The Quarterback DadCast
I’m Casey Jacox, the host of the Quarterback Dadcast. As fathers, we want to help prepare our kids—not only to enter the professional world but to thrive in each stage of their lives. Guests of this show include teachers, coaches, professional athletes, consultants, business owners, authors—and stay-at-home dads. Just like you! They share openly about failure, success, laughter, and even sadness so that we can all learn from each other—as we strive to become the best leaders of our homes! You will learn each week, and I am confident you will leave each episode with actionable tasks that you can apply to your life to become that ultimate Quarterback and leader of your household. Together, we will learn from the successes and failures of dads who are doing their best every day. So, sit back, relax and subscribe now to receive each episode weekly on The Quarterback Dadcast.
The Quarterback DadCast
From Orphan to Entrepreneur: A Dad's Journey Through Loss and Faith
What happens when life strips everything away before you've even begun? In this deeply moving episode of the Quarterback Dadcast, we welcome Clark Wilcox, whose extraordinary journey began with unimaginable tragedy—losing both parents within ten days when he was just five years old.
Clark is the founder and host of the Digital Recruiter & Digital Recruiter Podcast.
Growing up in France to an Algerian father and American mother, Clark's childhood was abruptly transformed when his father died unexpectedly. Days later, upon learning the government planned to take her son away, his mother took her own life. Transported to America to live with his mother's family, Clark had to learn a new language, adapt to a new culture, and somehow make sense of his shattered world.
Through the guidance of his grandmother and adoptive father, Clark discovered the power of positivity, curiosity, and resilience. "My dad was never going to let me be a victim," Clark reflects, "but he didn't do it by telling me—he did it through action." These early lessons would become the foundation for his approach to life, business, and eventually, fatherhood.
Now a successful entrepreneur running The Digital Recruiter and raising two young sons with his wife, Clark shares how his faith journey became the cornerstone of his recovery from both childhood trauma and later professional setbacks. His candid discussion about reconciling with his adoptive mother demonstrates how forgiveness works as a healing force not just for the forgiven, but primarily for the forgiver.
What makes Clark's story so compelling isn't just what he overcame, but how he transformed his experiences into wisdom. The values he prioritizes—humility, grace, forgiveness—reflect a man who has thought deeply about what truly matters in parenting and in life. His journey reminds us that our greatest challenges often contain the seeds of our most important contributions.
Whether you're facing challenges in your parenting journey or simply seeking inspiration from someone who has transformed pain into purpose, this conversation will leave you with practical wisdom and renewed hope. Subscribe to the Quarterback Dadcast for more authentic conversations with fathers who are working to become better leaders in their homes.
Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts! Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show. Hey, everybody, it's Casey Jaycox with the quarterback dad cast. Welcome to season six, and I could not be more excited to have you join me for another year of fantastic episodes and conversations really unscripted and raw and authentic conversations with dads. If you're new to this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we interview dads, we learn about how they were raised, we learn about the life lessons that were important to them, we learn about the values that are important to them and really we learn about how we can work hard to become a better quarterback or leader of our home. So let's sit back, relax and listen to today's episode on the Quarterback Dadcast. Well, hello everybody. This is Casey Jaycox with the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:We're in season six and, as I mentioned, everybody, our guests just keep getting a little bit better, and our next gentleman, clark Wilcox, is going to walk the walk and meet the demands of that intense intro that I just went crazy with, but he is the um. Actually, before I introduce him, I got to give love to Kelly Shoe drop. She's one of the coaches I've hired on my journey of entrepreneurship. So, kelly, thank you for introducing Clark Wilcox and I. That's without you, this podcast never happened, so shout out to you, sister.
Speaker 1:Um, anyway, he is the CEO, the founder of the digital recruiter helping companies drive more business top of funnel through LinkedIn. Uh, he is the host of a digital recruiter helping companies drive more business top of funnel through LinkedIn. He is the host of the Digital Recruiter Podcast. He is a fractional CMO but, more importantly, he's a dad, and that's why we're going to have him on today to learn about Clark the dad and how he's working hard to become that ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. So, without further ado, mr Wilcox, welcome to the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 2:Hey, casey, thanks for having me. Man, this is great to be here. I'm so excited for this conversation. Being a dad's the best thing ever. Being a business owner is pretty fun. It's all great. So it's all things I'm excited to talk about, so appreciate you having me, you bet.
Speaker 1:Well, we always start out with gratitude, so tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?
Speaker 2:Ooh, I mean, I don't even know how to start the list, but I I mean really my, my birthday was on Sunday, so a couple of days ago, and so I think it's always thank you. I think there's always like a time of reflection and I think what I was grateful for is just to have just think about that day of just. It was nice weather, I got my almost two-year-old. I have a son that's going to be two years old next month. We have a two-month-old as of this week.
Speaker 2:So the 202 lifestyle and having a house, having a wonderful wife that's been crazy supportive of me, and all in with our kids, and just the reward of just raising kids and just like hanging out, especially with my two-year-old and I, that personality coming to life, and just like the moments, just like the being present.
Speaker 2:I'm grateful that I'm as present as I can be. I'm flawed and make mistakes all the time, but I think I'm grateful for just all like the blessings and just appreciating what a special time in life this is. It hasn't been like the easiest of journeys, as most guests I'm sure you've had, and listeners right, we all have trials, but I just think I'm so grateful for the blessing I have, and the problems I have too. At the same time because these are problems I prayed about having five, six, seven years ago and I don't take a minute of it for granted Just a love that I have in my day-to-day and my business. I just have some of the best clients ever and I just every day is fulfilling man. I don't feel like there's a wasted moment, so I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 1:Love it. That's well said, dude. What I'm grateful for is I haven't talked about this in a while, but I'm grateful for time, because I have control over time and each we all both you and I and everybody listening at home and wherever you're at we get 1,440 minutes each day. No one gets more, no one gets less, and so I'm grateful for a very present mindset that days when I'm not my best, I might not use my time as efficient, that's okay, but I'm not going to let two bad days go in a row.
Speaker 1:And so, like a perfect example of the day I woke up I woke up earlier because I had I have a full day of podcast recordings and sales leadership work I'm doing with companies, and I had a gap between, like I had a 30 minute gap, and so I said I said I said my dog, who's behind me. I said, hey, you know, we're, we're going to go. And I literally took her for a 14 minute. You know what? I can't say the word cause she'll freak out the W, a, l, k. And so I was like seven minutes out, seven minutes back now.
Speaker 1:Was that any form of good exercise? No, but better than doing nothing. And so I have another gap this afternoon, then I'll take it for a longer one, but it was just like I was just grateful that, like you know, I worked out earlier, did some gratitude work, had a coaching call and just being outside for 14 minutes got me in an even better mindset a better and I was already I will already woke up, ready to go and jacked up, but like it got me in a better mindset. So I'm grateful for that, because I had control over that and I to me. I made the right decision today to just maximize the time I get.
