Greg spent 27 years chasing financial success before filing for bankruptcy in 2010. He lost over $1M to a business partner's theft in 2016. Now he defines freedom as living authentically instead of performing for social media or pursuing money.
17 years old.
27 years.
2010.
Approximately 44 years old.
Over $1,000,000 lost to a business partner in 2016.
We live in the United States as the greatest country in the world because of the freedoms we have, but yet every day people are walking around and they're not free. They're enslaved to their phones or enslaved to what everybody else thinks about them. They're being driven by anything and everything but themselves. So freedom, to me, is about letting go and just being who you are. If you're worried about what other people think, you're not free.
We would love to hear what freedom means to you and tell us a little bit about your story and your freedom journey.
Okay, well, I'm gonna probably have a little different answer than you're used to, because I'm guessing everybody says freedom is financial freedom or freedom of their time. I'm gonna go in a little different direction because I think freedom is basically allowing you to be yourself. That's freedom when you can actually be true to who you really are, and then that allows you to share your story, allows you to impact others. And I think too many people in this world, I mean, we live in the United States, which is the greatest country in the world because of the freedoms we have, but yet every day people are walking around and they're not free. They're enslaved to their phones or enslaved to what everybody else thinks about them. They're being driven by anything and everything but themselves. So freedom, to me is about letting go and just being who you are. If you're worried about what other people think, you're not free.
That is good. That is probably the best answer that we've had so far.
Cut.
Thank you. G'.
Day.
Can I just drop the mic and leave?
We'll see you next Wednesday. Bye, everybody.
That's going to be a good sound bite that we're going to be, like, flashing everywhere. No, I really love that because let's just stay on the subject for a little bit before you go into your freedom journey. This is a problem for America today. This is that cell phone problem, especially. And we. We talk about this a lot, how we are very addicted to the phones. We're very addicted to what is going on in other people's lives and social media. We're addicted to the virtual connection instead of actual physical connection. There's so many things in today's day and age that we've just lost something about trying to find who we are. So how did you get to the point where you are. Where you're kind of that like you just got on a pedestal and said, hey, guys, this is what's up? And this is what's important and a lot of people are scared to get to that level. So before you go into your freedom journey, share that with us.
Well, they kind of intermix, actually, because for 27 years. And I share this part of my story when I speak. For 27 years, I started when I was 17 years old. And for 27 years I was so driven and so focused to get the financial freedom to get money, success and get the someday life. And then you obviously heard the story from my wife Kim, that when we had to file for bankruptcy and had to start over in 2010, that literally shook me all the way to my core because it wasn't just about money. It was about I had to look back and realize that for 27 years. At that point in time, I was 44 years old when this happened. For 27 years I'd focused my entire life to create this someday vision and this dream and, and I was gonna be, you know, a wonderful dad and a wonderful husband and you know, a multi millionaire and travel the world and. And here I was sitting in my office, dead broke. We were about to ready to file for bankruptcy and. And if I was honest with myself when I was that day, because I was not a good husband, I didn't have a lot of friends, I had no relationship with my parents. I was so worried about just trying to achieve success and so worried about what everybody else thought in order to achieve that success and what I had to do to look good in their eyes. And I just, I guess, woke up that day. It's like, I can't live my life like this. This isn't what life is supposed to be about. And I was just so lucky and blessed that that happened to me. It was a life changing event and, and literally from that point forward, it's just like, I don't. I mean, I think you guys know me well enough. I honestly just don't care. I mean, I care. I guess that's not the right word, but I don't allow it to affect me what other people think or whatever. I am me. And either you like me or you don't. I mean, that's just the way it is. I don't want to change for anybody.
Yeah, we do know that about you. And I respect the heck out of that. I remember we were at a mastermind and we always, whenever we see you, we come up and give you and Kim a big hug and just check in, see how you're doing. If we haven't talked in a while, and one of the days you had asked me kind of, you know, I don't know how you put it, but you're like, you know, how's. How's business going? And I was just like, it's crap right now, man. It sucks. We just lost somebody, you know? Like, I think we were just in a dip of. We lost, like, maybe a key employee. And it wasn't that. Business, like, was horrible, and it was crashing. It was just really a crappy season right then. And you were like, man, it's really nice to hear that, because, man, when people come up and say, oh, everything's great. Everything's running well, I'm like, that's just a bunch of bs And I just could not stop laughing because you're right. And I love the conversations that we can have, because you do have this no BS feel about you. Like, if we're going to ask Greg his opinion, he's just going to give it to us, so be okay with that.
And I did that for you for that 27 years. You try to hide everything, right? Isn't that what we're trained to do? You got to look good. You got to look your absolute best in everybody's eyes. So you try to hide everything, and you only show the good side of things. And. And what you learn is that when you. It's like wizard of Oz. You open up the curtain. It's a whole nother story. Once you open up that curtain. You put all these people on pedestals and you think they're doing so great, but once you actually dive in, you know what? It's not. It's not great. So I just decided I'm just going to open up the curtain and just. I tell it like it is, man. I'm not afraid to tell people I filed for bankruptcy. I've had multiple people scam us out of money. We lost over a million dollars from a business partner that stole it from us in 2016. I mean, that's just part of my story. I'm not gonna hide that. It is. It happened, and it is what it is.
Yeah. You know what that does is it brings realness to the world that we don't get to see very often. It brings authenticity. It brings the person listening a little bit of confidence, like, oh, geez, you know, everybody's not perfect. Like, maybe if I was doubting myself and if I wasn't sure if I was as good as somebody else, Greg just told me that he just went through this, and I haven't experienced that yet. I hope never to experience it. But look, he made it like. And look where he is today. And suddenly you've got this. Oh, my gosh, I might be able to do this too, right?
Absolutely. I think that's part of the freedom experience, is that when you can let go and you just be you at the same time, you can see other people who they really are, and you can call out people's BS pretty quickly. You know, just like that day, it's like when people tell me everything's roses and everything's awesome and everything in life's great. Yeah, sure it is, buddy. It's like. And then move on to the next person because I know I can't have a real conversation with this person.
Well, what's funny, though, is that I remember that I remember standing where we were in the hallway and I remember the look on your face because you were just like. You know, you're like, yeah. Oh, my God. Thankfully, somebody finally gave me the right answer. And you said, you're so tired of that, of people saying everything's great. And then you said, and I'll say the PG version. I said, because those people either are full of crap or don't know no crap. I mean, it was like 8 o' clock in the morning and I was on the floor laughing. That was hilarious.
I love it.
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