The Grit Factor Podcast w/ Karl Jacobi

TGFP Audio 23

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 you in the face with a two by four since that 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. All right. Today I'm joined by a good friend of mine, somebody I've known for a couple of years now. So I do have some insider knowledge, but nonetheless, I am joined by a good friend of mine, special guest that, uh, I'm just so ecstatic to have this conversation with today. He's a graduate from James Madison University, started his career as a database administrator, climbed the corporate ladder through various companies, left it to build his own company from the ground up and scale it to nine figures, and exited upon the exit. He pivoted again and became a seven figure seller on Amazon platform, doing three million plus a year. Uh, built a software on that platform, uh, and just recently took a two week vacation without checking a single thing. Like this is an absolute dream. As I'm reading this, right as I'm reading this, this is like an absolute dream of an option or father of four husband, a man of deep faith who has been more in the last few years, which I can personally attest to than the average person faces in a lifetime. So K, my dude. Welcome to the show, man. Wow, what an intro. I didn't, I didn't expect you to know that much about me. Carl. I do my homework, my man. I do my homework. I can tell there, um, but, uh. Yeah. Glad to be on. Um, where do you want me to start? Do you want me to start with, uh, kind of like my history a little bit, uh, how I got started. Get into. So, man, uh, there's so many different routes we could go, right? But man, take me. Just just take me in the audience real quick before, you know, the pharmacy or the healthcare, you know, the specialty healthcare company that you founded and exited before Amazon, before any of this, you're a database admin at shell and maybe a couple of companies, right? So what was life like in that season and what did that first feel? Uh, where did you feel that pull to get out of and do something on your own? Oh, okay. Great question. So I think for me, um, my entrepreneurial journey really started in like, the fourth grade. Wow. Nice. Okay. I, I was one of those kids that was very rebellious. I hated absolutely hated school. The very first day I showed up, uh, I can relate. And I was like, why am I learning this stuff? I mean, I was questioning a lot of stuff that, you know, like a little kid normally doesn't question like, okay, uh, history is cool, but how does it help me make money? Right. Exactly. Uh, so, uh, in the fourth grade, I started a little, uh, arbitrage gig. I didn't even know what arbitrage was at the time. So, um, I was just, uh, you know, a normal kid eating a bunch of candy, right? And, um, they had these, uh, blueberry blow pops. I don't think they exist anymore, but, uh, they would literally dye your mouth blue, like you can tell. I remember this, right? Yes, I remember those. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like you're you're you have like, blue lipstick on. Yeah. Um. Kissing a Smurf. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Chemical dyes on steroids. Um, but, uh, I loved him. I mean, it was like, it was so good. And then I just started eating them and then, um, they used to sell it at, um, my local grocery store. Uh, it came in a bag of twenty for like, I mean, it was ridiculous back then. It was like a dollar or something, you know? I mean, uh, you're making yourself sound old man. Right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so it was crazy. A bag of twenty for like a dollar. Um, and, uh, I just started eating it at school and these, you know, obviously, you know, kids see you eating like, hey, can I get one or whatever? And I was like, um, yeah, if you buy it. So, uh, they're like, how much? It's like a quarter, right? I didn't even think I didn't really even think about like, you know, margins or anything like that. I was a little kid, right? So I was like, I don't know, a quarter, right? And they're like, sure. So they just start buying it for a quarter. And I'm like, wait a minute. I buy this whole bag of twenty for a dollar and I'm selling each for a quarter. Mhm. Wonder who else would want this, right? Right. So I just started eating candy around them more often, right. I don't know how much candies I got from marketing, but, um, so I just started eating it like, and then people were like, oh, uh, what is that? Right? Yeah. And then I was like, I don't know, you want to try a quarter, right? And word got around. I became like the, uh, the local dealer of, uh, of candy, the local dealer. And I was, I, I don't, I think I probably during a period of, I don't know, maybe six, seven months, probably made like three, four hundred dollars off of Arbitraging candy. That's Crazy. Yeah. And that was when I got the bug, man. I was like, dude. Uh. Right. Yeah. Like, I can't believe I'm making, like, this much money, right. Um, and, um, funny enough, I got caught by my math teacher, Mr. Larkin. She should have appreciated what you're doing. You're a math, right? Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Right. Um, it was a he. Mr. Larkin, I still remember his name to this day. Um. Math teacher. Awesome guy. Except for the fact that he stopped me from my awesome business and he said, hey, man, you're you're an elementary school student. You can't be doing commerce in my, my school here. So, uh, cut this off before I tell your mom or your dad, right? Oh my gosh. And, uh, you know, I was just a kid. I was like, cool, whatever. I mean, I obviously I didn't stop, I stopped selling in school, but after school, you know, I could just picture you on a on a corner. Hey, you got the goods, man. You got the goods? You come up with a lollipop, you know? Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it was amazing. But, um, you know, I mean, that that that got me even more, uh, uh, enraged in that I was like, you are a public educator and you see this little kid with obviously some kind of creativity, some kind of fire to not do anything illegal, actually, you know, doing legitimate business, making a great business. And you're going to squash that entrepreneurial fire because you just want to follow the rules. Um, that got me even more bent on formal education, right? So I can imagine throughout the years, um, I mean, I did all kinds of stuff. I, uh, I did like, uh, trading card, uh, arbitrage, you know, uh, all kinds of stuff. Um, and, um, even all through my college years, I was selling stuff on eBay, uh, just, just all kinds of stuff that, you know, just like I would, I refuse to get a regular job for some reason. I just like, okay, I'm just going to work for myself. Right? Yeah. Um, and I've kind of like, I was able to kind of afford my lifestyle all through college just by doing little, you know, uh, side hustles here and there. Right. Yeah. Um, and I asked my dad, I was like, okay. Uh, it was, uh, you know, so we, we were immigrants, you know, coming from Vietnam. Um, I was four, so really, I can't remember anything back there. But, um, nevertheless, my dad, he, he, he had to hustle. He worked like two jobs, um, minimum wage, working in a dirty restaurant just to get us, you know, uh, through, you know, a formal education. So he was like, I asked him, I was like, hey, I think I could, I could go out and do something. I don't know what it is, but I don't think college is for me. You know, can I know, you know, can I just, you know, start something and if it takes off, can I quit college? And, and he says, um, well, uh, I work really hard for you to get here, so at least just finish. Um, even if you don't use your degree, just just finish and figure it out later. Right. Um, so I said, okay, cool. Um, so I kind of rushed through college, but all that time I just, uh, you know, averaged grades, but because I didn't try. Yeah. Um, but on the side, I was like learning about what I wanted to learn, what I thought I was going to, uh, you know, do later. So I got all these computer certifications and stuff. I was kind of into it at the time. Um, got all these computer certifications on my own. It wasn't required at any point in, uh, you know what I was learning in college, but yeah, I just did it because I felt like I