Speaker 2:I love it. I did the same exact thing, I think the same timeframe, on a walk with my golden retriever right before this recording. So it's a. It's crazy how that that syncs up and parallels.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more so for those watching on YouTube. That's Harley. What's up, harley? For those at home in the car, you can't see it, but she's an Irish Setter Golden Creeper 50-50 mix. Oh, they're the best. We just lost Stella about a month and a half ago, her stepmom, but we're getting her a puppy in september, so she's going to be now. She went from baby to now. She's going to be the big girl on campus. Yeah, which will be very nice, very nice. Well, um, bring me inside the wilcox huddle, talk to me about how you and your wife met and then talk about, uh, each wonderful child. You have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we met October 2020. So interesting time, right. The COVID. The first year of COVID era, I had moved to Ohio October, officially October 2019. So I've been there about a year. I had kind of found my faith in March of 2019.
Speaker 2:Then, when I was in LA, I moved to Ohio through a friend, kind of was hitting reset for a year, really diving into my Bible and sermons and going to church. I didn't go on one date or anything else. I was like really honed in on that. And about a year in I was like all right, like I kind of feel like you know, see what's out there, but everything was like closed or shut down. No one was going out anywhere. So I was like what do I do? So download an app called Hinge and I had a few matches, a few conversations, but she's just the one that stood out and I think my tagline because you can have a few different ones on there the one that she liked or commented on was, uh, god, first karaoke, second um, and so that was the tagline. So we kind of hit it off from that and, uh, both people that had kind of recently found our faith and but also like to have a good time and some karaoke. I actually ended up getting it inscribed on my suit that I had tailored for for my wedding, uh, so it's still upstairs. On there it says god first karaoke, second on there, embroidered on there, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 2:So we met and we got basically a dinner and drinks. It was the last warm day of 2020. It was 80 degrees. We met up around six o'clock and we ended up talking for like three, four hours and just talking about life and work and challenges. And you know she had.
Speaker 2:She didn't know her father, you know, growing up, but she had been really working through a lot of that stuff. For for me it was my parents both died when I was five years old, within 10 days of each other. So she kind of looked at me when she told her story. It was like, you know, I think she usually gets judged and all that stuff, right, you know, and I looked at her. I was like, trust me, I can one up you on on craziness and trauma and I think what really linked us together was not trauma bonding, but with kind of my childhood, we were both like stuff happened. How do we process it? Deal with it so we can find the right person, right spout and build a family together and work through overcoming kind of our challenges together. And that was really the foundation of how we met and from the very beginning, it was just one of the it was just very intentional Date three or four.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm not dating to date, I'm dating to marry, and this is what I don't believe in and everything else. I'm trying to do things the biblical way. And she was like I'm all in, I'm like all right. So we just had a great year, about a year in. It was Thanksgiving weekend. We're hanging out one morning. I'm like what are we waiting for? Why don't we just start planning a wedding? So, like I didn't have a ring, we just started touring venues and everything else. But we were picking stuff out. We went ring shopping together. Um, I was able to kind of surprise her somehow, even though she knew it was coming. I had the ring guy to email her, be like, oh, there's a delay in the shipment. And then I went picked it up and it surprised her. Uh, in the rooftop in Columbus. We got married a year and a half after we met. We had our son a year after that. Um, that was May 2023, um, and in our newest one a couple months ago, so that's kind of the cliff notes version.
Speaker 1:Uh, I'll take a breather there so you have son and two sons, or two sons yeah, yeah, two sons. Okay, and what are their names? We have Wyatt and we have Jet as the newborn Cool Jet sounds like he's already fast.
Speaker 2:He's fast to cry. We were ready to figure out something. He's been a little colicky. He's adorable.
Speaker 2:It's not fun when they cry, but really figuring out, is it diet stuff, is it heavy metals? You know stuff like what's going on there because you've just been agitated. So you know Maddie's been incredible working just so hard the different specialists and doctor and all that just to try to figure out, hey, what are some ways that she can provide them some relief and some of that stuff's really gotten a lot better the last few days. But I'm just lucky to have married someone that is just all about doing whatever she can for our boys, from just health and she was a former third grade teacher and everything else, so she kind of has that ability too. So it really is amazing. So we're kind of in it and just trying to make sure he can get the rest and the support that he needs, because it's not fun when they're crying all the time. It can be part of it, but you always want to make sure that they're good.
Speaker 2:Now, does she stay home with the kids? She's at home, she helps me. I got her into recruiting about a year and a half ago Cause I also own an agency, co-own an agency, a recruiting agency, and she was very successful last year and then, as now that we have two, it's a lot harder for talk to candidates on the phone daily and everything else. So she kind of shifted over to helping a lot with the operations on my coaching and training business and kind of our marketing work that we do with clients. So she's been instrumental this year and just helping with a lot of back system operations and everything else. So it's great. So she helps me for a few hours a day. We have our niece and my mother-in-law and our nephew are very actively involved, so we have family help as well. So it's kind of like a it takes a village type of effort over here that we have going on. So that's pretty cool, very cool.
Speaker 1:Well, you dropped the big one on us. You lost both parents at age five. I can't even imagine that. The only only other person I've met that lost both parents, uh, was a guy named orson sweat martin, who I wrote, who I researched and I wrote my book, um, and he, he lost both parents at the age of like one, at like seven and one at five. So, uh, then he had I mean guy had more diversity, but he's one of the most positive. If not, if you've not researched him, research him, I will. Orson, what was his last name? Orson Sweat Martin, m-a-r-d-e-n. He actually ended up founding something called Success Magazine, which is still around to this day. I think they even have a LinkedIn page. But yeah, he is just a guy that really kind of I'm glad his life story came across me when I was writing the book five, six years ago. So, for what you feel comfortable sharing, talk about what you remember about mom and dad growing up and then, and then maybe what, what happened?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely no, I'm. I'm always open on on sharing. So my parents met. My dad grew up in Algeria. He was the oldest of nine kids, which I didn't find out until I was like 30, 31, which is interesting. That's a whole other story. But he grew up in Algeria and immigrated to France in the 80s.
Speaker 2:My mom grew up north of Boston, in the town that I eventually ended up growing up in, spending most of my childhood in, and she had traveled to France and she was kind of writing and kind of working odd jobs here and there, but mostly just kind of lived there. So they met on a park bench in a town called Honissy, france, beautiful, beautiful lake town up against the Alps in Eastern France, right next to Geneva, very close to Geneva. So I was actually born outside of Geneva, but on the French side, saint-julien-genevois is the name of the. So I was actually born outside of Geneva, but on the French side Saint-Julien-Genevois is the name of the city I was born in. But it was a beautiful town and they worked together. They officially got married when I was four. I don't know how long they were together before they had me, but just obviously two very different cultures where they were from and this is late 80s, early 90s, so no cell phones or internet or anything else like that.
Speaker 2:So a little bit isolated right from their families, my mom was developing some mental health issues, schizophrenia and that kind of got progressively worse. My dad worked a graveyard shift so that was a tough schedule. So I'd have like he'd drop me off at a nanny at night and I would sleep. You know she would take care of me and he'd come pick me up in the morning. So I do remember that. I remember him, like you know, carrying me in and all that stuff. I'd be asleep on his shoulders. So I remember, you know, our car breaking down and having to walk to go get gas at the gas station, like little things like that, and um being at the playground with with my mom, and you know have a lot of pictures from that. I don't remember their voices, um, but there's a lot of pictures and all that stuff from that era. So I always had those Um and unfortunately, what happened is when I was like January 1993, my dad went into the hospital with some health issues concerns and, um, I was always told that he ended up having, you know, a heart attack and I'm not sure if it was like my adopted dad was like wasn't sure if it was pneumonia or what, but I'm pretty sure it was a heart attack.
