The Grit Factor Podcast w/ Karl Jacobi

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:26:04
Unknown
Have to go through, again, just why you are the way that you are. And it doesn't mean that, like, you have to continually live with your past. But the thing is, if you if you push it down, it's going to repeat itself, your path, your way, your your calling was to, to be in this position. Right. And so when somebody says you know, the things they said to you essentially even, you know, calling you a another word, you know, little for you to elaborate on that it hurt.

00:00:26:06 - 00:00:45:13
Unknown
The moment I just cried, I didn't have anything to say. I mean, I just cried and I couldn't say anything. I had to start a new service ten minutes later. Ten minutes later, I was standing up doing praise motions, right? Like no one, no one else, no one else. To this day that church knows that happened. One thing is like is just realistically like everything is connected.

00:00:45:15 - 00:01:13:09
Unknown
You know, we our mental, our emotional off our physical, you know, what is a quote or directive that you find yourself telling you yourself to power through in that moment or in that season that you're going through? I mean, not to keep it really simple, but that tomorrow's a new day. That when we make mistakes from the day when we're not as efficient as we wanted to, when we didn't spend as much time as our kids as we wanted to at all you have to do is wake up.

00:01:13:09 - 00:01:28:07
Unknown
Remember, tomorrow's a new day. Sometimes we didn't try hard enough. And that statement is very true and is a reason to keep going and sometimes we just need to quit because that's not our purpose and that's not our calling.

00:01:28:13 - 00:01:47:00
Unknown
Grant. Welcome to the show, my dude. Great having you there. I'm really looking forward to jamming with you, man. Absolutely. Thanks so much for just letting me. Let me share. I love what you're doing. So happy to chat here. Appreciate it man. I think that goes both ways. I've been watching you from the sidelines. I've met you 1 or 2 times, shook, you know, shaking your hand a few times.

00:01:47:02 - 00:02:11:03
Unknown
But never really had the privilege of actually sitting down, you know, to actually talk with you, learn, you know, about you and talk with you. You know, sigh from today. But today, man, grant on paper you're this amazing success story. You run a $2 million business. You help homeschool your kids. You've essentially I hate to see this were bought, but you've essentially bought your freedom.

00:02:11:04 - 00:02:33:11
Unknown
So for those listening and or watching, let me paint this picture. Because again, I've been following following this amazing young man for, for a while, especially on social media. You're very transparent about, you know, your background and just journey. You're on it. And I respect that dude because in this era that we live in, it's extremely hard to be vulnerable.

00:02:33:11 - 00:02:59:23
Unknown
It's hard to be transparent. Yeah, I gotta say, it's extremely inspiring because you've built this life of freedom. You've built this life of mobility. I mean, you're just I don't remember exactly where you were, but your, you know, joy, your freedom, essentially, with your family and so forth. But you didn't start there, right? You didn't start as this amazing artist or I that I see us today, you know, so you started as a pastor.

00:02:59:23 - 00:03:28:23
Unknown
Give us in context of how does a guy you know, you know, you know, that we see today go from being a in the pulpit to leveraging credit cards to building a multimillion dollar business, and you have the freedom that he enjoys today. Yeah. So let me go before that, too. You know, since our ministry five, six years ago, you know, I had, I did a deep dive through, you know, a lot of therapy and counseling and and just being able to slow my life down to reflect on my past, because it's just not right.

00:03:28:23 - 00:03:56:20
Unknown
Like our past shapes us to who we are. There's people that will say things like, you know, I'm a that's just me. I just have a foul mouth or I'm just, you know, I don't I don't like my feelings. Oh, you know, us. We just don't talk about things. And actually, every single one of those things, you can probably find the point, whether it was from your your parents, you know, and you growing up as a kid or whether it was from in the military and having having someone drill some things in you or whatever it is, like our past shapes who we are.

00:03:56:22 - 00:04:20:05
Unknown
And and so my earliest memory of like, like I told this to someone else before of like of like video of me, like I can see live action grant. Like I have little snapshots of like kindergarten, first grade stuff, but like, I've actually things happening. The first thing I remember is there are things in like fourth, fifth grade and in fourth grade I was voted the class president.

00:04:20:05 - 00:04:48:00
Unknown
Or they were each class got to vote. Someone to be on, like the government council. Right. And so I was the one of the four fourth graders in fifth grade. I didn't win. And I remember that feeling. And in that same time in fifth grade was I remember I was starting puberty because I remember I stank, I stunk, and I had to put on deodorant and, you know, for, during that for a guy in fifth, sixth, seventh grade, you know, lots of changes happening.

00:04:48:02 - 00:05:12:06
Unknown
Yeah. And, so in sixth grade, I it is when in my school, like zeros started and to me was a lot of stress. I was a perfectionist. I want to get good grades. And it's unfortunate that that's the system that even if you know everything that's being taught, if you are boneheaded and forgetful like I was and forget some assignments, you're going to get A, B or C in the class.

00:05:12:06 - 00:05:29:23
Unknown
And and so in fifth and sixth grade I started getting sick a lot. And that stress I started having migraines. I spent even some time in the hospital, I think two separate like three day periods. Just they couldn't get my headaches. Start in, in seventh grade, I developed a tic disorder, which was where I got stressed.

00:05:30:02 - 00:06:05:10
Unknown
Or when I got even it, I just got tired. I remember at basketball practice one day, my coach was asking me, like, hey, do you have, get a headache right now is like, no. And the kids behind him were like, doing this, like, little blinking thing. And I was like, oh my, my doing the thing because I don't know really what was going on, but really, I just, I, I just were twitching, you know, when I, you know, got stressed and, and and anxious and, and all those things and, so I end up in high school, I switched schools and, and the reason why, like, I think that's so relevant to me

00:06:05:12 - 00:06:33:07
Unknown
is because I've always been a people pleaser. I've always wanted people's words of affirmation. I've always wanted people to say, job grant, you know, even even your little intro like, there's something inside me that's like, yeah, buddy. Like, let's, let's, let's bring it, let's hear it. And, and that comes from, you know, bullying and not feeling accepted and feeling, you know, going through all that stuff in middle school is, you know, I just long to hear that I got it from home.

00:06:33:09 - 00:06:56:11
Unknown
But you still want your friends. You still want the popular kids to like you, right? Like all of those emotions. And, and so for me, the reason why, again, this, this is just, just from talking to people I care about and trying to figure out why I am the way I am, like recent things. But I really think the reason why I have such a high work ethic is because I was always seeking approval.

00:06:56:12 - 00:07:13:18
Unknown
I was always the teacher's pet, in a lot of my classes, the when I started working at dairy Queen and Texas Roadhouse, I moved up fast. And I and the bosses like me because I worked hard, because I wanted them to say how great I was because I didn't have that through school, or at least you know how it is.

00:07:13:18 - 00:07:31:19
Unknown
You get like five kids pick on you. You think the whole school hates you, right? That's that's the mindset of a middle schooler. And so, so for me, strangely, I never I never had a problem with with grit. Right? I never had a problem with working hard. I was working hard out of out of my, my mild trauma.

00:07:31:19 - 00:07:56:17
Unknown
I don't have I don't have big T trauma. I have little t trauma. It's of, I have great parents and and they did the best they could, but, but my hard work came out of that. And so what you're referring to with, with church is, is, you know, I, the church I was attending, their children's pastor left, so I got on staff as a children's pastor at a at a big church.

00:07:56:19 - 00:08:23:02
Unknown
This church has, like, ten plus campuses. Now, I bed less than. And, and so I was someone that was very underqualified for that job. And still the, the numbers we did from a numbers standpoint were good. Like, we increased kids in the ministry had a lot of really bought in volunteers. And part of my job, I was doing well.

00:08:23:02 - 00:08:45:22
Unknown
And it was praise, which of course, again, I'm seeking. Right. The problem was there were, the two people that were my employees did not like me, and I led them very poorly. You know, I grew up with a or, I learned through work a like, hierarchy status. Right. Like the GM is in charge. The assistant manager is in charge.

