David Garson - Raising Kind Kids While Staying Driven

Your calendar is full, your phone won’t stop buzzing, and your kids are growing up right in front of you. I sit down with David Garson, VP at Advanced Partners and a dad of two, to get honest about what it takes to lead a household with intention when life is busy and work is demanding.

We talk about the values David and his wife are trying to build into their family culture: kindness first, honesty, responsibility, and being the kind of person others want to be around. David shares what he’s seeing in his daughter’s world as soccer ramps up and independence kicks in, and he tells a great story about his son’s “inventor” streak, complete with an idea journal and an entrepreneur camp. We also dig into the underrated power of curiosity and why asking better questions can be a real advantage in parenting and in life.

Then we go straight at the hard part: presence. David calls out his own struggle with always being responsive, and I share the lesson that helped me set boundaries without tanking my career. We also cover what Advanced Partners does for staffing entrepreneurs, why relationships matter more than brand names at work, and how to keep sports in perspective so wins and losses don’t define your kids.

If you got something from this conversation, subscribe, share it with a parent who needs it, and leave a rating and review so we can keep growing the show.

Transcript

Welcome To The Dadcast

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Hi, I'm Riley.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

And I'm Ryder. And this is my dad's job. Hey everybody, it's K2K with the quarterback.cats. Welcome to Steeds and Seven. Can't wait for this T. There's a lot of great guests ahead. If we do this podcast, really it's simple. It's a podcast where we three dads. We learn about how they're raids, we learn about the life weapons that were ported up. We learn about the values that are pointed out. Quarterback or leader of our fault. So let's sit back, relax, and look at today's episode of the Quarterback Dadcast. Hey everybody, it's KCJ Cox with the Quarterback Dadcast. We uh are in 16th seventh to continue rolling along. And our next guest I met uh thanks to my friends at the Staffing Sales Summit, the one only and Mori. He graciously invited me to speak at their event this year. And uh I was having a soda pop in the uh mom and dad zone at K the Bar, and I met a fine young gentleman by the name of David uh Garson, who is the vice president of the film at Fance Partners, Cleveland native, and he's also a Wisconsin uh Madison, I believe the badger if you can confirm or deny that. But more importantly, we're here to talk to David the Dad and how he's worked hard to become the ultimate quarterback or leader of his household. Without further ado, Mr. Garson, welcome to the quarterback deck guy. Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. How about uh, you know, I didn't get the walk-up song or the smoke, so I apologize for that, but I hope the intro is still decent. That was great. All

Gratitude As A Dad

SPEAKER_01 1:38

right, brother. We always start out each episode gratitude. So tell me, what are you most grateful for as a dad today?

SPEAKER_02 1:43

You know, I'm most grateful to have two children who are healthy, happy, and you know, really loving kids. They're kind, you know, they they love each other, and they're just overall good kids, right? They do the right thing in school, they take care of their friends, try to do whatever I possibly can so they're not sitting on their iPads every day. And I've got an amazing, supportive, loving wife who's just is the backbone and kind of rock of the family, keeps us all in order.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Love it, love it. Well, what I'm most grateful for is uh I'm gonna have the whole family home. We're we're recording right before Memorial Day weekend, everybody. This episode will come out here uh soon. And I got my son coming home tonight. I'm gonna have his girlfriend's family. Um, I got my my daughter, my daughterfriend's, my daughter's boyfriend. I never thought I'd say all that, but I I said it and it's fantastic and uh should be a fun weekend ahead. Um and then we'll be right in the summer and then preparing for life as an empty nester, dude.

unknown 2:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

I know it's insane. It's insane.

Meet The Kids And Marriage Story

SPEAKER_01 2:55

All right, so you got two kids. So tell me a little bit about each member of the squad and and then share with us how you and your wife met.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yeah, so I've got a 10-year-old daughter named Olivia. She is awesome, just a little ball of energy, uh, the kindest heart, um, you know, always trying to do whatever she possibly can to do better. Um really kind of came into her own and you know, has become this little soccer superstar. Uh, she plays on a couple different soccer teams, one locally, which is a travel team with all of her best buddies, um, who she goes to school with. And then this past year, she got into a club team. So six days a week, we're doing soccer all across northeast Ohio. And then, you know, in the summer she goes away to overnight camp in Wisconsin, and it's crazy. She's just growing up and she's just she's so sweet. And, you know, we have our you know, starting to get to that phase where you know she tries to push me out a little bit, you know, whatever, wants her little girl time and only wants mom, but uh no, I love her so much. And then my son Ben, he's eight, he's just wrapping up second grade. He is incredibly curious, he's super smart, super kind, just has the nicest heart, asks me the craziest questions that I never know the answers to. And, you know, outside of kind of school and the home, um, you know, he he's become, he's really gravitated towards swimming. So we do swimming like three nights a week, and then, you know, kind of like a jack of all trades, a little bit of football, a little bit of golf, a little bit of soccer, basketball, kind of the whole gamut. But uh, no, he wants to be an inventor when he's older. He's kind of got that entrepreneurial bug, always asking really interesting questions that put my wife and I, which we don't know how to answer a lot of them, but uh he's the sweetest little boy, and uh just blessed to have both of them. Wow. And then how'd you and your wife meet? So we met in Chicago. Um she was going to law school in Chicago, and I just graduated from Wisconsin, and we hang out with a pretty large Cleveland contingency, and you know, let's just say we met at a bar uh that was you know just kind of hanging out with uh fellow Clevelanders. Um she's from Cleveland. I grew up in Cleveland, so we didn't grow up too far apart, but sometimes you gotta go to Chicago to meet somebody who grew up uh you know five miles from your house. So no, it's been great. We've been together 17 plus years, married for the last almost 13 years, and uh we live in North, we boomerang back to Cleveland about 12 years ago, and uh love it.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So

