well. They wanted their money, and it was a significant amount of money, and my uncle loaned him the money because he saw an opportunity, and he the guy had to put the business and the building up. So he he said, I've loaned this guy a lot of money. I don't think he's going to be able to pay me back, and he didn't. And he said, Um, I am gonna have to guard my investment. I'm gonna put you to work there if you'd like to. And um, you know, maybe you'll own the business one day and you can write your own ticket. And my first, I was like, are you fucking kidding me? This insurance? I'm like, those were the guys that retired at Fort Bragg and would try to sell you life insurance, you know. And I was like, Like, oh, come on. But he said, just come up to the office and let's meet everybody. And I did. And I don't, it was just like one of those moments. I got out of the building and I was standing on the front step and something just said, take this job.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

You knew it, right then.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

I did. And, you know, I declined the CIA guy a job. And the guy said, Well, I hope you can sell insurance because that that window's closed for you. And I was like, oh boy, because that was going to be my fallback. Try it for a couple of months. If it didn't, I'll, you know. Um, but I I'll tell you, I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 44:39

And you can understand why that would be. I mean if if there's someone walking away from that opportunity and then they come back, there's lots of questions as to why.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Why?

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah. Yeah. So I just wanted to point that out. Like it sucks, but that's that's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

But it took away that security body.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

Sink or swim. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

You had to. I had to. And you know, the the I found myself early in my career. Okay, so I get out and I'm I take the uniform off, and now I'm wearing a suit, you know, and I'm going out to uh way better fabric. Yeah, it was much better. Um but it's a big change. It was a huge change, Herb. And I had two people in the insurance business that took um a real interest in me. And one was a Vietnam veteran, and his name was Frank Gristie. And Frank was from Jersey, and he was uh worked for one of the big insurance carriers that we represented. To go back just a bit, I found out shortly after I worked there that the business was in real trouble, that carriers were canceling their contracts, and I was like, oh man, what did I do? It was not, I did not land in the the sea of luxury. Yeah. And and but one of the guys from one of the insurance companies took a real interest in me and and really helped me out a lot. Frank was just this really good guy with sales. And he said, Look, you know, you've got to sell to companies. You're not gonna make any money selling home and auto insurance. And he said, But to do that, you're going to have to walk in and you're going to have to cold call, which I had I didn't know what cold calling was. And I can remember sitting in Springfield, Virginia in my car, knowing, and I'd probably been in the business three or four months, that I was going to walk into 10 businesses. And I was in this industrial um uh development, and I was gonna walk into about 10 businesses, and they're gonna say, no, no, no, no. And and I'm like sitting in the car, and I'm like, get out of the car, get out of the car, you sorry MF, get out of the car. And I'll tell you what got me out of the car. What would your SF buddies say right now if they saw you were scared to get out of that car and just walk in and talk to somebody after all the crap you guys went through together? They would laugh you out of the brotherhood. As like, all right, I'm getting out of the car. You know, that's that's how I had to motivate myself. But you know what? Frank took a real interest in me and he helped me. And, you know, he would go on calls with me, and I made a big sale to a big lumber yard. He went with me, and I remember we had proposed everything and they really liked it. And I said, and I said, uh, well, you guys think about it, and I'll call you tomorrow. And Frank said, No, we're closing this deal right now. Yeah, and I got in the car and I said, Okay, tell me what I did wrong there. He said, When somebody wants to hand you money, take it. If they want to sign the contract, ink it right there. Don't give them time.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

That is such a great lesson.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yeah, was that confidence booster just huge though? Landing that and like Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

And it sounds like you kind of treated it like a mission set, right? Like you got project translator, you know, if you will, and kind of went in to learn the land and kind of took over.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

It it it and I took it seriously. What I found, you know, honestly, here's what I found. I loved it. And I loved it for a couple of reasons. It was very deep. There were a lot of moving parts, but I also had freedom of my own schedule.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

Were you in insurance when you met Stephanie?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Yeah. So that allowed you an opportunity to then focus on relationships.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

I just want to interrupt and say that was the best sales job you've ever done.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

She probably would say, boy, if I would have known what he was like after Yes.

