August After Dark
A conversation podcast with Matt August, founder of August Luxury Motor Cars. exploring the stories, strategies, and mindsets behind building a life and business worth talking about.
August After Dark
The Failure That Ended My Olympic Dream || Justin Pasutto
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JUSTIN PASUTTO
Instagram: @justinpasutto
He was 3 years from the Olympics. One skier. One collision. It all fell apart.
Justin Passuto — ex-Team Canada boardercross racer, husband to Jillian Harris, dad, founder of Scrub Captain — sits down for the most unfiltered conversation he's ever had. We go through the crash that cost him his Olympic shot, 6 concussions, meeting Jillian Harris at Rose's Pub, the 14-year wait to marry her, near-death overland trips to the Arctic Circle, and the bachelor party that changed everyone who was there.
This isn't a polished press-tour interview. This is two best friends of over a decade going where most podcasts don't.
Timestamps:
0:00 – TEASER
2:22 – The Olympic dream that ended in a crash
8:41 – Why he walked away at the top of his sport
13:16 – What Justin actually does now
16:32 – Meeting Jillian Harris: "She was cougar hunting"
22:02 – The Arctic trip where they faked a search & rescue
28:01 – The storm that nearly wiped them out
35:26 – Why it took him 14 years to marry Jillian
40:59 – The hardest year of their marriage
45:25 – The iPad confession every parent's afraid to make
52:54 – Jillian ditched her phone for 9 days — then got sick
56:07 – Inside the bachelor party that made him cry
1:02:20 – What he hopes his kids will say about him one day
Subscribe for more raw, unfiltered conversations on August After Dark.
I was a professional snowboarder and I got hit by a steer out of the blue. His tea cut through all my equipment, the entire side of my leg was red. Did you know who Jill was when you first letter? No. I had no clue. Someone's saying Jillian Harris was there, but she texted me like six times that night to make sure I had her number.
SPEAKER_02What is your supposed to do better than anyone else you know?
SPEAKER_00She can change somebody's life better than anybody else I know. What did that trip do for our friend group and for the people that were on it? I don't think I've ever had something so powerful and uplifting happen in my entire life other than becoming a father.
SPEAKER_02Most guests I sit down with come with a media trail. You can pull up their interviews, read their press, you know what's coming. Not tonight. The man sitting across from me has done a handful of interviews, but nothing like the adventures him and I've been on together and the friendship we've shared over the years. My guest is Justin Pasudo, Calgary Kid, border cross racer for Team Canada, Six Concussions, and Out by 22, founder of Scrub Captain, co-founder of Pasudo Media, husband to Jillian Harris, father to Leo and Annie, an amazing all-around dad, and one of my best friends. We go back over a decade, and I was at a table at Rose's pub the night him and Jill met. We've been to the Arctic Circle together. We've rolled side by sides together. Tonight we go where most podcasts don't. We rapid fire the snowboard years. We go through the Rose's story. We go through him and Jill. We go through our amazing adventures together. This is an exciting one. Buckle up. All right, buddy. Welcome to August After Dark. Justin Pasudo, everyone. Oh, thanks for having me. I feel like uh I feel like we should be in a sauna or something, sweating this out. Yeah, this is gonna take a lot of weird turns, I think, but uh it's okay.
SPEAKER_01Just if we can only imagine everybody will buckle up.
SPEAKER_02Oh Lord. So I gave you a little bit of introduction of who Justin is and just kind of go back to the beginning almost before I knew you. Um being born in Calgary and national sports school and um Team Canada and just like your your past as an athlete, which is a really cool past you should be proud of. Um sum up that chapter of your life and and what made you walk away.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay. Well, um geez, I feel like before I knew you, that that goes real back. We've known each other for a long time. Yeah. Really long time. And buckle up is uh probably the best way to describe our relationship, actually. I don't know. Are we talking about the Tim and Allen show on here too? I think we're gonna get to it. I think we're gonna get to it. But back to your question about me being uh like that, the athlete style of my career before I met you. Um I guess it was like kind of circling off the end of the career. Hey, when our relationship really started to grow. I similar to my like what I do now on Instagram, I was kind of like a mixed bag growing up. Like I don't I never had really one focus. Um and I still to this day don't know if that was like a good thing or a bad thing. I was a professional snowboarder, loved snowboarding, and I made the Canadian national team for border cross racing and pursuit of the Olympics. And at the same time, I also made the Canadian rugby team when I was 17 years old. And then I played for Team Canada uh up until I was about 19. And then I made the decision on kind of like essentially what happened was I was starting to miss snowboarding in the winter for rugby, which was a summer sport. And I was starting to miss rugby in the summer for snowboarding. They were starting to overlap. So I had to kind of make a decision on go like, where am I going with this? I really wanted to go to the Olympics. Rugby at the time wasn't in the Summer Olympics, snowboarding was, so I decided to go snowboarding. I really wanted to make the Olympics. And uh shortly after that, like I think three or four years, actually, rugby sevens got uh got into the Summer Olympics. Didn't really change my path at that point, but I continued on with snowboarding, traveled the world, met some incredible people. Uh it it really built, I think, the foundation of who I am today. Um a lot of the things I learned through sport, through focus, through meditation, uh, through determination. I think I translate into being a parent, to being a dad, to being a friend. Um one of like the biggest sports I have now is being a husband and trying to overcome some of those hurdles. And um what really drove me to end my sporting career was that next chapter of life. I was pursuing the Olympics, and this would have been Sochi. Um I was in Argentina. I was in Ushway, Argentina, the most southern city in the in the world, closest to Antarctica. Um, we were down there for summer camp, and I just met Jill, uh, my wife now. So Jill and I had met, we've been together for three almost 14 years. Uh we had just met that summer. I was in Argentina. I got hit by a skier. We had canceled training for the day. There was vertigo, which is like when it gets really foggy. For those of you that don't ski your snowboard, it's it's like when you when it's really foggy, you can't even see. You don't know if you're coming or going, you can't even honestly see your feet. We canceled training and I was on my way down and I got hit by a skier out of the blue. His ski cut through all my equipment, like right to the bone of my butt cheek. Like it was it was insane. And it felt like a really bad Charlie horse. I ski down, my coach saw he's like, You alright? And I'm like, Yeah, but like my legs just like cramping, like I don't know what's going on. He's like, You're bleeding. Like, what do you mean I'm bleeding? I turn over and I was wearing beige pants, like the entire side of my leg was red. Called ski patrol, went down, long story short. I'm in this ski hut in Argentina getting stitched up by like four different dudes. One dude's holding a flashlight, one guy's taking a camera, the other dude just came in from smoking a cigarette outside, and they're stitching my muscle basket, my muscle back up, and then they're stitching my skin. That led to uh another training camp in the fall of the