Growing An Inventor Mindset

SPEAKER_01 6:06

cool. Tell me, where do you think Ben's uh I mean, eight years old, I don't I in the 300 and something episodes I've done, I've yet to hear somebody's tell me their son wants to be an inventor. Uh where does that come from, you think?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

That is a good question. He's always been, ever since a young age, always trying to come up with just ways to make life easier. I mean, he's got this little invention book that, you know, he's got this journal and he puts his ideas in there, and then I try to push him harder, you know, to take it two steps further. You know, well, great. So if we go and ask for money, we shall, you know, write out a plan on how this would work. But no, he's always asking great questions. Honestly, I don't know where it comes from. It probably, you know, my wife's an attorney. I mean, she's always asking really good questions. But uh no, he's always just had this uh, he's always been just so curious about everything. You know, no matter what we're doing, he's always asking why, he's always asking, you know, how it can be done better. Um kind of like you, Casey, you know, going in there, poking holes, little consultant, but uh no, uh we're trying to lean into it, kind of get him involved in some different. He's actually going to entrepreneur camp this week for a week, you know, so there's some different, you know, he's got to come up with a business idea, and who knows? We'll see, we'll see uh how the camp is. But uh he's super cute.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Well, bravo, mom and dad, for um not squashing his curiosity. I as the as a rifle age of 50, I teach curiosity to adults. And uh I was always curious, but not not like curious, like engineering curious, just like curious, naive curious. Um and I think my lack of handiness uh was perceived as maybe lack of common sense, but I just I just never was a handy dude. Uh but I love the world needs more curious people. Um and I think you know curiosity with with the right tone is an absolute superpower, I'm convinced. Because you when you make people think, you're a lot more memorable than just someone that wants to tell everybody the answers. And and curiosity breeds critical thinking skills. And if we learn anything from Ted Lasso, he always says, stay curious, be curious, not judgmental. So shout out to Ben. I'm a fan already. Love it. Yeah, no, I agree with you 100%. Well, bring

Childhood Values And Family Priorities

SPEAKER_01 8:33

me back to um what was life like growing up for you, David? Talk about the the impact mom and dad had on you from a values perspective now that you reflect as a dad.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

It's a great question. So grew up, uh traditional household, mom, dad. I had a younger sister who happens to be in SAFI, and a younger brother who's five years younger than me. Um grew up in Cleveland in the suburbs. Um, you know, mom and dad worked hard, uh, both of them working parents, um, but they were always there, never missed you know any of our sporting events, took us around everywhere. Um, I'd say we it was a great, you know, uh childhood, very close with both my siblings, you know, had a ton of fun. We had to create our own entertainment, um, you know, playing different games and playing in the yard. Um, but you know, one of the things that our parents really instilled was us was a good work ethic, you know, work really hard. And um, they really led by example. Um, you know, they both, you know, obviously worked, you know, let's just call it the nine to five, you know, were very active in terms of just making sure they got their workout in, you know, did tons of stuff around the house from you know, planting flowers, doing the lawn, you know, just really, you know, take care of care of the household. Uh, they always tried to create different experiences for us. You know, we were fortunate enough to go on different family vacations, you know, when time permitted, um, but really did whatever they possibly could to provide us with, you know, let's just call it a really nice childhood. Um you know, as we got into the teen, or I got into my teenage years, my parents did get divorced, um, which I think kind of you know drew my sister and brother and I, you know, closer together. But it was always, you know, we were their number one priority, regardless of what was going on in the personal lives or their own um, you know, situation. But, you know, we all worked, you know, started working at a very young age, you know, by 10 or 11 years old, I was working, you know, even you know, at the local cool snack shop, I would ride my bike up there, just always trying to figure out ways to um you know earn a little bit of extra money. I and loved working. Um, but no, it was work hard, you know, try different experiences, right? Whether it was new food, new activities, new sports, you know, they really pushed us. But um, you know, school was always, you know, a priority, you know, making sure you did well in school. Um and no, it was very close with our, you know, our extended family, with cousins and on both sides of the family and um, you know, different family friends. Um, you know, and I would say, you know, bringing up back full circle to you know my kids is you know making family, you know, a really important uh priority in their life. Um, you know, even today, it's my sister lives in New York, my brother lives in Chicago, my sister-in-law lives in Cleveland, but it's you know, making sure we're getting together, you know, multiple times a year. Um, you know, on Sunday nights, we have dinner with my mom. On Friday nights, we have dinner with her family, you know, and uh our niece and nephew that are local here. But, you know, right now with a 10 and eight-year-old, it's my number one priority, especially in the world that we're living, is you know, be kind to everybody. You know, I don't care. Like, yeah, of course, you know, the greats, but it's just to me, it's just being kind, you know, um looking at things from a different perspective, you know, taking responsibility. Don't lie, right? So we kind of have in the family safety first, but don't lie, you know, be kind, right? It's like the athletic abilities and doing well in school. To me, those are secondary. The type of person you are and how you treat people means a lot more to my wife and I than anything else. Um, so I think so far we're doing an okay job. Um but you know, time will tell.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

