My MISSION In Life is Not Merely to SURVIVE, But to THRIVE!

Listen, this next guy comes to the stage is no stranger. He is the founder of this entire movement. He's got an incredible message for you this afternoon. I hope your plate is not too full. Make sure you got a fresh sheet of paper because he wants to pour into you on how in the world did he get from homeless to becoming a multimillionaire, a serial entrepreneur, a man of faith, a father, a husband, a visionary, a pioneer? Transform you. Can you stand on your feet one more time for this incredible individual who brought us all here this weekend? If you're in the chat room, I need to see all your emojis. Ladies and gentlemen, one more time. Coming live right here to the transform youm stage, Mr. Stephen Scage.

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

I'm gonna have to get a table that is a little shorter, so I feel a little taller. Well, who cares? Hey, look, guys. So, first of all, are you enjoying Transferview Live? Yes. That's what I wanted to hear. You may have realized that my voice is not what it was the day before yesterday. Or yesterday, for that matter. You know, this whole thing has been a burning thing in my heart for so long. You. You know, there's been so much work, there's been so much energy, there's been so much sacrifice. There's been so much going on behind the scenes long before the breakthrough boxes, long before the virtual audiences, and long before the cameras and the tech and the chat rooms and the emojis that are flying and the LED walls that are amazing, by the way, these things are freaking rock. It's gonna be interesting tomorrow when we do some additional chat room stuff with Mr. Evan Carmichael, my good friend, who's been simply amazing in helping me open doors to help me serve more people. And I want to honor each and every one of the speakers. Can you please give one more round of applause for these amazing human beings.

We are going to close the day strong. And the reason we're going to close the day strong is because I have a special surprise that I'm going to tell everybody about right now. At 6 o', clock, I'm going to have everybody come back. I'm going to do something very special that's been very significant and very transformative in my life. I'm going to share that experience with you, and we're going to prepare for that now as we kind of wrap up the day. And then after we take that journey together, we are going to break loose. At seven o'. Clock. We are going to break loose. Coming all the way from Nashville Tennessee is Sam Tenz and his bands. He has this song called this is How Legends Are Made. Guys, can you queue it up for me just a second? I want to give him a little taste. I'll chit chat a little bit more, but in the meantime, I want everyone to pull out their phones, stand up, do whatever you need to do. But I need you to invite someone who's in need of a little inspiration.

And we all know somebody.

You see, I learned a long time ago that a lot of times we get stuck in this place where we're so focused on us that we forget about others.

We forget about the fact that we're not the only ones that struggle. We're not the only ones that don't have it all figured out. We're not the only ones who doubt.

We're not the only ones who don't like what we see in the mirror.

It is no Secret I am 5 foot 5. Lord knows I'd love to be 6 foot 5. But chances are with that additional foot of height, I would probably have that additional effort of arrogance. And I want to be bold, but not cocky.

I want to be genuine, but not a pushover.

I want to be transformational, but not a tragedy.

And I believe that every single person watching, I see you, virtual audience. You have been hanging in there day after day. And you are amazing human beings. And I hope this event is doing something inside of you, that one of these speakers has resonated with you at a deep level.

Because here's the thing.

Behind stage in the green room.

Not only are they talking about the next transform you, you're saying, don't you forget about me.

Because of the experiences they've had with you.

Which is the whole purpose about what we're doing right now as we're doing this and we're walking down this journey together. I want to help you understand something.

I went to go write my first book in 2014.

It was an interesting kind of story. I went to this live event, very similar to this type of environment, but this type of environment was a little bit different. And it was a business conference. And that's where I learned to be and befriended Dave Ramsey and some of his team members and stuff like that. And I went through this environment, and the first day I got, there's what they didn't know. I had been in my closet praying on my knees, God, please help me. Please help me. Please help me. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going. I Have all these people who are reporting to me, and I don't know how to lead them. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a high school dropout. Why me? Why on earth would you give me this kind of business? Why on earth would you take me there? Why? I don't. And I was lost and I was stuck.

And I used to beat myself up for it. But you know what? It's okay to be lost and stuck as long as you're seeking another way out. I went to this event. As part of this event, I had this author who was working for Dave Ramsey at the time and who's now become a decent friend. And his name is John Acuff. And John Acuff had an event like this, and this is something I'm hoping to put it at. Transform your next year. Because I really like the concept, which is this thing where you can actually talk to one of the speakers one on one in a personal coaching session in this environment, digitally or live.