00:08:45:22 - 00:09:06:02
Unknown
The shift manager is in charge of the hourly workers. That's all I knew. That's how Texas Roadhouse was run, and I. And I knew how to do that well. And I'd never heard of servant leadership before. And I was not a servant leader. And and they were used to the person before me was a great servant leader. He got a promotion somewhere else.

00:09:06:04 - 00:09:27:14
Unknown
Here comes Grant trying to tell people what to do. And, and for so there's here's the those, those old wounds happening. Right. Like, I, the last thing I'll share and then I love for you to chime in is that I in between services, I was in the preschool chapel where kids are singing and dancing, praising. Yeah.

00:09:27:14 - 00:09:58:11
Unknown
And I was cussed out by one of my employees, and they said a lot of hurtful things to me that were all true about myself. And in that moment, what I still say to ministry. Afterwards, I changed churches and and had a good, good healing time for that. But that moment was the start of Grant wanting to just work hard and do well and do a good job and perform, but also Grant also wanting to have, you know, emotional awareness, emotional intelligence.

00:09:58:11 - 00:10:17:05
Unknown
Yeah, that people are more important than production and, and all these other things and say at the time I was pretty pissed off at my employees and I was like, why do I get put up with this? Out of all the people? It's my first. Every time I'm in charge of someone I'm in, they don't like me. And blaming everyone.

00:10:17:05 - 00:10:27:04
Unknown
But, it was it was me. And, man, it's hard to do that deep dive on yourself. But I eventually got there. I'm closer there.

00:10:27:09 - 00:10:49:01
Unknown
Hey, real quick before we keep going. If you've been listening, this conversation and something hit a nerve is something we talked about, made you pause, or you feel that little tug in your chest like, man, that one was for me. I want you to lean into that for a second. Don't just brush it off, because here's the thing.

00:10:49:03 - 00:11:15:14
Unknown
Conversations like this. Yes, they're great, and I love doing the show. I really do. But if I'm being real with you, a conversation can only take you so far. At some point, you gotta start nodding along and actually do something with that feeling. So here's what I want you to do. I want to personally invite you to something we built called the Reforest Challenge.

00:11:15:19 - 00:11:41:22
Unknown
It's a live five day experience. I created specifically for people like you, high performers who know they're capable of more. But something got knocked sideways and your playbook just stopped working. Or maybe life smacked you in the face with a two by four that you just didn't see coming. Maybe the fire just dimmed and you can't figure out how to reignite it.

00:11:42:00 - 00:12:14:14
Unknown
Five days. Five real identity shifts. Live coaching, real community in the kind of honest conversations that actually move the needle. Not just another thing you consume and forget by Friday. Listen, you're not broken. You're just in between versions. And I love for you to come see what we've built. Head on over to the Reforge challenge.com again. Reforged challenge.com.

00:12:14:16 - 00:12:22:06
Unknown
Check it out. See if it speaks to you and if it does. I'll see you inside. All right, let's get back to it.

00:12:22:08 - 00:12:38:02
Unknown
It's a journey, man. Right? It's not a destination. Yeah, I'm right there with you. And it's ironic, because the more conversations I have with individuals, it just really, you know, reaffirms the belief of the program.

00:12:38:02 - 00:13:03:19
Unknown
And you we receive early on, right. Listening to your story. Listen, by the way, thank you for for sharing on it. Thank you for your painting. This picture of of Grant. You know, from you know, from the from the early days, you know, all the way up to who we see today, man. Because that really even more paints this picture of the journey you had to go through.

00:13:03:20 - 00:13:35:18
Unknown
Right. You heard, you know, in a if I'm saying this correctly or if I'm not saying it correctly, correct me please. But you sound a you're take you thought this was your path, right? You thought that this was your your path, your way, your your calling was to to be in this position. Right. And so when somebody says, you know, the things they said to you essentially even, you know, calling you another word, you know, little for you to elaborate on that it hurt right in that stage are called disorientation.

00:13:35:18 - 00:14:04:19
Unknown
Right. Because it really shakes, you know, the very core of what you thought you were for for the longest period of your life. And now all of a sudden, you're you're you're shaken, right? You're image you're you're this whole facade that you have about yourself, you know? So take us to that moment just real quickly. You were talking about how, you know, you're you're you're being talked to in a not really a good manner, unchristian like it could have been a better way to just say those same words, but.

00:14:04:19 - 00:14:25:01
Unknown
Yeah, right. Better place to talk to us for a quick moment in when this if when they were talking to you about this, what was running through your mind. Right. I mean, what were some of the things I mean, you know, keep this PG rated as possible, right? But, you know, what did they say to you? I mean, how did that make you feel?

00:14:25:01 - 00:14:48:01
Unknown
Did it make you feel hurt? Did it if you make you feel angry, frustrated, sad. Like, how did that make you feel, man? Yeah. So, I mean, one thing I remember, them saying was that I'm the most prideful and arrogant person they've ever met in their life. I don't know if it was then or later. I was called narcissistic, but that was brought up throughout, throughout my time and at that time.

00:14:48:01 - 00:15:04:05
Unknown
So I'm in my I'm in my early 20s or maybe mid 20s, and I don't even frickin know what narcissistic is. So I look it up and I'm like, oh, that's not good. And and it's a little true, but that's, that's not good to be called that. And I knew it wasn't good, but and so in the moment I just cried.

00:15:04:05 - 00:15:19:04
Unknown
I didn't have anything to say. I mean, I just cried and I couldn't say anything. And I had to start a new service ten minutes later. Ten minutes later, I was standing up doing praise motions, right? Like no one, no one else, no one else to this day at that church knows that happened. Unless someone else shared.

00:15:19:05 - 00:15:45:12
Unknown
And, and so I think that what so thankfully, there were, five men, you know, at that church that, were way wiser than me and that I could talk to and of course, cry, too. And, you know, I'm someone that now, like, I don't have. I guess I'm a little more in touch with my emotions, in myself, in a positive way.

00:15:45:14 - 00:16:23:01
Unknown
But back and and even before that, before that moment and after that moment, like, I've always been a rock and been fine, but I back then, man, I couldn't hold, hold anything together because, I think I just got, I got opened up and, you know, there's some deep inside things that I push down for a lot of years that finally came to the surface and it was like, hey, I was found out right, like and and so there was there were a lot of hard truths that I believe that, you know, I could have there's really successful, unhealthy people, really successful, emotionally unhealthy people all through.

00:16:23:02 - 00:16:50:05
Unknown
I mean, you can talk about any industry. There's people at the top of that, maybe even the people at the most top that are have stories of just people that they've just run through in their lives and treated horribly and, and have that issues and never addressed those. So it's not even that that you're going to hit a ceiling from your work life if you deal with your issues, but you're going to be a nervous wreck.

00:16:50:07 - 00:17:08:12
Unknown
Is there's you're going to be trying to hide it. You're going to have in some places be able to be transparent and honest and happy and behind closed doors, you're going to you're going to be miserable. And to me like that, it just didn't make sense that I was at home. At that time, I, I had one kid.

00:17:08:12 - 00:17:24:20
Unknown
He was like six months old, and and so I was, you know, learned to be a dad to all kinds of emotions that been married for less than two years, trying to be a husband, too. I had all these different things going on at once, and it's like, oh, and I suck. Okay, this is not good at all.

00:17:24:22 - 00:17:55:08
Unknown
Right. Yeah. So, I think that really what it was, what I learned then was the benefits of allowing someone to speak into your life. And I had those those men, and my wife also, because I would ask her like, hey, they said this about me. What do you think? And you can see your face like, a little bit, a little bits in there and, and so but having those people in your life that you can go to them and honestly say, hey, someone said this about me, what do you think?

