Ep 71 The Ripple Begins A Conversation with Braxton Kilgo

Welcome to Remembering the Forgotten, a space where leaders think out loud without polish or performance. No scripts, no performance, just 2 people thinking out loud. These conversations aren't about delivering insight. They are about thinking together in real time, because there are moments where you can feel that the The answer is already there, but you can't quite reach it. And then something shifts, and suddenly it's simple. Not you, just clear. And that's this space. Because what if nothing important about you was ever lost? There are moments that alter the direction of a life, not because someone gives us the perfect strategy, not because they solve our problems, not because they convince us of something, but because for a brief moment, someone sees us differently than we see ourselves. Today, I'm joined by just a kid with a vision, Also known as Braxton Kilgore. Braxton has spent years building businesses, but underneath all of that sits a much simpler and perhaps much more powerful question. What happens when one person genuinely believes in another before they are able to believe in themselves? It sounds almost too simple. Yet when we look back across our own lives, many of us can remember someone whose encouragement arrived at exactly the right moment, not because they changed who we are, but because they reminded us of something we had forgotten. Our conversation explores what it means to become that kind of person for someone else. About the ripple effects we create without ever witnessing where they eventually arrive. And perhaps beneath all of it sits an even quieter realization. Maybe the most meaningful legacy we leave isn't built through the things we accomplish. Maybe it's built through the moments in which another human being walks away believing a little more deeply in themselves. Because they happened to cross our path. That is where today's conversation begins. With that, welcome Braxton to the show.

Thank you for having me here, Markus. I'm glad to be here, sir. That was an incredible intro. Thank you for that.

You're welcome. It's really good to have you here, Braxton. So before we begin, Where can you just be yourself, untouched by expectation or performance?

Well, one of those places is where I happen to be right now, is on my family's farm in the middle of nowhere, Texas. It's funny because you grow up somewhere like this and you want to get out in the world and experience it and go all of these places and My favorite place in the world is right here where I started. So I'm, I'm very thankful I got to grow up here and live on this farm with all of my family. And it's simple and slow, but it's exactly what I need.

You said something interesting, Braxton. You mentioned your family. So I assume it's not Braxton Kilgo just by himself now for 3 more weeks. It's his family. So what makes your family so special that you can say, you know what, Markus, I can literally just be myself, untouched by expectation or performance? Because you might know that this is rather rare, that this is possible with family. So please share with me your family secret.

Yeah, you know, I think like with any family, you know, things are not perfect, right? They're not supposed to be. You know, I'm so thankful for the way that I grew up. I, you know, we certainly had a little bit more chaos in the younger years of my life and things changing and moving around, but I think through all of that, it brought us all closer together and showed us what really matters. And, you know, one thing with my family is no matter what dream I was chasing, from football to My clothing company to any of the other things that I've done. My family's always believed in me and supported me and been behind me in that, and they know that all I do is work and run around like a crazy person. So when I'm here, they don't put any expectation on me to do anything or be anything. They know that I'm going to be out in the shop working, and if I'm not, they they just kind of let me be. You know, so I think just not only having that natural family relationship, but I feel like, you know, they're like my best friends. You know, I have individual relationships with everybody and I'm very, very thankful for that.

You're definitely blessed, my brother.

Yes, sir.

Yeah. So why do you think, you know, because I ask this question every person who I meet, why do you think most people have to go into solitude? They have to get away from the hustle and the bustle. They have to get away from people. Why is it that only when we are on our own we can be ourselves? Why do you think that is? It's crazy.

