The RAISE UP Mindset: Athena Grimm’s Blueprint for Business and Personal Growth

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
James Blain (00:25):
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the ground
transportation podcast.
I am super excited about thisepisode.
I've got one of my mentors inthe industry, one of my friends
in the industry, one of my allround favorite people in the
industry.
I've got Athena Grimm with us,who I have to tell you, I would
say, Has one thing, but shedoesn't.
She's got BAC transportation,Alaska medical transportation.

(00:48):
She has the Raise Up podcast,which if you're listening to our
podcast and you enjoy it, youabsolutely have to listen to
their podcast.
Her and her husband, Charlie areabsolutely incredible.
Thank you so much, Athena.
I'm so excited to have you on.

Athena Grimm (01:01):
Thank you, James.
You are one of my favoritehumans too, and so I was really
excited when you asked, asked meto come and, uh, yes, our raise
Up podcast, you can find that onraise up mindset.com.
So, uh, I absolutely invite yourlisteners to come if.
If they want to hear aboutCharlie and I's, uh,
transportation journey, we're,we're here to just be helpful

(01:24):
like you are.
So thank you so much.

Absolutely.
So I want to start, and I knowthat anyone who's been listening
to your podcast has alreadyheard some of the fun adventures
of how you guys got started.
But I wanted to see if you couldstart by kind of telling us how
you and Charlie actually gotinto the industry and how you
kind of ended up intransportation.

You know, I would like to say that.
we just went on with like,really, it was about going along
with your gut and what feltright at the time you got to
understand in 2000, uh, Charlieand I, I was 21.
And, uh, you don't have a lot ofgreat ideas in your early 20s.

(02:08):
You know what I mean?

Of course

So, uh, so yeah, and I kind of made a joke
because we went to Vegas andthen, um, that was the, first
time that I was in a limo wasright after my 21st birthday.
And then the

Oh, I didn't know

I was, Yeah.
And so that was the very firsttime.
And then the second time I wasin a limo, I was driving it from
Las Vegas to Alaska.
So, um, so yeah, like we have onour podcast, we go through the
whole story of like what thatwas like and, and where the
whole idea came about.
But really, I think now thatIt's about, like, feeling in

(02:46):
your decisions, like, does thisfeel right to me at the time?
And honestly, if you look aroundwhen you're in your early 20s
and you figure out, I don't haveanything else better to do or
that I've come up with at thispoint.
And so let's just roll this andsee how it feels as we go
through And I'll tell you,that's really what was going in

(03:07):
my mind at the time that Charliewas like, Hey.
I want to you know, do this,this next venture because we
already had businesses that we,I was operating my own business.
He was operating his businessand he wanted to try this thing.
And so I was willing to rollwith him on it and it was really
his idea and his, he likefigured out the pathway and then

(03:33):
I just kind of jumped on boardwith operations once we, I
started to see that, hey, thisthing's actually growing and we
need to get some process behindit.

So were you guys both driving at that point?

Uh, yes, him more so than me, but we both got our
CDL licenses.
Yes.
Yes.
I don't know if that was a goodidea or not, but yes.
Okay.

Well, and I, and I don't want to steal from your
own podcast, but I know one ofmy Favorite stories that you
guys tell is the first limo.
If I remember it had like a fishtank or something in it, right?

So that was the first SUV limo that came to the
state of Alaska.
And, uh, it's kind of ironicbecause you would think that we
would have more four wheel drivelimos than anybody, but yeah, we
brought the first SUV.
It was a Lincoln Navigator.
And like I said, being in my 20zone, I wasn't really thinking
about the fish tank and Charliewasn't thinking about the fish

(04:26):
tank and winter hit and guesswhat happened to the fish tank.

Oh,

So we were like, well, shit, that's not a thing
anymore.
So we took out the fish steak.
Um, but yeah, it was just thoselittle tubes in the back.
There was two tubes by the doorand they had these little
plastic fish that fluttered.
And so they were fun for thesummer.

Okay.
Well,

we repurposed that area.

so no real fish were harmed in the making of
this business.

Correct and, you know, for your listeners who
don't know me, I live in theArctic.
So I am in Alaska and it's verymuch winter here a large section
of the year.
So it makes it extra interestingdealing with the elements.
And so that's just 1 of thethings.

Well, but you, you guys get some cool gifts out of
that.
I know when I came up to visityou guys and we were working on
the, the yield DC stuff That, wewere doing for you guys.
It was interesting because Iwill never forget, And I was
telling my, this actually cameup recently with Casey, my wife
recently, I told her, I said, itis so weird driving back at
midnight and it's still sunsetbecause your brain doesn't, I

(05:31):
mean, and it's, it was mostinteresting for me because My
brain kept telling my body,stupid, you're not tired.
It's sunset.
But clearly the clock showed itwas midnight.
So you get kind of some strangegifts that come with that too,
don't you?

You know, honestly, I think that that is 1
of the most magnificent thingsabout our region.
Is that yes, in the summertime.
It just gets dusk.
It doesn't actually get dark.
So it just, you get a lot done,but we, we have been in this
environment for so long that wehave been able to like, figure
out how to navigate things.

(06:06):
So, uh, I think you need lesssleep in the summertime.
Absolutely.
Because your circadian rhythm istelling you that you're not
tired.
And I also think that, uh, wehave like, My room where I sleep
is completely dark, like I havemanufactured it in a way that it
is everything.
There's no light that comes in.
So that's another piece how I Imake it through the summer, but

(06:30):
yeah, it's cool.

it's incredible.
And for you guys, that's also,it's interesting you brought up
summer because you guys have aseasonal swing too.
because you guys have a lot oftourists.
You have a lot of things goingon I know you work with a lot of
the different companies thatkind of rely on that for those
that aren't aware.
Can you kind of share whatthat's like for you guys?

