The Grit Factor Podcast w/ Karl Jacobi

TGFP Audio 16

00:00:00 Speaker: Average is the enemy of greatness. Comfort is the enemy of growth. Welcome to the Grit Factor podcast, where we strip away the highlight reel and get into the darkness beneath it. The real stories, the real battles, and the battle plans used to conquer them. I'm your host, Carl Jacobi, combat vet, entrepreneur, resilience and performance coach, keynote speaker, husband and father. I've built, scaled, and exited multiple companies totaling over forty million in revenue. But here's what that highlight reel doesn't show you. Life has been smacking me in the face with a two by four since I was just five years old. Broken home, constant chaos. No playbook. No safety net. Just grit. And if you're anything like me. You know, you've got another level in you, in your business, your career, your faith, your leadership. You're just not sure how to get there. That's exactly why we're here. Be sure to follow me for more great content and check out my website. Success with Karl dot com. Now that's Karl with a K. Now let's get to work. Griffey my man, welcome to the show. Dude, I cannot wait to dive in today. Man, thanks for joining me today. I'm excited. Thanks for having me on, Karl. This is going to be fun. Agree, agree. You know, as we're sitting in in the, uh, the green room, you know, preparing to hit the record button and, uh, just kind of go over some, some, uh, preparation and, uh, based on everything I've learned about you and. Just the conversations we've had. Man, I am truly excited for this conversation because I think this conversation. No correction. I know this conversation will hit a lot of people. With that, I truly hope that everybody is watching and or listening really takes some time to listen to Griffin's story. And with that, let me tell the audience of this magnificent human being that decided to raise his hand, get uncomfortable for about forty five or sixty minutes to share a story. Griffin Kessler has been an e-commerce space for over fifteen years, done over forty million in sales on the Amazon platform. That's not a it's not a small, insignificant number. But here's what's really, really fascinating. He started when he was twelve years old. He now runs multiple businesses, including online and retail operations, a hybrid retail storefront, and recently launched a brand called HR approved, which I definitely want. You know, the audience to learn more about this and full transparency. My dude, I know you and I have been working together for for about eight months now, which I can't even believe that, to be honest with you, dude. I know right? Um. Yeah, man. So Griffin, again, welcome to the grit factor. Thanks, Carl. Yeah, man. Yeah. So again, twelve years old, man. I can't even remember what I was doing at twelve years old. Right. I think I was too busy trying to, you know, pick boogers or, you know, whatever. Right. Um, sure. All the ladies are like you, but I'm a dude. Leave me alone. But Griffey, my man, most people here, forty million, right? And twelve years old. And both of those together is like, Holy shit, Batman, right? And I think you had it all figured out from day one, right? You know, so set the set the record straight for us. What does that real version of that story really look like? Yeah. So basically, I was twelve years old and wasn't doing anything and then started selling on Amazon. And at thirteen I had done forty million dollars. And then I've just coasted pretty much ever since thirteen years old. So it's crazy amazing. Overnight success. Um, you know, it has has been a fifteen year overnight success. Um, I like to call it a few different times. So I mean, when I was twelve years old, I was homeschooled, um, growing up here in Missouri and my mom just wanted to teach me business, but she didn't necessarily know how to in a traditional sense. And so she had had multiple businesses in the past. And so she just took the opportunity after she saw Amazon reselling, I believe my brother had mentioned it to her. Um, my brother's about ten years older than me also in the Amazon space or was prior into the Amazon space. And the play area, um, very successful in that. But I believe he told my mom about it. And then my mom, one of my, one of the best ways I learned was just by doing. And so we just started doing it. Um, it was basically still a bookstore back then. Obviously, they were starting to add a lot more to the Amazon platform, but it was mainly books and that's what we started selling on. That's what we started selling. So we found a, a library sale. And on the last day we bought like five, six thousand books for fifty bucks. That's crazy. I mean, it was like less than a penny a book and took us, I don't know, probably like five or six years to go through it all in a storage unit, paid way more for the storage unit than we ever did for any of the books. Uh, but that's kind of like what got the ball rolling. And then it was just garage sales, estate sales, um, you know, buying storage units. We've done, we've done the full gambit of reselling on Amazon pretty much for the RA side for sure. Wow. And just for, for good context here, just for general knowledge, you know, he says, RA we're talking about retail arbitrage. Basically, he's going in the store buying, you know, based on data where he says, oh, I could buy this for thirteen dollars and flip it for forty and make a profit. So that's what we're talking about for RA for all of our non Amazonians. Uh, and don't get me wrong, I'm, I'm slowly getting there. Slowly a Amazon reseller, um, uh, you know, in Rehabilitation and recovery. Yeah, but, uh, man, I appreciate you painting that I completely didn't forget, but, you know, I did. It just did dawn on me that your brother was also super successful, you know, and building a business and also exiting that. Right. And I love what you mentioned here in the sense of being hands on and man, dude, your, your, your mom was amazing for exposing you to that environment. Like, well, you know, I don't know other, any other way of teaching a business other than just putting you straight into the frying pan and go, right, right. And that's the best way. Honestly, um, you know, there's this, uh, kid, I'll call him a kid, you know, he's way younger than me. And, um, you know, he's been getting kind of viral lately, you know, he's basically. talking with a bunch of, you know, nine to fivers of various trades. And he's this entrepreneur. He's probably in his mid twenties. I don't know, like, like I said, he's, he is a kid, but you could tell he's, he's had his hands as handed to him quite a few times because he's much more right. And uh, he, he, this was exactly what he had mentioned. You know, it was basically like, I rather learn business hands on in a frying pan than from a professor on stage who likely doesn't have no doesn't have any experience in business, therefore having no business to teach this. Right. Exactly. But, uh, man, that's a, that's a good insight there, man. So, you know, you talked about, you know, building a business and, and just at ages where a lot of kids at that age, they're, they're out riding their bikes or, you know, playing video games nowadays at thirteen years old or what have you, but instead you chose to build a business, you chose to make money and really diving into that. So what what did that journey look like for you? Because it wasn't all roses and sunshine from, you know, you talked about a period of coasting, but it was also a period of your life where, well, you started to, you know, get comfortable, you started to go down this journey. So talk to us about the behind the scenes of where things really started to get real for you. MM. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, from twelve to eighteen, nineteen years old, it was really a side business. When I, when I was eighteen, nineteen, we were starting to do some serious numbers. Um, I had pulled some of them, you know, twenty seventeen, I should have been eighteen. I believe we did half a million dollars. Um, the next year after that was seven hundred and a quarter thousand. And so we weren't doing like smaller numbers, small numbers, but it wasn't like a full time real business for us yet it was still very much in the side business. This is what we're doing on the weekends. This is our afternoon time. Um, and yeah, I'm still riding my bike. I'm still doing all this stuff. But you know, there's a big part of me, a big portion of my time that was spent, you know, grinding out garage sales, flipping furniture on the side, you know, dumpster diving in the back of an antique mall, even. I mean, I've done it all. And, you know, it was just so much fun. It was all about experiences and about developing that knowledge. Um, so I mean, that was, that's basically, you know, twelve to eighteen and, uh, so then I get to Umkc, uh, the local, um, uh, university in my, in Kansas City. And so inside of Umkc, when I was going to that, I was living off of, um, in a house right off of campus and I was still running the business, still doing some stuff. And I'm partnered with my mother. My mother and I have been partnered in this ever since the very beginning. And so she was very much, you know, in the day to day as much as I probably more than I was at that time. Yeah. And so being in college, I really did not like business school. Um, it did just did not vibe with me. I was homeschooled my whole life. I went to public school for only three years. And then I decided that that was not for me. Went back to college or back to homeschooling. So I'm in business school. I'm like super bored. Um, the only reason I was passing was just because I had been in business for so long, I had, I did not study. I did not attend very well. And in that time, I had a long term girlfriend that had been around for most of my life. Um, and we had a very, very traumatic breakup. And through that, it unraveled what I had not worked on very much over my time, over my life so far, which was like who I really am as a person and what my core values and my mission are. And so that breakup like broke me. Um, and I had seen it, two to three of my friends go down a path of using pills and drugs, um, specifically Xanax. And so I had seen two or three of them go down that path of Xanax use and just become complete zombies, um, different people than they were, you know, their brain was basically just mush, you know, there was not a person there pretty much anymore. And so I'm like, yep, that's the solution. That's that's what I want. I wanted that brain to turn off. I was just I had too much of a capacity in my brain and not the right tools to deal with it. It felt like. And so I was like, okay, let's turn it off. And that, unfortunately, was the solution for quite a while for me. Um, and so getting into tons of different drugs during that time, drinking every single day. And eventually that, you know, that just led to all my relationships going to the wayside, my finances getting to some extreme personal credit card debt. Um, that was terrible and took like four years to climb out of that. And that just happened within like a year or two. And, you know, I was basically by myself living in this house for, you know, a good year or two years just getting loaded every single day. And so that was like, that was the deepest, That was the darkest point in my life for sure. Was was that time frame? Was that time period? Um, and yeah, yeah, so that's where, uh, that's where I was at in college early on. Um, yeah, man, thanks for, for sharing that. And I think that's probably the. You know, that story right there. I think a lot of people can resonate with this because, you know, in some type of flavors of that. And you and I have had conversations about this, you know, about my life and, you know, some work, you know, on these different things. But I think a lot of people can resonate with this because they didn't really have, I wouldn't necessarily say the time, but necessarily they didn't do the they didn't take the time necessary to find out who they were at the core. Right. Their identity was wrapped in something that they. That's all they've known for so long, right? You're grinding in this business for for, you know. Well, at that point, I mean, I don't know what the timeline was, but I mean, you're grinding this business since you're twelve years old, right? To my point earlier, a lot of people are playing video games and riding bikes and picking their noses and chasing girls and, and so forth, which you did, but that was later in your years. Um, but you know, so I, I hope everybody that's listening right now is stopping what they're doing because what you're sharing now is one vulnerable. And I appreciate that that's an easy thing to do and share and especially realizing just how, you know, how, how that affected you. And, uh, and it so with, without, you know, actually giving us a summary of this, but let's actually talk about, you know, that specific season if you can. You know, what did that life look like in the middle of it? Right? You know, this gets some specifics, you know. Take us to the moment. What would your day to day. You know, what was your day to day thing look like? That's a that's a deep, dark, scary place for sure. Um, the day to day was just wake up and drink. Decide what pills, what drug I wanted to use. Usually kind of plan out like how far I could take it. Did I have any meetings coming up that next day? You know how how messed up could I get today to be prepared for my next day? Or, you know, am I going to ride out this day into the next day and maybe even go three days? Who knows? Yeah. And I describe that time period now as being extremely gray. I was very confused. Um. Getting. I knew what I wanted when I was taking the Xanax. I wanted my mind to turn off. Yeah, but then you get six months into that and you don't know what you're doing anymore. You don't know really why you're taking it, what you're taking it for. You know, I still had pain from that breakup and like all the other stuff from that. But, you know, I just got to the point where I was just so confused. And then you're chemically dependent on this stuff. Yeah. And, you know, I tried my brain. I mean, if I wasn't on drugs, there was no emotions. There was no color. Even when I was on drugs, the emotions that happened were all negative. And so I describe it as very much a grey point in my life. Um, I was never like suicidal, but I vividly remember one night in particular where I was mixing benzos and alcohol, Xanax and alcohol. And that's a that's a deadly combination. That is that is a combination that you are not supposed to mix. It can just it can just flat out kill you. Stop your heart. And so I knew what I was doing when I was taking that. I wasn't trying to die. But in that same moment, I'm like, man, I don't know what's going on. I don't know how to fix it. I don't know what to do. The release, if I did, that might be the only solution I can figure out right now. So it wasn't like I ever tried, but it was very much like the release. And the idea of that was very much there. Um, and that battling those things was just, that was the day to day for probably like two years straight. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Two years man. Hey, real quick, before we keep going, if you've been listening to this conversation and something hit a nerve, if something we talked about made you pause or you felt 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. Conversations like this. Yes, they're great and I love doing this show, I really do. But if I'm being real with you, a conversation can only take you so far. At some point, you got to stop 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 Reforged Challenge. 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 in the old 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. 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 dot com again. Reforge challenge dot com. 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. That's a long time in summary, especially with that much of consumption. Yeah, that's that's a long time, man. For day to day to day to day. And of course, you know, your consumption only gets worse because your body starts building tolerance to it, right? Um, you mentioned, you know, just go back about two minutes. You mentioned that you know, what you're doing, but it wasn't like you were like suicidal. You think you're trying to take your own life? Was it because you think that, you know, you didn't. You didn't think it was going to happen, right? You knew the risk, but it's not going to happen to me. Or was it a temporary state where you just didn't? I wouldn't say care, but maybe you just didn't. I guess right back to where I was just asking. You didn't think it was going to happen to you, right? No, I, I knew that it could, and it wasn't like I was gambling. I had accepted the outcome of either one of either way that it went that day. Wow. Yeah. That's and that's not a good that's a really, really dark place to be. Yeah. It is. Yeah. Wow. And, you know, I lived in that for quite a while. And so I had a really, or at least I think I had a really good facade, um, you know, front facing, public facing facade that my teachers would see that my family would see my girlfriend, whatever at the time. And, uh, over time, that just breaks down with addiction and your facades get weaker and weaker. And so eventually my parents really started to notice and started to see through and just see how much trouble I was actually getting myself into. And so they eventually got me to move back in to their home with them. And that was a really important step for me to take. Um, I graduated college at this point. Um, I don't know how, but I did, I walked that stage. I was, um, I was very fortunate to have the business, uh, experience that I had to be able to get my degree. And it was a very good school. I just did not take advantage of