Yeah, I mean, I think like with everything else, there's a lot of variables that could be put into that answer. But I think, you know, it's something I Just went on a walk with my dad this morning across the tank dam, and you know walked around just to get our bodies moving before our day started. That was one of the things that we we talked about was intentionally even somewhere like this that's quiet and slow, not immediately jumping on your phone, getting outside, being in the sunshine, being in nature, listening to the sounds. I think in today's day and age we just. There's so many beautiful things with technology, but it also steals a lot of our attention. And I think, you know, whether it's meditating or whatever it may be, being able to go inside your own mind and it be a relatively good place to be for a lot of people is a hard thing. So I think there's a lot of, you know, personal growth and self-awareness. You gotta go through those things yourself to get there. But I think, you know, the people go into solitude because you can actually be bored and be present and be where your feet are. And I think sometimes in the hustle and bustle and the speed of things, there's always something on the calendar, always something to do, all these things and masks you have to have on and all these things that you need to hold up. And when you step away, it's like you realize what's really important, and it also allows you to think, right? Like, to be creative. That's why when people go to write a book or something, they just go off in the middle of nowhere, because that is how you get to the most beautiful parts of your mind, is by being still.

It's highly fascinating what you just said. And I admit, I always love it if someone from the little bit younger generation joins my show, because I get to figure out more about what's going on there. Yeah. So how would you actually say the entire social media and this always-on does actually affect and impact the generation now?

Honestly, I think it's different for different generations and different people. You know, I think different people consume it differently. Like, for me, I was always the one growing up, I was in that age where Social media and stuff, it came out and some, you know, back then it was like you're just posting with your friends or sharing what you did. Now it's became more of a business and a marketplace. And I think there's so many like pros to that. But you know, like if for me, if I wasn't running an online business, unless we're friends or family, you may not ever see me again. You know? Yeah, I just, I love to be where my feet are. So. I think it just depends on the way that people decide to consume it because I credit so much of my knowledge and perspective, obviously, to things in the real world. But I watched a lot of YouTube videos when I was younger to have a mentor, right? I didn't really have a mentor, like on a business side of things. And so for me, what the bit that I do consume is either things that are educating me, which is amazing to have access to that information, maybe things that are inspiring me. And like my Explore feed shows me Crazy historical conspiracies, comedy, and inspiration, and some music. So I think it's more about being really intentional about what you put in, 'cause what you fill yourself up with is what overflows. So I think when you consume with a level of self-awareness to serve you and not to consume you, I think you're better off, but the people that don't, I think they're just missing out on life, you know, and they get just so caught into it. And, you know, some people it's their self-image or their business, they feel they're behind or all of these things. And again, I think some of it is good and there's opportunity, but I think it just, it becomes a space where, you know, people are just stuck. And to me, it doesn't make sense. So I don't have a deep perspective on that side because I don't do it. But I do know that it certainly negatively affects people's physical and mental health.

It's interesting. Yeah, because if you think about it, it has some implications, and I believe one of them is the attention span of people today. And you know what's crazy? I'm 54 years old. In my generation, it's not different. Literally not different. So I think that's something our society should look into a little bit.

Yeah.

So it's an interesting take.

Just go ahead. I

was just

saying there's definitely a lot of science behind it. And that's one of the things for me too, right? Is like the things that are negative, I'm just like, Push them away. So on the negative side effects of certain things, I have like no context. On the positive sides, I can tell you all the pros.

It's interesting. And I think what you're saying, Braxton, is you have a mind of your own. So you're basically your own counsel. You think for yourself. And I believe You know, this is what they're saying in my generation, that the one quality that got us lost more or less is critical thinking. And if I recall the call between us, which led to, to this show, you're very much a critical thinker. And I think that's why you are where you are right now.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of the things, you know, and it's hard to blame people, right? Because especially like with AI, there it is optimized a ton of things for my business. You know, even been working on my truck, right? And, and I, you know, I grew up working with my hands my whole life. You know, I can get on ChatGPT and ask how to fix something and I don't even have to take it to town, you know, like, so there's good things with it. Certainly. But I think, you know, whether it's design or copywriting, an email, a landing page, or a creative proposal about how to collaborate between 2 companies, you can throw that in ChatGPT, you know, and it, it comes up with some good things. But, you know, I think back to that and, and some of the people that, you know, maybe we work with or people that I am consulting or something. I'll tell them sometimes, I'm like, I used to put proposals together just like this and some of them even better. And I had to come up with every bit of it, you know.

