Cliff Freeman

What is the roadmap to defeat self sabotage, negative thinking and learned helplessness in these unprecedented times? You must get connected, get growing, get certain and Get Attitude. The Get Attitude Podcast. And welcome to the Gap the Get Attitude Podcast. This is Glenn Bill, your host of the Gap International, best selling author, keynote speaker, and so excited to bring you a unbelievable entrepreneur, somebody that understands what it takes to get from who you are to who you want to become. We have a gentleman who runs the Cliffs Notes real estate podcast. All of you real estate folks definitely should be tuning in for this one. This Gentleman has over 9,300 agents under him and his organization. He is out of, I believe, Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas. He's a mentor to me, happen to be happy to be in his organization and we're going to welcome him right now. Mr. Cliff Freeman. Cliff, welcome to the Get Attitude Podcast.

Wow. Are you sure this is for me? That intro sounded like somebody I ought to know. Thank you, Glenn. That was very generous of you with your kind words and just super excited to be here. And by the way, I know you think that I'm a mentor to you, but I gotta tell you, buddy, you're a mentor to me as well. I love following you. You really have helped stimulate some new brain cell growth in this 62 year old head of mine.

Oh, I love it. Thanks so much, Cliff. We are here to help people get from where they are to where they want to go and from who they are to who they want to become. And sometimes the best way to do that is through the stories of innovators and influencers, which I consider you to be one. And maybe, if it's okay, I'd just love to hear your story and how you got to where you've come from. And maybe you can start with the day you went. There's got to be more to life than this. Tell us a little bit about Cliff Freeman and your journey.

Yeah, that sort of zero moment of truth, as they call it at Google, where you occasionally get those epiphanies in life. My, I guess life, as glamorous as it might seem to some people now, was not always the easy road. And I, like many other folks I'm sure listening to your podcast right now, have seen the rock at the bottom. I had a pastor tell me one time that you need to meet the rock at the bottom to understand really who the rock at the bottom is. And so I've had a number of opportunities throughout these 62 years to experience God's healing hand and his work. You know, he's just, he's done some amazing things. And, you know, I've always been told that if you don't have the lows, you really don't appreciate the highs. And so it's been, it's been a wonderful journey. Then I've still got, you know, a lot of things left to do here. It's, it's, it's really great. But, you know, I guess, I guess, Glenn, just to kind of really talk about real estate for a minute. I had been in the business about 37 years and am a broker here. But I kind of had dabbled in and out of it initially. Did some commercial and bought a couple of buildings on my own behalf when I was younger. But it wasn't until I moved back to Dallas in 2000, I really got decided to take a full dive back into the pool here, so to speak. And I started out on the lending side and got real busy with that and then was doing some real estate. And then we had that wonderful time in 2008, 2007, 8, 9, where it seemed as though Chicken Little was right and indeed the sky was falling. And at that point I realized I needed to get out of the lending business and focus on real estate full time. It was just very difficult to get loans done and lending wasn't as fun anymore at that point. And it was quite a traffic jam trying to get loans through. So anyway, I went full speed back into real estate in a very difficult market. It's funny, at that time, the Lord had other plans and I was dealing with ailing parents who were in their 80s and frail. And my father passed away in 05. And then my mom was really. I was her caregiver from about 2006 until she passed away in 2010. And I was freshly divorced. There were times when finding a couple of nickels to rub together was a lucky thing. And it was a lot of challenges back at that point in my life. But the thing is, it's not about falling down, as I tell people myself. It's about getting up and realizing that, as Zig used to say, you're either in a storm or you're headed out of a storm, or you're going right into a storm, but there's going to be rain in life and you just need to learn how to dance in the rain. Eventually, I got back on my feet, scratched, and clawed my way back up again for probably the third or fourth or fifth time. But it's kind of like wash, rinse, repeat when you're an entrepreneur. But it's okay. And it's like Mark Cuban said, you've only got to do it right once, and failing is just a part of the process. But I got an opportunity back in 2016. At the end, dear friend of mine and my sponsor at exp, Brent Gove, found me in Dallas and told me about a little company that I needed to look at rather. And that really was the end of one chapter in the beginning, the chapter that I had really never even dreamed was possible. And I think you're pretty familiar with how it's been for the last five years. But back to your original question. I guess probably one of the biggest defining moments in my career happened kind of late, actually. And it was about five years ago when Brent came and told me I needed to take a look at a little company called exp And I did.

Wow, that is so cool. So when you think of. I'm curious, did you know Brent before he brought you on, or did he just seek you out and cold call you?

No, no, no, no. Brent. Brent and I, our relationship went back actually to probably about five years earlier. We connected when I was with Mike and Jay at Mike Reese and Jay Kender at Kender Reese. Sure. And one of their couple of their. They had a couple of coaches that coached their elite clients, and I was one of those. And Brent was known for his open houses on steroids. He developed this open house system and he had just written a book called Momentum, which was a really great book. Still loved it. I've got it on my shelf here. I love to pick it up and just reread it over and over. He really wrote it for real estate agents who want to build a team. Brent and I got to be connected in. In a very positive way back then. Brent's just had a great impact, positive impact on my life and my family. And just one of those people that God kind of puts in your path to help you stay where you need to stay. I had known Brent, but I had no idea because he was so Keller Williams red, it was unbelievable. In fact, he owned part of a couple of market centers up in Northern California. And when he told me he was was leaving Dallas to catch a flight back to Sacramento and the first thing he was going to do was move his for 23 agent team doing 145 million in sales over this little company with about 2000 agents, I honestly thought he. He'd been tipping the old sauce there or something. But. But he was serious and straight up and. And thank goodness he had that gift of discernment to know a good opportunity when he saw it because it really started the domino effect for a lot of us a folks that we're connected with. Including yourself.

Yeah, that's so cool. Let's talk a little bit about attitude. I'd love to know what's your definition of attitude? And who was your first attitude coach?

Boy, that's a great question. You know, I've filled, you know, since I was young. My dad was a. Was a top salesman in the paper business. And that's. That's kind of like selling copiers, wholesale paper. Very, very competitive. And he was a big Zig Ziglar fan. And he actually gave me my first copy of how to Win Friends and Influence People.

Oh, my gosh.