SPEAKER_01 48:38

No, we've heard the story of you all meeting, and uh I think I think she uh she shared that she was unsure at first, right? Yeah, and and you sold her. You definitely sold her.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

She came to see me play guitar at an open mic. And I was with a friend of mine, and she brought uh two friends of hers. I think that was the night where we kind of we didn't clinch the deal, but that's when we realized, okay, and maybe about two weeks later, I'm a big kayaker and I was going down the river with uh we used to paddle every Wednesday night. My my girls would go down to their moms. So that was paddle night with the boys, and um, we're going down the river, and you know, I'd always told the guys, I'm never getting married again. I'm never getting remarried. I, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_01 49:29

That's when it's dangerous.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

Yes, and it was. And yeah, yeah, what's the old saying, you know how to make God laugh? Tell him your plants. Yeah. And they were teasing me. They said, hey man, you've been seeing this Stephanie uh for a while now, and it's June, because the whole thing was my kayak was my girlfriend in the summer. And because I would get out there all the time. And I said, Guys, I think I met the woman I'm gonna marry. And it freaked them out. And it probably freaked me out a little bit to even admit that. Yeah, it yes, yes, but um, you know, it was She's a pretty special lady.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

I can see why.

SPEAKER_04 50:10

I will tell you, she is the finest human being I have ever met in my life. And my dad loved her, and my dad said to me, Son, you finally met someone who will work with you and not against you. And um, 27 years later, we're still here.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Yeah. And four beautiful babies later. Five. Five. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 50:32

That's gonna be like your mass off on this one.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

I'm like math there, my college.

SPEAKER_04 50:37

Yeah, yeah. So we have a a big family of eight kids and now eight grandkids.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 50:43

It's so amazing.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Like, I can't even imagine that it's just so huge. Like, I can't even I have a hard enough time with our four keeping track of like birthdays. Well, that too. Yeah, birthdays and who's doing what and like oh my gosh, where are the I actually know the four birthdays. If it was eight, I would have I would have a hard time. Check us out, Liberty Speaks. You need a speaker, content creator, brand partnership. Check us out. It's at LibertySpeaks.com.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

I have to go off script and say that um Liberty Speaks name came to me similarly to how you heard the wisdom that you heard. Um, and when we shared that with Prescott, oh yeah. Prescott, what did you tell us about Liberty Speaks? You put him on the spot. I am putting on the spot.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

Trying to have him remember a conversation for like 18 months ago.

SPEAKER_01 51:29

It's a scripture. I'm confident he's got this.

SPEAKER_04 51:31

Oh, yes, I do. It was a scripture.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 51:34

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

Boom. So good. Okay, proceed.

SPEAKER_02 51:41

Yeah. I don't even know what we're talking about now. That got me all razzled up.

SPEAKER_01 51:46

You saying liberty speaks, it just brought that memory back to me.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

I remember when you told him that and Prescott said it was like a I think we drove home from y'all's house. Yeah. And we were like, whoa, yeah, that was a powerful drive back. I'm like, whoa, this is really cool. We're doing something more than even what we thought. So yeah. I do want to jump forward though. Now you're the president of Alliance Nationwide Exposition. Most people don't think of like Green Berets and insurance people and then trade shows. How'd you get to there?

SPEAKER_04 52:19

Well, it's interesting. And again, you know, everything, it's just the turns that your life takes when you don't see him coming. I maybe 14 years ago, a really good friend of mine called me and said, Hey, I met this guy and he has a big business problem. And I think you might be able to help him solve the problem. Uh, would you be willing to talk to him? And I said, sure. And it was Mark Yuska, and Mark uh was the founder, is the founder of Alliance Nationwide Exposition. I guess the business was uh probably six, seven years old at the time, and he had a business problem, and he came to me and I said, Mark, I think I can help you with that. And I have a consulting practice called the Mission Group, um that I've had for for many years.