Oh, I totally admit that.

That is good for you to be able to do, like actually writing things down. And, you know, there's science behind like putting the pen to the paper versus just the thoughts and all these digital things because it's— I, and this is maybe a bit of a different direction, but I think that's something that gets me. More often than not, I had a conversation this morning about this, is, you know, so I grew up building fences and doing the farm stuff. I worked in the oil field. I've done stuff with my dad and did stuff with my stepdad in construction and building houses. And—

That must have been an amazing upbringing.

It was incredible. Now, at the time when I— when you're younger and you got to get up and it's still dark outside and go do manual labor, you probably don't appreciate it as much then. Now, especially being behind the screen, I'm like, I like look for things that are broken to go fix 'em just so I can like move my body, you know? And that's what I was talking about with my friend this morning because he has an online company, but he's been running his family's painting business. Mm-hmm. And he's like, man, the way that I feel when I show up to a job, he was like, and yesterday I was just sitting on the edge of these people's chicken coop, like eating my sandwich and there's birds and animals and like, I saw what the building looked like when we got there and what it looked like at lunch, what it looked like when we left. Like, I, you, you feel something, you're proud of it. And like, so I, I think for one, just doing things with your hands is good. And even if that's writing things down or whatever it is, but I think that's something that we miss because even sometimes when I would come home and, you know, for example, my cousin has a fencing company and the, these different things. Then, you know, and then when we talk to like our grandparents or something, they're like, let me see that fence. Have you built any new fences? Then for me, they're like, I know you like promote like positivity and like, I know you get to speak and people are motivated by you, but like, they don't, they don't know. Like when I was running my agency to like see a website that we built or this campaign that we ran or this deck we put together or this video that we made, like it's harder to Conceptualize is not as simple. Even for me now, I've built so much, especially for IBIY, right? Thankfully, there's a physical product and things, but it's like it's not as tangible. And I think sometimes tangible is good, even if it's just a hobby.

You know, I think it's very important. So this leads me to an interesting question for myself. What is something you've been observing lately that feels worth paying attention to now?

Hmm. Just in life in general? Something I've been observing lately and paying attention to now. I think for me, it has been a lot around flow and faith and not, not chasing, allowing things to flow. Um, you know, where I grew up, you shake a good handshake, you do the job, you work hard. In sports, it was outwork everybody, chip on your shoulder, like hard work Pays off, and that's what you do. You outwork everybody. That's how you win. And I believe in that for sure, and I have a whole concept around this. But at the same time, I think it's like the a visual I've seen before is the person holding onto the rope, and it's just tearing their hands up, and they let go, and it. lands how it's supposed to, right? And so I think just allowing more space to flow and not feel, you know, mentally and emotionally like your RPMs are really high, allowing things to be what they are while still working hard and moving in the right direction, but being a little more conscious of my own energy and my own time and my own, you know, Physical and mental health, like allowing things to flow more versus like that force push. And I think that's gotten me places for sure. But I think the way that you need to show up and the way that you really get the best output sometimes is not by brute force. For example, me and my dad were trying to hook the trailer up this morning and it wasn't clicking and he hit it as hard as he could on the top and it bent the whole thing over. And then we had to work on it for an extra 10 minutes because it wasn't going in. It was And we decided that just hitting it as hard as we could maybe fix it. So that's an example.

That's fascinating. So you mentioned your bracelets. What does this have to do with what you just mentioned, with flow, being in the moment, not pushing so much?