Well, being being nice, AI will never never replace being nice. And it's in our control every day, and it's a choice. And uh whether you when you mess up, you own it. And it's tough to be mad and yelling at someone when you own your shit and you say, hey shit, my bad, own it. And and I mean either that or but just going out your way to be nice is is a an awesome skill, but two, it's a great metric of happiness as parents. Like, are your kids happy? Whether they're a 4.0 student, entrepreneur, stud athlete, it doesn't matter. Like, help them find something they want to do. And um so mom's still with us, is dad still with us? Yeah, dad's still with us. What did mom do mom and dad do for their jobs?

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah, so my mom was a hygienist, and my dad was in human resource, grew up in kind of a family business, and then when that sold, um, you know, we went on to work in HR at some larger, you know, Fortune 500 companies.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Cool. So um, yeah, you think your um I mean obviously hygienes as a service job, it can be, but I think I think the good ones are. Um HR led you to staffing. You said your sisters in staffing. Does that maybe what led you and your some of your family members in the staffing business before you got into what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Not necessarily. Uh my dad was my dad was I I I have my own story of I I got a crazy story of how I got into what I do, but uh the you know, he was really in the mindset of, you know, go get a job, climb the corporate ladder, you know, kind of more of that mindset. Um and I feel like my sister kind of took after him. You know, she graduated from Michigan, went to, you know, getting a job, you know, 14 years later, was at the same company. Um but I mean, now she actually, I don't want to call it retired, but she's a stay-at-home mom now. But uh, you know, she kind of took more after my dad, where my brother and I, I would say took more of a, you know, we bounced around a little bit and you know, we went for the big company, and then it took me a minute of being, you know, out of college to realize, you know, it's not about the big sexy company, whether I worked at Salesforce.com or Oracle or Zurich or whatever the big company was. It to me, it was really about who you go to battle with every day. And I think it's a lot more important who you work with and who your clients are and the problem you're solving versus you know, the big sexy company, right? I mean, it but that took me a minute to find it. And you know, 11 years later, I mean, I uh I'm very blessed that I love what I do, and I get to work with some

Learning Work Ethic By Example

SPEAKER_02 16:11

of my closest friends and kind of like an older brother than I never had growing up. So I'm I'm grateful every morning.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

I that's so cool. I want to go into life at Advanced Partners in in a little bit, but um, I want to go back to what you talked about. You talked about work ethic, um uh leading by example. I love to hear your parents worked out. I'm a big exercise fan. Joking aside, my fitness goals are don't get fat, don't get hurt at the rifle age of 50. Uh people come to me joking. I am joking, but I'm also really serious. Like, I just don't want to get hurt. I want because too old to get hurt anymore.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Couldn't agree with you more. Um, I stopped playing basketball and I I do yoga and orange theory, and that's all you know. I I've and I play golf and a little bit of time, but yeah, I've scaled back drastically.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

So my only thing is golf. Golf, speed walking, old man CrossFit. Uh my wife does orange theory. Even that I didn't do. I do like this um my new thing recently. Uh I get up at 5 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I uh we do like this like it's like kind of like um kinesis type cable type workout. Okay. And it's like stations and it's like four old dudes. Some banter, some, you know, we're getting it's like kind of some strength. And then Tuesday, Thursdays, I'll do like old man CrossFit type stuff, like circuit, but you know, just enough to get a swick at a heart rate up, take the dogs for a walk, and I'm smiling and I'm not getting hurt knocking on wood. You look good. Whatever you're doing, keep it up. Appreciate it, brother. Um, so how did how else did your mom and dad maybe if there's a story of how you really learned uh work ethic? Like tell me what what comes to mind if you could if there's something like a a moment they taught you when you were kids or when you maybe you messed up, as that like a job or anything come to mind?

