The Grit Factor Podcast w/ Karl Jacobi

TGFP Audio Ep 40

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. Welcome back for another episode. Today I'm joined by a gentleman who already had the version of success most people spend their entire lives chasing. However, he decided to do something that is so inspirational. So stay tuned to this entire show. He took a company from a million and a half in sales to over fourteen million, and held it there for over a decade. He built things. He sold them, owned the home, the cars, the yacht, all of it. Just imagine for a moment what this guy may have had in his in his portfolio of of material things. And then at forty years old, he walked into a cathedral in Rome and felt something shift that he just could not explain. He walked out ready to give it all away. Sold the house, sold the yacht, sold the cars, and he poured his savings into an industry he had never worked in to build a company whose whole reason for existing is to send dying families on one last trip together. The reason I want you to lean on this conversation is not because of the business he built, but rather it takes you what it takes to put every bit on the table at forty to start over on Faith. Steve, don't let my dude welcome to the show, man. I can't wait to dive in. Thank you, Carl, for having me. Yeah, man, that was a very great intro, by the way. I have to say, um, you know, I, I when it comes down to it, you say it like that, it's all very, very true. And I did, I had everything and I walked away because I felt such a conviction to this, uh, industry, not even industry, but this, uh, this path that is to do betterment for the world. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Um, so no, I really appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Of course, man, I could deeply resonate with this. And maybe it's just the season I'm in, or maybe it's just because maybe I've gotten wiser, I don't know. Um, but I could deeply resonate with the purpose driven life, you know, having everything externally, what would dictate success, right? But on the inside, I still feel a completely hollow, right? Like you externally, you know, by external marker, you quote unquote arrived, but internally you still feel dead. I feel like, man, is this it? You know, um, Um, that's exactly it. You know, I talked to people and I tell people that in. I used to look at myself as and as the possessions that I owned, the things that I had, the way that people admired my life, they. I wanted people to literally be envious of what I was doing, all the traveling and all the, you know, people I wanted. I had a Maserati and I wanted people to see that I had a Lamborghini for a minute. I wanted to be able to drive, you know, come up to me and see like, oh, what do you do? I got my thing off, off of that. And, you know, I don't want to get super spiritual because I don't know everyone's beliefs in all this stuff. But now when you get spiritual, heck yeah, man, you know, prior to prior to me achieving that success, I was in a religious standpoint where I was constantly praying, I was constantly talking to God. And, um, over time, as I began to gain my success, I began to think of myself as greater than God. I was my human self became, I was more important. I, he wasn't doing anything for me. I was all, it was me. I was the one that was doing it all. I was the one in the trenches and just, you know, making my life what it is. And I owned my possessions. It wasn't given to me. And that was where I was very wrong. And in, in reality is, um, it was all God and, and the fact is, um, when it came down to it and I realized that all of these things that were, that was gifted to me and that was given to me as, as a, as a way to not just sustain my life, but it was supposed to be giving to so that I can make others happier and better and do things like that. And I wasn't, I was, I was being selfish and I was keeping it all for myself. And that was where I was wrong. So man, this episode's already getting very, very good. We even started yet. Man, I'm here taking notes and writing things down because you're you're dropping some stuff I really want to dive into. Um, you know, because, you know, again, you're dropping some stuff. But before we dive into into the meat of all this paint this picture. Right. Um, the cathedral in Rome before any of this, you're a guy who won the game by most people's scoreboard. As you mentioned, you had the Lamborghini, had the Maserati, had all those things paint us, that picture. Take us back who you were and what happened in that moment where you're sitting in in Rome. So the story starts actually, you know, a little over eighteen years ago when I started off as, um, a mere salesperson, just in the lowest level form you can get. I think I was making twenty eight grand a year. And in this industry of construction is a waterproofing company. And they were, they were, they had, uh, been having very hard times getting substantial sales, getting into the market. Um, and when I had joined them, um, I knew nothing about waterproofing. I knew nothing about construction, but I knew that I had the capability of doing sales. I had always been good at it. I'd always had good management. I have a, you know, a degree in business management. Mhm. Um, and so when I joined, I identified what the, you know, issues are immediately within, I think it was like three or four years. We, we hit like ten million. And by year six, year five, year six, it was fourteen million. And so that's, it didn't take long. And we just sustained it forever. And from then, but the key was I, I basically, they gave me partnership within six months to a year. And then, um, which gave me equity in the company. And then I started buying more and then so on and so forth. And in that time frame, um, I built developments, uh, residential developments. I opened up a sheet metal manufacturing company that then was sold within a year. Um, I, uh, and so all these accomplishments that I was occurring and my housing developments just went from fifteen hundred to two thousand five hundred square feet to to four thousand square feet, you know, and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. And when I started off as this thing, I was I story I like to tell is I used to do my Christmas Christmases where I would, when I first got a little bit of