There's probably a number of ways to take that, but that's an incredible question, and I don't think anyone has ever asked me that. What I would say is when we talk about flow and all of those things, a big pillar of that conversation, I would say, is presence and things that are in real life. Mm-hmm. And, you know, with our bracelets, one piece of it is obviously the physical reminder for you or the person that you've given it to, but It's encouraging moments in real life with people to connect and support each other, whether it's very minimal and simple or very deep and connecting. I think, you know, for one, usually the person giving away the bracelet is more impacted than even the person who received it. Mm-hmm. And so I think it's like a, you know, If we really follow our nature as far as all the business, right? We're not supposed to be humans working. We're supposed to be humans being, right? And there's all— whether you look in the Bible or wherever, look around the flow and the presence and not forcing things. I think that with these bracelets, similar to like, if you know down to the core, you shouldn't be busy and rushing all the time. That's not your nature. And I think Something that is, though, is connection, conversation, community relationships, conversations. So I think that that's probably where I would draw that line, is that that's something that our product is aiming to do, is to create connection, perspective even, and just sharing love with other people. And I think that is To our core and our nature.

So tell me a little bit more about your bracelets and how did it actually come into existence? Because you don't seem to be the typical bracelet guy.

Yeah. Yeah, it's funny. So I'll say what they are and then I can go back kind of into the story and we can go where we want to from there. So we make bracelets that all have different designs and things on them, but they all say, I believe in you. And so the purpose of them is that you wear them until you're inspired to share them. And so whether it's a stranger, family member, a friend, you wear it until you're inspired to pass that message on to somebody else that you believe in them. So it's all about spreading positivity through small acts of kindness and just showing people that the one superpower that we all have is the ability to be kind. And it only takes 5 seconds and 4 words to change somebody's day and what we've seen maybe even change their life. So I think within that, it's really one of those things where we're trying to show people that we're all a whole lot more alike than you think, you know. So the short version is our bracelets are meant to be worn until you're inspired to give them away, and it's just about connecting people and spreading kindness. What makes them really unique is that we created a mobile app. Let's say I took it off and gave it to you, Markus. You could just touch your phone to your wrist because we have a patch, hot bracelets, that has a communication chip in it. And it would allow you to, when you touch your phone, see a picture or a video that was made from me specifically for you with a caption, but a message to you.

Beautiful.

Thank you.

As a reminder constantly.

Yeah.

Wow. Like, if I look at it and I say, okay, I got this from Braxton and it says, I believe in you, and you have basically accompanied a personal message when you gifted it to me, and I can remind myself of your message ongoing. Yes. Wow.

What makes it even cooler is— thank you. I have a bunch of middle school kids to thank for this. being what it is, which I'll get to. But what makes it even cooler is, so you would get that message from me, but you can also see every city and country it's ever been to, all of the people and their stories that had it before you. So you can see the whole life of that bracelet before it landed on your wrist. And then you get the opportunity to leave the message for the next person, and then you get to watch where it goes. Oh, that's awesome. So it'll notify you every time there's a new impact on any of your bracelets. You can see it on a globe and it'll calculate For example, it'll say Markus has 43 bracelets that have been to, you know, 26 cities in 3 countries and impacted 75 people. And you can connect with those people, see it on a globe. You can watch it as it goes around. We have a global feed of kindness. So the technology piece makes it really cool. And the reason that we did that was because when we didn't have that element, it didn't have that at first. The stories were just unbelievable. Everything from making somebody's day a little bit brighter, rekindling a relationship, starting a business, all of these things, all the way to people not taking their own life because somebody gave them a piece of plastic.

I'm pretty sure. Yeah.

And so when that happened and I was getting to see that, not only the stories, but also kind of like the data, right? This little piece of plastic. That 5 seconds, that seemingly insignificant thing has caused all of these really significant moments. And so I wanted other people to be able to experience that the way I was, be able to measure it. And I just thought that would be so cool. And it would also be another thing that would reinforce what happened to me. I'm pretty logical and analytical. I'm like,

Mm-hmm.

So you're telling me that we can put in make this much impact.

