First Things First | Ep. 6

Attack the biggest tasks first, and then the rest of the other little things will fall into place.

Welcome to the Rising Tribe. I'm Jared, and I'm Austin, and our goal is to inspire young men to build strong families and discover their potential as men, husbands, and fathers.

And we'll do this by having authentic conversations about faith, family, health, and business as we strive to level up our lives and the lives around us. Welcome to the Rising Tribe, everybody. We're super glad we can be here.

And I think we're actually recording this time, man. We have just— we've been on this call for over an hour trying to get this thing to work.

I, uh, and hopefully, fingers crossed, this one, this one works. Uh, but it just goes to show that when you start something, uh, it doesn't always go as planned. But, uh, we are— we've finally figured out how to make this work for recording today, and I'm just stoked to be here, man.

So it's, uh Well, you know, something I've been thinking about is just how, how when you, when you step into the ring for anything, I think two things happen. One is you realize just how inadequate you are compared to— because I mean, you— well, what they refer to it as the ignorance fallacy or something like that. I can't remember what it's called, but we often think that like when we're looking at obtaining a new skill, climbing a new mountain or something, we think like, okay, it's going to be hard. But you know, I'm gonna do it. Then you get into the ring and then you realize, as you start learning just a little bit, you realize just how little you actually know. And that mountain looks way, way taller when you're standing at the base of it. And also when you first step into the ring, not only does everything look way harder because you're starting to realize, you know, some of the intricacies of the adventure that you're going on, but also, dude, I'm, I'm convinced that whenever you put yourself out there, you're going to be met with resistance. And I think often you are met with, uh, the amount— with an amount of resistance that is, uh, equal to or in proportion, uh, to the, the greatness of the feat that you, that you, you're striving to. Um, like the, the greater, um, and the more fulfilling that the project, the venture it is that you're going to pursue, the more resistance and the more pushback you're going to see. Um, when you, when you start moving in that direction.

100%. I, I just finished up a book called Winning After the Game by Setema Nali, the Samoan guy, man. Like, super cool dude. Like, BYU football player.

Yeah, you were telling me about him.

Oh, he's so cool. But I just, I just finished reading his book. It's something that he talks about, like, when you start a big goal, you're gonna have some resistance that's gonna hit you. And I You know, one of the things I've recently just got back from Hell on the Hill, it was 2 weeks ago in Rome, Georgia. We got to do it together next year or something like it. Right. But it's the, it's the world's hilliest half marathon. And the owner of the Atlanta Hawks, Jesse Itzler, runs it. And cool, cool event, literally, because there's like cold tubs everywhere. But it is, they've got their saunas, they've got cold tubs. It's like a networking event. You, you— we drove up to Rome, Georgia, where they had these glamping tents. And, uh, you know, you got your cot, you showed up there, and they've— and while you were there, they had, you know, all your meals provided. But they had a sauna village where you could go in sauna, you could steam room— I'm sorry, sauna. You could do cold plunge, and it was just a great event. There were some breathwork classes there, but the whole event was centered around this half marathon up and down a hill. That's why they call it Hell on the Hill. And there was, you know, Jesse spoke, a couple other guys spoke there. But one of the things that was talked about was like, who you are really shows up with adversity. Like the person that you really are at your core when you're stripped naked, like when everything's going wrong, like that's who you are in real life. And so I, it was really just a cool event, but just you talking about wanting to hit a big goal, like a half marathon's a big deal, but the only way you get there and the way, and this is what something that Jesse Itzler talked about a lot was just chipping away, just chip away, just do one at a time. And there are these little small slices, um, these, you know, as far as going up and down a hill, it was like. Death by a million cuts because it hurt a little bit every single time, every single time. By the end, it was— I could barely walk, right? But the point was, you've got to chip away. And it's just a decision to take one little step at a time. Me and you, like when we're trying to get this podcast going this morning, we probably tried like 8, 10, 12 different things before this started working.

Yeah.

So, but dude, the event I went to was awesome. And just a lot of health nuts, a lot of really good people that are there. And one of the things I liked about it is everybody was there for a purpose. Everybody was there because they wanted to grow. And they were looking for something. They were, they were, they were all looking for something to pursue in life and mainly to impact more people, what I saw. And everybody was there was super cool. I'm going to be going to Running Man again here in October, same group of people, but It's the same sort of event, but it's a 50K that I'll do, or half marathon, 50, or a marathon. You can kind of choose whatever distance you want to do. But yeah, anyways, that's a little update on Nike Hell on a Hill. I absolutely loved it. Yeah.

What would you say were some— I don't know what everyone—

sorry.

You said that everybody had some sort of kind of big challenges that they were looking at facing in their own lives. Was there any sort of common thread amongst the guys there and what they were looking at trying to accomplish or the challenges that they were facing?

Are you talking specifically like the dudes, like guys? Yeah. Okay.

Sorry, was this like men and women or was all men?