I listened to the Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale. He had the record and used to play it when I was really young. And I think that it impacted my subconscious more than my conscience, but I'm glad that was stored back in my head at such a young age. And then as I got older and fought through the puberty years and things like that, I really got, you know, led. I had some people in church that were great leaders and. And, you know, really spoke into my life. And then I got a hold of some Tony Robbins tapes back in the old days when he was, you know, quite young, and, and Jim Rohn and some of those folks, and. And I started to listen and, you know, at that time, Tony wasn't really the popular kind of rock star that he is now. But, boy, those, you know, that what he was talking about really just. It had such meaning to me. And you allowed me for the first time to sort of think outside of this little world that I lived in. And, you know, I had to believe before. That's the other one. Think and Grow Rich. Another. Another great book that I'm sure many of us have read. But, you know, it's that ability to have the vision to be able to see it, you know, before you can attain it. And. And I had never. You don't get that kind of training right in high school. And, you know, occasionally you're a coach. You know, you coached high. You had an impeccable, unbelievable record. I mean, what. The longest run in Indiana football history, you know, you know, what attitude it takes to play at a competitive level like that. And it's being able to harness and discipline the power that lives between your ears and channel and focus that energy. And, you know, that's something that we all have to go find. There's self development. Is there but it's not something that in this society that you pick up in grades one through. I mean, it's. Unless you're very fortunate to have a coach or somebody or a teacher who impacts your life at a young age and with that kind of a heart. But most people don't get that. A lot of people come from families that are broken where they don't have that level of support and stuff. So attitude to me is really, how do you look at the glass? Is it half empty or half full? What is the. Whatever happens to you, whatever event happens to you, it's your reaction to that event that determines the outcome. Just to borrow something from Jack Canfield, but I've always loved that your attitude is how you manage how life comes at you, and that determines the outcome. So a lot of people don't think they can change their life, but changing your attitude really can change your life, and it can change the outcome and the things that you think are problems that are really opportunities for you.

Holly, make sure you mark that. Holly's the one that does our social. Social squares and our storyboards. So you'll be getting that. I love that definition of what you just said. That was really, really good. So I just wanted to make sure she did. I'm sure Jason will get it, too. Let's play a quick game because, boy, you rattled off some of the greats. And what I'd love to just do with you is I'm going to say the mentor or the speaker or the coach and then just tell me in one or two sentences what. What spoke to you. So you mentioned Tony Robbins. What did Tony teach you? What was the guiding principle that he brought home for you?

Yeah, I mean, there was get the edge, Release the Giant within, mastering influence. There were so many different things that Tony spoke about, but I think that the message was, and it's true with a lot of these, you know, these self development folks is that, you know, we have to take it upon ourselves. It is our responsibility. Just like, you know, everything about us. The Bible says you've got to take care of the vessel. You know, if you're not exercising, if you're not watching your diet, if you're not taking care of your physical self, if you're not taking care of your mental self, then, you know, you're not. You're not living to the fullest extent. And, you know, a lot of that had to do with, you know, I was kind of a wild and, you know, crazy kid back in my late teens, early 20s. I mean, I ran bars and did some things that every red blooded American boy would like to do but probably shouldn't. And my life was not always on the straight and narrow path. And part of it was I didn't have the discipline and make the right choices and I didn't know how really realize how important the things that I was doing at that time, time would be later on in my life. And you know, having that kind of support, you know, that's, you know, that's around you is I think what I mean, I look at professional athletes today and you know, you've got the ones that you know are pillars in the community and then you've got the ones that are just screw ups and you know, it's. I would say that if you were to compare the two of them, one of them chose to have the discipline, one to do the things that they needed, knew they needed to do and the other one just didn't have that, that discipline or that desire. And I think that that's what we've all got to find our why and that purpose why, you know, why we're here, why we're driven, why do we get out of bed in the morning? What is it that, you know this crazy real estate business, you know, why do we go and get beat up by sellers who think their house is worth more than it is and buyers who want to pay nothing for a house and you know, so forth. But it's that, you know, that why that pulls and gets you to really self actualize and be all that you can be. Sorry I'm blabbering here, but you're talking about stuff that I love to talk about. That was Tony Robbins questions and I went ten directions.

That's okay to be expected by a real estate guy for sure. But I think what I heard was Tony really taught me to take the responsibility of creating my own life for myself. That's what I heard. I also heard that you used to run a bar. So just very quickly, what's the number one attitude lesson about running a bar? Being successful at running a bar. What did running a bar teach you either business wise or personally?

Well, you know, it's funny, growing up, I'm not going to say I was an introvert, but I forced myself to take a public speaking class in college and it scared the shit out of me. Okay. I mean I was scared to death and I, and I didn't do very well in the class. I just had never. I grew up an only child and I went to a small private School here in Dallas. And I kind of probably wasn't fully socially developed. And once I got out and got into the real world, so to speak, I got a taste of stuff that I really enjoyed. And I think what it did for me is working in the service business, whether it's food and beverage or whatever it is, where you have to deal with people. And particularly if you're in a position where like, say, for example, people who work on tips. I love to find waiters in restaurants that I can help develop. I've got a couple on my team, and I've got one now who's taken her real estate test. She's a bartender. She has the most incredible story that you would ever hear and the struggles that she's overcome. But she's one of those people that just this. The pure heart, pure desire and, you know, I can teach her real estate, but I can't teach her how to, you know, really want it and how to. I can't teach that hunger right, that she's got. So for me, I was able to develop, I guess, more to be able to interact with people. I mean, I was my undergrad's electrical engineering. Most engineers, you know, were pretty, you know, pretty stodgy, pretty, like to stay in the books and that kind of stuff. I graduated with my degree and I never even practiced a minute in engineering. I knew that I was destined to do, you know, something other than. And nothing against engineering. I mean, God, just think if we didn't have engineers around, we wouldn't be able to drive Teslas and great cars and roads and everything else. But for me, I felt like that I had a better way that I could serve if I could get and be around people. And so that's one thing that the bar and the restaurant business kind of did for me is it pushed me into that. Not only. Only into the business of serving people, but front and center. You become somebody that's kind of, whatever you want to call it, a celebrity or whatever, owning a really popular bar. But anyway, it was fun. I got to get a little small bit in the movie Urban Cowboy.

Oh, my gosh. No kidding.

Yeah, very small. They filmed the movie in one of the bars that I was working at during college in Houston called Cowboy.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, it just happened to be there. Right place, right time. It was a lot of fun.

But anyway, that is. And so I hear that often there's so much talent that walks around a bar. There's so much talent in the service industry. And even in today's times, you know, I always take the time to thank my server because, you know what a lot of people said, I'm just done. And this whole new employment revolution, the great resignation, as they're calling it, and we've been interviewing on these previous episodes people that are coaches in the employment business and how to win at work and all that stuff, and that dynamic, those servers, ladies and gentlemen, gappers that are out there, thank them no matter what it is, because they're there, they're choosing to be there. And half that workforce has said, yeah, we're done. I don't like it.

