Episode 233: Delayed Involvement

"Your family adapts to the version of you that's only partially there."

Achieving a true work-life balance can be difficult, but it is not impossible. After losing his father, George refused to follow in the same footsteps of not being as present as he'd like in his son's life. 

George decided to take it a step further by creating an outlet for other Founder Dads out there, because he knew he was far from alone in this situation. He realized that it was not a hard decision to make, but requires consistency and intention. 

His son Leo was negotiating real estate deals by the age of 8 and a podcast host by age 11 - and George has been there every step of the way. 

Tune in to episode 233 as George explains the Time Liberation Trifecta, breaks down the Two-Week Vacation Rule and much more! 

For more information about Founder Dad Tables:

Website: https://buybacktimeformula.com/
Instagram: @georgerivera1977
LinkedIn: George Rivera
YouTube: @buybacktimeformula
Facebook: George Rivera

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So it wasn't the loss of his father that sparked the transition, but rather his father's last words to him that made George be much more intentional and consistent about moving forward, not only at home, but in his son's life, Leo, who might I add, has been negotiating real estate since the age of eight and is a podcast host now at the age of 11. So definitely be on the lookout for that episode. But more importantly, with this episode, what is George doing in the lives of founder dads and how has he created space for them to really propel and excel when it comes to business? Well, you know me, I never like to spoil anything, but I do want you to pay attention to just a few things. One, pay attention to the time liberation trifecta. Two, pay attention to the two-week vacation test because that is very, very, very important to us all. We all need a break from time to time. But three and last but not least, enjoy episode 233. Delayed involvement. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamar Turner. Look, a big shout out to everybody who has been just showing love since we've I wouldn't even necessarily say rebranded because we're still the same podcast, still the same mission, still just the same stories and knowledge and resources here. But a big shout out to everybody who has just been sending words of encouragement, sending us love, just the repost, the shares, the likes, the downloads. It's really just helped keep. You already know I have the high energy, but it's really just helped me keep going. So very excited to be sitting down with George today. A very special shout out to everything that he's done. A very special shout-out to Pod Match, his responsiveness, and all of us just being able to come together to curate this. But I think George really has a story to tell today. Speaking from personal experience, speaking to some other people out there who may be able to resonate, and then even some things that he could do to propel you forward, some advice that he could give you for those who may be earlier along in your journey, and even some tips and some tricks for my fathers out there, just a little hint. So, George, before we get into everything, before we get started on the actual interview, how are you doing today? How's everything on your end?

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Hey, good tomorrow. Excited to be here, excited to share what I have with you and your listeners. So yeah, could couldn't be going any better.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Good, good, absolutely. I love this. So look, no matter where we are, rain, snow, shine, evening, morning, night, we're always gonna do what we got to do and get down to business. So before we get into the actual interview, before we really just allow, you know, allow the resources, allow the gems to just come out, can you just do two things for me? Can you one, just tell us a little bit about yourself, and then can you two just tell us what brings you on the Down to Business podcast today?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yeah, you know, um, I'd say the biggest uh way to kind of open things up is really like, you know, my my story and what uh what kind of led me into all of this. And and I could just start with, you know, two weeks before my dad died, you know, he told me one sentence that pretty much split my life into before and after. He said, Don't miss Leo's games. I miss too many of yours. And honestly, when he said that, it completely wrecked me because I realized that I was becoming version two of him. And and he wasn't a bad man, he wasn't an absent father. And uh, you know, he he loved us a whole lot. He was a provider, a builder, and he was carrying a ton of responsibility. Um, but you know, he was a man who slowly gave his best energy to his uh, you know, his business, his career, while the people that he loved most got what's left. And, you know, that's the part that that most founder dads never see happening, and it doesn't happen all at once. It it really happens quietly, you know, like a missed dinner here, a distracted Saturday there, um, like a game where your body is physically present, but your mind is still out there solving problems. And, you know, eventually your family adapts to the version of you that's only partially there. And that realization changed my life because I built successful companies, I generated hundreds of millions in online sales, and on paper, I was winning, but it I was totally drifting at home. And so the hardest part is, and and nobody really says this as you know, founder dads, this can happen even while everything looks successful. So today I create room for founder dads to tell the truth about what success is costing them before it's too late. And so that's really like how we ended up here. So I'm happy to pick it up from wherever you like.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Absolutely. Well, first and foremost, my condolences. You know, I know that firsthand uh pain of losing a parent. I I too, not my father, but I lost my mother back in 2011. So I would say a lot of you know the latter years of my journey will be seven years in November with the podcast, but it wasn't until about year three where I truly realized the foundation behind all of this and really how my mother was speaking through me, acting through me, resonating through me, and it really just, you know, it opened my eyes up to a lot of different things. So I definitely do take my hat off and extend my heartfelt condolences to you and the family in that regard. But no, I'm very interested, you know, in just the realization of that, just in realizing that, you know, it it kind of just seems like sometimes you don't you don't realize how good something is, or you don't realize the significance of something until you no longer have it at your disposal. You can no longer just call or pick up a phone or or use it or whatever have you, and in any case, whether it be a person, whether it just be a thing, an animal, whatever have you. So for you, in that in that moment, in that realization, did would you say that had those last words not been uttered to you, would you still think that the success where you are with your business, do you still think things would be there, but your the the fatherhood aspect of things would be struggling? Where do you, you know, had your dad really not put that in your mind, where do you think you'd be right now from a business perspective?