00:17:55:13 - 00:18:13:17
Unknown
They were able to reframe it in such a way that made it like a challenge for me, like, hey, look, let's take this. This part I think is true. Here's how you work through that. Here's how let's let's look at it this way. And, by the time, you know, I left, left the ministry altogether, I was a completely different person.

00:18:13:17 - 00:18:32:10
Unknown
And and there are people that that never leave, whether it's ministry, a different job that have those same moments, and they double down and they just go victim blaming and blame everything on the other person. Were they at fault? Absolutely. But there were so many things that I could have and should have done differently. And I just look at that as a learning experience.

00:18:32:10 - 00:18:52:05
Unknown
Now. Thankfully, now, my wife and I bring up a there's a couple words we could say that brings us back to those times that sometimes we revisit and just, just to talk about. But, but, you know, it's not, obviously it's not. It's not triggering to me anymore. It's just something that happened to led me to where I am.

00:18:52:07 - 00:19:12:07
Unknown
And it's. But it's me. And that's that's ten years ago now. So it's taken a lot to or I guess not. It's seven, eight years ago and it's taken a lot to, to get to where I am, including counseling and among other things. That's awesome man. It sounds like you've been on an incredible journey. Incredible. For whatever reason.

00:19:12:07 - 00:19:35:15
Unknown
It just does not sound like the appropriate word I want to use here. But an inspiring journey to to really do some deep work within that, to look at yourself truthfully, you know, to say, okay, is this true? Are they trying to hurt me or does this actually just hurt? Right. Because there is a difference, right? You know, when somebody tells us something, you know, there is a territory hurting us.

00:19:35:15 - 00:20:10:03
Unknown
And actually, you know what? Your ties may hurt. You know, and I'm of the belief that everybody needs therapy and it's not a, you know, a dent against them. Right? We all need people in our lives. You know? I love our soul. Love the fact that you've got here four men that you can count on, that you can go to that so critical, for our growth, for our evolution, if you will, because it really gives us a foundation of men or just people in our lives.

00:20:10:03 - 00:20:27:18
Unknown
It didn't have to be this man. So, ladies out there, you know, it doesn't have to be man, obviously. But he really gives us this incredible foundation for growth, to have some confidence, to have trust that what they tell us is it to at a place of hate? Is it from a place of, hey, I was you torn down?

00:20:27:18 - 00:20:46:18
Unknown
No, I want to, I love you and I want to see you do better. I see the potential of you. Right? Like the five men. They saw potential in this grant. This young grant that's, like, hungry and desperate for growth, but doesn't know how. Right. And they spoke truth into you. It may have hurt, but they didn't hurt you.

00:20:46:19 - 00:21:07:03
Unknown
Right. And it was so you had to take those considerations. You had to take those. You had to be mature enough to receive that in such a way that because you could have easily just said, well, screw you, peace. I'm out. Right? Yeah. And lived a very different life. You know, I stayed I stayed at that church for another year and a half.

00:21:07:03 - 00:21:32:10
Unknown
The freaking hardest year and a half of my life. But, but, you know, now it's just all it's all growth now, and it's again, we can we can kind of laugh about it. Now. Some stuff is a little touchy, but, yeah, most, most part, that's awesome. I hope everybody that's watching listening is taking some nuggets from this because, it for us dudes especially, I get it.

00:21:32:12 - 00:21:53:17
Unknown
You know, we and I spoke about this numerous times and public events and so forth. We by default are programed to not speak about our emotions. Right? To be this brick wall, to be this macho dude or whatever you want to call it. Right. But we don't speak our about our emotions. We don't speak at all. We don't talk about how we feel or any of this.

00:21:53:17 - 00:22:19:09
Unknown
We just we just grind. We just we just do. Right. So it's really important, you know, for us to have people in our lives that can speak life into us, that we can speak life into as well. Right? It's got to reciprocating relationship there. So thanks again for sharing that. Especially, you know, in a therapy and there is no, you know, play in a sense of my traumas worse than yours or yours is worse than my trauma is trauma right.

00:22:19:09 - 00:22:41:19
Unknown
Yeah. To each person it it feels the same in that moment. But, yeah. But I but I still I think that is true. But man some, some takes even even more to go through in his, in his, a lifelong stain. I guess we all have it deep down in there, but, it's it also don't want to underplay someone else that went through more and is like, man, I can't get through it like you did, Grant.

00:22:41:19 - 00:22:57:16
Unknown
And it's like, well, might might take a little more time for, yeah. Something else. Yeah. I agree I've had to do. And I'm still on a journey to do a lot of deep work. You know, it's again speaking for us dudes because I have a I can I can relate lot more as a dude than, than as a lady.

00:22:57:16 - 00:23:24:14
Unknown
So ladies, sorry, but there is some degree of truth in there too. But we as dudes, we we get so used to suppressing things, bodily things up, suppressing them that we forget of all of this stuff that we suppressed over years, over decades, of things. And then we finally start to talk through them like, Holy crap. You know, what I experienced 20 years ago is affecting me, right now when I experienced 25 years ago.

00:23:24:14 - 00:23:44:17
Unknown
Why experience last week is affect me right now. Like we just get so used to suppressing, suppressing, suppressing that we just become numb to it, you know? Yeah. Love that. Know your thoughts on that. Especially after what you just said. Yeah. I mean, you have to, you have to go through, again, just why you are the way that you are.

00:23:44:17 - 00:24:00:17
Unknown
And it doesn't mean that, like, you have to continually live with your past. But the thing is, if you if you push it down, it's going to repeat itself. You're going to you're going to repeat yourself in a different way. I would have like, you know, I have the first person I hired after that was my virtual assistant.

00:24:00:19 - 00:24:18:08
Unknown
And and you better believe that I took much better care of them then than I did my first go around with an employee. And when I'm. I'm having a there's a part time prepper that I have here for my Amazon business that's coming on full time here in a couple months and even, and there's there's so many little conversations.

00:24:18:08 - 00:24:46:03
Unknown
We've had that I know that I, I mean, I, I'm, I'm just grateful that I, that I'm not that boss that I was for and the only way. Yeah. Maybe we could have some little microaggressions to get better little by little. But if you want to be the person that you know, if you see someone that is, you know, leads in such a certain way and, talks about how they lead it, and I want to be that person, and then you have to deal with your stuff.

00:24:46:03 - 00:25:04:00
Unknown
That's that's really, really the only way. And it's not that we have to constantly bring it up like, I don't. I'm, I'm reflecting on this now, but, you know, you can still just be be present. Like I'm still present in the moment of where I am throughout the day. I think that's really important of just be be where your feet are, be where your eyes are.

00:25:04:02 - 00:25:26:03
Unknown
And, and so this isn't about just continually dredging up bad stuff, but it's that once you do, you can actually be where you are and be more present. Because that stuff isn't bogging you down anymore. I agree, ma'am, I agree something I'm reminded of it as I was listening to your talk. Especially as you were talking about being revealed.

00:25:26:05 - 00:25:47:10
Unknown
I'll share this real quick before we talk about your your build, your rebuild, you know, where you're leaving is you're shedding the skin from the old grant to the, you know, to this journey to build the amazing man that you are today. But I'm reminded of a quote from Myron Golden Goldman. You know, everybody gets their spotlight, right?

00:25:47:10 - 00:26:07:18
Unknown
Everybody gets your spotlight. But the spotlight, you know, either is either going to reveal you or it's going to expose you. Right. And and I think, you know, if I heard correctly, that's essentially what happened to you had your spotlight, you got exposed. And it's not a bad thing. Yes, it is, but it's also not because it leads you to growth that you needed to have.

00:26:07:20 - 00:26:32:12
Unknown
Yeah, right. And so I just want to honor you for that, because a lot of times, like I said early, too many people would just take that, receive that like pounce and piece em out and and carry that grudge, carry that victim mentality for, for who knows how long, right. Which would, you know, adversely affect your marriage, your kids, your just your life in general.