You know, it's really interesting. It used to be that people were embarrassed to admit that they got an unemployment check. And it's kind of like the cool thing to do. You know, I just. I grew up with a little bit of a different work ethic than everybody else. And that's why I think that, you know, working in a bar, you know, you make what. You make what you create, right? I mean, if you're, you know, if you're not serving at a high level, you know, your tips are just a way you keep score of how well you serve somebody. And anybody who's worked a commission job understands that, you know, people get into real estate and they forget that it's 100% commission. They think it's, you know, HGTV, go shovel somebody three houses, and in 30 minutes, you pick up a commission check. They fail to see what happens behind the scenes to make all that happen. And so that's one of the reasons why the failure rate is so high. I mean, what is it, Glenn? 82% of people who get their real estate license fail to renew it on their first anniversary. Right. So it's just a different mindset. It's not for everybody, but it is. It's all about attitude. And just to get back what you said originally, get back to that. I think that hopefully the people listening to your podcast today, and I know you focus on this all the time, but I know there's a consistent flow in the. In the shows that you do. And everything is that you are in control of your life, even though it may seem out of control.

Right?

And what happens outside of your control doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is your internal locus of control or what it is that you do to manage yourself. And as soon as people can figure that out, man, boy, they can. They can really do some amazing things.

That's so good. Julie Braun, one of our past guests, said, no matter where you are, or what you're going through. Understand you are in your own miracle. I thought that was so good. What's up, Kyle Smith? Thank you for the fire on Facebook, Jason. If you're able to share that to my source of sales group. I don't know if you're able to or not, that'd be awesome. Or to my personal page. Hopefully you have total control of all Facebook, but we'd love to keep getting live comments coming in here and going. You had mentioned that you listened to the Strangest Secret with Earl Nightingale. Not the most uplifting or fast paced recording ever, but certainly full of life changing advice. What was your favorite nugget in that content that you used to listen to?

Oh, gosh. I mean, it's full of nuggets, Glenn. I think that it was back then and Napoleon Hill, kind of the people who pioneered self development and the mindset, being able to control your destiny. A lot of people when we're born into this world, there's no owner's manual, right? And nobody really just on their own figures this stuff out. But what it did is for me, it brought clarity to a lot of things that I didn't understand. It didn't bring me a full understanding. Now hear this. But it brought clarity. Now that's clarity. And a full understanding in my book are different. I don't understand the universe, but I have clarity on, for example, like why I'm supposed to be here now. And so I'll never understand. I'm not God, I didn't create this thing. But I'm able to get clarity, which is what you have to have in life in order to have a vision. And the vision here and understanding your purpose and why you're here is what makes in my life eyes it, what makes it worthwhile to be here and what makes you successful. And at the end you have a legacy, right? You build while you're here and what you want to leave is a legacy. So that's really what, you know, the Nightingale and that whole, you know, Nightingale, Conan. And then, gosh, they had so many, you know, good things that came after that. But the Strangest Secret was really just sort of the, you know, the cornerstone for me of something to build on for just to open my mind up to being open minded to new ways of thinking.

So, Cliff, why are you here?

Why am I here? Oh, man. Well, that's because of you, Glenn. You were kind enough to offer me a chance to be on the show. But I love just being able to get on a platform and as you do influence other people in a positive way and help have being a positive impact in their lives. And if my story. The funny thing is that stories really are what make the world go round. I mean, if you look at Jesus, he was one of the best storytellers in the world. The Bible is one of the best selling books of all time. And it's just really, it's full of stories and every one of us has a story. And the funny thing about it is a lot of people don't know that they're writing their own story. They think other people write it for them. And that's one of the things that, you know, Tony Robbins really got me clear on was, you know, it's the same bullshit story you keep telling yourself is the reason why you're, you're where you are and you know, you have the complete control over when you get up in the morning of writing, you know, your story of how your day is going to turn out. It's just that people don't take control of themselves and of their actions. And you know, once you really. That's such a wonderful epiphany. And once you, once you understand that, and I mean, you see immediate change in relationships, you see it in performance, everything about your life gets better once you learn how to harness that energy.

I love that. I love that. So tell me, what's one of your favorite stories that Kyle Smith. What's up, buddy? Thank you for your comment. Please share this. Kyle, we would love you to share it. Cliff, obviously you got a lot of stories. How about telling us the one that you tell all those agents when you're training them or whatever story you want to tell us that may give us some hope, that may give us some inspiration for the gappers that are listening today. What's one of your favorites?

Gosh, you know, I mean, that's a really tough one, Glenn. I'm going to take that and I'm going to turn it into something that I think could be useful for your audience.

Great.

And what I mean by that is, rather than me tell a story, I would challenge the people in your audience to look back on their lives right now and think of a moment in time where you had an epiphany, a defining moment, as Tony Robbins would say, one of those moments where your destiny was created. Okay? Think about that moment. And there was something that you did that made you uncomfortable. Whatever it was, you knew that you had to make, make a quantum change in what you were doing in order to get to some level in Your life. And I want you to think about that in terms of how that testimony, how you could communicate that to somebody. It may have been a situation. I love to tell the story about how. And this is about a coach. I talk to people all the time about what was, you know, who was your hero growing up or what was the thing that had the biggest. Who was the person that had the biggest influence on your life when you were little? And I hear frequently people would say, well, you know, I had this coach in eighth grade when I was playing football. And this, for me, it was in sixth grade. And. And I wasn't a great football player, but I had a coach who believed in me more than I believed in myself.

Are you.

You go. And what happened was, is that he filled me with positive support, positive energy. He used to write me postcards. You know, this is before phones. This is back in the day when a postcard was a nickel. You know, we'd have a game, you know, he'd send me a postcard from his. You know, he went out of town and said, you played a great game, you know, last yesterday. And I just wanted to, you know, really tell you how proud I am. Point of view, because a lot of us get spoken down to people telling. Can you imagine a teacher telling your child, for example, you know, you're never going to amount to anything. Why don't you forget about law school or being a doctor? Just go ahead and admit it. You're going to be a plumber. Nothing wrong with being a plumber, but, you know, you're not going to amount to anything. You're not going to be able to hold a job, you know, you'll never finish an entire book, you know, that kind of thing. But there's. There was. In just about everybody's life that I talked to, there was a person that cared about them as individual, that spoke something into them that was a positive thing, that helped them get through a very difficult situation. And so as you think about that, if you're in the audience listening, think about how you can develop that into a story. There was something that was potentially a threat in your life. You know, how did you solve that? How did you resolve it? And then what was the outcome? You know, how did you. How did you handle a difficult situation? So, I mean, I've got lots of stories, Glenn. I mean, it's. It's. I could sit here and, like, sit around a campfire and tell stories for days, but I didn't have that gift. I had to. I had. I was Blessed because I had a really good public speaking teacher at Rice and he helped me learn how to process my thoughts into communication. And another great thing is if you guys are really into learning how to communicate better as a human being, you might want to look at something called neuro linguistic programming. NLP is really the science and the art of human communication. I had a little bit of exposure to that. Tony Robbins is a master of it. But if you really want to learn, because life is about communication and stories are a great way to communic. Sometimes we think we're great communicators, but we don't get the outcome that we're seeking when we're talking. And I got to warn you, if you're not getting the outcome when you're talking, you're not a great communicator. The whole idea of being a great communicator is to communicate a message and to get that person to understand it or to internalize it or to take it. So becoming a storytelling, all of the great speakers, the great leaders, presidents, leaders of countries are great storytellers. And so I just want to encourage your audience to really challenge you to become a great storyteller and see if it has an impact on your influence on people.

