THIS Is Why You're NOT HAPPY & SUCCESSFUL In Life... | Steve Weatherford & Allison Maslan

How do you make that transition to a new career when your expertise has been going in one direction for so many years? And then how do you turn that into a successful new business, even an online digital business? You're going to find out right here, right now. On the Scale or fail show. Well, I am really excited. On the Scale or fail show today is a dear friend of mine and you are going to be blown away. And so inspired by Steve Weatherford. He is a former American football punter and founder of Weatherford Fit, where he provides cutting edge workout routines for people who want to transform their bodies and their lives. After 10 years in the NFL playing for teams like New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants and even winning the super bowl, fitness experts named him the fittest man in the National Football League. And I think he still is the fittest man on the planet. When he left professional football, he developed an incredibly successful 90 day Armageddon workout to reach his fitness goals. But once he realized how powerful this program was, he knew he had to get it out to you. And that's what he does successfully. He has shifted it into one of the most trusted names in the fitness industry. He has used his experience and knowledge to help his clients create amazing results. And I see it. He's got so many followers online that are using his products and using his, his tips to get in shape, to get fit in the body and in the mind. We're going to talk about all of those things. He's also super, super inspiring. So, so glad that you are here.

Thank you for having me. You and I have such a cool friendship because our friendship began during just transformation. And so I'm just honored to be here in your home. I'm honored to be one of your friends. I'm honored to have the relationship that I have with your husband. I just feel really fortunate to have the relationships in my life, including you and my wife and my son and, you know, my buddy Connor's here. And I just have so many relationships and I think with this whole Covid thing, relationships to me have just become increasingly, I don't want to say more important, but more valuable.

Oh my gosh.

And so I haven't really been out of the house much. And so you're like one of the first friends that I've gotten the opportunity to come together with. And so it's special because there is a new normal, you know, and we're actually you and me and the people listening to this. We're the ones that get to create what our new Normal is. And so I'm just very thankful for an opportunity to have a conversation with you that will be heard by them because people's minds are open right now. People's hearts are open right now because things are different, Things are dark, things are scary. Everybody's story seems different. But I think one thing that you and I can agree on is that when we serve people, somehow God continues to elevate us and get us closer to what it is the desires of our heart is. And so during this time, to be able to spend time with you and reap the benefits of relationships of my family and my wife and my friends. And honestly, this hasn't been that hard for me because of my great relationships. And so I don't want to go on a rant, but I know a lot of people listening to this and watching this right now don't have those deep, meaningful relationships. And that's the thing for me that I believe has allowed me to, like, show up here and not have to put on like a happy face for the viewers and for the listeners. Man, I truly, I'm not happy, man. I am joy filled right now. And I believe the only way that we can truly get that way is through relationships. So I love you and thank you for letting me be one of you.

I love you. See? See, like why he's just so incredible. So you are going to want to stay tuned for this entire interview. Just if you like, just watch out. You're amazing. You're amazing. So much that I want to dive into, but I want to back up first because I want to dive further into the relationships and connection and all of those things. I think you've had an incredible journey in your football career and you had lots of ups and downs there and so forth and, and then transitioned on to an incredible career. Can you give us a little bit of the backstory? So for those of you that are meeting Steve Weatherford for the first time.