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Yeah, interesting. And and and likewise on the condolences uh on losing your mom, I know that's uh something we, you know, we're always, you know, it's always like in our hearts, and you know, time can heal pain, but uh, you know, we we can, you know, we still feel that love and and stuff. So anyway, I can feel you there. But um, yeah, as far as like without my dad's warning, you know, it's hard to say. I I'd like to say that I would have eventually figured it out, um, but it's it's hard to sort of see what that other path looks like without having that sort of line in the sand moment um where he really made me realize that I was becoming version two of him. Um I want to say that yes, it would have happened eventually. Uh having worked with founder dads now for over the course of the last year, um, I'm I'm seeing a lot of these these issues bubble up and oftentimes without the need of say a dying parent kind of telling you their their last wishes or or or kind of lamenting the the regrets of life. Um that that's like a I consider it a gift of God to like open my eyes because um I imagine it happened, you know, it happened when it was supposed to happen so that I wouldn't end up losing my family. I think some men will realize that it's too late when when the alarm sounds in their head, like they got to do something about it. So yeah, it's a good question. I I want to say I would have figured it out, but I I imagine there would have been a lot more, you know, on the line in terms of it being past the point of no return potentially. Um it had had I not been given that warning sign. So uh hard to tell, but man, it's uh I want to say I I would have, but it's it's really hard to tell.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Most definitely. I think that is definitely one of those situational and circumstantial questions. But something I love about um just business owners, just entrepreneurs in general, is the idea of like paying it forward. You know, oftentimes we go through things where it affects us personally, it affects us firsthand. We have a problem, we have something that we were struggling with, and we don't necessarily want others to go down that same path. We don't want others to struggle just the same way. So I love the idea and the fact that you work with other founder dads, as you call them. Now, when working with these people, would you say that the father specifically, would you say that a lot of them come to you with a lot of the same pain points? Is it really trying to balance that business ownership and entrepreneurial journey with fatherhood and with making sure that they're involved in their sons or their daughters' lives? Would you say it's it's more things in addition to that? What really have you found to be commonalities amongst the people that you work with?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Absolutely. Yeah, when they come to me, I I it's almost like looking at the me of 10 years ago. And the thing is, like most founder dads, they think they have a time problem, but they really don't. It's a dependency problem. You know, the business still runs through them. I'm talking about every decision, every approval, every emergency, every hard conversation, every fire. So even when the business grows, the pressure grows along right you know, right alongside of it. And what nobody really talks about is that that pressure follows you home. It doesn't just stay in the office or it doesn't just stay in the in the home office. It comes out of the door, out of the door with you. And so, you know, at the end of the day, it's like your family, they're gonna feel the emotional residue of a business that still depends too much on you. And eventually the people that you know you you love, they stop competing with the business for your attention. They just stop asking. And that's what happened in my case. It's not like it's not this one big blow-up fight, you know, it's like things go quiet, and you know, we'll confuse that quiet as, oh, it's peace. You know, they're not complaining anymore, they're not nagging anymore, but really they've just learned how to plan a life without you. You know, even if they're like technically still in the same four walls of the home, um, they've just figured out how to how to get by without you. And eventually you look up and you're like, wow, I'm I'm building all of this for for this family, but they're they're like over there and they they don't count on me anymore like they used to. So that that can be a rough place to be when when you realize it.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Most definitely. And uh it's it's always so funny how you hear the term or you hear the expression, even if you're in the corporate world about you know just leaving work at work, leaving home at home. And oftentimes it's really just hard to do that just because of just because of how the mind works. And just you may have gone through something throughout the day and you may have just tried to shake it throughout the day and maybe just can't do that, or you may have had a business call on the way home, or still have a couple of items to knock off on the calendar when you get home. So as much as we really want that work-life balance, I would say that it's forever a work in progress. It's just something that, yes, you we want to achieve. We want to make sure that while we're on vacation and and on the cruises and everything like that, that we're not worried about what our outlook calendar looks like and teams messages and everything like that. But sometimes it's hard to just ignore that and negate that. But I will say that it's not impossible. It's not, it's something that definitely we could achieve. But I I I do resonate with you on the idea of how it's a dependency thing and how a lot of a lot of other fathers may feel that way. It's just like it, but then it kind of becomes that that thought in the back of your head, like, well, wow, like I know I'm negatively impacting them. I know that this is not something where I want to do. And then it becomes those things of where sometimes the conversations start to change, the landscape starts to change a little bit. They are, you know, okay without you. They find ways to adjust and adapt. They they look in the stands and they may not see you there, and they're just like, okay, well, dad's just handling business again. It it just is what it is at that point. And you know, you never wanted to get there, but it can get there a lot quicker than what you realize. So with being a father, when you were looking at the business side of things, you were looking at what you were doing, and then you were looking at Leo, your son. Do you what was there ever a consideration of closing up shop, of not of going out of business, of just really focusing on fatherhood? Was it just something, hey, I I know that I can do both. I need to just work better to do this way. What did that really look like for you? Were you other were you ever just kind of teeter-tottering between two different decisions?

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, so yeah, it's a good question. So when my dad told me, don't miss Leo's games, I miss too many of yours, like I said, it was like the the line in the sand moment for me. And I decided to choose my family at that point, especially my son, because he he referenced my son. And and having the flashbacks from the early days when he'd he'd miss all my games except for one, and all my teammates, like their dads were there, and and I played basketball. And every time they'd score a basket, all the dads would cheer like they won a championship. And then I'd score a basket. I think I'd do this cool uh reverse layup. Hey, somebody should cheer for me, and like, oh, crickets. And I remember looking at another dad, I was like, I wish that was my dad. And that would have crushed my dad, but you know, he he he was a hard worker, he gave his whole career to or his whole life to his career, and that's that. And so that was beautiful closure for whatever that was. But on the other side was like, oh my gosh, like I'm doing the same thing. My son Leo was just nine months old at the time. I'm already missing him learning how to walk and how to talk. And like I should be there for these moments. And I remember thinking, like, this ends here, this generational thing. I am no longer gonna pass this down, I'm no longer gonna repeat this, but it has to start tomorrow because I'm working 16 hours today. Like, I need to find the time to do this. And of course, many people say tomorrow. Sometimes it's never. In my case, it took three years, and I was scaling my business to numbers that I only dreamed about. I had more money than I could handle. I had a money printing machine with my business and scaling to new heights, and and uh everything was was good on paper, but uh in reality, I was hating my life. And I know hate's a strong word, but um I was hating it because it was like ripping my family away from me. And at one point, I just wanted to burn the whole thing down. You know, I had people, I had revenue, I had infrastructure, but emotionally I was exhausted because everything still came back to me. Um, I had not actually delegated, I had a team, but I wasn't doing it properly. Um, so yeah, I hadn't delegated. It was just delayed involvement. It was a matter of time before anything I quote delegated would just get uh roped around my neck and had me pulled back in. And I realized something really uncomfortable is that the business was structured around my nervous system. If I was overwhelmed, the the company slowed down. If I disappeared, things would break. And if I carried the stress home, my family would absorb it. Um so I rebuilt everything. Decision making, ownership, escalation, communication, expectations. And over time, the business stopped depending on me in every moment. Um, yes, the company grew, but honestly, the real win was much quieter than revenue. It doesn't get the praise that revenue gets. Um, I became emotionally available again and I stopped carrying the business into every room of my house. And I never missed any of uh my son's games. And so that was the biggest win of it all was just being present for my family. And then some of the other cool things I got to do. Like um when my son was eight years old, I taught him how to negotiate real estate. You know, we buy homes and we have a home up in northern Michigan. I live in Texas, but we have Airbnbs up on the other side of the country. And, you know, we have the the nicest home on this lake. It's a rural lake, it's not hard to be the nicest home, but we like the status of that because we get referrals and oh, that's that's that house, and uh, it's Leo's Lake House. That's what we call it. And so um another home came on the market, and I'm like, uh-oh, we got a competition coming, and I know the numbers that this thing can do. I'm like, we're just gonna buy it, unless this thing's a bundle of sticks. Let's just go look at it. And you know, we go to the house and we look around, the realtor gives us a few minutes to discuss as a family, like, what do y'all think? It's private time. And you know, the old me would have said, son, here's an iPad, there's a couch over there, go knock, knock yourself out, play, play your hearts out. And I'm sure you would have had a blast. But um, the the new me, the current me, is like, nope, son, you're gonna make the offer to the realtor. Uh, tell him we're gonna close in 30 days, you know, leave the leave the furniture, leave the dock, you know, because this is gonna be an Airbnb lake house rental. We'll turn around quickly. Go tell the realtor. And he's like, Why am I doing this? And I'm like, go, go, we'll debrief later. Times of the essence. And he walks in the room and we're back into the house, and the realtor's like super tall guy, and looking down at this little boy, half smirk on his face. Uh, my son's talking, you know, uh, closing date, leave the dock, and he's just like, What the heck? And he looks at me and with his eyes, he's asking me, Is that is that the offer? And I'm like, hey, whippersnapper spoke, that's the offer. And we got the house. And and so I I love thinking about that from a legacy perspective because one day he's gonna be with his kids um and he's gonna be like, Grandpa used to take me to make these deals and offers. You kids are gonna do the same. So the ripple effects of that, you know, it's it's not just transferring, you know, memories, but it's like like a legacy with that. And so um, yeah, and even current day, he he's uh he's 11 years old. Um he has a podcast, he's interviewed over 100 people. Um, these are business owners, founders, other podcasters, um, you know, cancer survivors, keynote speakers, people with amazing stories. Uh, we we're a little over six months into it. We had our first billionaire book the other day, and it's crazy, like this thing's growing outside of my network. And the whole reason why he's able to do cool stuff like that is because I made the decision to change the trajectory of our family's life. Like, dad came back home to be fully present and lead the home, like like we're born to do. And and so, like, first I had to do it for myself, and and you know, I kind of figured it out. And and in the end, we're all still figuring it out to some degree, but I have something to share with the world and and to bring to founder dads who are leaving it all in the business and bringing home the burnout leftovers, because at the end of their lives, they're they're they're gonna regret, just like I saw with my dad, that they wish they would have spent more time in those little things. Um, you know, it's fun doing big things, big vacations. And I remember my dad taking me on those, and those are fun and memorable, but um it's the little things that that they're gonna remember the most. And so, yeah, I'm uh I'm here on amazing shows like yours and trying to get the message out, and that's my hope is that they'll uh they'll take it to heart because while there's still time.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