It was men and women. Okay. But like there were some guys there, one guy had, they were like, he was extremely overweight and he had just over, you know, he has been working to, fight obesity, and he's bounced back. And there were other guys that have survived thyroid cancer, and they're doing that because they're doing the Hell on the Hill because they want to push themselves and show themselves that they can do it. Um, other people that were there because they lost families, they lost family members to suicide, like, and they're doing it in honor of those people. Or, you know, eating disorders. Some of the women were there because they struggled with eating disorders in the past, and now they want to be an inspiration to young women. It was just so cool to see the purpose as to why, why people were there. And, you know, Jesse talked a lot about like digging into your why. And so at an hour into the race, they actually turned off all the music and they just had it go. They just had everybody go silent. And while you're— while during that silence, they're like, think about why you're here. Think about what pushes you. And for me, I— for me personally, and we talked about this last week on the phone, but I just thought about all the people that I want to impact, all the people that, you know, me through this channel, through this, like, through this method, through this podcast, and through all the other events that me and you will do down the road. It's like all the people that we'll be able to inspire, and also that my family's life, so that they can look to me and be like, wow, Dad has done some really great things for this world. And that can really push you, man. Like, part of the reasons I'm still going— part of the reasons I still can continue to do my job now for like this whole door-to-door sales thing is because I know that I want to inspire other people. And no one's going to listen to me unless I've done something that is worth listening to, you know, that's worth look— it's worth like, oh, well, that's, that's noteworthy. And so in order to inspire, you have to do something. So that's what, that's what was pushing me during that race.

Right.

But, um, yeah.

Well, and, and it's got me thinking, um, there, there are so many kind of things that we can do to, uh, to sharpen the axe, to, you know, to, to stretch the muscles, to prepare ourselves to do the thing. But at some point we gotta do the thing.

Yeah.

And the, this notion of, um, procrastination through preparation, or that you're always preparing, you're always getting ready, but you never run the race, but you never finally start the project. You're just always preparing. You're always in that motion because what you're really doing is actually being, you're actually just really afraid of that thing. And that was actually a huge realization that I had this last week. So I'm an aircraft maintenance officer. So what we do is, you know, I'm not a technician by any means on any different aircraft systems, but my job is all of the— it pertains to the logistical operations of the maintenance of aircraft. And I, you know, when I first started at this new job, first couple of weeks, you know, I'm just trying to figure out who everyone is, where everyone works, what everyone does, because there are so many systems that I'm unfamiliar with, so many jobs I didn't know existed. Not understanding any amount of the career progression and the goals and aspirations of all the people in our office. And there were a lot of different moving pieces up in the air. And it wasn't until this week that it occurred to me that I'm actually really afraid of the job itself. And that a lot of the things that I was, 'cause I was finding things to fill my time. You know, lots of different questions about, you know, and, you know, every job is lots of questions asking, you know, your supervisors, your superiors, and everyone around you, like, hey, what do you do? How does this work? You know, and I'm always asking questions. But I— all of the things that I was studying, the materials I was looking at, and the way I was spending my time, it just occurred to me that all of that was actually just a kind of a distraction. All of that was something that made me feel like I was doing the job but without actually doing the job. And it was this week I was sitting down with my commander and we were doing kind of like an initial feedback, and he over and over again just said, um, you know, you are— and don't forget, you are here to be the sortie generation flight commander. You are here to do this job. And like above all else, you've got all these other things that you've gotta do, all these other things on your plate, but above all else, we need you to do this job. And it just occurred to me like, I've actually just been wasting away my time doing things that maybe move the needle like a half an inch, you know, maybe move the needle like just a tiny bit, but are really, they're just not the job. They're not the J-O-B. And that is what I need to be focusing my time on. And it was a huge realization to me, man. Like, I have been afraid of doing the job itself because the job itself, I know, like, I know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I don't know anything about it. I don't know anything about airplanes. And like, it's just, it's all so, it's all so scary because it's all unknowns, all of it.

You're giving me like the Belichick, you know, do your job kind of thing. But That kind of vibe, but it's, it's so important, man. And a lot of times those things that we, we crack them up to be these big, big, big tasks, but if we just start, it, it all falls into place. Right. And so one of the things that I've found, like, I can find so many things to distract myself before actually getting things done. One of the things I experienced, so Anthem had me write like this 300-page manual for their training. Right. And I was really struggling to get it done because I would put my whole morning routine in front of it and I'd do my reading for my pleasure and for my own pleasure on these topics that I was enjoying. I'd do my journaling, I'd do my workout, and I wasn't getting anything done at all for the manual. And I was just pushing it off, kicking the can. And eventually I was like, no, I have to get this done first. And so I just would wake up, I made my mate, and I would just sit in front of my computer till about 12 o'clock. I spent months writing this thing, but eventually it got done. But it's like, attack the biggest tasks first, and then the rest of the other little things will fall into place. So, you know, it's like priorities, right? Like, remember, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. That's what, that's what my grandpa always tells me. But that's cool to hear that you get to— so what are you doing when you're, when you're— what do you call it, a commander? Is Yeah, so what does that entail? What is that job?

