Episode 523: Until You Get Your Own Business, You Do Not Understand Anything with Luke Schneider ...

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell. I'm here talking with Luke Schneider and Jason Patrick and we're having a lot of fun talking about fire department coffee and the phenomena that they've created, the community they're building, the fun they're having and the lessons they're learning and it's a lot. So thanks guys for taking the time. I know you're busy.

Absolutely, it's our pleasure. Thanks for having us.

Yeah, let's talk about, you know, Jason made us a statement there. I don't know if he finished it, but he said until you get your own business, you don't understand. And I put anything.

Yeah, I tell you, you really, you just don't, you know, I mean, you don't understand the true struggles that people go through to be able to grow a business appropriately, to be able to expand. You know, it's one thing if you start a business, you're like, hey man, I just, I want to make enough money for me to be, to live and that's it. I'm only going to employ myself and that's going to be it. But I mean, you know, when you want to build a multimillion dollar company, hopefully a billion dollar company one day, the. And you want to be able to treat people appropriately, your employees, take care of them, make them happy when they come to work, which being an employee myself at another place, I know that's impossible. You can't make everyone happy, you know, it's, it's, I think everyone should have to run their own business for one year life at 18 years old and truly understands what the struggle is just to be able to live and make things successful.

You know, we got a guy in our business, Financial Services, came from Columbia and when he was 16, his father had him running their coffee business, I think down in Columbia and they had a farm and every Friday he would have to take the payroll out of town and navigate all of the gangs and everything else and all that stuff to get to the plantation to give the money there. And he, you know, but at 16, but the guy's a killer, you know, so when he migrated to the United States, he knew nothing about financial services, that he became a killer now and built know multimillion dollar business just like that. And you know, he takes three weeks vacations. You know, he's a guy who Likes to travel three weeks vacations at a time, but he still keeps the business. He knows how to keep the business humming while he's gone. He's back, you know, he's on the phone that, you know, it's just like he was here in terms of running the business, you know, checking in with him and all. And that's so cool. You know, it goes back to that original education he got at 16 years old. Got to figure things out, figure out how to get things done. And so what would you think, Luke? Would you, if you had to put your finger on it? Because let's face it, let's not sugarcoat it. A lot of marriages go through the life or death challenge with starting a business. And so what would you think you did right, Luke, at the critical time you and your wife both did right. To allow you to get through that thing and get back on track again?

Neither of us believe in divorce, so we're, we're both believers. And I feel that our, our faith really just helped us pull through it and, you know, instead of leaning on our own understandings, because a lot of times we have perceptions that are sometimes the, you know, not. Not accurate. So.

Right.

You know, putting our trust into something greater and, and also believing that we were brought together for a reason and stay. And staying together and decided not to. To quit on it.

And a lot of. A lot of that comes for. It's one thing to feel that, to believe that, but it's another thing to kind of talk it out, too. I'm sure there were stages of talking it out that maybe were some uncomfortable stages. Would that be true?

Absolutely.

Yeah. And so you have to make it a point that we're going to deal with this. You know, we're not going to let the situation knock us out. It's the same thing, like a financial problem, you know, where you make up your mind, I'm going to deal with this. I'm going to find a solution. I'm not going to bail. Okay, what are the options? And, you know, it's like, right now. No, right now we're not going to postpone it. We're not going to delay it. It stared us in the face. Deal. And so you have to be that definite in your relationships, too.

And there's something I love about Luke, and Luke and I believe had this. This relationship, and I think it comes from firefighting and his background and being in the military. But we tell you how we feel about stuff. We try to, you know, sugarcoat it if we can, but you know, how we feel about something, because that's. I always trust someone who's willing to tell me something, whether it's good or bad or I like it or I don't like it. And I know that they. I've. His wife, I've met her. She will tell you how she feels. I was going to say everything you're saying, Larry. That sounds like my wife, not me. I don't want to talk about my problems. Yeah, yeah, I think. I think that's important. In business relationships and personal relationships, you have to have the uncomfortable conversations. They have to happen. And if you can have those, a lot of times, that gets rid of a lot of those feelings inside, the anxiety and angst that tend to bring down personal and business relationships. Because if you just tell someone how you feel, a lot of times, you guys, you can work through that kind of stuff.

A lot of it comes down to just airing it out. You know, it's like a stuffy house. I mean, even a house has. Can have air in it, and you're not going to die, but you can tell I'm not breathing good in here. It's stuffy and just opening up, you know, drinking some water, opening the windows, getting turned the fan on. And, you know, it changes things. I mean, just a little. And sometimes people want to bail where all they need to do is get a drink of water, you know. Oh, yeah. Let things air out, you know, and watch a comedy on TV or something, you know, or something.

Watch.

Watch one of Jason's videos or something.

That'll work.

Change the mood, change everything. So when you, Jason, as you're. Before you get going with Luke and all of that, what was it. Was it from your life as a firefighter that you were a firefighter at that time where you were putting these videos, right?

Yes.

And how did you get the idea of creating videos and putting those out? It. Just because firemen have so much time off, Is that what it was?