That money will return, but that time will not, and and time is definitely of the essence, as you said. Wow, to hear the success story behind just becoming present, that's amazing. A hundred plus girl. We gotta, yeah, we gotta we gotta follow. Hey, look, I need everybody who's tapping in, whether you're on my my TikTok live, whether you're here with us now. Y'all look, we gotta support Leo as best as we can. That's that's truly amazing. You know, instead of me being outside and running up and down the block with a football, I should have been negotiating real estate when I was eight years old. Maybe I'd be in a different position, you know. But that is those those transferable skills and just that, you know, that repetition, just seeing dad in that space and in that place and in that mode. And at that age, too, I feel like, you know, very much so children absorb very young. But when they really absorb and are able to apply, that's when it, that's when it becomes a thing of, okay, I want to be present. I don't want to miss, you know, you can go from nine months to eight years old to 15 to 28. That happens at the at the blink of an eye, you feel especially when you're not as present as you would like to be, especially when you're missing certain moments, especially when you don't have that involvement for where you want it to be. So I I truly commend you and I take my hat off to you because while I know that was not an easy decision, it was almost like a no-brainer because if it comes between my son and what just happened to me, losing my father, that that is no question about that. But you know, from the I say not an easy perspective from the thing of it wasn't just you could wake up the next day, flip-turn everything, and and and we got that we got the business back where we needed to be. You know, it was just it was step-by-step, it was a process. It was maybe even rewriting certain things, even establishing things, relearn, learning again, a new team, everything of the sort like that. So I I'm curious too to know when you when you're working with some of these founder dads, do you ever kind of get the opposition of that they just can't, that they just feel like, you know, if if I am to not that they don't want to become more present, but for just the detriment that it could have on the business, they'll lose revenue. They they may not be in business anymore. How do you and if you do receive that, how do you, I guess, combat that or what do you explain to them to make them realize that you can still be in business and still be present in your household simultaneously?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Absolutely. Yeah, there's two big lies that most founders tell themselves. The first one is I'll just make it to them later. And I'm like, you don't know if they will like you later on. And I speak from from experience, you know, being on this journey now, coming up on a year, I've spoken to a lot of individuals, a lot of just wealthy, high net worth individuals that most people they would look at their lifestyle and they'd envy it, just like, oh my gosh, I wish I had that, those cars, those homes, that lifestyle. Uh, but deep down inside, it's like, you know, those super wealthy people just wish they had a relationship with their children that they weren't able to have for all these years. And and what I've seen happen is, okay, they reached this point, they they've got all the money, successful on paper. They're like, all right, family, I'm ready to re-engage. Who's gonna take over dad's business? And and, you know, let's keep this family thing going. And they're just like, we want nothing to do with that. Like, that's what stood in the way of our relationship all these years. And now you want to give it to us and then come around and they're like, we got lives of our own, and you didn't spend any time investing what we were growing up into us, you know, in their own way. Every every situation is different, but that's sort of like uh uh almost like a like a template, you know, that I've seen over and over again of how that happens. And so, yeah, the I'll make it up to them later lie is one I just tell people do not believe it. Hey, I hope that's true, but you don't you can't bank on it. And then the other thing is the the saying is I can't have a successful business and a happy family at the same time. Like one's gotta like like you know, work better and the other one's gotta suffer. And that's another lie. And I'm living proof of it. You know, there's a season in every entrepreneur's life with where they do have to hustle and and even grind. I know that's kind of not the most positive word to use, is uh because that you know there's that grind culture that we're kind of like shifting away from, you know, enhancing lifestyle culture. But um, yeah, there's a season every entrepreneur has to do that. But once you you cross that, you start bringing in you know cash flow and revenue, and you're you're successful on paper, you need to use resources to get a lot of the things you shouldn't be doing off your plate. That's how you get your time back and you reconnect with your family. So this isn't like walking away from your business and it falls apart. Of course, that would not be good. And so when uh when you know founder dads are like, look, I'm I'm on board with I need to be there for my family. Like, you don't gotta talk anybody into that. That's like we're kind of born like like knowing that that's important. Um but the other side is like, but who's gonna do all the important stuff that I do every single day in my business that pays for my family's lifestyle, that pays for the home and the trips? Like they kind of like that stuff. Try taking it away from them. You know, there'll be a little bit of a disruption there too. So we gotta like find that happy medium, that balance. And what happened in my case, like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to burn my business down. Like I came to the point where I'm like, I either want to sell it or burn it down, you know. But selling it, you can't snap your fingers and sell a business of my size, you know, overnight. It's a multi-year process. Um, but I could burn it down, like I could unplug the servers. I was well financed, I had more money than I knew what to do with at the time. Um, I could rebuild a business that I I claimed that I wanted to support the family that I claimed I wanted to be with. And uh that'd get me my sanity back, my family back, and I could sort of build from ground zero. Not a great idea. Uh, I had a coach and a mentor that. Lovingly walked me off the ledge of making that decision. And uh we just started doing the work that I'm talking about now, redesigning, restructuring the business. And yeah, like you said, it's not an overnight thing, it does take some, you know, mental training, so to speak. Like, hey, we're we're doing this, we have a reason why we're gonna do it, and there's gonna be some opposition, and most opposition is gonna be in our own head. A lot of it comes from childhood wounds, childhood traumas. Probably don't have enough time to get into all that, but that can go super deep. You know, why is it that we do certain things? I and I'll just briefly talk about mine. I was always seeking my dad's approval, even after he passed away. You know, I was still being the hero to my business because my business has a PL. I can see when it's winning and when it's not winning, and it it inspires me into action or causes me to celebrate my successes. At home, there's no PL at home. You're just like, you sort of have to engage to get some awareness. And if you're not engaged, it's just gonna feel like everything's okay because it's like it's all peaceful, but really they might have just drifted away. And so that's what I want to warn my fellow founder, dads, and entrepreneurs that you know, don't confuse peace at home that everything's just calm and uh and you know, happy go lucky. They could be doing things without you. So that's one thing. And and to to to wrap up on on the on the topic, so we need to figure out what are the things that the founder's doing that's keeping them stuck at work. And again, some of that can go to nervous system stuff and childhood traumas, but you know, kind of just keeping it superficial. You need to get everything off your plate that doesn't move revenue for the business and stay focused on activities that bring in revenue for the business. I went from working 90 hours a week down to almost zero, like semi-retired. And did emergencies and urgencies still happen in the business and fires? Yes, but the frameworks routed them somewhere else. It wouldn't rip me off the dinner table or wake up my household at 3 a.m. and then you got grumpy dad the next day because you didn't get much sleep. And so, um, so yeah, it's all about getting them out of the business so they're not the most important person in their business anymore. Somebody else will will take the responsibility through proper structure and delegation. It's not magic or wishful thinking that gets put in place. And once a founder gets a little bit of their time back, they're gonna get addicted to this and want to do with everything possible. Then the only thing the founder should be doing is activities that bring in revenue for the business, revenue generating activities, not the other stuff. And so again, like I said, 90 hours to zero. And whenever I do work, it's never more than 30 hours a week. My time uh, you know, efficiency has has really like maximized the the hours that I'm spending on my calendar. So what what used to take me, you know, four or five, six hours in the old days now takes me two or three hours because I've got just laser focus. I'm not switching context. I don't have people asking me, hey, what's this, what's that? Takes on average nearly 30 minutes to get back to what you were doing when you get interrupted, and and that's a killer of productivity. So yeah, restructuring, redesigning the business is the best way that I know is how to get your time back, how to reconnect with your family, and have both, you know, family and success in the business.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