needed to learn the skills. Mhm. And then, um, after college, um, I, uh, I just followed the path. I did the corporate career, but I climbed up really, really fast. Um, I think within my fourth year, I was already making six figures as a database administrator. Um, and it was just because I knew so much right out of college. I already studied all of that stuff ahead of time. And by the time I went into an interview, I mean, I was answering like advanced questions that I shouldn't be knowing, right? Like how to do, um, on top of that, I was very, um, very much a go getter. I was like, you know, uh, even though I didn't have the job, but I was, you know, I like, for instance, when I wanted to learn database, I would go get like, you know, a copy of SQL Server or Oracle or something like that. I'll do a local install and I would play with it and really like practice it and hone the craft. Um, I was reading like really advanced books on the subject. So people were asking me, uh, simple, like, uh, simple interview questions when I was giving them like deep level, like engineer level type, like crazy people who actually design the database software type of answers. Right. And, um, I had a. Uh, I interviewed, I think throughout my, my corporate career, I worked for, uh, corporate for, uh, eight years and I jumped eleven jobs. Wow. And I've only had twelve interviews. So can you imagine the success rate of my interviews? Right? Yeah. That's crazy man. Yeah. And, um, I jumped a lot of jobs because that was what was keeps pushing me higher and higher on that salary level right now, instead of just sitting there waiting to get a raise, I just jump to the next job. That's a good point. A more advanced job? Yeah, no, that's a good point. My wife and I were talking about that the other day, is to not stay at any particular job for an extended period of time. You know, it's a good point, man. Yeah. So, um, and I think this the thing that fueled me the most was when I grew up, um, being in that environment where my dad didn't, you know, couldn't really afford for us to have all the luxury stuff, you know, um, it really pushed my motivation to do well in life. Um, not so much that I resented anything as I, you know, was growing up, but I just didn't want to be in that environment. Right. I said, if I have the, the, the ability to, to change my, my lifestyle, my destiny, um, I'm, I'm going to do what it takes, right? So I've always had that mentality in everything that I do. Um, and I think that that fuel, um, is what's missing from a lot of people because they've not been in that environment. Um, I fear for my own kids because they're so spoiled. Right. But, um, but, um, but yeah, that, that fuel has really, um, um, uh, brought me really far and I think, um, in a way it brought me too far which, which, uh, uh, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll talk about in a second, but yeah, definitely get into that. But yeah, during the corporate gig, I, you know, I always knew I was like, okay, uh, I knew, I knew this wasn't for me. Like, can you imagine making, you know, this was way back when, right? Uh, I was making probably like one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in salary and just being not happy, you know? That's crazy. The average person listening to you right now is like, are you are you nuts right now? Yeah. Yeah. It's just like every time I got called to a corporate meeting or something like that, I'm like, oh, God, this is soul draining. Like, I just like, I couldn't stand it. So, um, uh, weird thing enough, I was looking for a business to, to, um, to, uh, break out of, I considered a bunch of different things. And then all of a sudden, um, my wife's cousin, uh, was in the, um, specialty pharmacy sales space. And, uh, he approached me and said that he wanted to open his own specialty pharmacy. Now, I had no idea what specialty pharmacy was, but, um, the opportunity really piqued my interest. I was like, oh, okay, this is a really cool space. I never knew about it. Um, and then I thought about, okay, where can I contribute to this space? Right. Um, by this time I was a pretty advanced, uh, you know, it professional. So I said, uh, you know, I went through all the processes and, you know, like what he was doing, like manually or what he would have had to do manually. And I said, oh, I can, I can improve this a lot. So I started automating a lot of, uh, the processes that we would have had to do a lot of alerts. Um, you know, that was very critical to the business. Um, and that, uh, evolution of that software, which was only used for our own business, we didn't sell it to anybody. But yeah, um, that software, um, and in combination of a little bit of, you know, market timing luck, but um, uh, it, it, it, it, uh, allowed us to grow extremely rapidly. Like within, uh, three years we grew from basically One hundred and thirty four million dollars revenue business. That's crazy. Yeah, yeah, that is crazy. Yeah, it was insane. Um, the growth was insane. Um, I didn't, you know, and we were new entrepreneurs, you know, we were really young, like out of everybody in our space. I mean, people were just like, kept calling us little kids, right? Like, I mean, because we had like our competitors, underdogs. Yeah. I mean, our competitors, their CEOs were like, you know, fifty, sixty years old from a corporate business. That's, um, you know, neither of us were, um, you know, uh, pharmacists, you know, we opened a specialty pharmacy and neither of us were pharmacists. Right. Um, so, uh, so we were like the young dogs, but at the same time, we were making so many mistakes. Um, you know, can you imagine trying to scale a business from zero to one hundred and thirty million and not have any business experience not knowing how to like, we didn't know anything about HR compliance like it was just learn as you go and just, you know, fix your mistakes as soon as possible. Um, we scaled so like ridiculously fast. We, uh, we had, um, one hundred and, uh, I think one hundred and fifty employees or something like that. And, uh, I mean, it was ridiculous. I mean, I remember my, I remember, just don't even think about payroll. Just my insurance bill for my employees was like one point two million dollars. Um, so, uh, yeah, we had a lot of employees. Um, so, um, so yeah, that, that, uh, that was a really cool experience, but at the same time, it was, uh, uh, I would say health wise, it probably nearly killed me. Um, it was just so stressful. I mean, that business, like it was one of those businesses where, um, the insurance company, kind of like, uh, they always have like, a noose around your neck, right? Like they, they pay you when they want to pay you. Right. So, uh, there are months where we're just making a killing and there's months where we're fighting for cash flow. I mean, it was crazy, right? Because like one delay in an insurance payment from like, let's say a thirty thousand dollars drug. I mean, it's just, it's crazy, right? Yeah. So, uh, so it was very, very stressful. Um, and, uh, you know, unfortunately as well as, uh, you know, with the whole Obamacare and everything like that insurance just got progressively worse. Like they started paying way less. They started, you know, cutting out coverage for a lot of people. Um, you think it would be the opposite, but in terms of specialty pharmacy, it was actually the opposite. Um, you know, specialty pharmacy is not like, um, Tylenol, right. It's like hepatitis C drug. It's like hepatitis C type drugs, right? Like they're expensive, right? Yeah. Uh, so, um, you know, so that that cut us back down to, you know, maybe nearly about, uh, well, it cut us down really bad, um, to like maybe the thirty ish million. And then we had to build back up to like maybe the halfway point around seventy million or so. And, uh, man. Yeah. But at that point, I've been doing that business for maybe like nearly a decade. And, uh, I just kind of had it. I'm just like, all right, I got to get out like, yeah, this is, this is, um, this is not for me. Like, um, uh, I started resenting the fact that I hated the corporate world so much that I built my own corporate world. You know, I had to show up in a button shirt every day and had meetings about meetings and just stupid stuff like that. Right? Yeah. Um, and I just started hating