00:26:32:12 - 00:27:00:08
Unknown
So let's talk about this, this rebuild, this phoenix that, that arose from the ashes. Because that's essentially what's occurring here. Right? When that door closed, when when that event occurred, you didn't just, you know, lose your identity in in that aspect, but you also lost a paycheck. You lost your identity as well, right? You didn't exactly just wallow in your, you know, in this is so for you.

00:27:00:10 - 00:27:35:13
Unknown
You decided to do something right. So before we talk about that, what was the scariest part about that? Next morning, you know, you received the news. What was the the scariest part of that? The scariest part of the day after I was I was cussed out. Yeah. Yeah. I think that it's that I, I wasn't who I thought I was and I think until coming on staff, I kind of thought everything had built into that moment and I had arrived in a way right.

00:27:35:15 - 00:27:58:21
Unknown
As, as a, as any 25 year old life coach would think themselves. Probably. But that, hey, man, like, I've done all of this good, and now I can just share my good with others the rest of my life. And, and so that became very clear that that was not true, that I had, that I was going to have to have some time of growing.

00:27:59:03 - 00:28:23:07
Unknown
I actually ended up getting demoted. And one of my employees that did not like me, so much was my boss, and I still stayed on for a period of time because I didn't want that. I didn't want that to be the reason that I left. And, and so, so it was very hard and, Yeah. And I was just ashamed of myself, and I thought, again, this is going back from my childhood, I, I care what people think.

00:28:23:10 - 00:28:54:04
Unknown
And there's obviously a lot of people that don't like Grant and I, and I probably went back to some of that childhood trauma state of, yeah, just not being liked and not and not knowing or not wanting to operate, you know, with that. And so I think it took a lot of, it made me look inward and it made me probably begin the rebuild to have confidence in myself and knowing that that doesn't have to come from someone else just because, someone else doesn't think that I'm good at something that I do, that I can still believe it.

00:28:54:06 - 00:29:14:18
Unknown
I absolutely did not have that before. I think that my opinion of myself was was primarily built on other people. And, I mean, know those people that they'll they'll only be looking for the positive things people say about them and they'll gravitate to that. They were like all this negative, all this negative. But they said that one thing like, oh, that's right, I'm doing a good job.

00:29:14:20 - 00:29:41:17
Unknown
And that that's incredibly unhealthy. And that's not, I don't think that's the right way to do it. You need to listen to both. And, and so, yeah, that was that was the start of my, I guess the, the building of my confidence. And, you know, I think in the meantime, right in that middle ground, I still was like, I'm just going to work my absolute tail off, and still do a good job, which I still did.

00:29:41:17 - 00:30:01:14
Unknown
I, actually, the pastor of that, of that church I still talk to today, he's actually an Amazon seller. So, we've we've met just occasionally, about things. And, and I think we both I mean, I've, I apologized in a general sense, with, with some of that. We just haven't talked a ton. But it was basically.

00:30:01:14 - 00:30:20:12
Unknown
But man, I was just immature and I didn't know what I was doing. And thank you for believing in me. Even though I did some crappy stuff while I worked for you. And, Yeah, that was the beginning of of my confidence rebuilding. And I, you know, I had some healing time at a different church, before Covid hit.

00:30:20:12 - 00:30:50:18
Unknown
And then I eventually left that church to around that same time, right after that. So we're we're talking 2021 was when I started my Amazon business. And I had so much time over that year to read books and to figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. My kids were growing up, too. When I started my Amazon business, my kids were four, two and seven months pregnant, about to be born, and I was also asking questions about who I want to be as a dad.

00:30:50:20 - 00:31:08:04
Unknown
And, and of course, during all that time, because of my stress at some of those other jobs, like I was in marriage counseling with my wife and trying to figure out how to be a better husband and balance it all. And and I think that it was just there's a period of time that all of us, we just have to be in a, in a growing phase.

00:31:08:04 - 00:31:27:11
Unknown
If there's not, there's going to be time that we actually don't have it figured out and we don't know who we want to be. And we aren't a good person. But we're working on herself and we're and we're doing that. And I think I probably had a facade, that end of, you know, thinking I was better than I was.

00:31:27:13 - 00:31:49:08
Unknown
But I knew but I knew without a shadow of a doubt. Hey. I'm growing. Hey, I'm working on this. And, And this is not the end, you know? Love it. Man. Thanks. Thanks for sharing it. You you pretty much. Starter reveal. You know what I want to dive into next is, is this rebuild right. This rebuild and rebirth of Grant Douglas Grant 2.0.

00:31:49:10 - 00:32:12:00
Unknown
You know that we are seeing today because, you know, when you started this. Right. Let's kind of get into get into the specifics a little bit because, you know, you're coming from a job, right? And this is right around Covid was was was hitting the fan. And you know, a lot of people were getting money and were spending it right.

00:32:12:00 - 00:32:31:05
Unknown
They were getting, you know, however much money five, ten or whatever thousand dollars. And they're going to Walmart, buy TVs and this, you know, there, but you had a different strategy, which you already kind of leaked out. That's all right. I won't penalize you for this, but I'm kidding. But you already kind of leaked this out. So tell us what you did with this money that you were given.

00:32:31:05 - 00:32:57:09
Unknown
Plus, you probably leverage some other means that kind of earlier. So walk us through your how what you did how you did it. Like just give the audience here some some perspective of what you did to to build this grant 2.0 business wise. Yeah. So ignorance is bliss. I had about ten K and Covid money and so we, you know, we got I think 4K1 year, six K another year.

00:32:57:09 - 00:33:17:05
Unknown
So we had this extra money kind of just sitting there. And so I mean, because I mean, my, my salary, you know, in ministry was really low. We don't have any, any extra money except for that, which we're really grateful for. And, basically we did, 0% interest credit cards, and, and I just racked those up.

00:33:17:07 - 00:33:44:03
Unknown
I scaled as fast as I could, because of the for various reasons, I needed to get out of ministry. And I also wanted to be home with my kids. That was that was probably one of the first clear things for me is, you know, I had spent the past five years pouring into a lot of other children and, and working a lot of hours, and I did not want to be the person that poured into other people's kids, but not my own.

00:33:44:05 - 00:34:03:07
Unknown
And, then it it became very clear to me during Covid, when you're working from home, a lot of the time, that man, I, I need to this this is this is what it's all about. I need to be with them right now. And there's stages for life, right? I'll have a different time when they're older, that they're more, individual.

00:34:03:07 - 00:34:21:15
Unknown
They're individualized person and and doing their own things. But right now they need dad. And so that was the first thing of I started Amazon business because I wanted to be home. That was the allure. It wasn't the money. I knew it could make enough. I didn't know it could make quite as much as I see, it make for some people.

00:34:21:16 - 00:34:53:05
Unknown
But it was the allure and and so with starting my Amazon business, it was, I saw someone else with fast growth, and I figured if they could do it, I could do it too. And all of that took, took a course to, to speed, speed things up. And then I mean, by the time six months passed, I could leave my job, and, and so, and actually, I, we mutually agreed for me to leave in August of 2021.

00:34:53:07 - 00:35:17:19
Unknown
Ended up leaving in September. They asked me to stay on one more month. And and so I had an end date. I had about three, four months to ramp up my business, so, so I put all, max credit cards every single month and, and just scaled up by the by that time next year, I was doing 100,000 a month in sales, you know, doubling my income from what I had in ministry.

00:35:17:20 - 00:35:35:07
Unknown
Nice. And then it was it was just really clear, you know, when the time it was, when it was time to leave my job, it was very clear, like me. And I'm not I'm not going back to that. This is what I'm doing now. Something involving self-employment is is what I hope to do, for the rest of my life.

00:35:35:07 - 00:35:57:17
Unknown
Unless I, unless I really find, a really sweet gig or in retirement. You know, I could definitely see that, right when you don't need any money anymore, so you can just do the things you love. Yeah. It was. I don't know if it was, I think that my kids honestly, spurred my, my desire, because I wanted to be involved, and I wanted to be there.