The best of both worlds, we we love that. We love clarity as well. It it just can be a lot of fog sometimes, as you said, when there are so many moving parts, moving pieces, when your mind is not is just necessarily racing, even when it comes to business. I I even I find myself at work sometimes just thinking about a plethora of other things. And I was telling, I remember some episodes back, a while back probably. I remember just telling people that I felt like the podcast was really what settled me in a sense. My mind could be moving a mile a minute, I could be thinking about so many things. I could have just had a rough day at work, but somehow when I clicked that record button, everything just went away and it was really just you know focused here and where we were. And I was just like, I want to be able to achieve that for multiple steps of the podcast. I want to be, you know, I don't want to be editing and I get a text or I get a notification, and then I just shoot to that and then shoot back to this because then I kind of lose where I'm at. I don't want to just be writing out a bi, which is why sometimes too. Like I remember I used to try to write my bios with music playing or with things happening in the background, and I was just like, no, I can't do this. I'm thinking too much, I'm hearing this, my song comes on, I start dancing, I'm moving and grooving. But when I used to just focus, when I used to just be intentional about that video in front of me and just writing it out, it was just so much easier for me to do that. So I I love kind of that point about what you spoke about, but I also love how you you speak to this because you've experienced it, because you've lived it, so you know that it's achievable. This is not something where you've just developed a framework, you've tested it a few times, and this is just what you're gonna tell other people to do. No, I love the idea that people can put forth what they're what they're already doing. I it it's you know, it's you talk to what you do. So I think that that's amazing as well. And I think that that even adds more credibility to what it is that you're doing. You know, you are a father who at one point was not spending as much time in the household as he wanted to. You are a father who you woke up that one day and you said, Okay, we're gonna put an end to this, we're gonna make some things happen, we're gonna rewire, restructure, and now here we are. You are a father who you've you've made the money. Like you said, you you had so much coming in at some point it was just like it was it was overwhelming in that regard. But you are a father who also looked at it, it was just like money isn't everything. I want to be there for Leo, I want to be there for my son, I want to be there for those accomplishments, and now look at what Leo has gone on to do and what he will continue to do after 11 years. So I I love to hear that. Now, something that I think about just in hearing your situation in your story, when you pretty much made that conscious decision that, hey, this is no longer gonna happen. I'm I'm George is gonna change things around. George is gonna make sure that he's involved, he's impactful, he's he's present, he leaves work at work, he's home when he's home, and that's that. What was the biggest eye-opening uh thing for you? Whether it came from a life lesson, whether it came from a business lesson, what was something that as you became more present and intentional about what you were doing in your business and what you were doing in your son's life and and as a and as a father, what was just something that you were just like, wow, I'm glad I did this, but I could have been doing this?

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Yeah, no, I that's a good question. So many things, but yeah, what comes to mind first is just being there for my son and just watching him flourish with confidence. It's like, you know, this I feel like the the family unit was designed to have, you know, an engaged father and engaged mother just pouring into the children. And, you know, moms and dads have their own unique sort of like gifts to offer to to their children. And and yeah, so like just seeing my son come out, like his personality develop, and he took an interest in the things that I have an interest in, and and we just develop this close bondness. I I mean, you know, I'm I am his dad, his his authority, his leader, but uh, but there's times when I just come down to his level and we're just just like like like friends and and and peers. Um again, you don't want to park yourself there all the time, but you want to have moments where you you come down and just like listen and hey, so what do you think it and you know I'm like in my head, like I put aside the you know, the the PL report that's coming out or or the the two or three things that I that are carrying over that I got to do tomorrow. Let me just enter a you know, whatever age he might have been at the time, five, six, seven year olds mind, and just be and sit there and park there with him for a little bit and just listen and be fully engaged. Um, and and and don't have the phone nearby. Because even even doing all that, and then the phone's like nearby, your your children, they might not say it, but they they'll know that if that phone like lights up, dad's like hooked on that thing. And so they're gonna have this anxiety of I need to like get them before that thing lights up. So like have that thing out of sight so that there's no back background anxiety and your kid can feel you're you're fully present there. Um but yeah, just watching my son just fully develop and take an interest in things, and we just having this this common bond. And don't get me wrong, when I got to switch into dad mode and be the leader and and and you know firm with certain things, because all kids need that, I I can do that. But being able to come down at his level and and sort of enter his world and just hang out there for a little bit so he feels like he's heard and feels like I have a true interest in the things that that he's doing and uh and and sharing interest in what he has. That that that's the biggest thing. I I don't know that I I wrap that up in a nice concrete one thing, but maybe we can piece a few things together and smash it together.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

No, uh I it's an even playing field. As you said, it's something that's needed, but it shouldn't be permanent. And don't park yourself there, don't trap yourself in that mantra, that mindset. But no, as a as a child, it it's always just it's a good feeling to not feel like you're always just kind of looking up, or you're always just kind of like, oh man, like how is this gonna be received, or how is he gonna take that? Or is this gonna be, you know, is it's uh can I talk to my dad as like a business owner, like an entrepreneur, like a creative, or about this new idea, or will it always be like that life lesson or a speech or something with it? So the fact that you can have that rapport and just have that conversation, no, that's amazing. And it's it's even better that you can have it at the age that he's at now because that just means as time goes, it'll just continue to strengthen, it'll just continue to be there, and it'll just continue to exude that mutual respect amongst you both. So I I love to hear that. No, I think that was really just a perfect answer for for where you were. Now, again, but not trapping yourself. You're not recognizing that, okay, this is the end all be all. So, but when I think of the word trapped, I also think about something that came to mind as I was just reading your website, going through some things on your end, and that's founders' prison. And that was something that that that term was just very interesting to me because when I first read it, I I didn't read the headline correctly. And so I was thinking, oh, so well, was this a prison story? And then he went back, but no, that's the terminology for it all. So when how did how did how did you coin that term? Like where did that come from? What does that and what does that mean for was this something that you felt yourself being in? Was this something that you coined as you began to work with a lot of the founder dads? How did this originate?