But in doing so, what I wanted to do was I went and go meet John, and John was like 30 minutes late to the meeting for a 45 minute coaching call or a coaching presence. They had the VIP Platinum lounge. Ooh, buddy. My lanyard had a little silver thing on it. It said, platinum, baby. Man, I felt special.

I felt amazing. Now I walked in there and I had my free Kit Kats and my free bottle of water, my additional little Red Bull. Like, I need more caffeine. And I sit down and I'm waiting, and I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And John walks in and he says, man, I'm so sorry I was late. Didn't really give me a reason. I'm like, well, John, like, no worries. He said, okay, so how can I help you? What can I do for you? I said, well, John, you know, I've had all these friends in my family, and they said that I should write a book because your life reads like Joseph or from the Bible or a little bit like Forrest Gump. You know, Mama never fought like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

So I go through that and I'm like. He's like, well. He goes, well, you know, writing a book is not easy. It takes time. It takes commitment. I heard a very similar stat that you guys heard from Amberly about writing books earlier.

And he's kind of telling, and he's like, you know, it's not really for everybody. He goes, I tell you what, do me a Favor. Just tell me one story. Tell me one story of transformation in your life. Just tell me one story. I said, okay, fine. And I proceeded to tell him about my journey to try to join the United States Navy, and how that was going to be my last effort. How I kind of started this event off with my bridge moment of losing my identity and all that kind of stuff.

And by the time I got done Talking to him, 45 minutes later.

A tear dropped from his eye. He ran out the door, slapped the wall, and said, you should totally write the book.

Guys. We don't fully understand.

What is truly possible. And what I did when I tried to put this event together is I tried to put this event and this stage together in such a way that allows the most magnificent speakers who genuinely care about you.

On a stage.

They've each shared their stories. They've each shared their adversity in hopes of. Like one of the attendees said last night, I don't want to hear rags to riches. I want to hear relational.

And that stuck with me. It stuck with me all day.

So much so that I actually wanted to go back and rework this entire presentation.

Because I want my story to be a semblance of what's possible.

But I also don't want to sit in the darkness that was my life. Nor do I want that darkness to somehow come out of my heart to you guys, where all of a sudden, now you're losing yourself. And, like, what. I'm kind of feeling a little, like, icky. Like, that's dark, man. I haven't. I mean, I appreciate that you dealt with that, but, you know, I just.

You know, I'm. I'm like, you know what? You're right.

You're right. So the reason I mentioned the bookstore is. Cause, you see, I realized something very interesting. I was on the way back from that event. I was in a Jeep Grand Cherokee at the time, which is ironic. And I'll tell you why in a second. And as I'm driving back, the original name of the book was gonna be called the 12 Laws of the Underdog. Why? Cause I'm an underdog, baby. Like, let's go. Come at me, Bog. Come at me, right? I was laughing at Ray quietly in my seat. But when I was laughing with Ray. Cause he was, like, talking about the different things that kind of pull up these roots and these kind of, you know, what's driving that behavior. And as I was thinking through that, I'm like, you know. Yeah. Now, I have made absolutely no secret that I'm A person of faith. And my faith is by far the strongest tool in my toolbox as it relates to transforming myself and hopefully helping to transform you. But I also recognize that the greatest problem with faith oftentimes are the believers that profess it.

I understand that. I have been part of churches and organizations that have hurt me, ones that I have given considerable resources to, to watch them actually alienate and not help the public or. I had one pastor one time sit down across the table on a meeting that I set up for them to get a publishing deal with the publisher that I had for their first book. I sit down with them at the table, and I say, hey, here's my publisher, y'. All Converse. Him look right over to me and myself and Karen and my wife and sit down at that table right there, and he says, I don't even know why they're here.

I'm like, bruh.

No offense. I was trying to help you. So I set out on this journey to be a little bit different.

For those of you guys who watch the Stuck to Unstoppable podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on Apple or Spotify or wherever you consume podcasts.

At the very beginning.