00:35:57:19 - 00:36:15:22
Unknown
There's there's so many, you know, I know that there are a lot of, men and women that work very hard so they can provide for their family. And this this doesn't discount any of that. If the difference between your food, your kids getting food on the table is you working two jobs or you working one job, then then awesome, go work your two jobs.

00:36:16:00 - 00:36:42:08
Unknown
I believe there was. Those were two conflicting things. It didn't have to conflict. I believed I could work enough hours, be home enough, and also feed them. As well. And and that was my motivation for it. And once I got a taste that once I, was able to to do that for a little bit, when I stopped working 40 hours a week at Amazon, and I, and I realized I could still make all this money and work less, it's just,

00:36:42:10 - 00:37:02:23
Unknown
Yeah, it was it was just life giving, and but it was different. I've always had good jobs. I've always worked hard. I've always been, been able to make it work financially. But this was different. This was about, the I think instead of maybe people pleasing with others, began to care less about what other people thought.

00:37:03:01 - 00:37:20:17
Unknown
Still hurt me, but that wasn't my priority anymore. It was about just, my wife and my kids and and being the person that they needed to be. That started to be, I think, where I poured my energy and my heart, for those years and, and I think, I think that was healthy for me.

00:37:20:18 - 00:37:43:10
Unknown
Yeah, I, I would agree, man. Outside looking in and I mean, this was clearly the journey you needed to take, right? Both business and personal lies and and clearly, you know, the result is been very fruitful, right? I mean, you you live an amazing life, an amazing woman. You know, from what I can see in social media and so forth, you're very, you know, transferring honesty.

00:37:43:10 - 00:38:02:03
Unknown
So I know you're not going to, you know, say that or, you know, show a, a fake picture of your life. But, I mean, you're you're an inspiration to a lot of fathers out here, right? To show what you can do if you just simply just do the work inside and take action. Don't worry about what other people's opinions are of you.

00:38:02:03 - 00:38:24:09
Unknown
Don't seek the validation approval of others. Just do what's in your heart. Do what you feel is you. You need to do. And on a note to this, you know, moving forward, I love what you said on your intake here. And I want to I want to dive into this because this really kind of takes us to this next step here, because you said something bold.

00:38:24:11 - 00:38:53:07
Unknown
You said work is not my ministry, right? Most people, most people, specifically men, try to find their soul in their job or in what it is that they're doing career business, so forth. Why do you insist on separating them? Work and ministry? I don't know when I think it was maybe in the in the 1900s or so that that we started attaching our livelihood for who we are.

00:38:53:09 - 00:39:26:20
Unknown
It definitely was not always the case. But that began the process of when, one person interviews another person, the first question we ask is, what do you do? Yeah. And, for some reason, that is, that's what society looks at is maybe most important. And I think that, I think that it for me personally, it's a lie that if you do what you love, you're going to never work another day in your life.

00:39:26:22 - 00:39:49:05
Unknown
And I think part of that is because, like when I worked at Texas Roadhouse, I got to open up new restaurants. So I traveled even overseas to Dubai to open up one and lived what people would say was an awesome life. And I remember, you know, in Dubai with the Burj Khalifa, huge tower right next to me, kind of by myself, thinking like, you know, hey, is this it?

00:39:49:05 - 00:40:12:21
Unknown
Like, like, is this what it's all about? And and so I'd, I gotten the glimpse of having having some awesome jobs and realizing that, you know, I don't think I'm going to get my fulfillment off of work. And I think that, what it really comes down to. Right. Like, I think there's there's stages, right? Like stage one, you just have this is unfortunately, the world we live in.

00:40:12:21 - 00:40:32:08
Unknown
You have to make enough money just to survive and take care of your family at that stage. One unfortunately, a lot of people don't get past step one because it's in in when economies up and down, when when jobs, when, you know, even now AI is taking jobs, right. Like that might even get harder. To do and to have extra room for margin in your life.

00:40:32:08 - 00:41:00:23
Unknown
But, you know, step one is just, just make enough money, work hard and make enough money. You've got to somehow have enough extrinsic or intrinsic motivation to do that. And like I said, for me that was never a problem. You know, and I think step two is you got to deal with your crap. You have to figure out those, the trauma parts in your life, the things that you aren't doing well and have an honest look at yourself and and then after that, which is like, I'm not, I'm literally just started this journey.

00:41:00:23 - 00:41:24:07
Unknown
But for me, what stage three has been is asking myself, you know, what is it? What what is it in this world that I do that makes me feel the most alive? What is it is so people want to talk a lot of the times talk about, pursuing your passion. But I would say a better word is pursuing your purpose.

00:41:24:09 - 00:41:45:11
Unknown
And I'm very glad that I. Yeah, I'm very glad I didn't, pursue my passion in sports. I would have had a great time. Like, there is even a time that the University of Louisville announcer retired, and I was like, man, maybe this is my time. Maybe I can just travel with all these ball clubs and and be on the like and introduce these players.

00:41:45:11 - 00:42:02:09
Unknown
And man, I would have a fun at it. Fun with that. And that would be an example of of me if I, if I travel, if I went out after my passion. Right. But instead, you know, what is my purpose? And, and I think a lot of, a lot of people forget that, that those aren't necessarily the same thing.

00:42:02:09 - 00:42:26:15
Unknown
We can have a bigger impact on the world if we, find out what it is that our, our purpose is. And, you know, and I've, I've only just start to crack this open a little bit, but for me, what what makes me feel the most alive is being able to have open, honest conversations and to say the things out loud that people aren't willing to say to.

00:42:26:15 - 00:42:48:17
Unknown
To be the devil's advocate in the room, that it crashes the party and says, hey, look, I know we're all saying this, but what about what about this? And I'll tell you that, a lot of people don't like me for that. I say there's, I'm sure a mix, if you're the person who's party I'm crashing does not like me in that moment.

00:42:48:19 - 00:43:07:09
Unknown
So I don't invite you to my party, is what you're saying? I'm kidding. You. Yeah. If if you've. And it's just. It's just the way that, I mean, I was raised by, by a mom that always told her mind and, and encouraged me to always speak up for myself and share what's on my mind.

00:43:07:11 - 00:43:27:04
Unknown
And there's a lot of negatives that go along with that as my wife. There's a lot of negatives that go along with, of sharing your opinion when and maybe you need to be quiet and, and there's a, there's a balance, right? There's sometimes you just need to be quiet and say thank you. And, yeah, trust me.

00:43:27:06 - 00:43:48:17
Unknown
But when when there's something that needs to be said, about, you know, like, I've had, I've consulted Amazon sellers that, you know, have, have given it a go for six months and their life is miserable and they're not making money. And honestly, I just want to tell them easy to stop like this, isn't it? This isn't it for you.

00:43:48:19 - 00:44:22:04
Unknown
And, and sometimes that pursuit of grit is we're on a hamster wheel and we think we're running, but we're not. We're just running in place and wasting energy, and we don't have our grit attached to our, our actual, again, purpose. And so we have to have direction with that hard work and, and so there's many times that what I will that's really just what I try to do is I if I see that there's something that needs to be talked about, that I think people aren't talking about, whether it's dad's being home or with their kids and getting help with their wife, especially like in the homeschool world.

00:44:22:05 - 00:44:52:20
Unknown
I've noticed that there are a lot of moms taking all the homeschool, and there are a lot of them and working all the hours. And I will tell you, after taking over math and history for my kids, it is hard. And yes, for any mom to sit for for three four hours to go over all these subjects with their kids is and, and then and then expect when you get home from work to cook your dinner like, no, it doesn't happen in our house.

00:44:52:22 - 00:45:21:02
Unknown
If, if, if I'm doing if I'm doing well enough, it's not happening. And so, I, I'm with you, man. I can completely relate that, my, my wife homeschool our kids. And unfortunately, at that time, I had too many things going on, you know, multiple businesses and so forth. I don't think I put enough, emphasis or, had enough wherewithal to understand the complexities of homeschooling, especially math.