Yeah. And that's probably everybody. And I'm okay with that, man. My name is Steve weatherford. I've got five kids. As you said, I've been married for 13 years. I met my wife when I was actually on my official visit. I was a high school senior and she was a freshman at the University of Illinois. And I met her the first night I was on campus. You know, my wife Laura. And so that's my family. You know, that's kind of. That I wouldn't want to say. That's my. Why, you know, I mean, definitely God, and serving my Mission is my why. But my day to day, the thing I'm reminded of the most, because there's a lot of diapers that I have to change in my house is those. That's my why. Now, who am I? Man? I'm still trying to figure that out, you know? And I mean that in the most, like, proud way, because I'm trying, like, I am literally digging into myself every single day. And the way, you know, I know that sounds kind of like, cliche, like I work on myself every day, but the way that my son and I pursue our best self is through the relationship that we have together. But we do this thing called Man Academy. And what Man Academy is, is every single day, my son and I know because we have a game plan. The same way you do have your notes for the show, we have notes for our personal development, 360 degrees of it. And so what I'm doing right now in my life for my son is the thing that I only did in my life in my mental and in my physical. I never worked on the spiritual part of myself because I only prayed before football games, and I only prayed before I ate or if somebody died. And so there was a shift that I made. And I know I'm kind of skipping around, but this is how I do it. This is me. And the season that I'm in right now with my son is I feel like I've been able to get really, really clear on developing him by learning how to develop myself. And it's really simple. It's mind, body, and soul, like you just said. And so every single day, my son and I have a game plan that helps us bump up against what's comfortable, you know, to get uncomfortable spiritually every day. I don't feel like waking up every single day and, like, reading scripture or reading a devotional or praying out loud with my son. I just don't feel like doing it, you know? And I think that's most everybody in any walk of their life. They get frustrated in their physical walk, whatever that challenge is, or their mental walk. They get frustrated because they let thoughts creep in of I'm not enough. They let thoughts creep in that, man, if I come on this podcast dressed like this, people are going to think a certain type of way of me, and they're not going to listen to the words that I say. But the reason I'm dressed like this is because my wife was putting our daughter to sleep and the door was locked and I couldn't get in there to take a shower. So this is what I worked out in the. But the point is, man, is I'm showing up here because I want to be a hope messenger for people listening to this that maybe they don't know how. Like, how do I develop myself? How do I feel? Like, what that's gone is for me.

Let's back up a little bit, because with your son. How old is your son?

He's 12.

12?

Yeah.

So think of you at 12. What is different for the relationship with your son now than you were at that age?

Man, I had a really toxic relationship with myself because think at 5, I just kind of almost just like, made an agreement that I'm different than everybody else. And that's a bad thing. I mean, if you guys haven't noticed, like, I have extreme adhd, and I don't take. I don't take Adderall or anything. You know, there's holistic things that I do that help me take what people would consider a learning disability, man. That's my superpower. But when I was a kid, I hated myself because I realized just how different I am than everybody else. When you go to kindergarten, and every single day for the first five days of school, you get sent to the principal's office every single day for a different thing. And so I just started hating myself because all I wanted to do was just get along. Like, just don't rock the boat. I had three other siblings, and none of them got in trouble. And so it was just confirmed when I got to school, I knew I was different than my sister and my brothers, but, man, there's 26 other kids out here, and I feel like an alien. So I started to hate myself. And so to your point, your question was, just make sure that I'm staying clear here is, where did it shift for you? Is at 12 years old, where I was at, my relationship with myself was so toxic because the only place I ever felt celebrated was when I was on the field of battle, like basketball or track or football, because that was the only place that, like, hyper movement was celebrated, okay? And so I felt celebrated there and only there. Even when I would go to, like, Sunday school, I would make trouble, and so I would get in. You know, I would feel bad about who I am, where I was at, because that what I was wasn't celebrated.

So is that why you ended up getting into football and having this career natural?

You know what I mean? My parents are like this dude. We had a rule in my house, Allison, that we couldn't watch Rocky Balboa karate Kid or any type of motivational movie after the sun goes down because. And it was a rule because of me. Because if that comes on, it'll rev me up and I won't go to sleep. So that was a rule my brothers and my sister had to deal with. Like, they couldn't watch certain movies after the sun goes down because they will rev Steve up. And so it was just, like, constantly reminded that I'm different. And so you asked, did it push me into football? Yeah, it pushed me into football because that was the only place I felt okay, that I felt like parents. My parents and other parents were like, hey, great job. Wait, I was just being myself. And they liked that. And so that pushed me towards only valuing myself if I can win. And that's why it was toxic, because I believed my only value was delivering entertainment and wow and winning for other people so I could get their love. And so now with my son, it's not about winning and losing at all. It's about the process. And so I'm just dedicated with myself and I'm dedicated with him to walking out a process and not forcing him to do things, but involving him in the gaming, gamifying process of developing the man that he is. You know, patience, self control, gentleness, kindness, all of the fruits of the spirit that are in the scripture. That's what I want to develop in my son. Because if I want to make him like me, then he's going to have the same struggles that I made, you know, so if you're choosing the right role model, the right role model, and not to be Bible y, but the only perfect man was Jesus Christ. And what were. What was the DNA of him? It was the fruits of the spirit. Love, self control, discipline, faithfulness, gentleness. I'm sure there's a couple more of them that I'm forgetting right now, but you get the point.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that's really cool that you have that relationship with your son. And. And I know from. From you and I knowing each other and having some pretty. Pretty deep conversations. Conversations that during those years, those football years that was. There was, you know, some of the best of times and some of the worst of times. And I think when someone looks at you and it's like, wow, life must have been easy. You had this amazing career and so forth. What are the things that stand out for you during those times, you know, when you were playing for the Saints and the Giants? Some of the good, but also some of the stuff that was, you know.