Absolutely.
So we have, uh, we're very mucha tourist, uh, or we have
tourism business here.
so tourism starts for us in fullswing by June 1 and then it
usually, uh, it really hits thepinnacle in August.
That's our busiest month of theyear for tourism.
And then by October 1st, wepretty much have seen the last

(07:13):
of the visitors that are comingin.
Come through for the season, butthen we have about, I would say,
a 4, 3 to 4 week reprieve wherewe move right into cargo season.
We have the 3rd busiest aircargo hub in the United States
here.
And so, uh, all all.
Well, not all, but most of thecarriers run through here,

(07:37):
especially as they're comingfrom Asia to fuel up change out
crew.
and so, by November 1st, we are,in full swing for cargo season.
So, it, it very much is this,like, very beautifully cyclical
system that we've come tounderstand here in the
transportation industry inAlaska.

(08:00):
For at least passengertransportation, so then after
you hit January, January is likeour training month, getting
everybody caught up on whateverneeds to happen.
And then we move into this,like, this spring reorientation
of of what's going on with thedepartments.
So 1st quarter is really aboutre, grouping, getting everybody

(08:22):
on what the plan is for thisyear reinvigorating retraining
all of that.
And then by 2nd quarter.
We are, we are heading intotourism season again.
We are getting ready for that.
That May, June, July.
Um, busy month, and that'sreally what it looks like here
for us.

Well, and it's, it's interesting because you
guys have found different waysto work within those cycles and
you guys have found.
Different ways to kind of serveclients, you know, and, and I,
again, I, I'm going to plug yourpodcast at least about a hundred
times here because you guys gointo so many great stories.
You know, it's kind of like,when you guys talked about when

(09:02):
you guys started doing flightcrews.
That, from what I understand,that wasn't necessarily a
target.
That was, you guys were justdoing such an incredible job
that that opportunity kind ofmade itself appear to you.

so I

bit about how that went?

I think really.
The power of decision making isso incredible for us, and we can
make these decisions that willmake a series of other decisions
underneath us.
and so when we decided to gointo ground transportation, I'm,
I'm an all in kind of a girl,like, I don't half ass it, like,

(09:37):
I'm all in, if I'm doing this,then I'm doing it to the best of
my ability.
And I'm, my, my only competitionis how I showed up yesterday.
And, uh, So we don't knoweverything when we start
ventures or we're moving intothese.
We just are trusting that, uh,I, I trust myself and, and I

(10:00):
trust the decisions that I makeand that things will start to,
to come back.
Forward.
And so, just like when youstarted training, you didn't
understand that there was all ofthese other little facets that
you could get into because youjust only saw this much of the
picture.
But as you start to, like, opento the possibilities, more and

(10:21):
more things appear.
And so, that's what happenedwith crew transportation.
That's what happened withbaggage delivery.
That's what happened withwheelchair.
Like, we, we made the decisionto get into the transportation
lane and then we stuck with thatlane.
And so, the idea is that Um,you're never going to see BAC
cleaning airplanes because we'renot a cleaning crew, we're

(10:42):
logistics and transportation.
So when the opportunity for crewtransportation came about, we,
it was totally within our lane.
But you got to understand, like,when we first started in crew,
that was, gosh, that was almost20 years ago.
And a crew transport in ourregion was like 25 bucks.

(11:04):
And so then we have to decide,does that even make sense?
Like, that's a Cambride price,you know?

Well, yeah.
So what, what do you do at thatpoint?

So, really, our very first crew client ended up
paying us contracted rateprices, and that's how we got
into it.
It was a fluke where Charlie gota phone call in the middle of
the night because he was, thephones were rolling to him at
night at that point in thebusiness.
And he answered the phone and ithappened to be world airways.
and they just said, uh, look, I,we've got some pilots that need

(11:38):
transport to night, can you doit?
and it was basically whateverthe price is and world
contracted with, um, thegovernment and had like
parameters that they could workwithin and and we kind of laugh
now world airways eventuallywent out of business, but, um,
they, they were So all over theboard all the time, like that

(12:02):
was my first airline.
I had to figure out how I wasgoing to like build systems with
it in the middle of this shitshow all the time.
And so I felt like, gosh, if wecan do world, we can do
anything, you know?
And then we started realizingthat these other, these other
airlines actually had.
like infrastructure underneaththem and scheduling and support.

(12:24):
And so it just, it's like, I'mso grateful for that 1st airline
being just this hot mess becauseschedule wise, because it taught
me what the worst case scenariowas.
So then I could receive all ofthese other scenarios.

Well, and it's, it's really funny that you say
that because, you know, I, Iheard someone talking recently
and they said, you know, if youpray for patience, You're not
just going to get PatiencePatience isn't going to just
show up.
You're not just going to wake upone day and God has given you
patience.
What's going to happen is you'regoing to get put through a
situation that teaches youpatience.
Is that something that you'vekind of seen happen more than

(13:02):
once for you guys in thebusiness?
Is that kind of a, a, has that,has that come up?

That, I think, is like a mirror to life.
If you see that you havechallenges that are coming up,
and if you choose to acceptthose as this, like, like
there's a gift somewhere inevery single challenge that we
have.
And we just have to decide, arewe going to receive it as a
gift?
And are we going to see what wecan do with this challenge?
Because it's here for a reason.

