The True Cost of Your Dreams | Ep. 10

One of the things that was just like stressing me out a ton, I'm like, oh my gosh, like it's not going to work. It's not going to happen this year. And I just decided, okay, that's okay. Like I do not have to have it in order to be happy.

Welcome to the Rising Tribe.

I'm Jared and I'm Austin Maser.

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 uplevel our lives and the lives around us. Welcome everybody, and we are super stoked to bring to you guys our October episode, which is going to be an update on our lives, kind of where we're at. Uh, we do have our Crucial Conversation episode coming up this next month, but we have had so much happen and we've learned a lot in the last month that we thought it'd be a good idea to just check in and, and kind kind of give us, give you all an idea of where we're at. And I want to hear from Jared. So that's your guys' episode for today. How are you, man?

Dude, I'm excellent. Well, and I think that's, you know, you say, oh, we like, we were given an update on our life and some of the lessons we learned. Well, I think, I think that's one of the really cool parts about having these conversations is that, uh, we go away and, you know, we text back and forth here and there throughout, throughout the month, um, you know, logistical planning of what we're going to talk about and whatnot. Uh, but We're— there are lessons we're learning in real time, and we get to kind of step away from, from our, like, the day-to-day life and kind of observe what's going on and have a conversation about it, um, to analyze, you know, this is what's going on in life, and, and maybe we can redirect, and maybe, you know, here's some cool lessons I've learned and we can talk about them together. Uh, and I, and I think that's what's so fun. And we were just talking about how our lives are kind of crazy, like we're kind of all over the place all the time. Um, and so there's always a lot of newness and life and color, uh, inside of all of these. So I'm, I'm pretty excited. We've got some huge updates, uh, to talk about today, um, for both of us. So let's just jump into it. So first, where in the world are Jared and Austin? Austin, you go ahead first, man. Where are you?

I am in, I am in Winder, Georgia. Finally. Um, we, I just got back from a conference. We'll talk about that a little bit today in Arizona. That was a conference with this guy named Andy Elliott. Uh, we are on the road to go to Tennessee this next week for a Spartan, uh, 5K Spartan race. And then I'm on the road again and like 3 days later to go up to a marathon for Jesse Itzler's like all-day running company. So that'll be in, that'll be in Georgia again, but still some exciting things coming up.

But, and is this a marathon race? You've, you've got, I remember you were doing the 3, you were trying to do the trifecta. Is this one of those? Is this? Yeah.

Yeah. Which one is this? Basically my, there was a third, there was a 50K, so a 30-mile race that my uncle and I were going to do in, uh, like last, like a couple of weeks ago. So that didn't happen. Um, just because they've had, they had things come up. Um, and it just didn't work. They're like, okay, cool. We'll, we'll, we'll make it happen a different race. And so I'll go out to Colorado to, to do a race with them. The thing I like about the Spartan races for me is like, they're literally just excuses to get together with family. Um, flying them from Colorado to New Jersey and me up to New Jersey and everything was gonna be a lot. Yeah. Uh, it was like the weekend after I got home from Dubai. So I was in Dubai like 3 weeks ago and it just was too much. It was like, no, like we're not gonna run ourselves into the ground and I'll, you know, we're gonna plan a different race to go and race together. So. So I will finish a trifecta this year. So that'll be a 5K, a 10K, and a half marathon all through the Spartan company. And I have this little medal right here where they give you, it's a, I think I've talked about this before, amazing marketing where they give you like a third of a circle and you're like, what do I do with this?

So now you gotta go get the other ones to piece together.

You have to go do 2 more. Okay, dude. Yeah.

Um, you always feel incomplete if you don't get the other 2. Yeah.

It's a cool goal. Like Kaya's gonna get her trifecta. Uh, she's gonna do the half marathon with me in Arizona, not in November, November 18th. Is when we're doing that one. So but for right now, we're in Georgia, happy to be home. We had just spending some more time with Georgia recently. We had a little scare with her yesterday. So like, she fell yesterday. And she's fine. But she fell yesterday. And she started— she cried so hard. I don't know if you've seen it with your daughter. Well, she'll just like cry and hold her breath.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, like Georgia did that to us yesterday and she just cried, held her breath, and then she just passed out. I'm like, oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

So she just passed out for like 5 seconds and then we took her, we were just worried cuz we didn't know if it had to do with like her hitting her head, but we took her into the hospital, like the ER right next to us. And she was totally fine. Like she had a little scrape on her, like next to her eye and Like we brought her in cuz she was a little pale afterwards, but then by the time we got to the hospital, she was like dancing. And so we, but the protocol was to stay in the hospital for 4 hours. Gotcha. So we just sat there for 4 hours with this like crazy cooped up toddler. Um, yeah, but it was fun, man. Like, yeah, like I'm just, I'm happy we took that route instead of just being like, oh well, hopefully it was nothing.

Yeah. So absolutely.

That's a little update on the last day, but we are in Georgia. And life is good. Georgia's happy and healthy. Yeah, I don't have anything to complain about, man. Where, where are you? Yeah, that's a little short story, but hey, where, where are you right now?

I am in Milan, Italy this time. So, uh, it's about a 3.5-hour drive from where we live, but we're out here in Milan. Um, I got my wife's parents, uh, in town for a couple weeks, and we are taking them to see Phantom of the Opera on stage tomorrow.

That is so cool.

We are so stoked. Yes, I took today off from work. Yeah, we'll go see it tomorrow and kind of cool. I've never, so, so we, it's funny, this, this hotel that we're staying at, it's called Hotel de la Vie and there's another hotel in Milan called Sina Hotel de la Vie and we had booked the Hotel de la Vie, but every time we go Google like Hotel de la Vie Milan, the other one, the Sina Hotel comes up first in like the first 4 search results. So we had been thinking like as we kind of go back and oh, like, oh, does this, you know, does a hotel have parking? Does a hotel have childcare? Does that like, what, what things is a hotel? We've been looking at this other hotel like for months and we needed someone to watch our baby so we could go to Phantom of the Opera. Uh, and we were originally going to do like, well, we'll go to the morning one, like the earlier, the matinee session, they'll go to the evening one. Um, so that one of us can watch, like, ah, but that's no fun. Like we all want to go together. Um, and so my wife texts me, she goes, hey, uh, the hotel does have childcare. So like, you know, this is how much it'll cost and we can, yeah, we can leave the baby there. Um, while we go to the thing. And I was like, oh, perfect, perfect. Well, About a week ago I called because I had to reserve a spot for childcare. And as I am going to make the phone call, I went to the website and I was like, this website doesn't look familiar. Like, it doesn't quite look right. And so I went back into the Hyatt app where we had, you know, where we booked the hotel. And I was like, oh my goodness, these are two different hotels. And so I went to the right hotel's website. They do not provide childcare. And I was like, crap, like, I got to come up with a solution here because we are, we have like a week left and like, we're either going to have to, find a babysitter of some sort in a, you know, in a foreign country. Like, we're going to have to figure this out. So I call the concierge and I was like, hey, here's the situation. I started talking to her and she was like, oh my goodness, yeah, we like, we don't offer childcare here, but, um, let me talk to my manager and let me see if we can work something out for you. And I was like, that would be fantastic because like, realistically, we might have to change hotels if we can't get childcare. Like, so, you know, on your end, kind of, you know, kind of push, you know, nudge them a little bit. Um, and the next day she sent me an email. She was like, hey, I talked to my manager. My manager has a babysitter that, you know, she uses all the time. Um, and so we've coordinated for her to come to the hotel for the period of time that you're going to be at the musical because, you know, we want you guys still to be able to go and see Phantom of the Opera and whatnot. Um, and there, there were a couple more back and forths that we had to do in order to coordinate it all, but it was, it was kind of cool. Like, you know, get— it's, it's another, uh, piece of evidence that I can get out of my comfort zone and do something, you know, out of the ordinary because like it's, you know, some hotels provide childcare if you need to go do something. For couple hours and others don't. And so this was a case where they didn't and, you know, kind of had to ask some questions and make something happen. And so it was kind of cool.

