Transcript
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Richard Walsh is the CEO of Sharpen the Spear, a coaching service for people looking to improve their lifestyles and businesses with biblical style principles.
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He hasn't always had the wisdom to undertake this task, but through hard work and humility, he has risen above his setbacks and come to realize what is most important in life legacy and faith in God.
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Today's episode will leave you feeling empowered to take on the challenges in your own life and business with grace, humility and trust in God.
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Be sure to share this episode with family and friends so they, too, can be blessed by the contents of this episode.
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Hey, richard, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.
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I'm excited to talk to you.
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I am very excited too.
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It's great to be here.
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Thanks for having me.
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I have started reading your book.
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A little bit of it.
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I liked the introduction.
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A little bit of it.
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I liked the introduction.
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It was sad to see what had happened to you, but at the same time you could see your humble nature shine through towards the end, where you got the big picture.
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You figured it out, what needed to change, and you took the steps to change it, which I thought was very interesting.
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I really liked that.
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So I want you to tell us what the name of your book is and why you decided to write it.
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The name is Escape the Owner Prison and the subtitle is the Contractor's New Way to Scale, regain Control and Fast-Track Growth While Loving Life.
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The reason I wrote it?
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Because after some people don't know the long story.
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So, 20 years in business, 08, 09 hit.
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I've seen financial collapse all over the place which affected my business.
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I was a custom water feature builder and a steel sculptor.
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I had international recognition on that stuff and everything else, but the collapse wasn't the actual problem.
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It was my business right.
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So I had done really well, award-winning, top guy, made tons of money, but I didn't really pay attention to the business itself.
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I just was being an artist and being out front and doing all that, and that collapse just exposed a lot of holes in my bucket, as I like to say, and we lost everything.
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So we went from losing my business, losing our home.
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I had six small children under four.
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At the time, my wife had to relocate and move to another state.
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That was challenging.
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From there I had to rebuild, so the big issue was really starting over.
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So escaped the owner prison when it came in.
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It's going to be down the road a little bit, so got to begin, didn't even know what I was going to do.
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I knew that I wasn't going to do what I did.
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I had enough of that.
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That business really became my identity For 20 years.
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It was who I was.
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Without that, without the company that's called Rick Rock, without a Rick Rock shirt on or a hat, my truck's all detailed, my guys, everything's working, then I didn't exist.
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It really came to that point where business was first for me and I had a big epiphany one morning early on nine about my kids, how I'd leave the house and like one time my son was chasing me down the driveway crying.
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I'm driving away in my truck, just looking at him in the rear view mirror and I just kept going, okay, like well, they got to learn.
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And then I come home and they all attack me.
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So I got six little kids and they love to see me and I'm like you know I started thinking that morning.
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It was just really an odd thing.
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I'm like you know, if I stay on this path of business first and win and do all this, that I'm actually going to ruin my children's lives.
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They're going to have broken marriages, failed relationships.
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They might do well in business, but they're really not going to understand what is truly important, okay, and the interesting thing about it was I'm like, okay, so I won't do that.
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I'm really an all or nothing person, ana.
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So I like walked in, I got out of bed, walked in the office and like we're done today, okay, we're going to collapse anyways, it's closed, and so I sped it up, that closed down everything else.
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Now, an important thing here is to read in the book is I was what I call a Sino, a Christian in name only, okay.
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So I was like I was going to church and doing that kind of stuff, you know, but I really didn't know what being saved was or anything.
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So the interesting part about that so that wasn't really a big factor.
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I really was focused on my kids and making that work.
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So we relocated, went through this stuff I'm going to speed the story here Started a new business, kind of figured out what I was going to do, scaled two more businesses, got back on top of things and that was all good.
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I did want to write a book.
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I'm like, well, I'm helping people, I'm their businesses.
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I really wanted to share my story but also help people in their businesses who were kind of trapped in the same situation.
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I was, because if I didn't start the business, if I'd opened the business, it wouldn't continue.
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That was the owner prison and I saw these patterns develop.
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So I started helping others.
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But at the same time, when I relocated, we're looking for a new church.
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We're going to these different churches and we're doing this stuff.
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I'm like we found one, did a couple, and I'm like I'm hearing about being saved One day.
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It's going through.
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I'm like, oh, what is that?
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So I'm typing.
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One day I'm sending an email to our pastor, right.
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So my wife comes up.
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She goes well, what are you doing?
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I go, I'm sending an email to Pastor Tim.
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She goes about what I go, about being saved.
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She goes what are you talking about?
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I go, well, I don't have a date.
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I don't even know we haven't gone to church for all these years.
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And I go do you have a date?
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She goes well, yeah, I got a date.
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I go well, I don't have a date.
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And she goes.
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I don't even know you.
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She gives me giant churches and everything else and never once is there an altar call, is there anything even remotely about it.
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It's all popcorn sermons.
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Now, feel good, go check the box on Sunday.
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So that was a big deal.