SPEAKER_01 53:07

Dual purpose, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 53:09

Yeah, that's right. Dual purpose. And um, so I was wearing my mission group hat with him, and I was at the time helping a couple other companies uh grow their business. And, you know, uh I found that I had a gift on the number side and how to help a company make money. I ran business um and then, you know, helped roll in with on the private equity side, make those businesses profitable. And I didn't know I had that gift until I started doing it, but I had this gift for not just making money, but keeping the money and being profitable. And so Mark explained to me what the problem was. I said, Mark, I think I can help you with that. Here's what I'll do if I can solve this problem for you, I'll charge you $2,500 for my time. And if I can't, I won't charge you anything. He said, deal. And I ended up solving the problem and it saved him several hundred thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_00 54:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 54:05

Yeah. And he gladly paid my fee. And he was a really nice guy, former JMU football player, big guy. And you know, he he wrote me a check, and I'm thinking, okay, great guy, nice guy. Probably, you know, he'll go his way. He called me a couple of weeks later. He said, Listen, I learned through this process, you know a lot about business. I'm trying to grow this business. Would you be a business, a paid business advisor for me? You know, for the next six years up to COVID, worked with him, helped. We grew the business from about six million to about twenty million.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 54:40

But then COVID came. Oh, yeah. And the trade show business, uh, many went out of business.

SPEAKER_02 54:46

What for pro over a year there was no trade, if not long.

SPEAKER_04 54:49

For about a year and a half or um, and he called me um in June of 2020. He said, Listen, man, I got no money. I I can't pay you. I said, Don't worry about it. You can call me, we'll talk. It was for him an existential crisis. I mean, everything he'd worked for, but he survived. And uh he called me in late 2021. He said, We're gonna come out of this and we're gonna be bigger and stronger than ever. And they did. And I so I came back and worked with them. And a couple of years ago, I was offered a CEO position at a private equity-backed company, and it was a really good offer. I came really close to taking it, but something told me not to take it and I didn't um because this opportunity and Mark had been asking me, so look, when when you step out of what you're doing um with the private equity insurance stuff, come talk to me because I really like to bring you in full time to my company. And so in 2024, um, I left uh the company I had been with and was just trying to figure out. He called, he said, Hey, I heard you're out, please come talk to me. And uh around Thanksgiving, and Stephanie and I, as we try to prayerfully consider everything, thought it was a great job. And uh so for you know, we're going on a year and a half right now, and companies we're looking at a hundred million, we're staring right down the barrel at 100 million in revenue right now. That's amazing. And so 5x from where you were 5x and the net margin is is almost triple. So the trade show business, you know, as as I as I told Mark, I've picked, you know, I picked up the people, I know business, and that's the value that I bring. They've got lots of really experienced trade show people, but I know the business angle. And so that's my value uh too. And I will tell you, um, getting out of the private equity backed insurance business, I think my wife was happy to have her husband back. Um she's earlier, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um it's a uh great, it's fun, it's a fun business.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

That's that's exactly what I was gonna say. Is I did, you know, a fair share of time in expos and trade shows. And the it's it's a lot. It's a lot of effort and a lot of hustle and bustle, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

It's fun.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

And at the end of the day, people are excited to be there on both, you know, vendor side or attendee side.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

It's a lot of great energy.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

It's a lot of great energy.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

I also think it's one of those industries, at least for me, maybe that's just showing how my uh idiotic I am. It's not something I thought about as an industry, right? You go to an event or you go to a trade show, you experience it, you leave, and then go like, whoa, there's a business or businesses that run these and do this.

SPEAKER_04 57:47

Well, you know, Herb, the interesting part is we essentially are a logistics and material handling company. What I learned during Desert Storm, which was a master class in logistics, was logistics runs everything. And you got to see how, I mean, the stuff in in Colombia, Central America, real shooting wars, but on a smaller scale. And this was, I think it was Napoleon. I could be wrong, but Napoleon said tactics are for amateurs, yeah, logistics wins wars. And you know, these trade shows it wins trade shows too.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

It does. It wins trade.