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Um, I don't know if that I mean I'm sure there were millions of moments, but does one jump out at me necessarily? No. Um you know, it's like learning by example, you know, just learning from being around there. You know, they were not, they didn't push us, right? They kind of let us be and they kind of let us um develop into people we were, right? We didn't need to be told to do our homework, we didn't need to be told to whatever try harder on the field or whatnot. You know, they they were great cheerleaders, right? And no matter what we were doing, um they always had our back, and hey, there was always some hurdles growing up, right? I mean, there was some nonsense we got into, but uh, or at least my brother and I. My sister is perfect. But um just looking how you know it's you know, work ethic, you know, they my mom will be up at five in the morning, you know, get us breakfast in the morning, get us on the bus, get to work, get home, you know, dinner on the table at every one of our sporting events at night, right? Going in three different directions. And then same thing with my dad, right? I mean, it was you know, up early working, you know. I used to, you know, I had great memories, you know, on Saturday morning. I used to go to work with him, and we used to get to go to uh McDonald's for breakfast in the morning. So that was always a fun, uh, fun activity. And then um, you know, just as we got older, he was teaching us more and more about let's just call it the real life, right? They pushed us to get jobs, you know, try different experiences, right? I worked on a worked in all types of types of jobs myself, and you realize how important an education is, and it just opens up opportunity, right? Um you know, going back to the work ethic, it it was really leading by example, I would say, more than any. What did he do on Saturdays? Back in the, you know, you couldn't just work at home on a computer, right? You had to go in. Um so he would usually, I mean, not every Saturday, right? Maybe a couple times a month, you know, go in for a half day. And I would kind of go in and, you know, work in the file room, you know, mess around on whatever, an empty office or go play in a warehouse or whatever it was. And no, it was kind of fun to kind of get to know the family business um growing up there or you know, helping wherever I can, right? Um, it was always kind of in third-party logistics for so there was always different things going on in the warehouse, and I would always find different little jobs to make some extra money, whether it was painting or whatever I can do to really make a buck. But uh ever since a young age, I was always fascinated with you know how companies make money, you know, how the process works, right? You create a widget, somebody finds value in it, they pay you for that, you know, product or service.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

I bet that's where Ben's curiosity comes from.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Yeah, I never missed an opportunity to uh you know go with him to the office or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah. How you mentioned

Sports Lessons From Lacrosse

SPEAKER_01 21:27

sports a couple times. Talk about um your your sports journey. How important was that to you?

SPEAKER_02 21:32

I wasn't uh I wasn't as athletic as your kids were, but you know, growing up, kind of played all your typical sports, your soccer, your baseball, football. Um and then as I got become a teenager, I really gravitated towards basketball and golf. And then as I got into high school, um I really stuck to golf and then I was introduced to lacrosse. Our high school team had just gotten a lacrosse team my freshman year. And I absolutely loved it. It was the perfect combination of. I was a decent runner and I had good endurance. And I still had that, you know, that small competitive edge. I kind of loved, yeah, I didn't love football, but I loved the hitting. I loved the action. And lacrosse was something that I really gravitated towards and had a ton of fun doing and had its own challenges. We didn't have a coach. I had to recruit some teachers to become our coach. Didn't win a game until our senior year. It took us four years to ever win a game, you know, as it, but it was uh it was a lot of fun, and it's so nice to see lacrosse become much more quote-unquote mainstream, at least in the Midwest, um than when I was growing up. Now, I mean, there's youth programs in the cities I live in, and it's I think it's just a really fun sport.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Yeah, it's funny. I knew nothing about lacrosse until my daughter's boyfriend and then my one of my buddies, his son, play lacrosse. And I still don't fully understand the rules, but I saw my daughter's boyfriend, shout out to AA Ron, his name's Aaron, but I call him AA Ron if he's listening. Uh he was, I think they call him a MIDI. Yep. And just he was a linebacker running back, but just destroyed a kid. And I was like, that was awesome. It is. And uh, I mean, I've I played quarterback Uncle Rico moment right there, everybody. Yeah. Uh in the in the back in the day. But so like quarterbacks back in the 90s, man, we took shots. Like, I hate to be the guy the two miles up the snow backwards school shot, but I think quarterbacks they don't hit don't get hit as like we did back in the day. And I mean I I joke that I some of these guys could have been put in jail for some of the the hits they did and the late hits. And um, but lacrosse is such a fun. I mean, I think it's such a cool, it's all endurance, 100%, and eye-hand coordination. The one position that I don't understand why you would ever want to play in lacrosse is goalie.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

I couldn't agree with you more.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

I mean, to take a lacrosse, right, to the baby maker, no thank you.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Could not agree with you more. Uh just getting those balls all the day. But no, it's a really fun sport. I used to have to recruit the football players who weren't doing baseball to be on the team. It was uh kind of like entrepreneurship, right? I was kind of building this small business, begging teachers to coach us. But no, it was a lot of fun, and now um I really just play golf and I love it.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Love it. Have you ever met a guy named uh Mark Agostinelli? No, should I? Mark is um president at the Davis Company. Shout out to Mark, he's a former quarterback dad cast um guest. He was his he was a I want to say D2 like all American lacrosse, played overseas in Australia, and uh I interviewed his coach who he stayed with in Australia. Um he was a lacrosse goalie of all things, and I thought about him, which is crazy. If you want, I can find you the episodes and send them to you. Um but yeah, Mark's a great dude. Um uh but yeah, look, it's uh it's funny. But the but I'm surprised like like pro lacrosse, I don't know if it's hasn't maybe it's taken off. I just don't, maybe I'm naive to it, but I haven't really followed it much out here in Seattle.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

I mean, I'll I'll I'll watch it on like ESPN two year or the Ocho, right? At like three. I mean, I always watch it, but uh and I mean my kids take a couple clinics, but whenever I'm up at like a field and I see people playing, I always try to jump in, grab a stick, and just throw it around.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

You ever just go body check one of the kids?