The

world needs to know this. So this is my way of representing that in a, in a way that people can interact with. So that's the core of what our product is. There's some other things, but that's the core of it. And this all started from whenever I was speaking in a middle school when I was 19. So I grew up here, the farm. I was trying to play football. Got injured, dropped outta college. And from there I was trying to kind of figure out who I wanted to be, right? My whole life I was like the football guy or the sports guy. And so when that was taken away, it was like, now what? And so went in the oil field, worked back here at home and all of those things. But I finally decided I wanted to make a clothing brand. I was always passionate about design and passion as well as purpose. Mm-hmm. I was still working out at that time and so I was kind of in like health and fitness and wellness, which I didn't even know that was a space until I got out of football and basically decided to start this. It was a clothing company, but it kind of became athleisure by accident because I just happened to be around all these like health and fitness people and it's called Vision. And so the whole thing was about helping people define their own version of success, not what other people tell you it is. You know, kind of whatever it is you love, go get it. Hard work pays off. It was very that. And so I started that. It was going really well. And because of the message, I started getting asked to speak at middle schools, high schools, graduations, things like that. And I just had this one specific school where the principal decided to call me, you know, about 24 hours before I was supposed to be there. And she just said, hey, Braxton, we're so excited that you're coming tomorrow. But I just wanted to let you know, you know, what some of these kids are going through, not only at school but at home. And so I said, yes, ma'am. And she just proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes giving me like the most heartbreaking information possible. And so I thanked her for telling me, and I said, I'll see you tomorrow. And I hung up. I was with my best friend at the time, and I was like, I am not qualified. I don't have the answers to these questions. I definitely wrote the wrong speech. And I just said, I'll see you tomorrow. So we have to figure something out immediately and you need to help me.

And—

Wow. Grant wrote a new speech, but the powerful piece, which I didn't fully know was going to be this powerful at the time, was I had a label printer. So I printed these little stickers that said, I believe in you. There was about 1,200 kids. The staff handed them out to all the kids as I Well, as they came in, I did the speech and at the end I told them, I said, hey, by the way, that sticker that I gave you is not yours. Trade with the person next to you if you want. Find somebody in the hallway, give it to your favorite teacher, or go home, give it to your mom, your dad, your brother, your cousin. Give it to your neighbor or the mailman. I don't care. But take that message I gave you today and find somebody else to share it with. I left. And to be honest, when I left, I was like, okay, well, I probably shouldn't do this ever again. Maybe unless I have like a master's degree in psychology, um, older. I was like basically their age at the time. I was as nervous as could be. I almost don't even remember being there because I was alone and out of somebody. Yeah, I was just trying to like get in, do my thing, and like get out before anything. Right. And so I did that and I left, and that was kind of where my, my mind was. And a few days later, the principal calls me back and she was like, hey, Braxton, you know, I just, I wanted to call you and tell you that these kids ran with those stickers. And, you know, I'm kind of laughing. I'm like, really? The ugly little stickers I gave them?

Jesus Christ.

And she just said they were making new friends, being nice to each other in the hallway, nicer to the staff. And the really cool part was she said that there was other stories in the school, but she said that there was dozens and dozens of parents that called telling stories that these kids came home and gave it to them or asked if they'd give it to so-and-so at work or the neighbor or the things that I suggested. And she was just telling me all these stories and I thanked her obviously and kind of changed my perspective. And when I hung up, I was like, Well, maybe I should do this at all schools for all kids. And then the more I thought about it, I was like, most of those stories were adults that were impacted and it was with an ugly little sticker. We could do that way better. And that was where the idea, I was like, maybe we put it on a bracelet. And I thought it was gonna be like a part of vision, but the vision for that just kept getting bigger and I'd have another idea and wake up at 3:00 AM and write it down and another one.

Those times, yeah.

Put it on my own website. Make it into a product. And basically kind of fast forward us, I launched it, sent it out to a bunch of friends and kind of just threw it up and hoped for the best. And we ended up in like 8 to 10 months from doing that, sold to every state in the US, 16 different countries. I was getting on different news channels and TV shows and it was really cool. And basically along that path as I'm getting, All of these stories, as I mentioned earlier, if you can imagine the kids, then imagine when it goes, you know, around the globe. I was getting all these stories from all around the world, and that's when that moment hit me. It was like that we need to do something even bigger than what that is. And that's the idea for the mobile app came out. What's funny though is that people thought this was a huge company. It was me dropped out of college twice with a laptop, a label printer, and a box of bracelets. Here, and it looked like sort of

cakes, right?