(13:30):
It's here to teach us something.
It's not just here to mess withus and to make our life
miserable.
It's like, I chose to be in thisplace at this time.
And so now I've got thischallenge that's coming up
against me.
And a hundred percent of thetime, a challenge teaches us
something.
If we're willing to receive, orwe go through it.
Over and over and over againuntil we learn the lesson.

(13:53):
And so, um, that's really theperspective that I come to in
every circumstance.
Like, this is here for a reason.
What do I need to know about it?
And so it opens up a lot ofopportunities, and there's been
a lot of things that have comeour way.
James that I'll tell you are notpart of our business model, but
it's fun to think about howcreative things could get if if

(14:13):
we allow.

Well, and that leads to a really interesting
question because, you know, Ifound that almost all All great
business people, almost allgreat businesses.
It was rarely ever a straightline, right?
I don't know that I've met a,business owner that's been in
the business long term thatsaid, Oh yeah, it was a,
straight line to get here.
Everything went exactly how Iexpected.

(14:36):
So what were some of kind of theother major twists and turns
that you guys kind of had thatwere kind of the uninspected,
you know, we didn't see itcoming, but it really helped
bring us to where we are today.
Yeah.

You know, I would say working with your spouse or
working with family has been thegreatest gift that I have ever
received.
Like, especially working with myhusband.
Like, he is literally 1 of themost magnificent humans that I
know.
He's my absolute favorite human.

(15:10):
And I did not.
Had I not been in thisexperiment with him over the
course of our life, over thelast, um, 27 years, like, I
would have never received theThe, this, this huge knowing of
what it means to be inpartnership in connection with

(15:34):
someone else to this caliber.
And so looking back, that hasbeen that has been the, uh.
The largest thing that hassurprised me in business and
also the greatest blessing thatI've ever received.

(15:55):
And, uh, and, and continuing onwith that journey, like the, and
it wasn't, I didn't always havethat perspective.
I had, I mean, at one point, Imean, being so young and kind of
having my own set of limitingbeliefs along the way and
understanding what is.
What is his role?
What is my role?

(16:16):
Kind of what you're workingthrough with Casey right now.
What is your roles?
And how does this thing work?
But I'm telling you that if youdecide that this is what you're
going to do, and you're going towork through it, because it's
not just what Running abusiness, it's working through
all of the things that thatother person has to work through

(16:39):
to become their next higherself.
If that makes sense, becausewhen we're, when we're, when
we're younger, we, we're at acertain level and then we move
to Through age and experience,we kind of, like, raise our self
awareness and we raise our levelof how we operate in the world.
And Charlie and I had to bewitnesses to each other at every

(17:02):
single level and choose to stillstay in the game together.
And that, that, that'ssomething.

yeah, and, and it's, it's really funny because,
you know, I always draw theparallels between kind of your
relationships and ours because,you know, very similar to us.
If I remember right, you guyswere very early twenties when
you started dating, right?
I, mean, you guys have beentogether and been through quite
a bit, haven't you?
There

uh, when Charlie and I first got together, I was
20.
He, there's almost a nine yearage gap between us.
So, um, he was just turning 30the year that we got together,
so I threw his 9th, I threw his30th birthday party for him.
It's a very funny story.
There was, there involved a, a,a very chubby, uh, belly dancer

(17:51):
and it's a great laugh.
He's going to have to tell yousometime.

is no doubt.
We will have to, have Charlie onto help tell that story because
that is what I haven't heard.
And for anybody that's, that'slistening to the part of the
podcast that doesn't knowCharlie, um, Charlie is got one
of the larger life personalitiesthat.
just, he has this way of just.
Incredibly captivatingstorytelling.

(18:16):
He just commands a room in a waythat I don't know that I've seen
anyone else do.
And so I can only imagine whatwill ensue when Charlie tells
the story.

Well, he brings the energy.
That's really one of his giftsis that he keeps the energy
moving.
And sometimes he brings thatenergy up in different ways.
But if you notice that if youare watching how he operates
from, um, from that perspective.
That, that point of view of hebrings the energy, you'll know
exactly what I'm talking about.

(18:47):
And he can also, I warn peoplethat first come to work for us.
I'm like, look, he is one of themaster energy readers, meaning
that, um, if you are not upfront with him, he will be able
to sense it and know it.
So just keep that in mind thatif it's, if it doesn't feel
right, he's going to know itright away and he's going to

(19:07):
sniff it out and you're notgoing to be able to lie to him.

Well, and, and You you truly are one of the power
couples in the industry.
And it kind of leads me to, to aquestion that I think I know a
little bit of the answer to, buthow do you find those areas
where you're able to say, Oh,This is where Charlie really
excels, and he is really thebest fit for that.
This is the area where I excel,this is the best fit for me.

(19:33):
And then where do you find theareas that you kind of meet in
the middle?
Is that something that comesover time?
Is that something that you guyshave a way to kind of identify?
Or how has that developed overthe years?

You know, it boils down to the decision of, are you
going to trust this person ornot?
And if you decide that you are,well, you have to act like it.
Like you have to show up as I'mtrusting them because you can

(20:05):
say I trust you and then you cango behind them and like double
check on them and do all ofthese things that basically
render that other person as, um,unusable because they're feeling
inadequate because you'reprojecting on them that you
don't think they can handle it.
And so that's where you have tostart is it's not a matter of,

(20:26):
like feeling through it.
It's, it's like you have todecide, am I going to trust this
person and then act like you'regoing to trust them.
And when you act like you're nottrusting them, you're sabotaging
them.
And so, and then the other pieceis you have to decide, Do they
get to be who they are aroundyou or do they have to show up

(20:48):
as somebody else?
Because you can't handle whothey are or you're not a good
match.
And that's the other thing islike Charlie gets to be whoever
he wants to be today.
Today he's not feeling well, sohe's not joining us today, and
that's okay.
Like I'm not upset about that.
Like he gets to show up and bewho he is and when it's safe to

(21:09):
be who you are, guess what?
You thrive in that environment.
Because you don't feel like youhave to put on a mask.

