The Grit Factor Podcast w/ Karl Jacobi

TGFP Ep 35 Audio

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. All right. Welcome back for another episode. Today I have an amazing guest with a little personal story attached. He's out of Seattle, Washington. He is the founder and CEO of First Light Studios, engineer by training operator by the. Spent many years at GE, then pursued on to SaaS venture capital, did some time with, uh, consumer products and, uh, did all this before launching this, this business he's in now. First Light Studios. He has personally managed over fifty seven million dollars on Amazon guys. He has worked with VC backed startups and household names you've seen on the shelves at Walgreens and Rei. He's also a proud father of two, a man of faith, an Alaskan kid by birth. And here's the personal part. As I mentioned earlier, he and I connected at a conference in Orlando. We're just talking about this in the green room, had a great conversations, had a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed being with him, and I like to think he reciprocated in that. But, uh, and we parted ways, right? We life, life's, you know, we go do our own thing and completely random, we get pitched by his assistant to come on my podcast. So this is a rematch. My friend, the man who's in tank came back to me with one of the most honest two words I've ever given anybody to any season. Joshua Lee, my man. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Carl. It's so great to be here. Yeah. And, uh, just thank you for that introduction. And I love seeing you in this podcast format. You know, when we met in Orlando, it was just kind of a moment where, I don't know, I just felt like it was, uh, one of those random moments that you have that you're just so grateful for. And you remember, and I remember that time very vividly. Yeah. We were just sitting down on the bench and just talking through some talking through some things and, um, more personal topics about grid and, you know, how you handle adversity. Yeah. Um, excited that we get to talk about some of that today. Yeah. Thank you Carl. Yeah. My pleasure man. My pleasure. Yeah. I remember that conversation vividly too. to me. We were sitting outside on the bench. It was raining out, as it usually does at this time of year in Orlando, right? At least in the afternoon. But yeah, it was great conversations, right? So yeah. All right, my man. What's that? Yeah. No, it was just one of those combos where you go deeper than you think you would. Yeah that's true man. That is true for sure. But, uh, but Josh man, before first light studios, before, you know, all of the things that, you know, that's going on today, uh, you know, you were a kid in Alaska. Timmy, take us back, man. Take us back to a moment. You know, paint me this picture. What was the version of you like? You know what? What did you think life was going to be like when you grew up, man? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, both my parents actually immigrated from Korea when they were younger. So my dad actually moved to Alaska when he was just starting high school, so probably around thirteen or fourteen years old and he didn't know any English moved out there to like the northern part of Alaska called Delta Junction, which is north of Fairbanks. And it was like a town of just like a couple hundred people at the time. And, you know, it gets to like negative fifty degrees. It's kind of cold and it gets cold. But, you know, my parents, they, they had some hard times, you know, just coming through, you know, they're an entrepreneur family. So our family's entrepreneurial, but something happened in the nineties and they just sort of never recovered financially. And on top of that, both my parents actually are physically disabled. And so my mom had has polio and so one leg shorter than the other. Then my dad actually also, he has a spine situation where he basically has like a Uh, bent spine. And so all that being said, I would say my childhood, it really it, you know, the whole, the whole, you know, we didn't have much growing up. People didn't really look at our family, you know, in a great light. So all that being said, I think, you know, those childhood years were formative in good ways and bad ways. It taught me how to be entrepreneurial, and it taught me how to get what I wanted, what I needed in very creative ways, but also at the same time, it taught me to be grateful for what I do have because of how little we did have. And, um, and we were so reliant on, uh, on sort of the day to day. Sure. And so I would say, you know, I'm discovering how my childhood has really formed me and how that plays out today. Yeah. Um, you know, I've got young kids, I'm in my thirties, so I'm just unraveling and going through what that means. But a lot of it has a lot of that grit, that persistence, um, in that spirit of gratitude has been a core of what I would say has helped me be successful in, in what I've done. But, um, but I would say, you know, childhood is really important. Yeah. So it's not something that you compare with others. Yeah. You know, it's your childhood and, and it's your experience and it's true. It's what you have. And, and it doesn't define you. So true. It doesn't define you. I mean, I think that's probably one of the key lines, you know, that really stuck out to me what you just said for the last couple episode. Um, because a lot of people do let that define them, right? They do let that define who they are. Um, even as of recent, they let their past define who they are today. And it's not, it's so not true, man. So not true. Mhm. But all right, so fast forward right before you, you started First Light Studios. You know, by every metric, you were doing fine. I could personally resonate this. I think you and I have had this kind of conversation, right? You know, you had some real rooms on your resume. You had the kind of titles that look good on LinkedIn. Um, and then you walked away, right. Uh, take us to that version