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, so yeah, when you say that I I feel like it's a literal prison. Maybe prison would have been more fun. Uh, but yeah, the the founder prison is something I came while I was researching my book, Buyback Time Formula, and and just different uh phrases to visually paint the picture without having to go into too many words, you know, when when when writing or speaking, you want it uh a little phrase to just be very visual and and where you could kind of feel it in your gut. You know, founder prison is like, you know, you can just imagine you're behind bars and and you have no freedom, you're you're lacking freedom and in a tiny space. Like, I don't know what better way to describe what I found myself in. Um, yeah, it's called the founder's prison because you founded a company and you built yourself as the most important person in that company by on purpose or by accident, it doesn't matter, same result. And uh, you know, you find yourself stuck there. And I found myself stuck there. And you know, somebody could have looked at me and said, Hey, you're just stuck in there because you just want to build a business, you want to just make as much money as you possibly can. And that could be other people's motivations. My work happened to pay me very well, but it also, if I were to step away from it, it would just fall apart. So there's no like, you know, happy medium where I could just like be calm and it just brings enough money. It's either gonna do great because I'm in it or it's gonna like fall apart because I'm out of it. There's you know, there's no middle ground. And so naturally, as a survivor, you know, uh I'm gonna like do what it takes to survive and feed my family through the best means that I know at the time, which was hustle and grinding my own business. Uh, but it wasn't until I discovered there's another way. And my thing is, once you know there's another way, there's no more excuse. You know, I mean, yeah, you can try to put it off, but there's no more excuse. It's like there is another way. And uh it's gonna be one of those things when you get to your end days, you know, we're all gonna have regrets probably, could look back and have regrets about anything, but the goal is to have minimal regrets. You know, we can say, hey, yeah, there's things I wish I could change, but you know what? When I became aware there was another way, I did my best and I was at as much things as I could for my family, and hey, I'm gonna hang my hat on that. You know, I don't think anybody's uh anybody's ever said, you know, I'm so glad I missed your game for that client meeting, you know, at the end of their lives, you know. But we do those things on autopilot, you know, but we you know we're not thinking the the uh you know the lifetime impact of that. And so um, yeah, again, going back to I just want to wake up my fellow founder dad that um do something about it while you're in it and start buying back a little bit of your time. You'll get addicted to it in a good way. You know, we got to shift where we get our dopamine hits from. You know, I was getting my dopamine from being the the savior to my company. Hey, George, can you do this? Hey, yeah, sure. Oh my gosh, you're so awesome! Yes, you know, oh yeah, I got to be the hero to my company because I pay them. They sort of have to like me, but it also feels good. Uh, but at home, it's like I I can't really tell the temperature at home. So I'm just gonna stay at work over here where I get celebrated and praised. And so, um, and that's the dopamine hit. So let's get our dopamine hits from somewhere else, like reconnecting with our family and then seeing the wins from the business from removing ourselves from it. Like to me, that that's that's more fun.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

That is just what I wanted people to realize in that answer, is that these are not I don't, I don't, I want people to realize that this is a process, and I want people to realize that yes, some things can happen overnight, some decisions can be made, and you'll see those immediate results and those immediate that immediate impact. But this is something that is with time, you know. You talk about nine months to eight years old, and then we talk about eight years old to eleven years old. So I just want people to also realize that the same way we look at a business journey, the same way we look at the journey of an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to take those highs with the lows, those peaks, with the valleys, those good days with the bad days. And I I really think George is just speaking to that. That is just like, you know, this is this is just something that he had to think on, act on, but also just be intentional with. He he couldn't just say, Okay, yes, I want to be more present at home, but what does that look like? And once he realized what that looked like, he had to stay consistent with that. He had to continue to keep doing that, he had to continue to keep showing up and showing out. And as though, and as he said it, it became something that you get addicted to. It becomes something that, wow, you really are like, wow. Well, uh a happy home is a happy life. And you know, that that just continues to propel you, continues to motivate you, continues to just make you realize that okay, if I can do this here or do this there, but still be home, but still be present, then I'm gonna continue to make that happen. If I can restructure, if I can work smarter, not harder, but still be here for Leo, then that's very much important. Something I think about as a one-man band, I'll be I'll be seven years in November. And I think about how I love the fact that I know the ins and outs of my business. I love the fact that I know everything that comes with it, the the what to do, what not to do. I've loved the fact that I've even learned some things. I probably have to do some things that I don't necessarily always like to do, but it just is what comes with the territory until I choose to build out a team. But something I also think about is that outside of business, I'm just somebody who puts their best foot forward with everything that they do. As a sense, in a sense, you know, nobody I I think everybody loves to be that hero. Everybody loves to know that you helped somebody, that you've done something for somebody else, that you've been that person that they can look to and that they can go to. But what I've also learned about myself is that I have a problem delegating. And it's not necessarily to say that I just don't like delegating or I don't like telling people what to do, but sometimes it's just a thing of if I can do it, or if I know how to do it, or if I can learn in the process, I'm just gonna do it. Or if I don't have to go to somebody else and it can just get done right in front of me, I'm just gonna take that initiative to do it. But also sometimes that that means that I'm biting off more than I can chew, or I'm taking on more responsibilities than what I need. So in working with these founder dads, do you find delegation to be a problem? Do you find that these C-suite level people, that these CEOs, that these execs, that these managers, that these founders, that they're just having a trouble delegating responsibilities, that they're having trouble taking more off their plate because they like the idea of just being that savior, being that person? And again, it is a thing of, you know, I always tell people nobody's gonna handle down to business like I'm gonna handle down to business. Right. But I also have to give people the opportunity to show that they can work, that they can care, that if I'm bringing them in to build a team and this is what they say they're gonna do, that they can do that. So does delegation raise uh raise to be a risk or raise to be a problem when it comes to working with founder dads?