Speaker 2:Um, about age 41, um, it was a smoker working graveyard shift. My mom's health was getting progressively worse, so there was a lot going on, a lot of stressors and and with the mental health issues, um, you know, so I it. So they got along great most of the time. I think a couple times, you know, I saw the best interactions at times, but overall my memories were always like very positive and healthy. But unfortunately, my mom came in and woke me up one night and told me my dad had passed away. And so I do. You know, I always remember that moment and pretty ingrained. Again, I can't remember the words that she said, but I just I can remember her face and her kind of mouthing the words, and again in French. Right, I spoke only French at that time. She taught me a little bit of English. So that happened and she had our close family friends came and took me in and actually my mom and my son sort through everything, came and took me in and actually my mom and son sort through everything.
Speaker 2:But then, unfortunately, you know the government I think it was my dad's family, you know they got wind of some of her issues she was having and basically 10 days later, my uncle and my dad's side came and visited and told me that my mom had passed away, and so what happened is that she had taken her life and they had found a letter from the government that was saying that they were going to take me from her. It just didn't have the support around everything else and I think that was just kind of the last straw, right in the tough state tough head state and had lost her husband and was about to lose her son, and so that was it. So they kind of found the letter on the table and so, yeah, that was 10 days, 10 days apart, and yeah, and then it was just kind of a whole process. In France it took about three months for them to figure out am I going to go to Algeria, am I going to go to Boston? In France they give guardianship to the grandparents, so there was a battle that was not necessarily my Algerian side of the family is 99% amazing.
Speaker 2:I've met some of them in future years, a lot later on in life, but I had one uncle that I think really wanted to bring me back to Algeria, and his girlfriend at the time kind of stopped that from happening, shall we say, illegally, and so that was kind of a whole thing I learned about later. Eventually the courts decided to give guardianship to my mom's mom, um, and so she, uh, officially was one of the travel where he took me in, but I was played. I lived with my mom's older brother, um, and his and his wife. So he had um this was his second wife. He had been married, had my old man, older sister, um, got remarried and had two kids after they took me in my younger brother and sister. So it's kind of convoluted and complicated. But basically my aunt and uncle took me in on my mom's side and so I grew up with that side of the family.
Speaker 2:My grandmother it was her oldest child that had passed away. My mom, my adopted dad, was her stepson technically, so we just had a really close bond. I learned, uh, english in about four months and forgot all my french like I barely speak french nowadays still to this day. Um, and you know, my dad was just like my adoptive dad, was just like you know. It was no drugs, no therapy and everything else was like we're just gonna shower this kid with love and a good time. And I had neighborhood friends immediately like they introduced me to and I would go to all the.
Speaker 2:You know my grandmother was trying to figure out like what to do with me, like how do I hang out, you know she's, and he was like just take her, just take him to sports games, like.
Speaker 2:So we, she got me red socks tickets for my seventh birthday and, um, you know, I had moved to back start. I had moved here before the day before my sixth birthday, uh, so I moved to the states 32 years ago, uh, this week, um, and yeah, it was about a year to kind of figure out they got me a sega right away. I had to tend to in france. It got me a sega so, you know, had fun and made friends and learned english. And then, a year in, she, you know, had fun and made friends and learned english. And then a year in, she like took me to red sox game and I was hooked. Like I went to red sox game, bruins and celtics all in the same month and I was like this is what I love doing, like I love sports. Uh, and so her and I went to hundreds of games together, going up from revolute soccer to football to red sox and all that and that like our bonding, and she was the one that kind of took me on vacations and everything.
Speaker 2:So, she was my grandma, yeah, so that was kind of like and I could take a breather if you want to ask me but she was like that, was it? Like her and my adopted dad and so many other family members. But those are the two relationships that were were really my saving grace, uh, growing up, and they were whether not really by official title, but kind of my, my therapist. We were all grieving right in our own way, um, but just through spending time together and being present and just talking about stuff not always serious stuff, but just kind of having fun and helping me figure out what my interests were and everything else and skills, um, it was great.
Speaker 2:So, like I had some crazy stuff happen, but like people stepped in for me, it took me in like I you know, it's like I I really have no complaints because a crazy thing happened. But you know again, god works in mysterious ways and he put me in the right place where I needed to be. Um, and you know, that doesn't mean it was all roses, far from it but I got put into a great environment and, despite having gone through a crazy situation, Are grandma and stepdad still with us?
Speaker 1:They?
Speaker 2:both passed away. My grandmother passed away in August 2015 and my dad passed away July 2020. It matched in the craziness of the COVID and all that stuff. He had a lot of health issues. He got diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2000. He ended up going through radiation and had COPD for about 20 years. So about 15% lung capacity for 20 years, which is pretty nuts.
Speaker 2:There was always in and out of the hospital but wanted to be keep that stuff like very private. But unfortunately, with how some of the hospital medical stuff was run around that time, especially in a state like Massachusetts, it was a little sketchy on kind of how things went downhill, cause he's supposed to be discharged the next day and I was back there visiting to kind of take care of him that that summer a little bit and it was unfortunate and I think kind of just took a turn pretty quick that week and but it was just. It was kind of one of those you know grown up moments. Unfortunately I had, you know, gone through it when I was little, but it was definitely different at this stage. But I know it was one of those things that you know.
Speaker 2:He was no longer in pain and at peace and as much as I. You know I miss him. I said, but we miss him. You know a ton, but it was one of those like to see him, just like we're not fighting. You know all that stuff to breathe and everything, and he's very prideful. He wouldn't want anyone to take care of him in a certain situation for a long time and you know what like even those things kind of can happen for a reason in their due time. And I think, going through that, I met my wife three months later and it was just one of those like kind of grown up moments and kind of the passing of the baton. It's like all right, now I'm ready to kind of like really build my own family and continue to carry and build upon the legacy that you know my dad kind of handed off to me.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's powerful stuff, dude. I mean we don't have. I wish I could interview you for four hours because I got questions for days. But is it ironic or serendipitous that the Mariners, my beloved Seattle Mariners, are taking on the Red Sox today?
Speaker 2:Are they really? That's crazy. Yeah, that's pretty cool, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I've actually been to Fenway once and saw the Mariners play Fenway. It was awesome. My son was like seven years old at the time and I told him I'm like, hey, bro, chill your, slow your roll a bit. These Boston fans can be a little bit intense. We're not going to get too crazy. We put up seven runs in the first and my seven-year-old son is just losing his mind. Thankfully, the Boston fans were nice to us and I'm like we're trying to calm him down. He's like, oh, this is actually great. And then it was like we ended up winning an extra inning. It was like 12 to 10, like a kickball game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so funny. Yeah, I mean, look at a seven, you know they're, they're all right. Uh, when you get to that level, it's, uh, it's. It is funny. You mention it's a great story.