success for like the first two or three years, um, I would go to Big Lots and I would go pick up a bunch of, um, like travel sized toothpaste have, uh, deodorants. I pick up food and things like that and make little care packages. On Christmas Day, my, my mom and I would go to the local park and hand out gift packages to the, uh, unhoused. And I stopped doing that even though I had more money than I, I began to get more money, more everything. These are the things I stopped doing. I stopped caring about humanity and start stopped caring about what others, um, need in their life and only caring solely about myself. My relationships with my family deteriorated, um, because I was solely focused on work and how much more money I can make and how much more time I could spend doing that. Um, but in, in that time frame, I was able to acquire a nice, beautiful yacht, um, beautiful homes, beautiful wife, um, everything. And luckily my wife has nothing to do with my money because, um, she loves me for who I am. Um, but um, you know, I acquired this, this make believe life essentially that people really wanted. Um, and I thought it was just the greatest thing that was. I thought I was better than people, honestly. Like I thought I was better than the person next to me. And that was a very rude and unhuman un humanitarian like personality of me. And then it, you know, um, things can humbly change you immediately within a second. Yes, I agree. And so, um, you know, leading up to that point that you talk about in the cathedral, I had me and my partner had been kind of having some disagreements on how we want the position of the company to go. He wanted to actually make it smaller, focus more on profiteering. I wanted to make it larger and, and focus on, uh, acquisition of more companies, acquisition of more, uh, territory, uh, you know, and we, this fundamental difference kind of changed the outcome of me deciding to leave the company just because it was not, it was killing me. Literally. It was putting me to I, I'm not sure if you know what a, uh, um, scale is, but if you, a scale is a biometric scale that you can stand on and it tells you all the biometrics of your entire body, but it also tells you what your metabolic age is. My metabolic age at age thirty eight was forty six. Wow. And I, I, it was killing me. I was literally just dying inside because I was trying to work so much, so hard. And I spent no time with my family, friends. I had no relationships. Mhm. I had my relationship with God was completely non-existent. And, um, it was, it was basically just at the bottom line of depression, if you will. You know, like I wouldn't have, I wouldn't recognize that now or I wouldn't recognize it then. But looking back, depression, anxiety, all that stuff, it's real, 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. I agree here, man. So you just paint us a really good picture, man. Dude. A lot of which just sounds like, man, is he talking about my story because I can deeply I mean, I didn't have the yachts and I can't fit in a Lamborghini. I'm too big. Um, one of my good friends, Trevor, keeps teasing me about it. You know, about my lambos. It's like, dude, unless it's a Urus, then I might be able to fit. But you know, Otherwise. Yeah, I can't fit in a freaking things. But you describe with so many people, myself included, fall victim to, you know. And so first off, really appreciate your, your authenticity here in talking about all of this because I personally suffer from that, but I didn't know I didn't know any better. Right. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was, you know, trying to provide for my family. I thought I was trying to do the what people would say the right. Exactly, yes. Exactly. To the T you thought you were doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing. That is, your role is to provide for your family. Yeah. Not even realizing that it's not the right way to do it. Like there's other things to provide other than just the monetary value. Even if you provide the other things, monetary will come to it. Yep. But one hundred percent, man, one hundred percent. So you walk in this cathedral, right in Rome, which by the way, man, I'm just imagining that right now. I'm trying to paint this picture of Rome because that's an area my wife and I want to go to. Right. But you said something. Something cracked open inside you. So take us to that moment of clarity occurred. You know, um, going backwards a little bit more. My grandma had COPD. And, uh, for those that don't know, that's a pulmonary disease that develops in the lungs and there's different stages of it. And the end end version of it is basically lung cancer. And, and, uh, it's a fatal disease. Um, but the different stages make it very hard for people to travel. And so back in twenty, like, uh, it was early on, it was like two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, something like that. Um, when she had very first developed this, my mother, who is not wealthy, she's a realtor, but she did well for herself. But nothing that's she's not wealthy, Um, spent what she could, and she took me and my grandma and family to Maui for the first time. It was the last trip my grandma ever went on. Awesome. And, um, that was such an amazing trip that I ended up moving there afterwards, like for a little while. And, um, that's where I found out I came back, got the job immediately after that because I was really into God at the time. And I was really asking for help and stuff like that. And so I was given this position at this company that I ended up growing and making this huge conglomerate the largest waterproofing subcontracting firm in Southern California. Well, fast forward, my mother, my mother now has COPD, the same thing my grandma did. And, um, so she's, uh, stage three or stage four, which I think stage three. Um, and so, uh, it's not fatal yet. Um, it's being managed, but when I was in this cathedral, My mother has always been my guiding light when it comes to my religion. She's introduced me to God and introduced me to everything. I was looking around and I realized my mom is never going to be able to see or see or do these things that I'm doing right now, likely because without help, I mean, just it's here. It's one thing to travel to an easy place with handicaps and stuff like that. Um, accessibility. But driving to Italy is