You'Ll see a bridge, and it says, from Stuck to Unstoppable, There's a bridge going from one to the other, and then it wraps itself up in the logo. I want you to. Did you know that it dawned on me after we created the logo by the production team that's running this event? Hello. You guys are amazing. When they built that custom modification for me that when it turned into a bridge, I was like, you know what? It just dawned on me that every major experience in my life has been directly tied to a bridge. Every major experience.

So as I'm going through that, I'm kind of, like, thinking about this book, and I'm going into my head, and I'm just like, it's this book, and, you know, Dave does it really well. I wouldn't mind being like Dave, and that would be really cool. And, oh, man, maybe if a book does well, I. You know.

But then something jumped out at me. It was like the stillness of my heart had this moment where it actually came out, and here's what it did or said.

Is the book about you or is it about you?

I thought about that. I was like, ouch.

Ouch.

Out of that same quiet moment, I heard these words. Now we'll call it divine intervention. I will call it God. You can call it the universe. I don't care.

What I do Care is the principles behind it. And here's what it said.

It said, did you know that every single person on the planet is living in a place of a journey?

We're born.

And in theory, we die.

And hoping that we do something amazing in the middle.

Only to realize that your journey is the destination.

And what you do with that journey matters. And then I had this image in my head that popped in and said, the people who are surviving.

Are doing so because they're not living by principle. They're living by habits or reactions. Meanwhile, the people that I put on this stage.

That so graciously came out to serve you flew halfway across the country for this event.

All of them live by principle.

You see, a principle makes a decision before you have to. It makes the decision for you. Everything becomes automatic. It becomes powerful. Powerful.

You see, I discovered that if you'll take your journey and apply the simple principles that have been applied the last several days, and we ain't even done yet, baby.

Take those principles. Apply it. All of a sudden, you get to live the promises that are hidden inside the principle.

You have to let go of what was. And we have spent a lot of time pounding that.

Think different. Think different. Think different. Have a different relationship, have a different circle. Stop, stop. Wake up. We've been saying for two days, wake up.

Enough's enough.

Now we've got to figure out how to live by principle.

And the cool part is we don't have to invent any of them. The most successful people on the planet love or behave them. They all live by a set of principles on how they handle their relationships, how they handle their money, how they handle their lives. Some people are crazy talented in the financial circle, and their relationship lives are a wreck. Some people are, like, so focused on family and relationship that their financial lives are in a wreck. Which is why I said on the panel yesterday that the most important thing that you could be doing is trying to focus on each pillar at least once a week so you can get some traction. No more, no less.

The number one question I get on podcasts, and if I'm being honest with you guys.

I'm tired of answering it.

Because much like Anthony mentioned yesterday, I have to relive very painful, very difficult moments. But much like Anthony mentioned yesterday, I do that because I know it serves. The number one question I get is, how did you become homeless?

And how did you transform your life?

Those two things are the two tying blocks that somehow fit weird together. That's why on yesterday I said, hey, you know, my first Thing that I did was my pride and my ego. And I've been trying to. I have been trying really hard over the last few days. Strategically, guys, this event is strategic.

Because I know what it takes to unlock a heart, to open a mind.

To create something more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

We have talked about getting perspective. You've heard the word perspective and possibilities and promises and passion and fulfillment and meaning over and over and over. Don't let the power of those words miss you.

In fact.

I would tell you that my most broken moments obviously led to my most fulfilling ones. You know, I mentioned this guy yesterday. His name is Steve Myrick.

This guy changed my life.

He changed my life.

He taught me things that I didn't fully understand.

He taught me that I was not my past, I was my possibilities.

And he did so after I betrayed him.

19 years old, he puts me in business for myself. He knows I'm a high school dropout. He knows that I want to do well. He knows that I want to help my family. He knows I want to stop living by paycheck to paycheck and all the crap that comes with it. He watched me go from bad relationship to bad relationship.

He watched me.

And he still loved me.

I was that guy where he would give advice and I wouldn't do anything with it.

19 years old, he gives me my first shot. I built my first business thanks to him. He buys me all the equipment I need, all the tools I need, everything that I needed to be successful. I didn't lack anything. He took care of my back office, my front office, my corner office, all. All I had to do was show up and do the work. That's all I had to do. Show up and do the work. That's it.

And I did. For a good six, eight months. For six or eight months, I showed up and did the work. I put the tool belt on, I climbed the ladders, I lifted the poles. I did everything.

