Episode 279: Never Give Up. Never Quit with Travis Mills

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit podcast. This podcast will give independent insurance agents all of the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes, and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Greetings, everybody. Welcome to the next episode of the Unstoppable Profit podcast. We have a very special podcast episode today, because not only do I have the one, the only, and if you ask him, he'll tell you it's true. The one, the Only, the incredible Mr. Travis Mills on the podcast met Travis recently. You guys are in for a treat. But it's. It's also a celebration and a tribute to our veterans. Veterans Day is coming up. Travis is a veteran. I'm going to let him tell you about his story. It's absolutely incredible. Not only that he's overcome. He never quit, and that's part of who he is. Never give up, never quit is one of Travis's mantra. But I'm honored, I'm privileged and thankful to have Mr. Travis Mills on the podcast. Travis, how you doing, sir?

Hey. Doing well. I'm telling you what. Loving looking into your eyes. You say such nice things about me. It makes you feel pretty. But, no, excited to be here. Thanks for having me. And, you know, I'm just. Just honored that you'd have me on your podcast.

Well, obviously, these phones are kind of handy. You can get a reflection and really see what I was talking about. Right?

Yeah. Yeah. You look fantastic. But, no, excited to be here today. And. And, you know, just. I'll let you lead a horse to water, though. Look, I'm no professional in this. You got to ask questions, so I know how to answer them.

Well, the better the question, better the result. Right? But I mean, actually, I'm sitting here already jealous. I mean, I don't have a hook for a hand, so just one I put on today.

That's right.

Halloween's in the vicinity as well, so I get it.

You know, it's funny, actually, my wife and I, like, we do, like, a lot of costumes as families. As a. Like a family, like, the whole family does a costume. So she's going to be Captain Hook, and I'm going to be Smee, and everybody's gonna be like, why were you not Captain Hook, Travis? And it's to get people to ask that question, like, what the heck? You guys really Missed out on Travis being Captain Hook and my daughter's Tinkerbell, and my son's gonna be Peter pan.

Well, yeah. 364 other days is an opportunity, right?

Yeah, well, I guess. I guess. But. But, yeah, I got my. My hook on, which I don't wear public but wear at home. And I got my legs off. I'm just kind of hanging out, which sounds weird for people that don't know me.

Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I'm gonna let Travis tell you his story, but Travis Mills is a retired US army staff sergeant of the 82nd Airborne, a warrior, a motivational speaker, an actor, an author, and advocate for veterans and amputees. He's a quadruple amputee. One of how many, Travis?

Well, I tell you what, you got to help me out here, because I'm supposed to be one of five, but two of the guys got double arm transplants, so they kind of quit my club. So I'm not sure if I'm one of five or one of three now.

Well, I saw the picture, so, yeah, right. One of three. One of five.

But, yeah, it's a very elite club.

Very elite club. But, you know, the. The greatest thing about Travis Mills, as I've learned, and I was privileged enough to get a copy of his book tough as they Come, and I found out after that. You've written multiple books, correct?

I. I have one other that I wrote, Bounce Back, and it deals with, you know, I like you. I get the chance to go speak to audiences, and not as good as you by any means, but they bring me in because I, you know, I'm eye candy for the crowd. But what I realized was when people were talking to me after the. My presentation, they would say, well, I went through this car accident, cancer or something, but it's nothing like what you went through. And I always felt weird because I realized that my biggest problem is my biggest problem, but their biggest problem is their biggest problem. So what I wanted to do with my book, bounce back that. That, you know, recently came out, was showcase other people's stories and how they were at the bottom of the barrel, how they were bounced back. And, you know, there's divorce, there's a widower, there's a cancer survivor. There's different stories in their everyday things that people face, and it showcases how your mind works in a certain way. Because my biggest thing was people like, oh, my gosh, how do you do it? I'm pretty upbeat all the time, jovial, having a good time. It's not a facade it's who I am. But people are like, how do you do that? And the only, you know, answer I have was like, I have to. I have a wife, two wonderful kids, and life goes on. But telling people that I had to get better or I have to, you know, keep pushing forward in life wasn't the good enough answer. So I had a research author helped me out with it. Kathy Huck, fantastic writer. And she helped me find medical studies and research and theories of why you're able to adapt and overcome and what your brain has to go through to. To get you back on the right track. So I'm excited how it came out. It's very long winded. I apologize, but excited to have the book out there.

No, hey, thanks for sharing and thanks for the book. I did find that other one as well. Bounce back. I don't have a copy of it yet. 12 warrior principles. And I love the fact you got the Forward by Jocko, so that was cool.

Yeah, he's my jiu jitsu partner. I've got the chance to. I got a chance to meet Jocko early on in my recovery, and now we're. We're pretty good friends. I. Even if you ever buy the Jocko Fuel, the watermelon flavor used to have my name on the can as my signature flavor, but they redid the cans. But, yeah, he's a really good guy and been on his podcast a couple times, but he's just a personal friend of mine now. So very excited to have him partner with me and do the Forward.

