When the weight of financial hardship from Mason's family loomed over him, a pivotal shift occurred as he cracked open the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." That moment sparked the entrepreneurial fire that would eventually lead him to where he is today. Grateful for this transformative journey, Mason Eddy and Josh Dillingham invite you to explore the multifaceted roles of mentorship, personal grit, and the unwavering pursuit of financial independence on this episode of our podcast. Reflect with us on the not-so-talked-about aspects of character development and how they're intrinsically linked to overcoming adversity and achieving success.
The path to financial freedom is often obscured by the shadows of our inherited financial patterns, but it doesn't have to be a road walked alone. As Mason and I dissect our respective experiences — from the collapse of a family business to the construction of a digital enterprise — we illuminate the importance of building lasting systems over transient transactions. This episode is a testament to the power of reconditioning oneself, the beauty of a mentor's impact, and the courage needed to venture into the world of e-commerce. We share our insights on the significance of mentorship, the impact of the books that have shaped our financial literacy, and the vital role of networking in personal growth.
Our conversation is more than just a narrative of monetary mastery; it's an homage to the human connections that have guided our way. In the post-pandemic landscape where every interaction holds new weight, we discuss the platforms that have helped us forge meaningful relationships. Join us as we exchange stories of empowerment, instances of paying it forward, and the simple yet profound acts of acknowledgment that can bridge the divide between strangers. We hope by the end of our talk, you too will feel inspired to reach out and uplift someone else, creating a community of recognition, kindness, and shared success.
Follow Playing Injured on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playinginjured/
When the weight of financial hardship from Mason's family loomed over him, a pivotal shift occurred as he cracked open the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." That moment sparked the entrepreneurial fire that would eventually lead him to where he is today. Grateful for this transformative journey, Mason Eddy and Josh Dillingham invite you to explore the multifaceted roles of mentorship, personal grit, and the unwavering pursuit of financial independence on this episode of our podcast. Reflect with us on the not-so-talked-about aspects of character development and how they're intrinsically linked to overcoming adversity and achieving success.
The path to financial freedom is often obscured by the shadows of our inherited financial patterns, but it doesn't have to be a road walked alone. As Mason and I dissect our respective experiences — from the collapse of a family business to the construction of a digital enterprise — we illuminate the importance of building lasting systems over transient transactions. This episode is a testament to the power of reconditioning oneself, the beauty of a mentor's impact, and the courage needed to venture into the world of e-commerce. We share our insights on the significance of mentorship, the impact of the books that have shaped our financial literacy, and the vital role of networking in personal growth.
Our conversation is more than just a narrative of monetary mastery; it's an homage to the human connections that have guided our way. In the post-pandemic landscape where every interaction holds new weight, we discuss the platforms that have helped us forge meaningful relationships. Join us as we exchange stories of empowerment, instances of paying it forward, and the simple yet profound acts of acknowledgment that can bridge the divide between strangers. We hope by the end of our talk, you too will feel inspired to reach out and uplift someone else, creating a community of recognition, kindness, and shared success.
Follow Playing Injured on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playinginjured/
Welcome to another episode of playing injured. I know I always say I'm pumped, but this morning, this Saturday morning, I'm recording this episode. I am extremely pumped. I have my mentor, my coach, my partner in crime, co-hosts Mason Eddy on the show. And, mason, before you even say a word, I just want to give you my appreciation. Right Lately I've had a lot of folks ask me hey, we're over 100 episodes when it comes to this podcast. What made you want to start a show? And I always tell them hey, it wasn't me. I had somebody who actually gave the suggestion to me and poured it into me and he said let's do it. And it's power and let's because I would be scared to do it alone. And when it comes to leadership, I think you define that and so you've helped me do multiple different things.
Speaker 1:I've had times in my life where I felt helpless, and you've helped me get back on a journey to where I feel very, very positive about bright my future. So I just want to say I appreciate you and welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2:Well, josh, you may have tons of gratitude for you. Man, Appreciate the words. I may have been the let's do this, but you've been the let's keep going. And the last year, two years, of this podcast has been all you. You've become the voice and maybe I had the vision, but you're the voice and that's a responsibility and I respect that a ton. And I talk about playing injured all the time out there in the world and when I think about somebody who actually lives it, who actually is in it, who's actually doing it, it's you, brother, like you do it daily and you do it in your own way. You do it in your own struggles.