SPEAKER_04 58:30

Yes, your stuff has to get there on time, it has to get out on time.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

And I want to back you up on that too, because what a lot of people don't realize, you go to the trade show and you leave the trade show, but you don't necessarily think about how all this stuff got here. Right. And if you've never been a part of it, it's a week to week and a half process for bigger trade shows leading up to it. And you have electricians, construction, you have town permitting, you have convention permitting.

SPEAKER_02 58:58

Some of these things are elaborate. Convention managers.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

Yeah. You have a whole smorgasbord of people and teams and sometimes major equipments brought in. And as you see now, Expo booths just keep getting bigger and crazier and more extravagant. And they have individual teams that have to be orchestrated. It's a lot of not only your logistics, managing all the other people.

SPEAKER_04 59:25

Your show managers on the floor in case something comes up. Our son, our youngest son, who is 18 and uh going to be a freshman in college, is working at our DC warehouse. Oh, cool. You know, because I was like, hey, I want you to get some blue-collar experience. Yeah, he came, he's driving a forklift and he loves it. But he said, Dad, we had 60 packages or 60 boxes come in. I said, Oh yeah, that's for the show down at the Gaylord and uh, you know, so let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

This is kind of what sets you all, or not kind of, it is what sets you apart from your competitors, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:03

We trap our own freight.

unknown 1:00:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:05

We have our own warehouses, everything goes there. We handle, we we are kind of a concierge um logistics. We'll we'll get your stuff there, we'll get it off the floor and uh get it back to our warehouse.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:18

So if we as Liberty Speaks had a giant booth and we were like, okay, trade show over, I don't know what to do with my giant booth now. I'm gonna do that. Till the next trade show and six months from now, then you all are also the service that collects it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:36

We'll pack it up, pack it up, put it in the warehouse, store it. Yep, and when you're ready for it, we'll ship it to the next location.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:43

And that is a huge time saver, money saver, as pain saver, like you name it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:50

To your point, Corey, a lot of people go to trade shows, and once that show starts winding down, the hotel gives you as a as an a uh participant, you've got X number of hours after that show closes down to get your stuff. And if you don't have right, if you don't have a plan, yeah, um, you better have a plan.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:13

And we would always book one extra hotel room because our timeline was so tight, we would have to leave the minute that trade show was closed and done on to the next one. We would book one extra hotel room and literally just put all our suitcases in there just for one. We had it for the night. We only used it for the day of the show. Just so you can get out. That becomes a problem of like, what do I do with all of my stuff? But I love that you all are conscientious of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Now you've been doing it 18 months. Is there any anything that surprised you from the industry? Like coming new into it? How many people show up without a plan?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:50

You know, how many people just show up without a plan?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:54

Yeah, you can always tell a first timer versus someone who's seasoned in the industry, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

Yeah. And you're talking like these people at these trade shows, they're representing big companies. I mean, it's not, yeah, it's not just the neighbor showing up with a sign and a table.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

Like it's no, I don't never know if I told you. That's how I got started in consulting.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:11

You did tell me that.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:12

Because I saw how many people didn't have a plan, didn't even know what to do with their booth space, didn't know how to utilize it, didn't know how to staff it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

Right. You know, there were so many aspects of it. One of the trends in the industry is smaller trade shows.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:27

And the uh I love that. Yeah, and hotel, and that's our specialty.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:32

Um, and you'll go in to talk about the you'll go into a big ballroom or convention space and let's say the Gaylord right down the right down the road.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:41

Which is sizable.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:41

I mean, it's it is the big they're huge. And many hotels, that's how they make a lot of their money. Um, but to your point, you're going in and you know, we're taping off the okay, this is booth number 133, and that is a 12 by 24, or booth 136 is a 10 by 10. Yeah, there's a lot of prep that goes into it. We are working, like right now, we're working on 2027.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:07

