Bonus Episode: Being the Dad Your Kids Deserve

Good morning, fellas.

Yo, what's happening?

It's good to see you on Zoom. And I was with you, what, two days ago? Three days ago? Few days ago.

You've been with me my whole life, Hal. In my heart, my soul.

You're so sweet. Hey, so let's get into this. This is a bonus episode, and first and foremost, I just want to mention that I maybe have done one bonus episode in the nine years that I've had this podcast. So this is. This is special. Y' all are special.

We've earned the right. Justin, I.

Or.

Or.

It depends on how you look at it. You're either special or you're not worthy of a regular episode.

Haven't we each already had a regular episode, though? So I think it's really what we are anticipating it.

Look at Justin, just right into the silver lining every time, right in this. If y' all don't know Justin Donald, he is Mr. Silver Lining.

Well, thank you. It's a good way to live.

Oh, I thought I was Mr. Silver Lining, J.D. until I met you. All right, let's dive in. This is for dad. So this is a specific episode for fathers who want to be the best dads they can be if they are married, to be the best husbands they can be if they're, you know, looking for that future wife. Right. Being the person that can really create an extraordinary relationship for everybody in their. In their world. So, John, I want to start with you. I want to ask you, you're the founder of Front Row Dads. How do you define a front row dad? What is a front row dad?

I think a front row dad is someone who steps up, who wants to engage with their families, somebody who wants to put others on the stage, shine the light on their spouse, on their kids, and really to lift somebody in their surrounding. Right? So it's. A front row dad is putting their kids and their families in the proximity of other amazing families. Somebody who values community, somebody who values gathering together. Right. And supporting one another. So a front row is, you know, it's a statement about proximity. You know, what people, places, thoughts and things do we want to be close to? Do we want to engage with. Do we want to support.

That's that front row metaphor. What in you can. You. You founded Front Row Dads. What's it been, five years ago?

Yeah, about that.

And so. And you. And for those that don't know, Justin Donald and I and John Vroman and actually Tim, our friend Tim, who's not on today, are in what's called A Front Row Dads band. And essentially it's like a band of brothers. We meet once a month and then support each other, you know, as needed throughout. And it's really about coming together and, and looking at sharing what's working in our marriage, what's working with our kids and what's not. Where are we struggling? Where do we need support and ideas. And I've shared this very openly that being a part of Front Row Dads as a whole, and even probably more so, our band has just been life changing for me. I've said it's probably the number one determining factor that's helped me be the or continue to strive to be. I haven't arrived, but the husband that my wife deserves, the father that my kids deserve. And Justin, let me start with you. Where would you say that you excel as a father and a husband? So you can take those in one or separately. Where do you excel as a father and a husband? And then where do you struggle as a father and as a husband?

Hal, you're always asking such good and deep questions. All right, so where I think I excel is bringing fun and energy and excitement and experiences to marriage and parenting and really just even the family unit as a whole. So we're always trying to do cool things, interesting things, new experiences, or trying to make experiences that we've had already fun again or fun in a different way. So I think that that energy is something I know for my daughter is a lot of fun. The different activities we do. I feel like I do a good job of one on one with her, basically.

Your daughter. Sorry to interrupt. How old is your daughter? I should have started there with all of her kids, but how old your daughter?

Yeah, she's nine. She'll actually, she'll be ten in two months. So kind of getting to that next stage. And this is just such a fun season. And so we had learned in Front Row Dads, actually one of the original sessions that we did from a guy named Jim Shields, that it's really important to be doing at least a quarterly one on one with each of your children. And so I felt like, you know, how cool would it be if instead of doing this once a quarter, I just did it once a month? And so that's been huge for my daughter and my relationship. And then same thing, you know, with my wife. We are.

Wait, wait, before you again, I'm going to keep interrupting you. Give me some examples of what you've been doing for one on ones with your daughter. I think that's super helpful. I know that for me, you know, my daughter's 13 and like, that relationship, it gets tougher the older that they get, the more they start to become independent. So. Yeah. So what are some of the one on ones that you do monthly with with Anna?