Speaker 2:But for a lot of you who don't know, josh is deep into and everybody I've ever talked to and this is maybe not every single person but anybody I've ever really seen and achieve high levels of success in whatever areas maybe that's their marriage or their business or their relationships they all do one thing, or a lot of them do one thing I'd say 90% of them and that's they seek guidance, council and, in some levels, therapy. They go deep. Yeah, I'm so proud of the work you're doing, the deep work you're doing behind the scenes when you're not on this podcast, so that when people come on here you can stop thinking about you and you can start thinking about them, and that's why this works and that's why this ticks. I'm so freaking proud of you, man. It gets me emotional the amount of the amount of stuff you're doing, and I'm excited for the future and what's coming.
Speaker 1:And man, you've got to me, but not only have you got to me, you've got a lot of people in kind of to share your results. Mason, you and Ali, your wife, you guys have become financially free. You're 30s right, that free as well. And then not only that, you've helped multiple other people in this economy that we're in right Become debt free. But also to you've also helped other people position themselves to get themselves on the track where they can become financially free in their early 30s, mid 30s. You know, when I share those results, people are impressed by it. Right, I'm impressed by it. But also to be intimidating like, wait, whoa, how did you do that? But what folks don't know Mason is is very relatable, and I would love to go back to the beginning of your journey of hey, how did this start? Who was a Mason right? And then, how did he get on this journey to become the person he is today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, it's always a little awkward to hear those results, because to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:I'm surrounded, and so are you, josh, by people who have achieved so much more than that. We've done so much more and made such a greater impact than that right. So, in, in, in every level or in every success, there's always a greater, there's always a greater vision beyond that. So it's like I just hear that and I'm like, yeah, that doesn't fulfill the vision I have for my life, yet Like there's so much more I want to do, and that is, you know, the greatest vision we have now in our life is to be is to help 100 families become financially free, 100 moms and dads or individuals be able to come, be home, spend the best hours of their day with the people that they love doing what what God's called them to do in their life, and and and. So that vision is so much greater that I feel like I haven't even started yet. But I appreciate you reminding me of how far we've come, and I do want to.
Speaker 2:I do want to talk about that, and I think I don't know that we've made it, but we've made it through a lot of stuff. Yeah, and that's been, that's been one of our. Our greatest victories is what we've come through and been through and and I want to encourage everybody, you're all going through something as you listen to this and it's not, it's what you would when you turn around and you look past it and you get through it. It's who you become through that. So to give you just a people, a quick backstory on that, josh, and give you an idea, I think that was raised at the root of my raising, of my parents. Raising me was character. I'd say. My parents raised me to have strong character.
Speaker 2:And when you say character by an act, realize that life's tough Things are going to hit you, you're going to get hit, you're going to get knocked down, and how you respond to that defines your character and defines who you are and who you're becoming. And so I I was raised to get back up. Hence why the plane injured podcast came into fruition is because my dad taught me you just, you just learn how to get back up Bloody, messy knees, knees scraped but you get back up and you learn from that and you and you grow through it. So you know, athletics was my space that I grew character, being an athlete, and for me that was hockey, playing ice hockey, that was playing soccer, that was playing some golf. But then where I really saw athletics meet the business world and I saw this kind of explosion in my life was in my, my youth.
Speaker 2:My dad was a chemical engineer for for a company. My mom was a stay at home mom and three kids and my dad tried to start a traditional business on the side, josh, and that business was a industrial style business. He went into partnership. He was 30% owner with another guy who was 70% owner and fast forward three years into that business. It set us back $200,000 minimum plus all the credit card debt and everything about a half a million dollars all together, all in, and it put our family in a total opposite direction. That the plan was this this was going to become a family business that was going to set the kids up for success in the future, and family was going to take this business over. My dad had a dream, once his dad passed, that we were going to start a family owned business. Well, that dream got crushed. My parents somehow made it through that. My mom went into depression and all kinds of different things happened there. My dad was broken, but I saw character come through my parents and I saw them rise.