Well, and I think there's something to be said
there about the trust portionand being able to, you know, for
example, Charlie not being ableto join us today, you know, you
think of kind of the typicalstereotype of husband and wife
and something happens.
a lot of people would think thatyou know, well, you're going to
be upset and They got sick.
I think having that level oftrust and knowing that you've

(21:39):
got each other's backs, whether,whether you're married or not,
right, this goes for allbusiness partners, You know,
knowing that you trust eachother to do that is massive.
Cause if you can't feel like youhave that ownership, you can't
have that piece there.
You're never going to truly worktogether.

well, and that's the piece is it's like, we're
the top leadership around here.
And so if earlier before we, westarted recording, we were
talking about what are weactually doing when we're we're
running an organization?
It's ultimately developingtrust.
For the people that work withus, so that they feel safe

(22:16):
enough to be able to do theirjob so that they can go out into
the world and have this freedomto create and to grow and bring
forward, like, their very bestperson.
To to everything that they'redoing.
And so if we're not treatingeach other that way, how can we,

(22:36):
like, encourage our leadershipteam and the rest of the staff
to get there?
Like, I want people to feel safehere working in this environment
so that they can move into thisnext place of growth and
awareness.
That's ultimately what we'redoing here.
You're not going to grow if youfeel scared, and you feel
unsure, and you feel, um, likeyou can't be yourself.

(22:59):
You're going to hide, and you'regoing to just put your head down
and punch a clock.

Well, and I think one of the things that you've
hit on is there's a lot ofpeople out there that, you know,
they want the employees to comein.
They want them to do what'sexpected of them.
You know, if you've gotchauffeurs, I just want them to
drive.
I want them to do the trip.
But there's So many businessowners out there, even ones
with, you know, large,successful businesses that don't
understand if you allow thosepeople to grow, you know, It's

(23:25):
going to ultimately help yougrow, help the company grow,
help everyone around you findgrowth instead of just getting
that, that area where youstagnate, which by the way is a
perfect transition to raise upAnd again, I told you I was
going to plug the podcast atleast a thousand times.
So I have to say again, that isthe name of your podcast, but I
know it's got a deeper meaning.

(23:45):
So I'd love if you can kind ofshare with us.
What exactly is RaiseUp andwhere did that come from?

So raise up is my core values.
They're Charlie's core valuesand it's responsibility,
accountability, integrity,service engagement,
understanding, and perseverance.
And it's basically the filterthat we run.
of the decisions through, like,of course, we don't run the

(24:12):
lunch decision through the raiseup core values, but majority of
the decisions that we make here.
That's what we're running itthrough.
And I, I tell the team, like,accountability is how we love
each other because we're keepingeach other in this space of.
Checking up and, um, followthrough and the engagement, you

(24:33):
can't do anything unless you'relike, fully engaged in what's
happening.
If you're, if you're got 1 footin the door and 1 foot out the
door, how can you really showand show up?
and, like, bring your fullpotential and the understanding
piece is it's like.
Jump jumping to conclusions canbe like our worst enemy and so
it's like coming with this heartof like seeking to understand

(24:55):
what's happening.
Like, really from this, thiscuriosity place and not this
place of, um, well, what, whatthe F were you thinking, You
know, um, and then theperseverance piece is about, you
know, Sometimes it can getchallenging and we have to
understand what those gifts arethat we're being, that are being

(25:19):
presented to us.
within this challenge.
It's not about, Oh, this is acrappy season.
This is a crappy time.
And we're just going to whiteknuckle it through.
That's not what this is aboutputting up with, like, people
treating you bad or, uh,anything like that.
It's more like being able to,yeah.
I think a good analogy would bedoing a cold plunge.

(25:42):
Like it's not, it's not fun.
You've got to persevere to stayin that cold plunge for like
three minutes Or more,

That is the most Alaska thing you could have
picked, by the way.
I love it.

but it's true.
Like if you're willing topersevere through that little
bit of discomfort, then it canbe wonderful results for your
body and for, for your, for yourwellbeing.
And so that's really more whatthe perseverance piece is about.
Um, I mean, ultimately, when youthink of the words raise up,

(26:14):
it's like it is a play on wordsbecause yes, the core values
spell all of those things.
But raising people up is reallywhat we're doing.
We're raising ourselves, we'reraising the community and the
collective of the world just bybeing here with this mindset.

Well, and I think one of the things I hear a lot,
especially in the smallercompanies is, you know, well,
we're not ready for that yet.
We're not at the point wherethat matters.
We don't have enough employeesyet, right.
You know, there's just two ofus.
There's just three of us.
I can tell you from my ownexperience in small business,
That I found that even when youhave a couple of people, it
almost becomes more important,right?

(26:54):
Because when you have a littletiny company, if there's only
two or three or four of you now,all of a sudden, if you have
someone that doesn't meet yourvalues, that means a huge chunk
of your company now isn'taligned with it.
Where would you say you, youkind of figured that out?
Is that something that youlearned along the way?
Or is this something that youguys were able to identify
really early on and kind ofbuild into the company from the

(27:16):
very beginning?