of you the week before you actually pulled the trigger. You know, what did the outside look like? I mean, what was already off underneath, man? Mhm. Yeah. I would say, you know, I was doing the W2 job route, had great jobs, good names on the resume and was doing well. But all things considered, just like you said. But something deep down inside I knew that what I was doing wasn't what I wanted to do, and I was only doing the thing that I was doing because I thought it was the right thing to do. And I was looking around too much versus looking inside into who I was created to be and why I was created on this earth. What what am I? What am I built to do? Why am I here? And why am I made up of all these skills? Yeah, my untapped potential. Scars and gifts from the past, my DNA. Yes, when I was, I don't know, twenty five or something like that. That's when I sort of wrestled. I was in a product manager job at a tech startup that ended up selling for like close to nine hundred billion. Years later, they had an exit. Years later. That's like four years later. Um, and it was a payments, uh, solution in Redmond, Washington here. And, um, and I was like the product manager of the payments platform launching features. Um, but it was in that role where I was kind of like, you know, I know I want to be an entrepreneur and I know this is not the best and the greatest for me, for others it is, but not for me. And I knew that deep down, but I didn't know what it was. There was just some discontentment. And it was because I was going down a path that I didn't want to be on. And the more that I progressed, the more I was going away from what I really wanted to do. So in that moment, I, you know, I made a decision to, I think it was December at the time. I made a decision to put in my resignation letter and, um, start that entrepreneurial journey. And, um, and the bad thing about it is I didn't really have great communication with my wife to we were both working at the time, which was great, but I didn't, we didn't quite see eye to eye on that, but I basically was like, hey, I'm going to do this anyways, which is not the right move. No it's not. No. So that that's a, that's a story in itself, uh, which is like a huge lesson learned. But I would say like that, that was not a great start to our relationship, but it did help me kind of get off that path and, and start that entrepreneurial journey. Nice. That's great man. And I know a lot of I think you and I talked about this not as much in depth, but this is what plagues a lot of people, right? They chase metrics. They chase even, you know, uh, material things. And don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with material success. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Right. Um, but when we're chasing it, there's only so much material stuff that you can get, right? There's only so much money. There's only so much bank. And honestly, too, I don't even want it anymore. Yeah. I, I, it doesn't even matter. Yeah. It just. Yeah. Well, I mean, you look at it, man. I mean, it's temporary, right? And I, I mean that both, you know, spiritually as well as as you know, realistically, it's only temporary because you think about anything new, you buy or get, you know, you feel great for a little bit, but eventually that fades off, you know? Yeah. And, um, but I agree, man, you know, for me, that was one of my biggest issues. You know, when I left e-commerce man wasn't because it was the industry or, you know, things got hard. Yes. Things got hard for sure. Right. But it was more of like, man, I just woke up one day and I'm like, man, I'm no longer passionate about this. I'm no longer fulfilled and I'm no longer happy. I'm not experiencing joy. Right. And, you know, on the surface, I had everything beautiful home, you know, cars and, you know, money and all that good stuff. But deep down, I'm like, I feel empty. You know, I feel empty. Um, and I think this is why no, I, I, I'm unable to believe this is why so many quote unquote successful people are miserable because they think chasing more money will actually fill that void, right? Yeah. And, and I, I just do want to add two things. The first is the entrepreneurial journey is lonely. Yes it is. People, a lot of people around you will not be able to relate when you start getting success. This is my experience when I start started actually start hitting milestones and I after, you know, months and months, years of failure, I finally had some lucky breaks. I, it was a mind shift that that had to change in order to hit those I was unable to relate with, with my peers. More just the way of thinking was totally different. I didn't enjoy dinners. Um, it it and I've, I've since kind of come back to the reality of it and become more grounded. But at the time I started lost, uh, lost my ground. And I think that's very common in the entrepreneurial journey. And it's not talked about. It's not something you it's like, hey, watch out for that. Like you're going to become a lot more unrelatable. Like, yes, the, the winds that you talk about. Yeah. You know, you'll get, hey, man, really proud of you. That's, that's really about it. You're not going to. Yeah. No, it's, uh, it's one hundred percent. Yeah. It's it's one hundred percent correct, man. I mean, I, I hosted a webinar last night, uh, I do these every Wednesday evenings. And one of the key points I drive home is the isolation aspect, you know, isolation in entrepreneurship. And, uh, and somebody had mentioned that, uh, I think it hit home really hard for her. She mentioned that going. She was an operator for most of her life that she moved over. Business owner, uh, to be a business owner. And she said it's been the loneliest journey she's ever experienced. You know, because nobody gets it. Nobody understands. Nobody knows what to tell her. Right. Um, I, I get it. You know, that circle is lonely, but, um. Yeah, but let's let's move on, uh, to an area that, uh, because when I, when I saw this on your, your bio on your intake, I'm