it. And so, uh, moved me back into their house. And how old were you? About how old were you when? When this happened, by the way? Just curious. I just want to kind of point. I believe I was I believe I was twenty. Okay, this timeline is hard for me to follow and I haven't like sat down and like really wrote out every single year. It is very fuzzy in my head. Um, but you know, I've talked about this a lot in AA and in different sobriety groups and I've been on stage talking about it a little bit with my mom. Um, and so I know most of the pieces of the puzzle there, but there's still a couple of times where my, my current wife is like, hey, do you remember? And I'm like, not a lick of that. Well, that's also called selective memory for folks. Guys, you know what I'm talking about, right? Wow, man, what an incredible story. Because, you know, oftentimes actually, almost every time, you know. Say for example, you post if you taken your just the highlight reel that I posted earlier, right? You just posted on social media, nobody knowing your story that you just shared for the last ten minutes would really understand, appreciate the journey they took to get there, right? And I think this is where everybody needs to take a moment and realize just because there's a highlight reel doesn't mean that there is not a dark story behind it. In fact, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm inclined to say at least ninety nine percent of the time. There is a dark story behind that highlight reel, you know. And you mentioned that this, this, this public facing facade, right? This picture that you're trying to portray. I like to call that the mask, right? This mask that we put up. And the more we put this mask up of what we think the public wants to see or we, you know, that kind of like that barrier, that shield. Over time, it gets exhausting, bro. You know? Oh, yeah. It gets exhausting because so much energy goes into like, what do I tell this person? What do I tell you? What do I say to this person? And keeping up, keeping up with the lies, keeping up with the stories and keeping up with blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? At what point do you say enough is enough? I'm I'm I'm done. Did it come to you making that decision? Was there some type of intervention like you briefly touched on this when you went to, you know, move back to your parents house, but take us to that moment where you realize like, enough is enough, something's got to change. Yeah. Um. During that time, when I moved back into my parents house. I use the word confused a lot for this whole. It's it's like a three and a half year saga of this of really bad addiction. Um, and confusion is just one of the main words for me. And so. One day the, the bottom that started my sobriety journey was one day I just took way too much Xanax. And this was, this had been after I had stopped taking Xanax for quite a while. Um, and I was trying to be sober. I was trying to do the things by myself, not in any kind of groups or anything like that. So I had gotten some Xanax from a friend of mine and I'd taken way too much. Passed out on my parents couch and they just could not wake me up. And, you know, shallow breathing, low pulse and a scary man. Yeah. And, you know, after that, I did wake up, obviously, and I was okay from that. But the look on their faces, the the words that came out of their mouth and knowing that I didn't have to wake up that time, just felt a little different. And they just strongly suggested they had been doing their research for quite a while, and they had strongly suggested that I go to this rehab program that they had found. And that rehab program, um, was centered around what they called enthusiastic sobriety. And that was something I was not familiar with. I mean, I didn't know anything about sobriety groups, period. Yeah. But after having some experience now and knowing about it, it's a very unique type of sobriety groups. Um, there's a couple of them in the country and, uh, it's for younger people, usually twenty five and younger all the way down to like fourteen and yeah, very, very young group. Um, and so they, they're centered around fun and happiness and learning how to have those things in a sober life. And so when I describe everything being very gray, very confusing, like there was no happiness, there was no excitement. So it was that was like super important. That was one of the things that was like such a big turning point for me was figuring out how to have fun again in life and how to see color, how to see joy and how to do that. And that was huge. So that was super impactful for me. And that's what started my sobriety journey. Wow. And then the first thing that gave me hope was one very early on, probably about the one of the first months that I was doing counseling inside of this new program. I was very upset by like my past decisions by other people's past decisions. By things that I had done. And, uh, my counselor, we were talking about it. My counselor was like, hey, man, like, I get it. I've been through those exact same feelings. But eventually, if you get through this, you'll be able to take these terrible experiences and you'll be able to help other people because of them. Just like I'm helping you. Yes. And so that has stuck with me ever. I mean, that was probably seven years ago that I heard seven or eight years ago that I heard that. And that has stuck with me ever since. And so that is that's a big part of my mission today is being like as open and honest as I can. No matter really the moment, because I never know who is struggling that I'm sitting talking to. You never know. I mean, I have had multiple dozen interactions with people just because I'm open and honest. Yeah. And then they share something so shocking that I wouldn't have never thought of from them. And, you know, they needed it in that moment. Yeah, one hundred percent, man. I pulled a few things out of that little short there that I want to unpack for a moment because those are that are listening or watching right now. I really, truly hope that you're taking some notes because I know I did. One of the biggest things that I heard was you can't go this journey alone, right? You have to put pride aside. You have to put ego aside and realize that one, you know, we're designed to be creatures, you know, to of community, right? We're not designed to go this life alone, whether it's in business or personal, whatever. Right. And you came that realization like, man, I, I, I got asked for help. I can't do this journey by myself. I've got to join other people who are on that same journey. Right? Um, and the other thing that you just mentioned too, and I, this is a great reminder for me because sometimes I forget. So I appreciate you sharing this. Whatever story you have, I your story, you know, that you're sharing here today. There are a ton of corals. There is a ton of griffey's, there are a ton of, you know, Ted's and, uh, Cindy's and Jimmy's and Jim's and all these people that have stories, but they are afraid to show up and they're afraid to put the mask away because they're afraid of what the you know, what the public is going to think of them. And, you know, they think there's no place for them. So I hope this serves as an encouragement for people out there because I know it did for me. I needed to hear that reminder because sometimes I forget because, you know, sometimes we got to think, we got to put this mask on of what the public thinks they want us. You know, what they want to see, not the true authentic person that is sitting here chatting today, you know, and you're perfectly qualified to help the person who you used to be right there. There's a quote I heard from Emiliep. You know, I can't recall it off the top of my head. For whatever reason, I know I will towards the end of the recording of this. And it reminds me of that because you you are perfectly qualified to help the people before you. I'm sorry. After you. Right. I love that man. So at peak performance, because you you're the type of person. And I'll share this because I, I know a lot more about you than, than the audience does. So I'll kind of, you know, divulge a little bit more here. Your, your, your performance. You know, you're a performer, you're a high performer. You're the type of person who seeks achievement. You're, you're just that high achiever, right? And so at peak performance, most people don't see the cost, right? But at that point you weren't at peak performance yet. Or maybe you were in, you know, correct me, but you were in that basement, if you will. You know, what was that cost for you? You know, you kind of dived in a little bit, right? You know, credit card debt and so forth. But, you know, let's talk about mentally and financially in your relationships. You dived in a little bit. You know, walk me through what the, the addiction actually took from you financially. I mean, give us some numbers here mentally. What did that take away from