You know, when I joined as the operations
manager, many, many moons ago,that was one of the things that
I realized early on just throughreading.
And like, like I said, James, Igo all in.
So I, like, I devour books and,um, any material that I can get
to, like, Set myself up tounderstand what do we need to

(27:42):
know in order to get to the nextspace and especially to overcome
challenges because I didn't wantto be stuck in that perpetual
cycle of relearning this becausethe same situation keeps coming
up over and over again.
So that's really what sparkedit.
And then I would say, you know,to speak to your piece about,
I'm only a 2 or 3 personcompany, like, It's really easy

(28:07):
to understand what we don't wantor what we don't like.
It's, it's more challenging tosit with yourself and decide
what you do want.
And if you decide that earlieron, and I'm not saying it
doesn't change over time becauseyou become more aware of things
as, as time goes by, but But ifyou decide this is what I want

(28:29):
right now, this is theenvironment I want to work in.
These are the humans that I wantto work with.
This is this is the company thatI'm building.
This is what I want to be about.
Like, that's really what raiseup is about is it's about this,
uh, This idea of creating thismomentum for the collective
around us, all of ourcommunities, like, we're the

(28:51):
example.
Are we going to takeresponsibility for the
situation?
Are we going to, I mean, I don'tthink you can move the needle on
anything if there isn't a levelof accountability somewhere.
And the integrity piece isn'tabout being honest.
Like, I told my children earlyon, I'm like, people, like,
everybody lies.
It's perspective and they'relike, mom, you lie.

(29:14):
And I'm like, do you honestlythink that if you guys are like
acting crazy, this is when theywere really little.
And then we were having thisconversation.
They're teenagers now andadults.
But, um, I'm like, do youhonestly think that if you're
like completely melting down andall of this stuff is happening,
and then I show up at work 10minutes later, that my morning's
just going great.

(29:36):
And somebody goes, Oh, hey,Athena, how was your morning?
And you think I'm going to say,actually, my kids just totally
melted down and I had to changemy clothes because they got
stuff on me.
Like, I'm not going to go intothat.
I'm going to smile at thathuman.
And I'm going to be like, I'mhaving a wonderful morning.
How about you?
You know, and they, but, butthey didn't, they didn't
understand that.
And so it's like.

(29:56):
They understood what I wassaying now, but it's not
necessarily coming from a placeof I'm trying to deceive you.
It's coming from a place ofhere.
I want to be an uplifter

Right,

people from feeling diminished if they are
encounter having an encounterwith me.
And so that's one of the toolsthat I use is I don't share my
entire life circumstances withpeople that I meet all the time.
Um, but so the integrity pieceis about being true to who you
are.
And showing up who you are orwho you believe you are in that

(30:31):
moment.
And so an example of this that Iuse when I'm explaining it is if
you're a night person, don'tvolunteer for a day shift
because that's not who you are.
You're not in your integrity ifyou're doing that, like, um,
because you know that you don'toperate well in the morning.
That's just not how you, are.

(30:52):
Now, you could make a decisionthat you're going to become a
morning operator.
And then that's a whole notherset of like, Things, but that's
really It James, is it's like,as soon as you can get clear
about what you want to be aboutand really put some
intentionality around that, youwill start to set the trajectory

(31:13):
to that space.
And so, if you think you don'thave time to, like, get clear
about what you want to be about,or you don't have time to
understand what values resonatewith you, like, you don't have
time not to do that.
Because, just like with anycircumstance, as you start to
build your organization, if youdon't, If you don't have it

(31:34):
clear, then the environmentaround you will make the
decision for you?
So, just like

absolutely.
And I think you've hit onsomething really important,
although you've kind of done itindirectly.
And I think that what a lot ofpeople don't realize is the tone
is really set top down.
you know, if if you were to comein, right, going back to the
example from your kids, I mean,think, think about it.

(32:00):
Obviously, we've got lots ofbusiness owners that.
listen to this.
but hopefully a lot of them havehad that chance to work for
someone else.
Imagine what happens if yourboss comes in.
How's your morning?
It's God awful.
I'm having a horrible day.
Everything's gone wrong.
I am hiding under my desk if Iwork for you, right?
you know, And and my thing isIt's interesting how much, you
know I, I grew up in callcenters and smile and dial

(32:23):
wasn't just a joke.
It was, you could literallychange the way you interact, the
way you feel by how you'reoutwardly presenting it.
So if you come in in that badmood and you let that bad mood
out, it's going to affect howyou act.
It's going to affect everyonearound you.
And, and so I think thatintegrity piece is such a
wonderful way to think about it.

(32:44):
Because most people think aboutintegrity.
It's well, if I found a wallet,would I return it?
And I think you've really takenit to an aspect that brings it
into the realm of leadership andgrowth in a way that I don't
think a lot of people thinkabout.

Well, you know, you have to, if, if you're
standing integrity and you'rebeing your authentic self in
that moment, maybe yourauthentic self is a thief.
Like, I don't know.
I can tell you that mine is not.
Mine comes from a place of loveand respect and, uh, and helping
and being part of a community.

(33:22):
And I think that truly when.
When we all face inward, we allhave this space, uh, this like
loving place and you have todecide in this moment.
Am I going to be, uh, am I goingto be that person or not?
That's it.

(33:43):
And that's what the integritypiece is about is it's like, am
I, am I going to show up as myauthentic self or am I going to
show up as what so and so thinksI should be doing right now?
so

think, I think a lot of people don't realize that
this is also something that Youknow, I hear people all the
time.
Well, you know, I'm, I'm more, Igotta worry about paying the
bills.
I gotta worry about getting therevenue up.
I gotta worry about this.
I gotta worry about that.
I don't have time to go intothis.
I don't have time to deal withthe woo woo stuff.
I don't have, but I I've, I'veheard you and I've heard Charlie
tell the stories and I don'tknow, if you have any come to
mind, but it's incredible howmany times.