And you know what I did well?

I did well. I made money.

And I thought money would fulfill me. Why? Because my family told me that was an impossibility.

What impossibilities are you stepping away from right now?

You see, there's a gravitational pull. And this is why. What makes transformation so difficult for most people to fully understand, even though it's so simple in nature?

You see, as your rocket is rising and everything around you is tugging on you to hold you back, pull you down, keep you stuck. Don't you dare break loose.

But if you'll keep pushing, you keep applying you keep building off a principle, you keep taking the right actions, you will win, I guarantee it.

Steve takes me, propels me to the highest heights of a 19 year old. I'm walking around, dude, I'm with a big wad of hundred dollar bills going into the pool halls because that was the cool thing to do with my pager, actually had two pagers. You know, I turn it upside down, it says hello and I love you, right? And then you would say oh, beep beep, beep beep. And you run to the payphone and put a quarter in which have you guys seen one of those in a while? And call whoever is on the other end. You felt important. I went out and bought a 1998 Camaro. I thought it was hot stuff. It was the brand spanking new car, silver, six speed, fast. I still like fast cars.

Guys.

What wrecked me.

Was my pride, my ego and my arrogance. I thought I already knew it all. And what I've come to realize, even at my age now, even though I feel like I have some level of understanding about certain things.

I still don't know it all. I learned something new every day. I have learned something brand spanking new from every single person that's come across the stage. And even you guys last night when we do hanging up with a cocktail hour, loved every minute of it.

What happens when your ego outweighs your character.

As a person of faith? There's a quote that says pride comes before the fall.

And I fail hard and I hit every single branch on the way down.

As I fell from the, you know, as a 19 year old kid who's making well and close to the six figure mark, which is in the 1990s, that's a big deal. That's a pretty decent chunk of change. What did I do? Well, I went and spent it. I got involved in a toxic relationship that totally wrecked me. I didn't have a secure identity, I didn't have a secure sense of self. I had zero boundaries. I had zero level of understanding of how to manage wealth or even the perception of wealth at that age, in that environment.

And slowly but surely I began to lose piece by piece by piece by piece. Getting so bad to the point where my brother comes in and he's like, hey, I know you're in trouble, I'll take over the mobile home. Yes, a mobile home. And I thought I was rich, baby.

Now in this particular case for me, I was like, I've got my own place. And I began to lose it. So my brother moved in, took over the monthly payments, $276.84 a month.

I began to rent a room in my own home for whatever I could afford to pay that week.

He had one rule. He goes, dude, I know you're trying to figure stuff out. I get it. No problem. Just don't date that chick. Don't date that girl. She's dangerous. She's harmful. Have you guys noticed a theme with a couple of the things I've told you? I get some warnings, maybe, right? Same kind of thing. What did I do? Well, what I wanted to do.

I wanted the physicality. I wanted the sense of belonging. I wanted the sense of feeling like I matter to someone somewhere, even though I got this bipolar, kind of like, I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate you, I love you, I hate you. And that'll take a toll on your identity. To the witch.

But I didn't fully understand the full weight of that. And I proceeded to lose everything. And of course, he caught me. Kick me out. And because I didn't have any other resources and because my pride and my ego were still very inflated.

I went months without having secure shelter. Months. And it was my fault.

My fault. My decisions led me there. My choices in my relationships led me there.

The fact that I wasn't willing to humble myself led me there. The fact that I wasn't willing to forgive led me there.

The fact that I wouldn't let go led me there.

And that's how I became homeless.

And the crazy thing was, is somewhere in the middle of all of that mess. It was a chilly night. I was over close to downtown Raleigh.

And I sat down and I could hear him talking. Stephen, you gotta be willing to do today what others want so you can have tomorrow what others don't. It's nice town. Adventures. Look at them. Adventures.

And I would take that, and I was like.

And then I had this entire experience from when I was, like, maybe 15 or 16 that I've mentioned on the podcast and stuff before. But if this is your first time getting to know me, first of all, I want to thank you for tuning in. I do. I want to thank you for giving me a chance to. To speak to your heart.

I would hear this moment. I was working in the hot summer one day, and I was on the. I was on the scaffolding crew, and I come down the crew, because he comes around. He would drive around the community. He pulled me down off the crew, asked me to get into his white Jeep Grand Cherokee with a big old dent in the Back because he was forever backing into stuff.