Speaker 2:I remember being in high school and my parents borrowing money from me in high school. In high school, I was working a part-time job. So I felt and I'm sure some people out here feel this and listening to this, I felt a sense of responsibility to take care of my family, to do something about it, and I didn't know at all what that something was gonna be. In the same light, my parents are telling me Mason, you need to go to college. My dad was like I want you to pursue this athletic career. We're gonna be fine, but you gotta go chase your dream and your vision for your life. Stop worrying about mom and dad. We're gonna be all right, we're gonna figure it out, but as a kid in the back of your head you're like no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:I want my parents to be good yeah, yeah, I want mom and dad to be okay and I'm not okay with that, and so that was kind of the childhood season for me. Josh and I was pretty entrepreneurial in high school, actually because I had to be, I had to figure out ways to make money for our family, because I felt a sense of responsibility. I didn't want mom and dad to come to me when they asked for some money and not have it. I wanted to have it. I wanted to be that and good. And maybe that was unhealthy, maybe that wasn't super healthy all the time, but for me that was a sense of responsibility that I took on, and I was the youngest of three. My brother and sister by that time were moving their way out of the house and I felt a sense of responsibility. I remember, I remember no joke. I remember talking to my parents about having a budget session.
Speaker 1:Is this early on, like why are you in high school? Is this okay, high school?
Speaker 2:Like hey, mom and dad, why don't we sit down and maybe we can budget out? But my parents what I love about them is they were very open, almost to a fault, like I knew their finances.
Speaker 2:I remember at one point they had $20,000 of credit card debt Credit card debt and that was scary. So where my life started to transform from an entrepreneurial lens is it was more of a solution than it was an identity, and what I mean by that is entrepreneurship for me was a way out of the problems that my family had. It wasn't that I was desiring to be an entrepreneur as the identity of the name of an entrepreneur. I just wanted a way out, and that stemmed from a book I read called Rich Dad, poor Dad. I read that at 18. And my dad didn't hand me that book. A friend of mine's dad handed me that book and I read it when I was in training camp freshman year in college for soccer right Training camp. I was sitting there reading that book. I don't know why. It's the weirdest thing. I had never read a book ever before in my life.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It was out of necessity, right it was necessity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's starting to make sense to me now, knowing you. Your character has always been amazing. From what I, from my perspective, in seeing you and what I've seen, is that you've always had this fearless attitude, right, and almost that out of necessity type fearlessness, right? I remember I got examples of like if I lose my phone, I'm willing to ask everybody on the street hey, have you seen a phone? Because, out of necessity, I just need to do anything to try to find this phone. And it seems like when I think about you and who you are as an entrepreneur, it's that out of necessity mindset, right. And for you not to have read a book, it's like, hey, I would need to find a way to help my parents, it's my responsibility. So, 18 years old and I'm reading this book. Yeah, thinking back about you and hearing your story, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 2:And here's what it is Like I think I comb the earth for people who wanna find solutions in their life, like I surround myself with people not with just people who are financially free and created great outcomes. I think that's important for people to stretch you and to stretch your vision, and that's half of why we're where we are. But I also look for people who just wanna find the freaking solution to the problem, who wanna dig deep and wanna figure out how to do that, cause I relate to that. I don't relate to people who sit there and let the world hit them in the face and not fight it and not figure out how to get around it, and that's been a big reason we're not. I'm not the smartest guy, I'm not the most talented person. I was never the most talented athlete. It takes me Josh you and I have talked about this but it takes you and I both a lot longer. We're kind of you call it late bloomer, I call it slow learner right, yeah yeah, yeah, and that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 2:And I think, actually, when it comes to developing financial freedom and creating results like that, like that, in doing it early, you have to have a sense of willing to put in the repetition, willing to put in the work, willing to go through the suck, go through the pain, and so I think that's actually a really big asset If you're somebody like that, where you're like man, I just had to work a little harder to get the results. That's me, that's my journey is I had to work a little bit harder, but the end game of that is you learn a lot more than the average person. I think too. I think when you put in the more reps than the average person, you get to learn more than the average person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one thing I've learned now is it's not who's the smartest, it's not who's the most talented. A few traits I've learned that really breathe success is boldness, being courageous right. And then, like you said, work ethic right. Can you be bold enough to go out there and, like you said, go through the suck, go through some pain and you may not be the smartest, but through the experiences that you gained from being bold, being courageous and having a strong worth it work ethic, you have a lot of experience to speak to. That's right. So take me through this right. 18 years old, rich dad, poor dad right. Obviously you read a book, just like a lot of people watch a lot of YouTube videos, just like a lot of people follow all these entrepreneurs on Instagram, linkedin, whatever the case may be, where does Mason start to put these things that he's learning into action?