Well, the goal is really to find what it is that she wants to do. Like, how can I involve her in the planning and engage her in a way to find what would be most fun, most productive. So, you know, when we go grab some food, I'm trying to cater it to a restaurant that she's most excited about. And for an experience, you know, sometimes we go to this really fun arcade called Cidercade, sometimes we go to a bounce house, sometimes we go to a trampoline park, sometimes we go to a water park.

Whatever it is. And if she's unsure, then I'll try some stuff. And sometimes, you know, in the beginning she wasn't sure, so I kind of let it and gave options and did a bunch. And now she, you know, has these ideas and she really loves getting gelato. So, you know, last night, that was. That was one of the things we did to kind of put a bow on an already really exciting day.

Nice. Nice.

Yeah.

And then you were talking where you excel with. With Jennifer, with your wife.

Yeah. So I think so. I know that her number one love language is quality time. So for me, it's really important that I'm providing opportunities for us to connect at a deep level that is technology free. You know, I used to think, oh, yeah, when we watch a movie, we're. We're really connecting.

Yeah.

But the reality is she wasn't feeling like we were connecting. I thought we were definitely connecting. We were hanging out. You know what?

Men and women are different. What?

Yeah. So different. So now I've just learned the things that she loves. And we're very intentional about a weekly date night, a quarterly overnight, an annual trip, just the two of us at a minimum. And if we can do more than that, we'll do more than that.

Yeah. And I love that it's intentional scheduled time. And I think that for all of us to uplevel, as in anything in life. Right. Like, if you want to be more consistent with your health and your fitness or with your finances. Right. It's about having those repeatable, consistent rituals that are in your schedule to ensure that you're investing energy, attention, and time into the areas that matter most. And then where do you struggle as a dad and. Or as a husband?

Well, my wife put it in a. In a really just.

A way that really just hit home with me where it resonated. So I tend to love to do new things, meet new people, have new experiences, and there's a lot that I often, you know, have the opportunity to do. And so she said something that just has really stuck with me, which is this. When you say yes to other opportunities, you're by default saying no to your family. And so I have had to learn over the years, and I still feel like I have to learn and continue to learn and continue to get better at saying no to different things, because I always just looked at it as, well, I'm just saying yes to these different items. I want to go to this dinner. I want to go on this trip. But the reality is, if I'm there without them, then it's by default a no to my family. I'm not spending time with my family. And so, for me, I just need to balance that in a way that feels great to everyone in the family. And I feel like there are seasons where I'm really good at it. And then I feel like there are seasons where I really struggle because maybe I just want to experience certain opportunities, and they might come in a row, you know, more heavily in one quarter or in one month. And that definitely doesn't feel. Well, it doesn't feel good to, you know, my wife and. And, you know, my daughter.

So. Say that again. How did she put it? That when you say yes to something else, you're saying no to the family, or. How did you say it?

Yeah, when I. When I say yes to another activity or another travel opportunity, something where they're not with me or they're just not getting the same type of quality time by. By default I'm saying no to my family.

Yeah.

I never really looked at it as like I was saying no to my family. I feel like, you know, I'm just.

Saying yes to everything.

Right. But if I'm not there in. In, you know, in person, you know, then, yeah, they're not getting that same experience. They're not getting the same dad, husband that they. They would get if I were around, if I weren't at that event, if I weren't, you know, traveling.

Yep. I heard Pat Flynn, you know, author, podcast host, and friend Pat Flynn said once that if, you know, I get. He said I get opportunities all the time that are exciting, that'll, you know, make me money, that will advance my career, that will grow my business. And he said, if it takes me away from my family, it's an easy no. And that, you know, it's that same mindset, which was just a game changer. And I think that shifting that to realize that saying yes to anything, if it takes away from your family, you're now saying no to that time with your family. And that's so limited. Right. Like, how, how long are your kids going to be at home? I'm realizing now with my daughter 13, it goes by so fast. You know, I got, you know, five years till she's, you know, possibly out of the house. We're trying to convince her to move into our guest house, but I don't know.

Well, that's something great that we learned also, you know, with John and with front row dads is the countdown of how many summers we have with our kids and how, you know, palpable. That is, once you put a number on it and you have like a countdown of like, wow, I only have five years left. I only have seven years left. I only have two years left. Two summers or seven summers, whatever that number is, like, that just makes it real and I think create some urgency for today.

Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. John, what about you, brother? What. Where do you feel like you excel as a husband and, or father? And where do you, what areas do you struggle in?

Yeah, and before, before I answer that real quick, I think it's so interesting to see how the three of us who, you know, and with Tim have been getting together now for, for almost four years, I think. Right?

Four years. Oh, my God.

Monthly, two hours. Yeah. And. And that still you, you, both of you and Tim influence my decisions constantly. And this idea, which I learned six years ago, front row dads with Jim Shields, about 18 summers and all of that and the countdown, and we constantly talk about it. You just saying that right now, Justin, I made a note to plan summer 2023 just now. Like, that's the power of getting together and huddling up and having these types of conversations is that I've now added to my list to plan summer of 2023. Because you just got, you just reminded me that tiger being 13, you know, by the time he's 16, he might have his license. He's like, I don't want to leave. I don't want to go on a family trip. I want to stay here with my friends. I've got these other opportunities. I might have two summers left with him to take these big adventures if I want. And maybe not, but maybe so. And so.

Yeah.

Just now recording this show, you've changed my thinking in just a short A sharing of a story. And that's what I think is the most important, is if we can get together and share stories and. And we open up and we have powerful conversations. That's where we shift our lives. So I credit so many of my decisions to you guys and the way you're living and the things you're doing, and I'm like, I got to do that, too. And. And then it shifts our family, which is great. So, all right, here's what's good. What's good right now. Where I think I'm winning as a dad and as a husband, as a family man in general is that I've increased my range of what's possible. And what I mean by that is that if you have, let's say, silly on the left and serious on the right, and you have this spectrum of, like, can you be playful and can you be stern and can you play within those two places and bounce back and forth with agility? And can you find your edges even more within that space of yourself? Can you learn to hold more space for yourself and your family and then just be stronger in what you're able to facilitate within your family? To me, that's been it. So the examples. A practical example of what I mean is, like, putting my boys to bed, laying down with the kids, you know, talking. It's very quiet. It's very intimate. I'm tickling their backs. I'm asking them about their day. I'm telling them they're great kids. I say things like all the time when I'm putting a bed. Like, I'm. I'm so grateful to be your dad. And I love it when I go, I love being your dad. And then they respond, I love being your kid. Like, that's like. It's like, one of my favorite moments of being a dad, but that's also, like, very quiet and chill. And on the other side of that spectrum would be adventure and doing something crazy and taking them on a big adventure. Hiking, you know, into the. Into the forest. And, you know, tiger right now is in Nepal, and ocean's in Siberia right now as we record this.

So, wait, so. So your win is sending your family across the world and getting alone time. Okay, I noted. I just learned something new. I'm planning my summer for 2023.

There is beauty in distancing yourself as well. Like, the beauty of life is that you come close together with people, but then you also create distance. And I think we have to value both of those that I want my family to miss. Me, and I want to miss my family. I actually think that guys will hide at home under the banner of being a great dad. And that's not always really healthy either. Like, it's good for your family to miss you. It's good for you to miss them. And you need to create space between you and your family at times, even if it's tough, because it's not like every difficult thing is a bad thing. It's how it truly plays out in the grand scheme of things in life. Like, kids will complain to go to camp, and then they'll come back and say, it was the best experience of my life. Baggage goes, I don't want to go do basketball. And I encourage him to go do it. And he fights me and he's screaming and crying, and then he comes out and goes, I love basketball. I want to do it for the rest of my life.

Yeah. Now would you say that's equally important, John, to. For. As. As husbands, to create that for our wives? Right? Like watching the kids and pushing our wife out the door to go spend time with her friends or.