Yeah. So that was pretty cool. But when I had the idea for the mobile app, mind you, I didn't really know what entrepreneurship was. I didn't have a mentor, didn't know any other business owners, didn't know anything really about how to build technology, you know, any of that stuff. And so I started getting very extreme price points on the product, the mobile app, and then companies were trying to. buy it from me and take majority and all of these things. And I finally just made an announcement that I'm not going to change the vision, but I have to go learn how to be a business person and get resources and relationships, a team to do this the right way. So I started a different company, leave that out for now, and built that for 9 years and used that to fund and test this project. And now it's what I get to do full-time.

So you literally self-funded?

Well, I have self-funded a very large amount of things, but I did bring in an initial investor a couple of years ago to cover some of the costs.

Yeah, because I assume it goes quite into numbers with time.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. He was also a strategic person to bring in too.

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So thank you for sharing that.

Yes, sir.

So if you look at what you just shared, Braxton, what sits underneath all of that, what you shared for you? What would you say was the absolute driver which made you do it?

I would say there's probably a few points with this. One is I had made the decision that I wanted to work for myself and I wanted to make good money. Now, mind you, before this, when I went into it the first time, I was like, it's impact over income. And I was like preaching that until my lack of income directly correlated with the amount of people I was able to impact.

Mm-hmm.

And as much as this place is beautiful and incredible, like, There's things that my— that I've got to experience that my family never has and different things. Mm-hmm. So I made that decision that I wanted to build something where I love to go into work. So did everybody else that worked there, that they could fit their vision inside of this concept and it expands and gets even bigger. So I wanted to be able to enjoy the place that I worked. The people did too. Make money to impact, but also to be able to experience this earth and its people and take care of my family. So in one way, I saw it as an ability to create Abundance, not greed. The other I would say is I, from a logical standpoint, saw something that felt like a tool to actually make a difference. And the, the logical, like creative part of me wanted to like solve this equation and build something that actually makes a difference. And then I would say on like the more human and emotional level, there's probably a lot of layers to this, but something I noticed in the people that we collaborate with and the people that dedicate their life to some sort of cause have usually been deep enough into the darkness that they spend all of their time hoping that other people don't know what that feels like. And I think part of it for me was that, and not even just with my own life, just that I, that I witnessed in my lifetime, I wanted to do my part in hopefully removing some of that. And I always wish that I could remember this quote, but there's some— it, it's, it was in a book I had when I was younger, and I ripped the page out and stuck it on my bathroom mirror, and it's still in there. And it says, what is success? I want to say it's Ralph Waldo Emerson. But I've really took it to heart and, and it pretty much just talks about like winning the affection of, of children. Maybe it's a garden, you know, a few other things that it says. But at the end it says to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to be successful.

That's so beautiful.

And so I think, I'm sure there's more layers to unpack, but I, I would say like, That's probably like the triad that my thoughts gave me from that question.

That's beautiful. And you know what I really love, Braxton? You did not exclude yourself in this equation. You're included. So it's pretty much doing well by doing good. And I believe this is something, especially if someone is purpose-driven, quite often forget themselves because they believe they don't deserve it. If I'm doing something purposeful, I should be selfless. But you literally prove that it shouldn't be that way. And you know what's interesting?

I've learned my lesson through these balances. I can tell. And I'm still learning. But I think that's the, what I call it. And I actually got to write a chapter in somebody's book recently about this.

Mm-hmm.

And I won't go like deep into it, but to cover that piece is, it's called Find Your Lines. And, you know, and the world tries to make everything black and white, right? And it's like every answer that I've given you, I've like pretexted it with like, there's probably a lot more variables, which again, my brain is just very logical. But when you talked about like selfless or selfish, you don't want to be either one of those full out. Because if you're just selfless, you're just pouring from your cup and now your cup is empty. So everything you're giving is kind of at a waste or low, low capacity anyway.