Speaker 2:Mason doesn't. For me, god does. For some, the universe does, manifestation does. I'll be honest, josh, I didn't. There's no flipping way I did. I couldn't have wrote this book. I couldn't have wrote this story. There's no way.
Speaker 2:So 18 to 23. Get through the college athletic career, somehow muster my way through, done playing college sports, and I'm in a post-athletic depression because you know where I am and some of you love this and some of you relate to this a ton. I'm in a box in corporate America, feeling like this is my life for the next 30, 40 years. I'm working for a Fortune 50 company, not that I was making a ton of money. I was working for a good company, decent, good culture, but one of those companies that if you do something, everybody's been there and tried it again. The new guy like you're not gonna do much change there and I saw my dad work for 36 years for the same company. So I'm thinking this is my life, this is it, and I'm depressed and I'm drinking more than I drink and I'm drinking usually I'm coming home. I'm single, so worldly things. I'm consumed by social media and consumed by alcoholism and, you know, because I'm not feeling like myself, I don't know how to work out anymore, because I don't know why I'm working out anymore.
Speaker 1:You know like things are confusing.
Speaker 2:You've been there, right? It's like what's going on.
Speaker 1:And I see so many athletes who I either played against. They were teammates of mine. They all usually hit this post-athletic depression and when I see them I can see it. They gained a bunch of weight right. Usually you see them out at a bar. Their identity is having fun and drinking and there's no goals. They're just living, they're just existing and it feels like you're on this hamster wheel with no solution and no way out. And the identity that you've built the past 23 years, these goals that you have, hey, I want to be all state, all conference, whatever the case may be when a national championship. You don't have that anymore, so it's no purpose.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. That's how I felt, and so, again, I didn't do it. But drinking at a brewers game, josh, there's nothing wrong with baseball, but I don't even like baseball. And I'm at a brewers game and there's a podcast episode, I think one-oh-something for. I meet this guy, kyle Wills, and we start talking about Rich Dad, poor dad, and it brought all this wave of oh yeah memory, like there is another way, there is another option.
Speaker 2:You don't have to do what your dad did, there's another way to get around it. And he starts talking about the ideas and I'm like man, I'm all pumped, like, oh, I've read this and fast forward. A couple months later he opens the door to people who've become financially free in their 30s and I never met anybody like that. I didn't even know if that's what I was chasing after. I didn't know if that's what I wanted, but I was intrigued, I was enthralled. I was skeptical, but I was also open-minded. It was kind of this weird thing where I was like, hmm, seems impossible, but seems possible. And then I started sitting down with these people and I'm like man. They're so much smarter than me, they're so much further than me. I got so much to learn Kyle's younger than me.
Speaker 2:And well, here's what happened. I caught a vision. I caught a vision and I think, as a human being, when we catch a vision for potential in a greater life and then somebody recognizes that potential in you to go create that, there was a sense of living that came back to me. There was a sense of life, there was a sense of I remember that butterfly feeling that you had before a game as an athlete. Yeah, I felt that again and I just yearned for that feeling. And so that's where entrepreneurship entered and would never have thought this is the route I would have taken from an even an entrepreneurial perspective. You know, I thought real estate type of thing more of a traditional business, like my dad had done. That's where I thought ended up going down the route of e-commerce, not because I loved it, not because I thought it would be good at it, not because I knew anything about it, because I met people who created results in the space and they were on the guide me and I said I wanna pursue that, I wanna do that, and the fact that I could do it debt free or without going into more debt, it just made a lot of logical, pragmatic sense to me, and so that started my journey, and I don't wanna go into a ton of detail on the e-commerce and the specifics on the business systems that we use, but here's what I'll tell you. One of the things that I've learned, when it comes to any business that you wanna create residual or passive income from, is you cannot focus on selling all the time. Selling anything is a way to make money. Building and owning a system is a way to create residual or passive income. If you own the system, you own the wealth development mechanism. If you don't own the system, you're now the wealth development mechanism, and there's a big difference between those two things. So that's kind of a foreshadowing into what we've done.