Absolutely, yeah, 100%. And I think that, yeah, you can. You can smother each other. Your. You can be overly committed to one another and you benefit from other friends and other experiences. And so the more we can encourage each other to expand our range, to expand our awareness, to expand our views of the world, the more that we can all step into that space. As uncomfortable as it might be from time to time, the better. You know, one last example on that is like going from dancing with my kids, having a dance, dance party and being playful and fun like that, to having like a sit down at the kitchen table saying things aren't going well. The way you're talking to your mom's not okay. Having like this really fatherly conversation about these are the boundaries, you overstep them. I love you, you're not a bad person, but this is bad behavior. And then being able to be totally silly. Dance party, let them pick the music, totally let go of control. So expand like playing with control as well. Which is actually the thing I would tell you is the negative. The thing that I'm struggling with is always. And I realized recently, and this came up at the front row dads retreat, how much I do to try to control my family, like to control my children, to control the outcome of their lives, to control my wife. And it's not. It's not through this dictatorship vibe, like, you're not allowed to go out. Although boundaries are important and As a father, you need to have them sometimes, you know, and, but, but it's, it's actually not having to control my child. You have to become this type of person to be a good person, to be careful of how much of my blueprint I project onto them. So becoming more aware of how much I want to control or that I'm unconsciously trying to control or subtly trying to control. Where I ask my wife, like, what, what time are you going to be back? And like, that's my, my, my. Sometimes I do that because I'm scared. Sometimes it's because I'm needy. Sometimes I want to control her schedule and her behavior. And so I try to be careful and considerate, but really what I'm trying to do is control the outcome. And so how much do I want to influence and how much do I just want to let go and surrender to what is.

Yeah, I love that.

I'll go, I'll share what. Where I'm excelling and where I'm struggling. I think where I'm excelling. And I have for a long time in terms of. It's this constant. It's the constant never ending improvement, focus, which all of you could have answered the same way. Cause I know that y' all are the same. I'm always like, learning. I'm actively learning, growing, engaging with front row dads, right? Surrounding myself with other dads. Like, I'm always being proactive in trying to be the best husband that I can possibly be, whether that's reading a book or going to our band meeting. Because being the best father I can be. For example, last night I felt disconnected from my daughter. She's kind of pushing away and dad, I just want to be in my room by myself, right? She's 13, going on 17, and. And I'm trying to engage with her and she's like, dad, you're so annoying. And I literally called my sister, who's a very wise, you know, gal. She's a year and a half younger than me. And I said, hey, when, when you were a teenager, do you remember what your relationship like was with dad? And, you know, I was like, like, were you. Did you want to just be in your room all the time? Were you annoyed by him? And she's like, well, dad, she goes, you know, daddy's annoying. He's always trying to get attention. And so that was funny. And she said, but, dad, if you're listening to this, we love you so much. And she said, yeah, I like to be in my room, you know, I Want to be by myself reading and this and that. And I was like, that's. Why are you asking? And I said, oh, just. Just because I'm trying to connect with Sophia. And anyway, and then after that conversation, I was like, I'm just going to go get in her space in a friendly way, which I forgot. Hold on to your kids taught me. And I went in there and I commenced like, what do you want? Like, just to spend, like, a few minutes with my daughter. And I didn't ask for permission, which in the past I might have, and she might, you know, but I just laid on the bed and I asked her a question, like, what are you. What are you looking at? What are you working on? What are you reading right now? And engaged. And we ended up spending about 30 minutes with me just sitting on the bed talking to her. And it's just amazing how I went.

From.

Not from feeling disconnected and, like, she didn't want to be around me to us feeling totally connected. And then she came out and gave me a big hug good night and said, I love you so much, dad. And again, it was me proactively reaching out to my sister, right? It was me always not accepting mediocrity in my relationships with my family, but either picking up a book, calling one of you guys, you know, going on the Front Row Dad's website, going to the Front Row Dads live event next month, like, you know, calling myself whatever it is, always proactively going, okay, what can I learn? How can I shift my perspective so that I have a new way of looking at my relationship with my daughter or my son or my wife or myself so I can be better for them and better for me, right? So that proactive, you know, putting myself in those situations and then where I struggle is it's probably the other side of that coin, which is feeling like I'm. If it's not perfect, it's not. It's not good, right? Like, oh, my gosh, my. My daughter doesn't want to hang out with me, so I'm losing her. Like, our relationship's gonna fall apart. Like, I think I make. I'm such a perfectionist that I make it way too. I put too much pressure on me and the relationship that if it's not a 10 out of 10, it's like a one, right? It's like, for me, I gotta find that middle and. And just realized that, dude, when I was a teenager, I didn't want to be around my parents all the time. Doesn't mean I didn't love them doesn't mean we don't have an amazing relationship now as, you know, as a grown adult. Right. Just means that we go through phases. And the last thing I'll say on that is I'm reading a book right now called Untangled, and it's about. I think it's the seven stages that a girl goes through to adulthood, you know, And I read that this morning and, you know, got an idea. Implement it with my daughter this morning. Saw a great result. Right. So just that proactive, you know.