a, is a, is a feat. One being on a plane, being on for that long. And, um, and there's so many other things that that just goes along with it. And so when I was in this cathedral, um, I was literally just, uh, looking at the, of the different things, the, the, the people light the different candles for the ones that are in memory and stuff like that. Yeah. And so I was looking around and I see them doing that and there was this older lady with um, uh, I think her daughter maybe, and, uh, you know, she was The daughter was helping her around and walking her on her shoulder. And it was very, very moving. And then I sat down and I just I broke down and all of a sudden I just realized I need to. Is it there's so many people that are like my mother that won't be able to see or do these things in their lifetime. Mhm. And that get to do that one last thing with their families, like this daughter is doing with her grandma or mother or whatever this old person was to her. She everyone, so many people deserve this. And it's not just my mom, it's everyone. And I need to do something about that. And that's when I said, I need to create a charity. I need to create something that allows everyone else to do this. Now, I'm not a rich man, I did, I did like I said, I came from some, some history of, um, success. Yeah. But, um, there's plenty of people that are Way wealthier than I am, you know? And so, um, I'm not able to just fully do this on my own. And while I can take my mom to Italy, that doesn't solve the problem of everybody else getting to experience the same spiritual thing. It's not spiritual. What about going? It could be anything. It could be just that last moments that they deserve to be with their loved ones anywhere in the world. And so that's when I came up with travel for Life, the charity that is designed to give one last terminally ill patient a bucket list, bucket list trip. Man, that's that's this is so good. And by the way, those are listening in or watching, you could probably hear his eight month old or eight week old. I'm sorry. Right. Eight weeks, eight weeks, eight week old son if I remember correctly. Daughter, daughter. My bad. Yeah. Um, you know, eight eight week old daughter. So bear with us. But this I love to hear this sound because this reinforces just how precious life is. And this also adds context of how fast time can fly and kind of backs why you're doing what you're doing. But one thing I want to fix. I know what you meant here, but you said you're not a rich man. I beg to differ, my dude, you you have an amazing eight week old daughter sitting behind you or sitting around you. You have a beautiful wife that you were telling me about. So you are a rich man. Um, I used the wrong terminology. There's two different terms in life. There's rich in wealth. Yes. Wealth is defined by your monetary and your possessions and everything like that. Rich is defined by you and what you define rich as. And that could be family, that could be everything. And like you said, I, I, I agree with you a thousand percent. And I am very rich in that, in that sense. Um, and I am somewhat wealthy. And if you compare me to normal other people, yes, I have wealth that that's that's yeah. If you side by side. Yeah, but that's not. But if you compare me to, you know, a Silicon Valley VC guy, you know, that's. Yeah. I'm poor. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. You know, as Tony, before we hit record, I spent a good part of my younger life in California. And I still have my dad. He lives in Northern California, so I know what you mean, man. You know, in terms of standard of living there, but, um. Well, dude, you come back from home, you know, or come back from Rome. Um, and this you feel this shift and you start dismantling the life you built, man. You sold your home, you sold your yacht, sold your cars, you walked away from a steady paycheck. And the bonuses. Walk us through the first months, man. What did it actually feel like to take proof of everything you had accomplished and turn into fuel for something with no guarantee at all? So the best thing I can explain this as is if you walk outside in the cold morning and you get that nice chill of just like your body gets. It's like a chill. It runs through your body. Yeah. And, um, that's what it's like knowing that you're on the path that you're supposed to be on. You get this chill that like you have now found your way and you are now doing what is right for you. And it's despite the fear of failure, which is my greatest fear. That is the number one fear I have is fear of failure. Um, I don't want to fear. I don't want to fail in front of my friends. I don't want to fail in front of my wife, in front of my family. And more importantly, I don't want to fail in front of God. And so, um, that fear, uh, you have to turn it. It's literally becomes just the, the, the, the fuel for how you can not fail. You have to literally just believe that a power greater than yourself is guiding you, and that somehow, some way, it's going to work out. And if you do that, it's like they say in, you know, the book, uh, like, like, uh, in the Bible. Luke, they, Jesus talks about how, um, you, he can heal people, but only if they truly believe that they can heal. They can be healed by him. And your faith is in God. And so if you with that, that's how I did it. I literally have just been putting my entire life, my entire faith, my entire everything I have into him and saying, guide me, give me the path that I'm supposed to be on and provide. And somehow it has. It's. I can't even begin to tell you the number of days that people wake the founders, any of any kind, wake up and say, I'm going to quit today. And then there's something that comes up that says, not today. You are going to keep going today. And here's why. And something happened. Some way something will happen. A guiding voice will be in the back of your head or your heart or the stock market might change just for that one day, enough to be able to say, you've got enough money now to keep going. Whatever it is, there's something that will occur that if you're on that right path, then you will be given that that voice to keep going forward no matter what. So good here, man. I want to ask you a question. I love to hear your thoughts on this, especially coming from one life and making a massive pivot to the the other life that