same year. I find myself in Austria, routine training camp. This is another like test for who's getting the spots to go to the Olympics. So I should step back a little bit here. In Argentina, we have a test camp when all these uh Canadian national athletes are competing for spots. It's based on World Cup standing and different point systems and so on and so forth. But the coaches and the teams look at the athletes of that current year and who's performing the best, and they'll run these like team competitions, these they'll they'll run like mini races to see who's the best. That crash in Argentina cost me that that race. I wasn't able to race in that event. And I think I was like the secret weapon. I was in the best shape I've ever been in in my entire life. I had worked so hard for that event. Um, I would have walked, I would have killed it. I would have absolutely destroyed it. I can confidently say that Austria a few months later wasn't quite the case. I was still healing up, ended up taking another slam, broke three ribs. I did compete to try and make this like qualifying uh this qualifying test, but I came like fourth out of the five of us. So I wasn't looking too good. And that was just kind of set the tune for my entire year, to be honest. It was one injury after the next, uh ended up hitting my head, and I got to a point in my life where I was looking at who I was, where I was going, what's going on. My relationship was growing with Jill. And if you guys don't know, Jill's quite a bit older than I am. And uh I was, you know, this pro athlete living in a basement suite in Whistler, traveling the world, and I just locked down this older, amazing gal that I was incredibly in love with, who was like on a complete opposite total like career trajectory. Like just locked down a TV show. She was this like super famous hot chick. Uh, like just just this, like, I didn't even know what was going on, to be honest. Like, I was like, who am I dating? Like, what's happening here right now? But like, I have to grow up. If I want to keep this girl, I gotta figure this out and I gotta grow up like now. Um, so after I'd hit my head, I disguised I decided that this was my last year. I'm gonna retire after this year and pull out and move on to the next phase of my life, which was being a partner with Jill. Uh, I ended up going back to school to finish up some degree stuff, and um ended up starting a small business here in Kelona called Scrub Captain. Old scrubby. Old scrubby. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, how hard was that to give up?
SPEAKER_00You know, at the time it was actually easy because I would wake up in the middle of the night some nights like having like these crazy nightmares, or these like I'd be talking my sleep or walking in my sleep. Like, I think one night Jill and I first started dating. We were in Whistler, and she woke up and I was lighting the candles at like three o'clock in the morning. She's like, What are you doing? And I'm like fully sleepwalking, lighting candles. So, like, clearly a hazard here. And and I kind of get like irritated too. I'm like, oh, she's like, go back to bed. And I'm like, and I suppose you want me to blow these out too. Like, yeah. Uh so I think it like that it was a relief in some way or another. Like, I it was stressful, like it was like one race determined my career, but one race determined, you know, my future. Like it was like I put so much ownership on making the Olympics. And today, like at that point, it was easy. Today it was probably the hardest decision of my life because I'm like, did did that mean I didn't uh make it? Because I never made it to the Olympics, does that make me like just kind of a regular dude who just picked up snowboarding for fun? Like, does that play like, oh, he never made the Olympics? So it's like he wasn't actually that good. Like, I question it to some extent every now and then like, was it the right decision? And you know, today some of the guys that I used to race with 15 years ago are starting to go back into the sport. They think there's a gap where you know there's an opportunity for them to maybe try and make it again and try and go for it again, but I can't do that anyways with my ankle. But um, for those of you listening, I shattered my ankle, that's a whole other story, but not snowboarding. Um still on a board though, still on a board, skateboarding. Just there's just some things you shouldn't do after the age of 30. And what is a half pipe? And no, everybody knows that. Yeah, I I didn't. Yeah, I see that. So yeah, it was it was easy at the time because I was like, great, no more pressure. But looking back, it was probably one of the hardest decisions of my life. I bet.
SPEAKER_02Um, before we get into more questions, what is in the driveway? Obviously, this there's a bunch of cars behind us, so I have to like talk about cars a little bit. Um, what's in the driveway? What's a dream car?
SPEAKER_00Oh, like any car my pick? Well, it would be a Porsche. Porsche GT3 RS. And in fact, I was having this conversation with one of the dads over the weekend. You remember that car I drove in the Dream Alley that you guys had, that blue golf wrap? I think it was a 2015. Yep. That would be my dream car. That year, that model, everything about that car, that same wrap, all that, that would be like that's that's what's in the driveway.
SPEAKER_02And what's in the driveway today for those who don't know?
SPEAKER_00Uh 2009 Porsche 911 Kraer S. Not blue, not cool golf wrap, not with all the cool bat wings and stuff on it, but it's still an awesome car. It is an awesome car. It's an awesome brand. It is. I love it. And uh do your viewers know like how much you've evolved into being a Porsche lover, or are you still hiding that fact?
SPEAKER_02No, I I got nothing to hide. Um I the the brand is growing me. I just I find it to be it's it's uh a use case scenario. Right? Like if I was going golfing and then sure, I would love to drive a Porsche. But I I because of how much how many different cars I drive on a uh in a month, it's tough for me to like pick one. Right. Because there's so many that do so many different jobs for me. It could be and that's just I mean, I'm lucky enough and grateful enough to have experience a lot of different brands, but it's it's all use case to me now, right? Like if I just want to go for coffee with my wife, I'd love to just be able to go in my garage and grab the Diablo, the car sitting right here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um if I'm gonna go just like by myself for a drive, I do want to drive McLaren because that gives me the joy that I want. And it just all comes down to like what the use is, and um I think Porsche does all of it very good in a great way. Yeah, um, which is why you know it is such a popular brand and and it does, it does a lot of things great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I get it. Man, if I had a garage that looked like this, I'd be picking a different car every day, too. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02If someone asked Justin Pasudo what he does in 2026 right now, what does he do?
SPEAKER_00I'm uh by my titles, I'm an Instagram influencer. I'm a creator on social media platform called Instagram. That's what I do. And I'm a dad, I'm a parent, and I'm a partner, and uh, you know, I'm a farmer. I don't know if I'm a legitimate farmer, but I like to think I am. That's okay. Yeah. You're passionate about it. Love it. Yeah. I never thought I had a green thumb, to be honest. I hated gardening. When we first met, Jill bought this fancy house, this big garden out front. I was like, this is terrible. I'd be like, Matt, come pick me up. Get the fuck out of here. Jill's dad would be gardening or fixing something up for us, and I'd be like, hey, I couldn't get a Budweiser in me quick enough. But now it's yeah, I don't know. Put farmer. Yeah, it is. Put landscaper on that title. Yeah. Okay. Farmer landscaper.