I think the Question you're asking me is like, what's the dirt? What's the nasty stuff you've been through that maybe people don't know of? I mean, dude, you name it, I've struggled with it. And one thing that comes with the superpower of ADHD is like addiction issues. You know, I find something that feels good to me and I'll choke it out, you know, example, alcohol. I'll be the guy that drinks the most at the party, you know, because I'm competitive. And when something feels good, I'm just going to do more of it. And so I never did anything. And still to this day, it's still something. You know, when you talk about the fruits of the spirit, me practicing patience and all these self control, that's part of me developing who I am. I don't need to, I don't want to say I don't need to, but there's certain things that I think we can all agree on. Like you seem like the type of person that maybe doesn't have to work as much on patience as maybe I do. But the point is there might be another thing that you really struggle with that you're working on. But if you're working on yourself and those, that's where that development comes. And when I think about my son and what our goal is, if we can continue to grow stronger in those different areas by the time he becomes a man and 18 years old, it doesn't matter if it's pro sports like his daddy and he wants to go be a world champion, or if he wants to go be a doctor, if he wants to go be a pastor, if he wants to, whatever it is that he wants to be or do or say or become, he can. Because he understands that this process that he started with me when he was 11 and a half years old, he's not going to keep doing it just because it's what he's always done. He's going to keep doing it, Alison, because that's what produces fruit in his life. And that's what, you know, I think this show is powerful for people and you are powerful as a coach for people, is because you take something that's so super complex to people and you simplify and you also, and this is the most important thing is you give them confidence. So if they don't have faith in themselves to do that business that they want to do or make that launch or do that webinar because they're scared, you're the person in their life that's giving Them permission, and that's a powerful role that you're playing for people. It's great. It's infobesity out there. There's so much information and people telling you these seven steps to do this. But how many people are truly caring about people enough to give their heart, give their spirit permission to just go for it? And that's what I'm believing, that this process with my son is going to continue to develop in him, is his ability to just go for it because he believes in himself and he has faith because I'm giving him permission every single day that he wakes up, that he's worth working towards what he wants most.

Yeah. Wow. That's a blessing. He is very blessed to have you as a dad. And who wouldn't want that with their children? That's really incredible. And so what do you think? You know, you've transitioned from this amazing career and into a business. How did you do that? When was the time you said, okay, I'm done with the NFL. What happened there? And then to decide, oh, I'm going to have a whole new career as an entrepreneur.

Yeah. When we were talking about earlier when, you know, about valuing myself and I was in the NFL, it was probably like my seventh or eighth year. Well, it was my seventh year that I won the Super Bowl. And this is when it got pretty clear for me. As I won the super bowl, it's like everybody's lifelong dream. And I had the greatest game of my life. I set a Super bowl record. It still stands. It was 47 miles from where my parents live. It was like a storybook ending, but my career was still going. But I remember after that, after the super bowl, the interview with Al Roker, confetti coming down on my head. I'm holding my son literally, like it's every man's desire of their heart to hold their legacy while confetti's coming down on them and they're being crowned the champion of the entire planet. It's everybody's dream, right? And it felt really good when I was around relationships and people who were like, man, you were amazing. I can't believe this happened. This is this, this is that. And then I remember going to the party and going back to my hotel room by myself. And I remember walking up to the window and, you know, big window in Indianapolis, Circle City, Indianapolis. And I looked down and all of these people just partying and having the time of their life, and they just seem so joy filled, so happy. And here I am on the figurative mission Mountaintop. In the first breath that I took by myself, I remember like looking down and just going. And before I could even exhale out, Alison, I. I knew that this wasn't the thing that was going to make me feel better because I didn't take a deep breath and like, I did it. I took a deep breath and it was like panic. Like, I don't feel any better. I don't feel any different. I don't feel like a champion. I don't feel like a champion. Everybody else is down here having the time of their life, and here I am. I'm the person that was a part of the machine that did this. But I don't feel any better. And almost kind of like depressed me for the rest of all of my goals. Because if this didn't make me feel better about me, what will, right?