Well, I mean, it's like the rest of the world. Everybody wants to be like Travis and they want to be attached to him somehow.

Well, it's funny, I don't think anybody wants to be like me with no arms and no legs, but I get what you're saying.

Whoops. Thank you for the catch.

No, you're good. I kind of walked into early retirement, you know, that's what happened. But you know how this all got started? Crazy story. My mom and dad fell in love and then they had, you know, they had a kid and it was my sister, and they were like, we can do better. So then they had me. And that's how my story starts back in 1987, you know, but regular small town kid like you see in all the videos, you know, the movies, you know, playing sports. Not a very good student when it comes to grades, but very good at being a kind person with a great, you know, sense of humor. And the only thing my teachers ever got wrong was to Tell me to stop talking because they really held me back from my, my potential, you know what I mean? Every time I got in trouble in class for talking, I was not realizing that they were holding me back from my, from my future. But you know, it's okay, I'm not upset about it. I, I'm a good person, I can grow and overcome. But you know, I, I just regular everyday upbringing. My mom and dad worked hard. I have a younger brother as well and you know, went to college for a little bit after high school, realizing I didn't like college. It wasn't the college part I didn't like, it was the studying I was not a fan of and decided I need to try something different. Joined the military in 2006, deployed for 15 months after basic training basically and met my wonderful wife online. And wouldn't you know it, her brother's my medic and I got the MySpace friend request and I was really wondering like, do I hit accept or not? Because if I hit accept, my medic, the guy supposed to save my life just might not do that, you know what I mean? But the risk was worth the reward. So I hit accept when my wife, you know, the girlfriend or no, actually just a stranger, sorry, a random stranger sent me a base friend request at the time. Right. And at the time, I don't blame her though because that was 6 foot 3, 275 at the time. I found supplements in Germany, if you know what I'm talking about. That was looking pretty good and, and I looked at her pictures and I thought she looked pretty good, so it was worth the, the risk there. But met online, went on a vacation together like never met before, but decided to go on vacation. So I flew in to meet her. She was 18 in college, I was 20 in Afghanistan and I flew in, took her to Mexico for a week. Her parents were not pleased. But you know, we've been married 16 years.

Do they still talk to you?

I think you know that my father in law is a guy that travels with me, so.

Yeah, that's right.

Greg, you met Craigie. Yeah, so.

Yeah, so. So that's a yes, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah, for a while there they didn't. I mean, I'm pretty sure my mother in law at our wedding reception was, they were taking bets on how long we'd be married. So we're at 16 years in the county. But I don't know if it's out of spite just to show people, you know, or if it's out of love, but either way I'll take it. The ww right A wins open win.

Amen.

But, but yeah, I mean, that's how met my wife. And then, you know, we were young and the military provided us the ability to be married young and helped us pay our bills and you know, it was, it was nice. Then I deployed again for a second time. That deployment was a lot more action and firefights and you know, I took four showers in one year. Not because I had to, I mean because I wanted to, because I had to. Now I only take four showers a year in remembrance of that deployment.

Just kidding, obviously. But you know, I got back from that deployment, we bought a house, I reenlisted. Cause I was really good at the military. I was actually, you know, besides being a father and a husband, you're supposed to say that kind of stuff on a podcast. The best job I ever had was the military. I was very good at my job. I loved it. I was getting promoted fast. I was really good at leading troops into contact. I didn't show any fear. I never, you know, exuded anything but confidence. And I was good at what I did. So I reenlisted on my second deployment because I thought 20 years is probably what I'm going to do at least. And my wife and I bought a house down the road for my brother in law and his wife, you know, which was, which was awesome. You know, we were able to live in North Carolina, they were from Texas, I was from Michigan. And you know, I was able to live down the road from, from family. And then I got orders to go back to, well, my unit got orders to go back to Afghanistan and I got orders to go to Fort Hood. But because the calling, the brotherhood of the military, there was no way that I couldn't go overseas. And, and quite honestly, we had a four month old, you know, when I deployed. And that tax free money for a staff sergeant is pretty good. And my wife and I needed to pay for the house, pay the bills, diapers and you know, my guys needed me. My guys are, you know, the people that came from all across the nation, serve underneath me. And there's a really real calling there. So I canceled my orders to Fort Hood. I went ahead and, you know, and redeployed to Afghanistan in February 2012. And unfortunately, a month and a half in, it was the most hot and intense battles I've had been in my whole military career. And on April 10th of 2012, I put my backpack on the ground and it landed on top of a bomb that we didn't find. We tried. We swept the ground twice. But when the bomb went off, it tore off my right arm, right leg, instantly, and it eventually took all four of my limbs. So I am a quadruple amputee.