What was the idea?

Oh, you put me on the shoot. What was the idea? Oh, it was what you said earlier, which is it was just stop trying to set the agenda and figure out what they want to do. Right. And I like. And you mentioned it, John, like, we need these interactions with other front row dads, people that are dads, that are committed to improving and sharing and being vulnerable and being open, because we just need the reminders.

Right.

Almost anything that you learn, you're like, oh, yeah, I used to know that. Right. Like, But I totally forgot. And what I learned was just the reminder of stop trying to set the agenda. And the other night I was like, hey, sweetie, let's watch Top Gun too. It's an awesome movie. You'll love it. And we start watching it like 10 minutes, and she's like, I'm not into these kind of movies. I'm like, no, no, no, just give it a chance, you know? And. And I was. I was reminded. I'm like, wait, why am I not watching the movie that she wants to watch? Why am I having her watch the movie that I want her to watch? You know? So that's what I was reminded of. Really simple REM reminder. And Justin, you said it too, right? Which is like, find out what your daughter wants to do and then do that versus, you know, suggesting what you want to do and then. And then, you know, pleasantly pressuring her to do it.

Yeah. All right, guys, where should we go from here?

I just want to say something about the theme I'm feeling and I'm noticing is that a lot of our change happens because we had a conversation.

Yeah.

Justin had a conversation with Jennifer, you know, and she gave him the idea. If you're not. If you're yes to somebody else, you're a no by default to your family. That came through a conversation. Right. You're reading a book how. Which is a form of a conversation. Somebody.

When I called my sister.

Right, yeah, you called your sister. They're just. There's all Forms of conversation and listening to this podcast, listening to other people have conversations, that's. That's what we're doing whenever we listen to a podcast, we're just eavesdropping in on a conversation.

Yeah.

And I think that what I have felt in my own life is that there are degrees of impact through conversation. So you have impact when you listen to a book or a podcast, but when you are FaceTiming somebody, it feels different than when you're just on a phone call. And when you are in person with somebody, it feels different than. Right. And if you, by the way, if you just go for a dinner and you have an hour long dinner, you can get so deep at that dinner within an hour. But if you spent half a day with somebody or a weekend with somebody, the level of depth just keeps improving. And that's why when we take trips with our families, when we do vacations, that I remember my dad and I talking about this at one point, which is like we go on vacation to Shell Lake, Wisconsin, which is our family lake house. And we would go there and we would both say it took us like a day or two to just like calm down and settle into vacation, get.

Out of our own head, right out.

Of our heads and get into this new environment. It took a little time. And we see that at our events, too. It happens every time. Night one, there's a certain level of connection by, by the first morning, there's a deeper level of connection later that evening. People are really opening up and really sharing and exchanging great stories. And by the last day, people are completely transformed because you give enough time for something to happen. And that same principle applies in your business, in your family, with your friends. So every one of those areas deserves levels of attention. And it's why, you know, you look at eos, the Entrepreneur Operating system, which I know many entrepreneurs run that business. Right. Gino Wickman's program. Well, there's a reason why you have weekly 90 minute meetings. There's a reason that you have monthly huddles and then longer quarterlies and then an annual return. It's everywhere. And so we just have to make sure that in the areas of life that matter most to us, we give ourselves the appropriate amount of time throughout the year. Whether it's like the monthly board meeting or gathering with Savannah with Justin or all those things, the camping trips that you and your family take, Hal, and all that stuff, they just have varying degrees of impact.

Well, yeah, I love that. Oh, Justin, go ahead.

I was just going to say there's a lot of research around the whole idea of immersion when it comes to learning relationships. And so there's. There's so much that you get from a routine. And I think a routine over a long period of time is great. But when you can go deep into a topic, if you can go deep into topics with people where you can expose some, you know, some vulnerability, some intimacy in, you know, emotionally, what happens are it's just this whole new world opens up. You develop a relationship that in that one moment becomes a safe place, a place that you want to dive, you know, even deeper in. But then because you've had that moment of immersion, it's easier to connect, you know, thereafter, you know, with whatever frequency you want. And so from an education standpoint, I've found that the things that I retain that I've learned the most are the things that I have gone to a, you know, two or three or four day, you know, course or session or retreat or conference. And so part of my routine for my own personal growth is to. Is to do this because I know I learn best this way. And I also, I think, develop relationships really fast with people that have aligned values in that type of an environment.