like, oh, I got, I gotta pull this out of, I gotta pull this out of you. But you wrote exactly one honest answer. Actually, you're all honest answers. I'm not going to say they're just one, right. But all of them could be a I'm not gonna lie, I don't, I don't remember. Yeah, I hear you. Well, you and I both follow Dan Martel because I remember that was part of our conversation. Absolutely, absolutely. And he's all AI, so I wouldn't doubt it. Oh man. All of all the questions about cost, right? Of all the questions about cost, rock bottom and the hardest season you're willing to discuss. You, you, you left every box blank, right? Except for one. What challenges are the most when life gets heavy? Two words. Leadership weight. Right. That door we are walking through. Take me to a specific moment or take us to a specific moment. Not to category. Not. You know, I give us the details. A scene, a morning or a meeting. A decision you carried alone that nobody on your team knew that you were carrying. Where did you go or where did you have to go back to in that moment? That's a that's a powerful question. I would say. I'll have to tell it in a story, though. Please do. I love stories. Two years ago, I was introduced to a guy who used to be the CMO of a couple agencies here locally with subsidiaries of sort of a publicist, a larger agency, and he ended up becoming the CEO, CMO of a very large, uh, one of the top five Amazon resellers. Um, and he ended up leaving that role and to start something else, but we kind of got connected through another agency owner that I, that I met here at the office. And he just said something. We were meeting for the first time. And, and he told me about his life story and he told me about some of the challenges he was going through with work and family and the tension there. And, and I was like, how do you do it? And he was like, you just do it. You just gotta do it. and kind of like a man up kind of a thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, because at the time, actually, I was struggling with trying to, I was, I was struggling with some issues in, in our personal life in, in my relationship with my wife, actually. And it was, it was very difficult. We were just at that point married eight years, nine years and just going through, you know, re-evaluating what's important and, and how are we going to, you know, young kids. Yeah. Business, you know, not a lot of time to connect. So, you know, people say around the ten year mark is kind of when a lot of couples just have these kinds of difficult situations. And that was really weighing on me heavily, which is why I asked that question. And fast forward two years, I, I understand what he's saying, but the leadership weight that that journey. In my experience, their little skills that you practice that builds over time. It's a muscle. Yes. So the, the, the two years ago myself, it was hardly able to handle that. I was falling apart and I wasn't handling it well. Fast forward two years. I have those skills, the positive self-talk, the, you know, being able to have a setback, analyze it and just throw it out. Just look at what you can control and throw out the negative feelings. Yes. just doing things like that. You know, multiple setbacks doesn't matter. It's not going to impact how I feel and the energy that I have. Um, but those are things I had to train continually, continually choose to do. They're easier now, right? But, but it's still a skill that I'm, that I'm developing. But um, there's multiple little skills in leadership. It's like a, it's like a package. Yeah. It's like a package, which is why I can't answer like directly. Sure. But it's like everyday moments that you choose whether or not you're going to get back up. Mhm. And choose to believe that A you can do this. Yeah. Or you kind of get back up and, and you kind of start believing you can't do this. Yeah. And, uh, absolutely true. So those that's kind of what leadership weight is in my opinion. No, that's that's great man. Uh, and I, I hope that everybody listening right now, let me unpack this for a moment, because a lot of people think that you have to be like, leadership is this natural, innate ability that people have. Right. And that's not true. You know, um, do are people are there people who are probably more inclined to be better leaders? Probably. Right. But everybody can learn to be a great leader, right? It's all about just putting in the reps. Face the uncomfortable situations, right? Allowing your brain to get used to being uncomfortable because the sweaty palms, the, you know, the pounding heart, you know, that's all part of it, you know? Yeah. That's actually, that's actually how, you know, you're on the cusp of a breakthrough is when you start getting that when you when you start doing those multiple times, that's a sign. That's confirmation you're trying. Yeah. If you're not getting those moments where you're where you're in those fierce, sweaty palms, you're not trying hard enough. Agree, man, I agree, I agree wholeheartedly, I agree wholeheartedly, I mean, this is where we get forged into a, you know, a different person, a better person. You know, this is how we learn how to, you know, forge. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I remember you and I talked about that movie. Right. Um, 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 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. But, uh. Yeah, man, this this is the journey. But but what strikes me, I remember where I saw this at, but ever since I seen it, I can't unsee it. But we somehow, as a society and I love to hear your take on this, we somehow as a society, we forgot to start normalizing adversity. We stopped normalizing failure. And I hate to say we're failure because really, failure is when you stop trying. Right. But we stopped normalizing, making mistakes. We normalize. You know, the highlight reels, right? We need to stop normalizing that. You know, I'd love to hear your feedback on that. I completely agree. I think what you see and what you focus on is what becomes your reality. Mhm. What you see and hear every day. It becomes your reality. Yes. If you're looking around, if you're looking on social media every single day, that becomes your reality. And the fact is social media, it's a marketing channel. And it's, it's, it's a place where businesses, they inundate you with information. They sell you on things that you don't know you're being sold. Whether it's fear, the political stuff. It's selling your fear, whether it's, you know, some, some product, some beauty product that's selling you. Yes. Agree. Something else. Right. But for the most part, that is going to become your reality. And that's just not reality. I agree. It's, it's a business that once you feel a certain way. So you go and buy something. Yes. But the true reality for me. Is that every person is designed and created to do something great. They're uniquely created. And it doesn't matter what you've done in the past, it doesn't matter how you feel about your current self. There is a God out there that believes that you are great. He created you uniquely. Yes, and you have the capability and the potential to unlock that right now, it's your decision. And there's a person named Jesus Christ that can help you do it. That's my personal opinion. Um, and that's, that's what I believe. But, um, yeah, that's, that's a great point, man. I mean, you just as you said this, you're right. You're saying everybody is created for a purpose. Everybody's, everybody is created with the ability to do something amazing, right? And I, I agree with you. You know, this was another point I drove home in the webinar last night. Um, and here's what I, I'll, I'll say to that, uh, and I refer back to one of my good friends. He's, he was a past client of mine, uh, Ryan Otwell. I was talking with him and, and, uh, and he, his wife was telling him because he was talking about, you know, his journey and he, You know, his amount of growth. He's had very faith based. And his wife looked at him in the eye and says, you know, Ryan, God doesn't make junk. You're on this planet for a very specific purpose. That's right. And you can just see his eyes kind of tear up and I'm tearing up right? As I'm, as I'm, you know, hearing it now. Now I'm saying it to you. But every time now, you know, since you're bringing it up, it reminds me of what she said. God does not create junk, right? And I know it sounds like, you know, it sounds a little, uh, unorthodox, but it's one hundred percent true. Right? But but the problem is, and I think when I heard correctly, you know, you didn't specifically say this, but I read between the lines here that we need to go back to the eight year old where we had dreams, hopes and aspirations before other people tainted those. Right? Other people's opinions, beliefs, negative input, all of that garbage. Right. Um, you know, and I have unfortunately seen so many people waste their talents because they truly don't believe so. I mean, what do you say to this person? What do you say to these individuals who are sitting on talents that they are, quite frankly, just they're not using them? That's a that's a hard question. That's a hard nut to crack. It is. I agree, it's a, it's a hard nut to crack because it's like, and I was here too at, in, in, in my life where I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do. Yeah. And I was just kind of in a haze. I was convincing myself that, you know, what I was doing was the right thing to do. But and it's so hard when when your entire community also supports that all your friends and your family. Yes. Um, that that makes it even harder. But I think a lot of times what it is, is when you get that, when you get that sort of small voice in your head, sort of an idea or a thought, oh, maybe I should, you know, go back to school and, and do the thing I always wanted to do. Or maybe I should talk to an entrepreneur friend and talk to him about how do I get started? It's those little thoughts that come up that I think people don't do anything about. Yes. That that you get in the habit of not doing anything about it. And you kind of Up in this state where you just kind of get stuck? Yes. Well, there's that too, right? But there's also that person that takes it to their friends, right? They take it to the friends, right? Hey, I got this. Fill in the blank. This dream, this idea, this whatever. Right. Yeah. Their parents or their spouses? Oh, no. I don't think that's a good idea. What happens? Oh, okay. They don't. Yeah. And and the and the I experienced this actually, because when I wanted to, you know, back, uh, when I, when I first started, I actually started a private label brand back in twenty seventeen. That's kind of what kickstarted my not truly kickstarted my entrepreneurial business, but that was like idea two or three that I was working on. But, you know, I was sharing this with friends and family and they're like, don't do it. Don't quit. You're don't. And then I was like, I kind of had this more of an attitude. Like I was like, nah, like I'm doing it anyways. Like, yeah, forget I don't need your support. Sort of the rebellion side. Yeah. But actually what it was is you're getting feedback from the wrong people. You need to get, you need to get feedback from people that really care about you and, and know your passions and desires that though. And a lot of times that might not be your family or your friends. Yeah. The feed the person you ask for feedback does really matter. And, and you can't just be asking your neighbors and yeah, people about that. Their feedback really doesn't matter. Agree. Agree. I mean, if you think about it, right. God put this vision in your head. He put it in your heart, in your mind. It's not for me or you or anybody else to see, right? That's right. So if no kidding, we're not going to see it. Right. It's not for us to see. It's your dream. It's my dream. It's you know, you know, whoever's dream it is, it's for them to go make have