In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews speaker, author, and award‑winning podcaster Joel Boggess. Joel opens with a harrowing childhood story of falling from a railroad bridge at age five, surviving multiple skull fractures, a coma, and a long rehabilitation. He frames this experience as the foundation of his lifelong focus on resilience, emphasizing that resilience is a skill that can be learned and mastered. Joel describes his keynote work, teaching audiences the building blocks of perseverance and the importance of outworking competitors in a fast‑paced world. He shares practical business advice: “don’t be cute, be clear,” urging straightforward communication in sales and requests. Reflecting on his younger self, he advises to quit alcohol and drugs, noting that sobriety was crucial to his recovery and growth. Joel defines happiness as incremental progress toward meaningful goals, citing Shawn Achor’s concept of the Happiness Advantage. He recommends the book Becoming a Category of One by Joe Callaway, explaining that standing out by creating a unique niche is essential for success in today’s crowded market. His favorite quote, paraphrased from Roger Staubach, is “there’s no traffic on the extra mile,” reinforcing the value of going beyond the norm. Finally, he directs listeners to his websites (joelboggess.com and joelvargas.com) for speaking engagements and resources on resilience. The episode also includes sponsor mentions and a brief Anchor production note.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. We have Joel Boggess with us today. He's a speaker, author, and award-winning podcaster. So welcome to the show, Joel.
Hey Tyler, it is a pleasure to be here with you today and your listeners. I am ready to rock this show. I hope you got some good questions for me.
I do. Awesome. Thank you again for joining us, and we will dive in. The first question I have for you, Joel, is what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah, that, that's a great question. And when I was 5 years old, I was out in the Texas Hill Country on a nature hike with my dad and two of his friends, and I kind of drifted away from the group and in Ended up climbing a nearby hill, and that hill actually turned out to be a bridge, which actually turned out to be a railroad crossing bridge. And to make a long story short, and this is a long story with a long recovery involved, but I ended up getting scared when a train came, fell off the bridge, ended up with multiple skull fractures, a coma, and so much blood loss that by the time the rescue workers found me— no GPS, no cell phone, Texas Hill Country, 43 years ago— they could hardly start an IV. I mean, my blood vessels had collapsed. And 2 hours later, Tyler Wagner Wagner, we ended up at the hospital where I started my fight in a coma for 4 weeks. And I could go on and on about that story, but the recovery and the rehabilitation was long, hard, and arduous. But the lesson that I learned, and pretty much the lesson that I give to the audiences that I speak in front of, is that, you know what, You just can't give up. You gotta keep pressing on. And resilience, that's the key to success in business and in life. It's having your faith, your focus, and your willingness to follow through in alignment together. And that— I'm 49 now— that accident really laid the groundwork for a lot of resilience building throughout my life.
Yeah, wow, man, thanks for sharing that story. That is absolutely wild, uh, and I'm glad that you were able to fight through that. Um, the next question I have for you, Joel, is what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Sure, well, I do keynote speaking, and usually I'm the guy at the at the front of the conference, I'm the kickoff guy, or I'm the closer. And what I do is I help people understand the building blocks of staying the course, of never giving up, of being resilient. And I think the biggest lesson to be learned is that the American Psychological Association found in their studies that resilience It's not born into us. It's something that we can learn, we can develop, and then we can master. And what science tries to help us understand is that we all have the ability to, to stay the course, to keep to our grind, and to just, to just work it out until we, we reach success. And, you know, And today's hectic, very, very fast-paced environment, I think people need that message that, you know what, it's going to be okay if you can outwork the next guy. I promise you, it's, it's gonna, it's gonna be all right.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice, or not necessarily industry specific?
Sure. Joe Callaway, one of my favorite speakers and authors, has a wonderful book out, and He said, don't be cute, be clear. And what that means, it's obvious, right? That when you're selling a product, when you're selling a service, when you're asking someone for a favor, don't be cute. Don't try to be coy with how you ask, but just straight up, if you need something from them or you want the business, Ask them eyeball to eyeball, and that is what people respect when you're not cute, but you're absolutely clear, leaving nothing to be guessed at.