Speaker 2:It makes me think of a time like 97, 98, like red sox, yankees, memorial day weekend. I mean just absolute banana. I mean ticket prices were like a tenth of what they are now so we could get, you know, a bunch of tickets for a couple hundred bucks for the year. Now it's like you get two tickets for a game for that price. And it was a different era. But they didn't even have the monster seats yet at that time. But we would park on Lansdowne Street behind the monster, so it would be the garage. You see on Sunday Night Baseball that the cars get hit by a home run or whatever, that's where we would park.
Speaker 2:And it was one day we had the Bruins playoff game on Maybe it wasn't more early, it was April early May. Bruins on right, like uh, maybe it wasn't more like april early may bruins playoff like turned up playing, I think, like the capitals, but we got this yankee fan, there's red sox fan, they're still got. They got mullets and tank tops and they're just like beating each other up behind our car, so like like, well, we're not moving. I was like I was like nine, my grandmother's my grandmother. So like we're just hanging out listening to the bruins game, playoff games these drunk meatheads are beating each other up behind us. I was like that's just kind of part of the course, you know, in 90s and Fenway oh that's hilarious.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Okay, so for what you so, for everything you've been through, I want you to think about what are the core three values that everybody that helped the village that raised you, what would be the three values that really have been staples for your life as you reflect that you believe that you and your wife will be? These will be values that you really want to teach your boys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, guys Great question. Want to teach your boys? Yeah, guys, great question.
Speaker 2:One of the things that always stuck out with my dad, I think, just his positivity and his optimism. He was never going to let me be a victim, but he didn't do it by telling me, he just did it through action, if that makes sense. We acknowledged crazy stuff, acknowledged like crazy stuff happened, and crazy stuff happened to him in his life. He lost both his parents in his early 20s. I mean, he lost his dad the same year he had his first daughter, like, but he never dwelled on that stuff. I know it affected him. We talked about it more later in his life but he just the show kept going with a smile on his face and just to listen, to talk to people and ask them questions, whether you knew them and strangers. He was always asking about other people and their day and their favorite show and their favorite sports and like, just relentless, like optimism and just having a good time and that's like just the first thing I think of with my dad. It's just like there's enough bad stuff. Have a good time, have fun with life. We get one shot at this. That was huge. That had a huge impact. I know it did on just my development. And yeah, there was tough times. Yeah, I struggled, I was angry and cried and all that stuff and wondering what stuff happened to me and all you're growing up, normal stuff. But like that, always, I just always had a good time with things, man, and it's like the more I and it make me think about this more like god, it's a big part of it day to day. I can't stand being around negative Nancy's like it drives me nuts and I just there's challenges, I face them, I get it, we all have them. But man, life can be great and you will miss the moments if you don't have that attitude. That was the first one, I think, with him.
Speaker 2:My grandmother also just loved learning about people but was just full of just love and generosity, I think, just being generous with your time, with what you have right. If God's given you abundance, especially financially, just don't hoard it yourself. My grandmother would always spend money on experiences with her grandkids and her kids Because I think when she was a mom I know she had a lot of regrets about how that happened and my grandfather and his own issues also took his life and everything, with five kids that were ages nine to 16. So that was crazy for my grandmother. So it was just like survive at that rate.
Speaker 2:So she really got a second chance at all of it as being a grandparent and she just whatever she could to spend time with her grandkids and all that it was experiences do things with the people that you love and use it as a vehicle to get to know them better and to show them that you're present. And my grandmother was beloved by her grandkids because she spent time getting to know every single one of us and doing things that we wanted to do. She wanted to know what made us happy and what things were fun and she wanted to be the one to do those things with us. And she did that with every single one of her grandkids and I think she had, before she passed it was nine, ten of us and I think every single one of them would have felt like, yes, she knows me individually. God, there's a power of having a great grandparent. It's incredible. She took obviously a lot with me just because my mom wasn't around biological mom. So we spent probably more time than the other grandkids and I was the oldest one of her biological grandkids.
Speaker 2:But man just that piece of it experiences. That is how I, even to this day, I kind of show my love for people. I think it's like let's just go do something, let's go to an event, let's go do, let's spend time, and in that I can interact and converse with you. I definitely get that from her. It doesn't always have to be going and spending money. It can be going to a park with my son, right, just something like that. So that's two. It's a long-winded two, but if I say positivity and optimism, if I say generosity, I have to say give me gratitude. I don't know if love I mean love's got to be in there. I heard just curiosity. What's that? I heard?
Speaker 1:curiosity too. What's that? I heard? Curiosity too, without you saying it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, being curious about people I think that's why I got into recruiting is because of some of the stuff that they taught me. I just am curious about the world and people and how they interact and I think just naturally as an orphan I kind of had to look around for other examples just to see how do people operate, because I kind of lost my structure pretty quickly. So I was always just curious about how people attack the problems in the world and learn stuff right, because obviously some things probably kind of fell through the cracks, as they do for all of us. But just being curious, it's just like definitely a trait that you get to know so much about the world and people when you're that way.
Speaker 1:The superpower Most people. That's why I'm obsessed with curiosity. It just is a superpower. It solves majority of the problems in life and it gets us out of trying to convince and tell, which allows our ego to get up. When we aren't curious, then I think it leads to lack of vulnerability, lack of humility and then fear sneaks into the culture. When fear is there, look out and people are not the best.
Speaker 2:I love that you picked that up because it reminds me you're spot on. Glad you picked up that word because my dad I always ask my dad like dad, how do you know so much? Like my dad was brilliant and so smart, but like just knew something about everything. I was like how in the world? It was most of it is pretty internet era. I'm like how in the world? He's like I read the newspaper every day. All I do, I just read the newspaper every day. And because he was always learning and always curious and then he would research and he had stacks of vcrs and dvds and books everywhere and he was just like always learning, like a constant lifelong learner. Yeah, what did? What did they do for their jobs? It's interesting.
Speaker 2:My grandmother was a massage therapist and then my dad kind of had a bunch of different things. He owned a bunch of radio stations in the 90s and then when he got sick he had to sell them. He just couldn't maintain all that anymore. And then he kind of had some you know, odd jobs here and there. He, you know just through, kind of what he took didn't have to work a ton we'll put it that way throughout his life and so he had different kind of things going on.
Speaker 2:He bought a couple of tall ships and then tried to turn that into a new business, but then always kind of wanted to make it a charity.
Speaker 2:He was like, you know, because he didn't necessarily have to make income from it.
Speaker 2:So he now eventually he had to because there were some tough decisions and the recession hurt a little bit and everything else in 08, um, but he used it to try to like, okay, you'll get, you know, the special needs kids and the charities and all that.
Speaker 2:Like give them tickets and take them, give them experience, right on a boat in a tall ship in boston Harbor to go out and fire off fake cannons and all that. So he kind of ran that as a business, but kind of a little bit I don't know how many tickets were actually sold and that was after he had got sick. So I think he was like new lease on life I'm not going to stress myself out too too much and have fun with this and try to give back a little bit more. And then he would kind of do you know odd jobs here and there in the last like 10 years, but I think he kind of was able to live out a little bit of his retirement a little bit earlier. So he was just kind of like just tinkering things with here and online projects and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:How so as you, as you reflect and kind of talk through about these things, I'm asking you which I don't know how often you've thought about some of this stuff, but how close are you to some of your?