Speaker 2:But here is what I wanna. What I wanna really emphasize with people is, if you're exploring, or if you're listening to this and you're exploring the world of how do I build something on the side? Because I'm a huge fan of get a solid career and then use your spare time, establish yourself in a job and then use your spare time to go build something for yourself, to go create something of your own. Especially if you're in your 20s and you're in your 30s, I think that's the best time to do it. I don't care if you have kids or not, I don't care if you're married or not. I think that's no matter what. I think there's ample opportunity to take pockets of time and to start to go build something. So if you're exploring that, what I just want you to encourage you to do is vet out what's really pragmatic and practical for you based on your experience level, based on your financial, certain financial situations that you're in, and here's what I'll tell you.
Speaker 2:I was in a lot of debt. I wasn't doing great financially by the time and this is a stopping point, and then I'll, if there's anything you wanna dive into here. I was going back to the patterns that my parents had created when it came to finances. By the time I was in my mid 20s, through high school, I was doing the opposite, but by the time I was in my mid 20s, I had credit card debt, I had credit card debt, I had credit card debt, I had card debt and I had student loan debt and I was starting to succumb to the fact that, well, I'm just gonna be like my parents were. And so if you're there and you're kind of seeing yourself repeat a pattern and I believe successful people study patterns in their life. I think they look at it happens. It's okay, recognize it and now let's start to work on it. And I believe there's a lot of solutions out there if you're willing to be solution-minded.
Speaker 1:So, mason, folks, a lot of folks don't know where to get started. Right, it's so many messages out there right now. Right now we are drowning in a lot of content, a lot of information, a lot of people who have the way. How do folks follow the right information? How do folks? Folks understand, first, I guess, the situation at different? Right, you talked about it when is their life, what life do they wanna create and who can help them? Right, but I feel like folks can be stuck, not knowing, first of all, where they're at or where they even wanna go, right, which means that they obviously don't know who to listen to or where to be connected. It's just so much confusion. How can folks get a little bit of clarity? Where can they start to get clarity?
Speaker 2:It's actually a pretty tough question to answer, because there's a level of necessity, as you're alluding to, that needs to be there to start. Yeah, because here's what I'll ask people all the time. If you're listening to this, maybe you've actually heard me ask you. This specific question is hey, when it comes to financial freedom or wanting to build something of your own on the side, are you just curious or are you serious? Because I believe, josh, if you're just curious, then scrolling through social media and the YouTube videos and the random influence, that's perfect. To be honest, that's perfect. That's great. You learn a lot and you're going to fulfill a curiosity bitch that you have. It's different if you're really serious. If you're really serious, then I think you need to stop randomly scrolling through the internet looking for solutions. You need to start building relationships with people that have yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And, like you said, it's crazy, when you get serious and you are intentional, like you said, you start building relationships. God, the universe, I don't know what happens it takes over, it takes over. It's something that I really can't speak to, but it definitely something takes over. It's just that intention that you said, that clarity that you have around being serious Things start to go in the direction you want it to go.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. So I believe that we need to really check the influence in our life. We need to check who's the primary influences in our life and we need to start to reassociate those. And I'll just give you a really great example in my life. Up until that stage in my mid-20s, my primary influence was my father, rife, lisa. I think for most of us that's how it is. It's apparent, if we're blessed with good role models as families or it's a brother, or it's a you know, some sort of family member.
Speaker 2:But I realized this the people who love me the most can't always be the ones who can empower me the most. Just because they love me doesn't mean they can empower me. And the reason I figured that out was because my mentors now that I have that are financially free and created results like Kyle and Craig and these other individuals who've done that stuff. Their results were not even close to the results my dad created. When it came to financial success. I had really a lot of other areas, but mainly financial success at that point. My dad worked for 36 years. These guys became financially free by the time they were 36 or in their house.
Speaker 2:So what I had to do is I had to recognize and this is where Bridget at Portad actually was my biggest asset, which is funny because it's all about assets.
Speaker 2:Pun intended, I guess, is that he said his poor dad was his blood dad, his real dad, who went and got a PhD his whole life, or when a PhD and worked his whole life, his rich dad was his friend's dad, who built businesses and built assets, and that comforted me and it dropped my guard in terms of skepticism around other people that can help me.