SPEAKER_02 26:01

I would love to love to. I'm about 50 or 60 pounds heavier than I was back then. I would uh I wish I could go back in time. There we go.

Golf As Family Time

SPEAKER_02 26:13

But um, how did how did you get involved with golf? My dad uh introduced me to golf. I was probably 10 years old. There was a local car three course um and took me up there with my grandpa one day, and we played, really enjoyed it, and then you know, I I was terri, you know, obviously it's it's really frustrating for years. Um, you know, growing up, uh, my family was a member of like a golf club, so I was very blessed and fortunate to, you know, kind of have access to you know, driving range and a course, and um, you know, it was just phenomenal family memories, just you know, playing golf on Saturday and Sundays or you know, in the summertime. Um so really my parents, both my mom and dad play. Um so it's a great activity for me to do with both parents. I mean, you know, trying to find different things that you know we all do together. Um so yeah, that's kind of how I got into golf after high school and in college. I didn't really play much. And then when I was living in Chicago, I didn't play much. But when I moved back to Cleveland about 12 years ago, that much I got back into it real quick. So um, and now my kids have really enjoyed golf. I got them in a couple little clinics, so yeah, hopefully it'll be something that I can share with my children. Is they you guys have PGA PGA Junior League out there? I don't know. I don't think so. Um there's a couple different, you know, different driving ranges and courses that do like junior clinic.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Um so I put them in a couple of times. Look it up if you can. It's called PGA Junior League. It's um it's like two or three person scrambles for teams. And uh it's like an easy way to to kind of get into game, make it fun, compete without obviously being too too pressure. Um there's another thing that I wish was around with mice, because I have a son who plays golf in college. Um his uh but there's this thing called now called op, I think it's called op 36, where they start the kids like at 25 yards, and you gotta shoot 36 before they move back to 50.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Heard about this. I gotta look that one up. When did your son get into golf or how did he get into golf?

SPEAKER_01 28:50

He's been he's both my kids, like I wish my daughter played golf. She's a really good athlete, but she she shot 51 in the tournament as like a nine-year-old or 10-year-old, took second, qualified for districts. She's like, Dad, I'm done. I'm like, wait, what? Um, my son was he got in, I mean, loved it just hitting and chip, you know, chipping and putting with me. Um right around, he got in like round two, and was I would say an average player, and then what got what got him good was COVID. Um, because everything shut down. He went from like a 15 down to like a four. Um and and then just grinded his ass off. And um, it's funny, we were very fortunate to belong to a club too, and maybe that ninth grade, eighth grade year, maybe eighth, maybe eighth grade year, he just wasn't going. So I said, hey bud, I'm taking you off the membership. He's like, Well, why? I go, because it's a waste of money and you're not going. And I didn't have this growing up, so I'm not paying for you. I got a job to you. So I'm not trying to be an a-hole, bud, but you know, this is a this is a blessing to have, and I'm not gonna waste a spot. Maybe another family wants to let their son or daughter go. And it lit a fire, and then he goes, he goes, I go, I'm more than happy to put you back on, bud, but you it has to be your idea, not mine. And I if I'm begging you to go every Friday or Saturday or Thursday night, or what it's you know, you gotta I want you have to want to put in the work to do it, and I want you to do what makes you happy, not what I think makes me happy. And so that was like a good moment for us as father-son. Um, but now he's I mean, he's spent he's kind of going through a little swing change right now, and he spent like five hours at the range yesterday. I mean, just grinding. So, um, but golf, I mean, it's a freaking hard game, and it will kick you. I I mean, I I played yesterday with a buddy last night and he had the shanks bad. I mean, literally hazle rockets everywhere. And I'm like, the dude was shanking chips, and he just I felt so bad for him, but because I've been there, and sometimes when you get the shanks, like, what the shit is going on? The worst. We've all been there. Um okay, so you mentioned um you mentioned a couple things earlier about you what's important to your your kids from you and your wife's perspective.