So there's, there's lots of different levels of commanders. Um, you know, I have a commander, my commander has a commander. Uh, so I am like the, the lowest level of commanders. And, and generally across all military branches, the, the names might be slightly different, but it's functionally all the same. You have, um, all of your enlisted folk who are, who are the ones that get the job done. You know, all of our enlisted airmen, they are the ones turning wrenches. They are the ones, you know, rerouting ISA lines for the actuator to get the flaps moving on the aircraft. Like, they're the ones launching aircraft. It is them. They are the ones who do all the hands-on actual work. And then as an enlisted person, as you move up and, you know, you spend more time, you start working up in your ranks, and then you get to a point where you are managing and supervising, you know, groups of airmen who, you know, below you who are still doing the job. And you start taking on these administrative roles, and the further along you get in your career and the higher up in ranks you get, the more managerial and advising roles you take on, a lot more administrative tasks than the lower ranks. And a huge reason for that is because you have this extensive history and experience, um, that you become the subject matter experts in this particular field, you know, whether it's, um, electronics and environmental, whether it's, um, you know, being a crew chief, whether it's, uh, working on, on Canberras and Phase Jets, all these things, like you become the, the, the experts and your job is to advise and, or sorry, your job is to manage all of the people underneath you that you have and make advisory recommendations to the officers that you work with. And as an officer, you know, whether you come in as a brand new second lieutenant, like just fresh out of college, or, you know, or you're working your way up, those jobs are all primarily administrative in their nature. So for example, in our shop, my flight has 170-ish people, give or take. And that's all, you know, 170 airmen. There are, I'll just throw out numbers, roughly 10 like senior noncommissioned officers who do the supervising and administrative work. You've got a couple that are doing next level advising and administration above those senior noncommissioned officers. And then you've got a couple who are like strictly planning and scheduling, which is a totally different kind of behind the curtain part of the job. And then, then there's me and my flight chief. So he and I— but so I'm the flight commander, I've got a flight chief, and the two of us run Like these 170 people. Yeah, that's our— that is our flight, and there are two of these flights inside of our entire squadron. Um, and so the breakdown of the officer-enlisted ratio in the world of maintenance, you have the most enlisted members per officer out of any career field in the Air Force by a lot. So we have 1, 2, 3, 4 officers in our squadron. And 300 and some odd personnel. Uh, so there are, there are just not a lot of us officers, and it's just lots and lots and lots of maintainers because we, it takes a lot of people to tow aircraft, to fix aircraft, all that.

How did, how did this is like, you're leading like a massive group of people because when we were out in Chile, you were a leader out in the, in the mission. Like, how did that, how do you see How do you see what you learned out in Chile impact what you do now? I mean, leadership is leadership, but is there anything you're like, wow, had I not been out in Chile, there's no way in the world I would have been able to handle this situation? Or like, how's that impacted the way you lead these guys? That's my question.

That's a really good question. Yeah, so for people who are listening and unfamiliar, there was this point where Austin and I were both serving a mission for our church in Santiago, Chile. And Austin, you were one of the— you were one of the district leaders only. I don't remember which, but you were one of the leaders of, you know, a couple dozen missionaries. Yeah. And so like for you, like you were, you were still— well, I guess all of us, we were all still teaching and proselyting and whatnot, but you also had administrative responsibilities and you know, attending meetings and trying to pass along information, talking with other people to try and solve problems for people in your zone and whatnot. And I was in one of those positions where we were constantly, you know, like I was— my companion and I were constantly working with Austin Maser, his companion, and other companionships as well, trying to troubleshoot problems, um, kind of at a bigger picture level. Um, and there was a point where my companion and I were responsible for, uh, overseeing the 150, 180 missionaries that we had. And I would say the huge crossover there, or from that experience to my job now, is a huge amount of confidence in speaking in front of people and messaging. Because yeah, there were a lot of times where I was translating for people, and that was— you have to listen to what someone says and then translate it as quickly as possible. Now, in this case, it was actually just from English to Spanish, um, but you're— it's a— you have to be in a different frame of mind to translate for somebody because you have to quickly take in information and spit it back out. And there were— I remember many times there were things that were said that did not literally translate. And so you get into this, well, I'm not going to translate the words that they said because that's not going to make any sense in this language. I need to translate the idea that was expressed. And once you get away from translating the words and you start translating the ideas, you are inserting yourself as an intermediary in the message. And it is really important that you do your very best to translate the right message because you're receiving information and you have to filter it, alter it, change it, and then spit it back out. And so messaging becomes extremely important because you, like, we are conveying. So, so from like a top-down perspective, you get some directive that says, hey, we need you guys to do this thing. And you say, well, I don't like that thing. And I don't think that's a good thing for us. And, you know, then you have conversations with your superiors and they're saying, listen, like, either I need you to trust me and just do this thing and we can talk about it later, or they'll try to give their reasonings, or it's going to be a load of BS and you, it's, they shouldn't be, you know, passing along that directive. But it comes to a point where as long as things are ethical and legal, like, you are responsible for carrying on the action. It's like there is a level of command that is required inside of the military in order to get things done. But as long as those orders are lethal and legal and ethical— legal and ethical and perhaps sometimes lethal— but you have to, like, you have to obey your orders. And if you are constantly throwing the blame of this crappy situation to your superiors— or sorry, so you're talking to your subordinates and you were telling them, hey, I'm like, look, you know, Commander So-and-So, they said we have to do this and it's stupid and I hate it and it's— we're all just— it just sucks for all of us, but we got to get it done. Well, that's one way of approaching it. And I would argue that there might be times in which that is an appropriate message. But they are very, very few and far between, if there are any at all. Because what that does is that undermines the authority and the position of the person above you, and it can be used for yourself for as a way to almost like glorify yourself saying, you know, well, I know better than these people above me who've been in the military X number of years longer than I have, who have seen a lot of crap, but I know more and better. So I'm going to say that what they're doing is stupid. But we do have to do it, so like, let's go ahead and do it. And there are lots of different levels of that, um, you know, along that spectrum of, um, that kind of a response. But the— I would say these— the superior way of taking on that, um, that, that response— well, that the, the appropriate way, the better way, the higher way to to go into that situation is to assume the responsibility of it yourself and to not throw blame up, you know, not kick the blame down the road, but instead to accept responsibility, say, listen, you know, I may not understand all the reasons behind this, but we're going to do this and we're going to do it to the best of our ability because that's what we're here for. And instead of just, you know, pitting all of you and your team against a common enemy, you guys, you are taking responsibility and you are trying to get your team to rally together to move forward. And in the future, if more information comes out and it turns out that, you know, what you guys did, you, you were acting under bad orders, or, or maybe it was all, you know, stupid in the first place. But, um, but what you guys, what you guys had was, was teamwork, and you, you guys were coming together and moving forward, and that is So, so, so, so much more important and such a better way to respond.