I get in the car, it's like 90 some degrees outside. It's hot, y', all, and I'm sorry. If somebody offers you an air conditioned vehicle, I'll sit in there. You can talk to me all you want to, because I ain't sweating.

You know what I'm saying? I didn't care that it smelled a little bit like mothballs. I didn't. And it did, legitimately.

This is the same man that I mentioned the other day that would put a thousand dollars under a basket of. Of hush puppies at a restaurant to help somebody in need. He's also the same guy that I watched literally the Raleigh Police department pull up behind him one afternoon. He's in the middle of talking to people, and he's pulling around the thing, and it's funny because, you know, the cop gets out, sir, can you please move your car? He's like, you move your car. I own the street. Cop got in the car, turned around, went the other way. I'm dead serious. He was feisty. And hindsight being 20 20, I now see him as one part lion, one part lamb.

One part compassion, one part grit, one part peace, one part power, baby.

He would talk to me, and he asked me this one question that, you know, I didn't. It's a simple question. He said, what's the difference between a rich man and a poor man? I'm like, I got this money, duh. Rich man got money, poor man don't. That simple.

I thought my poop didn't stink. Yes. I wanted to say the other word.

And if he could have slapped me in the back of the head, he really would have.

He said, absolutely not. Actually, he said, absolutely not.

So he said, it's the way they think.

It's the way they think. Let me ask you this. Do you want to think like me? You want to think like me? You want to continue thinking like your daddy.

In that moment? I have this Rolodex. My dad does this. Steve does this. My dad.

I think I want to. I think I want to model you. Now, Steve wasn't perfect. He had his own flaws, but he is a.

That moment came back to my life. And I'm. You know what, guys? I'm going to. I'll use some of this, but I'm going to. I'm going to spend. I'm just going to talk to you like a real human. Is that okay? Can I just talk to you real.

Quick? These moments are playing back in my mind, and I found myself walking over to this gas station. I don't even have them anymore, but it's called the Circle K.

And as I'm walking into the Circle K, I'm. You know, I go into the bathroom and I. You know, I open the door. Of course it doesn't smell great because it's a gas station bathroom. And they, you know, I walk over and I lean.

I lean on the mirror or on the table, and I'm disgusted with myself.

I'm totally disgusted with myself. I'm like, how the hell did I get here?

How the hell did I get here? I don't.

I looked up and I looked myself dead in the eyes in the mirror. And I said.

You deserve more.

You deserve more. Not because you earned it, but because you breathe life.

Because there's air in your lungs. You deserve it.

So inside of your breakthrough boxes, I want you to do me a favor. Pull out your breakthrough boxes, please. There should be a little box. It has a little mirror there. I want you to pull those out for a second. Give you a couple seconds.

Because.

Normally we look in a mirror and we go to look at it, and we're. And we're looking at this mirror, and we're like, you know, we're having a good day or a bad day. You know, I have this. I had this really hard time making sure my hair stays nice and neat. And, you know, so I'm constantly looking at myself and, you know, kind of thing. Or you've got the whole thing where you walk by and you're like, yeah, baby, look at that thing. Oh, yeah, look at that trap. Or, you know, or you walk by and you, like, kind of flex, right? Or maybe you walk by. This is something I saw my daughter do once, where you just turn the leg a little bit.

Show the booty shot, right?

You know, and we use mirrors all the time for different things, but the one thing we seldom do is we use it to program ourselves.

We forget to use it to program ourselves.

If you don't mind. Pull out your mirror. Look at yourself a little bit. What's up, you sexy thing?

Got a zit forming? Anybody got any bass? Just kidding. Seriously, everybody stand up. Stand up.

I'm going to give you the greatest blessing I have ever had in my life, and I want you to feel it.

Everybody stand up. Look at your mirror.

Say hello, you sexy thing.

What you doing?

You know you got possibilities, baby. You know you do. Yeah, buddy.

And those on the virtual office. You can turn on your cameras and turn off my feed and you can look at yourself, but I want you to do this with me. Everybody. I want everybody at the top of your lungs. I want you to repeat after me, I.

Forgive.

You.

And I want you to feel it and sit in it.