You know, which is. Which is wild to say because you don't think your life is going to turn out with no arms and legs. I mean, you. You can think you. Yeah, I'll probably never make it to the NFL in my MLB career is just going to take a while to start up. But, you know, those are pipe dreams. But when you think about, wow, did I really think I was going to have norms no legs at 25 years old, I would tell you not a chance would I have ever thought that. But that was unfortunately my situation.

And after 14 hours of surgery with nine doctors and seven nurses working on me and giving me blood from their veins because the blood bank ran out, I was a triple amputee and.

Made it through my. My initial surgery. And then the two days after that, I was flown from Kandahar to Bagram. And then in Bagram, I was given, you know, a washout treatment that, you know, they recognized my arm had died, so they had to cut my left arm off. So I became a quadruple amputee, one of five surviving quadruple amputees. I hope it stays that way. And not because I want to be so elite, but because it's just, you know, it's not an easy life. And.

Two days after that, I made it to Launchdal Germany. Let me wake up for the very first time on April 14th, just so happened to be my. My 25th birthday. I woke up and found out that I had norms no legs. And that's when the question set in of, you know, am I a bad person? This guy hate me. How can I be a husband and a father? You know.

Why did that, you know, big one. Just like Lieutenant Dan of Forrest Gump, you know, I wasn't suicidal, but I wondered why I didn't just die. And I thought if I would have died, it would have been better because I had to rely on people to help me with everything, get dressed, eat food, you know, use the restroom, all the things. And you sit there in a hospital bed and you get told you have no arms, no legs because of the ied. And you're like, well, how one I was, you know, I wasn't angry, but I was surprised I didn't bleed out. Like I told my medics when I was on the ground there, like, go save my guys. I thought it'd be over quick because when I was hit, I was awake the whole time until they medically had to sedate me on the operating table because I was trying to sit up too much. And they're like, you need to go sleep. And then, you know, I wake up four days later with norms, no legs, and, and have to come to realization that they're not growing back. And then I got back to Walter Reed in the states on April 17, and fun fact, I don't tell a lot of people, but I met my wife online. We went on a date for two weeks. We got back.

You know, from our trip to Mexico, went to Michigan for a week, she went back home and I went back overseas. And I got back actually on my birthday, my 21st birthday. And three days after that, we went to the courthouse when everyone's back and got married on the 17th. We don't celebrate that. We always talk about June 21st being our actual wedding day. But I made it back to Walter Reed on April 17th on my four year wedding anniversary. And yeah, and I said, happy anniversary. And yeah, he was like, no, we don't say that. You know, so I didn't. But the next day on the 18th, I got to actually talk to my wife because I got back, had to run, get emergency surgery on my right leg. They had cut my leg higher. And when I saw my wife, I just. Complete disbelief what happened. But I also didn't think I had much to give. So I told her she can take what we have and she can go.

Not the life that she deserves that she should have put up with, or what I promised her. And when we got married and I didn't want to be a burden on her, so she might as well, might as well just pack it in and leave. But to not my surprise, but to her.

I guess I don't. Can't find the right word, but to, you know, just commending her, she was like, no, we'll get through this together.

And that's a big decision. You're a 23 year old with a 6 month old on her hip looking at me laying in a hospital bed, needing people to spoon feed me, bandaged all up. And I'm telling her, like, it's okay, you know, you don't have to do this. But then she decided to stay. And not like she even decided it was never in her mind to leave. Which, you know, I'm grateful for. I tell people now I truly think it was handicapped parking that tipped the scales for me. But whatever it takes, right? Yeah, exactly. There's, there's benefits, you know, there's, there's perks. Right? But you said gonna stay. And I got the chance to figure out that.

No matter what life threw at me, I was gonna have to just deal with it because you can't weigh yourself to die no matter what. You can't sit there in the hospital bed and say, okay, cool, I don't want to do this. I'm gonna check out. I'm gonna die now. So I had to come to the realization that I had to get better. And luckily I had a six month old little girl laying on my chest, laughing, giggling, and playing with my nose. And I will tell you, I have never, ever talked sternly to my mother. Like, never raised my voice. My mom, no way would I ever. My mom's 5 foot 2, 130 pounds and I was 6 foot 3, 275 pounds at my height. My head, my heyday. And I, I, you know, I never raised my voice. My mom. But there was one day I woke up from a nap and I said, oh, when's Chloe coming? And my mom said, oh, Kelsey. And Chloe came by already and you were sleeping, so we let you sleep. I look at my mom and I said, don't ever let that happen again. If my daughter comes, you wake me up. And I said, she's the only reason that I'm getting better anyways, or I want to get better. And we would sit there and she would roll the ball to me and I'd roll it back and forth with her. And I have a very special bond with my daughter. Not to say I don't. My son, he's seven, I have another child. But my daughter would strap into my wheelchair and ride around the hospital with me. And we would meet people, we would go get grapes or cookies, depending on the night, from the cafeteria. We would, you know, everybody knew who Chloe was. Matter of fact, Chloe was so popular there that my dad came back to visit after like leaving for I think a month. He took the Chloe for a walk. And some of the moms of other soldiers, like, hey, whoa, whoa. Why do you have. Why do you have Chloe? Who are you? And they, they made my dad show his id. I'm Travis's dad. I, I know we haven't met yet. I just got back into town, but, you know, I got the chance to do a lot of things that a lot of parents don't like. Chloe and I learned how to walk together.