Speaker 2:cousins? That's a great question. I mean cousins like the ones that turned into my siblings, or just cousins in general. Yeah, my cousins, yeah, that are well, it's a good distinction and you wouldn't know. But yeah, they're all my brothers and sisters now and we're close. Now we're not close geographically my sisters in New Jersey, I got one in England and I got a brother in Belgium, so we're all over the place. So that's probably that's the hardest part.
Speaker 2:But I am very close. I mean, especially growing up. My brother was born six months after I got here, my sister a couple years after. So there's an age difference where I'm 11 years apart from the oldest, six years and then eight years. So there's a wide gap, so different, it's like different generations at times, right. So we have some natural difference there.
Speaker 2:But I mean, I would say the way we handled the biggest testament to how close we are is the way we handle my dad's passing and being there for each other and, um, because I wasn't officially adopted, right, there's some stuff with like the will and everything else and that stuff can get messy, and there was zero mess with any four of us and that is more like the rarest thing. I've talked to a lot of people about that stuff, everything else, and that's a testament of they had my back. It wasn't even a question of you know, clark's, like it's the four of us and everything else and we just, I would say, always have our back and each other's back. And difference in opinions and all that, yeah, of course, right, brother, brothers and sisters, um, but I don't for a question doubt um, you know their, their love for me, and I don't for a question doubt you know their love for me and I don't think they question my love for them.
Speaker 2:And same thing, taking the same traits and just being there for each other and loving each other through disagreements and everything else, and just having each other's back, we're really close. It's a special bond because it's part blood but part forged in a lot choice and that's there is something about being related and kind of the blood family but and we are technically cousins but your relationships and everything else are a choice on how deep of a level you want to get into it with them, and that's one of the things that I've been blessed to learn through going the route I have in my life is everything's a choice and relationship is showing how you choose to show up and everything else, and I appreciate and love them for the fact that they chose me, to accept me as their brother and there was no resentment on splitting attention and all that and on my end or their end, and I think that's I'm definitely one of the things that I'm really proud of, and I think that's definitely one of the things I'm really proud of.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Leslie Vickery, the CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a company dedicated to transforming the business of talent. Through our three lines of business ClearEdge, marketing, recruiting and Rising that help organizations across the recruitment and HR tech sectors grow their brands and market share while building their teams with excellence and equity. I believe we were one of Casey's very first clients. He helped our sales and account teams really those people on the front lines of building and developing client relationships in so many ways. Here are a few. He helped us unlock the power of curiosity. For me it was a game changer. I was personally learning all about TED-based that's, tell, explain, describe, questioning, and that really resonated with me. We also learned about unlocking the power of humility and unlocking the power of vulnerability. Casey taught us to be a team player, to embrace change, to stay positive. He is one of the most positive people I know. He believes that optimism, resilience and a sense of humor can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
Speaker 3:And I agree Casey's book Win the Relationship, not the Deal. It is a must read. Listen. Whether you're looking for coaching and training or a powerful speaker or keynote, casey is one of the people I recommend when talking to companies. The end result for us, at least as one of Casey's clients our own clients would literally commend our approach over all other companies, from the way we were prepared in advance of a call to how we drove meetings, to how we follow up. It sounds really basic, I know, but let me tell you it is a standout approach that led to stronger relationships. I encourage you to learn more by going to CaseyJCoxcom. You have nothing to lose by having a conversation and a lot to gain. Now let's get back to Casey's podcast, the Quarterback Dadcast.
Speaker 1:We get 1,440 minutes a day. No one gets more, no one gets less. So I guess my question is everything that you went through and like how soon do you think you'll share this information with your boys?
Speaker 2:I mean whenever is appropriate. I have. No, I don't know what age that looks like. To be honest, I have nothing to hold back and I think if it's relevant and important to teach a lesson, or I'm sure you could tell me kids get pretty curious pretty early and then you have to understand, guess how to kind of you know work in that conversation. Um, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I'll ask you like what do you think is an age that you know kids like that typically respond and kind of can understand some of that information my, without ever going through that, and I'm definitely not a trained therapist, but my, my gut says um, you'll know in your gut, um, you, obviously, with a faith background, I would think your, your, your heart's going to speak to you.
Speaker 1:Um, the other thing I'd say it's I bet it's one of those things you're going to say you're going to tell more than once. It's going to be a story, a multiple story, where you, maybe you'll kind of sprinkle in pieces of it and then they it might be too much for them, um, and then I think there'll be times where, um, well, I, I, I'm a big believer of like when, in telling stories, it's always good to ask a question if they, if you know that kind of I use this framework in, like my sales and leadership coaching business where it's like I'm going to teach somebody something I always say tell me, would it be helpful if I shared a story about when I went through that challenge?
Speaker 1:yeah, they're a lot more they're more interested to hear it versus me. Just like, well, here's what you got to do. They're like, oh great, mr freaking know-it-all, he's gonna just tell me you know, we want it to be their idea. We want it to be like, just like we're teaching our kids, um, there's a great book I I read through, actually, this podcast journey. It's written by a guy named, uh well, the author, swen nader. That said that book's called you have not taught until they have learned. Oh, I'm writing it down you have not taught until they have that. You have not taught until they have learned. And swen nader played for a basketball coach. People might have heard of getting john wooden. Oh yeah, yeah, not a bad, not a bad career decent coach, yeah, not, not a bad run.
Speaker 1:so so he and like that, teaching um is so powerful for us as parents and business leaders and everybody. But I think what? Back to the question I asked you, I think it's um, I think, just when you lead with, again, I think, the superpowers of life, vulnerability, humility, curiosity, we're being our best, we're showing up our best when it's I might, when the first time you communicate it. It might not be perfect, but you're being your best and you know, I think, when we think about time, that's all we can ask for is be my best. But we all have the one common thing in common we're all flawed, we all have issues, we're all not perfect, but I think we can reset each day to like shit. That was not my best, but I'm going to be better and those are the stories I teach. Try to teach my kids about like.
Speaker 1:And actually, when you were telling your story about your dad, um, about positivity and optimism, um, like my one of my good friends wife, she says, man, if you were like a had a in a tribal name, like back in like, you know, I joked her, I was one 16 Cherokee Indian, but she said, if you were a tribal, you, you're Nick. Your traveling would be he who over invites. Like I love people. I love bringing people together. I love being curious. I love optimism. I hate being around negative people. It's a choice. So I'm like when your dad I was like I. It's a choice.
Speaker 2:So I'm like when your dad I was like I hope my kids describe me like you describe your dad no-transcript because I love the stage that they're at now, uh, when I feel it, but it'll be fun when we get there. And it was the same thing, just dinner parties. Every food would be on the table, everything snacks would be thrown. My friends would come over. He'd throw like Milano cookies at us. Okay, the diet was not great and all that, but when your kids are like, this is sweet, it's just like making sure we're having a good time, that we're well fed, that we're having fun, that he's asking about us and they will remember you that way because it's fun and people remember people that make them feel and feel heard and listen to and special.