You are, you were like the epitome of like ask and ye shall receive. I think, I don't know if this was recorded when we had, we talked about this, but you were in Greece, I think, and you just emailed them. And I don't know if we had recorded this. We talked about it off camera., but you had emailed them and said, hey, we're here for a special occasion. I just got back from this trip.

Yeah.

Can you do something to make it special for us? And they upgraded you, gave you a really cool room just because you asked, right?

Like, yeah, they brought in a chocolate mousse cake that said happy homecoming on it. And it was fantastic. It was such a good cake. And they moved you.

Was that here? De Pointe? Like, you weren't De Pointe, you were, you were out in the United States.

So I, I had come back for training in the US, um, so I'd been in the States, but I'd been in the States for 4 months while Marisha and Talitha were here, uh, in Italy. So it was, it was kind of tough being, you know, um, having to go stateside. And I was, I missed, uh, I missed Christmas and both of our birthdays and our baby's first birthday. So it was like, it was kind of just like the, a rough time of year to, to be gone from them. So came back and then we took a, a trip to Greece and in the first hotel, yeah, they, they moved us to a room that where you could see the Acropolis from the hotel room. And so when they lit it up at night, it was, it was so, so cool. And there they brought, they brought us a chocolate cake, which was awesome. That was at the Grand Hyatt Athens. And then I also actually emailed the second hotel that we stayed at in Crete, which is an island in Greece, and said the exact same thing. Like, you know, hey, this is a, you know, I, I've been away from family for a long time and this is kind of a special homecoming vacation that we're taking and we've never seen your beautiful island and we'd love to, you know, get to have a, you know, a really memorable experience. Is there anything you could do to make this extra memorable? And, uh, they upgraded us to a room that has a private pool on the back patio and overlooks the ocean. So like from our bed, we wake up, open the curtains, and we're staring at the ocean, and we've got an infinity pool in the back, like, patio of our hotel room. It was so freaking cool, dude. It was, it was awesome.

It is, it is really cool to just hear those stories. I think I might have been inspired by you, and the other day I was about to hop on the airplane for Delta. I'm like, hey, uh, do you have any first class seats left? Like, I'll take them if you need me to. And she's like, no, they're full. Like, there's a system to that in Delta. So, uh, but I, I never hesitate to ask. Like, yeah, but I, I can start doing that more because it's a good question. Hey, is there anything else you can do to make it more special for us? And they're not just going to email you back and say no, sorry. Like, you made a good point. They're in the industry of like they're in the service industry, so they want to make people happy. So that was, that was really cool to hear about. And so while we're on the topic, like, you usually get what you wish for in life, or you get what you ask for, I think. And so it just made me think about, like, that's the biggest lesson I got from while we were in Dubai. So we were in Dubai for a week. Part of that was, if you hit 200K in revenue, if you hit 150K in revenue, you earn the trip. And if you hit 200K in revenue, you get to bring wife. So I earned the trip and Kaya got to come too. Because we're, you know, we surpassed half a million already in revenue for the company. So we earned it. And the biggest thing I learned from that trip was, like, you will get what you envision out of life, like, your, your— there's a quote from the conference that I just went to, and it's really cheesy, but it's like, your frequency is what you frequently see. So what you think about, what you look for, and what you ask for in life is what you will typically find and get. And so while I was there, you see all these gigantic buildings and everything there is the world's largest, tallest, fastest. They don't have any of the world's slowest because that's boring. But like, they have the world's deepest swimming pool. They have the world's fastest roller coaster, which we rode, which, by the way, the whole vacation felt like the world's fastest roller coaster, just like this adrenaline rush. And then you just get thrown around the entire time because that's how the vacation was. Like, I, I found out that there is a, there's a stark difference between vacationing and traveling. And what we did was a travel trip. Like, we experienced the culture, we took the tours, we did everything you could think about. I mean, heck, went to the world's tallest building. We went hot air ballooning for sunrise, saw camels, flew a hot air balloon over the Prince of Dubai's property. And the guy has a lake with the words Dubai spelt out in the middle of the lake made out of land. And like he has all these animals running around on his property in the middle of the desert. Like we flew a hot air balloon over this stuff and, and while we're in the hot air balloon, they decided to have a falcon fly through the air and do like a falcon show for us and let us hold a falcon in a hot air balloon thousands of feet above the ground. And someone asked me, they're like, why is there a falcon in a hot air balloon with you? And I was like, because Dubai, that's just what they do there. And, um, what it got me thinking. So I, while I was there, I went on a run. I was like really restless. I've had a lot on my mind recently, just thinking about like, okay, what's my vision for life? And it, I think our last, last month's episode, we really talked about like that. Like, go about life intentionally. Don't just follow the crowds. And so I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want out of life. And like exactly what I want it to look like. Because I don't know exactly yet. Like, that's something I've been thinking about. But I went on a run out there at like 1 in the morning, I just ran 6 miles through Dubai, like, tallest buildings in the world. And first of all, super, super safe. No one's out on the streets. There are security guards everywhere, and it's extremely clean. Feels like you're running through a Disneyland city. But the biggest thing, like I said, the biggest thing that crossed my mind was I will get what I asked for out of life. And so every trip, I kind of come away with a lesson that I take from the trip. And so for my souvenir this time, I bought it like a genie lamp. Looks like it came straight out of Aladdin. By the way, I got overcharged like crazy on this thing. And I'm thinking like, okay, well, I deserve it, I guess. Like, I also pest control sometimes higher than lower. Like, these guys got me and I'm an easy sell for like these guys selling souvenirs. Yeah. I think I paid like 150 dirhams where I went somewhere else and it was like I could have negotiated down to 30 or 50 dirhams. So I'm like, okay, I like kind of laughed it off, but Basically, really, I just, I just thought, I just took away from that trip, like, am I thinking big enough? And I think I'm at a part in my life right now where I've, I've found a great job, I've created a great income for my family, we've got a little house, we've got cars, like all that stuff. But I'm like, am I, am I just falling in line? Like, am I just doing what you're supposed to do, like get the house, get the cars. I'm like, what do I really want to do? And yeah, I'm getting clear on that. You know, I'm trying to get clear on that. And so that was like the biggest takeaway I took on the trip, took away from on the trip, like, get clear on what you want, and then go after it. And so I have a little genie lamp now to represent, to kind of symbolize that. Just a side thing and keep talking on this. My lesson from Brazil last year, because we went to go see like Christ the Redeemer statue.

