Episode 010: The Walkaway Marine: How a Founding DHS Member Chose the Farm Over the Government with David Powers
Episode Summary
What do you do when the institution you helped build turns out to be the thing you can't trust? Dr. David Powers didn't spiral. He moved to a dirt road, grew his own food, raised five kids, and started writing the novel he promised himself in fifth grade. But the road to that front porch wasn't a straight line. Not even close.
Dave is a decorated Marine, a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security, a bestselling author, a psychologist, and a homesteader running a farm with a haunted barn and a donkey that roams the neighborhood. He's a UGC creator with NFL contracts, a publisher with his own small press, and a man chasing $100K in annual passive income through crypto yield farming, real estate fractions, and book royalties. He's also a guy who, as an 8-year-old kid in a Myrtle Beach trailer park, would sit and wait to stop crying and bleeding just so he could finally play Nintendo.
That kid didn't get saved. He got angrier. He learned to fight back, started winning, and spent years terrified he'd become the rage-fueled version of himself he'd worked so hard to leave behind. He avoided conflict for a long time because of it. It cost him relationships with his two oldest kids. It got him kicked out of the family business last year. It still turns his face bright red when the heat rises. And he's still dealing with it, weekly, in a VA therapist's office, with a woman barely five years out of college who he says doesn't flinch at anything he tells her.
This episode doesn't have a clean ending. Dave is in a financial slump right now. He'll tell you that himself. But he's also writing his first novel , the one built on a fifth-grade short story he's kept for forty years , and channeling every piece of the darkness into something that might help the next kid on that dirt road who doesn't know it can be better. If you grew up angry, if you've ever used trauma as fuel and wondered whether that fire was burning you down instead of pushing you forward, this episode is for you.
In This Episode, You'll Discover:
- How a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security concluded he needed to "make babies and grow his own food" once he reached the upper levels of government bureaucracy
- What it was like growing up in a Myrtle Beach trailer park at 8 years old , where gangs organized by race, beatings were daily, and Dave would wait to stop crying just to earn a turn at Nintendo
- The moment in middle school Dave decided to become the guy nobody would mess with , and how that decision turned into a decade-long anger problem that followed him into fatherhood
- Why Dave sees a non-Christian therapist at the VA instead of his pastor, and his specific reasons for keeping therapy completely outside your social and church circles
- Dave's real breakdown of passive income , what it actually means, what he's building toward $100K annually, and why he says nothing is truly passive
- The "action over meditation" philosophy Dave lives by, including why the red pill in The Matrix was just information, not action, and what that means for anyone sitting on a business idea
- How Dave uses Red Team thinking from his military background to plan for failure, build Plan B before he needs it, and never be completely blindsided when people don't deliver
- Why Dave is writing his first novel now, at this stage of life, and how a fifth-grade sci-fi story he's kept for 40 years became the most therapeutic project he's ever worked on
Key Takeaways:
- Moving First Beats Thinking Forever. Dave doesn't advocate against meditation or journaling. He does both. But he's watched too many people use reflection as a substitute for action. The red pill was just knowledge. Neo still had to move. Get off the couch before you have the perfect plan.
- Anger Is Energy. The Only Question Is Where It Goes. Dave has been wired for fight since he was a kid. He stopped fighting other people, but the energy didn't disappear. Now it goes to the iron barn, the punching bag, and the work. Physical movement is his first-line tool for managing what he calls the "angry kick-everybody's-butt Dave" before he shows up in the wrong room.
- Professional Help Isn't Weakness. Choosing the Wrong Person Is. Dave is pro-therapy but very specific about who you talk to. Not your pastor. Not your friend group. Not your social circle. Someone outside all of it, without the baggage, without the stakes, and without the temptation to turn your story into a sermon point or ammunition later.
- Check Your Hardware Before You Optimize Your Software. Dave started testosterone therapy at week three when this episode recorded and was already seeing major energy shifts. Full blood panel, testosterone levels, peptide therapy. You can't build a high-performance life on a body you're ignoring.