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Yeah, definitely. Um that that's the big thing. I mean, there's a couple other different ways to get things off your plate. I call the whole thing time liberation trifecta, and that's really just eliminating anything that doesn't move the needle, automating anything that repeats, and then delegating with with ownership, with the outcome in mind. So delegating is that portion of it. And so, yeah, I mean, there's that attitude of because I I lived in this for years, it's just quicker if I do it. And I just call that robbing from the future. Yes, it's quicker now, like today, but you know, how many more times am I gonna say this quicker if I do it? And it's just stealing from the time ahead. So if I invest, I don't know, just making up numbers, say 30 minutes to explain something that only takes me five minutes. Now, you know, I say if I'm gonna do it for five more minutes a hundred times, it's 500 minutes that I just got back with with a 30-minute investment or 470 minutes the difference. Um, so yeah, you know, it's just reframing the mindset on the it's just quicker if I do it thing. I mean, if it's quicker if you do it, plus it's like what you should be doing because it brings revenue for the business, that could be an argument there. But if it's just quicker if you do it, but it's not really something a founder should be doing, but you know, you're just like, I just knock it out, then there's an argument to be made that should be delegated out. Um, also think people fail a lot at delegations because they don't delegate the outcomes. They don't show what the end process looks like, the end goal. I was the king of this. You know, had you told me back when I wanted to burn my business down, hey man, you just got to delegate more, I'd say, I'm the king of delegation. I got 40 people that work for me. You you don't know what you're talking about. Uh but uh like I mentioned, my version of delegation was delayed involvement. I task it down and it's a matter of time before George comes in to save the day. That's not correct delegation. Again, that's delayed involvement. Correct delegation is showing them what the outcome looks like so that they have something to shoot for. I teach them a method of how to get there, how I know, but I also give them the liberty to improve upon it if they find a more efficient way. And with AI, you know, these days it's easier than ever to create proper documentations and SOPs and workflows that'll that'll, like in minutes, like tell them exactly how they should do it. And so what I like to do is get that process down. I give it to the person I'm delegating it to, and I say, All right, I got 10 minutes, watch the training or read through the documentation. Let me know if you have any questions on this process. And we'll kind of go back and forth a little bit. And then I'm like, got it? Okay, great. You own this, like I should never see this again. And I you know, say it in a nice loving way, but I'm like, this is yours. Don't bring it back to me. Um, you know, unless that there's a vendor change or strategic change in direction, which can happen, but that's not a daily thing. Um, and there's a structured way they can approach you too, so that they're not just interrupting you and that's causing context switching, like I mentioned earlier. Um, you want to have a cadence of whatever pace you like. It could be weekly, bi-weekly, once a quarter, but it's a structured time where they can bring questions and concerns to you. And there's a format to do that. It's not just here, how do I do this? It's like, okay, uh, what have you tried to solve the problem? What do you think you can do? And and then you sort of bring that along with you. And you'll see nine out of ten times they'll sort of solve the problem themselves as they're looking for the solution and not bothering you from it. And that's how you train good leaders. I thought I was being a good leader back in the day. Ah, George, I'll solve it. Yes, I'm a hero leader. I was just boosting my hurt ego from my childhood or something. Um, uh, because imagine, like, you know, you know, it's not like they're gonna work for me forever. These people are just with me in that moment in life. They'll be somewhere else in a few years. That's just natural. But what are they gonna say when they find their next boss slash employer? And what about your experience working at George's company? Uh, all I did was like brought all the problems to George, and he answered everything. So you think that boss is gonna want to hear that? They're gonna want to hear, no, uh, he, you know, when I had something to do, I found the solution to it. I'm a problem solver, and that's gonna make them better in their next role in the future. So if for nothing else, think about the people on your team and training them and empowering them to become leaders.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

And that was something that I had to learn as well. And I was more so, I guess, resonating that with my colleagues and just recognizing that, hey, if I want these people to grow, if I have mentees that I want to grow just the same, I have to entrust them that. And it wasn't even necessarily a trust thing, but it was more so just like it's in front of me right now, I can just go ahead and knock it out and get it done. But it's just like, yeah, that works now until eventually I have 18 other things to do, and now something else just came. And now because I'm just so not used to delegating, I've had my manager pulling me to the side and saying, Well, hey, why don't you just ask so-and-so to do that, or why don't you just ask that to this way or do it that this way, and then I'm sitting back like, Yeah, I could have maybe next time. And it's just like, you know, eventually it there's not gonna be a maybe next time because you're gonna be it can just impact and affect so many other things. So I love that. And I love the uh I love the word that you use because I feel like we are in the age of automation, and I feel like that's just such it's just so important. Um we've always talked about working smarter, not harder. And I feel like with now, with everything going on from AI to just how we get workflows to all we can we it can have, it doesn't have to be everything just at on us. We don't have to use pencil and paper for everything and boards and all of that. There are literally programs and software that will take everything off of our plate and just as we need it to do, content schedulers, you name it. So in thinking about who you've worked with and thinking about the businesses that you currently serve, the founders and everything of the sort, how does automation play a role in that? What are some, I guess, some resources, maybe even some tips or tricks that you can share for those founder dads out there for other people even listening to really help them continue to propel and excel?

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Yeah, some of the simpler things, uh and I I feel like simple to me, but maybe not not to the world at large, but it's just like having a note taker join your meetings. You know, it sounds super simple, again, to me, but I I can't assume that everybody knows that. But, you know, no longer do we uh as the founders, owners, CEOs need to uh attend every meeting. Uh, you know, if you if you find yourself jumping on meetings that other of your team members are as well, that's like overkill and you're killing massive productivity or risking productivity time to be on a meeting that you just get the highlights and the recap later. These automated tools will just like give you the high-level summary, especially if you got somebody on the team to sort of handle the uh you know the direction of the call. Um, I had a client who knocked out like six calls uh on average per day for just implementing that. And that got them back hours, hours a week right away. And so that's one thing right away that they can do. Um, also just using AI to help create those SLPs, like I mentioned earlier, um, just to get a little bit more granular on it. Like one of the things that I like to do when I'm creating an SLP is I'll shoot like what's called a Loom, a Loom video screen capture software. Um, and then they create a transcript. I'm sure other tools do this too, but Loom's kind of the flavor of the moment, at least for me. And um, you know, you're recording it, you're talking into it, and then you take that transcript and then you put it in ChatGPT or your favorite AI tool claude and Manaus, whatever, and then have it create an SOP from it. And it'll make this amazing looking SOP that would have taken us, you know, hours, if not days, a couple years ago, and now it's just cranking it out like nothing. It'll get it like 95% right since you just did it, double check it so you get it to 100%, and then that's what you engage the person you're tasking it out to and have them review it. And then I accompany the video along with it with the SOP. And I'm just like, watch this, let me know if you understand it. And and of course, AI makes that you know minutes instead of hours or days, like it used to be just a couple of years ago. Um, you know, another thing AI is capable of doing is you know updating websites. Uh, some of these uh tools like Replit, I don't I don't know, I'm I might be getting a little deep there, but um, some of these vibe coding tools, like I'm banging out websites like in minutes instead of uh you know having uh to task out to expensive designers who are like brain surgeons, you know. Um I can literally just talk into the into the app and it it creates it. It's like 95% there, and then you you tweet the last bit, but it it shrinks from used to be weeks and months to like I don't know, less than an hour. I can have a a uh a beautiful enterprise-looking website up and it's crazy. And and most people don't don't know that that's possible even today.