No. I tell you, you know what's. What's incredible and it's the same no matter where you're at in the world when it comes to firefighters, is you put eight of us in a room and we're going to figure out something to make fun of or something to. Something to laugh about. And that's what's great. We find a sense of humor in pretty much everything. And that's exactly what happened. I was sitting around with the boys and girls, and we were laughing about National Geographics. We said we should do a fire department edition. So I did that. We National Geographic Fire Department edition and we were hunting for different chiefs and different positions in the service. So we did that. We had a, we had just a blast doing and I put them out there and people enjoyed them and we realized that they had a, almost like a mental health release for a lot of guys. So putting those out there, it was very fun. And it's, it's taken off into something that I could have never imagined and now it's, it's gotten a life of its own, which has been amazing.

Yeah. And how does that, that really helps you? You know, it's kind of like a ball team. That's why people like sports so much, you know, that's why they say when they retire they can care less about the football, basketball, whatever. It's being in the locker room with the guys, you know, and traveling with it, you know, and so that's because, you know, you're, you got to be able to take abuse and give abuse if you're going to survive. You know, it's like going into the jungle for sure, you know, 100%.

Yeah. If you're, if you're going to be fire service, you're going to be in military or EMS or anything like that, then you're going to have to be take shoves and pushes and be able to push it back and take it 99% of the time. It's all done in love and none of it's an angst or in any kind of mean spirited stuff. It's just the way we say I love you.

That's.

And I've said that from the beginning and it's great.

And the, the one, one thing to say and you guys speak to this, the thing is like you don't understand the, you know, the struggle, the degree of the complexity, the, you know, how intense things are and how hot it can get. But on the other hand, let's be honest, it's not like that every minute, you know, because there are great rewards. And I don't know if you guys are that point yet like I imagine you are. It's where like whatever price you pay, you know, when we get into these things, almost nobody would have started the business they started if they knew what they were getting into. But on the other hand, just about everybody after they've been through that would look back and say, I would have paid 10 times the price because I didn't know it could be this good. And so, you know, that side of the story needs to be in front of everybody's mind rather than how bitter and struggle and complex. But it is. You know, let's not sugarcoat it. And you and your wife are going to want to kill each other many times. You know, you want to kill your core group. You know, there's going to be, you know, when you're moving fast, there's friction, there's rough edges. And unlike, you know, I'm a member of Mar a Lago and Trump International in Palm Beach. And what I was hoping when Trump ran for president was it would knock off some of his rough edges, you know, because I knew he was a great, he was competent, we could do all these things. I just thought this would be good for Trump whether he wins or not. It'll knock, you know, the campaigning, it will knock off his rough edges. Edges I didn't understand that was not possible. He still got all the rough edges. If anything, if anything, all this has done is sharpened them. You know, Trump is like kudzu. You know, we used to say in Georgia, you know, if you want to kill kudzu, it's impossible. And, you know, you do all the things you do, but if you pour concrete on it, all you'll do is make it mad. You know, and he's kind of like that, you know, like, raid his home with the FBI. Okay.

You know, I think, I think for a lot of people, what. And I agree with you, I think that's a lot of people, they saw what the struggle was going to be in creating a successful business. It would be very deterring to them. But I think any successful person in their that's ever lived on this planet has understood that. That struggles going through anything, you know, the ups and downs of anything in their life creates true appreciation for success. If Luke and I were given $10 million and said, hey, go grow a coffee company, we would never appreciate what it actually took to be able to fall up and down, have points where we weren't sure if we were going to be able to reach the next level without it collapsing on us. So that actual struggle is what made us appreciate it. You know, everyone's always said, you know, you wouldn't appreciate, you know, you wouldn't appreciate the negatives or the positives. The negatives weren't there. And I think that's what most people should take from creating a business. It's going to suck. You're going to have at least 10 panic attacks over the next year. But when you, when you have that success, you're going to be able to look back and go, man, that sucked. But this is so sweet because of it.

Yeah. I remember we started a company. I can remember years into it, the founder talking to the, the senior leader saying, you know, I'm looking forward to the day that I don't want to quit. Two, you know, two times for sure, in a day. You know, just one day where I don't want to quit. You're really, I'm quit, I'm out of here. But then you keep on going, you know, and so, Luke, what would you say to that? I mean, is it, are you finding it's, it's worth it, you know, because we talk about the struggles and this and the other, how, you know, you guys are just starting to taste some of the rewards. You know, you're. What's in front of you is, is going to be great, let me tell you. You know, but can you see? Can you see? Would you say so far, the, the, the payoff?

Absolutely. I mean, it's, it's, it's crazy to see the potential now and where we're at and the rewards and, and, you know, it's a lot of, A lot of work to get to where we're at, but it's definitely worth it. And I would say a huge benefit. Not just, you know, financially, but, but personally, I've gotten to meet so many good people and build so many relationships that I would have never formed otherwise without the company. And it's opened up a lot of opportunities to just continue to, to experience things that I wouldn't have experienced before. I mean, I, I most likely would have never met, met Jason and formed the friendship that we have. And that's one of many relationships that I've been able to build throughout the company. I'm sure Jason would say the same thing, but we have, we built a family, really. Fired Permit Coffee has built a family. And it really feels like our, our team has built. There's a culture here where we take those things from the fire service to the military and apply them to our company, and it's really something special.

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