Mm-hmm.

And then if you're just selfish, you're not helping anyone and that's going to come back and get you too. So I think with all these things, it's, it's realizing the amount of variables. And depending on the chapter, where you are, what you're working on, like finding where that line is for you to be able to show up as the fullest version of yourself, to give this thing that you're giving to your best. And it's a little more like this.

And this is a path we have to walk, right? But I love where you ended up. So we're getting soon to the end of our conversation, Braxton. If someone feels overwhelmed right now, and I believe in you, I believe pretty much goes into that, what would you want them to return to?

Try to not answer everything by saying there's variables to this answer. Everybody has their things that they know really light them up. And I think in anything, if we really take it back to our core, I think a good example is thinking of, you know, what would you do if you were 10? Because 10-year-old you just wants to have fun and play with friends and be around and love and play games and build things. And I think When you're getting a little overwhelmed, I think one on the logical side is like taking stock of your environment, what you're consuming. Are you, you know, for me, I have tattoos all over my body. Everything that I wear has some sort of motivational piece. My backgrounds, my bathroom mirror, I surround myself with things that fill me up. So I think to some extent, like environment, the people you're around, and I know sometimes you can't always change everything. Um, one example of that when I was younger, and I think I mentioned this slightly earlier, is when I was younger, there was a lot more chaos between my family and not even me directly, but between them and caused these things. And when things would be chaotic, I put my headphones in and listened to Les Brown or Jim Rohn. And I— Control my environment with. So I think, yeah, some of it is that, and we could go really deep there, but I think on a very simple letter level, it's like, move your body, get some sunshine, go on a walk, maybe put your feet in the grass, put your phone down, be still, write things down if you're one of those people, or draw. Like, get back down to like the brass tacks, like core. Human being. And something a lot of my focus has been on lately is to not be a human working, but a human being. And so I think the line is just when you start to get a little where you feel like your RPMs are up here, step back. We only get to be here once. We're all trying to figure it out. You got this. Just— Step back for a minute, come back down to earth, be where your feet are, and usually that will solve a lot of your problems.

That's beautiful. Thank you for that. So before we go, what are you taking away from this conversation, Braxton?

Well, for one, that you ask really incredible questions.

Appreciate that.

Thank you. But I think, you know what, I would even say that I'm taking away and like, you know, because sometimes we, we say things and then we always say we need to take our own advice, right? So I can sit here and say all of these things. Mm-hmm. Um, but for example, this call, the way that you structured all of this, the way that it's fine that I don't have a nice Zoom background, I'm in a shop, like it's a conversation. My RPMs from this conversation have felt like it's in the sweet spot. I don't feel overwhelmed. I don't feel scattered. And so I think it's just taking time to be present in your conversations that you have. And if you're gonna give your time and somebody's gonna give theirs, be there and be slow and be present. You know, I think that's where— I think what I mentioned earlier is like, that's where I really think the reason you ask such good questions is because you are and you're grounded. And that's how you get to the most beautiful places. Sometimes we just get so on this autopilot and you know the right thing to say, you know how to— you maybe even have a backend agenda that's subconscious you didn't even know. And, um, Yeah, that, that's what I would say is just the, to be present and to be still and be wherever you committed to being. And, uh, yeah, I just, I wanna thank you for the opportunity to be in this space. That's what it's about.

Thank you so much for this conversation, Rex. It's been a great pleasure.

Likewise. Thank you, Markus.

This was remembering the forgotten. As you move on, notice what may have been quietly remembered. Ask yourself for a moment, what if the thing holding us back is not a lack of capability, but a system that has been carrying too much for too long? And if that's true, What if nothing important about you was ever lost? There are moments where you can feel the answer is always there, but you can't quite reach it. And then something shifts, and suddenly it's simple. No force, no second-guessing, no internal negotiation. Just a clear sense of what's next. And the capacity to move. If something shifted, let it stay, and a few quiet pointers are waiting below.