Yeah, that is so, so true and so real. And it's a real challenge too. It's like what we just heard there. Gappers is I love the story about the coach that believed in you more than you believed in yourself. And I think our challenge today to get out to our gappers is simply this. Let's go and identify somebody that we can pour into. Let's go in and fill them up with hope and compliments and self belief. And if everybody that's listening to this podcast does that to just one person, Lord knows the ripple of effect that we could do. Hey, Rachel Cahill, great to see you. Thanks so much for being with us at the Get Attitude podcast. If you are listening to this, please go to the Get Attitude podcast on Facebook. Go subscribe and follow. But let's make sure that you turn on the notifications button because we are going to be going live more and that will help us get more people on on our live feed. Cliff, let's say that you're going to start all over again and whether it be in real estate or any business, could you give me first down, third down if you got a fourth down play? That's good. What are the most important.

Oh, I.

Don'T know, strategies that you would employ if you were starting from scratch in A new business, whether it's real estate or anything. What's the four pieces of advice you could give our gappers today who may be sitting there going, man, I'm not sure I got the guts to do it, the money to do it. I'm too old. I'm not sure I should do it. Well, first of all, let me tell you something, Gapper. It's never too late to start. You do have it within you. And now we are going to get four great points from the one and only Cliff Freeman about what you should do in your business. Ready? Go, Cliff.

All right. Thanks, Glenn. And, you know, you nailed it. I mean, ask Colonel Sanders if it was ever too late, you know, to build an empire, right? He was, what was he, in his 80s when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken? I think, or something.

He was old and was told no, 220 times, I think, or something crazy.

You know, the thing is, is that most people, you know, they. I'll give you an example. When I, When I met Zig, he used to carry around this little thing that looked like a coin, and on the side of it was written the words to it. And I asked him one day, I said, what is that thing you carry around in your pocket? He said, oh, this is a round to it. I said, what's a round to it? He says, well, most people I know, I asked him, I said, well, when you're going to, when are you going to start that new, new job or when you going to start that new company? Well, I'll get around to it, right? So I had a bunch of these round two, it's made. And I said, well, here, here's around to it. Just go do it. Right, right. And the first step is, is that you just have to. You've got to take the move. You've got to take. Tony Robbins would say, you just got to take massive action. You just got to get off ground zero. You know, how often have you heard, Glass, that it's often better to make a bad decision than it is to make no decision, because at least if you make a bad decision, you can correct it. But if you make no decision, you're not getting anywhere, you're not getting any feedback. So you've got to get out of the boat. You got to take that jump and do it. One of the things that if you look at sort of the wealth creation, the way that wealth is created, we start out and we become good at a trade. So I'd say you've got to find your niche, you know, We've got enough of some things in the world we don't need more of. But. So you need to find a niche. Yes. Whatever may be, maybe something you're really good at, maybe you're really good at, you know, making custom guitars or maybe you're really good at something, but you need to be really good at something. Right? I mean, that's, people are wanting something different and it needs to be differentiated, it needs to be different. So find your niche, I would say would be first and second rather.

Yes.

First of all, think about it. Do something, you know, get that, find the niche. Let's get these in the right order here. I guess you've got to visualize it first. I mean, you always have to go back to visualizing it. But here's the thing, don't procrastinate because you know, the old paralysis by analysis. Many of us will sit and try to perfect a business plan. The heck with that. Write the business plan. After you start the business, go out there and try it. And if it's not successful, pivot. I mean, I look at exp and Glenn Sanford, you know, for eight years he took this company, he started it back in 2009. People told him, no, no, no, no, no, it'll never work. You'll never get people to work out of a cloud based this and all that stuff. And no, Rev Share doesn't work. And no, you can't give, you know, agents equity. It won't work. It won't work, it won't work. And he just said, yes, it will, yes it will. What? He just, he persevered through the whole thing. So, you know, you've just got to, sometimes you just have to push through all of the negative, negative. And it's something that you really believe in and you have the niche and you have the passion and the drive. Then you just have to persevere. Even Mark Cuban, you know, was, he sold a software company first, but he didn't really make it big until he had blown it again and you know, was, was unfocused and everything else. Finally, you know, he said, broadcast.com it's going to be the future. Right? I mean he had the vision and then he just took massive action. He started buying up all this, you know, buying bandwidth and stuff. And so anytime you want to go in and start a business, you can't go in with one foot. You've got to go in and you've got to be totally dedicated to it. And then what I would suggest is, and this is where you get into sort of really developing the business is you've got to get around the right people. You've got to have people surround yourself with people who can help you, whether it's employees or advisors. Find people who care about you, who can pour into you and help you make the right decisions. None of us get to where we are or where we want to be alone, right? We've all got great mentors, great coaches, coaches and so forth. And then lastly, fourth down is if you really want to create wealth, wealth is created at the leadership level. Okay? That's where wealth is created. So we start as a trade master, our trade, our niche. Then we get really good at management, getting around the right people. And then self leadership is really where you're going to make the biggest difference. Your ROI on your time, how you spend your time, everything you do. You'll have more impact on the world as a competent leader, a self leader and a leader of people than doing anything else. So that's fourth down would be get to that leadership phase, right? First down is just do it. Secondly, get your niche. Third is surround yourself with the right people. And last would be strive to become a great leader.

I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, Gap. Look at, that's simple. It's not easy, but it's simple. And it's been given to us by a very successful man who's been around, who's been working at it, who studies, who's a life studier. And those are just four unbelievably great little pieces of information for us, what we're going to. And thank you, Cliff. That was just beautiful. And we really appreciate that what we're going to do now is get our broadcast closed. You've already said your age, so I know we got six of these to get through. And thank you, Rachel. I appreciate you saying it. Those are great points. There's no doubt about that. We're gonna do this thing called Knowledge through the Decade. I'm gonna ask you to walk through your life and tell us the attitude lessons as you have have. You have gone through life. And by the way, Glenn Sanford was on the Get Attitude podcast. I don't know if you've listened to that one, but listening to Glen and his message on attitude is really, really fantastic. We were fortunate enough to have Don Hobbs and Fee Gentry as well on this program. So several folks from several people that are mentors to me. But Cliff, what I'd like to know is when you think about a newborn baby or if you remember being born, what's the attitude lesson of new life, birth or when you were born. What was the attitude lesson of a newborn baby?