We've got the fall. We'll do I think we've done 560 shows through the end of June. We've got June and July slow down pretty much. Yeah. September, October are the biggest months. Um, we'll do between we'll do 100 shows, maybe 100 plus shows July and August total, like 50 some a month each. Between September and Thanksgiving, we'll do maybe 450, 480 trade shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

And how many of those do you go to personally? Do you go to not that many?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:43

Not that many.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:44

But do you enjoy like going and seeing it come to life? Because I think that's the fun part. When you walk in a vacant room a week or two prior, and then you go back and you see it all like a Lego set, like here we we uh I I have a lot of banking contacts, and I brought some of my banking contacts to our company.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:04

And I last fall there's a um big show. It was the uh Hitachi Electric show at the Omni Shoreum in DC. And that thing to load in is really rough because the streets, but they took not just the uh ballroom, but the underground parking lot and put carpet there and yeah, and had tons of it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:29

It was amazing, and I took my banker down to that show. As we have um gotten more experience, we're we've gotten better. We have divided the country up geographically. Uh our ops team is the biggest part of the team. You know, instead of you know, people traveling from DC to the West Coast, yeah, we've got a warehouse in Tucson. They'll go to California in the desert or in Tucson and and do those shows. Uh we're we're opening up a uh warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky this month. And we're going, we have two in Texas. Texas has exploded because people want to go where it's sunny, although it's raining in such a massive rain. Good weather. Yeah, they want to go where there's good weather. That's why uh generally in the winter, Las Vegas and Orlando and the desert southwest and San Diego has a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:27

A lot of time.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:28

It's January, let's go to Chicago.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:30

Yeah, no, says nobody. Yeah, it's February. Let's go to Boston. Uh the Boston warehouse is closed until April, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

Are you seeing any change? I guess we talk about it from like the experience side of people and seeing some of these things change. Uh, is that changing your business at all? How you like trends, business. Yeah, any trends with yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:53

Um, a couple of things. A lot of smaller trade show companies went out of business during COVID. And, you know, the hotel shows are getting bigger just because instead of one big convention, like in Tampa for the soft, uh, you know, some of the larger companies will do three in different places around the country.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:17

That is a trend that so like three simultaneous instead of like one or separate.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:22

Or separate. They will separate the but just in different cities instead of bringing, you know, everybody to one city. Yeah. Um it's just uh companies are really buckling down on travel. They are, and they're looking at their costs um right now, especially you know, price of jet fuel. That's what I have been really concerned this year, you know, the price of jet fuel, because you know, how many people are gonna come. Uh, we're booked up. And I think for what we do with especially being able to handle a lot of our own stuff in-house. Well, you know, the other thing that that occurs too is that every trade show has a life cycle, depending on what industry it is. Um, you know, we've had uh a couple of shows hit the end of their life cycle, and you can tell when you don't have as many people sign up that perhaps it one of the the things last year I was looking at is uh Southland Corporation owns 7-Eleven. They canceled, and we didn't do the show, probably Freeman did, it's a big show, but they canceled their uh annual convention because they didn't have enough interest. You have to read the room. I I mean I I was in a band at one time and great musician, still good friends of mine. One of our bandmates, we would be rocking it, the everybody would be into it, and he would want to play the slowest song ever. When people wanted it's like, Pete, read the room, bro. Read the room.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:46

You know, that's such good business advice. Just read the room and you have to adapt. Like if you do those two things, you're probably gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:55

And Herb, what did they teach us? Adapt or die? Yeah. You know, you have to adapt. And you I think one of the things in business, especially when I was in the private equity insurance, um was always keeping your ear close to the ground and seeing what was happening. And what that allows you to do is position yourself to take advantage of changing tides. And because listen, life has a season to it. There, there's a seasonality to life, and we all go through different seasons in our lives. And I think that the the thing that I've learned is recognize when the season of your life is changing. I mean, Stephanie and I are going through now with kids going off, you know, and you know, looking at each other and say, okay, we're in a different season of life.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:49

You guys are making some great decisions with that season. That grease trip looked pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:56

That was, and and I will tell you, in all honesty, up until the point we got off the point in Athens, I grumbled my ass all the time. Oh, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:06