Yeah.

Super cloudy. No one could see Jesus at all. Like it was super hard to see Jesus. And the whole time people were down there looking up at the statue. Well, no, people were there looking up at this foggy mass of like air and there was nothing there. And then occasionally a cloud would come by and there'd be a gap and you could finally see the Christ the Redeemer statue and everybody went nuts. Like they're taking pictures and going crazy. Like. All screaming like, yes, he's here. And then the cloud would come in and people are like, oh man. But the lesson from that, and we got a little statue from that too, was like, am I actively searching for Christ in my life? Like I was, like all those people were on top of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. Like, and the answer is not always. And so that's like a good lesson to me is like, I actively have to seek out Christ. And, you know, look for him in my life. So, man, that's a little bit of a little bit of Dubai, like indoor skiing and world's tallest building and the world's fastest roller coaster. I mean, we've done it all. Like, I'm like, well, cool. Like every single travel trip now is just like, well, this is the third tallest. Okay. I'm kidding. But, or the third fastest. No, it will still be fun. But it was a really exciting experience. So, man, um, that's, that's a little update on Dubai, man.

Like, that's awesome.

I really like it.

How long were you out there? Was it a week, 10 days?

It's a full week, but we accounted for travel, so gotcha. I think we had a full 7, like 6 and a half days there. And then Anthem accounted for like, there's a 20-day travel period, a 20-hour travel period. So it was a long time. We were 10 days without our daughter, which was tough. And it might have been the last time we ever do that type of trip again across the country without our kid, just because it was actually really hard.

Georgia, you guys went from Georgia to Arizona and then left her in Arizona and went all the way to Dubai.

Um, yeah, insane. But she has a lot of separation anxiety now, I think, from that week. Yeah, yeah, she's— she'll be all right, but like she's definitely more clingy to us.

Yeah, I've noticed that, um, now that I, uh, because I was telling you last time, I'm— my hours have gone like through the roof at work, uh, so I, I only spend an hour, maybe 2 hours, uh, with our daughter before, uh, before she goes to bed. Um, and so like I've noticed like she's— if I'm home, like it actually like sets her off. Like she's like, she just wants to be with me all the time, but then it also like makes her crankier and like grouchier to everyone else and everything else because she only wants me to do it and she doesn't want anyone else, you know? And it's so, it's like, it's like great. Now like I'm, you know, now I'm home with my baby, you know, on the weekends and stuff, but she's like more miserable cuz it's like if Marisha does anything, it's like the wrong thing because she only wants me to do it and whatnot.

So, um, yeah, that's, that's, uh, I kind of like, like, like those little moments where Georgia like sit down on the couch and she'll like, It's like, sit down, and she'll like hit the couch and be like, and hit the couch and be like, sit, Daddy. She'll demand like, sit, sit down. I love it. So I get, I get to spend a little bit more time with her now. Like things have kind of cooled down. We have more trips planned to go see family. Yeah. And, um, it's been, it's been really cool, man. Like one other thing I'll add that just from the Dubai trip was the amount of Man, like, out there, there is a lot of, um, their religion is so much more integrated into their culture. Like, every single— when you're in the mall, there's call for prayer all throughout the day, and they have prayer rooms. Um, but there's, there's a lot of order there. Like, there's not a lot of crime there, and there are rules for, like, you have to be certain, you have to be covered a certain way. But it is a very cool place to visit. Dubai is obviously a lot more relaxed on like the rules there. You can just walk around in swimsuits and people will barely wear anything, which is completely against their norms there. But they ought to be open to tourism, so they're not going to punish people for expressing themselves, right? Because then no one will go to visit there. But really cool place, man. I just thought I'd add that because it's one of those things like Kaya and I do want to homeschool our kids down the road. Uh-huh. And it'd be a really cool place to take our kids to see, like, people are in their— man, I forgot what it's called, but they're in their robes. Like, they practice their faith all throughout the day and it's like part of their culture. So it's— I thought it was really amazing. Like, women cannot wear like short shorts at certain places. When we went to Ferrari World, that was in Abu Dhabi, another state of the UAE. Like, you had to wear pants or things that at least covered your knee.

Wow.

Or long sleeves. Like, you can't be showing your shoulders. Even men— like, I couldn't wear a tank top into Ferrari World as far as I remember.

Yeah, but really cool.

Like, I thought it was really cool to see how they preserve, like, these standards. And, you know, like them or hate them, it's just that's what they do there.

So yeah, well, and there's a, there's a common misconception that, you know, that you, like, you can practice your religion at home, but when you go to work, when you are at school, when you're out in public, like, I don't want anything to do with your religion. So like, you know, keep your religion at home. And that, you know, the reason I think it's such a strong misconception is because like, if you believe in something, you don't just believe it from the hours of, you know, 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Like, it's part of who you are. It's a part of your life and everything that you do. It shapes the way that you see the world, what you believe in. So that expectation that you need to you know, abandon your religious beliefs. Like, leave them at the door when you come into work, leave them at the door when you go into school or whatnot. Like, I think it's just kind of, kind of crazy. Like, because it's, it's not just, it's not just something that you can leave at a door. It should be like emanating from you, um, at every opportunity. Not to say that you should be evangelizing and proselytizing at every opportunity, like, you know, always talking about church or your religion, because you can't do that there either. Yeah, yeah, definitely not.

But it's, um, it's all Muslim, like it's all Muslim of faith, they're out there. So they read— correct me if I'm off on this— they read the Quran, is that right?

Yeah.

Yes, they read the Quran, and that's like the national, like, religion there. That's what this— yeah, Islam is publicly practiced, like, but It was so cool to see. But there's also Hindus that live there too. Like, there's— yeah, there's plenty of Indian people.

Yeah, in Dubai and the UAE in general.

And so cool, so cool to see. So one of the most diverse places, and people come from all over the world to live there. It's a testimony— testament of that— it's a testament that people of different faiths and cultures can coexist together. Yeah, um, it was really cool to see. Um, but yeah, that was a little update there. Yeah, we're— yeah, I want to hear about, um, are you going to talk about your credit card stuff? Because I want to hear about that.

Yeah. Okay, before, before we jump into the credit card stuff, I want to hear about your updates on pest control, uh, because just before we, just before we hit record, you, you dropped some, some kind of some big, some big, uh, big nuggets of, of lessons that you've learned. So, um, and kind of mindset shifts. So I want to hear about that, and then, yeah, then we can talk about credit cards.