00:45:21:02 - 00:45:51:10
Unknown
And in English. I suck up both of those. Am from a wife. English is her second language. Oh yeah. Man, that was that was a battle. I bet. Yes, it was, it was, she always teases me still to this day. I love what you just said right there. And I hope everybody listening. Watching really just listens in because I think, actually, no, I know beyond a show that this is where a lot of entrepreneurs lose, lose themselves.

00:45:51:12 - 00:46:14:10
Unknown
I've been talking a lot about this here lately. There was this video between Alex Mosey and Tony Robbins that just pretty much shook the internet, and I love the interaction between the two of them because it needed to occur. Right? Because you have this, you know, dude, that I admire from a business perspective has achieved some amazing things, but he never felt fulfilled.

00:46:14:12 - 00:46:43:16
Unknown
Right. And I know what that feels like. I know what it's like to try to get somebody else's approval and constantly grind and grind and grind, and you lose yourself in a process. You you lose the very thing that you thought you were working for, right. And to to then switched where like you go through the journey in growth a figure out like, wait a minute, I, I'm grinding for somebody else's approval and growling, grinding for validation.

00:46:43:16 - 00:47:16:17
Unknown
Whereas I need to be actually grinding for heart fuel. Right. Like, what is this heart driven mission, not passion, you know, to your point, and I'm glad you clarify that because there is a clear delineation between the two. Like what fires you up like when you put your head down, what fires your fulfills, you, switches your perspective from me, and I have to do this to I get to do this because more and more Percy gets fed warmer, homeless veteran gets sheltered.

00:47:16:17 - 00:47:43:16
Unknown
One more, you know, somebody gets the the, the enjoyment. I hate to see the word enjoyment, but, you know, I'm getting that, that's it, man. That's that's our purpose is to serve as many people as we possibly can through our our stewardship, stewardship of our talents, gifts, behavior, stories, and of course, our finances, too, and our time.

00:47:43:18 - 00:48:02:21
Unknown
On the note of that, I love how you brought up homeschooling and, you know, and running a business and so forth. So give us a skinny because I would like to know how you did this, but how do you know with you helping homeschool special on this subject? You did. God bless your heart. That was definitely not my strong suit.

00:48:02:23 - 00:48:27:19
Unknown
But while running a multimillion dollar business, how do you switch most from from killer CEO to dad teaching mode? You know, without carrying that stress from your business over into your personal life? Well, honestly, you can't not carry it over. You know, if if I have a fight with my wife, you better believe that my business is going to struggle.

00:48:27:21 - 00:48:52:22
Unknown
And if I have, if my machine breaks at the office and, something comes damaged, you better believe I'm going to come home and, And I'm probably not going to do as much homeschool that day. And so, so one thing is like, is just realistically, like everything is connected. You know, we our mental, our emotional, our physical.

00:48:52:22 - 00:49:13:23
Unknown
You know, I hurt my back about four weeks ago and that I promise you, that affected me as a dad just as much as it did me in my business, even though I have to lift boxes. And it's because it made it made things at work a little slower. And so I got to be home a little bit less, and I didn't feel like doing as much with them.

00:49:13:23 - 00:49:36:20
Unknown
And so, so really it's that's like, I know that we have to like, again, where are you are be where you are and do the best that you can. This is why it's so important to get yourself mentally and emotionally and physically healthy. It's something that I know is a privilege because I didn't start. I didn't have a gym membership except for Planet Fitness and, things against Planet Fitness.

00:49:36:20 - 00:49:56:10
Unknown
But, I had never in my life had like a gym membership until I actually made a decent amount of money. And so I have a gym membership that also has a basketball court is how I like to get cardio. So I played two days a week. And, I'd also never had bought organic foods and healthier foods that I always eat like crap.

00:49:56:12 - 00:50:19:14
Unknown
And or at least not really like crap, but like cheap, whatever's cheaper. Like, I mean, tacos all day. If I'm with you. Yeah. And so, like. And then I've also. I never got in therapy. I, I had to get therapy, before I had money, but it was like, we're going to go as little as we can because I can't afford to do this weekly.

00:50:19:16 - 00:50:41:00
Unknown
And then, you know, once we had a little bit more money, we could do that. And so, it's definitely, because of the fact that I have noticed just that, that my struggles at work come home, my struggles at home, come to work is why you can't ignore any of it, and why it is important to, to address that.

00:50:41:00 - 00:51:03:19
Unknown
And even like that open communication with my wife. Like, if something didn't go well at work, she's the I'm going to let her know before I come home. And she knows like that might literally affect me as a dad, me as a husband and the things I can do that night. And so, you know, I don't really have an answer to it other than you just have to, attend to it all.

00:51:03:19 - 00:51:26:06
Unknown
You can't push down it all and, any of it and, but really, it's just one step at a time, you know, it's just that, to tomorrow, try to be better than today and give your self grace for today. There's very few things that, can't be, done the next day, even if it's an Amazon shipment, you had to get out.

00:51:26:09 - 00:51:47:22
Unknown
Guess what? You can get it out tomorrow. The probably the only thing I'd I my Amazon merchant fulfilled shipments. I make sure I get those out because I don't want because they're they're not as forgiving as the rest of the world. Yeah. And and I remember you said something that that I just, you know, for, for a watching or listening.

00:51:47:22 - 00:52:09:22
Unknown
I hope you pay attention when you said you said something, it was very, attention. Me. I want to pull that out for a moment. You said something. You had to get therapy in order to get money. Walk us through that logic. What did you mean by that? Because I love that. But I don't think any one, I want to make sure that people heard that.

00:52:09:22 - 00:52:35:23
Unknown
Listen to that. But what would you. Me. Because that I really can't explain it. I kind I kind of meant to say that I misspoke a little bit, but what I meant to say was I had to get therapy even before I had the money to get it where it was. So it was so important for me. I because I was so because, what the, the what the statement you said is true because once I was able to get therapy, guess what?

00:52:35:23 - 00:53:01:09
Unknown
I was a better worker, too. I and so but yeah, it was really just the fact that I knew that my, my mental, emotional, spiritual side of me was holding me back on the work side of things. And if I didn't get to get things better, taken care of at home, if I couldn't start, if I didn't start sleeping better, then, it was just it's, it's a domino effect.

00:53:01:09 - 00:53:20:02
Unknown
One thing you struggle with one thing, and the rest will will shortly fall after. So? So that's why. So I didn't say what you said, but what you said is very true, because I actually never even thought about that. But, yeah, by getting therapy, I was able to have probably more successes in my business because I can show up here and I can work hard.

00:53:20:02 - 00:53:42:02
Unknown
I can work fast, get home to my kids faster. Yeah, it hasn't always. I mean, I remember, I remember days, sitting and doing different jobs and just being so unproductive because my mind wouldn't stop in this loop of what that person said or overthinking things. And so, a lot of people, I think, ask me, you know, how can you do so much in a day?

00:53:42:02 - 00:54:07:21
Unknown
Like, how can you? I mean, I, I ship about 15,000 units a month with one 20 hour a week proper. And, and spend in order stuff really fast in. And I think I think some of at least some of that just comes from the fact that, that I'm when I work, I'm normally mentally there and all there, because I finally got most of my emotional stuff taken care of.

00:54:07:21 - 00:54:36:00
Unknown
That's awesome man. You you you you said all the right things and you had to get therapy so you could change a programing, right, change of programing so you can be in a better position to receive, you know, what was in store for your future family. You know, money, business, you know, if all of this landed on your lap, you know, before all of this, you weren't going to be ready for it, right?