SPEAKER_02Before I go into like you and Jill's relationship, and we will talk about like ours and stuff, just to give people context, like, how did we meet? Where was it? And how did that happen? Because it's quite funny.
SPEAKER_00Well, I was uh here in Kelowna with uh mutual, an old mutual friend of ours, and we were driving down one of the streets downtown, and I was in one of those Jeep, you know when Jeep came out with the four-doors? So for everybody uh listening right now, there were when Jeep Wrangler came out with their four-door model. They were cool. And of course, we took the doors off. It was summertime in the Okanagan. So I'm rolling down the street. This is at like what 10 o'clock at night, somewhere like that. Maybe even later, but maybe even later, yeah. Um, I feel like 10 so late now at the age we're at. It was probably one eight. So we're anyways, we're driving down the street, and um, and this random dude just jumps in the back of the truck. And this is like this was like the third attempt. Like this wasn't the same, it's not the same dude doing trying this three times.
SPEAKER_02Because you were doing loser laps by all the bars.
SPEAKER_00We were cruising around trying to wheel, uh, usual like things, usual shenanigans. And uh yeah, this was the third guy jumping in the back of the trying to jump in the back of this seat of the truck, anyways. I turned around and like tried to hit this guy because at this point I'm like, fuck this, like, can I swear on here? Yeah, and I was like, Yeah, fuck this. I was like, fuck this guy, like get out of my truck. And then and our buddy was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's my friend. I actually know him. And I was like, Oh shit, sorry. And that other guy jumping in was me. Yeah, and that was you. And then uh, I mean, then what?
SPEAKER_02That was it. Yeah, then it was like that then we spent Matt was in town, your brother, and we spent we were out on their boat and we surfed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_02I think shortly after that. And then Calgary, didn't we go and then I and then I and then I got to know you a bit more before I moved to Calgary for school.
SPEAKER_00Right. No, you came because I was still in Calgary at that time. I went back home to Calgary, school started. You were coming to see Marcus at the U of C. You came for like a weekend trip. And then me and you mean you were like, you I thought you were the funniest kid on the planet. You had the long you had long hair back then, too. This scrawny long kid. If you guys somebody's gotta find a photo of Matt back in the scrawny kid, anyways, that and then that that weekend we were like best friends. Yeah after that weekend in Calgary was like Matt and I, Matt and Justin are best friends.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then it was just summer shenanigans after summer shenanigans, and which takes us to Rose's. Do we take the boat to Rose's that night? No. What night? The one you met when you met Joel at Rose's.
SPEAKER_00No, because I had just flown in from Tucker's engagement party. Right, that's true. And I was uh I was coming in with uh that's right, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was her birthday. I had a broken heart. I pretty much broke my own heart, to be honest. It's probably me. It's always me. Really honestly. I I've learned it like that. She was a fantastic girl. I I probably screwed that all up. I in fact, I I'll just say it, I did. Um but I was still brokenhearted. I mean, you can still screw stuff up and still be sad. Yeah. Anyways, uh yeah, and then it was your sister's birthday. So I wanted to get the hell out of Dodge because she was actually at the engagement party, and I just was like, I gotta get out of here. And then uh made it for Michelle's birthday and then ran into Jill. Miss Jillian Harris in the lineup. She was trying to cut the like already to pay to get in line, like pay 20 bucks, before. That was our line. We own that line. Well, yeah, and you guys were all in there. I was like trying to play catch up. I almost missed my flight, and I was still wearing my like outfit from the engagement party, and I get there, and I'm like, Michelle's like, go to the back lineup or like the pay to 20 bucks, get in, I'll come meet you. She knew the guy, blah, blah, blah. And I'm standing there, and there's like 10 people in line, and and this like group of girls just like tries to cut the front of the line. And I'm like, who the fuck are these chicks? Like, okay, like everybody is like, just pay 20 bucks, get in lines. Kelowna, like, who's nobody's cool here? Just get in line. Did you know who Jill was when you first met her? No, I had no clue. When we were when I was in the bar that, or it was actually before we got in, she was standing up front. Now, your sister knew one of her friends because we kind of like exchanged like a hey, like, hey, or like crossed eyes, or like, oh, like, oh wow, this like these chicks are hot. Like, it was that kind of by Michelle. Actually, I swear she put the nail in because she was like, Isn't this guy just the hottest guy ever? Like, totally best friend props in front of these chicks. It was awesome. And then she got me in first. Yeah, I got to go in front of them. So I was like, Oh yes, and uh no, I had no idea who she was, but she just had this like aura, this like this like hot chick, a little bit older. Like, I I could tell she was older, and she might have been like my older card. Don't put that on there. Anyways, uh yeah, no, I had no idea who she was. I think it was like the next day we found out. Someone's saying Jillian Harris was there, but she texted me and you she was uh you were Jilly. It was Jilly or J Jay. I don't know, something about that. She texted me like six times that night to make sure I had her number.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she was cougar hunting. You weren't her hunting her.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I got it. Yeah, jokes on me for sure. Tell me about your first date with Jill. Okay, so about a week after I met Jill at Rose's that night. Oh, and you know what else was awesome? Is we were leaving that night with Michelle and all of her cool hot friends. And uh, like Jill obviously didn't know like they were literally just Michelle's friends, but I was getting in a cab with the three of them, and she's like, Who is this guy? And like all these girls, it was just so it was so awesome. Anyways, and I offered her a ride. I was like, Hey, do you want us to drop you off? She was standing out there waiting for a ride. You always had that like who's this guy aura around you at the bars?
SPEAKER_02Do you think so? Dude, remember when remember when we rented that limo because everybody thought you looked like that dude on what show was that? On uh Justin Bobby from the Hills. From the Hills. Remember, we used to we used to get into bars because you would have you would put on this persona and they thought I was Justin Bobby, and people bit it every time. We the the amount of lines we skipped. Holy shit, I totally forgot about that. We remember we thought it was act it was actually cheaper for us to rent a limo, roll up to the bar in a limo, yeah, to for us to get in front line because we would remember we would actually like Matt Pasudo, your brother, would get out of the car before and be like, Hey, I have Justin Bobby in the car. Dude, he needs to go straight in.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, man, I totally forgot about that. That was in Edmonton, yeah. And it worked, and I had long hair, dude, and the limo driver even took a photo with me, like a selfie, to like show his daughter that he got a photo of Justin Bobby. Yeah, but he was getting a photo of Justin Pasudo. Shit. I hope he's not listening to this. If you are, I'm sorry, but we were young and dumb. And it, I mean, you would have done the same thing too. But you know what? It's funny, the Hills. So Spencer Pratt, I think he was from the Hills. Yeah, he was the Hills, like that whole era. Justin Bobby, there was another Brody Jenner and Spencer Pratt, who we kind of crossed over through one of the magazines Jill and Leo were on back when he was a kid. Spencer Pratt was talking about how like rad his outfit was. It was like a Bachelorette uh people magazine thing. Anyways, we kind of like connected over social media years ago, and we've stayed relatively in touch. Like I wouldn't say we're friends, but like definitely chat here and there over Instagram. He's running for Mary Bell A right now, and he's like fully in the running for it. It's it would be so rad if he ended up making it.