Oh, that leads me to like how have you balanced being this executive, being a father, being a husband, kind of case in point, I think, with what you're saying right there.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:16

Yeah. You know, I think that you have to always keep what's most important in front of you. The value, money has no eternal value. The value of money is to support us and our families and provide a living while we're alive. But that's not a legacy that you take into or that you leave behind for for your it's the time and the memories. And Stephanie said this to me earlier this year, and she was right. And we got that on camera. She was right. Um and you know, my my next oldest son asked me when my oldest son was graduating from high school. That was um about eight years ago. And he was we were coming back from a baseball game. He was playing baseball, just he and I. He said, Dad, can't believe Ethan is graduating from high school. Can you? I said, No. He said, Dad, this is from my then maybe 14, 15-year-old son. He said, Any regrets? And I said, Oh, dude. You know, and I I wrote a letter to my older daughters, uh, maybe 10 or 11 years ago. And I said, Hey, I am sorry that I was not always there. And I felt like if I can say this on camera, I felt like I was a shit father.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:46

And um, I actually apologized to my ex-wife as we were I'm sorry I was a shit husband. And and that for me, I needed to say that and because I had come through a really rough patch in my life, and I needed to make peace with myself and with those that I felt like I had hurt, you know, just from you know, not physically, but you know, uh emotionally not there. And we were agreeing at that point. Um, we had been separated, we were divorcing, and to put our children ahead of ourselves. And and we agreed to that. And that's been wow, 30 plus years ago. Yeah. And she held up her end of the bargain and I did. But I I felt like I needed to say that to my children. I didn't want them to go through their whole life thinking, you know, and but they all said, Dad, we know that you weren't there not because you didn't want to be, right, but because you couldn't or for whatever. But um, yeah, we love you and we forgive you. And Steph said earlier this year that our younger three have gotten the best of me. Yeah. And you know, that at times it's it's painful to look back and and think, yeah, she's right. I wish I could go back and change some of that. Yeah. I can't. So the only thing I can do is say I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:21

Have you ever heard the saying, I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's something about like we get to be great grandparents or not great grandparents, but we get to be wonderful grandparents from the lessons that we learned as parents. Yeah. And I think that's we don't have grandkids yet.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:38

Yeah, like what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:40

We've learned a lot of lessons in our parenting.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:43

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:43

Where you wonder why you didn't have them first.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:47

I've heard that too. I've heard that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

Yeah. It's one of those things, there's no guide or a book that tells you how to be a parent. Right. If they they can't, because every situation is unique to the internet.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:56

And add the complexities that you all have led, there's definitely no guide that speaks to that.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:02

Well, I'll say the same thing. There's no good guide to be a husband or a wife. Hey, manual to follow these steps every day. Uh or even in business, I think a lot of it, we're all just figuring it out. And our kids probably feel that the most bringing it back home.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:15

Yeah, and sometimes we're doing what we have to do too. And there is honor in that. I think that working hard and being um there when you can be, present when you can be, is important. But I think sometimes the reality is if we're away and we're working and we're doing what we can to give our family what we are, yeah, there there is some honor in that.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:37

There is. And, you know, going back to not taking a job with the CIA, I did that so I could be with my kids because I wanted, I know if I took that job, I would be nothing more than a name on a support check.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:53

And that oh I got if you had taken that job at the CIA, I wouldn't have met her.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:03

I would not have met her.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:04

Or if you had, you would have had a different name and I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:09

Well, you know, I'll say this. When when when uh was separated and divorced, I said to myself, I'm not getting married. I'm not taking second best. I don't know who'll ever be able to live up to my standards. And after uh living with myself for a number of years, I was like, who in the hell would have me?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:29

You know when you when you have those moments of like, who left this? Oh, that was me. Yeah. I'm the only one here.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:39

Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:40

When I first left the army, I felt like I was just out by myself, you know, trying to figure it out. There weren't a lot of veterans around, um, you know, especially in my industry. I found in both private equity, the insurance, I was generally one of the lone veterans out there. But it's nice. You know, Stephanie said uh at um 11 days when we were there a couple about a month ago. She said, That that's your tribe, isn't it? And I said, Yeah, yeah, it's it's my tribe. It's uh um, you know, I'm when I talk to my my brothers, you know, that we stay in a couple of us stay in touch and you know, we laugh and you, you know, we you can just hear or pick right up. And so it's nice to be connected and you know, we all have our own journey, we all have you know, and I think the where I'm at right now is I feel like I have been incredibly blessed beyond my wildest dreams with a lot. And I feel like I've been I I feel like I have a lot to share. I'm happiest when I'm helping people, and that's what I like to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:57

I have to before you do your thing, no, I have to share similarly to you all having your tribe, we have our tribe, and I met Stephanie at the back of a room against a wall. We could not have gotten further, almost tippy-toeing out of the room, not not because we didn't want to be there to support you guys, but we just we have a thing, we had a mutual understanding. Neither of us knew you all, we were all, I think, connected through the play at through the point of time, right? But we didn't know that we were each other's, you know, significant teachers. But she and I bonded in that moment. So I do find it so fascinating how so many of us wives, um, in especially in this community, will kind of bond together. We find our people really. No, no, no. Maybe maybe bonding through trauma bonded through something. Yeah. Bonding through a desire to um to be near and exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:05

It's funny because, and my wife, I am famous for this. I I uh, you know, I'm Jewish, but they call it the Irish accent. Yeah, where I'll just leave without saying much. And both nights after at Rebellion in Leesburg, both nights, Corey came up to the window as I'm walking down. I and I am thinking, nobody is watching. I can leave now.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:31

They probably weren't.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:32

I definitely were, you were knocked on the window.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:35

I might have, I might have been like, man, I wish I could no, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:39

Yeah. But no, you know, listen, watched, you know, the whole GWAT and saw and know so many of people like Herb who gave a lot. And I think, you know, we talked some about this. The military, the army, it takes a lot from you. You there is a price to pay, and it is a price that you will pay for the rest of your life, but it also gives you something back. And and I when I remember one of the private equity guys would say, dude, where did you learn all this stuff? And I would tell him, John, the army leadership schools are not only the best leadership schools in the world, they're the best business schools because you actually have to do something, and failure is not an option. And so you might have five different ways you get something done, but you get it done. It may not be the way, and he would just say, and at the end, he would say, uh, it's just amazing. And at the end, uh when as I as I was leaving, he would say, You're right, you're right. And so um the army gave me a lot. It took a lot, but it gave me a lot, and I just want to get back, and that's what I want to do with whatever time I got left.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:08

Man, if you could go back and tell Prescott that Christmas when you were the disappointment and dad said or on the bus when you were on the bus.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:19

Man, what would you tell him?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:21

Chill out, dude. It's gonna be okay. I love it. Chill out, dude. I I wish I could tell. I wish I could use the language that got my attention that day on the bus with the drill sergeant. Um, we we picked our drill sergeants up in Augusta, Georgia. And as before we got there, the the bus driver was an old southern Georgia guy, I guess. And um, the guys in the back were being real loud. And he got on the intercom of the bus and he said, Now, fellas, I've been listening to y'all's mess all the way down the road. We're about to pick your drill sergeants up. He said, I'll give you a word to the wise. I'd hush up because they're not going to want. And because they were all saying, you know, I'm from here. If those drill sergeants, they better not do this to me. I'll tell you big, big wolf tickets. And they yelled at him and said, you know, F you old dude, shut up. And we pick our drill, two busloads, trail waste buses, and they pick our drill sergeants up. There were four drill sergeants. There were two two white guys, two black guys. Uh, you know, they were because there was uh still some problems in the military, not much. It it actually um I love what the army does, the most equal opportunity organization in the world. But you know, these kids were coming from places where different experiences different experiences. The uh drill sergeant got on, his name was drill sergeant clotter. He's a big dude. It's January. He's got his sleeves up so we can see his biceps, and he just uh folds his arms and looks down that smoky bear hat and just glares at us, doesn't say a word. Dead silence. Drill Sergeant Frazier was the African American guy. He's a he's an E7, he's a senior drill. He gets on the bus and he's going to address us. And the bus driver said, uh, Drill Sarden, could I have a word with you before you get started? And he he says, see those guys in the back. He said, Now let's see, those guys are from that, those guys are from Bronx. Those guys are from Harlem. That guy's from South Philly, those dudes from Baltimore, watch out for them. They from the block. And Drill Sarden goes, are they bad? Should I be afraid of them? He said, I don't know. They talk awful tough.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:44