You know, we, we were inseparable. She, I Got my ear, sir. I had ear surgery where my eardrum blew out. They had to peel my ear open like a door. And they cut from the top of the ear to the back, the bottom, and they peeled it open and took jaw muscle, made a paste and put over my eardrum. It's pretty common, I guess. But I came back surgery, and my ear was all bandages up and she's like, yeah, my daddy, my daddy. And they were trying to keep her away from me. So I get some sleep and, well, Kelsey, you know, I said, let her in, let her in, it's fine. To the bedroom. So then she fell asleep holding my head. And, you know, like I said, I'm rambling a lot. I don't know. You say very much, I apologize. But it's a unique situation when you find yourself at 25 years old with norms, no legs, married and having a six month old and then trying to figure life out. But I will say that Walter Reed is one of the absolute best places.

To recover. I was fortunate to have a lot of friends and family there, but also the staff and all the people that were injured were. We're there to show you the way and to guide you. And it made it suckle. It's a little bit less, you know.

Yeah, we are thankful and grateful for all of your sacrifice and. But bigger than that, back to who Travis Mills is. Never quit, never give up. Never quit, Never give up, never quit. At what point did that become, you know, part of your mantra of who you are?

Well, I'll tell you what. We were. So we were combing through old video, like iPhone footage. My. My wife would take footage of me and their videos, whatever. And we were doing a documentary. It came out, it's called Travis A Soldier Story. It came out a year after I got injured. But we were combing through iPhone videos and there was a video of me, I think, three days into being at Walter Reed, doing sit ups. I was inpatient occupational therapy. I was doing sit ups. I still had a pic line on my neck. You know, I was just ripping out sit ups as best I could. And the therapist like, hey, you can take a break, you know, And I told her, I'm never going to give up, I'm never going to quit. And she goes, that's a silly question. I'm like, it is a silly question. I mean, I, I appreciate your concern, but you don't got to worry about me. Yeah, I mean, I'm 140 pounds. I lost 110 pounds in those seven days getting injured And I'm just trying to do these sit ups and fighting and struggling because I was so weak at the time. And that's kind of where it came from. And then I watched that video back as we were putting it into the documentary, we just started saying, okay, that's how we're gonna live life. We're gonna never go, never quit. And my kids hate it, because if they have a problem, they're struggling. I'm like, oh, excuse me. What. What was that? And my. My daughter used to be like, I know, dad. Never, never quit, whatever. But my son likes to pick on me by saying, like, oh, I'm always gonna quit, dad. I'm always giving up. That there's just. It's a given. I'm just gonna tap out and done. Like, you never tap. And I start beating them up, you know, obviously jujitsu stuff, but. But that's. Yeah, that's kind of where it came from. And then I was, unfortunately, I was, you know, one of the guys with. With. I wouldn't say the. The. Yeah, well, every injury is different. Everybody reacts differently. Right? Like, I had a good demeanor about my injuries, but I also had no arms and legs. Where some guys are missing one leg or two legs or. Or one arm or they're in a wheelchair, you know, everything. It's not. It's not cookie cutter. I'll tell you right now. Everything's different. But I was one of the older guys at 20, 25 years old at Walter Reed, which maybe sounds weird, but I was one of the old guys. So I was given the opportunity to be a mentor to other service members. I took my workouts as a job, so I would be there as much as I could, probably 40 hours a week, eight hours a day, doing different things, learning different things, anything I could as I got stronger and stronger. And then there were some guys that came in that were very. And some gals, too, right? I'm gonna be sexist here. Some gals, mostly 95 men, I guess, but they were having a rough go, and they would come down and say, hey, Travis, we got a guy upstairs we need you to go say hi to. We can't tell you because of HIPAA, what room, but they're, you know, they're not in 92 and they're definitely not in 94, but there's somewhere between there, you know, and I'm not a Marine, so I knew how to count. So I knew that definitely we're talking about 93. But I would go up and say hi and make conversation out of, you know, what happened to me and how they were in the best place for them because I got paid that same respect by my friend now, Todd Nicely. The second hour, quadruple amputee. And then I told them, when you're ready to come down and work out, I'll be in the gym. And I started like this workout session. And then you know what, we have these things called Kesha Fridays. Nobody likes Kesha. I mean, nobody wants to admit they like Kesha when you're a big tough man, but I love Kesha. And I used to listen to Kesha when I was on guard. And every Friday I put on Kesha's radio station on Pandora at the Matsy and have Kesha Fridays. And we'd all just rock out. Just a bunch of tough dudes rocking out to Kesha style music, Katy Perry, you know, but, but I became a mentor and, and it really meant something to me to have over 200, you know, service members come through there and I would work out with them and encourage them and you know, and I think, I think back to that. I think that's why I started the non profit, the Travis Mills foundation because I realized I couldn't serve my country anymore. I was no longer Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, leader of Combat Soldiers, which was like a very hard thing to understand and come to terms with, but I could still serve people. And Kelsey and I started the Travis Mills foundation while we were still at the hospital for care packages. We sent care packages, we donated $5,000. And.