SPEAKER_02That is funny.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That was uh those are good times. But definitely before social media, we wouldn't wait away with that.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god. For sure. What is the most memorable Trip that you and I've been on. I have a well I have a lot of them.
SPEAKER_00Oh there's a lot for sure. You pick one though. What one do you want me to pick? Like, do you want me to pick like I can't believe we survived? Or like we like this is like one of the most epic trips like anybody would ever do. Like they're like, take your pick. Let's do an epic trip. Well, I would say the most epic trip you and I have ever been on was probably the Arctic Circle and Dempster Highway. For sure. That's my that's my choice too. I still look at those photos actually. They're they're on my camera roll. I talk about it often too.
SPEAKER_02That was still it's still something we need to complete because like for obviously those listening have no idea what this trip is. Um we went from Kelowna to up the Stuart Cassier Highway, um into the Yukon, and then all the way up the Dempster Highway in Dawson City, um, up the Dempster Highway to pass the Arctic Circle and into the Northwest Territories. And we actually flipped a quarter on the on the Dempster Highway to see if we were gonna go to a Nuvik or not. Um, because I said to the boys, if we go to a Nuvik, I want to go to Tuktiuktuk. Because I always remember my dad back in the day being like, if you keep acting like this, I'm gonna send you to Tuktiuktuk. I just wanted to send him a picture, be like, I'd be whale blubber and tucktiu. I'm here. And then I wanted to eat whale blubber and jump in the Arctic Ocean and everything else.
SPEAKER_00So I think it's still a trip that we still need to complete. We do. That was a wash coin from like the laundry service place in uh Dawson City. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we we had two trucks. Me and you were Raptor One. Yeah. I'm not gonna go into too much into stuff because there's fucking some sketchy shit out there. But anyways, um it was a really epic trip. Like we did it with rooftop tents. We towed the zode at the time. Yeah. But we towed like an old zodiac I had bought. It was called Regional Marine Rescue.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, man, that thing. And um dude, and like it said regional marine rescue on the side of it. Like this was an auction find for Matt. And like this is just the this is the classic Matt August. And we're towing this bright orange rescue boat, and we literally look like this was before overlanding was a thing.
SPEAKER_02Nobody knew we were the first ones with CVT tents.
SPEAKER_00Nobody knew what those things were. People would ask us all the time, like, what are those boxes on there? Yeah. Um, and like we literally look like some secret Canadian undercover whatever program chasing aliens.
SPEAKER_02I think you actually told people that at one point, but I think I have cards actually made up. Yeah. I I we pulled into this, we like the rest stop kind of thing, but it was a campground, and we roll in, and this dude comes running up and is like, oh my god, thank God you guys are here. Um, but we found the boat, she's okay, like we're gonna be okay. And like back to like the Justin Bobby look-alike thing. Anytime Justin gets the ability to pretend he's someone else, he goes all in. So instead of saying, sir, no, we're just traveling through, we're not search and rescue, he grabs the radio because we have trucks, the both trucks have radios, and he radios the other truck and goes, Yeah, Raptor, uh, this Raptor 1, Taco 2. Um looks like uh it looks like they're safe, look like they're they've got the boat out of the water. Um, we'll just uh do our paperwork from here and it'll be all good. And and just like grills this guy on what happened and everything else. And and and the guy character. The guy fully thought we were the rescue from somewhere, and uh, and just just like made sure he was okay and make sure, like, does she have hypothermia? Like going through all of these things, it was quite legit, actually.
SPEAKER_00I used to be a lifeguard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. I don't think that uh equates to the same. Gotta make sure my uh my people are okay. And and then probably not long after we left, actual search and rescue would have shown.
SPEAKER_01The guy's like, what the heck's going on? I just talked to the guys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was uh that was fun. That was good times. I mean it's harmless fun, like nobody's Oh, it was no for sure. And it was good times.
SPEAKER_02I was telling this story actually to Ryder, um, my stepson the other day. And I and explaining to him like what it means. And the young guy's listening to this, like what it means to take your crew of guys and do those trips. Go put yourself into a place where you have to like like remote. And I and we did like I I was telling Ryder the story. We put the zodiac, we got to Cuswa Lake, just outside of Whitehorse, and we put the Zod in the water, and of course, it's like every time we did something, it was dark. We roll in, it's dark, it's raining, it the the wind's blowing. So there's four of us. We load all the gear into the zodiac, and it had like twin uh 40 mercs on the thing, 40 horsepower, so 80 horsepower total. And we load all of our gear in it. Four of us, the four of us jump in this boat, and we're going up a lake. No one's I I was there a year before, yeah, but I didn't go very far because I was on my little zodiac and I was with my dog, and it was just by myself. And so we all get in, and the boat won't plane, like there's too much weight in the boat. So we had to leave the other two guys on the dock, and he, me and Justin, like we have headlamps on, we think we're in the army, we're ripping up this lake, and and the waves were pretty big, like we were getting wet and stuff, and it was it was cold too. Like it was like four or five degrees, it snowed the next day. And we find this beach, and it's like this beautiful, this beautiful setting of this, like these mountains that come straight down to the water, and then there was just this one sandy beach that came out and had that big, like big U-shape. We'll show a picture. Perfect, it was gorgeous. And so I I we pulled up on the beach. They had this like remember there was that cave kind of that we had that fire in and stuff. And so I dumped Justin off, uh, dumped the dog off, and then I had to go back and all the gear, and I had to go back up the lake quite a ways, grab the boys and come back, and we spent the night there and had a nice fire and everything else. And then in the morning, it was so windy, the tents were blowing all over the place, the tent poles were flying all over the place.
SPEAKER_00Didn't we name that Castaway Beach? Castaway Beach. Holy shit, that wind wasn't that was the disaster. Yeah, that was horrible. But you're right though, back to like what you're saying in Ryder, like, and mind you, like for you, those of you listening, it's not like we just like gathered our belongings and like headed out on this quest. We were prepared, and we've done we had done a few of these, and like I really owe it to you. Like, you've always had this like mega sense of adventure, and you would all often do these trips solo and always come back and tell us about them, like you uh hiking Mount Everest Base Camp too. And uh you'd always push for us to be like, hey, like let's do this, let's go check this out. And we'd always be like, dude, this is a crazy idea, but then it would they would always end up pushing us as like like me and you as a friendship, and then us as like men uh or like young men growing and exploring and and and like getting that sense of adventure was so epic. It was so cool.