it. So, um, I, uh, I just said, okay, I'm gonna sell my shares. Get out. Um, and successfully did that and which, you know, was a huge blessing. Um, but I had a period where I just really had nothing to do. I was just like, okay, what's my next thing? I'm gonna take six months off to kind of heal myself because ten years of abuse really wrecks you. Like, I didn't take vacations, I didn't do anything. It was just madness. Um, and, uh, so I took a moment to heal myself kind of mentally. And then, um, I don't know, I just, uh, divine appointment or whatever, I don't know, uh, just I stumbled upon, um, Jim Cochrane's podcast about selling on Amazon and, and, uh. Can you imagine, like telling your, your mom like, uh, hey, I'm gonna do this new thing. Uh, you know, uh, she's like, where are you going to do? I'm like, uh, I'm going to do, uh, I'm going to resell, uh, widgets on Amazon. And she's like, dude, you used to go to work in a button up shirt. Yeah, yeah. You know, nine figure company and you're gonna do what? Yeah. Um, it was just like such a downgrade, you know? Yeah, sure. And let's, let's, let's put a pin in this for a second because, you know, this has been a great story, great journey. Right? But there are some points in here I want to capture, especially those that are listening, because, you know, there are some things I'm pulling out of this, right? Um, because you, you said this best yourself. You left a corporate world and then you built your own corporate world, you know, meetings for meetings. And I could definitely resonate with that, you know, and so, but you ended up, you know, exiting that and, and so forth. But paint me that picture, you know, paint the audience this picture, if you will. What did it feel like when the pharmacy was working and everything looked right from the outside? Right. Because you alluded to earlier that it was leading you down a different path and you were getting miserable. So just give us a vivid picture. Um, you know what? It what looked right from the outside. But how did it feel on the inside? Uh, well, a couple of angles. One is, uh, the rapid success, um, was kind of like my dream scenario, right? Like, can you imagine growing up and not being able to buy a car toy? Um, or having a car toy to within three years owning several Ferraris, you know, um, and, um, the rapid success, I think kind of, um, ruined me in a little bit in that I just became a hedonist. Everything was about pleasure and, uh, me, me me me me. Right. Like it's just, um, and then it, um, it built up a severe level of arrogance where it was like, oh yeah, I can do whatever I like. I put my mind to. I am like the boss of my own world kind of thing. Right? And when the pharmacy business kind of came crashing down, uh, in retrospect, I'm thinking, and this is kind of like how it shaped my mind today is that, um, you're kind of not in control of diddly squat, right? Um, you can influence, uh, your outcome by hard work, by determination, by all things. But, um, like, if you think about it, when I was one hundred and, you know, thirty million dollar entrepreneur to the point where I was a thirty million dollar entrepreneur. What really changed in me? Not a whole lot. In fact, I should have gotten smarter over time, right? Yeah. Um, my hard work dedication didn't change. So what really changed, right? And some people were like, well, bad timing market and all that stuff. Well, I mean, maybe, but, um, or maybe it was something else, right? Yeah. And, um, so that really wasn't the, the thing that really made me kind of, um, to get back to your question, it wasn't the, the downfall wasn't really the thing that kind of made me miserable because we eventually got back up again, not as high as we were, but we did get back up again. Yeah. But the fact that, um, I, I, uh, forgot what it was, uh, why I love being an entrepreneur so much. It was because I could dictate and do whatever I wanted. Right. That was the main thing. Why? Why was I hawking candy? I mean, I could have just worked for somebody, right? I could have was like any other kid, right? Yeah. But, you know, I worked when I wanted, I, um, I, uh, dictated my own rates. I, um, uh, you know, I was location independent. I could go wherever I wanted and sell it where I wanted it. Right. Whereas this corporate world was a corporate world, although I own the corporation. Um, that to me defeated what I loved about business, which was the freedom. Right? And that was why, that was why when people, when I started the Amazon gig, um, my mom couldn't, she couldn't get it. She was like, why? I don't get it. Um, my sister couldn't get it. She was like, are you crazy? Yeah. Um, but they didn't, they didn't understand why. What, what made me happy as a business owner was the freedom, right? Yeah, sure. Um, makes sense because I had the money. I could have just retired, right? I mean, you know, I could have, yeah. Yeah. So I, you know, just live a low key lifestyle. I would have been fine, you know? Yeah. Um, I mean, you can always blow any amount of money, right? But. Yeah. Yeah. But that is true. But, um, but yeah, that was not what drove like what drives me. So that was what essentially made me miserable. Right? Yeah. Makes sense. Real quick, before we keep rolling, maybe life hit you hard. Business fell apart. Career isn't working out. Relationship ended. Health took a dive. And now you're standing in the rubble. Trying to figure out what the next move even looks like. Or maybe nothing blew up at all. On paper, you're winning. Sure, but on the inside, something's off. If you're not in crisis, You're at a crossroads, and the playbook that built the life you have is not the playbook that builds the one you want. Either way, you're stuck. Not broken. Stuck between who you were and who you're becoming. Most self-help just piles more weight on the load you're already carrying. I do not want to do that. I put together a free video series called the Grit Code Exposed, and I want to invite you to check it out. Seven short videos. That's it. The five laws that change everything for me. In every client, I coach the same five that every person who's ever come back from the fire has walked through where they had a name for it or not. No fluff, no ninety minute webinar, no bait, just the free video series. You can start it tonight. Grab it at grit. Code exposed dot com. One more time. Grit code exposed dot com. It's free. You don't need any more hustle. You need the next version. And this is how you find it. 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 the conversation. It makes sense. Thanks for sharing that, man, because it really gives some insight because you know, the person is listening. You know, they're like, man, I hear Ferraris, I hear this, I hear this. It's like, but you know, to your point, man on the inside, it's like, man, you're, you're dying, right? You're, you're dying. And everything you initially built this life for is so out of alignment, right? Mhm. You know, um, moving on, man, because, you know, there are some areas I want to dive into because you kind of alluded to it, but I want to put a microscope on this because you had to walk through some fires to, you know, uh, you know, not like a long time ago, right? I mean, it's just even as recent, you had to walk through some serious fires where you were tested. And so with that man, uh, you mentioned on your intake that your, your bankruptcy twice, right? Real quickly take us to the first one. You know what happened? How close did you actually get to losing everything? Yeah. So, uh, nearly bankrupt. I have never been bankrupt, but, um, so, uh, the near the near bankruptcy, right? The first time the specialty pharmacy crashed, um, we had one hundred and fifty employees, and, uh, it was essentially a fire situation where it was like the cash flow was extremely negative. Like, um, insurance companies were holding back. They were paying less than we thought. All kinds of stuff. It was just things that were kind of out of our control a little bit. But, um, so it put us in serious debt. Like we were kept piling on more and more debt because we had such a massive infrastructure. I mean, I'm talking about like employees that were making like, you know, we had seven pharmacists. You know, they don't, they're not cheap. Right. Um that's