00:54:36:04 - 00:55:00:14
Unknown
So you, you know, you had to get that therapy and, and to receive and change your programing. Yeah. I'm. Dude, I'm with you. I've been there. It's still there's this thing. There were times when I, I let myself get into this, rumination, right, of, you know, a certain time in my life, you know, when I did something stupid or I said something stupid, or maybe somebody did something stupid or, you know, hurtful to me, you know?

00:55:00:14 - 00:55:31:13
Unknown
And, it can be a very volatile place to be and recommend not anybody to stay there for any period of time, because it's it's toxic, man. Yeah. And and without a doubt, I still have, moments and days, you know, that are rough. You know, I had a falling out with, with someone that I that I care about, that that didn't go well, and I lost a lot of sleep over it, and, just, I normally am, like, listening to something while I'm in the car, and I was just.

00:55:31:15 - 00:55:56:05
Unknown
I was just replaying stuff in my head the whole time. And this was this was earlier this year. And so there's but but the good news is that, like, I do have some tools at least to talk myself out of it. You know, some truths I believe about myself that, helped me get through that. And, and so at the very least, it's that when, when life comes up because it, well, like, you're we tase my kids.

00:55:56:05 - 00:56:18:06
Unknown
Don't listen to a word I say. I at least have a little more self-control than I did before. When my wife and I fight, we have, we have two chairs that we go to to sit and talk about our disagreements. And there's just so we've learned, we've learned how to speak when we're arguing. And we in human, we learn where to speak.

00:56:18:06 - 00:56:39:11
Unknown
Don't do it in front of kids we like. The kids are not allowed around the blue chairs when we have to go and have a hard conversation chair. And so yeah. So I think it's just that it's that none of this is that that life is life is perfect, but it's just marginally better. And when that stuff does come up, I have I have more tools to take care of it and address it also.

00:56:39:11 - 00:57:05:10
Unknown
Man, thanks for sharing it, dude. Although that blue chair concept, man. I think everybody needs to find a blue chair in your home, so awesome man. As we as we wrap up, I'm going to go through some rapid fire questions here. I see rapid fire, but just more of some, like some some questions I routinely ask every guest is kind of get some insight on what it means to them, right.

00:57:05:15 - 00:57:32:23
Unknown
Specifically Grant, because every season we, we navigate different things and trenches and so forth. So grit can mean something different in every season of their life. So in this current season, right, you're, you're you're this amazing whole school band and you're building in a business that you're aiming to do 3 million this year. I think you said for when I read correctly in this season that you're in, what does grit mean to you?

00:57:32:23 - 00:57:56:03
Unknown
I think that grit for me is just more directional now. And so it's interesting, like, I might be externally processing here. So, so bear with me. If I talk in a circle, it's all good. But I think that initially grit is just that is fearless working hard. Right. To to make something work, to make enough money.

00:57:56:05 - 00:58:29:10
Unknown
And I have live that way, for, you know, most of my life and I think now grit for me, I'm actually looking at the grit of, you know, I talked about how, like the, the goal is to find, that thing that makes you feel the most alive and then slowly center your world around that. And right now, I don't get any money from telling people things that are, I think are transparent and true.

00:58:29:15 - 00:58:52:05
Unknown
Right. So I'm making some friends and making some enemies and not getting paid along the process. Right. And so, and so the question for me is like, hey, how can I, navigate some of my Amazon consulting and instead, maybe do some of this D&D consulting? You know, I have I amongst other things, I have a master's in social work that I never used.

00:58:52:05 - 00:59:12:17
Unknown
And so that's one of the things I thought about, like, man, do I ever want to go back back to that? And I really don't want to do 20 hours of, of, you have to do 20 hours a week of, of oversight for like 2 to 3 years to even get, be able to have private practice and just tell you that this doesn't sound fun.

00:59:12:19 - 00:59:33:10
Unknown
Yeah. I don't blame you. You know, like, hey, is there a way that I could whether it's like fully automating my Amazon business so that I could quite simply just live out these, these things that I think are important for free? Or is there a way to, Yeah, to, to to bring it out. Is it the way to do them both together?

00:59:33:12 - 00:59:56:22
Unknown
Or is it just something that I just need to just jump out and go for? And so I would say that grit for me, it's what's really important is that it's it's directional grit that it's on the right thing that I'm not on a hamster wheel running in circles and working hard for nothing. That that what I focus my hours and my time on are the things that are the most important to me.

00:59:56:22 - 01:00:17:14
Unknown
And slowly removing those things that are, that are less important, that aren't moving the needle in my heart and in my mind and in my life, and in using that grit in a different way. And but just to be transparent, like with the state of my Amazon business now, I have moments in time that I have to work really hard.

01:00:17:14 - 01:00:43:11
Unknown
And I'm I'm always intentional about making the most of my time, so I don't want to make myself sound lazy, but really, the the, the most grit it takes is probably staying consistent with homeschool with my kids and being present with my kids and continuing to do things with them like that. That probably takes the most effort just because of of because I got a freaking great coworker here with Amazon that's helping me prep stuff, right?

01:00:43:13 - 01:01:05:17
Unknown
He's got the work grit, which is allowing me to kind of, of, of see where the next place I need to devote my full heart and attention. And. Yeah, I'm, I'm honestly just had the I'm at that crossroads of of I'm really not sure. Nice. Well, it's this thing you you brought up subtraction a few times in the last few minutes, because that's exactly real quick.

01:01:05:17 - 01:01:29:06
Unknown
I want it where I want to dive into this real quick, because a lot of people focus on adding things. Right. And, and processes and, and strategies and systems adding, adding, adding adding right. But growth also requires subtraction. So you know, for you to scale to next level, you're that you're aiming at. What is one thing that you're actively subtract a few more life right now or unlearning or unbelief.

01:01:29:08 - 01:01:54:01
Unknown
Yeah, I know I said a proper term, so yeah, forgive me, but what is one thing that your door L2 that models that subtraction? You know, I think this is too true of an answer for me not to give it, but I'll be a little bit vague because I don't I don't want, you know, to, to, to call anybody out or anything, but I was asked to be less transparent, let's just say about some things.

01:01:54:03 - 01:02:24:12
Unknown
And to sugarcoat things. And I basically told them no. And then I. And I remove that from my life. I, I don't think that they person realized that that was about the most important thing to me in my life that I can, say what I feel like is important to say. And, and so, so, yeah, like, just right now, I am removing the things that don't match the most important things for me.

01:02:24:12 - 01:02:58:16
Unknown
My most important thing for me right now is the physical, emotional, spiritual, mental health of me, my wife and my three kids. I'd say the next most important thing is that same thing, but with my more extended family and friends and, you know, impacting their life. And, in the next thing after that is this whole how can I impact others in a positive way and removing anything that is, you know, even if it makes me money, removing anything that takes away from that focus is something I'm willing to do.

01:02:58:16 - 01:03:23:12
Unknown
And, because I know that as long as I'm making enough money to feed my family, and as long as I have my family in my life, then the rest of it is going to take care of itself. And, I'm not trying to do anything drastic and just completely upend anything, but, yeah, those little tiny minuses and those additions, just being very intentional with them.

01:03:23:14 - 01:03:48:06
Unknown
Yeah. I hope that answers your question. You know, that's perfect, man. As I as I prepared you before we hit the record button, you know, I asked you for some things on two questions or two areas to think through as we're talking. So as we wrap up, man, and hate the way we have to wrap up because I feel like we could talk a way longer, than didn't then last hour we've talked, but.

01:03:48:08 - 01:04:19:08
Unknown
Or more. We're you're in the trenches, man. You're in the thick of it. What is a quote or directive that you find yourself telling you yourself to power through in that moment or in that season, that you're going through? I mean, dot, to keep it really simple, but that tomorrow's a new day, that when we make mistakes from the day when we're not as efficient as we wanted to, when we didn't spend as much time as our kids as we wanted to, that all you have to do is wake up, remember, tomorrow's a new day and,

01:04:19:10 - 01:04:48:22
Unknown
And try to be better tomorrow, but that's, you know, I'm, I'm grateful that my my mom taught me about giving yourself grace. And, and so I'm. In the past, I was too forgiving of myself. Right? Like, making some making some mistakes and doing something that I shouldn't have done, and, and, and being maybe ignorant to to that, but but still like, I think everyone's to I think a lot of people are too hard on themselves, too hard on being perfect.