SPEAKER_02I think that you know, especially at the age we were at, I think to be and like we were we didn't do it too young, like we did it enough that we still had like we had the right trucks, we had a little bit of money to spend to do it, and you know, we had the right gear, we had everything, but I think it's really important for you know the young generation to like get off your phone, go do something rad with your boys or your girls, whatever, and just like go put yourself somewhere, be prepared, but go put yourself somewhere where it's uncomfortable. And like we we loaded up camp, then we pushed the boat up a river, we went and found new kind of camp area, and and we just like end up surviving too.
SPEAKER_00Like you learn how to survive and eat, and you gotta also like you gotta learn how to get along with your people, and honestly, man, it teaches you how to problem solve. It totally does. That was so fun, dude. We had so many epic times, so we still are totally. You learn a lot about who you want to be and grow into as well. And it gives you time to think. And one of the things I remember is remember when Remy got the um like big hookfish stuck in his his lip? Yeah, the three of us, so it was me and Paul at that time, yeah, we're in this little tiny tin boat off floating on a lake in the middle of nowhere, and Remy like hooked, it was like one of those like three hook treble hooks, and it was like right through his lip. And we all had to band together to like basically figure out who's doing what, like who's like somebody hold, somebody figure out the boat, somebody hold the dog, and then somebody's gonna work through the lure and remove it from his lit. And we all had to kind of like Yeah, because it had connected his top lip and his bottom lip. Yeah, it was a disaster. It was really bad, yeah. And it was scary for us, and like we like all love that dog. Um, and we really had to like push each other to be like, okay, like here's the different roles, here's what we're all gonna do. And we killed it. We did an awesome job. We we each performed, we pulled the lure out of uh both of his lips. There wasn't really any issues, the bleeding stopped, it was great, and we went back to our day.
SPEAKER_02And I think that's the I think you're right is is that it challenges you to make decisions and think on your feet. I mean, we've been in multiple positions where like the Argo stuck in the lake or the ice member, we sunk it.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02The higher battery dying at minus fifty. Yeah, there's been there's been lots of the ranger we've when we flipped uh side by side. Yeah. Um, but you you have to think on your feet and you have to like trust the person with you and and everything else, and that's what you know putting yourself in an in an adventure with your buddies is really important. And you get the best memories to go forward from. Best memories, best stories too. Yeah. We went to Moab, so there was you know, four trucks again, um, you know, more guys, right? So there were six of us. Um what was what was your like moment that always stuck with you on that trip? Um, that kind of like helped you grow as a a man.
SPEAKER_00I think not worrying about the little things. Like, really, like I just got in that new truck too, and I was so bent out of shape about everything about it. Like, holy shit, I drove everybody crazy on that trip. Uh you had a you had a battery-powered vacuum.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. I was like, and like someone had chips in his truck, like whoever's riding with you, and then as soon as they finished their trips, you would vacuum up things.
SPEAKER_00It was hey man, it was like the first truck, the first brand new truck I bought. It was literally like three weeks old, and we're going on this overland trip. Probably didn't I didn't think through that. But yeah, you're right. I think what I learned through that trip is like I cared so much about those little things, and they they drove me nuts. And it was like it sucked because it was like it it took away from like parts of the trip that I should have just been having so much fun. It was also annoying for everybody else on the trip. Um, and look fast forward what, 10 years or how long over it's been six, seven, however long. Anyways, it's like I don't even remember half the shit I was upset about or even worried about, you know, like and too, like, you know, I didn't want to break anything on my truck, stuff's expensive, and I think the one like leading thing though is just kind of like being in the moment um and not worrying about things that you can't control. That was really and we prepared you for Jill and how she treats her vehicles. Oh my god, right? I was wondering if there's gonna be a hook here. You definitely did. Yeah. It was a training camp all along. Yeah, we weren't going to see the arches or accomplish any sweet national parks. It was a training trip. We're dealing with Jill's vehicles.
SPEAKER_02It's true. Um, I I'll go into into that about like your guys' marriage and and relationship. I I still call the whole part a marriage because it did take so long. Um But I I I guess before I do that, what why did it take so long? Like in your opinion. And what did you get out of it? Because I think I know what act what you guys actually got out of it by waiting, but I'll I'll I'll let you answer in.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so look, um I was 24 years old when I met Jill. She was 32. I think it was a combination of a few things. One, we were just probably nervous, I think, to actually get married. Um, two, honestly, I think the real reason was we just never prioritized marriage. We thought it was like okay not to prioritize marriage. Um, and we also prioritized like getting pregnant to some extent. Like that wasn't necessarily like, okay, like here's the date we're gonna try and get pregnant, but it was with Jill's age, with Jill's career, with everything that we were doing, like we needed to kind of like push the baby scene in front of it a little bit more, I think, is more our headspace was. But also, I just don't think we really prioritized marriage. And now that we are married, and I don't know if this is what you're thinking, but I definitely think now that we're we're actually committed legally and and are married, I do think it's like completely changed uh our relationship a little bit for the better. I think we've it's it does change stuff. Um, I hear people tell me all the time, like, oh, what's the point of getting married? You already have two kids, house, dogs. You know, you're already married. But I do think I'm also like I'm a religious guy. I I wasn't as religious as I am today. I grew up being Catholic. I'm Catholic. Um, you know, my mom and dad really wanted me to get married before we had kids, of course. Uh at the time I wasn't really like a practicing Catholic. Today, definitely a little bit more than I am, but I do think marriage is really important. I do think when you say I do and you you sign those papers and you you give those vows to each other, you lock on to a whole other level.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and what I was thinking was I and it is I think it was really cool for the kids to be at an age to watch that yeah and to really be a part of it in in a really uh amazing way. Yeah. You know, like Leo being a part of like all the groomsmen and like being on the boat with us and getting ready from us, yeah, you know, getting ready at my house and and getting to the wedding. I think that's a core memory of his that I think he will always remember. And and and him seeing that, you know, like growing up with buddies and stuff is like how important that friendship is with the people around him and how you know uh and how like how close we all are. Um I think for them to see that being at an age that they'll remember is really cool.
SPEAKER_00No, you're you're you're totally right, Matt. I having the kids there was always something that kind of scared me, to be honest, because we were doing stuff out of order. It was like, oh, you got pregnant first, you had kids, and then you guys are getting married. It was like, okay, like you did it wrong. But yeah, looking back on it, you're right. And Jill said the same thing too. Like having the kids a part of it is was amazing. They get to see what this is all about, and hopefully it inspires them to want that same kind of love and commitment in their life down the road for sure.