you? Relationships. You, you mentioned earlier destroyed relationships. But give us some context of what you know, what did it actually destroy for you. Oh, man. I mean, it it took everything. I mean, I was essentially alone for a very long time with very little support. Scary. If I if there was support, it was one that I had, like, pushed away like my parents. Um, and just didn't want them to, to see or be involved in it. Um, but it caused destruction in every single aspect of my life. Um, it took away basically every single friendship I had. Um, I had to rebuild that from. I only have one friend essentially outside of my wife who's from, uh, from my younger childhood. I have one friend from that, from that time period. Everybody else, um, either I drove away or they drove themselves away. And so no friends living by myself. I was running a side business. um, in the collectibles market. Yeah. And I was doing very, very well with that. But when you're an active addiction and you're taking Xanax and drinking all the time, you just get so confused. And so none of your plans work out. Even no matter how good I was doing, like they all. Yeah. None of them worked out. And so, you know, in a probably about a year and a half time, I got myself, I think it was somewhere around forty five thousand dollars in credit card debt and bad credit card debt. Very little like, you know, quote unquote inventory or anything to show from that. Um, it was all either drink or smoked or swallowed away. And so financially it was detrimental. I mean, it's ruined me for a very long time. Destroyed my credit. Um, so yeah, I mean, it, it was everything. It affected everything. There wasn't a single aspect that I don't think didn't affect. Wow, man. Thanks for sharing it, dude. Steep. Man. You said something in your intake. You know that, uh, that that hit me. You know, I know you and I have been doing some some deep work for a while, and, you know, but I'll just say what you said earlier, you know, and I'll say this in quotes you it showed me who I can be without a purpose driven by faith in core values, right? You saw dark. You saw the dark version of yourself, you know? So with that dark version, you know, what did you decide that? Or was it that point when you were talking about being on the couch? Was it at that point you were like, I've got to, you know, You decide to work on my core values, decide to start to really decide your core identity. Or was it later on, like, you know, I'm hearing this gap of identity shift, right? Or the lack thereof, right? You know? So walk us through like, you know, the moments where Griffey, you know, just kind of listen to this, the eye of a Tiger song, if you will. Right? You know, this moment where Griffey is, you know, deciding my view is probably going to put that song in the background. Um, but let's just picture for a moment this there's always this comeback scene, right? There's always this comeback scene. And so I'm sensing that's what we're going to get to next is this comeback scene. So walk us through this idea. Who who did you start to establish yourself in? You know, walk us through that. Yeah. So after that day that I that my parents couldn't wake me up. Um, my father had told me, I think it was either that night or the next day. He was like, he sat me down and he was like, you need to look at yourself in the mirror and think about what kind of man you want to be and what kind of man you are right now. And, uh, I hadn't hadn't done that before. I hadn't been told that, you know, obviously you hear about that your whole life, you know, the man in the mirror kind of thing. But it was like, you know, I listened to him that time, and I did. And, uh, I mean, that was a big moment right there. I mean, I saw the sunken eyes, the, you know, I was probably only like a buck fifty weight. I mean, I had dropped from like two sixty overweight fat down to like a buck fifty in about a year. Wow. So what do you weigh right now though? I weigh two ten. Pretty healthy right in the middle. You know, pretty healthy right now too. I agree you do look pretty healthy right now. So you know, that was a really big moment for me, was finally actually looking at the man in the mirror and coming to terms with what I was doing. And understanding like that is not who I want to be. Obviously, you know, that's a moment a month later or a week later that I'm in the sobriety group. And then for a period of six months, I am the sobriety group I was in. Um, it was outpatient, but I was there every single day from, I can't remember, it was like ten a m to like three or four p m I mean, I was there and then we had like to do night time meetings and stuff. I was there all day, almost every day. And so that was like a six month course of rediscovery, essentially, of rebuilding who I am as a person and as a human being. And it was in those moments, it was an accumulation of thousands of small moments, like picking myself back up, putting the pieces back together. Understanding who I was, what I had done and who I want to become. Um, so yeah, it wasn't like big moments, but it was, it was a thousand choices, decisions, day in day that that accumulated to who I am today. I thank you. Uh, because what I just heard right there, correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't like this big grandiose thing where change occurred, right? Right. It was to your to what you said, thousands of decisions every single minute, hour, day, right? That led you to where you are today, right? It's one day at a time. Yeah. And that's not easy. No. You know, and especially, you know, for your, your situation, man, it it's we we want results fast, right? We want that quick dopamine hit of like, I achieve something, but when there's nothing tangible to make you feel good, it's easier to kind of go back to the old habit, the old griffy like, man, you know, today sucked. I didn't see any results of the hard work that I put in for last week. Screw this. I'm just going to go back to who I used to be, you know? What do you say to that person? You know, what do you say to that person that is that's listening to you right now? That's like griffy, bro. Man, man. Incredible story. Yeah, I can hear, I can relate, but. You know, they tried, right? They tried to get sober for a week. They tried to get sober for a month or maybe longer, maybe less. It's not really relevant in my opinion. What do you say to this person that that that gives up or that, you know, thinks that they can't get sober or they can't rebuild, right? Yeah, it, it comes down to one day at a time and progress, not perfection. It is, it is the willingness to continue working towards the goal that you want to do. Just because you may drink, relapse, because you yelled at your spouse that you promised yourself you wouldn't yell again, or at an employee or what have you. You know, the person on the road that you got, you know, road rage, you know, all these things. It's. It's taking that time And that forgiveness, that progress, not perfection. It's allowing yourself the grace to make mistakes and not strive towards perfection. HMM, I agree, but at the same time, it's pushing you to be better than you were the day before. So it's kind of a double edged sword. It gives you grace, but it pushes you further than the day before. And yes, it's very hard. And as an individual, as a as a solo human being, anything is very difficult. We're not built to be solo human beings. We are built to be in communities and to thrive inside of communities and take guidance and leadership from others. And so anything and everything that I've done in my life, I don't think there's a single thing that I could attribute to myself and myself only. And I don't really want to, especially these days. I'm like, no, this is a team effort. Like, I don't want to be the only one doing this, but a lot of people take on so much and they think that they have to do it all themselves, or they take it the kind of the other way, and they think that they're the only one that can do has experience X, Y, Z. Yeah. And one of my favorite things in, in, in AA is Alcoholics Anonymous is seeing a newcomer come in, especially if it's somebody that I know, because then I see them experience the community aspect of it. And it's like people that think they're these worst, terrible, terrible human beings and can't forgive themselves for anything and can't get out of bed. It's like, okay, well, there's Jim, Bob and Susan. They've all done the exact same thing, just a different color. Yeah, yeah. And hearing that, I think that's a I mean, it's a huge psychological shift. You go from purely in your head and thinking that you're the only one that could have ever done something like this or has or whatever, to having that community to understanding that you're not that special. You're not, you're not, you're not that bad. Um, and that there is hope. And that's, that's what it comes down to too is, is seeing the hope. Because if you're doing it solo, you, it's really, really hard to see the hope. It's like it's a theoretical idea. It's like, yeah, if I do these things, I can maybe get to that. But having those interactions with another human being that's been through what you are trying to get through and can show you what the other side looks like. That's that's key. Real quick, before we keep going, if you've been listening to this conversation and something hit a nerve, if something we talked about made you pause, or you felt 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. Conversations like this. Yes, they're great and I love doing this show. I really do. But if I'm being real with you, a conversation can only take you so far. At some point, you got to stop 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 Reforged Challenge. 