crazy. Yeah. Imagine not. No. Um, so we had to really like, uh, you know, like, um, uh, rebuild, like we had to lay off like, you know, I think it was like seventy percent of our staff literally like within two weeks. Um, or else we would have ran out of money. Right. Um, and, and, um, even then it was really, really hard to pull through. Like we had to devise some, some major, major tactics to, to like, really like just, yeah, make it through each day. Right. And, um, you know, it was just, uh, by, by a miracle, we, we managed to keep, uh, we kind of like made it back to break even and then started climbing back up to, uh, eventually, you know, profitable again. Um, but it took nearly three years to get there. Right. Um, and it was really tough. Um, now, um, again, that wasn't the source of my misery, but it was. Yeah, we're gonna get there. You know, I still made a ton of money prior to that. So it wasn't, you know, I wasn't hurt or anything like that, even if the business crumbled at that point. I mean, okay, fine. I made a good amount of money. Let's go do something else. Right. But yeah, sure. But, um, you know, I'm, you know, I'm not a quitter. So I, you know, we pushed it hard to make sure that we went through it and, uh, everything was fine. Um, the second time, uh, that I was near bankrupt was actually with the Amazon space. Um, well, not, I would say bankrupt as a business, never bankrupt as a as a person I got you. Yeah. Um, but with the Amazon space, um, you know, I was, uh, I started, you know, I built that business really solidly the way that I should have built it. Um, you know, with wholesale, with, uh, proper online arbitrage, like vetting all the suppliers, like everything legit branded wholesale, things like that. Right. Yeah. Um, and then I got into the whole shiny object syndrome and everybody was talking about these branded bundling and all that stuff like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You can make so much money, you can control your own listing and all that stuff. I'm like, oh, wow, I got to get into this. So yeah, I started dabbling into branded bundling. And then funny enough, out of all the people that got busted, right? Like Amazon went into this, uh, this this period of time where they're like, we're going to make examples out of some people, not everybody. Some people. Yep. Yep. And then they started suspending, uh, some accounts. Um, and lucky me, I was selected as one of the few lucky you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, I got suspended for six months. Um, and during that time, I mean, I was a high volume seller. So can you imagine like the credit card bills that were due and all kinds of stuff. Right. And to be honest, if I didn't have like personal finances, I probably would have went down. Right. Um, so I was able to manage like, you know, holding off the credit cards and just paying it off until like in the hopes that my Amazon account would come back. And I was pretty confident that it was going to come back is because, you know, I had an intuition that Amazon was just taking their time to really do their terms of service, because they were never clear with their terms of service in the beginning regarding bundling. So they were going through their legal mumbo jumbo, and then six months later, they finally defined it. And I knew at that point I was like, okay, I know my account is going to come back. Uh, because now they have a clear defined terms of service on bundling. And sure enough, within two weeks after they came up with that policy, you know, everybody I knew that was suspended during that six month period came back. Um, and I had to, again, rebuild everything that I, you know, built and lost and everything. And, you know, all is good now. But, uh, again, that's the second time I went nearly bankrupt. Yeah. And again, if you think about it, what in the world changed? My determination didn't change. My business acumen didn't change. Things happen outside of your world. Um, yeah. And, and here's my biggest Loss, I would say yes. Let's get into that. We're going to get into um. Yes. So, uh, as in the introduction, I am a father of four. Um, I had, uh, uh, two girls and then I had a boy and now I have a new, a new baby, which is a girl. Um, so four congratulations, by the way. Yeah. Thank you. Um, but here's the thing about me, um, is that, uh, I've had nothing but success. And even when I had kind of failures out of my control. I was able to crawl through it and then get back to my somewhat former glory. Right. So, uh, I needless to say, I've never had a confidence issue. In fact, I have too much confidence. Right. Um, I have, uh, I have a debilitating amount of confidence where, um, I get delusional in thinking that everything is under my control. I, I can, I, I know a lot of people say this, and I'm not trying to dog on people, but I can't stand it when I hear this word like I manifest my own destiny, I hate it. I can't stand it because of what I've been through. Right. Uh. So understandable. So yeah. So, um, uh, you know, everything was great, man. Like life was great. Amazon business was great financial. Everything. I had every single thing under the sun, like the dream life anybody could even imagine. Right? Wonderful wife. Like just everything. Perfect money, house, everything. Um, and then, uh. You know, like people. I still keep it private out of respect for my wife. But, uh, in twenty twenty three, my son, um, who I can honestly say I love more than anybody in this world. Like, it's, it's probably not the right thing to say, but I understand where you're coming from, especially when you're especially fond of him. I, I, yeah, it's just that, uh, just this boy was just, he was just different, man. Like, he was just like the most loving child you can ever imagine. And then he just had this spark, this spark in him, this personality that anybody, I promise anybody that had ever met him just one time fell in love with him. He's just like this most outgoing, bubbly guy. Um, and he was just so kind, like, you know, I can't imagine like, he like, um, I mean, this is how, how like me when I was his age, I loved like Bruce Lee movies and I loved seeing people get punched in the face and stuff like that. I'm a I'm a, I'm a dude, right? This kid cried on the Mario movie when, uh, Luigi was getting tortured by Bowser. He was getting his whiskers, his beard plucked, and he was screaming out of pain. And this kid was like, I don't like it. I don't like it. And he just ran out of the room crying like he doesn't. Oh my gosh, he was so he was such a sweetheart. Like, I can't, uh, anyway, um, yeah, but in twenty twenty three, literally by the act of God, he passed away. And, um, and it was an event where, to be honest, if I were to tell you, like, if you were to get a cold and not even have a fever and maybe threw up twice, and then you died the next day, would you find that weird, right? Mhm. Like there was nothing. It was like from from running around laughing to getting a slight cold and next day you're gone. I mean, how do you explain that? Right. Um, and later on when I found out how it was, which I, you know, again, out of privacy for, you know, my respect for my wife, I keep it private. But it was one of those things where it was literally like getting hit by lightning. It was so incredibly rare that it just virtually doesn't happen. Right. Um, and, um, and my world just broke down, man. Like, I, I just, I didn't care about anything when that happened. But one thing, it was just one thing that, um. It was just like the most important question in my mind was, where's my son? Mhm. Like, where is he? Right. Yeah. And I was, I grew up as a Christian, but I was never really a Christian. I just went to church because my dad made me, um. And, uh, after a while, I kind of had a fall out. I didn't even go to church. I just, you know, I, I, I kind of believed in God. I believed in Jesus, I believed in the afterlife, but I believed it because I was raised that way. And, um, I mean, to me, it's just like, you know, a Christian with a badge, right? Like I was just, I had a membership card. That was it. Yep. Membership card. Yeah. And, uh, when he passed the very, the most important question to me was, where is my son? Is he gone? Gone, or is he still alive? Just waiting for you on the other