SPEAKER_02Um, what is one thing that Jill does that drives you absolutely insane?
SPEAKER_00It's so funny because her phone is also one of the main reasons we um is where we are where we are, but yeah, it would be her phone. She's always on her phone. So yeah, I mean, you know, when you go to the movies, Matt, it's like, oh, like, don't be a Tommy texter and don't be uh whatever it all like put your phone away. Like, I feel like that replays in my mind when we're like trying to put our kids down or first thing in the morning when we could be enjoying a nice cuddle. She's busy pooping, and she's just hammering away on her phone and her poop, and uh just all the loving sounds of what a true marriage should be.
SPEAKER_02What does your spouse do um better than anyone else you know?
SPEAKER_00She leads with her heart. She knows how to wake up every day and not only look after what she needs to do for herself, but she looks, she knows how to make, she knows how to improve somebody else's life. Whether it's a smile, whether it's a hug, whether it's doing something for them in some small way. And a lot of times people don't even notice, she can change somebody's life better than anybody else I know, including mine.
SPEAKER_02Very true. Um, what is a fight that you guys have more than any other?
SPEAKER_00Parenting. Parenting's hard, man. I mean, I know you experience that uh probably on your end a little bit. We all do. We're, you know, we we come from two different families. You know, you grow up a certain way with two parents or one parent or no parents, but you essentially are you grow up with a form of what you think parenting is gonna be. So when you become a parent, you have your way of wanting things to be the way they want, or your views, your visions, your foundations, whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it's like the the small stuff. It's like, you know, parenting is probably one of our biggest battles, is what who said what and how we're doing this or that. Like we're both on the same page relatively, but uh yeah, it's parenting, man. It's it's a battle out there. No one's asking. We haven't been on any parenting podcasts, so let's just put it that way. What was the hardest year of your guys' marriage so far? Well, I heard this earlier, and it's kind of like a Brian August to be like, well, we've only been married for a year, not even a year. I had to say it. Relationship.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, we've been part of your relationship. What's the hardest year of your relationship so far?
SPEAKER_00The hardest year of our relationship was um trying to find the balance between a very successful entrepreneur, woman-led, uh, you know, epic side of our family to being also parents, to dealing with some family sickness, to dealing with some outside elements um with one of our properties, and I don't know, was it the fire, the fire we had? We had mental illness, we had fire, we had busy bodies, we had everything happening all at once. And it all seemed to be in literally six months of one year, and uh it was it was hard. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Strip away the brands, the followers, the businesses. What does the family actually stand for?
SPEAKER_00The family, it to me, family to me means is everything. And I include my like close friends like you in that you're my family. And my, you know, family at the end of the day is I believe you're your legacy, your true legacy, and something that you will always have. It's loyalty, it's trust, it's that commitment, and it's those endless loves and laughs that you can get. It's honestly, I think, the most important thing in your entire life.
SPEAKER_02If uh if Leo and Annie uh only learn one thing from watching the two of you, what would that be?
SPEAKER_00At the end of the day, if things don't work out, everything's still gonna be okay. Just d just don't give up. Just keep pushing, keep trying, and if something didn't work the first time, try it another way and be happy.
SPEAKER_02Thirty years from now, you and Jill, or you guys the two of you are sitting on a porch, the kids are grown up. What are you doing and what are you guys laughing about? Well, hopefully how many years? 30 years from now?
SPEAKER_0030 years from now, so I'll be uh let's do some quick math here. I'll be almost 70 sitting on the porch. Jill will be almost 100. Just kidding. So I'll probably uh I'll probably be like wiping or like dr you know, holding her coffee for her. Just kidding. Uh I don't know, Matt. I think as long as I can as long as my kids are happy and healthy and the people that are close to us our family is happy. And healthy at that time, I'm gonna be happy and healthy. And there's not a care in the world at that point. Like you're almost 70 years old, you're on a porch drinking coffee first thing in the morning. I mean, you've already made it, I think. Um, and yeah, if my kids are happy and um the people in my life are happy, then that's that's that's my happy place. I made it it means I made it. It means I did a good job parenting, it means uh I was a good partner. There's nothing more than I think in life other than watching your kids grow up and doing something well, but growing with a partner and hopefully dying next to them one day, like relationships aren't aren't easy. You're working at them constantly, and and I think if you reward yourself at the end of the day with that love and that that commitment and growing with people as they change and loving them as they change, and you're doing the same thing, and if you can hold hands with them on that balcony in 30 years, 40 years, I think that's that's that's life, man. That's that's a good goal.
SPEAKER_02That's fair. So, as watching the kids grow up, how important is it to you that they have a certain amount of screen time that they're you know what worries you about social media and the business you guys are in on how it's gonna affect Annie and Leo growing up?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think about this all the time. This is uh this is a tough one. I I really don't know. It's uh stressful, dude, because you're look, we live on social media, our lives are are we put everything on social media, our jobs are on social media. We we're able to like put our kids in the school we want because of social media. Um so yeah, automatically I'm kind of thinking, like, yeah, I really want my kids to be a part of this. I want them to have an opportunity. It's a good opportunity. There's a lot of good things that can come from social media. I also get worried that there's a lot of things that social media and and technology can take away. And I'm scared that our kids are gonna learn, or sorry, I'm I'm afraid that our kids are gonna learn how to problem solve. There's so many tools out here now, including AI and uh you name it, that can do so much for us now that we're not using our brains the way that we have been using them for so many generations, and I don't know what that's gonna look like in the future. I think it's impossible to expect that we can just avoid it because there's a lot of people that are gonna use it and they're not always gonna use it for the right way. So we have to use technology in some way or another. Um, but when it comes down to our kids in their future, I I think it's just a matter of balance. I think it's teaching them the same as it would be, uh, this might be a horrible example, but you know, when they become of age to drink alcohol, you know, it's not a matter of like consuming alcohol every day just because you can. It's a matter of like finding the right balance and does it work for you? Is it fit in the lifestyle you want? And I think some of our technology and social media and AI is all about balance. And if if our kids are using it in the right form and the right balance and for what they need it to do in their life, I think we're gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_02Are you protecting the family at all from AI? Are you embracing it? Are you putting boundaries around it? How do you how do you balance AI and in in your family?