So what was that inside? I mean, was it just this emptiness that you were feeling that you were trying to fulfill through your career and that just.

It was me placing my self worth outside of myself. Meaning as soon as I'm not around people that are telling me how wonderful I am, like my grandma or my teammates or my coach or my quarterback or my trainers or a random person down the street when I'm not around. I noticed this about myself when I wasn't around people that were giving me my opinion of me, and I had to give my opinion of me to myself. When I'm by myself, what I generate, the identity that I generate of myself was worthless. And so when I get by myself and I actually thought, how do I feel about me now? It was despair because I didn't feel any different. So my encouragement to people is don't set goals to achieve things or get things or own things to impress people that you don't like. It's kind of like that Brad Pitt quote from Fight Club. Don't work your entire life to buy things to impress people that you don't even like. And that was really kind of like a breakthrough for me. I'm like, there's nothing that I'm going to do outside of me that is going to allow me to feel better about me. And that set a chain of reaction into event that ended up two and a half years later, eventually me just deciding that there's something bigger God has out there for me that's bigger than me picking Yoko, kicking a leather pigskin. Not to discredit the skill that I had and all the hard work, but I just felt like God's calling for me was pulling me away. From the NFL. And then I got into the entrepreneurial world or got into media, did that for six months and realized I was really unfulfilled there same feeling. And I did really well there. I had big shows and everything. And then I went into entrepreneurs and had some, you know, big half a million dollar launches and you know, in fitness and stuff and was just doing really well. Didn't feel any better. So that's.

Your happiness was based on something external?

Yeah, 100% right. Either people's opinions or my achievements or my physique or. Insert here.

Yes. Yeah.

So it's a really, it's a powerless, hopeless way to live because depending on what mood you are, would predict on how I feel about me. So if you're having a bad day because you got in a wreck before you sat down to do this interview with me, and I didn't feel honored and loved and you didn't say all these things about me, I would assume just like a little kid, like, well, I'm not. And so I would be motivated to like, maybe bring more energy to the interview or try to be something more than what I am. And it just, it just sets you up for an exhausting life.

I was going to say that is exhausting. That's exhausting to not be able to do. Just be. I mean, how many of you experience this if you could just be and be in the moment and be joyful for just who you are and not be dependent on what other people say or what other people do. I just think that is such a common thing. And I love Steve that you share this. You know, here you're, you're this big guy, you've had this amazing success and I love the fact that you're told, totally open about these insecurities. Now there's something that you had shared with Mike, my husband, that you, you even used to do before the games to help you get what. What would happen.

Yeah, when you, you think about like imposter syndrome, you would think, like, I played a position that was very metric based. Like I had 45.7 yards per punt, meaning, like every time I go onto the field, the ball usually travels 45.77 yards. Very easy to compare my statistics against somebody else's statistics. And so to your question, it was very easy to tell that every single year I'm in the top three or four of the punters on the planet every single year. So. But I never like, accepted that. And so before every single game, it didn't matter if I was ranked Number one in the world. If I was like having a rough stint, I would vomit before every single game. Because when you think about imposter syndrome, it doesn't matter what the facts are. And for people that have like anxiety or depression that they struggle with that, it doesn't have to make sense for other people, it's your mind. And so I allowed my mind to get me so worked up that I would vomit before every single game. And it was to the point where I gave my, one of the managers, I would give him a fifteen hundred dollar tip every Christmas because his job during the season was as soon as the national anthem was over, he had to have a big drum behind me and I would vomit into that drum. And then he would have an orange Gatorade because that was the flavor that would chase the puke taste away. Because the game is starting in four minutes, you don't have time to brush your teeth. And so that's what this poor guy, his name is Tim Slayman. So shout out to Tim Slayman for years of service, man, of helping me get over my insecurity. Because as soon as I vomited into that thing, it was the same thing every single time. I just told myself, I'm ready for this. And I left all of my insecurity in the trash can.

That's facing your fear, man.