I think the first thing we learn is sales. A newborn baby learns sales and how to influence people. You come out of the womb and you're hungry. What's the first thing you do when you're hungry?

Right. Scream.

Crying. Right. And what happens? You learn that gets mom to, you know, bring over the food and, you know, and you get to eat. So I think that what we. We learn at a very young age at birth, that we have the ability to influence other people.

Yeah. Who's. Who's to say that a salesman was never born? Right. I think we're all born salesman. It's the. It's all the corruptness that gets us out of being salesmen. I used to love Floyd Wickman. I think it was Floyd, but I think it was Zig. Now that I think about it, his speech. Salesmen are what makes the world go round. Where would we be without salesmen? So all you salesmen and women out there, thank you for oiling the skids of commerce in America. And if you are not in sales but want to be in sales, trust me, reach out to me, and we can maybe help you with that. I want you to think back now to being 10 years old in fourth, fifth grade in Texas, in your little town. Was there a story or an event that happened during those years that possibly shaped your attitude? Or was there a lesson you learned back in fourth or fifth grade?

Yeah, you know, fourth or fifth grade wasn't too bad. It was seventh, eighth, and ninth grade where the hormones started to take place.

But we'll take those, too. If your stories are better, that's. That's fine.

But, you know, I would just say that I was blessed at a very young age to have some wonderful teachers who really encouraged me to be something that I never even dreamed that I could be. And I remember in particular I had a math teacher back then in those days who really just took a special interest in me. I don't know why, but, I mean, I would spend time in his office after school, and he would help me and he would coach me, just help me with life issues and things like that. And so I started to really start to understand about, hey, I'm a human being. I'm actually going to have a role to play here in the world. I have no idea. It's kind of like becoming consciously incompetent. Right? When you're a baby, you're unconsciously incompetent. You don't know what you don't know. But as you start to, to get into like fourth and fifth grade, you start thinking about things like, I mean, that's the birds and the bees and there's all kinds of things that you're learning about here. And you start to understand that maybe, holy cow, there's probably a reason why I'm here. Right?

Right.

You know, I think that's where I started to get a self awareness that I, that I didn't have before.

I love that. And so now you're 20, you're at rice University. What was the attitude lesson of Cliff Freeman at rice University at 20?

Is this a G rated audience or what are the lanes I need to stay in?

I think you're fine. My producer's loving it, so let's roll. But certainly you were, you had a lesson, so go ahead and tell us what it is. And my guess is many of the gappers have lived this, so that's why we do that.

I think that, you know, everybody who kind of gets out on their own for the first time has that experience. Some of us are better prepared for it than others. I was one of those who, I guess because maybe I lived a little bit of a sheltered life, you know, when I got out there and I saw what, you know, actual freedom and being able to make my own decisions was. I wanted to make all the decisions and granted they weren't all right, but, you know, that was. You hear about the prodigal stuff, son. That was a point in my life where I challenged everything. I challenged my upbringing, I challenged my parents, I challenged the status quo, I challenged the people that were professors and everything else. And so it was a time again for me to figure out limitations and again to get to know myself better so that I could learn how much energy I had. And then I knew at some point I was going to have to figure out how I was going to harness that energy and channel it. But as a young man in Texas at that age, there's a lot going on. I mean, the 70s, it was a little bit of a different world than it is now, now. And, and I would say that we didn't have all of the pressures that, you know, this generation, I would hate to be. I don't say I hate. That's a very strong word. I would feel very challenged to try to be a 20 year old in the world that we live in now. You know, it's just everybody, all eyes are on you and, you know, we're all on social media. Night. What is it, 19.7 hours a week or something like that, that the average person spends, you know, worrying about how many likes they have and all this other stuff and, you know, just the whole attitude that, you know, that we live in the judgment, the hate, the. All of the stuff. I mean, there was problems back in the late 70s, but at the end of the day, it was just like a football game. We all hugged and prayed after, you know, after we fought and, you know, we still. It was still. We were still one, you know, one people. I don't know what it's like now. It's just very challenging. But for me, during my 20s, and I will say, when I went back and got my graduate degree, I did a summer internship in South Africa. And for the first time, I traveled outside of this country. And I really saw places like townships like Soweto and Crossroads outside of Cape Town. I saw what true famine and struggle really was. And I realized for the very first time, first time that we're the luckiest people in the whole world to live in this country and see people today that don't understand that and, you know, degrade what this country was built on and why it's here. It's heartbreaking because I wish we could make. My dad used to say, the hell with conscription. Let's just put everybody in the Peace Corps for two years and let them go. Look how everybody else lives. That'll fix their attitude, right? Yeah. And dad had a good point, because we. We don't have an awareness of how we are in the rest of the world. All we know is this little Facebook world and Instagram world that we live in, and that's what has formed us. It's our imago, it's our DNA. And it's terrible because it's. It limits how far we're going to be able to go as human beings. And I just, you know, I pray for this country all the time that eventually we'll get back to realizing that there is more to life than how many likes and hearts and whatever else you have on your social media accounts. It's just. It's insane.

Yeah, it's. I always said, well, number one, the day of reckoning is coming. You know, you can start to see people turning against social media, even including the traditional media media. And I always said, you know, if I could be king, because I call it nose and phone disease. My nose is in my phone and W in the ABCs of attitude is wholeheartedness. Wherever you are, be there. And as I travel And I speak to companies and corporations across America. It never, never ceases to amaze me as I sit at breakfast and I eat and I watch the people in the bottom bar. There's divorced dad or divorced mom with the kids. And everybody's got, they're looking at their phone. So if I was king of the world, what I would do, I would shut down all social media one day a week. Could you imagine what would happen? Like it's off, you pull the plug. No social media one day a week. Could you imagine what would happen? Be great.

I don't know. It probably would fill up the hospitals with people having nervous breakdowns. It would be middle health problems.

Let's, let's go to age 30. I'm sure you remember turning 30 about half your life ago, right? Where were you? Where were you at 30? What were you doing? Were you working for somebody? And what was your attitude lesson when you turned 30?