side. Yeah. And that brought me back to like, my Christian roots. And I said, okay, um, you know, and I think this is kind of, at least for me, the, um, the moment of faith. Like everybody has their own moment, uh, in a way, but my moment of faith is okay. I have two choices. One, I could believe in the naturalistic world and my son is dead. Or I can believe in the afterlife. The Christian belief and my son is still alive. Mhm. That is a no brainer decision, don't you think? As a father? One hundred percent. One hundred thousand percent. No brainer. Yeah. So. Mhm. So for me, that was the moment where I said, okay, I need to find out if this coping period is truly coping or am I? Is there reason to believe in my faith, which is getting stronger and stronger by the moment? Right. Yeah. And, um. so. I mean, really at that moment, it was a coping period. It was a coping mechanism to be like, okay, if I had to pick one, I'm going to pick the better solution, right? Better outcome. But it was pure coping, right? Um, and, uh, so I was, I was, okay, I was just, you know, I was going through the motions, of course, because, you know, just losing a, you know, a child and then my wife is broken and then my children are broken and then I'm broken. Um, so a lot of things are happening, but, um, and I talk about a lot of this during my, I have a speech, I don't know if you later want to link it. That'd be cool. Yeah, absolutely. But I remember, uh, I have a speech about, uh, going all through this, but, um, you know, needless to say, there were many, many miracles shown, um, during that period of time and God used my wife, who was an agnostic atheist, um, to show her that he is real. Right? Um, that then converted me like through her conversion, like she had no, absolutely no other reason to come to the faith. Yeah. It was a child and yeah, dude. Yeah, yeah. And even like, when we lost a child, she was like, I was like, you know, Bryan's still alive, right? And she was like, what the heck are you talking about? Like, yeah, you die, you die. What are you smoking? Yeah. What are you. Yeah. What are you smoking? Um, and without any intervention from me, God did all of that work. And she came to the faith. And now she's a such a strong believer. And it, I think it was almost forceful in a in a way. It was like, uh, just listen to my speech. It's actually, you know, um, I'll tell you a little bit more detail, but yeah, um, it was almost like short of God just showing up in front of you. It was almost like that. Right. Um, it was so intentional, so detailed. And once I saw all of that, those miracles that happened to her, um, I, I, it, I would say it solidified my faith. And then, but, but being, being a, the way that I am, uh, that wasn't good enough. So, uh, I, I then dove into the faith. I said, okay, I want to know based off of evidence, not just what I want to happen based off of evidence. Is there a God? And if there is a God, is Jesus God, right. Um, and, uh, I think that stemmed from, uh, when when my son just passed my brother in law, he came over and I was talking to him about how I believed that Brian is still alive and I believe in God and all that stuff. And he asked me a really honest question. And I, at the time, I couldn't answer it, and I wish I could have, but, uh, you know, I only know what I know. So he asked me a very sincere question. He says, there are thousands of religions out there. How do you know yours is the right one? And I answered it on a very surface level. But I was like, mm, that's a good question. How do I know I have the right one? So I went on a very deep mission within, I think, a year or so, um, of diving into all of the reasons or all of the evidence of first of all, there were only two questions I needed to answer. Is there a God And did Jesus rise from the dead? Right. Um. If there is no God, doesn't matter if Jesus rose from the dead or not. Right? Yeah, exactly. Um, and if there is a God and Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then he is not God, then Christianity is false, right? Everything that I was taught as a young kid about Christianity is false. And I would say I am extremely confident. Basically ninety nine point nine nine percent sure of my answer. Now that I have sufficient evidence that there is a God and Jesus did rise from the dead. So that has now brought me to a point where, um, I am, uh, I am, uh, although sad, right, that I can't spend time with my son here. But here the fact that I know he is still alive like I know he is alive, not just I'm coping at this point. I know he is alive and that I know where to find him. Um, and this comes from, you know, the Bible where Jesus says, I go away to prepare a place for you and you know how to find me or you know the way there, right? Yeah. Um, and that I'll tell you right now, if you were to tell me, um, you can be the next billionaire. I'll deposit a billion dollars in your bank account right now. And. But your son is dead. Mhm. Meaningless. Like absolutely meaningless. On the flip side, it says, um, you're going to lose everything you have and live as a homeless person, but you'll see your son again. I'll take that option any day, all day, twice on Sundays. Right. That's that's a, that's a great perspective that you just gave right there. And I think this is one of the few episodes where the guest has done the most talking. Uh, and I'm not saying this because, you know, this has been just massive value, uh, massive impact because there are a lot of people out there that are suffering from losses, right? And they're trying to find their way. They're trying to figure things out, trying to understand why they're trying to understand all these different things. But you just said something here that I pulled out of that wreckage, that you didn't see it as a coping mechanism, right? You decided on the path that you believed beyond a shadow of doubt, that there was a, you know, you would see him again, not just a prospect, not just a coping mechanism, but that was just your belief, right? You know, so with that, right, the belief in in coping to the person that sounds all that you know, that's listening to you right now. All that sounds all well and good. How do I do that? Right? How do I literally dissect this and understand, is this really a belief or is, or am I just using this as a coping mechanism to get me through to tomorrow or next week or next month or even next year? Mhm. Okay. Great question. Um, so here's the, here's the, uh, I'll retrace the steps in a very summarized fashion for you, for your audience, if they are really interested. And I really, um, I really encourage you to be interested in this in terms of discovering whether or not Christianity is true is because it is the most important decision you'll make in life. Like you think, oh, yeah. Uh, getting married to your spouse and, uh, you know, picking the right business partner or all of that is worldly things. They're all going to go away, right? Picking the right diet. They're all going to go away. You're gonna die anyways, right? Like maybe you'll live a little longer, but they're all going to go away. And if Christianity is true, then there is only two paths. Either you're going to be with God in eternity, or you're not going to be with God in eternity. And eternity is a very long time. It is very long time. Yeah. And if you think about what it says about God, if God is good, then all good things come from God. Then where he is not is not a very good place. Right? Mhm. Um, it is not that God created a horrible place. It's God is not there. Right. Um, so if a, if air conditioning is good and that comes from God, then this place must be really hot, right? Um, there's only I mean, it's only logic, right? And without even talking about biblical stuff, that's only logic, right? Yeah. Especially here in Florida, South Florida. So here, here, here's how you can really determine. Right. Um, and I really recommend several books that you should go, you should read. Um, one is, um, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist by, um, uh, Frank Turek and Norman Geisler. Um, that really answers the question. Is there a god? Mhm. Um, because, uh, it really boils down to, to two options. Okay. Um, is God the uncaused first cause or the universe is the uncaused first cause? Right. Because there