(34:19):
Doing that and taking that roadwill actually translate into
getting more business or beingthere when you're needed or all
of those different areas whereyou would, you wouldn't
necessarily go, Oh, wow.
I, couldn't believe that becauseI was doing that.
I got there.
But it becomes a core part ofthat,

Well, when you are standing in your own integrity,
Duff shows up in powerful ways,and the person that Charlie is,
he's a very generous person.
He just gives in ways that Iwouldn't even come up with at
times, like his time, or I thinkhe spends probably at least 2

(35:00):
hours of his day just connectingpeople to other people who, who
need goods and services andlogistical help.
That have nothing to do withrunning any of our businesses.
It's just what he enjoys doingto be like, he likes to help.
And when you are being who youreally are, things become

(35:26):
easier, not harder.
Like I I've come to understandthat the path to least
resistance.
really is the path.
And if it's really hard and overand over again, like you're just
in destruction mode trying toget through, like that's telling
you something that that's thewrong direction.

you

And when things flow easier, it's like natural.
And you're in this like thisflow state of like networking
and just like connecting withthe community and stuff's
happening, and you're showing upand you're doing the best job
that you can for that day.
Like, it really is a thing.
James.

well, and I, I think one of, one of the things
that you know, Charlie and Iwere sitting down talking once
and one of the things that hesaid that has just been
absolutely etched into my mind,I will take this one to the
grave with me is he said, youcan't make a withdrawal before
you make a deposit.
And, and so of course you mightthink of that.
Well, yeah, that's obvious.

(36:33):
That's how money works.
But the context that Charliegave this to me and is what I
thought was so valuable.
And I really think it truly kindof sums up what we've been
talking about and how you guyslive your lives.
And that his point was, ifyou're showing up for others, if
you're doing things for others,if you have a client that is in
need and instead of saying, Hey,I could totally jack this rate

(36:56):
up and I could triple the rateand get the money out of them.
You instead say, Hey, I'm goingto show grace.
I'm going to be there for thatclient.
I'm going to take care of thatclient.
Now you might have a newopportunity that arrives.
Now you might have a time thatyou need to go and say, Hey, I
need help or I need grace.
And now you've got that therebecause you've made that
deposit.
And the part that he summarizedit for me with was the goal is

(37:20):
to make more deposits thanwithdrawals.
And that to me was somethingthat really stuck with me.
And I think that it's somethingthat, you know, when you're head
down in your business, whenyou're trying to get it done,
you know, we all have thosetimes in our business where It's
how am I going to get the billspaid?
How am I going to get someone onthere on time?
How am I going to get this takencare of?
I think that really shows up inthat.

(37:42):
It kind of shows that, need toremember that yes, we all do
this for a living, but there'smore to it than that.

Yeah, and, you know, I kind of summarize it
with the team is like, we happento be getting people from point
a to point B, but really whatwe're doing here is we are
living our lives together withthis raise up mindset and that's
it.
Like, we just happen to be inground transportation, but we
are living our lives together.

(38:11):
And I think another piece tothat deposit is you can't do it
from a place of sacrifice.
Because then it ends up becomingsomething else.
It's this, like, beak rudgingtask that you're doing.
Like, a great example is, onThanksgiving, I cook dinners for
the staff.
I, I make all the food, and thenI prepackage it in individual

(38:33):
packages, and then Charliedelivers it the next day.
If I decided And I want it tocome from a place of love and
blessing.
If I decided that I was going tohave food there at nine o'clock
in the morning, it would not becoming from a place of love and
blessing because I would begetting up at like 3 AM to cook
all this food and that would notbe a blessing to me.

(38:55):
And so in order for me to keepit from a place or keep it in a
tone of blessing and of love, Ineed to do it when I wake up and
I need to be in this place ofI'm doing this.
because I want to bless them andyou see how just that one
decision of like putting myselfin exhaustion or getting enough

(39:17):
sleep and just flowingly doingit.
And they get it by lunchtimeinstead of, you know, first
thing in the morning.
It's like, I want them to enjoythis food and know that it came
from my heart.
And not from this place of Isaid, I was going to do
something and now I got tofollow through and I really
don't want to do it because Ireally did want to do it.

I mean, it's the difference there between it.
being a chore and something thatyou're doing as a gift.

Yes, yes, and that's where you have to come
with this.
Like, Charlie and I decided veryearly on that we don't do loans.
If we, if we are giving somebodysomething, we are giving it to
them with the expectation thatthey will never give it back to
us.
That's it.
So there's no more conversationabout it.
If we can't afford to give it,we don't give it.

(40:03):
That's time.
That's treasure.
That's talent.

Well, And I also think you guys are living proof
that this truly does scale.
Uh, you know, I don't know offthe top of my head.
Hopefully you can share it withus.
But how many employees do youguys have right now?
I mean, you've got, you've gottwo great size companies that
you've been able to scale thiswith.
So we're not talking about.
you know, you're, when you saidyou were cooking, you're not
cooking for four or five people.

(40:28):
You've got a large group.
I, mean, I I personally, I'mimpressed that you could, you
could get all that done in thattimeframe because you guys have
got a substantial team acrossyour different companies.

So, I made 80 meals for the people working on
Christmas day.
I mean, on Thanksgiving day, soI, he delivered 80 meals and,
um.
I didn't make the pies though.
We did buy the pies.
So, but, yes, I made the foodand then he cut up the pies for
me and put them in littlepackages and we really have done
this so long that we've kind ofgot it down to a science.