- Passive Income Is Always Passive-Adjacent. Nothing is truly passive. You invest time, money, or both. Dave has skin in real estate fractions, crypto yield farming, and a small publishing house. Each took work to build. The recurring income that follows is the payoff, not a shortcut.
- Plan B Isn't Pessimism. It's Respect for Reality. Nobody is as invested in your vision as you are. Not employees, not family, not partners. Red-teaming your own plans, identifying what failure looks like before it happens, and building around it isn't cynical. It keeps you moving when the people who said they'd be there aren't.
- Give Yourself Grace for Being a First-Time Parent. Your oldest kid was the experiment. Your youngest gets the version of you that learned. Dave's two oldest kids cut off contact. It hurt. He processed it, talked to a therapist about it, and landed on this: he did the best he could with what he had, they're making their own choices, and he doesn't have to carry condemnation for the rest of his life.
- Be Different, Not Better. When it comes to marketing, Dave's advice is the same principle that built his personal brand: stop trying to be a better version of everyone else. He gets booked as a keynote speaker because people remember "the bold red-bearded Viking guy." They don't always remember his name. They always ask him back.
Timestamps:
- [00:00] Cold open, the framed screwdriver and the story Karl has to earn back
- [01:45] Karl's intro: who is Dr. David Powers
- [04:10] From Homeland Security to homesteader: why the upper levels of government broke Dave's trust
- [07:30] Life on the farm today: routines, woods, a wandering donkey, and yelling at nobody
- [11:00] Building passive income to $100K: crypto yield farming, real estate fractions, and book royalties
- [17:20] What passive income actually means and why nothing is truly passive
- [20:45] Going into the basement: Dave opens up about being abused as a kid in a Myrtle Beach trailer park
- [27:00] The moment Dave decided to learn how to fight , and what it cost him for years afterward
- [33:15] How childhood anger shaped his parenting, his reactions, and the version of himself he still fights today
- [38:40] Channeling rage into movement: the iron barn, the punching bag, and why physical exertion is Dave's first-line tool
- [42:00] The fifth-grade sci-fi story Dave never threw away and why this year's novel is the most therapeutic thing he's ever done
- [46:30] What to do if you're carrying pent-up anger right now: movement first, therapy second
- [51:00] Why Dave sees a non-Christian therapist at the VA and why he won't go to his pastor with the hard stuff
- [56:20] Testosterone therapy at week three: what changed and why Dave thinks more men need to check their blood panels
- [1:01:00] Action over meditation: why Dave lives by this and what the red pill in The Matrix actually represents
- [1:06:30] Goals vs. dreams: the difference between Dave buying stuff at Tractor Supply and his wife talking about goats
- [1:10:00] Red Team Goals: what red-teaming is, why Dave named his site after it, and how to plan for people letting you down
- [1:16:00] Vision protection: why friends and family will talk you out of it and why that's not your problem
- [1:20:30] The financial slump Dave is in right now and what grit looks like when things aren't going well
- [1:25:00] Addition by subtraction: saying no more, managing FOMO, and clearing space for what should have been there all along
- [1:29:30] 60 seconds of grace: forgiving yourself for not being a perfect parent to your first kids
- [1:34:00] Dave's personal mantra: moderation is for people who aren't fully committed
- [1:37:00] Marketing advice for the next guest: be different, not better
- [1:41:30] Where to find Dave and what Part Two will cost listeners (reviews)
Resources & Links:
- Book: "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin (referenced via the "be different" concept)
- Platform: BetterHelp.com (online therapy, mentioned as a cost-efficient option for those not comfortable with in-person)
Connect with Dr. David Powers:
- Website: https://redteamgoals.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drdavid.powers
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdavidpowers
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@streamsofincomebydrdave
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drdavidpowers
- Twitter X: https://twitter.com/DrDavidPowers
Connect with Karl Jacobi:
- Website: https://successwithkarl.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karljacobi
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karl.jacobi
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/successwithkarl
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KarlJacobi
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@veteran808
Creators and Guests
Host
Karl Jacobi
Host of The Grit Factor Podcast, Resilience & Performance Coach, Founder, Entrepreneur, Combat Veteran