Speaker 2:And that's, I think, why I was so open to Kyle walking into my life, craig, walking into my life, eddie, walking into my life and saying, hey, guide me, teach me, because I was essentially didn't know it, but I was looking for my rich dad, I was looking for somebody who could get me to the next level, and then I allowed them to become my primary influences and influence in my life. And that doesn't mean it fixed the problem right away. It was years and years and years and years of reconditioning and decision making. I'll talk to Craig when, kyle, once in a while and they'll be like Mason, you do really well Once in a while you just like fly off the rails in a decision, and it's so true, and that's me wanting to go back to my old self.
Speaker 1:Your old self. Yes, and I guess that's what I want to get into is that you know you talk about conditioning and we've all been conditioned right, and that's why we have to go back to listening to folks that have the results that we want in life but also are the people that we want to become in life. And I can tell you this, mason, by associating with folks like you and Ali and other folks in our community that we've developed man I am. A lot of times I can feel extremely uncomfortable because it's stretching me to become a better version of myself and so many times I want to just pull back to my comfortable cocoon, my comfortable shell, and I know over time you have to slowly change, slowly make steps to become a better version of yourself. Talk about that a little bit. We've all been conditioned to think in a certain way, that we think now, but when it comes to changing and reconditioning ourselves to have the life that we want, how does that process work?
Speaker 2:Well, I want to pick your brain on that, because I think, you're really such a great example of somebody who's continued to lean into that discomfort. Yeah, and I mean we met pretty randomly through Matt and it wasn't like, oh yeah, we've known each other our whole life, let's go now start. It was like no, we've never met. You got this white dude who you just start to build a relu. So what do you think? What would you tell people that has enabled you to continue to lean in and drop your guard and let go of the skepticism or the fears and maybe you can share a little bit on that, because I think you're such a great example of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first of all, that's an amazing point. Here I am a black dude downtown Chicago, right, and I got Matt, who I met through LinkedIn, right. I was hungry and I was serious and I was still young and I just wanted. I knew I wanted more and I've always been open to listening, Right, and looking at the fruit on a tree. Hey, here are these guys that have fruit on a tree. Obviously, it's a level of skepticism, because I don't know you guys and also, too, our backgrounds are different. Right For me, when it comes to dropping your guard and just listening and having trust in a higher power, whatever it is, listening to that, listening to yourself and understanding this feels right. These people are good people, right, and they also have fruit on a tree. Those two things are in parallel. You can be good people, but you might not have the fruit on a tree. Right, you can have the fruit on a tree. You might not be good people, but when it's in parallel, that's what attracted me, right, that's what I knew.
Speaker 2:But you had to give us time to prove to you that we were good people and to prove to you that there was some legitimate fruit. And I think that's where people go wrong Is because of social media. They want an immediate like give me the result, give me the. I don't want to wait for this to evolve and build trust Because, listen, it used to be, hey, I could shake your hand and I was trustworthy until proven guilty. Yeah, right, with social media it's the other way around it's shake my hand and you're guilty until proven trustworthy. Everything is guilty first, and then you become trustworthy Because of social media and because of how much we don't trust, because we don't see the full picture of everything we see out there, right, but you were willing to lean in and do that and have authentic conversations and just get to know and just trust that. What's the worst that's gonna come of this?
Speaker 1:Right and also too right. But here, when I say good people, are they actually pouring into you, right? They say, hey, I would do this, meaning hey, I would read this book. Okay, I read this book, it affects me. Hey, I would do this with your boss at work or whatever the case may be and I do it and I see some type of result, right? So not only am I seeing the fruit on the tree, on their end, they're actually giving me some guidance and it's actually helping develop some fruit on my tree. So it's like, hey, wait, if they're planting seeds in my life and I'm actually bearing some fruit now, small fruit, right, let me continue to follow them, no matter how uncomfortable it is because they're stretching me, let me continue to go down that guide. And I think a lot of folks, like you said, it takes time and a lot of folks, I think, let that uncomfortable feeling scare them away and they run away from the responsibility, run away from the growth, totally. Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, hey, listen, josh, I think in terms of the storyline here and kind of where we're headed, the one thing I just wanna share with people as we kind of wind down is I just want you to know life is not black and white and it's not just because there's a black and white dude sitting on a call, and that's kind of where Plain Injured started from. Life is very great, and what I see a lot of people do when they're looking at doing something outside of their job is they try to make it very binary. They try to say, well, I gotta give them 100%, it needs to be all in, and the reality is this just not practical. Okay, my wife and I are big fans of quitting jobs and start businesses. We say build something on the side.