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 the old 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. 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? Reforge challenge. Com. 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. Lots to unpack from that. But one of the things that we were just. You know, unpacked was progress over perfection and just focus on every day one percent better. But I think one of the most important things I pulled out of that and again, as I said earlier, sometimes I have to remind myself of this. And I hope truly everybody's listening to what I'm about to tell you, Griff, he's already said this, but I really, really want to drive this out. Forgive yourself. Oh, man. And too many people. And I'm. Dude, I'm no exception here. I'm guilty as charged. We carry around this backpack of guilt of of things. We've said that we shouldn't have said, things we've done, we shouldn't have done, and all these different things, right? And we think that we have to carry that. We think that we have to carry it because there's some type of badge of honor. But newsflash, you're not the only one, and there is no badge of honor in carrying it. In fact, it's pretty selfish to continue to carry that. Right. So I love what you said there. Again, if you didn't hear that, let's let's say it again, forgive yourself. You know, if you have to look yourself in the mirror. In fact, I was just talking to a client the other day, man. He was just ruminating down his path of negative thoughts. I'm like, all right, dude, you stare yourself in the mirror for freaking five, ten minutes and saying, I love you, you, dude. I forgive you. Do it for five minutes. Yes. It's going to feel really, really weird. Really awkward. But do that. Yes, absolutely. That was such a huge thing for my recovery is I was I had relapsed multiple times when I was in that, that enthusiastic sobriety program. You know, it took me quite a while to be able to get a year under my belt of sobriety. You know, I had three or four relapses in that group before then. And. One of the biggest things I one, I think this is what really turned it around for me is after I started to rebuild myself, I was just so ashamed with where I had gone, with who I had become, and I was paralyzed. Um, I had no idea how to continue. And so I was stuck in that moment for a while for probably a good six months or something feeling. Yeah, I'm working on myself, but like I have done all this terrible stuff. Yeah. You know, in my head all, you know, you build it up so much. It's so terrible, so bad. Um, and you build it up so high and you put so much guilt into your heart, as you were saying, and you just have to be able to forgive yourself. And there's a process to be able to forgive yourself. You know, it's an easy few words to say. Be like, oh, yeah, just forgive what you've done. Forgive those people. But it's a process and it takes it takes a while to get through that. And part of that process is talking about it with another person. Mhm. Um, kind of brings it back to that connectivity and, um, with another human being and all this stuff is, yeah, we get in our heads and we become so special and so individualized that anything is possible in our own head, and it becomes this crazy monstrosity that it probably really isn't. Love it man. Let's take a little bit of a right turn here because you, you, you've brought this up several times. And I know you mentioned this on your guest intake and especially about identity, right? And I think this really ties back to, you know, you were twelve years old starting this business. I don't think you really had the wherewithal to really focus on on who Griffey is, you know, because you establish your identity either in that business or in a very, you know, different period of time and things may have shifted or so forth. But you said something powerful. If you haven't identified and written out in detail your core values, who you want it to be and what impact you want to have, start there, right? So when did you do that? You know, walk me through that process. You know, what did you write down and how did it change the way you operate today? Yeah. So going through the program of AA, I had done somewhat of an exercise like this. Um, yeah, back then it was very much like I just want to be a good person. That was the baseline of everything. I didn't have, didn't have a wife, didn't have anything like that. So it was just like, I want to be a good person going forward. Yeah. And I want people to, to understand that about me. Um, and so that that operate, I want to be sober and I want to be a good person. That was what I wanted. That was my mission statement. And those were my core values. Yeah. And I guess I wanted to make money too. And so how I stayed sober was just grinding work Nonstop. In order to break my addiction, I had to keep my hands busy, busy, busy. And so I found another vice. Exactly. And just. You kind of have to keep trading it up for the better and better vice. Yeah. Um, it's, you know, it's not really it can definitely be a vice, but in the literature of AA, it talks about, um, how alcoholics recover recovering alcoholics versus normies have a three X earning potential. And in my analytical mind, when I heard that, I'm like, okay, I like the sound of that. And I guess I can see why. And so when you're talking about like vices or like going from one thing to another, if it's, you know, in a good direction, it's, um, more of like an energy shift. It's like, I put so much energy into drinking and doing drugs. I just needed to redirect that energy with purpose into something else. And I became a killer in it. And that that is a superpower behind addicts and alcoholics. Um, stop right there for a second, if you don't mind. You just said what? You leveraged a weakness as a superpower, right? Exactly. Wow. Um, my mind was blown just now because a lot of people, as we've been talking about would say, man, you know, look at me. Look what I've done, right? But cool. You know, there's actually a, you know, a, um, you know, a silver lining in this. I wouldn't call it a silver lining. I would actually call it, you know what you just said a superpower. So keep going. I want to extrapolate that because that right there was gold. You know, you, you chose to use that focus, that energy, that shift of energy, you know, as a superpower rather than allowing it to deteriorate your life. Exactly. And in that same breath, it's the exact same thing. Of the reasons I couldn't get out of bed. All the past stuff that I'd done or had done to me. Why I couldn't get out of bed is the exact same reasons why I get out of bed now. It's just the. It's the exact same fight. Just a different tune. You know, I want to help people. I don't want people to go through what I went through. That's what gets me out of bed in the morning now. And that is my that's my question for your next guest is what gets you out of bed in the morning other than coffee and cupcakes? Exactly. Awesome. Well, if in case I forget to ask that at the end, I'll be sure wrote this down. That's great man. Love it. So I, I've known you for, you know, about eight months now, I've had the honor of working with you for, for quite some, you know, for these last eight months. And, and, uh, and we've done several in-person, you know, meetups and so forth. And, and you just, you're known for this, right? But I seen it firsthand display, you know, you're known for building scalable systems and turning complex businesses into structured, repeatable operations. Right? And so let's get tactical for a moment. Um, because I've had the pleasure of this watching you and your business. I mean, I think I've heard you say, you know, you spend ten to fifteen hours now operating this business, um, more or less. Right. But walk me through the exact process. When did you look at growing or when did you look at a, at a growing Messy business. You know what's step one, right? You know, when you look at it, how do you scale that business? How do you bring order to chaos? You know? Yeah. Walk us through that if you don't mind. Yeah. So it was timing was really good in my life. Um, because twenty nineteen, twenty twenty was