I'm certified unemployable, so I really never held a job. I've always sort of created my own jobs at that particular time. In my 30s, I had gotten married. I still owned a couple of, of food and beverage establishments and got into the business of having children. At the ripe old age of 36, I had my son. And that's a life changer. For those of you who've never had kids before, I think it's God's way of maybe getting back at you for what you did to your parents, but it's a wonderful blessing. Don't get me wrong. I loved everybody, every minute of it. But it was one of the biggest challenges in my life now, being responsible not just for myself and my wife, but also for two young humans that couldn't fend for themselves and they needed you for everything. And it's really, I mean, that unconditional love that we talk about, that's where you really start to understand what unconditional love is all about that you have with your kids. And for me, it helped me, I think, mature a lot. Every man needs to have a daughter because it will 100% change the way you look at women the rest of your life. And I think it was one of the greatest blessings to have a daughter. I'm so thankful. But for me, it was a time of growth. I was able to, I think, in a lot of ways, resolve a lot. A lot of the open issues that I had carried in my life when I was younger that I brought with me, and I started to feel more complete. I think there's just something about Being a dad and being a father, that really helps a guy determine what you're here for. It's part of that. Just the basic raw instincts of run fast, procreate and hunt and what that means. Right. And to be the leader of a family. And, you know, and so it was very, very rewarding for me. You know, it wasn't always perfect. I mean, I wound up getting divorced later and, you know, but it was those moments when, you know, that you were really working hard, busting your butt. I, I did, I was, I say I didn't have a job. I, I was in capital formation while I was, you know, owning these establishments and, and, you know, working a lot, trying to raise kids. It was one of those moments in life where you realize what your capacity is, I guess. You know, you sort of realize how much you can handle and stay sane.

I love that. Great answer. Two things. One of the things I admire most about you is your relationship with C3. I have three sons, but I don't think I could work with any of them. For those gappers that are out there who are thinking about having your son work for you and are thinking or are actually working with their boys now, you guys may put on a facade that you guys are happy and things are great, but you're extremely successful. It's so cool that your son's with you. Give us just your quick, quick thoughts. Like what, what's the mantra that you live by as you interact with your son, as you work and you build with your son? What's just one or two quick points on how do you do that? That's what. I look at you, when I look at you guys, I'm like, and God, your son's so cool. I just love him. What's the trick there?

You know, I honestly, I think part of it is that I used to drug him when he was, was young. Every Sunday I would drug him and his sister to church.

Love it.

I, you know, I think that's one of the things that has had the best positive influence on both of my kids is at an early day, early age. You know, they learned a lot of important life lessons. And you know, to me, you know, again, you know, the Bible is, you know, number one all time bestseller for a reason. And there's a lot of great things to be learned in there. So I would have to, you know, give credit to a lot of the people that again, poured into their, my kids lives at an early age. And, you know, you got to look at it this way. I never really and even though my son and I are great friends, I mean, we. We do all kinds of stuff together. He's, you know, it really, really. It kind of put me in my place. The first time that he hit a golf ball further than I did off the tee. Now he hits it about 320 on the fly. The kid's incredible. But to be able to be there. And I coached both of my kids from pre kindergarten all the way through third grade for six years, taught Bible study in their classes. And just to be involved and have a presence in their life. It's like you said, be present. Too many fathers, mothers, too. I got to call you out. You are so involved in everything else in your life, and you're leaving out the most important time that you can spend to influence your kids. And I just really. I want to challenge people in a positive way to be that dad that maybe you didn't have have, you know, be the dad there for them, the one that, you know, you don't have to be their best friend. That's not the point of being a dad. Being a dad is helping them learn how to make right decisions, how to have the right set of core values, how to respect things and other people. And I think my kids, both of them are, you know, I'm very proud of them, the way they get around people, you know, that are twice. Three times their age. Age. And, you know, they're, you know, they. They really maintain very well. They're very respectful. And as I tell my son, he's 6, 4, but he's still never going to be too big for me to put over my knee and spank his little ass. Right? He. He won't forget that. I say that. Tongue in cheek. Guys, I'm not a. I've seen T3.

You ain't putting him over your knee, bro.

But. But I think that, you know, we have a respect for each other, sure. And we're great friends, and, you know, I mean, we would do anything for each other. Other. But we also understand each other's role right now in our lives. And, you know, I'm grooming him and his sister, you know, to take the business over. It's a huge responsibility, you know, I mean, and they're all in. They are. I am so proud of them because they see this opportunity as something bigger than any of us could do alone. But together, they understand the magnitude of what we're building here. And the important thing is. And you asked them why we do this, and we don't do it for the Money, the money is just the score of how well we're helping other people. That's what it is. And I'm so proud of my kids because they understand that what's important in life is not about your profit, but it's your profit motive and what you do with that and how you help other people that is going to. To get you where you want to be in life. You know, Tony Robbins says the pinnacle of life is when you can give somebody something without the expectation of getting anything back. And I'm in that season in life. My kids are seeing it in a very early season in their lives. But we really do believe that, that there is no finer living than living to help other people. And you know, that that's just. I'm so proud of my kids and for them to embrace that and to make that a real living thing that we're building here.

That's cool. So you mentioned something in your 30s, which when we. I'm going to want you to tell me what's the attitude lesson at 40? We're committed to interviewing men and women. We always make sure that half of our interviews are with minorities and or women. And we always get the perspective on divorce right from the women's point of view. And when we talk about what's the attitude lesson at 40, my guess is my hallucination is, is this is probably when you hit divorce. I do want to know the attitude lesson, but I would like you to address the attitude lesson from. From Men to Men. You know what, how did you negotiate divorce? What was your attitude to get through divorce? What did, what did divorce teach you as. As a man or a father? Because you know what, there's people going through this and maybe you can lend some insight as to what you could have done better or maybe what you didn't do. So good. For those who are listening to help navigate that. And then you can wrap that up with, you know what the attitude lesson of 40 is this.

Yeah, well, you know, it's very likely my ex wife is going to be watching this, and that's fine. We're still, you know, friends, cordial. You know, we had some really rough spots, you know, but we were, we were really different people growing up. She grew up in a small town in Ireland, and I grew up in Dallas, Texas. We met in New York City and, you know, it was one of those storybook kind of things. And, you know, it's. It, it's really hard. Relationship, relationships. Jimmy Buffett wrote a song one time, and it goes something like you know, relationships, relationships, everybody wants them, but once they get one, they don't know what to do with them, you know, and it's, that's part of the lyrics in his song. And I just, you know, I don't know. I think at some point nothing is permanent, right? I think that, you know, we, we start out and we say, you know, until death do us part, and we really mean it at the that time, but we just don't know what lies ahead. And you have, you know, you're built in. We have minds, brains that are 5 million years old. And you know, there, there's, there's things that happen because our, our brain is designed that way. There's the fight or flight, the amygdala, hijack. All kinds of things can happen to make you, you know, make crazy decisions and, and so forth, forth. I don't know, you know, looking back if, you know, saving the marriage was possible. All I know is where I am now. I'm very thankful because my kid got through it, my kids got through it. I'm in a very happy relationship now with my second wife and, you know, we have a wonderful time together. I don't, you know, I don't harbor things against my ex wife. We've been able to mend fences a lot of areas and things, but honestly, it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy to go through.