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Right Again, I'm thinking I'm this great guy and I'm a Christian and I have six kids.
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We're homeschooling them, we're going to homeschool our kids, we're going to do all this stuff, you know.
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But that was a big realization for me and that's where things really changed and changed how I did my business, stuff like that.
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So the book the book was like that was 2019.
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The book came out I, you know, I obviously got saved about 2012, that and then I'm like, okay, well, this is, you know, this is really great.
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Now we start.
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So I spent a lot of time in the word and I'm reading and reading.
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I've seen a lot of business principles, right, I said.
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But now I started really putting it into the word and this was so fascinating to be like, wow, this is all here.
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You know, there's nothing new.
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So that inspired me to do, obviously, the book for one and then helping others in that way and more of a kingdom mindset, like, really, who are we truly serving?
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How do we build a business that everyone benefits and not just the owner?
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How do we build this to make them better as people and families and things like that?
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That's kind of the condensed version of what it was.
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It brings us to where we're at now.
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I love that there's a lot of small businesses out there that they're just trying to survive.
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They're so focused on the business because they have families they need to take care of and they're doing their best, but they're neglecting their families at the same time, which is most important, and God, as well, is most important and because they're neglecting those things, they're going to have trouble.
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So it's good that you have a business that you can help point them in the direction.
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Of this is how your business is going to thrive.
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Let's put things back into perspective.
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Put God first, put family first, and then your business will be easier to handle, because you've got the rest of it in the row.
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Our church likes to do the pyramid.
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You've probably heard about it God first, spouse, children, everything else.
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When everything's in balance, life goes a lot easier.
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That's so important.
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What I do is, like you know, you've probably heard the five F's right.
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You got faith, family, finances, fitness and friendships right.
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I've actually never heard that.
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That's good.
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Oh, there you go.
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There's the five F's, so take it wrong with it.
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It's not mine, Of course, I don't there's nothing new on it.
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I've learned a few things from you, cino, and the five Fs Nice, there's more to come.
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There's more to come on it.
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But really when?
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So people come to me and they talk about work-life balance right, we just talked about balance and I love the pyramid, is that also even in that pyramid?
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So you're on the left and your husband's on the right or whatever.
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But as we draw closer to God in that pyramid picture, that pyramid, right?
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So as we draw closer to God when God is first that's why it's faith, family we are also drawing closer together as a couple.
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Right, because we're getting closer on that triangle and God's at the top, but he's got to be first.
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I think the struggle is people.
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You run a business and it's your income generator.
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Right, that's how you're supporting your family.
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You have to do it.
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But if the business is a hot mess and it takes you to do everything and you're working 70, 80 hours a week, 100 hours a week, because you want to provide for your family and you want to be successful and all the cool stuff that I did, I did all that right for years and years.
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I got married later.
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I got married at 34.
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Didn't have kids until I was 39.
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That's when we started having children, you know, and three are adopted and three are biological.
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But it's that whole process.
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Through that, again, I'm like running, running, running hard and people say, well, why any work-life balance?
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And they kind of walk away.
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I don't really like the catchy little phrases like that, because no one tells you how.
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So like it sounds good, you know, it's a cool picture, but how do I get there?
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And in business, what I have to tell people, I said, okay, well, here's the five F's.
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Right, sounds really cool.
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I like that.
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Wouldn't it be great to be balanced on all those and have God first and all this.
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So that's really neat.
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But if the business is a mess, none of the five F's can happen.
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Okay, you have to fix your business.
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You have to get it running itself, primarily right, where we get to what we call working on your 5% as a business owner.
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That's the 5% of the business.
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Only you can do Right, this is really important.
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Like you don't need to be doing the day-to-days that's going to get hired out.
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You're going to build a business properly so that other people have authority and they have permission and they're able to do all this stuff in your business so we can run.
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Now we can talk about the five Fs, now you have margin in your life, now you have time to do this stuff and see it and be there for all of your children's games and plays and everything else that they do you can be there for because you are now truly control your schedule, because now your business serves you instead of you serving it, because most people are stuck in that way, serving their business right, the business is the owner, is the jailkeeper.
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I think when people understand that and that's why what I've done with owners is, once they get that realization, we can do things very quickly in their business.
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But that's where the freedom comes from.
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And I'll tell you with clients like I'm working with guys let's say, right, so they own a business, we get there, they're going.
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But the joy is like when their wife contacts me and says I never thought this was going to be possible, like we're at the beach for like a week with the five kids, like having a good time.
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We just eight years been building this bed, like never been able to have time right, like in total control, and we have the money and we have this and we have this right.
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So that's the reward at the end.
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But I think the focus when you understand well, first who you're working for right, your business is a business, but you're still serving the Lord.
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Right, do all things as unto the Lord and when you understand who you're truly serving, it puts a very different lens that you're looking through a very different lens, that you're looking through very different perspective and it really helps you speed to the result that you're looking for.
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It's really cool.
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Humility is key in business, I believe, because, as I was mentioning about the introduction to your book, there were a lot of I statements at the beginning of the introduction.