had to be the first thing that created everything, right? You can't just keep, uh, infinitely regressing because, oh, if there's a God that made God, and who made that God and who made that God and who made the other God, right? Yeah. Good point. Yeah. You have to stop at some point logically. Right. And that book presented, I would, I would say a, an extremely, uh, sufficient amount of evidence based off of science, mind you, um, that God is the first uncaused first cause. So that answers the first question. I highly recommend that book. Makes sense. Um, another book I would highly recommend is The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Um, and, uh, if you don't know about Lee Strobel, he himself was an atheist. Um, and his wife became a Christian, which was like the worst news he possibly could have had. Right. He was a staunch militant atheist. And he says, I'm going to have to divorce this woman. Like there's no way. Like, I can't live with a Christian, right? Yeah. Um, so he went. He. He was hell bent on destroying her faith. He said, I am a professional journalist. I'm going to find all the evidence that proves that Jesus either never existed or never rose from the dead. Mhm. And after years of research, I think like three years of research, he became a Christian. That's crazy, man. Because he said the evidence is too overwhelming. Right. So I recommend those two books if you are kind of struggling in, um, deciding your faith. Now, there's plenty of other books I can recommend to you, but you know, those two are the ones that I would say were instrumental. Yeah. Um, that's that's really. Now, now I'm going to throw this one in there. I'm just going to throw this one in there because this applies to business, right? This is I'm sure this is a largely business podcast. So, um, uh, to me before, before the evidence, the, the seed to everything in life, right? is the why? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like why why do you want this thing? Right? Yeah. Um, and to me, like I just said, right, I had two options. My son is dead or my son is alive. Well, uh, that that's a big enough why for me, right? Exactly. Man. Exactly. But so if you are interested in the faith, right, uh, to understand to whether or not this faith is, is real, then you need to really search your soul and say, if there is a God, um, and I might be wrong. AM I okay with the consequences? Yeah, that's a great question, man. Yeah. And I think you can take this throughout all of your life. And this is, I think this is what serves me well in terms of business, in terms of everything. I mean, I know you, my man, have been on a health journey and working out and everything. You look great, man. Thanks. Um, I for two years, during that period where I lost my son, I really let myself go. And my my blood markers were really bad. And I lost, like, all my muscle mass, like I was a really, um, into fitness back then. I was pretty fit. Um, and I'm back on my journey now as well. I've lost a ton of weight built up a lot. You look pretty good too, man. Thank you. Um, but I'm, I'm, I'm trying to crawl back to where I was in terms of fitness, but I, I would say, um, like, and my wife. Oh my goodness. Uh, she just got her blood work done yesterday. She was borderline pre-diabetic. Um, she had a blood pressure that would send people to the hospital from a stroke like she had, she was like one hundred and nine, like one hundred and ninety, like on the high level blood pressure. Um, ridiculous. Right? Because we just kind of like we didn't care. We let ourselves go, we ate whatever. Um, and, um, she and I have been on this health journey and just yesterday, uh, she went to the doctor and the doctor was like, what happened to you? Like, why is your blood work suddenly perfect? Um, and she didn't notice, but my wife was like, oh, I lost fourteen pounds in the last four months. And she's like, that's why. But, but here's the thing that that made it all successful. And it's not because, you know, um, and I'm going to offer this as a business lesson, as a life lesson, everything is that you want to achieve in life. You got to ask yourself one question. How bad do you want it? Mhm. Right. Yeah. Whatever you want, like whatever it is. Like, uh, you want you want to be a millionaire? Okay. How bad do you want it? Right. And every time you feel like being lazy and sitting on watching Netflix instead of doing what you're supposed to do. Remind yourself, how bad do you want it, right? Yes. If you're trying to lose weight and you're like, oh man, my my legs are sore, I can't do this next squat. Well, how bad do you want it? You want to die or you want to? You want to do the squat, right? Yeah. Um, and that's one of those things that, uh, you know, um, I would say is the, a golden nugget for me. Um, I think you, uh, you like to end with like, uh, what, uh, what famous quotes, right? Yeah. We'll get to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll answer that for you. Um, all right, all right. That that is literally my favorite quote. Um, there too now. Right. Um, one comes from the Bible. Uh, all good things come from God or all good things come from above, right? Yeah. Um, because you can see with my journey, no matter how smart I was, I was never able to avoid the downfall, right? It comes and it goes. And there's something out there that you just can't control. And you need to, uh, stop being so full of yourself and saying that you can manifest your own destiny. I mean, I couldn't manifest my son being alive, right? Um. How can you manifest your own destiny? Like, just just cut that off. Um, and, um, and so that comes from the Bible. But the, the second quote is actually something that my business partner told me, um, from the specialty pharmacy. Um, um, it was the literal quote that I just told you. How bad do you want it? Right. Um, and, um, I love it. Yeah. So if you just have faith that good things come from God, that he will give you what is in the plans for you and that you will work hard for whatever it is that you want. Then I would say the the amount of influence that you can, um, uh, the, the, the success that you can influence in your life is highly achievable just from that. So good man. Thanks for dropping that, that I think of so much wisdom and so much knowledge was dropped today. Real quick, before you go, if you're still with me this deep into the episode, something in it hit you. Maybe it was the guest, maybe it was one line. Either way, you're still here. And that feeling in your chest right now, that's the signal. Most people get a signal like that and do absolutely nothing with it. They close the app, life rushes back in the moments gone. Six months later, there are the exact same spot. I don't want that for you. So I put something together. I want to invite you to check out a free video series called The Grit Code Exposed. Seven short videos. The five laws. I walk every client through. The same ones that rebuilt me when everything else fell apart. And if you listen closely today, you heard them running underneath the entire conversation because everyone who's come back from the fire walks through these five laws. Some find them on their own, some get help, but the laws don't change. Free video series. You can start it tonight. No fluff. No ninety minute webinar. Just the series. If you're going to do something with what you heard today, do this before life talks you out of it. Go to grit Code Exposed dot com one more time. Grit code exposed dot com. And hey, before I let you go, thank you for riding with me this long. It means a lot more than you know. Thank you. Specifically, after, you know, the losses that you've, you know, that you've encountered, right? Or the loss of your child and man, that can easily that alone can easily set people into a tailspin. Right? And blame God and to put them into a path that is not healthy. You know, and, um, yeah, to me it's an oxymoron. It's like if like you and I've seen it happen where people lose children and then they, uh, their faith crumbles. Like they go to church every day, and then their faith crumbles and they hate God. Um, how do you think you're going to see your son again? That's a good point. Yeah, that's a great point. And that's a good point. That's a great way of looking at it. If you have any amount