Then I wanted these really cool trips at Walter Reed. Learn how to downhill mountain biking and snowboarding and oh, shoot, kayaking, canoeing and horseback ride, just a bunch of things. And I got to take my wife with me because I required non medical assistance. I still need to help get my legs on every day the right way. I still need help button my pants, putting my deodorant on my left arm, you know, all the things. So I still need what's considered non medical assistant. And my wife got to go because I was injured so bad. But a lot of surgeon didn't get to have their loved ones go. And I thought, well, geez, the only reason I'm getting better is for my family. So let's bring families to Maine and see what we can do. And then it was just one simple idea that turned into one of the larger VA veteran nonprofits, veteran service organizations, sorry, VSOs in the nation. And we bring out eight families per week. We operate 42 weeks in person and we have some post traumatic Stress program sprinkled in there for first responders and veterans. And you know, we have a 4.5 million dollar budget right now, operating budget, which is wild to me considering I started this on $5,000. We operate 42 weeks in person. We're doing a 2 million dollar expansion right now. We are doing what we can to give back. I don't take a dime. I never have and I never will. But it's all about how can we help these veterans and their families understand that life goes on after injury. And we've been doing a really cool job with it. So very proud of that work that we get to do there. And if you have anybody listening right now, anybody out there listening that has a loved one that's a first responder or a veteran, doesn't matter if they're deployed or not, that's struggling with post traumatic stress, send them our way. We have an awesome program that's just non clinical. Train the trainer. It's one of the best in the nation. But you can find all that @travis mills foundation.org.

That is one of many, many, many things that I learned about Travis Mills when we met a couple months ago. Now, the Travis Mills Foundation. Check that out. You can google it, it'll pop right up. Travis Mills foundation, the facility is up in Maine, correct?

So it is. I'm, my wife's from Maine. Originally, I'm from Michigan and she moved to Texas but she wanted to go to Texas and it was too hot for me. I said I can't do it. I mean, everywhere I go I got a long sleeve on, but.

Faster. It's actually, it's actually medical, which believe it or not, it's crazy. But my heart beats and it doesn't go to my fingers and toes. Push my blood to cool down. It regulates, doesn't regulate as much. My blood pumps faster so I'm warmer. When you release it from your body's head, hands and feet, I'm missing four to five. And then I got three layers on my legs. So from my end of my residual limb to my inner thigh is capped off with like basically rain, rain gear and wool socks. I mean, it's miserable hot. So I said, hey, let's go to Michigan. My wife said, no, I said, let's go to Michigan one more time. She took my arms and legs away and she put me in the closet until I agreed that Maine was the right choice. So we, we moved to Maine. And Maine has been absolutely fantastic for me and my family. Blessed to be here. We have the Non profit, a little bit entrepreneurial. I have a few businesses that I have some business partners and we started and just grateful for everybody in Maine accepting us and I hope they remember that I'm a transplant, but I now a Maine resident because if ever I'm for office, the biggest thing they're going to get me on is I cannot believe that you already weren't even born here. But I'm like, no, it's cool. It's totally cool because I lost my arms and legs. Feel bad for me enough to vote for me.

Whatever it takes, right?

Exactly. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna.

Run to get the right, you know, purpose done, which is. I know that's what you're all about. I mean you're all about giving back. I mean how many keynotes do you do a year?

Now I cap it at 40, but it ends up being usually like 46 to 4 to 50. But I want insider trading. Actually I'm about, you know, the insider trading for U. S. Senate. I want that money. I'm kidding, but. But no, I do.

By the way, he's also the king of one liners. Know that about Travis, in case you're picking up a bit of a tude. But he just likes to have fun. And I know he's so grateful for life because he has life and he has the ability to get out there and that's what he's doing out there. Speaking, just trying to encourage people not only to never give up and never quit, but just to make a differ difference in people's lives. And before we got started today, you were telling me about a lady who heard you speak about six years ago and you had no idea what kind of an impact you made on her. So again, the Travis Mills foundation, it's up in Maine. It is primarily there to serve who.

Veterans and first responders and their families.