Because there's nowhere to go. It's not like you can go, coach. You know what? My stomach really hurts. Could you put the backup punter in? Because what people maybe don't realize is because there's maybe not a lot of football fans in here. And that's okay because I'm not really a football fan either. I actually really rather learn from you. And that's the truth. But my point is we don't have backup punters. There's not a backup for my position. And so if I have a tummy ache, the coach is like, dude, if you got your leg chopped off, we don't have a backup for your position, so you better kick that thing one legged. So there was no place to hide. And that's why I knew my name was going to be called, meaning I would have to perform my skill and everybody was going to see me. And the reason I would vomit was because I was scared to death, Alison, that the people in the stands, that the people watching on tv, that my coaches, that my teammates, that my wife was going to realize I wasn't as good as. As everybody thought that I was. And so for me, even before coming on this podcast, if you think for one second there still wasn't the default system in me, wasn't like, dude, you better be something on here, you know what I mean? But then it's kind of comes with wisdom and practice to say, taking that thought captive. You know, you talk about civilizing your mind. The thing that my son and I do is taking that thought captive and asking yourself, is this a thought of power and of love and of sound mind? It says it in scripture. And if it's not, I release that thought because that thought is not of me. And so not to get like, you know, super spiritual, but at the end of the day, man, you want to help people make more money by creating the business of their life that sets their human spirit on fire. But how do you figure out what that is? By asking these really hard questions to yourself. Is this business that Allison is guiding me on creating or this life that Alison is guiding me on creating? Maybe I need to ask myself the real question, is, is the life that I'm trying to create the life that I really, really want? Because I believe truly that you can help them design and craft that. The only, the question, only question you can answer yourself is, is this truly, truly what I want? Or is this something that outside of myself, kind of like the game I played with me, like, once I get that business, or once this business hits something that's figured seven figures or eight.

Figures, I call it book only syndrome. If only I have this right. Yeah, only you can really answer that question. And is it out of true choice? Is it something that on the deepest level, is this really going to fill you up, that joy filled like you talk about and that really is going to drive you forward, or is it something external that's driving you? And if that's the case, you will never be truly happy. Right. But I think it takes courage. And you know, you've really taken your life back and you continue to do work like I continue to work on myself. And I think as a business owner, as a leader, you have to continuously do that work on yourself.

Because you're always going to be the ceiling. Yeah, you're always going to be the ceiling for how much you can make, how big your business can get is how developed is the leader.

There will always be that ceiling. There's always going to be that, oh, could, could I really do that? Do I bring enough value to the table? You know, all of those things. So making that shift though, how did you. Because there's some people watching this either that are starting a new Business or they're looking to make. Make that transition. You know, you're. You were football for year after year, and then to make that shift. Now you're an entrepreneur. You have this massive following. You have these amazing products. You help people get fit in their body and their mind. Like, you know, what was the transition that you've had to go through and what were some of the things you really had to work on to make that transition.

From a business standpoint? I love fitness and I love health and wellness, but I've had, like, breakthrough. Last year, you know, I thought, like, oh, man, I'm going to help people change their bodies and, you know, get better abs and better arms. And what I realized, doing that for tens of thousands of people, it's super fortunate. It's been awesome for people to be like, man, I took control back of my weight. But now I feel like the next evolution God has taken me on is like, kind of the conversations that we're having and having those conversations with men and with women and with families and with parents about taking back ownership of their life. And so it's. For me, I'm stepping into a new season right now. It's kind of funny. You and I were kind of, like, celebrating, you know, you do. I'm so honored to sit next to you because you are so good at what you do. You are so polished. You're so eloquent. You've just been doing it, you know, like you're the queen, you know, And I mean that in the most honoring way. I'm just starting out in, like, coaching people. And so I've spent, like, the last 10, 12 weeks working with a guy that is actually just taking all the experiences and all of the ideas because there's a lot going on up here. You know, I'm sure I'm ranting the whole time, but taking all of that out of my mind and helping me package that to where I can start my group coaching and I can start to plant those seeds inside of those men's hearts, inside of those fear family. So transformation can occur, like, the same way transformation has occurred for my son and I because I haven't always had the relationship. I haven't always been so intentional and strategic with my son's development. This only started 15 months ago with my son. We're homeschooling him this year, and we're on week 37 of Man Academy. Super intentional and strategic with him. And to see the fruit that is growing from that is just really incredible.