you're, that you're now building. Did you have all the steps laid out in front of you when you were building this new life, or did you have to just trust one step at a time, one step at a time? No one's ever going to have the entire answer out in front of them in any given moment. You can. They say that in business you're supposed to plan, put a business plan together, put your financials together for the next five years, ten years. The stock market could crash tomorrow. We can. Our interest rates in the housing market go skyrocket. The housing can go away. You can't plan for anything. All you can literally do is what you can say. What am I going to do to make this next step done? Yeah. And that's all you can do. So you have a guideline of structure and architecture, but ultimately you can't plan for everything. And you literally have to take it one step at a time. That's so true. And I see a lot of people get hung up in the process of house. They don't even execute. Right. Um, especially if they're coming from another, you know, if they're making a massive pivot either in their career or their business and just in life in general, right? They, I call this the foot versus the floodlight perspective, right? It was a perspective shift in my own life years ago. But one of my coaches coming from one industry, I've been in for twenty, almost twenty five years, building, building and building, exiting and then and then getting something to face with two by four very similar to what you're talking about. But for me, it was a betrayal, partnership, betrayal that caused everything. That does a lot. It does man. Um, and then it was literally, especially now looking back, it was literally God saying, hey, man, I've allowed you to do all those things. Is now time for you to pay attention to what I've got in store for you. And if you just take one step at a time, just one step. If you just trust me, I guarantee you you'll be more fulfilled and joy filled than you would ever thought. Imagine. But he didn't give me the whole roadmap. He didn't give me the whole flood lamp. Right. He just gave me the lamp perspective where I just take one step, one step. And that's what I'm hearing in your story, right? That's like clear validation. That's, that's how it works, man. It is. And you know what? Um. I think my human self, just us as humans want to try and come up with the entire plan. Like we, we have this innate, uh, thing in us that we just, we, we want to know what's going to go on. And so we try so hard to, to put it out in front of us and say, this is what's going to happen. This is how I'm going to do it. This is what. And. Oh, time and time again, um, I've been given a smack in the face saying, just slow down, take it easy. Do this first. Do it now, complete it good and then move on. And, um, that's like just building this company, um, that I've been doing has been just like that. Originally I wanted to start off with, I wanted to be, I wanted to sell everything that I had this grandiose idea and thought and I thought, you know what, I can do this. And, and, um, of really, I, I tried and I, and I realized I was failing. And so what God told me to do was slow down, take a step back, do it this way, focus on this, this and this A, B, C and do it in this order. And then you'll succeed. And it's with if I didn't do that, then I wouldn't have been even I would be failing right now. I'd be done. So it's because of that, taking it easy, taking it slow, not slow, but just taking it one step at a time, you know? Um, yeah. What is it? The industry were you in, if you don't mind me asking? Sorry. No, no, don't mind you asking. I'm. I'm an open book man. E-Commerce. So I, prior military, you know, a guy in the military. Thank you for your service. It was worth it. Thank you. Um, and, uh, I started my eBay account in nineteen ninety nine. That was like the Amazon back then. And I didn't do it to start a business. I just did it because, you know, I wanted some extra cash and, and, um, so fast forward, you know, ten years, I'm out of the military. I was doing some defense contracting on the side. I was building businesses on Amazon platform, moving Amazon and, and, uh, built multiple companies, uh, brands and then representing brands and then, uh, fulfillment operations, a SaaS company. And, um, so yeah, so that was the breadth of my experience, man. And then, you know, out of left field, you know, partnership, betrayal. I mean, I say out of left field, it was happening for a while. All the signs were there. However, you know, we were just, uh, Looking back, we're being stupid. You know, we should have put our head, you know, kept our head out of the sand, right? Instead of being ostrich thinking, oh, that couldn't be. It couldn't be, it couldn't be. Um, you know, unfortunately it was everything that we, you know, were, it was our worst fears coming to fruition there. So but, uh, looking back for you, man, you told me your cost in that season was not only money. Um, even though you risked your life savings, you went from being recognized as an expert in your field. And as I'm talking through this, it's like, again, man, it's like, man, this feels like I'm repeating my story. But you go, you went from being a recognized expert in your field, the guy who knew exactly what he was doing to a first time technology founder and a nonprofit leader in industry, right? You only knew as a customer. So take me to that cost. What did it cost? Like, what did it do to you? Or would it require you to give up as being the expert in the room to start all over as a beginner at forty? So. I think the very first thing it took for me is the validation from my belief in me. I should say, not validation. Belief in me. Um. Mhm. From the people around me that, uh, knowing. So I don't think we've ever we haven't kind of touched on this yet, but the other part about this is that once I got back and I started this travel for life, uh, charity, I realized that I needed to fund it somehow. So I built, I started building a AI powered, um, art, which is a proprietary AI, um, travel booking site where you can book your cars, cruises, experiences, you know, everything else, but also things like, you know, your dinner reservations, your Ubers, um, everything from end to end trip planning and it's all socially connected to your Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. so