SPEAKER_02 46:08

You you you definitely dropped a couple of gems. I knew I knew a few of those, but it was some that now I'm glad that I'm gonna be able to re-watch this and and learn it again. And I know my audience, and I know some people are paying attention to, but no, I I I agree with you. I have very much have from your your co-pilots to your Gemini's to your claws to your chat GPTs to to everything. Like I I really do think that, you know, chat GPT was like the I feel like it was almost like the the rook, the rookie. It was the one that kind of went out there and everybody almost built on and built around it and figured out what they could do from because it was interesting how like this software that was just designed to you know answer questions, provide insight, has questions, has now just sparked so much in the in the AI world about like you said, what you can do from having your calendar reorganized, from having meeting transcribed, from if I wanted to, even after this interview, if I wanted to export it and put it in somewhere, it would give me the bullet points and write a bio for me, come up with uh schedule, come up with schedules, anything of the sort like that to allow me to really just I wouldn't I don't I wouldn't have to touch a thing, even like I said, the content schedules. Like I literally, there are things out there, there are programs that my friends have sent me that I've seen in other places that if you just plug in your videos or put them in the drafts, it will literally drop it for you, it'll write it out for you. I'm just like, wow, like where was this in the days when I was setting alarms and trying to figure out, you know, this is what I need to post this then or setting reminder, I need to do this, and oh, I didn't do it today, I forgot. I'm I'm so it was just like, you know, it takes the complications, it takes the thought process out of everything now, but in a good way, in a sense, especially if you're using it to your advantage. Now, with everything that we talked about from the work perspective, even as we spoke about the grind, the positive and negative connotation that can go around that, there also still do still does have to be that balance around rest and still do and reset and recharge. You know, we we want our business to propel, we want our business to be successful, we want to motivate others, we want to help as much as we can, but we also know that we can't pour from an empty cup. We do have to reset ourselves, we do have to take that time for George, take that time for tomorrow, take that time for Leo to really just get back in ground. So, what is the two-week vacation test? I was very intrigued by this one because two is one of my favorite numbers, and a vacation is one of my favorite things to do when I when I get the time, despite what other people may think. They think I'm always moving and grooving and doing other things. I do like to rest, I do like to relax as well. So, how did this term originate? What is that? I'm very curious.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

That's a good question. Yeah. So um, whenever I onboard a new client, for example, on our first call, you know, one of the first things before we get into the you know nitty-gritty of how we're gonna get their time back, um, I'm like, hey, look at your calendar, look about six months down the line, and tell me when you can take a two-week vacation. And they're like, uh, what do you mean? It's like this gonna be two weeks where you're just completely off the grid, and that's really where we're gonna see our system shine. And we we need a way to validate that we've made it. So, so when can you book it? And they're like, Man, I can't even take an hour off in the afternoon. How the heck am I gonna take two weeks off? And I'm just like, you know what? I love that response because you need this more than you know. Like, if that's that gut reaction. So I'm I'm excited, like, we're gonna change your life. Now I know that this is gonna have a huge impact. So, how it works is in the first 14 days of us working together, we figure out the low-hanging fruit that's taking up most of your time. So we get some time back quickly, get some quick wins. Um, the goal is within the first 30 days is to sort of have like our version one of the system up. And then from 30 days to 90, we're sort of like, you know, fine-tuning it a little bit. Once we're at 90 days, we're sort of like, okay, let's start to stress test the system. And the way we do that is by taking absence rehearsal vacations. And so we're not at our six months yet. We're we're we're doing uh, you know, uh, you are freaking out about an afternoon off, so we're gonna take the day off. And uh, okay, big big deal. So we take the day off, and they're gonna come back the next day. And first, it's training their nervous system. My business did not collapse, didn't fall apart, so I believe a little bit now. Um, so let's take a look and see what happened. Our system worked, maybe it worked flawlessly on nine out of ten things, but one thing happened, and and only by being away did it expose that we still have a little issue there that we got to fix because we can't catch everything. You know, it's hard to like write down everything you know you're doing. The best way to figure it out is to walk away for a little bit. And so, what is that? It might be accounting didn't receive an invoice or fulfillment didn't get a notice to ship something. Uh a day late's nothing critical. It's not gonna destroy the business. Maybe two, three weeks late it could, but like a day, no big deal. It's like nobody was gonna notice that. So we we fix that, we tape it up, whatever, patch it up, put in a system, whatever we need to do to make sure that that doesn't happen again. And then a couple weeks later, we might take a couple of days off in the middle of the week or a long weekend, you know, attach uh a work day on both sides of the weekend or something. Um, and and then we come back and say, all right, what happened? Well, we trained our brain that okay, we could take a little bit more time off. Our business is still fine. Um, nothing fell apart. And oh, well, you know, an email didn't go out or something, like whatever, you know, make up a little situation that that sort of revealed itself. Again, not critical, but important. We should like tape that up. And once we have that, and and and once we've completed that successfully, we're now ready to go for our two-week vacation. We didn't go cold turkey, we didn't go irresponsibly, we stress tested the system. And by then, you're gonna have a trusty number two that's part of the of the setup that everything penetrates to and nothing pierces that to you. You're on vacation, your number two has the authority to handle everything. So there is there should be no emergency that penetrates that. I've done this myself and with others for a number of years. Never has anything been penetrated. Um, so like I've had people say, Well, what could it be? So I'm struggling to make something up, you know, maybe like a banking thing, like the founder was the signer and they're they're holding a wire that's critical for for paying advertising and it'll affect cash flow. Again, I'm making up a situation, but only something like that, what I think penetrates to the founder. So, really, honestly, like nothing. I've never had anything do that. And the only thing the founder does while they're gone is re-engage with your family and make the best of it. And if there's one thing that they do from a business perspective, is they check a daily scorecard that's compiled for them that takes the five to eight most important numbers in every business. Now, you know, every business is different. One might be five, one might be eight, one might be ten, which is an anomaly, but it's usually five to eight. And usually it's top line numbers, bottom line numbers, and then there's numbers in between. And that'll give the founder a snapshot of the health of the business. So when they see it, they see, okay, it's good, it's not falling apart. In fact, today we've got more sales than yesterday, so it's growing. You know, that's how we tell that things are working. They can go back and reconnect with our family with a nervous system in peace and fully engaged, and then you come back and you know, reevaluate. You've got your number two there that helped plug in any holes, and uh, and yeah, and we just continue to refine it. So I kind of gave you the the long-winded answer of what it was, but uh hopefully that made sense.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