I agree with that so much. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Sure, that's an easy one. And I have to kind of chuckle a little bit when you ask me that question, but I'll be honest with you, Tyler. If I was talking to the younger version of myself 20 years ago, give or take, I would tell myself to put the beer down. Put the beer down. Because in my recovery, and I had a lot of learning challenges, difficulties to overcome, and I sank into, Well, a lot of things, but drugs and booze was one of them in the earlier portions of my life. And that's what I would say, just put that stuff away. You don't need it. It's not making you a better person. It's actually making you a weaker person, which it did. And you know what? I had to hit rock bottom, so to speak, or at least come pretty close to it but before I was able to get my act together, push off from that bottom, and get to new heights.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
My friend Shawn Achor writes in his book The Happiness Advantage that happiness is progress. Another way to look at it is happiness is the progress toward real goals or to the goals that make a difference to you. Now these can be business goals, these can be financial goals, these could be goals that I have with my wife, personal goals, relational goals, but happiness to me is when I'm able to make a baby step's worth of progress. Like if I go to the gym, which I do almost every day, and I'm able to bust out one more rep, that's happiness, that's progress. I don't necessarily have to do another set of 10 or 20, but if I can do one more or just add another pound, 2.5 pounds, 5 pounds, that to me is progress. And as long as we keep moving forward in a baby step kind of way, we're going to get to the big leaps that we all aspire to. The people that listen to this show anyhow aspire to.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Sure, fantastic question. I love this question and it's called Becoming a Category of One. And the title says it all right there. It is a business book, Becoming a Category of One, and What it helps you understand is obvious, is that to be competitive in today's marketplace and to even get people's attention, you can't be a me-too product, a me-too service, a me-too speaker. You've got to be in your own category. Now you can offer something similar to what other people offer, but, but you've got to add your own uniqueness to the blend, and that makes you a category of one. And if you want to be successful and not just barely making it through, you've got to be in category of one today because, you know, coaches, speakers, consultants, internet guys, they're all over the place. But if you can find that one thing that separates you from the rest, that's when your business is going to take off. Category of one, Joe Callaway, by the way, mentioned his name already. That's the author.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and when I was growing up, and the Cowboys were actually a team to be reckoned with then, Roger Staubach was the quarterback for many of those formative years as I was growing up. And Staubach said that there's no traffic along the extra mile. And I'm paraphrasing that phrase a little bit, that quote, but boy, that is the God's honest truth, that there's no traffic if you're willing to take that extra mile. And as long as you're willing to push yourself a little bit harder, run a little bit farther, stay up a little later than the next guy, Guess what? You're gonna be there all by yourself in a category of one. And I love, I love that quote.
Yes, I've never heard that quote. I love it too. And thank you so much for coming on, Joel. There was so much value in this show. I have one last question for you before we let you go, and that is, where is the best place for people to find you online?
Yeah, this is easy to do and As I mentioned earlier, I am a keynote speaker. So if you have a conference coming up and if you're arranging either a conference, a seminar, or a meeting, joelboggess.com is where you can go and watch the videos, where you can read some of the content and educate yourself on resilience and how it is the competitive advantage. And you know what? If I'm the guy for you, That would be fantastic. Look forward to it. And if I'm not the guy for you, you know, I know a multitude of speakers that might be a good fit as well. JoelVargas.com, that's my name, and I look forward to seeing you there. Thank you for having me on, Tyler Wagner.
Of course. Thanks for coming on, Joel. We appreciate it.
Pleasure's mine. Bye-bye. The podcast you just heard was recorded with Anchor. If you want to make your own, download the Android or iOS app app completely free from anchor.fm/podcast. That's anchor.fm/podcast.