The Traits We Want For Kids

SPEAKER_01 31:03

But if you had to like say that the top three things that in 15 years from now, when people think of the your your uh when they think of um your son and your daughter, tell me what would be the three things you hope people say about them.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Um they're kind, they're driven, they have a purpose, and then um I think the third is you know, they're fun to be around, right? We have a lot of we have a lot of fun in the house, kind of goofy. Um you know, my son's much more for him, you know, he wants to be the funniest person in his class. You know, he's he enjoys kind of that attention, but uh, you know, and yeah, so I think that would be it.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

I think if I was living like uh step brothers too, I think me and Ben might be best buddies. I mean, curious, and he's a goofball, like he's a speaking my language.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Yeah, he is a goofball. I mean, step oh don't even I don't even want to we've watched step brothers with the kids and they wouldn't. And yeah, it was probably way too inappropriate for them, but it's okay. We do a ton of movies, we watch a ton of like old school movies, and sometimes you don't you don't know which movies are appropriate for kids of which ages, and it's like sometimes you're watching it and you're like a lot of the jokes go over their head, which is fine, but it is uh that is one of the things we love to do is old school movies.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yeah, well, the 80s PG movies are pretty much like triple X right now. I mean they're yeah. Uh I remember as a when my kids were in like fourth grade, I had my son's best buddy over at the house, and I think we threw on like Revenge of the Nerds, and I was like, oh boy. But my kids they love that. They quote Revenge the Nerds now. That's great. Oh good.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Do you remember this is gonna be kind of random, but do you remember when they had the special line TV with Revenge of the Nerds and you used to have to go get 3D glasses? Oh yeah. Do you remember okay? Yeah, um, I don't remember when it was, but we had the same thing, and I put on ladybugs because I'm like, oh, my daughter plays soccer, and it's kind of like a oh my god, that thing is so inappropriate. I had him watch it in who knows, 30 years, and it was it was hilarious. I mean, I thought it was great, but some of the jokes were not age appropriate.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

No. Oh, it's funny. Well, I love that. Be kind, driven, and fun to be around. I don't care what they do in life, uh, they they will be successful. Um, whatever whatever they choose to do.

Do You Believe Your Work Matters

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Hey everyone, my name is Blaise Basell, and I hope you're enjoying today's episode of the Quarterback Dadcast. In case you're wondering, I'm a fellow dad and also the president of Kelly Mitchell. Kelly Mitchell is an employee-owned technology solutions firm, and we help organizations solve complex business challenges. I think at the end of the day, we're we're focused on our team doing work that matters for our clients. And that's because the way you show up matters, the way you treat people, clients, teammates, really everyone. That shapes the experience and the results that follow. I think similarly, Casey has had a real impact on our team internally at Kelly Mitchell. He spent time with us most recently in St. Louis with our sales team, and while he was there, he asked a question that really stuck with me, and that was Do you believe that what you do matters? That question stayed with us. It's changed how we approach our day-to-day, how we prepare, how we communicate, and ultimately how we follow through. That's why the experience Casey brings to his customers has made such an impact. Because whether when people believe their work matters, everything works better across the team, with our clients, and definitely in results. So we appreciate you, Casey, and now back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Um,

Putting The Phone Away

SPEAKER_01 35:03

I'm always curious, like for you, David, as a as a dad, what would be an area your dad game that if you're watching film, you're and you're saying, Man, here's an area of my game that you know, if I if I could be honest with myself and say this is an area I can I can prove to be a better dad, and I'll and I'll share mine as well. Tell me what what comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_02 35:20

You know, I'm a little embarrassed to say it because I have it on my vision board every year, but it's like just be here now. It's really hard for me to turn the phone off, you know, turn electronics off, um, and not, you know, respond to a call or respond to an email. Even if it's whatever, 5 30, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock at night. It's just uh um, you know, it's something that kind of addicted to the phone. And not like sure, playing on the Instagrams and reading articles and whatnot, but it's just being super responsive to clients and prospects and partners and whatnot. So um that's something that I I need to be better at is hey, after 536, you know, just when we're having family time, we're together, just almost putting the phone in a box, you know, for two, three hours to enjoy, you know, the time that I've got with them. That that's definitely something that I need to work on.