Yeah.

So yeah, I don't know if you have any thoughts.

No, I know that's also a really roundabout way of approaching it. No, it's so cool because the reason I ask is because right now I'm in a position with, you know, my pest control company Anthem where I get to go and visit other offices and I've gotten to see some really, really sharp leaders. And one of the things that you brought up, so I went out to Texas last week and Kony and I, you know, we've been working together for the last 3 years now and it's been cool to get closer with him and like learn more from him. I actually took time to go shadow him like the other day while I was out in Texas and I learned a ton from him. I've already used stuff and it's helped me make a ton more deals. But it just goes to show like, So you talked about like, how do you respond when, when things don't go the way you thought they would in leadership? It's huge because the guys underneath you will just, they'll mirror what, how you, how you show up there, they'll mirror it. But I think they amplify it. Um, cause I think when you're in a leadership role, it's your job to keep things at an even keel, right? Like not too high, not too low., but just get guys, you know, positive and keep 'em working. So this is just an example. I'll give a shout out to Kony while I was out there, but they had some stuff happen with technicians or like a tech called out, et cetera. Right. But some of the appointments for, for some of the guys had, they, they had some miscommunications there, but I just love his messages. So like he sends, he sends messages when he starts to hear a little bit of chirping from some of the guys. He's like, hey, keep pushing boys. We wouldn't be the best damn office without a little adversity every once in a while. Your whole day can change in a matter of 30 minutes. Stay positive. Like stuff like that from a leader when things aren't going well. It's not condemning people for complaining, but it's just saying, hey, like, we got this. And then another thing, you know, just things like, hey, we'll talk this out. It's super frustrating, I understand, but we're going to get it fixed. Like stuff like that where you can reassure people, look, I understand where you're coming from. We can get this fixed. So that way you always have a solution in mind. And complaining literally does nothing. And so I just liked how, when you talk about, you know, getting orders from your higher-ups and having to pass them down, it's all about how you, how you deliver the message that will have an impact on whether or not it's received well, and even if it actually works. Because I've had, I've had, I've had experiences with that where I haven't conveyed the message well in my role right now. And it, and it doesn't we don't come to a solution. It just creates complaining, right? So I just like the way you— I like the way you talked about that, man. But I've also seen in this job too, like, where guys are in leadership roles and crap hits the fan and they show up to work and they're like, uh, this is hard. And the guys don't perform because they're looking to the leader for that source of inspiration and like, okay, well, is my leader excited to be here? Is my leader actually bought in? And if they're— if If the leader's not bought in or if the leader's not leading from the front, it's not going to work. And, um, I think that's one of the improvements we've made in our company this year is like a lot of guys are stepping up to the plate, which is good. Like we need that, right? We need guys to lead from the front.

Yeah. I had an interesting experience.

Oh yeah. Not only in their numbers, but just in their attitudes, you know? So go ahead.

Yeah. I had this experience, um, where I can't remember if I shared this on an earlier episode, but there was an experience we had, we were responsible for room inspections.

Okay.

Back at the academy. And it was during basic training. So our staff was responsible for doing all the room inspections, all the uniform inspections for all of the basics.

Do you guys bounce quarters on the freaking beds? My dad always said like, yeah, take a quarter in there, bounce it on the bed. If it doesn't bounce, You fail, dude.