SPEAKER_00Well, um I feel like I'm always in this like protector role, to be honest. If you asked Annie, she's like, oh dad, you never allow me to do anything. It's like I'm already doing it. But yeah, no, we're we're uh we're always defending, or sorry, we're always protecting our kids. We don't let them like they're Leo's nine, Annie's uh, she's younger than Leo, she's seven. They don't have social media accounts. Well, I mean, I don't know, what did Jill say? Leo's got, well, we've got this like racing account, but again, it's for branding purposes and sponsorship stuff for his go-karting, but he doesn't have his own Instagram. Yeah, we safeguard the kids right now, and we probably will. Like I've always told Leo he can get his first cell phone when he was in grade seven. When he's in grade seven, it's when I got mine, but it's gonna be the same kind of phone that I got. It's like a flip phone with the green background, and you were texting T9. If not, then yeah, probably is gonna wait until high school or maybe even after high school. Like I think schools are gonna teach them enough about technology and uh the stuff that they need to know in a business that we can maybe pull back a little bit as a family and and let them just try and be kids longer than what the world uh is pushing, you know, for today. I think, yeah, definitely I think holding them off of it for a little bit longer is or as long as we can shelter them a little bit. There's a lot of scary stuff out there, and I don't know. I don't really know the answer to that, Matt. Kind of running around circles here, but we're definitely more protective family uh when it comes down to social media and some of the games that are available.
SPEAKER_02How important do you think that is to a family that you know is busy and you know it's just something they use it as something to just, you know, give the kids to get them away or get them from, you know, like when they use it as a tool to distract themselves, to give to give space. I mean, is that is that healthy? Is that what is that in your opinion?
SPEAKER_00Well, this is like this, is this is a big discussion. This is like uh every family's gonna do what they think is the right. And uh by all means, I I don't know what the right answer is, but I know for my family, uh yeah, we've used technology at the wrong time to like distract our kids, or like if they're having a temper tantrum, like here's an iPad. And yeah, it works. It's like a magic pill, you know, it's like it literally shuts off. But no, do I think that's healthy and the right thing to do? Absolutely not. I think there's a level of uh like this problem solving as parents that we're not necessarily um being responsible about. I think there's certain things that we actually have to dig deep and go, like, I actually have to put up with my kid's temperature right now. This is part of life. I can't just give him an iPad, like, yes, that solves the problem, but what problem is that creating down the road from now? And I think even with us on our phones, like our kids are constantly seeing us with a phone. And like, are they competing for mom and dad against the cell phone? This, like, this is this advice, this device. Like, I actually kind of feel sad for them in a way. Like, my mom wasn't climbing into bed to tickle my back and read me a bedtime story when I was five, six years old with a cell phone that was beeping, blinking, texting, oh sorry, just one second, oh dad's just gotta do this, or I got a work email, or whatever. Like, none of that happened back in our day. And I try to put myself and my kids' perspective in their shoes and go, like, what if I was that seven-year-old boy and my mom was in bed, or my dad was putting me to bed, and he was so distracted with his cell phone, this other device. Like, does that make that device more important than me? Like, what are my kids thinking? I don't think they think that, but I try to kind of think like, I don't know, maybe this whole cell phone devicing is just terrible. Like, maybe we should be able to do that.
SPEAKER_02I think in that sense too, it it gives I think you know, going forward when when the kids grow up and that that they've been fighting for that attention um, you know, from a cell phone, I think that you know ends up being a trauma that is based around not being good enough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you know, it's the same as if you know you grew up with uh, you know, a dad that was busy and and working all the time and everything else, and you you get a you you have a trauma moving forward that you are not good enough because you are always trying to like grab and and ask for something, right? I think that's you know gonna be very similar as uh you know as we move through um you know the kids that are their age in relationships and going forward and counseling and things like that, that that will be part of trauma-based work that gets done.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like what kind of damage is this creating for them down the road? Like, is that gonna be the standard? Like, think about this for a sec. Like your kids are raised in a household that's just constant screens or cell phones, parents have a cell phone, right? Do they assume that that's gonna be their relationship then? Like when they're an adult, is that just gonna be like normal to like have a cell phone, or are you gonna be like, like, where does the line get drawn? You know, like is it gonna be to the point where like you're bringing a cell phone into the bedroom? You know, like it's that that like oh, like you just have these cell phones everywhere.
SPEAKER_02What was it like when Jill left her home from left her phone at home for those nine days in Hawaii?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, okay, so Jill, that's right. We went to we went to Hawaii and Jill wanted a detox and uh she left her phone at home and we left. I brought mine. Um it was intense, actually. I I don't think Jill knew what to do with her time, and I mean that with all due respect, but I I think there was an excitement, but then I do think we're more attached to these phones than we think we are. And um, I think it is a drug to some extent. I mean, it we all know, we all see the Instagram and the TikToks about what it does to our brains, and then dopamine this and the dopamine that, like it is it is a drug in some way or another. So, yeah, like any drug, when you withdraw from that drug, you go through you know, your body goes through different emotions and different levels of of things. I'm not of doctors, yeah. I'm not a doctor, but like Jill got sick within like three days, like fever, like super bad cough, like wasn't sign, like wasn't symptomatic at all. And like three days after, no phone, it's like her body started to shut down. And uh it was an interesting vacation for us as a family. The kids were still kind of young, we were in a new spot checking things out, and we weren't like it wasn't happy go lucky, let me put it to you that way, or whatever the saying is some terrible common phrases. Maybe you can fix that on here, but um yeah, it was it was interesting. I think the benefits came like weeks after that uh that cell phone detox. And I I actually think we should all do it. I'd love to go back on a trip and and just leave our phones at home. It's tough because we want to share with the world, it's part of our job. Um, but you know, I also think like the world would be totally cool if we didn't share a trip we went on. We could we're allowed to take a break too. For sure. That's the tough part about the world of creators, right? You don't get a break. You're just always wanting to share.
SPEAKER_02You think you but you're just also too like you're just connected everywhere. Doesn't matter what you open, what it is, right? You're just always connected, and that's you know, I and the more everybody pushes on personal brand and and uh you know working with and trying to understand the algorithms and all this stuff, it it does, it becomes a very addictive thing.
SPEAKER_00And it just yeah, it you wake up, you wake up every day like, oh, this is a good idea, this is a good idea, I should do this, I should change my business, I should do that, I should do more of this, I should do less of that, or oh, I'm every day. Yeah. You just gotta remind yourself that you are you're you're where you are because of who you are and what you have been doing, and just stay true to who you are and what you do. You I don't know, the old saying, you know, if you stopped at every dog that barked at you walking to work or whatever it is, you'd never get to work. It's very true. I mean, you can that also applies to your own thoughts about what you do and how you do it in uh in your day-to-day.