It's hard.

And I mean, it ripped our family apart and it bankrupted us. I mean, it literally took us down to zero. And the only people who won at the end were the attorneys. And that's what is, I think, so bad is because people don't realize the collateral damage image that happens when you get divorced. If I could have done something different and avoided that, I would have. But I think for some people, especially if there's abuse in some cases and maybe some mental health issues and things like that, I mean, I'm not going to look down at anybody for doing what they had to do to save their own life or the life of their children or anything else. And it wasn't great walking around church with the big D on your forehead. Everybody thought you had leprosy or, you know, something like that. And, and, and I say that, I mean, it wasn't really like that, but you felt like, sure, you know, did I do something wrong? You know, what, you know, and it takes a lot of getting it square in your head, man, counseling and, and all kind of things. But like I said, I'm just really so thankful that My, you know, my children, so far, anyway, knock on, knock on wood, you know, seem to have, you know, been able to get through that. That was the most important thing to me is I didn't really, really care about me near as much as I did my kids. You know, getting through it and, and going on to lead, you know, lives and being able to love and, and not being afraid. You know, it's better to have love and loss than it is to not have loved at all. I wanted to make sure that they weren't tainted by anything.

So that's, that's great. So when you think about turning 40 or your young 40s, what do you think the attitude lesson is for you or for us? What's. What did you.

So if life is a string, right? If life is a string and you measure how long you've been on this planet by how, you know, how far you are down the string, that's when you start to get closer to the end than you are the beginning, right? I mean, if everybody lives to be in their 80s, what the average age is. And so I think we start to think about a lot of different things. You know, when, until we were 40 and under 40, we're pretty much invincible. We really don't think about dying and, you know, what it's going to be like to retire and all that sort of thing. But I think at 40, you start to really gain wisdom and start to look at things that in a different light. And I remember, you know, I reflected back when my parents were in their 40s, and my God, I thought, 40, that's so old. You know, back when I was my. Because my dad was 38 when I was born, so I mean, I was very young and they were in their 40s and in 50s before I knew it. And I thought, oh my gosh, I'll never get to be that old. Well, when you get to be 40 or 50, you're. You still think you're in your 20s, right? But the reality sets in. Your hair starts to do things, the body starts to do things. You know, you can't run the 100 yard, you know, in, in, in, in 10.2 or whatever. And so you just. I mean, the weird thing is, is that people at that age, that's when other people start to die and stuff. It's like your uncles and your parents even and things like that. So that mortality starts to really confront you. I never went to so many funerals as I did when I got into my 40s. It seemed like all my friends Parents were dying and stuff, thank God. I haven't been to a funeral in quite a while. But there was a while, a period in my 40s where it seemed like once a month, twice a month, I was going to a church. And it wasn't to praise God. It was to put somebody down on the ground. And that was not a good thing. So that's really, I think, for me, where I took on just a different attitude about life, realizing that, hey, those 86,000 seconds I get every day, that's. That's all I get. And I can't make any more of them. I better start really thinking about how I'm going to finish this race here, because the first half of the marathon is over. And that was kind of what set in for me back then.

There's a nice, positive message for all of our gaffers who are 40 and over, which is good. But if you're not realizing it, maybe today's message will help you. Do you remember your 50th birthday? Did you do anything fun? And what was the attitude lesson that you learned at 50?

Yeah, you know, that was in 2009, and my mom was ailing, and I was her caregiver at the time, and. And we were really struggling, I mean, you know, financially, and I had had to cut back on real estate and. And I was doing some coaching. Thank God I had, you know, income from that. That was like normal income or I didn't have to work nights and weekends and that. So. But that was kind of a low point for me, just because I was losing a second parent. The divorce had left us as a broken family. My kids during those years were going through some challenging the years, teenage years, growing up and that kind of thing. And, I mean, it's just. Life gets a little wacky, a little crazy. But, you know, in those tough moments, that's when I really. I could sit back and just think that I really felt satisfied with where I was and what I was doing, even though I didn't have, you know, I was driving a Toyota Camry back then, and, you know, there's nothing wrong with. That's a great car, don't get me wrong. But, you know, it's not the C8 I have in the garage now, you know, that goes 194 miles an hour. So, you know, I just. I was humbled, and I think being humble is a good thing. That's good, because if you don't go through life in humility and being humble, you can't serve at a High level because you're in the way. And so I got really into serving other people. I got really busy, really busy at church. And, you know, I just, all I wanted to do was I got a lot of great satisfaction and it had really nothing to do with money. And I was glad because money had done things to my family that I regretted when I, you know, we had, we made a lot of it. And I could see that money was part of the problem and the way that we, you know, that we treated it. And I was really glad to get back to that sense of, you know, hey, you know what, there are more important things that, and making money. It's really about relationships. And, you know, my relationships with my, with my mom, that was coming to an end, my relationship with my kids, it was just prime time for them. And I was able to really, you know, spend time with them. And I didn't care if I didn't have any money. I really didn't. It didn't matter to me because I knew that the role that I was playing then was the most important role I could play at the time. And it just didn't involve making money. And I knew that down the road, I, you know, I've done it before. I. Listen, if you've made money once, it's not hard to do it another time. So if you've, for those of you who are listening and maybe you're flat on your butt right now because something bad happened, don't worry about that. It's like you said earlier, Glenn, it's never too late, right? There's, you know, we're capable of going in and recreating, you know, things that we like, wealth, money and that sort of thing. So, you know, it's all about your attitude though, right? What about, what's this show about? It's about your attitude.

Well, I think, I think when you talk about the attitude of freeing yourself for money, how many people, I would guess 90% of the people wish they could get there. And what's so funny, what's so paradoxical about it is that when you were humbled and you were broke, that, and that's the only thing that probably would allow you to feel your self worth, to feel your passion and your mission and the reason you're there. And a lot of times money won't let you find that. So that message is worth the whole podcast. Holly, make sure you mark that one. That was powerful. So let's. I want to respect your time. I've had too much fun with you. Let's get to 60. You're just a little over 60. And so what we'll do is just conclude, you know, what's, where are you at today? What was your attitude lesson 24 months ago when you turned 60? And then when you tell us what your attitude Lesson was at 60, we always like to give our guests, you know, just a couple minutes for you to speak into them, a message of hope to our gappers, our gappers that are listening, whether they're walking on the beach or driving in their car or walking in their neighborhood. What's Cliff Freeman's message of hope for those people listening about their attitude, their future, and what you wish and hope and pray for for them?