SPEAKER_01 36:27

Yeah. I I love that, man. You're you're not alone, brother, by by saying that. I'd love to tell a story if I can here in a sec about that. Uh before I want to talk about like my my gap is something I still work on as I share this a lot, yeah, is just constantly working on patience. And I've become an a I I know I've become more patient just from this podcast alone and talking to 300 something other dads, 350 plus dads. Um, another thing that I think about is sometimes younger dads, I I give you any advice is get rid of your expectations. Um because a lot of these expectations are sitting in your head and they're never gonna come true, or you're actually setting yourself and your kids and your family up for failure. Um, because probably you didn't communicate those expectations clearly. Um, and then what happens when they don't live up to them, you just versus if you can just kind of like stay in the moment and and be present and follow Ben's advice and your advice and probably your pops and anybody else is be curious and um we're so cooked to respond and react versus just be present. Um but as you told that story where your your area where you're looking to approve, I am so I would say year, year, I was, I mean, right guy, right time, right place, but on I was a number one rep at K Force a long time ago. I remember early in my career, I mean, life was great, we were rolling, but I remember I was miserable, miserable because I mean not miserable, but I was just like really struggling because my kids were young, I get home, and they're uh you know, I miss, I'm almost missing bedtime. And you know, uh I get my job at the time because my wife is saying I gotta provide for family, but I remember going to my boss, and I've shared this episode, shared this multiple times before, so apologize if you're hearing it before, but um, I just said, hey, I need some help. And she and I had this great conversation, and she's like, What's going on? I go, I just I feel like I'm not being the best dad I can be because I'm work so stressful and I'm you know just have to be on and demanding, and she's like, Why don't you leave early? I go, I can't it's not a bank where I leave early. It isn't like a freaking nine to five job. It's like clients, if they need me, I gotta be there. And she's like, Don't you trust us? And I remember I was like, Oh, and she goes, leave before, you got an hour-long commute, get home from five to seven, unless it's massively client impacting, don't respond. You're not that important. And just it was such great advice of like, you know, you've dialed 911, your phone's not gonna ring, my phone's not gonna ring. And the more I worked on that, dude, my career went through another level. And I'll never regret it. And you know, when the time's right for you, when that like life, you know, whatever the it happens, you'll never regret it either. But I get, I mean, everybody's job's different, but I I love the fact that at least you said it um because you're present enough to say it and think about it. And I think that hopefully it'll inspire by us talking about this, another another dad or mom at home to be like, huh, maybe I need to like kind of dial it back. It's not like you're not working harder, you're just like trying

Travel And Work Life Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 39:25

to be more efficient with your time.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

No, of course. And I'm I'll tell you, from COVID, like I work at home, I travel a lot. I travel almost every week. But when I'm home, I'm home. Like I don't miss like what was it last week or maybe it was two weeks ago? Yeah, I I always miss my children's spring concert. I'm either at NATO or this year we had a big client event, and it always happens to fall on these weeks, but it's like I pick and choose my schedule. I chase deals, I see customers, I do what I have to do. But when I'm home, I'm very fortunate that you know I've got a leadership team that you know trusts me and I get the work done and I try to be there. When I'm home, I'm home. Right? I don't miss a practice, I'm there when they get off the bus. You know, I'm making dinner, I'm doing everything I can. It's just when I travel, it's a lot on my wife, and you know, it sucks missing the kids. But I'm a big believer in uh personal connections, and so my clients are have become my best friends, mentors, partner, whatever it is, right? They're just they're they're and those don't happen over Zoom, they don't happen over, you know, phone calls, um and industry friends, and you know, it just it's um it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

It's it's good for you though, dude. I mean, I love it. I mean, you we can't be everyone to everything, but I think we uh the one thing I have learned in life is uh I I follow, I call this the HVC flywheel, which is trying to be the most humble, vulnerable, curious version of myself. And when I'm doing those things, I stay grounded. Um and it just it forces me to make sure my keep my ego checked and just do that that um but I love it, dude. I think it's great what you said. I want to talk about how you got into um well let's I'd like to make sure we we make sure our audience knows who is Advanced Partners and how can I learn more about what you guys

Advanced Partners Explained

SPEAKER_01 41:31

do.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

So, Advanced Partners, we specialize in providing financing to staffing entrepreneurs. Um, we've been around since 1998. Um 10 years ago, the original founders had an exit paychecks. So we're actually owned by paychecks. We work with about 600 staffing firms today. Um and last year we provided $8 billion in financing. And our clients love the fact that we provide unlimited capital, we're incredibly flexible, and we eat, sleep, and breathe staffing. Um, that's typically why they choose us over a traditional bank line or you know other sources of funding. But when I tell you we do the right thing, we always have our clients back, and I'll do just about anything I possibly can to help our clients, whether it's in good times or their backs against them. And you know, building that trust, we've been very blessed and fortunate to get referrals, you know, as they do acquisitions, you know, we're we're helping them with capital. But uh we do both the financing side, and then we also have a division where we'll do the back office, where we'll do like invoicing, billing, and payroll as well, and then we partner with Aviante to give our clients you know an applicant track.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Very cool. Well, we will make that um easy uh for people to find you guys. I'll link

Favorite Part Of Fatherhood

SPEAKER_01 43:06

it in the show notes. Um what's your favorite part about being a dad?

SPEAKER_02 43:11

My favorite part about being a dad is I love the little people that they're becoming, right? The little personalities they have, but I know this sounds like one of the most rewarding things is I love seeing them do really well on the sports field. I know it sounds kind of like who know, I don't know, you know, to be determined if they'll actually be athletes, but I love when they excel in sports and I can kind of just watch on the sidelines. But uh yeah, I like the little people that they're becoming and the personalities they have. It's just so cute.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Yeah. Love it. Um, that's great, ma'am. Well, how can people find you, David? They want to connect, they're they're intrigued about your story, they want to learn more about you and advanced partners. Tell me what's the easiest way people can find you?