you can just share your stuff like that. So I started building this entire ecosystem. And the idea was that, um, a percentage typically is going to at the low end, one percent all the way up to five or ten percent or however much I can possibly afford to give will be donated to this travel for life to fund these trips. And on top of that, all the trips will be booked through them to get the net rates to be able to get like free stuff, everything. So, um, that's what started the travel company, the travel dot ai company. And so, um, to do that, I had to get validation or, or, um, my wife had to sign off on it and say, yes, I believe in you. And she did. And that was one thing that a lot of, uh, families will, and I know this from experience, a lot of my friends and a lot of people, they don't have the support that I have in terms of they they don't see their husbands or see their, um, significant others or whoever it is as an executor. And luckily my friends and family, they do, they know that if I say that I'm going to do something, I do it. And that's one thing I want to pass on to absolutely anybody that's listening. If you're going to take anything from this, if you say you're going to do it, do it, walk away. Don't walk the walk or don't talk the talk, walk the walk. If they, as they say, right. And so, um, I've been, I've, I, when I say I'm going to do something, I execute it. And so basically the first few months of the building was very exciting. It was very like new and just absolutely like, oh man, it's like a honeymoon phase. You know, you're like, oh, I'm doing, I'm doing, I'm doing something new and so awesome. And I'm going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. And it's going to be, you know, uh, everyone's going to love this. And, you know, um, I had no fear. And then comes three months mark. And that's when the fear starts to kick in. That's when the money starts to realize, be realized. That's when you start to say, am I doing the right thing and am I? You hit your roadblocks. Your partnerships aren't coming through. Your, um, the, the, the technology that you're trying to build isn't panning out the way that you want it to pan out. Um, there's the UI, there's so many things, there's so many roadblocks that start to come in your way. And you either have a choice to say, God, how can I get through this? What can I do to help me pass this? Do I keep going or do I stop? Do I save myself? Do I do I what? Yeah. And you literally just have this pathway where you just go and you have to face your fears and either decide to just quit, go back to your day job, say you did your best and go on, or you can try and persevere. And one thing I will say is, uh, you know, one thing, Roy, uh, Ray Kroc from the founder of McDonald's says is the greatest, uh, gift to a man is persistence. No gift is greater than persistence. And, um, what that means is that basically, if you continue and you persist and you persist and you persist, you have a lot greater likelihood of success than you do if you just stop. And Jesus even says this in, in the Bible, it says, if you continue to ask God and, uh, just profusely day in, day out. It doesn't mean that he's going to come and give it to you, but you have a lot like you have a lot better chance of it happening than if you just say one time and then move on. So the key is if you are to, uh, if you're going to, uh, do this, do something new, completely out of the ordinary. Try and start your life over and move on. Uh, from a previous life that you had. Like basically I'm like a twenty year old starting out of college again. You know, I got a new kid, I'm starting a new career. I'm doing all like, basically I'm out of college again. Like, but I'm here I am forty one now. And, um, if you're going to do this, just know that there's going to be your tough days, there's going to be the days where you literally are scared and you just don't even, you're, you don't know how you're going to do it. But if you believe in you and you, you say your faith, it will come through so good here, man. So good. A couple things I want to unpack on this man, because I'm getting goosebumps here. And I, I, one thing I really want to put the microscope on or the spotlight on is your word is everything right? Not only to other people, but I think this is an area where I think it's often overlooked are the most often overlooked is it's not only your word to other people, but it's your word to yourself. Right? Oh, greatly said that is very well said. Yes. Yeah. I mean, if you tell yourself you're going to do something, you're only selling yourself short if you don't. Yeah. You know, you're lying to yourself if you're, if you just stop and quit. Um, but so many people overlook that. They think, oh, it's not a big deal if I don't fulfill my promises. But man, if I don't fulfill my promise to Steve or to Carl or whatever. But we are so time. So many times overlook our own promises. Yeah, that's very true. Um. You know, I think about it and I go and I, I pause, I'm sorry for that, but I pause. No, you're good man. Pause. You know, like. You do you make a promise to yourself that you're going to do something. And if you don't do it, are you how are you going to feel? Are you going to feel sadness, remorse, humiliation, regret? Yeah. Um, yeah. And if you do, do it. But you fail at doing it. Let's say you took a chance and did it. Are you still going to feel those things? Probably not. You're probably going to still feel. You're going to feel differently. You're going to feel like I tried, at least I did my best and I gave it everything I had, and I did all I had in this world. And I tried and I gave it everything. I'm reminded, I'm reminded of a quote, and I know I'm going to butcher the heck out of this, but I'd rather deal with the temporary pain of effort than the permanent pain. Regret. Oh that's great. Right? And so every time now that there is an opportunity for growth where my my palms are sweaty, my heart rate's racing. You know, the moments I'm talking about, right? When all that noise is flooding in and all that fear is starting to settle in. I'm asking myself this. Wait a minute. Would I rather deal with the temporary pain that this effort that's going to require of this effort, or would I would rather deal with the permanent bill of regret? And so now, every time I ask myself or reframe