Speaker 2:And I took it, yeah, and I took it for granted growing up. I, I, it was great. But man, I look back now at the, at our culture and landscape and how even more rigid everything not as free-flowing as it was kind of growing up in the 90s and it's special to people when you can foster those environments where people are having fun and feel heard and respected and just having a good time. I didn't realize how much work it takes to really do that and be good at that. I just kind of took it for granted. I didn't realize how much work it takes to really do that and be good at that. I just kind of took it for granted. Yeah, it's good to have. We need people like you and my dad out there doing stuff like that, because that's what builds community.
Speaker 1:And that's really it. I appreciate you saying that and I think well, I want to be kind of cognizant of the time. I can talk to you forever here. Brother, this has been a fun conversation. Yeah, you mentioned faith as a part of your life. If you can talk about that journey and how has it positively impacted you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been everything. I mean, it's been the best thing that's happened in my life and it's something I desperately try to hold on to and want to be. Well, I'm not worthy of it, but I am so grateful that my eyes were opened. It was I grew up going to church Episcopal Church, confirmed when I was 14. I stopped going right after I was confirmed. I just never really bought in at that age. That level it was good for some of the community stuff, but very, you know, traditional.
Speaker 2:My dad was called a catholic light episcopalian. Uh, pretty funny, looking back on it I think there's a lot of points there. But, um, it just didn't really. It felt surface level to me. Um, so I never really resonated and I grew up until 2000s and I was like I'm just gonna kind of do my own thing. My dad never pushed it on us. He's like you go until you're confirmed and it's your choice. Okay, cool, um, and so I I didn't go and he was telling me my 20s he's like you know, clark, like yeah, you're gonna come back around you just wait, like he just knew he saw it in me.
Speaker 2:Um, my journey I was like yeah, whatever, dad, and I don't know if I believe any of this stuff, and I was into sports and not really caring and uh, those things evolved in my 20s and I just kept having these like epiphanies of like 2015. I was like, what am I like doing? I'm 28, I'm at Aerotech, I feel like I'm kind of going through the motions in life and just something was gnawing at me that I wasn't really, that there was something like a lot of like potential left on. My dad was that you have a ton of potential and at some point I'm like well, what am I going to realize this uh potential. And that was kind of the same year. That was the same year my grandmother ended up passing away and I spoke at a funeral and I remember just being like, you know, I might not be able to replicate the exact relationship I had with her, but I can carry the traits of those and kind of put those out more into the world and I think that just like I always remember that because then I said it and I had to live it and I just started living and I just started doing more like self-discovery and self-improvement books and then reading about entrepreneurship and then reading about the world more and like how things just operate and you know a lot of some of the things. That's I really had a lot of disillusionment about how I was raised, especially culturally, and everything else.
Speaker 2:And that's 2016, and then 17 and uh, I got into some, you know. I figured out like working out a little bit more and I got into some relationships that weren't great and kind of learned about those and actually kind of hired a dating coach back then. That like really was transformational and like just showing me my blind spots like I always respond well to coaching and I was like sounded crazy at the time. Like I'm a dating coach, like you're like 30, like what do you need one for us? Like I just know I'm missing. I have blind spots here. Like what are they? He woke me up to a bunch of stuff. I'm like, oh, that's interesting and kind of the masculine and the feminine and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And I started watching some podcast people and all that, listening a little bit more about Christianity, and I was like this is interesting. And then 2019, I just realized like I think the resurrection actually happened, like I just learned a little bit more about it. I'm like huh, and like there's a balance of faith and there's a balance of historical knowledge, and it was like, wow, there's more sources that Jesus lived at that time than the Roman emperor at that time. I'm like, well, that's interesting, right. So like, I got to learn some facts about it all. I'm like this really happened, like I believe, and so I did. And then I started opening up the Bible. I read Ecclesiastes this was March 2019. And it was hard to like actually open and start reading, but I related to that one and it took me about six months to find a church. But I was like you know what I believe? I don't really know what to do from here, but like, I believe, like, and that was the first step. And three weeks later, I was in a rough time in my life. I was I left Aerotech, the recruiting company, I was part of partying and investing and stuff for a year and a half in LA and three weeks later I visited my friend in Columbus, ohio. This is about a month after I decided I believe I'm a Christian. I don't know what church I'm going to, but I believe on this.
Speaker 2:I looked at my bank account and, from poor investments and trusting the wrong business partner, realized I was broke after having a healthy six figures in the bank. I lost everything. Completely my own fault, my own doing Everything. I just was being a degenerate and just bad decisions, and not necessarily I would say malicious, no, malicious intent, but I was just dumb. I had no purpose, I wasn't doing anything productive, I got everything was just gone gone. I was like stuck with high rent and a car payment and everything else.
Speaker 2:So it took me about four months to get out, to get out of there, and my friend, you know, had a place for me to stay. He got bought my plane ticket to get out here and everything else and we had met through like a year before and he was really into christianity. So him and I were talking about some of this stuff. I didn't know what church he went to, but he always had the answers to stuff and I'm like so I come out here, he takes me out to Atlanta to visit his friend. I come out to Columbus. I moved from LA to Columbus. We go down to Atlanta within a month and go to some church friends that he's known for a while, that he grew up with and moved down to Atlanta.
Speaker 2:We go to a service and there's two sermons. They're split sermons, like no one's dressed up in robe or anything, but everyone's reading has their own bible and they're preaching from the bible. I was like I have never seen this in my life, like I just never grew up, I never knew the bible. Growing up, going to church, and they were like reading and referencing passages and everything else. I'm like, well, this is interesting and we're talking about. Then we talked about the resurrection and everything else and it was a Sabbath going church and we went to church on a Saturday and I was like what is going on here? But I just kept coming back. I was hooked. I was like I love that you guys read from the source and preach from the source. I've never seen that before because I tested out some other congregations and so I started going to that called United Church of God and we keep the Holy Days in Leviticus 23. And that just made sense to me and I listened to hundreds of hours of sermons and just learned on all that stuff and just tried to, you know, catch up the best I could and live on that and it changed my life.
Speaker 2:I got out here, I got a job at $12 an hour and I had a smile on my face every day just to try to pick myself up right Doing remodeling work. I was terrible at it but they still paid me they're super nice guys and helped me out and I got a job at 15 an hour and, like then, my friend Tristan reintroduced me to someone in the LinkedIn world, the business development world. That's how I got in to learn about LinkedIn. And then I bumped my pay from there and used my old skills from my Aerotech days and I just kind of rebuilt with just a ton of gratitude and appreciation and I moved out here four months before COVID happened and we rented like 19 acres and my buddy was like you got to see money hit the account again. So I worked a little bit and studying my sermons and going on walks to hit the account again. So I worked a little bit and studying my sermons and going on walks and that was just a very healing time for me.
Speaker 2:And then so many I was able to process dealing with my dad's stuff and the church community was great. And then when he passed I really had my faith to lean on Um and I really believed that I would see him again. And I feel very at peace with all that, with all my relatives that have passed, and knowing that everyone's going to get a chance to repent, whether in this life or the next Just that kind of hope was invaluable to me and I'd rather live in again positivity. I'd rather have faith and lean into that. There's an all-powerful God that has a plan for us and why not? To me, that's a more fun way to live.