Because no matter who's wronged you, the one person who's wronged you more is that person staring at you in the mirror.

What are you going to do now? Do you mean it? Do you mean it? Talk to me.

Do you forgive yourself?

All right, everybody, have a seat.

Ladies and gentlemen, I find that most of us aren't successful in life because we forget to give ourselves the permission to do so. It's a simple thing. I was coaching a young lady not long ago.

Her mother moved in with her. Not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all. Except her mother made her feel like it was her responsibility to take care of her from day one. Guys, I've been there. Not necessarily the true course.

Let me ask you a question. Have you given yourself permission to live?

And she wept because she loved her mom. She wanted well for her mom.

But it was her time to leave the nest, build her own family. That young lady just had a baby not that long ago, thank God, in her own little family. Guys, it's okay. It's okay to give yourself permission to be okay. It's okay to give yourself permission to want something more. It's okay to give yourself permission to be something more. Now, this one comment has been said a lot of different ways and a lot of different times throughout this entire event. You see, I discovered there are actually three great purposes in life. One purpose in life is serving the person you once loved.

Serving the person you once lost.

I'm serious. Think about Susan B. Coleman, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

What do they all have in common? Pain.

And probably the third, and the one that speaks to me more than any of the other ones, is serving the person you used to be.

I'm not the first one to say that this week. And the reason that is is because you know what? We didn't have a chat back there and say, hey, guys, we're gonna say all this in a lot of different ways. It's a principle.

And principles lead to promises.

When you learn to forgive yourself, you now open your heart to have the capacity to forgive other people. And I don't care how good you think your life is. I don't care if you're riding high, you got the nice house, got the nice car. I got news for you. You're not human. If you have not struggled with Forgiveness. Whether it's the person looking at you in the mirror or the person who's staring at you across the table.

I believe that this event, part of the catalyst of setting you free, setting you to a course of transformation, is this forgiveness.

I want you to understand that this man gave me a second chance. I did not deserve.

I did not deserve it.

Almost three, four, five, six months go by. Within a year's time frame, I'm completely wrecked. I get back on my dad's framing crew who was working for Steve.

And every time Steve would drive around the community like he used to, I would go run and hide. You can't see me. Don't watch me. Why? Guilt and shame.

What I'm gonna invite each and every one of you guys to do is to own it. Whatever it is for you, own it.

Use it.

As fuel, as power. Because this man right here gave me a second chance I didn't deserve. It was a Friday afternoon. I just got my first paycheck, and I don't know how long. $162.83. Just before we kind of get ready to knock off, my dad sends me across the street to go reframe a garage door. For those of you guys in the construction industry, you know what I just said? For those of you guys who don't know what that is, the big opening that you drive a car into, there's this thing that covers the perimeter, and that's called a goalpost. And I was supposed to go work on it. Anyway, I go work over here, and I'm knocking on it. I'm doing my thing. And meanwhile, I'm overhearing. These guys are saying, oh, my God. Oh, this guy's so bad. Steve sucks, man. He doesn't pay his bills all day while they're smoking weed on the job site.

I'm getting so mad, so fired up inside, I'm like, how? Who dare you talk about Steve? Well, you don't even know how good this guy is. There's a draw schedule in the construction industry, meaning that if you have 100%.

And you are 50% done.

Then you can actually draw $5,000. Make sense? Simple math.

These guys were 70% drawn on a 30% completed home. And they were bad mouthing this man.

Here's something wild. I overhear it. I'm getting fired up, and I'm like, I'm going to go over here and do my thing.

I get over there, and meanwhile, as I'm walking, this is what I hear, and this is why. This is why you cannot take my faith away from me. I've seen far too much and been through far too much to know that this is not true. True for me. Maybe not true for you, but it's true for me.

As I'm walking in the way, this is what I hear.

Didn't you do the same thing?

Betrayal knows no boundaries. It comes in a lot of different forms, especially when that person that you're betraying is you.

You're betraying your limiting beliefs for the beliefs of making possibilities happen. You're betraying yourself when you don't show up and put yourself out there. You're betraying yourself when you don't put up a. Pull up a book that can change your life and get an idea and a concept and make something happen.

You're betraying yourself when you don't try.

When you don't fight.

Steve. I see Steve coming, and for the first time, I had this overwhelming, like, fire in my belly. Like.