Uh, yeah, yeah. And well, in this case, we did not bounce any quarters because we didn't have time to bounce quarters. So we were supposed to do is roughly 600 rooms that needed inspecting for the 1,400 basics that there were. And my staff, our team only had 6 people on it. And I was, you know, I was in charge of this team and we had a couple other people we could draw in to help us with the inspections. But, and we were planning on it, we were, we were supposed to get up to, um, I think it was maybe like 12 or 15 people to go do these inspections. But we had, I think it was like 3 hours, maybe 4 hours to— it was 4 hours, half an hour for each squadron, 8 squadrons. And you were gonna— we were gonna go squadron by squadron and do all these room inspections. And we were excited because we were gonna get to do, you know, like really good inspections. And we didn't want to do like when I went through basic at the time, they didn't really inspect your room. They basically walked in, they said everything was wrong, they'd kick stuff, they'd flip your beds, they'd pull crap out of the closets, and then they'd fail you and walk out. And you're like, okay, well, that wasn't an inspection. They just, you know, they just here to mess everything up. So I have to go do it again. But we wanted to do real inspections and like, help them understand like, no, you got whatever score because look, you did a crap job. And here's all the things you need to be doing in order to keep this room clean. And about half an hour, maybe 20 minutes before we were supposed to start our inspections, we found out that our brand new commander, who everyone already totally did, totally disliked in basically every single way, she had just shown up in the middle of basic and just started changing everything left and right. And we were like already, like the wheels were already spinning and like we were on our way and she's like taking control of the wheel and just like, there was a ton of thrash. And not to say that everything that was done was great. And not to say that everything that was done was bad. But it was, it was all just like so quick and without any sort of like, hey, might— maybe you should look at what's going on first before we start changing all the rules, like in the middle of the, of the whole training. But anyway, she wanted to sit down and talk with all of the basics at once and just like right in the middle of the day. And so we found out, yeah, about half hour before the inspection's starting, that we had 30 minutes to do all 600 inspections. And then everyone was going to go to this all-call with the commander. And I don't even remember what the all-call was about. I'm pretty sure it was something about like listening to your feelings or something. It was, it was just like totally threw off everything. And now my 6, you know, our 6-man team had 600 inspections to do and 30 minutes to do it. There's no way. There's absolutely no way. And so we quickly, you know, When I first found out, I went to my supervisor and I was complaining to her. I was like, what on earth are they thinking? Why this? Like, what? You know, and I just let it all out with her because she was my supervisor. And then, you know, after that, and she, my supervisor, she kind of absorbed it all. And she was like, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying. This sucks. But also like, this is what we have to do. We can't go against a one-star general. Like, yeah, you're right. So we, so I composed myself and we went out. I grabbed my team and said, hey, you know, sent out a blast message. I need all these people. To show up because we got to get this done. And I had a quick, you know, like 2-minute brainstorm session with all of my team. And I said, hey, look, this really, you know, this kind of sucks. We're put in this really tough position, but here's our options. Like, what do you guys think? And, you know, my small team, they gave me all their opinions on everything. Like, hey, no, I think we should do this. Maybe we could do this. Maybe, you know, short discussion. And then after that, I said, okay, just give me a second. I stepped aside with my right-hand guy. I was like, okay, what do you think we should do? He gave me his thoughts and I sat there for a second and said, okay, here's what we're gonna— I think we're gonna do this one. You know, it was kind of like picking between three poisons, but like, you know, we picked one and went back to the team and said, all right, this is what we're gonna do. And everyone said, okay, boss. And they were all bought in. They were like, you know, everyone kind of knew this scenario we were stuck in and that there was no real solution to this problem, but rather that we were just gonna have to move forward. And we ended up going through and getting it done. And the team, while there was a little bit of complaining, and after the fact, we were like, that was ridiculous, you know, like what on earth is happening? But in the moment, it was not going to be beneficial whatsoever to sit and complain. We had 20 minutes, you know, maybe to get to come to a conclusion and everything and sitting and wasting that time complaining and griping wasn't going to help. Like we were going to be in just as bad of a scenario as we were going to be, as you know, at all. So we decided to just make a decision, like start, start moving forward, making progress, and then going and, and doing the thing. And, um, I, yeah, I, I totally agree with what you're saying, man. Like, sitting and complaining about it is— it does not do anything. It does not push us forward whatsoever.

I, uh, I said to see something like this like last week And I think it's cool that you fielded a lot of opinions before you just like threw, like you didn't just like tell people, shut up, this is what we're doing. But you actually fielded opinions and fielded ideas. Um, and then you went and you made a decision and said, this is what we're doing. But, uh, I actually got to see a perfect example that, that like, not, you know, I didn't tell Kony I was gonna bring him up on this, but I just like to share what I'm learning. Right. So like there is a, there's a situation where like Kony just fielded some opinions or some of his guys and heard feelings and thoughts and everything, and just sat there and listened. Even though, like, I had my own opinions about it, my first reaction was like, this is what I have to say. But no, that's not it. Like, you have to feel— like, you have to, as a leader, you have to, like, listen, show empathy. Otherwise, you can't just tell people what to do. Like, They don't just do what you tell them to. Like, they have to know that you care.

And, uh, well, and, and for getting to get people to do what you tell them to do when you need them to do something and for them to just go and do it requires an enormous amount of trust and, and history with that person because there, there are times where it is absolutely necessary, um, for you to say something and for them to go and do and vice versa, you know, for someone, your superior to tell you to go do something and you just turn around and go do it and you can ask questions later. But that requires an enormous amount of trust in order for that to play out in the long term, because it also can't be something that's happening every single day, all the time, or the entire relationship. And likely that section of the organization is going to start to crumble very quickly.

I love it. It's been cool to see other leaders like— this is Georgia here. Hey, you're good, dude. Okay, we have a guest appearance here. Georgia's here.

Hi, Georgia.

Um, but yeah, man, it's, it's, it's, it's so cool to learn from these other guys. And that's part of, that's one cool thing about my job is like, I'm the trainer for the company. So I get to visit these other offices. And I get to, I get to work one-on-one with the guys. So like, looking back on experiences from Chile, like literally going on exchanges, I feel like, right? So like, I'll have like 3 or 4 guys behind me shadowing me. And, uh, it's pretty funny sometimes what can happen, like, I'll have like 3 guys behind me. So like my pitch is, hey, these guys are like brand new. They don't know what they're doing yet. So that's why they're following me and you get a better discount. How you doing, man? And I have to like, I have to address the elephant in the room super, super quick. Otherwise, they're like, why are there 4 grown men outside of my door? But, you know, I try to disarm people too pretty quick, take my hat off so they see I'm just some bald dude, right? So like, Um, you know, it's been so fun recently, man. And it's cool to see, it's cool to see these leaders in action. And, you know, I play a role as a leader, as like the trainer, right? I'm there. I took time to coach guys one-on-one. Um, like in the middle of the sale, I'd be like, hey, say this. Like, I don't really care if people feel weirded out that I'm coaching a guy. I'll say, hey, I'm just helping them out with something. Hey, uh, Caden, you need to say this instead of like, tell her this. Um, but it's been, it did, it's been a cool job recently. And I, it's, it's so funny, man, cuz I find a lot of joy in like selling a lot and that's what I've been doing this week. But my last week in Texas, man, like I, I found that I loved coaching guys and having an impact on their sales and like their life. Um, and I've, I've known that for a while, but like this last 2 months is where I've really realized that I love doing that. At the end of the day too, like I've gotta go hit my numbers, right? So like my first 2 months were really, really training heavy and now I'm just really focusing in on, hey, like everybody's got to run now. Like we know what we're doing now, we got to go and produce. Yeah.