That now that makes a lot of sense, and I think that it, as you said, it it speaks to that testing of that. It's just like, okay, can I can I step away from this? Can I, you know, you if somebody tells you that they can't even take an hour away, then yeah, not necessarily a red flag, but that kind of makes your eyes go a little wide, like, all right, hold on, we need to, well, we need to change that because you you need some time, you need some rest, you need at least seven to six to eight hours of sleep a night. So we need you to step back for at least one hour. But no, I think that as you start to see, okay, I can not necessarily out of sight, out of mind, but okay, out of sight, I'm okay. I come back, I'm alright. And now it's it's almost like sometimes it kind of makes me think of like that social media and like the screen time aspect of things. Like I know friends and I know people who put limits on their apps and put limits on um like how much time they spend on something. But it's just like when you hear that first ding, oh okay, I gotta hold on, I gotta pick up my phone again, I gotta do this. Or like you were speaking to earlier, when you're with your son, phone's away somewhere else, completely different. It's just like, you know, I remember my grandfather, God rest his soul, whenever we used to go out, whether it be to get food to the mall, whatever have you, as soon as we got to our destination, the phone was going in the glove compartment. And man, that used to eat me alive because it's just like, wow, like I need my phone. I used to feel like the I forgot what they the word that they use when you feel like your phone is vibrating in your pocket, and sometimes it's not even in your pocket, or you pull it out and nothing's on there. So it's just like, yeah, it's it's like you need to train yourself to be able to slowly but surely wean yourself back. And it's not even necessarily to say that you're putting less effort in, but you're really just allowing those systems, really just allowing that automation, really just allowing the CRN, the SOPs to do what they're intended to do, to work, to keep the business alive, flowing, growing, excelling, propelling. So, no, I think that that's that is not what I was expecting you to say and how was I expecting it to be explained, but I think that that's that's amazing, that's perfect. So George, you've you've been a you've been a plethora of just information today, of tips, of tricks, uh, but also inspiration of just like, you know, if if you can do it, there are so many other people out there listening who can do it too, or who can propel you, may have even motivated somebody today to to make a step to make a conscious decision to now want to have a conversation with you or do some more research or figure out what they can really do to be more involved. It's been something that maybe has been on their mind or has been brought up in the household, but it's just something that they can't really shake it because they're just so business oriented, they're just so business minded, and this is really what they want to do. So, one, I just thank you for everything. One, I thank you for such a transparent story. I I thank you for just coming on here and really just sharing that with my audience. But two, I thank you for the practicality and the authenticity behind it all. As I said, you are speaking to things that you've gone through, that you've tested, that you've experienced, that you yourself have been in day in and day out, and it works and it can happen. And not only that, but you've now I'd say pay it forward, but you also have now been that resource, been that vessel, been that beacon of light for others in the world who at some point felt this may be impossible, or at some point felt as though I don't know what what I'm gonna do. I know that I can't step away from this business, but I very much want to be there for my son, my daughter, my sons, my daughters, you know. So I I really do appreciate what you're doing because it's not oftentimes that parenthood and business, especially fatherhood, is intertwined a lot. And it's something that they can, they they really can go hand in hand. One can definitely affect the other, and they can definitely be of mutual benefit to one another just the same. Now, before we wrap things up, before we tell people all the places that they can find you, they can tap in with you, they can have, you know, work with you, work the team, everything like that. Do you feel like there's anything that we have not touched on that you want to leave the people with? Whether it be some advice for some of the the founder dads out there, whether it be some, you know, just some insight for where your business may be going in the near future, what people can expect for those who may not have heard of either one of us but are tapping into this episode. Anything that you want to leave the people with today?

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Yeah, um I'd say just kind of painting a picture of what success looks like when people, you know, do this. And, you know, the reality uh and the real goal really is not working less, it's becoming present again. You know, it's like leaving the office at three on a Thursday because your son has practice and nobody texts you to come back. Like that's the greatest feeling in the world. Or it's like sitting at the Saturday game without your phone hijacking your nervous system every three minutes. Or it's like your daughter who's calling you first when something happens because she trusts you and she knows you're emotionally going to be there. Or it's like your wife feeling like she's got her husband back, or it's your family getting the version of you that used to belong only to the business. You know, that's the rebuild that I went through, and that's the rebuild that I know a lot of men need. And, you know, I I'd just say, like your kids, they don't stop needing you, they just stop asking. You know, you can always make more money, but you can never redo a childhood. And so again, my goal is to wake up my my fellow founder dads to to the reality of you know, time, time goes on and and we only have a limited amount of uh of it. And we can, again, we can always make more money, can never redo a childhood, can never uh redo time. So let's let's make the best of it.

SPEAKER_02 57:58

I second that, you know, as as someone who I can't believe I'll be dirty this year. You know, that's just how fast time has just gone. You know, I that my 10 my 10-year unions are coming up and it's just moving the group. My little brother just graduated college, which is just insane to me. And so it's time, time is truly flying, you know, and you don't really realize it sometimes until you look back and you realize what all has passed. And I the moment I feel like the moment I realized time was moving fast was when I couldn't even remember what I had did uh yesterday or what the day before, or something that I something that people were telling me, yo, you don't remember it felt months ago or ages ago, or and it was just like, wow, that was just two, three days ago. But it's just like, wow, sometimes that's where your mind is, sometimes that's how much you really do in a day that that can really speak to that time. So again, I thank you so much. And I'm I'm just you know, I'm I'm hoping that this message reaches the right people. And I'm hoping that, you know, somebody takes really heed to it. And it may not be that immediate that they call you the very next day or that they they reach out the very next day, but I know at some point they're gonna make a conscious decision to say, hey, I I saw what happened to George, I see where he went with it, I see what he's doing with Leo and everything like that. Like I said, y'all, we definitely got to make sure that we support Leo. We tap and we show some love. But I definitely just want this to encourage and motivate somebody along the way. So before we officially wrap things up, can you just tell people all the best places to find you, whether it be websites, social media, can you just give us everything you got?

SPEAKER_01 59:18

Yeah, absolutely. If any part of this resonated with you at all, especially uh the part about you know winning on paper while quietly drifting at home, I say come sit at the table. Uh go to founderdadtables.com. Uh you could start with the book, come to a dinner, uh, join the online table, or just reach out directly. All my socials are on that page. Um, but you don't have to keep carrying this alone. But yeah, I host uh Founder Dad Dinners at my home in Austin. Um I also have a virtual event for those that can't make it down or prefer, you know, more of a daytime non-eating kind of thing. And I have a couple of books. So founderdadtables.com is the best place to find me. Again, socials are all there, and uh welcome anybody who wants to reach out.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

All right, y'all. And look, I feel like this may even be a call to action to me because I've never been to Houston before, but I love Texas. For those of y'all who don't know, before I moved up here to the DMV area, Dallas was very much on the on the list from Tampa. So this this this may have just just lit a fire under me for what I need to do. And that's exactly why I love just having conversations like this. So again, George, um just thank I appreciate just your responsiveness. I appreciate your willingness to want to come on to town of business to share what you do to resonate my with my audience. I appreciate everything that you're doing in the life of Leo. As I said, I can definitely resonate with with that, with fatherhood and everything that you have going on. So you're you're definitely in my prayers. I'm sending my well wishes to all the other founder dads out there. I'm looking forward to staying in touch, I'm looking forward to staying connected, and hopefully, I'm definitely going to speak this into existence. Hopefully, I'll be at the dinner table one day with you in Austin. So for everybody out there who continuously taps in, who continuously shows love to us to the podcast, as I said, everybody, man, since we've gone back, it's just been an outpouring. So I'm very happy to be here, very happy to have George sitting right across from me virtually. But this has been another episode of the Down to Business Podcast. Here we're tomorrow turner.