of logic, why would you go the other way? You know what I'm saying. So, um, and, and to me, here's a, here's another thing is that it was a quick reminder to me that, um, don't focus so much on, I mean, it's important to focus on your finances and everything like that, but it's not the ultimate, right? Like if, if God is real. Um, and, and Jesus is God, right? Uh, then the, the Christian God of the Bible is real. Then you need to realize that everything you have here is, is such a temporary thing that will not last. Like there's nothing here that will last your health, your finances, your friends, your family, nothing here will last. The only thing that will last is whatever makes it to the other side and is living with God, right? Um, and, and if that is the most important thing, that's why Jesus says that, uh, you know, store your treasures in heaven. Not here. Right here. You know the vermin will eat it up, right? It's here to rot. Um. And, uh. So that's why for me, that's the faith is the most important thing is because now it's kind of like a veil and just, just taken off of my eyes. It's like I see the world very differently now where it's okay. It is a meaningful place, not just a temporary stopgap, but it is a meaningful place. But, um, live it in a way that would please God and live it in a way that, um, you would be proud that when you do face God that you said, you know, I did the best I could, right? Mhm. Um, by living the way that you want me to live. And, and to be a true follower of Christ is to. It's very simple. Like, why wouldn't you want to follow Christ? He says two things. Love God. Love one another. Right? Is that is that so hard for you to accept? Right. You know, he didn't tell you to go kill anybody. Yeah, right. I mean, the average person is listening right now, but like, well, that's pretty simple, but practical. It becomes challenging, right? Which is something I want to extract for a second. Because one thing I want to highlight here, you kind of alluded to half of it, but I want to share, I want you to shine a light on the whole principle here. This, uh, the routine or the system, if you will, for how you handle your day to day stuff, right. Um, you know, you told me that your success that you attribute to that is only worrying about what, what, what you can control, right? Your own efforts and your, your own thoughts, actions, beliefs and so forth. And then leaving the rest up for God. Because at the end of the day, that's all we can control, right? Yeah. I was just, you know, talking on a podcast last night on somebody else's podcast, you know? But, uh, you know what? People losing their minds. You know, how do you handle disappointment? How do you handle all of this stuff that goes on? Like what is there to handle? Right. The only thing I can handle is what's here, what comes out of here, and how I respond. I can't handle, I can't, you know, control what, you know, Amazon or Walmart or not that I worry about those platforms anymore. But, you know, I, I can't control any of that. I can only control how I respond. Right? Yeah, yeah, I yeah, great question. Um, in terms of day to day, I, um, I'm very clear on how to, to, uh, influence success in that. Okay. Um, I think most people have, uh, go into whatever they want to do with no defined goal. Right? And I'm not talking about some grandiose goal. What is the next thing that you're trying to do? Right. Um, like for me, like the easiest thing to compare is exercise, right? Okay. Um, I'm overweight. What do I need to do? Well, I'll lose weight. Right. So how am I going to lose weight? What is the goal? Okay, well, the goal is to then now you got to break. Break down the steps. Right. Okay. I got to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat. There's no other way, right? Yeah. So, okay, now I got to be in a caloric deficit. How much of a deficit do I need to be in? Right. Well, if you want to lose about one percent of your body fat without losing a ton of muscle, then you should be in about losing about one. Like one percent tops, right? Maybe five hundred calorie deficit or something. See, I have a goal. And then I break it down into simple steps that I could follow. Right? So if I know, okay, if I need to be at a eighteen hundred calorie intake every day. That I know exactly how much I need to eat. Right? Yeah. Um, how much protein out of that do I need to eat and all that kind of thing? Right. So, uh, you, you, you come up with the goal that you can achieve or you're trying to achieve. You break it down to very simple steps that you can follow, and then you religiously follow it until you hit your goal. Right. Um, so that applies to everything that applies to business. That applies to everything now. Now, the good thing, the, the one thing that I think trips people up is, um, and again, back to exercise, but this applies to everything is that I think people never work as hard as they should. Um, agree. Yeah. Um especially nowadays. Yeah. So for instance, like, um, um, like for instance, I'm, I'm on a I'm a goal on a goal now to simultaneously lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. So it requires not only working hard in the kitchen, but then also working hard in the gym. Right? And every time I am under like a severe load, like I'm doing like a heavy, heavy leg press, uh, I'm like dying, right? I'm like, I, I'm done. Like, this is the last rep, right? Uh, but, but I put into my head, I was like, okay, I really think I'm done. This is the last rep. It's about to be muscular failure, right? Yeah. And I imagine I said, okay, if somebody put a gun to my head right now and said, I'm going to kill all of you and your family if you don't push on this next rep. Where are you going to do? Right. And I find myself being able to push like two or three more reps, right? And I think that's also what we don't do in business, right? We think we work hard, but we could do so much more, right? Like, I really like you. Were you, you, you kind of worked and kind of goofed around for, you know, five of the eight hours and you think you work hard? No. Um, I agree. That reminds me, what you just said right there. Reminds me of a principle I learned from, uh, Ed Mylett how, you know, he talks about the power of one more, right? Mhm. Um, you know, one more of anything. One more rep, one more set, one more phone call, one more email, one more something to, you know, because when you think you've done enough, now you could do more, right? And that's where you truly elevate yourself, right? Whether it's in relationships or it's in finances, it's in your career, health, uh, business, you know, don't just do the minimum, right? I mean, we all have, if we did a true inventory of how we spend our time, we can find time to do more. Right. Um, and I, I love that analogy. You know, somebody put a gun to your head, you know, do one or two more reps. Yeah. I would even say no more. Done three. There you go. There's three reps, right? You will find a way to make it happen when it when it matters. Right. And that's a good way to trick your brain, man. Yeah. And if you apply that to your own business, one more email, one more phone call, one more interview, one more podcast, one more something, whatever. Right. And it's just like, oh man, I'm so tired. I'm exhausted. I've been working for eighteen hours. All right, I'm gonna kill your kid now. Okay. I'm gonna get on that call. Right? Yep. Right. It's like. Yeah. And it, it really refocuses. I'm not trying to say like, okay, drop everything and like neglect your family and that kind of thing and be a workaholic. but just kind of put that frame into your mind every once in a while and be like, am I really working that hard? You know? Yeah. Like if somebody really forced me to work harder, could I work harder? And I bet you every single time you could have done more. Agree. Wholeheartedly agree. Um, even today, as you're talking about, it's like, man, I did kind of goof off today doing some stuff I probably shouldn't have been doing where there's, you know, uh, you know, uh, doom scrolling on Instagram or LinkedIn. And especially as I'm supposed to be more active on social. Dude, I hate social, man. I do, dude. And I think you share the same sentiment. You know, um, I, unfortunately my customers live there, so I have to be right. I know, I