So where are you at on your summer goals?

Yeah, I'll tell you exactly where I'm at right now. Okay, so for the summer, I'm at 335 accounts serviced, which has produced $221,000, $222,000 in revenue for the company. All doing it door to door. So our goal for this summer is to do over a million. And like, one of the things that I talked to the guys about is, like, if you realize that you're not on pace to hit your goal, like, you've got to do something to change. Like, one of my favorite quotes is, if nothing changes, nothing changes. And so for me, like, last, last month was a little bit slower a month, I went to Hell on the Hill, I went to What was it? Closer School Live in Vegas. And these events are so awesome because they give me, they help me move the needle a little bit so that I can keep learning and keep growing and actually live life, man. Like one of the things that was hard for me, like, and has still been hard for me in this job is just putting my head down and grinding for like 5 months. I actually love that part, but then I forget to live life and then I, then I have 7 months to live life and I've, I've lived, I lived life really hard last year. We had a lot of fun. Um, but why not do it? Why not do it at the same time? Because with a goal for this, for like my mentality this summer, with a goal that I have, like hitting a million in revenue, there needs, it's a marathon. Like there needs to be some sort of longevity play in there. And so I, I took Memorial Day off to spend with my wife and daughter. It was awesome. And now I'm having one of my best weeks I've ever had. Uh, really? Yeah. I, I, it's, and it's crazy. It's not even the account ways that I'm, I'm, I'm not having like the, the craziest week with accounts. I've gone 7, I've gone 8, 7, 8, 10. So like, it's great, like a good amount of accounts, but the contract value on all these accounts is close to $800. So I used to average like last year I averaged $500 per sale. But this year I'm just selling bigger packages, adding Mosquitoes, and like I'm getting to my goal faster without having to stress out if I don't sell 12 accounts. Do I want to sell 12 every day? Yes. But does it happen every day? No, not always. So I can, like, I'm basically selling higher valued packages and I'm getting to my goal faster that way.

So interesting. And, and is the, is the golden, so the golden door is at 1,000, 1,000 doors or 1,000 accounts or a certain number in revenue, right?

$650,000 in revenue.

Gotcha. So the $1,500,000 goal, is that tied to, that's tied to $1 million in revenue?

That's, yeah, it is.

So the $1,500,000 So then you personally, will you feel— do you think you will feel just as accomplished if you hit 1,500 or 1,500 accounts with less than $1 million or vice versa?

At 1,500 accounts at less than $1 million, you'd have to just finish it up.

So, um, but then if you do, if you do $1 million in revenue but less than 1,500 accounts.

Yes, I still think I'd be fine. Okay. Because like this summer, dude, I'm just seeing like the value and time and money And like, I don't have a whole lot of time, like in this, on this earth. Right. So it's like, I want to actually max it out. And, uh, the one thing I just think about, and yeah, we have Georgia here, just keep the, keep the volume down. Um, but the one thing I'm realizing is like, I could die in 2 days. And had I not taken Memorial Day off to spend with my wife and daughter, like I wouldn't have had those core memories or like my daughter wouldn't have those pictures. And, um, like I've been going to gymnastics every Friday with Georgia. I talked about this in another episode, but like, dude, every day I've gone to gymnastics with Georgia, I sell 10 accounts. It's like, wow, this works. I'm fulfilled. I'm happy. Like, um, so it's, it's just been good, man. Like I, I, I can say that I'm approaching the summer in a really healthy way. Like I'm not burnt out. Do I always want to go to work? No, but I do because I just know that I have to chip away. So the times I feel like the most like burnt out are when I like look at my numbers and I'm like, oh my gosh, I've got to do 1,200 more accounts. But if I just literally just show up to work every day and I just go have fun and I aim to hit 10 every day, then I really have a fun time. It's not overwhelming. Like I always think it's funny in the, in the sales world or like the entrepreneur world where people, people don't make it a lot of times cuz they don't want to go work. And I'm like, dude, like if you had a 9 to 5, you would show up to work and you wouldn't complain. So just don't do it now. It's like there's no, there's no difference. It's like, yeah, just, just show up and work. Um, but yeah, it's dude, it's, it's been a, it's been fun so far, man. Like. I'm approaching it with a good attitude and obviously ramping things up right now to really chip away at my goal. If nothing changes, nothing changes. So that's why I'm like, no, I am going to sell more mosquito packages. I am going to sell at a higher value so that I can reach my goal faster and actually, you know, actually do the things that I want to do. But I'm actually doing those things that I want to do during the summer this year. Last year, I would have had a ton of anxiety if I had gone to Hell on the Hill. And now it's something that I reflect on on a daily basis. Throughout my, throughout this last 2 weeks, I've, I reflect on it daily and it actually helps me do better at my job because I, I'm living life, I'm having fun and I'm hitting my goals at the same time or, or working towards them at the same time. Right. I don't always come home with the number I want or the number I, I, I was shooting for, but it's a, it's a pursuit of the goal and like pushing myself that I'm liking right now. So, yeah.