(41:03):
So it doesn't take us as long asit used to.
But yes, it was 80.
80 meals got delivered thatafternoon, and then they got to
take 1 or 2, whatever, if theywanted to take 1 home to their
family.
I was expecting about, uh, 65 or70 team members, and then I just
added some extras on there.

I have to say, I, I helped my wife cook for six here
at the house.
And I think I had my fill.
I cannot possibly imagine tryingto, to help you cook for the
team.
Even if the pies are storebought.
Which I'm sure tasted just asgood.

Well, James, have you ever served on a kitchen
line before, like, for thehomeless or anything like that?
Like,

I, have not.
The closest I've come to that isworking in a pizza shop.
And I learned very quickly thatJames is not cut out for food
service.

okay, well, see, be in your own integrity then on
that and know that that's notyour role is to to be the cook
for for the cook line.
But.
Charlie and I have done a numberof things and, uh, you know.
That is something that, uh, I, Iknow that I probably won't do
forever because sometimes Iwon't be in the state on

(42:14):
Thanksgiving, but if I'm home,then I do it for them.
Yeah.

have you identified and I know you well enough to
know that this is a loadedquestion.
I know you have who are theother torchbearers in your
organization for the culture andwho, you know, obviously, you
know, we're talking about justyou.
You made a point there.
That's the people just workingthat day.
That's not the whole team thatwe're talking about.
So you've got to have thosepeople in that organization.

(42:50):
that are kind of.
the torchbearers for thatculture, for that raise up
mentality.
how do you help make sure thatthat gets not only from you at
the top, but that that samementality reaches out and goes
through everybody?
How do you, how do you take careof that at that kind of size?

Well, we have a lot of communication.
Like, you can see the sign on mywall.
It's like 9 feet.
Uh, we've got big signage,especially communicating our
raise up values.
But the leadership drink, theleadership team is 100 percent
drinking the Kool Aid with me.
So they are sold in this wholething.
Like, we wouldn't be able tohave the level of connection and

(43:32):
collaboration that we have ifthey weren't doing it.
Part of this full picture andthat we, like, we not only love
each other, like we enjoycollaborating, kicking off
ideas, running experiments onhow we can enhance this or that.
Like it's literally fun to be atwork.
You know, this is a segment ofour life where we all enjoy it.

(43:55):
And, um, we, we absolutely seethe vision of yes, we are taking
care of our customers, but weare, we are raising up.
The people around us, and inturn, raises us up.
Yeah.

Well, and and I will vouch in that I am lucky
enough to have come to visit youand get to see the operation and
see everything there.
And it, it a hundred percent isspot on.
And one of the things that Iwant to have you touch on as we
kind of.
Bring things to a close.
how does, how do you dovetailthis into the operations?
Because we've spent a lot oftime talking about culture and
whatnot.

(44:29):
What, what a lot of listenersprobably don't know is that you
are a time management genius,right?
I know very few people that havethe time management.
and like you said, when youcommit to something, it is all
in or it is nothing.
And so.
How do you.
weave this into operations?
How does this, how do you kindof work this in to trying to

(44:51):
keep that team effective andalso getting the operation side
done while holding these values?

Well, if you have the values?
and everyone is aligned with youon these big decisions, we're
running them through thosevalues.
If it, if it makes sense, we'rerunning them through the values.
And so that's 1 piece of it isit's like, they have a North
star that go, hey, actually,this will reduce engagement.
That's not what we want, or thisis the opposite of
accountability, or we are not inour integrity as an

(45:21):
organization.
If we make this move that thatgives them something to point
to.
As this this overarching ideaand then the other pieces I
treat them like I trust them andthere are things that they're
going to know.
And I also remind them that yourhow you feel about this is

(45:43):
everything.
If you're walking into asituation and you're getting
this yucky feeling inside, oryou're getting the spider senses
on the back of your neck.
Listen to your intuition.
You know, what's happening.
Like, you know, the right thingto do.
And I think we can all be honestwith ourselves a hundred percent
of the time when we've talkedourselves out of a situation

(46:04):
that our intuition has beentelling us, you shouldn't be
here right now, or you should behere right now.
And we've talked ourselves outof it.
We've regretted it.
And so I really foster and fanthis idea that go with, listen
to how you feel about this, thesituation.
And then also being open, like,my openness to receive what

(46:25):
their perspective on and whatthey're seeing in the
organization.
They mirror that back to me.
They're open to understanding myperspective.
And they're all and it's likethis mutual being of respect and
trust and the trust thing.
I think people get confusedabout trust where it's like, oh,

(46:46):
I trusted that person and theyscrewed me over.
It was like, did you did youintentionally evaluate their
skill set properly becausethere's sometimes where we trust
people in areas where they'renot ready and it's like, we
don't really set them up forsuccess.
Transcribed If you've raised upa team member from the front

(47:08):
line to a supervisor position,you need to put building blocks
in place for them to set them upfor success.
You can't give themresponsibilities that they're
not ready to receive yet andthen expect them to, like,
perform on a high level.
And so it's, it's notnecessarily a question of, Oh, I
trusted somebody.
It's like, Um, we, we buildinsurance into decision making

(47:34):
so that we can set them up forsuccess.
It's not about we don't trustyou as a person.
It's like we're working, we'retraining you to get the
experience that you need so thatyou understand the full picture.
It's not about, are you smart ornot?
It's bringing a, bringing you tothe next level of awareness.

It's very interesting that you framed it
like that.
It actually takes me, a quickshout out to Becky from Boston
to a conversation Becky and Ihad.
Because you pointed out two keythings you've you're giving them
a North star.
You're saying, Hey, these are,you're going to run it through
these values, right?
If something doesn't feel right,we go to the values, but you're
giving them ownership in thedecision.