happen. I, I, yes, I, I said this at a conference, I don't remember which conference it was. I actually said this numerous times now, but you know, the most, you know, the, the, the most viable place. Uh, I don't think it was most viable place, but I forget the exact term I use, but the most valuable place, for a lack of better saying it. You know, I asked this, I asked the audience, what do you think the most valuable place on the planet is? You know, and everybody thought it was gold mines or diamonds, this, that and the other. It's like, and I heard this from Les Brown and he said, no, it's the graveyard. It's where all the hopes, dreams, inventions, things that could have changed the world. That's where they went to die because people are too afraid to act on them. Yeah. Right. And, and I think, and I think a lot of people, they get afraid. Honestly, a lot of people have probably tried a little bit, but then it starts getting hard. They start disappointing people, running into setbacks. Yeah, it starts getting friction starts to occur and they and they just toss it aside. Yes. And that's actually a sign that you're on the right path. Yes. Because speak to the devil. The devil doesn't want you to start living out who you're supposed to be and accomplishing the work that, that you're built to do. Yeah. He, he wants to derail you. And honestly, if you are experiencing some sort of setback, huge setback, major stress, that could mean you're on you're on the right path. That could actually mean you're you're on the money. Yeah. And you can't and you can't give up. It's actually, it's actually counterintuitive. I heard it is. It's counterintuitive. It's something I wish I heard a long time ago, like, hey, bro, it is your world falling apart. Plus, are you pursuing your dreams? Perfect. Keep going. Yes. Keep going. Yes. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. Perfect. Yep. You're losing all your money, your homes. You know, your kids hate you or you're getting some relational dissonance. Yeah. Friction. Oh, you random neighbor stuff happens. Perfect. Keep going. Yeah, yeah, that's one hundred percent true. But to your point, you said this perfectly, man. Nobody talks about this. So naturally, if we've never been in that environment before, people don't talk about it. We think, oh, wait a minute, this is wrong. This is bad. Right? In this shift away, what is the most you're a man of faith. I know this because and I admire this about you, Josh, and this is the first time I was ever asked this on a podcast. You asked me, Carl, can you mind if we pray real quick before we hit record? I'm very that's very admirable, man. Very courageous of you. Um, and I admire your faith. On that note, what is the most repeated word in the Bible? Fear. Do not fear. That is the most repeated phrase in the Bible. I don't remember the exact amount of times, but that is the most repeated phrase in the entire Bible is do not fear. What do you think that says? What do you think that point is trying to drive home? Do not be afraid. Well, I think as humans, we're we're pretty skittish. Yes. Yeah we are. Ah. You know, we can be in. Yeah. We are. I mean, very fickle. Uh, you could be in one thing, one moment and then out another. Yeah. You know, and it's like, what is going on? Yeah. And, uh, you know, you got, you got friends like this, but, you know, and, and, and, and I think what it is, is, you know, in the scriptures, it just says, you know, the heart is fickle. You know, the heart is very fickle. And, um, and it's just a reality. And that that's why it's so important to train your mind, train your beliefs, build the habits and the disciplines that daily disciplines that will help you do things even though you don't feel like it. Yeah. So being able to separate emotion from action is so critical, like a military style. I haven't been to the military. My brother has, but, um, you know, it's like a just being able to do it. Yeah. And that because, you know, it's you have to. Yeah. And the more reps that you do of that and, and matter of fact, actually, when you don't feel like doing something, that's the most important time to do it. Exactly. I mean, you look around every champion, right? Look at every everyone, the late Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, all, all these individuals. Right. I'm not a major sports guy. But, you know, one of the guys that I look up to, Tim Grover. You know that, uh, he trained both Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. And, uh, but you look at any of them, they, you know, they they chose to show up. No, they decided not choose. Uh, they decided to show up every single day regardless of how they felt. Right. because it's easy to beat a champion on the easy days. But it's. But where the championship is made or when the championship rounds is made is on the days you don't feel like showing up. That's right. Right. And I reminded even as as early as today, I was on a podcast episode with John Paul Crimi. Um, and that dude blew me away. Uh, he's worked with a lot of Hollywood celebrities, good friends with Matthew Perry. Uh, that episode is going to be out here shortly, but, uh, he was talking about how the hard work, right? The results that you're seeking is on the other side of the hard work you're avoiding. That's right. Right. I completely agree. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. You know, and it's like, oh man, say that again. I feel like Mufasa right. In Lion King, you know. Ooh. Mufasa. Uh, honestly, I, I didn't understand what that meant. I've heard that in the past, You know, you were mentioning, uh, Dan Martel. I heard him say that a ton. Yeah. You know, um, you know, your success is on the other side of of your greatest fear or something like that, right? Some version of that. I didn't really understand it, but it's come to life for me this year. I've, I've started to see it. And I think that it ties in with what we're talking about is like, you know, when you get the sweaty palms, when you get your heart beating fast, when you start putting out your presentation. Yeah. You know, you're on stage, you just start putting out because you're, you're, you're, you're just locked in. Yeah. You know? Yeah. That that's it. That's it. Yeah. The scariest things that you do like for me, I would say last year was the moment that I really started locking in and going pro. If you were, if you will, in the entrepreneurial journey. Um, and, and it was, it took a couple years to get there. But, um, that's when I realized I have to do everything. Like I know everything I need to do, but I haven't done something because I'm afraid of doing it. Mhm. You know, speaking on stage, starting to network with, uh, you know, trying to get relationships built with some CEOs of larger companies, you know, being afraid of competitors coming after me because we're good at what we do. I don't I don't want to be a sign. That's a good thing. I don't want to be a target. I was afraid, but those things have broken off. So I've started to do that. And, you know, um, those are things that I used to be afraid of and, but it's, it's part of business. And you just it's part of growth, right? I mean, it's part of growth. It's part of life. Yeah. You're always going to have haters, those trying to get from you, you know, take from you or take business away from you. But you know, that that's where that, that courage comes in and that growth comes in. Yeah. And so I just wanted to add a little bit of extra backstory there. No, that's that makes perfect sense, man. I mean, this is again, you know, this is why it says, you know, I forget again how many times I should've looked it up while you're talking. But it is repeated is the most repeated phrase in the Bible is do not fear. Right. And you just know we all sucked at the first time of doing anything. The very first episode I done this podcast. I know it sucked. Nobody wanted to tell me, but that's okay. I still love you guys. But every time we do something for the first time, it it's going to suck. But that's okay. Yeah, I was probably so terrible as a guest. The first the first time. And every first time I, I can't even I think I have a recording of my first pitch, like selling our services. Yeah. Like I can't even listen to it. I'm just like, it's, I still can't listen to myself. Yeah. It's just like, speak up. Like say it directly, you know, like, what are you humming and hawing about? Like pitch it, you know? Yeah. So that's funny man. Anyways. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Um, for sure I did, I did real quick. Want to go back to the, the, the, um, you know, the belief thing, the going back to the childhood. Yeah. That and that, that, that's a lot of work that I'm doing now is, is trying to identify the lies that I'm believing in about myself. And, uh, it's taken me a little while to get here, and I used to think it was kind of like a frou frou kind of a thing, like a weird thing. But but actually. Just in my childhood, there were probably a couple core lies, one or two core lies that I believed about myself that was actually stopping me from becoming the man, the father, the husband, the leader that I was supposed to be, that I'm supposed to be. And there is something that likely, if you don't know it, there is a lie that particularly if you maybe came up in, uh, in a home that actually it doesn't even matter. It could be an experience, but there's probably some sort of lie that you're believing about yourself. Yes. You're unworthy of success. Yes. You're not capable. Um, you'll never make it deep down. These are like subconscious things that you believe in, but you got to like, draw it out. Like for me, I, I have a prayer that I do and, and try to do with, with the friend as well where it's like, all right, God. Show us the lie. Like, what is that lie? Like reveal it. Yeah. And then we'll do some prayer around it and sort of break that off and in the name of Jesus. Um, but that that is true freedom and that, that is what I think is required in order to truly start a genuine leadership journey. Mhm. Because the, all the leadership skills and tactics you learn communicating well and you know, it, you gotta be able to connect it to your to your soul at a soul level. Mhm. Yeah. Well, that's a good point for sure. I, I agree. I mean, if your heart's not right. Right. Um, and yeah, it's all interconnected. You're everything that you do is all interconnected, you know, um, especially when it comes to the beliefs, you know, because there are a lot of people that are running around with, you know, beliefs that are not true. Um, and again, these are not beliefs that, you know, we're, we digress a minute I heard this at a church, uh, one, a church, I, I, I haven't been there in a while, but it's a church I used to go to quite a bit. Um, it's about the voice of the enemy, right? The voice is never going to the enemy is never going to come out as like the devil, right? Like Carl. Josh. Do not. Yeah, right. It's never like that, right? It's it's your mind. It's your voice, right? Because otherwise, of course, you would be able to defer that. You'd be able to the delineate that voice and know, okay, I'm not going to do X because that voice is telling me it's only in our own voice, right? And our own minds. So it's, we have to be super careful of what intrusive thoughts you allow in your mind, right? Because it's not in the enemy's voice. It's not like, you know, the devil's voice. It's it's in your own voice. It's in your, you know. Yeah. You just have to be super careful on the thoughts that you allow into your mind, because they will distract you or distract you so easily. Real quick before you go, if you're still with me this deep into the episode, something in it hits 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 moment's 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 writing with me this long. It means a lot more than you know. Thank you. Yes. And that that's even that's even outside the church context