Yeah, veterans and first responders and their families who might be going through post traumatic circumstances. You are there to serve them. So look the foundation up online. If you know somebody, just reach out to them and have a conversation with them.

So.

And you got your hands on a lot of other things, so that's fantastic. I interrupted you. Go ahead.

No, you're doing great. I was just. I do joke around a lot, you know. And the thing is I tell people I kind of fell apart in my last job, but I did walk into early retirement, you know what I mean? And it was weird to be cut off at the knees, you know, at 25. But now I'm 37 with two feet in the grave, believe it or not.

But, you know, at the end of the day, I can't change what happened to me. And I think that the two life lessons I always, whenever I talk to anybody, you know, audience wise or podcast wise, you know, people wonder how I keep going and you know, they wonder first if it's a facade, right? Am I like this because I'm getting exposure in front of a crowd or on a podcast? And the truth is, no. I'm like this all the time because I realized how, you know, great it is to be around a lot of my friends didn't make it back home. And I got the chance to be here, watch my daughter grow, and for my wife and I have our second child. So I don't take it for, for granted. And I realized the price I could have paid and in the fact that I made it through, I might as well live to the fullest. And I got to meet the doctors and nurses that worked on me and tell them thank you because they were worried that I was going to be upset that they saved my life. And I mean, obviously in the beginning I was, I was kind of questioning everything, but looking back at it, they gave me the chance to, you know, learn how to walk with my daughter, to be here for my wife and my mom and dad and my in laws and to live life to the fullest because they decided that instead of loosening one tourniquet and letting me bleed out, you know, one to two minutes, they were going to give me blood from their veins and keep, you know, working on me for 14 hours straight and then back to the things I, I feel passionate about, the life lessons that I do live by. You know, I think it's important people realize that, you know, I don't dwell on in the past. I just reminisce it. Because when I used to sit in the hospital bed and close my eyes and hope and pray and wish this never happened and think, when I open my eyes, I'll be back, you know, in Afghanistan with my guys, I'd open my eyes and I was in that hospital bed and I realized instead of dwelling on the past, I might as well reminisce what I had. I don't, you know, I'm not worried about getting blown up. It already happened. It is what it is. But I had 25amazing years without arms and legs, and I've had now 12 plus years with, you know, I'm sorry, 12. I messed that up, I think. But 25 years with you know, arms and legs that were great. One bad day at the office, and then I have 12 plus years that have been, you know, without arms and legs that have been pretty incredible. To think that we live in a nation that takes care of me, where I have a prosthetic arm and two prosthetic legs that I wear and I can walk, I can drive, I can do anything I want to do. When I get pulled over now, it's like monopolies. Get out, jail free. My foot just got stuck. Sorry, officer. I couldn't feel it. You know, and the other thing I tell everybody is, you know what? You can always, you know, you can't always control your situation, but you can always control your attitude and. Right. You know, my situation doesn't change. I, I wake up in my bed, I jump from my bed in my wheelchair. I get my arm off the charger, I get my coffee ready. My wife, she'll wake up, she, I get her coffee set up so she can, you know, have her coffee. And then my kids come down and we go about our day like nothing's different. Because I was given the chance to make it through my injuries. To live in a country takes care of me and to not just survive and not just maintain, but, but to thrive. I, you know, and I don't mean that an arrogant way of thriving, but, you know, as mentioned, I have the nonprofit, I have my speaking, which is my for profit consulting group, Travis Mills Group llc. You know, and I also have a restaurant and a brewery and some things I partner with some friends on that. You know, I'm not, I'm not sitting there making millions of dollars on those businesses, I wouldn't say, but they're fun and it's a good time and I get the chance to employ over 100 people and make sure that they're taken care of. And at the end of the day, I mean, that's, that's why I like to like to make sure that if, if they're choosing to, you know, work with me and help me build a business or help me build a brand, that I'm making sure that they have what they need to take care of themselves and their families. And it's really cool to, you know, to have, have people believe in the mission and, and support what we have going on, whether that's a for profit business or my nonprofit.

Well, I will tell you this, and I didn't tell you this when we met a couple of months ago, but there were people that I talked to that had heard you speak and you impacted them just by part of your story, some of your story. When they thought that, oh man, the industry right now, it's just a mess and sometimes I feel like giving up. But that's what you do by just sharing what you've been through. So thank you for that. It's absolutely incredible. And, and you, you know something you just said, I want to repeat this to make sure everybody gets it. Sometimes you can't control your situation but you can control your attitude. And you know if I heard that that's like right below Travis Mills name because that's who he is. He is taking control of his attitude and he's doing something with all that he's been gifted or left with. Love you brother. And, and he's making a difference in the world and we are very, very grateful. By the way, I just noticed you mentioned Lt. Dan a few minutes ago and your book, your most recent book if I'm not mistaken. Tough as they Come the Forwards by Gary Sinise.

Yeah, no, I'm pretty good friends with Gary.