Yeah. So right now where I stand in my summer, um, we, I've had a great summer by all means. As far as like continuing to go full bore, we just didn't plan for that to happen. We have planned out a lot of trips, right? So we've planned trips, trips to go to a Spartan Race, trip to go to a Running Man, trips to go see my mom at the end of this month. We have a trip to go to Utah. I have to go to Anthem. I get to go to an Anthem kind of summit in November. And then we're going to go see my sister. We're gonna go see my sister for Thanksgiving. We're going to run a Spartan race in Arizona and go to Arizona. And when you do the math on kind of how much I have left, I've, I've hit $522,000 in revenue. For Anthem, right? Like I've generated 522. A golden door is 650. So in order to hit it, I have to do another 100, uh, 128,000 in order to hit it. And with the days I have left, um, it's not realistic. Like it's not going to happen. And so there are lessons like I've learned from it. The, the thing is like, there's a cost if, if I want to hit a golden door, there's a cost I have to pay and I'm not willing to pay that now. Like I'm not, like I, I have to, I'd have to go in through December in order to make it happen. And so I had to sit back and like really analyze like, what are the factors that make me want to continue going? And at the end of the day, I realized, I'm like, cool, I've made plenty of money for my family. I've hit, I generated over $500,000 in revenue. Kind of like I had to, like me and you talked that one time when you're like down on yourself. You're like, no, no, hold up. Like, look at it objectively. Like, what did you do? Well, I had a great summer, spent more time than ever with my family. I did over half a million dollars in revenue for Anthem. And I had a huge impact on a lot of the guys I trained with. So overall, it's been a great summer. And I'll still actually go out and knock with Diego. He's my technician. But one of the things that was just like stressing me out a ton, I'm like, oh my gosh, like, it's not going to work. Like, I— it's not going to happen this year. And I just decided, okay, that's okay. Like, I do not have to have it in order to be happy. Yeah. And so it was a huge battle with my ego, because it's not a bad thing to want to aspire to do that at all. But right now, I do want to figure out like other things that I can learn about. I would like to sit down and start getting our training library for Anthem done. Cause I'll, I'm in charge of like overseeing that whole training library, building videos out and doing role plays with the new guys. I want to write a book, like there's other things I want to do. And the biggest thing I like about this job is the freedom that I have during the off months, right? Like where we're not going full bore door to door. It's the middle of October and it, I want to take advantage of this time from November to December to see family, to do things that I love to do. And that was a decision I've made. And so we'll still be on the— I'll still go out in the doors to go have some big days to keep my— I think it's important to keep your tools sharpened so that you still know what you're doing. Um, but at the end of the, at the end of the day, I've had a great, I've had a great year. My coach that I was working with this last summer, he asked me a question. He's like, when you die, like when you die, when you're at your funeral, is anybody going to give a lick? Whether you got 1, 2, or 3 Golden Doors. And the answer is no, like, nobody cares at that point. It's the impact I've made on people's lives. I hope that when I die, like, people aren't going to be talking about my accolades or how much I sold or how much pest control I did. I hope they talk about how I was a husband, as a father, as a leader. And so I think there's lessons to learn from this summer too. Like, if I want to do it again next year, there's ways that I can get it done in that time period that I had this year, like the same timeframe that I did this year, like the middle of October, like there's, or even earlier, there's ways to get the Golden Door done sooner. And that's where I talked to you about, like, I really got to decide what I want to do in life, right? And that's why I'm taking a lot of time now to really get clear on that. What do I want? What do I want to do? What really makes me happy? What, what inspires me. I know I love to work with people. I know I love to train. I know I love to be a mentor to people. And so that's what I'm feeling right now. And, um, yeah, that's a little update there, man. So ultimately an exciting time, cause I'll still go out with Diego a couple of days a week while I am in town. But we've, we've designed, I designed my life this year to go and see family and to go have incredible experiences on the off season.

And well, it sounds to me like that's what you've had.

Well, and it's what I've wanted. Like I have like, it's, it's what I've wanted and it's what I've done. And I've had like the funnest year of my life, period, while I've been working, which is usually never the case.

Like, dude, that's just, I mean, just, just listen to yourself. This has been the funnest year of your life. And on top, and on top of that, you have, you've earned $522,000 in revenue.

I earn like $55,000. So I, yeah, I produce that much, but at the end of the day, like when you think, when you sit down and think about it, it's like, I'm a big believer that money does not make you happy. It's like your purpose is going to make you happy. So at this point, like even work, even continuing to work isn't about money for me because I've had, I have plenty of that. I'm good. Like, an extra 50 to 60 grand isn't going to make or break my life right now. My wife and I can still make a lot of our dreams come true with what we have. At the same time, I'm starting to feel like I've, I've hit like some sort of complacency that I'm trying to kill. But I don't feel like it's with the sales stuff. It's like with my vision for my life. I think I've become complacent. Yeah, if that makes sense.. And so deciding exactly what that is that I want has become very important to me. My wife and I, we've gone to look at houses to kind of figure out like a dream for our life and, or sat down and talked about what if we move here? What if we go there? What's after door-to-door? Because I have another year with Anthem. What's after that? I don't know. But that's what we're trying to figure out right now. And maybe we do stay for longer years with Anthem and out in Georgia, or maybe we move. You know, it's, but it's such a cool, it's a cool thing to be able to have that freedom to think about what I want and kind of tying back to Dubai, like you get what you wish for out of life. You get what you ask for.

Well, and, and going off of that, I think, I want to say, I think James Wedmore over at the Mind Your Business podcast and, and Ed Mylett too, they, they both talked about how really what you get outta life is not, not just what you not just what you wish for, but what you believe yourself to be worthy of. And that, like, the first time I heard that, I was really confused. Like, what you believe to be like, I am worthy of $1 million. Like, what, you know, how do you even quantify like your value? But over time, I've come to understand that there are a lot of people who sabotage themselves, who will take a fantastic opportunity that comes their way and they will sit on it, they'll wait, they'll procrastinate until the opportunity's passed, or they'll maybe start doing it but then start having all these doubts and other people might get in their ear saying, no, you can't do that. No, like, oh, well that's why I tried that and it was a stupid idea. So I let it be in a way of kind of like criticizing them and they let these things go because they don't think they You know, subconsciously, I think they don't think that they are worthy of it. They don't think they are allowed to be happy, that they're allowed to, um, fulfill their dreams, to, to, to make a bunch of money, to pursue the life that they truly want to live, to, to intentionally design their life. Like you guys were saying, you know, having dreams, being allowed to dream that big. So many people do not let themselves dream big because, well, I, I don't know exactly why it is, and I, but I think subconsciously it's because they don't think that they're worthy of that much life, that much happiness, growth, fulfillment, et cetera.

Yeah. And I mean, we've had some really good conversations recently about that. Like, there's a beautiful house right now and it's— here's a caveat here. Like, we're not looking for another house because we feel unhappy with where we live right now. No, it's just like, hey, what excites us? Like, we're completely happy right now, but what's something exciting that we could look into? We looked into this house, like, in this very beautiful development I've always wanted live in and, you know, beautiful house on a, on a lake lot, on a, on a, on a lot right next to the lake. So you could literally walk down your, you know, your backyard and go paddleboarding. It's like, cool. Does that inspire us? Is that something that we want to do? Do we want to be paying, you know, X amount per month? And we kind of sit and think about how much is it actually worth to us to take on a responsibility like that? And for some people it could be exactly what they want out of life.. And for some people it isn't. And so as I sit and think about, like, it's cool to ask yourself these questions because when I sit and think about it, I'm like, no, like I don't want to be a slave to a mortgage payment. I don't want to— I want to be smart with the decisions that we make coming up and make some solid investments so that down the road I can afford to buy that house without having to work my butt off to get it right. Like having cash flow is King. I heard the other day from— it was actually from Sam Taggart. He's like, a lot of people think financial independence is having $10 million. That's not true. Financial independence is simply having enough money coming in through like cash flow, cash flowing assets that, that are enough, more money than what you need every month coming in so that you can survive. That's financial freedom. So you've had these systems put in place. So that you don't have to work your butt off for the rest of your life.