My dad walks over, grabs the paychecks, he starts walking this way. And for the first time in over a year.

Steve is parked. My dad's walking this way, I'm walking this way. And my dad's like, boy, where you going?

I'm like, well, you know, I walk over and I knock on Steve's window.

Rolls the window down. Fresh blast of cold air, like the old days with the mothballs.

Boy, what can I do for you? Oh, actually, this is how we said it. Boy, what can I do you for? Because he was born and raised from here, too.

I said, hey, look, I overheard these guys talking. This is what they're talking about. What am I going to do?

Like, will you give me a second chance? He laughed at me. Boy, you crazy. I ain't buying you. I'm not buying you tools, I'm not buying you trucks. I'm not buying you stuff. No. No, sir. That's. You burned me, boy. You burned me. I said, I know I did, and I'm sorry, but I'm different now. I'll share that story of how I became different later, but I'm different now. He looked in my eyes. Eyes are the witness to the soul, especially when they're yours.

I've had to physically reprogram myself by talking to myself and looking at myself and telling me of what I could accomplish if I just put in the work.

Something about Steve changed. He said, hmm.

I said, steve, I don't need you to buy me a thing. I just need a second chance. Give me an opportunity. He said, boy, how are you Gonna do that. You're wearing a nail apron that says loads across the front of it.

For those of you guys who aren't familiar with construction industry, there's something called pouches, which is a lot of pockets with the hammer. So if you guys watching the hgtv, the diy, they're walking around, they're here tinking around. Those are pouches. You got to have money to buy pouches. They ain't cheap. Now, a nail apron, they sell at $5.

I had no tools, no equipment, no people, no insurance, no natural talent that I was aware of. And honestly, if I'm being completely transparent with you, I didn't feel like I had hope.

And he looks at me and he says.

Hmm.

I said, steve, they said they're not coming back Monday.

He said, I'll tell you what, boy, I don't know if you one part crazy, but I'll tell you what.

If they're not here by 9am you could take over for them on that one house. We'll go from there. I'm not gonna promise you much more than that, but I'm gonna let you at least try.

Done. That's all I need. He rolls up his window, I start walking back. My dad is livid.

Boy, don't you know the skagas don't get ahead. They get by. What are you thinking? I just got you back on this framing crew. What are you crazy?

And for the first time in my life, I found my voice. And I challenge everyone watching right now and everyone live in the audience. I challenge each and every one of you to find your voice. Find your version of your roar.

I screamed louder if I could, but my throat's about done.

Find your voice.

This is something I have to do. And it was overwhelming. I was exploding on fire.

And for the first time in my life, my dad showed up.

First time.

He didn't say another word. He walked over to the van that this man owned, opened the door and began pulling tools out. I said, what are you doing? He said, do you remember working with me and your granddaddy during the summers? I said, yes, sir. He goes, what was the ladders made out? Of?

Wood.

How about the walk boards? Wood pump jacks? Wood.

Okay, boys, start pulling stuff out of the trash piles. We got scaffolding to build.

And we did. I went to the trash piles. I began grabbing two by fours, out, plywood out, all kinds of stuff. And we built over the entire weekend, not knowing if the guys are gonna show up. That's called faith. You take the right Step. Even if you don't know that the right step is gonna lead to the next step, you still take the step. You take the step. It doesn't have to be a giant leap, but it does have to be a step. There are 365 days in a year. 365 days. If you take one step in a day, you will not be stuck.

One step.

We built like crazy. I took my entire paycheck and I rented this device called a brake machine. It's a device that makes coil or makes facial boards of the stuff on your trim of the house that makes it pretty.

And I did. I worked all weekend. I sat down on the curb, I waited. 7:35, Steve pulls up. Hey, what you doing? Can I go yet? Boy, it ain't nine o'. Clock. Okay, fine. All right. I sit back on the step. Meanwhile, my dad's staring at me. I'm almost like, hey, boy, we'll get over here and work over here. I'm like, no, this is my opportunity. I'm not letting my opportunity go. I will not let my opportunity go. Did you hear me?

Are you going to let your opportunity go? No, you are not. Because you are at Transform U. And this is what we do.

Because it was done for me. And I'll be doggone if you guys are going to stay stuck in any way, shape or form any longer, period.