Yeah. So Lieutenant Dan, right?

Oh yeah, Lieutenant Dan. He's a good dude, great guy. He helped build my house here in Maine with his non profit Garrison East Foundation. Does great work. I'm an ambassador for them. And the inspirations on why I started non profit. I thought well you know if he can give back and do good I should be able to do good in the world. So anything is like not to brag or boast but he is a pretty good friend of mine. You know he's truly as amazing as you would think. Not nowhere near the star, you know, fan like famous person that they depict people that are celebrities to be. He just down to earth great guy and can't thank him enough for everything.

Well most of you are, I mean jocko willing, Gary Sinise, Travis Mills, you know the power of three.

So yeah, yeah that's, that's a star studded lineup. Two of the three for sure. But we won't get specifics. Yeah, I mean I, you know I just, I'm fortunate to do the things that I do and grateful to have the opportunities that, that I have. But I also know that hard work pays off and I think the greatest thing is the, the big life lesson. The biggest life lesson. Sorry that I've learned and it's not what I live by. The one I learned the, that hurt the most but was most impactful was there's. There's a but for every seat I guess is the correct way to say it. When I got Blown up. I thought no way they could replace me. I was top of my game, one of the best around. But three hours later, they threw somebody and take my job. And I thought, well, wow, I can't believe I'm that, you know, that easy, easily replaceable. But also I thought I got to keep working hard because I don't want to be replaced ever. So it was some of the best and worst medicine I could ever take.

There's a but for every seat.

Well, yeah, they say the A word, but we don't gotta get into that.

I get it. I get it. So, Travis, fantastic. I've just got one question for you as we begin to raise up here.

If there's somebody out there that might be listening to this. And by the way, before I get to the question, I also found out because I was doing some pre work for today's episode, you're also a doctor because when you did the episode a doctor three times over. When you did the episode with Dr. Kelly Roseberry. I heard you mention that in the beginning. So tell us more.

Well, I'll tell you what. It's actually four now.

Yeah. All I do is, like, people go to school for like seven or ten years for those. I just show up for, usually the pre party. And then I go on stage and they give me this honorary doctorate. And in two, two of the four, I didn't have to give a speech. They just gave it to me. So. Pretty cool, right?

Well, congratulations.

Thank you. Yeah.

Continue to achieve and accomplish.

Hey, it's legit. It's. It's, you know, so you don't got to call me doctor, Doctor, doctor, Doctor. I don't make people do that by any means or expect it. But it is nice you mentioned that because.

No problem. So.

I love your attitude, man. So my, My question is this. Somebody who's listening to this or watching this on YouTube and they might be thinking, you know, I'm having a bad day, I'm having a bad week, I'm having a bad month or a bad year. You know, I. I just feel like giving up whatever I'm doing. What do you have to say to them?

Well, I'll tell you what. I think that there's going to be hard days, there's going to be good days, and there's going to be days that are just, you know, sprinkled in there that are pretty mediocre. And I think back to, like, you know, I think David Goggins, like, don't the hard days win? You can't let the Hard days win. And I. I've been. People been asking how, you know, how I feel about things lately, and I. Or situations, and I tell them, hey, sun's gonna set. Sun's gonna rise. And I'm not sure if that's. I don't mean to be derogatory, but, I mean, the world's gonna keep turning. My wife's not a morning person, and sometimes when the morning. When she has to get up, that.

Means I second or I agree. Same here.

Yeah. And she, like, has to wake up. And sometimes she's like. And I'm like, for 35 years plus of your life, the morning has come. I'm not sure why it's so surprising when it does, but it has come. So come on. Like, let's. Let's just remember that the sun's going to set. Sun's going to rise. So for anybody having a rough go, I mean, just keep pushing forward. There are brighter days ahead. I've learned that. And, you know, not every day is obviously maybe a step in the right direction towards a goal that you've set. But at the end of the day, we get the chance to live. We get the chance to be breathing and be upright and might as well make the most out of it. So if anybody's out there going through something that's a hard situation, understand that your problems are real. My. My life does not overshadow yours. My problems are no bigger or greater. We just have stuff that we deal with every day. And your problems, you know, that you're facing are your biggest problem. But find a way around, over, through, under, any way through. Because at the end, you know, we get the chance to do this like, this is. This is fun, and life is something we actually get to do.

Right? We get to. We get to. By the way, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna go ahead and drop your name. I'm gonna run in tomorrow morning because I'm an early morning guy. She's a night owl, if you will. I'm gonna run in early tomorrow morning. I'm gonna wake her up and say, honey, the sun's gonna set. The sun's gonna rise. Travis Mills said, so get up.

That's right. That's right. And. And for how long. How many. How many mornings has she had, you know, her whole life? The sun. The morning comes. It's not.

I'm gonna come with the number. I'm gonna say it's all because of Travis Mills.