Yeah. And that number's a lot lower than what people think it is. Like so much lower. If you, you know, on the spectrum of, you know, stocks and bonds and like real estate and then, you know, private investments and whatnot. Let's just look at real estate and stocks and bonds, the stock market. In real estate, like if you own enough properties that have payments that come in you know, let's say, let's say you buy a property and it pays you 15, the renter pays you $1,500 a month, right? Well, at first that money's mostly going to go to the mortgage payment. And then, you know, if you have a prime, like a management company that's working for you or a property management company or, you know, any capital expenditures that you're like saving up for, you know, in case the house needs a new roof or et cetera. Like at a certain point the house will be paid off and then that house is going to bring in, more money. Or if you buy the right property within and it, it's financed the right way, then maybe even while you're paying off the mortgage, you're still, you're still in the green and you're still receiving, you know, extra income on top of that based on how much the rental rate is. Well, you just need a certain number of properties at a certain amount that on a monthly basis they are covering your needs. Like it's just, it's just a matter of the number of houses that you would need in this case, you know, and, and whether they're duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, et cetera. But like, that's, that's one side of the spectrum. On the just stocks and bonds, you know, people who are afraid of real estate or leverage or whatever, like, if you invest your money into just like the total stock market index fund, um, if you eventually get to the point where there's a million dollars in those investment accounts, you can withdraw about $40,000 a year, and that money will, will, will live forever.

Like, yeah, it'll— it recreates itself annually on average. Yeah.

And that, and that's a really conservative estimate. I mean, and there's many, many studies that have been done, um, over the course of like the last 50 years that have proven it out, that it is, you know, if you are entirely inflexible, a 4% withdrawal rate has like a 99% chance of success. Like, you know, if you're completely inflexible, but if you're even just a little bit flexible, then it goes up to 100%. Like, it really is. And so that number's so much lower than a lot of people think it is. So I think because they think that what they really actually want is too far out there because they don't even try. Yeah, that is—

forget it.

Yeah. Have we talked about Tom Bilyeu? Um, and I think we did. Yeah, I think we talked about it when— because you went and saw him speak at, uh, at Georgia DoorCon this year.

I liked him a lot.

One of the things that he, he's talked about was back when he was working with, uh, inner city families, he asked them all like, if you could have one thing in life, what would you want?

Oh, didn't they all just say a million bucks? Yeah.

Like every single one of them said a million dollars because to them that was so far out there that it was impossible. So anything above that was the same. It didn't matter if it was a million or a hundred million, it was all the same. It was all the same. It all equaled impossible to them.

That's insane. Yeah. And, and that's where I've thought recently is yes, for this year, like I've decided even for like the sales side too, for this year I decided, hey, enough is enough for this year. I'm going to focus my efforts towards like a bigger picture. Like, what do I want to do long-term in life and how can I move? How can I transition into coaching? And helping other people have good results. Because I figured out, like, at a pretty young age, I think I figured out a lot of stuff. Like, I figured out how to get a house and, you know, get married, have a kid, and like, we've done all that fun stuff. We want to have more kids, we want to do more of that, but we want to do more of those things that bring us joy. Like, but quite frankly, like, the biggest things that bring me joy is like creating and hitting achievements. Like, And I think, I think I enjoy flex— I think I enjoy freedom a lot to be able to decide like, hey, this is when I'm gonna work and this is when I'm not going to. And so it was, I found like a really good job for myself. Like, cool, I work 5 months out of the year, 6 months out of the year, and then the rest of the year I can do literally whatever I want. And I, for the training job that I have, I can, I can train the guys when I'm, you know, I can train the guys from my computer, like do phone calls and everything. But it's been, it's been really good recently, man. We are in a good spot to have, like, we are in a good spot to like figure out exactly what we want and to just go for it. I think that's the key too, is like once you figure out what you want, you have to go, like you have to implement. And, um, Kaia and I are getting more clear on exactly what that is right now. So it'll be really cool to see like what, what are the next, it excites me to think like what are the next 3 years have in store for us. Yeah, I think they'll look very different than what it looks like now, but that's exciting. Yeah.

Well, and you're, you're locked into Anthem for another, uh, 12 months or another year.

Yeah, another 12 months.

I'll be here to the end of next year. Um, and, and being in the military, like, we are locked in for a certain number of years. We're locked in for 2 more years, um, here at Aviano. And, you know, we're gonna try to extend and get a third year. So hopefully 3 more years here at Aviano, and then I've got another assignment. I gotta go back to Colorado Springs for 3 or 4 years at some point.

Hey, they got a temple there.

Yeah, they will have one. They're gonna build a temple in Colorado Springs. Super exciting. Cause yeah, they, they have needed one for a long time. Um, but yeah, we, we gotta go there for a few years and we're, it's still up in the air whether or not we want to do other assignments between Italy and Colorado Springs. Um, but that kind of affords us this chance to dream. Because we know that we can't make certain decisions right now. And so there, we can, you know, toy around with lots of ideas, throw some of them out, keep some of them, log some of them on the bookshelf, you know, for to come back to later. But on the other hand, it in some ways is a little bit of a handcuff because there are things you can't do. Yep. And so that's, you know, talking about this credit card business, I was listening to somebody, I can't remember who, talking about the difference between 10% like a 10% growth and a 10x growth. And how if you want to increase your business, your, or improve your gameplay, your relationship, your marriage, or whatever, a 10% increase means you probably just gotta keep doing what you're doing. Maybe make some like slight adjustments here and there, optimize here and there, maybe work just a little bit harder and you can increase 10%. Like that can happen. But you can't just keep doing what you're doing and just improve, work a little bit harder to 10x your output. Like, that's not possible. If you want to 10x whatever it is— your relationship, your marriage, your business output, your income, your net worth, whatever— you've got to fundamentally change the things that you're doing. You've got to discard so much of what you've got going on right now And bring on new things that are going to get you in that direction. And those things that you bring in have to be incredibly intentional. And it's got me thinking. Um, so I have a website for, uh, that, that talks about, uh, credit card rewards, travel rewards, loyalty points, um, you know, with hotels, airlines. It's called militarytravelrewards.com. So super simple. It's all about travel rewards or, you know, quote unquote travel hacking, uh, as a lot of people like to call it, but specifically for military members because there are a lot of benefits that are exclusive to military members that everyone else doesn't get. One of the big ones being that most annual fees for credit cards get waived for military members.

So that is insane.