It's a really good point. And it's the difference between exposing yourself to information and immersing yourself in an experience, right? And one example of that is like, it's the difference in reading a blog post on a topic or a book. If you read a blog post on a topic, you spend maybe 15 minutes with that information and then you go back into your regular way of thinking. If you read a book on a topic, you spend arguably three weeks being a fast read, right? A week, two weeks, three weeks on a topic, immersing yourself in it. And then when you like. And then like when we go to a front row dad's live event, you spend days fully immersed. And then, John, to your point, you know the importance of conversations. I feel like when I went to my first front row dad's event, I didn't know what to expect, you know, And I was used to going to events where I just sat in the audience and took notes for three days and then went home and usually filed the notes away, right? Like it was just pages of notes. And what I loved about my first front row dads event and every single one since then. It's just your style of doing it is that I is that you create. Like there will be somebody teaching sometimes and then. But then it's the. That you have this. I mean, you're trained in facilitating this interactive experience where then you turn to another dad and you go, you go outside of the room or you sit together or whatever, or a couple dads. And then you have a conversation about what you just learned, how it applies to you, what came up for you, what resonated with you, what you're going to do with this information, how you're going to implement it. Right? And now to your point, Justin, to your point of how we learn now, it's like, wow, I just took that topic. I didn't read it for 60 seconds and move on the rest of my life. I took that topic and.

Made it personal to my situation. And then whenever I leave a front row dad's event, I always have like, I've gone through this two or three day experience, but then I have my. Not my three, four or five pages of notes. I've got my half page of committed changes. This is what I'm going to do when I get home. Here's what I'm going to do. And then I'll always have with my wife, Number one, number two, number three, right? These are the top three things I'm going to do differently to uplevel my marriage and my role as a husband. And then I always have my to do list. And with my daughter, here's what I'm going to do. Sometimes there's overlap between with both of my kids, but often it's. I try to take them separately. Okay, here are the top three things I'm doing to improve my relationship with my daughter and then on to my son. And then there might be something with myself or whatever to be a better overall family man. But yeah, but just both of what you said, the importance of how we learn and the importance of the conversations to immerse ourselves.

Really cool. So let's, let's do this. The Front Row Dads live event is coming up. I know. John, you've got a few minutes before you got to run on Front Row Dad's live events coming up, December 2nd through 4th. I'll be speaking there. John, you're leading it. Justin, are you on. I know you usually speak. Are you in the. Yeah. You are.

Yeah.

You're speaking as well. Justin, what are you talking about this time?

We're getting into some financial mastery. Just talking about investing and.

Anything and everything that deals with building wealth, creating wealth, making sure your estate's in great shape. We're going to have some fun.

And for anybody listening that's not aware, I'll probably mention this in the introduction But Justin is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, the Lifestyle Investor, founder of the Lifestyle Investor mastermind, and lifestyleinvestor.com. so that is your bread and butter, brother.

And John, for anybody listening, let's just close it out with who should be at this event and why should they be at this event. What are they going to gain from being at the front row dad's annual live event?

Yeah, well.