Speaker 1:If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but if I'm right, that's pretty cool, yeah well, it's, it's, I think, believe it's the word behind me, it's people can see it. There you go. Yeah, it's obviously a ted lasso theme. I actually got that sign at a mariner game with my son years ago. And it's also, um, it's not just for me a spiritual thing, but it's more about a just like you got to believe in yourself. And it's not just for me a spiritual thing, but it's more about just like you got to believe in yourself. And it's not being, you know, closed minded to the belief, but it's just like belief of a confidence and a belief of like hey, we're here for something. It just for me. It just kind of sets my mindset for the right day, but I don't think anybody knows the truth. To be honest with you, man, I don't want to get too off track here, like we won't know until we go to where we're going to go, but there's a lot of proof of what, what people have learned and what people do share. I, just I am.
Speaker 1:I'm a big spirituality guy. I don't go to church right now but I like I look at a scripture every morning. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn't, but, like gratitude, I do every morning. And one of the very first lines. It almost makes me smile every time I do it. So I'm like God, just starting with that, for me it's like oh, it just it makes me like I'm here, I can do something today I can. It gives me energy, um, okay Again, I could be talking forever, so I'm gonna try to bring, bring us here. So if you were to think about everything we've talked about, from sharing your journey, um, to the lessons you've learned, to the life experience you've been through, to your faith journey, like, think about what would be like two or three core values that are gonna be most important to you and your wife as you raise your boys.
Speaker 2:Humility and grace are the first two words that came to my mind. You have to have grace. I mean where you've been made longer than I have much longer I'm sure you would but just in our three, three, almost three years you're gonna screw up, you're gonna do things and just my what I'm not used to having. I told her this the other day. I'm like just the way she's had my back the first couple years. No one I've dated has had my back to that level ever.
Speaker 2:And then we actually I hadn't married anyone else but like that's been really cool and just the grace she's had for my mistakes and I have it for hers, um, there's been incredible and I think just humility that I I can it's hard with two under two right, but I'm holding on to it but also just the humility of you know if I believe, I believe and if this is great, this is right, this is great and I think I can back up some of that.
Speaker 2:But I'm also the humility of like I'm not here to convince and yell at people that they're wrong or to be believers and all that. Like I just trust in God's plan and I try to do the best I can to listen to what that looks like and some of the signs and the signals. One of the biggest ones has just been, you know, humility, grace, forgiveness, those are all been huge for me. And being able to let go and not have resentment, first with forgiving my parents, all for my parents, right, all the good stuff, maybe all the not good stuff, that's huge. That's why it's a commandment, right, the fifth one. And then you know, and then just obviously having you know I don't know everything, but I'm going to work hard and be confident what I do know and be open to learn what I don't know and where my mind can be switched.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, going back to that grace piece has been huge and not raising resentment yeah, such a good word because it's like when we give yourself, when you give yourself, grace, you, you realize that we're, we're all flawed and but like, if you ever trying your best, then hey, tomorrow's a new day. Or if you shit the bed in that meeting, well, you can be better than the next one. If you, if there's things you didn't do right, well let's own it. Let's check our ego. Leave that ego check, but let's um, and I love forgiveness, forgiveness.
Speaker 1:So I read a great book in my late thirties on forgiveness by a guy named Richard case, which I think has a spiritual following. Um, he said the theme is forgiveness takes me, reconciliation takes you and me, and is forgiveness takes me, reconciliation takes you and me. And, uh, it's a powerful thing because, like we don't forgive, we hold on to that energy, that negative energy just negatively impacts us. But we forgive, whether we, whether you want to or not. But if you forgive, like god forgave us, it's amazing what happens. You get that out of your system and you open up. It doesn't mean you're gonna be best friends with that person, but at least you can get the negativity out and go back to being positive.
Speaker 2:It's huge. I love that saying because it's yeah, it is spiritual, biblical, and you know I haven't brought her up yet but I do disservice if I didn't. But you know my adopted mom, who is still alive, and her and I had challenges, especially as soon as I hit puberty. I mean she got thrust into this like raising a six-year-old. I had just married my dad and she was 10 years younger than him, so I think she was like 31, 32 when I came along and was three months pregnant with her first biological child. I mean there's a lot going on for her and you know so we clashed at times growing up. I wasn't easy to deal with and you know we've had, you know we had some big moments, some big fights, younger and adults. And you know, in the last like few years and we just kind of before my wedding I think, we both realized like we don't want that, like she's got to be there and all that.
Speaker 2:And just I just kept going on walks and just like praying and all that stuff. And I just like go on walks and just like praying and all that stuff and I just like let go. I worked at forgiving her and I also worked at like knowing where, kind of where I screwed up, right, not, it's not all on her, and that's been one of the most impactful things of my life and my faith was that and I know not everyone you're not going to get that reconciliation that you talked about, like there's some people, but forgiveness is for you and forgiveness has been for me and the weight that was lifted when I truly I worked at it. It was not easy, it wasn't a five second prayer. I worked at it to get there. I was like, please, help me. Just like, go with this like anger and resentment, and process and give me the understanding. Just like, go with this like anger and resentment, and process and give me the understanding.
Speaker 2:And that's one of the things that, like really made me believe more because it did, it did shed over time and quicker than I thought, to be honest, and then I was able to just proceed and we've been building, you know, the relationship back and she's not being proud and like it just, it just works, um, it just works and she's made the choice to do some of that and to work through that, which is great, right, I didn't know if that was going to happen or not, um, but we've been able to actually some have some heart-to-hearts that we never had in 20 years, um, and you know that's and I could talk about the ones that are the relationships that are easy, but I think it's important to share that as well.
Speaker 2:You know, we both made a choice right, we're not technically blood related, but we both made a choice to realize all the experiences we had together and the life and everything, and just like let's keep going, like let's just keep building and not worry about where we are with other people's relationships, like let's just work on ours, um, and that's been great.
Speaker 1:That's great man. I appreciate you sharing that. I think that'll be a powerful story when your boys are older, of just growth Cause not to be best friends everybody. But you sure can be curious, you can be forgiving, you can have grace for people and I think if you go through life with that, you'll be more empathetic. You empathetic, you'll be around people that bring joy to you and you're going to be the person that usually brings joy to others. So I love that you shared that. All right, before we get into the lightning round, which I go completely random, let's learn about the digital recruiter. Why would someone want to learn about you and the work you're doing, which I know many people do, and then talk about your podcast? And why should?