Yeah, it's nuts. And a lot of people think it's, you know, limited to certain cards. No, there's tons of them. And if you are diligent enough to pay off your credit cards in full all the time and not be racking up credit card debt, like there's a lot that you can do with, with credit card points. Like the hotel that we're staying in, in Milan right now, we got 2 rooms for 2 nights. We paid for them all with points, which which is pretty cool. But I've, yeah, so I got this website, just started, but I've been like coaching people through, you know, what cards do you have, what cards do you want, what things do you want, and then figure out which cards are the best cards to get you in that direction. I've been doing that for the last few years, but I've been wanting to build a website and build a business to help other people do that. And I don't want to go the, you know, paid coaching route for this. I want to go with the free content with the affiliate links. Um, as the income producer, right? You provide enough value for other people, then they are of their own accord willing and wanting to reward you for all of that value that you've brought to them by, you know, going to apply for a card using your link so that you can, you know, you can receive some income on the backend. Well, um, it's something I've been wanting to do. And, uh, a couple of weeks ago, I finally, I finally, or a couple of months ago, I finally said, forget it. I need to just do this. So I went on to Carter, uh, I won't mention their name, but one of the credit card kind of aggregators, you could say, where they, they are the backend affiliate for all of the different travel blogs that are out there, all the different podcasts, everyone who has newsletters and stuff that has credit card affiliates, even just like news websites and stuff like that. If they have credit card affiliate links, there are certain companies that you have to go through who then do all the vetting and the compliance guidance for the banks. And so finally reached out to one that I've used or that I've seen several times for other blogs that I follow. Sent him an email and said, hey, I'd like to sit on a phone call. Like, can we talk? And they reached out. They're like, yeah, let's hop on a call. You know, sign up at this time, blah, blah, blah. Let us know, you know, what's the name of your website? What are you doing? Just some information. And so I hopped on a call about a month ago and I was like, I was nervous as all get out, dude. I was like, oh my goodness. Like, this is, this is the real deal. You know, I've, I've started a bunch of different websites that have, you know, failed and I've trashed them all and stuff., but I've got one that I've spent a good amount of time building and, uh, now I'm gonna talk to someone who's, you know, official, a real grownup, you know, or whatever you wanna call it. And so we hopped on this call and I was like nervous. I was at work. Um, it was at the end of my workday, so I'm still in uniform and stuff, but I was, I was talking to him like, hey, you know, uh, oh, before, before we hopped on the call, he said, hey, send us any questions or not any questions, send us any information about your business that would be helpful, um, for us to prep for the meeting. And I was like, well, I don't really have any information to give you, but what I do have is a whole bunch of questions. So I typed up a list of questions. And of course, you know, questions I want to know, you know, how much am I going to get paid? How, what do I have to do?

Blah, blah, blah.

But the questions I really wanted to know were, how does this, how does like working with me help you? What metrics do you track to decide if you should even keep this person you want to work with or this company you want to work with? What makes a good partner for you over the 3, 5, 10-year time horizon? Like where, you know, do you make money on this or on this or on this? You know, like very specific, what do you make money on, um, and, uh, how will I know if I am a good partner for you over the course of X number of months or years?

You're like, basically like, what do I need to do to make this make sense?

Exactly.

That's really cool.

Because that's what I want to know is like, what do I got to do in order for this to make sense for you? Because I know there's work on your end and I don't know how many people you're managing, companies you're managing.

Like, I got to, you know, it's like the perfect way to get into it too, by the way. Cause they just say like, we need this from you. Okay, I'll do that. Like it is, yeah, that's great.

But you, you're like defining, defining the metrics for success and then you have very clear goals of like, oh, that's what I gotta do. Okay, well then that means I need to do this, this, and this to hit that goal. And we hopped on the call. I was super nervous, tried not to show it, and we started talking and it was fantastic. He, so he was like, yeah, well let's just kind of go through the questions you, and he was like, first of all, you asked the most insightful questions anyone's ever asked. Most people don't even ask us questions at all. And And frankly, no one usually cares about what's in it for us, why we would even want to be doing it. So thank you for the questions. And so then we started talking about them all and he was like answering them. I'm giving him some questions. I'm taking a bunch of notes, like, you know, because I got to make sure I keep track of this information. And at the end of the call, it went super well. And at the end of the call, he was like, you are the most diligent and like prepared and insightful, they call them publishers, the companies that they work with, publisher that I have, that I've ever interviewed before. Like this doesn't usually happen. Like, you know, people just want to know how much money they're going to make, et cetera. Like, thank you for asking the most insightful questions I've ever gotten. Like, thank you so much. I want, I think you're going to make this work. I think you're going to actually like shoot off the charts because, and he listed out some reasons. He's like, let's make this happen. I'll send you some follow-ups, blah, blah, blah. I got off the call. I'm like riding cloud nine. And then a couple hours later he sends me an email saying, hey Jared, you know, thanks again. And again, he's, he put in there like, this was the most, you are the most insightful person I've ever interviewed for this. Like, I'm really bullish on, on your success. I think you, you're gonna, you know, shoot through the moon. Um, and then he sent me some stuff that I gotta do. Well, so I go home and I'm telling, I'll tell my wife and I'm like freaking out. I'm like, oh my gosh, like maybe this is gonna be real. And then, um, I started studying all these other newsletters that I received cuz I'm, I'm pretty in the know on everything, uh, points and miles. So I'm, I'm now I'm starting to look at everyone's newsletters differently, their emails differently, their websites differently. Like, oh, okay, they have to do this. They have to word things this way because of compliance guidance, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. On the, you know, on the legal side of things. I always knew there was something there, but I didn't know what the rules were. So I read through this like 60-page compliance guide that they sent me and all this, and I was like, ah, so many things are making sense. Now I got more questions. So they sent me an email saying, hey, let's hop on a follow-up call. We have some follow-up information for you, blah, blah, blah. So I hop on a call just a few days ago and I was going to do it in my office at work. It's the end of the workday, but people came to my office to do stuff. So I was like, well, I got a call in 5 minutes. So I grabbed my stuff and I just go out to my car, put my iPad up on my dashboard, and I'm just sitting in my car. I rolled the windows and I got my notepad out and I was like, hey, sorry, I'm not in my office. I, people are in my office right now, but I got some questions. So we hopped on and it was, it was, uh, this time the same guy and then one of the, one of the girls he works with. And it was a really awesome conversation. I got to ask like very specific questions and they, they laid out for me very specific goals. Um, and I, because I wanted to know like exactly what do I need to do to succeed? Um, because I only succeed if they succeed and they only succeed if I succeed. Like if we succeed, we succeed together and if we fail, we fail together. So, you know, on the failure side, it's a waste of time and a waste of money. And on the success side, everyone makes money. And, you know, and on the moral front, in case anyone's worried about credit cards and whatever, if you are diligent in paying off your credit cards in full every single month, there are a lot of points and money and rewards for you to be able to gain from credit cards if you do them properly, right? So it's a win-win-win for everybody. And after that call, I just came home and it got me thinking about the numbers because they were talking about, okay, like this is the starting goal. Like this really is the minimum that we need for you, from you in order for this to work. And I think it's totally doable. And I think really, actually, you're going to be kind of in this other bracket. And at first I thought like, are they just kind of like blowing smoke up here? You know, like, are they really just trying to pump me up? But, um, I really believe that they were being genuine about it.. And I started running some numbers in my head. And as we start to make this work, I've talked to Marisha, we've had to, you know, she's going to help me put this website out there and really get it out there in front of people so that everyone can start benefiting from these rewards that are being left on the table. As this starts to take off, even the bare minimum of like what we need to do to make this work is a 20% increase in our like income, like our, our current income. It's a 20% increase right off the bat. Um, might actually be closer to like 25%. Um, but the upside is 10x. Like, I mean, the upside is doubling our income. The upside is like a lot, lot higher. Um, it really, the upside is, you know, as, as far as I want to take this, as much as I can do. Um, which is really exciting. And it's got me thinking about this whole 10% increase compared to, to 10x. Um, like you've got to fundamentally change what it is you're doing. Like, I, you know, obviously in the military, I can't just go make more money in the military. Like that's, you get paid based on how long you've been in and what rank you are. And that's, that's it. Um, but if you are willing to try and fail and get back up and learn and fail again and try something new again and just keep going, like there is, there are, there are, there are pots of gold out there and not just like financially, but there are like, I'm excited because it's opening an entirely new world that I have no idea about.. And it's terrifying in a lot of ways. Like, it really is terrifying because I don't know so many things. Um, and I know lots of people who, you know, don't actually want to see this succeed. And I say that—