SPEAKER_02Um, just before we get to the end, I want to talk about health and wellness quick. Yeah. Um, obviously become a very big part of both of our lives. Yeah. And your bachelor party was not what we would have thought in the lineup of roses, what we would have thought your bachelor's party would be. Right. And and it was uh, for those that you know don't know, it was a really amazing trip with other guys to Nemo Bay, which is a really cool place that both of us have been before. Um, super connected into nature, super connected into like some yoga and meditation, and and what did that mean to you as the groom, as the man we were all out there, you know, supporting and championing and stuff like that. And what did that trip do for our friend group and for the people that were on it?
SPEAKER_00I I think it it was it changed our lives. I don't know if if I'm just being crazy about this, but I literally think that that was a life-changing trip, not just for the like bachelor party side of it being a trip, but like I think everybody took their own uh benefit from that trip. Like I literally think it was changing, we changed lives. I don't know if that sounds insane, but that literally having the most like the best people in my life all together, and we're all real tight, like the whole circle of us is we're all good buds. Like there is no way to really explain how epic it was to be in a place not only like Nimmo Bay, but to have your friends that were all on the same mission to like hit this new like flow state. Like everyone was committed to a level of like health and longevity and a new purpose within their own life. And and I I do feel like everybody got to kind of like take what they wanted from it in their own way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, where most bachelor parties end up with a hangover, we ended up with like a different outlook.
SPEAKER_00I just did not want to go home hungover, tired, and just full of anxiety from alcohol and whatever else you do on bachelor trips. I I wanted this to be a takeaway from for I wanted it to be a positive takeaway for everybody. It was kind of like I wanted I knew this was gonna be good, and I wanted everybody to experience how epic you got you've been out to Nimmo Bay before. The other guys too uh hadn't been, but um I wanted this to be something that you guys would also love and enjoy and be able to to help grow in whatever way you want it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I didn't think of it, I didn't think it was gonna be as impactful as I as it ended up being for the group. There was some really cool conversation. I'll never forget you know, getting in the boat the last morning, going out to that random island, and they had that like meditation area set up, and they had like the sea pillows and the sound bowls there. And did you know that was happening by the way? No, I didn't. I I sorry, I I did to an extent. But um even your like your brother reading, um, a little like meditation monologue and had written it and like really put the effort into it. Um and us pulling the the hummingbird card, um the oracle cards, man. Yeah, dude. And then the hummingbird like flying around and like just like hovering over all of us. And like to paint a picture here, we we roll out on this really cool boat out of like, and we're in the Great Bear Rainforest to this island, the front nose flips down, we walk off the up this like you know, little bit of a path into this like area of the forest where when you looked up, it was just this big circle of trees where we were sitting, and it was all moss on the ground, and they had this like beautiful thing set up for us. And like that, just that piece alone, just like that feeling of grounding groundedness, and it was just a super intentional um thing to do together, which isn't no none of us would have imagine all of us 15 years ago trying to be like, hey guys, we're gonna go sit in a circle in the forest and we're gonna listen to a sound bath and do a meditation. Yeah, everybody in our life would have said that is never gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But it was uh it was super impactful, and and I think everybody got like a lot out of it. It was a really cool trip.
SPEAKER_00It really was. And I mean, uh my brother did a really good job putting that together with the Nimok Bay group. You guys all and all the journal entries you guys put in my journal was I still have that, and I'll never get rid of that journal. Every time, uh so the the guys gave me a gift uh at the end of the trip, and it was this leather-bound journal, and uh they had all written a little journal entry in in it to like our basically what it my relationship to them meant. I don't think I've ever had something so powerful and uplifting happen in my entire life, other than becoming a father, really. Like it was um when you get to sit around the campfire or in this instance meditation bowls on a moss moss floor of the forest and read what the closest buddies in your life think of you and what that relationship means to them does something to a guy. It really is cool, and it was a gift that um I never saw coming. I'll never forget, and I'll cherish for the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was it was a really cool trip. There was just so much great stuff. We'll put a like a little montage on of just like how cool it was.
SPEAKER_00And dude, the fresh prawns, then the floating, oh man, the whole thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was just an amazing thing every time you turned around. Yeah, it was unreal. Um, I'll take the last slot. It's my last question. Um, picture uh Leo and Annie at 30, uh, their parents themselves, and their kids ask them, what was grandpa like?
SPEAKER_00Do you want my like dream answer or do you want the like realistic answer? Tell me word for word what their answer would be. Word for word would probably be something like, well, he was uh very protective of us, didn't always let us do the fun stuff, but also did all the fun stuff with us, and showed us that there's like a responsible side of life, and there's also um a compromise side of life. There's gonna be things that you do in your life that aren't gonna work out, and he showed us ways that you can still persevere and still keep working towards your goal and your dream, and and what it takes to be patient with a partner and how to love a partner, and that that partnership and that relationship is not always gonna look and feel perfect and happy, but if you work for it and you continue to do the thing that you want to do, it will work out and it will continue to be. And he showed us that we can accomplish what we want and we can be happy with who we are as people. Something like that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I think you're right. I think they would. Yeah, yeah. That was the last laugh. You cross the finish line, buddy. You don't normally cross the finish line, so that's cool. Um Thank you for spending the time, buddy.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thanks for having me, Matt. This is really cool. I'm super proud of you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks. I'm enjoying it. It's uh I think it's been cool. I think it's it's against what the algorithm wants, but I I think uh again, I think real organic conversation and understanding what what it takes to do what we do and and um how entrepreneurs and you know can go through the struggle and how the struggle is and what it means and what it means to come out the other side and what you learn from it. And um I want to be able to have the young generation listen to this podcast and listen to, you know, someone who it looks like they have it all. And I ran through like a really tough time in my life where I just wanted to say fuck it and just give up. And you know, talking to other entrepreneurs through that process and what it did and how it made them a stronger person on the other side, I think is something that isn't shared on the internet. That it's only shown like this is the dream you should have. It should be this exotic car, a nice watch, big house, a really hot model-like girlfriend. Yeah, and that's what the dream should be, and it's not real. Not real at all. And and a lot of young kids, young guys, young women are trying to be something that they don't want to be. And I want to encourage them to go out and be vulnerable and go do something that you genuinely love to do because I think that is where you find internal happiness.
SPEAKER_00Well, Matt, I don't think I could be sitting across the table from anybody who's done it better than you. Thanks, buddy. And I think you're on that path to showing a lot of kids how to do it, and it's not always perfect, but uh you're a fantastic role model for it, and I'm super excited to have been a part of this journey.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, buddy. Thanks for spending the time. And um if you've listened to this far, make sure you go uh our link on the website, um augustafterdark.com. There is the uh donate page to go back to episode five, which is a family that has spent a lot of time uh in Ronald McDonald House uh battling cancer with their two year old son. So that's what this podcast is about, too, is about giving back and making a difference. So go back, listen to episode five, and uh and we'll see you on the next one. Thanks, Matt. Thanks, buddy.