when I decided to get sober. That was like, that was also right after I graduated college in twenty nineteen. And so I had a couple of big decisions to make. It was like, am I going to use my degree or am I going to push the small business that I've been doing for now, seven, eight years, and I'm just going to go all in on that? Well, I decided to go all in on that to stay busy, keep myself sober. And Covid was just an era of opportunity for Amazon e-commerce businesses, as I'm sure you know. Yeah. And so timing was perfect. I mean, I was shopping from seven a m to eight p m every single day. I couldn't spend enough money fast enough. My mom was like, not able to keep up with me. She's very much the one that, like, was looking. I never looked at the bank accounts. You know, the formula just worked and it worked so well and so easy on Amazon platform for so long. We just I never did. My mom was like, okay, we have to hold back. Or, you know, I'm asking her every week, okay. Hey, we just broke records. Like, can I buy more? Can I buy more? Yeah. Really? Uh, so yeah, it got to a point where it was like, okay, we can't do this by ourselves anymore. Um, this is way too big now. You know, we're doing two, three million dollars on Amazon and we've had a couple of like prepper positions, um, or, you know, part time eBay picture uploader positions. Um, but it was never like we were still very much in the grunt work. And so it was at that time that my wife or girlfriend at the time. Now wife joined in our business and came and came to work for us. And so that was in the moment of explosive growth in twenty twenty, twenty twenty one. And so we used her specialties of SOP writing and systems and processes and stuff, and just plugged her into every single portion that this business had to create an SOP for it. And so I would sit down with her, we would go over to, you know, the shipping department or the returns department, and we would sit there with a computer. I would go through all the steps, or one of our employees would go through all the steps. My wife would write down everything to do with it. And then we systematize and sop everything that we possibly could touch. And then we went down the rabbit hole of that for a very long time. We did courses, flew out to, um, Texas, do a couple day in-person event about lean manufacturing. And, you know, we just we loved it. And so that's when everything changed, when it was just, it was becoming too much for us. And we saw the opportunity to grow so much more. And that was like, okay, we have to make these changes. This playbook no longer works for this, this new set of rules, this new playing field that we're on. Um, so we have to rewrite the playbook. And so every kind of every time that you're kind of leveling up or downgrading, you know, I kind of downgraded my, I sold part of my business last year. And so we're a lot more consolidated. So, you know, in a way it kind of downgraded it. And that's a different playbook than what I was operating, operating at last year, the year before. And you kind of just have to go with the flow on both those things. But I agree. That's a good point, man. You mentioned that your old playbook no longer worked for where you're trying to go next. You know, and I know you referenced that in business, but that's in every, every area of your life. You know, and I think this is a big gap is in everybody's life. When we get hit with that two by four by life, we get smacked in the face, right? And there's this, that, that, that, that event and there's this gap between where you are and where you need to be. And you realize, man, my, my playbook is outdated, right? Because, you know, seasons change, chapters change either in your finances, your business, your career, your relationships, something's changed, you know, and I kind of call this the, the disorientation state where, you know, you're confused and you just got slapped in the face. Like, where the hell did that come from? Right? Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, your boyfriend playbook is not gonna be your husband playbook by any means. What? No. But yeah, exactly. Especially in today's standards. I, I agree that that's a great point because in, in order to level up and I don't think you level, you know, are downgraded level down. You did level up because you're in a different area of focus now, you know, you're, you're focusing on building brands and, and being the architect. You know, we hadn't talked about that, but you know, I'll kind of divulge this to the audience because you're the work that you and I are doing, right? I love that man. Always look at reevaluating your playbook because playbook rules do change. And you know, you've got to consistently look at that. You you talked about shortcuts for a little bit. You said taking the easy way or the shortcut is never what you think it's going to be. Right? Give me a, you know, some specific example. What shortcut did you take that burned you? And what did it teach you about doing things the right way? Um. I'm not sure on that one. No. Okay. Yeah. Sorry. No. You're good. Yeah. Um. Um, when I, when I was writing that, I was thinking a lot about other people in business that I had seen. And so, yeah, we can talk about this. I mean, I put in there also talking about mentors and one of the sections I put in there was they can help save yourself from a lot of embarrassment. Mhm. And I've seen countless people, one comes to mind really heavily. Um, he was an Amazon seller and he was I mean, everybody knew him in the space And he made a couple of deals with some of the other bigger sellers, and they were bulk buying, wholesaling together, and they're all supposed to be at the same prices. Well, he dropped his prices and got exiled from the community. You know, nobody would ever do business with him again simply because he needed to chase that, that quick dollar versus, you know, a few months from now. Mhm. And I've just seen that so many times, and everybody thinks it's just such short term plays with that. Yeah, that, that, uh, I think that that's when you're focused more on me instead of we that destroys more relationships than anything, you know? And, uh, I think I know you're talking about, of course we're not going to air this name out. Right. But because it's, it's, it's nothing against I mean, it is, but it's also not it's just a common theme, right? You know, we see this all the time. And I think that's in every industry, to be honest with you, man. I, I've had a couple of clients that were, you know, that have roofing businesses or plumbing, you know, a couple plumbing businesses. And they all say the same thing, you know, basically they're all in it. You know, it's me. Not about about we, right? Um, so let's just dive into some areas because you mentioned, um, you know, motivation fades, right? And in this area of growth and this rapid growth and not just growth in your business, but who you are today, right? Motivation fades. Pressure to perform is what challenges you the most. When that pressure hits, what are your non-negotiables today that keep you from sliding back into old into the old Griffey? The old patterns, right? Yeah. And that was, I think one of the last things I kind of wanted to talk about was this analogy of like body armor that you have and whatever, you know, sobriety or relationship, spiritual, you know, you have to maintain that body armor. It's not just something that you can just take on and off, and it's going to protect you for years and years and it's not going to wear down. No, it's going to it's, it's going to get holes in it. It's going to get punctured. Um, through the different things that happen on your day to day. And if you're walking around with that kind of body armor and the really bad things happen, or it just hits you at that right time, individuals can become their worst enemies for sure. And. For me, if I am not maintaining my body armor in every aspect of my life, every single day, basically I am not posting. I'm not just like flat lining. I am actively going backwards or going downhill. I have to be working on myself in every aspect or I'm going backwards. And so I think that's a really big thing. And you know, we talk about it. You know, it's progress over perfection. You know, I have I have a morning routine that you help me come up with. You know, I have thirty, forty five minutes of workout in it. I have thirty minutes of reading. I have thirty minutes of journaling. Okay. Well, on Monday morning when I've gotten five messages and I know I'm going to be swamped, you know, maybe it's I'm going to do some jumping jacks and I'm going to read a couple of pages to get my mind right out of my Bible. There you go. I'm going to write a few sentences. I am not going to spend a lot of time doing this. And it is it's really. You just have to make those conscious daily decisions. Agree Agree. Thanks for sharing that, man. And what you just mentioned kind of slides into, you know, an area