Well, this is, this is, thanks for sharing, man. And it's so interesting. I am seeing I'm seeing us as like kind of being like on opposite ends of this, of this spectrum because I'm like, so you, you have been doing all a lot of training, like training of the, um, of the new guys on the team, and you've been going to a lot of these, you know, personal training events, right? Things that are, that are equipping you with the tools that you need to amplify your game, just take your game to the next level to improve the quality of every single sale. Like, because we're shooting to have a higher quantity of sales than we did last year, right? That's like, that is one of the goals, like a 50% increase, which is huge. And you're seeing that your, the quality of your sales is also going up. And it would not, it would not surprise me in the slightest if you hit 1,500 accounts and, you know, $1.2 million in revenue or, you know, something like way above and beyond because both the quantity and quality is increasing. And you're now, you're slowing down a little bit on that, the training aspect, so that you can just go and do the job and you can get out there and pound the doors. And I— and you're talking about how much you love just doing that. And in my scenario, on the other end of the spectrum, is that I've had so much of this quality training. I've been living in that for years. For these last couple of years, because my full-time job for the Air Force was to be in school, to be training, to be preparing. And now I'm in the job and I'm going to be doing this job for the next year. And well, for the next year with a culmination and probably a deployment or something. And like, that's the part that brings me the most— like, it's— that's the scariest part, is actually just doing the job, is actually just getting out And in this case, you know, I'm not knocking doors, but like that, that would be— it's actually just going out and showing up. And, and I don't know, I like, I don't really know what to do with all like with that, with that, the little bit of anxiety that it's bringing me, except that going back to what you were saying about how you're able to draw back on Hell on the Hill throughout your day, like, oh yeah, no, we went through this, remember? And these are the lessons that we, that we drew from this. I've been to a lot of these, these trainings, gone through courses and whatnot, and I know that— I think, I guess maybe the biggest reason that I'm not as scared as I could be is because I know exactly what I need to do to get over this, and I know that it's going to work, and that it's only going to be a matter of a few weeks, maybe a few months before I feel confident in everything that's going on. And that is literally sets and reps. It is literally every single meeting that I got to run, every meeting that I've got to brief the Colonel. Like, I just, I just got to go and do it. And yeah, you know, I, you know, last week I went and did my first huge briefing to, to my commander's commander, and I was totally expecting to fall on my face. And there was a part of me that actually wanted to, that really wanted it to just be a total crap show because I wanted to get it over with. Like, not that I wanted to, you know, run out of the room over with. I mean, I wanted to just have the experience already. Like, I know it's going to happen. I know I'm going to say something, I'm going to dig myself a hole, and it's all just going to, you know, fall flat on my face. But once you do it, then it's over, right? Once you get your first objection, well, then, like, what? You just wait for the next one, right? And you start overcoming the objections before they're happening. And it's going to sharpen the way that I prepare for my meetings. It's going to sharpen the way that I ask questions, and I've already kind of got a game plan in mind for, okay, see, these are the things that my predecessor said, you know, hey, these are things I wish I'd done, so be sure you're trying to do these things, trying to go to these offices, talking to these people. And so I've got it kind of a game planned out. Okay, next week, you know, I'm going to make it a daily routine. I got to do these things. I got to cut this stuff out of my day because these are all distractions. Like, I need to just get out there be wildly uncomfortable every single day talking to all these people, asking all the dumb questions. I just got to get it. I just got to get through it. I just got to do it day in, day out, day in, day out. And soon enough, like, or every single day, you just— you're just adding a little bit of knowledge from what you gained. You know, a couple days ago, I learned out— I learned what an ISA line is and how it works and how the actuator works and where, where it is. And now when I sit at the table and I'm briefing this stuff, I have that one piece of knowledge, that one data point that's, that's in my tool bag. And, um, in the memory bank. And then, you know, tomorrow I'm gonna go and I'm gonna ask these questions and I'm gonna get this little piece of knowledge and that's gonna go in the memory bank. And then, you know, just day in and day out, you're just gonna be collecting all these little things and it's just gonna build up until you feel like you've got enough history and enough experience behind you that, well, that's where confidence comes from. We've talked about this before, Jeff Hayden, who wrote The Motivation Myth, says that we don't get motivated and then go and do the thing and have success. He says that we are motivated by every single little success that comes along the way. So every day that you go and you learn this thing, you learn something new, that's a little bit of success. You now have— now you know a little bit less— or sorry, you know a little bit more than you did the day before, and that's a little bit of success. And the next day you're out and you're doing the same thing, a little bit of success, day in and day out, until you've got a bunch of successes kind of rolling behind you and you've got the flywheel spinning. And soon enough, the flywheel's spinning on its own and you're just there kind of slapping it, just pushing it a little bit every day, but it's not nearly as big of a, of an effort as it was first time around. And I'm excited to get to that point here in a few months.