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I have to do this, I need to do this.
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It's about me I need to.
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When you have that mindset, not just in business but in any part of your life, I'm always reminded of the Bible verse that says pride comes before a fall.
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You have to be humble, otherwise things are going to crumble.
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No, I was not trying to make that rhyme, but that is true.
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If you don't make sure that you keep God-centered and you realize that you might need to delegate some stuff to other people in your business because you can't do it all, then it's going to start crumbling and you're going to need someone to come in, like you, who's going to be able to be honest with them in a caring way and say I'm here to help you.
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You need to get out of the way You're ruining your business by trying to do it all.
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I mean we get burnt out so easy.
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Yeah, and it's and you're not.
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It's funny.
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I was an eye addict, so it's like it was just, it was all I mean.
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And that is not easy to overcome when you run in that direction, when, cause, here's the reality.
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I learned this actually recently, which is really strange.
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I was on a podcast, I was reviewing my book, great podcast and he's talking to you.
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He goes.
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Well, what's driving you?
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And stuff like that, Like all this stuff, I go.
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I don't know.
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I think I just like people telling me I'm great he goes.
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Oh, you're a word of affirmation, guy you love it.
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I go.
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Well, actually, that is all Because I didn't.
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I wasn't focused on money at all, like it didn't matter to me.
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I made lots of it, and that's a problem too.
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It needs to matter.
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Things you don't pay attention to tend to go away.
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If you don't pay attention to your money, it goes away.
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But and that was a problem but at the same time, I'm like wow, famous on this and this and praise with these people on these big committees and doing all this stuff, and it was.
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I'm like wow, that's kind of that was terrible.
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You talk about humility, and I think the best statement I ever heard on that was being humble, or humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less, right?
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So and I never did that, it was always me first and you do that with a wife and six children.
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That's not a good combination.
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It's not going to be a fruitful family thing, and it's still and I'm not by no means perfect and it's still today.
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There's things that I do that are not.
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I'll still catch myself on my way forward.
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You know it's all about you, huh, well, I'm also a very focused guy.
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We were talking before that, before we started.
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I'm like so, like, if I'm going to the store because I have to get something, I go to a store and I go get that thing.
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Okay, so I'm the guy you can have 10, 20,000 items and I get the one thing I need and I don't shop, I'm mission oriented only.
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Okay, so I get that.
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I come in and I'm out.
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Right, I'm moving very quickly.
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I get it.
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Part of being a Marine, you know, just accomplishing the task.
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So she's like you didn't call me to see if I need anything.
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I was like no, I just got the thing I needed.
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She goes yeah, okay, life has a lot of reminders right on this kind of thing.
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It's important to really get it dialed in and understand, but it has to be front of mind to really make it work.
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That's the challenge.
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In your book you talk about mindset.
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How has your mindset changed through the whole process of restarting your business, coming to Christ and being more focused on your family?
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How have you seen the mental benefits from all that?
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Yeah, there's a complete different piece.
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Now, as believers, we understand that peace has surpassed all understanding.
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Right, we get that and that's huge.
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But that piece I don't think people well, I shouldn't.
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This is going to be a very general statement, okay, I think a lot of people don't understand what that actually entails, what that means.
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Because I think a lot of people don't understand what that actually entails, what that means.
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Because I think a lot of us, especially the I mentality people, I would never, because I never asked for help.
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So all those 20, I wouldn't.
00:15:08.821 --> 00:15:14.360
And I had multi-billionaire clients offering me advice on things I should do.
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And what do you know?
00:15:15.484 --> 00:15:16.567
You don't build water features.
00:15:16.567 --> 00:15:19.817
You know, I think like, and they're all right, okay, but I never took help.
00:15:19.817 --> 00:15:21.806
I wouldn't ask for help, I wouldn't accept help.
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So, twice as long, twice as hard, that's what it took for me to do stuff.
00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:34.317
But I think what you're also not going to do and again, I wasn't a believer at that time you're not going to cast your cares, cast your burdens onto Christ.
00:15:34.317 --> 00:15:37.182
That's what we miss in business.
00:15:37.182 --> 00:15:38.966
We put all the stuff on ourselves.
00:15:38.966 --> 00:15:45.605
It's us, us, us to achieve, and we don't know or we forget that Christ is there.
00:15:45.605 --> 00:15:48.418
Right, we draw close to Him, he draws close to us.
00:15:48.418 --> 00:15:52.106
But what's the first step that's us right, drawing close to the Lord?
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I mean, he's a gentleman, he's not going to force anything on you.
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If you can make this, if you can reach out literally like Lord, I need help with this, like I can't do all this by myself.
00:16:05.856 --> 00:16:07.479
I, you know, I asked you to bring someone in my life to help me to you, take this.
00:16:07.479 --> 00:16:09.019
You know it's all this stuff when you start thinking about I.
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I wasted so much time and effort.
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Again, I didn't know the Lord in the way you should.