why wouldn't they want you to succeed?

Well, so here's the thing. It's not that they— the people verbally say, hey, I want you to fail.

Yeah.

What it is, is we're— you and I are in the same boat. We are the same people, you know, we're the same person. You are no better than I am. But now you're making moves, now you're making changes, now you're, you're increasing and I'm not. Like, oh, I don't know how I feel about that, you know.

The lobsters.

Yeah, you know, hey, yeah. Oh, you know, hey, like, oh, that's, you know, good for you.

That's done with us. Yeah.

But I, what I think what really kind of kicked me in the pants was I met another guy who at work, just, you know, another another dude, we kind of met at this thing and we started talking and he was talking about, you know, wanting to be financially free. And I was like, say more, please. Like, let's talk. Like, I love talking about this stuff. And he started talking about this vending machine company he's got back in the States. And he started talking to me about how he and his buddy of his started a trucking company. So he like manages guys who drive long haul truck and he's got several vending machines at different churches and rec centers and stuff. And as we started talking, I was like, This is one of those guys. This is one of those people that I want talking in my ear. Like another guy who was out there just busting his butt in his off hours instead of going home and binge watching Netflix and going to bed. Like someone who wants to make something more of himself and just to see how much he could grow, how much he could do, just what he's capable of. And I really think we just need more of those voices in our, like in our ears and fewer of the voices out there that are like, like, uh, no, you know, like, uh, you know, good luck. You know, I, I've, I've failed a whole bunch of times, so like, you're gonna fail too. So, you know, the things that they're not saying, right?

I think it's, it's, uh, people— when you expose yourself to people who think differently, you'll start to think different. You'll start to think differently. And I think that's why I do have a vision for our life to have some sort of business, and I don't know what it is yet, but some sort of business that is like a subscription-based business that works on its own. Like, you look at Anthem right now and like they're a company that has thousands of accounts and that creates income for the business and hence the owners and all of that. Like, it's amazing to think that They thought this up, they employed salespeople, they've given me an incredible, an incredible lifestyle for working for them. But it's cool to see like they thought differently, like they just didn't continue to do sales. Like even though sales might be the thing that I continue to do the rest of my life because I like the freedom being a business owner, I think that freedom goes out the door. Like when you decide to do like a business like that, the freedom goes out the door. But the point is like it's good to be around people that think differently. Because they have, they have different results. So it goes back to what you said, they are obviously doing something that's giving them 10x results. And they're not doing what people that are doing that are getting 2x results. And you make a good point. There's a book that came out recently, 10x Is Easier Than 2x. Same kind of concept, you literally have to think differently. In order to get bigger results. Because if you just continue to do what you're doing just naturally, you will continue to grow. Like you said, like you'll just, you'll just grow and that's good. Like, that's awesome. But I think there are things that you can do that you can really blow up in life. And so it's, uh, Ed Mylett did, uh, on September 19th, he did How to 10X Your Life with Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It's a book that came out recently.

Yeah, I think that was the episode that I was, I was listening to.

Yeah, it's September 19th's Ed Mylett episode. We, I guess we invite you guys all to read that, not to read it, to listen to it. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's cool to see what, and that's why I like going into rooms with other people that have, that are completely different industries, completely different worlds, because you can hear what people have done. I went to that Andy Elliott conference last week with Anthem. It was awesome. Like to help us learn, like, how do you become a better leader? How do you, become a better salesman. A lot of his sales trainings is just become a better person, get in shape, get your life in order, you know, get rid of your vices and, you know, be disciplined. I like him a lot. You know, he's kind of famous on Instagram for having a sales guy come up to the front of the room without his shirt on. And he's like, hey, how'd you feel when you did that?

Okay.

Like, you feel fat? Okay, well, don't be fat, like get in shape. So he's really intense. Like, and it's good because I think it's good that like, people realize like, man, there's all this stuff that I want to change. But I think in that room, you realize like, man, like there are some things that I have just left by the wayside and like my fitness or my health. And so I personally think you got to pick somebody that you like and that you want to model in order to— like if you are really inspired by somebody like Andy Elliot, then do the things he does and live the way he lives. If you're really inspired by somebody like a Tom Bilyeu or an Ed Mylett, then do, you know, think the way they think and do the things they do. But I really got a lot from the conference. I know there's one thing I want to just update you on is just like, for as much as if you saw my Instagram stories, there's a guy named Wes Watson. And apparently he got out of jail like 5 years ago for Lord knows what. But in the last 5 years, he's making tons of money and he's buying Lamborghinis and all this stuff. Now that it's interesting to hear him talk about it because he doesn't need those things. He just wants them and he can afford to have them. So he buys them. Right. But everybody's version of happiness and fulfillment is different. But this guy in jail had nothing. It was cool to hear his story. He had nothing. And in jail, he was completely happy and he's still happy no matter what happens in his life. But if you take away all the F-bombs and all the really strong language from some of these conferences, it really is just about pushing yourself and becoming a better person. So the F-bombs and all the swearing, it's really attractive and gets people amped up. But their message is like, hey, like, get yourself together and get yourself in order and be disciplined, get rid of your vices and, and get clear about what you want to do. And one of the things that Andy Elliott shared with everybody was like, what are the things holding you back from being successful in your marriage and your business and all these different categories? And then, like, write down a plan to become a different version of yourself, which I really liked. And I've been getting clear on that, exactly what that is for me. And it's, it's exciting. Like, when you have a game plan, life is so much more exciting.

Yeah.

So it's good to, it's good to identify your weaknesses and work on them. But to your point, like talking about this dude that's doing the vending machines and everything, like it, do whatever you can to get around people doing big things, I think.

Yeah.

Like, because you will start to think bigger. That's like kind of the Dubai thing. Like you will start to think bigger if you are around people that are thinking bigger.