Oh, you will. And, uh, No, it's cool because I help the guys, I help a lot of the guys kind of work through anxiety sometimes just because like there's a lot of unknown in, you know, entrepreneurship and even what you're doing as well, like where you're leading people. There's a lot of variables that you have no idea, you have no idea what they are, right? And they're going to hit you out of nowhere. And so, and excuse Georgia this morning, she's having a rough day, but With, with, um, with door stuff, like when guys are about to hit doors, a lot of times they feel really on edge. And I'm like, yeah dude, I've been doing this for 4 years and I still feel on edge. Like I still have the butterflies in my stomach even though I've done it for 4 years. The only difference is now I have decided that it's not a bad thing, and that has changed how I approach this like anxiety thing, right? Like a lot of times people in this job, they'll get crippled by this anxiety and they don't know how to dance with it. They don't know how to just accept it. Whereas I can, I can feel anxiety like, oh my gosh, I'm, I just parked my car for the day. I have no idea who I'm going to talk to, but it's the feelings about that feeling that determine how I actually show up. So now I just kind of look at it as, hey, this is what I signed up for. It's not good or bad. It just is. It's just part of the job. And it helps me go about my day in a fun way. It's not like this stoic, like, I have no emotions. No, I do have emotions. I recognize those emotions and I still show up despite whatever emotion is there. And if you sign up for any type of entrepreneur or start your own business or starting a podcast or anything like that, you're signing up for the unknown. So don't be surprised when the unknown comes and hits you in the face. Like, that's just— that is what it is. If you don't want the unknown, sign up for something where there are no unknowns. And that's what I told the guys last week in Texas. I'm like, look, if you're dealing with anxiety, welcome to the club. That's just part of— it's part of what you do when you do something where you're learning and when you're growing. Um, well, yeah, I think it's cool.

This kind of— it kind of makes me think of— it seems like an analog to a conversation we had had before about um, about how we view the, the stories of our past, how we view the experiences that have happened to us. Because the truth is, you know, life is gonna— it's gonna kick everyone in the pants several times. Um, and if we— but, but the question is, what are you doing with that story? How are you carrying that story? What are you doing with that? Um, you know, if the story that you're going to play for yourself is, look, I am a victim of all of these other people who have done all these horrible things to me, or life in general did all these horrible things to me, and now I'm the one suffering. You know, the truth is, yes, all of those things did happen, but what are you doing with that? If you're, if you're just going to let that story own you, and you, like, you are bound by it, and you are restricted to, like, to that story. But if you're going to take that story and treat it as, in fact, a story, and say, look, this is what happened to me and here's what I'm going to do about it, right? Because— so, so for example, a guy I worked for a few years ago, we, we, we had to do a lot of commuting. We were always driving in and out of LA to, to go set up appointments with new clients and whatnot. And he told me that he was, he was pretty dyslexic and it caused him a lot of stress in school because he, he couldn't read straight and he would always mix numbers up and stuff. And so what he said was that he couldn't really commit things to short-term memory because of his dyslexia. So instead, he had to commit everything to long-term memory. And he said that after, after a few years, he started to realize that he, because of his disadvantage, he had to work extremely hard to make up for it. And it gave him a leg up on the people around him. And now he's, he's wildly successful in, in the enterprise that they're in. And, um, And I just remember sitting— I know it's kind of a vague way of explaining the story, but I just remember thinking like, oh yeah, if you're dyslexic, it's going to mean that your life is going to look— the circumstances of your life are going to look a certain way. And so it's up to you to go out and change them and to use them to your advantage to overcome all sorts of things. And you either have that option or you have the option of just playing the victim card every day for the rest of your life. And that does not sound like a fulfilling life to me, is just blaming all of the negative things in your life on— at the hands of other people. That doesn't seem like a functional way to get to where you want to be in life.

I love that. It's just that Goggins talks a lot about that in his book because he— I think he did have dyslexia. David Goggins, like, Can't Hurt Me. Like, he had to really, really work hard to learn and to read and all that stuff because he actually, like, grew up, like, cheating his way through school. And then he realized, like, oh my gosh, I've got to pass the ASVAB and all this stuff. And really had to redouble his efforts. But it's cool to see, like, it's all about the stories we tell ourselves. Like, um, and that's one of the book things I read in like Satyam Nalli's book. Like, if you're a parent who's stressed out where they're teenagers and, you know, they aren't listening to you, it's like, no, like, it's not that the teenagers don't love you, it's just that they're going through adolescence. Like, and that's how that works, right? Like, it's just—

Do you remember going through adolescence? It was, it's a rough time.

Yeah.

You know, everything seems like the world is falling apart all the time.

Yeah, this reminds me of the scene from The Incredibles. Like, she's going through adolescence, um, or like with Dash. Uh, but, but it's cool. Like, I, uh, it's all about the stories we tell. The stories we tell ourselves really impact like what's going on because it impacts how we look at life. But that being said, I think we will wrap up today because I've— we've got a screaming baby. But I think we've had a good— dude, I think we've had a good convo today. Like leadership, stories we're telling ourselves. But yeah, I think next month's podcast, we'll dive into another topic. Our challenge for you guys, I think this week, and we didn't think about this beforehand, Jared, but what do you think our challenge for this week will be for our listeners?

Go get wildly uncomfortable doing something, like something that gives you butterflies, something that makes you like maybe want to throw up a little bit, something that makes you want to like pull the covers over your head. Like stare it in the face and then go do it anyway. That's one of the things, you know, I'm a big cold shower person and every day I like stare at the freaking shower head and I know like cold water is going to come out of it. I just take a minute and breathe and I turn on the water and the water just hits me and it's freaking cold. And, but we have to do that every single day. We have to stare at whatever it is that makes us wildly uncomfortable. Um, because the, the treasure that we're seeking in the world is hiding behind the dragon, right? The dragon in the lair. The dragon's always protecting either a princess or gold. And, you know, as, as the knight, you're the village boy, whoever it is, and whatever story you're telling yourself, like, you've got to get past the dragon in order to get whatever it is that you want. And there is no other way.

I love it. Well, we will just get yourself uncomfortable. Message in our, uh, like the Spotify thing, what you guys are doing. Um, and we want to hear more about like you guys just getting uncomfortable, learning something new, and then just logging how you feel and logging the emotions that you're dealing with and, uh, the growth that you experience from it. So thanks for being with it here with us today. Have a great week.