(48:15):
You're giving them ownership indoing it You're giving them
trust in that you want them tobe able to make that decision.
The part that, that for me kindof snapped to a conversation
that Becky and I had, um, backwhen we were at the retreat,
Miami.
Yeah.
What she said, you've got to bewilling to let them make
mistakes because If you've gotpeople that are scared to make

(48:35):
mistakes, or if you've gotpeople that know they're going
to get hammered, they make astake, they're not able to
learn.
And that goes directly back towhat we talked about growth.
nobody that works for you isever going to get it right 100
percent of the time.
And so I love that, idea thatthey have that North star
guiding them and that you'regiving them that ownership and
that trust to have theconfidence to make the decision

(48:57):
and the openness to not beterrified of.
Oh, if I got it wrong, thehammer's coming down, the ax is
going to fall and I'm done.
I

This circles back to the beginning of our
conversation where, where ourgoal is to create a place of
safety.
And so, if you're hammeringsomebody, you're not creating a
place of safety, you're doingthe opposite of that.
And so you will never developthat person to the full
potential.
And you have to think about itin that way.

(49:27):
Quite frankly, so I look at itlike we don't have failures
here.
We have unintended outcomes, butI'll tell you, I want to, I want
to be mindful.
Like another piece of that isthat you are intentional about
understanding.
If I set this person up for 100percent success, they're going

(49:47):
to have to grow intoresponsibility.
They don't just get the wholeplatter and then you let them
fail.
Yeah.
And so you have to beintentional about that as a
leader.
But the goal here is to beopening up people to their full
potential.
And so I don't want somebodythat's just here punching a
clock and doing a thing.

(50:09):
Like, I want them to learn whothey are on a deeper level, to
understand what it means to berunning with a group that really
wants to succeed at this higherspace, and to be this, like, I,
you had mentioned, like, time,time mapping and, and, like,
scheduling, like, at the levelthat I operate at.

(50:34):
Somebody younger than me whodoesn't have the experience that
I have could just be in awegoing, Oh my gosh, like, how do
you get all of this stuff done?
How do you keep track ofeverything?
And it's like, as you learn andgrow and understand how the
world operates and the businessoperates, you get good at things
and then it doesn't take you aslong.

(50:55):
And so then you can bring onemore thing into the fold and one
more thing into the fold.
But I'm very mindful that itdoesn't become this.
Stressful, uh, stressfulsituation that puts me into
crisis mode.
So the stuff that I can do, anew manager coming in would be
learning from me how I, how Ioperate to get all of this

(51:19):
understood and completed withina time frame.

Well, and I think a lot of that goes back to
coaching, right?
You know, I, I started playinghockey recently.
I'd wanted to play ice hockeysince I was a kid and my coach
can do things that areabsolutely incredible.
But one of the reasons I think Ifound the right coach is every
time I've got a frustration,it's.
Well, you'll get there.
I grew up doing it.
I've got 30 years doing this onyou.

(51:46):
I've got 40 years doing this onyou.
I promise after you've beendoing it for 30 for 30 years,
you won't have to focus on it.
And it's, I think, especially,and I see it most with the
chauffeurs and with, you know,drivers is it's hard to forget
that.
When you think of that is thecore of your business as the
most fundamental thing of whatyou do, every little piece of

(52:07):
that is so second nature to youthat you can forget to someone
new, it might feel like they'rejuggling 100 things at once.
And So I love that you're ableto identify and point that out
and that you can't just expectthem because they're in the role
to be able to run instantly asfast as you do.
We will definitely have to haveyou back on at some point in the

(52:28):
future, Athena.
Um, do you have, you know, if,if you were to pick one thing or
one key from what we've talkedabout today, that would be?
You know, if you've got someonethat's trying to get to the next
level, that's trying to go tobusiness and they're saying,
Hey, I just listened to almostan hour of you guys going over
stuff.
What's the one key takeaway orfocus you'd want them to look?
I

Get a mentor.
That, um, like engage yourselfin a mentor situation, program,
whatever it is, get around thosepeople that are resonating with
You that you would like to learnand grow to become not, not like
a copy, but that you want toalso learn how to get those

(53:11):
capabilities and be.
In that mission with them, Ithink, that that you mentioned
it, like, coaching is everythinglike that coach is reassuring
you that, hey, you're going toget there.
We are so like, we underestimateencouragement on on.
I mean, at least I did when Iwas 1st in business.

(53:32):
I didn't think I needed that.
I was just running and runningand running.
And it's like a coach encouragesyou.
They give you solutions tothings that you just couldn't
see at the time because you'retoo close.
It brings you back to center andit just helps you develop new
capabilities.
So be in a community of growingmindset would be my advice.

(53:55):
Don't stay on an island.

I think you've been listening to the podcast.
Cause that's something we talkabout all the time is you can't
be on your own Island and expectto get better because you've got
so many people, like you said,they're going to point out the
pothole and say, don't step inthat.
Don't hit that.
Go around that.
So I can't thank you enough forbeing on Athena.
Um, I, I am proud to say thatyou are one of the people that's

(54:18):
helped mentor me.
You're one of the people that'shelped me get to where I am.
And I can't thank you enough.
Um, we will definitely have tohave an episode where we bring
Charlie on.
There are definitely somewonderful stories and things
we'll have to have there.
Um, and thank you everybody forlistening.
Um, if you haven't already,please go ahead and subscribe.
Uh, we do interviews like thisall the time and we love to
share with you guys.
Thanks again to everybody forlistening and take it easy.

(54:39):
Bye bye.

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