Well, you know, really it was 58, I would say if we could just back it up a couple of years. Sure.

I'll allow that for sure.

I mean, that's close enough to 60. I'm 62 now. Hell yeah.

Yeah.

In the past little over four years, my life has changed tremendously. And, you know, I could have. I always knew I was capable of it. How it came about, I never would have guessed in a million years. But I don't think you're supposed to. I think that that's part of the journey is, and that's what tests your faith is not knowing how you're going to get there. Just knowing that, by golly, I'm going to get there. And being resourceful and I know a lot of people in Tony Robbins talks about the difference between resources and being resourceful. By gosh, I didn't have any resources back in 2009. I had none. I was upside down financially, but I remained resourceful and I looked for opportunities where I could scratch, claw whatever I needed to do my way back up. And I took advantage of them. Again, I, you know, I think that if we're lucky, the good Lord puts two or three really significant opportunities in front of us in our lifetimes. And it's up to us to embellish, embrace, take that opportunity and do whatever you can with it. And this opportunity happened to come from Brent Gove. And again, it was when he found me in Dallas and cornered me. And he was very passionate about this little company that we all are with now. Honestly, I'd been an independent broker for nine years, was making really good money at the time, and I had no desire. I loved being independent. I had no desire to go work for another company, certainly not a franchise or anything like that. But there was something different about this. And thank God I was open minded and Listened instead of trying to be a know it all. And that's, I think at 60, what I figured out about life is, boy, I sure don't know it all. I think I got to be a much better listener now at my age than I, than I was when I was younger. I used to think I knew a lot, but I realized now that I don't know a whole. I know one tenth of what I could know. And so Zig, thank you very much. That's why God gives us one mouth and two ears, right? So we listen twice as much as we speak, which is not what I've done on the show, thanks to you, Glenn. You're such a great interviewer. You had me blabbing my mouth here. I'm going to go back and watch this and feel embarrassed probably about a lot of the things I've talked about. But that's okay because you're, you're a great host and I. Hopefully this will help other people. That's the goal.

That's right.

But at 60, I mean, I could have literally, I went from being concerned that I was going to outlive my money now to having literally, I could have retired two years ago and never worked another day in my life. But I realized this as an opportunity to really build a legacy. And it's something that I had dreamed, dove and always wanted to do. Had no clue how it was going to manifest itself. But I mean, just the fact that my kids are working with me in the business, it's a family business, my wife is in business and we've been able to build something that is very significant and very meaningful. I learned that if I hadn't been open minded and respected deceptive, that this opportunity would have passed me by. I mean, literally, I would be in the same place I was five years ago, still concerned about outliving my money. My kids, I have no idea where they would be. My son wanted to originally move to Colorado. My daughter, I don't know where she would have been. Now they're all here within a couple of miles of me. We see each other every day. It is a dad's perfect dream come true. I'm so. Listen, it's crazy. I am so lucky. But I can tell you that it was because of some of the. Not because of, it was absolutely because of how my life had the things that had happened in my life before that led to this moment where I just knew what to do and things happened and it built and with God's hand, hand on it, you know, everything Came together. And. And I'll say that, you know, as I go through and I don't know how much time I've got left here, if you look at that string, you know, my wife and I play this game a lot. We'll. We'll pull out a string and go, dang, we need to start traveling some more, or, you know, we need to go do some more things, because we don't have a lot of string left. But I can promise you that what I'll be doing during the rest of that string is going to be a lot different now, now than it was five years ago, right?

Yes.

And so for me, 60 is great. Thank God My health is here. Everything is green light. Thank you. Matthew McConaughey. I got green light. Green light. But, I mean, it's really. I'm more excited now and having more fun in real estate than I have in 37 years of having a real estate license.

I love it. So gappers. I think Cliff, just. Thanks for just giving and being honest and being authentic. But as we walked through Cliff's 62 years, there was ups, there was downs, just like he said in the beginning. And you know what? That's a reality for all of us. And I know that if you listen to this, Cliffs, I keep hearing a man of faith in his words. But you know what? He came back, and he came back more than once. And if you're in a place right now that you're not sure you can come back, if you're in a financial reversal, if you're in a personal reversal, if you're in a family reversal, guys, it's never too late to start, and we bring these exceptional people to you. So, you know firsthand that there is hope, that there is a way out and that way out and that way to improve and that way to move forward is between your ears. It's this thing called attitude. And, Cliff, thank you for sharing your attitude with us. If you wouldn't mind, give us a get on your soapbox if you can, or preach to us, but give us a message of hope. Speak to our people. Speak to that person out there that needs a word of encouragement. And my guess is you probably have a saying that you love, but we'd love you to just close the show with a message of hope for our people.

Yeah, you know, I. You know, I used to. It's funny. Yeah. I mean, I'm. Like, I said, I drugged my kids when they were young. And, you know, the Lord has had a lot of impact in my life. But, you know, I used to sit down the row on the second pew at Prestonwood Baptist Church from Zig and the redhead. And I was talking with Zig one time, and he taught a Bible study class called the Encouragers class, which was wonderful if you've ever seen him. I mean, the guy is just. He was really one of a kind, you know, just humble and just a servant of the Lord. But he was talking about people who are in that place that we all know what I'm talking about, that dark, dark place. And you mentioned hope, Glenn. And what Zig said about hope is, he said, you know, you can go about a week without food, you can go about three days without water, but you can't go one day without hope. There's anybody out there who's lost hope right now, get on the phone, run out of your house. There are. Let me tell you, there is hope around the corner for you. First of all, if you don't know God, he is full of hope and love. But there are also people that you know who can be your hope right now and can help you no matter what the problem is. There is nothing impossible with God. Nothing is impossible. So if you're in despair right now, if you're having the dark moments in your life, just understand Again, life is about learning how to dance in the rain. I'll repeat this another Zig. You're either in a storm or you're coming out of a storm or you're heading into a storm. But no matter what, dancing in the rain is a lot of fun, okay? So my message of hope is it's there. Don't believe what you see and listen to and read the music, the social media, all of the crap that's designed to make you go crazy, don't let it work, okay? Because that is not the way it is. The real world is full of love and hope, and I want you to go find it, and you will be out of that dark place, and God's got a great plan for you.

I love it. So you didn't only get attitude today, Gappers, you got some hope. Cliff Freeman, thank you so much. Cliff Notes is his podcast. Thank you so much for your attitude, for your message of hope. And we will see all of my gappers on the latest episode of the Get Attitude podcast. Stay positive. This podcast is a part of the.

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