We'Re going to have about 100 guys. The common denominator is that many of them will have seen and resonated with the statement family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. So you don't have to be a business owner or an entrepreneur to be there, but you do need to have a owner's mentality or an entrepreneurial spirit to really feel the vibe of this room. These men are creators, they're builders. They want to absolutely create massive success in their businesses, but not at the expense of their family. They're highly aware they could get to their end of their life and have built something epic with finances and with work and left their family, you know, to figure things out on their own. And so these are men who want to put family first, truly, and win in all these other areas of life, from the wealth and legacy category to business evolution, emotional intelligence, not just parenting and marriage. Right. But to make sure all parts of their life are working in harmony. So it's men who want more, who want to excel, who want to learn. They have confidence and humility. I always say the. The front row dad is the man who has built some success in his life, and yet he wants to know more. They have wisdom and they're wise enough to know that there's more to learn from being around other men. And we have a statement in front row dads that it's not always about learning something new. It's about remembering something true. So it's staying in the practice and the discipline of constantly saying, hey, oh, you know, I had a guy over at the house the other day, a front row dad, and he sat on the couch and he goes, you know what, John? You taught me years ago. And then he said something and I was like, I taught you that? I don't even remember that. Like, but thank you for telling me what I taught you because I needed to hear that. It's a great example of how much we forget and we need to be reminded. One of our members, very successful guy. You know, this is a guy who's built a seven figure business and has traveled to 50 different countries with his family and arguably one of the most epic humans, sent me a text message, said, john, can't thank you enough for the powerful group that you've assembled. I came in with my tank empty, and I'm leaving overflowing, right? And it's like, that's how I want people to feel. And, you know, there's. There's also something one of our members said, which is that if you're in a place where you're kicking ass in life, this is the event to be at, because you can help so many other people, and you may also have a blind spot you're unaware of then, and this is the place to learn about that. And then the other one is you're getting your butt kicked. And, you know, you're in a really tough place in life. And, like, this is a place to come and get filled up and to learn and be surrounded by people who will, you know, one of our values, the rising tide, this communal drive, right? What it's like to be around other epic men. There has never been an event in history like this. There have been business networking events, There have been other dad events, but there has never been an event specifically like this that has targeted the family men with businesses. Very unique, very interesting crowd. And the last thing I'll say is that another member sent me a message the other day, and he said, john, I've been to, you know, dozens of networking events, mastermind events, personal growth events, you know, all these just all my whole life. This is a person in their 40s. And he goes, the thing is that I was always trying to find the needle in the haystack. I was always trying to find the diamond in the rough. It was the guy who really wanted to put family first, who wanted to win in business, but truly had their priorities in order. And what I always found were people that were willing to sacrifice their families. Hustle. Burn the candle at both ends, morning, noon, and night, Whatever it takes. Hustle, hustle, hustle, to build their business. And I never found the person who created harmony and balance and health across their personal ecosystem. And he goes, when I came into front row dads, I couldn't not find that person. Every single guy I talked with was that guy. I didn't have to search the crowd high and low to find the person with their priorities in order. And that's what we hope to create. So while this event is not for everybody, it is for somebody very specific. And if you're listening to this and you're like, that's me. Then, then you should check it out. And all of it's@frontroadads.com the info's there, the speakers are there, the agenda's there. You'll get a feel for what it is and we hope to see you there. It's probably going to sell out in the next seven to ten days. We're three quarters of the way sold out right now as we record this and I'd imagine that it'll be filled up here very quickly. So if you hear this, this is your calling, this is your message. You might be, you might be, you might have picked up your phone, turned on this podcast for a reason. To hear this invite right now.

Yeah. Frontrow dads.com live I just checked. It's the event page. And then John, I know you set up a code for. Since I'm one of the speakers, if anybody uses the code, Hal.

You get 10% off of your ticket. Just don't use the code, Justin. Make sure you use the code.

It's funny that you did that because I was about to jump in and say if you use the code, Justin, then you're going to get something better.

And forward me your percentage. I'll give you a special bonus. Oh, you guys are funny. And I know you know Preston Smiles is speaking at the event. In addition to all of us, Tucker, Max. And I will tell you, I invited Tucker and Tucker is the biggest skeptic and he came to an event in Florida last year and he came up to me afterwards. In fact, I think he said it to you, John. And I was with him and he said I've gone to every high level event mastermind out there. He said this is the best event I've ever been to, period. And, and you know, and he was at the last one in Austin. So anyway, well, frontrowdads.com live you're listening to this and you are a dad and like John said, if it resonates with you, go check it out and join us. It's going to be awesome. And I'll be there the whole time. I'm not just speaking and leaving. I am a front row dad. I will be in the audience in the group talking to all my fellow front row dads as will John and Justin. And love you guys. Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it.

Love you both, man. This is a great chat.

Awesome. And goal achievers, members of the Miracle Morning community, future front row dads, I love you. I appreciate you. I hope to see you in December in Austin, Texas. Frontroad ads.com live and use the code HAL at checkout to get a discount on your ticket and I will see you then.