that you, you specifically wanted to talk about because this is something I've been passionate about, not just because of, of me, but so many people. Well, not so many people. I'm of the belief everybody needs to have mentors, coaches and, you know, surround yourself with people who are ahead of you at your level and even behind you. Right? Um, you said that you attribute basically everything to coaches and mentor all the growth you've had and all of the yeah, just the growth, not just in your business, but to you personally, as a, as Griffey that is sitting here today, you know, uh, that they, they tell you what levers to pull, which ones to not pull, um, name, you know, some of those people, um, you know, that, uh, and tell me What they gave you that you couldn't have figured out on your own? Yeah. Um. Outside of just like, aged wisdom, you know, you can figure out a lot of things on your own. It's just that the. It's the rate at which you're going to figure it out. Yes. You know, some people. Exactly. You know, you can spend a lifetime trying to start XYZ business and you never do it, or it never goes good, or you get the right mentor and in two months you have a viable business. Um, because they had already or their mentors had already shown them how to jump over these first one hundred hurdles. You just don't need to bother with. You could learn. You could learn it by yourself. You know, all means go for it. At this point in my life, I'm just like, I don't want to learn it by myself. You know, I don't need to learn through the trials of pain. You know, I'm going to ask around if I have to. Absolutely I will. But I'm going to ask around first. I'm going to see who people twenty, forty years older than me, what their experiences are in the exact same situations is that I'm dealing with. And so mentorship has been the biggest thing in my life. I feel like, um, and it ebbs and flows every single year. You know, every, there's a different season almost every single year or multiple seasons in, in a single year. And your mentors, your coaches are going to change and flow, or at least they should with those seasons, agree. Just like our rulebooks and our playbooks, you know, they change. Yeah. And different mentors are for different things, you know? Um, you might want to talk about that. You know, you taught me a, uh, a program or an idea of having certain people for different aspects of my life, you know, my spiritual leader, my relationship leader, my business leader. And I think that is that was super important for me because like in back of my mind, my mind, I had like, I had people I would call, but just like with your core values and your mission statement, having that written out and identifying those things and then rereading those things, I mean, I read my core values every single day. Oh man. Love it. I mean, this is my and this is, this is a detailed core value. This is all about this is all about integrity. And so I read that every single day. So that are on audio right now. He's actually showing up on, you know, video is core values and everything he's talking about. So he's actually physically showing us. Just want to point that out. And it's like, I know that I want to have integrity, but I don't know all the little intricacies. I don't remember maybe all of it. But I want to focus on in the day to day. If I don't read that, or if I hadn't written it out in the first place. Agree. Thanks for sharing that, man. And what you're referring to is the inner corner, right? Um, and this is something that was inspired by my own growth journey. And it's really the six C's of, of people you got to have in your corner to keep your growth focused. So those are there watching or listening, you know, I'm not going to dive into all of them for the sake of time. But you know, to what Griffey was talking about, you know, to what you were talking about, man is having a, you know, a chaplain or somebody who's spiritually more mature in, in has a lot more wisdom than you. So when you read Scripture, you know how to apply it into your marriage or into your relationship with your kids or your business or just in general life, right? Um, you need to have a challenger or a confronter or, you know, um, you know, a confidant. But, um, anyways, so thanks for sharing that because that, that really helps you stay focused especially. And that was a hard lesson for me to learn too, is, you know, not everybody in your life is in your life for the rest of your life, right? Uh, they're in your life. It could be a season of a couple of weeks, months, years, maybe even decades, you know? And that's okay. Right? Uh, but I think a lot of us take that personally. Well, you know, that guy disappeared or that chick disappeared or whatever. And it's like, well, they were introduced in our lives for, you know, a season and it may not even be for our benefit. It may be for their benefit. Right? So we just to your point, yeah, I agree. We just we just have to be okay with that, you know, because people change, they evolve and, and sometimes they don't evolve, but we do, right. Um, you know, as we start to wrap up here, you know, we've been working together for, eight months now. And for the person who's on the fence about getting a coach or a mentor and guys, this is nobody stretch of the imagination a pitch to work with me. In fact, I have very strict guidelines of who qualifies to work with me. Um, but what would you tell them based on your own experience? Not what I told you to say. What's actually real for you, man? Yeah. It's the, um. Ah, man. A lot of success comes down to the rate at which you can make decisions and implement those decisions. And so a mentor and a coach expedite those processes. I mean, it can easily be one hundred x. It can be one thousand X agree. I mean it's insane what it can what it can do. Yeah. Um, most of the things in my life that are, you know, quote unquote, my bigger successes. Majority of those would not have been probably capable of me doing without my coach at the time. Mhm. Um, and so if you don't necessarily know if you need a coach or want a coach, you know, what are your goals and how fast do you want to get there? Um, that's my question to you then agree. Well, so that's a great point. But what do you say to that guy or gal? Well, you know, especially in the era of AI and especially in the rapid evolvement of AI. I mean, dude, I for, you know, the greater part of the week, I've had multiple agents complete tasks for me, right? Um, and do a lot of just admin stuff that my assistant handles for me. But what do you say to that person? Like, I'll figure it out with AI. Yeah. You know, I, I would compare that a lot to the like inner dialogue. We talked about meaning AI versus like the community human interaction that we talked about that, that group effort, the group consciousness. Um, I think that is just so important. And I think you really lose a lot of humanity of, of just so much of the actual subject when it's just AI. And so if you're really trying to get through something really hard, you're trying to learn something very difficult that you don't know. Having that person, they're real human being is, I don't know, I don't even think it's probably comparable. AI is amazing and AI is an incredible tool. Um, but it's, I don't think it'll ever compare to a human being on the levels of mentorship and coaching. Um, because I don't think you can program the humanity aspect of it or the forty or fifty years of experience that is behind it. Um, who knows what data set is uploaded behind it? It's referencing, you know, it's not referencing Griffey's life. It's not referencing Karl's life in detail, you know? Yeah, that's a, that's a great point. And to that point too, AI is made to agree with us, right? Um, it'll tell us, oh, that's such a brilliant idea when it was probably the dumbest idea you've ever had. Right? Right. Um, you know, so, you know, to that person, yes, there is of use in using AI in our lives and it should be right. And I know that's an area you and I have been jamming a lot about is AI. Um, but it cannot be a replacement for, you know, mentorship, humanization, um, in coaching to help you. call you out on your on your excuses, or to help you hold yourself accountable to your goals. You know, because there's a difference between, you know, reporting to an AI bot. Hey, I didn't show up yesterday, right? Versus showing up to Carl or Griffey or somebody else say, hey, I didn't show up today. Right? That's not a good conversation, bro. Yeah, yeah, an AI can't kick you in the butt. That's right. I can't that is. That's one hundred percent correct, man. That's one hundred percent correct. Well, at least not today. Maybe not today. Maybe in five years. Ten years. The way things are going, you might have a, you know, a piece of iron up your colon, but, um, hey, you know, you got your, your iron intake for the year. There you go. Right? But man, this has been such an amazing conversation and, you know, and