that, man, it's like, how do I how can I not choose, you know, the, you know, the temporary pain, you know, and, uh, but oftentimes, man, that fear is so freaking loud. It's so, it feels so real that it oftentimes persuades people, man, you know, um, I'm young enough where I can say this, and so I can't say it applies to everyone. Like, but I can say this, that money can always be earned again and possessions can always be purchased again. And so if you're the number one fear that people have for not going through with something of following their dreams. And I say, following their dreams. Because this has been a dream of mine. I've talked about doing this stuff for a decade, like as, because I've always known that one of the things I came up with was all the different things I hate about all the different search engines for like Google flights and Expedia and, and booking dot com and Marriott, uh, their partner, their, uh, their Bonvoy system and even American Express points, like all these different ways people use to travel, uh, or to buy travel. I've, I've used them all. I'm a very heavily traveler back when I was doing all that, um, and I, I noted all the things I didn't like. That's how this, how I got into travel in the first place was because I said, I, I'm going to fix all these things I don't like. And if I were to be fearful of the money aspect of it, then. Um I, I don't think. Well, let me back up. You can't really be fearful of the money because the fact is it can come again and you can buy more things. So if you're going to be fearful of anything, it's the fear of not being successful with it being meaning it doesn't succeed. But if it doesn't succeed, you try and try again. You do another thing, you move on. And you. And to me, that's not failure. That's not a loss. You're just learning and, and learning how to pivot and to move on to the next thing that will be your next thing for you. 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, 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. Well, let me let me put something out there that I think you just told the whole audience, but you didn't necessarily say it in these words. God put a vision in you. God put a vision, you know, a dream, a something you're very passionate about. But he did it in such a way that he didn't care about your bank account. He wasn't looking at your bank account. He wasn't looking at your present capabilities. He wasn't looking at what you're presently capable of. He looked at you, at Steve and Steve and said, all right, you know, this is the dream in. And destiny that I have laid out for you. You didn't do it because what was in your bank account or what your current skill set is, or any of that. He did it because he saw that in your path for you, you know? Yeah. And God is a amazing person or being, if you ask me. Um, he will answer pretty much all your prayers in a certain way, in a different ways. But, um, if you have a dream, dream big, you know, there's no reason you don't. And if you're going to follow your dreams, follow it to the, put everything you can into it. Because if you sell yourself short, you're only you're, you're not gonna, you're likely not going to accomplish those dreams. Yeah. So the reality is, if you want to, you know, start your own business, um, don't be fearful of the money aspect of it because you might lose everything, but you also might gain everything. And if in that time of losing it all, you will make relationships. You will make, um, you will find opportunities. You will find all kinds of pathways that are that in, during that, during that failure point, that path of what you're going to call failure. Um, because it didn't that one venture or whatever did not succeed in that path to finding there. You're going to find so many other little fingers of success that you can't even begin to imagine. If you just open your eyes and you focus on those, God will show you those, and they will, and he will give you those. Yes. So good. I, I agree, I agree, you know, all you gotta do is just take the first step, you know, that's it. Just take one step. And you mentioned earlier, fear of failure is your is your biggest. And I can resonate with this. I think this is something that's really high on my, you know, fears. Um, you know, what's the most repeated word in the or phrase in the Bible is do not fear. Right. And as I'm looking at that, that is the only word or only phrase that is repeated the most that it is. But yet, what is it that we do consistently? We fear. We have such great fear of everything. And it's um, that's a great way to put it by the Bible, by the way. That's amazing. Um, but yeah, the, the, the reality is if you're gonna do anything, you're, there's going to be some sort of humanistic, uh, innate fear in you. You can't avoid that. The only way to help yourself out what I do personally, I pray, I read I, and I, I talk about things out loud with other individuals, including God, Including, um, the not just about business, but about how I'm feeling and things like that helps people get past these points of fear because you might hear something, uh, from someone that you weren't expecting to hear like it's something new, a new quip, a new, uh, you just learned something, a new statistic. Who knows? It could be something. It could be anything. But if you, if you vocalize and you speak out loud about not just your, your business, but your faith, your what you got going on, um, what you are fearful of. And that's why I'm fully an open book when it comes to this stuff, because I have learned it's better to not bottle things up inside me. It's better to just let them explode, explode out of me, and give and spread the gospel. Spread the word about my business, spread the word about my my love life and everything I can, and hopefully someone gets something out of it that says I, I like that I can I'm I'm now going to go and start my new my business because I have no fear. I have faith that God will guide me and he will give me what I need. And if it doesn't work and this one, I know that it will come out in another way. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. And that's really the genesis of why I started this whole podcast in the first place, was exactly what you just said, right? To share all these stories, to share all of this so that because somehow we as a society and I, I mean, I was just talking about this on a previous guest, we have somehow normalized, uh, or forgot to normalize adversities, hardships, obstacles, you know, learning events, right? Where, um, you know, I hate to call it failure because the only time when you really fail, ultimately fail is when you stop trying, right? Oh, great. Yeah, that's very true. Yeah. So for, for me, I, I, I've, you know, one of the biggest things again, why I do this podcast is to share your story, to share my story, to share everybody's story so that all the Stevens that can resonate with what you just said. Oh my gosh, it's like he just talked to me, right? Almost like how I feel when I go to church, especially if I hadn't been for a while and I go to church and I hear this sermon, it's like, my gosh, the pastor wire my house. It's like just talking directly towards me, right? And so that's what I want the audience to, to, you know, to that's why I want them to experience is hearing your, your story, your tone, your style, your, your authenticity in all of that. Right? Yeah. So, but man, dude, this is, this has been, you know, a great episode. Um, you know, fast forward to today, man. Um, what are you most fired up about right now that the world hasn't yet seen? If we're talking about, uh, personally, uh, personally business both either doesn't matter. So business wise, we are ready. We are way behind schedule. But that's okay because it's been the path. Um, but we are ready to launch our site pretty close. Nice. Um, we got full bookings ready to go. Our, we've the charity, uh, travel for life. Uh, that's the website's live. We're taking donations. Um, we're planning out our first, uh, trips and how to kind of navigate those. Um, and, uh, I think I'm most excited. The number one thing I'm most excited about is giving away our first trip, letting our first, uh, receive recipient, um, who I think is going to be a veteran, um, that has experienced some, some Traumas, um, and is at the end of his life. Uh, with him and his family are going to be going somewhere. I think, uh, we're working that out right now, but that's going to be my that's the number one thing I'm fired up about right now. That's awesome. Dude. I can hear the passion, especially, especially with being a first man. The first one's always amazing, right? Can't wait, I can't wait. See the smiles and see the man. You're gonna start getting me all emotional here. Two dudes getting all emotional, man. This is what you know what? There's nothing wrong with that at all. No, no, I think that's great. I agree man, I agree. Well dude man, I love to give everybody sixty to 90s for them to talk to them. Previous cells from ten years ago, fifteen years ago, twenty years ago of the the fires you've had to walk through and the things you've had to walk through, the pivots you've had to walk through, what would you tell that previous version of yourself to get them to where they need to be faster, or maybe to help them to encourage that person. In other words, there's another Steve. And right now that's walking through the same thing you've had to walk through, you know, to get you where you are now. What would you tell that person to walk? Don't lose your faith. Do not lose your faith in God. You keep that faith that your number one priority in your life above all else doesn't matter what it is. You said that without even thinking, dude. Like I couldn't even let the words I leave out of my mouth. You said that. That's awesome man. There's nothing more powerful than that. You keep that at the top of your life. Your life will be amazing. You will get everything you asked for so good and even more everything. Yeah, right. Yep I agree. You. The fulfillment that you would receive between love and and success and everything will just become there. It's the second you turn your light, you turn that off. It's when it goes away, you become empty darkness. Mhm. Yes. Man, I know this episode is going to chase some lies, my man. All right, as we wrap up, I've got some rapid fire questions for you. I feel like this last hour is just flown by, dude. Um, but in this season that you're in with the, the, the travel, you know, the, the foundation you're building. Of course, the agency that you're launching and everything you're doing, man. What is your version of grit? I will never give up hard work. Hard work is the number one thing you can possibly get put into it. Persistence and hard work. Now, what I mean by that is it doesn't necessarily mean, um, twenty hours a day spending it like That hard work could be becoming the best at becoming the number one best at whatever it is you're going to try and do. You could. If you want to be a garbage man, great. Be the best garbage man you can possibly be, and at the end of that day, you will be successful. You will have grit. You will have everything you want. And over time, that will be, that will grow. That will you. You'll become known as the best garbage man in the world, and you will be sought after as fixing the biggest garbage issues you could possibly have in the world. Mhm. It doesn't matter what it is, how small it is of possession, profession. Be the best. That is your grit. If you are the best, the hardest worker, the greatest, you can do. Not necessarily the hours. It can be the hours, but you have to be the best. And that will give you your grit. Mhm. That's so good. You inspire me, man. This whole this whole hour. Dude, you've really inspired me today. I appreciate you, um, brought a lot of wisdom here. A lot of information, a lot. Just a lot of good knowledge bombs here, man. And what you just said there is so true, dude, because you're setting the example for what the world the rest of the world needs to see, right? All the other Steve's, Carl's and Josh's and so forth for us to be the example of being our best at whatever it is that we do, no matter how insignificant we feel that the role is, is just to be your best. So good man, so good. When I got into the travel, for example, I didn't know anything about this tech industry, but I decided I'm going to make the best planner. I'm going to become the best. I knew nothing about tech, I learned, and now I can code. I can do front end, back end, I can do everything. And I learned it very quickly now. AM I a school person? No. Did I go to school for it? No. But because I, I have I was able to learn on the