But see, I think. Think it's so great when you see someone like you, Steve, that is, you know, again, this just strong guy. You've had all the success and that you like to have those deeper, you know, open heart to heart conversations that. I believe that as men and I think this is an issue in our society across the board, especially with young boys that you are taught be strong, be tough, don't complain, you know, throw up and then get on the field and go for it. And. And then you're wondering why these boys are struggling so much. Right. And that are so unhappy or their suicide rates or, you know, on and on and on. So I think what you're doing is so great. For men, we need to, I mean we, we just talk women. Like, we can just, you know, we're like our best friends immediately. We just talk all the time. But I think for men, it's you. You guys need this and know that it is, is totally okay. And so I, I think the work that you're doing with men is. I love it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Don't you. All right. I have some, there's some people are gonna, I'm sure gonna be. I want, I want to coach with you, Steve. I want to coach with you. And so. But what have been some of the biggest challenges on the business side? Developing the business. On the business side. Yeah. For you, like what are some things that operations.

Oh, man, details. I mean, I think this is the third time we scheduled this. You know, it's just like life happens. I've got five kids and we're homeschooling one of them. And I've got a two year old. And so from a business standpoint, my wife and have more, more than just a marriage. Like we do business together, we do life together. And I really like her. You know, it's not like one of those things where like I'm providing and presiding and protecting my wife, man, I'm doing life with my wife. And with that there's not a lot of separation. And so for me, when you ask what my biggest struggles have been is from. If I put my athlete helmet on, I'm a results oriented dude. Like, hey, this is the goal. Let's mother flip and get it, you know, And I'm a dog and I go and that not necessarily the best gear for my wife because she's not an athlete. She's literally the opposite of me. That's usually how marriages work. Right. One over here. So the biggest struggle has been and we're working through it in a beautiful way. And failing for is communication. And I said organization, but really, if you take it to the more deeper level, communication. And I've learned more about my marriage by doing business with my wife.

Oh, yeah.

I've become a much better. Much more patient, open, understanding, better listener as a husband by doing business with my wife. And it's probably cost us some money and some mistakes, but at the end of the day, I could have spent that in therapy and I learned my lesson doing business with.

Oh, yeah. And, you know, Mike and I work together. He came into the business about a year and a half ago. And, you know, I'd say, like the first six months we were. We definitely had some power struggles.

He's a lion. He's not like a guy that. Because you're the queen, you know? And so for him, it's a balance of like.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? But he's.

So for those of you husbands and wives working together, what are some tips that you could share about working with your spouse in your business? What advice would you give?

This is the best one that I have, so I'm not even going to waste any time. Is intentional dating. And this is something my wife and I do one time per week. It's been kind of tough during this pandemic. The duration is not along, but we take three hours, and that's our date night. I'd like it to be four. But what we do is we take the first hour and we actually have. It's an intentional cheat sheet. Like intentional dating cheat sheet. And we go through it. We ask questions that are super simple example, you know, how is. We have five kids? How is each individual kid doing? And how can I show up? And I'm asking her, how can I show up better for this kid? What are their needs? Because when you have five of them, it's just like having five employees.

Yeah.

You know, like a health check. How are they doing?

I can't even. I had one. Well, have one daughter that was like.

When you have five, it requires this. And so we do that. And then from there we go to. Okay, how can we always start with the kids? Because when we started with how can you serve me better? It always turned into a fight. So if we start on something mutually, we can connect on and love our kids. And how can we show up better for them? Then we get into our marriage, and then after we do our marriage, we'll get into, okay, what is happening in our business this week? What do we need to flex? And then what do we need to Adjust for our schedule for next week and then when that's done, that takes about an hour and a half, about 15 minutes on each thing. Then from there we drink tequila for an hour and a half and that's our date night. That to me, has kept us on the same page. Not just with business and with the upcoming sales and the promotion, but like the desires of my wife's heart. Week to week, how much do your dreams change? Week to week, how much do mine change? I could watch a Facebook ad and my dream vacation could change like that. But if my wife doesn't know that, because we're not intentionally coming back week to week so I can get reacquainted with the desires of her heart and the desires of her heart, of me as a husband, her for her life and her for her children. We get clear on those things, we get clear on our marriage, we get clear on our business, then everything is cleared and we can just enjoy each other. And that to me, business advice for married couples, granted, like, take this with a grand, a grain of salt. I've only been doing business marriage for three years, but I've been doing marriage for almost 14 years, five kids. I'm not perfect at it. I'm willing to share anything and all things. But this is the thing, when I'm doing business and relationship marriage with my wife, that has kept us on the same page. So our intimacy and our communication and the electricity, there's no resentment and there's no like thickness because everything gets close. Cleared. Every Tuesday.