01:04:48:22 - 01:05:11:10
Unknown
Yes. And seeing too much. And so just when you and and I think this has come full circle for me as I'm talking to my kids and homeschooling them, for two in multiplication tables and flash cards and stuff right now. And my oldest was very frustrated that, he still has to do them when he can't remember.

01:05:11:12 - 01:05:26:12
Unknown
And and he kept making mistakes, right? He had he almost had it perfect. And then we took a week off. We revisited the flash card. He missed so much. And he was so upset with himself. And it was like, man, just just just do your best each day and and then just show up again tomorrow. That's that's it.

01:05:26:12 - 01:05:45:04
Unknown
Like, who cares if you make mistakes. So yeah, that's the thing. I mean that's all I do. Simplicity is usually always best. I say usually that's both contradictory, right? But I don't think you could have said it any better to show up being a best, you know, being 1% better tomorrow. Focus progression and what you just said there.

01:05:45:08 - 01:06:09:00
Unknown
I think a lot of kids get tied up with scores, right? Trying to be, you know, trying to score them against SEL or other people in submission. In the era of social media, we're in, we're always trying to compare ourselves to somebody else, somebody else's success, somebody else's scoreboard. Right. And I think that's causing a lot more harm, way more harm than good.

01:06:09:02 - 01:06:26:00
Unknown
So thanks. Thanks for sharing it, because I think, myself included, need to be reminded to hear that says sometimes we just need to slow down and be like, hey, tomorrow's gonna be another day. You know this. You know, one more day, right? I love em, my in my. Let's just don't worry about tomorrow, you know? Just just get through today.

01:06:26:01 - 01:06:45:22
Unknown
In tomorrow's a whole new day. Right? So. All right, so this last question, my dude, is it's is a two part question. I prepared you for it in the green room. You know, before we hit the record button. But every guest gets an opportunity to ask my future guest what they will love to ask them. Right. And they don't know what the lineup is.

01:06:45:22 - 01:07:10:09
Unknown
So it's completely anonymous. And so far, the question for each of these guests has been perfect. Okay. So with that, my previous guests will call him the Viking Philosopher. You'll, you'll, you'll see as a shortly. But, he had this question for you. When adversity hits, the question you should ask is, did you piss blood?

01:07:10:10 - 01:07:39:04
Unknown
Because if you didn't, things aren't that bad. How does that land with you? I think that it it's it. There's two completely different scenarios of how that could land. Number one, I see so many times people give up too soon. And, I mean, I've had I've had people that, you know, pay thousands of dollars for, ten coaching sessions and they show up to one, and then they quit and they disappear.

01:07:39:04 - 01:08:01:21
Unknown
And it's like, look, I know this was hard. It wasn't that hard. Like, you can come back, you can do this again. I know life happens. Everybody's scenario is different. But I think most of the times people quit. A lot of the time people quit way too soon. And the other side of it is I do see people that work too hard pursuing something that isn't for them.

01:08:01:21 - 01:08:27:21
Unknown
And I alluded to this a little bit earlier, talking about with Amazon of, you know, I had a coaching student, one time that they started Amazon to have this bonding thing with their daughter and also had some extra money, you know, hey, be get some extra time prepping together and we'll go spend this extra money this, this, this and and even though they built in but a nice business was getting, you know, full time income just from Amazon at one point.

01:08:27:23 - 01:08:48:17
Unknown
It her daughter started to resent the Amazon business because of the time that it was taken away from her mom. And so props to her. We we talked about this on a session and she was debating whether giving it all up, and she did, and she just decided to quit it. And sometimes quitting is the strongest and the best thing to do.

01:08:48:19 - 01:09:18:09
Unknown
And so some it's it's both. Sometimes we didn't try hard enough. And that statement is very true and is a reason to keep going. And sometimes we just need to quit because that's not our purpose. And that's not our calling. And and that's, that's the universe or God's way of telling you this, ain't it? Yeah. And so, I think sometimes we, we say that's the devil, that's that's this negative energy, that's this bad thing.

01:09:18:09 - 01:09:36:12
Unknown
And it's like, no, no, no, no, that's someone telling you to stop and to quit and to find something new. And so it's I don't know how to decipher between the two, except that eventually, eventually, you just know, like, hey, this this isn't working out. Yeah. I think it's to you. You really have to feel right, you know?

01:09:36:12 - 01:10:06:09
Unknown
It's it's something you feel. It's not something you feel here right in not here. Something you feel internally if you pay attention. Oftentimes people just don't pay attention that it's this that wants it more than this. And that's where they people get wrong. All right. So part two what would you love to ask my next guest? I would love to ask them if they could do anything for two hours a week and not get paid for it.

01:10:06:11 - 01:10:24:16
Unknown
What would you do? Oh, and then the follow up to that is after they share, just say, well, why? What's stopping you from doing it? That, and I think the crazy thing is like, you know, it depends on what season of life someone's in. And like there was a period of time like when I first started my Amazon business, someone would have asked me that.

01:10:24:16 - 01:10:42:22
Unknown
I'd have been like, I ain't got no time for that. Like, there's it's just not happening. Reminds me of that meme. I ain't got no time for that. Yeah, I remember that. It was viral for a while. Yeah, but but there's there's many times, though, that, that's just. Yeah, just just why not? Especially if it's something we're passionate about.

01:10:42:22 - 01:11:00:21
Unknown
I love make I love thinking passion projects. Something that becomes a routine. And it's, it's it's lots of time really good for us. And so, but sometimes we just get too bogged down in our routine of what we're doing that we would never consider that. Hey, man, I love poetry. Like, oh, how about you write poetry for 20 minutes every morning and just see what that does to your life?

01:11:00:21 - 01:11:25:05
Unknown
And yeah, normally it's a it's a net positive. So yeah. No I, I agree man. That's a perfect question. Especially as I'm looking at my guest lineup. It's like, oh, that's perfect. So well awesome man. So Grant man I really appreciate this time we had together in the last, you know, more a little more in our now in not just giving us, you know, the Instagram entrepreneur, right.

01:11:25:05 - 01:11:49:22
Unknown
You know, the amazing lifestyle that you get to enjoy the the journey you've been on and I really respect you for allowing us to go behind the scenes and hear your story, hear about the the programing you've had, the change, the, the, the eternal grant, if you will, that you had to change in order to become grant 2.0 that we see today.

01:11:49:23 - 01:12:10:04
Unknown
So my dude, I appreciate you, man. Thanks for for sharing all that. Absolutely. Thanks for asking me to. Come on. Yeah, man. So for for the person that's listening right now who is loving what you sharing wants to say, hey, thank you and want to support you in your journey or just, you know, cheer you on, man.

01:12:10:06 - 01:12:44:07
Unknown
Where can work? Can they connect with you? I literally just type this into Facebook to make sure I gave the right link, but it's, it's facebook.com, slash grant, Amazon FBA and same thing on Instagram instagram.com/grant, Amazon FBA and all I'm I'll respond to both those DMs if you, if you send me something comments I'll be dropping those in the show notes, to the listener, as you well know, if you if you haven't noticed already, this is the first time you probably hear this for the first time, but the gap between average and excellence is action.

01:12:44:07 - 01:13:08:01
Unknown
So don't just listen to what Grant has share with you. Take one thing he has share with you. Maybe it stop stopping the the validation or the approval seeking and use it. And guys, please expand this impact. Share this episode with someone in your life, even if it's just one person, the ripple effect that it can create can be tremendous.

01:13:08:07 - 01:13:12:11
Unknown
Grant, thank you so much for stepping uranium my dude. Appreciate you throw in.