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Easiest. Way to find me is on LinkedIn. I like to say I'm pretty active, very responsive. You know, if you need capital, you want to just talk shop, see trends. I've kind of become this little MA guru at any time. I always have a handful of deals, usually smaller proprietary deals that are looking to sell. So I'm always happy there. Um, but no, LinkedIn's probably the best. And uh or you can go to advanced partners at.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

But I love it. We'll make it linked in the show notes. Um, David, it's now time to have a little fun where I take you into

Lightning Round Fun

SPEAKER_01 44:39

the lightning round, which is when I show you the negative hits of taking too many hits and college, not bong hits, but football hits. And your job is to answer these questions as quickly as you can. My hope is they get a giggle out of you. Are you ready? Okay, true or false, you like to wear Speedo during Ben swim meets.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

False.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

I just laughed at my own joke. Okay. Um, if you uh were to build your dream for some, who's in it? Oh, I would go dead or alive.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Tiger Woods. Um kind of gotten on the roaring train right now.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:21

Then uh I'd use Scotty.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

There we go. I love it. Um favorite book you read in the last year.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

Oh, in the last year? So that's a whole nother conversation. I'm a big audio book guy.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:40

Oh, favorite book? Um I mean, I reread Split the Difference Chris Voss. Yeah, Chris Voss. So I mean I can go with that.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

Okay. Um, favorite comedy movie of all time is? Favorite movie of all time? Comedy movie. Oh, comedy. Oh, stepbrothers. There we go. Ma, meatloaf. Um, what would be the one genre of music that might surprise your friends at Advanced Partners that you love to listen to?

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Hip hop or rap, like old school rap.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

I love throwing oh when I go to my old man workouts, is what I say, Alexa, 90s rap. Put some biggie on. My kids always make fun like that. Easy with the like this is this is legit stuff, kids. You don't even know. Um, if you were to take your wife on vacation right now, no kids, just you and her, where are you taking her? There we go. If there was to be a book written about your life, tell me the title. That's a good price. What what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 46:42

It would be uh he turned out okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:45

He turned out I love that. He turned out okay. Now, David, you're never gonna believe this, but uh Netflix is calling us right now. They're like, dude, we gotta make a movie about uh he turned it turned out okay because every book is sold out in Barnes and Noble, Amazon, airports, no one can get a copy of it. Now they need to make a movie to make this. You're on the main stage, the story, but you can't be the main character. Someone else has to star you. You're the casting director. Who's gonna star David, this critically acclaimed Hitney movie?

SPEAKER_02 47:12

Will Farrell. There we go. It would have to be a comedy, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

I thought you might go Vince Vaughn with the Chicago. But blonde hair, I could see. Here we go. Okay. Uh and then last and most important question tell me two words that would describe your wife. Smart and beautiful. Smart and beautiful, fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

I mean a million. I mean, there's a million. Yeah. What's up with me? But smart and beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

What's up with me? So good. That's why it's hard. But the lightning round's complete. Uh, we both giggled. I usually laugh at my own dumb jokes first. So I I take the loss again. Congrats. You've won the lightning round. Um, it's been an honor getting to know you better. Uh, I'm intrigued. I am I know this is an audio only podcast to everybody, but if you could have seen, I get to see my guests when I'm speaking to him. But if you would have seen

Closing Reflections And Review Ask

SPEAKER_01 48:05

David's face when he talked about his kids, the just he lit up. So uh that's what being a dad's about is being there, loving them, uh, creating the best environment for them, finding something they want to do, uh, ignite those skills. Um, our kids are gonna fail, and that's okay, everybody. That's how they learn resilience and grit and tough, and and they're not always gonna be successful. Um, I remind myself that at all times. I mean, I'm going through supporting my daughter, who's an awesome high school basketball player, you know, playing college, and she's got a torn ACL right now. She's out. And but so I'm like, who cares? Let's go. It's life moves on. And my son's, you know, he's had some really great days in the golf course and some really challenging days. Who cares? Doesn't define you. You know, the sport does not define you. So these are things I'm um, as we talked about, Dave, you helped me kind of just really remind myself. And if you don't, if anybody follows the Daily Stoic, I would I would encourage you to find a LinkedIn post I did about it. I was in I was inspired by a good friend of mine by Andy Spear. And a Daily Stoic passage days about um practicing, working on learning something new, and and just remembering the habits that create success. And so I don't know why I got on my soapbox and shared that, David, but you inspired me to do so. Um I'll make sure we're all these are all linked in the show notes, man. But um I'm grateful you spent some time with me today and I look forward to hopefully seeing you again in person, hopefully at another conference or on the golf course.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

Thank you so much. Really appreciate you having you bet, dude.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

Huge favor now, everybody. If you can go into your phone wherever you listen to this podcast and and take time to leave us a review, take time to leave us a rating, uh, take time to share this episode with somebody else. We're trying to grow this podcast and and reach the goal of eventually interviewing 1,000 dads. So I appreciate you all spending time with us and I hope you have a great rest of your day. But again, if you take time to go ahead and leave us a review, we'd mean the world to us. We'll see you next week.