to what? Regardless of whatever religious or spiritual background you have, what thoughts are you allowing into your mind? Mhm. Agreed. And that is so powerful that that's been one of the, the, the, the strongest skills that I've been able to build is allowing those thoughts to just fade away. Mhm. Either that somebody's trying to impress on me, you know, somebody's trying to give me somehow like interacting with them. I'm like, hey, that's, that's your thing. Like it's not going to bother me. But yeah, being able to train that up. Um, but it is so true because you do get whispers, you know? Yes. And you got to be able to cut those off and do whispers like that. And, uh, there's good ones and then there's a lot of bad ones. And how do you, how do you delineate between the two? Right. Like talk to this person right now it's listening to you. And then this question is popped in my mind. I actually just had this conversation the other day. How do you delineate between the two? How do you delineate, you know, the enemy, you know the voice, you know the enemy speaking to you in God. How do you delineate the two? Well, in order to delineate, I believe it requires familiarity. Mhm. So you have to know The voice. You have to you know, when you hear your kid's voice in the crowd, you could you could tell. Yes you can. Right? Yes. Even if there's a hundreds of kids, you could you could tell you're right. Same thing with with with God's voice. You can tell. And you know the enemy's voice because you know it. It it's not from God when it's anything to do with taking you to shame or guilt or fear or confusion. Right. And John ten ten, it says, the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. But I have come so that they may have life and have life abundantly. If it's not leading to abundant life, it's not the voice of God. Yes, I agree. If it's going to lead to stealing, killing, and destroying your life, your business, your marriage, your relationship with your kids, that's from the enemy. Yep, absolutely. If it's from a it's if it's going to create a path of destruction or fear you that all signs are pointing to the enemy. I agree, man, I agree. And, and the best way to get to know and get more familiar is to talk more with him and, and also get in the word start. Start reading what it says one hundred percent man. I, I agree, I agree. Well cool man. Well, fast forward to today. You know, you're, you're doing really well with your, your, your business first light studios, right? First light studios is run. Your portfolio is growing. You're taking brands from, you know, zero to, you know, New release in fifteen days. Um, you know, what is it that you're most fired up about right now in this season that you're in? What is the most thing you're fired up about right now? I, I, I started my leadership journey pretty late. I never considered myself a leader. And it wasn't until a couple years ago that I did so. So everything that I'm doing now, I never really tried to do outside of just going along the path. I'm really excited to to continue continuing to lead the team, build the team up, really excited to meet other leaders that we get to partner with, whether it's a family owned business or, um, a leader at some brand. That's what I look for, people that I can actually partner and we can partner with long term and grow as as leaders. That's really exciting for me. Nice. It doesn't necessarily matter the product or the service, but the fact that I get to build a team, rally it, support them, and also our clients as well. Yeah, that that's really fun for me. Um, it, it's, it's more about the, if you know about EOS. Oh, yeah. It's, it's more about the visionary part doing more of that than the tactical. So awesome. Yeah. It's funny. You're probably the fourth person. Yeah. Fourth person. About four or five episodes ago, I had a guest. He was a the top EOS implementer in out of Australia. I might need to connect with him. Yeah, I'm happy to make that connection. Um, but he is funny. My gosh, he was hilarious. Murray Smith that's his name. Okay. Funny guy, funny story, but man, his story is brutal. Um, one of the most decorated, uh, police officers in in in in Australia. Um, I'll save the story for you. You know, you have to listen to the episode, but, um, yeah, yeah. So iOS has been top of mind lately quite a bit. Um, yeah, but well, awesome man. Well, I love to give every guest an opportunity to give themselves 60s to talk to the version themselves. Twenty, twenty five, thirty years ago, if they had to juice them up with some type of message to give them the path forward, right? So in other words, what would you what would be the advice that you wish you had heard twenty, twenty five years ago or even ten years ago? I would tell that person you are called. You are capable, fully capable, and there is a plan that only you can carry out. And it's highly likely that nobody else is going to want you to do this or support you in doing this. But if you feel it in your heart, do everything you can to make it possible. Fully commit to that even even if it's lonely. Even if it's hard. Even if you lose, all your friends come into it, man. So good. Love it. Awesome. Well, as we start to wrap up, there's some rapid fire questions I've got for you in this season that you're in. What does grit mean for you? Grit means showing up every day. Waking up every day and choosing to live in gratitude, in joy, and to do the hardest thing that I can and not avoid it to. To make the hard decisions and work at the hard thing. And a lot of times it means staying disciplined and not being distracted. So only working on on one thing at a time, even when there's a bunch of things that I do want to work on. I can relate, man. I know a lot of people can relate to that one for sure. Yeah. Right. All right. Awesome, man. Last two questions. Both of these I prepared you for in the room before I hit record. Um, when you're in the trenches, man, you're in the thick of it either for a moment, day, week, month, however long. what is a quote or directive or even a scripture that you tell yourself to pull yourself out of those seasons or out of that moment. For scripture that comes to mind is Psalm ninety one. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And it goes on and on and on. But it's all about dwelling. It's less about performing or. Training your brain to show up. It's just about dwelling and letting God take care of the rest. Sort of letting go that that that's. And surrendering. To a great and mighty God. Mhm. I love it, man. I love it. All right. This last question, Josh, man is a two part question that I prepared you for, right? And for those that are listening, especially if you're listening for the first time, guys, I love to give my guests an opportunity to challenge my future guests with a question of their own. Now, guys, the lineup is completely anonymous, so it's not like Josh had a sneak peek as as to who the guest is or anything about this person. So Josh, my previous guest, Ali Grok, had this question for you. Actually, she had two options. But I'm going to go with option one because this seems a little more appropriate, especially in light of our conversation today. Okay. If you can hang out for ten minutes with one historical figure, not a president, but some unique historical figure who emulates who you would most like to be, who would it be? That's a great question. I don't know if I've ever thought about that one. Um, can't be a president. Nope. There's a guy named Bonhoeffer. MM. And, uh, he was part of a group here in the US during the World War Two days. A great man of faith that actually tried to take Hitler out. He has a huge autobiography. Um, but I'd be interested in hanging out with him. Nice. Okay. Great answer, man. Great answer. The other option was this a dad joke? Her and I were riffing off on dad jokes because I. I showed her that I've got a deck of, dad jokes that my wife brings home from from where she works. One of her coworkers. So fun. It is. Yeah. But, uh, the other option was what is your favorite dad joke? Right. So here, I'll I'll read you off one. All right. I actually don't know many like dad jokes, but, like, I haven't memorized them. I don't either. If it weren't for this deck here, I'd be hosed. I could tell a joke about a pizza, but it's a little cheesy. Yeah, that was horrible. That was the first one in the deck. Anyways, there's this. There's this channel, I think, a YouTube channel where just some guys sit around, like fishing. Yes. I remember, just tell. Mhm. It's just hilarious. It is, man. It is. Yeah. Yep. And there's an alien version of that too. Was there? Yes. There's an alien version of that. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Guys, so. All right, man. Your turn. What is the one challenge that you would love to or question you would love to challenge my next guest with? My question would be, what is stopping you from doing the thing, from doing the thing you've always wanted to do? Mhm. Mhm. It's a good it's kind of complex. I think it's kind of complex. It is. And I'm looking at my next guest and man, that's perfect. Mhm. I'm looking forward to this one. Yeah. I can't tell you who it is either, man. I can't break it, but I'll be. I'll be tuning in. All right, man, I'm gonna hold you to it. So. Yeah. Josh, my man, if they want to learn more about your agency or you, they want to connect with you and the stuff that you do or just say, thank you for being on this episode. Where can they connect with you, man? Learn more about you. Yeah. So I'm active on LinkedIn and Instagram. Um, but I would say if you have a brand and you want to launch on Amazon for the first time, I have a playbook that we use internally on how we launch brands in less than two weeks. And I'm happy to send that playbook to you. And then alternatively, if you do have a brand and you're kind of selling internationally, you're dealing with the gray market, something called parallel exports, where folks are able to buy your goods cheaper overseas and then sell them in the US and you start losing pricing control, brand control, dealing with counterfeits. We have a playbook for you as well. Um, if you just want to DM me at one, Joshua Lee at o n e, Joshua Lee, um, just DM me Carl, and I'll send that to you. Awesome. Carl with a K. Awesome. Carl with the K. There you go. Want to clarify that because a lot of people spelled with a C, so I don't want anybody to mess that up. So well. Awesome guys. Take make sure you take advantage of this. Uh, I can tell by his heart he loves what he does. And I know how hard in his space, you know how hard it is to find people that are legit and sincerely care and, uh, so definitely want to leverage that. So, Josh, my man, I really genuinely appreciate you sharing this hour with us, man, sharing some nuggets of wisdom, sharing your journey with us, you know, not just giving us the highlight reel, but allowing us to sneak underneath the hood to give us a glimpse of what it takes to persevere through the fires, right? To, you know, to leave one identity and go to the next. And, and I pray and hope that this episode inspires just one person. Another Josh out there that's listening to you that needs to hear your success story to to be determined to say, all right, I'm in. Right. So, Josh, man, I really appreciate you, honor and respect you for that, man. Thank you so much, Carl. It's a pleasure to be on here. Absolutely, man. Absolutely. My pleasure. All right. So those are listen to watching the gap between average and excellence is just action guys. Even in perfect action. In fact that's what it requires is imperfect action. Don't just listen to Josh today. Please. Just take one thing he shared and implement with the next twenty four hours, as well as be the reason someone doesn't quit today. Don't just keep this episode to yourself. Someone in your circle needs this right now. Send it to him. Josh again, my dude, thank you for stepping into my man. Thank you. Carl. Absolutely.