job, get it going. I've become better than I've had. I've been able to get rid of some of my employees because of the fact that I've become better than them. They. And so be the best and you will succeed. Agree, man. Agree. Love it man. All right, last two questions. The last one is a two part. When you're in the thick of it, right when lights go out and you're in the trenches, what do you repeat to yourself to pull yourself out of those moments could be a directive scripture, any quote of that nature. I have a very specific thing. If you don't mind, I'm going to be go for it. Pretty transparent. Heavenly father, Lord, please place your hands upon me and guide me. Give me the strength and the perseverance to succeed. I thank you for this life, for this breath, and I ask that you continue to give it to me. Amen. Amen. Amen. Very simple, very easy. But I asked just to be. I don't necessarily know what the right path is, but I asked for the wisdom and knowledge to be given that path so that that way I can figure it out properly. I can make I don't have to rely on myself. I can rely on him to help me make a decision. Mhm. So good man. This is man. This has been a good episode, dude. Definitely one of my favorites for sure. My last question comes in two parts, and those are the listener watching for the first time. I love to give my current guest an opportunity to challenge my next guest with a question of their own. And guys, the the lineup is completely anonymous here. So as I'm asking Steven for his question, he has no idea. And so far the questions have landed perfectly. So no stress, no pressure. Steven. But my previous guests, Austin Reed, had this question for you. And again, as I'm reading this, I'm getting Goosebumps. If you had to restart from zero tomorrow, what is a system that you would put in place to guarantee success? Uh. Number one pray. Number two, put in, put in writing, uh, some sort of plan of ideas. Number three, um, quick little research. Number four. Uh, execute. Simple as that. So ask for, ask, ask what path you should be given and taken. Put those paths and ideas onto a piece of paper, um, and begin, uh, some sort of plan, uh, figure out which one you want, pay a little bit more and then execute. Proceed which what's the next step from that point forward? Again, incremental steps, just minor individual steps going forward. Love it man. I love how fast you are. It's like some of these, you could tell you put a lot of time and thought into it and others, it's like you knew the answer before you even left my mouth. Man. It's like, it's so good, dude. I feel like we've all been at that zero point before many a times, and I agree. You don't even know it. You don't even know you're there. But you get there and you just have to figure it out. So I feel like that. That's the easy one for that. Yeah. Love it man. Well for you, what would you love to challenge my next guest with? What's your question? You love to ask. What are you going to do? What are you doing to help your community and the betterment of society and what you're building or what you're doing with your life? Love it man. It's perfect for my next guest too, dude, I'm telling you. All right, well, I can't tell you it is, but. So you're gonna have to tune in and listen, I can't wait. Yeah, man. Me neither. So. Well, man, for the person who's listening right now who wants to connect with you, um, they will learn more about your story or they want to see how they can be a part of your journey, whether it's supporting your, your non-profit, and supporting, you know, your, your, your mission or I just want to learn about your agency where, where can they connect with you at man? Yeah. So I'm going to give you a couple of different links here real quick, just out loud. Uh, first things first, uh, please, if you have an extra dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, um, please go to travel for life dot org. That's T r a v e l l e the number four, and then L I f e dot org. Uh, the site is still kind of, uh, rudimentary. I apologize for that, but we're not meant to be, uh, a tech site on there. We're more meant to just take donations and fund trips. Uh, you'll see a lovely video coming up of me here pretty soon, um, which we are making right now, but there's that. And then if you want to, uh, check out our AI booking site, feel free to check out, uh, t r a v e l l e dot ai. And I love connecting with everybody. So if you're on LinkedIn, please connect with me. My, it's Steven S t e v e n dash D o l a n dash treble T r a v e l l e, and I'm happy to connect with everyone. I love communications, I love talking about business. I love talking about absolutely anything you need help with. I do mentoring as well, just for free because I've done it, uh, through generator and stuff like that. So I love helping out people. Awesome man. Dude, I will definitely be dropping those links in the show notes. So guys, you know, make sure you check it out, especially, you know, if you want to be a part of his missions. Definitely sounds worthwhile. And, uh, yeah, definitely see if you can be a part of that. Steven. Man, this has been such an amazing hour this time, this hour, just literally like it blew by. Thank you for sharing your heart. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Thank you for sharing your story and being authentic, man. Um, especially in the life that I see you exited. but you know the life that you did, you know, exit, right? You know, the yachts and the cars and all the external markers of success that you you talked about. So thank you for not just sharing that, but you share the journey and what was truly meaningful for you in hopes that other people can listen and resonate and build a inspire change in their life. So man, I honor and respect you for that. Thank you. Thank you sir. Thank you for having me. Yeah, man. All right. To those listening and watching, the gap between average and excellence is just action. You hear me say this all the time. Even imperfect action. Don't just listen to Steven. Guys. Take one thing he shared. He shares so many different nuggets of wisdom today. Use it in next twenty four hours. Also be the reason someone doesn't quit today. Someone in your circle needs this. Share this episode. Send it to them. Steven. Again, my dude, thank you so much for Stepping Arena. Thank you very much. God bless.