Yeah. And, and I think we, like, we might get motivated for a while because we, we heard a podcast, we, we watched a YouTube video or something that really pumps up. And then we go back to our, like, a regular life. Step away from the computer, unplug the headphones, and you look around and most of the people around you are all doing the same, you know, day-to-day, just plug and chug, standing in line at the airport, you know, just kind of falling in line. And after a while, if you don't have any of those other voices, you know, in your ear, like, you'll get dragged right back down into it. Like, you really will. Because we become like all the people around us, for good or for bad. And it's not to call other people bad in this case, but rather if you want something more than whatever this life is currently offering you, then you need to find people who have what you want and listen to them and do the things that they are doing. And like that, that's how you go from here to there is finding the example. And you know, looking at an eternal perspective, you're talking about having a plan, making life more exciting, right? If you know that the divine plan that God has for all of us and what's gonna come after this life, then it makes this life so much more understandable. It starts to make all of the tragedies and the suffering of life, it, it makes it make sense. Does it, does it feel like, you know, it's justified, you know, all the terrible things that happen in the world?

No.

But when you understand the eternal perspective, then all of the terrible things that happen in the world, you, you can put them in the proper place. And you can, you do can know where, what you need to do about it, if there's anything that you actually need to be doing about those things., and, and continue to pursue the, the, the eternal goal.

I think it makes life a little bit easier too, like knowing that there's like, it's like you talked about earlier, when you have faith, it literally defines who you are, like your religious beliefs. It makes your decisions so much easier because that's your compass that you work off of. Yeah. Um, and it makes the way you see the world a lot easier because you have an eternal perspective. You know that. Pain is a temporary thing. Trials are not the end, you know, there is a, there's an end goal to this. It almost, it also too makes you think like, yeah, I can do whatever I want in this life as long as it's not like a bad thing. Like everything else is kind of just up to you. Like do what you want, like live a life that you want to live. And before, like you said, before we got on this, we're like, we live some really cool lives right now. And I don't feel that either of us. Like I talk about changes coming up in life and it's not because I'm unhappy, it's just because I want to experience more life and experience other things, experience, try something else, you know, like that's, that's start at what I'm starting to feel in life is just, I want to grow in different ways. And the biggest thing, and I've said this multiple times, is like this podcast has been so fun for me because it's like a monthly check-in and I I guarantee we listened to episode 1, we listened to this episode now, we've both changed a ton as far as who we are. And it's cool because it's like a journal for us. And yeah, that is the reason why we did this originally. Like, hey, let's just record our talks.

Yeah.

So since then it's kind of transformed into something more. And so the conference thing, that scares the heck out of me, man. Like, like, oh my gosh, we're going to do this conference down the road. Okay, cool. We're going to make it happen. I think the next step for me and you slap a date on the calendar, like, oh my gosh, we gotta make it work. Find people to show up to it. But it's exciting, man. I'm— this is something that's been very exciting to me recently.

So, yeah. Well, and I really want to be able to take this, take these conversations to the next level by getting, you know, we, because we talk about your life and my life. I want to talk about some other people's lives too. I don't want to bring— I want to bring all of our heads together to talk about, okay, well, like, what are you looking at right now? Where are you? Where do you want to be? Do you know how to get there? Is that even where you actually want to be? Or is Is that where someone else is telling you you ought to be? And how can we pivot and move in that direction? I think those are conversations that we really want to start having with people. And yeah, the end of next year, that's when we're planning on doing this thing. And I'm really excited on the logistical side to start planning it all. I think that stuff gets me fired up and going, but also getting a bunch of people together to see just what we could just see what's out there in the world and how can we all start pursuing doing that which we truly want out of this life and getting really, really clear on our vision and giving each other the permission to dream bigger than what we have right now, than the people around us are dreaming. And again, it is not because I want to just, you know, I'm not trying to say that everyone we surround ourselves with is just, you know, a lousy lying piece of garbage and we want to be, you know, the good people out here. That's not it. It's just that I know what I want out of And I know that a lot of people around me don't think it's possible. And so I want to surround myself with people who do vibrate at a different frequency. You were talking about frequency earlier. When I first stepped into the sales room, uh, for when, when I started selling solar, those guys were vibing at a different frequency. Like those guys were not, not playing the same game that I was playing at the time and getting to listen to them started to make my vibrancy change or my, my frequency change started to vibrate differently. And I know, I know I now know that I vibrate at a different frequency than I did, you know, 3 years ago, than I did 2 years ago, than I did back in January when we first started this thing. Um, and we gotta find other people who vibrate like us, um, and, or, and also find people who vibrate at a different frequency and figure out how we can match ours to theirs, um, and to move into a different world, really. Um, but all right, dude, I gotta, uh, I gotta get going. So, uh, why don't we go ahead and wrap this up with, uh, with our call to action for everybody.

Okay, so first call to action that, that we'll leave is for next month's episode, we are going to listen to— we are going to go over Crucial Conversations, and that has played a huge role in both of our lives, especially recently, like not only in everyday marriage but just in business and in our jobs. Jared has really cool stories to share.

We have a few stories to share, um, and listening through it, I'm like, oh, I've got to actually use some even more personal stories, positive and negative, to share about this. So yeah, Crucial Conversations.

So get your hands on a copy of Crucial Conversations and read that because that's what we'll talk about next month. I've already used some of those skills from the book and I feel like it's helped me in my marriage and with coworkers, with family, everything. So get your hands on that. That is our call to action for this month. That is like the book that we invite you to read.. And then if you are listening on Spotify, please leave, please follow our show, leave a 5-star rating, and then answer the question at the bottom of our episode that we have posted. That'll help us a lot. It'll help us to get the word out to more people that really need this. And if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, don't forget to share a rating and a review. And please share this show with somebody that needs to hear it because there are a lot of people out there that just need a group of guys to to a tribe of men to be a part of. And that's what we're building here.

Yeah. And 4 years ago, my brother shared a podcast episode with me and it completely changed the trajectory of my life. I was finally at kind of the right place at the right time. My brother shared this episode and it radically transformed the way that I thought. It didn't all happen at once, but it definitely shifted my mindset and put me on the right path that I then started to go down the rabbit hole and start to find Really just opened up my eyes to what really is out there in this world. So you really could have that same impact on one of your family members, on one of your friends, on one of your coworkers. So do not miss out on that opportunity. I will forever be grateful to my older brother for having shared that one episode. It was episode, I think it's 38 called Design Your Life of the ChooseFI podcast. I remember it because it was a financial podcast and they basically didn't even talk about money. And that whole episode he was just talking about how we're constantly in a state of drift. We need to wake up and design our life intentionally. And here are some steps on how we can do that. And that has totally changed my entire, like my entire life in just the last 4 years. So if you share this episode or one of our previous episodes that you think would have an impact on one of your friends, one of your family members, your coworkers, you could have that same impact on them. So do not, do not miss out on that opportunity.

All right, man. Well, hey, we will see you guys back here in November for our November episode. And, uh, Keep on elevating yourself so you can keep on inspiring others in your life. Peace out.

All right, see ya.