I love that. Every Tuesday. That's super powerful. And I'm sure too, when you're coming to her and saying, you know, how can I, you know, support my daughter better and so on. She's feeling supported. Right.

Love supported. Seen and heard. That's the key.

That's incredible. That's incredible. Well, let's. I want to just shift for just a moment on. You have a huge following on social media and you, I mean, I love your posts. You frickin crack me up. I mean, I show Mike, I'm like, look what Steve's up to today. We're just cracking.

Wrestling snakes. Yes.

You know, in the grocery store with your Speedo, the American flag. I mean this guy, you know, wondering for attention. Yeah, well, it's. But what, okay, so you've got this huge following and obviously you have your NFL background and so forth. But what do you think the secret is for you? Like what do you feel that people really want to experience on social media so that these people here that are listening, wanting to grow their business and get their products out there. What would you say to them?

It's a really good question. And I think for business, I think for branding, I think for storytelling, it's getting really, really clear on like who you are, you know, like, who is my identity? Like, who is Steve Weatherford? Not Steve Weatherford, Wikipedia. Everybody knows who Steve Weatherford is. Who is Steve? And so I think, like for you, it's like when you let people know who Alison is, man, dude, they like Alison. But if you're trying to tell them about Alison Maslin, you know what I mean? Like, you know, you know, and they know, like, people are smart, man. You people are not dumb. And so for people to your question about branding or marketing or building a social media audience, I think it's about for the individual or the brand to figure out who they are. And then once they figure out who they are, what's your story? And once you figure out what's your story, then you figure out how do I want to tell it. Now for me and my social media, if you go look at it, it's not pretty, but that's actually kind of the alerts it. I kind of like when I think of myself, I think of myself as like the anti social media influencer. Normally somebody would come and I didn't do this on purpose, but I'm okay to be here with a busted knee with no band aid on it. I haven't showered from my workout this morning. My hair, I have half of a mullet. It's not even a full one. I'm a mess. Yeah, I'm a mess. But my point is that's what my social media looks like. And it's.

People love that about you, Steve, because it's real approachable. That's true. People can cut right through the bs and so is that what you would say? I mean, are some of the biggest mistakes that people make because they try.

To be something that they're not, they try to make their brand. They try to make their brand or their product more than what it really is. And that's why grassroots stuff works so freaking good. Because grassroots people don't try to make these ridiculous big signs and all this stuff and over leverage themselves. You know what they do like, man, this is a product that I made in my mama's garage. And there's love and there's joy. There might be a little bit of sweat in here, but we love you guys. Thank you for loving our product and enjoying our product. Please share it with your friends. Here's a coupon. You know what you're going to do?

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. I feel loved, I feel supported, I feel safe, seen, and I feel heard.

And people want to get behind that. Right.

But if you try to tell somebody this is the greatest bee honey that the world has ever seen, and all of these collagens and people are going to be like, I think this dude's full of crap.

Yeah.

But if you just tell them what the real story is every time that you hit record on that camera, you're not going to have to try to re remember what you were last time those people saw you or last time they saw your brand. You're going to hit record. You're going to be like, okay, let me tell these people a little bit more who I am this time. Okay. Last time we checked, we left on chapter five. Next time. You know what, dude? Let's go to chapter nine of my life. I want to tell you guys a story about how Honey actually saved my mom's life and bring people into that. So, I mean, I know that's kind of rant, but I think it's identity. Figure out who you are and who you want to be.

Right.

And make sure that that's who you want to be. And then figure out what your story is and. And then don't be afraid to freaking tell it. It doesn't have to be beautiful. If it's real, that's what counts. Because people will pick real over polished every single day. It's not about polished. It's not about perfection. It's about being purposeful, man. And that's what I believe marketing is about. That's what I believe relationships are about. Because if I showed up here a certain type of way that I thought if I showed up this way, you would like me. Every single time that I see you after that, I'm gonna have to re remember what costume I put on that you liked.

Yeah.

Instead of just coming in here and being like, hey, I am who I am.

Speaking from. Speak from your heart.

Yeah.

And I think that when you make mistakes and you don't say it perfectly, then that's more the better. You know, in marketing, too, it's always been about the story. It's always been about the story. I mean, like, think of the Bible. And I know that's very important too. It's very much about story, Mike and I.