of course, time flies, right? But as we, as we wrap up, man, I, I love to ask everybody, you know, their own definition of grit, you know, so for you, it's going to be no different. You know, in this season of, of this architect that you're living, that you're intentionally building. What does grit look like for you in this season? Um, you know, for a long time, grit was just the ability to take it and get through it. Um. And not stagnating because of it. Yeah. Nowadays it's definitely a little it's the basis of that is exactly that. You just have to take it and get through it. Life is not sunshine and rainbows all the time. You know, you can't control everything. And I wouldn't want to if I could, but, uh. Yeah, it is. Having a total brain fart right now. Happens to me all the time, dude. And it doesn't get easier when you get older, trust me. Right. They got it edited, right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I don't remember what the question was. It's all good, man. In this season of life, what does grit mean? Like look like for you? Okay. Yeah. Grit for me is the ability to just take it and get through it and learn from it and improve upon it. Um, you know, for a long time, it was just the take it and get through it. Nowadays, it's very much you still have to take it and you still have to get through it. But what can you extrapolate from it? How can you learn from it and how can you give it back? How can you show others what you just learned? I agree ma'am, I agree, love it. So we hear all the talk about adding right? Adding new systems, adding new processes, new habits, new beliefs, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? But, you know, I'm also, especially in this season of life, and I think I, I could say the same for you. I have been focusing on what can I subtract because growth also requires subtraction. Um, so with that, what is one thing that you're actively removing from your life to help you grow? What is it could be a belief that you had to unbelieve right? Or something you had to unlearn. Um, yeah. Grammar please. You know, whatever. But, um, what is something that you're actively removing from your life so you can level up? Um. You know, I think or anything. Right? You know, for me, I think one of the main things that I'm working on right now is boundaries. It's the ability to say no and be okay with that, because I can say no. I can be mean. I can say no. Um, but I don't feel good about it. I'm always going to want to come back and help them or, you know, give my time to theirs. And so sorry, my dogs are whining inside. So, uh, that's what it is for me. Nice. Love it man. So. Well, before I get into this, by the way, boundaries for those that are listening or watching, if you haven't heard any of my previous episodes, I just recently kind of forced him to read this book called Boundaries by Doctor Henry Cloud. I think that's the author. But if you have not read this book, please stop what you're doing. Go to Amazon and buy this book because it will change your life in a sense of establishing boundaries. Learn, know when to say, learn when to say no and yes. Right. And so, um, and it's hard, especially for people who are people driven that we want to help and. Right. That's our biggest vice, right? So thanks for sharing that, man. Um, so I know earlier I had asked you for a quota directive, right? Um, while you're in the trenches, whether it's in a season, in a moment or a period of time where you're like, man, you're rolling up your sleeves and things are hard. What is a quota directive that you're, that you find yourself coaching yourself with to get through that moment or season? Yeah. Um, we had mentioned it before. It's going to be progress, not perfection. It's, it's that ability to give yourself grace in the moment, but push yourself harder each and every day. You don't need to strive for perfection. You're never going to hit it. So just take that off the table immediately. But let's work towards it every single day. Love it man. Love it. So my previous guest had this question for you. I know you mentioned this other question, but I want you to say it again. But, um, what does success look like for you? What does success mean for you? Success means for me, freedom pretty much. It's the ability to do what I want. Um. In the jobs that I want, in the businesses that I want. It's the ability to take my life into whatever direction that I want to go. And so, you know, very much I battle back and forth if success for me is a billion dollar company or is it a hundred acres and an awesome little farmhouse and I just homestead the rest of my life? You know, those are two very different forms of success. Yeah, I agree, and I'm on the fence between them, I'll tell you that. But you know, it looks like just very different for everybody. But for me, it's the ability to place my life where I want it to be placed and live how I want to. Awesome, man. Thanks for sharing that because I, I'm of the belief and I'm glad that he had asked this question. And as I said earlier, the question fits, you know, and, but, uh, success does look like it is different for every person, you know, whether it's having a, you know, a magnificent home or if it's, you know, having a ranch in the middle of nowhere, you know, with, uh, no debt, you know, but they've got a beat up truck, but they're, they're, they're happy because they have the freedom they, they do, they can do what they want or, um, whatever. Right. But don't be limited, you know, by your own version of success, because your version of success isn't the same as mine or yours or anybody else's. Right? Exactly. I think that's where a lot of people get hung up, man. I'm just not successful as Carl or Griffey or as Ted or. Okay. What is your version of success? You know? Right. Um. Awesome, man. Well, dude, this is this has been an amazing conversation. I sense that there's going to be a part two to this. Um, but this is, uh. Oh, yeah. Man, uh, I loved having you, man. This has been a great conversation. You're such an amazing human being. Um, and so, Griffey, I really thank you for not just giving us the highlight reel of this, you know, over forty million in revenue and starting when you were twelve years old. But you, you, you chose to go beneath it all to show us that period of addiction where, you know, you nearly took your own life and, you know, there was that period there where you just you were in that darkest area of your life, man. So I really respect you for that. I honor you for that because that's not easy. You know, that is not easy to come on into a public forum and to be vulnerable, sharing your story, sharing what happened to you. But I understand why you did it, man. I honor you and respect you for that. So thank you. I really appreciate you doing that, man. Well, thanks for having me on, Carl. I really appreciate it. Yeah, man. And like I said, I definitely sense a part two of this conversation, you know, because, uh, time flies when you're having fun, right? For the person that is listening who wants to connect with you to learn more about you, you know, maybe what you're building or you didn't even talk about this. See, there's going to be a part two probably, but you're building a brand, right? So either they want to connect with you, support you, or they want to support your brand. Where can they find more about you, man? Yeah, I have a very little online presence right now. Um, the only one that I really pretty much use is, uh, Griffi Kessler on Facebook. So you can find me there and send me a message. No problem. Awesome. I'm sure to drop all that in the show notes. And he's being humble right now, but the brand that he's building is HR approved. It's a pretty slick product, helps breaks, breaks the ice and cold conversations. Right? So, um, so I'll, I'll drop all that in the show notes. So again, my dude, thank you so much for, for joining me on this podcast and sharing your story and just really being here to help other people, man. And that's one of the things I love about you is you love showing up for others, man. So again, I honor you and I thank you. Really appreciate you showing up today. Of course man. Anytime. Oh, awesome. So to those who are listening and are watching, as I always said, as I like to wrap this up, the gap between average and excellence is merely just action, even in perfect action. Don't just listen to Griffey listen or, you know, take one thing that he shared today. You know, it could be as simple as focusing on, you know, progress versus perfection or your own morning routine, right? But just take one thing that you learn from this conversation and implement it. In addition to that, be the person that someone needs so they don't quit today, right? Don't keep this episode to yourself. Share it with someone in your circle who needs this right now. Send it to them, please. Again, my dude Griffey, thank you so much for stepping into the arena today. Of course Carl, it was fun. Absolutely.