To shorten the story, I'll tell you that 902 walks around, he comes around, he drives around the thing. He said, boy, what you waiting on?

Despise not small beginnings.

Do not.

Ladies and gentlemen, you were sitting in the actual arena of the very seed that was planted in that moment.

Custom home exteriors was born that night, that day.

You can't tell me what you can't do.

I don't believe you.

I believe you're better than you're letting yourself be.

And I need you to commit to yourself.

Ladies and gentlemen, I now own seven total businesses.

With extensive revenue, large teams of amazing human beings, many of them you met this week.

And they follow me. Not because I'm perfect.

But because I try.

I try to be a better leader. I try to run a good business. I try to do things that matter.

So when people came to tell me and they said, what are you talking? You're gonna put on a major live event. Dude, are you serious? You know how much money that's gonna cost?

Yeah.

Are you. You gotta. Speakers, workbooks, breakthrough boxes, lunch, entertainment.

It's impossible.

And this is where I think Ray might have got it wrong. Watch me.

You guys are my heartbeat.

Your life is my heartbeat.

I'm going to go a little over on time, guys, but I can't help myself. Give me a few minutes.

His granddaughter came one day recently.

And I was walking around the building, the backside, the part that you guys can't see, or at least you haven't seen yet. You guys are welcome to come back when we're not doing a live event. I'll introduce you to everybody.

And she started seeing some of his sayings on the wall.

And she started hearing my team say stuff that I say to them that I heard from him.

Over and over.

She's like, my granddaddy's all over this place. He's all over this place. And then she's about to leave.

She's about to leave. And the craziest thing happened.

A young man that I've been mentoring off and on for a long time walks up. Just happened to be coincidence or was it really.

Walks up. And we start. I start talking and say, hey, I want you to meet him. This is his granddaughter. He just smiled. Big old cheese on his face.

She said, what do you do? Well, he goes, you know, I'm the director of connections. I do marketing stuff. I've, you know, the content that Steven's been doing and working with me has, like, helped me so much. Da, da, da. She goes, oh, that's so awesome.

She goes, so what are you doing it for?

And he looked at her.

He said, that's my Steve Irick.

I will not stop and tell him, steve, my heart for as many people as I can touch before I die, I will not stop. And therefore, you cannot stop. You cannot give up. You cannot give in. You cannot stop.

Please pull out your workbooks. Turn to page 34.

For the first time in probably a long time, I want you to take the time to be honest with yourself.

And I want you to do one thing. As I exit the stage.

I'll share what I was going to share with you guys tomorrow. I have a little time tomorrow. I will teach you how to break this apart.

I'll teach you the methodology. But my heart was taking me somewhere different today.

I want you to spend time answering those questions.

And I want you to be honest.

Be very honest with yourself.

Because in order to do something special, you have to become free of what's been holding you back.

No matter what that is.

I want you to keep it to yourself. I don't want you to share it with anybody. This document is for you.

Virtual audience. The same thing holds True for you guys.

Page 34. It should be a document that has this tear off. It says to tear this off. Once you've completed that document, I want you to fold it neatly and put it into the envelope within your breakthrough box. Virtual audience. I love you guys and I'm sorry that you guys don't have breakthrough boxes, but we're going to work on that next go round, I promise. But in the meantime, there's an envelope that says my freedom is now.

I want you to neatly, when you're done working on that piece of paper, I want you to neatly put it inside this envelope. I want you to lick that sucker and I want you to close it.

And the only other thing you have to do with that is bring it back tonight at 6 o'. Clock.

Tonight we get free.

Tonight we get free.

In virtual land. We're going to do our best to actually make sure we take the time to incorporate you guys. My video team will be working extra hard to make sure you have the live feed to go through this process with us.

Because until you're free, you can't be found.

After that, for everyone, virtual or otherwise.

I want you to find friends and family and I want you to enjoy the most uplifting experience you've ever experienced in a long time. Right after that, at seven o', clock, right here in this facility.

As Sam Tenz, a Nashville recording artist, comes to the stage and rocks this sucker.

Your freedom is now. Do you hear me?

I can't hear a single word you said.

Talk to me. Yes.

Let's go, baby. Two minute countdown. I'll see you guys at 6:00'. Clock. Don't be late.