Speaker 2:So when we're helping people and we're guiding people, we do all of our coaching and guiding at no charge, right, josh, never charged you a dime to get on a call with me to work towards. In fact, we've made money together, right? Yeah, that's what we've done. We've made money together. Quite the opposite. And the reason we do that and the reason we set things up there is because we just believe that paying it forward and the greatest fulfillment in life is how many people are better off because you live. The greatest measure of success is nothing to do with money, has nothing to do with that, but we also believe that we wanna help people to lay a really solid foundation, and that foundation begins with their personal budget, their finances, their time, their careers, their relationships, their home life, what they do in their apartment, their condo, their house. And then let's take pockets of time and let's start building that out, building something on the side, and we have some specific strategies and specific tools that we've helped you with and other individuals do, and then we kind of lay that out and we lay a roadmap out for them. But here's the key the key is relationship for us, because, as you know, josh, if the relationship isn't there, it doesn't matter how good of an e-commerce idea we have. Who cares? Because we need to have the relationship that, when things are awry and things are shaky and things aren't going well, can we get in a rhythm where you're willing to share those things with us so that we can help you stay focused on building the future that you want for your life. And so that's what's enabled us to get to where we are.
Speaker 2:E-commerce is e-commerce. Is e-commerce, products online is e-commerce? It doesn't matter To me. It's about do I have people in my life who have done a similar thing as me, that have created the results I wanna create, and can I be in council with them and build a relationship to go create those results? And so that's probably where we find the greatest passion in our life today is in that space. But we also find the greatest frustration in our life because some people just aren't willing to develop that relationship at that level.
Speaker 2:And so if you're listening to this and you're really struggling with the fact that you met somebody randomly or you got connected somehow through some great find to somebody who now you're starting to just learn from, I just wanna empower you and implore you go for it.
Speaker 2:As long as they're not asking for a paycheck or a bunch of money from you, what do you have to lose? You can learn a lot from people, and we would not be where we are today 1000% not be where we are today if it wasn't for the guidance that we've received in our life. We are where we are today because of guidance and mentorship in our life, and that's not tongue-in-cheek, that's the reality, like that is the truth, and we have tangible results because of that. So, josh, I just wanted to share that and I just want people to know that what we're doing here on Plain Injured, but also really what we're doing when it comes to chasing financial freedom or teaching financial freedom, is not just about financial freedom. It's about who you become as a full picture. Like I said at the beginning, I don't know if we've made it, but we've made it through a lot, and the way we can empower a lot of people is to share what we've made it through and how we've made it through that.
Speaker 1:It's always a journey and it's still growth there and you're still on a journey to help as many people as possible, and that's why I appreciate you and that's why, for me, you've always said, hey, you continue to pay it for, and so the work that I do is also a benefactory of the guidance that you've gotten from others. The guidance that you've gotten from Kyle is a direct effect on myself in my life, and so I know I appreciate you and I know that I will continue to pay things forward on your behalf. And so working folks find you. Working folks get connected with you and follow your journey. Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:LinkedIn's been a platform that I've enjoyed, just because I can put some boundaries on that one. I am on Instagram fairly. I poke in there once a week or whatever, and do some things, and then, obviously, through this plain injured platform that you've so beautifully evangelized and kept going, and maybe I'll meet you, I met you or we'll meet you randomly out and about, and that's one of my greatest walks in life right now is, I believe, one half of the world's waiting for the other half of the world to say hi to them. And one of the things I'm on a pursuit, a rant, a stretching every day of is I wanna recognize the person in line at the grocery store and just say, hey, I see, because I think we need that, especially coming out of the market, and I need that especially coming out of the pandemic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's it. I mean. So many people don't think about it that way. Hey, I see you and I wanna get to know you. I love that, Will Mason. I appreciate you as always, and can't wait for folks to listen to this show.