know I can, I can completely relate. You know, one of my coaches like, hey, man, you've got to bite the bullet, dude. I'm like, all right, all right. Yeah. So yeah, but, um, you know, like, I think if you stick to those things, you'll be successful in anything. Come up with a. Come up with a goal, break it down to simple steps and just work harder than yesterday. Yep. One hundred percent man. And I think that's where a lot of people go wrong, man. They go over intensity rather consistency. You know I love that dude. Yeah. Love that. Well man let's get through some rapid fire. You know one of the things you've already answered, you know, uh, I might ask it again because I want it here too. Right, right. In this season of life that you're in, man, I love to hear. What is your definition of grit? Grit is, um, making sure that you don't, um, uh, you keep the promises that you make to yourself, right? Um, if you set out there to lose weight and freaking lose weight, right? Like, don't make excuses. Don't be like, it's too hard today. It's raining today. I'm not going to the gym. Uh, if you set out there to be a successful business person, do whatever it takes to learn the skill, the craft, do the work. Stop being lazy. That's grit. Just keep your own promises. Yes. Love it man. Yeah. I think that's the most I think that's the most one of the most important promises to keep is to yourself. Right? I agree man. Cool. There is a lot of chat about adding right, adding this, adding that, adding this with systems, beliefs, things, you know, whatever processes, strategies. But I'm also of the belief, especially in this season of life, that addition also requires subtraction in order to level up subtraction of maybe beliefs or some type of friction or something you've had to unlearn, you know, so anywhere in your season, what is something or even now, what is something you're actively learning or trying to train yourself? I hate to use the word trying. I know you can resonate with that, but what is it that you're actively working towards to remove so that you can level up? Oh boy. Um, I'm trying to remove, I think with any entrepreneur, this disease we have called shiny object syndrome. Mhm. Yes. Uh, extreme focus. Um, and not deviate from the plan. Right. It's something that like just the first question, right? It's like, come up with, come up with a plan and follow it and stick through it and then make sure it is successful before you move on to the next thing. And, um, you know, we're building a software platform through Mercury. Um, and there's so many things that we can do. Oh, new feature. Uh, oh, let's bring in, uh, user onboarding experience. Oh, let's bring blah, blah, blah, a bunch of stuff, right? Just pick one thing and excel at it before you jump onto the next thing. Right. Um, and, uh, so that's one of the things that I always have to like refocus and make, make sure I don't jump onto the next thing before I've already done the whatever task I assign for myself. That's awesome man. I think that's something that, like you said, man, every entrepreneur struggles with is staying laser focused, especially in a world of constant distractions that we live in. Yeah. Right. So thanks for sharing that, man. I know you said it earlier, but you know, I want to actually make make it heard again. Um, what is that quote or directive? I think you said you had two of them. Yeah. Um, yeah. All good things come from above. That comes from the Bible. Um, and, uh, um, I truly believe in that because, you know, um, I'm the opposite of manifesting your own destiny. Like God manifests what he wants you to manifest. Right. Um, so, um, and, uh, the second one is, uh, No name author. Uh. How bad do you want it? No name author. How bad do you want it? We'll say. We'll say Kang. You said that so awesome, man. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks for sharing, my dude. All right, so this last question is a two part question. I kind of prepared you in the green room before we hit the record. Uh, for those that are listening for the first time, or maybe you've heard this a few times, I love to give my guests an opportunity to ask my next guest a question. And guys, the, the lineup is completely anonymous, right? And if you've been listening for more than one episode, you would, you would know that this question has been landing perfectly so far. And again, the lineup is completely anonymous. So my dude, uh, before I, uh, I run into the question that my previous guest asked for you, I'm just going to ask you straight up what your question would be, because sometimes I tend to forget to ask. Um, so what would you love to ask my next guest? What is the true meaning of life? Oh, um, and, uh, I was asked this a long time ago and I couldn't answer it. I was like, uh, happiness, uh, legacy, uh, success. But if if and I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm going to preface that kind of add to that question. If all, if all worldly things go away, what is the meaning of life? If all worldly things go away. Love it. That's a great man. I think that's one of the best questions I've had. Be honest. Get you thinking right. It does as you say that I'm like thinking like. Yeah, you stumped me. Can I write my man myself? Can I answer that for myself? Yeah. Can you answer that for yourself? Sure. Go for it. Yeah. I think, uh, the true meaning of life is to know God and to make him known. Mhm. Because what else matters at that point? If everything goes away, your health, your wealth, your family, your friends, everything except for your soul, what else matters? Right, I agree. And to hear that phrase. Well done, my faithful servant. Right. Well done, my faithful servant, because you are a good steward of your resources, talents, story. You know all, not just financially, but your, your everything with you, your talents, your gifts, your story, everything you, you know, the things that you have. So data for sure, for my previous episode had this guest or had this question for you. And as I'm sharing this with you, it's like, man, I can't wait to hear this answer because it's so good. Was there a unique moment or a unique tool in your season and in your journey that cleared the fog for you? In what aspect business or in just life in general kind of thing? You choose life or business. Um, well, I've already talked about the faith stuff. So, uh, let's, let's focus, let's do business. Um, clearing the fog for me was when I realized that, uh, running head first, no matter how hard without a plan and direction is like, like nobody gets in their car and says, I'm going to go to Miami and then just say, I'll pick a random direction, right? That's true. That's so true. So, um, having a game plan and breaking down the steps. Is is everything. And of course, following through is everything. But it starts there. Right. And, um, that goes with anything. Losing weight go, you know, building a business, everything. I think too many people run around kind of like with the mentality of, uh, I'm the, I'm a, you know, I have the determination of fire and all kinds of stuff and they just kind of randomly do things and, uh, man, think this. You got me choked up, man. This was good, man. Yeah. So if you're, uh, in the Amazon space, you're doing reselling and you want a system that really simplifies everything. Um, it connects all of your tools together. Like, I mean, not all of your tools. It basically replaces all of your tools from Chrome extension to, um, uh, lead management to To replenishment to, you know, shipping, like pretty much everything that you have to do as an Amazon reseller. It's like all in house in, in one type of thing. If you're interested in that, um, three P mercury dot com three, the number three, uh, P so three P like third party, uh, Mercury, like the, the planet dot com. Um, and, uh, get some information on that. We're also on YouTube, uh, you know, at three p mercury on YouTube. Um, lots of information there, uh, to get to know a little bit about the software and, um, in terms of, for me, um, you know, you can, again, I, I have to be on social media. So, um, you can reach out to me on Facebook. Um, uh, you know, you can, you know, send me a direct message on Facebook messenger, um, and find me there. This was good. Uh, you know, I appreciate you sharing all this.