Speaker 2:they. Yeah, the digital recruiter is really cool man. It's a blend of my recruiting background at Aerotech, my sales background and staffing and recruiting learning, linkedin, automation and having helped people book. We did the whole 10, 20 calls a month in LinkedIn 2020, 2021 when automation was really getting up and running on LinkedIn. I worked with a couple of LinkedIn influencer accounts and got to see their marketing and I learned digital marketing myself. So I decided to take a blend of content, marketing, automation and just recruiting and sales know-how in the agency recruiting world and started Digital Recruiter and I started teaching recruiters how to get more opportunities, how to really build their brand to generate more inbound leads and I would say content-led outbound really opened up that top of funnel because a lot of recruiters just struggle to open up the doors of hiring managers and just get conversations going, really understanding that business development process. It's evolved to helping some corporate recruiters as well. I help other coaches and consultants as well. It's kind of really opened up their top of funnel on LinkedIn. So if we can systemize some of your outreach, what you do well and create content around, not just personal stuff but your insights into your industry and your credibility and your wins and really show why you're different than maybe some of your competitors and get in front of your market every day. It's kind of systemized, some of that top of funnel, so you have a lot more warm conversations. So it's been really fun to build. I eat my own dog food, I run my own system every day, with automation, with content I post every day, and it's just been really cool.
Speaker 2:I've worked with hundreds of recruiters. I work with a lot of founders, typically smaller companies in general typically recruiting agency, but also work with smaller corporate departments and, as I mentioned, some people even outside the recruiting space. And that's what's cool, man. I think we just our blend of knowing the industry.
Speaker 2:I've posted hundreds, maybe thousands of times by now really stunning copywriting content, marketing to show how people can get their authentic story, tell the truth and have that resonate with your prospects, your clients, your future clients and just figure out how to be you but in a business setting. So it draws your ecosystem, it draws your tribe and I love it and it's super fun. It's kind of a blend of everything and it's some of the most fulfilling work. So we do some bootcamps, we do kind of like quick get up and running offers. I work with people in like three, six months, some people I work with on a year-to-year basis, so it's really cool. But it's really like let's get the foundation of LinkedIn, let's open up your conversations, your pipeline, and then from there we can fix things systematically.
Speaker 1:So cool. Well, we're going to make sure this is linked in the show notes. Everybody, Besides LinkedIn, are there other platforms that you're on where people can follow you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm on YouTube, x, X under my name, clark Wilcox, youtube. I think we have the Digital Recruiter channel. I'm on Facebook as well, but LinkedIn is kind of the primary one. I'm on X a little bit. I'm more of a reply guy and a like guy and X and tweeting as much, but looking to do more on there and on YouTube, but LinkedIn's LinkedIn's the big one.
Speaker 2:Oh, and you mentioned the digital recruiter podcast. That's right. I just interview people sales coaches you're going to be on. You know sales coaches, people, you know anyone related to kind of recruiting, um agency owners. You know maybe some tech people that are related to recruiting. I just like getting people's stories like this what's your story? What have you seen work, especially on the business development sales side? It's just hard for people to understand how to be themselves but still win great business, and I think that's one of the most fun things to figure out, because when that light bulb goes on, it's great. So that's a lot of what we talked about in the Digital Recruiter Podcast. It's just that piece right Having fun with business development.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to. I can't wait to be when the tides turn and you're the host and the guests we're going to. I got stories for days, bro.
Speaker 1:And we will a lot of our self deprecating, but they worked somehow, somehow, some way. Okay, it's now time to go in the lightning round. This is where I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits in college not football hits, I mean not bong hits, but football hits and your job is to answer them as quickly as you can. My job is to try to make you laugh. That's fair, okay, um, true or false? You think tom brady's the worst quarterback ever, false, okay? Um, if you were to play hockey for the Bruins, tell me what position you'd play. Probably goalie, goalie. Yeah, that might be the worst position ever. You're just taking pucks to the grill and the nards, yeah, I played lacrosse goalie growing up, and soccer goalie and everything else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love scoring goals, but I'm not a good skater, so just throw me a net and I'll just stop everything somehow, some way.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it.
Speaker 2:Tell me the last book you read. God Go, dog Go. I'm trying to think with my son we read Dinosaurs, love Pajamas this morning. It's technically the last book I read this morning On the sales side. I've been rereading the FBI Negotiator one. I've been rereading the FBI Negotiator one. I've been going through some yeah, never Split the Difference. I've been going through chapters on that a little bit because a couple of my clients absolutely love that book and so, as you can tell, it's top of mind, my brain is mush, but that's like my favorite business book that I've ever read.
Speaker 1:All good If you and your wife are going to go on vacation. Sorry boys, the kids are staying home. Where are you and your wife going?
Speaker 2:You would probably want to go to Nashville or Florida, probably one of those two.
Speaker 1:There we go. Are you guys? Music people? Yeah, check out a guy named Adam Hood. If you remember, I met him at American Staffing Association. Like this big event afterwards, yeah, I ended up getting connected to him and then I actually interviewed him. He was on the podcast this year. Okay, sweet, I'll check out that episode Singer, songwriter shout out to you Adam Hood. He did some work for like Little Big Town Stapleton.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he's so good. I love him. He's really good. So if I was to come to your house for dinner tonight, tell me what we'd have.
Speaker 2:I'd probably go down to the butcher and get us some steak, some fillets do that maybe some potatoes, some green beans and have a little red wine and sit around and share stories with the family. There you go, I like that Sounds good.
Speaker 1:I'm getting hungry. If there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a good question About my life. Just keep going.
Speaker 1:I think that might be it. Yeah, you made me think of Will Ferrell's the Old School. Keep on trucking.
Speaker 2:Keep on trucking, keep on trucking. That's exactly it.
Speaker 1:Okay, we've came up with the book title together, okay, but now you're never going to believe this, clark. It's already been the pre-sale. We just announced it, like in the last few seconds, and it's sold out on Amazon. It's sold out on Barnes Noble. Everybody wants this book. Keep on trucking. So now we're going to make a movie and you are the casting director, but you can't star yourself. I need to know which Hollywood character will star you in this critically acclaimed, hit new movie.
Speaker 2:The two lookalikes I've gotten are Adam Sandler and Jonah Hill. Are the ones that I get. I don't know personality-wise Sandler, whatever the younger version of maybe a Sandler is. That's the one that I get a lot for whatever reason. But I don't know. Maybe maybe him.
Speaker 1:I love it. Solid choice, okay. And the last question tell me two words that would describe your wife, just two, I mean I'd say beautiful and loyal.
Speaker 1:Love it. Two solid answers, the lightning round's over. We both giggled. I think I laughed more on my own jokes, which means I get the loss, you get the win.
Speaker 1:Clark, this has been awesome learning about you, man. Your story is unique. There's so much depth to it. I'm grateful that our paths have crossed. Thank you, kelly. Yeah, thank you, kelly, and I'm sure this is not the last time we're going to be speaking.
Speaker 1:And, um, I just encourage everybody. This episode's touched you. If you've learned something, share the episode with a friend. Um, leave us a comment on one of our social channels. Um, copy, just figure out ways to kind of spread the world Cause. Um, I, I, as the host, don't make money on this podcast. This is for pure joy and I get free therapy out of every episode I do, but it's about serving others, it's about getting the message out, it's about creating better humans and um, I get so much gratitude and grace and just in fulfillment for getting to do this. Um, so I'm grateful to you, I'm grateful to all the other guests that have come on over nearly almost 300, which is hard to believe. So, um, with that said, everybody, thank you for listening. Um, go, uh, listening, go, enjoy the rest of your day and, clark man, thanks so much for your time. Brother, appreciate you. Thanks for having me. Casey, appreciate you.