I love the theatrics that go into this.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:48

It's just total, I mean, these guys know. I mean, it is a total psychological operation. Oh, out of it. Total psyops. He goes back to the back of the bus and in five minutes had them all crying like little babies. And he's he's walking up and he's yelling, and I am sitting at the position of attention now because I'm like, whatever you tell me to do, I'm gonna do it and as fast as I can. And he shut up, shut up, you know, and he's yelling at people. And he gets to the head of the bus and he's rocking back and forth. And we were delta, he said, Delta, come, yeah, my name is Drill Steinfraser. I just got two things for you. That's a hard penis and bubblegum, and I'm fresh out of bubblegum. And if you do this, this is what and uh yeah, and uh yes. That got my attention. That got my attention.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:44

Did you go one eyebrow up?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:46

I was like, oh, that's when I realized you have joined the United States Army, they have a system, and they can make your life miserable if you do not play in that sandbox the right way. I I was I was young, but I realized that at that point. These guys aren't well, I played football and I had football coaches that were like that. And uh I was like, these guys are not playing. This is a real their their job, they have a job, and that's to make us soldiers. And uh we got out to to uh Fort Gordon, Bram's barracks, and the bus pulls in front of painted footsteps because we're so stupid we do not know how to stand yet. Everybody's quiet, and he said, Don't company, you got 30 seconds to unass my bus, and 29 are gone. And he started yelling, get off my effing bus. And this little dude named Michael Hartung from Minnesota, we called him Mouse. His fuel jacket sleeves came down. I was like, dude, you can pull these things up if you need to. He jumped out into the aisle of the bus and we ran him over. He looked like Kevin Bacon on Animal House to pull him off the bus. And yeah, and uh, I got yelled at because we we stood in the footsteps and our duffel bags are being packed up. And the senior drill comes out and he says, When I call out your last name, sound off with your first name, middle initial here, senior drill son, and run to the back of the um the mess hall. Come commander's gonna address you. They called my name first. It wasn't in alphabetical order, and I was not paying attention. No, there was all kinds of stuff going on. And I was like, and Ingle, Ingle, and he said, Ingle, you dumb MF, are you out there? I'm the drill senior, dumb, blah, blah, blah. You know, I must have done a hundred push-ups before because I get two steps. Drop, drop, you're walking on my grass, drop, drop, you're you, you touch my white stone. You know, I I did a hundred push-ups probably before. And and I I turned my birthday was in in boot camp, turned 20 years old, something like that. And it was getting towards the end of boot camp, and we were standing in the child line. They'd have you go in by by five, you know, next five. And uh my the my buddy said, Oh, happy birthday, and they're punching me, punching me. And the drill sergeant came out and said, What's going on? It and they said, Oh, it's it's Engel's birthday. He said, Drop him, give me 20. Don't say I didn't give you anything for your birthday. Sounds anyway. Sounds about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:20

No, we really appreciate this. We always end with this question, though. Prescott, what do you value most in life?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:28

Honestly, my relationship with God and my family. And those are the things that are most precious to me. Um, you asked, you know, my values. I I I deep faith in God, um, and then my family. Everything else comes after that. And that's what I value the most.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:48

We appreciate you coming here. We love you. That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:52

Subscribe, like, and comment, and don't forget to set those notifications. We'll see you next week with another special guest.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:00

Until then, on your journey.