Well, I get what you're doing here, and you're throwing me under the bus.

If I. If I said, if I took the math and did all the days my wife has been alive, she would not like that number. I'll tell you right now. So.

No, no, I get it. I get it. So my. My wife just hit another birthday, and I'm not going to go there. So anyway, but it's a. It's a. It's what a privilege it is to participate every day. And I love that the sun's going to set and the sun's going to rise every day, and no day is perfect. And, you know, I had a bad day last week. I mean, it was a real. The day sucked, but the sun rose again the next day. I got up with another opportunity to make a difference for others, and that's what you're doing. My technology just hit me. Hang on just a minute. Get rid of this on my screen. So thank you. Thank you for being out there making a difference for other people in so many ways. Travis Mills, thank you for being on the podcast.

Hey, thanks for the time. I appreciate. You're always a pleasure to be around. I mean, I. I enjoy your face.

Well, thank you. Look, looking right back at you, brother. Hang tight for just a minute and we'll wrap this up like there's no tomorrow. So just as a reminder, in case you missed the beginning of it, Travis Mills. He's a recalibrated warrior, a motivational speaker, an actor, an author, and an advocate for veterans and amputees, and a doctor four times over. He's a New York Times bestselling author. Tough as they Come is one of his books. His other book is 12 Warrior Principles. It's called Bounce Back. Check those out on Amazon and other venues.

You will not be sorry. I was privileged to get a copy of that. And despite losing both of his arms and legs, he continues to overcome life's challenges, breaking physical barriers and defying odds. And he lives by his motto, never give up, never quit. And just to reiterate, sometimes you can't control your situation, but you can control your attitude. Travis does that. Thank you for doing that every day, brother. And remember this. The sun's gonna set, but the sun's always gonna rise. And take advantage of that every day. As they say, the present is a gift. Right?

There you go. Exactly. I can't do the hand motion, but I get what you're saying.

Oh, yeah, you just did. And by the way, somewhere around one of the follow ups for this podcast or around the podcast itself, you may see a picture of Me and Travis, with one of his hands, it fell off of his arm. It was. I was like, holy cow, how did that happen?

Right? And I yelled, oh, no, not again.

So anyway, so Travis Mills, by the way, just to give him all the props that he deserves. Check out Travis Mills online. Just go to Google, Google's name. Travis Mills, Travis Mills Foundation. You'll find out all about him. There's some really cool stuff out there. He's on Instagram, on YouTube, tick tock, and more so @ssg.

Travis Mills. So the SSG is important because there's a rapper from California, he's more famous than me right now because Rob Dyrdek on Fantasy Factory. I don't want to talk about it. But at ssg, Travis knows.

I appreciate the followers at ssd. Travis Mills. The right one. The right Travis Mills.

That's right.

So, anyway. All right, everybody, thank you for joining us today. In honor of all of our veterans out there and from our hearts to all of the veterans out there, thank you. Thank you every single day for protecting us, for defending us. Some gave it all. All gave it some. We know that. And Travis has given so much, and he continues to give back, and we are grateful for him in our lives and with all the veterans that are with us, and our hearts and our thoughts and our prayers go out to those who have lost, those who gave it all. So in honor of Veterans Day coming up, don't forget, if you ever see somebody out there, they've got a hat on that they served, stop and look them in the eye and say, thank you. Thank you for all you gave on our behalf. It makes their day. I do it every time I see somebody, and you know how much that means to them.

So there's an opportunity for you as well. And thank you for joining us on the podcast. If this is your first time on the podcast, welcome. My name is Mike Stromso. I'm recognized as a leading author, speaker, and coach for the independent insurance agency industry. You can learn more about me and everything that we do to impact people's lives personally and professionally@upplife.com that's upplife.com make sure you follow us on all the channels. And we also have a separate website for the podcast, Unstoppable Profit podcast dot com. And if you got great value out of this podcast, please share it with everybody that you know, Introduce them to Travis Mills and all the amazing things he's doing out there in the world. And when you go to unstoppable profitpodcast.com make sure you go up to the top and click subscribe so you don't miss one valuable episode. And make sure you do the same on Travis Will Mills YouTube site like I did after I was influenced by Travis. So I don't miss anything that's going on, including finding out he's a doctor four times over. So great, great stuff. But thank you. Thank you for being on the podcast. Get out there, make a difference, be unstoppable, leave no regrets. And remember, thank Yvette on this Veterans Day and the other 364 days a year. Travis Mills, thank you for your service. Thank you for making a difference for other people and I look forward to see you on the rebound as they say.

Absolutely. Appreciate the time. Thanks so much.

All right, brother. Until the next episode, everybody. You got this. We believe in you. We'll see you on the next episode.

Do you love the podcast but don't know where or how to get started? Visit www.udplife.com that's UDP pplife.com to learn more about our coaching and mastermind programs and how you can join our community of growth oriented agency owners today.